Alleah is almost 3!!

So much has happened in the last couple of months.

Alleah is 3 in a month or so and full of so much personality. She's so so smart. She loves to play with puzzels, watch "princess" (Sophia the 1st) and draw. She's been talking a lot for a while. She's been having a tougher time with certain letters; like she can say it in one word, but can't say it in another. I'm not worried about it right now. I took her to a speech therapist specialist and she scored average, so she's right on track. She's such a great helper, she loves to help cook, and change her sister. She will clean her toys up for the price of choco mik  (chocolate milk). She loves to sing and dance. Her favorite songs to sing are "itsy bitsy spider" and "popcorn popping." & for Christmas she got a "rock elmo" who plays the drums while alleah has the microphone to sing and dance. Her favorite food (when I can get her to eat) is fries & spaghetti. She used to love apple juice... now it's all about the chocolate milk. She loves it when I get her hair "pretty" she absolutely loves me doing her hair. And I enjoy doing it.  She loves Kaya our puppy & has even let her inside all by herself a few times. She plays with her so good. Kaya is so great with the girls, even when Alleah attempts to "ride" her. Alleah is obsessed with "Choo choos" (trains) Raylee got a baby train for Christmas and alleah is determined to make it hers... luckily Raylee is good at sharing. :) She loves to brush her teeth. Playing in the tub is her favorite. She has been out of diapers for just over a YEAR !! She is awesome at finding her body parts & counting. She LOVES playing with other kids.. nursery is always a blast for her. She will be in it one more year since she turns 3 in June. Past couple months I was having a tough time with alleah acting out and I think part of it was jealousy, which makes it tough since I love each of my girls the same. But the past couple weeks I came up with a system and it's been working great!! I felt like none of my punishments were consistent; pretty much all over the place. Spankings one moment, yelling the next, time out another time... ect. I absolutely hate yelling and spanking unless necessary. But I was at the last straw... I was loosing it. Finally, Joey (he works alot so I'm with the girls most of the time) & I talked about what to do with Alleah. I broke down in tears so upset about it... she's such a great kid, just wasn't listening like I would like. We came to a conclusion: I be consistent with the decision and stick to it. The solution: give Alleah ONE warning... if she does it again she goes straight to her room. I wait a bit (usually she's crying) I tell her "if you stop crying, I will come talk to you." she usually responds with "okay", "all done" or "yup" I go down to her eye level and talk to her. She usually responds to me and then says "okay, thank you" it's been working amazing. I'm consistent. I'm calm. And she listens right after I talk to her. She's such a wonderful girl. So so loving. So kind. Loves everyone. And just such a joy. I love every single thing about this girl. I love her cuddles, hugs, kisses and her personality. She's full of energy & it's great!! Sometimes overwhelming, but she just likes to keep busy with crafts, coloring, playing and ect. Can't believe the toddler she has turned into.

Raylee - 9 months

I'm just a little bit late posting about Raylee turning 9 months. (she will be 10 months this Saturday)
Absolutely adore our little Raylee. She has been getting such a personality lately. I love that she's so different from her sister; she her own little unique self & it is so great. :) She went to her 9 month apt on October 28th and she's looking great! Growing so good! 18.5lbs (30th percentile) & 29.5in (95th percentile). She is so so so tall!! Raylee hit a few fun milestones the past couple months & learning each and every day.
At 9 months Raylee:
-Say mama, dada, baba
-Loves to dance
-Has a ton of fun with her sister Alleah. They play so great..
-Learning to not take crap from her sister (steals toys back) haha
-crawling everywhere
-Tries to pull herself up, but ends up just on her knees
-eats almost everything...Except eggs
-Sleeps in the same room as her sister
-Loves our dog Kaya
-can stand up and hold on if you stand her up to something
-Favorite toy is the xylophone.
-such a cuddly baby
-Hates strangers... Such bad stranger danger
-She likes to scrunch her nose and breath in and out really quick (so so cute)
-goes to bed at 8:30pm wakes up at 9am. Nap 10-11:30am. 2-5pm
-Officially not breast fed anymore (I'll get into that later)
-cheese nips are her new favorite snack
-She will be your best friend if you give her apple juice haha
-Her top teeth are giving her such a hard time

Recently (a week after she turned 9 months) I finally decided to stop breast feeding. The first 8 months she breast fed great. Never took a bottle. I gave her one occasionally, but she didn't need it. After that Raylee started to loose interest, just was seeing new things. She'd unlatch and get distracted often.  It was extremely frustrating. So I started just nursing her when she woke up, before nap & before bed. Then it started to be in the morning & before bed. And then just before bed. Finally one night, I was trying to feed her and she just wouldn't focus at all to eat. She weaned herself off. She just wasn't interested. After talking to my mom and sister, I finally became okay with being done. I felt very accomplished to even come this far. My sister said "at least you got silver boobies" I'm like.. "what the heck does that mean? Haha" 6 months = bronze. 9 months = silver. 12 months = gold. I was pretty happy about making it all the way to 9 months. I would've hoped to do all 12 months, but didn't work out that way and I'm 100% okay with that :) Now Raylee just takes a bottle and eats people food.

She is such a joy in our family and I cannot believe she will be 1 in less then 3 months!! I already have a theme in mind, but have yet to plan her party. I want her to be just as spoiled as Alleah has been :)

Raylee really is such a relaxed, calm, happy, and fun baby. She is literally happy with everything. But she is even more happy now that she's mobile, and it's so fun! I extra baby proofed the house.
She loves her sister and they get along so great. I do have to get after Alleah from time to time since Alleah is a little rough. Alleah loves to hug Raylee and that ends up Raylee falling over. 

