Welcome Little One!

Day 1

I believe it's time to finally welcome my new little bundle of joy into the world!

For those who do not realize it, I do not write down the real names of the people I talk about. Names are a powerful thing and I don't believe should be bandied about casually on the internets. That topic could be a whole blog on it's own but I think most people have realized the dangers of revealing too much on the World Wide Web.

Unless you are on Facebook and unbelievably the flood gates open...but I digress. 

1 Month

So, I will not share my new little girl's actual name and she's too new to have developed a nickname, though I do like to call her Doodle Bug. I won't tell you the exact day she was born, but it was in March during spring break. We now have three children born during a vacation break of some kind. 

She's beautiful! The first two months she just ate, slept and pooped a lot. Of course, there's nothing like taking care of a new born. They are great cuddlers and they haven't figured out how to really cry yet. Even feeding and changing every two hours doesn't feel like a chore because it's for this new little person that is so precious! 

At two months she's smiling, laughing, and cooing. She does the other things too but now we have some variety.

2 Months

 She lights up when she hears or sees Daddy. I could spend ten minutes trying to get her to acknowledge my existence but even a hint of Daddy and it's like she sees her long lost friend. Which, in the eternal scheme of things, could be true. Maybe her spirit is recognizing Flash's spirit, remembering how they hung out before they came to earth. Anythings possible, yes?

Mini Flash and Ruby are great older siblings to her and enjoy playing with her in her swing, holding her, and making her smile. She pretty much brightens everybody's day.

I'm attempting to nurse her since I didn't nurse Ruby beyond 2 months. I'll admit the bottle was MUCH easier because  anyone could feed Ruby when I needed to run off someplace. So little Doodle Bug is stuck having to run around with me OR my outings cannot take any longer than 2 hours there and back again. Hopefully we'll both survive. I mean women have been breastfeeding for thousands of years right? It shouldn't be too big of deal.

So welcome little one! I thank the Lord above for sending you to our little family. We look forward to spending the next lifetime getting to know you and seeing how much you will grow and develop.

Best Of...Follow-up

I've re-read the previous post feeling like it was a little depressing, especially the ending about Mini Flash. I've tried writing a few posts sense then, focusing on being lighthearted and witty (not my strength in writing, I tend to be more thought provoking in nature), but always missed the mark.

Then I tried posting about the new addition to the family (Welcome Little One!) but I haven't uploaded the pictures from the hospital and I wanted to do the job right. Therefore, no posts in the last two months!

Ugh!

The Best Of...

I think the hardest part of interacting with other human beings is trying to bring out the best in people.

Of course the human beings you interact with most is your family. It's so easy to get frustrated with the annoying traits of your spouse and children. And really it all boils down to getting them to do what needs to be  - or let's face it, what YOU want to be - done with out the rending of clothes and gnashing of teeth. Such as getting chores done. You ask nicely, you plead, you bully, you threaten, you bribe, you whine, and on and on until finally they do what you want. It always starts out as a simple statement, "Please get (insert task here) done." And you walk away expecting them to get up and accomplish that which you commanded. You return a half hour later and find they are still engaged in the activity they were doing BEFORE you asked them to start working.

Overhaul

The title of this post kind of says it all. The last year as been a bit of a remaking of my life; an overhaul of sorts. Which is why I decided to do an overhaul on the blog as well. Isn't it pretty? The picture displayed above is my family back in the summer of 2010.

Since the last time I posted we decided to rent out our home and move in with my parents to save some money. Flash is going to school to get an associates degree in accounting and is learning about the family business. I graduated last spring in Technical Communication, not sure what that is, click on the link provided.

Mini Flash turned eight last year and got baptized in the LDS church. It was a very exciting event. He's now participating in Cub Scouts and enjoys building things they talk about in the book. He got his Bobcat Track last week and we're working on his Wolf Track.

Ruby is three now and growing fast. She started gymnastics in October last year and loves it. She looks forward to going every week. She's also attending a language preschool and we're hoping it'll help develop a love for different languages.We're signing her up for soccer in the summer because she had a demonstration at her preschool and loved kicking the ball around. We went home afterwards and we found a soccer ball for her to play with. She kept making sure we knew, "No hands, just my foot!"

Around October of 2010, which is the last time I posted, we had a major change in the company. My mom's business partner decided to start her own business and move out on her own. After working together as business partners for five years there was a great deal of change. For a few months before the split, an associate of my mom's wanted to join forces after his job ended at the county. With the old business partner leaving that gave us room for a new...not partner because they each maintain their own business and clients but a new resident tax preparer with a lot of experience. I've also taken on the roll of Office Manager and it's a change I love. It's been a challenge and a joy to apply myself to my family's company is new ways.

The one thing that didn't change was how busy we would be during tax season. Right now in the middle of our 2012 tax season my brother, Blanco, as come home for an internship with the company. Flash has also joined us and we keep them busy with data entry and walk ins. My sister, Skeeter, has shown interest in learning to prepare tax returns as well. After tax season this year our focus is on education, education, education. It's amazing how, even after graduating, I find things I need to learn. I'm very happy about this because I love to learn.

On a more personal level, shortly after Mini Flash was baptized I found out I was pregnant! I'm currently 35 weeks and nearly ready to pop! I still have to watch my carb intake because of the gestational diabetes. This time around I need to take medication to keep my morning glucose levels down and we are doing non stress tests once a week. These are more for precautionary measures and the baby is doing fine. Her due date is April 3rd! Right before tax season ends.

And that's the gist of the last year. Many changes, many new challenges, but my family is happy and healthy. That's all I could ask for.