Happy 1st Birthday, Skyler!!!!!

Can you believe that a year ago Skyler looked like this?!?!?! Dark, curly hair. Crazy!!!

And now he has straight, blonde hair!!! You have been such a little adventure, Bud. Here are some of the things that I love about Skyler:

• He is the snuggliest baby ever!
• He provided his own year supply in his cheeks.
• He ADORES his big sister.
• He kind of sleeps through the night.... :)
• He has what I call his "scratch'n'sniff spot" which is a dime sized spot on his head that always smells like this chocolate scratch'n'sniff sticker I had. Of course, no scratching required. As if baby smell wasn't already the best smell in the world!!!!
• He always looks so handsome in a tie with faux hawked hair.

We love you Little Handsome! We're so grateful to have you in our little family! Mwah!

Lils

Today Lily had some Child Specialists come and observe her to see how she is developing. After all sorts of physical, verbal, and problem solving tests (which were, of course, all disguised as play) they diagnosed Lily as being spot on with her physical skills (definitely not a surprise to us) but was rated at 18 months old for speech and problem solving. To be completely honest, I was relieved. Ben and I had suspected that Lily was behind but no one can quite confirm it like the therapists did today. I'm so grateful that Lily will be able to go through therapy so that she can get back on track. I'm also so grateful that there ARE therapists who can help parents help children reach their potential.

Also, today was pretty special because Ben got called for an interview on Thursday and got an email from another company saying that they were possibly interested in him and that he needed to do further paperwork for them. I won't go into detail because there's always the possibility of more rejection, but it was so nice to have all that in ONE day!!!! We're keeping our fingers crossed for either job(or more accurately praying like crazy!!!!).

Today was a fabulous day. Yep. I've got it good. We have so much to be thankful for. :D

My Mommy Resume

I am constantly trying to stretch my brain to come up with new ideas for entertaining my children. Well playing outside was limited this past week with all of the hard rain we got. So that was also my answer. We just plopped chairs in front of a window and the babies were entertained. Better than TV.

Please don't pay attention to my horrible piano skills. I haven't played the piano since I was 13. And the Stevie we are referring to is, of course, Stevie Wonder. Because that's Skyler's alter ego. Sky by day and Stevie by night. Must be the life.

Most "entry-level" careers usually want you to have 2 years of experience under your belt before they hire you (what I want to know is why in the heck that is called "entry level" then????) But anyway, I realized that I have 2 years of the hardest career in the world under my belt. Sweet deal. I figure that if I had a "mommy resume" my experience would look something like this:

1. Master Artist - create beautiful abstract art with crayons, stickers, and play dough. Those 4 years of art classes in high school DID come in handy! So there you go kids. Stay in school.
2. Chauffeur - Drive kiddos around while trying to keep them happy, asleep, or holding a toy until we arrive at destination. Without taking hands off the wheel. (If I was one of the X-Men I would totally want to be telekinetic for this reason).
3. Hair Stylist - get children brushed/combed and then styled (personally skilled at faux hawks and teddy bear ears). Also accomplished in holding screaming children while someone else is holding scissors or clippers. Great at styling when pressed for time.
4. Chef - former Top Chef contestant (OK... that one's a lie). Create meals that look cool but, in fact, are stuffed with vitamins. Also experienced in teaching children what NOT to eat i.e. plants, bugs, plastic wrap, fallen off umbilical cords (remember that one, people?????), and anything mentioned in #1.
5. Professional Shhhhhsher - what? That's not a real name? Well it is when you're Lily's mom. "Shhhhh" is one of my most common words these days, especially at 7 in the morning, at church, or when she's right next to my ear.
6. "The Bad Guy" - self-explanatory. I even have my own theme music.
7. Squeeze Toy - I have excess fat on my arms, stomach, etc. that keeps kids happy. I'm probably alone on this and it should embarrass me but you do what you gotta do sometimes.
8. Snuggler - my all time favorite. Snuggling babies is the best pastime in the world. That and adoring them when they're sleeping and their honey buns are sticking up in the air.

Life's crazy as a mom. But it's super awesome. And it's an eternal job. I'm pretty excited about it.

Skyler's Circles

Little Handsome is always trying to help out with the dishes. Because, you know, real men do dishes.

When Skyler gets really excited about something he does these circles. It's usually when he finds a toy that he loves or something along the same lines. The more excited he is the faster he goes. So what really gets him going fast? How about cans of food or throwing his blankie on his head. :)

HOLY COW!!!!!

Remember a couple of months ago when I announced that my sister, Lizzie, was going to be having her fourth baby and how this one would be tough because baby #3 would only be 14 months older??????

Yeah. Scratch that.

Try this. She's now due with babies #4 AND #5 and since they're twins they'll be born early and end up being around 13 months apart (and every month counts - trust me). Her kids will be these ages when all this craziness happens:

Benjamin - 5

Rose - 4

Kate - 1

Twin 1 - 0

Twin 2 - 0

= 5 kids ages 5 and under

=HOLY FREAKING COW!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I think I went through the most shock out of anyone. I was just staring into space last night after she told us. And it is officially 4 AM and I seriously can't sleep. Don't get me wrong, I'm super duper excited to become an aunt of a second pair of twins (the first set on Ben's side of the family are pretty awesome if I may say so myself). I'm just freaking out about how hard it's going to be for Lizzie that first little while. But congrats to Liz and Brian! You'll make it! And we're DEFINITELY praying for you!!!!