Life as we know it :)

The past few months have been very hard. My life may look glamorous. I do have two very beautiful little girls and I love them dearly, but it's been tough lately. Joey and I may seem to have it together, but I'd be lying if I said we did. We bought a lovely home in 2012 and it's been alot of work. Very rewarding work. We love the house we bought. It's perfect for us. Most couples can't do what joey and Ive done till later on in life. It's alot of work. And to be honest.. I've been very upset on how much I actually see my husband. He's an amazing hard worker, but I miss my husband. Nothing is more important to me then him and my kids. Often I feel like a single mom and that's only because I'm at home with them and he's at work. He absolutely hates being away from us and misses us like crazy like we miss him. Alleah understands when dad is working or asleep to go to work again. She just loves when dad comes home. She laughs and hugs him. They have an amazing bond. Raylee hasn't gotten to bond with him as much as Alleah, but Joey still loves his Raylee more then anything and I love watching him with her. I am tired of never seeing him. Tired of how much he's gone. Joey is great he keeps telling me to think positive and his time will come when he only has one job. Our goal is next August to buy Chem-dry and see how that goes. But right now, we have to stick with it and be each others support system. I appreciate everything he does. He works so dang hard. And I try my very best to be the best mother to our girls I possibly can. And a loving wife. I miss him incredibly, but the times I do see him I love. I love Mondays with him. I NEVER plan anything on those days. Those days are with him.  You have to work hard to get somewhere or you'll fail or just stand still. This house is our home for our children. I love they're growing up here. Alleah learned how to walk here, turned one here, said her first words here, was potty trained here, and turned two here. We brought Raylee home for the first time here, learned to clap, dance, sit, and Ect here. I just wish joey was around to see them more like I do. I take a TON of pictures, but from here on out I am going to video tape them more often. That's my new goal. Be grateful for what you have. For what you work for. For what you will become in the future. Try your hardest and you will succeed. I love my family. I love my Joey. I love my girls. They are everything to me and I just want us to succeed :)

Alleah :)

28 months old :)

Alleah is alot of fun! but she is definitely a handful lately. I've been kind of at a loss with punishments. Everything has seemed to go out the window and not phase her.... little stinker. My next project is to make a time out stool. I have been doing timeout in her room but she doesn't seem to care all that much about that. I've tried the 1,2,3 method... it worked for about a week. I will not spank unless really necessary. So as of right now I am just seeing what works best for Alleah. I have no idea what is going on with her, but right now Alleah gets really excited when someone comes over and she ends up hurting them in some way.... work in progress. She is two. Her stage is LOADS of fun..... sometimes. She is such a crack up.... with an attitude.

Alleah's accomplishments: 

• Helps mom pick her toys up 
• loves to cook with mom & with her play kitchen
• talks ALOT I can't even name how much she can talk.
• likes books
• Loves Elmo "melmo" and Blues clues "boos coos"
• Sleeps 9:30pm-9am nap: 2pm-5pm
• Has been potty trained fully for 6 months now :) & super independent about it. She will take herself now and call me for help to wipe. (only about 4 accidents in those 6 months)
• Very attached to her "dee dee" (blankey)
• LOVES papa & dad
• calls us mom & dad & aylee (can't say the R)
• Loves to go "bye bye" She hates being cooped up in the house
• This summer she had so much fun swimming
• Got her first hair cut by grandma 
• has all of her teeth 
• Loves getting "pretty" with her hair & me painting her nails. Such a girlie girl :)
• lately her favorite word is "ewwww" haha such a weirdo
• wears size 24 months & 2T clothes
• loves to sleep in her big girl bed now & watches blues clues 30mins before I turn it off for bed
• can count 1,2,3,5,6. Still doesn't want to know that 4
• Can say a,b,c,d, p. haha. 
• got her first hair cut finally :) 

Alleah is my mini helper. will throw away diapers, and practically do anything I ask. She is learning so much and just has a fun (loud) personality. But yes... just like any other 2 year old.. she does not do exactly what she is told and has a tantrum from time to time. But we love our Alleah and she just has so much fun! Shes so full of energy and is just going going going until nap and bed time when we force her to sleep. She adores other people and loves it when they come over to play. Just recently we moved Raylee into her room.. the first night Alleah didn't like it at all. But ever since then Alleah gets so excited when I bring raylee in to go to sleep. She goes "shhhh nigh night" and points to Raylees bed. Alleah is loving Raylee; she gives her toys, kisses, hugs and ect. She loves to just laugh with her. She plays peek a boo with her and makes Raylee giggle. When I see them interact it just melts my heart. They will be best friend! they are 20 months apart and just having a blast together. not super close in age, but not far away either. Perfect. She likes people to sit next to her so she will tell you to "sit" and points to the spot. It amazes me watching her grow and seeing what new she learns. :)

Our girls are our everything!!

Raylee :)

8 months old

So far my girls are completely opposite and I love every bit of their personalities. Raylee is a very relaxed baby & has the cutest little face.

Raylee Hazel at 6-8 months:

• Has 2 teeth
• claps her hands
• says mama & dada
• shakes her head no
• rolls everywhere... scoots in a circle & backwards. (does not crawl yet)
• super happy!!
• sleeps 9:30pm-8am  naps: 9am-11am. 3pm-5pm. 
• shares a room with her older sister :)
• loves spaghetti, cinnamon baby sticks and practically anything I give her 
• HATES baby food
• loves to laugh & smile
• splashes in the bath tub with her sister
• looks like her mama
• Breast fed :) (Alleah was formula fed so I'm pretty proud of myself) 
• sits up like a big girl 
• can feed herself by pinching her thumb and pointer finger together on the food :)
• has been wearing 9 month clothes for 3 months now! super long!! 
• At Raylees 6month apt Raylee was: 15.4lbs & 27.5in 

Raylee is learning very quickly. She may not be interested in crawling but she is learning different things and really smart!! I looked back at Alleah's baby book to see when Alleah started doing things & they are seriously the exact opposite. Alleah was interested in crawling, climbing, walking ect. Raylee so far just is learing to talk, clap, and other things to do with her mind. She's gonna be our genius and Alleah will be our go getter. Love watching Raylee grow. She is growing so fast, but I am loving each and every second of it. She is such a relaxed baby and so content. She is happy to be playing on the floor, in her bouncer or on your lap. She is just happy. She sure does love food and is one chunky little thing. I love mine and raylees time together with me nursing her and cuddling in my bed in the morning. Such an awesome bonding time. Or when I feed her throughout the day and she looks up at me and just smiles. She just knows shes so loved. Recently Alleah and Raylee have been playing together with toys. Raylee just gets so excited. I don't even want to think that she will be one in 4 months... not happening haha. I really want to enjoy Alleah and Raylee before even thinking of #3. I want this time with them. I love spending every day with them. I am one exhausted mom, but it is all worth it. Raylee will roll and then scoot to get to her destination. She just doesn't seem like she wants to crawl, which honestly is 100% okay with me. 

