Guilty

Kelly's Korner is a blog I read on a daily basis.  I have no idea who the woman is or how I even found her blog SO long ago but I just love reading her blog.  She is a Christian, a mommy, a wife, a witty southern woman, and her blog is real.  It's real life.  She doesn't sugar coat her frustrating day with two toddlers or her feelings of inferiority of the momma's that have it all together.  She is real.  She posted a blog titled Words today and it hit me like a ton of bricks.  We all get in ruts, we all feel inferior, and we all stoop to the level of being negative towards things and negative towards others so her goal for 2013 is to be an encourager.  Instead of competing with others, encourage them.  Instead of having wishful thinking that we were in someone else's situation, encourage them.  I don't usually make new years resolutions, so since it's not New Years I won't call it that, but I too pray that I can encourage others in coming days instead of the other (if that makes sense).

A 2 Year Old and A 1/2 Year Old (haha)

We all say it and I'll say it again, "Where has the time gone?" I can't believe that today my first born turns 2 and my second born turns 6 months!  These two babies seriously bring SO.MUCH.JOY to our lives. 

Braxton

 

He is so sweet and sensitive but every ounce of him is "all boy."  He loves to build, bang, throw, destroy etc.  He knows exactly what you do with a hammer and loves to play with all of daddy's tools, as well as, ride along with daddy on the mower.  He is our little scientist, doing things over and over with such focus.  He could spend hours pouring water from one bucket to another or placing dog food piece by piece into one container only to pour it into another container then to start all over- don't judge, atleast he doesn't eat it right?  He is a momma's boy  through and through.  Don't get me wrong there are definitely times when he would much rather be with his daddy than with me, especially when it has something to do with the outdoors.  The love he has for his sister is precious. They have an amazing bond and love for each other already, seriously never expected this with them being so young.  It is not like anything that I can explain.  As soon as they see each other their eyes light up.  He greets her every morning by squealing/screaming "sister", talks to her in the car, tickles her, lets her slobber all over him, wipes her mouth with her bib as he says "ew, nany (nasty)," takes her hands and "dance" as he would say, etc.  It is the sweetest thing ever. One day she was playing with something that he wanted so he handed her his caprisun and took the toy.  I about died.  Atleast he was being fair right??   He has started helping me do things around the house like unloading the dishwasher.  This sometimes leads to him putting a clean dish in a sink full of dirty dishes or him unloading them way faster than I can put them into the cabinets but I serioulsy love his help and love this time together.  He will also help me do the laundry.  When I go get the dirty clothes from the hampers I give him a couple of pieces to carry and he follows me right to the washer. . His eating is so, so.  Sometimes he has a great appetite and will eat like a horse and some nights he basically goes to bed without dinner--not because we didn't offer it to him but because he literally does not want to eat.  He loves fruits and vegetables most of the time and he has started eating meat again (again, we always offer him some kind of protein but he doesn't eat it well) He has become quite the breakfast lover.  I make a big breakfast every Saturday and Sunday and he will scarf it down!  His talking is coming right along.  He is no longer a child of few words like I used to call him.  He has not stayed silent in days, haha.  He is a big copycat and attempts to say a lot of the things you tell him to AND he has started talking in 2-3 word sentences.  My favorite being one night when I got home, fairly late, from a meeting and he squealed and said "I hold you."  Melts my heart!  He was also very confused about Thanksgiving and some how got the idea that it was "How-ween" but by Friday when we had Thanksgiving with my mom we finally convinced him that it was NOT halloween so he was then walking around shaking his head saying "it not how-ween."    Now don't get me wrong, he still has his own language but I am very impressed with his talking.  He knows two numbers 1 &2, a lot of times he will say them backwards "2-1."  He can also recognize and say 6 letters out of his name.  B-R-A-X-T-O.  This has taken A LOT of practice and I give hubby all of the credit!  He still only knows two shapes: star and circle.  We are working on colors-- he will point out objects that are orange and he picked up the yellow marker and said "ye-wo" but most of the time everything else is blue. He loves trains and airplanes.  We listen for both of these things when we are outside.  If he hears and airplane he immediately screams "airfane" and starts looking for it.  I also catch him trying to sing along to songs.  This boy can't help himself but to dance when he hears music.  We will be out in public and sometimes he stops, perks up really tall, puts his hand to his ear and says "AH!" then starts dancing, cracks me up! He is starting to show more (I use that term lightly because it's only slightly more) interest in the potty.  He will sit down on it and say "I poo poo" but he hasn't ever really used it.  He is showing other signs of getting ready but we are not pushing it until we think he is truly ready.  He has been sleeping in a twin size bed since sometime this summer and he loves it. He likes to put us "night night" and will tell us to "yay down" then covers us up. He is wearing a size 5 diaper, size 7/8 shoe, and 2T clothes.  On our scale he weighs 28 lbs and I have no idea how tall he is. 

