Gwen is TWO Months

I am TWO months old!

I like: Still love my binky more than anything (haha), watching the fish tank (though I doubt she can see the fish), running water (if she's fussy, but we turn a faucet or her bath on she'll calm down quite a bit), and my parents' voices. I also like wiggling around on activity mats or on soft blankets on the couch, but only for a couple moments and I handle tummy time like a champ!

I dislike: Being tired and/or hungry (obvious ones, but she definitely let us know when one was going on), laying down for too long or being held without some sort of movement.

Got a good pic during "Wiggle & Giggle Time"

 

I am now: According to the Dr. Appointment today she is 11 pounds even, 22.5 inches long and her head is 40 cm around. So she's in the 39th percentile for weight, 48th for length, and 91st for head! So just like Cara she's a lollipop shape haha. Although Cara was 35th for weight, 57th for length, and 81st for head as a comparison - very close. She's been in size 1 diapers for a while now and mostly 0-3 month for clothes. She grew out of newborn clothes, pajamas, and diapers very quickly!

She's been getting this little Alfalfa hair thing that I've
Just loved. So cute!

A Typical Day looks like:

6 AM to 7:30) She usually fusses due to gas pains, or so it seems, during this time. We're working on teaching her to stay in bed until at least 7:30 for now (eventually it'll be pushed to 8) so we give her the binky to hold her over until we get her up.
7:30 to 8) Breakfast time. I'll get Gwen up and take her downstairs then go get Cara and the outfits. I changed diapers, outfits and then make her bottle (usually about 4 oz - 3 are breastmilk and 1 formula) and Cara's breakfast (oatmeal or cereal) and then feed them at the same time. It can get chaotic, but I feel I've mastered the timing so far so once I go to work it shouldn't be too difficult.
8 to 9) I'll put Gwen in the swing, while I pump and eat breakfast and Cara runs around. After pumping I'll put Gwen on an activity mat for what we call "wiggle and giggle time". Usually the bottle and dishes have been cleaned and Cara's teeth are brushed so there is quite a bit of free time done here. Usually around 8:45 Gwen will get fussy and I'll rock her in the office while talking to Larry about what his day looks like and she'll get sleepy enough by 9 to be put down.
9 to 11) Nap time. She'll last maybe an hour before she squirms and needs the binky put back in (this I want to work on getting her to nap better, but I think his videos and meetings tend to make it difficult). Usually around 10:45 she'll get way more squirmy in anticipation of the next feeding.
11 to 12:15 ish) Diaper change, eat a 4-4.25 ounce bottle (usually 1 oz is formula, the rest is breast milk), get burped and more wiggle and giggle time. I also fix Cara's and my lunch so we can eat around 11:30 while Gwen hangs out.
12:15 to 2) Nap time. Again, she'll last about an hour before she squirms a bit and has to have the binky put back in constantly. Around 1:45 she gets more squirmy for the next feeding as well.
2 to 3:30) Diaper change, eat 4-4.25 oz bottle again, get burped, and wiggle and giggle time. She likes to pretend she'll sleep through this feeding, but we've learned the second she gets put down she'll tend to wake up so we've just learned to enjoy this awake time. Cara gets up around 2:30 so we get half an hour of us time and then it's girlie time with all three of us.
3:30-4:30/5) Nap Time. We are lucky if she'll go past 4:30 though. For some reason she's been having a hard time napping too long at this point. I'm not sure if it's because of her next feeding or because one of us is usually working out right underneath her at this time or what, but it's been a challenge to just make sure she'll nap at this point.
5) Diaper change, eat 4-4.25 oz again, get burped, and usually hang out with the rest of the family. It's very rare she'll go back to sleep after this feeding so we expect her to be awake until bed time most of the time.
5 to 6:30) Hang out while we eat dinner, wiggle and giggle time/time in the swing, etc. Around 6 is when I'll put her on my lap with a comfy blanket and sometimes she naps, sometimes she'll give me some good smiles. I love this time the most because Larry keeps Cara entertained while I hang with Gwen.
6:30-6:45) This is when she'll get put back down on an activity mat or a blanket on the couch to wiggle about while we do "Family Stretches" from an app Larry has on his phone.
6:45 - 7:30) I'll usually reads to the girls at 6:45 while dad gets the 7:00 bottle ready (3 oz of breast milk). While one of us feeds her we'll also start our nightly show (Usually Total Wipeout or AFV).
7:30) Get ready for bed. Usually that entails a diaper change, lotion, put in my pajamas, owlet, and sleep sac, and a nice 3 oz formula bottle to top her off. Most of the time she'll pass right out after this bottle (IF she even eats the whole thing). We do a bath on Sundays and Wednesdays and then the same routine after that. we've found that starting this all at 7:30 means she'll be down by 8. Bath time was waking her up a bit, but by the end of the month she was used to it and got to sleep pretty decently.

