Bow Plaque

I finally did it! I have been struggling to find a good place to put all of my girls' hair accessories and have been at a total loss. In fact, everything was stuffed into a big plastic bag and getting squished and bent and stuff. Then my super creative friend made a little bow plaque for her baby girl, here. And so my friend Julie and I finally got decided to make something of our own. She actually made three of them (some as gifts) and I just made this one...

I love it! The picture does not do it justice (bad lighting, too). All of Julie's turned out super cute, too. I made mine a little bigger since I have TWO girls and I needed space for full headbands that Lyla wears. I still feel like I need more room but for now I am LOVING it! Thanks for the awesome idea Camille!

Lyla's First Snow Day

Last year during the winter, Lyla was still crawling and wasn't really able to play in the snow. It made winter very LONG!! Snow finally came a little over a week ago and it looked so beautiful! We showed Lyla the snow from the window and she seemed pretty curious about it. So we decided to bundle her up and take her outside to play while Ruby slept in her swing inside (don't worry, we had the monitor on). And by the way, her snow outfit was a little short so I'm pretty sure she had a wedgie the whole time. Luckily she was having such a great time!

"What is this stuff?"

She fell down a lot :)

She pretty much just ate the snow the whole time and she LOVED it! Luckily it was the first snow of the season so it wasn't really dirty.

She also LOVES her hat and her gloves. She wears them around the house all the time.

She seems like she is totally in her element. Snow definitely suits her.

She had a lot of fun learning to throw snow balls with her daddy.

Attempting to build a really mini snowman.

One of my favorites from the day.

Next step... SLEDDING!!

Happy Birthday Mom!!!

This post is dedicated to my wonderful mother on her birthday

I can't even begin to explain how much I love and care for my mom. I think most daughter's can probably say a statement like that. But I don't think many daughter's have grown to love their mom in the ways that I have. I don't know where to begin, so I guess I'll start somewhere.

My mom has been my best friend my whole life... even in times when I didn't know it. To be honest, I don't remember too much from growing up, but I know that she always took really good care of me and my brother's. She always made me really yummy food (her hash browns were the best!) and took me to run errands with her like I was her little buddy. I even got to watch her play some wicked tennis and I've heard she was a fantastic skier. She was a champ people! In fact, my mother-in-law remembers taking an aerobics class that my mom taught! Crazy!

When I was 2 years old, my mom was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis. She was going through a lot at that time in her life and she knew that she would more than likely end up in a wheelchair in the years to come. I cannot imagine how I would feel getting that diagnosis when I still had young children to raise. But she did. And you know what? She has handled everything like a champ.

I love this photo of me and my mom. She looks so BEAUTIFUL!! (Don't mind my forehead:))

My mom and I are almost identical. We are both SO stubborn :) We have the exact same facial expressions. Nate will often say to me when I make a face "Oh my gosh, that is your mom's face! You are your mother!" We both worry about things way too much (but it's out of love, I swear!). We are very social. We typically like things to be done a certain way. We both LOVED the beach growing up. And heck, we even look alike! Except I didn't get her rocking 5'9 body with beautiful long, skinny legs. What's up with that?

Starting in junior high, and through my first 3 years of high school my mom and I began to butt heads (but what teenage daughter doesn't butt heads with their mom?). I think it's because we are just so much alike. And probably because I was a BRAT. But even during this time where there were moments we didn't get along, this was also the time where we grew the closest. I was able to help her in ways that most daughter's don't have to. I think having to help her physically every day helped us to get through our disagreements and make up pretty quickly afterwards. Seriously, service fixes feuds like that in a jiffy!

It wasn't just helping my mom that helped us to be close. Every single day after school I would come home and lay on her bed and we would just talk. We talked about my day, about her day, about boys, then I would take a nap, then she would wake me up for Oprah, and then her physical therapy friends would come over and we'd all chat, and sometimes I'd fall asleep again or I'd go do something else. I'm sure there were days where she probably wished she could walk away and not listen to my lame drama that I probably brought to her, but she didn't let me know it. We kept this habit up all the way up until the time that I moved to Utah. That time with my mom is something I will cherish forever. It meant so much to me knowing that she would always be there waiting for me to talk to when I got home.

I will also be forever in debt to my mom for pretty much hooking me up with Nate. He was visiting her ward and she sent him over to the singles ward where I was at with directions to the building, my number "in case he got lost", and with the encouraging thought "Kelly would LOVE to see you!". She also had mentioned this to his sister previously and so Nate had come to town with that already in mind. I'll spare the details and just say the rest is history!

My mom and I on my wedding day. She looked so pretty!

After I moved out of the house, I really missed my mom. I didn't think I would, but I missed helping her on a daily basis. I missed our daily chats. Thank heavens for phones and for the sweet women who would sit and hold the phone for her so we could talk.

