Children's museum

Mac and I are out here in Omaha with Devyn and her kids. We are relaxing and having fun. Yesterday we went to the children's museum for about an hour and it was a blast. 

Mac got himself pretty sweaty playing so hard. 

We had fun with bubbles and trains and slides and balls. 

Thanks for the trip auntie Devyn. We are having so much fun and will miss you when we have to go home. 

Baby gear shopping

When we were in Nebraska we went shopping for baby gear for Devyn. We made Mac test drive some of stuff to make sure it was going to work for baby Mitchell.

Baby shower for MVP

Today baby Mac and I spent the day in Nebraska celebrating the new baby on the way!

The shower was so cute and decorated by some of Devyn's amazing friends. Erin and I did some if the work, but really Devyn's friends are so awesome and made it amazing.

We can't wait for baby Mitchell to arrive in July!

Hello from Omaha

We are having lots of fun here but we are ready to get home. We are missing the girls and Mac is working on his 4th tooth! We come home tonight and once I am home I know I will start missing Devyn and Jason and hazel again.

Thanks so much for letting us stay with you devyn!

The chop house

While rich and I have been in Omaha we decided to go to the best steak house we could find. I think the chop house was it. So delicious and so fun. Mac slept through the entire thing.

Happy Birthday Auntie Devyn and Auntie Erin

I have some of the best sisters in the world. 

These sisters just happen to have birthdays about a week apart.

These sisters are some of the hardest working people I know (along with my other sisters!)

They make me laugh.

They make me cry.

(in good ways!)

The love me and my family unconditionally.

They are gorgeous.

They are one year older.

Happy Birthday to my younger sisters!

Hair Cuts by Dev

I keep thinking in my mind, "glamour shots by deb" but it is really cute hair cuts by Devyn. Both girls wanted their hair cut this time Devyn was in town. Ryann also needed her hair thinned because it is getting so thick like her mommy's hair!  I knew it had gotten a lot thicker and harder to manage, but thanks to Devyn it is a lot less hassle in the mornings. 

 Despite me wanting Cara to keep her hair long, she wanted it cut short. So of course we let her cut it... that is one of those things that I don't really worry too much about. If they want it short, cut it short. If they want it long, let them grow it. It is just hair and not worth me fighting over. If it were up to Dad we would all probably look like him!

After we finished the girls asked if I could cut my hair just like them... ummm, not this time, maybe when I loose the baby weight, but until then I am keeping it. 

Half Way There

 While Devyn was in town we worked on getting the girls' room finished. It is almost there. Rich put together the new dresser, we put the fish tank in place, spray painted the frames to match the bedding, and then we hung most of the picture frames. The girls LOVE it and I am sure Ryann will be hard at work trying to find and color the best pictures to put into the frames. 

We moved an old dresser into Baby Mac's room, and now we just have to decide what to do with the old one... repurpose it for somewhere else in the house? Or sell on craigslist or just donate? What do I have the time and energy for? 

I think I'll head over to pinterest.

Zupas and Last Chance

One of the perks of having a sister in town is that you don't have to stick to the previous budget that you and your husband set up the week before... right?

Especially not if that said sister lives in Nebraska with horrible shopping and no Cafe Zupas in sight. 

It just so happens that Cafe Zupas in Phoenix is right next to Last Chance. 

 And seriously, where can you find a gently worn Hobo wallet for 25$ except at last chance?  Especially since your last one broke?

Enough said.

When all is said and done though, Rich loves having Devyn in town because she rubs my feet at least once a day... which is one of Rich's least favorite things in the world.

More Auntie Devyn

 Auntie Devyn is so much fun because she plays Just Dance Disney edition with the girls when mommy is too tired. 

 She also goes swimming with us. (here is Cara lying on baby Mac like he is a pillow or something)

 She also gives us good excuses to go out for yummy dinners... like Sushi Eye!

Not to mention her life saving netflix on her iphone. Whew. We dodge plenty of bullets trying to get these girls to stay happy just a little bit longer when we had them out and about past their bedtimes. 

Auntie Devyn

Devyn came in to town for a few days to help with my baby shower, do my hair, and do some nursing clinicals with me. She was so very helpful it was wonderful!

Here she is doing my hair to get ready for the baby shower. I didn't get any pictures, so hopefully Devyn will send me a few and my friend Heidi will get me some more. 

 After the baby shower I was able to get a prenatal massage. It was amazing and wonderful and did I mention free?  Yes, my midwife has all sorts of perks and connections. 

High Heels

Ryann wore her new high heels yesterday to church. She got them in the mail from Auntie Devyn. 

 She almost fell down the stairs when she was wearing them, but I couldn't convince her to take them off. She did do really good wearing them on flat surfaces though. 

 This is the sweet auntie who sent them to her! Love you and miss you Auntie Devyn and Baby Hazel.

Thankful, sort of.

There are a lot of things I am thankful for this week. 

