Queen of Multitasking :)

I guess being a mother of two that's a given since you have to multi-task the majority of the day but thought that title was appropriate :)

Last Thursday night Ryan put together Conner's new big boy bed...no more crib, no more toddler bed, it's full size bliss for Conner! So to try and keep Conner out of Ryan's way while assembling the bed I took the two kids to the library for a while. When we got back it was time for baths and Ryan was still working on the bed so I attempted for the first time a bath together. (I've put them both down by myself before but as able to stagger the bath times)Normally we each take a kid and do separate baths or I give Morgan her bath and bottle and get her down to bed and then do Conner's bath if he's had a long nap that day. This night Morgan was ready for bed and so was Conner, so I took her little bath into the big bath with Conner. Ryan thought I was insane to attempt it but I really didn't think it would be too difficult since I had all the diapers, pj's and bottle ready for me when we were done (plus I wanted Conner's bed ready for when it was bedtime). To my wonderful surprise Morgan LOVED it!!! She has always loved her baths but something about seeing her big brother splashing away with her got her giggling. (I don't think I've heard her laugh for so long yet) Unfortunately I don't have pictures to show since as soon as I yelled for Ryan to get me the camera Conner started yelling RYAN, RYAN and with the echo in the bathroom that seemed to scare her so bath time was soon over but next time I'll have my camera ready :) As Morgan gets older I'm starting to see how much fun they will have together.


Conner has loved his big bed so much, that night I peeked in on him before going to bed and he was sprawled out as happy as can be, poor little guy was so crammed in that little toddler bed. This also will make this years vacation easier since he'll be able to sleep in any bed, he definitely wasn't sleeping in the pack n play this year!


Well off to do some house cleaning, laundry and dishes. Oh the life of a stay at home mom :) but wouldn't change it for the world!

Precious!!!

Whenever I am taking pictures of Morgan, Conner always want to join in and hold Morgan. I should know by now and have him dressed up also but never really think of it. Lately he has been wanting to hold Morgan and it's just so cute!

Here are a few cute pics from our last photo shoot :)

A little drool won't hurt :)

Who needs a nap???

The answer is ME :) and apparently Conner!

Lately we have been trying to figure out if Conner really needs a nap anymore. If we give him one he sleeps for 3 -3 1/2 hours and then is up until 10:30/11pm, so a few weeks ago I started cutting out his nap. He did good at first but needed a nap every few days and would actually ask for one. By skipping one he would go done around 8:30p and sleep until 8:30a. We have done this for 2 weeks and it seemed to be working until this week. He didn't seem tired around noon so I skiped his nap but come 4p he is soooo tired so back to naps here at this house. This is a picture from yesterday....I was cooking dinner and after a few minutes thought it was a little too quiet, this is how I found my tired little boy.

A Day in Holland

Playing with Cousins in Holland

A few weeks ago we went to Holland to visit Auntie Kris, and Cousins Seth and Kasey for the day. She was staying at her parents beautiful house on the lake. Oh would I love a house like that someday on the lake....yes I'm dreaming :)

The weather was beautiful and the boys had a ball....here is a slide show of them splashing around in the pool. Of course the girls are absolutely adorable in there sun hats and bathing suits.....what cuties! Can't wait until family vacation in August!

I'm on a roll!!!

Morgan is 4 months old today! Man this is going so fast....she has started so many new things this past month!! I forget how quickly that first year goes with all those firsts just flying by.

Here are a few:

• 
  In the last week she has started to almost roll!! Yep, can't believe it, she is no longer stationary. YIKES! She works herself up onto her side and is almost over, she just can't figure out how to get her arm out of the way but it won't be long for that. She also is scooting on her back, she goes in complete circles, a 180 turn, or just straight across the floor in minutes. I think she is going to be a handful once she is on the go. (I thought this seemed early but I looked back at Conner's book and he was scotting at 3 months and rolling from back to stomach at 4 months)


• Is always trying to sit up in her car seat or bouncy and also pushes down with her feet almost like she is trying to stand up.


• Any toy in arms reach is in her mouth and if no toy is in sight then her hands do the trick. Sometimes she even just chews on her tongue :)


• Prefers to be put down in her crib to fall asleep instead of being rocked. Swaddle her up and give her paci and she's out like a light. (this I am not use to since Conner needed to be rocked to sleep until 6 months)


• Taking 5-6 oz bottles and loves to eat!


• I thought she was starting a little stranger anxiety (which still is possible) but I'm now starting to realize she does not like it when she is held toward anyone (she seems to be fine with me but no one else) she would rather be looking out taking in the activities.


