Short and Sweet

I realize I haven't blogged in awhile, and I feel terrible for my procrastination. My life with 2 kids under 2 years of age has suddenly picked up speed. I am so busy these days, it's just exhausting. I'm having trouble finding time for myself. The days just fly by!

Danielle has been crawling for at least a month now and is now pulling up to a standing position on the furniture. She is so proud of herself and she gets so excited with her new adventures. I enjoy watching her. She is really a good baby. I've got it sooooo easy with her. She rarely fusses and she's a good sleeper for the most part. Although recently she has been waking up at least once a night due to teething pain. That part has been kinda hard on me. I spent the first few months of her life praying for the time she'd sleep through the night. And, after a few months, it finally came. Just when I'm getting back to my old sleep routine, it's all messed up again and she's back to waking up in the middle of the night. Ugh. It's hard, but I'm actually getting used to it. She's quick to fall back asleep.

I'm still nursing her and have been supplementing with Gerber Stage 3 foods, Gerber Puffs, Cheerios and most recently Gerber Yogurt Melts. She really likes those!!! I have given her some rice and she loved that too. I have a feeling she is going to be more of an adventurous eater than Carter was. He's actually kinda picky. But, he's a toddler, so I guess that is to be expected. I'm really proud that I have been able to nurse her for so long.
She loves books and really looks at all the pictures too! Carter would just flip the pages while I was mid-sentence. She studies the pages and takes it all in. She also points at the pictures. It's really cute. She also loves paper - newspaper, magazines, mail, you name it. Basically, anything crinkly. Of course I don't give it to her as I don't want her to choke on it.
As far as Danielle's speech goes, she has said 2 words so far: mama or mom and cat.

Carter is venturing into the "terrible two's" at full speed. He has REALLY kept me on my toes in the last few weeks, and not in a good way I'm afraid. He was jealous of Danielle when she first came home from the hospital, but got over it rather quickly. Now the jealousy is resurfacing and boy is it raring it's head with a vengeance! He will throw things at her, swat at her and try to kick her. It's SOOOOO not funny. It makes me so upset to see him act this way. I tell him no, give him time-outs, but nothing seems to get through to him. He just laughs. It drives me nuts. He wants the attention and he's willing to do whatever it takes to get it, including antagonizing his sister. The sad part is, he's not starved for attention by any means! We give him LOTS of attention. I just don't know what to do. My sister says it is just a phase. I hope it ends quickly. I used to be able to leave them together in a room at any given moment to take care of the dishes or chores or what not, and now I can't. It's frustrating.

On a more positive note, his vocabulary is growing immensely. He understands SO much and is now able to communicate with us better. We are getting less whining, which is awesome because there were days in the past where I just wanted to pop some ear plugs in my ears to sound it out. :-)

The last few months for me have been tiresome. These changes in Carter's behavior, coupled with Danielle's newfound adventures into crawling have really sapped me for energy. I find that the days seem too short. I can't get everything done that I need to and that leaves me frustrated. How do other stay at home mom's get all this stuff done at the end of the day? Am I just not cut out for this? Am I that terrible at time management? Do I have no resiliance? As you can see, I tend to be a bit hard on myself. Becoming a mother has basically forced me into becoming a better person. Things that I wouldn't normally worry about, such as my lack of patience, are now crucial to becoming a better parent. I need to work on that. I'm discovering that you need LOTS and lots of patience when you have children.

More Videos

Ken's best friend Drew was in town from Georgia this week and stopped by for a visit with his wife Maryann and their son. Carter had SO much fun with them and especially enjoyed all the attention Maryann gave him. Above is a video clip I took of them playing together.

Danielle started making some new sounds this week. Little did I know this was the very beginning of her learning to make raspberries! Love how she puffs her cheeks. ;-)

She finally got it! She's almost 7 months old and she's just now doing raspberries! I thought she was never going to pick it up. I think it's adorable, even if she does get slobber all over her face.

Here's another video of her doing raspberries. I love it!

Home Videos

Here are some of my favorite videos of the week. This one is when Danielle said her first word - Mom!

Here is Danielle having her first taste of a graham cracker. She loved it!

This is a video of Carter and Danielle playing. This was Carter's Gymini when he was a baby, but Danielle has been enjoying it most recently. Apparently, Carter isn't too keen on sharing this with her, as he pushes her off it in the video. At first she was smiling while he nudged her off, then her eyes get all big near the end. Keep an eye on her as you watch. Hilarious!

