Days of our Laives

A friend of mine participated in a BuyWithMe deal and shared it on FB. I saw it and was interested in joining too. It was a photo session with photographer Elaine Donohue for $75. She normally charges upwards of $300. This is something I've been meaning to do for a long time. Pat, Nat, Richard and I had decided years ago that we would take a family picture for our parents' 30th anniversary. This year it will be their 33rd, so it's about time! After weeks for correspondence on setting up a date, we finally did it. She took pretty good pictures! Take a look for yourself: http://photoEcoz.com/link/UTioJ3/

Trevor is constantly reminding me to take out toys for Renee, and to spend more time talking to her and reading to her. He thinks that being the first, Kira received so much more attention than Renee and thus Renee won't be as clever as Kira. Surprisingly, I actually don't worry about this at all. It's true that Kira was surrounded by attention and still gets a lot today, but Renee has a lot that Kira never had. Here's the list: - a sister - experienced parents - more living space Besides that, Renee still has plenty of time to enjoy me all to herself. Trevor's parents watch Kira the whole day on Thursdays, and Kira has school three times a week. She's there the whole morning until lunchtime. Furthermore, the girl nurses every 2-3 hours and that's a lot more nursing time than Kira ever had! And, I don't see any detrimental effects on Renee due to her circumstances. She smiles and laughs all the time. And, she even seems more secure than Kira...

I have been complaining AAAAALLLLOOOOTTTT lately. I hate being in a funk. I want to remember what gets me through the lows - besides the number one thing: my one and only husband, of course. I love love LOVE watching Kira and Renee interact. Their huge attachment to each other has totally blown me away more than anything else I have ever experienced. Seriously, it's amazing for me. Kira loves to play with Renee. She will bring her toys and rattle them to get a reaction out of Renee. Kira tickles Renee, and even though it's more like jabbing or poking, Renee usually laughs! Kira sings to Renee in the car when Renee is crying ferociously, and sometimes, Renee will actually calm down. Whenever Renee wakes up, I take her down the stairs and she immediately starts looking for Kira. She spins her head around, looks right, looks left. When she finally sees Kira, she kicks her arms and legs in excitement and squeals. She does whatever she can to let me know that she wants t...

I'm working on a little project. I know, you must be thinking, how the heck do I have time for a project? And, there must be a thousand other things that should be taking priority right now. Despite that, I'm working on a little project because it could be the start of something for me. At the very least, it will be the start of getting some much needed balance in my life. I never realized how vital balance is until I ended up so utterly unbalanced. Being unbalanced affects the most important people in my life, (and not in a good way). Anyways, I really don't want to get into that. I just want to share a taste of my new little project: Source: remodelingcenter.com

Earlier this month, we were invited to a kids' birthday party. The birthday girl turned 11, and her brother turned 6, (their birthdays are only a couple weeks apart and they have always had their parties together). Now that I'm a parent, I couldn't help but notice how different the birthday-present ritual was compared with how it is for Kira and Renee and compared with how it was for me. Specifics: The birthday girl received DS games to add to her existing collection and a cell phone. Her brother received his own DS and a couple games. These gifts were from their parents. (We got them a scrapbook kit and a Spongebob camera, respectively.) Watching the birthday girl and boy open their presents forced me to imagine what it would be like when Kira and Renee reach tween age, and my thoughts made me nervous. At the moment, I'm having trouble getting my child to happily go to school. How am I going to fend off all the "I want that" moments? And as for what...

Kira's first day of school was three weeks ago. Clearly, both Trevor and I are finding it very difficult to blog right now. Life is crazy at the moment and here are some key words to give you a gist: - crying - whining - tantrums - nighttime waking - sick, boogie - exhaustion - double-teaming - hungry - feedings - changing - dirty - spilt - chewed up - Logan gets one too By the way, I am not complaining here, I'm just explaining the craziness. And while all this is going on, Kira is going to school! I don't want to say she hates it, but I should say that she is not fully adjusted. She cries when I drop her off and she cries the minute she sees me when I pick her up. The teachers are always telling me that she has a good day, that she participates, and that she is self-reliant. I even received a phone call from her teacher further explaining that she is doing well at school. Despite that, the past couple times we've had a school day, (Kira attends onl...

So Renee is almost 6 months old and I'm finally getting around to posting her 4 month stats. Sad but true...that is what happens when you're not the first child. Anyways here we go: 15lbs 15oz with an average sized head 94 percentile in weight 93rd percentile in height Some things that have made it much easier to take care of Renee include the fact that she goes to sleep between 8 and 9 at night. Renee also generally wakes up in a good mood - Kira used to, and still does cry like a mad woman when she wakes up. I'm not sure if its because of Renee's build or if we're just better at putting on diapers but we hardly ever have diaper leaks. I recall multiple times per week Kira having diaper leaks. At times when it was a poo diaper, we would just strip off her top layer of clothes and take scissors to cut off her onesie. Leaks tend to happen only maybe once a month or so with Renee. August 16th was the first time Renee rolled over, we woke up in the morning to find her ...