Back in the Game

I finally started to work out again today. Don't get to excited/proud...there was no gym involved, however, after sneaking a few M&M's out of the girls Easter candy last night, I decided that today was the day. So bright and early this morning (aka 9:45 a.m.) I went for a run.

My run is most likely different then your run. If I run a total of 5 minutes at this point it is good stuff. I used to run with my friend Katie in college and I got pretty good...but that was five years and 2 kids ago. So a walk-run-walk-run it was and it went pretty well! I am 1.5 pounds away from my pre-prego weight...but the toning is a must. I remember with Brooke that it seriously took about a year before I was really back to 'normal.' I know that this takes time, but the only way to help speed up the process is with a little work on my end...but I am not ready to give up that occasional glass of wine (or two).

Day two is tomorrow-we will see if I can keep it up.

Fabulous Fleming Girls

Caroline-just taking it all in on the deck

So, today when I picked up Brooke from school, her teachers let me know that she put on quite the 'show' all day. Apparently another student was singing his A, B, C's when Brooke decided to show them how it was really done. She totally went into her own personal renditions of all the Annie Classics as well as a little Mary Poppins for good measure. I think that it was a HIT! Some someone who can be SO shy around new people, she sure knows how to 'turn it on' and perform..just like Dad I guess :)

Belting it out-Brooke style

Taking a breather for a 'school picture' pose

and...back on..

Sisterly love...
Does anyone find it odd when your four month old appears larger then your 2 1/2 year old??

Brooke....Live

Brooke's audition for the Muny
(Hope you like Annie)

Brooke singing to her sister :)

Outside Fun!

So we decided to take advantage of this amazing weather the last couple of days and head outside to play. Last year, a small slide and car provided hours of entertainment for Brooke all in our own backyard. Not so much this year..

She is getting a little too big for this slide. The only thing she found to be fun was seeing if she could jump off the edge..

Frustrated driver.
You cannot go too fast when your in the grass and mom can't push while holding your sister.
Option #2 = failure

Totally bored.

So, we headed to the park.

After we changed into our party shoes! We may have seen someone we know after all :)

WAY more fun.

Yes, I did buy that

Maggie and I were at Target over her break and I didn't need anything, but how often do we really need anything at Target right? As I was browsing through the children's baby suits Maggie saw it-the perfect suit for the girls to lay out in at Innsbrooke this year. I mean, how long can I dress them alike before they rebel and will only shop at The Limited too?? So, here-in all their glory-are Gary's worst nightmare...baby bikinis.

Size 12 months and not ashamed
(ps-why is the smallest bathing suit size at Target 12 months? I mean, do 3 month olds not require swimsuits?? Why do I keep calling them bathing suits?? Am I 100 years old??...I digress/pull a Jerry Maguire).

Yeah, Brooke wasn't so into the fashion show we were trying to put on.
Don't worry, there will be MANY more opportunities this summer!

My Old Friend

I don't know what made me think about my old friend...the pager. Maybe it was driving by a tanning salon which is-of course-where I purchased my pager junior year of high school. I had a friend that worked at the salon and I think she got me a 'deal.' I was so pumped. It was black-they were completely sold out of the colored clear ones and although I was disappointed, I was just so excited to have my new accessory. My parents totally told me I couldn't get one-so I went out and purchased one behind their backs because I was a child rebel like that. I mean, I had just met Gary and he totally had a pager too so they must have been cool right? This was before the standard days of cell phones and what better way to stay connected then to send love notes via page? What was the point of these things anyways?? I mean, if you got a page you still had to call the person back. Why didn't we just skip this whole technology and move right onto the phones??!! Not going to lie, though, when I got a page from the BF at night I thought I was pretty awesome. I miss my pager. How cool would I look at the park with my pager attached to my spandex black pants-mental image is amazing. Do you think they still sell them at tanning salons? I wouldn't know as I haven't walked through their doors in years. Let me know. What other items did we all have in our 'youngster' years? Hypercolor t-shirts? Swatches? Any hot little number purchased from 5 7 9? Do you miss them?? God knows I do...

