Life Lately

Life changes so fast. I knew that it would change when we had two kids instead of just one, but I didn't really know, you know? How could I really, until it happened. Of course people would tell me "It's going to be hard" and try to prepare me for what to expect. I truly appreciate all the advice and wisdom I've received!

But there is so much that has to be learned and understood just by going through it. And although it's been challenging, it's been so enjoyable. I keep thinking, Is this my life? Is this really what I get to do every day? Don't get me wrong, I am realistic and there are moments when I just want to call a time out and walk away, have some time to myself or just get away for a refresher. But overall I am truly over joyed right now by the place I am in this life.

I have felt a new motivation for taking care of my family. Being pregnant and taking care of a baby was tiring and drained me pretty much every day. I struggled with feeling like cooking or cleaning or doing anything productive for my household. A lot of days it was all I could do to make sure Little Lady's basic needs were met. But since Little Dude was born, I've had this drive that has surprised me. I'm so grateful for it! I love cleaning up each evening and thinking about the day spent playing on the floor with my almost toddler. And thinking of meals to cook using up food in the fridge so it doesn't go to waste. I've never been a big leftover person and I usually cook just enough for one meal but we have been living off of left overs, of meals I made double batches of and froze, since we came home from the hospital. And it feels good.

It feels good to know that I'm providing healthy meals for my family and saving the valuable dollars my husband works hard to earn for things we need or things we'd like, or just to simply stretch a dollar to see how far it will stretch.

Another challenge that has been fun to tackle is finding activities for Little Lady to do. With the winter months coming up and now having two in tow I know we will be spending a lot more time at home then we did last winter. With an extremely active toddler I really want to have lots of different activities for her to do and learn from. I'm planning on limiting her 't.v.' time {really it's video's because we don't have cable} to no more than an hour a day, if we even have that. So I need activities that she can do herself and others that we can do together. {In fact, if you have any suggestions PLEASE leave them in the comments!!}

I've gathered a few ideas so far and they are working great!

• Sensory tub: using beans, dry noodles, oatmeal or corn meal with cups and spoons.
• Homemade play dough: We are going to make some tomorrow with orange food coloring and pumpkin pie spice for a festive effect!
• Bean bags: I made these today using some of the beans we have for her sensory tub! I'll have her practice tossing them into bowls of different sizes and distances.
• Coloring: I found a giant coloring book with big pictures and some fat crayons that she can practice holding. We've already been working on master pieces together!
• Making pudding: I've let her 'help' cook and bake lately but letting her do it all is so much fun for her and fun to watch! Instant pudding and she gets to mix it on her own and then 'play' in the results :)
• Puzzles and shape fitting toys: She has an alphabet puzzle that we usually play with at least once a day. It's her favorite!
• Letting her do things for herself: Just simply letting her do more on her own, like eating with silverware and feeding herself. She is loving eating yogurt out of the cup!!

* Please leave any other suggestions in the comments! Thanks :D

Something else we discovered and plan on making a regular activity on Monday's as a family, an indoor play place! It's called Little Monkey Bizness and it is so awesome! We only pay for Little Lady but parents are encouraged to play along with the kids and the age cut off is 7 years old, so there aren't 'big' kids running over the little ones. They have play equipment for little littles and stuff for the bigger littles too, as well as a crawler area for the itty bitty littles! We practically had the place to ourselves and Little Lady had a blast!! We loved that it wore her out as well as gave her a great day of fun and entertainment. 

We've made frequent trips to the park while daddy's been home with us and that pretty much makes her day as well. She just loves being outside and I know it's hard for her to be home and inside several days in a row. But it's becoming difficult to go out places with her lately, not just because we have two now, but because she is going through a "I'm going to test all the limits mommy and daddy have set and then some" phase and it's about all I can do to make it to the car with out breaking down crying sometimes. I hope she out grows this phase quickly, I am really missing my sweetheart baby girl.

But she really enjoys going to the park, almost as much as she loves going to the park with mommy AND daddy and getting DOUBLE the attention! There's no doubt she has been needing that extra attention lately to reassure her insecurity. We are doing our best to give her that extra attention she needs right now. It must be hard to have such a big change and not be able to fully express yourself or to completely understand what's happening. But she is doing great, all things considered!

So that's a little bit of life lately. It's crazy, but it's real. Wouldn't change it for the world. :)