Thursday, May 31, 2012

28 Months - Update on the Babes

I haven't done one of these in so long! Yes, I realize they are no longer babies (what?? yes they are!!) Sigh...they are growing up before my eyes. Josh got his driver's license last week and Jules just got asked out to the prom by a boy named Brad Stevens. We went and bought her this beautiful pale pink chiffon strapless evening gown. Wait...what? HeHe

Back to now. They REALLY are growing up quickly, though no lie. They can have really real conversations with me and each other, which blows my mind. They are like little people! They say please, thank you, you're welcome, I'm so proud of you!, Come back here now, etc, etc and other things that make you do a double take at these little nuggets. Hysterical!

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Smart as whips! Little technology buffs.
28 Months Old!!

Eating: You could say we have officially entered into a toddler eating rut. Yes, I know you are supposed to pick your battles. But man! What happened to all those lofty aspirations I had when they were babies? I made all their baby food from fresh all organic fruits and vegetables. I made a WIDE variety of vegetables so they would have a very diverse pallet. Ha. Ha. Ha. Jules would eat chicken or cheerios every day for every meal. She hates vegetables, and if she does eat an entire meal I am doing a jig. Josh is a much better eater, and will at least attempt to try thing on his plate. These issues make it very weary for me to cook different things for them because its a hit or miss if its gets eaten. And then I'm just wasting time/money/calories when they won't eat it, so then I feel guilty because they haven't eaten anything and want to pull the chicken out (and my hair) Come on moms, I know you have been here or are here currently.

Sleep: They are still great sleepers. I can't complain here. They sleep from 11-12 hours a night, and are napping around 2 hours. The napping thing might just be the death of me. Dinnertime and naptime are my LEAST favorite times of the day. Since we said byebye to pacis a few months ago,naps are a constant struggle. It is SO HARD to get them down. They might go down easy one day, might say up there and giggle/talk for an hour before finally falling asleep, might not nap at all, and might decide to pull of their clothes and diaper. (fun times, there). So, we have been trying to re-establish a naptime routine to help soothe them down. Once they are asleep - it's great! They'll take really good naps. It's just the "WHEN WILL THEY GO TO SLEEPPPPPP???" thing that is frustrating.

Our Schedule:

7:15- they wake up around 7. We usually go in about 7:15/7:30 depending. (this will change once we start preschool on Monday! YAY!! - will post about this!)
8:00 - Cheerios or Oatmeal or Eggs and Toast or Pancakes
9:00- snack of some kind - crackers, fruit, etc

11:30 - Lunch. Usually consists of leftovers, sandwich or pasta of some sort.Or we may go out to lunch.

12:30/1 - naptime. Honestly I put them down here, but sometimes its after 1:30 before they fall asleep. I still try for the earlier time, because there isn't a mom I know that puts their kids down so late. But they are just not tired yet!

3/3:20 - This is either some of a pasta I have in the fridge, chicken nuggets, or a sandwich here if they didn't have one earlier. Maybe cheese, avocado, popcorn, etc. (I know, it's bad)

6:30 - dinnertime. Sometimes they eat dinner with us, and sometimes not. It depends on what I have fixed and some things I fix aren't for them or Jake gets home late, or we want to grill out sans kiddos. :)

7:30-8 - baths, story/bedtime
Activities: Love being outside. We love the zoo, parks, storytime, just really getting out and about.
Stats: Jules can still wear 18m dresses and some clothes, and can wear alot of 24m stuff. 2T stuff varies depending on the cut. We are potty trained (yay!) but still wears size 5 diapers at naptime and bedtime (still not sure what to do here - she has yet to wake up dry and has been potty trained now for several months now) Josh can wear 2T and some 3T shirts. Pants and shorts however, fall right off him poor thing. So, he is mostly still in 18m shorts, but can wear some 24m. Jules is in size 6 shoes, and Josh is in size 7, although Jules can probably move pretty soon. its CRAZY. They are still in size 5 diapers.
Milestones: Like I mentioned before, they are CHEELENS. They can talk ya'll!! Serious, honest-to-goodness conversations. It's crazy. Like, I can talk to them and stuff. They talk to me. They pick out their clothes, they pick out what they want to eat (to some extent) they tell me what activities they want to do, they can tell what shows they want to watch, and what songs they want to sing. They can make their own choices and make their own decisions (again, to some extent). They have little sponge-like minds that go "Whats this Mommy?" A LOT. They make me serious belly laugh more than I ever imagined they could. They can frustrate the ever living daylights out of you and then the next second say "BIG HUG MOMMY!" and melt your heart. They are just the most precious, smart, funny things in the entire world, and I am one lucky mommy.

