This One That One and These

This one.

Oh this one.

So adorable and tiny and loveable.

She has found her feet recently and likes to suck on them.

Oh to be that flexible.

But sometimes she just doesn't want to go to sleep.

She is like a little ninja breaking out of her swaddle.

We have switched to the sleep sack swaddle.

And she still has some tummy issues.

I am trying to cut out all dairy to see if it improves.

I have been doing it for about a week, and it has helped a little bit it seems, but not entirely.

Why does everything delicious have to have dairy in it?

But she is worth it.

Love this girl.

Then there is that one.

Silly, sweet, imaginative, Cambry.

Love her.

She has been carrying around the insert from the Godiva chocolate box that describes all the chocolates for a couple days

She calls it her recipe book.

She says she likes to look at all her recipes.

So funny.

The other day when Greg got home from work, she started asking him questions like,

"Did you have fun Daddy?"

"Did you have a good time Daddy?"

"What did you do today?"

We were cracking up.

It was like talking to an adult.

I guess we ask her those questions all the time so now she is repeating them.

Love all the adorable things she said.

Then there are these 2.

So sweet.

I hope as they get older they will grow to love each other and play together more and more.

I am thankful.

Some Time to Myself

Sometimes you just need a second to yourself.

Things get busy.

You have to change a diaper.

Someone needs a snack.

1 or 2 kids is crying.

Someone needs me to "hold you".

The house constantly needs to be picked up.

Someone is panicked because their shoe came unvelcroed.

And all you want,

 is just one second to relax,

and build the most awesome tower possible.

But no.

Someone keeps crashing it.

On purpose.

She thinks it's funny.

It's not.

It's serious.

You were on the brink of discovering the absolute best structural design.

And boom.

It's down again.

You suggest building separate towers.

On opposite ends of the playroom.

Not happening.

You try - "let's see how tall mommy can build it and then you can crash it".

Crashed again.

Fine.

I don't even want to play with blocks.

Let's just have a tea party or something.

Something less competitive.

But you just wait.

One day I'm gonna build the best one yet.

One day.

A Photo an Hour: 1/21/14

I saw on my friend Meg's blog that she did this, and I thought it was such a cute idea. I took one photo each hour on Tuesday. Well I tried to at least. Sometimes I forgot until almost the next hour, but close enough. All times are approximate since I can't remember exactly when I took them.

6:30am

Little one is awake

7:40am

Little one is down for a nap and big sis and I are making oatmeal for breakfast.

9:00am

Leaving the house to go to Divine Design (moms group at church).

10:00am

We are learning to make homemade play-dough today among other things :)

11:00am

Hearing an encouraging word from Lorie.

12:00pm

Heading home!

12:45pm

Lunch time. Please note the little hand attempting to steal my sweet potato chips.

1:45pm

Both girls are sleeping so I clean the kitchen. Whenever I sweep and swiffer the floors I always light a candle. It just makes it feel that much cleaner.

2:45pm

Big sis is awake so it is play time in the backyard.

3:30pm

Snack time. Banana and peanut butter classic.

4:15pm

I watch little one nap on the monitor while big sis plays outside some more.

5:00pm

Cue the cranky hour.

6:00pm

Dinner time.

6:30pm

Daddy does bath time.

7:30pm

Bedtime routine for big sis. Milk, books, songs, kisses. I listen in from the other room while I nurse Lainey, then come in towards the end.

8:30pm

Working on a post for Houston Moms Blog.

I kind of forgot to take any pictures after that but went to bed around 10:30 and didn't do much else. Also not pictured are my times up with Lainey at 1am, 4am, and 5am :)

Lainey 3 Months

Size: You weigh 13 lbs. 0 oz. according to our scale at home. You are wearing 3 month or 3-6 month clothes and size 1 diapers. We still aren't doing cloth because they just don't seem to be tight enough around your little legs. We need to fatten you up!

Likes: You like to be held facing out so you can look all around. You do well in the baby bjorn when we grocery shop. You sometimes like baths (Daddy bathes you every other night). You like to crinkle your lamaze toy. You like sucking on your hands and your paci when you are sleepy. You like your swing for naps and we swaddle you with the miracle blanket which seems to help calm you down.

Dislikes: Evenings can still be a little rough. It is sometimes hard to get you to go down for the night. You don't like being held in the cradle position unless you are ready to go to sleep.

