On the Go

Hannah Grace and Ozzie are both sleeping, so I thought I'd take a few minutes to share what we've been up to. 

Last week was my first full week with both kids and no help. Part of me was nervous and the other part was happy to start to get back to some sort of routine (although I use the term "routine" loosely). 

One thing I was a little anxious about was going out with both of them. A lot of people suggested that John just go with me or that I wait until Hannah Grace was in bed for the night, but neither of those options are realistic, not for us anyway. I'm happy to say that the three of us went many places last week (one outing per day) with very little drama! I took them grocery shopping, to Target (twice), the doctor's office, Chick Fil A, Wal-Mart, and one other place, but it has slipped my mind. I also went to church for the first time since Ozzie's birth on Sunday (taking Ozzie, too, of course). Ozzie nurses anywhere from every 1.5-3 hours, so I do my best to plan outings around his feedings. So far it hasn't been a problem. 

With today being Independence Day, we thought we'd have plans, but the one fireworks show we were considering going to was canceled, so it looks like we'll just be hanging out at home this evening. That's o.k., though; the heat would not have been very pleasant. 

Ozzie is waking, so I'm off to feed him. Have a safe 4th!

Ozzie.

Oscar Michael

Ozzie, one day old. 

6.8.12

8lbs.14oz.

20 in.

Named to honor John's grandfather, Oscar, and my dad, Mike (Michael). 

Ozzie is super sweet, very relaxed, and a great sleeper (so far)!

Big sister Hannah Grace loves to hold him, kiss him, and cuddle him (think Elmyra, ha). 

At his "two week" appointment this morning, he weighed 9lbs, 13 oz and was 21.5 inches long, so he is growing a lot already!

I am adjusting to two kids, but it has not been nearly as bad as I feared. So far, ha. 

We are very thankful for another healthy baby!

Two!

I never got around to doing a two year update post (other than what I wrote about her check up) for Hannah Grace, so before things get crazy, I thought I'd write one up!

Hannah Grace wears a 2T in clothes most of the time, but I occasionally buy a 3T in shirts; her shoe size is a 7. 

She loves Curious George, but she is making fast friends with Minnie Mouse. Elmo and Dora are friendly acquaintances :) 

She loves being read to. Any of Eric Carle's books are her favorite, along with Curious George and books that rhyme. 

Hannah Grace loves to help. At two years old, she can pour laundry detergent into the washer (I pour it into the cap, then give it to her), load the dryer, unload the dishwasher (she knows which drawers utensils, measuring cups/spoons, and spatulas, etc. go), and put kitchen towels where they belong. She also helps me by picking things up off the floor, wiping up spills, and bringing me things I need. 

She LOVES to be outside, whether its in her little pool in our back yard, at the Chick Fil A play place, or at the park. I so wish we had a splash pad around here; I think she would love it. 

She has quite a few words but doesn't string them together much. I think that's about to change in the next couple of months though. Despite that, she is very good at communicating her wants and needs. 

Hannah Grace loves going to church and always says, "God, church, Bible, and Jesus" when we are in the car. I think she thinks we're always on our way to church when we're in the car, ha. It's sweet, though. Because she enjoys being there so much, we have contemplated putting her in a mother's day out program, but we are planning to enroll her in gymnastics soon, and the cost between the two would be over $200/month. 

She loves her baby dolls (and anything that could be used as a baby, including her rock star Elmo doll, ha). She is always strolling one of them around or trying to put a diaper on one. It's super cute, and I think she will be a big help when her brother arrives. 

Bedtime is around 8:30 (earlier if she's moody), and she sleeps until about 7:00. Lately, though, she has been waking at 6 because she keeps losing her pacifier. Once I find one and give her a sippy with milk, she'll stay in bed (sometimes asleep, sometimes half awake) until 7 or so. 

Hannah Grace is a ton of fun, and has gotten so much more pleasant over the last year. She makes John and I laugh all the time. We have yet to see any signs of "terrible twos", but that does NOT mean she doesn't throw the occasional fit or have a bad day. It's just not the nightmare that so many parents make it out to be. 

We love watching her grow! Thankful to be her mommy (and John her daddy)!

Productive.

Despite being home all weekend with John and Hannah Grace, I don't have any pictures to share. Bummer.

I dedicated the last three days to emptying out night stands, side tables, bathroom cabinets, closets, dressers for unworn clothes. I rearranged a bookshelf, got our guest room/baby closet in top shape, and organized Hannah Grace's "sock drawer" (which had become a hodge podge of miscellaneous baby/toddler items. The laundry was caught up, last minute odds and ends for the baby washed, and many, many things sorted into three piles: keep, donate, and throw away. 

Our house is almost completely clutter free. This is not to say that our house is spotless (our living room shows very little evidence that I spent any time cleaning and organizing this weekend), but it does mean there is a place for about 90% of the stuff in our house. It also means that drawers (nightstands, side tables in the living room, etc.) do not contain junk. Their contents are very intentionally placed, and it will remain that way from now on. 

We are less than two weeks out from the baby, and I think we are about ready. Oh boy! 

