Category:

On the market.

6/20/2012

It's official. Our house is on the market. We have a big fat sign out in the front yard. We're listed on multiple sites. And we have our first open home in just a few days. We have "officially" been on the market for about 5 days now, and we've had 5 prospective buyers through already. We have no idea what to expect- is our price fair, will we sell quickly, will we get ANY offers, etc... but we will see! One thing I do know... having your house on the market means it basically needs to be ready to be seen at any time (or with 24 hours notice, per my request), which means there is a LOT of constant tidying going on. Our house has never been so clean and organized! In fact, we had someone through today, and I had just cleaned the lounge and kitchen, so I confined the babies to our bedroom for a little bit. Riley didn't mind one bit.

Jumping on the bed is probably one of her fave activities. She could jump on the bed all day long... She loves to jump and then slam her butt onto the bed (see above). She makes sure to tell me she will only jump in the middle so she doesn't fall off and get a big owie (may have said that to her just a few times before). And she has yet to fall off the bed or get any sort of injury jumping on the bed, so let's keep our fingers crossed that it stays that way. The same cannot be said for her antics with the beach ball...

Seriously this girl cracks me up. I won't share too many of her latest antics, as they are going to all be put into a big TWO YEAR post, but I love love love her to pieces. I'm surprised she's smiling in these photos below, she was saying "no mama, don't do that, no can take a picture."

And the little dude? He's still pretty much the happiest, most chilled out baby during the day, and the worst sleeper ever during the night. Okay, not worst sleeper ever, but pretty darn close. Like, waking up more times than I can even count, every single night, kind of bad sleeper.

The thing is, for the most part, he's just a happy little guy during the day, you'd never know he doesn't get a good night's sleep. And he goes down for most of his naps in his crib, all by himself, so it's not that he can't put himself to sleep. I'm convinced it's directly related to his eczema, but we can't seem to fix it. Oh well, eventually we'll figure it all out. It could definitely be much worse! I'm sort of wishing he would ditch his paci and and learn to suck on his fingers or something, but we still swaddle him otherwise he scratches his whole face and head.

On another note- currently his favorite thing to hold on to or play with are little blankets. He loves this blue blankie, and there was a massive meltdown (by Riley) today when I wouldn't let her take the "blue gray gray" away from Jack Jack. It's the same as her pink one, only... it's blue.

He's also getting closer to rolling over. He'll roll to the side, and with a tiny bit of help he'll roll all the way over, but he's just so happy to lay there and take it all in, or to watch what Riley's doing, that he just hangs out on his back a lot. And I'm pretty sure he's got a flat head as a result of all the time he spends on his back. Dangit. He also always has his two little feetsies glued together. Only a matter of time before he gets those toesies in his mouth!

Anyway... so, first open home this Sunday, which also happens to be Mark's birthday! Then Riley turns TWO on Tuesday, and MY MOM GETS HERE ON THURSDAY. To say I'm excited would be an understatement. Riley's super excited too, and Jackson, well, he's just chillin'...

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On parenting (my babies)

6/1/2012

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I think reading books is one of the most important things you can do with your children, no matter how young or old. Oral stories are almost just as important. I may not be the best story teller ever, but I try and tell Riley some made up stories at least once a day, a lot of times using real life people and things as characters, and she loves it! I wasn't sure how much she was retaining, until she lay down next to her baby brother and started out with "Once upon a time, there was a baby named Jack Jack..." (how I start all her stories) and went on for a few minutes telling him a story, and I about melted it was so cute.

"Jack Jack give 'catterpidder' a kiss!!"

I think there is always time to play with your kids. Time to sit and play playdoh and do puzzles and build towers, draw pictures and play chase, jump on the bed and go for walks. There's always time. Everything else can wait. I think the bigger the mess, the more fun, even if it makes me cringe sometimes. I think pretend play is incredibly important, and fostering imagination is crucial. I believe in using daily tasks and activities as teaching opportunities. I believe your kids ALWAYS understand and absorb more than you think. I believe in asking your kids tons of questions, and always taking the time to answer theirs.

