The Start of Something New

I won't give you the same old song about being oh so busy and not making time for the blog because I think that is pretty obvious. BUT that should all be changing (well, I think/hope so). You see, I am about to make a big career change. Namely, I have quit my job and am about to become a stay at home mom.

I know, right?? Crazy! But I am super excited. I have been lamenting the fact that we don't get to spend much time together as a family but it was just one of those things. I would just tell myself that people do it all the time and I just needed to figure out how to make it work. And I know that people do it - and more, with less. But Troy and I started taking a look at our financials, etc to see if we could swing it. I think both of us were surprised when we figured out that, with a few sacrifices, we could make it work.

So...yes, we've been super busy. There were the holidays, work, Troy's business has been growing, he was promoted to Company Commander with the Guard and watching our girls grow up in a flash. I will post some recap blogs (with pics!) of all of that but I did want to share my news. :)

Okay, so now for what you really want...some pictures of the girls! Here they are in their Valentine's outfits:

Stuff & Things

Holy cow, I haven't written anything since Harper turned 6 months old?? Times flies...

She turns 8 months old tomorrow. That is so hard to believe! She is my funny little monkey and I mean that. She is fascinated with things like her hands, she loves bananas and she grunts a lot. She was saying "Dada" but not all that much. She is liking food a little better now (although we still struggle with veggies).  She's not crawling yet but she does accidentally scoot herself backwards when she's in the crawling position (which then just makes her mad because she's going in the opposite direction than what she intended).

Lainey is still very much a two year old. She is super sweet...until she's not. I have to remind Troy all the time that she's just very sensitive. Take yesterday for example. My Mom was here with the girls and she had heated up some lunch for Lainey. Lainey was fussing because she wanted to eat it even though my Mom warned her it was pretty hot. Well, Lainey went to take a big bite and my Mom said, "No Lainey, don't eat it - it's hot!" and Lainey put her head down on the table and just cried and cried. My Mom had to explain that she wasn't yelling at her, she just didn't want her to burn her mouth. Such a sensitive little animal...

As for the big kids around here...we're fine. Troy is insanely busy with his work and the Army. Not that it is a bad problem to have but he is working most nights and weekends which makes me feel a bit like a single Mom. (Hats off to all the single Moms out there!)

Here is the part where I post cute yet amusing pictures of the littles:

 

Lainey's mullet had kicked it up a notch in these pics. Don't believe me? Check this out:

 

 

Glorious. You'll have to stay tuned for updated pics of her after her Aunt Lala have her a much needed haircut.

 

 

 



Six Months

My little chubby happy girl is six months old already! Okay, actually 6 1/2 months because I have a hard time updating this blog in a timely manner. But anyway! At her appointment, she weighed 16 lbs 2 oz (about 50%) and was 27.25" long (about 95%). I think the nurse was a little generous with her length measurement but either way, she is pretty long! She did great at her appointment and wasn't even too upset about her shots. However, I did have a Mom of the Year moment when the doctor checked her ears and informed me that her left ear was infected. Oops! Dr. Sarah is so nice...she told me that the same thing happened to her when she took her son for his 6-month appointment but I think she might have just been saying that to make me feel better. To be fair, Harper is so dang happy all the time...she was never symptomatic! Or was she...

"Um...hey, Mom? Guess what?"

"I have an ear infection!"

"That's why I'm grabbing my ear. See??"

"Oh yeah...and I might be teething too."

 

So...not a shining moment but she's totally fine. A round of amoxicillan and she's good to go! Thankfully she's not allergic to that like Lainey. And she really didn't fuss or act like her ear was bothering her. She is just such a happy baby! Always smiling and babbling. She can now say, "Dada" and she laughs when she gets really tickled about something. She is thisclose to sitting up on her own. She can do it but not for long periods before she falls or slumps over. She rolls over like a champ (preferring to do that when she goes to bed so she's more or less sleeping on her stomach) and she loves to stand up! It is funny how different babies can be. Lainey was never interested in moving and loved to sit and listen to books and music. She was dainty with her hands and really let you know when she was hungry. Harper, on the other hand, grabs anything within arms reach, is always kicking her legs or trying to sit up, will not sit still to be read to (she likes to scream and grab the book to put it in her mouth) but is much more chill when it comes to wanting to eat or anything like that.

 

Speaking of eating, she has now started eating some baby oatmeal. We tried the rice cereal but she hated it (so did Lainey) so we moved on to oatmeal and she loves it! Behold the difference:

 

Trying rice cereal:

 

 

Trying oatmeal:

 

 



We're going to try a veggie tonight and then probably a fruit in a few days. She's so funny now...she watches up eat with great intensity and does her mouth like she's tasting. So I know she wants some food. I'm still nursing her too and that is still going well! Now that I made it to 6 months, I'm trying not to put a bunch of pressure on myself. I'm obviously going to keep nursing her as long as I can, but if I don't make it to a year, I'm not going to beat myself up about it. I made it to about 8 months with Lainey and she has turned out just fine!

