Lake day

We took the kids to the lake for the first time this weekend. 

Well, they think it was the first time they've been there, but it actually was not 😏

The last time we were at Folsom Lake Lucy was just shy of 2, and Jackson was a baby! Back then wrangling a toddler, a baby and the kitchen sink worth of things required for an hour at the lake was a total pain in the butt, so this visit was much more manageable.

If you notice in the photos that both kids are fully-clothed, there's a reason for that ha!

Being the prepared mom that I am, I checked the weather forecast before we left and noticed that it was only supposed to be in the late 70's, which IMO is too friggin' cold for swimming.

We packed a quick picnic lunch, I hugged the dogs (I felt guilty that we were not taking them with us, dogs love the lake!) and went on our merry no-swimsuit way.

Of course, when we got to the lake, it felt super warm outside and I regretted immediately not bringing the kids suits.

But despite swim suits, both kids had a blast. Compared to the last time we were at the lake when there was basically no water, all of the rain our area had this winter brought the lake levels up very high, which meant to long hike to get to the water.

The lake was clear, a bit chilly, and had lots of driftwood for the kids to float around the shore, like little boats and surfboards. 

Lucy is an avid rock collector, and she had fun checking out the different colors and shapes of stones on the lake floor.

It's crazy, we've lived ten minutes away from Folsom Lake for almost three years and barely visit, but for the $12 entry fee and a few sandwiches made at home, it made for a cheap family day.

We can't wait to visit again!

Potty hard or go home

Alternate titles were also: I like to potty all the time; It's a potty party up in here.
I finally have two kids out of diapers (sort of) and I still really can't believe it! I thought we would never get Jackson potty trained, even though we started in March and two months felt like for friggin' ever.
I say sort of because he still wears a diaper/pull-up for nap time and also has not figured out the whole number two on the pot thing. (For example, he decided the playground on Mother's Day would be a good time to poop. I found him standing very still on the play structure, leaning up against a wall, which is his code for I'm s*&tting my pants.)
Like a lot of things in life, I've realized that you can't get your kid potty trained by half-assing it. You've got to go big or go home.
Believe me, there was attempted half-assery on my part. The thought of being stranded at home with a child in undies until he got it figured out sounded terrible, so we first tried training pants (a.k.a. pull-ups) and quickly went down in flames.
I'd read blog post after blog post saying that training pants don't work and you really have to just suck it up and either let them pee in their pants or run around naked for a few days, but let's face it, I really didn't want to deal with the mess and was convinced it would be different for us.
Oh, how I was wrong.
Since training pants are essentially glorified diapers, he treated them like diapers and did his biz in them like it was business as usual, and I started to panic a bit.
I should back up a bit and say that we sort of have a deadline to get our little hambino potty trained because he's signed up for preschool in the fall and they have a requirement that all students be potty trained.
The panic was setting in because I was convinced that he just was not ready to use the potty and would have to wait a whole year to start school.
That's when we decided to go with a little tough love, and it worked like a charm!
During the pull-up debacle, we put together a little jar of trinkets that Jackson could choose from each time he went on the potty. That worked for awhile until we decided to ban pull-ups while we were home and go strictly with underwear.
He was not happy with that and for the first week he pitched a serious fit every morning when I would put underwear on him.
Once we got the said undies on him, he wouldn't tell us when he needed to go, he would just wet his pants, and when we tried to get him to sit on the potty he would freak out.
So I resorted to bribery with one of his favorite things: flavored sparkling water.
Yes, I got my kid to go potty by bribing him with sparkling water.
After doing that for a few days he finally started telling us when it was potty time and for the most part, the rest was history.
We started buckling down on the potty training thing about three weeks ago, and I could not be prouder of him for reaching this milestone.

