Our "Exciting" Weekend...

I'm talking about this coming weekend. Cody's parents and his little brother, Cory, have gone to Arizona for the weekend...So Cody and I decided to take this time with a house to ourselves to wean both of our girls...One from her pacifer, and one from waking up in the night.

Chloe has LOVED her "binky" since we weaned her from waking up in the night. When she'd cry, we'd just go in and give it to her and she'd quiet down pretty fast. Ever since then, she and that binky have been inseparable! I decided awhile ago that I didn't want her in nursery with one...Nursery is for big kids! Not babies with binkies. But I was too scared to take it away. The girl likes to scream. A lot. And loudly. It's easy to just stick that thing in her mouth in the middle of Sacrament Meeting than it is to hand Preslie to Cody, scoot over a ton of people, and take her out. ....Well, not anymore!

I get e-mails from babycenter.com for both of the girls, and I got one today for Preslie. One part asked when pacifiers should be taken away and it said definitely not later than 1. It can interfere with tooth and speech development. I always knew about the teeth part, but I wasn't too worried because they're just baby teeth and she can always get braces, right? But today, for some reason, it freaked me out a little more. Maybe because I feel like we're behind on a lot of things with Chloe. For example: She still drinks a bottle when she wakes up in the morning and after her nap. She won't drink milk any other way. We've tried it in a sippy cup and she doesn't want it. I want her to get her milk, but I don't know how to do it without a bottle. The nurse at her 18 month appt scolded me a little when she found out about this. Another example: We JUST stopped swaddling her before she went to sleep like last week. Not lying. I read a friends blog once that said her 6 month old had just stopped being swaddled and she figured he was the oldest baby to ever still be swaddled. Not so, my friend. Chloe is just our big-girl-baby! (She totally doesn't care about not being swaddled anymore. She lies down just fine in bed and goes right to sleep. If anyone has ideas about the bottle thing, PLEASE let me know!)

She just went to sleep for the night and after I left the room she cried for about 20 seconds and that was it. I bet she is more ready for all of this than we are.

Preslie on the other hand.

I'm so scared about trying to get her to sleep through the night! With Chloe, we'd give her her binky and she'd fall asleep again. When Preslie isn't helped at night, like right away, she screams. Even WITH her binky! So...I'm a little worried about that. Luckily Cody's family isn't here so I don't have to feel guilty for keeping them awake all night.....Cause I'm pretty sure we will be.

Also, Preslie just turned 4 months on the 21! WOW! I can't believe she's this big already. We took her to the dr the day we moved away from ID, on the 12, and she was 12 lb 1 oz and 22.8 in long. (weight: 24% and height:10%)

She is SO fun and loves to smile and laugh and is such a happy baby...Unless you walk away from her! She hates being alone and if she can't see you, she will let you know! She goo's and coo's a lot and LOVES to eat her hands! She always, always, always has her hands in her mouth.

We love our little girls!

Goodbye Rexburg...

Last Monday, our little family said goodbye to Rexburg forever.

I'm sure you're wondering why I didn't put an exclamation point at the end of that sentence.

Honestly, I was really sad! When I started thinking about all the things and people and memories we were leaving behind, it was tough for me.

On Sunday, our last Sunday in a married student ward EVER, I bore my testimony. My friend, Gena, that I've known since my very first semester up at BYU-I, came and sat in the front row to go after me, and I just couldn't hold it in anymore! I totally started crying and blamed it on her....Even though it was coming anyway :) Sorry, Gena.

Our ward was really wonderful and we really loved our neighbors, too! While I was writing Cody's graduation post, our downstairs neighbors came up and brought us brownies (AMAZING- seriously so so good) and when we got ready to leave our next door neighbors had left us a jamba juice gift card and a little homemade loaf of bread on Cody's front seat! How did we get so lucky with such wonderful people all around us?! Thank you, thank you!!!

Cody's parents had come up for his graduation and they, along with Cody's little brother, Cory, really helped us a TON getting stuff packed and loaded up in the moving truck. Dirk and Cory left Sunday afternoon, so the rest of Sunday and all day Monday Tami, Cody and I packed and cleaned and cleaned! (Tami cleaned probably 90% of it! She's amazing!!)

Chloe's friend, Avie (Gena's daughter) came over to say goodbye to us on Sunday before we left. We had a mini-photoshoot with them. It was so cute. They were so shy towards each other the whole time!


Avie was being nice - I promise. She was trying to give her a hug but Chloe was too shy.
Gena and Me

We will (Ok, I will) always think of Rexburg fondly and love it...Even as much as I complained about it at the time. It really is a wonderful place with wonderful people!!! We love you, Rexburg!!!!!

School's Out ForEVER!

This past Friday, Cody graduated! His graduation was great - we only went to the commencment on Friday and not the graduation with the whole school graduating on Saturday morning. Because it was just his college graduating it was only like an hour. The speakers were great and everything went so well (except for the kid behind us that was SERIOUSLY ill. He's probably 20 months old and was so stuffy and coughing the entire time. I was so worried about him being contagious and getting the girls sick....Oh well, only time will tell now!)

Cody has worked SO hard these past 5-ish years. Lately he has been at school for over 14 hours a day and is all about school. We're so glad to have him back at home with us!

At the end of the ceremony they asked everyone to applaud the graduates and let them know how proud they are of them. I almost started crying thinking of all the things Cody does to provide for us and all the things he sacrifices so that we can be happy. I'm just SO, SO, SO proud of him!!!

This was Chloe when she saw me coming back from taking pictures of Cody. So cute!







Today I've eaten two pieces of cheesecake, a piece of a chocolate orange, a brownie, a couple mini reeses, and a mini cadbury egg. ....It's no wonder my cheeks are so big.

