A as Big Brother

WARNING: Lots of boob talk in this post



A has done such a remarkable job adjusting to having a sibling. He has certainly had his moments, but we expected there would be some bumps in the road. Overall, this has been a much easier transition than we expected.


Seeing breastfeeding through the eyes of a 2 1/2 year old is a funny thing! He has said and done so many cute things that I want to write them down before I forget! Most of these took place the first week Little Bit was home (I know.. I'm not timely with my blog posts!).

• When Little Bit cries, A pulls up his shirt and says, "I want to feed him!"


• On the first day Little Bit was home, I put him in a yellow sleeper. A's beloved giraffe is also yellow. When A saw Little Bit he said, "Mommy, he's wearing giraffe?" in the saddest voice I have ever heard. In my hormonal postpartum state, I started weeping. I thought, this poor child is having to share everyone's attention and now he thinks we've given Little Bit his lovie?


• I keep the breast pump set-up in my bedroom, ready to rock-n-roll when I need it. I walked in one day to A with his shirt pulled up and the pump hooked up to his little boobie! He said, "I'm pumping milk for Little Bit!" My husband was most horrified by this.


• A now breastfeeds giraffe..... I'll hear him say, "Look mommy, I'm feeding giraffe!" I'll turn around to see him sitting on the couch with his shirt up and giraffe hooked up to his boobie!


• Whenever I breast feed, A says, "Little Bit's drinking his juice!"


• A now burps and diapers every stuffed animal he has on a daily basis


• Every morning he greets Little Bit by saying, "Good Morning Little Boy!" in the cutest voice I have ever heard. This is exactly how I greet him every morning (although, my voice isn't as cute).

God's Timing is Perfect

Goodness, the last couple of weeks have been an emotional roller coaster!

For all of you who didn't know, my husband was laid-off from his job in June, right around the time we welcomed Little Bit into the world. This certainly wasn't in accordance with our plan, but God's timing is perfect....

We were anticipating this. Long before he was officially told that he was getting laid-off, we began to see the writing on the wall. I am so proud of him for pounding the pavement every single day and reaching out to every contact he has in hopes of finding a new job. He did this for months, but nothing panned out. He even had second and third interviews with some companies, but things would always unravel before an offer came. God's timing is perfect....

It has been the desire of my heart to be a stay-at-home mom since I had A three years ago. We couldn't afford it then, but have worked hard over the last three years so we would be at that place when we had our second child. The plan was that I would quit my job in April so I could have a couple of months at home with A before Little Bit came. But when April came we were very worried about the status of hub's job so I had to keep working. I was bummed. But God's timing is perfect....

It was great having hubs at home while we were adjusting to having another bundle of joy in the house. Overall, I had an amazing sense of peace about our situation, but in the back of my mind I was wondering how we were going to make it. Everytime I took my eyes off of Jesus and started playing the "what if" game, I would panic. I knew hubs severance was running out and there were no jobs in sight. God's timing is perfect....

The day his severance ran out he was offered a job!!! A wonderful job. He had one interview the day before. It happened so fast. For months he had been talking to recruiters and interviewing and this happened in a 24 hour period. God's timing is perfect...

Now I get to stay at home with my babies. I have joy unspeakable over this! I know it will be challenging at times, but I am not going to take one minute of it for granted.

Growth

Everyone who knows me well knows that I am a Type A personality. I thrive off of structure and order. I love organization. I am constantly organizing and re-organizing my house to make the most efficient use of my space. I like everything to be in its place. I frequently say, "Cluttered house equals cluttered mind." When my house is tidy I feel most at ease. And when it is not, I get cranky.

I am also a bit of a control freak. I like things to be done my way and I fall into the trap of believing that my way is the best way. I don't usually welcome change.... if something works, why change it?

Marriage and motherhood have thrown a wrench into all of the above. Learning to live with someone who does not share your "cluttered house equals cluttered mind" mentality is challenging. Having two children not does help with keeping the house neat. I have often found myself snapping at my husband when there are so many toys on the floor that I can't hear myself think!

I am harder on myself than anyone else ever could be. I set expectations so high that I often feel overwhelmed by my self-imposed standards. While in the hospital with little bit I made a vow to myself and my family that I will try really hard to just take a "chill pill."

I value the people that live in this house a million times more than I value its tidiness. In those hectic moments I don't always act that way. I don't want my family's memories to be of mom having a hissy fit about the house. I would rather them remember me down in the floor, amidst all the crumbs, playing cars with them and chasing them around the house with the play vacuum cleaner.

