Cora's Fishy 2nd Birthday

Our dear Cora is 2.5 years old now. Her toddler days are long gone, she has turned into a little girl right in front of our eyes. We did however celebrate her 2nd birthday, umm... 6 months ago... and I just had time to go through the photos! She looks so much smaller in these photos, just barely talking and looking so sweet. It feels like we just had her one year birthday- with lots of polka dots and turquoise... and now we are planning Henry's tree-huggin first birthday party, eesh...time flies. So here is her very fishy second birthday party.

I chose to do a fish theme, because fish are her favorite. We did blue and orange everything, not sure how I keep on choosing bronco colors- but unconsciously it happens. Nana and Papa Hamilton helped me to cut out blue and orange paper goldfish that I sewed together into a garland. Blue and orange balloons in sets of two. And Cora's favorite "2" balloon I wasn't sure if it would freak her out, being about her size- but she loved it.

Nana Pacotti made an adorable fishy cake. Pretend aquarium plants? Awesome. I had Matt drill some holes in a couple of plastic goldfish figurines from Michaels. Ta-da! Fish candle holders!

Lots of goldfish crackers in fish bowls, Swedish fish candies, mimosas and a super tasty sausage egg cheese casserole for this relaxing brunch birthday.

I couldn't find a fishy dress anywhere, so I sewed a cute little tunic out of goldfish fabric by hoodie. It turned out quite cute, however for all of the work I put into it- I'd much rather buy already made clothes. (She still loves it though, 6 months later...thanks cora for humoring me)

Cora found some fishing friends- Papa Bob and Uncle Kyle. This was a super cheap fishing set that you hook the plastic fish...quite challenging for a kid but fun, it was from Gordman's.

 ...and even more fishing friends. Even shark was invited to her fishy birthday and lion chillin' in the kids chair, soaking up some sun and chickie about to get into some chalk-fun.

She even managed to get Henry fishing with the help of Papa John. He almost caught a big one too!

 6 month henry... in his fish romper...relaxing post-morning nap, so sleepy.

She had so much love and tons of gifts from her grandparents and aunt Kelsey and uncle Kyle. It was a wonderfully relaxing birthday.

Happy 2nd birthday little sweets.

eleven months

Oh hi there world. This is Henry now... crazy right? What 5 months since blogging monthly will do. So Henry, you're 11 months old...almost a whole year. This past month I have just been trying to soak it in of how much our world has changed since a year ago. Truly unbelievable.

What you've been up to this past month:

• You can walk!! Right before you turned 11 months, you started walking. It made me so happy. I came home from work one early saturday morning and did the usual- ok henry...walk to me! and you did. You did it over and over again. You still won't take huge walking spurts where there isn't someone to catch you, but we love this milestone.
• Bedtime is still at 630pm every night, and wake up about 6am/7am. We have been trying this new idea to give you a bottle and change your diaper in the morning and hope for some more sleep- closer to when your sister needs to wake up at 8. Its about 50/50 right now. Otherwise high pitch excited screaming to get up out of bed. We are lucky that you are a good sleeper.
• You are starting to really play with your sister. You two are best friends, I can see it more and more everyday. (you also are each others only friends, but that's beside the point) You do this hilarious crashing on cora's twin floor mattress- she copies you, crashing and laughing over and over. 
• Every once in awhile we try to take you out to a restaurant. a family restaurant. It usually is a little more stress than its worth, but we will keep on trying. you have a hard time sitting still, just like cora- surprise surprise. We've got some active babes on our hands. 
• You have little stroller-walk-friends, a handful of other babes that were born around the same time as you from my work friends. I enjoy the company, you love walks so that is awesome. and one day you will really be able to play with these fun little people- I cant wait to be drinking my coffee- sitting back at the park watching you and Cora and friends just play without my physical support- only emotional cheering for going down the slide, swinging high, and finally being able to reach those monkey bars.
• You are overall a happy guy, you are quick to smile at us with your sweet little toothy smile. You love to be held, and kissed, and to laugh at us being silly. I appreciate this about you, trying to savor this baby time and I enjoy that you love me so.
• You are quite good in the store- in the boba carrier or in the cart. You dislike the car- just get antsy after a short while. Cora tries to talk to you in your language "dada dada dada! mama! " or she says "hand, henry!" and you reach over and you two hold hands with the biggest smiles on your faces. I almost pull the car over and start crying, you two are so sweet and so little.
• We love you Henry, our little Oaks. This is your last month as a babe... then on to toddler world.

recharge.

