First Vlog-Check!

My sisters and I were together all day yesterday. My parents-in-law took Ellie for the day (Thank you!) so I could be at all of the wedding appointments with my sisters.

We had a fun, full day of appointments. We went to the final florist appointment, cake appointment, and I met with my cousin Daniel to practice the song we'll be singing at Alli's wedding.

The guys (our husbands) were camping in the mountains for Brian's (Alli's fiance) bachelor party. Yes, it was a fun, full day for all of us.

The day ended with dinner, girl talk, and a lot of giggling. And of course, we all sat down to do our first vlog that we promised to do.

It took several takes since we were in such giggly moods, but we finally got a decent video. Our close family friend Annie was in the background and she makes several funny comments. I so wish we had convinced her to get on camera, but she refused.

Although none of us like being on camera, we had a great time together yesterday and this was a fun way to finish the day. If you don't have enough time to watch the video, you MUST see the bloopers at the end. It gives you a sneak peak into what we were like growing up. Ha!

So, I give you our first vlog:

Ho-Hum

I don't know what it is, but for whatever reason I've been feeling very blah over the past week or so. Typically I feel like I'm an upbeat, positive person but I'm just not feeling that way right now.

No, I don't think I have postpartum or any other form of depression. I just think I'm in some sort of funk. Not a blogging funk, just a funk in general.

Perhaps it's the fact that my mom and sister had to put down our beloved black lab Zeus last week. I won't pretend that I was the closest one to him, but I did love him quite a bit too. You couldn't help but love Zeus. He was the most loyal, loving and gentle dog I've ever known. It's like my mom said "He just had the sweetest spirit and you always knew he'd be there whenever anyone needed him." I think it's all that and the fact that Zeus was our last connection to our childhood years. My whole family misses him terribly.

Another thing that's been bothering me for some time is my battle with my weight. After Elliana was born, my weight practically just fell off of me. I really didn't work that hard. I gained the EXACT same amount with Ethan and it has been a much bigger battle to lose my baby weight.



It's not that I haven't tried. I've worked REALLY hard. I'm talking going to the gym and working out 5 days a week. The weight was coming off and I was feeling very encouraged, but over the last week or so the weight loss seems to have really slowed down, maybe even stopped. :( I've lost 9 pounds since beginning to work out (32 total since having Ethan) and I'm still 7 pounds away from my pre-pregnancy weight. I already had about 15 pounds that I wanted to lose before getting pregnant. Ugh. Sometimes when I look at my overall weight loss goal I just get overwhelmed. I am convinced that losing weight is one of the hardest goals to accomplish.

I really wanted to look amazing for my sister Alli's wedding (which is going to be in about 4 weeks-yay). Since this is the last wedding for our family, I'm sure my parents will be putting up lots of pictures and gosh darn it, I want to look good! Is that too much to ask? Oh well. I'll just do the best I can I guess.

The other thing that's kind of getting to me is our schedule right now. Caleb is back to teaching and coaching Volleyball. He LOVES coaching Volleyball and I've always enjoyed going to the games and supporting him in that. This year it's a little harder than that though. It's the first year that I've been a stay at home mom of two little ones. When you're taking care of two little ones for 12+ hours a day and you only see your husband for a few short hours in the evening, it becomes exhausting!

Don't get me wrong, I love my babies more than words can say. I just feel like I don't get any "breaks" right now.





I'm not worried though. I'm sure in a few short weeks I'll be back to my upbeat, positive self. After all, we have a lot to look forward to in the coming months (wedding!). And fall has always been my favorite time of year! I'm just figuring out how to adjust to these long days with my beautiful babes and settle into a new routine.



I promise my next post will be more exciting. ;-)

Sister, Sister!

If any of you ever watched that television show about Tia and Tamera back in the day, that stupid song is going through your head. Ha!

Most of you that read my blog know me in real life so you know that I am one of four girls. I'm the second one. Which makes me one of the middle children. Which makes me the peace maker. Ha! Just kidding. Sort of...

