Lately

Thomas has slept all the way through the night for the last two nights in a row!  Wooohooo!!  We've given him a bottle at 9pm and then haven't heard any screams until time for his 6am bottle.  The first night - his 5 weeks old "birthday" - I thought it was just a fluke, but he did it again last night.  I'm sure I'm totally jinxing everything by writing it out here, but I'm just so excited!  (And slightly more well-rested!)  Now that we know he can do it, we can start working towards it being an every night thing.

At his two week checkup, he was back above his birth weight.  He had gained 15 ounces in 13 days to put him at 8 pounds, 13 ounces.  It's been three weeks since that weigh-in so who knows what he's up to now!  Everything looked good at that checkup - good weight and size and no more jaundice.  Now we don't go back until he's 2 months old and the dreaded shots start.  

Thomas seems to have a thing for blondes.  Don't tell his big sister that he was playing in her bed while she was at school!

A couple weekends ago we upgraded our driveway pool to a bigger size so we've been logging lots of time in the water.  Katie Wynn spent one whole evening "diving" for stones!

Oh!  Big news for Katie Wynn - her hair is finally long enough for pig tails!!!  Probably no one thinks this is as exciting as I do.  I have always wanted a little girl so I could play with her hair.  :)

Katie Wynn has become the best big sister ever.  Any fears I had of her hating the new baby have completely gone away.  Sure, we have to tell her to "be gentle" a hundred times a day, but she just LOVES to touch Thomas and be close to him.  She kisses his head over and over and the first thing she says when she wakes up or gets home from school is "Baby?"  She has to know where he is at all times!  If he's on his playmat (pictured below) then chances are, she is too.

We had a fun dinner date with friends one night and KW and Addi Clare took turns pushing each other in a doll stroller.  She may need one of these for her birthday...she loves strollers!

A couple weeks ago I got my first scary call from daycare.  I always dread seeing their number pop up on my phone because it's never good news!  They called to let me know that Katie Wynn had red bumps all over her body and they seemed to be getting worse.  She didn't have any bumps when we dropped her off so I had no idea what they were talking about.  They texted me pictures and I immediately called the doctor for an appointment.

It definitely looked like hives from an allergic reaction and they were completely covering both her arms and legs.  We racked our brains of what could be causing it and finally decided this cute little dress was the culprit.  The outer layer of fabric was shimmery and must've had something that irritated her skin.  I took it off of her and the bumps immediately started to clear up.  They were nearly gone by the time she saw the doctor - thank goodness we had pics!  She agreed it was just an allergic reaction and no major need to worry.  Phew!

Katie Wynn has become obsessed with pockets.  She has a couple new pairs of shorts that have them and she loves to put her hands in them.  "Paw-ets!"  Of course, once they're in, they can't come out...she has to walk around with her hands jammed down in them!

Sometimes we sing, "Hands in your pants and do the pocket dance!" and everyone has to put their hands in their pockets and dance with her.  I wish I had this on video.

Remember how I said she loves strollers?  Poor Lolli has to be her passenger since Thomas can't sit up yet.  (But believe me, she has tried to get us to put him in her stroller hundreds of times!)

Here are some pictures of Mr. T so he doesn't feel left out.  We don't have any fun storiesl about him yet.  Mostly he just eats and sleeps (and sometimes screams and cries). 

Ok, back to Katie Wynn.  We bought an awesome bubble machine at Walmart that puts out a ton of bubbles.  She loves playing in them and I love that I'm not covered in sticky bubbly mess from having to blow them for her.  :)

It's amazing to me how much Katie Wynn has grown up in the last month.  Her vocabulary has expanded so much; she says words I didn't even know she knew!  She will copy what we say (gotta watch the language!) and chatters all day long.  Sometimes she says something over and over and gets so frustrated because we can't figure out what she's trying to tell us.  We do a lot of "point to what you want" around the house until we figure it out.  We've also realized that she notices a lot more of what we do than we think.  The other day I caught her strapping her baby doll into the car seat and then hooked her arm in it to pick it up just like how I do.  Didn't know she was watching me do that all the time!

