Relating

I always heard that being a mom changes you, and of course I knew it would be true but I don’t think I really understood what in my life would change. There are the obvious… having devotion to another life, being outrageously tired, worrying about EVERYTHING etc. One thing I wasn’t as prepared for was how unrelatable I would become.

Before I got pregnant I was living in Chicago while my husband was in North Carolina. I could go out anytime and go anywhere; if I didn’t want to come home I didn’t have to (yay sleepovers with Rachel). Fast forward to now…. I get up between 6-7:15am every morning (weekends included), I get my husband out the door and then entertain two children until they go down for naps then if I am lucky and they both sleep at the same time I get to clean the house in preparation for round 2. I generally eat over the sink or while doing something else. If I need to go out it could take up to 30 minutes to get everything ready so we don’t do it unless we have somewhere fun or necessary to go. Then when Don comes home we get dinner to everyone, do the bedtime routine and then I sit and relax with him until I go to bed. That is my day, pretty much every day to some degree.

When I do manage to go out it is usually to somewhere quiet (Don and I have managed it once since Audrey for an hour at 4:00 in the afternoon). Imagine being touched all day every day, being surrounded by noisy toys, singing, crying etc. When given the chance for some alone time I want the opposite. I have a pair of heels that I LOVE that I haven’t worn since 2007 (before I got pregnant with Ryan). Don’t get me wrong, I love being a parent, it’s more than loving my kids, I love the responsibility of it and the feeling I get doing it. I also don’t want to belittle being a stay at home parent… I think it is a really important and really hard job I am just talking about its toll on my friendships.

Imagine I find some time to talk to a “pre-baby” friend (this happens once in a blue moon but it is possible). What is the first thing they ask (it’s the same thing I ask people too… so no judgment)… “So what have you been up to?”…. I never have any idea what to say, my answer usually involves what my children or husband have been up to. I mean looking at my schedule above what would you say…? “I went to the store and got milk today, because we ran out” or “I got up at 3:00am to breast pump.” Maybe it is a sign that I need to get out and do more stuff for myself or maybe it is just that I need to give it time, for my children to grow up a bit and have some of their own lives so that I can have a bit of time to focus on me instead of them.

It is different to talk to other moms. We can talk about the merits of waiting on the MMR vaccine, or how we are fitting in time with our husbands with little ones underfoot, or how to use a nasal aspirator during a particularly bad cold. I am not saying that my mom friends are better friends then my non-mom friends. I have many non-mom friends that I love dearly even though I don’t talk to them often. So if you are one of these non-mom friends please know that I am thinking about you, that I love you and that in this case it really is me not you.

August Pictures

Here are some pictures just because...

Hanging out on a weekend morning.

Watching TV

Wrapped around her little finger

She is obviously a huge fan of baths... luckily she seems to be getting better. This picture is from her first bath in the kitchen sink.

Watching Big Brother

Audrey loves to watch her big brother. If I can't think of anything to do that will make her happy I will lay her next to him and 9 times out of 10 she will quiet down and watch him, especially if he is dancing.

Mad Toddler

Ryan is growing up... this morning he got mad and I got a glimpse of the teenage years.
We have to give him eyedrops both morning and night for 7 days for his pink eye. At first he was a champ and didn't mind getting them, this morning that was not the case. Dad had to hold him down while I put the drops in, there was lots of kicking and screaming... When we were done Ryan was MAD at dad (not me :). He was so mad that he told dad to go to work and slammed the door on him when he went outside to put something in the car. I don't know why I was spared the wrath, but poor dad had to drive Ryan to school and from what I hear it wasn't very pleasant.

6 Weeks Old!

Audrey is 6 weeks old today! 6 weeks is a big milestone. Doctors say that at this point there is enough of an immune system to travel on planes (though that won't be happening for awhile- it's good to know we don't have to worry as much about germs).
She is developing quickly at this point. She seems more alert, and able to track voices that she is familiar with and she loves her brother, she will stop crying if he talks to her.
A friend of mine had her baby today, it seems like a life time ago that i was giving birth to Audrey. It seems like she has been part of our life forever, she fit in so easily. Yay for this milestone 2 weeks until her next doctors appointment where we will find if she is hitting all the medical milestones!

Pink Eye

We woke up this morning to find a not so great surprise. Ryan has pink eye... boo. He is taking it like a champ, though you can tell it is no fun at all. He even let me put in the drops without a fuss. I felt bad so I let him eat cookies as a meal... don't judge, they were OATMEAL chocolate chip ;)

Hand-me-downs

An unfortunate part about being a second child (or any child after that) is hand-me-downs. This morning when I came downstairs Audrey was wearing Ryan's old PJ's. She loves being warm, the warmer the outfit the happier she is, especially Pjs because the feet are built in so I understand the outfit choice. I tried to girl it up a bit with the bow but I'm not sure it did much :). Hopefully her hair grows out soon so when she is wearing boys clothes, people still know she is a girl!

