Lately {in photos}

1. Connor "driving"

2. Connor helping with the yard

3. Cuddle time

4. Fun at the park

5. Go Giants!

6. Isla getting some fiber

7. Connor slept on the floor!

8. Saying goodbye to a local hero

9. Loving the new backyard swing

10. Enjoying a little snack

11. Bathing in sissy's bath

12. Checking out a train from inside a train

The Silver Lining

We drove down to LA to paint our house in between tenants. We thought it would be a simple job. Take a full day and then we would be done. We had no idea what would greet us when we arrived. The smell when we opened the front door. The look of the carpets. Poop splattered on walls. Urine sitting on the kitchen floor. The place was a mess. I felt like I needed a hazmat suit on just to go in there. After the initial shock, we started to work. My week of plans went out the window. I will now be dealing with this mess. Through it all, I can't help but think, at least I am blessed enough to have an incredible man at my side to help with it all and heck, we were blessed enough to buy a place at the height of the market (and that is the reason we still have it as a rental!).  And that is not even the silver lining.

The silver lining is the fact that after a hard day's work and our kiddos were in bed, Ian and I got to slip out for a late night dinner while my parents sat at home with our sleeping kids. That's the life!

Super Mom Failure

Once I realized how economical it was to make baby food rather than buy it, I started making all Connor's baby food. And as weird as it sounds, I had fun doing it. I made up my own recipes and enjoyed doing it. The one thing I never made for him though was baby cereal. When I realized how easy it is to make, I just knew I wanted to try it with Isla.

Now that Isla is six months old, I was all excited to let her try some food. I pulled out our blender the other day to make her some rice cereal. In the middle of blending up the rice, I decided to go all Jamba Juice on the blender and shake it. In the process of shaking it, I managed to pull the pitcher off the teeth that spin the blender. And in doing so, I managed to break all the teeth off it. Talk about an epic failure.

So, until I get a new part for my blender, Isla will have to deal with store bough rice cereal. I hope she doesn't grow a third eye or something...I kid. Anyway, here is Isla getting her first taste at some real food.

She is obsessed with holding the spoon herself and putting it in her mouth. Such a smart baby. She knows how to feed herself! Ha, ha! She also forces all the food out of her mouth with her tongue. I don't think it has anything to do with if she likes it or not, but just that she doesn't know how to eat. So weird to think that you have to learn to eat. At least she looks cute while learning!

The Tipping Point

I like having a clean car. Not necessarily on the outside, though it does slightly matter, but I appreciate a clean interior. Back before Isla was around, Connor and I used to take weekly trips to the car wash. I would vacuum and wipe down the inside, then get the outside washed. Heck, I was freaking out about needing a clean car for Isla to come home in...a little secret here, I asked Ian to go thru the car wash while I was in labor. On the way there, I decided I was in too much pain, so we went home and I got in the bathtub instead. Anyway, since my car didn't get washed before Isla's birth, I made Ian do it before I got out of the hospital. A little obsessed. I told you.

Anyway, the tipping point for having a clean car seems to be two kids. No longer does my car look like this:

Sure there are stains on the carpet in the picture (and in real life), but I would take seeing those stains any day over seeing what I normally do when I go to pull my kids out of the car. Here's what normally greets me:

How does this happen, you may be asking yourself. Well, Connor generally always brings a toy or two or three with us where ever we go. And by the time we get back home, it is just too much for him to take those toys back in the house! Then there is the diaper bag...and that is just one bag, if I am lucky. Throw in some random baby blankets, spit up towels, clean diapers and a couple trips to Starbucks and voila, a trashed car.

You would think I could clean it out every time I get home. Sounds simple enough. Except for the fact, I am usually trying to keep my toddler from running away, while bringing in a baby and my Starbucks of course. By the time I get in the house, I am making lunch, changing diapers, feeding baby, putting kids down for naps...I forget about the car sitting in my driveway, trashed.

And that, my dear friends, is how you go from clean to trashed. My tipping point seemed to be two kids.

Isla {6 Months}

Weight: 17lbs, 3oz

Length: 26.75 inches

Accomplishments:

Sits up unaided...until she notices and falls over!

Grabs & picks up anything and everything

Half a year! My baby is well on her way to not being a baby anymore.

Isla is in the "stick everything in sight in her mouth" phase. Because of this, I try to do a good job of having toys around at all times for her. Toys and burp cloths...she seems to love sucking on rags. Whatever makes her happy! A few days ago, I gave her a frozen celery stick to suck on...I did the same thing with Connor when he was a baby. She was all excited to grab it and stick it in her mouth. Then she got a horrible look on her face, pulled it out and looked at it, then stuck it right back in. I'm guessing it was the cold that caught her off guard. The next time I gave her one, she again went to town on it, so I guess that means she likes it.