This picture cracks me up!

4 Generations: Louise Larsen, Dana King, Kelly Wright, Lyla Wright.

Despite her situation, my mom is such an awesome person. She has the best attitude of anyone I know or have heard of who is in a situation like hers. She is a friend to hundreds of people. She has the best friends who serve her every day to make sure she is fed, exercised, and visited. She is a favorite Sunday School teacher to all her kids she teaches. She is an inspiration to almost everyone she meets. She has such a strong testimony of the Gospel and her Savior. She has an amazing husband! What can I say... she is just great!

To this day, my mom and I still get to have our chats (even though they aren't every day). We are still SO much alike. We are still the best of friends. She means the world to me and I love her more than she could possibly know.

Mom, HAPPY BIRTHDAY! I LOVE YOU!!!!

Ruby 6 Weeks

Ruby at 6 weeks, 4 days.

I took Ruby in for her 1 month when she was 6 weeks, so it was more of a 6 week check up. Here are her stats...

Weight: 9lbs (she was 7lb 7oz) (50%)

Height: 23 in (95%)

Head: I forgot, but I think she has a pretty big head :)

She looks and is doing great! She has been smiling for us a lot lately. She and Lyla just love each other. Whenever Ruby is laying down somewhere besides her swing and her bouncer, you can count on Lyla laying down next to her, giving her her bear, or giving her a binki. It's so cute to watch them!

She does really well on tummy time... last night she pretty much just rolled herself from her tummy to her back all by herself. She was mad when I put her back on her tum. And then as I was taking this photo of her, she had originally started out on her tummy and then ended up almost all the way on her back.

Anyway, she's still spits up a lot but I think it is getting better. I am a little nervous that she is lactose intolerant (sp?) because I think I've realized that when I eat meals with cheese, she gets pretty fussy afterwards. That could be a problem for me :) She is a great sleeper when she is feeling well.

And lastly, she still has all her hair! I can't believe it! I think it could be lightening up a little, but I could be wrong. She definitely got the Wright hair... lucky girl! Chapman hair is flimsy and airy. Bleh!

Anyway, we love our Ruby Louise!

Lyla Quotes and some pics

Lyla's speech has really started to pick up lately and it has been so fun to listen to her figure out how to talk. Anyway, lately she has been saying some really funny things and so I thought I'd jot a few down before I forget about them...

Situation: We've been trying to teach Lyla what to say when people ask her how old she is (she turns two this week!). After some coaching, this is the result.

Me: Hey Lyla, how old are you?

Lyla: Um, 14 thousand!

Me: What?

Nate: Lyla, how old are you? Are you two?

Lyla: Um, 14 thousand! (So weird! I don't know where she got the thousand, lol!)

Situation: Lyla playing with the screen on the fireplace.

Me: Lyla, you are NOT supposed to touch that!

Lyla: (with a victorious fist pump in the air) I WANT TIME OUT!!! (she then proceeds to run to time out).

It's funny the phrases we must say a lot...

Nate: Okay Lyla, you can get off time out now.

Lyla: Okay, just a second daddy.

Me: Hey Lyla, come here!

Lyla: K, just a sec!

Situation: Lyla putting the phone to her ear...

Lyla: Uh huh. Ok. Bye. (and then repeats a thousand times)

The next two are examples of how she has learned to admire herself:

Situation: Pull out the camera to take pictures of Lyla.

Lyla: (After we take almost every picture, she runs to the camera to look at it) "CUTE!!"

Situation: We put on a new outfit on Lyla

Lyla: CUTE!!!

Not really a quote, but she loves to unbutton things. So one night she was wearing the full body pajama's that button from top to bottom. The next morning she comes out of her room wearing nothing but her diaper and dragging her pajama's behind her. So cute!

Situation: We've been working with her to speak or ask for things in full sentences. Usually it goes "Mommy, can I have some water, please?"

Lyla:I want water!

Me: Oh Lyla, how do you ask?

Lyla: Momma called the doctor and the doctor said, "NO MORE MONKEY'S JUMP ON BED!" (And then she laughs)

Situation: Ly loves to sing and we sing several songs before bed each night. She knows almost all the words to most of them and she knows when the songs are coming to an end. So to avoid the final bedtime song, she has learned to transition her songs, DJ style.

Nate and I: I feel my Savior's love, the (love)...

Lyla: ...(wants) me for a sunBEAM!

And lastly, whenever she talks to or about Ruby, she says "Wooby Wooby!" in this cute, sing song voice.

We love our little chatter box!

Here are just a few pics from the past couple of weeks...

