Alyssa Marie: 6 months

Good Lord, where has 6 months gone to already?!  You, my sweet Lu are so much fun!  Six months old is a great age and I almost talked myself into getting a cake to celebrate this milestone but didn't being that you couldn't enjoy it anyways.  You are a rollercoaster of a baby and we cannot believe how much you have changed since you were born.  Somedays you nap and sleep like a champ and some days you will only take an hour nap all day long leaving us to wonder if you are some sort of super baby who doens't require sleep as you are still smiling and looking around to see what's next!  I am pretty used to it but baby girl you are exhausting your Daddy who needs more sleep so let's get back onto the schedule of sleeping til 6:30-7:30 every morning mmm-kay?  Regardless though you are lourved on big time.  We all melt when we see you but your Daddy especially melts when he holds you close after a long day only to kiss your head over and over again as he whispers "you are my pretty, pretty girl," and "daddy loves you pretty girl." You are told numerous times a day how pretty you are and many times a day I think you could pass for a porcelian baby doll with your rosy cheeks, pretty pink lips and sparkly blue eyes.  You still love to be held but are happy to be put down and try sitting up on your own, enjoying the freedoms that come with stretching out and reaching for a new toy.

Here's a sneak peak at Lyssa Lu: 6 months new.

*You are eating every 5-6 hours 6 ozs of mixed Enfamil Gentlease and Infant formula.

*You are eating solids twice a day and you love sweet potatoes, carrots, and any and all fruit.  You not surprisingly hate green beans and peas so I sneak a few spoonfuls in with your potatoes and carrots and at first you turn up your nose but agree that solids are too yummy to pass up!

*You are wearing size 2 diapers.

*You are wearing 6 month old clothes.

*You go to bed by 7:30 everynight and if you wake up usually do so around 12:45-1:00 a.m. for a Nuk. 

*Your mornings are a huge hodge podge of wakey times with anything from 5:00 a.m. to 7:30 (usually on the weekends), so I assume my getting up interrupts your slumber somewhat.  However, you always eat a quick 6 ozs and go right back to sleep until Daddy wakes you up or we wake up together on weekends around 8:30-9:00!  Daddy actually laughed when I set an alarm for church on Sunday for 8:45 stating that "she will never sleep that long."  You woke me up at 8:38 and I was pretty thankful for the alarm becuase I got lost listening to you talk and coo to yourself.

*You LOVE your crib and your room/changing table is your happy place.  Often times in the evening when the day has been long and we are waiting for Daddy to get home we head to your room for fun.  Riley entertains us both and you usually end up in your crib so he can read you books, make you laugh and maybe even sometimes (if Mommy is in an really good mood) bounce around a bit because you think it's hilarious when he jumps on your mattress. 

*You notice very quickly when we leave the room now and Riley is such a good boy to stay with you while we run to the bathroom or put dinner in.  You are happy as long as one of us is with you.

*You are now taking baths in the big tub with your big brother thanks to your new bath seat!  You LOVE it! and Riley loves taking baths with you...he literally giggles the whole time.  It's obnoxious and loud and you smile the whole time.

*You still don't have any teeth and we are loving your gummy smile.

*You can wet a onesie with drool in seconds.

*You love to pull hair now, baby holders beware...this girl has a tight grip!

*You love to give hugs and snuggles now.  You just lay your little head down on our chests and snuggle...it's precious.

*You play peek-a-boo with us now.  I love that both my kids have loved their 'lovies' and now Lyssa Lu puts it over her head and pulls it down with a huge smile on her face waiting for us to peek-a-boo her! 

*You have your Dr's appt next Tuesday so we aren't sure where you are at with weight/length yet.

She wonders where the last 6 months went...

Kisses for the cam!

Yummy, gummy grins

Sweet girl in gifted pj's

She looks more and more like her Daddy everyday : )





Hello Little D!  : )

           We love you more than words can tell Lyssa Lu Lu.  You are the sweetest little toe-head!

Date night almost gone wrong

We don't go out very often.  We like being at home, we really like being with our children and it seems like it's just easier to go out to eat with them then ask someone to watch them but the last few weekends we have managed to go out just the two of us twice! 

Kyle called after work to see if he could swing by to see the kids and I said "yes, you can spend an hour with them while we go to eat!"  I really didn't try to pressure him but he agreed and we enjoyed El Loro complete with margaritas for two in just over an hour!  Thanks Kyle!  Sorry Lyssa Lu gave you a bit of trouble. 