Here is Sweet T in his "wet" monogram.  :)

I wasn't kidding about how much KW loves her little brother.  Here is more evidence of her sisterly love.  She had to immediately check on him after her bath, completely bypassing her pajamas that were laying out.  And one morning she wanted to hold him in our bed and just fell backwards when we gave him to her.  

On the morning of the 4th of July, she wanted Thomas to sit in her "yap" for a picture.  Can you believe these are the only pictures I took on the 4th?? We went to three different parties and I didn't break out my camera at a single one.  Shame on me!  But we had a really good day and enjoyed lots of time in the pool and eating good food and watching the fireworks.  

I think I'll end this post with a selfie (groupie?) we took one night after we'd all had baths.  Katie Wynn insisted that I put Thomas in her lap and then wanted to take a picture.  She is too funny!  

I'm going to try to do better at posting more regularly.  I already have a few other things to share and if Thomas keeps sleeping through the night (fingers crossed!!) maybe I can get back on a good schedule of posting!

Two Weeks with Two Kids

Life over the past two weeks has been sweet and fun and tiring and chaotic and everything in between!  I have so many pictures that I don't even know how to break them out into separate posts, so I'm just going to dump them all in one.  Hopefully I can do a decent job of summing up how life with two kids has been.

As you know, Thomas arrived on a Sunday afternoon.  Sunday evening and all day Monday were full of lots of visitors, so we stayed busy and were still functioning on adrenaline.  We finally got to go home on Tuesday, but not until after a long morning in the hospital that seemed to drag on.  Thomas got held up in the nursery for a good portion of the morning waiting on the pediatrician.  We got so antsy that we eventually walked to the nursery and tried to bust him outta there ourselves.  Turns out, you can't really do that.  You only get to view your baby through the window.  Sad.  

After what seemed like an eternity, he was finally brought back to our room with his discharge papers.  We were ready to blow that popsicle stand!  The only question left was, Is the world ready for these chubby cheeks?

Once at home, Matt helped me and Thomas get settled in and then left to fill prescriptions and pick up the big sister.  Thomas took his first nap in the Nap Nanny and I took this picture that reminded me of a similar one I took of Katie Wynn on her first day at home.

We survived our first night and if I remember correctly, it was very similar to our first night at home with Katie Wynn.  Lots of tears.  We definitely missed the hospital nursery!  We were up bright and early because we had newborn pictures scheduled for Wednesday.  Yes, they were crazy early and that day I definitely thought I was insane, but I was so glad to have them done and out of the way!  They were at 11:00 in the morning and we needed every minute before that to get out the door in time.  Katie Wynn was a big help, though, with Thomas's morning feeding. 

The whole photoshoot was an interesting experience.  This was the first time I'd ever done "studio" pictures so I didn't know what to expect.  It was the neatest room with all kinds of different backdrops.  I thought we would take a family picture or two so Matt, Katie Wynn, and I were all ready for pictures too.  Mom came with us too to help tend to Katie Wynn, so we had quite the crowd.  

We had to get Thomas good and asleep before we could get started which was a little easier said than done.  I think this was the most awake he'd been since birth, but Matt finally got him to sleep...even while holding big sister too!

The photographer had music playing and the room was lit with white Christmas lights.  It was a nice soothing environment for Thomas and even made the rest of us all a little sleepy.  They provided us with comfy chairs while the photographer worked her magic with our sweet baby boy.

Katie Wynn uncharacteristically fell asleep in my lap while we watched.  I chalked it up to it being her regular nap time, but in hindsight I should've realized that she was coming down with something...

After being there for about 3 hours, we finally packed up and headed home.  We never got a family shot and Katie Wynn wouldn't really cooperate in her picture with Thomas.  Thank goodness we bought the First Year Package so we'll have another chance to try in a couple months.  I'm so eager to see the pictures she did get!

