What I Have Learned....

Here is what I have learned in my last two months of being a momma to two precious babes, take it for what its worth..........

- I have learned that spit up blends in best when you are wearing a off-white top.

- I have learned that its a sad reality that the second child does not get nearly as many pictures taken of them.........mainly because I am so busy I rarely have time to take a second to stop and take a picture. Most of my pictures are on my Iphone.....does that count?

- I have learned that it takes at least 60 minutes to get both girls and myself cleaned, dressed, fed, packed up and out the door, making the phrase "Honey I am just going to run to the store (ie Target) really fast, OK?" a thing of the past. Nothing happens really fast these days.

- I have learned that a smile and coo from a newborn baby can turn a day around.

- I have learned that my mom must of been crazy to have not two but THREE girls. She was 26 years old with three little girls under the age of four. Insane I tell you. Mom- you are my hero!

- I have learned that I can still function on decaf coffee, although I may be much more bleary-eyed.

- I have learned that my toddler is so much more accepting of change than I actually ever gave her credit for.

- I have learned how to do absolutely everything using just one hand.

- I have learned that is all seems so much easier the second time around. Makes me wonder what I thought was so hard the first time around.........

- I have learned that every single time I watch my two girls interact I tear up a little bit.

- I have learned that antibacterial lotion covers up the smell of spit up.

- I have learned that bathing is a luxury

- I have learned to shop online for almost everything. Amazon Mom, Diaper.com, and Target.com are my answer for everything.

- I have learned that my heart is so full and content. At least once every day I stop and look at my beautiful life and thank God for so many blessings. I am beyond grateful.

What have you learned since having kids? I would love to hear it!

Thankful

I am so thankful for my beautiful family and the blessed life I have.

Wishing all of you a Thanksgiving filled with love and laughter.

Avery's Favorite Things- 2 years 8 months

Avery is almost 30 lbs now and around 37-38 inches tall! She is growing like a weed and is still sooooo tall for her age. We are having trouble finding her jeans that are actually long enough. She is still such a good girl. I am sure every mother says that but she honestly is. Every time we go to the park or are around other kids her age I am so proud of how well behaved, patient and kind she is. Don't get me wrong she has recently begun to test the limits a little bit ("Avery please don't throw my phone" followed by her looking right at me and throwing my phone down). And she is a little bit of a drama queen, making herself cry real tears in response to things I know aren't really that sad/painful/etc. Also she is so smart. I know every mother probably says this too but she really is. She has this amazing memory retention for books, songs, etc. The other day I read her the book Pinkalicious twice (we had never read it before) and after only hearing it TWICE she could recite the entire book back almost word for word. That's truly amazing to someone like me who has barely any memory retention!

Avery is at such a fun age where she still has so much fun doing almost anything and she thinks her parents are the funniest people in the world (which we are!). I am really looking forward to this holiday season because I know she is going to make everything so much more magical and fun!

At 2 years 8 months Avery's Favorite:

Song: Sugarland "Stuck Like Glue"- she still loves this song and calls it "Avery and Mommy's song" which is the cutest thing ever. But she really likes almost all music and really loves to dance to it all!

Movie: Tinkerbell and the Great Fairy Rescue, Mary Poppins, anything Princess related- Avery has started to be more interested in cartoons- such as Mickey Mouse and Olivia but for the most part she still like to watch movies best of all. We check-out a new movie from the library almost every week so we have been getting to watch old classics like Sleeping Beauty, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, and The Sound of Music. She loves watching anything with either princesses or people who sing and dance.

Clothes: Avery insists on wearing a "beautiful dress" every time we leave the house. Thankfully we live in a place that is warm year-round. She never wants to wear pants and getting her to wear anything besides a skirt or dress is a battle. Matt said "you created this princess monster" because I have always like dressing her up in cute outfits haha!

Foods: she will luckily eat almost anything but her diet mainly consists of waffles, macaroni and cheese, hot dogs, PB&J, fruit and veggies

Books: She loves the Classic Storybook from Disney that has 20 of the old Disney classics- like Dumbo, Bambi, Cinderella, etc. I feel so blessed because Avery really loves to read and she could seriously read all day long

Hobbies: swimming, riding tricycle, playing outside, reading princess books, watching movies, going to the park, playing with her friends

Avery- Your Mommy and Daddy thank God for you every single day. You are such a blessing and truly such a good girl. We could not be more grateful for how well you have handled the transition into "Big Sister" and you make each and every day so special. We love you more than words could every say!

Just Because

It's That Time

And by that time, I mean Christmas card time! I love all things related to Christmas cards- picking them out, designing them, sending them and of course receiving them! I have been thinking about our cards for a while now because this year our Christmas cards are going to double as Gracyn's birth announcement/Winston Christmas card so I know I want something really cute and timeless since it's going to be in Gracyn's baby book!

