dk's turn at hats

remember the photo shoot that sj had with hats? as sally has been into playing with hats lately, i thought we should give our pretty lil dk her turn. =)

so, gow is taking the girls on a daddy/daughter date to the drive thru car wash and bestbuy. =)

i am staying home to clean up the kitchen mess and work some on a pencil drawing for the next painting for art class.

lately i have been trying to think thru some of this crazy stage of life....

i am blessed beyond words - yet i am trying to work out i guess some of my identity and really my outlook on life.

Here are some of the things that i am processing...

-the things that consume my day are in the big pix very fullfilling- but in the mundane of today can be exasperating.

- my identity and self worth should always (no matter what life stage i am in) be founded solid in Christ. yet, the "what i am accomplishing/what I am doing/what's my job/how am i encouraging- or NOT encouraging Gow and others around me" so much affects my psyche.

-there is no such thing as taking a day (12 hours) to myself, to think, revamp, escape, or even be in the outdoors.

-also, it's march (tomorrow) and we are starting the last month of winter/snow/overcast day/not being able to spend much time outside/spending ALOT of time in our home.

-wanting to fully live and love life RIGHT NOW in this fun time of the girls' life.

i have a book that i have thought about reading alot... ha, yes, i have thought about it... just haven't gotten to it yet. =) the book takes about finding/discovering/or bringing your SELF into being a mom. an interesting thought.

we will see what the book has to say.....

k. so there are some of my thoughts... i have zippo conclusions as i am just starting to think thru this... writing it out often helps me process, so maybe i will keep blogging about it.

k. gonna go grab lunch and hit the kitchen clean up while listening to chris tomlin. that's right, not "Pop Pop" or "Bob"- but Tomlin. =)

cheers

uncle tim's couch

so tim c (one of the bestmen in our weddin') is a mafia super star.

he won 2nd place in fantasy football this year and instead of cashin in his $30 he told gow to "get something nice for the girls". =)

so we got them this lil couch! sally LOVES things that are her size... and dk basically learned how to sit up while sitting on this thing (and cushioned on all three sides should she fall).

look at little ms independant!

the two girls love to sit in it together! this is how "ga ga" (grandpa) found them one morning when he popped in on a walk.

watching "pop pop" marry poppins together. (however, DK doesn't really watch long... she mostly plays with toys at her feet)

daisy saying "thank you uncle T"

happy.

cuties

and sj interacting with Pop Pop!

so we had a super fun double date last night with the taubes. we ate at Pf Changs and had a lovely evenin.

Dk woke up once for Auntie Amy- but went back down after about 20 min of snuggling.

it is super fun to see sally running around and playing with her cousins. when we got there last night they were all four hyper and just squealing and running around in pure joy. so fun.

today we cleaned up the house, fed the girlies (now they are napping), gow's soaking up some of The Office and i am trying to catch up on emails.

tonight is our Community Group- Coffee Shop. and then we will have a quiet evening at home... ahhh.. rest. and family time. it is gooooood. =)

clarification

hi all.

just in case i confused ya, the girls are currently healthy and loving life.

the sicky pix i posted yesterday were from a week or two ago when we were all droopy and full of snot. =) we are healthy, happy and thoroughly soaking up the sunshine this week!

2 videos

sally "dinging" on the horse, pointing out the horse's tail, then giving me the big time frownies when i ask about where to put your feet on the horsey.

then she hears a bird and dk waking up....

dk rocking out, jibber jabbering and just a peek at her sweet self.

so dk has been chowing on the baby food mixed with rice cereal. i am shocked at how much she eats and wonder if maybe she was HUNGRY before last week?

as a wonderful result of that... i think we are going thru diapers faster than we did when she was a new born!

i am celebrating today because as i was going thru pix from 09... i found many sunny and only sweatshirt days in april! WOOT WOOT! yes, there were some bundle up days... but that means that March will prob be the last official month of cold! woot woot!

bring on the spring!

tonight we have a double date with the taubes!

can't wait!

and bless my sis for letting us put the girls down at their place... foot loose and fancy free baby!

maybe we will go dancing!

ok- yeah, no, probably not. =)

but we are looking forward to it!

our sick days

well i did snap a few pix during our LOONG week of being sickies.
since we weren't going outside and we weren't visiting/nor having visitors... we got creative.

mary poppins has been sal's and mine's inspiration... if you haven't seen that movie lately- you must watch it. it is PACKED with imagination.

first it started with sally- somehow, she flipped a chair over and discovered it made a horsey!
and as mary poppins takes her horseys off the merry go round for fun adventures... so does sally. all during our sick week we still "visited" people and we found ourselves at "the beach" alot!

