Happy Heart

This past weekend, I reconnected with a friend who I haven't seen in like 6 years.

Growing up we were inseparable. We went on vacations together, made music videos of ourselves as the Spice Girls [she was Sugar Spice & I was Pappy Spice- short for paprika], went and watched Titanic no less than 10 times in the movie theater, had countless sleepovers, you name it- we did it together. She was my third sister- she was a part of my family.

But college came and we slowly grew apart. Our lives took us in different directions and we weren't the best friends we were at one time. This distance only grew larger as more time passed. She didn't know my husband or my kids. She's never been to my house that Ryan & I built and [one of my biggest regrets] she wasn't at my wedding.

Thankfully she reached out to me last spring and we were on a mission to get together. It only took 9 months but we finally got together over the weekend. And for me, it was like no time had passed. It was the best friend that I always remembered sitting across the table. We talked, ate and drank wine [my 2.5 glass just about did me in!]. She met my husband and I re-met :) her boyfriend. Before we knew it, 4 hours had passed. Although we didn't want to leave, we had to get home to relieve our babysitters so we said our goodbyes & I'm really, really hoping we don't let another 6 years pass by.

Sometimes life just needs to bring you back to a 'good place' for all the stars to align. Thankfully we are there and I have a very happy heart.

Wordless Wednesday.

We're Tired.

I know what you're thinking..."Shut up Jenny, you have a three month old. Of course you're going to be tired!"

Well that's not exactly why we are so freaking tired. Sure, Hazel is still waking up once at night to eat- which isn't bad because Ryan has been taking that feeding for awhile now. But I still wake up when she starts to fuss. But Hazel isn't the problem.

It's Henry. My oldest, supposed to be sleeping all night, big boy. He has been potty trained for quite some time now- except at night. And lately we are involuntarily working on night time too I guess. He has been waking up at 4:30/5 every morning. He walks into our room [we took the gate off his door because he was climbing over it- not exactly safe when he was hoisting himself over by grabbing onto our 2nd story banisters. Like I had awful visions of him falling over as one of the banister things breaks- so we removed it] walks to Ryan's side of the bed and says he has to go potty. Of course, we don't tell him to just go in his Pull-Up because that would just erase all of our hard potty training work, so we bring him into the bathroom every morning half asleep.

Only he doesn't go back to sleep. We've tried everything to get him back to sleep. His bed, our bed, his floor, our floor, the couch, the hall [ok not the hall] he's awake. Wide awake. It doesn't matter when we put him to bed, he still wakes up at the same time to go to the bathroom.

We're tired. Very, very tired. Give me your best tricks of the trade to get our toddler back to bed after going to the bathroom. Pretty please :)

Hazel's Baptism

This past Sunday we celebrated Hazel's baptism...unfortunately we didn't get any photos of her actually getting baptized but we got some afterwards.

Her little gown fit perfectly- it was made by my Grammie and was worn by me and my 2 sisters when we were baptized. Hopefully one day all of our daughter's daughters will get to wear it :)









I will say...I am pretty glad I don't have any parties to plan for a long time. Getting ready for and hosting gatherings has gotten harder and harder with 3 kids. Thankfully my family is always willing and able to step in and help :)

Biggest Brother Day

Ryan & I decided a long time ago that we would plan special days for each of our kids to have alone time with me & Ryan.

First up was Henry...our biggest brother :) We started talking about his special day the week prior to get him all excited about it & by the time Saturday rolled around he was pretty darn pumped :)


We went to his special lunch out at Fridays. He got to order whatever he wanted...he picked a cheeseburger and fries with milk. He even ordered it himself- & you know me...I pretty much cried.




Then it was off to "Elmo Makes Music!"

He was a little apprehensive of the characters at first- he has a huge fear of anyone wearing any kind of mask. Like Holden can put a bucket on his head while they are playing and Henry will freak out. But a few minutes in, he was loving it & even touched a few of the characters [we were in the 4th row and had end seats & some of the characters came on the floor during the show- I would totally recommend floor seats!!]



























It was a total blast and we loved every second of it.

I can't wait to start planning Holden's 'Big Brother Day'!

RSV.

Well...let's just say I pretty much hate RSV.

Hazel started to get sick towards the end of last week and by Sunday her breathing was very labored and she had an awful cough. I packed her up and we went to Urgent Care who sent us to the hospital.

And there we stayed for 3 days/2 nights.






Thankfully she got better after each day there and we were finally released yesterday afternoon.

Henry & Holden were more than happy to see their Hazel!



There is nothing more terrifying and heart wrenching than seeing your wee baby gasping for breaths. We have been there with Holden last year (here and here)and I was really hoping we wouldn't have to go through it again.

But we did and I am now squeezing my little ones a little tighter.

Potty Trained.

Yup, my Henry is potty trained. It wasn't nearly as hard as I thought it would be but there were days where it was mighty stinky!

Basically all we did was put him in underwear, told him he is a big boy and can't wear diapers anymore and prayed. Thankfully, it worked.

We stared on a Thursday because he would be home with me for four days until daycare on Monday. Those first 4 days were filled with lots of accidents- both #1 and #2- the #2's had me thisclose to slapping those diapers right back on him but I knew we had to be consistent. We never showed that we were angry or upset when he had an accident- we just told him it was an accident and that it was ok because he was learning something new. He got pretty embarassed when he would do it so there was no point in making him feel worse than he already did as he had logs of poo stuck in his undies.

Monday came and his morning teacher looked terrified when we told her that Henry was in undies and there would be no more diapers- in all honesty I was terrified too. & let's just say he went through all 4 outfits and came home in random daycare clothes and a pull-up. But after that it was pretty smooth sailing. He did have a few accidents the second week of training but since they it has only gotten better. He has *maybe* had two real accidents in the last month- most of the time it's just dribble that requires a change of clothes :)

IIt's been pretty nice only having two in diapers instead of three!