About a month ago I went to my brother Josh's house for about a week. His wife Tiersha, at this point, was in the hospital waiting to have her baby. She needed to be monitored for her heart problems and was scheduled to have a C-section at 32 weeks to get the baby out before her valve in her heart started leaking too much. My mom was there with their daughter Charlotte helping take care of her while Josh was still working. I got there on Wednesday night, a week before the C-section would happen, so Josh was there part of the time but then also left to be at the hospital permanently before baby came. Unfortunately, he left prematurely because there was a scare the baby had to come sooner because her heart rate dropped, but luckily it bounced back and all stayed well. Anywho, I know my Mom and Charlotte were thrilled to have the extra company, as we were excited to see them too, so it all worked out great. The kids were mostly angels in the car on the way there (8.5 hours total including stops), with the exception of Maeve losing it because we didn't have a certain library book she wanted (come to find out later we did have it all along.... of course) and also losing it another time when her shoe started coming off and I couldn't fix it for her. Rowan was an angel baby up until we were 40 minutes away when he was just done at that point and ready to be out of his seat. Without any prompting from me, cute Maeve started saying to him "it's okay Rowan, we're almost there bud!"- always looking out for her bro. Definitely the most eventful part of the trip was when I panicked and started crying on one of our stops because I had seriously thought I lost my wallet on our previous stop. I don't think I've ever had such a scare when it comes to losing something so important, so I was beside myself knowing it would not be easy to get it back if that were the case. Maeve saw me upset and said "it's okay baby!"- hahaha - such a sweet girl. Luckily I had it all along! I also nearly had a fender bender towards the end, which was also quite alarming, but luckily came to screeching halt just in time. Phew. I was more than ready to arrive when the drive was over, all things considered, and Maeve and Charlotte were on cloud nine to be together again. Those girls really do love each other, despite not being super close in age (2.5 years apart), and I love that. Maeve talks about her a lot, even at home. Maeve was also THRILLED to see Gram and had also been talking about her a lot leading up to the trip and would do a happy excited dance at the thought of seeing her. Needless to say, we had a fun week and enjoyed the change of pace away from home and I know Adam enjoyed some peace and quiet. Now for some pictures!
On our way!
Maeve was happily copying my faces haha
Our first day there we went to the Children's Discovery Museum, which is seriously awesome. It's not super huge but yet has tons of really fun stuff so perfect for ages 2-6. If we had one near us I would totally get a membership. I think we stayed for 3 hours and the girls could have stayed longer! Maeve was in heaven, so much so that she refused to stop having fun to be in this picture. Ha!
As you can see, they loved knocking on this door and letting each other in on repeat!
It entertained them for a while!
Cousins!
Had to include this one cause Maeve's face! Haha!
They took at least 3 baths all together and had the time in their lives - look at this sweet boy! Looking extra cute and cozy after one of his baths
My Mom pulled out the cupcake game and taught Maeve how to play it and man was she obsessed with it. And so good at it too! We now own it at our house and she still loves it just as much.
Look where Gram put Rowan - I about died when she pointed him out to me in there! Ha! Perfect cushioning for that sweet little bum. He was actually happy in there for more than just a few minutes hahaha.
OMG. Maeve was so jealous of Charlotte's baking attire that Gram had to get creative and still find a hat for her to wear. I am DYING over this picture. Doesn't get cuter than that.
They were so excited to bake these cupcakes!
Another day playing the cupcake game showing off their cupcakes! This pic is great, especially because of the whale between Charlotte's legs - not sure what is going on there haha
Oh yeah! Cool baby!
Josh and I were going to take the girls to see Peter Rabbit, but the scare with the baby happened right before that so he booked it to the hospital a couple hours before the movie. I still took them and they loved it! I mean, who cares how good the movie is with those seats!
Love these girlies! Maeve was so cute at the end saying "It was so funny, I have to go home and tell Gram that it was so funny!" Sure enough, that was the first thing she said when she walked in the door.
