What a Week...

... the quick version.
Monday was one of those crazy kid days as evidenced by the fact that I didn't find time to shower until after 1 pm.

Tuesday was doctor appt day. Jace had his first big round of vaccinations. He did great again and quit crying as soon as I picked him up. He's a tough guy. Also a big guy- weighing in at 11 lbs 1 oz. Rio also had a vet appt. Rylee got drug to both and was such a trooper.

Wed was playdate day with Norah, Caleb and James (and their Moms). Rylee wasn't in the best of moods though. When everyone left, she exclaimed, "That was fun." "Really?" I asked skeptically "Well, I was crabby, but you had fun Mom!" She's right, I did. :)

Thurs was a blur. Jace was Mr. Miserable. He started acid reflux medicine yesterday and so far it seems to be helping. One funny thing: Dinner time is always chaotic, but Thursday's was comical. Right as we were sitting down to eat, the door bell rang on three separate occasions, we had to take two phone calls, and of course, Jace woke up. I think 10 minutes passed between when I set my plate down to when I picked up my fork!

Yesterday was pre-trip errand and packing day. Jace loves errands. He loves car rides and sleeping in his car seat. I should have taken him out when he was fussy the other days. Lesson learned.

Today was our flight to MN: two adults, two kids, one dog, 3 bags, 2 carry ons and a diaper bag! Whew! I was prepared for the flight from hell, but it turned out to be heavenly. The kiddos were great. I can only hope to be so lucky when we return in August.
We have a busy week ahead so I'll blog again when I can. :)
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Comedian Rylee

Last night as I was rocking and jiggling a fussy Jace to sleep, I joked: "what happened to my good baby?"

"I'm right here," Rylee quipped with her hand raised. 

Good humor!  :)

Little Slugger...

or should I say...

Little Snuggler!

 

Jace's Faces

Curious....

 

Surprised...

 

Cool... 

(Rylee taught him to fist bump.)



 

Just Jace...

 

Foto Friday

Our playdate at Jess's didn't disappoint - fun was had by adults as well as kids! We also had a last minute get together with Jessica and her 12 week old, Oliver. The two boys slept through most of their playdate, but oh well. I imagine these two will be buds when they get a little older. :)

Okay, on to the part you really want - pictures!

Unlike Rylee, Jace is a fan of the pacifier. 

 

Hint of a smile...

This is the outfit Rylee begged to buy Jace when we were at Kohls the other day.  How could I refuse her sweet little request?  It came with this onesie, the froggie hat, the pants (which have froggie feet) and matching footie pajamas.  As you can see, she loves the color lime as well.  :)

 

Out and About

We've been on the go this week. We've taken Jace on errand runs and to the indoor play center at the mall twice. He slept the entire time while Rylee played. :)

Last night was my dinner out with a few of my book club gals. I needed a night of pure laughter and it did not disappoint!

Today, we had a play date at our house with Shannon, her little sister, Addison, and their Mom, Carrie. The girls had a blast. It was a complete giggle fest upstairs while Carrie and I took care of the younger ones and gabbed downstairs.

Tomorrow we have a playdate with Norah, Caleb and Jess, James and Karen. It's nice to have another fun outing to look forward to!

All in all, it's been a great week. I'd like to say that I'm getting this two kid thing down, but I don't want to jinx myself. :)


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Misc. Monday

Isn't there something so precious about little baby feet? 

See Jace?  This playmat is fun!

Sweetest big sister ever!

 

Happy Father's Day

Happy Father's Day to my husband, my Dad, and all the other great fathers out there.  I hope you all had a relaxing and fun day.  I know you all deserve it!

Father of two - that's so fun to say!

The above photo is actually from Friday after work. Rylee didn't want her picture taken, but then literally jumped into the photo at the last minute. Silly girl! 

We are calling this Jon's "Duck Commander" Father's Day since he got a Duck Commander duck call (which Rylee is awesome at - looks like Jon has a new wingman) and a set of 4 redneck wineglasses (which we first saw while watching Duck Dynasty).  Instead of buying the glasses, my Mom found out how to make them on YouTube so we customized them with the names of the guys on the show. 