Lyla loves to pose with Ruby. Unfortunately this results in her grabbing Ruby and pulling her on top of her OR just laying on top of her completely. I'm surprised at how much Ruby doesn't seem to mind!

Ruby her bouncer.

Cute pic, even though she kind of looks like a boy :)

Me snuggling with my girls and reading them a book.

This face...

I love being greeted by this face on a daily basis! She's giving me the stank eye!

I completely identify with her...

Do you want to know what it is really like to be married to me? Just watch the TV show Parenthood and look for Kristina Braverman. Okay, so I don't have a child with autism and so I'm not in her exact circumstance, but our personalities are IDENTICAL! Nate and I just sit and watch and he is always pausing the show and exclaiming "THAT IS YOU!" and I can't help but laugh because it is so so true. Her personality, attitude, expressions, drama, and sensitivity. Just everything. So yes, if I were to be made into a TV character, it would definitely be her.

Update

Quick update...

Halloween: After we carved pumpkins, Lyla and I went to our ward Trunk-or-Treat, which was so fun!

Lyla taking her turn to walk across the stage to show off her costume. She was so confused!

The next day we went trick-or-treating with our friends, the Players. Jaxon and Lyla were ecstatic the whole time!

They literally ran from house to house!

Jaxon loved to ring the door bell. I don't think Lyla cared about that part at all so it worked out :)

I love that their outfits match!

We tried getting them to take a picture together... this was the best we got.

On their daddy's shoulder's for most of the time. Poor guys were sore afterwards!

Here are just some recent pics...

Lyla wants to be just like me. Yesterday, she got into my makeup and then started to straighten her hair. Don't worry, the straightener wasn't plugged in.

Sisterly tummy timy :)

I took these two cute pics last night. Love how they turned out!

And this picture was from this morning. Ruby is officially 3 weeks old... CRAZY!

Tear-jerkin' movies...

Movies that make me cry EVERY TIME I watch them...

• Stepmom - seriously, I cry throughout the entire movie
• Steel Magnolias - obviously
• Titanic - no not when Leo sinks to the bottom of the ocean... but when the ship is sinking and they show the old couple on the bed awaiting their death and THEN they show the mom telling a story to her two children so they won't be scared! SO SAD!
• Life is Beautiful - if you don't cry in this one then you don't have a heart
• Armageddon - you know when... in the end when she is saying goodbye to her dad!
• My Girl - the bee's. Oh, those stinkin' bee's!!
• Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants - The little girl. I think her name is Bailey.
• Fox and the Hound
• The Green Mile - I actually haven't seen this in forever, but I'm sure I'd cry again if I watched it.
• The Notebook - I think I saw this movie 7 times in the theaters with my friends and we just sat and bawled for like 10 minutes afterward every time. I know, that's a little pathetic and I'm a total sissy.
• LOTR: The last movie - Okay, I just have to admit this one so a certain someone *cough* RACHEL *cough* doesn't call me out on it. I totally cried at the end of the LOTR trilogy. But I think it's because we watched them all in a row and I was so sad at the end! But since those movies are SO long I probably won't watch them all again for a long time. IF I did though, I'd probably cry every time.

So, what movies make you cry EVERY SINGLE TIME you watch them?

My girls...

I've been trying to get some good pictures of my girls lately and this is what I've come up with...

I'll start with my FAVORITE of Ruby!!! I can't decide if I like it better in color or B&W....

Seriously, how could you not love that face and that little smile?

This one was taken a few days earlier...

Lyla, as cute as she is, has been a little more... um... difficult lately :) And I can't blame her really... she just got a new sister and she's just under 2. Tough times! And getting an almost 2 year old to take a good picture is almost impossible!! Our first attempt at taking photo's this day resulted in this...

Yes, I know, her pout face is quite "snooty". This was because we tried to reward her good smiles with fruit snacks and she was upset because we weren't giving her the whole package. Needless to say, we went straight home and tried later to get a good picture. Which leads us to this cute shot...

Anyway, I am LOVING having two little girls! They are both SO SO cute! Despite Lyla's behavior issues lately, she is still such a sweet sister to Ruby, a sweet daughter, and she is just such a big girl! She loves to help around the house with cooking, cleaning, handing me things I need for Rub, and everything else she can help with. She is already starting to speak in sentences and is really just growing up way too fast! We love our little Lyla!

And Ruby is just as cute as ever! It's funny that each baby comes with their own challenges. Lyla had to go straight into casts when she was 1 week, which was a little difficult and just sort of a pain. But it made changing a newborn really easy! So changing Ruby's diapers is a lot more difficult than I remember Lyla's being. Overall though, Ruby has been such an easy baby! The only thing that I have to complain about is the projectile spit-up/vomit issue! We have SO MANY burp cloths and we go through them each like twice a week! We had this problem with Lyla too and so I'm pretty anxious to get this phase over with. But she sleeps and eats well, she loves to snuggle, and she is already getting so big and strong! I'm interested to see what she is going to look like. She looks nothing like Lyla did when she was born. She has all that dark hair but I can tell it is already starting to lighten up a ton! So if her hair stays, I'm not sure it will stay dark. Anyway, I am anxious to see what Ruby is going to be and look like over the next little bit.

