The importance of rear facing

I wanted to share this video with those with small children that havent seen this yet. It just may save a life.

On being crafty

Ive never considered myself crafty. I'm surprised I passed home ec. I don't sew, didn't cook (working on this one), and sure as heck never made hair bows before. It took me a year to finally get a little crafty and decide to stop buying bows for Juliana and give making them myself a real shot. Really, the prices for one bow at a boutique are incredibly rid-donk-ulous. Ive paid upwards of $10 for a large bow and Juliana takes it and throws it out of her hair when I'm not looking and it gets lost forever. I was faced with a situation recently of either cutting Juliana's bangs or finding a better way to keep her hair out of her eyes. Being a tad opposed to bangs myself as I'm a little scarred from having the most unattractive bangs growing up (Thanks Mom!), I decided that Id either have to go buy her more bows or make them myself. So, I took a little trip to hobby lobby a couple of days ago and bought an assortment of ribbon and alligator clips (and they were having a 50% off sale on all ribbon... score!). Last night I decided to put what I bought to good use, watched two YouTube videos (so of course I'm an expert now and everything) and gave it a go. I stayed up until 3am and by the time I went to bed, I had made 30 bows. I'm excited to say the least. Some of them turned out a little rough, but I made about 3 that look pretty darn cute. 3 out of 30.. not bad right? Actually... I have no idea what I'm doing.

So here's the finished product. Don't laugh at any of them... its a work in progress!

Needless to say, any tips one has to offer on bow making... or anything cute and crafty (Id like to make Juliana a tutu next. Or maybe headbands), I would certainly appreciate it.

I love having a little girl to dress up.

Rambling on...

Gosh, it seems I never just blog for the sake of blogging anymore. Which I miss. I really miss laying in bed at night and recounting my day. There is just so much that you forget when you dont write it down. Especially me. I do believe I have the absolute worst memory. Maybe not. But it soo feels like it sometimes. I cant remember half the time what I ate for dinner the night before or the name of the people in my classes in school. Anyway...

So a year after I had Juliana (A year and 2 months EXACTLY... ya know, to be exact and all) I am still at home. I have LOVED spending this past year with my children. Ive said it so many times, but I missed out on so much of Noah's first year. And they change so very much in those first twelve months.. Everyday they do something new and I missed quite a lot of that. Working as I nurse, I would leave for work around 6:15 or 6:30 at the latest, before Noah got up for the day. Every day before I left for work I'd tiptoe in Noah's room and make sure he was covered up and rub his head for a minute before leaving. I didnt get off work until 7:30 pm and that had to be one heck of an awesome day because I think I only left twice at 7:30. Most times I left around 8:00 or 8:30 and many nights I had to stay much, much later. Noah was already in bed by then and once again, I would have to tiptoe in, make sure he was covered up, rub his little head, and that was it. Noah of course was his dad's little boy which is great. But I remember one night I came home a little early from work and Noah was still awake. He looked at me and cried. He cried! Not because he wanted me to pick him up but because I was a stranger to him. I was working 5 days a week, atleast 13 hour days and slept a good piece of the day that I was off. I didnt want that to ever happen again. I want to raise my children, I dont want daycare to raise them. I want to potty train my child. Not the teacher at daycare. I want to be there for all their firsts. I dont want to hear it from someone else...

That being said, I know that in order for my family to move forward, the time has come (badum dee dum...) for me to go back to work (though Ive said it before, the time has REALLY come). Ive applied for jobs, spruced up my resume and I'm waiting on a callback. Please pray. My nerves are, at times, on the verge of being shot. The idea of dropping my kids off at daycare and listening to them cry (especially Juliana... Noah warms up quickly) kills me. Though I dread it, I am also excited about this new chapter in my life. I cant wait to stop struggling AS MUCH as we do now. I owe that to my family. I owe it to them to find a job where they can have health insurance (as opposed to right now). I have applied for jobs outside of the hospital setting. While I LOVED (Loved, loved, LOVED, L O V E D!) my friends and coworkers at Trident (Did I mention LOVE) I dont feel like I can go back to being a floor nurse. The daily codes, the MRSA, crash carts, IV pumps, chest tubes, ventilators... nothing I miss. Ive applied at a few rehabilitation centers in the area for third shift (would prefer 1st but there were no openings).