we also rode our horseys to the park- where sally slid down the slide for a few hours.










her horsey. it is purple and it's name is cookie. =)



look how miserable sweet dk looks in this pix. sally went over to hold her hand to try and cheer her up. but dk was uber congested and so not her self- sally even brought bob to daisy..


bless "ga ga" (grandpa) for popping to be brief moments of sunshine during our ill week. =)

the sun is out today! man, that makes such a HUGE difference on my psychie. (yeah, i have NO clue how to spell that).

i have piles of things to do/take care of and a long list of things to get done... but i think i am just going to rest right now.
the girls are both down.... seems like we are falling into a good afternoon nappage around 2pm, putting them down in the same room and giving me usually an hour of heavenly peace. =)

daisy has been sleeping "normally" - woot woot! with me feeding her around 5am and then she goes back down until 8 or 8:30ish. it is fun to listen to the girls wake up together... one starts making noises and then after a few minutes you hear sally say "Daidy!" with sheer joy!

gow is currenlty working on a kmart project featuring jacklyn smith... old school charlie's angels.
it is great that he is working from home! each morning, i put dk down for her 10ish nap and then sally and i zip out the door for a outting.

ok. enjoy the sunshine folks!

valentines day

Sally got to pick out a purple donut for valentines day... and she ate the whole gooey thing!

well- daisy had her first cheerio today. and i am thinking that she isn't quite ready for it. =)

sally gave it to her (of course with my permission) and she mulled it around, spit it out, mulled it around again and swallowed it.

sally also tried her hand at feeding daisy some baby cereal mixed with squash... interesting. =)

a video on that to come later.

gow worked from home today. buddies from church, Jason and Jessie, popped in for a few hours and shared the last of my birthday pie. thanks mom!

we are tired out. did i mention that yesterday? sigh.

and not sure how to change things...

going to bed.

not much..

hi all.

not much going on here.

had art class this afternoon- and i think i am bummed about how much latest painting turned out. i say that i think i am bummed, cuz i didn't get a good look at it before i left, i was running behind and late and ... am really enjoying the two hours a week to turn off my brain to all things but colors, shapes and the images i try to create.

we had a lovely evening at my favorite restaurant in Lake Geneva... the DeVriesaurnt. The food is amazing, they are so so super kid friendly and they are sooo affordable. =)
we went to my folks for my birthday dinner!
a super meal with some great hang out time with them and the girls.

gow worked at home today. is working on worship tonight.

we are both tired. and starting to get tired of being tired.
we have worked on a lot of things- trying to be as time efficient as possible, but there still doesn't seem to be enough hours in the day.


our dk is growing up... she sat in the booster tonight at dinner just jabbering away.
she also rode sitting up in the grocery cart today for the first time!
and she is eating her cereal (mixed with sweet potatos- thanks uncle neal!) like i haven't fed her in a month!




we have been switching off babysitting for date nights again with Neal and Cyndie.
every other week Timmy and Ems come over for dinner and hanging out and then the other weeks we leave the girls at their place.
it is GREAT to have two hours of just me and gow time.
and it has been really fun to have Ems and Timmy at our place to just play with sally.

lately they have been REALLY imaginative... going "camping" (ie putting a blanket over SJ's crib and calling it a tent), riding horses (ie laying the kitchen chairs down and riding on the legs...off into the sunset) and new this week was going off cliffs in boats (ie using a couch cushion as a boat and falling off the couch while riding)

welp.
that's it tonight.
toodle lou.

oh happy day

weeeeeee!

wahoooo!

these are two of my fave pix from our time in Cali.... taken on my cell phone. =)

oh happy day!

yes folks, today i turned 21.

i still feel like i am 18 though. =)

we had a delightful morning FLOODED with WARM sunshine- Thank you Jesus!

Cyndie, Ems and Tims took us gowanita girlies to Caribou and for a wonderful walk by the lake. yum! by the end, we were all in the sunny driveway without our coats on!

yup- a sunny, windless 36 degrees will do that to ya in the Great North. =)

then my momma baked me some of her TASTY cracked wheat bread that I love soooo much.

PERFECT lunch... sj loves it as much as i do!

the next fun bday gift was that at 2pm i walked the girls into their room (one on each hip), asked sally to reach their plugs, she plugged them both and then i laid them BOTH down for their naps. ..... ahhh blissful sunny QUIET naptime in my house. =)

i have also loved the phone calls, emails and fb notes- thanks to yall!

tonight we are headed to Amy's for a dual bday party with my 4 year old niece.

the celebration just keeps coming! =)

love to ya'll.

sally bee poppin

so while we were watching AI a few weeks ago, there was a be-bopper. (yeah, i have NO clue how that's spelled.)

