"You can't pull your head off your body. It's attached."

Actual sentence said by Amelia this morning to Tyler as he drove her to school.

Ash Cave

The weekend brought us beautiful fall-like weather! We just had to take advantage of it so we took off early Saturday morning and headed to Hocking Hills for a little hike in nature. It was nice to be out of the concrete jungle and into the fresh air.

The little thing up above in the pink pants is Amelia...she was headed off on her own nature walk.

The week in review...

When he's well rested he LOVES to kick around on his jungle playmat.

First of all, yes, he is laying on a pink swaddle. It was his sister's. I see no reason to buy another one just because it's pink. He will never know the difference!

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We officially made it through our first week with mom and dad both at work. All in all it wasn't so bad. Oliver seems to be adjusting rather well at daycare and Amelia loves being the big sister who gets to check on lil' brother twice a day!

Oliver is still struggling with all the loud noises in his classroom and has trouble sleeping for long periods of time, but he seems rather happy nonetheless.

Oliver is officially on a nighttime schedule! I take him to his room around 6:45 and he's usually asleep by 7:30 and wakes up around 5 or 6 am but then goes right back to bed after he's fed. Some nights he'll wake up at 3:45 though...those seem to be the nights that he didn't get a good day of napping. The more rested he is during the day, the better he sleeps at night.


Daddy swimming with his little girl at Granny's pool.

Daddy and Oliver at Hoggy's. Notice the grip Ollie has on dad's finger — it's just the sweetest.

The kids with Nanny on her 80th birthday!

I feel like Wonder Woman

DAYCARE: Today was Oliver's first day at daycare. It was easier than with Amelia but only because I already knew the teachers and was comfortable with how it would all go. I still called 4 times just to check in on him — he actually took 3 naps and ate like a champ! Only once had he taken all 4 ounces of a bottle for me and today he took three 4-ounce bottles. I'm guessing food was his comfort today.

THE PHONE CALL: Around 2pm Tyler called and he was headed home with a nasty case of food poisoning. I knew that most likely meant I'd have to do our nightly routine without the help of Tyler (and that's a lot because Tyler does half, if not more, of the daily duties — I couldn't ask for a better partner.)

THE PICK-UP: I got the kids at school and thankfully they were both in great moods, that is until I told Amelia that she couldn't take her blankie home with her because that was her school blanket. I even made up a story that after all the kids and grown-ups go home and the lights are turned off all the blankets got up and had a dance party and if she took her blankie home her poor blanket would have to miss the party. She didn't care — until I got both kids settled in the car and then she decided she felt bad that her blankie would have to miss the party and she wanted to take her back inside. It was too late though.

THE HOME FRONT: I made Amelia dinner and let her watch Annie as she ate, I played with Oliver, cleaned up his spit-up, washed all the bottles from the day, cleaned up the kitchen, took the kids outside so I could grill the pork chops I had marinating all day, played catch with Amelia as Ollie sat in his bouncy chair, took the kids inside, wrapped up my pork chop, took Oliver to his room to feed him and put him to bed, got Amelia grapes and a treat for being such a good girl and helpful big sister, gave her a bath, brushed her teeth, read her stories, said prayers and put her to bed. I then ate my pork chop standing at the kitchen counter; put the grill away.

It was a great feeling knowing that I could do our evening rush by myself, if need be. I know that for most moms this is their typical evening and they never get the help I do. It also made me realize, even more, just how lucky I am to have Tyler.

We made it through

Today wasn't as bad as I thought it might be...probably because Oliver got to stay home with his Granny. Tomorrow will be the true test — it's Oliver's first day at daycare, or school as we call it for Amelia. He'll be at the same school as Amelia 3 days a week.

It's supposed to be easier with the second baby, and I guess it sort of is, but there's a certain uneasyness leaving your 3-month-old with someone other than family. Amelia promises that she'll check in on Oliver during the day though. And I am sure I will be calling at least 4 times to check in also.

Back to work

I can't believe it. My maternity leave is up and I'm back to work tomorrow! I can't stand the thought of not being with my kids all day long. I don't really mind my work/job/office and I like most of my coworkers, it's just that I've grown really attached to being able to do more with my kids and running errands, getting stuff done around the house. Things were running smoothly (for the most part) and now we've got to figure this all out...again! Wish us luck.

