the eleven

like you alicia, i really don't ever do these types of chain things, but this one was fun, thanks:)

Here are the rules:

1. post these rules.
2. post a photo of yourself & 11 random facts about you.
3. answer the questions given to you in the tagger’s post.
4. create 11 new questions & tag new people to answer them.
5. go to their blog/twitter & let them know they’ve been tagged.



So, here are my random facts about myself. (in no particular order)
1.  this one i wish i could change but i am a terribly light sleeper, the tiniest noises wake me up so it's rare that i sleep straight through a night without waking, this is the way i have always been even before kiddos, that's why i am usually trying to get into bed between 830 and 900, to make sure that i can get enough sleep.

2. i am officially addicted to coffee, i could keep making pot after pot all day long. 

3. i love, love, love seafood. which kind of sucks because the hubs does not.

4.  my dad died when i was only 12 years old, every year that i get older makes me miss him even that much more.  wishing that he could be here to meet his beautiful little granddaughters, but i know that he is watching over us from Heaven and that we will be together again one day.

5.  it took me 7 years to get my bachelor's degree.  enough said about that, y'all don't need the details:)

6.  i took 8 years of dance lessons.  ballet, tap and jazz.  wish that i would have done more and can't wait to get my girls started, hope they love it!

7.  i'm not a bath person, i like showers.  i've never been fond of just sitting in water (unless it's in the pool or ocean).  i don't ever feel clean when i take a bath, even if it's just for relaxing, i always feel the need to jump in the shower after to really get clean.

8.  i grew up in a house full of women.  there were 5 of us to be exact. right before my dad died i gained 2 sisters (2 of my little cousins came to live with us), then after he passed my grandma moved in with us to help my mom take care of us 3 girls.  needless to say that's a whole lot of girls/women in 1 home, made for a whole lotta arguing, teasing, crying, fighting, just flat out pms'ing but of course tons and tons of love.

9.  my favorite all time cookies are oreos.  i have a problem when it comes to these cookies.  i try to keep them out of the house because i can eat the whole package in a day.  really, i'm not kidding.  they will be gone by the end of the day, i have absolutely no control when it comes to oreos.

10.  i have taken up a new hobby.  it is running.  love it.  inspired by my best friend jennifer (love her).  actually doing my first 5k on st. patty's day.  just hoping i dont throw up!

11.  keeping this one from the hubs, for now.  i so have the baby fever.  elleanor is 8 months old and is so much fun, plus she is sleeping great at night, i can remember with c when the sleeping started coming and got more consistently and she started independently playing more that's when it began and that is what is happening now.  we are no where near being ready for another baby.  and really don't know (more than likely not) if another is in our future but that still doesn't stop the fever from coming on strong. being a nurse in the newborn nursery certainly doesn't help the situation either.  taking care of, loving, cuddling, and feeding those precious babies at work makes it hard to not want another.  so for now it will be nothing more than having the fever, not acting on it.......yet:)

the 11 questions for me:

1. what would your perfect day be like? a saturday off with the hubs and girls, just our little family with nothing to do but play! no where we had to be, no home projects/chores to work on, just a day to play, perfect.
 
2. when was the last time you cried?  that would be last thursday, both girls were sick last week and i hadn't slept in a week, thursday morning i had an "i'm exhausted crying fest" in the morning before the hubs left for work.

3. what is your favorite physical feature?  kind of weird but i'd have to say my feet, i think they're small and cute, and with both pregnancies they never got swollen at all, stayed their little tiny selves the entire time.

4. are you a morning or night person?  definitely morning, love getting up early and starting my day, if i sleep in i feel like i've lost some time that i could have been accomplishing stuff, my bedtime is 9pm so not a night owl.

5. what's your number one celebrity crush?  really i'm super stumped on this one.  this changes from time to time, depending on what movie just came out, what song is popular, what sports star is in the news.  i've tried to come up with one but there are just too many to pick from:)

6. if money, schooling, or time wasn't an issue :: what career would you choose?  stumped on this one, love my career, get to take care of sweet babies all day, so if i were not a nurse, maybe anesthesiologist? pharmacist?  as a young girl i really always only wanted to be a ballerina:)

7. what's the one thing you look forward to each day?  coffee, coffee, and more coffee please....and of course just seeing my girls smiling faces in the morning!

8. if you had to choose one color to wear forever :: what would it be?  no question, it would be black.