Lots to Catch up On

Danielle said her very first word on Sunday, Mom! I was so thrilled. It's so cute hearing her say it, and Mom no less - not the typical Mama. Carter's first word was Dada, so it only makes sense that Danielle said Mom first. I have a feeling she is going to be quite the talker! Carter can say a lot of words now, but he's definitely a motor kid (aka monkey). Danielle is also rolling all over the place now, tummy to back and back to tummy. She'll bring her knees up under her belly when she's laying on her stomach, but so far no real signs of crawling. It's gonna be a hoot once she gets going and seeing Carter interact with her. Yes, I said hoot. I'm getting old, or maybe just wise beyond my years. At least that's what I like to think. :-)

Ken and I drove down to Columbus to spend the 4th of July with my sister and her family. She always has a party with some of her closest friends. It was a lot of fun. We had Mai Tai's and enjoyed some good food and great company. It was a bit challenging at times. We spent most of the night following Carter around to make sure he didn't hurt himself of get into trouble. Some of the kids there were older than Carter and a bit wild, so I wanted to make sure he was safe playing with them. I guess I'm still a bit of a nervous nelly Mom. It's just never fun seeing your own child in pain or hurt, so of course I try to protect him to the best of my ability.

I can now trust Carter to be alone with Danielle at any given moment. He knows how to be gentle and plays well with her. She sits up in her boppy and he'll bring her toys to play with. He talks to her - still mostly "Carter Gibberish". They smile at each other and laugh together. It is so endearing. I'm so glad I ended up having 2 kids.

Carter is also becoming quite the little helper. He understands so much, it amazes me. He can follow simple commands, like go get that or turn that light off, etc. He's very smart. Just last night Ken and I were joking that he has a bit of OCD in him. He kept stacking books on top of each other & lined them up perfectly on the couch. Then he would move them, one my one, to a stack on the floor. Granted, it was the end of the night and he was pretty zoned out and tired. It was still funny - he's our little organizer. Now if we could just teach him to put away his toys.

Life is getting busier for me day by day. It feels like I have less time for myself as each day passes. I'm lucky if I get a shower before noon! I found it hilarious to discover one of my male facebook friends, a man I went to high school with, could totally relate. His one update read "Finally got a shower in today. Whew, I thought it was gonna be one of those "Daddy's stinky" days." I thought that was so funny because I swore I was the only parent who had this problem. The little things I used to do out of boredom prior to having kids, like paint my toe nails while enjoying a glass of wine, are now a distant memory. I do miss the extra time I used to have. It feels like there are never enough hours in the day. When it all boils down, my kids and their needs come first. They are my number one priority. I treat them as a masterpiece in the making. My one personal goal is to have regular date nights with my husband once I'm finished nursing Danielle. He and I have really lost touch since having kids. It's all about them, taking care of them and our day to day routines. It's time to put some of the focus back on us as a couple. I remember telling my newly pregnant friends my one pice of advice after their baby is born - make sur eyou take time for just the two of you (date nights), and yet I'm not practicing what I preached. It really is important. Once you bcome a parent, it's so easy to just get lost in it all. So, that's where I'm at with that.

Random thoughts:

Tiny Dancer: Carter has got the moves! He is a dancing machine. It cracks me up watching him. I love it!

Beautiful Babies: Do all parents think their kids are the most beautiful babies on the planet? I certainly think mine are. Maybe it's just one of those things.

Moocher Alert: Danielle is a total moocher! She is always giving me the stare-down whenever I'm eating something. It's so cute! She has already had a taste of graham crackers and really enjoyed it.

Random Thoughts

I love living in Olmsted Falls! It's like the country out here. I love seeing all the geese, ducks, squirrels and sometimes toads on a daily basis. They are so friendly too! The birds out here are fearless. I tried to feed them some bread a few weeks back, but I don't think they noticed it out there in the grass. The squirrels are another story. I saw one today close to my front door looking for food, so I ran to my cupboard and got some peanuts out. I tossed a handful out the door and watched as he pigged out on the feast I provided. It was too cute! I've always loved animals. There are also a few stray cats that roam about and one even sat outside on our lawn chairs and peered inside our living room window at Kitty. He was freaking out! It was like a stare-down. Too funny.
On a more serious note, all these celebrity deaths recently have me blown away! It seems like everyday in the news another one bit the dust. Okay, that's a bad term, but I couldn't resist. All the stories making headlines have me even thinking about death in my subconscious. The other night I had a horrible nightmare that my daughter Danielle was dying. It was such a terrible dream. I pretty much had her in my arms all day long the following day. I couldn't put her down. I just can't imagine anything happening to my kids, nor do I want to. I don't think I'd want to go on living if I ever lost them.
Okay, that's about all I got for right now. I've been baking up a storm over here in preparation for the holiday weekend. I'm heading to Columbus with Ken and the kids to visit my sister and her family. She's having a party and I'm sure it's going to be a blast! I can't wait. Ken has yet to see my sister's newly adopted son David. The last time he was in Columbus was Thanksgiving of last year! Yikes! Time sure does fly.

