Daycare...

So, we ended up putting the kids in daycare. We just haven't had much luck keeping a sitter this semester, and I always feel like I have to rush right home to relieve the sitter after class. No rushing with daycare, and if we end up needing a few hours to do homework or whatever, we can just drop them off for a bit... *shifty eyes looking out for the parenting police ;)*

It's actually about a quarter of the cost that I thought it would be! That's definitely another plus. Lucas has done well with it these last two days. He cries for a bit when we leave, but they say he does great after a minute or two. Via won't eat much for them, but she tends to be less hungry in the afternoon (when they're there). They go for about 3-4 hours 3 times a week, and I gotta say, just the last few days have been soooo much less stressful! It's amazing what I can get done just in an hour without a little man climbing on me, playing with my laptop, kicking his sister in the head...

I've definitely decided that trying to clean up while Lucas is home and awake is like pouring water in a bucket with a hole in it. It just doesn't stay clean for more than a minute. Literally. And I now have to vacuum with my glasses on or else I can't see all the crumbs he left on the floor. I know I'm not very old at all, but that is definitely a sign of getting older. I don't think I like it.

Anyway, I have three tests to take tomorrow and some studying left (and some cookies to be eaten), so goodnight!

5 Sides of A Die

When I first found out I was pregnant with Via, I just knew that she was a girl. We had *pretty much* decided on Oleiva as her name and just wanted to make sure it fit her once she was born. We first got the name from our Tv brand name. Yes, we ended up naming our daughter after our Tv :) Of course, we actually went with it because it has Levi's name in it.

Well, eventually she was born. And she looked just like Lucas! I couldn't name her for almost 3 days because she just looked like a Lucas! (It also took us 3 days to name him; I swear, I'm the most indecisive person you will probably meet.) Of course, it did have something to do with the "preemie look" where they all kinda look alike... but still. I tried holding her the first day - I figured I would *know* then - but, no. She just looked like a boy!

It literally came down to rolling dice! We had 5 names that we liked, so I wrote a name on each side of a die except for the 5 side (because the dots take up the most space on that side). Levi and I were sitting in the hospital room one night trying to roll dice to come up with a name. We couldn't come up with a good system, so we decided to play Yahtzee and if one of us rolled a Yahtzee, we would use that name that was written on the number rolled. For example, if we rolled all 2s, we would use the name written on the "2" side. Well, one of us rolled a Yahtzee... and we rolled it with 5s! Yeah. Apparently Heavenly Father didn't approve of our daughter-naming method LOL!

Obviously, we eventually decided on Olevia, but it took a little while! The other names we liked were Remington, Peyton, Avery, and Lucy. We also then had to decide on her official middle name. We knew we wanted to use "Dawn" (my mother-in-law's name), but I also liked the idea of hyphenating Remington-Dawn. I got complaints that Oleiva Remington-Dawn Christiansen would be too long. I think they were right! Lucas also only has one middle name, which starts with a D as well, so we just stuck with one middle name: Dawn.

So, that is kind of how Via got her name!

Our Tv :)

A Night Without Luc & Via

Thank you, thank you, thank you to my awesome mother-in-law for watching the kids tonight!! Levi and I had soooo much fun on our double date :D We went with Kayla and Matt for a night on the town! We had dinner, went bowling, went to a dance party, and then went to a movie! It almost felt like we were single again... at the least, married without kids (and since we are married, we did do a bit of dirty dancing :/ )

Don't get me wrong, I love, love, love my children, but no one really tells you how tedious parenting little ones is. At least for the past few weeks it has been day after day of wake up, change diapers, feed the kids, play with the kids, pick up the house, do dishes, nap/homework while the kids nap, they wake up, we change diapers, lunch time, play time, pick up the house, play time, snack time, pick up the house, dinner time, bath time, pajamas, sippy cup, story time, kids' bed time, pick up the house, homework, (maybe watch some Big Bang), and then Mom and Dad bed time... with classes and babysitters and tantrums in between. Yes, I think tedious is the perfect word ;)

A friend on Facebook posted that mothering is the only time you can experience Heaven and Hell at the same time. Too true. It is so weird sometimes being so frustrated with, yet so in love with such a little person. And I still have no idea how Lucas makes messes so quickly!