I am a work in progress.... this change hasn't happened overnight, but the Lord is surely working on me! I am learning to step back and gain perspective before acting in a way that belittles or disrespects my husband.

Lord, thank you that You who has begun a good work in me is faithful to see it to completion!

Show us your life - wedding dress

I thought I would join Kelly in reminiscing about my wedding dress today!!!

I absolutely loved my wedding dress (and my wedding)! My dress was one of the first 5 that I tried on. I picked it up from the rack and initially put it back, but the shop where I was allowed you to try 5 and I had picked 4, so I went back and got it. The minute I put it on I knew that was it!!! My mom, sisters, and good friend Tanya were with me that day. The looks on their faces when I came out of the dressing room confirmed my thoughts that this was indeed THE ONE!!!

My dress was mermaid style with a sweetheart neckline. There was rhinestone beading at the breastbone and delicate beading around the neckline. It had long, sheer sleeves with a bell wrist. It was totally NOT what I thought I would get, but ended up loving it!!!

I'm biting the bullet

OK, so I "officially" started potty training A on Monday.

By "officially" I mean that I am getting him to sit on the potty in the morning when he wakes up, in the afternoon when he wakes up from a nap, and before bedtime. I am trying to remember to ask him during the day also, but I'm having a harder time with that one!!!

Everyday he has sat on the potty at least twice and peed. One day he pooped. Two times he has told me he has to go potty, without me asking him, and has gone. He is still wearing a diaper... I'm easing both of us into this process. Once he gets the hang of it and is telling me more often that he has to "go," then we will transition to big boy undies.

I know in the parenting world there is much debate over whether or not to offer your child a reward for pottying. The great child psychologists all have a different opinion on this one. I have chosen the path of reward and so far it is working. I went to Target and stocked up on 0.99 matchbox cars and bought a bag of M&Ms. I'm going to alternate which treat he gets when he goes potty.

So we are just getting our feet wet with this potty training thing. I feel like I am totally unqualified to do this, which technically I am, considering I have never potty trained a child before.

So, all you mom's out there who have done this.... what worked best for you????

Baby Jack

My sister Brittany delivered her first baby 3 weeks after Little Bit was born! This has been a very exciting summer for our family as we welcomed 2 new additions! It has been so much fun being pregnant with my sis and going through the sleepless newborn phase together too.

We were able to travel to Birmingham the week after Jack was born to meet him. Despite how exhausting the trip was with a 2 1/2 year old and a 3 week old, I'm so glad we were able to get some pictures of these boys together while they were newborns.

Here is A loving on baby Jack:

An uncooperative A with both babies:

Here is GiGi with both newbies:


Jack and Little Bit in their matching outfits that GiGi bought them:


Who can resist sweet baby feet?



Side by side in Jack's crib:



Sweet baby Jack:

Meal planning Sunday

I thought I'd join Steph over at Green Kiddos for meal planning Sunday!!! Here's what we're having this week:

Monday - Tacos with black beans as a side

Tuesday - Chicken lasagna and salad

Wednesday - Grilled chicken with linguine and veggies

Thursday - Creamy crockpot chicken with mushrooms. This is a delicious Southern Living recipe that this friend passed along to me.

Friday - Meatball subs and chips

What is your family eating this week?

Handsome in Pink

We made our 3rd appearance at church today since Little Bit arrived. A donned his new pink polo shirt and he looked so darn cute that I had to post a picture!!!

I've had to leave church the previous 2 Sunday's during the service to feed Little Bit. Today his feedings worked out where I wouldn't have to do that. BUT he grunted and squirmed so much that I took him out anyway and watched from the lobby. Next week he'll be old enough to go to the nursery and I look forward to hearing the entire message from the sanctuary!

Fast Learner

I have always been told that I am a fast learner and that I catch on quick to new things. Well, it didn't take me long to learn a few things about being a mom of two!