Dreamin'

To add to the post about Ryan speaking... this morning when he woke up he told Don all about the dreams he had last night. The first one was about a monkey that was singing and dancing. The second dream was that Ryan was laying in his crib reading a book.

He is getting creative now... that last one worked out for us because when he woke up he wanted to be left in his crib with a book for 30 minutes so he could read, just like in his dream.

Deciphering Toddler

Ryan has hit an age where he tries to tell stories. It's very entertaining because he doesn't always have the language to say what he wants and even if he does you can't always understand the words.
Today he was telling us that he wanted Grandpa to visit. His story went like this "Pa, Ryan" "Pa Truck outside" "Pa Up" Which essentially means (it takes a parent to understand.. and even then we rely somewhat on hand motions)
"Grandpa is going to come see Ryan, he will drive his truck and park it in the driveway and he will pick up/ carry Ryan."

Ryan thinks it's hilarious (most of the time) when you guess what he is saying... he will laugh and laugh until you get it right, then he will say "Yes!" as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

One Month Old!

Audrey is one month old today. The time is going by even faster then it did when Ryan was a baby. She is starting to lose the "newborn look" and you are starting to be able to see what she is actually going to look like.

Uncle David and Audrey

Uncle David came over today and took Ryan on an outing and then came back and got to bond with Audrey. My kids are lucky to have such a fun uncle!

Food

Ryan is the most picky eater ever. He has refused to try anything new since he was about 14 months old. If you put something in front of him he doesn't recognize he starts gagging uncontrollably. Well at least he did until about 3 days ago. All of a sudden he is willing to try things again! This is Ryan eating MY blueberry french toast... he ended up eating almost all of it.

He is pretty pleased with himself here, this is his "show your teeth" smile.

So far I have gotten him to eat Blueberries, Peas and some mixed veggies. Corn and cheese are still a no go.

He went from not being willing to try anything to pretending he likes things even if he doesn't. He will eat plain flour and say "yum".... I don't know what changed but I am going to try and take advantage of it (not with flour... that was a baking mishap). I think it could be that he is willing to try things he gets to help make since he loves to cook. I need to come up with some new recipes that he can get involved in!

Ruffles and Bows

I always said I would never put a bow on my baby.... but then I had a little girl. I just couldn't resist!

Winning the Lottery

I knew when I walked down the aisle that I had made the right choice. Since marrying Don over 3 years ago I have not had a day of regret. Over the weekend I was reminded just how lucky I am.
Here are the words that came out of my husbands mouth without any prompting from me: "I would like to take over the night duty with Audrey, I like to have bonding time with her since I am away at work all day."
.... Honestly hearing that is better then finding out you won the lottery.

Belly Button

Belly Button Stub fell off... my baby is growing up already! She will be 4 weeks old on Tuesday, time is flying!

... We actually "lost" the stub... Don told me when I came downstairs "it just wasn't there when I looked"... 24hours later I found it on the floor in the dark and thought it was a very large bug and about jumped out of my skin.

Change is in the Air

As a stay at home mom I am very particular about anyone that takes care of my children. I think part of it is that I am here, not working so if the care takers aren’t great I would just rather have the kids with me. When I signed Ryan up for school I really loved it, but of course all good things must come to an end.

I used to be a 2 year old teacher at a preschool, so I feel like I have a unique perspective as a parent. I know what goes on, I know how a group of kids that age are, and I know what is important for the happiness of a classroom. It makes me both more understanding about certain things and more critical of others. I think that qualifies me as hard to please.

Ryan has had amazing teachers at the school, which in my opinion is the most important thing. I have been willing to overlook some of the short comings of the school because both the teacher he had in his 1 year old classroom and the one in his current classroom were so great and he loved them so much. Well, his current teacher is leaving (she is getting a masters and doing that, working full time and having 4 kids of her own was too much). I have that mothers intuition that things in the center are about to fall apart, or at least fall under my standard of care when it comes to Ryan (there is obviously a lot going on that I am not specifically mentioning on the blog). So, we have decided to put Ryan into a new school. We have found a school that is out of our budget but my mom is helping us out, it is hands down THE BEST School I have seen. I will keep you updated on how the transition goes (it won’t start until next month). I hope Ryan loves it as much as I do. After much discussion we are going to make this work, I mean really what is more important than the happiness and safety of your child?

Sick Baby

Audrey is sick... I don't know where it came from but this sickness is not being kind. There is no fever thank goodness. She is stuffy, which with a baby makes sleeping and eating very difficult. Luckily Don's aunt sent us a humidifier as a baby gift so we have had that running all day. I hope this clears up tomorrow!

Pictures are up

Newborn Photographs are up! Check them out! http://pictage.com/884719

Family Movie

Ryan is getting to the age where he can sit and watch a movie, if he deems it worthy of course. Here is a picture of us having a family movie afternoon... this is my bliss.