15 Things to do this Summer

Now that the warmer weather is here I have started to think about some things I really want to do this summer. I have one more month until I go back to work so I will be cramming a lot in before I go back. Thankfully I will have 3.5 days off so we should still have time to fit some things in.

15 Things to do this Summer

1. Get to the beach. You would think living at the beach we would go frequently, but not so much. It is quite the feat to get to the beach, especially with two.

2. Get frozen yogurt

3. Go to the aquarium

4. Have a water balloon fight

5. Go swimming

6. Watch fireworks

7. Go to the Splash Pad

8. Have a cookout

9. Go on a bike ride

10. Have a picnic

11. Go to the waterpark

12. Go on a date

13. Go to a baseball game

14. Make homemade ice cream

15. Play in the sprinklers

Now to get out and start making memories. I have to say I have the best crew to make these memories with. What is on your summer bucket list?

Life With Two: A Look at our Day

Lets just say life with two is definitely busy! I thought life with one was busy! I think the adjustment is the hardest part, whether you are going from 0-1, 1-2, 2-3, 3-4; you get my point. Finding that balance is key. We are 6 weeks in and I would say we are doing pretty good! Matt went back to work last week so I have been solo for almost 2 weeks. We definitely miss daddy but I would say things have been going well. He might disagree when he walks into a disaster but both kids are happy so I would call that a success. 

I have tried to get us back into somewhat of a routine to have some consistency again. It is going to change again in 6 weeks when I go back to work so we are taking things at our pace. Kinley has really been struggling with being away from me or going to do things like she did before. She loved going to her in home daycare and music class and she has struggled a little with both. She even has doubt when going to her Nanny and Poppy's house alone. I am not going to force her to do any of that so we have been easing back in slowly. It is working for us and she did much better at music class this week. 

By the time we get up in the morning Matt has already left for work and Zander usually needs to be fed; NOW He is pretty good at giving me a few minutes to get Kinley settled with some milk and her breakfast. We all sit down to watch a show or two while I feed Zander, drink coffee and Kinley eats breakfast. Once they are both fed I can grab a quick breakfast for myself. I made this oatmeal bake last week and it was so easy to have the next morning. I need some more recipes like this for when I go back to work because I know the mornings will be much chaos. 

Now that I have had one cup of coffee I can start thinking about our day. It really is nice to get out of the house even if it is only to the park. While I try to get Zander to nap I sit down with Kinley and do some kind of actviity; coloring, painting, stickers or dancing are a few of her favorites. It is important to me that I try to get some one on one time with her even when I have them both all day.  I try to get the dishes done or a load of laundry done in the morning also. Does it always happen...NOPE, and that is ok. 

We usually eat lunch around 11:30-12:00 at home. It is so much easier to eat at home and cheaper. I try to get Kinley to make it until 1 for a nap but a lot of days she doesn't make it that long and she is down by 12-12:30. She naps about an hour and a half to two hours. I hold Zander and relax a little myself on most days. He is so little and when I go back to work I know I will not be able to snuggle him as much so I am going to soak it up now. Even if that means my house is a disaster. Sorry babe!

After nap I try to get everyone outside. Sometimes it is to the park and other times it is blowing bubbles in the driveway. The weather hasn't been great so sometimes we just find things to do inside. She loves to play hide and seek so we have been playing a lot of that. Daddy gets home around 3:45-4:00 and takes over for a few while I try to get dinner prepped. We like to eat dinner with Kinley so I try to have dinner done by 5ish. After dinner Kinley runs around more like a crazy toddler and we do bath and pjs. We settle down around 7 for milk, snack and stories. She is in bed by 7:30 and we are working on getting Zander down too. Matt usually will hold him until we head to our room around 9 for one last feeding before I put him down for the night. 

Then we do it all again the next day. In the midst of the day I fed Zander on demand, which has been about every 2 hours still. It makes some activities tricky but we are making it work and I will be honest Kinley has been great. She is the sweetest thing to him and will help get diapers, wipes and his bink when needed. I sure am loving being a mommy to these two and wouldn't change a thing even on the worst days. 

Potty Training in 3 Days

I read a lot of blogs and articles on potty training and knew I wanted to try the 3 day method. I thought Kinley was ready to potty train months ago but every time we asked if she wanted to use the potty she would tell us no. About 90% of the time she told us she had to pee or poop before she went but never wanted to use the potty. Before we did the 3 days she had gone on the potty only a handful of times.

I really didn't have the energy to attempt to potty train her while I was pregnant, plus a lot of people told me that she would most likely regress after Zander was born. I have to say that was my excuse for not really trying.

Matt took off a month of work after Zander's birth so I figured this was the best time to potty train her. We were both home, we were basically confined to the house anyways with a newborn so why not try. I did not buy any books or follow anything specifically but I will tell you what worked for us. We basically took the 3 day potty training method and made it work for us.

Get your supplies ready. Lots of panties, a potty, some type of reward (stickers, M&Ms, smarties), an alarm and LOTS of patience. We decided to use M&Ms as Kinley's reward for going on the potty. She would get 3 M&M's for a pee and 6 for a poop. I wanted the reward to make it worth her while and I didn't think she would go for 1 M&M. For the first 3 days I kept her in her panties and a shirt. Nothing else and we didn't leave the house.

Day 1:

Kinley got up and we told her she was going to wear big girl panties and no more diapers. She was actually pretty excited. We told her she was going to have to go to the potty every so often when the potty alarm went off. I set my alarm on my phone every 15 minutes. When the alarm would go off we would take Kinley to the potty and try to make her go. She did really well with this and actually had a handful of pees on the potty on day 1. She did have a few accidents on day 1 but I was expecting nothing less. She did not poop on day 1 but that is ok. We did put a diaper on for nap and bedtime. She has never woken up dry from either so I was not ready to try that yet. We made sure she tried to pee before nap and bed.

