I haven’t written in a million years

OMG, my kids are growing like weeds. I went to read my last entry to see where I left off and it was an eternity ago. Let’s see what I can remember.

– Took the kids for portraits (her 2 year, his 4 month) and they were ADORABLE. Spent way too much money. Riley was really shy and didn’t want to do it until she saw Sam go first and get all the attention. Then she was all about it lol.

– Phil has had a few work trips here and there and I’ve actually stayed home BY MYSELF. This is a big deal, I used to go to Maine and stay with my fam all the time when he was away. I hate being home alone. But the last time we went to Maine Sam was up every 1-2 hours (normally sleeps through) and I was all eff this noise. Andplusalso my sister is now living at home again along with my brother who has never lived away from home and it’s a bit crowded

– Related to my siblings’ living arrangements, I feel pretty left out of my family lately. My mom used to call at least once a week and come visit most weeks, but with my brother firing his helper and my sister not being able to drive right now she only makes it down every two weeks and we rarely talk in between. Also, I love my sis, but with her being between jobs she always comes with my mom, now, and I don’t get any just me and Mom time. I kind of hate it

– We had some old college friends over for a BBQ Labor Day weekend. It’s funny now that we all are married and have kids, so so many inappropriate things were said and done in those 4 years. My old roommate is the only one not married, but she has a serious boyfriend for the first time ever and I’m so happy for her. She seems so happy. Once everyone left her and I went out for a couple drinks and caught up, I don’t have enough old friend time in my life. Everyone lives so far

– We may have finally found a bottle Sam will take. I work 2-10:30 PM and normally the weekends I work I feed him around 1 PM and he takes maybe an oz between then and bedtime, then sleeps through. So he goes 16-18 hours without eating, super awesome. We tried 4 bottles and 2 soft spout sippies before I found MAM makes bottles. He is addicted to the MAM pacifiers and the nipples are the same. He took 4 oz from my mom last week, 2 from Phil the other night, and 2 from me tonight (it was about an hour after nursing so 2 oz isn’t bad)

– We went through some rough patches with Riley, but the past few weeks she’s a dream, I’m waiting for the other shoe to drop. She’s communicating well, sleeping like she should (still taking awesome naps!) and rarely hitting or throwing things like she was for awhile. Those phases always seem to come back, so I’m going to enjoy it while I can! She’s also the size of a 4 year old at not even 2 1/2, WTH? I told her not to grow for another year or two

– I hit the 20 lb lost mark last week, which I never got to after Riley, and was rewarded with a complete crash of my milk supply. I sensed it was coming and kept up with my 6 days a week workouts, stupid. I was starting to wake up really hungry in the morning and really fighting afternoon binges, but I assumed it would pass. Now I haven’t worked out or counted calories in a week and it’s slowly coming back, but I’ve also gained almost 5 lbs back *sigh* It was the same with Riley, my body requires a ridiculous amount of calories to produce – even when I was counting I was eating over 3000 most days. It’s still not what it was, I’m hoping for continued improvement

– Sam continues to be the complete opposite of his sister. We moved him out of the bassinet and ditched the swaddle on the same night and it didn’t phase him a bit. It disrupted her sleep for about a week and a half when we did it with her. He also has been putting himself to sleep for I don’t even know how long, now. He just lay him down and he goes to sleep! Who knows what happens in between – I normally put him down on his back in the middle of the pack and play and find him squished in a corner on his belly with the pacifer on the opposite end of the PnP lol. Riley wouldn’t sleep without a boob for the first year of her life. I’d get home from work at 11 PM and find her waiting

– Little man will be 6 months next week! Where did that time go? He rolls both ways and sits pretty well when we put him that way. We’ll be starting solid foods soon, my word

– Riley is getting invited to birthday parties galore! I feel bad we miss most of them due to my work or her nap. We’ve had a lot of play dates and get togethers lately, I’m so glad she has little friends. Even better that it means I have friends! lol

– My boss decided she was cool with me going into work at 5 on days they need extra help (vs 2 PM start of shift) so I’ve picked up a bunch of Fridays up to Thanksgiving. This is really going to help with Christmas!

– Speaking of Christmas, I started making lists today for what to get people. I’m really excited about some projects for Riley and hope I can pull them off, I’m not really crafty. Family will mostly be getting photo gifts of the kids and I’m thinking maybe chili and homemade biscuit mix in Mason jars. Plus some candied pecans and maybe chocolate pretzels or homemade caramel corn. I love cooking

– I think I’m iron deficient, or on the border – the midwife office blew me off and my primary can’t see me until November, so I’ve started taking iron on my own. Hoping that will help with my supply as well! I did some tests on myself at work last weekend – normal range for iron is 50-150 and mine was 51. It has NEVER been that low, even while pregnant

– Still back and forth on a 3rd kid. Some days I can’t imagine what I’d do with another, other days I can’t imagine never doing it again

– Went out to a bar for the first time in forever last week, it was amazing. I’ve been out to restaurants for drinks a couple times, but there’s something different about a bar lol. We consumed much Pumpkinhead with vanilla Stoli and I had my first post-baby Jack and Coke. Deeeelicious. My coworkers were all pretty smashed, they were cracking me up. On his 5th drink Jeff started telling me how awesome I am. Repeatedly. He kept begging me to give his girlfriend another chance because he really wants to be able to hang out with me more (because I’m awesome). Slippery slope, my friend. When the girls toasted to VD (I have no idea how that came about) sketchy Seve informed us he was clean and has been tested lol. Love sketchy Steve

– The Supernatural New Jersey convention is in MAY next year. It’s normally in August. So of course it’s Riley’s birthday weekend 🙁 Since before Sam was even born I’ve been dreaming of him being old enough for me to go away and have a fun, kid free weekends. Now it might not happen – that was a blow when I realized it. If we decide to have a 3rd I won’t be able to go the year after and you never know when there just won’t be any at all. It will be like when Becca and I flew to Kansas for "one last" NKOTB show lol

– Phil is watching THE most boring movie ever. Not relevant to anything, really, just thought you should know. I found some old headphones and am listening to Pandora – so far it has been Jesse McCartney, Beiber, and NKOTB lol. That’s usually how it starts me out. I’m such a weirdo

– The Pats lost today and the Colts won, HAHA. I think it’s because Sam peed o

n my Colts PJs this morning, it must have been good luck

– Busterina has rejoined our family. For some reason after a year of living here she has finally decided to venture outside of the room where her cage is. Unfortunately she’s extremely destructive so I have to be diligent about the kid’s toys laying around. And Riley can’t have fruit in the living room anymore (Buster stole an apple today, a whole apple – it was hilarious seeing her running off with it in her little mouth!) but I’m not worried about her socialization anymore