Playing with playdoh at sunrise

I believe in trying your best to breastfeed as long as possible, but not feeling guilty (or making others feel guilty) for using formula. I don't believe in judging other people's parenting choices just because they aren't for me. I think it's okay to feed your 2 year old a peanut butter sandwich every day if it's the only thing she wants to eat for lunch. I think sometimes no matter what you do, some kids are just picky eaters. I believe in teaching your kids good manners (please and thank you), and in giving unlimited cuddles and kisses. I believe some of the best toys are just everyday items laying around the house. I think it's absolutely fabulous to spontaneously grab the pajamed, sleepy almost two year out of bed to show her the hedgehog strolling across the front yard, or the totally awesome super moon. You can be sure she will not forget about it the next day.

Coloring all over herself, sitting in her cardboard "boat"

I believe in trying to expose your kids to all kinds of situations and experiences. I don't think preschool is essential, and I think homeschooling mamas are actually pretty awesome. I believe in creating an environment where I don't have to say no all the time. I believe in positive parenting, and avoid the traditional stick-the-kid-in-the-corner time outs. I believe in expecting good behavior, but in understanding that little kids are still just that- little kids, and need help to regulate their emotions. They aren't throwing tantrums to spite you, even though sometimes it may feel that way!

I believe not all babies are good sleepers (in fact, many are not!). I think bed sharing is awesome, but babies sleeping in their own cribs/beds is definitely nice too. I believe babies will sleep through the night when they are good and ready, and for some that might not be for YEARS. I also think that if you reach a point where lack of sleep is negatively affecting baby, and your ability to be a good parent, it is okay to do some sleep training. Your baby will not be scarred for life. But I like to avoid that at all costs, if possible. It just hurts my heart too much to hear my babies cry.

Riley wearing mama's shoes, and putting on her own shoes "ALL BY YOURSELF!!!"

I believe in letting kids learn by trial and error, even if there might be more tantrums that way. I think including your kids in all your daily routines is important- helping with laundry and dishes, with gardening and sweeping, cleaning up toys and cooking dinner... even if it would be much faster/easier/cleaner to do it yourself. I believe (appropriate) TV is not going to ruin your children, but think it should only be allowed in moderation. I think cloth diapering is awesome, but is just not for me. I used to cringe at the thought of my almost 2 year old still having a pacifier, but the thought of getting rid of it makes me sad since she loves it so much.

I think watching a child's language develop is one of the most fun parts of parenting a toddler. I've been trying to teach Riley how to express her emotions through words rather than tantrums, and today, through some sobs, she stopped, looked at me and said "Mama I didn't like that, mama, don't do that" and I was just so proud of her and couldn't help but scoop her up and cuddle her and praise her for using her words to tell me how she was feeling (in case you were wondering, I put the lid on her sippy cup for her rather than letting her do it herself).

I think electronic toys are annoying and not awesome for development, but keep a few around because Riley just loves them so much. I believe bribes are just fine sometimes. I believe in praising children for good behavior and small achievements, and in celebrating all the little things. I believe in vaccinating and don't totally understand those who choose not to, but I'm sure they have their reasons. I don't believe in only buying gender specific toys- Riley loves cars and trains and dolls and tea sets, necklaces and bugs and dirt and rocks. I like the whole Montessori philosophy, but think people can get a little carried away and it becomes a little...strict? Formal? Not sure, I like to take bits and pieces from different learning styles and use what works for us.

I believe in celebrating all holidays to the fullest. Going totally overboard with Christmas and Halloween, Easter and birthdays too. I think birthdays are occasions to celebrate BIG TIME. I believe in creating memories at every possible chance. I believe in putting the needs of your kids before your own, MOST of the time. I also believe it's okay to have "off" days, days where your kids watch a movie (or two), where they eat fruit snacks for lunch and have pizza for dinner, where you don't go the playground because you just don't feel like. That's okay. You've got plenty of other days to make up for it.

I believe there are a million different parenting decisions to be made, a bunch of different philosophies, and even more people to make you feel guilty about what you choose to do for whatever reason. But really, I think most parents do what they believe is best for their baby, and that is really all that matters. Every day I strive to be a better parent to my two little ones. It really is the best job in the entire world.

I've got a few fun posts coming up in the near future, because, man we sure are having a good time over here. :)

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Having kids is awesome.

5/29/2012

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A few things I'm loving right now...

(1) On Sunday I pulled this bad boy in from the garage and we made a "boat" for Riley. She loves it. Big time. And of course she promptly asked me to get in with her a draw her a hexagon! a circle! a trapezoid! etc... (And those two extra big circles are meant to be steering wheels, in case you were wondering...)

