Back to reality!

Reality check today- getting up at 5 am, packing bottles, encouraging (bribing) Hannah to eat her breakfast, get dressed, and do her hair and flying out the door to be at work by 7:45...whew!! I was tired when I got there...BUT I wouldn't have it any other way. (well- id like to win the lottery & never work again!) but that won't happen- so for the love of these two little babies I'll do it all again tomorrow! Going back to work today was emotion filled. Nervous to go back to a job I left 12 weeks ago, dropping off the sweetest little boy I know- to be cuddled & fed by other people, & closing out a very special phase of my life. I have to say leaving him was hard but knowing he's all mine and I get to pick him up makes it a little easier! The hardest part is closing out this phase of my life. Maternity leave is a very special & priceless time that I absolutely cherished. Knowing it was over just really hit me hard. I had 12 weeks to really bond with this little guy and it was so wonderful spending such great quality time with him. Not that it's over by any means but knowing this could be my last maternity leave or this phase of my life could be over- its just a very weird emotional feeling. I know I'm not doing a good job of describing it in words but it was just a little emotional for me. And I barely shed any tears- just a little misty eyed. So at 4:15 I think I ran out the door to go pick them up! I couldn't wait to hear about Hannahs day & get my hands on Owen. I'm pretty sure I held him all night :) to make this week easier my family is bringing us dinner every night & that is a huge help!! It makes coming home from a long day not so bad! This morning when I took them to school I thought Hannah would be very excited to take Owen to his room but nope, that big girl wanted to go straight to the monkey room. She made sure to tell me that Owen goes to the baby room & she goes to the monkey room- big difference ya know!!
On Monday night we decided to go for ice cream to celebrate these last 3 months. Hannah of course had to have her chocolate sprinkle cone. Which she never finishes so I don't mind buying it. But she did eat all of her rainbow sherbet which is rare for her- she never finishes her ice cream!
Overall my first day back was just that, first day back to work. I enjoyed catching up with friends & I know once I get our mornings down ill be glad we have a routine. But for now it's 5 am wake up calls & savoring my mornings with the two sweetest people I know!!

HARD to leave this sweet face!! Is it Friday yet? Thankfully Friday is my half day- have to ease in slowly ya know :)

Hannah Day!

Since my maternity leave is nearing the end we thought it would be fun to give Hannah a day that was all about her! So Friday we headed to Art Sparks at the Speed Museum. We had never been before but what I read sounded like fun. They have a whole room dedicated to kids under age 5. The best part was the room where she could paint. She loved it!! And this girl can make a perfect H so we painted lots of them! She is so proud of herself when she writes an H- as she should be! She also loves drawing circles- another big step for our little 2 year old!! I just love watching how proud she is- you can just see it all over her face. Moments like that are priceless!! After the museum we headed to Chick Fil A to let her play and eat- we never go to places like that so she had fun, of course some of those big kids are a little too rough! We had a great Hannah day & she crashed when we got home!
Saturday when Jeremy got home from work we headed to the zoo- one of Hannah's favorite things to do. We really enjoy taking her. It's nice to get out of the house & do some walking & wear her out :) after the zoo she crashed & my mom picked her up for a sleepover. It was definitely her weekend! We were able to have a quiet date night which was really nice. My parents took her to the pool & she of course loved it!! We had a really nice dinner, I got some new shoes for work & we got some yogurt. It was so nice! We were going to grab a movie but chose to watch the Olympics instead. I LOVE the olympics & it reminds me of my maternity leave when Hannah was born- we watched alot of the winter olympics during that time!
It was a such a nice weekend- more later on how I spent my last day!
For 12 weeks I didn't wish 8-4 would fly by but here I am again hoping that time FLIES by so I can go get my babies!!

Doesn't she have great hair!! Im so jealous!

Going to granmommys!

Having fun on mommy & daddy's date!

