Merry Christmas. Instead of sending tangible Christmas Cards this year, we've decided to save a little bit on postage and go electronic this year. We are having a great holiday season, busy, but as good as can be expected. We miss and love you all and hope that you have a wonderful Christmas this year. Please feel free to browse our card.
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| Make a Smilebox scrapbook |
I'm not sure where to begin, but I just feel like writing some of my thoughts down....
If I happen to find a spare minute between naps, dirty diapers and dishes, I find myself trying to catch up on blogs. Which honestly can make me feel really crappy sometimes. Is it just me or am I the only one that hasn't mastered the art of time management? I will read some peoples blogs and it absolutely amazes me the things that they can do in just one week, or even just one day. Some days I'm lucky to take a shower and get out of my PJ's, but for others... they've got their routines down.
On a REEEAALLLY good day, I will.., get to the gym, shower, plan and make dinner, clean my house, take my kids to the park, budget, and call an old friend. But the next day I'm so pooped from the previous day that I have to spend the whole next day recooping.
Honestly, I want to know the secret out there. How does someone get so much accomplished in one day? I think that having kids as close in age as mine probably doesn't really help, but I know that it's been done before... mastering the art of checking off more than one thing of your to do list.
On a lighter note....
Dane is finally not getting up at the 5am anymore, and now that we took Zoe's pacifier away she seems to be a little less crazy all the time. Instead of focusing on where a passie is, she knows that they are totally off limits and finds other things to put in her mouth. Not that that's what I want, but we are moving in the right direction. Dane is getting into everything, but is still slow enough that I can catch him before he truly makes a mess.
Also... can I just take a minute to say that although I want to go completely crazy most days with being an exhausted mom of 2, that I absolutely, 100% love and adore my kids. This does not mean that I don't get mad or frustrated, yell or want to cry somedays. But honestly I must be going through a patience growth spurt because I am more patient with them than I used to be, and maybe due to a little more sleep... but I actually can't get enough of them. (Ok, maybe by bed time I am ready to say good bye), but honestly they are sooo sweet. And of course because they are my kids, I think that they win the award everyday for the cutest baby and little girl contest. Zoe definitely has her moments of ..."why are you doing that??" "please don't dump your toys, I just cleaned them up" or "1, 2, 3-that's it'..Time -Out"... times. But she is so sweet.
For example: When eating something that she really doesn't want to eat, she actually stalls the next bite (which she knows I'm going to make her take), by pointing to her mouth and saying "I finish that...." even if there's barely any trace of food, she will chew it until there's nothing left. It's actually hilarious. Then she will hurry and put what she considers a more desireable "good bite" of food in her mouth before I can get the vegetable in. (I think she gets the "I finish that" line from when I would tell her that she has to finish her bite before she can have a treat/cookie or something. So anyways, so now she thinks that she is quite the tricky one. She also just started repeating things that Taylor and I say... both in context and out. One that's actually really cute is when I go to get Dane out of bed she says: "I come, I come..... " she then follows me up the stairs and trys to beat me to his room. When I walk in, I will usually say: "Hi baby Dane, Hi...." Now before I can even open the door all the way, Zoe will say with a ton of enthusiasm and reeally loud... "Hi baby Dane Hi.." then she will follow it with a quick sniff to his bum and say: "Dane poopy...euw gross" (even when he's not poopy). She even has to give him kisses and hugs too.
As for Dane --He is so cute and so scrumptious that I literally just want to kiss and bite his little face every second. He gives the best slobbery kisses. He gets so excited when Zoe walks in the room and he just loves to play with her. He's actually getting good at tackling her now and she even has to defend herself a little from him these days. He's great a pulling my hair and Zoe's too. He's completely standing and holding on to things, and when I sing to him, he dances and shakes his arms.
I will have to post a video of it soon.
Ok, well now that I've rambled and given you an update any hints or suggestions on how to master time would be exceptionally helpful.
Zoe can't quite get the entire saying down right so all night she kept saying... "Happy Ween" and "I fly, I fly...." It was really cute. In case you were wondering she was a pink fairy, magic wand and wings included. She honestly wanted to fly the second we put her wings on and pointed to the door so that we could take her outside so she could test them out. It was really funny to watch her all night pretend that she could really do it. Then when she started to understand why were knocking on doors, she held very tight to her little candy basket. I kept offering to help her hold it, but she refused and kept saying, "My turn, my turn..." as if we were actually taking turns holding the candy. She also kept trying to eat it as we were going, and of course we let her sample a few. The kid did alright for her second Halloween.... too bad she's not going to be able to eat it all.
We couldn't help but have our little Daners wear this outfit. He was so darn cute in his "Doctor In Training Scrubs,"
he was practically offical. His little buddy Eli from next door came over as a "Tool Man," they were soo cute. However, Dane was in the middle of eating a banana, so excuse the mess in the picture. 
