Ewww... That's stinky!

This past weekend we had some great family time. Jeff happened to be home all weekend and since the girls are back on their schedules from our vacation Jeff and I weren't super stressed out. (Warning to the wise: taking 2 kids on vacation is less of a vacation than if you'd just have stayed home. Our next vacation will be a staycation where we still send the girls to daycare and Jeff and I spend a week in the baby pool on the deck!)

Anyway, we took Sophie to Orangeleaf after seeing Brave (totally recommend by the way). While there we decided to walk in to "The Bluegrass Barkery" which happened to be kind of cool and not what I was expecting. I picked up a new gentle leader collar for Jake and the woman who was running the store let Sophie pick out some free treats to take home to Jake.

While picking out the treat's with Jeff and this woman, Sophie loudly announces "My daddy farted!". I was in a different part of the store and starting cracking up. I couldn't help myself. Jeff of course defends himself and says he didn't.

Turns out he really didn't fart. Sophie farted and then blamed it on daddy. Which is pretty awesome, as long as you aren't the one she's blaming the fart on!

Whats New?

It been a while but we just got back from vacation! Jeff and I severely under estimated the amount of work it takes to have 2 kids, one of which is a baby, at the beach. Sophie was great, as is her usual but Sadie is going through a separation anxiety phase (and yes it is a phase, I looked it up) which translated for my non-mommy friends means she is attached to me all freaking day. As in, if she sees me or hears me and I am not holding her she screams bloody murder until I pick her up. Yesterday she worked her self up into a racking sob bc she had to sit on her own while I brought in the groceries.

In short, it's exhausting. Hopefully it passes soon!!

In other news, I taught Sophie the words to the chorus of "Call me maybe" only she says "call me baby". I want to catch it on video if I can. And when I tell her "easy killer" when she is getting rowdy she thinks I am saying "Easter Killer" and repeats it to me on occasion. So funny.

Lastly, we have a new addition in our family. She is wonderful but Jeff and Sophie hate her.

Show 'em off!

Dresses are where its at!

This morning Sophie cried from the moment I start gteting her dress to the second I left her at daycare. Why?

Because she had to wear shorts instead of a dress. Yes, that is the soul reason for her melt down.

Sorry, kid, momma hates doing laundry so man up and deal with the fact you have to wear shorts sometimes.

Licking Phase

In the last week, give or take a few days, I have said the following to Sophie:

1- Don't lick your shoe
2- Don't lick my car
3- Don't eat that random mushroom you pick from the yard
4- Don't like the shopping cart handle
5- Don't eat that (whatever it was that she found in her car seat)

I swear some days I have no idea what she could possible be thinking!


Things she has said to me lately:

"Mo-om, I no have time for that"
"Mom, you driving me crazy!"
"Mom, look at my worms!"
"That is MY baby, not your baby" talking about Sadie
 "What the hell" said she learned it from Aunt Kelsey

The Bunny Easter is COMING!

This is what Sophie is telling us. Crack me up kid. It's alwasy the Bunny Easter instead of the Easter Bunny and she is damn excited about it. I am pretty sure she thinks Easter is going to be like another Christmas so I hope she isn't disappoints but somehow I think when she see all the candy she is going to get she won't care too much!

Now to actually start MAKING the girls Easter baskets. Oh joy!

Melts your heart

Tonight's conversation:

Jeff to me: I forgot to get more sugar

Me: I'll run out and get you some.

Sophie: I'll give you some sugar daddy

Then she ran over to him and kissed him.

She's amazing.

Yes Ma'am!

Jeff and I are by nature polite people. We use please, thank you, excuse and the rest of those good manner words. Because kids are sponges, Sophie has picked up on using good manners and often uses the above mentioned phrases. One phrase in particular she has picked up on is the use of Sir and Ma'am.

Only, she can't remember which is which. Is is forever calling Jeff "Ma'am" and then asking him is Ma'am is for boys. And no matter how many times we remind her Ma'am is for girls and Sir is for boys- she will use Ma'am when talking to Jeff.

And secretly (or not so much) I laugh every time she does it!



In other news, this weekend Jeff and Sophie had a wonderful father daughter bonding experience. Jeff took Sophie fishing at the pond behind our house. With her little pink rod and her Barbie tackle box, her and Jeff set out to catch a few fish.

