3/12/11 – Family Shopping Day!

Today started off like normal. The girls actually slept a tad later than usual, which was nice. Christian shipped up a yummy, breakfast for us, Amelia scarffed down TWO “jars” of fruit, we hung out playing for a while. It was just a nice, quiet, family morning. Nothing better than that!

During nap time I pulled out Amelia’s “new” wardrobe…she is finally moving up to 6-9 month clothing. Her tops still fit fine, but her pants are become high waters, more and more every day, so it’s time to move up. I was all excited, thinking we’d be pretty set since she has been staying in each sizing longer than necessary…but NOPE. All of our 6-9 month clothing is SUMMER stuff. Seriously, at least 95% of it won’t work, and it’s highly unlikely she’ll ever wear it since we don’t really get true summer weather until the end of June at least. So frustrating. So, we’ll be making a trip to the mall soon. The spending…it never ends!

We managed to get in some showers and get ready for the day while the girls were still napping. Once they were up, we were on our way for a family Target shopping trip. The girls did really well at the store, Amelia even stayed in her car seat the entire time! YAY for progress. We loaded up our groceries, we picked up a few sale 6-9 months clothing items and were on our way home. We decided that even though we had a nice stock of fresh new food, we were not in the mood to cook tonight, so Christian ran to pick up some yummy Chinese food and we settled in for the night. Ate, watched some TV…just the usual Saturday night in our house! We even managed to get baths and bed time routines done in a very timely manner…I thought FOR SURE I was going to catch Saturday Night Live…but nope. Christian passed out, which just makes me want to pass out, so we again, did not make it past the evening news. Losers.

Here is a sweet picture I snapped of Olivia today. I just love this picture!

3/11/11 – Disappointing “News”

Today was my Friday home. I knew it was going to be a long day the moment I woke up. I just felt instantly overwhelmed, right off the bat, and I’m not sure why. Just tired, and needing a break I suppose. I was up before the girls were even up, so I could listen to the radio and hear the results. I anxiously listened; my heart was pounding, and I waited on the edge of my seat. Unfortunately, Amelia did not win. I wasn’t holding my breath or anything, and I knew it was going to be a hard win, but I really did think she had a shot. I knew a lot of our friends, family and co-workers were voting, AND passing it on to their friends and family. I was online getting votes. I was pretty bummed out. But, we gave it our best shot, and I still think she was the cutest baby up there anyway!

I spent the day trying to keep the girls under control. Olivia was acting VERY bad today, and I’m not sure why. She’s normally pretty good when it’s just me, and she’s been doing so well lately. Maybe teeth? Who knows, that’s my excuse for everything! Amelia is getting harder to keep under control the more mobile she becomes. She just wants to go, go, go! I’ll like it better when she can SAFELY go, go, go! Yet again, I couldn’t get them to nap at the same time, but while Olivia was down, I was able to get some bills paid and all that fun stuff.

Christian had to work some OT, then picked up some Papa Murphy’s on his way home….YUMMMM. My dad and step mom ended up stopping over for a surprise visit. They had some stuff to drop off to us, and hung out to visit for a while. Olivia was very excited to show off for them, she thought my dad’s Donald Duck impression was pretty awesome. Amelia showed off her new crawling and standing up skills. We chatted and caught up for a little while, and then the girls were BEYOND tired and passed right out as soon as they left. Here’s hoping Amelia’s hot streak of good sleeping continues through the weekend!

We brought up the play table so Amelia can practice standing and playing. Of course, Olivia immediately claimed it as “MINE” as soon as she saw it. Sharing this is going to take some work….

3/10/11 – Our Mobile Baby

Well, it’s Thursday (my Friday)! Today was the last day to vote in the cutest baby content, so I’m pretty anxious. Fingers crossed!!!!

Today was the end to a VERY busy week at work. Man, I am just exhausted. I get so frustrated feeling like I’m under water all the time, and can’t catch up. I suppose I better get used to it…it doesn’t look like anything is going to change there. My supply seems to have finally leveled off again, and I actually pumped a little extra today for the first time in a LONG time. YAY, I was starting to get worried!

