Katelynn - 2 months old

Our little Katie Bug is already two months old! She is so darn cute! Everyone who meets her falls in love.

She had her two month appointment yesterday. She now weighs 11 lbs 5 ounces (80 percentile) and is 22" long(50 percentile). Her 0-3 month clothes are still pretty big on her.

-Smiles at anyone and everyone (started at 6 weeks)
-Hasn't started to lose her hair yet.. *knock on wood*
-Starting to like her swing
-"Talks" and coos
-She has found her hands
-LOVES her binky

She sleeps through the night usually from 10 PM to around 5 AM. I'm so thankful that my kids are good sleepers because mommy needs her beauty rest. We've been lucky so far! She is still a mommy's girl but daddy has a few tricks up his sleeve and she is starting to fall for them :)

Prepare yourself for some major cuteness..

Bella is still doing super good as a big sister. She loves helping out when she can and is doing a really good job sharing. I'm really really proud of her.

June Favorites

Nars Blush in Orgasm- This blush is super pretty. It's a peachy color with a hint of gold sparkles. It really compliments my non-tan skin tone and it's still really pretty when I wear bronzer as well.

Instagram - I'm so over Twitter & Facebook. It's all about Instagram. I look at it as a mini-blog but all in pictures. And how adorable is this picture with Bella and her little "baby"?! Too sweet! She is really into baby dolls right now! Follow me - username sunnystanley

TurboFire- One of my friends posted about this workout program on her blog. It looked good so I bought it. I started it on Monday and I can see why it works. They weren't joking around when they named it an intense cardio workout. It's hard but such a good workout! I feel so much better when I workout and eat healthy. I'm looking forward to losing all this baby weight!

Dyson DC35- This has got to be my favorite cleaning tool - ever! It comes with different attachments that you can use with the long wand or you can take the wand off and use it as a handheld vacuum. It works great on our hardwood floors and our carpet. Cordless, small and versatile. I love it!

Smartfood Cinnamon Brown Sugar Popcorn - I bought this last week grocery shopping and I'm sad that I waited until today to try it. It's soooo good! I found it at Target. Yum!

Lagoon

Yesterday we took the girls to Lagoon for the first time. Bella is at the perfect age to ride the kiddie rides and she wasn't afraid of some of he bigger things she could go on either. She LOVED it! My parents, Ty, Skye, Jaden, Tia, Tayzhia, and some of Ty's friends also went. Bella went on her first large roller coaster.. BomBora! She went on almost all the kiddie rides and also went on Rattlesnake Rapids, Kontiki, Jumping Dragon and OdySea. Brave girl!

Katie slept pretty much the entire time in her stroller. She would wake up to eat and that was about it. She loves being outside in the fresh air. I don't blame her!

 It was great being there with almost the entire family (my brother in law couldn't make it because he had to work.. lame!). My parents were sweet enough to watch the kids for a bit so Justin and I could ride some rides together. Me, my mom, and sister all went on Wicked and it was so FUN! Me and my mom hadn't been on it yet and we loved it. It's my new favorite roller coaster!

Dinosaur Park

Katelynn is finally big enough that we can start getting out of the house and having family time! Yay! Friday we headed off to the Dinosaur Park. We went in the early afternoon before it got really hot and it was perfect. I haven't been for years and years and I couldn't believe how much it has changed.

Bella was surprised to see how large the dinosaurs were. Her favorite dinosaur is the T-Rex. Baby Kate slept the entire time in her stroller. I couldn't believe it.

They have an area where you can pay to hunt for "treasures". Bella loves rocks right now, (what 3 year old doesn't?) so she really loved this idea. Her dad helped her and they found TONS! They didn't even all fit in the little bag they give them to take them home in.

We have so many fun things planned. I love summertime!

Katelynn - One month old!

Baby Katie is officially one month old! I can't believe how quick this first month has gone. It's been a little bit hectic but we are really getting into the groove of things with being a family of FOUR!

-Sleeps for 3-4 hours during the night. Bella started sleeping through the night at 2 months.. so we shall see.
-Still wearing newborn clothes.
-I think we got a real smile today when her daddy was talking to her.

Katie loves baths, her big sister, being held and her binky. She does pretty good sleeping in her bassinet at night until the early morning.

She does not love getting changed. She also doesn't love her swing, bouncer or anything else that requires being put down.

Crying doesn't even phase Bella anymore :)

Best buddies!

We love you Katie bug!

2 years!

The 18th was my official "regular" job quit-iversary. It's now been 2 years since I've been fully self employed and I feel so blessed! I'll never forget the look on Justin's face when I calmly (okay probably more crazily) announced that I was quitting my job. From the second that I had Isabella I was sick about going back to work. I know tons of mamas that work and love it but it wasn't for me. I wanted to be the one with my kids during the day. I didn't want to rush them off to a sitter's house or daycare and then only have a few hours with them in the evenings. I wanted to be the main influence in their lives.