Working on: Tummy time. You are getting better head control lately. You do ok with tummy time in short increments. I put you with your chest propped up on the boppy and you seem to do well like that.

Sleeping: During the day your naps have gotten much better. Although you still don't have a schedule, it is getting much easier to read your cues and you do have a pattern. You have been waking up between 6-7am. Then you are awake for about an hour, and usually very happy. When you start getting fussy/sleepy I swaddle you, give you your paci, and put you in the swing. Most of the time you will just fall right asleep - no rocking or anything. Sometimes you drop your paci and I have to go put it back in a couple times, but overall you are doing so good at going down. Your first nap lasts anywhere from 45 min - 2 hours. I never really know. Your longest stretch of nap is usually in the afternoon after lunch (partly overlapping Cambry's, which is nice). I guess you take about 4 naps but usually a couple of them are very short cat naps (like 20 minutes or so). Lately at night you have been going down around 7-8ish and you sleep in your crib. You wake up 2-3 times a night. If it has only been a couple hours since you ate last I will try to just rock you back to sleep instead of feeding you, hoping that you will start sleeping for longer stretches. Usually you go back down pretty quickly, although we have had a number of rough nights this month.

Eating: You eat about every 2 1/2 - 3 hours usually. You still are super efficient at nursing. You also take the bottle when needed. I think you probably do about 8 feedings a day, with 2 of them during the night.

Looking a little cross eyed here, but still cute!

Your hair is really thinning out but new hair is coming in. It seems to be a light brown color. Although you still have a lot of your dark hair in the back. I still don't know what color eyes you will have. They are still a dark gray, sometimes a little blue looking.

A couple things have happened this month. At first you became a much happier baby during the day. You are content for longer periods of time and it has gotten much easier to read your cues to know what you need. However, the last couple weeks I think you have really been having some tummy troubles. You get really gassy and just scream and cry and kick your legs. You have also started spitting up a lot. I don't know if you have some reflux or what, but lately (as in the last week or so) it gets bad at times.  I am cutting out dairy from my diet - at least the major sources (milk, ice cream, cheese). I am only on day 2 so it may take some time to see if it helps. I may try some gas drops (although those never worked for Cambry). I really hope it gets better soon because I feel so bad for you when you get upset and it is very hard to calm you down.

Although it seems like you were born FOREVER ago, at the same time I can't believe you are already 3 months old. I just want time to slow down. These baby days seem to fly by and I just want to soak you in. Your tiny little hands and feet, you cute little baby legs, your adorable coos, and sweet little smiles you give me after eating. Babies are truly a joy. You change so fast and I love watching you grow. I love seeing new expressions and watching you become more aware of your surroundings. I love you Lainey Bear!!

Matching Outfits and Animal Poop

Before I had 2 kids I thought dressing your kids alike was a little cheesy.

Then I had 2 girls.

And now I think it is adorable. This was us before church this morning, with the girls dressing alike for the first time. Lindsay gave them these 2 cute dresses.

Random funny story:

Ever since we went to that safari place Cambry has been talking about how she saw animal poop. She will randomly just say - I saw animal poop! We were about to pray for dinner the other night and she wanted to pray. (Ima try. That's her new thing. With everything. Ima Ima Ima try). So she folds her hands, bows her head, and starts praying. "blah blah blah (toddler gibberish)...thank you for animal poop amen".

I love that girl.

Around the House: Vol. 2

1. Obviously the most sanitary place for bowls and cups is in the bathroom.

2. Eat your food Lainey!

3. Always finding baby doll on Lainey's stuff

4. Surprisingly, this is not Cambry's mess. Someone got frustrated with the tupperware cabinet. He shall remain nameless.

Newborns: Round 2

I keep thinking about how this transition has been compared to the transition with Cambry as a newborn. Even though having 2 is definitely harder, I think so far it hasn't been as hard as I expected. Don't get me wrong, I am not saying it is easy, but so far there are a few things that are not as difficult the second time around.

First of all the recovery from labor seemed to be a bit easier. I don't know if this was due to the fact that I delivered a baby that was a whole pound lighter than my first, or just having gone through it before helps. Although I will say having to lift a toddler is very painful in the beginning. They tell you not to lift anything heavy and I tried not to, but sometimes you just have no other choice.

