Monday, April 29, 2013

Weekend fun - Medieval times

We had such a great time celebrating my birthday this past weekend. I wanted to go to Medieval times for dinner and a show. It's a restaurant set in an old castle where you enjoy a dinner (with no silverware) while watching a jousting tournament. It's pretty epic and novel so I love going every few years. 

On Friday night while getting the boys ready for bed, we had fun playing Jbird's room and the camera came out. I put Jbird in the  crib to get Tman ready and Tman asked to go in the crib with Jbird. Jbird loves to stand so I put him up to take a picture of him and his brother. Then of course Tman started hamming it up for the camera. Jbird was loving having his brother in his crib

Tman wa so happy to be in the crib with his brother and Jbird was just happy that someone wanted to be in the crib with him :)

 How happy is Jbird here, this kid loves to hang out with his brother I tell you

 Oh no Jbird, don't let go
My hubby had to get Tman out of the crib to get him ready for bed
 So I took this opportunity to take a bunch of pics of my Jbird
 Well hello handsome
 I am done with this photoshoot mom, stop taking pics of me :)
Anyway, back to the event of the weekend. We went to Medieval Times on Saturday with my mom, my brothers, my brother's girlfriend and grandma to celebrate. We had such a great time

Isn't my hubby wearing Jbird just the cutest thing? I definitely think so
 All of us before dinner
 I hung out with Tman
 while my hubby hung out with Jbird
My grandma was completely shocked that they didn't give us any silverware
 The show was so much fun with the jousting and all. It was total medieval times style

How cool is this, I got my own hat with a cool sticker
And of course we did the family pic
We had a great time celebrating my birthday this weekend with my family. We also went to see Thomas on Sunday but that would have to be a different post. Birthday weekend celebration was a great success :). Hope you had a great weekend too.

Friday, April 26, 2013

Post partum recovery - a hair update

It's been a while since I did one of these post partum updates and since I got my hair done last week, I figured it was a good time to do an update.

I am so pleased with how well my hair recovered from post partum alopecia this time around. Maybe I noticed it more because I am analyzing everything this time around. Either way, I am really happy that things worked out well. I am loving my hair at 8 months post partum.

Remember what my hair looked like back in January? I had this receding hairline thing going on each side.

Well after months of hiding my edges and using castor oil on them everyday, my hair has finally turned around and grown enough to cover the holes. I don't have a receding hairline anymore. YAY.

My good side is completely filled in, woop woop
 My bad side is not quite there but it's good enough that I don't have to worry about it anymore
The best part is that my hair actually grew a few inches during that time and I am back to being BSL again, woop woop. (I had to wait for my hubby so we didn't get to take the picture until a few days later when my hair was wavy from being up but you still get the idea.)
To say that I am super happy about this turn of events is an understatement. I think that now that I know that my hair will always grow back, I can stop obsessing over it. At least until I have my next baby and have to go through this hair loss business all over again :).

Tuesday, April 23, 2013

Weekend fun - We have a crawler

We had another great weekend :).  The best part is that my Jbird finally started crawling. I am so proud of him. He had been trying for a few weeks but wasn't getting the coordination and he finally did.

Look at him go here, I used the blue ball to lure him and it was working
Why are you squealing mom is probably what he was thinking here as I was giddy with excitement
 Ok, I am going to continue doing what I am doing
 He made it to the blanket
You guys can see why I was so excited. My baby is on the move.

Anyway, back to the weekend. I went shopping on Saturday with my mom. I needed to get new shoes for Tman and buy some stuff for our upcoming trip. We leave in less than a week, eeeeek. We went shopping during nap time since Tman is such a good sleeper. He fell asleep as soon as we got in the car and slept for over 2 hours. That made for a peaceful shopping experience.

Tman napping in the stroller while Jbird is playing with his toy. I so love that my kid can nap everywhere
 In the shoe store buying some shoes for my Tman
 On our way out, Tman wanted to get out of the stroller at this point.
I love shopping with my mom, it's always so much fun and this way I don't have to stress my hubby.

After shopping, I came home and got dressed because I was going out to dinner with a few girlfriends. My hubby was nice enough to watch the kids all by himself. I know, I am lucky. Before I left for dinner, I took a few pictures with my Tman.

 Me and my sweet boy
Tman's new favorite thing to do is try to lick my face and usually I am so annoyed that I run away. It's probably the reason he keeps doing it. Well I was trying to lick his face here too and this picture is just too hilarious not to share
Ladies night was awesome. I enjoyed a drink that matched my shirt, hehehehehe
 Our best attempt at a group picture
We had so much fun hanging out and shooting the breeze without the boys. I got home around midnight and both kids were asleep and they didn't wake up until 8 allowing this mama to get some rest. Ladies night was a great success.

The next day we enjoyed a late lunch with some friends and later just chilled at home with the boys.

