The Many Photos of Our Ohio Trip

So, I'm working on my post about our trip still (kind of a lot to write about and process) but I really feel like I need to put up the pictures. Here it goes:

Basically, we got our own row on the first plane- We didn't even get Penny out of her jammies because the flight was so early.

 

Our selfie just before we took off on our second flight- Declan feel asleep not even 2 minutes later....

 

 

As did Penny...

 Penny made a new friend named Diesel (yes, like the gas). He was really good with both kids. For those who are wondering, he is an English Mastiff (aka- BIG dog weighing in over 150lbs).

 

Penny also made a ginger friend at Rita's (a good friend of ours youngest).

His swim suit was WAY too small- check out the gut hanging out.

Declan liked putting sticks in the bucket... BIG stick :)

 Picking up sticks...

 Penny dictating....

 They were playing tea party with the glasses in the pool. Penny was handing out cups of pool water (that had soap in it- hence the bubbles). The kids had a blast!

 

Best smile ever!

 We went to the Circus!

Declan was just so happy and attentive!

Penny was waving back to the clowns! It was adorable.

Penny posing with Brutus the Buckeye!

My good friend Alec and I got to hang out after 6 months after our last visit. He and Declan were matching that day!

Penny and mommy being silly.

 

Look at that cowlick :) I couldn't help myself.

It was a long way to get back home and Penny was exhausted (thanks to Grandmas and Grandpas, Aunts and Uncles, cousins and friends). We really appreciate all the help while we were there and all the love we felt. It's not easy traveling alone with the kiddos.

Look out for the blog post to follow with all the insights gained.

Life with Two

* I'm not saying every day is perfect or the best but I want to remember the best/good instead and learn from the not so good days.*

We've had some pretty good days this last week. Some highlights include going to the library, enjoying General Conference, some shopping trips, and a great trip to the aquarium.

Let's start with the library: We went on the wrong day it turns out for their story time and accidentally found ourselves in the mommy and me story time (for babies). It was pretty funny to see me trying to lift my 25lb+ baby in the air for the songs (I got a good laugh about it). The real joy came when they put all the toys on the floor after story time for all the kids (babies) to play with. I got to see Penny's kind nature in wanting to help. She went to each mom and baby with two toys in hand to give them to play with. It makes me smile and feel really good when I see her do things like this (especially when we're having a hard day) because it reminds me that she is loving (no matter how upset she can get later on) and has a good nature about her. She wants to do the right thing (most of the time) and that's the important thing.

I'll just say General Conference is no easy feat with two littles. With that, though, we made it. Declan got his first hair cut (see previous post) and Penny got to do some coloring and relaxing. She put up a little fight (as did Declan before his haircut) but I got some cute moments on camera to make me smile.

As I've been losing weight, I've had to return some things ordered online for smaller sizes (Oh, to be happy or sad?). So, the kiddos have made the treks with me. I've learned from a lot of experience with them that I just need to bring the double stroller, some snacks, a water bottle, and my phone and they will be set for an hour or so before destruction. I've been able to get together with some new friends to just hang out for some relaxing good times. Penny is so funny when I tell her we're going to anyone's house because she'll then say "Oh, you're going to the gym so I can play with ____!". She gets so excited with the idea of play dates and because before I hurt my foot we were having regular play dates so I could go to the gym she's now sad that I stick around when we go places. I have to keep telling her though that I really do want to go to the gym but the doctor says not yet.

We had a friend hang out with us and asked if we wanted to go to the aquarium with her- YES!- so we took the kids and had a blast! Declan just did not want to be held at all for any amount of time (which was a bit difficult because of the crowds) and Penny wanted to take her time looking at some of the exhibits. She loved touching the starfish and Declan wanted to just jump into the water at the touching stations. It was also really nice to have 3 adults to 2 kids. We need to go back again because the kids just loved it so much (although we did go to all the exhibits).

We've been having some real good days and successes in our home. Penny really seems to thrive on our night time routine. We went out to the drive-in this week and we noticed how much it backfired the routine because when we got home it was not easy to get them to bed. There are some times that she comes to us and we get it started. We really like the kids to be in bed between 8-830 (and it's going to get harder in the summer because Penny only wants to get to bed when it's dark). She and Declan both love picking their stories out for the night and brushing teeth together. It's funny because if she wants to delay going to bed, she wants to pick up shoes and books and toys (which I have NO problem with because she wants to do it).

Declan is catching on so much- I can ask him to do things (like pick up a shoe and take it to the shoe box) and he'll do it (not always exact or perfect but he understands). We caught him standing on a chair using Penny's fork and eating her noodles off the fork. It's so funny to me to see the major differences between them- he's also learned to climb up our little slide and go down it by himself. I think it's a lot of different factors- he's the second and has an example to look to before doing, we're not as cautious as we were with Penny and treat him more like a little person than a baby, and he's just a different person and personality is so different. It's fun watching these kids learn and grow at their different paces. I love being their mom and learning from the not-so-good days.

