Madly

November 5-6th was one of the best weekends of my life!

Thanks to all of Andrew's dedication at work, he and a small handful of other Haselden employees were awarded a day off of work and a weekend getaway to any Colorado destination. Yeah! Two weeks beforehand, my hubby, who knows me so well, sent me a suprise email detailing a plan for a getaway that was sure to please...and spoil me big-time! It went something like this:

Your mom will be flying from Utah to watch our little guys for a few days.

By this time, her itinerary was already set!

We'll wake up early on Friday and eat breakfast in old downtown Littleton.

For those of you who don't know, I LOVE going out to breakfast! I think I like it more than eating out for dinner. I also love downtown Littleton; it's an older part of town that's so charming.

After breakfast, we'll head to Denver and shop the 16th street mall.

What girl doesn't love to shop? Especially in the city, and especially when it doesn't put any holes in my wallet!? :)

We'll eat lunch downtown, and then we're scheduled to have spa treatments at the Brown Palace Hotel in the afternoon...Couples pedicures and massage!

In the evening, we have reservations to eat dinner at the Palace Arms restaurant at the Brown Palace Hotel. This part of the email is about where my jaw dropped. It's such a treat to eat there!

We'll stay the night in one of the Top of the Brown rooms of the hotel for the night. This hotel is a treasured piece of Colorado history. I couldn't wait to experience staying there!

After breakfast, we'll drive back to Littleton and go to the Denver Temple together. What a perfect way to end a trip.

Well I'll tell you, the weekend went almost exactly as my sweetheart planned it. As promised, my amazing mother arrived on Thursday afternoon to watch our boys. Since I'm still nursing Russell, I was a little nervous to leave him at the time. Now looking back on the experience, I'm a little embarrassed that I was! I should've known--both he and Taylor were well cared-for and thoroughly spoiled by Nanny while we were away (Taylor was actually a little annoyed when Andrew and I came home on Saturday)!

Andrew and I discovered a fab restaurant in Littleton for our breakfast beginning--a new favorite, I must say--called "Cafe Terracotta" (can't wait to go again!). We had a blast poking around the cool R.E.I. downtown and shopping the 16th street mall for new clothes for Andrew and fun jewelry for me. It felt like we went to heaven and back while we were pampered at the Brown Palace spa and the Palace Arms restaurant. On-and-off through the weekend, I envisioned myself as Jane Seymour in the movie "Somewhere in Time..." I was at a gorgeous historic hotel spending a dream weekend with the perfect man--who I am madly in-love with! Going to the temple on Saturday morning was the perfect way to end it too; it brought all my good feelings and reflections from the day before into one perfect focus. I am so blessed.

I love you, Andrew!

Happy Halloween!

We had a blast celebrating Halloween this year throughout October! At the beginning of the month, I had fun taking fall pictures with my new SLR camera, as our good friends Eric and Alison Steadman invited us to join them at the Chatfield Botanical Gardens' pumpkin patch nearby our home. It was such a perfectly beautiful day!

My mom, (aka "Nanny") gave Taylor an adorable little horse costume this year. Living in Denver, the already super-cute Taylor/horse ensemble got even better when friends nicknamed him "Little Bronco" on the several occasions that he wore it: at a party with friends in Lakewood, at our our ward/Chatfield Ward/Ken Caryl Ward combined trunk-or-treating party, and for a little bit of trick-or-treating to some neighbors on Halloween night.

It didn't take long for my two year-old to figure out how easy and fun it was to load his green "monster bag" full of goodies. Every time Little Bronco went on him, phrases like "I get more canny!", "my mon-ser bag?", and "my turn!" came pouring out of his mouth. I found myself giggling tons during trick-or-treating as I watched him plaster his face in the doorjams of darkened houses calling out his version of "Trick-or-Treat," saying: "Halloween...HALLOWEE-EEEN!" only to learn the hard way that not ALL front doors are willing to open to trick-or-treaters on Halloween night. Ha ha...he was such a cutie!

My cousins Cade, Dillon, and Paige Mercer trick-or-treating with Taylor to homes in our grandparents' neighborhood

So happy that the house across Grandma's street was giving out HOT DOGS to trick-or-treaters! Taylor wasted no time devouring his.

Taylor trunk-or-treating with "Big Monster" and his brother, "Little Monster."

Coal Mine Ward missionaries getting in on the candy

Choosing an October pumpkin at the pumpkin patch with the Steadmans

My big boy exploring the corn stalks with his daddy

Eric pulling the boys, Ashton and Taylor, in their family's new Radio Flyer--purchased just for this occasion!

Trick-or-treating. There's no time for chit-chat with Mommy here...he's a little man on a mission!

Ode to Motherhood

I think it's no mystery what's been keeping me busy over the past three months and beyond: it's this sweet little guy, and his cute older counterpart, both whom I adore with all my heart.

I am so blessed to be the mother of two such perfect little boys. I know it. But I feel so guilty, because my "job" often leaves me feeling more depressed than happy! I don't know why...

