My Side Hustle

Hello!!! I know. It’s been a billion years. Emmeline is like a full on grown up. Palmer is practically graduating high school and getting married. Life has been crazy to say the least. Don’t worry… I’m not popping by for a baby announcement or anything. Right now I’m just focusing on a new baby of sorts, my side hustle.

So I mentioned forever ago that I was working on a special project that I was super excited to share but then never really went back to it. Yeah… that’s it lol

Almost a year ago, I decided I wanted to start a business focused on kids goods. I didn’t know quite what that was or what it looked like but I had one product in mind that I was super excited about. It was actually a baby calendar. In the last month or so before Emmeline arrived, I poured all my creative juices into this calendar and saved it all onto my hard drive, where it still sits today. Maybe I’ll use it someday but for now, I’m thankful for that process because it led me to here, and gave me a tiny bit of courage to start something for myself.

As I’ve already made this story longer than I needed to, I’m super excited to share my business that I started a few months ago: Shop Prickly Pair. I launched it on Etsy but hope to move over to its own website later on. The shop offers specialty kids items like play tents, pennants, hair bows, bibdanas, and whatever else fits into my wheelhouse of crafty projects.

So no, I haven’t fallen off the face of the earth or gotten pregnant with twins. I’m here just crafting away, trying to build a little empire in my dining area.

Hello.

It’s Me. 

First Daddy-Daughter Dance

Palmer and Erin enjoyed their first daddy-daughter date/dance this week and omg… yes, it was as cute as you could imagine. They started with a little dinner at Erin’s favorite place, Shake Shack. The church that hosts our MOPS group was hosting the dance so all Palmer’s little MOPette friends were there. They danced and played. Erin said they took prom-style photos, enjoyed cucumber water, and ate mini grilled cheese sandwiches. I asked him how it was going and his response was, “My heart is as full as my belly,” and after a dinner at Shake Shack, I know it was bursting.

Palmer at 2.5

Excuse me while I just cry a little. How do I have a two and a half year old? Impossible.

Palmer is so many words. I can’t even begin to wrap my head around all that she is.

Funny. Energetic. Loud. Entertainer. Loving. Kind. Compassionate. Playful. Happy-go-lucky. Silly. Intelligent. Beautiful. Diva. Challenging. Curious. Active. Firecracker.

I could go on and on. We see her personality come out more and more every day, and what I mean by that is there is no shortage of personality. She is everything good and everything people warn you about when it comes to a two-year-old. She keeps me on my toes, daily.

I haven’t done an update since she turned 2 so I figured I would dedicate a post to everything Palmer and where she’s at now.

I did her measurements today and she weighs 29.4 lbs (60.5%) and 34.75″ tall (32.5%). Do you remember how tiny she was oh so long ago? And her HAIR?! She has HAIR! It’s even long enough to put in a ponytail. We are potty trained. She occasionally has accidents but they are few and far between. She’s wearing 24M/2T and 3T clothes, depending on the brand. Sometimes she can wear 18M because she’s still a little vertically challenged.

Girlfriend has a healthy appetite. I can’t think of many foods that she does not like besides watermelon. I’m so grateful that she is not a picky eater like me. She will try everything. She can eat her weight in shrimp and LOVES fruit. She has surprised me during some meals, like asking for *more* brussel sprouts and telling me how much she LOVED my asparagus soup. Those don’t seem like flavors a 2-year-old would like but I am happy she does.

Palmer loves to play pretend. She has an amazing imagination. She’s always caring for her babies or playing doctor. She loves to color and create. And music? She will go wild and dance. She LIVES to dance. She also loves watching some of her favorite shows like Bubble Guppies and Ben & Holly’s Little Kingdom, as well as any Disney princess movie. She also likes singing… a lot. She sings the ABC song, Daddy Shark, Five Little Monkeys, all the Frozen songs, Twinkle Twinkle, and so many more.