The Joys of Parenting

Have you ever heard the saying "You're going to look back on this one day and laugh"? I have, and it holds true to a lot of what I've been dealing with lately. More specifically, the crazy and sometimes frustrating aspects of parenting. For example, I was on the phone last night with my friend Stephanie. I was sitting on the floor in the living room. Carter was playing (aka running around like a wildman) and trying to get my attention. He doesn't like it when the focus is off him. I'm in the middle of saying something to my friend when suddenly I feel him smacking me on the top of my head and shoulders like he was playing the drums, all the while giggling. Before that, he was coming up behind me and pulling out my scrunchie that was in my hair. He knows it bugs me when he does that. I swear he smirks when he gets it in his hand and runs away with it. Little bugger!!!
Then today, I realized Danielle had a poopy diaper. I laid out the changing pad on the living room floor and proceeded to get her cleaned up. Well, have you ever heard of the phrase "blow out"? Danielle has one of these at least twice a week. It's not fun and usually involves me having to completely undress her since her clothes inevitably get soiled. Then, I use about 10 wipes to get her fresh and clean. My husband hates it when I use that many, but if there is one thing that grosses me out it's touching poop. I told him to buy me gloves if he wants me to cut back on the amount of wipes. Well, she was laying there naked on the changing pad and I had to run her clothes into the laundry room to soak them. When I came back, not even a minute later, she had peed all over the place. I mean, it looked like a river! It was all over the changing pad and even in her hair! I kept muttering "Gross!" and "Eww" before finally just throwing a towel over her and hauling her upstairs to the bathtub. Nasty, and yet I will be laughing this off one day, right?
Like the time Carter was only a few days old and I was changing his diaper on the changing table. No sooner had I taken the diaper off him and he was peeing all over the place. Now, with boys it's a little different. It doesn't go down - it shoots straight up in the air and gets everywhere! In this case, all over his face and all over the wall. Lol. Good times, right? I'm already laughing about that one.
I'm sure I'll have many more stories just like these to share over the years. Parenting is taking me for the ride of my life. :-)

These are the Moments I Cherish

I'm realizing now that my previous post sounded a bit dramatic. It was written midday in the midst of all the chaos. That was how I was feeling at that moment - stressed is a good word for it. Now that the kids are asleep, I have some time to reflect. I crave this time to myself during the day and yet now that they are asleep, I miss them. I guess that's what unconditional love is. No matter how difficult things get, you still love that person with all your heart and can't imagine life without them in it.
Here are some of my favorite pictures. They always make me smile when I look at them.


This is a picture of Carter trying to plant a big kiss on his best friend Marissa. So cute!



Here he is giving his little sister a smooch. He does this many times throughout the day and also gives her lots of hugs. I know they are going to be best buds forever. He loves her so much.

How adorable is this! They smile at each other! I love it!

A very sleepy Carter getting hugs from his Grandpa. He's so affectionate.

About to fall asleep in Grandpa's arms

How am I going to make it through this stage?

Toddlerhood is NOT a fun stage at all, especially when you are the parent of a willful and stubborn 19 month old. I was managing so well with caring for 2 children under 2 years of age until now. Carter has given new meaning to the term "Terrible Two's". We are just now entering this stage of his development and I'm already worn out. I feel beaten down, at a loss, depressed and on the verge of tears at least once a day. It's so hard! I get so frustrated telling him no over and over again only to have him do the exact same thing 10 minutes later. I give him time outs. I've swatted him on the bottom. I've told him no calmly. I've raised my voice to let him know I mean business. Nothing is working. I'm ready to call Super Nanny and plead for her help. Ken is equally frustrated with his behavior. Last night he went online to look for books on discipline for toddlers. Something has to work. Don't get me wrong, I love my son with all my heart and he has many wonderful and endearing qualities. I just wish I saw more of that and less of the constant disobediece. It's disheartening. I mean, sometimes I feel like a failure as a mother. I ask myself where I might have went wrong. Is he spoiled? Why is he doing this? Does he want more attention? Is he bored? What can I do to help? This is such an unbelievably difficult process. I just hope we can somehow get through to him, and soon. I don't know how much more of this I can take.