Here are some of things I have learned:

• I am not superwoman!!! Being the independent gal that I am, this has been a hard one to swallow because I do not like to rely on others, including my hubby. For my own sanity and the well being of my family, I am quickly overcoming this. Its been a sweet time in my marriage as we have leaned on each other because he can't do it without me either!
• I cannot do everything for both of my kids. Again, this is another hard one. Its good for them to learn to let someone other than mommy do things for them, but this is sad for me. As a mother of one, I could easily fill every sippy cup, read every book, change every diaper, and kiss every boo-boo. Not possible as a mother of two because there is still only 1 of me.
• Washing my hair everyday is a luxury that is temporarily lost. I hope to re-introduce this into my daily routine at some point in the near future, but for now, I am just thankful to even get a shower (which may or may not happen everyday either!).
• My kitchen floor may never see a mop again
• I may never run more than 1 errand a day again - it takes a lot out of gal to load and unload 2 kids in the car!
• I have to do a load of laundry everyday or the dirty clothes will overtake our house! Long gone are the days when I did all of the laundry for the week on one day!
• Adding 1 new child does not double the work - it triples or quadruples it!
• Adding 1 new child does not double the blessings - it triples or quadruples them!
• A mother's love knows no limits - who would have ever thought that I could love another child as much as I loved A? I didn't think there was that much love left in the whole world, but little bit has managed to steal my heart!
• My heart is so full sometimes that it hurts
• At the end of the day when I am exhausted beyond belief, seeing all 3 of my boys snuggling in A's twin bed gives me the strength to go on and do it all again tomorrow.

1 Month Old

Our sweet little bit is 1 month old today! I am resisting the urge to cry at the thought that it is already going by so fast!!!

The transition from 1 child to 2 has been much easier than I expected. I would not say that it is "easy," but it has been a really enjoyable time for our family.

Little Bit, at 1 month old, you are:

• Quickly outgrowing all of your newborn clothes
• Wearing a size 1 diaper
• Cooing - it is one of the sweetest sounds ever heard!
• You love your bouncy seat
• You usually fall right asleep when I put you on your tummy for "tummy time"
• You eat every 3 hours during the day
• Most nights you wake at 1:30, 5:30 and 9:00 to eat
• You are a very good nurser
• You like your swaddle ok.... sometimes you fight it and I have to take you out of it
• You're not a huge fan of the sleep positioner - you prefer to sleep on your back
• You love napping in front of your sunny bedroom window

Mommy, Daddy and big brother all adore you! We are so thankful God chose you to be part of our family!

I"m not crazy afterall.... or senile...

I "thought" that I remembered reading something about this when I was pregnant with A, but I could never find the article again and I chalked it up to pregnancy brain or pregnancy dreams.

But it is REAL!!! Pregnancy brain is a real "condition." Check out this article.

I'm sending this to my hubby now so he knows there is a reason for my insanity after all!!!

Why being a mom to boys is so great.....

Last night we were having dinner at one of our favorite BBQ joints. A was sitting in the booth beside me and between a big bite of baked beans, he leaned over, rubbed my hair and said, "Mommy's Beautiful!"

I would not trade that moment or memory for all the money in the world....

Its a good thing that he did that because he's been a little stinker today. So I"m "remembering" that moment a lot today :)

I'm tired.....

We are officially less than 4 weeks away from D-day!!! WooHoo! Our sweet little baby G will make his appearance on June 10th at 8:30am unless he decides to come before then, which would be fine with me!

I have officially reached the point where I am "over" being pregnant. Thankful, none the less, that this baby is healthy, but I'm over being pregnant. This is the point where I just get bigger every day and retain a little more fluid every day. I naturally have big lips, but I"m starting to look like my own caricature picture with all of the fluid accumulating now!

Life has been pretty normal around our house lately. Trying to take it easy despite my raging nesting instincts. I feel like I can't scrub enough! And contrary to my previous post, I want everything to smell like Pine-Sol! We finally finished the nursery. Because I could only do a little here and there, it felt like the project that would never end. I'll post some pics later.

A is just a handful these days! Things he is doing at 2 1/2:

Giving more hugs and kisses than ever

Says, "I love Mommy" and "I love Daddy" all the time!!! I never get tired of hearing that..

When I tell him something he doesn't want to hear, says, "That way, Mama" and points in the other direction... yes, he has gotten a little sas about him lately.

Tells me to "change the diaper" when he has a stinky or heavy pee on.. but because I"m getting ready to have a newborn and A will have to deal with the transition of adjusting to a sibling, I am postponing potty training until G is sleeping through he night and I feel like a normal person again!

Loves the "itsy bitsy spider" song and says, "Mommy, itsy spider me" so I'll sing it and imitate a spider crawling up him!

Sings his ABC's all the time

Can count to 17

Knows his brother's name, but says he is in HIS tummy!

Has banged up knees and shins all the time from being a wild boy!

Asks to watch "Mike and Mike" on ESPN in the mornings - he is definitely his father's son

My goal is to take it easy and relax these next few weeks before our lives are turned upside down with middle of the night feedings and newborn demands! I"ll try to post at least once more before the big day arrives!