Sally was running around playing, occasionally singing with the contestants, always saying "bye" to them as they exit the stage ... but when the be bopper came on, she decided to join in.

check out video

it seems that daisy is on the mend! woot woot! maybe our house will be entirely healthy by the weekend! Praise the Lord!

life is full. fuller than we really should be...

but we are praying, asking for wisdom and trusting God for guidance in it all.

today gow is back up to Milw. , he went to bed at midnight from working on worship and got up at 5 to hit the road. pray for extra energy and creativity for him.

i think i mentioned that he is really enjoying his new client... his character and manner.

that's a blessing.

yesterday was art class for me and date night in the evening... we found a new place with GREAT food and prices- and what we call "Northern Atmosphere" =) It's called the Pub and Pizzaria here in town, Gow deemed it his new fave place, again for the food, not the ambiance.

k- we have a friend from church coming over today to hang out, Jessie. Who randomly spend a month or two with Youth World in Quito a few years ago!

and then Cyndie and the kiddos will come for dinner.

signin off from the Great North!

!

ah the adventure of it all....

mission: putting girls to bed

challenge #1: flying solo- daddy's in Milw.

challenge #2: daisy has been a wildcard on sleep since Christmas- magnified since being sick.

7:30ish: dk fed, changed, snuggled and laid in crib w/ plug

7:37ish: after crying, dk is asleep, no clue if she ended up with the plug in or out of mouth.

8ish: sj and i tip toe into room, sj plugged and cuddled and on tummy super quiet

8ish: dk screaming awake. - what?!?! sj and i were so STEALTH!

8:15ish- had decided to let dk work it out on her own until i hear sj piping in with "daydee, daydee" (daisy) greeeeaaaaat. sj is trying to comfort dk from across the room, only agitating dk more. so i go in- tell sj to lay down and go to sleep and replug dk.

8:16- sj begans fake screaming/crying. provoking dk to cry some more. seriously. i go back in and sj says "upple" (up).

i say no, get your plug, lay down and go back to sleep.

she does.

poor dk has to work it out on her own again.

8:20something dk is quiet. i think both girls are down.

yet i don't dare say mission accomplished as the night has many hours ahead.....

we will see.....

k- one more bedtime story for ya'll...

i was sitting with daise on the floor, sal was in the big chair.

i look up at sj and see she has a funny facial expression going on and she is chewing on something. i ask her what she is eating. she says "yucky". i asked her again what she is eating and she says "no-sh" (nose). i asked her if she was eating a boogie and she nods her head.

niiiiiice.

nighty night yall.

mornin'

hi all.
wow, well it has been quite a week here.
both girls were sick tues, wed, thurs.... gow working LONG days.... me getting the cold that the girls have..... it's been a rough one to say the least.
i cried one time each day when hitting a point of exhaustion/frustration of not having enough arms nor energy/creativity to hold both girls all day, make meals and feed them/change them etc.

friday was daisy kate's 6 monther! can you believe it?! we swung by grandma and grandpas for a MUCH needed and MUCH appreciated outting and then when gow got home we headed to Culvers to celebrate.

on Daisy... her fave thing to do is sit up and play. she is most content sitting, looking, reaching and watching. she rolls both ways and when not sick is a super happy content wonderful baby girl.

i cried again on saturday morning when gow found out that he did NOT have to work the weekend too. OH BLESS THE LORD!

mixed in there was some cabin fever as we had been home all week- saturday during naps it was a wonderful sunny day so i bundled up and just sat in the driveway soaking up the rays.

saturday i also went to help my auntie serve a Chinese New Years meal for some friends of hers. it was refreshing to be out and mingling with the outside world. =)

we did sneak in a cup of starbucks and some fun donuts to celebrate valentines day yesterday.
sallly (who is well again) was giggly with joy when she found a huge PURPLE heart donut.

last night was church for gow, me at home with girlies and then i headed to McDs for youth group. fun to be with our small group and just to get to know the students more.

then- last night we were up with daisy from 11pm-2:30am. amazing.
it was like she thought it was a nap and then was up and ready to play. we let her cry it out for almost 2 hours... getting up to check on her every so often.

so- all that to say.... i am praying for a better week ahead.

oh forgot to say that gow worked for the new client last week and really enjoyed it. the commute is longer - super frustrating- but he will work to find the best hours/route to be on the road. plus this guy is also encouraging gow to work at home when he can.
God knows our future... and knows our needs here at home and for gow at work... we will surrender, trust and wait to see what He has.

k folks.
may this week be wonderful and for each of you!

