The Girls Update

Things around here have been generally low key lately. I know, I jinxed it.

Adalaide's schedule has been established, as much as one can establish with an almost 6 month old. That's right, this week, Addy will be 6 months old. Crazy.
She is still waking up during the night; there has only been 3 nights (not consecutively) she has slept from bedtime to sunrise. Still no teeth, but she is eating rice cereal and simple fruits and veggies pretty well. Her "omg what is this in my mouth" face is pretty cute. I will have to try and get a picture of it one of these times before she adjusts to the taste. She is close to sitting up by herself, she can hold her own for about 10 seconds before wobbling too much and tipping over. I will know her weight next week but I think she has gained another couple pounds since her last check-up, and is most likely hitting the scales at a whopping 13lbs. She can hold her own bottle for a bit, if she's laying down. She also "puts herself to sleep" in her crib 90% of the time. She loves her big sister and thinks everything she does is laugh-out-loud hilarious. I can get giggles out of her if I try, but Lorelai gets belly laughs without any effort. I love it.

Lorelai enjoys her baby sister, but she is still hesitant on sharing. Though, to be fair, sharing right now consists of Addy sticking the toy in her mouth and giving it back to Lorelai all slobbery. I can see why Lorelai isn't crazy about doing that all the time.
Most of the time they hang out together on the floor and Lorelai doesn't get distracted by her at all, like she's always been there. I think that's great, she just has this attitude of "Oh, her? Yeah, she's my baby sister. She's around all the time."
Lorelai does look out for Adalaide, which as a parent, makes me feel awesome. Addy fell asleep in her carseat one day and did that whole infant shlump-over thing. Lorelai spotted this and said "Oh no! Mom, baby sister!" Another sweet time, she saw Addy without a paci in a store and made us stop. "Go back! Baby shister, paci!"
My compassionate little 2 year old. Though, in a few months she will be 3! Again, crazy.

The next month should be pretty quiet, then things kick into gear. Fall is coming, my favorite time of year. The time where the heat lifts, the cool breezes filter in, and the leaves start to melt into shades of red, yellow, and orange, which matches the pumpkins clusters you see in festive yards. In October, we have Adalaide's christening and Halloween, Addy's first. Then November slides in with Thanksgiving (another 1st) and Lorelai's birthday. Then December, Christmas. By far the best holiday, filled with tradition, love, and magic. Lorelai is already asking for Christmas music in the car. I think she inherited my deep love for Christmas. This excites me. She is at the age where she will understand it a bit more, and love it a bit more. This, combined with Adalaide's first Christmas will make this year extra special.

Sorry for the tangent, I was just daydreaming for a bit. ;)

Anyway, this sums up our household for awhile, at least for the kiddos!


M.LEWIS

Weaning.

Well Adalaide is on her last stretch of nursing. I do have mixed feelings about it, but at this point I am too tired to fight it.
She has done a lot better than Lorelai did, so that in itself feels like progress. I wish I was one of those women who breastfed without issue, but I am not. Just like with Lorelai, I hit a point where I am tired of thinking out nursing every waking moment. Drinking gallons of water, forcing Addy to feed often, pumping, waking up so uncomfortable I can no longer sleep, or waking up...wet. We'll just leave it at that.
I know some women love it; love feeling close to their baby, having a special connection through simple mother nature. Honestly, I don't get that whole "it's so beautiful" feeling most of the time. I mainly feel frustrated. I feel pretty close to my baby as is...I think it's that whole, you-grew-inside-me thing. I do regret the loss of the health benefits though. Nothing is exactly like breast milk, but she has been supplementing for months and is now eating cereal and baby food every day, I do firmly believe her health and well being will not suffer.
Some times I feel selfish when I get excited about being done with nursing. I feel like my wants should not be on the forefront, Addy's should be. But, then I remind myself how she screams and fights me on breastfeeding throughout the day. My "easy nurser" turned rogue awhile ago. My constant efforts to maintain and increase my supply are in vein when she refuses to eat unless it's in a bottle. I could pump and feed her that in a bottle, but really? My whole day, whole schedule would revolve around that.
You see? It's a see-saw of pros and cons, happiness and frustrations. So, I finally adopted my current outlook. Try to breast feed straight from the breast. It's for Adalaide, if she refuses, then that's that. I don't want to be attached to a machine half the day. If my own baby doesn't want to eat the "natural" way, then we are done. No fighting, no frustrations...and that's why we are down to one 5 minute feeding every 12hrs. That's all I can get her to take. When it's time, it's time, ya know?
Sorry if this was a muddled blog full of TMI or whiny complaints. I just have to go through this litany with myself before I can let it go. Mommy guilt at its finest. ;)


