This is How We Do It

*Cue Jock Jams CD...track 7...This is How We Do It*

A part of me died the day I lost that CD.
Probably just the part of me that was a budding inner gangster...some things aren't meant to live long.

And so this is how we do it. Just wanted to share a little bit of what really goes on in this house.We have nachos in bed at night after the kids have gone to bed.

And if dad is gone, we get cheeseburgers and fries and shakes. Hey, we aren't always going to live by an In N Out. The kids don't really even touch theirs. I eat mine and get a stomach ache and wonder why I always do this to myself. And we watch a movie. The kids are still on a Tom and Jerry kick.

I Think I Forget to Mention Something

I had to scroll back through my posts to see if I had blogged about Emmy turning 6 months. I hadn't...and so here she is 6 months and 10 days old. I am liking 6 months. She spends a lot of time on my hip as I do stuff around the house and her two-teeth grin continues to brighten our days. The hair is a little slow coming in...the slowest of the kids. And I really can't tell what color it's going to be.

Jansen tells me all the time how much fun it is to have Emmy. Natalie usually wakes up in the morning and runs into my room saying, "Emmy! Emmy! Emmy!"

She can sit up on her own and really seems to enjoy that. She has started rolling around more in her bed, so sometimes I find her on her tummy, sometimes her back, sometimes her side.

This is Jansen around 6 months:

And Natalie around 6 months:

I Do This Thing

I noticed something in a picture taken at dinner the other night.

I am doing that weird thing with my feet.

When I'm sitting somewhere I rarely put my feet flat on the floor. I tried it just now and YEP it felt really foreign. A few months ago when I spent a lot of time in the recliner nursing Emmy, I had noticed that I always turn my feet so that mostly just the outside edges are touching the floor. I can't quite pin down why I do it. There are two major possibilities in my mind.

1. Feet flat on the floor means I am totally relaxed and at ease. I'm just not naturally relaxed and at ease. Usually a tad of uptightness going on. I'm sure that makes NO sense to you...but it makes sense to me.

2. Mostly when I was younger I could not walk with flat feet on a wet or slightly wet floor. It felt SO gross and dirty to me. Waterparks, getting out of the shower, rec pools, etc...I would kind of walk with the smallest area of my feet touching the floor as possible. This was usually the outside edges. I am wondering if this is the remnants of that.

Do you have any quirks like this? And on a scale of 1 to crazy how nutso am I?

Celine Dion Concert

I think it was like a year ago that Kami called and told me that she had gotten us tickets to Celine Dion in Las Vegas for my birthday in 2011. I did all my chores, made sure my homework was done, and cleaned my room so that I could go. Here we are at dinner...you will notice upon further inspection that our plates are nearly licked clean.

One of my best friends from high school (also Kami's sister in law) came to see Celine as well. Let me introduce you to Amy...my partner in crime...a lady who makes me laugh harder than almost anyone else. You will see her nestled in the back seat. Kami says that when I get with Amy I am like a kid in a candy shop. I'll have one of each please.

There was a naughty bum in this picture but I took it out. So you can look. On our way to Caesar's Palace!

Celine has seen me through some times. I distinctly remember buying one of her tapes at Media Play and blasting it in the car. "There were nights when the wind was so cold..." There are some songs that remind me of the week Nate and I broke up. And there's the Titanic song of course...which we used to play for basketball pregame because people said Mountain View COULD be sunk. And we thought we were funny.

Had to lay a few bets down. What would be her first song? We all guessed and threw in the change from our purses. I believe Momma Tressler won.

It was certainly one of those nights that went by too quickly. Although at this point the night was still young. We shopped a little after and then hit Serendipity. And then I got that pit in my stomach thinking of getting up and getting myself and everyone ready for church by 9. Lovely evening. Lovely girls.

Birthday

My birthday definitely felt like a special day. Every single text, facebook birthday wish, email, phone call, and visit made it an I-feel-happy-today kind of birthday. Even Dairy Queen's email offer for a free Blizzard added to the magic of the day. Until I noticed you had to purchase one too. Nate surprised me with these beautiful flowers that Emmy said were also delicious. There was money stashed throughout the bouquet...doesn't get better than that. And looking at this picture I am realizing maybe Emmy was just trying to be nice. Maybe they didn't taste good.

It was a very cold and windy day for Las Vegas. That's okay. All day I was able to look forward to dinner out with friends from the neighborhood and from church. We went to a place called BJ's where I ordered an alfredo pizza and we chatted for almost 3 hours. Sometimes 3 hours can go by so fast.

I turned 29. So I'm almost 30. (Just wanted to clarify that for the younger audience). To me, my mom will always be about 35, so approaching my 30s as well feels kind of otherworldly. I wouldn't say I feel bothered by it though. It really makes me realize how young at heart we all are. I am not even close to being done with silly jokes, weird faces, and other immature things. Just know that.

