Waking up

Little L woke me up at 5AM ish. She intrupted a weird dream where someone was trying to steal my identity.  While I was getting her back to sleep my imagination went crazy and I could not sleep.

   This was us after she fell back to sleep.  My eyes are only closed because of the flash.   

    By 6:30 AM I heard little foot steps and then this was us.  

   By 7 we were up.  This is us watching Angelina Ballerina.  I'm drinking coffee, Little L seems to be able to tolerate it now :)

   This is early to be up especially since big L has been letting me sleep into 8 lately.  Often when she is up at 4 or 5 of course.  As much as I like that it has messed with her schedule.  Now maybe it will be back on track.  

   All and all my kids are happy so not a bad way to start the day.  

Christmas at 4 AM

    My Christmas started at 4 AM.  Loralei came to me with the lovey doll that was in her sister's stocking.  We put that back and laid down.

    Little L decided this was a great time to poop so I changed the first of 3 poopy diapers from 4-5:30.  

    At this point big L spotted the leftover cookie and carrot for Santa and his reindeer.  We went up to her bed and she proceeded to devour the cookie.  She fed her new Elmo doll the carrot oh and I got a bite too.  

   We were all back to sleep in big L's bed by 5:40 and officially started Christmas at 7:30 or 9 which is when dad was woken up. 

Merry Christmas

The Magic Little Old Lady at the Grocery Store

    Today big Ls sleep was off.  She woke up at 8:30 and so would not take a nap.  I've been putting off going to the grocery store for a while now so we really needed to go.  

    Since we did not get a nap I was not too surprised about big Ls attitude at the store.  She did not want to stay in the car part so I put her in the front part.  She was upset about this.  She then got upset about the cereal I was buying.  She then threw another fit about the juice I was going to buy her.  

   We are at the self check out with big L crying, me ignoring her and trying to check out as fast as I could.  This little old lady comes up and amazes me.  She asks "are those real tears?".  She then tells her "you need to be good and help your mom out".  Big L's attitude changed right away and a minute later she wanted to help me with the check out.  So we finished our shopping trip on a happy note with her in the basket handing me food to scan.  

    I don't know your name, little old lady, but you are Magic and I am very appreciative of you!  Thank you!   

Sleep party on the couch. . .kinda.

    Big L was watching Curious George Halloween when she fell asleep on me. Little L fell asleep while nurseing.  Taking this opportunity to be lazy.  Hope I don't have to pee.  ;)

  Too bad little L woke shorty after these pictures and not long after her big L woke up.  This may be a long day.

Stealing my smoothie

    So I made a smoothie for myself yesterday.  Banana, mixed berries, and coconut milk.  How much smoothie do you think I actually got to drink? 

The answer, maybe half.  My beautiful dancing flower as she called herself, and yes this is how she went to bed, sucked most of it down.  At least I got some healthy stuff in her for breakfast.  

Napping

    This was us at 2pm today.  Big L was fighting her nap like crazy today.  She slept in late today but she still needed her nap.  We had a huge melt down fit over taking a bath and then a few other ones about me not playing doctor with her when I needed to give little L a bath.  

    I've been sitting in her room lately and that has been enough for her to fall asleep within 30 minutes.  Today she needed more.  Today I had to put my legs over her for a bit to make her lay down.  Then once she stopped fighting it so bad I had to pat her back.   Thank goodness little L was willing to play happily on her sisters bed for the most part at least.  

    We finally had success!  She took a nice long nap!  She needed it just as much as I did. 

The truth is. .

    The truth is it's ok if I have a sink full of dishes.  

It's ok if the laundry room is overflowing with dirty clothes.  

It's really ok if clean clothes sit folded in baskets for months at a time.  At least they got clean, right?!  

It's ok if my couch is cluttered and stained.  

It's ok if the living room rug has not been vacuumed for three days and the stairs has been even longer.  

It's ok that the recycling has not been taken out in a month, I'll get to it eventually.  I have great intentions in saving the environment.  

And it's ok that we all stayed in our pajamas today.   

    The truth is I know this all to be true but I don't truly believe it.  That's my new goal, do what I can and be ok with what I can't.  

Always too hard on myself

    I was beating myself up pretty bad today.  Thinking I'm no good at this mom stuff and that I'm awful at keeping up on the house.  

