A Day in the Life of Us

Yesterday morning I finally remembered and made of point of documenting and recording our day. I kept my camera in hand or nearby all day, jotted down little notes of things that happened, and now am finally getting around to writing about it and posting it. It's not super fun keeping up with the camera and attempting to capture regular old happenings throughout our day, and it's not the easiest thing ever trying to remember all the little details, BUT when I look back at my previous "Day in the Life" posts, I'm so thankful I did it. So, since I had yet to do one of these since Austin arrived, it was time. Here are all the happenings of our day yesterday:

Yesterday morning started early for us. Austin woke up before 6:00, which is extremely rare, so Terrell rocked him back to sleep while I went ahead and got up for the day. Austin went back to sleep but only for about 45 minutes, so I changed him, nursed him, and got myself ready all before 7:30.

Big brother decided to sleep late (I think the time change had him thrown him off a little, plus he was exhausted from his fun weekend) so I had a breakfast date with this little man. He had oatmeal cereal and baby food prunes. Yummy. While we were eating breakfast, Terrell left for work.

After we cleaned up from breakfast, we heard Garrison. It was 8:35 and approaching morning naptime for Austin. So we got Garrison up, took him to the potty, gave him his medicine (he's been on an antibiotic since Thursday), and got Austin ready for his nap. Austin went to sleep quickly and then it was time to make Garrison breakfast. He requested cereal and a waffle.

I did some things in the kitchen while Garrison ate breakfast, plus checked my email, plus put up some of his clothes that Terrell had folded the night before after they were in bed. Garrison is a slow eater.

After cleaning up from breakfast, Garrison told me he wanted me to read him some books. He had picked them out while I was getting Austin down for his nap and was ready to bring them to the living room to read on the couch. It worked out great because I didn't have a whole lot planned for us yesterday like I sometimes do. But it did make me sleepy. Getting comfy on the couch reading books is definitely a prerequisite for a nap.

After we finished reading books, I was expecting Austin to wake up any minute. Normally his morning nap is an hour or less. Waking up so early had him worn him out apparently because he was approaching an hour and a half nap. Which would have been great except that we needed to go to the grocery store and get back so I could feed him again. I couldn't bring myself to wake him up though, so Garrison and I played with his favorite bouncy balls in the kitchen until we heard Austin. Then we rushed like crazy to get out the door.

Austin still isn't quite ready to sit up in the buggy (although he's now sitting up in a high chair at restaurants!), and I'm still not quite ready for Garrison to walk around the grocery store with me, so this is our set-up in the buggy. And it always makes things interesting. We have groceries overflowing every time. Poor Garrison.

As soon as we got home, I got the boys and all the groceries inside but only put up the cold items because I needed to feed Austin. Garrison played while I fed Austin and then Terrell got home for lunch.

Lunch was sort of crazy. As soon as I finished feeding Austin, I put up all our other groceries plus tried to get our lunch ready plus spilt sour cream all over the floor. Thankfully Terrell was able to help out by cleaning up the sour cream and making Garrison's lunch. But then he had to head back to work and we were on our own again with meal time craziness. Austin had green beans and leftover prunes from breakfast and Garrison had a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, raisins, grapes, and some of my lunch... a mini stouffers lasagna.

My big boy has to graduate from the highchair soon. Little brother is messy and I need him in the highchair. Garrison is extremely messy too, as shown below, even though I feel like we try to work with him on being neat and polite when eating. We need a kitchen table desperately. I feel like the boys are taking a toll on my dining room table by the meal.

After cleaning up from lunch, Austin played in his crib while I took Garrison to the potty and started yet another load of their clothes. Except this time it was a load full of new clothes. Yay!

Garrison loves to help and his new thing is putting all the clothes into the washing machine and pouring in the detergent. He brings his stool into the laundry room and gets busy. Some days it's a big help, other days not so much. But, I'm trying to be patient with him and accept his help as much as I can because one day his help will be much harder to come by.

While I got Austin down for his nap, Garrison's job was to clean up the living room. (In the afternoons I always try giving him a "job" to do while I get Austin ready for his nap, and usually it works out pretty good and he rarely interrupts or barges into Austin's room. In the mornings, he's typically watching Mickey Mouse while I get Austin down for a nap.) He put up his books and bouncy balls and a few other things, plus got his room "ready". He turns on his fan, night-light, and picks out 2 books for us to read.

