houston we have a problem...

Meet our friend the swaddling blanket. Well, it used to be our friend. When Bryce first came home from the hospital he didn't sleep well. Not counting the fact that he had to be fed every 3 hours because of his weight and his jaundice, the only way he would sleep is if he was laying on someone (me specifically) or in his swing, occasionally he would sleep in his bouncy seat, but he never wanted to just lay down and sleep. When he was 8 weeks old we bought 2 of these, one of them is this exact one in fact. The first time we wrapped him in this and put him down he slept through the night...at 8 weeks. I was sure that it was a fluke, but we continued to put him in it and he continued to sleep through the night. Everything was going along just fine until a few nights ago. See this blanket has become too small for him. The "weight limit" is 14-15lbs, which by now Bryce is probably over, and his legs are starting to get scrunched in the bottom. And the biggest thing is that he can get himself out of it in about 5 seconds now. They have larger ones, but I am hesitant to buy them, because realistically we can't keep him in one forever. Last night he woke up 5+ times. Not the kind of wake up but he just needs his pacifier and he's back to sleep....oh no, he is wide awake at 3am! What the heck is going on here? Bob ended up feeding him a bottle at 3 because I couldn't function anymore. The kid hasn't had a bottle in the middle of the night for 4 months! I do realize we are extremely lucky to have as many sleep filled nights as we have, but that doesn't really take away from the fact that I am really tired this morning.
Goodbye swaddling blanket, we have loved you, but now if you could just leave quietly and not wake the baby no one will get hurt! (told you I was tired :)

outside...

So, we've been spending a lot of time outside these days, either in the yard, at the park or just taking walks around the neighborhood. (Hence, the lack of posts lately) The kids love being outside and it fills our day so much more productively than sitting in the house watching TV. I'm uploading a bunch of pictures to the shutterfly account, but here are a few of my favorites from the last few days.

Hope you are all enjoying the beautiful weather we are having as much as we are!

graduation and birthday parties...

Last Saturday we headed downtown to attend Mary's law school graduation from Loyola. It was a beautiful mass and a wonderful ceremony. The kids did really well during the whole thing, mostly because they were so excited to see Brian and Mary I think! :) (side note...Lovie Smith was also at the graduation, apparently his son's girlfriend was graduating. He sat a couple of rows behind us!) Congrats Mary, we are so very, very proud of you!

Sunday we had two birthday parties to attend. The first was Brianna's little friend from daycare. Brianna was sooo excited to see her friends and as icing on the cake the party was at the Painted Penguin so she got to paint as well. Pretty sure that was one of the best days ever for her. After that party we headed off to our friend Josh's surprise 30th birthday party. It was a good time and it is always fun to see Bob's golfing buddies. By the end of the day we were all exhausted and all piled into our bed to watch a movie. I think everyone was sleeping by 8:30 (except me of course). All-in-all it was a fun filled weekend.

See, even when we're home on the weekends we're not really ever home! :)

mother's day...

We had a pretty low key Mother's Day. We spent the weekend in Wisconsin at Ben & Amanda's house. The boys golfed and the girls shopped and got pedicures and we played some Guitar Hero World Tour. It was fun to spend the weekend with them it has been a while since we've seen them. On Mother's Day we went to Bob and Nancy's and had breakfast with the family. Bob and Brian had to take off for Indiana for a qualifier Brian had the next day, so we stuck around to chat with Nancy for a while and Brianna ran around outside. We headed home and spent the afternoon napping, playing and just relaxing. It was a great Mother's Day all-in-all. My kiddos and hubby are the best...what more could a girl ask for!

6 years in the books...

Yes I am quite aware that this post is significantly late, however...better late than never! So on Sunday May 3 Bob and I celebrated our 6th anniversary. It is shocking to me that it has been six years. So much has happened in that time, loss of grandparents, births of children, weddings of friends and family, the buying of our first home and more laughter and memories than I have the time or space to share. I don't know that on our wedding day, these two kids (and yes, we are kids...holy cow we look young!) could possibly realize what their life would be this six short years later.

