And this is why I love The Office:

My little g bum

Here is our little Jovie sporting her gdiaper. I really like using these. They aren't necessarily cheaper than disposable diapers but they are better for Jovie and better for the environment.

Three months ago today...

Two major events occurred:
1. Jovie was born at 6lb 9oz at 4:00 o'clock in the afternoon.
2. I drank a 32 oz chocolate peanut butter milkshake.

These past three months have been a mixture of emotions and events. There have been times I've cried, wondering what I got myself into. There have been moments I've rejoiced at the joy my girls bring me. There have been days that I hit the pillow at 7:30 in the evening only to wake in the morning as tired as I was when I went to bed. I have overcome many obstacles, such as going to the grocery store, in the rain and cold, with a newborn who hates a carseat and a toddler who loves to help me shop. And cooking dinner with a baby in the sling and a toddler at the counter "helping". I have grown a lot over the past months.

Jovie is such a delight. She has such a sweet voice and LOVES to talk. It is so much fun to watch her grow and develop. I am excited to see more of her unique and wonderful personality come out! It's crazy that she's already 1/4 of the way to being a 1 year old.

Not quite a June Cleaver day...

Have you ever woke up feeling great, thinking that today everything is going work out just right? Thinking that the kids are going to be angels and that you are going to be the perfect mother and housewife? Well today was one of those days. I woke ready for a wonderful day. In fact, as I was getting up, carrying Pear into the kitchen for her breakfast at 6:30am, I said to her, "we're going to have a good day today." We proceeded to the kitchen. I gave Pear her muffin and milk, made Stephen's latte and got his muffins together so that he could take his breakfast to go and then sat down to eat my own.

So far so good. My day was on to a good start! I had a bright idea. "Today is an excellent day to potty train Pear." I showed her the new Gerber training panties I recently purchased and told her she could where them. I emphasized how soft they were and that she could be a big girl like Taffi and Libbi (her aunts) and go pee-pee on the potty. "Kay!" she said with excitement. Throughout the morning I set her on the potty a couple of different times for about 15 minutes each time. We read books, talked and waited. Nothing came. Oh well. Jovie went down for a nap. This meant time for me to squeeze in a shower. I put Pear in the tub and took my shower. Upon getting Pear out of the tub, I put her on the potty to try to go. Of course, still nothing. We put the panties back on. Within about 2 minutes of getting her dressed I hear her say "big peeps!" I run in to see that she went "peeps" on the ground. "That's okay," I say. "We'll try again next time. But she didn't want to try again next time. She wanted a diaper on. I again emphasized how great the panties are but she refused. She wanted a diaper and she didn't want to go "peeps" on the potty.

Jovie woke up, and I moved on to my next task: making dinner. Yes, it was only 10:00 am at this point. I got a pot roast in the oven. Played with the girls some more, fed Pear her lunch, made Stephen lunch, put Jovie down for her next nap, put Pear down for her nap and had a few moments of sanity. I made myself a salted caramel hot chocolate and sat down to read The Shaping of Things to Come. When the girls awoke, we ventured out to the park nearby. Yes it was cold but it was gorgeous outside. While there, Jovie decided that she needed to spit up almost everything she had previously eaten and then have a disastrous bowel movement. It was then time to go home to clean her up.

We got home, I cleaned Jovie up and then I went in to check on the roast. Ugh! All of the liquid had evaporated! It wasn't completely ruined but was definitely on the dryer side. I continued on with the rest of dinner preparations. Pear helped me make biscuits and she washed the potatoes. Dinner was ready for Stephen when he came home but let me tell you, this wasn't a June Cleaver housewife with dinner just perfect on the table!

I spent much of my day cleaning but my house still looks as though a tornado overtook it. I have done 3 loads in the dishwasher and I still have a couple of pots to wash. I have a couch full of laundry to fold. The list goes on and on and on!

Oh well! This is life, right? It's not necessarily a bad day. But, it certainly isn't the day I pictured when I woke up this morning. The life of a mother and housewife is difficult at times but somehow, I managed to make a couple of sweet girls smile and laugh. I even had Stephen laughing over my frustration with my pot roast this evening. Seeing the ones I love so much happy makes it all so worth it. And now, thinking of it, I am excited for tomorrow, even if it is repetition of today! God has blessed me and I AM blessed! I truly love my job.

Seattle

I have lived in Washington all of my life. I have always thoroughly enjoyed shopping downtown Seattle. I enjoy such shops as JCrew, Banana Republic, Anthropologie, Gap, Old Navy and of course, no shopping trip is complete without a jot into Nordstrom and Nordstrom Rack. For so many years, I thought this was what made up downtown Seattle. Until I discovered that there are also so many fun boutiques, gift shops, furniture shops, etc. if you walk closer to the waterfront on 1st and 2nd Avenue.

This last year I discovered Ballard. Now, it is a different type of shopping. Your big stores are not in Ballard. But, if you are looking for that special something that you have no idea what it is, and if you are looking for a little more of a quaint area to shop in than the vast downtown, go to Ballard. The other wonderful thing about it is that Cafe Besalu's delicious pastries are just up the street from the shopping.

If you are interested in seeing the different boutiques, restaurants, bookshops and more in Ballard, click here.

I love Seattle!

A visit to the Napier home

I decided to trek down to visit my mother and siblings this morning with the girls. It is actually quite a relaxing drive if I time it right and both of the girls sleep in the car for the 40 minute trip, which was the case this morning. I went to Starbucks, got my Salted Caramel Hot Chocolate and was on my way. We arrived and Pear awoke with exclamation, happy to be at "the girls'" house. The kids were doing school upon our arrival. They stopped long enough to greet us and then continued on, so as to finish in time to enjoy the outdoors on this sunshiny day! During lunch break, I joined Piper, Racer and Aspen in a game of Monopoly. Much to my dismay, we ended the game early as it was taking too long and there was more school yet to be done before the kids could go outside. I still think I would have won! Pear, Taffi and Libbi enjoyed each others company while playing with "Pet Shops", reading books and playing outside. Jovie cried, napped, played and talked while visiting. Here are some pictures of our day:

Mom quizzing Piper on her spelling words

Racer looking up for a picture inbetween problem solving

Jovie taking a cat-nap on the couch

The girls playing in the schoolroom

Hutton helping Racer with a problem

Aspen using a ruler to solve a problem

Pretty in Blue

Jovie finally fits into the adorable hat Great Grandma Memee purchased for her at the Puyallup fair this last year. I think it is one of the cutest hats I've ever seen. Thank you Memee!
This hat was handcrafted by Sherri Grubbs of Small Fries in Elma, WA. You can see some of her products here.