McWane Morning

We spent the morning at the Mcwane
Center with one if C's friends from school. Caroline always talked about "Coco" last year so it's always a fun treat to see him outside of school. This year he isn't in her class but I'm sure there will be lots of fun playdates to come! It looks like we have a little flirt on our hands...she spent the morning hugging and kissing him!

Again...all iPhone pics.

Pump It Up

This time next week, Caroline will be finishing up her first day of school! We have a fun week planned to celebrate the last week of "summer." Today we went to Pump It Up with some of our favorite friends! It was so fun. C had never been before, but we will back for sure! After we jumped and played we had lunch at Chick-fil-a. Stay tuned for more fun last week adventures!!

Sorry for the blurry iPhone pics...I couldn't keep her still!!!

More of the things she says...

Caroline just says the funniest things everyday and I want to be sure I have them down!

• While looking for her basketball she says to Ann Parker: "Where's the basketball baby.  Speak baby."
• After using a sleeping Daisy for a drum, "Dog is scared."
• Adam got home late one evening and so he was eating dinner after all of us had finished.  Caroline kept pointing to something on his plate and was getting so mad that we didn't understand.  Adam said, "I don't know what you want Caroline.  Use your words."  Still pointing to his food, she replied, "Get in my mouth."
• I like nak! (I like to be naked)
• Change the baby.  PPPPPUUUUUUUUUU!!!! 
• She calls paci's "pi's." 
• She just started calling AP "sista."  It's adorable.

We can't wait to hear more of the cute and sweet things she says!

Bubbles

This little girl sure loves to blow bubbles!

4 Month Check Up

Ann Parker had her 4 month check up today.  She got 2 shots and one oral vaccine.  She was such a little trooper and only cried for a minute.  I just hate when they have to get shots!! 


Waiting for Dr. Wilson.  C insisted that Mickey get a check up as well!

Caroline doing her new cheese pose - arms up!  She wanted her picture taken as well.

We had to take one of Mickey.

 Sweet little girl!

This is how she really felt about the shots!

Big sister checking out her own boo boo's.

Ann Parker looked great!  Dr. Wilson said she was perfectly healthy.  She weighed 11 lb. 4 oz. (5%),  was 24 1/4 in. long (50%), and her head was 15 1/2 in. (25%).  We got the go ahead to start solid foods, but like I said we will probably wait another month or so.  We are so thankful for a healthy little girl!

2 1/4 Years Old

I was going to wait and do a 2 1/2 year post, but so much has changed since she turned 2 that I thought I would do one now as well!!

Caroline at 2 1/4 years old

Caroline is such a little stinker these days!!  She is busy, busy and into everything.  Her favorite things to do are puzzles, color, play with stickers, anything outside, jump, read, and watch Mickey - although she's almost equally into Backyardigans these days.  Her favorite book is Madeline.  Oh this girl loves to read!!  We have so many books out each day and she'll just look through every single one.  I hope she always loves to read this much!

She knows several shapes, all her colors, all the numbers and can count to 12 unassisted, and lots of animals.  Her vocabulary seriously grows every day.  We were watching a movie yesterday and she said, "Rescue Minnie?"  They didn't say that word in the movie, she was asking if they were going to rescue her.  How does she know what 'rescue' means?  Smartie pants!  Caroline likes to tell what everything is as she sees it.  Our car ride often goes like this, "The black car.  The tree. The house. The tree.  The tree. The road. The house. The white car. The sun...." She will often do that until we get to our destination, no matter how far away that is. 

She starts school in a couple of weeks and she is excited!!  I asked who was going to be in her class and she said, "Mickey, Minnie, Trey (one of our friends)."  Yesterday she said, "Sydney (possibly yes) and Papa (definitely not)." I know that she is going to love school.  She will be going 3 days so this is a big adjustment for her. 

I love that we are able to have conversations with her now.  After explaining Christmas to her, I asked what she wanted to ask for.  She said, "Elmo book, Elmo plane, cream cone."  Even a week later she will still say the same three things!  I can't wait to see what Santa brings :)

She loves playing with other kids and looks forward to playdates.  We had some friends over for dinner last weekend.  I told her that two friends were coming and she needed to be a sweet girl.  As soon as they to our house, she ran up and gave the little boy a hug.  Keep in mind, this was the first time they had really played together.  It was so sweet!!  Every day she asks, "I go to Sydney's house?"  or "Where's Ra Ra?"  It will be so fun to watch these little ones grow up together!

