2010: A Year in Review

Where to even begin? I didn't write a Christmas letter this year, there was just to much to keep it to one page. Consider this my substitute. :)

What a crazy year this has been! Thinking back on it I am overwhelmed with everything that happened. From the very beginning 2010 wanted us to know it was gonna be one heck of a year. Makayla, my niece, spent the first few weeks of the year fighting for her life, literally. She had a deep bleed in her brain that nearly killed her. The first five weeks of the 2010 were filled with visits to Children's Hospital, to visit Makayla and to support my sister, Kari, who was spending nearly every hour of every day there. We are so thankful that Makayla not only survived, but that she is continuing to exceed the expectations of all the doctors and staff who were and still are involved in her care.

Also during the first five weeks of the year, Gracie turned 2! What a roller coaster that has been! Her personality has totally come out. Most days are really good, but Grace has her own opinions about how things should be done and she'll make sure to let you know if she thinks you aren't doing it the way she wants it done. My mother in law says she is 2 going on 20. She has Bartlow and Hoskins in her which makes for a very stubborn combo, and good lungs. If she chooses to, Grace can make a noise loud enough to make your ears bleed, or dogs whine in pain. Sometimes I feel like calling her "strong willed" is an understatement. Other times, you would think she was the easiest kid in the world to take care of! She has so much energy! Grace loves to sing, dance, color, paint, and "do stickers" among other things. Her imagination is so vivid, which is both a blessing and a curse. She will play dolls forever, but if she thinks there is a tiger, the Grinch or a dragon in her room, brace yourself. Mild panic ensues and Daddy has to "grr" at them before they will leave. She makes us laugh. Her sense of humor is so sweet. Most of the time what she's saying isn't meant to be funny but the conviction with which she says it makes it hard not to smile and laugh. Even when she is in trouble, the things she says makes just about everyone in the room hide their faces and snicker quietly. She brings such joy to my heart.

In December of last year we moved, then in the beginning of June we moved again. That was an interesting week. Steve and I were going to be heading to Atlanta for Foursquare, our church denomination's, Convention. Steve has worked the convention just about every year since he was 16. This was the first year since we'd been married that we were going just the two of us. Our flight was scheduled to leave at 7am Friday morning. The week before we left we found out we had to move. (A long story, I won't go into it now) We didn't find a place until the Tuesday before we were to leave and it would be ready until after we got back from Atlanta. We had to pack for 3 things. 1. Atlanta, 2. A few days at his parents house before and after Atlanta, and 3. to put everything we wouldn't need in storage. Talk about stress. Then, on Wednesday we found out that the father of one of Steve's close friends had passed away. The memorial was scheduled for Friday morning at 11am. We decided I would fly ahead and check into the hotel and such and Steve would stay for the memorial and fly standby on a flight later that night. In the end Steve made it to Atlanta and we had an amazing week catching up with old friends, making new ones and seeing the city. Their aquarium, A-MAZING!!! Not to mention that I got to go to the Hoskins' motherland! (World of Coke Museum) So much fun! We got home safe the following Friday and moved most of our stuff Saturday.

In July we took our annual "Bartlow Family" vacation to Leavenworth. We were supposed to stay for three days but after we spent the first night waking up every two hours to let Gracie puke, we decided to head home a day early. We did get in a few trips tubing down the river though, which is always my favorite part. In August we found out we were expecting another baby and in November we discovered she was a girl. She is due to join our family a week after my 25th birthday in April. I'm not sure what I'll be doing for my birthday yet, but I'm sure whatever I do I'll be waddling my way around ready to pop at any moment. If the new baby is anything like Gracie or I; or as Steve calls her, Kelsey Jr, he is going to need a lot of help. That is a lot of emotions for one man!

Speaking of Steve. With each year I grow continually more

amazed at the man God has given me in Steve. He is an

amazing provider and protector for our family. Where I lack,

he excels. He is the calm to my storm, the clean to my, not as clean,

the logic to my oversensitivity. He reminds me it is ok to say "No"

if I really don't want to do something and is more than ready to

stand up for me if I need it. He is everything that I hoped for in my husband.

He is smart, and strong. He can fix my computer and my kitchen sink.

Although sometimes I am tempted to,

I couldn't ask for a more amazing man than the one I have. I love him.

