Each Day is a Gift

My friend posted this on her blog this morning. I read it and sobbed and sobbed. I honestly haven't cried that hard in a long time. I didn't know Wendy or her husband but his words and emotions are so real and such an incredible reminder to be grateful for every minute we have on this earth with our loved ones. Here is the link:

Our Sweet Wendy

Reading this has changed my outlook today. I will be grateful for every minute on this earth, even the hard ones, and try to live each day to the fullest with no regrets. Life is too short to worry about things that don't matter. It's too short to hold grudges or be angry. It's too short to waste it wishing for things we don't have instead of enjoying the things we do. And it's too short to be stingy with praise, compliments, kisses and hugs. I know I'll be giving out a lot more of those after reading this.

Keeping Cool

Well our rental contract is up next month but the house hasn't sold, nor does it seem to be close to selling, so it looks like we will be in it for another summer. I'm thrilled that we don't have to move right now, but having a little anxiety over the thought of facing another summer with no air conditioning! Luckily we have a few tips from last year to help us keep cool.

1) Window units for the bedrooms. We'll have to get one more for Cam's room but we already have one cranking in our room and will be setting one up shortly for the girls.

2) Popsicles. I buy freeze pops in bulk from Costco and let the girls eat them to their hearts content when it's hot out.

3) Swimsuits, trampoline and sprinkler. They literally did this 5 out of 7 days last week.

Even Taber got into it. : )

Hopefully it won't be as hot as last year, and hopefully I'll be a better sport about it since I'm not pregnant this time around. Crossing my fingers anyway!

Back in my Running Shoes

Now that Cam is 4 months old I'm finally getting back into my running groove. I ran my first 5K last Saturday (You can read my race report on my running blog HERE) and Taber and I signed up for a half marathon in October. Luckily I still have 5 months to train for that because I'm still getting back up to speed and also trying to figure out how to squeeze in time to run with 3 kids.

My friend gave me a double jogger I could use while Teya is at preschool but pushing 100 lbs of kids and stroller over the serious hills on my running route sounds like torture. So for now I've just been relying on the treadmill but hopefully I can find a running buddy to do swaps with to get a little practice running outside. Anyway, looking forward to ramping up the mileage this summer and turning my legs into hill climbing machines for the hilly course we're running this fall!

Brinley's First Dentist Visit

Brinsie Boo had her first dentist appointment last week and was a star patient.

She hopped right up in the chair, put on her glasses and opened her mouth wide for the dentist. She has gone to every one of Teya's appointments so I think she was super excited that it was finally her turn to sit in the chair.

They cleaned her teeth with Mr. Bumpy and Mr. Thirsty Straw. She giggled but kept her mouth open and got sticker for having no cavities! Yay Brinley!

Teya had an appointment at the same time and we discovered that she has a cavity on one of her molars. It's on the edge, almost between her teeth. The dentist said she got it from not flossing. Oops! We got a good little lecture about flossing and are rededicated to making it happen. She goes in next week to get it filled.

The girls did great and I'm glad Brinley has Teya as such a good example in the dental patient and tooth hygiene department. Here they are after the appointment. Brinley was pretty excited about showing off those beautiful pearly whites.

Happy Birthday Grammy "Carrot"

Today is Grandma Karen's (or Grammy "Carrot" as Brinley calls her) Birthday! Here are 10 things we love about Mama Rigg:

1) She is the most hands on Grandma and so amazing with kids. She always brings books, toys, and learning games and engages the kids in hours of fun when she's here.

2) She makes her family a priority. Whenever she has time off work, she uses it to see her children and grandchildren. She doesn't need to travel to exotic places and or take amazing trips, what makes her happy is being with family.
3) She is a great example of healthy living and always introduces great recipes and eating ideas to me. She has been a great example to me on staying fit and healthy and active.

4) She is so thoughtful and always sends cards on birthday's, mother's days, father's day, Anniversaries, etc... That is something I admire so much and hope to someday be organized and on the ball enough to do as well!

5) She is a great listener and lets me talk her ears off whenever she comes to visit.

6) She is very very generous and has helped us out countless times and in countless ways since we've been married.

7) She comes to every important event, which is not easy when we live so far away from each other. But every babies birth and blessing, she has been there for.

8) She is smart, talented and organized. She can go into any school and whip it into shape with her amazing administrative skills.

9) She takes the kids for horsie rides which they both have told me repeatedly is the highlight of their trips to Grand Junction. Riding horsies with Grammy : )

10) She is kind, easy going, easy to get along with and knows how to make everyone feel loved and special.

Happy Birthday Grandma "Carrot!" We love you so much!

4 months of the Cam Man

Nicknames:

Cam

Chub Chub

Chubby Toot

Tootie

Toots

Tootie boy

4 months stats:

Weight: 16.6 lbs 81 % (check the awesome chub on those legs! )

Height: 25.8 inches 78% (growing out of everything! wearing 6-9 month clothes and size 3 diapers.)

Sleeping habits: Sleeps on his tummy or on his side with thumb happily popped in his mouth. Averages 6-8 hour stretches at night. Such a good little tootie!

He has the longest eyelashes and sweet bashful eyes.

Popped his first tooth a couple weeks ago that was joined by a second tooth last weekend.