#momlife

The majority of the posts on this blog are centered around my kids, so I thought I'd do something a little different this time and make this post about me.
As moms so many times we make our lives about our kids and families and often forget that we were individuals with interests and whole lives before these little people arrived.  During my last Weight Watchers meeting the topic of me time came up and what that looks like, and there are a few things I love doing when I get the time.
Speaking of Weight Watchers. Going to meetings is a big part of my self-care routine and one of my favorite parts of the week. I love hearing what other members have to say and getting ideas for meals and snacks. 
Weight Watchers has been kind of a struggle for me over the past...I don't want to say how long. I signed up two years ago in July and still have not made goal, it's quite the process.
If you don't know how Weight Watchers works, basically each food is given a points value, and members are given a certain number of points to eat each day, plus some extra points to spread over the course of the week. Or you could be like me and blow through all of your weekly points over the weekend.
Since I'm so fun size, I only get 30 points per day and 28 weekly points, and it takes a lot of creativity and the hungries to stay within those points. I've been riding the struggle bus for some time because I usually end up eating food after all of my points are gone and not tracking it. So if anyone has the magic bullet for training your brain to stay within your points, please let me know.  I know a lot of people who would love to know.
I do love Weight Watchers though, because I feel like it's teaching me how to eat cleanly and I've had a recent shift in mindset and seem to be doing better. Baby steps.
When I'm not Weight Watchin', I've been really into reading books again. My latest picks have been mysteries, specifically cozy mysteries and chick-lit type mysteries. Authors I've been digging lately are Diane Mott Davidson, Joanne Fluke and Lisa Scottoline. I still love YA and chick lit, and I will do a later post about some of my favorite authors.
I still watch Gilmore Girls almost every day. I know it got a lot of mixed reviews, but I LOVED the reboot, Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life. It was amazing to "visit" Stars Hollow again and see what my favorite characters were up to. I'll DEFINITELY write about my thoughts on that in a later post. P.S. I think Logan is the dad and I don't like what they did to Rory at all!
Perfectly Posh is still my side hustle, although I haven't been quite as active with it as in the past. I love the products and how they make my skin feel and look. If you haven't tried Posh, let me know in the commetns and I'd love to hook you up with some samples!
Thank you so much for reading, and until next time!

The four phases of taking your kids to the park

We almost always get out of the house every day, in order to maintain my sanity enrich the children and expend energy, therefore ensuring naps.
We mix it up a bit, but most weeks we visit the park, go to the mall and go the library, and I've noticed there are four phases that we tend to hit doing any of those things.

Phase one: where are the snacks?

It doesn't really matter how long it's been since they've eaten breakfast, the minute their feet touch the playground, they turn into little gremlins clamoring for food.  If you see me and I'm carrying a large tote bag, it's probably because it's filled with snacks. And heaven forbid you give them snacks and then cut them off.  Please see Phase three for more information on THAT!

Phase two: trying to escape the park or playing with things they shouldn't

Lucy is pretty good about not trying to escape and playing on or with designated playground equipment. It's Jackson who is still very much my wild card.  We frequent this awesome indoor playground that's housed in a church, and I spent about half of the time we are there chasing him away from fire extinguishers, the ATM and playing in the water fountain.  When we go to the mall, he's always trying to run into Forever 21 to get in the elevator.

Phase three: fists of fury

Regulating the shenanigans of phase two usually end up in phase three, also known as SOMEONE getting butt hurt because I won't let them carry on with said shenanigans.  Yesterday we were on a lovely playdate with the MOMS Club we belong to, which was going great until Jackson discovered that the hostess had brought snacks.  I let both kids pick out two snack to enjoy and then I cut them off.  First I got the sad, I'm going to cry face.  I stood firm and that led to the "I just want to see the world burn" face.  He then started sneaking over to the snack bucket and started grabbing the snacks and throwing them.  He was thisclose to upending the whole thing which led to...

Phase four: leaving the park with a flailing toddler under your arm

When Lucy was just under two and Jackson was still a baby, I swear this was one of the only reasons I used our double stroller.  I did a lot of babywearing, and Lucy was pretty good at walking by then, but for the safety of both kids I would bring the stroller in case I had to strap a tantrum-ing toddler in.  And there have been man a times, even as recent as last year, where I'd had to strap her in, with her screaming and a crowd of people watching, my face beet red from embarrassment.
Yesterday I had to call it, and leave the park because the snack bandit wouldn't cut the shit.
Here's a pro tip that I learned from a good friend: buckle the chest clip first so they can't arch their backs out of the carseat.  You're welcome.
Now where's the wine?

