Joint Birthday!

We had a joint b-day party on Sunday. T was a few weeks past 1 and M was a few weeks from 3. We did it at a park close by and we had a great time! The weather was awesome and a lot of people were able to make it. My parents were up so we had the party and we went to a State Park on Friday but they have all of those pictures because I forgot my camera. Funny things from the weekend:

-T turning on my breast pump and then proceeding to dance to it.
-M putting his hands on his hips every time he doesn't agree with you
-The funny sound of joy that T makes when you are helping her 'run' around

Happy Birthday Baby Girl!

T turned 1 yesterday so I thought I would put up some pictures of her at each month. Last night when I was putting her to bed I could have been there all night rocking her to sleep. I was so filled with love that I think I could have done that all night long and I had an incredibly uncontrollable urge to squeeze her. Things I want to remember:

-She loves crawling up the stairs
-She will play in her crib quietly in the morning - thank you!
-She has a funny laugh that almost sounds like a smokers cough
-She loves her brother and he can always make her laugh
-She loves food
-She loves to stand up on the couch and just let go - so far no injures
-She loves her blankets though there isn't a favorite
-She loves her Dad
-She can crawl and then suddenly switch to her turbo speed
-She can grab your glasses off your face without you even knowing what happened.
-She smiles are almost everyone
-She drops her food on the ground when she is finished - Deucey loves her!
-She sleeps all night
-She is a dare devil
-She loves her bath time, especially with her big brother
-She can screech!
-Those two bottom teeth when she smiles!
-She loves carrots

Here are the pictures for each month:

Me on my due date, she didn't feel like coming out for another 10 days and even that required some intervention, and yes I swore I would never show anyone a pregnancy picture but for some reason I just don't care at this point:



The day she was born:



One month old:



Two months old:



Three months old:



Four months old:



Five months old:



Six months old:



Seven months old:



Eight months old:



Nine months old:



Ten months old:



Eleven months old:



ONE YEAR OLD! No pictures with icing all over her - she spit her cupcakes right out, maybe next year:



I love you so much my baby girl! I don't think you will ever know how much until you have your own kids - I didn't. I am so proud and happy.

Putting myself out to pasture

For the better part of the last 4 years I have been either pregnant or breastfeeding. Both of these were my choices but it was still a hard 4-years. At times it definitely felt like I had put my life on hold while literally giving my blood, seat, tears, and milk to someone else in order to help them grow and be healthy.

Tomorrow T turns 1 so my tour of duty is officially over. We aren't having any more kids and there will be whole milk in that bottle tomorrow. T stopped breastfeeding around 8 weeks so I have just been pumping so I am not going to miss the time we spent together because we weren't spending any time together - she is in love with her bottle.

I am looking forward to having a glass of wine at 9 PM without thinking, Oh that means I need to wait at least an hour which puts me at 10 PM to pump and I really should have been in bed at 9. And if I am exhausted I can put my kids to bed and walk right down the hall to go to sleep instead of having to go back downstairs to pump and clean up all of the 'equipment' that goes along with it. I definitely won't miss the small bottles, the pump pieces that I wash 4 times a day, and a breast pump sitting in my hotel room. I also don't need to carry it on an airplane - inevitably someone asks what it is - usually during security - last time as soon as the guy asked me what it was and I said breast pump he let me move right though.

Tomorrow I am hoping to have a post dedicated to my beautiful baby on her first birthday.

Giving each other comfort

When M moved schools it was a pretty good transition but he would visit T in her room for some hugs and smiles. Every time he passes her door she lights up and often times emits a high pitched scream of excitement. It goes the other way as well. If T is crying M will get her pacifier or blanket. But the cutest thing is when she is crying and he goes up and gives her a hug and says 'It's okay I'm here T.' It melts my heart every time.

We're Baaaack!!!

We had an awesome vacation. The first one that we have taken as a family of four. It was exactly relaxing but I don't think any vacation with kids is relaxing - unless you hired a full-time nanny. Everyone had a great time, didn't get a sunburn, and I am hoping they sleep in tomorrow morning because they were up really early every morning!

