July 2014: And then there was...

Ok, ok, I know this is old news to so many, but to others, maybe not so much...

I think once Olivya realized what this sign really meant, she had a different reaction...haha. 

It's official...we are having another baby in November...(don't worry...it was a surprise to us too!! A welcomed surprise, of course, but a VERY BIG surprise!!)

This time around, after telling our parents the news, we broke the news first to my grandma (aka the head of the family) and then the rest of the fan found out...we happened to be right around 12 weeks at Easter time, so we broke the news during our annual Easter Egg hunt! Of course, once my grandma found the egg, we didn't put which one of her grandchildren this was coming from...so she looked at two of my cousins first (to which they both replied, "don't look at me!!") and then she figured it out on her third attempt. 

And when Michael brought Adelyn to tell Pastor Julie (the pastor Michael worked with in Lake Elmo for so many years...), they made this adorable video for me...

Let the craziness begin! Wait a second...I think it's already begun:) Family of 5 here we come! 

Oh yeah...and did I mention...IT'S A GIRL!!!!!!!!

(November 15th, 2014 is the official due date)

June 2014: A long-winded update

Here's a quick summary of things that have been going down in the Carmack house:

1. Adelyn is OBSESSED with dresses. Of course, her most fancy ones too...so she wears them to school, she wears them to bed, and she wants to wear them in the bath except I tell her that they will get wet and then she won't be able to wear them and then she will finally take off

2. We are in week 2 of potty training for Adelyn also. During the week it is awesome!! On the weekends, we have been going down to the cities, or to do things in Brainerd, and so we put her back in a pull-up...I don'[t know what else to do!! She falls asleep in the car and she would pee for sure if we didn't have a diaper on her...but overall, she's doing great and so far can decipher when she has "big girl underwear" on vs. a pull-up. 

3. Adelyn got a "big girl bed" this weekend and loves it...except she doesn't love to GO to bed in it by herself. All of a sudden, everything is "scary" (even though she never had a problem in her crib) and she just wants to continually get in and out of bed because...well...she can! So Michael and I have resorted to laying with her until she falls asleep which luckily has been about 7 minutes on average per night. I'll have to "wean" out of that eventually, but for now, it's what works for us. 

4. Both girls are in a sleep transition stage that we call, "damned if you do...damned if you don't". Adelyn is on the verge of giving up naps all together but still gets extremly crabby during the early evening when she doesn't nap. However, if she DOES nap, then she has a heck of a time falling asleep at night when we put her down (we can put her down at 8pm and she will be up in her room singing and talking until 10:30-11pm!!!). Damned if you do...damned if you don't.

Olivya is transitioning from 2 naps a day to one nap a day. When she has 2 naps a day, she won't go down until 9:30-10pm or so (when her bedtime is typically 7:30/8pm). When she has just 1 nap a day, she will go down right at 7, but from 5:30-7pm, it's melt-down central. One or two? I never know...damned if you do, damned if you don't. 

5. I never EVER thought I could be so darned busy in my life. Don't get me wrong, I love my job as a pastor to Children, Youth and Families, but in my setting I also do all the other pastoral duties (hospital visits, funerals, weddings, baptisms, home visits, preaching and leading worship, attend a bazillion meetings, etc.) and good gosh! I seriously never thought this job would ever be so busy. Basically I'm a youth director, children's minister, AND a pastor all at the same time. Im never caught up and could work 100 hours a week (I currently work 60-70 on average) and still never be totally caught up. Props to all those pastors that I had growing up whom I thought only worked on Sundays!!  Plus, having a spouse in ministry and trying to juggle our night and weekend schedules with also being parents and coordinating the girls' daycare and "school" schedules is just plain cray cray (that's crazy for those of you who don't hang out with teenagers day in and day out). Not that I'm making excuses, but that's why I (for the life of me!) can't keep up with this blog like I used to! Oh yeah - that and two very active and demanding children running around that need something every. minute. of the day!! (Luckily, they are pretty great kids that I love...)