Pics, Pics and a few more Pics

It's been just too long for some adorable pictures of Miss Caroline. I would have loved to include more of Brooke, however, she has decided to not like to have pictures taken of herself anymore :( You really have to catch her at the right time and this weekend she wasn't having it! So...Caroline pictures it is!!

Obsessed-seriously obsessed with standing.
If kids could walk at four months-she would walk.
Brooke walked at 10 months old (I walked at 9 months...not that it is a competition right??!!).
If I were placing bets, I think Caroline will walk before Brooke-obsessed I tell you.

Rolling over....

...and then wanting to stand up again!

She cannot get enough of Brooke.
Whatever Brooke is playing with-she wants in on the fun.

A show of hands for who is loving the baby rolls that start at the shoulders...

Gorgeous...yes I think so.

Brooke ~ Circa 4-5 months old
I am also coming to the conclusion that while I think that the girls look like sisters, they are growing more and more into their own little people...both in looks and in personality.

Caroline's eyes are set a bit farther apart and her hair (and eye brows) are remaining quite dark. Caroline is so laid back and Brooke is still so 'intense.'
It looks like Caroline is more like dad and Brooke more like mom...we will see how they continue to grow :)

Roll Over

Rolling over all day would wear you out too

She did it! Caroline rolled over. I was so excited. I had been on the phone all morning talking to different 'home' companies and when I walked back into the family room she had flipped (back to tummy). The rest of the day this is all she wanted to do. She would roll over, push up on her hands, play and the roll back to her side. After doing this a few times, she was exhausted. I would have to hold her so she could nap a bit and when she was up....she was at it again. So proud of her-it was my St. Patrick's Day treat :)

Side Note: In case any of you are wondering, we have not finalized the house yet. We are still waiting to hear back on our inspection and are hoping to have more info by the end of the week. Where are we going to live you ask? Well, we are in the process of negotiating a home, but I am too nervous to talk about it until we know that ours is good to go and that the new one is also confirmed. So much going on-and (if all goes according to plan) the move will be completed in only 36 days. Scary.

Helpfullness

What ever happened to neighborly friendliness or simply wanting to help out those around you? Has everyone become so self absorbed that they have tunnel vision or do they just not care?

I went to the grocery store today with both kids in tow-that is what you have to do when your spouse is working you have two (adorable) children and are out of grocery's. The first 'incident' that made me on edge was two women who blatantly stared at me as they were doing their shopping. It wasn't a glance. It wasn't a 'gosh-good for her' but it was a dirty look that conveyed...'sucks to be her.' Really? Yes, I realize that my two year old is attempting to stand in the stroller and yes, I do know that the box of crackers is open in my cart, but seriously...do you need to stop you cart and just stare at me?

What really put me over the edge, though, was when we were leaving the store. The bagger was not one of their regulars. Usually if I have both kiddos with me, they offer to help me to the car with another cart and you know I take them up on that offer (it is a bit difficult to fit bags around a pumpkin seat and Brooke). So fine, he bagged up my items and put them underneath the cart on the rack. As I am exiting the store, all of my groceries fall out of the bags and onto the pavement. Of course it was right where cars are driving by and people are walking in and out of the store. Now-picture this-a mom with two young children, groceries strewn about lying in the street...what do you do?? If it were me, I would stop to help this (stressed) mom and pick up her items and even inquire as to if she needed help to her car. I think that you know what happened though. Nothing. Nothing happened. People looked, walked around, and walked on by. The drivers even gave me a dirty look because I was in their way of getting the next closest spot to the entrance!!

