Peanut and Poppy

I have recently realized that I sound like a broken record. “I’ve been so busy,” “Life is chaotic,” “It’s crazy right now,” and so on. I’ve been saying this since … well, Aubri was born! Apparently these are adjectives that are expected to define the life of a family with young children. Therefore, I have accepted “wild,” “hectic”, “dizzying” and “delirious” as my new normal.

So, having said that, I have not had time to keep this blog updated as I would like. I am all about some Facebook, however, because of it’s microblogging format. It’s easy to jot a sentence down mid-PB&J clean-up, simple to upload a photo with a baby climbing on my head, and speedy to write down memorable moments between removing golf balls and glitter pens from my baby’s mouth. In my spare time, I dream of a way to funnel my Facebook to my blog. So all of my thoughts are in one place and those of you weirdos boycotting Facebook can still keep up with my nutty family.

OK, I digress. Minutes remaining in naptime are quickly dwindling.

Here’s what’s been happening in the Bradystead since May-ish:

Sickness strikes Nugget Sr.: Taylor aquired a nasty case of strep throat followed by what was diagnosed as a recurring sinus infection, which has yet to resolve. She is now on allergy spray to keep her constant snorting at bay.

Nugget Jr. lost her dentures during her attempt to crawl. They have yet to be found. Still toothless.

Aubri has started eating solid foods, one of the first was Papa Johns pizza. And another first, avocado. As with most foods that she tries, it was a love-hate relationship.

Taylor had Dress Like Your Favorite Insect Day at school. She went with a Memorial Day themed butterfly in case you couldn’t decipher my 30 second face painting job.

The girls started bathing together. We quickly transitioned to a Bumbo-in-the-bath strategy after Aubri took a face plant moments after this picture was taken, attempting to swim at the early age of 9 months.

The girls have really started connecting, which is really sweet.

Awww, sisterly sweetness.

However, sometimes (OK, many times) are sweeter than others.

Taylor had a photo shoot with a fabulous local photographer. Here’s one of my favorites, you can see a few more here.

We’ve been spending a lot of time at the pool, which is no surprise. Aubri had one experience that she hopes does not happen again. She spotted another baby doing the unthinkable …
“No she DEH-EEENT wear my same tankini. Makes me SO MAD!”

Jimmy won a kayak, which has been thoroughly enjoyed by both daddy and daughter.

Taylor did NOT win the Great Christian Character award at pre-school graduation. Her sucker punching a classmate on stage in front of hundreds of parents had nothing to do with it …

Cayman had surgery to remove what we thought were cancerous masses. Tests came back clear and all is well. His surgery door prize was a large cone, which we thought was more appropriate for Taylor.

Taylor and Aubri have been joining me at Stroller Strides several times a week. It’s a kick-butt workout for me. And of course I’m taking advantage of wearing Taylor out, as well.

Aubri discovered the dogs. She loves them.

A 14-year old diva inhabited my 4-year old’s body one morning and has yet to depart. Here are a few examples of her new “tude.”

::driving down the road::
Tay: “Look, Chuckie Cheese!”
Me: “Yep.”
Tay: “Why do you always say ‘yep’?”
Me: “What should I say?”
Tay: “Well, I prefer you say nothing at all.”

Me: “Taylor, PLEASE go change your clothes.”
Tay: “Relax, Mommy!”
Me, with unhappy stare: “Taylooooorrrr.”
Tay: “Listen, let’s just not talk about it. It’s not useful.”

After an attitude-filled morning Jimmy says to Taylor: “This is what’s going to happen. You are going to stop the sass and the rude attitude and the interrupting and you are going to start acting right, RIGHT NOW.”

Taylor, stares at him with a blank, unfazed face and says, “I want you to say all that in Spanish.”

::sigh::

Aubri enjoyed her first doughnut on Father’s Day.

And Taylor reminded me over and over again that she and sugar do. not. mix.

We’ve spent the early summer months outside. Like at the Splash Pad with friends.

And at the park where Aubri had her first swinging experience. Look at that fro flying in the wind.

