Celebration

It is still raining here! There's a pretty good chance that it won't rain tomorrow, but I won't be surprised if it rains all day. I got up this morning at 6:30 which is about an hour before I normally get up for the day. As I was feeding Natalie in bed I kept thinking of all the stuff I needed to do and how rushed we always are on Sunday mornings to get out the door. I went ahead and started my pot of beans in the crockpot for a meal I was planning on having today, but now will be for tomorrow. I got Maddox's bag together and started to get ready when Maddox woke up. So I put that on pause and made his breakfast. We made it out the door in time which seems to be a rare occasion around here anymore.

After church we had a church picnic, which Bryan calls it Golden Corral when we have lunches after church because it looks like a buffet from all the dishes people bring. Then, he dropped the kids and I off at my step sister's baby shower. I love baby showers and celebrating new life. 

Our dinner I had planned got put on hold until tomorrow because once I got home from the baby shower none of us were really hungry from all the food we ate today! We spent the evening resting and now I'm going to bed really early because  I think that post partum fatigue is finally catching up to me!

I didn't get any pictures today from all the busyness but here's a couple cute pictures of Natalie :)

She likes to "wink" :)

Sweet baby

-Hannah

Home Bodies

Another rainy day here, so we stayed home all day. I was hoping to go to the farmers market and library today, but I didn't want to take the kids out in the cold rain. We have been such home bodies lately that I'm sure Maddox is starting to go stir crazy. I tried to get caught up on my laundry. I actually got 3 loads done today! 

After Maddox's nap, we did some more fall activities.

I found this scarecrow coloring/cut out page. I helped him color it and then I made him a little shirt and pants. Maddox then taped the head, hands, and feet on. 

Finished product

Then we made a big candy corn. I just printed off a color page of a candy corn and cut up little pieces of orange, yellow, and white construction paper to glue on. 

Candy corn template

Maddox liked sticking the little pieces on.

His gallery is growing!

After our crafts, I had one of my friends stop by for a visit. I love having visitors! It seems to break up the monotony of the day. We usually talk on the phone everyday, but since Natalie has been born I haven't been able to call as often so I think she was starting to worry about me haha I reassured her I was adjusting well, but I hadn't got in the complete swing of things yet. She has three children so she knows it takes a while to get back in that swing. She doesn't live far from me so I hope to start having weekly play dates with all of our kids. 

Bryan came home and none of us were real hungry for dinner so I made one of Maddox's favorites, homemade cheese sticks with marinara. Now we are all winding down for bed and getting ready for our usual busy Sunday tomorrow! 

-Hannah 

Rain,Rain Go Away

 It has been raining everyday for almost a week now. I wake up and think it's still really early in the morning because it's always so dark outside. 

I started the day today making eggs, bacon, and toast (my favorite breakfast) for Bryan, Maddox, and I. As I was throwing away the bacon pack after we had already ate I realized that it was out of date! We haven't had it long, so I never thought to check the date. So far no food poisoning so that's good. 

Bryan left for work as usual and Maddox and I played for a bit. It was a pretty usual day of playing, nursing, naps, & cleaning. Maddox has been a finicky eater lately, so I have tried to get a nutritious meal in him all day. He's a snacker right now. Hopefully it's just a phase that will pass soon. 

He wanted to wear his hat after he woke up from his nap. 

Sharing his beloved cars with sister. 

Maddox has really stepped into the big brother role. He puts her diapers in the pail for me, he gives her a pacifier (under close supervision), and for the moment he is happy to share his toys with her.  He's always asking to hold her or give her a kiss. He has done really well with his independent play today. Some days he constantly needs someone to play with him, but today was good. 

Maddox, Natalie, and I snuggled up in bed and watched some Blues Clues until it was time to fix dinner.

 Bryan had show some houses today so he didn't go to his other job. He came home just in time for dinner. After dinner we just let the mess sit for a bit because Maddox wanted to lay and our bed and watch his Blues Clues movie again. It was nice to have everyone all snuggled up! Bryan put Maddox to bed and is now cleaning up the dinner mess for me while I feed Natalie and debate cleaning up Maddox's toys. I usually like to "reset" the house for the next day, but sometimes I feel like cleaning up Maddox's toys is pointless because he tears them all back out as soon as he wakes up. Most nights I'll clean them up, but maybe not tonight haha. So there is out exciting day, but I've come to appreciate "normal" days. 

Do you have an everyday routine?

-Hannah 

Happy Thursday

Bryan finally took a day off work today which means I got a helper! I love days he is off. They always seem to fly by so I treasure every minute. I got to sleep in a little and start my morning slowly rather than hit the road running as soon as my feet touch the floor. We started the day by going to the Sprint store because Bryan was eligible for an upgrade, but because he's such a wonderful husband and because his phone is still in perfectly good shape and mine looks like it's been run over by a car, he let me use his upgrade to get a new phone! My upgrade is in March and I was perfectly content waiting until then, but he was determined that I was going to use his upgrade.

We then headed to the grocery store, which went fairly well with two babies. It usually doesn't go very well when we take both babies, but Natalie slept the whole time in the Moby wrap and Maddox behaved well. 

It started out a beautiful day, but then a storm blew in. I'm glad we made it home before it started storming. 

Little Sister

After we got home Maddox  took a nap while Bryan and I cleaned. I actually got some laundry done today even though the basket is still over flowing. 

My one load accomplishment for the day

Maddox woke up from his nap really cranky so we headed out for a stroll since the rain had stopped. A change of scenery is a good way to reset Maddox's mood. After we came back I gave sister (as Maddox  calls her) her bath. 

Bryan and I are ending the night watching Survivor online and having some chocolate chip cookies. It's been a good day and definitely a well needed day!

-Hannah

I Made It

There are some days where I get to the end of the day and lay down and think "I made it". Some days just feel like I've been through a battle and today was one of those days. I think I ran out all my energy in the first five weeks of Natalie's life and now the postpartum fatigue is kicking in. Natalie sleeps so well so I know it's not because of lack of sleep. Today I just had no energy and it seems my patience level is very low when I have no energy so I tried to keep that in mind when I felt like I was getting frustrated. Little situations can seem like a big deal if you don't stay on top of your emotions when your overly tired.

We had some good moments though of playing, snuggling up in the big chair, and silly dancing. We made it to bed time with no major meltdowns so I count it a success. Natalie on the other hand is having her own little meltdown. I'm not sure if it's tummy trouble or if she is fighting sleep (she's figured out at a very young age how to fight sleep!). I am currently walking around with her and she's wrapped up in swaddle blanket. Hopefully I can get her in a deep enough sleep that we can go lay down. 

Needless to say I didn't get any pictures today, but tomorrow's a new day and we can start fresh! I've been clinging to these verses all day: "It is of the Lord's mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness." Lamentations 3:22-23

I'll leave you with another cute Maddox throwback!

-Hannah

Baby Snuggles

If I could choose one day to sleep in as long as I wanted today would have been that day. It has been so rainy outside today. I knew as soon as I got up I was going to have to take a nap at some point. I think Maddox was on the same page to because he was ready for his nap an hour early today. After I put Maddox down for his nap Natalie and I snuggled up on the couch and also took a nap. I didn't get a real long nap in, but I got to rest at least for a couple hours which was exactly what I needed to get some energy on a dreary day. Natalie kept on sleeping while I fixed Maddox lunch and got some cleaning in. I had debated just taking a "lazy day", but I knew if I didn't keep up with my daily chores they would be twice as bad tomorrow. I actually cleaned a little more than I though I would. Sometimes once I get cleaning I go through a spurt and power clean as I like to call it.

She's a tummy sleeper. If shes laying on her side she rolls over to her tummy.
 I try to make sure she stays on her back at night.

Maddox has behaved pretty good the past couple of days thankfully. His biggest thing now is testing my limit. If he does something and I tell him not to, he will keep doing it to see my reaction. It's almost like he wants to see how long he can do it until I snap! lol Thankfully I know that is what he is doing and can keep my emotions out of it and eventually he gives up. Today his test for me was climbing on me. I was sitting in our big chair and instead of sitting beside me as he usually does he just kept climbing on top of me and him being a 30 pound toddler it is pretty painful to be stepped on. I kept telling him over and over he had to sit still or I'd have to put him down in the floor. This went on for about 20 minutes until he finally realized if I climb on mom, she's going to put me down. I wish I could say he learned his lesson and will never do that again, but I'm sure it won't be the last time. At least I was consistent and my hopes is that one day it will sink in that I mean what I say every time and that I'm going to follow through.

Bryan came home between jobs and cooked us all dinner and cleaned up the mess afterwards which is so great to get a little break. As Bryan was headed back to work we headed to my mom's for a bit. 

Maddox decided the tow truck needed a diaper.

Overall a good day! 

-Hannah 

Craft Day

Today started out really sunny and fairly warm, but by mid-day cooled down alot and came a massive rain. It looked like a monsoon outside as much as the wind was blowing. Thankfully I remembered my towels I had on the line right before it started raining!

During Maddox's nap today I got ready some activities for him to do. He's always wanting me to sit and play with him, so I thought I'd shake it up a bit and do something different.

For the pumpkin activity I just googled "small pumpkins printable" and these pumpkins came up. I cut them out and colored the stem of each one a different color. The idea was for Maddox to color each one a different color, but he decided to make them multicolored which was fine too. After he colored them I stuck some folded tape to the back and let him stick them wherever he wanted on the paper. For the apple tree activity, I cut out a tree shape from brown and green construction paper. Then, I googled "small apples printable" and found those apples. I cut them out and then let him color them red (which you could do yellow or green too). I placed folded tape on the back of those and let him put them on the tree. We counted the ten apples on the tree! Maddox does really well with structured activities like that. I'll have to start planning more.

Maddox's Art Gallery (in progress)

I saw the idea on Pinterest to make an "art gallery" for your kids' work. As I've mentioned before I love to hang up thing that Maddox paints or colors, so I made a little place to hang his crafts on display. I just used some twine and clothes pins and a couple nails to hold up the line. The funny thing was Bryan had taken the hammer with him for one of his real estate signs, so I used a fairly big rock to hammer the nails in. I felt like a caveman! It worked really well though!

Bryan had his first closing on a house today, which is exciting. I'm hoping soon he can get enough closings that he can only work one job and we'll be able to spend the evenings and Saturdays together.

We are ending the day watching Charlotte's Web before bed. No big plans for tomorrow, so hopefully I can come up with some more activities for Maddox to add to his gallery!

Sleeping Beauty :)

-Hannah