M.LEWIS

Disclaimer: Mother/Wife/Person Mini Rant Ahead

I find myself wanting to rant after rough days/nights. I then feel guilty about wanting to rant and complain. I know I have it good, but that doesn't mean I don't have the right to feel tired, frustrated, annoyed, and exhausted. I do. But is it fair to write it down? Is it fair to put it out there for people to read? I can hear the sighs and see the eye rolls already.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah...what else is new? You have kids. You are tired and frustrated a lot. And of course you love them, you don't need to keep saying that."

I guess I think readers feel this because I feel this. I feel I crumble after one bad day or one rough night. In reality, it takes more than that, but I still feel like a wimp sometimes.

So, hear is my "rant", but in a list formation, for I am too tired to write any more full, lucid paragraphs. Once I get it off my chest, I know I will feel better.

• Phoebe, why do you have so many health issues? You didn't used to be so sickly, so often. And why are you so over dramatic about it, especially at night, when we are trying to sleep? I hate it.
• Adalaide, please get over the fact that we have to ride in the car. It's not that bad. Your screaming doesn't help the ride go any faster, in fact, it's the opposite.
• Lorelai, dear, make up your mind. The answer to "What do you want for breakfast?" is not "apples, waffles, NO WAFFLES, muffins, toast, MUFFINS."
• Summer, I hate you, and your need to make me hot and sweaty all the time.
• Adalaide, waking up and staying up for 3 hours right after I go to bed is just mean. I know you smile and think it's great fun to watch mommy slip into sleep-deprived insanity, but you are wrong. This will become evident in the morning. Just wait.
• Lorelai, screaming and crying from your bed is acceptable if you are A) having a nightmare B) significantly hurt C) sick or D) someone is trying to break into your room...in fact, you better scream, loudly, if that happens. Reasons not to scream and cry from your bed are A) the door is open B) your paci fell out of your mouth C) your stuffed animal is under the blanket or D) your lullaby cd has ended.
• Phoebe, stop spitting out the little "different tasting" bits of your food all over the kitchen. They hurt when you step on them, I am tired of sweeping them up, and Lorelai sometimes yells at them, calling them bugs.
• Ikea, I love you, but why does it cost $100 to ship something from the Frisco store to my door...10 mins down the road. Target has free shipping for its card-carrying members, you should too. I don't have the car space or the large amounts of time to mess with all I need to pick up.
• Chris, my love, the dirty-clothes bin has three slots: darks, colors, lights. In that order. It has always been that way. Browns and blacks do not go in the "lights" and white socks don't belong in the "darks." That sentence felt racist. 
• Miss Spider (on Nickjr.), your always calm and collective voice is obnoxious when everyone is yelling and throwing fits. You're a mom, stop pretending to be so patient and understanding all the time. No one believes you.
• Telemarketers, stop calling me at the worst possible time. I am trying to get kids to sleep here, I know I didn't win a cruise, I know I didn't really talk to you last week about lowering my interest rate on my "debt", and hanging up after I run across the house to pick up the phone is just cruel, not mention pointless.
• Me, you got this whining out of your system, now refocus. Hopefully you got some self-relating smiles from your readers, but it's time to let things lie and move forward with your day.

