a girl named..

we are so excited to have another girl

our first stop after the ultrasound 

was old navy

we got the new little miss this outfit

girl names i like: 

Eunice (michael hates)

Olive (michael likes)

Eleanor (michael really likes)

Flora (michael's not really into)

and the middle name will for sure be Mae
Mae is michael's mom's middle name
and his paternal grandmother's first name
plus it rhymes with faye (hazel's middle name)

i'm leaning toward Olive or Eleanor

we'll see.

it's a....

GIRL!!!

big spender

i'm so glad we've invested in some really nice baby gear
ergobaby baby carrier (twice...we lost the first one in seattle)
phil and teds double stroller (almost 2 years old and i still LOVE it)
bumgenius (cloth diapering is super easy with these)
and just last night we bought a stokke sleepi crib on craigslist for $125
which is an awesome deal
hazel will probably use it for now
as her crib is recalled
next on my list:
buy a good infant car seat (we sold our last one when hazel outgrew it)
buy a good high chair (we hate our strap on the chair one, plus it ruins our chairs)
decorate hazel's room for the baby (whether it's a boy or girl...hazel will manage)
acquire clothes for a baby (the resolution doesn't count for the baby--thanks for your advice)
and......then we'll wait
ps: noah only wants a baby sister
my whole life i've only been able to think of girl names i like
but off the bat we were kind of hoping for a boy
we'll see... tomorrow!!

sorry about the illusive title of our last post

we're just laying around

watching the clock 

waiting for thursday at 10 o'clock

then we will have some real news to announce

i am happy to announce

the re-appearance of miss hazel's pigtails

i won, i won

my bff jody just had a giveaway on her blog

and i won this awesome basket 

she makes them out of recycled coffee sacks

and sells them in her etsy shop

with cute designs on them

can't wait to have mine just in time for valentine's day!!

ps: i don't actually know jody in person but we're bffs because we both have 2 kids

we both use the phil and ted stroller

and bumgenius cloth diapers

and...she's pretty awesome

me: noah, did you pee?

noah: only a little bit

hilarious hazel

the other night hazel wanted undies on over her pajamas 

(thanks for the pjs, tawn!!)

so fine, i helped her

then i went in her room and saw she'd put a hat on, too

i thought it was so funny i had to take a picture

then she turned around 

and that was even better

today i am glad

-that i cut my bangs yesterday

-and the shirt i took all day yesterday sewing myself fits well

-hazel slept in until 8:30am

-although noah's home sick he is well enough to request pancakes

-the pancakes were really good

-and hazel enjoyed them, too

-i'm a stay at home mom

-the sun is shining brightly

-hazel is requesting her swimsuit on over the pants and jacket she picked out

-michael remembered to eat breakfast before he left

-we are all caught up on LOST...can't wait until next week

-i'm cloth diapering

-i found a really good black maternity cardigan at goodwill yesterday

-our house is clean

and new shirt

last night michael studied

and i sewed myself a new maternity shirt

mostly using the serger

and in the process i had to learn how to rethread it

it was super hard

but totally worth it

i love the serger

sorry! it's hard to take a picture of myself

but you get the gist of the shirt

and a picture of the baby belly

just for good measure

about my new years resolution..

i haven't purchased any new clothing or shoes

for our family in 2010

so i guess you can say it's going well

but it is hard

and just look at the cute sweater hazel is wearing today

i bought it while i was pregnant with her

on clearance at old navy for like $2.50

you can't beat that, even thrifting

so while i'm proud of myself for setting this goal

we find out what we're having next week

and i just don't think i'll make it past then

shopping the day i find out what i'm having is..

tradition

and who am i to break tradition?

trouble in paradise

there is trouble in our household

we have pleasant days together

schedules run smoothly throughout the day

and then in the evenings

we put the kids to bed

and enjoy some time together

before going to bed

sounds great right?

but then sometime in the night

one of our children wakes up

and that typically wakes the other up

and in the last 2 weeks or so

there has been an extra little body in our queen size bed

or sometimes two

of course one of them was sick

and now the other

so that makes it hard to not help them

we keep trying different things but the bottom line is

a) we need a king size bed

b) we need to lock noah in his room

c) i'm going to kill someone

last night to make matters worse michael put the baby gate up in front of our room

but since we discovered the night before that noah can climb it

michael raised it like 6 inches off the ground

and in the middle of the night i forgot it was there

even though it was open

and i kicked the bottom that was 6 inches off the ground

and yelled to michael that it was a stupid idea

and that i was going to kill him

see the trouble is, i don't actually want to kill anyone

but this pregnant body just isn't getting enough sleep

any advice?

