I Just Love These Pics.

I love how sweet he looks in my mom's arms, his tiny clenched fists, and his pudgy little feet.

Sleepless.

As if I don't have enough reasons to lose sleep these days...

The Walking Dead season finale left this image in my head all night:

Yup. The image of two 'walkers' with their arms sawed off, their jaws broken, both chained to a hooded stranger with a giant sword.

I need to find some lighter bedtime fare.

To top it off, Rhys woke up for the first time in AGES and wanted to sleep with us - which always means a lousy sleep - and Kyle didn't fall asleep until 11:00pm and proceeded to wake up every two hours after that.

I am so glad today was a scheduled 'pajama day'!

What Rhymes With Kyle?

SMILE!

Ticket To Freedom.

A couple weeks ago I was invited to my friend T's birthday party, which is taking place this Friday. It will be a bunch of ladies learning how to do their make-up (specifically a 'smoky eye' - FUN!). Once I had RSVP'd yes, I had a deadline. A deadline for trying Kyle on a bottle.

So, I dusted off the 'ole breast pump and... FAIL. The stinking pump wasn't working. Then, Warren remembered a trick to getting it working, and it worked! For about 5 seconds. A quick google search revealed that lots of people had the same issue, that was sometimes resolved by replacing a myriad of parts, that needed to be ordered online.

Screw that.

SO. A trip to Zellers for some Enfamil, and voila! T's party, here I come!

Happy St. Patrick's Day

Gramma Day

Okay, so this was more like a Gramma 'Morning'. My mom took Rhys to the 'Build-A-Bear' workshop. It was his first time. Kyle and I stayed home so that it could truly be some one on one time for them, without me there 'micro-managing' (as Warren would accuse) the experience.

I couldn't wait to hear how it went, and to see what animal Rhys chose.

I probably could have guessed this one:

And when I asked himto give me a big smile, I got this (and so begins the 'awkward fake smile' phase):




It even had a 'roaring' voice box.

Gramma also got him a hotdog, a ride on the merry-go-round, and ice cream, and a round trip on the escalator.

Lucky kid!

Kyle 7 weeks Video

This blog post is a test, to see if this new blogging app works ;)

Not Awful. ( changed title)

I have been a Negative Nelly lately.

At a dinner party the other night I was asked "So, how is it now that Rhys is home full time?". "Awful", I replied. Everyone laughed and I proclaimed myself The World's Most Honest Mom. Everyone laughed some more.

But deep down, I regretted that answer instantly. 'Awful' was simply the wrong word. It's not awful at all. I mean - from a purely selfish perspective, it's just really, really, REALLY hard. And frustrating. And often overwhelming. And exhausting. But, the truth is... (and this is VERY hard for a mom who chose to go back to work to admit)...the truth is, Rhys is THRIVING lately. He's happier at home than he used to be. He laughs and smiles more. He's not tired and worn down at the end of the day. His imagination is exploding. He's playing with more of his toys and watching less TV. His linguistic skills are improving everyday with new words, longer sentences and better pronunciation. It's been really wonderful to watch. A far cry from 'awful'. But, it's not easy engaging with him and remaining patient with him while I'm nursing or burping or rocking a baby to sleep at any given moment in the day. And it's easy to focus on the negative.

Last night, as I nursed Kyle at 4:00am, I started to feel incredibly guilty that he would not be getting a full year with me like this, when he's a toddler. And sad that I won't get a year like this with him.

The good days aren't without their bad moments. And the bad days aren't without their good moments, either. The secret is knowing which moments to focus on, I guess.

Attack!

Last week, my friend Keri was another victim of The Snuggle Bug...

Strange Things Rhys Said: 2.5 Years Old

Yesterday Rhys was saying some very odd things...

Rhys: (at the doctors office,while we waited, he was playing with his Leap Frog computer) Don't want to play computer. Want to smell dirty garbage.

Amanda: What? No, no.That's yucky.

