Blessed

Today, I feel blessed.  It's been a normal day.  I overslept, rushed to get ready for work, put in my hours at the office, picked up the kids ( I love saying that - the kids!), cooked dinner (because Pat was working), took a walk with the kids, went to the park, read Evie stories,  and, once she was asleep, snuggled with my baby boy.  It was busy day, but, as I walked with my kiddos, I felt grateful.  There was light breeze and the temperature was perfect.  The sun was low in the sky so sometimes it was hard to see because of the glare, but we had fun with that.  Every time we turned a corner, I told Evie "Look out!  It's the sun!' and she would snap the shade shut.  A few times she couldn't pull the shade and  she yelled "Shut the door Mama".  She giggled and laughed and had a ball!  Such a little thing, but it filled my heart with joy.  I love that she can have fun with such simple things.  Mitchell was so good too - awake and alert and just enjoying the walk and taking in all of the surroundings.  He loves being outside!  Later, after we got home, Evie asked to snuggle with Mitch.  She is such a a good big sister and I cannot even describe the happiness I feel when I see my children together.  It makes me feel like Pat and I must be doing something right since Evie is so good with the baby and Mitch seems to adore his big sister. I hope it's always that way.
Yes, tonight I felt blessed.  I even felt blessed to be a working mom.  This doesn't happen everyday.  But today, I went grocery shopping on my lunch break kid-free so that I didn't have to do it after work with both kids. Today,  I was tired and irritable, but my kids didn't have to deal with that.  They got to be with their amazing and patient babysitter and have fun.  Plus,  I was able to have some quality time with the kids without feeling too stressed since I hadn't had to to deal with the crying fit and tantrums all day long.
Today my kids are healthy and happy and I got to be with them.  The only thing that would have made it better would be if Pat was home.  But there is always tomorrow! :)

Mitchell's Baptism

Today our baby boy was baptized at St. Peter's Church in Columbus.  We couldn't have asked for a more perfect day to celebrate our baby boy joining our Catholic faith.  We were able to celebrate with our families and I can honestly say that we couldn't have done it without them.  All the little things that they did for us helped so much.  My mom vacuumed the  downstairs while I fed Mitch and changed him into his baptism gown and my dad ran to the grocery store to pick up a few items we'd forgotten.  Shannon kept Evie in the Cry Room during Mass which allowed us to focus on Mitchell.  After Mass, when the baptism took place, Shannon took pictures for us during each moment so that I didn't have to worry about it.  Holly gave Mitchell a bottle so that I could entertain our guests and Rita cleaned up the kitchen so that we didn't have to do it all after the party.  All of the grandparents, aunts and uncle helped us out so much with kids during the baptism and afterwards at the party and we are so incredibly grateful!
Thank you all for joining us and making today so special!
Oh - and I can't forget to give kudos to Pat for an amazing dinner.  He made fantastic fried chicken, mashed potatoes, green beans, mac & cheese and biscuits.  Delicious!!

Below is a picture of Mitchell in his baptism gown.  It is a very special gown.  His G.G. Mitchell, Pops (and great aunts on the Mitchell side), his Mama and big sister Evie all wore the same gown!
It was a tight fit because Mitchell is rocking some serious baby rolls, but we made it work.  And like I told my mom - he'll get feeling back into his arms eventually!

Mitch and his Godparents

Life lately

Life lately has been busy.  Between work, kids, cleaning, playing, family get-togethers, going to KY and just the day-to-day daily grind, we feel like we are constantly doing something.  We've been enjoying the cooler weather and spending some times outdoors.  I wish we could do it more, but I'm not crazy about all the mosquitoes.  Evie has a pretty bad allergy to the bites and even bug spray doesn't seem to keep them away.  We've been enjoying walks, park time, and playing outside as much as we can.  We try and have fun not matter what we do!

Grandma Rita reading to the kiddos

"No Mama! He's too big!"

I'm almost as big as you G.G!

Daddy - you're my favorite guy!

First time fishing!

Uncle Adam and Evie contemplating life

Thanks for the lunchbox Pops!

Our big guy is 3 months old!