She has a great vocabulary. We can understand nearly everything she is saying, sometimes she is mumbly though. She speaks mostly in full sentences. She’s a chatterbox. She will strike up a conversation with everyone, which makes quick stops at the grocery store into significantly longer trips. I guess it’s good because she’s friendly but I get a little worried about her saying something offensive.

Palmer is not without her challenges. She struggles with listening sometimes, hits when she’s really naughty, and throws lots of tantrums. Lots and lots. We’re working on finding a balance. I’m working on keeping my cool. I’m not great about it so it’s a daily struggle. Sometimes I forget she’s only 2. I try and give myself a break because I’m still trying to figure out how to parent.

Despite all our struggles, she can warm my heart in an instant with every “I love you” and “Mommy, you’re my best friend”. She loves morning cuddles, giving her little sister “boops” on the nose, and telling the cutest jokes ever.

I love this kid.

Emmeline – Eight Months

Eight months… which means we are 2/3 of the way through this first year. Crazy, crazy, crazy.

That happy baby stuff from last month? Yeah, that didn’t last long. We are currently going through a funk. Lots of crying, no sleeping… it feels like newborn Emmeline all over again.

Emma is crawling like a mad woman. She still sometimes does the dragging leg crawl but mostly does this weird thing that kind of looks like a tabletop or gorilla crawl (google it, it’s adorable). No new milestones this month. Just kind of getting stronger every day. She loves standing up on things and holding one arm out like she’s riding a mechanical bull.

 

It was a huge month for growing. I wanted to post about her GI appointment progress but let’s be real, I’m not putting a lot of eggs in that basket so I’ll just cover it here. In the month or so since her last GI appointment, she’s gone from 11 lbs, 12 oz to 14 lbs, 8 oz. That’s incredible. The numbers we were concerned about have almost totally normalized so the doctor is not as worried about it. We are going to have one more check back in another month and hopefully if that’s good, we won’t have to go back.

She isn’t really saying words and we’re still waiting on teeth. It’s hard not to want to compare her and Palmer on everything. Palmer was saying a few words at this point, but she was just barely crawling. Maybe Emmeline is just more active? We’ll see. I have to say, the crawling provides me with a little bit of a break. She loves to explore and follow Palmer around. I feel like she’s much less dependent on me now that she’s able to get around on her own. I do have to watch her because she is trying to be a big kid and she’s still a tiny baby. As I type this, she is trying to climb into Palmer’s Cozy Coupe. Not going to happen girlfriend.

Monthly Update

Weight: 14 lbs, 8 oz (dr appt measurement on 4/10)

Length: 27″ (dr appt measurement on 4/10)

Diaper Size: 2

Clothing Size: Mostly 6 month clothes. She can still wear a lot of 3 month or 3/6 month clothes so we are getting a lot of use out of everything. I started boxing things up and felt super sad. What if I never get to clothe another baby in these adorable outfits?! Sadness.

Health: Good! Reflux has not been an issue and she’s gaining. I think we are going through Leap 6 (Wonder Weeks) so that has been causing us some frustration.

Sleep: We were doing well with only a wake up around 4am but this leap is wrecking our sleep routine. She has been napping in the swing in the living room, and waking 2-3x a night. So. Much. Fun…. not.

Diet: Feedings seem to be increasing. We are back up to 6-7 times a day with 3 solid meals. Trying new things all the time. This month we introduced blueberries, puffs, summer squash, zucchini, and pears. She wasn’t a huge fan of pears.

Baby Gear Love:

Loves: Eating stickers, pulling mama’s hair, eating solids, anything Palmer has in her hand

Dislikes: Choking on stickers, hitting her head when she climbs under chairs or the coffee table, and Leap 6

Milestones: Nothing new this month… just trying new foods!

Looking forward to: What’s a mom have to do to hear a little word??!! Oh and teeth?

Bunnies in the Wild

I totally thought I shared this…. but I am just now realizing that I didn’t.