(I do realize this is a hideous picture, but it was actually taken on 5/3/09 so I wanted to use it :)Bob and I had a great anniversary we slept late (for us) and went to brunch and then played 9 holes of golf, it was nice to walk around the course talk and just be us for a little while. Life is crazy and hectic, but there is no one I'd rather be in this crazy, hectic life with. I love you, Bob! Here is to 100 more years of (mostly) wedded bliss :).

my favorite things...

As I've said before I'm not an optimistic person. I would call myself a realist, I prepare for the bad, so I'm not disappointed when something doesn't go the way I want and am pleasantly surprised when things do. In an effort to appreciate all the small things in my life, here is a list of the things I love about the ages my kids are.

Brianna age 3 (almost 4)
The crazy outfits she puts together.
The way she complains the whole time I brush/braid/whatever her hair, but then looks in the mirror admiring her hair after I'm done.
The way she says "don't be upset Bryce, big sister is here"
The way she runs to the door screaming "daddy!" when she hears the garage door open.
The way she wakes up in the morning and smiles at me and asks "did you have a good sleep, mommy?"
The other million little things that make her my sweet, funny, aggrivating little girl.

Bryce age (almost) 6 months
The way he smiles when I get him out of his crib in the morning.
The way he stretches after I undo his swaddling blanket and the look on his face that says "I'm free"
When he is really tired I can pick him up and hold him close to me and he immediately falls asleep.
The way he laughs when I change his dirty diapers.
The way he smiles and gets everyone to fall in love with him within moments of meeting him.
The other million little things that make him my adorable, flirty little man.

monday musing...

So, question for you. Today the kids and I walked to Wal-Mart (it is a few blocks from our house...long enough that it sort of tires Brianna out, but short enough that she can walk the whole thing) anyway, there is a redbox there where we rent movies almost every Monday (they have free movie Monday's with a code that is texted to your phone or you can go here and get the code). After we got our movies we walked around Wal-Mart for a bit looked at toys and got Brianna a new thermos because her lid was broken. As we were standing in the checkout line she started whining and wanted to be held. I picked her up for a moment to talk to her and then set her back down. She started whining again and the guy (or maybe he was a boy...he looked very young) in front of us eyed me and then Brianna and then me again and then he looked at her and said "are you OK?" I was a bit taken aback by his question to her. she wasn't screaming bloody murder, I didn't hit her or anything of the sort, I picked her up and talked to her and then put her back down. She is (almost) 4 and she sometimes doesn't behave perfectly. He kept looking at me the entire time until he was checked out and gone. Now, maybe I'm overly sensitive, but I don't believe there was anything going on that warranted him asking HER if she was OK. I know that people's actions can be misinterpreted, but the whole thing is very odd to me. I'm pretty sensitive about the judgement (as I perceive it) other people pass on me as a parent. After the guy asked Brianna that I said "she is fine". What would you have done? Do you think that is super strange or that I'm overreacting? (I realize that is hard to answer since you weren't there...but I swear to you it happened just like that) :)

I will be back soon with an update of our weekend, because I'm sure you are all wondering how we spent our 6th anniversary! :)

29...

Yes, I know I already turned 29, but today this guy joins the club. I could not ask for a better person in my life. He is a wonderful dad and a fantastic husband.
Happy Birthday, Bob!!
We Love you!

b book...

Brianna reading to Bryce. :)

friends and fun and crafts...oh my...

I think the titles of my posts get more lame every time. Anyway, I have a bunch of stuff to share since I last posted, so lets get to it.