Im ready to get the ball rolling on buying a house and helping to provide for a "better" life for my family. Though, I dont want to forget all my lessons in thriftyness that Ive learned in the past year (and 2 months). Before taking this past year off (and definitely before I started buying my own groceries) Id throw whatever in the shopping cart. Id go for the name brands, the flashy packages. I wouldnt take the time to compare prices and I definitely would not look in the newspaper for deals so that I could price match at Walmart. Anytime I go to the store, I now think on a budget. I dont want to forget that. I dont want to stop asking myself "Do we REALLY need this?"

So ready for new changes, but so not ready to let my children go... *sigh*

To end, I just wanted to post a few recent pictures from a recent mini vacation we went on during labor day weekend to visit the kids grandparents (and my Ma and Pa-in law) at a camground they were staying at. It was great seeing them and I know it was a good change of scenery for all of us. Juliana was quite the little fuss bucket and erupted a shiny new toofy the day after we left.

You know, one of the first things Id like to spend money on after I go back to work is a real vacation for my husband and myself. Thinking now... we've never been on a real vacation together. Things to consider!!

Trip to the State House

Today we decided to drive to downtown Columbia and see what all we could get into with the kids. Our first stop was the State House grounds where we ran into (almost literally) what seemed like hundreds of (very tame) birds and squirrels. They would come right up to your feet and even try to eat out of your hand... the kids got a big kick out of getting so close to these animals. A guy walking by gave us a handful of roasted peanuts to feed the squirrels and we soon found out that the birds were pretty fond of the gerber graduate little puffs we had in the diaper bag for Juliana. We finished up there by letting the kids climb up the State House steps (allll thoseee stepsss... whew!).

We rounded out our trip by walking a few blocks down to visit USC (Memories... ). We spent a lot of time walking around reminiscing about our old school days and where we took our classes at. And all the walking we had to do while we were there. I remember it taking me 15-20 minutes to walk from one class to the other. Allen of course reminds me every time that he has me beat as he had to walk at least that far carrying an upright bass for school (taller than he is, mind you!). Oh the good ol' days. They were good then, and they are good now.

And yes, we forgot Juliana's shoes. She didn't mind. ;-)

Wordless Wednesday Wobbly Wednesday

I shot a little video with my camera a few weeks ago as Juliana was just learning to walk at the ripe old age of 12 1/2 months. Though the quality is pretty bad, I thought she was just the cutest little wobbly walker (and you can hear me getting a kick out of it).

Also...

Im a tad bit late (Im always late... I just wouldnt be ME if I wasnt late to and late on everything) on this but we took the kids at the end of July for their 1 and 2 year physicals. We decided to be super brave and take them both at the same time and have them in the same room. What a handful! Neither one of them are overly fond of going to the doctor but Juliana was still too young to REALLY know what was going on. As soon as we pull into the parking lot at the doctors office with Noah in tow, he knows where he is and remembers getting his immunizations all too well and he is NOT a fan. I think it went about as well as could be expected though. Noah was 32 lbs ( 90th percentile) and 50th percentile for height (I didnt quite catch his height while they were measuring him; I was more concerned with the ear piercing screeching but he is between 34 and 35 inches). Juliana was 21 lbs and close to 28 inches making her 50th percentile for weight and 10th for height. She has stayed consistantly 10th percentile since birth so I think she may just be a little shorty- and thats fine with me! Everything else checked out A-Okay with them too. They are both doing well in the speech department, Juliana now has well over 50 words and occasionally puts two words together while Noah is stringing along full sentences and adds more words on daily. Some of Noah's words are starting to become more clear and I can pretty much understand everything he says. I guess all that worrying I did over Noah talking was not warranted after all... but Im a mommy and worrying is my job! I think... But so far, so good. No more checkups for Noah until hes 3 (::Whew!::) and Juliana doesnt go back until 18 months. I cannot believe I have a 1 year old and a 2 year old.

Birthday party

A family friend created this slideshow for me with pictures from the kids birthday party this past Sunday at the Saluda Shoals spray park. I'll upload some pictures that I took later but for now I'll share this! Thanks Rick!

My girl

My baby, my youngest, my little girl, my princess, my Juliana is 1 year old. One whole year has passed since the moment I saw her sweet little face. Love at first sight, without a doubt. Born on a hot wednesday evening at the hospital where I was working at. I came in early that morning to be induced and pitocin was started at 8:30am. I wanted so badly to go into labor without the aid of medication, in the familiarity of my own home. Around week 34, my midwife realized that Juliana had stopped growing well inside of me and the best option for her at that time was for me to be induced when she was full term. The ultrasound that I had before she was born showed that she would weigh very little over 5 lbs full term. My dream of my water breaking and going into labor naturally didnt happen. My dream of a daughter to love, did happen. My little girl came into this world a little after 7:00 that night with a head full of jet black curly hair and she weighed..... 7 lbs 1.6 oz. Not bad for what was supposed to be a 5 pounder. And you know who she looks JUST LIKE... Thats right, her daddy. While Noah is my mini me (for the most part) Juliana is a little girly clone of her daddy. We celebrated her first birthday by taking a trip to the beach for the day, just like we did with Noah last year. The kids had such a great time playing in the sand and water and we ate hot melted cupcakes in the sand and enjoyed the day. Happy Birthday Juliana.

