Father's Day

I had a great day at home with the kids yesterday. We played games, read books, made chalk drawings outside, planted some flowers, and did chores. I even had time to catch up on True Blood while they took extra long naps! It seems like we finally got the swing of things right before I have to go back to work. Depressing. But at least it means I'll be going back on a good note, and it also means that all of our time together should get better and better from here on out. Although it's apparently too late for my brain since this is what happened when Griffin asked me for crackers this afternoon:

apparently I had milk on the brain.

We had another good weekend too. Drew went to see Man of Steel on Friday night as part of his Father's Day gift. On Saturday we did some more celebrating and gave Drew his other gift: The Fatherly Fun and Relaxation Kit, which consisted of Superman pajama pants, Mexican coke, squirt guns, his favorite snacks, a 5280 magazine, and some other stuff. This resulted in the most adorable water fight I've ever seen. Unfortunately, I only captured the last few minutes of it:

Saturday night we had Angela and Jacob over for dinner again. They insisted on bringing dinner, which was amazingly sweet of them- and we had a great time laughing and chatting. Griffin ADORES them, and was in heaven with all of the extra attention.

We did have a total moment of panic on Saturday. Griffin, Evvie and Drew were all laying in bed watching tv, and Griffin was laying above Evvie with his feet near her. Apparently he was flailing around a bit, so Drew asked him to calm down so that he didn't accidentally kick her. Griffin then decided to have a moment of defiance and kicked out again, and this time he connected with Evvie's head. I came running in the room to both kids screaming- Evvie out of pain and fear, and Griffin out of guilt and regret. Evvie is NOT a crier. Prior to this, the most I've ever heard her cry was after her 2 month shots, and that time she calmed down after a few minutes with lots of snuggles. This time, she cried and cried and CRIED no matter what I did. Hysterical cries punctuated with those stilted breaths you take in between sobs. It was awful and SO SCARY. Since she's still so little and he got her directly in the head, we were terrified that some permanent damage could have been done. I was literally minutes away from whisking her to Urgent Care when Drew reminded me that Angela was on her way over. She is a Nurse Practitioner with tons of pediatric experience. Evvie finally calmed down just as they arrived, and Angela gave her a once over and deemed her totally fine. HUGE relief! Although we've decided that Griffin probably knocked law school right out of Evvie's little brain.

Luckily, it WAS an accident and in all reality, Griffin is a total sweetheart. We all know he dotes on his sister constantly with random hugs, kisses, and loving words, but sometimes Drew and I get to be on the receiving end of his big heart too. Tonight I was out watering my plants, and then I came in and sat down next to him. He patted my leg and with a HUGE grin said "you're back, mommy- you're BACK!" and rested his head on my shoulder. Swoon.

And finally, here is grandma with her two babies from Fathers Day at my parents' house!

lately

I feel like we've had a lot going on lately, but I haven't had any real time to post! So this will kind of be a random smattering of where we've been lately.

In baby news, Evvie has been doing awesome. She spends most of her day (when not napping) smiling, cooing, and doing this funny dance thing where she flails her arms and legs around. She has also already started occasionally sleeping through the night! The first time she did it, I thought something must be wrong, but she's done it several times since then, and her doc says she's perfect & we're just lucky! Speaking of her doc, she had her 2 month check up last week and she is getting HUGE! She is already 11 pounds, 8 oz and 23.5 inches long. She is in the 55th percentile for weight and the 85th percentile for height! She is also in the 85th percentile for head circumference- just like her brother. She is definitely part Clark. I gave her her first ever bottle of formula this weekend. Since she is starting school soon and I doubt I'll be able to pump enough to keep her entirely breast milk fed, I wanted to get her used to the idea. I was anticipating a struggle since she has never had it before, and she very rarely even uses bottles, but she sucked the entire thing down like a champ without batting an eye! Apparently she just likes to eat & doesn't really care where it comes from!

Griff has been doing some pretty funny things lately. For some reason, whenever he sees me nursing now, he says "Evvie is eating a burrito". SO WEIRD. No idea where he got that from! He is also currently fascinated by bugs. Whenever he sees ants, spiders, beetles, etc he gets up super close and tries to talk to them. I've been trying to teach him about bugs that bite & sting to keep him safe without discouraging him! That's proved to be pretty difficult. He still LOVES the outdoors and has never been so happy as when we've been redoing the backyard since we're out there all the time! He screams and cries when we have to come in, which means if we're just trying to run outside for something quick, we have to sneak out without him seeing us! He's also incredibly independent and wants to do EVERYTHING himself, which means that everything takes about a million times longer than it should... but at the same time, I'm really proud of how much he is doing on his own! He even helps me unload and load the dishwasher and put away laundry! Drew and I laugh about how "Dittin do it!!" is the most common phrase now heard in our house.

