Veggie girls

I finally found a way to get Em to eat her veggies! Feed them to Ally and when she sees Ally eating them, she wants to eat them too! The only bad part about this deal is that now, Em's poop is completely runny again (sorry if this grosses you out, but try changing it everyday!). But, being the good mom that I am, I would rather change runny diapers and have a healthy toddler than Em refusing to eat veggies. I am hoping that as Ally graduates to bigger chunks of food, Em will get the hang of it too.
Last night I started orientation at the Home Depot. My orientation isn't at the store I will be working at. It is about 40 minutes away from our house at the "training store". The store was designed to be the headquarters for orientation. I thought I had it bad for having to drive 40 minutes but there are people who drove 2 1/2 hours to get there. I actually had a good time last night. Home Depot is big on being a family and they make you get to know the people around you. Last night was primarily about learning the history of Home Depot. Turns out Home Depot makes a lot of money. I am excited about having the opportunity to work there. I still have orientation tonight for 4 hours and then 8 hours on Saturday and 8 hours on Sunday. It is going to be a long weekend but at least I am getting paid!

Finally, some free time!

I have not been able to make time to blog because we were in Dallas over the weekend and then I have been scrambling around the house doing different things since we got back. Dallas was a blast. It took us about 4 hours to get there (which is a really long time with 2 babies in the car). We stayed up late talking with Jeff and Dorcas and then on Saturday, we attended Dave Ramsey Live at Reunion Arena. It was a really great opportunity to see Dave and we learned a lot. Thanks Jeff and Dorcas for taking us! My sister Jennifer lives in Dallas and she volunteered to watch the girls and my mom even flew in for the day so that she could see them. Sunday we woke up early to have breakfast with my sister and mom and then we went back and got ready to head back home. We were disappointed that the girls did not get to hang out with Jeff and Dorcas more, but we will be going back to Dallas in March, so there will be plenty of time then. The drive home seemed really long because we were all exhausted. Ally likes to look around now so she didn't sleep much and Emily kept asking questions. When we got home, I had to finish my grocery list and go to the store. I thought the store would be packed but it wasn't as bad as I thought.
This weekend, we have been blessed with two great gifts for the girls. The first is from our neighbor. Emily and I were playing in the garage and our neighbor came over and asked if Em liked Dora. Heck yes! She said she had a Dora toy sitting in her garage and it was a gift for her 13 year old daughter, but I guess when you are 13, Dora isn't cool anymore. She ran back to her house and brought back a huge Dora castle! I was probably more exited them Emily was! We had been wanting to get Em a doll house but they are really expensive. Here is Em with her new toy:


The second gift we received was from Jennifer and Wes (my sister and her husband). Wes works at a bike shop in Dallas and he brought this awesome double stroller home. It was missing a part and he ordered it and put it all together. They immedietly thought of us and this weekend we were finally able to pick it up. We took the girls for a walk in it the minute we got home. The bike is so cool! It is really light-weight and easy to handle. Thank you so much Wes and Jennifer!

Monday I our house smelled like Christmas day. I have decided to make baby food for Ally and I started yesterday. You have to steam or cook all of the veggies and fruits so it is a bit time consuming but the recipes I have make a lot of food. Once the veggies and fruits are steemed, you just pop them in the food processor and add some of the cooking liquid to make them smoother. Yesterday I made sweet potatoes (which are Ally's and Emy's favorite and I like them the best because they are the easiest and smell the best) peas, peaches, and apples. I love feeding Ally the food I make because it actually feels like real food. Baby food that I get from the store always looks really nasty and I would never try it. I have tested all of the foods I made and they were really good. Plus, I finally have a way to get Emy to eat her veggies!
Last night Dave came home from working huffing and puffing. I asked him why he was all out of breath and he said he had to push his car home from the mailbox. After he checked the mail, the car wouldn't start back up. He looked under the hood and there was coolant everywhere so he thinks the hose might have broke. We are really hoping it isn't going to cost a lot but at least we have our emergency fund (thanks Dave Ramsey!).

