Lame

Why is it that I feel completely incapable of writing about anything other than my munchkins? I swear that other things are actually important to me and the world doesn't revolve solely around Luke and Brook but damn, I am really boring to read lately! I guess I can't help it. When you are stuck in a vacuum spending all of your time at home taking care of kids, there really isn't that much happening around here right now that I care to chat about other than my babies.
I can't believe that it's been almost 2 months already since Brooklyn was born... God how time flies when you're surviving on 4 hours of sleep (on a good day). I'm already starting to worry about how insanely difficult it is going to be getting two children and myself ready for work/daycare in the morning. I'm probably going to start back at work on a Wednesday or Thursday so we can dry run it a few times without having to pull a full week right off the bat. Any ideas on how to get all of us out the door in the morning fully dressed and still maintain a little sanity?
I think I'm going to take a stab at starting the hell that is sleep training little Miss Brooklyn this weekend. I swore that I wouldn't be "one of those parents" who has their baby sleep with them at night but it is impossible to get her to sleep without tons of screaming. On top of her wanting to nurse ALL NIGHT LONG, I also am at a quandary because I think I'm allowing her to use me as a pacifier because I don't want to disturb Matt and Lukey Duke's sleep... My parents brought over Luke's twin bed from their house and put it into Brookie's nursery so I think I'm going to sleep in there with her this weekend and hopefully get her to sleep in her crib by Sunday night. Pretty ambitious I know, but I really don't want her in our bed anymore for her safety and for our sleep... Wish us luck!

Oh yeah, remember that smile I mentioned a few days ago? I finally caught a picture of her grinning!

Oops!

Not sure what I did on that last post but it seems to have disappeared... Blame it on the mommy brain I guess!

Shots of Luke from his photo shoot @ 2 weeks old

Photo Shoot

So, we had our "BIG" photo shoot with Persia (Uncle Justin's wife & amazing photographer) this weekend to take some beautiful pictures of Miss Brooklyn. She took some amazing photos of Luke when he was about weeks old so we made sure to get some of Brooklyn so we can compare the 2 squirts... It all pretty much went off without a hitch, other than being surrounded by screaming kids, but that's to be expected! She set up a few backdrops in her living room and then we did our damnedest to get a few good shots before her babies Ava and Dylan, and my baby Capt. Duke, made their way out of Ava's room and in to crash the party. I can't wait to get the pictures back... She really should take family/baby photos for a living. I'll be sure to post them as soon as I get them from Persia.

Rainy and yucky here for the next few days so I think I'm going to get to work on cleaning/organizing the house (all of the things I normally don't have time to do while I'm working full time) and figuring out the whole pumping thing. I'm about half way through my maternity leave and need to master pumping now so I'm a pro once I return to work. This first 6 weeks has flown by so quickly... Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that we weighed Miss Brook a few days ago and it looks like she's almost 11 pounds right now!!! Breastfeeding is obviously working!

B.B. (Before Babies)

Crazy to think back at what brought Matt and I to this place.

A party at a friend's house, a few drinks, and an obnoxious remark and now we are "mommy and daddy" to two beautiful little babies.

I still remember the night that we met, my friend Robyn had invited me and the flavor of the month (aka. the boyfriend at the time, Dave) to a party at the house where she lived with a mutual friend and her boyfriend Justin. I spent much of the night being annoyed by boyfriend Dave (who I consequently sent home by himself that night) who was whining that he wanted to leave while I was busy staring at this beautiful blond arrogant thing sitting across from me most of the night. I ended up sending annoying boyfriend home, deciding to stay the night with Robyn and see if I could get anywhere with hot blond guy Jesse... Obviously, things didn't go anywhere with Jesse, but I did end up hitting it off and falling hard for Matt that night. The next day I told annoying boyfriend Dave to take a hike and have spent every moment with Matt ever since. He and I still are floored by how that one meeting turned into living together, then getting pregnant with Luke, getting married, buying a house, and finally getting successfully pregnant again and having our beautiful baby girl.

Things could have gone so different but I'm so happy that they didn't... I love my hot husband, I love my wild and crazy son, I love my gorgeous daughter and I love my life...

We have our 1st REAL smile!!

I mean real in the sense that it wasn't induced by pooping or farting, because we've had PLENTY of those! We were hanging out on the couch today, watching the cat nap on the coffee table and the big fluffy grey clouds float over the house when I looked into Brooklyn's cute little face and smiled, like I'd done dozens of times before... This time was different. She stared at my goofy grin for a moment and then cheesed at me like she was posing for a photo shoot! Looks like I'm going to have another picture ready child, just like the Duke. Anytime that boy sees a camera he instantly starts grinning and yelling "cheese," no matter if he is the subject of the photo or not... Probably my fault, huh! That's what they learn when they are surrounded by paparazzi (aka, Mom, Grandpa, Grandma and Grandpa, Aunt NeNe, Aunt Melanie... You get the picture!)snapping photos of them every moment... Anyway, I'm rambling.... Just thought I'd share the news with ya'll. I'll try my damnedest to catch that grin on camera as soon as possible!

