They Brighten My Day

When I am not feeling loved or appreciated, all I have to do is go to these guys and I get all the love in the world! Its unconditional. They don't judge. They just love me to death.

Baby Time

Little Man recently started going to a two's program which is 1 day a week from 9:30 - 1:30. The program is called Mother's Day Out. But for me, it is 'Mother AND Baby's Day Out'. It is four whole hours of just Mommy and Baby time.

I have to say, and I have said it before, Baby LOVES being an only child! Not that he doesn't love the kid that constantly steals, yells and cuddles like a bull. He does. But having 100% of Mom's attention and getting to play with anything he wants without being bothered is pretty darn good too!

For me, even though I miss Little Man like crazy, it is really nice to have this special bonding time with Baby. It makes me so sad to think that Baby is just starting to get 4 hours a week of what Little Man got on a constant basis for a whole year! I'm going to make those 4 hours a week THE BEST!

Baby's first "only child" morning started off nice. Auntie made a quick visit and stayed with him while I dropped Little Man off at school. They had snacks and played. Ten minutes later I was back home and we were off to go hang out with our besties J and "Dyn"!

It was a yucky, rainy day so we decided to check out the playground at the mall. It was PACKED so we went to a really fun toy store instead! It has a gazillion toys and a special play area for the little ones. He was in his glory.

He was climbing around like a little monkey and I even let him run around the entire store! He was a free man. Something that he doesn't get to experience too often being that it is next to impossible to keep up with two boys who pretend they are deaf and run like maniacs in opposite directions.

Well, he didn't have to say a word, I saw the look on his face. This is what was going through his little baby mind:
"Mom, look what I'm doing. I am running into this 'off limits' back room! Look, I just knocked a sticker display down! Mom, aren't you gonna yell at me? I'm putting something black and sticky in my mouth! Mom, are you seeing this? Did someone steal my mom and replace her with a nicer look alike?"

I was busy chasing and cleaning up after him but it was so worth it to see the look of PURE BLISS on his face. He had a blast!

After the toy store, we went home, had hot dogs for lunch and played a little more.

Then it was time to pick up Little Man. Sorry, Baby, back to reality.

Little Man came walking out of the classroom with his little projects in hand and smiled at us. Baby was SO excited to see him. He was laughing and kicking and just couldn't wait to get out of my arms to play with his brother. And Little Man was just as happy to see Baby! My heart melted a little that day.

After I calmed down from freaking out on Little Man for having a 'throw myself down face first and scream' session on the asphalt in the middle of the school parking lot, I was a happy mommy.

Baby loves his big brother and doesn't know life any other way. Sure, he loves getting lots of attention. Who doesn't? But, at the end of the day, he wouldn't trade his brother in for the world.

They love each other. This is what I had hoped for them.

A Bad Mom Moment

I have to say, I am particularly proud of myself when I successfully take both boys on a shopping trip without any help.  A lot goes into what sounds like a pretty simple task. 

If I heard that before I was the crazy mom of a 1 and 2 year old I would think it was BS. I am here to tell you IT’S NOT! 

The to-do list before leaving the house with my little guys includes diaper changes, getting dressed, putting socks and shoes on, packing snacks and drinks, getting myself ready (which is minimal these days… it’s a good day if remember to brush my teeth) diffusing any tantrums during the entire process and getting both boys into their car seats.  By the time I am actually driving the car to our destination I feel like I have run a marathon and have sweat stains under my arm pits.

Maybe if they were more like little adults that understood all of my rationalizations and explanations of why we can’t, for example, go to the store naked chewing on a dirty diaper, it would be a little easier. 

The other day I wanted to pick up some art supplies at Michael’s.  Yes, I recently realized that I am a crafty person. 

We made it out of the house and to Michael’s in once piece.  Success.

Shopping was a bit challenging but I got what I needed and paid for it (sometimes we steal by mistake).  Success.