Juliana always has a ready smile, showing off her 6 teeth.

3 bottom teeth, 3 top.

Born with blue eyes but now they change between blue, gray, and hazel.

Black hair was replaced with lightly curly brown hair.

More social than her brother.

Will let a stranger hold her, depending on her mood.

Prefers still to be carried around the house.

Still not walking but swiftly cruises all over the furniture and can stand alone briefly.

Has an amazing vocabulary including mommy, daddy, kitty, puppy, ball, eye, nose, ear, hair, toe, bottle, no, all done, thank you, duck, papy, milk, shoe, jump, and much more.

She hits (yikes!)

Is a water bug... loves to swim and even goes under the water.

Wears mostly 12 months clothes. Some 18 month tops.

Size 4 shoes

Hates her carseat... still.

Counts to 3 "Un... two... teee!!"

Size 3-4/4 diapers.

Toenails painted for the first time a few days ago just for fun.

Sleeps 12 hours at night.

Prefers to be rocked to sleep.

Loves to sing.

Loves to dance.

Loves her mommy and daddy.

And they love her too.

Wordless Wednesday

Happy 2nd birthday, baby of mine.

July 2, 2007 - 3:16 pm

My first born baby is two years old now. He came into this world at 3:16 pm on a Monday afternoon after Allen and I watched Titanic over and over on the hospital tv just waiting to become first time parents. He was born weeks early, two days before July 4th, and I was in labor for 17 hours straight. He was more than worth it. Two years ago I met that precious little boy for the first time and I had never been more scared and more elated at the same time. He was so beautiful... Looking into his face I remember thinking that he was flawless, amazing... much more beautiful than I had ever imagined. I examined his teeny toes, his little fingernails, his sweet little ears. He changed my life that day, he made me a mother. Every decision I made after that included him somehow. Most everything I do, I do it with him in mind. I am so thankful. I love that kid.


I love his hugs...


His blossoming sense of humor


His patience for his baby sister


His smile

I love when he sees me and excitedly shouts out "My mommy!!"


His love for "appa juice" "fruit nacks" and "chee toast"


His curls


How he has adopted the role of protector of his little sister.... "No sissy!! Not a toy!!"


How he loves me even when I lose my patience


I even love how he throws toys at us from the backseat of the car to get our attention



I love his everything.


Happy Birthday to my Noah. I am so proud to be your mommy.

Wordless Wednesday

Sorta Wordless Wednesday... a few hours late.

Playing outside in the rain in their diapers. One of my favorite memories as a child (minus just the diaper).

My sweet Noah.... the nurturer. Though cars, trucks, and rocks are the biggies for this 22 month old, he enjoys the occasional doll as well. Hugs, pats its back, rocks the baby, gives it kisses, puts it in the swing... and then makes it ride on his tonka trucks.

Noah pointing out the mommy and baby ducklings at the gardens. He was so in love.

Mommy's big/little helper.

Sweet girl, all smiles in the swing.

Taking some time to stop and smell the roses... at the rose gardens of course.
My sunshine.

Noah riding his tricycle... with a little help from mommy.

No explanation needed. Just a little picture to save for a few years down the road. Ya know, that... and the pink crocs.

An update from the slackest blogger out there.

Well... am I not the slackest blogger on the block? I think I've started at least 5 blogs in the past month or so, write a paragraph or two, get distracted and save the post, and never come back to it. Seriously. I have this nagging feeling every time that I start to write, that there is something else that needs to be done instead. Maybe I need to wash a load of clothes, do some dishes, tuck some children back in their beds, or maybe there's a TV show out there that I've been looking forward to (cough cough Jon&Kate cough). But alas, here I am trying again. Hoping that this one wont be thrown into the pile of saved posts waiting to be published. Maybe. Just maybe. 