Buying in bulk

I know that there are a lot of smart, knowledgeable family members and friends who read our blog so I am going to take advantage of that today. About a week ago I got a knock on our front door and it was a woman who was driving around my neighborhood trying to gather clients to sell bulk meat too. She took me to her truck and showed me all of the different types of meats- chicken, beef, pork, and fish. It is frozen and whenever you run out, you call her up and she delivers more to your door. She compared the price she sells the meat at against the stores prices and it is definitely cheaper to buy it from her. I don't question her honesty and I know she is not trying to rip me off. Her meat is USDA choice inspected, vacuum packed, blah, blah. What I would like to know is how you buy $200-300 worth of meat at one time? I know in the long run it saves money and it would last a really long time. What I don't know is how you save up to buy in bulk like that. Talking with the meat lady got me thinking about joining Sam's Club or Costco because I know you can buy everything in bulk there. I would love to know from those of you who have memberships to these kinds of stores, if it is worth the membership fee? Do you really save any money? Dave and I used to be an add-on to my mom's Sam's Club membership and it didn't cost us anything, so we felt like we saved a little bit of money. We didn't really have a need for the membership back then because it was just the two of us. I would greatly appreciate any insight you might have on these questions. Thanks!

Bloopers

These are some pictures from Valentine's Day that didn't make the post.

No more trash!

For the first time since we moved into this house, our trash has been picked up! When we first moved in, the one trash can that the house has was already full of garbage. We didn't know which trash company to use (there are a ton in the phone book) and we didn't know what day they came on. It took a while but we finally found out who picks up the trash. Dave called and got everything hooked up but they still didn't take our trash. By now the trash is more than overflowing and we had resorted to sneaking bags into our neighbors trash. The garage smelled horrible and was no longer a fun place to hang out. We received a letter this past weekend saying the payment didn't go through and we had to call them and set it up again. Finally today our trash was picked up! Yay!

This picture was taken at the park on Sunday afternoon. We took the girls out in search of a park close to home. We found a great park but unfortunately the night before, it had rained a lot and the playground areas all had huge puddles around them. The park had a great walking trail so we went on a really long walk. Emily and I even did some racing along the path. It was a great outing minus the large amount of bird poop that fell on us when we walked under a group of birds.
Saturday night we had over our friends James and Kara over for dinner. We had a really good time seeing them. Emily was the center of attention (as usual). She did her first reading of Brown Bear which I missed getting on camera. I was able to get her to read it again the following day though. Kara brought Emily a Valentine's bear that says "I love you" in a really loud and annoying voice. Thanks Kara! The bear might just get lost under the couch or in the trash can.
Emily has entered the "why?" stage. When she asks me a question and I give her an answer, she asks why at least 10 times. I knew this stage existed, I was just hoping Emily would pass over it. I thought it was cute the first time but that was about it. I have resorted to telling her "because I said so". That usually works.
Ally is now eating pears and carrots along with her cereal once a day. I am not sure why I chose those as her first real foods, but she seems to like them. She does a really good job eating solid foods. Emily was really hard to feed so I was nervous about starting solids with Ally. I think Ally is just ready to be able to hang out with us at the table instead of in her walker. I have also dropped Ally's last feeding of the day. She now eats around 7 pm and then I put her to bed for the night. She has not woken up during the night at all. She still sleeps until about 8 am.
Dave and I always say that we are really glad we had Emily first. Emily was an extreme baby. Everything you read about babies, Emily was the extreme. I never rocked Emily to sleep, she wouldn't let me. She was really difficult to feed solids. She didn't sleep through the night until after 5 months. She was just a crazy baby (don't get me wrong, she was a blast. She just required 3 times the amount of energy as other babies). Ally is a much more relaxed baby. She loves to be rocked, she eats well, she sleeps well. I feel truly blessed to have Emily and Ally in my life. The are uniquely different and I love that about them. I can't wait to see who they are going to become.

Brown Bear, Brown Bear

This is probably the most amazing thing you will ever see!

Happy Valentine's Day!