A few weeks ago I wanted to take pictures of the girls playing in the wildflowers since everything is blooming. Unfortunately my allergies had other plans. I have been a ball of sniffles, congestion, and sneezing. It’s difficult to go outside for even a small amount of time so venturing out to take pictures of the girls while I can’t even open my eyes wasn’t going to happen.

Next best thing? Well… apparently it happened to be our overgrown backyard. Erin cleaned it all up this weekend so it no longer looks like this but for a period of time, it did. [insert super embarrassed emoji here]

I looked in the backyard and the lighting was gorgeous so I ran out there with the girls and a couple pairs of bunny ears to try and capture something cute. I think they look precious. They weren’t really in the mood to take pictures but oh well. Sour faces it is.

Easter Madness

I’m literally nursing an Easter hangover today. So. Much. Easter-ing.

By some sort of miracle, the girls are both napping at the same time, so instead of getting some sleep myself (believe me… I’ll regret this decision later), I decided to update this poor little blog that has received no love, time, or attention from me lately. Sorry ’bout it.

It was around this time of year 3 years ago that we found out we were expecting Palmer, and just one year ago, found out we were adding a little sister to our crew. Crazy how quickly family members add up.

So, back to our crazy Easter. I was up late the night before making turtle pie and prepping for Easter morning. I didn’t get to bed until after 1:30. Then we were hit with 2 MOTN feedings (2:30 & 5:30). Erin took the girls so I could get a little extra sleep because I can only assume that I looked like something from the Walking Dead. I woke up and quickly got ready as Erin’s parents and brother were coming over for a little Easter egg hunt and breakfast at our house. Erin hid the baskets and eggs in the yard before bringing Palmer out to the living room. She was so patient waiting for everyone to arrive, just peeking out the window and creating a plan of attack to collect all those eggs.

The girls were starting to break down and it was obvious they needed a nap before the afternoon festivities began so we put them down. Palmer had a solid nap, Emmeline… hmm… not so much.

After everyone (Palmer) woke up, we got ready. I suddenly realized Emmeline turned 8 months so I quickly got everything together to take her 8-month shots. In retrospect, I could have done it today but meh…. she was all dressed up so it was fine. It actually worked out pretty well because we were able to capture a really cute family shot.

Then we set out for Easter lunch. It was nice catching up with everyone. Palmer had a good time putting on a show, like always. Lots of dance moves and telling jokes. “Do you want to hear a joke?? Cock-a-doodle-doo!” Thanks Bubble Guppies.

After dessert, we headed out to Erin’s aunt’s new (ish) house. It was originally their Erin’s cousin’s house and they just bought it from him so we had obviously been there before but it definitely had a different feel with their stuff in it. They have a nice deck out back so the girls could move around without having to really helicopter around them, which was nice. They set up an Easter egg hunt and basket for each of the girls. Palmer is an egg hunting machine. Leave no egg behind. She found them all and enjoyed the rewards of puffs and goldfish inside. Palmer had a chance to FaceTime with her second cousin (is that right?), Nami, in Seattle and her Great-Great-Aunt (is that right?!) Mary, in Illinois. More showing off dance moves.

The day had really come full circle because Erin and I both looked like zombies. We quickly realized we overdid it. Emmeline had not really napped all day. I mean, she slept for 20 minutes on the way to Easter lunch and then 20 minutes on the way to Erin’s aunt’s house so by the end of the night, we had officially lost her. Palmer was bouncing off the walls, a sign that she is going to crash shortly, so we had to call it a night. We headed home, Emmeline still screaming and Palmer passed out as we drove back to the house. Palmer went down instantly and Emmeline finally chilled out once she ate some cereal. I think she was having tummy problems so after some gripe water, I think she was on her way to a better mood. I asked that she allow us a solid night’s sleep and she smiled. Then I nursed her and put her down and she was out pretty quickly. Then Erin and I crashed into a deep sleep. Emmeline let us both sleep in until 4something! Thank you little baby.