New name, same blog

  It's been quite some time since I've logged in and actually posted something! So hello again.
Back when I was blogging regularly I had this idea in my head that I was going to have cool and interesting things to say, resulting in a large following of readers like my favorite blogger has.
But then I remembered that I'm not that creative and inherently lazy when it comes to crafting with my kids and coming up with new recipes and I lost sight of what I originally started this blog for: a written record of my life to look back on one day, and for our kids to look back on.
And to be honest, I really miss writing, and there are so many funny and awkward things that happen in my life as a mom and let's face it, socially awkward person.
Parenting in itself, and the politics of mommyhood, is a gold mine for commentary, that's for sure.
I've really missed having a creative outlet where I can let loose and write what I'm feeling and what we've been up to.
So I'm back!! 
Today was no exception in the awkward parenting department.
Jackson and I had an experience today that seriously made my skin crawl and made me want to shower for a week!
We had to drop Andy off at work today and ended up with 30 minutes to kill before dropping Lucy off at preschool, so we played at the park that's down the street from our house.
Jackson went down the slide, and I noticed that it was a little wet but didn't really think much of it because it had rained a bit the night before.
When I picked him up so we could head to the car, I noticed his butt was wet, and did the requisite sniff check of his butt to verify that it was water.
I was so, so wrong.
His pants smelled like pee but his diaper was dry, and I haven't botched a diaper change in a long time so it most definitely was not. my. child's. urine.
So Jackson's butt was covered in stranger pee, and I put my nose up to his butt so my face had stranger pee on it.
I have no idea who peed on that damn slide, so Jackson got a bath immediately after we got home.
This isn't the first time I've dealt with strange pee, back when I worked at Starbucks there was an incident, but this time made me feel so gross.
So parents, check the slide before your kids go down them because you never know if someone has chosen to use it as a urinal.

#momlife

It's a rainy day here in Roseville and it seemed like a good day for writing, so that's what I'm doing!

I used to use writing as an outlet when I was a teenager since it's so cathartic, and have a huge box filled with journals.  

I find myself needing an outlet like that more and more these days, and what better place to do that than with this blog?

As a mom, so much of our lives are wrapped up in the kids, so sometimes we get overlooked, which is why I'm writing about me today.  Selfish, I know, but it's my blog so I do what I want.

A huge part of my life lately has been Weight Watchers.  I started last July and as one lady on Connect puts it, I've failed my way to losing 15 pounds.

Sometimes I beat myself up over that number, but I know I'm human and I haven't given up which is huge.

I've *tried* other diets before, mainly counting calories, but I never followed through, usually stopping after a few weeks.  I'd have a bad day and eat more than what I was "supposed to" and throw in the towel.

Weight Watchers is the only thing that I've EVER stuck to, and nine months and some change later I'm proud of what I've accomplished.

The main reason I joined is because I really felt like I needed to learn how to eat, if that makes sense.  Counting calories only takes you so far.  What I love about Smart Points is the points are calculated using fat, calories, sugar, saturated fat and protein.  Foods that are lower in points are actually better for you, sustain your energy and keep you fuller longer.

The people behind Weight Watchers are right, calories don't tell you the whole story.

I beat myself up over the fact that I've only lost 15 pounds because I know I'm not always entirely honest about tracking my points, and I have a tendency to snack at night and not record it.

I only get 30 points a day, which isn't a ton of food, peeps!  But I'm slowly learning ways to efficiently pack those points in.

I still have 20 pounds to go, and I will get there!  

I love meetings, and I think a big part of that is my awesome leader.  I really picked a good day and time to go.  She is funny, engaging, caring and very motivating.

I also love that my mother-in-law attends with me, which makes it even more fun!

Weight Watchers is a huge lifestyle change, and sometimes it's hard wrapping my brain around the fact that if I want to stay at a healthy weight this is the way I'll be eating for the rest of my life.  But it's completely doable.