3:21pm

it's 3:21pm and it is already the longest day that i have had since being a mom.

both girls have horrible colds, are wanting to be held ALL the time and are both cryin'.

they are miserable.

i am miserable.

and i have had a headache since 9:30.

they are both down now.......gonna go search the cupboards for some chocolate

snot, poop, snow, sickies... ah the day in the life..

first off- i just realized i never posted this video from Christmas.

it is for sure one of my faves!

uncle cookie, dancing with sj and letting her punch/knock him down.

just love it!

and loved how you loved on sal, ca-leb!

so some of the interesting points from today...

- daisy pooped out and up this morning. changing a blow out is a mess as the soiled onsie has to go over the head to be removed. somehow, today i managed to get poop on both of daisy's elbows, back and even her neck. NASTY. poor girl. bless her heart.

- as i walked back into the living room after my poop mess with daisy, i found that sally had managed to do some snot art on her own head. swooped here and there, smeared, dripping.. you name it.

(k- so maybe ya'll didn't want to hear all the nasty details- but i just really needed to share it.)

- i left both girls with grandpa today for 2 hours as i went to art class. my dad was amazing.

both have colds and don't feel 100%... when i got home dad had played with, entertained and put sally to bed, played with, changed another poopy diap for daisy and she was a happy girl when i walked in the door. and the only thing slightly amiss was a wee bit of cheese dip smeared on the wall where grandpa and sally had a tea party together. THANK YOU grandpa!

- as for the snow, we have gotten about a foot and it is still coming down. it is fluffy and beautiful.

- gow's first day with the new client went really well. i haven't talked much with him as he, mark taube, gary rubio and my brother went to a pistons vs bucks game tonight. so will let you more deets as i learn them. he will work up there again tomorrow.

aight.

toodle lou.

monday mornin'

sally sharin' her headbands with the whole fam..


ha! i love it!


daisy hanging out with daddy one mornin...
she has not found a routine these days and i have stopped trying so hard to make her find one.
she is waking up one time a night, between 4-6am, i feed her and if it's before 6am she goes back to sleep for another 3 hours.
i think she has been waking up hungry. she is really plowing on her baby cereal these days and she is not as chub chub as sally was at this age...


sitting. this is her happiest position, sitting and seein' the world around her.


ah ha! how many times have we seen sally sittin' on and smooshin dk?
it's daisy's turn now!


and both girls love it!

well, it's monday morning and gow is back to work!
he actually started over the weekend, but this is the first back to "normal" - whatever that means that we have had since he was laid off.

he will be talking this afternoon with his new client in regards to upcomin work- it sounds encouraging as though they have lots for gow in the pipeline.
please be praying for wisdom for gow as he is working with both clients. his main goal is a full time job, he would love to not have to freelance, but to have a steady work life. in the meantime, as both companies have potential fulltime work, he is doing his best to be available to both and hard working/creative for both.

God is good. He is soo good.
we were going to bed last night thanking Him for the work, connections, family and home that we have in the midst of the unknowns with freelance. we are soooo thankful that this bout of unemployment was so different from last summer. ahhh Thank the Lord!

we are trusting, hoping and praying now for full time work. for a chance to settle in a bit here and for God to work out even the smaller details like commute, time with us at home, insurance etc.

as for the girls- i think they are both fighting a cold.
first one for this winter.

oh- and last night sally joined her big cousins for children's church for the first time. too stinkin fun to see her sitting up there with the big kids. at one point, as the pastor was talking, sally even nodded her head to him- i am sure she was following his sermon. =) it's also very cool to see emma taking her under her wing.... we are blessed.

okie dokie- have a good monday ya'll.

en casa

ah shucks. i just love her!


all three of us gowanita girls really soaked up extra time with daddy this past week.
it was really great family time.



Sally sporting her new art smock and putting "hats" on her and daisy kate.



daise has become a reaching lil monkey in her bumbo seat. usually while we are cooking and eating, she has sat on the counter in her bumbo. last week i turned around to see the above pix. she reached over to a plate full of salad, picked herself some yummy looking lettuce and began chomping away. ha! Nothing was safe on the counter- hence the move to her very own personal booster seat. =)




Sally loves cucumbers. last week she had three of them, stacked them on top of each other and declared "Fwosey!" (FROSTY!) so we gave her some toothpicks to complete her lil snowman.


k. gonna close this post with a quote from lucy swindoll that my auntie shared at a ladies brunch at church a few weeks ago...