I yet again blew off Target, and went straight home. Just not in the mood to shop, so we’ll continue to make due with what we have around the house. I was pretty upset when I got home and realized today was trash day. Thursday has ALWAYS been trash day, but for some reason I convinced myself that Friday was this week, so I didn’t go through the fridge or get the diaper pail emptied or anything! Seriously, it’s wonder I remember how to get dressed in the morning! I got a letter from my work benefits last weekend that they need the girls’ social security numbers on file, and forgot ALL week to submit them. I got a letter last week that I need to update my parking pass information at work, and forgot to write down my license plate numbers ALL week. We have to submit our garbage disposal rebate by this weekend, and I forgot to send it in ALL week. And, I forgot to make Amelia’s nurse appointment for her shots all week too! So annoying…is pregnancy brain permanent?

After work I ran home to clean up the bedroom and get some random “picking up” done around the house. Christian arrived home and it was just a pretty normal night. We ate some dinner, played. Amelia is officially a PRO crawler now. She can get herself all over the place now. She has also officially outgrown her 3-6 month pants as everything appears to be high waters on her now, so this weekend we’ll be pulling out the 6-9 month bag. YAY. She can even pull herself up to standing pretty well all of a sudden. She doesn’t really understand how to move and position her feet once she’s up, so she’s a bit of a weeble wobble still, but she’s doing well. When she’s crawling, she’ll often hoist herself up into the downward dog position, like she’s going to stand up! I couldn’t believe my eyes…it could all just be a freak thing, but I seriously wouldn’t be surprised to see he standing on her own, even walking, in the next month or so. But, she’s not even cruising the furniture yet, so who knows. She’s kind of short, so that doesn’t help.

We decided to skip baths tonight, as after a little playing, it was off to bed. Amelia is still in bed with me, and Christian is still banned to the couch (he lovingly refers to the living room as “his room” now, LOL). I really want to break her from this, but I don’t know what to do. She’s been sleeping so well, all week, only getting up once to eat. She’s obviously much more comfortable. Maybe we should take apart her crib and move it into our room! Ha.

We tried out the mesh feeder today for the first time. We put some apple slices in it and she loved it. YUM.

3/9/11 – Super Mom for the Night

Today was a pretty good day. Busy at work, spent the day recruiting votes on and off. I finally realized that I can play games on the iPod at work because I don’t need WiFi to play them…so pumping goes by much faster now that I have that distraction! Not very exciting to most people, but I’m super excited!

I (again) planned on heading to Target after work today, and I again opted not to at the last minute. The house is literally a disaster right now, so I headed home to get that all cleaned up instead. And boy, I was BUSY. I fed the dog and took him out, made Amelia’s bottles for tomorrow, washed bottles/pump parts, washed dishes, made Amelia’s carrots and peas (made them chunkier since she’s eating so well now) to replenish the freezer supply, started our dinner and cleaned up the kitchen. I was exhausted and the evening had barely begun! Christian called me as he was about to leave his mom’s house, because Olivia was throwing a fit and did not want to leave. We decided it was OK for her to spend the night there and plan with her cousins some more. Well, he arrived home and I could hear her yelling up to me right away. Apparently as soon as he pulled away she started crying…so he had to go back and get her. LOL, at least she loves being with us!

After dinner we hung out for the night. We watched American Idol and man there are some GOOD singers on there this year! It was a pretty normal night otherwise….playing, baths, bed. Nothing new there!

Here’s my sweet girl, in one of our favorite sweaters! Cutie! Also, Amelia found a new friend in Rico, the hung out for a while today (really, Rico was just attempting to battle for a place on my lap…he lost).

3/8/11 – EXCITING!!!!

