The Birkeland Family Blog

A couple of weeks ago we got our first real snow. Emmi was so excited to get out there and build a snowman. Little did we know that the snow was like sand. It was next to impossible to get the snow to pack. I managed to make somewhat of a ball. That was it. Emmi didn't care. She dressed the head. Isn't this the cutest snowman ever? If you look hard you can see the buttons for the mouth set around the base of the head. Too cute! Emmi in her new snow suit that Grammy Jill bought her. Thanks mom.....she absolutely LOVES it! We just can't wait for many more snow days! And Emmi can't wait to spend her time eating the snow.

Today I changed my status at work to PART-TIME! Two 12 hour shifts a week. It was a decision that I have been avoiding for so long. When I chose to get a nursing degree I knew that it just "fit me". I enjoy taking care of others, and I love that I truely make a difference in families lives. I also knew that it would be an amazing career for being a mom and I knew that if for some reason I had to help my family out financially I could. So, I guess it has come to that. In August I was denied health insurance from every company due to my complications in pregnancies so I have been funneled to the government "high risk" insurance plan which is high deductible and premiums are outragious. So right now to insure our family we are looking at nearly a house payment. Ugh! And to top that off we are feeling the sting of our suffering economy. Ugh again! I hate to leave my little Jackers and Emmers but I know they won't be short of love or attention. I will work mainly wee...

LEAVES!!!! Emmi was thoroughly entertained with the leaves this year. Peer pressure was the driving force to even get Emmi into the leaves. Her little neighbor Annie was diving into them, swimming in them and burying herself in them. Emmi of course had to do it "herself too". After she finally inched her way into the pile she never wanted out. She begged to play in them daily until Daddy had to rake them up and bag them. It was a sad sad day! This fall has been absolutely beautiful. We have enjoyed ourselves outside as much as possible. Jack is an outdoors guy too. So, most of our days have been playing in the back yard getting in as much outside time before the harsh winter comes.

Meet my Beautiful Bumble Bee and my Little Leopard!!! Halloween this year was again a warm and beautiful day. We spent the day relaxing, baking sugar cookies (that failed mind you). I always ruin my baked goods somehow or another. Reason I don't bake often. So the night started out by all of us getting our costumes on and heading up to my mom's to show the kids off in their costumes. My mom headed off to work and we were headed to my Dad's to do some trunk or treating. We got into the car....(or should I say "the lemon") And it wouldn't start. We tried for 1 1/2 hours trying to fix it. The night was slipping by. Jack was protesting about being a leopard, and Emmi is in the back seat saying, "mama....can I go trick or treating?" Poor kid! We practiced all day on how to trick or treat. She was so ready to get her candy. We finally got a ride home around 8:00 from my dad. Emmi grabbed her pumpkin bag and we headed up and down Keller Lane....

It's that time again for family pictures for the good ol' Christmas card. I always hate doing this, but you know you just got to do it. It took me weeks to get together everyones outfits. I stewed and stewed about where I wanted the shoot and what style I was looking for. I hired this amazing photographer and I am for the first time extremely impressed of how things turned out. Here are a few sneak peeks! Emmi was handing out fake smiles and frowns the entire shoot. I can't tell you how hard it is to get everyone with their smiles on in one photo. I think that our little Jack stole the show. He was by far the cutest in every photo. P.S. Oh yeah..... I completely CHOPPED my hair. It's been a little hard to adjust to, but a good change.

To put it blatent and direct.......Life has been so freaking HARD! First, my back pain is at the top of my list of why life sucks! It has gotten so bad I had to stop all exercise and just let my body rest and stay chewy. Pain has always been the reason for stopping exercise programs. I am so sick of it. Good news is that I found a certain ridiculous diet that helps the pain. Such a long story I will save you all the details. But, I am getting so super depressed that I pretty much can't eat anything I enjoy without the consequence of pain. Second, I feel like a failure as a mom. I have about the most strong willed 2 year old on the face of this planet. If any of you out there can relate I am so sorry. She is so stinking stubborn and relentless. I am completely sleep deprived and I feel my patience running thin. I am always so ornery and mean. I feel like I need a shrink or someone to tell me it gets better and that she won't be the end of me. Brian and I are constantly saying si...

