october

I did not realize how busy October was until I uploaded all the photos from my camera I keep in the diaper bag. It has been such a busy, fun month. I'm totally loving all of the harvest parties and festivals. 

I ran my first 5K this month. I walked more than I wanted to, but still was nothing but proud of myself at the end. My time was just under 39 minutes... and I already know it won't be my last 5K. I felt like supermom at the end as it was time to nurse Em and I got to chat with Caedmon about the firetruck he got to explore. :)

Caedmon is a garden gnome for Halloween and he's probably going to give me a hard time about it when he's older... but seriously cute. Like cutest kid at the harvest party. ;)

My favorite moment of this night - as they were walking past me Caedmon saw me and said, "Mommy! I'm riding a pony!" Melt my heart.

Still a little proud of myself for giving him cotton candy, ha. He really only had a few bites... but it didn't stress me out one bit.

We're going trick or treating tomorrow - just a few houses but I'm super excited. Having a toddler is the best. Emmaline is so fun, too. She's so social and has started reaching for things. Hard to believe she's 4 months old!

More updates later, nap time is over for today! 

random...

My first 5K is in 3 days. I'm excited and nervous and I also don't think I'll be able to run it in entirety. But I am confident I can run half, walk a few minutes, and finish out running. Won't know until Sunday, though! My friend Amanda is training with me... not sure if we'll stay together on race day. Even if not I'm just so thankful to have gone through the training with a friend who started out in just as lousy of shape as me. Still awesome to think seven weeks ago I could barely run for 90 seconds... and now I can run 10+ minutes. If you keep at something you really will get better at it. No matter how bad you are at the beginning!

Running has actually taught me quite a bit. Amanda had given up on training due to shin splints. One day she sent me a text that said something like, "I haven't done any type of exercise in three weeks since I stopped training." God put it heavy on my heart that she needed to run with me that night. After a lot of persuading, she decided to come with me. I had total confidence that God was going to heal her shin splints and she wouldn't be in pain if we asked for that. This confidence made me a little fearful because... what if He didn't heal her? I thought he would... but you never know for sure. So, I told her we would pray for her leg and she would be fine. And you know what happened? God healed her. She was able to keep up with me for the most part and didn't have any pain. It was one of the first times God has spoken to me in that way and I'm just glad I followed through and wasn't scared of what she would think if I told her "God told me He'd heal you if we ask Him to" :)

Big brother is very into doing things himself. I can't even play with him a lot of times because I'm doing it wrong. Seriously, he gets super upset if I touch his trains or cars while he's playing. I can build the track - but that's about it.

Getting undressed is also something he prefers to do himself. He didn't nap today and when I went to get him he had taken of his shirt and pants and thrown them out of the crib... I couldn't stop laughing when I saw him.

He's also talking in full sentences. I picked him up from preschool today and he said, "Mommy, I learned about owls today." Whoa! He's saying 'water' correctly and it makes me sad. He's growing up and is so smart and is only going to get bigger and smarter and wiser from here on out. There is no one like him.

And my girl... the compliments we receive are "Wow! Look at that hair!" "She is so alert for just three months!" "Look at those eyes!" and her smile will make you melt. Sometimes while I'm nursing she'll look up at me and smile and I know there is no greater feeling in the entire world when that happens.

I'm a volunteer photographer for an event Saturday. I'm going to be photographing families who can't afford to get family photos done. I'm intimidated, but excited to be able to serve with this. But Michael has to work so I had to figure out who could watch our kids and makes me nervous. I hate it when I'm not when them and I REALLY hate it when I can't just leave them with daddy when I do have somewhere to be.

That is another new thing. Having somewhere to be. Sure, I have had dentist appointments or things... but that's what - twice a year? I'm not used to leaving my babies. I'm not a "work outside the home" kind of girl. Sure, sometimes, I welcome it. But just as often, it makes me sad. Luckily a shoot is at most three hours with travel time. And once I get to a shoot and find my groove I'm so thankful for the break from home and the opportunity to connect with other people and just help create something beautiful for them. It's new and it's good... but very different from what Michael and I are used to! He is normally the busy one, but now it's me. He's so supportive and just wonderful. I couldn't pursue this if it weren't for him.

