I may not look good but my kids do...

I have serious bags under my eyes, my hair is pulled back in a pony tail barely brushed, if I can manage to put on lip gloss I'm having a good day, my clothes are wrinkled and I find myself never having clean clothes in the dryer because I'm wearing the same clothes everyday....but my kids are going to look their best when they step out the door. This is what we do as moms, we take care of our little ones even if it means we don't look so good. Now, I do take time for myself because quite frankly you would lose it if you didn't but I find myself a mess these days. I know some of you that have 3 or more kids are laughing saying I don't know anything but just managing two seems like a marathon each day especially since Allie-Ann has started back to preschool. So here's the mornings I've had the last few days...

*Belle gets up at 5:30am, feed her and try to put her back to bed. It takes a good solid 30 minutes to feed her so it's 6:00am...do I go back to bed...nope, Belle makes these loud grunt sounds and I decide I need to get things ready for Allie-Ann.
*Put Belle in her bouncy seat...she's not going back to sleep
*Try to put lip gloss on, pull hair back in a pony tail and find wrinkled clothes to put on.
*Allie-Ann has to be at preschool at 8:30am, so I have to get her "cranky" self out of bed to come down to eat breakfast.....30 minutes later...Allie-Ann comes down the stairs.
*Feed Allie-Ann, then Belle is ready to be fed again. Leave Allie-Ann at the breakfast table so I can feed Belle. Both girls have a poop diaper. Change Allie-Ann, then Belle. Put Allie-Ann's clothes on that I ironed the night before....crazy right? But my girls have to look good remember. Put Belle's clothes on...Belle has another blowout...change her diaper again.
*Put Belle in her car seat, make sure Allie-Ann is still put together since she rolls around on the floor doing gymnastics each morning. Put Allie-Ann's socks and shoes on....no sandals at preschool. Brush her hair one last time....whew....we are ready.

So you see, I don't really have time to look good myself when trying to manage making my kids look good, but I really do believe that's how a mom should be. I'm always amazed at some of the moms who look fabulous each day...what is their secret? I'm just not there yet and I don't think I will get there anytime soon.

On a side note...here are some pictures of Belle having tummy time.

First Day of Preschool

Allie-Ann's first day of preschool went well. She was real excited about going back to school and meeting her new teacher and friends (we will see how tomorrow goes). There are 11 students in the class, 8 girls and 3 boys, those poor boys. I really like Allie-Ann's teacher, I think she is going to be wonderful. I mean what 2 year old class has a structured schedule with circle time, read alouds , bible stories and centers? This is what she does for her students. I was quite impressed.

So here is Allie-Ann's back to school look. I can't believe I didn't put a big bow in her hair but for some reason I just don't think it fits her personality right now. She is getting to be a big girl and I don't think she is going to be a bow wearing child...to my dismay. Allie-Ann is way to interested in getting dirty and playing with dinosaurs. She a cutie though, don't you think?

I bought this skort at Target, I just thought it was adorable.

All giddy for school!

Of course a picture with mommy. I can't imagine how I will be when our little critter actually starts BIG school.

Of course she HAD to have a real backpack this year.

Playing with Grammy before going!

In her classroom they have a play kitchen area and Allie-Ann's eyes lit up when she saw it!

Checking out the books in the reading center.

Her teacher this year!!

Play Set Construction, Phase 1

Phase 1 of the Play Set construction has begun. A big, big thanks goes out to Kampa for all his work today and for not leaving until past 7:00pm. We will forever be grateful for all you have done for us. Allie-Ann is thrilled about her new play set. She made sure that daddy understood that there needed to be three swings...one for her, one for Belle and one for Tyrone. I'm telling you this Tyrone thing is getting out of hand. Here are a few pictures of today's work.

Allie-Ann is ready for work!!

Working hard...

It's break time fellas.

Okay...back to work!

Kyle doing his best to make his first daughter a play set.

It's break time again...