Well the last time I REALLY posted Juliana was 8 months old... Well I'm proud to say that my once 8 month old is now a very active, very mobile (but still not quite walking) 10 month old. And Noah... what a handful- Hes almost 2! In a few short days, he will be exactly 1 month away from turning the big TWO. Can it be true?  I feel more and more proud of my kids everyday, and I'm beginning to realize that I'm having so much more fun now that they are a little older. Especially with Noah. Noah's vocabulary has really taken off here lately. Once upon a time, I worried if Noah was saying enough... Did he say enough words? Is he delayed? What are other children his age doing and saying? Believe me, I'm the queen of google and yahoo answers. I admit that I've googled all sorts of things, sometimes on a daily basis such as "How many words should a ___ month old be saying?" or "What is an average ___ month old like?" Yeah, hate to admit it...  ya know, unless YOU do it too! Then well, we can admit that stuff together. I don't really know a lot of kids the same age as mine, so sometimes you just have to guess what's normal and whats not... and sometimes you just have to google it (I'm sure that's a satisfactory substitute for real medical advice you know, from a pediatrician and all)! But I'm feeling better and better about Noah's speech everyday and while most people still cannot understand most of what he says, he is actually speaking in sentences fairly often. Albeit, he leaves a word or two out sometimes but he gets his point across. He lets me know what he wants, whether its apple juice or a new diaper, or to read a book or go outside. Today I told him to put something down that he didn't need to be playing with and he turned around and told me "Its not a toy!" He is growing up right before my eyes and though its bittersweet, I've been enjoying some of these new changes. What gets me the most about Noah is how sweet he is to his "little baby sissy." Days before I had Juliana, I worried about how Noah would receive her... would he be jealous or act out? And its actually quite the opposite. I don't often see jealousy from him. He is very loving with her. If he has two cookies, he gives her one. He tries to wash her hair in the tub, brushes her hair and brings her a diaper, pushes her stroller, shares his lunch, talks baby talk to her (ahem must have picked that up from somewhere), and hugs her often. He however is NOT a fan of sharing his toys and has learned to say "MINE!!!" Mine, mine, mine. Typical two year old jargon I hear. Still has meltdowns, still weary of strangers, still not your friend if he is missing even a few minutes of a nap. My Noah. 

Juliana has been busy herself these days. While she does not walk yet, she is an avid furniture cruiser and toy stealer. She is loving, cuddly, and 100% different from Noah. Still not the BEST sleeper, but lately shes been sleeping through the night... you know, for the most part (Thank you God!!). I swore sometimes that pint sized little girl would be the death of me. She is nowhere near the good sleeper Noah is and the slightest noise or changes in light wakes her up (And I really mean slightest... even carefully opening the door does the trick) but she has started to go to bed with a little less fuss and has started playing in her crib (gasp) instead of screaming bloody murder the second she realizes that shes awake and there is no one right beside her. She "talks" constantly and even says a handful of real words. She likes to play with Noah's cars and trucks and even makes the sound effects "Vrooom!" lol She also loves her baby dolls. She still only has two teeth on the bottom, but has a couple more making their way in but can eat anything and everything. At ten months, she is just now starting to like baby food but has been eating table food for months now. She also gets her diaper in a wad if I walk away from her or even worse, leave the room. Separation anxiety... good times... Shes my sunshine though, loves to "sing" (cant take her in church for this reason, she loudly sings to all the songs), dances on command, blows kisses and gives real ones, and snuggles. 

Lately we've been piddling in potty training with Noah. We were at his great grandparents house for memorial day (think I mentioned in the previous post from my cell) and his cousin that is 2 1/2 is potty training and Noah decided he wanted to give it a try "I pee pee potty Mommy!" and pulled his pants down and gave it a shot. Nothing happened, I think he just wanted to sit on it but we decided that was a cue. Today we all loaded up in the car and went shopping for his very own potty. It even has a bar next to it for the toilet paper just like a real potty. So when we got home Noah gave it a try, pulled off half a roll of toilet paper, and then decided that it was more fun to push it around the house and store leggos in the little storage compartment in it. Whatever, at least he's getting use to it. There will be a day when we no longer have to buy diapers for two kids... I'm ready!! Diapers don't grow on trees and they aren't cheap, especially when you have two kids wearing them. Ive even thought recently about using cloth diapers. Ive done my research, found out that its very effective in helping a child potty train because they actually feel wet and become more aware when they wet themselves, looked into the different types of diapers and looked at some of the earthy, crunchy websites that sell some of these diapers. But the up front cost is hard to swallow, especially for all the diapers we would need and would I really be up to the extra work involved in constantly washing diapers? Sure, its definitely the green way to go! I'll have to give it a little more thought... 