Really random. I think I've forgotten how to blog - if there even is a specific way. Regardless, it's updated. (You're welcome, Amanda!) :)

updates

Well, hello. Sorry it's been a little while since my last update. This blog has definitely not been high on the priorities list... which is a little unfortunate because I love being able to look back at certain points and just see where we were. More importantly, where my kids were because I forget way too quickly!

So, I just thought I'd do a quick little update at what has been going on in this household. :)

Michael... has gotten a new job! He has been in training the past two weeks. He's an extremely social person so this has actually been a little tough. He's been in an office completely alone and I have definitely noticed a lack of spring in his step each day when he gets home. But training will soon be over and he'll get to rejoin his coworkers in a new position. He'll even have his own desk! He's also got a birthday coming up this weekend :)

Caedmon... He has started preschool two days a week. One thing I was referring to when looking back to past blog entries - this was one of them. I was so unsure of how this would go. Well, my expectations have been blown out of the water. Admittedly, I've been less nervous the older he gets as he is just really comfortable in all sorts of new situations... so I knew he'd do great with preschool. But man, boy loves it. I'm excited for him and glad we made this decision to start him at 2. He's also talking up a storm. Full sentences, too! :) He's just so smart and I can't get over him. And he used to pronounce trains "papa" for Thomas and "peen" for James and "peepee" for Percy. He is now saying all of their names correctly. At least he still says "lala" for water and "foofoo" for orange. I cherish those mispronunciations, they remind me he's still my baby! Definitely not ready for him to say those the right way... It will be a sad day in my book. Last night we prayed before dinner with him and he wanted to keep praying "pray again! again!" so we'd say "thank you God for ____" Well after dinner we were playing outside and out of the blue he said "thank you God for mommy" So thankful for my little mister!

Emmaline... She's doing awesome. Her favorite thing is to be held and she refuses to sleep unless she's held or in a moving car. So sometimes we'll take random drives just to get her to get a small nap in (girl wakes up the moment I set the car seat inside... every. time.) But she's just a wonder. A ridiculously beautiful dream come true to us. Caedmon is a big fan of hers, too :)

And me... I've had my hands full. Ha, we all know how much I love that phrase! But I keep really busy with house related things especially while little man is at preschool. I'm training for a 5K at the end of October, so I'm running 4 times a week and have joined a running club (potentially a second, too!) and recruited a friend who is training with me. It's something that's been on my bucket list and I'm just so proud of myself. I've never been a fan of running so this is a huge deal to me that I'm actually enjoying myself :) And the other thing I've been busy with when I'm not playing and caring for my kids is my photography business (eee!). It's going better than I hoped and I just love it. Michael has told me I found a hobby I love at a time when I really needed it and for that we're both just thankful. I finished up my first class last week and can definitely tell I've learned a TON... so that is very exciting! I plan on making a real blog on this soon, so stay tuned. :) In the mean time, check here if you haven't yet! :)

And that's a quick synopsis of our lives right now. Glad to get you up to speed, ha :) I'm going to try to be better at updating this. promise.

Honest

I know I haven't blogged in awhile... but as every random stranger I come into contact with yells me, I have my hands full. Beautifully, wonderfully, tirelessly full.

So I don't have much to share except I found an excellent 'green' company that meets my super-high standards for my family and it's actually reasonably priced! If you know me well, you know I'm all about getting chemicals out of our house and this company offers so many easy alternatives to make that an easy transition. Plus, every item I've tried so far I've been very impressed by.

The company is called The Honest Co. and Jessica Alba founded it when looking for non-toxic household items and diapers for her family. I can relate to knowing how hard it is to find those things, for sure!

Anyway, just had to pass it on. You can get a free trial of diapers and wipes and also some household goods. No promises, but I think you'll be a fan, too. Now, let's get all those yucky chemicals away from our families and homes!

