Pauls Family

"We Wish You A Merry Christmas!"

2011-12-04T18:00:00.001-05:00

Made it through their first program without any tears! Whew! Just took alittle bribery and Sugar!

Evelynn is 4! Part2...

2011-10-09T23:09:00.005-04:00

Evelynn Is 4!

2011-10-09T23:04:00.002-04:00

I cannot believe my baby turned 4! It seems like just yesterday we were talking to the nurse and they were having me come in to be induced, which lead to 18 hours of labor and ended in a c section. However in the end we received this wonderful child who is developing into a wonderful little girl ~~with a big girl attitude!~~ Already having such a motherly nature, caring, sensitive nature. Cannot wait to see what this year holds for her. We have already started gymnastics and soon will come school. Evelynn and Olivia both are loving gymnastics and ask all the time if it is their day for gymnastics. They can't get enough of it and are doing really well at it! Anyway back to Evee's birthday. We celebrated on her actual birthday (4th) by going out to dinner to Applebees (did you know they have kids eat free on Tuesdays! Sorry had to plug that in) with her grandparents (minus Papa Edwards who was out of town), Uncle Jon and Uncle Jacob, and obviously us. She got a couple presents, but the rest came at her birthday party, which was today. It was so fun to celebrate with her. We did a hello kitty theme. However I need to sit down and watch an episode; the girls like hello kitty because of seeing it in the store not the show. I let them watch one last night, and during the glances of it, while getting stuff ready for the party, I noticed a couple characters that didn't look so nice. So I need to look into this, and if anyone out there knows anything about hello kitty shows- good or bad, please let me know your input. I digress again. I am on little sleep, so I am going to leave the rest of the post with pictures. I might have to add a second post because there are several pictures.

Princess Lauren and Prince Mike

2011-08-22T00:11:00.001-04:00

Trying to explain a wedding and the whole Bride and Groom thing to a 2, 3, and 4 year old is like pulling teeth. They just don't really get the importance of it, quite yet. So I decided to put it in their terms- Prince and Princess. From the time I explained it to them that way, that is all we heard about. "When do we get to see the princess?", "Are we going to see the princess today?", "what is the princess' name?". Then alas the day of.. filled with so much excitement, it was as if we really were seeing royalty. Very cute in my book, despite the fact we don't really practice the princess thing in our house. I have a feeling they are going to out number me in this department and that will be the number one thing on their wish lists.
No we really didn't see a "princess" but it was her wedding day so it fits for the occasion. My cousin (2nd actually),Lauren, got married. Very beautiful wedding and great time with family that we don't see that often. Lauren, who looks just like her mother, was stunning! Lauren and Mike (the prince) seemed to really enjoy their day,didn't seem like there was a care in the world. So refreshing to see that!

I thought this was so cute.... They went up to Lauren as we were about to leave and asked to see her shoes. However, she had taken them off and she told them they were over there in the corner. They both gasped as if they found the glass slipper! Make me chuckle! Oh to have the mind of a child.

Bye Bye Ear Infections!

2011-06-06T22:43:00.000-04:00

As I stated in my last post, our trip to Kentucky landed Olivia in the ER the last night we were there. This poor girl has been sick since late fall and pretty much the entire winter with colds and a constant ear infection, if not a double ear infection. Throughout the trip you could tell something was bothering her, I was just contributing it to being without daddy, being in a new environment, and their nap times and routines being interrupted. The last night though she was miserable! Wouldn't stop screaming and kept pulling at her ear, throughout all the ear infections she has had in her short life, this one was different. So I trusted my instinct, and brought her in. Good thing, had we not we were informed that her ear drum would have burst- that night. A shot in the bottom and a strong antibiotic later, oh and very little sleep, we were headed home and seeking answers from the pediatrician.

The Pediatrician said he was out of options, she was not responding to antibiotics. Tubes it was! Within that month she got them put in, and it was the best decision we could have made! We could see results that day. Olivia would tell you her ears "feel better, no hurt". Days later we noticed we could understand her a lot better as her diction in her words was so much clearer.
May I add, it was so wonderful to put all the medicines away, and I haven't had to take any out! We go back next week for her recheck at the ENT. We are just hoping that here hearing came back 100% (she was at 70%).
Boy did she entertain the staff, and that was before the medicine that was supposed to make her a little loopy! She was a hoot!

2 Months Ago

2011-06-06T22:20:00.000-04:00

Over Spring break, YES I am blogging about it now -2 months later, my niece, the girls and I went to Kentucky with my dad and brothers. It was very last minute planning and we were pretty much winging it the entire time. It turned out to be a very low key trip, but filled with caves, a zoo, seeing family, a trip to the ER, and an driving through an extremely bad storm on the way home.
Here are a few pictures to recap the trip.

She clearly did not like our singing!

2 for 2, I guess Lexi and I shouldn't quit our day jobs!

~~Patiently~~ waiting to leave for the Louisville Zoo

Isn't the first thing you want to do, when you go into a museum with dead stuffed animal, is clean?

Here is a link for more a few more pictures

http://draft.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=5818797128948320778

Still Under the Weather

2011-03-25T17:05:00.000-04:00

The doctors are sure making a fortune off us this winter. Today, I had to bring the girls in again because they just aren't getting better. Olivia has been holding a temp for days now, even with meds in her. At one point it reached 103.7, not a fun night at all. Evelynn is also getting a lot of headaches lately, which is obviously concerning. At least we were able to get some answers though. They both have nasty double ear infections. The doc even thinks that Olivia's is still the same one from about a month ago. Every time Olivia gets these, 1) we never know because doesn't complain about it and 2) it takes several courses of antibiotics and changing the kinds just to get rid of it. Thankfully this time the doctor just put her right on the stronger one.
Regarding Evelynn's headaches, well we are journaling whenever she gets one, to see if we can find a common link. Not sure I like this approach, seeing as how she has been dealing with these since January. I had a hard time arguing back though, seeing as he didn't find anything alarming. So I will give it a month (obviously unless it gets worse), continue to take notes and go from there.Hopefully the antibiotics kick in soon for her too.

I am SO ready for spring time!

.

Since January..

2011-03-23T11:09:00.000-04:00

Sorry this is going to be in a bullet point form, and in no particular order.

(First of all, trying to understand how to edit this blog, like making cute headers and what not, is really annoying. So much to the point that I am about ready to start a new blog so I can start over completely. However, I am going to hold off and write this entry, take a break from it and hope to come back to it later today. Advice is welcome. In my book the $80 to get someone to customize it, is almost worth it. hmmm...)
Moving on.
* I have gone back to work full time (actually more than full time). I love staying home with the girls, but I was getting a little stir crazy and wanted to do this before I started homeschooling.
*Girls have been sick too many times this winter. I think it would be easier to count how many times they were healthy, rather then how many times they were sick.
*Brother and sister in law found out they were expecting. Yesterday they found out they were having a boy.
*The in-laws went to Florida in February, and wont be back until the end of April. We miss them dearly. Luckily Skype dates are holding the ~~grandparents~~ girls over.
*We had a power outage during that ice storm, leaving us with out a place the first night. It reached a whopping 38 degrees the first night. Thankfully we were able to get into a hotel for the next day and a half.
*Thankfully the pipes didn't freeze
* I We got a new camera. Powershot S95. Love it!
*trying to get rid of an organ. Piano type that is.lol Know anyone?
*I am sure there is other stuff, but I am drawing a blank.

There is a brief update.
Happy Wednesday!

Happy Holidays!

2010-12-17T10:09:00.000-05:00

2010-11-10T22:22:00.000-05:00

Click HERE to view more pictures

Dora, Good or Bad?

2010-11-10T21:55:00.000-05:00

“Dora” is the talk around our house lately. For her birthday, Evelynn got a Dora game for her mobi go, and ever since she has been Evelynn’s best friend. Both good and Bad! 2 Reasons why I put Dora in the bad category:
1.I walked in only to find Evelynn swinging from her curtains. When asking her why, she told me “Dora”. You see, Dora swings from a vine.
2. While I was out with my mom, I received a phone call from Ryan telling me I needed to come home. Very Hesitantly, he told me that Evelynn had cut her and her sisters hair. On the way home I had prepared myself to find 2 girls with unfixable hair, that we would have to wait several months for it to grow out. But, when I got home it wasn’t that bad. I mean, Evelynn did cut half of her hair off, but at least it was the right half. Hers was fixable. Olivia’s, well not so much, but still not horrible! There is a good strip down the back missing and a spot missing behind her ear, but at least she has hair left. So, because we had plans to go out for my dads birthday that night, we rushed Evelynn to the salon. We went in with a jagged bob cut and came out with a nice clean and sleek chin length bog cut, and not to mention an older looking Evelynn! Oh yeah I was explaining how Dora has been a bad influence. A few days later, Evelynn comes walking down the stairs sporting her new do and her backpack that she thinks is her “Dora’s backpack”. The look was all to familiar, she looked like Dora. So I asked her (which I really hadn’t ask her yet) why she cut her hair. Her first response was “Jana”, she wanted to cut hair like Jana (she is my friend who cuts my hair and had given Evelynn her first hair trim.). So I rephrased and asked her if she wanted her hair to look like anyone’s and she said “Dora”! Dora has a chin length bob. The only reason we can think that she cut Olivia’s hair is because Dora’s side kick is Boots the monkey. You see cartoons don’t always show hair, just color. So Boots looks blue with a little hair sprout on the top. We think she was in the process of cutting off all of Olivia’s hair!! So it could have been worse. I have a hard time being mad because she sees me doing hair and she seems to like doing hair as well.
And that is my rant about Dora.

