Already?

Hayden is wearing 9 month clothes....ALREADY? She's not even 6 months old yet! Well I guess she's considered 6 months, but still...this is some crazy sh... Seems like none of her hand me downs or stuff I've bought her is long enough! I'm pretty sure Natalie was skipping sizes at this time too, it just blows my mind. Hayden's 6 month appt is next week so we will see just how long the little booger is....I'm expecting a 90th percentile in height....foh sho.


Refusal of nap yesterday was perfection. :( I don't understand this process. She had her nap DOWN before vacation and it had been a long time of consistency. We go on a week long trip and she forgets it all. She totally FOOLED ME! We got back and she was right back to it, then on the 6th day back she started crying and waking up every 20 minutes and it's been that pattern ever since. Yesterday she was not going to let me win the power of wills... AT...ALL. I felt so bad for her, she worked herself up into such a tizzy that she kept getting these gasps from her crying and it kept waking her up. I eventually just picked her up and she went around the house with me doing what I wanted to do while she was sleeping. (sigh)...OH WELL. I guess she will have those days. What's even weirder is that Natalie is taking naps again! She must be going through a spurt...cause for weeks she was taking MAYBE one nap a week. Man, raising kids is a trip! It's a job that keeps you on your toes and every day is completely different than the one before it.

Something I find totally awesome is Hayden LOVES everything that I put into her mouth. She is so into learning and watching how things work....and all food that I have, she wants. Makes my heart soar to see her loving pees, sweet potatoes, bananas and applesauce! She loves it ALL. I'm going to try carrots...that will be the ultimate test. :) My Hayden is much more adventurous as a baby than my Natalie was. N didn't take to eating quite as easily as H.
It is true when they say every baby is different. After all, they are in fact different people!

Love you girls SO much....no matter how bad my head hurts, or how stressed I am, or how much I wish I was still in bed watching something other than animated turtles and talking sponges. You both are my everything and nothing is better than seeing you smile and laugh...nothing.

I stress, therefore, I am...

Ever feel like you have to apologize or feel guilty for being who you are? I can't help the fact that my main concern EVERY day is my girls. Did they sleep well? Were they comfortable? Are these jammies TOO tight? Did she poop today?? Yea...THOSE are the thoughts that run through my mind every day of my life and I'm OK with that....REALLY. I lived the single life, I sewed my oats and whereas I would like to hang with adult friends on occasion for a little break, I will STILL be thinking about my girls' comfort and happiness. I hear on a constant basis, "you should do this" or "you should do...that" and I am NOT unhappy with my life. If I want to go do something, I do. The worst thing anyone can tell me is how I should take a break...that straight ticks me off. I know that I am a great mom...far be it from perfect, a GREAT mom. I see it when I act goofy and my girls' eyes light up. Even when I just go in their rooms in the morning, they are SO happy to see me. :) They are my special little people who don't judge me, just love me and no one else on the planet is the way they are. So all of my stress, worry and concern is warranted. I've done so much in my life, I've traveled, I've partied, I've sat in complete silence (which was my favorite), I've had great jobs, but the absolute best thing I've ever done was consume my life with a husband and two beautiful babies. I love it....it's hard and wonderful...I love it.

It's Friday already??

Sitting here finishing my coffee, semi-watching the Today show with the sound of Natalie playing her camera video game...BOING! WHOOP! BOING! Sigh.....here we go.

It was a rough week of trying to get back into all routines after a week on vacation. Still feel like I need MORE rest. Hayden is doing well with her sleeping and eating, so she just rolled right back into it. Natalie has been having good and bad days. She was really pushing it yesterday, thinking that she was invincible and for a moment I kinda thought she was going to succeed! It was scary. I don't want to yell at her or make her spend a session in time out but sometimes that gives her a break to remember that she is NOT the boss. She likes to shove all of her food in her mouth to "get rid of it" so she can go play and it bugs me. Yesterday she (and I) had the scare of a lifetime...she choked! OMG...if I hadn't been so mad at her I would've freaked! I just pulled out her sandwich and she was fine after a few gags. She laid on the couch still scared for a few minutes, so I'm hoping it scared her enough to take it easy and not too much where she's scared of eating. She did eat dinner fine last night, so she seems to understand better.
I'm not able to concentrate much listening to the loud music coming from Natalie's game and she needs her breakfast. I'm hoping my sore bones from bootcamp will ease up so I can function today....especially since I need to run and juggle my girls.

Too much whining....

....makes my head pound! Waking up with a headache sucks. It's like some kind of sick joke. No one who has children should ever get headaches especially after sleeping!! Total unfairness. Today Hayden woke up with her leg stuck in her crib and a mohawk. It was kind of comical cause she didn't seem to care (about either). ha!
Yesterday we tried bananas with her and she looked like she was going to gag with every spoonful, but insisted on more. We'll try again this morning and see what happens. She LOVES LOVES LOVES cereal, so I'm hoping the more normal food she eats (watered down food) the more she'll like it.
Natalie has this funny thing about her morning shows. She wants me to change it (FAST) so she doesn't have to watch this cartoon she doesn't like. I feel like I'm being pulled in all directions now. Hayden is scream with the "grrrrrrrrrrowl" in her throat and Natalie is throwing coins around the room without looking. It's a beautiful day. I hope I survive.

I do love you both even though some days, you are nuts!
:)

Been a while...