Jenn is the oldest. She's the mother of four that I am often times seeking parenting advice from. She was the first to blog and I have always been a faithful follower. Jenn and I shared a room growing up. She was my matron of honor and I was her maid of honor. She is without a doubt the person I often times go to first when I need to talk.



After me comes Alli. Alli does not have a blog yet but we are trying to convince her to start one. Alli is the strong willed one. Yes, I can say this because she would agree. Her strong will has been both a blessing and a curse as it has carried her through good times and bad times. Alli will be getting married in just 5 short weeks (Yikes). We are all so happy for her!



Courtney is the baby. She is a "mom" to her fur-baby Willow. Courtney and I weren't super close growing up, but we are getting closer and closer every year. She is someone that I have to talk to several times a week. Actually, I need a conversation "fix" with each of my sisters at least once a week. While I think all of my sisters are beautiful (I'm not just blowing smoke, I really do), Courtney has always turned heads. She's not just beautiful on the outside though. She is a very faithful friend and family member.



Anyway, my sisters and I had lots of "bumps" growing up. We knew how to fight. We still do, but we're learning to be nicer as we get older(Ha ha). Now that we're adults, we are best friends. Seriously. Some would say we're a little too close.

I liked the way Courtney described us. She's often times the funny one too.

Anyway, we've all agreed to do a vlog together.



What are we going to vlog about? Who knows. We thought it would be fun for everyone to see us interact. I'm not totally excited. Like Courtney, I don't like to watch or see myself on video. But, since all four of us agreed (and it's not easy to get all four of us to agree on much of anything), I figured we could all go through it together. It could be fun. Could be...

If you have any questions for or about us, we would love to use that as a topic for our vlog. If you do have questions, feel free to leave them in the comments or you can email me at chrissan8{at}hotmail{dot}com.

This should be interesting...

Never A Dull Moment

My sister Courtney recently reminded me that my blog is way past due for a post on Elliana.

I completely agree! With how much personality our little Ellie has, I could write a post on the things she says daily. Unfortunately I just don't have the time.

Before I begin with "Ellie funnies", I have to say that the last week or so has been a bit challenging with her. I had felt that we had turned a corner with her in terms of discipline and her obedience, but she's been quite disobedient this week. She has spent a lot of time in time out, and I've spent a lot of time asking God to guide Caleb and I on how best to raise and discipline her. I guess raising children will always be an ongoing learning experience.

Okay, now on to the funny stuff! :)

Elliana is just as much girly as she is a tomboy. She's a tomboy because she has a ton of energy, and she loves to play games and run around and rough house. She always has some bruise or scrape on her.

The girly side of her has really been showing lately. Anytime she watches a movie, she wants to see the dancing, the wedding scene, or the kissing scene. It's too funny. She also loves to have her toes painted, to wear dresses, and to dance. Yes, our Ellie is a sucker for romance.

Speaking of romance, every time I tell Ellie that her daddy is on his way home from work, she smiles really big and says "Mommy... Daddy's going to kiss you!"

Ever since Ellie was a flower girl in her Uncle Nate's wedding in June, she has become obsessed with weddings. Last weekend we were on our way to a party. When Ellie asked where we were going, we told her we were going to a party. With tears in her eyes, she cried "I don't want to go to a party. I want to go to a wedding!"

Just look at the joy on Elliana's face from these weddings this summer:











Lately anytime we're leaving the house, Ellie has to pack her own purse or "lunch box". She has several different bags that she uses. She has a few play purses, a plastic toy box, and if she can't find any of those, she'll use a gift bag. She always has to pack her bags or purses with her drink, a snack, and a toy. Smart girl.

We're always amazed by Ellie's vocabulary and her inquisitiveness. She's always asking questions and always follows them up with "Why?".