We considered using the diapers for Em (loved our free trial), but we're going to give cloth another go. If I can't keep up with the laundry, I promise you you'll see her little bum in some super cute honest dipes. They're seriously adorable - AND plant based! Hoorah! :)

updates on our big brother

One of big brother's favorite things to do is "hod hur" translation: hold her. It's pretty sweet. In the photo above he was pointing out different body parts on sister. We're trying to keep him as involved as possible. When he sees me changing sister's diaper - he wants a diaper change, too.

The one word I can think to describe our son as we've brought home a sibling for him is understanding. My first trip out alone with both of them was to Em's two week check-up. He was a dream. He took a train from the play area in the waiting room and when we got called back he put it back without me asking. He got a little impatient towards the end of the visit and when I asked Dr. W to check out the dermabond on his face he got a little upset but other than that no problems.

My second trip out alone with my two babies was to Target. And he did awesome - he sat in the cart the entire time. I was just so impressed with him.

And for naps... we normally read books and sit together for about a half hour and it's a really special, nice time for us both. But lately sister cries when we start nap time or at some point before I leave his room. So our time is cut by... 20 minutes. If she's not crying I spend my usual time with him but it seems to never fail that both kids need me quite a bit at this time of day. But he's just been very understanding when I tell him I have to go check on the baby. If he's not asleep and I come back to read with him more sometimes he'll say "check baby?"

He has started waking up a bit in the night or waking up at 5. Last night he fell asleep in our bed at 5 (thank goodness!) and slept till 7, but he's been ready to go at 5. Meaning he's taking a four hour nap in the afternoon. And I'm not about to wake him. He still goes to bed between 8 and 9.

The only other thing - he's sort of acting out maybe? He's started drawing on our couch. We recently got rid of our coffee table so all the pens/markers got moved to the side table next to the couch. Both the coffee table and the side table had child 'locks' on them but the one of the side table didn't stand a chance. He got in there and just drew all over the couch. He conveniently does this the few moments he's in the living room alone. He's done this three times now. Good thing that couch was just $200 and we have no attachment to it. Unfortunate that people now see a very marker decorated couch when they come over making us look like maybe not the best parents, ha.

We've not been watching TV during the day either. Something I'm super impressed with myself for... when I was pregnant I was just so tired. And I'm more tired now but not as physically exhausted. Sometimes we'll watch before dinner or something but only for about 10 minutes. This could change - but for now... I'm a happy momma to be able to sit and run around a little easier!


But in all, things are good. Really, really good. :)

Life.

I haven't updated much... and you're probably not surprised.

I'm adjusting to having two kiddos really well, I think. It feels like our daughter has been with us forever already. It's crazy how one day you're pregnant and lamenting over the fact that you've been pregnant forever and all of a sudden one day you're no longer pregnant and I can barely remember what it was like, it feels like it was so long ago that I was waddling along with that big belly!

I took both kids out to church Sunday - but Michael was there and C is kind of well known around the church, so I didn't feel like I was solo. Then on Tuesday I took both of them to Target. And it could not have gone better. C never sits still in the cart. He wants to walk with me or help push or go exploring off on his own. He truly is Mr. Independent. But he sat in the cart the entire time. I pushed the cart fast and slow as we talked about what those words mean... I handed him various things and I had an unending supply of crackers (or was willing to have an unending supply - I would have bought more crackers if I had to). And little e slept the whole time!

Michael and I took the kids to a children's garden this morning - and we actually ended up buying a season pass C had so much fun. He learned about different kinds of bugs and got to water vegetables and go pretend fishing (they had sticks with little styrofoam balls on the end, looking like buoys). It was really neat and I can't believe we hadn't gone before!

