Snapshot of Our Morning

Love waking up to these two every day, even when they decide to wake up at 5:00 in the morning, ready to start their day!

 

The Third Month

When you have a baby, everyone tells you that three months is the magical age when it stops being so hard.  They cry less, smile more, sleep better and seem to recognize you as someone who they know and not just a person who keeps them fed, clothed and in dry diapers.  

And you know what?  I think they are all right!  The third month was a great one, and the boys really are making things easier for us.  They are pretty much awesome sleepers right now.  Last night, they slept for almost 8 hours straight!! {although, technically, this is in Month 4, but whatevs.}

They are happy babies, smiling more and more, watching Mark and me and looking at us with a real recognition.  They are doing great at school, and coming home in good moods.  Plus, they stay busy while they are there so we have great late-afternoon naps, and then some super sleep at night!  Everyone feels rested and happy!

{Henry}

The happiest little guy.  Henry is still as snuggly as ever and loves to smile at Mom and Dad.  He also loves him some ceiling fan, which he is looking at in the above photo.

Still has his serious moments too.

Chubs.  A good friend of mine {Hi LJS!} emailed me this week and said, “Henry looks even more like Mark, which I didn’t even think was possible.” Which is THE TRUTH.  He is his daddy through and through {but luckily scored his mama’s eyes}

He’s our Giggle Bear.

{Parker}

These days, Parker is either super tired and a little on the grumpy side, or wide awake and HAPPY.  His days of crying and screaming for hours are long gone {whew!} and he is so much fun.  Plus, his baby blues will slay you.  He’s gonna be hard to say no to, this little guy.

In the above photo, he wasn’t really feeling up to a photo shoot.  So we tried again later and got some good Parker grins. {below}

You mean Henry’s asleep and I get all your attention? 

He’s still a little Wiggle Worm, as evidenced by his constantly kicking feet.  This kid stays skinny {compared to brother} because he is always moving and grooving!

It’s not a ceiling fan that is capturing his attention, but the other Favorite Pastime in the house these days: the skylight. 

This was last weekend, after a trip out in the cold to Sam’s.  Henry’s head is too big for almost all our hats, but Parker can still squeeze into some of the little ones we have.  It was Superbowl Sunday, so footballs seemed good!

We are already well into Month Four by now, and just experienced a new first - our first Snow Day!  School was canceled for these guys today, so Dad got to stay home and hang out with them all day.  Mom’s school was NOT canceled {grr.}

As Seen On IG

Things are still kicking at our house, despite the crickets here lately on the blog.  Two weeks ago, I started back at work and the boys started at their school.  Things have been going surprisingly very well with this!  I am really enjoying being back in the working world and Henry and Parker are doing great with the new routine as well.  Overall, it’s been a win-win.  It didn’t take us long to get sick though.  I’m not sure if I brought the bug home from my school, or if they brought it home from their school, but Parker and I both got sick last weekend.  I spent 12 hours on the bathroom floor, and Parker got sick a few times himself.  Luckily all the grandparents were ready and willing to help out, and we all eventually made it back to work and school!

Here are some pictures from our life lately!

Sometimes they just both want to be held at the same time and I’m the only one home, so I’ve gotten pretty good at juggling them.  Just don’t ask me to pick anything up off the floor!

Bottles, bottles, bottles.  We are constantly washing and making them.

Coming home from school one day, Parker Bear was looking especially cute.

Same day, in the morning before school.  Parker was giving us one of his first real grins!

Play date with Jimmy, who was so sweet and “petting” Parker.

Hanging out and feeling good!

This was on my last day at home before work.  We were trying to take a group selfie!

Ending this post with a picture of my very best friends.  These girls are my favorites and even with 4 kids (and one on the way!) between us {not to mention a Newly-Wed!}, we still get together at least once a month.  KD {in the middle} just left us and moved off to Denver.  I am so sad to no longer have her living up the road.  This was at her send-off celebration dinner a few weeks ago.  Much love to her and all my girls!

2014.

Ringing in 2014 with Henry… Parker didn’t make it ’til midnight.