Gwen sometimes sleep through the night, if she doesn't she'll get up between 3:30 and 4 for a diaper change and feeding. I get up in the 3:00 hour to pump so if she's up before me I can do it all in one swoop, but otherwise I'll go to bed after I pump and just get up when she does to feed her. I know this sounds tedious, but since she isn't consistently sleeping through the night I just pump when I can and hope I don't need to get up again, but it's okay if I do...for now. Once I have to get up at 6 for work I'll probably be changing my tune haha.

This looks a lot like Cara to me!



She was so content on this chair this night.

 

This Month I: Celebrated my first Christmas. I wasn't as interested in the gifts, but I still got spoiled beyond belief! I celebrated New Years as well, even though I slept through midnight (like a good baby).

I also got to meet Nana (on mom's side) for the first time in person and gave her the biggest smiles ever! I became more aware of my tongue and love to show it off when I'm not smiling or demanding my binky.

Parent's Notes: Oh man did this month start out challenging. Gwen hit a wonder week leap around 5 weeks. If you didn't know, wonder week is where they reach a new developmental milestone and become more curious about their world and tend to have some sleep regression. In Gwen's case it was not wanting to nap as much (making her WAY fussier) and going to bed way later than she was before. It was very challenging and I had to be reminded we are still in the "100 days of hell" stage with her from Larry. The only good part about it was she was more cuddly and wanted to be held a lot more and this was okay with mama. I just had to learn to keep Cara occupied well enough while I tended to Gwen.

We also rang in 2019 with her. The fireworks made her stir a bit, but she slept through them pretty well. The only issue is she woke up that day really early from her last nap so by the time we got her ready for bed she only ate half her bottle before passing out completely and so I think that hunger was really the reason she was stirring, but it could've been a combination of both. It's also really hitting me that even though we're starting this year out with her being almost completely immobile and dependent on us, by the end of the year she'll probably be walking, eating solids, not needing a bottle anymore AND in her own room in her own crib. It's crazy to think how quickly they grow in a year!

The best part of this month was when she started to give little smiles, but then my mom visited and I had honestly not seen bigger smiles up until that point. After that visit, Gwen got quite a bit more smiley and even started trying to giggle a tiny bit. Speaking of her visit, it was also so nice to see my mom again (and in person). We ran a ton of fun errands (I even took both girls to Ikea for my first outing with both of them without Larry...although my mom, grandma, and Cindy were all there so I had plenty of help), we got to hang out with my brother one night and eat ice cream...that was really nice! The best part is, ever since her visit I've really felt much better about our daily routine and doing most of it on my own (I still leave Gwen in the office for Larry to keep an eye on during nap times, but other than that I take care of both girls all on my own).

