August 26 = Flower in your Hair Day

Malia picked some more flowers today and shared with Kayleigh- look how cute!

The only thing I like taking pictures of more than baby feet would be sleeping babies... what do you mean Malia's not a baby anymore??

August 14 = Malia (L) Comes to Visit Day

First- I just love how attentive Liam and Malia are towards Kayleigh- it's so precious.

But the most exciting thing that happened today was my friend, Malia Losordo, came to visit us today!  She lives in Oregon but was on the east coast for a wedding and was close enough to drive to come see us!

While we were chatting and catching up, Liam went upstairs.  You would think after the hair cut fiasco, I would be a little more vigilant but I did make sure the doors that could be locked were locked and I set him up on my bed watching TV.  He was quiet- too quiet- and when I went to get him after Malia and her new husband, Gordon, left, this is what I found:

Then I read this- and it reminded me so much of Malia:

And then before I could get too emotional about how sweet that was, I saw this, and that balanced me out :)

Later, Gordon sent me this picture I had asked him to take.  When they got to our house, the kids ran out to greet Malia and Gordon and Liam proceeded to run to the playground.  Gordon was so so good with him and chased after him so Malia and I leisurely walked along with little Malia as she picked flowers.  Her new flower picking habit reminded me of my friend Malia- they're both little nature babies and I love that so much about both of them- so when Gordon and Liam returned, I asked him to snap a picture of these two doing what they love.  Thankfully he remembered to send it!

August 10 = Decorate Your Sister Day

It's a good thing we have a king bed!

One of Malia's favorite things to do is to pick flowers.  She does it pretty much every day but today she got a bunch and was holding them like a bouquet so I got a quick picture.

Also, Liam and Malia discovered my sticker stash and did this to their poor baby sister:

So here are pictures of Kayleigh.  It says she's two months old.  She's two months and some change because I didn't take the picture on her actual two months old day.  Because she's a third child.  And the one picture I do have, she's crying in it.  I tried to get another one but she didn't stop crying and instead of waiting an hour and taking another one, I put the board away and went on with my day.  Here's hoping next month's will be better!

See?  I could have just taken it right then- she was much happier soon after.  Oops.

July 22 = Mount Vernon Day

Today started as every Saturday should- with Chickfila breakfast- as I was getting Malia ready and Kayleigh's stuff packed for our morning outing, Zachary got this picture:

 Also... here's a fun guessing game- who's this?

Answer:

Our last chickfila breakfast for a while...

While we were at breakfast, Zachary told me I should go to Mount Vernon by myself.  I've been wanting to go since... well, since Zachary and I took a DC trip for our second wedding anniversary.  It was on the list of things to do but we decided to go see Matthew, who happened to be in Quantico that weekend, instead.  It was a good trade but Mount Vernon stayed on my list of things I wanted to do at some point.  I thought for sure we'd make it during our stay in Annapolis but with just days left, it didn't look like it was going to happen but my sweet husband stepped in.  I decided to take Miss Malia with me to keep me company :)

She's got her ticket in her hand- others had dropped their tickets and it was her mission to pick them up and collect as many as possible.

We got to the line to go tour the mansion early- shocking- so we walked around the gardens.  Malia loves flowers so much so she was in heaven!

As you can probably tell from the pictures, it was kind of hot.  We sat to rest for a little while before getting in the line- Malia approved.

You aren't allowed to take pictures in the mansion but when we came out, this was our view.  The camera doesn't do it justice but just looking at the picture reminds me of how beautiful it was.

Malia was nearing her patience limit but I pushed her to walk to the tomb anyway as it was on the way to the shuttle that would take us back near our car.  Malia was not very cooperative so I snapped this picture really quickly and we walked toward the shuttle.

This is what being at her patience limit looks like:

She was happy to get on the bus though- here's some of her tickets she picked up along the way.

I had to stop by the gift shop- I wanted to find something for Zachary- I found some wine for us to share.  Malia loved these puppies and wanted three of them "because they're friends."

This was exactly two months ago so I'm so glad I took this screenshot of funny things that happened on our trip.  I'm not sure what "I'm back- it's my turn not yours" is but I do remember us being on the shuttle and Malia was climbing all over me and I said, "Girl, you're killing me" and she said "I'm not killing you, I'm just sitting."  She also said, "Get off the bus, I don't like you."  I started to pretend cry and she said "I sorry mommy, I love you."  So that was nice... and then on the way home she started singing "I like to eat, eat, eat chicken and fries" to the tune of apples and bananas.

This was the longest I had been away from Kayleigh since we got home from the hospital-  I missed her so!

I missed these two sillies as well:

June 3 = Playground Day

Here's Malia making a mess of her Tex-Mex rice dinner...