Walked out of the store and saw a girlfriend who also has two young children.  She gave me props for taking both kids out by myself.   That was a nice ego boost!  I was doing a pretty good job, wasn’t I!?

Got the kids into the car and we were on our way back home.  Success.

3 minutes later on I-95 Little Man says, “Mommy, my seat belt isn’t buckled!”  And then he proceeded to climb out of it.  FAILURE.

I am FREAKING out telling him to sit down and to wait for me to pull over. 

He thinks this is absolutely hysterical.

 I want to die.  Do I pull over on the highway?  Do I get off the next exit? What if…what if…what if???

I am just waiting to pass a police officer who sees a two year old crawling around my backseat. 

I got off the next exit which was about a mile away but seemed more like a million miles away.  I buckled him in and we were off again.

I was a mess about it for a couple of minutes and then we laughed about it the whole way home. 

Just when I think I am super mom, I do something that puts me right back into that normal mom category…

At least I hope I am not the only moron who forgets to buckle their kids into their car seats.

Bon Appétit!

I always wondered about the kids who picked their noses and ate it.  Why?  What would make you even try that for the first time?  Do your parents do that?  Do you know how friggen nasty that is?

Uggghh...It makes me want to puke just thinking about it!  I remember those kids who couldn't stop picking and eating.  It was like their job.  I couldn't sit next to those kids at lunch and I really didn't want to sit next to them at all.  They had major cooties.

I hope to God I do not have a pick-your-nose-and-eat-it kid in the works.  I saw the wheels spinning the other day.

Little Man had woken up from his nap on the wrong side of the bed.  Not uncommon.  He woke up hysterical for a reason that was never made clear to me.  I was on the floor with Baby in my lap while Little Man sat beside me having a conniption fit. 

He was rubbing at his face full of tears and unbeknownst to him, a masive booger transferred from his nose to the back of his hand.  I was just about to wipe it off when he rubbed his face again.  It went directly into his mouth!

He stopped crying.

He licked his lips.

I think he chewed it a little.

His thinking face was on.

OH MY GOD!  Is this how it happens?  Is this the beginning of the grossest habit in the whole world? 

I didn't say a word when it happened.  I just kept my mouth shut and stared in horror. 

The good news is, I haven't seen any funny booger business since the incident.  I think we may be okay. 

I swear, if I am the mom of a kid who eats his boogers.....

...I will probably think it's cute.

I hope I'm not though.

5th Anniversary!

The Wedding Day:  On September 17, 2006, D and I got married.  It was more beautiful and perfect than we could have ever imagined.  Sometimes I can't believe it's been that long and other times it feels more like 20 years.  Either way, it has been the best years of our lives and we have made the most amazing little family together.  We are so lucky to have found eachother.

Today vs 5 Years Ago:  The amount of "me" time I had 5 years ago is literally unimaginable today.  Massages, facials, manicures, pedicures, shopping, dinners, movies, reading, sleeping, eating, thinking, etc.  The luxuries I had!  Fast forward 5 years...I actually went to sleep on sheets that Little Man had peed on 3 hours earlier.  I totally forgot about it until the next morning.  Boy, life has changed!

Gifts:  So, I didn't get a single gift for D this year (very unlike me!) and of course he did the most thoughtful things (as usual)!  I still feel awful.  Here is my terrible excuse....I just didn't have time!  D on the other hand, was actually listening to me babble about projects I found on Pinterest that I couldn't wait to get started on. He went onto the website, found the ones I was talking about and bought all of the materials I needed.  Yup, he was in Michaels, ACMoore, thrift shops, Christmas Tree Shoppe, you name it.  He was a man on a mission.  He actually did the DIY dry erase board all by himself and it came out beautiful!  The antique looking "J" on burlap in an oval frame was a little more intense so he got all of the materials for me. D, you have outdone yourself!  He also got me a beautiful jacket/raincoat from Banana but for $200 I decided to be cheap and buy some less expensive, much need clothes for myself!

