Nothing better on a cool autumn night...

Is it bad that I treat my children as teddy bears/bed warmers? I just love nothing better on a cold night then grabbing a warm cuddly little bundle of sleeping baby and pulling it in close to me. I love the way their hair smells and the sound of their breathing. I feel safe, and not only that, I know they are safe, close to me.

Now, for some reason I have a lot of friends who won't admit they sleep with their kids. Or, if they do admit it, there is always a caveat telling people not to worry because it's only in the mornings or occasionally when everyone was too tired to go back to their own beds. Did I miss some piece of common knowledge that says that sleeping with your babies is almost as bad as driving without a car seat? I would like to publicly state that I have my babies sleep with me. I don't worry about rolling over onto them in the middle of the night for the same reason I don't worry that I will roll on top of Ontario or suddenly fall off the bed. Even when I am sleeping, I know where I am, and I know who is nearby. I don't worry about them suffocating on the blankets. They are tucked in close to me and I keep the blankets off their faces. Our sleep patterns match each other, so we naturally wake up at the same times. I can hear when they start making the first little sounds of hunger, so I can feed them before it becomes a screaming match and we are both completely awake and cranky. I sleep so much better, knowing where they are, knowing they feel safe, and not having to miss my babies all night.

I know some people don't sleep with their kids because they don't get a good nights rest. They wake up whenever the baby makes a sound, or they worry to much about the baby getting hurt to relax and go to sleep. That is fine. I think people should sleep in whatever arrangement lets everyone in the house get the most rest. But if you secretly enjoy it when your baby somehow makes their way into your bed, don't feel ashamed or like you are breaking some rule. Just enjoy it, and give that baby all the cuddles it wants.

And now, I am going to go snuggle under my blankets with my sweet little Tommy boy and head off to dreamland...

Don't expect any updates anytime soon!

Due to my unfortunate broken arm (no, seriously, I DID break my arm, I am not just avoiding communication!) don't expect much in the way of blogging for the next couple of months (until I am out of the sling!).

For those of you who want more details, on August 19th (last Wed), I was decorating for my friend Krissie's lovely backyard wedding. I climbed onto the outside of the deck to hang some curtains, but when I went to grab one of the cross supports, it turned out the wood had rotted and I fell 6 feet, onto my right shoulder, breaking my humerous bone (no, it isn't funny!) and bruising myself pretty badly.

The break is too high for a cast, so the doctors estimate I will be in a sling for 2 months, with no heavy lifting for 4 months, which is not easy when I am the mom of two very active little boys. Since I can't even use my left arm very effectively without hurting the broken one, I am not doing a lot! I am grateful to have such great friends and family who love me and who are helping me cope with everything that needs to be done!

And don't complain that I managed to blog this alright with a broken arm--because I actually dictated the whole thing, and had somebody else do all of the actual typing.

A brief moment for clarifiying...

I didn't realize when I wrote that last post that it sounded like we are adopting. Sorry for all the confusion. We are not adopting, we are hosting JiYoung (english name Alice) for a full school year as she attends High School in the USA. We already feel like family, however, so we have gotten into the habit of referring to her as our, "Korean Daughter". As much as we would love to keep her, she will be returning to her own family next year. I will try to post some pictures of our fun times together. That should be easier now that we have found the camera cord.

A brief moment for blogging...

We leave in about an hour to pick up our new korean daughter. I'm a little nervous, but also excited. We have spent the morning decorating her room, and I hope she likes it. It's actually the first room in our house that we have made an effort to decorate. Hopefully this will start a trend and we will get our pictures hung up. After all, we have only been living here a little over a year.

The boys are so amazing. Tommy is THIS close to crawling. He can get up on his hands and knees, and rock. Usually he goes straight to chest diving, since that gets him closer to his goal object. I think he will be crawling before his aunt arrives in a week.

Gabe is quickly learning many new words, mostly automotive related. He LOVES cars, and anything to do with them. He can hear a motor anywhere in the house, and recognizes the different types. "Mo!" (Motorcycle), "Apane Car!" (Airplane), "Chain Car!" (Train), "Chuck!" (truck) and the classic, "CAR!". I also found out he can recognize and say "Buzz" in reference to Buzz Lightyear. I don't even know where he learned that. We don't own Toy Story (though I wish we did), and I don't know if he has ever seen it.

I need to go finish the cleaning, and hopefully get Tommy don't for a nap. He has been struggling staying asleep today, so we will see how it goes.

Pictures!

About a month ago I won a photo shoot on stephmodo.com, thanks to the amazing and talented Christine Olson (christineolsonphotography.com). We decided to use it for family pictures, which we got taken yesterday. We haven't seen them all, but here is a sneak peek. I am so impressed. She did an amazing job, and I love her style! Thank you Christine!

Thank you, Bill Watterson...

(no copyright infringement intended. This is back from our dating days.)

Summertime...

Here is a brieƒ summary oƒ what has been happening in my liƒe:

1. Helping my friend move into her own apartment. I'm very excited ƒor her.
2. Helping my ƒriend have a!! baby. That was an amazing experience, and I am so proud oƒ her. She did amazing! Also, her baby is incredibly cute. I know he will be best ƒriends with my boys.
3. Helping my other ƒriend plan her wedding. She has ƒound a wonderƒul man to take her to the temple. I love seeing how they balance each other out. I'm proud oƒ them ƒor making good decisions.
4. Summer reading program. I haven't had tons oƒ downtime to read, due to items 1-3, but I managed to squeeze in some ƒun books during nursing time. I also ƒound out on Saturday that I won a prize! I haven't picked it up yet though, due to number...
5. Pinkeye. Blergh. My leƒt eye has been swollen almost shut, and red and weepy. Gross. Also, for some reason it has been accompanied by muscle aches and joint pains. I spent all day yesterday laying on the couch watching "I'm a Celebrity, Get Me Out oƒ Here!"
6. Helping my wonderƒul hubby start his own company. It's going to be a little tight, but I think everything is going to work out well. We just have to survive the next 3 months!

Speaking of, he calls to reclaim his laptop. Later friends!

P.s. He spilled coke on his keyboard a ƒew months ago. Ever since his "ƒ" key only does the greek letter. Weird.