Anyway, that was the majority of our year in a nutshell. I'm sure I've forgotten something but that's all I could think of at the moment and I need to go wake up Gracie from her nap so she'll sleep tonight. I hope everyone had a good year and that 2011 is even better!

What Gracie says

After 2 cups of hot chocolate Steve asked Gracie if she was gonna be bouncing off the walls in a minute. She answered "yep" while looking around at the walls. She then walked into the living room and Steve asked her what she was doing. Her response? "I'm gonna jump on the walls!"

Steve was reminding Gracie she needed to be quiet at bed time and was telling her the consequences if she wasn't. He asked her what she was gonna be and she looked him square in the face and said "A horsey?" Hmmm.... Where does she get her sarcasm from?

Talking about Ellie: "Sometimes she is not a nice baby. Sometimes she's a cry baby."

Driving past a hair salon in Marysville there is a window with a strawberry painted on it. "Mom, that strawberry is wearing shoes. (very matter of factly) That's silly. Mom, that strawberry has hair. (again, very matter of fact) That's silly."

While she was disobeying, she told Steve "Well, God says obey. God says obey your moms and dads and Ellie's"

I've been talking to her about telling the truth lately so when ever she disobeys and Steve or I tells her she needs to obey she says back "We-ll, the truth is not obeying!"

Gracie snuck into our room during the night and the next morning Steve was asking her how she slept and why she came into our room. She told him she was scared in her room. He asked her why she was scared and she said "I don't know, I was just freaking out!"

Grace and the cousins were gonna play Simon Says. Rachel said "I"m Simon!" Gracie said "I"m Theodore!"

After my in laws were here for dinner: "Mom you did a good cooking when Grandma and Grandpa were here."

Noticing we only had two string cheeses left in the drawer "I thought we were gonna save them for Micah and Tyler"

What Gracie Says, Halloween Edition

Sitting at dinner Gracie was telling Steve about the Shark (Shrek) movie and how Donkey says "I'm a Logan (Ogre), AAAARRRRRRRGGGGGGG!!!!!!!" Steve: "You're a Logan?" Grace: "Ya a Logan."

Michael's craft store has their Halloween decorations out. One of the things they have is a witch statue. Gracie call her a "silly grandma" She was telling Steve there is a silly grandma at the "crap store"

What Gracie Says/Translation please?

"When I was a baby I was teeny and tiny"

Talking to Steve: "Can I have... whatever I want?"

"I'm Gracie, I'm two. Mommy says I'm two and a half."

Talking to her chicken nugget: "Get otta here!" (Said just like Grandma)

Missafella= Isabella (she has 2 friends named Isabella!)

Germote=remote

Camtoons=Cartoons

Cutie and the Beast= Beauty and the Beast "Daddy says it's Cutie and the Dude, he doesn't say Cutie and the Beast"

While I had my hands on my stomach feeling super nauseas: "Mommy got a baby in her tummy, I don't have a baby in my tummy. Just Mommy"

These she knows how to say correctly now but they were so cute and I wanted to record them before I forgot what they were:

beeeceeeteee= Christmas tree (Which is also what she called ANY Christmas lights she saw. It didn't have to be an actual tree.)

Yo-Yo's= The Wiggles

Bae=Baby

da ganch= the grinch

What Natalie Says

Picture taken at The Farm last October just after her 3rd birthday

Inspired by the mother of a friend's blog about what her 5 year old says, I am starting a "sub section" to my blog entitled, you guessed it, "What Natalie says" (at least this time, she's had some good ones lately and I've been dying to share) In case you don't know Natalie is my 3 year old niece.

So here goes:

While talking to her mom about her birthday list (her birthday is months away): "Mom, um for my birthday I want a real deer and a real sheep. You know, like pets."

After singing Jesus Loves the Little Children with Auntie Katy: "Jesus loves all the children and all the cheese"

Talking about age:

Her: "Na na (it's what she calls me) did you know that on my next birthday I'm gonna be 24? Ooops, I mean 4."

Me: "I did know that. Did you know that I'm 24?"

Her: "Ya. (she didn't) But Na na, did you know that someday I'm gonna be really old like Papa?"

Me: "You are?"

Her: "Ya, but first I am gonna be just kinda old like Grammie."

Me: "I bet she would love to hear you say that!"

