Small steps

I know this might not seem like the most exciting thing in the world but it is for me. Next month Charlie will be turning two years old and he has started to become a little man. He (sometimes) likes to pick out his shirt and tries to put everything on himself. Yesterday I got this from the hubs...

 

I miss so many of these little milestones while I am at work. I am glad Aaron is at home to experience all of it but I am a little jealous. I also wish Charlie would stop growing. Eventually he won't want to cuddle with me at night when he is tired. (That is another story, for another time)

Charlie first trip to the movie theatre

Yesterday Caitlin didn't have school so Aaron decided to take the kids to a movie.  Caitlin decided she wanted to see the Lego movie since Charlie loves Legos so much. 

This would be Charlie's first trip to the movie theater. Unfortunately, he only lasted through the previews and fell asleep. In fact, he slept through the entire movie! 

Beware- this movie is hypnotizing.

The kids got Despicable Me 2 for Valentine's Day and apparently it has super-powers. It puts the kids and the dog into a trance....

Look up every once in awhile

This morning I witnessed something amazing. I didn't have to go anywhere or pay for it either. Actually, all I had to do was look up and this is what I saw. 

What a beautiful start to my day. 

The never ending day of basketball.

After my nephew's b-ball games we went to the MSU to watch some real ball.

(My poor sister went to 5 games because my niece also had a doubleheader in the morning)

 

One of Caitlin's best girlfriends was sitting a couple rows behind us and they both ran to Boomer Bear when he came around.

 

(Good thing my Dad makes sure we arrive at the game at least one hour before it starts- as you can see, it is just madness in the background of people trying to get to their seats.)

 

Charlie was sooooooooooooooooooooo tired. He almost passed out during the National Anthem.

 

But he at least made it to the middle of the starting line up. (Which is actually the loudest part of the entire game because the band, speakers, announcer, and strobe lights are all going off like crazy)

 

Once he woke up he was ready to cheer.

 

My favorite picture of the night-- my sister's photobomb.

 

No, the crowd was not doing the wave. But my kiddos were.

 

 

Aunt Kimmie bribing Charlie with fruit snacks or "nacks" as he calls them.

 

The players are awesome. They walk around the entire court giving all the fans high-fives.

 

Leaving with Papa.

How to win the "Parent of the Year" award...

Sunday morning I just wanted to sleep (or lay down with a little peace and quiet) so THIS is what happened...

 

I know, I will probably win the "Parent of the Year" award for this. But hey, I know we all do it occasionally, right?

Coop's first B-ball game of the season

My nephew had his first basketball games of the season on Saturday. The hubby didn't feel like going so I took the kiddos.

I should have known that it would take place in a HOT and stinky gym.

Charlie sat through half of the first game (yes it was a double header) with his shades on. It was hilarious.

My niece Ryan found a basketball and the girls played with Charlie.

Then Ryan threw a fit (you know the screaming, crying, and legs flailing everywhere kind of fit). This pic was taken "pre-fit" when she was just mad.

 

I LOVE this pic. The score was 6-4 (I know, it was a high scoring game) with only about 10 seconds left on the clock. My nephew was already celebrating and clapping.

 

After the game. He is 10 now so he is way too cool to take a picture with his cousins.

But he will always take one with his momma. After all, she buys his Mr. Pibb.

Aaron's new J.O.B.

After my mother in law passed away my family decided to change things up a bit to make our lives a little happier and less stressful. So, my hubby quit his job and became a Stay At Home Dad. Please note: Although I support this change; I am insanely jealous of this!!!!!!!!!!

I will say, I have never seen him so happy before. I know when you hear Stay At Home Mom/Dad you immediately think that the parent is sitting on the couch watching soap operas and eating bon-bons all day. I KNOW that this is not a true statement. I realize that the only time you might actually sit down during the day is when the little one wants to sit in your lap to watch Mickey Mouse Clubhouse while he fights the urge to sleep . And maybe you are eating chocolate but it is probably because after you just made 17 different snacks/meals for the little one and each one was rejected and thrown on the floor for the dog to eat and you just gave up on what you wanted to actually eat and the chocolate just happen to be sitting there. (Wow- those were some extremely long run on sentences)

What I do know (from my 3 month maternity leave that I wish would have been a permanent gig) is that it is a tough job to keep the household things up while keeping a 21 month old entertained. But my hubby has managed to do it. Charlie and Aaron have their own little routine and usually have good days. The past month was a little rough because Caitlin was home for winter break and then it snowed a million times and school was cancelled. But, Aaron got a taste of what summer life will be like- except they were stuck inside the house.

He (like all other parents) has days that he is completely on edge when I get home. But he does a great job.

I know I don't say it often enough. So here it is again... Aaron does a great job!!

Lately he has been texting me silly things that happen during the day and it just brightens my whole day. 

Here is one from today.



