When I meant to link up, but didn't...

What I'm Loving Wednesday Thursday:

• A totally superficial self-pleaser:  I *may* have found the perfect wedges for summer.  They're currently on their way to my house from my good friend Nordy's.   I know, I know...everyone can sleep better at night now.
  
  I couldn't decide between these two, without trying them on, so I will return one. Probably not.  Remember when I said there was no Mother's Day or Wedding Anniversary gift for me?  I changed my mind about that being OK, lol.

• Philosophy products on decent sale at Zulily right now.  Scored more of my new favorite skincare items.  (I'm a beauty product hoarder.  My Mom was the same way!)

  

  That Help Me retinoid night cream?  Awesome if you're in your 30's and not loving your skin.  Of course, I am only 28, so I thought I'd get a head start.  HAHAHA

• Getting an email on Monday of this week notifying me that I hadn't responded to my acceptance to the advanced nursing program I applied to... If I didn't respond by Wednesday, I was out and they would give my spot to someone else.  Um....I never received anything?  Talk about a panic!  But it's all good now ANNNND I'm in.  I'm planning to sell a kidney to pay for the tuition and text book.  Yikes.
• The weather has warmed up!  Finally.  A-freakin'-men.
• Spark.  It's my new crack.  I love it so much I'm gonna marry it.  Oh wait.  I mean, I'm just gonna order more.  It makes you feel SO GOOD.  Without feeling all cranked up and jittery.  I've barely had any coffee these past few days!  Who am I??
• My Kids.  They are SO funny & sweet these days.  I love that Morgan can converse with me now.  Makes the days a little less lonely.  A little.
  
  This morning when I was getting her out of her crib I asked "Where should we go today?" and she scrunched up her nose and said "Ummm....Target?"  That's ma girl.
  
• The new splash table I bought.  It's an upgraded version of the one we had last year, which got destroyed in a storm.  The littles were in heaven just before naptime today (which made for a very traumatic naptime, trying to get them inside, dried off, changed, and off to bed.) 

• This stuff:

  

  Bought it at Costco.  I've used it to marinade salmon, chicken & flank steak that I made in the slow cooker last night.  DELISH.  Go get some.

Lots of other things I'm loving, but I'm outta time.

The Littles

Whooo, I won't lie.  We need stuff to do...trying to entertain a 27 month old and an almost-11 month old is exhausting!

I always battle myself with going anywhere though, because it's a production just to get out the door:

Get both dressed.  Change both dipes.  Get both kids' shoes on.  Pack diaper bag - or if it's just a short trip out, make sure there's at LEAST 2 dipes and some wipes in my purse.  Make sure they have drinks.  And if Joey needs to eat, food & bib & spoon.  Find Blankies.  Somebody just pooped.  Change dipe again.  The other one just kicked their shoes off.  Put shoes back on.  Put diaper bag and/or purse in vehicle.  Load Toddler.  The pooper is now falling asleep since he hasn't had attention in 4 minutes.  Put him in bed for his nap and call the whole thing off?  Or forge ahead and hope he gets a decent nap in the car?  

And so it also has to be timed just right.

So lately we've been staying home A LOT.  But occasionally, we do get out.  So here's what we've been up to the past few weeks.  In pictures and hopefully not too many words.

We start our mornings by playing on the stairs and taking forever to come down.  I think she picks out shoes as a hint to please take her somewhere.

Sometimes we go to the park if we can find someone to tag along and child-wrangle.  Because there's always one that doesn't want to leave and has to be carried out, thrashing & yelling.  And the other one can't walk yet.  So....4 hands are necessary.

Conspiring against Mommy.  I just know it.

Again, conspiring against Mommy.

More conspiring.  But in different positions so as not to look suspicious.

Throwing down a burger.   Because she ONLY eats at the counter now.  No more high chair.

Making Mama pancakes on Mother's Day.  Not sure how I feel about Naked Dora sitting on the stove there....

Someone left the gate open!

This little guy is still popping his thumb in his mouth (only the  left one!) when he's tired.

Went to an Art Birthday Party complete with art projects, pizza & cupcakes

But had to leave early because it was way past naptime and someone was acting a wee bit naughty

Tried convincing Daddy it was "Take Your Son To Work" Day

But he left his little nugget home instead.

She's into feeding all her toys now when she eats at her newly mandated counter seat.  And then has the nerve to ask "Mama!?  Where My High Chair????" like she has been WRONGED.  

I really do love my life.

Updates

I feel like I've totally abandoned my blog.  I've hit that common "should I even keep going?" phase that I think every Mommy Blogger faces.  I wanted this to be a baby book of sorts for my kiddos, but seeing as how a bunch of old pics got removed, I kinda think that reasoning is pointless now?

Anyway...where to start?

We were supposed to go to Nashville this past weekend to see some friends & their cute kiddos (LOVE that city!), but plans changed at the last minute.  So we stayed home and ran around with the kiddos.  It was nice because Joe was off for 4 days and I got to take some naps.

As luck would have it, some dear old friends from Minnesota were passing through.  My former boss from Mayo, whom I've remained in touch with.  It was SO FUN seeing them and catching up!

Clearly the Hubs and I coordinated and said "Let's both wear crazy patterns tonight!"  PARTY SHIRTS YO

 Joyce was instrumental in mentoring me and helping me in any way she could to get into -- and through nursing school.  I'm so grateful we are still in touch.  You hear about good people every now and then?  That would be Joyce & Tom.

 We started at our house (with a bottle of wine), chatting and catching up.  We took them to Vito's, our nearby local restaurant that we always seem to end up at, stuffed ourselves silly, and had....more wine.  They had to get back to their hotel and on the road bright and early, so we bid them farewell and called it a night.  Such a fun evening!