By that evening, Katie Wynn was running a fever.  It didn't seem to effect her mood, though!  We gave her some tylenol and just assumed she was overtired.  

The next morning, Katie Wynn woke up early and was burning hot!!  Her temperature was around 102 so I called the doctor's office right at 8:00.  Miraculously, they'd had an 8:30 cancellation and said we could have it.  We've never gotten in the doctor that quickly!  Matt loaded her up and took her to the doctor while I stayed with Thomas.  I was hoping for an ear infection since that can be treated quickly, but both ears were fine (one had to be flushed, though, which I hear my baby girl did NOT like at all).  She passed her strep test too so that wasn't it.  The doctor said it could either be a bladder infection (a urine sample was needed to prove this) or roseola.  They tried to get a urine sample in the office but Katie Wynn wouldn't eat or drink anything so she wouldn't use the bathroom.  Matt brought her home with all the tools needed for me to try to get a sample from her to take to the hospital later in the afternoon.  It didn't work at all!!  Both bags that we attached to her fell off so we couldn't collect any urine.  But her fever was gone so I wasn't too stressed about it.

While they were at the doctor, Mom and I gave Thomas his first bath.  As expected, he wasn't impressed.

Even when it was over and I was getting him dressed, he kept giving me these "I hate you" looks.  I hope one day he actually enjoys bath time!  This picture of him in his Nap Nanny is one of my favorites to date.  :)

When Katie Wynn got home from the doctor, we had a Sonic drink waiting for her to hopefully get her to drink.  I finally broke down and played the Let It Go video from the Frozen movie for her (I have tried to so hard to keep this movie out of our house, but I recently heard that they listened to the soundtrack at daycare and that she loved this song).  I thought it would cheer her up and it did; she was glued to it!

The doctor had told Matt that we didn't necessarily need to keep Katie Wynn away from Thomas, but to try not to let her touch him.  Easier said than done!  That day seemed to be the day she wanted to touch and kiss him the most!  She settled for sitting next to him and watching him sleep.  

Going through my pictures, I can tell we were operating in Survival Mode on Thursday through Saturday because my picture taking drastically slowed down!  

Even though Katie Wynn was fever-free on Thursday evening, she woke up with a high temperature again on Friday.  Mom came over early that morning so that Matt could go to work and she could help me with the kids.

Thomas's first doctor's checkup was scheduled for that afternoon at 3:00, so I just told myself if I could keep her fever under control until then, maybe her doctor could look at her too while we were there for his appointment (she saw a different doctor on Thursday).  While I hated that she was sick and having to take medicine, it was nice that she was taking really long naps for me!  

Our doctor mostly echoed the same thing the other doctor had.  She was back to using the bathroom regularly and it didn't seem to be hurting her, so we kinda ruled out the bladder infection.  We were told to keep pushing ibuprofen and hopefully the rash from roseola would eventually show up.  They had a Saturday morning clinic we could go to if it got worse.

As for Thomas, he had a great checkup!  Everything looked good...except for his jaundice.  Our doctor was slightly concerned with it and wanted us to have it checked to make sure we didn't need to do light treatments.  Our local hospital where we would've had the test done was closed that day due to a fire, so we made plans to go to the ER at Le Bonheur Children's Hospital the next morning.  Not really what I wanted to do with my newborn!

Friday night was fine; fever was back down.  Saturday morning she was on fire again.  So frustrating!  We decided to split up - this time Matt loaded up Thomas to take him to get his jaundice checked (it came back fine, hallelujah!) while I stayed with our sick little girl.  I got her dressed in case I needed to take her to the Saturday clinic, but ultimately decided against it.  I gave her more ibuprofen and she was curled up in my bed and sound asleep again before 9:00 and slept until past noon!  

Saturday was low-key as we just tried to keep Katie Wynn's fever down and keep her eating and drinking.  We were THRILLED when she woke up fever-free Sunday morning!!  We were obviously glad that she felt good and were also glad that we didn't have to cancel our plans for the Cooks to come over for breakfast.  We hung around house all day and Katie Wynn loved doting on her brother.  Here she is enjoying tummy time with him.  :)

Sunday is when Katie Wynn finally got brave enough to hold her little brother.  And then once he was in her lap, she couldn't stop kissing on him!

