To my dearest 2 yr old

Dear, dear Riley: When you go to bed, we are well aware that you play. For future reference these toys do NOT help you be discreet about it: Chatter Phone, your talking Foofa (and the giggling that follows), the Laugh'n'Learn Puppy that sings all kinds of crap, and your potty book (that you obsessively push the flush ...button on). At least play with something QUIET when you're supposed to be sleeping. A little effort goes a long way, my dear.

Thanks,
Your (highly amused, yet somewhat aggravated) mother

the rumor is true.

no no, not the rumor that I'm "with child" again. Oh dear Lord, that would seriously make me want to go and jump off of a bridge. LOVE my 2 babies, but that is plenty for this moment in time.

The rumor that is true is that I have a new obsession. Sewing. Seriously, I'm OBSESSED. I've slowly started acquiring more and more (and more... and more... and more...) fabric over the last year - year and a half. I'd make small projects here and there, but nothing huge. I mastered rag quilts and they are a nice "long term" project. But I like doing things w/ immediate results. Last weekend I completed an advent calendar for Mollie and I have to say, I'm pretty impressed. She ordered the pattern from an etsy shop and had me make it. I'll be doing one for myself and my sister this week... I had a TON of left over fabric. I'll be sure to post a picture when I make another. The only one I snapped of Mollie's was w/ my cell phone so the quality totally blows! This week I made a little toddler backpack for a friend. I used this pattern from blueprints and it was SO easy that I decided to do one for Riley! I completed hers this afternoon...

Right now I'm working on a hooded reindeer towel and washcloth. I got the original idea from the Gooseberry Patch Christmas book and found a similar pattern online. Now I'm combining the 2, improvising, and creating my own!

Oh! And I have MY ETSY shop open again!! I only have 2 things in it right now, but keep watching. I plan on updating a few times a week for right now...

Here are the backpacks:

Friend's:

Riley's:

A new project

Alright. I have a goal. I have seen some table cover playhouses that are out of this world cute. That's a BRILLIANT idea for our house. We are limited on space for toys since toys go in the kids rooms and I am not a fan of toys "homes" being in the family room. (I just can't wait for the day that we have a playroom!!).

Here is the goal... Since we're on a budget, I'm going to do this for $10 or less. That's r? ight - I'm going to build my kids a playhouse for less than $10. But I'll need everyone's help, ok? Any old flat/top sheets anyone has lying around, I need them! This may make for a very unique/colorful playhouse, but it'll be fun!

Here are some of the idea blogs...
This and that
Homemade by Jill
Sew Much Ado

Open letter to my kids

Dear Plice kids:

Sleep is your friend. The more you get, the happier we are. Ri- this means sleeping past 6 a.m. AND taking a good nap. Asher- this means really trying for at least 7 straight hrs. When you sleep well, your parents are a lot happier. This means you get more treats.

Just an FYI,

Your.tired.mom.who.cannot.afford.to.sleep.through.her.alarm.again.and.go.to.work.looking like.a.hot.mess.again.

This is the letter I wrote to my kids on Facebook last night. Surprisingly, they listened. Asher slept 7 straight hours and Riley woke up at 6:25. While Asher eating at 5:30 COMPLETELY threw off our morning, it was nice to get that much sleep consecutively. Also, 6:25 is still far earlier than I would like for Riley, but it is certainly better than the 4:20 stunt Riley pulled Saturday.

Speaking of which... Saturday. 4:20 a.m. Riley comes BUSTING in to our room saying, "hi!!" So I get up and go put her back in bed. She kept saying, "a baby. A baby. A baby." So I go searching for her baby. Nowhere to be found, of course. So I find another baby she likes. That only half way satisfied her. I'm pretty sure she didn't really sleep much between then and 6:45 when she refused to get back in bed. At least she took a good nap and then we had her party that afternoon. My baby is 2. Holy cow.