"Did you know God planned ahead for all of your gloomy days?

He knows just when you'll need a little lift, and has arranged for encouragement to be right there, waiting for you to discover it! You only need to know where to look.

Encouragement comes from personal, little miracles--spirit-lifting blessings fron His own hand. Encouragement comes from knowing His promises, and the faith that flourishes from believing them.
Encouragement comes from fellow believers, as you reach out and touch one another's lives.

God did not leave us to face life alone.
He is with us always, and we are all in this thing together.
So let's encourage each other along the way."

shedd aquarium

Hello all-

It has been a full and fun week for us here in the Gowanito home.

1st off- PRAISE the Lord with us on some work ahead for Gow!

BOTH companies in Milwaukee have work for him next week... so he will do some over the weekend, work some nights and then Tues-Friday he will give the new company a go!

we are super thankful!

2nd - PRAISE God with us that after figuring out taxes... we will be able to pay off all of Daisy's birth/hospital bills and actually to put some $$ back into our 3-6 month saving!

how in the world did God do all this?!? SOOOO taking care of us!

3rd big Praise- we have had a really great time as a fam this week. Our girls are incredible, our current home is a blessing and we have had a great week of investing in our marriage.

Here are some pix from the Shedd...

Sal loved the turtles, the jelly fish (that had funky colored lights on them- changing them colors) the other kids, all the fish and a chance to be running around in a big space.

every once in a while she would check on Daisy, who did the whole 3 hours in the double jogger!

having a good time!

Daisy enjoyed it too! the fish and wildlife always moving, sally coming back to kiss her and the joys of sitting up in the jogger

it was a Discount Day- meaning that 1/2 of the aquarium was free! That's why we went!

However, all of the dolphin. penguins, whales were NOT in the free part.

We definitely enjoyed our time... but i think next time we will couple the free part of the aquarium with another some fun down town- like the big mirror bean or something.

this is loading to walk back to our car.. you can see that sal is wiped out.

Sally is holding Daisy's hand.

Seriously- i LOVE LOVE LOVE that they have each other to "play" with, entertain each other and love on.

Tuesday was fun- Art class!

We just finished our second paintings...

my first was of some flowers in an antiquey pot and my second was of Mompiche- a beach in Ecuador.

I soo much more enjoyed the second one. =)

Wed - we went to my sis's.

Sally got to have a playdate with her cousin Kristi, we celebrated Dave's 25th birthday and the funny thing was when Amy came home from work she found Dave, Gow and I (with daisy in my arms) playing Guitar Hero while Sarah, Ben, Kris and Sally were all playing together in the other room. =)

Thurs -was MOPs for me, Gow consulting for the camp he worked with before with his buddy Brad and then I got to sit down to a 2 hour lunch with my pal Sarah (from church, sally's bud - Ela's mom and Brad's wife) it was WONDERFUL.

Friday- we did another drive by at some more homes, swung by wallyworld and then we dropped daisy and daddy off for a nap while sally and i went to grandma's and grandpas for some candy. =)

so- maybe that was more info than ya'll wanted.

i guess i am just feeling really light hearted and blessed.

God has been soo faithful.

we are soo thankful.

our song all this week has been "It is Good".... if you don't know it- click here for the lyrics.

big news on the girly front...

sally sang one whole verse of Old MacDonald in the car this week with a DVD!

I doubt she'd do it by herself, but gow and i were amazed.

daisy now has her own booster chair and now sits with us during meals, not in her bumbo, but in her booster!

playing

ha- love this pix!

playin playdough with auntie jane and timmy! do you recognize this creatures?

there is a bob, larry, the pencil dude is archi and then some frosty the snowmans!

proudly sharing bob and warry with you!

timmy is QUITE the playdough artist!

i think these three played playdough for an hour together

and daisy cheering them on from the exersaucer!

well we woke up to some sweet, fluffly, softfalling beautiful snow this morning.

it is wonderful as it is covering up the dirty snow that is half melted and yucko from all the cars driving by... we are truly living in a winter wonderland!

i chopped 5 or 6 inches off my hair last night!

feels GREAT!

i think the DRYNESS up here is hurting my hair big time!

sal and daddy are currently running around a big ol gym with sal's bud Ela and her daddy.

Ela is four months older than Sally - they have a great time running around together.

Gow and I also love hanging out with her folks, Brad and Sarah. They are from our church, have a ton of similar values as we have and are just great to chill with.

k- i am off to conquer my to-do list!

cheers