We are so blessed to have little Raylee in our life :) 

Marriage :)

My few things important to us:) <3

Joey & I have been married for 3 years now & it's had it's ups & downs for sure. Marriage is so hard. I won't go into detail with what our problems were in our marriage, but honestly the most important thing would have to be "forgiveness." Nobody is perfect... Everyone has their faults & challenges. In a marriage it's our duty to work with another. Don't spite your husband and let him figure it out... Be there for him no matter how hard it is. I've learned it the hard way, but no matter what he has done I will always love him. 

Communication: That's got to be my favorite. Talk. Talk. Talk. It helps a ton to just talk. Silent treatment does not work haha. You won't get anywhere. 

Spend time together: Joey & I have some problems with that since he works so much, but we always find time to do at least something before he goes back to work.

Church: read scriptures together. Pray together. & attend church together. :)  

Keep showing you love one another: You get into a "routine" each day (I know I do) but I still try to do little things for Joey to show him I love him. 

*warning* 

Making love: it is very important. Helps you connect with your spouse. Get rid of the kids & have fun with your husband ;) 

Selflessness: Joey & I have to say this is our #1 problem. He's so busy he doesn't realize when he's being selfish. (Me on the other hand) ;) haha jk. We both are selfish sometimes & that's not okay in a marriage. 

Complement: complenent each other :) I know I love it when Joey calls me beautiful & Hot :) 

Say thank you: when Joey does something for me I always make sure I say thank you. May sound weird... But It helps ;) 

KISS KISS KISS!! don't ever leave each other without giving a kiss. In my opinion it is super important :) even when I'm mad @ Joey & he's leaving for work.. I will still kiss him goodbye. One time I didn't & I was sad the whole day. 

Every marriage is different. Very hard. But amazing. I love my husband :) I found a quote I LOVE!! 

"A perfect marriage is 2 imperfect people refusing to give up on each other" 

What drives me crazy is when people throw the words "divorce" "leave him" that's not okay (until something really BAD happens). I will never leave Joey. He's the love of my life & an amazing guy. He works super hard & sometimes the lack of sleep gets to him. Everybody has faults... Doesn't make them a bad person. I have my faults, but I still try my best to make my husband happy. :) 

My Birthday

22 years young!!

I started off the day waking up to Joey telling me to open my presents. & then getting ready for church. Joey got me a shirt, candy, Baja blast & a lovely card. The card told me one of my presents included a day to choose from joeys days off where he takes the kids off my hands. I very rarely don't have my kids with me. They are with me 24/7 & I love it, but sometimes this momma needs a break. Then we went to church. After that my friend who was in town for a couple days from Cali took me to lunch & I brought the girls with me. That was fun ... Until the end where Alleah was TIRED. She then fought nap time when we got home so I gave up on that. Seriously the one day she decided to fight nap happens to be the day I wanna be lazy haha. My cousin then showed up & brought me a gift :) & some girls from church brought me a little something somethin. Finally Joey woke up & we headed to my parents house to eat my favorite dinner my parents prepared :) My dad's BBQ chicken & my moms baked potatoes :) yummy!! Then I opened the presents my parents got me. It was a ton of clothes :) I got spoiled!! 3 shirts, shorts, a skirt & fancy pair of flip flops :) Then we ate the ice cream cake Joey got me. :) after that we went home, got the kids to bed & just relaxed. A few days after I received the gift from my 2 sisters & their husbands who live in Utah (wish they lived closer) a gift card to American eagle... They know I need new jeans. :) LOVE:) on Monday I took my present from Joey. He watched the girls while I went & got a pedicure, eye brows waxed & lunch with a girl friend. Doesn't feel any different being 22, but I definitely had a wonderful birthday this year!! :)

Oregon Coast

Family Vacation :)

June 20th, 2014 everyone headed to the beach house :) My parents spoils us and paid for the whole house and food :) We only had to find our way there and pay for some food. Everyone was there :) Desiree's family, Brooklyn and her husband Caleb, my mom & dad, Alyssa & Brayden and Joey & our family. It was so great to have everyone together!!

The drive wasn't as bad as I thought it would be, but it was definitely more difficult with Alleah being potty trained but still has a tiny bladder so needing to stop for her to go potty. & Raylee being breast fed and needing to eat. Alleah had NO accidents on the way there. We stopped 3 times (7 hour trip) By the time we were 30 miles from the beach house I was like "GET ME OUT OF THIS CAR!" haha! but it could've been worst. I was debating putting Alleah in a pull up but I said "no" to that since she was already potty trained... I was not turning back! Joey and I stopped in Lincoln city on the way there and I shopped at the carters store :) we were gonna go shopping in Portland but the traffic was INSANE!

We got there at around 8pm that night. Everyone just caught up and hung out. Justin (desiree's husband) and Caleb decided to go in the ocean that night with their wet suits so I brought Alleah down to the beach to show her. She went crazy with excitement. She was running around soooo much! we just laughed because of how she was running so quick and just laughing with excitement. She would run up to the ocean and run back when the wave came in.

The next day we went on the beach. It was just a very relaxing day. Everyone did their own thing on the beach. It was kind of cold for the babies so Desiree & I ended up going inside with them. One of the days we did take family pictures. I haven't gotten them yet to post but they turned out great from what I saw. Our family grew by 4 family members in the last 3 years :) every night was yummy dinners :) BBQ chicken, steak, hamburger, tin foil dinners, and salmon.

One of the days Desiree, Justin, Caleb, Joey, Brooklyn, mom & me put on wet suits and headed in the ocean. If it werent for the suits I doubt most of us would've gone in. We had a blast on boogie boards and just jumping and playing in the ocean :)

One day we went to newport and went to the shops and looked around. My dad bought yummy salmon and I bought my crab :) BEST $20 spent. It was DELICIOUS!! soooo buttery goodness. I love seafood.

The last day was beautiful out! So warm. We spent that day on the beach playing. Some of us (Joey, Caleb, brooklyn, mom, Alyssa, Justin) put on the wet suits and went in again. Desiree and I sat on the beach with our babies and watched. and Grandpa was playing in the water with Alleah.

