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