A lot has happened lately.

I just realized I have not blogged for a long time. I guess I have been super busy. Imagine that... Well things are going pretty good. I made it though all of the county fairs that I was involved with. Now I just have state fair to worry about. I was working a ton but now I am back to only 19 hours a week. Woo HOO!!! I really love being able to spend time with both of my girls.

Andrew is now back in school. Boo!! Thank goodness that he only has one semester left because I think his schooling stresses me out more then him.

Tonight is marking a turn of events in the Tolman household. Kodi is now sleeping in the toddler bed. We have needed to switch her over for quite a while but now that Maren is growing out of her current bed we really need Kodi to sleep in a bed instead of the crib. It only took 5 times of her getting out crying for me and me putting her back for her to stay in there. Hopefully the rest of the night goes well. I think we will wait for tomorrow to put Maren in there with her. I should probably explain that both the crib and the toddler bed are in the girls room. It will be super nice when we no longer have a baby sleeping in our room. They are so noisy. Maren is always grunting and making wierd noises in her sleep.

Well make that 6 times for Kodi, she just came out again. This is going to be a long night. Wish me good luck!!!

Pioneer Day/ Tolman Reunion

This weekend was super fun and was filled with family and good times. We went to West Piney for a Tolman Reunion. On our way there we stopped at my favorite store Target!!! I found some good deals on baby clothes which I always love doing. Then we are lunch at a park in Idaho Falls which Kodi had a great time and Maren pooped out of her clothes. Thank goodness for Shelly's help getting her changed. A baby+poop+a park table+the sun=disaster. After that we drove to Swan Valley and got some super good square ice cream. Then we got to the lodge and it is really large. It has enough beds and space to fit all of Andrew's family, now thats AMAZING. :) Kodi had a really great time with her cousins and her aunts and uncles. Amy even took Kodi down the big slide which she loved. Maren was such a great baby. She slept most of the time and when she was awake she was happy for the most part. She loved sleeping on her aunts and I think I loved the freedom of not having to hold her all the time.

It was so beautiful up there. Just look at that scenery.

Kodi and aunt Amy going down the giant slide.

Maren was crying on our way home and when I turned around to comfort her this is what I saw. Kodi was plugging her ears. It was just so funny I had to take a picture.

We also got to stop and see my brother Morgan and his family on our way home. Pioneer day also happens to be Morgans birthday. Kodi got to see her cousin Rae Rae (she actually called her that) and uncle Morgan gave her a fudgesickle so she was in heaven. Then we drove to Poky and stopped and got Roxie dog and then we finally got home at like 10:00pm. It was a super good weekend. :)

July 19, 2011

Today Maren is 2 months old!!!. Our sweet little baby is growing up so fast. She is gaining weight and growing like crazy. She has already grown out of her newborn clothes and she is in size 2 diapers. She is such a pretty little girl and is always smiling. She and Kodi are total home bodies and they are happiest when we are home hanging out. But Maren is also a working girl and goes to work with me. She is really good most of the time and lets me get all my work done. Some days are rough but that is normal for such a little baby.

Kodi and Maren are actually good friends. They totally play off of each other. If one is happy then the other is happy and if one is sad then the other is sad. Today Maren was laying on the couch and Kodi layed next to her and Maren fell right to sleep. They really comfort each other. I did not know that having two little girls would be so great. It is nice that they are being such good friends to one another.

So this last Sunday Kodi got to start going to nursery and it was so great. She got along with the kids and it looked like she was having a blast. She still doesn't understand the snack sharing thing and she stole her neighbors snacks. Next time she will be better hopefully.

Yesterday for work I had to help with a poultry clinic up at the fairgrounds and I took both girls with me. When we were getting ready to go I told Kodi that we were going to go and see a chicken. She walked into the kitchen and grabbed her bibb and asked for some chicken. I think she wanted chicken nuggets so I had to explain that we were going to see a real live chicken. When we got there and saw the chicken she was so excited. She was squealing for joy and she wanted to hold it and love on it. But it was a dirty nasty chicken so I didn't let that happen.

Sad story my Kindle broke and I am so stinking sad. I have no idea what happened to it but the screen is all cracked and now it doesn't work. Really crappy deal. I totally love that thing. I seriously used it all the time. But oh well I guess I don't need it anymore. :)

Some days I want to pull my hair out

So this week I started working again. My first day was not the best. I was super emotional and really stressed out. I don't know if Maren cried more than normal but I was just really worried about bothering everyone else so every time she made a sound I got more and more on edge. Yesterday went really well and Maren slept most of the time. Today we were out at the fair grounds in Blackfoot for the state horse contest and it was super hot. Maren was really not enjoying herself. Then after work we tried to go grocery shopping and Maren had a melt down so I just had to leave my cart and go home. Then when we got home I asked Andrew to take Maren since she was still crying. He did, but he just sat down right next to me so she could continue to cry in my ear. So I asked him to take her in the next room so I could get a break of the crying he acted like I was worthless and that I should be the one calming the baby down. Sometimes men just don't understand. I am sure I will hae something else to complain about later today but I will just stop now while I am ahead.

