Wednesday, March 20, 2019

Happy Spring!

Another season has begun!

Happy First Day of Spring!!

We are still under snow, but the roads are finally more dry than wet/snow covered.  I "washed" my truck yesterday because I was tired of cleaning my coat every night from brushing up against it.  I went with the cheapest option at the car wash because....well it's going to be filthy again before I know it!  That 4 feet of snow has to go somewhere...

Sleep training has bombed.  I think it's because he's teething something awful.  Then again, that's my best guess.

This weekend he started waking every few hours again.  Tylenol and Ibuprofen are only doing so much.  Justin and I are slowly dying from sleep deprivation.
Pray this is a short phase and he'll go back to sleeping better ASAP.

The boys are having so much fun at school.  I love their new mobile app.  I get so many fun photos from their teachers.

Both my boys boycotted their bottles early.  This time I skipped trying lots of sippy cups and went straight to the Munchkin 360.  I bought the trainer cups (7 oz) for #biggywigs since we only have the larger 10 oz cups without handles at home.  He's doing great drinking water out of his cup!!

He also loves drinking with a straw, but blows bubbles half the time. (and the food that ends up in the water....gross)


Eating his favorite snack - PUFF PUFFS


#wiggydiggy is really into drawing people and animals now!  I love his self portrait :)
I have a special photo hanging on my door at work of our whole family inside our house. 💓

Now that the driveway is dry, Justin and #wiggydiggy spend lots of time outside after dinner soaking up the sunshine and playing in the snow.
Our temps have been in the 30s and 40s and it won't be much longer before we can see our yard again.

#biggywigs has just about outgrown his bathtub seat.  Joint bath time isn't happening as often because #wiggydiggy needs more water than #biggywigs can sit in unsupported.


Hopefully in another month or two they can both be in the bath again without the seat.  They LOVE joint bath time.

Life is in such a busy, fun, exhausting season right now.  I'm really looking forward to this spring and summer.  #biggywigs should be walking soon and I can't wait to get us outside into the sunshine every day.






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Friday, March 15, 2019

#biggywigs - 10 Months

#biggywigs | 10 MONTHS



nicknames | monkey, love monkey, a play on your name, nugget

weight | 
Close to 25 pounds and just over 30 inches.  I'm taking you in for a height/weight check on Monday, so we'll get updated numbers then.




size |  size 5 and 6 diapers.  My Amazon order brought me size 6's, so you are wearing 5's at school and at night.  Only in size 6 at home :)  Both fit fine.  Clothing wise, your thighs have slimmed some so you can fit into some 18 month pants again!  18-24 month clothes.  24 month footed pajamas.



sleep | HA.HA.HA.  Still sleep training.  We did GREAT for one whole week.  Then....flu.  Back to sleep training this week!  We are also night weaning.  Please pray for us.  You go down easily between 6 and 7 PM.  You're crying/waking at least twice a night right now and Dad is rocking you back to sleep.  The goal is to get you to sleep 7 PM to 7 AM by the time you turn 11 months old.
I take full responsibility for not working on your sleep earlier.  I liked nursing you every time you fussed at night because I know you're the last baby I'll ever nurse.  Unfortunately it taught you a bad habit of waking every sleep cycle and crying for the boob.  Whoops.

eats | 
Everything.  Since we starting night weaning you're only nursing 4 times a day - when you wake up (6-7AM), lunch (11AM), before bed (6-7PM) and a nightcap around 9/930PM.  I'm also pumping again in the early afternoon.  I have a work trip in April and I donated all of our milk supply a few months ago.

I'm making one final batch of homemade puree's this weekend.  You LOVE regular food and eat pretty much everything we put on your plate.  You prefer to eat off a fork or spoon vs your hands.  The only food we haven't given you are citrus fruits (and obviously honey and cow's milk) and shellfish.  Otherwise, it's all fair game.


loves |  
Food, nursing, clapping, crawling everywhere, puzzles, your jellyfish toy, and your big brother.


dislikes | 
waiting for food, dirty diapers, being overtired

firsts |  Tooth number 8 has broken through.  Fun times. You pull yourself up standing (scared the crap out of me one Sunday morning when I went it to get you up.  Crib mattress was lowered that day!)  You crawl forward VERY quickly and love to chase after your brother.  You're moving up to the Mobile Infant room at school!  You LOVE being in there.  It's so much fun visiting you at lunch.

Momma |  You are such a snuggle monkey.  You love to cuddle, touch, and grab us all the time.  You babble all the time now and I love to listen to you talk.  You light up when I walk into the room and you love to crawl to my feet and tug on my pants so I'll pick you up.  You have the very best smell and I wish I could bottle it up to keep for forever.  You are so patient with your rough and tumble big brother.  You adore him and just give him your very best laughs all the time.  

I love you so much Monkey.

