Tired Mama!

I need sleep. I'm so exhausted. If I'm not sleeping, I'm thinking of sleep. Working full time with two small children is a tough job! It is completely tiring having to wake up every 3 hours to nurse. Especially since this has been going on for the last 8 months! Amelia is such a bad sleeper. I can't say I remember a single night that she slept through the night. Even with napping, she'll take short cat naps lasting 45mins to an hr. Unfortunately, I am the enabler and allowing her to wake up and nurse because that is all I know to do. Honestly, whatever it takes to keep it moving along at 3am to get myself back to sleep! But I am pumping the brakes and plan on getting this baby to sleep through the night! Originally, I would put her in her crib and let her cry it out. She eventually learned to self soothe and suck her thumb and fell asleep all on her own. But with teething and brief growth spurt, I ended up bringing her to bed with me whenever she woke up, nursed her back to bed and eventually keeping her in bed with me (logically thinking I had to get up in 2-3hrs, anyways). 

So here I am today, venting about the monster I've created. Piece of advice to new moms and moms t0-be: keep that baby out of your bed! It would help if she weren't in the same room as us, no doubt. Now that she's semi-mobile, when she's crying, I see her peeking her sad sad teary eyes over the crib side, reaching her wittle hands on the railing to pull herself up, begging us to please pick her up. (I know. Here I go again with the sympathy. So much for letting her CIO) My plan of action is to stick to our normal bedtime routine: bath, boob, bed but this time her own bed. And when she wakes up throughout the night, pat her little booty to let her know I'm here but I'm not going to pick her up! I really am going to try. There are nights where I'm ready to give up breastfeeding altogether but then I think of the bond we share when we're nursing and I'm not ready to give that up. Wish me luck! I'm going to start this tonight tomorrow :)

On a lighter note, little miss princess has found herself a fake cry. She thinks she has us fooled.

Busy Bees

Amelia can now sit up on her own. Its so cute to see her wiggling back and forth, using her core to keep balance.  She's still trying to get the crawling down but she's become more aggressive with moving forward and doing a really good job! About 2 weeks before she turned 8 months, I stuck my finger in her mouth to massage her gums (something I haven't done in awhile) and low and behold her first tooth had cut through! This was a complete shock to me because she didn't have ANY drool. With Benson, he was drooling nonstop from the time he was four months until ten months when he got his first tooth. This will explain why she's been such a crabby sleeper. She will wake up every 2-3 hours at night. We're back to the newborn days. Fast forward to now, and she has her two bottom teeth fully cut through. I'm still nursing so you know she's been testing out her new found teeth. OUCH! Not a happy mama! Speaking of nursing, I have been trying to supplement formula just to try it out and to see if she likes it or if it holds her over longer but all in all, she's not a fan and prefers boob over bottle. So I have concluded that I will continue to breastfeed until she's a least one! (Go me!)

 

I know this is a blurry picture but it was the only one I could get where you can see her two teeth!

Benson starts soccer this week. The weather has been so unpredictable here in GA with it raining off and on. His first 2 practices were cancelled from wet fields but we are already approaching his first soccer game this Saturday. I volunteered Eric to help out with the coaching on Saturdays at the games. Eric is really excited so hopefully Benson will get pumped up too now that his Dad is helping out. He (Benson) has been giving us trouble for the past week. I can't quite figure out what's wrong. He tells us he doesn't like school. Naturally, I'm investigating why he doesn't like it. (No one's gonna be messin' with my baby at school!) But it turns out he doesn't like getting up for school. Figures. So we've bumped up his bedtime and are in the process of implementing a better morning routine. Unfortunately I've already left the house by the time the boys need to be up and getting ready for their day so I can't help enforce it but I'm really pushing Eric to get Benson up and on the right foot for school. I mean, he's only just begun! He can't hate it already!

 

This was taken last weekend at a Dinosaur exhibit I took him too. He hates taking pictures which is obviously why he looks miserable in this one.

My heart is filled with so much joy to see my two kids play together. Really it's just Amelia who is so infatuated with her brother while Benson is doing what little to "play" with her. I can't wait to see these two really play together. As much as I love fall and winter, I'm thrilled for warmer weather to take my babes to the park and on walks in neighborhood. And I'm definitely ready to say goodbye to these nasty cold germs. Between the two of them, I swear one is always fighting off a cold. And to no surprise, whenever I pack up the humidifier to put away, I need to pull it right back out to use again. Can we catch a break please!?

 

Benson is such a big help. I snapped this picture of Benson feeding Amelia her bottle. He takes good care of her!

 

This month Eric and I got to be baby free on his birthday weekend. I can't even believe he's 26 which means I am just shy of 25. Ugh talk about a quarter life crisis. But who cares, I still feel like I'm 21! So the kids slept over at my parents and we had dinner plans with some friends. I was ready to have some adult beverages but I was so hungry I didn't think it would be smart to drink anything on an empty stomach being that this was going to be my "first" drink since the baby. (I'm sure you're thinking about how I haven't gone crazy by now)  Long story short, after dinner we went to Eric's cousin's house to get them to come out with us but ended up watching a movie and I fell asleep on the couch. I'm not going to say it was a waste of a night because I didn't get to party like I intended to. I did however get a full 6 hours of sleep!!