Life is beyond busy. If you would have told me a year ago that having one child was easy... I would have laughed, or cried... or both within the same couple of minutes because I was super pregnant a year ago. Life with two tiny kids is much more busy than life with one. But we survive and we enjoy it. 

But right now I am trying to figure out how to "recharge" how to revive myself in the most efficient way possible. Quite frankly I don't feel like I have enough time in the day to spend anything frivously...or selfishly. I give 100% to each of my kids, then the laundry, and vaccuming, and cooking, and shopping and almost rarely to dishes (sorry Matt). 

My kids are utterly fullfilling, I do enjoy every second with them, regardless of how exhausted I am. But I feel like I need to recharge and take some time to reflect so that I am more present with them, that I can fully understand how incredible life is. At the end of the day when Matt and I finally sit- I just think for a brief second... holy shit, we have two kids? How did that happen? Then we jump into cleaning, showering, cooking, sleeping and start the whole cycle again. What can recharge me? So I am actively trying out new ideas. I have about 0.5-1 hr of overlap in my sweet napping babes 4 days a week. I want to cry just thinking about this. How did we go from having 100% selfish married life to four 1/2hrs of free time weekly? Fuck. Anyways, I'm digressing. I am also not fully truthful.I work three days a week-pure work/sleep. Then four days a week we have nighttimes- Henry to bed at 6:30, Cora 7:30- so 7:30-11pm we have Matt & me time. So add on another 3.5 hours four days a week. That's it for my time with my spouse? Damn it. 

 Ok, lets be more productive.Some ideas: 

- dishes. I thought if I cleaned the kitchen and did dishes during collective nap time I'd feel refreshed, and have a clean house to enjoy and recharge. WRONG. This proved to be exhausting and only moderatly satisfying. Not recharged when henry started screaming from his nap. 

- gym. Well, I cancelled my gym membership because I was too stressed out paying for a gym that I never used. I can't honestly figure out how to budget in gym time. So I will just keep this post-baby weight for now. 

 - nap. Perhaps I should nap also. Well, a little 30 minute nap proved not to be restful at all. shocking. 

- crafting/sewing. I have some projects I want to do...I need to try this. I think I might be pleased, but I have to craft fast then clean up faster before my everything-in-the-mouth-hank gets up. This has inhibited me from even starting. I will get past this. 

- blogging. I'm doing this now... I feel great, but I also feel sad to realize that I have no free time. But I think this may work. I am a bit overwhelmed at how much I have to "catch up" on, having not blogged or taken any really nice photos of my kids with my fancy camera. But...I should forgive myself and move on. 

- date night. Matt and I need to carve out some date nights, like monthly. I always feel like I can't justify date nights, because we really are lucky that we have good kiddo sleepers. But we should do this, get us out of the house- force us to have adult coversation, even if we only talk about our kids. 

- family outtings. So like this picture at the top... family bike ride out to pizza. SO FUN. Sure henry may have been screaming for some minutes in there, but it was a blast, it felt like a huge accomplishment, and it was fun. It was a little glimpse of our old life mixed with a few new kiddos. We need to plan more little trips, vacations, out to dinner- venturing out of our safe routine-ridden house.

How do you recharge?! Have any suggestions??

---

28 months old....slowing life down.

So, I am making a serious effort to blog more. I miss it, I feel like our memories will just fade away if I don't write something, post a photo, take a second to reminisce. Life somehow got stuck on fast forward... and I want to slow it down, relish in the now. These kids are phenomenal little people, we are so lucky to have them in our lives.

Cora elm... I can hear her little hysterical laugh when I see this photo. Summertime. Slowing down life, taking time to play outside before bedtime routines, just us and water and laughter.

six months

(a post I forgot to publish a month ago...when hank was 6 months old)

Hey big boy, you're six months old! Our quality of life greatly improved in our house this past month. HUGE month. Sleep deprivation days are over, you are growing, and we love you more and more every day. Just like when Cora turned 6 months, we said we could have a whole slew of 6 month babes, this time in your life is no different. You're wonderful. Let the fun begin.