Hannah's eyes

We picked Hannah up for her two and a half year appointment on Tuesday and on Jeremy's way in the director caught him and said that she and some of the other teachers noticed that Hannah's right eye was crossing. As soon as he told me I looked right at her and sure enough it was very noticeable. Now how could two people who see her every single day miss something so obvious? It made me so sad for her and also upset that it wasnt something I noticed. Jeremy and I talked about this all the way to the doctors office (we were very glad that's where we were going!) but we both believe this is something that came on almost over night. There is no way we could have missed this. It could have been a gradual progression and maybe Tuesday was just when we actually realized it but its so obvious that it really worried us that something just recently caused this over night. I mean I didnt even notice it on Tuesday morning! So we saw the doctor and as soon as we mentioned it to him, he said that was the first thing he noticed when he walked in :( How sad is that. When you look at her, your heart literally breaks. Mostly because it just looks like it bothers her. But I dont think it is. So anyways- Dr Blair referred us to an Opthamologist group and wanted us to get in rather quickly. He wasnt super concerned that it was anything neurological but because she is so young and how fast it came on we wanted to get in asap. I couldnt get in until August 6th....this had me so worried. So I called the next day to see if they had any cancellations and thank God they did. We got in this afternoon. We saw a very nice young doctor who was really good with her. She did awesome! Of course we bribed with suckers :) His overall opinion was that she has something called- esotopia and she does have an astigmatism and is alot more farsighted than the average child her age. He was a little concerned about how quickly this came on so she has to have an MRI :( I just hate that for her! I know they will sedate her but gosh she is just so little. Hopefully they will give her what she had when she had stitches. Geez- this has been quite a year for her!! Dr Franklin just wants to rule out anything neurological so we can focus on fixing her eyes.
We dont have the MRI until Aug 13 and Im not sure I can wait that long. Im going to call for cancellations every day!
If the MRI looks normal my sweet little baby girl will have to get glasses. I know how adorable she will look but GOOD LUCK to us to keep those things on!! Im glad Jeremy wears glasses so maybe she will think they are cool like daddy! He said the glasses could fix the problem and she probably wont need to wear them forever. I sure hope so. I just have no idea how she will do with them- she wont even wear a hat at the pool!
Please say a quick prayer for our sweet girl that the MRI is completely normal- Im very confident that it is but Jeremy and I are more than happy to do any test they want to make sure she is completely fine. Once we get those results we will move on to correcting the problem. She is such a trooper! For being such a healthy little girl she sure does have alot of random things happen to her!! Stitches, seizures, MRI's- and she's only 2 and a half!

Thank you for praying for her- we will keep you updated- Im hoping we get in alot sooner than Aug 13th!

Just a few pictures of my sweet babies!

I LOVE that she loves reading to him! She has been so sweet lately. The other day in the car as sweet as can be she just said out of the blue- I love you mama. MELTED my heart. We say I love you pretty much all day but this was completely on her own. I did almost cry. Then later that day she told me everyone she loved. It was adorable :)

weekend happenings!

this weekend was so nice! Friday we just stayed in....with two young kids that's usually what we do these days. We love eating out but that is near impossible with Hannah and because she goes to bed so early we usually cant meet up with friends because they like to eat around her bedtime. So we spend alot of quality time together in the playroom :) Saturday Jeremy worked- he works every Saturday and sometimes Sundays :( I know its the dumbest thing to be sad about because I am BEYOND thankful he doesnt travel or have a job that he stays late at (and Im of course thankful he has a job!) but most people take for granted having their hubby on weekend mornings. By the time he does get home Im practically exhausted from keeping up with the two kids! I decided to take a chance on Saturday morning and take them both to McD's for breakfast. A real treat around here! Usually on Saturdays I havent even showered or gone to the bathroom alone until the afternoon rolls around! Ha ha! I had several conversations with Hannah about how she had to be good for me cause we were going to get a yogurt with nuts (yogurt with granola- she loves that!) she agreed with me and for the most part she really was good! I was proud of her. I think she had fun too :) This was the FIRST time I have taken both kids somewhere alone. Next time we might just do the drive through. Carrying the tray full of food and hot coffee, Owens carseat, my huge diaper bag and making sure Hannah was by my side was a little hard. My mom tells stories of when she would fly from KY to CA alone with me and Adam- we are 16 months apart. She is supermom! Anyways- Hannah enjoyed her yogurt with nuts and I enjoyed her sweet company!