9. what's the worst injury you have ever had?  broken wrist, happened in the 5th grade doing the high jump at a track meet.  it was gross, both of the 2 big bones in the wrist were completely broken in half and laying over each other making my wrist look all sorts of messed up, i didn't realize it had happened until 1 of the workers was asking me if i was ok as she was looking at my wrist in disgust, i looked and then i freaked.

10. most frequented website?  before pinterest i'm sure it was facebook, but now i have a cooking obsession with all the pinterest recipes, so it's a close call between the two.

11. what's your ideal date?  sounds pretty lame, but really just dinner, a movie, and then a target run after (if it's still open) just to look around.  we don't get to do this much anymore so when we do, it's the best time ever.

and now 11 questions for you mary, tricia, heather.

1.  what's your favorite season of the year and why?
2.  how did you meet your spouse?
3.  what's you idea of a perfect date?
4.  what's your favorite vacation you've been on?
5.  what is your favorite hobby?
6.  what is your number one favorite food?
7.  if you could live anywhere in the world where would it be?
8.  what is one of your favorite childhood memories?
9.  what is one of your habits you wish you could break?
10.  what is your favorite pair of shoes?
11.  where do you want to be in 5 years?

(actually thought of 1/2 of these on my own! but yes, went blank and had to copy the other half:)

my 1st baby is a preschooler...

i can't even believe that it is this time already.
didn't realize how emotional i would be this morning.



today the gals and i go to enroll caraline in preschool.
i know that she is beyond ready for it but of course mommy is not.
we had her on the waiting list all year last year for this school but she didn't get in.
i really wasn't worried about it because i was totally not ready to give up my time with her.
i have 4 days a week home with my girls that i cherish and so being a little selfish i have not been ready to let go of some of *my time*.
i mean, she will go to school for at least the next 15 years, so i have been in no hurry to start her.
but the fall it will be, she will be 3, and it is time.
i will miss my time with her so so much and i'm sure tears will be shed those first days she goes, but i also can't wait to take her and pick her up that first day to see the look on her face.  and to see her interacting with other kiddos her age.
she will start in august.
august 23rd to be exact. that's right, first day of school is on her birthday.  not thrilled about this but i'm sure she will have a blast starting on her first day of being a 3 year old!
plus she will be done at 1230.  so we can celebrate the rest of the day.
we are only doing a half day to start with.
you can either do 930-230 or 930-1230.
in the 930-230 option, they do not nap.  well, not really. they have a 20 minute rest period.
caraline still sleeps 2 hours in the afternoon so that's why we went with the half day for now.
but who knows what she will be doing in a few months.  she may be fine going all day and just taking a little catnap after school.  we will see.  we can switch to a full day at any time we decide she/we are ready to.

this was taken this morning outside of her new preschool!

she's pretty sassy!



and it is now official.
this girl will be a 'yellow giraffe' (that's her class) at northside christian church in the fall.
we can't wait to meet her teacher and all of her classmates.
tears are flowing as i type, thinking about how all this could be, it seems like just yesterday we were welcoming caraline into the world and now we are sending her to preschool.
i know when school time is here she will love it and then i will love it too because I LOVE HER!

definitely not the best picture of this mommy but i love this *preschooler's* face!

8 months yesterday

this one will be short and sweet.
because 1 of our babies is full force potty training right now. (post coming soon on that)
and the other is cutting more and more teeth, so the sleep is not great and thinking isn't happening:)

elleanor turned 8 months old yesterday.

nothing has changed on our schedule but that our morning starts at about 630am these days.
which i am fine with because it means a little bit of an earlier bedtime for this gal.
sleeping is ok.
she just had two top teeth pop through.
not the front, the 1 outside of those, so she is kind of a snaggle tooth girl right now.
but the front 2 are now coming in also.
this means lots of interrupted nighttime sleep for us this past month.
naps are still good.  2 hour in the morning and and 1 1/2 in the afternoon when she is at home.
new foods this past month were apples and pears, of course she loves them both.
we've now started to combine some of her fruits and veggies.
this girl doesn't turn away any food.
words are mamama, dadada, nanana, bababa. she says them all the time. even at night when she should be sleeping.
elleanor is great when she wakes up in the morning.  she doesn't cry.  just lays there and talks to herself until i come in to get her.
naps is another story, we still always wake crying from these.
almost have a crawler on our hands.  she is trying very hard.  she is up on all four's and is rocking. 
but she still gets wherever she wants to go by just rolling and scooting around.
ellie loves her sister.  loves to play with her. and wants to know where she's at and what she's doing at all times.
no doctor visit this month.  we don't go back til april.  both girls have been pretty healthy this winter, so far.
hoping that we can hold off on having to go to the doc until her next well check.  it would be the first time we've made it from well check to well check without having to take one of the girls in.

