Happy 1/2 Birthday!

Yes, you get TWO blog posts today....feel special.

This tough little guy is 1/2 a year old today!

Oh little guy, 

This month has been full of change and drama in your little life.

* You survived your first separation from daddy.

 * You are sitting up for longer periods of time unassisted.

* You roll around all over the place, and have even started to attempt to crawl!

* You weigh as much as your sister did when she was 1! (HOLY CHUBSTER!)

* You had a reaction to green beans.

* You used to LOVE avocados, and last night, you decided you hated them, and projectile vomited them all over mama and daddy's comforter and sheets.

* You burned your poor little right hand on a Keurig and absolutely broke this mama's heart.

* You took your first (and hopefully your last) ambulance ride to be transferred to a pediatric burn unit in Boston.

* You're sister is the only one that can make you laugh uncontrollably with her silly antics (like pretending to fall down the stairs)

I can't wait to see what this next month brings!

*Burn Update*
He had his follow up check up at Shriner's Children's Burn Unit in Boston yesterday.

The nurse practitioner and all the nurses that saw his hand were amazed at how fast and well his hand was healing!

In fact, when we got there, they had a room all set up to redress his hand, but when they took the bandages off, they decided it was well enough to just keep them off!

If you don't believe in prayer, this is just a personal testimony of just how powerful prayer is.

I don't think I've prayed so hard and with such a pleading heart this entire week asking God to heal Mattis' hand.

I prayed myself to tears some days.

So the news we got at the hospital today gave me peace in my heart for the first time this week.

I knew God had listened and heard my pleas. 

Praise God!

My First Ambulance Ride

I sit here after an insanely crazy morning trying to figure out how to describe it.

My daughter is currently happily playing in her playroom, and my son is napping.

It leaves me here for the first time today with a little bit of peace.

This morning started off like any other crazy morning in my house with two kids and just me.

I normally start my Keurig for my morning coffee with my son on my hip, and my daughter seated at the breakfast bar.

I have a bumbo chair that I normally seat him in, but he was being extremely fussy, so I held him with one hand while trying to fix a bowl of cereal for my daughter with the other hand.

Before I knew it, my son started flailing his arms around, and I watched in slow motion his tiny little hand go straight under the coffee stream coming out of my Keurig.

It's crazy how everything seemed to go in "slo-mo", and instead of pulling his hand away quickly, I felt like he had his hand under that stream for an eternity before I snapped back into reality.

As soon as I pulled his hand away, he started crying this shrill cry of pain that I've never heard come out of him. 

I immediately turned the cold water on, and ran his fingers under it.

Next, I wrapped an ice cube in some paper towels and put it in his hand so he could hold onto it.

They looked a little red, and I thought, "phew, hopefully, this is as bad as it's gonna get."

After 25 minutes of his inconsolable, torturous cry, I looked at his fingers, and realized it was starting to form a little blister.

I panicked, and decided to take him into the ER by our house.
He screamed the entire way there, and when we got to the ER, as soon as I saw the front desk lady, I broke down in tears telling her my son had burned his hand.

He was screaming, I was crying...I had bed hair that I managed to whip into a crappy pony tail...we were a hot mess.

Thank God my daughter was being brave, and kept reassuring me that "it was ok".

She even kept singing the whole time to Mattis hoping her singing would calm him down.

The last thing we needed was all 3 of us to be a blubbering mess.

I felt like the worst mother ever.

I kept thinking in my head, "way to go, you idiot! you get the award for mom of the year!"

I felt horrible.

We were admitted immediately, and when the doctor came to look at it, he suggested because of the size of the blisters, he wanted us to go the the Children's Burn Unit at Shriner's in Boston.

I freaked out.

Burn unit?!

That's where they take seriously injured people!!!

When he realized how distraught I was, he called an ambulance for us.

I think the fact that I told him I get anxiety driving into Boston and the fact that there was an incoming snow storm made him realize we needed an ambulance.

He reassured me that he didn't think it was a bad burn, but because they specialize in burns in children, he thought it'd be best. 