That night our friends came over- their little girl and Hannah are about 5 months apart and love playing together. They are so shy at first and then they warm up to eachother. Hannah will talk about playing with Emma for a week! They had a blast in the tee pee and sharing tons of snacks. Hannah slept until 8:15 that next morning- it was nice for us all!

 they even have matching pj's :)

 This little dude is just an awesome baby. I love that he loves to snuggle and I am LOVING his sleeping habits. I know that no schedule is set in stone with a new baby or any child for that matter but Friday and Saturday night he slept 9 hours. AWESOME! We put him down between 9:30 and 10 and he sleeps between 6 to 9 hours. Anything more than 4 feels great!

  Sunday Jeremy had to work again but when he got home we decided to be productive. While Hannah was napping we cleaned up the garage which feels great. Im no longer tripping over boxes and tools just to get the kids in the car. Then my sweet little brother came over to watch Hannah for us so we could grab a quiet dinner out. It was so nice. We really needed it! Then when we got home we decided to work in the man cave also known as the basement :) I think once football season rolls around Jeremy will spend alot more time down there! I enjoyed the change of scenery too!
Last week my mom and I wrapped up the dining room and Im in love with it! We dont need a formal dining room with china or anything so its just nice to have the space to be able to entertain. Its got a rustic, antique, vintagey feel to it. My new favorite!

We found this at Home Goods on sale and just put a coat of black paint on it and it looks great. Its actually a potting bench- not for me!

We found some new pieces for the walls which Im so happy with. Here's the overall look of the room.

 we found this old antique tool box at the peddlers mall- one of my favorite places!

 this was from Home Goods too- we just painted the candle holders black and I love them on either side of the windows. I saw the mason jars on Very Jane and decided to save the money and make them myself- I really like how they turned out. We have a ton of wine corks because my grandparents at 89 and 94 love their evening wine :)

 And we also found the piece above at Home Goods- see why I love that place! And fell in love with the look of it. I love door knobs etc. Such a fun piece!

This is my latest project- I saw on Pinterest someone had pinned this but it was for sale on Etsy for like $20 and knew I could make it for next to nothing. All it cost me was $5 for the freezer paper. I googled how to print on Burlap and talk about easy!! I just had to get freezer paper and read the instructions. I am in LOVE with it. This will be my new go to gift for a wedding or even Christmas ideas. I am going to get a larger matted frame for it but I wanted to throw it in a frame and see how it looks!

And lastly- a few new things in our bedroom- I was so proud of myself...I made these pillows. We found a set of 4 placemats at Home Goods (SHOCKER!) for $12.99 and I knew I could monogram them and make pillows. I sewed them all by myself- I was so proud :) I refuse to pay the price of pillows so I was very happy with the outcome!

I also got some curtains from Target which matched my quilt and new lampshades perfectly. They might not look blue but they are a light blue- they make the room feel so much more cozy and inviting!

Ok total picture overload! Have a great week! This is my last week home with my little man- Im going to make the best of it!!!

Two and a half

My sweet Hannah, you are every bit of two and a half! When we say you are a firecracker you literally light up our whole word with your HUGE personality. These past 2.5 years have been the best of our lives. You have grown into such a big little girl and it tugs at my heart but also makes me so proud. You in a nutshell are a WILD and crazy, Happy, fun loving and caring child. Your main goal is to have fun. You are a little thrill seeker, and although cautious at first you usually dive right in and love anything that makes you laugh! You love when your daddy spins you around or rough houses with you. You literally wear us out with how hard you play! You have a ton of energy but by the end of the night you crash! You go to bed about 7:45 and wake up about 7. You do love your bed. And Im SO SO thankful for that :)
Even though you are usually a wild little woman you really do have a kind, caring heart. If anyone gets hurt, or if anyone looks sad you always say, "you ok mommy?". You genuinely care about everyone. If you hear Owen sneeze, even if you are across the room you say, "Bless you Owen!". Sometimes when we are sitting next to eachother watching Mickey you'll just look over at me and say, "hold my hand". It melts my heart. You wholeheartedly love your family. Nothing makes you more excited than to be with grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins. You just love everyone.
To say you are strong willed is an understatement :) You know what you want, when you want it. We can never be too prepared when we are with you. We always make sure you have everything you could need. You are absolutely, positively attached to your paci and bunny. You push in the ears and the arms of your bunny. And just this morning you let me do it with you. You even let Owen have some of your "my my" too.
You are a very inquisitive little girl.....you ask us alot of questions. Do you like it? Is it yummy? Are you wet? You poopy? We have alot of conversations about the bathroom! Ha ha!
You are also an incredibly smart little girl. You are so observant and notice everything! You love to read, paint, sing, and dance! You have some serious moves too :) Didnt get those from me!

