Five on Friday

One.  These kids.  Oh, these kids.  We are currently in Iowa, so all of the photos are photos from my phone.  And getting clear photos of the two of them together is near impossible with my phone.  With Fish weighing over 15 pounds and Finn weighing about 26 -- he weighs over half her weight at the age of 8 weeks.  Even though she can't pick him up like she would prefer, she loves to have him sit on her lap.  All the giggles come out as well as the head flops from Brother who is trying so hard to get control of his melon. 

Two.  This kid.  I'm finding that he is a routine-er, just like me.  He is not too keen to be deviated from the normal happenings despite the photo.  With my family visiting us last weekend and us being in Iowa this week, he has been the crabbiest I have ever seen him (save a day or two during some growth spurting).  I think that he likes HIS stuff and he likes HIS routine.  And he is definitely letting me know that he isn't fond of the changes.

Three.  This dog.  This poor dog.  I think that he is seriously going through some sort of depression since Bishop passed.  This weather hasn't been the greatest to get him out and enjoying himself chasing a ball (his favorite) or a walk (another favorite).  But when he is able to get out and play, he begins limping after the first throw or two and then we have to quit as the limp worsens.  I know that I haven't been able to pay enough attention to him as two cranky kids usually occupy my time.  I have a little fitness goal that I'm going to start when I return to Ohio and I'm hoping that I can whip the two of us back into shape.

Four.  These two stuffed animals.  The dog is for Finn and the bear is for Fish.  My aunt and cousin gave them to them last night.  The dog is named Bishop -- I almost cried it was so sweet.  And Bishop even worn a pink tutu on occasion -- I have some photos for proof. 

Five.  This mom.  I look exhausted (and am a lot of the times).  I feel like my patience runs thin quickly. I haven't wore decent makeup in over a month.  I STILL can't fit into my pre-pregnancy clothes.  I'm tired.  I'm tired of not feeling like myself, of not feeling put together or of not feeling like I look good in my clothes.  I'm hoping that when we return home, I'll be able to take at least an hour for myself each morning.  I want to fit back into my clothes as well as to start feeling like myself and not just Finn & Fish's mom (which is pretty much all I feel like lately).  If I can start to get exercise in, I hope to not feel AS exhausted -- but I'm not crazy to think that I'm not going to feel tired sometimes. Lots of goals to start off my SAHM gig...

A week in the life (v.2014.13)

I will apologize for the lack of posts in advance.  We are currently in Iowa and I don't have access to my Easter photos (and there are plenty).  We will be heading back next week and so those photos will be posted a week late.  I also haven't uploaded my phone photos for a couple of weeks, so some might be a little old.

Finn sent out some Easter Bunnies that she made the week before Easter.

Lucy decided to take up residence in Brother's Mamaroo...

A lot of times, this is the only way that I can get Fish to fall asleep if he refuses or is super cranky (and nothing else works).  You can see his little nose peeking through the two straps.

At 9 weeks, he started pulling his head up off my legs and holding it there.  He is still unsteady, but doesn't want to put his head back down.  I think he likes to see everything.

This was one of our good nights while E was away in Ireland two weeks ago.  She was finishing up watching her episode of Barney in Mommy's bed while I fed Fish.

E sent us this photo while he was away.  It is his Uncle Tony feeding one of the baby lambs that was born during his trip over.

Prepping Finn before our town Easter Egg hunt.

Showing Daddy who was in Ireland.

One of the delicious candy bars that E brought back for me.  He bought Finn her first Claddagh ring while over there.  She really liked it.

Seeing himself in the video.  Definitely doesn't like it as much as Finn did when she was small.

At 10 weeks, he found his hand again.  If you remember, once being placed on my chest after being born, he started sucking on his hand like this.

His shirt says "Single and loving it" -- it's from Granny.

In another post that is coming up next week, I made the decision to stay home with the kids.  We dressed Finn up really nice for her last day.

They were having their Easter party that day -- so they turned it into a "Finn Going Away Party".  She felt so special and is going to miss daycare, I think.

Auntie Anita sent an Easter package last week.  She filled the box with empty grocery bags so everything wouldn't bounce around inside during mailing.  Finn couldn't grasp the idea that all the bags were empty.  E took at least 10 videos of her trying to open all the things in the box.