Past Anniversary Celebrations:  We celebrated our very 1st anniversary in Punta Cana for a week and went to Puerto Rico to celebrate our 2nd.  Our 3rd and 4th anniversarys were celebrated at Morton's Steakhouse in Stamford.  That is officially our anniversary spot when we have 3 month old babies at home.  Will we ever celebrate at Morton's again?  Time will tell! 

The Night Out:  This year my mom was able to get us a free night at Mohegan Sun. Score!  Those rooms are beautiful and normally like $700 a night.  D's Mom and G stayed at our house for the night with the kids.  We ate a delicious meal Michael Jordan's, played some roulette and slots and went to bed at 2 am.  It felt pretty good going to sleep knowing that no one was going to wake me up! 

Yay!  We are out to dinner without a curfew!

So happy!

Happy Anniversary cake and champagne.





Dave eating leftover NY Strip at 2 am with his bare hands!  Did the same exact thing 5 years ago to the day!


The Next Day:  D woke me up at 7:00.  He couldn't sleep.  That's funny, cause I was sleeping JUST FINE!  COME ON!!!!

We got dressed, got a coffee, went to breakfast, played some more slots and roulette and left the hotel.  Yes, we did miss the boys but we made a quick pit stop at the outlets before going home.  It was my first shopping trip for clothes in well over two years.  It was nice.

Coming Home:  We had wonderful 23 hours of alone time but we were still so excited to see the boys.  When we walked in the door Little Man gave us a sweet smile that melted our hearts and Baby came running like a mad man from around the corner. He saw me and with the biggest smile shouted "Mommy, Mommy!"  That is what makes it all worth it!  It's good to get the little breaks here and there (and sometimes they are much needed!) but it is also so great to get back to reality. 

If you are reading this, thanks for marrying me, D! I love you.

1st Trip to the Hospital

So I have not written in a few days and so much has happened.  Let's start with Friday.  It was 8:00 am, I was already at work and D was on his way to drop the boys off at Ms Helen's.  That is when Little Man puked all over the place!  What?!  We are not used to this!  He has thrown up less than a handful of times throughout his entire little life (not counting the constant spit up for most of his first year).  So D decided to stop at my parent's house so that he could clean out the car while they watched the boys inside.  That was the plan at least until my mom heard D gagging.  I can't even explain how he gags.  It is beyond obnoxious and actually pisses me off.  I know, I know, he cant help it blah, blah, blah. The last time I heard him gag was a couple of weeks ago when he was unclogging a toilet that HE clogged.  I mean you would swear he was just forced to eat (for lack of a better word) a shit sandwich.  My mom said it was harder to stomach the sound of D than it was to actually clean up the regurgitated french toast and milk.  I believe it.  Thanks for taking care of that, Mom!

He really didn't seem sick and it was probably a random car sick thing but we decided it was best to keep the boys home and not expose the other little kids at daycare to a possible stomach bug.  Wouldn't it be nice if every parent had this common sense?  Anyway, Friday was Daddy Day Care at our house and it wasn't pretty.  I have to say, D is usually pretty good handling both boys by himself but not that day, my friends.  They were crazy little sleepless maniacs.  D ended up calling Grandma for help.  Wimp :)

5:00 pm comes and Baby runs full speed towards our nightstand, trips and face plants right into the bottom edge.  D said the sound was horrendous.   He had a pretty deep gash between his eyes and it swelled immediately.  No gushing blood, thank God!  Anyway, he immediately called the pediatrician and they recommended we take him to the ER.  I got the call on their way to the hospital and I ran out of the office and somehow caught the next train. 

I showed up at the hospital to see what looked A LOT worse than what it actually was.  He looked more like an alien than he did my little baby.  I was sick to my stomach.  Baby was certainly in better spirits than I was.  He was playing with toys, eating Rice Krispies, making a mess and laughing up a storm while I kind of felt like puking from the whole thing. 