We are already ten days into the New Year!  2013 was {obviously} a crazy, great year for us.  I started the year out not pregnant, and then BAM… 365 days later, we have two babies.  How did that happen?

{Henry, Parker wearing their whales and continuing to refuse to acknowledge each other}

This year, I didn’t even think about making any resolutions, probably because I haven’t had time to sit down and think about it.  But if I *had* made any, I think they would have looked like this:

* Lose the baby weight, so I can wear all my old clothes again!  I miss my old jeans.  They are still too snug.  Even most of my shirts don’t quite look right.  I’ll get there though.. eventually.

* Be a good mom.  Duh.  My newest job is my most important goal this year.  I want to be the best I can for these little guys, so they know they are SO loved by their mom and dad.  I still find myself surprised to think that we are PARENTS.  That’s huge!

* Balance.  I go back to work next week {tear. for real. there have been tears.}  My heart is torn because I miss my job and my kids at school so much, but I can’t imagine leaving these guys everyday. Luckily, I have a great support system to help with this transition: Mark is of course helping to remind me that H and P are still going to do great, and that we will just give them LOTS and LOTS of extra love so they don’t forget about us during the work days.  My job is also rocking by allowing me to ease back into being at work, so I’ll start out working shorter days, so we can all get used to our new schedule.  And hey, summer break is only four months away…. we can do it!  And finally, I have so many great Working Mom Friends who have been helping me this week.  Hearing from other moms who do this everyday helps me realize that we are all going to be okay.  So a big THANK YOU to everyone who has been helping me get ready for this new phase of parenthood.

So maybe if I had made resolutions, those would have been them!

Now, on to what we’ve been up to lately!  We pulled out the Bumbo chairs last week, since the boys can hold their heads up better now.  These chairs rock.  H and P {mostly} really like sitting in them and looking around, which means I can have them both awake and happy, without having to figure out how to hold both of them! A win for Mom!

  Henry, Parker

The other day, I put the guys in their chairs after they ate and Parker immediately fell asleep.  He stayed like this for a good 20 minutes before I was convinced he really was going to stay asleep and I moved him to his bed:

 

Seems like lots of our photo opportunities are on the bathroom floor these days, like these two a few weeks ago.  Both Henry and Parker are strangely captivated by the bathroom and love to lay on the floor and stare at the walls and lights in there. So we hang out there. A lot. Don’t judge us.

Henry, my neon running shoes {had high hopes of working out that day}, Parker

Oh hey, in the bathroom again!  But we had just taken baths, so at least it makes sense this time.

Do your eyes hurt yet?  Stripes on zig-zag, ahh!  {P and H}

Henry, Parker - thinking about life

Henry is a snuggle bear.  Parker prefers to squirm, so snuggles are a little tougher with him. But this little cuddler is getting in some quality snuggles here lately.

This photo fooled 3 out of 4 grandparents!  Who is it??  The majority guessed Parker.  Wrong!  It’s The Hulk himself.  Maybe they do look more alike than we realize?

And…. that brings us to present day.  Lots of laundry, one crying baby and a rainy morning.  Guess I better get started!  Thanks for stopping by and checking in on us.  Please send me some good thoughts and positive vibes next Wednesday when I go back to work.  We’ll all need the prayers.  Heck, if I make it out the door on time, I will consider the day a success!  

Quick Christmas Snapshots

Mom and Henry in Prosper

Feeding Henry Bear while watching Football

Uncle Wes with Henry 

(I promise we also take pictures of Parker, but he is a way better sleeper than Henry, so he is usually snoozing while this little guy demands to be awake and/or held!)

 A little blurry… but Mark and me on Christmas morning

Parker’s Reindeer Bum!

Kelly and Wes

Ryan and Whitney

Ann-Marie and Henry

<3

Christmas!

Christmas Eve in our Christmas PJ's, getting ready for our first trip to Muenster to stay at Grandma and Grandpa’s house

After mass on Christmas morning, which was the boys first time attending church.  Henry slept the entire time and didn’t even know that he was there, while Parker squirmed through it all!  I think he wanted to sing all the songs.

