I Learn From Them.

I think that it is finally time that I dust off my lap top to blog. It's been a nice break and let's be real...Summer with two little babes equals busy! And another truth? I am flat out whooped after they both go to bed. But I look at my two babes these days....Stella is rounding the 3 corner and Ricky is rounding the 'big' one corner. Neither are slowing down and it's pulling all kids of heart strings. These two have taught me sooo much and have made me feel thankful for sooo much -including hot meals and hot showers and bathroom breaks alone- just sayin'. :) 

I have learned a love from them like no other. Something I thank them for every single day. Something I probably wouldn't even of known existed if they weren't here. Every time they discover, say or just do something new I find myself falling in love with them even more. A mommy's heart just grows and grows and grows...

I have learned that I am no perfect Mommy; but I do the best damn job I can. Every day is a fresh start with new opportunities to learn and grow. I make mistakes, I am human and that is okay. As long as I learn from them, I feel like it will make me a better me. 

I have learned to notice the little things. 

I have learned that I need wine caffeine to get through the day. I love coffee and it loves me back.

I have learned that I can be a good doctor. I have become pretty damn good at putting on band aids if I do say so myself.

I have learned that my husband can be easily manipulated by that cute puppy dog face. 

I have learned that I prefer snuggling on the couch sharing blankies with my littles rather then hittin' up the clubs. Do people even say that anymore ;)

I spend everyday, all day with my loves, and I wouldn't change it for the world. However, I have learned to appreciate 'me' time. Even if it just a quick run to the market to grab a missing ingredient for dinner. 

Rick: Do you just want me to pick it up on my way home?

Me: cutting him off half way through his question. No it's okay, I'll run! what I am really saying is "get the eff home so I can have ten minutes of sanity and a quick jam out session in truck!" 

I have learned that I shall always carry food in my diaper bag! Food cures alot all!

I have learned that baby wipes work like magic! 

I have learned that I can never give too many hugs, kisses, and tickles. And I can never tell them that I love them too many times. 

I have learned that kids will bring you to your knees. In cleaning up messes you never dreamed were possible. In fishing out toys stuck under the oven and sofa. 

I have learned to never google medical questions on the internet before calling the doctor. Truth: I have clearly learned that I SHOULD not do it, but I do do it. And I always want to give myself a good kick in the ass after I do it. 

I have learned that my floors will be dirtier then I ever imagined they could be. 

I have learned that it is possible to love someone else more than you love yourself. 

I have learned that there is no where and nothing else that could make me happier then being a Mommy to my kids.  

Father's Day Weekend

It was a great Father's Day weekend. We kicked it off with a Mommy Daddy date night on Friday night for dinner. Kid free may I add ;) It was nice to get out for a bit and enjoy a hot hot dinner with Rick and my mocktail of course..ha! 

It was a hot weekend and we spent most of it outside in the kids pools, eating ice pops and watermelon, listening to some good tunes, and grilling with family...

The babies went to sleep Saturday night smelling of campfire and sticky smore's faces. oh Summer nights. 

Rick and I decided to take the kids to the zoo on Sunday. We left late morning and spent the afternoon walking around checking out the animals eating cool snacks to keep our minds off the blistering heat! Thinking both kiddies would have been in bed nice and early that night...joke was on us! If I remember correctly looking at the clock- reading 7:00 p.m, Stella was still running around being sprayed by the hose in her undies- having the time of her life! 

 oh you two have no idea how lucky you are to have this guy as your Daddy and how much he adores you two. You both have him wrapped around your little fingers! 

Father's Day 2016.

Ohh!! and how can I forget to add.....our little guy is officially crawling!! And his first destination?? The dog water bowls!! 

Eight Things

One. Toasted coconut peach bars.

These bars are a delicious summer treat. It's one of those desserts that you need friends for. The next day I need to pack up at least half of them and give them away. Because.. if they sit in the house, IIIII am going to eat them. :) The night that I made them we had them for dessert with vanilla ice cream on top! So yummy! They are definitely a multi step dessert but worth the time and effort. The original recipe was made with mango but after looking in three different stores for canned mango and having no luck I decided to go with peaches. And the toasted coconut is amaze-balls on everything! I toasted the entire bag of coconut and I am so glad that I did. After using about a cup to top the bars I jarred the rest and have been enjoying it on so many things; especially my black raspberry ice cream, apples and peanut butter with toasted coconut-yummy, and oatmeal! 

Two. Fruit.

