Randoms

Cooper loves to put on a show. We got this picnic table for him and Katy a week or so ago, and it adjusts up and down (down being for storage purposes). Well the other day I caught him standing on the top of the picnic table when it was up,he did it was his "stage"........ I didn't think that was all that safe so I lowered the top, and voila! He grabbed his microphone and hopped up there and started singing his heart out.

Katy is almost ready for the Bumbo seat. Crazy, yes, but at 8 weeks old, she's getting there!

This. This makes me a happy mama.

A clean pantry also makes me a happy mama! Thanks to my mom for helping me weed through it last week and clean it out. It was full of expired items andi had just cleaned it out six months ago! Apparently that is too long to wait between cleanings!

Watch Big Bang Theory? This shirt was on Woot! A week or two ago and insure made me want to buy it. I love that show!

Since the weather around here doesn't think that it's July, aka it was 73 degrees yesterday..... Katy and I sat outside on a blanket while Cooper played and Tim cleaned the garage, Little Miss decided this is what she does when on a blanket outside. I guess she got comfortable!

 

That's enough randomness for me for one morning, my mom is coming to visit today, the new appliances are going to be delivered and mom and I are going shopping. Not the fun kind, but the grocery kind. Boo for that, but yay for the rest of the day!!

Have a great day all!

 

SWW

I haven’t participated in a So What Wednesday linkup in a while, so I figure it’s about time that I do.

This week, I’m saying so what…..

……… if the day after we go to purchase a new refrigerator our oven dies and we have to go buy a new oven also.  Home ownership is awesome.  On the positive side, I get a new convection oven and a French door fridge like I’ve wanted for such a long time!  These bad boys will be delivered sometime this week!

……… if I didn’t stay off of my foot as much as I should have over the past week after my surgery.  It’s pretty impossible with a 3.5 year old, a baby and a husband.

……… if I’m obsessed with taking comparison pictures of my two babies.  I just cannot help it.  I want to see how much they look alike.

……………if I just downloaded pictures from Cooper’s school play in APRIL…. Anywho, here is a video from his play.  He’s cute, I’m a bad videographer, I cannot keep the camera steady.

………if I’m already looking up family picture ideas for our family pictures this year.  We won’t get them taken until mid October, but I’m already obsessing about colors of clothing, poses and how to mesh all of us and make it make sense. 

…….if I’m also thinking about Christmas cards.  Yes, I KNOW it’s only July, but I’m trying to decide how to incorporate all of us into a card this year.  The Bram Fam with the Johnsons?  Separate pictures but still on the card?  All the same picture?  Just the Johnson’s on the card this year?  I SERIOUSLY need opinions.  Since Steph and Ryan got married, we’ve always just had them on our card, and in our pictures, but how many years do we do this?  Does it make sense to continue this practice?  HELP!

What are you saying So What! to this week?  Link up with Shannon and tell us!!

My friends are LOOKING OUT ACROSS AMERICA

Just a quickie post – remember the time I hosted a giveaway for a Looking Out Across America tshirt?  Well that same day, my BFF Erica guest posted for me about the journey she and her wife Mel were going to be embarking on this summer.  Well here’s an update.  They’ve made it from Virginia at the beginning of June to Colorado as of Monday this week.  These ladies have had an amazing trip so far, travelling up mountains in VA, up rolling hills in MO, and across flatlands in KS.  They’ve had chilly nights and crazy hot days.  They’ve camped, stayed in church hostels, lots of hotels and many places in between.

Please, go here to read all about their journey.  They are 50+ days in and they post a blog entry for every day of their journey across this land that we call home. 

Summer Fun

 

Cooper loves the sprinkler.  He runs through it, sits on it and puts his legs in it.  He’s crazy, but what’s new?  It’s been a cool summer, not enough heat to get the pool warm for very long, so Coop has been in the sprinkler more often than in the pool.

We went to an Indianapolis Indian’s game on the Fourth of July with my friend Jill’s family.  Cooper and Max have been good friends since they were in daycare together as babies – now we take them to Monkey Joe’s every couple of months to keep up with each other.  Katy got to meet Max’s younger brother Wyatt (her future boyfriend).  Wyatt was born in March.  He’s a big boy and such a cutie, he just didn’t want his picture taken at the time.

More pictures of my first born.  The many dress-up outfits of Cooper.   One day just a simple pair of sunglasses, the next short pants, another day cowboy hats and pjs for baseball playing.  He’s crazy, but a very loveable crazy.

The many outfits of Katy.  A bikini from my cousin, and some of her cutest summer outfits.  I love dressing her up, even if we’re just going to hang out at home.  She’s just so precious, I cannot help take hundreds of pictures of her in her summer outfits.

 

That’s a short look at some of our summer – dress up, baseball, hanging out at home, and lots of time in the sprinkler.  Always good times!

My Favorite Baby Things So Far…..

 

I thought I’d share a few of my favorite baby related things that I've used so far with Katy.  Pretty sure these items won’t change for the next ten months.

