Picture talk

Almost every Saturday morning I make either waffles or pancakes with eggs and sausage or bacon.  This particular Saturday, I made chocolate chip pancakes, my first time, and I guess they were a hit.  Xander was licking his plate clean, his first time doing this, and we thought it was hilarious.

now that was yummy 

On Tuesday I decided to take the kids to the park to play and snap some pictures...

This little girl is loving her hands

while Mr. Big Boy is everywhere exploring...which I love

 

She was so happy and alert

while big brother hunted for a new stick 

and then it was tummy time 

and brother went in for his talk

but quickly got distracted by a cool stick with pine cones 

and she's still chilling

Now there's that cool stick

and then he starts running because he saw

his sister flipping over from her back

she's fine so now it's time to sing...

really loud...

to get sisters attention

and show mommy the really cool stick up close

while sister decides it time to spit up

and look oh so cute

while brother found a new tree with leaves sticking out

until it's time to start whining

and  play with his stacking ups

and gets oh so proud when he stacks them

Yesterday was a day of sensory play with fingerpaint

and he thought it was toe paint also

Sterling was chilling outside while

he had such a great time making new art

Have a great day!

Kids lately

I haven't spoke much on the kids lately, their fun little updates and things their doing.  So this will be a post all about them :)
Xander...wow, he's developing fast.  His personality is strong willed, determined to do everything on his own, and is a total mama's boy (which I LOVE).  He has finally begun to play with his toys independently, loves playing with balls, still my outside baby, and loves on his sister so sweetly.  He's the kid that gets his teeth in sets, so he's had some pretty miserable days.  We pretty much have all the teeth, all but 6.  Still waiting on the back 4 molars and the 2 bottom eye teeth.  He's a trooper and toughened through the pain like a champ.  He's learned to walk up and down the stairs, although I won't let him go completely on his own yet, but he's not afraid.  He hasn't learned the danger in being free-willed.  I'm so afraid one day he's going to fall and bust his head open.  He's a fast mover, usually found running, and does this with a blanket over his head.  Dangerous!  Little man scares me most days, but he's a boy and I'm supposed to let him learn.  He loves climbing on daddy and still loves cuddle time.  He's wearing 12-18 month stuff with a size 5 shoe and size 4 diaper.

At 14 months and playing ball with daddy...

Last bottle at 14 months and 5 days

Sterling...well, she's very demanding.  When she wants something, be it a bottle or diaper change, she wanted it 5 years ago!  This little girl has vocals the size of Texas!  I think she learned the demanding part from me :)  I can be very demanding...not a good thing.  She has the sweetest chuckle, laugh and voice.  She loves to talk and gets so excited when daddy comes home and goes in for kisses.  Her whole body gets excited and she squeals in excitement.  She's been loving playing in her bouncer with the toys hanging, playing on her floor mat, and most recently she's started swinging.  I'm glad she likes the swing finally.  She won't get on a schedule, but for now, I don't mind.  With going to the states next month and August, she would be thrown off anyways.  We'll try a schedule when we get back late August.  She eats a lot.  She's a child that would rather eat more often than more at once.  So, she's eating between 3 and 4 ounces every 3 hours...give or take a half hour.  She sleeps between 6-7 hours at night before needing a bottle, but then she still only takes 3 ounces.  So different than her brother.  He was already at 6 ounces every 4 hours.  She loves the warm water for baths.  Will lay there and eat her fists.  I'm glad she finally likes baths, that's my favorite time of night.  I love the smell of clean babies.  She sits up for short periods in the bumbo chair.  Loves being held facing out...it's a sure way to calm her down when she's going crazy.  She's a big little girl, almost as big as Xander.  We've been in size 3-6 months since she was 2 months, moving to size 3 diaper tomorrow, and I'm sure will be out of 3-6 months by next month.  Her pants are already short, looking like carpi's...which is nice i guess.

Sterling in her new hats from great grandma

ready for her big girl ride

 we received this outfit as a gift and i wasn't to sure it was "girly" enough...but i LOVE it on her!

Happy 3 months baby girl

story of our lives right now...now that's a lot of drool

Xander not feeling so well

playing outside

helping sissy

sibling love

 

Have a great day!