We went on vacation so life has been crazy the last couple of weeks. Vacation was interesting. Lets just say it's hard taking a 5 month old baby on a LONG road trip. Schedules are jacked and you just have to keep rolling even though there is crying and interruption of life as we knew it. It is definitely difficult for me cause I am not a very good traveler, even though I really like traveling...how's that for irony? Natalie was a pro, even though it was the worst she's ever behaved in her life, I can't be too mad at her. She was not eating very well, playing a lot more, having to practice her "sharing" skills with her cousins and learning to listen to her mom and dad even though she didn't think she had to. It was a bunch of lessons learned for all of us! It was chaos a few days out of the week, but she had some great moments too. I'm just glad that for the most part she had fun and she did pretty awesome on the way back. She was definitely ready to be back home. Never once did she scoff at waking up at 4am! Maybe it was the chocolate milk I bought her about an hour and a half out of town that helped. ;)

Hayden seemed to be a little timid with the waves. She didn't like that they came crashing up at her feet when I attempted to let her touch her toes down. But she was more than ok in her pea pod tent, listening to the ocean, playing and sleeping. We didn't spend a lot of time on the beach itself. Natalie was complaining of being hot after the third day there, so we had to find other things to do. She loves the sand and transferring it from the beach to the bucket over and over and over....but with Natalie, we have to change things up because she definitely gets bored easily. We took her to a few little towns around our beach house. Eric and I definitely loved hanging out there and Natalie was cool cause she got to try the ice cream. :)
The Zoo and Gulf Aquarium in the area were pretty cool too, so we had to check them out---we all love animals. Nat had so much fun and you know...so did Hayden! I strapped her into the Bjorn for both visits and she loved looking at the animals! The zoo was great until I took her out of the Bjorn when we were leaving. She threw up several times and I think it had to do with being jostled around. Poor honey bunny. :( She fell asleep in her car seat before I could even finish strapping her in and ended up being just fine.

All in all it was a great trip. The ride home was kinda rough in the last leg. It took us 13 hours and by 10 hours in the girls started getting restless. Hayden has HATED being in her car seat the last few days while we were just running short errands. She's SO over it. She slipped back into her napping routine the day after we got back and has had minimal problems. Looks like she might be back to sleeping till past 8am too! It wasn't fun having both girls in our room on vacation. The sun comes up earlier there cause it's right on the cusp of Eastern time zone. SOOOOOO...Hayden woke up during the 5 o'clock hour almost every morning. Toward the end she waited till 6-something. So it's nice to have them back to normal!

Now I am back to getting my house clean and in order and getting back on our routine. I ran a few times on the beach which was pretty hard....wondering how my run will go today. I skipped bootcamp because I've been exhausted for DAYS and last night I didn't have the energy to even THINK about that early morning workout. I promised Eric I would go on Thursday, I hope that I will feel better and more energized by then.

This was kind of a boring post, but now you are up to date!
Today I am trying banana puree with Hayden. She loves all her cereals so I'm banking on the fact that she will dig the nanners. Also on my list is to look up new projects for Fall! Can't wait for football, cooler weather and decorations!

Hayden wants to be a big girl!

So Hayden has been doing so much. She watches very intently while I eat or drink and she wants to try it...ALL. One thing she really loves to try is drinking from my cup! She watches me take a drink and she grabs and licks/chews it while trying to put it up to her mouth! It's hilarity. :) I don't want her to grow up too fast, but apparently, she has other things in mind. Natalie is teaching her so much (like how to be crazy) but really she just wants to be included in everything we do. If we are eating, she wants her cereal and starts squawking for it. I can see Hayden taking over in any situation when it comes to her sister...I hope that Natalie just rolls with it and remembers she has 3 years on her. :) Work together, my little loves, be sisters and be friends. Siblings should always be friends and remember that their relationship is a special one. I consider my brother (your Uncle J)and I VERY close, even though we fought as kids, I loved him then and I love him now. There is likely nothing that could ever sever our relationship...I love him too much! So stick together, my girls and you can't go wrong!

Not an infant anymore!

Yesterday was Hayden's 5 month birthday....yes...every month is a milestone! I was just looking at her yesterday sitting up pretty much unassisted by me looking much older and taller than she had the day before. Well it seemed that way anyway. She is playing more and moving constantly. She even loves jumping in this Jenny Jumpy contraption that you hang on the door frame. It's funny how different the girls are when at this age. Natalie didn't like trying too many new things but Hayden is "down to the grizzound" with trying anything you put her in! She's much more adventurous than my sweet, cautious Natalie was. They both have these amazing qualities and I just feel like the luckiest mommy on the planet!
Happy 5 months Hayden!! It's been such a fantastic journey so far and I know it will only get better! LOVE YOU!!!!

Unbelievable...

It's unbelievable to me how fast a human grows. Hayden is practically sitting up on her own, unassisted and Natalie is becoming more of a kid and less of a toddler with her ideas and all of her new words and actions. Both girls' personalities are opening up like a flower bud and it's pretty amazing to watch. A lot of the time it's like I just noticed that this is going on and that is happening and I think, "how and when did all of this unfold?" It's a great thing being a mom. I get tired, well, exhausted but most days it's a good exhausted. Like, I did my job because both girls are content, sleepy and loved. Not too many people could walk a mile in a stay-at-home parent's shoes...so I'm honored to be one. Life has given me such a fantastic reward in raising these two beautiful girls.

This weekend I made Natalie Dora the Explorer cup cakes. Unfortunately the template that I was supposed to use wouldn't print so I had to wing her hair. :| It was pretty hilarious but it still came out cute, I think. ;) Natalie said, "yea, mom...they look a little like Dora" haha...wow..nice. :)