I wouldn't trade this life that I have for anything. I'm so incredibly happy that I am married to Levi and we have our two beautiful children... but getting out and dancing with your hair flying' everywhere is much needed sometimes! I have to say I think it's actually more fun going out when you're already married when there isn't that "single" factor tagging along: worrying about what I look like when dancing, scoping out guys to flirt with, getting up the courage to flirt... ugh. Sorry singletons, but I am glad I'm not in that boat anymore!

And speaking of which, I also can't believe that I haven't been in that boat for almost 3 years! In April, we will have been married for 3 years. I dunno how that happened. We also have two kids now. I dunno how that happened, either. Really. Life just keeps going by faster and faster. I'm doing my best to just enjoy the time while it's here. It's gone before you know it.

Well, it's 2:35 am now. I'm still a little restless but completely exhausted! I guess it's time to try to get some sleep before returning to mother/wifehood. It's super-big clean up day tomorrow/today usually consisting of about 5 loads of laundry, a deep clean/organization of our bedroom, carpet scrubbing, and more diaper changes :)

Man, it's been a while since I've posted! Time has just been flying by, especially this week. It's already Thursday night! Crazy...

So we have good weeks and bad weeks, apparently. The week after my mom left (I don't remember if I mentioned this before) was a great week! So productive and upbeat. The week after: not so much. Fail. This week was another good week! House has stayed clean, homework has gotten finished, kids were great! Via actually slept through the night last night! We fed her around 10:30 or 11 pm and when I woke up at 7 am to go to class, she was still asleep! Levi was actually gonna get up with her last night (since I was getting kinda crabby again), but when the alarm went off, he told me that she slept all night!

She rolled over the other night, too... not on purpose, of course :) She did a mini push-up and kicked hard enough that she rolled right on to her back! Don't worry, I got it on video! She did a few more times that night, as well. Crazy girl.

Lucas has been really great these past few weeks, too. He is sleeping through the night again and eating like a champ! He's eating just about everything in sight! We have so many snacks in the house right now... Oh, these kids of mine. I don't know how they grow so fast!

Surprisingly, going to school full-time with two kids is much easier than I expected it to be! It's just as busy as I figured, but easier than I thought. It's a very sweet surprise :)

That's all for now... Here are some pictures!

Two Kids In Diapers! Bring it.

Friends, anyone? "Mother, I am not going to vacuum up my baby!" -Rachel

Via in her blessing dress (not happy)! The flowers were made out of my wedding dress (like Lucas's vest on his suit).

Oh, no...

So the day we moved back to Rexburg form Pocatello, Levi caught a nasty 24 hour-ish, throwing-up bug. Then Lucas got it. Then I got it at 4 am one morning. This was a few weeks ago, but I believe it was the morning before school started again. Yes, it was, because Levi was in a meeting for him job, which was a Tuesday, and school started on Wednesday. Anyway... I decided to go on campus, despite the stupid bug, so I could get my books while he was on campus at his meeting. I was feeling okay, I had Lucas in the strolled, Via was in the sling, I got to the bookstore, and the basket fit perfectly on the handles of the stroller. We were cruisin'! I got all my books, but of course it was packed, so I think we ran into a few people. Only a few, though :) After the gathering of books was complete, we figured out where the end of the line was (which was a feat in itself), and we stood in line. Lucas was doing fine for the most part; he was a little fussy since we weren't moving much, but still being pretty good. Via was doing pretty well, too. We got through maybe 1/4 of the line, and then I thought, "Oh, no..." I needed to throw up. I thought, "Well, maybe I can wait until we get checked out." Nope. I had to figure out what to do, and I had to do it quick! So I got out of line, I start walking toward the doors (which made it worse), and I knew I wouldn't make it very far. Thankfully there was one of the staff offices close by with a staff lady in it. I made it to her trash can :) I had to leave Lucas outside the door, so then he started screaming bloody murder. Via started fussing a bit more. I wanted to tell the lady "I promise, I'm not pregnant!" but I didn't... She asked if I wanted her to take my books. I said yes and got the crap out of there!