I don't understand. I don't get people. What I do know is that if it were any of my family and friends, I know that they would have stopped and helped. It wouldn't even cross their minds not to. I am trying to teach my children to be the same way and I think that they are off to a great start.......even if it is just feeding your baby sister a bottle so that mom can do the dishes :)

Mr. Inspector Himself

Talk about a day. I have never been more stressed or had a worse stomach ache. I left the house for the requested 2-3 hours to let Mr. "I" do his thing. Well he did-for 3.5 hours. Is that good, bad, normal? I don't know, but it has me worried. Did I mention that he reprimanded me? Yeah. They had dropped of a radon test Saturday. When I got home from work, there were three door knob signs reminding me that their was a radon test in progress-thanks. Well, try and tell a two year old not to remove those signs. So, I took the paper signs and tossed them. Bad move.

Enter today-Mr. "I" asks me where is signs are. I let him know that my two year old was overly interested in them so I took them off and threw them away. He just stood there staring at me-awkward silence ensued. He then asked me if they were his 'good' ones. What? How the heck would I know! What makes door knob signs nice? They weren't anything special buddy.

Mr Inspector-"Did your daughter rip them?"

Me-"no"

Mr Inspector-"Were they laminated?"

Me-"no, just paper"

Mr Inspector-"Did the trash already get taken away or can you go find them"

Me-"no...it's gone!"

(*Yes, I did still have the trash out in the back but if you seriously think that I am going to go through the garbage and hand over some signs that have been sitting next to dirty diapers in the garbage can you are In.Sane.)

More...and more...and more awkward silence.

Then nothing. He just moved away, thanked me for my time and left. Did I mention that he said that me had some that were home made?

So, I am sure he was really nice regarding our inspection. He and I really didn't hit it off.

I was in the middle of making the kids dinner and giving Gary the dealio on the phone when I noticed that they were all just standing outside the house.....talking....and talking....and Mr. I using lots and lots of hand gestures. Then the agent left. Yet Mr. I stayed to talk....and talk....and talk...and 45 minutes later I could breathe again.

The nerves have sense settled and I think that I will be able to sleep tonight. Tomorrow will bring its own excitement of hearing what needs to be fixed, changed, etc. Wish us luck!

Inspection

I think that I am almost more nervous today then I was when we just had 'potential' buyers coming through the house. It is not like there is anything wrong which our home. The thought of a professional coming through the house, though, with the new buyers checking out every.little.thing makes me a little weirded out. I am sure that they will find some items that they are going to want us to fix which is not a big deal. I just don't want to scare them off for any reason and have to start the entire process over again! Ever try to get a toddler, a newborn and a psycho dog out of the house (after scrambling to clean it) on a weekly basis? Yeah, not fun.

We are also still homeless. We looked at 4 houses on Friday and were not able to make a decision. We found a new house that we wanted to look at last night and are going to check that one out this morning. I am sure that we are driving our real estate agent insane, but I am not going to buy a new house that I don't think I can live with the next ten years-deal. Our goal is to get a contract on a house by the end of the day-I will let you know. Our tentative closing date on our home is April 28th...that is really not a far off. We are still going to have to pack up our whole house while taking care of the kiddos and working those pesky full time jobs :) Did I mention that I think that we have something going on every weekend in April? Shouldn't be a problem.

The stress level is going through the roof.
Good thing I have these girls to keep me laughing...

Step One-Check

So, we did it. We sold our house-and in record time! At the official 30 day mark, we received a signed contract. We can check one item off of our to-do list. Now, onto the inspection and that little detail of finding a place (that Gary and I can agree upon) to live. We have about four houses that we have narrowed it down to and are going to go and look at them this weekend. Hopefully by Sunday we will have put in a contract on one of these homes.

Let the packing begin. I may have moved six times in my life (not including college, apartments or this first home with Gary) but I have never had to do this myself-my mom always ran the show. It was a process-an organized process that would leave her physically ill for days. While I don't think that it will leave me physically ill, I KNOW that it will leave me incredibly stressed out and cranky-so there is for warning.