Then the doctor came in.  What a moron...to say the least!  The only matter of fact thing that he was able to tell us that night was that Baby had a double ear infection.   Well we went to the pediatrician the next day who gave Baby a clean bill of health.  Wow.  I don't have any other words.  Well, maybe I do but I wont go there.

We didn't get much sleep Friday night but that's okay.  We were pretty worried about a possible concussion anyway and were planning on waking him up every couple of hours.  It was the first night since the newborn days that the little stinker slept with us.  It was adorable. 

The swelling has gone down a lot but the bruising looks worse as expected.  He looks like he was in a hard core bar fight.  My poor baby.  Here are some pics of the little bruiser...



In the ER, happy as could be!



Exhausted from a long day.



The morning after.

Now Baby, can you please stop getting yourself into trouble!?

Day from Hell / First Day of School

I am so tired I don't even feel like going into the details of the day from hell but I am forcing myself because today was a milestone...it was Little Man's first day of school!  We signed him up for a once a week 2s program and today was the introductory class with Mommy.  It went very well and I was so proud of him.  He wasn't the worst kid in the class!! Yippee!!  I was on top of the world.  My son is the best kid EVER.

The shit hit the fan the second we got home.  He had a complete breakdown about taking off the diaper that Daddy drew a firetruck on before he left for school.  I mean he was kicking, screaming, throwing his body all over the floor, pulling on every extremity I have and it lasted at least 30 minutes.  I finally got him and Baby down for a nap.  Hallelujah...I have at least 2 hours of peace. 

Oh wait, they BOTH decided to wake up 30 minutes later miserable as hell.  FML.  I now have 2 babies in their diapers having complete tantrums in the kitchen.  I was contemplating taking a video because no one would ever believe how bad it was.  I decided it was time for a drive.  I didn't say a word to either of them...I just threw them in the car and we were off.  Did it stop the incessant crying?  No, but at least I didn't have to do anything but drive.  I didn't say a word. Finally, Baby fell asleep. 

It was a loooongggg car ride that ended in a trip to the mall with Grammie.  By that time both boys were relatively mellow and happy to finally be out of the car.  We paid $10 f'ing dollars to push them around in carts with steering wheels, bought some nail polish and just walked around for a while. 

When we got home Little Man had another melt down about the mechanics of a tension gate.  I let Daddy handle that one.  We fed them dinner, had some chocolate ice cream, watched a little Toy Story 3 and went to bed.  I feel like I've been hit by a truck.

Here are some moments that kept me sane today...
 

Little Man in front of his new school

Loving the toys at school

How cute is this?!

Hey!  He got more than me!

I love chocolate ice cream!

Baby's signature face

Daddy and Baby having fun!

My New Obsession

Apparently, my best friend thought I had some extra time on my hands so she decided to introduce me to Pinterest.  As if Facebook wasn’t sucking enough time out of my day!  The good thing is that it has actually taken over the time that I would have normally spent Facebook stalking.  YAY!  Because of my new love affair with this website, the thought of breaking up with Facebook has actually crossed my mind.  I have decided not to do anything so drastic just yet.  Anyway, for those of you who don’t know about this most fabulous Pinterest site, it is a virtual pinboard that lets you organize and share all the beautiful things you find on the web!  Genius.   

I can’t stop pinning. It is chock full of clever ideas.   From organizing to cleaning to decorating to kid’s projects to clothes to crafts…this site has it all.  I have so much on my to-do list including painting the kitchen the oh-so-pretty Mineral Blue, making faux roman shades from a Target tablecloth, hanging a door shoe organizer to the inside of the pantry for storage (Amazing! What mastermind came up with this? ), painting with chalkboard paint, making my own crafty dry erase board, spending $10 to convert my very own writing into a font (!!), making fun frames to display the boys art projects, whipping up some homemade play dough, getting Little Man’s and Baby’s chubby little footprints on a step stool (I’m sure that will be a post in itself), melting down crayons into fun shapes, hanging a car oil pan on the playroom wall for magnets and the list goes on and on.  Have I peaked your interest yet?!  This stuff makes me feel like Little Man does when he gets a new fire truck!

