A birthday party with girls!

Nicolas wanted to have a birthday party and he wanted to invite girls this year. REALLY!! Wow where does the time go?
Bella is now his favorite girl, although some of the girls are working hard to take that from her.
Little Bella was not at all interested in the party she really just wanted to eat, drink and be merry. A girl after her Mom's own heart.Hurry group picture, please take it fast because these kids REALLY smell. Goodness, an hour and a half of nonstop jumping will stink up anyone, especially 9 and ten year olds.

So there are two of the girls that came. The other three were sitting at the table still inhaling pizza. I kid you not one tiny little girl ate five pieces. Girlfriend please do tell what you're on and where are you're putting it? Oh wait it's just your metabolism. We love you sweet Nicolas and happy, happy, happy birthday! Hang on tight to these precious years. They WILL FLY BY!

These are pictures of Miss Isabella trying baby food for the first time. She was making the funniest faces. It was like I was feeding her lemons or something. Yet when I would take the spoon away she would start jumping up and down in her chair.

Mommy needs a moment

I had to have a mommy time out today. Isabella would not go to sleep after many tries. I finally came to the conclusion that she would be safe in her crib because I needed a moment to myself. I put her down and she flipped herself over and was spinning around on her back. After a half an hour of SCREAMING she finally fell asleep sideways in her crib. She survived but she may need therapy and I'm sure it will be my fault when she's 16.

Four months old

It's hard to believe that Isabella is four months old. Time sure does fly. I guess with Nicolas it flew just as fast it's just Nick and I were going to school full time, working full time and then trying our best to be there for him. He was with a babysitter from 7-5 Monday-Friday and Isabella stays home with me. I have been lucky to be able to substitute a few days a week when Nick is able to stay home with Bella, but for the most part I am home with her all day. I see how much I truly missed with Nicolas, although we didn't have any other choice with him and he new no different.

Tucson Trip

We flew to Tucson for Nicolas' Spring Break. We had a great time and Isabella got to fly on an airplane for the first time. Our flight out of Chicago was delayed an hour and a half due to a severe weather storm. We got snow!!! Needless to say we were so excited to go to warmer weather for awhile. This was the first time that Larry got to meet Miss Bella. She also got to go to a U of A football scrimmage and meet many people in Arizona who had heard so much about our newest addition. Bella did not like the heat, and it really wasn't hot. I think the hottest it got was in the 80's. The time difference had a huge impact on our little girl. We are two hours ahead of Tucson so she was thrown off by that. We all had a great time and were very happy to see everyone.

Before Children I would have gone shopping after getting a tax return. Now, we get a larger tax return, because of kids, but then we go and buy new stuff for the kids. By kids I also mean husband. Yesterday we went and bought the fanciest swing I had ever seen before. This thing does everything. I highly suggest this swing to all new parents. I wish we'd gotten it when Bella was first born. We then went and bought a 52 inch LCD T.V. for Nick to watch March Madness on. We paid two guys from Sears to come out and install it for us and run the cords behind the wall and flip the electrical outlet to be on the inside of the wall. I'm glad we ended up having them do it because it ended up being much harder then I had originally thought. Nick has been waiting for this T.V. for three years. Of course the size of the T.V. has gone up every year he's had to wait, but I think he's happy that he ended up waiting so he could get the 52 inch. Tomorrow the direct t.v. people will come so we can get the HDTV box and new satellite. It's pretty fancy and so I guess I too will benefit from the T.V. as well.

Yesterday we all got up and rode the train to downtown Chicago and experienced the St. Patrick's Day lake dying and the parade. The train ride in was an experience all in it self because of all the people who had already started drinking. Elmhurst college is, obviously, right in Elmhurst so there were quite a few students on the train as well. Many of them had shirts made up for the day. We made it downtown with a slew of other people who had the same idea that we did. To take public transportation into the city and walk to the lake. It wasn't too bad until we got to Michigan Ave. and then it was SSSSOOOO crowded. In some of the pictures you can see all the people lined up on the sides of the lake. At 10:00 they die the lake green, by using an orange food coloring, and it turns the lake a color of green like I've never seen before. It almost looked like antifreeze. It took about twenty minutes to walk across the bridge to get to the Tribune building because of all the people there. We finally made it and found the people we were meeting. We then went to the Sheraton hotel and ate and had some green beer and a Bailey's milkshake. We then headed over to the parade route and sat to watch that. We were at the end of the line so we didn't really get to see too much of the parade but it was the people watching that ended up being the most entertaining. We all had a great time and the weather even cooperated. As long as we were in the sun it was really nice. If we hit the shade the chill came back to us. The train ride home was uneventful and we made it home without losing any children, or adults for that matter.

I'm getting political

I went to a town hall meeting for the first time ever!!!! I went to speak my mind about the lack of city help when it came to the sewer back up. There were over 40 people at the town meeting wanting to speak about the problems people were having. One man said he'd never seen that many people at a town meeting. Everyone got three minutes to stand up and speak about what's happened to people in their basements with water coming up through the sewers. I have never heard so many people stand up and speak about one problem and have a group of elected officials just stare blankly. I was very angry that we all pay property taxes and these people were not saying a thing to us about how they would be helping us. I felt like we were all groveling to these people who are no better than me. I will now be making this my new mission. They soon will all know who Errin Mendibles is.

Rain Rain Go Away!!!!

