What we did on Maternity leave (part 2)

I didn't actually lock Marshall in the bathroom for 12 weeks, we did make it outside too. To be honest, at first it seemed a little daunting taking two babies anywhere... especially alone. I wasn't too worried about Miller, infants sleep a lot. But Marshall wasn't (and still isn't) old enough to reliably walk by my side, or wait by the car while I load and unload it. Sometimes he still needs to be carried.

However, for all of our sakes we HAVE to get out of the house daily. The more I wear Marshall out, the more he'll nap or be content to play by himself when we're at home. Plus there is no way I could avoid having to go to the grocery store, bank, and all those other inevitable errands. Whenever I'd think "gah, this is going to be a pain in the butt to bring 2 kids along!" I'd remind myself that people with 3, 4, 5... 19 kids somehow manage thus I didn't really have any reason to complain. So, I decided to just commit and carry on the same way we had done before Miller arrived.

One piece of advice that someone with kids close in age gave me that was VERY helpful is "load the toddler in the car first, and take him out last." Usually I am wearing Miller in a sling, wrap, or Ergo which gives me two free hands to wrangle or carry Marshall if necessary.

We went to the Children's Museum almost daily.

Marshall would have a blast, and Miller did a lot of this:

Other regular trips included the Zoo, and the park.

At 3 weeks I had been planning a road trip to Pasadena to visit Jerad, but his flight coming from Georgia got delayed so it wasn't going to work out. Since I had already cleaned out the car, bought special car snacks and toys I decided we needed to go SOMEWHERE. So, I loaded them both up and made the 3.5 hour each direction trip to Ikea to pick up new bedding for the king sized bed Jerad made us.

The Ikea trip went really well. Marshall was over it by the time we got home, but was super chill for all of the driving and actual shopping.

Around 4 or 5 weeks my best friend Tina came to visit from New York and stayed with us for about a week. Which was really awesome because I somehow threw out my back while she was here and was in So Much Pain I could barely lift up Miller, and couldn't pick up Marshall at all. The tiniest movements were absolutely excruciating. It took me 20 minutes to get from the bed to the bathroom and that was WITH Jerad helping me.

As luck would have it, Jerad had to go out of town a few days after it happened. If Tina hadn't been there, I'm really not sure how I'd have managed! After she went home I finally made it to the chiropractor (not the most relaxing with 2 small children in tow:) and my sister's mother in law came over a few nights to play with Marshall. She played with him while I took a nap AND she vacuumed and picked up all the toys. It was heavenly.

While I was finishing recovering, Marshall spent a lot of time playing with the sensory table Jerad built. During the summer we had it outside and used it like a water table, then we brought it inside and I filled it with pinto beans and spoons and scoops.

He had a lot of fun working on his transfer skills (which also translated to him being a waaaaay less messy eater):

And putting tractors and trucks in it and pretending the beans were dirt:

After about 2 months Jerad and I came to the realization that it was ridiculous that I was spending my leave at home alone. I should be going *with* him on his out of town trips. So, we packed up and headed to Pasadena!

I posted a cry for help on facebook asking what the heck we should DO while Jerad was working, and a childhood friend responded that she lived in the area and we should come over for a playdate and let me know about an amazing Children's Museum in the area.

You guys... it was amazing! Its a 3.5 acre indoor/outdoor museum, and part of the affiliate program our local museum is in which meant we could get in free. It was about a 10 minute drive and I took the kids every day:

The first time I dressed Marshall up all cute not realizing that he was going to get soaked. After that I put him in a bathing suit:)

He got to run and climb and splash and play, and wear himself out and Miller once again would do a lot of this:

One day it was raining so I had to find ways to keep us entertained in the hotel room. We made forts:

And finger-painted and played in the bathtub:

And may or may not have made a trip to Ikea:) I had to take advantage of it being so close!

I had been a little leery of the logistics of spending over a week in a hotel room with two babies, but it went really well! It was SO NICE having a maid that came and cleaned everything while we were out, and not having any dogs to take care of or any other obligations. When Marshall napped there was nothing that I needed to be *doing* so I would just lay in bed with Miller and watch TV. It felt like a little vacation!

Our room had a mini kitchen with a fridge so I was able to go to Trader Joes and Whole Foods and get groceries so that I could make Marshall meals and snacks without having to go out each time. I had also been worried about the sleeping arrangements because at home Marshall sleeps in a toddler bed and usually plays for about 30 minutes in his room before he gets in bed and decides to go to sleep. He also will NOT nap/sleep anywhere besides his bed, and is a SUPER light sleeper, so I wasn't sure what was going to happen.