A wedding, and 3 Birthday Celebrations later...

2010-10-11T12:15:00.000-04:00

I have way too many pictures to upload on here! :)
Back in September my brother Jimmy got married, to my high school best friend Ashley. I was in the wedding so I wasn't really able to take pictures of the ceremony, so I will share some from the wedding rehearsal.

For more click Here

Evelynn had 3 birthday celebrations! Which is just way too much sugar!! Here are a few pictures from her festivities. One of which was a celebration for all the cousins, on the Pauls side, except Olivia, who were all born in Ocotober.

For more click Here

Evelynn also got her first haircut. I have a friend who is a stylist, and so it makes it so convientent that when she comes to pick her child up, after watching her for a while, she can cut our hair right in our own kitchen! My friend is actually pregnant (due anytime) and the night Evelynn got her haircut, she comes in the kitchen with a ball under her shirt and I asked her what she was doing and her response was simply "Jana". She was trying to be like my friend Jana. So funny!

For more October pictures of the girls click Here

Happy 3rd Birthday Evelynn!!!

2010-10-04T10:35:00.001-04:00

3 years ago at 7:33am our lives changed in the biggest way, and we welcomed our first bundle of joy- Evelynn Rose.

Evelynn what a joy you have been. You are blossoming into a beautiful little girl, who has the sass of a 13 year old. Already, at your young age, you have such a ~~demanding~~ mothering nature, and soft heart.We love you!!! Happy birthday!

Pauls Family Vacation 2010 Pt 2

2010-09-01T22:14:00.001-04:00

Sorry it wasn't letting me add anymore to the last post... It is getting lengthy so I will wrap it up...

Because of Thursday being such a long day we all relaxed Friday. A few of us ventured to try the Jet Boats. Which if you ever get a chance I would recommend, it was a blast. Sorry I don’t have pictures of this because I didn’t want to risk my camera getting wet! Which after riding, it would have!
A lot of time was also spent playing card games.

All in all the trip was great, but because I am ~~kind of~~ a routine type person, I was ready to come back home.
Here are a few other pictures of the girls that I thought were cute. To view more click HERE

Pauls Family Vacation 2010

2010-09-01T21:54:00.001-04:00

Well my hope of being able to blog a lot on vacation did not come true. Not because of lack of time or family members to help watch the girls while I secluded myself for a few minutes, but because of the lack of internet access. Not only was there lack of internet access but there was hardly no cell phone reception! I DID NOT expect that in a big tourist town! However, after getting over my initial frustration, I enjoyed not being connected to the world, leaving it to truly feel like a getaway.
We (the extended Pauls family) vacationed at the Wisconsin Dells for a week. We stayed at the Christmas Mountain Resort, which was very nice and had plenty of room to accommodate all of us. We even had two kitchens and washer and dryers, which made it so nice to come home with all of the clothes clean!

We played Putt Putt at a place called Pirates Cove..

They were so fun to watch. Evelynn actually hit a hole in one on one of the holes!!

We also rode the Ducks on the Lower Dells.

She was alittle scared at first.

She is such a ham!

We spent all day Thursday at a theme park called Mt. Olympus. I was excited but yet hesitant about this, because I wasn't sure how Evelynn would do seeing as she is our cautious one and of the two she would be the one riding more rides. However, they proved me wrong. Olivia was the one who was scarred! Evelynn enjoyed it so much! Before the ride was even done she would hold her little finger out at us and say "one more". It was cute!
This is the first year that Mt. Olympus has done "A Night at the Theme Park". They close the park at 7pm and re-open at 8 and you pay $5 more to get access to some of the bigger rides and go karts. Seeing as how we spent most of the day at the kiddie part or go karts with an hour or so break at the pool, we took advantage of this. Grandma and Grandpa happily watched them back at the hotel. We were only about 5 minutes from our resort, so we (adults, plus my niece and nephew) were able to go back and take showers and return with plenty of time to ride the rides. It was nice to have adult time, but I really didn't enjoy the rides. They were all wooden and hurt so bad as it jostled you around that I didn't even ride the rest.

Here a photos from the after hours.

Vacation so far

2010-08-25T10:00:00.000-04:00

Here at the dells we have very limited reception and no wifi at immediate access. So here are some photos until I have time to go somewhere that has wifi.
Btw we are having loads of fun!!! We are off to ride the Ducks today and Mt Olympus tomorrow!

Our Summer so far..

2010-08-06T22:12:00.000-04:00

We like to finger paint... (or eat)

Pool Party at our friends Heidi and Kevin's house...

A trip to the zoo..

This and That at home... A 2year old going on 13 and also a little momma at heart!

Really we have done SO much more this summer so far, but I haven't captured it in pictures. However right now I am quite tired and exhausted, so I will write about these things later. In all honesty though it might not be until when we go on our family vacation, where I can sit down and just write and upload pictures while Grandma and Grandpa, Uncles and nieces help entertain the little ones :) Oh I can't wait for vacation! August 21st can't come soon enough!
So until then...

We are off to the zoo!!

2010-07-16T12:07:00.000-04:00

Little static fun!

2010-07-02T14:03:00.000-04:00

I love her!!

2010-06-30T22:55:00.000-04:00

2010-06-23T00:02:00.000-04:00

Just a couple random pictures I thought were cute

Father's Day

2010-06-23T00:00:00.001-04:00

I am doing horrible at remembering to take pictures, but this is one I
got at the end of the evening where he actually was able to sit down
and play with his new toy.
After telling Evelynn to tell daddy "happy fathers day", she continued
all day long, and telling everyone- fathers, mothers,grandmas, kids,
etc. It was cute, atleast she understood it was a very important day:)

My New Friends

2010-06-15T11:42:00.000-04:00

Only 4 friends are shown here, but really the mama munk makes the 5th friend. These little things are welcome anytime. I showed the girls, and told them they would only stay around if they were really quiet and still. Lets just say it was a really quiet and peaceful half hour around here. I couldn't believe it!

So I thought the little guys needed a little treat for their performance :). And they loved it!

Little munks, you are welcome here ANYTIME! They even dug their little home right in front of the window, perfect view for the girls! Thank you friends!

First Sewing Project!

2010-06-12T01:34:00.002-04:00

I love my new sewing machine! Why didn't I get one sooner! I have been
seeing all these cute ideas but nothing to use to do them, so I got a
sewing machine! Best investment!
Here is Evelynns first purse that I made for her, which I found off my
friend Kims blog..
Can't wait for the next project!

Basically Paid $100 For a Popsicle (Not For Weak of Stomach)

2010-06-10T12:10:00.000-04:00

Ok, I guess I also paid for peace of mind. :)

Have I ever told you Olivia is fearless?

Olivia likes to play with anything that her sister has, despite it being much bigger than her. Even though she has the same thing just smaller in her size. Nope it must be sisters!
Well she was trying to ride Evelynn tricycle, which she does alot, but this time when she fell off and her chin hit the handlebar and her tooth went in her tongue. 3 rags of blood later, we decided that I should take her in the ER. Knowing they don't typically do stitches on tongues, we still wanted to take her because of how much blood she was loosing and it was showing no signs of stopping. They basically confirmed what we knew, but had us stay until the bleeding let up. They gave her a Popsicle (which I have never given her for some reason), hoping that would help it stop bleeding but it actually turned out to make it start gushing again. But hey, she got her first Popsicle out of the ordeal. For her the Popsicle was well worth all the doctors looking and prodding in her mouth. They sent us on her way and you would never know she was hurt.

On a side note, she is tough! She cried for like 30 seconds after falling, and never cried in the ER. She amazes me!
Of course the camera came along! Thanks to my mom for taking the pictures, because my hands were kinda full.

Summertime

2010-06-09T10:27:00.000-04:00

Pretty In Pink

2010-05-13T09:07:00.000-04:00

Could not get a good picture of them together!

Always on her phone!

Such a Ham!

Fearless!!

2010-05-07T13:31:00.000-04:00

Tulip Time Fireworks

2010-05-05T23:39:00.001-04:00

Being a Holland native, this is a week I really miss living in Holland. Tulip time started...Dutch Dancing...Lots of people...Yummy unhealthy food...Parades...All make up the wonderful week of Tulip Time. And I miss it, and really miss being a dutch dancer.
Since I have moved to Kalamazoo we have tried every year to get there atleast one day of the week. However there is always something that goes wrong and it doesn't happen. Last year we made it, but we were too rushed to get back home that we didn't get to really enjoy it.
This year we went on Saturday night for the fireworks. We attempted to get there earlier to see a dance, ( I really think Evelynn would like it), but that didn't work as planned. After dinner and a quick stop at Old Navy to buy warmer clothes (we did not anticipate nor plan for any rain), we made it just in time to see the fireworks. Despite the rain and all, we still stayed through it all.
Here are a few pictures

Olivia LOVED the fireworks!