Jack is official! We blessed Jack on September 6th 2009. His daddy did such a beautiful job. It is always such an emotional thing for me to hear my cute husband bless my child with such wonderful gifts and attributes. It is always a day that I will never forget for both kids. It was so fun to see so many of our friends and family come to support our little Jack. We love you Jack and can't wait to see you grow up!

Yep....It's ME! I feel like I was just blogging about my last birthday. Wow does time go by fast. Isn't it sad that as we get older time goes by faster and faster. When I was in elementry school summer felt like it lasted forever. I remember actually asking my mom when would school start because I was ready to go back. Then when I got into Jr. High and High School summer went by way too fast and I never felt ready to get back. Now as an adult summer is a blink of an eye, and I never felt like I even had a summer. My day was fabulous. Brian got Kelley, my sister-in-law, to watch the kids so he could take me to lunch at the Zinn Bistro. Of course it was amazing. In the evening my bros came over and we just hung with the kids and played on our front porch. I couldn't have asked for better weather. The next night my mom made a big dinner for me. We grilled filet mignon with veggie kebobs. AWESOME!!! She even docorated the house for me. Party hats and all. I can always count on ...

A couple of my friends from work got together to celebrate Ashlee's graduation from Neonatal Nurse Practioner school. What a champ she is. I have known her for now 6 years and she is finally done done done. HoOrAy for Ashlee!!!! Our day began with a nice spa pedicure at an awesome place down the street from me. It is an asian place that of course you have to play charades and use hand gestures to communicate, but for sure this place gets a 4 star rating. We sat back, enjoyed the foot massage, marveled at the heap of dead skin on the floor from the wonderful razor, browsed through their design book, picked a design for our toes and then chatted about everything under the sun. Just look at our cute toes. FYI If you go to this place just be sure to quickly skip over the pictures of the hairy toes. Yes, I guess men get pedicures and go as far to paint them with lightening bolts and other scary designs . Next, we had a unanimous vote of where we should go for lunch. The ZINN BISTRO. Fo...

So we have begun the potty business! It wasn't my decision it was all Emmi's. One morning about 2 weeks ago she asked to wear her big girl panties. I told her that she hasn't learned how to wear them yet. Well, she proceeded to beg and beg. I finally gave in and let her wear them. To put it short....she hasn't gone back to diapers from that day. We have had our hooray party in the bathroom. She has gotten many new books for rewards, and her favorite was the trip to McDonalds for lunch. Hard part is that now she wants a reward for every trip to the potty. Which is about every hour. Dang....she is going to break the bank. Or, it means M&Ms every morning for breakfast. I guess you gotta do what you gotta do. I feel like I shouldn't get too excited about it, but I am. I am so proud of her for being such a big girl. I sometimes get frustrated when she has an accident, but I just have to know that it is going to happen. And believe me we have had our fair share of the...

DUMP!!! So here I have been busting my ever living butt for freaking 6 weeks, and not one thing has happened. I literally have not missed a workout. Nope.....nada uno. I have been eating super super good. Besides a cheat here and there. Ok.....wait I lied. I did have a spectacular lunch with friends that will be blogged about because it was the best indulgence lunch I have ever had, but hey.....cut me some slack. But here is the thing. I have lost only 2 pounds. I still have my doughnut, my cheesy thighs and the never ending back fat. I know this blog post is pretty explicit. Keep reading at your own risk. I have my gross, never to be revealed before photos posted randomly around the house to keep my eye on my goal. It has motivated me to keep going, to do my workouts when I am absolutely so tired, or to not eat the cookies, icecream, or snacks that are lying around. But, how much longer can I keep this up when I don't see a single ounce of result. Ok....I lied again...

The story about 2 months ago was that big sister was jealous of baby brother. Big sister would sit on baby brothers face or lap. Sister would jump around brother to maybe luckily step on a hand, head or foot to get a good cry. Sister would push brothers swing so hard in hopes to fly him to the moon. Sister would cry, kick, hit, and yell to bring all attention back to her and away from Brother. We can now say that things have slightly changed in the Birkeland home. Sister has mellowed out a BIT, and we are getting back to our routine. ThAnK GoOdNeSs! Sister is now LoViNg her Brother! Emmi loves to hold her baby brother! Emmi loves to have Jack in her bed in the morning! Don't you love morning eyes? You can probably guess who stuck these stickers all over Jack's face!