Like for scissors. Which means Cara is learning how to use her fine motor skills, and also means she is learning how to cut open packages of fruit snacks, like LOTS of fruit snacks. 

I am thankful for my acupuncture session I went to today. Which means I am learning cool things about Eastern Medicine, balance, energy, and how the things we eat really effect our body, and it also means I have really bad acne that acupuncture is hopefully going to help because everything else I have tried in 5 months hasn't helped. 

I am thankful for layovers in the Phoenix airport. Seriously, if you are coming through Phoenix, for 1 hour or for 10... please call me!  Devyn and baby Hazel came today and we ate dinner with them and I got to snuggle Hazel, which also means that we paid ridiculous amounts of money for french fries that Cara wouldn't eat. What kind of kid won't eat french fries?

I am thankful for these silly faces. They light up my world. Especially when I come home from a birth at 2 in the morning and I see one of them snuggled up to their daddy in my spot in the bed, which also means I am going to get poked in the eye once or twice before I have to wake up in a couple hours.

I am thankful for my girls saying their prayers every day. I love that they pray for mommy to have a baby and for mommy's pimples to go away so she isn't ugly and she can be beautiful again. But seriously, the first time they said this I cried, now I try to not laugh out loud. These prayers are sweet, but I really need to teach them some social skills so that they don't go around to other people who have pimples and tell them they are ugly.

(i swear we don't just talk about my acne every day... we talk a lot about unicorns and horses and Cara's imaginary friends that she promises are real and not pretend.)

I am thankful when I was telling Cara all about the day she was born she got angry at me because Ryann wasn't there when she was born. I also am thankful that she chastised me for not letting anyone else hold her for the first hour that she was born. She said, "MOM! We need to take turns. You have to take turns. Why didn't you take turns??"

I am thankful for the amazing family pictures we had taken, but now I have the daunting task of picking which ones will go up in our house and which ones to order for Grandma and Christmas presents and all of that. 

I am thankful that my holiday plans are focused around my little brother and his plans for Christmas. REALLY? When did he get so important?  Oh wait, because he is Zach and everyone loves him and he is the shining star and I have missed him so much for the past 2 Christmases that if he told me he was going to Iceland for Christmas this year then I would be there...

I am thankful for all the babies being born, which helps with job security and to support my family, but also leads to lack of sleep which leads to emotional Brittani which leads to these blog posts where I jokingly complain the entire time I write, when in all reality I am sitting here crying because all I can think about is how much I miss my family but am so in love with my family here at home in Arizona. 

But really. I am blessed beyond belief at this time in my life. I wish I could be there and be more of a support to my family who needs me, but I know that they know I love them. And now I am off. to. bed. goodnight.

Sisters

What do you think? Can you tell we are sisters?

Devyn and I had some fun this week. At church she was walking the halls and someone said, "Whose baby is that?" She said, "Mine."  He then said, "Wait, when did that happen?" "Umm, about 8 months ago?"

Obviously he thought Devyn was me and it was pretty funny to watch people's reactions. 

Rich told me that he was sad to see Devyn leave. He enjoyed her cleaning and cooking and he adores Hazel. He also had fun on their trips to sonic, and just hanging out while I was off doing crazy things like staying up all night and delivering babies. 

After he told me he was sad, he said that he was also very happy, because for some reason I tend to spend a lot of money when Devyn is in town... oops.

NoseFrida

Have you seen this??

http://www.fridababy.com/

Devyn knew that when she was in town with Baby Hazel that her snot problems were making it hard for her to nurse and breathe well. The first night sleep was tough, but after we went out an got the NoseFrida her life was much better!

 Seriously an awesome new baby product. We found it at BuyBuyBaby.

Miss Hazel Came to Play

Hazel and Auntie Devyn came for a quick Phoenix getaway. 

The girls are quite obsessed with her. 

 This was the best picture we could get of her one little tooth! Yeah Hazel!

 The girls just wanted to take picture after picture of her. 

 Here is Ryann trying to get her to smile while getting ready to take a picture. 

We sure love our cousin visits!!

Hair Cut

Ryann has asked a few times to get her hair cut. I always tell her when Auntie Devyn can do it.  

So we get up with Auntie Devyn and Ryann asks to get her hair cut. I tell Devyn to trim it and Ryann says that she wants it cut short. 

 Like really short.  

Then everyone looks at me.

So I ask Ryann if she is sure, then I encourage her to maybe just cut a little bit, or maybe just to her shoulders, but she says no. She points to the exact spot where she wants it cut.

 This girl is serious, and I really don't care much about how long or short her hair is, so I told Devyn to listen to her.

 There she goes. My long haired Ryann now has short hair for kindergarten!

She is thrilled with her decision and still a week later likes to look at herself in the mirror. 

 Thanks Auntie Devyn!  Ryann and I have been discussing how she is going to pay you for the haircut. She is thinking about drawing you a picture or making you a book. We will see what she comes up with next.