Ellie's Prayer

   We have a nightly family prayer together. Tonight was Brielle's turn. Ellie has always said prayers, but she talks so quickly and quietly you have to strain your ears just to get the gist of what she is saying. This night was different. When Ry asked her if she would like to say the prayer, she smiled, folded her arms and spoke loud and clear. The mystery of what she may have been saying in some of her prayers was revealed! Here is a brief recap.

   "Thank you for the grass, our washing machine, the car, our walls and cribs." Very sincerely, "Thank you for keeping us safe from the big bad wolf and for helping the bad guys to not get us. Please help Keiko's (our dogs) feelings to not get hurt when he wants a treat!" By this point Ry and I were smiling, but also amazed at her prayer and the amount of time invested into it.This had to be a record breaking moment for the longest prayer ever spoken by a two year old! Brielle continued by naming every relative she could think of and then sat there for and a moment and said,

     "And...that's all I got!" Ry and I looked at each other and held our breath, but Zoey didn't hesitate to burst out in laughter. That was the end of holding back. We all laughed our hearts out, including Brielle.

     Two days later Ellie said a prayer over the food and ended with her attention getting grand finale, " And......That's all I got!", but before I could chime in, Zoey burst out, "B-Elle, you so funny!"

This is Brielle pretending she is Zoey's baby! She's taking her nap in her doll's crib. The crib is literally 1ft. by 2 ft.! 

 Brielle is a sweetheart and her special gift in the family is peacemaker. I didn't know a child was capable of sharing, like I have witnessed on a daily basis. She truly cares more about her sisters than herself.  In fact, Daddy has to be careful when pretending to gobble up Zoey, because Brielle's mouth will literally drop open, gasp and begin pleading, "No Daddy. Don't eat Zoey. No!"  Zoey is lucky too, because Brielle has saved her a time or two from being left in the house. Rylie's school drive is only minutes away, yet I give Zoey at least twenty warnings, half an hour before we leave to please put her shoes on. Yet, it is Brielle's pleadings that always save her. I really need to find a new consequence that won't traumatize Brielle more than Zoey! Ellie also has a knack for puzzles, making up her own songs, and loves cuddles. My little tender heart is my best sleeper and according to dad is a natural wrestler! Ellie thanks for making our home a more peaceful,loving place.

      Last Sunday, during the passing of the sacrament, Brielle burst out in song. An Ellie original, that went something like this:

     "My Mommy, mumble.....mumble, Nice, mumble...." Second verse, loud and clear! "My Mommy is mean to me, when she puts me in time out. La lalala la laaa!"

     Yes, there was a lot of rubber necking, smiles, and comments throughout the remainder of church. Hey, I told you that I had a ruff week in my last post!

    Brielle has been placing the word "ever" at the end of most of her sentences. For example: "I don't want cheese on my taco shell, ever." or "Don't take that Rylie, ever."  When I ask,

     "Brielle can you please come here so mommy can do your hair?" Brielle's response is, "No, not,ever." Then she'll come up with something like this ten-barrett-Medusa-head, hair do!

Brielle, "My tummy hurts, momma."

Mom,"Oh no! Do you think it is saying,"I'm hungry"?"

Brielle lifts her church dress up, touches her belly button, and with a crinkled nose says,"no tummy talk, momma, my no tummy talk!"

      I love these independent quirks that come out in each girl's personality. I don't know if they'll last long, but I want to remember.

Living to my Heart's Theme

         For the past month or so, life has chewed me up, swallowed, and then spit me back up again! Wow, that sentence was dramatic. But life has been painfully hard and interestingly enough, other happenings in life have been far worse, yet I coped better.

