What a wonderful day we had...

Our morning started off opening gifts...
Quite a pile huh?





Lily with her new magnetic dolls (basically like a paper doll but the clothes are magnetic). She has been playing with it all day. It's a hit!




Riley in his ExerSaucer. He loves it, can you tell? All the colors and things to look at. He also got a Johnny Jump-up which he enjoys as well. He prefers to be "standing" right now. And, we got our 1st laugh today...such a happy boy!



We capped things off by attempting our first ever Prime Rib. As you can see, it turned out BEAUTIFULLY! It tasted sooo good. Of course, there was too much for us to eat so now I have to figure out what to do with the leftovers. Any suggestions? Anyone?

Now, I get to clean up the mess. It's all worth it though, spending such a fabulous day with my family. I even get my husband home 2 days in a row...woo-hoo!

I Love you Sissy...

Riley just loves his sissy. She loves him too. We were cleaning Lily's room yesterday and they were playing so I got a couple pictures. This one is my favorite!

Here, Lily is in her closet where we had just put my old hope chest. Now I can put her baby quilt in there and other memories she'll want later on.



Then the kids hanging out... being friends. Hopefully this keeps up.

For the women...

Guys, you probably will want to skip reading this post since it is on the topic of nursing. =) As some of you know, I have been struggling to keep my milk supply where it needs to be to nurse Riley. It hasn't been easy but I have kept going because this is something I REALLY wanted this time around. I found some things out while going through this that I thought I'd share. This way, if you know anyone, now or in the future, you have tidbits to pass along.
Some of this info I got from my momma, some from other places. Here are a few great things you can eat(or drink) to boost your supply:
1) Malt (find it near the hot chocolate at the store)
2)Beer (I found that dark beers work best) drink one after a feeding so bub doesn't get the alcohol
3) Egg Nog (this is my favorite right now- I burnt out on malt)
4) Soaked oats- equal parts oatmeal and water- soaked overnight. Heat and eat. Works like a charm.
5) Chicken-skin on
A few things I found that drastically decrease my supply:
1) Alcohol-unless it's beer.
2) Skipping a meal or just snacking instead of sitting down and eating-bad!
3) Not drinking enough H2O
4) Cabbage-I just found out that you eat this when weaning, to help dry you up (guess the cabbage salsa I made was a bad choice :P)
Anyhow, I have found that a combination of all these things works well for me. I just wanted to share what I've learned so hopefully it can help someone else along the way. I thought that nursing would be a piece of cake, it's not (for me) but it is one of the most rewarding things I have ever done. I love it!

Naked Butt!

I could not get this squirmy little monkey to hold still and look at the camera. His blanket was on the wood floors and he thought it was great fun to slide on. Normally he stays pretty still when on his tummy, but he was moving and grooving when I wanted to get a picture. Isn't that how it always goes?

Christmas at Papa's

Yesterday was our Christmas celebration with Dylan's family. Good food, good laughs, good fun...

Lily got a bicycle which couldn't have pleased her more.









It's hard to believe how fast the kids are growing.
All the girls just seem to be getting so big, so fast!



And don't forget about the boys! The next wave in the family...
















Then there were presents, presents everywhere!
It was a little CRAZY!!!




One of my favorite pictures from the day...
Lily and her uncle Justin playing.















Then Riley and his Great-Grandma. He got passed around to pretty much everyone all afternoon- which is as it should be. He's basically irresistible...since he is soooo cute! (I'm not even a little bit biased about the cuteness factor of my children) =)
We had a wonderful afternoon. For us, family is what it's all about...

My Little Dancer...

Here we are before dance class. Riley was sleepy, can you tell? Today we got to see Lily perform for the "big girls"and all of us. Normally the blinds are closed except the last week of the month for "watch" week. (This is to keep the kids from being distracted). As this was the last lesson before the new year, we got a mini performance. They also got to watch the older girls (high school age) perform a routine. You should have seen their eyes...they were so impressed =) Very Cute! Dylan filmed it as well, what a good daddy. Riley enjoyed the music and watching everyone. He is very observant and definitely a people watcher.
And that, has been the highlight of our week so far. We have lots of things coming up, busy, busy, busy. This was lots of fun though...

We Won...YIPEE!

We won the gingerbread house competition! Yeah! It was a lot of fun and the house turned out great- if I may say so myself. There was some stiff competition... here are the other houses.



This one was the castle...pretty cool.







Then we had the Polar Express...







Some other ones included a house boat and a lighthouse...They all turned out great!
Everyone partied and had a great time. Next year, Dylan wants to do a Star Wars vehicle. We'll have to see. Last night, I was dreaming of gingerbread, I'm not ready to think next year!