Losing It With Kelsey

Recently there has been a new show on TV called "Losing It With Jillian" I have never seen the show but I imagine it involves that spunky, bossy, noisy Jillian from The Biggest Loser and is all about how she travels the country looking for families in need of something and how she yells and screams them into shape.

This is not like that show.

This show is about a young mother of a 2 year old and her everyday struggles to maintain her sanity, unsuccessfully, I might add.

Today's episode begins with said 2 year old touching her behind while she was pooping, thus spreading poop ALL over the toilet seat, her legs, that pesky hair that won't stay out of her face and consequently, her face.

Not cool.

She has done this before and had a stern talking too. But to no avail. Mother and child hop in the shower to wash off. Child screams and hits the mother when it is time to wash her hair because there is no wash cloth to cover her eyes, even though she hasn't used or needed one recently. The mother tells the child (who had hit her earlier in the morning as well) that she will be getting a time out and a swat with the spoon as soon as they are out of the shower and proceeds to wash they screaming child's hair anyway; remember, there's poop in it?

They get out of the shower and the mother instructs the child as to where she can find her clothes to get dressed. Apparently the shirt the mother picked out was not a good choice, even though she bought it for her daughter while she was away for the first time a few months ago.

Might I add it is a very cute shirt.

Bright pink with mermaids on it.

(It was bought at the aquarium)

The child starts to scream and cry about how she "doesn't like this shirt" and "I don't want to wear it!" The mother forces the shirt over the child's head, puts on her pants and takes the child to her room where she proceeds to scream and cry for the last 40 minutes. She wants her kitty and baby, see post: The A Team, but since she still has not calmed down the mother refuses to bring them in.

Will the child be sold? How long will it take the mother to curl into a ball and cry herself?

Stay tuned.

Not so Joker Feet

Although I would say it required more light scraping with a finger nail than actuall "rubbing", it worked quite well!

Now, Does anyone know any toe exercises? I would like to rid myself of the "sausage toes"

Joker Feet

I went on a MOPS Leadership retreat last weekend. One of the moms was telling us about a toenail painting technique one of her friends uses. The idea being that it doesn't matter how messy the skin around the nail is as long as the nail itself was covered. Then, when the paint is dry, take a warm shower and the polish on the skin will just rub off. I'm waiting for the polish to dry and the more I look at my toes the more they look like the joker just made out with my feet! I'm not even going to mention the fact that my toes also look like little sausages! (Maybe that's why the joker was kissing them?) Anyway, here are my "before" pics. I'm off to test the theory. Results soon.

The "A" Team

The "team" is a group of Gracie's favorite stuffed animals and dolls that MUST be in bed with her in order for her to sleep. The team started out as just Bear Doggie. Bear was given to her by her daddy the Christmas before she was born, and Doggie was a gift from a Grandma and Grandpa. Baby joined the team around Gracie's first birthday and Baby Claire shortly after. Baby Claire used to just be a sub in case we couldn't find Baby but more and more she is on the starting line up.

Steve and I went to Atlanta in May and during my trip to the Aquarium I picked up Whale. From the night we returned he has been a constant member of the team. A few nights ago Kitty joined the team and appears to be rapidly becoming a permanent team member as well.

Team photo(L to R): Whale, Baby Claire, Doggie, Bear, Kitty. Not pictured: Baby (she was forgotten at Grandma's while Mommy was out of town for the weekend and we have yet to get her back)

Gracie can barely hold them all when she comes into our room in the morning but somehow she manages to get them all in one trip.

I don't think this will last much longer and told Steve this morning that we may need to make some lay-offs. He said before I made any decisions I would have to check with the CEO.

What do you think her answer was?

Ice Caves Part 1

About a month ago we went to the ice caves. Gracie walked almost the whole way by herself. She did SO great! Here are some of the pictures from our hike.

Steve told her to smile and this is what she did.

More pics coming in a second post.

What's New: Moving, Songs and Family Things

Steve and I spent a week in Atlanta, Gracie free. If you've read my previous posts you knew that. What you may not have known is that in the month before we went to Atlanta we were desperately searching for a place to live. Long story short, the bank was kicking us out of the place we were renting. There was a hearing about two weeks before we left for Atlanta that said the bank could file with the sheriff to evict us. So if we didn't get out before we left we ran the risk of the sheriff showing up while we were gone and who knew what they would do with all our stuff.