Look at those little chompers! It's cute until he starts biting during a feeding. Owie.

His doc says he is perfect and healthy in every way, although she did give him some homework exercises to strengthen his noodle neck. Sometimes he still gets lazy and goes all bobble head on us. We're working on it : )

This picture just makes me laugh. Looks like he's working on his maitre d skills. "May I take your order?"

If the maitre d thing doesn't work out he's also considering becoming a baby body builder. He's got the baby oil and the tan, now he just needs the muscles. : )

Bumbo therapy to strengthen the neck. And yes that's drool slopping off his chin. He's still producing buckets of the stuff daily.

The last 4 months have been so fun with our squishy little tootie boy. We wouldn't trade him for the world.

Here is a video of him discovering his voice. the first part is his low voice, and the second part is his upper register : )

Martha's Vineyard part 3: Inseparable

After Taber's meetings were done on Friday we had the rest of the weekend to hang out and enjoy the Vineyard.We hit the beach, went into town, got some nice runs in and ate a lot of good food.

And of course, everything we did had to coincide with whatever Teya and Brinley's new best friends were doing. It's a good thing all of the adults got along because our vacations were unavoidably intertwined as our girls became inseparable. Like us, the Knutsons have 2 girls that are 2 1/2 years apart and Jenny is pregnant with her 3rd which is a boy! Fun how our families match up like that.

So yes, the girls were inseparable. They painted together in our hotel room.

Oogled over Cam together.

Enjoyed hours at the resort playground and kid room together.

Posed for pictures on the fun chairs in the garden together

Played in a fire truck

Visited the farm

Discovered a new beach on the other side of the island with big fun rocks to climb

Rode America's oldest Carousel together.

(The horses are all antiques)

(Love that my Brinley still has her cheeser face smile)

Ate at Sharky's Cantina (AWESOME restaurant in Edgartown where Jaws was filmed)

And basically just had a blast of a vacation together. By the end Teya and Brinley's car seats were in the Knutson's van and they even drove everywhere together. Kaelyn said she wished they could all live together and be cousins. It's so fun when your kids hit it off with new friends like that. They were like 4 peas in a pod.

After 5 lovely days on the island it was time to board our ferry and head home. We finally switched the car seats back to our car after the boat ride and said goodbye to our friends. Martha's Vineyard was beautiful and I'm so glad we got to tag along for the best business trip ever. : )

Martha's Vineyard part 2: Friends Arrive

After our first 2 days at the Vineyard some of the other families of Taber's coworkers came to the island with their kids. One family had two girls, each exactly a year older than Teya and Brinley. They became instant best friends and were inseperable from the moment they met.

While Taber and co were in their meetings, the girls and I were living it up at the beach.

Look at Teya jumping up and down in giddy excitement.

They ran in and out and in and out of the waves, screaming and laughing.

At one point Brinley dropped her shovel in the waves and it was swept away. Fully dressed in pants and a jacket she stormed into the icy water hysterically crying and trying to capture it. She was knocked on her bum, soaking her pants and intensifying the tears. She wasn't crying because she was wet, she was crying because she thought her shovel was a goner.

Luckily Teya came to the rescue and snagged the shovel before it was swept away again. Brinley quickly stopped crying, grabbed the shovel and got back to digging, totally unfazed by her soaking wet fanny.

My happy little digger reunited with her shovel

After the beach the girls also got into a little game of put put, minus the clubs. They just kicked it around instead.

Another happy sunny day at the Vineyard

Night on the Town

During our trip Taber's company hired some babysitters to watch the kids so we could go to dinner with the leadership team. It was my first time ever leaving Cam with a babysitter!! I knew before our trip that they were planning to do this so I worked really hard to teach Cam to take a bottle. He didn't love it but I was able to get him to take 2 before our trip so I was feeling hopeful that he'd do okay.

The night out was so much fun. It felt amazing to change out of my self imposed mommy uniform (t-shirt and sweats, since I don't feel like wearing much else when I'm nursing, chasing after kids, and cleaning all day) and into my "fancy" night out clothes. It was awesome not worrying about negotiating eating deals (if you eat three bites of a vegetable, you can have a french fry...) taking the potty trainee to the bathroom mid meal, bouncing a fussy baby, or reminding anyone of table manners. I just sat back and enjoyed the lively adult conversation and undivided attention of my man.

Apparently I didn't get the memo that we were wearing muted colors and not fluorescent shiny bright flashing blue. In my defense, it's one of 2 dressy shirts that actually fits me right now. Still working on that baby weight. ; )

The dinner lasted several hours, and then everyone wanted to go to a bar for more drinks. (Taber, his pregnant co-worker and I sipped on waters, Shirley temples, and when I was feeling really crazy, a cherry coke : )

After 5 hours away from my munchkins we returned to the hotel to find the girls snuggled together and sound asleep.

This guy was wide awake however, and had refused his bottle the entire time! I guess if he can go 8 hours without nursing at night he was willing to go 5 while I was away before he'd let some babysitter he didn't know give him a bottle. The babysitters said he actually slept most of the time we were gone and then just wanted to be held after that. Guess you don't mess with a Rigg and his food. Seriously!

Loved my night out and always feel like time away helps me appreciate these scrumptious little peanuts even more. Look at them practically holding hands in their sleep! So stinking cute!