Week 2 down.....on to week 3! I'm onto week 3 and feeling great. I have not missed a workout and my diet has been super super healthy. I'm loving it. I love feeling my muscles again. I love the feeling of sore triceps. I've worked my lower body so hard that I can't lower my butt to the toilet without yelping in pain. I love the feeling after a hard cardio when your head is spinning and your legs are shaking. AHHHH!!! Gotta love it! I still have days where I feel super energized and other days where I feel like a thousand pounds. My back has given me some fits, but I have had several visits to the Dr. and some great massages. I am just hoping that the weight training will soon help my back instead of hurt it. We shall see. As for now I'm not giving up. I so badly want to see some change and feel like I did when I was in my 20's. Ha....can that really happen? I'll let ya all know! Stay tuned for more updates!

So here is my little Jack J Jack is 2 months old now! I can't believe it? I feel like I was just rushing to the hospital in labor. He is growing before my eyes. I wake up each morning and look at him and he is always a wee bit bigger to me. The newborn phase has almost passed. He is awake much longer, he is smiling and we have gotten a laugh or two out of him. He is the most mellow and happy boy ever. We even have been getting some 5 hour stretches of sleep out of him. Way to go Jonesy. Some funny things about him. He loves having his diaper changed, or should I say being naked. In fact with out fail there is a huge grin on his face when the diaper comes off. Even in the middle of the night. What a character. He absolutely loves his swing. I think I love his swing more. I put him in it when he is tired and voilla he is asleep. He has had his best nights of sleep when he is in the swing. We still are perplexed of who he looks like, but we are convinced he still looks more like my si...

Our yearly week at Jeremy Ranch has come and gone. We usually don't do anything super spectacular but it is just a nice getaway. This year was certainly different due to two kids and Brian going to the valley every day for work. Kinda a bummer. My philosophy on that decision was he wanted some good sleep. I really don't blame him. Anyway, we had a good time feeding the fish, playing in the stream, walks, Park City games and rides, swimming, shopping at the outlets, and good icecreams at McDonalds. Sleeping arrangements were difficult but we did come out of the week knowing that Emmi is for sure not ready for a big girl bed. She has been summoned to her crib for at least another 6 months. I am not ready for no naps and long drawn out nights.

Never in my life have I felt so depressed and disgusted about how out of shape and soft I have become. Yes....I know I just had a baby, but there is no excuse. I have gotten into such bad habits as far as eating and just being so inactive. Food has become such a comfort thing for me, and I hate how I feel about myself. My ah haa moment that I knew something had to change was when I found myself seeking out parks that don't have swings so I don't have to push Emmi, or avoiding all swimming pools since I don't own a swimsuit that is size 16, or telling Emmi every 5 seconds that "Mommy is tired and doesn't want to play" I still can't fit into the clothes that I was in after I had Emmi. How pathetic is that? I have absolutely NO ENERGY. Yes.....a lot of my low energy does stem from broken sleep from little Jack, but I do know that I would have more energy if I were exercising and in shape. So here is my plan. I am putting this out to all of you so I st...

Papa Ric helped build the box with Brian! Brian and I talk often about our childhood days digging in the dirt. We were entertained for hours and hours. Emmi has loved digging in our flower gardens, so to finally put a stop to that her daddy finally decided to build her a sweet sandbox in the backyard. "It may be the sweetest sandbox you have ever seen", Brian would say. It is 8x8 and has a bench surrounding the entire box. It doesn't entertain Emmi for hours yet, but she will sit in there and play for a good while. In her words....."I love it Daddy". P.S. If your at all saying to yourself "what about the cats?" My answer. I remember as a kid coming across that random piece of cat poo and that stench of pee, but we dug it out and kept on playing. And I am still here to tell about it. I'm not too worried. That is why I call it OLD SCHOOL PLAY!!! We didn't worry much about stuff then.

