More learning

Ainsley turns 6 weeks tomorrow and she is learning too. She tracks her mobile very well and also grabs at things dangling above her head. She smiles regularly, which started sometime in the fourth week and yesterday she was actually laughing at me. Who knew I could be so funny? She is also learning how to sleep through the night. She has been having a five to seven hour stretch from her last feeding for about a week and a half. This generally gives me five full hours of sleep at one time. Last night she actually went 8.5 hours between feedings. I actually woke her up since I was about to explode and her diaper was going on 11 hours. Eww. The only negative is that she eats in the early evening so I am still getting up in the middle of the night around 3am, and then up for the day by 6am. I feel so blessed that she is doing so well at night.

Oh... and Mike and I got away for a date over the weekend too! Since Ainsley has been sleeping so well at night, we decided to see Pirates of the Caribbean on Monday night. Mike's parents were here visiting so we had free babysitting too. We went to the movie with his sister Krystal and enjoyed our kid free time. Too bad that Ainsley didn't sleep as well as we thought so Grandma and Grandpa had to fuss around with her a little and give her a bottle (which she took), but all in all it was a nice time for all.

Always learning

Aubrey learned three things while at the Hoskinson's on Thursday.
1. How to relax in a swing. Up to this point, she always leaned forward and looked at the ground.
2. How to climb a ladder to go down a slide. Playground slides tend to have stairs, but swing sets have ladders and the Hoskinson's have a swing set that was left by the previous owners.
3. How to avoid Ella's licks. Their dog Ella, greeted Aubrey with a face lick (she greeted Ainsley the same way). Aubrey kept her distance for the rest of the visit.
Maybe she will learn some new words next... she did learn "uh-oh" and "shhh" this week. They are kinda like words, right?

It's not all peaches and cream

Here's what happens if you leave the pacifier anywhere below four feet. And yeah, that's spaghetti sauce on her face.
Here's what happens if you want to be productive and not just a pillow for the baby. What a hard life she must have being fussed over 24 hours a day. Poor thing.

7 Meme

My sister-in-law, Brianna, tagged me with some sort of virtual chain letter. It's no big deal, I'm not going to get bad luck or be deemed a weak Christian if i don't do it, it is just for fun. So here it goes...

7 random facts about me ( I pretty much did this on my 100th post so I am going to do 7 random jobs I've had instead)

1. I worked for Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny in high school. I passed out pictures, took orders, and dressed as Frosty and Rudolph to keep the kids happy in line.

2. I worked an open house for a realtor. I had to put out signs in the middle of streets, bake cookies while in the home, and give a tour to people who showed up. halfway through I was convinced I was going to be raped and left for dead so I quit the same day. Oh well.

3. I worked a Thomas Kinkade convention at the Bren Event Center in Irvine. I got to tell people where the bathroom was and attend a special breakfast with the painter where he painted a cottage live on stage.

4. I worked at a convention for collectors for my friend Michelle's parents. We sold balls that people purchased to get autographed. I sold some to Steve Garvey, and handed a coin back to Wilt Chamberlin that he "dropped" in front of me.

5. This one was unpaid but pretty cool. My dance teacher worked for MTV and I got to be a seat filler at the Billboard music awards. I also got to be in the pit at the MTV music awards and reach adoringly for the celebrities as they came to get their award. I also danced at half time during a Jock Jams game (not a routine, just while the rap group was performing). Good times!

6. Speaking of dance, I worked at my dance studio to pay for half of my tuition before I was 16. I assisted with 3 year old gymnastics, took payments, and cleaned the studio 10 hours a month.

7. And finally, I worked as a telemarketer for 12 weeks for a Christian organization that was raising funds. It was everything you would think it would be and nothing more. It did pay $12 an hour, which was pretty good for a college student, but yuck!

I am not going to tag anyone specifically, but if you read this and thought it was interesting, consider yourself tagged anyway! I hope to see similar entries on your blogs soon!

