Life Lately || April 2018

Time is flying and there have been several times throughout the month of April where I wanted to post an update on the blog with all the fun we've had, but #twokids. So, instead of posting each and every update separately, I thought it would be best to just do a quick life update from the month of April! 

The weather has finally been getting warmer, so we've spent a ton of time at the park. Earlier this month, we ventured out to the Discovery Playground out in the Valley. It was our first time out there and it was a hit! We will definitely be back for more fun.

April is Kevin's birthday month! We had a low key celebration at home with homemade cake and a few small presents. That weekend, my parents generously offered to take Lincoln overnight and Finn for a few hours so we could have a little date night in. We made dinner, watched The Greatest Showman, and made a few cocktails before picking up Finn and calling it a night. The next day we scooped up Lincoln as well and headed out for donuts! 

As I mentioned above, we've spent a lot of time at the park...we've also been spending our fair share of time watching and waiting for the garbage man...a highlight of the week for Lincoln! Walking back to the house from the park one day it was prime garbage man watching time and Lincoln chased down each garbage truck as it passed. It was pretty cute to watch! By the time we got back to the house, he had to run out to greet the garbage truck as it approached our house as well.

 A friend of mine was diagnosed with breast cancer last Fall. The diagnosis was quite a surprise. They tackled the diagnosis with a pretty aggressive treatment plan, and she is coming up on her last day of treatment. To celebrate she gathered a group of friends and their kiddos to walk in the Pink Ribbon 5K, our town's local breast cancer charity. Lincoln tagged along and we had a fun morning walking with friends!

We rounded out the month with some quality family time...hanging out with my sister and Finn and Lincoln's cousin, Hudson.  Hudson will be one in June and he has grown so much in the past year! He recently started crawling so it was fun for Lincoln to see him follow him around a bit.

And lastly, these two photos are just random ones I took the other day, but I love them so much of my little dude so I thought I'd throw them in for fun ;) 

Baby Finn || Two Months

Finn is two months old! The newborn days always feel so long, but then you blink and an entire month has gone by. So let's get to it...

As we suspected, Finn ended up with reflux as well. I'm not sure if it's because we caught it much earlier (around 5 weeks) but it seems to be much more mild than what Lincoln had. We're able to control it with just Zantac and we haven't had to increase the dosage. We've actually gone a few days where we drop him down to 2 ml instead of 3 and he seems to be handling it just fine. He's continuing to eat about 4 oz every 3 hours or so. I'm trying to get him on a schedule, but he has a mind of his own, and does not seem to want to do so as easily as Lincoln did. 

He definitely has each and everyone of us wrapped around his little finger. Lincoln is doing so well with him and is such a great big brother. He loves to play with him (as much as he can at this stage) and we're constantly hearing, " I love you baby Finn!" 

While Lincoln is definitely smitten with Finn, there's also a bit of jealousy, which is to be suspected. He occasionally wants to act like a baby and is telling us rather regularly, "there are two babies, I'm a baby and Finn's a baby." 

Monday, Wednesday and Friday it's just Finn and I, while both Kevin and Lincoln are in school. On those days, I feel like I've got this and our days are pretty straight forward and simple. We wake up (earlier than I'd like, ha!) and while I drink my coffee and feed Finn, we catch up on the news, via the Today Show. Finn usually take a decent morning nap, and once his first nap is done, we spend some time playing, doing tummy time and I do a quick cleaning blitz around the house. By then, he's usually ready for another bottle and nap. 

In the afternoons, weather permitting, we pull out the stroller and take a walk for an hour or so to get out of the house. It lets me get a little exercise in and Finn gets to look around for a bit before inevitably falling back to sleep again. 

Tuesdays and Thursdays are a whole different story. Those days I have both boys by myself and to say my patience is tested is an under statement! Lincoln is such an easy toddler, but he is definitely used to getting a lot of attention and one on one time and it's hard for him to understand that I have to make sure Finn is fed and napped, etc. To make things more difficult, Finn, like Lincoln at this age, is not a great sleeper and only really naps well if I'm holding him or wearing him. This makes one on one time with Lincoln really limited. 

All that being said, our days just the three of us have their own rhythm as well. On Tuesdays, Lincoln has Speech in the morning, so after breakfast and a show and some playtime. I pile both boys into the car and we head up to speech. By the time we get back it's usually lunch time, which is followed up by a nap for Lincoln. The afternoons vary a bit, but are usually a combination of park time, play time or movie time (I use TV a lot these days #noshameinmygame) or the occasional playdate with some friends of ours. Thursdays are very similar, but speech is in the afternoon so we usually hit the park in the morning before lunch and nap time and then heading out to speech in the afternoon.  

I had always thought that Lincoln wasn't a great sleeper, but Finn is making him look good! Either that, or I've really blocked those first few months with Lincoln out. I thought by this point, Lincoln had fallen into a fairly predictable eating/sleeping schedule, but Finn doesn't seem to want to do so. We've had days where he's refused to nap more than 30 minutes and days where he sleeps all day. We've had days where he drinks consistently every 3ish hours and days where he can barely make it 2 hours between feedings. I know all of that is very typical of a baby, and especially a newborn, but it feels like it's lasted longer than with Lincoln. Perhaps, I'm just more impatient this time around because I know my time with Finn at home is much more limited and I'm feeling pressure to get him on some kind of "schedule" sooner as opposed to later. I know I really shouldn't stress too much as all babies are different and he'll show us what he needs in time, but for my Type A personality, it's been a little frustrating. 

Overall, it has been another great month getting to know baby Finn! He is such a happy baby and is gracing us with one amazing smile over another. When he does so, he smiles with his whole face and I just love it so much! I know another month will only bring us more insight into his growing personality and we can't wait to continue to learn all there is to know about our little huckleberry Finn! 

