Thank you all so much for your kind words and congratulations on baby #2. We couldn’t be more excited! I am having a hard time imagining Jackson as a big brother these days, but I am sure he will fall into the role with ease. I am 12 weeks 3 days and I must say that this pregnancy has been so very different from the last. With Jackson I was soooooo sick for the first 14 weeks, and unspeakably tired. This time, I have felt great, and if it weren’t for the sore boobs, and very telling bump, I would think that I am not even pregnant. It also took what seemed like forever to conceive this time. Jackson was easy - it was literally one try and 42 weeks later there he was. I had my IUD taken out at the end of November and it took 4 cycles to actually get pregnant this time. I am all about instant gratification and immediate results, so that part was difficult for me to say the least. Eventually I learned to not take the test every day starting 5 days before a missed period, and rather until after I had already missed it. The 3rd cycle brought what is known as a chemical pregnancy, where you have faint line positives, but miscarry within the first week of conception, so that was a bummer, but the very next month it was a strong line positive, and here we are today!
I had an ultrasound at 9 weeks and heard the heartbeat and confirmed that it is JUST ONE BABY, thank god. My master plan is to have a total of two babies, not two at the same time ;). However, my body didn’t seem to get that memo and is showing as if there are 15 babies in there. Whatever. I will probably be 300 lbs after this (especially if I get hooked on donuts like I was with J). Don’t judge. So to wrap up: 12 weeks, feelin’ good, and going to be fat. Here are some photos of my fully gestated nugget from the weekend:
He runs with his tongue out. Cute but dangerous. We may lose half of it one of these days : /
A Traintastic Birthday Celebration!
You know what is absolutely ridiculous? The fact that it has taken me 2.5 weeks to post photos from Jack’s 2nd birthday party. Inexcusable, really! The theme for the party this year was trains. Kid loves a good choo choo train. I want to keep the photos of the details to a minimum and overload you with photos of the kids, because, really, who doesn’t like to see cute kiddos?!
I used a lot of blue ticking fabric for the details of the party, to give it a real vintage conductor feel. I made the special hats (which i mom failed and forgot to even put on Jackson for his cupcake :(), and used red and white accents for a color scheme. The table had a fabric runner with some flowers, balloons, and stars. Simple & Easy.
My friend and cake baker extraordinaire, Megan, made the most fantastic train cake (like her page)!!!. The tracks around the bottom and the smoke coming from the train were fantastic details, AND there was a number two on the back of the locomotive :). I also purchased chevron paper straws for some added flair. I made the banner using my trusty cricut (seriously - a cricut turns a 2 hour job into a 10 minute job. get one), and some scrapbooking paper. The bottom right photo shows the dessert/favor table. My sister made amazing cupcakes, and I displayed Jackson’s Year I and Year II Photobooks. Also, I used a vintage traincase to hold the favor bags which included: Conductor hats, train whistles, bubbles, and other fun kid-friendly things!
The main activity for the littles was to paint wooden trains to take with them as a keepsake. It was messy, but so cute.
Here are some photos of my favorite little man and his buddies enjoying the festivities!
Playing football with Jesse :)
Hi Alex!
Lovely Miss PBT <3
Vaughn in all of his two week old glory!!!! I will be stealing him very soon!
Ben gives dirty looks ;)
Hi Diego!
Ben & his mama Emily :)
This is 8 month old Caleb, he is a flirt and soooo cute!
Presents!
Cupcakes!
At least someone got some use out of the party hats!
I still can’t believe my crazy, sweet, awkward smiling, trailer loving boy is 2 already!
My work situation is interesting in that i work from home two full days each week. Because of the large amount of time spent working at home, I often get the question “how do you get any work from home done with a toddler to take care of?” The answer for me is simple.
Jackson has always been fantastic at Independent play. I simply make the “office” into a place that he actually wants to spend time. Of course, he is spoiled so its now more of a playroom, but the point is that I can get a ton of work done while he keeps himself entertained with access to all of his tractors, trains, books, and puzzles. It’s better for us than having him staring at the TV all day, and I am able to join him whenever I feel like it ;).
I also try to log as few hours in the times that he is most active as possible. I can bank on him napping for a solid 2-3 hours in the afternoon, so I always use that time to make calls and really get the things that require extra concentration taken care of.
I am also happy to push 2-3 hours of work each day to 6 or 7 pm. Daddy has come home so Jackson is more interested in him at that particular moment and then I take a break to put him to bed and finish up by 8 or 9 pm.
Things work really well for us this way because I get to maximize my time spent with Jackson - we can still have play dates, park time, swim lessons, and hours outdoors. But the key is that I still have a workspace where he can be happily occupied for HOURS if I absolutely can’t push the work stuff off to nap or bedtime.
It’s not a competition.
On the way to work this morning I was listening to a popular radio show when a stay at home mom called in. I missed the first part of the call, but the gist of it is that she has 3 children and has a hard time finding a moment of peace and solitude. I think we can all relate to that as parents of young children. Sometimes you just want to go to the bathroom by yourself or take a longer shower than normal. I don’t think its too much to ask, and neither did any of the DJs on the show. You can imagine my shock, then, when another stay at home mom called in and actually passed judgment on this lady for asking for a few moments away from her children.