Songs of the Moment: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LG_7IDZHHzM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NG2zyeVRcbs

Busy Week

It's been a very busy the last two weeks for us. Ken found out a good friend of his, Rocco M. Barnes, died while serving overseas in Afghanistan. It's never easy to lose someone you care about. I think Ken was in shock for a few days over it. He was very quiet and a little withdrawn. Death tends to put things in perspective. I know he was taking a good look at his life and realizing all that he has to be grateful for. Since you never know when the big guy upstairs is gonna say your time is up, you need to treat every day for the precious gift it is and make the most of it. I know Ken plans on reconnecting with some old friends he's lost touch with over the years. I think that's a great idea.

Here is an article about his friend Rocco from the L.A. Times.


http://www.latimes.com/news/obituaries/la-me-rocco-barnes15-2009jun15,0,5715542.story




I took Carter to get his haircut Tuesday. When his usual stylist asked me if I wanted to take it a bit shorter this time, I said yes (reluctantly). I was afraid Ken would be upset for getting it cut shorter without his permission. I honestly didn't think it was going to be that big of a difference. She wasn't even halfway through and I realized what his hair was going to look like afterwards - a buzz cut! When she said a little shorter, I thought that meant a little shorter - not the kind of haircut they give men before they head off to join the military! However, he still did look adorable afterwards. Ken didn't like it at all. He misses the old hairstyle and thinks he looked cuter with it longer. SO, we are going to let it grow out. Here is a picture of him with his new do.

Danielle rolled over for the first time yesterday, from back to belly. She's going to mobile before I can blink an eye! She loves playing with her big brother and I have so much fun watching the two of them together. He's the ever adoring big brother and likes to shower he with kisses and give her hugs. He has even tried to pick her up on a few occasions! Of course I discourage this because he is just too little to know how to hold her properly. Sometimes he sees her on the floor trying to roll over and she's ALMOST there. He'll come up to her and just gently push her over to get where she wanted to go. So cute. It'll be interesting to see how he acts once she starts crawling and then walking. Watch out! ;-)

Here is a video of Carter giving Danielle some big brother lovin'.

Today we took the kids to their well baby checkups with their pediatrician Dr. Lim. Carter has never really put up a fight when he has to be examined by the doctor, until now that is. As soon as we stepped into Dr. Lim's office, he was clinging to Ken. When she was looking into his ears and listening to his heart, he was having a fit! I couldn't believe it. The nurse said that the 18 month checkup and the 2 year checkup are usually the worst. By then, they know all about what the good doctor does - give shots! He was very scared and stayed in his Daddy's arms almost the entire time. When his doctor asked us to put him on the floor so she could watch him walk, he just stood there motionless! He wouldn't move! It was hilarious because this is so unlike Carter. He's always moving. He got his shots and only cried for maybe a minute, then he was place back into my arms. I took him to the lobby play area while Ken held Danielle as she got her shots. I just couldn't watch that. Danielle's little cry would just bring me to tears. She sticks that lower lip out so far that it just breaks my heart. When Ken brought her out of the room, she had tear stained eyes and looked like a doe in headlights. Poor pumpkin. I hate that part of the checkups. At least it's over. Here are their stats for height, weight and head circumference.

Carter 18 months

34 inches tall (90 percentile)

28.6 lbs. (85 percentile)

49.5 cm head (80 percentile)

Danielle 5 months 4 weeks

26 1/2 inches tall (80 percentile)

16.5 lbs. (60 percentile)

43 cm head (75 percentile)

All in all, I'm so glad this week is almost over. I'm exhausted. The weather has been crummy all week. It has been rainy and humid. The kids and I have been spending the week inside where it is cool and dry. It's weeks like these where I feel like a caged animal. Being stuck indoors is not fun. I can only stand so many episodes of Sid the Science Kid or Curious George. One good thing about this week was a super fun playdate Carter had with his good friend Marissa. My friend Stephanie and her daughter Marissa came over on Wednesday afternoon for a few hours. It was really nice catching up with her and watching our kids together. They really do seem to enjoy each others company. Carter even gave her a kiss! She reciprocated with one of her own shortly after. It was hilarious! I tried to get a good picture, but I wasn't sitting at a good angle. Here's a few pics from our afternoon together.

Song of the Day

I thought it would only be fitting to do a Song of the Day after having a Recipe of the Day. Just tonight I heard this song on a commercial on t.v. It's a song I hadn't heard in quite awhile, but absolutely love, so I thought I'd share. Here is a video link so you can watch it.

http://music.msn.com/album/?album=44335456

Enjoy!!!