Having 2 kids does have its challenges, of course, but it's also easier in other ways. But gosh, I am just loving being a mom to my two girls!

Family Pics

My friend Camille took these awesome photo's of our family and I LOVE how they turned out! Thanks Camille!!

Ruby

Me and Rub

Lyla and Grandma Wright

My personal favorite :)

This last one is actually one my MIL snapped of us and it turned out so good!

Ruby Louise Wright

She finally came! Ruby was born on Monday, October 18th at 10:42 am! There really isn't much of a labor story since I was induced, but I'll go ahead and tell what happened...

I REALLY didn't want to be induced. I think it was the horror stories and the fact that being induced can increase your risk of getting a c-section. Plus, I really like letting my body do its job of going into labor by itself. Lyla was born a week early so I assumed Rub would come early as well. BUT I was obviously wrong. I was dilated to a 2, then a 3, then a 4 for about a month or two before my due date and my doctor was really surprised I hadn't had her yet. So finally when we hit my due date and still no baby, my doctor talked me into being induced. I really wasn't too opposed since we were scheduling the date for 5 days AFTER my due date. I was a little nervous and anxious as the date came closer but knew she had to come out some time! Anyway, the night before, Nate gave me a blessing and afterwards I felt really at peace with the whole thing.

SO, Monday morning we arrived at the hospital at 6:30am. They went through all the registration stuff and got me in my bed and all that before starting my IV. They checked me out and said I was dilated to a 5. Once they got my IV going, my doctor came in and just broke my water to get things going. This was at 8:15am. She wanted to see if that would do the trick before giving me pitocin (sp?) and she said she expected me to dilate about 2cm/hour. After about 10-15 minutes contractions finally started happening. I told them I wanted to wait as long as I could before getting an epidural. I feel like such a wimp because after about 20-30 minutes of strong contractions I was begging them for the drugs! After I got my epidural I felt SOO much better! Sometime before or after my epidural they checked me and I was at a 7. I wasn't completely numb but I was numb enough to relax. Nate and I were so tired by this point (we hardly slept the night before) that we decided to take a nap. Then, what seemed so suddenly, they came in and checked me and told me I was at a 10 and 100% effaced and they called my doctor to come for delivery. She was in the middle of a surgery so I thought that we had some time so I fell back asleep. Then all of a sudden my doctor comes in like 15 minutes later and said the surgery finished more quickly than usual. I told them I still wanted to nap and they just laughed. I don't think they knew I was serious. I think I just felt out of it and so tired and it really felt like I was dreaming. Anyway, they got me all positioned and told me to start pushing. After the first set of pushes, Ruby was already partially out. They had me wait until the next set of contractions to push again and when they came, I pushed and she was out! I can't believe how quickly it went. Ruby was delivered 2.5 hours after they broke my water and I pushed for less than 5 minutes! I seriously got lucky with such an easy labor! It made me really grateful that my water didn't break on its own because I'm pretty sure I would have been in trouble with getting to the hospital in time, especially with having to find someone to take Lyla at the drop of a hat! So, overall, my experience with delivering Rub was AWESOME!

We decided to name her Ruby Louise Wright. I really just love the name Ruby and I think it goes well with Lyla. Louise is after my grandma on my mom's side whom I'm really close to. Ruby already has a million nick names... Ru, Rub (pronounced Roob), Ruby Ruby Roo (said like Scooby Doo), Ruby Lou, and Nate's favorite... Ruby Cube (leave it to Nate to come up with that one :)).

Ruby is a DOLL! She has the sweetest cry... which I am sure I probably won't think that all the time. But compared to Lyla, her cry is just so soft! She is such a chill baby! She loves to be held and to just snuggle! She has a TON of hair! She is definitely a Wright baby and most of her features, if not all, are from Nate. We are just loving having her around and Lyla loves having a little sister!

Okay, here are some pics...

Waiting to deliver

Right after she was born

Rub and her daddy

So cute with all that hair!!

Lyla came to visit. She was concerned at first that I was in the hospital bed and was pretty nervous about it. But she warmed up pretty quickly.

Giving her sister some love!

First family shot! My husband's a hottie!

Ruby's first day home. Lyla LOVES to hold her, touch her face, play with her hair, give her kisses, etc.

Rub's going home outfit

So cute and alert in her bouncer!