So, I find myself tripping out at the thought that I now have 2 kids. I was completely freaking out before baby Jack arrived due to the fact that I feel like Emmi is a handful and I can't imagine doubling that work. To get myself to calm down I would just tell myself, "everyone does it, right?" Well, to say the least it hasn't been a breeze so far. I am handling the baby fine. Yeah, some sleep deprivation, but Emmi has been a complete "2 year old" nightmare. I believe she is loving her baby brother, although she thinks that smothering, hitting, poking, jumping near his head, yelling in his ear, and collapsing to the floor everytime she doesn't get her way at that moment seems to be a good way to get attention. YIKES!!! My patience is wearing thin. I would LOVE any advice on handling two kids and most importantly handling a 2 year old with a new sibling. This is innocent Emmi loving her brother at the moment

We showed them didn't we Jack? As I said in my last post I was going to tell the hospital that Jack wanted to be born on May 20th regardless of what they say. My last post was written on May 20th at about 7:45 p.m. While writing the post I did feel some stronger contractions but since I had been contracting all day I really just ignored it. Until I published my post and started walking around. They immediately started coming 3 minutes apart and I had to breath through them. Brian was putting Emmi down to sleep, but I barged into the room and said we need to go to the hospital fast. I called Eric and Kelley to take Emmi and in no less than 5 minutes we were out the door. Emmi couldn't have been more thrilled. Off for a sleep over with her cousins. Driving to the hospital was the longest drive possible. The contractions were coming so fast. I was a contortionist in the passenger seat while gripping Brian's thigh everytime a contraction hit. Brian dropped me off in the round a...

False alarm...... No baby today............ The hospital called this morning and said due to the storm there was a huge influx of women that spontaneosly went into labor and that my induction would be cancelled until tomorrow. I was fighting back the tears with the lady.....then I suddenly just turned into hormonal angry lady and told her, "well you just might see me in there anyway". By 11:00 a.m. I started contracting hard about every 5-7 minutes. I had my mom come get Emmi. and all I could think of was that I would show them that I would have this baby. If they weren't going to put me into labor....I would do it myself. I ran errands. Picked out some porch furniture, got some Great Harvest cookies, and hung out on my porch timing my contractions. Well now it is 7:45 p.m. and still contracting every 7-10 minutes and not progressing at all. I guess tomorrow is the day. I am thinking this little boy just wanted to be a Gemini and not a Taurus like his sister. I a...

I can't believe that I can actually say that I am going to meet my newborn son tomorrow. I am so nervous and anxious, yet so dang excited. I just pray that everything goes well and that he comes healthy. I have been having so many dreams of all the complications that could happen, but then again I am the master worrier. If something bad can be imagined, leave it up to me to figure what it could be. Brian had a dream the night before last that we left to Tijuana for the weekend and the baby happened to come. When the baby was born he turned and smiled at Brian and he had a full on bowl cut with dark hair. Brian said he looked like one of The Beatles. So Brian nicknamed him Beatle. The kid could even walk....in fact he walked through the turn style at customs all by himself. Brian was warning him not to touch anything because "everything was dirty" I can't stop laughing. I think I may have a Ringo waiting to come out. Hopefully no bull cut though! I will keep you all po...

My Little CUPCAKE!!! 2 years old This was my mock cake the night before. By the end of frosting this thing I was ready to throw it across the room. I let Emmi have at it. Wow was she in Cupcake heaven? The morning of her birthday we took Emmi to the Zoo. As she was walking out of the house she said, "Bye mama....I am going to highschool" She had her turtle backpack on and ready to go. On Saturday we had a little Cupcake Birthday Party for Emmi. She invited all of her little friends and her cousins. She thought she was for sure the queen for the day. The kids decorated cupcakes and Emmi sat so still and serious while we sang "Happy Birthday". She blew out her candles and then all us adults dug into the Giant Cupcake. Emmi opened presents and loved every minute of the attention. Thank you to all her friends for coming and making Emmi feel so special on her birthday. These cupcakes are Emmi's creative creations. More the frosting the better! Emmi opening all her ...