6. I got in a pool day on one of my days off!!! yayyyy!!!

7. My nephew Brady graduated from 6th grade this week!!! He's off to Jr. High next year (whaaaatttttt? Crazy talk)

8. Misquitos have been crazy in our yard...so much so that we hired a professional company to come out and spray our yard all throughout the summer so that we can actually enjoy being outside (since our days to be outside in this state are very sacred!!). This is the first summer since having kids that we have actually had a descent yard to play in and man are we loving it!!! We are outside almost all day, every day and we can even leave the patio door open to the deck and the girls can go in and out when they want and we can see them out the window and sliding door of the kitchen (another small town perk to be able to let our kids play outside on their own if we have to run inside to switch laundry, etc....we just call out to whatever neighbor is outside at the time, "Can you keep an eye? I'm running inside" and the neighbors love it!).

And that, my friends....if life these days. 

May 2014: Throwback to Olivya's Surgery...

One month ago today, Olivya had surgery to put tubes in her ears. After 8 ear infections in 12 months and 2 months of her waking up 3-12 times a night, we were referred to an ear doctor and decided that placing tubes in Olivya's ears would be the best way to relieve the constant fluid and pressure in her ears, and reduce (hopefully eliminate!) her ear infections. Poor girl...basically her entire life, she has been uncomfortable and/or in pain!!!

Because we live in a small town now, the specialist (ear doctor) only comes to our clinic every other week, so after we saw him, we decided that we would drive to his main clinic in Duluth to get her surgery rather than try to schedule it in Aitkin and wait another 2-3 months (because his schedule was booked until then).

Like any other surgery, Olivya couldn't eat or drink anything after midnight the day of her surgery. Luckily, Duluth schedules surgeries from youngest to oldest so the good part was that she was the first surgery of the day. The downside to that was that we needed to leave Aitkin by 4am to make it to Duluth by 6am. I was VERY nervous that she wouldn't handle the morning well without a bottle if she woke up...

But we made it to Duluth and this girl took it like a champ! The doctors and nurses were great! After changing her into her over-sized "surgery scrubs", they let her play with the mask that eventually would put her to sleep...

After pre-operation things, they took us upstairs where we had to wait for the surgeon and nurse to come out and get her. Luckily, they had a pretty sweet play area that Olivya could play in, which kept her busy for quite some time.

Soon enough, the Surgeon and nurse came out and talked to us, and before I knew it, I was handing my baby over and praying like crazy that surgery and the anesthesia and everything would be ok. I would be lying if I said I didn't shed a tear as they took her out of my arms and through those doors into surgery. The "what-ifs" were killing me, even though I knew it was a very routine and common surgery. 

Michael and I headed downstairs to wait for her surgery to be done, and just about as we sat down in the waiting room, the surgeon came in and told us that she was all done...things went great...and she's in the recovery room waking up from her anesthesia! I found out later that she was "put under" for a whopping 6 minutes and the surgery took 4 minutes (2 minutes per ear). Crazy!

When they brought her into our recovery room, she was nothing but smiles!!! I was so glad to see her awake and happy!! I couldn't stop smothering her with snuggles and kisses...

And about 1/2 hour later, we were on our way back to Aitkin! Since her surgery, there has been some nights that Olivya has woken up once though out the night (I'll take it over 8 times a night any day!), but for the most part, Olivya is actually sleeping through the entire night without waking up at all!!! (And once again, I am remembering what it is like to sleep!!). 

All in all, I'd do it over again in a heart beat! Its made the world of difference in Olivya, her sleeping, and her attitude!!! And today I'm thankful for the medical abilities that we have to help our children, and the doctors and nurses who live to make children (and parents!!) feel comfortable during what can be a scary and nervous time.

Hurray for fixed ears!!!!!!

