Nap Time for Mommies

Last week, I think it was Thursday, but my brain is a bit mushy lately, both Meg and I had rough nights sleeping with the babies so we both headed over to my parents house to take a nap and watch the kiddos. The reason we had to do it here was because my dad was already scheduled to watch Riley while I had a hair cut. Anyway, never without my camera, here's what the kids did while their mommies slept.

Funny story about what I mean by mushy brain: Wednesday night into Thursday morning (so the evening in question that lead to nap time)...I kept waking up with Rowan and a few times (yes, more than once!) I was bouncing him rocking him, changed his diaper and couldn't get him to stop fussing...and on each occasion it took me 15-20 minutes to realize I hadn't fed him yet. Feed the boy and he goes right back to sleep. Imagine that!

Random Riley

Riley is a big fan of Mommy's cameras these days. She often wants me to set up my cell phone so she can take pictures with it and she knows how to view pictures taken on my digital camera. Here's one of her hamming it up for the camera. Not sure if you can tell, but she has a cold and she's all snuffly in this one:)

Also, it was her who suggested she lay down on Baby Doodle's new quilt for a shoot with BOTH of them:) Looks like Rowan has a mean right hook?

Random Rowan

People say he falls asleep in the most uncomfortable looking positions. I think he's practicing to be a football fan. Maybe Go Irish, Dan?

TIGF

I'm both thankful for and longing for my bed. By this I mean...NOT THE COUCH!

Also, thankful to be back to work. I know...weird, but I like my job and the people I work with, so what if it's one night a week in a retail sales gig! It makes me happy. And no other job I have had has done that.

Some Updates

Here's just a few milestones and growth spurts.

Today Rowan is 6 weeks old. He is practicing his smiling and snuggling skills these days. Unfortunately, he has a little cold so we're back to sleeping on the couch because he is too congested to lay flat on his back. I'm afraid we are causing him to learn that sleep= snuggling with Mommy. Ugh!

Riley Roo is almost officially 3 and a half and she has grown and inch and a half since her 3rd birthday. she is still being a super big sister and loved to give lots of kisses.

Here's a picture of their feet. Riley is about a 9 and Rowan is not quite a size 1 shoe:)

Wow! Fun Mail!

We have been very spoiled since Rowan arrived. Lots of gifts have arrived in the mail and we love every one of them, but today a gift arrived for which I have to say a special thank you. This quilt was handmade by a friend of mine who has spoiled me in the past and I am not crafty enough to repay her the favor. She has made me a little purse, Riley a sweater and now Rowan an adorable quilt. (Which Riley has adopted as partly hers I think.) And what makes this even more awesome is that I have never really even met Kristine in person. We worked together on an account back at my first job out of college and when I left we kept in touch via e-mail. She lives near Boston. She even sends me post cards from her awesome worldy adventures. Kristine ROCKS and I want everyone to know about it! Thanks so much Kristine! And tell your mom thanks for the compliment:)

Happy Birthday Uncle Chris!

Today is my brother-in-law, Chris's birthday. I was going to post a goofy picture of him, but Katie posted some great pics on her blog, so I will direct you to The Bartsch Beat blog on the right for a much better representation of Uncle Chris. We wish you the best, and for your birthday, Riley even learned to print your name! Happy Birthday, Chris!

TIGF

I'm thankful that Josh set up the crib in our room now so that I can sleep in my bed and not on the couch with Rowan. We had him in the bassinet so that if we ever get our house ready to put on the market, it wouldn't be glaringly obvious to buyers that we are selling because we have no place to put a second kid. It has served us well for seven years, but we have outgrown our lay-out and I don't want to discourage any perspective buyers if they maybe don't plan to have two kids or don't know if they want kids, etc. We had planned on getting the bassinet out of the room when we did showings, but Rowan had other plans. He flails his arms around so much he would hit the side of the thing and wake himself up every time we put him in it. We tried swaddling him, but he wants his hands out all the time so that didn't work. Now that we have the crib set up I have actually slept most of the night in my own bed. Whew! My neck was not a fan of couch sleeping!

Leprechaun Lunch

Today, being a day of all things Irish, Meg and I took the kids down to Lakeville to visit our friend and college roomie, Jess and her family to welcome their newest member, Finn Michael who was born on my Dad's birthday on Saturday. We brought them a "traditional" Cooley Irish lunch of corned beef, soda bread and green grapes, green peppers and green beverage as well as green jello for dessert.

Tomorrow, Katie and I are taking the kids to a new Irish pub for lunch...thought today would be a bit crazy for that *d:)

Happy St Paddy's Day!

Dad's Birthday

How often can you celebrate a March birthday outside in Minnesota? And it's not very often that my aunt and uncle who live in AZ can come to Minny in March and not freeze to death:) We had a great time at Katie and Darin's place on Sunday. Thanks Kate for bailing me out on this one! I've got the next one!!

Textulating

I still need to download the pictures from last night so in the meantime, here's a funny Riley-ism for ya.

