Minnesotan Invasion

OK, well it was only 2 Minnesotans that came to visit, so technically I guess that can't be considered an invasion...

My sister & nephew came for a few days to meet Baby Joey and hang out before they both return to school this fall.

We ate way too much, as always, and took Morgan and Jacob to a nearby pool/waterpark - I so wish we had found this place earlier in the summer!!!

Boy cousins, hanging out.  Joey 8 weeks old; Jacob 8 years old.

Morgan's favorite face to make lately

Loving on Auntie Connie

Diva at the pool

Diva getting carried across the hot blacktop by Jacob

Mama & Mo having a little snackie between swims

We are way overdue for a trip to MN with the kiddos....I think the Hubs and I need to work up some guts to actually travel with both babies.  

Boo to the Weekend Being Over

I say that every time the Hubs is off!  Bear with me here...I wanted to attempt a post from my iPad.  And now I'm on the Hubs's laptop because I couldn't get the photos loaded.  (Sidenote to all you iPad users, What is up with the grainy self-photo feature of the iPad?  Am I doing something wrong?)

So...the hair cut....I did it.  I wasn't crazy about it, so I went back yesterday and my gal fixed me up.  The back was all wonky; blunt and heavy and flipping up ala Carol Brady.  At midnight last night, I realized I never even took a picture of it all weekend long, until sitting in bed.

I can't believe I'm doing this.....no makeup even.  Thank God for grainy iPad self photos ;-)

 so that's that.  I feel like its much shorter in person than this picture makes it look.  Yep....It's def. shorter IRL.

Anyhow, on to MUCH cuter subject matter:


I had to put away the rest of his newborn clothes this weekend as he's officially outgrown them.  Makes this mama so sad!  He is losing his baby chick hair too.  Smiling when I talk to him, and boy, is this little guy a charmer!

We had a pretty quiet weekend.  One fun thing we did was take Morgan to a minor league baseball game that the Hubs's work sponsored.  She shocked me by wandering all over the place and going up to other little kids...or anyone else for that matter!  She had a blast!  She even got a foul ball that almost hit her in the head (it bounced off the fence behind us & I was able to deflect it just in time).  She was so happy to carry it around the rest of the night saying "ball!"

She went right to Sarah, Hubs's Med Assistant's daughter

 Sadly, I only got the one cell phone pic....I was too busy chasing after my wide-eyed toddler. I loved seeing her so happy & just exploring every little thing. Clearly, we need to get out more, ha!

I can see again!

We also trimmed Morgan's bangs (with a sucker used as bribery to sit still -- the sucker lasted waaay longer than the hair cut, lol!)

Annnnd I went for a run Saturday morning.  2 days later I am STILL sore.  Man am I out of shape something fierce!  It was only a little over a mile, but it felt good at the time.

I'm off to wash our bed sheets since a certain little Prince peed on them this morning.  And I have Nursing continuing education to finish up.  It's not even noon yet, I need more coffee!

Friday Confessions

• Today is my "big" hair appointment.  I'm kind of chickening out about cutting my hair.  I want a change, but I just can't make up my mind!
• Toddlerhood has to be one of the most frustrating phases of life - for both parent & child.  One second she's kissing and hugging me, the next she's crying, crying, crying for no reason.  She gets SO frustrated that she can't express her words.  I feel so bad for her.  I really do love seeing this ultra-sweet side of her though.
  
  Also?  She's started biting.  Yes, my angel child.  Biting.  So far, it's only directed at me.  It's more like she puts her teeth on me, but doesn't clamp down hard...yet.  Although yesterday she got me on the shoulder while she was hugging me (see what I mean about the flip-flopping emotions?) and I swore she broke the skin.  But she didn't.  This morning I KNEW it was coming and I gave her "the look" like "DON'T YOU DARE".  I could see her pause and think about it.  She bit the chair instead, lol!
  
  I can't leave the room without her freaking out.  Someone told me this clinginess peaks at 18 months.  Are we there yet?
• I'm kinda bummed I haven't found a little school to send Morgan to yet, most of them require the child to be at least 2 years old.  BUT I'm not yet willing to force her to 1 nap per day either.  I need those 2 nap times as much as she does!  And I kinda don't want my little vampire sinking her chompers into someone else's kid.
• I confess:  I kinda want my new babysitter to just go ahead and move in.  I heart her.
• I feel guilty for everything this one, but, lately -- when we have an "event" to go to, the Hubs and I have gotten into the habit of just taking 1 child with us.  So we always say "Which one do we want to take with us?"  It just makes life easier.  If it's something I think Morgan will enjoy, I definitely take her since Joey doesn't know what's going on.  Once they get older, it will be easier, I know. Right?  Right?
• I've got a serious sweet tooth that needs reigning in.  I complain the scale won't budge, yet every day I'm making rice krispie bars (that one was the Hubs' fault!), chocolate chip cookies, and then the Pie Lady came to visit my Hubs this week.  "NO" isn't in my vocab when it comes to baked goods!  Come to think of it, I kinda want the Pie Lady to move in with us too, ha!
  