February 2014: Olivya is 9.5 months old!!

Before Olivya was born, I had it in my mind, and I swore that we'd never be those parents who let their 2nd child have "2nd child syndrome"! I was going to make sure that we treated her the exact same way that we treated the first child. We would rock her to sleep every night and never let her play on the floor by herself, and constantly say the ABC's and 123's when we changed her diaper, and by golly, we would do a massive production every single month on her [monthly] birthday and haul out the photo studio, get her in super cute clothes, put on a cute little belly sticker that said the month that she was, and spend the whole day celebrating that our baby girl had turned another month old!!

And we tried...we really did!! And it was all going great...for a month or two. And then we moved, and then we both started new jobs, and then Adelyn needed more fruit snacks, and then we found ourselves just trying to keep our kids fed, clothed, & happy!! And all of a sudden, hauling out that photo studio (which is a pain in the a** to set up and take down) for a 5 minute photo shoot (that may or may not be dominated by kid #1) just didn't seem fun any more. So, we do it when we can, which, unfortunately, hasn't been for a couple of months now. 

Ok, so I may have just a little bit of guilt about not doing those cutesy little photo shoots for each month of the first year of her life, but nonetheless, Olivya is just as cute in every day life...so here's what's she's been up to at 9 months old...

Pulling herself up on EVERYTHING!!! Olivya Loves to stand up, and be on her feet! She also loves to hold onto our fingers and walk all over the place!

In keeping in sync with this family who loves all things water, Olivya could live in the water if we let her! Loves, loves, LOVES bath time and splashing around in the water. She doesn't even mind when I dump water on her head to wash her hair!

She finds herself a frequent "playmate" of Adelyn's (either willingly or unwillingly...I'm not quite sure). This particular day, Adelyn thought Olivya needed a little bit of "decorated" (Adelyn's words)

This girl loves to smile, and laugh, and just keeps breaking those teeth (which doesn't make bed time and night time very enjoyable...but I suppose it comes with the territory...). She has her two bottom teeth completely in, and 2 top ones just breaking through the skin now.

Oh yeah - and perhaps the part that is most significant of her small little 9 lives is that Olivya is officially on the move...

Watch out world!! She's on the Go!!! Growing fast, and is an absolute PERFECT addition to our family just 9 short months ago, Olivya is as precious as ever and we love her soooo much!!!

Happy 9 months Olivya Ann! You've officially been out of the womb just as long as you were in it!

January 2013: This & That...

Here's a real-life, inside scoop of what our life is REALLY like!! I mean, sure...we try to make the best out of every situation and keep positive and have fun in life, but let's get real...sometimes life just takes over and we do everything in our might to just keep on swimming. So, without further delay, here's a glimpse of what January at the Carmack household was REALLY like...

First of all, Olivya didn't sleep for a month. That's 4 weeks people! Not a single night. Since the first week in December (we were in Texas when it started), Olivya has woken up every FREAKIN hour and cries until I pick her up, or give her a bottle, or give her a pacifier, or swaddle her in a blanket. But of course, I never knew which one she wanted, and she would never settle for the one she didn't want, so sometimes it took a half hour to get her back to sleep, only to be woken up an hour later again. It was a horrible 4 weeks and I have thanked God 10 times/day for the past 4 days because she has started sleeping through the night again!! Halleluijah!!

Did I mention it was awful? Like worse than when she was a newborn. She was a mess. I was a mess. (And of course Michael and Adelyn slept through it all except when I would get so fed up and kick Michael to get out of bed because I just couldn't bring myself to get up one more time. And he was more than willing to get up with her (don't get me wrong)...but he has the natural ability to sleep through her screaming, so I got the joy of waking up to it every time.

Not good people...not good. Yep, it sucked.

And not that I would have had the energy anyway, but it's been ungodly cold here for the past few weeks! Just make sure to read the "Feels like" temperature below the actual temperature. It's brutal, which (in my opinion) makes me twice as crabby at the world.