Maybe it's because motherhood isn't all that glamorous. Take a peek into an average day in the life of Tiffany Norris and you will find a routine that goes something like this: Wake up early. Feed Russell. Change diaper. Wake up again. Feed Russell again. Change diaper again. Get myself dressed. Get Russell dressed. Change diaper again. Get Taylor dressed. Change Taylor's diaper. Feed both babies. Make beds. Change laundry. Do dishes. Clean up baby poop or breakfast spills or other daily surprise. Play cars with Taylor. Read books. Change diapers. Feed both babies again. Change diapers again....I think I've painted the picture. It's mundane to be sure, but I also know that if overnight I could become Oprah Winfrey or Carrie Underwood or someone else completely glamorous instead of being "Mommy," I wouldn't do it! So maybe it's not the glamor thing. Maybe I struggle to mother two little ones because of those "daily surprises" that I mentioned; the moments like these:

or these.

Wow, just remembering the high-energy moments makes me have to breathe in and out a little more! Talk about crazy! So that must be part of it.

To all you mothers out there who have managed before me, and especially to those of you who are mothers to several children and still haven't given any of them to the gypsies...I admire and respect you dearly! This is so much harder than I thought it would be! Keeping a clean house and keeping everyone clothed and clean and fed are super tough, let alone trying to manage making time for exercise, scripture study, BLOGGING, scrapbooking, home projects, or just ME time (is there such a thing?).

If it weren't for a merciful Father in Heaven, I think I'd be on the fast track to muumuu land from eating comfort sugar 24/7. He helps me to cope by blessing me with moments like these:

Seeing Taylor insist on wearing star sunglasses,

or watching him learn to set the table,

or walk "like a lion,"

or hearing Russell laugh.

Those sweet moments remind me where my children came from, and more importantly, that they really aren't my children; they're His. Blessed, blessed am I to be given the great stewardship of being their mother.

I just wish it could be a little easier some days. :)

Another Son

Russell Macfarlane Norris
Born May 23, 2010 5:14am
7 lbs 4 oz
20 in



One Happy Mother


Mom and Dad with baby Russell


Taylor loves his little brother

Teaching Swimming!

Living in the Denver area has its perks...almost every neighborhood around here has its own pool! Fortunately for me, our new neighborhood in Littleton isn't an exception. Even with another little one coming along in just a few weeks, I've decided to take advantage of our situation and teach swim lessons again during July and August. I'm hoping to get a little better business out of it this year than I did last, so I thought I'd be ambitious and make a separate blog to advertise. Check it out!:

http://swimwithtiff.blogspot.com/

Hopefully my chubby preggo belly will be mostly gone by the time my first lessons begin. Should be fun! :)

Hooray!

My fabulous husband took our iMac to the Apple store today and we discovered the few small kinks that have been keeping me from being able to upload photos and videos to this blog. Thanks to him and "Jon the Genius," our blog is saved! (And not a moment too soon...baby #2 will be here in three weeks or less. I'd hate to miss blogging about that!)

With great pleasure, I will now share with you some of the fun that our family has been having over March and April:
We celebrated our fourth anniversary by treating ourselves to an incredible restaurant in downtown Denver, called "The Oceanaire." It was Andrew's first experience with lobster! Delicious.

As part of prep for his new baby brother or sister, we asked Taylor to graduate to a "big boy" bed.

(Holy cow, talk about stressful on his mommy!) We hoped to ease the transition by surprising him with new car bed sheets and a Lightning McQueen bed pillow--gifts that he enjoyed. Training Taylor to sleep in a different bed was something of a nightmare, but after one horrible week of dealing with a nasty toddler and poor sleep for everyone, he adjusted. And now, after an entire month of sleeping in the new bed, Taylor completely associates it with as much comfort at bedtime as he did with his crib. I am so grateful...that'll be one less thing to worry about when the time comes to put two kids into one bedroom!

We celebrated General Conference/Easter weekend just the three of us...even my grandparents and aunt and uncle's family were out of town. It made for fun memories: we took Taylor to a neighborhood Easter egg hunt, and I made a nice homemade cinnamon roll (yeah, you read that right! ) breakfast. Having General Conference as part of our Easter made it great too.

I canned for the first time! When strawberries went on sale out here for $1.00/lb., a gal in my ward invited me to her home to learn how to can sugar-free strawberry jam. It was a time-consuming process, but surprisingly simple...and it'll save me money over time for sure (with the cost of jars, I ended-up spending about $1.80 per pint of jam--not too shabby, especially for sugar-free!). When peach season comes, I think I'll take a stab at this again and can fresh peach slices for my kids.

Taylor playing outside

Baby Bump

I'm having a hard time getting pictures online--but I got lucky today!

Here's me showing off my "baby bump" for the first time this pregnancy. This picture was taken early last week, when I was 31 weeks along. Since I'm scheduled to be induced on May 28th, that means that at most, I have only seven more weeks to go! Two kids? I don't feel ready for this...

Back from the Dead!