Another nice thing is that I didn't really get the baby blues this time. I was so worried about it. Just dreading it. I hated the way I felt after having Cambry. Of course I was over joyed to have a baby but I also felt deeply sad. I cried every day for 3 weeks and then it slowly tapered off. Hormones can effect so much! I cried a few times early on after Lainey, but so much better this time.

Breastfeeding has also been easier so far. I think after having gone through it once, it helps to know what you are doing. Last time it hurt for months. This time only a couple weeks. 

The lack of sleep hasn't been too terribly bad. I am not sure if it is because Lainey does not keep me up for as long at night (although there are nights that she does) or because God just provides the energy I need to take care of 2, or both (I think it is both reasons). But overall I feel pretty decent most days and have actually gotten to take some naps while both girls have been sleeping. But I am looking forward to some longer stretches of sleep!

I think the thing that helps the most is knowing that everything is just a stage. When Cambry was little and was super fussy I was worried I would have the most difficult baby because she just wasn't awake and happy much. Well she turned out to be a great baby and her fussy days quickly ended. I thought Cambry would never like tummy time, I wondered how I was going to get her to sleep without the swaddle, I worried why she would not eat any solids at first, I thought she was never going to like cows milk, that she would never eat a vegetable...We are up to 3 vegetables that she likes by the way - green beans, edamame, and cucumber. I know not all difficulties go away quickly, but usually something that you think is so hard goes away after not too long. And then of course a new challenge comes along, but at least you have variety :) So now when Lainey is fussy, or takes a million attempts to be put down, or screams bloody murder during her bath, I know that this too shall pass. Before I know it she will be 2 years old like Cambry and I will be missing these sweet baby days. So even when things are difficult, I don't want to rush through it looking forward to the next stage because I know it will fly by all too quickly.

When Cambry was a newborn I remember thinking to myself every day - how in the world does anyone have 2 kids?? And now here I am with 2. I am no expert. A lot of times someone is fussing. Sometimes I find myself snapping at Cambry out of impatience and then I get frustrated with myself. Sometimes it takes us 4 hours to get ready to do something. Sometimes as soon as one goes to sleep the other wakes up and I am so exhausted. But we are doing it. And I love it. And I am thankful to be at home with these two. And I still want another...one day :)

Lainey Pictures

Greg's mom asked me to send her some pictures of Lainey that she could print out and I realized I didn't have any good pictures of her lately! (Besides iphone pics). So I snapped a few today.

Most of the time I don't think Lainey and Cambry look alike. But sometimes in pictures I see it. I think they look alike in these 2 pictures.

Cambry

Lainey

Family Week of Fun

The Kimmels came to visit from Phoenix and we had a whole week of fun! Monday afternoon they came by the house straight from the airport so the cousins could play together.

Then we went and spent the night at my parent's house on Tuesday. We just hung out most of the day watching the littles run around.

That evening the men did some fireworks. When I was growing up we would spend almost every new years eve out in the front yard with neighbors while my Dad did fireworks. We haven't done it in many years so it was fun to do it again. I thought the kids would be scared but they loved it!

Mom was sweet to stay inside and hold Lainey.

After the kids were in bed and we had finished the fireworks we played games together, which is always a Grosse favorite. We didn't quite make it til midnight though. Although Lainey and I were up at 1am and 4am...does that count?

On new years day we ate black eyed peas and cabbage, and took the kids to Monkey Bizness. They had lots of fun jumping around in all the inflatables. And the adults had fun too racing each other in the obstacle course. It was discovered that Lauren has a hidden skill for completing inflatable obstacle courses at lightning fast speed. She beat me, Cody, and Greg. 

Thursday my parents rented a 12 passenger van so we could all ride together to go to Bayou Wildlife Park. We went on this fun little safari type tour where the animals come right up to you and you can feed them. We all loved it.

Then the kids even got to ride a pony and there was a little petting zoo too.

Although I think Cambry's favorite part was seeing the animal poo poo. She is still talking about it. As we were leaving that place she said "Bye bye animal poo poo, see you tomorrow!"

On Friday we took the kids to the roller rink for tot skate time. It was super crowded but everyone had fun.

I am pretty worn out from the week but I am so thankful that they got to visit and we had so much fun together!