Last weekend, we were visited by Mimi (my mom) and GramVicki (my mom's sister) as well as cousin Kristin (more photos next week).  Here Finn is "fixing" Kristin's wheelchair.

All the girls and Fish hit the grocery store on Saturday.  We took up the whole aisle.

We also had an Easter Egg hunt on Easter day in our yard.

E's friend Dave was also out for a visit this past weekend.  He gave Finn a gift -- you can hear the shoes in the video.  They are shoes that squeak with each step.  Daddy definitely thanked Dave later for those darn squeaky shoes.

Shhh. Be vewy vewy quiet, I'm hunting eggs...

This past weekend, Finn & I headed up to our town's annual Easter Egg Hunt.  With E away, I wanted to make sure that I was present for Finn (in case she needed help or moral support), so we left Fish with our neighbors.  I'm glad that I did leave him, because sister and I had a great time together!

Little model...

I was thinking that she was going to be scared of all the people and want to stick super-tight with me.  There had to have been about 200 people there.  While she didn't wander away, she didn't need to hold my hand either.  She was really comfortable and really excited when prompted.  That has more to do with the fact that I really amped up this whole Easter-Egg-Hunting thing to her all week, telling her how much fun it was going to be. 

Well, our town splits up the eggs groups.  Finn fell into the 2 & under group.  This is actually my first rodeo as a mom, so I wasn't sure what was going on.  When we got over to the area for the 2 & under, I noticed about 20 brown paper bags lined up in a row in their area.  My first thought -- "Where's all the eggs?"  Then the lady announcer stated that on her mark to let the kids go to get their bag.  What the hell?  Finn was utterly confused and really had to be prompted to pick up the bag.  I could tell that she was like "Where's my eggs, dude?"

As evidenced by the photo, she was NOT impressed with picking up a brown bag.  Again with this being my first rodeo, I tried to make the best of it and get her super excited about opening the bag.

We found a set of stairs out of the way (I thought) and set about opening up our bag.  Her reaction when she opened the bag and found eggs was pretty comical.  The bag contained about six eggs.

I had been rehearsing with her that inside the eggs were candy, so she knew exactly what to do.  They still were really difficult to open (even for me).  I would "start" the egg and hand it over so she could open it and see what was inside.  Each tootsie roll that was revealed was the best thing ever!

Then suddenly we were bombarded with people walking up our steps to go to the front of our township building.  They had also promised the Easter Bunny, so after we finished with our eggs, we set off in search of her.  Upon climbing the steps, we saw the front expanse of lawn was covered in Easter Eggs for the 5-7 year old group.  We were up in the far upper corner and there weren't very many older kids there.  So along with about 4-5 other parents of toddlers, when the whistle blew, we let our kids go.  I thought I was going to have to coach Finn a little.  Absolutely NOT!

She was a born natural.  She knew exactly what to do and she had such a look of concentration on her face.  Every photo I took of her picking up eggs had either her tongue sticking out or her lips being pursed or bit on.  She also knew that others were out for "her" eggs.  So she had her head up the entire time, even when scooping up the egg in front of her.  She missed quite a few eggs on the first shot due to that (see exhibit A above), but she made sure that no one was taking those eggs. 

She ended up with an additional 8-9 eggs in her basket for the actual Easter Egg hunt.  She was so excited for more candy!

Running off to sit down to open her eggs

Success!

Opening up her hard-earned eggs

An Easter victory!!!!

Of course, we couldn't leave the municipal complex without eating at least 4-5 of our tootsie rolls.  Her cuteness usually boils over when she asks for more of something.  She will say "One more!" or "One more time!" instead of saying "more" and so "One more!" usually turns into five more.

Notice the chocolate mug that she got from her five tootsie rolls...

Of course, we found the Easter Bunny before we left.  Girlfriend was NOT impressed with her, like not at all (and neither was I).  She didn't have any issues with standing next to her.  But she definitely wasn't excited waiting in line or during her photo.  In fact, after we walked away, I asked her what she thought of the Easter Bunny and her response was "huh?" like it never even happened...  But she definitely gave "It was fun!" for the Easter Egg hunt!

Reporting from the trenches: Tag-teaming

I suspect a theme with these types of posts... The photos will never match the story.  Happy baby photos, screaming baby words.