The boys had a fun time building sand castles, they were pretty pro at it.

Me & my dad had a mishap with our trucks :( and will be needing to get them fixed, but glad nobody got hurt :)
The trip was sooo much fun! and can't wait to do something similar in the year 2016!!

2nd Birthday Party :)

Alleah is TWO

On Alleahs actual birthday (June 1st, 2014) Joey and I drove home from Seattle and then got everything ready for our family party. I made one of Alleahs favorite meals... Pizza casserole. My mom made a yummy pink cake :) And we just had family over to eat dinner, cake and presents :)
For her present Joey and I got her a play kitchen & a new melmo :) My parents got her a swing set. And joeys mom got her a swimming suit, sunglasses and towel :) Shes very loved :)

On June 7th I threw a friend birthday party for Alleah :) Lorax theme! Alleah had so much fun playing with all her friends, eating snacks, playing with bubbles, playing on Alleahs swing set and writing with chalk. It was a great turn out! And so glad alot of alleahs friends were able to make it :) Alleah had such a fun time!! She ate 3 cupcakes (more like ate the frosting) played and overall just had a great time. It is hard to keep 2 year olds occupied but it was alot of fun. And the decorations turned out sooo great!!! 

Our Girls :)

Alleah Mae & Raylee Hazel

ALLEAH 

2 Years:

35.5in 94th percentile

23.5lbs 13th percentile

Alleah is just over two now & such an awesome little toddler! She is super happy 90% of the time! the other 10% shes a little "two year old" haha (that's the nice way to put it) She has her "NO" moments (more often lately) Alleah is learning a lot! I know what she wants 95% of the time. She uses her words alot more lately. She is 100% potty trained (has been for over a month now!!) whooo hoo!! (if anybody has questions on how I did it feel free to ask) :)
Alleah is in 24 months or 2T clothing. Has all her teeth (working on 2year molars) no more diapers. Sleeps in her toddler bed. Wears size 5 shoes. loves to get her hair "pretty". She loves Papa. I swear he's her favorite person (everyone doesn't compare to him) haha. Loves to watch blues clues, melmo, super why and mickey mouse club house. Says "bye truck" everything one drives past. Loves to give bear hugs.
I know moms usually list the words their toddler can say now but Alleah can say sooo many its hard to list. She went to her doctor June 2nd and everything looked great! He said an average 2 year old should be saying 20 or more words. Alleah says more then 20 words and even some sentences. :) She isnt advanced when it comes to talking but at least shes just over average which is a-ok with me :) Alleah catches on quick with a lot of things.

RAYLEE

4 Months:

26in 95th percentile

13.3lbs 30th percentile

Raylee is 5 months now and beginning to get her own little personality. Its amazing how different my girls are. Raylee is serious most of the time but lately shes beginning to be more smiley when you talk to her :) She plays with her toys now and rolls over back to belly. Hasn't quite figured out belly to back. She HATES being on her tummy. Compared to her sister; Raylee is a little chunk. She may not be chunky to some people, but to me shes super chunky and I love it! Raylee is wearing 6-9 month clothes. Her bottom teeth are almost popped thru.. shes chewing on EVERYTHING. Her favorite toy has to be her duck. She's still breast fed. Sleeps 12am-9am. eats. and then wakes up again at 11am (gotta change that schedule) recently found her feet & very attached to her mommy. 

we are so very blessed with beautiful girls :)

Easter

April 20th, 2014

It was Alleahs 2nd easter technically, but her first easter she was 7 months old and didn't quite understand anything. This easter was alot of fun! I set out her basket (the easter bunny did I mean) She got a stuffed elmo, big bird & cookie monster, a learning puppy & some candy. Joey prought her out while I got the video camera ready and she got sooo excited :) then we went to church, came back and had a nap. We went to dinner at my parents and then had a little easter egg hunt. She had a BLAST. Every time she picked up an egg she would squeal!

Raylee of course didnt care much for easter this year since she was only 3 months old. She got a blanket & a little toy :) Next year will be a lot of fun with both our girls :)

Alleah Mae

Cute little toddler 

Alleah will be TWO in less then a month! So much has happened with this little girl!! She's talking up a storm lately. She says words but doesn't quite say sentences. She does sometimes. She loves her "melmo" and watching it on Netflix. She knows how to find what she wants on the iPad it's crazy. She LOVES apple juice. I'm convinced that's why she did so good with potty training haha since I gave her a lot of juice. Potty training was so easy! She picked it up quick!! My goal was to have her potty trained by 2 & I'm so happy about it!! She's one smart cookie!! I've had some people ask how I did it & honestly I don't think I could've done it even close to that fast without advice from my mom! It's like  she's the pro at potty training!! She had my oldest sister potty trained at 17 months... Crazy right!! (Me @ 21months) I waited until Raylee was born & I was ready to full on potty train. How I did it: at 21 ish months I casually brought out the potty before bath time/ after bed and would see if she'd go. Once she finally did I would get soooo excited & that made her love the reaction I was giving her. After I knew she had full control I decided "alright let's do this thing" how I knew she had control was: at 22 months of so she would pee a couple drops and get excited of course I got excited too cuz even if it's a couple drops it's amazing. I gave her candy, she went back to the potty and went again. I knew right then and there she knew exactly how to use that potty. After I got mentally ready & (bought panties) I'd go full on training. I started out with having her naked and the potty in the living room: she'd just play go to the potty & pee. During the day peeing she caught on quick!! Then one day I thought I'd take a risk after a week of no accidents I took her out of the house to get her a toy & she wore her panties... No accidents. I praised her how good she was for being dry. I think Alleah just loves the attention. Then poop was another story. At first she went on the floor and immediately said "uh oh." I told her "it's okay just gotta go in the potty" next time she freaked out so bad cuz she knew the floor wasn't allowed.. I held her on the toilet and she FINALLY went but she definitely wasn't happy about it. I got even more excited. The next time she freaked out but say on the potty by herself. Nap time: I didn't give her anything to drink an hour before sleeping. She's dry every time. Bed time.., that's more diffiult. But I did the exact same thing as nap time. She did have a couple accidents but that's normal. She's not perfect, there will be accidents from here on out. I love how smart Alleah is!! She may not talk as much as some kids but she sure does catch on things like crawling, walking ect quick. She's a go getter. And she absolutely loves her sister. We did have a scary insistent between them but I'm super mom and can handle anything haha jk. I love that she's wanting to help a lot with Raylee. She loves acting like a mom to her babies. She loves wearing "pretty" underwear. She loves the color "wellow" (yellow) she loves her daddy!! They have so much fun! She tolerates kaya haha. She loves everything. She's just overall the happiest toddler ever!! She would play for hours at the park if I'd let her haha. She gets along so great with other kids. She loves playing with other kids. I am sooo glad!! I can't wait until Raylee is old enough to play with Alleah. It will be fun to watch them grow up together. Love my Alleah :) 