In case you're wondering, we did not name our Jace after Jase Robertson.  In fact, I had kind of forgotten that was his name since the show wasn't airing when we first decided on it, but Jase is my favorite "character" so I guess I'm okay with the association.  :)

In addition to gifts, Jon also got the night and morning off from feeding duty so he actually got to sleep from about 10:30 to 7:00 this morning.  Not bad!  Plus we all went out to breakfast at Dunkin Donuts (Jon's pick).  Jace's gift to his Dad was that he slept through the whole outing. 

Jon and Rylee are at the park right now and Jace is sleeping so I've managed to finish a book I was reading and now I'm blogging.  It feels like a present for me!  Later tonight, Jon is making flank steak and bacon-wrapped duck.  Ironically, he picked the meal days ago before he knew about our duck-inspired celebration.  I know... bad me for not making him a meal, but I asked him if there was anything I cook that he wanted for dinner and he said no... shocker!  :)

I'll leave you with these two funny things.  A photo of Jon ala Father of the Year: Homer Simpson...

 

and Rylee's questionnaire that she answered about Jon for his Father's Day card.  Enjoy!

How old is your Daddy?

I don't know.  26?

How tall is he?

This tall! (reaching as high as she can)

What color is his hair? Brown

His eyes? Brown

What does your Daddy do for fun?

He wrestles with me... he like to run with me.

What does your Daddy love to cook?

Pizza.  He cooks everything except cats. 

What does your Daddy do at work?

He fixes things with special glue.

My Daddy always tells me...

Do you want to watch Mickey Mouse?

It makes my Daddy happy when...

I make him laugh.

I really love my Daddy because...

He makes me happy!

I especially love the comment about not cooking cats - looks like Rio is fair game.  She better watch out.  The next time she annoys Jon by barking under the couch, she just might end up in a stew!

Bite Me

We had a fun and productive Friday: made waffles, went to the park, gave Jace a bath, went swimming during his nap, cleaned the house, took a walk. Yes, I am super Mom... today anyway.

Jace also got his first mosquito bite and it wasn't in MN! How weird is that? I rarely see mosquitos here. I guess he'll have to settle for some other MN right of passage like poison ivy. Hopefully not on this trip though... :)

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Blur

It's been a busy couple of days and they all kind of blur together. 

Sunday: Jon and Rylee had fun at Miller's beach birthday party while my Mom, Jace and I relaxed at her place.  My mom and I watched a movie and a couple of other shows - it was very relaxing.  My mom made us all dinner again too.

Monday: I don't remember anything about it so it must not have been eventful.  Well, I shouldn't say that, it was Jace's one month birthday!  I just mean that we stayed at home that day.  :) 

Tuesday: Jace had an appt with Rylee's favorite doctor: Dr. S.  Rylee, Jace, my Mom and I all went.  Rylee hasn't seen Dr. S in over a year so she was ecstatic.  She even drew her a picture ahead of time.  Dr. S had a surprise for us too - she brought her 8 year old daughter to work with her that day to play with Rylee.  The appts are generally an hour to an hour and a half so it was like a free babysitter!  The two girls played in the gym (they do fitness classes there) and had a blast.

My mom colored my hair later that afternoon.  Thank you!  One nice thing about not being pregnant anymore is that I can do all those things that I couldn't before: bring on the hair color, nail polish, proactive and alcohol!

We didn't have to cook dinner on Tuesday night either as we baked a lasagna that Jess made for us (it was delicious Jess, thanks!).  People always think to send food for deaths in the family, but I had never thought about it for births.  What an awesome idea!  I am so going to start doing that for my friends who have babies.  The funny part was that there was some chaos right at dinner time so Jon literally took his plate to the garage to eat in peace.  When I went to check on him a few minutes later, he gave me a sarcastic look and said: "You want a way to ensure portion control... eat in your 110 degree garage!"  So he didn't have seconds that night, but we did both get to it eat lasagna for lunch yesterday.  :)

Wednesday: I took my Mom to the airport yesterday.  Luckily, we'll be heading home in a couple of weeks so I didn't have to feel too sad about saying goodbye.  I do have to give a shout out to my Mom for all her help these past few months when I was practically on bed rest and after the baby was born.  She did a lot of shopping, made a ton of meals, entertained Rylee and was all around awesome!  A big thanks goes to my Dad as well since I kept my Mom down south a few months longer than usual.  Hopefully he'll think his new grandson was worth the trade off!  :)

In other news, Rylee learned to swim last night.  She has always loved the pool, but mostly for jumping (with our assistance) or swimming with her life jacket.  We knew she was ready to actually swim and last night Jon was able to get her to try.  He would jump her to the middle of the pool and then she would swim to the edge.  She did great!  We were both so proud of her. 

