Recently...

I've been wanting to post for a while now to get caught up on life, but then I get sucked into meal planning or tv or the girls. Here are some random tidbits fron our life lately: 

-I got a job! Yup! A part-time gig working for a local clinic helping them set up a new electronic medical records system. So far I really enjoy it :)

-I also enjoy the balance that being a part timer allows me with my family. Being a mommy is the best! 

-Liza has started eating solid foods! Right now just oatmeal but soon we will introduce green veggies. Yummmm! 

-Liza has had more awake periods and loves to play on the floor or in her exersaucer! 

-Charley has some "good/bad" days in this world of toddlerdom... Lately we've been getting a ton of "NO" and "I want it ________"<---insert noun such as hat or Memaw or Cheetos! Yaaaaa, lots of spankings going on...

-On the flip side, her vocabulary is getting more impressive each day! Today we watched Frozen and she told me "wear wear purple dress like Elsa". Then she did this...

Bahaha! 

-I really want a vacation. A mom and dad vacay to the beach or something. {can we make this happen!}

-Super bummed about going to get to go to Austin to surprise the baby sister for her bday only to find out she had other plans. Booo! 

-I've been on a super duper sweet tea kick lately. It's all I want. All the time. Mmmm :)

-

These three crack me up and keep me on my toes! 

Firsts!

Baby Liza has been creeping up on milestones much faster than this mommy can anticipate :) 

So far she is doing so well at almost five months. 

-She can hold her head up for long periods of time. When she gets tired though, like when in her Bumbo chair, she slouches to one side! 

-She can roll to her tummy from her side. Allllmost from her back. 

-She reaches for objects. Mostly to put in her mouth :)

-She loves to play with her feet :)

-She "talks" all the time. Sweet coo's and screams and hums. 

-She has more awake periods of the day and on a good day (when sister isn't being a crazy loud toddler) she takes a good three hour nap during the middle of the day or early afternoon! 

-She's had her first round of antibiotics for an ear infection :( For the record, Liza does not enjoy medicine. 

-Still not sleeping in her crib like I would like her to be, but all in due time :)

-She eats oatmeal cereal at night! Tonight was the first night she actually ate it without thrusting it out and crying for the boob! Haha! 

-Tonight she also got her first sister-inflicted wound :( Charley was helping me feed her cereal when I noticed Liza's face grimace and then begin to cry (nay, scream!). I looked down, and there was Charley, in my lap, biting her sisters finger!!!! Oh my word! 

Charley got a spanking and went running to daddy. One sweet part to this was she did come back about five minutes later and said "I sowwy momma. I sowwy Liza."  I just knew Joseph had made her come apologize but it turns out he didn't! She did it all on her own.  

::sigh::

I feel like time is just flying by all too fast! It's hard to soak it all up and still put into words all the emotions a mother feels on a day to day basis. It's a tough job, but the best one I've ever had the pleasure to have! 

(Also, I think Liza might already be cutting teeth!? Yowza! Charley didn't get teeth until she was ten months old! These girls are so different. But I love different :)

A Good Day!

Some days being a mommy is such hard work. The days when you reaaaaaally just want to sleep in but can hear your toddler through the monitor crying "momma, momma". The days when a shower seems like an eternity away since the only thing I seem to get accomplished is making more messes or cleaning up spit up. The days when I would love to hide in the bathroom and pee solo only to...BANG, BANG, BANG..."moooooommmmmma! Where are you!?" {gee, I'm definitely not in the potty...} 

Days like that happen a lot. It's a hard job being a full-time mommy. I sometimes get legitimately angry and jealous of Jojo because he gets to go to work every day. Most weeks the only place I go all week are a trip to the grocery store (so fun) and to take Char to school two days a week. Some days I would give up my daily dose of caffeine to have just thirty minutes to an hour of alone time. 

But today, today was not like those days. I don't know what it was, but Charley and I had the best day! Sure, we pottied at the same time and I didn't actually shower until four o'clock, but beneath all the chaos and messes, we just had fun being silly! And days like that make all the hard times of being a mommy so so SO worth it! 

Here were the highlights of the day: 

-Breakfast at the tiny table while playing playdough with stamps :)

-Organizing my craft stuff while Charley commented "oooo, booful (beautiful)" and painted at the kitchen table. 