To all of you who either let out a courtesy laugh or a sigh of frustration when checking this blog over the past nine months, I send my sincere apologies (especially to my sister Mindi, who candidly reminded me at Christmas time what a pain-in-the neck blogger I've been!)

It's been so long since I've posted now, I'm sure that many of you have chosen to spare yourselves the agony of checking this blog and have given up on me altogether. Well I have news for you: Happy days are here again. I am back from the dead!

August 2009- March 2010 Recap

Mildly put, let's just say that 2009 was NOT my year for journaling! I have some serious repenting to do.

Many of you have kept tabs with us and know what we've been up to, but for those of you who haven't, here's a run-through of what August 2009-March 2010 brought our way:

August 2009: I enjoyed teaching swim lessons to good friends in our neighborhood and watching little Jonathan (my good friend, MariLouise's little boy) a couple times each week. We had a blast joining my family in Grand Lake, CO for a short mountain vacation. And Andrew got his long-time wish: owning an iPhone! I'm sure anyone who has seen him with it would agree with me...it's definitely his favorite toy.

September 2009:Andrew and I took Taylor into the mountains for a small Labor Day getaway in Evergreen. We stayed at a cute bed & breakfast there and hiked nearby the next day. Later in the month when I began feeling sick, we learned that we were expecting again!

October 2009: Unfortunately, life during this month mostly revolved around my extreme morning sickness. For starters, I sadly had to stop watching Jonathan during the week. It was a real bummer for Taylor especially. Andrew's parents came for a long weekend to visit, and after seeing how sick I was, his mom stayed longer than planned to help take care of us. Later, my mom drove from Utah and stayed for a week to help too! Andrew managed to celebrate Halloween a little by dressing Taylor up in a cute dragon outfit, thank goodness. Here are pictures to prove it!

November 2009: More extreme morning sickness for me, not to mention wife/mom-sickness for Andrew and Taylor too. It was rough on all of us. Continuing October's trend, There were several unplanned trips to the doctor and many prescriptions filled, a suffering husband and son, and sleepless nights for everyone. Whew! I'm now SO glad that part of pregnancy is over (it only took 5 1/2 months--ha!). Thank you, thank you, thank you, to the handfuls of friends and family who came to our aid while I was sick. I don't know how we would've managed without you!

With the help of Jeff and Donna (my aunt and uncle who live here in Denver), our fam drove to Utah for Thanksgiving. Andrew had fun running the "Turkey Trot" in Orem with Larz, Kyle, Devin, and Uncle Mitch that day. We were spoiled when we celebrated a little Macfarlane family Christmas while there too!

December 2009: Morning sickness tapered down to a manageable degree, and our family flew to Alabama for Christmas. We stayed for a full ten days! As we generally travel south only once or twice a year, this was a real treat for us. We felt especially honored to be with family in the Birmingham Temple a few days before Christmas, when Cindy and Cameron (Andrew's sister) were sealed to their newly adopted son, Davis.

We also invested $700 in a "new" 1984 Toyota Tercel this month. Big step for us...ownership of two cars!

January 2010: Began packing for another move. We felt happy to find a slightly larger place to make room for baby that was also closer to Jeff and Donna and my grandparents, and better yet, to Andrew's work in Golden too.

We had the "big" 20-week ultrasound for our baby at the beginning of the month. We've decided to make the baby's gender a surprise this time. So if you think you know if it's a boy or a girl from looking at these pictures, keep your guesses to yourself! :)

February 2010: Moved. Again. It was tiring process! When we felt moved-in, we had fun painting walls and hanging curtains for our first time (ever). The place really feels like home to us now. Please come visit us any time at our townhouse in Littleton!

I hate to even mention it--our "Champ" Toyota totally died. I'm still feeling the pain! :(

We also celebrated my birthday on the 21st...Andrew surprised me with a date to the Cheesecake Factory and a movie night at home without Taylor, and family came over to share cake with us the following day. I made great memories.

A week after my birthday, my mom had a hemorrhagic stroke. Yes, my mom. She's only 46! It was a scary thing for the whole family to say the least. Taylor and I flew to Utah to help take care of her and housekeep for a week after she left the hospital. We hear that she's doing a lot better now, although she still has a long road ahead of her. We feel SO grateful that her prognosis improved from very grim at first to predictions of a full recovery now. We love you, Mom! Get well soon!

March 2010: Our home feels put together now. Life has finally slowed down a little too (does it ever totally slow down though?!). Poor Taylor, who had to put up with a sick mom and a crazy move for so many months, is getting to go outside much more regularly now. I'm so sorry, Sweet Little Boy!

Andrew and I are going to celebrate our 4th wedding anniversary on the 25th. Wow. I am married to the best man in the world. Each year, I have to pinch myself that I got so lucky. Thank you, Sweetheart for choosing to share of this crazy life of mine with me--forever! I'm so grateful you did.

Well if you are still reading this, there must be hope for me and the future of this blog. I hope you'll check back again soon and see what's going on in the eventful lives of these Norrises! I promise to update more often than every nine months. :) Bye for now!