What is it with women these days making every. single. facet. of parenthood a freaking competition?! Why is it that because you don’t wish for a few minutes alone and feel fulfilled with your life as a stay at home mom that you would think you are better than someone who has a completely different experience with a completely different set of children who you don’t know and frankly, know nothing about? Look, we all love our kids, and we all know that time is so very fleeting, and that this time when they are little is so precious…but we also know that parenting is hard. It is the toughest job I have ever been entrusted with. I don’t need the opinions of others and judgments and competitions of who is a better mother because they don’t want 5 minutes to pee alone, or breastfed longer, or cloth diapers the best to make it that much harder on me. Give it a rest already.
I love this post by Glennon over at Momastery about how you don’t have to carpe the whole effing diem, but rather celebrate the most precious moments. Let’s face it - we all have our days, and I really think the judgy caller this morning had to be lying. Nobody’s that perfect, and let me tell you, I love every minute that I have with my one kid, but there are days that I am counting down the minutes to bedtime. Kids are challenging. They are supposed to be challenging. Its not always rainbows and butterflies in the world of parenting, but I can definitively say that it is mostly rainbows and butterflies. To all my WAHM’s, SAHM’s, Working Mom’s, and especially you single mamas out there - if you need some me time to be a better parent - TAKE IT. You are doing a great job, and I commend you for recognizing that you need time for yourself to be good. And if you miss out on a few moments with your little ones, its okay. I will never judge you for trying your best.
I have been horrible at blogging lately. J’s party was nearly two weeks ago and I haven’t even posted about it! We have been moving and things are finally starting to calm down, so ill be catching up soon, but in the meantime here is a 20 second video to promote good self-esteem in toddlers ;)
Happy Birthday to my favorite TWO YEAR OLD of all time! Click play for a montage of his second year :)
Spring has Sprung!
We are so happy to finally be able to enjoy the warmer weather. Jackson has been spending as much time as possible outdoors, and as exhausting as it can get, I can’t say that I mind at all, because within seconds, the funniest and cutest expressions come across his little face: 
Wednesday marks two years for our boy, and I honestly have been trying to figure out just how we made it here so quickly. He was just a baby, and now he is BIG. Opinionated, carefree, demanding, sweet, loving, and BIG.
All I know is that I have loved every single second that he has been here, and I am so looking forward to the next 8 decades or so, just to see where this lovely little journey takes us. Big things are in store for this big kid.
Down on the Farm
Yesterday, we made the short journey to Whiffletree Farm for a fun little event called “Yolks & Folks.” My coworker, Thais, suggested that all of us baby mamas take the little ones to the event, and it was so great to see everyone, especially the ones who no longer work with us! The owner of the farm actually went to high school with me, though he was a couple of years older! He raises many animals such as grass-fed beef, chickens, pigs, and turkeys with no “genetically modified ingredients.” Many of our local restaurants offer his meat regularly as well!
We arrived at the farm midway through the event and started roaming around to see some of the animals. Jackson was really enamored with this lone brown cow, and was screaming “MOOOO!!!” at her. He also tried to entice her with rocks for snacks, and at one point tried to climb under the fence - only avoided by me grabbing his ankles at the very last second!
Jackson later happened upon an unoccupied wagon, and started pulling it along, until some mean old big kids came and stole it from his hands :(
They thought it was pretty funny - as evidenced in the above photo. Luckily, we found another wagon a few minutes later, and all was right with the world. Meaning, Jackson didn’t do a single other activity for the remainder of the afternoon, but pulled his wagon around, and of course, pulled his friends in it as well:
Diego had a ride!
So did Alex!
We also hung out with Ben:
And the baby of the bunch, sweet Caleb :)
It’s really a funny phenomenon that all of us just decided to have babies at the same time (except Caleb’s mama - she just saw how much fun we were having and needed a boy too!) and all had boys! Jackson is the oldest, born in April 2011, followed by Ben & Diego in May and June and Alex in September - Caleb came along in September of 2012. I’m just glad that Jack has so many cool boys to grow up with, all of which have even cooler mamas :)
At the end of the day, when we decided to leave, Jackson was very upset to go, and started having a tantrum screaming “I WANT MY WAGON!!!!!!” the entire way to the car. :)
1. Good Morning
2. You are Scaring me…
3. Tantrum
4. Cute
5. “Behave.”
6. Cute x 2
These were taken at a really absurd hour of the morning on Thursday while we were getting ready for school (him) & work (me). He was being extra cute and silly, and I didn’t want to miss out on the moment. He decided after starting to eat his apples, however, that it was time to be serious and told me to “behave.” I was speechless for at least a full minute ;).
I am having a really hard time believing that one month from today, this little guy will be two years old. I say it all the time, but it really is unbelievable how it feels like he has hardly been here, but has been here all along at the same time. One thing is for certain, though the past two years have flown by, they sure have been the greatest couple years of my life.
Two seems so big to me. Like he really isn’t a baby anymore. In fact, he points to kids that are 6 months younger than him and says “Baaaabbyyyyy!!!!’ And his language skills are nuts all of a sudden. He is literally communicating and able to carry on a full conversation. I will ask what he did at school and he will tell me that he read books, rode on the buggy, and played outside with his friends. My mind is blown daily. Just tonight, he realized that Zac (btw, he totally only calls him Zac now, daddy who?) was on the phone with Grandpa, and he held his phone up to his year and emphatically stated “I talk it!” and proceeded to have a full conversation wtih him about how he played with his trucks all day.
The next month will be spent feverishly preparing for a birthday party, attending baby/bridal showers, AND taking a business trip to Georgia. I’ll be busy, to say the least, but while we are closing in on two years with our adult-child, I couldn’t be more excited looking towards the future to see what this little guy has in store for us - except the tantrums…he can leave those at the door!
