time.

Today is one of those days where I look at the clock and think, "How is it already four o'clock?" and at the exact same time think, "How is it only four o'clock?!" I look around the house and feel like I have accomplished nothing.

Question: WHAT DID I DO BEFORE I HAD KIDS? Seriously, I think about the 2.5 years between the end of pharmacy school and when Zane was born and wonder....how did i not have a spotless house at all times? Why was there not a hot, homecooked meal on the table every night that I wasn't working? Why didn't I exercise more? Probably because I slept late, took naps, and watched trashy tv.

Anyway, today is one of those days that kind of drags on and I'm ready for some adult conversation. It may look like I haven't done a darn thing around here, but I have to remind myself that I've fed two kids breakfast and lunch and cleaned that up. I have dinner in the crock pot. I have clothes in the washer, in the dryer, a load folded....and a load or two piled on the guest bed waiting to be folded. We played outside. We heard the ice cream truck and Zane and I raced inside to find his 'ice cream money' that Mama Doot had sent him. He got a Spiderman popsicle. Of course. And then he had a bath. And now both kids are napping. Rare. I have to get my ipad time in now. Zane loves to play games or watch shows on the ipad and Hollin likes to go through facebook and "like" lots of statuses. :) Today I used my alone time to order Hollin's birthday outfit and a couple of birthday presents for friends.

I'm not complaining. Or bragging. Just documenting life. Sometimes the days drag on. But the years fly by. These two are living proof of that.

 

growing pains, hunger pains

Zane woke up last night around 10:30. He was crying. He kept saying his knees hurt. Poor little guy. He really was in pain. Matt and I can both remember having 'growing pains' as kids, but I guess I didn't realize that it happens so young. I got in bed with him and held him for a long time. Matt brought him a warm bag of peas to put on his knees. I got up to leave when he started snoring. He sat straight up and said, "I'm just gonna sit up now." He was so tired that he couldn't hold his eyes open and fell over. So I asked him if he wanted back on his pillow and rearranged him. Then he said, "Boom goes the pillow....." to the tune of "Pop Goes the Weasel". I asked him to repeat himself and he sang it again. "Boom goes the pillow...." He's so funny.

And this little monkey has been having some serious hunger pains. She's eating whole bananas, entire cartons of yogurt, and as much nectarine as I'll put in her mouth. She'll reach over and take gold fish right out of Brother's hand. This morning she slept later than ever. Well, she woke up at 6:09am, ate, but then went back to sleep until about 8:45am! Wow! I think she appreciates sleep (and food) just like me.

My biggest pain today has been trying to take a picture of these two together.

And my favorite

Oh, well....

 

ten months

Happy ten months, sweet girl!

Hollin turned ten months old today and went for her nine month check up. I just read Zane's ten month post and, randomly, he also went to his nine month check up on his ten month birthday! What a strange coincidence.

10 month stats:

*Length: 27.95 inches

*Weight: 19lb 4oz

*Head circumference: 47cm

Her height and weight were right around the 50th percentile. The nurse logged her measurements and then said, "Let me just measure her head again." I told her not to be surprised if it was big....runs in the family. She said, "Well, let me just make sure I didn't mess up.....No, I didn't! You're really 47cm!" That's like the 99th percentile or something. What can I say? My babies have lots of brains, like their daddy.

Zane's head was also 47cm at 10 months. He was one pound heavier and a few inches longer.

I can't say enough what a great big brother he is. During her exam he said, "Mama, Baby Hollin is SO cute!" and told her, "You be ok, sweet girl!" He also told me that she was 'adordable'.

The kiss was totally unprompted.

Yes, she's (almost) always this happy.

At ten months:

*Hollin has decided that she's hungry! She is finally eating solids, two to three times a day. I think she is having a big growth spurt because she has been eating a lot the past two weeks. She loves yogurt and bananas. She likes for me to peel the banana and hold it for her and then she takes big bites of it. Tonight she had blueberry yogurt, spinach, pear, and mango puree, and a french fry or two.

*I think this growth spurt is also causing her to wake up around 4:45am to eat. She goes back to sleep until about 7 or 7:30am. (I'm hoping it's a growth spurt because that would mean it's temporary and that she'll start sleeping all night again)

*She has two more top teeth coming in.

*She's still not officially crawling. She worms and rolls herself wherever she wants to go and gets there quickly. She's not trying to pull up yet. Maybe it's because I keep kicking her back down. Kidding. Sort of.

*She claps and waves. Says 'bye bye' and 'dada'. She'll say 'mama' if she's mad enough. I swear she said 'budder' (brother) today. She's very loud in the mornings right after she wakes up. Babbles and talks. LOUDLY.

*She loves when I dance with her to music. She gets tickled when we 'patty cake' and sing "If you're happy and you know it". Her favorite is playing peek-a-boo. She does this all the time.

She's smiley, happy, and giggly all day, for the most part. But she really likes to throw a fit every night while getting her diaper changed and pj's on.

*She goes to bed between 7:30 & 8:30pm. Bedtime routine consists of bath (usually every other night, because she has eczema), pj's, yellow blankie, nursing, bed. She takes a morning nap around 9 and an afternoon nap right after lunch.

*She's wearing size 3 diapers and 6-12 month clothes.

Love, love, love this baby doll and couldn't imagine life without her! She is so sweet and truly a blessing to our family.

Ten month comparison pics of Z & H:

 

Friends.

How is it August already? How is it the middle of August already and I haven't posted all month? I guess we've just been busy? I know that I was definitely busy the first week of August, as my partner in crime spent the week in Boston. I missed the extra set of hands, tag teaming bath time, adult conversation. I missed my husband and the kiddos missed their daddy!

The Schneiders came to see us in Wisconsin. It was SO nice having friends from Arkansas visit us. We ordered the perfect weather for them. I think the high all weekend was 75, lows in the 50s. I didn't get any pictures of us together, but we had fun. We went to the Union on Friday evening and got ice cream. Saturday morning we went to the farmer's market on the square and had brunch at The Old Fashioned. Sunday afternoon we took the kids to the zoo. I enjoyed the outings, but also loved just hanging out at the house, watching the Olympics, playing with babies, and just enjoying each others' company. And I just discoved Instagram, so I'm experimenting with the pics.

This was our first zoo trip as a family of four.

When I asked Zane what the camel was called, he said, "A hump...backed.......whale." And then looked at me like, 'duh, mom'. I liked his answer better than the right answer, so I just rolled with it. I could see where it came from. He told the other kids that the polar bear was "Captain Barnacles" (a character from Octonauts). And he was obsessed with the cutouts that you stick your face in. I think he went to every single one of them....but this is the only picture I ended up with and he's not even looking at the camera. I think I just pretended to take his picture in most of them. Does that make me terrible?

This was obviously not at the zoo, but I wanted to share. It looks like Paisley is trying to teach Hollin how to crawl. They're just talking it over. Ya know, like girlfriends.