2under2. twice.

aidan and sawyer are 19.5 months apart.

sawyer and reese are 21.5 months apart.

perfect, in my opinion. and i would not have it any other way :)

some days are crazy. some days i want to curl up and sleep. some days are filled with 100% fun. some days are lazy. some days are busy with errand after errand. but EVERY day is filled with sisterly love.

its amazing to watch, really. aidan and sawyer are the best of friends.


they love reese. if you were at my house and said goodbye to A and S and didnt say goodbye to reese - they would remind you.

they kiss and hug each other for no reason. or just walk up to reese and tickle her. i love having close in age sisters (well right now at least. talk to me when they are 13, almost 15, and 16.5 haha)

anyway, there a few things that i've learned in the past few years that helped me transition into life with 2 under 2. twice.

1. chinese fire drill. well, thats what it sort of seems like getting kids in and out of the car. now i put reese in, aidan gets in and does her chest clip, i get sawyer in, then i reach and finish aidan's buckle. phew. but getting OUT is a different story. i grab reese's bucket and unhook aidan. then they both come with me to sawyer's side. aidan has been taught to "hold the car". always. i started doing this so long ago and now it is 2nd nature).

2. one thing that i always tried to remember when having a toddler and a newborn is: if both kids are sad - grab the toddler first. your newborn wont remember that it took you 5 seconds to hug your toddler. but your toddler WILL remember that you picked the new baby first.

3. when feeding the baby, have a box or bag or something new and fun for your toddler. something that you bring out only when you are feeding the baby so your toddler has something fun to do! new markers, paper, fun stickers, etc... it will distract them from the fact that you have to take a few mins to tend to someone else (when, i mean, theyve never had that before lol).

4. give your oldest jobs for the baby. my kids love to help pick out clothes, get diapers and even FEED reese :)


and its worth it to let them try to do all of those things - bc then they feel so wanted. when i was BFing reese, i gave aidan the job to tickle her feet so reese would stay awake! lol something simple, but she felt a "part" of it all.

5. prepare. and prepare early enough so your older kid has no idea things are related to the new baby. if youre gonna switch rooms, switch beds, take away the bottle or paci (thats for another post though lol) then do it long before your due date.

6. dont give too much freedom too early. i know a lot of people think "oh yay! i'll let my 18 month old stand in the cart!!" ok, well great, now what are you going to do when you dont want to wear your newborn and you want to put the bucket in there? or "woohoo! my 16 mo old can walk next to me at the store!" ok, cool - so how exactly are you going to chase him when he decides to walk the other way when you have a newborn sitting right there?

but then again, im of the vein "if it ain't broken - dont fix it". i keep my kids in carts until they straight up can step out themselves. lol my kids stay in cribs until they want to have a bed. ::shrug::

7. when walking into a store or somewhere, every kid has to be touching me or part of the group while walking. right now, i carry sawyer AND the bucket and aidan holds on to reese's seat. but if i wanted sawyer to walk then she'd be holding my hand while i held the bucket and aidan held that. i get twitchy when i see toddlers just putzing along without hold on to anyone.

8. make sure you make time for yourself. shower every day. get ready and GO OUT! 2u2 will make your head spin if you sit at home every day. put on some makeup - even if youre not in the mood to. go get a mani/pedi during naptime when your dh is home. SOMETHING for yourself.

im lucky bc i get to do things pretty much whenever i want to. of course i dont always want to ;) but if a friend asked me out for drinks one night - then likliness would be high that i could/would go. at least for a little bit. if i didnt have relaxation time - i would go nuts. even when friends come over, its such a fun nice release :)

9. schedule your day. essentially, 2u2 is no different than 1 (routine wise) if you have a rough schedule. youre just adding one more body. 1 more kid to feed. 1 more to change and get dressed. 1 more kid to bathe and put to bed. its a lot easier to take in if you look at it that way. our routine is crucial to our day. it can be as lax as "craft or store in the mornings" but something IS more or less "planned". we aren't just putzing around (most of the time) all willy nilly ;)

10. have fun. just relax. if you need to do housework - do it as a game. fold laundry together and talk about colors. have a ball mopping the floor and giggling. whatever it takes - have fun :)

if you can't laugh at yourself...

oh dear heavens.

so we are dropping the kids off saturday morning at my parents' house and heading out to "somewhere in the country" texas for a fun 4th (well 3rd) of july party.

EJ and i used to tan. we loved it. the quiet 20 mins, the hot bed... heaven.

but since i dont feel like risking that anymore, we decided to versa (spray tan, but undertones of beet instead of orange, like mystic). anyway. i am pale we know this. so i was excited. who wants to be in a bathing suit where people can see right through you ;)

so EJ goes first. he had some great tan place employee explain everything to him. i did not.

EJ did tell me a few things before i left to go, but in the end he just said "oh, they'll tell you".

nope.

so you have to put this cream on your hands. its basically JUST for your palms. so that way they dont get sprayed. yeah, okay, i did that. but i got it BETWEEN my fingers as well.

so long story (semi) short - my hands look like this:





lmao. sigh.

i am thinking/hoping it will fade by tomo after a shower or 2. the rest of my body looks great. and im debating going tonight again to even things out. lol

spray tan (for me) = FAIL.

being a mom aka acting like a fool.

sing out loud in the car even, or especially, if it embarrasses your children. ~marilyn penland

to bring up a child in the way he should go, travel that way yourself once in a while. ~josh billings

i dont know where this post is going, but i just really like these quotes. maybe i just want to giggle at the comments i (hopefully) get, telling me how silly you are with your kids and also swoon when you tell me what you think makes a good mom :)

i have a pretty stellar mom. we are best friends :) we laugh, we argue, we think we are the funniest people on earth, and im sure, at times, we think we are the opposite. lol

i'm lucky. i strive to have the same relationship with my girls as we get older.

besides the main things like, oh, love, security, and the rest of the obviously important things moms give their kids - i also give a few things that they don't necessarily wish for:

1. my glorious singing voice. oh yes. from day one, i have sang to my kids. actually, in utero, poor aidan had to endure me shaking my ass to "sexy back" while 9 months pregnant. and singing at the top of my lungs in the car.
2. my dance moves. mmhmmm i am certain if you saw me you'd say something along the lines of "wow! you should be on SYTYCD!!" or, maybe not. you might ask me if i was having a seizure. but either way - my kids laugh out loud. we turn on music all the time at home and just dance. its fun, a good workout (lol), and wears them out for bedtime as well. WIN!
3. my choice in clothes all day. lol this one is actually okay by all of us since, if we're not going out, then PJs it is. and plus, as we all know, aidan sometimes dresses like this after nap (so who is she to judge):


4. tickles. oh man. why is it that when you were a kid, you HATED being tickled, but still, as an adult - you do it to your own kids. they laugh so dang hard and its so funny to watch them. im sure they'll hate it as they get older - and im sure i wont care. :)
5. watching EJ and i hug and kiss. its so funny. they love if we hug each other or give each other a kiss. they want to join in on the group hug and kisses/germs get passed around. lol but im glad that they see this. i think its important for kids to *see* love :) they may think its gross in a few years for EJ to even kiss me on the cheek. but too bad!

anyway, i may add to this post later when i think of more things, but i think its those silly moments that make a mom.

simply having children does not make mothers. ~john a. shedd

having children hardly makes a mom a mom :) im lucky to have such a great example and hopefully my kids say the same things about me.