        A continuous amount of stress, followed by three independent girls, mixed with guilt of knowing I need to do better, created this dilemma. Basically, Ry is gone before I awake and home just as I put the girls to bed. It feels like Houston life, but at least I have the nighttime with him. I have unpacked at least 20 boxes a week and we are still getting settled (How did I accumulate so much junk?!). Rylie just started a great new preschool. We are in the process of making new friends, finding new places, and all of the other fun adventures that come with moving. We have had strep throat twice. My kitchen sink flooded my house. I have two extremely independent two year olds, who won't let me help them with anything. Their pants are on backwards, shoes on the wrong feet, hair  messy, and if you buckle the car seat for them, you will hear a high pitched squeal, sure to make your ears ring for the next half and hour! And finally, I am trying to be the perfect mother.

        The last sentence, I have come to understand, is the real problem. It's great to try for perfection, but not by someone else's standards. I used to laugh when my girls accidentally spilled their milk and then finger painted in it. When did life get so serious? When did it become so important to be on time? To have a clean house? Clean laundry or healthily feed your family?
The answer: All have always been important.

        So, what did I do? I was losing patience, with no close friendships, or husband to help relieve the stresses of temper tantrum's and daily life. I prayed. My prayers basically consisted of me begging the Lord to help me be patient with my children. I had been carrying a lot of Mommy guilt, and please help me to get more done, plan better, and so on.

      These prayers continued, usually out of guilt for being short with my girls or just barely getting them to bed and then sprinting to the other side of the house so I wouldn't say something rude. It was awful. How come I could make it the previous eight months, only seeing Ry twice a week, sell and move out of my house, and not loose patience with my children!?
    Then, I happened upon my friend Michelle's family blog, A Dash of Falk, blog post called, "The Hubs..." She had posted her husbands written thoughts and other quotes to celebrate this thankful time of year.

I have read many inspirational quotes that have lifted me up in my lifetime. But the quote I read, rang true to my soul. I had forgotten my joy in life and my daily perception had changed without me even realizing it. You wouldn't believe the relief my heart felt to read these words.

            "NEVER let a PROBLEM to be solved, become more important than a PERSON to be LOVED." President Thomas S. Monson.

         Simple isn't it? Yet, my inner passion for life is refreshed, the loves of my life are priority, guilt free, walking to beat of my hearts theme--Love First!

       God answers prayers and amazingly, it has been a lot easier to be on time and survive daily life, now that I am reminded that NOTHING is as important as treating my children, self, and hubs with love.

      This may seem silly and obvious to many reader's, but I challenge you the next time you have a problem to take a look at yourself and see if you are treating the problem with more attention and love than those involved, even if the only person involved is yourself.

       "They do not love, that do not show their love." William Shakespeare.

Killer Keiko

Keiko is our dog. In tribute to my new Memory Monday theme idea (We'll see how long it lasts). I would like to take you all back to when I was at least 30 weeks pregnant with twins. Animals are smart and it didn't take a genius to notice that I had some issues getting around. Keiko our 22lb Lhasa Apso already had the mentality of a lion, yet he took it upon himself to become king of whomever he deemed to be a threat. On this particular day our lawn crew had just wrapped up their yard work and were taking a lunch break under the shade of the trees in the park next to our house.

I opened the door and Keiko ran as fast as he could towards the closest group of men. I panicked and started yelling, "kick him, kick him!", but I wasn't too surprised when they turned to look at him and reacted something like this, "Oh, look at the little growling teddy bear."

I waddled over to them as quick as my body would allow, bent down to grab him just as his teeth caught hold of the back of one of the men's flannel shirts. Hysterical laughter was heard from the second group of men under another tree. Enough laughter to distract Keiko and send him on a dead sprint in their direction. If the dog could talk I'm sure he would have been saying in his best Steven Segal voice, "Keep laughing my friends, keep laughing."

Anyway, I waddled between groups as the men danced, trying to keep Keiko off of their ankles and laughing at whomever was being chased at the time. When I would get close to Keiko he would run to the next group. By this point, I was beyond livid. I looked in my driveway, the new phonebooks had just been delivered. With the biggest phone book in hand, I waddled as close as I could to Keiko and launched the phonebook at his rear end! The king of the jungle tucked his tail and ran directly back into the house. Yeah, Keiko was funny, but I am sure the real humor was the woman with the huge belly that couldn't bend over and pelted her dog with the phonebook!