how many slurpees does our family need?

the answer: 4

why share?

thank you spokane, wa for reminding me why

we drive 1.5 hours to see you

and for having so many 7elevens to choose from

miss you two already

we loved having my sister here

she's super helpful and so much fun

we went swimming, watched movies

and tv on hulu

ate pizza and talked

sure could use some more of all that...

i'm so excited

my sister and her son are coming for a visit

i'm picking them up in an hour

i can't waiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiit!

chocolate chupcakes

changing our room

i decided i wanted a new look in our room

it's far from done

but here's a sneak peak

ps: don't mind those cords

i let michael turn my candle sconces into corded lamps

but the cords are killing me

i think we'll have to switch back to candles

loving my new serger

last night michael had to study

rather than hanging out with me

boo

so he strongly encouraged me to try out my new serger

i hadn't touched it since the day we got it

and michael was getting anxious to see how it worked

you might say i was a little intimidated

but i tried it last night

and it was awesome

i made this little sweater dress for hazel super fast

then i finished a skirt i started a while ago

and added a little heart to a onesie of hers

thanks for my serger, michael

and making me use it

finally

bunk beds

we got bunk beds for the kids this last weekend

not that hazel's ready to be out of a crib yet

but soon enough we'll have noah and hazel sharing a room when the new baby needs out of our room

the cool thing is, these beds from shopko can be seperate twin beds

side by side which is great so hazel won't climb up and fall off

for now she can't climb the ladder, thank goodness

i'm super excited that the kids can finally use

their matching quilts from my mom

i only wish noah hadn't vomited the top bunk last night

poor boy

16/17 weeks

the baby bump

happy mlk day

today is a nice day

so we made our way to the park

and had a little picnic

this is what our friday looks like

a couple of kids wearing pajamas

watching pbs

while i clean and get dinner going in the crockpot

i love fridays

my hilarious husband

tonight i was getting dinner ready

waiting for michael to come home

when the phone rang

and i went to get the phone

and i noticed noah looking out the window at some flashing lights

the second set we've seen tonight

i saw it was michael calling

and i thought i should tell him to be careful because

there are a lot of people getting pulled over right by our house

when i answered he said

"hurry and get the camera if you want to take a picture of me getting pulled over for a burnt headlight"

who calls while they're pulled over?!

i loved it

i seriously thought it was the most hilarious thing ever

so i opened our back door and let noah and hazel look at their dad pulled over

and i quickly took the above picture

noah yelled "Daddy, look at the ambulance!!"

the cop said, "don't worry everything's alright"

to reassure noah and he let michael off the hook

it was so funny

michael---you're the best

a breakie out

michael proving what an awesome dad he is by sharing his hot chocolate with noah

hazel pondering which shape of free kids pancake to get

noah eventually stepped in and chose for her...teddy bear

me and my baby belly sharing hot chocolate

one time we tried the old european breakfast house

here in town

and we loved it

now we want to go there every saturday

but can't usually justify it

today we went there for breakfast

because michael starts school again monday

a very important reason to celebrate..

it was delicious

just a phase

hazel playing mommy in her swimsuit

hazel loves clothes

just like me

and she cares what she wears

which is new for me since noah never has

sometimes she goes through phases

there have been a few different sweaters that she has insisted

on wearing for a week or so at a time

last night she decided she really needed her clothes off

and her swimsuit on

so we did it

today she insists on wearing it

again

and it is very important to her

luckily she let me put some leg warmers on her too

since it isn't really swimsuit weather

i hope this doesn't last too long

although it is adorable

it's a....

girl

if it's right.........we'll see in like 4-6 weeks

oh that husband of mine

picture from our honeymoon in hawaii

michael's the best

maybe you don't know him like i do

but he's funny

and super super nice

today i was in a crap mood

alllll day

for no real reason

but he put up with it

and eventually

got me to crack

also did i mention that he bought me a serger for Christmas

to support my non clothes buying ways of 2010

so supportive

and right now

he is gone buying me

an at home gender test called intelligender

so we can try it out

and see what we're having

hopefully

we won't paint the walls or anything

because he thinks it will be fun

oh and he's spending his own money on it

what a guy

resolution?