So on the sunny May day that I quit, Isabella was almost 14 months old. I had been back to work for about 9 months and I hated every second of it. I had my Etsy shop and it was going well.. but I was having a hard time keeping up with my little one, a full time job and my Etsy shop. I knew that my business had potential but knew that I couldn't grow the business while working full time. I'd get up in the morning and get Bella and I ready to be out the door by 5:40 am, drop her off with my sister and be to work by 6:30 am. I'd work until 3, pick Bella up and then come home. I'd cook and clean, get Bella to bed and then work on our vinyl business until 1-2 am.. yeah that wasn't going to last forever. I thought about letting my business go and working at Citi forever but I knew it was the wrong decision. One day a co-worker told me that "sometimes you just need to take a leap of faith" and so I did..

Katelynn isn't even 3 weeks old and I'm back to work. Do I miss 13 weeks of paid maternity leave that Citi would have given me? Absolutely! I'll admit there were some tears involved opening my shop back up when Katelynn was not even 2 weeks old. But this is the life that I've chosen, that I dreamed about and created. We are extremely grateful for being able to support our family while being home with them. It wasn't long ago that we worked 40 hours a week and lived paycheck to paycheck. Our life is very different now. And I know that this crazy, sleep deprived stage will pass. I'll never again have a 3 week old again. So I'll choose to cherish every second of it.

I was reading one of my favorite blogs, House of Smiths the other day and came across this post. Shelley is also a Utah mama, she is an incredibly successful blogger and I just love her. The following  phrase jumped out at me..

"I hope that along the way, as strange as it may seem to them now, that through our examples of working together, accomplishing tasks and successfully supporting our family doing what we love... that we are teaching our children the concepts and principles of hard work, passion, creativity and most of all, love for each other."

Thanks Shelley, I couldn't have said it better. I hope more than anything that my girls learn from our example and that they always follow their dreams.

The White Cowboy Hat

We have a special cowboy hat that we bought for my step dad Rex right before I married Justin.

I took some of my bridals in it for to surprise him with.

We had to make sure he didn't see any of those pictures and right before my wedding we gave him the hat and the pictures. I asked him if he would wear it to my wedding...

When Isabella had her newborns taken, we had her pictures taken with the hat.. She may or may not have peed in it..

Katelynn also took pictures with the hat. She looks so tiny snuggled up to it...

Both of my sweet girls with the white cowboy hat...

Rex has always been the father figure in my life. He has always been there for me. He has supported me and loved me. He is the best grandfather I could ever hope for my girls to have.

I'm so grateful that we have pictures of all these special events in my life with that hat.

Katelynn's Newborn Pictures

My sweet sister made Katelynn her first tutu (it had to be pink!). 

Tutu: tootsietutushop.com

I am so in love with these pictures! They were taken by Bloom Photography by Kim. She was so amazing to work with and has a real talent for working with tiny babies. I highly recommend her!

Katelynn was so good for pictures and was super sleepy. Bella loved being in some of the photos with her!  Love love love!

Kiwi Crate

Awhile back I found out about this awesome program called Kiwi Crate and knew that Bells would love it! Every month they send out a new craft box with two different crafts. The crates are designed for kids ages 3-7. Bella's first crate arrived a couple of days ago and the timing was perfect! She has been such a big help to mom and I felt she really deserved a surprise. Plus what kid doesn't love getting mail? We spent a whole afternoon working on her crafts!

Her first crate even came with a pair of scissors to get her started.

Posing with all her goodies. The theme changes every month. This month was a medieval theme.

Building a catapult.

Testing out the catapult! It came with a ping pong ball and various sizes of pom poms so that you can test and see which goes furthest.

It's a work of art!

The second project was a medieval dressup.

The silk part of the hat came in white and came with a pack of Kool-aid so that you could dye it.

Bella in her knight's mask :)

 

 

I really try to find projects that lets Bella's mind work AND lets her be creative and these were totally up our ally! I can't wait for the next months crate.

In other news, this little sweetie is now 2 weeks old!

She is a really good baby. We are so in love with her! I should be getting her newborn pictures soon so get ready for TONS of pictures!!

Happy Mother's Day!

I'm so incredibly grateful that I was given the chance to become a mother. I love my girls more than anything. I love taking care of them and being the one that they need. I love finding things to keep Bella's mind busy and showing her new things to explore. I love being the one that Katie depends on for everything.

To Isabella - My sweet & sassy 3 year old, how you keep me on my toes! I love your sense of humor and how you have me laughing all day long. I love your green eyes and beautiful hair! I love how you manage to steal the tv all day and insist on eating mac & cheese for every meal. I love the way you make your daddy's heart melt in 2 seconds flat. I love you!

Katelynn- My tiny & precious 10 day old, I cannot believe how quickly you came into our lives and how you've made our family feel so complete. I love your tiny fingers and toes. I love how much thick dark hair your have. I love how you snuggle into my chest when I hold you close to me. I love watching you while you sleep. I love you!

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We spent the afternoon at the park with my parents and little brother. It was a little too windy for the baby so we headed over to my parent's house and let Bella help her grandpa do some yardwork. It was a nice relaxing day and my heart was filled with love and gratitude today! Happy Mother's Day!