By the time we were settled in the ambulance, the Tylenol had kicked in, and my little guy was fast asleep in his carseat on top of the stretcher.

It was the first time, I felt a little bit of peace, and the EMT awkwardly tried his best to comfort me. (he was a REALLY young guy, and I was probably some crying hot mess of a cougar to him)

So I didn't know this, but Shriner's Children's Burn Unit is one of THE best burn units in the country for children.

As soon as we got there, I was warmly welcomed by a team of nurses who were so upbeat, happy, and positive.

I felt immediately calm just because they made me feel like my son was the most important patient in the world.

They took Dannika to the supply room to get bandages and gauze for Mattis, and they even let her listen to his heart with their stethoscopes.

Dannika felt like "Doc McStuffins".

They opened the bandages from the first ER, and the blisters on his middle and ring finger had doubled in size.

I started having a panic attack, and again started bawling.

I kept telling them what a horrible mom I was.

Because the size of the blisters were so big, and they were on his tiny fingers, they decided it was best to pop the blisters.

The 5 minutes it took them to pop the blisters, treat them, and wrap his hands up were the 5 most agonizing minutes of my life!

My son was screaming in pain, and I felt absolutely helpless.

Afterwards, they discharged us, but I loved how they did not rush me out to the waiting area.

The nurses told me to nurse him for as long as I needed, and closed the door.

 They told me if I needed anything to call them.

They took Dannika out of the room, and played with her.

She came back a few minutes later with two stuffed animals that they had let her pick out for herself and Mattis.

Seriously, if every hospital had staff as chipper and happy as children's hospitals, the hospital wouldn't be such a bad place!

Then came the social worker.

I know why we have social workers, and I was so nervous.

I already felt like a horrible mom, and I was beating myself up over this.

I was afraid this social worker would make me feel the same.

She was so friendly, but at the same time, I could totally tell she was assessing the situation to make sure it wasn't a child abuse case.

Thank God my four year old could corroborate my story.

My amazing neighbor drove all the way down to Boston to pick us up, and he even offered to drive us into Boston for Mattis' next appointment.

He knows my fear of driving in Boston.

 So my son has second degree burns, and because it's a scald burn, they won't know the extent of the burn until 2-3 days.

We have an appointment back at Shriners on Thursday so they can assess it.
Until then, my son is stuck wearing a big sock over his little bandaged hand.

He doesn't even seem to realize the trauma that has happened this morning.

I think I'm more traumatized than he is.

I came home, looked at my Keurig, and seriously considered putting it away where I couldn't see it. 

I know accidents happen, and kids get hurt.

But it's hard when you were directly responsible for the injury.

Can I also add...

I was seriously amazed at the level of care we received at Shriners.

On my way home from the hospital, I walked through the lobby and saw a myriad of children with burns far more complex than my little guy's fingers.

It absolutely broke my heart.

With all these serious cases, the staff treated us like we were just as important as everyone else.

Seriously, an amazing hospital.

I seriously tip my hat to people who are willing to go into a profession working with sick and hurt children. 

There's no way I could be so positive all the time!

Love Yourself

Thank you to everyone for all the compliments about my post pregnancy weight loss.

I still have a little ways to go before everything is tight again, but I'm in no hurry.

I know things like skin tightening back up just takes time and there is no magic potion (except plastic surgery) to do that.

I had several ladies email me and ask me how I've been losing weight, and what I've been doing to make it come off so fast.

So I thought I'd address something.

I haven't done anything different than how I've been normally living my life!

I wasn't on a "diet".

I've always been into healthy cooking, and I've always been good about making wise choices when it comes to what I put in my body. 

I also work out and run 5-6 times a week.

I ate this way and worked out this way before I was pregnant and throughout my whole pregnancy.

If y'all remember, I was on the treadmill at the gym running 3-4 miles at 7 months pregnant!

After I had the baby, there were no "major changes" I had to make in my life.

If anything, I eat more calories because I am breastfeeding, and the most important thing to me is feeding my son.