 

He truly is a ray of sunshine and makes our lives so much richer!  The last two years have been so amazing and we are so blessed to be his mommy and daddy. 

 

 

Brooklyn

 

My little Brooklyn Leigh.  This little girl is the happiest/smiliest thing ever.  She has her moments but she is usually all smiles.  She loves her momma but she defintely perfers her daddy over her momma to calm her down.  She is taking 5 oz in her bottles every 3-4 hours.  We have been trying solids (baby food) 1-2 times a day consistently for two months and we are just now getting to where she will eat 1-2 tbsp. When she is done, she is done and there is no way of getting her to take anymore. She is still getting up 1-2 times a night and although I am tired, I am going to miss these precious moments with her when she starts sleeping more.  She has started sitting up, although she is not a pro, she is pretty good at it!  She looks so little to me still.  When she was sick she weighed around 15lbs so I assume that is still what she weighs.  She is wearing size 2 diapers and 6-9 month clothes.  She loves the exersaucer-She bounces and jumps and is very intrigued with all of the toys on it.  It makes her so happy to find someone across the room, behind her, etc and she just smiles.  She loves to lay on her changing table and kick her legs over and over and over.  She also loves to be outside.  She is not a paci baby, we have offered and offered and she is to the point now that she won't even latch on to it. She much prefers her hand or fabric (blankets, bibs, etc) over any teether you give her.  She has two bottom teeth.  She is quite the messy bather.  She kicks her legs repeatedly and splashes water everywhere but she has a blast so who cares!   This little girl is SO ticklish.  Literally her whole body is ticklish!  She loves to "talk" and loves to blow raspberries even more.  She loves her brother.  He will walk up to her and she reaches out and puts her hands on his head and a wide open mouth on his cheek/head (where ever it happens to land) and will then scream. 

 

She is such a sweet, happy spirited baby and we have loved every minute of the last 6 months!  Now if the next 6 months would slow down, I would be ok with that!

 

Life

IS SO BUSY!!!!  I really don't think I ever though about how much things would change with two kids but man, it's BUSSSYYYY!!!  I go from sun up to sun down!  It's fun and I would never ever eva' trade it but busy is how I will describe it. Let's see what's going on:

• We had a first this past week- both kids have been sick.  If there is one thing I do not like, it is my kids being sick.  It just breaks my heart (and yes, I am the mom who once broke down bawling (like unable to talk I was crying so hard) in the doctors office because Brax was so sick-- embarassing, I know!)  Anyways, they both woke up Wednesday morning with fever and I can officially say that we are fever free, finally.  I thought that it would never leave us!  Oh, goodness, I won't even describe what my days were like on Wednesday and Thursday.  Let's just say that at one point my hubby told me I looked like a ghost.  Lots of good snuggle time though! 
• Work is still going great!  Teaching is a lot of work...(understatement)... and there is a lot more to the teaching profession than most people think and I think it's easy to get burned (burnt?? haha) out.  I think I was to that point at my old job.  I LOVEDDDDD my co-workers, I mean love love loved them but I think that sometimes we just need a fresh start.  I was so over the commute, so over the extra hours that came along with the commute and I was just burned (burnt??) out, so I have my fresh start!  I am still SOO thankful for this job and the extra amount of time that I get with my family. 
• My oldest baby is about to be TWO.  WOAH! 
• I am so ready for Christmas!!!  I have my gift list going on what I am buying everyone and I have officially started shopping.  I can't wait! 

So, this post was completely random but I am so tired and ready for bed! 

Moments Like These

It was moments like this morning that make me count my blessings and moments like these that convict me of having any selfish thought.  Moments like Brax opening his door at 5:00am ready to get up and play and me wanting to atleast get a few more seconds of sleep.  Hubby got him some milk and put him back in his bed but I heard him say "mommy, mommy."  So I went in and laid with him with no luck on him falling back to sleep so I decided we were getting up for the day!  Brax and I got up and I never thought twice about how nice it would be to still be sleeping.  We played and wrestled and tickled for an hour before Brook woke up.  We chased, cuddled, screamed, snacked, and talked for 2 and a half hours before Daddy made his debut.