It was while we were outside on the patio that I looked down and spotted a rash on Katie Wynn's back and got so excited!! I know that sounds strange for a mama to say, but the rash meant that A) it really was roseola that had been causing her fevers and B) it was finally over!  The doctor had told us that once the rash appeared it would be the end of it and that it would just go away on it's own.  I couldn't even see it by the next morning.  So glad to be done with that ordeal!

Week two with two kids was much calmer, thankfully.  Katie Wynn was able to return to daycare which kept her on her normal schedule and definitely made the days easier for me.  We did bust her one afternoon trying to pick Thomas up from his bouncy seat by herself.  We are going to have to keep a close eye on her!

My parents have both been a huge help with the kids when Matt's not around.  I had one night where he was going to be late getting home and my mom had somewhere to be so I was going to be left alone during dinner and bath time (most stressful part of the day!).  My dad was nice enough to come over and help so I wouldn't have a nervous breakdown.  I seriously don't know how I'd survive without my parents being so close!

This girl has gotten to where she kisses Thomas anytime he's close enough for her to reach.  It's so sweet to see her love him (although we have to say "be gentle" a LOT!).

Friday of this week started with Donuts with Dad at daycare and ended with popsicles on the patio after dinner.

Saturday we had a fun day just hanging around the house and playing.  Anna was with us for the weekend and she is always such a huge help with Katie Wynn.  She loves to play with her but also helps with diaper changes and meals and bath time!

We started Saturday off with some donut holes...

...and then we spent the WHOLE morning outside.  Matt and I worked in the yard while the girls played in the driveway.  We filled up Katie Wynn's little pool so they could "swim" and we didn't bother putting a swimsuit on KW.  With all the toys in the driveway and a toddler running around in her diaper, we were all kinds of redneck.  :)

Oh, and Thomas?  He supervised the yard work from the shade. 

After lunch and afternoon naps, we all walked down to the neighborhood park to do some sliding.  

Back at home, there was more playtime on the floor together.  

By nighttime, Matt had discovered that the air conditioning unit that cools our bedroom (and Katie Wynn's) was out.  We knew it was warm in our room but figured it was from me having the blinds open all day and the sun coming in.  But after having the blinds closed for several hours and the temp not dropping any, we knew something was wrong.  It wasn't too hot for us to sleep in Saturday night, but by Sunday evening it was a sauna and we had to sleep upstairs.  (It has since been fixed, thank goodness!)

Speaking of Sunday - Katie Wynn played on the floor with Thomas while I got ready for church.  Yes, we made it to church!  We had three kids in tow and weren't even late! 

I totally dropped the ball on Father's Day this year.  I let Matt get up early with Katie Wynn while I slept in, then I let him cook me breakfast, and then after church I let him buy us pizza for lunch!  I did at least give him a card and small gift...

After church on Father's Day.

Katie Wynn cooked dinner for us Sunday night.  Fried goldfish for everyone!  Well, actually she and Lolli are the only ones who ate them.  

She was at it again Sunday night, but this time she cooked our meal on the grill.  Who doesn't love ketchup on their fried chicken? :)

Finally, I'll leave you with two pictures of my pretty boy.  Who says boys can't wear bows?  I think he wears them well.  :)

So we have officially survived two weeks with two kids under two!  Parts of it have been easy and fun and just like I hoped it would be while other parts have been tough and exhausting (mostly the no-sleeping parts).  We are starting to get into a good routine so I hope things will only continue to get easier from here on out!

Phone Phavorites

I realized I had several pictures on my phone of Katie Wynn that I haven't posted anywhere yet, so here they are!  This blog is about as close to a scrapbook as she'll ever get to "flip through" so I like including everything here.