I talk about how much Charlotte loves Maeve, but she didn't love Rowan any less! She was so excited to see him every morning and would often come into my room first thing and hang out with us all in bed for just a bit while I would feed him and snuggle a little longer. She LOVED holding him and would carry him around like it was nothing - problem is he is pretty heavy, but she managed and he didn't mind one bit haha! This pic kills me.
One afternoon we spent some time outside cause it was so nice (don't ask about the winter coat on Maeve ha) These girls were SO cute and killing us because Charlotte would ride her bike slowly and hold Maeve's hand and Maeve would walk next to her. Had to document. It was so fun to see Maeve just jump right in with the neighborhood kids. Can't wait till we're in a little neighborhood ourselves!
We went to Chick-fil-A twice for lunch and here they are sitting in the play area. I about died when I got these pictures. SO CUTE!
Seriously?? ALL THE HEART EYES.
We went back the Discovery Museum one more time before I left and Maeve had a ball dressing up. She was killing it in this Tinkerbell outfit.
It's funny how peer pressure works with kids. Charlotte isn't a huge fan of veggies or yogurt normally, but she watched Maeve eat both happily and soon enough not only ate them, but was happy to eat them!
Before Josh left, him and I did go see The Greatest Showman and it was so great! So many people hyped it up and I was excited to see it and I can now understand all the hype. The music was amazing and the dancing and acrobatics just made me want to be apart of something awesome like that. Maybe I should learn how to dance in my 30s?! I think I'm onto something with that one. The day before I left, Wednesday March 7th, as planned, Tiersha did deliver Naomi!! Lots of prayers were uttered before that day and we were so relieved that everything went so smoothly. Naomi was a tiny 4 pounder, but SO cute and has been doing so well!! It's been a long time since I've had a new niece (or nephew) since I've been having the babies lately, and I'm so happy to have another!! Our drive home the next day was a breeze and felt shorter than the way there thankfully - I was shocked too because Maeve managed to entertain herself without ANY screens up until the last hour of the drive. Say what?? Miracles still happen. Now I know to push off on giving her the kindle until she asks for it. Small victories people!
Adam turned the big 3-0 on January 30th, so not only was it big due to his 20s coming to an end, but it was also his Golden birthday! I knew I wanted to something out of the ordinary to celebrate, so I thought of going to do an escape room with our group of friends we've made since moving to Nashville. Which, to go off on a tangent for a sec, I must say we are so grateful for these friends. Not only are they couple friends that we can hang out with on the weekends and eat good food with or do game nights, but the girls are the best because we've gotten together lots on weekdays for play dates, trips to the zoo, and to even to do DIY home decor projects. Danica and Chad, in particular, have a daughter and son almost the same exact ages of Maeve and Rowan so they are all best buds now, especially the girls. I've dropped the kids off at Danica's house a couple times for appts and Danica brought hers to me for an interview once and it's so nice that it just means more fun for everyone! We really lucked out with this ward here and it's just what we needed while we have these little ones. Anywho, tangent over. I talked with the girls and everyone was game and we planned to get babysitters and go on the weekend right before Adam's birthday to get Indian food and then do an escape room. The day of Danica texted me saying that her little boy Jackson had thrown up a couple times. Come to find out he had the stomach flu and they couldn't come anymore. So we rescheduled for the following Friday. Everyone started dropping like flies and when next Wednesday rolled around I kid you not, the other three couples we planned to go with ALL had the stomach flu going through their houses. If you know, I hate throwing up, so I said how about we give it a couple weeks and get everyone SUPER healthy again before we do this thing. So almost a month later (we did remain untouched from that bug, many praises for that), we FINALLY enjoyed the night out together. Ironically after having to reschedule twice, the night of there was some confusion with my babysitter and Danica and I ended up being 45 minutes late to dinner and in those 45 minutes Rowan threw up on my pants twice and it wasn't until the 3rd pair of pants that I was in the clear. Luckily it wasn't the stomach flu for him, and we still made it out alive to join the fun. Dinner was delicious, company was great, and I must say the escape room was fun but boy was I confused and at a loss of what to do about 80% of the time haha. Luckily there were some other brains in the room so we successfully escaped! Adam had the time of his life and that's what matters most.