    Now at the end of the day I see I'm not really all that bad.  I may not be the best but I guess I'm not half bad either.  I mean my house is still a mess.  The sink is full of dirty dishes, the rug and steps could use a vacuum, and toys did not get put away today.  

But I did 

- nurse little L a ton 

- take little L to get the rest of her two month vaccines

- bake cupcakes with big L, as promised.  Still a little peeved at my hubby for buying the mix and telling her mommy will make these with you tomorow.  Thanks for that one babe.  

- wash and dry three loads of laundry

- make iced tea for the hubs 

- get the hard boiled eggs that I made yesterday cut in half to make hard boiled eggs.  We are half way there. 

Also everyone is still breathing.  

    So I guess the tears may have been for nothing because really that's a good amount of accomplishments for one day. Maybe I'm not as bad at this as I thought I was.  Tomorow is a new day and I hope I can remember I'm not the worst at this whole mommy and stay at home thing.  

                Yum cupcake batter! 

A day in the life. . .

    Here is my day in picture form.  This is a pretty average day for us.  I thought this would be a fun way to show the reality of a sahm also it was fun to take a million pictures. :)

    To start here is little L falling asleep in her play gym after her first feeding and a diaper change.  Big sister was watching a show. 

    I was drinking hot chocolate and wishing I could sleep too. 

    When she woke up I sat little L next to big L for some sister love and a cute picture. 

    Yogurt smoothie mustache and peanut butter cracker crumbs. That's a good breakfast, right?

    Play time for little L

    More playtime and yup this is my livingroom.  I do my best, that's all I can say. 

    Laundry time.  Big L was unusually helpful.

    That's pathetic me being pretty excited because after a million washes and avoiding the dryer, the stain on big Ls leggings is gone! She fell in a puddle the first time she wore them.

    Big L fell down.  She was fine but told me "help me up". 

    Snack time.:/ don't judge.  The bag of popcorn was left out and I made the mistake of eating a handful.  It gave a welcome distraction so I could fold some laundry which has been put back into the hamper and may never see a drawer. 

    Little L fell asleep in her boppy while I folded and L ate.  Bless her little sleepy heart.  I had to take a break from folding because big L moved onto other things. 

    I did eventually make it to the bottom of the basket and we played with the blanket that was there 

    Nursing little L is not nearly as relaxing as it was when I was nurseing big L.  We did managed to get some book reading in to keep big L occupied.  Click clack moo times two. 

    Lunch time!  Leftover pizza and frozen peas.  I just had pizza. 

    Spit up.  Thanks for that little L. :/

    One of the many diaper changes I do every day. 

    So patient while big L uses the toilet 

and throws this fit about wanting to paint instead of going to nap.  

    Nap time or lack there of.  I made her stay in there and "rest" for two hours.  Toward the end I was putting her back in a lot though.  I'm going to cry if this keeps up. 

    Outside playtime.  She used that chalk, that she wanted to bring outside by the way, for maybe a minute.  

    The raisins I spilled all over the floor in my attempt to break them apart to give big L a snack. 

    Little L got some poop on her clothes so I decided at 4pm to get her dressed.  We played on the bed for a while and L watched a show on the couch.  I was hoping she might fall asleep, no such luck. 

    Later big L had a poop accident and poor little L was a fussy butt the whole time I was cleaning her up.  Ugh 

    Dinner time.  It was leftover day. L and I had tacos.  

    The painting project I set up that did not keep her attention for nearly as long as I was hoping it would. 

    When Daddy got home he had leftover spaghetti.  L decided she needed to have mac and cheese. He made her pasta with melted shredded cheese.   He also put on a Spider-Man show.  We watch way too much tv in this household.

    Then they had play time 

    Bath time for both girls.  Little L cried for most of hers and so did big L.  She had wanted to help bathe her sister but was not listening so I would not let her help.  She then did not want to take her bath. 

    Finally bed time! 

    Once the girls were down I went to sleep too. After my day I was beat. 

Tummy time

    Um ok, I'm not so sure about this tummy time thing

    Ok I've decided.  I don't like it, pick me up mom! 

    This is the best she has done with tummy time in a while.  Truth be told though, I haven't been doing as much tummy time as I probally should. With big L I made sure to have her do tummy time at least two times a day.  Oh well little L will survive.  

