Harvey 6 months

Harvey!! Oh our sweet smiling boy. You are 6 months old and growing so fast!

Six months old: 

15 pounds

Army crawling everywhere & fast!

Loves to watch big brother and scoot around the floor chasing him

Our little "spider monkey" loves to cling onto us when he is being held. He automatically puts his    arms around our neck and squeezes when we pick him up. 

Loves giving slobbery kisses.

Eating pureed baby foods. We haven't found a food he doesn't like yet. 

Sleeping through the night a majority of the time but is an early riser!

Tough guy gets pushed and wrestled with whenever big brother is around. Smiles and giggles through it all.

We love our happy Harvey!

Harvey James-3 months

Our little brother is 3 months old!

3 Months:

-12 lbs 4 oz
-Very easy going baby
-Always smiling and talking
-Watches big brother anytime he is near
-Wakes up 1 or 2 times at night

We love you little Harv!

Toddler Bible Journaling

Deuteronomy 6:5-8New International Version (NIV)

5 Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. 6 These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. 7 Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. 8 Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads.

Just recently, I've noticed Clyde has been learning so many things. He is counting, learning colors, and a lot of basics he'll need as he gets older and starts school.  I just love watching his mind grow! But it also reminded me that his mind is not the only thing that is growing. His heart is growing too. As a parent, I'm responsible for guarding and cultivating love and understanding in that growing heart. 

So today he joined me in bible journaling!

 I bought him some water colors and a plain white notebook. At night when we say our prayers, I tell him how God loves him. So I wrote "God Loves Me" on today's page and let him color to his heart's content. 

My notes today were inspired from a cute t-shirt I saw online that said "Raising Arrows". It was meant to highlight Psalm 127:3-5. The bible describes children as arrows in a hand of a warrior, and how blessed is the man with a quiver full of them. To me, I loved the reminder that we are blessed to have children, but by "raising arrows" we must also be responsible for them.  The same way a warrior cares for his weapons and prepares them for battle, we also must also prepare the young hearts in our house as they get older and face their own battles. 

Stay tuned for more toddler bible journaling. I'd love for you to share your own ideas for teaching toddlers and young ones about God. Please add your thoughts to the comments below!  

Working Mommy Guilt

"Are you ready to go back to work?"

I would be rich if I was getting paid by this question. I really was ready to go back. I missed my work family. I missed my patients. I needed away from my toddler and newborn and an excuse to wash my permanent messy bun hair. 

Of course I did NOT want to leave my snuggles. Who would ever want to leave this sweet baby?! 

So on my first day driving back to work, like every mother before me, I cry the tears.....

Tears of guilt. Tears of relief. Tears of anxiety. Tears of sadness.

I had a great first day back at work. I loved catching up with my coworkers. I had a nice patient schedule that kept me busy but not running behind. I hopped right back in the groove. I was feeling good!

When it was time to pick my babies up, I rushed to daycare. When I got there both of them were the last in their classes to be picked up. Mommy guilt is creeping in. I mean, goodness, do I have to work until midnight or what? Even worse, on the door of the infant room was a sign stating 3 kids had bronchitis, 1 eye infection, and 1 case of RSV....on Harvey's 1st day of daycare.  I threw the poor guy into that. Mommy guilt. 

Fast forward a few days and it's 10pm. Kyle's on shift and I'm sitting in the ER with Harvey for a fever and coughing. Clyde is well past his bedtime, trying his hardest to be patient for mommy.  I'm still in my work scrubs feeling the mommy guilt. 

Everything shows clear so we are sent home. 

Next day, our pediatrician does more tests and puts him on breathing treatments. 

I hate seeing my baby sick. Especially when I know he was only exposed because I work.  Working mommy guilt is a real thing. But that is part of it.

There's a real balance to having a career and being a mommy. Before I had kids, there was my job and then there was my social life. They intertwined and flowed beautifully. I was off work, then met my friends to laugh and talk over a bowl of chips and salsa, we said goodbye and made plans for girl's trips to use up our many vacation days. 

Now, social life consists of a group text between my friends in which 4 of the last 5 plans we made, I had to cancel due to sickness, daycare pick ups, or pure exhaustion from mommy life. 

It does not flow beautifully into work. I show up with spit up on my scrubs, I leave early because one of them has a fever. Vacations are a wonderful idea-but I save mine for the inevitable emergency doctor visits. 

