HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!!!

So after taking a few days off...I am back due to popular demand. Well, maybe not popular, but I have had a few comments asking me when I will resume my blog. So here I am!

2008 was good to us, and I have dreams that 2009 will be even better. I have set a few goals for myself, and here they are:

1. Become more organized...it is hard living in a 1100 square foot home with a family of 5 and a dog. But I know I can do it. I have to do it. I am very anal retentive about things, and I am miserable with everything is out of order, like NOW!

2. Be a better Mom and Wife. These are things I think we all work on. We can always be a better mother, wife, friend, daughter, sister, whatever. Hopefully my organizational skills will assist in this!

3. De-clutter. This has been something I have been working on for the past year. I have a tendency to hold on to things...crap actually. I need to be better at looking at things and deciding if I really need it. My organizational skills (which I really do have) will come in handy here too!

4. Stop Shopping. I admit it. I LOVE retail therapy. I love to recieve packages. I love to spend money. Generally it is the thrill of finding a 'good deal', as I am just not one to pay full retail price for anything, but it has to stop. I am challenging myself not to purchase anything but groceries and gasoline. No more trips to Target or the mall.

5. Lose 20 lbs. I look good. I am back to my pre-Victoria weight. But I do the Wii Fit, and it states that I am overweight. Which I am...there are a few pounds in the middle that could go. I took 20 lbs off my Mii, and it put me at a really healthy BMI, so off the weight will come. Hopefully with that I will also get to rid myself of my blood pressure medication. Or at least cut further back on it.

6. Eat better. I have a sugar problem. I CRAVE sugar. Part of it is because of my restricted diet due to Victorias food sensitivities, the other part is that I just love sweets. I need to detox a bit I think, and give up the sugar...or most of it. Like the 3 lb bag of Sweedish Fish that only takes me 3 days to eat...yuck!

That is it for now...what are your New Years Resolutions? The above are not just resolutions for me, it is a total new way of life. These are the nagging things that drive me mental (I know, short trip) and that I have total control over changing.

Does anyone have an organizational skills to share? Please do! I need them desperately! Tasty recipes? Please share! Anyone want to join in my crusade and be held accountable? PLEASE join me...I promise to post pictures of my slimming down, my clean house, my cute and happy kids, and maybe the occasional hubby pic.

Also, please forward to me any blogs or websites that you think might help me with my list!

WAHOO! HAPPY NEW YEAR!

3 kids + a camera = FUN!

So I decided I could take a better picture of my own kids than anyone else could. Plus I hate taking them in with all the other screaming banshees and pay $$$$$ only to end up with pictures that are ridiculously posed and unnatural. Hee Hee, who was I kidding. I totally love taking pictures of the kids, although I will say that with each kid less and less pictures get taken. And I know why...I am out of hands or eyes. I can't keep track of the three of them and take photos at the same time. I don't think Superwoman could even manage that.

So I got the kids reluctantly in their matching xmas outfits. Oh they are so cute! Yes, I am the cheesy mom that coordinates her childrens clothing. Now that Victoria is here I do find that I don't make the boys match anymore...just coordinate...but they do always match. Have you ever tried to get 3 kids to look at the camera all at the same time? And smile? And not blink? FUN! FUN! FUN! Enjoy the slideshow!

Sleep is for losers.

Tony and I have been joking the past few weeks that we are more sleep deprived now than we were right after we had Victoria. And it is true. But it isn't like we are up watching a movie, or even having a little fun between the sheets. It's the kids. One of them seems to ALWAYS be awake. Whether it is midnight and we are awakened by a screaming voice saying "I HAVE TO PEE" which would be Jacob who won't come downstairs and go to the bathroom unless we carry him, or maybe it is the sound of elephants tromping through our house and then the inevitable door slam and the whisper of "I'm scared and I had a bad dream" which would be Jonathan. And then we have what Tony calls the circus act. Once again, it isn't he and I doing acrobatics, he says it is Victoria and I. We co-sleep with our kids as infants. We do have a co-sleeper set up next to the bed, which Victoria does sleep in, but after she wakes up for the first time in the night to eat, I pull her in bed with me. I am not going to sit up and breastfeed her, and then put her back in the co-sleeper and then go back to sleep. I would be exhausted. It is much easier to put her on the boob lying down and fall back asleep. She just takes care of business herself and falls back into a nice slumber. But Tony says it wakes him up, and keeps him awake. Hmmm...this must be why I always hear so much SNORING from his side of the bed. I have never really known why men say they don't snore, or deny sleeping when you hear the undeniable sound of sawing logs.

Oh well, at least we women know the truth about snoring. And you can't fake snore...he has tried it. This was his lame attempt once at not getting up to take care of one of the kids. He just got kicked even harder then!