We went to the beach, went to a lighthouse, walked down a bunch of stairs to get to the beach from the bluffs, ate a lot, built sand castles, watched boats, drank a lot, saw a camel, tortoise, emus, ducks, turtles, deer, and a lot of other wildlife - M loved it!

My favorite quote of the week - while M and I were walking out on a pier made of large rocks he kept saying to me, 'Be careful with me Mom', he didn't want to fall in between the rocks, I thought it was so cute!

T was starting to let go of things to stand on her own and she now has several 'gears' when crawling. She still hates the grass but she tolerated the sand.

Here are way too many pictures.

So sweet but it makes me tear up....

We finally have both of our kids consolidated into one school. Anyone who talks to me on even a somewhat regular basis knows the long story of how it came to be that my kids were in two different centers. They are now together which makes our daily lives much better. I am sure I will be complaining about something else in a month.

While M was at his old school he had a BFF A. These two were almost like twins:

-Curly hair - check
-Little behind with words - check
-Cute as hell - check
-Crazy little guys - check

A is basically a darker version of M. There have been pictures of both of them on the blog from time to time. A moved onto preschool because he was a few months older and then we discovered that M would move to T's school so when he was ready to move to preschool he moved. Shockingly the transition hasn't been bad at all - at least relative to what we were expecting. M has basically always cried when we drop him off even though that is what he has been doing since he was an infant. So the new school, new friends, new teachers, etc. we thought would be horrible for everyone. I am very happy to report that he is doing really well and I couldn't be more proud of my little guy - I hate going to new places where I don't know anyone.

I got an email with A's Mom this week, please take a look at what he said:

'Yesterday I was talking to A about preschool and his friends, and he said he missed M. Then he said "maybe M doesn't want to be my friend anymore." (No lie - I actually wrote it down, because it was the cutest/saddest thing I'd heard come out of his mouth!)'

I was instantly in tears at work when I read this. A playdate was instantly set up. I can't wait to tell M the news that morning when we go to see A. And I can't wait to see the two of them together again. A's Mom has said several times that she thinks they share a brain. :)

I survived!

The race was awesome! It was cloudy but the sun came out as we were putting on our wetsuits, stayed relatively sunny during the race, and then it started raining when we were driving back. I was in some pain so I need to do some more training and my times in the transition area where horrible. I finished in 1 hour 23 minutes and I place 325 out of 500 people. Not great but when I think about the fact that if I could have come in 5 minutes earlier I would have been 250 I am feeling pretty good. Some people were being pulled out by kayaks so at least I was doing better than them.

It was a little humbling to have 60 year olds passing me but I honestly expected that. I really don't have any pictures - A stayed home with the kids so it was just me and Lindsey. I have a few at 5 AM in the parking lot where we left to drive down but we aren't looking all that great.

Now I just need to start training for my next one in August. It is slightly longer so I won't be able to compare my times directly but I am leaving my times here for future reference.

Place No. 325
Name
Hometown
Final 1:23:30
Div/Tot 38/81
Div NEWB-F
Rank 119
Swim 10.33
Tran1 4.26
Rank 364
Bike 39.00
Tran2 0.47
Rank 318
Run 28.46
Penalty N/A

Tomorrow I might be able to call myself a .....

Triathlete. I don't know if you can officially call yourself that after only one race but I think I am going to go ahead and do it.

After having my second child I went back to the gym to lose the weight and get back in shape. I accomplished that goal but after I lost the weight I felt like my workouts really weren't doing much and I didn't have a true goal in mind. How I decided on a triathlon - I honestly have no idea. I swam for about 15 years, I used to run but honestly I don't enjoy it that much, and the last time I road a bike I ran into a telephone pole. I had a pool at the gym, I could start running but I didn't own a bike so I decided to start with spinning classes. So I got a little better at each piece but it was still just an idea - I needed to actually sign up for one and I needed a partner. I tried to get my brother-in-law to do it but he wouldn't commit. I was having dinner with a guy I work with and his wife and she mentioned that she runs half marathons. We had a really nice time - especially considering that we had never met and I ask her husband if he would ask her about the triathlon. She agreed and we are now less than a day away from our first one.