Oh, so exciting! Our little peanut has made it into the FINAL round of voting for the cutest baby contest! We can’t even believe it, and are yet again, harassing everybody for votes! So if you've voted before, it should be super easy. If you haven't, you'll have to register. You don't have to put your address, you can use a fake phone number and opt out of the marketing questions. This is the last round, winner take all. The grand prize is $1,000 and we'd LOVE to put that away for her future. Thanks guys - CLICK HERE to vote!

In other news, it was a pretty laid back day today. Work was the usual…Christian found out that his next check will include his annual “bonus” (which they get in lieu of raises”, so that will be exciting! I should also be getting my [very small but very appreciated] cost of living raise at work soon. We haven’t gotten those in YEARS, so I’m pretty excited about that too. I’ll be making a BIG payment on our credit card when we get paid, and man I can’t wait to see that balance drop. The day it hits $0 I think I’ll throw a party! I’ve been working on our budget, and pushed it out another year and I’m starting to get pretty excited about it. I feel like we can finally see the light at the end of the tunnel, and I don’t get so stressed out when I think about money. Don’t get me wrong…we still don’t have any, and it’s still going to be some time before we’re looking up, but it’s coming, and I KNOW it’s coming, and that feels good.

This has gotten me to thinking about our future, family wise. Christian doesn’t seem to keen on the idea of having another child. I don’t know if it’s still the stress of the girls and adjusting to having 2 still, or if he really doesn’t want to have anymore. I on the other hand, just don’t feel done. I can’t imagine never being pregnant again, I just don’t feel done. I hope that some day I do get that feeling, but I worry that I’ll never be ready to give up on being pregnant again. Anyway, what prompted the discussion (which was promptly ended) is that unless something happens along the way, we should have all of our unsecured debt paid off next year when we get our taxes back, and then the following February (2013), the truck will be paid off. So we’ll be in the clear, and we’ll be looking good. So, rather than have our next kid be way younger than the girls, I thought we should shoot for having a third in the late Spring/Summer 2013. Christian didn’t want to talk about it, so for now I’ve just taken it upon myself to decide that’s the plan! Ha. There are several factors that play into the plan though…

1. First of all, if something big happens between now and then, which keeps us from getting debt free, that throws a wrench into the plans
2. I need to have enough time saved up at work so I can take 10-12 weeks off when the baby is born (probably 12 since it’s HIGHLY likely that will be our last). Debt free or not, I don’t want to take unpaid leave from work at any point. I don’t have a ton of time right now, and on top of that, there are discussions of a government shutdown this summer, and if that happens, it will likely deplete any time I do have, so I’ll be starting over again.
3. We need to be in a place where I can get a new vehicle. My 1999 baby isn’t going to last much longer anyway, but regardless, she can’t fit 3 car seats, so I’ll be heading down mini-van alley before #3 comes along.

These are the three major hurdles…everything must fall into place in these areas, or my plans will be null and void. We’ll see what happens!

Finally, today I started really seriously thinking about cloth diapering. I know it would save us quite a bit of money, as long as we play it smart. I’m sick of literally throwing money away on disposable diapers. I think we’d skip Olivia as I’d really like to hit potty training soon anyway, so it would just be Amelia. I’ve never overwhelmed by the world of cloth diapers though, and can’t even figure out where to start! Also, Christian is really not into the idea, I’m pretty sure my mom wouldn’t like it too much, and I have no idea what his mom thinks about it. If I don’t have their support, it’s not really going to work. Something I plan on looking into, but I don’t know how far it’s going to go.

Amelia pulled herself up, all on her own, to stand on the toy crate today! YAY. I also snapped this picture of the girls, and I love it.

3/7/11 – Topic #7 – Homemade Baby Food

Today was Monday. A pretty ordinary Monday. Work is work, home is home. We’ve been making a conscious effort to spend one on one time with Olivia at home, before bed lately. She likes to chase each other around the house, she’s getting into “hide and seek” and scaring people lately. She just likes to run around and play with us. If you sit down, she’ll grab your arm and say “mo, peeeeese”. How can you resist that?!? Tonight Christian was giving her piggy back rides and she thought it was the best thing EVER. She was laughing so hard, harder than I’ve heard her laugh in a LONG time. We eventually put Amelia up there too, and they were both laughing. It was fun…it’s nights like this I breath a sigh of relief and think “THIS is why you have kids”. So much fun.