It's mornings like these (and many other moments) that litearlly hit me in the face and make me feel so guilty about ever wanting more sleep.  I love my babies and I am so thankful that the Lord trusted me to be their mommy!!!

A Day In the Life Of...

A Day In the Life Of Two Full Time Working Parents With Two Kids Under Two

 

I thought it would be fun to document a typical day in our life right now.  It's busy, it's crazy, it's sometimes chaotic (of most of the time), but it is all so worth it!  This is the outline of a "typical" (if you can say that) day in our life.

• 5:20- My alarm goes off and yes I am a weirdo that jumps right out of bed and gets going.  I don't always like it and I sometimes/most of the time think it's not normal to be as tired as I am but I still jump up! I shower then fix my cup of coffee. 
• 5:35ish-6:00- I get ready.  Hubby's alarm goes off starting at 5:35 and he snoozes a couple of times (I still don't understand why people hit the snooze button but hey it works for him--as his alarm keeps going off I am secretly praying that it does not wake Brax up so I have can continue to get completely ready). I continue to get ready and he will mosey on in the bathroom to get dressed for work.
• 6:00ish- I am dressed and ready for the day, hubby is ready and making his lunch and breakfast as I try to decide whether I need to get Brook up for a bottle or if she is good to go until after she gets to Mrs. D's house.  During this time I usually pack my lunch and put our bottle bag into the car so that I do not have to carry all of that out as I try to wrangle Brax out and carry Brook in the car seat. 
• 6:05- Hubby leaves.  If Brook doesn't need a bottle I enjoy a couple of minutes alone if Brax isn't up.
• 6:10-If Brook needs a bottle, I wake her up, change diaper, get her dressed, and talk and smile with her. Brax is usually up by now.  On rare occassion I have to go wake him up after her bottle. 
• 6:15-6:30- I make Brax a milk cup, sometimes cut him a banana, or get him some other kind of snack.  I am usually still tending to Brook at this point. 
• 6:30-6:45- Get Braxton ready.
• Somewhere between 6:45-6:55 I load the kids up.  Our routine:I get Brook in her seat, I turn the lamp off and tell Brax it's time to go to Mrs. D's, then we say bye bye or night night to Mickey or Bubble Guppies, I pick up sister's carrier and tell Brax to come on, we walk (slowly) to the garage.  Brax usually likes to close the doors.  I put sister in the car then wrangle Brax out of whatever trouble he has gotten himself into (haha, kidding). 
• On the way to Mrs. D's house we have the same conversations about schools and houses and how a school is not a house.  We literally have this conversation everyday. 
• I drop them off between 7:00-7:10 and I am off to work. 
• Work for me is 7:30ish-3:45.  Hubby works 7:00-3:30.
• 3:45- I get off work and head straight to get the kids.  The BEST thing about my new job is that I am so close to home/Mrs. D's house.  I can get to her house to pick them up by 4:00.  If I have an afterschool activity/meeting hubby will pick them  up. 
• 4:15ish- get home.  Fix Brax a snack and a cup of milk or water.  Put sister in the swing for her nap. 
• Usually by 4:45 I am working on dinner.  Sometimes Brook needs a bottle so I start that and hubby starts dinner! 
• Sometimes I will wash bottles and prepare them for the next day while dinner is cooking or I will wash them while Brax is in his highchair finishing his dinner. 
• We are eating dinner usually by 5:30.  This is a big deal for us and we eat dinner together EVERY night at the kitchen table.  Before we had Brax hubby and I would eat in the living room, etc haha... but once Brax started eating food we changed that! 
• 5:45-7:00 is play time.  We play outside if it's nice, we play in the playroom, in Brax's room, or in Brook's room, or sometimes all of the above. 
• 7:00ish, sometimes a little later, we start baths.  Usually we give the kids baths at the same time, one of us will bathe Brook while the other one bathes Brax.  This doesn't take as long as when I am doing it by myself (this only happens if hubby is not home for some reason).  If I am alone I put Brax in the tub and let him play while I bathe Brook then I put her in the bouncer and bathe/play with Brax.  This takes me like 30 minutes but I enjoy it!!! 
• 7:30-8:00 Hang out/cuddle with the babies. 
• 8:00 Prayers and bed for Brax.
• Between 8:00-9:00 Brook will take a night night bottle and go to bed. 
• To be honest, once Brook is in bed, I rarely stay up- maybe that's why I can bounce out of bed in the morning, haha. 

