End-of-week Randoms

~ It's Friday ya'll and I've had a great but busy week.

~ Since my mom is here now, we have been on.the.go all week! It's amazing how many places I can go now because I have help.

~ I took 2 large, full laundry baskets (along with a full one of my mom's clothes) to Plato's Closet and Clothes Mentor. Plato's Closet didn't take a SINGLE item. They told me that they were "outdated." Of course that made me feel kinda lame, but at the same time, it's a testament to my life. I just haven't shopped for myself in a long time. I think it's time.

~ Speaking of clothes, I have no idea what's "in" right now.

~ I saw the most BEE-utiful engagement ring today. It was so unexpected, but gorgeous. It looked something like this:

The girl wearing it had the most gorgeous pale skin, dark hair and her nails were perfectly manicured to match the ring. I had to compliment her. Seriously stunning.

~ I am slightly worried about my to-do list for Harper's birthday party. It's on Saturday and there is SO much I want to get done in the house.

~ I know that no one will care much about these things that I want to get done, but I use birthday parties and get-togethers as timelines to help motivate me. I feel like a crazy for doing this, but it just helps me get it done.

~ We took our first visit to Costco today. I'm in love.


~ There may be a position opening up for a K-9 officer at the Police Dept. For some of you EARLY followers, you may remember that this is something my hubby has always wanted to do. It is in the early stages and nothing is official, but if the position opens, he will put in for it. This means I will have either 2 German Shepherds or a German and Belgian Malinios in my house.

Yeah, it's pretty awesome. I have to admit. Along with it, however, will come a totally new schedule and lifestyle. The schedule will be even more unmanageable. He will be on call a lot and there will be travel involved.

~ Changes are usually fun, but I feel like we've had so many in the last year. Sometimes I want to hit the pause button and take a breather. Things need to slooooow dowwwn a little bit.

I can barely keep my eyes open, so I think I'll go for now.

Have a great weekend!!

Spring into change

The gorgeous weather lately has had me all kinds of motivated. I've been motivated to do everything.

Cook.

Clean.

Try new activities with the kids.

Shop. (quite limited here :)

Get outside.

Make the house a home.

Party plan.

Craft.

It's fun to have motivation to do all of these things, but as we moms know, there just aren't enough hours in the day. So what do we do? We focus one what we can, when we can. One thing suffers so that we can get another thing done and so on and so on.

I convinced hubby to try something I've been wanting to do forever. Here's a hint. It's SO hard to figure out what we've done:)

(Blurry night photo. Best I've got.)


I'm so thrilled with the result and I will share pics as soon as I can take a daylight photo.

It seems like it takes three times as long to get a project done as it used to. I am busy trying to entertain/keep babies happy while Jimmy does most of the work. He can only work so much when he is always sleep deprived, so we do what we can. Our house is a complete wreck and I would be mortified if anyone came over, but we have a pretty hallway to show for it!

The babies have been pretty good the last few days. Hollin decided to have her worst meltdown ever today and I think it may be because she didn't feel well.

(You'd think I would've learned to remove my knee from baby photos.)

She cried for at least 30 minutes, if not more. I did let her cry it out. I picked her up after I couldn't take it anymore and she fell asleep. Oh and Harper was saying, "Mama outside, mama, mama, MAMA!!!" the whole time she was screaming. It was fun.


So, that is life right now. I feel like I am in a constant state of "overwhelmed" since Hollin was born, but things are constantly changing and babies keep growing. I try to adapt as best I can. Some days I think I rock at this whole mom-of-two thing and then some days, not so much. I'm trying to soak in all of these little moments. Even the screaming infant, the demanding preschooler, the dog that needs to be let out at the most inconvenient times and the teeny changes that we make to our home when we can find the time. Maybe even the balls of dog hair I can see under my bed and in corners of the house. Mixed with dried chunks of play-doh.

There are so many changes happening here and it's all (mostly) fun. My mom is moving here permanently next week. More on that here. I'm planning for Harper's 3rd birthday party, Easter, preparing for construction to begin and trying to make my house presentable for all of the above. I may even try to throw in a pool party some time this year. I wish I could invite every single one of you!