(2) Over the weekend I went to a used children's clothing sale, and found a bunch of Mickey Mouse clothes in Jackson's size. I thought Riley would be stoked since she LOVES Mickey, I mean look at this awesome shirt (and cute baby!):

Instead, she was confused... She couldn't understand why she could see Mickey's body, but not his face. She kept saying "Wanna see Mickey! Mickey?" Hmmm...

(3) I'm absolutely loving watching the bond between Riley and Jackson grow. He's obviously still really young, but Riley just loves him more and more each day. She now gets sad and sometimes cries when he has to go down for a nap, and asks to "go see baby?" about a million times. And then when he wakes up she YELLS "Yaaaaaaayyyy! Baby awake now!!!" She wants to share everything with him and show him all her things. But she always makes sure she asks me first, to see if what she wants to do is okay with me. And I MOSTLY let her do what she wants, things like "pour pom poms on baby?"

"Put black pom pom on baby's head?" Sure, go for it.

Her next request was to "pour coins on baby's head?" which quickly got vetoed.

(4) Precious little baby hats. Even if he can't wear them anymore since they aren't 100% cotton and we're trying to eliminate all non 100% cotton items in attempts to help his eczema. Just put away a good chunk of his wardrobe, actually... More on that later.

(5) Riley mimicking/copying everything Jackson does. Her fave is when he tries to put both his hands in his mouth.

(6) The light in our house. So much light, all day long, which allows for taking photos all day long, and even trying some new things... a bit "moodier," not my usual style, but I like it.

(7) Riley's hair. Hellooooo little curly!

(8) Jackson napping in his crib. This isn't how he usually naps, normally he's swaddled on his back, but he was fighting it and so I rolled him on his side and he went to sleep (with a little shushing and patting). Only lasted 40 minutes, but it's a start! And I didn't dare wake him by taking a photo, so a photo via the monitor will have to do.

(9) Riley's many expressions. I just kept snapping away, and she just kept being cute.

(10) A little self portrait action. Not the most flattering, but who cares. It's me and my baby.

(11) These squishy cheeks and big blue eyes and big bald head. I just can't get enough of him.

(12) Riley's fabulousness. The girl is FUNNY. Wait until you see the video I'm working on. Oi.

I'm sure there's more, but we'll stop there for now. I meant to stop at 10 but had to add the last two. :)

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In just over one month...

5/24/2012

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This little monkey turns TWO years old. Can you believe it?

We've had a pretty fun week over here. Nothing too special, but Jackson has been sleeping in his crib much more now, which leaves me completely free to read a million stories, play with playdoh and color and paint and build train tracks etc etc... Riley is clearly loving the attention and 1 on 1 time, and there has been a dramatic decrease in tantrums, as I expected there would be. I won't share all of the funny things she's been doing lately since I'll be writing those in her 23 month post in a few days, but I will share this fab picture of her post nap hair. Oh. my. One big fluff-ball.

This required a little action on my part...Much better. And I wish I could have gotten a better picture of her reaction when she looked at herself in the mirror, or maybe even a video... She took one look and said, "A ponytail!!! So pretty!! So cute, Ri Ri!!!"

After her nap I really wanted to try this little outfit on her, but I had a feeling she was going to put up a fight. I had to bargain with her, which meant giving her a paci in exchange for a few pictures in this outfit. It's a littttttttle small, but I wanted to do some of her 2 year photos with her wearing this outfit, so I might try and make it work... Aside from the fact that she turns 2 in the dead of NZ winter, and this might be the worst thing ever for cold weather... We'll see.

And then little bubby is fast approaching 4 months old, which is also crazy to me!! Even crazier is that he's in 6-9 month clothes. What a big boy!! I'm trying to enjoy each and every moment with him while he's still so "tiny" (like right now he's laying snuggled next to me, fast asleep, since he wouldn't go to sleep in his own bed for the night.) These days won't last forever,!

You can't really tell in this picture, but he's apparently got some fairly bad eczema, and I took him to see the doctor about a possible infection, and came home with 3 massive tubs and two little things of cream. He's got an emollient cream and zinc cream and bactroban for his infection and hydrocortisone (which I don't know why, but I'm reluctant to use... so far we haven't needed it) and something for his bath. I've been instructed no soaps or shampoos, even the super gentle Mustela ones we were using...he has to be constantly moisturized, special cream on his infected eczema spots multiple times a day, only cotton clothes, minimize dust in the house... the list goes on! My poor little baby!! And if it still doesn't settle down, the doc suggested I think about eliminating cow's milk from my diet, although I have very little in my diet as it is, so we'll see.

And Riley is still madly in love with her baby brother. And it makes me the happiest mama in the world. :)

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Not enough hours in the day...

5/21/2012

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A couple things have been happening here lately. And there's lots to write about, but I seem to always be short on time lately. Either babies aren't sleeping, or if they are, I'm trying to catch up on sleep, or I'm busy editing photos or trying to check one of the many items off my ever growing to do list. But we still manage to find time for fun!

Over the weekend, we went into the botanic gardens to scout it out as a potential photo shoot location. Riley was your typical almost 2 year old, and wanted nothing to do with photos, which was fine because it was FREEZING cold. Luckily Jackson was all bundled up asleep in his car seat the whole time, so was clearly unfazed by the cold.

Jackson has been SUCH a good baby lately (except for night time sleep, more on that in tomorrow's update). He's a happy little dude, and I am SO thankful for that. He smiles all the time, and he laughs all the time, and he puts up with all of Riley's antics, he's such a little sweetheart! Can you believe he will be 15 weeks old tomorrow? I'll probably do a 15 week update since it seems like so much has changed since he turned 3 months old (2 weeks ago).

And Riley? Oh. my goodness. she gets funnier and funnier and smarter by the day. Her new favorite thing to do? Color on her hands (and arms). At first I didn't let her draw on herself, but the more I thought about it, the more I realized there is really nothing wrong with it aside from it gets a little messy. I try to discourage her drawing on her face, but she can draw on her hands 'til her heart's content. And so she does...

She literally wakes up from her nap, comes running down the hallway, and shouts, "wanna do coloring on da hands!!!"

I have so many hilarious videos of her, if only I could get a few more hours in the day to put them all together!!

We're also contemplating starting the potty training process for real- the other day she refused to lay still for a new diaper, so I gave her some minnie mouse underwear to wear, and told her that she could use the potty if she needed to go pee-pee, and not to go pee-pee on Minnie Mouse, etc... She was wearing them for about an hour and a half, and mastered taking her underwear on and off by herself, and would sit on her little potty, but never actually peed in it. And I would gently remind her every 5 minutes or so to use the potty if she needed to, and not to pee on Minnie. She loves Minnie, so I thought that might be good motivation to get her to use the potty. Welp, sure enough, when she had to pee, she took off her underwear, aaaaaand.... peed on the hardwood floor. She then looked at me, and said very matter-of-factly, "no pee pee on Minnie. Pee pee on the floor." I told her that we use the potty, not the floor, blah blah blah, and then I asked her "Riley remember no pee pee on the floor, where does your pee pee go next time?" And she looked at me, thought about it, and answered: "On the rug?"
Oy, I've got my work cut out for me....

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Baybeeeeeeee!

5/18/2012

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A post dedicated to my little man, who I fall more and more in love with each day.

My mom may have mentioned that she hasn't seen any videos of the wee man (hint hint), so I decided it was about time to put one together. I mean, look at this little face....

So here you go, baby Jack, the first 3 months... imovie gave me a lot of trouble with this one, so I finally just gave up and published it as it was... it's not perfect, and the music is a little sappy (Mark proposed an Usher song for the background and I politely declined...), but I love it anyway. 7 minutes of baby Jack. My how he's grown in three months!!

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Happy Mother's Day!!

5/13/2012

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Hope all you mamas out there have a fabulous mother's day!!

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The hardest week so far...

5/10/2012

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I can say that this past week has been the hardest one we've had yet since having two babies. Mostly it was a case of unfortunate timing, but that didn't make it any less hard. It started on Tuesday morning, bright and early, when Riley woke up vomiting. Not good. Not good at all. We canceled all plans for the day, set up a little station for her on the couch, turned on Mickey Mouse while I tried to do a massive scrub down/sanitation of all things affected. And then I also tried to figure out how in the world to keep Riley from touching/infecting Jackson with whatever she had. Riley spent the day pretty miserable, not eating anything, and very sad that she wasn't allowed to hold and kiss and cuddle her baby. I spent the day snuggling two babies, cleaning, being OCD about hand washing, and changing the most disgusting toddler diapers I've ever seen. But no more vomiting, so that was a plus.