Lets see... what else is there to write about? I guess a million things have happened in the past two months. I'll have to be a little better at updating. Sorry guys, you know, the few that read this. :-)

There, I did it. Finally. I made a post. Now I feel better. Now I'm off to read some of my favorite blogs (nightly ritual!).

PS- I didn't get to post about sweet little Kayleigh that went to be with Jesus after 11 months in the NICU. I had been reading Kayleigh's blog for several months and it definitely felt like a little piece of me was missing when she died. I think of her often, though I never knew her in real life. I am so, so, so thankful for my children. I am so, so, so thankful for their health. I am so thankful for so many things... my husband, my mom, my family, my friends. I thank God for these people. I thank God for knowing Kayleigh, if nothing more than through a blog. Her website, written by her dad Adam, is on the sidebar. 

Potty time??

You can see what our new endeavors will be with our almost 2 year old.
Time to introduce the potty!! Today was his first day giving it a try
while at his great grandparents house. His older cousin is potty
training and Noah decided to hop on board by telling us he had to pee
pee and whipping his pants down. He looked so adorable sitting on that
potty like a big boy. No luck yet... But were going out to get a potty
this week hopefully and some rewards! Wish us luck!!

Hooray for rainy days

For if there were no rainy days, there would be no puddles for little
boys to jump in.

Day in Chucktown

Just thought I would update the blog with some recent pictures of the kids, taken Monday when we spent the day in Charleston. Oh, how I love (and MISS) Charleston!! When we moved up this way, we didn't look back for a long time. We were done with the area, I was done with working at Trident. But there is just something so peaceful about being there, even if its just for the day. There is beauty that I have yet to see to that extent here. I do love Lexington, don't get me wrong. I just have a very special place in my heart for Charleston.

The day ended up being a lot cooler (and way more windy) than we expected and the kids decided not to nap on the way down so they were fussy and irrational at times (yeah so when is a 8 month old and a 1 1/2 year old rational anyway... especially MY 8 month old and MY 1 1/2 year old). Its definitely a lot harder taking two kids on a trip, even if its for the day. We didn't even bother bringing the double stroller, as we knew Juliana would sit in it for about 3 minutes and then would be DONE with it the entire day and would want to be carried (Demanding!!!) while we pushed the limousine around everywhere. So I carried her through the market and shops, in the Charleston Place hotel, down King street, in the Apple store so we could drool over some macs (Juliana literally... oh and spit up too! Not me, her.)

I borrowed my moms camera because I broke mine mine broke... itself and didn't realize that I had it in the mode to shoot these brown-tone shots half the time. They actually turned out fairly well though.

Juliana, 8 months old

Noah snacking. Full of energy, running up and down, up and down the park.

Juliana, sleeping in my arms while I carried her around Charleston.

After I realized that I shot the majority of pictures without color. Allen and his two monkeys. Arms full?

Noah, always trying to be helpful.

Father and son.

The day wasn't perfect. But I'm glad we went. We finished up the day by meeting my brother, sister in law, and new niece Megan out for supper at Allen's favorite Korean restaurant. We got stone bowls and sushi, yum yum. And that was our day!

I wish I could blog more, I do it when I can. Now that both kids are mobile, Ive been super busy chasing and cleaning up after them. Juliana has mastered crawling and pulling up. We took Juliana to the doctor a week and a half ago in which we talked with him about her refusal to eat baby food. He recommended going ahead and giving her table food, and letting her feed herself. So for every meal, we sit both Noah and Juliana in their highchairs and give them the same thing. And Juliana does fairly well. She only has two teeth, but she will gum food to death. Or otherwise hold it in her mouth until her saliva breaks it down. Its very comical to see her "chew." She has been sleeping (somewhat) better at night. Some nights she sleeps 12- 13 hours, some nights she wakes. We do the same thing pretty much every day so there is no rhyme or reason to that. She also claps her hands, and can wave and say bye bye... which is a shocker to me, since Noah definitely did not care to do that at this age. Apples and oranges, they are. Noah on the other hand, has started putting two words together. It doesn't sound like much, but its a pretty big milestone. "Mommy's shoe" "Sissy eating" " Bye Bye Daddy." So very ready for him to talk a little more. Other than that, nothing has changed for Noah. Hes way more predictable (except for his mood, then its Jekyll and Hyde). He still sleeps 12 hours at night, eats like its going out of style (perhaps that phrase is going out of style), is a monster when lacking sleep, and a bursting ball of energy.

I'll save Juliana's new found "tantrums" for a later post. Oh dear.