Second week at work was better.  I took the kids to an easter eggstravaganza at the church where they attend daycare.  Paigie had so much fun.  She did an egg hunt and had her face painted for the first time.  Peyton slept in the sling the whole time.  Peyton continues to give big smiles!  Check out all the pictures on the website.  We had his two month old pictures taken, they are of course adorable.  Mommy continues to be exhausted.  There just aren’t enough hours in the day to accomplish everything.  The basics get done for sure.  Peyton had his first non well baby doctors visit.  He spent twelve hours yelling at mommy with a pretty high temp for his age.  I think dad was lucky that it was his first night back at work…he timed that fairly well I think.  He felt better after his ear drained and slept the whole next day after we saw the doctor.  Paigie continues to show how smart she is.  She likes use adjective and adverbs now.  She will tell you “two plates” or “little baby”.  She sings songs all the time.  She got her first write up at school this week.  She tried to take a toy from a child and chaos ensued!  Both kids had writes ups for there efforts.  We also found out that both kids made the cut off for the new daycare that they are starting in August or as early as June possibly.  The daycare is the same place Chris and Sarah went as children.  We like the place a lot and it will make it easier on mommy because they open earlier and are closer to work and home.  Overall things continue to go well.  Have a good week.

Mommy went back to work this week.  Working definitely sucks.  Each day I could feel the fatigue adding.  By Friday I was completely exhausted!  The kids started their new school as well.  Paigie started preschool officially.  They are working on ABC’s and 123′s and she is doing great.  She says her ABC’s completely again instead of adding numbers and stuff.  She knows how to count to 10.  She knows lots of colors and shapes.  She likes to make observations about things she sees; she is such a smart girl.  They are also working with potty training.  The first day she kept her diaper dry all day except nap time.  To my surprise she even made it until morning the next day!  We bribe her with M&M’s when she goes on the potty.  She gets lots of physical play time and her bedtime has been moved forward by an hour to an hour and a half because she is just so tired from playing.  Peyton is the man of the nursery.  He is the only boy with five girls.  All his teachers love him, of course.  Mommy stopped by to feed him on his first day at lunchtime.  With the first day being so bad, I really needed that.  The first two days were especially painful, but each day I seem more like my former self.  I just wonder how long I can use the ‘I just got back from maternity leave’ excuse.  Pumping is no fun.  It is a huge commitment but I love providing a good nutrition for Peyton.  Nana watched Paigie and Peyton on Good Friday.  We love Nana.  She even let Chris and I go out for dinner while she stayed home with Paigie for about and hour.  Paigie couldn’t stop talking about Nana for days.Peyton had his 2 month check up.  He continues to grow as he should and now weights almost 12 pounds.  Watching him getting his shots was more painful for mommy.  I cried longer than he did.  Peyton is starting to play with his first infant toys.  I can hear him playing as we drive to and from school.  They grow too fast!  We ordered a new baby gym for him.  We didn’t like the one we used for Paigie and typically used a blanket on the floor as she got older with toys thrown about.  I can’t wait to give him something for his belly time.  He gets bored and frustrated quickly with belly time right now.  Until next week….

Height 22 1/4 inches
Weight 11 lbs 12 oz
Head Circumference 38 3/4 cm

Well, Thursday could not have sucked more. I started the day by dropping Peyton off at daycare for a trial run. We got everything together. Diapers and wipes for a few weeks, and of course the boobie juice and bottles for today. Little did I know it would be his only day at Lissette’s  daycare. A couple of hours into our mommy and daddy day alone, Lissette (our home daycare of almost 2 years) calls to tell me she is closing permanently. I frantically call every daycare we ever toured and liked. Many phone calls later, we got very lucky and found a spot for Paigie and Peyton at a preschool we were on the wait list for almost a year ago and they could take them immediately. It is interesting how thing work, not more than an hour before Lissette called to say she would be closing, I told Chris I wasn’t sure I wanted Peyton going to Lissette. I didn’t get a good warm and fuzzy feeling when I dropped him off…she didn’t seem to have her heart in it and we very quickly figured out why. Every cloud does have a silver lining….Peyton continues to grow like wildfire. We just finished his 6 week growth spurt. Three days of eating and two days of sleeping. He is in 3 month clothes and they fit him well. His diapers are no longer big on him and fit him well. His face has changed so much! He still looks like a baby but his newborn features are long gone. They grow too fast.

Paigie continues to grow and change as well. Her independence is obvious but she is now actually able to do a lot of things for herself. She will say potty, leave the living room, potty, wash hands and return with a new diaper for mommy all while mommy is still feeding Peyton. Rather amazing. Her comprehension of language around her seems to be ever growing. She seems to understand more than 75% of conversations around her and will participate. Some of the cute things she says are “no way” and always putting no at the beginning of the sentence. Her favorite sentence is “no sheshe night night” She still calls herself sheshe even though she has clearly established she can say Paige. Toddlers are an amazing age.