Evelynn was way too tired to care.

Maybe next year we can make it and be able to enjoy it!

Can a 2 yr old Take Photgraphy Classes :)

2010-05-05T13:58:00.000-04:00

Awhile back, when I got a new camera for Christmas, I let Evelynn use my old one. I take a lot of pictures, and I think that has already worn off on her at her young age of two. When she was younger I would do little photo shoots with her, and always had my camera in my purse or in the diaper bag- battery charged and ready for use at any given time. I wish I could say that I had the same fun with Olivia, I think I tried ONE photo shoot with her, and called it quites because Evelynn was demanding more of my attention. There is a part of me that feels like I am letting Olivia down, so when I do get the camera out I take a lot at one time, hoping it makes up for it :). I hope to get back to taking more photos again now that the girls are more independent. So you see Evelynn has been exposed to cameras since she was born A LOT, so she really does come by it innocently.
Well yesterday was my day to tackle the housework that I have been neglecting, and it kept me busy most of the day and thankfully the girls did really well entertaining themselves. At one point during the day I looked over at Evee, who had her baby doll (which she has been so attached too lately), and I notice she is putting her baby on the stairs and taking pictures, then she would move her and take another one, and she would move down the stairs as if she was trying to get a different angle. Not to mention she was following her sister EVERYWHERE trying to take her picture. It made me chuckle and say awe, but it also made me wonder what is on her 2g memory card in her camera that I hadn't looked at in a long time! So I uploaded her pictures which had about 250 pictures, and I deleted the ones that were of walls or feet or her finger and the ones that were many duplicates. I thought I would share with you some of her photos, it says a lot as to what is important to her.
First here is a couple pictures I took of her taking the pictures of her baby doll...


please don't mind the mess at the bottom of the stairs		.I told you was doing much needed housework.

Now here are photos from her camera...


This shows how long it has been since I looked at her pictures from her camera..CHRISTMAS!!

Baby doll is very important to her!

You see MANY MANY pictures of Olivia on her camera! she really loves her! And see she does take some good pictures, and she even gets sister to smile.

These are by far the most important to her though!

Changed her angle to give it a whole different look

She likes to take pictures of her sister on the landing, from upstairs!

Sometimes she likes the straight up angle

sister usually cooperates for the pictures

sometimes she gets alittle TOO close!


Other times she takes the pictures how she sees it

Sometimes she just likes to flip things into a new perspective

Maybe I should put her in a photography class? :)

Please Pray

2010-04-20T13:03:00.000-04:00

A friend, from high school, has a 2 1/2 year old little girl and they just found out she has a lime sized tumor in the back of her head. She will be having surgery on Friday to remove this. Please pray that the surgery is a success and also that the test results from the tumor would be clear.
I know there is power in prayer and this little girl and her family really need it!!

Here is a link to her blog

Or you can visit her carepages

Thank you!

Crappy Days Around Here!

2010-04-14T20:42:00.000-04:00

Literally.

Maybe this is TMI, but I fell the need to share the joys of parenting!

Every morning since Monday, Olivia has woke up with major diarrhea blow outs! (The diarrhea is a reaction to the antibiotic she is on for an ear infection and an eye infection that spread to the tissue of her eye. So it is stronger then the ordinary antibiotic.)
Day 1: I could handle that blow out.
Day 2: Poop all over her bed! Got to the grocery store to find out there was a nice chunk in her blankey! (that I thought was in the clear) Vomit!!
Day 3: Poop all over again on the sheets I just changed the day before! Also poop all the way up to the base of Olivia's neck!
Day 4: Has not come yet, please be nice to me!

You didn't think I was done, now did you?
The next story is what pushed me over the edge to write about all this!

So the girls are taking a bath. I am sitting on the floor typing something for my mom. I could see the girls, just not the water. Evelynn tells me she has to go potty. "Okay Evee you can get out and go". She gets out and goes. You would think all is good. NOPE! I go to wash them up. Upon coming in view of the water, I see nice little "pieces" in the tub! Not even like ONE log (which she has done before, and I handled that much better then this time. It is just something about it being in little pieces all floating around!).

Nope still not done.

"Evelynn do you need to make more poopies in the potty?" "no done"
SO.. Drained the tub... it got cloggerd with "the pieces"... threw the toys out... washed the tub... refilled it and added new toys... put the girls in..washed Olivia and got her out... while letting Evelynn have her own time in the bath..BAD IDEA.. same "pieces" reappeared!
Bath time was over, shower she went!

I guess this is the punishment for not going to church tonight!!

Hooray for being one!

2010-04-04T20:48:00.000-04:00

Whew what a weekend!! We had a wonderful time celebrating Olivia's first birthday on Saturday. She really enjoyed the gifts, even though her sister and cousin kinda took over at times. However, she was very quick to speak her mind to them. lol. I think her highlight of the day was the cake, which is not surprising-anything to do with food is a highlight for her. Well there really isn't much more to say except thanks to all who came and the wonderful gifts, so I will leave you with pictures.

OliViA is ONe!!

2010-04-02T00:44:00.001-04:00

A year ago today. Born at 1:11

A year later..

Oh what a year!!
Her party is on Saturday, so we didn't really do much today. She played outside a lot and we moved her into her big girl bed. We even cheated and gave her a cupcake, I couldn't resist!! I was so excited to see what she would do. Evelynn, didn't enjoy it and cried because her hands got dirty. Olivia on the other hand devoured it! Well excluding the bottom where there was no frosting. She then continued to smear the frosting over her hands and arms.
So we moved her to the big girl bed. I found the same bedding as Evelynn just in a different color, and couldn't wait for her to use it. She has been ready for a bigger bed. Both girls are definitely wiggle worms! And really the bed we have her in, has a bed rail that covers the whole side and the head and foot boards come up quite a bit higher then the mattress (we take off the box spring) so it is like a big crib with a much more comfortable mattress. Boy did she notice the difference. Both times during nap and bedtime I checked on her and she hadn't moved an inch, verses in her crib she would be at the other end of the bed with all the covers off. At bedtime, her bottle didn't even make it an inch away from her mouth.
So we ended the night with a nice walk as a family. Now onto getting things ready for her party on Saturday! Can't wait to celebrate!!

obviously this is minus the bed rail

Well I had a couple other pictures to upload, but it is taking FOREVER! Not sure why, so I am going to leave it at this.

2 Month Overdue Update

2010-04-01T22:51:00.000-04:00

Again, this post is way over due. Well 2 months overdue to be exact. May I add the sunshine and warm weather is not helping me to want to stay in and write this. :)
When I looked back at the last post of Olivia starting to walk, it just amazes me how fast they grow and catch onto things. She is practically running already. Chasing her sister is a daily occurrence, which I am sure will go on for many years yet.
We are coming up on the big ONE for Olivia. So things about Olivia
*She loves dancing to music
*LOVES her sister
*Likes to play patty cake (which she is starting to do on her own)
*She loves food. Even though I really don't think she even tastes it she eats so fast!
*Likes playing outside, and hates coming in. Poor kid gets so excited because she thinks we are going out when really we are going to the car. :)
*Is now a pro at going up and down the stairs.
*She is a very determined child. In fact I strongly think she is strong willed!
*Says momma, dadda, night night, kitty, and many other things we just can't understand it.
* Good at listening. She understands "no", or if you tell her to get her blankey, she does. or if you tell her to give her sister (or whoever) a kiss, she does
*She may be OCD like her sister. When we change her clothes or put pj's on she puts the dirty ones in the laundry. This is how it started with Evelynn. Oh and he is into helping with the dishwasher(handing me stuff)
So that is the nut shell of Olivia these days. :)

New Things with Evelynn...
*She is a good and helpful sister, even though this isn't new I thought I would share again.Many times she is more of a mother than a sister to Olivia.
*The newest thing is trying to clean, well scrub, a freckle of her hand. Daily i have to show her my freckles and try to teach her they don't come off, no matter how hard or how much she scrubs. She doesn't believe me, and usually ends with crying and her saying "dirty, clean". I only can imagine what it is going to be like when/if she gets anymore.
*She is starting to be more clear in some of her speaking, and seems to understand a lot more!
*Is now sleeping in the bed without the bed rail.
*Went through a period of time where she was getting into things like Vaseline, baby Orejel, diaper rash cream, etc. she found the box that I had put at the top of the closet and pushed a couple totes to climb on. She then took Orejel and put it all over her body as if it was lotion, including in her hair. Then wiped Vaseline all over the crib rail, closet door and window. Hope it was fun for her because it was not cleaning it up.
*She enjoys talking on the phone and taking pictures.
*She tells you to "hold on!" which is usually followed with some sort of discipline because she doesn't say it with much respect. lol
That is Evelynn in a nut shell these days.

There you have it folks, things that are new about the girls for the last couple months.

I am a slacker I know...