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Wednesday, May 30, 2012

First Baseball Game!

We can offically put this down as another first for the Fabulous Baby Striblings :)
I have been not-so-quietly oogling Amy's son Parker at A Good Life because he has been to a few games already, and I have been a little jealous :) I am also married to a guy who thinks the babes shouldn't go to public events, the beach, to restuarants, etc until they are 15 (haha!!). So, the fact that he agreed to let them try out a baseball game was pretty exciting. He is a huge baseball guy, so I know he was silently looking forward to it :)

For the most part in the grand scheme of things, they did great. I was wanting to go our first game a little late, and let them stay for about an hour to see how they would do. We got there about the 5th inning after their nap. Some takeaways:

1. Going mid game is fantastic - everyone got in free. Score.

2. Either we played a really good team or we are really bad. Lost 19-3 vs Round Rock. Yikes.

3. Because of this score, what was supposed to be an hour game turned into 2.5 hours from innings 5-9.

4. It was easily 100 degrees.

5. They did fine for the first hour, got squirmy, so we did alot of popcorn eating, walking around, and drinking water. Even had to pull out the big guns (iphone games)

6. They each got a foul ball. (seriously??? I have never gotten a foul ball. ever. They BOTH got one at their very first game)

7. After each game, the Nashville Sounds allows all kiddos to run the bases after each game. A pretty fantastic perk. (and why we stayed the entire 2.5 hours)

All in all, it was a good time. We will certainly try it again. Hopefully when it's a little less hot.

The Sounds game/Walking in with Daddy

Grampa, Happy Jake, Jules and Joshie!


Jules and Jake

First Icee!! Poor things were hot!

Love this picture :)

This one too :) Popcorn!

Our first foul ball!! YAY!!!!! (note the girl in the back on the iphone)

Yankee Fan, Yo.

Running the bases with Grampa and Daddy!

Crossing home plate!

Here in the video below of them running the bases. It is pretty shaky. I was trying to snap pics with my Nikon in one hand, while walking down the steps to get closer. HeHe :)
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Saturday, May 26, 2012

Week in Phone Pics!

I haven't done one of these in a couple months. Here is what we've been up to this week.



One little "non-napping" girl - piggy tails - "are you going to san francisco? be sure to wear some flowers in your hair - rocck star status - too scared to go down the big slide "Hellooooo down there" - Josh - Jules wanted to wear both bibs that Baa gave her.

Collecting sticks! - holy freaking cow my babes are officially starting preschool - my very, very last event of the season, thank goodness its summer!! - bed head - i hate leaving these babies when I have to work! - pee pie Jules!!

Linking up with Amy at A Good Life

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Friday, May 25, 2012

Flashback Friday - It's been three years!

It makes my breath stop when I realize it has been THREE YEARS since I started this blog. THREE YEARS since I finally saw those two very light lines that informed me that, YES, I was, indeed pregnant. I remember it like it was yesterday.

When you are trying to conceive, it makes you very, very in tune to your body. You notice every single pull, every twitch, every cramp, and then google the crap out of it. You take your temperature every morning of every cycle day, look at your graph, and then analyze the crap out of it as well. (You didn't know you could do that? Well, you can!) You take drugs (the legal kind), you become buddies with the ladies that work in your fertility center. You fight with your husband constantly about all this. And then you get a negative test, and you do it all over again. And again. And again.

I felt implantation (or what I had hoped was implantation - it was of course). I remember where and when it happened. (I took great notes through all this as well). A few days after that I took a test. Jake was already at work. It was faint - REALLY faint. I called my RE (Thats a Reproductive Endocrinologist) They did blood work. My beta was a 40. Pretty good for only 11DPO (days past ovulation, I was a pee-on-a-stick addict). I thought I might surprise Jake is one of those super cute ways you see on Pinterest. However, when he picked me up to go hit golf balls (for a fleeting moment I was going to pick the sport back up) I just blurted it out. He wasn't happy, or sad, he was just "just". I think he probably thought it would never happened, so he never got his hopes up. So say I was elated, was an understatement.

I was one of the lucky ones. It finally worked for me after 2.5 years of trying. I knew God had a plan in there somewhere, I just didn't realize it would be in the form of a little girl named Jules and a little boy named Josh. Twins!

Thank you all for reading along on this fantastic journey with us. What a ride it has been!

What you can't see this line? You must not have "super-sonic-can-see-the-faintest-of-lines" eyes.

Jules!

