Mimi times two.......

So this little one…..

Wants everyone to know what she knows……

She is going to have a brother or sister this year!!! 

Stephanie and Ryan are going to bless us with another grandbaby come August!!! 

KB is pretty excited too, She’s even doing some studying….

We are excited to say the least!  Cannot wait for Baby Bramlett #2!! 

A day in my life - (my new job)

I know I'm not the only one performing a juggling act on a daily basis, but since I am writing this blog for me, to keep records of what goes on in my life at any certain time, I thought I would go ahead and document a day in my life early in my new job.  Tim still takes the kids up to the city where he works for their school and sitter.  We are in the process of searching/switching them to a new location closer to my new job, which is less than a 10 minute drive home.  I hope to write a post about that process in the next few week or so.  

In the meantime, read on if you're interested in my life.  Once I finish collecting enough milk for Kate to finish up her year of breastmilk, I totally plan to take that time and add exercise back into my life.  IT IS NECESSARY!!!  I didn't include this below, but I pump once in the middle of the night, so that's a total of 5 times per day, at least 15 minutes of pumping, plus storage time, so that's at least 100 minutes of time that I should get back for exercise or something else once I'm finished!  

my week day schedule

6:00 - 6:50 - Wake up, feed Katy girl, pump, dress Kate, help get Cooper ready for school, get coats on the kids and help Tim get them out the door and in the car.

6:50-7:10 -  Make my lunch and pick up the kitchen (if there is time)

7:10 - 7:45 - Shower, dress, get ready for work, make coffee and head out the door.

7:45 - 7:55 - Drive to work.

8:00 -10:30 - Fill up water and work at my desk.

10:30 - 11:00 - Pump, restroom break, fill up water again.

11:00 - 12:00 - Work at my desk, meetings etc.

12:00 - 1:00 - Lunch

1:00 - 2:45 - Work at my desk, meetings etc.

2:45 - 3:15 - Pump, restroom break fill water again.

3:15 - 5:00 - Work at my desk, meetings etc.

5:00 - 5:10 - Drive home (or go to grocery store for dinner needs)

5:10 - 5:45 - Change clothes and start dinner, wait for Tim and kiddos to get home

5:45 - 7:00 - Finish cooking, play with both kids, have dinner, clean up dinner, get ready to feed Katy

7:00-7:30 - Feed Kate & watch Cooper play some kind of sport (he's obsessed)

7:30 - 8:00 - Get both kids ready for bed.  Jammies on both, lay Kate down, read Coop books and Bible stories, brush teeth, tuck him in.

8:00 - bedtime (varies) - Prepare lunches, pump, prepare lunches for next day, anything else needing done (laundry, etc)

Well, that's it.  That's my day.  

Cleaning Routine..... FAIL

If you remember, a few weeks ago.... I wrote about our plan for a cleaning schedule.  Here is a copy of what was our plan.

Well, some plans workout, and some don't.  This one, well, it didn't.  I didn't know if it would, I truly hoped that we'd be able to succeed with this schedule.  It didn't seem all that difficult, but alas, we failed.  We did okay for the first 3 days?  Then, crash and burn.

My mom retired from being a teacher this school year.  She is enjoying her time off, but would like to keep busy, so she has volunteered to do some housecleaning for us, my brother and my grandma.  I LOVE her for doing this for us.  She's going to come up and clean our floors and bathrooms every other week.  Since these two items are my major pain points in my house, this is going to solve all of our cleaning problems!  At least I think that it will.  I'm going to pay mom, because cleaning my house absolutely deserves payment.  She came up for the first time yesterday, and oh my goodness, I'm loving  this solution already!

For the record, I think that a cleaning schedule is a good plan.  I think that it can work, and I think eventually we'll give it another go, especially when mom decides she's sick of cleaning my house.  But for now, we've got a solution (THANKS MAMA) that works, and until we discover a couple more hours in our current 24, we'll stick with this!

Good luck to those who are giving the cleaning schedule a g (Gina!!)  I know that you can make it work!

Happy Hump Day Friends!

Katy is EIGHT months!

Miss Kate, I don’t know why time is flying by so quickly.  You’re eight months old (1/26/2014), and if I blink a few more times, you’ll be nine months, so I just want a PAUSE button. 

We found out, that you are not allergic to amoxicillin, thank goodness!  At least you weren’t when you took your 10 days worth of meds for that nasty ear infection you had. 

  

Anyway, back to Katybug. Sleeping......  You continue to do great in this department.  You’re sleeping through the night 90% of the time.  Ten percent, you’re waking up around 11 or midnight and crying, and it seems there is nothing we can do to improve this.  We hold you, rock you, etc, but you don’t stop, so we end up having to let you cry it out.  It usually only takes 5-7 minutes at the most.  You’re not talking as much anymore either.  Once every couple of weeks you’ll wake up sometime in the middle of the night, but usually you sleep through. 

Bedtime is between 7-8.  Some nights you’re ready to eat right at 7pm and then you’re in bed directly after that, other nights, you stay up until 8, and perhaps you would stay up later if we let you, but 8pm is bedtime.  You don’t cry when we put you to bed, we are so thankful for that.  You wake up and talk in your bed sometime between 5:30 and 6am.  Unless you’re screaming, we let you talk until 6.  That’s when I get up and feed you.

Speaking of eating.  You’re doing great still with 4 bottles per day.  Morning bottle is 6-6.5oz.  If you do stop before 5, I will give you a couple of tablespoons of cereal to up your milk intake.  You have a midmorning bottle between 9:30 and 10 and again you drink between 4-5 oz.  You’re eating 1 tub of second foods now for lunch.  Then an afternoon bottle, usually 5-6 oz.  Then for your night bottle you drink 3-4 oz and we give you four heaping tablespoons of cereal with 4 oz of milk at night.  At 8 months, you’re eating like a champ!

 

Napping is tricky with you.  You LOVE your sleep sacks.  You sleep best when you have one on.  You can take 3 short naps (usually on the weekends) or you could take 2 pretty long naps at this point.  It really depends where you are and what’s going on around you.  You’re so funny!

Kate, you’re still in a size 3 diaper.  You’re still in a few 6-9 months clothes, but most of them are too small, and you’re in 9 or 9-12 months clothes at this point.  You’re a slobber bucket!  You are slobbering everywhere.  I foresee some teeth in our future little lady! 

This last month you’ve really grasped the concept of getting up on all 4s.  You’re not doing much once there, and you only stay this way for a little while, but crawling will happen sooner than later I’m afraid!

Katy, your eyes are still blue. You are still chewing on everything!  Your hair is coming in slowly but surely.  Your eyelashes seem to be growing a little too, that makes me happy!

Katybug, you are a mama’s girl.  You cry when I leave the room, you literally try to leap out of anyone’s arms if you see me.  You want me to hold you all of the time.  I LOVE this so much!  Cooper was such a daddy’s boy and he still is.  He loves his Pop and so far you love your Mama. 

Your laugh is so great to hear, you are laughing more and more these days and I absolutely cherish every sweet little laugh.  That smile is precious and I just adore you! I’m one proud mama that’s for sure!  Happy EIGHT Months Kate,  I love you, you sweet sugar booger!