Oh what a night!

It's 9 pm and both kids are asleep in their beds...a first for the Gardner family!! Trey has been my late night boy but we've discovered his secret...sleeping in his papasan chair. He sleeps much longer in that than laying flat in his crib, has a lot less spit-up, and is easier to put back to sleep in the middle of the night. Abby has become quite the early bird, it doesn't matter what time she goes to sleep she's up before 7 am. Waaaaaaayyy to early for me but she does well watching cartoons for an hour or so by herself until I deem it an appropriate hour to get up.

We have enjoyed the sunny weather the last few days. It's a little too hot for my taste but as long as it doesn't last for too long I'm okay with it. Abby started swimming in her little kiddie pool. She holds on to the side and kicks her legs out. It's so cute to watch and she is definitely proud of herself. "Daddy, look at me! Abby swimming! Abby swimming!" I've heard that a lot the last two days. I just love that girl!

Jerry's friend Nick was down here visiting from Alaska so we had him over for dinner last night. Yummy steak and potatoes with some ice cream (Abby calls it "surprise") for dessert. It's fun to visit with him since we can't get together very often. He brought the kids presents too which is always fun. Abby got a foam alphabet puzzle for the floor, what a hit that has been. And Trey got a little people police station. Abby thinks it's for her too, we are really working on differentiating between her stuff and Trey's. She is not good at sharing yet and has learned the concept of "mine". It should make for some interesting days in the future.

It has been a busy summer so far, not much family time yet but there is not much on the calendar this week so I'm hoping we can enjoy spending time together. We do have a vacation to Ocean Shores coming up on the 11th so at least we'll get some quality time then for sure!

What a day!

It's barely 3 pm and what a day it has been! We relaxed in bed this morning with the kids until 8:30 which was nice, then we all got up and ready for the day. Jerry took Rusty to the groomers, he needed it terribly bad, and then went off to run some errands and do some things at school. I got Abby dressed and was brushing her hair before the daily pigtails and found a flea on her head...gross! I haven't seen the animals scratching at all so I hope they just brought one in from outside. But Rusty's blankets went in the wash and Jerry is picking up some flea medicine today for the pets. So far I've just seen the one but how nasty is that? Makes my head itch just thinking about it! I decided after that to take the kiddos to the coffee stand for a much needed iced drink and got in a fender-bender on the way. It was my fault but it was under 5 miles an hour...no damage to her car, little dent in my license plate. We pulled over and I saw she had zero damage and thought that would be it but the lady pulled out this card that said what to do in an accident and so she asked for all my info. I told her I didn't see any damage to her car and she said that her shoulder hurt and she wasn't sure if it would get worse in the next 24 hours...what a crock. My kids didn't even notice that we hit anything so I think she was just looking for some $!! People these days. So I called 911 and had the ambulance come out to check on her and the sheriff came to write a report...now she can't claim anything totally ridiculous. Seriously...under 5 miles an hour, how bad can you get hurt?? Anyway, that took forever to get through...but I still got my coffee afterwards.

We got home around 11:45 and Abby and I decided to go "swimming" in her pool. She thinks that standing outside it swishing her hands in the water and playing with toys is swimming. It was fun but the water hadn't warmed up too much yet, we'll try again after her nap, maybe she'll actually get IN the water!

Trey is taking a nap in his crib right now...his first one I believe. We are putting him in his bouncy seat (baby papasan chair) and he seems to like sitting up more than laying flat. If he makes it an hour in there I will be so happy.

After all this maybe the rest of the day will be quiet!

mother's guilt!

I like to think I'm a pretty great mom, putting my kids needs above my own and all that, but this morning I was selfish! Trey has been refusing the bottle at night and since he won't be soothed with a pacifier it's up to me to nurse/soothe him. This makes for a very late bedtime for me every night (11-ish lately). I still have to get up once in the middle of the night for a quick feeding and then he's up around 4:30 or so for another feeding. He never goes back to sleep after this in his crib (I've tried, and tried, and tried) so I take him into bed and he sleeps there. Abby has been waking up early for a couple months, and by early I mean before 7 am! So for me there's not much sleep happening. Jerry had to be up at 6:30 to get ready for a meeting this morning and he changed Abby and put a movie on for her so that I could get a little more rest. Well, this turned into a lot more rest!! She watched the entire movie and then read some books while I dozed. Bless her little heart she didn't complain about being left alone for that long at all. I feel so guilty for not getting up early with her but boy do I feel so much more refreshed!