    Just this week I have started making tummy time part of her night time routine.   And in the sake of honesty, just this week I started any sort of a night time routine.  She turned two months on the 16th.  Well better late than never and with this tummy time before bed thing she has been going down so much easier.  No more two hour fight.  Hope it's not a fluke.  Fingers crossed it's not and that she starts likeing her time on the tummy a little more. 

Red hair

    I've wanted to red for a long time now.  I bought two dyes because I could not decide.  I mulled over it for a week. Well yesterday mid day I had both girls down so I went for it.  

    My plan was to put the color in and mix up meatloaf for dinner while it was setting.  Well best laid plans and all.  Little L, who had been boycotting naps all day decided this time should be no different and woke before the color was even all in.  Luckily the hubs was home and tried to soothe her.  Unfortunately she was not having it.  

    When it was time to rinse she was just as fussy.  My bath tub looked like a murder scene especially since it would not drain well.  Now my toe nails are pink, I missed a lot of my roots, and I have some really dark spots on my scalp.    I think I like it but I'm disappointed I did not do as good of a job as I thought I would. I'm also feeling foolish that I did not wait to have someone help me color it.  

   Oh well what's done is done.  Here is a picture for your viewing pleasure.  The pic looks better than it does in real life. 

And this is what little L thinks of my new hair.  Lol

Motherhood is a stressful blessing

    All day I have been feeling down and mad at the world.  I did not do anything productive and did not even get dressed for the day until 4pm.  I've let out a lot of tears and at one point I actually threw stuffed animals around the room.  Don't worry no one else was in the room with me.  

    Now at 2:30am I'm letting those feelings all melt away as I'm realizing how blessed I am.  I put little L in her cradle asleep but she woke up.  At first I was annoyed, just like I had been at everything else today.  Then I picked her up and let her lay with me, her head on the crook of my arm, and right back to sleep she went.  

How lucky I am to have children who love and trust me so much that simply being close to me relaxes them.  How lucky am I to have children that want to be close to me?!  I wanted a break so bad all day and now I'm choosing to revile in this pure love and the blessing that is motherhood.  

   Even if I do want to escape sometimes or wish I could have just a few minutes to myself, motherhood truly is a blessing.  This stage of them needing me like this won't last for long in the grand scheme of things.   Still next weekend I'm feeding little L and running out the door.  Mama needs a hair cut and some sanity.  

Clipping toenails

    I was finally able to clip big L's toe nails.  It had been way longer than I would like to admit.  She would pull away from me every time I tried making it extreamly hard to clip them.

  I bribed her with toe nail polish.  Yup and you know what I don't feel bad.  Her nails are clipped, she is happy and so am I :). I would say "why did I not think of this before" but I actually I tried this bribe once before and had no luck. Today the idea of pretty colors on her toes sounded like a great idea to her I guess. 

My little stinker

    So it's 2:50, little L wakes and wants to nurse.  No problem I'll give her the boob and we will both go back to sleep.  Oh no I smell poop, ok I'll change her then we will go back to sleep.  Well my nose lied to me, no poop.   change the wet diaper, get her all swaddled back up, start to put her back to sleep, and then she poops.  Really child, really, you just had to wait for the clean diaper hu? Oh Well it's 3:20 now and she is back to sleep, just another day in paradise. :/  

4 AM wake up call

    Motherhood; coming to terms that "sleeping in" is sleeping until 7am.  It's also coming to terms with the fact that waking up for the day at 4am will happen. I'm not happy about it but that was when I was woken up by my little two year old angel :/.  I don't have the patience or fight in me to get her to go back to sleep at 4am and watching a movie did not work so this will be a super fun day( sarcasm, just incase you could not tell).  
    

Peeling an orange is hard work for a two year old

    This is what happens when you let your two year old peal an orange by themselves I guess.  She can peel a mandarin orange by herself really well but a regular orange is a little harder.  She ate some of the peel, peeled about half, then got inpatient and just started taking bites out of the orange.  

    Well not the way I would eat an orange but it kept her busy, she got some vitamin C in and I got a little giggle out of it so I say let her eat her orange however her little heart desires.   

Resting. . . well kind of

    Ever since little L and I came home big L has come and woke me up in bed in the morning.  The last few days she has laid down with me for a while.  Today she gave me her stuffed Elmo to lay with.  Aww that was so sweet of her to share and to think of me but really all I want is just to sleep for a few more uninterrupted hours.
   Oh well at least I got to lay in bed with two little girls, a passed out husband, and a little stuffed Elmo for a little while.  I guess resting with a full bed and a restless toddler is better than no rest at all so I'll try to be happy with what I can get. 