We learned that Aubri is no different than most adults. Mexican food goes right through her. Like immediately. After just a few bites of refried beans, she started “working them out” right there at the table.

We also learned that Aubri has inherited the couponing gene from her mama. She’s one serious shopper.

My sweet mom came into town to help me out while Jimmy was away at a work conference.

We did a few impromptu photo shoots.

Wait!

She ate a pine needle.

Aubri scared the snot out of us by going on a hunger strike. She basically stopped eating for a week. My milk had dried up (due to stress, we think) and she refused to eat anything that was not “mommy.”

See, her lips were sealed.

So we were forced to create a feeding tube of sorts. We were able to sneak milk and formula in through her paci. Enough to keep her hydrated and out of the hospital.

The whole dilemma, which lasted a little more than a week, landed us in the doctor’s office almost every day. The aforementioned diva tagged along.

Thank God, though, my milk came back. After several days of weight loss, non-stop doctor’s appointments, discussions with NICU and lactation nurses, gadgets to feed her and get my milk back, we cleared the hurdle and all resolved itself. Now, she’s back to a fat and happy nugget.

Aubri’s issues have resolved. But diva’s “issues” are still in effect. Noise-canceling headphones during breakfast — it’s her way to NOT hear mommy and daddy.

Girls will be girls, though, and I love ’em. I am relying on Aubri to put Taylor in her place. Just this morning, she straddled her, yanked her hair and used it as a handle to stand. ‘Atta girl.

As you can see, Aubri is mobile. She started “rocking” at the end of June.

And just a few weeks later, in mid-July, she started crawling. Slowly, but surely.

We went on vacation to Kure Beach with Jimmy’s family and initiated what we hope will become an annual tradition. That’s a whole ‘nother post though, which is coming soon. Or so I plan.

So, my days now consist of Stroller Striding as much as possible, working during naptimes and after bedtimes, cleaning the floors and picking up small objects for our cute crawler, attempting to exorcise the 14-year old from my 4-year old, and, between all of this, watching these two tiny miracles play.

It’s a crazy busy life, but it’s a crazy blessed life.

Whoops. Has it really been six weeks since I last updated this thing? Goodness gracious.

OK, this blog was created to journal our lives, to act as a virtual scrapbook. Because Lord knows I don’t own — or have any intention of owning — scalloped scissors, bubbly borders or polka dot pages. So blog it is. Only problem with this is … it takes time. Time. What’s that, you ask? I dunno either.

Life is caa-razy busy right now. Two little nuggets running around, one rolling her eyes and the other rolling off beds. A part-time-ish work-from-home job. Bills to negotiate. A house to clean. Coupons to clip. Play dates to plan and doctor’s appointments to attend. I haven’t even had time to watch my beloved Real Housewives; I’m a whole stinkin’ season behind on both New York and Orange County, if that tells you how absolutely hectic life is at the moment.

Now, these are not complaints in any shape or form. I am so blessed. So so stinkin’ blessed. I have two healthy little girls that we (and you) prayed over for a very long time; one that continues to illustrate an ever-evolving side-splitting sense of humor and another that squeals like a banshee and flashes smiles that don’t even compete with the stars. I have a job. That, in itself, is a huge blessing in an economy like this. But, it gets better. I work for myself. From my home. And the people that I work for, and that I work with? They’re downright awesome. I love what I do, I love the people that surround me in my work, and I love that I get to do it from the comfort of my snugly slippers and poofy ponytail in between diaper changes and chicken nugget clean-up. I have an awesome husband that loves his family to pieces and absolutely busts his tail to provide for us so that we can afford said house and said doctor’s appointments; not to mention the occasional Andy’s cheeseburger and extra-chocolatey malt.

God is so good y’all. I couldn’t have ever even dreamed that I’d have a life like this. I am overwhelmed with that feeling every morning when I wake up. I am bubbling with blessings. Busy with life and strapped for time, but bubbling with blessings.

And so I am trying to soak in and savor every single second that seems to whip by. Because I know that, in 20 years from now, I will want to look back and remember every single moment of this super slammed, yet sweet and special, season that they call early motherhood.

