Happy Friday

Happy Friday everyone! We are so excited the long holiday weekend is finally here. And since it's the last holiday of the Summer, we will be spending it outside soaking up every last minute. 

I promised myself I wouldn't use the F word {fall of course} until after this weekend, but morning temps have been so cool that I can't help but get excited for the changing season. We haven't pulled out our fall wardrobe yet so we resort to cuddling under the blankets every morning. I'm definitely not complaining!

I hope you all have a safe holiday and enjoy the last of summer!

Two Months old

Time keeps flying by and this cute boy is two months old. He weighs 12lbs 6oz and is 23 inches long. He loves to sleep in his MamaRoo but we are slowly trying to transition him to his crib to nap. With Ryder running around in the same room as the swing it makes it hard for Gage to nap.  He is still waking up once or twice a night to eat then Is awake most of the morning and early afternoon before he takes a nap. My goal is to have him taking three naps a day, have an early bed time and be sleeping through the night In his crib by 4 months old. Wish us luck! He no longer likes to be swaddled but has to sleep with something in his hands just like Ryder did. We bought him a security blanket from Aden + Anais that he loves. He is also starting to not like his binky anymore which I'm totally okay with.

 He has made huge improvements in breastfeeding this past month. He is starting to get used to the flow of my milk and will actually stay awake to finish a feeding. We have gone from using a nipple shield to exclusively pumping and then back to breastfeeding normally. He still has some feedings where he just doesn't want to nurse and I have to feed him a bottle. He does this mainly in the middle of the night so unfortunately I still have to get up and pump but I'm hoping he grows out of that as well. I've already had mastitis and plenty of clogged milk ducts but am doing my best to power through it all. I'm looking forward to the day that I can put away the pump and bottles and just exclusively breastfeed. 

I love watching him grow and see his sweet personality emerge. He is very loved, especially by his big brother and can't wait to see them bond as they get older. God knew what he was doing when he gave me these two boys. 

Monday Madness

I don't know why my Monday posts are always random and crazy. It must reflect the way I feel every time this day rolls around. Today is no exception to the craziness, It's only 1:30 in the afternoon and I've already hit survival mode over here. As in I'm trying to survive until daddy gets home, or better yet survive until bed time. Everyone was wide awake at the crack of dawn this morning thanks to the thunderstorms that shook the house all night long. I somehow managed to get myself and both boys ready and out of the house on time for Gage's 2 month check up. Which is always fun when it turns into over an hour wait with 2 hungry, upset boys. To top it off I had no cell service which meant I couldn't resort to turning some cartoon on to entertain Ryder. Gage screamed when he got his shots which made Ryder scream even louder. Then he proceeded to throw my phone at me saying "dada!!" because apparently it's my fault brother was hurt. The nurses sure got a kick out of it. We finally made it home where I realized I'm out of infant Tylenol for Gage and we have absolutely no food in the house for the starving 2 year old. Mom fail for sure. Both boys are also refusing to nap and Gage is definitely making it known that he does not like getting poked. So I'm going to take a deep breath, pour me an extra large iced coffee and try to be happy and patient until I get to kiss these cute faces goodnight. Even though some days are rough I absolutely love these boys and the craziness they bring to our life.

"The days are long, but the years are short."

Life Lately

We've been staying super busy over here juggling a newborn, a 2 year old and all the fun and craziness that comes with it. Gage's sleeping habits are slowly improving. He still has a hard time napping during the day which I find really odd for a newborn. He is up most of the day now and only really gets fussy closer to dinner and bed time. He does good at night though, only getting up once or twice most nights. It can get hard during the day as I'm trying to get an over tired baby to sleep as well as keep an eye on a toddler and do household chores. It is definitely better than being up all night though. 

We've been taking advantage of the cool morning temps and going out for long walks. Ryder has learned to step on bugs and he thinks it's hilarious. It makes for a long walk of searching through the dirt and we are trying to teach him to be nice to those poor bugs. 

Over the weekend we took Ryder to a demolition derby at our County Fair and he loved it. His favorite was the blue car and he didn't quiet understand why they kept smashing together.

The fair is kind of the end of summer celebration and it made me sad to think it will be over soon! 