Either Sophie has beginners luck or she is just a natural because the first time she got her line in the water, she got a fish! All in all they caught 7 fish! They were out there way longer than I expected her attention span to handle.

I was so proud of her for not being afraid to touch the worms or the fish!

You make me crazy

Jeff called me this morning to tell me about "my daughter". Funny, how when she is sweet and loving she is his daughter but when she is ornery as hell shes mine.

Anyway here is what he told me. He was trying to do Sophie's hair for school this morning when she looked at and in a very exasperated tone said "Da-ad, I no want my hair in a ponytail. It looks fine this way!" She then stomps around the house and declares "Dad, you're making me crazy!"

The teenage years are going to be fun!

Chips and Salsa are the best

Sophie is definitely my kid. This is the conversation we had in the car yesterday:

S: Mommy, where we going?

Me: We're going home

S: I don't want to go home

Me: Where do you want to go?

S: To a restaurant

Me: A restaurant? What restaurant do you want to go to?

S: (pondering for a while) CHIPS AND SALSA!!!!


That's right- when given a choice of where to eat my 3 year old doesn't pick some crappy fast food joint with kids meals and toys. She picks the local Mexican restaurant and I couldn't be prouder!

I didn't take this picture. I found it on Google

Drinking Alone

You know how they say drinking alone is bad? Well I decided "they" don't have kids. Cause drinking alone is my favorite way to drink. Drinking alone means it is QUIET and no one is crying and trying to get my attention or needing a diaper change or more milk or a tushy wipe or broke something. Alone means I can finally relax after a long day.

Yeah drinking alone is the best!

This is why I breastfeed

If you are a mother or mother to be, I am sure you have been overwhelmed with the current "Breast is Best" campaigns. Or at least I was. And while there ARE many, many benefits to breast feeding (immune system, supposed higher IQ, etc) those are not the reason I choose to breastfeed my babies. My reasons are much more self serving if I am being honest. The added bonus is the benefits Sadie (and Sophie) receive from being breastfed babies. And if I am being really really honest, I don't know if I buy into the whole higher IQ thing (which is a whole other post) so the only benefit I really care about is the immune boost.

So here is why I choose to breastfeed:

1- Lets start with the most superficial one: Weight Loss. It's been said that when you nurse your baby weight just melts right off. Well guess what? It does. Breastfeeding burns anywhere from 500-700 calories a day. Do you know how long it would take me to burn 500 calories at the gym? I would have to run for approximately 1 hour and 4 minutes! Instead, I burn it by sitting on my ass on the couch and watching TV. Guess which one is more appealing?

2- Sticking with the theme of Weight Loss, I also don't have to diet (aka watch my calorie intake). In the 2 months since having Sadie, I probably eat MORE than when pregnant since I am not longer restricted to the GD diet and I still lost all my baby weight and then some. In fact, I wore a skirt yesterday that I have not fit into since before I was pregnant with Sophie.

3- Bottles are my next reason. I hate them. Specifically, I hate washing them. Now, I don't get away from this completely because I do work but the number of bottles I have to have clean for each day is drastically reduced by nursing. I only need 3 a day. And believe me when I say that is all I ever hand wash at one time. If I wasn't nursing I would use 8 a day. No thanks!

4- Speaking of work, I pump when I am away at work. Which means 3 times a day I get a break from work. Normally, other than my lunch, I would probably not take any actual breaks during the day. But since I have to pump when Sadie would normally be eating, 3 times a day I get to retreat to my own little office and take a break from my computer screen. I just sit there and play on my phone and let the pump do the work

5- Leaving my house is easier while nursing as well. I don't have to worry about how long I will be gone and if I brought enough formula to sustain my chunk of a kid. I really only need myself and maybe a nursing cover if I remember to bring it. I always have an endless supply of food on hand with out any extra work from me.I like it when things are easier on me!

6- Instant cry stopper. Nursing isn't just good for food. It is also good for comfort. When Sadie cries, I nurse her. 9 time out of 10 she calms down and stops crying. It is definitely my go to because crying babies are no fun.

