Memorial Day

I have always had an appreciation for members of the military, but it has greatly increased since I moved to Ohio.  Pretty much all of our close friends are in the Air Force.  I have seen first hand the sacrifices that these men and their families make to protect our freedom.  I am so grateful for their service!

I saw a rant on facebook about the purpose of Memorial Day vs. Veteran's day.  They were saying that Memorial Day is supposed to be for people that lost their life during battle and not for just all military men and women.  While I understand that, I think it is the perfect time to thank everyone for their sacrifices.  I call my Papaw every Memorial Day and Veteran's Day to thank him.  This was the first holiday that I haven't been able to do that so my day felt a little incomplete.  I found this picture after his funeral and it may be my favorite picture of him!

Since we are in such a military based location, holidays here are done right!  Our church put on a picnic in the park for everyone.  Unfortunately the weather didn't cooperate and it was moved inside.  Part of me is glad because it was easier to keep Adelyn contained!  We ate a delicious brunch and they had some games set up.  I mostly just chatted with my friends though!

I love holidays and having an excuse to dress for the occasion.  I especially love red, white and blue outfits!  It is even more fun now that there are more of us to dress!  Travis is a good sport and plays along most of the time!

I tried to get a good photo of Adelyn, but this is what I got!  She is such a little goofball!  These pictures are totally her! I am pretty sure she was dancing and copying Travis' moves!

 

Lila is starting to smile on cue and it makes me so happy!  Her smiles make me forget about all her fussy times! 
 

Navy blue is one of my favorite color on my babies!  Maybe it's because it matches their eyes.  

 My sweet girls!

The rain stopped later in the day and Adelyn begged to go outside, per usual!  She loves playing with balls, drawing with side walk chalk, riding on her car or even just sitting on the porch.  I think we are going to live outside this summer!

 I just love this little girl of mine!!

First Bath

I knew that blogging would be much harder with 2 kids, but I didn't realize it would be this hard!  I am almost 6 weeks behind already!  Lila is not even 7 weeks old yet!

Almost exactly a week after she was born, Lila lost her umbilical cord stump and got her first bath.  It is so fun to look and compare pictures from Adelyn's first bath. Giving Lila a bath was much different!  First of all, we were a lot less scared about what to do!  This time we also had an extra helper!  Adelyn loved having Lila in the bath with her and 'helping' us wash her! 

Lila loved the bath at first!  She just sat there and watched Adelyn play for a while.  She was even chill as Adelyn piled washcloths and toys on her!

 Then Travis started washing her and she cried until she was swaddled in a towel in my arms!  She didn't scream bloody murder like Adelyn did though!

 It is much easier bathing a baby with no hair!  I also can't believe how big she is compared to when Adelyn was this age!  She has already chunked up quite a bit from when these were taken too!

 Poor, neglected second baby doesn't have any after shots with her all wrapped up like we did for Adelyn!  Things are so much different this time around!  If you look back at Adelyn's first bath, you can really see how different they look!

Motherhood

 Growing up, I always knew that I wanted to be a mom.  As I got older, my love for children grew.  I have always worked with children whether it was babysitting as a youth, being a nanny in college or teaching kindergarten as an adult.  I loved these children and learned so much from them.

 What I didn't know was that this love for children would grow infinitely more when I had children of my own!  I cannot put into words the love I have for my own kids!  I never knew I could love someone so much!  Or that my life would feel so complete with them in it!  They are my world and I would feel lost without them!

Miss Adelyn Jane made me a mom for the first time!  Travis says she will always be my favorite because of that!  She is the happiest little girl and makes me laugh every day (and pull my hair out some days).  She is really developing her own personality and has such a love of life!

She has taught me what it means to find joy in the small things!  She has taught me to laugh and have fun!  She has taught me to be confident in who I am as a mother!  Lately she has also taught me patience as she is going through a period of testing boundaries!  I love her so much!

 Little Lila is my cuddle bug!  I bonded with her a lot faster than I did with Adelyn.  She had a rough start and needed me all the time!  Right now I am her favorite person in the world and that makes my day!  When you hold her, she immediately searches for the perfect position to lay in.  She is my little angel! (This pic makes me laugh because she looks like a grumpy old man)

In her short life, she has taught me lessons that Adelyn never did!  She has taught me true patience when I didn't know what to do.  She has taught me to let things go.  She has taught me that I can't control everything.  She has taught me that I can do hard things.  Most importantly she taught me that my love really is multiplied and not divided!

The greatest thing about motherhood is watching your children grow and learn.  It is being there for them and being their biggest fan.  It is comforting them and teaching them.  It is about helping them see their potential!

One of my greatest joys is seeing my girls together!  Adelyn loves Lila soooo much!  When people come over, she takes their hand and leads them over to her seat to show her off.  I often find Adelyn cuddling or kissing or squeezing Lila's cheeks or sharing her toys/food or patting Lila on the head.  She loves being with her and being close to her.  She is the best big sister!

I am so grateful to be the mother to these two sweet girls!  They have helped me grow and discover who I am.  I hope to continue to have a great relationship with them and teach them how to love! 