And this is how you know Tammy's had enough wine.  

We also went to a First Communion for Joe's little 2nd cousin, Abby.  I only got pictures of one little fella who was looking especially handsome in his yellow gingham dress onesie:

Turns out my 2 year old runs with the big kids now.  I always thought that day was so far off, but now it's here.  We go to family events and I barely see her!  And when we leave, she is worn out and says "I have fun!"

Speaking of her....she's a handful these days.  SO. MUCH. PERSONALITY.  But that's another several posts all on its own.

Oh, and then there was Mother's Day!  I got 2 really sweet cards from the Hubs & MoJo.  Joe hadn't gotten me a gift, and I kept telling him not to - to save it for the new house (that is a katrillion years away).  I ended up having to pay my school tuition for a summer Statistics class I'm taking, so....that pretty much was my gift. #holyhell  #collegeisexpensive

After our Mother's Day Brunch at....wait for it.....Vito's.

Oh! AND?? We celebrated our 3 year wedding anniversary last Wednesday!  We got a sitter and went out to eat at a nice little restaurant downtown on Fountain Square.  It had been POURING buckets all day long. I really wanted a picture in front of the Fountain, so we asked some city maintenance guys to take one with my iPhone.  It's blurry, but the only one we got:

So other than the day-to-day hanging with the kids, we ate out a lot and drank wine. And watched Game of Thrones, which we are totally addicted to now.

Joey 10 Months

Joey turned 10 Months old on Saturday, April 27th.  I won't keep repeating how fast time is going by, (insanely fast with 2 kids!) but instead thought I'd share some things that have dawned on me about how fast my little baby boy is growing up:

• Only 2 more months of buying formula
• Hopefully 2 more months of washing & warming bottles
• A BIG 1 year birthday party that needs some planning started....oh...probably NOW?

Updates on...

Sleep:  Still a champion sleeper at night.  Goes down at 7:30 or 8:00pm and sleeps until 6:30am.  This new earlier wakeup time, I'm guessing, can be attributed to daylight savings time and it being so bright SO early (even with blackout shades).  He's still taking 3 naps most days:  1st nap around 9:30 for 1-1.5 hrs.  2nd nap around 1:00 (same time as Morgan's nap) for about 1-1.5 hrs.  3rd nap usually around 5:00/5:30 and is short, maybe 30 minutes.

Let's play scratch the shade in Mama's room!

Eating:  Still eating purees.  I've given him bits and pieces of soft foods & crackers, and he eats pretty much anything I give him.  But he WILL NOT feed himself.  The kid would seriously rather starve than put food into his own mouth.  (Which is odd, because he's always gnawing on his hands or sucking his thumb, so I know the motor coordination is there.)  He's been really grumpy in the afternoons lately - until we started feeding him more at lunch time and dinner time.  Now he's back to happy lil Joey!  He still gets 4 bottles a day, and takes anywhere from 5-8 ounces each time.

Hamming it up with Mama before she goes out to dinner.

THIS FACE!!!

Hey Mama, I'm about to fall and whack my head for the 30th time today, so stand by please.

Also, he still hasn't figured out the sippy cup, nor does he seem to be interested.  I've tried a couple of different kinds of cups now and tried juice, water, formula.  He's just not there yet.

Teeth:  4 1/2 so far (bottom side tooth just poked through!).  One on each side of the top two front teeth are trying to come in.

Clothing:   Wears size 12-18 months and is between a size 4 and size 5 shoe (!!!)  Still in a size 4 diaper for now.

 He is always SO. BUSY.  (Boy moms, can you relate?)  His official 10-Month photos with the ultra-fancy sticker tie almost didn't happen this month.  I knew he wouldn't be still for a hot second and my camera has slowed down (probably need to have it serviced, like 2 years ago).  So I went for it...while none came out that great, I'm happy I did it.

The only way he would stay on his back for 1 second was by giving him this comb.

Movement:  This month he really started OFFICIALLY crawling! (Toward the end of 9 months)  He army crawls about 50% of the time and does a real crawl the other half.  He's also started pulling himself up to standing (as of last week) and is cruising.  He's begun holding onto us to pull himself up and has even let go for a few seconds, just standing there, before he falls down.  He also JUST started crawling up the back of chairs, the couch, me...anything he can climb on!  He LOVES for us to hold his hands and "walk him" around.  He is CONSTANTLY on the move, and as a result, constantly getting himself hurt, bumping his head, etc.  I literally can't take my eyes off him for a second if he's awake!!

Cute things:

• He's obsessed with sticking his fingers in my mouth, especially when I'm rocking him at bedtime.
• LOVES being sung to. 
• He learned how to clap!
• Thinks splashing in the bath tub with Morgan is THE funniest thing in the world!
• If I'm talking, he always starts babbling.  He can say "Dada", "Nana", and "Ni Ni".
• He will flop on his belly, smacking the floor when he wants to be picked up.
• Lately he's been burying his head into me and biting (ouch!)
• Got his first haircut
• Rode on the swings at the park for the first time
• DEFINITELY prefers Mama over anyone else these days ; )
• He's started banging on things...anything he can get his hands on!
• He's all boy - loud, fearless, and is NEVER still.  Ever.
• Goes after whatever his big sister has...whether it's a toy, a snack, her blankies.  Makes for some loud fighting!
• He flies around the house in his walker and usually heads straight for my spice rack.  Today he got the lid off the cinnamon and spilled it ALL. OVER.  He smelled like a cinnamon roll, haha.
• I feel like I'm constantly buying him clothes bc he's outgrowing everything and the seasons are changing.  Fortunately, I don't mind shopping ; )

I'm loving his big bold BOY personality and his sweet cuddly side.  He will always be my little boy and I love him so.

I love him so.