Recipe of The Day: Sloppy Joe Sandwiches

It's been awhile since I tried a new recipe, and I found a really good one for all my readers. It's simple too! We always have ground beef on hand in our freezer, but I get tired of making the same recipes with it - tacos or meatloaf. I wanted to try something different, so I scoured my cookbooks and found this Sloppy Joe recipe. The last time I had Sloppy Joe's was last summer when Ken, Carter and I were visiting my Dad & Lynn in Concord. Lynn makes her own variation of the traditional recipe and it is really yummy. Since I only have the ingredients listed in the recipe on hand today, I will make it according to the directions and see how it turns out.

20 minutes later. . . . .

Awesome!!! I love it! It has to simmer for 30 minutes, but I sneaked a taste and it is delicious. I think Carter will like it too. Here is the recipe:

Sloppy Joe Sandwiches

1 pound ground beef

1 cup ketchup

1/4 cup water

2 tablespoons brown sugar

2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce

2 teaspoons prepared mustard

1/2 teaspoon garlic powder

1/2 teaspoon onion powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

4 hamburger buns, split

In a large saucepan, cook beef over medium heat until no longer pink; drain. Stir in the ketchup, water, brown sugar, Worcestershire sauce, mustard, garlic powder, onion powder and salt.

Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; cover and simmer for 30-40 minutes. Serve on buns.

The Strange but Cute Things Kids Do

Let the Fun Begin - A Week of Milestones

Two big milestones happened for Danielle and Carter this week. Danielle sat up by herself for the first time on May 31st, at 5 months of age, and Carter is now sleeping in his toddler bed. Danielle's milestone is wonderful and comes without any headache to myself or Ken. Carter outgrowing his crib, on the hand, is a different story. Before I get to that, here are a few pictures and a video of Danielle sitting on her own.

It all started a few days back when I decided to try and nap the two of them together at the same time. They were both tired and I wanted to try to get Danielle used to sleeping in her crib AND used to sleeping in the same room with her big brother. I put Danielle in her crib first, then went downstairs to get Carter. I brought him into the room and laid him in his crib. Danielle had been so quiet that Carter didn't even notice she was in her crib. When I closed the door, they both started jabbering away. Carter was obviously surprised by the sound of Danielle's little voice from the opposite side of the room. I heard him protest. He didn't like her in there at first. I stuck to my guns and decided to wait it out a bit longer. Maybe, just maybe, they would talk each other to sleep.

Danielle's jabbering soon turned to full blown crying, and after 10 minutes of listening to it, I decided to go in and get her. I picked her up and rocked her in the rocking chair for a few moments to calm her down. Carter, who had not gone to sleep yet, was now standing up in his crib watching us curiously. I could tell he wanted out of there too. What I didn't expect to see him do, right there in front of me, was try to escape. I told him no. Realizing that this had now disrupted his nap, I decided to take both of them downstairs. Carter would play for a few minutes longer before I would try to put him back down for his nap.

After 10 minutes or so, I took him back upstairs to his crib, alone this time. He didn't like it one bit. When I left the room, he had a fit. If was definitely time for a nap. Unruly toddler behavior = nap time! I headed back downstairs. I was even down there 5 minutes when I heard this loud thud. I ran upstairs to Carter's room and whipped open the door. Sure enough, there he was running around his room free as a bird! I'm sure my jaw dropped to the floor at that point. His crib had already been lowered to the lowest possible setting. How the heck did he get out? He's tall, but not THAT tall! If you know anything about my son, you know he's a very willful, stubborn, determined, fearless and STRONG little boy. These characteristics together spell Trouble with a capital T.

He never got his afternoon nap that day. I was afraid to put him back in there. That night he slept just fine and did not try to escape. At nap time the following afternoon, when I heard him climb out of his crib for the second time, I knew it was time to take down his crib. Ken stopped at Babies R Us and bought all kinds of child-proofing necessities including door locks and doorknob covers. Ken converted Carter's crib over to the toddler bed that evening and made his room safe. We brought him upstairs to check it out. He loved it! I spent about 30 minutes in his room with him to let him explore. Here are some pictures and a video of him checking everything out.

Later that night, when we put him to bed, he cried for about 10 minutes. After that, we could hear him running around playing for about a half hour. Then, finally, he fell asleep. Ken peaked in on him after a few hours to make sure he was actually asleep in his crib, and not on the floor somewhere. Yes, he was in there sleeping like a good boy. However, he must've moved sometime in the middle of the night because when Ken got him up the next morning, he was crying and laying on the floor. The same thing happened to me when I napped him later that day. This time, I don't think he slept in his bed at all. By the looks of the carpet marks on his cheek - he had been on the floor the whole time.