This last weekend I pre-arranged Auntie TeeTee to come and watch the kids for us so we could get out for the evening.  Riley was pretty excited to see her but didn't understand why we would be leaving without him.  Makes me think that maybe date night should be more often!  He wasn't upset but he just couldn't believe that we weren't going to be eating with him!  Sweet boy.  We took off for P.F. Changs and indulged in appetizers, Auntie Changs Frappe (YUMMY!) and dinners.  It was delish and for desert we headed over to National Camera for some 'window' shopping.  I am looking for new lenses and decided that it is time for a new camera too : )  I love my camera but in the lowlight of our house it just isn't doing what I want it to do and since I am shooting a wedding with Annie in September I thought it best to upgrade pre-nuptials!  Derrick says it is the most boring store ever...I couldn't disagree more!  I really wanted to keep shopping, for my little ones of course at Baby Gap, PBK and Edelweiss Baby but after the sighs of boredom from D I thought it best that we move on...where too you ask? 

Bill's Gun Range.

It was my idea.  I thought it would be fun to shoot a few rounds.  I didn't realize that it was expensive (just over $40 to shoot not counting ammo) and that it would be downright scary. 
I have shot our handgun before up north, in the open with family and I liked shooting alot.
I didn't realize that driving into an underground super creepy parking ramp with the noise of gun shots ringing through the concrete would make me nervous.  I also didn't realize that the fact that I was in a room full of strangers all carrying guns would make me nervous.  Turns out it does.  I didn't know these people and to be perfectly honest they were 'questionable' looking characters.  It was loud, super loud.  It was hot, super hot, although my anxiety could have turned the temp up a few degrees.  I didn't realize that when you shoot a gun indoors you can actually feel the gun shoot.  You can feel the heat coming off of it, you can feel the BOOM on your chest and you can feel the shells of the people in the lane next to you as they smack you on the head and fly in front of your face.  Derrick could tell that I was panicking and I could see in his eyes that he wasn't overally comfortable with the situation either.  He is super cautious when it comes to guns and turns out being in a room with strangers and guns doesn't leave him overly comfortable either!  I finally stopped literally jumping at every bang of every gun going off and shot a few really good rounds.  I am a pretty good shot acutally and I do really like to do it but I will wait til we are up north next time where it is free and airy and a bit less sketchy feeling. 

It was early and it was nice to get home in time to put both our babies to bed before watching Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire!  I just had finished the book and we are really enjoying the movies so after an already expensive evening curling up on the couch was perfect!

Moving on the randomness that I love...

At night now Riley likes to sleep with his door open.  I asked him if he was scared and his response "me not scared mommy, me just feel better bout it open."  So for the past weekend any noise he heard he had to come out of his room and see what was going on.  I told the Dr that we were suddenly having trouble keeping him in bed for the first 30-45 minutes and he said to tell him we would shut the door if he didn't stay in bed...duh.  Why didn't I think of that one?!  Rewind to Sunday, I was doing my hair after showering following the kids going to bed...are you still with me?...when a sweet voice asked, "mommy you be weal mad if I have to come out my bed and go pee?"  I had to laugh at him then strip him down to go.  He hugged me and told me, "Hank you mommy, me love very very much."  Derrick heard the little voice and had to come back and join in for one more goodnight session. 

I love this kid...
*He was shopping with my Mom at Costco last week and when they came to the flowers he begged Nana to let him buy flowers for Mommy.  I can just hear his little voice pleading "pees Nana, pees." 
*A few weeks ago with my Dad home for his day off him and my Mom were hugging and Riley said "hey my Mommy and Daddy do that too!"  Isn't that just cute.  It makes me really happy that he sees and recognizes that his Mommy and Daddy love eachother! 
*I took him with to bring Auntie Teetee to work last Sunday (she was going out with 5 limos for a magazine spread shoot on her company and was getting dropped off by a limo at home later) and he looked so cute riding in his seat in pj's.  On the way to Katie's I was trying to start conversations with him while we had alone time and he finally said "Mommy, me not want to talk wight now."  Ouch kiddo, lucky for us he was wide awake and ready for conversation after Katie got in the car.  He told me when we got home that "that was special Mommy, me love you so much." 
*Before bed he likes to check "mommy's numbers" otherwise known as the bedside alarm clock to make sure it is actually 8:00 or later.  Then well we snuggle with him he peeks to make sure our feet aren't hanging off the bed because that must mean we aren't staying long enough for him.  He also holds tight to me and says just about every night now "mommy, you not sweep with Daddy, you can sweep with me." 

*He had his 3 year old check up on Monday.  We decided to all go and we giggled at his cute little bod in a blue gown.  He checked out "perfect" and we were pleasantly surprised that he actually measure on the BMI chart now even though in 6 months he has only gone up by 1/2 a lb! 

His feet look giant!

And random pictures taken on Daddy's phone are always fun!

Learning more and more everyday! Doesn't she look like babydoll here? 

Aren't they just freakin cute!?