2010-03-23T23:25:00.002-04:00

But here is a link to view some pictures. I WILL update by the end of the week! PROMISE!

One Step At a Time!

2010-01-05T20:03:00.001-05:00

O December Where Did You Go?

2010-01-02T22:49:00.005-05:00

01/02/2010
Sorry there hasn't been any new posts lately. I can gladly say it wasn't completely because of the hustle and bustle of the holidays. Partly, but not completely. Ryan was off the week of December 7th-11th, worked a week, and then has been home since. So the ladies of this house, has been taking advantage of having him home. I,sadly, feel replaced in Evelynn's world, but what girl wouldn't want to be around a daddy that takes her sledding, plays endless games, chases her around the house until her little legs turn into jello, or laundry basket rides- all these filled with a belly full of giggles! Mommy is boring to her now :)
Christmas was more fun this year with the girls. Evelynn can sit long enough to open gifts, and Olivia seemed to enjoy opening gifts.
Evelynn had to turn on the Christmas tree EVERY morning, or upon returning home. She also enjoyed making Christmas cookies. I guess I shouldn't find that to surprising seeing as how she always like to help mommy in the kitchen. She pushes a chair up and starts pouring whatever is in sight (not always a good thing). She also really enjoyed sledding this year, that is after the hour it takes just to get them bundled up. Last year she wasn't so sure about it, but this time she even enjoyed going down on her own.
Olivia started off December by standing on her own without holding anything, trying so hard to take steps. Then finished December by actually taking her first couple steps. You should see the determination in her eyes, especially as her sister zooms by her. She is such a ham though!! She is just such a happy baby, unless she is hungry or if food is in sight. That girl can eat!!And doesn't like to stop! It is so great to watch her with Evelynn, she still adores her and will follow her anywhere! I hope they keep that bond as they grow up.
We had a couple weeks of struggling at bedtime. My sweet little Evelynn, decided that she wanted to turn the lights on and start playing with her sister. Even at 4 in the morning she would turn the light on and start yelling "o-de o-de-o" (Olivia)to wake her up for playtime at 4 in the morning. Not the happiest hour for mommy! Things seem like they are going back to normal now, just in time too. I told Ryan ONE more night and I was going to put Olivia in her room. And that night, they went to bed like little angels! I hate the thought of separating them! As much as we hate when they don't go to bed RIGHT when we tell them to, we do like listening to them play and giggle with each other. They on occasion do it at night, but every morning one of them wakes the other up and from there on out it is giggles. Evelynn goes and climbs in the crib and they just play. It is giving us a glimpse of what it is going to be like when they are teenagers. One says something and then they both just giggle. So I am glad that the nonsense ended and we don't have to separate them.:)
Our time has been occupied by a couple new electronic devices. My parents got us a new 50" flat screen tv, we got ourselves a Wii, and then my in laws got me a the New Super Mario game for the Wii. So We have been diligently working away at beating the worlds on the game. Much easier to see on a bigger screen!
Anyway. Sadly, Ryan's vacation is almost over and everything will go back to the norm. Here is to hoping my girls still want to play with me and that Olivia will master walking soon.
HAPPY NEW YEAR!
I will leave you with a couple pictures. But if you want to see more click HERE

Crackin' It Up!

2009-12-08T20:24:00.006-05:00

Feeding her baby doll

Apron on and ready to bake with mommy! It is just isn't appropriate for mommy to dress like this ;)

Click HERE to view more pictures from November

Hang on Here I come....

2009-11-30T09:30:00.001-05:00

"Clean, Clean"

2009-11-21T12:12:00.003-05:00

I think it is sad when my two year old cries when I tell her there is nothing else to clean. ONE of her favorite tasks is Windex-ing the windows, TV and TV stand. I told her "all done", she then broke out in a tantrum while screaming (with the most pitiful voice/scream) "clean, clean. Help, help". Now she is onto sweeping...

I think my neighbors believe I run a child slave camp. Really I don't.

Happy Saturday everyone!

As Promised...

2009-11-20T09:42:00.001-05:00

On The Move!

2009-11-04T09:35:00.006-05:00

There is nothing that is going to keep this little girl still anymore! She is a fast little booger may I add. Olivia is really trying to keep up with her sister, she has started mastering her skills of pulling herself up. She is even walking from object to object while holding on to it. She is also trying to follower her sister up the stairs. Thank goodness she isn't quite tall enough to get her leg up the first step, otherwise she would already be going up them. Did I mention Olivia JUST turned 7 months!! oh and she is getting her first tooth/teeth (can't quite tell if two are coming or just one).
In comparison to what Evelynn did at what age (more for myself than anyone else I guess, but I will still share). Evelynn Started Crawling about 6 months. (Olivia, 4 months), Sitting about 7 months (Olivia, the same), Pulling herself up a few days shy of 8 months (Olivia, 6 1/2 almost 7 months), first tooth I think 7 months (Olivia, the same). So they are running neck and neck. I just think Olivia is trying to be mobile faster because of having Evelynn to try to keep up with.
Here are a few picture of Olivia in her mobile stage. I hope to get a video up of her cruising around, but with church and all tonight it might have to wait until tomorrow.

My little helpers!

2009-10-20T18:56:00.002-04:00

Evee's Birthday In Pictures..

2009-10-15T21:55:00.012-04:00

Evelynn turned two on October 4. We had a party planned for her, but because of illness and the doctor saying Olivia was still contagious, we had to cancel the party. So instead of the party on Saturday, we just hung out at home with the sicklings. Then that evening, we went over to my parents house, because I did not feel like cooking dinner after nights of not much sleep. So I made her a cake, and we sang to her at my parents house.

Checking out her puzzles and bike from Grandma and Grandpa Edwards.

On Sunday, her actual Birthday, we spent a part of the day with the youth at our annual Harvest Fest.

Helping daddy put together the kitchen Grandma and Grandpa Pauls got her.

Olivia trying to get in there and help too. :)

I have many more pictures of her birthday, but this is getting long. So there was a glimpse of her birthday. Sorry there was no party Evelynn!

Flower Fun

2009-10-04T21:06:00.008-04:00

What started off as this...

Turned into this...

I love to do flowers for the church altar, even though I have never been taught how. So for my Grandma's memorial I was honored to be able to do the floral wreaths. I was a bit nervous, seeing as how I had never done wreaths, but i think they turned out nice- at least for my first time.

Little Momma...

2009-10-02T21:15:00.005-04:00

When I watch Evelynn play, it amazes me how much of her "motherly" traits are already showing in her. Yes she watches me with Olivia, but I can't help but believe that those are ones that she already had. Like a seed, the more you water it the more it grows. Which also is a constant reminder that I need to watch how I "mother".
So many times I look over and she is trying to put a diaper on her baby doll, wiping it, rocking it, walking around and humming to it, trying to walk it, and the newest thing she is doing today is feeding it her morning cereal which happened to be cheerios.

My Sick Lil Boo...

2009-10-02T07:57:00.004-04:00

(this was after we got home from the doctors)

Little Olivia has be stricken with her "first illness" (actual illness not just and upset tummy). Boy has it hit her hard too. Friday morning around 4am, she woke me up screaming. She was burning up! I have given her Tylenol all day and her temperature has not been below 101.7. At the doctors she was up to 103. They tested her for strep, but that came back negative. So we don't really know what she has except for some type of infection. I guess nothing that a little amoxicillin and cuddle time can't cure.I will admit I love the extra cuddle time! I have had a full day of non stop cuddling-pure joy.
Remember that yummy pink medicine you got when you were young? yeah she got that one! Why can't they make that for adults?
Here is to hoping she feels better soon.

Already?!

2009-10-01T11:13:00.004-04:00

HAPPY SIX MONTHS OLIVIA ROSE!

"O-de- O-de- O"

2009-09-26T11:17:00.005-04:00

So I am a little late posting, but Olivia is crawling now and has been since she was 4 months old. She is getting faster and faster everyday, trying desperately to keep up with her sister(of whom she adores!).
Here is a video of her crawling. In the background you will here Evelynn say "Olivia". We keep trying to get her to say it for the camera but she won't, so I got her to say it in the background. We just love how she says her little sisters name!
Anyway here it is...

Olivia is also working on her motor skills, and has become almost a pro at the pitch E. She loves to hear herself ALL day long. She does have her quiet moments too, where she just plays with her toys on her own. She really is an easy content baby. She is also working on sitting up. She is almost there, but still tends to lean a little too far forward.
Today she crawled to the stairs, I guess that is a sign of what is right around the corner.

This is What Happens When You Do Laundry...

2009-09-15T14:26:00.004-04:00

Well atleast if you don't do it in the same room as the naughty, sassy, miss independent, clean freak, almost two year old, Evelynn.

It could have and has been worse, luckily this time it was just wipes.

Time to call it a lunch break..

She Approves of the grean beans! So much so she thought she should feed herself!

And So It Begins...