Some of the funniest things about you and some of the things you do and say....
Whenever you like something you are sure to tell us, "I yike it" then you ask us, "You yike it?" If you dont like it or you remember something you dont like, you say "I no yike it".
You hate having your hair washed so anytime we give you a bath you always say, "no hair". That means dont wash my hair or you'll hear about it :)
When you transitioned to the Monkey Room you had a rough start and would cry. So on the way to school everyday we would always tell you, No crying in the monkey room. So I ask you what you say about the monkey room and you say, very loudly and proudly, "no Crying!" and it works!!
Granmommy was asking you who Owen looked like and this is how the conversation went, Does Owen look like Daddy? No. Does Owen look like Mommy? No. Does Owen look like Hannah? No. Well who does he look like? OWEN!! You are way too smart!!
You still call Gramps "meat" but every once in a while you say, Gamps.
You recognize your name on the mat at school and can almost and sometimes do write an H. Its very impressive!
You love our iPhones and love taking pictures of us. We spend alot of time posing for pictures :)
You are still OBSESSED with baby dolls. You have a small collection of Owen's diapers in your playroom and love putting your babies night night. You even put us night night. It usually involves one of us laying on the floor and you repeatedly put a blanket on our back and pat and pat and pat.
You are an expert at diapering a baby!
Some mornings you like to have a say in what you wear (I didnt realize it started this early!). Ill pick out an outfit and you'll tell me you dont like it and go to your closet to get something else. Usually it never matches :)
You are very independent. "My do it" is what you say about almost everything! You do a great job at putting on your shoes and strapping them in the back. Im so proud of how much you can do on your own!

 LOVE this face!!!

Those are just some of the funny things we love about you. There are SO many more.  Everyday you say something or do something new. You hold the most special place in our hearts. We love you more than we could have imagined and look so forward to watching you grow.

Happy Half Birthday sweet baby girl!!

recipe recap and a few things around the house

I wanted to share a couple more of the recipes we've made lately. Going back to work (sooner than I thought) has made me want to come up with more creative, easy, fast and delicious dinner ideas. Our nights are chaotic as it is and we rarely get out of the house for dinner nor do we have enough time for a gourmet meal so we need fast dinner ideas. This past week we tried a couple new recipes. The first was crock pot buffalo chicken. I am ALL about a crock pot dinner, especially when I head back to work. This couldnt be easier! You throw in chicken, Franks hot sauce (quite a kick!) and a package of Hidden valley ranch seasoning. When I got home I shredded it and added a little butter and let it cook for an hour more. We had it on hoagie buns and they were delicious! So easy!! And what I think is the best part....we cooked once and ate twice- we made buffalo chicken tacos with the leftovers. There were a ton of leftovers. The tacos were awesome! So basically 2 dinners in 1!  Here is the recipe!

The next recipe we tried which I have to say was SOOOOO good and flavorful and something we will make alot! Ive had leftovers several times now. We made Sour Cream Enchiladas. Now the recipe makes them "skinny" which uses fat free sour cream but I used the regular kind. But I think sour cream is one thing that tastes the same fat free or not so I could have used it. These were so good. I am on a big cilantro kick and I love tomatos and green chiles. I highly reccomend this! However I used corn tortillas because flour tortillas dont really make it "enchiladas" but they kind of back fired on me. They were too small and didnt fold right. I guess next time Ill use bigger flour tortillas. I also used a rotisserie chicken because I hate cooking chicken. Regardless it was awesome- I hope you enjoy this as much as we did! Here is the recipe!

Onto the house! Ive been on a major kick to get things done around here- not the real important things that need to be done like finishing the master bath or painting the master bedroom but fun stuff. Ive been busy trying to get it all decorated. So here are some new things around the house.
Hannah's Tee Pee/Reading Nook. She loves it!! Who knows what we will find in there. Her new thing is to get into the kitchen utensil drawer and take spatulas and big spoons to her play kitchen. I guess Ill know where to look the next time Im making dinner! The other night I found her paci in an oven mitt...I got a great laugh! We are going to make pillows with the leftover fabric.

