Sweet smiles

This afternoon we spent a few minutes playing on the floor in the girls' room.

Aren't my daughters gorgeous?!!Look at that! They're both smiling!!! I know social smiles aren't really supposed to show up for a few weeks, but Natalie has been smiling at us a lot!
Awwww...

There were lots of attempts before I managed to get a picture of all of us! And we're all wearing pink -- aren't we too cute?!

Awwww, again.

A couple of cute shots of Natalie from this afternoon, eyes open and everything.

Silly face...

I love my sweet baby girls!

My CHILDREN are asleep.

And not only asleep, but having GOOD STINKIN' naps. Woo hoo! I'm actually feeling a little guilty that I've spent most of this time not really getting anything done... but only a little.

I'm going to try to type fast because I know it isn't going to last long!

Here's a cute recent one of Miss Natalie. I've been able to start putting her in actual 0-3 month clothes, which we have a lot more of, without them just hanging on her. She's growing so much! I was looking back and saw that Joanna was 7lb 3.5oz at her 2 week checkup -- just .5lb shy of her birthweight. Natalie had surpassed hers by 6oz. And I just heard Joanna -- I knew it was coming soon! I'll be back later...

Joanna's up and having a snack. Natalie is having a marathon nap, but I hear waking noises coming from her. It's time for her to eat!

My sweet girls:

Joanna loves her Natalie so much.
Another bath picture -- I won't say she loves her baths yet, but she didn't scream the whole time!
Matt brought me my camera last night and said, "I don't mean to be a tattle-tell, but..." and showed me this picture. She does love to clear off that shelf and climb up there.

It's 3:00, Matt should be home in a couple of hours, and I have two awake but not crying girls. I like this. :)

A Sweet Momma

This evening we were all in the kitchen after dinner, and I hear Joanna saying, "milk, milk." At first I think it's because she wants some, then I look over at her. She's holding a baby doll and a blanket and pulling up her shirt. She wants to feed her baby some milk.

They really absorb everything! She is always rocking her babies -- she has that whole shush and sway thing down. She holds them and swaddles them and lays them down for naps, always instructing me to be very quite. Of course, the babies (and the stuffed puppies, too) have to go to time-out sometimes. They look so sad there, sitting in the spot by the front door. She gets frustrated when they won't stay seated (like, they flop over or something). Usually I have to take them out of time out because I think she forgets. :) She is so cute!

I have pictures to post and lots more to ramble about, but it'll have to wait until another time...

Thank you for being so patient!

I've finally uploaded some recent pics. Thank you for suffering through my rambling posts!

I just had to take a picture of my folded laundry. I LOVE it when the laundry is all folded, sorted, and ready to be put away. I think it's pretty. Natalie in her carseat in the Target shopping cart. We dropped Joanna off at MDO last Thursday and went shopping! She slept the whole time we were in the store!
I was so lucky in this pregnancy to have several friends loan me maternity clothes. It was such a blessing to not have to spend money on clothes, but still have new clothes to wear!
Here is everything all sorted and ready for return to their owners. One of the bins is my stuff (ready to loan), but everything else was borrowed. Thank you ladies!

Look at all these sad, empty hangers. I'm actually going to have to STORE some of them -- can you believe it?! I have far fewer regular clothes ready to hang up in the closet.

I can't remember where we were headed, but she looks so cute!

Daddy and his girls.

This is the rose that was on the altar at church in celebration of Natalie's birth. It still looks good almost 10 days later!

Ready for church on Sunday -- Daddy and Joanna.

Mommy and Natalie

Natalie in the car

This is the first time we were all at church and in the service together. Here we are signed in on the attendance pad:

We only made it through about 40 minutes of the service, then we had to get out of there! Both kiddos were fussing!

Joanna enjoying the music with her chex mix.

Natalie enjoying the music until it got really loud!

Later on Sunday -- Natalie's cute feet!

Yesterday we had to wake Joanna up to get to the doctor's appointment. Matt took a picture before he got her out of bed. She's actually asleep here!

At the doctor's office. Natalie is wearing her heel warmer to get ready for the stick. Matt is looking at Joanna playing on the floor.

My mother is home today!! So even though Joanna has still had 8 bazillion dirty diapers and Natalie isn't sleeping well on anything that isn't human, it's much easier and more fun with one adult for every child! Thank you, Mommy for spending the day with us!