I didn't anticipate writing another "Reporting from the trenches" post so soon.  But Tuesday night was one for the ages in our household.  I also had hoped that the next RFTT post (catchy, right?) would be a funny story -- not this time (but hopefully really soon).

I'm flying solo again.  E left on Monday afternoon for Ireland and is set to return on Saturday afternoon.  I had it all worked out in my mind that everything would be spectacular this trip.  Finn is still at daycare due to the fact that I'm not sure about my return to work.  I would have the two of them for a couple of hours (albeit the witching hours) and then we were all snuggle away in my king-sized bed and have an epic slumber party each and every night.  Yeah, perfect motherhood fantasies are fantastic, right?

Sister's eye got into a fight with the kitchen table that morning.

Monday went off without a hitch.  Fish had his 8 week appointment.  Officially, he is 24 inches long, 14.95 pounds (quite basically 15 pounds), & 40 cm head circumference.  I was shocked to find out that he wasn't at the 99 percentile, though.  He is 87% in weight, 83% in length, and 66% in head circumference.  Oh, and also?  He got three vaccines.  That plays an important role in the story later.

Tuesday comes and almost goes.  We go and pick up Finn from daycare.  The moment we get home, the screaming begins.  Fish instantly goes into Linda-Blair mode.  He is thrashing, punching, and kicking as if he has some serious biting fire-ants in his pants.  My first thought was that he was overly-tired.  He usually naps for an hour & a half between 5 - 8pm.  So I do everything in my artillery to get him to sleep.  While he is trying to rip off my nipple in his thrashing, Finn decides that his screaming isn't enough.  So she adds her own.

Love the side-tongue -- makes him look like he is scheming up something.

We all know that Easter is right around the corner.  That afternoon, I got out our Easter eggs.  She wants them all to play with.  I oblige.  Only, that isn't enough... Girlfriend thinks that I'm holding out on her and doesn't quite understand "I don't have anymore.  You have them all."  There is snot and stomping and throwing... Oh, and LOTS of screaming.  Her screaming is so loud, it sets Fish into a tailspin.  He is usually quite calm about her tantrums -- this time, he thinks that I really am holding out on her and not giving her all the eggs, because he screams right along with her.

By this point, it's 7:00pm.  I declare a state of emergency and ship everyone upstairs for an early bedtime.  Finn sits in my bed and watching Dora the Explorer on the iPad while I try to nurse a still thrashing Fish to sleep.  It is only then that I realize that his arms have quieted, but that his legs are the main culprit.  I put a light pressure on one of his thighs and he jumps about a foot high (total exaggeration) and begins screaming anew.  I mentally slap my head.  The doctor had said that he may be sore for up to 48 hours after the vaccinations.  I run to the cabinet and grab the only infant pain-reliever we have.  Look at his weight of 15 pounds and give him the recommended dosage.

Once I settle in next to him to ease him into slumber, I realize that I gave him infant Motrin.  Then I remember that he can't have Motrin yet -- not until he is six months old!  Then I remember that when I gave Motrin to Finn for the first time, she broke out in a severe rash.  Mother of the year award, right here, folks.  So then I begin to switch in between staring at him, just waiting for the rash to erupt and furiously googling what would happen if you gave an infant Motrin.  I had some serious moments of anxiety in there.  I realized that it was only a single dose and that it wasn't even a full dose as he had never had any pain reliever before, so I didn't want to give him a full dose.

Eventually, he does fall asleep, quite fitfully.  He awakes up at least 3 times in my trying to get Finn to listen to me and fall asleep.  At this point, it is past 9:15 and Little Lady needs to be sleeping if she isn't going to become a crankpot tomorrow.  I gave her the countdown on putting the iPad away for the evening.  The countdown ends and I take it away.  Holy balls.  The torture I just placed on her.

At that point, she refuses to put her head down to go to sleep and starts throwing her lambs and her binkie off the bed.  When I don't rise to her bait, she begins to scream, beautifully waking up brother.  I ease Fish back into his light sleep.  Now my normal threat when she won't lay down in her crib, is that I will go into my room and lay down.  Well, she is IN MY ROOM.  So I can't threaten her that I will leave the room.  So, I threaten her with her crib.  If she doesn't lay down, it's to her crib to sleep.  Well, my threat wasn't idle and after more indignant "uuuuhhhnnn"s from her, I pick her up and place her in her crib.  I'm at my wits end at this point.  I have been dealing with constant tantrums for four hours.  So I bring her lambs, binkie, and pillow back to her crib and let her sit in there to cry.

