here and there

i think what makes a house really cute are the details.

oh sure, paint color and floor choices are key,

but the furniture, wall hangings and

decorative items can really make or break a room.

little by little i've been adding some finishing touches around here.

nothing really on the first floor because ronnie

sucks at life and still hasn't finished the walls.

(i'm considering hiring someone at this point)

but the upstairs feels complete.

1- added wall art and a shower curtain to the girls "flamingo" bathroom.

this is the one room that i feel is kind of bright, but since

its a kids bathroom i figured, eh, why not!

 

2- bought curtains for reid's room.

it is actually a shower curtain from target.

i loved the gold and white herringbone pattern, so i cut it in 2,

used some hem tape and made it work.

ronnie is supposed to hang it tonight.

 

3- bought and hung our new family photos.

(master bedroom mantle and hallway)

4- found old washboards for the laundry room walls.

5- put a new rug in the family room

that we found on sale at home goods.

that old shag rug was my favorite, but its not kid

or pet friendly so it had to go.

it. was. gross.

just imagine - - the dogs had peed on it, brette spilt drinks,

dropped play doh and even took a crap on it.

one day i'll have a pretty cream shag rug again,

but probably not for 15 years or so.

6- finished my "white erase board" for the kitchen.

my mom found the perfect doily and

i replaced the glass and now it just needs hung.

i love it.

and that's it for now.

its the small things that i love to find and add to our house.

i have a bunch of stuff and ideas for downstairs when/if

the time ever comes. (fingers crossed its soon)

the reason for the delay is ronnie likes working outside better,

so he decided to get rid of one of our many weed/flower beds

and cut down six small trees in our front yard.

 

the outside still needs a lot of work,

which is why i'm begging ronnie to work inside while its hot

and do yard work this fall.

he says he's painting this weekend.

here's hoping!

if so, i'll post pictures next week.

first timers

let's give a round of applause to first-time moms.

are they nervous?

sure.

over prepared?

definitely.

but is that really a bad thing?

not. at. all.

 

i know the luvs commercial makes it seem

like first time moms are a little neurotic and

when you have your second you are easy breezy.

but this week i was wishing i was my first-time-mom self.

two years ago my diaper bag had:

diapers

wipes

 a change of clothes

lotion

 nail clippers

powder

vitamin d

vix vapor rub...

i mean, i had everything.

i don't know what i thought was going to happen,

but if brette had an emergency hang nail, a sweaty butt or

a sudden stuffy nose - -

i. was. ready.

 

now?

i have a minnie mouse doll, a swimsuit,

a diaper, change of panties, a t-shirt, a few wipes,

flip flops and a granola bar.

r a n d o m

so when reid blew out a diaper while we were out,

well lets just say i missed my old diaper bag.

poop was on her clothes, her blanket and

her burp cloth.

dammit.

luckily we had just left wal-mart and were at my brother's

so i could scrounge up extra wipes and brette's t-shirt.

 

 

thank god its not winter.

my poor second child.

its time for me to repack my diaper bag

and try to be more like a first time mom.



20 minutes

normally i get woken up in the morning.

not surprising.

but immediately i'm on the go.

i have to take brette potty,

then get her in my bed to watch cartoons while

i go downstairs to feed and let the dogs out and get brette a drink.

(because my child wakes up thirsty.)

once i'm back upstairs i change and nurse reid,

while hopefully brette just chills beside me.

reid has been waking up around 5:00am which unfortunately means

that her next feeding is around 7:30.

its not fun to have both girls wake up at the same time.

and sometimes brette doesn't cooperate with cartoon time.

sometimes she's hungry or wants to be held

and in those instances i just try to make her wait until i'm done with reid.

it's a hectic 30 minutes.

but today,

today was good.

i woke up on my own at 7:24.

i remember because i was shocked that both girls were still asleep.

i contemplated going back to sleep myself but

decided i should take advantage of these couple minutes

of peace to jumpstart my morning.

i took the dogs out and fed them.

i got brette's drink all ready.

i washed my face, brushed my teeth,

got dressed and even put on make up.

and just as i was about to sit down,

brette woke up.

luckily reid was still sleeping so i had

time to take her potty, get her dressed and fed.

i swear, but 9:30 all three of us were ready for the day.

and it didn't feel hectic.

 

so i've decided i need to make everyday feel like today

and try to get up 20 minutes before the girls.

now i just have to MAKE myself actually get up.

at least i know it's august

yesterday someone asked me what the date was.

i thought it was the 3rd or 4th.

nope, totally the 10th.

i've lost time.

somewhere in between the diapers,

the naps, nursing and holding both my babies

i've completely lost track of my days and weeks.

 

i blame the littles.

but who can fault me when i stare at these faces all day?

