Oh the Insanity.

I just read a hilarious article on a stay at home mom's reality schedule.  I remembered back in the day when I (for some reason) thought it would be fun to blog about my daily schedule...and look back on it once I had a baby.  Well now I have two babies and this momma's life...well, it's just crazy.

7:00 AM - Haylie wakes up.  Wants immediately to have chocolate milk and to watch Dora.  I allow this for a few extra moments of snooze time.

My snooze time turns into an hour later when Jace starts yelling from his crib.  He is passed his "I just woke up and I'm politely asking" mood and is flat out yelling to get my attention.  After he is done drinking about 5 oz of milk, he immediately wants 1-2 packages of baby food.  Meanwhile, I'm trying to get Haylie to eat something.  Anything.  Finally decide on yogurt - then I clean up the yogurt she "accidentally" squeezed all over the floor.

Try to get my kids dressed for the day. Go to the potty with Haylie.  Sit on the tub for 5 minutes while she pees and tries to poop (every. single. time.) Start her washing her hands, go get Jace who is decided to be done with his after breakfast activity. Get him happy, realize Haylie is still playing in the water.  Go get her hands dried off and shuffle her off to find some shoes.

Leave her to go pack Jace's diaper bag.  Go get Jace who has rolled on his tummy and doesn't like it anymore.  Realize Haylie is now reading to Bear in her room instead of getting on her shoes - find her shoes and put them on for her. Go back in the kitchen to finish packing Jace's bag.  Get Haylie out of her room to start going towards the car when she realizes she doesn't have Bear.  Go find Bear and bring it back to her.  She then wants Dora.  Go get Dora and bring it back to her - she immediately wants Blankie (I am not about to have her go get them.)  Go get blanket and tell her to go get in the car.  Grab Jace and put him in his carseat.  Haylie is now outside riding her bike instead of getting in the car.  Get Jace in the car and tell Haylie to get off her bike.  A tantrum now starts.  Tell Haylie we aren't going to go to ____ unless she gets in the car.  Tears are rolling down her face as she finally gets in the carseat.  She perks up as soon as I tell her we are going to ______.

This is usually about 9:30.  I could go on for the rest of my day but just imagine a repeat of the first 2 hours of the day and about 10 trips to the potty.

I found that article by HooHas surprisingly accurate...

I love my kids to pieces.  They keep me busy and on my toes.  They keep me insane and sane all at the same time.  Life was certainly different before kids...but I wouldn't change any of it for the world.

Pork Parfaits and Doughnut Burgers

A Trip to The State Fair

Pork Parfait, Fried Dill Pickles, Dr. Pepper          $17.25

Fried Snickers                                                $6.00

Fried Cookie Dough and Bottle of Water            $9.50

Kiddie Ride Tickets                                           $10.00

One Ride on the Carousel                             Priceless Not Worth It

Okay, kind of kidding. We went to the state fair last night with our friends Brandie & Zack (who got the doughnut burger) and their little 4 month old Denver.  We pretty much walked around between food vendors, sampling as much horrible fair food as we could manage.

He was pretty bold to try the pork parfait...which turned out to be pretty good!

Then came the fun part...

We wanted Haylie to try a ride since we were at the fair.  She's never really done that before and we thought she would really like it.  WRONG.

As soon as that carousel started moving, she burst into tears.  For the whole ride.  That we paid $10 in tickets for.

Holding on for her life.

But apparently she LOVED IT!!

We left soon after - while she was sobbing to go on more rides.
               

Seasons of Change

Lots of things have been happening lately...lots of change.  I'm not fond of change at all...so I resist until I finally figure out that things are going to be okay.  We've had a change in our duplex situation - thinking we were sitting pretty for at least 5 more months of full renter-ship, we had to evict one of our tenants because he wasn't paying.  It wasn't a great situation anyway - his sister was paying for him so when asking him for rent, he would just shrug and tell us to ask his sister.  Thankfully, he left the house in good condition and without a big scene, so we don't have to add a bunch of repairs to our list.  But what is even more frustrating than a late payment each month is finding a new renter...some of the calls we get just blow my mind.

Moving on.

We had a change from lazy to busy. Meaning every day getting up and running out the door.  It means less time hanging out with our friends that we saw several times throughout the summer and realizing that we are busy and don't have as much time to do that.  I wish everyone's schedules coincided with mine.  That would make "friend time" so much easier to accomplish - right?!  I miss my friends...Haylie misses hers too.  Jace...well, he doesn't really have any yet.  But we are doing new things - branching out and hopefully making some new friends along the way.  

Mostly, I'm trying to change a little of myself.  I'm working on two bible studies this fall, one that is opening my eyes to the inner workings of man and I'm trying to change my behavior to respect and support my husband more.  This has been the hardest change of all...it's just easier to blame baby hormones or almost 30 years of being the way I am.  The other is a study of Acts and I'm in a group with some girls my age and some that are about my grandma's age (and some in between!)...this in itself is new.  I've always been in a group with people my age but I think (hope) it will be wonderful to have an older generation's perspective.

I don't like being outside of my comfort zone.

But you know what?  I think I'll be okay.

I spy...a little tooth!

Our attempt in taking a picture of Jace's first tooth turned out to be many attempts...