And the cats being lazy:

And lots of pictures of us at the playground across the street:

And the aftermath:

January 22 = Turn 27 Day

I've been thinking I was already 27 for the past few months- so now I'm right.  Zachary wished me a happy birthday and headed out- I thought it was a little early for him to leave but didn't say anything.  He came back about twenty minutes later with a carrot cake cupcake and flowers!  Liam shared my cupcake with me and Zachary put the flowers in front of the kitchen sink where I happen to spend a lot of time.

 

When he got home from teaching he took us to chickfila for lunch at the mall and I got a cookie- their cookies are so good.  I also got cards from Zachary and the babies.  Then we came home and he didn't have long before he had to head back to GWU.  But what was super exciting is that my neighbor, Anne, had invited Liam, Malia and I along with two other neighbors- one of which has two kids- for dinner.  She didn't know at the time that it was my birthday so it was a welcomed surprise that I got to have dinner with friends on my birthday since Zachary had class.  So we headed over there and had a delicious dinner- she even made chicken nuggets for the kids which Liam loved and Malia even had a few peas.  And then she brought out a strawberry cake she had bought for the occasion!  So sweet!  I brought home a slice for when Zachary got home but Malia decided to have a taste.

Then we watched some of our favorite show, The Newsroom, and went to bed.  Nothing terribly exciting but a good day complete with love from family and friends and lots of sweets- exactly what I wanted!

October 6 = Jar day

How adorable is this craft Liam made?!

 

Also, these are the flowers he got Malia to make her feel better. They ended up making us all happier :)

June 24 = Melt Mommy's Heart Day

People often ask me which of my two pregnancies has been harder.  It's a tough question to answer.  Liam's pregnancy was full of tests and monitoring and bed rest.  I thought it was normal to get blood drawn during every appointment.  However, when I was pregnant with Liam, Liam was the only thing I had to concentrate on.  Every Tuesday, I would get TheBump.com telling me what fruit he was the same size as and I would read about his developing fingernails or growing hair.  When people would ask me how far along I was, I would annoyingly reply with the number of weeks and days.  With Malia, I know when the due date is and that's usually what I cite as an answer and I make that person figure it out because my pregnancy brain prevents me from doing so.  With this pregnancy, I've had blood drawn twice- once at the beginning for baseline labs and once because I asked for it.  Oh- three times- I forgot about the glucose tolerance test because unlike with Liam, with Malia, I passed the first time and didn't have to endure the second, four hour, four blood draws test.  At this point in my pregnancy with Liam, I was driving 45 minutes at least once a week to get a non-stress test.  This was supposed to be a 20 minute test where they hooked me up, watched non-existent contractions and let me go.  It always turned into a 6+ hour test where they hooked me up, watched crazy looking contractions that I couldn't feel and didn't let me eat just in case they had to do an emergency c-section.  And Zachary was gone.  I'd ask the nurses to please let me know if/when it was appropriate to let my husband know- thank goodness it never came down to that but there were so many anxiety producing times.  With Malia we had two scares- the first was when her heart rate was really low, really early in the pregnancy.  The doctor told me at the next appointment, after her heart rate had risen significantly, that she didn't expect to find a heart beat at all that appointment.  The other scare came halfway through the pregnancy when she was measuring at the 8th percentile but that was resolved too- she's now above the 30th.  Other than that, I go in, they listen to the heart rate, measure my belly, ask if I have any questions and send me on my way.  So in that regard, this pregnancy has been easier, hands-down.  On the other hand- being pregnant while chasing a toddler has been a real challenge.  At this point in Liam's pregnancy, I was on bed rest.  Now, I'm carrying Liam to and from the car.  I'm lifting him up on the changing table, squeezing my belly against his crib to bend down to get him out, squatting down while holding Liam to pick up whatever he's dropped on the floor, doing twice as much laundry, dishes and picking up 10 times as much stuff.  It's rough.  This is all to tell you about how Liam melted my heart today.  I was picking up puzzle pieces from the floor and putting them in the right places.  Bending over hurts so bad so I just decided to sit down halfway through.  When I finished putting the puzzle back together, I didn't get up right away.  It's hard to get up sometimes.  Liam was in the kitchen where I could see him and he was entertaining himself playing with a Hess Helicopter his Uncle Matt gave him for Christmas so I gave myself a few minutes of just sitting in the middle of the hallway.  Liam looked up and saw me; I smiled at him.  He got up, brought over the helicopter, sat two feet away from me and went back to playing.  Now a lot of mommies have boys who come up and hug them all the time or want to be in their laps... Liam is not one of them.  So for him to voluntarily come and sit next to me to play, made my day, my week, my life.

I got up and got my phone so I could take this picture to always remember how sweet he was and he sat there for a few more minutes.  Eventually he got up to find something else to play with but he had done his good deed of the day.  And then 10 minutes later- my husband comes home with these!

I asked, "Awwwww, what are these for?!" and he said they were for being such a "good little wifey."

Note to self: Read this on a bad day and remember you are loved.