We're still slowly improving things around the house. Our newly seeded back yard has finally begun to sprout and we're amazingly happy about seeing patches of green instead of mulch when we look back there! It IS patchy though, so I think this is going to be an ongoing process and lots of work... but the end result will be worth it! I planted flowers, herbs & veggies in the front yard and so far everything seems to be doing well! We also happened upon an AMAZING find at a garage sale this weekend! We just happened to be driving by and we saw some really pretty stained glass hanging in the yard. I loved it so much that I stopped just to see how much they were asking, and it was a STEAL!! We got two mosaic panes that look like they were made for our front windows, and it changes the entire feel of the living & dining areas. We're thrilled!

it ties in all of our colors so perfectly. Swoon!

And finally, we are having a shed built in our back yard! Since we don't have a garage, we need one to store our lawnmower, bikes & garden tools. We have scoured Home Depot ads and Craigs List posts for something well made, but inexpensive and found nothing. But then I happened upon this sweet old guy who just loves wood working & does this in his spare time now that he's retired. He's not charging us much more than lumber & parts. He says he builds them like homes & 50 years from now it should still be in great shape! We plan on painting our entire house next summer, and we're doing a "test run" by painting the shed the colors we have picked out. We cant wait!

this is pretty much what we're having built, but ours will just be plain wood when we get it & we'll do painting ourselves

And we've managed to have time for lots of fun too! I went out to dinner & karaoke the other week with a bunch of the people I used to work with at DU. My good friend, Georgette has decided to go Rabbinical School, and this was her going away party! She has been one of the more influential women in my adult life and I hate to see her go, but I am SO happy that she has found her calling and is taking the steps to get herself there! We had a blast and I felt like I was 25 again. Good times.

with Jacqui & Georgette- two of my favorite people ever

Then this weekend, was full of action packed family adventures! Friday night was the first First Friday of the season in downtown Golden! We ate and drank, listened to bands, watched arial acrobats, and went on a horse and carriage ride! Griffin LOVED it!

on the carriage

Griff took this burger to town!

baby cowgirl 

relaxing with ice cream & shade

Saturday we went to the farmers market and had breakfast, bought a couple plants, and went on ANOTHER horse and carriage ride (Griff cant get enough of those horses). Then we went out to our meat market on the buffalo farm where Griff got to hang out with the buffalo and ponies for a bit. And THEN we took the light rail downtown to see a Rockies game!

light rail with my babies

the boys 

sweet girl 

with his Cracker Jack at the game!

Griffin LOVED the train and was SUPER well behaved the entire way to the stadium. Unfortunately, it was HOT and he had skipped his nap, so his attention waned PRETTY quickly once we were there. We still managed to stay until the 4th or 5th inning, and he slept like a rock that night. Sunday was more laid back. The boys took a trip to the pool while Evvie and I relaxed at home. Overall, it was a GREAT weekend!!

Today is one of the four last days I have alone with Evvie before I go back to work. I'm going through the same feelings I went through with Griff where I look at her and just want to cry because I cant stand the thought of having her in daycare every day. But at least this time I know I will get over it, and I know that in the long run it will actually be good for her. I just wish it made me feel a little better in the meantime.

missing my babies

We're not having any more babies, I know that for a fact. It's the best deciison for our family, and Drew has already taken care of the procedure to ensure it. That being said, I have LOVED having babies and once Evvie is older I will miss it immensely. There are good things that go along with kids getting older too- increased independence, more sleep, conversations instead of interpreting cries, more extra money... but there is such beauty and perfection in that warm little ball of love that curls into your shoulder and naps sweetly... or looks deep into your eyes and grins. I adore every coo, every look of wonder and surprise, every stretch, every squeeze of my finger in her tiny hands. It helps that Evvie is the World's Most Perfect Baby. Drew says I'm showing bias against Griffin, but it's true. I adored Griffin as a baby too, and since I had nothing to compare him to, I thought he was the epitome of perfection. I still have such fond memories of him as a tiny boy. But Griffin was also a difficult baby, whereas Evvie is definitely not.

I spent a good portion of my maternity leave dying to get back to work. I love my job and getting used to my new life as a mother of two was difficult. But now things have settled down and we have fallen into our groove, just as my return to work looms 2 1/2 weeks away. I know we still have several months of babyhood left, but I am feeling sad about how little of it I will get to experience myself from here on out. Soon, Evvie will be in daycare for much of the day. Shortly after that we will move her out of our room and into her nursery to sleep every night. And in between, she is getting bigger so quickly. I cant wait to see who she grows up to be,  in the same ways that I have such pride and awe in the boy Griffin is becoming. But soon, we will never have another tiny baby again, and I miss them so much already.