The birthday girl eating her cupcake

Asher's first LU football game (yes, I made that carseat cover. I'll finish the canopy as soon as I have 5 minutes to breath)

Who could ever be mad at that cute smile? (please excuse the blurriness, I was snapping the picture as fast as possible)

I shave

So Riley has not a lot of words that are understood by an average human being. She talks and talks... just not in English. She actually is scheduled for a speech evaluation next Friday. Of course, she has started saying a bunch of new words in the past few days. I'm sure she'll rattle off all kinds of words next Friday and make me look even more looney than I already do.

So anyways... I was giving her a bath a few nights ago. I turned to grab something and when I looked back, she was standing and grabbing my razor. Mind you, she hardly ever stands in the tub (she's scared) and the razor is, in fact, on a shelf that she typically cannot reach. So as she does that, she throws her other arm up in the air and acts like she is about to put the razor to it and proclaims, "I SHAVE!". She did this as I was reaching to grab the sharp object from her. I said, "Um, no. You don't even talk, so no, you do NOT shave." She looked at me like I was nuts for taking it from her. I'm so mean to not let my 2 yr old play with razors.

Or maybe she was trying to tell me that I need to shave... whatever.

Dear Wednesday.

Thank you for arriving finally. If I make it through you, it will mean I've made it halfway through the week. I love my job, but I love my family more. So the sooner you are over, Wednesday, the sooner I get to have 2 full days with my 3 loves. Thanks.

Goodbye Garlic. Again.

So I gave up onions this time because they make Asher-boy so very gassy. Alright, fine. Most things are just fine if you just add some onion powder and then you don't get the gas factor.

I've stayed away from garlic *just in case* since that was the ONLY thing that bothered Riley. Well I went to Olive Garden for lunch yesterday w/ friends from work. And everyone knows that Olive Garden = salad and bread sticks. I ate a LOT of bread sticks that were coated in butter and garlic. They were so delicious and amazing. What is not amazing is how fussy Asher has been last night and today whenever he'd nurse. He kept pulling away - clearly repulsed by the taste - and fussing. He was insanely gassy. He took the bottle fine all day and so we gave him a few oz in the bottle tonight and no problem. So problem solved. No more garlic. Oy.

Oh this also means that all of my work pumping today was for nothing. NOTHING because it all has to be dumped. It's been tainted with garlic. BLAST!

Other than that...

I started back to work last week. It's been a fairly smooth transition back. I went back on a Wednesday. Ryan was able to stay home Wed/Thurs/Fri. Kids didn't have school Friday or Monday, so it was nice to have 2 low key days. Our weekend was pretty relaxed. Nothing major. Asher and I went to church again finally. He was a dream. Riley was wiggly... but please tell me what 2 yr old is NOT wiggly?

Riley is a hot mess. Cute as she can be! She has learned to sign "help" now. I love it! She "uses her words" when she does it, too. She is sassy and nuts. This afternoon she was coming in the living room and saying, "bye bye!" to me and then running down the hall and slamming her door. She'd open and poke her head out to see if I was looking. When she realized I was, she'd crack up and say, "bye bye!" and slam the door again. Ryan actually had to tell her to stop slamming doors. If she is like this at 2, what is she going to be like at 13? At least this time she was laughing and it's not because she hates us.

Oh... she also no longer has a bed rail on her bed. We took it off last night when I was putting her new quilt (yes, she has ANOTHER quilt. You can NEVER have too many) on her bed and just left it off. She thinks she is so old now. She was giggling and climbing up and down and up and down. I guess she feels like we gave her some freedom..

Expect pictures of my crazies... I mean children... soon.

Dear Monday

Dear Monday,
Please go away. Nobody likes you. You are always a miserable day. It seems that you only show up to torment EVERYONE. While you are packing your bags, please make sure to pack my toddlers temper tantrums, too. I'm sick of those. My sweet girl turns in to a raging beast over every.little thing. So, Monday... I am closing this letter by telling you to GO AWAY.

Thank you,
a sleep deprived mom

I'm baaaaaack!