Once both boys were napping I got started on some Premier stuff... emails, a phone call, and invitations. Plus I caught up on my favorite blogs. =) Then Austin started crying. Usually I'm able to let him cry for 2 minutes or less and he goes right back to sleep. Yesterday the crying lasted longer and kept getting louder so I had to rock him back to sleep. Garrison was only quiet for 30 minutes so I'm not sure if he ever fell alseep or not. I guess after his 12 plus hours of sleep the night before, he wasn't super tired.

I went in Garrison's room about 3:20 to get him up, take him to the potty, and then put clothes in the dryer. Then, we had to go wake up Austin because it was time for him to eat again.

While I fed Austin, Garrison had his usual snack of Fruit Jammers and juice. It's not the healthiest snack, but I feel like his meals are fairly healthy and this is his only snack time. Having a designated snack time has sort of helped us avoid snacking throughout the day.

Austin enjoyed his "jumpy" seat after he finished eating and Garrison requested to watch a movie. So he watched a little 12 minute movie 3 times in a row. I guess 12 minutes just wasn't long enough. In the meantime, I talked to my sister on the phone and started getting ready for my Premier training.

Garrison has been really fascinated and curious about Austin's new "toy" and is always "helping" him bounce in it and touching it and talking about it, so when Terrell got home he put in a dvd of Garrison playing in the same toy when he was a baby. Garrison loved seeing himself as a baby, especially in the same toy Austin plays in. Austin even watched for a couple minutes and we think it was like looking in the mirror for him. They really favor a lot.

I warmed up leftovers my mom sent home with us and ate and got dressed really fast so I could leave by 6:00 for my training in Jackson. The boys had a good night at home and bedtime went well. Austin wouldn't take the bottle for Terrell, but he didn't scream and cry either so it wasn't too bad. I was back home a little before 10:00 and went to bed soon after... and that was our day. Nothing adventurous or special, just a regular day at this point in time.

I'll plan to do another one of these this summer. Although I usually wait at lesast 7months for some reason. (And for family who might be curious about where to find my other day in the life posts, here they are..)

May 2010

December 2010

July 2011

Spoiled Good

We are finally winding down from our fun filled weekend in the hometown where we were spoiled good. Big time. My babies are fast asleep, completely exhausted from all the playing, loving on, and attention gettin' time they had with their grandparents, great-grandparents, and AnAn. We are definitely blessed and most definitely spoiled.

Our weekend consisted of eating delicious paid for and home cooked meals and desserts, spending lots of down time with family, watching the boys play, going to church, watching the boys play some more, and going through lots and lots of new clothes for the boys. It was heavenly. I even felt sort of guilty. Especially when my mom pulled out enough clothes to supply the boys with over half of their spring and summer wardrobe. (Including matching swim suits and hats! Can't wait til summer!) And when Terrell's parents provided our lunch, supper, and dessert on Saturday. And when we had a Thanksgiving-like feast for lunch at my parents' today.

I'm always telling Terrell that the bar is set really high for what we need to do for our kids once they're grown. And after this weekend, it went up another notch. Goodness. (I have to brag on our parents because they're awesome. Maybe one day we can be just as awesome.)

My firstborn had a ball playing with his birthday gifts that stay at the grandparents' houses like his hotwheels track and his Jeep. My baby had fun being held and playing in his new "jumpy" seat that's been passed back and forth between us and Kara over and over again. I didn't feel guilty about all the fun they had. I just felt blessed. They had the best time. Especially Garrison. He didn't have one single meltdown. Woohoo! He just played his little heart out and enjoyed time with his grandparents. He played in the sand, played with hotwheels, played in the Little Debbie truck, and drove his Jeep around my parents yard so much I think there may be permanent tire marks. He should sleep good tonight. (And to top it all off, we were sent home with several boxes of Little Debbies and leftovers from lunch. My workout routine needs to become a routine fast.)

Terrell and I are feeling pretty tired after our fun weekend. Losing an hour of sleep is rough. And packing up the house and moving the family into one of our parents' houses for the weekend can be exhausting and draining. But, it's always worth it. And every time, we're left feeling blessed and loved and grateful... and spoiled good.

6 Months Old

My baby boy is 6 months old! Wow... a whole "half a year". Crazy. I am so thankful though that this past month went by kind of slow and I was able to just enjoy him (and his brother). We weren't super busy, we stayed home quite a bit, and some days were actually boring. But I'm really glad because before I know it we'll be celebrating his 1st birthday!

Big brother at 6 months. They still resemble a lot I think.

Stats and Happenings This Month:

*You weigh 17 pounds, 4 ounces and are 25 and 1/2 inches long. You are exactly 50th percentile in both categories and just a perfect, average-sized baby. I guess those chubby cheeks and thighs have me fooled because I keep guessing you're bigger than you actually are!

