Having 2 Under 2

Since Amelia is going to be 2 in a couple of weeks I decided to bookmark the time in our lives when we had 2 under 2. I remember when I found out I was pregnant with Liam thinking how am I going to do it? Even that first hour after he was born I said to Joe we must be crazy! And maybe we are!

I have learned a few things since having my second child. You quickly learn to prioritize and multitask, especially when they are both crying.

I was also scared going in public with them at first by myself. But I decided it doesn't get easier until you try. So I went to Target. I put Amelia in the front of the cart and Liam in his car seat in the cart and we survived, but maybe not quietly!

Amelia really does do well with the baby. Probably every day we have to let her hold him for all of 30 seconds before she is ready for something else. She is also really good at getting his pacifier in while he is upset and I am cooking dinner. He thinks she is pretty funny and loves to smile at her. We have our moments of jealousy especially if we are at church and Amelia is unsure and wants me to hold her. I try to give lots of hugs and reasurrances.

What I have Learned
-I really have to go out of my way to get some special time with Amelia. Whether that is just snuggling on the couch, reading books together, or having a dance party in the kitchen.

-I really try to let Amelia help with the baby. She loves to help him get a bath and get me things.

-We talked about the baby before he came but she was young so probably didn't understand much. At least she knew the word baby.

-Again I love my carriers. I used the moby wrap when he was small and starting to transition more the ergo which gives me better support on my shoulders.

-Amelia takes afternoon nap so I really try to get him down at the same time so I don't go too crazy during the day.

Does anyone have any tips for having 2 little ones?

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Liam is 3 Months!!

 

Can't believe that I have had my little man for 3 whole months now. He is the cutest little boy I have ever laid eyes on (I'm not biased or anything! haha)

This month I am seeing him smile more and more and even getting little laughs from him. He is quite a little talker. Of course he is still quite the momma's boy! And do you see how his hair sticks up in the back. Yep I can't control it!

Liam is still my breastfed baby! He takes bottles okay when I am gone (only because he has to!). He usually eats about every 3 hours, sometimes more and sometimes less.

He usually wakes up for the day between 7-8. He will cat nap in the morning and then take a good nap in the afternoon in his swing. He will sometimes take a little evening nap and is usually asleep around 9:39 if not sooner. He usually wakes up once or twice during the night to eat but goes right back to bed. He still sleeps in our room with us. He is the fussiest in the evenings and hopefully we are outgrowing this phase soon!

I have gone back to work this month and has spent more and more time with his daddy. That time away kills me! Look at this trio. Too much! He thinks his big sister is pretty funny and likes to watch all that she does.

Likes
Momma!
Snuggling!
Amelia
Taking his clothes off
His changing pad

Dislikes
Car rides
Not being with Momma

Liam James we love you to the moon and back a thousand times!

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Amelia

I haven't done an Amelia post in FOREVER! That could be because I totally slacked on blogging.

Amelia is 22 months now. Which means that she is almost 2...cue the tears!! Amelia likes to take life full on. She is quite a determined little girl but also one of the sweetest! She loves to give noisy kisses to everybody, even the dogs.   

She weighs 31 pounds, wears 2T clothes (but outgrowing those fast), size 6 shoes, and size 5 diapers. She has 13 teeth, all four top and bottom, four molars and one incisor. 

She really is a good big sister to Liam. She has her moments where she can be jealous, especially if Joe is holding the baby. But she loves to give kisses and pat his back. And she always thinks he needs his pacifier in at all times and wants to make sure he has it. She has become quite the talker, especially since I was home on maternity leave. She says about 30 words and learning new words all the time! It's much nicer that she can tell me what she wants instead of just crying. She says Milk for all drinks, Melmo for Elmo! She knows most of her body parts and lots of Animal noises. 

Eating has become more of a struggle with her. She LOVES fruit. If she could only eat fruit she would be a happy clam. Our struggles come when we don't give her as much fruit as she wants to encourage her to eat other things, which that list is dwindling. My good eater is drifting away!
Her favorites are fruit, Sesame Street, Sofia the first, baby dolls, and of course Mommy Daddy and Liam! Baby girl mommy loves you to the moon and back!!
PS Here is a video of my big girl who rode a ride at Holiday World all by herself!