Well folks, I'm back. I had to take a break from the blogging world for a little while. Between Riley, Ryan, work, and being pregnant... there was NO time for anything.

Brief update on us... I'll do a month by month run down to bring ya up to speed.

April: Nothing too adventurous. A week after Easter, we found out we were having a little BOY! I was sooooooo shocked! In fact, I think I yelled a little bit in the u/s room. I may or may not have annoyed the u/s tech saying, "I can't believe it! I can't believe we're having a boy! I was so wrong!" I mean, I was so convinced that this baby was a girl that we'd barely discussed boy names and hadn't planned ANYTHING for a boy. Also, Riley transitioned in to a "big girl" bed... she is now in a twin bed! WEEEEEEE!

May: Went to visit Ryan's family in Ohio. We had a great time! Traveling w/ a toddler is HARD work. It is not nearly as easy as when she was a newborn and didn't need entertainment. OY.

June: School ended. Summer program began. What a whirlwind. U/S #6 for the little man (who still had no name at this point)... placenta had moved (whew, love those moving placentas) and all looked well. As of 31 weeks pg, he was measuring close to 4lbs. At which point, I started to panic. Did this mean he was going to be big? I can't be birthing any big babies. At least I can get some drugs.

July: U/S #7... at work one of my kids was taking off running and w/o thinking, I ran after him. This included hurdling a chair. This is ALWAYS a bad idea, but especially at 32/33 wks pregnant. I was having some VERY mild contractions the remainder of the day, so the dr did a quick scan. We also moved to a new house. Hallelujah. It has 3 bedrooms and is EXCELLENT.

August: CRAZY month! On the 5th a tree fell on my car and the house. That is right - a TREE. Not a limb or a branch, a TREE. I had gone home from work to eat lunch and noticed it was about to start storming. I turned around to get a cup of ice water when I heard a loud bang. I thought someone was trying to break in to the house and was scared as heck. I poke my head out and there is the tree. It had snapped and was laying across the hood of my car and the roof. Nice. Luckily, the damage was fairly minimal. We are still waiting for my car to get fixed. I'm getting impatient.

Our AC also went out at 38 weeks pregnant. I cried. It was soooooooo hot. The a/c guy was a complete jerk to us and alluded to the problem being something we had caused. It was not and we knew it. (peek in to the future. A/C went out again in early September... they had to replace the compressor.) I'm sorry that guy had to work on a Saturday, but dude... that is your JOB. If you don't want to work Saturdays in August, you should consider not working in HVAC during the summer. Just an FYI.

School started on August 24th. I went to the open house the week before and got told how huge I had gotten and how I would not make it to the first day of school. Well, I WANTED to be at the first day and preferrably the first WEEK of school for a bunch of reasons. First day was smooth sailing. We had divided the caseload I would have after maternity leave between myself and another girl until I went in to labor. 2nd day of school came and so did the baby! I worked until 3:15, went home w/ mild contractions - mild enough that I couldn't time them that well, but had one that I could not talk through, got a bath (a girl has to shave her legs before going to the hospital), finished/started packing my bag, and out the door we headed. Ryan called my parents while I was in the tub to tell them we thought it was time. Got everything in order. Arrived at the hospital at 4:20. Contractions were 4 minutes-ish apart and I could.not. talk through them. They were bringing tears to my eyes. Nurse checked me, 3 cm, she was going to start the process to admit me. She was in and out of the room. I asked for an epi - she said as soon as I was admitted and in a Labor and Delivery room, they'd have it ready. I couldn't lay in bed. I constantly had to go to the bathroom. Then I started puking my guts out. Nurse says she is trying to get me in a room and she'll finish the process of admitting me in there.

