Baby Nolan

One of my dearest friends that I've known since middle school, lived with in college and experienced all that is Chicago with, is expecting a sweet little boy in December. This past weekend our high school friends all met in Chicago to celebrate Baby Nolan. Kelly came from Michigan, Vicky from Indy and me from St. Louis. The other girls all still live in the Chicago area. Our friend Victoria, who I've known since kindergarten, brought her sweet new baby, Amelia for us to snuggle and oooh and aahh over. It's crazy to think that we've known each other since we were nearly our kids age. And it makes my heart smile, oh so big, when we all have a wonderful excuse to bring us all together.

Luckily, we have even more to celebrate in the coming months as Carly recently got engaged. Babies and diamonds and showers and weddings, oh my!

Baby Amelia resting on Baby Nolan

Firehouse Openhouse

Our neighborhood firehouse had their open house earlier this month. Kids could climb on the fire trucks and ambulances, check out their uniforms/gear, practice putting out a 'fire' and watch the fireman put out an actual fire. Taylor and Carter came over and we all walked up to the event. As expected, Tay climbed right on up on the truck with no fear, whereas Lill was propped up there and just about froze, looking as she had just seen a ghost.

Gamechanger

Until last week, Corey and I both did bath time with Lill in the tub and Ray in his baby tub. He wasn't quite big enough for the tub but putting the whole baby tub in with Lill was really crampin' her style. But he had officially outgrown the baby tub; would splash and get myself and area around soaked and try to crawl out. We tried putting him in the tub with Lill but since his core isn't quite strong enough to not wobble in the tub, that required Corey or I to lean over uncomfortably to hold on to him and keep him from slipping and knocking his head :-) I thought, "we need one of those ring seats like my brother had when he was a baby". Turns out those things have been recalled and banned for various reasons of which the underlying theme is "just because your baby is in the contraption doesn't mean you can leave them alone in a filled bathtub..you still must supervise at ALL times."

I reached out to some mommy friends to learn their tricks for bathing multiple children when one is still small (ish). Luckily, another momma out there had one of those recalled seats that she referred to as a "game-changer" for bath time and insisted I have it. I'm happy to report it is the Game-changer. One of us can now bathe both kids while the other cleans up/walks Ty/etc., etc., etc. Lill loves helping bathe her little brother and Ray loves being able to watch his big sis and steal all of her bath toys!

I will most definitely be paying it forward and passing this seat on to another mom!

7...and 8 months old

I've really been slacking..  I was about to get going on the 2/3rds of a year (yes, I'm a math nerd) update and realized I never did the 7 month one. Oops!

Our (big) little guy is 24 lbs, on the verge of crawling and has 8 teeth that he LOVES to eat with. Seriously. Just try eating in front of him without sharing and see how that works out for you. It's ridiculously easy to get a smile out of that boy, except when he's eating. Then, he is allll business. He flails his arms and feet when he's happy, attempts to clap and tries to chew everything he can get his hands on.

He's highly entertained by his big sister and more so by all of her toys (which she is not a fan of) and while he has yet to master sleeping through the night but is just a joy to be around!

Lill's 2nd Day of School

You read that right. I'm documenting Lill's second day at 2-year-old-preschool because I had to miss her first day. Bad mom, alert! I kid, I kid... I know I'm not a bad mom and I know that Lill will never know that I missed it and she'll never hold it against me. Or at least that's what I keep telling myself. I had to travel to Kansas City for the day for some meetings with my main client and, of course, the only day that would work with their Board was that day that would also be Lill's first day of school. I put off booking my travel as long as I could, secretly wishing by some small miracle either my client would have to reschedule our meetings or Lill's school would realize they had the wrong date and would soon inform us of the change. No such luck...

So, I headed out on the first flight of the morning and Corey got two kids fed, dressed and out the door to drop of our eldest at her first day before work. No small feat...to say the least! My mommy guilt followed me to Kansas though I knew my daddy's girl was in good hands. I patiently (read...checked my phone every 20 seconds) awaited word from Corey that she posed/smiled for pictures before galloping into her class and happily waved goodbye to him. Again, no such luck...  

He did, however, manage to snap a picture of her sticking her tongue out, get her to her classroom without a fight and sneak out without too many tears. He waited a minute after leaving to peak back in and confirm she was successfully distracted and playing. And, she agreed to go back for day two (pictures to prove it).  Great success!!

My heart went off to school so I made a heart shaped sandwich for her lunch. 

Ty photo bomb.  Lill was thrilled :-)

And away she goes...

Apples, and cider,and DONUTS...oh my!

It started to feel a bit like fall this weekend so we took advantage of a pool-free weekend and headed out to the farm for some apple picking. And, what is fall without cider donuts?! It was a beautiful morning spent with our little loves and our friends, Seth, Rachel (another "Ray-Ray"), and Jamie. The pumpkins weren't quite in season yet. Guess that just means we'll have to go back!  Let's be serious though...I'm really just looking for an excuse to go back for more donuts. Did I mention I like cider donuts?

Showing off her first pick!

Daddy's girl :-)

Today was a Fairy Tale...

This past Sunday, Lilly and I had a mommy and me date. The time had come for her raggedy, split-end, mullet-esque hair to get cut. So, after her nap, we headed to the mall for her first hair-cut, some shopping, and dinner. We had talked it up quite a bit the week prior such that she woke up from her nap ready to roll. "Go to the mall? Mommy and Lilly only. Daddy stay home with RayRay. Drive in mommy's car. Byebye Daddy! Mommy and me go to mall". While I'm not one for all the frills and glitter that comes along with being a girly girl and it certainly wasn't the thing I looked forward to most about having a daughter, when met with the reality and you see the pure joy that it brings to your daughters face...you're IN...hook, line and sinker.

The hair cut included a flower clip of her choosing, a glitter heart on her cheek, sparkles in her hair and a dance party/walk on the runway when she was all done. Cue "Today was a fairy tale" by Taylor Swift and  mom's tears started flowing... That's right. One of us cried at Lill's first hair cut and it was not the 2 year old. She did insist that I hold her hand though. Whatever you want, sweet girl. Whatever you want.

We then walked around the mall, with stops at Macy's and Bath and Body Works. She's going through a wash-my-hands phase so we made use of about 6 of their soap samples and then 8 of their anti-bacterial drops. Smelling like fruit, cookies and a fresh rain in the forest, we headed to Chipotle for dinner followed by a special ice cream treat. We walked through Nordies on our way out and Lill was lured by the shoes (she much be her Grandma Cyn's granddaughter...). We counted shoes until mommy insisted it was time to head home for bath and bed with our boys.

On her way in...the "before"

Holding hands :-)

Very concerned about the boy being held down by both parents while screaming during his hair cut...

Checking herself out in the mirror

Twirling to "Today was a fairy tale"