It's a Golden Life

I've never really been a decorator. I enjoy art and love creating, but wasn't very bothered by the fact that I've lived in this home for 2 years, come September, and have hardly even a picture on the wall. Well, thanks to all the influence around me, that has changed! In my free time, I love to look at blogs and websites that are designed to help with decorating. I am developing a style and realizing how much clutter and unnecessary "things" we have. Now that I have my head on straight :) I have decided to begin giving our home some girly style. I did buy a mirror to go above our dresser and was pretty excited. Not only did I get it on sale, but it was a step in the right direction! Starting with the kids rooms. Depending on the sex of this little one due in November, we are going to revamp the kids rooms. Malachi has had a "cars" theme since he got a big boy bed and mommy is ready to give his room a little change. I found an adorable rocket ship themed ...

Pregnancy Highlights How far along: 22 weeks. Size of Baby Pax: About the size of a spaghetti squash. Weighs about 1 lb and measures about 11 inches. Maternity clothes: All maternity shorts, dresses and long shirts :) Gender: Didn't find out! Names: Girl- Paxley Anna Elizabeth Golden Boy- Paxton John Calvin Golden Movement: Lots of movement! Sleeping: Figured out how to sleep comfortably. One pillow under my head, on my side with a pillow between my knees. What I miss: Sleeping on my stomach! Cravings: I've gotten to a point where I'm hungry, but I am not sure what for! Very irritating :) Symptoms: Was having extreme lower back pain. My chiropractor friend adjusted my neck and back and I'm already feeling MUCH better. Weight Gained/Lossed: Gained 18 pounds....so far. Due Date: November 27, 2011 Next Dr. Appt.: Wednesday, August 17, 2011 @2:45 for the Glucose Test.

Pregnancy Highlights How far along: 21 Weeks Size of Baby Pax: About the size of a banana. Measures 10.5 inches long and about 12.7 ounces. Maternity Clothes: Wearing all maternity capris/shorts. I also love my comfortable work out clothes. Even though I'm not working out anytime soon :) Gender: I have a hunch-girl. Donovan is convinced it's a boy-that God wouldn't give him another girl. Haly is quite 2 right now. Names: Girl- Paxley Anna Elizabeth Golden Boy- Paxton John Calvin Golden Movement: Baby is very low and I can often feel when he/she shifts positions. Pretty uncomfortable! Sleeping: I'm trying to sleep as best as I can. I am often woken up by my lower back hurting :( What I miss: Sleeping on my belly and my back! Cravings: Nothing crazy. Just NO Mexican food! Symptoms: Terrible lower back pain. More frequent now. Dr. gave me some exercises to do that should lengthen the space between my vertebra to give me relief. Due Date: November 27, 2011 Next Dr. ...

We had Halynd's birthday party at Chuck E. Cheese. 2 is such a busy age! We also had Chi's 2nd birthday there and he loved it and could go wild. Lots of fun friends showed up to celebrate. They all had a great time. The only one melting down was Halynd. She was extremely tired by present and cake time! Her princess cupcakes Chi and Haly actually liked Chuck E. this time! Some sweet friends who came to the party. Present time! The presents : ) After a much needed nap, I took the kiddos to the promenade. We love going when it is closed so we can walk around and enjoy the different fountains without having to worry about people walking around everywhere. It was still extremely hot outside at 8 o'clock, so we chilled out with some Yum Yo's. Malachi chose Rootbeer and Vanilla yogurt with gummy sharks and watermelon candy. Halynd got Rootbeer a'la mode and gummies. Strange combos, but whatever floats their boat :) This is my favorite pic of these two!

I can't believe my baby girl is 2. I went into the hospital on July 9, 2009 because I was having weird, irregular contractions. I was already dialated to a 4/5 and 90% effaced, so I thought this was it. My water hadn't broken, but my back was very sore and I was having inconsistent contractions. At the time, Donovan's brother and sister were in town visiting, so we asked a couple friends to let them stay at their house-along with Malachi. We waited in the room watching the monitors and everything seemed to look fine. I was indeed having contractions, but they said I wasn't in active labor yet. They decided to monitor me for another hour before we could head home. It's a good thing they did. The monitors hooked to my stomach started to beep loudly and this prompted nurses to run into the room. Donovan and I were falling asleep, as it was already 9:30 at night and we were exhausted. The nurses told me to switch positions and to get off my back. So. I rolled over to my...

I am officially to the halfway point with this pregnancy. At times, it has seemed to take forever to get here (waiting for the ultrasound appointment) and at other times, the weeks just keep passing by. Before I know it, it's been another week and my belly gets bigger and wider :) Pregnancy Highlights How far along: 20 Weeks Size of Baby Pax: About the size of a cantaloupe. Measures 6.5 inches long and about 10.6 ounces. Maternity Clothes: Tried a pair of maternity capris on this weekend, but they are still baggy. Either I was bigger with the other two...or will fill out. Hopefully not because it's too big in the thigh area! Gender: We had our ultrasound Thursday, but we didn't find out. It was extremely hard. I keep trying to convince Donovan to let me ask the Ultrasound tech, but he won't let me :) Movement: Lots of quickening movement. It feels almost like a twitch. Other times it's just lots of light popping. Sleeping: I think I've begun preparing for t...