Raylee Hazel

Growing so quick

Raylee is 3 1/2 months almost 4 and doing really good! She sleeps thru the night but I got to work on what time she goes to bed cuz sometimes it's wayyy to late for my liking but then she sleeps in. She was sick with a nasty cold & one morning at 5am she woke up burning up from a fever. But luckily I got that under control and she went back to sleep then woke up & it was gone!! I am proud to say she's still breast fed. Alleah did not want to so I'm so happy Raylee stuck with it :) cheaper too!! She loves to smile when you talk to her. She loves grabbing her toys and trying to put them in her mouth. She laughs a little bit, not a whole lot. She loves watching Alleah. She will just follow Alleah with her eyes. Raylee is a lot chunkier then Alleah ever was and SUPER long. She's always in a size a little bit bigger, but that's okay. I still have some newborn clothes with tags on them thinking she's be tiny haha. I love snuggling & kissing my little munchkin. She's starting to look a little bit like Alleah, but she's looking more like herself. Nobody in particular. Raylee isn't a huge fan of being set down she loves being held. She HATES tummy time so I avoid that. Can't wait to watch her grow & teach her! I love being her mom!! 

Kaya

Alaskan malamute husky

She is totally house broken & potty trained!!! Yay!! Every time I say "go potty" she goes or when I snap my fingers and point to the grass she also goes. So smart!!

She can sit, shake (her paw), come & lay down :) 

She's such a great dog!! She loves to play outside. She does dig, but we are working on that haha. She's still very energetic, but that's okay 

:D

Alleah & Raylee

Our girls :) 

Alleah is 22 months old & full of energy. She is so much fun but has a little bit of an attitude haha. Lately she has been acting like me with her stuffed animals. She watches what I do with Raylee and then I catch her doing the same thing. Putting diapers on them, puts them in the car seat, pretends to breast feed, ect. Alleah is understanding a lot and talking back for the most part. I love that when I aske her to do something she will do it. So nice she understands what I'm saying. Alleah LOVES juice. I got to be the one to say "no more" because she will drink and drink and drink. But then again I am gonna start hard core potty training so she needs the juice. Alleah is super tall for her age; definitely takes after her dad. She has this thing where she literally calls everyone "momma" do not know why. But we are working on that haha. She understands everything else, but just will call anyone momma.. She loves her stuffed animals. She sleeps with all of them. I bought a toddler bed for Alleah but have yet to build it; hopefully soon. Alleah likes to let me do her hair she says "pretty." The lorax is still her favorite movie, but frozen is a close second. I am planning her party that's the lorax theme. She is learning a lot and growing up so quick!!

Raylee is 2 1/2 months old & doing great :) she can hold her head up, smile & coo. She's a lot chunkier than Alleah was. Raylee is still breast fed & growing like a weed. At 2 months Raylee was 10.05lbs 30th percentile 23.5" long 88th percentile. She's looking perfect. She does have a strawberry birth mark that popped up on the back of her neck randomly, but nothing to be worried about. Her belly button is a little bit of a heria from the umbilical cord as well, but also nothing to be worried about. She sleeps really good at night. Used to just sleep with me or in her rocker, but recently I've been moving her to the small crib next to my bed. First night was tough, but then I put my shirt in there so she could smell me. Worked like a charm. Raylee goes to bed around 11pm-12am and wakes up at 9 for a feeding and then again at 11am. She is then up for most of the day. Funny thing about Raylee is she snores the loudest in our family haha. Love her cute snore :)

Love my girls :) 

Kaya

How everything happened: 

Valentines day came & I was a little upset Joey hadn't surprised me with anything, but I know he's a busy guy so i didn't let it get to me to much. Even I found time to get Joey & Alleah something since I wasn't taking Raylee out of the house yet so I did when my mom watched her. I wanted to do something for Joey. I bought him a candy bouquet with a lot of the kinds of candy he likes & got him a hockey voucher since he's obsessed with hockey. After Joey got off work my mom came & watched the girls while Joey & I went to the restaurant "fire" I have been wanting their yummy cookie for awhile now haha. Joey still hadn't surprised me I was getting angry at that point. At the restaurant Joey said: "what's the money limit on gifts?" In my head I had spent $30 on him and I didn't want anything huge & just wanted to know he at least was thinking about me. Then Joey told me he'd been thinking about it for awhile but it was a huge purchase so he wanted to tell me before he bought it. He then texted me a picture of a husky puppy (one he found on Google) at first I was kinda worried about getting a puppy but at the same time I was excited. Side note: when we were living in an apartment & before Raylee was even conceived I wanted a dog Joey said if either Dobby (our cat) dies or if we bought a house I could get a dog. Dobby is still alive, but we just bought a house last May. Anyway, he knew I always wanted a dog & we didn't want to get some mut or a random kind of dog for our first dog since we want this dog for the rest of it's life. We decided to get both of our dream dogs. My two favorite dogs are golden retrievers & huskies. I've grow up with a few retrievers but always liked huskies from afar. Joey always wanted a husky too, so it was perfect. The only downside is: they aren't cheap. Joey looked around a few days for the right price. We didn't want to travel a long ways either I think Spokane was our limit. He found a lady in pasco who trains & shows huskies. She had 4 full grown huskies (different kinds) two of them were the parents of the husky pups tho. Alaskan malamutes. GORGEOUS dogs! We knew we wanted a female going there (just easier) so we picked her own. Their collars were by color. We chose the red collar. 