I was trying to get a nice picture of Emily and Ally together but they were working against me and made it impossible. The pictures I got of the two of them have one or both of them crying in all of them. I decided to go with the separate pictures. Maybe I will try again after their naps.
For the past two weeks or so, Emily and Ally have been on a really good nap schedule. Ally usually wakes me up around 7:30 am. Mornings are super crazy around here. Emy and Ally are both hungry and I usually have to make the decision of who needs food more. Usually Emy wins because she will ask for a nanna until I want to scream. Ally is alright if I put her in the walker but that only lasts about 10 minutes. I don't get to sit down and eat until they have both been fed. Fortunately it didn't take my body too long to get used to that schedule. After everyone has eaten, it is play time. Ally will roll around on the floor for a while and Emy usually runs back and forth from her room, bringing out different toys or books. Ally is usually ready for a nap about an hour and a half from when she wakes up. After I put her down, I check my email and do other things on the computer while Emily runs around and begs me to give her my attention. The other day she came up and asked me to read her the bible (she has a kid-version that Jeff and Dorcas gave her). How could I resist that? Ally usually wakes up around 11 and I try to get her fed before lunch time. It I wait to long, things become crazy. At noon I have started to listen to the Dave Ramsey show on the radio, so I fix lunch and try and hear what he is saying over the two noisy babies running around the kitchen. 1pm is nap time and both of the girls usually go down peacefully. I get to listen to the second half of the Dave Ramsey show in peace. That is also when I try to get everything else done. Usually around 3 I hear both of the girls stirring. I have started giving Emily an afternoon snack so she now asks for it when she gets up. After she eats and I feed Ally, if the weather is nice, we go outside. If the weather is bad, I will let Emily watch one of her videos, since we don't have cable anymore. At 5 I try to get dinner started so that when Dave gets home, we can eat. 6 is dinner and by then, Emily is starting to fade. She will either be in a really good mood, eat her dinner well, be rewarded with dessert of some sort, and get to stay up a little later or she will be in a really bad mood, not eat her dinner, be put in time-out several times, not get dessert and therefore be in a worse mood, and be put to bed earlier. Ally is usually down for another nap around 5 and it is much easier if she sleeps through dinner. Emily is in bed between 7 and 8 (depending on her mood or our tolerance level for the day). We give her a bath every other night. Dave and I try to split taking care of the girls at night because we are so tired. Dave usually takes Emy and I will take Ally (unless it is Emy's bath night, then he wants Ally). Ally will usually have her last feeding between 8:30 and 10pm. She goes into her crib after she eats and she is done for the night.
Man, I am exhausted just typing all of that. Some days are hard and some days are really rewarding. I love being able to stay at home and take care of the girls. It is really fun to get to watch them start to interact with each other.

Dave

I couldn't write about my girls without writing about Dave. Here are some fun/interesting facts about my wonderful hubby:
The first time I met Dave, he was trying to impress the group of girls I was with and he smacked his head with a dumbbell.
Dave and I got to know each other by giving our plasma and playing basketball every week.
Dave told me he was interested in me only after another guy had asked me out.
Dave proposed by coming into my room when I was gone, putting vases of flowers around the entire room (he had painted different memories from our dates onto the vases), being on one knee when I came in, telling me a bunch of sweet things that unfortunately I cannot remember, giving me a ring which had been in his family for a couple of generations, and asking me to marry him.
Dave is really good with kids, now. Right before Emily was born, we volunteered for nursery at our church. Dave refused to hold any of the babies and if one of them cried, he would quickly pick them up and hand them to me.
Dave is an extremely hard worker. When we moved to round rock, he was working 70 hours a week and he was still able to come home and play with Emily and give me a break.
Dave likes weird music. And somehow he has gotten me to like it as well.
Dave is an inch shorter than me and a year and a half younger than me.
Dave wanted another girl the second time I was pregnant, not a boy.
If I make cookies, I have to hide some or I will not get any. Usually they are gone in less than 2 days.
Dave gets excited about talking about lumber.
If I want something for my b-day or Christmas or any other holiday, I cannot hint around to Dave. I have to tell him exactly what I want.
Dave is a huge procrastinator.
Dave is extremely mature for his age. He has a college degree, a wife of 3 1/2 years, 2 kids, moved 6 times since we have been married and he is only 23 years old.
So I could go on and on about Dave but the bottom line is he is an excellent husband, father, and friend.

