Whirligig Bug

My little boy is nine months old!

He LOVES to stand by the play kitchen in our house. He opens the oven and opens the drawer and pulls all the toy silverware out. He then chews on it and slobbers all over everything. He often hangs out at the play kitchen and you can hear him babbling.

He also loves the real kitchen knobs! He stands by the drawers and pulls them open which often causes him to fall on his butt and cry. He scares himself. He is now moving onto the cupboard doors and we're having to put our rubber bands on them so he can't open them. 

He has always been obsessed with the DirecTV remote and our phones. He still has that obsession and seeks out these items if they are left within reach and when we move them before he gets to them, he gets upset. 

He's wearing 9 month clothing and size 3 diapers. He's nearly 20 pounds! His hair has darkened a bit and is beginning to fill in and get longer. I think it's more of a sandy brown color. He smiles a lot and laughs.

Posted by Kari at 09:38 PM | Permalink

I have brainwashed my daughter into have a glow birthday party, probably since just after her third birthday party last year. I was determined to somehow have black lights at school so all of the kids could enjoy it. I began really planning in August and got everything to come together during the busiest month of the year - December.

Pinterest was very helpful, as was a mini black light flash light I purchased from amazon so I could "test out" products while shopping to see if they would glow under a black light. I purchased a dozen T8 black lights to put into the light fixture in a small area at her school. I used dollar store plastic table cloths to create darkness within the room. I hung a few paper items on the wall - some fun fans, fluorescent poster boards, a Happy Birthday banner and some white streamers.

Another awesome Amazon purchase was liquid watercolor paint.  (Sargent Art Fluorescent Watercolor Magic Set)

Since this was also school, I knew the entire day/week could not be a party. It needed to also be learning. I created some glowing things to help make the teacher's lives easier - Dry Rice that I colored with the paint for the sensory tub. Water that I added paint to so they were glowing under the black light. There were straws cut to create necklaces and used to make letters and shapes, keeping eduction in mind. And at the end of lunch that day, everyone got a mini cupcake and sang Happy Birthday.

I spent half the day with my daughter's class and my favorite part was seeing the kids point out to each other what was glowing when they entered the "glow room." It was mainly an article of clothing and they all had fun with the highlighters and white paper that seemed to shine the best.

We also had glow sticks, face paint, glowing plates and cups, fuzzy pom poms, 

It was awesome - the teachers loved it as much as the kids. And I am so happy I pulled it off! Now I need to work on a one year old's monkey birthday party and then brainwash my daughter into something much easier for her fifth birthday next December.

Posted by Kari at 09:46 PM | Permalink

It's the first day of 2014 and since my last blog in August, I've been telling myself I need to at least update Hudson's milestones and photos. I tell myself in ten years it won't matter when I did it but that I actually did it...so here goes.

5 months - September 2013

He's quite a happy kid. His schedule isn't as great as his sister's schedule used to be but for the most part he sleeps through the night. He plays well by himself, or when his sister is nearby he likes to watch her and she loves to tickle him and make him laugh. He squeaks and shreeks! Rachel is always excited to take his photo in the orange chair. And then she always wants to be in it with him.

The 3-6 month clothes fit best and all of the 0-3 month clothing is out of the closet. 

Hudson experienced his first trip to the race track! He went to Ubly Dragway to watch his dad Race and his dad made it to the semi-finals with the Gremlin X. That was a big weekend to meet new friends and to meet my sister and her family for the first time! 

6 months - October 2013

Hudson loves it when we are holding him and open the refrigerator door. He immediately goes for the condiments in the door and smiles and squeaks. 

We started solid foods - oatmeal and he seems to enjoy it. He makes a funny face but eats it anyways. Hudson also holds his own bottle! 

We had crazy warm weather in October so we went to the pumpkin patch and picked out some pumpkins. This warm weather also allowed us to hang outside and play a little bit. Hudson still loves to be outside. Sometimes the wind takes his breath away, but often when you carry and hold him, he squeaks and laughs and kicks his feet.

At his six month check up, he was 25.5" long and 15 lbs, 10 ounces, and fit into the 17th percentile for both height and weight. He;s doing well and was a little fussy after his shots, but took a long nap and was back to normal.

