Goodbye, Summer!

Happy Labor Day! :-)

Once in a blue moon....

My little Bug is one today.

Then:

And now:

Where has this year gone? In some ways it feels like it has flown, and in other ways it feels like remembering life before Carly is impossible, like she has just always been here. She is the puzzle piece that completed this family, final baby that brought it all full circle.

She came into the world like a whirlwind in the wee hours of the morning of August 31st, 2011 - and has truthfully never slowed down the pace.

This girl is my little spitfire. She is her own girl - brave, impulsive, passionate, funny, adventurous. She isn't afraid of anything, and even at the tender age of one, it seems as if she already knows that this world is hers.

It is also very clear that she is going to make her mama's heart break more than a few times. She is fiercely independent - "no!" is he favorite word - and she isn't afraid of anything.

Loud noises? Who cares!

Climbing the stairs? Just call her Spiderbaby. (She climbs EVERYTHING.)

Biggest tube slide in the park? She pushes her (considerably more cautious) sister out of the way to get to it.

She is fearless. I admire that and hope that she keeps that trait as she grows older. It is not a trait she inherited from me, that is for sure. Those are her daddy's genes at work there. LOL

Tonight is a blue moon. We decided that only once in a blue moon does such a special little Bug turn one, so we filled her day with all of the things she loves - a play date with her cousin, King Callen; opening some presents; a new Little People zoo,complete with a zoo truck and a jillion little animals; a dinner of Happy Meals with a Julius the Monkey bracelet inside; a trip to the park to swing and slide down the biggest slide of all; picking a basket of red tomatoes from our garden; and getting to choose the movie we all watched together while we played some more with the beloved zoo . It was a special blue moon birthday for her, but we feel like it is only once in a blue moon that we get to share a first birthday with such an amazing little one year old!

Tomorrow is party day - all of Carly's friends and family are coming to celebrate with a "Carly in One-derland" soirée! I have been in party planning mode all week! I can't wait to see it all come together.

So Happy Birthday to my sweet little Bug. You are the light of our lives, baby. Everyday you continue to amaze us with how smart you are. You make us laugh with your little smile - twinkling brown eyes, wrinkled up nose, 2.5 little teeth - and we love everything about you. Keep smiling, tiny girl - this world has big plans for you.

Mama loves you, Carly Kate - to the (blue) moon and back.

Our Family: Phase Two (and a HUGE amount of pictures of how adorable we all are)

Before we had kids, I had visions of having three children in our family.  I come from a family with three kids - I am the oldest and only girl, and I adore my two younger brothers and the strong bond that we all share, so the number three seemed natural to me.

Before we had kids, my husband had visions of one little kid.  Being an only child himself, that is what seemed natural to him, I suppose - to me, it sounded lonely. 

As our relationship progressed, and we actually found ourselves becoming a family, we found a compromise - we decided that we would meet in the middle and have two, and that we would talk about a third one when the time came. 

Well, last summer, after Carly was born, the time had come to have that talk.

I think my husband was expecting me to really push the issue of a third child.  I think that he was prepared to have to put up a very weak fight and then give in at the six or eight month mark, at which time we would casually pass in the hall and have a third baby - because we all know that is what happened the last time. And truthfully, after our girls were born, he had sort of gotten half-way on the three kids bandwagon.  He loves being a dad and is so good at it, and we have seen how fast Haydie went from being a baby to thinking that she is the Queen of Everything - and he knew it was going to happen with Carly, too. 

The thing is this: that "three kids" bandwagon?  Yeah, I was no longer on that ride.  I started to waiver as soon as I laid eyes on my precious little CarlyBug, but bringing her home and going through a rough post-partum period and the transition from one kid to two sent me hurling myself straight into a spot in the "Two and Through" camp.

There was never any question in this house how we would make our place in that club permanent - my husband always said that he was willing to take one for the team and get the good old fashioned snip-snip.  He is a Renaissance man - he said, "I watched you have two babies.  It was horrible.  The least I can do is take a little bit of local anaesthetic and sit on my ass for a few days."

And to that I said, "Damn Skippy." LOL It is true - he witnessed me grow an eight-pound baby inside of me and then be pushed out in scenes that surely would have been Rated R for gore, language and nudity.  TWICE.

Sooo...

We went in last Friday afternoon and he did the deed.

And let me tell you something, ladies - my husband is awesome.  None of that whiny man-child business we all know that those with Y-chromosomes are prone to. He hasn't complained at all - not before, not during, not after. He declined the anti-anxiety medication they offer you before because he wasn't nervous.  He did this for me, and I love him to the moon and back for it.

The Diegel Baby Farm is entering into a new phase.  We are no longer in the business of making babies. We have gone into the exclusively baby RAISING  phase of our lives.  And it feels amazing.  Don't get me wrong, it is a little bit bittersweet, especially as we get ready for Carly Kate to turn one in a couple of weeks.