I hope these little Dad-isms don't stop- I love them (hint. hint.)

Beware of the silent moments

You know that magical moment when you are relaxing in your PJs and you take a deep breath because everything is so quiet and serene. Well, if you know that feeling you also know the feeling of panic that immediately follows...

WHAT are the kids doing?

WHY is it so quiet?

WHERE is Charlie?

and then this happens OH MY GOD... Why can't I get the bathroom door open?

In the matter of about 10 seconds, Charlie had successfully snuck into the bathroom, closed the door, and opened the drawers against the back of the door so it was impossible to actually GET IN the bathroom. (I know- what a great bathroom layout)

We tried to bribe him with every kind of cookie and toy that we could think of to get him to close the drawers and come out.

The bribery ended up being a big fat failure and my panic level was at LEVEL RED.

I kept hearing him lightly giggle and I could hear water splashing.

After a couple of minutes (which felt like 4 hours) Aaron got the drawer to close and we burst into the bathroom to find this... 

 

Don't worry- he is just brushing his teeth using toilet water. No big deal.

Where's Mickey?

Last night I heard little giggles coming out of Charlie's room.

When I went in there I found Caitlin and Charlie laying on the a huge palate of fluffiness made out of every pillow and blanket that was within 7 miles of our house.

It was reading time and they had selected the Mickey Mouse search and find book. Caitlin had Charlie hunting for all of the Mickeys in the book.

The only rule was, "Give Mickey a kiss when you find him."

 

I LOVE watching these two playing together and forming a bond that only siblings can create.

 

My New Years Resolutions

I know, I shouldn't even attempt to make resolutions but I like to think of them more as a goal that I would really really like to try to attempt. Maybe I can keep them if they are a simple goal.

Here are my resolutions goals for 2014:

1. Lose weight. I say it every year but I am going to try for 1 pound at a time instead of saying "I must lose 20 pounds in one month". No, I am going to be realistic. I want to look better in our Christmas photos next year. I don't have a specific weight or size in mind just as long as I feel and look better.
2. Update my blog on a regular basis. I don't really have a group of followers so this blog is really for me to write down my memories.
3. Read the bible. I have one of those 365 day bibles so I think I can accomplish reading a little every day.
4. Spend more quality family time. That means less TV time and more fun time. Also, I am going to try to be a little less hard on Caitlin. I feel like I am always getting onto her.
5. Be happy. This one is the most important. My family has had a lot of loss this past year. (We lost Aaron's brother, grandma, cousin, our family dog, and his mother.) Our poor little hearts cannot take anymore.

You can do it

I love my little girl. For such a teeny 8 year old, she has a HUGE heart. Yesterday there was a marathon that went through our neighborhood and she made signs and went out to the curb cheering the runners on. 

Our morning routine...

When Caitlin was little we spent a little time each day reading books and playing (but secretly learning) with flash cards. It was one of our mother- daughter bonding moments that I cherished.

Now that Charlie is around my role as the teacher has been taken over by the little mommy in the house.

Just this morning she got him out of his crib and brought him to my bed and read to him. Although this happens all the time, it made my heart swoon.

(Sorry for the poor quality photos.
I took these on my phone in a dark-ish room and tried to brighten them up.)

I LOVE seeing his little finger point to the pictures.

L-E-G-O-S

My kiddos latest obsession is LEGOS!! I hate those darn things, I always step on them. I can't wait (insert very sarcastic voice) until Charlie gets the real teeny tiny legos instead of the huge "My first Lego" size. I bet those will be real fun to step on.

Every day we have the same routine...

1. Charlie MUST dump the entire box of legos.

2. Charlie has to giggle (for several minutes) about dumping the legos above his head causing them to go everywhere in the living room. Then he wears the empty box as a hat.

3. Caitlin feverishly grabs all the multi piece legos and gives Charlie all the single pronged ones.

4. She builds a castle (remember, this happens EVERY time we get legos out)

5. Charlie destroys Caitlin's castle (and in this case- he tries to eat it too)

Bigger family, new name...

My blog is changing names. It was "What will the princess say next?" because I originaly was telling funny little stories about my princess. Since the fam has expanded, it now has a new name...

The Hayworth Family.

That is the new and boring blog title until my create juices can think of something better.

Introducing Mr Hayworth...

I wish I would have kept up with my blog. It was fun reading back through it.

I have completely skipped my entire pregnancy and birth on this blog. I am now a mother of two and love every moment of it.

Charlie was born on April 14, 2012 and we came into this world at 3:29pm. His stats are as follows:
10 pounds
23.5 inches
10 fingers
10 toes
FULL head of brown hair
Dark Blue-ish eyes (they have since turned to dark brown)

Right after he was born- Aaron was cutting the cord. 

Our first official family photo. 

Love at first sight. 