Her favorite foods are pancakes, edamame, anything sweet, all fruit, cheese, broccoli, beans, and pickles.  Last night we were putting C to bed and she said, "Awww pickle. Pickle, pickle, pickle, pickle, pickle..."  We were dying laughing!!  She was just sitting there yelling 'pickle' over and over and we have no idea why! 

Yesterday I was getting dressed while C was watching the last couple minutes of a Mickey.  When that is over, Doc McStuffins comes on.  While watching that C said, "Check Baby."  I said, "Baby is fine.  She's right here."  Caroline ran to her room and got out her doctor kit.  She took the stethoscope and put it on AP's head.  And then said, "Baby's heart"  She moved it to AP's chest and said, "Awww, no heart."  After that she just walked away.  It was too funny.  I know I say every stage is my favorite, but this one may actually be my favorite!! :)

Caroline, you are the sweetest, smartest, cutest little girl I know and I am so lucky to be your mommy!!  We are all so proud of the precious little girl you are becoming.  We love you to the moon and back!!! 

Is this real life??

** Warning...this is a totally boring blog post that I did for myself.  It's not full of cute pictures of my kids or filled with funny stories.**

Today I had a great conversation with a great friend.  We were discussing the obsession that most moms feel to sort of compete with other moms.  Not in a "I want to be better than her" way but in a "I don't want my child to be missing out" sort of way.  Now that facebook/blogs/twitter/instagram/etc. are so popular it has made this even worse since you constantly see what other moms are doing for their children.  And dang that pinterest for throwing more ideas into the mix!! 

I try so hard not to compare my life with others, but it's hard at times.  I remember spending 6 months preparing for Caroline's first birthday party.  I put so much time, effort, and money into making that day picture perfect.  It was wonderful and I thought it would go down in best first birthday party history.  Shortly after Ann Parker was born another little girl I know turned one.  Her first birthday party was probably nicer than most weddings.  In the height of my post partum crazy new mom hormones, I spent two days crying.  How could I have let Caroline down?  Why wasn't the party I planned even bigger and better??  Now that I am past the craziness of those hormones, I can clearly see that Caroline's party was perfect.  She had a great time.  Adam and I had a great time.  Our friends and family had a great time.  It was a success in every way and I am very proud of how it turned out.  My friend and I talked about how it's not uncommon for moms to feel like that though - to feel like what we are doing isn't good enough.

We all highlight the good moments in our lives.  Our trips to the zoo, trips to the park, playdates, Christmas mornings, etc.  We give off the appearance that we have a wonderful life full of perfection.  While I do have a wonderful life full of love and smiles and fun, it has some frustration, stress, exhaustion, and a whole lot of mess thrown in there too!  Here's a little glimpse of our "real life."  I am doing this so I can look back and give myself a reality check when I need it.  Maybe someone else reading it will feel better about their own messes at times as well. 

While my girls have closets full of nice clothes and tons of hair bows, Caroline spends most of her days without clothes.  She has learned how to undress herself.  Fun stuff...  Also, she has more toys than she needs yet she spends her days taking things away from Ann Parker.  Here she is without clothes laying in AP's rocker.  She's watching Mickey, which is why she is so focused.  Why is she still watching Mickey?  Daisy got out of the yard and into our neighbor's trash.  She ate some rancid food that made her sick and she threw up 12 times all over the rug and our carpet.  I had lots of cleaning to do so Mickey to the rescue.

3:30 pm...bed still unmade. 

I had planned on folding this laundry this morning, but Ann Parker spit up while we were walking by and it somehow landed on the clothes...so back to the washer they go.

 We play hard every.single.day.  My house usually isn't all the way picked up until both kids are in bed.

I was going to make up my bed, but I guess I'll peel these stickers off the coffee table instead.