I have had such a great time - it has been some time away from the kids so that is a nice mental break - you need to have some time to yourself and away from the kids. Lindsey has been great - I have made a new friend which I find hard to do. And I am in better shape. We have done the whole thing twice so I feel pretty comfortable that we will be able to finish it. Our goal is to finish and have fun.

In my book I have come a long way. Still a little nervous - the swim is in the ocean which isn't exactly warm right now and I am still a little nervous on a bike so the large number of people will be a little scary but if I just stay behind someone the whole time and never pass anyone that works for me.

Now I am just hoping for a good night's sleep and no rain tomorrow morning. Can't wait!

The Strength of Hormones!

Today the hormones are going crazy - I am baby hungry. Why you ask when you hear about all of my complaints and tired I am. Today the Husband gets his vasectomy. We have discussed it, agreed upon it, and obviously we have acted on it but now that the day is here I am in a little bit of a panic. It makes no rational sense so I am blaming it on hormones and countless generations before me that tells my genes to want more kids. So when I think about it rationally what do I like about it?

-Pregnancy - no not at all. The first one seemed like forever. The second was fast but I was sick the whole time.
-Delivery - Honestly the first was a little traumatic but the second was so easy. So not my favorite thing to do but I think I could handle another one of those. But at the same time something could go wrong.
-Breast feeding - NO! I am less than 2 months away from finally retiring my body as a vessel for other's use and let me tell you - I can't wait!
-Waking up every 3 hours to feed someone for months - don't want to do it!

There are a million other things that I don't want to do but honestly I want another baby. I love the babies! Before I had kids I wasn't sure if I wanted them at all and honestly I had them because the thought of not having them and suddenly wanting them and being too old was scarier than having them. So here I am with two kids and desperately I want another one but I know that isn't a rational thought at all. It is just hard to think about the fact that never again in my life I will have suck complete access to a baby. How many other people are you allowed that much closeness to without it being weird? You can hold them pretty much all of the time, kiss them as much as you want, I love to rub their soft little skin, and I love to hold them and watch them sleep. Maybe there will be grandchildren at some point but still there isn't that same bond. There are times when it is so hard that you are the only one that can help make your baby stop crying but there are other times when it is so nice. Sitting the dark with a baby sometimes is the best thing in the world.

I think the other problem I am having is that a chapter of my life is closing. So far this has been the hardest one. There are days when I wish I was back in college because I can sleep in but honestly I am really happy with my life. College had a lot of drawbacks. I can't think of the last time I wanted to be single again so getting married so closing the chapter on my single life and opening one for my married life wasn't hard at all.

So I lift my wine glass to a long week of bags of peas and kids screaming that they want to see Dada who is locked in the room with a beer, video games, and pain pills. I just hope I am not in there with him by the end of the week.

Our visit

We had an awesome time in Georgia! I have my own pictures but with my history of inability to download pictures I thought I would send a link to Ellen's pictures before these are so out of date. I thought the pictures where great!

http://byronladybugs.blogspot.com/2010/05/summer-adventures-murdoch-thayer.html

A trip to the fire station

Yesterday M took a trip to the fire station with his class. The pictures aren't great but he had such a good time. He was talking about it all night last night when he got home.

Last year after they went he used everything as a hose and went around saying Wee Wee Wee - I guess that it the water going. That is one of my favorite memories of him.

Tomorrow we are off to visit Ellen and whole clan. I can't wait! It is going to be hot and humid but the kids are going to love it! Swimming, running around, going to pick strawberries. Hopefully the adults will have a little relaxation in the form of a beer or wine after they have all gone to bed.

Getting rid of more junk mail

I had a previous post about a service you sign up for that helps get rid of junk mail and also plants trees. I am still a member of that but the other day I went to their new website to get rid of a couple of catalogues and I couldn't find the login page. I sent them a note because I thought I was losing my mind. The new company, Precycle won't be handling catalogues in the future so they recommended the following website. It is free. I signed up and added a few catalogues. Hopefully it works! Sign up now before they start to charge a fee!

http://www.catalogchoice.org

Family Photo

This was taken while I was done in Charleston with Ellen. How often do you get all five people (three of them being little people) looking at the camera at the same time?! I thought this was great.

Updates - what has been going on?!