We also had a great date night on the 15th. I was nervous about how it was going to go down because I was craving Cracker Barrel that isn't too close to us. I figured we'd leave after Larry got off work, but then realized we'd be eating dinner at 4 if that was the case and that seemed to early. We decided to leave around 4:15 and let Gwen nap on the way there. We packed bottle makings and got there right in time for her 5:00 feeding. It was a slow night so we got dinner ordered, delivered, and ate by 5:30/5:40 and were able to leave so that (with rush hour traffic still) we got home by 6:30 - just in time to keep Gwen awake for the night. She went down at 8 like normal and slept all night long. I even got to work out a little earlier in the day and shower so that I could get completely ready (hair and makeup done, real clothes on, all of it) so I was feeling super happy with how that whole night went down without any hitches! No early dinner (or at least not old people "early bird" dinner), no late night on the road, no baby that stays up till who knows when, and a full night's sleep (other than pumping)? Couldn't have been a better night!

Date Night - All done up!

Her doctor appointment went so well, she's measuring so well and had no medical concerns. She does have some cradle cap starting, but we know that's normal and isn't as bad as it was with Cara. I always get so happy to hear she's developing normally and we can say we rock this parenting thing...so far. I even did the appointment all on my own and I didn't cry even a little tear when they gave shots. I was actually kind of happy to console her and she was so cuddly afterwards. Of course they knocked her out and made her want to nap all day and we actually had to give her some Tylenol when she woke up screaming and I could tell it was from the pain (sad face!!), but otherwise I feel I've handled a real doctor appointment on my own so well :)

One of my new favorite moments is around 6 each night. Gwen is always awake at this point, sometimes for an hour, sometimes for longer, so I'll put her on my legs and put a soft blanket my mom got her over both of us and just let her relax. If she is lucky she'll start to nap a little, but otherwise she'll just give me the cutest smiles and it feels like such a good bonding moment. I absolutely love doing this each night. And it's one I can continue after I go back to work.

Speaking of that...I am really realizing my maternity leave is coming to an end soon, and while I felt ready for that a couple weeks ago, now I am in this lovely routine with both girls and have a nice schedule and so it's going to be hard to adjust that to me being out of the house and letting Larry take over. I also have had a couple moments where I haven't put the girls down for naps (I had to run Oscar to the vet for a follow up blood draw so I wasn't just leaving Larry alone for no good reason) and it was a little sad to me that I wasn't there. Or the days I was with mom where we just took Cara out and I left Larry with Gwen I came back and just wanted to cuddle with her when we got back because I missed her being with me all day. So going back to work will probably be a bit more difficult than I had anticipated. However, that being said, I know I am working for good reasons and I'll keep that in mind as I cry my first week away haha.

Super dad right here!

Cuddle time at 6. Such a cute napper!

 

Update on last month's goals:

• Tummy Time has been going so great. She definitely lasts longer than Cara did at this point and she's already trying to get up on her knees a little, rolls to her side a bit, and holds her head up SO well! I think we'll have a roller before Cara got there, hopefully before I go back to work *fingers crossed*
• As for sensory stuff, my mom got Gwen her own soft blanket after we put Cara's princess one on her and she seemed to like it. So towards the end of this month I started putting Gwen on my legs after dinner time and putting her soft blanket over her and we just kind of cuddle and interact and it's become my favorite time. Gwen loves feeling the blanket and will give me tons of smiles while I talk to her and it's really helped us bond quite a bit.
• The neck workouts have been going so great! We haven't done the forward to back, but she rocks going from back to forwards. Larry even noted that she has caught on faster than he realized. We still do it most nights and she's finally used to it enough that she doesn't cry during it so it gets done quicker than it used to.
• Bedtime routine and sleeping have been going wonderfully! She's slept completely through the night a few times lately and when she doesn't she only gets up once. I love that I have my "night feedings only show" to watch (Home Improvement) so that I actually look forward to any night feedings rather than focus on just being tired. I also make sure to get up once a night for pumping so that I can keep my supply up. It took a tiny dip after mom's visit - which is expected due to not pumping as regularly - but I want to make sure to either get back to where I was or just not let it dip anymore. I have built quite the stash for her so far!