*You still wear size 3 diapers but are now wearing 6-9 month or 6-12 month clothes.

*You are now eating 3 meals a day! You love all your baby food and are a great eater. You're still nursing (yay! I made it to the 6 month mark, which was my goal!) and you've finally started taking a bottle once a day or once every other day.

*On your birthday, Saturday, we discovered your first tooth breaking through! You love feeling of it with your tongue.

*You go to bed around 7:45 and wake up sometime between 6:30 and 7:30 every morning.

*You take about a 45 minute morning nap and about an hour and a half afternoon nap... most days.

*You are talking and babbling more and more. It even sounds like you've said da-da and ma-ma a few times. You don't realize what you're saying but it's still precious to hear! Your personality is coming out big time. We love it!

*You've been spitting up a lot this month. We're back to doing tons of laundry because you're going through clothes and bibs and burp cloths so fast.

*You love rolling over! We can't leave you on the floor anymore or you'll roll across the room!

*You're starting to sit up really good with help/support and you can even lean forward and sit up by yourself for a few seconds.

*You LOVE Garrison, playing peek-a-boo, kicking your legs, eating baby food, and rolling all over the place.

*And we LOVE you!!! Happy Birthday Austin!

On My Mind in March (and at the moment)

*Spring is in the air. And in my nose. And in my eyes. UGH. Time for Zyrtec. I want to have a pity party about not being able to enjoy Spring or get outside or go about my day without a kleenex in hand or see clearly without my eyes watering during the months of March, April, and May. But, I've decided to think positive instead and hope that the Zyrtec works wonders, which it's been known to do in the past, and to make the most of this my least favorite season.

*I think my big boy has pink eye. Poor baby. It hasn't slowed him down any, his right eye just looks yucky and is almost swollen shut. Thankfully we have Austin's 6 month appointment in the morning so Garrison can tag along and hopefully get checked out too.

*Terrell and I have been putting together a home improvement list. Very exciting! Our house is almost 12 years old and some little things need to be done. We just decided that if we put off some of these things then we'll be faced with some issues down the road that could cost us. So we're being proactive instead. My husband is now in the process of becoming a "do it yourself-er". I'm so proud. He already re-caulked our shower all by himself. And he did a great job!

*Speaking of home improvement. We finally got around to having the stone around our fireplace replaced. When we moved in, the paint on the stone was chipping away/peeling off and since then it's just looked crummy. My in-laws gave this to us as an anniversary gift at least 2 years ago. We just had a lot of trouble finding someone who knew how to remove the old stone without removing our entire mantle.

Here it is before:

And here it is after:

HUGE thanks to Terrell's parents for such a beautiful gift!! We love our new granite fireplace!

*Lately I've been highly motivated to start working out. Not because I want to lose weight, but because I want to be in shape and feel healthy. Between my sweet tooth and big appetite and total lack of physical activity (if you don't count keeping up with my busy boys), I just feel out of shape (which I am) and a little unhealthy too. Sooo, I've read about girls who wake up and go to the gym or start their day with a run and how much better they feel and how great they sleep and how it gives them energy, etc. The gym isn't an option for me and neither is running in the dark of the morning by myself, so I decided I'd just wake up and do my "at home fitness" routine. I tried it out yesterday morning at 5:45 and it just about made me sick. Don't think that was supposed to happen. Maybe it was my empty stomach in the wee hours of the morning or the fact that I started doing jumping jacks while half-asleep. Not sure. This morning I wasn't up for it because of allergies but maybe I'll try again tomorrow. I can't give up after 1 day!!

*Terrell and I just made our first batch of homemade laundry detergent. One of my friends makes and uses it and convinced me to try it out. We use the Duggar's recipe. Yay for finding another way to save money!

*My littlest man, Austin, is back to having trouble with naps. He still takes one in the morning and one in the afternoon, but his morning nap is only 40 minutes to an hour and his afternoon nap is sort of inconsistent. He goes to sleep easily but wakes up after 45 minutes or so and then usually cries for a little bit before going back to sleep. I think we're just too busy for him. Garrison's routine was rarely interrupted and he was a great napper, and still is. Poor Austin has to sleep in the car and on the go a lot. But since gas prices are so crazy, we'll be staying home a lot more I hink.

*It's past time for me to do another "Day in the Life" post. I have yet to do one since Austin arrived. Shame on me. I do think about it, but after half the day is already by me. Maybe that's a goal for next week. My previous day in the life posts are some of my favorites because I love looking back at how I spent a regular day with my little man.

