Busy, Busy, Busy!

That is the only way to describe the last week. Memorial weekend we had Elise's baptism back in my home town. It as a great day and she looked adorable! I completely suck though and didn't get a single picture. She did great through the baptism and every time the Pastor would look towards her she would give a huge smile and giggle and she had the whole church smiling and laughing. It was the cutest thing ever. We had a little lunch at my parents' house after and enjoyed some delicious pulled pork that Craig made and some yummy cake. Elise got a ton of dresses from my aunts and she will be set for the rest of the summer.

We also switched her to her convertible car seat last week. At 17lbs at only 5 months old she was getting too heavy for me to carry in the infant seat. It wouldn't be a big deal if we didn't live on the 2nd floor of our apartment building. She is LOVING her new big girl seat and she can see Madelyn even better and all I hear is Elise squealing just from Madelyn looking at her. It's adorable.

We've been having some issues with her reflux and had to put a call in to the pedi today after a really bad day yesterday. She was on 1mL of Zantac twice a day and it hasn't been doing much. She pretty much screamed all day yesterday and didn't want to eat. Her pedi wants us to up her Zantac to 3 times a day and put her on soy formula. I'm really hoping this helps with the spitting up. She spit up on my arm the other day and I could just feel the acid. I can't imagine what that feels like in her tummy and her throat. She spits up no less than 10 times a day usually. We'll be starting the soy formula tomorrow.

Madelyn is doing well and continues to crack me up every day. We went to the pool for the first time the other day and she loved it. I was so proud of her. She loves her puddle jumper and did a great job jumping in by herself. She even went underwater which she was terrified of doing last year! She also learned how to pump her legs on the swing and is so proud of herself.

We are gearing up for another camping trip this weekend and hoping the weather is better this time. As of right now it's supposed to rain Thursday when we go out but the rest of the week is supposed to be nice. My parents are bringing the jet ski but I think the water will still be too cold for me to want to ride. I'm a weenie when it comes to cold water. I'm sure Madelyn will go for a swim though.

Work has been crazy too. We've started to lose some of our kids who are going to Kindergarten this fall so my class size is slowly decreasing. It's kind of nice to have the break of a small class but I'm sad to see my preschoolers go. We have just over a month left before we're closed for a month break. I have a whole list of things I want to get done in that time.

Here are some new pictures. This was from the day Elise turned 5 months old!











This one cracks me up!

Maiden Voyage of the new camper

As I mentioned in the last post we went camping last weekend. It is probably our number one favorite thing to do in the summer. I have been camping my entire life and we started taking Madelyn the summer she turned one. We have always been in a tent but decided that with two kids it would probably be best to upgrade. We found a very nice pop-up camper on Craigslist and it is just perfect for us. We had quite the first trip out with it though.

We went out last Thursday. We had been watching the weather all day because it was supposed to rain at some point. Craig had a problem with something on the hitch and as he was working on it I just watched the clouds come rolling in. He finally finished what he needed to do and we took off. The campground is about 30 minutes away from where we live. I was super proud of how well Craig backed the camper in since it was the first time he's ever done something like that. We tried keeping the girls in the car as long as we could so they would be out of the way but Madelyn got antsy pretty quick. We started setting up the camper and when I went to put together the beds I realized we left a pole in the garage. Craig and Madelyn ran back in while Elise and I stayed to finish getting things put together. Craig had checked the weather right before he left because we could hear some thunder. He said that we should be fine and that the storm that was coming should miss us. Not even 15 minutes after they left it started raining. Then it started raining harder. Then it started hailing! It was crazy. It looked like it had snowed it hailed so much! Craig and Madelyn made it back and we ate some supper and attempted to get the girls to bed. It was still raining and super windy so it took a lot of effort. We put a movie in for Madelyn and she ended up staying up until 11! Elise went to sleep easily but woke up at 1 and 3 and was overly fascinated with her hands. She was squealing and giggling. As tired as I was it was so cute.

The weather the rest of the weekend was pretty darn cold and we spent a lot of time in my parents camper since it's bigger. We had grabbed Madelyn's tennis shoes but didn't realize they were a size and half to small! She wouldn't even put them on because she said they hurt her feet. The only other thing she had was a pair of flip flops and her feet were freezing. I ended up taking a pair of socks and making a cut in the toes so that she could put the socks on and still wear her flip flops. Yeah. Just call me MacGyver. :) She didn't win any fashion awards but she was warm.

