Lady Gaga???

So you may ask..."Hmmm, why does Steph have Poker Face on her family blog playlist?" Well for an explanation, Poker Face happens to be Tommy's favorite song. He breaks into a frenzied excitement the moment it begins. So everytime I open our blog I get to do a Poker Face dance with Tom, it's so funny. He comes running from where ever he is in the house yelling, "Poker Face, it's Poker Face mom!!!"

I know, I know, what kind of a parent am I?

Our Little Girl

Our little Madison is growing so fast, too fast. Although, to be honest, I can't wait until she starts sleeping through the night consistently. She actually has slept through the night once but then she made up for it the next night by waking up twice. Which really you're probably thinking, two times, that's not a big deal. Well unfortunately Madison struggles with the whole burping thing. So I feed her for about twenty minutes, then I burp her for about thirty minutes, and finally I put her back in her bed where she usually squirms around a bit more because alas I didn't burp her long enough. Usually each feeding session takes me about an hour. So two feedings...that's two hours much missed in the night.

She is a sweet heart though...The best thing is watching Tommy interact with her. A day doesn't go by without Tommy saying, "Mom, I love her so, so, so, so much!" Or, "Mom, I love her tons and tons!" It is very cute. However, yesterday Tommy said, "Mom, when is she going to start playing toys with me?" I think the little man is in dire need of a playmate who is not his mother.

Much to say the least being a mom is awesome, exhausting, frustrating, and on occassion miserable, but awesome. I cherish the good times and attempt to be patient through the rough times. Well I better wrap this up, Tommy is poking my shoulder and asking me to "play blocks" with him. Good times.

Whining...

I frequently find myself frustrated by the continual monotony of life as a mom. I seem to get up each day and as fast as I can I am preparing breakfast, washing dishes, picking up toys, straightening the house, cleaning, laundry, cooking lunch, washing dishes, picking up more toys, more laundry, more cleaning, making dinner, washing dishes, and then the evening routine begins for putting the kidos to bed. I then breathe for a moment, get ready for bed, and collapse into a deep slumber until one or both of my kids wakes me up in the middle of the night.

Tommy frequently says to me, "You're doing dishes again?" like he is totally dismayed at my fate. Dishes, dishes, dishes...

I sometimes find that I enjoy whining about my frustrations rather than counting all of my blessings. Of late I have found a new way of thinking that makes me smile as I am washing another dish, preparing another meal, attempting to tackle the endless supply of laundry, or even dealing with a mischevious three year old while holding a crying infant. Hey at least I have food to prepare, I have dishes to wash, my kids have toys to play with (and they play with them all over the whole entire house), I have clothes that keep me warm but unfortunately get dirty too quickly, I have a sweet family that fills my life with more joy than I had thought was possible. Life is good and I am incredibly blessed.

Happy 2010

I can't believe another year has past...I'm beginning to feel old. Although it is awesome looking through our family pictures from 2009 and remembering all of the fun we had. We had some great camping trips, a vacation to Maui, Brayten got an elk, Tommy grew some more (unfortunately, I would like to press pause with that little guy and have him stay just as he is for a little bit), I survived pregnancy, and our little Madison was born.

It was a great and successful year! I'm looking forward to some more adventures in 2010!