Our big guy is 3 months old! We can hardly believe so much time has passed already.  I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again – time is flying and needs to slow down a little.  Mitchell has really started interacting with us in the past few weeks.  Gone are the days when he spent most of his time sleeping.  He’s awake all the time now and he loves to be held and for us to talk to him.  He seems fascinated by people’s faces.  I love to talk to him and make faces and then watch him react.  His eyes widen and his eyebrows raise.  He looks perplexed…and then he wrinkles his nose and breaks out a little grin.  It’s adorable and I never get tired of it.  He’ll ‘talk’ back at us too.  I was talking to him and he said ‘ah’ and ‘ooh’ so I repeated those noises back to him and he kept right on baby-talking to me.  We joke that he’s not going to be able to get a word in edgewise with a chatterbox for a sister, but if this keeps up we may have two chatterboxes on our hands!  Last Thursday, I got Mitchell to giggle for the first time by tickling him.  It wasn’t a very big giggle, but I was excited anyway.  Evie heard him and couldn’t wait to make him laugh too.  I had to remind her to be gentle when tickling him and when he gave her a little laugh, she just lit up.  Since then, we’ve gotten Mitch to give us little laughs more and more.  A few nights ago I really had him giggling when I was tickling his belly.  

He is such a happy baby most of the time.  He rarely cries for no reason.  He’ll fuss when he’s hungry, tired, needs diaper change or wants to be picked up and held.  But he’s very content most of the time.  I can lay him on his play mat and he’ll stare at the ceiling fan and kick his legs.  He loves to be in his swing and he really likes it when I prop him up on the pillows on our bed so he can sit up and see the whole room.  He enjoys taking walks in the stroller and being outside.  I mentioned before that he likes to sit up and I wasn’t kidding.  Almost since day one, we’ve remarked that he has incredible head control and a really strong neck muscles.  He also has really strong legs.  He’d rather be in a sitting or standing position than laying down.  So far, he’s been a great sleeper at night.  He doesn’t sleep through the night all the time, but he’s done it several times now so I think we’re on the right track.  Mitch is a good eater too.  For as big as he is, it’s surprising that he doesn’t’ eat more.  People are always asking me “Does he eat all the time?” because he’s such a big guy.  But he really doesn’t.  He eats about every 3 hours and if he takes a bottle, it’s usually about 4- 4.5oz.  This is almost exactly what Evie did and she was a smaller baby at this age. He fits into his 6 month clothes and I think we’ll probably be moving into 9 months sooner rather than later.  It’s strange because he’s so big, but still so young, and sometimes I feel like we forget that and treat him like an older baby or expect him to be doing stuff that he’s just not ready to do.  We’ve been putting him on his belly and give him lots of tummy time, but as of now, he hasn’t rolled over.  He’ll move himself off the mat or around in circle, but that’s about it.  He’ll get there!  

 

 Unfortunately, Mitch wasn’t feel great on his 3 month birthday.  I think he’s coming down with a cold and he spent the night coughing and the day sneezing.  So far no fever.   I’m hoping that this will pass quickly and that he doesn’t get any worse.  There is so much sickness going around right now that it’s hard not to worry.  Even though he wasn’t feeling the greatest, he still gave me a big smile when I took his picture.  I just love this little man to pieces!

My girl

I often wondered before Mitchell was born if I would still love Evie the same way once I had to care for two children.  I didn’t doubt for a second that I would still love her.  But my love for my little girl is so all-encompassing and I wasn’t sure how it would affect us when I had to split that love and give some to another baby.  It broke my heart a little to think about it and I showered her with as much love and attention as I could before Mitchell came.  It’s been three months now and I can say with absolute certainty that my love for Evie has changed.  It has grown and blossomed into an even greater love.  Having a second child helped me to step back from seeing Evie as my baby and to really appreciate the awesome little girl she is becoming.  