Our inspection is this Monday. In the meantime, we will be looking at these homes and more negotiations will begin. How happy I will be when all paper conversations are complete and we are un-packing at our new home. This next home we are staying in-for a long, long time. Let the fun/crazy/stressful/intense/exciting time begin!

Three Months

Caroline is three months! Well, she is actually almost 3.5 months if you go by week-week count vs. the 3rd of every month, but you get the jest :) She is doing really, really great! She is already a WAY better sleeper then Brooke was at her age. She sleeps through the night and when she wakes up around 4:00/5:00 a.m. she may want to have a little bit to eat, or she may just want to cuddle with dad for awhile. She is usually ready to eat and play for good around 7:30. Not too bad huh?!
She is starting to lift her head up more and more during 'tummy' time. I feel a little guilty regarding the lack of time she is on the floor. With Brooke, I was always working on it with her-it is WAY harder to find the time with the 2nd when the 1st is climbing into baby toys, opening doors to exit the house or eating something that wasn't cleaned up off the floor from the prior meal (or from two days ago if I'm being honest).

Caroline LOVES to stand. If she could stand all day that is what she would do-that and smile. The girl wakes up smiling. It is almost as if she is so surprised and equally excited that we are all still there waiting for her!! You don't really have to do too much to get a huge grin-say her name, cuddle or make a face and she is all gummy and grinning. She even does it while sleeping which is the best :)

Caroline also has a best friend. Brooke never had an attachment to anything-minus a cup of water and 12 POWS (otherwise known as pacifiers). This is killing us now when we are working on potty training and breaking the paci habit. I introduced Caroline to a small, soft blanket (lovey) complete with tags on the sides that was a gift from our friends Eric & Nicole. She adores it...to the point where I think I need to find out where it came from and invest in 12 more. When you put it next to her she coos, smiles and is fast asleep. Thank you so much to E & N!


Caroline has also turned into a thumb sucker. This habit is new in the house of POWS. She is completely content with a fist in the mouth-don't get me wrong, she will take the pacifier, however, she much prefers her thumb. It is SO cute and makes her even more irresistible to me :)

We took Caroline to the doctor this week for a cold and they got her weight, but not her height. Drum roll please....14.5 pounds. YES-a chubby 14.5 pounds! She is 3 oz shy of doubling her birth weight-not too shabby Caroline :) I think that she has gotten a TON longer too. Brooke always wore the same month size clothing as her age: 3 months at 3 months, etc. Caroline is way too long to wear 3 month sized clothing. He knees have to bend if she is in a one-piece or her ankles show in pants-poor girl whose mom dresses her in wrong sized clothing!

So that is the 3 month update on Miss Caroline. She and Brooke have so many similarities at this age, yet they are so, so different. It is so amazing to me to watch them both at 3 months and to see how they are both interacting with each other. I think that it will continue to get better as they get older :)

I thought that i would throw a Brooke picture in when she was around Caroline's age. She is about 3.5-4 months here. Very similar I think-both just chubby and cute as can be!

College Hair

For those of you readers that I went to college with, you know that I had one 'signature' hair do. I LOVED to put my hair in a ponytail-almost obnoxiously on top of my head-and walk around like I was pretty freaking cool. I started doing my hair this way when I was very little-ask my mom-I called it a "Wild" pony. Pretty original right? So, tonight, as I had my hair in said wild pony, Brooke asked for her hair to, "be like moms!" I have been waiting for this day my entire life...

Like Mother, Like Daughter...Caroline will join us soon...
Poor Gary...

because otherwise we would be boring

How was your weekend? Both of our girls are sick with colds. Caroline has had to sleep in her car seat the last two night to stay elevated. The night before that *Dad of The Year* Gary held her the entire night sitting upright on the couch so she could sleep better. The last two night I have had to sleep with Brooke to keep her calm enough so that her cough doesn't wake her up every hour on the hour.

Did I mention that we got a contract put on house? Yeah. I am not getting too excited yet as we did not accept the first offer and had to counter offer and are now sitting and waiting for a response....(4.5 hours and counting...).