-Making an impromptu trip to Target and asking Char if she wanted to go bye bye. Her response? "Present!?" Haha...then she danced around the house saying "yeehaw, Target!" At Target she was so sweet and got to pick out a small present. She picked a red bouncy ball and held it by her head the whole time! 

-Lunch from Chick-fil-a where Liza decided to have a major meltdown in the drive through line. Charley kept singing to her, "Liza bear, Liza bear..." We sang to her the whole way home ❤️ 

-Making silly Instagram movies!!!! @chessaline

-"Paint fingernails", per the request of a two year old! Who could say no? Besides, OPI makes an instant dry spray that makes that task so much easier! 

-Cooking an easy and delicious dinner (fish tacos and cous cous with premade HEB pico and guacamole!) sans the typical nighttime fit.

-Spending just a short time outside watching Charley and Jojo play while I rocked Liza on the porch swing :)

-Listening to Joseph read a bedtime story to Char and her asking him, "what's that?" a thousand times while she points to the characters. 

Soooo many more cute and sweet moments happened today. I'm so thankful! 

 For the mommies who need a major nap (and shower) and margarita and a friend...I totally understand! Hang in there, these good days are what it's all about. 

Home, Sweet, Home

Charley was discharged on Tuesday night and no sooner than we walked through the door both Joseph and I both had nauseous tummies. 

Char gave us a few smiles, Meemer and Papaw brought Liza home, and we even got to hang out with Uncle J for a tiny bit. While the family went to get dinner, Charley and me stayed behind to bathe and do her bedtime routine. She was so happy to be home! 

Then came the fam, with a very miserable looking daddy. Uh oh...

We got the babies to sleep, then both fell asleep on the couch ourselves. I won't go into too much detail, but let's just say that both me and Joseph got the virus, and when it hit, it hit hard. 

We knew we had to send Liza away. I just couldn't imagine going through the whole hospital mess again with a tiny baby. So Papaw Joe swooped in to save the day, taking Liza and plenty of pumped milk around midnight. 

The next day was pretty darn miserable. Jojo, Char, and me spent the whole day on the couch watching cartoons and movies and staying hydrated. The good news about being big people and getting sick was we were able to take glorious meds to fight the virus, while most of those medicines are too dangerous for kiddos. 

Today we all woke up feeling super refreshed, a bit weak, but overall better! 

And the best part? After lysoling the entire house down and washing most of the things we infected, we got to bring our Liza girl home! 

We seriously couldn't have done it without Meemer & Papaw! Mom went and got us soup and medicine while dad washed our dishes and cleaned our kitchen. Not to mention, they took care of a 3 month old for 3 days in a row! And unlike when she sleeps with mommy, Lizabear decided to wake up and play one night, then wake up every three hours the next night. That alone deserves a million gold medals! 

Charbear is her usual bubbly (and temper tantrum throwing) self. Daddy is craving ice cream and hamburgers (always a good sign after a tummy bug). Mommy is just glad to have the chaos over. (Well, the chaos is still very much there but we can discuss that later!) 

Can our uneventful life go back to being uneventful? 

We are thankful for two happy and healthy girls and the much needed rest we all needed to recover from this dreadful week. Stay healthy, friends! 

Oh, poop!

My seemingly perfect and healthy and happy baby has suddenly taken a very strange turn. I pray that this is nothing more than simple growing pains, and so I plan on harassing her doctors office until I have some clear answers! 

About three weeks ago Liza had the first of two-three sporadical bloody diapers. Now the first time it happened, I had eaten spicy Mexican salsa. Her little tummy is SO sensitive. I seriously can't even eat one chip with mild salsa on it without her hiney breaking out after a poo. The next time it happened, I had eaten hot (ok mild and garlic) wings. Big mistake. This had her grunting and hurting and another bloody diaper. I knew in both of theses instances that my diet had to go super bland and that the diapers were most likely correlated to the spicy food.

