She is starting to laugh.....

....and it is one of the most beautiful noises I have ever heard!

An Arizona Breakfast

Today is Tula's three month birthday! To celebrate, we made our first big breakfast this morning. Only there was a little twist....we did it on the grill! John and I love the weather here right now and have been spending lots of time outside. We all went for a big swim today and Tula slept by the pool and let me tan for a little while. We came home and Tula had a bath and conked right out, and I am going down for a sleep as well. Just wanted to post a few pics of our breakfast this morning. Sausages and pumpkin pancakes from the griddle.....yum.

Splish Splash

Don't Blink

There is a new song out by Kenny Chesney called Don't Blink. If you haven't heard it yet you are missing out. The first time I did, a few weeks ago, I cried. The lyrics really just resonated with me and kind of described how I am feeling in so many ways. I am sure we all feel this way from time to time......

I turned on the evening news
Saw an old man being interviewed
Turning a hundred and two today
Asked him what's the secret to life
He looked up from his old pipe
Laughed and said "All I can say is."

Don't blink
Just like that you're six years old and you take a nap and you
Wake up and you're twenty-five and your high school sweetheart becomes your wife
Don't blink
You just might miss your babies growing like mine did
Turning into moms and dads next thing you know your "better half"
Of fifty years is there in bed
And you're praying God takes you instead
Trust me friend a hundred years goes faster than you think
don't blink

I was glued to my tv when it looked like he looked at me and said
"Best start putting first things first."
Cause when your hourglass runs out of sand
You can't flip it over and start again
Take every breathe God gives you for what it's worth

Don't Blink
Just like that you're six years old and you take a nap and you
Wake up and you're twenty-five and your high school sweetheart becomes your wife
Don't blink
You just might miss your babies growing like mine did
Turning into moms and dads next thing you know your "better half"
Of fifty years is there in bed
And you're praying God takes you instead
Trust me friend a hundred years goes faster than you think
don't blink

So I've been tryin' ta slow it down
I've been tryin' ta take it in
In this here today, gone tomorrow world we're livin' in

Don't blink
Just like that you're six years old and you take a nap and you
Wake up and you're twenty-five and your high school sweetheart becomes your wife
Don't blink
You just might miss your babies growing like mine did
Turning into moms and dads next thing you know your "better half"
Of fifty years is there in bed
And you're praying God takes you instead
Trust me friend a hundred years goes faster then you think
Don't blink

Naw, don't blink
dont blink
life goes faster than you think!
so dont blink
life goes faster than you think!
dont blink
dont blink
Life Goes Faster Than You Think !

Adjusting....

Once again the last two weeks have been really busy for our family and I just have not had the time to post. Wednesday, Sept 12th, John's Mom and Aunt Gayle flew out here for a long weekend and visit. It was so wonderful to have our first visitors at our house, especially after the long first three weeks here all by ourselves. We were both feeling a little lonesome at that point I think, and a dose of family was all we needed! It was wonderful to see them both for us, but having Tula and watching her with family is even more of a joy. She is such a loved little girl! Marianne made a bunch of food for us to freeze. Stuff that tastes and smells like home for John, such a good idea! She made a big pot of their "gravy", which for us at home is tomato sauce with meat in it, sausage, spareribs and meatballs. And of course John's favorite, fried eggplant. We haven't used any yet but will probably start pulling it out as it gets a little cooler here. I am pretty sure it's still too warm to turn on the oven....all the cooking we do right now is on the grill outside!

John's family left on that Sunday but as it worked out the trip got cut a little shorter for John who ended up flying home on Saturday night to DRIVE, yes drive, his truck here to Arizona from Connecticut. He had made arrangements with someone else to get the truck down here for us so we had packed it all up before we left CT and it was ready to go. Well long story short, that deal fell through and John was stuck out here in AZ without his beloved truck. He decided he would go home and drive, but had to do the drive nonstop because the back of the truck was full of stuff. After a few phone calls he had a travel companion for the trip arranged and hew was on a plane to NY. They left Greenwich CT last Sunday morning around 6 am and arrived here in Gilbert AZ at about 4 in the afternoon. They drove about 37 hours straight, only stopping for fuel. It was dangerous and probably not highly recommended, lets just say John had no desire to drive for a few days after that. After a lot of prayer and worry, he was home safe. I have never in my life felt so relieved to see my husband pull into the driveway. What a wonderful feeling!

That Sunday, the day John's family left, my Mom arrived. She stayed a full week and once again Tula got lotsa love from another Grandma. Mom helped me clean the house from top to bottom. Anyone who knows her knows that's her specialty, and I was the grateful daughter. Between Marianne coming out and cooking and freezing food and my mom doing the cleaning, I pretty much had it made in the shade. No seriously, it really was a treat to have both of their help not only with the house but with the baby. Watching Tula with her Grandmother's and seeing them pour out their love to her has been such a beautiful thing for both John and I. Thank you to both of our Mothers for being not only great Moms, but fabulous Grandma's as well!