• She is talk, talk, talking....if she is not sleeping she is usually talking away. It's such a wonderful start to your day when you go in to get in the morning and she gives you the biggest smile and coos....every morning, I love it!

Well that's all I can think of, here are a few 4 month pics....Enjoy!

Almost Rolling!

I can do it myself

My little man is growing up so fast. I've realized that I tend to do too much for him. Sometimes it's just easier, faster, and I'm just use to doing it but I decided that I was going to try and remember to start letting him try to do things first. I can't believe how many things he can do without my help. I feel like I've been hindering him rather than being the mother and helping him grow. So now he is my little helper and I'm trying to stop and think before doing something for him first.

Here are a few things he's learned over the past few weeks:

• He sets the table while I cook dinner.


• Gets his own cheese from the frig and unwraps it himself and then throws the wrapper away.


• Helps get Morgan's diaper and bath when it's bath time and sometimes helps me give her one.


• When getting him a snack he goes and gets his bowl for me.


• Puts Morgan's paci back in if needed.


• Picks between outfits for the day.


• Chooses his shoes for the day. (sometimes not the right ones but that's ok :)


• Before nap or bedtime he picks out his books, turns off the light and shuts the door for me.


• Learning to pick up his toys after playing (this we will be working on for a while...hehe)


• He now wants to hold Morgan and go down the slide with her but that I'm not ready for. He has held her with my supervision but I'm afraid he go pick her up without me nowing. Yikes!

Well that's just a few and we are working on many more, hopefully I will continue to stop and think first instead of just doing because he's not my baby anymore.

My Little Twins

Conner wants to be just like daddy and wear a big boy hat....

isn't he a cutie!

Just swinging!

This is how we have been spending out evenings lately :) Just swinging away....Conner could stay on that swing for hours if we let him and as you can see from the last two pictures Morgan seems to love it too. Night Night!

Happy Father's Day

Happy Father's Day

to all those wonderful Father's out there....

and especially this Father!

We are so thankful for Ryan, he is one of the most wonderful Father's and husband's there are. You can just see how happy he is when he comes home from a long day at work and sees his little man, and Conner is just as excited. You would think that the first thing he would do after working 9 hours is just relax but not this father, he's off and playing with his kids.....whether it be reading books, playing outside, or rough housing (Conner's favorite) he's always game and none stop until bedtime. He even finds time for Morgan in his busy schedule and she loves just talking away with daddy. Thank you for being such a Wonderful Daddy we LOVE you!!!

Also a special thanks to my father for having such an unconditional love that I am able to pass on to my kids. Love ya! We wish we were able to spend father's day with Ryan's dad as well but we know he is looking down on us from heaven....love ya dad!

My dad with his three girls :)

Thought this picture was so cute.....Conner Loves his Auntie Jesse so much he doesn't want to leave her side and when she is around no one else exists!

Walker Festival

Saturday was the walker festival. Last year I went with Conner while Ryan was out of town....it was a very hot and humid day and not a lot for him to do since he was so young but this year I thought he would really enjoy it so we packed up the stroller and went out to have some fun.

Conner's absolute favorite part was the petting zoo. He LOVED this big soft bunny! He would go around looking at all the other animals but always ended up back by the bunny. We even made a second trip back to the bunny before leaving the festival.

Another favorite was the snow cone....thankfully we gave this to him at the end of the day because by the time he was done with it, it was all over him and his shirt.....he had a blue stain on his chin the rest of the day. But what fun is being a kid if you can't get messy right??? He didn't let go of it until the last drop was gone :)

He also wanted to wear his hat just like daddy! I couldn't believe he left it on all day and has been wearing it the whole weekend. He's normaling not a hat person so this was a relief for me to keep some or that hot sun off him.

Can you say water-logged!

Last week turned out to be a hot one so we spent a lot of time playing with our friends in the sprinklers and pools!

Thursday we went to my friend Kari's house and played with Noah and baby Ben. Of course Morgan and Ben only slept, drooled, and chewed on there fingers but Conner and Noah had a great time in the pool, sprinkler and having ice cream for dessert.

Friday was suppose to rain but turned out to be a very nice day so we walked down to my friend Beth's house down the road and played with Michael. It's so nice having friends so close...especially on those days you just want to get out of the house but down want to load up the car and actually go some place. Beth and I take walk and have play date frequently....Conner and Michael are only 6 months apart so they play very well together....as long as one isn't take the others toys right....hehehe

Locks of Love

I finally did something I've always wanted to do.....donate my hair to locks of love.