*That's all for now. Getting ready for bed in a little bit. These allergy issues have taken a toll on me today. But I still hope to wake up early and work out in the morning. It's going to be tough though.

A Love of Reading

My firstborn loves to read and be read to. And it makes me SO happy. The teacher in me cheers every time I hear him reading a book over the montior after he wakes up in the morning, or when he brings me a book and asks me to read to him, or when he tries to read to or show Austin a book, and when he gets excited about going to the library. It really is music to this teacher turned stay-at-home mama's ears. A love of reading is a huge indictator of future success with reading in school-age children. Especially boys. Boys need to find enjoyment in reading so that they'll slow down long enough to read.

We started reading to Garrison before naps and bedtime when he was 4 or 5 months old. And that's all it took. Reading aloud to him on a regular basis instilled a love of reading and an enjoyment of books and stories and pictures and all things new. So we've started reading aloud to Austin too. It's true that you can never start too early. (Plus I am oh so sensitive about my baby boy and determined to "provide" for him in the same way I did/do for Garrison.)

Reading has had such a positive impact on Garrison... his vocabulary, memorization, comprehension and ability to recall events/facts/details. Plus our board books have played a big role in him learning his colors, letters, numbers, shapes, etc.

Which means I'm now slightly obsessing over making sure Austin loves books and being read to as well. Which means I'm trying my best to make sure we're reading aloud to him a few times a day, or at least giving him a cloth book to play with and put in his mouth. Ha! And, since the boys and I spend most of our days together and Garrison is at an age in which he needs to be engaged in something all the time or he'll get into trouble (or just get bored and drive me crazy), I've enlisted the help of big brother. Because big brother is an expert on books and "reading".

He loves reading/retelling stories from his Bible

He loves reading to Austin in his lap (Okay so that only happend once. Ausin is too heavy mama!)

Being scholarly and reading books at the library

Showing Austin a book and "reading" to him

Reading with a flashlight at bedtime

And reading to Austin in the kitchen while I cook

Sometimes I let myself feel really guilty about not spending/having enough one-on-one time with Austin. I wonder if he'll get all the instruction and learning opportunities I provided for Garrison. I actually let myself stress over things like whether he'll love to read or not. But then I think about the opportunities he's provided with as the second child. The interactions he has with a big brother who's willing to take the time to read to him and show him different books. The example he has in seeing Garrison do different things, like reading or looking at pictures in a book. And I relax a little. Baby boy is going to be just fine. A love of reading is slowly but surely being established. And he's only 6 months old. I think it's okay to not obsess over it at this point.

A Lesson Learned

Yesterday, every member of the Selph household (except Bailey) set out for a morning of shopping and family fun. A morning of browsing through our favorite "baby clothes" stores while locating and purchasing, with the use of coupons, precious and adorable Easter outfits. (I think precious and adorable mean the same thing. But still, they needed to be both. Without breaking the budget of course. And possibly matching. How cute!? And on sale would be a bonus.)

The boys would enjoy browsing through the stores as well and display wonderful behavior. We would make fast time because everyone knows all the stores are overflowing with tons of sweet little boy clothes to choose from, so finding the perfect outfits would take no time. We would be back home after a successful trip in time for lunch and naps. Yes, the plan was in place and diaper bag packed. We were on a mission and we were ready.

(Saturday was one of our only opportunities to shop for Easter outfits, plus a few warm weather items for Garrison... because Austin already has a few that used to be big brother's. Every weekend until the 3rd weekend in April is pretty full. We're having ourselves one busy spring.)

Here comes the reality check...

We arrived at our first stop to find that the doors didn't open until 10:00am. Hasn't this happened to us before? So we waited in the car about 8 minutes, while an impatient 3 year old became whiny and annoying. Which left us scratching our heads because he usually isn't whiny at all. It's actually pretty rare for him. Walked in as soon as the doors opened, browsed around, found a total of 1 Easter outfit option for 1 of the boys. Left our first stop empty handed.

Arrived at our second stop. 3 year old still isn't in the best of moods. And he's started sneezing. A lot. We get out of the car and realize we don't have a stroller for Garrison. Oh boy. He helped stroll Austin around and did okay for the first 3 minutes. Browsed around and found a total of 0 options. Zero. Garrison starts to struggle with staying with the stroller/holding a hand. Has a talking to in the fitting room. Make that 2 talkings to. Oh dear. Left our second stop empty handed.