My Mom left this Sunday morning and it is quiet around here as well. john now has his truck and no company so he is on the search for a job. I have started a Mommy group online and plan to meet with a few of the girls from that this week. I can't wait to meet some fellow Moms from around here and make some friends for myself and Tula! We are all starting to adjust here and it feels more and more like our home everyday. Plus, the weather has broken and it is no longer over 100 degrees, so it has been gorgeous here which is making life all the more enjoyable.

Tula is a busy baby and keeps me on my toes trying to remember and capture all the changes she goes through every day. She is now smiling alot and loves to laugh and giggle. Of course she is very generous with all the smiles first thing in the morning and they slowly phase out by the end of the day. Her happiest times are definitely at the beginninng of the day, which is so fun for me. Let's just say it has made me the morning person I never dreamed I would be.

So what else does Tula love? Well, she is fascinated with mirrors. She LOVES it when I takes her into the bathroom and let her stand on the counter but the sink with me holding her so she can push her her legs up to stand. She loves to look at herself and makes the funniest, most excited faces. Tula loves being sung to. Any song, fast or slow, she seems to really love music of all sorts. She loves her little massages at the end of a long day, when I bicycle her legs around and pull on them gently. She just lays there so relaxed and looks at me with this "Thank You" look almost. It is so sweet. Tula loves her stroller and going for walks, she never seems to mind being in there and even is getting used to the warm weather I think.

Tula does not like the bottle. She still absolutely refuses to take one and at almost 3 months old and after trying every bottle out there, I have pretty much given up all hope. I think I will have to save that for the next baby, Tula's not havin it. Period. I continue to try sporadically and will keep you guys posted with any success we have.

Tula will be three months old this Saturday which is so hard for me to believe! What a great summer we had with her, having John home and bonding with her so much has been a blessing for all three of us. But we are excited for him to get working and strat meeting more people and really living a regular life here. Life really has been one big holiday since she was born.

I posted a few pics last night on the babysite and will try and get an updated video on here soon. Take Care everryone!

Patty Cakes and Giggles

A busy day.....

So we are settling in a little more and more everyday. I went to my first Mommy group yesterday through our community. It was fun, but Tula was by far the youngest baby there and once again I heard multiple times from other moms things like "They grow so fast"....and, "I can hardly remember when mine were that small." It's so hard to believe that in a few months I will see a little two month old and be saying the exact same things.

So this morning we got up a little earlier than usual and Tula and I went to our first Stroller Strides class. I loved it! What a great way to get a workout! It's basically just a bunch of moms that meet in a park and there is an instructor that leads the group through the park, walking then stopping and doing exercises or some sort. Lunges, squats, jumping jacks, whatever. The cool thing was when we stopped in a group to do the exercises they would play kids music and all the moms could sing to the babies and interact with them. They even had a lady hired to just go around from stroller to stroller while the mommies were working out and kind of entertain the kids. Tula was a little young for the whole thing and wasn't interested in the music or movements, but she does love riding in her stroller so she was fine for the class and I think she will enjoy it more and more as she gets older. definitely something we will do again, and a great way to meet other Mommies in the area!

This afternoon, John and I walked over to the pool with Tula and we all went for a swim. She has so much fun in the pool, we probably spent a half an hour in there with her and she splashed around and kicked and swam the whole time. She loves it when we just hold we on her back and let her kinda float, she relaxes her whole body and just lays there. Then she likes to sit up and look around a little, then lay back and relax. She is so chilled out in the water, and after her swim like that we took her home and rinsed her off and she was out like a light! So sweet.

This evening we went over to the next door neighbors for dinner. We were lucky and got a great young couple as next door neighbors who also have twin 14 month old daughters. It is so neat to watch them with their girls. I to don't know how parents of twins do it but they make it work! we enoy spending time with them and are SO THANKFUL have such great neighbors. We ended up staying a little late, it was almost 9 before we left there. Tula was getting so sleepy and although I felt bad for her being up a little late and getting tired, I loved that I am starting to see we are getting into our own routine as a family and she knows what it is. And by 9 o'clock, she was feeling the effects of not being in bed. We got her home and fed and she went immediately to sleep. The best part was when John took her from me to bring her to her crib she didn't even make a noise. Usually it's an episode to get her from our arms to the crib when she is asleep but tonight she was so pooped she didn't even notice. It was a great big busy day for her and I love seeing her sleep so soundly at the end of it as though she put in a hard day or something. I think all that sunshine really does us in though, we are all ready for bed here so much earlier than in CT or even Canada. I can't stop yawning tonight so I am off to bed but wanted to post quickly about whats been going on. There is a few new pics on the babysite as well.