7 months - November 2013

Hudson has two teeth! His teeth cutting seemed pretty uneventful. It was fun to see them come in on the bottom. You can't see them when he smiles but they are there. He officially wears size three diapers, and I put size 9-12 month clothing on his Christmas list - it will be big, but he can grow into it. His hair is getting longer, filling in and getting darker. And he LOVES to stand. Any chance he gets, he wants to stand up on everything.

A trip to after hours car determined he had an ear infection - and other than not letting you touch or smooch by his ears, I had no clue he had any issues! No fever, no crying, no being crabby, he ate well, slept well and was overall happy! So pink stuff antibiotics we got and left it at that. 

We added lots of new food to his diet and I love making baby food and giving it to him. It smells so good when I heat it up and feed him. He loves balls. Loves to hold them, loves to chew on them, loves to bang them on things. 

8 Months - December 2013

Hudson began crawling the first week of December, shortly after he turned 7 months old. This was two months earlier than his sister, but like most kids when they begin to crawl, they don't go anywhere quickly. He mainly stayed in the living room and by the end of this month he began to explore more, moving into the kitchen and down the hallway when his sister encourages him.

I'm done nursing so he gets a bottle and lots of food. He really enjoys his solid foods. I made lots of new foods for him - mango, carrot, green beans, bananas, avocado, parsnip. He prefers fruit over vegetables, but he eats it all.

He loves wrapping paper - he has been able to experience it when his sister was opening all of her birthday presents and at Christmas with Grandpa Dave, but he loves to put it into his mouth. So much that he got a piece of birthday paper off and actually choked and vomited because of it. So we were extra careful for any other paper incidents. 

We got to experience wheezing and probably bronchitis, and now own a nebulizer and get to do breathing treatments when we hear him wheeze. That wasn't fun for him or me. Holding down an infant for fifteen to twenty minutes while he screams, cries and thrashes is brutal. I never enjoyed giving him the treatments every four hours. He also had an ear infection and got antibiotics (again) and tested positive for RSV. Thankfully he didn't have any complications with it and I hope no one else got sick. The timing was decent - since day care is closed and I took a week off of work during the holidays. He wasn't himself and it was difficult, but he is now much better.

He still loves balls, but now he loves to crawl to them when we roll them across the floor.  He sits up on his own in the tub and loves to take a bath.

Posted by Kari at 09:04 PM | Permalink

Hudson is 4 months old!

We finally moved into size 2 diapers. I have officially removed all of the 0-3 month clothing out of his closet. His well check deemed him 14.2 pounds! He did great with his shots, cried like he should but quickly calmed down and took a nap.

He is now playing in and enjoying the exersaucer - his sister was more excited about this than he was. She sat right next to him and made sure he saw all of the toys and knew how to use them. I think he just stared at her instead of the toys. I have to tell her to slowly turn him to see other toys, that contraption is overstimulating enough when the toys aren't moving. His feet don't touch the bottom of the saucer and I love that. We have to prop him up with a thin blanket sometimes or he falls over face first, and looks terribly uncomfortable.

He eats every 3-4 hours. Usually it's 3 during the day and he sleeps though the night. He went through a growth spurt and gets a 6 ounce bottle of formula in the evening - to give me a break and a chance to make dinner and clean it up. And bond with his dad. 

He has more routine naps at home, usually around 9am, 1pm and 5-6pm, then bedtime around 9pm. At school things are different and it's a "big deal" if he stays asleep for an hour. I tell him every day to take a long nap, at least 2 hours. 

He smiles. A LOT. Sometimes I think his pacifier doesn't stay in his mouth because he is smiling so much. He rolls from side to side, but has yet to roll on his belly. I'm anxiously waiting! He loves to take baths and pees every time his naked body hits the water. And then just sits there and enjoys his wash. He giggles a lot. Especially when you play with him or smooch him behind the ears.

Posted by Kari at 12:43 PM | Permalink

Hudson is officially three months old! I am back to work so he's been in day care/school for three weeks now! His naps are crazy - short some days, long other days, or rather all over the place, but he sleeps through the night so that is all I care about. When I visit to feed him, he isn't sad or crabby or frantic because he's starving or overly tired, he's often fine and content and eventually begins to get fussy if I chat with the teachers for too long before feeding him.