Riley was playing with a toy that looks like a cell phone but works like a calculator a few days ago. I asked her what she was doing. Her response: "I'm textulating!"

What a Weekend!

This will take a few posts to get through. We had an amazing weekend! Started out Friday with a party at our friends, Tom and Adriel's place. They have been roomies for several years but they are getting their own places so this was their last party at the townhouse. Forgot the camera for this one but it was a fun night! Played a lot of music trivia and had a great time! It's gonna be weird not going there for parties!

Then Saturday was a wedding for two friends that we (Meg and I) sorta introduced to each other. I used to work with Tom and got him a job working with Meg at the credit union where she is friends with Kelli. We had the kids with us which was fun because Riley LOVES weddings...especially the dancing part! She found the photographer and followed her around all night showing off her best moves. YIKES! We had to leave around 9:30 but none of us wanted to go home...Even Rowan was up all night listening to the music and getting passed around:) It was one of those rare weddings where we knew both the bride and the groom and had a great time celebrating a great couple! Congrats Mr. and Mrs. Wever!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY COACH!

I know I'm very late in posting this, we've had a busy weekend, but I REALLY don't want to forget to wish my dad a very Happy Birthday! We love you Coach...or Grandpa...whichever you prefer:)

Happy One Month!

Today was a VERY busy day for Rowan's One Month Birthday. We went to lunch with my friend Allison downtown and then went to visit Josh at work to show off the kiddo. While we were there, we had to stop at Macy's a few times to feed Rowan, and we ran into a good friend of mine from high school working there. Then after a long day walking all over the city, Riley even took a nap! Tonight we're off to a party at a some friends' house...this is their last big shin-dig at their place before they move on to separate apartments. My parents are coming to watch the kids so we can get out for a little bit. Yikes! Who needs sleep anyway?

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I'm thankful for one month with our Little Guy. More "One Month" pictures to come from our adventure downtown today. Stay Tuned!

AHS Adventure

Yesterday, Riley, Rowan and I met our friends Emme, Izze and Shannon for a very busy fun-day.

We started at Ridegedale for some play time at the indoor play park. After all the kids were good and tired, we headed up to the food court for lunch. And after that we headed out for what was the main plan of the day to start with...a trip to the Animal Humane Society to visit the cats, dogs and bunnies! I so wish that Riley was potty trained because Lucky REALLY wanted to come home with me:( But we can't have a puppy until we get the toddler trained! And it would be nice of the newborn was sleeping through the night too...UGH!

And since we had our little adventure to the AHS, now seems like a good time to mention that we are once again collecting for the AHS Walk for Animals, May 1st at the Golden Valley Shelter. We'd love for you to join us on the walk from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m., or donate to a worthy cause. The Walk raises 10% of the annual budget for the organization and we have a personal goal to raise $1500 again this year! Click HERE to help us reach our goal!

More from Rowan

Rowan is outgrowing newborn stuff already. He's in Size 1 diapers and Size 3 month clothes already. Did I mention he laready rolls over...just about every time you put him on his tummy...I guess Tummy Time is goin to be a challenge! Riley is still super at the Big sister routine, although she is getting louder... Maybe she thinks she has to get our attention by speaking up?

What's in a Name?

First, I apologize, I'm getting yelled at for not posting enough, especially photos of Rowan. Josh keeps unplugging the camera cord from the computer, and while that's no excuse because I do know how to plug it back in, I just don't do it because it's putsy. Sorry...I'll try to do better. I'm also trying to figure out when to do things with two kiddos, which will probably work itself out a bit more when we're getting more sleep and I'm not going to bed at 8 p.m. while Josh stays up with Rowan so I can catch up. This lull is temporary, I assure you!

That being said, I have explained where the name Rowan came from in previous posts, but I don't think I mentioned where James came from. James is after "Crazy Uncle" Jimmy...Josh's best friend since very young childhood. He wanted to be "The Godfather" but instead, he had to settle for namesake:) We love you Jimmy!

TIGF

So many things this week to be thankful for. Last night Josh and I went on a date while the in-laws watch both kids, big thanks to them for that! It was nice to be out with my hubby and enjoy a nice dinner and a drink...yeah Sangria! Don't worry, I waited the required amount of time before feeding Rowan, and i only had one drink so he's not hung-over:) I know there are varying schools of thought on drinking during the time you're nursing, but I am always careful not to do anything that would harm him, even if that means he gets formula on occasion!

Second, I'm thankful that I'm mostly back in my normal clothes. Ok, so my "skinny" jeans aren't there yet, but I'm close! No more maternity clothes EVER!!!

And last, it's March. Here's my thoughts about March: The weather is warmer, the snow is melting, I can step on the ice and crack it in the puddles, St. Patrick's Day is coming soon and MARCH MADNESS is right around the corner. Go Duke! Not to mention my Dad's birthday (I'll get in trouble if I don't say that!) and we're also going to a wedding for some good friends next weekend and we have lots of fun stuff planned all month. I love March!!!

Happy Friday!