The week before we left we were driving around with Steve's parents looking at places we had seen on Craig's List. We were starting to head home and we saw one last sign. With a sigh and a very un-energetic "fine" we drove by. Curb appeal=awesome! So we called, rent was $50 cheaper than the max limit we had set for ourselves, good. Landlord does all the yardwork, fantastic, and might I add the yard is beautiful! I get the joy of a lovely yard and beautiful flowers and I don't have to do anything! Who could ask for a better? The landlord lives in the unit next door.

And before you say anything about how awkward it is, know, it isn't.

Steve and I have never been the type to not get along with our landlords,

even if they hadn't all been our parents.

We don't party late into the night, and even when we do have parties

they aren't the crazy loud, drinking out of control kind.

We are more, family BBQ in the back yard, kind of party people.

We are quiet and respectful of those around us,

We have never trashed or plan to trash anywhere we live,

nor do we let Gracie go crazy all over the house.

Anyway, the place was awesome and we decided to take it. The only problem was that it wouldn't be available until after we got back. So we moved all of our stuff into storage and headed to the in-laws for a few days (mine, not Steve's).

On top of all of this, the father of a close friend of Steve's passed away unexpectedly and the memorial was scheduled for the Friday we were to leave. Our flight was scheduled to leave at 7am and the memorial started at 11am. It was very important for Steve to go so we planned to rebook our flight. A few phone calls later and we found out it would cost more than the original ticket cost to rebook both flights, not gonna happen. After much debate we decided I would fly ahead and check into the hotel and Steve would try to catch a later flight on standby. In the end all worked out and Steve and I both made it safely to Atlanta.

We came home late the following Friday night and moved most of our stuff the next day. We have been here for almost a month and we are greatly enjoying it. Gracie's room is big enough that all her toys fit in it and the room isn't crowded, leaving my living room free of toys. YEA!!! We are excited to be here for awhile and hopefully we will be able to stay until we are ready to buy our own house.

Onto other news, Gracie has been in big girl panties since we moved in and is doing well. We still have the occasional accident, even while I was typing this post I had to pause to clean out some poopy panties, but most days are accident free and we're getting better.

On another side note, can I just say how much I loath

cleaning out poopy panties? It's gross.

Steve says all my years of working daycare

have ruined me. Just because when on the

rare occasion some poop falls on the floor and

I don't pick it up with my bare hands, does not make me ruined!

Besides, if you took as many bodily fluid safety training

classes as I have you wouldn't touch it with your bare hands either!

Since we've been home Gracie has learned so much! She not only is talking way more but she learned some new songs as well. Grandma owns a "Miss Patty Cake" dvd and I guess it is all Gracie wanted to watch while we were gone. She know knows the "Jungle Jamba" and other Patty Cake favorites that I get to hear just about everyday. Gracie and I have been singing "I got the Joy, Joy, Joy, Joy down in my heart" and have now added another verse, only Gracie doesn't understand the words completely yet so she just sings "devil, devil, devil, devil, sit on a tack, OUCH! Sit on a tack, OUCH! (The real words are "And if the devil doesn't like it he can sit on a tack, OUCH!) She thinks the "sit on a tack, OUCH" is the best part.

Onto the "family things" portion of my title. My baby brother graduated from high school and at his graduation he was one of the speakers. He did SO awesome. His speech was all about self discovery and on the impact one person can make. Steve posted it on youtube if you want to check it out. Makayla is doing well. Her doctors have taken her off of the really harsh seizure med and that has helped her regain more of her muscle control and be WAY more smiley. She is continuing to improve and we are so excited to see what God is going to continue to do!

That's it for now I guess!

I'm a Big Kid Now

A few days ago I took my first airplane flight by myself. I rented my first car and checked into a hotel by myself. It is also the first time I've left Gracie for more than a day or two.

I feel like a grown up..... and it's weird.

So far, I'm ok. I'm excited to see her at the end of the week but I really liked being able to sleep in after I stayed up a little too late.