Finally a labor and delivery room is open at 5:30. I walk down the hall and tell Ryan that the contractions aren't stopping. As soon as one would taper off, the next would begin. I could not catch my breath. I went to the bathroom when we got in to the new room and said, "I just have sooooooo much pressure!" The nurse said if I'd get in bed, she'd get my IV in and get me stadol until the dr w/ the epi got there. I finally managed to get in the bed. She hooked up my IV, injected the stadol, checked me - 8 cm. WTH??? It was only 5:46! We'd only been there an hr and 26 minutes!! How was I already 8 cm!? She ran to the hall to call for the anesthisiologist and the other nurse informed her that it was too late - I was at 10 cm and his head was "right there". I was screaming (at the top of my lungs, tyvm) and holding on to the top of the bed. My water broke - filled with meconium. Special care team was called. I pushed, the nurses told me to come down. I started crying and told them I couldn't do it. I wanted my epidural and I didn't know how to do this w/ no drugs. Because of when the stadol was given, it had not taken effect. It takes 15 - 20 minutes to kick in. I didn't have that much time. And to be told I wouldn't get that glorious epi, I was a mess. I finally moved down the bed. Pushed 3 times and the baby was out! The dr missed the head, but he caught the rest of the body. They didn't have time to break down the bed even!

Asher Douglas arrived at 5:54 p.m. on August 25th... just 1 hr 34 minutes after we arrived at the hospital. LESS than 3 hrs after I left work. He weighed 6lbs 8oz and was 19 inches long. He is a great baby! No problems with nursing, latched right away. Riley is in love with "Ashooo" and has to check on him every morning when she gets up.

A sad note about August... Ryan's grandmother passed away on August 23rd after suffering a stroke the week prior. Her funeral was the same day Asher-boy was born (thank GOD Ryan didn't head up like we had originally thought he would since labor seemed far off!). She will definitely be missed. As we said bye to one family member, we also welcomed another.

We've gotten to relax a lot since I've been off of work. Myself and the kids went and visited my family for a week since Ryan had to work a lot of overtime last week. We had TONS of fun! Riley loves to play with Jack! We went to visit my grandparents and that is always a great time.

It's been a month since Asher flew in to our lives and it's been crazy. I love it. He's growing soooooo fast. Riley has turned from a baby to a little girl. I'm not sure I can handle them growing up so fast! The Rooster went to the dr for an upper respiratory infection on Wednesday - she weighs a whopping 22lbs now. So skinny! Asher-boy had his 1 month check up on Friday and he weighed in at 8lbs 9oz (gained 2lbs in a month! Looks like I'm doing a good job feeding him!) and was 20.5 inches! Pedi also gave Zantac to help with what we suspect is reflux. We can already tell a huge difference and it's only been 2 days!

Look for pictures this week!

Our first scrape...

Well this weekend, Riley decided that she wasn't going to follow directions. I was taking the dog out to go to the bathroom and Riley came to the back door. I kept telling her to sit down to come down the 2 steps (it's a step out of the door and then a step down to the concrete)... she didn't listen. She really thinks she is a big girl and can just walk down the steps. FYI, you're kind of tiny Riley. Needless to say, she lost her balance and took a dive on to the concrete face first. Poor girl. The crying didn't last long and there was a bruise, but all was well.

Here are some pictures from the tragedy...

Smile! If you look hard, you can see the bruise/rash on her forehead.

but who can resist that cute face?? At lease she is smiling after she got up from nap!

and some from the next day.

Posing

Cheese!!!And... she's done!

We have a picture update...

Some snow pictures... by the way, this was the 2nd day of March. What the heck?

Another week.

What a week.

Work is insane. Literally. I love it. Some days are frustrating and/or stressful, but for the most part I absolutely love every minute of my job! I love that it is never the same 2 days in a row. I love when kids have a break through and you feel like there is a reason you are there. I love getting good news from the boss and being totally encouraged about things. I do love my job... even on days when I want to pull my hair out. Since I don't have a choice about working at this current moment, I'm glad I'm in this field of work.