Last weekend we headed to WI to visit with some friends. Abbie and Chris graciously invited us to their house along with the Isaacsons. We headed to their house late Friday morning and arrived to beautiful weather. The kids ran around outside and played and the adults caught up on what was going on in each of our lives. The boys got to play some golf on Saturday, while the girls did some crafts and ran around outside some more, the weather was PERFECT, and when they got back from golfing we took the kids to the park. Saturday night after the kids were in bed (and all were sleeping except Brianna...big surprise on that one) we started playing Guitar Hero World Tour. My wonderful husband got this for me for my birthday, and it is seriously hours of entertainment, especially when there is alcohol involved. There was tons of laughter and I don't think I will ever forget the singing, dancing around, banging on the drums, and some choice quotes that were said that night, which will not be posted here because well...this is a family blog. Abbie and Chris were such wonderful hosts and it was so good to finally meet little Samantha. Brianna had so much fun playing with Andrew and Holly's two little girls Ella and Lily and Bryce ate up all the attention that was given to him. I know I enjoyed chatting and catching up with Abbie, Holly, Andrew and Chris and Bob most definitely had fun playing golf with Andrew and Chris. I was having so much fun I didn't even take out my camera the whole weekend. Abbie has some over on her blog and Holly said she'd be posting some soon (no pressure...I know you're busy :). We are so very blessed to have such wonderful friends. Thank you again Abbie and Chris for letting us invade your house.

This week has been pretty low-key...but today we did a craft that Holly told me about. Brianna had so much fun making these (anything that lets her use glue and stickers will make her happy). I made Bryce's (obviously) because even though he's not big enough to do this stuff himself, I love having both of their crafts hanging on the wall or whereever they may end up (Brianna is pushing for daddy to take them to work...so we'll see). I absolutely love crafts that incorporate hand and/or foot prints. They are my favorites because beyond the decorating and the little touches Brianna puts on her projects, there is something so personal about them being made from their hand/footprints. It is a part of them, the part that reminds me to cherish these moments because they won't be this small for very long.

Enough with the rambling...here is a picture of the butterflies.

Have a great weekend everyone...hopefully I'll be back before long.

going purple...

All the small things is going purple. This is the first chance I've had to make the change. We are going purple to honor Ian and Maddie and all the premies who have lost their battle, and in honor of McKenna and all the ones who fought and are still fighting to stay healthy. The March of Dimes is a wonderful organization, one that I whole-heartedly support and am happy to send my money to each year. The March of Dimes deserves your support because they help these babies have a fighting chance at a healthy life, and I think we all agree that every baby deserves that. So, go here or here and give what you can...do what you can to give these babies the best start in life.

easter...

I hope you all had a great Easter. We had a very good, but busy weekend. We were in Iowa from Friday night until Monday morning. We had a great time with family, although there was a definite lack of sleep on the part of the kids and myself :) I think that I don't want to spend my time with my family sleeping because it seems like we don't get to see everyone much so I tend to not sleep much at all while at my parents. But we had a great time and it went too fast as always. We had Jackson's birthday party Saturday and Sunday consisted of candy, Easter egg hunts, naps and spending time with family. A perfect day in my opinion. Yesterday we left mom and dad's about 10 (and only forgot a few things) and headed to Galesburg to stop by the business office. We stopped and had lunch with Steve and Alli (and then Alli & Gavin accompanied us to Galesburg as well). We got home about 7:30 last night and are trying to recover today. We take off again Friday for WI to visit some friends so in the 2 remaining days this week I need to get laundry done and the house cleaned up. We'll see how that goes. :) We are looking forward to seeing some friends we haven't seen in far too long, so we are all excited about the coming weekend. Hope you all had a very Happy Easter filled with family and friends.

I'm uploading a bunch of pictures from the weekend to shutterfly, so feel free to take a look.

I'll leave you with a couple here. Have a great week everyone!

crazy day...