Josh

34 weeks.
28 weeks


3 days old

one month
four months

one year

18 months
2 years

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Monday, May 21, 2012

My Jules

This girl:





Is a constant people pleaser.
Loves being Mommy's Helper.
Lets me brush her teeth without a fight.
Lets me paint her nails and toes and she loves it.
Love to mirror me making funny faces.
Loves one-on-one time with me and will say, "Mommy and Jules" multiple times.
Can swing all day long.
Is a very, very picky eater who always wants chicken.
Is learning how to pretend play with her dolls, kitchen, and other toys.
Doesn't like to get in trouble.
Is very easy to talk to and understands what I am saying.
Is very conversational.
Is super smart.
Is my Silly Sally for making me laugh constantly.
Is my Nosey Rosy for getting in everybody's business.
Loves to learn and loves her books.
Is sympathetic and aware of emotions of others and comforts Josh when he is sad.
Loves picking out her own clothes and shoes.
Is becoming very independent and wants to try to do everything herself.
Can go get my diapers, wipes, cream, etc if I ask her to.
Is starting the "What's this Mommy?" phase.
Has a very, very kind heart.
Likes to learn the words to songs (or pretend she does)
Can say her prayers every night.
Is potty trained, but we still haven't figured out this #2 thing yet.
Can talk all day long, but also very shy around people you don't know.
Doesn't like getting her picture taken.
Rarely whines or throws tantrums.
When you do get upset, it's very easy to talk to you.
Knows how to stall bedtime and naptime.
Makes me belly laugh.
Says things like:
"Shake your booty"
"Thats soooo cute!"
"Mmmm, thats really yummy!"
"Josh I so proud of you, yay!"
Has brown eyes.
Is a biter and a pincher.
Is a whiz with coomputers and phones. She can work through each screen on my iphone, play her games and even call Daddy and know how to speaker phone.
Loves to jump - "I jumping Mommy!"
Has a mess full of ringlets all over her head.
Is a Mommy's girl and is exactly like me in so many ways.
Has course hair.
Loves standing under the faucet in the bathtub.
Is OBSESSED right now with saying "Thank you" and "You're Welcome".
Is the best hugger I have ever met.
Loves sticking out her bottom lip.
Loves TV and have now started answering the cartoons when they ask you questions.




 




 

My Josh

This guy:


Giggles. alot. And belly-laughs.
Is a very good eater and will usually at least try everything on his plate.
Has bad dreams sometimes and wakes up crying in the middle of the night.
Is a dancer. Loves it.
Knows he gets "shiny" polish when his sister gets pinks and reds.
Loves accessories. Loves bracelets, necklaces, and even purses!
Is a toy hoarder and might have hands full of them at any time.
Loves pockets for his "treasures".
Is a whiner.
Loves to test his boundaries.
Is a big fan of Mommy singing and asks me to all the time, and names song by name.
Is a cuddler and snuggler.
Is my Cuddle Bug, while his sister is Silly Sally and Nosy Rosy.
Is very affectionate and wants to be held, sat next to, rocked, all the time.
Mocks Jules and follows her lead most of the time.
Loves to run. and run. and run.
Loves water. In any form.
Has created a make-shift water slide in the bathtub.
Very smart like his sister, but in different ways.
Loves balls.
Is very compassionate and sweet with animals.
Cries when I leave sometimes for work, sometimes when I leave at bedtime.
Puts balls, blocks, cars etc in either his backpack or purse.
Is obsessed with umbrellas right now.
Loves getting his picture made.
Is breathtakingly beautiful.
Has soft lose curls.
Has big beautiful blue/green eyes.
Loves playing with our UT memorbilia (calling it T)
Can find anything he's not supposed to in the most bizarre of places and puts it in his mouth.
Is very stubborn to potty train.
Is a bubble lover.
Is a climber and is trying to climb on dressers and the refridgerator.
Loves to climb up to the big slide at the park, but still too scared to go down by himself.
Loves to swing with Mommy in the horse swing.
Is also very independent.
And hard headed.
Hates getting his diaper changed.
Is very picky about his clothes.
Has two favorite shirts: Brobee and Batman, and wants to wear them every day (unsuccessfully)
And also wants to wear his Cars rain boots and church dress shoes every day (unsuccessfully)
Jumps up and down and sings along with most cartoons.
Is more clingy than Jules.
Has a memory like an elephant. It's astounding what he remembers.
Loves his daddy.
Tests his time outs.
Loves being read to.
Is very good at stalling Bedtime and Naptime.
Is a nose-picker.
Loves Brobee. And George. And Mickey Mouse.
Loves fries.
Doesn't have a mean bone is his body.
Loves trains.
Has never really used a pacifier.
Is stronger and more solid that an ox.
And uses that against you in many things. (getting in high chairs, car seats, diapers changes)
Is known as "Joshie" around here. But also Josh, and Joshua.
Also Buddy and Bud. Because he's my little buddy.