The only saving grace during our cold weeks was my cousin Sarah (well, technically my cousin's daughter...but we don't get technical in this family) came and spent an entire week with us and hung out and even watched the girls every day when Michael and I had to work. The girls LOVED having their cousin Sarah here!! We loved it too...we even got some good games of cards in after the girls went down at night...(Thanks Sarah for hanging out with us all week!)

But don't let that make you forget how cold it's been here...

We also experienced our first "winter" electric bill that included all of our electric heat to heat our house in this insanely cold weather. Let's just say, Michael and I both had a slight heart attack when we opened that bill. Almost immediately, Michael went around to all the thermostats that control our electric heat and turned them all down to 55. Yep, 55 degrees. (Since then I've convinced him to turn them up to 60 so that we at least don't see our breath in our house). So, to stay warm, we resorted to building forts and sitting in them all night. You think I'm kidding, but all 4 of us literally sat in this fort for a majority of the night for at least 4 days last week. It was that cold. 

Everyone always asks us how we are liking small town living, and the truth is that we really like it. We just wish that the small town could be closer to a bigger city (the twin cities would be ideal!), but I guess that would be counter productive. So we've decided to embrace it just the way it comes. And that includes looking forward to our weekly trip to Brainerd on Fridays (our day off) to run errands, go to Costco, and grocery shop (and get Caribou Coffee!! My favorite part!). I can't decide if it is sad or cute that Adelyn is so excited every time we pull into Costco and Target (She literally squeals with delight as she says the store's name over and over again). 

And of course, we make it back to the twin cities a fair amount too! Last weekend we headed back as I got to throw my friend Maggie a baby shower with my friend SueLynn and another friend of Maggie's. We chose the theme "You are my Sunshine", as we needed a gender neutral theme (they aren't finding out the sex of the baby) and so of course, we had to have all yellow food. It was a great day celebrating Maggie and Baby Waterman. I can't wait to meet this little one in just a few short weeks:) 

And so there you have it, oh faithful blog readers. There's some of the in's and out's...the joys and challenges...the crazies and normals...that we call our life. Oh - and we love it all....most of the time. 

October 2013: Not quite ready for this potty training stuff....

Since we moved into our new house, we have had Addi's "little potty" sitting in the upstairs bathroom, and she usually just sits on it fully clothed and makes a grunting sound (don't ask), and then gets up, says, "all done" and goes on her merry way.

This past week, Adelyn has gotten a bit more interested in the whole "going potty" thing. It started when I was giving her a bath one night, and told her to just keep sitting on her potty until her potty came out. She kept getting up and I would put her back on the potty...totally just trying to get her to understand what a potty was really used for. Well, that night, she ended up peeing twice...neither of which time was actually in the potty...both of which times were on the carpet...and in two different rooms!! Not to mention, she also managed to poop in the tub that night as well (not a good night on the whole pee/poop front).

Two days later, I got a text from my mom that looked like this (p.s...my mom is here this week helping out with the kiddo's, as Michael is in Jamaica on a mission trip):

Well, we didn't push her or anything, and thought it might just be something fun that she did, but she peed on her potty 4 more times today!!!

Totally unprepared for this!!! Do I go with it? Put her in underwear and go for the glory? Just continue to let her take off her own diaper whenever she wants to go potty?? treats? no treats? there are so many options and I have done NOTHING to prepare for this milestone in my kid's life. I was not expecting this! (don't get me wrong...I'm excited and all, but from what I can tell, Potty training takes a whole lot of work, commitment, and time!!!) - oh wait...that's all of parenting.

Suggestions and tips welcomed!! Ready, Go!

June 2013: Olivya is 2 Months Old!!

Little Miss Olivya is 2 months old!!!