Post pregnancy wine

    

    This was my first glass of post pregnancy wine, had it about two weeks out.  Man was it some good stuff.  I started after the babe had finished nursing the last time before bed.  I think I was drunk after the first few sips.  Ahh it's good to be able to drink again, even if I do have to be strategic on when I can have a glass. :D

    I can't even tell you how many times I wanted a nice big glass of wine when I was pregnant when big L was throwing major fit after fit.  Somehow I survived without though and now I can have my occasional glass.  *cheers*  

No accident day!

    L had a no accident day today!  That's right folks, she put all her poop and pee in the potty!  I did not have to clean up even one accident!  And what makes this even better is yesterday she only had a pee accident.  That makes two days in a row that I did not have to clean poop out of pants!  Can you tell that I'm just a little excited?  

    The day before yesterday we went to pick out some prizes from the dollar store for no accident days.  She picked out a little stuffed doll that she was very excited about.  She was also very disappointed that she had to earn this girl and did not get it right then.  Well she earned it to day!  We made a big deal about it and she looked so proud of herself, as she should be.    

    She also picked out a Dora coloring book, some bead necklaces, a super hero cape, some play food, and a velvet coloring poster of Curious George.  Hopefully she can earn one of those tomorrow.   I sure would love for these dollar store trinkets to be the key to potty training success with my little two year old.  After today I'm hopeful.   

Messy home

    My house is a mess.  All my dishes are dirty, my floors are gross, clean laundry is scattered around the house in baskets, toys and stuff are all strown about.  I feel so bad about the state of things.  Every morning I feel so out of it.  I want to do something about it but feel so tired and then someone always needs me to feed them or change them.  

   Currently I'm watching Daniel tiger holding the baby with big L zoned out beside me.  Probably better ways to use my time but like I said I'm tired.  

   I wrote a list of chores that need to be done daily, few times a week, once a week, and once a month yesterday.  Today's goal is to start my to do list.  I tape a peice of paper on the wall and every morning I write a short to do list and cross the tasks off as I complet them.  I fell out of this for a while, think its time to get back to it.  

    My sanity needs this place to be a little cleaner.  

Overview of life with two so far

    Well here is an attempt to get back to my previous goal of two posts a week.  Wish me luck because life with a toddler and a newborn is rough.  But for all of you who are reading I will truly make an effort.  

    Little L is a great little baby.  She barely cries, except when she is hungry or gassy.  She sleeps a lot still even at two weeks old.  I have to wake her to eat a lot of the time,  that's how much she sleeps.  Really that's great but it was a bit stressful at first because she lost more weight then she should have. She is past her birth weight though so I guess I can let that worry go now.  7lbs 9 oz at birth, 7 lbs 14 oz as of today.  :).  

    Man does this child poop though.  She loves to poop without a diaper, I have been sprayed more than once.  She takes forever to finish pooping too, I swear once 20 minutes was not even long enough to wait.  As a result we are going through a ton of diapers and washing a lot of blankets and clothes.  Oh well this too shall pass or will it?  Big L is still having a poop accident almost every day.  

    Big L does love being a big sister and has been nothing but sweet to her baby sister.  She says things like " I like this baby"  " baby sister came out your belly"  "I lobe baby sister". Melts my heart.  

She can be a little rough around her though and gets mad when we tell her to be careful.  Really she gets mad when we tell her to do anything.  The terrible twos have hit and they have hit hard.  She does not listen, she yells and cries at the drop of a hat and won't calm down for anything, and she tells and my husband and I that we can't say things.  I'm on the search for new tactics on how to help her deal with her emotions.  Pray I find something that works because I might not have any hair left soon if she keeps this behavior up.  

    I know I could have it a lot worse.  I'm so thankful both of my kids are healthy and that little L sleeps well.  We are keeping our fingers crossed that she stays a good sleeper.  But no matter how good a day you have a full day with a toddler and a newborn is stressful and exhausting.  

   Check back in a few days and see if I was able to push out another post about my crazy life as a mother of two.  

    

     

Little L is here!

    The anticipation is over,  I am now a mother to two little girls.  Little L was born early saterday morning via C section.  I had planned a natural birth but baby had other plans.   She was a breach so a c section was the safest option.  

We are happy and exhausted.