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Sunday, May 20, 2012

Steppin Out Saturday - Another Day at the Zoo and Golf Party Time!

If you think us over here at The Fabulous Baby Striblings go to the zoo quite often, you would be correct. We have a membership, and a whole little routine we follow that eats up our mornign wuite well, and they babes love it. We first venture to the monkeys, then to the meer cats, then on to the Aquarium. After that we head to the petting zoo, the flamingos, then to the choochoo train. Then grab some lunch, then finish off at the Jungle Gym play area! Nice little Saturday, no?

Pretty Scary!!

They love the fishies! And, yup. Thats his Manchel. Is his defense, it carries his balls and blocks. So, totally manly.


Her poor dress kept falling down on that one side. all. day. On Jules:
Dress: Old Navy//Shoes: Toms

Oh my rock-star son:
Shirt: Janie and Jack//Shorts: Baby Greendog//Shoes: New Balance//Brush: Goat Bucket

Giving the goats a good brush

And, naturally, hugs

Oh the ChooChoo!!

Precious girl and her ringlets
So sweet :)

Saturday Night was teh kickoff of summer, essentially. It was the first of many that Jake will play in this summer, so Saturday night was the first party of the tournament. On each tournament, Saturday night is the celebration, where they have open bar, band, dancing, etc. All that fun kind of stuff. Nashville Golf's is more casual, and outside on the greens. So fun!

On Moi:
Dress: H and M//Wedges: Charles David
Linking up to Harpers Happenings and The Pleated Poppy

Tuesday, May 15, 2012

Weekly Project 24 - The Newborn Toddler

Pictures removed. Didn't realize I had offended people.

Dear Joshua,

Once upon a time you and Jules were up in your nursery trying to nap. I say trying sarcastically, because you both were, in fact, NOT napping but upstairs giggling and jumping and singing and basically doing everything but NOT napping. When you both finally fell asleep, your Daddy and I breathed a sigh of relief. Along came 3:30, and we knew we needed to wake you up because if we didn't, you munchkins would have a hard time going to bed.

We kind of knew what we might find. Due to your napping history, if it takes you so long to fall asleep, we knew we might find naked babies up there. However, I saw you and my eyes filled with tears. You had somehow pulled up LuLu the monkey into your crib from the floor and had cuddled up next to her (naked of course). But, it was the most precious thing. You looked like a newborn baby posing for your newborn portraits. Bless your heart, you were obviously cold and thought Lulu would keep your warm if you cuddled up. You are my Cuddle Bug, and you know it. I have nicknamed you that. Jules is Nosy Rosey and Silly Sally, but when I ask you who you are, you reply "Cuddle Bug!!". I love you sweet boy!

Love, Mommy


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Mother's Day 2012

If you are wanting a wonderful post about how I had the greatest Mother's Day to date....well, you are mistaken. I am not knocking the motherhood thing. I cherish it. I love my little buddies more than anything in the world. Mother's Day was like New Year's Eve - something I looked forward to so much! In fact, we cut our FIRST EVER beach trip a day short so we could all be at home together as a family for Mother's Day.

Well, Josh and Jules...the joke was on me. Instead of waking up to a beautiful day followed by a beautiful afternoon of mommy things, I woke up to two demon children who proceeded to be even more demon-like throughout the day! We should have stayed at the beach. *note to self - the day after traveling 8 hours will always be bad! Whew! LOL.

There is always next year though. And many, many more wonderful Mother's Days to come. And, since every day is Mother's Day, I can't complain :) Love my babes!

And in other news, give me a minute while I edit the 1,528 pictures I took on their first beach trip :) I'm joking...I only took 1,300 HeHe



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Tuesday, May 8, 2012

Fun at the Park

First off, I want to apologize for non-blogging. I have recently discovered the Shades of Grey trilogy and have been obsessed with it for about a week (thats how long it took me to read all three - I was obsessed). Highly recommend :)

Now...on to the kiddos. We thought Saturday was going to be rainy, so we thought we were going to take the kids to Chucky Cheese for lunch. But instead it got super nice outside and we decided to celebrate Cinco de Mayo by eating a little mexican and headed to the park. My mom and sister were in town helping me with the babes (Jake was on a golf trip). Then mom babysat and I got to get out and do some celebrating myself!

On Joshie:
Top:Polo//Shorts: Masters//Shoes: Toms



On Sassy: Dress: Straight from Cabo! (in honor of Cinco de Mayo!)//Shoes: Itsy Bitsy


She has lots of hair lately!



Natural poser


Using the big girl/big boy swing!


And then we took our shoes off. (baby feet are cute, no?)




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