Joey went & got her since Alleah was napping I stayed home. Joey came home & I immediately noticed she had a purple color not the red. (The owners were confused I guess) I contacted them & told them what happened she said we could swap the puppies out if we'd like. By then we already loved "purple collar" that's how we got her name: Kaya it's Alaskan that means "stay, and don't go back" it fit her. We pronounce it like "Ka-ya" 

She's a good puppy, but with potty training I swear she's testing me. Haha. She's good at night just gotta work on during the day. We are not telling people how much we paid for her, only my family knows. But we do love her! Alaskan malamute females are supposed to get up to 80lbs so she is gonna be huge. We will breed her once to make some money off of her since she's AKC certified & legit ;) haha 

That's the story :) 

1 month old

Raylee :) 

2.22.2014

It's crazy how time is already flying! A month has pasted since Raylee was born & it has been a great month! Raylee is doing so good! She sleeps AMAZING at night... I'd be lying if I said I didn't get sleep at night. She does have her nights of waking up every 3 hours, but even that isn't that bad. She normally sleeps 4-5 hours & if I'm lucky 6-7. One night she went to bed at 1am & woke up at 8am I was shocked, but loved it haha. She's strictly breast fed & is doing so good. Alleah had a harder time with that so I ended up having her on formula, but I am determined to not let that happen (not that I'm against formula because Alleah is healthy as well) Raylee is so alert & just looking around; she's even starting to coo. She's definitely a blessing & I loved that girl more than anything! I am loving watching her grow. Being a mom is the best thing ever!! :) 

Names

Alleah Mae & Raylee Hazel 

Joey & I have always had a tough time choosing names for each of our girls, but here is how their names were chosen :)

Alleah Mae:

All through my pregnancy we kept going through name after name after name. I had gotten apps with girls names. At first we thought yes we had a name (Sydney) .. Nope that didn't stick. We made the mistake of telling my siblings and they had their jokes. My brother said he'd call her baby syd.. Then we chose Aubree. But we decided the name was to common. Her name was Aubree for the majority of my pregnancy. One night I went on one of my apps and wrote down the names I liked. I told Joey "Leah" he said "no that's to much of a common name... What about A-Leah?" I thought... "YES!" It was perfect! Wasn't super common & it was cute! We figured out the exact spelling & that was her name. In high school I always loved the middle name Mae & wanted one of my little girls to have it. It was the perfect middle name ... Wasn't a whole lot of discussion on the middle name. We knew it would be Mae from the very beginning. Alleah means "high, sublime" :)

Raylee Hazel: 

We had a harder time with choosing her name. We felt like we got lucky with Alleahs name & how cute and not common it is. I had probably 5 baby apps for names. I would text Joey names all the time from the app. He would say "no!" Or "heck no" haha. I love how Joey was so involved with choosing our kids names. We probably said we had a name for her 10 times & then end up changing our mind. We were gonna do ABC for our kid names but couldn't find a B name that we loved. At first it was going to be Bree. But then we thought "no that's to short" then it was gonna be Brianne after me (my middle name) but we just didn't want it as a first name. And then we just gave up the B name idea and looked at all names. By the last month she probably had around 8 names that we were going to choose from & ended up changing it. The last month we finally said "okay we need to get our butts in gear and choose a name!" We chose a name my mom suggested and then we had Hazel as the middle name chosen. But then one night I texted Joey while he was at work cuz I was upset that we didn't choose the first name ourselves. So Joey told me we would sit down and choose a name together. The next day we went through a million names on apps & online and just couldn't choose. We had some ideas at least and were plannin on going to the hospital and just bringing our ideas with us. But I didn't like that idea. When I went to my 37 week apt he said I didn't have much time left that she'd come any day so that night I told Joey we have to choose!! I sent him all the names we liked and we sat there staring at the names. We mixed two names that we liked together. It was perfect! Raylee is an adorable name! Joey chose Hazel after his granny that he was very close to. We went to the hospital either having Raylee Hazel in mind or Raylee Jane. We loved the way Raylee Jane sounded together, but we loved the meaning behind Raylee Hazel. So that's what we decided on. Raylee means "princess" 

Teamwork between Joey & I for both names :) 

(I didn't include all the names we decided for Raylee & Alleah but didn't use... Who knows ... We might have another girl) :) 

The Girls <3

Alleah & Raylee :) 

Alleah is 20 1/2 months old now and a very active little toddler. She is so full of energy & personality. She loves to watch Mickey Mouse clubhouse & she dances along too. She will dance when practically any music is playing. She is learning so much and it is so much fun teaching her. She talks a TON now & still babbles a lot too. She says "please" for practically everything. When she wants something she will automatically say "PLEASE" & just point at what she wants. Lately I've been trying to get her to say "please.... Blank" and teaching her new words. So far her favorite is "please juice" haha she loves apple juice! Or "please cookie" She says "thank you" too :) she can say a bunch of things... To much to write down, but the things she says the most is: "sister" "Raylee" "what is that?" And many more!! I try to do the best I can with teaching her things. I know she understands me, but it's the age to "test" me haha. I have days where I swear Alleah is testing my patience & I just need to sit down & let her get mad while I give myself a few seconds to recuperate. Alleah is very smart and very active. She runs around & plays all day. She loves to entertain herself and play with all her toys in the living room and her bedroom. She carries her baby and Elmo practically everywhere. At nap time she will throw those two in her crib haha. Soon I will start potty training. Joey and I have gotten Alleah to go potty in her big girl potty a few times, but haven't been strict about it. Time to start :) Alleah is showing signs that she's ready to be potty trained so I'm gonna start very soon :) Alleah has 4 molars, her 4 Canine teeth, & her front 8 teeth. Soooo glad teething never gave her a problem. The only teeth that gave her the most trouble were the molars. She loves food. I love that she eats everything we eat. Her favorite food would have to be spaghetti, fries, and chicken. (Not at the same time) She's just growing up way to fast! Alleah is a great little girl and we feel so blessed that she's in our life. Shes been doing so good with her new sister. Yes sometimes she gets a little jealous, but she just loves giving Raylee kisses & she wants to hold her a lot too. They will be great friends later on :) I have been thinking of ideas of what to have the theme for her 2nd birthday & so far it's between Mickey Mouse clubhouse or The lorax :) 

Raylee is 2 1/2 weeks old now. At her week check up with her doctor everything looked great! She was back to her birth weight. When we were there their doctor notice both Alleah and Raylee have a birthmark on the same exact place (behind their neck) I thought that was the coolest thing! Raylee is starting to look a lot different from her older sister. They look alike, but at the same time Raylee has different features than Alleah. Raylee is really starting to look like me. Raylee is an amazing baby! We absolutely adore & love her! She's an amazing sleeper & a happy baby. I'm very proud to say Raylee hasn't had a bottle yet! :) & I hope to stick with that for a while. She is doing awesome. She is so alert looking around. She loves her vibrating bouncer. She hates the crib I had Alleah sleep in as a newborn, but loves to sleep in her rocker or with me. 