I'm tired already. :) I've been up since 5am. I do not get up at 5am EVER. I woke up and all the little things I needed to do today started running through my head...the things I needed to remember to pack, the kid's Easter basket stuff, pictures, camera (you get the picture). So of course I could not go back to sleep. So I actually got up and decided to be productive. I think everything is ready to go except that I still have to pack clothes for the kids and myself (which you would think would be the biggest concern...but...no). The house is picked up and the dishes are done. We've got about 6 more hours before we have to be out the door, and in that time I have to pack clothes, shower, get dressed, get the kids dressed, feed everyone, pack the car and get out the door so we get to Bryce's 4 month checkup ontime so we can then leave for Iowa. Whew...and did I mention that I've been up since 5 and am running on no caffine? Since I gave up pop for lent and don't drink coffee I'm kind of SOL today. :) I realize today that I am insane, what woman in her right mind gives up pop/caffine with 2 small kids at home? Anyway, Mr. Bryce just woke up (yes, he has been sleeping since last night...this is why I don't get up at 5am EVER) and is probably starving...so I'm off to get moving on this day...again. I leave you with a couple new pics of the kids. Happy Easter everyone!

there are no adequate words...

I've mentioned before how I tend to blog hop starting out reading this one, and then ending up somewhere many clicks away from where I started. Well about a year or so ago, I blog hopped my way over to The Spohrs are Multiplying. I read whatever post happened to be up that day, which was (I'm sure) funny and had some adorable pictures of Maddie. So, I added it to my Google reader. I went back through their archives and found out more about Maddie and was drawn in by her story. Maddie was a preemie, born 11 weeks early. As any of you who have been here before know, my cousins, Dale and Suzanne, have had 2 preemie babies both born 25 weeks gestation. I was hooked, and have been reading their blog ever since.

When I opened my Google reader yesterday, I saw a post that little Maddie had passed away on April 7, and I cried. I cried for a little girl I have never met and for her parents, family, and friends. There have been hundreds of posts written about Maddie in the last 2 days and as of now over $18,000 has been donated to the March of Dimes in her name. She has touched so many in her too short 17 months on this earth.

My thoughts and prayers are with her family. Thank you for sharing your beautiful angel with all of us.

following her lead...

In honor of Jodie's air it out post I've decided to give it a shot myself...


1. Our kids have no bedtime routine, it is not unusual for Brianna to be awake at 10pm (or later) this is our fault, but I do not have the patience to try to instill a bedtime routine.

2. I try to give the kids a bath every other day, but that doesn't always happen (read...almost never) Heck we are stuck inside all day, every day...how dirty can they be?

3. The thought of packing up 2 kids in carseats to drive down the block to the store (when it is too cold to walk) makes me want to cry, so we don't go anywhere.

4. I often threaten that we will not go somewhere because of bad behavior, but don't often follow through because it is usually more punishment for everyone else than it is for her.

5. I have showered 1 time since last Friday, it was also the only time I've left the house since then.

6. I can't remember the last time I dusted. Our living room furniture is supposed to be a dark wood, instead it looks gray.


7. I have stood in the shower until the hot water runs out because it is the only place I occasionally have some privacy.


8. Our 3 year old has a TV in her room, and it is on every night when she goes to bed.


9. I didn't feel guilty having Brianna in daycare. I realize now how many less dirty diapers I had to change while she was there. (plus she loved it)


10. I've taken a shower and put on the same (dirty) clothes I've worn and slept in for days on end...more than I care to admit.


There are a million more, but I'm not brave enough to share all of them :)


I'm embarrassed about these things because of the way I think people will react to them not because I'm truly embarrassed about them (well maybe the shower thing :)).
I just watched the Oprah show from yesterday and it is funny how I related to the mom's on there who said a million things I've been thinking, so I wonder why I still feel so ashamed of all the things I feel and why I wrote and edited this post about 15 times before I even felt slightly comfortable posting this.

twenty-nine...