But you bet your ass that every calorie that I eat counts!

Would I rather have 200 empty calories that won't do crap for my milk supply or 200 calories of good nutrients that are going to help my son grow strong and healthy?

Also, what I am doing may not work for you!

You have to know your body. 

For instance,  I don't eat breads, pastas, and starches because those are the foods that make me gain weight.

Some people can eat carbs for breakfast, lunch, and dinner and not gain a pound, but as soon as they eat a steak, they've gained 10!

It's all about knowing yourself and your body.

I just want to leave women with this piece of advice.

Quit obsessing over getting back to your post baby body.

Weight will come off eventually, but your baby won't get smaller.

Eat healthy, exercise (when your body is healed and ready), track your progress (I did it through taking selfies of myself each week), and enjoy your baby.

Y'all are all beautiful, and the one thing that we can do that men will never do is give birth to a life.

Enjoy it.

And whether it takes you 4 months or 2 years to "get back", let the world know!

You deserve every. bit. of. praise. 

 

I Think I'll Dance Today

It's official.

I am back in my pre pregnancy size 2 jeans!

Allow me to gloat a little.

I've seriously worked my @$$ off these last 4 months.

Hours of working out and countless miles on the pavement even on days I didn't want to.

Knee pain and knee flair ups...

I FORCED myself.

I even had to practice some major self control over the holidays which meant I didn't quite get to fully enjoy just indulging on some delicious food.

(Maybe that was a good thing)

But it was SO worth it!

I'm totally regretting not taking a "before" pic now.

I was SO self conscious of my body after having the baby that I couldn't even look at myself in the mirror naked.

But it goes to show you that if you aren't happy with something, fix it.

Hard work and discipline.

Let me just add that these jeans did not even fit me prior to finding out I was pregnant with Baby #2.

I had knee surgery 2 years ago, and in the recovery and physical therapy process, I gained 5lbs and all of my jeans were fitting super snug and uncomfortable.

I know 5lbs doesn't seem like a lot, but I have a naturally small frame, and I'm only 5'4.

Five pounds on my frame is the difference between a size 2 and a size 6.

It's crazy because it took me 10 months for me to get back into these jeans after I had Dannika.

I really think that breastfeeding had a huge role in my post pregnancy weight loss.

I've always been a "workout-a-holic", but I didn't breastfeed Dannika past 6 weeks.

 It took me A LOT longer to lose the weight with her.

 Not to mention, I gained 65lbs with Dannika and only 35 with Mattis.

I was even taking weight loss supplements after my first pregnancy, and it took me 10 months.

I haven't been taking any supplements this time because I'm breast feeding.

Oh, and in my overly dramatic excitement this morning in wearing my old jeans, I fell down my stairs and scraped my knee really bad.

But it was in jeans that didn't fit me since after my knee surgery before pregnancy!!!! Win!!!

Let me go do my happy dance now.

Y'all can resume normal activities.

How I Got My Baby To Sleep

My son's been a pretty decent night time sleeper.

At around 3 1/2 weeks old, he was sleeping roughly 4-5 hour stretches at night

Now, at 11 weeks old, he's been sleeping 7 1/2 to 8 1/2 hours through the entire night without waking up!!

I also mentioned several times throughout my blog that my daughter was also a great sleeper. 

In fact, she slept better and she was sleeping through the night sooner than our son.

With our son, I read "The Happiest Baby On the Block" and "Babywise".

I mostly followed the principles in "The Happiest Baby On The Block", and it's worked for us.

The 5 S's are a lifesaver, in my opinion at least (if you care).

Basically the "5 S's" is a method taught in the "Happiest Baby" book.

I'll explain each one, and how we used it to work for us to get Mattis to sleep through the night.

Also, I am not an "attachment parent", so I never co slept with my son.

He was always in a bassinet in our room, and by the time he was 4 weeks old, we put him in his own crib.

I like to establish their crib as "their place to sleep" early on in life.

Again, my opinion, and just what works for our family and me.