The second night, last night, he went to bed without a fight. He slept til 4 a.m. and then woke up screaming. Ken went in there and calmed him down and laid him back in his bed. I'm not sure if he was crying over his new bed or if his teeth are bothering him. He has some molars coming in right now and I'm sure that's causing a lot of pain. This process is definitely harder than I thought it would be. I honestly wasn't prepared for this yet. I thought the next big thing to do was potty training! Carter definitely keeps me on my toes. I never know what he's gonna do next.

I failed to mention one other thing that happened yesterday. Carter actually climbed over the baby gate by our front door that blocks off the stairs to the 2nd floor. I have no idea how he managed this, but I definitely don't want it to happen again. There is no carpeting on the other side of that gate, so I'm sure it wasn't a pleasant landing. Like I said earlier, I'm so not ready for this. Just when I think I can get a break from things, he stirs up the pot once again.

On a more positive note, Danielle had her first taste of infant rice cereal a few days ago. She took it pretty well. In another month I'm planning on introducing some fruits and vegetables to her diet. I'm excited for that stage of her development and am planning on making homemade baby food for her. I got a book out at the library that has recipes and shows how to do it yourself.

Danielle is also talking a lot more. Her initial sounds were a lot of "Ahhhs" and now she is making "Ohhh" and "Owww" and "Ahh Goo" sounds. It's so neat how her language is developing. Just yesterday she started growling for the first time! Carter used to do that when he was a baby. Except her growl sounds more like E.T. It's very funny. I'm going to try to get it on video.

Monday Madness

I am having a BAD case of the Monday's today. I woke up at 4 a.m. by Danielle crying to be fed. After I finished nursing her, I put her back down to sleep and tried to get some more shut-eye myself. Well, my cat had a different plan for me I guess. He decided to meow in my face for the next hour and a half. Ugh! I got out of bed, relunctantly, at 6 a.m. to make some coffee. Kitty soon followed and decided to get himself something to eat. Half an hour later I hear him puking upstairs. Ugh! Thankfully, Ken cleaned it up. By the time my coffee was finished brewing, Danielle was awake again. She was in a good mood and played for awhile in the exersaucer. Maybe it was too much action too early, because not long after being in there she was spitting up. Ugh. I take her upstairs to change her clothes. By this time it's 7:30 a.m. As soon as I put her onesie over her head, she spits up again! Ugh. I wipe her off, change her AGAIN and we head back downstairs. I got Carter his breakfast ready, pick him up to put him in his highchair and in the process I threw out my back. Ugh. I had to call Ken down to take him out of my arms because I was afraid to move. I thought I was going to drop him! Motrin here I come. Danielle played for about another hour, I fed her and thankfully she fell back asleep. Phew! Did it end there, no. After I put Carter down for his morning nap at 10 a.m. I decided I would lay back down myself. Sorry if the next part is TMI, but it definitely needs to be put in this entry since it irked me so much. I headed to the bathroom to go pee and brush my teeth. When I flushed the toilet, the bowl started to fill up with water! Obviously, my husband must've shoved too much toilet paper down there this morning before he left for work - and now I had to deal with the aftermath! Ugh. I ran downstairs to get the plunger, and rammed my arm against a sharp part on the water heater in our laundry room. OWWW!!! There's one more bruise. Just yesterday I hit my thigh pretty hard on the edge of the baby gate and there's a nasty looking bruise there now. After I got the bathroom contained, I took a quick computer break before heading back to bed. Just as I was finishing and getting up, I tip over my water glass that was on the floor. Ugh!!! I'm such a klutz. Last night I had tipped over my wine glass just feet away from this spill. I'm definitely not having a good day. I hope this is no inclination of how my week is going to be. :-( Please make it get better!!!

My Little Monkey

Let me just say that my son is such a little ham! He loves being goofy. Maybe he got that from me. I was a bit of a goofball when I was younger. I loved, and still do, making people laugh. Carter is the same way. He always knows how to make me smile, and it doesn't take much. Ken got him his very own pair of slippers over the weekend. At first, he didn't want anything to do with them. Next thing we know, there he is slipping them on his feet and walking around the living room! He's so cute. He doesn't leave them on for any length of time, but it is still fun seeing them on his feet.

Ken thinks toddlers eating habits are just plain disgusting. Therefore, I'm almost always the one that feeds our boy. It's messy, to say the least. However, this is how they learn so I try to go with the flow and let him have some fun with it. We rarely feed him anything but snacks in our living room, but this time we snuck him a few bites of chicken. Here he is being his usual goofy self for the pictures.

Such a devious look!

I thought it would be fun for Carter to get creative with his play dough he got for Easter. He only lasted a few minutes before he decided it looked tasty and took a bite of it. At least it's non-toxic, right? Needless to say, we stuck to coloring after that.