Most of these are related to motherhood. It is the hardest job I have ever had. The hours are never-ending, the bosses are big cry babies, the pay is nothing, and there are no promotions, bonuses, or vacation time. The job of creating and raising wonderful, productive, self sufficient people is difficult, but ultimately, the best use of my time...and I still have a lot of time to kill. ;)

"Motherhood was my career. I'm totally satisfied with that." -Ann Romney

Yes, I quoted Ann Romney at you. Deal with it.

M.LEWIS

Oh...Just A Day

So, my day went like this:

5am- Adalaide wakes up to eat
5:30am- Adalaide is back asleep
6am- I get up
6:30am- Breakfast for me, eye drops for Phoebe
7am- Wake up Lorelai
7:15am- Breakfast
7:20am- Wake up and feed Adalaide
7:40am- Leave for Grandma's (my mom's) house
8am- Kids at Grandma's, I leave to go to my Dr. appt
9am- Done with appt, stop by CVS for Rx
9:40am- Go home to meet guy fixing my mailbox
10:30am- Still no guy, call, and he is an hour late
11am- Go to Grandma's to pick up kids
11:15am- Feeding Adalaide, again
11:30am- Guy calls, he is on his way to fix mailbox
11:45am- Adalaide and I get home, left Lorelai with Grandma until work is done
12:15pm- Guy came, fixed, and left
12:35pm- Wake up Adalaide from nap and go to pick up Lorelai
12:50pm- At Grandma's, and give Adalaide some time out of the carseat
2pm- Feed Adalaide, again
2:30pm- Leave Grandma's and go home
3pm- Lorelai down for nap
3:30pm- Adalaide down for nap
3:40pm- Eye drops for Phoebe
3:45pm- Me down for nap
4:45pm- I'm up, and I wake up everyone else
5:15pm- Make rice cereal for Adalaide
5:30pm- Feed Adalaide, once more
5:45pm- Chris home
6:15pm- Dinner for me, Chris, and Lorelai
6:30pm- Clean up dinner, gather trash & recycling and take to curb
7pm- both girls changed, and in pj's
7:30pm- Lorelai teeth brushed, and in bed
7:45pm- Adalaide in bed
8pm- Write this list and get tired just by reliving my day
8:15pm- (predicted) Make some evening coffee and see how long I last before I crash and Zzzzzzzzzzzz
10pm- Eye drops for Phoebe


M.LEWIS

Minor Upgrades

I touched on this earlier, but I am sprucing up our master bedroom. Nothing crazy, just upgrading some things, reorganizing, slightly new layout...things like that.
You know about the mirror, but the other thing I was oddly jazzed about was getting new lamps for the bedside tables.

My new lamps, plus a flowery accessory...Sorry Chris ;) 

It's kind of stupid how much I love these, but they are so pretty. Plus, I don't knock my hand into a lampshade every time I reach over to the table.
I saw the style at one of favorite places, Pottery Barn:

Pretty, but $$$

One thing...they are $150 a piece there. Ouch. I love Pottery Barn, but I tend to get ideas from them, then find a more affordable alternative elsewhere.

Enter Ikea. $30 a lamp? Much better; and I actually like it more.
I then ordered a storage ottoman from Target, on clearance. I was excited. Half off, $50.

My dvd's are in the ottoman now

I threw on some pillows I had and added a new, adjustable floor lamp (also from Target, $50.) This is situated in the are my dresser used to reside. They are now joined together on the other side of the door.

Ignore the clothes peeking out from the drawers and the dvd sets on top...still have to find them a new spot

I relocated the mirror to the other side of the room to fill up a glaring bare space on the wall.

Yes, we have a nightlight...kids, ya know?

I added more curtain panels and let them hang straight to make the room feel taller.

Don't mind the bumps in the comforter, I didn't want to officially "make the bed" for the picture

Now, this is still our original bedframe. We are planning on getting a new, wood frame that takes up less space and is more my style. And, yes, Ikea is a winner again.

