Mixed Emotions....

"At work you think of the children at home. At home you think of the work you've left undone. The struggle within yourself tears at the heart." 

I have huge mixed feelings with work.  I love working, but I definitely miss my kiddos after being home with them for 9 weeks!  This first week back wasn't too bad, until Thursday morning when Preston said "No Jennies."  I guess he was ready to stay home again.  All summer he wanted to go "bye bye" and now that he has to go Monday thru Thursday he was ready for summer to be back I guess!  

Today was my first Friday off (with it being a normal work week) since before Preston was born.  IT WAS AWESOME!  I loved getting to spend all day with my babies.  They of course are already used to the new schedule of getting up and staying up at 6:30am, but that was alright.  I'll just have to get used to getting up early to hopefully run and then get ready for the day before they are up!  Today we went to the grocery store, just the 3 of us - boy was that interesting!  It is hard to fit groceries in the cart with Chloe's car seat!  I think it will just make me spend less money though, so I'm ok with it!  

Chloe update:  

• She smiles anytime you are talking to her!  And her "cooing" is becoming more often and so sweet.  I realize now how much I missed Preston as a baby.  They are just so sweet as babies!
• She is getting really good at holding her head up on her own.  I was walking down the hall with her and she was completely upright all by herself.
• At her 2 month check up she weighed 11lb and 1 oz and 22.5" long 
• She is very consistently sleeping through the night for me!  Usually goes to sleep somewhere between 9 and 10 and then wakes up between 4:30 and 6:00 to eat.  Sometimes she stays up for awhile when she gets up later, but gets tired  in an hour or so and then goes back to sleep.  
• Tummy time goes good for 5 minutes or so and then she is ready to be flipped over.  She is good at scooting herself around on her back, especially in bed - she always ends up right next to the side of the bed when I placed her in the middle!
• She is doing great at daycare, not that I had any doubt! 

Preston update:

• He turns 2 in a week!  YIKES!!  Time went by way too fast there.
• We are still working on potty training.  It is harder now since we aren't with him all the time.  
• He is learning his letters and their sounds and can do all of them pretty consistently.  I don't think he always recognizes them but he can tell you what they say if you ask.
• He has a great memory already.  He attempts to "read" books before you do  and he loves to sing songs!

I (Terra) had my 10 year high school reunion last weekend.  It was fun to see everyone that was there.  Most people looked the same.  Things really didn't change too much from high school either, everyone still hung around the same people they did in high school for the most part.  Just quick chats with people you were friends with but not your best friends.  Because of the existence of facebook, there really wasn't too much to catch up on with most people.  I don't know if that is a good thing or not!  We have AJ's reunion in September, we'll see how that goes - at least AJ knew a couple people that he could hang out with at my reunion!
Tonight we are going to my work's "company picnic" at the double A baseball stadium.  Hopefully it is a little fun - they majorly downgraded from years past!  There are going to be bounce houses, so maybe Preston can get in them and have fun.

Most of the people at the reunion.

Me, Angie and Sheree

AJ with Angie's husband, Chris (on the left), and Sheree's boyfriend, Dave

The other night Preston was playing his little piano and I told AJ to take a picture of it.  He decided to video tape it and caught him at his normal self.  Most people don't get to see Preston play like he does at home...Enjoy!

8 weeks

Just a quick little update.  Chloe is 8 weeks old!  I cannot believe how quickly time is going by.  She is doing really well at holding her head up on her own while you are holding her and she does like to be held!!  I think she is following a similar path as Preston with all of their achievements/milestones occurring.  She is so smiley now - I love it!  She likes to talk and coo at you and makes really sweet faces.  AJ said the other night he had her give a little giggle, but that is far and few between so far. 
She seems to be changing physically almost daily as well.  Her little face is getting to be chubby; chubby, little, round cheeks - just like her momma had, poor girl!  Her hair is still crazy, but I think some on the side is starting to lay down.  I'm not sure what she'll look like when it all lays down.  I constantly have people tell me that they love her crazy hair - in fact I think 3 or 4 people told me that on Sunday at church.
There are several things I always tell myself that I want to update on Preston, but I can never remember when I actually sit down to do this, so here is the rundown I can think of now:

• Potty training is going pretty well.  He understands what to do, but most of the time he is too busy playing to want to stop and go potty.
• I think he is getting his 2 year molars - he has been slobbering a ton, like constant stream slobbering and he has been a little crabby lately.
• He continues to gain with his vocabulary, surprising all the time with different words he knows and word associations.
• He is getting really good at naming colors and counting.
• We have a leapfrog video that teaches letters and their sounds and I am pretty sure he almost has that video memorized, plus he is definitely learning his phonics!!

