Did I forget to mention

That Philip started eating cereal? Well, he did and he loves it, although the first time he ate it he didn't think it was for him. In fact, after two bites he refused any more and then spit up about 20 minutes later. But the next day, it couldn't get enough. He eats about three servings a day and is getting ready to move on to fruits and veggies.

Real men wear pink!

We also had his four month check up. He weighs 15 pounds 2 ounces (40%) and is 26 and 1/2 inches long (95%). Another string bean, just like Natalie, only she was string-ier.

Tomorrow we are off, once again, to Minnesota. I'm hoping this trip is a smooth as the last trip. Last week Philip didn't want to sleep at night, but over the weekend he was a peach, sleeping 8-9 hour stretches most nights. Hopefully that will continue for this trip! We will be back on Friday night, just in time for the weekend!

Painting

Natalie loves to color and draw and recently we started doing more painting. I decided that when she was painting on my watch, we should only paint outside. Well, with the weather being what it is, painting had to happen inside the other day.

So, I tore some paper and laid it on the floor in the kitchen and opened up some paint. Natalie started off fine, painting on the paper and enjoying it. Then she accidentally stepped in the paint. So, she took off her now dirty sock and then accidentally stepped in the paint again, but now with her bare foot. She looked at me with this horrified look - so to make her feel better, I said, "don't worry it will wash right off when we are done".

Little did I know that would prompt her to start painting her foot, followed by her leg, followed by her arm, then her belly. By the time Phil got home she was pretty much covered. So Phil decided to join in the fun and he painted her back for her. She LOVED it and then allowed us to wash her off in the shower and pretty much all the paint washed right off...but there are still a few spots.

Knitting & Pram Rides

My mom is a fantastic knitter and recently knitted Natalie a cute dress for the summer.

Super Cute!

My mom also has an old fashioned pram at her house that we used to take Natalie around in. The other weekend it was nice enough to go on a quick walk to feed the horses and Natalie didn't want baby brother to ride alone, so they both crowded into the Pram and off we went.

Tummy Time

Philip is really starting to enjoy tummy time...for a few minutes at least. Every time I put him on his tummy he immediately pulls his legs under him and kicks. I think he knows how to crawl, his body just isn't strong enough. He has also started to put his arms under him and pushes himself up. He will be moving soon!

Starting to lift up

Lifted and starting to move

Thinking "um, that camera is mine"

"Give it to me"

Many faces of Philip

Posting more later, but here are some recent photos of Philip:

Don't let the pink blanket fool you - he is all boy

spending some time in the cradle

My own little blue eyes

Special Treat

U2 was a BLAST! And we all had a great time - especially Natalie! Although, we were a little worried she wouldn't want to stay once the music started, she actually liked it more once the music started.

In the spirit of a bed time story, here is the story of "The night we went to see U2"

The night started off with pizza dinner with Auntie, Godfather, Daddy, Mommy and Natalie, yum! Once dinner was finished, Natalie got changed into her "(RED)" shirt to match mommy and we all got ready to go. We piled into the car and drove to the trax train. Once we had tickets we jumped on the train and headed towards the stadium. Man was the train a crowded place! There were also some pushy people - banging into each other and yelling. What an adventure! We got to the stadium and made our way into the general admission line, where our bags were searched and we were given our wristbands. We were able to enter the stadium at that point...pretty amazing for little 2-year-old eyes! There was music playing, but not loud enough for Natalie to keep her headphones on.

We found our friends and our spot for the show and then decided to make our way to the back area to wait for the band to make their appearance. Once we made our way to the waiting spot, the music started to play and Natalie put on the headphones and got on my shoulders. At this point she was attracting quite a crowd of onlookers - people were smiling and pointing and taking her photo. There were about 10 people gathered around her and everyone had their cell phones out taking photos of her. We should have charged, we could have made a killing! We cheered as the band came on and were thisclose to them as they walked on stage...pretty cool! Once the music started, we decided to make our way toward the front of the stage.

Natalie loved all the lights, music and the opportunity to dance! She started bouncing on our shoulders, clapping with the crowd and then decided she wanted down so she could dance. And dance she did - through 3 songs! Phil and I decided that it was a great decision to bring her with us and we were all happy to let her experience her first concert at 2 :)

By 10:30, Natalie decided she needed a sleep break and fell asleep on my shoulder. We swayed and cheered to the music and then decided we should get home to little brother. We left before the encore, strange I know. We decided that getting home and beating the huge crowd to the train would be the best option. We made our way to the train, waited the 20 minutes then started on the journey home. We got home around 11:30 and were all in bed by midnight. What a way to spend a Tuesday night! It was such a good time. We had friends and family all around us and I wouldn't have had it any other way.