And let me just add again that my son is sleeping 8 hours a night at 11 weeks.

 Again...you have to read the book to completely understand each of the "5 S's"

 

Swaddling

It bothers me when new parents tell me that their babies hate to be swaddled. 

No, they don't hate to be swaddled.

Being swaddled is the most natural state for a newborn.

You are just incorporating the swaddle wrong into your baby's routine.

I am no expert, but this is just what I figured out with my son.

I thought he hated to be swaddled too, but it turns out, it's a lot more than just swaddling the baby.

Also, google the "batwing swaddle". 

It will change your life.

We started swaddling him at night in the "batwing swaddle".

Side/Stomach Position

Obviously, it's not safe to put your baby on his/her stomach to sleep at night, so we chose the side position.

We rolled up a blanket and tucked it behind his back so that he would be on his side (while in the swaddle) to sleep at night.

This also helps your baby from the back of their head getting flat from laying on their back all the time.

Shushing sounds

 We downloaded a white noise app on my iPad called "Sleep Bug", and we keep it on the "white noise" sound all night long in his nursery.

When he's really crazy and fussy, I've turned on my blow dryer, and it instantly calms him down.

I've heard of people turning on vacuum cleaners. 

Read the book.

You'll get it.

Swinging

For our night time routine, we don't really rock or swing him unless he is really fussy.

If he is having "one of those nights", we rock him in our arms while making "shushing" sounds.

Oh, and he is swaddled while we do so.

It calms him down, and right before he is about to fall asleep, we put him down.

I don't like letting him fall asleep in my arms before I put him down because I wanted him to self soothe himself to sleep.

Sucking

As soon as we lay him down in his sleep before he is totally asleep, we give him his pacifier.

It soothes him and calms him down.

He falls asleep within minutes.

You really have to read the book to totally understand all these methods.

The book is really amazing, and while reading it, I had a TON of "aha" moments.

These 5 techniques are mostly used for colicky babies, but I used it on my son to sleep at night.

It's worked like a charm for us.

Seriously though...

He really has become "the Happiest Baby on the Block"....

The "Push" Gift

If you have children, did you receive a "push" gift from the father of your child?

What is a "push" gift, you ask?

Here is the Wikipedia definition...

A push present (also known as a push gift, baby mama gift or baby bauble) is a present a father gives to the mother to mark the occasion of her giving birth to their child. In practice the present may be given before or after the birth, or even in the delivery room. The giving of push presents has supposedly grown in the United States in recent years. A push gift is any type of present loved ones give to a woman who has recently given birth to a child.

Here are my thoughts on this...

I spent nine months of my life carrying a life inside of me.

I spent nine months caring for my body in order to provide the safest and healthy womb for our baby.

I spent nine months gaining all kinds of weight in order to make sure our baby was healthy.

In those nine months, my body did things that I could have never imagined before having children.

My stomach stretched.

My hips widened.

At the end of those nine months, I pushed a 7-8lbs human life out of an area of my body that I would rather not think could expel something so large...

Heck yeah, I deserve a push gift!!!

(Did I mention one of my love languages is receiving gifts?)

Before I start getting "hated" on for being ungrateful, selfish, shallow, and/or whatever other adjective you come up with to judge me, let me give you something to think about.

You don't think it's shallow to receive gifts every year on a day that you were born many, many years ago (also called a birthday)?

Honestly though, I wouldn't have even thought of a push gift if it weren't for my awesome husband.

I'm also not an ungrateful person.

I don't expect anything extravagant or expensive.

I just like the fact that my husband thoughtfully picked something out for me.

When my daughter was born, he got me a ring adorned with tiny rubies (her birthstone) and diamonds....again...I didn't ask for it, he thoughtfully picked it out.

For my son, I had been eyeballing this ring...

And, he got it for me!

If you're a Justin Timberlake fan, it's the same ring in his "Mirrors" video.

I absolutely love it.

I'm also absolutely in love with my husband, and the thought he put into it.

I'm so grateful that he appreciates the work it takes for a woman to bring a child into this world.