Sponta-NATE-ety

 We owe a fabulous Friday night all to Nate and his spontaneous ideas. After finishing up dinner and tossing around some ways of how to spend the rest of the evening, Nate suggested we go on a family bike ride. We tried strapping Emmy into the seat we have that attaches to the back of his bike, but she did not like it. I think someday she will. She wasn't in the best mood. We decided to invite our friends the Scows and I would put Emmy to bed (the cure for a bad mood) and Nate could take the kids. Julie Scow hung around with me and we chatted and ate ice cream sandwiches while the boys corralled the kids to McDonald's to get ice cream. It feels good to be making some fun memories of Las Vegas.

Eh

Eh.

That's how our St. Patrick's Day went.

The must-celebrate-the-holiday mother guilt hit me like tidal wave last night, so I ran to Smith's. For breakfast we had Fruit Loops and cantaloupe. Fruit Loops are rainbow colors you know. Natalie wouldn't eat them.

As part of their lunch I served up store bought Jell-O with pineapples in it. Neither would partake. And later I decided to take a little bite. Yuckers.

And dinner had some broccoli in the lineup. Because it's green.

And that's it. I have to laugh about it all now.

Emmy's had a fever and hasn't been acting like herself, so we laid low most of the day. Natalie, Emmy, and I made a trip to Michael's where I listened to mother after mother scold her children and speak demeaning words to them. It makes me wonder if I sound like that and just don't realize it. I hope not. I hated hearing it.

The photographer here is the only child not pictured. Miss Natalie.

It was yet another night of putting the kids to bed by myself...but on Saturday I won't be...going to Celine Dion!!!

Perks of the Truck

Turns out it's really nice to have a truck.

It's the perfect place to hang out and look at the stars.

And it makes the drive-in even more exciting.

We saw Mars Needs Moms and Emmy was SO cooperative. I actually put her to bed at home, but then I whisked her from her crib and got her in her car seat (still asleep), drove out to the drive in (still asleep), watched the movie (still asleep), and got her back home (still asleep). It was a dream come true.

It was not a dream come true that I forgot all our treats. For me and the kids, that's the highlight of watching movies. Thankfully we had friends who were more than willing to share.

Perks of an Emmy: the way she looks up at me when she's drinking her bottle. It's such an indescribable feeling to know that to a little tiny person I am everything. My face is the most familiar and comforting thing to her. Her happiness and survival is in my hands. And even though she can't say it, I know she loves me. I even secretly like it when I hand her to someone else and she looks at me and cries and wants to be back in my arms. You don't feel unconditional love out in the big wide world very often, but I get to feel it at home and I love it.

In This Edition of the Nye News

Experimental Child Rearing Continues in the North Las Vegas Area

Child With Ability to Melt Hearts Makes Outside Appearance

Engaging Bubble Contraption Boosts IQ...

.. 

And Reduces Appetite!

Nye Sustains Formidable Grass Stain in Spring Debut

Mother Escapes From High Security Prison Home and Relishes Night Out With Old Friends

The Beauty of Las Vegas

The beauty of Las Vegas: frequent visitors.

My mom came for a few days and my cousins stopped in to break up their drive home from Disneyland. A little pressure being the tail end of a trip to the Happiest Place on Earth! How can I compete?

I'm thankful that some of the most treasured relationships in life are unaffected by time and distance. A grandma is a grandma no matter how far away she lives or how often she is able to come visit. Even a 5 1/2 month old knows that.
A couple other beauties of Las Vegas:

Love that little peek.

And some people are such a part of your past that they will always be a part of your future. These gals have been there from the day I was born. When I spend time with them it's like wrapping up in a warm familiar blanket. And watching TV. With ice cream. Two flavors.

I took a gamble and bought a Tom & Jerry movie for $5 at Target. I knew the kids would either love it or hate it. They love it. Jansen laughs so hard. The kind of laugh that you can hear all through the house and you just break into a grin yourself.

***written by Jansen*** Jansen natalie and Jansens 2 Cousins are behind the small sofa/couch showing their stuf and the stuf is toy horses!!!

I wish I had taken the time to corral everyone together for a picture, but these girls were so sweet to my kids and played and played with them.

I'm already getting a little nervous for our next move. Sure it's over two years away, but I know we won't get this many visitors! I'm going to have to start planning the bribery.

We Lost One, We Grew One

Jansen informed me that he had a loose tooth a couple weeks ago.

And now it's gone.

He and I were playing in the family room and he was biting his blanket...I grabbed at the blanket and pulled and WHOOSH out flies the tooth. His face is covered in Nutella, but here's his grin that's minus a bottom baby tooth now.

When he woke up the next morning he thought the tooth fairy had forgotten to come. (She did forget. Parental failure at it's worst.) But I rushed in the room (with the money tucked in my hand) and showed him that the money was actually IN his pillowcase and the tooth fairy must have decided to leave that tooth for him to keep since it was his first one. (Phew)

We're not feeling the loss much though...because Emmy got a tooth!

The Best Sound

A baby laughing has got to be the best sound ever. 

Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Photo Printing

We Are

Starting T-ball this week...

Waking up before 6 in the morning...

Doing our homework...

Always begging to play with the camera...

Sitting in a highchair...

Playing in the Exersaucer...