a good day

What a great day for the Gardner family! We didn't do much but everything went better than I could've hoped for. I decided that I would take Abby shopping today for her birthday dress and then go to Party City for some supplies for her party in a couple weeks. I was thinking of leaving Trey home with Jerry and pumping a bottle for him but lately Trey has decided that drinking out of a bottle isn't as much fun as a meal directly from mom. So we decided to make it a family outing instead (but took the bottle along anyway). My mother-in-law called as we were getting dressed and ready and wanted to come over for a little bit. She's been gone to California for 2 weeks and hadn't seen the kids so I knew she'd really like to see them. Abby was thrilled when Grandma showed up (especially since she brought PRESENTS for us all!) and Grandma was amazed at how big Trey had grown. Needless to say we didn't get going as early as we had hoped and left the house near Abby's naptime. I thought she would be cranky all afternoon and Trey hasn't been thrilled being in a car seat so I was sure he'd be in a foul mood too. We went to the bank drive-thru with Trey screaming in the backseat (he won't take a pacifier at all) and he finally settled down as we pulled into the Target parking lot. Abby was a little crabby at first but then she got to pick out some fun things; stickers, notepads, clothes, and all was well again. Trey did okay through the store but he was getting hungry. Jerry tried feeding him a little from the bottle but it took a lot of work to get an ounce down. Then we walked over to Party City and Abby wanted to take everything home. We got lots of Cars birthday stuff, I can't wait until the big day! Trey was still fussy but not screaming.

We were all hungry at this point and decided Denny's would be a good place to go. Abby loves pancakes, french toast and all things breakfasty. She got some "dip" (syrup) and was a happy camper. We've never taken Trey to a restaurant because he's so miserable being in his carseat and won't be soothed by anything other than "eating boobies" as Abby calls it. So I was nervous about how he would do...for no reason, he did FABULOUS!! He was pretty quiet and content through the whole meal, and I managed to get him to eat 2 more ounces from the bottle. What a relief.

On our way home we stopped by the in-laws and visited for a few hours. All of Abby's uncles showed up, she just loves playing with them. Grandma got to hold Trey, giving me a nice break! We got home, I fed him, bathed Abby, got her in jammies, read a couple of books and she was off to bed. Now I need to get Trey to sleep, hopefully before 11 as has been the hour the last few nights! At least now I feel more comfortable going out for an extended period of time with the whole family.

boat ride!

Abby got to on her first boat ride in Uncle Glen's boat today. She and Jerry went out to Big Lake to have some fun on the water. She was pretty tired before they left and fell alseep on the way and wasn't too thrilled when she woke up. Once they made it out on the water she did better. She wouldn't let her daddy get in the water but maybe next time. They were gone a couple of hours and she fell alseep on the way home and slept over 3 hours at home! I managed to get some yardwork done today and got the kitchen counter cleaned off and organized. It's my goal to get at least one project done every day. I want to have the house back on track before going back to work. I have found that the clutter in the house makes it very hard for me to relax at all. I've been a little cranky (or a lot!), not much sleep, taking care of babies, etc, it has taken it's toll. Hopefully getting stuff done will improve my mood. And getting a little help from Jerry when he's not working has been really nice too.

Finally!

Last night was a good one in the Gardner household! Trey finally slept a decent amount at night, I got a whopping 5 hours in a row for the first time since he has been home. I was up for 30 minutes and back asleep for another 2 hours. I'm hoping this is the start of more night sleeping, less day sleeping for the little man. To make the day even better Abby is going to her grandma's house for the day. It's going to be a quiet day around here, a little laundry, some cleaning and maybe a nap for me!! Abby loves her grandma and is very excited whenever she gets to see her. She heard a car earlier and thought gram was here so I told her to go look out the window. It was quiet for a few minutes so I went to check on her. She was standing by her bag of stuff with her hat and sunglasses on, putting on sunscreen. She saw me watching her and said "Abby ready to go!" It was the sweetest, funniest thing. Grandma isn't here yet but she is waiting very patiently.

In more Abby news, we went to the park yesterday and she got to use the big slides for the first time. She had such a good time and wanted to do everything by herself. Up the stairs, down the slide over and over again. I think she would've stayed there all day if we let her. She is also trying some pull-up diapers now. She likes wearing them and I'm hoping that she may want to start using the potty within a few months. She likes to sit on it now and talk about going but so far nothing is happening! My baby is just growing up!

Happy Father's Day

My kids are so lucky to have the dad that they do. Jerry works tirelessly to provide for them everything they need. He is gone a lot working but always makes sure that Abby and Trey know he loves them very much. He is the anchor in our family and I appreciate him more than he knows. Happy Father's Day Jerry!

Jerry and I got to go on a date last night. His parents came over and watched the kids so we could go to dinner. It was so nice to be alone together. No one was asking endlessly for a bite of my food, no one needing changing, feeding, rocking, etc...it was FABULOUS! I love my children more than anything but getting a break is needed now and then!

