Reading Corner

I don't want to forget this.

Every day, no matter what, the first thing Jo does when she gets up is head to the bookshelf (behind her in the pictures) to check out what is worth reading right away in the morning. Lately, after making her selection, she'll set it aside and eat breakfast when I insist, or immediately go to the this chair that she got from her grandma for her birthday to read in peace. It is the sweetest thing, and I need to remember it because I know it's a unique thing that just she does.

She's so happy, sitting in the sunlight, not dressed yet, enjoying the day. How can I not also just smile and enjoy it as well right along with her?

Sometimes I have the pleasure of her reading aloud to me. It may or may not be my favorite part of my day.

I hope she always loves to read.

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My Fair Lady (and Little Sir)

The region's fair is going on right now and I found out that we could get in for free from 11-1 any day this week. Count us in! I called up my friend Cassie to see if she wanted to bring her son W who is only 7 months younger than Jo. We like to think they will be best friends in no time.

We are always working around nap times, so I figured it wouldn't be easy to pinpoint the best time to go. Then she threw in a serious curve ball: her vehicle was completely dead. Being no stranger to jumping cars for friends and strangers, I volunteered to just bring Jo over while her babe finished out his nap to try to get it started before we left. I'm sure it was quite the image! One pregnant lady behind the wheel (she wouldn't let me push the car), and one petite lady pushing a big SUV out of her garage. But hey - we had to get the cars close enough together to connect the cables! 

All that for nothing - it didn't work. So we just decided to take my vehicle and she'd figure it out later. By the time we got going it was already 12:50, leaving us just ten minutes to get there and through the gate. I knew it'd be close so my adrenaline was pumping (oh the things I live for these days!). 

I happened to mention to C on the way that the double stroller I had recently purchased that was in the trunk? I'd never used it... so on top of us cutting it super close, we had to deal with that beforehand. We were in super mama mode though so once we got parked, we flew around trying to get bags, water bottles, babies, and shoes all in the right place. Most of it worked out, but we couldn't quite get the second seat in the right spot. 

New image to picture: Pregnant lady in flip flops pushing a double stroller with only one baby in it, running no less, with another petite lady wearing a sundress and slip on shoes, holding her son and a huge diaper bag running alongside on the gravel road. Oh the things we do to save money!

We didn't make it by 1:00, but the guy must have felt some pity or at least have seen the humor in it because when we asked if we made it, he said "I guess...". Thank you, sir, for your kind heart!

Once we got in, we were able to pull it together and turns out this double stroller is pretty awesome! It moves easy and has plenty of room for two babies and two diaper bags. 

It was a super hot day and there was minimal shade, but we spent a lot of time walking through the expo buildings, some of which were air conditioned. It was "kid day" so there were at least 20 daycare groups running around and there were different animals in different buildings that had the babes staring with big eyes. Both of them did awesome and by the time we left over an hour later, we deemed the day a huge success.

I love free activities and am always happy to get to go to them with these two. We always manage to have a fun time. And like I said earlier, Jo and baby W will be besties in no time. I can already see him warming up to her (because let's be honest, she's not exactly shy around anybody).

They both had to figure out what was going on when they were put right next to each other in the back of the vehicle. Surprisingly, they were pretty happy to be together!

Josie read him some stories to keep them busy til we got there

I love him peeking at me with those big brown eyes! Jo is completely wrapped up in her riveting book.

W seemed to enjoy the front seat view. Although in retrospect, Jo should have been in front. It's meant for the bigger kid I believe, and she kept kicking his seat. He didn't complain, but I can only imagine that it wasn't that enjoyable

"Mom! Check out that kangaroo. It looks miserably hot." She's so empathetic.

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Routines

We are slowly getting a routine around here. It's hard with summer activities (no complaints of course) to do things consistently, but it is a goal of mine to get routines in place because I know it helps me and I would bet it would be nice for Jo too.


One of our "routines" is me having the morning show on in the morning. Ok, not so much a major part of the routine, but I enjoy it. Don't worry, Jo is not watching it and it's not on all morning; mostly during her naps.


I have to admit that I just love Live with Kelly. More particularly I love it with her cohost this week, Seth Meyers. They are just too funny! I have to restrain from laughing out loud which could wake up the sleeping babe, and that is saying something. I am not a "laugh out loud" kind of person when it comes to movies/tv's/shows... I will totally admit something is funny but you wouldn't have guessed it by just watching me throughout viewing it.


Anyways. 


Also, I have been making this delicious iced coffee every morning and that really helps with me loving this routine. It is soooo good. I'm hooked and I don't care who knows it. I'l post more about it on it's very own post since I think it deserves it.


What? The morning routines are supposed to benefit the child I'm raising full time? Oh yeah... but I do like to enjoy the little things myself once in a while.


To keep you interested in this post, here is my sweet girl "airing it out" (remember this?). She loves to rock on her new rocking chair and it couldn't be better than this with her books and dolls all around. Girl's living the dream.

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Uh oh...

It's already been one of those days.


I hesitate to even share this because, well, it's disgusting.


But I will... for the sake of humor and being honest. Equally important.


Josie has a rash on her bottom that just won't go completely away. Sure we get close at times, but then she has a fever from teething that leads to more acidic #2 and she always ends up with it getting worse rather than better.


In an effort to fight this, I've been letting her air it out in the mornings and it has really made a huge difference. So this morning, she was airing it out, playing away. I looked over and was horrified with what I saw.


She had gone #2 and was now playing in it and it was on her face. That can only mean one thing. I gagged too many times to count. I ran faster than a pregnant mama should run. I probably scared her more than she's ever been scared before. I did everything I could to clean up her hands and mouth area as fast as possible.


So gross.


I put her in her crib while I gagged cleaned up, and came back to her standing in her crib with a wet sheet below her. Really? You couldn't just wait the five minutes while I cleaned up mess numero uno? So I cleaned that up and let her play in the nude. I figured, you've already done both, why stop you now?


Yuck yuck yuck yuck yuck.


I still love her though.

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