Fast forward to Monday morning, when I had been doing my absolute best to lay off any kind of spice, and her early morning feed was welcomed by yet another bloody diaper! As luck would have it, I was also scheduled for jury duty that morning, so I called her pedi office during my break (while pumping in my car!) and had Memaw Val take her to see the doctor. He examined her and didn't see any loose rectal skin but also didn't rule out the possibility of anal fissures. The most likely diagnosis? A milk protien allergy causing mild colitis. So he advised me to start drinking soy milk in lieu of cows milk. 

Wednesday we went in for her two month well check and were again given the soy milk spill, but I was encouraged to go total diary free. No chocolate. No cheese. No nothing that had any diary products listed in the ingredients. They said to give it about a week and hopefully we would see some change. If not, we might have to give her a hypoallergenic formula!*** (!?!?, if you know me, I really love being able to provide the most awesome source of nurishment for my children in the form of my breastmilk so this will be my last resort option). 

This has proven to be challenging, but I know it's totally doable and worth it for the best interest of little Liza's health. I miss chocolate the most, but my sweet valentine bought me jelly beans for valentines day and I learned that Cocoa Puff cereal contains no milk products! 

^^^and some Girl Scout cookies are diary free too!!!! Gotta find me a Girl Scout! 

So here we are Sunday night and Liza has wanted to be held all day. This is totally unlike her. She also never ever cries. For reals, the first time we actually heard her cry for more than a few second was when she got her two month shots. And today she's been uncharacteristically fussy :( That in addition to a total of FIVE bloody diapers in one day has me going out of my mind! 

I did read this article from La Leche League that implicates a possible hindmilk/foremilk imbalance that could cause bleeding and intestinal irritation, so I've implemented the one breast twice in a row method to see if that helps too. 

https://www.llli.org/faq/oversupply.html

Joseph is really encouraging and tells me to just make it through the night and we can call the doctor in the morning. 

::sigh::

In the meantime I'll continue to hold, rock, and cuddle my sweet girl while documenting every poop with a comment and a photo diary :)

 ***just a note on my breastfeeding views. I totally get that some women are not able to breastfeed for medical or social or whatever reasons, and I support their personal decision 100%! For me, our family, and our girls, breastfeeding is an immense source of joy I get! It's the one time in their lives I'll be able to provide for them in this very intimate way, and sharing that bond is immeasurably a treasure! Not to mention, no bottles to clean, no formula to buy, and when you leave the house, you always have the food with you :) Now that being said, if formula is the best option for my little gal and will help her to thrive healthily, I will obviously weigh the pros and cons and decide with the hubby what is best for baby! 

Shameless plug!

I have a dear friend who does photography on the side. Her daytime job is teaching little kidlets at a local private school here in town. She has a great eye for capturing sweet, honest, "non-posey" moments. 

After Baby Liza made her debut I knew I wanted Mindy to take her newborn photos and pictures of the girls together. Here are some of the loveliest images of our girls! 

I have more on our MacBook but for now, these precious three images will just have to do! 

::sigh:::::::gosh, I just love these babies! 

http://mindydrummond.com

Christmastime :)

 Christmas time with a newborn and a busy, rambunctious, overly excited toddler = one extremely exhausted set of parentals! 

This year taught us so much as a family: 

1) never underestimate the power of a spoiling grandparent. Like, seriously! Wow. 

2) it's the best thing to see the excitement on her little face over something so small and random as Minnie Mouse house shoes :) 

3) exclamations such as: "wow, pretty, wear-wear, and woooow" are all good indicators that the child enjoys opening gifts! 

4) two babies are far more fun than one. Especially when the older one loves to snuggle the newbie :)

5) it truly takes a village to raise a child. So thankful for our family that creates our village! 

6) sleep when they sleep. Holidays are exhausting enough, now doubly exhaustive :) 

Christmas was awesome! We enjoyed opening our home on Christmas Eve and spending time with family and friends near and far! We are ever grateful that so many people love on our girls as much as we do! 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Meet Baby Liza!

True to my fashion, I'm going to cluster post :) so I'll start my backtracking session by giving all the glorious deets on the arrival of our sweet baby Liza! 

It was so much like Charley it's kinda scary! We went to the hospital on Tuesday night to be induced, then began pitocin and all that jazz Wednesday morning, December 4th. My biggest worry? Seester Stepho making it on time! Haha! Steph had to work the night prior and left Austin at around 8am after working a 12 hour shift that night! Luckily, one special staff member was working diligently to get Auntie Step Step there for the arrival of her niece and made necessary adjustments in order to do so! 