He must be used to the daily events of waking, riding in the car and napping on our way to school and eating every 3-4 hours. 

He's pooping more, at least once a week and last week he went three times in one day, a blowout at school and twice for me within 30 minutes! 

His size 1 diapers still fit fine, and he is moving into 3-6 month clothing! Some of the 0-3 items are beginning to get too tight! He's quite mellow on his play mat, in the swing and in his bouncy seat. He coos and talks a lot on the play mat and when there are toys in front of him in the bouncy seat. He is holding his head up better, and has been sitting in the bumbo seat. We think he is around 13 pounds based on our scale test (you know the one where you stand on the scale without him and then with him).

He's happy. Even his teachers tell me he rarely cries. And he doesn't. He gets cranky and noisy but rarely is there a full blown cry. He loves to look at himself in the mirror and smile and laugh. And when you get him dressed, he often smiles and laughs and giggles when you take his shirt off his head and put a new one on. It's cute!

Posted by Kari at 09:10 AM | Permalink

Lately I've been a single mom. My husband goes out of town for a weekend for personal fun, comes home for 8-12 hours and then goes away again for business for a week. It's brutal sometimes. We get by just fine, I go to bed when the kids go to bed so I'm not overly tired from a long and busy day at work and caring for them in the evening. But I don't enjoy bath, and it's summer so my three year old needs a bath each night to remove the dirt, slime, sweat, sunscreen from her body. So I find myself muttering and asking questions inside my head. Questions like "I will be rewarded for this someday, right?" Or simply reminding myself that all of this hard work equals "what goes around, comes around." But then I ask, is this normal? Is what I am doing caring for my two children alone just normal? It's not normal to my lifestyle with both parents present, but perhaps there will be no reward or karma that comes back to reward me because it's just what I'm supposed to be doing.

All I do know is that he is home and I am SO GRATEFUL! 

Posted by Kari at 09:06 AM | Permalink

This year I was on top of the blueberry harvest and because we were so busy, we had one day to get the goods and eat them!

Rachel was very excited to pick blueberries. She got her own bucket and had no trouble picking "just the blue" berries. She did show me the "gross" ones that she picked, that were mushy or eaten by bugs but quickly learned you just drop those on the ground and continue picking. She tasted a few but mostly picked them and set them in her bucket. I found it comical when she set down her bucket, walked three or four bushes down the row and ran back to her bucket to put blueberries in it. I kept telling her to take her bucket with her. 

Hudson was strapped to my husband in the Baby Bjorn and he did fairly well. He was a little cranky and then passed out while in the carrier. We picked berries for less than an hour - I didn't want to get stuck with too many berries (I know, I know, is there such a thing?) and it was beginning to get hot in the sun. 

Rachel picked half a pound and together we all picked 6.5 pounds. We ate blueberries in the car on the way home, we made two batches of blueberry buckle - a fantastic coffee cake with the best crumble topping, and we made a blueberry pie which I would rather not talk about. It tasted very good, but I tried to halve my single crust recipe to make a double crust because I didn't have enough ingredients. And for some reason I added cornmeal when i should have added cornstarch. I caught the mistake in time and did add the cornstarch but the cornmeal was already in there, too! Again, it was good, especially topped with my homemade whipped topping, but it needed more crust! It was from a recipe book that we recently received from Dan's Aunt Lee so Rachel was excited to make something "out of her book."

Posted by Kari at 08:54 AM | Permalink

Ahhh July 4th has come and gone. Usually when this day arrives, I say that summer is over, because from July 4th until Labor Day in September, time FLIES and before you know it, it's Labor Day!

This year we were at home (not at the beach in Maryland like my husband would prefer) but we had fun! Rachel was really into the fireworks. When she came home from school on Tuesday she said, "Guess what Mom, Miss Britt said there were going to be fireworks." I then had to let her know she was two days away from seeing them. That was a tad challenging.

