Thursday, February 28, 2013

Drowning My Feelings in Pancakes

My day so far today has gone something like this.....Sylvia was up between 2 AM and 2:45 alternating between eating and pooping. At 5 AM, Aubrey woke up and came into my bedroom, ready to start the day. I tried to get her to lay down and sleep with me, then realized she was in desperate need of a diaper change. So....we changed her diaper and went downstairs to get a cup of milk. We got back upstairs at 5:15 - just in time for Sylvia to wake up and eat again. While I fed Sylvia, Aubrey whined about wanting to go downstairs and play. I wrapped up the feeding, lay Sylvia down and brought Aubrey downstairs in hopes of distracting her with Diego while I took a nap. Unfortunately, we use my brother's netflix account....meaning when he changes his password like he did last night, we can't log in. I settled for popping in Madagascar and returned to my bed at 5:44. Aubrey got bored of the movie and came upstairs at 6:04. I got Aubrey settled down and back to sleep around 6:40. Sylvia awoke to eat once again at 7:08.


I remedied the situation by doing what any sane person would do with similar feelings of frustration and made a GIANT batch of pancakes. Because nothing cheers you up like pancakes.


Aubrey dropped a piece of her pancake on the floor and her immediate response to the situation went something like this:

Aubrey: Uh-oh. I dropped a piece of pancake. My dog's gonna have to clean it up.
Me: Aubrey, you don't have a dog.
Aubrey: Oh. I clean it up. I'm a dog.
(gets on the floor and eats the piece of pancake)
Aubrey: That's gross.

So....it worked....pancakes have improved my day already!

Wednesday, February 27, 2013

A Little Confusion


This morning, I was attempting to get Aubrey something ready for breakfast at the exact same moment that Sylvia was also deciding she was hungry. Therefore, I was ignoring Sylvia's cries to get something ready for Aubrey. Luckily, Aubrey was there to let me know the situation.


Aubrey: Mommy, I think Syvlia is hungry too.
Me: Oh yeah. I think you're right.
Aubrey: She wants to drink from your belly.

Belly.....yes.....sure....we'll go with that.

Tuesday, February 26, 2013

A Glimpse into the Future

In many ways, Aubrey is not very independent. She can't make herself breakfast or pour a glass of milk. She can't go to the bathroom in a toilet and she rarely allows herself to be put down for a nap without me laying next to her until she is asleep. In these respects, we have a long way to go and our lack og training her on basic tasks like sleeping results in me getting absolutely zero alone time ever. While we're on the topic of sleep training though, I'm not sure what to do, when I leave her in the room alone she will literally cry until she makes herself throw up.

  Just when I think she can't get any more dependent, she'll go ahead and surprise me by acting like a teenager.


A few days ago she headed upstairs to retrieve her plastic animals after several minutes of assuring Sylvia she would be right back. After being upstairs for a few minutes and not coming down, I called up to her to make sure everything was okay. Her response:

I'll be right back! (then she slammed her bedroom door shut and continued to play up there for another 25 minutes.)


That's a response I wasn't expecting for at least another ten years.

Thursday, February 21, 2013

Tide

As Martin and I have been getting up to speed on The Office we have seen a lot of the same commericals over and over again on Hulu. There is on specific Tide commercial where a father is talking about his daughter who wears the same princess dress six days a week with the exception of the one day he washes it with Tide to get a week's worth of stains out.

Martin: Oh....I love this commercial
Me: Ha. Why?
Martin: I just feel like I really relate to this guy. You know, doing laundry....I'll that type of stuff.

...The start of the next episode. Choosing your ad experience.

Martin: Very decisively choses Tide.

....The commercial starts, but not the same Tide commercial.

Martin: What! What is this?!

Wednesday, February 20, 2013

Our First Stay-te

About a month ago, Aubrey and I went over to have dinner with our friend Katie and her daughter Karalyn. During the course of our conversation, Katie mentioned that her husband was obsessed with Stay-tes or Stay at Home Dates. While she was a little begrudging towards them, and while I definitely see the value in leaving the house without your children once in a while, I was still intrigued. I just feel like calling the regular things you do at home together dates might make them a little more fun and exciting.

One thing Martin and I do in the winter in watch TV series. We started way behind the rest of America watching The Office last winter and were finally closing in on catching up to current this winter. We usually watch an episode or two together every night. It's one of those shows that we have to watch together and skipping ahead without the other is a punishable offense. Hence, it's taken us two years to watch 8 seasons. We finally closed in on Season 9 (the current season that I actually hate but feel like I've invested so much time into the show I have to watch it till its end) a few weeks ago and were at the point were last night we were going to finish the series to current. So I decided it would be a perfect night for a Stay-te. I text Martin during the day and asked if he would be interested in picking up a pizza on his way home from his church council meeting and a 6 pack of some good beer. I could enjoy a half a bottle and Martin could enjoy a few. I was really proud of myself for putting together a perfect Stay-te and also for exempting myself from cooking (sidenote: our house is once again almost completely barren of food).