I'm not going to flatter myself with thinking that I have a ton of readers, but what are you changing/looking forward to?

Happy Friday,

Hollin is 4 months old!

Mommy can't believe it's been 4 months since you joined our family!

You are one sweet, silly little girl.

Right now you are wearing size 1 diapers and are mostly formula fed. Mommy is really sad about this, but when she got sick a few weeks ago, she went a few days without being able to feed you or pump. You don't mind formula and you are taking LOTS of it these days!

You are still taking 4 ounces at each feeding, but there have been a few times when mommy had to make you another 2 ounces.

You like your milk to come out fast! You breezed right past size 2 and size 3 nipples and prefer a size 4!

You take several naps a day. One in the morning, lunch time, afternoon, sometimes an evening nap and then you are definitely out for the night between 7:30-8pm.

You love to watch cartoons and your eyes get really big when you see all of the movement and colors.


Mommy isn't sure how much you weigh or how tall you are, but you have a Dr. appointment next week!

You always want to see what's going on and get very fussy if you are not paid attention to.


You have started waking up at least twice a night with the hungries. It's usually sometime between 2:30am-3:30am and again at 5:30am. Sometimes if mommy can't make your bottle fast enough, you'll cry a little too loud and wake up Harper :(

Mommy is going to try you on rice cereal before bed to see if that helps.

You LOVE attention. This morning at Target, you gave the sweetest smiles to a husband and wife that were probably grandparents. You both mutually enjoyed that little visit.

Your brother really loves you and doesn't mind hanging out with you a little bit.

(This was brother's post-nap diaper, pre-underwear switch.)

You love to coo and try to copy noises that mommy and daddy make at you.

When your brother gets a little rowdy and gets Maya rowdy with him, you will watch and scream at them. Mommy and daddy can't tell if you are scolding or encouraging :)

Gone are the days of floaty feet in the tub. You kick and squirm until you wear yourself out and then you will fall asleep after mommy gets you dressed.


You will not take any other paci except your MAM paci.

You always like to wrap your arms around my arm when I offer your paci or bottle. Mommy loves these little hugs :)



You are so happy and loving. Mommy, Daddy and Harper love you so much!

Today

Today has been a WONDERFUL day! So wonderful that I get all giddy just thinking about it and hoping it continues.

My day started around 6am when Hollin woke up hungry. She must have woken Harper because he came barrelling down the hallway and jumped in our bed. Maya just so happened to be there, so I caught a few sweet moments with my babies and baby-like dog.


(Spit-up queen.)

I sat down at breakfast this morning and wrote a schedule out for us to follow. We were doing really well until Harper decided he didn't want to take a nap today. Even still, it's been a good one.

He's been so helpful!

And so funny. Here is he telling one of the Preschool girls that he loves her on his kitchen phone... Oh dear.

I asked him if he was cooking her dinner and he said yes.


I'm sure she won't be too interested after mommy shows her what Harper likes to do when no one's looking.


Mommy will be saving these photos :)

Happy Thursday!

Valentine's Day 2012

I've had a great Valentine's Day, all things considered. My hubby is working tonight to keep everyone safe, but he was VERY thoughtful and had a Willow Tree figurine and a sweet card waiting for me downstairs this morning.

He claims that Hollin and I are seen like this a lot :)

My sweet littlest Valentine has been spending some time in her Bumbo. Her expression cracks me up.


So has my bigger Valentine.


Hollin grabbed her rings for the first time today!


She also took one of her first "official" naps in her crib today. She has slept in there before, but just for very short time periods. I am trying very hard to get her on a schedule, but it's just been really hard with everything that we've had going on since she was born. I tried to be clever and sneak some cute pics, but they didn't turn out all that great.




I had intentions of doing a Valentine's Day "photo shoot" with the babies, but I've just had a rough day. No further details. Maybe I'll do it tomorrow.