I have completed one Pinterest project so far…the living room mantel.  I have to say, the finished product  is pretty damn close to the picture and I couldn’t be prouder.  Props to my mom for scouring the shelves of Christmas Tree Shoppe, Michael’s and ACMoore for the exact pieces I needed to make my masterpiece.  The list included 6 frames of all different sizes, a big Roman numeral clock, 2 small vases, and a few stems of fake berries.  This was the inspiration picture:

And this is the final result (minus real pictures in the frames and berries):

Pretty close, right?!  If I wasn’t totally addicted before, I am now a Pinterest whore!  I think the next project is going to be making valences for the kitchen windows. ..I am ordering the Target tablecloths tonight.   Can’t wait!  I am a Martha Stewart in the making! 

Thanks to my friend, J for enlightening me!  This made me love you a little more.

Happy Pinning!

A Slave to Naps

I used to complain that Little Man took his one and only nap in the morning.  It never really switched to the afternoon, he just dropped the afternoon nap and kept the morning one.  This was annoying because every other kid his age had the opposite nap schedule than he did and it really screwed up our playdates!  The good thing about it was that he and Baby had the same morning nap.  I got a couple of hours to myself to do things around the house and when they woke up we were all able to get out for a while before Baby's afternoon nap. 

Just this week, Little Man decided he was going to be a big boy and wait until 1:00 pm to take his nap.  At first I was so happy that he was falling into a more regular schedule.  Then I realized that the later nap actually ruined my life!  Baby goes down at 10:00 and wakes up around 12:30.  Little Man goes down at 1:00 and wakes up at 3:30.  And Baby's second nap is at 2:30 until about 4:00.  So, I am stuck in my damn house from 10:00 to 4:00.  Awesome. 

To make matters worse, I am not sure what the hell to do with Baby while I am putting Little Man down for his nap.  I never had this problem before because Baby was already sleeping once Little Man was ready to go down.  Being that it is so new I have been lucky enough to have someone around the past few days to be here to keep Baby company. Thanks Mom! Even if he didn't freak out every time I left the room, I am convinced that he would end up swinging on a chandelier if I wasn't there to stop him. 

Today we went to the playground at 5:00 pm when every other family was home getting ready for dinner.  We were the only ones there!  Then another woman showed up with the kids she nannys for.  Turns out she has two boys with the same names as mine!  That was weird  in itself but what made it even weirder was that the last time I was at that playground I was talking to a woman who had the same birthday as Baby, her sister had the same birthday as Little Man and her husband had the same birthday as D.  What are the chances of meeting people with these similarities?!  BIZARO!  Okay, I got off on a tangent there.  Anyway, we had fun at the playground.  Little Man was an angel and stayed on the playground which has been a major issue in the past.  And Baby was such a cutie.  He was climbing up and going down slides all by himself! Face first one time :)  We really did have fun but for the love of God, 5:00?!  We didn't get home until 6:15 and by the time Little Man let me leave his room it was 9:00. 

Oh well, I guess things end up working themselves out but I have a bad case of cabin fever and don't know how much more of this I can take! 

Okay, enough complaining!  Some things I loved about today...

Little Man woke up at 7:00! I Took tons of pictures of the boys with my new iPhone.  Baby's vocabulary gets better every day...today's additions were "Doctor Johnson" and "sit down";  Little Man was obsessed with me (in a loving and not annoying way) and I got a bazillion hugs and kisses and i love you's from him.  I bought an awesome fall color nail polish at WalMart (at 8:00 am).  Little Man finger painted and had a blast.  Baby was in an amazing mood today.  And last but certainly not least, we had a lot of naked baby time today and that can put a smile on my face no matter what!