From there, things derailed quickly. Martin's church council meeting went an hour later than anticipated meaning he didn't get home till nine with a pizza that was ready at 7:45 (needless to say, no longer warm). I was just finishing up feeding Sylvia (so that was perfect timing) and Martin set us up with two open beers and pizza on paper plates, while I laid Sylvia in her cradle. Aubrey, who was still awake to say good night to her daddy settled on the couch with us to watch the office. Before the opening credits, though, she starting puking violently and uncontrollably out of nowhere. Suddenly we were scrambling trying to contain the vomit and give Aubrey a bath and spray Resolve all over the couch. And the cold pizza continued to get colder. When all was settled down and everyone was clean and healthy and sleeping we finally sat down, scrunched up on the half a couch that still had a cushion on it to finish up with our Stay-te. Cold pizza, warmish beer, and a rapidly declining show. But we did it! We are all caught up on The Office!  And just in time for Sylvia's midnight feeding.

And the good thing is: our Stay-te's can only improve from here!

Tuesday, February 19, 2013

Life


Amid all the chaos that's been ensuing around here, there's also been a lot of pleasure and bonding and having the time of my life. I mentioned in my last post that life was an emotional roller coaster for me the first couple of days and luckily, that is evening out a little now. When we first came home from the hospital I felt like everything was worth crying over. The highs were really high and the lows were really low with very little feeling in between. One second, Aubrey would be puking on her bedroom carpet at the same time as Sylvia was spitting up everything I just nursed her and I was crying because it felt like there was no way I could handle two kids. Within five minutes Martin and Aubrey would be playing a laughter filled game of chase while I cradled Sylvia in my arms and I'd be crying because life just doesn't get so perfect, so often.


Aubrey is absolutely in love with Sylvia and proudly tells everyone she is her baby sister. And she already has an innate sense that Sylvia is watching her every move and so is considerate enough to tell her she will "Be right back, Syliva" when she goes to find her plastic animals to play with. So far she doesn't really seem too jealous and any issues she has with sharing are mostly expressed through her speaking for Sylvia. As in, Sylvia is crying and wants to be fed but Aubrey wants to play a game with me. Aubrey: She says no. She says put her her down. She wants to sleep.



 And Aubrey and I have been having tons of fun enjoying a leisurely time together that we rarely get to enjoy. I guess I hadn't noticed it so much when I was working mostly because I probably didn't know any different, but for the most part, our time is very structured. On the weekdays its get home from work and start rushing through the evening tasks, making dinner, giving a bath, maybe cuddling on the couch for a brief minute together, reading books in bed and then watching her fall asleep. On the weekends, it seems there is never much more time. It's rushing here and rushing there, combined with my own selfishness of feeling like I haven't had a free minute to myself - I never really just play with abandon with Aubrey. But now, without the pressures of a schedule or a deadline or a limited timeframe, I can dedicate an entire hour to playing hide and seek and not feel bored to tears or like I should be doing something else. I can run in circles around the kitchen island playing chase for a full ten minutes without breaking off to start another task. I can let Aubrey cuddle into my arms on the couch until she falls asleep. That, has been amazing.



And of course, being home with the kids means breaking out your favorite kid recipes. Like english muffin pizzas a throw back to my days as a ten year old and our delicious lunch today.

Saturday, February 16, 2013

72 Hours

In my very brief time as a mother of two, I just wanted to do a quick photo dump. I don't feel like typing a lot or even delving into describing my feelings because I don't think there's enough space on this blog to adequately do just that. I will say that I have been going through a Taylor Swift range of emotions and have sufficiently mixed up love, responsibility, exhaustion, love, caring, daily duties, exhaustion, love over and over again so many times if it weren't for my supportive husband and ever-giving mother I would probably be a puddle of exhaustion lying on the middle of the floor sobbing. So, give a special thanks to them for me even having the energy to post.


The nurses at the hospital gave Sylvia this super cute and season appropriate hat to wear.


Aubrey meeting her sister for the first time.


Taking the holding responsibility very seriously.


Daddy gave her some pink M&Ms for Valentine's Day. Consequently, she looks like her clown makeup went very wrong.


This is what our bed looked like at Sylvia's 5AM feeding this morning. Full house.


A morning nap, mother and daughter.

Oh, and a few quick details.

Sylvia Jayne.
Born February 13, 2013 at 1:50 PM
Weight: 6 pounds 15 ounces.
Nineteen and a half inches long.
Cute as a button and doing well.

Tuesday, February 12, 2013

Stromboli

This isn't a recipe post. We haven't even eaten the dinner yet. It's really just a post about cooking. Or how cute Aubrey is. Or something like that.