Fast forward to the wonderful epidural...such a pivotal part of all my child birthing needs! (And to the mommas out there that do this naturally...you go girls! This girl, however, not so much!) This particular epidural was so perfect, that by the time I was 9.5 centimeters, I was able to push open to a ten, feel my contractions enough to know when to push, but not feel pain! Awesome! 

Elizabeth Jo arrived at 2:10 pm weighing a whopping 9 lbs, 1 oz and was 21.5 inches long. Our sweet big baby was greeted by mommy (duh), daddy, grandma Jen, Memaw Val, and Auntie Step Step. Papa Joe was in the waiting room and sister Char was at school. 

It was a magical day, an easy (did you hear that!? Easy!!) delivery, and just the most wonderful way to welcome our newest seester to the family! 
 

 
 
 
 

random...

I have BlogGo on my phone and have a few posts hoarded on there {ahem-BlogGo people, fix your app issues, and start letting me publish my posts from my phone! soooo frustrating!} that are about the arrival of our sweet new baby sister, Liza Jo, Christmas, and other fun times!

In the meantime...

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^^^random? Yes, but that's just how my brain is working these days. So in the spirit of randomness, here are twenty random things I'm experiencing, thinking about, and/or doing at this point in my life.

1. I cannot focus. My brain jumps from one thought to another, never making sense, making those ADD kids I taught in junior high look like rocket scientists. For reals. Right now I'm thinking: cannot is one word-pet peeve deluxe when people write can not... {{{update: according to this website, cannot and can not are interchangeable. whomp, whomp}}}
2. ^This is not from sleep deprivation, believe it or not. Liza is an excellent night sleeper, most nights only waking up one to two times to eat, then giving momma four to SEVEN hours of uninterrupted sleep. Hallelujer! Now lets just get her to sleep in her own crib and not next to momma :)
3. Beer...yummmm
4. I miss my sister. A ton. :(
5. I'm conflicted about dieting. I desperately want to lose weight. However, I'm not desperate enough to jeopardize my milk supply. This plexus pink drink does intrigue me though... 
6. Also conflicted about returning to work. Do I go back to work and regain some of my identity and the consistency of a routine? Or do I stay home and raise my girls? Guilt. Guilt. Guilt. Either way I feel guilt. ahhhh
7. Addicted to coffee. I would drink it all day, every day if the caffeine were good for Liza. Alas, it is not, so I will stick to my one treasured cup a day. 
8. Ok, I lied. Sometimes I drink two treasured cups :)
9. My kids are beautiful. Gorgeous. So stinking, flipping pretty. :)
10. Sometimes when Charley says "momma, momma, momma, momma, momma...." over and over again I wish I had a bank that would spit out money to me for every time she said momma. 
11. I honestly don't think I've slept an entire full night in my own big comfy king size bed since Liza's been home. No harm done, I can sleep anywhere. 
12. I love breastfeeding. 
13. Tiny school is so helpful to Charley. She surprises me daily with things she randomly picks up at school and home. 
14. Other things Char picks up at school? Germs. Yes, thanks for strep throat :(
15. Most amazing baby invention ever? A baby swing similar to this. Moms, dads, grandparents, babysitters...GET one! You'll be happy you did!
16. Potty training must be God's way of punishing me for that one time I told my dad I didn't love him. 
17. I now watch "Dance Moms". ::sigh:: maybe not for the drama (or maybe so), but why, why on earth was I not born a dancer? Those tiny little dancers are ahhhhmazing!
18. I'm becoming more obsessed with my silhouette cameo paper cutter. Don't know what that is? Google it, then buy it on amazon, then prepare to be totally geeked out by the coolest printer on the face of the earth! 
19. Sometimes I want to write very frank, honest, "not-so-happy" blog posts. You know, the stuff people are going through but don't want the whole world to know about. The things we are ashamed of or don't think people would understand. The times a mom wants to just throw the towel in or pull hair out versus the "we just made these ten thousand crafts from pinterest" posts.
20. Not that I cook much, and when I do I use simple, redundant recipes, but lately I've been enjoying the craft of cooking. Shocking. 
21. I spend way too much time on my phone. 