We are so blessed to have our girls:) we love them more than anything. I'd do anything for those two!! They truly are gifts :) those two make me want more kids than what Joey & I agreed on... Sounds weird, but it's true haha. They keep me going each day. :)  

Birth Story :)

Raylee Hazel Perry 

On the evening of January 21st  I was at my parents house with Alleah. Joey was at home taking a nap since he worked all day. The night before I was having contractions but they were never close enough together to go into the hospital and they stopped the next day. At 7pm on Tuesday the 21st I took a bubble bath in my parents big tub because of some back pain I was having. I started noticing the contractions coming back around 7:30pm so I started counting how far apart they were. They started 6-7 mins apart. I got out of the bath tub and went to tell my mom I was having contractions again; at 8pm we started counting them frequently. Around 9:30pm they were 5 mins apart so me & my mom went to my house and got ready. I took a quick shower while she bathed Alleah and put her to bed. I woke Joey up (pretty tough to do & he didn't believe me at first) My sister Alyssa came over and stayed with Alleah while me & my mom headed to the hospital. Joey came to the hospital moments later. I was hooked up to the monitors to see if I was actually in labor. I was 3cm dilated when they checked me & my contractions were 4-5 mins apart.  We knew it was going to take awhile so Joey went to work real quick to do the order since his boss was out of town and Joey was the only other guy that can do it. After being in the hospital for 2 hours my nurse sent me home because she said I wasn't in labor. side note: Hated that nurse!! I was in labor & she made both me and my mom very mad with how she acted & said things. Also, wanted to rip her face off who chops their gum while a patient is sitting right there in pain from contractions!?! haha

Anyway, at 1am we went home. I took a bath and some tylenol to help with the contractions that I was still having. Joey came home and we went to bed.... NOT. Well, Joey went to bed & I attempted to go to bed. At 4:30am I called my mom in so much pain, but my mom told me to hold it out... she didn't want us to get sent back home again. At around 5:30am I called the hospital and asked if I should come back in because of being sent home and I didn't want to waste my time coming in again if they were just gonna send me away. They told me to come back. I then called my mom again and told her I threw up & was in so much pain I wanted to cry. Side note: I threw up a few times while in labor with Alleah. My mom right then and there said okay we will go to the hospital and I had to wait for her to take a shower. I tried waking up Joey when my mom got there. Alyssa stayed with Alleah again while my mom and I headed to the hospital (Joey came moments after). At around 6:30am we checked in and I got hooked up to the monitors (different nurse thank goodness that other nurse went home!!) She checked me and of course I was at 5cm and my contractions were 3-4 mins apart. We went to my room and got situated. I got my epidural when I was 6cm. By then I was a raging biotch and really couldn't handle the contractions. Once I got the epidural Joey said "we should've got that a long time ago" haha smart man. By then it was just a waiting game & we all "tried" to get rest. 

My water ended up breaking on its own while we were in the hospital. A few hours after that I was 10cm, but the baby wasn't low enough for me to start pushing. We waited a little bit longer (I didn't mind since I had the epidural) at around 1:50ish pm the nurses, my mom & joey and I got ready for it to happen. One of my nurses was still learning the ropes on being a labor nurse but she was just the nicest ever so I didn't mind, plus she did have another nurse with her to help her along. At the beginning of pushing she wanted to try to see how it would be if it was just her & Joey with pushing. After that everyone got in on the action. My mom was holding my one leg while Joey held the other. We did a few pushes and she was already ready to come out so they quickly called Dr. Ortolano. He came and got down to business. Joey & my mom were now on the same side while the nurses were on my other side. It didn't take many pushes to get Raylee out. He did have me wait to push (while she was halfway out) to help prevent me from tearing. He told Joey and my mom to get the camera. I then gave my last pushes. (I pushed for 34mins) He told me to reach down and grab Raylee. I helped pull little Raylee Hazel out. :) That was the coolest thing ever! I pulled her onto my chest and I immediately started to cry. Tears of Joy. Joey cut the cord & then they cleaned her off and handed her back to me. 

Joey gave me a kiss and said "good job you did great!" :) It was one of the best moments in my life. My wedding, the birth of Alleah & now the birth of Raylee were the best things to ever happen to me. 

Raylee Hazel weighted 6lbs 5.4oz & was 19.5in long. Born January 22nd @ 2:24pm. 

Raylee is the name Joey and I chose together (we LOVE it) 

Hazel is Joey's Granny's name who died when Joey was a teenager. 

Update :)

I may warn you: it's gonna be a long blog post :)

Since the last time I posted a blog a few things happened so I'll just put it into one blog post :)

CHRISTMAS :) 

Joey, Alleah and I had a really great Christmas. Joey did work a lot before the actual day so Alleah and I spent most of the time watching Christmas movies & listening to Christmas music. We got a tree right on December 1st and decorated it together that night :) I am all about real trees. Growing up Joey always had fake ones so he was glad that I was 100% against the fake one since growing up I never had a fake tree; always real. Alleah was very into the tree and did like to touch it. Twice when I was not looking she pulled it down. I was more upset than mad. Of course she didn't know better, but I was just upset at the fact that a lot of my childhood ornaments were broken. (they are fixable) That night I got the rest of the Christmas decorations out. Every morning I'd take Alleah out of her bed & immediately she'd see the tree lights weren't turned on so she'd point & say "lights?" it was the cutest thing.