For now, I'll just enjoy our win...
Thank you Donny & Melissa for hosting the party!

Wanna play?

Lily and Riley were so cute this morning. She got down right in his face, as you can see, to play with him. I just had to get a few shots.




This was the only shot I got of both of them looking at the camera. Not the greatest, but the best you're gonna get...

The Tree...

Here it is, a vision in white. We decided to go for an all white theme this year. I think it turned out really pretty. The pictures don't really do it justice. We had fun last night putting it all together. Lily got to stay up a little later than normal to help me, she thought that was pretty cool. I tried to stress the values I want her to think of at Christmas- the importance of family, giving to others etc. I really do not want her to be greedy and have a demanding attitude. This year, I decided that she will be taking money from her piggy bank, going to the dollar store and buying for a few people too (grandparents, brother, etc.) I'm hoping that this will encourage a healthy attitude toward giving and receiving presents.
Anyhow, the tree is up. It looks beautiful. Now it feels like Christmas-time.

Oh, OWWWWWW!!!

I think I should have named my daughter Crash. She is not the most graceful child and bumps into things regularly. She also trips over her own feet and falls down. I, myself, have the klutz gene, as does my mother. Yesterday, she hit a door knob on her way down the hallway, and gave herself a lovely knot on the forehead...This was shortly after, doesn't she look pitiful?By the end of the day, the lump had receded. That just left me with a grumpy, clingy kid. Yup, she's mine. I'm not moody or anything =)

Gingerbread Sunday...

I think we finally got our whole game plan figured out for our gingerbread competition. This one that Lily is perched next to is nothing like what we have planned except for general shape... but even that has been tweaked some. It was fun to practice my piping skills with the icing and let Lily put random candy wherever. I went to the mini-mart and grabbed some 2/$1 candy for use on the practice house. This gingerbread house is all over the place, every side has different windows, different types of outlines-pretty much different everythings. We were trying to figure things out. Lily had a great time though. I did too, but I am tired of the smell of gingerbread! Today will forever be "Gingerbread Sunday" to me...



Something I figured out- Dylan and I...we go about things in two completely different ways. Once we figure a way to compromise, we're fine, but getting to that point can be interesting. Doing creative projects together just brings that to the forefront, I'm sure that's most couples . In the end, we come up with some great ideas and learn more about each others' strengths.

No Pain, No Gain...

So, my Thanksgiving debauchery caught up with me. I wasn't sure if it would or not, then I got on the scale this morning. Uh-oh! I was so happy when I got home and got on the scale and I had maintained. I should have known better! I've been battling the last few pregnancy pounds and now I have a few more. And on top of all that, if I exercise to much my milk suffers. What to do, what to do. Ah yes, I got a new Pilates tape. This is a great idea since it doesn't burn massive amounts of calories(great for my milk production) but I still get good toning...OH CRAP, I am out of shape! This hurts! This tape is off the hook! The sad part is, they're 10 minute segments...after 5 minutes I'm pushing to get through to the end. In my defense, they are designed to be high intensity to get max benefit out of a 10 min. segment, but this is crazy how sore I am! I've done pilates before- sure I get a little sore but not like this! Guess I'll just have to stick to it...thankfully I know it's working. No pain, no gain right? Please let the pain go away soon.....

Me too Mommy...

Riley is very observant. He loves to look around and he caught onto something already that his sister didn't have an interest in until she was about a year old (maybe more). Can you guess what he's looking at? Trust me, I'm not super excited about it...








Yep, he's looking at the TV. It was kinda cute that he was watching football though. He really enjoys the bright colors...the green field especially caught his attention. Future football player perhaps?

Something fun...

My house smells wonderful from all the gingerbread I have been baking the past couple days. Lily and I made these silly things with the leftover dough from our gingerbread house. You see, we have a competition, for best gingerbread house, in a few weeks and Dylan and I are taking things to another level. We are baking our own house this year. This means practice, practice, practice for me. I am searching for the best recipe, the best design- anything to help us out and give us an edge. Silly, I know, to be going through all this for a friendly competition. But what can I say- I'M COMPETITIVE!! The last few times we have done this, we failed pretty miserably. Our houses did not turn out as we expected. This year, it's all about planning...hopefully. My preliminary design is in need of a few adjustments. Dylan is unsure of a few design elements. I am thinking of this house as a rough draft. We will have fun decorating it with Lily as she is not coming to the gingerbread party- that's a mommy and daddy party...yeah. Anyway, the whole process has been pretty fun, which is what it's all about when you get down to it. Now, more planning =)