most wonderful time

don't worry - we are still in UT having a grand old time. Happy New Year everyone. I'll post pictures when we get back to MN!

advice?

So I am needing some advice from the mothers that read/check/glance/pass by my blog. I have two wonderful children. Darla will be 2 on the 28th of December, Bennett is 3 1/2 months old. Frequently there are times where both of them are crying at the same time. This happens at all different kinds of moments. The one that happened tonight; Darla didn't want me to nurse Bennett when it was time for him to eat. I began feeding him and she cried the whole time - which made it difficult to feed Bennett because he kept crying on and off since he could hear her. That is just one example. Other times they are both crying for whatever reason. That happened this week and they both were crying for about 30 min straight. Mind you - I was trying to get them to stop some how, some way.
So, mothers - anyone - what do I do? How do I not let it get to my nerves. How do I stay calm?  Sometimes I just break down and cry with them, other times I am so frustrated I cannot think, I feel like I'm just reacting (which is no good). Oh the joys of motherhood right?

december

I love the month of December. My whole life it has been full of birthdays, holidays, family, friends, vacation, delicious food/treats, music, and celebration. Darla and I celebrated our birthdays together by going on a little Mommy-Darla date. We were lucky enough to go see Disney on Ice. She didn't move for two hours straight. She'd never beheld anything like that in her whole life. What a wonderful adventure to share together. On my birthday I woke up to Darla saying "Mommy, there's a happy birthday for you downstairs mom!" We walked down the stairs and she ran over to the kitchen table where there were a few wrapped presents, "Open them for you mom? Yeah? Sure?" She was so excited. I felt VERY celebrated. But I do have to say this is the first birthday that I have ever thought twice about my age. 26 has made me feel like I am actually getting older. Or may be it's the fact that I am a mother of two children? Who knows? I love my little family.

This week I had the energy to throw together some Christmas Sugar Cookies. Darla was a great help and LOVED that she could eat the dough (in comparison to Play-Doh, yuck).  She also thought it was pretty neat that she was making her own little gingerbread man. This Tuesday we are off to Utah for about a month! I'm so excited. Instead of taking the presents to SLC we are going to have our own little Christmas morning tomorrow! Darla must have been a good girl if Santa is coming to our house tomorrow and Crazy Grandma's house on the 25th. :) Erik has just a few more finals to wrap up and then he'll be ready for the last semester of his Masters program. How crazy is that? You can do it Erik - we are so close. For all of you who don't know this . . . Erik is incredible (simply put). Once again I love the month of December.

Santa Claus is Coming to Town.

Once again Darla was in tears on Santa's lap. She had been talking about going to see Santa all day long and as soon as the moment arrived with the man in the red suit - break down. She was very thoughtful and polite through her tears saying "thank you" for the Christmas pin he gave her. May be next year Santa. Cute girl. What is it about Santa that scares kids so much? When we were done, Erik said "That would be the worst job. Sitting in a chair waiting for crying little kids to come take a picture with you." Ho Ho Ho, Merry Christmas.

hard at play

Hours and hours later the play-doh is almost dried out. It was a great purchase at Target this week. But, then again look at Bennett - who needs play-doh when life is already so great? :)