I think I am a good parent. However, I believe most parents would fall under this category and I think, in general, every parent tries their hardest to do their best. Even a good parent can have a "bad parenting moment." This is the mantra I have been repeating over the last two days to make myself feel better for my latest bad parenting moment.

The first bad parenting moment I can remember is when Micaela started to crawl. We kept saying we needed to get a baby gate for our stairs. Every day we would have this same conversation, but we never got one. Then one day, while Caleb and I were upstairs with Micaela, we hear the boom, boom, boom, and cry....as Micaela fell all the way down our stairs. Fortunately nothing was cut or broken, and as an added benefit she was terrified of the stairs and never went near them again, so we didn't even have to buy a baby gate!

This is similar to the time I was so busy socializing with the neighbors that I failed to notice Micaela was walking away. She tripped on the slope of our driveway and acquired a huge goose egg on her head. This wouldn't have been classified as a bad parenting moment, except that about 5 minutes later the same thing happened again and she then had two goose eggs. At this point I finally realized that I really needed to watch my child.

This brings me to the worst parenting moment to date. One night, when Micaela had just learned to open doors, I was working on a school paper in the computer room while Micaela was playing in the next room, just a few feet away. She somehow snuck behind me and went out the front door. Pretty soon I heard the doorbell ring and there were my new neighbors holding Micaela. I hadn't even realized she was gone. This was especially scary because she was so young, she didn't understand not to walk in the streets, she didn't know her last name or my name, it was winter and she didn't even have shoes on! I was so fortunate that my neighbors thought to ring doorbells before calling the police. Coincidentally these neighbors moved to a house right down the street from our new house, although they have hopefully forgotten about this.

Anyways, I guess Micaela has had her fair share of bad parenting moments, after all she is the oldest and don't parents always make all their worst mistakes with their oldest? Just kidding mom and dad. The latest bad parenting moment is with Scarlett. She was so sick Friday night. Nose running, coughing, eyes watering, and crying and screaming all night. She would begin to settle down, and only minutes later would start crying. I was up until about 2am and had finally thought she was done for the night. I put her in bed and went to bed. About an hour later I heard her crying again, but I was so tired. So, so tired. So I thought I'll give her 5 minutes to calm down, and if she doesn't then I will go in there. She calmed down, and I fell back to sleep. A few hours later she woke up again crying. This time I went in and she had vomited all over her bed. It was cold and soaked through everything, which led me to believe that she had most likely thrown up when she was crying earlier. I felt horrible. Today she is doing better, thanks to instacare and antibiotics her nasty double ear infection is clearing up. But now I am extremely hypervigilant. Every time I hear a noise (which is often as they are building a new house next door and working on weekends) I think it is her, and I am checking on her more than I did her first week home from the hospital. I'm sure this will pass. Just as I'm sure there will be more bad parenting moments again.

I am now 27-years-old. This feels really old. I feel like 30 is rapidly approaching, which is scary, but Caleb and I are saving up in hopes to spend our 30th birthdays in Europe. We will see.... My birthday was fantastic. We went out the whole day without the kids and had a blast. I have made it a personal goal to be more positive and focus on all of the great things I have in my life, so as a celebration of my 27th birthday I am going to post 27 things I am thankful for. Here goes..

1. Diet Coke, preferably poured from a fountain with crushed ice with a little bit of Dr. Pepper served first thing in the morning at the local Holiday station

2. The color red and all that it represents...love, variance, my computer room, the Utes...

3. Sunshine, especially warm sunny days where we can walk to the cute little beach park by our house

4. A house that is a blank canvas and a husband who is an expert painter and understands my desire to not have a white wall

5. Shoes, especially high heels that make me feel like a woman

6. Ikea where my dreams become an affordable reality

7. A new temple that it right down the street and a beautiful addition to our neighborhood

8. Scentsy candle warmers

9. Redbox movies for $1

10. Bath and Body Works Black Amethyst lotion

11. Vera Wang perfume

12. Libraries...is there seriously a better invention?

13. Chocolate chip oatmeal cookies..no raisins

14. A working and updated diaper genie...hallelujah!

15. Emotions and the ability to express emotions

16. Advocacy and the feeling of being heard (I finally had a state rep. write me back!)

17. Dancing, formally or informally

18. Jogs around the neighborhood at night

19. Having good jobs in a bad economy

20. The feeling of making a difference every day

21. Disneyland and Disney World and Disney movies and Disney princesses

22. A cute baby with an infectious laugh named after a classic heroine

23. A 4-year-old princess who has the most endearing explanations for life and her mother's social nature

24. A husband who loves me unconditionally and is always there when I need him

25. Parents who love to visit and are gracious enough to pretend it is me they are visiting...not just their grand kids

26. The many great friends I have been able to keep and the many more I have made more recently

27. The fact that I am not yet 30

I truly believe that there are certain holidays that are just more fun when you have kids to celebrate with. Easter would definitely fall into this category. I still feel like a novice when it comes to planning holiday things. However, we attended an Easter egg hunt, decorated eggs, went to Easter dinner and the girls got new Easter dresses, which is my favorite part of the holiday. Any excuse to go shopping... I think I may have overdone it, as my girls looked like southern belles or pageant contestants, but I've always thought it's better to be overdressed than under dressed. Special thanks to grandpa and grandma who sent a great care package with more candy than the Easter bunny brought this year!


On the way home to the plantation...








Really though, how cute are they?

While our house is in shambles I thought this would be a good time to start catching up my blog. I'm recovering from a horrible bout of food poisoning, one that makes all my previous morning sickness seem like an itchy nose. It began during the early morning hours, when Caleb was at work, which was the worst part. Not because he wasn't there to take care of me, but because he wasn't there to witness firsthand my agony, and I knew he would never believe how bad it was. I contemplated cleaning the bathroom before he got home, but I decided to keep it dirty as evidence of the severeness of my misfortune. When he came home I launched into a detailed play-by-play, telling him details no one wants to know about their spouse, because I was convinced that if he didn't realize how bad it was he would think I was faking just to get the chance to lie in bed all day. You know, "playing hooky" from being a mom. However, he did believe me (I'm sure the uncleaned bathroom helped) and to sum it all up I will never, ever eat brownies again.

But onto sunnier moments, here is my documentation of Disneyland. Truly the happiest place on earth...

...especially for these two best buds. For those of you who know my father, it's no surprise that he got along great with a 4-year-old.


One of the many sweet treats she stole from my parents
Fortunately she let the rest of us play with her a little bit too.

When I was pregnant with Micaela we took a road trip up to Canada for a family reunion. On the way up, my father convinced everyone that we should name the baby after the next road sign we saw, which happened to be Deer Crossing. Throughout my pregnancy and for a while after, Micaela was known as Deer Crossing. Hence the reason my father felt it necessary to take this picture.

Of course she saw some characters..


And we had to get a picture of Micaela with Aunt Bre's favorite friend!
Oh and yes, Scarlett was there as well. This is how she spent most of her Disney vacation.