I wish the lighting was better, but here's the group at dinner! Left to right: Andrea and Tyler, Haleigh and James, and Chad and Danica after me and Adam
Rachel and Sam couldn't join us for dinner, but did the escape room with us (the others had to bail to go back to babies and homework)
The guy at the place took a boomerang for us and I totally love it! Adam and Sam definitely win 😂
Every now and then I just have to dump some photos on here. For any of you that do look at this blog, it's probably what you like the most anyway. Sometimes I get random cute photos here and there that don't merit individual posts per se, but are too good to go unshared. So here we go.
The first batch are from a few weeks ago when we spent 2 days back to back at a playground when the weather was insanely warm. It was pretty awesome, we were all in heaven!
Maeve was loving this special swing and said "I want Rowan to swing with me too!" - must say, it was the perfect fit 😍😍
Seriously how do you get a child to let go of irrational fears? This girl is scared of almost everything at the playground. I have to reconvince her every time we go to go down the smallest slides. And she will not do simple stuff on her own, like cross this bridge, that I know she can do and most other almost 3 year olds will do without hesitation! Send help. 😣
OMG. That tongue!
She didn't need as much convincing when she knew she could go down this little slide side by side holding onto Rowan's hand! 😍😍 They were loving it.
Maeve's face 😍 - love that these cute sibs have each other and how much they do love each other!
HIS FACE AND THAT CHUNK 😍😍😍
He was looooving the swing! Pure happiness.
And then there's these 2 photos unrelated but from the same day, because I mean obviously! His outfit says it all. He IS one handsome boy, especially in that romper with the hood on standing up like he's a big boy. Killin me.
And for some more random pictures from the last month or so...
They need to have this kind of cart in every single store, just saying! They're right there with me and can BOTH drive without a huge bulky cart (like the ones with the cars on the front of them) - yes please! Home Depot for the win!
Maeve has been nap free since sometime in January and since then only twice has she fallen asleep on the couch during the day - this happened to be the first time. I was blogging and the next thing I knew she was out cold next to me. It about killed me!
There are no words for this squishy happy face and little body in that romper. I love this picture.
I might love this picture more though because Maeve caught me taking a picture of him and had to hug him and get in on the action - he is loved so much by his big sis and it sure makes me happy! Plus, those cheeks and lips of his. Mmmm.
Scalloped edges for the win for church. Might be terrible lighting, but we're matching and she's my girl, so had to share. We could have gone outside for better lighting and avoided a selfie, but Sunday laziness got me.
The story behind this one is great - I'm sitting on the couch and look over to see Maeve lift up her water bottle off one of her books to neatly lay a tissue underneath and then set the bottle back down. I asked why she did it and she said "just in case the water spills, then it won't be bad"- haha. She is so concerned with being careful and not making messes and I know I made her that way 100%, potentially to a fault, but it was still too cute!
Adam is always winning all this random swag at work and here's one thing he just got - I forget what you call it, but it's like an inflatable thing you can lay on. I think it's best for the beach or park or something, but he had fun showing it to us after he got it. Maeve thought it was pretty dang cool!
She loved laying on it most with Daddy and Mommy and as per usual, wanted to pretend to sleep haha
Always happy with Daddy (and he's clearly always happy with her in his arms too) - all the heart eyes! Which I can't add because I'm doing this on the computer instead of my phone.
Took a turn with Mommy! We're both really good at pretend sleeping ;)
You'd probably be pretty oblivious to not know by now that Maeve's lovey is her white Lamby. She has loved that thing since she could grab onto it at 4 months old. This doggy is what was supposed to turn into Rowan's lovey and I've been kinda sad about it because no matter me always putting it in bed next to him he has not cared much about it. So when I found him asleep this one time actually holding onto it I about died. I sure hope he learns to love it just as much as Maeve loves Lamby - she'd die without that thing.