I love this picture of hubby playing with the boys. Tman was being a baby and wanted to cuddle and Jbird was getting ready to crawl and join them. I just love my boys
Another great weekend full of milestones was had by all. We truly live for the weekend and it's always such a treat when everything goes as planned. Next weekend is going to be a great one, we are going to Medieval times to celebrate my birthday and going to see Thomas the train who is coming to town, wooohooo. Hope you had a great weekend too.

Friday, April 19, 2013

Jbird is 8 months

Jbird is 8 months, AHHHHHHHH. I know, I know, I say this every month.

This baby of mine is truly amazing I tell you. He is still sleeping through the night 8 to 10 hours, yeah you read that right, we've had some 10-hour nights in the last month. I am so happy, refreshed, and happy. No wonder we are back to being busy bees around here.
Jbird is still the happiest kid around the block. He smiles and giggles non stop. He loves to be carried and his the happiest when I carry him around in the baby bjorn (I have the original version). Jbird is now 21lbs 5oz, we are getting dangerously close to the weight limit of 25lbs. It's going to be a sad day when I can't carry him around anymore. He is heavy but I must say the bjorn is amazing, I carried him around for over 2 hours the other day and did not feel any unusual pain or discomfort.

We are done nursing :(. My Jbird stopped nursing around 6.5 months and never looked back. He had the sniffles which made it hard for him to nurse. Then his 2 bottom teeth came in. I kept offering but after he chewed my nipples non-stop for a month, I just gave up. It wasn't meant to be.

I was really sad when it first happened because it was so sudden and so soon and I really wasn't ready to be done. I have just been exclusively pumping for the last month and a half. My supply took a major toll and I am barely making enough to sustain him. I guess it's going to be the end of breastfeeding for us soon. We had a good run.
 
Jbird's 2 teeth in full display
My Jbird is finally eating baby food and loving it (somewhat). At least he is not fighting me and gagging every time he takes a bite. We are now doing 2 jars of baby food per day in addition to the milk. I tried to give him some cheerios but that was received with gagging. He is clearly not ready for that.
 Jbird is not crawling yet but it's not for lack of trying he is pretty mobile as he rolls around everywhere. He chases his brother around the family room and always wants to have whatever his brother is playing with.

He started trying to pull himself up the other day. Slow your roll child of mine

 He stood for a few seconds before falling. He has some strong legs my little Jbird.
Tman is still so in love with his brother, the kisses never end. Jbird does not seem to mind
 Ah these boys of mine, they fill up my heart with so much joy everyday
Happy 8 months my sweet Jbird. We love you to the moon and back. You've blessed our family with your amazing personality and you bring so much joy to our lives everyday.


Tuesday, April 16, 2013

Weekend fun - Traveling solo with the boys

This past weekend was awesome. I know, I say that about all my weekends. I went to visit a good friend of mine who lives about 4 hours away from us. My hubby found out at the last minute that he had to work on Saturday. Such a bummer. I was so nervous about taking a long trip like that alone with the boys but luckily that did not discourage me from going. Thank goodness because the boys did amazing.

The trip was awesome, I put the boys in the car and they both fell asleep for over 2 hours. I got on the phone and made loads of phone calls. Before I knew it we were an hour away. I made a pit stop to feed the boys and back on the road we went. It was the same scenario on the way back. No screaming babies, no crazy stories, just a good drive. I love my boys.

Anyway, the last time we saw A and her girls was almost a year ago when they came to visit us. It was about time we hung out again. The best part is that the first 3 kids are now old enough to play together and that they did. They were chasing each other around the house, the park, and the playground all weekend.

The kids loved hanging out together, how cute are Tman and E?

All the kids together hanging out in the living room
Jbird wanted to join in on the fun
Then we got ready and took the kids outside to play (Jbird was napping peacefully so we didn't bother him). I tried to get them to pose before we left and this is what I got
I love that they are all doing their own thing here and they all have shades
We took the kids out to play with bubbles near this beautiful lake next to their house, perfect setting for amazing pictures if you ask me. I was blowing bubbles in the wind while A took pics, the kids were in heaven chasing the bubbles everywhere. It was so much fun to watch


How seriously cute are these two running after the bubbles
My big boy blowing bubbles all by himself
 The kids by the pond. They didn't last very long in this position
We ordered some pizza and pasta for dinner and even had chocolate cake and cheesecake. So awesome. We just chilled the rest of the night catching up on stories and life.

The next day we took the kids to the park after lunch for some more fun activities. It was such a beautiful day. We managed to get a pic of us with all 4 kids
The fun started as soon as we got to the park
The slide was a huge hit
The joy on Tman's face coming down the slide can pretty much sum up the fun he had
I wore my Jbird most of the time, he loves being held this kid I tell you
Probably one of my favorite pictures of the trip
A was throwing the ball in the air for the kids
Jbird on the swing, he looks so cool and collected my second boy
Thank goodness for self timer we were able to get this awesome picture of us with the kids. We are outnumbered :)
We had such a good time with my friend and her family this weekend. Tman told me he wants to go back and catch bubbles again. It was so worth the 4-hour drive. I am going back soon, a year is definitely way too long.