The food train begins...

I have had a gut feeling ever since Lucy was born that she'd be "ahead" of the curve for what we experienced with Keller.  Up until this point, that feeling has been correct.  He sat at around 6 mos. Lucy - 5; Keller was always right on for age/size of clothes and Lucy is one set ahead (@ 6mos she was in 9 mos clothes).  Keller cut his first set of teeth around 8-9 months and Lucy cut her just before the 7 month marker.  I chalk most of these differences up to 1) obviously different kids but mostly 2) Keller was early.

So now our next adventure (before the inevitable crawling/walking journey) is food.  I guess with Keller he didn't even show interest in our food until around 10 months old.  He didn't have teeth until just before then but didn't even grab at our plates or spoons really.  Lucy is quite different.  Since around 4 months she's been trying to get to our plates and recently, that interest has become difficult to ignore so we've started our transition to solids.  It will be slow and pretty boring but we've begun.

So far she's gotten to experience sweet potatoes, apples, avocados and bananas.  Oh and the yogurt big brother tried to feed her early on.  We've also let her "snack" on chunks of cucumber, carrots and big pea pods.  She seems eager all around so I'm curious to see how quickly she transitions to food...I'm hoping slowly but who knows!

I'm having an affair.

Well I am. It's just with a 7 1/2 month old. Haha.  This is seriously all that I could come up with when trying to explain the relationship Lucy and I have formed as of late.  I think she is going through or about to go through a growth spurt since the demand for nursing has been so intense.

Here's why I consider it an affair.

- We spend literally all our free time together.
- I leave my husband during odd hours to be with her.
- I am at her mercy. She calls, I come running.
- Well..there is the nursing relationship (boobs if you don't catch my drift)
- Whenever I go to her at night, I usually don't have a shirt on or I am about to take it off.
- When she is finished with me, she very quickly flips herself over to face the wall and falls asleep.

Hahahaha....okay sorry just had to share this.  It might not be funny to anyone but me. :)

Jump Jump Jump

The Johnny jumper was something Keller never really got into, but we went ahead and got one for our house even before I was pregnant with Lucy with the idea that someday, when we had another child, s/he might like it.  Well as it turns out, she does!  Here's a short video of her going to town!  Sorry....can't figure out how to rotate the video..

...I work out...

***Editors Note: I originally had the music video from LMFAO; however, upon actually WATCHING the video I felt it was not exactly appropriate for my blog about my babies...it's pretty funny though...so I recommend searching it out on YouTube if you want a good "WHAT?!" moment...***

Now, I love this song,  We have our radio on for most of the day in our house and actually everyone in the family loves to dance randomly throughout the house.  This is especially true for Keller.   However, that's not what this post is about.  

I hear this song literally everyday on the radio and the phrase that keeps coming to mind is "I work out"...haha yea...right.  I USED to work out.  Now my form of working out is running "stair steps" 10 times a day to do laundry, squats to pick up toys or wipe up spills, bench presses playing with a 15 lbs. baby and cardio chasing a crazy 2 year old around the stores we have to run errands at.  Not really working out to be honest.  

Before having Lucy we had actually figured out how to get physically in shape with a kid, I even found ways to bring him with to the YMCA - when childcare was included in the cost.  Now, however, with two - it seems infinitely impossible.  I can't even bring myself to haul them outside for play time outdoors or a walk around the block...horrible I know.  I just fear cold, tired, cranky children too much I think.

Anyways, Broghan has been feeling similar to me in regards to working out and the lack of its existence in our lives...so he had a great idea of finding a decent, affordable, used treadmill to set up in the living room.  He researched for quite a while and this past weekend we found one out of the Twin Cities.  So we did it.  We bought one and have it set up in the corner of the living room.  

So far it's worked out pretty well....there's no running from either of us yet, but the walking has commenced.  Each day, during naps or after bed time we're able to walk while watching our late night shows or prop up the lap top and do things on there.  Hopefully by spring time we've worked ourselves up to a point of jogging since we both really enjoyed doing running races and triathlons. 