She was excited about the glow sticks that we were were taking to the fireworks but had a hard time understanding we were going to go to the parade and then go home and go back to the fireworks. We were late for the parade because we were eating dinner but we got to see a few floats, political officials, tractors, horses, super heroes and fire engines/trucks. Rachel even got a few pieces of candy! The funniest part was when Spider Man came across to our side of the street and Rachel clung to my leg! She likes spider man enough to have a toothbrush with him on it that she picked out but for some reason, seeing him in person was a different story. Also, Hudson DID NOT like the fire truck air horns. He immediately began to scream. Dan took him away from the noise and the street a bit and he said he calmed down until he heard the air horns. Then he would begin to scream.

Rachel had time to get some pillow candy and she ate the entire cone.

She was super sleepy at the fireworks but hung on and enjoyed the show while laying with me on a blanket. I told Rachel it was America's birthday and she said "Where's America?" That was fun to explain.

Overall it was a great fourth of July - relaxing, beautiful weather, good fireworks and fun earlier in the day in the little pool and slip n slide. 

Posted by Kari at 08:02 AM | Permalink

Two months has passed since Hudson was born! Yikes! This means I return to work in 2 weeks and although the income will be fantastic, the day care bill for two children will not! Oh well, I know how fantastic day care is and so it's worth the money!

He smiles all the time and seems happy - he lays on his play mat and you can hear him coo and let out little laughs and hit the toys dangling above him. He might have a dimple on his right cheek! He grunts a lot less, but does grunt as he is beginning to wake up. 

He is starting to sleep through the night, or go at least 8 hours without needing food. For example, the one day he slept from 8:30pm until 5:00am. But then he might go two days and wake up in the middle of the night. Otherwise he's eating every 3-4 hours.

I called the doctor for the first time when he hadn't pooped in 7 days. I was instructed to massage his...ahem...anus when changing his diaper, give him a nice warm bath and when that didn't work, to encourage movement with what I call the "thermometer tickle." A few of these tickles and things began to move, and he had a nice full diaper! And he seemed much happier! 

It's been warmer so I'm putting him in 0-3 month onesies that fit well and he still fits into a size 1 diaper just fine. At his 2 month well check he weighed 11 pounds 1 ounce and was 23 inches long. He loves to take baths in the bathtub with the water covering a lot of his body, he barely cries and moves and kicks a lot while in the tub. His hair is still light brown and doesn't seem to be thinning at all, his eyes are still blue.  

Lately he hasn't been all that great in the car! Our trip usually begins or ends with screaming but thankfully doesn't last forever. Rachel usually sings him a song loudly while I am driving. It begins with "Baa, baa, black sheep" and moves onto "Row, Row, Row your boat." 

Posted by Kari at 10:22 PM | Permalink

I learned quickly after having one child that I cannot wait for my husband to do things with us. If he is out of town, I just have to do things without him because in this case, strawberry picking, when he returns, the berries may no longer be in season. Of course I would much rather he be with us, not only to help us out, but to also enjoy making memories and traditions with our children.

This year my husband was out of town for strawberry picking, as he was last year as well, but the difference between this year and last year, was that I was hauling two children to the strawberry patch. And I did it.

Hudson was in the baby carrier and Rachel walked with me. We hung on tight while on the wagon and picked 6.5 lbs of berries, about half of what we normally pick, or have picked in the past, but wearing a child means you can only pick one handed and the other child was doing the potty dance so I figured we'd get out of the patch before she had an accident. While waiting in line to pay (after using the potty) I impulsively purchased an $18 pre-picked box of berries. The woman said there were 5.5 quarts in there. I had no idea how much that was so I purchased the box thinking 6.5 pounds was not nearly enough.

Well....that was plenty! Plenty enough to make four batches of freezer jam, two pans of strawberry pretzel jello, enjoy lots of fresh berries and have waffles and strawberries for breakfast. 

Rachel loved helping me make jam. She mashed up the berries, helped me count and measure sugar for the jam, and got the containers ready and set out to fill. But her FAVORITE part of helping me in the kitchen is licking the spoon (or bowl). 

Also, I was NOT the only crazy mother with an infant! I actually saw another woman with a baby wrapped in a moby, and I am guessing she was about 3 or 4 months old and there was another mom with an infant, possibly younger than Hudson in a car seat! So I wasn't the only person people were staring at! 

