Three!

I can't believe Bridgette is 3!!!

We decided to skip the zoo & get back to real nature this year! There's a Texas safari called Fossil Rim Park about 1 1/2 hours away from home, so we woke up early to check it out. It's kind of like a drive thru zoo, but the animals (for the  most part) aren't caged. You pay an entrance fee, get a bag of feed & are released into the wild.

The animals just sort of roam around this huge area of land. Some of the animals are there to try & conserve the species (cheetahs mainly) and others are there because they were once pets & the owners didn't want them any longer. There were tons of deer  & antelope, emu, ostrich, giraffe & zebras (which weren't out that day.) I'll admit, I probably screamed "ROLL UP THE WINDOW" a few times, but it was really cool.

Bridgette was excited not only because she got to feed the animals, but she got to ride in "mommy's chair." Before you get all judgy on us, you're going like 5 MPH and stopping every 2 minutes. You'd get more speed in your power wheel out there people.


 That night we had a very mini birthday party for Bridgette. Her friend Ashlynn came over to play and help ring in Bridgy's new year. Bridgette has been hooked on Strawberry Shortcake lately, so her main present was a set of Strawberry & her friends with outfits to change into. She's so funny, she carries the dolls & all their outfits around in her little purse, you never know when you'll get the urge to play!

An elk! Dan got royally slimmed by it. I was expecting it to ram our car with it's humongous horns!

Hmmm... I'm hungry

Bridgette here, probably wetting her pants. I was  freaked out too.

Bridgette stayed there for probably 5 minutes after the deer left.

When they said cheetahs were going to be in the park I was very concerned. Luckily they're caged off.

Another elk, licking his lips

Dinosaur!  (said Bridgtte)

Driving lessons. She basically honked the horn & said "Oh my gosh!" the whole time. She drives with me a lot, can you tell.

Chewing his food.

Yay! Front seat!

Jack, the entire time, sleeping or laughing

Ostrich trying to worm his way in. Those things are scary.

They have real dinosaurs here people!

Yay! I'm THREE!

Yay!

Very similar to her 1st Birthday cake.

HAPPY Birthday Baby Girl!

More...

I love the convenience of camera phones! I plug it into my computer & upload the photos and think, oh man! I forgot about that! It's reminiscent of the good old 35 mm days when I'd take a roll of film, develop it 6 months later & get excited to see what was on the film (wasn't it annoying when the photos were unfocused or total junk!)

Being new(er) to this area I'm always trying to find things to do with Bridgette, and that are Jack friendly. One of the things we did recently was go to Family Day @ the Dallas Museum of Art. The first Tuesday of the month everyone is free & they have activities set up throughout the Museum's exhibits. It was a little crazy, especially since a lot of the artwork was toddler level, ancient and unguarded. I wonder how many sticky (literally) fingers touched the art that day...

Another cool thing about this outing was having the chance to visit Downtown Dallas. We live about 20 minutes north, which is close, but we don't really need to go to Dallas for many things. It is a cool city & hopefully I get the chance to explore it a bit more.

My Sister, Joan, sent this book for Bridgette. It's Pride & Prejudice for beginners. Bridgette is a smart girl & realized Jane Austen deserves her own shelf.

Papa Joe rode in the ambulance. Bridgette drove & some 3 year old boy checked Joe's heart & gave him a clean bill of health.

Dallas Museum of Art Kids' day. Those poor guards were having heart attacks left & right protecting the art from curious little fingers.

One of my sweet activity girls, Mckayla, was my helper for the day. She was awesome! This carving was amazing, it was from the height of the Roman Empire. The precision was surprising, how'd they do this!?

Bridgette being silly, she had fun making animal hats, doing story time & made tin foil crowns. She also gave a guard a heart attack by almost touching a Renaissance painting. I'm not gonna lie, I almost had a heart attack too...

He doesn't look happy, but he's just trying to intimidate you.

Man boobs.