I only ended up gaining 10.8 pounds during my pregnancy so by the time he was officially born I had lost all of my pregnancy weight. Actually, I weighed less than my pre-pregnancy weight. That was quite exciting for me. After having Charlie I continued to lose weight thanks to breastfeeding. However, I went back to work and stopped going on our daily walks around the neighborhood and the weight came piling back on.

I have loved watching the bond Caitlin and Charlie have. They love each other so much.

FYI- Charlie is now officially 13 months and one week old.

NO mom...

It is just a two letter word but now when I say it, I immediately regret it...

I always say no- without even thinking about it. There is no hesitation, I hear Caitlin's little high pitched voice asking for something and I just blurt out NO.

Mom- can I have a snack?
NO
Mom- can I go outside and ride my bike?
NO
Mom- can I...
NO

My husband has been pointing it out to me lately when I do it. I really don't mean to be so negative all the time. Once I get off work and get both kids picked up I just don't have any extra time. Every night I have to feed Charlie, play with Charlie, cook dinner, do dishes, laundry, pick up the house (and everything else that happens in life) AND whatever activity Caitlin wants to do. I feel like a horrible mom. I used to devote all (and I mean ALL) of my time to her. She was always right beside me and would help me cook, clean, or do anything I was doing. I also used to have time to do crafts with her.

She is a fantastic helper around the house and a wonderful lil mom to Charlie. She will help me change diapers, give him baths (really she just gets in with him and squirts him with the little animal squirters), "babysit", give him little bits of food (she likes to give him licks off of her popsicle because he goes absolutely crazy). 

I just have one wish...

I wish she would clean her room. I get so frustrated because I cannot even see her bedroom floor most of the time. Last night she was "grounded" and missed watching the finale of Dancing With The Stars. It was on from 8-10 so she wouldn't have been able to stay up for it anyways, but you would have thought that I grounded her for a year. Her attitude and back talking was too much for me to handle and the NOs just came flying out of my mouth.

This summer I have a few goals.. my first goal is to become a YES-Mom. (or maybe a little less of a NO-Mom)

For example, I would like to say yes when she asks me for "the stickiest food-- that has no healthy content whatsoever--is made only of sugar--and was only invented to make moms like me cringe" AKA Cotton Candy. I am shocked she even knows what it tastes like. I have only let her have it once in her life and it was just a few weeks ago at Fun Night.

I couldn't resist... I wanted a small bite too.

***I know Aaron has let her have it many times, my Dad has bought it many times at the Bears games, and she has had it at Skateland when she goes every Friday during the summer at the YMCA.

I am going to TRY to start saying YES more. I still have issues with letting my kiddos out of my sight (like going outside) because we live on a busy street and there are so many crazy people in the world, but I think I can ease up on her a little bit. After all, it is no fun always being the mean parent.

I'm back...

I have been absent from my blog for quite awhile now. I am disappointed in myself because I thought this would be a fun way of documenting my memories of my kid and now kiddos. I hope to be better at this, but I cannot make any promises.

I will say ---In just 4 short days my little man will be turning the ripe ole age of 1. I cannot believe this year has gone by so fast. Maybe I will post some old photos of the past year or maybe I will just start fresh and just start talking about the new exciting days in my life.

Here is a photo of Charlie helping to pick out his birthday party supplies. As you can see, he was thrilled to go on this shopping adventure.

To be continued...

Sleep comas

OK, it has been a million years since I posted something. To be quite honest, I have been in a "sleep-coma" and am just finally beginning to wake up.

I have been in one of these "sleep-comas" before and it was about 7 years ago. So, just in case anyone actually reads this and doesn't know yet...

I AM PREGNANT!!!

We are so excited and cannot wait. It is going to be a long a wait though because I am not due until April. But at least I skipped the 100+ degree summer weather. I am 11 weeks now and am starting to feel "fat".

The other morning I was getting dressed and I said to Miss Caitlin--- I feel so fat! She immediately responded with squeals of joy and yelled "My mommy's fat- yeah!!!!"

***I know if her little 6 year old head being "fat" means the baby is growing but to me it just made me a little blue.

My friend Kari.

This is one of my saved drafts that was never published. After reading it, I have no clue why it wasn't.

Today I am thankful for one of my dearest friends. She is a "Professional Super Hero" in my eyes. She is a single mom to one of the smartest kiddos I know. My husband does not understand how we can just go to each others houses and sit and talk all night long. He is not a woman so he does not understand how the female mind works but one of the main reasons I can be around her so much is Kari always makes me laugh.

Here are a few examples. BTW- she is not intentionally doing things to make me laugh, she just has a different way of doing things that I happen to think are crazy :)

Kari's fly catcher

Kari's Iron

Kari driving

Her part time job---Dinosaur wrangler

Did I forget to mention that she is also a Captain?

Just looking at these pictures makes me literally laugh out loud!!!