Pregnancy: Charley vs Liza

Warning: This post will be filled with pregnancy related topics and occasional TMI subjects. If that offends you and/or is not your cup of tea, don't read on :)

I'm no shy girl when it comes to telling my story about the birth of Charley Cate. It was tough, recovery was hard, and all the yucko stuff definitely happened to me. Now pregnancy? Piece of cake! I felt great throughout. So I'm going to do a little comparison in hopes of a wonderful delivery!

Charley's Pregnancy:

Right before we went to the hospital to deliver! January 3rd, 2012

• I was substitute teaching my first trimester (the spring semester of 2011) and therefore was able to take it easy and work when I wanted, then rest when I wanted. Much needed for the fatigue that inevitably comes with the first trimester. 
• No morning sickness! (Yay!)
• I had summer of 2011 off. 
• No trouble sleeping :)
• Big time cravings: fruit (pineapple, strawberries, smoothies), salad, WATER, and wonton soup. 
• Weight Gain: total of 37 lbs. (not too shabby)
• Zero stretch marks! (except on my boobs after my milk came in, but those have since faded)
• Mood: I feel like my mood was relatively good. I don't recall crazy mood swings and I wasn't weepy. Maybe somewhat irritable.
• Overall feeling: GREAT. I felt good. I think working helped since I was on my feet all day and socializing daily.

Liza's Pregnancy:

My friend Davina at her bridal shower in October 2013. Barf. I'm huge.

• I was teaching full time at Goddard JH and trying to make it day to day. Most nights I would come home from work, play with Charley for like an hour, get dinner/bath/bedtime routine stuff done, then conk out myself. All by 7 pm. 
• No morning sickness, however, after the above chores were done, I would feel sick most nights during the first trimester. Thankfully, though, I never GOT sick. (Yay!)
• I decided not to go back to work and to take a year off, so summer (and then some...) of 2013 off. 
• Insomnia in the third trimester. (Is it normal to wake up at 4am and want need a bowl of cereal!?)
• Big time cravings: carbs!!!! (bread, tortillas, french fries....), sweet tea, dark chocolate, SWEETS, and cereal.
• Weight Gain: SO FAR...40 lbs...and I still have 2 weeks to go. 
• A stretch mark on my side :( and a few appearing at the very bottom of my belly. I can tell this is a BIG girl already!
• Mood: OMG, get a grip already Brandi! I'm like a complete basket case! I can laugh hysterically one minute then cry the next. Crazy hormones don't even explain it...
• Overall feeling: BLAH. This pregnancy compared to Charbear has been hard. I just don't feel myself, my body aches, new (and not improved things) are happening down there...eek! I've been depressed, my hands swell at night to the point I can no longer wear my wedding ring (I would seriously wake up in the middle of the night with my hands hurting because my rings were so tight!), and I feel like a huge fat girl since every time I get off the couch I huff and puff like I'm 500 pounds. 
• Bonus Con: I'm assuming I had this disorder with Charley too, they just didn't catch it. But with Liza, early on in my pregnancy, my OB sent me to a hematologist to check my platelet count and figure out why they were always so dangerously low. His answer: I have a rare blood disorder called ITP (Idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura). Essentially this just means my body is living off of the platelet count that it creates each day, low for most people, but it's ok for me. I create large or giant platelets in return to compensate, which on most lab work, shows up as a low number. Since the volume of the platelets is what matters (not the actual count), my giant platelets allow me to remain healthy and function properly. The really stinky part to all this?  To get my accurate platelet count I have to have a blood smear, so I've had to get blood work done every two weeks for the first half of my pregnancy, and every three weeks since about week 26. No fun to get stuck all the time...especially when you HATE needles. In hindsight though, this was a good precaution to keep an eye on my levels and make sure that baby Liza remains healthy! 

SO, as you can see, Charbear was a breeze to be pregnant with, although her delivery was rough. I'm hoping that since Liza has been much harder to carry and create, that her delivery will be smooth sailing!!!!!

TWO WEEKS LEFT! Hallelejer!