Last year we didn't get a photo of Rachel with the sign because it was raining and we were seeking refuge in the are of the petting zoo before the wagon picked us up and took us to the fields where we picked huddled under an umbrella. This year I almost peed my pants when she ran behind it and stepped on the stool for her photo. I can't wait until next year to see how much more of her head you can see!

Posted by Kari at 09:01 PM | Permalink

My husband's first father's day with two children!

A few weeks before his special day, I took both kids to the local ceramic store to make a present for him. I L O V E hand print items but prefer them to be two dimensional so I can scrapbook them rather than feel like I have to keep the item FOREVER because it contains my child's hand print. Because you know you can't sell that stuff at a garage sale. So this might be a one time thing, because I'm "that mom" that doesn't want all that crap in my cupboard. Anyhow, we were the only ones in the studio, so that was nice and Hudson did fairly well, I fed him while Rachel and I sung songs to him and waited for each coat of glaze to dry. The employee at the store helped me put Rachel's hand print and Hudson's footprint on the mug. 

We picked out a mug that was called an ice cream mug. It fits a container of Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream perfectly. But we really got it for him to dunk his peanut butter and jelly toast into, because that's what he does, he makes a big cup of hot chocolate in the winter and dunks his toast into it. Something his daughter is now picking up and shares with him when he has it. A delicacy he has named "concoction."

On Father's Day, when my husband returned home from his annual racing trip in Kentucky, we opened gifts and ate dinner on the deck. The following week we brought home the present Rachel made for her dad at school. Her dad was out of town when I brought it home and I wanted SO MUCH to open it and see what it was and then re-wrap it, but I kept it as-is. I asked her what was inside and she said, "baseballs and footballs" but would not elaborate any more. She enjoyed helping him open his presents.

Here is the jar she made at school. The top says "I love you to pieces" and inside are reeces pieces! The football, baseball and basketball are made of her fingerprints. 

Posted by Kari at 09:30 PM | Permalink

My grandma turned 90 years old. Recently she just was moved into an assisted care living home, but up until then she was living on her own in the house. We visited her on her special day. She was full of tears of joy and we all had a great time celebrating with her.

You would think after knowing her for 34 years, I would know almost everything about her, but I learned something new this year, I learned her favorite color is purple. I would think it was blue, because as I kid I remember her house having a lot of blue in it. Perhaps that was her second favorite color, and my grandpa wouldn't allow her to paint anything purple, so she went with blue. 

It was great to see her on her birthday. The last time I saw her was Easter and she had given up on doing her hair or having it done so she was changing a lot from what I remember her always looking like. When we went to see her at her new place, she had her hair and nails done and she looked just like grandma again. 

Here she is with her three children, one of them is my dad. 

 Rachel had fun since she was the only "kid" she helped her great-grandma open presents. What on earth do you get a 90 year old? Well, I went with a photo book and some other gifts she got were chocolates, flowers, a sweater, some sweatshirts and a gift certificate to get her hair done.

We were all admiring Rachel's polished nails and grandma's polished nails. Party nails we call them!

Posted by Kari at 08:42 PM | Permalink

I had a baby in December and I had a baby in April and I've noticed that I am comparing the timing of those babies almost every day so I thought I'd share my thoughts with you. 

A winter baby means you don't worry about: keeping your baby in the shade because of the intense sunshine; keeping your baby covered because of mosquitos. It means you don't sweat or have sweaty boobs while nursing. Your swaddled baby isn't sweating in the winter.

A spring baby means you don't have to worry much about illness as much as a winter baby.

I do find it perfect that my first child was a winter baby, because I was able to spend lots of time indoors snuggling with her and venturing out wasn't that hard or bad with a car sitting in a heated garage and a fleece car seat cover. The only "illness" that made it into our house was from us, not another sibling. I can see a winter second child as not very desirable because of the first child bringing home germs especially if they are in school or day care. 

I also find it perfect that my second child was a spring baby, allowing my first baby (or toddler) to be outside a lot while I am home on maternity leave. It's quite peaceful during the day at my house and nursing on our covered deck while watching my toddler play with her imaginary friends in her backyard is quite comical. We also enjoy having lunch and snacks on the deck during the day. 

And now, a photo to hold you over since I've been slacking (and I am aware of this!)

Posted by Kari at 08:24 PM | Permalink

Yes, four weeks has passed and my baby boy is officially a month old!