I also love that every time I wear my "push" gifts, I think of all I went through to bring my own two children into the world. 

I still smile when I wear my daughter's ring, and it takes me back to that day four years ago, when we welcomed her into this crazy world.

See? There's a lot more meaning to it now than just some "silly gift".

:-)

2 Months

This weekend was so crazy and busy that I totally forgot to post Mattis's 2 month blog post.
He's officially a 2 month old as of last Saturday!
He is 14lbs 12ozs and 23.5 inches long!!!

Some days, I wish I could slow time down just a little.

Other days, I am counting down the days till you're a little older and a little less needy.

This month has been full of new things.

You are full of smiles and coos.

Whenever mama makes strange noises to your face or clicking noises with her mouth, your face just lights up.

I think you get a little annoyed with your big sister because when she loves on you, it's a little overwhelming.

She's just so in love with you, and she can't help herself.
Do you blame her though? 

You are an amazing eater...my goodness, you eat like a champ!

Your little fat rolls are to D.I.E. for.

You love stroller rides in the BOB when mama goes running, and it almost always instantly puts you into a deep sleep.

You are starting to sleep longer through the night which is a blessing to your tired mama and daddy.
In fact, you slept from 2130 until 0400 last night!!!
PRAISE JESUS!

You love your little bouncy chair and your swing...thank goodness because your sister hated hers.
You love sitting in your bouncy chair on the floor in the kitchen while watching mama cook dinner.

Some "firsts" during your second month of life...
*We took you apple picking
*You "helped" pick out pumpkins at the pumpkin patch
*You attended your first official Marine Corps function (daddy's pass in review)
**You were dedicated to the Lord at church!**

The last one is the most important.
It was important to us that we dedicated you to God, and it was important to have all the wonderful prayer warriors at church pray for you and for our family.
I am so thankful that God chose us to be your parents, and I hope at the end of our time here on earth, He'll be proud of us.

Again, I can't believe I never wanted a son.
I honestly could not life without you, and I think you're just what the Romer family needed to complete our puzzle.

We love you Mattis Mark Vincent....
You're your boy after your mama's heart.

Hello October

Is it October already?

To be honest, I'm not excited about the "beautiful Autumn" that New England has to offer.

I'm just not a cooler weather person, and I don't really care about the leaves changing colors.

I call myself "tropical".

I was at Target yesterday, and I saw girls already wearing their Uggs and sweaters (it was in the 70's yesterday!)

The only thing I really welcome about Fall is the pumpkin stuff, and getting Halloween costumes for my little ones. 

On another note, our son has been sleeping 4 to 5 hour stretches at night for 3 nights in a row now!

After some desperate measures, I invested in two baby books.

I am usually not the type of person who likes self-help books, but after a month of no consecutive sleep, I was desperate.

The first one I read was "On Becoming Baby Wise", and the second one I read was "The Happiest Baby on the Block".

They were both life changing....ok, ok....maybe not LIFE CHANGING, but for a mama who has not slept in 4 weeks, it sure felt life changing.

I HIGHLY recommend both of these books. 

And for those mamas out there who have newborns, I'll tell you what method worked for us.

Again, this worked for us, but it doesn't necessarily means it'll work for you, but it's worth a shot!

So here's what is working for us (so far):

1. We used a new swaddling method called "the bat wing swaddle". You can YouTube it.

2. We moved him out of our room into his crib.
3. We put a white noise maker in his crib (Note: not a running brook sound, no animal noises, no lullabies...just straight white noise)
4. We lay him on his side.
5. Give him a pacifier
6. We bounce him in our arms, and right before he is about to fall asleep, we lay him in his crib.

You really need to read "The Happiest Baby On the Block" to master this technique.
There's a certain way you have to incorporate all these techniques for it to work!

I swear by it though, and maybe it'll help someone else out there too!
Here's to a good night's rest!

This Sam Adams cream stout is delicious!

I am loving my Saturday mornings with our whole family in bed together.