2009-09-14T06:09:00.002-04:00

For the record, when deciding to have another child not only do you want the older one out of diapers, but you also want the older one done with teething. I am not enjoying having two little ones that are teething. Evelynn, is getting her two year molars. Well at least this is the only thing that I could think of that has been keeping her up screaming the last few nights. It also explains the poodles of drool she leaves behind, almost more than Olivia!
Can I say for the record, I miss my sleep. I know it will come back soon enough, but could it come before I loose my sanity? Please...
And so it begins... Evelynn is two (in 3 weeks) and she is the reason I am up typing this at 5:45AM. I know there are many that get up this early, I am not one of them. I have no need to and no desire to, so thus I SHOULD be in bed. However, her *insert whiny voice* "NO", drove me to my wits end at 5:30. After being up and down with her AGAIN tonight, Ryan went to go lay with her this morning. The only thing I was hearing from the monitor was her NO, NO, NO,NO! So I said that is IT, she already has most of the family up (thankfully Olivia still slept through it) we might as well start the day. She will stay up until her normal nap time today, so she understands what getting up all through the night and then getting up at 5:30 does to a person. And not to mention days in a row. I am very determined to teach her! SHE WILL LEARN!
Can I also say for the record, I hate the word NO!
She can turn back into her little angel self anytime soon, I wouldn't stop her. She can also turn back into the great sleeper that she is and has been for most of her life. She can also start talking actual words, and not just no. If someone finds her please bring her back to me....Thanks in advance!

Stacy

They Take After Ryan :)

2009-09-04T15:59:00.004-04:00

She kept rolling to the wall, every time I would pull her away a few minutes later she would be right back at the wall. Totally not interested in her toys that she passed on the way there.
Oh yeah, I haven't posted to tell everyone She is crawling!! She is getting quite fast at it too. She is trying so hard to keep up with her sister.

Here is a picture of her sister being silly too...

Yup they take after their Father. lol

Bare with me..

2009-08-21T13:20:00.001-04:00

Please bare with me as I am trying to give my blog a new look. What was thought to be an easy task, is everything but....
Thank you!

Day 2...

2009-08-15T07:26:00.002-04:00

WE HAVE PEE IN THE POTTY!! I am not sure what happened in her sleep Thursday night, but whatever it was, caused her potty training to click with her. She went 6 times and one true accident. I was anticipating having another rough day, but I was in the kitchen cleaning and I started singing the potty song that her toilet sings to her. "Toilet paper, toilet paper, on a roll, next to me, i could use a few squares maybe one or two how about three, hurray for me"... Wondering why that song popped in my head, I glanced over at Evelynn and sure enough she was dancing along with the toilet singing to her. I was so excited and so proud of Evelynn.

Day 1...

2009-08-13T13:10:00.003-04:00

We are back at trying to potty train again. She has been telling us when she goes, and can't stand it if she has tinkled in her diaper even once. SO....we are back at it again.
This is how I feel about it and how it is going... It wouldn't be acceptable to put a picture of me, so I will use Olivia :). She sums it up for me!

She was listening!

2009-08-10T20:59:00.004-04:00

We always point to things and tell Evee what they are. We ask her to repeat it, and nope, NOTHING. OVER AND OVER we tried. Don't get me wrong she does talk, I just want her to expand her vocabulary. Lets face it, you can't get by with only momma, dadda, sippy and movie. Today a light bulb turned on for her. She kept going to things and saying what they were and asking for things by their actual name. I am still blown away as I am typing. It is so funny the things that create excitement as parents. So here is what she can say at 22 months..
Momma
Dadda
Kitty
Olivia
Grandpa
Grandma
Jacob
Jon
Lex
Bread
Juice
Pretty please
drink
thirsty
bike
cracker
cookie
amen
outside
sippy
binky
blanky
close door
bath
eye
nose
football
ball
There are probably more, I am drawing a blank. I hope to get her to say these on video. I will post it when we get to it.
We will also be trying the potty training again.... I really hope she gets it soon! It can be so frustrating!!

Update on Olivia. She too is doing well with her milestones. We had her 4 month check up last week. She weighed 15lbs and 23 3/4in long. 90% for weight and 95% for length. We had the OK to start solid food for her, so that has been the new thing around here. She so far is liking rice cereal with smashed bananas in it. She is rolling over both ways. She loves Veggie Tales. If it was up to Evelynn she would have Veggie Tales on 24/7 even though she looses her interest 10minutes into it, but Olivia will sit and watch the whole thing. She laughs at Bob whenever he comes on the screen. I guess who wouldn't laugh at talking vegetables/fruit.

Of course I can't post without pictures.

Evelynn thinks the chest is her perfect seat to watch Veggie Tales. Silly girl!

Look at those dimples on her chubby cheeks!

FaMiLy

2009-08-10T00:20:00.012-04:00

We were flooded with family at the end of July….
So growing up we went down to see my dad’s side of the family in Kentucky, Indiana, and Tennessee every year. As I have gotten older, got jobs, then married, then children, I haven’t really made the opportunity to get down there. Then this past January, we were supposed to head down there, FINALLY, for a family reunion, but to my disappointment we were not able to get down there. It was a huge disappointment. 1) I haven’t seen them for so long, 2) Ryan hasn’t officially met them all yet 3) Evelynn hadn’t even met them yet! Well, at the end of July, two of my Aunts made it up for a visit. It was so nice to see them and have them meet the girls. Ryan had met these two aunts (Aunt Betty and Aunt Katie) at our wedding, but now he was able to spend some time with them and get to know them a little more. The time was way too short!!!
Here are a couple pictures of my Aunts and our time with them. We brought them downtown Saugatuck, which was CRAZY! We did not know that the Venetian Festival was going on. We were not prepared for a large crowd, with 15 of us trying to stay together. Needless to say, we all ended up on our own and trying to find each other. However we did come together for a nice dinner and time at the Holland Outlet Mall/Dutch Village. Anyway onto the pictures.

Out to dinner. Dad, Aunt Betty, and Aunt Katie

Evee loved riding the little car.

Here is a link for more pictures

The same week my Uncle Scott, from my mom’s side brought my grandma up for a visit and brought two of his kids with him. They moved down to Alabama back around 2005, and we haven’t really seen them since. Caleb and Caleigh (my two cousins), stayed with us for a couple weeks. It was great to get to know them; they had grown up so much! We had such a great time laughing, playing games (SETTLERS ROCKS!!), going to beach and just hanging out!! At the end of their stay we had a little family picnic at the beach for my mom side of the family.

Here are some pictures of my cousins. Unfortunately, the photographer slacked and didn’t really take pictures other than when we were downtown Saugatuck and at the family picnic. Sorry.

Aunt Tina and Olivia. It was supposed to be really warm that day, but it was so cold at the beach, so Olivia stayed wrapped up most of the day.

Cousin Cassey with Olivia

Cousin Caleb and Aunt Tina

Logan, Karma, and Evelynn

Karma and Evee :)

Karma with her Grandma Shelly

Evee enjoying the lake
Here is a link for more pictures

You can do it Evee!

2009-07-22T20:45:00.002-04:00

Oh how I love my dear Evelynn but why does potty training have to be so hard. They have obedience and potty training classes for dogs. Why can't we have that for our children. Ah! I am pulling my hair out over here! We are only on day 2 and had ONE "tinkle" in the potty! I am sure you can guess where the other "tinkles" went...yup on the floor!
Well this isn't really that interesting of a topic,but I wanted to let you know the new milestone we are at here in the Pauls home... Oh it will be so nice to have only one in diapers again!
You can do it Evelynn!

God please answer mommy's prayer! ;)

Catch Up in Pictures...

2009-07-22T20:29:00.002-04:00

Evelynn and Daddy watching the balloon launch in Battle Creek

Lexi and I

Olivia is getting SO big!

Mommy and Olivia

Evelynn riding her first coaster with Daddy

Sparkler Fun!

Here are a couple more links for more pictures of the girls..
Evelynn
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=109502&id=525980811&l=03d7463075
Olivia
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=109508&id=525980811&l=3dceff2bc4

More to come...

2009-07-04T00:57:00.003-04:00

I will be posting more pictures tomorrow or Sunday but I had to post this one. I love it and couldn't wait to post it :)

Weekend blessings

2009-06-17T12:25:00.007-04:00

I don’t have much to say in this post. The pictures will say it all. We have Alexis and Adam staying with us and my two younger brothers, so our house has been overtaken by kids! It is very much of a blessing though, one we look forward to in the summertime. Evelynn gets a taste of what it will be like when she gets older- daddy chasing her through the yard getting balls thrown at her, playing football, playing tennis in the street, running in the rain, and wrestling in the front yard (which mommy does not partake of. I am all for making sure our neighbors or passer byers don’t think we are all a bunch of hoodlums running around. The other stuff I very much enjoy, especially playing in the rain, I just wish I had more time). I will leave you with the pictures.

Evelynn Playing in the back of daddy's truck, watching the commotion but still staying out of harms way...

The harm Evee is trying to stay away from. Why they play this game I have no clue!! They all chuck balls (tennis and racket balls or anything else round for that matter) at each other as they are running through the yard! My poor neighbors have no idea what they got themselves into when we moved in. Their kids just sit in their backyard watching. I am sure they think they are hoodlums! "come on kids stay away from them!" hahaha

Adam taking a break

Lexi and Evee

Evelynn eating the cookie Grandpa gave her, even though mommy said no! It was right before bed! NAUGHTY GRANDPA!!