So I was looking around on Shutterfly's website looking at their card designs and let me tell you these card have come a long way from the card's of our mothers time. Seriously these holiday card designs are so modern, classic, and just plain beautiful I have no idea what I am going to choose this year. Just look at some of these





How cute are those? (It helps that the kids they have on the cards are all smiling like little angels!!! I would like to know how long it took the photographer to get both kids to smile, act like they like each other AND look at the camera!) And I was pleasantly surprised at the prices. They are so reasonable and all the cards look like they should cost much more. And I have used Shutterfly before so I know the quality is top-notch.

Don't forget to check out Shutterfly's huge array of possible gift giving ideas- from coffee mugs to calendars. We actually made photo books last year to give out as Christmas gifts and it was a huge hit with all the grandparents and great-grandparents, and Avery still loves looking at "picture book of Avery" haha!

So needless to say I am super excited about picking out the perfect Christmas card this year from Shutterfly's website. If you are a blogger and are interested in 50 free cards from Shutterfly go here to find out how!

Can't Get Enough

I can't get enough of watching these two together. So adorable. Sisters :-)

Smiley Face!

Melts my heart every time i watch it. I am so in love with this girl!

- Please mute your volume so you don't hear my annoying baby talk voice!

Gracyn's One Month Pictures

Any Resemblance?

OK here are some comparison pics of the girls so you can let me know if you think they look alike or not.

Here is Avery immediately after she was born:

Here is Gracyn:

Here is Avery at 1 month old:

Here is Gracyn at 1 month old:

What do ya'll think?

Happy One Month Gracyn Paige!

What You Did This Month

Weight: 9 lb 2 oz (50%)

Length/Height: 21 cm (50 %)

Head Circumference: 14.5 cm

Diaper Size: Still in Newborn (they are so tiny and cute!) but after I am through with this box we are going to go ahead and move up to size 1

Clothing Size: Mostly Newborn sizes and the occasional 0-3 months but it depends on the brand. Most of the 0-3 month sleepers fit you now but you mainly wear NB.

Sleeping Habits: You are a huge cuddler and love to sleep with Mommy and Daddy. You sleep for 3-4 hour stretches at night and still sleep a majority of the day.

Eating Habits: Exclusively breastfed every 3 hours, but the past few days you have been wanting to eat every 2-2.5 hours, which would explain your enormous weight gain this month!

Milestones: You smiled at me yesterday! Honestly. You did it two times in a row when I was singing to you but I could not get you to do it for Daddy again last night.

Likes/Dislikes:

- You do not like the swing at all. You will tolerate the vibrating chair for about 30 minutes tops but you really prefer to be held.

- You are super strong. You have amazing neck strength already and tolerate tummy time well. You are trying to track toys with your eyes and your head but still need a little help.

- You do not like the pacifier at all. You gag on it and spit it out every time i try to give it to you.

- You tolerate all the loud chaos that goes on in our house and it does not seem to wake you up at all.

- You already have a little soft spot for your momma. You calm very easily when i hold you and it seems like you recognize my voice. You also seem to react to both Daddy and Avery's voices.

- You don't seem to like being strapped into the carseat. If i unbuckle your straps (obviously when clicked onto the stroller not while the car is moving) then you settle down a little bit but like I said before you prefer to be held so being in the carseat is really not your favorite place to be.

- You are (thankfully) not a spitter-upper. I rarely use a burp cloth and most of the time you are fairly quick to burp- SO nice!

Gracyn Paige- I can not believe you have already been with us for a month. Time has really flown. You are such a sweet precious girl and I thank God daily for such an amazingly wonderful and healthy baby who completes our family perfectly. We love you more than you can ever imagine and feel blessed to be your parents.

So I think I figured out that coffee is what causes Gracyn's upset tummy. Sigh. So I stare longingly at my favorite Peppermint Mocha creamer every morning and just drool. And NO it doesn't taste the same in decaf coffee. It's just not the same. So in an attempt to quell my peppermint mocha craving, since coffee is apparently now a no-go, I picked up a pack of these the other day on a quick trip to Tar-jay

Ohmyword. These are serious. I had to hide them from myself because I could have seriously ate the whole dang bag.

On a completely different note, I remember reading about "mommy-brain" after Avery's birth and I sort of chuckled a little bit and had a handful of occasions where I forgot something or did something silly, but wholly-moly bring on the full- fledged mommy-brain after baby #2. It is on in full force over here now. Honestly the other day I could not think of the word bloody mary. seriously??!! And then it honestly took me 15 minutes to remember the name of a mexican restaurant in Midland so I could tell one of my friends who was passing through that they should stop and eat there. 15 minutes. I lived in Midland for 8 years and ate at this place at least a bazilion times and honestly could not for the life of me remember the name. I thought I was a pretty big list maker before but now its the only way I can remember any darn thing. Seriously it's a huge problem.

Wait what was I talking about?