One Month

Jace had his one month checkup yesterday.  Here are his stats:

Weight: 9 lbs 15 oz (57th percentile)
Height: 21 3/4 in (61st percentile)

I was curious so I looked back at Rylee's info from her one month appt and it is very similar.  She was 9 lbs 9 oz and 21 1/2 in.

Jace also has his first shot.  He was quite the tough guy.  He cried during the shot, but as soon as I picked him up, he stopped.  Even the nurse was impressed.  If I remember correctly Rylee would wail through the whole check out process until we were out the door.  She was a drama queen even then.  :)

Today is Daddy/daughter day.  Jon is taking Rylee to the beach for Miller's 4th birthday party.  Jace and I are going to hang out with Gaga over at her place.  Speaking of Jace, he's waking up so I have to go!

Friday Fotos

A few more photos to make up for the lack thereof previously. 

Rylee helping Jace out with his tummy time workout.  

I like to think she's giving him the thumbs up for his effort. :)

My handsome devil:

 

I'm not sure what this expression is, but he looks a little annoyed.  :)

 

Three for Thursday

It's late and I'm exhausted, but I wanted to post some cute/silly pics of Jace. So without further ado...

Sleepy:

Goofy:

Chillin' with Dad:

 

Recap

We had a nice (and somewhat relaxing) weekend. Saturday, I took Rylee to a friend's birthday party. We both had so much fun. We played in the park, Rylee ran around in the water feature, and we all rode the carousel - my favorite! It was fun to see our friends and it turned out to be a great mother/daughter day. It's been a long time since Rylee and I had a play day like that with work and pregnancy and new baby and all.

Sunday, my Mom took Rylee for the afternoon so Jon and I could do some chores and relax. Then she made us this delicious dinner of pulled pork sandwiches, beans, slaw and sweet potatoes. Everything was really different and spicy. The best part is we have leftovers for tonight. Thanks Mom!

Today has been a little stressful with the kids. Jace's schedule has been off so of course he's been fussy during the worst times like when I'm trying to cook the kids lunch. I ended up cooking while wearing him in the mobi wrap or the obi one kenobi wrap as Jon calls it. (I have to admit that wrapping 15 feet of brown fabric around you does have a certain obi one quality about it. Better than yoda I guess!) At least now everyone's napping at the same time!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Shutterfly

I had two $20 credits with Shutterfly so I created two different birth announcements for Jace (see posts below).  The brown card doesn't show the photo of Jace in Jon's hands, but it is the featured picture on the back of that card.  The back of the card is blank on the other announcement.

I posted them on the blog since Shutterfly is running a promotion right now to receive a $10 credit if you share your projects.  I guess I'll have to make something else now to use up my new credits.  It's kind of like Kohl's cash - that free money keeps you coming back!

Thanks Shutterfly!

Photo Card

Sweet Moments Boy Baby Announcements

Find hundreds of cute baby birth announcements at Shutterfly.com.

View the entire collection of cards.

Stationery card

Dotty Boy Birth Announcement

Announcements for every life event: graduation, wedding & baby.

View the entire collection of cards.

TGIF

This week has worn me out. Watching a newborn, a one year old, an almost three year old and an almost four year old, is about as stressful as you'd imagine! :)

Actually, I'm impressed with how good it's been going. Especially considering that my Mom threw her back out after day 1 of helping me (sorry Mom!) so I've been managing on my own. But the long days, plus the sleepless nights, and busy evenings (late errands tues night, late dr appt wed night, and book club last night) have effectively stupefied me. Today I found myself trying to put a newborn diaper on the one year old - oops!

On the plus side, there are only five school days left so I think I can survive another week. And as my friend joked, watching two kids will soon seem like a breeze!

Sorry no pictures or anything interesting like that, but I will tell you that Jace had his first real bath tonight. He actually didn't protest so he must have been sick of those lame sponge baths too. His hair really sticks up after it's wet and right now he's sporting the most adorable 'do, but the click and flash from the camera tend to wake him up so you'll have to take my word for it.

Cheers to the weekend!!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone