sleep...or lack there of.

Everyone knows that when you have a newborn baby, you aren't going to be getting much sleep. But lately it has occurred to me that parents really don't get much sleep for the entire first year. Mind blowing stuff huh?

The first 8 weeks of sleep are kind of a blur. You get up every 2-4 hours, an occasional 5-6 hour stretch thrown in and you call yourself lucky. If you are truly lucky you are getting 8 hours or more by 8 weeks.

But here is what people don't tell you, and most parents (whether it's your first or not) tend to forget.

It doesn't last.

You see, shortly after those 8 hour + nights become the norm, your little one goes through the 3 month growth spurt, and then the 4 month sleep regression. Apparently by 4 months they realize that the world is full of life, and darn it, they don't want to miss a minute. When they finally realize that they can sleep, and the world will still be there when they wake up, you are feeling pretty good. After all they are 4 or so months, sleep is becoming predictable, and you are feeling good.

Careful Mama.

Around 5 months your little one will learn to roll over. Which means you lay them in their crib and they immediately roll to their tummy (or their back for those tummy sleepers), waking themselves up. You'll try sleep positioners, rolled up blankets, and all sorts of things, but ultimately its a phase and you just have to deal with them while they master this new skill.

That's where we are right now. Poor Miles.

That's not the half of it (literally, we've only made it to 5 months). Now your baby will start sitting, scooting, crawling, and pulling themselves up. All skills, like rolling, they tend to practice in the middle of the night. Which translates into less sleep for you. Throw in teething, growth spurts, separation anxiety, and colds, and you've got your work cut out.

Even the best sleepers have problems. Most parents tend to forget the month that their 10 month old would not fall asleep at night. They might forget the i'mupatfiveinthemorningreadytogo days, or the period of time when they couldn't get their 8 month old back to sleep at 2:00 in the morning so they routinely brought them into their bed. It happens to all of us.

oh, but it is so much easier to deal with the second time around! it's expected, a hurdle, but will soon past. plus at this point you've forgotten what sleeping through the night feels like, because with back to back pregnancies and babies, uninterrupted sleep is a rarity. I just wish someone would tell that first time mom to embrace the sleepless nights, rather than control them. Your, baby may sleep through the night at 8 weeks and you may feel like the best mom in the world, but chances are it won't stick around for the rest of your life. So just let those ideals go, and enjoy some snuggle time with your baby in the middle of the night.

they grow up too fast anyway.

bit of this and that

Ashley over at She's Star-Crossed, asked us to post our informal recipes of things we throw together around the house. I don't have a picture, but here is one of mine...

Everything is to taste.

1 Can Albacore Tuna
Honey Mustard Dressing
Dried Cranberries
Small pieces of Golden Delicious apples cut up
Cashews

Mix and eat, out of the bowl, or put it on bread for a yummy sandwich!

Some of MY favorites

Some of MY favorites are...

Color Wonder markers.
I've found these to be great for entertaining Big Baby, while little baby is eating, crying, or trying to take a nap. They are also great to pull the tops off and put them back on. Again and again.

This cup.
It's made by Contigo. It is 100% spill proof, and vacuum insulated. Keeping the precious coffee
hot for up to 5 hours. I have had to throw (literally) this in my diaper bag and run. It being spill proof is essential.

Bob Revolution Duallie. Okay, really any double stroller will work, but this is the one we have and I can push it with one hand, and it can surprisingly squeezein the smallest areas. The turn radius is incredibly small. A plus for sure.

Homedics Sound Spa
The little white noise machine that also plays music and comes with a projector. I'm not sure what I would do without this (okay, i'd use a fan...). I didn't want the one with the projector but it was all Target had, and I am glad I got it because it is very entertaining for Lacey.

Euro II Highchair
Practical, affordable, usable, good looking, what's not to love? Nothing really. We love that we can pull Lacey (that is not her in the picture!) right up to the table with us when we eat and can avoid a plastic booster (because mike and I avoid all plastic children's items if we can). We painted ours black to match the dining set. Very cool. Miles will get his own in a couple of months.

Web-site Spotlight: IKEA HACKING

About a month ago, I found a website devoted to Ikea Hacking. An ingenious soul has gathered Ikea hacks from all over the web and brought them to one spot. Here you can see how people have took regular old Ikea products (often from the used section) and made them shine. It will suck you in!

Here are a few of my favorites:


1) Modern Crib/Dresser

Took IKEA's $100 crib, cut off the legs and placed it on a new base.
Replaced the Hemmes dresser drawer fronts with the same wood as the base
and added new hardware.
Beautiful!
Wish I had seen this before I had kids!
Read about it here.

2) DIY Play Kitchens-

I hate, no despise, plastic play kitchens.
The nice wood ones are sooo pricey.
These were done using a $35 shelf from Ikea, plus some additional accessories.
Aren't they great?
I am going to give my own IKEA Play kitchen hack for Lacey's 2nd birthday coming up in October.

Read about how to make this kitchen here.
Plus there are plenty other of DIY play kitchens
in the children's section.

3) Bathroom Vanity

This was created from a $49.99 kitchen cart!
Inspired? You should be!
Here it is.

If you have favorites, share them!!

The Wild Rumpus

Today we met up with our cousins Elias (3) and Cerwyn (2.5 months) and visited the Wild Rumpus. This is probably the most amazing book store. ever.