Oh, and I guess I had a lax moment and decided yesterday a.m. when I left for my parents house that I wasn't going to straighten up before I left. I mean, what are the odds that someone would want to see the house yesterday. The big news was that we actually had people interested enough to make an offer right? Mistake. As soon as I am walking out the door to head home with the girls in tow the phone rings. They wanted to see our house at 3:00. 3:00! One hour to get home, clean, straighten, etc. I guess I should have listened to my mom...and always clean every morning, but that would make my life organized an boring. I pulled it together but not without the help of my in-laws who took the girls while I was mad cleaning the house.

I stayed out of the house for an hour-standard time. I came home with dog on my lap, two girls in their car seats and 3 loads of laundry jammed into one basket on the front seat (remember, I live in my car). I pull up to my house and there are three cars outside. I am not completely stupid. I am well aware that there are actual people in my house when I am away, but it is totally strange to see these people standing in my house looking around and (maybe) going through my stuff. It's good stuff right? I had to drive around the area for ten minutes, dog freaking out at every other person/animal/building she sees digging her claws into my thigh-I have the scars to prove it-with Brooke yelling at Bella to "be quiet! you annoying" Thanks Brooke, yes she is.

I am back to needing to lose 3 pounds. I had it all lost-not sure if it was me or the flu, but it was gone. The stress is getting to me. 3 more pounds before the addtional 5 I was hoping to take off before wedding season. Oh well, why would I want to have our life be boring?

TMI?? Maybe...

Gary comes home last night from work and informs me that he was so disgusted with himself all day. See, we had a house showing yesterday morning and he had a million things to do outside of the house before heading to work. This equaled him not being able to shower (side note: he would KILL me for writing this-obsessive shower taker). I didn't really feel too sorry for him, you see, I hadn't showered since Sunday.

Go ahead-throw up in your mouths a little bit. It gets worse, I had been out in public-numerous times. Grocery store, Science Center, Target-really, I could go on. You see, Gary doesn't have to deal with all of the time restraints that I do. I don't get the luxury of showering on a daily basis-most of you don't see it as a luxury do you? More of a requirement? Not with two under three. I spend my mornings, afternoons and evenings changing diapers, making meals, cleaning up messes, dealing with temper tantrums, making bottles and cleaning up my chubby baby Caroline's projectile spit-up (we are seriously going to have to get new couches in our new house..). Don't get me wrong, I have tried to shower while alone with the girls-here is how it goes. Caroline is perfect hanging out in her crib. Brooke comes in the bathroom and climbs in the shower...fully clothed. It is SO fun to try and get a screaming child out of the shower in wet clothes while your soaking wet..try it out sometime :)

Do any of you moms out there feel like you have given up SO much of your 'pamper' time since you had the little darlings? Maybe it is just me.

My last haircut? October-gross right? I just feel too guilty dropping the $100 at the stylist. Maybe I will become a Custom Cuts gal? No. I am too stuck up for that (sorry for all of you Custom Cuts fans out there). I will just stick to only getting my hair done twice a year and grossing you all out with split ends and roots (or was that grease from aforementioned non-showering?).

My last clothing purchase? Skinny Jeans from Target...which I came to discover were really 'denim leggings.' I have never been good at 'trendy.' I went to Target-which I guess from looking over this blog and previous entries has become the only place that I shop-yesterday and thought maybe I would check out some of their new clothes. Didn't happen. Headed straight to the kiddos section and picked up a couple of swim-suits for the cuties. God knows they are the only females in this house putting on a bikini anytime soon! I seriously feel guilty buying anything for myself! I would rather end up on What Not To Wear apparently.

PS-when do you have to stop shopping in the Juniors department at Target and head over to 'Ladies?' I have to admit I feel a little weird when the 15 year old and I are checking out the same clothing rack. Don't worry, I completely turn them off from that 'going out top' just by standing 2 feet from it. Have I really crossed over? I am putting my foot down at shopping the Women's floor at Macy's.