 I also found these ADORABLE little buckets from Target in the DOLLAR section! Awesome find. So I got a curtain rod and some hooks and hung this above her table to fill it with crayons and markers. It turned out so cute!

 We have this great unit in the playroom form IKEA and Im trying my best to make it look more organized instead of just a ton of toys shoved in it. Its not that easy! I have no idea where we accumulated so much stuff! We got some black bins at TJ Maxx and I framed a couple pieces of her art. The Hand picture is what she made me for Mothers Day at school. Ill never forget getting that because it was the day we brought Owen home from the hospital and she RAN in the house with it and gave it to me. I cried right there!!

 Ever since we got the new quilt in the master Ive been on a kick to redecorate in there. Not necessarily change a bunch of things but just add more color. I found these lampshades on Target.com and since I have my new Target RedCard (which if you dont and you shop there as much as I do then you have to get one!) Its not a credit card- its actually linked right to your debit account but you get 5% off every purchase and always get free shipping online. These arrived very quickly and I am in LOVE. This is my new favorite pattern and I kinda L.O.V.E this gold too.

The landing at the top of our stairs is in need of some decorating so we hung this the other day. I saw an idea on Pinterest to get these boards from Hobby for $2.99- paint them and mod podge a picture on them. I LOVE them!! I plan on getting more of these in all different sizes and painting them colors to match our bedroom and add pictures. I am overwhelmed with all the pictures I want around the house and surprisingly I am running out of wall space. I dont know how that can be!!

My mom and I went to Home Goods today (can you believe this was my first time there and Ive been off work for 10 weeks!) We found SO many great things for the dining room. Im excited to get that room checked off the list! Ill have pictures once we finish it. But here is one of the things we found- I fell in love when I saw this. Right up my alley!! They had a ton of antique, "vintagey" looking things.

So thats a bunch of random things we've been doing and eating!! Hope everyone is enjoying their week- Im trying to accomplish as much as I can in the next 2 weeks!

2 months old!

Our sweet boy is 2 months old! He turned two months last Sunday but we just had our 2 month visit on Wednesday (wow Im behind!). He weighs 13 pounds 13 oz and 23 inches long! A big, healthy boy!! He is a pound bigger than Hannah was at 2 months. Its just so funny to me because he doesnt feel as chunky as she was but maybe I just forget how little she was.

He is such a sweet little boy and we have no idea what life was like without him. Its amazing how that happens! I look back and realize one child was EASY!! ha ha! But that we still had so much love to give in our hearts for this little boy. He is such a joy!! He is a total cuddler and would LOVE to be held all day if he could. He loves to snuggle! He is now developing a small little personality- he smiles and coos and is observing his surroundings so much more! Its usually his sister in his face saying, "He smile!!" She loves when he smiles!
We dont really have any routine except that he goes to bed about 10 every night and was going about 5-6 hours but last night we got EIGHT hours! It felt great!! I was starting to think we'd never get past 3 hours. But we have hopefully turned the corner! He still eats a TON! I think from about 4 pm on he eats every hour. Which is a little hard when we have Hannah to chase around but Im sure once I go back to work we will develop more of a routine. Right now I dont mind getting to hold and snuggle him to feed him all the time.
He is wearing size 2 diapers!! And he is actually fitting into some 9 month onesies! Now they are Carters onesies and I think those shrink, so that could be it- but he wears anywhere from 3 months to 9 months. Ive already boxed up newborn and 0-3 month clothes! BIG BOY!!
There are just so many things I never want to forget about him- like how SOFT his feet are. Seriously, Ive never felt feet so soft. Softer than a baby's bottom :) I love that he doesnt really have any hair. I just snuggle him close and rub his sweet little soft head. I love his noises and getting to stare into his big beautiful eyes. Im not sure what color they will be but they are looking like they are turning brown. He is just such a joy. Its amazing that you can have so much love for not just one child but two. They are our whole life and we are so thankful for them both.

Happy 2 months sweet boy! Its been amazing so far and we cant wait to watch you grow and grow!

 He is just the sweetest little boy!

 I slept 8 HOURS!!