Like A Staycation

Happy Wednesday! We are settling back into our regularly scheduled program over here after having somewhat of a staycation while my mom was in town. She was itching to see her grandbabies and I was itching for some me time so it worked out perfect for her to come out for a few days.

Honestly, after all of us battling the stomach bug last month, and passing around coughs and sniffles in January and February, I just needed some "me" time to recharge my battery. Thankfully my mom would fly out here at the drop of a hat, whatever the reason.

We had such a great week! Ben and I blew our dining out budget for the month (which is usually what happens when family is in town to watch the kids) and went out every night for either dinner or dessert. It was sooo nice! We had to laugh at ourselves because although we wanted to get out and have alone time, we had to force ourselves to go out because we have been so tired lately, and it would have been easy to just head to bed early. (We are old!) It was great fun though!

I got to go out and get my hair done, and do some shopping. I chopped several inches off my hair, so now it's real short! There must be something about my babies hitting 9 months of age, because that is when I cut my hair off with Lucy too. I love it though! I can just blow dry it with a round brush and call it a day. All I ever did was throw it up in a pony tail anyway, so now it forces me to do something with it, while still making it easy.

Is it just me, or does simply going to get your hair cut feel great as a mom??

I picked up a few new tops and scored a pair of BKE's on sale at Buckle! We went in for Ben to look at jeans, and came out with no jeans for him, but a pair for me, whoops! I was over the moon to find out that my jean size is down one size from before I got pregnant with Lucy!! I thought for sure I read the size incorrectly, but not the case. All credit goes to barre classes!! Such an amazing workout!

Now that we are back to reality this week, there is lots of coffee, and thankfully sunshine! Gorgeous, gorgeous 70 degree days this week!

This girl...looking so grown up these days.

And my happy little fella...

This kid is more wild than ever these days...this is what breastfeeding looks like now with him...

You think I'm gonna lay here and eat?

That's funny!

Let me just try to crawl off this nursing pillow...

Who has time to eat when there are endless things to explore??

See ya!

So, we'll see how much longer breastfeeding lasts, ha! But, in all seriousness, that little dude is a blast! He just makes sure I get my cardio in for the day! ;)

Lindsey

Michael - 9 Months

Happy 9 months to my little buddy!

At 9 months old, you are quite the little wiggle worm, and man on the move (as I would expect) :) You love to be held, but love to try and dive bomb out of people's arms too. You are still army crawling everywhere, and you are quite efficient at it, so maybe you will forgo pulling that belly up off the floor and go straight to walking, who knows. You are fast though, and into everything. Baby proofing with you is totally different than it was with Lucy. You want to touch anything and everything, and you smile and giggle everywhere you go. Nothing is off limits to you ;) 

You weigh 18 lbs and are fitting well in your 9 month clothes, and can wear a couple of 12 month things. It is just about time to give up the infant carrier and switch to the convertible car seat because you seem to be running out of room in it. And I have no doubt that you will love sitting up in a seat like a big kid just like big sis! 

You love playing with blocks, and mostly watching us stack them up, so you can knock them down. You love bath time. Kicking and splashing is your jam. 

You love your big sis! You love to sit with her and play, and you love to take toys from her too...that was bound to start soon, right? ;) And, of course, you still love your momma :) Daddy always says, "boy is obsessed with his momma". 

You are still quite the cuddly boy, which I love! All the ladies at the church nursery know you as the snuggler, and they love you! You just nuzzle right in to the chest and suck on that thumb. 

You have recently grown tired of diaper changes, and sometimes throw a fit when you are put on the changing table. I am constantly trying to find new and different ways to keep you distracted and entertained while you're up there. Putting you on the floor to change your diaper is just a joke, because in your eyes, that means it's time to crawl away. 

You are still doing great with solids, and pretty much eat anything we put in front of you. Breastfeeding became a real struggle in the past month, but we are getting through it pretty well I'd say. You are just easily distracted, which is understandable, but has made nursing frustrating for both of us at times. Supplementing one feeding a day has helped give momma a break, and you seem to be pretty happy with it too. For now, we will just keep chugging along in that department.

You are loads of fun little man, and you continue to be just as sweet and happy as ever!

We love you so much and thank God for you everyday!

Lindsey

Winter Wonderland

So we have been down and out lately around here. We got hit hard with a GI virus, the lovely domino effect. First, little Michael got it, then it trickled to each of us, bleh. Talk about awful! It is super sad watching your little ones go through illnesses. It was also probably one of the hardest weeks I've had as a parent, I was sick, and trying to take care of everyone. Poor Ben probably got it the worst, and the day he took off work to stay home and help me with the kids was the day he woke up with it. I had my mom on stand by, ready to fly out and help. God bless her for being willing to come out and be exposed to it too just to lend a hand! Thankfully it seemed to last only about 48 hours for each of us then we were pretty much back to the daily grind again.