 (our tiny peanut laid out on our king size bed)

 

 (B making play-doh cookies with aunt sheri)

 

 (hanging out on the deck while daddy makes us breakfast)

 

 (lazy days in our PJs)

 

 (purple pals - paige and reid)

 

 (playdate at the glover's)

 

(a little chalk art before nap)

 

 

and if you want to see some

adorable photos our newborn session is online.

its the same photographer that did brette's

and i love that ronnie got to come this time,

so we could even get a family photo!

 

go to www.m-mphoto.com

click on the link photo cart

click on the portraits box

our shoot is called 7-27 Brooke

when you click on our box it will ask you for a password.

type in cox

a big picture of reid will come up and underneath it will say:

click here to enter

click on that link and you should be able to view all her pictures.

 

i'm loving them.



life update

another week has come and gone

and things seem to be getting better and better.

brette is used to having "baby reid" around

and she asks to hold her, kiss her and she

HAS to help me change her diapers.

the only time i still see a bit of jealousy

is in the afternoons after her nap

when i'm nursing reid and i can't hold her too.

we're working through it and most of the time

i can make her happy if she sits next to me with

my arm around her.

 

reid is still in her newborn honeymoon phase.

she eats, she sleeps, she stares at us.

she doesn't cry very much and a lot of the time

its almost like she isn't here.

she is so quiet.

very unlike her sister.

my pediatrician told me that between 4-6 weeks

she will be awake more and a lot fussier,

so i'm taking advantage of these few weeks while i can.

nighttime has gotten a lot better over

the last few days too.

she goes down between 10-11,

sleeps five hours, nurses

and then sleeps until 7-8.

i can totally live with that.

i'm only up once a night.

of course, i'd love her to go longer,

but i'm not complaining at all.

 

ps- mothers of two... how do you go grocery shopping?

once i have the carseat in the cart and brette riding in the seat,

i have no actual space for food.

i hate leaving grocery shopping for the weekends,

but i'm thinking i totally need ronnie so we can have two carts...???

 

 

 

 

a piece of us

as you know,

i always try to have our thank you's done

before i go into the hospital because

after i get out of the hospital it gets way

too crazy for me to sit down

and actually write out cards to everyone.

when i had brette i made little "peanut" m&m thank you's.

they read - thank you for visiting our little peanut!

 

 

i wanted to stick with the candy theme with reid

and i like that it gives people something to snack on.

i found a version of this reese's pieces thank you's on pinterest.

i just changed the verbiage a little and i think

it's the sweetest little message to our family and friends.

 

 

 

 

and thank you.

thank you for coming to visit.

thanks for bringing dinner.

thanks for bringing clothes, books and 

treats for both my girls.

thanks for helping me with brette.

thanks for keeping me company while i adjust to

life with two kids.

and thank you to welcoming reid into our lives with so much love.

 

 

thank you.

thank you.

thank you.

one week

as of yesterday we have one week under our belts.

of course, the first week is probably the easiest one

since i didn't leave the hospital until friday.

ronnie was with me all weekend and half of monday.

(we had our newborn pics taken monday morning - can't wait to see them!)

monday night we had our usual family dinner so mom and dad cooked,

tuesday my parents took brette for the morning to hang out with

madeline and eden and i got caught up around the house.

plus i was able to make our first outing to the pediatrician.

that night shannon and her family stopped by and brought dinner.

finally on wednesday - exactly a week old - i was by myself with both girls.

luckily enough, my cousin brought us dinner and

i have to say, the stress of not worrying about food has been too nice.

i can't thank my friends and family enough for all the help.

i was stressing about being by myself these last couple days,

just because brette is extra needy and that makes things harder.

is reid wearing a dress?

then its brette's dress.

or brette's blanket.

or brette's pillow.

whatever reid has, brette wants.

is reid getting held?

then brette wants held.

i can't tell you how many times i've heard "hold me, mommy."

she even asked me to change her diaper because i was changing reid.

hello, you don't even have a diaper on!

she just needs some extra lovin' right now and

i'm trying my best to give it to her,

but i also know there will be tears and i'm just going

to have to listen to them and keep going.

but honestly, it hasn't been as hard as i thought.

lucky for me, reid sleeps like a true newborn.

all. the. time.

we put her down for the night about 11:00,

i nurse her at 3:00 and then again at 6:00.

brette wakes up at 7:00 and i get to spend a couple

hours just me and her.

i don't do chores or anything - which is unlike me,

but like i said, brette is desperate for some mamma time.

we snuggle, eat, get dressed and play until reid wakes up about 9:30.

i am relying a lot on cartoons and our playroom when i have to nurse.

i need about 30 minutes of down time where brette doesn't need me.

i'm sure i'll be nursing on-the-go by the end of this year,

but i'm also trying to get some relaxing one on one time with reid too.

its truly a balancing act.

i read that when you have a second baby your time is divided,

but your love is multiplied.

it couldn't be any truer.

 

so far i feel good about how things are going.

this morning i managed to get both girls, dressed, fed and out the door.

we went and visited my work and

even made it to the park for some playtime.

of course, we've had a few rough moments,

and don't ask how my hair looks,

but overall, i think we're gonna make it.