So, in order to memorialize this time before we find ourselves looking at prom dresses for Aubri and college campuses for Taylor, let’s gets these memories on (virtual, non-polka-dot) paper. Here’s a snapshot of the past six weeks.

Taylor loves her little sister. Loves using her as a canvas. First it was a ballpoint pen to the cheek, now her sweet forehead serves as a sticker book.

Aubri started eating solid foods a few weeks ago (March 27 to be exact, 5 months adjusted age). Banana was the first attempted.

Before:

And after. Clearly, she’s not a monkey. The girl hated the banana.

One thing she does love, however, is the “Johnny Jumper.” In fact, the last two times that I have put her in it, she has bounced until she passed out — mid-hop, face down on the plastic tray, snoozin’.

I have attempted a few impromptu and informal photo shoots in our house. Shoved Aubri in a basket once and made both girls lay amongst prickly shrubs. All in an effort to get just one good shot of the two of them. All attempts ended in tears and no good photos. Except this one. This is one from the dreaded shove-me-in-a-basket-while-Taylor-holds-up-her-pink-blankie-as-a-backdrop shoot.

I’ve embraced my inner-Martha and have been making homemade baby food. It’s not too bad. And Aubri seems to dig it.

“Whoooooo’s hungry????”

Daddy had a birthday. Last year’s red velvet fault cake was a failure, but this year’s ended in sweet success. And, as you can see from the photo, Tay had consumed a good bit of frosting during the baking process. She’s a sugar-fueled nut. And Aubri knows it.

My parents came into town for Easter, which meant morning egg hunts, brunch on the water, afternoons at the pool and yummy dinners instead of my usual banana protein shakes. I love them. (My parents. Not the shakes.)

Because Aubri is itching to move, yet is not quite mobile, it’s a constant game of “where does Aubri want to play now” in our house. Johnny Jumper, activity mat, walker and in your arms. Those are the current “hot spots” for this active nugget.

No matter where she is, Tay is not far behind. Running circles in the living room, body slamming herself on furniture or whipping toys past Aubri’s noggin. See? She’s just a blur.

But she loves her little sister so so much.

And her little sister loves her. I think Tay gets more smiles than I do.

On a bittersweet note, we’re still healing from losing my grandma. It’s a daily struggle, but we remind ourselves and eachother than our grandma is now His most beautiful angel. One of the things that we did was plant flowers in her memory. As Tay was laying the seed-infused invitations to her memorial service under a layer of soil, the weather was doing amazing things. The sun was shining, then we’d feel a gust of wind and a sprinkle of rain, only to be followed by warm sunshine returning to our skin. Taylor said, and still tells people, that Great Nana was blowing her kisses and crying “happy tears” as she watched down on her plant the flowers.

At the end of April, we walked in the March for Babies, a benefit for the March of Dimes. Thanks to my generous friends, we raised $250 for the organization. It was really special to join so many NICU graduates in walking for such a great cause. We also got to hug on one of Aubri’s sweet NICU nurses, who couldn’t believe the size of her … you guessed it … cheeks. All in all, it was a fun event for the whole family.

Of course, now that it’s officially spring, you KNOW we’re spending lots of time at the pool. Here’s the bikini-clad sisters snuggling poolside.

We have also been strawberry picking not once, but twice. Which has resulted in four loaves of strawberry bread, two strawberry cakes, too many muffins to count and approximately 10 leftover pounds of fresh and now-frozen strawberries. Taylor, who is a passionate and aggresive berry picker (as you can see below), is also quite good at finding the perfect berry. It’s actually a lot of fun. And what was just as fun was getting an assignment to write about the experience in one of the magazines that I work for. You can read that here (click on Let’s Go Berry Picking).

We celebrated Cinco de Mayo with good friends at a local Mexican restaurant where the kids ate nothing but chips. OK, me too. I love chips.

And we celebrated Mother’s Day where I was treated to a full day of Daddy on diaper duty, time at the pool and, my most favorite, morning snuggles with my little nuggles.

Taylor had her second successful dentist appointment. (This was actually her third visit, but I wouldn’t exactly call her first appointment a treat by any means.) She got her first round of x-rays, which will likely not be her last seeing as though she comes from a set of dentally-challenged parents.