 

Sunday was going to be a day spent cleaning our garage and shed but it turned into a water party on the front yard as soon as Ryder saw his sprinkler balloon hiding in the garage. 

Daddy even joined in

Now it's back to Monday madness! Have a great week 

Friday Favorites

Happy Friday everyone! For some reason it felt like a crazy long week so I'm looking forward to a relaxing weekend. It's been cooling off over here with lots of thunderstorms and it's kind of put me in the Fall mood. I don't know about you guys but when a new season rolls around I'm ready for all new everything. New wardrobe, new home decor, new hair etc. I like to make a big long list of everything we need which mostly consists of new clothes for the boys. Ryder hit a major growth spirt this summer and is in need of some new stuff. We all know my favorite thing to buy is pj's and Gaps new Fall Jammies are so cute. I love how they are mix and match and I'm hoping to get some for Gage too since the sizes start at 6 months. There is nothing cuter than brothers in matching pj's!

Since a newborn runs the house now, there are some most days where getting ready for the day just does not happen. These Weekend Skinny Sweatpants look so comfy and perfect for those lazy days. I can hear my husbands sarcastic mumble now when he gets home from work and see's that I'm still in sweatpants. My response... "The kids are alive and happy and that's all that matters"

I'm not a huge jewelry person but this Barred Midi Ring Set and matching Tri Layer Gold Necklace are definitely on my list. Midi rings are really popular right now but it's hard to find a good set of them.

Now it's definitely too warm for this but this Vintage Washed Military Jacket would be great for Fall/Winter. I'm loving faux leather lately.

I love the colors of these Mini Latte Bowls, they would be perfect for any season. I'm thinking an end of Summer smore's bar with these babies filled with all sorts of goodies.



Okay I'm off of my fall kick for a few days. Go outside and enjoy the last of summer!

Our Weekend

Well, Another weekend has come and gone. Why do the weekdays drag on and the weekends fly by??  We are making sure we soak up every last minute of Summer so we packed our weekend full of fun, sun-filled activities.

Saturday morning started off with little sleep, lots of coffee and baby smiles. And when I say little sleep I mean a total of 2 1/2 hours. 

Daddy telling Gage he needs to start sleeping at night. Obviously Gage thinks he's joking. 

Later that day We left Gage with grandma and took Ryder to dinner and a Monster Truck show. This kid was in heaven! He never took his eyes off the trucks and he got pretty concerned when they would leave the track saying "trucks gone??" I love putting a smile on this boys face and it was so nice just to focus all our attention on him. 

I'm obviously interrupting his serious truck watching with my ridiculous selfie.

This morning I was so tired from getting home late and being up with Gage So Tyson got up with both boys and let me get an extra few hours of sleep. Then he took Ryder fishing so I could have some quiet time. Later in the afternoon I picked up some lunch and met them at the park to eat and feed the ducks. There was no one there and the weather was perfect. 

After lunch, we came home and spent some more time outside chasing bubbles. It was the perfect way to wear Ryder out and he actually took a nap!

And now Gage is asleep and Tyson took Ryder on a hike in the mountains so I can yet again have a few minutes of peace. He must have sensed that I really needed it and I sure do love all that man does. 

So now the house is {somewhat} clean, the laundry is done, my nails are painted and after an amazing weekend with my family I am ready to conquer the week ahead!

A Day In Our {crazy} Life

I've been wanting to post about our schedule for awhile now but thought I would wait until Gage was born and we are somewhat transitioned to two kids. Gage still isn't on a set schedule yet but I am slowly starting to see one form and I am looking forward to a set routine soon. The newborn stage is hard for me and I'm excited to see him slowly growing out of it. 

We are still working on nursing so when I say that I feed him it consists of nursing until he fusses and refuses, pumping, then feeding him the pumped milk. I do this whenever he eats including the middle of the night. Pain in the ass is an understatement but he is slowly getting better nursing so I'm hopeful for the future. We try to do the baby wise method with him which is eat, play and then sleep. We also try not to let him stay awake for more than 2 hours which doesn't always work. For some reason Gage has a really hard time sleeping during the day sometimes, Like up for 4-6 hours straight. We do have our good days with the bad though, Welcome to the newborn stage.