Rhys: (walks over to the garbage can, sucks in a big, deep breath) Ewwwwww. Stinky.

******

Rhys: Can I kiss your toe, Mommy? (???!!!)

******

Rhys: (after a nasty diaper change) Wanna see it! Wanna see dirty! (takes a look at the poopy diaper, starts giggling hysterically).

******

Kids are are so weird.

Things Rhys Said: 2.5 years old

This will be a new instalment on the Blog... "Things Rhys Said"

Amanda: Rhys, you are eating so much lunch! Good eating! Good Boy! Mommy is very proud of you!

(a few minutes later)

Rhys: (As River, our dog, is trying to sniff his plate) No Riber! Sit down Riber! (puts his hand out in front of himself like a stop sign).

River sits.

Rhys: Good girl, Riber. I am very powd of you. (continues eating)

******

Warren: Rhys...stand back. You're too close to the TV. It will hurt your eyes...

Rhys: No, Daddy! Don't hurt my eyes!

Warren: No, No...the TV will hurt your eyes.

Rhys: No Daddy! Don't hurt my body!

Warren: No..no, No. Daddy will never hurt you...it's...the...TV....(sighs, and really, really hopes Rhys never repeats that to anyone).

******

Rhys: I want blue eyes.

Warren: (Heart breaks as he realizes everyone has been 'swooning' over Kyle's blue eyes lately) Why? Rhys has beautiful, dark, brown eyes.

(a few days later, after we've made a conscious effort to compliment Rhys' eyes)...

Rhys: I don't want blue eyes. I big brown eyes.

Warren: Yes, brown eyes.

Rhys: Nice and dark. Mommy same!

A Letter To Future Warren and Amanda

Dear Future Warren and Amanda,

When the day comes that you begin to romanticize the newborn phase, glossing it over in your minds as you look back on photos, envying the moms with little bundles in their strollers and thinking to yourself 'I sure hope she is cherishing every moment', please try to remember how much it sucked most of the time.

Best,

Past Amanda

Looked Good On Paper.

Before Kyle was born, I was freaking out a little about what the heck I would do to keep Rhys occupied during the day once he was home with me full time.

So I downloaded this book: 365 Games Smart Toddlers Play

Aside from the pretentious title, I really like this book. It's full of everyday, simple, cheap ideas of fun things to do with young children (like hide stuffed animals all over your house, give your child a flash light, turn out the lights, and let them go an a safari hunt! Brilliant!). And on my iPad I can 'bookmark' the games/craft/activities/tips that I like and refer back to them later.

One activity the books suggests, is a 'sorting' game. You use multicoloured items, like buttons or coins or whatever and have your toddler sort them into clear jars. "Your toddler will love the sound of the items falling into the glass jars! " the book boasts.

Sounds good on paper.

In our case, we used uncooked spiral noodles that came in green, yellow and orange.

These pictures depict a well behaved young chap in his lovely plaid pyjamas, enjoying the wonderfully fun, yet educational, game that his perfect mother facilitated for him:

What the pictures don't show is that he was interested in the game for about 3 minutes, then had a full on 'on-the-floor-whining' tantrum while he screamed 'Dieeeeegoooo! Don't want to play with moooommmmmyy!!! Dieeeegoooo!", followed by an eventual 3 more minutes of playing the game (because a bribe was used, I'm almost certain).

SIGH.

Well, at least the noodles tasted good at lunch time.

And The Day Went To Shit.

Today was a total roller coaster of successes and failures. Here is a bit of a recap...

1) I rocked this morning.... Had a playdate planned way up north (Rocky Ridge) and was actually out of the house (with both kids!) by 8:40am, and arrived only 15 minutes late at 9:15am. Rhys was well behaved, and Kyle even had a wee bit of a snooze. Success!