Oh yeah and? That same day (Tuesday) Jackson had his 3 month immunizations. And this baby does NOT respond well to those, apparently. Riley wasn't all that bothered by hers, but it really seems to affect Jackson in a negative way. After his 6 week ones he was extremely unsettled that night, and this time was no different. He's not really much of a crier, but he just cried and cried and was the saddest little thing all Tuesday evening, pretty much. Just clearly uncomfortable and all out of sorts. And that night after one decent stretch of sleep, he was up every hour. Needless to say, there was very little sleep, and a lot of snuggling going on, poor little guy.

On Wednesday, Riley was still feeling pretty awful- she barely ate a thing all day, and o.m.g. the diapers that I changed... ew. Jackson was also still very unsettled all day, Riley threw some of the biggest tantrums of her life, I often had two very sad, crying babies, and I was exhausted, physically and mentally. The morning went a little like this: Try and get Riley dressed? Tantrum. Tell her okay you can stay in your PJs? Tantrum. Pick out the wrong story to read? Tantrum. Sing the ABCs TO her instead of letting her sing it to me? Tantrum. Put her milk in the purple cup and not the pink cup? Tantrum. Help her open up her water bottle so she can have a sip? You get the idea... I was trying soooo hard to be patient and sympathetic because it was clear she was just feeling awful, but man, tantrums like that are just emotionally draining.

Thursday was looking up- Riley was less fragile, Jackson was better, but still not himself (again he was up multiple times the night before). Also he seemed to have developed some little fungal infection behind his ear, which warranted a trip to the pharmacy to get some special cream. It was pretty red and inflamed, so I'm sure it had been bothering him all day, which would explain why he was all out of sorts. The entire day he was basically either eating, sleeping, or crying, poor little guy (not as bad as it sounds though, he pretty much slept on and off for 4 hours in the middle of the day... as long as I was holding him). And Mark came home a little early and I got to go out for an hour by myself! With no babies! Of course it was to run errands, but it was just enough time away, by myself, to feel rejuvenated.

Anyway... I'm hoping that tomorrow will be even better. Maybe both babies will be back to their normal selves. Maybe it won't be quite as overwhelming. Maybe we will even manage to get out of the house? Maybe every. little. thing. won't send Riley into a screaming kicking floppy fish sort of tantrum... maybe Jackson will let me put him down for 2 seconds without crying? But if not, we'll park it on the couch AGAIN, read stories and snuggle, and hope for a better day after tomorrow. Wish me luck.

(All photos courtesy of my computer)

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Low key weekend

5/6/2012

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I've got way too many pictures to edit and projects in the works right now, so this will be a quick recap of the weekend. There were baby snuggles...

And playing in the sandpit followed by snacks on the couch in her brand new Minnie Mouse shirt!

There were swim lessons with daddy, which is probably her favorite part of the weekend. The whole way to the pool she goes, "It's swimming time!! Yaaaaay!" And girl is wild in the pool... flinging herself every which way, kicking up a storm, splashing and jumping and having a great time. I don't usually go to swimming, it's Mark's special thing with Ri Ri, but I went this weekend to take some pictures. The last time I went was right after Jackson was born, so it was fun to get to see her in action again.

Her first lesson (months ago) she did NOT like the water wings. Now? She loves being able to float independently!! Such a big girl!

We spent a lot of time at home this weekend, lounging around with two tired, paci-loving babies (yes, Jackson does love a paci now, and yes he has a pink one and Riley has a blue one... whatevs). We know Riley is ready for a nap when she frantically asks for her "pay-pay," since she only gets it when it's time for sleep.

There was brother-sister bonding... Jackson looks less than thrilled, but of course Riley is in heaven.

There was Riley's very first, totally independently built, complete train track. She builds these all the time, but usually just one long track, and today she used all her tracks to connect in one big loop! Oh the things you celebrate when you have kids...

Aaaaand then there was the evening beanbag disaster. I just bought one of those special newborn posing beanbags, and they are pretty big, and require a lot of filler... well, I decided to start by using the "beans" from my current beanbag to put them in my new beanbag... Well it was, err, less than successful...

The rest of the night all I heard was "Mommy made a big mess! Mommy got beans EVERYWHERE!" Sure did, Ri Ri, sure did.

Stay tuned for SO MANY three month photos of Jackson tomorrow. Can you believe he will be three months old tomorrow???

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