Collages With Picasa

My laptop crashed. John's desktop crashed. In the same week. My laptop had three years of pictures on the hard drive. 

Unsalvageable. 

I'm not sure how exactly how many pictures I've taken over the last three years, but I do know the number was in the thousands. 

Lesson learned: Back. Everything. Up. And not just on a hard drive, because fires and tornadoes happen. Not that I'm that super paranoid, but when you've seen the effects of houses destroyed by those two things, you can't help but keep it in mind when it comes to saving photos. 

So I signed up for Picasa, thinking it could be used for online photo storage. I learned that while it can be used in that way, I would actually have to do it through a Google+ account, and I really didn't want to go that route. 

So I signed up for SkyDrive instead, and what photos I do have are now stored there. 

However, I played around on Picasa, and while it's mostly known for it's mediocre editing software, it actually has a very nice system for organizing photos on your hard drive. So I kept it. And then I realized this was what several bloggers used to create photo collages. 

Do you know how much easier it is for me to share multiple photos at once by using a collage? 

Way. 

These photos were taken a couple of weeks ago at a nearby park. Hannah Grace loves the park, and I love that she can entertain herself (while getting exercise) while I either sit or simply follow her around and get a nice tan. 

Anyhoo, I created this collages in like, three minutes. If that. And it loaded onto this post in like, one minute. This is a major time saver that I will be using a whole lot more in the future!

2 year check up

Hannah Grace had her two year check up on Monday; she weighed in at 26.5lbs is is about a quarter inch shy of 35 inches. While she isn't considered tall for her age, I'm pretty sure she isn't short either. Because John is 5'6'' and I am 5'7'', I've wondered what her adult height will be. I have heard that if you double a child's height on their second birthday, you'll have a rough guesstimate of their adult height. For Hannah Grace, that would be about 5'7''. We'll see!

Ready to go to the doctor! Not ready for her shot!

Other than height and weight, her pediatrician did the typical overall body check (eyes, ears, heartbeat, etc.), and Hannah Grace hated every. single. minute. of that. What's ironic is that as much as she hates being checked over, she loves to play doctor on me with her new doctor kit. Go figure. She also had to have one shot: chicken pox. She was scheduled to get it at her fifteen month appointment, but John and I felt more comfortable delaying it until age 2 (Mostly because we would rather she have just gotten the chicken pox and avoided the vaccine all together. Oh well). That brought on even more crying and whimpering, even ten minutes after the nurse had left and said we were free to leave. In fact, I couldn't even get Hannah Grace re-dressed at first because she just clung to me. I felt awful, so I promised her a trip to Chick Fil A for lunch along with a cookie for dessert. I ran into my friend Jessica at the doctor's office and told her my lunch plans, so she rounded her kids up and joined us. I think we were there about two hours, but Hannah Grace had a great time and the whole doctor's trip was out of her mind by the end of lunch. 

Yesterday Hannah Grace took a one hour nap, from 11-12. That is not her normal nap time (or length of time), so I'm not sure why she slept so early (for so little time). However, after her bath last night, I could tell she was super drowsy, so I let her watch a video. She conked out in the middle of it, and I couldn't resist snapping a few pictures of her, sweet girl. 

2 years old

Last Friday, Hannah Grace turned two! John and I spent several weeks leading up to her birthday debating whether or not we wanted to drive to Nashville to attend my cousin's graduation and have a birthday party for Hannah Grace there. We finally decided to just stay home; we are quite limited on our "free" weekends now, so we wanted to make the most of this one from the comfort of our home. As it turned out, Andy, Cherie and Zach were able to visit, so on top of her birthday presents, Hannah Grace got to spend a couple of days with her favorite buddy, Zach. 

Hannah Grace's actual birthday was VERY low key. John had to work that morning, and I needed to buy some food for the weekend, so we did a little grocery shopping. I dropped the groceries back off at the house, and we headed back out to have lunch at Chick Fil A (and so Hannah Grace could play). However, her birthday just so happened to be the first day of summer break for all the public school kids, and Chick Fil A was slammed. SO, I circled the restaurant and drove out, deciding to go to Hannah Grace's second favorite restaurant, McCallister's.

Mac and Cheese Birthday Lunch!

We made a quick trip to Old Navy (where she greeted the mannequins with a hug), and I grabbed two pairs of flip flops and a romper for her to unwrap later that day. She found the hat, ball, and sunglasses throughout the store, and once she had them all on, I had to take this picture. She is so silly.

As you can see, her birthday "party" was very, very basic. Along with the doll high chair and stroller I mentioned in my last post, Hannah Grace received two Curious George books, some clothes, and a Mickey Mouse Clubhouse DVD. Cherie let her pick out a toy from Target, and she chose one of those magnetic doodle pads. My brother and sister in law sent a Target gift card, so she'll get to pick out something else (most likely something made by Leap Frog).

The rest of the weekend was a lot of fun, and it was so nice to spend time with friends here at home. With the baby coming in a few short weeks, we won't be making any more trips to Middle Tennessee until at least mid-July, so we were thankful to squeeze in one last hurrah with them before the baby!