Awesome, right? This is the point where I called my mom and told her I needed her to come up and stay with us for a bit :) She did. She was here for 10 days, and it was a.w.e.s.o.m.e. We are now back in the swing of school, my mom is gone, but hopefully everything will be okay from here on out! Crazy times, I tell ya!

On a cute note: the kids are getting cuter every day! Lucas is constantly giving all of us kisses, including Via. He is such a great big brother! Via smiled at me for the first time this morning as well :) She smiled at my mom while she was here, but hadn't smiled right at me yet, so that was sweet. Lucas is getting past his 3 am screaming phase. The week after we moved he started getting molars and another tooth in, and he also had a sore throat. This resulted in him waking up around 3 every morning and just screaming and screaming! Poor Levi, Lucas would never go to me when this happened. That was a rough week for my boys :( But he is sleeping much better now, and Via is also stretching her sleep out to about 4 hours at night.

Classes are going well. I only have one that is a bit demanding, but I know what to expect out of it now since it is the second half to my MA core classes. I have a test each week in two classes, but no tests at all in my other ones, so it evens out. And I just have to mention that I rocked my first test in MA last weekend!! Hopefully things keep up the way they have started throughout the semester. My PPD is lessening, and my testimony is increasing. I think it will be a good semester :D

He's Just Talkin' To Himself at 3 In the Morning...

Via is FINALLY asleep after hours of restlessness and intermittent squeals due to gas... And now Lucas is just talking up a storm to himself (I guess. I'm not aware of any imaginary friends at the moment), and it is now 3:11 am. Sweet.

His little conversation is filled with various tones, a few shrieks, what sounds like explanations, and perhaps a chastisement or two! Whom is he chastising? I have no idea...

I'm still up with V sleeping on my chest. She sleeps much better this way, and since my days and nights are all screwed up, what the heck! I'm listening to Lucas to see if his chatting will turn into fussing. It sounds like it might. He will usually just take a sippy and go back to bed if he's fussing, but he may be very awake now and want to play if I go in his room. And I'm afraid to put Via down in fear of her waking up since she is now squirming around... which which turned into a serious shriek that led to Lucas's current fussing. Awesome.

I think it's time for Dad to take over!

The Good Life

Well, it's 1:40 am, and both my babies are sleeping... I have been up most of the night for the past few nights with Via, and now she's back to normal, but I am not. That's the life, right? I have my textbook open next to me (to get a head start on one of my classes next semester) and I had every intention of doing some homework until I thought, "maybe I will blog first!"

In all honesty, I don't really know what I want to write about, so this may just be a bit of rambling :) Today was all sorts of up and down. I got up early (for me... like 8 am haha) since Levi had to work. He is more of a morning person and will usually get up with the kids around then on his days off since I have been getting up with V during the night. Anyway, I was up, feeling good, fed the babies, started laundry, did the dishes, folded laundry, put the kids down for a nap, fed them again when they woke up, picked up the house... it was probably the most productive day of housework in the last 5 weeks combined! It felt great to get so much done, so that was good, but I got so tired and cranky later on :( Levi came home, and I knew he was tired, but he kept telling me how tired he was throughout the day, and it just kind of made me feel like my being tired (despite my 45 min nap) wasn't justified. I dunno. We were both just so tired and cranky that the evening just kids of turned into more of an argument and hurt feelings on both sides that the day just didn't seem as great as it had earlier.

But that's how it goes, right? Life with a toddler and a newborn? I am very aware that Levi helps out a TON and I really couldn't do this without him! I have no idea how single parents do this... and I have easy kids! Maybe that's part of it, too; I feel like I really can't complain sometimes because I don't have it as bad as others. My kids are great, really. Lucas can get cranky, but he goes down for a nap and it wonderful after that usually. Via just sleeps, eats, pees, looks around... she is hardly ever super fussy. Lucas wasn't either. I was telling my cousin, Aubrey, the other day that I'm pretty sure we are done having kids because either 1) Via will be another amazingly easy baby and I just can't jinx us by having another one, or 2) she will be much harder than Lucas was and will not make me want to have any more anyway! Remind me to come back to the "more kids" topic...

