boob strike

Warning – this post talks about breasts.  If that makes you uncomfortable, move on.

We had a slight boob malfunction today.  Because yesterday, for the first time in almost 4 months, this little girl gave in to my pleading and tried her pacifier.  And liked it.  She liked it so much that her normal all-evening-long nursing session wasn’t quite so long.  And add to the problem that she decided for about 30+ hours that she wanted nothing to do with my right boob.So today, I had to take 2 showers and pump several times on that side and was still in excruciating pain most of the day.  But then tonight she decided the right boob wasn’t so bad after all.  And all was right with the world again.  And she took her paci again.  Woohoo!Umm, doesn’t she look like she’s 4 months going on 16 in this picture?   Well, hopefully she’ll have some hair when she’s 16!

double stroller

Have I introduced you to my double stroller yet?  I meant to do this a month ago when I got her.  I’m working on a name for her.  Because yes, I name some of my prized possessions.  I’ve been wanting a double since I got pregnant.  And no this was not my first choice.  But the more I use it, the more I LOVE it!

My friend, Sara’s babysitter was getting rid of it at a garage sale and she texted to see if I wanted it.  For 1/3 of retail cost. . .yes please.  Then on her trip up here in June, she brought it to us.  I’m still learning how to “drive” a tandem without bumping into things, but I really really like it.  The seats can face each other or both to the front and as you can see, it also came with a car seat attachment.  Love it.  And thanking God that this one actually fit into our budget.   Here’s my cuties modeling it for you:  

a short video

Probably a video more for grandparents. But Owen is currently in love with his little phone from his play kitchen. As you can tell, he still loves to talk about the moo cows in Grandma and Grandpa's backyard. And his tow truck, another current favorite. I apologize for the vertical video.

and a few of Owen

And so my big boy isn’t left out, here’s a few cute shots of him from the last week:

he's very particular about how he lines up his cars

reading with dad and his teddy bears

dancing in the sun

Sunday best

Just because she’s so much fun to dress, here’s Ellison on her last 2 Sundays.  Thank you Angie for my new favorite dress.  I want to find that fabric for her big girl bedroom someday!  Love it!!

I thought I loved shoes with Owen because there weren’t many other accessories I could do with a boy.  But now, I’m just forced to admit that I simply love baby shoes!

looking cute in her orange and brown

blurry, but aren't these adorable?

working hard on those ab muscles

again, not great but the little bows on these are adorable

Pinned It, Did It Monday! {pot pie and muffins}

It’s Monday again, which means I tell you about the pins from Pinterest that I actually did this week.  I started 2 new jobs so my crafting time was somewhat nonexistent limited.  I did finish something that I cannot wait to show you.  But it has to get in the mail to the momma-to-be before I can show it to you (because I know you read this Lindsey :).  So today is going to be pretty boring with just 2 recipes to share with you.     Picture I Pinned:

Source: Hearty Chicken Pot Pie from Betty Crocker
My Pictures:My Review: I needed a quick and easy meal that involved chicken and some frozen veggies that were close to freezer burn.  And this is what I decided on.  With a few tweaks, I would recommend this recipe.  I used homemade cream of chicken soup.  Not because I’m worried about the sodium or anything but because after I defrosted my chicken, I realized I didn’t have any in the pantry. So much for my pantry organization.  So that may have made it too thick.  So I would use more milk .  I doubled everything and next time I would not double the “crust.”  It was a little too think and probably was another reason it was dry.  But overall, the taste was good!  Be sure to add the thyme and this is a easy recipe to have on hand.I love breakfast foods of all kinds.  And I always try to make something new and hot on Saturday mornings when I have someone to help wrangle the kiddos.
Picture I Pinned:

Source: French Breakfast Muffins from Velvet Lava Cafe
My Pictures:

mmmmm

He wanted to hold the plate.  And yes, then he dumped them.

a huge smile?!  they must be delicious!

My Review:  Amazing!  So simple to make but they were delicious!  These will absolutely be made again very soon!

some comparisons

I haven't really done any side by side comparisons of these 2 kiddos yet, so here's a few for you. What do you think?  They don't look anything like siblings do they? :) 

Starfall

One of my all time favorites sites to use when teaching was Starfall.  It’s just packed with reading games and videos.  This week was Owen (and Ellie’s) first introduction to the wonderful site.  While he’s a master at the iPad, using a mouse is a different story.  I wanted to show him Starfall to start getting him familiar with how I move the mouse to click.  Although who knows. . .by the time he’s in school, everything could be touch screen. :)  You should check it out with your kiddos.

watching a video together

dancing to a gorilla song

he seriously couldn't get enough!