Oh so fun

For the past 2 weeks, our family has been planning a trip for this weekend.  2 weeks ago, we planned that we should go to Paris.  Last week we came to the conclusion that we should go to Belgium.  With the kids and my trip back to the states next month, we're trying to save money because we will be doing A LOT of flying/traveling in the states when we go back.  So with that, it's going to cost us A LOT of money.  So that's why Paris was out and Belgium was in.  We booked a rental car, booked hotel, booked the kennel, and bought the snacks/drinks. 
On Thursday the kids and I drop Hawkeye off at the kennel while hubby was in charge of picking up the car.  We hadn't talked all day because he was busy at work, so I wasn't sure if we were still on or not.  He came home around 8pm, saying the rental car gave us the Range Rover again.  I didn't believe him because this time I reserved a car instead of SUV.  They didn't, but they did give us an SUV, so that was nice. 
Friday morning comes, we get ready, write down all our places of interest to visit, get all the addresses...yada yada yada.  Time to head out.  We plan the trip to stop at another military base near Belgium so we wouldn't have to pay the European price for fuel.  We have a diesel vehicle...just like the Range Rover was.  The drive to Spangdahlem (military base) was beautiful, traffic not bad, the weather was decent, Sterling was sleeping, and Xander was screaming.  We only burned less than a quarter tank getting there.  We arrive at the base to fuel up, find the diesel pump, and Nick starts pumping.  As he was finishing, I was watching and noticed he had the unleaded pump nozzle...NOT the diesel!!  YIKES!  I freak out.  Nicks face was priceless...oh shit!  So I go pay and we decide that this trip was just not going to work out.  We could not chance driving into Belgium and the car breaking down because the wrong fuel was in it.  Calling our insurance company to come save us in Europe would take hours, so we just called the trip off and drove back home.  Hey, we got out for a drive...HA!
After we arrived home, Xander was feeling warm, no fever though.  He went down for a nap, when he woke, his nose was nasty.  Green mucus runny out, it was nasty.  I started him on Tylenol to get over the cold faster...still here today...but clear.  Last night around midnight Sterling started gagging and lost her breathe, scared me awake!  She has a stuffed up nose and I'm guessing the mucus was clogging her airway and made her gag.  From then on, I couldn't sleep because she kept having a hard time keeping her airway open.
In the end, maybe it was a good thing Nick put in the wrong gas??  Kids were able to get meds in their system sooner, and hopefully will be fully recovered very soon.  Both kids look so miserable today.  Sterling is still having a hard time taking naps today, only wants to sleep on us, so I'm imagining no sleep tonight for me :(.  Xander has been sleeping awesome with being sick, longer naps!
After naps yesterday, Nick took our BMW to wash and detail so we could take picture and list it for sale.  We should have the Volvo this week, I'm so excited. 
Today I finished my essay for class, ran to get more meds, made some pictures to send to grandparents and been lazy.
Tomorrow I plan to edit and submit my essay, write a conference, clean the house, drop off the rental car, and hope that Nick enjoys Father's Day as a dad to 2 kiddos.
Sometimes I think things go wrong for a reason.  You don't always know the reason, but you should maybe take it as a clue?

Have a great day!

New Car

Well, we are getting a new vehicle.  I just payed for it today and the process of building it to our specs will soon be in works.  We should have the vehicle by months end and I'm SO excited!  Having a car with 2 little ones is challenging.  There's no room for anything, I can't bulky groceries because the trunk space is limited, and safety reasons.
We are getting the 2012 Volvo XC60 T6.  It's really nice and I love all the safety features it offers.  The best part (one of them) is that both kids can be rear facing with both driver and passenger still comfortable.  With the current car, the driver is slightly uncomfortable, but the passenger is really uncomfortable.  With taking trips in this car, we moved Xander to forward facing behind the driver so the driver can be comfortable.  I didn't want to do this because it's so unsafe, but i think it's important for the driver to be comfortable to drive the best. 
When we get the new car, he'll go back to rear facing.  He probably wont like it, but he'll get used to it.  It's for the best. 

Can't wait to show you when we get it!

Feeling of guilt

I've been feeling guilty since quitting breastfeeding.  Lately I've had the thought of starting back up, even talking to a lactation consultant.  I quit because I was stressed out, Xander was too curious, and I wasn't producing enough to not supplement.  For the past 2 weeks this has been strongly on my mind and have been praying for guidance.  Would it be beneficial to start back up?  The reasons I'm thinking about it is because I think it would be so much easier if I could get her to latch again and produce the right amount for her demanding self.  With traveling, I wouldn't have to take bottles or worry about how I'm going to wash them to reuse them so I don't have to bring 7 bottles every where.  I'm pretty sure I can get over my fear of breastfeeding in public.  I have a cover-up, so it wouldn't be that bad.  Also, for the past 2 weeks, we have wasted A LOT of formula.  If I could put her to the breast, she would take what she wants, and everyone would be happy.  Because I'm a stay at home mom, I believe this could work.
I woke up this morning telling myself to order the supplemental nursing system (SNS) by medela.  If I do this, I would want her to be strictly at breast, no bottles.  The lactation consultant told me to start putting her to breast before every feeding and then give her the bottle.  Well, I don't see how giving her a bottle is going to get my milk producing again?  If she knows she's going to get a bottle anyways, what's in it for her to suck on nothing?  That's why I was thinking of getting the SNS.  She'd still get her feedings (my main concern while switching), but at the breast, until my milk is back flowing.  It will take work, A LOT of work, but I'm willing to make our lives easier.
Did I order?  Not yet, I still am trying to process it all.  Nick is on board with me starting back up, I told him I'd sleep in Sterling's room for a little while so he'd still sleep at night since I'd be getting up every 2 hours to feed and pump.  I'm thinking by the time I get the SNS, she'll be 3 months, but until then, I'll start pumping to see what happens.  I'm going to start tonight and hopefully by morning I'll have a few drops dripping.  Nick is worried with me getting up every 2 hours to pump I'm going to be exhausted.  I think it will be fine because after awhile, it won't be 2 hours, the time will be more spread out.  I think.  Oh, what to do!  I pray this is the right decision.  I feel that it is. 

Too soon

Speaking, that is!  Last night was probably our worst night of sleep since Sterling was a week old.  She was up at midnight, 330, and 630.  Normally she sleeps a good 6-7 hour stretch first, then a 3 hour.  Last night, every 3 hours she was up.  She did however take two 3 hour naps during the day, which never happens.  I was thinking she was just growing with all the sleeping she was doing.  But last night...my oh my, how I value my sleep.  Hoping today she'll be awake more so we can sleep tonight.
We're getting ready this morning to run errands since Xander fight his morning naps, I'll just keep him up and run errands now. 

Have a great day and weekend!