today is a good day for a cat foot warmer

way back before we had kids, our cats were the best little space heaters available! seriously. they kept the space around my feet perfectly toasty all winter long. they would curl up around my tootsies and snuggle uggle up. sometimes under the blanket if it was cold enough. now that kids are around, the cats are no where to be seen! they hide out all day long. no idea where they go, but they go. when silas is down for a nap or bed, they venture out slowly. peaking their heads around corners to make sure the coast is clear.

Mr. Jinx E. Fat Cat

Ms. Siss E. Smarty Cat

i feel sorry for them sometimes. when they do venture out during baby waking hours, it is with great caution. silas mischievous eyes is a good (possibly better) tracker/pouncer than they are. as soon as one of the cats closes its eyes in relaxation (thinking they are out of reach) silas goes into attack mode and a few minutes later...POUNCE! silas finds it hilarious, the cat goes back into hiding after hissing at my laughing boy. i should feel sorry for the poor cats, and make silas stop. but it is just soooo funny to watch.

Silas Mischievous Eyes

anyway, i didn't intend for this post to be about my cats. i started it because my feet are cold and i'm not happy about it. i hate wearing socks while indoors but sometimes it's just cold not to wear socks. fine. i'll wear a pair of socks to prevent frost bite. here's the thing about today though. i'm wearing socks and my feet are still cold! this means i either put on another pair of socks or wear house shoes WITH socks. since clean socks are a rare occurrence for me, i'm not wasting a pair to wear over another pair. so socks and house shoes it is. if i hate wearing socks while inside, i LOATHE wearing socks and shoes indoors. my feet get claustrophobic. not joking here people. when i'm wearing socks, i'm constantly stretching out and curling my toes because they feel all constricted. not fun. not fun at all.

get on with it mom. people are tired of reading about your feet!

now for a dramatic change of subject! my kids are great! for serious here people. elijah is interacting more and more each day, silas is learning to match pitch and mimic vowel sounds. silas has started spontaneous hugging and i love it. sometimes i'm taken off guard and get bowled over if i'm sitting on the floor, but i'll take it! elijah is swiftly becoming a daddy's boy. those two have a bond that i love watching. not that dave doesn't have a bond with silas, but this one is just different. it makes me all gushy and romantic-ish. which i will spare you from.

on to more pictures of the aforementioned kids! because we all know that's why you came here. not to read about my cats and feet, but to get your cuteness quota in for the day.

hope your day is full of living and loving!

granny and her boy(s)!

i've been baking and christmas-ing like a machine lately. i want my boys to remember that christmas is special and not just because of the presents under the tree. we've been singing 'baby Jesus went to sleep' a lot lately and i can't help but think of my granny. she was special. she made everything special. little things are ingrained in my brain that might mean nothing to anyone else, but she made those little nuggets of memories special. cream cheese on club crackers. cornbread made with white corn meal. orange cookies. getting my hair caught in her glasses every time i gave her a kiss or hug. the way her eyes would crinkle when she smiled. little things. peppermint bark at christmas.

anyway, this isn't a sad post. this is a i'm so glad that my boys will have special memories with their granny post. silas is a granny's boy through and through. that kid doesn't cry when i leave a room, but you take him away from granny and you would have thought the end of the world was coming. i'm glad we live close. i'm glad that they will have a similar relationship with their granny that i had with mine. elijah doesn't have that bond with her yet, but it's coming. it's coming fast. and i can't wait to see it!

my mom is awesome. she's a great mom, friend, confidant, and granny. she's always there when i need her and will never stop loving me or my boys. i thank the Lord daily for her. i wouldn't  be the wife and mommy that i am today if it weren't for her.

a few pics of granny and her boy silas! (i do have pics of her and elijah, but not any that are uploaded anywhere on the internet. i need to get on that and then edit this post!)

this is really just a photo bomb!

i'm one and a half months into this whole mom of two thing. we have good days and bad days but the good totally outweighs the bad! i feel like we're all settling in and figuring it out. i find that silas is much more agreeable when he gets some undivided attention first thing in the morning. thankfully he gets up before elijah, so that makes it easy. i'm hoping it stays that way! probably won't, but we'll cross that bridge when/if we get there.


  big brother likes to steal little brother's paci and then laugh hysterically!