The kids loove fruit! It is there jam! We have been doing so many things with all of our fruit. I think one of Stella and I's favorites are a nice green salad loaded with fruit on the side of dinner. Stella loves to make the salad...I cut up the fruit and she builds the salad from the greens to the fruit to the cheese. We have been freezing lots of grapes, throwing lots of blueberries in our pancakes and topping our oatmeal and yogurt with loads of berries :)

Three. This shit really works!

This is one of those As Seen on TV things. Stella spotted it in the store while we were food shopping and asked if we could get it...because she wanted to fill them and throw them at Daddy to get him all wet ;) We brought them home and gave them a whirl. Totally worth it! Every single penny. We are talking filling up 40 water balloons in seconds and not having to tie a single knot! During our first go...Ricky would belly laugh out loud every time a a water popped. the best added bonus.

Four. Giving the chickens treats.

Basically what it boils down to when the chickens finally begin laying eggs (we are hoping for August) that we are pretty much going to be eating whatever they are eating! So Stella and I decided to give the chickens a little healthy treat. They haven't eaten anything besides their chicken feed yet so we were curious as to how they were going to react. I took an aluminum pan and put a hodgepodge of foods hoping they would eat out of the pan. I scoured around to see what kind of left overs we had- we mixed up some plain cheerios because we always have a crazy amount of these in the house, left over peas, left over salmon from the kids lunch, and whole grain pancake from breakfast. They hated the aluminum pan but loved the food, which was fine because Stella enjoyed feeding them one piece at a time and the chickens love the company. As soon as they see someone walking over to the coop, they all run to the door and wait. 

Five. Park play.

Six. Just crawl already! 

Ricky wants to crawl sooo bad but just can't get the forward motion down! He is up on all fours all the time just rocking. You can tell he is anxious to master this skill because he will wake up out of a dead sleep, get on his hands and knees in his crib and begin rocking back and forth! When Rick and Stella are playing just a short reach away, you can see in his eyes that he just wants to get in on the action...if only he could get over to them! He is pulling himself up with little assistance and is able to go back and forth from sitting position to being on his hands and knees. Not that I am rushing it because I am NOT, but I hate seeing him so frustrated...just CRAWL already! We are rootin' for ya buddy!

Seven. Good bye first trimester, hello Second!

Not sure if the nightly lethargic feeling is from the first trimester or just running around with two little ones all day long. But, dayum am I tired!! I am ready to start getting some of my energy back that usually comes around in the second trimester! And morning sickness- I am so over you! ;) 

Eight. Along for the Ride.

This kills me. One day he will catch on ;)

What a hodgepodge of random thoughts, right?! 

A Stella Snapshot

I am still doing monthly updates of the little guy and have been trying to put together a few ideas for his first birthday party. But it has dawned on me that I will have Stella's THIRD birthday party to plan eight short weeks later! I seriously can't believe my first baby- the baby that made me a mommy- is going to be three years old! She is so grown up to me these days, much more so since Ricky has come into our lives. I look at her and just wonder to myself how she has gotten so big, learned so much, and has become this incredible little girl. I like to think it's all because of Rick and I...haha :) Anyway, she is only a few months away from being three and I thought I would write a little snapshot about her and the little girl that she is these days. 

Stella is so sweet, silly, sensitive, smart and so independent these days. She wants to do everything all by herself. From getting herself dressed, walking up and down the stairs to creating her own ice cream sundae. She is so funny and is forever making Rick, Ricky and I laugh. She loves music- jamming out to loud music especially (What Do You Mean, Work From Home, Shake it Off, No and It's All About the Bass are her top favs), dancing and if she hears her song come on in the truck she asks me to turn it loud! just like her Mommy! Dance school is in the near future! She loves to help me bake and cook in the kitchen, is obsessed with parks and slides, and will do about a thousand egg hunts a day in her Elsa dress. She still loves tacos and spaghetti, dance parties in the kitchen, her favorite ice cream flavor is mint chocolate chip- in a cone, and loves to wear dresses. She loves digging in the dirt but hates bugs...go figure. Stella has been fully potty trained for awhile now(except for nights)- no more pull ups over the undies during truck rides or trips out of the house. proud mommy moment. 

She is my little helper and is always helping me with Ricky. She uses please and thank you all the time which describes her personality pretty well. She loves to put on make up at my vanity, have her nails and piggies painted and does a quick glance at herself in the mirror. :)

One of my favorite things about her age is how she expresses her love without any prompting once so ever. I mean the 'I love you so much' and 'Mommy are the sweetest girl in town' or the 'Mommy you look booiful.' All full out heart 'melters' right there.

