Getting ready for the Bunny

We've dyed eggs, we've baked mini peanut butter cookies (because they are the Easter Bunny, aka mom's favorite), are going to bake a coconut cake tonight for the family that will all be here tomorrow, and are enjoying a lazy Saturday... Off to a March of Dimes fundraiser tonight that a friend is hosting for spaghetti and karaoke! Enjoy your Easter.
I can't wait to see my one year older little man racing to scoop up all of the eggs before his little friends get a chance...And my new little girl's first Easter all wrapped up in her frilly pink dress!

Night

I'm tired and I should be asleep right now, but I can't stop watching my girl breathe quietly, her arms twitching...

She's just so cute, and I know in my heart that I'd better enjoy it now as she'll be 3 before I know it and looking like a tiny grown up, curled in her toddler bed...

Why do they have to grow? Can't they just stay tiny and innocent forever??

I never thought my hear could ever have room for more once Luke was born. I never thought I'd love another little person as much as I love him.

I was wrong... Good night sweet baby of mine...

A few things to help a sista out

Here are a few of my new favorite things since having Miss Brookie:


I’ve developed a new found love for our travel system stroller… We never really used it with Lukey Duke but I’ve used it a ton in the last 3 months and pretty much haven’t taken it out of the trunk of the Camry. Oh yeah, that’s one of the best parts about this stroller; it actually fits on the trunk of our car. It’s an Even.flo Eddie Bauer and I’m really proud of myself for picking gender neutral colors (tan, brown and red)”just in case” we needed to use it for baby # 2 and we had a girl.

We were gifted a gently used Peg Pere.go pink infant car seat by my husband’s best friend who has 2 little girls. It’s extremely heavy to carry (which I pretty much never do), but incredibly sturdy and reassures me every time I snap it into the car that if we were in an accident, she’s be safe. I also REALLY love the pink cover!

I found my Cati.ni army green messenger diaper bag at BRU when Lukey Duke was about 2 years old, and I ADORE this bag. It’s not my favorite color, but it is so functional and it can hold so much stuff and the biggest perk has to be the price. I think I paid around $40 for the bag almost 2 years ago and it still looks like new. The entire interior is full of mesh divider pockets, and it can comfortably hold diapers, wipes, assorted butt creams, a change of clothes for both kids, a shirt for me, my digital camera, my wallet, cell phone, keys and chap stick, a changing pad, a “dirty” bag to put anything that’s been slimed, just to name a few.

My Munch.kin mini trash bag dispenser and bag refills. I picked this up at Targ.et and have since bought a second one to hang in the car. It’s a small dispenser that holds a roll of tear apart scented mini garbage bags that you can clip onto your diaper bag or just through into your purse if needed. These bags really come in handy when you have a child puking everywhere and need a place to stash a bunch of wet, stinky outfits or just need a place to get rid of a diaper when there’s no garbage can around.

To Do, To Do....

I think I've mentioned it before, but I have a "slight" addiction to making lists...

My newest list victim is the diaper bag that I need to pack for Brooklyn for daycare (T minus 13 days and counting)and the ridiculous amount of stuff I'm going to need to lug to work each day. We really need to buy an SUV... I know I've had a baby before so I should be well versed in the art of packing too much stuff to go to daycare with my child each day, but honestly, I've really forgotten a lot about when Duke was just a wee bean. I'm thinking 3 changes of clothes, 2 pacifiers, 4 bottles of pumped breast milk, 4 or 5 burp cloths, a light blanket or two, vitamin drops, Tylenol just in case, diapers and wipes.

The stash for work is a whole different story... lunch bag, purse, water bottle ( I try to drink about 80-90 ounces of water a day), breast pump, planner, and a change of clothes just in case Brooklyn yacks on me while I'm dropping her off to daycare.

Oh yeah, and along with all of that, I also need to bring Luke's Cars backpack, baby bear, ghosty bear, his "B" (The blankie that I'm sure he'd have a heart attack without), and a snack for the drive to Miss Carrie's house...

See why we need an SUV?


Off I go to make more lists... See ya' in a bit...

Why would I try this on my own?

So.
I got the fancy idea to cut Lukey Duke's hair on Sunday all by myself. It's growing on me but Matt and I had a pretty damn good laugh about 10 minutes into my hack job. Luke comes running out of the bathroom with what looks like a reverse mohawk, a shaved stripe down the middle of his head and crazy curls all along the sides. To top it all off, he ran out of the bathroom naked (he didn't want to get hair on his shirt), and screaming like a crazy bum (the hair was itchy, hence the screaming and running to try and knock off some of said hair)and almost took Matt out as he rounded the hallway and headed in a lap around the house back to the bathroom. I could hear Matt laughing all the way in the living room. It looked pretty damn bad ya'll... About 10 minutes later I had it pretty much fixed and he even let me trim around his ears! It's growing on me, but I don't think I'll be cutting his hair again... I should have taken pictures during the process, so damn funny!! Anyway, good night all!