I guess one of the reasons why I'm still in so much shock is because we haven't had twins in our family in like 5ish generations. And I always told Ben that it probably could never happen to us. Until now.

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hair, Gummy Vitamins, and "DADA!"

All I wanted for my birthday was a haircut because I was looking pretty bad. However when I got my hair done I was told that I had 3 times too much hair for the style I wanted and that it was also too healthy. So this is what I ended up with. And seriously, every time I have my hair cut why is it that it looks like I've dyed it darker??? How does that work????

So Lil has a teensy weensy bit of OCD in that she ALWAYS has to close doors. It just bugs the pants off of her if they're left open. Well this week Lily figured out how to get into the pantry (because that's where the amazing gummy vitamins are) despite the child-proof door knob covers.

So last night something awesome happened. I have been working with Skyler to say Mama and Dada and he hasn't said either. It kind of worried me since he turns 1 this month and he says no real words. But last night he reached up to Ben and said, "DADA!!!!" We asked him to say it again and he kept saying it over and over as if he'd been saying it forever. Crazy little man. Ben is such a proud dad, of course. That's exactly how Lily said her first word, too. :D

Blah

Lil looking schnazzy as usual.

Lettuce Wraps. Lil was helping by throwing that orange on the ground and trying to fit it into different cups.

Since all four of our birthdays are basically within a month I opted for a birthday cookie instead of a cake... I'm going to hate cake by the end of July. I also decided to let Lily help blow out the candles. I wonder if that means that I won't get that unicorn I wished for?

Well last week I took Lily to her two year checkup and the only concern I had about her dealt with her talking skills. At this age it's pretty easy to compare her with other kids and realize she's not as verbal as they are. Don't get me wrong. She probably talks more than all of them combined, but most of it is still jabber. They asked me if she knew how to say 50 words and I didn't think so. However, I had never actually sat down and counted them so that's what I did. Figures she had around 65 words. But they set me up with a speech therapist and I got to talk to her yesterday and apparently there are still a few concerns. So we'll see how this results.

Another concern that we're having right now is that we've been job hunting for over 18 months now. We get interviews here and there, a job offer here or there (don't misunderstand, they'll interview him for one position and then offer him something like sales). We've been to the temple and pray all the time to know what we're supposed to do and it's clear that Grad school ISN'T right for now. It's easily the hardest trial I have ever been through. People here have been really gracious and do what they can, but to make a long story short, there's only so much you can do with people these days. It's all about getting through the computer systems to see if you qualify for a job. To me, the road seems impossible. To me it says "You're not good enough to hire." To me it says, "I can't believe you were stupid enough to waste 18 months just to realize this." But I also realize that I am no different from any other human being. We all have something to go through. I'm not alone. And no I never ask "why me?" because isn't the most fair thing "why not me?" Don't get me wrong, I have my good days and my bad days like anybody else. But I really want to record this because I know it's important for me to remember what I went through so that I can stay a strong person instead of having to relive this in case I forget. Sorry that this really is a bummer of a post but it would be a real lie if I tried to make it seem like my life is perfect. I guess it's fairly obvious now that I didn't wish for a unicorn when I blew out the candles.

Happy 4th on the 3rd

So, yes, Ben's birthday was the third, but that's also the day we celebrated the 4th. It was a fabulous day and Ben's babies gave him the best present of all: they both fell asleep on him (that's a total miracle for Lily because she hasn't done that since she was fresh out of the oven).

PROOF

Ben's family has the tradition that the birthday boy/girl gets to decorate their own cake. And Ben was not about to break tradition this year.

We went to fireworks at a park just outside of Raleigh and ate a lot of good food.

Don't worry. He got it all.

Baby #2 falling asleep on Ben.

This was Lily and Skyler's first experience with fireworks. I've been really nervous to take them to fireworks because of the late time and the noise. And they both freaked out a little in the beginning but by the end they were giggling and Skyler was actually clapping.

I have an ooberly cute movie of Lily dancing through the crowds but Blogger doesn't seem to upload videos well anymore..... but at one point when I was with her she made her way up to right in front of the band. Nobody was watching them and so Lily was dancing by herself, like a crazy woman, and all of these pro photographers started kneeling around her and snapping pics. Lily was loving it.

Happy Birthday Ben!!!!

These two pictures were taken when Ben and Lily were talking to each other on the phone.

He's such a good daddy! (Isn't this the cutest picture?!?!)

Lily wearing the apron that Ben made her. Ben has some crazy skills. Seriously, at this point, I've just learned not to doubt him when he says he can do something.

Some of the things that I love about Ben:

• It seems like he has unlimited patience (and when you're married to me you're going to need it....)
• He gave our kids awesome "cuteness" genes because neither of them look like me. Thank you for giving me the cutest kids ever (in my not-so-humble, biased opinion).
• He still tells me how beautiful I am everyday even after fighting in two wars aka pregnancies 1 & 2.
• He's probably the hardest worker I know. He's such a great example to me.
• He still gets that adoring face when we go in to check on Lily and Skyler when they're asleep in bed.

Love you Hubby!!!!