Declan's First Haircut!

It's been a little while coming for this haircut. Here's why and please tell me you kind of agree:

Sitting down for the cut.

Hair all wet for the cut…. :)

We go down to my cousin's house for General Conference (usually) and she was happy to give him his first cut (along with a few other people in the family). 

Here's his after:

For those wondering, yes- he did cry but it was because he didn't want to sit still. He ended up getting some paint on him so we gave him a bath so it kind of worked out so he was clean for after shots :)

Random life going on lately...

So much has been going on in our house- Declan and Penny have been growing in adventurous ways (climbing, playing together more, Penny reading stories to Declan that she's memorized), organizing and moving stuff around, a weight-loss competition (I'm in the maintenance group)- and good thing I chose that group because I've since injured my foot since it began, I'm planning out a quit to build, and food habits changing in all of us.

Penny and Declan are so funny together. Sometimes, she's chasing him for fun and he's enjoying it too until she gets really unaware of the personal space needed for any human. Penny loves to color and trace her letters and numbers. She LOVES her learning movies (when she gets to see them- leapfrog movies on Netflix- she's learning opposites, shapes, letters, number, and adventures) and books and cards. She also loves playing with friends when she gets a chance. I've noticed when a friend comes over that the first thing she does is give them a toy to play with and take their hand and says "Come to the playroom". When I wanted to purge through toys and books, I told Penny and she then wanted to sort piles for what toys were going to go to which friends from church... It was funny because then I explained that some of the toys were going to go to other people and a couple of the toys were Declan's favorites so we should't get rid of those. It's fun watching her learn more and grow. We love having friends to play with- as she's been phasing out of a nap for the last year, I've noticed that if she plays hard she'll not only be happy but she will crash for a nap. Here's an example from just a few days ago-

Oh, she's discovered that she LOVES pepperoni pizza (we discovered that she's in an eating phase again and asks for peanut butter sandwiches ("without an jelly") ALL day). In the mornings, Penny will grab a book to read (or sing) to Declan. She loves to sing "5 little monkeys" and "Brown bear". She LOVES singing time at church. It's amazing to hear her little voice in the car singing along to the songs that they're learning this year. She's got pretty good pitch and it makes her happy.

Declan loves to climb up chairs, couches- whatever he can climb up he will be there. He's getting some more teeth (bottom molars) so he's been a little clingy this week. As the two girls fell asleep on the couch from the earlier picture, here's what Declan was doing:

I love this weather where I can leave the side door open for the kids to play in the yard! We've had to put chalk up though because Declan has discovered that although it is not food, he can still put it in his mouth.

I was training for a 5k that's coming up and basically tripped while walking part of my lap one night and have been kind of laid up since then. It's been rough- I had a great night routine once the kids were down and it was great me time. It looked REALLY bad the first few days-

I'm really glad for the support from a friend to help convince me that almost a week after it happened that I should see the doctor. I have a level 2 lateral ligament tear. I've been doing some at-home physical therapy and have been sporting this bad boy for almost 2 weeks:

And decided that if I was going to be wearing sandals that I should go ahead and paint my nails. (My doctor thought I could wear the aircast with any shoe... Clearly, he doesn't know women's shoes). I've been trying to take it easy so it can heal properly but with two kids I can only do so much. I'll be getting a detail breakdown of what I can start doing, at what pace and how long, and get back on track with my training (although, it's not going to be great preparation with it being less than a month away now).

I'm going to be building a quilt soon. My mom has handed off fabric while I visited her. I am SUPER excited to do this.

Declan's 15 month stats

Well, Declan had his 15 month appointment (and only 1 shot). Our little man is growing so fast. Here's a quick reminder of where he was 3 months ago (and Penny):

"Speaking of growing, here are the kids' stats for their appointments: Penny is a whopping 31 lbs (50%) and 36.5 inches tall (so she is CONSTANTLY bonking her head on the kitchen island). Declan is a whole 22 lbs 2 oz (but at his last appointment a few weeks ago from being sick he was up to 23 lbs), 29.75 inches tall (just .25 inches shy of needing to switch car seats) and 46 cm for his head (25-50%). The doctor and I attribute Declan's small weight gain do to the fact that he was very ill a few weeks prior."

Now our little guy isn't so little anymore. He is 25lb 5oz (75%) and is 32 1/4 inches tall (75-85%) with his head being 46 3/4 cm (~50%). He is going to pass his sister pretty quick. (just 5 lbs and 5 inches away with a 2 year difference in age).  He's starting to sound some words out (he says "nana" for banana, momma, bubble, and a few other random words). He also has picked up a sign for food/when he thinks he's hungry (he points with one finger and points it to the palm of his other hand). It's helpful but he is a garbage disposal (a cute one but man he'll eat anything!)

