Snip Snip

It’s like a cardinal parenting rule:  Should your kid become too quiet go figure out what they did wrong, broke, painted, or in my case CUT.

So, one day back in February I was sitting in the living room, working on painting the headboards for the girl’s new room, during Reese’s nap.  Kennedy had been sitting with me, but she left and went into her room.  She doesn’t take naps anymore, but when Reese naps Kennedy is supposed to do quiet activities.  I didn’t think anything of the fact that she was being quiet, especially since Reese was asleep in there, and there isn’t anything she can’t play with in their room, BUT I should have known.

Kennedy had recently used a pair of scissors in one of her classes and cutting with scissors was her new favorite thing.  I didn’t want her using our big scissors, or any pair for that matter really, but I went and got her first pair of scissors, a preschool pair.  Earlier in the day, she had been practicing cutting out shapes at the kitchen table.  I had no idea the scissors were still out or when she got them, but when David went into her room to check on her she was sitting on her floor innocently cutting out shapes from paper.  It was time to wake up Reese anyways and I didn’t want her using them in her room by herself so I went in there.  I walked up to Reese to wake her up, brushed the hair off her face, and that’s when I saw it.  Little clumps of hair all. over. her. bed.   While Reese slept, Kennedy had played hair salon.

Immediately, I’m thinking 1000 things at once.  Why didn’t I check on her sooner?  We went over the NEVER cutting hair situation when we got the scissors… why did she cut her sister’s hair?!  Why did I ever mention cutting hair like that was even a possibility?  Poor Reesey… she hardly has any hair at all and she’s dying for long hair like her sister and now she looks like Rihanna with a half-shaved head.  The worst haircut ever.  All the feels.

Anyways, I had to deal with the aftermath somehow so I debated 2 options.  Give her a pixie cut or trim it up to conceal it a little better and ride out the awkward.  I went with the second option because I felt terrible cutting off her hair when I know she wants it long.

Luckily, her hair is so blonde that it was hidden a little more that way too, but the first few weeks were definitely awkward.

Now, it’s been about 2 months and it looks so much better than it did that first day. Much less blunt and lucky for her, her hair is growing pretty quickly right now.

Kennedy realized what a bad idea the haircut was when she asked me to fix it and I explained that I couldn’t fix it.  My parents were coming to town the next day and she kept asking me over and over not to tell them that she cut Reese’s hair.  She was so anxious about them finding out.  I told her I wouldn’t tell them, but if they noticed we’d have to explain what happened.  She ended up just spilling the whole story about a minute after they walked in the door and you could tell she felt so much better that they knew. Sometimees Reese still tells people that Kennedy cut her hair or she’ll mention it to me when I brush it, but she wasn’t really phased by it at all.  I’m forever traumatized and not sure Kennedy or any of my children will ever use a pair of scissors again.

So that’s, that.  I think it’s the first sibling right of passage we’ve had at our house and I’m sure it won’t be the last.  Good luck, #3.

 

The Next Pair Of Hands

Are pink!  I love being a girl mom and I am so excited to have 3 little girls running around the house.  I asked the girls to come take a picture for me this morning and they came running out of Kennedy’s room just like you see them in the picture.  I don’t think there could be anything sweeter than to add another one to the mix.

Honestly, I’m surprised because the pregnancy has been pretty different, but unless the baby is really hiding something David will have his hands full of baby girls come June.  (I have heard multiple stories of wrong ultrasounds lately that have happened recently and this is the only one I’ve had so far so now I’m a little less confident than I was with Kennedy and Reese.)

Speaking of David, everyone is asking if he’s OK and yes, he’s very OK with it.  He’s never been big on needing a boy and he knows that little girls can do all the fun things, too.  They love to go fishing with him and help in the yard and he loves that.  It probably helps even more when Kennedy opens the door to the bathroom and says, “daddy I just destroyed this bathroom.”  Yeah, that happened.

Happy Friday.  I’m off to go start writing the modern day version of Little Women.

 

Life Lately – In iPhone Pictures

My aunt, uncle, and cousins came to Florida and Kennedy had the best time playing with them. Chasing lizards {apparently she has a good eye} and swimming in the hot tub… If they were doing it she wanted in on the fun. {no, the water wasn’t hot and yes, she asks for “hot tub” all the time now}

David went fishing the other day so I took Kennedy to get a “special treat.” She ate her doughnut sprinkle by sprinkle so it’s a good thing we weren’t in a hurry.

I bought new sheets for our bed and Reese ate them.

The girls started taking baths together and it’s about the sweetest thing I’ve ever seen. Kennedy can do no wrong in Reese’s eyes and Kennedy has nothing but love for Reese.

We had our first beach weekend of the year with our friends and we took the girls to the marine lab. Kennedy was in fishy heaven.

Kisses from my girls… my favorite.