We had a suite so Miller slept in the bed with us, and we brought a playpen and set it up in the living room and would turn on the TV to Animal Planet with a 30 min timer (again don't judge:) when it was time for Marsh to go to bed and he'd play in there then pass out. After he fell asleep I'd go collect all the toys and books out of his "pen" and he'd sleep all night! During the day I'd wear him out so much at the Children's Museum that naps were no problem either.

The job Jerad was working on involved ripping out a parking lot, repaving it, building parking structures, then adding solar to the roofs. On the parking lot demo day I drove over to the job site because I thought Marshall would like to watch the tractors.

Yeah, he was in love:

Just when I thought he couldn't get any more excited, Jerad let him sit in the tractor and then ride in his lap. Marshall rode in the tractor for an hour and probably would have happily stayed there all day:)

On Jerad's day off we took a family trip to the Children's Museum:

Its hard to tell in the next pic, but that's a 3 story tall climbing structure and Marshall and Jerad are inside. They made it all the way to the top!

Jerad's brother Joey was working with him too and tagged along. I think him and Jerad liked the museum as much as Marshall did:)

After that we went to the LA Live Steamer's Railroad and road the mini train:

And then the Griffith Park Train Museum where we checked out the trains and rode a bigger one:

We had so much fun! We were there for about 11 days before we came home. By the end I knew how to find everything that I need to survive (Trader Joes, Whole Foods, Target, Ikea, and the Children's Museum:). We came home home and were planning to go back in 2 days but I ended up getting a terrible case of Mastitis which changed our plans a little bit...

What we did on Maternity leave (part 1)

I took 12 weeks off for my maternity leave. I spent a lot of that time alone with the kids while Jerad was working in Pasadena, San Diego, and Georgia. Here are some of the things we did!

Newborns nurse All Day Long. Between feeding sessions its just lots of diaper changes, and lots of sleeping. With 2 babies in cloth diapers, one of whom spit up ALL THE TIME, and one who is a dirt magnet, I had a LOT of laundry to fold up and put away. I was still recovering from the birth and wanted to be able to take it easy.  Well, that's much easier said than done with a toddler:)

Marshall is so sweet and so smart, and for the most part a really easy kid. But when Miller was born he was only a year and a half. AKA not old enough to reliably follow directions or always entertain himself. I didn't want Marshall to feel like life started sucking once Miller came along, so I came up with a lot of creative ways to basically pin him up without him realizing it.

Our bathroom is big and opens right up to the bedroom. There is enough floor space for me to bring in a rocking chair and sit with the baby, fold laundry on the floor, or I can sit in our room and still see/hear him.

Needless to say, he spent a lot of time in the bathroom those first few weeks.

He loves water and pouring activities so I put him in the bathtub with different sized cups and bowls and would turn the faucet on super low. He'd practice pouring and transferring water, and if he spilled it there was no mess to mop up because he was already in the tub!

 

I would also sometimes feed him in the tub or shower. Don't judge me. I blended fruit and froze it into "popsicles" which he had never had before:

He loved eating with a spoon, but wasn't always that accurate and would eventually revert to his fingers so yogurt was another good shower food. We talked a lot about having a picnic in the shower and he thought that was pretty special:

Finger painting quickly became another favorite:

I would just make little piles of washable fingerpaint on the shower floor and he'd go to town:

After he was done, I'd turn on the shower which he also loves:

He liked watching the paint dissolve and I'd give him a washcloth and sponge to help clean it up.

Between painting, showering, then cleaning he would easily stay occupied for an hour.

We also did a slightly different version by mixing the finger paint into shaving cream and painting it onto the shower with a brush:

He also loved "driving" Jerad's truck, so we'd walk outside and I'd shut him in the cab and let him push and pull all of the levers and switches. I'd also let the dogs out and have them load up in the bed of the truck because for some reason they get all excited about it, and Marshall likes "driving" them around. I would sit in the passenger seat and nurse the baby and catch up on emails on my phone.

This could also easily last 45 minutes.

 

We hadn't been using the highchair tray for awhile, usually we just push it up to the table, but I put it back on and gave him lots of crafty stuff to do while I was in the kitchen. I'd tape paper down and let him paint with brushes, sponges, or his fingers:

Or I'd give him playdough and things like forks and cookie cutters to stick in it:

Since the playdough was such a huge hit, we made homemade dough which was even softer and didn't have all the skeevy chemicals and dyes in it:

Those are a few of the ways I managed to preserve my sanity, have 2 free hands for the baby, and contain Marshall in one spot while making sure he was having fun at the same time.

Mommy fail

Last weekend besides having a little St. Patrick's party, we did some spring planting, spruced up our front flower bed, and almost choked the baby to death.