Oh yeah, exciting news. John's Mom and Aunt Gayle will get here tomorrow for a visit. We can't wait! Tula hasn't seen them in a little over a month but it has been a big month for her and she has changed so much. Can't wait to show off all her smiles and giggles in real life instead of over the internet!

Two Months Old

It has been almost a week since Tula Belle was 2 months old, so it's really been weighing on me to do an update about what's new with her and all of us. Frankly, it is almost impossible to find the time right now. And when I do have the time to sit and do nothing, at this point the last thing I feel like doing is typing or even thinking about what to type. It is good for me though, to reflect a little and take the time to journal. This blog is the only journal I have and I am learning as every new mother does that the moments just fly by and sometimes the end of the day you can look back and it feels like a blur. There have been days that I feel like I got nothing accomplished, because I spent too much time just staring and cooing at Tula. And then there are days I realize I didn't spend enough quality time with her because I focused too much of my energy on finishing a project or task at hand. Everyday is a new attempt at trying to find the perfect balance.

Our move to AZ has been many great things for John and I but to say it has not been difficult would be a complete lie. Last Monday, when we dropped my Mom and Dad off at the airport was when it really hit us both. Driving away from the airport and realizing that it was just us in Arizona. All by ourselves. Yes, everyone was just a phone call or email away, but they were also miles away and we could really feel it. This was also the first time the two of us had really been alone with Tula and as first time parents this was actually a lot more intimidating than I thought it would be. For me especially, I think. I was always used to having John's mom or my mom there to give me a little break when I needed it, most importantly to spend some time with John. Well now, if I need a break from Tula it is John who relieves me, so our alone time is basically when she allows it. We are learning that everyone's life is easier if we just work around her schedule instead of trying to create one for her. And we are learning that having her happy is the key to our happiness. We are learning to be better parents everyday.

Poor Tula has been so good for us since we have been here. It's been 110 degrees outside and we have had so much running around to do and she has been really patient getting dragged around to all these places. She definitely lets us know when she is too hot or too tired to continue, but for the most part is pretty content just hangin out with us. And I love that this house is becoming home to her. The place she likes to come back to at the end of the day. I feel like she is getting used to things and starting to show us what she likes and doesn't like. Heat, she doesn't like. Air conditioning...she likes! LOL...kidding

The only other really difficult change for me has been having the "job" of the house. I always had a little anxiety about it. I like to keep things clean and it's a lot of space to clean. It hasn't been as much work as I thought it would be, but definitely some time needs to be devoted to the house every day and that takes some getting used to for me. The hardest part is whenever I sit down on the computer or in front of the TV and knowing that there is something else I really should be doing. It's that feeling that takes some getting used to.......bleh.

Now onto the good things about it here. We absolutely love our house, and it becomes more and more a home everyday. Things are really coming together and besides the final decorating details, the main rooms we use are furnished and functioning. We enjoy our privacy and and family time. I love the feeling that the master bathroom is actually my bathroom, that we are the bosses of the house, all that fun stuff that comes with living in your own house for the first time. We still enjoy hanging out and cooking in the kitchen together, when Tula allows. I know John is really itching to get back to work, but I am loving having him home. I know we are so blessed to have been able to take this much time off and I am so grateful, I just wish it could be like this forever though. Knowing it will be years until I get to wake up with John there everyday like this make me dread him going back to work. And he is such a help with Tula, I don't know how I am going to do it without him. Plus, I will have to learn how to operate all her things. Would you believe just today John finally taught me how to open and close her stroller? I figured that skill would come in handy if I ever wanted to actually leave the house alone with her.

I will say all this time just the three of us, and for me all the one on one with Tula has been such a bonding time for her and I. I feel so much more connected to her now more than ever. She is really starting to show affection in her own little ways, even if it's just a little snuggle here and there, but being one of two people to receive these gifts from her right now, I am getting lots of love and she pretty much makes me feel like supermom everytime she smiles at me. I had no idea what I was getting myself into with this whole parenting thing in so many different aspects, but the love I have for her is what has come as the most surprising to me. I mean, I knew I would love her, but I had know idea I COULD love her as much as I do. She shows me everyday what true love is, whether its a smile for me or watching her and John together. I never want to forget the way I love her now.

Well enough mushy stuff I guess. This is a long one and as I mentioned before I have a new houseful of things I "should" be doing so I will wrap it up. I believe I am starting to ramble anyways, probably due to the fact that it is 88 degrees inside my house right now!!!!! Yes, we live in AZ in August where it is 110 degrees outside and our air conditioner is broken. They are coming to fix it tomorrow but tomorrow can't come fast enough for all of us right now. It's gonna be a long night.....

No new pics today....sorry everybody. I will try and take a few tomorrow.

Remember When....

Here are some pics of Tula when she was a week old. I just got them back from a friend who took them and they are so adorable. Can you believe it's been two months? I just love these pictures!