Merry Christmas. . .

I'm still getting cards out. . . sorry if you didn't get one yet. P.S. there is another post if you scroll down. . . Elizabeth turned two!!

My baby is 2

My sweet Elizabeth turned 2 on December 10th!! What a big girl. Last year on her birthday I was already pregnant with Reed and felt sick and didn't really get to focus on her special day but this year it was really sentimental for me for some reason. I kept thinking about that special day when she entered into our family just 2 short years ago and what a special time it was. How perfect she was in every way and how great it was to be a new mom. I am so thankful for this little girl and the patience she teaches me ha ha. . . She really is a blessing in our home. Here is a little about Elizabeth at 2 years. . Elizabeth loves. . .

1.Bryson Bryson Bryson, her BFF

2. animals, any and all

3. coloring in the bath, on paper, on her cheeks, anything

4.singing songs and learning new songs with actions

5. family home evening, she adores our game at the end hungry hungry hippos

6. cuddling with mom and watching movies

7. I dont know why but she watches the grinch everyday and loves this movie

8. stealing anything little brother has. . .binky, blanket, toy,anything has to be hers too

9. mac and cheese

10. her dog jack

11. her sippy cup is by her side constantly

12.jewelry, especially long necklaces she can take on and off

13. baby dolls, they always have to be naked though?

14.boots

15. her pink cowgirl hat

16. swinging

17. walks

18. and of course her mommy and dada

Elizabeths latest accomplishments are:

1. she knows her colors including pink,brown,white. . .

2. she knows her shapes and sounds adorable when she says octogon, but its her favorite

3. she can count to 13

4. she can recognize and call out numbers up to 10

5. she san say her abc's

6. she sleeps in a big girl bed

7. she eats really well with a fork

8. she can do a summersault on her own

9.she is begging to speak really clearly and is starting to put words into sentinces

About a month ago we went to some cheap blabla bertos joint and we got our food and porter and i started eating right away just to have Elizabeth fold her arms in the middle of this restaurant and say,"prayer". It was so sweet to have this little innocent girl as our example that evening. Elizabeth is a sweet girl with a desire to do good. She is strong willed and watch out if you are not on the same page as her but she really is a joy to have in our home.

We celebrated her birthday by going to brysons for the day to play ( thanks jamie for the cake!) and then porter, reed, Elizabeth and I went to Olive Garden for dinner and toys r us after where she picked out a pink broom to take home that day. Happy Birthday Elizabeth girl, we love you!!

Here is a video of her counting 1-10 with one of her favorite books. . .

Oh the holidays!

I have not been able to keep up as much as I like to lately but we have had some great memories thus far this holiday season. . . .

Thanksgiving. . .
Was wonderful to say the leaste. We woke up that morning and our little family of four just layed in our little queen bad and watched the Thanksgiving Day Parade. Elizabeth loved all the characters and it was wonderful just all four of us being so close. The day before I made my first homemade pie!! One rasberry and one apple. They turned out good too:) Thanksgiving Day we first drove to Ports brothers house for dinner (can you call it dinner at 11am?) and enjoyed being with all the Williams whom I just adore! Next was my family at 3pm and an entire meal again. My wonderful aunt Katie ( my dads sister) came in from Chicago and spent the week with us. It was just perfect being with family the entire day. The next day I went to lunch with all the Williams sisters and in laws. I love these women and they are all such good examples to me and so fun to be around, they truely are like sisters to me. The following day my aunt wanted to celebrate Elizabeths birthday while she was here so the Koldykowski family all went to Rain Forest Cafe for dinner. . . Thanks Katie!. Afterwards we all went to the Temple to see Porters dad sing and experience the lights. Elizabeth was much more observant this year vs. last year and it was such a wonderful way to welcome this Christmas season.

Well Elizabeth is pulling at the laptop so thats it for now. . . .p.s. my baby girl turns two tomorrow!!!

shopping cart covers!!!

I found these adorable shopping cart covers on etsy and just love them!! this lady can make any of her covers into a double cart cover. I think they are great especially with all the germs that are on those shopping carts. . . just thought I would pass it along. New posts soon with current williams events. . . to see her etsy site with these covers click here!