 What you have been up to this past month...

• You sleep through the night! Oh, henry. This makes us such happy parents. I thought it was going to be a fluke...but then it stuck shortly after you turned 5 months. You sleep 12hrs at night! We do a bedtime routine with you- dinner with cora, eating baby foods, bathtime, PJs and nighttime diaper, then a bottle. We put you down in your crib usually drowsy...and you flip yourself right over to your tummy and go fast to sleep around 6:30pm. Then you cry for us around 6:30am- take a bottle and about 75% of the time you take a nap after this bottle for another hour. Way to go hank! 
• You also just learned how to sit all by yourself, unassisted. You can't get to sitting without our help- but you can stay sitting. We love this independence. 
• You walk with quite determination in your walker. It is hilarious to us that you want to get places so badly. Oh, crawling will be fun someday. 
• You're just a happy dude. 
• You like to be in our arms, looking at the world. But you are learning how to be a little more content in a walker, rolling around on the ground, sitting, jumping...we appreciate this. 
• You don't mind the sun in your eyes- except for the consecutive and adorably cute sneezes, you aren't too sensitive to hot or cold, or bumps from your sister. 
• I took you AND your sister to your well-babe checks, 2 yr and 6 months. We had shots, and weigh-ins, and assessments. And we did it. Just the three of us. You did great.

two years

Oh Cora, how are you already two?! Two years?! Where did the time go? You are my big girl... you are growing so fabulously. You are an utter joy to be around so sweet, so loving, and so very smart. I don't think these twos are terrible at all, they are incredible twos. But we have sincerely loved every month (past month four!) with you. We truly cherish every moment and we try to take it all in knowing you won't be this tiny forever. I want to remember every tiny detail of your whole tiny being, you make us so incredibly happy sweet girl.

What you are up to now...

• You were slow to start speaking... but now you copy almost all of our words, and tell us what you want and what you see in your huge world. You still won't say cora or i love you...but that will be a fun milestone for the future. 
• You have nana and papa that love you dearly... times two. You are a very lucky little girl to be the first grandbabe around. Your grandparents are so thoughtful and endearing with you...to show you the coolest things around, take time to help you master new skills, and be sure to smother you with kisses and lots of love. 
• You are loved by others too- aunt telsee and uncle towel (kelsey and kyle) and aunt april and aunt ninni (jenni). The dogs nik-oles (nickles), emma, and tolbee (colby) and summit and gnarly and pepper are always fun to laugh and play with.
• en-ree! (henry) is your little pal. You say hi bud! or hey guy! when you haven't seen him for awhile...it melts my heart every time. You pat his head softly, bring him toys to play with, *sometimes* you'll even give him a kiss or a hug, but he pulls your hair so you are deterred from this. You love having him pretend chase you around the house- with our help or the walker. I really can't wait for you to have him as a playmate. When he is crying from waking up you say.. "ennree?! saad. bottle?!" then you knock with your sweet little fist on his door and squeal in excitement to see him. Then sometimes "hey bud, mistyou" (missed you). 
• You  like to give us hugs- "Huck!" when you hurt yourself or when you're going to sleep and kisses too. You also give your lion(s) hugs and kisses too. You rock lion in your arms and change their diapers, and "feed'em". You are a sweet little soul. 
• You are just now growing out of 2T clothes. The waist fits, because you're slender... but we think you are quite tall. You are quite a good eater too. You'll eat most everything, in front of the show cute little sea-show octonauts. Actually, henry likes this show too now. Every morning of your life you wake up and have warm milk- sometimes with a little vanilla (yummy milk..like from starbucks too).
• You have only had one minor cold in your 2 years and about 99% of the time you are a happy kid. Sleeping has been a breeze for you and us. You go to sleep around 7:30pm now (because we love our bedtime routine with you...we like to let it linger) and wake up around 8/9 am. You take one nap that might be dwindling from about 3 to now 2 hours long if we are lucky. You just like to talk so sweetly in your crib when you don't care to sleep...lining your "friends" up along the wall, or corners of the crib. You talk in your sweet sing-songy voice, content....never crying when you wake up, you just wait for us to come get you from playing with your stuffed animals.
• Bedtime routine has been a fun one. We bought you a twin size mattress for your floor- for daytime jumping with henry and nighttime book reading. You still sleep in your crib, no need to change a good thing. So you have dinner, take a bath (sometimes with henry too), then we put on PJs a nighttime diaper, brush your hair, then hop into your twin bed (sometimes both mom and dad too) and read the owl in the tree book and goodnight moon. You say "mush!!!" and "hush" when we get to those words. You point out the toe-see (cozy) mouse by the fire, and the rising moon... along with everything else in the book. We then tick-ole (tickle) your back and get toe-see under your quilt, with lions of course. We sing a few songs. And then a hug and a kiss and you're off to your crib, covered by two blankies. Routines. You love them, we love them. It works beautifully. 
• You think your dad is hilarious. He can always get you to smile and have a deep belly laugh. You are definitely da-dee's little girl. You like to go shopping with him at home depot buying "wood" always. He prefers to have you there too. From the pictures he takes of you two in the store... it looks like a blast, playing in the aisles. I can only imagine what a big guy like your dad and a tiny little curly blond haired clone look like in a hardware store...laughing and having fun. Quite sweet. You love the time you get to spend with your dad on the weekends- 100% dad time. Pretty special.
• You do love me too- "mom-eee". Usually when there is a choice between mom or dad to give you a bath, put you in your crib...you choose me. I don't make you laugh like your dad, but I do love you fiercely. I call you my little goose, or goosie. Not sure why, I've tried to break it...but I just can't yet. We get to hang out all day every day of the week, before I work the weekends. You are my little pal, my daughter. 