Here's to good health!!

Until next time...

Pictures! It's what we all love...

I wrote in her update and you can see in her pictures a lot that her tongue is almost always out.  Lately though, she's been sucking in her lower lip, which creates quite the goofy looking face.  :). love her.and her goofy faces!

Yes, my kids are almost always on in their diapers when we're at home...one spills everything and the other drools...so really, I'm just trying to save water by not doing laundry every.single.day.

This is how I find them playing in the mornings a lot of the time.  Keller still adores her! and she is starting to reciprocate that love!

See! I actually went up into a stand...so technically I went Deer hunting :).

Lucy's new room colors - that design in only on one wall - notice the black lines are NOT finished...one day...and the new egress window. Whoohoo for legal bedrooms!

He was moving fast so it's blurry...he's wearing my boots though.  

This is from when he was sick...he demanded he be snuggled in with his "pooh" bears...one on each side. 

Art projects!

I'm a sucker for art projects.  I know it drives my husband crazy how many little art-sy things I start and never get around to completing or completely using all of the supplies I've spent money on; however, I can't say anything other than it brings me great satisfaction and enjoyment to be doing art related works.  Painting especially.  I'm not a creative - abstract type painter - I can't even do a simple scenery.  But I love to do small simple paint projects or paint a wall or do a design on something.  Just love it.

ANYWHO - thanks to pinterest.com and my sister Anna - I've discovered Crayon Art!  Super east, affordable, fast and really cool in my opinion.  There are just limitless amounts of different designs you can create and you can tailor it to fit your decor.  Awesome!

Here is a picture of the finished works I made last night for Keller and Lucy.  The canvases I bought came in a pack of 7 - two are here - one was lost to the creative colorings of Keller thanks to crayons being spilled out all over the floor - so that leaves four canvases left for me to just have fun with and do whatever.  I've already had many ideas fill my head.  I'll write a short description of the "how-to" below the pictures in case anyone decides to do this project themselves.

Supplies:

Canvas - pick your size

Crayons - I got 4 - 64 pack crayons for $1 each - seriously, go cheap - they all melt.

Rubber cement 

A heat gun

A hair dryer with a cool button (optional)

Something to cover the floor so you don't spill/splatter.

Summary:

Dump the crayons out and grab the colors you want.  I did a "dry-run" with them and lined them up across the canvas so I knew I had enough.  You'll notice on Keller's (blue) canvas the crayons are cut in half - the canvases I bought are short so doing half-crayons was a better choice.  

Then once you know you have enough for the design you want to do, use the rubber cement to secure them to the canvas.  I am impatient and didn't wait for them to dry- just waited long enough for them to not slide down the canvas when I lifted it. I also used the heat gun to melt the tops of the crayons a bit so then I knew they'd for sure stick.

Using the heat gut, melt the crayons.  I recommend melting them with the canvas flat on the ground before trying to make the wax "run" down it.  This allows for some pooling of the colored wax and you'll have more control over the distance they go down the canvas.  I also had a hair dryer plugged in so I could use the cool button to blow cold air over the wax so it was solidify where I wanted it to.

Put on finishing touches weather that's letters, pictures, words, anything you can think of.  My sister thought of the idea of flipping it over (using a green crayon scheme) and making flowers on the tops so it looked like grass or the stems.  I've also seen spirals done.  Just google melted crayon art and you'll find ideas or go to pinterest.com or etsy.com to find some more.  

It's seriously that easy!  

***** Side notes: I didn't remove the paper labels/covers of the crayons - although I might do that on my  next one

***** I'll be spraying a clear coat lacquer to protect it all sometime today to finish it off. 

Until next time...  

Unexpected Adventure

I am tired! Holy wow was this weekend fun and long and eventful and jam packed with great stuff.  As I previously posted, we traveled to Broghan's parent's home for deer camp.  Friday's drive was wonderful and both kids did great.  Then the weekend brought on hunting obviously, eating way more food than expected, going to an indoor pool, going to see Buddy the Cake Boss, watching the Packers game, a lot of play time for the kids and the boys were successful at getting at least one buck (10-pt).