Day 2:

She woke up dry! I was shocked. First thing was to pee on the potty when she got up. Then I set the alarm for 15 minutes. By the third or forth alarm on day 2 she was saying "potty time," when the alarm would go off. She did have two accidents on day 2 in the morning but one was my fault because I didn't make her try to pee before she went outside. She didn't have any more accidents the rest of the day. She even had a poop on the potty. After a few times in the potty she would tell us when she had to pee. We started to space out the time a little more in the afternoon since she was telling us.

Day 3:

She did not wake up dry like on day 2. We started to space out the time to 30-45 minutes but would constantly ask if she had to pee by watching her behaviors. A few times I would catch her doing the potty dance so we would get her to the bathroom right away. She did not have any accidents on day 3 and told us all day long when she had to pee and poop. It was amazing to watch her catch on so fast.

They say after day 3 you can leave the house but I was still a little nervous to leave and we didn't have any plans so we hung out around the house for another day. On day 5 she had music class and we needed to get to the grocery store so we ventured out. She did excellent. We made sure she peed before we left the house and asked if she had to pee when we got to our destination. She did try in the grocery store but she did not pee. She did pee in the car though, on the potty.

We made a big deal when she would pee or poop on the potty. Lots and lots of praise. Then like I mentioned she would get M&Ms. It has been a week and a half since day 1 and she had her first accident today. I still ask her randomly and watch her cues for when she gets too busy to remember. I am sure that is what happened this morning. We were trying to get out of the house and I wasn't paying attention and it had been too long since she went. Though overall I would say she has done pretty amazing to have had one accident in over a week. We have left the house several times with no accidents. We have had to turn around several times when we get down the street and she says she has to pee. One day we turned around twice and then pulled over in a parking lot for her to use the potty. Bring a potty with, it saves having to turn around to go home!

She still isn't waking up dry from nap or night and since she ends up in our bed every night I am not washing the sheets every day from pee. I wash them enough from night sweats, spit up or leaky boobs. That is enough for me.

She took to potty training pretty easily but I knew she was ready. We went into it with the idea if she wasn't having it we would quit and try again. She was a rockstar. I have to say it was definitely exhausting but so worth it.

Zander - 1 Month

Zander is one month old today. It really is unreal how fast time goes. It feels like yesterday when my water broke and we were waiting out contractions to welcome our sweet boy. His birth was nothing short of amazing and he is not disappointing us since his arrival. Did you really think he would. No way possible. He is the sweetest baby and we are enjoying all the baby cuddles every chance we get. Matt goes back to work on Tuesday so I will be flying solo trying to survive with two of them. Wish me luck!

We don't really have much of a schedule yet. I feed him on demand and he sleeps on demand. I was very strict with Kinley's schedule and if you've been reading you know that got us no where. Over all I have been more flexible and laid back this time. He eats every 2-3 hours during the day and then around 7:00pm when we are reading books with Kinley before bed and then I feed him again around 9-9:15 before we go to bed. He sleeps til about midnight or 1, then I feed him, change him and he goes back down again. The next time he gets up has been totally random. Anywhere from 3-5am. I change him again and he goes back to sleep until about 7-730am when Kinley gets up and we all must get out of bed. 

The past few nights he has been sleeping in the rock n play. We started with the pack and play but he seemed to be spitting up a lot when I lay him back down so we tried the rock n play. It seems to be working better but I am a little hesitant to keep him in there because we had a really hard time transitioning Kinley to flat. We might try the pack n play again.


Things he likes:

• Being breastfed and eating. We have not tried a bottle yet, though we will probably try within the next month since when he is 12 weeks I will be going back to work. Last time we used Tommee Tippee bottles and will try those again. 

• Being held and lots of cuddles. We are still holding him a lot during the day while he sleeps. It is so hard to put him down, though I am sure when Matt goes back to work that is going to have to happen a little less.

• His sister. Kinley is the sweetest thing to him; I look at them and my heart melts. She loves laying next to him in the morning when we all wake up, cuddling him and giving him kisses. 

• Bath time. We have only done a few baths since he has been home but he seems to really enjoy it. We have done bath with the both of them since Kinley always asks for him to sit with her. She dumps water on him so he stays warm. Did I mention she is so sweet to him. 

Things he does not like:

• Being changed. During the day he usually screams when we try to change his clothes. It is the saddest cry. At night he doesn't really cry when I change him but I do it between boobs so that might help. 

• Being Hungry. I am pretty good at knowing right away when it is time for Zander to eat. If I make him wait he isn't very happy. Who would be though right. 

This past month has been full of some challenging events and much love. Zander has been such a blessing to our lives and we are so overjoyed. Overall he is really laid back and has been a perfect fit to our family. We needed a little bit of laid backness (is that a word) in our lives after Kinley giving us a run for our money!

When Kinley was little I did a must have post for months 1 and 2 and looking back I have used everyone of them except the Ergo so far. I have used the Solly Baby Wrap many times and love that but am looking forward to using the Ergo soon. I would add Aden and Anais blankets to the list of must haves. I am obsessed with muslin blankets and you can never have enough. 

Happy one month sweet boy! We love you very much! 

Zander's Newborn Pictures

I can't believe Zander is going to be a month old this week. Where has the time gone!?? We didn't do newborn pictures with Kinley except for the ones in the hospital. They were good but nothing like the ones we had done for Zander. I do wish we would have gotten a few more shots of Kinley and Zander together, though I am sure I will have a ton of picutres of them together in the years to come. It is hard to narrow down my favorite ones but I would have to say the ones in his hat or the one of him and I. The hat is extra special to me since I made it for him. It is not perfect but made by mommy so perfect in my eyes.