Hudson & Mommy Date

A little park time + frozen yogurt with my boy.

Operation Round Head

Since she was born, London has favored her left side. When she sleeps, she almost always turns her head to her left, and now she's sucking her left thumb. While her preferences are all fine and dandy, we've noticed she's getting a flat spot on her head. I've heard if you don't correct it soon enough, your baby has to have physical therapy or wear a helmet. A helmet isn't the kind of accessory I'd like for London... so Operation Round Head is in full effect.

Last night I swaddled London with her left arm inside and her right arm out. She wasn't very happy that her newfound left thumb was unavailable, but my plan worked, and after a few minutes her head was turned to the right and she was going after her right thumb. I checked on her a few more times before I went to bed, and her head was still turned right. VICTORY!!

...and then London woke up 3 times throughout the night. 2 of the 3 times she was able to go back to sleep on her own, but she definitely made it known that she was not thrilled with my new plan. But, I'm sticking with it. She will thank me one day when she has a perfectly round head.

Daddy's Girl

That's better...

This weekend went much smoother than last. London got a new jumper, which she loves. She likes to be upright, so she is enjoying her new toy. She's also slept through the night for the last 2 nights. Hudson & I had fun during London's naps: picnic lunch in the front yard, scooter-riding and painting. On Saturday night, Brandon & I had a date night. We ate dinner at Opah. The food was delicious: tuna tartare, prosciutto-wrapped shrimp, salmon + butternut risotto for me and a double-cut pork chop + sweet potato fries for B. Oh, and a couple pear martinis for me (on the rocks... I think I'm the only girl who doesn't like those fancy glasses!) After dinner we got a coffee and browsed the bookstore. It was really nice. Yesterday we had some friends over for a BBQ. All in all, a great weekend!

Parenting is hard.

Life with 2 kids is definitely harder than with 1. Or maybe I should say life with a 3-year-old is tough! Hudson is really smart, and he has such a strong will... which I guess is a good thing, but it is difficult. Yesterday was a pretty tough day, and by early afternoon, Brandon and I were totally frustrated and exhausted. Brandon called his mom and said, "Today's the day. We need your help. We need to get out of this house!" Luckily she didn't have any plans and was willing to come over on the fly and rescue us! We went out to eat at BJ's, had a beer, and of course... talked about the kids (namely, Hudson). Just being able to sit there in peace and have an uninterrupted conversation really helped. (I'm sure the beer helped too. And the pizookie.)

It's funny how things change with the second child. After Hudson was born, we didn't feel the NEED to get out for date nights. We would just open a bottle of wine after he went to bed, eat dinner together, maybe watch a movie... and it felt like good, quality time together. Now we absolutely need to GET OUT OF THE HOUSE. An overnight date may be in our near future...

Broken Camera

14 weeks old, wearing her brother's hand-me-down shirt (not for long, it's so tight!)

got his face painted like a puppy at tyson's birthday party

being silly at school

My camera was dropped a couple weeks ago, which means there are fewer pictures being taken around here. :( London is going to wonder why her 4th month wasn't very well documented! I even got my old camera out as a back-up, and after a day that stopped working too. So while my camera is being repaired, I have to rely on my camera phone to capture the moments.

The last 2 Sundays we have gone to the OC Fair. It was our first time going as a family and we had so much fun! I could hardly get Brandon to leave! They had farm animals, rides, games and of course, LOTS of food! One of our favorites was the Texas-sized smoked turkey leg... that thing was enormous! I had to try one of the deep-fried treats, so I got the twinkie, which was pretty good.

London has been sleeping through the night off and on. A few days ago, I attempted to wean her off the swaddle, so I left her arms out. She woke up twice one of the nights, so I have decided to postpone that plan. Now that I'm back at work, I need my sleep a little more!

3 months

London is 3 months old now, and for the last 2 nights, she has been sleeping through the night! Woohoo! She is really smiling a lot now and starting to laugh and coo. And have I mentioned how in LOVE her daddy is with her? Obviously we both are, but she definitely has a special place in her daddy's heart... he's so smitten with her. It's adorable.

Back to Reality...

This week my maternity leave ended and I returned to work. I had mixed emotions about it. On one hand, it was so nice being home with my little ones for 3 months, and I knew was going to be weird not being with London 24-hours a day. On the other hand, being home with 2 kids is hard work!! London is pretty easy, but having a 3-year-old who wants to GO-GO-GO made it challenging at times. During the last couple weeks I was home, I was feeling so exhausted by the end of the day and my patience was wearing thin. I feel like going to work is somewhat of a break (since I can sit at my desk the majority of the day). And I feel like getting away from the kids for a little while makes me a better parent, as it restores my patience and allows me to feel that excitement about seeing them again.

So I started back on Monday, bright and early. Luckily, London got to stay home with her daddy that day so that calmed my nerves about leaving her. They did really well together and since Hudson was at school, Brandon said he had a pretty relaxing day with his little girl. I am fortunate that London can be at home with family 5 days a week, and only go to daycare 2 days a week. We found a wonderful woman to watch her, and she lives very close to Hudson's school, which makes it convenient. So far so good... it's a little hectic in the mornings for Brandon when he has to drop off both kids, and for me when I have to pick them up, but we'll adjust. And Gramma Joan came by over the weekend and stocked us up with meals, so that is definitely helping too. :)

Our Wooden Anniversary

Today Brandon & I are celebrating 5 years of marriage! We had a very eventful wedding day: 111° in Temecula, thunderstorms, broken air-conditioner, con-artist photographers (one left prior to the ceremony due to "health problems")... but we still had a wonderful, fun (and HOT) wedding day. On that day, I didn't realize what a fantastic husband and father Brandon would be. I really lucked out, and I am so grateful for that night in July 2004, at Belmont Brewing Company, when our lives together began.

Celebrating Hudson... Southern-Style

Yesterday we had Hudson's 3rd birthday party! We did a Southern Backyard BBQ. We set up 3 kiddie pools and a slip-n-slide, as well as cornhole and ladderball. Since Brandon and I are all about the food, we had fun with the menu:

Deviled Eggs

Mississippi Caviar

Watermelon

Fried Chicken

Louisiana Hot Links

Mac & Cheese

Potato Salad

Baked Beans

Corn on the Cob

Southern Banana Pudding

Strawberry Shortcake

For drinks, we offered:

RC Cola

Orange Soda

Sweet Tea

Strawberry Lemonade

Spiked Strawberry Lemonade

Pabst Blue Ribbon

Instead of party favor bags, we handed out a bottle of hot sauce to each guest. We had a great turnout and had a blast celebrating with family and friends.