Waiting for the train

Waiting for the band to come on stage

The show starts!

Enjoying the fantastic music

Many more photos were taken by members of our group, many photos were taken of Natalie by people who weren't part of our group too...I'll post the photos I can get my hands on soon.

Again...only this time with a 2-year-old

We are off, in mere moments, to the U2 show. That show that didn't happen last year, but is ON this year. And, as a special treat or complete mistake, we are taking Natalie with us. Report back tomorrow with photos and the answer - treat or mistake...

100%

Just when you think you aren't giving anything 100%, you get caught in a rainstorm outside with your daughter. While tucked under her little umbrella to stay dry - nose to nose and eye to eye - she blinks and says, "I love you mommy".

And just like that you can conquer the world

Fixing it up

We have been busy around here, namely Phil has been busy around here. First project was to install a new ceiling fan in Philip's room, which took a few days longer than expected due to unforeseen circumstances...like a chipped ceiling, an old very rusted light fixture brace and Natalie REALLY wanting to be involved in the process. But, after all of those impediments, Phil got it set up and it is great. Provides something for Philip to look at, air circulation in the room and doesn't look half bad!

Second project was to install Natalie's new bedroom tent. We bought her a cute over bed mosquito net contraption thing at Ikea a few weeks ago and finally decided to hang it up. She loved it and although we need to move the puffs I put up when she was still in her crib, it is pretty cute! Once I get a chance to paint her bed white, it will be even better!

Last project was to plant our garden. It has finally been somewhat warm enough that we decided to plant all our fruits and veggies last weekend. We planted tomatoes, zucchini, cucumbers, peppers, a few different squashes, strawberries, basil, and rosemary. I also re-potted my thyme plant because it had grown so much since last year that it needed more space. This weekend, I'm hoping that it is warm enough to plant some flowers. I have a bunch of pots that are begging for pretty flowers.

Four Months

Philip turned four months old while we were in Minnesota, so the chair photo on his actual birthday didn't happen. But, I did take a hotel bed photo on the four-month-mark, followed by a chair photo two days later:

You can see by his face that he was in NO mood for a photo op

At four months, here are a few things we want to remember about LP (little Phil)...

• You still sleep in mama's arms every night, just like you have since birth.
• You have been smiling and cooing and even started laughing recently.
• You have totally mellowed out at night, except for the occasional crazy fit, but a big improvement from the first few months of your life.
• You want to be bigger or older than you are - always trying to sit up when you are in your bouncer chair, trying to crawl when you have tummy time and looking at Natalie while she runs, as if you wish you could be running around too.
• You have turned into a cat napper, just like your sister used to be. Napping throughout the day for 30-45 minutes at a time...but you like to sleep while being held in the ergo carrier and you don't like being moved once you are a sleep.

Can't wait to see what new developments appear this month!

Mothers Day

Mother of two...wow how things have changed since last year. Adding Philip has increased the crazy around here more than you might think!

For this Mother's Day, I asked Phil for one thing, one extra hour of sleep - alone. My plan was that once the kids woke up, he would take both of them downstairs and leave me to sleep for another hour. That was my plan, but not everyone agreed with this plan, especially Natalie. She was still asleep in her bed when Philip woke up. So I fed Philip and casually suggested to Phil that he should take Philip. That casual suggestion didn't spark any movement, so I said, "If I will have any chance of going back to sleep today, I need you to take Philip now before I'm totally, fully, completely awake." This direct approach got him moving and he took Philip with him. A few minutes after they left, Natalie woke up and and promptly came in to our room to see why mommy was still asleep. "Mommy, you awake yet?", "No baby, mommy asleep", "Why you asleep?" After that question, Phil came in and said "Natalie, let's let mommy sleep." After which, everyone left me in peace.

About 5 minutes after they left, the bedroom door comes flying open and Natalie loudly announces "I'm a super hero mommy, come play super hero". I asked her if I needed to get out of bed, to which she responded "YES!" with a very adamant tone in her voice. So I got out of bed, sans the extra hour of sleep, and made my way downstairs. When Phil saw me he said, "Couldn't fall back to sleep huh?" to which I answered, "I probably could have, but Natalie really wanted me to play super hero." The best part was, Phil didn't even know she had made her way back upstairs or that she was in our room.