By the way, we are on the 7th night of Brooklyn sleeping through the night!!!!!


Finally sleep, beautiful sleep...

Whiny

Sorry about being MIA for a while... Really bad head cold, baby sleeping through the night now but VERY few naps during the day, getting worried about going back to work...Need I say more?


I'll be back, I swear... Once I can breathe through my nose and stop hacking up wads of green stuff... You don't realize how great cold meds are until you can't take them...

Poor me...

Mommy D

Today

The park was beautiful... That is until the heavens opened and it began to pour!

It's funny how I can sit on a blanket, bathed in sunshine watching the Duke play catch with Matt and the entire world stands still for a moment...

He's grown so much in the last year it's nuts to think that in a few weeks he'll be 3 1/2 and I will start planning his fourth birthday. NUTS! His 4th birthday. That just sounds so odd to say. I remember the moment his slippery little body was placed on my stomach just a second after he was born and feeling like finally, my life was complete. Not that I had a gaping hole in my being or anything, I just always felt this nagging need to have kids. When we, uh, "accidentally" got pregnant with Luke, it would be a huge lie if I told you that I hadn't been driven crazy for months by an overwhelming urge to have a baby. I was so excited when I found out I was pregnant that I could barely contain myself. And now that slippery minute old baby is a running, screaming, beaming ray of sunshine. How funny life can be...


I love my boy.
My first baby.
Always my baby.

Ouch

Our girl had her first round of shots Monday and we survived... Barely.

She screamed this cat slammed in a door squeal that made all the hairs on my body stand on end, and let momma bear out on the nurse... But then as fast as it had begun, she quieted down and was more than happy to let me nurse her into a coma. I assumed we were done, but was informed that the office was out of one of the vaccines that she needed so we have to go BACK next Tuesday for another shot... THAT SUCKS! She was pretty cranky last night and I couldn't figure out why she was whimpering while I was trying to breastfeed her all curled up against me like she usually loves to be held. When I pulled off her onesie to check and see if a wayward hair had maybe been wrapped around a tiny toe, I noticed that she had a HUGE (I kid you not, probably close to the size of a silver dollar) black and blue welt screaming at me from beneath her neon yellow duckie bandaid on her fat little thigh.

No wonder she was crying! I'm assuming that in her haste to administer the shots with as little pain as possible, the nurse must have bounced the needle off of a muscle or bone causing the nasty bruise...

I just sat there with this sad looking whimpering baby laid naked across my lap and I couldn't take my eyes off of the huge welt on her leg... Poor Matt had to come in and find we sitting like this, tears running down my face, feeling like I was the worst mommy in the world to let something so ugly looking happen to my perfect baby...

I know that she has to have her shots, but does it have to hurt so much?

Too much junk

Ever feel like you're swimming in stuff?

It seems like every child we have we end up accumulating three times the "stuff" that we had before. I heard that babies came with a lot of gear, but I didn't imagine that I wouldn't be able take more than 2 steps without tripping over/stubbing my toe/banging my head on a piece of child paraphernalia. Between the rocker, vibrating seat, car seat, and play yard I'm already out most of my living room/Duke's toy room and that's not even accounting for all 900 of his Match.box cars scattered across the floor. We have instituted a rule that if his cars aren't picked up and stowed away somewhere before he goes to bed than they are on "time out" for a day. It has really helped to reduce and occasionally eliminate the flying swan dive induced by stepping on the tiny cars from hell at two in the morning. I was really hoping to limit the amount of "stuff" that was inevitably going to overtake my house once Brooklyn arrived and for the most part we have. I vowed to donate/resale anything that wasn't absolutely necessary to provide me with a measure of sanity during the day so we settled on a rocker, Luke's old play yard and the only thing that allows me to be able to enjoy my shower in the morning, the vibrating/singing papisan chair. It's funny to watch her when she's in it as it works it's voodoo on her and slowly vibrates her into submission! She'll fight being strapped in, but once it starts it's magic and I flip on the fan in the bathroom, the mix of movement and white noise puts her out every time. Thank the baby gear gods for the vibrating seat!!!

Anyway, off to rummage through the Duke's old baby clothes and collect anything of interest for our upcoming yard sale.

The joy of purging!!

Check out our new pictures!!!!