What Have I Been Up To Lately?

You mean besides playing with my munchkins, not sleeping, taking Drew to his many doctor appointments and his oral motor specialist, pumping, teaching Evan his ABCs, working, cleaning and cooking....wait, where was I going with this? Is this just an oppurtunity to get some credit for all the stuff every other stay at home Mom does on a daily basis? Hmmm, Maybe. Ok, back to the subject at hand. What have I been up to lately? Taking pictures of my friends babies of course! I love to get the practice and my friends like the pictures. At least I hope so? Who wouldn't like pictures of babies that are this adorable. See for yourself!!

Baby Brock at 12 days old. Sweetest little man with the most calm temperment. He is going to be a Ladies Man, I can already tell.

Baby Thomas's 5 month/ First Easter portraits. Could he be any cuter? I want to take a bite out of those cheeks!

Newborn pictures of Baby Claire. These pictures don't do her justice. She is stunningly beautiful. Perhaps I was a bit distracted during her photoshoot, with Drew screaming and 2 or 3 toddlers running around? Regardless, she is adorable.

And then there is Caroline's 1 year old portraits. Just look at her big blue eyes. She is as beautiful on the inside as she is on the out. You can't take a bad picture of her.

Playdate with Graham

On Saturday Evan had a playdate with an old friend. An old friend you ask, he's 2 1/2?!! Well, he hasn't seen Graham in like 10 months, and in kid months that's a LONG time. He and Graham are just like their Mommies. They can not see each other for several months and pick up right where they left off. I know they will be friends forever. Graham's Mama and I have been friends for 22 years! Are they not the most adorable little boys ever?

I Spy

An adorable pair of feet.

Conversations with a Two Year OId

Car trips are so much more fun these days with Evan. He used to hate the car and would cry from start to finish until he was about 18 months or so. Now he chats our ears off. Here is a conversation we had the other day:

Evan: Tractors are mean (referring to a lawn mower).

Me: Sure Buddy (sometimes I admit, I am half listening, so I started to blow off what he was saying. But then a minute or so later I actually heard what he said and thought to myself...he probably will give me a crazy and unreasonable answer, but let's just see what he says...)

Me: What do you mean, Evan? Why are tractors mean?

Evan: Because they hurt the grass. They cut the grass. Grass has boo boos.

Me: Hmmm, you have a point there Evan.

Life just gets more interesting by the minute. Loving my little guy to pieces.

Brother of the Year

Me: "Evan, will you hand Drew a baby toy or two while I go make him a bottle?"
Evan: Silence.
Me: Thinking....Hmmm, I don't like the silence, better go check on my sweet, second born baby Drew.
Evan: "Two toys!"
Me: "We really got to work on our numbers again buddy, this is slightly more then two toys."
Drew: Thinking...Are you really going to go get your camera and take a picture of me before you get me out of this mess, you got to be kidding me Mom!

Neat Freak

Nothing makes you feel better then when your 2 1/2 year old tells you the house is a mess and there is dog hair all over the carpet. I really do try and keep a tidy home. I used to pride myself in the fact that I cleaned the entire home top to bottom at least once a week. Now I am lucky if I can do that every 2 weeks, and now I must use the phrase "top to bottom" a little more loosely. Evan doesn't like to be dirty and as kids go is a pretty neat kid. But cleaning up after three boys and two dogs is a challenge. Luckily I have my boy Evan as my little helper who often times follows me with his vacuum as I vacuum. Here he is in action, using his Dirt Devil to "clean" up all that nasty dog hair he is subjected to on a daily basis.

