Late sleeping, springtime yard work

I am so grateful that I have been able to take time off from work and give my body time to heal, time to bond with the baby, and adjust to the new life.  One big perk is that I have been able to "sleep" in.  By that, I mean that if Emmalyn nurses at 6:00, when she finishes I will put her back to sleep and then go back to sleep myself until she wakes up to nurse the next time (this is if things all go smoothly).  Max just plays on his iPad and is happy as a clam to play while I sleep.  He's so sweet and once Peter leaves for work he'll usually scoot from Peter's side of the bed over to mine so he can be next to me and touch me every once in awhile.  I usually end up waking up for good at around 8:30 and nurse Emmalyn, then pump, then try and shower, then get Max breakfast.  It's about 10:30 or 11:00 am by the time everything is done and we are all fed and dressed for the day.

Peter took this picture of Max this morning cuddling in the sheets.

Not knowing about the pic Peter took, I also took a picture of Maxwell in the sheets this morning.  :)

I knew I wanted to get some yard work done this morning so I skipped a bunch of the normal stuff I'd try to get done in the morning (showers, etc.) so I could get out there before it got too hot.

I planted the bush Erika and Mary Ann brought to the hospital

The boys came outside to play in the dirt too (Emmalyn was sleeping inside)

Before - basically no mulch, sprinkler tubes exposed, lighting all crooked...

Before (the other side)

I worked HARD and I worked FAST.  I got 8 bags of mulch spread, did some weeding, and straightened the lights in a little over an hour.  I did more lifting of the bags than I should and paid the price with pain later, but I just wanted it done.  It's been making me crazy looking at my yard in need of attention.

Max helping with the post-mulch clean up

After!

After!  (Notice that the mulch doesn't cover everything.)

I have decided to not plant any flowers this year.   It makes me sad to not have any but it just isn't realistic this year.  During the peak planting weeks I was either extremely pregnant or recovering.  Plus I know that I am not going to have as much time to tend to the flowers this year AND they are most likely going to be restricting our watering even further because of the drought we are in.  Sigh...so I will just be happy with the greenery of my bushes and the brown of the mulch.

I thought 8 bags would be enough but it wasn't even close to what I needed to do the trees, side yards, and front yard.  I ended up needing 11 more bags!  Next year I will look into how I can buy it in bulk.

Week of May 18th, 2014

Picnic in the car with yummy BBQ from the guy outside Home Depot.

Peter delivered on his Anniversary present - - installing drip lines into our sprinkler system.

Can you see the drip line?  He did a nice job of making it inconspicuous.

I am so happy to not have to worry about hand watering anymore!  Thanks Peter for doing such a nice job on this!

Hanging out on the patio

This girl loves her baths.  She'd hang out happily like this for a long time, as long as she just ate.  :)

Took Emmalyn in for her one month doctor's appt.

Her pediatrician would have liked to have seen her gain more weight than she did.  He wants me to pop in just for a weight check in two weeks.  He also wants me to start "topping her off" on the other side when I'm nursing.  I'm not so sure about that because she's already spitting up a ton and doesn't act hungry when she's done eating.

He also suggested using Cetaphil as a face wash again to help with her acne.  Since it's gotten so bad, I decided to take his suggestion and went after the appointment to get the wash and the moisturizer.  I am supposed to wash her face once a day and moisturize it twice.  The nice thing about Cetaphil is you doing have to use water with it so I can just put the wash on her face and then wash off the excess, I don't have to go through the hassle of rinsing off the wash.

She got a shot at this appointment.  It's so awful watching your baby scream after getting poked.  :(  The nurse suggested that I could stay as long as I needed in the room and I could nurse if I want to help soothe her.  I have never thought of nursing before to help soothe them...I thought it was a great idea.  I think it helped!  Or...at least it made me feel like I was helping her.

Here's her stats from her 4 week visit (which happened closer to 5 weeks):

Weight: 8 lbs 3 oz, 13th Percentile

Height: 20 1/2 in, 9th Percentile

Head: 14.3, 31st Percentile

We tried out the play mat

Video - I think we have the beginning of "coos" here...

It was a windy day so I got out the (cheap) kites and we tried to get them up.

It didn't work.  The wind was gusty but not consistent enough to keep a kite up.

Evidence of the shot

Pretty girl in her pretty flowery dress

She likes being outside and so does Max. But she eats, quite frequently...and Max doesn't like to play outside by himself.  So today, she dined outside.