When it comes to homemade baby food, I don’t know that I’ve ever really gotten into the details of why I’m doing it. I thought I’d write about that today.

First and foremost, making your own baby food is SO much cheaper. It really is. As I mentioned before, in just over a month, I paid off my baby bullet with the savings. It’s great, saving money anywhere we can do it is a huge bonus, especially as your family grows and your income does not!

More than that though, homemade baby food is so fresh. The smell, the color, and nutrients, it’s just perfect, it’s the way food should be. Olivia has been off of baby food for WELL over a year, yet we have jars of Gerber baby food in our cupboard from her that is still “good”…still not expired. Now, that is not fresh. Talk about preservatives! I like grabbing the fresh and frozen produce, and knowing exactly what she’s eating.

I did initially consider doing it with Olivia. I remember starting to read up on it, and checking out some websites, but for some reason, it just seemed so overwhelming. I’m not sure why, everything is super easy, rather quick to make, and nothing really confusing about it. I think it’s just getting started that is overwhelming. Once I made the decision to do it with Amelia, and dove in head first, I realized just how easy it really is, and I’m so happy I did it. I mean, I cook our food, I cook Olivia’s food, why not cook Amelia’s food too?!

For anybody on the fence about making your own food, I really suggest you do it. Trust me, you won’t regret it. All you need is an appliance of some sort…a good blender, a good food processor, etc. I have my baby bullet (which I do highly recommend), and I know Babies R Us has a similar product. Anything will do. I use the website http://www.wholsomebabyfood.com. It has all of the recipes, instructions and information you could ever need. It’s a great place to start.

Here are some pictures from the piggy back sessions. Amelia took a nose dive a few times, but still thought it was pretty funny (thank goodness dad has some quick reflexes!).

3/6/11 – A Sunday With Nothing To Do…

Sunday, Sunday. Sunday is pretty boring for us when it’s not football season. We’re always kind of lost, like, what do we do when there isn’t any football to watch? Of course, we decided to be kind of lazy today. I should have gone to do my weekly Target shopping, but I was just too tired. We managed to get the girls down for their naps at the same time today, so we were able to sit down and rest ourselves for a while. Other than that, we just spent the day with the girls. Olivia is really into her baby dolls again, she likes to put them to sleep and feed them and all that. It’s cute. She’s been doing SOOOO well with Amelia lately, and I’m so happy about that. She actually gives her toys, she lets her play with things, she actually gives her some space. I’m hoping that she’ll leave her alone this week since she’ll have her cousins to play with now! Amelia was working hard on her motor skills today…crawling better than ever (still pretty inch-worm like though), trying with all of her might to pull herself up. She can sit up from laying down no problem now, which is pretty cool to see. We tried out the mesh feeder, with some apples, today for the first time. She seemed pretty into it at first, but it didn’t keep her excited for too long.

Rico has been pretty interesting lately. Ever since Frank passed away, he’s been coming around more and more. He seems oddly attached to Amelia actually. He likes to lay by her, he’ll let her pet him and roughhouse with him, everything. It’s strange…he didn’t really want anything to do with Olivia, and didn’t come around much, but he’s like a whole new cat now.

We did a little cleaning around the house throughout the day, but pretty much just hung out and took it easy. Even though it doesn’t seem like it, Spring and Summer really are right around the corner, which means busy weekends and lots to do, and with two kids this year, it’s going to be even more crazy. I think we’re just taking in as many low key weekends as we can right now!

Today Amelia noticed that the “other baby” in the house had a bottle, she promptly crawled over to her and bathed her for said bottle…she was not happy to find out that there wasn’t actually anything in it though.