I've also been working from home a little bit, freelancing for a local lifestyle magazine.  It's pretty awesome because I get to pick what I write about, usually light feature stories about businesses and mom life.  My other baby has been my Perfectly Posh business, but if you want to know more about that, visit www.myposhadventure.com.  I've been doing a lot of Facebook parties, which are super fun, and I'm hoping to do some vendor events in the future.

I love being able to work from home because I love staying home with my kids, but I found myself needing something outside of them to call my own.  

I'm still trying to figure out how to strike a balance between working from home and keeping them entertained, so if anyone knows, clue me in ;-)

I hope everyone is enjoying this rainy Friday!  Bye for now!

St. Patrick's Day with little ones!

Celebrating St. Patrick’s Day before kids came along used to be a somewhat straightforward affair.

Gather up your friends (or squad, which I think is what the cool kids are calling that these days) and toast with green beer, either out at a bar, where they dye it green for you, or at home, which is what my circle of friends and I usually did in my twenties.

It didn’t matter if it was on weekend and you got to sleep in, or on a weeknight, which meant you had to stumble through work the next day.  You were drinking beer, either green or Guinness, on St. Patrick’s Day, end of story.

Yeah, it doesn’t really work that way once you have kids, especially ones that are three and under.  There are still middle of the night wake-ups and even earlier mornings.

We might be able to sneak in one green beer, but I’m so tired from these last three years that even half of a beer puts me to sleep for the night.  

Though I’ve since retired my frosty beer mug, St. Patrick’s Day is definitely still a fun holiday.  

Having children seems to breathe new life into holidays we’ve gotten used to over the years, mostly due to their excitement coupled with the endless crafts, activities and recipes listed on Pinterest.

Now that my kids are old enough to do crafts with (well, maybe not the 2-year-old since he still eats PlayDoh) I thought a leprechaun trap would be fun way to get my kids into the St. Patrick’s Day spirit.

I need to preface this by saying I’m totally not a Pinterest mom.  If you look at the photo of the leprechaun trap we made, that will be apparent.

The inspiration for our trap came from a blog on the Kix Cereal website.

But honestly, your kids don’t care.  All they know is glitter glue is super fun to use and construction paper is a hoot to cut.  Seriously.  My three-year-old will entertain herself for a good hour with a pair of toddler scissors and construction paper.  Cheapest activity ever.

The great thing about leprechaun traps is you can make them out of items you already have around the house.  We used a cereal box, cotton balls, construction paper, glitter glue and regular glue.  For the “bait” we used Lucky Charms cereal and some pennies.

Side note: the Lucky Charms are also a great topping for cupcakes.  We made green cupackes, topped them with whipped cream and then the cereal, which made for a festive treat.

This was an awesome activity for a Sunday afternoon, especially since my whole family was battling a cold.  The instructions are below, but really, the possibilities are endless.

I think the best part was hearing my daughter mispronounce it and ask me if I “made daddy a contract.”

Enjoy!

Leprechaun Trap

Materials needed:

cereal box (or a cracker box will do)

red, orange, yellow, green and blue construction paper

scissors

cotton balls

gold glitter glue

white glue or a glue stick

a wooden dowel (or a pencil)

string

1. Take the cereal box and cut off the top flaps.  Cut the bottom of the box off, and then cover the outside of the box with green construction paper.
2. Remember the bottom of the box you just cut off?  Cover that in glue and then stick the cotton balls all over it so it looks like a big fluffy cloud.
3. Cut off a strip from each sheet of construction paper.  Glue them together.  Each one will be overlapping another, to make a rainbow.  
4. Glue your rainbow to the bottom of the cereal box, AKA your cloud.
5. We used the glitter glue on the rainbow, drawing circles with the gold glitter and then filling them in so they looked like coins.
6. Prop the cereal box, green side up, over the cloud with the wooden dowel, and tie a string to the dowel.
7. Put your bait under the box and wait for the leprechaun!

Preschool

Last week was a big week for us, as our little lady started preschool.
We enrolled her in the same preschool her cousins went to, which is actually part of our local high school's Family and Consumer class.
Her teachers are a bunch of high school students who are interested in future careers of working with children.