Milestones

Natalie was two weeks old yesterday, so we had her two week check up this afternoon. She was pronounced practically perfect. She has surpassed her birth weight and is 7lbs 15oz. I don't think we'll be having Joanna's slow-growing petite worries with this good eater! She is 19 1/2 inches long; her color looks great; her belly button looks great. We learned that she, like I think all babies, does not like getting her heel stuck. Oh, she cried. She cried and cried and cried and I couldn't calm her down and I thought we were going to have to stop the car on the way home she cried so hard. Poor baby!

The other reason for today's doctor visit was the big sister. The poor big sister who is just falling apart! She has conjunctivitis in her poor little eyes. This marks her very first time to have antibiotics. I think 23 months without them is a pretty good stretch! Dr. Harper said it was likely a sinus infection that got up into her eyes; her ears looked clear, but it likely would've gone there next. As for the bottom issue: he recommended an over the counter probiotic (good bacteria). It's a powder that you can mix into anything -- milk, water, juice, applesauce, and it should help balance out all her bacteria and guts and stuff. The diaper rash looks soooo much better today -- he recommended cleaning with soap and water and continuing to use the diaper rash cream. He said it sounds dietary and hopefully the good bacteria will help clear it up! I'm really really hoping Natalie does not catch Joanna's eye infection. I have to be so diligent about hand washing and sanitizing. These are not technically my strengths.

On an unrelated note, Matt and his dad finished the repairs to the master toilet yesterday! It seems to be working fine now! Yea!! They had to do soooo much work on it, including actually drilling into the foundation. It seems the previous owners just kept kind of patching the problem (you know, band-aid on a bullet wound).

Joanna is falling apart.

She woke up yesterday with an eye infection. My mother's first words after I described it to her were PINK EYE. Oye. We'll see what the doctor says. Cause fortunately we have an appointment already scheduled for this afternoon! I have changed 10 DIRTY DIAPERS today. And it's only noon. 5 were Natalie's (and some only barely dirty -- you know newborns!), but 5 were Joanna's. I'm pretty sure she's working on #6 right now. Better catch up, Natalie! How is poor Joanna's bottom supposed to clear up when she's constantly pooping?!! If I wasn't at home by myself with a newborn and a sick toddler, I'd have her diaper off. As it is, she's wearing them. I just don't think I'm capable of handling that alone. Her diaper rash is ten thousand times better than it was on Friday and Saturday, though. We've been pretty good this weekend about keeping it clean. Notice I said we; I miss the weekend!

Natalie won't sleep anywhere that isn't touching me. She'll sleep in the sling, in my arms, on my chest, next to me in the bed. But not in her bed, in her bouncer, anywhere else. I'm okay with that; I know she'll learn how to eventually, but this sure does make Joanna's diaper changes, etc. super fun. And let me tell you, I'm disgusting right now. And she's tired. And poor Joanna looks like she's wearing some kind of special effects make-up with her eyes all goopy.

Okay, done venting. Feeling better now. I know this too shall pass!

This post is pretty much just because I'm tired of looking at the last one.

I think this may be the first time in a few days that I have not been holding one of my children. I hate one-handed typing, so I avoid it when at all possible. It's just so frustrating to have to type so slowly when your brain is moving faster. I'm sure I've got some pics on my camera that are post-worthy, but I don't feel like working that hard right now! I am finding that I'm not taking as many pics of Natalie as I thought I would/wish I was. I find it all-consuming to just take care of my girls' basic needs right now. Yikes! Especially because Joanna is very needy right now. How, you ask? Well, let me share with you a little. I'm not talking emotionally needy; I'm talking physically needy. We have a doctor's appointment Monday afternoon due to her EXTREME MONSTER DIAPER RASH and related problems. Here is my current theory on how this condition came about:

Around the middle of December, Joanna started having some issues with constipation. (Oh, FYI I'm going to talk a lot about poop in the next paragraph.) This was literally her very first bout with that, so we weren't even sure what to do. She drinks a fair amount of milk, and quite a lot of cheese, so we cut back on these things. I started pushing juice on her where she almost never got it before. I made sure she was getting plenty of fresh fruit, and tried to get more veggies in her. Now keep in mind that during this I was very pregnant followed by a new mom of two, so I may have stopped paying close attention at some point. Anyway, this past week it got really bad. Here's what I think happened. I think we over-corrected her diet, and caused her to have a little tummy trouble. She never seemed like she was having that kind of problem, but all of the sudden she started having these very frequent, very tiny bowel movements. These horrible things often do not smell or cause her to tell us about them, so they sit there for a little while, causing terrible horrible diaper rash. I think that now, instead of having constipation, she's actually trying to hold it in since it hurts so much on her bottom. I can't be sure about this, but it's my current theory. She can't completely hold it in, so out comes these teeny tiny things that are toxic on her bottom. Of course it got really bad right before a weekend, but I made an appt. for Monday! Hopefully her doc. will have some wisdom and/or magical powers. I'm pretty sure she won't be going to school on Tuesday, but I have my fingers crossed for Thursday! Her little bottom is literally raw and the skin is broken. It makes me cry to look at it; it makes her cry, too. Yesterday after nap, I let her run around without the diaper on. It was stressful and messy and a lot of work, but it did help the rash. She actually went on the potty a couple of times. (She also went on the floor a few times, too.) Thank goodness for mostly laminate floors!

Ew, yuck, and blech

This morning my older daughter Joanna woke up a little after 7:00 crying. Usually the first thing I hear from her is noises, so crying is a little unusual, at least for lately. I was feeding Natalie, so I made Joanna wait for a little while. When I went in at about 7:30, I smelled a definite dirty diaper, which probably explained the crying. Well, it was dim in there, but I noticed Joanna was rolling something around in her hand. I may not have to spell it out for you, but that something was POOP! Ew, yuck, and blech!!! She was still fully dressed; she had just reached down the back of her diaper for a little poop. Recently she has started reaching down the back of her diaper, which I holler at her for. I know what you may be thinking -- Maybe she IS ready to potty train. Who knows. So I pulled her up to the changing table, admonishing her all the time for playing with her poop. Then I had to give her a bath, cause, well, ewwwww!

The poor child had to go to school today without her blanket (which really is her lovey). I hope she didn't miss it! That reminds me, I need to put the clothes in the dryer.

Goodness gracious

Take a look at the daily report from Mother's Day Out for Joanna from yesterday:It may be too small to read, but beside the big blue sticker, it says, "Joanna pooped in the potty -- Yea!!! We are so proud!"

Nuh unh. Apparantly Joanna was kind of holding her bottom and her teacher asked if she wanted to go potty. Well, of course she did, going potty is fun! Miss Joan said it wasn't the whole job, but she went in the potty. Oh my goodness. The particularly funny thing is that on Monday when Aunt Gail and Jade were over, Aunt Gail kept taking Joanna to the potty. She keeps asking me to go, but I'm pretty sure she's really NOT ready, it's just fun. And I'm not ready! Hello, 10 day old baby in the house!

Speaking of Natalie, her cord thingy fell off yesterday! I think it was a little early, but I remember Joanna's coming off early, too. I'd have to look up exactly when. I kept snagging poor Natalie's on her clothes, and even though I folded down the diaper, it kinda rubbed on it. Oh, well. I think she'll live. :)

Both of my children are asleep right now, for the first time, well... maybe ever, so I'm going to go take advantage of that.

Bathing, Playing, Sleeping, Raking

Before our last bath -- Super Baby! Being naked and cold is hard work!
What was that, Daddy?

Joanna and I took a self portrait this morning. We were both wearing pink shirts with jeans.

Joanna and Natalie had a play date today with their cousin, Jade. She just turned one, and Joanna thought her carseat was fabulous. Here she is taking a call in it.

Maybe she was calling Jade? I mentioned that my Aunt Gail was in town this weekend. That's how we got to spend some time with Jade today. Aunt Gail was babysitting her granddaughter who lives across town. The big girls played very sweetly, not exactly together, but sweetly. Joanna kept taking stuff from Jade, and since she's not as fast, Joanna got away with it most of the time.

Joanna did not go down for a nap AGAIN today. Yesterday she flat out wouldn't/couldn't take one at all. At least today, she settled in for a Daddy snap after fussing for FOREVER in her room. Poor sad big sister. This adjustment is hard! Some changing table shots of Natalie. The changing table is a great place to take pictures. It's nice and high and flat. Joanna had many a picture taken on this changing table.