Even in my sleep deprived state, my heart feels so full when I see my two babies next to me.

Even with my disdain for Fall and cooler weather, our family is all into "Fall activities".

This past Saturday, we went to our church's Fall Festival.

D had a blast, and at the end of the day, we do these things for our kid's happiness, right?

I love watching little man's facial expressions.

I feel like I can see his personality a little through them :-)

I think the sweetest thing in the world is watching a sleeping baby.

I could watch a sleeping baby for hours.

They look so peaceful and serene.

I sit and wonder what he dreams about, especially when I see him crack a smile or a little laugh in his sleep.

It absolutely melts my heart.

I've been pretty exhausted lately, and being home with a newborn 24/7 has been starting to wear on me.

My husband came home early from work yesterday, and offered to take both kids to the library so that D could check out a few new books.

As for me?

I went to my own little sanctuary...Target!!!!

I spent an absolutely peaceful hour at Target all by myself, and it was marvelous.

See how refreshed I look!?

After an hour to myself of retail therapy, I was a much happier mama to come home to these two sweethearts.

And lastly...

Is this not the most hilarious picture ever?

Boys....

Feeling Like Death

Soccer, Mastitis, UTI.

This has been my life for the last 5 days or so.

If you care to know, read on, if not, just check out my adorable kids pictures!

These past few days have been crazy, crazy...

D had her first soccer practice on Friday...

I thought she would be the kid staring at the sky and picking flowers, all while running in the wrong direction.

To my surprise, she was a pretty serious soccer player!

 I was seriously impressed.

My Saturday started off fairly uneventful.

Nick had to work until pretty late, so it was just the kiddos and me all day.

I decided to try out the double BOB, and take a little run slow jog brisk walk to D's school.

Her school is only a mile and a half away from our house, and I wanted to start walking her to school before the weather got unbearably cold.

This was our "test run" to see how long it would take me.

Switching from a single jogger to a double is a huge adjustment!

After we got home from our "jog", I started feeling tired, and I attributed that to the 3 miler that we had just completed.

By two in the afternoon, I noticed I was getting chills, and a few short hours later, I had a full blown 103 degree fever and was feeling miserable.

Feeling this way while caring for a 4yo and nursing a newborn is absolutely the worst!

I held off on complaining to Nick, because I didn't want him to feel obligated to rush home from work to my bedside rescue.

I also hate being "that wife"...you know...the one that is constantly calling the spouse at work.

By six thirty, it was almost unbearable, and I frantically texted Nick telling him that I was feeling sick.

By the time he got home, I could sense by his demeanor that he thought I was exaggerating and being dramatic.

That is, until he realized how high my fever was.

He took Sunday off from work, and stayed home to care for the baby and D while I laid on my deathbed.

I felt horrible guilty the entire day because he took a day off from an important training event from work because of me, and on top of all of that, he was way behind on his homework for college.

I held off on whining to him about taking me to the ER and suffered silently all day while he caught up on college, did some work on his laptop, and watched the kids.

By Monday morning, my fever had not gone down, and it had gotten worse.

I decided that I had to be seen that day, and my poor hubby had to ask for another day off to care for my sick butt.

We went to urgent care, and the doctor took one look at my boob and said, "it's mastitis."

So let me just add..

This is the worst pain I've felt in a looooong time.

I can barely lift my right arm.

It's painful to nurse.

It's painful to lay on my sides.

I have horrible chills.

Fever.

HORRIBLE night sweats.

Oh yeah...

As soon as we got home from urgent care with antibiotics, D started complaining of painful urination.

So poor hubby was out the door again (with newborn in tow so that I could rest), and took her to the doctor.

She was tested negative for UTI, but we haven't gotten the results from the rest of her lab work yet.

I was put on bed rest for 24 hours to give the antibiotics to get a chance to kick in.

So hubby took today off to let me rest.

I feel horrible that he has taken 3 days off of work because of me.

It makes it worse cause I know how behind he has gotten at work.

Between being up all hours of the night with the newborn and being tired and the stress of being behind at work, I can see it in his face.