Mother of the Year

Today I took Drew for his 6 month appointment. It was 2 weeks late, because I am a slacker and made the appointment late. Two weeks isn't a big deal, but if you are only 6 months old, 2 weeks is a long time, 1/12 of his life to be exact. So this is the first appointment we have had since "the incident". The incident being when Drew "fell" out of his baby swing. Funny how this happened and Evan just happened to be right there when I turned around! I am sure little Evan was just trying to help, and his Mommy should have buckled Drew in!! So anyway, as we are at the doctor's office, I plead with Evan to be good and quiet when the doctor comes in so I can actually hear what the doctor is saying. Last time we were there, the on call doctor actually put him in time out for me, because Evan wasn't listening to me and we were all having a major meltdown. So today, I used bribery in the form of a lollipop to keep him quiet. What's a little high fructose corn syrup for five minutes of silence? Did I mention our appointment was at 8:30 in the morning? Yup! Did I also mention that Evan has a small black eye, very faded today, but still there nonetheless from a slide injury on Tuesday? Did I also mention that Drew has tan lines now and that he got a bit of a sunburn on Saturday at an egg hunt? Did I mention that Drew also has a scratch on his eye because his finger nails are getting too long? Mother of the year award definitely ain't going to me. Two week late appointment, lollipop for breakfast, sunburned infant, black eyed two year old, baby falling out of the swing last month now has a scratched eye. Sheesh. Taking it all in stride though and not sweating the small stuff. But maybe I should and then all this wouldn't happen? Nah. That doesn't sound like much fun.

So anyway, Drew weighs 14 lbs 3 oz, is 25 3/4 inches long and has a head circumference of 17 3/4 inches. If you compare him to other 6 month olds he is only in the 5th percentile for weight. But I plotted him on the 5 month chart since if he was born on his due date he would be 5 months and here are his stats:

8th percentile for weight

38th percentile for height

90th percentile for head circumference.

Because of his feeding issues he is now being referred to an Oro-motor specialist. We were finally cleared by the gastrointestinal and pulmonary doctors, but now we have an Oro-motor specialist! He apparently is a weak sucker and needs to learn how to suck better. Poor guy.... nothing seems to be coming easy to him. But he continues to be a trooper!!

Bumbo

Drew loves his Bumbo seat these days. I almost gave up on this little colorful seat. Evan always hated it, and Drew has up until now. But I pulled it out once again, and he loves it!!! Yay!! I have one more option now, when I can't hold him. Jumperoo, exersaucer, bouncy seat, swing and now the bumbo. Oh, the joys of being the second born. Life is about seating options instead of being held constantly. Poor guy. But he is taking in stride.

Too Much

These kids are just too stinking cute. I mean, really? The sweater vests, and those smiles (except for Evan of course). This was one of the best decisions I have ever made for Evan, was putting him in this school. I couldn't be happier with his teachers and the program itself. These guys (and gal) are just too much!

Darn Google

Warning: Boys, you probably don't want to read this (I think I have one male reader.... Kevin). I use the term breastfeeding about 16 times!!!

I have been so lucky (that combined with a lot of hard work) with a plentiful milk supply. Those Mom's out there, know what a blessing that can be. I have never found breastfeeding easy however. With Evan, we struggled for 13 long months. That boy never enjoyed it. He always wanted to look at something else in the room, and it was too boring just to look at my face for a whole 20 minutes straight. I guess this was foreshadowing for toddlerhood. Now he also wants to do anything but eat as well. With Drew I began pumping when he was only a couple of hours old. I pumped every 2 hours around the clock while he was in the NICU, for at least 3 weeks until I backed off to every 3 hours. When I got him home, he never latched on very good so I always had to continue pumping and offering a bottle in addition to nursing. When our home was hit by the flu in January and he stopped eating for a few days and I became extremely dehydrated, I went back to pumping every 2 hours around the clock to get my supply back. I decided not to nurse him anymore but to strictly bottle feed my milk. The result: I now have a massive supply of milk and have donated thousands of ounces to the local milk bank. Another great benefit, I am about 13 lbs under my pre-pregnancy weight. I know...I suck. You are thinking... why is she bragging.... shut up already. But keep reading.

