Oh me, oh my! Time sure does fly!

Where have I been? You say. Chasing two toddlers day after day!

Ok I'm done rhyming, ha ha! Seriously though, I have been so busy raising kids, this blog is just not my top priority, which is a shame because I'd really like to get into it more. I love writing and I've forgotten that. I've forgotten many things about myself. All there seems room in my brain for is centered around children. I read so many parenting articles, constantly worrying if I'm doing good enough, it's a little overwhelming. I try so hard to be a good mother, a better one every day. I often forget to be a regular person, a good partner, a good friend. Once the whirlwind of the day settles down I feel as though there isn't much time left for me. Which is taking it's toll. I get grumpy and frustrated easily, I get exhausted, but the kind that sleep wont cure. Only a good dose of mommy time-out will fix! I very much need to take more time to do things I enjoy. So, here I am! Prattling on to you interwebs!

I suppose I should start off with an update. Since the last time I was here was a year ago!

Allorah is two years old! Ahh! I keep asking myself where did my baby go?! She is just so smart! She seems a lot older than two, she is a lot bigger than two, too! She is wearing a 4T and is as big as her almost three year old cousin! She is amazingly sweet as well. So polite, and minds SO well. She is a girly girl, she loves to dress up and wear tutus, her favorite color is pink. She loves to color and watch the movie Frozen. She loves music; singing and dancing. She adores her big brother. Just an absolute blessing to my heart and our lives.

Jordan will be 4 at the end of July! He is so grown up now it makes my heart hurt. He is such a headstrong, courageous, sweet, and funny little man. He loves Thomas the Train, he always has, but its turned into an obsession really ha ha. He can play trains all day long. He loves cars, and dirt, mud, chasing girls around on the playground... Ha. He will be starting preschool this fall, which is... I have no words. I cannot believe it. We registered him earlier this week and it is all so surreal! How do you do it? Just let your baby go and enter the world? I know I'm going to cry. Not even because I will be 9 months pregnant by then either!

This is Jordan in a nut shell.
My silly guy.

Yep, we are going to have another baby! I am 25 weeks along, due September 9th, a week before my 30th birthday! It seems fitting I would squeeze 3 kids into a 5 year time frame. I got pregnant with Jordan not long after I turned 25. This will most likely be the last one. She is kicking right now. Jordan keeps asking if the baby popped out yet ha ha! Allorah lifts my shirt every time I mention the baby in my tummy. Like she will be able to see it. I think they will both do pretty well. After we all settle into a new routine. That is really the hardest part. Jordan is already a fantastic big brother so I expect he will continue to be. I can foresee some jealousy on Allorah's part though. Since we are having another girl!

I am pretty excited, although it really didn't matter to me what the sex of the baby was since I have one of each already. I still love girly things though, so we will have to see if she will be a girly girl too!


Well I suppose that is really all for now. I'll try and think of something creative to post, since yearly updates are kind of lame ha ha!

Allorah's Party (How I Did It - Part 1)

For her party I've really only been two places, oh wait scratch that, three ha ha!

Michael's Arts & Crafts, Party City, and Target.

At Michael's I bought several bunches of fake flowers (which were on sale 50% off), green covered wire; I bought two kinds, the kind in a coil, and a package of 12 or so that were single pieces pre-cut, and some green floral tape. Some bright colored vases (also 50% off), a couple pretty candlesticks (50% off), ribbon, a couple garlands of flowers, a couple of those stretchy crochet headbands and different colors of tulle. It all came to about $60

 

  

At Party City I bought decorations; paper lanterns, tissue pom poms, tablecloths, paper plates, iridescent tissue paper, fairy bubbles, clear plastic containers, butterfly fabric confetti, tissue paper, balloons, a butterfly cookie cutter, a piping tip, and cupcake liners. This was my most expensive haul! $100 for everything.

At Target I found fairy wings for a dollar that were way cuter than the ones at the Dollar store, and fairy wands as well. Everything here was a dollar! The crowns were from Joanne's Fabrics. Everything else Target.

Here is a tutu I made adult size, it's not perfect by any means ha ha! (Yes us big girls get tutus too!)