Her shirt says, "I love my big sister." I think she means it, too.

We went out front for a little while this afternoon. It was chillier than I thought! Natalie got to wear her new hat that Christiana brought over. Christiana's mom made it -- we love it!

Joanna had a FABULOUS time helping Daddy bag leaves. She was a very big helper!

Natalie and I just watched all the raking and bagging. See her little hat poking out of the sling!

We had a fun day, today! Joanna has school tomorrow, which will be fun for her. Natalie and I will hopefully be able to get some things done around the house while Joanna plays. The only thing I'm a little worried about is after school. Joanna comes home from MDO just sooooo tired (it's hard to be so good all day!), and we often have rough afternoons. We'll see -- maybe tomorrow will be better than last week. She's more adjusted to her new little life now. She's definitely almost two -- what a sense of independence we're seeing!

Drawing

First of all, let me explain that Joanna calls her crayons and the act of coloring "drawing." That's just the word she's decided to use. So this morning I was sitting on the couch feeding Natalie and Joanna was beside me. She leaned over and pointed to my stretch marks and said, "drawing."

Yup.

Asleep

Last night was just one of those co-sleeping kinds of nights. Miss Natalie wanted to snuggle up to me and that's all there is to it! She just wouldn't settle in her bed. So when I fed her this morning at about 7:00, then layed her down to go take care of Joanna, I was fully expecting that to last about 5 seconds before she needed me. Um, nope. She's still asleep. Wonder-child. What a way to ease a girl into the mommy-of-two thing!

More cutie girls!

Yesterday, Joanna had this blanket and her little baby, and was saying, "help, help!" She had Daddy help her swaddle her baby so she could hold her and take care of her. What a sweet little Mommy!
This morning Joanna was a little Daddy-needy. She layed outside the bathroom door crying for him while he was in the shower. Poor girl!

Miss Natalie is 1 week old today! Here she is laying in her crib in the girls' room.

She doesn't sleep there yet, but it's a good place to lay her down when I need my hands for Joanna in there.

I realized I hadn't posted a picture of Natalie's crib bedding. I just love it! I am very into the purple for baby girls that is so popular right now. This bedding also has a little of that bright green that is other places in Joanna's room.

I think this is cute -- she fell asleep and ditched the pacifier.

My Aunt Gail and my Grandma came over after church and brought fried chicken for lunch! Look closely and you can see that Natalie found her thumb.

Awwwwww...

This afternoon we decided to take advantage of the beautiful day and spend a few minutes outside. Joanna did not want me to help hold her baby; she wanted to do it all herself. What a serious look she has here!

What a sweet sister!

Mommy and her girls in front of our sign again.

Tomorrow Matt is headed back to work, but we've decided he'll work a short day to ease me into this taking care of 2 kiddos thing. Yikes!

Joanna did not take a nap this afternoon. We tried of course, but she first of all didn't want to and then she needed a diaper change, and by that point she was pretty much too worked up to sleep. So about 5:00 she was an emotional wreck. Picture me in the kitchen, nursing a baby using one arm, fixing dinner with the other, with a toddler clinging to my legs. I'm sure that's not my last time to be there! Fortunately Matt was home and helping me with dinner. We put Joanna to bed a little early (as soon as we could after dinner and bath!) and she went right out. She was sooooo tired!

Part of me is looking forward to getting into a routine with the girls, but I am really going to miss this past week of the 1:1 parent child ratio. I'm still physically recovering from the pregnancy and delivery, and I'm looking forward to getting back into toddler chasing shape. I say "back into shape" but actually I never had to chase a toddler until I was pregnant. Joanna didn't start walking (much less running) until I was already pregnant with Natalie. So theoretically, this should be easier now, right? I guess the lack of sleep and lingering back pain don't really aid with the toddler chasing. Eh, oh well.

I can't believe that Matt's been home for a whole week. It went really really quickly! I think what I'm going to miss most is sleeping in. The past couple of days Natalie and I have slept in until about 8 and Matt and Joanna have gotten up and ready. I really like sleeping in. I am a sleep junkie for sure! I am really glad that I'm able to sleep flat on my belly again! Whoo hoo!

Oh I'm such a rambler, and now I'm feeding a baby so typing isn't as much fun. More cutie pie girl updates later!