I've heard from three people that I never blog. So here I am. I always feel like I have to write so much. Good news is my clothes are starting to fit the way I'm sure the manufacturer intended. We are still trying to nail down where we want to go for a mini vacation. I'm going to try to get to the AAA office today so we can organize a trip-tik. Isabella is 7 months old which is so hard for me to believe. Even harder is that on August 6th we will have been here a year. Crazy how time really does fly.

So today I now know that I won't be getting the mother of the year award for 2009. I was changing into my bathing suit with Bella on our bed. She had a pillow on one side and in the middle of the bed. While I looked down to put on my suit she rolled like a mad woman right off the bed and fell hard onto the wooden floor. So I spent the first hour calling the Dr. to make sure she didn't have a concussion. The office said to just keep an eye on her and bring her in if she slept more than normal. She's got a pretty red mark on the left side of her forehead. So happy unbirthday Miss Bella. She's 6 months old today 06-23. This little girl is rocking and rolling much more than her brother did. Nicolas never rolled off of anything. OOOHHHH well I spent all day feeling guilty and with her cute little smile it was even harder. Happy day!

Masters or no!

I'm trying to decide if I should get my Master's degree and even more than that is should I keep going in the education area or should I start anew? There are people, in my neighborhood, that have degrees and are not utilizing them. Should I go onto the next step in my education and if so in what area? What if I don't go back to "work". I'm at home with Bella and Nicolas but I don't need any kind of degree for this. I don't know??????? I don't even know if I would be able to find the time to take classes. Nick is out of town every week. I would have to get a babysitter to watch Nicolas and Bellie.
HHHMMMM......

Nicolas is so cute! He got up this morning with Bella, changed her diaper and gave her a bottle. The bottle was an old bottle, but hey at least he was trying to help out. It was so cute! Luckily I came out just when he'd given Bella the bottle. Regardless it was adorable and he's such a great helper!

Nicolas is 10

My little boy turned 10 on May 21st. It is downright crazy that I have a ten year old son. I'm old enough to have a ten year? Apparently so. Nicolas wanted to make sure that we woke him with breakfast in bed. The problem with this is he wakes up so early. So we gave him a jelly donut in bed and then Nick made him French Toast. He was off to school, but wanted to make sure that I would be bringing a treat for his class. A girl in his class has the same birthday as he. I went and bought cupcakes for him, but in Mayberry that is not good enough. The other child's mother made each child in class a cookie with their name on the cookie and the cookies were in sticks. So they were cookie "suckers." Wow!!! I am so glad Nicolas is a boy. Boy's are not that into how they get their treats. He just wanted a treat and that was that. Poor Bella!!! Here in Mayberry it is the thing to decorate the birthday person's lawn so the whole neighborhood knows that it's that person's birthday. Again, Wow. Anyway back to my child. He received Bakugan as a present. They are a combo between Pokemon and little magnetic balls. Each card has a power and you throw the ball at the cards. I tried playing the game with Nicolas once. It didn't work out. Apparently the game doesn't have rules, or Nicolas just doesn't know the rules.
Nicolas loved the presents and every birthday party that he has gone to has asked for these things. The one good thing about these toys is they are not computer or video games so Nicolas has to actually talk to a friend when he plays. Or he can play this game by himself. We have not had a birthday party for Nicolas yet. Which he hasn' t really had an issue with. Another great thing about boys. We are so lucky to have a laid back young man for our first child. Don't get me wrong Nicolas is very spirited about many things, but for the most part he has been a great person and is growing into a wonderful young man. I everyday thank God that I have been lucky enough to be married to a wonderful husband that loves me so much and together we have created two beautiful children.
Happy Birthday Nicolas, my bright star!

Grandparents visit

Grandma and Grandpa came out to Chicago to visit us. Nicolas was so excited to see both of them. The weather was great for them and they both got to play with Miss Bella, who's demeanor was much better then it was in Tucson.
Larry and my Mom were so content with just playing with the baby, and Nicolas. Nicolas loved having both of them visit because they were able to walk him to school and or walk him home from school. Usually I can't do either because Bella is sleeping, and we don't want to wake a sleeping baby. My Mom and I also had a chance to go do the Frank Loyd Wright house tour, in Oak Park IL. It was a walking tour in a regular neighborhood where Frank Loyd Wright had built many houses. My Mom was able to buy a pair of Frank Loyd Wright inspired earings. It was nice to be able to get out, just her and I. I talk to my Mom on the phone and through video chat, but being with her is priceless. During their visit was Nicolas's birthday as well as mine. They took Nicolas out to his favorite restaurant, Sushi Nest. You know they both love their Grandson when they go to a sushi restaurant. They do not like sushi. I let them know there would be cooked food there as well.
They also took me out to a local restaurant. That night we had a babysitter and we left Bella home.
We also went to Indiana and visited Larry's sister and brother-in-law. They live right on the St. Joseph river. We had a great time going out on their boat and fishing off of their pier. We went to Notre Damn and got to go inside the basilica. Nicolas loves churches, but he'd never been in a Catholic church. He didn't understand why Nick was able to dip is hand in the holy water and make the sign of the cross. He too wanted to do it. Nick explained that he went through classes that taught him about the importance of the rituals of the church. We also visited the grotto We also went to Indiana's sand dunes, beach and lake Michigan. It was great to see the lake actually had waves. Nicolas loved it and decided that he might be able to return with his boogie board.
Larry taught me how to add an electrical outlet. I needed an outlet in our hallway so Larry showed me how to cut a hole in the wall and run wires from the outlet in Bella's room and piggy back the outlets back to back. Low and behold the outlet works. I love learning how to do things. While I love Nick he is often not here so I have to learn how to do things without his help.
It was great to have Larry and my Mom come out. While we miss being a little closer to them it's sure nice to have them visit us. It seems as though we see them very often. Sometimes, when people live in the same town as their family, people tend to see each other less. When people live in a different city it means family comes for more than one day and people are forced to sit and visit with each other. So thank you God for a beautiful family of my own and just as importantly thank you for a family that is financially able to visit us and be so supportive of us.

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.