Oops, I duplicated this picture by accident.

Here's a new one

Carter's favorite fruit is banana. If he had the choice, he would eat it for breakfast, lunch and dinner. I told you, he's part monkey! Here are some cute pics of him eating.

A Day at the Park

Last weekend we took the kids over to the swings in our condo development. This is the first time they've been there to play. Carter enjoyed himself and Dani gave me a few smiles. She had a good time too. The pool will be opening up for Memorial Day weekend, the following weekend and then regular pool hours starting June 5th. I'd love to take Carter there, but they don't have a kiddie pool, just a shallow end. We'll probably get a pool pass at the city pool. I have a feeling it will take Carter awhile to get used to learning to swim. He doesn't like it when water gets splashed in his face (in the bathtub) or sprinkled over his head (outdoor sprinkler). We'll just have to see how he does I guess.

My sweet little boy

She's all smiles for Mommy!

There's the pool house behind the swings.

Ken taking Carter for a ride.

Down the slide with Daddy!

Monday Moaning

I think I will dedicate every Monday on my blog to vent any frustrations I'm having at the moment. And you, the lucky reader, get to be that lendful ear through my trying times. Thank you, in advance, for listening.
I was by myself with both kids last night. Ken had gone to see Roger Clyne's concert with some of his friends. He left around 4:30 p.m. Let me just say that those 4 1/2 hours alone with my children was a bit rough. I do it everyday, so why was it so terrible last night? I was tired from a busy weekend and both Carter and Danielle were extra needy. Carter's latest thing is yelling - not only when he's upset, but when he gets excited over something, or when he wants something, and maybe even when he's just bored. It was cute at first, but not so much now. I'm eager for him to use more words and less of this other nonsense. Danielle just didn't want me to put her down AND she wouldn't take a nap either. She's had a cold for over a week now. Her body is still trying to get rid of it and she still coughs occasionally. That's probably why she was a little cranky last night.
It's crazy how much more busy I am now that I have two kids. When it was just Carter, I could be lazy at any given moment. I don't have that option these days. Any down time I have when the kids are sleeping is used for cleaning the house, doing dishes or laundry, and cooking. It's hard to manage it all. I want to pull my hair out most days, but I can't do that because I hardly have any left! This thing called postpartum hair loss might as well be called postpartum balding. Everytime I get out of the shower and squeeze the water from my hair, I have about 6 strands in my hand when I'm finished. When I blowdry my hair, it's flying out all over the place. It's on the sink, on the bathroom floor, in my hair scruchie. I looked at the back and top of my head with a mirror yesterday and I could see my scalp! I wanted to cry.
I'm also still working on shedding those last 10 lbs. from being pregnant. It's hard. I want to diet so bad, but I can't right now. I don't want to do anything to jeopardize how well the breastfeeding is going. Crash dieting would cause my milk supply to dip. I feel like I would be selfish if I did that. Danielle deserves to have the best start in life, and I'm so proud to be able to give that to her. I had so many problems with breastfeeding when Carter was born. The recovery from his birth was difficult for me both physically and emotionally. Caring for a newborn while trying to heal from a difficult delivery AND master breastfeeding was all a bit much for me back then. I wasn't taking care of myself in that I hardly ate. I had no appetite. I pretty much lived off of Nutri-Grain bars and Cheerios. I'm sure that had something to do with why the breastfeeding didn't go well with Carter. You're supposed to eat healthy, and I wasn't. You're supposed to get adequate sleep, and I didn't. You're supposed to limit stress - ha ha ha, that's a laugh! Long story short, I should just relax a little and be proud of what I'm doing. There's plenty of time for me to get my body back the way I want it to be. I just have a habit of being really hard on myself.
My self-image isn't the only thing I want to work on. I feel like I got lost somewhere in between having Carter and having Danielle. Who I was before having kids and who I am now is so different. I love being a Mom. I don't want to be the person I was back then - it's impossible anyhow. I guess I'm in the process of redefining who I am and who I want to be. What kind of Mom do I want to be? What kind of wife do I want to be? How do I find balance between all these things and still have a sense of identity? These are the questions I've been asking myself.

