piggies and ponies.

Houstan...we have hair! yup it's official my baby has a ponytail!! how exciting, and ridiculously cute is that??? I have been putting it off for a while cause she HATES to have her hair touched or combed, her face wiped, her boogers cleaned, or any pestering of any kind. But i finally bucked down, held her head in between my legs (don't call social services) and managed to pull that tiny elastic around that tiny chunk of hair and into the most adorable pony ever! and at 10 months to boot!! I think CHloe was 2?? ok maybe not but it seems that way.

My serious kids. They get that from their dad. When they scowl....they are shooting daggers so you better watch out! Ashley especially has been so serious lately, like she is studying everything, concentrating so hard on everything she is doing. While Chloe is the same, she is so serious when she is playing with her dolls, so concerned with their sleeping habits! But she goes from happy to serious very quickly it is very funny to watch. But with ASh you really have to work hard to get the smiles and giggles from this girl....but it is sooooo worth it!

Those chompers will blow you away!!

And look how tall this girl is?? what gives? I am not ready for this. My friends were telling me the other day she can go to preschool this year....what?? good thing she misses the cut-off by 20 days so I don't have to deal with that yet! She is in no way old enough for school....and more importantly I am not old enough to have a kid in school! but she DOES have hair....sort of. Its getting there, Its really curly and fun, I just wish it would GROW already....pure torture for me.

Chloe is really into books these days. She really loves the bearenstein bears book that has like 5 stories in 1, the doctor one is her favorite. Then she had to go to the doctor last week when she woke up telling me her ears hurt. She was been talking about it constantly to anyone who will listen. And her favorite topic of conversation is all of her owies that she has or has ever had. The books she also loves, "the bike lesson" "the best nest" all her princess and fairy books and her alphabet book with all the touchy feelies in it. we have to read a million stories and sing "twinkle twinkle" every night before bed.

I love to hear her talk, she chatters non-stop and most of the time I know exactly what she is saying. It is sure handy and annoying at the same time! ha ha she is just so LOUD sometimes! but oh so funny, she makes me laugh all day long. Like the other day i was feeding ashley in her high chair and Chloe had brought her potty stool over to the chair to "help" feed Ash. I asked her "How come you are so big?" (to which she usually replies "I two mom") But she just looked at me like I was ridiculous and said "I on stool" ha ha oh right my bad!

She knows most of her colors, and can count to 10....sort of...in a roundabout way. She loves hide and go seek, and counts "3 2 1...I find you!!" She loves playdough and coloring with MARKERS not crayons, and painting. I brought home a castle that I got when I worked in the Kindergarten that they were getting rid of and she plays with it all. the. time. It's so cute, she sings the princess songs and puts the tiny Cinderella to bed. (in the dungeon)

Ok that was alot longer than I was planning, but whatcha gonna do.

Ashley is going to be one. I can't believe it. in a month and a bit. I know i am biased but I just think she is so gorgeous and I love her to death. I wish she would learn to crawl tho. She is still refusing to get on her knees. And she isn't really into walking. Her legs have always been a little weak, so I think we are dealing with a scooter for a while. She gets around....just slowly. she did fall down the stairs the other day, so I guess she is faster than i thought. oops! we have the baby gate up now, so its all good.

I love both my girls....we are so lucky!

St. Paddy's

We go big on holidays around here.....or maybe not. Ok really not at all. We DID however make some green shamrock biscuits for St. Paddy's day....look at me go! Chloe LOVES biscuits, we make them alot, she is a great helper. she gets mad when i don't let her do every little step by herself, but she gets to use the cookie cutter, which is the best part anyways right? And i love how ashley is just hanging out in the highchair in the background, she always gets left out. Maybe she should be more demanding of my time then I would be forced not to let her out of my sights.....no no i take that back...please stay just as wonderful as you are :)

And i DID get the girls dressed up in Green and take some pictures. mainly because It is also gramma Dix's birthday so we have to be semi-festive. Lucky for us my girls each had one green shirt!