I sat him in the same orange chair his sister sat in when she was a month old. Of course there are several outtakes for the one good photo. His sister was at school when I took it, but I am sure next month she will be home, so that in itself will be fun, simply because she will be very excited to help with the photo shoot.

He still snuggles with his "frog legs." He loves to be swaddled. And I feel bad for him because it is warm outside, and he wants to be wrapped up like a burrito. It has to be warm. He farts like a man, crazy loud farts that usually come with grunting, screeching, squealing and sometimes crying, then a big ol' toot comes out. Sometimes his farts are so loud and adult like, that I ask my husband if it was him or his son.

He is still wearing newborn clothing, that seems to fit the best, but he is slowing transitioning into 0-3 months, he wears a size 1 diaper. We have yet to have a blow out requiring a clothing change. He sleeps well during the day, swaddled and sitting up in the bouncy seat or the swing are favorite places for him to get some shut eye. He sleeps in his crib at night. He also likes to sit up on your shoulder and look around when he is awake.

His hair is light brown according to me, and sandy brown according to his dad. He still has blue eyes and cute feet. He eats every 3-4 hours. Every few days he seems to be starving so he gets a bottle from his dad. His sister always wants to hold it and feed him, but she doesn't pay attention, she quickly gets distracted and says she is done. During the night he will often go 4-6 hours without waking up. And when he does wake up, he eats and goes right back to bed.

He was crazy loud when he was born. The first night in the hospital I could barely sleep because he was always grunting and groaning and squeaking. Something I wasn't used to, so I was unable to sleep through the noise, plus, we didn't know if he needed something or not! He has calmed down the the grunting during the night. He still grunts, but not nearly as bad as when he was first born!

Rachel LOVES him. When she calls me on her way home from school, usually the first or second question is , "Where's Hudson?" When she comes home, she says, "Hi, mom!" Followed by, "Where's Hudson?" She often RUNS to his side, when she hears him fuss or cry. She gives him his pacifier or sings a song to him. She is always adjusting the sun shade on his car seat, moving it or opening it so she can see her "baby brother." And on most days when Rachel is home, Hudson enjoys being outside in the bouncy seat on the deck, while we play with bubbles, or swing on the swing, get the mail or have lunch on the deck. He seems to like the fresh air, but not the bright sunlight in his eyes.

Posted by Kari at 08:32 PM | Permalink

While pregnant with my second child, I blogged about a dream I had. You can review it here if it has slipped your mind. At the end of my dream blog post is information about a woman giving birth to a bird and it is interpreted as a "fear in the health of your baby." I feel like now is a good time to "come clean" about the impact that dream and it's interpretation had one me.

I had what I call the "down syndrome" ultrasound on December 7, 2012. This elective ultrasound checked for several birth defects. I did this ultrasound with my first child - I have always felt like I would want to be prepared rather than shocked at what can and might happen. Four days after this ultrasound, I received a call from my doctor. I was at work, at my desk and usually I don't take these calls, but for some reason I took this one. My husband was out of town working, which means he is pretty impossible to get a hold of until he has a break between working and having dinner with clients and customers.

My doctor told me my ultrasound was normal. The size of the baby was okay, the parts were all normal, the genitalia was normal (thankfully no gender reveal was noted!) But she then told me the ultrasound revealed a Choroid Plexus Cyst on part of my baby's brain. She then told me this is very common, but often not "caught" on ultrasounds, only 1-2% are ever be seen. She said this cyst can be a marker for genetic problems - one in particular being Trisomy 18. This means a person has an extra 18th chromosome. It is less common than downs and often associated with other abnormalities and deformities.

But none of the "markers" were there on my ultrasound - such as smaller limbs, or clenched, folded over hands, etc. My chance of having a child with Trisomy 18 went from 1 in 40,000 to 1 in 20,000 due to this cyst. As I sat at my desk frantically writing this all down, I was holding back tears and an overwhelming fear that my child was going to not survive or would be extremely challenged. I was told no repeat ultrasound was necessary because there were no other indicators or markers to show this genetic issue.