I am so incredibly blessed to have a husband who puts his family above everything.

He literally dropped everything on his schedule to care for me, and he has not let me do a single thing besides nurse our son.

I honestly don't know if I would have survived these past few days without his help.

As cute as this little guy is, he has been quite a handful!

Thank you, hubby!!

I'm starting to feel a teeny bit better, and it gives me a glimmer of hope that tomorrow will be 100 times better!

Check out my babies newborn photos!
They look so much alike in these photos.
My D was a lot chubbier.

 

 

Baby Blues

I give major kudos to stay at home moms with more than one kid under the age of 3. 

I have a pretty independent and self sufficient 4 year old and a newborn, and I still feel overwhelmed on most days.

I can't imagine chasing a toddler around AND caring for a newborn at the same time.

Twins?

I would probably end up in a mental hospital.

This week can be summed up in two photos...

 Cranky baby that wants me to feed him every hour...hour and a half. 

I can't imagine doing this without my trusty Keurig.

I've mentioned before that with my firstborn, I got the baby blues really bad.

When the baby blues never went away, I sought treatment, and was diagnosed with post partum depression.

I never had thoughts of harming my baby.

I just didn't want to have much to do with her.

I felt like a prisoner to this tiny little human, and I never wanted to leave my house. 

I fed her and changed her out of necessity, and I had a hard time bonding with her. 

From the outside looking in (and based on my Facebook page), my life probably looked perfect.

I had a beautiful little girl that I dressed up like my doll in a million adorable outfits that were neatly accessorized with giant flowers and bows adorned on her sweet bald head.

But on the inside, I was struggling, and I put my husband through hell during that time.

Did I mention that in the midst of all this emotional chaos, my husband deployed to Afghanistan?!

Let me also add some more salt to that wound and add that I was on recruiting duty.

(If you've ever known anyone on recruiting duty, you can imagine what I was going through)

That probably didn't help my situation any. 

There is a happy ending to this story though.

I got treated for my PPD, my husband made it home safely from Afghanistan, and the experiences that I've had with my daughter are ones that I wouldn't trade for the world. 

These are some of my favorite "mommy and me" photos taken during my husband's deployment.

Yesterday was the toughest day so far.

I started feeling overwhelmed, stressed, and inadequate.

The baby was cranky and fussy all day.

My 4yo had gymnastics, and I forgot to bring the diaper bag with us.

I spent an hour at the gymnastics class hoping and praying that baby wouldn't wake up (in which he did).

I spent the last 30 minutes of her hour long class trying to calm down my hysterical newborn.

I tried to nurse him, but he did not enjoy the nursing cover which made him even fussier.

*Seriously...nursing out and about is the hardest thing for me! I just don't feel comfortable nursing in public!*

It didn't help that my hubby worked late yesterday. 

It was one of those days that when he got home, the baby and the 4 yo was passed off to him like a football, and I just wanted to hang up my "mama pants" for a little bit. 

And of course, as soon as daddy comes home, baby becomes an angel (the total opposite of the first photos you saw on this post).

Thank God I have an amazing husband who was more than willing to take over after working a long day, and give me some "wine time".

So, today I woke up with the attitude that it's a new day (go ahead and sing it..."it's a new dawn, a new day..").

No matter how hard or long the days may seem, I have to remember that I am raising God's children.

He chose me to mother these two precious souls.

So I take on another day with the crazy challenges that come with parenting.

Head on.

With no little complaints. :-)

Just praying that the PPD doesn't come back this time to kick my butt.

Oh, and just a random photo that I took last night of my daughter.

She makes me smile :)

Another Baby Post?! Yes!

Having my kids 4 years apart definitely has some advantages.

For instance...

I am writing this blog post right now while my 4 year old dutifully "entertains" her little brother.

In reality, she just gives him his paci when he starts getting fussy, and is laying next to him on the floor in the living room while watching Disney Jr.

Did I also mention that while she is "babysitting", I scrubbed our entire guest bathroom down?!