Goals for next month:

• Get Gwen to sleeping through the night before I go back to work (please please please). I know this is more of a developmental milestone, but I'd love it if we could get there by that point.
• Keep working on sensory stuff. She seems to love touching things and hearing things (she was loving me clicking my tongue at one point during the month).
• Work on nap times going smoother. Right now she just naps off and on and constantly needs her binky put back in. I'm hoping this next month we can get her used to all of Larry's noises so she naps better for him.
• To copy ones I had with Cara: keep bringing the smiles on and enjoy this last month I have. I really am going to miss being home with them and teaching Cara things and playing with Gwen when she's awake. It makes any hard moment so much more worth it!
• Maybe get her to grab toys. It may be a bit early for that, but we do put some Mr. Potato Head things in her hand (they are easy to grab with the thin stick-like attachment part on them) so far, but maybe we can find other things to practice with?
• Continue with tummy time and neck workouts to get her rolling over. Roll baby roll! Haha

New Years 2019

New Year's Eve looked a little different this year. Even though Gwen has been going to bed on time so well lately and only getting up once around 3 AM for feedings, I still wasn't wanting to be up too late (I'm BIG on getting my sleep). My plan was to just set an alarm for 11:45 and watch the ball drop with Larry and get our kiss in at midnight and then go back to bed.

Luckily, I saw that they were airing some of the New Years Rockin' Eve at 7 so I could watch a good chunk of it before going to bed. I got to see some good performances (like that Kane Brown song "What If"...that might be a new artist I need to add to my list), which is one of my favorite parts of watching.

NKOTB. They were pretty decent, although funny
That they are still into doing the boy band performances
When they are much older now.

Loved seeing the crowd, that I would never want to be a part of, freezing
In the rain, while I sat comfortably in my robe cuddling with the kitties :)

Going to bed at 9:30 was so nice, if not a little pathetic, and it wasn't so bad only getting in a couple hours of sleep before my alarm went off. I went downstairs, saw Larry was still gaming and turned the Rockin' Eve back on. I still absolutely love watching the ball drop and look forward to when our girls are old enough to stay up to watch this (but I'll enjoy my nights of having a couple hours to myself while I have them). I then took our cutesy picture (which didn't make me look too cutesy haha) and crawled right back up to bed while worrying about if the fireworks were going to wake either girl up.



Gwen did get a little fidgety with them and actually started crying around 12:30. I got up to make her bottle, but she ended up calming herself down and falling back to sleep. I wasn't too surprised when she woke up around 1:40 for her first feeding - she only ate half her bottle before bed before completely passing out so I figured we were in for a "two feedings" kind of night. I looked on the bright side and figured this gives me two chances to watch Home Improvement and two chances to read my book while pumping and I figured if it was too bad of a night I'd tell Larry I needed a nap when Cara napped the next day so it was okay. Luckily it was only two feedings and she slept until 8 AM just fine this morning. I was able to get both girls up, fed, and diapers changed before Larry woke up (he didn't go to bed till after 3 so I wanted to let him sleep in as much as possible).

Today we had a good start to the year! Larry had the day off so Cara actually was behaving well (she's been quite the cranky girl lately with just me watching her, but once Daddy shows up she suddenly is happy), Gwen took her naps like she needed to, I was able to start getting back into working out (though I wasn't able to start where I left off...which makes sense, but I was hoping I could. I also couldn't add in my arm workout since I had Cara down there with me and she hurt herself before I could start that part), and I got all the laundry put away so I felt like I was accomplishing so much! It's also funny that my lunch rotation landed on salads for this week so I'm starting out the year feeling healthier and making better choices.

Not much, but it's a start, right?

So anyways, that was our New Years Eve and Day. I do look forward to having game night with pizza, root beer, and staying up past midnight again (we should be able to this year), but for now I'm willing to sacrifice a couple traditions to make sure my babies have a sane and well rested mom to hang with them :)

Here's to hoping 2019 is even better than 2018...because that year was pretty great!