Riley is Riley. Her schedule was all kinds of crazy this week. The babysitters husband was working a shift that was right in the middle of nap time. So she was napping earlier and not as long. Made for some early evenings during the week. This weekend she has been a ball of energy!! I think that 4th molar is really working hard on cutting through completely because she's been a drooling monster today! She's been gnawing on anything and everything she can get in her mouth. Her poor checks are RAW. We've been battling with this for MONTHS. We thought it was a banana allergy (I still suspect she has a sensitivity, but not an allergy) and so we cut those out. It got a little bit better, but not clear. Then we nailed it down to wipes. That has MAJORLY helped. She has sensitive skin and using a wipe on her face makes it break out something terrible. It's been getting tons better recently but she woke up today with them flaming red again. One spot looks like it might've been bleeding a little bit. Poor girl. I've been drenching them in aquaphor and that helps. Maybe later in the week I will post pictures... if anyone has any ideas or suggestions, I'm willing to listen!

Ryan is working his heart out. This week was back to the radio station. He was there Tuesday night, Wednesday night, all day Saturday and today! Poor guy is going to be EXHAUSTED by the time this is over! Only about another month of this and it's over! Then he has a degree and can find a better job! WAHOO!

No major plans this week... Friday Riley and I head up to No. VA for the weekend. The twice a year consignment sale happens next Saturday. Hopefully I find amazing deals on summer clothes!

3 month update!

Whew! It's been a while, hasn't it??

Let's go month by month...

December - Riley still isn't walking! Who needs to walk when you can crawl 60mph or people to carry you everywhere!?

On the 16th, we got the surprise of the year... we're having another baby! That Friday, the 19th, I had my "yearly" appt where I had an u/s to confirm and date the pregnancy. Scary news. They couldn't see anything just yet. Talk about being scared out of my mind. As it worked out, it was just too early. I found out when I was 3weeks 2days and that u/s was at 3w 5d. They had me do some blood work and then sent me on my way. That started our Christmas travels!

First off... northern VA for the Proffitt Family Christmas Party. Always a lot of fun. Interesting to see everyone! We also told my family about the new baby to be that weekend. Ryan had to come back to town to work for a day and a half, but Riley and I stayed up with my family.

Next round... Ohio! We told Ryan's family about the new baby to be as soon as we got there! They were sooooooooo excited! Boy was Riley the center of attention in OH! The child does no wrong. But isn't that what grandparents and aunts for? To give you whatever mom and dad don't give you? DUH! We spent Christmas day in Ohio and it was a BLAST. My first Christmas away from my family, but it wasn't as hard as I expected it to be. It was much too quick of a visit. I wish we were closer to both families. It'd make life so much easier!

Now it was back to No. VA, with a quick stop in MD. Riley got to meet my grandfather and see my grandmother again. Then Christmas with the Proffitt family. By now, there were too many gifts to fit them all in the car. Gifts, plus the 3 of us, plus the dog. WHEW! Back to town on Sunday.

Monday I went back to the dr for more bloodwork. All came back well... HCG was on the high side. High is better than low. Went in Wednesday - I only expected to see the gestational sac - for another u/s. Sure enough. There it was - the gestational sac. Measuring 5w 3d, right on target to when I figured we had conceived. PERFECT! Dr scheduled another u/s at 7w 1d (Jan 12) to check for a heartbeat. There it was... flickering away! Wonderful! At 10w 1d (I think), I had the usual "first" OB appt. With Riley, this was the first time I saw the dr... this time it was the 4th! As well as the 4th u/s! Crazy!!

January started off with baby things. Nothing too huge happening. Riley started walking towards the middle of the month. Our life, as we knew it, was over. She didn't just walk... she was running, too. EEEk!