It has actually gone a lot better than I was expecting.  When I say that, I mean she actually let me leave the first day without any tears!!
She just saved her crying for AFTER I left the school.
I got a phone call on the first day, about an hour before school was supposed to be out (school is only two hours, three days a week) from the teacher in charge of the preschool program.
The teacher said that Lucy was having a rough day, and was crying for me sporadically during the day.
I guess she was fine when she was allowed to free play with toys, but when it was time for structured activities, like circle time and art, she cried.  Which I thought was slightly funny because of course she's going to cry for me when she's told to do something she doesn't want to do. o_0
While I didn't have to come pick her up, the teacher gave me the option to do so, which naturally I did because I felt bad that she was so sad!  I ended up picking her up 20 minutes early, which is not bad for a first day.
The next morning, the teacher assured me that the crying was normal and that they are happy to work with her.  I guess the only reason she called me during the first day was because she didn't want me to come pick Lucy up and then be told at pick-up that she cried.  She asked if it was okay to not call unless she's inconsolable and then just tell me whether or not she cried at pick-up, which I'm fine with because hello, she's going to have to get used to school eventually, so why not start now?
All in all, it's been a pretty positive experience so far.  She's excited every morning when I drop her off and tells us everything they did that day during school when I pick her up, and she asks to go to preschool every day.
And I'm excited to go grocery shopping with only one kid.  And Target.  And the post office.
Because we all know errands with one is way better than two!

It's June already?!

It's June already, holy crap!!

I think I have been waiting for summertime to get here since probably February.  It doesn't get super cold here but it's nice to not have to wait until mid-morning to head out and play.

It's finally starting to warm up a little bit, so I'm sure I'll be complaining in no time about how friggin' hot it is outside.

I think I'm most excited about summer time being here because it means that there will be barbecues and swim dates every weekend from here until September, and having something to occupy my crazy little toddlers is huge in our household.

This weekend we went to the local water park and then to a cookout to celebrate my mother-in-law's birthday.

I have no pictures from those events, but here are some of what we've been up to.

Andy built the kids a playhouse, Jackson has learned to walk and climb recently, we had a blast blowing bubbles at the local farmer's market and Lucy started her first gymnastics class.

Happy June 1, everyone!  It's my favorite month of the year!

If I make it out alive...

I swear I will laugh about this stuff when she's older.  Or probably even next week.

Today has just been one of those days where I am a second away from dropping f-bombs all up in here to blow off some steam.

I decided that we would stay home today so I could focus more on potty training.  We've been using Pull-ups for the past few weeks but the people on the Internets are right, she's not uncomfortable when wet because it's like wearing a diaper. 

So I bought training underwear in hopes of helping her learn that peeing your pants sucks and makes you feel gross.

I think we are on pair number four or five today. Instead of telling me she has to go, I get, "Uh oh, change the diaper!" or "Uh-oh, pee!" and then I look over and her pants are soaked.

It's progress, though, because I know soon she will probably tell me she has to go instead of telling me she went.

But being housebound has made me cranky.  We usually head out for an activity in the morning.  That way, she is worn out, ready for lunch and ready for a nap instead of like today.

After taking her pee for the zillionth time, we headed out, Jackson, dogs and all to play in the front yard before lunch.

Which was cool, until it was time for lunch.  Because that meant going inside.

Cue the running across the yard screaming "Play outside! Play outside!" which meant mommy had to spent extra time coaxing her in the house like a dirty cat that needs a bath.

While I was making lunch, three time-outs were given for spitting water all over the floor twice and then running to her bedroom with a fork just because I asked her to give me the fork.  She grabbed it off of the counter, I asked for it which apparently means run like a bat out of hell even though running with a fork is a bad idea.  But she doesn't know that.

When she was done with lunch, she hucked her placemat across the table, which connected with my glass of water, spilling it all over the floor and Brody.

The cherry on top was when I had refilled my cup of water, and she decided to pick it up, walk to the other side of the table and dump the contents all over the floor.

So naturally I called Andy and begged him to come home with chocolate.

Now she is sleeping after minimal fuss.  I guess being a badass is tiring.