I must say that I am sick of the rain. I would, at this point, much rather have snow then rain. Yesterday, Chicago got a horrible rain storm and it gave Elmhurst a run for it's money. We fixed our basement foundation therefor we assumed that we would not have anymore problems with rain water. That is why assuming makes an ass out of u and me. We got so much rain water in our area that it started coming up through the basement bathtub, toilet and the laundry room floor drain. I just happened to go downstairs to get more pump supplies and I walked passed the bathroom and heard pouring water. I turned the light on and saw the toilet overflowing. I then pulled back the shower curtain and the tub was filled to the rim with brown water. I turned off the water to the toilet thinking that should stop the water from coming in. I then thought that I should plunge the toilet. This brought up lots of poopers. It was so disgusting. I was yelling to Nicolas, because Nick was out of town, to get more towels. He was throwing towels down the laundry shoot to me. I was in the basement yelling how much I hated this "place." Nicolas came down and started to freak out too. I then realized that if I lost it my son would too. I told him that crying isn't going to solve the problem. So we sucked it up and began throwing more towels on the water. I then had Nicolas get the wet vac together and I put it in the toilet to suck water out and try to get the level of water down. That backfired and poop water started spewing everywhere. The bucket got full very fast and it started coming out of the top. That was when Nicolas and I were screaming because poop water was spraying everywhere. I called my Mom and Larry, my Step Dad, to ask what I should do to stop the water. They said to call the fire dept and see what they suggest. So I call 911 and they tell me that I am the 1000th caller and they can't do anything because the entire town is under water. I asked if I get a prize for being the 1000th caller. She said no. She told me to call the local police department. So I called the local emergency number. They told me they are aware of the problem and they too can't do anything. They said until the water goes down nothing will stop flowing. Luckily one of our neighbors came over to see how we were doing. He pulled me out of the basement and told me to just leave it alone and to go to his house. He reminded me there was nothing we could do until the water reseeded. He said we could go over to their house and have some dinner and drink some wine. I said okay.
It is always something..........

Today is Isabella's two month birthday. She's going to go to the doctor to get her shots and we will find out what her latest measurements are. She is a SUPER laid back baby. She only cries to let us know she's awake in the morning. She's been sleeping through the night except when my Mom was here but I think that was due to her not feeling well. She went to sleep last night at 10:30 and woke up this morning at 6:45. Nicolas adores her. Although yesterday we went to "Build A Bear Workshop" to have Nicolas make Bella her first stuffed animal. Now mind you Nicolas has three bags of animals in the crawl space, a.k.a. attic, and still has animals in his room. He doesn't need anymore stuffed animals. He was upset that Bella was getting a stuffed animal and he wasn't. It ended up being okay though. He created a sound for the animal that says, "Isabella, Nicolas loves you."
My Mom came and visited us from February 15th to the 20th. It was so nice to have her come out and help out with the growing family. Nick had been gone the week previous to that and was going to be gone again that week so my Mom came out. It was great for her too because she hadn't met Miss Isabella Marie yet. She and Larry were in Europe when Bella was born. It was also the first time she'd seen our house. It turned out to be a great blessing that she was here because Nicolas got sick Monday night, Tuesday I got sick and Wednesday Bella started getting sick. On Monday we rode the train into Chicago, ate lunch and went ice skating. Yes, I went ice skating and didn't break anything. Nicolas loved it. Isabella and my Mom watched while Nicolas and I had a great time. Nicolas hadn't ever gone ice skating before. The last time I had gone was for a rush event for Gamma Phi Beta at least 8 years ago. Before leaving my Mom wanted to get Bella a tummy playtime mat. Nick and I had wanted to buy the Baby Einstein play mat but didn't because of the price. Grandma came and bought it for the little peanut, Bella, and she loves it. Grandma's are so good, gracious and loving. This Grandma loves her Grandkids!!
We've had lots of rain and thank goodness no water in the basement. We found that we had two HUGE cracks in the foundation. We got those fixed and poof no more water. If only we had ripped off the drywall the first time we wouldn't have had to go through the experience the second time. Oh well, I guess it adds character.

It was 51 degrees today and here in cold as hell country 51 is summer time. Everyone was out playing outside and barbecuing. Isabella even wore shorts and sat in her swing outside while Nick and I tried to get more stuff out of the garage and into the crawl space. We were all able to finally take down our Christmas lights as well.
Isabella is so strong and so laid back. She loves to just be touching someone. She LOVES to be carried in the baby Bjorn backpack. She falls asleep in it every time. I have started to substitute for the Elmhurst school district and I'm really enjoying it. It's fun to be back around kids. I went to a kindergarten class and was quickly reminded why I chose secondary education and not elementary education. It was just "baby talk" all day. I'm the type to talk up front which is why I like middle school and even high school. I taught in a fifth grade class and I didn't like that very much. We have our basement completed again and finally got the carpet put in on Friday Feb. 6th. I will hook up the main computer and then I will be able to download more pictures for you all.

Isabella celebrated her one month birthday with us on the 23rd. We made cupcakes, per the request of her brother, and he I mean she really enjoyed them. She is very strong and can hold her head up for long periods of time. She eats ALL the time and that keeps me very busy with pumping for her.

More baby girl pictures

Here are some more baby girl pictures.

Can you say Big Boobs?? Holy breast feeding.

When we moved to Sacramento we were told the amount of rain the city got in the first month we were there was abnormal and hadn't ever happened. So now we have moved to Chicago and the usual amount of snow fall is 38 inches. We have already gotten 35 inches of snow and winter isn't even close to being done. We are under a blizzard warning tonight and Nick and I are running around wondering what that means. What do we do in a blizzard warning? We are in the midst of fizzing our basement because the day after we brought Isabella home our basement was filling with water again. We had to tear out out brand new carpet and demolish our brand new desk. I'm so sad because it was just starting to feel like things were getting back to normal. What is normal anyway, right??????

Christmas morning

These are from Christmas morning. Some were in the hospital and the other are at home. The funniest is Nicolas finding out how smelly dirty diapers are. He's been a great helper though and I don't know how people have young children and a newborn. It suggest everyone should wait nine years between each child.