Luvs!!

Antsy Friday

I must have hit the 1 month mar because staying home is DRIVING me crazy. In the average day I either work myself to death cleaning the entire house or just lay around and flirt with my girl... It's not that I feel unproductive staying home versus being at work, it's that I can't quiet the little monster in my head that's rattling off a list of things that "need" to be done around the house... I am happy to be home and bonding with Brooklyn and finally being able to tackle a few of those projects around the house that I've been putting off... She's gotten herself onto a pretty regular routine of eating every 3 hours so I have a nice chunk of time while she's napping to get some things squared away!

We went to Grandma Janice's work today and hung out for a few hours on the UOP McGeorge School of Law campus... My mom was glowing while she hurried my dad, Brookie and I to all of the offices of the ladies that she works with. It was nice to be around adults and see all of their reactions to her... We were quite grateful for the chance to get out of the house for a bit...


Luvs!

I suck...

I swore that I wouldn't be one of those people who would disappear for weeks on end once Brooklyn was born but what can I say, she's too damn cute and distracting! I know I'm supposed to be sleeping when she sleeps and all of that jazz, but it's way more fun to lay her down on our bed and take ridiculous mass amounts of pictures of her! She's totally got her days and nights all whacked out right now so I'm also pretty much a zombie much of the day, hence the lack of brain power needed to type and form complete sentences... I still can't believe that she is 1 month old as of yesterday... Time flies so damn fast!!!

She is still eating like a champ (and making mommy lose a ton of weight, yee haw! I think I'm only 2 pounds away from my pre-pregnancy weight as of one month post partum) and feels like she is easily pushing 7+ pounds now... I had to pack up her preemie onesies a week or so ago and she is now finally fitting into newborn size diapers and onesies. I love that she's developing those chunky multi fat-rolled thighs like you see on all of the Gerb.er commercials... Lukey Duke was pretty much always long and lean. He never really chunked up much while he was a baby.... Anyway, the princess is calling... More pics for you to enjoy!!!!

Picture Mania!!!

Eat, Poop, Sleep, and Repeat

So I think we've got this breastfeeding thing pretty much down pat (knock on wood) and I really didn't have to do a thing... Brooklyn I think is just one of those miracle babies that popped out knowing exactly what to do and I am so blessed! Luke wasn't really interested in the whole breastfeeding thing and I was to tired and naive to really push the issue, which is why I think we only made it a month or so before we switched him over to formula. I decided once we got pregnant again that I was going to do everything in my power to breastfeed this time and I'm so happy that it's worked out for the better. I'm amazed how she can nuzzle herself up close to me and latch on without any help from me at all... It's kinda crazy...On to our day...

Daddy is back at work now after being off for 2 weeks and today was my first official day of having to get myself, Lukey Duke and Brooklyn up, dressed and off to take the Duke to daycare. I'd been dreading this day for the last week as it used to be a complete fiasco in the morning and I only had to get myself and Duke ready and that was after a full night's sleep! I got up with the alarm, unhappily as I had only fallen asleep 2 hours before the beeping began, fed Miss Brookie and rushed through my shower in hopes of beating her shrieking cries... I managed to throw on a T-shirt and jeans, get the Duke a cup of his morning warm milk and get him dressed before she began screaming. Luke high-tailed it down the hall to grab a handful of "guys", his blankie and his lovey Baby Bear as I picked up the princess only now remembering that her car seat carrier was still locked into it's base in the car. I'd need to carry her out to the car and load her in outside instead of getting her comfy in the house where it wasn't freezing. Luke was begging for his 'nola bar so I clumsily attempted to reach into the overflowing snack cabinet one handed and grab it for him, sending a full bottle of Tabas.co sauce shattering all over the kitchen in the process. So, I set Brookie down in her pink bouncy chair, scooped up as much of the stinky sauce and chunks of glass as I could as the dog was hovering and attempting to snag a bite. Then I noticed that it had splattered all over my jeans and flip flops, so I grabbed a new pair of pants, wiped the red sauce from my toes and threw on a new pair of shoes.... Needless to say we made it out of the house and into the car, fully dressed and fed, so all in all we survived the first day... Granted it took 45 minutes to get out of the door!!! Practice makes perfect right?



Here are a few new pictures of Miss Brookie... She's way too much fun to take pictures of... Enjoy!