These two have a love/hate relationship. Allie-Ann at times will feed Rusty her snack but today she wasn't having it. I guess she worked up an appetite. She lost it when Rusty took her sandwich from her. She said that he needed a "TIME OUT!"

I took this shot to show how much wood this play set took. Geesh!

This is where we ended for the day. It still needs the roof, platforms, swings and the slide. I think it's going to be a great place for the girls to play for years to come.

2K Here We Come!!!

Guess who is going back to preschool on Monday?????

Who, Me????

Yes, ME!!!!!!

What will Belle do while her big sister is away?

I guess she will just have to make do with Mommy!

Quiet Time Destruction

Either Allie-Ann is going to be a nuclear engineer or she is just a really destructive little girl. This is how I found the room when I came to get her from quiet time. Maybe I just had too much trust in my daughter to handle time alone in her room but this has taught me a lesson and for now on Allie-Ann will be in my watch for quiet time. There is also more to this story that I found out about at dinner. So here's how it goes....

The room...I tried to make this picture look like a crime scene.

So I walk in to take a closer look...

Yeah, that is baby powder on the floor and it gets worse because when I walk into the bathroom, the tub is filled with baby powder along with the toilet. Also...do you see the Olivia doll, it's soaking wet and I asked Allie-Ann why her Olivia doll was wet and she replied.."She needed a bath mommy." So I asked her why she put baby powder in the tub and she said, "Because she wanted a bubble bath, mommy." Duh....(Skip to dinner) and I ask Allie-Ann after thinking about how Olivia got wet and I ask her, "Allie-Ann how did Olivia get wet??!!!" To which she replies..."I put her in the potty" My o' my, there is my day but you can't get upset about all this because after all Olivia just needed a bath.

On a brighter note, I made a tracing of Allie-Ann today while Belle was napping. I had her fill in her eyes, nose, ears, hair and mouth. I thought she did pretty good especially taking note of the eyelashes. So maybe the hair is disconnected from the head but at least she gets the point. Ha. She also wanted to make sure that her drawing matched what she had on today, which was her "Fishy" shirt and checkered pants.

Can't leave little Belle out that continues to be the BEST little baby. She is going to have a lot to live up to in the destruction department.

Backyardigans Cake

This is the cake!!! I have someone who is going to be crazy enough to make this for Allie-Ann...we will see how it goes. Stay tuned...

Isn't it adorable, but instead of Tasha on top it will be TYRONE!!

Our Soon-To-Be 3 Year Old

With the birth of our second child and the craziness of our summer, the time has crept up on me in planning and preparing for Allie-Ann's 3rd birthday. I can't believe that in three weeks we will have a three year old on our hands. Where has the time gone....oh yeah right, changing diapers, tending to colds/sicknesses, chasing around an active toddler, potty training, picking up toys, stepping on toys, changing dirty clothes, cleaning dirty clothes...Ha.
For Allie-Ann's bday I'm going simple, no homemade cake this time....no energy or time for that right now, and I know this is crazy to say but I'm letting her decide what cake/theme she wants. So this means trips to Party City to buy crazy, unoriginal birthday supplies...oh the horror! Yes folks, I'm willing to go and buy paper/plastic things that are made in China just for my little girl to be thrilled at her 3rd birthday. So here's the deal, she wants a Backyardigans birthday, if you don't know the Backyardigans they are a Nick, Jr. cartoon of African American animal characters. Let's just say, Allie-Ann is in LOVE with Tyrone!! Now we don't have cable so the only time she gets to watch this cartoon is at her Grammy's house or the library but she is in awe of this cartoon. Allie-Ann doesn't know when it's going to be her birthday but is set on the fact that Tyrone WILL BE AT HER PARTY. So I'm a little concerned about this and don't really know what to do if she has a meltdown when he doesn't ACTUALLY come to her party. It's so bad that she pulls the step stool by the window to look for Tyrone to see if he is coming to our house...thinking that each day is her birthday. Now if you know my husband he is NOT the one to dress up for anything, we barely got him in a tuxedo for our wedding so I doubt that he will even think about dressing up as a moose (which is Tyrone). So what to do.....and to make matters worse finding a Backyardigans birthday cake has been a small feat. I mean Wal-mart didn't even have a cake with the characters...I thought Wal-mart lived for the Nick, Jr., Disney paraphernalia. So even though I'm trying to make this a simple party it is actually turning into a complicated mess. But it will be done and she WILL have her Backyardigans party sans Tyrone. Ha. 