Allorah is getting a rainbow tutu for the party, everyone else is getting solid colors.

Here she is wearing the pink tutu I made for her birthday photoshoot, I made the 1 prop in the back out of cardboard, dollar store pink wrapping paper, and hot glued tulle around the edges.

The flower crown was made with the with materials stated above, the pre-cut size wire was the perfect size for her head.

Allorah's Fairy Party Inspiration!

My little fairy princess!

 

In my wildest dreams this is what her party will look like!
I hope it looks even half this good haha!

 

 I am working on tutus and flower crowns as we speak...

I already have most of the decorations

 

 

If you have any other suggestion, tips, or ideas please let me know!!
I want it to be perfect!!

(All images were found on Pinterest and belong to respective copyrights)

Be Mine!

Just some photos!

Life is good!

Well it's been a few months now so I suppose I should update!! 

My children are either napping or being calm at the moment so it seems like a good time...

Being a mom of two has been wonderful, frightening, overwhelming and mostly AMAZING!

I love them more than any words could ever describe. Unless you are a mom (or dad) yourself and know what I mean... When you look into those beautiful eyes, and they look back radiating love and trust. You would have to be a robot to not be effected by that! I've never been as tired as I am in my life, but somehow it doesn't (usually) bother me. I get swept up in our day to day lives, and by the time I know it they are asleep and I'm laying there in a semi-state of shock. Every day is a battle and an adventure and I feel so lucky that I get to stay home with them. Watching them grow and learn. I try very hard to stay in the moment and cherish everything they do, even when I'm about to lose my mind. I've learned so much from them. Patience being the main thing, and even though I lose that patience sometimes, I'm pretty proud of myself over all. I realize how much like my father I am that way.... See, my dad stayed home with me and my sister. So I realize I'm more like him every day, sometimes that really bothers me, but mostly it makes me appreciate my dad so much. I'm fighting back tears as I write this. He did a great job with us and I never gave him the credit he deserved back then. I've had a hard time with my father in the past, but all I feel towards him now is admiration; taking care of two little girls, when that's not a stereotypical "man thing". That is pretty big. I didn't realize until I had kids of my own just how much I love and appreciate my dad!

Speaking of, I found this picture yesterday, and if this picture doesn't just capture my dad completely then I don't know if one will! This is how I will always remember him. For sure.

Anyway, I will get back to my babies now.

Allorah is 9 months old now, I swear I just blinked and now she is almost a whole year old?! What?!
I'm already planning her party too, she is going to be a fairy princess! I might make another post with all my ideas. Just to keep them in one place... and maybe give someone else ideas too!

She has just been so delightful. The happiest little baby you can imagine. She pretty much only fusses when she is hungry or tired! Piece of cake this one!! She wakes up happy, ready to greet me with her sweet little smile. She just melts my heart. I've dreamed of her for so long, and she has lived up to every dream I've had since I was a little girl myself. She is so precious to me. I couldn't ask for better kids! (Let me try and remember this when they are both tugging at my pants and whining ha ha.) Seriously though, I know how blessed I am. I thank the Gods every day. I sometimes worry about what heartbreak lies ahead for me because I've been so blessed, I don't think it can last! All I want to do is be the best mom for these babies.

I had a dream the other night that we were all at the zoo and Jordan was trying to climb into the lion exhibit but instead the lion jumped out. I pushed him backward towards Michael, told them to run as the lion was lunging at us. I jumped so the lion would get me not them. As it clamped onto my leg I immediately started to gouge her eyes out. I don't remember much after that, but I think this is very powerful and symbolic. I woke up thinking I would do that for real in a heart beat. I will gouge out anyone or anything's eyes who would dare try to hurt my children. It gave me strength and courage. Sometimes I really doubt myself and my ability to be a good mom. It's all I've ever wanted, and I have really high expectations, so I'm pretty hard on myself.

