The Kristen Treatment

So this is my adorable sis-in-law, Kristen (the same one singing in the walls of sound post)…

Yesterday, I got the Kristen treatment.  She’s a hair school rockstar (at Capri College in Davenport if you’re looking for a new stylist).  She went crazy on me…cut, color, extensions, and even make-up!  This mama was feeling preeetty for the first time in a while.  Even pretty enough to allow her and Jason to take snap some pics (without covering my face or rolling my eyes) while we played with the kiddos in the yard. 

Hope everyone is having a great weekend!

two months!

Homie is officially two months old today!  It seems like we just met him, but yet it feels like I’ve always known him, like he was always meant to be... we decided to take some pictures during bath time (which he totally loves).  I can't get enough of the bath time grins, the way he keeps his soapy hands curled up to his chest, his post-bath-fuzzy-little-chick hair, the smell of a clean, snuggly buddy...ahhh, bath time.  Hope everyone has a wonderful weekend!

Obsessed

Maybe my itch to start some redecorating projects has something to do with feeling fall approaching, maybe it’s all the time I’ve been spending at home with my babes, or maybe it’s my newest addition to our DVR series recordings (someday, when I’m ready to admit how many guilty pleasure shows I record, I’ll list these).  I’m completely obsessed with the Picker Sisters on Lifetime. 

                             

New episodes air on Tuesdays if you’re interested or you can check out the Lifetime website for pics and some past episodes.  They also have a section of “Picking Tips and Tricks.”  Here’s an excerpt that I absolutely love…this is how I feel about decorating.  I constantly try to tell myself that you can’t go wrong by filling a room with things you love…and to take a page from my mama's sweet decorating style manual.

10. The Only Opinion That Counts Is Yours — Your home is your castle, and you are the master of your own decorating domain. Your living space is your refuge and your solace, and really needs to make only one person happy and comfortable: you (and your family, and possibly your roommates, but you get the drift). Your taste is the most important; don’t worry about trends or what your friends’ houses look like — unless you want to. It’s all up to you. Design, like art, is subjective, so there are no right or wrong answers. Have faith in yourself and be confident — you know what you like. Create a space as unique as you are, and we guarantee there will be nowhere you’d rather spend time than in your own home sweet home.

Maybe I’ll have to ask my mama to take me into some old barns again…and I promise to be less scared this time.  J

The Ultimate Reward

Thank you, Hy-Vee, for your kiddie cart.  This cute little contraption has become one of our go-to rewards.  I tell you what, a trip to Hy-Vee might as well be a vacation to Disneyland.  We turn the corner and she proclaims with a gasp, “Wook!  I see duh Hy-Vee!”  The kiddie cart is the cherry on top.  Big girls use kiddie carts, as long as big girls listen or help clean up their toys or really whatever it is we’re trying to get her to be better at.  Look out Hy-Vee shoppers, when Addy’s had a good day, she’s on the loose.  She bounces around the store, grinning at everyone, proclaiming, “I have a kiddie cart”, she loads it up as we instruct and loves to empty it on the conveyor belt.  She watches proudly on her toes as the cashier scans our items and waits for them to hand her the receipt.  She happily puts the cart back for another big kid to use it.  It’s magical.  The other day as we were leaving the store, the sweetest woman saw her dancing and bouncing with her cart as we were on our way out.  “That one is going to have lots of confidence” she said to me.  I smiled back and said, “We sure hope so.  That’s exactly what we’re going for.”  J

-Other highlights from our past weekend-

Cohen had his first date with Miss Brenleigh (she is exactly one month younger than him).  It turned out to be much more exciting for us than for these party animals…

(Thanks Stevy and Auntie Lauren for bringing this lil’ cutie over!)

I let Addy choose two colors of nail polish at the store.   She chose pink for herself and “bwoo for dad.”  The clerk and I had a good laugh as she repeated that Addy was going to have pink toenails and dad would have blue.  He played along.  Did I mention that he’s a good sport?

We had our first family pictures including Cohen taken by Ann Steward too.  I’ll be sure to post them in a few weeks when she’s done…can’t wait.  He wasn’t the happiest baby for them, but he is still melting my heart with these smiles.  Seriously, I have about 50 of these pictures.  Same face, just a different outfit.  I’m in love.

Gusto!

There’s something magical about going to the park first thing in the morning (I’m talking like 6:30 am).  It’s cool outside.  The slides have just the right amount of dew on them to make them the perfect speed (as opposed to the hot and sticky slide on bare legs, ya know, when you have to go down it like an inch worm, making fart sounds all the way).  But the dew isn’t enough to soak our clothes.  We have all of the equipment to ourselves…there’s no “we have to wait for our turn on the swing, honey” (although I of course understand the value in that).  I can leave CoCo in his carseat at the bottom of each piece of playground equipment, without any fear of some psycho snatching him up.  This means that I actually get to play with her, not just watch from the sidelines.  And best of all, we’ve started off our day with gusto.  We’ve created an energy that will carry us through the rest of our day (even though my knees feel like I’m 80 years old from crawling through blue plastic tunnels, with a giggling little gal).  J

fun times...

On Saturday we went to a pool party thrown by our friends, Brad and Joni.  We got to meet their new addition, Kenzie.  It was my first time being able to really swim with Addy this summer (I was hugely pregnant and then it was too close after Cohen’s birth).  I think Jason was relieved to sit this one out.