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A Day in the Life with 2

I have written a couple day in the life posts when Amelia was smaller here and here. They are mostly for me to look back on to see how my life was then and how different it is. Now I have 2 small children who are still very dependent on me for everything so my days are pretty busy usually!

3:00 AM Liam wakes up for his first feeding. Sometime he wakes up earlier for this. He eats and falls right back to sleep. It takes me a few minutes after him to fall back asleep.

7 am I hear both Amelia and Liam stirring. Joe goes and gets Amelia and brings her in bed with us. We watch Sesame Street while I feed Liam in bed.

7:45 We leave because I had left my car at church on Sunday so I drive Joe to work. On the way home I run (which is an oxymoron with two kids) into the grocery store to get some celery and chicken broth I needed for dinner. I go to the self check out lane which takes way longer because it wouldn't read my gift card!

0830 We get home and I bake some homemade cinnamon rolls I had in the fridge and I turn on Sofia the first to appease Amelia while we wait. I also feed Liam again because he is pretty fussy after the car ride. Amelia eats a whole big cinnamon roll.

0930 Liam is happily awake in his swing so Amelia and I do some "preschool" which really involves playing, reading, and doing crafts. I am using ABC Jesus Loves Me. It is a pretty simple things to teach that week, colors to focus on. She's not quite 2 but I thought it can't hurt to try. We sing songs, read, and I decided to let her finger paint for the first time. Amelia had lots of fun and made a mess!

10:15 Amelia has fingerpaint all over so I decide she should take a bath. She is playing happily for awhile when all of a sudden she is fussing and I noticed CODE BROWN!! I get her out quickly and clean the bathtub. Liam is catnapping still in his swing.

1045 We play with our shape sorter which means Amelia watches me sort the shapes (smart cookie).

1100 Liam is over the swing so I feed him then we all go upstairs to the playroom. Amelia has a little slide she plays with and Liam and I snuggle on the couch.

11:30 Amelia is getting more fussy so I take her downstairs and start lunch. I make her a grilled cheese and fruit but all she wants it the fruit. I put Liam in my moby wrap because he is very fussy and tired.

12:00 I put Amelia down for her nap. I come downstairs and put Liam in his sleep sack and rock him to sleep. He falls asleep and I just snuggle him for awhile and read blogs, facebook, etc.

1:00 I try to pick up the house, do a load of laundry, shower. About 2:30 I realize this is too good to be true! I really didn't know what to do with myself to have them both asleep. It really never happens this long!

3:30 Amelia finally wakes up! I am trying to transition Amelia to one nap a day so I thinks she was extra tired.  We spend 30 minutes in her room reading all of her books together. Around 4 we come back downstairs to check on a sleeping Liam.

4:30 I start making dinner. I am making Pioneer Woman Perfect Potato Soup. Joe gets home soon after and takes care of Liam who finally wakes up! I am quickly trying to get it together because I know Liam is hungry now! We trade off and I put Joe to watch the soup and I feed Liam.

5:30 After an unfortunate incident with a hot soup, blender, and my hands, I finally get a bowl of soup while Joe holds Liam. Amelia is starting to fall apart a little and wouldn't eat any dinner and was screaming to eat a whole bag of oranges. After a time out she does calm down.

7:00 We all hang out downstairs together and play. I change a dirty diaper of Amelia's and notice she has a bad diaper rash. :( I put her pjs on. Joe takes Liam upstairs and puts him in his pjs.

0830 We brush Amelia's teeth, give our kisses, read our night time devotion and prayer and I put Amelia to bed. I then take Liam upstairs and feed him. I swaddle him up and he falls asleep by 9:15. Joe comes upstairs and we watch TV and we fall asleep by 10:30.

So there you have it.  Exciting life huh?! I wouldn't trade these days with my babies home for anything and because I am going back to work next week.

 

 2  points if you read this whole post!

 

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Liam is 2 Months!

 

Liam's first 2 months flew by! It was a month full of snuggles, family, playing, and growing.