So, no special dinner or movie night out for us. This is the life we live now. I have no complaints:)

Happy Valentine's Day!

Just life

I love times in my life that are like this. Slow and easy-going. Believe me, there is plenty to do but both of my little ones demand so much of my attention that I usually can't get more than a load of laundry done a day. I've just started giving in :)
Today was one of Jimmy's days off so we bundled up the babies and took a walk around the park at the beach. Here is Hollin searching for her paci :)

Everything was going great until we stopped for lunch. I have moments where I envision all four of us going out together and then sitting down for a nice lunch before we go home and get started with the daily grind. I was talking to my mom today about this stage of life that I'm in. I want so badly to take my kiddos somewhere and to have a good time, but nine times out of ten, it ends up being a really stressful experience.

Harper was into everything and we had to scarf down our food. He had a haircut scheduled for 2pm, so we left the restaurant and headed to the salon. He had a complete meltdown and we had to leave without the haircut.
Yes, it was stressful and embarassing, but I can't be too angry. He usually naps from noon until two and if I don't keep him on schedule, I have his attitude to deal with. After a nice nap, he was a much happier little boy!

Back to my point. This winter has been SO mild and we've been taking a lot of walks and spending time outside.

(Harper was a little sick here.)
We've been relaxing..

and playing around with the fireplace even though it's not really been all that cold.


I hope to start getting a few more things done around here as the babies will allow :) Harper's room is the closest to being "done", so I hope to share pictures soon.

Happy Tuesday!

Hollin is 3 months old!

Mommy is running a few days late on this update because she couldn't find your monthly onesie stickers. She gave it 2 days of solid-effort searching and then ordered some more. About an hour after she did, daddy came strolling in with them. They had been forgotten in the toolbox of his truck when we moved.

Mommy went ahead and took your photos, but she will take some more with your 3 month sticker tomorrow.

(And here they are! Mommy couldn't get you to smile..)




You were officially 3 months old on January 31st!


You are getting to be such a big girl!

You are great at supporting your head and you still love to be held, but you aren't as frantic about it lately :)

Mommy thinks you weigh just over 12 pounds. You have grown out of several of your 3 month onesies, like this one..

and it makes her sad. She picked up a few new ones for you at Target yesterday though. You are still way too tiny for your 6 month onesies.

Daddy made you laugh out loud for the first time yesterday! I have a video on the Ipad, but I can't upload it on the blog :(

You have also been saying "ah-goo" in the last few days. You make such a sweet face when you say it.


A lot of times when you smile, you keep your tongue at the roof of your mouth for a moment and then make a little "click" sound when you let it down. Mommy thinks everything you do is precious.


Even when you fall out of your pose.


Mommy thought it would be fun for you to take a picture with the first doll (and toy for that matter) she bought you. When she looked back through the pictures, she realized that you two look a little bit alike.


The colic you had a few weeks ago seems to be gone now and you are a much happier baby.

You are getting more formula than mommy would like, but she is still nursing as she can.

You love to hold on to mommy's fingers and hands when she feeds you a bottle.

You are most definitely sleeping through the night! You've grown out of your newborn sleep sack, but you like to sleep swaddled in your Aden and Anais blanket. You don't seem to be too picky anymore and will usually fall asleep swaddled or not.

You have not spent a single night in your nursery, but mommy is ok with that. She just isn't ready yet :)


You still hate getting dressed.

Mommy realized that she doesn't have you on a somewhat predictable schedule. She will start working on that this week.

You light up whenever you see daddy or I and you are starting to smile a lot when you see your big brother. He always says he loves you as part of his nighttime prayers.

In contrast to last month, we have definitely mastered the Moby Wrap and you LOVE it!

You've started making precious squeaky noises. My mom taught you how to stick your tongue out and you always do it when she is around :)

Mommy loves dressing you every day. She never thought she would have this much fun with such little clothes.

Maya loves you and has to check on you every time we do your monthly updates.


Mommy and Daddy love watching you grow every day. We enjoy seeing your personality come out and spend a lot of time just taking you in.

We love you so much!