So that's all the news on Miss Harper. She is just so cute & so sweet! It's hard to believe that at the beginning of the year, she wasn't even here and I am so looking forward to the holidays with our little family of four this year. :)

What up, y'all?

Ah, where does the time go? I can't even believe that September is almost over. It's been crazy around here (but what else is new?). Troy continues to be busy with work as he gains more clients and takes on more project work. I've gotten a promotion at work except that I somehow am still doing my old job plus my new job. I am such a bargain.

Let's see...what else...

Did you hear I had hives for a week awhile back? It randomly started one Sunday morning. I got up, fed Harper and was playing with Lainey when I noticed that my legs were kind of itchy. I was still in my nightgown and when I looked down, I saw this:

I went to two different doctors but was told by both that we probably wouldn't figure out what I was having an allergic reaction to and they gave me a steroid prescription. Then I went to my Ob/Gyn for my yearly and she said her best friend is an allergist and I needed to change my body wash. So I bought some Aveeno for sensitive skin and the hives went away. Go figure!


In other health news, I've had a cold for about two months. When my face hurt to the touch for far too long, I finally decided to go to the doctor. Just as I suspected, it's a sinus infection which I think is actually good news because that means I can take something to get better. So hopefully by this weekend I'll be feeling a lot better!

Random, but...I don't know why I keep trying Applebee's. I have never liked anything I've gotten from there and I'm sitting here now with a gross taste in my mouth even after brushing my teeth. Not that it has turned me off of eating. Which leads to my next tidbit...

I've not only fallen off the exercise wagon but it has left me in the dust. The elliptical that my wonderful husband bought me for Mother's Day (...) now serves as a large coat rack in the garage. Even worse than my slacking off on the exercise is Troy's diligence with it. He gets up nearly every day at 5:30 to either run or work out in the garage. He's probably in the best shape of his life and I'm in the worst. I know I'm probably a little neurotic, but I'm kind of afraid to work out. And not for any normal reason, but because I think it will affect my milk production. How many skinny cows have you ever seen??

And because I know y'all have been missing my updates on the girls, let's talk about how nursing's going. I bet you thought I was talking about Lainey & Harper right there but I was talking about my boobies. (Hold your horses...I'll give you an update on those girls in a minute.) Things are going pretty well but I'm gradually getting less & less milk when I pump. Back during my weird week of hives and the persistence of this "cold", the Benadryl, Sudafed and steroid have taken their toll. I've been taking fenugreek which has helped but I never have gotten back up to what I was producing before. Bring crazy busy at work isn't helping matters either but I've been determined to make the time to pump. This is about when things started to taper off with Lainey too. I had to start supplementing with formula with her around 7 months and about a month later, I had stopped nursing totally. I don't know why I'm getting so upset over it. My goal with both girls was to make it to 6 months which isn't going to be a problem with Harper. I guess I just had it in my head that this time around, I would make it to a year because it's been going so well. And who knows...maybe I will! But however long I can make it, I need to stop beating myself up about it and be happy that I've done this well.

Okay, I feel a little better after that little pep talk. And I know you feel better now that you know the status of my milk production. So...on to the other girls, shall we?

Lainey is getting SO BIG. Really...she is truly a kid now, not my little baby! Her mullet just won't quit so she had to have another trim recently. She is loving "school" and comes home signing all these funny little songs and telling me about her day: "T____ pushed me, Mommy! That not nice. I tell him, 'T____, you no push me!" She is definitely in her "twos" and it is definitely challenging. Like Troy says, she is either the sweetest thing ever or else she is just awful and there doesn't seem to be a whole lot of in between. But she is always super cute. I mean, check her out rocking with Elmo:

Harper is also getting too big too fast. What happened to my baby girls?? Harper is at a cute stage. She gives the biggest smiles whenever anyone pays her any attention (especially Lainey). She is so chubby and has cute pudgy rolls and big blue eyes (so basically, she looks like her Mommy!).

So I think that hits the high spots of what I've been up to lately. Hopefully the next time I post I will be all healthy and stuff. Who knows...maybe I will even feel up to working out!

Two!

I am such a slacker parent. My Lainey turned TWO on July 21st and I am just now writing about it!* To be fair, that was in the middle of Troy's AT (Annual Training for the Army...two weeks at Ft Bragg) so we had to postpone her party until August 4th when he would be back home.