Daddy | You are 10 months old now and wow how the last 10 months have flown by.  I love you more and more each day. I love coming home and seeing in your high chair eating dinner and immediately light up with a big smile when you see me.  I love how happy you get when I show you the bird house at school and how you motor around the house “chasing” your big brother and want to take and play with whatever he has.  You are getting so big, when I rock you at night you take up my whole lap and your feet touch the side arm rest and your head is on the opposite arm rest.   We are sleep training you right now, which you are not a fan of to say the least, you definitely have a louder, stronger cry than your brother, that much is for certain.  But you are such a sweet boy with an absolutely wonderful demeanor.  I can’t wait to see what another month brings.  I love you



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Monday, March 11, 2019

Weekend Review

Negative temps are (mostly) behind us!

We had a wonderful weekend soaking up the sunshine and catching up with friends we haven't seen in months (thanks cooties)

 My favorite view these days - his tush as he crawls away to explore :)

Little Man was so excited to see his buddy that he had to wait outside!
The boys were SO BUSY that I never even got a picture.

I had a last minute, urgent, shopping trip with a girl friend Saturday night.  She was in need of a particular item and wanted my eyes to help.  In the process I found myself a pair of shoes at one of our stops at TJ Maxx.
Now I'm ready for warm weather so I can rock them!


Second playdate on Sunday!

 My in-laws came over for Sunday dinner.
I captured this photos of #biggywigs holding his dad and grandpas hands during dessert.
😍

Bedtime laughs

We prep for Daylight Saving Time starting the Thursday before.  In the spring we start pushing the bedtime routine back a half hour, then a full hour.  Come Sunday morning, we're on our regular schedule.



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Friday, March 8, 2019

5 on Friday - Updates

A quick update

1.
Sleep Training

We were hit with the flu after a WEEK of great sleep.  So we are back to square one.
😒

We started again last night since we are only dealing with runny noses now.  I have hopes we'll be back to great sleep by this weekend.

2.
ThredUp Goody Box

I received my second Favorites Box yesterday and I LOVED IT!!
Some items didn't fit (long torso problems) but man on man did I want them too.
I kept a pair of skinny jeans ($17!), a wool sweater  ($18!), and a pair of nine west heels ($22!).
I couldn't have bought any of the items at full price for what I spent buying them second hand!!
Click this link to save $10!!

3.
Skin Care Update

I've been using a Vitamin C serum (first this and now this) and while I don't have anything negative to say about them, I asked my esthetician what serum I should be using.  She recommended Murad Revitalixir Recovery Serum (she sells it for WAY less than Amazon.  Don't buy it there).  So far, so good!

She recommends I only use it in the morning.  If you have ANY skin issues, I cannot recommend finding a great esthetician enough.  They can help you figure out what will work best for your skin to get the results you want.

4.
Sickness

Oh yeah, #wiggydiggy caught the flu.  A very very mild case though.  Ran a fever for just over 24 hours and no other symptoms besides being tired.  #biggywigs seemed to have only caught a head cold (thank goodness!)  I really do put a lot of stock in elderberry gummies/syrups.  Justin and I had no symptoms, and #wiggydiggy's were so mild that had he not run a fever, I may have not taken him to the Dr.

We love these gummies (our local CVS has coupons right now!)  We get the adult version for us.

5.
Meal Time

We no longer use the coin reward chart - so reference to reward coins is no longer applicable.

I received quite a few questions on meal planning for two weeks
How?
Why?
etc.

How?  Justin and I make sure our calendars are updated and we discuss any evening conflicts before we pick out the menu.  I made a basic template on Word and printed 30 copies (I need to find a whiteboard to replace it), then we go through and fill in meals we want.  We have a lot of repetition of meals we like (Butter Chicken, Taco's, Spaghetti).  Every Friday is homemade pizza night.  We also schedule leftover nights - there are at least two a week.

The first 6 weeks were the hardest with grocery shopping.  I do a big run every two weeks - Wal Mart and Costco with a small run on the alternate weeks (bread, milk, fruit, eggs, etc.  normally under $20)  I had to make sure we had enough of everything to last the full two weeks of meals and it required buying a few more items to stock up our pantry.  We're past the growing pains now, and grocery shopping costs have significantly dropped off.

I think that is the challenge lots of people face when they move to meal planning - the initial uptick in grocery costs while they are stocking their pantry.
For example, I buy as much non perishables in bulk so that I'm not having to buy them as often (think seasonings, soups, frozen veggies).  Where before I would have bought one Onion soup mix or the small bag of frozen broccoli to make one meal, I'm buying the box of soup mix packets for 2-3 times the cost (but at 2-3 times the savings!) or the Costco size frozen broccoli (which is twice the cost, but have 4 times the servings).

This weekend is my 'big' shopping week and my list is a total of 9 items.  9! 

Why?  We both work and we have two kids.  This saves time and money.




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