Deucey went back to the surgeon today for her 10 week check-up and she has been cleared! They said that the bone has grown back perfectly and her leg is very stable. I can't tell you how excited I am about this. It has been a long road though I am now so scared of her either blowing the other knee our or having it happen to this knee again!

T is crawling up a storm, now she is pulling herself up to a standing position, and yesterday at school she went up the three stairs of the climber! I think we are in big trouble. Two mobile kids is much different than one crazy guy running around the house. It is so funny how much she laughs, the fact that she wakes up in the morning and you hear her talking to herself (read in-between the lines not screaming or crying!) and the fact that you can just put her down awake and she goes to bed. She has two teeth, she feeds her the bottle now, and she gets very upset if someone else has a banana she gets very upset if she can't have one. She loves to wave like the queen and she loves to spin in circles on her bum. So cute!

M is crazy! Talking up a storm - there are new words every day. Now I ask him to 'read' stories to me - he tells me what all of the pictures are. He has learned to be dramatic - sticking his lower lip out if he is pretending to be sad and kind of slumping over if he doesn't want to do something. I laugh every time. He is now building 'spaceship's - which are basically all of his toys in a big circle. T is allowed in and she just chews on things while she is in there. M now loves to draw - I tape paper to the ground so it doesn't get too messy. We are planting strawberries and they are HIS strawberries as he likes to tell us. I thought him how food goes through his body so he now says esophagus. So cute! He still holds my hand, gives me kisses and hugs, and wants to lay around with me. I am so going to miss when that is gone. He also leans to the one side of his bum to toot and then let's us know that he is doing it - I wonder where that comes from?! He runs around singing nursery rhyms - that entertains me every time. Andy got him a little hockey net and stick - he shots them in and then T crawls in and gets the ball/puck and puts it in her mouth.

4 Small Words

I'll have another drink.
Yes I'll have dessert.
Let's take a nap.
What an awesome weekend!

Ellen and I traveled to Charleston this passed weekend for a girls weekend. We left our husbands, kids, and stress at home and escaped for just over 2 days and it was awesome! I loved Charleston - I ate too much, caught up on some sleep, saw some great houses on our walks, and I had such a great time with Ellen. The weekend was great - get up eat, walk, nap, and then have drinks and dinner. We walked the town two separate times but we didn't do any true sight seeing and I have to say I am so happy about that. It was so nice to go to a new city and just do what I wanted - we was tired in the afternoon so we napped instead of feeling guilty about not seeing all of the churches, forts, etc. in the area. It is so nice knowing that there is no real agenda that has to happen when I am with Ellen. We talked about our kids, our husbands, our jobs, aging, our crazy 20's, and a million other things. I didn't have to think about editing what I was saying and I knew that I could talk about my kids for 30 minutes and Ellen wouldn't mind at all. It is so nice to be in someone's company like that. Plus she is a lot of fun and makes me laugh.

Bumps and Bruises

M and I were having dinner together last night and he was telling me about his day including all of the bumps he had received at school - he had a big scratch on his face from one of the other kids, he has a big bump under his eye which happened while playing with a bucket, a scratch on his hand, etc. We reviewed all of his battle scars and then he asked me if I had any boo boos. And I said yes I do, someone pushed me on the train when the door was opening and my arm got pinched in the door so I had a big bruise. He was basically obsessed with seeing it and I had to pretty much take my shirt off because it is on my deltoid. M inspected the whole boo boo and then gave me a big hug and asked me if I was okay. It was so nice.

He then proceeded to sit back down in his seat to eat dinner, he leaned a little to his right and farted. All I could do was laugh.

Pause or Paws

I took French for many years in middle school and high school and honestly I pretty much sucked at a foreign language. When we got to the concept of past perfect my small brain just didn't get it and I was just hoping to get through the semester without failing. As much as I hated French and the classes in my mind I would still like to speak a foreign language though at this point in my life I think I would basically need to move somewhere or have a job where I used it every day, otherwise you just lose it.

Last night M and I were talking about parts of the body and counting how many thing we have - like feet, eyes, etc. As he often does he will ask if everyone in our family has something. Last night we were talking about feet and he said in his normal fashion - T have feet?, Daddy have feet?, You have feet Mommy?, Deucey have feet?. I said yes except that Deucey's feet were call paws. Murdoch's response to that was 'Yes, Daddy pause the TV for me'. :) I don't envy him having to learn a new language.