You are truly amazing. You amaze us every minute of every day. You are not a single bit sassy or grumpy or difficult or mean. You really aren't. You are wonderful, no sugar coating here. We are so grateful to have you in our lives, our sweet little cora elm. Happy two years.

little oak and big elm

um... this sweet face kills me. 

i will give you anything in this whole wide world dear little henry oaks, i promise.

One benefit from having nap times not match up... we get to spoil one kid at a time, pretend they are our only child for an hour. It is fun.

oh yes, your sweet face kills me too- i will give you anything and everything in this world as well, my sweet little cora elm.

five months

Five months? Now where has the time gone. I knew right around this time when you would start becoming a fun dude, time would start flying by- and it has. You are still fussy and not a content guy- but you are fun and you love the hell out of us. All you have to do is see our faces and you have a huge smile. You are doing really cool things and we love watching you grow up. So amazing, little guy.

What you have been up to this past month...

• Two teeth! Henry!!! You have two tiny teeth, front bottom teeth. Amazing. We thought you were teething, and were certainly grumpy, drooling and chewing on your hands...and then you sprouted two teeth. Don't be fooled by their tiny size, these are fierce, sharp teeth.
• You *occasionally* sleep through the night, like 12 hours. It's also amazing. It seems to be you have one good night of sleep, then one bad one. Of course nothing is really that predictable.
• You love to roll from back to tummy and tummy to back. You are quite proficient.
• We took the leap of sleeping you unswaddled...and it works for bedtime! Nap time we still need to constrain your arms for a longer, more purposeful nap. You were fighting that swaddle so much throughout the night, so we stopped, and it has been nice for you to soothe yourself as we muddle through cry-it-out method. 
• Your laugh is precious. You are most ticklish under your arms and chin. You also laugh with peek a boo or when dad scares you and says "I'm going to get you!" Cora also loves being spooked- so this is not new to us, you're just clearly one of our kids, it fits.
• You like to eat baby food at dinner and lunch. You weren't a fan of rice cereal, you like the tasty foods like carrots, bananas, squash, pears, peas even. 
• You just barely found your toes and can hold a toy for a little while to chew on. 
• Your skin is quite sensitive perhaps to detergents/soaps. You get rashes extremely easily. Perhaps its being fair skinned/redheaded...we shall see if you outgrow it. Your eyes are still a questionable color. You remind me so much of your sister, you are definitely siblings. 
• Going on stroller-walks are a blast. You can ride just like a big kid in the BOB, so we got a double stroller to enjoy this springtime.
• You love to stand and can "walk" as we hold your body. I can't wait for you to be able to sit up on your own, I have this suspicion that your fussies will go away as soon as you can keep yourself upright and watch the world.
• I kiss you and your sister's tiny feet every time I change your diapers.(yes, every time!) It's my way of slowing down time and telling you I love you dearly. I also kiss your little heads each time I take you both in and out of the car- I cherish you both so much. You are amazing little people and I know these days are fleeting. I savor every moment, I truly do. 

four months

oh, hi big boy.