Growing like a weed…

2009-06-15T15:01:00.003-04:00

We had Olivia’s two month checkup this past week. We found out that the clothes weren’t just shrinking in the dryer, she out grew them already!! It seems like this girl is always eating, she doesn’t go much longer than a three hour stretch and eats 5 ounces every time! Granted, there is a four hour stretch in the afternoon that she doesn’t eat, and then she does sleep from 8pm until about 8am sometimes 9am without eating.. Still though it feels like a lot at times. We also have had issues with her spitting up a lot. Yes to all of you who aren’t parents, this topic is very disgusting. However for parents it is a fact that all little ones will have this, some more than others. Olivia was one that had this more than the others. She was showing signs of acid reflux so we switched formulas and what not, and she was still breastfeeding half the time, everything seemed a little better for a couple days and then things would go back to the normal, drenching a burp cloth every time. So after talking the pediatrician, we have switched to soy formula and stopped breastfeeding completely. So far everything is great! It seems like this was the right switch, we have used almost a whole can and there has been a huge improvement! So yay for Soy!
Her stats: 13lbs 6oz and 23 ¼ in.
Evee’s at 2mths: 12lbs 6oz and 23 ¼ in
At her visit she also had 3 shots and one oral medicine. The funny thing about the oral medicine, most babies don’t like it because of how cold and sweet it is. Olivia, on the other hand sat there and enjoyed it. The sad part was, it was like we teased her because right after that they poked her little legs three times!
Any way all is well in the Olivia.

Blogging at 80!

2009-05-30T11:48:00.003-04:00

We are going 80mph (shh don't tell the cops) and I am able to blog! Pretty sweet if you ask me! It also makes me wonder what the world is coming to though, soon we are going to have a device that we just have to click a button and it will feed us:)
Anyway.
After a long morning of crabby girls (because we woke them up), evelynn spilling my whole coffee mug of oh so delicious coffee in my car that I just cleaned last nigh(I mean really cleaned), and a last minute stop at the store we are finally on our way to Chicago! Watch out Chicago, you are going to be flooded with NACs

Finding our Grove...

2009-05-22T18:06:00.010-04:00

Things are finally finding a grove, and we are rolling with it. Before we had Olivia, people would always say to me, " now remember,no two kids are alike, so don't expect it to be the same". I agreed with them and knew they were right, but in my head said "how different could they really be, surely Olivia will be as easy as Evelynn". Upon Olivia's arrival, we were doing everything the same as we would with Evelynn, and it was going really well. Then about a week into it, Olivia started telling us this is not who she was. Of course we took that as disobedience and back talk and continued as things were.:) So we struggled for about the first 3 weeks, trying to figure out why she was so fussy. After many MANY days of wanting to pull my hair out, and repeatedly asking myself what were we thinking, a light bulb turned on. We were expecting Olivia to do the same things that Evelynn did and acted like at that age. AH HA! I guess the wise are wiser than I thought. I realize why people remind mom's of that, because we forget on our own! :) I am sure this isn't the last time we will catch ourselves doing this, but it is something we will have to continually remind ourselves.
We have learned and put all expectations of Olivia aside. She is becoming her own individual and is much happier now. She loves to be talked to, and is starting to coo back at us. She has a huge smile, just like her big sister did. She is alittle bit more vocal then Evelynn was. At least when she wants something, and really lacks in the patience department. So by golly when she is hungry you had better be ready to feed her, or else!! The last couple days I have started to put her in front of her mirror (some fisher price thing) during tummy time, that keeps her occupied and all excited! Anyway. She is growing and changing day by day. Here are a few pictures..

Evelynn is doing good too. She loves the warmer weather, and would live outside if we let her! She is definetely mommy's helper. I didn't realize how much she watches me and mimics me. I like to try to keep the house clean, so every day I am cleaning something. Evelynn will be right behind me cleaning too. If I am cleaning, she is cleaning! If she see's the littlest drop of water on the floor she is in the kitchen getting a towel to clean it up! If I am unloading the dishwasher, she is unloading the dishwasher. The other day I was cleaning the bathrooms. Normally when I am doing this I don't let her in the bathroom, well she was very persistent so I gave in. As I was cleaning the "big" toilet, she felt that she had to clean her "little" toilet. Cute in a way, but have I created an OCD child at the age of 1??Anyway.
I mentioned her "little" toilet. We are trying to potty train her, which isn't going so well as of yet. We found this really cute one from Walmart. When she goes it sings to her, and it even has a toilet paper holder and a flusher thingy. I think it is the cutest thing, However it looks a lot like a toy. So she isn't taking it serious yet. She will soon enough though.
Well here are a few pictures of her..

Many Many years from now...

2009-05-10T15:43:00.003-04:00

Evelynn is going to be a great mommy!

Our little golfer, and her soon to be caddy ...

2009-04-30T21:02:00.007-04:00

So a few weeks ago, well when Olivia was born, we got Evelynn a few toys. To make her feel special too. One of them happened to be this little set of plastic golf clubs which also came with a plastic golf bag. Really cheap find, but one that has kept her entertained a lot! We figured we would start her young, since we love it I am sure she is bound to love it too. If not we will STRONGLY encourage it! :) JK.
Here is a small clip of her "golfing". This one I just wanted to capture her sound she makes when she golfs most of the time! It makes me laugh!!

Here is one alittle longer showing her actual swing. Hahaha!

Evelynn's caddy in the near future...
Olivia is doing well. It has been a little challenging trying to adjust to life with 2 under the age of 2. What were we thinking!! She really is a good baby though, and we love the fact that she is smiling now. She is still sleeping a fair amount of the night. Last night she did a six hour stretch, which made mommy really happy :).
I will leave you with a few pictures of her.

Our little Picasso

2009-04-18T19:26:00.006-04:00

I bought Evelynn some finger paints before Olivia was born, thinking it would be something she would love to do. She loves crayons, markers, and just a simple pencil would be suffice.
We finally got around to letting her test her artistic talents. Here are a few pics...

Everything started off fine...

Working the paints...At one point she thought she would taste it, to see if it tasted as good as her painting looked :). Thank goodness it was non toxic.

Then the meltdown! She leaned forward and caught the lip of the plate and it ended up on her shirt. She looked at me and started crying!

All in all though it was a good experience. We have to work on being ok with being messy, when the time is appropriate that is :)

Lets not forget about Olivia ...

She is doing well. Olivia is so far a really good and easy baby. She even sleeps about 4 hours at a time during the night! She continues to remain a very content baby! She has started smiling some (real smiles, not just the gas ones :]), so it has been fun to see that. She has the same smile that Evee had- very big and a heart warmer.

Without Furthur Ado

2009-04-02T22:18:00.009-04:00

Our Family of 3 has now become 4. Olivia Rose was born on April 1, 2009 at 1:11 pm. She weighed 7lbs 12 oz and 20 inches long. Everything went smoothly and with no complications.
She is a very healthy, content and easy going baby. Everyone is adjusting to the new addition. Evelynn seems to really enjoy being a big sister! We tend to have to remind her to be “gentle” as she tends to forget her own strength at times. She likes to help with her and give her lots of hugs. Today, she went to give Olivia a kiss, which ended up with Olivia sucking Evelynn’s lip. Normally, Olivia has a binky in and that never poses a problem for Evelynn, however the one time neither one had one in, Olivia turned into a leach! I found it cute, but Evelynn was not to sure about it. When Evelynn first met Olivia, she didn’t really want much to do with her. I don’t think she really understood ‘who’ it was. The second time she saw her though, it was like prying candy away from a kid. She cried every time Ryan would take Olivia away from her and so much so, Ryan would have to let Evelynn hold Olivia again. Here is a pic of Evee with her lil sis! Her eyes are red from crying so much… too cute!

We really have been blessed with great babies/kids. They both have been oh so easy! The one thing I was dreading was getting up at night. Especially because Evelynn had started her night terrors. So I have been getting up with her for several nights. All I could picture was having to get up to feed Olivia, to then put her back to bed, to then get up with Evelynn, and then back to Olivia. However, that has not been the case THANKFULLY! Olivia has been sleeping 4-5 hours at a time in the night and Evelynn’s night terrors seem to be diminishing for the time being.
Other than that the adjustment has been really good so far. Poor Ryan has been working insane amount of hours for a project that is due on Wednesday, that he really hasn’t had much time to enjoy the newness of Olivia. Hopefully after Wednesday he will get to finally get time to just enjoy her.
Well for now I will leave you with a few pictures…

April Fools day= D Day!!