And that's perfectly okay. 

In between the chaos, there are snuggles and making the most out of each minute of play time. My kids will grow up watching me love my job. They will see how their mom organizes an impossible schedule. Family days will be all the more cherished. And some day, they will have jobs of their own and be well rounded, hard working, family men. Then I will remember all those days of mommy guilt were worth it. How blessed I am to endure any case of mommy guilt. 

Harvey 1 -2 Months

Harvey James

 

1 MONTH

-9 lb 4.5 oz

- Nurses every 3 hours even through the night

-Looks for mommy and daddy when we talk

-Very content little boy

2 MONTHS

-11 lb 4.8 oz

-Gets up once at night

-Started daycare and is doing really well!

-Lights up with a big grin when he sees Mom & Dad

-Loves watching big brother

-Very snuggly but does great sleeping on his own

-Enjoys tummy time and napping on his belly

-Very chill baby!

Clyde's Barnyard Brunch-Age 2

Clyde is TWO!!!!!

 We are loving 2 year old personality.  26.4 pounds. 32 inches. He talks nonstop and constantly surprises us with his vocabulary and how he pronounces things so well.  In the mornings we watch him on the monitor before we get out of bed, and he is sitting in his bed reading books aloud to himself. He can count to 10, loves tractors and blocks, and wearing hats. He is really good at helping around the house. His favorite tasks are feeding the dogs, cooking, and helping sweep or mop. We're so proud of how he has taken on his role as big brother. He truly is a good helper and good listener.

BARNYARD BRUNCH!

We had a morning party with family to celebrate our big guy. I made it a Barnyard theme. It was so fun and easy to put together. It snowed and few inches the night before and we had two cars stuck in our driveway. We had to shuttle in a few grandma's, but once everyone was safe inside we had a blast with the birthday boy! Kyle made Clyde a workbench to go in his shop. I got my sewing machine out and made a pouch and tool belt to add to it. We bought him a big set of Black and Decker play tools. It turned out just perfect!! Clyde loves being Kyle's shop sidekick so now he can work on his own shop projects! Here are some pictures from the party and our guests......

A big thanks to all our family who drove over to spend the morning with our man!

It's so hard to believe we have a 2 year old. Even with all his 2 year old fit throwing and stubborn ways, we savor every day with this spunky, smart, loving boy! We love you, Buddy!

A Brown Christmas with Little Lords a Leaping

Last night we had Clyde's first Christmas program. I haven't been out besides errands and shopping since Harvey was born so this was a treat! We got all dressed up and picked him up at daycare to take him out to dinner before his program. We had a super fun little family dinner. Any time your toddler behaves while eating feels like a lottery win. We were done a little early and Kyle asked what we would do to kill time. I told him by the time I had Clyde's clothes changed and the baby fed, we'd be perfect on time. I should have known....

We sat in the car and changed Clyde into his super cute little Christmas cardigan.
Then it's Harvey's turn. As I'm changing his diaper on my lap in the car, he poops.
No, not a little. He poops a lot. Projected straight at me and my nice, non-yoga pant, outfit.
 I scream and it just keeps coming.  It is all over my lap, including my pants and shirt. We need to be at the daycare in 20 mins and we are still in the restaurant parking lot.
Kyle puts Clyde in his carseat which causes him to cry, adding to the tension in the air.  He grabs whatever wipes he can find for me.  I can see him trying to hold in his laughter.  I get Harvey and myself all cleaned up. Luckily I had taken off my blazer jacket so i wore that over my nursing tank and wiped my pants the best I could. Phew! So after clean up, nursing stinky Harvey, and getting everyone buckled back in, we miraculously made it on time. Another win of the lottery.

And Oh Clyde! .......I sat in poopy pants, nursing Harvey, who apparently was still starving after all that, and watched the cutest little Christmas program.
When it was time for Clyde's class, instead of dancing to the music, he stood there like a (really cute) statue.  And then halfway through his song, out of nowhere, he runs to the edge of the stage like he's going to leap off. The front row ran up to catch him while his teacher came from behind. He stopped right before jumping into the crowd.
Apparently we need to have a conversation about when it isn't appropriate to crowd surf. For instance-any time you are wearing a cardigan.

Here's our cute little leaping lord at his first performance!

And little bubby had to dress up too!

Brotherly love