Anyway, I just keep thinking these days that I am really not allowed to complain. Which I do. A lot. I hear of people with babies that have to be held all the time or are sick, or I think of those who can't even have children or have a hard time getting pregnant (which we obviously didn't have an issue with!) I have one friend that lost their baby at 38 weeks. 38 weeks! I can't even imagine... I never even made it to 38 and both my kids are perfectly healthy! It just breaks my heart, and this friend is so amazing and seems to be coping with things a whole lot better than I would. I actually found out about their loss on the day I found out how serious Via's growth issue was, so naturally I started freaking out! This ended up being 4 days before I had her, but I cannot tell you how *relieved* I was when I went into labor and ended up having her early, actually. I say *relieved* because I was still afraid of there being complications with prematurity, but I figured we handled 32 weeks with Lucas, we could definitely do 35! And we did. Her stay was much easier, and I just couldn't believe how blessed we were to have two healthy preemie babies! Everything worked out perfectly, and apparently ended up being my "quit complaining" lesson... which I'm still working on ;)

So, back to the "more kids" in the future issue: this has been so weird for me. I always knew I wasn't an extremely patient person, but I guess I thought it might change once I had my own children. It may have a little, but not much. I hate losing my cool with Lucas, but I do... and then I feel worse because I know that he really is easy compared to other kids (refer to previous topic lol!) He woke up crying tonight. It seems like he had a bad dream and was really scared. I went in, tried to soothe him, Levi got him some milk, held him for a while, but wouldn't go back to bed yet. We had just finished bathing Via right before he woke up, and I started feeding V after Levi took over with Lucas. Again, I have no idea how single parents do this!! Well, Lucas was settling down, and we all just went into the front room and sat on the couch with the Christmas lights on. Levi held Lucas and I sat next to them feeding Via :) It was just so perfect and it's moments like that where our family feels complete. I didn't ever feel like that when we just had Lucas. Right after he was born I knew someone was missing, and I was ready for another baby a few weeks later! Well, it was only 8 months later, and we were pregnant again! Now that we have our son and daughter, things feel very complete. At least for now. I have no idea what will happen in the future, but I have no desire for more children right at this moment. And I'm sure most of it is taking care of two now that are 15 months apart! But it's just so weird since I had always imagined having at least more than two... I actually would sometimes look at couples with two and think "can't you handle more than that??" Well, I'm not sure if I can handle more than that now! So funny how life works... it's just so Mormon culture to have a big family, I figured that's how I would turn out. Anyway, enough of that! Whatever happens in the future with more kids or no more kids will work out how it is supposed to!

On another note, Via weighed 6 lbs 1 oz the other day! And she has been eating almost every 2 - 2 1/2 hours today, so I'm sure she's in for another growth spurt! She actually has some chunk on her legs! Not normal baby chunk of course, but still some! Lucas is thickening up as well. I cannot believe how fast these kids grow sometimes! He is build like my Grandpa Holman, which is where we got Lucas's middle name :) His legs are really muscular and thick right now and he has a little tummy on him! It may just be the age, but I like that it reminds me of my Grandpa.

I cannot believe it is almost Christmas! Time goes by way too fast these days... no one ever told me life speeds up once you get married and have kids! I'm starting to dread going back to school. I have no idea how I'm going to do it, but I have to keep reminding myself that it really will be over before I know it (especially with how busy I will be, I'm sure!) Two more semesters, two more semesters... I have my moments of "yeah, I can do this!" and "crap! I really can't do this!" Hence my wanting to get ahead on some homework ;) This class is the second part of my Medical Assisting class/lab, and my teacher gave me the workbook chapters that we will be doing. I found out during the first half that they are sooooo time consuming! We would have like 2 or 3 due each week, and it was killer sometimes! So, I figure if I can get a head start on some of these it will help a lot! I think I have about 4 out of 16 done so far. Bleh.

Well, there's Via waking up! Maybe I can get to sleep after she eats since it is now 2:30 am... goodnight!