i'm feeling my need for caffeine increase. after i found out i was pregnant with silas, i cut back on my caffeine intake DRASTICALLY. i went from 2 pots of coffee a day to about 1 cup a day. after he was born i didn't really go back to my habit of 2 pots. i basically kept it at 1-2 cups a day, if any at all. while pregnant with elijah i only drank a cup of coffee on those days that i was just DRAGGING. well, the past week i have been exhausted. i have found myself drinking upwards of a half a pot a day. as much as i love coffee, i don't want to get back to where i was. the problem, obviously, is that i have a 17 month old and a 1.5 month. i am sleep deprived! pass the flavored creamer!



being a mama of two boys is proving to be the most rewarding thing that i have ever done. i thought being a teacher was the most rewarding, and it was until these two crackerjacks came into the world! i wouldn't trade these two little bits for anything in the world.







there isn't really a point to this post. i just needed a reason to post some pictures! hope your day is full of living and loving!

30 things i am thankful for

first off, happy thanksgiving everyone! i'm looking forward to spending the afternoon with family and then taking a nap. well, i'll take a nap provided my boys cooperate. so i guess that part is still up in the air!

on to my list of thankful things (in no particular order):

1. Jesus Christ, my savior and best friend
2. my husband
3. silas
4. elijah
5. pumpkin desserts
6. the internet
7. music
8. good friends
9. baby formula
10. mr. jinx e. fat cat
11. ms. siss e. lazy cat
12. veggietales
13. vehicles that run
14. my mom and dad
15. extended family
16. facebook
17. the health of little family
18. good coffee
19. seasonal creamers
20. the ability to read and write
21. unsolicited hugs and kisses from silas
22. my christian upbringing
23. medical professionals
24. the ability to heat my house
25. the Bible
26. pandora internet radio
27. huggies overnight diapers
28. love in all its shapes and sizes
29. blogger
30. the moments where silas is very gentle and loving with elijah

i could go on and on about what i am thankful for, but i needed to put a number on it so that i would know when i was done. i hope your thanksgiving is full of living and loving and that you tell everyone important to you that you love them!

10 things i can't live without

 

1. ring sling - the picture shown is a maya wrap, but i use a sling from sleeping baby productions. it is a must with silas running around elijah wanting to be held a bunch. life saver!

2. swaddleme blanket - elijah is jumpy and startles himself awake if his arms aren't nice and snug. silas was the same way!

3. hazelnut creamer - my go to flavor! enough said.

4. munchkin snack traps - keeps snacks accessible but not messable. ha!  seriously though i hand that back to silas while driving and he's happy with a snack and i'm happy the snack doesn't end up all over the place and in elijah's carseat. 

5. pandora internet radio - lullaby channel for the win! it calms both my boys and helps keep me sane. it's not all the same lullabies over and over and most of them are by artists that i actually like. they aren't all kidd-ish.

6. my husband - he lets me sleep in when he has time off. he keeps silas occupied in the evenings so that i can actually get some stuff done. he is on baby duty every night during a certain time so i can get silas down for the count. 

7. fisher price infant to toddler rocker - it saved my life with silas and it's doing the same thing with elijah. it vibrates and is sort of a bassinet of sorts. great for naps during the day. i can also hold silas and rock this thing with my foot to keep both boys happy. 

8. veggietales - this can pretty much guarantee me 30 - 45 minutes when i need them. they also can help calm silas down when he's throwing a fit. plus they don't annoy me like other kid shows. 

9. burts bees chapstick - only one person really knows this, but my lips are kissably soft! and i credit this to mr. burt and his bees.

10. my boys - elijah may only be a month old, but i can't imagine my life without these two boys! they make my days bright and challenging and beautiful and stressful and i wouldn't change it for the world!  

adjusting

adjusting is the theme for this past week, and i'm sure for weeks to come. elijah is adjusting to being on the outside. silas is adjusting to having a brother and everything that entails. dave and i are adjusting to what it means to be parents of two. we, as a family of four, are adjusting to being. just being.

silas is having a hard time, and i can understand that. he doesn't really have a way to express his emotions and it's coming out in aggressive actions and temper tantrums. he will randomly smack whoever he is closest to (and this has been elijah on several occasions). he has started banging his head on the floor when he doesn't get his way. whining all day. i feel bad for him. i feel like i spend half (or more) of the day telling him 'no' or losing my patience with him because he has smacked, or head butted, me in the face. again. i don't want to be that mom. the one that is constantly yelling or disciplining her children. i want the good to outweigh the bad, but right now...well. we're adjusting.