Less huge, more shaker style

Similar look, but it's not a sleigh bed, so we can push it flush against the wall adding an extra 8' to the space.

Then there is the other main wall. I bought some picture ledges for $10 a piece at Ikea (again, yes) and reconfigured the collage.

The arrangement isn't set in stone, but I am fine with it for now

I like my teeny, tiny sitting nook

I like it a lot better. I added some new things, took out the manic-too-many-pictures frames, and went with a classier look...at least to me.

So that's the new look. I still think I want to add hardware to my dressers (that are not my favorite), but I am fine with them for now.
I love being in my room now, that's always a good feeling. Not a huge room, but it feels bigger with these changes.


M.LEWIS

Starburst Mirror

Idle hands. Must. Do. Something.

This has been a nagging voice echoing in my head lately. The question is...what do I make? What do I alter? What, what, what...
Well, I got it.

So, I wanted to spruce up our master bedroom, and make it a bit more fancy. This means altering the curtains (done), replacing the lamps (not done), moving the dressers to a better spot (done), add hardware to the dressers (not done), and create a mini seating space (enter project).

I am going to order a upholstered storage ottoman for the space, then add some colorful pillows, and add an interesting wall art piece. I decided I wanted a starburst [or sunburst] mirror. I have always liked the look, and even made an art piece of one in college...which won a spot in their art show. Anyway, so I went shopping.

Holy, moly. Why are mirrors so expensive?!

$110

$90

$223

$85

$268!

$168

Yeah. Um. No. Weird colors, odd sizes, and every price comes with shipping and handling. So, I decided to- you guessed it- make one myself. Hooray for Hobby Lobby! I bought a candle plate (aka a mirror) for $5, then two packages of wooden dowels for a total of $6. Some metallic paint, $4, and two packages of small mirror token piece things for $5. I already had a hot glue gun, so I was set.

Glue the dowels behind the mirror

Decide on a design

Paint the dowels, and glue the mirror tokens on

TADA!

Go ahead and tell me for $20, this doesn't look just as good as the $268 models. Plus, it's the color and size I want.

I love it. 

Now for the rest of my plan!

M.LEWIS

July Life

My last couple posts have been about the house, so I thought I would play catch-up on the more personal side of life for a bit.
I find it boring to write about our daily lives for the most part, so I do try to wait until there is enough to write about. The house updates are more fun, I feel; plus there are pictures. But I will try to dig up some things to write about that don't involve paint or furniture.

Last personal blog was while Chris was in Denver, and I was sick, and I was up to my ears in paint. So, let's see, you know I finished the kitchen (thank the Lord), and you know I didn't die from my illness, and you probably figured Chris returned home from his trip... 4th of July was nice. We saw lots of family and worked in a decent fireworks display. The music was not to my liking though, so that kind of changed the way I enjoyed them. That, and I was trying to get Addy to sleep (unsuccessfully). We also had a spur of the moment change when my parents' car wouldn't start at the end of the show. We drove my mom back to their house so she could pick up another car to carry everyone home in. Luckily they eventually got it started and no one had to walk home in the dark. ;)

Adalaide had her 4 month check up. Everything is looking great. 11lbs 10oz, 251/8 ins. We saw a different doctor than our usually one, since he was out on vacation. I like our usual dr. more, but that's ok. She got 2 shots and an oral vaccination and oh-my-gosh, they turned her into hulk baby.

Chris will appreciate this

She would be doing fine and something small would set her off. I mean something super small; the paci would fall out of her mouth, someone would shut a door too loudly, I would put her down...or pick her up, etc. She would then morph instantaneously into this monster baby who would scream and cry for half an hour. She couldn't sleep well or eat for very long. This lasted for 2 and a half days. It was tiring...to say the least. It did pass though, and we have our happy, smiling Addy again.
She is getting really good at tummy time and is even trying to pull herself up on her knees. She's getting close.
As my mom said: "Stop that. You are too young for that. Slow down." I laughed, but I agree. She's a fair amount smaller than Lorelai was, so I think that adds to that whole be-a-baby-longer feeling. Still, 4 months, slow down kid.