4 weeks young

We are all pretty used to Ainsley being around by this point. We have adjusted to lack of sleep, time, and caffeine (just me on that one). The hardest part continues to be sharing our time with the kids. Inevitably as soon as you engage in quality time with one the other needs you. For Ainsley that is a diaper change, food, or just boredom, but for Aubrey it is more of an urgency, like falling off the step stool in the bathroom or falling out of the house. Seriously, she fell out of the back door thinking the screen was closed the other day (she left it open only moments before)! It can also be a need for milk, a snack, or just our love. For Mike and I it is the complete absence of time together. I truly enjoy the five minutes we are in bed before we fall asleep at night. It is the only time it is just the two of us.

Ainsley is getting to be on a pretty good routine. She eats every 2.5 to 3 hours, a little longer at night, and she has a good stretch of awake time with almost every daytime feeding. She naps in the swing, on the boppy, or in our arms for the most part, and sleeps in her crib during the night...at least until 5am when she decides it is morning, then she "plays" in the vibrating seat or bassinet in our room while I try to sneak another hour of sleep in. I keep trying to get naps to happen upstairs in her crib, but it just isn't working. She can be dead asleep and crying her head off minutes later. I've also attempted to let her fall asleep in her crib, but I eventually cave to that cry of hers and get her back out. I am getting better though. I lay her down drowsy and come downstairs and set the timer. I make myself wait until it goes off before I will calm her down. I'll get the strength to do it one of these days, but for now, I'm all about whatever is easiest. So that's the scoop 4 weeks in. Now I am going to try to clean a bathroom while I have two sleeping kids, a rare thing around here nowadays (cleaning and two sleeping kids)!

Happy Mother's Day

I hope everyone is having a great Mother's Day. We sure are. The girls were great at church and have been super since we have been home. It's already hard to imagine life before Ainsley. It just seems like she was always suppose to be here, and we are glad she is. We tried to get a decent picture of the girls and myself, but it is even harder to get everyone looking the same direction with one more person in the frame. Oh well, we tried!

Thursday redeemed

I met a friend at the park yesterday after Aubrey's nap and we had a great time. I was smart enough to drive as to not provoke more bad behavior. Aubrey is really coming into her own at the playground. She isn't a big fan about the other kids playing on her playground, but she is learning. Ainsley slept in the sling the whole time. It was good to kill some time before dinner, especially with Mike having worship practice after work yesterday. I was absolutely exhausted by the time Mike got home at 8:30. We still managed to have at least ten minutes of conversation and then watched a little TV before I went to bed.

Grrr...

I've found that lack of sleep coupled with a cranky toddler a happy mommy do not make. Aubrey has been trying my patience the last few days. Her latest antics occurred while we were on a walk today. Ainsley was in the sling and Aubrey and I were walking around the block. She decided we lived in a neighbors house and kept trying to go to their front door. They have the same model and it is similar in color, but she KNEW it wasn't our house. I finally had to convince her that we should run around the corner. Yes, I ran with Ainsley in the sling. Then we got to a house with a beautiful flower garden. Aubrey touched each flower while yelling "no." My response, "those aren't no's they are flowers silly!" The next house happened to be a woman with young children and she had her front door open while she was getting something from her porch. Yup, Aubrey ran into her house and headed straight up her stairs. Luckily, I know this neighbor, but still. Aubrey did not want to leave her house and I had to carry her the rest of the way home (4 houses). Remember, Ainsley was in the sling. I asked Aubrey several times if she was ready to walk, she assured me she wasn't and just squeezed her legs tighter around me just in case I tried to put her down again. So there you have it. I tried to do something fun for Aubrey and it was just a huge headache for me. We then shared an otter pop upon our return home. I know she didn't deserve an otter pop, but we are all still adjusting to our new family status and a yummy treat with mommy may have been the highlight of her day. I am now enjoying some kid free time and hoping to laugh at all the craziness as my day continues...

Happy Tuesday

Aubrey and I took some time together today. We went to lunch and ran a few errands. It was nice to have some time together just the two of us. I did realize that a stroller is essential in clothing stores. I guess it is payback for me hiding from my mom in the clothing racks at Mervyn's as a kid, because Aubrey let go of my hand and was gone in a flash. Luckily it was a small store and her footsteps gave her away, but sheesh, I am glad I only had one kid with me. Now I am back to two, and Mike is taking some time to himself right now. Hopefully the weather will keep up and we can have some family time together later this afternoon.