 

I love this quote by Howard W. Hunter.  "Motherhood is near to divinity.  It is the highest, holiest service to be assumed by mankind." 

Adelyn's First Haircut

We finally gave in and had Adelyn's first haircut.  She was born with lots of hair and it has grown out pretty evenly so she hasn't really needed one until now.  It was starting to get scraggly on the ends so I thought it was time.  My friend Kera is a cosmetologist so I got her to come over.  She has given me the best haircuts in Dayton and I knew that I could trust her!

Adelyn's hair had been in a pony tail all day so here is a wild before picture!  I think she looks so cute wearing the cape!

  

Here it is brushed out.  You can't really see because her hair is the same color as the cape, but there are some random stray ends.  It has gotten pretty long for a 2 year old!

Making the first cut!  Adelyn wasn't quite sure what to think!

She looks sad, but really she was just overly tired! 

She sat so still!  I was super impressed!

Here is the after!  She has cute little layers and it feels so much healthier!

It wasn't as traumatic as I thought it would be!  Thanks Kera!!

Lila Photos-11 days New

A couple of weeks  ago, my friend Jackie came over to take some newborn pictures of Lila. She was 11 days new!  They turned out so sweet!!  This one is my favorite!  I love the color and her little lips!

 

I love babies in pastels!  They look so angelic!  

 I love tiny little baby bums!  She has such beautiful coloring!  She gets it from my dad's side of the family!  She is already as dark as me!

 Of course when we start taking pictures of Lila, Adelyn wants to join in!  This pose happens about a thousand times a day!  Adelyn loves her little sister!  She hugs and kisses her all day long.  I have to stop her from picking her up or squishing her while cuddling.  I LOVE their relationship and can't wait until Lila can reciprocate! 

  My little ham!  I have some pretty cute kids if I can say so myself!

2 Weeks

This little booger is giving me a run for my money!  Its a good thing she is so cute!

When I had Adelyn, I didn't feel overwhelmed with my new responsibilities (aside from breastfeeding).  I started babysitting before I turned 12 and I was a nanny several years.  Not much came as a surprise to me and I felt comfortable in my new role.  I was working so I didn't feel like I lost myself and I had plenty of "me time" with all of her naps.  Adelyn was also a very easy baby.  She slept like a dream and would just chill out any where I put her.

This little munchkin has been a little bit different experience.  From the time we decided to have another, I knew this time around would be harder.  I knew that "me time" would no longer exist.  I knew that there would be times that both girls would be crying and I could only help one at a time.  I knew that I wouldn't get to nap when baby naps.  I knew that I wouldn't be able to give both girls all the attention that I felt like they would need. 

 Overall I feel like we are all adjusting pretty well, but things are different this time around.  I now understand the "mombie." (mom+zombie)  Lila sleeps pretty well, but Adelyn has started waking up.  She is in her big bed now and is still adjusting.  She will wander into our room at random hours of the night ready to play and be up for the day.  Last night we were up from 2-4am.  I have to remind myself that she has had some huge changes to deal with too and that this is just a stage...hopefully.  Between Adelyn waking up and Lila needing to eat, I get hardly any sleep and feel exhausted...which leads to me having less patience and energy to play...which makes me feel like a lame mom. 

Lila also seems to be a much needier baby.  This isn't her fault though.  She is having some crazy tummy issues.  Every time she eats, she gets the worst tummy ache.  You can hear her tummy churning and smell the stinky gas.  She lets out the most pitiful cries that are sometimes non consolable.  I try everything to help her get it out and I keep eliminating things from my diet to figure out what it is that she is sensitive to.  It is so sad...and exhausting.  For now I just spend a lot of time holding and bouncing her because it seems to be worst when she is laying down.

Once we resolve this issue, I think things will get much better.  I can't imagine life without her at this point.  She is a very sweet and cuddly baby!  She is becoming more and more alert and I love seeing the relationship that is developing between these two.  We love our little Lila!

Sisters

 One of my biggest worries with having a baby was how Adelyn was going to react to the change.  The last few weeks of my pregnancy she was super clingy to me.  She didn't even want to go to Travis.  I was really concerned that she would hate the new baby and get really jealous!

I read all sorts of blogs and articles about introducing toddlers to newborns.  Many of them suggested having the newborn in the nursery when they arrive at the hospital and have the toddler go get them.  I wanted to do this so that I could spend a few minutes with Adelyn first.

Travis, Adelyn and my mom arrived at the hospital while they were doing rounds so the baby was in my room.  As Adelyn walked in, she had a really serious look.  I excitedly said hi and all she kept saying was baby while looking around.  I was sad that she didn't even care about seeing me.  She found Lila and got super excited!

Travis handed her over to me and put Adelyn up on the bed.  She was a little timid at first but was really intrigued.  She would gently touch her and say baby.

I asked if she wanted to hold her and she did, but only for a second.  I love how she is looking at me in this picture!

 She was so proud of herself and loved seeing her baby sister!

 Gigi(my mom) finally got a turn holding Lila.

 Adelyn loves to hug and kiss Lila.  She is the sweetest sister!  She has really proved me wrong in my worries. 

I already know that they are going to be the best of friends!

Welcome to the family Lila!