Catching Up

Happy Sunday Ya'll!

I can't believe I haven't blogged since Random Wednesday, but each day I find myself having fewer and fewer times to myself to do anything, and then I get busy and either forget, or realize I need to do something else instead. I really miss blogging and commenting, so I'm sorry if I haven't been as up to date as I had been. I know this will get better soon though. We had a good rest of the week and weekend though, and I had a few minutes so I thought I would share some pics from the past few days.

On Thursday I attended my first MOPS meeting since having Brynley, and it was the first "outing" for me with both kids by myself. Of course I was a little worried about such things like "what if Brynley gets up and wants to eat in the middle of the meeting before 11am", "what if Ryder misbehaves or starts crying for me and my pager goes off and I have to leave the meeting", "what if I need to pump in the middle of my meeting". I know that I am struggling with a lot of doubts right now, and if anything I learned from my MOPS meeting this past week, is that the devil gets in your head and pries on such thoughts, and believe me, he has done just that with me the past week! We heard 2 guest speakers who were awesome and they each gave a lot of insight into being a mom and gave great advice. One of the things mentioned was to unload the dishwasher first thing in the morning, start just one load of laundry each morning, and have a meal ready for dinner, make it easy and easier on yourself. When I heard this I thought "I'm already doing these things, so I must be doing something right so far" and I need to remind myself of this when I get hard on myself!

 We actually made it on time and it was so good to see everyone and thank the girls for bringing meals over, and Ryder was actually excited to get out of the house too! I needed it, and I needed to know that yes I can get myself and both kids ready and out of the house and not have to feed or pump for the next 3 hours. Everyone loved getting to see Brynley and thought she was a doll, and of course I was beaming and loved the attention she got from all the moms too. It was just food for my soul to hear other moms stories and struggles, and to read the word of God and know I'm not alone. Being a mom is hard at times, yet rewarding. I just have to remind myself of this and remember the reward is much greater than the hard times, when I get depressed or down on myself. I kept Brynley in my carrier the whole time and she did great! Slept "like a baby"- and I had to wake her to eat at her 11am (lunch feed). I ended up carting our Advent bottle warmer with me and was able to warm her bottle there, so I was all worried for nothing!

The whole outing was so much better than I ever dreamed, and I felt almost confident by the time I was headed to pick Ryder up from his MOPPETS class. I had two diaper bags and a paper sack of goodies to heat up for dinner that a mom had given me. I made it all the way there and then as I was putting a craft Ryder made into the paper bag, the handle ripped and spaghetti sauce went everywhere! About that time, Brynley started bawling and thank the Lord Ryder didn't! A nice older man came over and helped us out and to my car which was so nice of him. I got everyone buckled in their carseats, cleaned up the tomato sauce disaster, and then as I got my own self in the car, I laughed. I had made it all this way and done so good, and then was humbled. It made me realize life will never be perfect, and there will be plenty of other moments like this. I just have to breathe and get through them ha! Scot got a good laugh too when I came home covered in sauce. We salvaged dinner and it was SO good that night. A meal complete with a salad and tiramisu!

 Here's the Brynley Bug dressed up in one of the outfits she got from a coworker of his. I thought she looked so cute and laughed at how big the tights still were on her! She is such a little petite muffin and I don't know when she will ever start filling out her 0-3mo clothes. A few of you have asked about the carrier that I have and what brand it is. I looked online and found great reviews (and from other mom blogs) that the Baby K'Tan carrier is the best. It's similar to the Moby Wrap but has less material to deal with! I never had a carrier with Ryder, we just hauled his carseat carrier to and from the car to wherever we were going, but I have realized I can't do that with a toddler, since my arms are already so full. I got the carrier at Buy Buy Baby, but you can also visit their website here if you don't have a BuyBuy Baby in your area.

Of course Ryder had to get in on the photo session too, so we let him pose on Brynley's blanket too! I have noticed such a big change in him this past week and I am so proud of him! He has started entertaining himself for longer periods of time, he is behaving MUCH better, and listening MUCH better, and has stopped hitting and having tantrums like he had been doing. I know he was just having his own period of adjustment too, and I think it has really helped getting everyone on a schedule with feeding Brynley on her 3 hour routine, so that I know, and he knows that we can have time in each day for fun things too. I always try to make a point to make a big deal and spend time with him too, and I think he is realizing this too.

I had found on one of my preschool websites that Friday was pumpkin day, so I dedicated the day to doing some fun Pumpkin activities. We will be heading to the pumpkin patch next weekend, but until then, I got the ingredients to make pumpkin cupcakes with homeade cream cheese frosting. Ryder's favorite part of course, was licking the beaters! He didn't care much for the cupcakes, but he sure loved the frosting ha!

We colored pictures of pumpkins and learned the letter "P", and I reminded him that we would be going to pick our pumpkins in a few days when we visited the pumpkin patch. We are all very excited about this and I can't wait to show off their cute matching outfits I found!

We ended the night on Friday by having a yummy fresh meal of stir fry! Scot and I have been trying to eat better, and I want to start working out as soon as I get the green light from my midwife, but in the meantime I want to try to eat healthier. Ryder even loved our dinner, and has been requesting broccoli and corn lately, which is a huge shock considering all he usually wants is oatmeal, pancakes, or rice!

There were only a few chaotic moments, but thank the Lord I had Scot to help settle everyone, and Saturday Ryder spent the night with his Nana and Pawpaw so we could go birthday shopping for him! I can't believe he turns 3 next month, and I have now started to think about his party and trying to come up with a theme. He has changed the theme about 10 times now, so I think the final decision will have to be made by Scot and I because if it's anything like his Halloween costume, he will continue to change his mind on it about another 20 times ha! All in all it has been a good week. A week of ups and downs, and hormones, but lots more ups than downs. I am so blessed with my little family and I love my sweet baby girl so much, I just can't let my hormones bogg me down.

It will be a big week coming up, as Brynley turns ONE MONTH old! I can't believe I had her a month ago. Ryder also starts preschool on Tuesday and will go two days a week which we are very excited about. I want him to still get the learning experience and social skills he had with daycare, but not the hours he had to spend. He has already been asking when he gets to go and I have explained that he will go in a few days and will meet lots of new friends and nice teachers. I'm excited for all of the fun Fall activities we have planned in the coming week and weekend, and plan to enjoy this beautiful Fall day watching football and chowing on some good foods today. I hope that you and yours had a great weekend too!

*I'm not affiliated with baby K'Tan, I'm just a mommy who loves her carrier*