Third Time is Not Always the Charm

Ken and I decided it was time to take Carter to get another haircut. We've always liked his hair to be a touch on the longer side, but he was starting to look like Ashton Kutcher. A while back Ken had run across this cool barber shop in Berea. He had told me about it and took Carter there months ago for a cut. I had stayed home with Danielle. When he brought him home I was not really impressed by the barbers handywork. I mean, it looked like something I could've done myself. Oh well. It's just hair, right? It'll grow back in time. Since then, we've basically been alternating between his regular place, which is Kids Cuts in Rocky River, and this barber in Berea. The second time Ken took Carter to the barber he told her (the barber is a woman) to not take as much off. Now, he came home and it DID look better than the last time. Now, this weekend we took him to the same barber for the third time and she practically butchered my son's hair! He looked cute in the shop when she was finished, but when we got him home he looked like a totally different boy. The front looked crooked and WAY too short. I was sad. Ken thought I was overreacting. I probably am, but it was just such a drastic change! He looks so different. I can't wait til it grows in more. Ken agreed that we'll just take him to Kids Cuts from now on. We want our boy looking his best! Here's a picture of him before and a picture after his haircut.

She Speaks!!!

I was feeding Carter dinner a few days ago with Danielle sitting on my lap. She loves watching her big brother and always gives him BIG smiles. Of course Carter just eats up the attention. I swear they can communicate with each other with just their facial expressions. It's like they have their own conversation going on between themselves. Anyhow, Carter got so excited by his audience that he started kicking his legs while sitting in the high chair. Danielle started smiling really big, and then out of nowhere she starts giggling uncontrollably. Before that moment I had only heard her laugh on one other occasion and it was a chuckle at best. This was something else altogether. I was so shocked because just moments before she had been yawning. Hearing her giggle like that warmed my heart so much it brought tears of joy to my eyes. Hearing your kids laugh is the best thing in the world. Ever since that day she hasn't stop jabbering. I love it! It's fun to just sit back and listen to the two of them babble away. It's music to my ears.

Here she is playing in her exersaucer and jabbering away.

The Chair

We recently acquired a new chair for our living room. This has been a VERY welcome addition since the only piece of furniture left in our living room was our couch. We had to move everything else to the second floor. If you read any of my previous posts, you know that Carter has a tendency to move furniture and get into trouble. The chairs we had in our living room before were light enough for him to push across the floor. He'd push them over to light switches and flip them on and off, on and off. I can only imagine what our neighbors thought when our outdoor light was going "haywire" from Carter. SO, that led us to move everything upstairs - everything he could move. Ken found this huge, comfy chair when he picked up our new clothes dryer. Carter fell in love immediately, as you can see from the pictures. What's great about it is that it's too heavy for him to move!!! He does like to take the cushion off the back of the chair and toss it on the floor. He does this with the couch cushions as well. Our cats have also taken a liking to our new piece of furniture. Surprisingly, they don't sleep on it at night like I thought they would.

Carter & Marissa's Playdate

Stephanie and her daughter Marissa stopped over on Saturday afternoon for a playdate with Carter. We always enjoy having them over. They have a great time together. As soon as Steph puts Marissa down to play, she's all over Carter's toys. It's hilarious because Carter just stands there for the longest time and doesn't move. He just watches her delve into his stuff for awhile before he joins in the fun. Ken was home, and got to see them together for the first time. He couldn't believe how quiet Carter was!!! After about 20 minutes of watching her, he finally joined in on the fun. Marissa really liked Carter's Mardi Gras beads!

Here's my silly boy, hamming it up for the camera!!!

Carter enjoyed showing Marissa some of his favorite toys and stuffed animals. He kept handing her stuff. It was too cute.

SNACK TIME!!! All that playing made the little ones hungry! When I put down the treats, they dove right in. Marissa really liked the Honey Bees graham crackers.

Marissa likes to make silly faces too!!! Perhaps that's why the two of them get along so well.

PEEK-A-BOO!!! I see you!!! She always has fun in the ball pit! Marissa has her own at home too.

She's such a cutie-pie! I look at her and think about Danielle and wonder how she'll be at Marissa's age.

Everytime these two are together they end up swapping sippy cups! It's crazy. At one point, we had 3 sippy cups floating around the living room. Carter tries to hoard them all. He is still learning the whole concept of sharing. What do you think of Carter's outfit??? His Aunt Cathy got it for him recently and I think he looks adorable in it!

Carter LOVES his new playmate so much and decided to show her with a great big bear hug! She was a bit taken back by his affection, but enjoyed the gesture nonetheless. He's such a good boy!

Carter showing off by doing his inchworm across the living room floor. Marissa was very curious. I'm sure she hasn't seen any of her other friends do this before!

Hmmmmm. . . I could be wrong, but it looks like she's trying to hold his hand here. Future love connection??? What do you think?

Marissa is happy as a clam! She had a great time visiting Carter. With summer fast approaching, we can't wait to get the two of them in some outdoor activities! Stephanie recently bought some outdoor water toys for Marissa, so perhaps we'll head over to her place next time.