Medela Pump In Style Advanced Breast Pump – Since Katy didn’t latch but I still want her to have breast milk, I love this pump.  I love in so much that I have THREE of these bad boys.  One stays in our bedroom upstairs, one downstairs (for convenience, and it’s the one I take with us when we’re going out for the day) and then the third one will stay at work when I go back.  It is super nice to have more than one.  When I had Cooper and he had the same latching problem, I only had one pump and I swore that I’d have two this time, and luckily for me, I ended up with THREE!!
	Boppy with ladybug slipcover! – This pillow is essential for me when feeding Katy.  I know this pillow is meant for nursing moms, but I use it while feeding her with the bottle and it really makes it easier.  Again, I am fortunate to have two of these pillows, we leave one downstairs and another up in our bedroom for those nights when I feed her in the middle of the night in our room.  Holly got me one of the ladybug covers and Shannon contributed the second boppy pillow (I had one when I had Cooper).  I have the best friends I tell ya!
Dr. Brown Bottles – we use both wide neck bottles as well as the standard kind.  I like them both.  I didn’t try any other bottles with Katy, as everyone suggested these before she was born.  I am glad we are using them though.  IF they are reducing the amount of air bubbles that she is taking in, then hallelujah, because baby girl has enough gas on her own!
	Soothie pacifiers – Katy loves these little gems.  We really don’t go anywhere without them.  I have them all over the house, we keep one in her car seat and at least one extra in the diaper bag.  She loves to suck on these and they really do sooth her.  I guess they are called “Soothie” for a reason!
Munchkin Bottle Warmer – This warmer is so necessary when I pump and feed Kate.  I am always at least one bottle ahead of her feedings, so we keep those cold in the fridge – and since she definitely isn’t a fan of cold milk, we use these!  We have two of them, one in our bathroom/walk-in closet, where we have a mini-fridge store an extra bottle at night.  We keep the second warmer in the kitchen.  These warmers aren’t just for warming bottles though, they are great for sterilizing pacifiers that fall to the floor and warming up baby food if you’ve kept it in the fridge.  They are also very portable, so if travelling for any reason, we can just unplug and throw it in the bag and go!
	Pinxav Diaper Rash Cream – This diaper rash cream is amazing.  When Katy was in the hospital on antibiotics, she developed a terrible diaper rash.  It was so red and she had bad sores.  We tried Desitin, A&D ointment and Vaseline.  None worked.  Then my sister in law told me about this stuff.  It is pronounced Pink Salve, and it isn’t sold in any stores around here.  So I called the pharmacy and they ordered it for me.  I just ordered one tube at first, to see if it really worked, and when it did, I was really impressed.  I ordered two more tubes, one for our downstairs changing station, one for upstairs and one for the diaper bag.  Her rash is gone now, and I think its largely impart to this diaper rash cream.

I hope I can remember to write some updates of this post throughout the next year!

Have you used any of these items?  What are you favorite baby items? 

5 on Friday

This is my first time linking up with Darci for 5 on Friday and I can tell you – I’m super excited about it.  It’s been an eventful week, and here are a few highlights.

1) My grandpa’s birthday.  He celebrated 76th birthday last Saturday, and we went down for a few hours to spend some time with him.  This picture is him holding his great grandbaby, my daughter, Katybug.  He just loves her so and I’m so glad she gets to spend time with him!  He’s an amazing man.

2) Tim and I all dressed up.  Seriously the first dress I have owned as long as we’ve been married.  I just don’t do dresses, but we had a wedding to attend, and I managed to find this one, and I actually liked it.  It was on clearance and it became mine.  It was an adult only wedding, so my mom and Shawn came up to watch the kids, it was the first time we went out since the baby was born – and it was a bit scary but a pretty good time.

3) Katy all dressed up in her party dress for Kampbell’s birthday party.  I just love this dress.  I love that Kate loves to dance.

4) This face.  This beauty Kampbell.  She’s so cute and she enjoyed every second of that cake eating.  Isn’t that expression on her face priceless?  Happy First Birthday Princess!!!

5) Cooper.  Seriously, how cute is my boy?  I took him to the children’s museum the other day, he loves the carousel and I love taking him there.  He has such a great time and so do I, watching him have such fun!! 

This linkup is fun!  I’ll probably join in every week!  Happy weekend folks!

Finish zee sentence Linkup with Holly & Jake

Linking up today with Holly and Jake!  I just cannot miss one of their finish the sentence linky parties, even if I haven’t blogged forever, when I see this come up, I just have to join!  Maybe this will get my wheels a turnin’ for future blog posts?!?  We shall see!