Ahh...the silly face game.  

This one went to Daddy...

...And this one came back from Daddy.

Video - Maxwell and Daddy playing tag.  Sorry for the crazy camera work!

We went out to dinner.  We are eating out more frequently because I'm wiped out and so if Brittany doesn't cook, then eating out is our option.  

(Emmalyn ate here too.  Someone asked me what the strangest place I've ever nursed was and that was hard to answer because I've nursed pretty much everywhere...restaurants, sporting events, parks, airports, airplanes, outside, inside, my car, a bathroom, swimming pool.  If I didn't nurse when we were out, I'd never get to go out!)

Max got this book out and was reading by himself, first time he's done that without one of us reading with him.  I'd love for him to be a lover of books!

He's got his tool set with him so he can go to work.

Emmalyn's first walk in the neighborhood (with Britt and the boys)

He's not tall enough to pedal so he just pushes this bike along and his poor ankles get beat up by the training wheels.  We are just going to take the wheels off and it can be a balance bike.

Yummy popsicles outside.  For once, Max has a dirty face like Landen!  (Landen is usually a mess and Max is pretty clean.)

Is she sucking her thumb?

Max hasn't been napping as well lately.  He will go down like usual but then I hear him in there singing or talking or just moving around.  He doesn't get out of bed but he doesn't go to sleep.  Usually if I go in there after awhile and tell him to go to sleep he will finally go to sleep.  I REALLY hope he isn't starting to be done taking naps.  Also, he covered HIMSELF up with a blanket after I left the room one day, he's never covered himself up before.  I'm so proud of him when he does new things for the first time but then a part of me is also sad because it's something else he can do without my help.
I get emails that say what Max should be doing developmentally at each age... "Here's what your child should be doing at 21 months..." etc.  I got one recently that said children his age should be saying 4-6 word sentences.  I thought that was interesting so I started paying attention to how many words Max uses in his sentences.  I regularly counted 8-10!  Way to go, buddy.
Recently he has started using the words "delicious" and "interesting".  He'll say "mmm...that's delicious (de-Wicious)" or "that's interesting".
He certainly wants to do things on his own!  He laid down next to Landen today to read a book to him and started with "once upon a time..."   I don't know where this kid picks up things like that, it's not like the books we read to him start that way...  Maybe the show "SUPER WHY" ?

Dave Matthews Band - 2 sets!

We were both excited to go to see The Dave Matthews Band in concert for our anniversary.  I got us real seats instead of sitting on the grass so we could see better, we could skip the opening act and just show up for Dave (so we would be away from Emmalyn for less time), and still have good seats.

What I didn't understand until a few days before the concert, was that Dave was opening for himself.  This year's tour is called "2 Sets".  The first set (the opener) was all acoustic, then there was a break, and Dave comes back and plays the main show plugged in.    How awesome is that?!  Getting extra time to enjoy the band plus getting to hear a whole set, not just a few songs, acoustic!

The bad news though, was we couldn't show up late and limit the amount of time away from Emmalyn.  This was going to be the longest I had been away from her yet.  I left some pumped milk so that she could eat (it would be her first bottle!).

Our awesome babysitter

Date night?!  What?!

Sleeping happily with Brittany

We are here! We grabbed some tacos and took our seats.

Without Peter blocking the sun that was setting behind us.  It made things warm but not unbearable.

That's Dave Matthews!  Right there!!!  People were still trickling in and so I could see a little bit in the beginning even though everyone was standing.

View from our seats without zooming, dang...a little far away

Zooming in a little - Acoustic set!

Video - short clip from the acoustic version of "Crash"

I really, really, really enjoyed the acoustic set, it felt more intimate.  Not everyone had shown up (maybe they thought there would be an opening act like I did - HA!) so I could maneuver more to a spot where I could see and I love acoustic music.  

Here's the plugged in set.  I thought the lighting was very cool.

However this was my view most of the time.  

Since everyone stood up the entire time (and there were some serious giants in front of me), I didn't try to see the stage.  Instead I tried to watch the big screens on the side of the stage.  Most of the time though, my view was halfway blocked there too.  It was okay though because if I stood too long, my incision would start to hurt so I would take sitting breaks and just enjoy the music.  It didn't matter that I couldn't see.

