Singing in the Rain

The perfect ingredients for an evening summer shower:

Puddles

Rain Boots

and an Umbrella.

8 weeks

It seems like the past 8 weeks have flown by in a blur. Between breastfeeding, diapering, burping, wiping, and rocking the bambino and trying to maintain order in a sometimes chaotic household, it has been a bit of a whirlwind.

Some things have remain unchanged despite the events of the past 8 weeks. Riley loves her some Baby Reese, as she calls her. Like, obsession type of love. Which is fine by me. Riley still fights me on nap time so getting the two of them to nap simultaneously is my daily struggle. I also try to use the Babywise method of Eat-Play-Sleep routine for Reese, like I did with Riley. Sometimes it works beautifully while other times I end up holding her through a nap just so I can catch some shut eye as well. I know that with practice, Reese will become a better napper. Speaking of sleep, Reese does remarkably well at night sleeping, only waking once around 3 or 4 am for a middle of the night drink. She has also mastered the fine art of smiling.

I have a hard time remembering what the early days with Riley were like. What I do remember is a lot of me looking at her. Watching her do tummy time, watching her sleep, looking at all of her features memorizing every eyelash and strand of hair. Obsession - this may be where Riley gets it from... With the second baby, things are so much different. There isn't much time to linger in the morning and watch the little one do her tummy time. Instead, Reese is sort of shuttled from room to room as Riley gets ready and I work to feed and supervise the never-ending toddler bonanza.
Maybe this will make Reese an easy-going child? One can only hope.

Just for fun, I've included a side-by-side comparison of Riley and Reese both at 8 weeks









Riley (Left)

Reese (Right)

My Girl: Take Two

We have long been a fan of The Temptations in this house. The song, My Girl, has especially been a favorite. Remember this post? Well, instead of Dan and I busting out the tunes by ourself, Riley has now joined in on the jam session. Ironically, it is one of the few songs that soothes Reese when she is fussy. Riley really gets into it too; she really belts out certain verses. We also have choreographed a few dance steps into the routine!

Conversations with a Two Year Old

I think it's amazng what comes out of Riley's mouth. She talks so much and when I say talk, I mean the type where she can't eat a meal or fall asleep at bedime type of talking. It's in the genes, I know, because I come from a long line of talkers. My Dad often jokes that he tries to break into conversations with me, my mom, aunts, and grandma, often without much success, just a few stutterd words. So it's no surprise to me that Riley is a talker. She also has such a vivid imagination and memory. She engages in pretend play with no prompting with her babies and animals and it's so funny what she rememebers from our conversations days ago that will come up during playtime.

Here is a long video (about 4 minutes) of Riley playing. (I'm not sure how many people will be interested in it besides my Mom but I posted it anyways!) The set-up for the video is that she had me, while I was holding a snoozing Reese, play tea-party while she arranged her babies. You will notice that she calls every baby, "Baby Calla." This is a friend's baby who Riley had the chance to meet shortly before Reese arrived. Since then, she has been slightly obsessed with Baby Calla, even calling her sister Calla and all of her babies have now adopted the name.

Enjoy (Mom!)

Things that make me happy

It's days like these, Monday afternoons at nap time, where I have to remember to be thankful. Thankful and happy for the little things in life as I try not to pull every last brunette (which, by the way, seems to have more and more gray ones as of late) hair out of my head as I try to get two children to sleep simultaneously.

So, if you too are having a crummy Monday, I encourage you to be thankful for the little things in life. Without further ado, here is my list for today.

Playing a little "Where's Waldo?" with baby Reese.

Cheerios necklaces

Sassy sisters in animal print

...and...

Sleeping babies

(Photo Disclaimer: Objects in pictures are smaller than they appear!)