The only picture I took on our outing. I was pumping in the car and he was so kind enough to wait with me!

Happy February!

All my days seem to run together. I made a commitment to take monthly pictures of Amelia and I haven't been very good at keeping up with it. I have all the right intentions just not the time! I (sometimes) wish I was a stay at home mom. Amelia is now 7 1/2 months. She's got the flipping and rolling down pat! We have to give her things to hold onto when we're changing her diapers or clothes, otherwise she's squirming to escape! She is trying to crawl and it's so cute! She'll get on all fours and rock back and forth and take a dive forward. Between rolling and diving, she will eventually make it to where she's going.

I think the biggest thing I've learned as a parent is that I am not always in control. That's something hard for me to accept because I like to be the one controlling the outcome to my situations. Not the case with children. One of hardest things to realize with babies (all children for that matter) is that they grow at their own pace. Amelia is taking her sweet time in reaching her milestones, not to say she won't get there. She's slowly but surely tackling these new feats. I'm so proud of her. I just need to take a step back from time to time and realize that she'll get there when she's ready! :)

Now for the pictures - I just can't enough of her. And Benson has become so camera shy! He does not like the take pictures unless Amelia is in it with him. But he has been saying the funniest stuff! For example, mid conversation he says "Whatever, Jose!" as in "No way, Jose!" Hahaha. I mean how do you not die laughing at things like that.

waking up to these two is pure sunshine (Benson purposely makes funny faces)

 

 

6 months

This post is way overdue but better late than never! 

So our sweet babe is now 6 months! (which means in less than 6 months, I will be planning her first birthday party!) Seriously, where has the time gone! She is such a bundle of joy. She's such a content, happy baby. You may not get many smiles out of her but when you do, it's enough to make you melt. She loves to observe her surroundings and people watch. She does a lot of babbling. She has learned to roll over and here recently can sit up all on her own for a good minute! She loves to play with Benson. He's really good at keeping an eye on her when you need to step away really quick. 

We're still nursing (woo!) and we've begun the road to solids. So far she's had oatmeal, sweet potatoes, carrots, sweet peas, avocado, and yogurt with bananas. She's enjoyed everything so far minus the yogurt. It may be because it's cold and she prefers warm foods and milk. I make all of her food from fresh, organic produce so I know exactly what goes into everything. What a difference from the stuff in the store. The color alone will make you want to switch. So much brighter and I get to make it how thick or thin I like. I'm really glad I made the choice to make her food. We let her drink out of her sippy cup and she has done great with it. She even tries on her own!

 This picture is so funny to me. She looks like a little pup with a new toy!

I've packed away her 3-6 months clothes and am real hesitant on putting on any 6 month clothes on now that I know how loose and comfortable 9 month clothing have been for her. Despite her slew of cute clothes, you will most likely find her in footed jammies all day. They're so comfortable and so easy to put on and take off. I think she knows when she's getting a bath because as soon as the clothes come off, she gets so giddy and happy!

We have introduced Amelia to a couple signs for her to learn for basic needs like "milk", "more", "please", "finished" etc. We did this with Benson and he eventually picked up on it and was signing well before he could talk. It was really cool!

Christmas time is our favorite time

Ever since we became parents, holidays became more meaningful and fun. Especially Christmas! Except this year we lucked out and got two flu stricken babies!! Long story short, Benson got the flu from school and then passed his little germs onto his baby sister. (And babies are no fun to take care of when they're sick) It's just pitiful and nerve-wrecking. I battled with myself to take Amelia to the ER with her high fevers. But both babes had culture tests taken to confirm that they both had Influenza B! Gross. 

 Even when he's sick he still manages to be silly

This year we hosted my family's Christmas get together at our house. We always celebrate on Christmas eve with a dinner buffet/pot luck and enjoying each others company. We passed out gifts for the kids. Once every one left, my parents were still over so we unanimously decided to let them open their gift that we got them. I just couldn't hold it in any longer. They opened an ipad box only to find the remote to their new 46' TV that we got them as Eric pulled it out of our bedroom. Seriously, their faces. Priceless. We were blessed to have been able to buy everyone things that they really wanted this year. It was perfect. Benson got spoiled with all kinds of games, toys, and clothes from both us and Santa this year. Amelia got tons of toys that she'll stay entertained with. Poor little babe had little to No interest in the festivities. She has been sleeping nonstop since Sunday. Now that Benson feels better, I'm hoping that she'll feel better in the next couple of days so we can wash all our things and Lysol every flat surface in our home. 

 Amelia with Uncle Mino at a family gathering. I caught her little smile on camera!

