Three A's and Their Mamas

January 2010:

A very exciting month, I was talking on skype with one of my best friends while I was in Taiwan when she dropped a bombshell on me...she was pregnant! (I know it probably shouldn't have been a huge bombshell for me but I hadn't really put 2 and 2 together that now my friends were getting married they could also get pregnant and have babies).

A couple of days later I got an e-mail from another best friend that she was pregnant too!

I told my sister about both of my best friends being pregnant...she had a secret that she didn't share with me for another couple of weeks. She was pregnant too!

Fast forward to August 2010:

I get a very exciting text on August 24 Erin had had her baby...a little girl!

A week later (exactly- the 31st) I get another call/text (while out celebrating my niece Sarah's birthday) from Brea that she was at the hospital, her water had broke. As soon as I was able I caught the bus to Provo to be there and part of when she had her baby...a little girl!

Now as Brea kind of barely slipped into August with her baby being born there was no chance of Libbey having hers too. Originally all 3 had been due in September, Erin towards the beginning, Brea more middle, and Libbey the end of the month. Erin and Brea had theirs early and Libbey came late with an October baby (yeah we get to share birthday months!)

I found out their names and instantly loved them and the little girls which they belonged to...

Allisyn

Addilyn

Alexia

It's not very often that we have all 3 together so when we were all at Seven Peaks we of course had to take pictures (in order, youngest on left, oldest on right)

Ones with Mommies are always good too!

I love these 3 Little A's and their Mamas and am so happy of the part that I get to have in their lives!

Libbey, Brea, and Erin I have many, many more pictures of them and you guys if you want copies just let me know :)

Childless...What!?

I read a blog called Kazooisms that is just a blog of things that this mother hears from her preschooler, it is quite funny and I can't believe some of the things that Caroline (the daughter) says sometimes. I'm beginning to wonder if I should start a blog for the same idea but of things that I hear from Emily and Addy when I am at work.

I'm not sure where it came from on Tuesday but Emily, Addy, and I were sitting on the couches in the living room when out of nowhere Emily asked me if I was Mom...

B: No, not yet.

E: Oh, how old are you?

B: 22

E: 22? You're almost a Mom then, right?You should be a Mom when you are 22.

B: I have to get married before I can become a Mom.

E: When will that happen?

B: When I meet the right guy...someone that loves me and that I love him.

E: What if every guy loves you?

B: Then that would be awesome!

E: The you would be married to a lot of guys.

Oh the logic of a 4 year old, but indeed it would be awesome if all the guys loved me :)

Adventures As a Child-Napper

With all of my time spent with kids (young to old) there is something that I've learned...there is good, bad, funny, not-so-funny, happy, irritating moments. And you have to learn to smile and laugh through the good and take deep breaths (and remember the good) during the bad. As I watch Allisyn 3 days a weeks and Emily/Addy 2 days a week I have many opportunities for funny things to happen. I'm sure that there are many more but these are some of the ones that I can remember at the moment...

...several weeks ago Allisyn started making a new noise, it sounded like she was choking (which of course greatly concerned me). Every time I would look over at her she would stop making the noise and act like everything was ok, I picked her up to make sure that everything was ok. I told her that she shouldn't make that noise, it made me concerned that something was wrong and that she couldn't breathe. Her response...sticking out her tongue at me :)

Yesterday I discovered while playing hide and go seek it's probably best not to play right after it has snowed outside (unless playing with a 2 year old like I was), the snow is a dead give away to what direction you have gone for your hiding. But because I was playing with a 2 year old it was probably good because it made it a little easier for her.

With little girls your purse is free game. A couple of weeks ago I was sitting on the couch minding my own business when Elle (friend of Emily) took my purse and every item somehow became a gift for Emily on her birthday (each item was taken out one at a time and given to her and they would talk about each thing).

I forget the things that are said while little girls play dress-up...(heard from Elle while she and Emily were playing pretend several weeks ago---Elle had a pillow under her shirt so that she looked pregnant), "Pretend that I heard the baby crying in my stomach and I started bouncing up and down because I knew she liked it."
While on campus with Allisyn we stopped in the bathroom and as we were walking out there were two girls sitting by the couch's talking, as I passed them one randomly turned to me and complimented me on my stroller. I kindly said thank you and as soon as I was out of the bathroom started laughing (*no offense to Erin and J.J.'s stroller, it is cute but it just made me laugh).

Baby Cuteness

I keep on meaning to write-up a quite funny post about the many different adventures I have with babysitting every day, but while you wait for that to happen you should check out these super cute videos and pictures that I took yesterday while Allisyn and Addilyn had a fun "play-date" on The Despain families blog HERE

The Ugly, The Bad, The...

A friend and I were having a discussion the other day about kids and how she isn't very excited about having them because all she seems to hear from people is the bad and ugly--"throwing up, weak, swollen (pregnancy), screaming, wetting the bed, not listening, coloring on things, etc." Why is it that so often when parents talk about having kids it always seems they talk about the bad and can't seem to remember any of the good. I understand that having kids isn't all peaches and cream that I should know ahead of time some of the hard (I like that instead of "bad) things that may happen but I also want to hear the good.

Like take this week at work for example---the two year old wet the bed while taking a nap, I'm probably not going to remember that part, but I am going to remember that my first day of work the 4 year old wanted to make sure that I was going to come back and watch them the next week. And my 2nd day of babysitting the 2 year old wanted to come home with me. I would much rather remember those tender and sweet moments than when I walked into the kitchen and found every single can on the floor (which the 4 year was very good about and put every single item away without me asking).

I still want to be a mom and work with kids, despite some of the horror stories I may have heard (and experienced myself), but there may be some who get completely discouraged and pushed away from the idea of being parents. So lets work on making our stories "The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly" not "The Ugly, The Bad, The...?"

(Sorry to be kind of negative...I've just had the same kind of conversation with a couple of friends lately about not wanting to have kids because all they hear is the negative stories and I don't want that to happen. I don't want to think it's all good and perfect but I want them to know that there are some wonderful moments with children too.)

PhotoHunt: Addiction

I admit that I probably have more than one addiction, but this picture is definitely 3 of my favorites :D I love babies (Sonia was holding my newest niece at the time, Aubrey...did I mention that I have a new niece? Her name's Claire and I can't wait until I get to meet her in July!) and little kids. They are happy, carefree, silly, beautiful, loving, sweet, honest, and I can't get enough of them. Besides babies and little kids I also love being with my family, my family is big, loud,