Every afternoon when she gets home from daycare, first thing on the to-do list is to get a snack.  Girl gets hungry!  On this particular day, I was snapping pictures because her outfit was cracking me up.  Her slightly too big colorful t-shirt with her skinny leggings made her look like she was headed to a jazzercise class.  All that was missing was a pair of leg warmers and a scrunchie to tie onto her shirt tail.

Mimi purchased some new yard tools in KW's size so she can start pulling her weight around the yard.  

Below on the left is at the doctor for her 18 month check-up (one month late, oops).  She was too big for my shrinking lap but not quite brave enough to sit in a chair of her own.  On the right is a couple days later when she learned how to completely undo all the snaps on her outfit!  I bought three of these rompers so it may be a nude summer around our house.

These two were taken one Sunday after church.  She has on a dress that I wore when I was her age!  (Dress made by Mimi, of course.)

One Sunday afternoon we were invited to a playground birthday party.  My shy girl clung to me for the first hour and forty-five minutes and then she finally got brave enough to not only venture over to the playground equipment, but to go down the slide by herself for the first time ever!  And then she did it like 45 more times.  She was so pleased with herself, and her mama was pleased too because hopefully this means I don't have to go down the slide as often anymore!

Matt had tonsillitis a couple weeks ago and got in bed early one evening.  His bedside nurse was a big help with taking his temperature! 

On the Friday before Mother's Day, I was invited to Muffins with Mom at daycare.  Like most mornings when Katie Wynn helps me get ready, the day started off with lots of lotion.  I wish the picture on the left had turned out better; what you can't see is the massive amounts of lotion on her legs and on the bottle of lotion itself.  It's safe to say I go through lotion much more quickly these days.  On the right is a picture of us enjoying our muffins.  I promise she was happier than she looks to have me there.  :)

When the actual Mother's Day rolled around, my little sweet pea showed up with breakfast in bed for me (with some help from her Daddy).  She and I both got to enjoy a plate of chocolate chip pancakes.  

We have a friend who recently had to have an emergency appendectomy, so we sent our well wishes.  :)

Below on the left is evidence of Katie Wynn's first dabble in makeup.  She got a hold of some eye shadow and applied it like lip gloss.  On the right, I had just finished blowing up her inflatable pool and she hopped right in.  No water necessary!

First trip to Steak 'n Shake = big occasion!  I have always been a huge fan of Steak 'n Shake, especially in my college days, but we don't get to go often since it's so far away.  They have the kid entertainment down pat with hats, cars, and colors!  KW loved the tiny french fries and I would say that she loved the chocolate milkshake but I forgot to share with her.  :)

I just don't think I will ever tire of sleeping pictures, especially when they're all pink.  Now that the terrible twos have arrived, these moments just seem even sweeter.  

Summertime swimming!  We are big time now with a pool in our backyard.  Poor Katie Wynn doesn't quite have "summer" figured out yet, as she was very hesitant to get in the pool and refused the popsicle I tried to give her.  We'll definitely be working on that soon.  Oh, and she didn't want her swimsuit on so that had to come off.  I'm telling ya, it's definitely going to be a nude summer around here.  

Like I said, I just can't stop with the sleeping pics.  She is so her daddy with her head tucked under her pillow!  This was taken at 8:40 on a Sunday morning.  I didn't know what to do with her still asleep!

When she finally woke up, I treated her to a chocolate glazed donut.  I think this was another first.  She was so gentle with it; can't mess up that chocolate goodness!

Ok, that gets me pretty caught up on phone pics.  I finally have some nursery projects to share so pics of those coming soon!

A Day At The Farm

A few weeks ago, we were invited to a birthday party for my coworker's little boy, Sam.  Sam came to Katie Wynn's petting zoo party last September and LOVED getting to feed the goat, so his parents thought a birthday party on a farm would be very fitting for him.  And it was!

