we are into books around here, big time. i want to remember the books our little guy is loving these days not only to pass onto so many of my fave mama's but also so we have these books around when our kiddos have kiddos. my mom kept our favorite books and passed them down to wyatt and we'll pass them on to trev/cam's future kids and our future grandkids!

here's my breakdown, all easily searchable on amazon!

Goodnight Moon - this one is a no brainer for most. i will tell you, when i first started reading books to wyatt, i DID NOT get this book at all. wyatt could care less. until he noticed the red balloon. then he noticed the hot fire. then the moon. oh, the moon. that's where we are today. he has to point the moon out on each page, along with the balloon and fire. i'm waiting for him to notice that creepy "old lady whispering hush"...

Happy Baby ABC's - this book was an early fave, and continues to be. i think it has to do with the balloon (weird -- such a crazy balloon fetish!) and car towards the end. he loves pointing at the different pictures so i can tell him what everything is. he's getting better about telling me now!

On the Night You Were Born - this might be more of my favorite than his... i absolutely love the story and it makes me cry everytime we read it together. such a sweet book and such amazing pictures. and of course, there's a moon on every page. obsession fed.

The Best Mouse Cookie - this is a new favorite. we just discovered this book on his book shelf, as it was passed down from unky Cam. this used to be one of his favorite books and now, due to wyatt's new cookie craze, it's one of his too!

Roadwork - probably his all time fave book right now. we read this every day before nap and bedtime. when we mention nap or bed time, he will say "ro-wuk" 100 times just to ensure we know this must be read. love how he says it. adorbs. there is also a moon on one of the pages.

I am a Puppy - this is also a new favorite. This is actually Trevor's book and it was saved and passed down by my mom, forest green magic marked up pages and all (thanks to me!). it's about a little sweet beagle and it reminds us of snoopy. pretty perfect.

Go Tractor, Go - this was a gift when i was pregnant with wyatt and i have no recollection who it's from. it came with a little john deere tractor and wyatt loves it. it's one of his first favorite books and it was the first book he could say. "gotujfksflgo!"

Thomas Pop Up - this book came from my dad last christmas and probably shouldn't be man handled by a 22 month old quite yet. we read this to him and hold it for him. it makes noises with each pages pop up and he calls it the "choo choo" book and pushes his lips out really far when he says it. love love love. never want to forget that face.

Little Blue Truck - such a cute book with such a sweet story - help your neighbors is the jist and it's got the cutest pictures. so sweet. one of wyatt's first words was "stuck", along with "truck" and in this book a truck gets stuck. how awesome is that. he loves it. i love reading it to him more though i think.

enjoy!

what's your favorite book to read to your kiddos?!

sweat is the new black >> newborn / family photo shoot

i have noticed i talk about sweating a lot lately since having a second baby. holy cow, is that all i do anymore, or what? i sweat all day long. and all night long. i am sure i smell devine. oddly enough, it seems my baby likes me no matter what. actually, the stinkier the better i think.

when summer was 8 days old, we had our first family photo shoot. we had to turn the heat up in our house to 80 degrees. and it was muggy as shit outside. and misty. great for the hair. not.

here are a few of our favorites and seriously, if you are local, you have to check out One Tree Photography. we love jessica so much. she has been my bump and birth photographer for both sweet kiddos.

life with two

with each passing minute, hour, day, and week things get better. easier. life with two is everything i had hoped it would be. it's also everything i had feared.

it is hard. plain and simple. 

of course, we are so amazingly lucky to have these two amazing life changers. we're blessed. period.

this post is going to be about the god's honest truth. removing rose colored glasses in 5, 4, 3, 2, and 1. 

this week started off r o u g h. i had a low mom moment monday afternoon. keeping my patience has really been my one and only goal the past 5 weeks. and i've done really damn good. except for monday afternoon and maybe two other times the week before last. here's the thing - this is all really good for me. spending time alone with both kids is the hardest work i've ever done in my life. in order to make one child happy, it seems it is at the expense of the other. always. lord help me until the day i can actually make them both happy. like really content and thrilled with life, at the same time. right now, keeping them both "happy" is me walking around with an infant hanging off my boob orangutang style while playing ring around the rosie with the other. i'm constantly back and forth between kids - popping a binky into sj's mouth, while cramming string cheese into wyatt's. or restarting the vivrator on sj's  bouncy in our room while singing wheels on the bus with wyatt while he plays with cars in the bathtub.  or my personal favorite (insert sarcasm here), bouncing sj in her bouncy on the island (safe) while browning hamburger on the stove top (back burner), while allowing my son to push every riding car he has out our back slider. 

#whaterverworks #thenewnormal 

the hardest part about it all is remembering i'm still a good mom. a great mom. i love my family and i am doing the best i can. kind of my new matra. even on the hardest of days. even on monday. i may have had a low moment, but i worked my butt off that day to love my kids, keep my sanity, and keep an orderly house. (an orderly house? who am i right now?)

it's about the little moments now with two. the moments where i catch wyatt being so sweet and so gentle with his sister. the moments i know how much he loves her. when i see little flashes of life ahead to times where i know i'll see them protect one another. you see, i gave them such an amazing gift. each other. siblings understand you in a way no one else can. they understand what makes you tick before you even know what that means. they know you before you know yourself. they are always there for you. no matter what. even when you hate each other, you love each other. 

i caught wyatt stealing sweet kisses from his sister and i thought my heart would explode. i know there are so many moments ahead where i feel real pride for my littles. this is only the beginning. 

to say that the work is worth it would be yet another one of my gigantic understatements of a lifetime. 