I love having Aubrey cook with me for a couple of reasons: She's excited about everything. She's becoming better and better talking company everyday. And mostly, she's a really good snacker. Basically, she's not always the best at sitting down and eating an actual meal but she is really good at snacking on all the components that make up a meal during the preparation. So while she probably won't eat much if any of this stromboli when Martin and I sit down to eat dinner later tonight, I can at least be comforted in the fact that she did eat plenty of cheese, olives, mushrooms, italian sausage, spoonfuls of sauce and then an orange (not a component of stromboli, just an after preparation snack).

So, the above picture: A perfect toddler doing a fine job rolling out dough.


Somehow developed into this: a toddler on all fours on the counter eating cheese in a doglike fashion.




ps. for those of you wondering...I'm obviously still with child

Sunday, February 10, 2013

Prepared

Conversation on Friday night. The evening of Nemo.
Martin: Look at our fridge.And you work at a grocery store.
Me: I know. It's pathetic
Martin: We are definitely not prepared for a storm.
Me: Just think of all the money we are gonna save if the power goes out and we lose everything in our fridge.





Saturday, February 9, 2013

Friends

Aubrey has decided that one of her best friends is our five year old neighbor, Max. She wants to be just like Max. She loves playing chase with Max. Wearing underpants like Max might be the only thing that gets her potty trained. Of course, Max also has no qualms with dropping his pants to his ankles and peeing facing the road, hopefully she doesn't pick that tip up from him. Max can literally do no wrong.

Lucky for her, the feelings are mutual. Max recently had to make an All About Myself poster for school and one of the spaces to fill in was a spot to list your five closest friends. Guess who made the cut?

Aubrey. (and also all three of my brothers -Alex, I know you're the only one who will read this so go ahead and pat yourself on the back. Jessica, you can probably pat Mitchell on the back for this accomplishment. And I don't think Garrett comes as a surprise to anyone -  and I think one friend from school.)




Max recently told his father that Aubrey was his girlfriend. If this mutual infatuation continues when they are 13 and 16, I might grow concerned.....but for now, it's just fun to watch them play chase.

Thursday, February 7, 2013

Mama

For a long time Aubrey has called me Mommy. And once in a while, Mom. Recently, she's added Mama into the mix and I have to say it completely melts me each and everytime she uses that particular pronoun. I'm not sure what it is about mama that is so melting to me, but I want to scoop her up and never let her go every time she utters those two syllables.


"I want to help make pancakes, Mama"



"Fingers sticky, Mama"

Monday, February 4, 2013

Superbowl 2013

I was really excited about superbowl food this year. I might have amped myself up a little too much. I made homemade pretzel bites. They were very good. I had a handful. Our neighbor, Tom, made chicken wings. They were delicious. I had three. I had a few chips and salsa. I couldn't get myself to overeat. It was more than slightly depressing.
 
The actual football game turned out to be pretty exciting. After the first half, I thought I'd be asleep by the end....but the power outage somehow fueled a comeback for a great game.
 
 
 
 
This commercial was amazing.
 
My doctor told me I looked tired this morning. Apparently I've gotten to the point in my pregnancy where I can't go to bed at 11:30, get woken up at 2:30 by a toddler who's stumbled out of her bed, proceed to throw her in bed with me because I'm too lazy to put her back in her own bed, get poked in the back by said toddler for remainder of the night, wake up at 6:00 to start a new day and then look like my chipper self. But.....I'm two centimeters dialated so......that's something.
 
 
Happy Monday!
 
 
 

Sunday, February 3, 2013

Winter Festival






On Saturday, Aubrey and I were riding around together and I decided to give my sister-in-law (Aubrey's godmother whom spoils her way too much a call). I was calling to invite us over to her house and offer to bring lunch along as a peace offering for invading any other plans she had on a Saturday. Jen had an even better idea! There was a winter festival going on at the local elementary school so we headed over there for some horses, facepainting, basket auction, reptile and exotic animal show action!

Aubrey made a lion magnet which hangs proudly on our refrigerator, but she was most excited about the fire hat and fire hydrant erasers she picked up from the fire departments booth. Oh, and the junior fire fighter sticker which she proudly showed off to her daddy later in the evening. And she's been having a lot of fun telling people about all the animals she saw at the reptile show. She had so much fun she basically fell asleep as soon as I turned the car on to head for home.

Thanks for a great afternoon, Jen!

Saturday, February 2, 2013

39 Weeks

Crazy to think that in DAYS we will have a family of four! I'm officially due exactly 7 days from now, but have no real plans of going early. I've managed to plan a pretty involved work schedule for the next week so I'm really banking on being there to finish everything up ( of that's not possible I also have everything planned to go without me - don't worry I'm not crazy or anything)

I just wanted to take this one moment of what might be my last pregnancy post to say just how great my husband is/ has been/ and surely will be with the new addition. From chopping up lettuce with me before dinner to full house clean ups ( two weeks in a row while I was gone!) he continues to surprise me.

I can't wait till we have two kids to bribe for kisses!