Could they be any cuter?

My goal is to take as many pictures like this as I can. That way in five...ten...fifteen years, when my memory is foggy, I will only remember these moments from when my girls were young. Hopefully I can let the image of Aubrey sitting on top of the coffee table while I am nursing fade away. Or maybe the image of her pushing all the buttons on the electronics... or going upstairs and throwing toys back down from the second floor... or Aubrey flushing the toilet over and over again for ten minutes... or getting into the buffet and bringing out my glass candle holders. I think you get the picture. Basically thirty minutes of every few hours is an emotional ride for me. But this morning when we finished breakfast and Aubrey jumped up on the couch and reached for her sister with total adoration in her eyes my heart just melted for my munch/monster. Then to see Ainsley staring at Aubrey with those wide open eyes and Aubrey looking down at her with such joy, well it makes those thirty minute segments well worth it!!!

3pm

Angelic Ainsley started a new behavior at 3pm. For some reason she decided the only place worth being, awake or asleep, was my arms. This is peculiar as she has been very content elsewhere for the last two weeks. I fed her 4 times in 5 hours (which totally goes against my parenting style, especially since it was comfort feedings and not due to hunger) and tried to lay her down three times, each time gave me about five minutes of freedom. The swing was a failed attempt three times as well. And that vibrating seat... no dice. So I finally was able to get her in bed about ten minutes ago and went to the bathroom for the first time too. Mike just got home so we can chat for a few minutes before we hop into bed together... to go to sleep. So there you go Michelle, hopefully that will scare you off from producing that third child for a while. It worked for me!!! Hopefully 9pm is the end of this behavior too. Aubrey was very patient with us, but I think it will get old if this is a daily routine.

If it was December...

This would be our Christmas card! Again, Aubrey LOVES her sister. This morning she was an A+ mommy. She was watching TV, eating a snack, and making the vibrating seat bounce to keep her sis happy! It was so cute. Once Ainsley stopped crying Aubrey jumped up on the couch to finish her show. We also made it in to the bank to visit Mike. He has worship practice tonight so it was his only opportunity to see his family and show off his latest accomplishment. We were there for about twenty minutes. That's about all I can handle right now. It gave several coworkers the baby bug... so in nine months they may have a few people on leave :) It was nice to get out for a little while. Hopefully I'll master the stroller soon and be off to the park.

Somewhere over the rainbow...

Today is Mike's first official day back at work. He must be working hard too, because I haven't heard from him! Today marks my first full day as official caregiver too. Yikes. It sure started off with a bang. Ainsley did well last night and was probably going to sleep until 7:30 or 8:00 this morning. Aubrey on the other hand decided to start her day at 6am AND ONLY WANTED DADDY. Meanwhile Mike's alarm goes off upstairs and wakes up Ainsley... you can see where this is headed! Ainsley did go back to sleep, but it was a morning to remember. Aubrey has also been utilizing the "Mommy cannot stop me when she is nursing" card and that is already old. After both girls are asleep tonight I may need to move a few things around to minimize the damage that may occur. I am just thankful that Ainsley seems to have a mild disposition and allows me to haul her around and move her from place to place with little complaint. I'm going to have a snack now and either take a nap or a shower. I haven't decided!

11 days young

Saturday marked our first family outing. We decided to leave some space between the girls until we are sure Aubrey won't try to bash Ainsley's head in :) Aubrey is enjoying being able to put her feet up on the back of the passenger seat. Ainsley just goes to sleep. I hope she is a better car traveler than Aubrey!

Today was Ainsley's second well check up. She is back to her original height and has regained all the weight she had lost by the fourth day and then some. She is 7 pounds 11.5 ounces. The doctor was surprised I was still nursing after the spitting up blood episode and all of the pain I was in. I assured her it was tempting to quit, but just a little trial we all had to endure. Now that we are pretty much on the other side, it is worth sticking with, even though it occupies about five hours of my day. Today is my last day with Mikey. I think it is the first day either of us have missed him working for B of A! Their paternity leave rocked!