That one time I got blood all over the post office

See also:  That time Steph made an ass of herself in front of a bunch of strangers.

I will admit, most of the time I psych myself out about really dumb things to only discover it's really not as bad as I thought (like going to a new grocery store with two kids under three.  I know.  I really over thought that one.)
And going to the post office with a two-year-old and a 10-month-old should have been one of those things, had I actually thought more about it.  In the past I hadn't been to keen on dragging them to the post office, but since we live in Roseville now, and said post office is walking distance from a park and a library, we make a fun little outing of it now.
I needed to mail a humidifier tank back to the manufacturer because I ordered the wrong box, and you would think with all of the Amazon Prime ordering my family does, we would have a box that would fit it, so I could just print up a postage slip and mail it from home.
But seeing that I like cute things, and the tank is shaped like a frog, of course it wouldn't fit any boxes we had.
So, I had to visit the dreaded post office.  Now, even before kids, I never really visited the post office a lot, nor had I mailed a ton of packages, so I didn't really know how it "worked."
I thought they would find a box for me and package up my froggy tank.
Nope.
When we rolled up to the post office, Jackson had been asleep for a few minutes.  Since he'd been fighting a nap for most of the morning, I decided I would wear him and put Lucy in the stroller.  You know, because I thought they would box up the tank.
Right away, it's super awkward because I have Lucy in the double stroller since we were planning to walk to the park afterwards, and the post office is tiny.  I mean, I could have pushed it into the post office and bowled over a few elderly patrons and some bubble wrap.
So awkward mom of the year I am, I see an employee in the lobby and meekly hold up my tank, saying I need to find a box for it.
The guy pretty much held my hand through the whole process.  I'm a 32-year-old woman who doesn't know how to mail a package.  They should really teach that in school.
After trying to fit it in several boxes, we finally found one.  The post office guy asks if I need tape, and I say yes.  I set the tape and my large box down on their tiny little table, and ask Lucy to hang onto the tank.
Watching me awkwardly fumble at folding the box (since I have a 23-pound sleeping baby strapped to my chest, which makes most things tricky) he offers to tape the bottom of the box for me.
I put the tank in the box, he hands me some bubble wrap, I stuff it in the box and give the extras to Lucy because she loves bubble wrap.  I know, plastic and a toddler, and all of those warnings about this not being a toy, but I'm right there, hello.
Being the person that I am (the can't ever ask for help person) I attempt to tape the box shut.
As I'm pulling the tape down to cut off a piece, my finger comes down on the jagged cutting blade and leaves what looks like a tiny little shark bite on my finger.
Being that it was my finger, though, of course it starts to profusely bleed.
All over the box, all over the table, all over the stroller, all over the floor.
Basically, I am just flinging blood all over the place everywhere I go.
I tell the poor, confused employee that I cut myself, not because I'm mad about it, but because I want him to know his post office lobby has basically become a haz mat scene.
He relocates me over to another counter so I can finish filling out my address sticker.
Now, I should pause here and say that the stares and whispers on the part of the other patrons had already started when I walked in with my enormous stroller and started taking up the post office dude's time.
The stares and whispers pretty much tripled as soon as the blood started flowing.  Some of them were of the sympathetic variety, but there were definitely some judgmental ones going.
As soon as my package was taped and ready, I had multiple offers to cut in line to the front.
But being that a) I wasn't sure how I would navigate my stroller to the front without taking anyone out and b) I already felt bad for making a spectacle, I headed to the back of the line.
Of course that was a mistake, because Lucy was done with her snack.
I had to endure hearing "Go to the park?" and "Turn around, turn around!" and "Get down, get down!" for the remaining ten minutes we were in the post office.
Props to the sympathetic lady behind me, who has a 3-year-old but was smart enough to visit the post office while he was in preschool.
The nice man in front of me, after offering to let Lucy hold his mail, offered again for me to go ahead of him, so I sighed and did it.
Next time, I'm going to Kinko's.
End scene.