It's an independently owned, hole in the wall bookstore that focuses directly on kids ages 18 months- 10 years old or so. Imagine being a kid and going into a book store with roosters, cats, ferrets, birds, and chinchillas to see/pet. There are floorboards that have been removed and replaces with plexiglass so you can even see the pets wandering around under your feet.

They even have a recycling "center" where books range from .50 to $1.00 (my kind of place)! Next month we are going to try to make it to their "PJ Party on the Trolley" (tickets go fast), where you come in your pajamas at 6:30 p.m. and you eat milk and cookies while they read bedtime stories and you ride the trolly around Lake Harriet and Lake Calhoun. We can't wait!

Let's Go Biking!

There aren't a lot of family activities you can successfully do with 2 kids this young. Usually everything takes a lot of planning and you are always getting interrupted by sleep schedules, eating times, and the occasional toddler temper tantrum.

But biking is something we figured we could do. Hey, after all Mike and I met on a bike trip. It just seems fitting that we bike.

We purchased a Burley Honey Bee trailer from REI. It was the only double they had in stock, which didn't matter because its the one we wanted anyway. Took it home and after naps away we went.

Minneapolis has this amazing bike route called the Greenway. It's basically its own road that connects you to the entire city of Minneapolis. Super handy with kids, since biking on actual roads is dangerous and stressful. The Greenway is about a mile from our door, so we hopped on the trail and headed to Trader Joe's, about 6 miles via the trail.

The kids did GREAT. Well, mostly. We neglected to feed Miles prior to leaving so we had to stop along the trail to feed him, since he was screaming periodically in the trailer. Lacey didn't want to get back in the trailer on the return trip, but some dried mango solved that problem. Miles fell asleep on the way back and Lacey kept pushing him off her and whining about him leaning on her (the first of many such whines I am sure), but once we told her to give miles a hug, instead of push him off her she did fine...

The Greenway

Lacey's favorite part of the whole thing
was probably drinking out of the
water bottle. Which she successfully
poured all over herself.

Miles on our pit stop. Happy to be full!

Getting ready to leave Trader Joes. Lacey was a
little grouchy at this point.

Siblings??
Good Lord I think they look a lot alike here.

Sister/Brother love.

down with wells fargo...

i shouldn't really be posting this because 1) I have a job interview at wells fargo in 2 weeks and 2) i would actually like a shot at the job, but seriously. We have closed our Washington account TWICE. yes that is right. we have "closed" it twice.

Mike closed the account in May. We opened up a Minnesota account. June rolls around and I notice that suddenly the Washington account has shown up on my online banking screen with a negative balance + about $150 in overdraft fees. Student loans, car payment, and credit card balance, have all been deducted from my account. So I call up wells fargo and talk to an online banker. I said that this account was closed. Well, no, it was not (???!!!). Okay, I need to close this account (and you need to take away the fees). Transfer money into that account. close it. Done.

No. Not done. Today I open up our account and student loans, credit card balance, and car loan were all taken out, of the WASHINGTON account. I called them up again. Oh, we can't close the account because you have to have a zero balance on it. Once you have a zero balance you can call us back on the next business day to close the account (Monday in this case) or you can go into wells fargo today and close it there. No, not with 2 kids i can't.

It actually was a lot worse than that. For example, my credit card balance will come out of the WA account tonight at midnight. I asked her if we can change that. No, it takes 30 days. But don't worry, if you don't have the funds available, we will just charge you a 40 dollar fee.

not cool wf. not cool.

just one more thing to deal with.

annie

the realities of 2 under 2

please read this if you have kids close together. you will laugh because every.single.thing. is true!

Baby + Toddler

Annie

happenings...

we've had a busy time the past week.

my mom came to town for my birthday, which was GREAT. Mike and I were able to go out. alone. for as long as we wanted too. We strolled down Grand Ave. in St. Paul. Ate at Punch's pizza, and then went for a walk along East River Parkway, and ate Dairy Queen. talk about relaxation.

My 26th birthday was on the 4th of July. In the morning we all headed to the zoo. It was raining off and on, but we managed. We had some friends come over later in the day and they grilled with us. After that we went to watch fireworks. Just Mike and I. My mom stayed home with the kiddos. FABULOUS.

We've all been sick in this house. Ending with Miles, who is currently under the weather. The unfortunate thing is that Tylenol seems to wake him up, and he is too young for motrin. Just when we were getting on the good sleep wagon in our house, we fell off again.

And we are moving. again. blech. It's actually become a pretty seamless process. I'm not sure if that is a good thing or not. We are still looking for a house, but are really waiting on the one that we put in offer in on 8 weeks ago. It's a short sale but the homeowner is also in bankruptcy, so the bank can't move forward on the approval process until the mortgage gets out of the bankruptcy department. He has 2 mortgages on the house. The first one should be out of bankruptcy any day and then they will start on the second one. Hoping that something gets rolling soon.

Now tomorrow i am heading out of town for my cousins wedding and Mike is staying behind to move and work. Hoping it goes easily!

annie

park

We go to the park on a daily basis. We've been blessed to be within 5 blocks from 3 different parks.

Lacey loves the swings, hates slides (thanks to popping right off the end a few times...). She has also learned all about throwing rocks, thanks to her daddy. grrr.