The first camping trip was definitely a success. We learned a lot about some things that would make everything go faster. We can't wait to take it out again. We're going out the 2nd weekend in June and I'm hoping it's a lot warmer then it was last weekend!

Here are just a few pictures:


Madelyn relaxing in her sleeping bag the first night


Craig and Madelyn after he gave her a rice crispy treat right before bedtime. lol


Elise napping in the camper


My girls!

Sometimes I wish I could call in sick to being a mom.

This week has been awful. We went camping this last weekend (that post will come later) and it was freezing. That, on top of my kids at work being sick, led me to get sick. It started with a slight sore throat on Sunday. I went to work Monday but just couldn't take it anymore. I was absolutely freezing and just couldn't get warm. I had to take the temps of two of our kids so I decided to check mine. Sure enough I was running a temp. I went and picked Madelyn up from school but kept Elise at the sitter's. Madelyn and I came home and took a good nap. I ran a fever the whole rest of the day. Yesterday, my throat still hurt but the fever was gone. I went to the doctor because I was 99% sure that I had strep throat. The doctor confirmed it.

Yesterday was just miserable. Being sick when you're a mom is rough! I just wanted to lay around on the couch and sleep all day but I had an almost 4 year old and infant to take care of keep occupied. I felt bad because there was a lot of yelling going on and poor Elise spent most of her day in the swing or the bouncer. Madelyn never stops talking and making noise. Elise has discovered her voice this week as well. My head felt like it wanted to explode between the two of them.

One of the reasons my head hurt so bad yesterday:



I also had to haul both of them to my doctor's appointment with me. It was such a long day. The second Craig walked in the door I handed the parenting duties off to him and laid on the couch.

I ran a fever all day again today and I'm over it. I sick of being sick. I haven't had to take time off work for myself being sick in a long time! It's always been because of Madelyn and now Elise.

I'm feeling much better tonight thank goodness. I don't think I could handle another day at home with the two of them when I feel like crap.

Oh and what irritates me even more is that when Craig was sick a couple of weeks ago it was just expected that I would take the girls to the sitters but he never even offered to take them for me yesterday. Boo!

Anyone else ever wish you could call in sick to being a mom?

It's been awhile...

I've been wanting to get back into blogging for awhile now. I've decided to start fresh and with a whole new blog. This blog will be about my life as a mommy to two girls and my life as a teacher to 18 preschoolers.

Here's a little update with what's been going on the last year!

Madelyn
Madelyn will be 4 in a month and a half. I can't even believe that I've been a mommy for almost 4 years already. She is so smart and sometimes I think she's too smart for her own good. She's like a little adult and I can have full out conversations with her and some of the things she says just blow me away. She is sweet, kind and is one of the funniest people I have ever known. She makes me laugh every day. As sweet as she is there are also days I'd love to ship her off to boarding school in Europe. :) She is 4 going on 14. Her attitude sometimes gets her in trouble. She's been going to preschool since August and is loving every minute of it. She has made quite a few friends and really enjoys learning.

Elise
Elise was born on January 4, 2011. She is just over 4 months old now. She has the cutest freaking cheeks and I just want to kiss them all day long. She is a very laid back baby and is pretty "go with the flow." When she smiles I just melt. I love watching her discover new things except for when she decides to discover her hands at 3:00 in the morning and squeals and giggles instead of sleeping. We can't really complain about sleep though since she's been sleeping through the night for 2 months now with only the occasional wake up to eat. We are very, very blessed to have such great girls.

Craig
Craig went back to school a year ago on top of working almost 50 hours a week. He is amazing. He works so hard to provide for our family and is the greatest husband. As much as he wanted a boy when I was pregnant with Elise he is an AMAZING dad to girls. They both have him wrapped around their little fingers already.

Me
I've been working as a preschool teacher at Head Start for over a year and a half now. I love it! It definitely has it's challenging moments and I've been hit, kicked, scratched, cussed at and yelled at all by 3-5 year olds. As hard as those moments are I get even more hugs, laughs, compliments and joy. I have 10 kids who will be heading to Kindergarten this year and my last day with them is going to be hard. There is one boy that I am particularly attached to as I've seen how far he has come in the last year. The hitting, kicking, scratching, etc all came from him last year. This year he runs in and hugs me right away and asked for me every day of my maternity leave. That is why I'm a teacher. :)

Here are a few pictures of the girls!










I'm hoping I can keep up with the blog more this time. Hope you enjoy it!