2) My attempts to keep Rhys awake in the car were futile (Rhys look! A Choo Choo!) and he fell asleep, meaning the odds of a nap were slim. I thought my luck had turned when he willingly got into his crib. That lasted about ten minutes. He then called out for 'mommy and daddy' for the next hour, and was in a trouble making mood for the rest of the afternoon. Fail!

3) Nana and Grandan show up to lend a quick hand. ( load the dish washer, distract Rhys while I nursed, etc) Success!

4) Rhys needed a diaper change and fought me on it. Turns out his bum was flaming red and sore. So he had an early bath to sooth his poor bum. After the bath he really didn't wanna diaper on, so I figured some air could do him good, and let him be naked in his giraffe towel. Then I had an idea - I'll try him in his big boy underwear! So he put them on and looked SO cute. Then Kyle fell asleep in the baby bjorn and Rhys and I played and I made him dinner and he ate TONS. MAJOR SUCCESS!

4) Then Kyle woke up and needed to nurse. While I was nursing, Rhys was laying on the floor quietly watching TV. Suddenly he leaped to his feet, with the fear of God in his eyes. There were dribbles coming from between his legs. 'Rhysie! Quick! To the the Potty! You're peeing!' So with a baby on my breast I grabbed my toddler and ran to the bathroom. More dribbles were coming now. 'Rhys! Sit in on the Potty! SIT'! He refused and looked terrified. This was out of character because he pees on the potty all the time, 'Rhys - you don't even have to take off your underwear.... Just SIT!!!!' then I noticed the dribbles were brown. Then there were blobs of brown. He was shaking his head and whimpering. I realized I needed to keep my cool, or risk scarring him for life. 'Rhysie. It's okay. You're pooping. If you sit on the potty you can have a big sticker!' He still refused. So I pulled Kyle off my breast ( yes, I was still nursing during this!) and put him in his crib. He of course started wailing, but I had to leave him. I ran back to Rhys who was still 'hovering' over the potty. I pulled off his under wear, which was filled with chunky-yet-runny diareah like poo. Once they were off he sat down, but the damage was done. There I was. Holding a diarrhea filled under wear in one hand, and wiping down my toddlers legs with the other. I was gagging at the smell, but tried to hide it from Rhys. All I could think to say was 'good boy Rhys! Now you get a big sticker!. He smiled. So left his disgusting undies in the sink (the bath hadn't been drained yet)' and left the potty and toilet full of soiled TP, Finished cleaning him up and gave him his bowl of stickers while I sat on on the floor and nursed Kyle in the hallway. I then texted Warren asking when he'd be home. FAIL.

Warren came home from a crummy work day, and was greeted by a screaming, inconsolable gassy infant, a toddler who was not in bed, a bathroom full of poo, and a wife who was on the verge crying and throwing in the shat-filled towel.

I love you, hon.

Wiped.

Birthday Party:

Pass out:

Darned baby woke me up:

Animal Games.

Lately Rhys is really into animals. He loves the cartoon 'Diego', about a little boy who goes on adventures and rescues animals. The cutest thing about this 'animal phase' is that Rhys' sweet little imagination is starting to blossom, and he loves to role play as different animals. He likes being a snake or a giraffe, and he likes us to be a leopard or a crocodile. His animal is always the 'scary one' that chases us. He has a tiger towel (that he calls a giraffe), and a leopard towel that is a bit small for his daddy... who wears it anyways :-)

What's in a name?

I felt more pressure picking a name for baby #2 than I did for Rhys. Not only were we picking a name that went well with our last name, but this time we wanted to 'match' Rhys as well. So we came up with some criteria that we felt would deem a name a good 'match'...

Maybe it would start with an 'R', or end with an 'S' or feature the letter 'Y' in some way. Maybe it would have a silent 'H'. Maybe it would be 4 letters long, or simply be just one syllable. Or maybe it would be Welsh like the name Rhys, or maybe it would be a name that is common in the UK.

With that criteria in our minds, we set out to find the perfect name for our youngest son.