I also made myself a cup of pumpkin spiced coffee this morning, had an English muffin, and got to catch up on my recorded shows.

Oh yeah, and D also had apple cinnamon waffles.

When D was a newborn, I could never get anything done for the first few months of her life.

I relied so much on my husband to do little tasks like cleaning and dinner.

I will admit that little man is not as great of a sleeper as D was.

Which is why we spent the majority of our weekend catching up on much needed sleep.

Hubby and I enjoyed a few glasses of peach champagne last night after dinner.

Oh, and those grapes in our glass are the famous "cotton candy grapes".

And yes...

They really DO taste like exactly like cotton candy, and they are absolutely delicious!

The cutest thing in the world is catching our little guy laughing in his sleep.

He has the cutest little laugh ever.

I wonder what he's dreaming about that could be so funny.

I found this article about newborn laughter that I thought was interesting.

Check out the sweet mosquito bite that my daughter got above her left eye.

I thought it was a shiner at first that she got while playing with her friend next door.

On closer examination, it's just a bug bite.

I'm always paranoid that when she's in school, someone will assume that we are abusing our child and call CPS on us, so when she has a little bruise or an injury, I sort of freak out a little...

I've heard too many horror stories of that happening to totally innocent parents.

My mom left this past Saturday.

I'm kind of sad to have seen her leave.

Especially cause I feel like I might have been a grouch the entire two weeks she was here helping me out.

The lack of sleep, caring for a newborn, and the post partum hormones made me grumpy, and I didn't get to really spend as much quality time as I would have liked.

She was a great sport though.

She cooked every single meal for us while she was here, and cleaned every single day.

In fact, on her last night at our house, she was up till 10 in the evening slaving away in my kitchen and cooking.

She wanted to make sure that we had a few more meals for the next couple days after she left.

I also did not pay for a single grocery the entire two weeks she was here.

She wouldn't let me.

Nick and I took her out to eat lobster on one of her last nights here, and we had to fight with her to pay for dinner!

Best.

Mom.

Ever.

Can you believe that we have been in New England for almost a year now, and we had never had fresh Maine lobster?!?

Me either.

Glad we checked that one off our bucket list.

It was delicious.

Now, I'm off to go feed my fussy newborn. :-)

Hope everyone had a wonderful weekend!

My Superheroes

 Like Father, Like Son.

HIS Plans

I wish I could blog about something other than having a newborn around.

But when my life these days consist of having a newborn attached to my boob, that's all I really have to blog about.

I don't know if it's a boy thing, but man, does this little guy EAT.

I swear as soon as I get done nursing him, he's got his two little fingers in his mouth giving me the cue to feed him again.

My daughter was breastfed for the first 3 months of her life, and she did not nurse this much!

She nursed every two to three hours on the clock, while Baby M nurses every hour to hour and a half. 

My body seems to be recovering a whole lot faster than it did with D.

In fact, I feel like in a week or two, I'll be ready to hit the pavement again!

It's a promising sign that I will have my pre baby body back before the Marine Corps ball in November.

We had our first family outing at the Cheesecake Factory a few days ago.

I'm happy to say that Baby slept the entire time, and I was able to enjoy my meal.

I posted this pic on my Facebook a few days ago with the caption, "I never thought we'd have two kids...especially since I told him that I didn't want kids when we were dating. Now I can't imagine life without all THREE of them!"

It's true. 

At one point in my life, the Marine Corps was my LIFE.

There was no way I was about to have kids.

Kids would have ruined all my great plans that I had in order to make the Marine Corps my lifelong career.

It's crazy how God intervened, and made me realize that MY plans were not HIS plans.

This was the life I pictured for myself...

Building rockets for Marine Corps aviation...

 And deploying to the middle east...

This is the life God had pictured for me.

A wife following her Marine around all over the world, and a mama of two.

I personally like God's plan better.

I mean look at these two...

My spunky 4 year old with crazy hair (who likes to the selfies on my iPad)

And my handsome newborn...

Yup...

Life is pretty good.