In just a few hours I will technically turn 29 (7:12am). I will hopefully be in a blissful sleep at that time. In all honesty, most days I can't remember what age I am (it is a good thing I was born in 1980 so I can usually figure it out pretty quickly...as long as I remember what year it is :)) Some days I feel 80, and other I feel like I'm just a kid playing house. I look and my life and wonder where the time has gone. How is is possible that I have an almost 4 year old, and that my little man turned 4 months old today? My life has turned into a cliche...the days go slowly but the years go by so fast.
As I sit here thinking about the turns my life has taken in these last years, I find that while there are some aspects of my life that I thought would be different (job/career), there are other things...the important things...that are exactly(or better) than I always imagined they would be. I have a wonderful, loving husband, 2 great kids, and incredible family and friends. So, my gift to myself this year is to live in the now, to be grateful for what I have in this moment, and to not dwell on the things I don't "have". I tend to get so wrapped up "what-if's" and "if only's" and always wishing there was more...more time, more money, more space, that I don't realize that in reality I have all I ever need.
So, I am embracing 29 and all it's possibilities. Here is to the peace in knowing that I'm exactly where I want (and am supposed) to be.

whirlwind weekend...

Wait...what day is it again? Wow, we put a few miles on the car this weekend, but we ended up getting to every place we needed/wanted to be. Friday we packed up and headed to Iowa, we stopped by my aunt and uncle's house on the way through Cascade, so we got to see a few family members. We finally rolled into mom and dad's house around 11/11:30, and of course the kids were wide awake. I think everyone finally settled down around midnight or so. The alarm went off at 5am, which is just inhumane if you ask me. Bob and I got ready and put some stuff together for mom to take the kids and headed off to Galesburg for Coach Heimann's memorial service. It was a wonderful tribute to his life and the way he lived, coached, and taught. We were very glad we went. After the memorial service we grabbed some lunch and headed to Cedar Rapids to attend the wedding of one of my high school classmates. We had a fantastic time at the wedding and we finally went to bed about 20 hours after our day had started. Of course while the wedding was happening, there also happened to be a blizzard going on outside. We stayed with some friends in Cedar Rapids and drove back to mom and dad's around 6 Sunday morning in about 10 inches of snow. We spent some time with mom and dad and then headed for home around 8 Sunday night, getting us home around 11/11:30, with...you guessed it, two kids that didn't want to sleep. Finally everyone got to bed and then we had to be up this morning to go to a funeral. Nancy's cousin passed away and we didn't make it back in time to go to the wake last night (obviously) so we went to the funeral today. We left home around 10am and got home about 5pm. So, to sum it up...lots of time in the car, not much sleep, lots of time with family and friends...it is amazing how quickly your emotions can change when you have a sad event, a joyous one, and another sad one. But in attending both the memorial service and the funeral, I think it makes me appreciate the people around me even more and for that I am grateful. Much love to you all.

jackson is one...

This little guy turns one today. It is hard to believe that he is one already. I can't wait to see him in a couple of weeks. Happy Birthday Jackson! We love you!

chick craft link...

I found it back!! To anyone interested...here is the link to the chicks we made the other day.
Duck Paper Plate Craft

finger painting...

I know, I know...3 posts in one day. But just wanted to share our craft project from today. (These are probably getting old, I promise not to post every single one). This project came from Sarah (Miss Claire's mommy) she said the Child Life group at the hospital did this with the kids during the winter and the kids loved it. It was pretty simple to do, only a few things needed.

Shaving cream, glue, and food coloring (optional...Sarah said when they did this at the hospital they left it white). I'm not sure of the exact ratio of shaving cream to glue. In all honesty I put some shaving cream into the container and then added a bunch of glue, there was no measuring on my part during this process.
I split ours into 4 different containers and had this:
I then let Brianna loose to paint on paper plates. Obviously you can use paper, but we always have an abundance of paper plates around here and always end up short on paper thanks to my little artist.














After all was said and done it was a little messy, but easy to clean up and Brianna had a blast, although she was less than thrilled with how dirty her hands were.

We had a great time and finger painting is good for those of us a little over the age of 3 as well :) Thanks again Sarah for sharing the great idea!!