Henry and Parker’s first Christmas was fun and festive, with celebrations in both Prosper and Muenster with all the grandparents, aunts and uncles.  Santa made a visit to Muenster and brought the boys their very first {covered} wagon!  It was so big that we had to leave it at Grandma’s house…. no room in the car with two grown-ups, two babies, two dogs and a whole lot of luggage and gear! {Thanks, Santa}

Tonight we are ringing in the New Year with these little guys, hoping we can stay up until midnight!  Happy 2014 to everyone!

Two Months!

Time is flying and almost an entire month has gone by since my last post!  I guess two major holidays in there will do that to you… We had two very festive and fun First Christmases with the boys {one with each side of the family}, but right when we got back home from our travels, we hit the two month park for Henry and Parker.  Wow!  That is like sixty days with these guys in our lives.

 That’s almost a smile!

Too-cool-for-school Parker is doing a fly-by.

Month two was a great month and these two little bears did some good growing.  Not just getting bigger (which hello, they did) but also getting a little more used to us and life in the world. (And we are getting more used to having them in our world!)  I feel like Mark and I are figuring these boys out, learning how to keep them happy and in the process, keep ourselves from going crazy!

Parker Bear.  You have made such a turn during Month Two!  I never got around to blogging about it, but Parker came home from the hospital and immediately decided to scream and cry all the time.  If he wasn’t eating or sleeping, the kid was crying.  Or screaming.  Which stressed Mom and Dad out a lot.  But we learned how to keep you happy, and learned that when we freaked out and got frustrated with you, it only made it worse.  Many an evening were spent dancing around with you while we tried to swaddle/sush/swing/soothe/sing/whatever the “Five S’s” are to try and get you to calm down.  And eventually it would work, but not without some near tears on our part.  This month, we’ve learned to let you calm down yourself and not overwhelm you too much.  Mom figured out that you love listening to music (just like her!) so if I turn on my iPhone and let you listen in, you often will calm down, stop crying completely, and listen.  This especially works with Taylor Swift.  In the past week, you’ve turned a corner and are awake more and more, without being mad!  It is so fun to have you get to be up and hang out with us, while you are alert and happy.  You still LOVE your swing though, and sleep there all. the. time.  Maybe next month we will work on breaking that habit.  Or maybe not.  And we still love a good swaddle and some swaying with the white noise machine running to help calm you down when necessary.  Thank you, Happiest Baby on the Block.

Henry.  Oh Henry.  We started calling you "The Hulk” when you were still in the NICU, because you would go from zero to ANGRY in seconds.  One minute you are totally content and calm, and then you remember that you are HUNGRY and you FREAK OUT.  Or you realize that you are laying alone in your bed and not being held and you FREAK OUT.  It is actually really funny, and Mom and Dad enjoy making fun of The Hulk’s temper.  You are easy to please though, and no matter how much you work yourself up and yell (which can be a lot and SUPER loud!), you always calm right back down once you are eating/being held.  You are such a snuggler too, so that tends to help you get you your way, as Mom will often come rescue you from your cries for a chance to cuddle.  Henry and I like to have dance parties when I am home alone, which means I plug in my iPod headphones and sway around with him when he is refusing to nap.  Even when I sing along to music he can’t hear, he humors my terrible voice and will eventually drift back to sleep.  Henry is an easy baby, but also a ticking time bomb, since you never know when The Hulk will show his face.  Also, his head is still huge and he is still way heavier than his little brother.  We visit the doctor next week, and we’re curious to see how the official weights compare to each other.

Our second month with these little guys has been good.  We are sleeping at night (even if it’s only for around three hours at a time) and it’s not too common to have both of them crying and mad or fussy at the same time.  Mom is even surviving better with being at home alone with both of them during the day. They mostly give me a break and don’t double team me all the time.  Which helps!  I know Mark appreciates that the days when he comes home and I am near tears are much more rare now.  I’m sure month three will only get better, as they keep growing and learning how to be a part of our family.  We are ALL figuring it out every day!