Isla really prefers to be sitting up rather than lying down. She lets me know this by crying. Since she doesn't sit up for very long without toppling over, that means she spends a lot of time in my lap, in the corner of the couch, in her walker...mostly in my lap though. I am a sucker, I know. 

At her check up, Isla's pediatrician said she had enough fat stores to sleep through the night. And she said it as she poked one of Isla's rolls. I kid you not. It was funny. But then she said, I need to do whatever I am comfortable with in terms of Isla sleeping. She is still getting up numerous times a night and each time I feed her back to sleep. A bad habit, I know. But I have been telling myself, we will sleep train her once Ian's busy season is over...which is in just a few short days. You see, I think I need Ian to go into her at night when she cries so she realizes she can't eat. I think that will help a lot. Hopefully. Notice this is all based on my thoughts and assumptions. And raising babies, it is never as easy as one thinks. But a mom can hope, right?

Isla seems to be going through a bit of a stranger-danger phase. Whenever someone new comes up and talks to her, she looks at me before smiling at them. It's almost as if she is asking, "Are they ok mom?" And she doesn't like people she doesn't know holding her for long. Usually if she is crying when someone else is holding her, she stops as soon as I take her. Last weekend, I decided to put her in the nursery at church for the first time. Just like with Connor, I was sick to my stomach when dropping her off. I couldn't focus in church because I was so nervous. I kid you not. I am so freaking pathetic. Anyway, I was paged before worship was even over. As soon as I took her, she stopped crying. So I hung out in the nursery for a bit with her, holding her and rocking her. Then I put her in a toy and she still seemed fine, so I left. In the middle of church, you could hear a baby crying. Ian told me it sounded like Isla and I said I thought the same thing, but that they hadn't paged me. So, Ian went to check. Then I got a text from him saying that he had Isla, so I went and found them. Apparently the nursery tried to page me, but the pager wasn't working. And of course Isla was fine once in Ian's arms. To make a long story even longer, I think I am going to wait a little while before trying the nursery again...for my own sake!

Bath Time Fun

My friend Mallory recently talked about an idea she found on Pinterest to put glow sticks in the bathtub. Since I had bought some for Connor for his Easter basket, I thought it was the perfect way to use them.

Last night I filled up the tub and threw in the glow sticks, while making Connor wait outside the bathroom. I told him I had a treat for him in the bath. He was pretty excited. He ran and jumped in the bathtub and immediately began collecting his "treat".

Over the course of the bath, I kept taking the glow sticks and spreading them out in the tub and Connor would quickly collect them while repeating over and over "my treat".  He even had to get every single one of them out of the bath before he would get out. One of them was stuck behind Isla's bath chair and he about had a cow until we got it for him. It was pretty cute.

And I would say, given that you can get a pack of glow sticks at the dollar store, this is the perfect treat to do with your kid every once in a while.  I definitely think we will be doing it again.

P.S. I would like to say that I am proud of myself for actually doing something from Pinterest. I have been refusing to join, but recently did. It is full of great ideas. But unless I never do them, that is all they are, great ideas. So here is me, trying to put some of those great ideas into action.

Weird Week

So this picture has nothing to do with my post. Who cares? The kid is cute and I thought it would liven things up a bit!

It's just been a weird week around here. Lots to process and work through for a week that I thought was going to be rather mundane.

Our neighbor's work trailer was stolen and along with it all of his tools. He was a handyman, so someone stole his livelihood. That man works hard too. Nights, weekends, all the time. I felt such sorrow for him as I stood there in the street and he told me what happened. Ian and I decided to give him a gift card to Home Depot to sort of help out. When Ian took it over, the guy said no one had ever done anything like that for him before. I was speechless...I've had many random acts of kindness bestowed upon me by relative strangers. It made me glad we did it.

Yesterday a sheriff in our city was shot and killed, so I spent the day hearing and watching that unfold...it was a standoff situation that ended in the building getting torched. Just so surreal to watch something like that happen a mere mile or so from your house.

Connor switched to his big boy bed and is doing well. This morning he managed to pull his curtains down...and the curtain rod remained intact on the wall. So, yea for that!

Isla had her 6 month check up today and I got in an argument with the nurse at the doctor's office. It was stupid. She said they were busy so I would need to take Isla to the clinic to get her shots and I said that I didn't have time. She stressed the importance of Isla getting her shots TODAY (as if she would die if it did not happen today) and I said I wasn't going to sit in a clinic with 2 kids by myself for an hour and a half to get shots done when I was supposed to get them done at the doctor's office. Anyway, my doctor (who is totally awesome) came in and said she totally understood and got them done for Isla right then and there.

And then it freaking hailed here today...in the middle of April!!! I told you its been a weird week.