Spring is Here!

It's still not feeling much like spring most days, but we have some signs of life. Last weekend I rescued the lone daffodil that had bloomed before the snowstorm hit.


I had several buds that thankfully survived the freeze to bloom out this week. Luckily there are lots because Miles loves picking them.


Our tomatoes sprouted this week. We are already learning the first lesson of gardening, patience. Miles has been waiting for something to happen. When I showed him the tiny sprouts he said, "now we can eat em!"

Crib Sidecar

We're a co sleeping family. When we say bedroom, we mean THE bedroom. Before Miles was born I spent plenty of time and money decorating a beautiful nursery. Only Miles was a high maintenance baby who preferred to be with his momma. Co-sleeping wasn't the plan, but it was what worked.

I'm not one of those attachment parenting types who thinks everyone should be co-sleeping. Mainly I do it because I'm away from my kids a good part of the day and co-sleeping gives us all some extra snuggle time at night. Plus, breastfeeding means it's always momma's turn to get up with the baby so having the baby in your bed is about the best way to get some sleep.

When we found out Emmett was on the way we did lots of thinking about our sleeping arrangement. We didn't want Miles to feel like he was getting kicked out, but we needed more space and we realized that having a newborn sleeping next to a rambunctious 2 year old wasn't safe. We tried setting up a toddler bed in our room, but Miles made it clear he had no intention of leaving the "big bed." Emmett is now outgrowing the bassinet and although we have upgraded to a king we still have the safety issue with two little ones in the same bed.

Now, here's why I love the internet. I don't personally know anyone else who is co-sleeping with two children, but I was certain there were others out there. A quick search online led me to the idea of a crib sidecar. It was the perfect solution. Basically it involves attaching your crib as an extension to your bed. As a bonus, it allows me to get some use out of my crib which had essentially become an elaborate cat bed over the last 2 1/2 years.


Here's the finished product! It's firmly attached so no risk of gaps or sliding. The example I saw online involved bungee cords and the handle on the side of the adult mattress, but my mattress doesn't have handles and bungee cords made me nervous so I found an online store that sold nothing but different types of custom straps. Gotta love the internet! I bought two nylon, side release buckle straps 3/4" wide in 18 foot lengths. It cost me about $25, but my sidecar's not going anywhere. I used two crib mattresses (I had an extra from our unused toddler bed) which got me within a 1/2 inch of the height I needed. I made the difference with a few hardback books under the baby mattresses. It's perfect! We tried it out last night and it worked wonderfully. The only thing I miss is my nightstand which was relocated, but the convenience of not having to physically get up to feed is worth it.

Green Thumb

Miles loves veggies. He's the only kid I know who eats the broccoli first and gets excited when I cook spinach. I've been wanting to start a veggie garden at home for a while now. It would save money and how convenient would it be to just grab some veggies from the yard. Plus, I think it is a great learning activity for Miles and honestly I love working in the yard. I've been putting it off because who really has time to create a vegetable garden especially when you have a new baby, but I've decided to just go for it. Maybe I get overwhelmed and my garden is an epic fail, but maybe not. We'll see.

I did some research during nap time and then we headed out to the garden center this afternoon. I forgot that you can't shove lumber in the car when you have 2 kiddos in the back so Casey will have to make another solo trip for the wood. I have a plan for a simple raised bed thanks to the Pioneer Woman. She's awesome! I'm starting small with one 4x8 bed. If it goes well we can expand next year. We're planting tomatoes, cucumbers, summer squash, and green beans. We started the tomato seeds inside tonight. Hopefully our seeds will be sprouting. We are planting outside the first of May so stay tuned. They are predicting blizzard like conditions for the weekend so I'm just going to look at my little greenhouse and hope for spring.

Disney Bound!

We are booked for the last week of September. Yay! We wanted to take Emmett for his 1st birthday like we did with Miles, but January's a hard month for work and the weather can be unpredictable. Casey was already lamenting the idea of skipping 2010 since he has been collecting yearly pins (for the kids of course) so we moved our dates up. It's a tight year with medical bills and unpaid maternity leave, but we figured we could swing it. Once we announced our intentions my parents generously offered up use of their timeshare so we are taking a trip on the cheap. Emmett will be 9 months and Miles will be almost 3, just under the cut for free admission. We have been earning points with our Disney Visa so we should have just about enough free points to pay for our meals and we're getting a discount on our park tickets by participating in the Give a Day, Get a Day promo where you can earn a free one day park pass by completing a day of volunteer work.

Since it's hard to get away with two little ones we made blankets from home for Project Linus for our volunteer work. We're not experienced so we made no-sew blankets. Casey had the ingenious idea of using a laser level to help measure the cuts and after we implemented that strategy the blankets were a breeze. It was so easy that I am thinking we will make this an annual project. I was so impressed by the Disney volunteer initiative. They even sent a list of children's books that deal with homelessness to help kids understand the importance of the blankets. I'll be saving that for future reference. $25 for materials bought on sale and a few hours of our time is saving us about $160 on park tickets. Can't beat that and it's for a good cause.

The Boys

Things have been a little hectic since returning to work, but we are surviving. Miles has had his missing mommy moments, but usually I have to drag him home from grandma's so he must not miss me too badly.


Emmett is growing like crazy; we are nearly ready to move on to 3-6 months clothes already. He's also started sleeping a few longer stretches. It's not every night, but usually we get one 5 hour stretch and a couple nights ago we got a 7 hour stretch. He has been going down about 8:00pm and his longest stretch is always his first. He takes a bottle with no trouble and he takes a pacifier which makes him easier to calm. He also loves the sling (Miles calls it my pocket) which means I can always wear him around while I get stuff done. He does get slightly fussy in the evenings, but so far it's not even close to Miles' epic evening cry fests. I've read that colic peaks between 6-8 weeks so it looks like we are in the clear with Emmett (fingers crossed). He adores relaxing in the tub, is blissfully happy 1st thing in the morning, and loves it when Miles talks to him.




Miles has been a great big brother always making sure I'm aware when Emmett cries and offering Emmett a paci when he's fussy. He's pretty affectionate with Emmett. This morning Emmett was fussing while I was fixing breakfast. I heard Miles trying to calm Emmett saying, "it's okay, I'm here." So sweet! Sometimes we do have times when there are two mommas boys and only one momma, but we make do. Those are usually the times when Miles snuggles up beside me while I'm holding Emmett and then starts whining with a chorus of, "Emmett's touching me." I never thought that would start so soon.

Miles has become a regular jabber box. He says some pretty funny stuff and keeps us entertained. This morning he said "I don't want daddy go to work. I want Emmett go to work." I guess he was in need of some one on one time. We have experienced some minor attention seeking acting out, but nothing too bad. So far it's just been small stuff like chucking his shoes into a full bathtub. He gets worse as the day wears on so that by the end of the day he's really pushing our buttons, but we try to just ignore it as much as possible. Up until now he has been perfectly behaved so it's about time he started acting like a normal two year old.