*We both squealed when his new backpack came in the mail yesterday...it's uber cute and stay tuned for hopefully some uber cute pics of the preschooler with his new pack!

Lastly I received so many compliments on Riley's Thank You cards from his birthday that I just had to share them with everyone!

Playing hooky, the honest way.

So my request for Thursdays off hasn't panned out quite yet but I have been given a green light to leave whenever I want on said Thursdays as long as my area is quiet so with my manager gone and my desire to hit the beach with my kids left me with 2 choices.
1. Ask to go home because you are not feeling good.
2. Tell team lead that you have 'special' permission and be honest about going to the beach. 

Needless to say as the title hints at, I was honest and I was then the most hated person in the office. ; )  I rushed home to pack up the beach essentials, rushed to my Mom's to pack up my two little ones and then we rushed to the beach to meet up with Leah Bean and her Mommy! 

When I got to my Mom's I could hear Riley crying from the driveway so I ran around back and saw that he had a glass sliver in his foot.  Poor kid, his feet have been doomed lately with stepping on a carpet staple and actually bleeding (his first site of his very own blood totally freaked him out!) and then stubbing them numerous times while running around like a madman.  He wanted no part of the tweezer removal my Mom had planned for him so after trying to talk him into it unsuccesfully I held him in my lap, my mom held his foot and voila...it was out and the crying ceased to exist.  The anticipation is always the worst, isn't it!?

We surveyed the beach and decided to walk all the way around to find a few umbrella's that were single family occupated and voila we ran right into my dear friend Tiff's sister with her 3-yr-old twin girls and 5 year old boy...perfect!

The sand was hot, like burn your feet hot and the water was warm, like bathwater warm but Leah and Riley had a blast 'swimming' and splashing and the expression on Leah's face the whole time was hilarious.  She had a permagrin the entire day and Lyssa Lu just hung around-literally from the Bjorn.  She is so chill. 

Here's that tongue sticking out again!  : )

Her hair is too cute and crazy!

Half way through our afternoon there was an emergency evacuation of the swim pond because a child was missing so all adults were asked to hold hands and 'sweep' the pond.  I had the kids and watched Rach go out to help.  It was scary.  Like shaking, tears welling up, surreal scary.  Thankfully he was found, perfectly fine and probably swimming again in minutes.  I was shaken and ready to go.  After Riley's scare in the lake a few weekends ago I have had a recurring nightmare and this was kinda too similar.  Did I mention that scare?  He was wearing a life jacket and playing in the lake with his cousins, walking out to his waist in the water.  Eventually he got a bit braver and started walking out farther with his big cousin Joe and while all the adults were talking on the dock he tipped over forward and the life jacket which is normally a lifesaver was keeping his head under the water because he couldn't touch the bottom and he wasn't strong/big enough to flip his body over so he was stuck under water.  D said he looked down at him and that he wasn't thrashing or anything so he had to jump in.  He had swallowed alot of water and was really scared, they were both really scared.  Just a serious reminder that it only takes minutes for something horrible to possibly occur.

But I digress.

We had fun, lots of it.  It was the perfect way to spend an afternoon.  We love Elm Creek so much that we went back to play at the park on Sunday before going out to Costco, just for lunch.  Yep, we love 2 pieces of pizza, a dog and a pop for $5.85 that much!  My mom took the kids again on Tuesday to meet up with Owen and Sandy for their weekly summer playdates *sigh*  while annie and me tirelessly worked. ; )  Lucky kids those 3 are to have such young and fun G'ma's!  Even luckier that Owen announced he is going to be a big brother!!!  Riley will have lots of advice for you big guy!  Melt me now at all the gorgeous pics this new babe will have taken by his/her pretty picture taking Mama! 

I gave both kids baths last night, at the same time, in the big tub together...whew, lots of work but I managed to sneak in a few quick (like super quick, green box of death mode) pics.  They are so cute together.  Alyssa just adores him and he just dotes on her telling her how cute she is while patting her on the head and leaning in to give her kisses.  He did ask quite randomly if "wyssa's weiner fell off?" 

This is currently one of two of his favorite picture faces...the other is his tongue sticking out in deep concentration

She adores him.

like can't get enough of him, adores him!

I am rounding out the week on a shoot scout with Annie for an upcoming wedding, a sweet lunch with my parents and babies (yay for coming to eat lunch with Mommy!) and a fun date night with just my hubs Saturday! Oh the possibilities, dinner and movie, dinner and the comedy club, dinner and the casino, dinner and HP #4 on DVD?

Loving this week and already dreaming of Saturday morning in pj's laying in bed with the littles.

What's Riley reading?  The Plano tackle box book containing and showcasing all things tackle box but of course!