Why Two Is Harder

When I got pregnant with Reese all I heard about was how hard it was to go from 1 to 2. Now that she’s here, I agree, it’s hard… So I’ve been trying to put my finger on what exactly makes it so hard and here’s what I’ve come up with…

•Mom Guilt•
After I had Reese I felt really guilty about the time lost with Kennedy. Then I felt really guilty about all the snuggling that Reese didn’t get as a newborn that Kennedy did. Seriously, you can run, but you can’t hide… the mom guilt is everywhere!

•Prioritizing Needs•
It’s no fun when both girls are upset, but it’s worse to have to decide who to help first. Obviously they both feel like they need to be taken care of first, but I don’t have enough arms, or clones, so choices have to be made. Kennedy also seems to get hurt while I’m feeding Reese and that’s just a whole other issue to try and take care of 1 while the other is attached to you.

•Leaving The House•
It’s insane. More so when they’re closer in age because there’s a high probability that you’ll be carrying the oldest in one arm, holding the baby in the infant carrier with the other, and dangling your purse from the hook you made with your finger. It looks precarious, and it is, but when someone asks if you need help it’s like a game of Jenga and you don’t know which piece to pull so you just say, “no thanks, I’ve got it.”

•Schedules•
It’s just plain hard to fit a newborn schedule into a toddler schedule. Kennedy has energy for DAYYYYS, but there’s only so much I can put Reese through. It’s very limiting, especially in the winter, because we used to spend so much time outside and it’s harder to do that with a baby when it’s cold. So, I have to try to find a balance… Getting the toddler enough play/learning time and getting the baby enough sleep so she doesn’t turn into a no-nap-monster.

•Sleep Deprivation•
When there’s just 1 baby you can sleep when the baby sleeps. When there’s more than one… just buy coffee in bulk.

Gosh, just simple math explains the difficulty… 2 of them… 1 of me.

What Kind Of Mom Are You?

I’ve been seeing this quiz all over Facebook… The “What Kind Of Mom Are You” one.

I didn’t think I was the “helicopter” because I’m really pretty relaxed with the girls and go with a “live and learn” kind of approach to a certain extent.

Anyways… My result

OVERWHELMED MOM

It actually made me laugh because when I took it last night that’s really how I felt.

Some days, I feel like I am rocking this whole mom thing and I’m like yeah we should have 10 kids. Other days… I’m overwhelmed mom.

Those days, I don’t remember to make sure I’m fully clothed out in public {I may not have been at least once}.

There’s just not enough coffee.

And that part about the shower being a vacation… Absolutely true.

“Overwhelmed mom.” I think that’s synonymous with “Life of a mom with 2 under 2.”

It Really Does Happen

The hardest part for me about having another baby was mentally figuring out how I’d love 2 kids the same. How? Like I said in this post, I know it happens, but I just couldn’t figure it out.

And then I had Reese, and second I saw her I fell in love.

No more than I love Kennedy and not the tiniest bit less.

You think your heart just couldn’t possibly love another baby as much as you love your first, but it’s about as effortless as anything could be.

It just happens.

I think the only difference is that I know Kennedy like the back of my hand and Reese is a whole new person to get to know. As far as the actual bond though, the love that I have for both girls, there is no difference at all.

One Day I’ll Laugh About It

One day I know I’ll laugh about the nights of no sleep… Like last night for example.

Reese was up and wide awake from 3-4:30 after I fed her… she just wanted to hang out.

As soon as I put Reese down, Kennedy wakes up… before my head hits the pillow. 5 times we went in there and laid her back down, told her it wasn’t time to wake up yet. She didn’t care.

So, we let her cry and she screamed louder. She was up for the day at 4:30. I put toys and books in her crib and that bought us some time, but David ended up taking her to the living room while I started my next nursing session with Reese.

Not that it matters if both girls were sound asleep though because my dog snores in my face ALL. Night. Long.

And the train. Let not talk about the train.

I’d like to go crawl in bed with a cup of coffee, and have a re-do of last night. That’s not really an option, so instead I made scrambled eggs and homemade hash browns {because Kennedy is suddenly obsessed with potatoes} and I’m just going to pretend last night didn’t happen… because

I’ll laugh about it one day, I know I will…

Our First Week As 4

Reese is already 1 week old. Actually, today she’s 10 days old. It’s crazy, but true. We didn’t do much her first week aside from relaxing around the house and adusting to life as the 4 of us.

Kennedy did a lot of this…

And Reese did a WHOLE LOT of this…

Kennedy asks for the baby all the time. She loves to “hold” her and give her hugs and kisses. When we ask her to say Reese she says “Ceese” and sister sounds pretty similar to “sissy”. If you ask who her sister is she’ll always point at Reese. I love seeing them together already and I know it’s just going to get better from here. We’re tired, but loving it… and the newborn snuggles aren’t so bad either.