Anyways, this is a day in the life of.  I mainly included what I do but hubby does do a lot!!!  He is a good wrangler (haha and wrangles Brax while I get stuff done) or sometimes just takes over and let's me go somewhere alone!!!!  Love him!

I know I have been missing...

I know I have been missing for a while, actually a LONNGGG time so this could be a long post!  I do not even know where to start......

• Work- it's been an adjustment but a good one so far.  I am still learning the ropes of the new school and new district it's definitely very different but so far so good.  I loved the people that I worked with at Townley and I miss them dearly but then I remember that I am getting SO much more time with my babies, so much more time in the evenings, I get to sleep a little later and so do the babies, and my favorite thing is that the babies get to stay up later which means we get a lot more time with them every night (this happens to be my most favortist time ever)!  I was very nervous to switch schools, I was so comfortable at my old school and SO comfortable with all of my co-workers but everything has just kind of fallen into place. 
• Our family- To say that we were surprised when we first found out we were going to be a family of four is an understatement.  I think back tonight about how nervous I was, how anxious I was, and how I just didn't know how this was all going to work and I feel so silly...actually STUPID for ever feeling these things.  We are so in love with our babies and love being a family of four.  Sure things take a little more planning, like usually we get two separate babysitters if we are going to be gone a long time or over night because two under two is just a lot to handle for one person that is not used to it, getting ready to go anywhere takes longer, screaming kids are inevitable, things can be wayyyy more chaotic- but thankfully we have learned to just take it in stride. 
• Brooklyn is now three and a half months, yes time flies, and she is just thriving!  After we figured out the reflux issue and everything is under control she transformed into the sweetest, smiliest, little girl.  She smiles at everyone and gets so excited when people walk up to her or talk to her.  She has giggled some.  Daddy is better at getting her to laugh then mommy is but I have been able to get a couple of giggles.  She is still waking up once at night but that is ok because that is our special time and I rarely ask daddy to get up because I know I am going to miss those sweet middle of the night smiles that I get when I go to pick her up out of her crib.  I have no idea how much she weighs but this little girl has filled out.  I know that she has not "chunked up" as fast as Brax did and she still is not eating as much as he did by this point so I imagine that she will be smaller than he is.  She is literally growing up so fast and we are making sure to enjoy every tiny second of it.  Goodness, we literally could not imagine our family without our sweet girl and we are so thankful that the Lord had her in our plans!
• Brax, oh Brax.  He is still our very active boy, but very sensitive little guy.  He is into everything and has such a personality but he is super sensitive and very attached to his mommy (as he calls me now) and daddy.  He can be very strong willed but we continue to push through this phase.  He is talking so much more lately.  Some things are probably not understood by the outside world but we know what he is saying.  He is starting to put two words together and is still in LOVE with animals.  He is now in a twin bed and for the most part has done great.  He never tried to escape his crib once we converted it into a toddler bed so I knew that this wouldn't be too big of an adjustment.  His room is right next to ours so usually I jump up when I hear his door open but there have been a couple of times that he wakes me up when he is standing at the side of my bed saying "up up."  He LOOVVVESSSS his sister.  I really do not know how to explain this love but man it melts my heart.  If I had to guess, on average he kisses her 25-30 times a day for no reason.  These are kisses that he just walks up and gives her not ones that we tell him to give her.  In daddy's truck the car seats are right next to each other and he always leans over and says "sissy sissy sissy" over and over.  He still isn't quite sure why she won't give him a high five as he stands there so patiently with his hand up for what seems like forever (haha).  He has started taking attendance ALL the time- he goes through the whole family over and over.. mommy, daddy, sisssy and sometimes throws in his child care lady "nonna" (Donna).... or every man that he sees is "Papa"... anyways, yes attendance is taken several times a day.  He can say both of his cousins names "Pey Pey" for Peyton and he will call Madelyn "Maddy May."  His appetite is starting to come back, I think.  Some nights he eats like a horse and some nights I just know he has got to be starving but he refuses to eat. 

I am sure there is so much more I could write about but I am literally falling asleep so I am going to gladly go to bed even if it only 850!

I am so behind!

OOPS

Sorry this is sideways and she looks a little stunned.  OOPS

Brother got a big boy bed. 

I know I have been MIA for like four weeks but there is SO much going on and life with two babies is very busy!!!!  All I have for you today is a few pictures.