Job Search

I wanted to update you all on my job hunt progress. On Sunday I was supposed to meet with the mom of the 2 month old I was going to watch. She never called and finally at 9 pm I received an email from her saying that her computer had died and she hadn't been able to get a hold of me. I had gotten a really bad vibe from the woman throughout the day. We had emailed each other 21 times and she had never told me her name. I told her all about myself and she never told me about her or her family. I set my price and she kept telling me she couldn't afford it. I know what I am worth and she kept trying to get me to go lower. So when she emailed me that night, I talked with Dave and told him what I was thinking. He told me to follow my instincts. I wrote the woman back and told her that I could not watch her kids. She replied that that was fine because she had already found a sitter and she didn't know how to tell me. Why let us go to 21 emails then? I am glad I followed my instincts.
Yesterday I received a phone call from Home Depot and they wanted me to come in for an interview. I was so nervous. I have not worked for the last 3 years and an interview is very intimidating to me right now. I went in last night and they offered me a job as a cashier on the spot! I had to go and take a drug test today and that will take about a week to process. After that I have to go in and fill out paperwork, take the computer courses that tell me how to do my job, and go to orientation. I should be finished with all that by the end of the month. I am only going to be working on the weekends, but I will be making more money than I would have made babysitting for 4 days. I am really excited to have the opportunity to help Dave and I get out of debt a lot quicker. We are gazelle intense (for those of you who know what that means, and if not, ask me about it!).

Ally May

Some fun Ally facts:
She is almost 6 months old.
She is eating rice cereal once a day and she loves it.
She can hear her bottle being made a mile away no matter what she is doing.
If I leave her laying on the living room floor, when I come back, she will be on the other side of the room.
She can turn over both ways like a pro.
She loves to be around Emily and no matter how upset she is, she always has a smile for Em.
She has the most heartbreaking cry that will make you pick her up, no matter what you are doing.
She will sit in my lap and let me rock her for a while (something Em never allowed me to do).
She really likes it when I read to her and she will lay quietly for as long as 20 minutes while I read.
She can get across the entire kitchen in her walker.
She likes cartoons.

Ally is such a sweet cuddle baby. I always joked that the next baby after Em would be forced to cuddle with me because Em was so independent, even from birth. Em was never a cuddler and she never let me rock her to sleep. Ally will allow me to rock her and she usually falls asleep. I love both of my girls in the differences and similarities.

Emily

Yesterday I posted on how Emily was in her terrible twos, but today I want to express how much fun she truly is. I am posting this mostly for Dave and I to look back on and remember her at this age.
Emily has many different pronunciations of family members names:
Jennifer-Hoffer
Johannah-Nanna
Katherine-Kaquin
Keving-Falcon
Stephen-Huge emphasis on Steeephen!
Andrew-Addwew
Grace-Cwace
The other names are a lot more simple for her to say but she has so many family member names to remember, she has started getting a little confused. She will look at me and call me daddamama or Dave momadadda. When I was visiting my mom last week, she kept calling me gwandmama.
Here are some other funny/interesting Emily words/phrases:
Medicine=gas (no clue were she got that)
Any tunnel or dark place=dinosaur
If she doesn't like the food she is told to eat=ants
Every morning the first thing she asks me is "Daddy work?" followed by "nanna?"
She cannot go to sleep without her silky and bear (which she now calls a dinosaur)
If we ask her to pray, she prays for anyone she can think of at work.
She is deathly afraid of snakes (and Dave and I have no clue why).
She gets sick every time she goes into toddlers at church (ok, that might be a slight exageration).
She asks to go to Starbucks and Target.
She knows the symbols for Starbucks, HEB, and walmart.
She tells me what color cart she wants to be pushed in at the store.
If Ally is crying she tells me to give her a bottle.
When I tell her I love her, she now says "I love you too."