If you think Jack is my only fat baby. This is Bridgette at 5 months (eating 1st solid food, as if she needed it.) I think she actually has more rolls than Jack.

Too Sweet. My exhausted boys.

Happy Times

 I just realized my last post was a Debbie Downer : (

Sorry Guys.

We've been doing good here in Texas. The weather is starting to cool down to 100, whoo-hoo! It's so funny because I really can feel the difference between a 108 day and a 100 day. We still stay inside a majority of the time though... 100 still makes me sweat like a beast.

Bridgette has been doing great, as long as we keep the potty training light. The musical diapers do actually work, but she still doesn't want to sit on the toilet, headstrong girl!

She absolutely loves going to nursery. Her teachers say she gets super jazzed during singing time, singing loudly & doing all the hand motions. I guess she gets that from Grandma Trudy (definitely NOT from her Dad.) She's also really excited to start preschool again. She loves to stay busy (like me) and loves learning.

Jack is huge, 25 inches & 17 lbs (My right bicep is getting pretty huge too.) I can't believe he's already outgrown his 6 month old clothes! It's so amazing how fast newborns grow.

As far as activities, he likes tummy time & any time he's in his cradle or swing he tries to sit up. There's definitely a six pack under the thick layer of chubs. He likes to sit on Dan's lap and "watch" the Olympics at night. He's is my cheerful chubby buddy & I am really blessed to have two such sweet babes.

Dan's work has been slowing a bit--Yay! He actually left work at 1 o'clock Saturday! We all miss him during the week, and I'm excited for the fall when we get to see him a bit more. He tries to get in a few racquetball games in during the week and will hopefully be able to play in the league this fall.

I started going back to the gym this past week. They can't watch children under 3 months, so I've had a long break. I almost had a panic attack leaving Jack the first time, but it feels so good to get a good workout in! I've been doing Jillian Michaels workouts and we have "dance time" where we just put on music and dance at home (picture that) , but I love putting on my headphones, lifting weights & just focusing on my workout.

 I'm following Jamie Eason's 12 week program (in case you are curious), which is different than any I've done before. She actually has you only lift weights the first month, to build muscle mass first, then adds cardio. There's also a specific diet plan that works great for me, no dairy and basically minimal processed food. I thought it would be so hard to be dairy free again, but I really don't miss it at all. I find good guacamole or hummus is a really good substitute for cheese on sandwiches or Mexican food. Enough about that though...

We were excited to have visitors last week -- We LOVE visitors, so if you want to come to Dallas, we'd love to see you. Dan's Parents and brothers David & Stuart stopped by for a short trip after their trip to Florida. It was great to see Stu again, he's been serving a church mission in Russia. Bridgette was also excited to see Uncle "Dabid" again. She still talks about him all the time, I guess he really made a good impression during his last visit.

We didn't do much, but it was fun having them here to hang out & Bridgette loved playing kitchen & "Little People" with Papa Joe. When they got here Saturday we went to a really good Tex Mex restaurant called  Blue Mesa, it was sooo good.

We held Jack's blessing that Sunday so Joe and Stu could be part of it. I love baby blessings and even though Dan was dreading speaking in front of the entire congregation it was really a beautiful blessing and Jack is lucky to have a father who loves his son so much.

 After Church we BBQ'd and just hung out and watched some Olympics. Before they left Monday we went to the Mall where Papa Joe & Bridgette could play in the kids' area & the boys could cruise for chicks.   I feel bad the trip was so uneventful, there really are cool things to do around here, I promise!

Here are some photos of the past few weeks:

Look at those chubs!

Handsome Daddy, handsome boy

This is the typical "Williamson" photo face.

Bridgette doesn't like having her photo taken lately.

Papa Joe brought Jack Eeyore.

Happy Jack

Jack fell asleep in Papa's arms, he doesn't even fall asleep in my arms!

Papa & Grandma!

The boys comparing games on their iPhones

Playing Kitchen

Puncles

Saying goodbye. It was a fun visit!