Growing like a week (a whoppin 12 lbs!!), Olivya has started developing quite the personality this month. She is full of smiles and "snark" looks...almost looking very mischievous at exactly the right times. This girl still likes to sleep, though she doesn't like going to bed at night (of course). She has major fussy times (like a cry wail fest) from about 9-midnight every night. But once she goes down, she sleeps 8-9 hours at night, so I feel like I can't complain too much about the cry fest...though I want to pull my hair out one by one when it's actually happening! 

My favorite part of this past month is that Olivya is becoming more and more awake during the days and she has found her voice!! Her coo's melt my heart every time. Oh - and she hasn't lost her super cute old-man face when she cries. Here's the wind up....

And the wail!!!!!! (Life is so rough at 2 months old!!)

And she is quite the trooper through Adelyn being sick much of the month. Every time Adelyn goes up to Olivya to try to put her nuk back in her mouth or just to say hi (Adelyn says it in a really high cute voice like I do when I talk to Olivya and it's hilarious!), Olivya smiles HUGE at her big sister. Adelyn says, "Oh geez...my sister is already 2 months old!!"

2 months has both flown by and felt like it's been forever! We just love this little pumpkin and can't even imagine our lives without her! Happy 2 month birthday Olivya!!

P.S. I'm heading to the cabin for the week, so 4th of july festivities as well as the adventures at the Cabin posts will have to wait until after I get back!! Let the vacation begin!! 

June 2013: A Whole lot of nothin'...

Not much of a post today...all last week was spent dealing with sickness in our household AGAIN!! I feel like it's just one thing after another. Luckily, this time, the sickness has just affected Adelyn and so far no one else in our family has caught on.

Adelyn woke up puking in the middle of the night last Tuesday night and she was HOT!! I quick grabbed our thermomoter and took her temperature which was 103.8!! We gave her some advil for her fever and threw her in the bath tub to try to cool her down (and to wash the puke out of her hair! Gross!), and thew a load of laundry into the wash machine all by 2am!

I'll spare you anymore gory details, but after 3 days of a high fever, we took her into the doctor...thought she had strep throat...treated the strep throat...and found out that the strep test was negative. She continued to have a fever, no appetite, lethargic, etc...brought her back to the doctor again on Sunday after a rash developed all over her body...and finally concluded that this poor peanut has Roseola (a virus common in young children)!!

Thank Goodness kids only get this one time in their life because this past week has been miserable! We've just been doing a lot of hanging out in our pajamas. Adelyn tries to get down and play, but doesn't last 5 minutes before she is up in our lap again with her head on our shoulder. This was when she thought she wanted to go outside! She made sure she had her sun hat on...but didn't even get out the door before she realized she really had no energy to play outside.

 

Such a sad sight to see your kid like this...and even though it's been 6 days of sickness for her, it feels like eternity!! We've been to jamba juice a few times and are living on nutritional shakes, smoothies, and fruitsnacks (the only thing she will eat). I'm hoping today she starts to perk up...her rash seems better, and this illness has got to go!!! It's been so nice outside and Adelyn's favorite thing is to swim and play in her pool, and she hasn't even wanted to do that.

 

On Friday, Olivya and I took advantage of Michael being home for the day and he was willing to stay home with Adelyn (love this Guy! He knows when I need my pool time!) and we headed to the pool for the day to catch a bit of the amazing sun that we have been having here.

 

 

Along with the nice weather here in Minnesota, we've also had a couple nights of wicked storms!! Power was out for days all around the state...trees were down on houses and cars...and it was quite the sight! Luckily, we just had a few branches down around where we lived, but not far from us it looked like a tornado had it!! Crazy.

 

Well, I've babbled on far too  long about nothing really...here's to hoping a better and more eventful week is ahead of us!!

 

Oh - P.S. I started work last Thursday after my 8 week maternity leave. Here is Olivya's first and only day of daycare...she loved it! For the rest of the summer, we have my cousins Sarah and Rachel (and Hannah sometimes too!) nannying for us and a co-worker's kid.