  Happy Friday and Happy Weekend....I will post a pic later on IF I decide to go for the hair cut!!

August Lately

I've given up on the hopes of an organized post.  Here's a random rundown of what we've been up to lately and photos of my adorable littles as they grow up right before my very eyes:

That Leapfrog phone has been a lifesaver!

Morgan's been VERY clingy to me lately - I need to do an 18 month post this month.  I know it's normal Toddler development, but holymoly!  She's been super affectionate too, so I'll take it ; )

She got her shots a week & a half ago at her checkup and has broke out in a rash & fever the past few days.  No fun for anyone.

My new favorite custom necklace from etsy seller The Dedication Company:

My sister asked "Why J&M?"  Um...those are the first initials of my CHILDREN?? Hahahaha!

A smile...I was too anxious with the camera, hence the blur!

It's hard to capture on camera, but his eyes are the deepest indigo blue.  His cousin Jordan said "They are like the sea after a storm".  I hope they never change!

Blowing bubbles and outgrowing his NB size clothes & diapers!

I Amazoned (it's a word, trust me) waaaay too many newborn sized diapers and little man needs to go up to size 1.  Oops.

Here I come!!!

And here is Little Lord Fussypants (his new nickname, ha!)

His onesie says it all ; )

Happy now.  This kid is a paci kid.  

What?  It fell out????

Morgan is back to 2 naps a day and we are all happier.  Bedtime isn't so bad, but that's because if he's home, Daddy does it.  It just goes so much more smoothly for him.  He's got the touch!  But there are a lot of nights he's not home by 8pm so I'm left to battle it out.  And it's a battle....especially if Little Lord Fussypants is screaming downstairs.

Hi.  I just woke up from my nap.  Do you like my hair?

This is untouched nap hair people.

And one more time...

Our late evening ritual...a little feeding and our newest addiction....

I'm so hooked on this show!

An attempt to photograph both kiddos.  Try again another day.

I've had healthy eating and working out on the brain a lot lately.  I lost all but 3-5 pounds of my baby weight.  Yay, right?  But I lost it all within the first 2 weeks.  And despite nursing around the clock, I've not lost another ounce!  I am SO HUNGRY all the time.  Ravenous. 

I was also in the bad habit of eating ice cream every night.  No wonder that scale won't budge?


I've been taking the kids out in the double stroller for walks most days - it's very hilly where we live, so it's always a bit of a workout.  But when I've tried to actually "Work Out", my entire core starts hurting.  I think I need to wait a bit longer to try anything too strenuous despite getting the all-clear from my dr. last week.  So I guess I'm struggling on where to even begin with the exercise.

Trying to eat healthy around here.  Rotini + turkey meatballs + roasted squash/peppers/onions + whole grain baguette

The Hubs has been on his 12-day stretch, so he's been trying to cheer me up a bit.  The babies and I had some ROUGH nights in there.  One night the fire alarm went off inside Morgan's bedroom, indicating it needed new batteries.  At 12:15am.  I had just spent 4 HOURS trying to get Joey to bed too.

Of course we had NOT ONE SINGLE 9V battery in the house, and the thing wouldn't stop beeping, so I had to drive down to Kroger's at 12:30 am to get new ones.  As I was installing the battery, of course Morgan woke up, freaked out.  It took over 2 hours to get her back to sleep!

Two nights later, after Joey was having some tummy troubles (the usual, reflux, gas), I FINALLY got him to sleep after about 3 hours of nursing/cuddling/burping/rocking/etc.  I hadn't even laid him in his crib yet and Morgan is awake, screaming, with a fever :(  I didn't make it back to bed til 6am that night and she refused to lay anywhere but ON TOP of me with her arms in a deathgrip around my neck.  I'll miss this one day, right? ; )

This showed up on my doorstep yesterday.  I was shocked!

All in all, things are getting better.  The Hubs and I have had a couple of date nights -- that's been ESSENTIAL.   And I hired a babysitter to come over so I can do stuff like get groceries and go to the dentist ALONE.  

I've only taken the kids out by myself a couple of times -- to their dr. appointment (that was just awful!) and to the park a few times.  It's getting easier, but I've come to the realization that Joey doesn't care if we leave the house ever.  Morgan, on the other hand, needs to get out -- as do I.  So I've taken just her a few times with me to the grocery store, or wherever, just to get her out a bit more.

We visisted a little school for her to attend but it was pretty expensive.  You have to pay for the whole day and I don't want her to go full days, just half days to get some socialization with other kids.  So I might try out a Gymboree class or something....if I can figure out how to also take Little Man with me ; )

My constant companion

I have so much more to blog about, but this post has already taken me 2 naptimes, haha.  It will have to wait.