My sister adores my kids. And I love it!

We are all feeling much much better in this household (thank GOODNESS) because having the sickies is NOT fun. I am SO thankful to be feeling 100% today! Here are some photos from last week…

Sibling Love

Kenley Ann

Cute peanut

She always has those two fingers in her mouth. I swear she will suck them right off one of these days.

That last outfit on Kenley is a 3-6 month, and the sleeper above? 6 months. Make. It. Stop.

You know the age old question when you start seriously dating someone- “Is there marriage in your future?”

Then you get married and people want you to have babies ASAP.

And once you have one, well, of course, they need a sibling.

You would think that those questions stop after 2 kids. I am here to tell you that they don’t.

I guess maybe because we have one boy and one girl that it would be expected of us to not have more children. Or maybe just the opposite because we have ALL THE STUFF. I don’t know what people think. But literally, I have been asked “so are you guys done having kids now?” about a 1,000 times since Kenley was born.

The answer? We don’t know. Personally, I can’t fathom doing this all over again. It was REALLY hard being pregnant and chasing a toddler, and the transition had it’s low points. I love love love my kiddos but seriously, it takes a toll. Parenting is HARD work. The hardest job ever. I’m just not ready to think about it.

I do remember after having Brayden that I definitely wanted more children, God willing. But after having Kenley, I didn’t feel that same urge to do it again. Brandon says I am not allowed to make this decision while I am still nursing (he makes a valid point) but right now, I am leaning more towards the being done with two side of things. Brandon wants more kids but I am in NO rush to think about it. None.

I know God has a plan for our family, but until that plan is shown, I will just be enjoying our family of 4.

I turned to Brandon the other morning while we were in the kitchen and told him I thought we were starting to run like a really well oiled machine when it comes to doing things around the house. He looked confused, but I said “think about it! You are doing breakfast, I am doing dinner in the crock pot, you helped Brayden with his juice box while I washed the potatoes- we are just doing it, and so far today, we are doing it well.”

He smiled and said “You are right.”

Since K and I have been sick, Brandon has really stepped up to the plate- even more than he already does- to help me do things. He knows I hate going to bed with a dirty kitchen and toys all over the place. He knows that I need to be drinking more water so he filled my big cup with ice and water and set it next to where I feed Kenley. He’s been spending extra time in the evenings with Brayden so that I can love on my sick girl a little more.

And when the kids go to bed, he asks me if I want a cup of tea.

He’s a keeper, I tell you.

He has had a million things going on this week, but his sick girls were clearly at the top of his list. I love him for that. For helping me continue to run this household even when I know I can’t do it all. After some extra rest on Wednesday and a quick working antibiotic, I am feeling much better. More like myself. Ready to get back into our routine. Ready to continue oiling this machine of our marriage and life, because we are doing it well.

My house has a case of the sickies. Mostly just Kenley and I, but wow- it’s threatening to drag my healthy boys under and I am just trying to not let it!

Last week, I had an ear ache, but it went away- and then over the weekend I felt pretty crummy. Cut to Monday afternoon when all of the sudden, I thought my head was going to explode off of my neck. I was stuffed up, couldn’t talk very well, sore throat, runny nose, the works. The kids were fine, so I just toughed it out but said if I felt worse, I was calling the doctor.

Tuesday mornings I felt worse. WAY worse. I ended up taking Brayden to speech therapy and calling the doctor while on my way there. They couldn’t get me in until the following day at 3pm. I went ahead and decided to go to Prompt Care, just because if there was an antibiotic I could be on while nursing, then I didn’t want to wait any longer. I took Kenley with me because she started sounding kind of congested and was running a fever when she woke up that morning. She checked out fine, sinus infection for me, they prescribed me some antibiotics and we were on our way home. I couldn’t wait to just do NOTHING on Wednesday but clean clean clean.

5am Wednesday morning- Kenley wakes up burning up and sounds like she is wheezing. It was so sad. I fed her, checked her temp (102), and got Brandon up. I was going to have to take her in as soon as the pediatrician opened. I, still feeling like garbage, got ready and called- they could see us in an hour so off we went.