#welcometomyworld

dear summer >> happy one month, toots!

hi sweet girl - you are already one month, and i am dying over how quickly it's gone by. wowza. you are  growing so much everyday. there are so many things about this last month i want to cherish and remember for ever.

you're smiles. dang girl - you started stealing hearts with these bad boys super early but now it seems like you smile on command. it can't be gas. you are a happy baby and you started letting the world know about 2 weeks ago!

you are so easy to calm. of course you have your moments but for the most part, as long as you are swaddled and being shushed, you stop crying and conk out. you definitely like to be upright. you are bright eyed and observant.

you might just end up to be a thumbsucker. you have found it a few times, and i feel like you find your hands and fingers pretty quickly for being so little.

i'm loving how quickly you are chunking up. your little legs are getting rolly and your arms are just like mine were when i was a babe.

you are a mama's girl. of course you love your daddy, but i love these early days because i have the boobs and i know you always want to be around me. i will take it because i know some day, when you are older you will want me out of your business. not so fast sweet girl, mama is here to stay! i can't wait to remind both you and your big brother how much you loved my boobs when you were babies. kidding. kind of. i might have to whip that out for a reaction some day around your friends if you are pushing my buttons!

your sweet soft little perfect head is something i want to cherish forever. i love how soft and warm it always seems to be. the fuzziness of your hair and how you love to be soothed when i brush your hair forward with my hands, or brush over your brows and nose to get you to fall asleep.

i love your linty fingers. not sure why, but guessing it has a lot to do with my picking infatuation. i can pick your linty fingers and know i am not hurting you!

i never want to forget your serious poop face. and the fact that you work pretty hard to "bear down" to get everything out. you definitely don't have any problems in the "poop up my back and into my hair line" department. you go girl.

i love that you aren't a projectile barfer. at least for the most part. we've only had a few explosions and honestly i think it's a number two thing. i have learned to not overfeed my baby and i don't forget to burp you like i might have done with your brother. learning everyday here.

mostly, i just love you and your sweet presence in our family. knowing that you're ours and having so much to look forward to as you continue to grow and learn makes my heart full. you are amazing and beautiful. perfect in every way. you complete our family and even after only a month, it's like you've always been here.

love you little girl. we'll keep you.

your mama.

tag team, back again

we had a pretty gutsy last weekend of summer. i mean, having two kids and going anywhere is pretty much the biggest feat there is outside of child birth. and can i just say, this whole concept of being superwoman at child birth doesn't AT ALL compete with how gigantic my cape is when i am alone with both kids, around 5pm - making dinner amidst feeding a toddler, bouncing and tending to a newborn, and then cleaning up after dinner and bathing said toddler. the 5-7pm window is pretty much crazy town around these parts. and i've never wanted to shout GO ME any louder than the first (and maybe only) time i've done it. holy balls, that's some work right there. and really - what in the h did i have to "complain" about with one. if i could slap myself back in time i would.

perspective is a good thing. damn. gina.

ok, back to our weekend of gutsiness. three words: evergreen state fair. we tag teamed fo sho - ty had wyatt, i had summer and we did the fair. as best we could. with the dumond's - thank the lord. having another family to go with does make you feel like less of a sweaty mess, that's for sure. as if saturday's events weren't brave enough, we decided to take both kids to kirkland to the park.

sounds easy enough.

um. yah. no.

there was no parking.

so we parked up a big ass hill. in front of some rich person's house. i kept imagining them watching us unload as if we were their guests. at one point, i even joked and pretend yelled up to their window that we'd be back in an hour for dinner.

wyatt was in the bob. and thank god the brake on that bad boy worked. because if it didn't our kid would be heading to heaven right about now. think: christmas vacation sled scene.

i sweated my balls off trying to get SJ into her solly baby wrap. she hated it. i hated it too. who in their right mind would enjoy themselves in 80 degrees with a sweaty ball of fire strapped to your chest as you brace yourself in rickity flip flops down a hill made only for someone wearing a helmet and shin/knee/elbow guards?

there were a shit ton of bees. and they loved something about me - my perfume, the striped wrap. god knows, but i am sure i entertained those around me as i swiped the air around me vigorously too many times to count.

i had to nurse SJ there. and the only shaded spot was on a bench right next to the most visited public garbage can. and i had the solly wrap on, and did my best to navigate a swaddle blanket to cover my nip but about 45 seconds in i gave up and said f it. nipple, meet the breeze. and the eyes of a few perverted dudes. after more bee visits, i awkwardly carried my bobble head of a newborn and pushed a top heavy bob stroller up a grassy knoll while ty did his best to chase wyatt around the busy park on the water.

wyatt pooped. and we had no diapers. who in the eff has two kids in diapers and doesn't have one in their diaper bag. so ty had to run, carrying wyatt, back up that giant hill in 80 degrees to change him in the car. the whole time, i waited with SJ as she screamed her full head off as i tried yet again to get her back in the wrap. the girl was not having it.

so just as ty was getting back, we pretty much turned around. and i was that mom carrying her baby while wearing a worthless wrap. ty and i were sweating ridiculous amounts and both kids were in tears as we made our way to the car. i am sure ty wanted to cry too. i sure as hell did.

fun for all.

but the good news is this - we did it. we still got out of the house and took our kids to the dang park. go us.

and we captured a few pics that made the whole event look down right easy too.