February was uneventful. February was when my 10w appt was. Oh yes... there was some events going on in February. How I almost forgot, I do not know. After talking to Ruby (Riley's babysitter while I work), we made the joint decision that it would be more beneficial for her family financially for her to get a non-daycare job. I was heartbroken, but I knew God would provide. We found one lady, seemed comfortable. I freaked out about a week before we were supposed to start and started hardcore looking for someone else. Came across a girl on facebook. All seemed PERFECT. She had a little girl about 2 months younger than Riley, she lived near us, went to the same school... seemed great. It wasn't. The first week was ok. Riley HATED it. She didn't sleep well and cried hard when I left. It was like ripping part of my heart out everyday. As it worked out, I ended up sick towards the end of the week and got to keep her home for a day. However, I figured it was all normal and we'd all adjust. Then the next week came. Monday Riley was in the living room alone while the new sitter went to get something from the kitchen. In the "2 seconds" she was gone, Riley managed to get a hold of a cup of coffee. She dumped the coffee on herself AND the sitter's laptop. NOOOO! The laptop was ruined. Their insurance on it expired about a week and a half before. They were paying $100 to get the pictures off of the hard drive, but the motherboard was gone. I felt horrible. But, she's a toddler and there's nothing I could do to change it. As the week went on several things happened that really left a bad taste in my mouth. By wednesday I knew that this situation wasn't going to work. The sitter is VERY against vaccinating children - fine, do what you want- and was giving me a hard time about us choosing to vaccinate Riley. It was implied that if we got Riley the MMR vaccine, she would be a risk to her un-vax'd pregnant roommate and her un-vax'd daughter. With ANY research, you will learn that the risk to an un-vax'd pregnant woman is NEARLY nothing - unless she is changing Riley's poopy diapers (which she had no business doing) without any gloves on her hands. Riley was no risk to the other child. Several comments were made about my choice to vaccinate. Did I ever tell her how I felt she was being irresponsible and ignorant by choosing not to vaccinate and not do her research regarding the topic? No. It's not my place. Wednesday afternoon, Riley and I went to Ruby's to visit. Riley RAN over to her and looked at me like, "you've finally come to your senses and brought me back where I belong." I cried to ruby and told her everything going on. She let me know that the new job wasn't working out as they'd hoped AND they were moving. Financially things would be turning around for them. She agreed to take Riley back the day they moved. I informed the new sitter that as of March 2, Riley would be going back. It's what was best for our family. That Friday morning after I got to work, I got a text. Yes, a TEXT. It said that if we chose to give Riley the MMR vaccine at her appt on Monday, she would not be able to come back. That was it. I had plalnned on informing her that we were just going to delay it 2 weeks until we switched because it is too difficult to find childcare for MONDAY for 2 weeks on FRIDAY. However, when I arrived... Riley's stuff was packed and by the door. Guess that answers THAT. Ruby watched Riley the following week, thank goodness. The 2nd week, Riley got to spend it at home with our friend Monday - Wednesday and then Ryan's parents came for a visit and kept her Thursday and Friday. We had an AMAZING visit with Ryan's parents. It was nice for them to get to spend so much time one on one with just Riley (and the dog). I think everyone had a blast. Riley had no problem with the transition. She did great with the in-laws. Probably because she sees them often on the webcam.

March started off with a bang! On the 1st, it started snowing. A lot. Our first real snow in about 7 years. Yes, that is right. we've gotten a couple of inches here and there, but nothing significant. By Monday morning, there was 10 inches on the ground! School was closed for me and the office was closed for Ryan. Tuesday I had the day off again, but Ryan went in. Wednesday it was back to Ruby for Riley and back to school for me! This month we've also gotten to hear the little baby's heartbeat. 141. Just like Riley. The only difference in pregnancies is I've been MUCH more sick this time. But Zofran and Phenergan came to the rescue. I'm finally starting to feel better!

I'm going to get better about updating, I PROMISE. My goal is AT LEAST 2 - 3times a week. Ryan's doing his internship 3 evenings a week, so maybe I'll update on those nights while I'm killing time.

Here are some Christmas pictures! I will do snow and others in a post tomorrow night, hopefully.

getting ready for the Christmas Eve church service

Opening presents on the fireplace is always better! (don't worry, it wasn't on)

Riley doesn't see the need for gifts. She'll wrap herself up!
sitting on Aunt Bethany's lap opening another gift.

her favorite face to make at the camera on Christmas