Up to no good

Lorelai is doing well. I was amazed she didn't get my cold...Addy too, for that matter. She's just being her 2-year-old Lorelai self. Loving strawberry milk and french fries. My little health nut. Not. She has taken to applesauce lately, but only the kind in the pouch. *shrugs*
She does enjoy sweet potato fries, so I try to get them as healthy as I can. Then we still go through our usual yogurt, grilled cheese, banana, muffins, chicken nuggets, apple, pop tart menu. A Lorelai-themed restaurant would do quite poorly, I think.
She is also OBSESSED with The Lion King.
Simba, Nala, Mufasa, Scar, Timon, Pumbaa...the whole gang. At least twice a day I hear: "Naaaaaaaaaaaaants ingonyamaaaa bagithi Baba..." I made the joke earlier it should be my ringtone, just so Lorelai would light up every time it went off; but I think hearing it any more than I do might actually kill me.

We met up with a couple of friends this week for a playdate, which was awesome. We need to do it more.

Water!

I have been trying to make an effort to do more fun, local, inexpensive things with her, but having an infant and chronically tired parents makes it a little tricky. I think we've done ok though. We have hit the splash pad 4 or 5 times, and their little sandy beach playground area. We've gone to the aquarium and have visited a couple of pools and played in the crazy sprinkler in the backyard. I would still like to try to take her to the movies, but we'll see. I do enjoy seeing her enjoy life. It's pretty darn amazing to watch her grow, learn, and experience new things...until the crying starts.

In case you missed it, I have opened a supplemental blog that I will use more like a journal about my girls. It's for the cute little instances that pop up and that I don't want to forget. It's open to you all, but it's mainly for my own logging purposes...since I get a bigger kick out my kids than anyone else. :P

I have also been getting serious about losing a lot of this cursed baby weight. I don't like to talk about it much, maybe I prefer being modest, maybe I feel embarrassed, but I am so sick of looking in the mirror and thinking "Ugh". I still don't have much time or energy to devote to working out (though I think my lifestyle in general is pretty active), so I have been focusing on eating better and eating less. Needless to say, it's not easy. I can't (and won't) do anything too drastic because I am still breastfeeding, but I have been looking into supplements for when I am through nursing. I had a really hard time losing weight after Lorelai, my body just didn't function like it used to. I never thought of myself as "thin" until I pull out my old clothes and realize I am no. where. near. close. to fitting in them. We'll see how things go. I am not expecting a grand transformation, but getting within 10lbs of my pre-babies weight would be nice. Honestly, getting into pants with a zipper would make me happy.

We have been getting an odd amount of rain lately, and I love it. I am not so worried about my foundation cracking and it cools off the air from "burn off the first two layers of skin when you touch your steering wheel" to "maybe I can get the mail without shoes on" hot. Come on, Fall.

And then, there's Phoebe. Good ol' pup whose own eyes reject their very use and purpose. She has another eye ulcer. I took her in Tuesday AND Wednesday for her issues. After several prescriptions of eye drops, eye serums, and eye gels, not to mention pain killers and a lovely e-collar; we are finally on the road to recovery. The only question is "How long can we go this time?" I do hope we can find a way to control this problem. I am afraid to leave her alone for any length of time and with anyone besides myself. I know what to look for, I know what her symptoms are, and I know how to tell if it's healing. Did you know, that if you tackle an eye ulcer the wrong way, the ulcer grows and (in the vet's words) "melts" into the layers of the eye?! Holy. Cow. I am stressed about this daily. You have no idea. Yay, life.

Hard to sleep with the cone...and that goes for everybody

Well, I think that covers things. It doesn't seem like much, but all of this has eaten up half of our July and then some. Let's hope the rest of July and August goes by as fast, but not as dramatic.

P.S.- I also created an instagram account. Come find me.


M.LEWIS