During French they always said that French has 1000 rules and 10 exception. English has 10 rules and 1000 exceptions. Poor M! This weekend he also learned esophagus - he knows food goes through it after it goes in his mouth but I don't know that he really gets it. It sounds funny coming out of a little person so I ask him to say it all of the time.

Seriously?!

Yes this should be an Earth Day post but I read this article and it really pissed me off. It was in my free newspaper I read every morning on the train and I saw the title on the front page, 'Get Your Partner to Pitch In', and I thought oh that might be useful, until I read the article. Here are a few highlights:

Do not boss him
This leads to an unhealthy dynamic and makes you more of the pain-in-the-butt mother than the loving girlfriend. Being the mother will have a profoundly negative impact, especially in the bedroom as resentment builds. Be polite and courteous, and treat him as you want to be treated.

I think the way I would like to be treated is not as a free house cleaner that has to run around picking everything up and vacuuming in order to keep the roaches away!

Empower him
Ask him what chores he might want to do. By letting him choose, he can tap into what he is comfortable doing, providing a sense of control and independence that might be necessary during this new phase in the relationship.

I don't really want to clean the toilet either but someone has to!

Define clean
Are your expectations realistic? You and he may have different opinions as to what clean means. Reach an agreement as to what are new, mutually acceptable standards for cleanliness. Focus on the end goal, making it about “our house.”

I would simply like to walk on the floor without my feet sticking to it - is that so wrong?!

Compliment him
Acknowledge what your boyfriend does well. This will provide a much needed positive reinforcement and encourage more of the same behavior.

Wow! You really work well with that glass cleaner!

Get in the mind of a man
Tell him: “I find it sexy when a man can clean.” Indirectly he’ll get that housework can lead to sex.

How about - There will be a Gucci bag on the bed if you do that load of laundry!

This article was written by a man and it was in response to a woman writing in about her boyfriend not cleaning and that it was ruining their relationship. I think this is a common problem for people but I found these suggestions a little crazy! No one compliments me about how well I fold the laundry or that the kids aren't covered in grass, dirt, and god knows what other types of stains - that is just what I do. I wipe down the table not because I like to do it, I do it because there would be a layer of crap where my toddler eats everyday that would eventually not come off. Sometimes you just have to get it done without talking about it, defining roles, etc. At the end of the day I think everyone likes a clean house and a little relaxation time so just shut up, wash the dishes already and then you can sit down with a beer to watch the game!

A Month of Earth Days - Food

I find that organic food is the big one. I try to buy organic but it is very expensive and not as easy to find. My family has decided that we will go out and pay a little more for groceries and less money in other areas so we shop at Whole Foods and Trader Joes a lot. It is more expensive but I have also found that I am pickier about what I buy so I tend to buy less - I buy closer to exactly what I need and I end up throwing out a lot less food. I have also found organic products at unexpected places like Target and Walmart. Target has a brand called Archer Farms that they carry and it is all organic. A half gallon of organic milk in my area is $3.69 at Whole Foods - and that is the cheapest for their 365 brand. At Target it is $3.19 every day and it often goes on sale for $2.99. I don't have a Walmart near me but my Mom had a brand new Walmart built near her and she said they carry a lot of things like organic cereal and other packaged items for very good prices.

I know it is hard to find the money to buy organic so I thought I would look up where you get the 'most for your buck' when buying organic. Meaning where you really should buy organic and where you really don't have to. This is what I found on www.thedailygreen.com:

Top 12 Foods to Eat Organic:

Peaches
Apples
Sweet Bell Peppers
Celery
Nectarines
Strawberries
Cherries
Kale
Leafy Greens
Grapes
Carrots
Pears
Potatoes
Tomatoes

The on the flip side, 10 things you don't have to buy organic, just try to buy local:

Onion
Avocado
Sweet Corn
Pineapple
Mango
Asparagus
Sweet Peas
Kiwi
Cabbage
Eggplant
Papaya
Watermelon
Broccoli
Sweet Potato

Out of the buy organic list I find peppers to be very expensive especially when I consider how many I buy and how much our whole family loves them. So this summer in addition to tomatoes I am going to also grow peppers. Most of the other ones on the list are a little too hard for me to grow. And when I think about the cost of local and organic lettuce that is one of the cheaper ones on the list so I am going to continue to buy that at the store.