Now where you might ask does the adventure come in?  Well...the first 2 hours of our drive home were fairly un-eventful.  We had stayed until around 6:30PM since we weren't exactly in a hurry to get back for anything other than to get home, unload the car and go to sleep.  As I said at about the 2 hour mark we were passing by a cop car pulled over to the side with a tow truck just ahead of it.  There were literally four cars on the road either ahead of us or behind us.  I didn't exactly see what happened since I wasn't driving but as I looked to the right I saw a car in the ditch and commented to Broghan - oh that sucks - then looked forward only to see a car right in front of us (mind you the speed limit is 65 - so we're traveling right around that) slamming on it's breaks! WTH!  Broghan slams the breaks and swerves...we barely missed the rear bumper of that car and Broghan did amazing at re-directing and controlling the car, however, we did end up down in the embankment between the east bound and west bound lanes.  Thanks to the recent snow falls and the 26 degrees of last night, we were stuck.   Oh and don't worry...the other car DROVE AWAY!!! WHAT!? How can you watch a car swerve and skid off the road because of your stupidity and then DRIVE AWAY! What if we had flipped??? Seriously, so irresponsible and baffling to me.

Anyways, as I mentioned, we had just passed not only a police car but also a tow truck.  Broghan threw on a hat and his coat and trekked back the few hundred yards to see if when they were done with the accident if they could come pull us out.  Of course they could but it meant waiting just over an hour - in a stationary van - with a two year old strapped into his car seat and a 7 month old who HATES her car seat - and our dog.  Blessings from God, Broghan knew what to do and the kids and Marvin all did great and stayed calm and content while waiting and for the last 45 minutes home.

Needless to say it was a drive home to remember and hopefully one to never be repeated.  In the aftermath, the kiddos and I will be heading over to Car-X this morning to get the car checked out.  Nothing appears to be wrong but when going from 65 to 0 in a short distance and sliding into a ditch...who knows!

Until next time....

Deer Camp!

Most of those reading this blog will understand the title. Deer Camp! Here in Wisconsin, deer season is a short 9 days long.  Starting this Saturday and going until next Sunday.  For our family, we head over to Broghan's parent's house each year for the official kick off weekend and Broghan gets to hunt for two full days. Now, why you ask, am I (a non-hunter) so excited for deer opener weekend?  Well....when the boys go hunt (or fish or golf), the girls get to play!

 The last few years Broghan and I have also been able to take advantage of the grandparents and go hit up a movie.  I believe last year it was Harry Potter...  Anyways, the newest Twilight movie comes out today and yes, I'm a fan. And yes, I'm Team Edward. haha.  But besides that, Saturday brings its own amount of fun.  Broghan's mom and myself are going to head over to Green Bay, WI with a good friend Kim.  Our plan is to get tickets to the Cake Boss's show.  He will be sharing about his journey to becoming the Cake Boss and then giving tips and hints on decorating baked goods.  HOW FUN! Maybe not for all...but for this baking queen I'm extremely excited.  On the off chance the show is sold out...the back up plan is to find a bar and have some fun! I seriously love this weekend.

Sunday brings on another fun day in that we'll be celebrating Thanksgiving early with the Reilly family and many friends and neighbors as well.  I've made some delicious oreo/cream cheese balls that I am seriously struggling not to devour before we head East.   Once the day is done we'll be cruising home, only to spend three short days here in Eau Claire before heading West to MY family's Thanksgiving weekend.  This seriously is the best time of year!

Until next time...

Juggling hats.