 Poppy and GiGi got in the pool with Miss Thing too...she had a blast and has informed me that we’re going to “Kywa’s house” a couple of times since then (Kywa = Kyler, Brad and Joni’s fricken adorable son…who happened to just start kindergarten…I could cry just thinking about kindergarten).  Joni, if you’re reading this, Kyler is one cool kid, you guys have done an awesome job.  I hope you don’t mind me sharing a picture…I hope Cohen is a smart, adventurous little guy like him someday.

Addy loved the diving board (no worries, Poppy was catching her).

Homie of course sported his suit, even though he didn’t get in the pool.

We continued to enjoy the awesome weather with a trip to the zoo on Sunday.  It was brother’s first time (outside of the womb)!  He even got to ride on the train!

Addy fed the giraffes for the first time on this trip.  She was the only child I witnessed taking a huge bite out of the two Romaine lettuce leaves they provide you.  I was so distracted frantically pointing it out to Jason and laughing at her that I didn’t get the best pictures. 

I decided to opt out of the screened-in garden where you feed preeeety birds to stay with brother and the stroller.  Good choice.  It was attack of the freaken Lorikeets in there.  Seriously.

Addy got to ride on her old friend Snowflake again (and she remembered his name lol).

She fed the huge nasty fish like the ones in the pond in front of the Deere and Company corporate office.  I remember feeding them as a kid, sure that if I fell in, they’d suck me up into their huge mouths in one slurpy gulp.  Sister isn’t scared.

She made sure to tell us that “they need to rinse off” this llama.

There were of course elephants and carousel rides…

I found a shady spot to sit on the cool grass to nurse Cohen, while Addy ran circles around us, pretending to be a zebra.  It was just a nice day.  I love holding this chubby little hand…

And of course, you have to have an Elvis lip when you’re sporting a t-shirt with a guitar on it.

I hope everyone else had a great weekend with at least one of those moments that makes you stop to draw in a deep, thankful breath.  Love.

Caught In the Act!

A couple of posts ago, I mentioned Addy’s newfound fixation with taking off her clothes.  I had to share this quickly and tomorrow I’ll post about our busy weekend…

As I was cooking dinner last night, Jason came in… “You have to see this, ReAnna.”  We snuck up to her room and witnessed her emptying her pajama drawer, with a pair of pants tied around her waist, over her clothes.  I went back downstairs to grab the camera and came back to this – she apparently decided the clothes under her new outfit, just weren’t going to work for her.  Look how proud she is of herself!  Did I mention that we need to buy some dress-up clothes?  J

Four Years

Jason snores.  He likes the TV volume to be deafeningly loud.  He cracks jokes when I’m stressed out and trying to vent to him (do you know how hard it is to be mad when you can’t keep a straight face?!).  Sometimes we fight, and we both love to win (which, you may be surprised to hear, doesn’t exactly work).  We are opposites in lots of ways but similar in the ways that really matter.

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Most people probably don’t remember what they were doing four years ago today.  I do.  I woke up in a dark hotel room to the sounds of an air conditioner humming and a group of ladies’ slow, sleeping breaths.  It was before 5 am on the day of our wedding.  I laid awake, waiting for my bridesmaids and our mothers to stir.  I giggled and squirmed, anxious for what the day would hold. 

That afternoon, we stood in front of our friends and family in this chapel, not knowing what our future held…just knowing that we wanted to share it.  These four years have been the happiest years of my life.  And I’m looking forward to many more.  I love him.  I love the way he loves Addy and Cohen.  I love the way he loves life.     

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We walked away from that chapel not knowing how truly blessed we would be. 

In case you missed it, I love you, honey.  Happy Anniversary to us.   

We've got a case of the...

six week smiles!  I’m not talking about mid-sleep, gas bubble smiles…I’m talking about eyes lit up, grinning and cooing at mama (and dada and Sister) smiles!  Yay for the beginning of many more milestones to come.

(This isn’t the best picture.  He was starting to lose the smile by the time I was able to get the camera ready!) 

I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend.  Ours was full of good times with friends and family, but unfortunately not too many photos…I promise to do better this week.  J

Tidbits

Happy Friday to all!  I have a couple of interesting tidbits to share this morning (OK.  Fine.  They are probably only interesting to Jason and me, but I’m going to share anyway).  First tidbit - this guy slept a record 7 hours straight last night!  I don’t think Addy did that until she was 4 months old!  I’m sure it was just a fluke, but he pretty consistently sleeps 5 hours straight each night.  I’ll take it!  Of course, a nervous mama couldn’t sleep 7 hours straight, and neither could her milk-makers.  There’s nothing like waking up in a puddle!  J

In case you couldn’t tell, I’m sort of obsessed with putting him in outfits with hoods.  Much like Addy is obsessed with taking off all of her clothes all day long, to try to either put them back on by herself or to put them back in her dresser so she can wear something new.  I think it’s time for us to buy some more dress-up clothes.

Other tidbit – this is how Sister eats her apples.  You’d think she doesn’t like them, not the case.  She asks for apples whenever we have them.   She chews all the juices out of them and then spits out the remaining skin.  She never ceases to make me laugh. 

Hope everyone has a wonderful weekend.  We’re looking forward to swimming with friends, a concert for dad, and another fair on Sunday!