What you have been up this past month:

• You are always chewing on your hands. Not sucking, chewing and drooling. We think you will be getting teeth soon. However, we said that with Cora for about a year until she got her first ones.
• You are sleeping for a 6-7 hour stretch at night. Sometimes it's a great night of sleep, others it's not so hot. Regardless though, you smile when you see us and fall back to sleep easily, I appreciate this. 
• We tried solid foods in the past few days- not a fan. I will keep on trying.
• You laugh! It's wonderful when it happens. You are ticklish under your arms and chin. You also think facial hair is funny- like dad and the grandpas. 
• You are mesmerized by Cora and all of her movements. She likes to jump on her bed with you and lay under your play gym. She turns on your obnoxious toys for you and shakes them so you watch. That's about it. More playing I assume later on.
• You are 16 lbs....and about 50-60% percentile in the rest. You fit into 6 month clothes. Not bad big guy.
• Definitely red hair. I think it's going to stay. Your eyes sometimes look green, sometimes blue. I think blue, your dad thinks green. 
• We like you a lot big guy, I almost forget what life was like with one kid. It took me 9 months to get used to the idea of having a son, and now I can't imagine it any other way. We are a nice little content family of four thanks to you.

three months

tickle those tiny henry toes cora.

Wow...three months old Henry! I have been looking forward to this month...knowing the newborn stage would be gone and done with and we would be able to start seeing your personality. And it's true. 

You're a keeper.

What you have been up to this past month:

• You are trying very hard to roll over. You can roll from your stomach to back sometimes... but now back to stomach is tricky. You are capable of a snaking movement that moves you all around in your crib/ground/any surface. That is why you have had two patches of red broken skin on your jowls. So much moving for those chubby cheeks.
• You just found your hands, now grabbing/swatting at things
• You like to talk/coo at just about everything. Its sweet. I swear you are close to breaking out into laughter. Soon I hope.
• You smile at faces.... I'd like to think particularly at mine-however it's not really true. Your big crooked smile is adorable and warms my heart. 
• You love watching your sister play. She likes to tickle noses with you, hold your hand in the back of the car and lovingly touch your head. I think she is used to you in her life now... actually we all are.
• You are capable of sleeping one 7 hr stretch at night- sometimes it happens, more often its about a 5-6 hr stretch...then up every 3 hours for the rest of the night. One great night, then two bad ones. You are growing like crazy so its no wonder your sleep is erratic.
• However you have adapted nicely to our bedtime routine we have with Cora. You take a nightly bath with Cora...splash your little chubby froggie legs, then we put on PJs, swaddle as tight as we can, give you a bottle and put you to bed around 7:30pm. You go down nicely...I'll give you that. Then wake up around 1 am...etc. At each nightly waking you eat, we change your diaper, and you go down smoothly. So thank you. We love routines.
• You outgrew the colic!! I hadn't even realized it with our whirlwind lives, but you are actually a cool little dude. You no longer cry your little head off just for the hell of it. I wouldn't say you're a content babe- but not colicky. Yay!!

end of maternity leave

so true...except now I have added scrubs back into my wardrobe (ie. work pjs)

We all survived... I am back at work! Maternity leave is over. And probably my last maternity leave ever. I had an extremely successful weekend back at work. I was afraid I would have forgotten everything having had 3 months off. But I didn't. It was like riding a bike. I even remembered my passwords! Matt did wonderfully well with the kids, of course. Daytime daddy fun days while I slept, and waking up with Henry all by himself throughout the night while I was working. People at work asked me if I was sad to be back, or missed my kids. Honestly... I was just fine. I was happy to be back at work. An excuse to leave the house, have adult conversation, feel like I am contributing a little more to the community....not to mention a full paycheck will be nice. I also enjoy my job as a nurse, so that's a good feeling. I knew Matt had it under control- with some help from grandparents too. I am not really cut out to be a stay at home mom. That job is much harder than going to work. So now our lives feel a little more balanced and back to normal. It will be more chaotic and I will miss spending family time on the weekends, but we are back to reality now.

sleep and lack there of.