I've thought about it a few other times when cutting my hair from long to short but never could wait the extra time it would take to grow it out long enough to cut off 10 inches (that's ALOT of hair). So when I got pregnant last summer I decided with all the prenatal vitamins and how fast my hair grows, I was finally going to do it! I probably should have waited a bit long but it was getting so long and so heavy that I couldn't wait any longer...no matter how short I had to go :)

Not to mention she probably cut off a good 3-5 pounds, hope that reflects on the scale...hehehe.

So here are a few before pictures and of course the after pictures....hope you all like it, it's going to take a little getting use to on my part but I'm looking forward to the change :)

A day in Daddy's shoes!

Conner has been really fascinated with putting on shoes lately. It doesn't matter how big they are, he puts them on and walks around the house. Ryan however stops him when he tries putting on my high heels :)

Humidity brings...pool time fun and ice cream :)

Due to all this humidity we have been having we decided to get out the kiddie pool and have some fun splashing away. This was Morgan's first time in her cute little bathing suit and in the pool. She loves her baths so much I figured she would just eat this up, but she was a bit tired and just wanted to relax in the water. As she gets a bit older she'll be splashing her brother on purpose :)


Conner on the other hand, loved being in the pool even thought it was more Morgan's size....he's been in it a few times already, guess we need to get his big pool out this week :)




Here are a few pics of Conner eating every last bit of his ice cream cone and when he was finished he was a mess and asking for more....guess he takes after me with my sweet tooth :)

Once Upon a Potty

Yipee! Wee Wee and Poo Poo!!! I never thought I would be so excited to say that.

About a month ago I decided to start really working on potty training Conner. With the summer coming up and less clothes to wear I thought it would be the easiest time to try. He already knows when he is going and will go to the bathroom to do his business, so the biggest challenge is just getting him to do it on the potty instead of in a diaper. So we bought a potty chair about a month or so ago and he wanted NOTHING to do with it. He wouldn't even sit on it...so I thought is it too early??? (of course every how to book from the library swore that kids were trained by 9 month to a year....wow was I really behind even though I thought this was the perfect age to start??)

We bought some Thomas the Train undies to get him excited and that worked for about a day or two....we even started bringing home potty themed books from the library (which I think helped him understand the process more).

Well, last week we didn't have a bunch going on and we planned to stick close to home so I tried everything to get Conner to sit down on that potty. We took baby steps but we finally got results :) I was actually surprised that by mid-week he sat down on it with his clothes on, I about fainted since he would throw a fit whenever I mentioned the potty chair. The next day he sat on it without clothes....I thought yeah, we are making progress.

So at the beginning of this week I decided to really stick to it, at least to have him sit down on it two to three times a day just to keep him familiar with it. So all week we have sat on that potty for many many many minutes reading book after book and tonight he DID IT!!!! Both wee wee and poo poo. Boy did he get high praises from mommy and daddy.

I know that this is just the beginning of a long process but I am so proud of my little man that I had to share his big accomplishment with everyone (I'm sure years from now he will be so embarrassed by this :) So please keep me in your prayers to stick with this, even when it's not easy and we don't have a lot of time. My goal is to be diaper free by the end of the summer!

A Long Weekend

Well, it was a very long week and weekend last week for us especially Ryan.

We bought Conner a swing set over Memorial Day Weekend so Ryan spent a few hours each night last week trying to get things sorted and put together. All the screws, nuts and bolts, and washers were all thrown in a bag so it took a good hour if not more to sort them out so they would be handy when needed. Apparently there was not system as to how they through all the wood and screws in the boxes.

There were a few things he could do on his own but the majority of it needed a second person so we recruited Papa (my step-dad) the man with the many tools especially electrical tools : ) to help Ryan on Sunday.

Well as you can see from the pictures to your right, Ryan didn't get a ton done during the week with Conner running around but what he did get done helped cut down on the many hours spent on Sunday.

They sure were not kidding when they said it would take 8-12 hours to assemble. Ryan and Papa worked all day Sunday and even Monday evening to finish it. Conner patiently waited all day Sunday on the deck playing with his cars just watching his swing set take shape. Monday night on the other hand he was itching to go down that slide and was waiting at the top until the last screw was in place and he was given the OK to go down. He was very excited it was finally finished as was Ryan and Papa.

Every day since, Conner has played on his swing set. He mostly plays with the slide right now but that thing keeps him entertained for hours. It is SO nice during the day to just go out for a while before lunch and nap and get him tired out.

Last night we all went out and Conner pushed his cars down just as happy as can be while Ryan had a much needed beer and Mommy held Morgan as she watched her brother slide down the slide over and over. I can see us spending many hours out there. It was worth every penny!!!!!!

Conner playing with a Caterpillar in our driveway. He was feeding it a leaf :)