I don't remember when we 'found' the name Kyle, but I do know we both really liked it when it was suggested. Unlike Rhys, though, we decided to keep an open mind in case another name came along that we liked better. But Kyle kept growing on us, and we even started referring to him as Kyle, and started getting Rhys to say his name. Eventually there was no turning back. This was his name.

Here are some of the name 'casualties':

Ryan (I have a close cousin named Ryan - would be weird, so clearly it was a weak option... never a real contender).

Sean (We have a close friend named Sean - same as above).

Cohen (Ever since I was little I wanted a son named Cohen... but then I married a man who's last name was Cronin, and that dream kind of died... ).

Names Warren liked, briefly, that I totally used my VETO powers on (and obviously they follow none of the criteria):

McCartney and Marshall

Can you say 'shortest list ever?'. I think that's because we found Kyle so early on.

As for the middle names, we wanted to find a way to incorporate our moms, since our dads were incorporated in Rhys' middle names. Joseph is my mom's dad, and Jones is Warren's mom's maiden name.

So Kyle Joseph Jones Cronin it was.

To round off this post, Warren thought it would be fun if I posted the girl names we had (same criteria). So, here they are:

Neve (like the actress, Neve Cambell. Side note: If Rhys had been a girl, he would have been Neve for sure).

Audrey (this was the one we were leaning heavenly towards this time around).

But, since we have a beautiful baby boy named Kyle, let's bask in his cuteness:

Brothers.

Jaunty Trip To The Market.

Remember when I was pregnant with Rhys, and I would joke about giving birth to a little English boy, who would have a delightful English accent, and would say things like "Ma-maah, would you care to have a sit down and spot of tea?".

Well... yah, that didn't happen. But that doesn't mean I can't dream!

So the other day I took Rhys to the Kingsland Farmer's Market (with Kyle tucked cozily in the Baby Bjorn), and I dressed him in his jaunty coat and jaunty cap. I even thought to bring his plastic shopping cart from home that he got from Santa.

This cute sight garnered lots of attention - and free stuff! He got an apple and a cookie to put in his cart.

And what would a trip to the market be without a treat! Enter - The Lollipop:

Then much to my surprise, he wanted to take a break from the lollipop to munch on a farm fresh carrot:

(Editor's note: His hat does fit him, it was just 'riding up' in these pics. Thanks to my friend 'T' for the awesome hand-me-downs!).

Snuggle Bug.

This kid loves a cozy, warm chest. And his family is soaking it in.

Day One.

Today is March 1st, and this marks the first day of the rest of my mat leave. Yesterday was Rhys' last day of daycare, and today is the first day of being full time with both boys.

His last day was a bit surreal, and anti-climatic. We took Kyle with us in the morning to drop Rhys off, so he could show everyone his new little brother. We gave the staff a small gift to say thank-you. We left our contact info for Jasper and Maya's moms, so that maybe Rhys can still see his little friends again. Warren said at the end of the day, when he picked Rhys up, he had to empty out his cubby and they had another child's things waiting to fill it. Rhys cried out, saying 'that's my cubby!'. Sheesh. They could have waited until he was gone...

Since Gramma Patsy is leaving for sunny Phoenix tomorrow for a week, we spent the day with her. Coffee and Scream in the morning... Where we ran into Rhys' cousins Elizabeth and Kaitlyn by total fluke!

Today also marks day one of something else. I am going to blog every day in March, even if it's just posting a photo :)

So, three cheers for March. Here goes nothing!

Mr. Bigfoot

When we brought Kyle home, Rhys wanted to hold him right away. This is the photo we took (with Rhys cropped out for optimal effect):

I laughed my ass off. I think I might send it in to the Ellen Show, for the "What's Wrong With These Photos?' Photo segment.

Or did you have to be there?

Hospital Pics

Some pics from the always lovely (not!) stay at the hospital... At least the pics are lovely :)