But this family just feels, well, COMPLETE. 

And now, as permanent members of the Two and Through Club, we buckle up for life with two feisty big girls running the show.  And maybe (after the "all-clear" is handed down from the doctor, of course LOL) I can pass my husband in the hallway - maybe I'll even let him hold my hand or something.   ;-)

Plus, look at what an amazing family I have.  How could I ask for anything more?

(These are all pictures off of my phone, so they aren't the greatest quality.  Sorry for that.  But they are honestly the pictures of our real lives, and that is pretty special.  <3)

look how Carly greeted her Dada when he came home from work today!

That's right - we have a WALKER!! Look out world!!

nursing a Bug these days isn't as easy as it once was!

See Hoot's new baby caterpillar?

What? You can't see that?

It's a tiny little pink caterpillar?
Eating carrots?
It came from Big R or CVS?
Sometimes it's a boy, sometimes a girl?
Occasionally goes by the name of Baby Cinderella?
It is "reweee tiny and sooooooooo cute"?
You still can't see it?
Just use your imagination - she is.  :-)

Howdy, Stranger!

I haven't posted in a long while.... 

We have been busy.

I have taken up canning, and I am growing quite adept at making small batches of deliciousness.  I have put up some Habenero Pickled Beets, some BBQ Sauce, three flavors of applesauce, strawberry syrup, Mango Habenero Jam, and three kinds of Apricot Jam - Vanilla, Rosemary, and Habenero.  I am so proud of my pantry full of jars and can't wait  to see what's next.

I have been sewing a lot - making dresses and purses for Hayden and little ruffled shorts for the Bugster, some little sunbonnets.

 I have really been enjoying it and have even sold a few things to friends.  (You can see more pictures and message me to place an order if you want something, too.  Just visit www.facebook.com/PaisleyKateCreations or email me  at paisleykatecreations@gmail.com.)

We are growing a little garden out back and Garrett has been super busy out there.   I will try to post some pictures soon of the progress.  I am so excited to harvest the bounty of produce later this summer!! :-)

And, most importantly, I am growing two amazing little girls.

Aren't they precious?  They are dancing in this picture.  Hayden has a hard time remembering that Carly can't walk yet when they do this and she has a tendency to just take off and leave Buggy to just tip over.  LOL Poor Bugster.

Hayden  is quite the girl.  She has more independence and spunk than anyone I know.  I often forget that she isn't even 2 1/2 yet and it can be hard to be patient.  She is OBSESSED with Strawberry Shortcake these days and would seriously watch the same one over and over and over without a break if I let her.  She loves her sister, but is starting to find her annoying (get used to that, Sis!! lol) and she loves her puppy and her new swing set.  She is becoming quite a big girl. 



Bug isn't exactly little anymore either.  She is a busy lady at 9 months old, with things to do like bothering her sister and saying a few words (mostly Dada and "Whoa!!" - SO CUTE!) and climbing.  Child can't even walk yet and she climbs everything - the scary truth is that she can make it up the stars before i even know she's gone.  She is a little Mama's Girl through and through, and can be downright clingy at times.  She has two little teeth on the bottom and her hair is getting long - but only on the top.  She is beginning to resemble "The Donald" with her comb-over. LOL

And then there is this one, who I basically have to add a picture of because she is just too damn cute not to:

It's true - it's pretty much cute over-load around here!!  LOL

So that's the last month in a nutshell.  I haven't abandoned the Blogeshpere, everything has just been busy - and I can't say I mind. :-)



Busy Little Buggy

Look how big and smart and sassy my Bugsteroni is these days:

She will be 8 months old next week and she already crawls all over the place (has since 5.5 months), pulls up on EVERYTHING (started that at 6.5 months), and cruises along all of the furniture.  These skills are coming in very handy in her efforts to bother Hoot, get into all of Hoot's stuff, open drawers in the bathroom and the kitchen, pick keys off of the keyboard of my laptop, and generally helping herself to lots and lots of trouble.

She also has a temper like no other - and HATES being told "no".  She likes to pinch me while she is nursing, and when I say, "NO.  NO PINCHING." she has a total meltdown and tries to pinch me more.  Stubborn.  Just like Daddy.  ;-)

Her favorite foods are strawberries, cheerios, scrambled eggs, graham crackers, hummus sandwiches, yogurt, and toast - but that is all a distant second to the boob.  This kid LOVES the boob. LOL  (And don't even think about suggesting that she eats baby food.  That crap  is for BABIES, after all. LOL)

Her favorite toys are mostly ones that belong  to Hoot, but she likes her ABC train and her little stuffed Llama Llama Red Pajama, too.  She is a little thinker, and any toy you give her, she studies and looks at and inspects down to the very last detail.