If I had one extra hour in the day...  I would sleep.  This is not always the answer, but with a newborn on my hands, sleep is definitely my answer for now.
I wish my name... Wasn’t so generic, however, I do love my name, and I wouldn’t change it.  My parents chose Emily Anne and I used to hate it, but I’ve really grown to love it in my adult years.
I think anything chevron is... Awesome.  I know some think that it’s just the latest trend and it will die or whatever, but I’m a fan and hope it sticks around.
My last nightmare... I have no idea, I don’t remember my dreams or my nightmares.  Thank goodness.
Sometimes... I want to be single again without kids again.  Not often, but mostly when the baby has kept me up all night, the husband slept through the crying and when baby and I have finally gotten back to sleep, the three year old wakes up and has peed the bed.
My last meal on earth would be... Some sort of pasta. Or Pizza.  With gelato from Italy for dessert.
I would much rather be baking than cooking.  Yeah, I’m that boring. 
Mayonnaise... is good for recipes, and mixed with ketchup for french fries.
10 years ago, I didn't think... I’d ever find my guy, but alas I did, 4 years later!
Selfishly... I want to get a mani/pedi, like now dudes, I haven’t had one all summer and my feet are in dire need!
My favorite show on TV right now...  Mistresses!
And, George Zimmerman...  ugh, I have no words!

So, that’s it, short and sweet and to the point.  Better late than never though, right?  Hopefully I’ll be back sometime in the next week to catch everyone up on our lives as of late…

Being a SAHM for the summer…..

(Written 6/26/2013)
It’s something that I always thought I wanted to be.  And at the moment, I’m loving it.  I cannot say that I felt the same way when I had Cooper.  As a matter of fact, I couldn’t wait to go back to work when I had him.  I missed having adult interaction during the daytime.  I missed having someone to talk to at all.  You see, I had postpartum depression like crazy.  I was down in the dumps.  Maybe it was because it was October/November/December and the weather was getting crummy.  Maybe it was because I was not meant to be a mom.  Maybe it was a lack of sleep.  Maybe it was my lack of closeness with God at the time.  Maybe it was a million different reasons that I cannot even account for entirely in this post.  Whatever the reasons, so far, I’m not feeling the same way this go round.  Not yet anyway.  I pray that I won’t have those feelings this time.  It was a rough ride, for everyone in my household.  Everyone felt the effects of me being a crazy person. 

Yesterday was officially my first day at home with both Cooper and Katy by myself.  Tim went back to work on Monday, and Cooper went to school that day.  If I haven’t mentioned it yet on the blog, (forgive me my memory is short these days), Cooper will be going to school two days a week throughout the time I’m off   work.  We figured keeping him with his friends a couple of days a week would keep him on his schedule for when he would return full time when I go back to work. It would also keep me sane and rested having a couple of days to recover from the lack of sleep that comes with having a newborn.  The day was great, I loved having him home with me.  He is a busy guy, but we made cookies, we played and we took a walk around the neighborhood.  It was nice.

(Written 7/17/2013)
I wish I had been able to finish my thoughts the day I was writing the above, but too much time has passed and I have no idea what I was going to write.  What I will say is – being home with my kids this summer has been amazing.  There have been rough days, without a doubt, days where mama has had very little sleep and still had to keep up with Cooper and the baby, but overall, my days have been very fulfilling.  I’m loving having these days home with both of my kiddos.

We’ve visited the children’s museum a few times, we’ve gone to Monkey Joe’s with my friend Jill and Coop’s friend Max.  We went to a minor league baseball game for the 4th of July with Jill’s family, we’ve visited my family, we’ve been busy.  Busy is good.

I’m not really sure how SAHM’s fit in everything that I’m trying to fit in, on a daily/weekly/monthly basis with multiple children.  Especially when one of them is a newborn, especially if they are breastfeeding.  It’s exhausting.  I’m trying to keep Cooper occupied without the use of a television (except an hour or so a day) and trying to keep up with feeding Kate all of the time, trying to keep the house cleaned, bottles washed (more on that later), and laundry done.  I still think it’s difficult to work outside the home, but I think it might even be more difficult if you’re a SAHM.  The responsibility I feel to keep Cooper entertained and having fun and doing fun things this summer has been monumental.  If I had to worry about new activities, new lessons to teach him, new places to go, new things to do every day/week/month I think I might fail.  It’s not an easy job and I have so much respect for those who work inside the home. 

I feel like I take the easy way out when I drop him off at his preschool/daycare and they have activities planned each day/lunches planned/lessons planned.  I go and sit at my desk and work for 8 hours, then head back to pick him up and then we play.  That’s what we did, we played.  We didn’t have to plan all of the stuff that the school did.  While working outside the home and fitting playtime in along with cooking/cleaning, etc in a few hours a night plus weekends IS TOUGH, I’m not sure its as demanding as being a full time working inside the home SAHM.  Again, kudos to those who do that job!

I am loving staying home, and I don’t want to go back in a month, but I know I have to, and life will go on, we’ll adapt to being a family of four and going to two places to drop the kids off, to pick them up, and it’ll be wonderful.  But, I will miss these days.  These days of being at home with them.  Being able to spend that quality time with them that I’ll never have again.  Twelve weeks off hanging out with my kids is the biggest blessing I can have as a mother and I am bound and determined to soak up every moment of it during the next month. 

I know this post is kind of all over the place as far as my thoughts went, it may not even make sense and I probably wrote the same thing 5 different ways, but I needed to clear my chest and get my thoughts out there.  I know you understand!  I sure hope this writing thing becomes a habit of mine again, I enjoy blogging and miss it so much!!!  Until next time…