The party was held at Menagerie Farm which was quite the drive from our house.  As we were driving there, I told Matt no matter how fun it was we could not have a birthday party there because it would be so far away from where we (and most of our party guests) live.  By the time we left, I was trying to convince him that we could just borrow the church vans so everyone could ride together to a party out there.  It was so much fun, and perfect for little kids!

One of the reasons a party at this farm is so perfect for little (read: short attention span) kids is that you never stop moving from place to place.  We arrived a few minutes late so we missed the first stop - pony rides.  (Probably ok because I doubt Katie Wynn would've done that anyway.)  We almost didn't join the party at all because Katie Wynn was so enamored with the chickens that we passed walking up (photo below on left).  She just wanted to hang out with them!  We caught up with the party group just in time to throw fish food off a dock to all the catfish.  Oh my gosh, those fish were terrifying to me!  They were so big...and hungry!  I had a death grip on Katie Wynn so she wouldn't fall over the rail and be eaten alive by catfish. 

I didn't take pictures at every stop, but after feeding the fish the kids got to "dig for gold" in little pails of dirt and then cash their gold in for prizes.  Thank goodness for Matt helping Katie Wynn because you know she couldn't get her hands dirty.  There was also a cute little train ride that we sadly just watched because our shy girl hadn't opened up enough to ride yet.

The next stop was feeding goats and llamas!  Matt and I took turn feeding them while Katie Wynn watched and petted.  (She didn't want the food in her hands; I swear she hates for her hands to have ANYTHING on them.)

A lot of animals at this farm just wander around on their own instead of being in pens, like this duck below.  I was impressed with how calm it was with all the kids running up to touch it!  

Also roaming around was a miniature bull and a miniature cow.  I'm not sure I knew such things existed, especially not friendly ones!  

In case you're wondering from the pics, yes, I put Katie Wynn in a dress and new sandals for a party at a farm.  Poor planning on my part, but she looked cute!  Matt held her a lot since there were several...piles...to avoid.

After petting goats and bulls, can you believe that Katie Wynn wouldn't have anything to do with the cute, fuzzy little duckling?!?  Even with Matt holding it, she wouldn't dare touch it.  She just wanted to get down so she could chase after the chickens some more! 

I stopped taking pictures after the chickens but we wrapped up the party under a gazebo/picnic area where we had lunch and cake and ice cream.  It was such a great setting for a birthday party!  Maybe we'll be back for another one some day...

Thanks to the help of a Chik-Fil-A sandwich, we were able to keep Katie Wynn awake for the long ride home.  This was crucial so that she'd take a good afternoon nap in her bed.  And nap she did...froggy style!

More overdue posts coming soon, hopefully before her baby brother arrives! :)

Fun-Filled Saturday!

We had so much fun the Saturday before Easter, and for most of the day I had my phone camera with me to capture it all!  Here are the highlights from our fun-filled day.  :)

Started off with a ride on the trolley with Mimi...
(Fellow mom friends - the trolley only costs one dollar to ride and you can stay on as long as you'd like.  It's practically free entertainment for little ones.  Go!  Ride!)

We hopped off the trolley right at the Farmer's Market where one of our first stops was to get smoothies.  My little girl is a greedy little thief.  

We spent so much time walking around the market, chatting with friends, and enjoying the nice weather that we worked up an appetite.  We bought some pizza and found a shady place to sit!

When we were finished shopping and eating, we hopped back on the trolley to get to our car.  Katie Wynn leaned out the window (making her mama a nervous wreck) and yelled "Hi puppy!" to every dog we passed.  

A Saturday isn't perfect unless there's a good afternoon nap thrown in.  This girl crashed HARD after all the morning fun we had.

Our fun day continued after nap time when we went over to Mimi's house to play on the swing set.  The weather was too spectacular that day not to be outside!

Here's a bump progress pic in shadow form.  I'm a huge blob.  :)

Doing some drawing and looking like a teenager.

Back home that evening, my two favorite people grilled us a tasty dinner!  

It really was one of the best Saturdays ever and the weekend only got better since the next day was Easter!  Pics from Sunday coming soon...once I make my way through all 600 of them!!