Old house love

I took a totally unintentional break from blogging this past month, but I'm pretty sure it had to do with, oh, I don't know, moving.
We've been living in our new house for three weeks now, but today marks the day that the Lincoln house is no longer ours.  
I had a mini-meltdown this morning when I realized that it was Nov. 1, and yesterday was the last day it was ours.
Andy and I did some cleaning over there during the week, and I made it maybe two hours into cleaning without crying over some memory I had.  I think I was in Lucy's room, and realizing that someone was probably going to paint over her mural made me pretty sad and then it was all over from there.
I like to say that I(we) grew up in that house.  It was the first house we bought, and we spent most of the time we've been married there.  We brought Brody home to that house, we had so many parties and shenanigans, and then we brought each of our babies home to that house.  That house will always have a special place in my heart.
Enough with all of the sappy shit, though.  How about a trip down memory lane?

 Ahh, my graduation party.  We later found the "baby" behind the TV.

 Dirty Scrabble was born at this table.

 And who can forget the adult pinata party?  We stuffed it full of miniature bottles of booze, quarters, candy and poppers.

Aaaaand our very first Halloween party, where Jeff (left) dressed up as Scott (right).

 We brought Lucy home here!!

 And Brody.

 We made Cake Pops...
 And brought Cartman home!

 And had six Christmases...
 And five Halloweens (two of which I remember, hee hee).

 And we brought Jackson home here!

Goodbye, old friend.  You were a really good house, we were very lucky to have you!
(There were so many more pictures I could have posted, but as you can see, I have two little children, and ain't nobody got time for that.)

A small town really is like a family

I realize how cliche that sounds, but it's true.
This is my last Saturday night in our small town.  
I realize a population of 43,000 isn't really that small, considering the town I grew up in only had Tonaround 1,400 people in 2000.
But Lincoln really is like a small town, and I'm really going to miss it.
Any given day, I can drive down the street and know the guy driving the garbage truck next to me, the police officer on the side of the road doing a traffic stop, the dude cleaning the fountain in Beermann Plaza and most of the guys on the fire engine racing through town.
We can go to Target for diapers and wind up stopping to talk to at least one person we know, and that's on a good day.
We try to go the library every Thursday for Mother Goose on the Loose, and love chit chatting with the librarians we've come to know and love.
We've been here for six years, and the first year we pretty much kept to ourselves.  I didn't really start getting to know people until I started working for the newspaper, and the town really grew on me, I started to get to know so many different people that I consider friends now.
I'm a little sad about moving to the next city over.  Sure it's bigger, and there's more stuff to do there, but I'm really going to miss seeing familiar, friendly faces on an almost daily basis.
Cheers Lincoln, it's been fun getting to know you.  We'll be back to visit often, I promise.

Six months

This little nugget turned six months old on Sunday!

I cannot even put into words what Jackson adds to our family.  He is the happiest, snuggliest and funniest little boy.
This little meatball loves his sister, and she's the only one who can really make him giggle by doing nothing at all.  She sneezes, he laughs.  She shrieks, he laughs.  When I say nothing, I mean she doesn't try to make him laugh, pretty much her existence makes him laugh.
Everyone comments on how big he is.  And the kid his huge.  We weighed him on our bathroom scale and he was 20 pounds last night.  At his doctor's appointment today, he was 19 pounds, which is what Lucy weighed at one!

I'm not sure if it's a boy vs. girl thing, or what, but we have been more successful with breastfeeding, so I think that has a lot to do with it.  
We got clearance to start solid foods, so tonight he had his first taste of oatmeal.  I was too busy manning the spoon to get pics, but Andy did, so I'll have to get my hands on those.  I think it's safe to say he enjoyed it, and kept grabbing the spoon.  He needed a bath right after, that's for sure.

He's a pro at rolling over both ways, and has started scooting backwards on his tummy.  It's really only a matter of time until he's crawling!
I can't wait to see what the next six months hold for this little nugget!  