Summer in Dallas

Bridgette likes to help the swing push Jack. She likes to go fast & high on the swing, so she assumes Jack does also.

We look forward to our Lunches with Dan b/c we rarely see him right now! Bridgette is the funniest ice cream cone eater. She licks backwards, silly girl.

Its soooo hot outside, so we have to find alternative areas to play. This is in the mall play area.

Another way to cool off, the Rosemeade Rec center is a really cool pool. It's really hard to go & have fun with a newborn though.

Any place in the house is fair game to be made into a bed for Bridgette's babies.

Jack doing "Tummy Time"

Making a rainy day blanket out of chalk.

Once again, any place is fair game for baby beds. She made one in the pumpkin, she fills Jack's swing & car seat with her babies too. This makes it slightly annoying when I'm in a hurry to put jack down/ get him in his carseat.

Potty training (again). My sister-in-law, Kaylene, sent these, yay!

Jack is a big smiler. At this age Bridgette was pretty serious, but this kid likes to smile, He actually started cracking up in his sleep the other day, so cute!

Me & my chubby buddy. Look at those forearmpits

So this is what we've been up to:

The temperatures here hover around 105, so we're inside a lot. Bridgette loves being outside & playing at the park, so she's getting a little stir crazy being inside all the time! We're excited for her to start preschool again. She's so shy in public, but loves being around other kids and singing songs.

Dan's still working like a mad man. We see him Saturday evenings & Sundays. It's a rare treat for Bridgette to go visit him @ his office. I think she likes to sit in the Boss's chair, she's going to be a CEO one day, I can just feel it !

I still feel a little overwhelmed having two kids. My sisters/ sisters-in-law make mothering look so easy... I hate you. Not really, but man, you're good at it which is why it looks so easy.

Jack is starting to sleep better. He has reflux & dairy sensitivities, like Bridgette, so he was a lot happier once we got all that under control. He wakes up a couple of times throughout the night, which may be why I'm even more spacey than normal. He loves to cuddle with me and he is fascinated with Bridgette (definitely not the other way around quite yet.)  He's fat, if you can't tell. He's about 15 lbs!!!

The other night I was making some chocolate treats (rough day) and I put Jack in his swing. I kept hearing little grunts, but chocolate had priority. Then I heard a loud thump & he started screaming. Poor boy had worked himself out of the swing & fell on the ground. I'm obviously such a good mom. I felt sooo bad, he only fell about a foot at the most, and he landed feet first, but I prioritized chocolate over baby. Dang it, I need to get my priorities straight!

I have, once again, been trying to potty train Bridgette. I started when she was about 22 months, but she wouldn't go near the potty, then we moved, then we moved again. I tired soon after we got to TX, but she would throw the biggest fit any time I tried to put her on the potty. I was doing the whole no pants training thing, and got tired of feeling like I had a new puppy. I put painters' plastic all over the carpet to make it a bit easier, but that didn't help her get the whole "when you're wet, sit on the toilet" thing. This last round of training was probably the most frustrating. She's had some naaaasty accidents and even though I've offered a zillion incentives, she doesn't care. One day she finally went in her mini potty & I got so excited and was making a big deal of her going pee pee in her toilet and she said, "No Mom, that's not pee pee, it's water." Hmmm, maybe that's why the whole potty training thing wasn't working, I needed to start the training with some sort of object lesson.

Other than potty training Bridgette has been obsessed with her babies. She pulls all the folded blankets from the shelves and makes sure all her animals have beds. She makes "beds" for them everywhere; the laundry hamper (obvious choice), plastic Halloween pumpkin, Dan's shoes, and pictured above-- the lid to her potty (which was empty.)

Interestingly enough, she still could care less about our real baby, Jack. She'll push him in the swing, and make sure his feet are covered, at all times, by a blanket. She still gets quite jealous. Maybe by the time she's a teenager she'll outgrow it.