Ok, I think that is most of it.  AJ and I both start back to work on Monday, so tomorrow we are dropping the kiddos off at Jennie's (daycare) and going down to the outlet malls to shop for some clothes.  This weekend is my 10 year reunion so we are heading up to StL tomorrow afternoon!  I am pretty excited to see everyone I haven't seen since graduation, however this will be the first time I leave Chloe with anyone besides AJ for only about an hour.  Good practice for Monday I guess!
That is all for now, not as quick as I thought it would be!  I'll be back soon, as Chloe will be 2 months old in 3 days! 

Preston loves the guitar "na na na naaa"

This is what we've seen walking around the house the past week during potty training!!

Too many cute ones to choose from now that she is smiling!

Thought she might cry....

This was like 2 seconds later...

7 weeks!

Chloe is changing so much.  She is developing quite the personality!  She is very talkative and smiley, but when she is tired or hungry - look out!  She has found her voice and uses it when she is not happy.  Chloe is sleeping pretty well most of the time, but there are definitely some nights where she wakes up every 3 hours or she decides she doesn't want to go back to sleep right away.  She seems so long at times and I weighed her with myself yesterday and it said she weighs 11 pounds!  I just can't believe that!
Thursday morning (at 6 weeks and 3 days) Chloe's umbilical cord finally fell off!  Preston kept his just about the same amount of time.  The doctors say it will fall off in 2-3 weeks, well not our kiddos - they like to hang on to their's for awhile longer than average.  So, since it finally fell off, Chloe got her first "real bath" on Thursday.  She did pretty well for the most part, just started crying at the very end - I think she was getting cold. 
Chloe is enjoying being down on the floor, both on her tummy or back, and also enjoys her little activity mat for a while.  I don't know if it is purposeful or not yet, but she is swinging at the little animals hanging from the activity mat.  She gets them going swinging around at times!
Preston continues to do well.  We are trying potty training again this week.  Yesterday, he stayed dry all day, except nap time!  Today wasn't quite as good, but I think we only had 1 or 2 accidents!  Besides potty training, he continues to amaze me with the different concepts he understands.  How many 2 year olds (not quite) understand the concept of dizzy?  Preston will run around in circles saying, "round and round in circles"  then stop and say "I'm dizzy."  He is also getting really good with shapes and colors.  He named the right color and shape with his shape sorter on the first try! 
We are in the home stretch of having to return to work :(  AJ found out today that he has training on the same Monday I go back to work.  He will be off Tuesday but has to work the rest of the week.  I found out that I only have to work 3 1/2 days every week!  Still full time hours, but less days!  I hope this keeps me from wanting to truly be part time.  Preston is ready to return to daycare.  He keeps asking to go to Jennie's. 
AJ finished his masters program for teaching this summer!  Chloe and I went to graduation on Friday to watch him walk and Preston went to Jennie's to play and take a nap.  Following graduation we went to dinner and let AJ get a  new video game for the X-box 360 he fixed. 
Other than that not much else is going on.  Have an awesome week!

Helping Daddy put the wire in the floor for the X-box!

Preston always wants to sit by Chloe when I put her on the couch

Finally able to catch those smiles!

Our baby girl is growing fast

It has been 3 weeks since I last wrote a blog!  A lot has happened since that time - sorry my camera card decided to not let me get pictures off of it, I wanted to try every avenue I could before I "reformatted" the card and had to delete everything on it.  I did end up having to delete everything - that did not make me happy!  

This week Chloe is 6 weeks old!  I cannot believe it has been that long since we brought this beautiful little girl into the world.  She has changed a lot lately.  She is more aware of her surroundings, watches her mobile on the swing, follows objects and responds to voices, turning her head to find out where you are.  The best thing, though, is her smile!  She is a very smiley baby when you are talking to her and she can see you, so of course it is very difficult to catch a smile on the camera unless AJ is helping me out.  Along with her smile, she is starting to "talk."  She coos at us now, for awhile she has been talking to her little purple bunny on her changing table.  She seems to really like her changing table - you can always get a smile out of her if you lay her there.