Maren is over a month old

Time sure is flying by these days. Maren is now over a month old. She is doing great and is a super fun baby. She has her cranky moments and likes to sleep alot but we are all adjusting to having her. Even Kodi likes her baby sister. She keeps telling me that the baby is hers and then she tries to take Maren away from me. But sorry Kodi thats not happening. Having two children is different. I am busy all day long and then at the end of the day I look around my house and I feel like I haven't gotten anything done at all. I am really worried about when I go back to work. When I am pregnant I totally lose my memory and then for the next 6 months after I am still trying to find it. So work will probably be really interesting and I am going to have to plan ahead and take lots of notes so I can stay on track. Also I am going to take Maren until I stop breastfeeding her so I am going to have to multi-task like crazy. Hopefully it will all work out.

So I have some funny Kodi stories. The other day I was feeding Maren and then I looked in the kitchen and Kodi had climbed in her highchair all by her self. She was eating some cereal that was left over from breakfast. When she saw me she just said "hi Mom" like everything was normal. Silly little lady.

Kodi has started to not like wearing clothes and every chance she gets she runs around naked. Last week I went into her room to get her fom her nap and she was had stripped down to her diaper. Then yesterday I told Kodi to run into her room and grab a diaper so I could change her, she went and got it like a good girl. I had to put Maren down so I could change Kodi so when I got back into the living room Kodi had taken off her pants and her diaper and was sitting in front of the TV just hanging out, literally. Ha ha she is so funny.

She is also talking so much. Her new favorite word is "horse" and she is always saying it. We have some flash cards with the letters of the alphebet and on the cards there are also pictures. For H there is a horse. The everytime Kodi pulls out the cards she goes through them and finds the H and yells HORSE!!!.

Here are some pictures from Maren's Blessing and also from Kodi playing with some bubbles.

Kodi really loves bubbles. She has even figured out how to blow bubbles and she has so much fun doing it.

Maren Nichole Tolman

38 week pregnant.

Our first family photo.

Baby Maren was born May 19th, 2011 at 5:16 pm. She was 8 lbs 2 oz and 20.5 inches long. I was induced and had to me into the hospital at 4:00 am. It was a long crazy day. I had an epidural but it stopped working an hour before Maren was born. I felt the whole thing and I have a real appreciation for modern medicine and also for women who have babies natually. Both my little girls are so amazing and I love them so much. I was not very happy when I found out that I was pregnant but now I know that I would not want my life to be any different.

May!!!

I know it is already the 6th of May but I just wanted to say Yea! May is here. It seems like I have been waiting for this month forever. So in 11 or 13 days I will have my little Maren! I have been going to the doctor like every other day. I have had my stress tests and the ultrasound done for the week and I passed, well I should say Maren passed, with flying colors. Thank goodness my little one is doing ok. On Thursday I decided to ask my doctor if I could just be induced and have my baby this next week and she turned me down flat. So I was a little irritated, imagine that!. So I asked if I still needed to take more tests since the baby is doing fine and my Doctor said that yes I still have to do all the tests. I wonder if she knows how much those things cost. By the time that Maren will be born I will probably have 8 ultrasounds, 8 non-stress tests, blood work like 5 times and there is probably something else I am forgetting. But seriously if the baby has nothing wrong with her why all these tests. We are going to be living on the street once we see how much this is all going to be. I know I am thinking about this in the wrong way, I should be more worried about her health and not the cost of it all. But really. URGH!

So Kodi is super funny these days. She is just learning so much and she is so smart. She totally runs the house and she knows it. She lets me know when she thinks I am doing something wrong. She will say "no no ma ma" and then she will give me a look. She also learned the word "ouch" which she uses to her advantage, usually in public. And now she has "uh-oh" down. So when ever she drops something, which is usually on purpose she says "uh-oh". Another fun thing that she is doing that totally melts my heart is she will blow kisses. She does a good job and blows really hard to make sure you get that kiss. I love her so much. Its a good thing we have her.

Andrew is done with school for the semester. YES!!!! FINALLY!!!. He just works so hard at his job and at school I miss being able to just hang out with him. He starts summer school the same week the baby is due but all his classes are on line.

This weekend is Mothers Day. Andrew and Kodi got me a Kindle reader. I love it. Riley, my mom and I are getting our toes done on Saturday and that should be fun. It will be nice to have cute toes for a while. John is in town for a few days and we are having a family party tonight. I made blueberry pound cake and it is super yummy. So good in fact I don't want to share it. But Andrew told me that I dad to. :) Its a good thing I have him to keep me in check or else I would be 200lbs by now.

Well that is all for this edition of Ashley's random thoughts! Happy Mothers Day to everyone.