So, now that that's behind us, we have been trying to get out again (we were stuck in the house for 5 days!). We have had some beautiful weather here lately, and then yesterday we got a pretty big snow dump. Some places around the city got up to 20 inches. It's hard to say exactly how much we got at our house because the winds were up to 35 mph, but we guessed anywhere between 12-18 inches. Ben measured 17 inches in one place of the yard, and 7 in another so who knows for sure. It was a lot though. The roads were terrible, from what we heard. Five mile commutes were taking 2 hours, and wrecks were all over the place. Thankfully Ben worked from home, and didn't try to venture out in it. So, we bunkered down and had some fun indoors.

These two played together for a while. Michael just loves playing with Lucy! He gets so excited and smiley when she sits with him and plays and talks with him. Melts my heart!

The little guy was curious about what all that white stuff was out there :)

Bath time was a great way to pass the time, and have some fun. We brought in a bunch of toys, including cars and trucks for a little "car wash". They had a good ol' time.

While Ben was out shoveling the snow, Daisy got out in it to play for a bit. Daisy has always loved the snow. She gets out in it and just runs around, and jumps in it. She would hang out and play in it all day if we let her. She had a little trouble with all this snow in some places. It wasn't exactly easy to run through this time, but she still had some serious fun.

Today, we are back up to 50 degrees, whoo-hoo! And, its almost the weekend! ;)


Lindsey

Hello Spring Weather

I intended to type this post up earlier this week but here we are...Wednesday already! But I have to talk about this past weekend because it was a great one! We had GORGEOUS weather here this weekend, and we took full advantage of it! I got nothing done on my to-do list, but we had such great family time. It was a good reminder to put that to-do list aside more often and do what's most important...spend time having fun together!

Saturday morning was pretty low key. Ben had an appointment first thing in the morning but as soon as he got home I packed up lunch for everyone and we headed to the park to play and have a picnic lunch.

After Lucy played her little heart out, we came back home for naps, then headed to church. I think I might have gone to bed around 9:00 Saturday night (I can't quite remember). Party animal! Poor Michael is teething, and I think he is in the thick of the 8-10 month sleep regression. We haven't slept in a week and a half!

Sunday was another beauty so we decided to take Michael out for his first hike! The 4 of us headed up to Mt. Falcon in the morning for a quick hike. The kids both did great! I actually expected Michael to fall asleep in the Ergo, but he was pretty excited to be looking around at everything and everybody that was out.

This excursion was even better with our sweet minivan because I nursed Michael in the back and comfortably laid both kids out in the van to change diapers (a dream y'all!) Both of those would have been impossible in the Xterra. I LOVE my minivan...no shame! ;)

After our hike, the kids took naps then we headed to our friends house to hang out for a bit, and decided to go grab pizza and beer whoop! These friends are our family out here and with kids being sick lately and busy schedules it has been hard to get together so this impromptu date was fantastic!

Such a wonderful weekend...and since it's somehow already Wednesday...we are halfway to the next one!

Michael - 8 Months

Another month come and gone...my little dude is 8 months old now!

Poor little guy wasn't feeling good when we took these

He has had a bit of a rough couple weeks with being sick, and now teething/ and probable growth spurt? But he is quite the trooper, and still shows off his toothless grin through it all :)

I feel like he has changed quite a bit over the past month. He went from the quiet little guy who was happy watching everyone be wild, to the little guy with a loud voice determined to keep up with everyone else. I guess he figured if he stood a chance, he had to learn to speak up and keep up ;)

His big, new thing lately is getting his army crawl on. He started this a couple weeks ago and he is moving! He loves to chase Lucy around, and she equally loves getting chased by him.

He has started waving, and attempting to say "buh-bye". Whenever we wave and say "buh-bye" he will look at his hands and start waving. He is very intrigued by those hands still.

First time in the swing

He has finally said "mama", but only a couple times so who knows if it was legit ;) We are working on that!

Loves bath time!

Sleeping is still going well. He is in limbo with dropping his third nap of the day. Most days he still needs it though.

His eating is giving me a glimpse into teenage years. This kid is taking down food faster than ever. We are doing a baby led weaning/ purees combo for him which seems to be working well. We haven't given him anything yet that he doesn't devour.

First donut...love at first sight, just like his momma!

Fun little photo session! :)

Little man, you light up our world with that toothless grin and your sweetness! We love you so!