She doesn't call for me.  That's usually my cue that she is calm enough to listen to me -- she will call "Mommy!  Mommy!"  Not this night.  So I let her sit more and cry more, feeling like a terrible mother who lets her child cry.  But I know that she needs to get this out of her system and that if I go in there, she will just give me attitude.  Five minutes later, she doesn't say my name.  So I go in there and ask her what she needs.  She immediately lays down, still slightly crying.  Then she starts requesting something through her binkie.  I couldn't understand her and she repeats herself three times.  Eventually, I ask her to take her bink out and tell me.  She did that and with little ragged breaths, said "Moon River, Mommy".  Now, I haven't sang to her in about a month.  I ask every night that I put her to bed and she always tells me "no" that she doesn't want it.

The minute that "Moon river, Mommy" comes out her mouth, I instantly start to bawl.  The stress of the evening washes over me as well as the emotional surge that I got knowing that she isn't as grown up and she thinks that she is.  I bawl my way through the first line and don't make it through the second line before she is sleeping.  After they are both finally sleeping, I go downstairs to finish my cry into a good beer.  After drinking half, I decide to bring it upstairs to the bedroom and watch some TV.  As I settle into bed, the movement of me getting in is enough to wake the beast and it begins again.  Only this time, Finn stays asleep and it's just Fish and I battling through his aching muscles for the rest of the evening.  I never did get to finish that beer.

A week in the life (v.2014.12)

Born to be wild!

We were learning letters.  I told her that when you say the letter "O", your mouth looks just like the letter.  So we were comparing the letter with her mouth.

Sweet snuggles

Watch out, Clark Kent.  Here comes WonderKitty!

We hit the library last weekend.  Someone really enjoyed herself.

They have a fish tank in the children's area -- we were scoping out the big one.

Being silly in the library

The library had no less than 10 toddler puzzles, which we had to complete.  This one we did five times (at least) and she never got a single piece wrong.  Once she realizes that I'm videoing her, she decides to "forget" where the pieces go.

Playing with Baby Brother -- feeding him some numbers.

Mommy & Finn selfie

On Sunday, I got out her old 3-6 month clothes to see what gender neutral things I could pull for Brother.  (I really don't want to go out and buy long-sleeves as he will only wear them for a couple of weeks before summer hits.)  And Sister found some outfits that she really wanted to put on.  So we did.  Here she is sporting a 6 month shirt & diaper set.  She wore this ALL DAY LONG...

Showing us the back -- the bum ruffles

We took Daddy to the airport on Sunday.  She ate some chocolate yogurt covered raisins and ended up getting yogurt in between her eyes.  This was taken 15 seconds before she fell asleep (no joking).

Monday, Fish had his 8 week appointment with the doctor.  He was one happy clam.

Video evidence that he was a happy clam.  Because he isn't happy anymore (from the muscle soreness from the vaccines).

Monday night, we ate pizza.  It was her first time having ranch dressing.  Let's just say that she is a fan.

Showing Daddy that this is a 6 month outfit.  Big dude.

Finn had a fight with our kitchen table that morning.  I thought she was going to end up with a black eye.  Just a couple of scratches by that evening.

Chillin' with his Fish binkie.

Someone is the best big sister EVER!!!!!!!!!!!

Tuesday morning, Finn was up and watching TV & Fish was still sleeping.  So I got up and jumped in the shower quick.  This is what I came back to - Finn was on binkie patrol (popping that sucker in whenever it fell out which happens often).

Brother loves watching her dance and jump.

This was our Tuesday night.  Finn didn't have a good night and threw tantrum after tantrum, finally falling asleep at 10pm.  Fish refused to sleep because he was sore from his vaccines and of course, I didn't have any infant Tylenol on the house...  Womp womp.

I love that the only thing you can see on the onesie is "mom's cranky? dad's not home?"  Because that was seriously our Tuesday night...