We are Blessed

Today was the tenth anniversary of the September 11th terrorist attacks.  D and I went to a memorial mass at Fairfield University in memory of his very close friend J.  He was one of the nearly 3000 men, women and children killed in the 9/11/01 terrorist attacks.  Even though I never had the opportunity to meet him, his death is close to home because D was very close with him and his family.  It is heartbreaking to try to imagine what that family has gone through.  He was only 23 years old. Over the past 10 years, D has kept in touch with J's mom and she just loves to talk about her son and has so many beautiful memories to share with D.  He loves to hear about them.  It is crazy to think that this is just one of almost 3000 families that had lost a love one that day. 

Last night D said to me, "10 years ago today, J went to bed having no idea that it was his last night."  It makes you realize just how precious every moment is because you never do know what is going to happen.  We really should be living each day like it is our last.  Make the most of everything.  It sounds like such a cliche, but it is true. 

I was so lucky to have had the opportunity to meet the love of my life, get married and start a family.  J never had that opportunity.  I really do take too much for granted and it's sad that it's days like this that really make me realize it.  I can't even imagine losing a husband or child and millions of people have to go through that every day.  I don't know how people get through such a loss.  I can't wrap my mind around it. 

Today was pretty typical day for Little Man and Baby. They don't know what today is and what it represents.  They don't have any idea what terrible things happen in this world.  They have no worries.  I wish I could protect them from it forever. They woke up at 5:15, ate breakfast, played inside, played outside, had a visit from one set of grandparents, took their naps, played a little more, went to their other grandparents house for Sunday dinner, came home, cuddled with D and I in bed while watching TV, read some books and went to bed around 8:00.  Lots of smiles and lots of tantrums today.  Nothing too exciting but can't imagine life any different.  It is our life and it is just perfect.  We are the lucky ones.

This was a really depressing post but it was what I was feeling and that's the point of this whole thing, right?  I love my family and I know how lucky I am. We are all happy and healthy.  Life is good.  We are so blessed.

My thoughts and prayers go out to all of those families who lost someone that terrible day. I will never forget.

Lighten Up, Mommy!

I wrote my first post three days ago and didn't post it until now because my blogger page wasn't pretty enough.  I have been thinking about it since Wednesday and haven't had the time to actually do it. Who cares about what the website looks like!?  No one even knows about my blog!  Why do I have to be so uptight about everything?  Really.  I need to just lighten up.

I have to say, I am trying.  I have two boys and I am just going to have to succumb to the fact that they are going to be messy and that's that.  Yesterday, I pulled out the finger paints for the first time. I was very hesitant about it and probably thought about it for 3 hours before actually going downstairs in the basement to get the supplies. 

Baby was still sleeping so I sat Little Man in his chair, taped paper to the kitchen table, squirted 4 paints on little paper plates and told him to dig in.  He looked at me like I had 5 heads.  What do you mean, mom?  You usually get mad at me when I make a mess?  He didn't say it, but I know he was thinking it.  So, very cautiously he stuck his pointer finger into the red pile of paint and looked at me.  I smiled and said, "go ahead, Little Man, smear it around!"  Well, he LOVED it.  "More red, Mommy!" "More yellow, Mommy! "More green, Mommy!" "More blue, Mommy!"  Then he got very serious about it.  He was determined to cover every square inch of that paper with paint.  I wanted to take a picture of how excited he was but at this point he actually looked mad because of how intent he was on his project.  I told him I would only give him more paint if he showed me his best smile.  This is what I got... 



This little face got him A LOT more paint!

 Then I heard Baby start crying.  Uh-oh, he is up! Thoughts going through my mind: How am I going to get Little Man to be okay with me cleaning this shit up RIGHT NOW? If I let Baby do it he is going to get too messy!  What if he eats it? It's going to get all over his clothes and probably on the floor and the table and the chair.  He is too little!  Stop it, Mommy.  Just let the boy have some fun.  He deserves it.  And just think about how happy it will make him.