Is it ok that all of my posts in 2014 are about coffee? Yeah, that's just how life is right now. I feel like I could drink coffee all day long, and still want more. The lack of sleep for matt, henry and I sucks. We are reminded of why we don't care for this baby stage, and how eager we are to start sleep training. We are trying to rack our brains as to what exactly we did with Cora because it worked beautifully.

The huge difference is that when Cora was born I had Matt quit his job to help with her. She was so difficult! Soon after her birth I graduated college, took maternity leave and matt was on summer break from school. So we had her first 3 months with both of us at home to support one another. I eventually went back to work and matt went back to school but we had each other. He was such an incredible stay-at-home and school-fulltime dad, we all loved it and I believe Cora thrived with our routines and lower stress levels.

Now, I am on maternity leave but matt works and goes to school fulltime. He isn't around to help me out this time around during the week. Which was inevitable...most people work, but it is more challenging for all of us. Matt also has a ton on his plate- so I feel for him as well. I go back to work in about a week... so things will only get trickier. It is imperative that Henry starts sleeping! Henry doesn't understand for some reason though when I tell him this.

But why does he insist on getting up every 2 hours at night?! Perhaps he is going through a growth spurt? Is it his 2 month shots? He maybe is just that hungry? Maybe he is hot? cold? Maybe he hates the swaddle? Maybe his belly hurts, too much gas? not enough gas? ahhh... being a parent is exhausting! So my "sleep training" google searches have started, I am scouring my stack of baby-sleeping reference books, and reading through my previous posts on cora's spud months of development. There must be a solution. Or maybe he just will grow out of it.

If my sleep deprived memory serves me right,

with Cora:
0-3 months: sleep was struggle, she could not be put down, she fought the swaddle every nap and night, screamed at us at all hours. She slept on our chests or bouncy chair. Matt and I took "shifts"- matt was up through the whole night with her while I slept, and I had her in the morning while he slept.

3-4 months: transitioned to an inclined mattress in her crib, slept maybe a 5 hour stretch? Started a modified babywise/cry it out method

4 months: stopped breastfeeding, started on rice cereal...slept a 7-8 hour stretch at night still swaddled, using cry it out method.

5 months: started sleeping 11-13 hr stretch at night with no swaddle

5 months- 20 months (now): sleeps beautifully about 13 hrs every night. she goes to bed laughing with us and wakes up sweetly talking to her animal friends.

with Henry:
0-2 months: sleep was not such a struggle, swaddled. Nap about 1-2 hours throughout day/night. Able to be put down flat in his bassinet. However cried a lot with gas/belly pains and constantly walking/burping/jiggling.

2 months- 2.5 months (ie. now): stopped breastfeeding, only formula. sleeps for a 3-5 hour stretch, then cries/feeds every 2 hours throughout night.

I guess we need to be patient. It's no wonder that we started thoroughly enjoying Cora when she was 4 months old- no more silent reflux, no breastfeeding, no sleep deprivation, smiling and laughing babe.... surprise, surprise. Things will get easier. Until then, more coffee.

mom of two, in 2014.

Hello 2014! Finally I feel like a mom of two. The kids and I got all winter-geared-up... wait... have you guys seen this clip from portlandia? Hilarious.

 

Anyways... I felt like that, we were all geared up, cora in the bob stroller, henry in the boba carrier and we walked to starbucks. It was like heaven to me, regardless of the 27 degree weather...we did it. The kids and I... alone... the three of us... and coffee.

 

 

Thank goodness for iphone photos and instagram, it's about the only way I have been able to document our lives in the past several months. No time for blogging, no time to process our new lives, and very little time to sleep. It has been a whirlwind. I have less than 2 weeks left of maternity leave, and it feels like a whole lifetime has just flown by.