So last night, I googled how many calories you burn for each ounce of milk you produce.... and darn it if I am not burning between 1200 and 1800 calories a day just producing milk. So that's why I have been eating like a linebacker!!! I am totally bummed though. Because in the back of my head I was hoping maybe my metabolism just shot through the roof for some unforeseen reason, and that even when I stopped nursing, I would keep the weight off and still eat whatever I want! So unless I start exercising like mad and drop my caloric intake by about a thousand calories.... the weight is coming back people. I just wish I wouldn't have read that, because I kind of like eating whatever I want and now it's going to be even harder to stop breastfeeding (or pumping) in a few months. Guess I will enjoy it while I can and be so grateful for having enough milk to feed my baby and other babies too (my milk has supplied two other babies getting milk from the milk bank since September, 2009)!

Better Late Than Never

I bought this adorable hat for Drew around Christmas time. Well, around Christmas time, Drew was still a pretty miserable little baby. He was colicy, and reflux-y, and overall just a little grump. So had I tried (well, let's be honest I actually did try about a dozen times to just put the hat on him and I didn't even get to switch my camera on before the screaming began) to get a cute picture of him in this hat I would have failed. So yesterday, on Easter no less, we pretended it was Wintertime here in sunny, 80 degree Florida and Drew donned a snowboarding hat for a quicky photo shoot. I think they turned out pretty cute too!!! Better late than never I suppose!!!

Egg Hunt Number Two

We have actually had 5 Easter Egg hunts this year. I won't bore you with pictures of them all, because they all pretty much look the same. But here is a picture I got of Evan enjoying his loot from Egg Hunt Number Two last week. My friend had a Easter playdate complete with an egg hunt, and egg decorating craft and delicious cupcakes topped with jelly beans. I wish I got more pictures of Evan and his buddies, but I was busy holding Drew most of the time.

I Love You Too

Evan, Paul and I were relaxing on the couch last night after a long day at the bounce house, running errands, out to lunch, etc. We finally got Drew to bed and we were all snuggling close, watching Dora the Explorer.... who else, of course!

Evan: Mommy, I love you.
Me to Evan: Awe, thanks buddy, I love you too!
Me to Paul: Did you hear that, how sweet is he. I love the unsolicited I love yous. It just means so much more when he says it out of no where instead of in response to my 300 I loves yous throughout the day. I mean, that is just so sweet, it means so much when....(interupted by Evan talking).
Me to Evan: What did you say buddy?
Evan: I love you TV.

Nuff said.

This Pretty Much Sums It Up.... Oh, and Happy Easter

This pretty much sums up the boy's temperments lately. Drew, willing to do just about anything to get someone's attention. If it means being held by a large bunny... so be it. Poor little Drew, being the second born to a family with a 2 1/2 year old attention hog is rough. And then there's Evan. He likes to be the center of attention, but is not too sure about large bunnies that move but don't talk. So he is smiling and participating, but also keeping his distance!

Happy Easter,

XOXO

Evan and Drew

Passed Out

Drew is past the stage where he can sleep where ever, whenever. He is on a pretty good schedule. But yesterday his nap was cut short because of an Easter party we attended, which led to a very tired little boy come dinner time. I left him on the couch with a toy to go fix his dinner (oatmeal with pears, yum!). When I returned on a moment later, I found this. Drew, completely passed out, unaware of his busy little brother jumping on the couch next to him (yes, I know... not safe, but I was watching closely from a few feet away), the TV blaring, the dogs barking, etc. Too cute.

Predictable

When I learn a new trick (i.e. collages) I become borderline obsessed with said trick. Today I downloaded some action sets for Photoshop Elements and I am in love with the Heartland Action Set. It gives the photo a vintage feel. So you will probably see alot of this type of editing out of me for the next few weeks. Actually, ever since Drew was born, I haven't had much time to edit at all so most of my pictures have been straight out of the camera. But I want to get back into it. Here is one of my first go arounds.

Easy to Love

Sibling Revelry

Evan 2 1/2 Years Old

Drew and his Super Spiffy Hat

A Treat for my Sweet