6 weeks!

Peek a boo!

Preston has been a little ham with the camera lately.  Anytime we have the camera out he wants his picture taken.  I usually humor him and take some pictures (its a good thing we have digital cameras now!)  He loves his "Fredbird" Cardinal hat!  He constantly asks to wear it, even at bedtime!

Preston loves Chloe and being next to her.  When she is laying on the floor, he wants to lay by her; whenever she is in a new spot, he seems to remember she is there and wants to kiss her.  Sometimes I think it is a little ploy for attention, but I am positive that most of the time it is because he is becoming more and more accepting of his baby sister!

 

I found him walking around outside like this!

 

AJ is graduating from his Masters program on Friday!  He is going to officially have his Masters in Education - Congratulations honey!!  He has worked hard and long (a little too long!) to finish up with his education.  He is glad to be done and we are very proud of him.  He brought home his cap and gown today and Preston decided he wanted to try it all on - he is so cute!

 

Yum, ICE CREAM CONE!

 

We have hummingbirds (or as Preston calls them "mommybirds")

 

Tired boy at 7pm - may be getting his 2yr molars...

 

Trying to catch her smile

 

Helping Daddy finish the floors - only took over a year!

 

 

 5 weeks

 

Two weekends ago now, we went up to St. Louis.  We left early Friday morning (4:45am) to meet Grandma & Papa Gegg and Aunt Ali at the Zoo at 8am!  The plan was for both kids to just sleep in the car the whole way, but of course Preston was too excited to fall back asleep right away.  So 45 minutes before arriving at the zoo, he decided to fall asleep.  Boy did that plan backfire!  He had a great time at the zoo anyway!  I am pretty sure we made it to almost every animal this time.  Chloe, Grandma and I had to take a small detour due to feeding time, but Preston was the important person to see the animals this time around.  We left a little before noon and he was worn out!  He took a short nap on the way to my cousin Melissa's house and then would not go back to sleep (again!) for the rest of his nap.  Needless to say he went out like a light at bedtime!

On Saturday we met some Maryville friends for brunch and a little bit of play time.  Then we made sure Preston had a nap (almost 3 hours!).  That evening we went over to Cathy and Roland's (Bruce's sister) house for a surprise birthday party for Bruce's dad.  We had a great time and Preston loved swimming in the pool.  Since she is so stinkin cute and everyone wanted to hold her, Chloe was exhausted by the time we left at 6:30.  Back to Melissa's we went to hang out with some more family...Preston went to bed late that night.  

Sunday was Cardinal baseball day - the real reason we went up to StL.  Before the game, we met up with Sheree and Angie (my high school besties) at a coffee house for a couple of hours.  Unfortunately Chloe and I did not attend the game as the heat index was supposed to be 101degrees!  So, I gave up my ticket to our friend Joel.  Preston had a great time at the game and got a little bit of sun.  That evening we went down to Ste. Genevieve for the night and left to come back home Monday afternoon.  It was a fun and exhausting weekend.

Sitting in the hippos mouth at the Zoo

 

 Riding the carousel with Aunt Ali

Ready to go!

 

Audrey and Chloe - 4 days apart!!

 

Squirting and Swimming!!

 

 

Rally Cap at the game - Cards win!

 

Great-Papa Gegg and Chloe

 

 

AJ thinks this is too bright, but I think it is cute!

 

Springfield Cardinal game - great seats!  Thanks Steve and Melinda!

 k

 

Daddy, Preston and Louie

 

 Chillin after the game

5 weeks

 

After a bath - still has umbilical cord, so still no water really

 

This is a picture of Chloe sleeping in our Snugli - I was wearing it while vacuuming and she fell asleep!

She is really focusing on objects lately.  AJ couldn't quite catch it but she was intently watching the animals on the mobile

 Sometimes Preston is just a goofball - actually most of the time!  He's wearing my sunglasses and headband!

 

Ok, so I think that catches us up.  Chloe is fighting sleep tonight, so it may be a long night until she gives in!  Have a fantastic week!