Babe on Christmas day feeling so sick

 B post present opening in his too big basketball shorts giving me some tude about pictures. Take notice of Eric with his out of control hair assembling Lego. He was more interested in them than Benson!

DIY Homemade Pinata

My very first DIY tutorial. This I made in a weeks time period. I was told that I needed a longer time frame, but you know me, I like to procrastinate. Benson requested a Lego Ninjago theme for his birthday this year. Since I didn't have much to work with as far as supplies, I was left to home make everything for his party. I knew I wanted a pinata for the kids. I did a little bit of research and went into it blinded but I'm so happy with the result. For all the hard work I put into it, it was a little painful watching it get destroyed by the little kiddies.

Pinatas are fairly inexpensive and easy to make. To go with our Ninjago theme, we wanted a round shaped pinata. With the being said, to make your own pinata, you'll need:

Balloons (we used an exercise ball for the size and shape. You can also use 

cardboard boxes)

2 large mixing bowls (one will be for stabilizing your ball and the other for mixing your paper mache concoction) 

 

Flour

Water

Salt

 

Lots of newspaper strips (After starting, I realized it was more efficient to work with larger strips of paper)

 

 

Party Streamers

Glue

 

Construction paper

Pinata filling (candy, toys, etc)

1. To get started, I ripped my newspaper strips. I found it to be more efficient to have bigger strips of paper. (I'm all about saving time) I would say about 3-4in strips. I used about 2 stacks of newspapers for our large sized exercise ball. I did a total of 4 layers of newspaper.

2. Mix an equal amount of flour and water with a couple tablespoons of salt. I didn't measure my salt, I just added a generous amount of salt into the mixture. I started by doing 2 cups of flour and 2 cups of water. It mixed fairly easily.

3. Take your newspaper strips one at a time and soak up the paper mache mixture and have at it.  

 4. Once you've covered your pinata, you'll allow it to dry overnight. You'll want to repeat for at least a couple layer. In a weeks time, I was able to do 4 layers allowing a day to decorate it.

5. Once you've gotten enough layers added and it has completely dried, it's time to begin decorating! We lucked out with a simple pinata. All we needed were streamers and construction paper. I wrapped black streamer across the whole ball and took scissors to snip frills.

 

6. Once I got half way, I flipped it over to deflate the ball. (If you were using balloons, you'd pop them and pull all the latex out) Once deflated, I was able to maneuver it around to pull out and continued with the decorating.

 

7. I didn't care to cover the hole since it would be at the top. I filled it with different candies, toys, play-doh, etc. It was pretty heavy after filling it with the goodies. So we had to figure out a way to tie the strings on it to hold long enough for the kids to hit. I eventually poked holes and threaded the yarn in a square to support the weight. 

8. I finished with the streamers. I added the Ninjago eyes made from construction paper and Voila! Ninjago pinata! 

Happy 5th Birthday to Benson!

I can't believe it's been 5 years since we welcomed our sweet little babe into our lives. Now he's this little boy with so much personality. He is so particular about all his favorites. I can't stand him sometimes but I love him so much nonetheless. There has not been a night that's passed that we didn't cuddle before bedtime. He's such a mama's boy!

 

 Such a goof ball

Per request, we celebrated his birthday early with a Lego Ninjago themed party. I couldn't find any supplies for the theme so everything had to be homemade. Sure enough I get knee deep in these do-it-yourself crafts and projects not realizing that I really don't have the time or energy. Especially now that I've got two little babes and work full time! But I managed to make it happen. (I'm awesome like that!) I am extremely proud of my homemade pinata! I would say that was the hit of the night (get it?) We rented a moonwalk slide that the kids absolutely loved. It almost got violent with how many children were able to climb, slide, and jump all over it. Well worth the money. I think I'll need to hire a chaperon to monitor next time. We spent the night with our friends and family, good food, good music (shout out to my Pops!) and danced the night away. Our families like love to drink. And somehow this 5 year old birthday party turned into an alcohol fest for the adults. Beers, cocktails, shots galore. I think it's safe to say we throw the best children's party. My poor little chickadee was so exhausted from being passed around and held by nearly everyone. She didn't get a wink of sleep. So I packed it up and left the party with both kiddies in hand. (Benson was dying to open his gifts at home). I got a full report of the proceedings of the party from my hubs. Looks like I was the one that missed out!

Our cake table where everything came together.

 Homemade Ninjago Pinata 

 Ninjago Cake

 Ninjago cupcakes (Clearly I'm no baker nonetheless a cupcake decorator)

 Chinese inspired banner

Chinese take-out inspired "Money box" 

(For those that don't bring a gift and wish to give a money gift)

 

So tonight we are taking Benson out to eat to celebrate his real birthday. He picked his favorite restaurant..Golden Corral. Now I absolutely hate GC. So I asked him to pick his second favorite and he picked CiCi's Pizza. (Do you see a pattern here?) I think someone likes buffets. But it's not my day it's his :)

--Update: I just so happen was able to convince him to choose Taco Mac, where we enjoyed some wings, beer and football.  Muhahaha