Real Life: A MN Mom: How crazy is this life...

I've been telling myself for weeks: "I need to update. I should write a blog tomorrow." Does it happen? Obviously not. Life is crazy, in fact it's beyond crazy. It's chaos. I don't even know where to begin.

It's summer, so I'm trying to get me and the kids outside as much as possible to enjoy the weather. Some days have been way too hot and humid which makes it unbearable, so those days we stay inside and enjoy the nice cool a/c. But, on those nicer days, we make sure we get out. Some days we go to the zoo, play in Evelyn's kiddy pool, go to a park, go for a walk...

Sawyer and Logan

The boys are 5 1/2 months now, wow that seems so crazy! I feel like I blink and another day is gone. They keep me on my toes and running fast. Much housework gets put on the side burner because the kids don't give me a chance! Lately they've been fussy, clingy, whiny. They want to eat but then I go to feed them and they don't want it. Logan no longer wants a nuk so he's a little harder to keep content. If one is sleeping then the other is crying, as soon as one stops crying the other starts. Then of course if they are happy Evelyn needs something.

So, you want to know how they're progressing? Beautifully. Logan loves to stand and will do it for hours if you hold his hands, one time he even tried taking a couple steps. He sits really well and can almost sit on his own. He sleeps much better at night now giving us between 5 and 7 hour stretches. We introduced both boys to food a week ago. Logan would eat oatmeal but obviously didn't like it, he made that clear. He scarfed down sweet potatoes as if it were candy but today I can't get him to touch bananas. Sawyer is a bit behind his brother. He stands assisted but only for seconds at a time. He sits well but isn't really close to sitting on his own. I only could get a bite or two of oatmeal into Sawyer each feeding, he hated it. He took one or two bites of sweet potatoes but also won't even try the bananas.

Both boys still sleep in their rock n plays in our room. Now that they have been sleeping better at night I'm getting ready to move them into their own room. The trouble is adjusting them to sleeping flat in their cribs. They don't sleep well like that so the adjustment is rough. I've tried doing it little by little during nap times, but they just don't do well. I'll probably start by moving their rock n plays into their room at night for them to sleep in, when they are sleeping better at nap times in their cribs I can start that process at night. Part of me thinks their room is unfamiliar territory for them and therefore a little scary.

Miss Evelyn

Evelyn is so amazing. She loves her brothers so much. "Him laughin at me", "him crying", "baby grabbing feet". She always makes sure they have toys to play with and blankets to snuggle. Of course she inadvertently nearly smothers them in the blankets, but she doesn't mean too. She gives them tons of hugs and kisses, it captures my heart every time. She turned 3 on the 18th. I can't believe how big she's gotten. We just had a really small party at our house because we're obviously not up for planning a big party right now, grilling hot dogs and hamburgers, cake and melted ice cream. We all sat outside and the kids played. Last night she spiked her 2nd fever ever. I don't know where it came from but at 7pm her temp was 101.0, by 11pm she was at 102.8. At midnight her and daddy ended up on the couch downstairs where they slept all night. At 8am she was down to 100.8. She has been doing great all day so whatever infection got her, she was able to fight it off. As a child my favorite book was always Dr Suess' "The Foot Book". Well, this has proven to be Evelyn's favorite too, although she makes us read many many books to her each day. The other day she was reading to one of her grandma's, I guess she's managed to memorize much of the book already! She's also learning her colors, ABC's and counting. She can almost sing the whole ABCs now and can write about 5 letters. She counts to 10 but always skips 5, I really don't know what she has against the number 5. She knows most of her main colors: blue, pink, red, orange, yellow, green, black... She knows some shapes like stars, circles, and hearts. She's learning so much lately.

Cloth Diapering

We have stuck with cloth diapering the boys, and Derrick has even said he likes it! Some days, when I don't have time to do laundry, they end up in disposables... Every single time we do, they have a poo-spolosion. Its terrible. I try my best to keep them out of disposables for that reason alone. Logan blew out of a cloth diaper yesterday, but I couldn't expect any diaper to hold in that much poo! I could use more supplies in my rotation. As it stands right now I HAVE to do diaper laundry every other day, if I don't or I wait till the next morning I end up running out. It'd be ok but sometimes the kids just don't let me get to the diaper laundry. Evelyn is rockin and rollin on her potty. She rarely has a diaper on anymore besides nighttime. We are weaning her off night sippy cups in hopes of getting her night trained as well. We still have trouble with pooping on the potty, but she's making progress. Recently she's taken a liking to the sticker reward method a little bit, so we've been trying that.

Eating and Breastfeeding

We've introduced a little bit of solids to the boys. I intended to wait until they hit 6 months but they were starting to be interested in what we were eating - so we thought we'd give it a try. Neither really liked oatmeal, Logan liked Sweet Potatoes but Sawyer wasn't into it. Neither will even try bananas. It's a good thing solids aren't mandatory at this age because they really aren't having any part of it. I'll keep gently trying and hopefully, eventually, they'll come around. During the day they still eat every 2-3 hours, but we're getting much longer stretches at night. We haven't had to introduce any formula up to this point, however I do think I'm going to supplement one feeding a day so I can pump and build my stash up a bit before the wedding. I hate to supplement formula even for one feeding because I've been really proud to be able to exclusively breastfeed for so long, but I need a stash built for the wedding or else I'm going to find myself breastfeeding the whole day! But so far breastfeeding has been going really well, its not easy but its definitely been doable. I enjoy having that time with each of them. I never tandem feed anymore, I just didn't like it. It was clumsy and difficult and I spent the entire time relatching, adjusting and hoping Evelyn didn't need either of my hands for anything. At least by doing one at a time I am able to have that one on one time with each baby, and have a spare hand incase Evelyn needs something or my phone rings.

Wedding wedding wedding

On top of the kids keeping me busy, I've been crazy planning this wedding that's coming SO quick! It's only like 6 weeks away - YIKES! I don't have that much to do I guess, just a lot of little things. Many small errands that need to be run. I guess it's just a matter of making time for it all... Which time is not an easy thing to come by with 3 little ones running around!

Missing Gabriel

I've been thinking of Gabriel a lot more lately. I miss him terribly. He'd be a year and a half right now, possibly the perfect age for summer activities. I can't get out to be near him as often as I'd like to, I'm so wrapped up at home. I do talk to him a lot and tell him all the fun things he'd be enjoying right now. I see other kids around the age he would be and it hits my heart hard. Even when I look at his pictures or randomly come across one it makes my eyes get all watery and my heart stings a little. I wish he was here, I wish he could be enjoying all the blessings life has to offer. I wish I didn't have a candle in his memory for the church and hall. I wish I didn't have a special table planned for the reception. I'd so much rather have him there, in person, dancing and laughing with us. I would love to get him an adorable little tux to wear... Perhaps I'll cut a piece off his blanket and have it sewn into my dress, I'm sure my seamstress wouldn't mind. I wouldn't be completely heartbroken over a missing piece because he had a couple different blankets wrapped around him the day he was born. I wish I had an article of my grandfather's clothing to do the same with... But I don't. My mom gave me a daffodil clip to incorporate too, I think I'll clip it into my bouquet. Daffodil is one of the December birth flowers, it represents the promise of a brighter future (spring), so much significance in one little flower clip.

Here's some photos from recently.