Goals for 2019

So I'd like to start this post by saying I'm officially calling these goals for the year rather than resolutions. I know I've mentioned I don't like the term resolutions before and I've gone back and forth, but I'm officially settling on goals. When I was pregnant with Gwen I wasn't feeling as connected to her in the beginning of the pregnancy (so sad, but true). The thing that changed that was I would talk to her in the car whenever I was alone and one of the things I always did was on my way to work I'd talk to her about the goals of the day and what the plan was and it really helped me feel connected to her, but also helped me when I thought I was having a stressful day. After Gwen was born I would still do goals for the day since having a newborn can be stressful, at least for me, and that really helped me keep my head on straight.

So without further adieu, here's what the goals for 2018 were and how I did on them:

Organize, organize, organize: I at least started my totes that I had planned, but I haven't finished them. The biggest reason being that I need to read through my magazines to get ideas to add to them. But I did get as much done as I could and I found a way to manage my time better to feel more organized in just life. Of course, adding a newborn made that feel a little more upside down, but things are a bit better and I'm on a better track.

Complimenting a stranger: I could've done better with this, but I did give a few compliments out there. This one was important because it makes you feel better when you make someone's day. Unfortunately I just felt people focused on my pregnancy so I didn't get a lot of opportunities to compliment them back without it sounding fake.

Do one craft/organization/project thing each month: Yeah...definitely didn't do this. I attempted it, but it really took a backseat to other things. Whoops!

Stay caught up on the blog: Hahaha yeah, didn't do well with this. Yes, if you read back it looks like I kept up with it, but I didn't. That was a big whoops.

Backing up photos: I backed my photos up onto my computer frequently, but I haven't put them on the hard drive as often. I did right before Gwen was born so that I knew it was done, but not since then.

Keep with the frozen meals: Yeah...I also gave up on this. Frozen meals were nice, but I found a way to make cooking work so as long as I meal plan at the beginning of the month and remember to actually cook the meals (I forgot to start crock pot ones quite a few times throughout the year) then we make it work.

See family more often: Yeah, I maybe should've read through these throughout the year. I didn't even realize this was on my list. I saw them more towards the end of the year, but not throughout.

Well it's embarrassing to see I didn't do so well with these this last year. Hopefully I can do better thsi year :\

And my goals for 2019:

• Potty train and move Cara into a toddler bed. This we aim to do when she turns 2. She's definitely moving to her new room after her birthday and we'll transition her into a toddler bed. Then we'd really like to start potty training then. I got a potty training book from my Dad and his family so I'm excited to read that and see what good pointers it has.
• Compliment Strangers. I've really enjoyed having this one on the list and it's brought me more meaning than any other goal so I'm going to keep this on there indefinitely.
• Give Larry more "me" time. This guy is going to have two girls on his hands when I go back to work, and as I've seen already they are going to be a handful. I'm hoping to pick one weekend a month to take both out and give him a couple hours just for him to enjoy the silence. I would say he could leave the house while I stay in with them, but he prefers to stay in so I figure I can take them out. Fingers crossed this one doesn't make me go crazy haha. I'd also like to do more 1:1 with each girl, if possible, but we'll see if I can squeeze that in as well.
• Keep to my weekend plans. Speaking of weekends, I have a set idea for what I'd like to do each weekend that are things I'd like the girls to be used to growing up so that it's just a fun thing for us. The last weekend of the month I'd like to be a super clean weekend, the first weekend is a spa weekend (a deserved one since we spent the one prior cleaning) where we do our nails and maybe a mud mask (really whatever we'd like that feels a bit like pampering ourselves), one weekend I'd like to bake something (though I may put this one on hold until I go back to work so it's not just me eating the baked goods), and then I'd like another weekend to see family. For months that have 5 weekend I'd like to incorporate some sort of service project. I think I should be able to squeeze in time for Larry during the baking weekend or visiting family weekend so it shouldn't be too overwhelming.
• Workout regularly (including Diastasis Recti workouts). This one isn't really a hard one, I love working out! I love that it is me time, I love that it gives me an excuse to watch shows/movies I've recorded on the DVR, I love the feeling of the endorphins! So working out isn't the issue, it's making sure I keep to it regularly. Once I go back to work I like to do this after the girls go down (especially since we can't guarantee that Gwen will be down by 8 just yet) so right now I do it once Larry is off work and it's still just so nice to be able to get away for a bit.
• Break my sugar habit. This one I did in 2018 technically, but I don't feel it's complete yet. I'm actually proud of myself because I found a way to not only break my habit, but I felt I got to the root of my problem. I was able to mostly avoid temptations that came my way even. I remember when it started to get cold and I saw a car off to the side of the road and it had it's heat on (you could see the smoke coming from the muffler) and feeling like that used to be a trigger to want hot chocolate and I realized I didn't have that trigger anymore. I did end up falling off the wagon a tiny bit, but I've found such a good reward system. We do our Saturday Movie Date Night and I tell myself if I haven't had any sugars throughout the week I get a treat for movie night. If I've had TOO much sugars throughout the week, not only do I lose my movie treat, but also my soda and possibly the popcorn too. Then on months we accomplish something extra (good doctor visits, pushing a baby out, birthday months, etc.) we get to have a dessert night on the last Tuesday night of the month. It's been SO helpful in helping me and I plan to continue this into 2019.
• Reach my savings goals. This one I've found actually shouldn't be too hard, as long as I keep my spending under control. I'd like to eventually open an IRA for myself (Larry has one and it's been SO nice come tax time and it helps us get our retirement savings bulked up). In order to do this I'd like to have a set amount set up in my short term savings and a set amount in my baby savings. I've already reached my baby savings goal (thank you Colonial Life for that!) and I'm more than 3/4 of the way to my short term goals. The beast part is once we file taxes that will cover our vacations for the year, so literally everything else I make goes to my savings this year. Once I reach my short term savings goals I plan to put that in a dedicated Savings and then anything over my set amount will go into a second short term savings and eventually my original one will be turned into an IRA. I'm oddly (and totally nerd-like) excited for this one, it makes it so I can't just spend like crazy like I have been, but if it means we can retire and live comfortably I'll take it!
• Update blog regularly. This one I had issues with the past couple years. I'd also like to re-format my entries to make them more like a fun lifestyle blog. I feel my posts get really wordy and might border on boring if anyone else were to read them. I like to keep the details, but I think I can make the posts look better while still keeping the details. Also, when I re-read them later it seems I make a ton of typos. I need to make sure to fix those before posting them. Hopefully I can still keep up with this.

2018 In Review

Thinking back on 2018 is crazy weird. We started it with an eight month old baby and ended it with a brand new baby girl! We took a few trips, but it was mostly a "see family and friends" year, not much just for us, but that's okay, because that's what we wanted to do before adding to our broad. Let's just say 2019 has some fun just us (well us being the 4 of us) trips planned.

Anyways, let's look back at this whirlwind year!

January

January this year we celebrated Cara's first snow day. Even though she wasn't a big fan of it, it was still fun to take her out and dress her up. It was a slower month, but still fun!

February 

February we celebrated an awesome Valentine's Day...maybe more awesome for me because I got the personal massage and Larry took care of Cara. Even though our ice cream didn't turnout so well, but it was a good day still.

We also checked a big thing off our list and we both got our Concealed Carriers Permits. This one was a huge one on our list so I'm so happy we got this one done!

March

March was a BIG month for us. Cara learned to walk all on her own and became a big mover. It was so exciting to see her accomplish this and I can't tell you how nice it's been that she walks now.

We also found out we were expecting our little Gwen this month. That's obviously one of the biggest things. It was a huge change, but so so exciting!!