 

 

And P.P.S...I just find this crazy!! This is the amount of bottles/cups that pile up in my sink TWICE A DAY!!!! That's right...two times a day my sink gets full with Olivya's bottles and milk supplies, and Adelyn's milk and smoothie cups. It just amazes me that we go through so many plastic dishes!! Uff. 

 

Have a great week!



May 2013: Olivya's 1st Bath

Yes, the ambilical cord has fallen off, which means this girl got her first "real" bath this past week. I always wonder what these little ones are thinking in their minds when they experience something for the very first time EVER!!! This is what I think Olivya was thinking in her innermost dialogue during her very first bath:

"Ugh! Hey! What the heck is this?? What's going on? What's happening to me? What is this wet stuff?? I'm panicking here..."

"Ooh...the noisy water has stopped and now this feels kinda good! Ooh - and what's this being poured on my head? More warm water?? Yep...maybe I like that...but I'm still going to act frazzled!"

"Ah shucks...they got me. they just keep pouring this nice warm water over my head and it feels oh so good!"...

"Doo...doo...I'm just going to sit here and twiddle my thumbs while I sit in this nice warm stuff..."

"Ah Man!! It's over already?? I guess if I get wrapped in this nice hooded towel I'll be ok. Yep, I'm definitely a fan of this bath thing! Let's do that again!!"

Success!!!! Yay!! 

(To be honest, I was expecting the worst after Adelyn's First Bath experience...but Yay for bath time (for now anyway)!!!

May 2013: A Week With Grandma Carmack

Sorry for the late post folks! We've been busy lately here at the Carmack household!!! Michael's mom came up to visit this past week to meet Olivya for the first time and of course to hang out with Adelyn lots too! We had a blast and did so many fun things over the past week...so here is a glimpse of the festivities of the long weekend!!

Thursday: Mall of America Day!! 

Adelyn loved the rides (as usual)...of course we had to ride her favorite (the Carrousel) and then she really wanted to ride the bus, but it wasn't open yet, so she settled for the little "quarter bus" instead (where you just put a quarter in...except we didn't have any quarters...so she just sat in there. haha.)

Adelyn also got spoiled at the American Girl Doll Store!! She was in her glory!! (Ok...I had a bit of fun in there too...not gonna lie! Everything is just too darn cute!). It's so fun to have some new things at home to play with now for her bitty baby!

Olivya was a trooper this day!! She just hung out and slept the day away (what else is new!). We had a full day of lots of fun at the MOA. 

Friday: Minnesota Zoo Day!!!

We got up early on Friday and headed to the MN zoo as to get as much of the zoo in as we could before nap time. It turned out to be a gorgeous day for the zoo! Adelyn's favorite part of the day was the...(drum roll please...) MONKEYS!!! (imagine that!)

Yes, we spent lots of time looking at the Monkeys. It seemed that in between everything else that we saw, we would have to go back to the Monkeys to see them again at the request of Adelyn. There was so many cool things to do and see at the zoo! We didn't even get to see half of it before we left (because we kept having to go back to those darn monkeys!), but we did get to see some great animals, including a very active Grizzly Bear!!!

And some of the other things we got to see and do...

In fact, we had such a great time, that we ended up buying a season pass for the Zoo! Can't wait to go back!!

After taking a nap in the car, we headed to my parents on Friday night to have dinner with them, and Adelyn got to play outside in their every-growing kid-friendly yard, which she LOVES!!! She always has a blast playing outside in my parent's huge yard with all the fun toys, but this day she loved jumping on the trampoline, and we all got a kick out of the static that was taking over!

And of course, we can't go play in the big yard without having some fun in the wagon...

We are loving this nice weather that Minnesota is getting! (FINALLY!!)

Saturday: Science Museum Day!!

Saturday we were up bright and early again and headed to the Science Museum with Adelyn and Olivya while Michael's mom stayed home and rested and caught up on some sleep. Again, we had an incredible day where we got to explore, learn, and play as a family! So much fun. 