This afternoon after Caleb returned from an eye appointment, Ellie said "Daddy, did you get an owie on your eye?" Caleb responded with "No, the Dr's were just making sure that my eyes are still healthy." Ellie thought for a moment and then said "Yeah, you don't want to get diarrhea!" Ha! She always relates being sick to having diarrhea.

Tonight at dinner Ellie turned to Caleb and said "Daddy, I have to ask you a question." Caleb responded with "Okay Ellie, what's your question?" She acted like she wanted to ask something very serious. Then she said "At Alli and Brian's wedding... are they going to kiss?"

This one is a bit embarrassing, but I don't know that we've ever had to try so hard not to laugh. Out of nowhere, at lunch today, Ellie said "Mommy, sometimes when you wear your pajamas, you don't look so good." Touche.

As crazy as Elliana is, she also has a very sweet side. It's obvious that she loves her family (especially her daddy and brother) and she's always telling us how much she loves us. Lately she's been telling Caleb "Daddy, when you leave for work, that makes me sad. But when you come home, that makes me happy!"



She's also constantly trying to make her brother smile or laugh. We've noticed that he's ALWAYS watching her. Partly out of awe, and partly out of fear of what she's going to do to him. Ha!





Yes, there is NEVER a dull moment when Ellie's around. Although she and I often have our power struggles (I honestly don't always win), I just couldn't live without her.

Crazy July and Ethan at 4 Months

Wow! I can't believe it's been more than 3 weeks since I last posted.

Our July has been crazy busy, we've hardly had time to catch our breath. I have so much I could/ should blog about. We had Ethan dedicated to the Lord last week, Caleb is currently painting our home (before and after pictures to appear soon), we've spent so much time with friends and family, we've been to weddings, we've spent time at the family cabin, and today was our pastor's last sermon before retiring to become a pastor to missionaries. Unfortunately there just isn't time to blog about everything now. Maybe later...

I did want to make sure I stayed on top of Ethan's monthly updates. He is growing and changing before our eyes. So, here goes.

Ethan, you are FOUR months old now! I can hardly believe it.

~You weigh 12 pounds exactly and measure 23 inches long. You gained 4 pounds since your 2 month check up! You are in the 5th percentile for weight and the 1st percentile for height. Though you are small for your age, people constantly comment on how quickly you are growing and how chunky you are getting. :)

~You've grown out of size 1 diapers and are now wearing size 2 diapers. Just one size smaller than your sister!

~You are beginning to grow out of 0-3 month clothing and are beginning to wear 3-6 month clothing.

~You are nursing or taking a bottle every 3-4 hours. You are beginning to stare at our food like you want it. :)

~You are still a pretty good sleeper but you are beginning to sleep a lot less. You still sleep in your bassinet and through the night most nights. You still wake up once at night every once in a while. You are sleeping a LOT less during the day. I guess you're becoming very curious of the world around you.

~You love when people talk to you. You really like to smile back and coo and blow raspberries.

~As much as you love to smile and coo, you are also a very serious baby. When you're not smiling, you have a very concerned look on your face. I always call you my "little old man".



~You are outgrowing your love for the swing and bouncy seat. You now prefer to be anywhere that you can get attention from your sister and your parents.

~You most enjoy to be on the floor with some toys and with your family near by.

~Speaking of your sister, we are loving watching your relationship develop. You are always watching her and she loves to be near you.



~We had you dedicated to the Lord on Sunday July 24th. Your cousin Ashlynn and many other babies from church were dedicated the same day. We had a celebration lunch after church with both sides of your family there. It was a very special day!







~You rolled over from stomach to back for the first time a couple of weeks ago.

~You hold your head up really well when you're on your stomach now.

~You are beginning to show signs of teething. You drool a lot and recently you've been biting down hard on your mama's fingers.

~You continue to be laid back and easy going. If you are well fed, rested and changed you are happy.

~You still seem to enjoy cuddling and I LOVE it!

~We didn't give you any new nicknames this month.

Ethan, we love you SO much and we are so proud to be your family!