A Day With The Ones I Love Most. . . .

Today was wonderful, Porter had the day off from work and we had a full day of family time and zero work. It was special to us. When Porter is home since he is a morning person he wakes up with Elizabeth and lets me sleep in along with Reed who sleeps in (after he has eaten 3 times during the night I might add. . .) so I slept in today and then our family of four went to Casa Grand and met my dad (or poppy as I nicknames him in high school and what Elizabeth calls him) and my little brother Steve and his girlfriend Shay joined along for lunch at Olive Garden. Casa Grand is a great middle for us to meet anyone from Mesa so we were able to spend time there and then after we went shopping at the shops there for some pre Christmas deals. It was fun! We then went to toys r us on our way home since they were having some good sales and bought the movie UP. We came home and all got ready for bed and in our p.j.s and cuddled up to a movie. What a cute movie it is! Elizabeth has been in such a sweet stage right now. . . she is such a cuddly little girl and sat with either Porter or me the entire movie cuddling close. Lately she will stop what she is doing whether it be playing with toys or watching a movie and will come up and just hug on me. It has been really special and I hope she never outgrows how affectionate she is. And Reed. . . .my sweet Reed who will take any attention with a smile and be self entertained and calm when his sissy is demanding mommas time. Every second I get to just sit and hold this baby boy is priceless. Having two kids 18 months apart is tricky for that reason. . . she is still really young and still wants to be held, carried and occupied a lot of the time and I love giving her attention and spending time with her but I have to find a common balance each day so I can bond with little Reed who I can tell is going to be mr. independent. It may sound weird but I like when he wakes up in the middle of the night to eat. it is time just me and him while the world is asleep and I can take all his baby boy goodness in without a distraction at all. I will say with less sleep due to nursing, having to watch certain foods for Reeds digestive problems and Elizabeth becoming more and more sassy I have felt a little overwhelmed here and there about household chores that are not done, or Christmas projects I want to make or even trying to plan out dinners for our family for the next week or two but then I can across this quote on my friend alexas blog. . . . "Anybody can handle the battles of just ONE day. It is when we add the burdens of yesterday and tomorrow that we break down. Let us live one day at a time." this girl alexa is amazing by the way and could use your prayers at this time. . . click on Chellis and Alex from people we adore to be inspired by her wonderfulness thru these trying times her sweet family are facing. But that quote has been going thru my head a lot and I really feel I can put my heart into each day when you look at it this way and give each day your all without worrying about the past or what is to come. (THANKS ALEXA for sharing that I LOVE YOU!). So anyways back to our day. . . after the movie Porter took Elizabeth to bed and was upstairs for a while while I took a nap with Reed and he so kindly captured one of my favorite moments with my son. and then to my surprise I came upstairs to find our dirty room spotless and the bed made. I cant tell you how nice it was. . . being that I am the one always cleaning up the same messes after everyone it was so refreshing to come into a room that was put together when I thought it was another task I needed to. I really do love my sweet husband and everything he does for me and our family. Anyone who knows me knows I would be very hard to live with 24/7. a week easy. . . a month pushing it but 4 years now we have been married and he still thinks I'm amazing even though he has seen my many colors ( some are not too pretty!) and he never fails to let me know how great he thinks I am when really he is the great one. We were made for each other, and that's that. Well here is my one picture to a great day.

Halloween 2009

For Haloween our kids were. . . . Our little frog. . .

Our Little princess. . .

We had a great time going trick or treating at our ward party. We all went to a park and each family set up a blanket and all the small kids went from blanket to blanket. . . .Elizabeth loved it

Kinda bizarr. . . two days before Halloween I was unloading the trunck and yelled for Ported to come quick. Why you ask. . . because there was a huge trianchula digging in the dirt next to our drive way!!! he caught it to get a good look.