And below are the usual monthly stats...

Height: 23 inches
Weight: 13.2 lbs
Hates: Being hungry... my tiny boyfriend likes to eat! 
Loves: Sleeping on mama, bath time, music and eating.
Head: Finn is super strong and is able to hold his head up briefly. 
Eats: Like a champ!
Sleeps: Similar to Lincoln, he'd prefer to co-sleep than sleep in his bassinet. I'm sure we'll make progress just like we did with Lincoln. 

And for reference, Lincoln's two month update is here!

Mommy & Me Date Night || Paw Patrol Live!

Lincoln and I have gone on a few Mommy & Me Dates and this past weekend we enjoyed another fun filled one! We headed downtown to see Paw Patrol Live at the INB Center and both enjoyed every second of it.

Lincoln is a huge Paw Patrol fan so when I heard they were coming to town I jumped to get tickets. Luckily discounted tickets were available through Groupon so we were able to snag a decent deal. Good thing too, because within seconds of entering the doors of the event center, Lincoln had his eyes on both the Paw Patrol popcorn concessions, complete with Rubbles construction hat and the toy concession stand. I'm pretty sure I spent close to $50 within about 5 minutes of arriving. All jokes aside, it was worth it to see the excitement on his face as he enjoyed the show!

Below are a few pictures from our fun filled Saturday:

Easter Weekend Recap || 2018

Happy Monday! I hope everyone's Easter weekend was wonderful! We celebrated all weekend long, including attending three Easter Egg hunts for the little ones.

Saturday kicked off with cinnamon rolls and the G Prep Easter Egg Dash. It lasted all of about 5 minutes but Lincoln had a blast racing around with all of the other kiddos picking up Easter eggs off of the football field. That afternoon, Kevin took the boys to the park and my little brother came over and helped me prep some food for Easter Sunday brunch!

The Easter bunny stopped by our house Saturday evening and come Sunday morning when the boys woke up, they excitedly tore into their Easter baskets. Easter baskets were quickly followed by a backyard Easter egg hunt. That tricky bunny left eggs all over our backyard!

Afterwards, we all got ready to head to mass with my family before heading over to my parents for Easter brunch. Mass was a little long, but the kiddos were rewarded by yet ANOTHER Easter egg hunt. Once the kiddos collected their eggs we headed over to Nana and Papa's to get ready for a family brunch. We filled out belly's with quiche, hasselback potatoes au gratin, mimosas, ham and pastries and then fell asleep watching movies before heading home for an early evening.

Kevin's wrapping up Spring Break just as everyone is heading into Spring Break so we rounded out our evening with a low key evening at home.

Happy Easter everyone!

Baby Finn || One Month

Throughout Lincoln's first year, I did monthly updates. Each month I highlighted all of his new milestones, his growth and any tidbits about life that month. I'm not naive to think that doing this for Baby Finn will be a bit of an undertaking, seeing as he's baby number two, but I really enjoy getting to look back on that first year with Lincoln and remember each moment and I'm hoping to do the same with Finn.

So here we are, month one! Just like with Lincoln, this month flew by. It's easier to say it went even faster this time. I only get 12 weeks at home with Baby Finn, and to think that we're already through the first month has me tearing up just thinking about having to leave him.

The first month comes with the usual trials, sleepless nights, adjusting to a new family member and healing from the birth itself. Finn is already definitely making himself at home here in our little family of four.

He is a voracious eater. He's eating 4 oz almost every 3 hours, including through the night and I think he may end up with reflux like his brother, but only time will tell on that one. Also just like his brother, he does not like sleeping in the bassinet and spends about half the night in the rock and play and half the night co-sleeping with me.

Finn and I have been easing into our routine. With Lincoln I remember being out and about very early on. Finn and I have spent most of our time at home, snuggled in bed, just getting to know one another. I know our days of just the two of us at home are numbered so I'm soaking up each and every moment.

We haven't been complete hermits though! There have been a few walks to the park, a couple of trips to gymnastics to watch big brother and he made it to his first holiday event, attending the St. Paddy's Day parade in downtown Spokane! And while we may be staying close to home, Finn and I have had our fair share of visitors. Family and friends have been stopping by to meet our newest dark haired addition and he has been a trooper through all of it!

Below are a few quick stats on our favorite huckleberry Finn!

Height: 22 inches
Weight: 10.1 lbs (up about 2.5 from birth!) 
Hates: Being hungry... my tiny boyfriend likes to eat! 
Loves: Sleeping on mama, bath time, music and eating.
Head: Finn is super strong and is able to hold his head up briefly. He's even rolled over a few times already!
Eats: Like a champ!
Sleeps: Similar to Lincoln, he'd prefer to co-sleep than sleep in his bassinet. I'm sure we'll make progress just like we did with Lincoln. 

And for reference, Lincoln's one month update is here! 

Dying Easter Eggs!

Easter is just around the corner and we are always looking for any excuse to celebrate around here so Easter Egg dying it was this Thursday morning!

I love how each year Lincoln gets more and more into each holiday activity and he was so excited to dye eggs this year. So much so that he eagerly joined me on a grocery store run to buy...eggs. That's it. No treats, no trip to Trader Joes to find the sasquatch (and earn a sucker), we went to buy eggs and he was ALL ABOUT IT.

I can't wait till Finn is old enough to join in on the fun as well! There's more Easter fun to come with the holiday quickly approaching this Sunday, so look out for more festive photos!

Finn's Newborn Photos

Similar to when Lincoln was born, we had family friend and photographer, Jennifer DeBarros capture some newborn family photos of our newest addition. Time is flying by and I wanted to be sure to post these before too much time had past.

That being said, I won't bog down this post with too many words...that will come with Finn's first monthly update which is already fast approaching!