7- This is probably the #1 reason why I breastfeed. SLEEP! I am not a nice person when I don't get enough. I love my sleep. I would sleep in every morning if I could. I would go to bed early every night and I would take at least one nap every day if my schedule permitted it. Now, I have heard that breastfed babies don't sleep as long of stretches as formula babies do. I wouldn't know. This is because when Sadie gets up to eat in the middle of the night I simply bring her to bed with me, latch her on and promptly fall right back to sleep. Since she doesn't cry I assume she eats and falls back asleep too. I usually wake up about an hour later with her using my boob as a pillow. When I was dealing with PPD a few weeks back before I got medicated, I contemplated stopping nursing. I was going through all those emotional and didn't like feeling tethered to the baby and was having a hard time feeling like me. I thought to myself, if I quit nursing then others could feed her and I could get out of the house. The one thing that kept me holding on was that I didn't want to give up my nightly nursing. Mostly because I didn't want to get up and actually have to fix a bottle while Miss Sadie became even more awake because she was hungry. I'm glad I held on too because it's worth it.

But I'm dirty!

Sometimes I really feel like I blink and Sophie has grown by leaps and bounds. Sometimes she will say or do something and I just shake my head and wonder how in the world she learned it.

One of her favorite things right now is playing in my make-up. If I let her she would spend the majority of the day, every day, slathering on whatever she could get her hands on. As it is, I like my make-up and would prefer she not waste it so we save playing in mommy's make-up for special occasions only. Like when we have no where to go, because in all honesty it is a pain in the ass to try to clean her face after she gets through.

Most mornings now, she will wander into the bathroom while I am getting ready and tell me she needs to put on my make-up. When I tell her no, not today she will look me in the eye and say "But I'm dirty!". I really have no idea why she thinks being dirty will be remedied by putting on make-up but it never fails to make me laugh!

Other things she has started to say? Well I got this one this morning "Leave me alone" or "No touch me"- especially when I am pinching her tush or trying to tickle or kiss all over her, so it is starting already. Nice.

Of course there are still the sweet moments, like last night when she crawled in my lap and told me she liked me and loved me with her whole heart and then we sang and danced together to Raffi. Or how we cuddled up under the covers in my bed waiting for Daddy to come in so we could scare him. These are the things that makes being a parent so worth it.

From 1 to 2.....

Sorry I have been neglecting my blog but, you know, I did just have a baby.

Sadie is now 6 weeks old and I am back to work. Honestly, it feels good to get back in the groove of things. Maternity leave is great but there comes a point when you are just ready to get on with it. For me, 6 weeks was enough. I know there are many women who wish they could stay at home longer or even forever but I guess I am just not cut out to be a stay at home mother. In all honestly, I think my kids would drive me to drink if I had to stay home all day. I just can't do it.

I am sure it didn't help I had to go and have a winter baby. A time of year where venturing outside is not all that fun. Between the flu and colds going around to the disgusting weather, you are just as well off to stay in the house. Only its boring at home. All. Freaking. Day. There is only so much day time television you can watch. Only so many re-runs of Supernatural I can stomach (yes, even the remarkably good-looking Winchester brothers get boring after so long). 6 long weeks of being cooped up in the house with endless hours of feedings, diaper changes and spit up is all I can do.

I breathed a small breath of relief upon returning to work this morning.

All in all, I can say things are going well. Which is huge for me as it was not the case 3 weeks ago. 3 weeks ago I was thinking "What the hell have I done". 3 weeks ago I was breaking down and crying at least once a day. 3 weeks ago I didn't think I was going to make it. Sadie was crying what seemed like all the time and I was having a hard time coping with it all. I really thought I was loosing my mind.

At 5 weeks, I decided to make an appointment with my midwife to talk about what I was feeling. I suspected I had postpartum depression- which actually took me by surprise because I didn't have it at all with Sophie. I just knew I wasn't myself and I just couldn't deal. She prescribed me Zoloft and Vitamin D supplements and after a week I am feeling better. Plus, Sadie is a little old and her crying has lessened and we are getting into a groove with her as well.

So things today are going well.

I will say I was under prepared for how hard it would be to have 2 kids. I am still trying to find a good bedtime routine for when I have both girls on my own but lucky for me Sophie is such a good kid she can easily go with the flow.