We celebrated my sweet grandpa’s birthday. Because Aubri is named after him (Aubri Lee), I thought that, naturally, the best gift would be, well, her. Only problem is that she wouldn’t stay in the box long enough for me to ship her off.

We also celebrated our 6th wedding anniversary. Jimmy’s parents came to town and watched the girls while Jimmy and I went out for cheese and chocolate fondue. It’s was quiet, which was weird. A good weird.

And the next day, we celebrated our niece’s birthday. Tay ate mass amounts of sugar and ran like a wild woman through the park while Aubri and I hung out at the shelter and ate mass amounts of cake. Well, I did. I guess I can’t get away with blaming her for that … yet.

So there you have it! Lots of stuff going on in just six weeks, right? Now you see why I haven’t been sitting still long enough to write a blog post! Caaa-raziness! I do believe that Aubri says it best though:

“Sometimes, we just have to slow down, take a break from jumping all around the house. And pass out in a tray of toys.”

“Spit the paci out and pass out. Savor the season, Mommy. We’ll get our stuff done later.”

Where have we been lately? Shew. Where have we not been? It’s the middle of Spring, i.e. the beginning of Summer for coastal North Carolina. Which means a LOT of time at the pool and playtime with friends on vacation. It’s the middle of my pregnancy, which means a lot of worry and a lot of doctor appointments. And it’s the middle of Taylor’s 3rd year, which means lots of hilarious notable moments and interesting parenting hurdles (stay tuned for a separate notable and quotable post).

So to start, my parents made a surprise visit to see Taylor (I mean, us). Taylor freaked when she saw Grandpa and Nana knocking on the door. She had no idea they were coming.

She hears a knock, catapults her body over the couch arm, and sprints to the door.

I think Grandpa was as happy as she was.

And, of course, Nana gets big smiles and squeezes too.

After a few fun-filled days with Nana and Grandpa, we were in for more fun with family. Well, close friends that are like our family. The Wests and Peacocks took their annual beach vacation in Wilmington, which meant time with my high school buddies and Taylor’s favorite tiny tots. Jacklyn and Parker.

We did the beach, where Tay and Jack played,

Tay was her normal goofy self,

And Taylor got big sister training using Jacklyn’s little brother, mini-Brian (i.e. Mason).

We did kayaking on the waterway (note that Daddy is making Tay paddle),

The best buds took a car ride together,

And had lots of wrestle time with the Daddies.

While waiting for dinner, the girls made up a game on the cocktail table.

A game that, apparently, Taylor won.

I’m not sure who had more fun, the tots, or the parents. But I do know that these friends that started as high school buddies in the 9th grade, turned out to be some of my favorite people in the world. I love these kids.

After a sad farewell, Taylor picked right back up the next day with a pool playdate. Four of my mommy friends and I gathered at our pool for a day in the sun with the kiddos. We took over the shallow end.

Only a few paused long enough to be captured on camera.

Like Noah,

Cooper,

and the littlest ones, Madeline and Addison.

The rest of the kids were too fast to capture. Just like the past two weeks — flying by.

The only thing that has not flown by is this pregnancy. I’m in my 15th week, and time seems to be in slo-mo. It could be because I am analyzing every single twinge and counting the seconds of every single day. It could be because I am a nervous wreck, the trembling getting more significant as my next ultrasound approaches. My 16-week ultrasound (next Thursday — a week from today) is the one where they will take measurements of the baby to confirm that he/she appears healthy, etc. This is the ultrasound where we found out that we would lose Poppy — because the baby is big enough to see significant or fatal defects. So, my heart is pounding as we approach this milestone. I tell myself that, once we get past this big day, we will be beyond the point of which we lost Poppy. And that will be huge triumph, both physically and emotionally. So, please pray for us. That my mind is at peace as we approach this appointment, that the baby is 100% healthy, and that I will soon be able to rest in knowing that this baby will be another of God’s miracles.

Oh, and place your bets as to what we’ll be having — I’ll let you know next Thursday if  Taylor will be getting a little brother or sister!