Carving the Pumpkins---
So Zoe hasn't ever witnessed the graphic disection of a pumpkin before and was sort of in shock when dad took the first stab. Shortly after the surgical procedure started we heard a lot of "ooohh WOW" and a lot of "Eewws" and a little bit of "I scared" comments come from her little mouth. We had to reassure her through out the process that the pumpkin was having fun and that he liked getting his "face."
After all was said and done and she was able to see the "before" and "after" of Daddy's surgery, she was quite please with the results.
Needless to say she was still a little weary of them when we put them outside, but she couldn't help herself try and blow out the candles either.
Dane turning 7 months old, California... and more!!!
http://gallery.me.com/taylorpollei#100264
Where are the Polleis????
Well, I have to say we are all over the map (well at least in the Southern West part). So I ventured (to say the least) a car ride out to California to visit my family WITHOUT TAYLOR. He was on call that weekend and we just purchased the newest member of our Family (our new SUV). And I thought that I would give it a go and try to see what a 5 hour trip would be like with two kiddos in the back. Well lets just say 7 stops and 8 1/2 hours later--- I was in Irvine California. Ok, so I probably won't be doing that again for a LONG TIME without someone else. I was only there for a quick visit so I apologize to those I didn't get to see.
We had a fun time and pictures are to come.
Then almost immediately upon my return from California, Taylor had work off and we traveled up to Utah. Again, what should of been a 9 hour drive and a few stops really turned out to be a 4+stop and 11 hours to arrive. Not to mention one of those stops being because Zoe got carsick and THREW UP EVERYWHERE.... on me and all over the seat. It was a wonderful trip besides that and we got to see lots of family. Also a very quick stop, but worth the drive.
Pictures are to come for both trips and for family and friends who haven't seen the kiddos lately.
Updates:
Dane- CRAWLING AND STANDING EVERYWHERE. The kid is seriously the cutest thing alive (apart from Zoe of course) and I want to eat him all day long. He is so sweet and coming alive with his personality. He has this little raspy voice and laugh (no joke we think we need to get his vocal cords checked sometimes), but we absolutley love it. It's soo cute to hear him jibber jabber and find his independence. Last checked- he weighed- 17 lbs and he is almost 8 months old.
Zoe-Little Miss "Prin-ess" She is so fun and talking up a storm. Has recently reverted back to the passie from our last trip to Cali (end of Aug) and will not give it up. She was going to throw up in the car on the way back so we hurried and gave it to her... needless to say she is protective of them now and knows that she is on borrowed time with those things. As of Monday October 26th, we will be once again attempting to take them away. In replacement... a blanket, toy or any other suggestions of comfort would be helpful. She is loving to dance these days and run. Her favorite saying: "Mommy watch....." She's adorable, but mommy's reeeeaaaalllly ready to take that passie away.
More updates to come.
So, no offense to any other members of my family, and especially my little Zoe, but DANE is the light of my life. He is such a sweetheart and sooo good, that I can't help but just be completely in love wth him. He has his moments of fussiness just like any baby, but he truly is so easy. He is ALWAYS smiling, happy and so pleasant to have around. He lets me do what I need to do, tolerates his sister's tight hugs and slobbery kisses, and he eats and sleeps so well. I could just hug and kiss him all day, and I pretty much do. I couldn't not put a post up on his turning 6 MONTHS OLD, and a few updates on him.
He is a second a way from crawling (here are a few pictures of proof) and he loves to observe the world around him. He will watch Zoe for hours, and you can just tell that he adores her. He's always trying to keep up with her as he kicks on his tummy ferociously so as to speed up to her. Although he's not getting anywhere yet, it's only a matter of time before he can tackle her right back and give her lots of hugs and kisses. He is such a delight to have around and really makes our home that much happier.
I LOVE YOU DANE TAYLOR POLLEI!!!!!!!
So many of you know that Zoe turned TWO right... (end of last month), but where are the pictures huh?? I haven't posted because things have been so crazy. We threw her a big Nemo pool party and then the next day we rushed off to So. California to hang out with my family for a few days. After we got back, me and the kids (and Taylor a little bit) got really sick. They are still getting over it three weeks later and I'm now completely exhausted from trying to recover myself, and get back into our routine, but we are slowly getting there.
Zoe is such a sweetheart and was so sweet on her birthday. There are so many pictures to show, so I thought I would post a few and then give you the link to my unedited photos. She got lots of fun things for her birthday thanks to all her friends and family. Thank you to everyone that came to her party and for coming and having lots of fun. My little girl is getting so big and so independent. When rested and well fed (hahaha) she is the cutest thing on the planet. She LOVES playing with her new purse and fake make-up and cell phone. She loves playing dress up and putting on her fake jewlery, and she loves pushing her new little shopping cart around. Thanks to Nana, she has some new "High-heels" and earings to go great with all her new accessories. She still loves, Tinkerbell, Nemo and Abby Cadabby. She loves to hold, hug and tackle her little brother. When she's not terroizing my house, she likes to read books, and watch her new favorite movie.. "Enchanted." She just started clueing into what a Princess is, and now is running around the house pretending to be one.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY ZOE!!!! WE LOVE YOU!