Being a stay at home mom is the best job for me.  Even with the tantrums, spit up, messy house, piles of clothes, no naps, etc. I enjoy what I do.  I know that I only have a limited time with my kids before I send them to school and I want to have every second with them that I can.  Even though I love it, it's not easy.  I don't have it all together.  Some days ARE picture perfect and I tell Adam that we are totally have four kids...other days are just horrible and I don't know how I function with only two.  I wouldn't trade it for the world, but sometimes I need a little break.  I know I am so guilty about only putting the happy and pretty stuff in the blog.  While that is part of my real life, it's not all.  These messes, naked kids, vomiting dogs, and dirty clothes are also part of my real life. 

Four Months Old!!!

Four Months Old - August 20, 2012

My sweet little Ann Parker is four months old today!  One third through her first year ALREADY!!  AP is such a wonderful baby and we are all enjoying this addition to our family.  We don't go to the pediatrician until Wednesday so we'll have her stats then.  She is currently sleeping 11 1/2- 12 1/2 hours through the night and we are thrilled.  She goes down about 7:30-8:00 and sleeps until 7:30-8:00 the next morning.  She likes to be swaddled, have her paci, and listen to her sleep giraffe (C wouldn't give up the sleep sheep so we got a new giraffe for AP...which C now also wants).  We put her down awake and she puts herself to sleep within a few minutes.  She takes two little cat naps during the day if we are home.  If we are out she will sleep much longer - 2 to 3 hours!  I think that when we are home Caroline's constant noise keeps her from sleeping too long :)  Speaking of Caroline, AP loves her sister!  Caroline can get the biggest smiles.  Other then Caroline, Ann Parker seems to equally prefer me to Adam.  At this stage, Caroline was very much a daddy's girl.  If he was in the room that's who she wanted to hold her.  Ann Parker doesn't seem to mind either way, as long as it's one of us.  She has just started crying when new people hold her some of the time. 

She is wearing size 1 diapers still and I think she'll be wearing those for a while longer.  She is wearing mostly 0-3 month clothing with some 3-6 month and some newborn sizes mixed in!  She's still our itty bitty girl.  She eats 5 times a day, mostly every three hours.  Sometimes she's hungry after 2 hours and sometimes she makes it to 4 or 5 hours.  She eats roughly at 7:30, 10:30, 1:00, 4:00, and 7:00.  She's eating 4 oz. at each feeding but I imagine we'll be bumping her up soon.  If I give her more than that now, she will spit it all up so we're staying at 4 oz. for the time being.  She is still getting all breastmilk.  She may be getting some formula soon as well since my supply is a little lower than normal and I'm having to supplement with some frozen milk.  We have decided not to start solid foods this month.  We didn't start until later with Caroline as well for health benefits (lower chance of food allergies, childhood obesity, diabetes, etc.) but AP just doesn't seem big enough yet.  She hasn't shown interest in our food yet (C constantly grabbed for our food).  I think that her smaller size contributes to that.  She just doesn't have the body mass to be strong enough to hold herself up and grab at food.

She smiles all the time and has started cooing more this month.  It's the sweetest little sound.  She loves her toes and is almost always holding them.  She also loves her swing, bouncer, paci, bathtime, mirror, and playmat (same as before).

As embarrassing as this is to admit...AP is still in the bassinet in our room.  C was in her crib at 5 weeks.  At almost 18 weeks, I haven't even tried AP in her room.  She sleeps so soundly that we never felt the need to get her to her room so ours would be quieter ;)  Plus, Caroline still wakes up at night and their rooms are right next to each other.  The pediatrician says that there's no harm keeping her in our room, just as long as she isn't in our bed.  Hopefully I will have in her the beautiful nursery that we worked so hard on before she outgrows it!!  ha! 

Happy four months baby girl!  We love you so much and are so thankful for you.  You make us smile every single day and are certainly an answer to our prayers.  Love you!!