 

 

Last week he was 13 lbs 2 oz (75%) and 24" (90%). Another baby getting their height from Daddy! He grew so much this month! I am squeezing him into size 1 diapers to finish a box and wears 0-3 month clothes but can fit 3-6 months. He nurses every 2-3 hours during the day. At night he will go 3-4 hours. He has taken a bottle and did great with it!

 

 

 

 

 

 

He is starting to smile more and talk to us. Amelia still loves him but still working on being gentle with him. I really hope that they have a special relationship as they grow up.

 

 

I forgot with Amelia how hard we fight to get naps. He cat naps during the day and does better at night. Two nights ago he slept from 8 pm to 6 am!  I started using the sleep sack with the swaddle and he goes much longer!

     

He enjoys being in his swing and of course being held. I also use the moby wrap with him. I am still his favorite but he is starting to love his Daddy! We love our little boy so much!

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Liam's First Month

Liam's first month flew by! It was spent with lots of time with family and adjusting to being a family of four!

Liam is very sweet little boy. He is a good nurser. It took us a little bit to get him latched on but we soon figured out what we were doing. At first he wanted to nurse every 1 1/2 hours during the day and 2-3 hours at night. He gained weight pretty quickly. He weight 7 lbs 8 ounces at birth. By his 2 1/2 week appointment he was 8 lbs 5 ounces. He is slowly outgrowing his newborn outfits by the end of the month and still using newborn diapers.

 He was pretty much attached to me the whole month. I was the only one who could calm him. He slept in his rock n play sleeper next to me like Amelia did.

Amelia is adjusting to not being an only child. Amelia loves Liam but sometimes struggles if we are holding him when she wants to be held. She is also still learning how to be gentle with him. There have been burst of anger with him but we are working on it. She loves to find out where he is and say Baby!

Right after we came home from the hospital, my parents came for a few days to help us. We started getting the nursery organized, and really tried to love on Amelia as she was adjusting. Then we had a 2 weeks alone, one of those weeks I was home with both kids. Liam was a pretty good sleeper during the day then.

Joe went out of town on a mission trip with the students so my parents came back in town for a week to help. Then Liam started his fussy stage, especially in the evenings! I was starting to worry that he was going to be a colicy baby. The next week Joe's parents came to stay. We were definitely getting spoiled by the grandparents!

We love you William James! I sometimes forget what our family was like before you came because it seems like you were always there! We love your baby snuggles, daddy side eyes, and constant reminder that you are God's gift to us!

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11 Months Update

Amelia is 11 months!...Well almost three weeks ago she was 11 months.

She had a great month before. She weighs about 22 pounds and we will see exactly at tall she is at her 12 month appointment. We are starting to see her silly little personality. She loves to be with mommy and daddy. And especially loves reading books.

 She went on her first family vacation to Florida. She went to Disney World, the beach, Universal Studios, and a lot more. I need to make a long post on our trip to Florida.

Amelia is playing for much longer now but usually is getting into mischief. I heard her playing the piano one day all on her own!

We went to a wedding of some of our former students that was at a farm. I had to crochet Amelia some cowboy boots! I thought she looked especially cute!

This month she learned new things like clapping, pushing her walker, she is a pro at cruising, , and especially at making messes!! Amelia into everything now. She loves to pull all of her books down, and empty her basket of toys. And she loves everything that is not hers! She also LOVES stuffed animals. Especially the ET stuffed animal she picked out at Universal.

She also loves eating. Pretty much anything you give to her and she is shoveling it into her mouth. I love that she is such a good eater and much less stressful for me. She usually has either a banana or pancakes for breakast. She is also loving mac and cheese. She loves most fruit and usually all veggies.

Amelia also had her first child hood illness. She had hand foot and mouth disease. She first had a fever and then started with her yucky rash. Thankfully they weren't too bad in her mouth. The interesting part is that she gave it to Joe! He was definitely more pitiful than she was!
 

 We had a great month. We are currently in full on planning mode for her party in less than 2 weeks! I still can't believe that my little baby girl is going one! When did that happen?!

