Cousins

My parents are adding onto their house and my sister-in-laws family is doing most of the construction along with my brother, my dad and Jarrett.  So.....this means lots of play time for the cousins.  The weather has been beautiful, so the boys have been having a ball playing outside.  I thought these pictures turned out too cute of the three boys in the jerseys Jeje and Papaw bought them.

This picture is a little glimpse into the future of what it will be like once they are driving....makes me sad that they will be that grown one day!



My Child is a Little Obsessive

Lawson is constantly cracking me up with some of his tendencies.  I know if I don't write them down, I will completely forget them, or barely remember them.  He has gotten to a point where he wants things a certain way.  If we walk into a room, he has to have the light turned on.  If he is sitting at the table, he wants the table clear (no diaper bag sitting on top of it).  He also does not like for dirty clothes to be laying around.  This morning after I changed Lauralyn's clothes, I just left them on our bed.  Well, I guess this drove Lawson crazy because he had to crawl on the bed, get the clothes, crawl down and take them to the dirty clothes hamper.   He does the same thing with trash (and he knows what is trash and what isn't).  He will throw diapers in the diaper pale and other trash in the trash can.  Last night after dinner he asked for the food that he did not eat to be put in the trash.  I know most of these things have to come from me because quite frankly, I can't get his daddy to pick up his own laundry and throw away his own trash.(joking!)(kindof)  It's nice to know I have someone on my side :)

Valentine's Day Stress

Holidays stress me out!  And now that I have a little one in "school", I really feel stressed.  Just the thought of being crafty and cutesy, stresses me out!!  Don't get me wrong, I want everything to be just right and I want to make things special, and most of all I want to be thoughtful when it comes to creating treats or gifts or Valentines for others, but still it stresses me out.  I'm really not sure how I'm going to handle Kindergarten and on up!  And on a similar crafty note, Pinterest stresses me out!!!! 

Now that I got that out of the way....I did make cookies for Lawson and Lauralyn's babysitter.  They were a modified version of cookies I have been making for years.  Peanut butter with a heart Reeses in the middle.  Easy, festive, and yummy!  I also had Lawson decorate the bag.  All I had were brown paper sacks, so I drew a heart on them and let Lawson go to town with crayons. 

I am a little stressed still because Lawson doesn't go to "school" on Tuesday/Thursdays.  Therefore I didn't do Valentines for his class because he wasn't there.  I REALLY hope I wasn't supposed to because nothing is worse to me than getting a gift and not giving one.  STRESS!

And here are my precious little Valentines...dressing them in cute holiday outfits does NOT stress me out.  Well...maybe a little because I hate spending money on clothes for one day.  Luckily for me this year, both of these are hand me downs!

Anyways, Happy Valentines Day!!

"Working" Momma

I typically use my blog to remember key things about our lives, but today I want to remember what it was it was like as a working mom of two under two.  Maybe next year at this time I will look at this post and miss the days of exhaustion. (I'm almost positive that I will miss it!)

My Babies

I decided to put working in quotations because truly whether you work outside of the home or your occupation is stay at home mom, it is both work!  Never have I agreed more with that until I had 2 children under two at home all day every day while I was on maternity leave.  I was tired!  And quite frankly, it wasn't until the end of my maternity leave that I figured out how to at least somewhat get things accomplished while feeling like I was giving both of my children the attention they needed.

Now I am back at work, and wow it is even more exhausting!!  Lauralyn is 3 months old, and Lawson is 22 months.  My day starts at 5:00 am (or sometimes 2:30 am when Lauralyn doesn't want to go to sleep after her middle of the night feeding), both kids are in bed by 8:30 pm to 9:00 pm and I'm typically asleep by 9:30.  Between diapers, feedings, washing bottles and pumping equipment, packing lunches, laying out clothes, packing two diaper bags, cooking dinner, cleaning up after dinner, cuddling, bathing, playing.....there is little time for anything else!  Laundry, cleaning, grocery shopping, sleeping in(I wish) is done on the weekends.  Jarrett is a HUGE help.  We do pretty much all chores together, so that makes it a little less time consuming. 

I'm exhausted right now, and have to take it day by day.  It is just for a "season" right?  I constantly have to remind myself to enjoy each day and to remember the big picture.  AND spring break is just around the corner, and I can not wait to spend the week at home with my babies.  I know it won't be nearly as exhausting as it was when Lauralyn was a newborn.

All that being said, I enjoy working (I'm a high school business/technology teacher) and I LOVE being a mom.  I'm not sure that I would change anything about our life right now (well maybe if LL would become a better sleeper at night).  We have been blessed with amazing childcare and  I believe I am right where the Lord wants me to be.  I truly feel blessed to be able to have a career and a family.

It is all worth it when I have a moment to hold both of them and Lauralyn is smiling with her entire face while Lawson is saying "momma" a hundred times and pulling my hand to come play with him.  These are the moments that make my heart want to burst! 

3 Months Old

Weight:  Over 11 lbs

Clothes: 0-3 month

Diaper: 1

Shoes: 0

Still our little smiley girl!  And still not our great sleeper!  The biggest change this month is that we moved her to her crib.  It actually wasn't as hard as I thought it would be on me, I think I just knew it was time.  I've tried everything in terms of her schedule for bed time, and have found what works best for now.  She gets a bath at around 8 or 8:30 and then between 8:30 and 9 I nurse her and put her to bed.  She does great until about 2:00 am.  She gets up, and since I'm up I go ahead and nurse her.  Sometimes she goes back to sleep, sometimes it takes an hour to get her settled.  To say I'm exhausted at 5:00 am when my alarm goes off is an understatement!  And actually she sometimes wakes up at around 4:30, so that is usually when my day starts.  Oh well, I told Jarrett the line "I can sleep when I'm dead" keeps running through my head!  I'm hoping she will get used to be in the crib soon and will start sleeping better. 

I will say that her smiles and cuddles make all the lack of sleep worth it!  She is very happy and content and for the most part an easy baby.  She rolled from her tummy to her back the day after she turned 3 months, which is crazy because I never put her on her tummy, I just happened to do it that night.

I've started putting her on a blanket on the floor more, and Lawson loves to lay beside her.  He has also gotten big enough to hold her for a few seconds and he ALWAYS likes to give her kisses.  He has gotten really good at trying to take care of her and putting her pacifier back in.   

Here is a little comparison of her and Lawson at about the same age.