April

April we started out in Tennessee. We celebrated Cara's first Easter with both of my sides (morning with Mom and Will, afternoon with the Wilson side). Even though that's not a huge holiday, it was nice to celebrate it with family to get ONE of her holidays in with family.

 

We also held Cara's first birthday party this month. It was a little early, but it worked out well with my mom's visit and my work schedule. It was such an ideal day!

May

Obviously the biggest thing was Cara turning one this month. Finally reaching that milestone was so exciting and just the best part of the year. I can't believe we have a one year old at this point and she's been such a big joy in our lives!

We also discovered a great way to keep date nights without having to find a babysitter and keep us feeling like a couple still: Saturday Movie Date Night. (I miss these and can't wait to get back to them). We had so much fun with these throughout the year. We got to watch the entire Marvel comic series this year and that was so nice.

June

In June we (kind of) started it out by taking Cara to her first baseball game. It didn't go as well as I had hoped, but it was still fun to take her and test that out (thankfully they are pretty cheap tickets).

I also created an awesome mom hack with toys for kids, we celebrated 5 years married, I started to think of my post-partum life after Gwen would be born, and I found my love of reading again.

It was also the beginning of many summer adventures with Cara. So happy when the season changes and we can be out of the house more!

July

We started July by celebrating Larry's 30th birthday. I was happy he finally got a good day for his birthday since his 29th wasn't the best. We also celebrated the fourth of July in some fun ways (which got me started on thinking of holiday traditions I wanted to start up).

One of the more exciting parts was finding out we were having a little girl and being able to finally tell people about the pregnancy! This was a big part of the whole year honestly, I could finally start planning for this new baby coming into our world.

August

In August we had one of the most fun weeks when we did a staycation. I have loved every trip and vacation we've taken, but ever since having Cara this one was the first time I felt like we had a real vacation (Hawaii might be tied for number one here).

We also signed Cara up for tumbling class to help get her socialized. Even though the class didn't last long for us, we still very much enjoyed going and getting her used to others. It was a great class and I hope we can find something new for her to do next year.

September

September was such a fun month for us. We went to Swiss Days over Labor Day (though we learned that is NOT a family event...I'll be going solo in future years). We also took a trip to Georgia to visit Stacey (our last trip of the year and very exhausting for a 7 month old pregnant lady), it was such a fun and memorable trip (and not just because of the hurricane scare haha).

October

In October we finally made the decision to get some new memberships (since the tumbling class was cancelled on us). Even though we've only gone a couple times, I think these will be so nice to have this next year. We didn't do much for Halloween, but I did drag my family to a pumpkin patch. We also celebrated our 14th anniversary over a nice, relaxing weekend.

November

November was obviously our most eventful month. We celebrated our last family date night out for a while (with flu season coming and having a newborn we knew going out and for dinner wasn't going to be a thing in our near future). We had our little Gwen this month. And we celebrated the most low-key Thanksgiving ever haha.

 

 

December

December, we celebrated the first month of having Gwen and I decided to document our breastfeeding journey. We had a very exciting Christmas with both girls. That was about all we did this month. We just focused so much on getting into a good routine with Gwen that it wasn't as eventful as normal.

Overall, 2018 has been very good to us. I am very much looking forward to what this next year will bring us with Gwen's first year, celebrating Cara's second year, and everything that brings for us.  Happy New Year!!!

Christmas 2018

So Christmas with a newborn was definitely a new experience. I feel bad, but I just wasn't in the decorating mood at all this year (maybe it's because I watched so many Hallmark movies that I wanted to decorate like those and I definitely don't have those decorations or the money to get the decorations like in those movies right now haha). I was also hoping to do more family traditional things this year (like go see decorated homes, make gingerbread houses, take the kids to see Santa, matching pajamas and movie night, etc.), but adding a 2nd kid really kicked my trash when it came to having motivation to do anything but keep everyone alive each day (I even forgot about my birthday this year) haha. Plus I really wanted to focus on getting Gwen on a good bed time routine this month so doing anything that kept us out too late wasn't an option for me.