But there it is!! Looks like he'll have a second one coming through soon.  He is a good baby - but when teething can kind of turn into a little screaming monster. Tylenol has been our best friend.

1 down. 19 more to go...

I'm Married Again!

So...remember when my ring got flushed?

Yeah. Me too.  A little too well.

Thankfully, my husband is wonderful and thought I needed a wedding ring to replace the one I lost.

If it were me, I don't know if I would be that gracious.

Either way, he bought me this beauty.  This time there wasn't any grand proposal or to do in giving me the ring...but that's perfectly fine.  We've been there, done that. 

You can bet that this ring will never find it's way into the hands of any little children.  That was an expensive lesson to learn.

Thank you, Justin.  I'm beyond blessed to receive this gift.  You are too good to me.

It's Been Rough

It's been a rough few days in our house.  This past weekend, we went to the park because the weather was gorgeous. We haven't been able to spend time outside and enjoy it in quite some time.

While we were there though, Haylie and our neighbor were playing on the swings.  I guess (because I was watching Jace at the moment) a swing came back and clipped her in the lip.  Blood. Swelling. Tears.  Justin got me her calmed down, but the damage was done.

She kept pouting all night, making her lip look larger, in hopes of getting more sympathy. :)  But, it's nothing a strawberry shake from Braum's can't fix!

Later that night, it was bathtime.  Jace decided that was a prime time to roll over so he got soap in his eye.  He was not happy.

Fast forward a few days and I fall and bruise up my leg.

We all just need to go sit in a padded room.  It might be the best for our safety.

Potty Party

There's nothing like having your friends share the moment with you.

Let the fun begin!

First day of SonShine School - September 6, 2012                        

Jace is 7 months old in the Nursery class.  Teachers are Ms. Jenni, Ms. Jennifer & Ms. Linda

Haylie is 2.5 years old and learning about sea creatures.  Teachers are Ms. Danie & Ms. Krystal. (I'm not a horrible picture taker - I was trying to get her name...)

I am really looking forward to this year.  Summer was fun and relaxed, but I got a little too comfortable with not getting things done.  Dinner every night was kind of a surprise since I barely did any meal planning and with both kids all day every day, I was frazzled by most days end with no energy to pick up the house or fold laundry.

So I was pretty excited about Sonshine School starting!!  None of us shed a tear (well, I almost did but then I quickly pulled it together.  It's just for a few hours.)  Jace went right to his teachers (he doesn't care much as long as someone is there to take care of him).  Haylie walked right in without a backwards glance...and  I skipped right on out of there!

Their first day went well.  Haylie kept her panties dry, took a nap and got a sweet note from her teachers about being a great listener and participating well.  Jace took a great nap for his teachers and ate all of his lunch (I overpacked for him but apparently he thought he needed to eat it all.)

Those are the kind of reports an anxious mommy wants to hear about her babies time away!

Labor Day Shenanigans

They've changed...just a little!

On Labor Day, we grabbed Eli & Evie and all went to make ourselves miserable by enjoying the zoo.  I say that because it was so blasted hot...and everyone else in our city had the same stupid bright idea as us.

Nevertheless, we had a pretty good time despite the heat.  If we ever do that again, we are going straight to the splash area and will forget about trying to see any animals.

It did give me a good chance to take these fun pictures in the wagon though.  Love those "then and now" shots.

Poor baby was so hot.  He finally went to sleep but was pretty happy when we got in the car with the A/C.  (He has his blanket to help him sleep...we weren't intentionally trying to make him sweat.)

4 monkeys eating lunch.

It really was a fun time - the cousins really love to be with each other.  Hopefully we will all go again soon - when it's just a little cooler.

I made it!

I don't know if anyone cares, but I made a whole month without drinking one drop of soda.  And much to my husband's surprise he said, "what, is that hard for you?"  I guess I was hiding my daily Sonic stop a little too well...which means there must have been a real issue there.  But I went from August 1 - September 2 without it.  And since then (all 2 days) I've only had a Strawberry Lime-aid and Strawberry Kiwi Sierra Mist.  I'm hoping to keep this up since I've proven to myself that I can live without it.

I might have had a few days where I wanted to punch myself in the face...I thought I needed caffeine that bad.  But surprise, surprise, I made it jusssst fine with it.

Pat me on the back.

7 Months

Jace Kyle is 7 months old today!  He is such a beautiful baby.  I might be a bit biased.

He is sooooo close to sitting up on his own.  I propped him up for this picture and he fell over soon after.  It's that head. It's hard work holding it up.  (Don't worry, he didn't fall on the concrete...I caught him.)

 And then we began to take the terrified pictures.

               

Jace is still in "content" mode.  He is rolling over a few more times but doesn't have any ambition to do it often or to sit, push up or crawl.  I love that he is still such a squishy baby, but would love to have him help support himself.  It's hard work carrying around a sack of potatoes all the time!

He is eating us out of house and home.  He is wearing size 3 diapers and 9-12 month clothing.  He is sleeping very well and takes 2 naps a day (if not 3).  He loves "talking" to us and is supposed to be my "chill" baby, but he can definitely makes his presence known.

I love you Jace Jace.