Overwhelmed

I had this whole blog post planned in my head last night - was going to write about how overwhelmed I have felt this week and then today happened. I was able to take a breath, visit a friend, spend 2 hours cleaning / straightening the house by myself and tonight everyone was in a good mood. Made me feel like I can do it again (well, I don't have much choice!).

The week was a bit overwhelming though. Individual components aren't so bad but you put them all together and it seems like a lot to handle. Things were relatively easy when I didn't have to get up and out of the house and could take Eli to school whenever and then had all day to be with Cole. Now getting everyone up, fed, dressed and to school so Tim & I can both get to work is another story. Add to that that we're in potty training mode with Eli (very time consuming in the mornings!) and it's quite busy around our house early in the morning. Once the boys are at school and I'm at work, things calm down and seem the same as before. Tim does drop off so his mornings are a little more hectic than mine. When I pick the boys up in the afternoon, the madness begins again. Some days I feel exhausted just trying to get out of daycare! And then there just doesn't seem to be enough time when we get home. With only a few hours, it's hard to spend enough time with both boys. When I was home with Cole all day, I'd spend a lot of time with Eli at night. Now I feel like I don't have enough time - but then again, don't we all?

There have been some really wonderful and sweet moments this week.

• I put Cole on our bed one morning and Eli climbed up next to him and was talking to him calling him a "sweet boy" and trying to give him a hug. He also tried to share his Harold the Helicopter with Cole.
• The girls at school have taken Cole into Eli's room a few times so that Eli could see him and Cole could see Eli. Eli calls Cole "my baby" so him being able to see Cole during the day means a lot.
• This morning we had to wake Cole up and Eli climbed up on the crib, peeked in and was saying "Wake up Baby Cole, Wake up". When Cole opened his eyes, he saw Eli and immediately smiled.

I love the fact that Eli is not jealous at all of Baby Cole and that he really likes Cole going to school with him. I'm so lucky to have two wonderful boys. I can see the love that they already have for each other and I couldn't ask for anything more. I'm also lucky to have Tim as a wonderful partner in this crazy and exhausting world of parenting. We try to tag-team it but he ended up doing a lot this week as I adjusted to going back to work - thanks Honey! I know that next week will be a bit easier and that we'll get better at it. I'm just glad we survived this first week fairly unscathed!

Tonight's picture - loving on Belle

Stay away from the bottle and no one gets hurt.

Today at School

This picture showed up in my email in-box at lunch time today. Since Cole was doing very well with his head control, the girls at school decided to try him in the exersaucer. Jessica took a few pictures and sent them to me. It made me smile soooo big and brought a happy tear to my eye to see him looking so cute and happy. Remember I told you the girls at school were wonderful? They treat the parents just as well as the kids.

Eli tonight - his news today was that he crashed a bike at school and busted up his lip even more. Poor guy can't catch a break! Then tonight, he was playing in the bonus room and banged his head pretty hard - not sure if you can see the goose-egg over his left eye. He's our little daredevil and just keeps getting "boo boos" on that sweet face.

Off to school, Back to work

Here we go....today was Cole's first day of school and my first day back to work. The day did not start as desired when both boys were up by 5:30am. Last week, Eli slept until 6:30 and Cole until 6:45 but not this week. I think they knew something was up! We managed to get everyone clean / showered, fed, changed and out the door at 7:45. Our goal is to make it to 7:15 so Tim & I can both get to work at a respectable time. This week, it's all about just getting out!

On the drive to school, Eli gave Cole some big brother words of encouragement telling him that school is fun and that the teachers are nice. It was so sweet.

We first took Eli to his classroom. He washed his hands and then ran around like a crazy boy. He was happy to see his friends - you know to a 2 year old, the weekend is an eternity! Then it was across the hall to move Cole into his room. It felt like moving in with all the clothing changes and diapers I took. We met one of his teachers last week and the other one this morning. They both seem very sweet and we've heard great things about them. I put Cole in a bouncy seat and after a period of talking and kisses on the head, Tim shuttled me out of the classroom and reminded me I had to go to work.

When I arrived on the jobsite, it was like I never left - definitely didn't feel like I had been home for 14 weeks. Where did all that time go?! I had a great day catching up with my team and having some adult conversations. I admit I missed Cole. I had a lot of people ask me how it felt to be back. I didn't have a strong feeling either way (happy or sad) but that it was necessary.

Cole apparently had a great day at school. His daily sheet said "Cole had a great first day! He liked getting to know his friends and teachers, having some tummy time, reading stories and looking in the mirror. Have a good night!". He apparently checked out every area in the room except the exersaucer (he'll be there soon enough!). Looks like he took some good naps but he didn't eat much at all. The teachers were concerned that he only ate 5-1/2 ounces all day and it worries me some. I'm hoping that it's just an adjustment period and he'll start eating more - I know he won't let himself starve.

Tonight was hard. I think both boys were very tired but didn't want to go to sleep. Cole ate a whole lot and then proceeded to spit it all back up on me.........joy. Finally did bath, read a book and had some bottle that he kept down. I snuggled with him for quite a bit and realized how much I missed it today. It's an adjustment period for me too. Once we got home tonight, Cole watched everything I did and wanted to hear my voice. He seemed to love our snuggling as much as I did. I hope that he will have a good night's sleep to ready him for his 2nd day of school. I hope Tim & I get some sleep too, another day of organized chaos tomorrow.