I don't know how we got here, but I'm going to lighten it up again ha ha! And I wonder why Jordan is so mercurial! Ha ha! Speaking of, my sweet, brave little boy! He is 2 and half now. So full of energy, he sure wears me out!! His grandma calls him the energizer bunny. It's accurate enough. He can and does run circles around me. He has to start preschool soon!! I don't want him to because that means I have to face the fact that he is growing up! I want him to stay this little forever (and then again I don't!) He is so wonderful. I delight in him every day. The sun shines out of his sweet little face. He is the best thing that ever happened to me. He is so good with his sister, for a 2 year old, he has done amazingly well. He loves her, you can tell. He gets jealous of course, but he's honestly been great about being a big brother! I'm so very proud of him!

And here is my big boy! Looking so grown up now. It really breaks my heart a little. So bittersweet watching them grow...

Well that is pretty much all I have for now. I will try and post more...but I can't promise anything! I'm trying to raise babies and enjoy our life together! This is just here for me to document some of it!!

Thank you for taking time out of your busy life to read about mine!

Oh... Just some stuff!

Yeah right to trying to update weekly! If I had no time before I sure have none now! As I began typing this Jordan woke up from his nap. I'm sure Allorah will be up soon.

Surprise! I'm a big brother!

Yes, I got my girl! Allorah Jane was born April 24th at 5:35am!

I was in labor for just over 3 hours... it was crazy! I had planned to do a water birth and go natural, do breathing techniques, yada yada yada.

Well I went natural all right...

I was awakened at 2 am to my water breaking, on my due date, April 24th, both my children were very prompt. I stayed home for about an hour, then just felt the need to go to the hospital.
Luckily the hospital is only 10 minutes away.

We pulled up to the emergency entrance, the pain was really intense now. I could barely walk to the labor and delivery section, but I felt so weird riding in the wheel chair. We got signed in and set up in the delivery room, they stuck me with the big IV needle, and then I got to soak in the jacuzzi for a minute, literally I was already feeling the need to push but I couldn't believe that!

 I got out of the tub, and said I wanted an epidural (it hurt soo bad!) so the nurse went to call the anesthesiologist. They had to check me first though. I was 8cm!

Then suddenly a second later, I had to push! I really did not expect it to go THAT fast! I was actually trying not to push at first. I honestly did so horribly, I kept saying things like "Help me!" And "No! I can't do this!" I also said at one point "I really feel like I need to poop, what if I poop!" Ha ha! To be completely honest I didn't want to push so I wouldn't poo on the table. My midwife assured me it would be fine, even if I did, but I was still trying not to push. Then the midwife looked me in my eye and told me, "She has to come out NOW!" So I gave in, pushed a couple times and she was born! It just went so quickly... There wasn't even time to attempt to get a birthing pool set up. Let alone wrap my head around the entire thing.

But in the end it was all sooo worth it! We got to hold our baby girl!

I hadn't really decided if I was going to name her Allorah, I had another name I liked as well; but as soon as I held her in my arms I knew it was her.

We got to stay in the Children's part of the hospital which was beautiful! It had lovely light and it was huge!
The staff and nurses were great as well. They left us alone almost the whole time, ha ha!
It was pretty awesome.

Mt sister Katy and my niece Emily came to visit us!

I felt pretty good after having her, no problems, not much soreness. She blended so smoothly into the family it was like she had always been there. I know her being here has healed a part of me that was a little hurt from the first time around. She has been such a good baby so far! She has even slept through the night the last 3 nights! She is already almost 4 months old, time has just flown by!

It's been awhile!

I really want to start updating this more... but it's hard to find time! I will try to do it weekly, at least, from now on!

Some quick updates:

Jordan is 20 months old now! 

I can't really believe that... And he is going to be a big brother any day now! "She" is due April 24th. Yes they told me it's supposed to be a girl again, but this time around I'm quite skeptical! I have boy and girl clothes packed this time, as well as names for both. I am so ready to have this baby! I don't know if I can wait 8 more days... or more, if I'm overdue. 

I got a new camera too! I'm pretty excited about that! I'm not quite used to it yet, I don't get much time to play with it with my little monster running around! It's been quite a year with this little guy, who is almost 2! He's as wonderful as ever, so active and brave. He scares me a lot! Ha ha!

I don't know what I would do without him! He's just been such a joy in my life.

Now if only his "sister" would make her appearance!