Happy Birthday Gramma!!

Chloe was being very uncooperative so this was the only picture we got of her.

Ash is making more and more noises, she makes like an "ST...SSTTT" kind of sound where she spits alot, its my favorite! and there is some "MAMA" and "BABA" going on, and every time i try and get her to say "dada" she just cracks up...I guess I talk funny.

You will find her clapping most of the day, and will clap on cue for you if you start singing Patty cake. I love it when they know "tricks" I love to show off my kids and how smart they are....don't we all?? I hope so, so I am not just a weirdo freak all by myself.

Ash is also becoming more moody and aggressive. Which is a good thing for her, It kind of slows Chloe down when she is tormenting her to no end. She even bit Chloe the other day, I didn't feel very bad for her....she deserved it. Chloe can be very nice and share her toys with ash, she even loves to help get her bottle, and diapers, and she is good to get her a toy if they are wanting the same one... SOME of the time. But i would definitely venture to say that the majority of the time is spent mauling her to death, pushing her down, taking her toys away, and generally just pestering the daylights out of her. I am sure it is normal 2 year old behavior and i DO try to discipline her, time outs seem to do the trick. It's a good thing Ash just seems to go with the flow, makes my life alot easier!

Lately

Check out the CHOMPERS on this kid!! looks like she took a bottle juuuuust in time. she just popped one more through on the top today, so 5 big teethers for my 10 month old baby! yikes, she is going to be ONE in 2 ridiculously fast months!!

Chloe was SO excited to get to go to her very first birthday party last week. Her friend Kylie was turning 4, and was having a Pinkilicious party, which was right up Chloe's alley.

They had so much fun making crowns, playing cupcake-cupcake-yum (duck duck goose) and musical wands. she was even trying to play the cupcake game the next day at my moms house, though nobody knew what she was trying to say.

It was so much fun, and alot of work for my friend Nicolle. I am not sure I am ready to do friends birthday parties yet....maybe when chloe turns 4??

We got to babysit Boss and Baker a week or two ago and of course Chloe was ecstatic.....Boss is her favorite!! It was so fun cause my mom had just got home off of her cruise the day before so she came over to play.

They had so much fun on this little scooter/car thing. Boss loved it he could even move it by turning the handle, chloe just pushes it with her feet. But he hated her strider bike for some reason....probably cause it was pink :)

Chloe LOVES to feed Ash her bottle, but usually gives up about halfway through. I don't know why ashley refuses to hold the bottle herself, but she sure makes a mess! and can i just say how much i LOVE not nursing anymore?? I mean nursing is great, its good for them, i like the bonding, and its free and convenient blah blah blah.... but maaaaaan it sure feels great to have my body back to myself! it's been a LONG time coming with 2 pregnancies and nursing with no break in between. I just hope i don't get knocked up again any time soon. ha ha

I was downstairs putting some laundry away the other day, and it was reeeally quiet so i was expecting some trouble. But to my surprise I came upstairs looking around for my chillins, and couldn't find them anywhere. Then I heard some giggling coming from the corner of the living room behind the couch and found this....

My two sweethearts just playing SO nicely together snuggled into the corner. This NEVER happens!! there is rarely 5 minutes that go by during the day where Chloe hasn't pounced on Ash knocking her to the floor, which is really frustrating because Ash hasn't quite figured out how to sit herself back up yet.....she is working on it.

And i even got some videos on here today....look at me go!

This first one is just my smash being her cute self. she is just the smilies happiest baby ever. i couldn't love her more if i tried. She waved once a week or two ago and i can't for the life of me get her to do it again, she just likes to play with my hand while i show her how it goes. And i LOVE the reaching....its adorable. she is reaching with everything she's got how can you not want to pick her up?? and her laugh she is doing lately?? hilarious....she is just sucking in making this weird noise and raising her eyebrows. where did i find this kid??