Let me rewind.

Marshall has this weather-vane thing he plays with. He likes spinning it, blowing on it, and taking it apart and putting it back together. The "vane" (is that what its called?) fits over a small ball bearing.  Sunday he was playing with it and took the ball bearing off and was pretending to eat it. I told him "no mouth," and he put it back on and was leaving it alone. He doesn't put things IN his mouth anymore, so I wasn't really worried about it.

Later in the day I was sitting on the couch sending an email, Miller was on the floor under his gym thing, and Marshall was playing with toys. I heard him say "mouth" and looked up to see Miller choking. Like making that gagging face but not making any actual breathing or gagging sounds. I picked him up and patted his back and he seemed to be fine but I "knew" that Marshall had fed him the stupid ball bearing (I felt like such an idiot for not taking it away!).

I wasn't *positive* cause I hadn't seen him do it, and I know infants aren't good at swallowing solid things because they have that tounge thrust reflex... but I thought if his mouth was open Marshall could have pretty much dropped it straight down his throat. Jerad and I looked all around and couldn't find the stupid bearing.

Of course it was Sunday so we couldn't just call the doctor. So I did my normal "google Dr Sears"  protocol to see what you're supposed to do and things to watch out for. Apparently if the baby is drooling excessively the object could be stuck in the esophagus... well, he's a baby and is constantly drooling so that wasn't much help. If the breathing is rattle-y that could be another sign... well he caught Marshall's cold and is congested so we weren't sure about that either. While we were trying to decide if we should go to the ER for an x-ray or if we could wait until Monday and see the reg Dr.,  he fell asleep. 10 minutes later he puked up a TON of milk, mucous, and you guessed it, the ball bearing.

So everything was fine it was just stressful and I felt like it was my fault.

The End

I need to delete this app...

But its too freakin' funny.

St Patrick's Day

St. Patrick's day is kind of a big deal around our house. Its the one time a year that I actually cook meat:) Its just the Trader Joe's pre-seasoned corned beef, but it manages to impress Jerad so I continue to go with it.

On the actual St. Patricks Day we were all a little under the weather, so we decided to have a 'Fake Patrick's Day' party the following weekend. We invited a few friends over, and had corned beef, cabbage, and green ice cream. Perfect.

I'm trying to do one craft a week, so the mantle was this week's craft. I'm pretty stoked with how it came out considering I managed to do everything (including painting it white!) all during a nap time.

Here are my cute little leprachauns:

And just cause it's so adorable, here's Marshall last year. He was 10 months old:

I can't believe that was only a year ago, he looks like such a baby!

Hi Blog

I didn't mean to just abandon you. I really need to stop being so flaky... especially since I use this as my "baby book." Maybe tomorrow I'll get around to writing an actual post with pictures:) Right now I'm sitting on the bathroom floor while Miller sleeps and Marshall is taking a bath/swim/splash fest.

On a completely random note, we have a housekeeper now. She comes once every two weeks. Its pretty much the highlight of my week those weeks. It is SO AMAZING to come home from work to a sparkling house. I'm kind of a clean freak. Which is hard to maintain with 2 kids under 2, a husband that works week days out of town, and a 2400 sq ft house. Why did we think 3 bathrooms was a good idea again? I *never* have the time to clean the entire house, top to bottom, all at once. I do a bathroom here, floor there, so it just feels like I'm eternally cleaning and never finished. Anyways, enter the housekeeper!

On the 2-3 days a week he is here we always cram in a family-fun outing (like the beach, Avila Valley Barn, picnic, etc), some couples time after the kids go to bed (dinner/movie out, redbox and wine at home), a project around the house, alone time for each of us (usually a craft, nap, or book for me and guitar or messing with the garage for him) then hopefully visit some family or friends. Plus all the regular chores like lawn mowing, weeding, dog walking, and making meals. Its hard to also scrub floors and vacuum blinds and baseboards.

We're in this new (to us) strange situation of having more money than time so it just made sense to pay someone to do the deep cleaning stuff so that we'd have more family time together. It was actually Jerad's idea. If it were up to him we'd have someone to do the laundry, shopping, lawn mowing, and every other chore we have. I have a hard time paying people to do things I can do myself so it took a lot of convincing to get me on the housekeeper bandwagon but now I'm kicking myself that we haven't been doing this for the last year.

Ok, there's my random rambling for the evening.

Such a dork

Jerad is out of town this week. Last night we were text messaging and I sent him this message and pics:

"since you are gone we are having a mad par-tay."

"Oh no, the police just came to break it up!!!"

Bwahahahaha I seriously crack myself up. Or maybe its just the sleep deprivation...