It was an amazing concert.  With the two sets, we got to hear a lot more of our favorite songs than we would during a typical concert.  I haven't been to a music concert in a while (in fact, I think Dave was the last concert we've been to... click here to read about it.  Check out the first pic - it's good to see that we aren't as fat as that anymore!) and it was fun to be in that environment... listening to great live music, surrounded by people who are passionate about the artist, and just having fun!  I also haven't been in an environment where someone was lighting up multiple times right behind me.  Thank goodness I didn't bring Emmalyn, she would have probably gotten a contact high.  SHEESH!  

The coolest thing about the concert was that they played my two favorite Dave Matthews Band songs, one after the other - "Satellite" and "You & Me".  I've been watching the set lists from the other shows and often they don't play both songs and certainly not together.  We don't have "a song" but if we did, I would say it's You & Me.  

I know you want to enjoy a little of the concert, too!

Video - DMB Satellite

Video - DMB You & Me

We had a really great time.  It was nice to be out just the two of us and get a chance to have conversations about things beyond the kids.  Not only that, we got to hold hands!  That doesn't happen lately because someone is usually holding a kid or a car seat.

We ended up being gone 7 hours!  Emmalyn didn't wake up at all to eat while we were gone, which is amazing.  I had nursed her right before we left and she must have instinctively known I wasn't home because she slept until we got back.  I was secretly happy that she didn't have her first bottle when I wasn't home to watch.

Funny thing - Peter and I were talking about how life was with two kids and I mentioned that even though I clearly don't have things figured out with two yet, that I still felt like we were eventually going to have three kids.  He responded with this - "We are more likely to have a threesome than three kids."  I thought that was the funniest response ever (since the first option is DEFINITELY off the table).

Set List!
Acoustic set
1. Recently
2. Grace is Gone
3. Lie in Our Graves
4. Stolen Away on 55th and 3rd
5. Crash Into Me
6. So Damn Lucky
7. Sugar Man
(Sixto Rodriguez cover)
8. Ants Marching

Electric Set
9. #27
10. Shake Me Like a Monkey
11. Crush
12. Spaceman
13. Cornbread
14. #41
15. Proudest Monkey
16. Satellite
17. You & Me
18. Dancing Nancies
19. Drive In, Drive Out
20. Belly Belly Nice
21. Jimi Thing

Encore
22. Sister
23. All Along the Watchtower
(Bob Dylan cover)

Baking with dad

Maxwell helped his dad with some baking and a few other pictures...

I didn't take pictures of this but I took both Max and Emmalyn to the park to meet Max's Kindermusik teacher, Leah, and her son B (who is just a little bit younger than Max) and her baby I (who is 4 months older than Emmalyn).  I was really hoping Max would run around and work off some energy and I could just visit with Leah while we held the babies.  Nope.  Max didn't want to play at all - either with B or by himself.  He was just whiny and clingy.  We didn't end up staying very long and I realized how taxing it's going to be to go out of the house and do activities where I have to chase Max around while keeping Emmalyn happy.

Family reading time.  Emmalyn sometimes enjoys it.

We put her in a swing for the first time.  She loved it so much she fell asleep.  Success.  :)

Maxwell helped Daddy bake brownies from scratch.  Max really enjoyed getting to pour the ingredients and count out measurements.  Peter even let him crack his first egg.  It didn't go as plan - watch the video, it makes me laugh.  :)

Video - Daddy let Max crack an egg for the brownie recipe

Momma left to go to ladies' bunco and Peter sent me this pic

One of the ladies in the neighborhood custom painted the letters E and M to match Emmalyn's nursery bedding.  They will be cute additions to her room when she moves into it.

In the morning after she nurses and I am pumping, she typically ends up falling asleep on my bed in front of me.  I love watching her sleep but just don't have time to do that often so I enjoy the opportunity to do it while I am pumping.

Max was happy that we finally went back to Kindermusik!  He was soooo engaged during his first class back and sang a ton.  He even went and sat a little bit on the blanket for story time, which is a big deal because usually he doesn't leave my lap.  

Cute outfit, screaming baby

After Kindermusik we stopped at Hobby Lobby to look for something and I found this brown box and brought it home for Max to paint.  He LOVED it.

Things are going better at night and for the past few nights, I haven't had to "tap out" and give her over to Peter because I was exhausted from trying to get her to sleep.  I love when I catch her smiling in her sleep because I feel like it gives me a little peak into the future when she'll really be smiling and fun to play with.