Cody with all the graduating engineers and some of his teachers.

Cody's parents, Dirk and Tami, with Chloe and Preslie. We had to crop it close to Chloe cause some boy decided he wanted to be in the picture, too.



Now Preslie is looking!

Chloe and her Papa Walk!

Preslie!

To celebrate Cody's graduation, I made him a cheesecake with strawberry writing (Seth coached me over the phone on how to make it...but we didnt' take a picture because you would all laugh at my writing. I have a long way to go on cake writing....Maybe it's because the strawberry stuff was SO hot and totally burning my hand the whole time.), graduation caps I found on Bakerella, and a big sign.

My grad caps are different from hers in the following ways.
1. I used Ghirardelli chocolates instead of Godiva. Mine had caramel in the middle and only came with 8 chocolates. So we only had 8 grad caps.
2.I stuck mine together with melted chocolate chips - not melted "candy coating."
3. I didn't use lollipop sticks
4. I didn't use the sour belts
5. Because I didn't buy sour belts, I needed something for the tassle. I just used more melted chocolate. Worked like a charm!

This is my sign I made. Cody said it was way cool...but I'm pretty sure I'm its biggest fan :) It took me a week to make because I wanted it to be a surprise and could only do it during nap times (which were pretty consumed with cleaning instead of crafting) and after the girls went to sleep. Once it was finished, I was in love. PS LOVE my wishblade. Saved me so much time!!!

I also gave Cody a little card that I found here with a jumbo thing of smarties taped on. It also told him of his other present he'll be receiving soon - a massage!!! Woohoo! He deserves it after working so hard!

We are SO proud of Cody and all of his hard work. He is so dedicated and motivated and he worked so hard to get the best grades ever! He's the best daddy and husband EVER!!!

AH! I WON!! I WON!!!!

I just read a blog post from A Little Tipsy and this is what it said...

The winner of the $60 Mikarose Gift Card Giveaway is...

CodynStacey!

who said...

LOVE the Alexia and Alice dresses! I have been wearing maternity clothes since 2008.....(Seriously. I'm not even lying. I had my 2nd baby 3 months ago...and I'm still wearing a maternity top RIGHT NOW.) I DEFINITELY need to win this! Not only a boost for my wardrobe-HUGE boost for my sanity and self-esteem, too! Oh pick me!

Does she totally deserve it or what?! Congrats! Get your buns out of those maternity clothes girl! Send me your email and mailing address so we can send out your prize!

AH!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I'm SO SO SO SO SO SO excited!

Mikarose is full of fabulous, modest dresses and other items that are just AMAZING! I'm so excited to have won!!! There is one dress, the Alexia, that I think might just be perfect for my little brother's wedding! His fiance just told me I need to wear black...and it can come in black! What better than getting a free dress - especially when you have to buy one anyway!!

So maybe Cody doesn't have a job yet...But Heavenly Father is still totally blessing us!! With free clothes! I'm so so grateful!

We've Got a MOVER on our hands!!

I've NEVER seen the kids roll over for their first times. Ever.

UNTIL TONIGHT!

Preslie just learned a couple weeks ago how to roll over from her tummy to her back.

Tonight she learned how to roll from her back to her tummy!!!! And I saw it for the first time!

Cody said I screamed so loud he "thought someone died."

It was pretty exciting.

She's so awesome.

I have the coolest kids.

Ok, Ok...

My mom just called me, so excited (and mostly apprehensive) about our job in Florida! She was saying, "Did Cody really get a job there?

Well.....



APRIL FOOLS!!!!!!

We wish Cody had a job.....but he doesn't. Not yet. But we ARE moving in two weeks - only to California. Not Florida.

Gotcha pretty good, eh? :)

P.S. It was Cody's idea to do an April Fool's joke, my idea to do it about his job, and we worked on the details together.

Don't forget.....

Yesterday...

I didn't brush my teeth until 5 p.m.

TMI?

I always do it when I get out of the shower...it's just part of the routine then. However, when I got out of the shower today, Preslie was screaming in her crib. So I went to help her, instead.

After I got her, I went back to the bathroom and proceeded with my routine...only forgetting about the teeth brushing.

I remembered when I took Cody his lunch at 3.

When I got home, I had two babies that needed me...Thus leaving me gross until 5.

Also, while I was getting ready (you know, without my teeth brushed...), Chloe wiped the condensation off the toilet onto her hands (her favorite thing to do right now) and would transfer it to Preslie's head.

Preslie didn't like it.

Neither did I.

Cody tells me it's not a huge deal because it's clean water...But thats still so disgusting.

No one needs to touch toilets more than they have to.

I won't forget to brush again. Don't worry.

Our Prayers Have Been Answered!!!!

For the past...long time...Cody and I have been praying and praying that he would get a great job. Not only a job that he really enjoyed, but a job where we could live somewhere we liked, somewhere safe and not so out in the middle of nowhere, but also not super in the city. Know what I mean?

We've also prayed for a job that would pay enough that I could craft. And decorate. Every day.

I'm not lying.

Well, with only 8 days before graduation, Cody got a call.

From NASA.

He applied for an engineering position with NASA, based in Cape Canaveral. They interviewed him over the phone today, and after a few hours, called him back and offered him the job!!!! He will be doing "computational fluid dynamics. Or 'CFD.'"

Don't ask me what that means.

Now we have exactly 2 weeks until our apartment contract is up to find a house/apartment, pack everything, and drive across the country (with TWO babies) so Cody can start his new job!

Luckily I'll be able to craft as much as I want :)

I can't wait!!!