Arrive at our 3rd stop. But not before Austin realizes he doesn't see anyone he recognizes and starts crying a pitiful worried cry. (Austin now sits in the stroller facing forward, so he can't see me because I'm pushing him. Terrell and Garrison went down the escalator because that's Garrison's new favorite thing.) Bless his heart. But on a way happy note, we browse around and find matching Easter outfits for both boys, plus they're on sale, plus we make use of a coupon. Success at last!

Go back to the car, change Austin in the back back and head to our 4th stop. Terrell runs in by himself to pick up diapers and wipes. Garrison is still pretty whiny and definitely not feeling his best. Austin is getting hungry. So we make the decision to eat an early lunch so Austin can have his bottle... because baby food wasn't an option. I didn't pack any. Stink.

Enjoy a nice lunch while Austin takes about 2 ounces from his bottle. Stink again. We didn't have a way to warm it up so I'm assuming the temperature had something to do with it because he's been taking a bottle really good for me.

Get back in the car to head to our last stop. Both boys are irritable and ready to be home. We have success at our 5th stop and make it fast because everyone is melting. The car ride home is not fun. At all.

When we get home, Austin is asleep but not for long. He's hungry again. Garrison has a huge meltdown because he's tired, and he's been in trouble off and on the whole day, and he might be coming down with something. And finally, 2 hours after arriving home and dealing with drama and tears and exhaustion and ill-pills, all the boys in the house are asleep. Including daddy. And mama just enjoys the quiet.

And the lesson we learned? In the words of my husband, "Next time we just need to get a baby-sitter." Amen to that.

What Garrison's Had to Say Lately

I really like keeping up with and recording what my little man says. And this is the perfect place to do that. Thank goodness for blogging! You just never know what's going to come out of his little mouth. Some days I'm cracking up. Other days I'm reprimanding. Lots of days I'm shaking my head in amazement while cracking up. He is such a sponge soaking up every little thing he sees and hears. So, here's a short list of what my oldest has had to say lately....

*The other night he wasn't listening and obeying so well, so he was on the verge of getting a "talking to" and facing some consequences when he said, Why you got your mean face mama? I don't like your mean face. Get your right face on. Oh my. Now, he's said something like this to me before and I maintain my composure and address the reason for my "mean face" plus his "talking back". However, this was the first time Terrell had heard it. He started cracking up and laughing silently which made me lose my composure, turn my head away, and start laughing silently too. Somehow, having daddy present made things go terribly wrong.

*Garrison has asked before about why Terrell has to go to work and we've explained that daddy works so we'll have money to buy the things we need and do fun stuff sometimes and have toys, etc. Well, a couple days ago I was talking to Garrison about Nana and Pops coming over to keep him and Austin because I had to "work" (doing a Premier show) and daddy would still be at work too. He said, Are you goin to work to get some money? I said yes. He said, Oh. You gon get a liddle money and daddy get a lot a money? Compartively speaking, I think that sums it up.

*A few nights ago Garrison was feeling famished. Supper wasn't ready and he couldn't bear to wait another second before filling his empty tummy with something. Anything. But a sucker leftover from Valentine candy sounded the best. Mama, can I haf a soccer? No, not before supper. But my tummy is hungry for one. I jus need a liddle somethin before supper. Whadabout you jus break a off a liddle piece. Dat be a good idea. He's got some mad negogiation skills.

*One day last week I was folding clothes in Austin's room while he played with some toys in his crib and Garrison helped me... but mainly played in the room with us. Out of the blue Garrison decided he wanted to play with the toy Austin was playing with and tried to take it from him. I explained that Austin was playing with it, he couldn't take it away, etc. when Garrison started to get a little upset. And determined. So he said, Let's ask Ausin can I play with dat toy. Then in a sing-song voice, Ausin can I play with dat toy? Oh. He said I can.

*Somehow, much to my dismay, we've embarked upon story telling... as in not telling the truth. Man. Really was hoping we had a few more years before dealing with that issue. So we've been talking about being honest and telling the truth and how that's what God wants us to do, etc. So a week or 2 ago, after having had the honesty talk, Garrison was throwing something (or doing something I didn't want him to... can't really remember) and I asked him to stop. He obeyed me and proudly announced, I am bein honest! Okay, we may need to revisit our talks and go over the definition of "honest" again.

*This morning we were in the car driving to Conyers when I had a few phone calls in a row. Garrison did really good and was very quiet almost the whole time I had to be on the phone. There was only one time he interrupted and said mama 3 times in a row. Once I was finally done with all my phone conversations I thanked him for doing such a good job while I was on the phone. He said, Oh. You welcome. I jus had one issue while you was on da phone. I wasn't aware "issue" was in his vocabulary. Cracked me up.