I freaked out. I was unable to get a hold of my husband which may have been a good idea, because I was unable to even talk due to the tears and fear I had. Instead I emailed him all of the information you are reading and when he did get back to me, I was able to process the information and talk to him. It was a rough week or so, and there were many times I'd google Trisomy 18 and begin reading a website and then stop, breaking down in tears and hoping that my child would be fine (hey, I already had a kid without an ear, so this fear was real).

A few routine doctor's appointments later and discussion about this situation again - assuring me everything was normal and another ultrasound was not necessary and I felt much better. The thought crossed my mind every now and again, and thankfully when our son was born, he was healthy and perfect in every way. 

Posted by Kari at 03:14 PM | Permalink

Maternity leave in May is quite nice. A change from December, although hanging inside, with a new baby in December isn't all that bad. But having the nice weather to spend outside with my three year old in May is super nice. Plus, we're able to get a few things done outside of the house.

Most of our mornings are spent playing outside, having lunch on the deck and then taking an afternoon nap. We then return outside for snack and play after nap. We have daily walks to get the mail and every few days we do a few loads of laundry. 

Here are some photos of our daily lives. 

Hudson hanging out with us on the deck.

Big sister helping to bathe her brother. She LOVES to help with this and is actually quite good at washing his legs and feet and keeping a pacifier in his mouth so he isn't "sad." She also helps to pick out his clothing he will wear after his fresh bath.

After bath, H's hair is fluffy. 

One weekend Rachel helped her dad rake the yard. It took all my might not to help with this task! But I had to refrain due to my csection incision and my restrictions on "working" for at least six weeks. 

And this girl was kind enough to give baby a ride on the tractor! 

Posted by Kari at 01:48 PM | Permalink

I have been a super blog slacker. I'm sure my three faithful blog stalkers (that number is a complete estimate) assume it's because I've gone from a parent with one kid to two kids. But in reality, that's not it at all.

Sure, two kids is more work, but the "more work" comes into play when I have to get both of them ready and out the door at a certain time. Which we've done only once, to go to a doctor's appointment. Our daily lives/schedule isn't all that bad, or tiring, or awful. Of course the biggest help is my three year old and I am SO GRATEFUL she is such a good kid and has no issues sleeping through the night. I cannot imagine dealing with two children, who are "up all night" or at least each of them are up in the middle of the night. I'd assume no parent would get any sleep with two children that do not sleep well.

Plus, having a three year old who can do things such as put on her own shoes, go to the bathroom by herself, open and close the door to go outside with me and always help me with burp cloths and pacifiers is an added bonus. We are spending a lot of time outside, and she loves it and I do, too. 

I've attributed my "survival" to making small to-do lists. Maybe 1-2 goals to get done a day. And on some days that she is at school, I make sure I take a nap with my newborn so that I can catch up on sleep if necessary. 

As for the zoo part, this new child sounds like a zoo. He's a grunter and a groaner and a moaner and a loud sleeper. It's something that I am not at all used to and one day while I was resting, or attempting to nap as he was napping, I thought to myself, "He sounds like a zoo animal." I started to envision his one sound was that of a zebra being chased; then his sound that followed that was of a giraffe screeching, then a grunting lion cub learning to use his voice, etc. I of course have no idea what these zoo animals sound like, but it's fun to think my little one can imitate a wild African animal. And it adds a little comical relief after a 3am feeding, that he's pretending he is a zoo as I listen to him keep me awake.

And my slacking, is simply my lack of wanting to sit at the computer and type. We're spending more time outside, more time getting our to-do list done, trying new recipes, catching up on sleep, enjoying time with big sister and little brother, etc. 

Posted by Kari at 01:09 PM | Permalink

I love Mother's Day because I LOVE the gifts my daughter brings home from school! This year I got this FABULOUS hand scrub. It reminds me of the one minute manicure I had years ago. It's very pleasant and I've used it several times. Rachel tried it with me and laughs when she scrubs her skin with it!

The week of Mother's Day I asked Rachel if she did any projects at school as well as talking about how her day was going. She told me "yes, I made you a caterpillar and a lady bug." I asked her where it was and she didn't reply, but went on playing. 

When she handed me the present, in a gift bag, she said to me, "It's a jar!"

Here is the detail of the fingerprint caterpillar and lady bug and bee!

Posted by Kari at 10:01 PM | Permalink