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Amelia is 10 Months

Baby girl is 10 Months! This month has been lots of fun with a baby (an almost toddler) who is crawling and into everything!! Even getting her monthly picture is starting to become a challenge because she is soo busy! She knows what No No! means and gives me a big smile but usually stops what she is doing. 

She says Da da all the time now! Sometimes directed at Joe and sometimes she is just happily saying da da! My favorite was one time I asked her who should change her diaper and she announced da da!

We are in full swing planning her first birthday shin-dig! It is a giraffe themed party for her favorite zoo animal and favorite teether toy Sophie! Look out for more info to come! And maybe even a peek at the invitation I designed over at my Etsy Shop. 

She weighs about 20 pounds when I weigh us on the scale. She can still fit in 6-9 month clothes because all her next size are more fall clothes. But colder weather is coming upon us so new wardrobe for Amelia! She still sleeps 10-11 hours at night and usually takes 2 1/12 hour naps a day. She sleeps best in her crib but will doze in the car. She is a big pacifier baby so we are thinking about weaning her from it soon.

Amelia is a big eater now. She eats almost all table food. She still loves cheerios but eats a banana almost every day. She loves tacos, spaghetti, grapes, carrots, meat, cheese. You know pretty much everything! You take her to Chipotle and she is chowing down! 

Her other new favorite activity is pulling up onto everything! She is walking around furniture pretty well and will walk with me holding at least one hand. And today she climbed 6 stairs. Eek! I love our baby gates!

Amelia is still toothless! I know! She has the cutest little toothless smile but I am way surprised it has taken us this long! But I think we they are coming soon! Her gums look swollen to me and she has been way more fussy than normal. Maybe soon?

Amelia loves

*eating

*playing

*chasing the dogs around

Amelia hates

*getting her clothes changed

*getting strapped in the car seat (but loves to play with her carseat if it out)

*being tired

We love our baby girl sooo much! 

PS Amelia is in a contest for the cutest baby at American Baby. You can vote for her here!

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My 9 Month Old

My 9 month old baby! I can't believe it! She is the sweetest little baby and is full of smiles and energy. She definitely keeps me very busy now! This month she has started so many new things!!

We went to the doctor and Amelia weighs 18 lb 10 ounces (50-75%) 28" (75%). The doctor said she has great hand-eye coordination and she may be an early walker (WHAT?) We have been very blessed that Amelia has been pretty healthy so far.

Amelia is just taking bottles now. She usually takes 6-8 ounces 3-4 times a day. She loves food! She still loves bananas, cheerios, pancakes, and spaghetti. She gets a banana every day and demolishes it. She still will eat baby food but I don't think we can get it to her fast enough. And baby girl loves making messes. She takes at least a morning nap and an afternoon nap and sometimes an evening nap. She also sleeps through the night every night. Praise Jesus!! We just lay Amelia down (after lots of kisses), give her her blanket and pacie, turn on her sound machine and leave. She usually cries for a couple of minutes then settles down. The fun thing is we have a video monitor and it's funny to watch what she does when we thought she was sleeping. She normally goes to bed around 7:30 and gets up between 7 to 8.



She also is becoming way more independent. And also starting to have a preference in things. She has her favorite toys, her favorite blanket. And now she hates changing clothes again! But likes being naked.

Another kind of sad thing is that she's stopped sucking her thumb! I loved her little thumb but she likes her pacie. She also loves her Daddy. Joe went to Thailand for 10 days. The first time she crawled she crawled to the iphone to video chat with daddy!

She is also quite the little babbler. She has said some things that sound like dada but not when he's around so does it count? Everyday we work on saying mama!


We are now a crawling machine! This is my view most of my days! And baby girl loves getting into everything!! We need to get more baby gates to help corral this little explorer.  She pulls things off of shelves, loves the remotes and pulls up onto everything she can manage. She will take a few steps with me helping but not coordinated yet.

Amelia Likes:
        Crawling/Pulling Up
        Eating!
        Babbling all of the time
        Swimming
        Annie and Cooper
       
Amelia Dislikes:
        Changing clothes
        Not being able to get into everything
        Getting strapped into her carseat
       

We love our Amelia Grace sooo much. She is the light to our day a source of endless laughter, and maybe some loud sighs!
       
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