Once I was downstairs, Phil told Natalie to go get my present. She ran downstairs, where she had hidden my present the day before, and pulled out a cute card and CD that was hidden in her kitchen. So sweet. Phil also had a special gift for me hidden in the entertainment center - a lovely locket that he had already put photos of Philip and Natalie in. He has a way of buying me gifts that I would never expect or even choose for myself, but turn out to be my most favorite things. This locket allows me to carry my babies with me all the time. After the gift giving was over, Natalie and I went outside to play and do some yard work and then back inside to make breakfast and feed Philip. The rest of the day it rained, so we all stayed inside. I started to pack for my work trip, we all played, and then went to dinner at my mom's.

Motherhood is a total adventure! There are days (and nights) that I think I can't take much more...and then one smile or laugh from either of my babies makes every late night, scuffed knee, missed nap, or other catastrophe all worth it. Over the past few months, I've had to stop and remind myself what an honor it is to be a mother to these two precious gifts that have been entrusted to me by some higher power. What a blessing it is to be their mother and get to enjoy every minute of their lives. Lately my "mother-worries" have strayed from the common worries of falling down or getting hurt to the worry that I might miss one second of their lives. The thought that I won't be here to see, feel, and experience every moment, every I love you, every smile, every wink, every laugh, every cry keeps me up at night. Being here and getting to be in their lives is something that I wake up for, that I look forward to every day and night. Phil and I have regular conversations about how lucky we are to have what we have and these two littles make it that much more exciting!

Airplane Ride

Last week I had to fly to Minnesota for a two night work trip and couldn't bear the thought of leaving both my babies behind, so Philip got to come with Mama (because he still flies for free). Because I would be working, my mom came along to take care of Philip during the day.

Our flight was on Monday at 9:40, so we left our house at 8:00 and by the time we got our luggage checked, through security and to the gate they were already boarding our "zone". I quickly bought a bottle of water and my mom ran to the ladies room and then on the plane we got. I had used miles to buy my mom's ticket, and for some unknown reason they assigned a first class seat for the flight there - for no extra miles, strange but wonderful. My mom graciously gave her first class seat to Philip and me - what a woman. I sat down in first and said to the woman sitting next to me, "I'll be honest with you, he is four-months old and I've never flown with him before, so it could be ugly, but we are hoping he enjoys it." She had a look of mild displeasure on her face after that statement.

Once we were on the plane, there was an issue with a seat in coach, so on came the fix-it crew, which led to a 20 minute delay and while we were waiting for that to be resolved, Philip decided that he had waited long enough and needed to eat. I had been trying to hold off as long as possible because I wanted to feed him as we took off...no go. While I fed him, the fix it crew left, the door closed and we started to taxi and get in line to take off. As we took off, Philip was a peach, and sucked on his pacifier and didn't make a peep. About 10 minutes into the flight, he messed his pants, which required a change in a airport lavatory with no changing facilities. That was tricky! Once we were back in our seat, he decided to sleep for a little while (30 minutes), while I had 1/2 a sandwich and some chips - first class lunch! He woke up, allowed grandma to hold him so I could use the bathroom, then went back to sleep and slept through the entire landing. What a peach!

At the end of the flight, the lady sitting next to us said, "Wow, he was perfect." To which I responded, "Yep, which means he can travel again."

Once we got to the car rental spot, I decided to wake him up and feed him before making the trip to the hotel. Which was the smart choice because he was hungry! We got the car loaded with all our junk. With a stroller, the car seat, diaper bag, computer bag, purses, and two large suitcases, our little Corolla was filled to capacity! We decided to stop and get lunch before getting to the hotel, and as soon as we made this decision, Philip decided that he wanted out of the car and started to (loudly) let us know. Luckily for us my mom spotted a Subway right off the exit to our hotel - so we stopped in and picked up a sandwich and traveled quickly to the hotel.

The hotel we stayed at was where I stayed last year whenever I would travel to Minnesota - which was a lot - so I got to know a lot of the people working there. When we arrived to check in, two of the valet's recognized me and were happy to meet Philip. Felt good that after so many months people still remembered that I had been there before. We got checked in and up to our room quickly. We ate our sandwich, played with Philip, checked email for work and then we all took a short nap - which we all needed!