Another way I think is an easy way to save money at the grocery store - don't go in with a list unless it is just the things that you really need. I find if I decide what I want before I go into the store I spend more. I go in and look for what is in season - it is fresh and usually on sale - and then I just look at what meat is in sale - that is what we end up having that week. I also buy meat that is on sale and freeze it for later when I feel like having that dinner.

A month of Earth Days - Cleaning House!

As I sit here drinking my organic tea, that costs me about 3 cents per cup, out of my reusable cup I think about the million other people that are doing the same thing and that makes me feel like I am making a big difference instead of just thinking of it as one cup at a time.

I started thinking about issues that people have in life (issues I have in life) and how people can help themselves, help the environment, and save some money all at the same time.

At work and at parties some people make fun of me - oh you make your own baby food, I don't have organic fruit so I don't know if there will be anything for you to drink. I honestly don't find myself to be very green and all that. I find that there are a lot of aspects to a green lifestyle that people just can't relate to so it is like talking to a wall. One thing I feel that everyone has in common is too much stuff and the desire to get rid of it and declutter their lives.

Mail/Catalogues - the first area that I feel where everyone has an issue. You order a $20 pillow from Pottery Barn and suddenly you not only get that catalogue but a million other catalogues. I find this incredibly obnoxious. Several years ago I saw an article about a company called GreenDimes. They offered a service where you sign up and pay and one-time fee and they will stop the catalogues that you request, so you don't have to stop all catalogues, and they will also plant trees with the fee that you pay. That company is now called Tonic, http://precycle.tonic.com/. When I signed up it was $15 and now I believe it is $30 but I would still sign up. I can't tell you how well this has worked! We barely get any catalogues now and I love it! All of that stuff that just comes in the mail and you throw away in the recycling bin you can stop. I know that recycling is good but it is even better if it is never produced. Check it out and let me know what you think.

Mail/Credit card offers and such - Every time I get one of these in the mail - from the airline that you have a frequent flier account with or the hotel where you stayed, I call them and have them remove me from all of their marketing mailings and let me tell you it worked.

I find with mail - if there is anything that you constantly just throw in the recycling bin there is a way to get rid of it.

Tennis Shoes/Sneakers - we take a lot of things to Good Will or get rid of them on craiglists.com or freecycle.com but old tennis shoes were one thing that I had no idea what to do with and I felt guilty about just throwing them in the trash but I knew that no one wanted to wear my old shoes. I found an outlet - http://www.nikereuseashoe.com/. You can either go to one of their drop off centers or mail your old shoes in and they use the materials to build playgrounds for kids. Check the site out - it is pretty cool. They have a whole video of how the process works. I have a drop off center about 3 blocks from work so I let people know at work I am going to drop some shoes off that week and I have had several people bring their shoes and we drop them off and then go and grab a coffee now that it is getting warmer out.

Newspaper - I read most things online now - I can't seem to keep up with newspapers and they end up laying all over my house and the husband gets mad. So the newspapers have been canceled and we are saving a little money. I do read a free newspaper every morning on the way to work and there is a little recycling center right when I get off the train so I usually throw it in there. But for the past couple of months I have been collecting them to help in my garden. I had heard this trick from a few people. When you are working in your garden if you lay down newspaper, about three sheets deep, wet it and then put down mulch it is a chemical free and cheap way to help with weeds. I have done this for the past two years and it works well - it doesn't stop all weeds but it stops a lot of them and I feel better about that compared to the other alternatives. I do use some organic food for the vegetables and such but that can be expensive. Plus it gave M a chance to play with the hose and be an very helpful assistant one Saturday.

I know there are a million other things that you can do to get rid of clutter so please share them. I loved that The Gap was taking in old jeans to recycle them into insulation and then they gave you a discount on a new pair - I think that is great! Does anyone know of a service, kind of like Nike, that takes jeans for insulation from the public?