Well, mommy started work on March 17^th…more about that in the next blog….

Another week closer to going back to work, have I mentioned how much I don’t want to go back to work? Peyton is socializing more. He has his social smile and giggle down. He just thinks he is so cute! The cutest thing is he snorts when he cries. After he gets a good cry going, he will snort. I shouldn’t laugh but I do. We have gotten used to the new family size and needs even though they seem to be ever-changing. We just came back from our first road trip. That was an adventure. We all piled in the car and drove to see a friend of mine in Miami. She had just enjoyed a cruise to the Caribbean with her husband and we caught her before she flew back to Phoenix. We were only able to spend about a day with her but her time is precious right now. While I would love to take this blog to devote to how much I love Chris, Paigie and Peyton I am going to use my time this week to write a different kind of blog. Please read the next blog that I have devoted to my friend Melinda.

Sorry for the lack of posts or pictures from me, but I have added the pictures from February to the photo gallery!

On the 23rd of February, I gave Peyton his first bottle, which he seemed to actually be ok with. He wasn’t satisfied with only one bottle, so his sister gave him his second bottle. Pictures are in the gallery.

We have also moved our website to a different web host once again. This time it is to a much more powerful server that we can upgrade later on if we need to. I have already noticed that our website responds much quicker on the new server and hope that you will to. If you notice any problems with the site, please let us know and we will fix it.

Height 21 3/4 inches
Weight 9 lbs 5 oz
Head Circumference 37 cm

Height 20 3/4 inches
Weight 8 lbs 2 oz
Head Circumference 35 1/2 cm

Well, week 5 has passed and the thought of returning to work is terrifying. I am going back to work the week of Saint Patty’s day and cannot tell you how much I am not looking forward to this. Peyton is growing so fast. He is out of newborn diapers and almost out of newborn sized clothes. It took Paigie until 12 weeks to manage that feat. He really is much longer than she was and seems to be gaining weight rapidly as well. I have a feeling he is going to be tall like I am. He seems to take after me in so many ways. He has olive skin, medium brown hair and a lot of features similar to mine. He spends much more time awake like he is supposed to. He smiles so pretty and makes cute cooing noises to test his vocal cords. He likes the lights of the monitors of the computer and likes to be sung to. He also likes to be swaddled. Paigie wanted nothing to do with swaddling. I decided one fussy night after talking with Angela, another new mom and friend from work, to swaddle him. He loved it! Out like a light. So content he slept for several hours in the swing. Mommy has been experimenting in the kitchen while post partum. I have come up with a few more simple meals to make Monday through Friday for the family.

On the contractor front, we are waiting for our septic permit to have a new tank put in and work on replacing the retaining wall has begun. The old retaining wall was apparently a habitat to snakes and palmetto bugs. As the men were working the roaches were crawling everywhere and they killed three snakes! Paige was very interested in their work. Peyton didn’t seem to care one way or another.

Paigie was registered for her new preschool. We decided she needs more attention during the day to ABC’s and 123′s. Mommy cannot do it all; mommy is lucky to get most stuff done. I am hoping she likes her new school. It is bilingual just like her current daycare and hopefully she will continue to be bilingual. The facility is very clean and the children seem pretty happy. Only time will tell.

Daddy is actually going back from paternity leave after I go back form maternity leave….explain that one! He scheduled classes and clinical on his shift days so he won’t go back to work until March 21st. I think he has enjoyed not having to go to work too. He has been busy with classes and clinical on his paternity leave.

So this week was a lot more of the same. Trying to send out announcements is going to kill me though. I chose to use JC Penny for our pictures this time; we have strictly used Olan Mills in the past. I had no idea that the appearance of the pictures could vary so greatly based on companies. The color of the pictures is disturbing…nobody looks like themselves. The family picture looks like a pre-divorce photo and the announcements have an iridescent reddish baby. I really want to send out the pics but they are going to try to redo the color…what a pain. There was apparently a ‘ball’ issue as well. With the nakkie baby picture, he had a ‘ball’ visible and they refused to print the picture. Simple I thought…crop the picture. They are unable to do this. So, basically they can’t fix the problem.Peyton is proving to be very similar to his sister. He stretches after he finishes eating just like his sister, he uses the booby as a pillow like his sister and now his pinches the booby as he is eating just like Paigie did…oh the memories He also likes to reach for food on mommy’s plate while both of us are feeding. He grabbed a boneless wing the other day and seemed quite proud of himself. Speaking of Paigie, her language and comprehension of everyday situations is rapidly improving. It is amazing to see her blossom in front of our eyes. Her behavior is still trying at times, but overall she is seeking discipline.

By the numbers…he is 9lbs 5oz, 21 3/4 in long with head circumference of 37cm.

Oh yeah…we have a septic issue…I love spending money! The septic tank has to be replaced completely. After many bids and learning more about septic systems than I care to know…we signed a contract today. We also found a nice man to fix our retaining wall.

Well…enough for now…talk to you soon.