Baby Pax 19 weeks 4 days *Disclaimer: I keep out (for the benefit of readers) any stories of puke, pee and poop. But, I can assure you-there are many interesting stories throughout the day. Especially with a handful of kids between the ages of 2 and 4! The much anticipated date of 7/7/11 finally came! I woke up super excited because it was ultrasound day! My alarm went off at 7 and I got up to get ready for the day. This is what i woke up to....We need a King size bed! Halynd was fast awake at 7:15. The first thing she says to me is not, "Good morning, Mama!" No, it's "I wanna p-butter samich and milk." I fixed her a 'samich' just in time for the daycare kiddos to arrive at 7:30. My kids could live off of peanut butter, ranch and milk. Chi woke up at 8. He slept 11 glorious hours, so he woke up very happy. He always goes to the bathroom and then goes into his room to get dressed when he wakes up. I made eggs, toast & hashbrowns for breakfast. Chi act...

I started the day early. A little too early-3:30a.m. I woke up with a terrible stomach ache. I tried to sleep it off and ignore it, but ended up trying to take some Pepto Bismol. This did not help! Right when I thought it helped, I began throwing up :( After throwing up-I felt so much better! I was able to wash up and fall right back to sleep. I woke up at 7 am to my alarm and was queasy until lunch time. I got ready for the day and went into the living room. I usually have daycare kiddos start showing up by 7:15, but today was another morning where they didn't show until 8:30 or so. So I watched the Today Show until Halynd woke up and wanted a drink and something to eat. After all the kiddos arrived, we ate breakfast, Oatmeal Pancakes and blueberries, cleaned up and played for a little bit in the house while I straightened up the livingroom and made my bed. By then, it was time to go outside for a bit. Victoria, Donovan's sister came over for a little bit and playe...

Tuesday -Back to work. Donovan was up and out of the house by the time I was waking up. He had to be at work by 7:30. I got out of bed at 7 and changed into some comfortable clothes. I had time to brush my teeth and hair before Haly got up at 7:15. Chi rolled out of bed at 8 and wanted some milk and cereal. I didn't have any daycare kiddos arrive until 9, so we just ate breakfast and chilled until then. Franklin and Dinosaur Train was our entertainment :) While they were watching some toons, I worked out our new budget. Since Donovan just started a new job and there have been a few arrangements with my daycare, I had to rework our budget. I like having everything written down on paper. For some reason, knowing where every penny is assures me! I also made a list of what items we still need to purchase for Ms. Halynd's 2nd birthday at Chuck E. Cheese's this weekend. We had Chi's 2nd there and he loved it. We loved not having a cleanup! And Ms. Ball O'Energy is pretty ...

Pregnancy Highlights How far along: 19 weeks. Size of Baby: An Hierloom Tomato! About 6.0 inches long and 8.5 ounces. Maternity Clothes: Shorts are getting a littttle tight around the waste :) I have been wearing a lot of work out shorts and shorts with a stretchy waste band. Regular shirts-as long as they are a bit longer. Gender: It's a surprise! It's going to be hard not to find out on Thursday! Movements: I can feel baby Pax moving all the time now! Multiple movements a day :) I was starting to worry... Sleeping: So strange-I'm tired, yet have a hard time winding down. It feels like my eyes just want to stay open, but all I want to do is lay there :) What I miss: It's getting hard to sleep on my belly-which is most comfortable to me! Cravings: Still getting satisfaction on anything salt and vinegary, but trying very hard to eat healthy! Symptoms: Feeling that ligament stretch in my lower abdomen and hip area. My belly button is already coming out! Due Date: ...

Well, Donovan woke up early and headed out to meet a friend (John) to attempt fixing the Jeep. He ended up being gone from 9am-4pm with no luck. As it turns out-there is more than a quick fix problem going on. The radiator has a crack in it and the head gasket may be blown. So, we are down to one vehicle. This doesn't really affect us for the most part right now. We only have four people in our little family, so Donovan's 4 seat Jeep is just fine....until November :) I run a daycare, so the only times I have to use my car is in the event I have to go to the store or run an errand. This, of course, means that Donovan is already home. I am pretty confident we can make it work for now and slowly work on replacing the parts that are damaged. Good thing we have a couple friends who have amazing skillz when it comes to mechanics! The kids and I woke up at 9. (Halynd had been up with Donovan for a little while, so she was already set with a drink and a snack watching Tangled) At their...