Saturday night, we took advantage of Grandma Carmack being here and Michael and I took just the baby and headed out for a night on the town with some great friends!! (Ok...really we just went to dinner at Chatterbox, played some games, and then went out for ice cream...but it was still a great night out!) This was Olivya's first time meeting our friends Scott and Maggie, so she was loving the attention that she was getting!! We always have a blast when we are out with these friends and they are some of my favorite people to hang out with (I mean look at them...how can you not love these people??)...

Sunday: Happy Mother's Day (Race for the Cure and a Party!)

Sunday we got up bright and early and headed over to MOA for our annual Race for the Cure as we help fight against Breast Cancer! As always, a great time was had by all, and I even completed the 5K with no problems just 2.5 weeks after Olivya was born (WAY different from the last time I had a kid and the recovery that came with that). It was truly a great day spent with great family and amazing mothers who have helped shape who I am as a mother to my children.

And of course a special shout-out to my amazing Mom on this Mother's Day!! She's the best mom (and Gramma) a girl could ask for! 

Monday: Park Day, a Tattoo, and Dinner on a beautiful Day!

On Monday, we slept in a bit (crazy to think, I know!) and then headed to Teddy Bear Park and spent a few hours playing at Adelyn's favorite park. While we were there, it even started raining, but that didn't stop Adelyn from sliding down the slides into every puddle she could find! She was drenched...(luckily we had an extra change of clothes for her in the diaper bag).

Meanwhile, Olivya just hung out with Grammy under the pavillion at the park...half wondering what the heck was going on...and half not caring and just sleeping through it all...

When it was time for naps, I took the girls and drove around in the car so Adelyn could get a descent nap in, while Michel and his mom went to the Tattoo Parlor so that Michael's mom could add to her "grandchild bracelet" that she started around her ankle when Adelyn was born. After Adelyn woke up from her nap, we all headed to Shanghi Bistro for some great dinner on the patio (yes, it had stopped raining at this point and ended up being a gorgeous day!!)

(haha...sorry about these pictures...I can't get them to load right. They keep stretching out, but you get the jist of the gorgeous weather that we were enjoying!)

And of course, it wouldn't be a trip to Stillwater without stopping at Nelsons for some amazing ice cream!! Our first trip of the season (Olivya's first trip ever!)...and it was well worth it!!

Tuesday: A Day to Recover!!!

(Why am I even still typing?? I'm pretty sure if I were reading this insanely long blog post, I would have stopped reading quite awhile ago!! So if you're still reading this, you...um...well...I guess I should say thanks!!)

At any rate, Tuesday proved to be another gorgeous day here in MN, and after a morning of saying goodbye to Grandma Carmack, meeting some family for coffee, having lunch with a friend, and grocery shopping, we finally were home for the later part of the afternoon and evening as we played on the deck and enjoyed the good ol' Minnesota sun!! Olivya was pooped and I found it hilarious that when I came in from outside, her sun hat had slipped down over her eyes and she was snoozin' away! Totally captured the feeling of the day for us after a busy week! 

And now we get back to our "regular" schedule (if that even exists!) - and as I'm typing this, I'm pretty sure this little turkey is going through a major growth spurt, (eating CONSTANTLY, fussing often, and keeping this mama up at night for the past two nights!) Uffda!! I'm glad that I forget these hard times that I go through from child to child and am able to remember all the incredible times of the infant stage instead! Life is still a miracle, and even though raising kids is hard work...it's totally worth it! 

(P.S. Again, I apologize for the late post. In my defense, I've been trying to finish this blog post for 2 days now!! I forget how hard it is to get anything done with an infant...but I will continue to do my best to post regular...but I also feel I get a "grace period" of some sort with a new baby and a crazy toddler to live life to its fullest with:) - so until next time!!!)