I am so tired! Trey has been up from 3 -6am or so the last two nights. He's not cranky, just awake. He's eating so often that I can't get a bottle pumped for him so I am doing all the feedings. I am really hoping that he starts sleeping more soon so that I can too.

Weekend Fun

Friday was a big day...Trey finally slept in his crib! No more baby in our room, I am so excited about that. I find it very difficult to sleep with all the racket babies make.

Jerry had the whole weekend off and it was wonderful! I loved having a helper around. We decided to venture out on Saturday to the Business Costco in Lynnwood. They have amazing coffee cake muffins there that make the trip worthwhile. We also stopped at Babies 'R Us to get a couple of things. Trey did very well, a few in-car feedings kept him mostly happy. Both kids slept all the way down which was nice. No big meltdowns in the stores either which was good, Trey was fussy in Costco near the end but he was just hungry. Abby wants to be treated like a baby more now, getting carried around and just generally wanting more attention. Overall she's doing super as a big sister. I try to get in as much one-on-one time with her during the day as I can.

Sunday we spent a relaxing day at home. The in-laws came over in the evening for a little bit, they were surprised at how big the boy is already! A good dinner and baths and the kiddos were ready for sleep. Trey was great until 3 am. Then he decided he'd rather play until 6. I'm super tired today but that's the life of a mommy! I think once we get Trey a white-noise machine he'll sleep better (I hope).

Mary Kay

I'm having a big sale on Mary Kay products this month. If you are interested or know anyone that is please let me know! mgardner92@marykay.com

Feeding Frenzy!

Trey is definitely experiencing a growth spurt. The longest I managed to go between feedings all yesterday and last night was 2 hours. I think if he didn't fall asleep while eating or need to be changed/burped that he would've eaten continuously. He's going to be a big boy!!

Doctor visit #2

Trey had his 2 week check-up and circumcision today. My mom came down to stay with Abby while I took Trey in, which was super helpful. The doctor was called away to do an emergency C-section so our appointment got started an hour late giving Trey and I lots of one-on-one time. He was very good about getting weighed and measured, he didn't cry at all. He's a little chunk-chunk though, weighing it at a whopping 10 lbs 1.5 oz, that's over a 1.5 pound weight gain in 13 days!! He sure does love his momma! Then he got his surgery done, boy that was interesting. He was not too happy about the whole thing and after watching it, I'm so glad that I'm a girl! Hopefully it heals fast. A foot-prick later (for the PKU screening) and we were outta there. No more doctor visits now for either kid for another 6 weeks or so.

Blog Beginning!

Ah, the first posting! Our family is finally complete after the arrival of Trey and it seems like a good time to start an online journal to document our lives. It will be fun to look back on this and see how our lives change in the coming months/years.

Trey is now 17 days old and what an adventure it has been so far. He's an absolute joy to have in the house. He's pretty mellow and really only cries when he's hungry (which is most of the time!). He is growing so fast, no surprise since all he does is eat. I'm looking forward to seeing his personality emerge but also relishing these first days, they're never this small again! He has an awesome big sister in 22 month-old Abby. She likes to help me out...most of the time, and is starting to like baby brother a bit more each day. She gives him kisses and tries to hug him a lot. But she is missing having her momma all to herself. So far she hasn't acted out much, which I am so grateful for.

Last night was my first test as a mom of two kids under two. Abby had a minor diaper rash but was crying hysterically and acting like she was in enormous pain. We thought she may be developing a bladder infection and made an appointment for today with the doctor. It was hours of consoling her before she finally fell asleep. I felt so bad for her as there was nothing I could do to help her much. Thankfully she slept all night. As soon as she was asleep though Trey decided it was his turn to be fussy. He had terrible gas or reflux (not sure which) and cried for an hour or so straight. By 11 pm I was so tired I could barely keep my eyes open and thankfully Jerry came home and stayed up with Trey until he finally fell asleep. Early bird children that they are, Trey was up by 5 am and Abby wasn't far behind. So I got an early (very early) shower, bathed and dressed the kids, fed them, packed up all their stuff, fed Trey again, changed some diapers, got them in car seats and made it to Abby's doctor on time! Little trooper that girl is! She had to have a catheter put in so they could check her urine for an infection and she was so brave. Thankfully she is a-okay. Trey slept through the whole appointment, but little did he know that his turn was coming up. He has his 2 week visit tomorrow and will be getting circumcised...but the good news is I don't have to take Abby with me!

So far I'm feeling capable as a mom of two and hopefully that feeling continues as they grow!