A Minute to Spare

It's 11:00 and I have been playing single mother almost all day long. Brian was here for about an hour at dinner time, but that's about it. He is now back at work. Needless to say, it's been a long day. I should be in bed, but here I am...blogging.

There have been just a couple of things on my mind. First, I am wondering how you mom's of more than one kid entertain! I don't know if I'm having some slight baby blues, if I'm tired, or if I'm just learning to get the hang of REAL multitasking (I thought I knew the meaning of that word....I didn't.) Poor Claire gets left to watch Nemo more often than I would like. If I make it all day long without her watching anything I feel pretty accomplished, but the minute the tv comes on I feel like a total failure as a mother. Hey...at least I've gotten past crying over when I don't brush her teeth.

Do any of you remember Back to the Future...I think it's the second one? Well, I remember the part where the family is in the kitchen and all they have to do is press a button when their meal is served hot and immediately. Can I have that kitchen, please? We didn't eat dinner until 9 tonight. Wow. No wonder I sat in the kitchen almost in tears over food. I think my blood sugar was too low to even comprehend the fact that I had to make dinner in order to eat. I need a kitchen maid who cooks and cleans! Please send Minnie Jackson to my house to cook, clean, and make me chocolate pie!

Lastly, I've recently read a few friend's blogs and they love to write about their hubsters. I find myself almost falling in love with said husband just because they're so in love. Really, it's like reading a romantic book. So, I started thinking...could I even be serious enough to fill my bloggity blog with such words? Probably not. I'm not the kind of person who oozes romance publicly. However, I just have to say that I am married to possibly the most wonderful man alive. (See....I already feel like I've said too much....but I'll go on.) I'll explain:

• While in the hospital before Jared made his grand entrance, Brian held my hand the entire time I was trying to breathe and relax. I think there was more pain in his face than I've ever seen. He was so sweet.
• He works so hard. He really does. Grad school is a beast...for the student and the spouse. It's a lot of patience and waiting, but he really tries to keep me happy during the really long weeks.
• He knows how to relax. He makes me sit down and have a good time and I'm grateful for that. Sometimes I forget to savor the moments because I'm looking at the dust on my baseboards instead of the smiles on my kids' faces.
• He's VERY passionate about what I say about myself. He's my best advocate and I'm grateful. I guess it's not every husband who says, "Honey, please don't get too carried away with losing weight because then you'll lose your hips". Yes, that's the truth. If I do say something negative, he very seriously and immediately reprimands me.
• Brian is very opinionated. Sometimes this gets us both into trouble, but I actually love this about him. Before I married him I had probably 1 strong opinion....that chocolate was good...and that's it. He actually HATED that I wouldn't choose where to eat dinner on a date and was very verbal about me changing that habit. It's nice to be more decisive. I think it has made me a better person....as long as I don't get TOO opinionated.
• Brian is the cutest Daddy. I'll be honest, I'm a little jealous that I have to share Claire's love a little more these days. Before the baby she LOVED her mommy almost too much. Now things are a little more even around here and even though I get a little jealous, I'm so glad she loves him so much. He's a sucker for her. He's also just so cute with that little boy of ours. He will not move positions if I have him hold Jared just out of fear that he'll move wrong. A little adorable? I think so.
• He's just the best darn husband around. What husband wouldn't want to walk into their bedroom, late, wife in bed and....talk? Well, I don't know who that would be either, but he does this for me All. The. Time. After a long chat and usually a few tears shed from little old me I feel better and all is well in the world.

There. I did it. I think writing things down makes you recognize how good you have it. Lucky for you, I did this publicly.

Now it's time for bed!

Easter Weekend

For starters, here is our little bundle of joy. I put him in a 0-3 mo. outfit since all newborns had been soaked through. I couldn't really find him in all of that fabric. He kind of looked like just a head. Kind of weird to think that at 3 weeks old he's still smaller than Claire EVER was.

Look at those baby blues!

This is not an unfamiliar scene at our house these days. Claire surely loves her little brother and really likes to hold his hand or lay beside him. It still makes me nervous when she's around because her feet tend to kick anything in their path, but so far he's been safe.

Yes, he's just that tiny. The bear could eat him.

My family....with all of Claire's favorite bears: Bo, Mauw, and Sofie.

What is this? Brian holding a newborn? Unheard of! Love those boys!

Me with the kiddos.

Grandma Anderson came to visit and spent 5 days with us. We sure enjoyed having her here. I'm positive that Claire misses her playing all the time. We had a wonderful time with her here and it's always too short of a visit. I definitely enjoyed all the catch up sleep I was able to get since I didn't have to watch Claire all the time. Thank you, Diane!

One of my new favorite pictures for sure.

On to Easter! I teach these wonderful kids piano lessons and they have one amazing mother. She put on an Easter Egg hunt for people she knows because the city one is a bloodbath (or so I've heard). Claire had a blast! I wasn't sure if she would get the idea, but she caught right on. However, at first she thought her bucket was a hat. Many thanks to little Liam for giving her that idea.

My parents came down on Saturday for a BBQ. We had to have ANOTHER easter egg hunt of our very own. Once again, Claire had a blast and kept asking for more eggs.

Easter Basket

Dying easter eggs

Thanks again, Liam for the bucket hat idea. It keeps me laughing. We played in the sand this morning and she had this wonderful idea...

She even had to keep her "hat" on through watching Nemo.

I'll be honest, it was the funnest Easter I can remember. Hope yours was just as wonderful.

2 Weeks

Our little guy is two weeks old! What? Where did the time go? I think I got lost in between the 1-4 am feedings and trying to catch up on sleep. That's where the two weeks went. As usual, I feel like he's been here forever, yet I also feel like we were just barely in the hospital looking at his beautiful face for the first time.

Here are his 2 week stats:

Height: 19.2"- 5th percentile

Weight: 6 lbs. 11 oz.- 5th percentile

Head: 35 cm - 10-25th percentile

Uh....yeah, he's TINY. However, he's doing a good job at gaining weight, but I'm hoping to have rolls forming before our eyes! I love him so much as does the rest of the family.

• He's a big sweetheart and loves to snuggle. In fact, we have a hard time having him sleep in his cradle all night because he'd rather be cuddled up to mommy.
• He's still in newborn/premie outfits although the premie's are getting a tad too short.
• Boys are TRICKY to change! I get peed on several times a day and it's a miracle if I don't have to change my sheets for two days!
• Along with tricky to change, his legs are kinda little, so he pees right through the sides of the diapers. Although he wets his clothes a lot, it's better than the everyday blowouts I had to clean up with Claire.
• He's super congested so we had to get his nose suctioned out today. No fun. He also has a goopy eye that will need eye drops for a week.
• He has the most OUTY belly button I have ever seen. It's like an actual button and I laugh every time I see it.

We love having a little boy at our house! We're also so glad that Claire seems to love him a lot. Claire is getting lots of outside time with the weather warming up. Due to me feeling (unrealistically extreme sort of feelings) like a bad mother, we got her a couple of outside toys to wear her out so she's not watching so much TV. She now has a castle with a slide, those little tike puzzle wall things, and a water/sand table. I love KSL! Needless to say, I have felt much better with her playing more and she is a much happier girl.