They tested her for RSV (SO thankful it was negative!) but she is to have breathing treatments 4 times a day until Saturday, then 3 times a day until Monday. As the nurse was showing me how to run the nebulizer, tears just started rolling down my face. Utter exhaustion had finally set in and I was just a mess. I have never heard Kenley cry like that or for that amount of time, and it was just harder on me because I didn’t feel well to begin with. I am very, very thankful that it isn’t anything worse. I am hoping we are both on the upswing, that is for sure.

We got home and did a treatment and she did a lot better, so hopefully that continues. My sister was nice enough to come sit with Kenley so I could get a nap in (thank you!) and Brayden has been with Brandon’s grandparents so that Kenley and I could get some rest. Kenley napped the entire time my sister was here (go figure) so I am glad she is sleeping well.

With that, I think as soon as we are all better, this house is getting a nice dose of Clorox on every little surface!

Comparing my babies at 4 months old…

I think I can definitely claim them as siblings! It was so fun going back through the pictures of Brayden and seeing how similar he and Kenley are. It’s almost a little bit scary!

Linking up with …and then, she {snapped}.

Brandon,

We have “celebrated” 10 Valentine’s Day’s together.

I mean, I have told you that it’s Valentine’s Day for 10 years and we just laugh because we don’t tend to make a big fuss about it.

How is that even possible?

Also, WHO are those young kids? We are getting old.

But we are getting old together, and that is what counts.

Love you.

I was reading Ashley’s blog not too long ago when she posted about a LightScoop that she bought for her camera. Since our living room has no direct sunlight that comes into it because of the way the front room is, I knew I HAD to get one.

Here are some examples of the crummy photos I was getting with my flash only.

*Collective sigh over vintage Baby Brayden!*

These pictures do not look natural at all. His face is very white (due to the flash) and the background is SO very dark.

Enter the LightScoop. I took these on Thursday in the living room with only one lamp on and no overhead light.

Do you see that incredible difference? It makes it look like sunlight actually reaches my living room! I don’t have to mess with a zillion settings or bring it a stadium grade light to take normal pictures of my kiddos! YAY!

I highly recommend one, if your lighting in your house isn’t great. Makes a HUGE difference!

And yes, not portrait material of Brayden, but he was busy and didn’t want to be bothered. Oh toddlers.

Remember when I was being a crazy person and agreed to not buy any clothing for an ENTIRE YEAR?

I have made good on my promise. It’s been over a month, and I have purchased no clothing/scarves/bags/accessories for myself. Zero. The temptation? Everywhere. All the new spring clothes are coming out and Jason Wu’s line for Target came out and then the new Jockey Person to Person spring line came out and I got super bummed that I wasn’t purchasing anything.

And then I remembered WHY I was doing this. Vacation. Vacation with my hubby. Mexico. Only a year away.

So, I got over it. But it’s TOUGH. I love shopping. LOVE it. And losing all the weight after having Kenley made it a LOT more fun. So, instead of wallowing over what I don’t have (or need), I am adding things to a want list and we’ll see what happens when this year is up. I am also working hard to maintain this weight loss (the Vemma Bode is helping!) while still maintaining my supply for Kenley.

One month down, eleven more to go.

I am linking up once again with Gussy’s Inspiration Workshop. This week’s topic? Organization! This is something I NEED to do. Like, I need to just remove my lovely family members for like 3 days and organize my house. All of it. Every. Single. Room. Blech. If I was to do it, here is what I would want it to look like!

The cutest office EVER.

(image found here)

I love the baskets on the shelf that hold items. Such a good way to keep things sorted and not have them be seen. My mom has something like this in her “grandma room”. It’s a great way to keep the kids toys put away! I can only DREAM of an office like this.

The awesomeness that is this closet I am not even sure if I can put into words. It blows my mind that spaces like this even EXIST! I try to get our closet cleaned out twice a year, if not 3 times, and it could REALLY use a little TLC. It’s probably because I have too much stuff shoved into a small area.

Generally this is the time of year where I get motivated to clean/organize but it is definitely harder with 2 kids around! I am hoping to tackle a few of my projects before summer gets here!