elijah's jaundice is getting better. he is still a bit yellowish, but not nearly as bad as what it was. he's adjusting quite well to the feeding schedule that the doctor wants him on. two to three ounces every two to three hours. i, on the other hand, am not adjusting well. i feel like i'm constantly feeding him and i would KILL for a block of about five hours of sleep. deep, uninterrupted sleep. i know it's what is best for him, so i do it and i do it gladly, but i'd kill for some good sleep.

dave has been home with us since the day before elijah was born. he goes back to work tomorrow. he's not looking forward to leaving the boys. silas and him have become super tight over the past week and he's loving that new facet of their relationship and hating that he's leaving me alone and still recovering. he's looking forward to going back to work, but would love to stay with us a little bit longer. he's also adjusting to lots less sleep. since i've got elijah duty, he's taken over all silas's night time needs. which lately have been many. he's up several times a night, sometimes for long stretches. he's adjusting. i won't say he's adjusting well, but he is adjusting!

we are learning what it means to be a family of four. we are evolving into something that i like very much. not that i didn't like our family before, it's just well...we're adjusting and fitting everyone in and making special time for everyone. it's great. dave and i make sure to spend time with each son, individually, every day. then we get our time when they go to bed. we're adjusting.

sometimes i think we're adjusting quite well. other times i think i'm failing at this parenting thing. but we'll adjust. move forward. grow. learn. be. i'm working really hard on just being.

hormonal mama bear

when elijah came home from the hospital on friday, we had to make an appointment to come see the pediatrician on monday because his billirubin levels were a bit high. so we went to the doctor today. dave and i and both boys. it was an adventure getting out the door to say the least. i would wrangle silas while dave was feeding elijah. then i would hold elijah so i could feed him and pack the diaper bag while dave was dressing silas. then we lost boo (silas's lovey that he HAS to have at all times) and couldn't find my keys. i was surprised we made it on time to our appointment. then when we get there, silas decides it's time to pitch his first public fit and be a general handful the entire time. and let me tell you, the entire time was a LONG time.

we had to have lab work done on elijah to check for his billirubin levels. then we had our appointment and then had wait for the lab results. we were in the exam room for a total of an hour and half. sometimes dave would have to take silas out to the lobby to let him run around and play with the toys and sometimes he would bring him back in the exam room with elijah and i. finally, the pediatrician asked us if we had errands to run and if she could call us. we did have stuff to do before heading home, so we left. we went and ate lunch and were about to go grocery/baby shopping when we got the call. elijah's levels had risen from 12.5 to 18.3. that is a little too close to dangerous levels for mine and our doctor's comfort level and we decided to have elijah admitted to the hospital for observation and to put him under the billi lights.

my mama bear side roared to life as soon as she suggested admittance to the hospital. i immediately bucked against the thought that i hadn't done enough to get his levels to go down on their own. dave talked me down and reminded me that there wasn't much more that i could have done. then when we were admitted i was fighting for him not to have an iv. the nurses wanted to just do one, but i was convinced that he was eating well enough and was hydrated well enough to not need one. finally the nurse called the doctor and she agreed with me! so thankfully, he didn't have to deal with an iv. just the billi lights.

so now, here i sit in the hospital a hormonal wreck. i gave birth five days ago and i'm still pretty sore from my c-section. i can't hold and cuddle my baby but once every three hours for 30 minutes. i'm praying and crying and watching a marathon of pawn stars. i know jaundice isn't that big of a deal, but i can't help but be worried. the nurses think that his levels should go down pretty quickly and i'm praying that they do.

i'm glad we caught this early, but i just want to take my baby home. i miss silas. we were just getting settled into somewhat of a routine and silas was starting to show lots of interest in elijah. he was crawling into my lap and rubbing elijah's head and stroking his face. now i'm afraid that him staying with mom and dad again tonight (possibly tomorrow night) will just set us back. thankfully dave has this week off.

so anyway, if you're praying people, pray for elijah. pray for me. pray for my family.

 

 wrapped up in the billi light thingy

and just because he is beautiful!