I can't believe she is getting so big. And I don't mean her age, I mean she's getting BIG! She is 97% for height and I swear she has shot up just in the past couple of months. It's crazy when I look back at pictures of her from when I was pregnant with Harper and then pictures of since Harper has been born. I don't know if she had a massive growth spurt or if it's just that she seems so big in comparison to a baby. But after having Harper, it seems crazy to hoist her up on the changing table.

So back to her birthday...she still doesn't really get it. We practiced what she should say when people ask how old she is. She didn't really get it. But she was excited about her cupcake at school and the fact that some family came to see her that weekend. She got lots of great presents and clothes.

When Troy came back, we had her actual party. We had discussed doing a big party for her: renting a bounce house, getting food, all of it. I scoured Pinterest for theme ideas and even considered making a cake in the shape of a zoo animal. Then my more sensible side kicked in and we ordered a cake from BJs and a couple of nugget trays from Chick-fil-a. For entertainment, we set up the kiddie pool in the backyard under some canopies and let hte kids play inside & out. I'd say it was a success! Besides, anyone who knows me knows I am not very crafty (in any sense, really). So this was a much better option as far as stress levels went. Most importantly, Lainey had a good time, the other guests seemed to have a good time and there was plenty of food.

Here are some good pics from her actual birthday and then her party:

 

Now she has her own laptop...just like her Daddy!

 

I made sprinkle cupcakes for her on her actual birthday. :)

 Our casual backyard birthday party



 

The giant (and delicious!) cake from BJs. The best part: it was only$20. No, on second thought, I think the best part is the fact that those flip flops are magnets. Lainey loves them.

 

Troy called me after he picked it up to inform me that it was super cute "but it says 'Happy Birthday Henry.'" Of course he waited for me to start to explode before laughing and proclaiming me gullible.

 

Harper in her party dress with her Grandmas.

 

Chubby is cute on the baby.

 



Lainey scored some seriously awesome gifts. And yes, she's wearing the same shirt in all these pictures...I was trying to get mileage out of her birthday t-shirt!

* Part of the reason is that Blogger & I have been fighting. I created this entire post, complete with pictures, and it would not post it or save it so I lost it and got mad and left it alone for several weeks.

Back on the saddle...

...and it doesn't feel good. Yet!

I am reintroducing myself to exercise. Once upon a time, I really liked to exercise. I even liked to run (which I can tell you is something I never thought I would say!). And I don't mean to toot my own horn but I was in pretty good shape right before getting pregnant with Lainey. But pretty early in, I was diagnosed with placenta previa and the main thing with that is that you're not supposed to exercise. So that combined with a heavy love affair with milkshakes lead to my gaining 45 pounds during that pregnancy. I guess it shouldn't have been a shocker to me that I was measuring large and they thought Lainey was going to weigh 10 pounds but I was clearly in denial.
After having Lainey, I thought the weight would just melt off because I was nursing. Some of it did but not all of it. But I was busy with a new baby and then a new job and all of a sudden, I was pregnant again. And hey, those milkshakes are just so good! So another 45 pounds gained and when Harper came along, only 20 of those pounds disappeared (even with nursing). But this time, I am determined to get the rest of the weight off. Not only that though...I actually want to get in shape.

Now, because I do work full-time and have two kids under two, I don't have loads of free time. So I have deduced that the only time I really have to devote to working out is around 8 p.m. (after Lainey has gone to bed and Harper has nursed for the last time of the day). Thankfully, Troy is here to not only motivate me, but to essentially be my personal trainer. He has been on a real workout kick for the past several months (yeah...he was busy getting buff right when I was getting enormous with Harper). I mean, check him out:

Who let him sneak those guns into the zoo??

Meanwhile, here I am at the zoo...

Doh...that shirt is not doing a good job of hiding my belly!

So he has been helping me out and even though I'm still in my first week, I feel better already. And two days in, I've already lost two pounds! I know that's not a lot but when the scale hasn't moved in weeks, it felt good to see some instant gratification.

I have a long way to go but I wanted to post about it as a way of motivating me. I will hopefully be posting some updates with some progress soon. Definitely not tonight though...I went all out for the 4th but hey, it's a holiday! Back on the saddle again tomorrow...

Two Months!

My baby girl is two months old already! She is just so cute. Also, she's apparently quite a chunk. The doctor said she is "off the charts" with her growth. I always thought she was long, but she is nearly 25" which puts her in the 99th percentile! She weighs just over 12 lbs (75 percentile). Troy calls her our little butterball. She is just so cute!

I think she's going to be our goofy girl. She is always smiling and cooing. And, if it is even possible, I think she "talks" more than her sister! She is such a pleasant little thing. As soon as she gets up in the morning, she's giving me her gummy open-mouthed smiles. I will miss our little conversations in the mornings. Sweet girl!