I always knew that she was special, but seeing her as not just as a big sister, but a big GIRL has really blown me away.  She is so caring and sweet.  She’s concerned about people’s feelings and if she thinks that you are hurt or upset, she doesn’t hesitate to say “It’s ok” and give you soft pat on the cheek with her chubby little hand.  She loves to help out whenever she can.  Cooking, cleaning, laundry, feeding the dog- you name it and Evie wants to help with it.  Of course, her idea of helping usually leads to more work for us, but it’s the thought that counts right?  The other day I was making scrambled eggs and her eyes lit up when she saw the eggs.  I couldn’t resist the “I help you Mama?” and sat her up on the counter.  I cracked an egg into a bowl and she didn’t hesitate to pick one up and do the same, dropping the entire cracked egg, shell and all, into the bowl before I could stop her.  She was so proud – “I do it myself Mama!” and she even helped me fish out the pieces of shell.  Evie has proven to be an amazing big sister to Mitchell.  She will comfort him without being asked, give him his paci and cover him with her blankie.  She loves to read him stories and sing him songs, and she can be very protective of him.  Our babysitter has told me that she doesn’t like the other kids to get too close to him and tells the “No!  That’s my brother!  That’s my Baby Mitchell!”.   Evie is also really smart.  She knows colors and shapes and how to count to 10 (almost – for some reason she always skips 5 and goes straight to 6).  She can recite books to us.  She has a great memory.  This can be a good or a bad thing depending on the situation!  We used to be able to say “You can have that later” when it came to candy when we didn’t want her to have it and she would just forget about it.  Now she doesn’t forget!  She starting to understand the passage of time better, but only in terms of things that happen in her day.  She wanted to go to the zoo and I told her we could go tomorrow.  She said that she wanted to go NOW.  I told her to look up in the sky and pointed out the moon.  I said, “When the moon is in the sky, the animals are all asleep so we can’t got to the zoo”.  It was around 7 and the sun was just beginning to set and she said “Mama – there’s the sun!  We can go the zoo now.  The animals waked up!”  Somehow she knows that the sun in the sky means that it’s daytime.  I explained that the sun goes up and down.  Up in the morning and down when it’s time for bed.  So the sun was going down now and everyone was getting sleepy.  I yawned and said I was tired and she said pretend yawned and said “Me too!”  As if.  That kid has more energy that the Energizer Bunny!

I have always loved babies.  They are so sweet and squishy, they don’t talk back and I’ve always loved to hold and take care of them.  I love rocking Mitchell to sleep, holding him close and smelling his sweet baby smell.  Having an infant and a toddler at the same time has been interesting because, while I still adore babies, I have discovered that having a two-year old is pretty amazing too.  Evie just has so much enthusiasm for everything.  We have so much fun doing the silliest, simplest things.    We pretended that the couch was boat the other day and we rolled off of it into the ocean.  I was flailing around on the carpet, trying to get away from Crosby-Shark and pretending that I couldn’t swim.  So Evie tossed me her blankie and ‘pulled’ me back on the boat.  And then she fell into the ‘water’ and copied me.  We must have done this for at least a half hour, laughing and giggling the entire time.  It’s so simple, and yet she asked again and again to play this game over the weekend.  Sunday we went to the zoo for a few hours.  I had told her that if she was very good in church that morning, we could stop and get some donuts and have a breakfast picnic.  She was so excited about this and was such a good girl during mass.  Pat wasn’t feeling well so I loaded up the kids and off we went to the zoo.  We put our picnic blanket down in the grass and Evie thought it was great to get to take her shoes off and eat on the ground.  After our picnic, we explored the zoo and went on a Dinosaur walk.  The Columbus Zoo has a dino boat ride and you can see the dinosaurs in certain areas of the zoo.  We told Evie that when she’s a big girl and uses the potty, she can go on the dinosaur boat ride (we’re willing to try anything to get her to go at this point).  Since she’s not big yet, we went on a dino walk and looked for the dinosaurs in the trees.  We had a ball!  Later, just as we were about the leave the zoo, I noticed that a show was about to start so we decided to check it out.  I’m so glad we did because it was fantastic!  Evie loved seeing all of the animals.  And I don’t know what I liked more – the show or seeing the happiness on Evie’s face.  

Donut picnic

Dinosaurs!

Laughing at the show at the zoo

My love for Evie has changed.  It’s grown bigger and deeper.  She makes life interesting and reminds me to be silly.  She helps me see the simple side of things and to have fun even if I’m having a bad day.  It’s hard not to be happy when your little girl looks at you and out of nowhere says “I love you so much Mama”.  :)

 

Everyday adventures

We've been having lots of fun lately...

Trying new ways to eat food...

This one's for you Pops!  Eating peanut butter from a spoon. :)

First time having smores!

Chicken wings

Making faces...

Playing with Aunt Sha-Sha....

Making Cakes....

 

Going to the library and reading books....

Playing dress-up....

Blowing up whoopie cushions...

 Fixing things....

Watching movies with buddies...

And just generally being cute!