I told Little Man I would be right back and I went upstairs to get Baby.  I brought him downstairs barely awake, sat him in his little chair, strapped him in and squeezed out some paints right in front of him.  Boy do I have a reputation!  He thought I had lost my mind.  He is used to me stalking him with wet paper towels and wiping his face and hands every five seconds.  So I took his little chubby hands and smeared them in the paints.  I had Little Man show him exactly how to do it and he certainly got the hang of it pretty quickly.  He was having a blast.  Can you tell...

Needless to say, it was a success!  It was messy, messy, messy but totally worth it!  I actually got ten minutes to myselft to empty the dishwasher while they were totally enthrawled in their painting.  It was really fun for them and great to see smiles on their little faces.

Here are some more pictures of their finger paining project:

After a lot of washcloths, a bath and some kitchen cleaning we were we were back to our squeeky clean selves.  And guess what Little Man had a mini freak out about five minutes later.  "I want more finger painting!!!!!"  "Little Man, we are all done today.  We will do more tomorrow."  "No, Mommy more finger painting, NOW!" 

Instead we dropped some dinosaurs into water and watched them grow.  All was good.

We had a fun day.  Messy and all.

Bookless Babies

Am I the only mom in the world that doesn't document each and every thing her little babies do from the second they were born until at least 1!?  I think so. The intention was there but I never followed through.  I have about eight really ridiculously cute baby books that I spent a fortune on over the past 3 years or so.  I couldn't stop buying them and I just knew that I was going to be super organized and write in them daily.  Well,  here I am with a 1 and 2 year old and not one book has more than two pages filled out.  Terrible!  Thank God I saved each and every greeting card though.  What?! Who does that?

So, I decided to start a blog mainly to document the amazing, cute, loving, crazy, cuddly, happy, fun things my baby boys do on a daily basis.  Oh ya, and I won't forget to also add in the stuff that makes me want to pull my hair out!  That said, there will be A LOT of baby talk going on here so bear with me.  And don't be offended if I swear here and there...I have to get it out and I try to limit the four letter words in front of the little ones. D, the hubby, doesn't think I do such a great job at that but I am trying.

So much to write about!  So what started out as a husband and wife has turned into a family of four...3 men and a mom.  I am totally outnumbered by messy males who eat and fart a lot and I love it.  Well, I don't necessarily love when D farts but I think I've lightened up.  I never in a million years thought I would be the mommy of 2 beautiful boys.  I just never envisioned boys because my childhood consisted of 3 girls and a dad. Mom, sis and I ruled the house.  Oh, how things change.

On June 15th, 2009 Little Man was born and at that very moment we were officially a family.  He was born at 4:12 AM via c-section after 24+ hours of labor.  I didn't mind...whatever was going to get that baby out safe and sound was fine with me.  He was beautiful and perfect and the best baby in the whole wide world.  Fast forward 3 months and I am pregnant with baby #2!  WTF?!  D thought the line was too faint to be a positive.  News flash...ANY trace of a line means you are pregnant. Sure enough, the next morning the line was clear. as. day. BOLD DARK PINK.  How was I going to do this? I already had my hands full with Little Man.  I was not the stay at home mom that had too much time on her hands like I had imagined.  My days already consisted of constant feeding, bottles, spit-up, poop, pee, diapers, cleaning, sleep training, soothing and a million and one other things. I didn't even have enough time to shower or cook dinner.  How was another baby going to fit into our lives? 

Well, Little Man's first year flew by and so did my pregnancy.  I was so consumed with being a new mom that being pregnant was definitely not top of mind.  I had this new little bundle of joy who went from eating, sleeping and pooping to rolling over and cooing and laughing and crawling and talking and walking and turning into this real, amazing person. And what a personality! I got to see it all.  I didn't miss a single thing.  I am SO LUCKY.  How did D and I do this?  We made this person? It still is incomprehensible to me.