 Squirrel Hunting

 Current update on Keiko. He (and Us) have been through dog training. Keiko has been a work in progress, but has seriously become the best dog. Will he rip someone to shreds if they walk through my front door uninvited? Yes, but I am OK with that.

Flying fur ball going in for the kill

Rylies cute moments

I am going to start blogging more of the funny little things Rylie says and does. Hopefully, you all find it as entertaining as I do.

This morning I was making hot chocolate for Rylie and I felt the water and noticed it was still cold. So I said, "ah-oh, we don't want cold chocolate" and Rylie said, "yes, I do want cold, hot chocolate, mommy."

Yesterday, I petaled all three girls on my bike to the park. If you are wondering how I could possibly bike three babies, take a look at the picture of my set up. I have a baby seat by my handle bars for Rylie and a double baby trailer in the back. It's a great workout, I could barely walk when I returned home! Anyway, I had Brielle and Zoey on the lawn with me, but no matter how hard I tried, Rylie would not step foot onto the grass. Finally after a few minutes of asking Rylie to come and play with us, she finally said, "mommy, no there is poopies." I looked down at the lawn and noticed that you could see the dirt between the grass. "oh, that's just the dirt, it is OK to walk on." But, that wasn't convincing enough because I still had to pick her up and hold her because she insisted, "dat (that) dirty, pew wee (picture her holding her nose)!" It was funny, but when one child is on my lap they all want to be there. We quickly moved on to the swings and slide. It was great post-election day!

HB's Costume Contest Winners!

The Nilsson flock took it all! We weren't even planning on entering the contest, but just happened to show up at the right time. There were a lot of cute baby costumes and one lamby is cute, but you can't beat the shock factor of three! For once, standing out in the crowd has payed off, literally, we won a fifty dollar certificate and are supposed to be on HB's local television station. It was a fun Halloween on Huntington Beach's Main Street. Adults and children were dressed up, free rides, petting zoo, and the local vendors were giving out candy. It was a good break for Lil' Bo Peep.

Mommy Brain

For those of you who aren't familiar with the mind-numbing disease called Mommy Brain, let me enlighten you=).Mommy brain, is caused by lack of sleep, or extremely disrupted sleep for several months in a row, followed by a high dose of post natal hormones, and an excessive amount of whining and crying heard throughout the day. The signs and symptoms include, delayed response to any adult conversation, difficulty communicating with someone over 2 years of age, slight jealousy when your husband gets home from the Laker's game and notifies you he sat next to Leonardo DiCaprio while you spent two hours trying to get teething twins to sleep, sleep loss headache, abnormally large biceps from hauling babies around, inability to get anything accomplished for yourself, and others may perceive you as completely insane when they see you pushing a shopping cart while pulling a stroller at the same time, and finally you gain an overwhelmingly non judgemental attitude for any other parent experiencing the same symptoms!

Yes, the last few days have a been a little crazy. But, before I talk about our busy week, I have good news! Thanks to my sweet friend and nanny Sarah Lynn, I was able to take a nap today. Thus, there is hope for this devastating disease. My biggest hope is to one day sleep the whole night through without interruption. But, for now the best things for me entail a few good giggles from Rylie, some cuttles from Zoey, Brielle bopping to the beat of music, and time to laugh with Ryan. I just hope my mommy brain doesn't keep me from remembering as much as I'd like, I guess that's why amidst all of this craziness I am trying to blog.

First Time Crawling!

Our first family post. What better to write about than the twins first time crawling! The clip is cute, but because I forgot to turn the sound on my digital camera, you get the joy of listening to Beethoven's 9th, instead of Brielle and Zoey's cute baby giggles. It was a fun day and yes, the girls' motivation to crawl is food. Like mother, like daughters!