Let me hold you longer: Karen Kingsbury

For Christmas Riley's sweet and adorable 2nd (or so) cousin gifted him with a very nice book, hence the title of this post.  I read said book after the Christmas festivities and cried my eyes out.  I was pregnant so I blamed it on hormones or whatever and tucked it away to read again later.  Riley pulled it out this last week and begged me to read it to him before bed.  I didn't really remember it and thought it looked perfect for a Mommy to read to her son just from the front cover so we opened it up and I made it to page 8 before I couldn't hold back the waterworks any longer.  Riley was utterly confused and wanting to keep reading but Daddy whisked him away before I absolutely lost my marbles and started bawling like a big baby.

Long ago you came to me,

a miracle of firsts:

First smiles and teeth and baby steps,

a sunbeam on the burst.

But one day you will move away

and leave me to your past,

and I will be left thinking of 

a lifetime of your lasts.

The last time I held a bottle

to you baby lips.

The last time that I lifed you

and held you on my hip.

The last night when you woke up crying 

needing to be walked.

When last you crawled up with your blanket,

wanting to be rocked.

Our last adventure to the park,

your final midday nap.

The last time when you wore your favorite

faded baseball cap.

I never said goodbye to all

your yesterdays long passed.

So what about tomorrow-

will I recognize your lasts?

Silly scattered images 

will represent your past.

I keep on taking pictures,

never quite sure of your lasts...  

And this is when the tears started but I continued.

The last time I comb your hair,

or stop a pillow fight.

The last time I pray with you 

and tuck you in at night.

The last time when we cuddle

with a book, just me and you.

The last time you jump in our bed

and sleep between us too.

One last hug, one last good-bye,

one quick and hurried kiss.

One last time to understand 

just how much you'll be missed.

I'll watch you leave and think how fast

our time together passed.

Let me hold on longer God

to every precious last.

...and then I lost it and just abbreviated the book for you.  

It's a book that will slay you.  Especially after you opened the mail earlier to find your first babies preschool enrollment papers with reminders on school supplies, tuition and orientation.  

I believe that when Riley was an infant I had the "I just can't waits."  

I just can't wait for him to sit up.

I just can't wait for him to hold his own bottle.

I just can't wait for him to crawl, walk and be able to run around with me.

I just can't wait for him to sleep through the night.

I just can't wait for him to start talking.

I can't wait for him to be potty trained.

I just can't wait for him to play ball and be able to go fishing.

How silly to look back and realize I wished away his babyhood, his toddlerhood because I was anxious to see the next step, because I was uncertain of the future.  I feel very sad to realize my beautiful baby boy is now 3 and that it has taken his sister to really realize what I have carelessly taken for granted.  Obviously, I enjoyed Riley as a newborn, as an infant, as a toddler but I seriously can't say enough how fast it has all gone.  

When I read this book it made me mourn all the lasts that we have already experienced with him and all the lasts that are coming up so quickly.  I can't even hold back the tears now as they spill effortlessly as I type away.  That is why I obsess over pictures and had to buy a nice camera just so I could obsess over them some more.  That is why I write everything down in his baby book and record nearly everything in "Mom, tell me one more story."  That is why I blog even when I am tired or busy because it's the details that I never want to forget.  It's the seemingly mundane that makes this life so spectacular and I am thankful that right now, in this very moment I am no longer wishing for anything.  I am no longer using the phrase "I can't wait" when it comes to my children.  I am taking the good with the bad, tiring, and everything in between and placing it in my heart, in that special spot that was overtaken by you Riley and you Alyssa.  

I promise to never bring work home with me so that it interferes with my mood.  I promise to let the dishes go once in awhile so we can stay outside longer, build boats out of playdough once more and catch one last imaginary fish out of our backyard.  I promise to scratch your back every night and say prayers with you and for you.  I promise to be the obnoxious camera Mom who even pulls out her camera in Coldstone just so she can remember you ordering your first ice cream.  I promise to hold your hand and be there with you and for you.  I promise to thank God every night for you and for all the joy and love you have brought to my life.  I promise (however unfortunately) that I will be that Mom weeping over your kindergarten graduation, your first homerun, your every birthday and almost everything in between because that is how God made me.  

I know I was made to be your Mom and of that I am 100% certain.  

This does not in anyway mean that I didn't love and cherish my Riley as a baby/toddler but rather that it went by too fast, in a sleepless blurry time warp that has robbed me of memories that D has to sometimes remind me of.  Thank goodness God gave me a chance to learn and live again with Lyssa Lu so that I can appreciate both of our children in a new light.  

I cannot however change that I am so excited for tomorrow but only because I loved everything about today, with you three.  My loves, my life, my family.

How time flies when you are having fun.

and I am done with the pictures for now...I promise!