On another note, we are going to build Allie-Ann a swing set for her birthday present. This is actually a BIG present for me because it will give Allie-Ann another option when we go outside to play. Kyle is going to build it...bless his soul and I'm going to watch...bless my soul. It should be a pretty sweet swing set...equipped with a nice tree house/platform for the slide. It's made of all wood....big surprise except the slide. We are super excited and I know Allie-Ann and Belle will enjoy it for many years to come. 

This is how we found Allie-Ann the other day...I guess she was bored of just sitting in chairs.

Defeated...

Yesterday I felt very defeated being a stay-at-home mom. It is NOT an easy job and I find that at times I REALLY miss working but honestly I wouldn't trade this time for anything and I continue to say my thanks each day for being able to stay at home. I don't know if it's the new mommy hormones kicking in or my extremely active toddler that drives me bonkers at times but nothing went right yesterday. So today I told myself to relax, that Allie-Ann is not going to smush, break or even hug Belle until the air comes out of her...that it's going to be OKAY...and this is what I got in pictures. Allie-Ann loves her sister and wants to touch and be with her all the time, I love the fact that she is so caring but at times it seems like too much and my mommy instincts jump in and I have to tell her to back away, to which she doesn't understand and wants to touch her even more. Ahhhh. But it's been a much better day and we are continuing to work at things one-day-at-a-time.

Playing with Belle on the activity mat

Okay...so look at Allie-Ann's face...this is what I tend to at times. She's a butterball!!!

But then....you get this look from her that melts your heart. And Belle's going to have the same look I believe.

She's telling Belle "HELLO"

Bless her soul!!!

This is my favorite picture of Belle so far.

Sisters

We got these cool t-shirts as a gift that read, "Big Sister Allie-Ann" and "Baby Sister Isabelle." I put them on the girls today and my intentions were to get some great shots of them but Belle wasn't having it, so it was a quick session. This is the website the shirts came from if you are interested...www.zoeyspersonalizedgifts.com  I thought they were really neat, thanks goes out to the Checketts for getting them for us. I've been solo this week with Kyle going back to work. It felt like the first day of school for me here too just trying to get adjusted to the three of us at home without another adult for company. It's been pretty calm so far but trying to get them both down for a nap at the same giving me a few minutes of my own has not be easy. Allie-Ann STILL does not take naps but she continues to have a quiet time to which she is pretty good about. She gets her one choice book and toy and has an hour to herself. Belle gets her one choice setting, bouncy seat, swing or crib....she wants the swing most of the time. Go figure, right? I will say that Belle is a champ at this nighttime sleeping. I worry all the time about if I'm doing the right things raising an infant. I usually put her down for her last feeding at 8:00pm....I still think this is really early considering Allie-Ann's last feeding about this time for her was around 11:00pm. But Belle is taking it and not complaining so I'm not either. She usually wakes up around 2:00am/3:00am for another feeding and then goes back to sleep till 7:00am. Another interesting thing about Belle is that I can put her in the crib wide awake and she is fine self-sootheing herself to sleep. It wasn't like that for Allie-Ann. So I guess the saying is true that no two babies are alike. But I'm enjoying this one...even if it doesn't last long.

I told you Belle wasn't into taking pictures this morning...but I had to get a picture of them wearing their sister shirts.

Notice that the screaming crying doesn't faze Allie-Ann...she just takes it all in stride.

I'm already getting the 'Ol Mom look from both of them

My little stinker

Belle is losing her hair if you can't already tell. Maybe she will be a blondie like her mommy was.