Pumpkin spice and NICU beds

Lucy turned two on Monday, which has drummed up a bunch of different, somewhat fleeting, feelings for me over the past week.
The feels get me at the most randomest times, and make me think of all of the things Andy and I had to endure two years ago.
I ordered my first Pumpkin Spice iced coffee from Starbucks last week, and it took me right back to Lucy's first week home.
Pumpkin Spice syrup always comes out around the first week of September, and being sleep deprived, Andy and I hit up the drive through what seemed like almost every day during her first few weeks home.  
I think from now until she's all grown-up, Pumpkin Spice will make me think of baby Lucy (and they better still have it then!)
The past few weeks, every time I've driven north on Highway 65 from Roseville, I think of sitting in the backseat on the way home from the hospital, with Lucy next to me.
And just driving past Kaiser Roseville, but especially visiting it for doctor's appointments, always make me think of the week I spent there after she was born.

Her whole birth experience was exciting, scary, fun and traumatizing all at the same time.  I look at the photo on the left and I am just so thankful that everything turned out well in the end.  Seeing my little baby hooked up to tubes and wires was terrifying, and not knowing if she was going to be okay for the first few days was something I wouldn't wish upon anyone. There are days that I sometimes take for granted the silly, vibrant and smart two-year-old I have (especially when she's being mischievous) but then I think of how bad things could have gone and I thank my lucky stars.
The cooler mornings we've been having remind me of waking up and hobbling down three stories with milk I'd pumped the night before to the NICU so Andy and I could change her diaper, take her temperature and attempt to nurse her and then give her the milk I'd brought with me.  
We'd hang out for awhile, I'd pump and we would wait for the doctor to make his rounds so we could hear about her platelet and white blood cell counts and how close we would be to taking her home.
For the six days she was in NICU, it was pretty much a lather, rinse, repeat type of thing.  Wake up, pump, go down to the NICU for a few hours, go upstairs and take a nap or relax until the next feeding.  We would do that until 8 p.m., and I would skip going down for the midnight and four a.m. feedings, and sorry not sorry, because I needed my sleep!  I feel a little guilty saying this, but when we had Jackson, I sort of missed skipping the early morning feedings like I did with her because he roomed with me.
I think about watching "Friends" during my middle of the night pumping session, and making fun of the show "I Didn't Know I Was Pregnant" with Andy.  I mean, who doesn't know they are pregnant until they give birth to a full term baby in a toilet?  Come on!
I think of our supportive family bringing us food for lunch and dinner.
I remember before we had Lucy our dogs were our babies, and I sent Andy home each night so the boys wouldn't be lonely.  And once I'd been discharged going home to see them, and they were so happy, and I burst into tears because I felt like I was more worried about my dogs than my baby at the time.
But even though she was in the NICU, I always knew she would be okay and I think that's what got me through such a scary time.  Sure, the thought that maybe her platelet count wouldn't go up crossed my mind, but as her numbers kept going up and up, I knew she was going to be okay.  Life would be a little hard for awhile with having to keep her isolated form other people, but that was a temporary and necessary measure to keep her healthy.

And in the end, it totally paid off, and we have a loud, opinionated and smart toddler running around our house.  I cannot wait to see what the next year brings for our little girl!  

My little myna bird

Elmo's World just came on, so I've got about ten minutes to write and have a cup of coffee before Lucy gets bored again and Jackson wakes up.  I lead a glamorous life.
Before I had kids, I knew we would one day have to be careful about how much we said the F-word and other delights around children.
But I never considered how quick they pick up on every day things you say around them.
Mainly, the things I say over and over again in response to her daily shenanigans.
And I've learned based on what she's repeating, I'm doing things right because she's not repeating swear words or the word no.
For example.
She's been yelling "Back!" at everything from the dogs to other kids we see when out and about, so my response has been, "Hey, be nice."
So when she's playing or winding down for a nap, she shrieks, "Back!!" followed by, "Hey, be nice."

Or she'll shout out that she wants something, like a snack or to go outside, and if it's time to do whatever it is she's demanding, I'll say, "Say please, nicely," which is followed up by a "please nicely."
I started this post two days ago and had a bunch of examples in my head, but they've since flown the coop.  My brain isn't nearly what it was before I had children, so pardon me.  : )
Hope you all are having a nice Sunday!  
We had breakfast at our favorite place, Awful Annie's and went to take a look at the house we are hoping to buy soon.   Sunday always goes by so fast.  Sigh.