We really are adjusting well. C has taken to being a big brother very well. The other night Michael was taking him upstairs to go to bed and he said, "night night momma... night night baby" and gave her a kiss. I asked for one and was denied - sissy really is the only one he's into giving kisses to right now. :)

Em is getting up twice at night - pretty consistently at 1 and 4am. She is fussy around 830-930pm, which is unfortunate because that's when I'm ready for bed! So I'll nurse her and usually hand her off to Michael and he gets her to sleep and I get a few hours of sleep before I'm up to nurse her again. She's still sleeping most of the day but each day is has a few more minutes of awake time. She's already gained a pound since her birth! Very, very thankful to have very little nursing issues. It feels like ages since I nursed C... it really is so nice to have that bonding time and just experience again.

I have an appt tomorrow with my midwife just to check in, I think. After 1 week postpartum I was feeling great... my pain completely stopped and I just felt mostly back to normal. That feeling continues and right now I kind of just feel like I want to run, ha. I've never, ever wanted to run but I think now being so close to my normal size I'm just excited to not have that 40 extra pounds around my belly anymore! So, hopefully this feeling will continue in 4 weeks when I'll get the green light to exercise! :)

That's all of our little updates... thanks for checking in with our little fam. :)

bittersweet

Since we've been home - Michael and I have been splitting up every day. He will take Caedmon out somewhere - to the park, Monkey Joe's, the store, today it's a dinosaur exhibit downtown that we saw a commercial for while we were in the hospital (it was weird for us having so much quiet time, we were able to watch a TON of HGTV. We've never had cable so this was a treat!) :).

And I'm sitting here, catching up on blogs I like to read, and watching my precious girl nap and it's wonderful. But I'm sad I'm not with my big kiddo watching him have so much fun seeing all of the dinosaurs. I looked online at the exhibit and it looks SO COOL. I know he and Michael are going to have a blast and I just wish I was there to take pictures and just experience it with them. Em and I could have gone, but it's $15 for adults to get in and we'd like to wait till she's at least one week old before taking her out.

Also, yesterday I wasn't too active - I cut up a watermelon and made some kale chips (which Caedmon would not stop eating so those will definitely be a new staple in this house!) so nothing too strenuous but it was the most I have been on my feet since Em's birth, and then I rested some, then I played out on the back porch with Caedmon. He was in his little pool and I sat next to him - occasionally picking up a ball or toy that he threw out. I didn't feel like I was overexerting myself by any means but after we came inside my body just felt off. Certain parts of my body that were finally starting to feel almost mostly normal again (or at least not constantly painful) were aching something awful and my back hurt and I was just miserable. So today I'm just going to try to take it very, very easy.

So for several reasons the dinosaur exhibit is just for my boys today. And I'm excited for them to get that guy time. But it just makes me a little sad, too.

And on a different note - things are going really great at home. Like I said, my recovery is very much still in process - it's hard to not do things when you're feeling good it's just remembering that you won't continue to feel good if you try to do things like normal. I'm not supposed to lift anything over 10 pounds (Caedmon is 25). I'm still picking him up some but just once or twice a day. He sits on my lap or we sit on the floor but it's weird not holding him and walking (honestly after 5 days of not carrying him I didn't even realize how heavy that boy is!) And Emmaline is a dream. She's still in that constant sleepy state and is just so precious.

Michael held her while I was napping in the hospital and when it was time to feed her he handed her to me and said, "Every time I look at her she just gets more beautiful." And another time I asked him to hand me my phone while he was holding her, but she was holding on to his pinky of his free hand and he said, "She's just holding on so tight... I'll get it when she lets go." She already has her daddy wrapped around her fingers. :) Basically we're both smitten.

Caedmon is just excited about the baby. We're trying to teach him to be gentle around the baby but our boy is not quite grasping that idea. He's very, very active and it's just tough. So honestly they've been separate unless I'm sitting on the couch holding both of them while we watch TV (Unfortunately there has been more TV watching in this house then we'd like - but we're just getting through this stage. And we will.) It's been encouraging to me to hear lots of mothers I really admire and look up to tell me their oldest watched lots of TV as they transitioned their families from three to four.

Anyway, that's a little random update while I have some down time. Turned out to be more random than I had intended... hope you don't mind :)