She will always be my first. My lil' bestie. Stella, I can make you this promise: No matter how big you get, you will always always know how much you are loved and how special you are to Daddy and I. 

Exciting News

Another year, another baby :) 

Rick and I are beyond excited to add another little addition to our bunch this coming December. If things aren't chaotic enough around here sometimes, right?! A good chaotic of course :) The days surrounding the day we found out our news were full of signs from our little angel above. Those signs warmed my heart and told me that she will look over this little one just as she did with Ricky. 

As far as wanting a boy or girl this time around? No preference once so ever. A healthy baby is all that matters...and the fact that we have both boy and girl things will make it pretty easy. And let me remind you...this is the fourth Summer that I am joining the non-boozing train! Next Summer I will be hittin' the margarita's hard! :)

Ricky's expression in this outtake kind of reminds me of Rick's expression when I told him that we were going to be outnumbered!

 Damn I love these little ones...

Double Digits

Dear Ricky,

I seriously can't believe that you are ten months old already. It sounds so cliche' but I really wish I could keep you this size for a bit longer. Your smile is my favorite. And so are the dimples on your hands and endless amount of chub on your legs. We all tell you all.the.time but you are the definition of a Momma's boy. You want to be held all the time and I know at times I tell you that Mommy can't hold you every single time you want to be held, but I can guarantee that I will be eating my words one day. Because there will be a day when you won't want to be held in my arms. You are one handsome little guy and your eyes are killer. A beautiful blue. You show endless love for your sister and I hope you guys grow up best friends. You are killing it with sleep- soothing yourself to sleep and sleeping through the night with the occasional wake up just looking for your blankie and soothie. You are a belly sleeper now which made me nervous in the beginning but to see you so cozy.... :)You have silly ways of communicating with us and we love you to pieces. All of your crankiness, loud screams and whines and impatience- we wouldn't change a thing. Ricky you are a special little boy- and I can eat you up I love you so.  
All my Love,
Mommy

Weight: if I had to guess I'd say somewhere around 22 lbs. 

Height: official measurements will be taken at his next doctor visit in two months. 

Head Circumference: still in the 100th percentile....lots of brain in there ;)

Appetite:  Yes! You definitely have one of these :) You LOVE food. To be completely honest, you are more into solids these days then nursing which I am kind of happy about, hoping it makes for easy weaning. You just seem to be more interested in whats happening around you while nursing. You still nurse or have expressed milk in a cup 4 times a day- first thing in the morning, 11:00 a.m, 3:00 p.m. and before bedtime! Four weeks until we begin the transition to cow's milk!! I am super excited and I have a feeling you are going to love it. You are eating 3 meals a day and a snack or two though out the day. Some of your favorite foods are sweet potato's, pasta, any fruit-especially watermelon, graham crackers, multi grain crackers, avocado, eggs, pancakes and whole wheat french toast. When we put you in your high chair, you immediately begin to make lots of noise and wave your hands in pure excitement. To say you get excited for mealtime is an understatement. If anyone else has food, you are reaching with all your might to get your sticky hands into it. Ricky- you love to eat :) 

Clothing Size: You are currently wearing 6-12, and 12-18 month clothing and you are in size 4 diapers. 

Milestones: You are on the move, but backwards! You don't stay in the sitting position for long. You fall right onto your belly and first get frustrated, and then begin to scoot backwards. If doesn't take you long to go from one corner of one room to another corner in the next room. You easily get up on all fours and rock. So if I had to guess you are not far from cruising forward. As far as teeth go, you cut two more on top. All together you have 6 teeth now! 

Thoughts/Other: I am ordering your first birthday party invitations today and it feels oh so bittersweet. 

Our routine: Lately you have been waking up pretty damn early- like 5:30 early. I usually feed you and put you back down to get an extra hour. You and Stella both wake for the day around 6:30- my little early risers. you guys like to rise with the chickens ;) We have breakfast around 7:30/8ish and have some playtime after we eat. Your morning nap is from 9:00 a.m to about 10:30. If we have errands or plans they are usually after your morning nap! Lunch is around noon and your afternoon nap is about 1:30 to 3ish. We have more playtime until dinner. Dinner is around 5:30. After dinner it's bathtime, nursing time and off to bed. Lately bed for you has been 6:45/7ish. NO late then 7:!5! Thank you to playing outside all day long- you both are in bed nice and early  :) 

Your favorites: Some of your favorites at the moments are:

1. Chicken Little

2. cruising in the crazy coupe

4.  Food. :) 
5. relaxing in the hammock

6. taking a bath

7. Your blankies...you will not sleep without them.

8. being naked