 Gage has been napping in his MamaRoo which is in our family room where Ryder plays. The noise might be a reason why he is having a hard time sleeping sometimes so we are trying to transition him to his crib for naps. 

Our morning starts somewhere between 4am-6am when Gage struggles to decide if it's time to start the day or not. Some mornings I feed him and he'll go right back to sleep, other mornings he fusses until I put him In his MamaRoo and I end up having to sleep on the couch. 

7:00-8:00am Gage wakes up for another feeding and usually will quickly go back to sleep depending on how the morning has gone. Since Ryder doesn't nap anymore {insert eye roll here} this is also the time that I like to get a few things done around the house like cleaning, dishes, laundry and 4 cups of coffee {I wish}

8:00-9:00 am Ryder wakes up and reads books in his room until I go get him. I give him a sippy of milk and he plays with his toys while I make breakfast. Gage is usually still asleep so we head outside after breakfast to play while it's still cool out.

9:30-10:00 I attempt to take a shower and get ready for the day. This usually consists of dry shampoo, a hat and tshirt while Ryder tears apart the bathroom. Gage wakes up for another feeding then I get the boys ready for the day. This is also when I usually like to run errands before we eat lunch. For some reason I feel like things go downhill fast after lunch. Speaking of errands, I survived my first grocery shopping trip with both boys by myself. I'm so proud! As you can see Ryder feels the same way about grocery shopping as I do. 

If we don't have any errands to run and it isn't too hot outside this is when I like to try to go for a walk.

11:30-12:30 Me and Ryder eat lunch and then I feed Gage. This is when we struggle with Gage going back to sleep. Some days he just won't go back to sleep and will even stay up until after dinner, other days he can't even stay awake to finish eating. I do think he is slowly getting better around this time of day though. 

1:30-3:30 I do a little more around the house while the boys play. If I have a lot to do I'll turn on a cartoon for Ryder to watch while I rush to get a few things done.

3:00-3:30 I feed Gage and put him down for a nap then Ryder and I head outside to play and have a snack. We'll do sidewalk chalk, blow bubbles, play basketball or play In his water table. 

4:00 Were done playing outside and Ryder is not happy about it so he decides to ride the dog or steal my phone and hide in Gage's car seat. Where is daddy??

5:30 Tyson's work schedule varies but on a good day this is when he gets home. He'll take over and I'll start dinner. And when I say I start dinner I mean I throw together some sort of meal and hope it tastes good. This is when sleep deprivation really hits and I have no energy to put into a good meal. My poor family is probably sick of eating crap! If Tyson is out of town for work I'm on my own, hoping for the best but expecting the worst! 

6:00-6:30 We eat dinner, clean up and I feed Gage. This is when he starts to get extra fussy. We are hoping to start getting him down for the night around 7:00 since he shows signs of being ready for bed around this time.

6:30-7:30 Tyson plays with Ryder while I get Gage in the bath and ready for bed. Then we switch and Tyson gets Ryder in the bath and ready for bed while I feed Gage and try to get him to sleep for the night. 

8:00-8:30 Ryder lays in our bed, has a sippy of milk and watches Little Bear while I am either still getting Gage to sleep or cleaning up the disaster that Ryder left behind from the day. Tyson then reads Ryder some books and puts him to bed anywhere from 7:30-8:30

This is where it gets hard if Tyson is out of town. I will switch off bathing them every other night and feed Gage while Ryder watches his show and drinks his milk. Then I lay Gage down and Ryder usually wakes him up as I chase him around trying to get his Jammie's on. I'll read Ryder books and he usually goes to sleep really easy since he doesn't nap. Then I attempt to get Gage back to sleep 

9:00-10:30 Both kids are usually asleep so we will both do some work on the computer, talk about our day or watch some shows on our DVR. Tyson starts school in two weeks so this will probably be the time he does homework soon. And we are wild and hit the hay around 10:30.

Gage wakes up around 1am to feed and goes right back to sleep which is nice since I have to pump. Then were up again at 4am trying to decide if it's time to wake up for the day or not. 

Like I said some days are better than others and we are starting to have more good days than bad. Either way I absolutely love this crazy life of mine and wouldn't trade it for the world! I will be doing an updated post when Gage is on a schedule here soon. It will be interesting to see what a difference a few months can make. 

Have a great weekend!