That is all I can think of right now. Please feel free to add to the list.
Emily is also such a big helper with Ally. Today I had to go outside to make a phone call. We get little to no reception on our cell phones inside the house. I told Emily to watch Ally while I stepped out. I left the front door cracked so I could hear them. When I came back in a couple of minutes later, Emily was down on the floor in front of Ally in her walker handing her toys and trying to make her laugh.

Terrible Twos

Emily has definitely hit the terrible twos. She has been having a bunch of temper tantrums. One minute, she is happy and being a sweet angel and then the next minute, she is crying and being negative about everything. We are trying to make the most of this age and the other night we were taking pictures of Ally eating and Emily refused to smile for the camera. We decided to play along. Unfortunately she continued to be cross even after we all took pictures showing how silly she looked.

Emily being grumpy:

Me being grumpy:

Dave being grumpy:

Ally trying to be grumpy:

We have had a very relaxing weekend. We did not get to try out another church today because both of the girls have been sick (from being in the nursery and toddlers while visiting a church last Sunday). Dave and I did some house cleaning and I tried to catch up on some laundry. I have been searching for a job to help our with our debt and I have applied to about six jobs online and I posted on craigslist that I can care for a kid or two at home. I got a couple of hits off of craigslist and there is a strong possibility that I will be taking care of a 2 month old baby girl 4 days a week. It is really an ideal situation for me and I am hoping it works out. I am kind of nervous about having an infant with Ally still being so young, but being able to care for the girl in our home is much better than having to have an evening and weekend job. The mom of the 2 month old also has two other children that I may watch once a week as well. The money is good but I am not exactly sure how I am going to handle 5 kids by myself.

Pictures

Here are some pictures we have collected during the move.

The kitchen:

The dining room:

Emily's room:

Emily "helping" put the crib together:

Emily brought me each of these hair clips to put in her hair:

Ally playing in her walker:

Em and Ally playing together:

We are alive!

Hi family and friends! I am so sorry for not having updated you all sooner but things have been busy and we did not get the internet hooked up until late Monday night. Tuesday morning I drove to San Antonio with the girls to visit my mom for her birthday. It is a really long drive to make by myself with two babies who did not want to sleep. But I am back and we are finally settling down in our lovely rental house in Spring, Texas. It was not an easy journey getting here, but the important thing is that we have a place to live and can start to explore the city. The last time I wrote we were still in Round Rock not knowing if we would have a place to live in Houston. We had the movers come on that Friday and they came about 3 hours late. They were able to load us up in about 2 hours and so we hit the road at about 9 pm to travel to Houston. We arrived at our hotel after midnight and it was after 1 am before we were all in bed. Saturday morning we got up at 7 to be able to meet with a realtor and find a place to live. We looked at a house and decided we both liked it. It was 3 bedrooms with a huge kitchen, a tiny backyard, and a 2 car garage. The house needed a paint job, but other than that, we thought it would be perfect for us. We drove around for a little while to check out the neighborhood and to discuss what we wanted and decided to try and rent the house. We went to the realtor's office and filled out the application and by the end of the day we had a house. We moved in on Sunday and spent the night without heat or hot water. We were really thankful to have a place to live. We are in Spring which is about 15 minutes north of Tomball. Dave's commute to work is about 15 minutes in the mornings and about 30 minutes in the evening. Emily is loving being able to play outside whenever she wants. When we were in the apartment, it was a huge ordeal to take her outside and we didn't do it very often. Now we go outside just about every morning and every afternoon. There is plenty of room inside the house to run around as well. Emily and Ally each have there own rooms. We moved Ally into her crib and it was the first time in 5 months that she had not slept in the same room with me. It was a little sad but now she doesn't wake up when Dave gets up in the morning and I get to sleep a bit longer. I have also started feeding Ally solid food. She is only eating rice cereal, but she is doing a great job. I am really excited to start trying veggies and fruits. Ally has already tried bananas because the first time she tried the cereal, she hated it. I put a tiny piece of banana and mashed it into the cereal and she ate all of it. Now she eats the cereal plain without a problem. I think she just needed the bit of sweetness to get her started.