Steve and I were talking about how weird it is to be a parent but not have your kid with you. Besides the obvious "empty hand" feeling it's weird because you could have 1 kid you could have 19 but if your kids aren't with you nobody ever has to know they even exist. When you get married, you wear a ring. It tells the world "Back off! I belong with someone!" But when you don't have your kids with you, usually, there are no outward signs they are there. (Gracie has yet to hurt me bad enough to leave a permanent mark)

I'm enjoying my time in "Hotlanta" (now I KNOW why they call it that). With Steve and Mike taking on a more consultant like role this year, we actually get to hang out some. We have gotten to eat together, explore the city a bit. Steve and I went to the World of Coke Museum. It was pretty cool. We got our picture taken with the polar bear. He was so cute! They have a tasting room with their products from all over the world. I really liked the Kiwi Apple Fanta. It was delish! I forget where it was from though. Some of them were not so good. One of them tasted like horrible cough syrup. It was gross. Yesterday I got to go the the world's largest aquarium with Dawn Vail and the kids. We had so much fun! Danny was running all over going "Oh wow. Mom look at this!. That is so cool! Look at that!" I think we stayed under the giant tank watching all the sharks for about a half hour! The aquarium has 3 whale sharks. They were huge! We got to see beluga whales, seals, otters, penguins, all kinds of fish, alligators, shrimp. Lol. I kid you not, they had a shrimp tank and you could touch them if you wanted. I don't know about you, but I can just go to the supermarket and touch them whenever I want. I got to touch sting rays and a small shark! It was so cool! The sting rays were really soft, kinda like those super soft baby blankets, but they were wet. The shark felt rubbery. It was really fun.

I love the Vails. The kids are so polite and fun to be with and Dawn is just so sweet! She just chats with everyone and makes friends wherever she goes. I like them more every time I get to see them!

We'll see how I do in the next few days of being away from Gracie but for now, I'm keeping busy and having fun!

Mother's Day

This will be my third Mother's Day. Hopefully it won't take us 10 shots to get a good picture this year.

We didn't even take pictures. Oh well.

Songbird

People always tell me how vocal my 2 year old is. Tellers at the bank, checkers at Target, Costco and the grocery store, "Wow. She has such a big vocabulary!" I smile of course and politely say "yes she does" or "Ya, we have a talker" all while thinking, "You don't know the half of it!"

Not only does she TALK a lot, but she sings too. Besides the cute little Boo-esk songs (Monster's Inc reference) that she just makes up, she probably knows a good 20-30 songs and can sing them for you at any moment. She knows the basics like twinkle twinkle, the ABC's, and Jesus Loves Me, etc. She also knows some lesser known diddys like, Where are you Christmas? from the movie How the Grinch Stole Christmas and "make a mountain, make a move" and "boom Boom Clap" (The Climb and the Hoedown Throwdown from the Hannah Montana Movie). She is also know to sing "Fireflies" by Owl City, "Desert Song" by Hillsong, "I Got a Feeling" by the Black Eyed Peas, "We Worship You" by Jacob"s Well, "21 Guns" By Green Day, "Reign In Us" by Starfield and many, MANY more. As you can see we have a well rounded child, musically speaking at least.

The last month or so Grace would randomly shout out "Yes Sir!" in the car. It took me a few times to figure out what she was singing. I figured it out. "I may never march in the infantry, ride in the calvary, shoot the artillery, fly over the enemy but I'm in the Lord's army. Yes Sir!" Today she also stared singing "Down in my heart. Where? Down in my heart. Joy joy joy, down in my heart to staaaaaaaayyyyyyyyy. Happy so happy down in my heart." (Gracie Bartlow version)

I wonder what she'll start singing next month...

Prayer

So the other night Gracie and I were sitting at the computer.

Wait.

Pause.

Let me really start by saying Gracie loves all of her aunts and uncles. All of them. She talks about some more than others but she loves everyone and will talk about each one depending on where we are and when she saw them last etc. I say this so I won't hear any whining about how "She loves so and so more!" and "How come she doesn't talk about me?". Understood? Great.

Now we can continue.

We pray for Gracie every night before she goes to bed. She now knows the prayer by heart and says it along with Steve. He had already done so that night and Gracie and I were sitting at the computer before bed. I don't know what I was doing but I heard Gracie say "KariMike, an Makayla, Natalie, Grammie Papa."

I look at her. She has her head bowed and hands folded and is praying for them! Tears instantly come to my eyes... until she keeps going.