I was typing this post and it started to get a little "pitty party-ish" so I deleted it and started over.  The whole and only point I wanted to make was that its on days like today where I feel as though I'm juggling many hats.  I started the morning (well lets be honest, both kids have colds so I never actually fell completely asleep...so this morning really just felt like a continuation of last night).  But moving on: I started the morning caring for two croup-y cough-y little ones.  Then it was making breakfast and getting ready and by get ready I really do mean shower, dress, hair and make-up - amazing I know.  But it's only because today (Thursday) is one of the two days of the week I head up to the office to do paper work and work through accounts.

So I go and take off my mom hat (it's a little hard to take off to be honest) and put on my work hat and head to the office.  I spend 3 1/2 hours plunging through paperwork, accounts, claims, visit dates and bills.  Amazingly, I stayed on task pretty well and made some good progress with everything.  Next on my agenda was a meeting with a potential doula client.

So I take off the work hat and put on the OTHER work hat - my doula hat.  This one I love because it involves talking babies, pregnancies and birth.  Things that really get me amped up.  The meeting went well and I again felt proud staying on task and finishing in the time limit I had earlier set for myself.  I have a tendency to let those meetings run long, so I am trying to be more "professional" and set time limits for myself.
Once it's over it's time to go get the kiddos and meet the hubby.

The doula hat comes off and the mom and wife hats go on together.  They look quite nice on me and are extremely comfortable. :).  I live for the days I don't have to take them off or grab another one to put on.

Until next time...

Laughter is good for the soul.

I love these videos and had to share.  It re-affirms that these two are just two peas in a pod!  **watch for the full moon in the second video! can you tell we're in the midst of potty training?**

Sibling love.

I stumbled upon more pictures that I needed to update on here, so here is a whole bunch.  

Keller Pictures

As promised...

Can't forget about Keller

So here is Keller's update.  We have a full-fledged 2 year old on our hands.  He turned two on August 23rd.  I think I may have blogged before about his speech, but last spring we had taken Keller for some speech therapy sessions.  They were helpful, but really just put it into perspective that he is really too young (in my opinion) to be labeled as delayed.  I think he's just on the latter end of most 2 year olds and I'm not really worried since he communicates just fine. It has been fun though as of lately that he has been hitting his groove in terms of learning and using new words.  It's adorable to hear him speak and to try to tell you stories and explain things.  It's also been nice to have him be able to respond when I'm explaining something to him too.  He's a very well behaved child but gets extremely excited when tired and/or hungry, so we have to watch out for that since he's had a history of biting. He can self entertain which is a life saver for me when I'm busy and we're currently working on potty training (not too intense about it yet, but he's getting good at peeing more in the potty and less in diapers when we pay attention).  He still LOVES to dance and LOVES his baby sister -whom he simply refers to as baby.  He also calls every adult woman "mommy" and every adult male "daddy" and according to my husband last night he wandered into our room (I was in the guest room with Lucy - my non-sleeper) crying out for "mommy" "baby".  Sooo cute to me, not so cute to my sleeping husband.  He's also a ham when it comes to pictures and saying "hi", "bye" and blowing kisses.  I think it's those big blue eyes.  They just get so stinkin' cute when he makes certain faces.  He's much more interested in coloring and puzzles than he was before which is fun to see.  It's more of intellectual growth now and less large motor skills (although he still loves to hit a ball like a golfer and crawl up onto almost anything).  In the food department we've moved past the Happy Tots (although he does get them on occasion as treats) and onto yogurt and apples.


More to come...and pics! just out of time!

Where I have been...

As I said in that last post and as obvious by the dates of my posts, I've been absent.  Well I haven't been just sitting around.  I've been quite the busy little bee.  As most know, my husband and I purchased our chiropractic clinic - Reilly Chiropractic - www.chiropractorlakehallie.com - on December 16th, 2010.  This means that we're coming up to the end of our 11th month being open and fast approaching our one year mark! How crazy!  Well things have been a roller coaster ride with getting our feet placed solidly on the ground as business owners but I'm happy to report that our office is doing better than ever before.  My husband is helping and what I profess as healing more people than I could have ever envisioned at this point in our journey.  We renovated our fee schedules and signed contracts with as many insurance providers in our area as possible to widen our scope of those we can help.  We rolled out the new fees and discounts on September 15th, 2011 and feel that because of that, people are realizing that not only is chiropractic care essential for health, but it can be AFFORDABLE!