 

Happy Easter!

Wishing everyone a very Happy Easter! Hope you’re having fun searching for eggs, or indulging in my favorite tradition of eating all the chocolate-peanut butter or marshmallow candy. Diet starts tomorrow.

Our Annual Ducky Photo Tradition

We started doing these adorable ducky photos with Palmer when she was 5 or 6 months old. She couldn’t even sit up in the photos and hated tummy time so much that the only other option we had for posing her was plopping her down like a dead fish and sprinkling some quackers around her.

We’ve come a long way since those days. Palmer was super excited to see the ducks. She was communicating to them in their language, “quack, quack,” as we approached them. Emmeline lost her mind for a second but quickly recovered after she felt the ducks soft little feathers. She was then super comfortable with the ducklings… maybe a little too comfortable. I think one little ducky’s life flashed before it’s eyes as Emmeline had it in a pretty serious choke hold. Thankfully, the photographer had an awesome duck handler who quickly intervened and removed said duck from the situation.

Palmer and Emmeline weren’t the best models together. Neither was interested in looking at the camera. Em wanted to look at the ducks the entire time. Palmer wanted to stop photo shooting and just dance on the ground. Things came to a screeching halt when in the middle of Palmer and Emma’s shots, a duck pooped on Palmer… and she was not having it. She could not (and still has not to this day) gotten over the fact that a duck pooped on her pants. We cleaned her up and tried to resume shooting but the damage had been done. Palmer was literally side eyeing the baby ducks for the remainder of the session.

Even now, when she sees a duck in a book or photo or whatever, she said, “Ew. Duck poops. The duck pooped on my pants.”

This will be something she’ll discuss with her therapist years from now.

Manners

I feel like I’ve been so disconnected from life lately, well or maybe just in the thick of it. Have I mentioned how hard managing two kids is??!

Note to self: If you ever decide that a third child is a possibility, RE-READ THIS BLOG. 

I haven’t had a chance to really share about my little baby turned toddler then full grown adult. Maybe one of these days I’ll have a minute to really get into all the changes I’ve noticed but for right now, I wanted to share this amazing thing that happened lately: she is using some manners!

That’s right. A while back, we started forcing her to use full sentences before we would give her something. Example: If she wanted a string cheese, she needs to say, “Please can I have a string cheese”. Easy enough right? Well, it was a long process.

I’m proud to say that she has mastered it, and is currently schooling us in how to kindly ask for what we want (or what we don’t want). Anytime she’s holding something and “thinks” we want it, she’ll say, “Do you want —-? Say please.” And then makes us ask for the item, even if we don’t want it.

Another cute little thing that Palmer does is that every night at dinner, Erin asks her if she likes her food. Then he tells her, “make sure you tell Mommy thank you.” It’s always followed with a loud, “THANK YOU MOMMY!” It’s precious. I’ve never appreciated it more than last night when I was super stressed on my own as Erin is traveling right now.

We were running behind on our evening routine. It was after 7 and I was trying to put something together for dinner. I decided to cook up some turkey kielbasa. I quickly realized I didn’t have anything else to put on the side that would be quick so I asked Palmer if she wanted some strawberries. Of course she said yes. Fruit all day, erryday. So Palmer enjoyed a well-rounded meal of turkey kielbasa and strawberries. I felt ashamed and disappointed as I prepared her plate. What kind of meal was this? Welp, Palmer dove right in and my heart began to melt as she practically shouted from the rooftops, “YUMMY, YUMMY IN MY TUMMY! This is so delicious, Mommy. Thank you so much for this food.” Although still slightly embarrassed by the lazy meal I had prepared, I realized she didn’t care. She ate the whole plate and not a single crumb hit the floor (a true miracle in our home… especially when Palmer is sitting in her high chair).

For as incredibly crazy she is bouncing off the walls and throwing major tantrums every day, there are moments like this that remind me that *sometimes* we’re doing *something* right.