Her favorite thing on Earth? Her sister, of course.  She idolizes Hayden.  She watches everything that her sis is doing like a little hawk, taking notes, wishing for the day that she is old enough to do the same things.  One of her biggest sources of frustration?  Her sister, of course!  Hayden doesn't like to share her My Little Pony toys with Bug, Hayden can run and Bug can't, Hayden eats things like apples and Bug can't.  She screams at the top of her lungs.  Being the baby sister is HARD. LOL

<3 this baby (who is clearly not going to stay a baby for long) to bits!!  :-)

"I hope someday you have a daughter just like you...""

My mother used to say this to me all the time.

Well, I think she may have gotten her wish.  Maybe times two.  It is still to soon to say about Carly, but one thing we know for sure:

                                               My oldest is my little Mini-Me. 

Bossy. Chatty.  Sensitive.  Stubborn. 

Doesn't miss or forget a thing.  Like seriously - the hearing of a wild dog and the memory of an elephant.

Loves Sesame Street, Muppets, My Little Pony, Strawberry Shortcake, making a good crafty mess, and chocolate.

And those big blue eyes??  The ones she uses to work Daddy? 

                                                                      Yeah, those are mine, too.

We have a quilt that my mom made for me on my second birthday, 28 years ago.  It has Strawberry Shortcake on it - the original SS, not the cute trendy one we watch daily on The Hub channel. Hayden has recently decided that she likes that quilt. A lot.  She hauls it all over the place.

This morning Hayden and Carly were playing around with the blanket.  All was going well until Hayden noticed some spit-up in her sister's mouth.

Well, Hoot has this issue - which, incidentally, she also inherited from yours truly.  We are sympathetic pukers.  We see puke and we join in.  We cannot help ourselves.  After many years of life as a sympathetic puker, I have learned to control it. 

 It usually takes a full-on barf to make me gag. 

Or the sound  of someone barfing.

Or a super scary diaper. 

                                                                                      Or dog poop.

             

(Okay, maybe I am in the wrong profession. LOL)

But my poor little Mini-Me - she gags at the smallest sign of anything.  Spit-up, slobber, snot, a tiny dab of poop in a diaper.  This is an issue when you have a pukey, slobbery, snotty, pooping little baby sister around. 

Usually, she just gags.

But this morning, the sight of that spit-up in her sister's mouth was too much to bear.  She saw that spit up and she gagged and barfed. (Yes, this is where I started to gag, too. LOL We are a mess.) It was just a little bit, but to her horror, she barfed on the coveted Strawberry blanket. 

I assured her (while gagging and thanking God that it all landed on the blanket and not on her or her sister or the carpet or whatever) that it surely wasn't the first time that the Strawberry blanket had been puked on and we would just wash it. 

So I stuck it in the washer.  

Which lead to another one of my traits surfacing -

she cried because her blanket was in the wash. 

I was a hardcore blanket baby myself, and I have vivid memories of standing by the washing machine/dryer, like a total sad sack waiting for my beloved blanket "Sam" to be clean.

            Just like this:

She is not happy with me.  Strawberry with be clean in no time, but when you are two, it feels like forever.

I know this to be true, Hayden, because I have been where you are.  I too am a gagging mess who has clung to the side of a washing machine waiting forever because my mean old mom cared more that my blanket was clean than I did. 

And, you know what, little Owlet? 

 I hope that someday,

 

you are lucky like me

 

and you have a daughter

                                                                                       just like you. :-)

The Mom Games

My cousin Erin has a little boy who is exactly 11 weeks older than Bugster.  She is a teacher, but when the school year is over, she is starting a new chapter in her life - she is joining the ranks of the Stay-at-Home-Moms.

She is a little nervous about this new beginning.  We have had many conversations about "learning to be a SAHM" - Erin is a woman who loves structure and she is worried that she will not know what to do when she heads into the unknown. 

This week is her spring break, and it is like a trial run for her.  We have been texting back and forth today about different things and a little bit ago, we had this conversation.



Erin:  I'm playing a game right now I thought you might appreciate. Is this what SAHMs do? It's called "WTF is In These Frozen Containers?"  I am trying to clean out the freezer and I am having a hell of a time figuring out what are in these! Argh!

Me: Ugh.  That is a game that I haven't played in a while but probably should.  It is usually followed by a game of "Why the Hell Did I Save This In the First Place?"

Erin: Yes, that happened a few times during that game.


This got me thinking of some other "games" stay-at-home-moms play.

Here is a few I came up with:

"Name That Stain" This is pretty self-explanatory, really.  But whether it is something weird on the carpet, on a onesie, or on my comforter, I play this one every single day.