That night, we went to the bar for a beer and an appetizer, took a walk around the hotel which was so nice! Once we got back to the room, I ordered a sandwich for dinner and we crashed pretty early! Philip was wonderful - went to bed at 9:30 and didn't wake up until 6:30 the next morning, too bad I kept waking up all night!

The next day I went to the office for a presentation and my mom played with and took care of Philip all day. Her report to me was that he was a perfect little boy and didn't even seem to mind when she kept saying "you are a good little girl" to him. That night I got to see my wonderful Minnesota friend, Andrea. She came to the hotel so she could meet Philip and it was wonderful to see her and get a chance to catch up. It was so good to see her and even though it had been such a long time it felt like no time had passed. She is super easy to talk to, loves Bravo TV as much as I do, and is hands down one of the most hilarious people I know. That night, again, Philip was pretty awesome - only waking once or twice to eat and was a perfect baby on the flight home the next day.

The hardest thing about being gone was being away from Phil and Natalie. The night before we left Natalie kept telling me she didn't want me to leave and when I told her I had to she started suggesting that I take her rather than Baby Brother, which turned into her telling me that mommy, daddy, Natalie and baby brother should all go on the trip. The Monday we left, I almost started crying telling her good bye. The struggle of a working mother...saying good bye - for a day, a night or many nights, isn't an easy thing to do. The entire time we were gone, Natalie kept asking "Where is my baby brother? I sure do miss him"...so sweet!

I'm off again in two weeks and once again will be taking my mom and Philip with me. Luckily I never put away my suitcase, so I don't have to dig it out again - I just have to pack it.

On the way to Minnesota

On the way home

Coming Soon

A work trip last week has me totally side tracked and feeling like I'm not doing anything at 100%. So, I will post about Philip's 4-month birthday and his first airline ride, the garden Phil and I just planted, the fan Phil just put up and all the other things going on around here...but today I'm hoping to just get one of the three piles of clean laundry put away (aim low I say) and dinner on the table.

Wish me luck...

Oh, and if you are interested in going to the U2 concert in Salt Lake next week, let me know. I have 4 GA tickets for sale.

Thursday Thoughts

One of the blogs in my Google Reader, posted the below "Lovely Advice":

Health:

1. Drink plenty of water.
2. Eat breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince and dinner like a beggar.
3. Eat more foods that grow on trees and plants and eat less food that is manufactured in plants.
4. Live with the 3 E’s – Energy, Enthusiasm and Empathy
5. Play more games.
6. Read more books than you did in 2010.
7. Sit in silence for at least 10 minutes each day.
8. Sleep for 7 hours.
9. Take a 10-30 minutes walk daily. And while you walk, smile.

Personality:

1. Don’t compare your life to others. You have no idea what their journey is all about.
2. Don’t have negative thoughts or things you cannot control. Instead invest your energy in the positive present moment.
3. Don’t over do. Keep your limits.
4. Don’t take yourself so seriously. No one else does.
5. Don’t waste your precious energy on gossip.
6. Dream more while you are awake.
7. Envy is a waste of time. You already have all you need.
8. Forget issues of the past. Don’t remind your partner with his/her mistakes of the past. That will ruin your present happiness.
9. Life is too short to waste time hating anyone. Don’t hate others.
10. Make peace with your past so it won’t spoil the present.
11. No one is in charge of your happiness except you.
12. Realize that life is a school and you are here to learn. Problems are simply part of the curriculum that appear and fade away like algebra class but the lessons you learn will last a lifetime.
13. Smile and laugh more.
14. You don’t have to win every argument. Agree to disagree.

Society:

1. Call your family often.
2. Each day give something good to others.
3. Forgive everyone for everything.
4. Spend time with people over the age of 70 & under the age of 6.
5. Try to make at least three people smile each day.
6. What other people think of you is none of your business.
7. Your job won’t take care of you when you are sick. Your friends will. Stay in touch.

Life:

1. Do the right thing!
2. Get rid of anything that isn’t useful, beautiful or joyful.
3. However good or bad a situation is, it will change.34. No matter how you feel, get up, dress up and show up.
4. The best is yet to come.
5. Your Inner most is always happy. So, be happy.

Things to think about. There are areas above that I can improve on, so I'm going to take the challenge and make some changes to improve. Take my own "lovely advice".