Here are stats from Penny's 15 month check up in comparison:

"23lbs 15oz (just under 50th percentile, which is normal because of her walking so much), 31 inches tall (50-70 percentile), and her head is 47 1/2 cm (90 percentile)"

Sorry it took me a while to get these up. Here's a cute shot of him napping (because that's when I can enjoy some nap time :) ) I'll try to get one where he's awake next time.

Haircut...

Well, I figured it was time for a change (I haven't had a haircut for almost a year now). So I had pinned a few ideas knowing that my hair is wavy. Here's my sad "before" shot this morning:

(not great lighting and I had just woke up- can't you tell?)

My after, I am in LOVE with right now.... But first, let me tell you about how it finally happened. I posted on facebook to see where I could get my cut (our Great Clips shut down) and I had no where to go (unless I wanted to find a different great clips). I found somewhere while waiting for responses and called them when I was on my way to see what store they were closest to and found out that they were booked with appointments today and as a walk-in I would have to wait until Tuesday (not going to happen). So then I looked on facebook and someone DID comment. I started my travel to that hair place and then called when I was in the same complex as they are and found they had a 20 min wait for walk-ins. Well, when I was on the phone, I was parked in front of another hair place and decided to call them. The stylist who answered the phone said her appointment earlier was moved and so she was free. Well, I hopped my little self over there and she was a sweet lady (who has curly hair so she understands and had the vision that the cut would look good with my hair wavy or straight). It was a miracle! 

So now, without further ado, here is my after:

(haha, kidding. That's not even all the hair that got cut off...)

Ok- here it goes:

(Can you tell she'd not taken a photo with an iPhone before?)

(back and front view thanks to the mirror. 

Oh look, the gal who did an AMAZING job with the cut!)

(Side view- blurry again but still)

Here's the photos I brought for her to go off of:

 

It's amazing how good you can feel after a great hair cut, right? As Chris reminded me though, I need to remember to wear sunscreen more but it's all worth it :)

I can still put my hair in a tiny nub of a ponytail (which was my request). 

I wonder how everyone else will like it...
The answer to that is as long as I love it, it doesn't matter too much.

Crazy weeks

(2/7)
Well, a couple of weeks ago, we noticed Declan wasn't 100% (after throwing up and diarrhea and a temp of 102) so I took him to the doctor (even though his fever had broken) just to get looked over because I felt something was still a little off. Of course, mother's instinct was right- he had an ear infection in his left ear. The doctor, aware of what Declan had just been through, prescribed an antibiotic that he would only need to take once a day (for 10 days) but we needed to be aware that it was going to cause some diarrhea (that he was already trying to get over). She also recommended that we get some baby yogurt to get some good bacteria in him to help his system kick this. We made a follow up appointment for two weeks later. Declan had been getting a really bad diaper rash so we were slathering him up with cream and giving him a bath (which seemed to help short term) but the bathing started to flare up his eczema on his left shoulder. I was looking high and low for the little sample we were given from the dermatologist's office last April and with no luck, I called their office to get the name of it. They spelled it out for me and everything and told me it would be behind the pharmacy area even though it was an over the counter but if I wanted they did sell it at the office as well. I thought I would try my luck with calling around a few pharmacies to see who might carry it in stock. Turns out that it's a hydrocortisone lotion that they have to special order (because it's not asked for very much). I had called 10 different pharmacies with no luck. I decided to bite the bullet and just go to the dermatologist's office and pay the extra $6 for the lotion (that he needs to have 3x a day). Declan was seeming to be on the mend of all this stuff and just before the two week follow up, he started walking. He was still getting a little grouchy towards bed time so we had chalked it up to teething perhaps and gave him a round of tylenol. I went very hopeful to his appointment (although, he had just started up with a runny nose and a really bad cough- bad enough that we had given him his inhaler the night before the follow up, as well as turned the humidifier on, and a few nights prior Chris didn't come to bed until midnight because he was concerned about the massive coughing). I knew that the doctor would be kind enough to check out his cough while we were there too. She was and listened to his lungs and said we were smart and right to get his regimen going and to use the inhaler every 4 hours until he sounds better so we can avoid any lung problems. She also then checked his ears. First the right (no infection from the first visit and still looked good but hairy), then the left... a sigh. "Well, we need to give him something a little stronger".  She looked over her notes and we talked about why we used the last medicine (because of the vomiting and diarrhea) and she asked how he was doing in those departments (which he was completely over both). She then prescribed another antibiotic that was stronger (and needs to be refrigerated and he needs to take with food) that he'll take twice a day for ten days with another two week follow up. The doctor warned me that this will give him diarrhea again and if it gets really bad to call her so we can fix that up (oh the joys of parenthood).

All better!