that's about it, sorry, i know this was all just kind of randomness jammed together but that's all i've got.  this momma is pretty tired today and can't use my brain much:)

ps:  the hubby got me a new camera for valentine's day! love it! been practicing with it A LOT!!! so family/friends can expect many many more pics of our sweet girls!  and here is some more of our big 8 month old playing, enjoy!



some of this year's goals

 i have set a ton of goals for myself for the year.
one in particular is running.

i love to run.  really, i do.
i'm not the fastest nor can i run the farthest.
but i love it.
i love how when i get on the treadmill i think of nothing other than running.
no thoughts of work, what to fix for dinner, is the diaper bag packed, are the bottles made, etc.
just running.
i really just zone out.
no, I'm not staring at your backside person in front of me on the elliptical, but that's what it probably looks like.
to be honest what i do is imagine myself running a race, lots of people running around me, people watching from the side of the street.
sounds silly, but it keeps me going.

getting on the treadmill is also what helped me keep my sanity (i guess you could say i kept it) in those early months after having elleanor when i though i was going to loose my mind from lack of sleep and an around the clock screaming baby.  (of course she's quite the happy little angel these days though!)  i could go and just forget about everything going on and just have a quiet hour to myself, basically just not thinking period.  and since we had the whole breastfeeding/milk intolerance fiasco i wasn't tied to doing every feeding, tim got to help out more in this area. so thankful for the hubby's understanding of my need to get away for a bit during that tim and have something for myself.


anyway, like i said before i am definitely not the fastest, but hope to improve.
i am now at 3 miles in 34 minutes.
never did i think that at 31 i would be able to run more than i ever have before.
but i've had some great motivation.

my best friend jennifer started running last year.
she did 5ks, the tulsa run, and a half marathon.
i was asked several times by her to do a run.
and several times i always thought of a reason not to.
but those reasons have run out and i'm going to just do it!



my first goal in this running thing is to actually sign up for a run, (which i haven't done yet).
it will be in march, the st. patty's day run.
my second goal is to run the entire time and not have to walk.
my third running goal that i have set for myself is to do the tulsa run this year.
that's quite a big one for me, just putting that goal out there scares me to death because right now i see it as impossible.
jennifer tries to tell me i'll do a half marathon by the end of the year, but that's not happening.lol!
the tulsa run is going to be quite a stretch, i can't even imagine doing anything beyond that.

update since working on this post last:
i made it to 4 miles in 46 minutes last week!!

next time I'm hoping to be posting about completing my first 5K!

ps: i'm really also hoping that this running business will help me shed some of this weight i'm hanging onto from having 2 little gals:)

a little late on the 6 month photos

we had planned on having 6 month photos done.
but that was right before Christmas.
needless to say with the surgery, sickness, holiday planning, etc. going on that didn't happen.
things were just a little hectic around here.
so i hadn't been able to plan a cute outfit, think of a place, or pick a date for pictures to happen.
thank goodness for heather.
she swung by one evening on her way home (after working a 12 hour shift) and snapped a few quick pics of ellie girl for us.
thats why the 6 month pics turned into 7 months.
even though it was quite the fly by photo shoot, done at 730pm, usually this is our getting put down for bed time, we got some really cute ones out of it!



embrace the camera jan.26, 2012



i haven't done this in a while.
going to try and get back into the swing of it.
this is our little fam on new year's day.
yep that is the most recent pic i have of the fam.
will do better next time:)

i know, not the best pic of any of us, but this is how it is these days trying to get 2 kiddos to smile and look a the camera at the same time:)

7 months and iphone pics



Elleanor is now 7 months old.
And I am so excited to say that month 6 was a fantastic month at the Maxeiner home!!!
(besides all the yucky allergy/drainage business)
Elleanor has had her first teeth just barely pop through the skin this month. (the 2 bottom front)
And that is all it took.
All it took for this little girl to start some really great sleeping habits!
Guess it was those 2 little toofers that had made the last couple of months of sleep, so inconsistent.
Since just seeing them brake through the skin the sleep has looked like this.
11-12 hours of straight, uninterrupted sleep at night for Ellie.
Naps, she takes 2 during the day.
The first being around 830 where she will usually sleep around 2-2 1/2 hours.
And the next being around 1, where we get approximately another 1 1/2 - 2 hours.
Month 6 was definitely a huge month for us!!!
You can tell the whole household is feeling better.
(and this is the reason for all the phone pics below, we have all been embracing our sleep around here so the camera has not been picked up much this month.)

This past Thursday we went in to see Dr. Daley since we missed our shots at our 6 month appt. due to Ellie still being a little sick.  As I said in the last post they made that visit a sick visit, so we got another well check today.  Meaning they did measurements again.  E's weight this time was at 30% instead of the 50% it was at just 3 weeks ago, so either something was plotted a little off at one time or E is on her way to her slim down just like our itty bitty Caraline.  Same thing happened between C's 6 month and 9 month visit, I don't remember the numbers exactly but this is definitely where she started to go way down on the charts,  so I'm kind of expecting to see the same thing with Ellie since I've noticed she has started to loose some of her chunk here lately.  Doc said she looked great, she has some eczema going on on her cheeks (already got meds for that), but other than that she looks just perfect!  I have to brag on Caraline here, she came out of her shell at the doctor's office this visit.  She actually went and played with the toys and when Dr. Daley came in she talked to him and told him where to sit (on his rolling chair), she gave him a high-five and then a hug before he went out, she's pretty darn cute!  Ellie got 3 shots this time because it was also time for her other half of her flu shot, she really cried this time, like held her breath and turned purple cried (last time when she got the first half of the flu shot, she didn't make a peep).


still in a pretty good mood after those shots



other haps:

she is using her voice A LOT! mostly to say dadadada and lalalala.

she is sitting pretty well, we still fall over here and there.

she is really wanting to crawl, think it will happen any day, she scoots backwards and rolls to get where she wants to go right now.

after only about 4 trys at the sippy cup she has gotten figured out! she just needs a little help to hold it.

like i mentioned before, she now has 2 bottom teeth popping through.

she is figuring out the game peek-a-boo. and LOVES it! especially when her sissy is playing it with her.

same foods as last post except we added bananas. and I am making apples this morning so going to have them soon too.

she still will eat anything we give to her, like her mommy not picky at all.

in a month I plan to try yogurt, really nervous about this and praying/hoping she doesnt have any problems with it (bc of her little milk intolerance issue).

and we are officially off of her reflux medicine!!! the doc gave us a prescription at her sick visit the last time and told us we could get it or we could see how she did without it a couple of days.
she did absolutely fine without it. don't get me wrong she still spits up here and there, but definitely not more and maybe even less now than when she was on it, so we got rid of that stuff! it is so nice to not have to worry about that 3x a day anymore!

a few of her favorite things

these girls love them some bathtime.

zoned in on MMC

this pic doesn't show it, but she's gotten pretty good with that cup.

Right now our day looks something like this (for the past 2-3 weeks):

700: wake up, first bottle for Ellie, sippy cup of milk for Caraline while we watch MMC

730/745is: the girls and I sit at the table for breakfast together (unless daddy has made C breakfast with him).

830-1030:  morning nap for E, mommy and C time. 

1100:  2nd bottle for E.

1130/1145ish:  lunch time for us all.

1200:  playtime, sometimes 1 episode of Mickey before naps. or we run errands here if needed.

100-300:  girlies' naptime and mommy's free time!

300:  3rd bottle for E, Caraline usually does some type of activity at this time after her snack (coloring, pay-doh, etc.).

500:  Ellie's dinner time. 

530:  We all play in the kitchen together while mommy fixes dinner.

600:  Dinner time, Ellie joins us in her highchair and plays while we eat if she is happy, if she isn't she takes a little 30minute catnap at this time.

630:  Bathtime fun.

700:  E's last bottle for the day.

730/800ish:  bedtime for both girls.

It's a busy busy day and by the end of it this mommy is down right EXHAUSTED!! But I am so so happy that we are settling down into a routine, it's about dang time!!!!

p.s:  forgot to mention that this little gal got her some new jewelry this month too!