This is Chloe's obsession. we try not to let her play on the ipad ALL the time. at least during the day it is at work with Regan which is nice. but she asks for it as SOON as Regan walks in the door. I can't blame her really it is pretty fun to play on!! You also get to feast your eyes on Ashley scootin in this one. yes yes she is 10 months old and doesn't crawl....whats it to ya? ha ha I was a little worried and then i realized i LOVE that she doesn't crawl, makes her the easiest kid ever!.....minus the fact she can't sit herself up. so I am sitting her up every 5 minutes after she gets pummeled by her sister, but it's ok she is a scooter. And she is getting a little faster each day, and she is gonna walk soon anyways so who needs to crawl??

Big girl bed

Chloe finally moved into her new room downstairs! yay!! It has been a loooong time coming. but its done!! wahoo! she has been So excited. she helped me put her bed together and get everything ready. It's not quite finished with all the decorations and whatnot, but it's still cute!

Pretty much all the furniture I got at either a thrift store or a garage sale and just painted it. her bed frame was $10, and her bedside table that i LOVE was a whopping $2!!

I made her ruffled duvet cover, which isn't exactly the right shade of pink i wanted but oh well it was on clearance! and her quilt on the bed is from Target. i love LOVE it! she just needs some more cute pillows that will be made....someday.

I got this dresser at an antique store in great falls for $30 and just painted it. Regan was mad when i "antiqued" it after, ha ha but i like it.

Then i found this cute mac-tac at michaels and lined the drawers cause they were old.

This nightlight is chloe's favorite part of the room, we got it at target. "my yite" as she calls it.

She was ridiculously excited to go to bed and she did awesome. she has been sleeping there for a couple months now, and is such a big girl. So thats all the pics i have of the room, it is a tad bit more finished now, but not all the way, what can i say....I am lazy!

She did awesome sleeping in her bed at first. She would just stay in her bed after i put her in, i think she thought she couldn't get out! ha ha but once she figured it out it wasn't bad until she figured out how to open her door...uggh. she gets up like twice a night now and does the "I gotta poo mom" like 50 times and comes upstairs for like an hour or two at bed time. but yesterday i got one of those things that goes on her door knob so she can't open it. she tried to come out but all we heard was " I STUCK mom!!?" ha ha yup you sure are! she still got up in the night, but i am hoping now that she knows she can't get out maybe she will stay in bed?? here's hoping!!

And on a side note, THIS big girl drinks a bottle now! YAY!! best day of my life! ha ha

And check out the mop on chloe!! ok so its not much of a mop, but I finally got to do something fun with her tiny bit of hair, so we had to document it. It didn't last long tho, those little ponies were baaaaarely hangin in there.

Kalispel

I have a few things i need to catch up on, and what better time than when i am sitting on my butt recovering from surgery! it went well btw, if anyone was wondering. I am still feeling sick from the anesthesia 4 days later (that stuff is the worst) and refuse to take painkillers cause they make me feel horrible. so we are very VERY lucky that we have a couple of the best sets of grandparents just a short drive away who love our kids and are so willing to help! we LOVE you! and double thank you to Tash and all the people who have made us dinner, it has been SO wonderful, we feel very spoiled. aaaaanyways. back to the original post.

We got to go to Kalispell a while back with the School board because regan had to do a presentation for them. It was really fun to get away as a family, and bonus my parents were there cause my dad is on the school board. So while the men were in meetings all day us girls just shopped and swam! it was a great time.

Chloe who is obsessed with anything and everything princess carried around her loot of dollar store princess toys EVERYWHERE!! and i was NOT allowed to help her. ha ha it was hilarious. gramma bought her a backpack to put them all in, and she was in heaven!

We pretty much just swam every night to tire the girls out. I was super nervous about them sleeping in the same room with us, but the swimming must have done the trick cause they slept like a dream!

And i can't believe that this was Ash's first time swimming....what kind of a mom am I?? oh well she loved it.

She loved the turtle too and would just lay her head down and relax, she is just the easiest baby ever, we love her!