My frog. . . I mean prince

Our family we went out and about Halloween night. Elizabeth loved trick or treating. . . she got the hang of it real quick. She walked the entire block and didn't ask to be held once. We kept asking her if she wanted to go home and she would say no. She loved coming home and digging thru her candy. Although she thought her candy pale was called trick or treat. she ate about 10 dum dums last night alone along with trying whoppers for her first time. It was really fun having her be a little older this year, and I know next year will be even more fun with both our kids running around together. Sweet Reed sat quietly the entire night just amazed with the lights ( suprisingly a lot of people decked out their houses for Halloween). As she went to sleep and Porter and I binged on her candy I realized this parenting thing is really working out for me. I sure love my sweet children.
My sweet aunt katie, who is like a second mother to me, sent the kids giftcards for Halloween so we went and let Elizabeth pick out a toy at Target. Well after about an hour in one isle that is only pink we finally made her make a decision. . . she picked this doll to take in the bath along with a outfit ( i have to admit the outfit was my choice after she picked the doll). Reed got a baby record book so I can journal his milestone moments. Thanks Katie, WE LOVE YOU!

A letter to my son . . .

My baby Reed,

Is there any way you could just stay my baby forever?? Please? You are the sweetest baby ever. You are nothing but smiles. Last night after I fed you, you spit up and were gagging a little bit, I quickly started patting your back and I turned on the light to help you, with milk spit up coming out of you mouth and nose as soon as you saw me in the light you gave your momma the biggest smile. I love you, oh how I love you and your sweet blue eyes. I can tell by the type of personality you show that as soon as you can crawl and walk you are going to be very independent. I fear the days you will crawl up the stairs, jump off the kitchen table or learn anything can really be a hammer.You will not be the sweet baby I could once hold in my arms and cuddle with as I please and although I look forward to you growing and learning new things I will miss holding my baby boy. You are so wonderful and I feel so blessed to be your mother. But I am glad I have a little while to hold you close my baby

if you do not adore my son as of yet watch this video and you will see what a sweet baby he is:)

Elizabeth was sick

This has been a very hard week for me. This is the first time since I have become a mother to two that I have been sick, plus Elizabeth was sick as well. She has been really crabby and extreamly needy and it is really hard when I have a 3 month old who needs me to hold him. My patience has really been tested this week but at the same time it is really rewarding to be there for my daughter and knowing I am providing her the comfort she needs. The thing is she doesn't want even Porter to hold her, its only her momma she wants. Poor girl has been miserable and she was even moodier since we were stuck inside all week so she woulden't spread her germs. Tonight I could tell a big diffference in her and she was just being so sweet and back to herself. Elizabeth loves flowers. . . (very cute except she picks all the ones growing in our backyard) Porter brought flowers home for Elizabeth to help her feel better. . . .bonding with her brother since she had no friends this week. . . .

Elizabeth ,Reed and I stayed in comfy cloths all week long. . . .

Notice the E on her shirt that I made for her and sewed on. It is her favorite shirt and I hve to get stains out each time I wash it. The letter E is the only letter she knows but she is so proud to point to it and say E.

We spent the week coloring. . . her new obsession, she could color for hours. . . .
And since she had no friends this week ( we miss you bryson) her baby doll became her constant companion. She ate breakfast with her baby. . . . She took baths with her baby. . .
She even slept with her baby but it wasn't worth the picture to possibly wake her. I am so glad she is feeling better, my sweet Elizabeth. Here is a video of her and her colors. . .she is so smart, she now can also count to 13 and knows most shapes. Her colors she has known since 17 months.

several new posts. . . scroll down!!!

Where have I been you ask??? Reading food lables. Baby Reed has a food allergy and since I am breastfeeding I need to eliminate whatever it is so his poop isnt green and mucousy anymore. B.T.W. if anyone else has had this problem please leave suggestions. First I went to the doctor and they thought it was milk/soy allergy so I cut all milk and soy out for 2 weeks, nothing changed. So now I need to cut out all things that are common allergies for infants. . . milk, soy, nuts, chocolate, wheat, eggs, and caffine. The thing i it can be a combination of different things he is allergic to so I need to go off them all and then once this symptoms clear up then I can add then one at a time to see what he reacts to. It take a lot of time and energy!!! any tips let me know!!! and I have many more posts so please scroll down!