Laundry and Lysol

Oh my... we have been in the sick house! Well, I should say poor sweet A has been in the sick house.

He woke up on Saturday morning with a stomach virus and had it coming out of both ends. My hub had to work all day Saturday, so I had a very busy day here by myself. I believe I only did 5 loads of laundry on Saturday compared to the 7 that I did on Sunday. It was accident after accident. My washer and dryer were running all weekend.

He was still too sick to go to daycare yesterday so I stayed home with him and we attempted to send him for half a day today, but got a call at 10am that he was running a fever of 102.

I believe that there are not many things in this life that hurt a parent's heart more than seeing our children sick or hurting. As I have been rocking my baby and praying over him this weekend, telling him how I wish I could make it all better, I couldn't help but be reminded that my Heavely Father has the same tender heart toward me! As an adult who has experienced hurts and disappointments in life, its hard to re-connect with that child like faith and feel like we are His babies.

As my mind continued to ponder that thought, I also stumbled onto how much it must hurt Him to see us hurt at our own expense. I truly believe as parents that some of the hardest and most effective parenting tools will be to let our children make mistakes (at the appropriate age, of course). I wonder how many times the Lord is wanting to make it all go away for me, but I"m too busy pursuing my own way to know.

One of the things I love most about the Lord is that He is able to use a very icky weekend of laundry and lysol to speak to me. One of the greatest blessings of being a parent is that it gives us a teeny tiny little microscopic glimpse of how much the Creator of the Universe loves us. He sent His son to die for us. When I really ponder that, it takes me breath away!

Romans 8:32

He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?

25 Weeks

So this week marks 25 weeks into pregnancy!!! I can't believe how fast it is going by. My pregnancy with A seemed never-ending. Of course, I didn't have a 2 year old to chase around last time either :)

I went to the doctor last week and she didn't lift any of my "at home" restrictions. She said that our current course of treatment is working and its still too early to risk a change that could cause my fluid levels to drop again. I am thankful that there doesn't appear to be a greater issue at hand, so I'll just keep being a couch potato for a little while longer.

Barring any conflicts with the hospital O.R., it looks like this little man will be here on June 10th. My birthday is on the 9th so I'm resigning myself to the fact that this will probably be the last birthday that I get to officially celebrate :) We also have a name for our little guy! This has been an exciting few weeks.

I have actually had a very productive bed rest. I have managed to watch seasons 1 and 2 of Friday Night Lights on DVD and catch up on Season 3, I have caught-up on A's baby book and I'm almost caught-up on developing all of his pictures and getting those in photo albums (I am not a scrap booker). I have also started weeding through all of the red tape associated with applying for my CPA license, I have prepared and filed our taxes online and have managed to get back into blogosphere.

Other than that, we've just been enjoying some nice quiet family time at home. A seems to be doing well without his cast. He had a minor limp for the first few days, but its hardly noticeable now. He had fun playing in the snow on Sunday and is just enjoying being a little boy right now!

A's Big Boy Room!

I told you to be prepared for lots of posts since I am getting caught-up!

Finally, I have pictures of his big boy room. I had so much fun putting this together. I went with more of a transportation theme than originally planned, but he loves cars, trucks, planes, trains, etc., and I love the pure joy on his face when he sees them in his room!

My husband wanted me to clarify something of most importance.... the Big Red "A" does not stand for Alabama. It is for A's initial. There will never be any Roll Tide paraphenalia on the premises here... its Auburn all the way to the grave :)

More Pictures

Here are some more pics from the last few months....I've included some of cousins Jayden and Noah!

Why A doesn't sleep in a crib anymore.....

I was trying to post this slide show within the text of this post, but I can't quite figure it out... I"ll be reaching out to some of my more blog savvy friends on this.

Anyway, enjoy the pics of this wild man in his element!

Expect more posts... I"m finally getting all of my pictures uploaded to the computer!

Foot Loose and Cast Free!!!!

A got his cast off today! After 4 weeks of inhibited mobility, he is thrilled to be cast free! And so are we.

Thankfully, his leg is healed and the only sign at this point is a small limp which should be gone in a few weeks. Enjoy the cast pictures!

Another Boy!

My sister Brittany, whom A affectionately calls Aunt T.T., is also pregnant and is due 3 weeks after me. She found out yesterday that she is having a boy!!!

So I have 3 nephews and two sons. It looks like the 18 year streak of girls only in my family is broken. Maybe one of these days I'll get to buy some cute girl clothes for somebody!!!

These boys sure are sweet though! And they love their mommies.... that's the best part :)