2009-04-01T05:40:00.000-04:00

Today is the day! We finally get to meet the newest member of our family! We are so excited, but at the same time a little overwhelmed with all the emotions that come along with that. Also the emotions that come along with having a c section have been keeping me up since 3am. I feel like what should be feelings of elation and excitement are being covered up by ones of uneasiness and nervousness. I know that once everything gets going in the morning, those feelings will flip flop. Anyway, the C section is scheduled to start at 12:30.
While I have these few extra hours to get last minute things together, I am going to take advantage of it. That way it will leave me a little more extra time to spend with Evelynn.
I wanted to write before the c section to ask for prayers, from those that will read this.
Specific requests…

*God to guide the surgeon and those that are a part of the whole ordeal.
*Me to get over this horrible cold. For those that have had a c section can understand that coughing after the surgery is so painful!
* The baby to not catch the cold. That would be a horrible start to life outside the womb.
*Evelynn. She seems to be coming down with the cold. That she won’t get it or what she has will just go away.
*Evelynn to be ok while Ryan and I are at the hospital for the next couple days.
*My parents as they watch Evelynn for us.
* Ryan to have extra strength. He has been a little lacking on sleep due to an extra work load.
*Last but not least, for the baby to be healthy

Thank you all in advance for the extra prayers. I will be back on to post pictures and everything tomorrow. Check back.

Evee's First Piano Piece

2009-03-10T21:58:00.003-04:00

Sorry, I am having trouble rotating the movie. Here it is until I figure it out, then i will re upload it. However, if it bugs you too much you can visit this link where I was able to rotate it. http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=61008855811

Evelynn loves music. She will dance to any music that is playing, and if it isn't on she will go dance by the radio until you turn it on. She will even bring me the cord that goes to my phone that enables me to play the radio on it. She loves playing the piano too! And she can't play the piano unless the choir book is in front of her, as if she can read it. It is so adorable! Anyway. I hope you all enjoy!

April Fools day has a new meaning for the Pauls' home

2009-03-05T18:44:00.004-05:00

I realized today that I never announced the date of the birth of our Baby girl. Due to a scheduled C section, we will be having her on April 1st. Normally, you get a few dates to pick from, but unfortunately that was the only one open around the due date, otherwise I was going to have to wait til after the actual due date. That was a NO GO FOR ME! Hey we were married on October Friday the 13th, what the heck we have a baby on April Fools :). hahahahahaha!
We are anxiously awaiting her arrival and all the changes and joy that she will bring to our home. We have been trying to prepare Evee, but she really doesn't get it. She simply hits my belly and says baby. Other than that, her baby sister (my tummy) is being used as a jungle gym until her arrival.
There is still lots of preparing and busy work to do in the next short 3 1/2 weeks. Thankfully, Ryan is home next week, so we are hoping to tackle that all next week.

We will keep you updated if anything changes.

ONE MORE FOR GRANDMA

2009-03-04T18:59:00.001-05:00

Shout out to Grandma Pauls!

2009-03-04T13:57:00.001-05:00

Happy Birthday Grandma!!

Shout Out to Uncle Brett...

2009-02-27T17:03:00.001-05:00

Daddy's lil sweet heart

2009-02-17T23:09:00.004-05:00

Please pray!!!!

2009-02-04T22:15:00.002-05:00

Please pray for this little girl! Ever since I read the story about this 11 month old, I can't get it off my mind! She needs EVERYONE'S prayers! So please pray. Here is the link to her parents blog, you can go back and read the story. To sum it up though, Cora is an 11 month old, who was brought to the doctor for an ear infection. Low and behold they leave the doctors office finding out that her liver was enlarged, which is a sign of cancer. They went straight to the hospital and has been there since, about 2 weeks ago. She has stage 4 Neuroblastoma (they are still awaiting results as to what kind exactly it is), and isn't doing so well. Please pray for lil Cora and her family!

Mommy's lil helper

2009-02-04T19:06:00.004-05:00

You don't have to brush your teeth - just the ones you want to keep. ~Author Unknown

2009-01-26T14:52:00.004-05:00

Another milestone...
While at the Grocery store, I walked past the Toothbrush aisle and couldn't resist buying Evee her first toothbrush. So we started brushing her almost full set teeth last night. She loved it!

On a side note...

"Adam and Eve had many advantages, but the principal one was that they escaped teething." ~Mark Twain

so true.

How could I forget??

2009-01-26T14:36:00.003-05:00

Evee is sleeping in a big girl bed now! She has been for almost a month, since December 28. :) When we first put her in it, she liked it, until it was time to go to sleep. Then she wasn't so sure about it. A couple nights later, she then realized the extra room to roll around was quite heavenly.
I didn't take any pics of her right away, but here is one just a week or so later. Her whole decor is changing, so the bedding you see on it now, will all be gone in a matter of a couple weeks, and she will have her official big girl decor and theme. I will post when we get all the new stuff.

Our lil Electronic Guru

2009-01-23T16:58:00.005-05:00

By that I mean the little one in the picture! Anything electronic, she thinks she has to have! So we finally gave in and gave her my old old OLD laptop, that my dad gave me eons ago. I guess she doesn't really pay attention to the newest trends though :).

Evelynn Talking...

2009-01-20T19:24:00.003-05:00

Here is a video of Evelynn talking. We missed the beginning of her ranting, she went on and on, but this gives you a good idea of how vocal she really is :).

Oh Where Does the Time Go?

2009-01-16T11:57:00.009-05:00

I admit, blogging has not been at the top of my priorities lately. I do plan to change that. I realize there are people who we really don't see often nor have enough time to gab on the phone to catch up. So for some this is their way to get there dose of "catch up". I WILL work on this!
On December 29, I originally made a list of things that I wanted to blog about. Boy did I drop the ball on that one! So let me start with that list, then I will go onto the more current events.

From Last blog- December 14
Things that kept me from blogging between those dates were the Paw Paw congregation Christmas program and our Youth Christmas Card Exchange.

Christmas Program....
This was my big endeavor from October thru December 13. The Sunday School kids along with the help of the youth, did a short program called "God's Gift to Us". The 3 months of practice that the kids put in, paid off! I could not ask for a better performance. They did a great job reminding the congregation that the season is about more than the Hustle and Bustle, It is about God's Gift to Us- His Son. I know the Christmas stories are very fresh on your minds, as the Christmas season just passed. So I will just leave you with some pictures from the program.

Youth Christmas Card Exchange...
Every year our youth does this event as a fundraiser. Members from all over our district send their Christmas cards (addressed to other members in our congregations) with our youth. The youth then come together and open our "post office" and sort, sort , SORT! Then they deliver them to the various congregations and members. As much as it is busy work and a little chaotic, it is an enjoyable evening of fellowship and laughter. Along with the exchange, every year cinnamon rolls are made. For the MANY years this event happened, before I married my husband, he always made the Pillsbury Cinnamon Rolls, which are good. BUT... coming from my history of my parents owning the Mom's Cinnamon Rolls that was in the Westshore Mall, I just couldn't let that ritual continue. I felt that everyone needed to taste the best! :)Ok maybe I am a little bias. Last year was my first attempt at trying to cut the recipe down to a size that wouldn't feed a trailer park. Yes, it turned out OK, BUT it wasn't RIGHT. However, I am pleased to say that this year I finally mastered the "at home size recipe" and it was a hit! Let me just say there was a huge fulfillment in mastering the recipe, that I grew up making, and could practically make in my sleep. Oh how I would love to re open the bakery! Anyway.

Christmas then followed closely behind. I absolutely love the Christmas season! All the smelly yummies that get baked, the snowfall, all the beautiful lights, and the Christmas trees. However, this year was a little disappointing. Sad to say, but it was merely due to our Christmas tree. It put a big damper on the season for me. We, excitedly, cut down our tree the weekend after Thanksgiving. Unfortunately, there was not a huge selection to choose from this year, but I thought this one was beautiful. That is until it braved the truck ride home and opening up after being in a warmer environment. It then turned UGLY!! A huge disgrace to all the other Christmas trees! We put Christmas lights on it and that was it! I know, sad! So there will be no pictures of the tree this year. Sorry!
Christmas Eve, we spent over at Ryan's side. Evelynn especially loved being able to spend time with her Uncle Brett's dog, Cubby. That poor dog was chased all evening by a loud one year old! She especially loved lounging with him!

Then onto Christmas day, which was spent going to church in the morning, then home to open gifts as a family, then off to my parents home. Here are a few pics from Christmas day.

More Catch up coming soon...

December Fun

2008-12-29T23:01:00.001-05:00

Let it Snow!!

2008-11-24T21:59:00.006-05:00

We were so excited to see the snow this year. More so than in the past, because of it being Evee’s first time being able to play in the snow. Sadly we weren’t able to take her out in the white stuff when it first fell because of her having an awful cold. We gladly made up for it this past weekend though.
A few of our youth got together for some sledding and had a blast. Evee wasn’t a huge fan of taking all the extra time to put on boots and snow pants, but she managed. At first she didn’t want to stand in it so we swift her off her feet and took her to the sledding hill.
Here is a pic of her first time down the hill.

And at the bottom…

She went down a few more times with daddy but didn't really show a dislike or a disliking. However she loved being pulled back up the hill on the sled.

After her little nose and cheeks were frozen, we decided it was time to take our little snow princess inside.

Evelynn's Love...