A trip to the cabin

We went up to Porters parents cabin this weekend so Porter could work with his brothers to help his dad build an addition to their cabin. . . . Porter really enjoyed working side by side with his brothers. 5 out of the 6 boys were able to come help their dad this weekend. . .plus his brother in law, cousind and uncles too. I am so greatful to have a husband who is a hard worker. He is the hardest worker I know and is such a handy man, he amazes me with the tasks he can accomplish. I love you Port.

Little miss Elizabth got to know her cousins a bit better and she sure loves them. Here she is with Luke. . but she calls him Looch. Looch is 6 months older then Elizabeth and the two of them look like they are siblings. Both look very Williams.
The following day Julie and Brad made it to the cabin with Kate (who is 9 months older then Elizabeth) and Eliza ( who is 4 days older then Reed). Elizabeth and Kate went around holding hands and walking around outside. So cute these girls.

More pictures of miss Elizabeth. . .

My favorite time on this entire trip was when Elizabeth and I, just the two of us sneaked away from the crowd to the back portch, where there hung a swing. mother and daughter hand in hand we sat and swung together. Reed was asleep, daddy was working and the girls were bonding. We could have done that all day and we both would have been completely content.I love you sweet Elizabeth and the little cuddle bug you are.

And this is how you can find me at some point each day. Both babies needing their mamma, and I am more then happy to sit and cuddle:) These are my favorite times. I had a great time at the cabin with my sister in laws and mother in law. These are amazing women who I love dearly.

She had so much fun getting dirty with her cousins outside!!! She loved throwing dirt. . . mostly onto Lukes head, sorry luke!!!

Baby Reed and his wonderful grandma. Porter and his mom look so much alike!

I loved having a weekend away with the ones I love most.

Tucson Fair

We went to the fair here in Tucson with some good friends last weekend. The kids were too small for all the rides except for the carosel. . . .

And I of course had time to keep baby Reed close while Porter ran around with little Elizabeth

Here they are playing a game and trying to win a "mamo" a.k.a. "nemo"

And she did it!!! She doesn't look happy but she is:)

I love the fall!! The cooler whether is much needed.

Learning to can fruit

This was A great experience for me. I canned all this fruit in one weekend, with Porters help of course. It was great. . .we canned peaches,pears, rasberry pie filling, apple pie filling, apple butter and apples!!

Potty Training 101

This my friends is a love/hate relationship. I love saving $40 a month on diapers, but I hate potty training a princess. The first two days were awesome!!!. . . she went 5 hours each day with no accidents and loved to go on her singing little potty. But then the weekend was over and I had to drop everything and take her without Porters help and that is just hard when you have a little boy who needs to be fed every 3 hours on the dot. Not to mention she drinks liquids like crazy!!! She seriosly goes pee pee every 20 minutes, sometimes more! I think I need Reed to be a little more independent before I can fully committ to this potty buisness. She usually really likes to go though but not every 20 minutes like she needs to. Her little potty sings once she goes pee pee so she usually stops peeing to dance and then we have to tell her,"more more, go more Elizabeth" and she finishes. Silly girl, I love you!

A walk in the park

We spent the day as a family and went to a park with a little lake/pond. We saw turtles while we were there and enjoyed the cooler wheather and being together. And Reed just hung out smiling the entire day as usual, I love this boy!

A name and a blessing

My baby Reed,
What a wonderful baby you are. I have never met a more perfect baby. You never cry, or fuss at all. you are so happy whenever anyone is holding you but you kick like crazy. If you could you would be up and running with your sissy. Reedy boy, momma loves you so and loves what a happy boy you are. If i even make eye contact with you you beam with joy. If anyone else is holding you your eyes travel across the room to follow me and watch your momma. I love you so my son. You are such a joy to have in our family:) Your daddy gave you the sweetest blessing and I am excited to watch you grow and learn from the great man who is your father. You are so wonderful my baby boy.
love, momma