Well even with all that, celebrating the big day was still awesome. We knew we couldn't keep wrapped gifts out with Cara running around so we had them all stashed away in a bedroom (we also cheated and ordered everything on Amazon and had them wrap anything that could come wrapped so we didn't have to worry about that part) so when Christmas Eve came around, once the girls were down for the night, we had fun grabbing everything and putting it all under the tree. Some toys weren't wrapped so we made sure to display those for Cara. It was a really rough day (my fault though, I wanted Gwen to nap so I could do what I wanted and she just didn't want to and Cara was throwing tantrums so I was having a hard day with my patience being tested all day), but seeing all the gifts made me realize that Christmas is a new day and I can't wait to see Cara's face when she sees the gifts - Gwen will only care that she has her binky so I can't be excited for her to see anything haha.



Our incredibly large haul haha

So this morning I made sure to have Larry get Cara so that I could record her reaction and he was telling me that right at the top of the stairs (where you can see a tiny bit into the Christmas Tree Room) she noticed a change and kept pointing to it like "what's that down there? I see something new!" haha. When she got down to the room she was so excited at everything! It was literally the best part of the whole day.



Alexa playing Christmas music for us while we opened gifts



Waiting for Cara to come down

Yes, I allowed ONE person to get
Her a doll. I HATE dolls though!

As we handed her her gifts (which she doesn't fully understand how to open them herself just yet so dad helped her mostly), she became so obsessed with each gift that she wouldn't care about the next one. Luckily this gave us time to open our own while she tried to play with whatever one she just opened so it was like for every gift she opened Larry and I would open a couple of our own haha. Gwen just hung out on the boppy pillow after I fed her her morning bottle. Unfortunately, that picture turned out so blurry :( but she was pretty chill just hanging out.

We got super spoiled this year! I keep joking that the girls don't need anything for like 3 years. They got tons of clothes, toys, learning kits, everything! We even got some awesome family gifts, like the Oculus Virtual Reality "goggles" and a double basketball hoop thing to put in the basement (because Larry talks about playing sports with the kids when they are older, so until then him and I can challenge each other haha). I had previously told Larry I just wanted a couple things from him and the rest of the stuff can be for the girls from my gift wish list for them because I was more excited for them to get gifts and I obviously wanted them to have as much from that list as possible. Well he listened and he got me the best gift ever: a tablet/computer that I wanted SO badly. I wanted this to help me keep my budget with me at all times (at work, home, traveling, etc. etc.) and to have anything else like that on a whim. He also got me a keyboard, cover, and stylus pen with it and I can't wait to put it to use. I already used it to Skype with mom today (you know, to say Merry Christmas and talk about what we got and how we spent the day). and it was so nice to be able to move around. It's AWESOME!!

One of my favorite things is we got a bunch of learning things for Cara (and eventually Gwen). Things to teach her colors, shapes, letters, words, etc. I've realized how much Cara is absorbing lately and I really want to focus this next year on teaching her and getting her ready for preschool in a couple years. I also love that most of it can be re-used with Gwen to teach her too. I'm going to love this next year!!

We ended up having so much fun that before I knew it, we had gotten to dinner time and I was sad to see how quickly the day went by. I mean maybe it was busier because we had Gwen so we had to feed her, change her, I had to pump, we had to eat, we had to clean up the mess, Cara was playing...it was just such a busy, crazy day. As great as the day has been and as happy as I am that we got so much, I'm really feeling we need to teach the girls more about how the day means more than gifts. I'm not a "minimalist", but I can see we don't need so many things if they aren't useful or meaningful to us. I almost can't wait for next year when both girls will be into the day and we can enjoy it even more and I can start the traditions I wanted to do this year (but missed out on) to show how much more the day can be about.

So Merry Christmas to everyone out there and Happy Holidays to those that don't celebrate Christmas specifically. We hope that everyone had such a great day and are as excited as we are to ring in a new year!