June 23rd, 2010 came along rather quickly and there we were in the hospital for the scheduled c-section for our second little boy.  He was born at 8:14 am and by 8:20 he was in D's arms resting his little head on my shoulder.  We were so blessed to have another perfect, healthy, beautiful (and hairy) baby boy. We stayed in the hospital for the 5 days and loved every second of being waited on hand and foot.  The Grandmas and Grandpas helped out with Little Man at home while Mommy and Daddy were in the hospital recovering and getting to know Baby.  Wouldn't you know that Little Man got his first ear infection and fever when his mommy wasn't around to help!  Oh boy, that was tough on everyone.  It broke my heart.  And there was little I could do having just had major surgery.  He got better in a few days and adjusted rather nicely to his new brother.  A couple of freak outs here and there but that was expected from a 1 year old.

Two weeks came and went and Baby stopped sleeping. He cried. And cried. And cried. And cried.  Oh Baby, how I love you but you were quite the handful.  D and I shushed and rocked like it was our job. It WAS our job. Day and night. Night and day. One took care of Little Man while the other shushed and rocked Baby. He hated the swing, he hated the car seat, he hated his adorable vibrating chair with the hangy toys.  What was a mom to do?! We soon found that Baby was happy on his belly!  But what about all the books and magazines that tell you to never do that?  F it!  We did it.  And he slept. The first 3 months were tough but that new little baby stole our hearts.  It was practically 3 months to the day that his colic (or whatever was bothering him) stopped!  He was happy and smiled and laughed.  We took peaceful car rides, we slept a little bit, we went on play dates!.  Life got a lot easier.

Little Man is 2 years and 3 months old and is now having real big boy conversations which I am still getting used to.  I feel my body melt every time I hear "Mommy, I love you" or "you're pretty, Mommy" or "I missed you so much!"  I mean, that child can get himself out of any kind of trouble with that shit!  I am in BIG trouble when he realizes that.  He is such a little lover and loves to cuddle with "only Mommy".  But don't get me wrong, it isn't all peaches and cream with that one. He definitely has his "terrible two" moments!  D has to keep reminding me that the phrase was invented for a reason.  I take each day at a time and take lots and lots of deep breaths.  I realize how fast time flies and I don't want to wish away any stages that my boys go through.  I try to embrace every single second because one day I will turn around and wonder where it all went. I even try to embrace the fact that Little Man wakes up crying for me several times a night and needs about 2 minutes on Mommy to get back to sleep.  I stare at him sleeping and know that the days of looking at his beautiful peaceful face resting on my chest will be long gone one day.  So no, I am not going to try to train him to get back to sleep on his own.  If he wants Mommy, he gets Mommy.

And Baby is almost 15 months old.  He is a trip and makes us laugh every day.  He has been talking for months now!  His first word was Apple Juice!  His vocabulary is ridiculous for a 1 year old.  He says Mommy, Daddy, baby, night-night, ba-ba, book, cookie, eat, up, help, more, elmo, hugs, outside, birdie, no, yes, bath, Papa and the list goes on and on.  I am so proud of that little smarty pants.  He is so active and fearless and gets into EVERYTHING!   He has recently started dancing which is more like a really fast march with some twists of the wrists.  I can't get enough of it.  He has 9 teeth so far and more are on the way!  He is a little lover and we just can't get enough of him.  He is a perfect baby...as long as he gets what he wants :)  He is a decent sleeper but there is definitely room for improvement.  Because I am up multiple times a night with Little Man, D has Baby duty at night.  Unless of course I feel like cuddling with the little bugger at 2:00 am which actually does happen every once in a while.  He is the best cuddler ever!  When we are in his chair rocking to sleep I kiss that little face about 110 times...he is irresistible! 

Well that is our family in a nut shell!  Before I started writing this first blog I wondered if I was going to have enough to write about. Guess so!  Being that we have been parents for 2+ years with little documentation of it, I guess it makes sense that my first post would be super long.  Well, there is no way I can talk about every detail of our little angels to date but I am going to try to write a little blog every day to jot down all the precious (and not so precious) moments that will be wonderful memories one day.  I also hope to get some followers who might enjoy to read about the madness of our everyday lives.