Wordless Wednesday...

Cause time goes by so quickly...

A Year Ago Today...

Our lives changed in a huge way...Baby B, you decided to let us know you were on your way to the world on Valentine's Day last year. What love grew in all of us on that day. Even though J didn't know what he was in for, he was just as excited. We were cautiously happy though we postponed the celebrations until we were sure that you were okay and later shared our news with our families. But on this day, we celebrated the miracle that had started blooming. Seems like just yesterday :)

On What I Didn't Know I Needed

Now, I have to admit (*standing and raising right hand*)...My name is Nikki and I am addicted to all things baby. For some reason, the fixation on baby gear hasn't waned in the four plus years since I went crazy getting things for J. If anything, it has only increase. I LOVE baby gadgets, the latest helpful items for mom, soothing items for baby and useless items that look good. I happen to pride myself in knowing all the latest and showing off my baby in the cool stuff. If I were being really honest, I'd admit that I had four different strollers for J. As of now, I am on two (different from the other four...new ones) for B. I know big J must look around the house sometimes and wonder why we need a swing, two bouncy chairs, floor play mat, and an exersaucer all in our living room. And yeah, so we have a bouncer and two other more "mature baby" items still in the box in the play room. So between all those goodies, my baby carriers, stroller collections and other stuff, I love my baby playland every day. I like to think the boys enjoy it too, but that could just be my justification :).

Well, yesterday, I got one of the coolest gifts ever from my friend over at Kurlylicious. It's called a bath bib and I am #1 upset that I didn't invent this thing and #2 upset that I didn't know about it. Such a simple thing, but in a day it has revolutionized our bathtime. Okay, that's me being dramatic, but yeah, I love the thing. We got an awesome green one with B's name on it (#monogrammingmommy). And after I figured out who sent it (LOL...that's another story), we put it to use. And whoa, how easy was getting my wiggle worm out the tub without being drenched. I'm telling you, this is a game changer for me. Love, love, love the thing. I am sure some smart mom somewhere invented this in a moment of frustration. I need to start doing that. It's just the small things. Welp, so if you're my friend IRL and you're expecting, you can just about guess what your gifts will be from now on. Registries be damned, this is the best!

Adding it to the list of my cool baby stuff!

Thanks Kurlylicious (and to Alanda now that I feel like I know who you are...thanks Dr. Google)!!!!!

The Baby Boycott

Okay, so no, before you get carried away, we are not boycotting baby B. Rather, he is holding a boycott of his own...against sleep of all things! I mean, isn't the saying something like happy sleep, happy baby? For us, it's more like little sleep, happy baby. So while he's still in an awesome mood and is still his charming self, B has decided that sleep is overrated. For the past few nights, B has been up singing and entertaining himself during the wee hours of the morning...like say 3am to 5:30am. To his credit, last night he did sleep from 11:30pm to 4:30am, ate and went back to sleep at 5am, but by 6am, he was up and doing the baby dance, ready for the day to start. Um, yeah, I have on two different socks today, we were late bringing J to school and baby, mamma is tired!

*I forgot to mention that this is our second week with the transition to B's crib. The bassinet wasn't working for the "beefy" boy anymore and since he exceed the 15 pound weight limit on the bassinet about a month ago, we decided that we couldn't push it anymore. Especially since when he pushed up on his arms, he was halfway over the top of the thing anyway.*

So alas, it's off to the crib and he likes it. He can stretch out and sleeps peacefully in it, when he sleeps. Even through this little phase (yes, I am saying it will be a little--ie short phase), it's still hard to get frustrated. Something about walking to the crib to try to get him to settle down and seeing those gums sticking out and happy that just makes you appreciate the moment. So we soldier on, with no sleep...with diet coke!

Thankfully J is a great sleeper, once he's asleep. He doesn't wake up while B is exercising his vocal chords! I need to go back and look at my journals from J and see what he was doing and how he was sleeping at 3.5 months. That may give me hope.

In the meantime, I am thinking I need to pull out Baby Wise again. We were doing so well on it and he was down to waking only one time a night. I don't know what happened. Dr. Ezzo, please come back to my rescue!!!

It's Official

....I am a t-ball mom! Now all I need is a minivan to complete the transition...NOT!

First t-ball practicen went well. J enjoyed it more than I thought, so now if we could get that whole hit the ball and run to first base and not third base thing down, we'll have a winner :).





B had some new fun all his own this weekend as he took his first few spins in his exersaucer. By all accounts, he loved it.

It Was a Little Struggle

...and it took quite some time, but I did it y'all...I put my jeans on :)....while at face value, that doesn't seem like a big deal, but trust me, it is! We all have THAT pair of jeans--the ones that have been with us through some of our craziest and most fun moments...the ones that comfort us and no matter what, just make us feel good. Yeah, those jeans...now I have to admit (full disclosure) that I am a jean hoarder...and not just any jeans mind you, but only the nice branded (read: too expensive) pairs. So I have a closet full waiting on my attention, ready to hug my curves, but one step at a time.

Now, I live for comfort clothes...sweatpants, yoga pants and leggings are my staples...and yes, I even wear them to work. But something came over me today and I just wanted to test out my jeans. So I am about seven pounds away from my pre baby size, but I was on a good track of loosing weight before I found out that B was baking in there. Anyhow, I wasn't naive enough to think that my Rock and Republics or my fav CJ by Cookie Johnson's were ready to make their debut on my backside. So I pulled my ole trusty fav pair...along with my sheer will, utter determination, a few beads of sweat and many wiggles and deep breaths, the jeans were on!!! Yay me. Score one for the home team! And after another few minutes and more of the aforementioned drama, I actually buttoned them and ventured out for the afternoon feeling a little bit better about myself and my added chunkies :)

So here's to the start of a good weekend! We've got a fun filled weekend on tap that I will update you guys on Monday. But first, I am hoping to sleep in tomorrow (send sleep vibes my way for B please).

Love and hugs!!,

16 Weeks Does Not Equal Four Months

We go from counting days to weeks to months and it can get confusing. I mean, B, right now, you are 16 weeks old, which in my book is four months, but you're still 3.5 months old. Crazy, right. I remember counting your life in hours and in what seems like only a few short days, you are growing into your own. You have the most awesome personality and are seriously the happiest baby I have ever seen. I mean, J was happy, but he had to study the world and take it all in, but B, as soon as anyone makes eye contact with you or talks to you, you turn on the charm and smile with your whole face. It's the cutest thing and you have actually started making faces now that make me laugh and don't make it so bad when you have a horrible night of sleep like last night. The crazy faces make the midnight, 4am and 6am wake ups a little more bearable...but let's not make that a habit, okay? Thanks!

All is well on the homefront and J is doing well in school. I was told by his teacher that he only missed two questions on his kindergarten readiness assessment test...TWO! And get this, those questions were meant for 2nd grade comprehension. Smart boy--we are so proud!!!! J doesn't know it yet, but this weekend will be his debut into team sports. Well, he's been taking swim lessons since before he could walk and is a little fish now and he's on the bowling team at school, but that's not the same. So J is the newest memeber of the Countryside Little League Rockies. I am so excited as I know he will love it. We will go to pick up his gear after school today! Pictures and videos to come soon, I am sure it'll be comedy.

That's all for now. I am glad this week is winding down, still lots to be done, but taking it all in stride :)