Our life according to my phone

No rest for the weary

Sleep has been on my mind all day.  Mainly because I am desperate need of a good nap.  There hasn't been too much sleep for this mama lately.  Caroline just isn't a good sleeper.  No other way to say it.  She has pretty much cut out all her naps.  She'll take a nap on average once a week, and it's not usually for that long.  You would think this would wear her out and she'd have a super early bed time.  Sadly, you would be wrong.  Her bedtime is around 8:30 and sometimes I find myself still fighting the bedtime fight well after 10:00.  After that long process of getting her to bed you would think she'd sleep well, right?  Nope.  She's up at least twice every night.  It doesn't take long to get her to sleep again, but getting up is getting up.  Luckily, Ann Parker is a great sleeper.  She sleeps through the night without waking for about 12 hours.  She has done this since she was about 6 weeks old.  The only problem with this little girl is now she is not napping either!!!  She takes about 2 cat naps each day - lasting no more than 40 minutes each.  As bad a sleeper as C was, I could still get 2-3 naps out of her when she was an infant.  And those naps were good naps - like 2 hour naps.  I don't want to push the napping too much with AP because I worry it will mess with her wonderful sleeping through the night schedule.  If she starts getting up at night, I will never sleep since I would have 2 kids up at night!! 

Usually by 2:00 each afternoon my eyelids start getting heavy.  I find it difficult to think about a few more hours of playtime followed by dinner, baths, books, bottles, bedtimes AND cleaning up the dishes, straightening the house, etc.  I am counting down the days until school starts - seriously.  With no family near by to help watch the kiddos for a bit, we are both always so tired!  I had to laugh at us this past weekend when a friend asked how many kids we wanted.  We both said, without hesitation and at the same time, "Three."  After we got in the car we both were talking about how we just wanted to crawl into bed and get some sleep.  I'm sure a third child will bring us lots of extra sleep one day... ha. 

I never put C on a schedule.  She ate when she wanted and slept when she wanted.  I treated her (in that respect) like an adult.  I eat when I am hungry, not just because a clock says to.  With AP, I need something more predictable.  I have two kids now and one has places to be at certain times.  I have her on an eating schedule and it works great.  Any mama's have any advice for getting babies and/or toddlers to nap?  Or toddlers to sleep through the night?  Or any advice on what schedule works best with multiple kids for you?  Strangley, Caroline is fast asleep right now but Ann Parker is demanding my attention!  Like I said...any advice??  Or would anyone like to watch my kids for an hour each day??  That could work :)

Conversations with Caroline

Me:  What is your favortie toy?
Caroline: Choc (chocolate) and pogs (yes, those ever interesting cardboard circle things of the 90's)

Me:  What do you want to play?
Caroline:  Cream cone.
Me:  You want to eat an ice cream cone?
Caroline:  Yes, mama.  Cream cone.  I like cream cone.

Me:  Caroline do you want to go to the store with mama?
Caroline:  Yes.  In the car.  I drive.

Me:  (after time out)  What do you say to mama?
Caroline:  I'm cute.

Life with my little girl certainly is fun!

4 Years

August 2nd, 2008 was a great day...

Happy Birthday to us Adam! 

Cheese!!!

Whenever I pull out the camera to take pictures of this little cutie

THIS cutie demands that her picture is also taken!! 

This is Caroline, still sporting pj's and bedhead, doing her new "cheese" pose.  We're not quite sure why she believes her arms need to be in the air...

Rolling Over!!!

On Thursday August 2nd, Ann Parker rolled over from tummy to back all by herself!!  It was a wonderful anniversary gift from my little girl.  Just like her big sister, she won't do it front of Adam so she makes me look like a liar!! 

This was her reaction to suddenly being on her back!  Yikes!!!

Seriously...how did I get here??

I feel like she should still be a tiny newborn, not a baby who can roll over!!  Oh well...so proud of my big girl!

My first baby

If you knew me before I had kids, you probably know that I treated Daisy like my baby. I was obsessed. I threw her a birthday party when we had her for one year. After C came along I toned down the obsession a bit, but she is certainly still our baby.

Last year at her teeth cleaning she had to have 16 teeth pulled. Yes, you read that right. Beagles have bad teeth combined with her age and the fact that as a rescue dog she wasn't getting good dental care in her early years meant infected teeth that had to go. I was dreading her appointment this year. I was worried she would have no teeth left!!!

After I dropped her off at the vet I spent the day anxiously waiting for the vet to call and let me know how it went after she woke up. After 5 long hours they called to say that had ZERO teeth pulled!!! She did great! What a relief! I know Daisy is pleased as well.

My baby post teeth cleaning