i don't normally do new years resolutions

they seem like a waste of time and effort

i usually forget about them

and i don't see the point in waiting to start a new thing

however

starting january 1, 2010

i am going to challenge myself

to something i've been meaning to do for a while

i am not going to buy new clothes

for our family

i will only purchase clothes at the thrift store

and sew the rest

i think it'll help me be creative

and help me think to save and reuse more, in all areas

i'll let you know how it goes

our adventure

we went to my brother's yesterday

with the intention of going to the temple while we were there

this morning we got up on time

and our first roadblock was realizing noah peed their couch

we got ready anyway

and while eating breakfast hazel threw a fit

spilling an entire bowl of cereal on my only packed dress

i wore it anyway

and it dried on the way

when we got there

through the snow

i was getting my recommend out to go inside

and what do you know

i don't have it

it must be in one of the several places we've visited recently

where hazel emptied my wallet

don't worry though, the trip was not a complete waste

we did enjoy a fun time with my brother, his wife and their adorable kids

and we stopped at the olive garden for lunch on our way home

oh boy!

noah went to his first princess themed birthday party today

happy birthday ava

and

well..

he didn't hate it

holding hands

in the car on saturday

noah asked hazel to hold hands

and when he wanted to let go

she insisted he didn't

i loved it

Merry Christmas!

Love,

The Olsons

PS: does this make up at all for the fact that we didn't send Christmas cards?

relaxation

i am so glad finals are over

not that i even took any

but it was stressful enough

i'm also glad the kids are traveling well

since we're visiting family

i had a slurpee yesterday

i went to the mall today

and target

we're pretty much done Christmas shopping

but mostly

i'm glad

that my inlaws are so awesome

and took our kids overnight

yay

handmade Christmas presents....check!

in my family we exchange names

so we're only supposed to buy gifts for one family

but i just hate to not do anything for all of my nieces and nephews

so i usually just do a little something

this year i decided to make

superhero capes

with each of their initials on the back

and a magnet closure

i think they're pretty fun

and i hope they all like them

so i made 16 capes for my nieces and nephews

3 for michael's nieces and nephew

1 for his double cousin's daughter

and for my youngest niece

i made my first bib

all in all i'm glad i did it

and i'm glad i'm done

now i just have to think of a creative way to package them

and maybe some superhero candy to go with

well....

we're pregnant

due 7-6-2010

not 6-28-2010 like i thought before my ultrasound today

hazel melts my heart

of course there are some things about hazel i wish were different

i wish she hadn't begged her way to a

pizza-cookie-lucky charms breakfast this morning

i wish she didn't hit me when she gets mad

but she gives me so much to love

this morning after her very unhealthy breakfast

i got her undressed and took off her diaper

so she ran away, which i expected

i followed her

she went straight to her room and peed on the floor a little bit

trying to sit on her pink ikea potty seat

when she finally got situated on it

all by herself

she peed the rest of the way

what a good girl

she is so ready to be potty trained

and as if that didn't make me proud enough

a little while later

after i got her dressed

she walked out of her room

holding desitin and a diaper

saying baby

looking for her two dollar store dolls

to diaper one

then came out with both and a blanket to wrap them in

what a good mommy

i just love that girl

tonight

after the kids lay their pretty little heads in bed

i'm going to not clean the living room

or do the dishes

i am

going to watch a movie with this guy

michael at mcdonalds on his way to our wedding.. sadly he was late because of it

i think he's lucky i didn't kill him or his brother steve for encouraging this kind of behavior

i'm voting for harold and maude which i checked out from the library

but just in case that won't fly with the mr.

i rented julie and julia as well

we're having a night to ourselves

cuddling

and watching a movie

eating popcorn

and drinking knock off slurpees from a gas station

oh to be in love

dear noah

you're the cutest

you read me "brown bear, brown bear" last night

from memory

with funny voices

and extra animal noises

the way your dad reads it to you

it was hilarious

you had me laughing the whole time

thanks for being awesome,

mom

ps. i think you're cute

today

-we drove noah to school because his bus wasn't working

-it was 3 degrees outside when we took him

-noah told me he cried after we dropped him off because he missed us

-hazel fell out of the shopping cart for the first time

-i cooked a meal times 5 for once a month cooking

and now i need a nap

it's starting to feel a lot like....FREEZING

thank goodness for hot chocolate

fuzzy socks

good coats

one of hazel's many talents

sorting her m & ms by color