Moral of the story-took a much needed 30 minute shower this morning. Feel WAY better and more human then I have in days. That should cover me until Monday right?

Dressing Up

I have been saving old clothes for some time now. Some of them I just couldn't part with yet-old sorority clothing, girl scout uniforms, etc. Some of the items are pure hideous and I seriously wonder to myself why I ever purchased them and how in the world they ever fit. I have been storing all of these items in a box for the kids so that they can play dress up, make Halloween costumes and completely make fun of me for some of my clothing choices.

Since Aunt Maggie was in town, we decided to get the dress up clothes out and have at it!

Brooke was in heaven! Since she cannot make fun of me yet, she just admires how 'beautiful' all of these items are! She could not believe all of her good finds! I mean, who doesn't love a purse with a man and woman on it staring into each others eyes?? Complete with some sort of bedazzledment.

This is her tu-tu / tank top / bandanna / never been worn still has the tags on it nightgown combo. It totally works right??

Totally working the tu-tu / Junior Girl Scout vest and zebra bikini-perfect for a play date with friends or just hanging around the local playground. (still has not removed the never been worn still has the tags on it nightgown)

Hey there Little Red Riding Hood!
I have been wanting her to try this one on. She got this for Christmas from her Aunt Lisa & Uncle Brian-how cute is she? For some reason she also wants to wear her Zebra headpiece, but that is ok.

I will leave Maggie's dress up pictures for a blog entry all of its own :)

A Little Sister Love

Both Brooke & Caroline have puzzles that are cut out to spell their names. The other day (after removing every article of clothing from Caroline's closet) Brooke brought her sister's puzzle into the family room to play with. A conversation ensued...

Gary: Brooke, that is Caroline's puzzle. You need to put it back and play with your puzzle.

Brooke: I want to play with Carowine's puzzle

Gary: Well, then I think you need to ask Caroline if that is ok with her

(I think that we thought this would end her desire to play with this unopened toy)

Brooke: Ok

She then walked over to her sister who was relaxing in her bouncy chair watching the latest episode of Wow Wow Wubzy.

Brooke: Carowine...can I play with your puzzle?

Insert long pause...

Brooke: OH Carowine...thank you! You are so nice!!

She then proceeded to give her sister a big kiss on the cheek and walk over to me to fill me in.

Brooke: Mom, Carowine is so nice!

Me: Yes, she is! And Brooke, you are so nice for asking her permission to play with her puzzle!

Brooke: I wuv you Carowine! I wuv you mom!

And..off to the puzzle playing she went :)


Sometimes Brooke can be a bit jealous of Caroline, but it is times like these when I just cannot help but smile and LOVE that I have these two little girls that I hope will grow up to be the best of friends :)

Caroline's Baptism

This weekend we celebrated Caroline's Baptism. She did great throughout the entire Mass and we were so proud of her! Afterward, we hosted a luncheon at our house and it was great to catch up with everyone we hadn't seen since the holidays.


One of the most thoughtful gifts that Caroline received was a handmade bonnet from all of my mom's sisters. It was made out of one of my Grandmas Buchheit's handkerchiefs and rosette buttons. It was SUCH a special gift since she is no longer with us. She knew that I was expecting Caroline and was always checking in on how I was doing. We miss her so much and it was nice to have a special item of hers for Caroline that day :)

The bonnet was a little small...or Caroline's head is a little large :)

Brooke had the BEST time at Mass that day. She could not believe that everyone from both sets of her grandparents to all of her aunt's, uncle's and cousins were there! She just kept yelling out all of their names as she spotted them. She is going to be pretty disappointed at church next week when it is only Gary, Caroline and me (and when we don't have cake when we get home).

Caroline's God-Parents are my sister Amy and Gary's brother Michael. Although, the priest did thank Gary for being her God-Parent which we were a little confused by...oh well!