My sophisticated little loves looking quite dreamy for church! All the heart eyes. Unfortunately it was next to impossible to get them to both smile at the same time. I still deem this the best one of both of them!
Got a smile from Rowan and of course Maeve looks like a deer in the headlights. Ha!
K, had to include this one because Maeve's head tilt and flirty smile -- all the heart eyes man! Also, her wings were on point that day.
This is a great story on Maeve as well - I was showering and she comes in excitedly saying "Mommy! Mommy! I'm wiping!" A little nervous as to what that entailed, I asked "wiping what?" Her response, "the tables!" So I asked "with what?" and opened the curtain and she showed me a wet cotton pad I use to apply my freshener to my face everyday. She had gotten it wet with water from the sink and was wiping down our bedside tables. I think we've got a cleaner in the works, just like her Gram!
Our life might be pretty simple most of the time, but really we find a lot of joy from the little things with these sweet kiddos!
I'm already falling behind a little on posting. I blame it on the trip I just went on, which is also something I want to post about. 😥 If my kids would stop being so cute and funny, I would have less to post about. Rough life I've got. 😂
Anyway, now that Rowan is already 9 months old as of yesterday it's time for his 8 month post! My timing is impeccable. At least I took the pictures when I was supposed to. He was killing it in this photoshoot! Such a busy boy these days and the pictures sure show it. Feast your eyes on this chunky baby:
Seriously how is he so chunky? That last pic though. 😂 I'm also laughing that I happened to get that spit up in motion. Yes he's still spitting up! Just a couple weeks ago he made me change my pants 3 times before leaving the house. It's as if he was saying "nope, those ones aren't good enough, try again!" - thanks for keeping me fashionable, little boy. 😉 Other tidbits at 8 months:
1. He's moving around a lot, just not crawling yet. Whether it's rolling or scooting, he's getting where he wants to go! He is really good at getting into sitting position from laying down now. Just like with Maeve it, it totally threw me off that first time I went in to get him after a nap and found him sitting up! Here's the picture I snapped:
I'm not sure if he's more mad about his pink sheets or that I wasn't picking him up 😂 - seriously though, the spit up and peeing through his diapers. It never ends.
2. His favorite place to hang out is under our coffee table in our living room. Except for when he gets himself intertwined too much and feels stuck, then he's not too happy ha! The little leg wrap around in these pics below kills me.
3. His newest trick is making a smacking sound with his lips and it's too cute. Here's a brief clip of it!
4. He is a belly sleeper through and through. This makes me kinda sad in that I never find him sleeping in any other cute positions - it's always the same. Once Maeve started rolling around I always found her in the cutest new sleeping positions and I loved it. But this kid just loves his belly too much. Luckily he does stick his bum in the air sometimes to somewhat shake it up!
5. Speaking of sleep, he tricked me for about a week at 6.5 months when I sleep trained him into thinking he knew how to sleep through the night. After a week of doing well he reverted back to waking up crying for hours. The boy is stubborn and I'd give him 1-2 hours before breaking down and giving him the binky. The hope was that surely soon enough he'd stop crying sooner than the 1-2 hour mark so that he wouldn't need the binky anymore. But man, it just never happened. Night after night he would still cry and cry. Soooo as hard as it was to ditch my mentality of 100% binky free by 6 months like with Maeve, I decided (painstakingly, for real) to just let him have the binky for sleep still. I hate it because I feel like he won the binky back, but I figure if he just can't self soothe yet maybe a couple more months will do the trick and at least I'm not feeding him in the middle of the night. Baby steps with this boy. Maeve spoiled me with her ability to quickly adapt to anything and everything (and still does!) but I'm learning every child is different and I have to accept that.
Those are the main noteworthy things I can think of to comment on. He might be harder than his sis in some ways and a little more high maintenance at times, but still has a sweetness about him that we love and his smile and laugh make anything better, so we'll keep him! Here's to 8 months with this little dude shaking up the mix!!