Loving on Daddy before getting ready this morning

I love Mommy (and Mommy loves me!)

My two sweet boys before school

Hanging at school

This is my world during the day - my construction site, photo 1

photo 2 - tower crane will go up in this location this weekend

Tonight at dinner. We were cracking up because Eli was literally "cutting the cheese". He was all smiling and saying "cheese" as well. Love that big smile!

A visit from the Big Bus

This weekend Grandpa and Grandma N made a quick pit-stop to see us on their way home from the mountains. They were RV-ing it and Eli was very excited to see the "Big Bus". They arrived around lunch on Saturday and we hung out for a while before Eli's nap. He was so excited to explore the bus and see what he could find. Well, he found PUMPKINS!! Grandma and Grandpa brought Eli and Cole each a pumpkin from the NC mountains. We pretty much spent the day doing nothing with them (and it was great!). I did talk to Tim's mom about my wish plans to redecorate our dining room. She loved my ideas, which fueled my fire and I was internet window shopping like no tomorrow. Tim reminded me that we have no budget for my ideas but it can't hurt to dream right?!

This morning, Tim and I took Eli on a bike ride to Umstead. It was a great time. Eli was very happy to be on a ride and so were we. Thanks Grandma & Grandpa for watching Cole so we could go. I felt much better on this ride than our last one so all my Y-time and exercising must be paying off. (Now if the scale would recognize this!) The big bus headed out a little after lunch for its' next destination and the house settled into nap time for the boys. Tim & I ran around doing chores not knowing how much nap time we had. After nap and some playtime, we met Carol & Ryan at Moe's for dinner. Had a nice dinner with friends, got the kiddies in bed and now time to get ready to start this week.

Hope everyone had a fun weekend too!

Baby Cole snuggled with Pop-Pop

Eli & Pop-Pop playing a matching game. Notice the hard hat - bet you didn't know matching games could be dangerous.

Lots of love for grandboys!

Big pumpkin, baby pumpkin - Big Eli, Baby Cole

A Letter to Cole

My dear sweet baby Cole -

Today is our last day at home together before you start daycare on Monday. I cannot believe that you're now 14 weeks old. The time at home with you has flown by and it has been wonderful. Things were much different than when I stayed home with Eli. You're a different baby and I'm a different Mommy now. You see, Eli broke me in. I had no idea what to do with a baby when he was born. Sure I could change a diaper as good as anyone but I worried too much about what books said I should do and tried to do them. With you, I let you lead. Sometimes book knowledge is too much and you need to do what your head and heart tell you are right. We had a lot of good days together, some exceptionally great and an occasional bad afternoon or morning. I made it through the "bad times" much better than with Eli. I was more calm and relaxed this time and made it a point to focus on you instead of worrying about all the stuff I could or should have been doing around the house. You know, I never once called your Daddy at work in tears saying I couldn't do it (I really did that with your brother!). Some days I was more tired than others but that happens. Some days you were happier than others. But we made every day count together.

You are such a happy baby. Right now you are smiling and laughing, making the cutest sounds - I've figured out your tickle spots so I get to hear you laugh quite a bit. You're so laid back that you make being your Mommy easy, relatively speaking. You're holding your head up very well and we've been practicing sitting in the bumbo chair. It won't be long and you'll be in the u-chair at school and your exersaucer. I say that but I know I'll blink and you'll be walking.

Monday is a new chapter for our family - your first day at school. Eli has been going to Primrose since he was your age. I cried and felt so guilty when we took him for the first day. But I don't feel that way this time. I will truly miss you during the day but the teachers at Primrose are like family now. I'm not scared and I trust them with you. I know you will be very well taken care of and will grow and learn a tremendous amount there, more than I could teach you at home by myself. Our days and nights will be a little more busy and routine but we will be a happy family. I will miss our snuggles on the couch, walks and visiting friends during the day - I'll just have to catch up at night and on weekends!!

Thank you Cole for a wonderful maternity leave. I am so lucky and blessed to have you as my son.

All my love - Mommy

Halloween Sneak Peak

Today I picked up Eli's Halloween costume (gotta love Craigslist). Last year, he was obsessed with his farm and animals so he was a Farmer. This year, it's all things trains and Thomas so it's only appropriate that he dress up as a Train Engineer. He tried it on tonight and didn't want to take the overalls off. He kept trying to say "Train Engineer" - so cute!

Shhh....Cole's costume will remain a secret until the Parade of Costumes at school.

A Lesson about Walking Feet

This morning I thought Eli looked so cute and like such a big boy so I took a few pictures of him. Here's one:

LOVE the jeans!

When I picked Eli up, I found out that he learned a hard lesson about inside walking feet. He has been running around class lately and they have been talking to him about "walking feet". Well today, he found out the hard way. The actual incident report said "While playing in the classroom, Eli was running and fell and hurt his face. He scraped his lip and caused his nose to bleed." I asked him when I walked in the room if his nose had been bleeding and then I saw his report. I think he learned his lesson today. We'll see.

First bloody nose and busted lip