So in terms of the office, my job is multi-faceted.  I am the gopher of the group, so I do most of the errands and purchasing of office supplies.  I also manage most of the finances and banking as well as the bills.  I submit to insurances and do the billing and the follow up on accounts.  Needless to say, I believe just those things alone could be rolled into a full time job.  However, being first and foremost a full time mom and wife, I do the office work part time.

The next thing I have been working on is my doula work.  I founded Chippewa Valley Doula Services - www.cvds.weebly.com - a few years ago now and am slowly but surely working my way into the birthing industry.  I have helped two women through their labors and have another client lined up for early next year.  I look forward to being able to make this my main focus, but that will just have to wait a while since Keller and Lucy need and deserve my focus now.  Eventually I'll be able to be on-call more often but the experience and knowledge I'm able to gain now, at a slow pace and in a low-pressure situation is invaluable.

Finally and most recently I've stumbled upon a nutritional supplement that has significantly improved my energy levels and reduced my asthma symptoms.  It's AKEA Essentials - www.livelaughlove.akealife.com.  A local friend let me try some and I was seriously skeptical to get involved, but after talking about it with others, doing a ton of research, getting positive feedback from others who might be interested and most importantly seeing the positive effects it had (in just a week too).  I was sold.  So now, it's my main supplement.  It's a whole food, organic, powder nutritional supplement with probiotics and digestive enzymes.  It doesn't taste the greatest but doesn't have texture when drinking it down - so it's a go for me.  Again, this is something I'd love to be able to spend more time working with and being involved with, but that just can't be the case right now so I'm again, glad to be able to gain experience and knowledge and still receive the benefits in a low pressure situation.

Anyways, throw into that mix family time, travel, mom's groups, raising two kids, running a household and the tasks of just owning a home - lets be honest, I sometimes forget to pee. :)

Picture Update Fall 2011 - LUCY

Hello blogging world.  I've been absent!  I've missed blogging and constantly think about what I want to write down and how I really need to keep better track of Lucy's milestones, similar to how I did so with Keller.  Life is just BUSY!  But, yesterday really got me, Lucy cut her first tooth!  Almost seven months old now (holy wowzers!) and she's sitting up like a pro- been doing so since 5 months and I can see in her eyes that she'd love to be crawling (heck, probably walking..).

The differences you see in children are amazing.  I knew people always said that they'd be different, two kids are never the same, yada yada yada.  But really, they are so much the same but so incredibly different.

Lucy in a nutshell is a very smart, intent, willful little girl. She does not like to sleep alone and she prefers to sleep with just mom. She also prefers to sleep in mom and dad's bed over any other place in the house.  She loves her brother and giggles at him but also knows already that he is an aggressive lover and screams when he gets close sometimes.  She wants to be held and knows how to reach her arms up to signal that she wants to be picked up.  She is a very social little gal too and doesn't like to be left alone.  Unlike her brother, the frozen toys do sooth her little teeth, but showers and nursing do not help when she's not feeling well.  Surprising to myself, I've now had to dish out half-doses of Tylenol twice to her after late nights crying over sore gums and a fever.  Although not a big deal, it definitely challenged my thoughts on what I "knew" worked outside of medications.  She manages to scoot and move around the room, even though its almost imperceptible.  Meaning, you don't actually see her move, but she moves! It's pretty funny.  She also knows what she's getting a picture taken and smiles (very appreciated by mom).   As I said, she coming up on 7 months and is approximately 15 lbs and 24 inches.  She's just lovable, snuggable and kissable.  LOVE HER! and I'm excited to see her become more of her own person over these next few months.


Oh an probably the most key element that is LUCY - she always, ALWAYS has her tongue out! who knows why...but it is and its adorable!