The beginning of November I had to keep telling myself to hold off on the presents. Even tho we did have the money for them Joey told me I had to wait until after Thanksgiving. I started shopping online right after Thanksgiving for Alleah :) I was sooooo excited to buy her things. I know shes only 1 1/2, but I wanted to watch her get so excited over her new toys. Joey gave me a money limit on her toys and I followed that when Christmas came I realized i went a little overboard haha. Next year I'll probably slow down a bit since we will have 2 kids next time. Christmas is a lot of fun, but its so much more fun when you have a child. I love Christmas time and spending time with family. & Joey getting a Christmas bonus was just icing on the cake at Christmas time :) 

My sister Brooklyn and her husband were able to make the trip to Washington this year for Christmas and it was great. Sadly my older sister Desiree & her husband could not make it :( We spent most of the time playing games. On Christmas eve we spend with my family. Joey was supposed to work so I made plans to just hang out with my family since I didn't want to just go hang out with Joey's family by myself. But then a few days before Christmas eve Joey found out that he didn't have to work (YAY) we just kept the plans I had already made. We opened pajamas with everyone and just had a fun time. On Christmas day Joey, Alleah and I woke up and looked at what Santa brought us. Packed the truck with all our gifts and headed over to my familys house. We ate breakfast there since my mom made her yummy cinnamon rolls & we unpacked the car after that we headed to Joey's moms house for the morning. When we got there I guess Joeys older brother decided to surprise everyone and showed up. So that was neat. Joey hadn't seen him since before his mission & it was seriously the first time I even met him. (Joey & I have been together for 3 years) but it was a lot of fun and great meeting him. We did our gift exchange with everyone and just hung out. It was great for Alleah to play with her 2 cousins as well. In the afternoon @ 12pm we headed back to my parents house and opened all the gifts from everyone. All day we stayed in our pjs, ate yummy food, played games & enjoyed everyones company. I loved every second of Christmas and just hanging out with family. I loved that Joey had so much time off from work from both of his jobs so that he could just spend a few days with all of us. I feel truly blessed to have such a great family. Can't wait for next year :) 

We got Alleah: a little tikes table w/ chairs, little tikes pink car, a baby doll stroller that also came with a carseat, high chair & a little baby carrier she can wear (those 3 things she'll have fun with when older), grocery cart w/ a bunch of fake food, a giraffe chair, a play Iphone, and a xylophone. She loved every single gift we gave her. I'd have to say her all time favorite thing she got from us was the car & table. 

My parents also spoiled her with a bunch of gifts. :D 

She was very loved by everyone :) 

I got Joey:  a snowboard (ya I'm an awesome wife) haha. Saying Joey loved it is a little bit of an understatement, bindings for his snowboard, the movie the hobbit & a Seattle Seahawks sweatshirt 

Joey got me: a hot chocolate maker, moccasins, an Ihome that my ipad & my Iphone 5 can play music on, but I'd have to say my all time favorite gift he got me was: he made me a calendar for 2014 made with pictures from each month of 2013. I was very shocked when I saw it. (so was everyone in my family) They didn't know he had it in him. I love it :) 

Joey and I also got spoiled by my parents. My mom knows me so well. She bought me a lot of cute, but comfy clothes for after baby is born. I didn't ask much from anyone for Christmas because I already feel blessed as it is, but I love every single thing I got :)

(I will have to post pictures later once they are uploaded) :)

Alleah Mae :)

Alleah is 19 months old now and so full of energy and personality. She cracks everyone up. She's such a happy girl. I got super lucky with her. She sleeps AMAZING at night and during nap times and so much fun when she's awake. She is still kind of a stinker and throws tantrums, but she gets over it pretty quick. She is learning so much and getting so big. Its bittersweet. I miss my little baby, but love my toddler. She likes to babble. She does say words most of the time. I am loving the her saying "please" & "thank you" phase. It is the cutest thing. I've been having her say "please momma" because it just sounds sooo cute. She could probably get away with anything if she says it haha. We love her to death :) She's definitely a daddy's girl, but I love it when she comes up to me says "hi" & gives me a hug. She like pats me on the back with both hands haha its the funniest thing. Just recently she learned how to "pound it" with her fist. Once one person does it to her fist she has to go around the whole room and get everyone to do it. She's been giving high fives for a long time now, but I think she's loving this a whole lot more. I have this "talking tom" app on my phone, Joey's phone & the ipad its a cat that you can pet, talk to, ect... he will repeat anything you say; she pushes the home button on our electronics swipes it unlock, goes to the page its on and clicks on the app. She is just way to smart with our electronics its cute. She has a bunch of apps on the Ipad that she likes to play with, like: a fairytale reading app, talking tom, pandora, ect. When she wants to watch her favorite show she hands me the remote to the tv and says "tv please" (sounds more gibberish, but I know what she's saying) haha. Alleah has 14 teeth now; 3 of which are still popping thru. They are thru the gums but not all the way up. She's been a trooper :) She is our goofy girl and we love her so much :) She's learning each and everyday. The other day Joey got really excited when Alleah said "football" haha. Joey says he wants all girls, but I know deep down he has to have his boy for sports. Joey was so angry with we first found out Alleah was a girl he wanted a boy soo bad, but once she was here he absolutely adores her. She's the reason he wants all girls. She is just so great. So adorable and so smart. 

PREGNANCY #2

I'd have to say this pregnancy was quite a bit harder than the one with Alleah. Alleah's was super easy tho. I had awful back pain with Alleah, but this one I did not. This baby is positioned a lot lower than Alleah was so its been uncomfortable most of the time. I've had more complications due to contractions and other things that I've had to go to more doctor appointments more than usual, but every time I go everything looks great but they always have to double check just in case. I've been having a pinch nerve that happens everyday; more days than some. Its gotten so bad that I've lost all control of my leg and almost fell over. I've just been pushing through it and enjoying the pregnancy. Everything I go through will all be worth it in the end. :) We are so excited to welcome her into the world. I've been getting the final things ready before she arrives later this month. It was a lot easier since we already have a girl so a lot of the stuff we have Alleah used as well. I only had to buy a few things. That's why I never had another baby shower :) We do have a name, but it isn't 100% sure yet. Nobody knows it except my family. We are not announcing the name until she is here. We don't want to have a name and then end up not even using it. Plus, it makes the birth announcement just that much more fun. So, don't bother asking me what the name is.... I WONT tell you ;)