We're making progress

Oliver has proven over the past month or so that he's a good night time sleeper...he was going to bed around 10 and sleeping till 5 +/- . I've been trying for the earlier bedtime lately and have started feeding him around 7 and putting him down shortly there after. It takes him till 9pm sometimes to fully unwind and fall asleep but, like last night, he slept till 6:30! Good Lord, please let this continue!!!! Please.

Cute pics...

These are the little eyes that stare up at me as I'm nursing him. I am so sad this photo didn't come out clearer...I want to remember this look for the rest of my life. I took this photo as I was holding Oliver just after I finished nursing him. Those eyes melt my heart each time. I am so lucky.

My little super-star! Tyler just finished giving her a bath and she ran out of the bathroom and just started dancing. She loves to make people laugh!!!

Enjoying the sprinkler in our backyard. This child can have fun doing just about anything! I am the luckiest mother in the world to have these 2 amazing babes!

More family time...

Nanny (Tyler's grandmother) gets to hold Oliver for the first time. We all met over at Bonita's (Tyler's mom) pool for a swim and some dinner.

This is my Tusa (Aunt) Virg with Oliver. She is my grandma's youngest sister. After being at the lake for 4 days we decided to stop in Warren to see some family that hadn't met Oliver yet.

Uncle George with Oliver...he actually did really well with Oliver, unfortunately this was the only photo I got. Uncle George sang him songs and danced with him. It was so sweet.

When we're in Warren we love to stop over Tusa Jenny and Uncle Pete's house to visit. Unfortunately, Uncle Pete had to work this morning so we didn't get to see him.

I was craving hot dogs from the Hot Dog Shoppe, so on our way out of Warren we stopped. If you've never had a dog from the Hot Dog Shoppe then you are missing out!!!! This was Amelia's first trip to the Shoppe and she refused to eat a hot dog! Thankfully Gram packed some rice for Amelia — so Amelia's lunch consisted of french fries and rice! I have no idea what they were doing with the forks, just something Amelia started.

A little family trip...

Sadly, my maternity leave is almost over. I realized I would never get another opportunity to take a leisurely trip in the middle of the week for no apparent reason so I packed up the kids and headed to Chautauqua Lake in New York where my aunt and uncle have a house. My grandparents and Aunt Tami and Uncle Jamie were up there with us on and off throughout the week.

I had been promising Amelia that she could fish with Uncle Jamie sometime this summer and even though she didn't get to fish with him she got to spend some time with him at the lake. Amelia is in love with Uncle Jamie. She must've asked me 46 times when Uncle Jamie would get there and then she'd follow up her comment with, "You should call him, mom." It was hysterical. Needless to say, once Uncle Jamie got there Amelia didn't let him out of her sight!

Amelia was in her glory!

Torrey, Uncle Jamie's English Setter.

On Thursday it was just my Grandpa, Amelia, Oliver and I left at the lake. Beeps took us to this little, old amusement park that afternoon. Amelia got to ride her first rides! The first ride she went on by herself went a little to fast and she asked for the ride to stop, thankfully, this happens all the time so the lady didn't mind. The helicopter ride was her favorite. It didn't go too fast and she had control of going up and down if she wanted to. Once the ride was done she asked to go again — she was the only one on it, too!

Beeps looked so cute pushing Oliver around in the stroller I had to take a photo of it.

Father's Day

I took the kids to my sister's house for Father's Day. As part of Tyler's father's day present I gave Tyler the weekend to himself; my brother-in-law was out of town too so it worked out perfectly. My dad and stepmom Karen came down for the weekend — we spent some quality family time together. The kids had a great time playing in the backyard in the sprinkler.

Ian LOVES his goggles. He looks like a little fish.

I have NO idea what either of them were looking at so intently but it sure made for a fantastic photo!

Dacia let Ian pick out his peeing spot in the backyard — I couldn't pass up this photo opp either!

Grandma Karen and 3 of her grandkids enjoying popsicles.

After their bath, Amelia and Ian brushed their teeth and got ready for bed. They even managed to sleep in the same room together.

On Sunday Dacia took us to the butterfly exhibit. It was a beautiful exhibit — just crazy hot inside! This was the best picture we could get of all of us. At least we got something, right?

My handsome little boy.

My daddy and Oliver.

Ian's 3rd birthday party

My nephew Ian turned 3 on June 15th. He had a huge crowd of 1-5 year-olds at his party. They even had a spiderman bounce-house...the kids LOVED it!

Ian couldn't wait to blow out his candles and Amelia just looked on in admiration.

These two have so much fun together. Even though they don't get to see each other very often they play together like best friends.