She also has grown into quite the fit thrower. She screams at the top of her lungs when we put her in her room for quiet time.  She also usually refuses to willingly sit in her car seat (but when she does she reminds me to buckle her in, thank goodness.) While shopping she enjoys playing hide-and-seek & throws a major fit when it's time to leave the store (usually we're leaving b/c I'm having a panic attack b/c both my kids are screaming.)

Long story short, I'm not gracefully coming into being a mother of two. They are sweet babies though, and I love them to pieces, I just need to get with the program... and hire a nanny or something.

I've been very preoccupied lately, but I'll hurry & post some recent photos.

Our newest addition was born May 5th. I woke up that day, excited to start making Cafe Rio Pork to celebrate the "holiday". Then I realized I was very wet... Bridgette was like, "Mom! You're wetting your pants!" After 10 minutes of non-stop leakage I called the Dr, and it was time to go!

I was so not prepared! I called a friend in the ward to come get Bridgette & called Dan at work to come pick me up.

Labor was pretty short. We checked in around 10, got the epidural around 12 and he was born at 4pm.

Like Bridgette, Jack had a hard time breathing and was taken from me almost immediately, but after getting a bit of formula his blood sugar leveled & he was fine.

The hospital stay & recovery was a million times better than with Bridgette. The nurses were patient & super sweet. The food was a-may-zing. They gave us steak and lobster the last night in the hospital. Soooo good.

My first night home with 2 kids was rough. Dan had to go into work & I was alone & in pain. Bridgette was not liking the baby & was giving me a hard time. I seriously wanted to crawl into a hole & sleep for a year.

 Thankfully, the next day my mom flew in & took over. I seriously don't know what I would've done without her. Bridgette had a really hard time adjusting and my mom was so good helping her adjust.

I've just been getting used to being a mom of two. To those of you who make it look effortless and fun; I hate you.

Poor Bridgette is being raised by Veggie Tales & Elmo. At least I make sure she gets some veggies by making our daily green smoothie (with coconut milk, Jack is also dairy sensitive.)

I'm barely feeling normal now. I know it's been 6 weeks, but this has been quite the adjustment. But it's fun & good.

Jack is awesome. He's a pretty decent sleeper, but still likes to eat every 2 hours. He looks so much like my brothers. He is pretty mellow, but hates his carseat. He's quite chunky now, almost out of the 0-3 month baby clothes already! I love snuggling him! He loves cuddling and is starting to smile at me & pull my hair.

Bridgette is now getting used to brother. She likes to push him in his swing & sings "I am a Child of God" and shares her "Dede" with him when he cries. She will occasionally ask to "hold" him which is really a quick hug. I think when he's bigger & more interactive she'll be really into the sister thing.

Dan has also been super-dad, helping take care of Bridgette when he's at home (taking her to the park, bathing, reading...) but he's been working 18 hour days. It's pretty crazy. We're excited for the Fall, when he can be home more.

Well, I'd better go! I hope my next post makes a bit more sense!

Jack Bruce Williamson. Born Cinco De Mayo 2012
6 lbs 5oz
He had the same breathing issues that Bridgette had, poor baby

Getting ready to leave the hospital. Bridgette thinking "does he have to come with us?" She was not excited to bring him home.

Sweet boy sleeping. So cuddly

Daddy & Jack. Jack doesn't look to comfortable there.

In the swing. He looks so much like my brothers.

First real bath. 

Grandma Trudy & Grandpa Henry visiting us/ saving my sanity.

Grandma giving kisses to Jack. She was such a huge help, I don't think I would've survived without her help!

Finding things to do inside/ avoiding the heat. We built a fort & "stargazed" using the constellation turtle Jack "gave" Bridgette at the hospital.

I tried to take sibling photos of these two. Bridgette wouldn't let me put Jack near her. This photo about sums up the photo session. I now think it's well worth paying big $$ to have a pro do it.

Bridgette playing.

My sweet girl.