"Who the Eff Did THIS?!"  This is a game I play a lot too - like when I walk into the bathroom and see that someone has unrolled the entire roll of toilet paper. Was it Hoot? Bug? Tilly?  Who knows.  Other times, the answer is glaringly obvious, such as, "Who the eff smeared baby lotion all over the windows in the dining room?" (Hayden) or "Who the eff crapped in the entryway?" (usually Tilly) or "Who the eff emptied a bowl of popcorn all over the living room carpet?!" (Hayden again) or "Who the eff shredded a magazine all over the place?" (this one has a Bonus Round where you check the mouths of the puppy and the baby to determine which one did it. LOL)

"Who's Poop is This?"  This game is similar to the one above, but it specifically involves finding poop. LOL

"Pennies to Payday"  The object of this game is figuring out how to feed a family of four and diaper the one that isn't potty trained and whatever else pops up (like a desperate need for a bottle of wine at the end of an especially long day) during the last few days before we get paid - with something like $12.50 in your bank account.  :-/

"Supermarket Sweep: Moms Edition"  Thirty minutes to nap time - will she be able to run into the store, get everything she needs, spend less than the allotted $12.50 mentioned above, and not kill her cart full of kids - ALL BEFORE THE YOU-KNOW-WHAT HITS THE FAN??  Stay tuned!

"What's That Smell?" I bet you can figure this one out all on your own.

"Whisper in a War Zone" In this game, everyone around you makes as much noise as they can while you try to listen to something important.  On the phone? Something you want to see on TV?  Try to decipher what is being said - while the baby cries, the toddler runs around screaming or has a tantrum, the dogs bark, your husband tries to tell you about his day or ask you ten thousand questions, and the house basically falls in around you.  All calm returns as soon as you hang up the phone or the thing you wanted to see on TV is over.

"Family Feud: The Baby and Toddler Edition"  Unlike the traditional Family Feud, this one is a game of endurance.  Basically, you get in the car with one or more crying children and your spouse, usually for a long distance trip.  As the children scream, your sanity begins to waver.  Knowing you cannot be angry with a small child for crying in the car, you will soon be angry at your spouse.  Soon, you will feel like either murdering one of the other passengers in the car or hurling your own body from the door of the moving vehicle.  If everyone arrives at the destination alive AND you are still married, you win.  (This happened to us once in a bad way when Hayden was about 4 months old.  In Hawaii.  It was terrible.  We still look back at that trip and shudder.  Survey Says?  This game is not for sissies.)



These are just a few of the things that keep me "entertained" daily.  I am sure that I missed some.  And I am sure as kids get older, the games change.  Enlighten me - what are someof your favorite Mom Games??

Why is it that

just when I think that I might get a few good shots

with two smiling kids

and the world's cutest little dog

all looking at the camera and smiling,

does someone get some crazy idea

to ruin it with a monkey face??

LOL!!!!!!

i love these girls to bits.

just in case you didn't know.

;-)



One of those days.....

I am posting this from my phone due to a sparking PC charger (like popping and catching my house on fire - wtf?), but I have to share my day with you.


6:30 am: Hoot wakes up raring to go, screaming and yelling, mad that her breakfast isn't ready and that the puppy wants to play with her and about a zillion other things.

7am: Bug wakes up looking for her breakfast, too.

7:15 am: As Bug is nursing away, TillyPug pees on our comforter. Okay, I'm up.

8 am: Garrett goes to work. I am relatively certain he was smiling as he left and thinking, "Sucka!" as he drove away. He may have even peeled out a little. LOL

9am: Everyone has been crying, demanding things and whining for three hours now. Awesome.

10:30 am: Hootie makes Buggy a snack while I go to the bathroom.  No, I did not ask her to. :-\

10:31 am: Buggy is happy to spread and smash a salad bowl full of Cheerios and Goldfish all over my freshly swept and mopped floor. I am not happy to clean it up.

10:45am: Kids finally get dressed and get hair combed. I send Hayden outside. My patience is waining.

11am: While I make lunch, Hayden plays outside the backdoor with her sand table. The backdoor is wide open, so I can hear what she is doing and let some fresh air in.

11:02 am: Blood curdling screams. She has slipped and hit her lip on something. We clean it up, and ice it.... but it doesn't prevent the mega sized fat lip from happening.... (Also, she is so tough. She hardly cried. I wish I could claim the same.)

11:05 am: While I try to find the BooBoo Buddy in the fridge, my neighbor Barb comes over to see what the screaming/me yelling, "Oh my God! Holy crap!" about was. We assure her that everything is fine. I turn around and Bug is pulling herself up in the fridge (she has never pulled up before - she isn't even 7 months old for crying out loud!!) And trying to help herself to an orange.

And that all went on BEFORE NOON.

I love my kids... I love my kids... I love my kids.... I love my kids... *sigh* is it naptime yet?