 

library fun

We love going to our Tuesday Two’s story time at the library every week.  We’ll be sad when we can’t go anymore because of Mom2Mom.  We may just sneak into the 3’s story time on Wednesdays.  Here’s a few pictures from the last couple times we’ve gone.

We walked out last week and there was a police car out front.  We of course had to walk all around it and check it out.  Too bad no police officer was in sight.Every week is different, but Owen has come to love whenever they pull out the sticks.  They get to bang them during songs or little finger plays.  While these pictures don’t show his enthusiasm, trust me.  He loves them.  I should get him a set!

Meet Sam!

"Louie, I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship."

This past Thursday was our first official day with our new friend, Sam!  It really could not have gone any better!  I really do hope they become good friends.  When he arrived, it took Owen a little while to warm up to someone playing with all his toys.  And he hated having the gate back on the stairs.But both Owen and Sam started warming up as got out the animals and made lots of silly animals noises:Then we got out the paints.  They both loved this.  Sam is a much cleaner painter than Owen was.  Every little bit of paint Sam got on him, he held out his hand for it to be wiped off. By nap time, they were best buds.  Aww, paci pals.Sam loved sitting by the window for snack watching all the trucks and cars that we can see on the road.  Here’s my 3 munchkins for the day.All in all, a fabulous first day.   We can’t wait to see you this week Sam!

and in other news. . .

. . .my daughter put herself to sleep 3 times today in her crib.  That’s right folks, a child who came out of my womb actually was put in her crib awake and went to sleep.   Thank you God for knowing we couldn’t handle another non-sleeper.

God Is Good – All The Time

Well, there’s been lots happening around here the last few months that haven’t quite made it on blogosphere.  I just didn’t really think you’d want to read about all our problems. Haha.  But I’ve been feeling this week that I put everything else out there, why not be vulnerable with the junk in our lives too.  So here it all is.  No pictures, just a boring text post.  But I want to document this life stage.  The good, the bad, and the ugly – and how God has been good through it all. 

So it all started a little after Ellie arrived. William hadn’t been feeling hot, well for almost a year, but it started to get pretty bad and after some demands requests from me, he went to the doctor.  After a few procedures, he officially got diagnosed with Ulcerative Pancolitis.   The bad is that this is a disease he will have forever and will be on prescription drugs and a special pro-biotic for the rest of this life.  The good is he’s not dying.  So we were just getting this all hammered out, when BAM, we found out we were losing our health insurance.  With about a 2 weeks notice. 

William doesn’t have health insurance through his small office and we were lucky enough to have qualified for state insurance.  But thanks to new legislation that passed, we no longer qualified.   So we started the scramble.  Getting prices and wondering where this extra $400-$500 was going to come from each month.  I mean, that’s more than our grocery budget!  And then worse news, William started getting denied because he has a pre-existing condition.  Health Alliance informed him it’s up there with cancer on their lists, automatically denied.  So we prayed.  And I had a little more faith than my budget-keeping, bill-paying hubby.  And in this last week, this is all the stuff that has happened:

• William’s boss gave him a small pay raise to help off-set the cost of insurance since the office can’t afford to have it’s own health insurance.
• William's boss encouraged him to get licensed and offered him some incentives to help this happen.
• I put some advertising on my blog, which you may have noticed. Thanks for clicking on a link if it actually appeals to you! :) I can see how blogs with huge followings can do it for a full time job!
• We qualified for WIC food assistance.  Yes, that took some humility to write.  And yes, it’s a very humbling process to apply and even use the vouchers at the store.  But God is teaching me a lot through it.  Maybe I’ll write more on this later.  Anyone need some extra milk?   Seriously it’s the one thing we get way too much of.
• I had posted an ad on Craigslist about doing some babysitting again.  I got a few responses but nothing that felt like a good fit.  Until I heard from Carrie!  Tomorrow I will introduce you to our new  “once a week family member,” Sam.  He’s an absolute doll and I’m really hoping this is a wonderful situation for all involved!
• Scott, our investor/money guy needed someone to do some data entry for him.  FROM HOME.  He knew we were in a bit of a tight spot so he offered it to me.  Yes, I’m a little worried about where I’m going to find the time, but am so so thankful for the little extra that will help my insurance to be covered.  You know, just in case I want to have another baby.  Haha, not pregnant.  Just making sure you were still awake.

Wow, thank you God.  So there you have it.  Some of the stuff going on at our place.  We’d still love some prayers for complete healing for William.  And for all the transitions of taking on a new kiddo, trying to work a little from home, and still be the kind of momma I want to be.