Anyways, I have noticed that my rationalization skills have gotten much better since the birth of Gracyn. I may or may not have had a piece of apple pie with my coffee (before my realization that Gracyn + coffee= crying baby) for breakfast and actually thought to myself "Apple is a fruit so this has to be at least a little bit nutritious." But I think its because with the first born its all about what is the "right" thing to do. What does the book/experts/friends/family say?

But with the birth of a second child i think its all about survival. Honestly you do whatever you have to do to sleep/eat/bathe and just survive in general because you know that you not only have a busy toddler to care for but a totally dependent newborn and there will be no naptimes or lolly-gagging this time around. And Mommy needs to be on her game. So it's really all about survival, as made evident by the fact that Gracyn still is sleeping in our bed, which I was majorly against with Avery. Also I will almost always feed Gracyn whenever she just barely starts rooting around, regardless of when I fed her last, while with Avery I tried like mad to stay to the every 3 hour schedule. Whatever makes my life easier.

But don't get me wrong my life is pretty easy. And beautiful. And amazing. I love my days spent with our girls and love watching the two of them interact. I love having alone time with Gracyn (after Avery has gone to bed) and just sitting snuggling on the rocker and just breathing in all her delicious smells and sounds. I love reading Avery all her books before bedtime and hearing her say "Dear God, Thank you for Mommy, Daddy, and Baby Gracyn. Amen. Oh yeah and for Snow White and Sleeping Beauty. Amen." Does life get any better than this? I can't imagine how.

Dorothy has Staying Power

Can somebody please get this girl a new Dorothy costume??!! this one is getting a little yucky. Go figure. A year of that darn costume is quite enough. It's served it's purpose. Plus I'm tired of it making an appearance in all of our photographs.
I just don't have the heart to hide it or take it away so for now I guess it stays..... As does the photographic evidence.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Catching Up

- Sadly Matt's mom, aka Grandma, left today. She has been staying with us for the past three weeks while Matt was out of town and has been BEYOND helpful. We are so grateful for all the help that she gave us and honestly don't know how to thank her enough.

Grandma- thank you for EVERYTHING! We can't begin to express our gratitude for everything you did for us and for taking such good care of us for the past 3 weeks. We love you- come back soon!

- So needless to say today is my first day all on my own. The first of many. Thank goodness Avery is so good-natured because she doesn't seem to mind at all that we are sort of stuck in the house for a few more weeks. We have gone to Target, the park and a few friends houses but other than that we have been staying a little close to home until Gracyn gets just a little bit bigger.

-Everything continues to go well with our adjustment as becoming a family of four. Gracyn is still a little angel. She has had a little upset tummy a few nights and I have been trying to figure out if its something I am eating (i think it may be caffeine- boohoooo) or if its just her little newborn tummy adjusting to new flavors. But she seems to be getting better. She eats almost exactly every 3 hours. At night she may stretch it to every 4 hours but thats about as long as it goes. And she eats like a champ. Such an easy nurser. She is a still a huge cuddle bug and prefers to be held or near you all the time. Regretfully I let her sleep with us early on in an attempt to just get sleep any way I could, and now she is hooked. She will sleep in the pack and play for 30 minutes to an hour but always sleeps longer and more soundly in our bed. So she has been sleeping with me (while Matt was out of town) for the past three weeks. I am going to try to break that soon- but part of me loves the snuggles she gives me all night long!

- Like I said Avery is still is handling Gracyn being here SO well. So much better than I could have ever expected. I am interested to see how it goes now that I am going to be the only adult here in the day. Hopefully she will continue to go with the flow and be as easy as she has been!

My First Slumber Party

Melts my heart to see these two together. I envision many more slumber parties between these two in my future!





*** Please disregard the fact that my oldest daughter continues to prefer to wear her Halloween costume from LAST year as her favorite piece of dress-up apparel. Who am I to argue with an adorably cute Dorothy (even though her dress won't close anymore)...........?

The view from my phone over the past 3 weeks

Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Halloween 2010

We had a great Halloween. I am pretty sure Avery is going to be talking about it for the next month.........and wearing her costume for the next year. She got to wear her ladybug costume a grand total of three times so she was pretty happy.

Cute as a Bug

Dancing with her friends at our church Sprouts class

Gracyn in her Halloween outfit that my mom got her, however my mom said that she looked like a UT fan in this outfit so we immediately changed her clothes :-)

Gracyn in her costume- i just had to throw this picture in because she is so stinkin cute

My ladybug girls

Mommy and her girls

Avery, Gracyn, and Grandma

Avery and I went to a friends house for Halloween (Gracyn stayed home with grandma) and this was all I saw of Avery almost the whole night! She was just running as fast as she could from house to house. She had such a great time and I was so glad that grandma was still in town so that I could take Avery and really let her enjoy Halloween without having to worry about germs, burping, feeding, etc Gracyn. Such a fun holiday!