Chloe made us go back and forth and back and forth from the hot tub to the pool, Ash was in heaven in her little dingy floatin around the hot tub. she was soooo close to falling asleep.

I LOVE these girls. they are my water babies. Chloe even swam by herself with her water wings on, she was pretty proud of herself.

the whole fam damly. my parents were here somewhere too, but i didn't think my mom would appreciate me posting a picture of her in a swimsuit!

Nobody told me!!

So its been a long couple of months for me over at the Holt house. I debated whether or not to share my troubles so publicly on my blog. but I sort of feel like its my duty?? is that dumb? ha ha I feel like i need to share this cause nobody told ME that this could happen. and frankly i am a little pissed off about it. you are forewarned that this is entirely a post full of TMI. continue if you feel the need.

About 3 months ago i went to my doctor in search of some birth control options. I do not fare well on the pill and was wondering what my other options were when my dr. explained to me that i should definitely get and IUD because they are wonderful, and everyone loves them and they are good for 5 years, painless and worry free....blah blah blah a whole bunch more horse crap. He just made it sound so perfect and totally talked me into getting one.

Now of course I was dumb enough not to look it up or ask enough questions as to how it was all going to go down. but as I am laying there getting ready for my "just feels like a rough pap test" sort of insertion, the nurse says to me all jokingly, "so you will have to come back in a couple of months and tell me if it was worth it!" ......what??? why?? i am now starting to get a little nervous. He told me it wasn't going to hurt!!??? well lets just all note that a MAN doctor can in no way tell you how it is going to feel. because let me tell you.....it hurt. like. HELL!!! like holy frack i thought i was in labor again or something, and then almost passed out, and then couldn't walk straight for a day or two.

Ok so that was ok, after the first initial couple of days with ALOT of cramping and pinching (which apparently is normal) i thought, ok this might not be too bad after the bleeding stops, maybe it will all be worth it?? then a couple of weeks go by and i am still waiting for that bleeding to stop.....and a few weeks after that i call my dr. and he says to give it a few more weeks. ooookay. this is when i knew something was up. after like 8 weeks i finally went in to get checked and he said all was good and it was in place and yada yada. ok then why am i STILL bleeding and cramping??? wtf?? no answers really. so then 2 weeks later enough was enough i was done, get this thing outta me!!

I went in to get it out and was nervous about it hurting cause of the extremely pain i was in when they put it in. But we didn't quite get that far. two words you REALLY don't want to hear when you are all too vulnerable, spread eagle and in the stirrups...."uh oh" greeeeat what NOW??? "ummm i can't seem to locate it" WHAT??? what do you MEAN?? where the EFF did it go?? (i might have had a few choice words at this point that are not blogger friendly) all he had to say was that i had to get an ultrasound to see where it was so they could "fish" it out. fuuuuuun.

So at this point i am just a tad bit upset, but i calmly go to my ultrasound, only to get zero results and have to then get an x-ray. which you then have to wait like 2 days to get results from. and as i am just walking out the door to my girls night out, i get the call from the doctor saying "yaaaa soo it looks like the IUD has wandered off and gone through your uterine wall and is hanging out somwhere in your abdomen" as i am breaking down into tears and swearing left and right he explains that this happens and i will just have to get it removed. but seriously WHY didn't anyone TELL ME this could happen??? I was told NO potential problems or side effects that could happen with this piece of crap birth control. I mean i am horrible at asking the right questions (i am half retarded) but isn't that their JOB??? geez. aaaannnnyways so that is my story. i have one of these......floating around just above my hip bone apparently.

and I am scheduled to get it surgically removed tomorrow. gag. like REAL put me to sleep shove a tube down my throat, cut me open surgery......sounds like a party eh? I really hope my month is better next month. cause on top of this i got tendonitis in my elbow, the worst tonsillitis of my life, and i have 3 cavities.....what gives?? i hope everyone is having a better month than me!! and while i am sure some people love them and think they are the greatest things since sliced bread, in case you were thinking about getting an IUD as your form of birth control....i personally will not be recommending it to anyone.