2008-11-24T21:33:00.003-05:00

Yes, Evelynn loves her mommy, daddy, grandparents, blanky, binky, and sippy. There is one thing she can never get enough of. Her kitties! Or as she would say “itty at” no matter where she is in the house, her radar goes off and she seems to know when they are sitting at the top of the stairs-waiting for the clearance to pass. Poor things!
We have two cats, Gadget and Dori. It seems like Dori is her favorite though. Maybe that is because Gadget is always hiding. :) We taught Evee to say “Gadget”. Now she calls all cats either “adget” or “itty at”. It is kind of cute.
Here is a pic of her terrorizing Dori. This was taken right after she laid her head on Dori to give her a hug.

Dori says it is time to get out of here!

75% of you were wrong....

2008-11-20T20:40:00.007-05:00

We were originally supposed to have the ultrasound next Monday, however :) we were able to get it moved to today! They had a hard time convincing me to come in early....NOT!
I am the worst person when it comes to waiting and surprises! So the thought that I had to wait a whole week had already put me in agony, and it had only been a day. Really, not even a full day. Anyway.
So we went in for the ultrasound this morning. It is a................GIRL! I was actually surprised. I really thought it was going to be a boy. I had felt that way the whole time, then the last couple weeks I had been calling "it" a girl when referencing her or talking to her. So that left me pondering why I would be doing that, but I didn't think too much about it. Now we know, She was already talking to me. :) I love knowing, it creates a whole different feeling of bonding and excitement. Kudos to those who can wait it out until the end,I don't know how you do it.
Evelynn, had a personality during her ultrasound that we found out what she was. She was a bit stubborn and didn't want to cooperate with the us. She also liked to pucker her lips out and stick her tongue out and put it back in, then put it back out as if she had a snake tongue. For the first several months she liked to keep her tongue hanging out and her lips puckered. She is also still stubborn!! Good natured but stubborn! I just find it interesting that their personality shows even in the womb.
BP2, had her own personality too. She insisted on having both arms over her head the whole time. When trying to shake her, to move them to get a nice pic of her face, she just kicked me instead! Her arms stayed put! She also kept opening and closing her mouth like she was trying to suck on her thumb but couldn't get it because she wouldn't move her arms, so she settled for sucking on her arm. It just seemed like she had a very laid back and just a go with the flow type personality. So we will see if that holds true when she enters this world.
By the way the ultrasound tech was 100% sure it was a girl. She also said that baby looked healthy.
Here are a few pics. The ones that are color are the 4d ultrasound pics. I like them, but they kinda freak me out a because it looks alien-ish. But nonetheless they are still cool.
Enjoy.

This next one looks a little freaky to me, but it is kinda cool because it shows that she can open and close her eyes.

On to picking names... Any ideas? :)

Update on BP2

2008-11-17T21:03:00.002-05:00

I had a doctors appointment today and heard Baby Pauls 2's heartbeat. Which is around 158. Which is in the range for a girl. This whole pregnancy I have truly believed it is a boy, so I guess we will have to wait and see. Ryan would like a boy, since he already has his little girl. I too, would like a little guy, but the thought of having nothing that is for a boy is a bit overwhelming. We have EVERYTHING for a girl! Yes, we will have to get things for even a girl, seeing as how this one will be born in a different season, but we already have the bulk of what we need for a little girl. Also not to mention the fact that even when having Evelynn we never agreed on a name for a little boy. Even up to delivery, no name. This time around we are at least agreeing on a couple :). Either way we will be happy with either gender, We just want little one to be healthy.
So we will be finding out on Monday what we will be having. This week is going to go by so slow!
Other than that baby is growing and developing as it should be. This week also marks the halfway point of the Pregnancy. Yay!! Actually alittle over. With a scheduled c section I will only have to go for about 38-39 weeks instead of 40.
According to baby center.com...
"Your baby weighs about 10 1/2 ounces now. He's also around 6 1/2 inches long from head to bottom and about 10 inches from head to heel — the length of a banana."

Saying Good bye to Fall

2008-11-17T20:37:00.007-05:00

Ryan and my favorite season is fall because of the beauty of the changing colors on the trees and the cooler weather. It seems like Evee is following, one of her favorite things to play with are leaves. Unfortunately the snow is right around the corner. Well actually as I am typing this I see like 7 inches on the ground. But we are pretending that I wrote this about a month ago :).

So we sadly say goodbye fall..

A Mommy's View...

2008-11-17T20:20:00.003-05:00

I love staying home with Evelynn...But then their are days when having a little one always under my feet and wanting to always be a part of what I am doing, that it can wear on me. Then I look down, and see this. How could I not enjoy staying home and tending to her after I see this smile!

And yes, those are her little teeth :) she is getting her 3rd and 4th ones on the bottom. She also has two on the top. :)

Happy Birthday Evelynn!

2008-10-04T22:05:00.012-04:00

Wow, I can't believe a year has passed since my baby was born! How time flies!
Evee had a very fun packed day of celebrating! She woke up and played for a couple hours, then went down for her morning nap, only to wake up to a house fully decorated for her! She was a little beside herself, not knowing what to think. This is her scared/puzzled look...

She finally got used to all the streamers, window clings, and balloons.Everyone finally showed up for the excitement. We were wondering how she would do with all the people in her home, but she did well. All of her Uncles, Grandparents, cousins and friends came. It was a blast. She had lots of gifts to open...

It came time for the cake...

I was so excited for her to totally dive into the cake and make the biggest mess possible. I think we all look forward to that on the first birthday party. However, she did not care to be messy at all. In fact she detested the idea, I even tried putting her hand in the cake so she would fulfill the slightest smidgen of my hopes and visions of her first cake eating experience. It was a no go in her world!! She didn't even like the cake.
This is her after mommy made her be messy :)

So after everyone was gone, the big kids decided to have a cake fight... :)

Evee enjoyed her party and was exhausted at the end!! She is still enjoying her gifts!
Hopefully she will enjoy her cake on her 2nd birthday. :)

According to Baby Center.com...

2008-09-18T12:36:00.001-04:00

At 11 weeks...
Your baby, just over 1 1/2 inches long and about the size of a fig, is now almost fully formed. Her hands will soon open and close into fists, tiny tooth buds are beginning to appear under her gums, and some of her bones are beginning to harden.

Proud To Announce.....

2008-09-16T21:25:00.002-04:00

Finally!!!! We have been waiting for awhile now to be able to announce....Baby Pauls #2 is on the way!! We are almost at the end of the 1st trimester. 11 weeks to be exact. The baby is due April 8th!!! We had a doctors appointment today, and baby looks to be doing great. Strong heart beat, squirming all around!! They did an ultrasound, due date is right on according to date given and size of baby. Here is a pic. Sorry it is blurry, but I had to take a picture of the picture. :)

Two peas in a Pod...

2008-09-13T23:09:00.002-04:00

Who said you couldn't play with your food?

2008-09-13T23:04:00.005-04:00

Oh do these girls love their spaghetti! So much so it takes a complete stripping down to their diapers.

Fun at the park with cousin Karma

2008-09-13T22:58:00.006-04:00

Summertime Fun at the pool....

2008-09-13T22:49:00.012-04:00

Summer Vacation...

2008-09-13T21:25:00.026-04:00

At the end of August, we and Ryan’s side of the family, took a family vacation up north to Mackinaw City. Here are a few pictures…

We borrowed my parents van, which had a DVD player in it. Evee really enjoyed being able to watch her baby Einstein videos and watch her cousins play the game cube!

Evee did really well for being in the car for six hours. That is a long time for a 11 month old!

A cute hat we found while shopping in the city. She did not like it!

A break from shopping...

Daddy almost didn't fit down the slide. :)

Cousin Lexi forgot she wasn't a little kid anymore

We climbed up "Castle Rock". It was quite a hike up. Evee, had the easiest means of traveling
The ferry ride to the island
On the Island Evelynn loved the horses. We had to stop to let her see each one as they passed by.
All tuckered out on the ferry ride back to the main land...
A stop at the beach
Cousin Lexi
Cousin Adam

View from our 'Beach House'

The end...

Our little baby Einstein

2008-07-11T23:45:00.002-04:00

Evee's first Fourth of July :)

2008-07-10T22:19:00.008-04:00

So I do admit the day started off a bit rough. I woke up crabby and worn down (due to the fact Evee had been sick with a viral infection for a couple days), Evee's first fourth of July dress got a stain on it before she even wore it, and I left too many things to do last minute which caused the day to be really hectic instead of being relaxing. Even though the day started a bit rough, it ended with lots of smiles and fun. Here are a few pictures of the day...

Everyone was trying so hard to make her smile, but it was not working. Which is very abnormal for her, so you know she wasn't feeling completely up to par.

FINALLY!!!...HAPPY GIRL!

Beautiful display of fireworks at the Battle Creek Balloon Festival.

We were a little nervous that Evelynn wasn't going to like the fireworks, because she hates loud noises. But she amazed us, she loved them! As you can see the smile behind the binky.,,

It was so past her bedtime! She had it made though, cuddle time with daddy and her blanky while watching some really awesome fireworks, way past her bedtime. What could top that?! We were really glad that she enjoyed her first fireworks!