"An KariMike (FYI Kari and Mike are almost ALWAYS one word kinda like beardoggiebaby, her sleeping companions) "Makayla, Natalie, an Jesus loves me" At this point she kinda starts to sing. "dis I know, da bible tell me soooooooo" I cover my mouth to stifle the laugh. LOVE it!

First Time for Everything

So today, I was driving around getting papers for houses that are for sale. We are starting to look but have not even applied for a home loan. Do not get excited for us yet. We are waiting for a raise to be given and expect a number any day now. But back to the story at hand. I followed a whim and decided to drive around looking for signs and papers to grab. I found this way cute house and decided to grab a paper. I hopped out of the car, closed my door and went for the grab. Wow. 4 bedroom for under $300,000. Sweet. Came back to my door to find it locked, engine running, wipers going, coffee, phone and child inside. Panic. What do I do? I've never done this before. I don't have my phone. I can't even call for help. OK, there's a car in the driveway. Do I knock? What choice do I have? MY CHILD IS LOCKED IN THE CAR!!!! I start to tear up. Here I go.

*knock knock.

He, yes he, (insert a little more panic here) opens the door a crack. "Hello?"

Me (really crying now): "Hi, um, I locked my keys in my car with my daughter and phone in it."

Him: "Oh, OK" (opens door wider) "Come in" I pause "It's OK. Come in, (reaching for his phone) do you have a (slight pause) husband, (more pause) or?" "Yes. Can I call my husband?"

I'm starting to calm down except for the worry of what Steve will think when I tell him. Steve answers and I tell him what's going on. He asks where I am and tells me he's on his way. The guy and I go back outside to check on Grace and he stands and chats with me till Steve arrives to open the van. He was very nice. Found out his wife is expecting in September and he tells me a story about her going to the mall and having "pregnancy brain" and forgetting where she parked the car and how they had to find it. Steve arrived and opened the van, I thank the guy and away we go.

First time in Gracie's life I've locked my keys in the car.

Things I am thankful for:

Grace had crackers and water and isn't an infant who was ready to nurse.

She only cried a little. Mostly she thought it was fun.

The engine was running so it was warm in the van.

It had been raining 10 minutes earlier and wasn't while I stood outside waiting for Steve.

It is not 2 weeks from now and Steve was at work, not in Georgia.

Steve had his van key on him and didn't have to stop at our house to get it.

The guy was home, and nice.

I wonder if this means we have to buy their house now? :)

White Chocolate Mocha

She forgets the peppermint. It's actually a white chocolate peppermint mocha. But she knows it. "White chocoate mocha" "Yes Grace, momma gets a white chocolate mocha." "I wan some?" She phrases it like a question, like maybe this time I will give her a sip. "No, Gracie. This is mommy's coffee. Coffee's yucky remember?" She even started yelling it while we were waiting in line at a coffee cart in Children's hospital. Over, and over and over. All I could do was smile and say "bet ya'll can't guess what mommy gets at the coffee stand can you?" No matter what I did she wouldn't stop saying it. She has gotten so good at remembering what kind of coffee I get that even if I make a pot at home she thinks I'm making a white chocolate mocha. Maybe I should switch it up a bit and get something else once in awhile.

Maybe not.

Jesus Loves Me

I am now the owner of a two year old. She turned two on Monday. We had Mops on Thursday. For whatever reason I was not prepared for her to move up to the 2's class so soon. I struggled and wined to the kids life workers, fought back tears and put her in class, she screamed. She was on my mind the whole meeting. I knew in my head she'd be fine and if she really needed me they would page me but the mom heart is a hard thing to convince and prone to worry. I'm in charge of setting up and tearing down before the meetings so Grace is typically one of the last to be picked up from class. On my last run to the storage closet I ran into one of her teachers, yes, most teachers even leave before I can pick her up. She reassured me that Gracie had lots of fun and did great! She colored, ate her lunch and had a blast running around and climbing on the toys. Gracie and I were sitting at the breakfast table Friday when she noticed a coloring page she had colored at Mops. She pointed at it and said "my colors!" Nothing new, I've heard that a lot from her in the last few weeks. Everything is "Mine!" or "My turn!" (Can you tell she's two yet?) So I didn't really pay much attention to it. Then she said "My colors. Jesus loves me". *sigh* OK, she can stay in the big kid class.