So Far Behind...

I am so far behind on this blog...

...and with that Ella is awake from her nap. 

InstaFriday

Happy Friday.

Last week we were at my favorite place.

The Mackinac Bridge.

We camped in the U.P.

It was fabulous.

The weather was beautiful.

I was happiest Mama ever getting my 2 babies to The Bridge this summer.

 Karson loved the bridge too.  Probably because his Mama was jumping up and down about it.  

He called it the "Mac-Ti Bridge."

Love.

Little girl LOVES to be outside.

Absolutely loves it!

We took a boat over to an island at Tequanimum Falls.

You would think she would be screaming because of the life jacket.

Nope...she was outside...happy as could be.

Her first pair of Minnetonka Moccasins.

Purchased on Mackinac Island.

I stopped in my tacks when I saw them in the window.

Dying of cutiness.

He is almost 2 1/2.

29 Months to be exact.

These shorts are size 6-12 months.

Notice they are rolled, so he can keep them up?

Kid has no butt.

We had a cold front come in yesterday.

It is 58 degrees here today.

Last night Ella and I snuggled under a blanket and listened to the rain while she nursed for hours on end.

 I know she is getting enough food...she is a chunk...you can count her rolls.

However...she literally nurses for AT LEAST 2 hours, if not 3, in the evenings.

Constant.

I think she is done and lay her down, then 2 seconds later she is wanting more.

If it weren't for the rolls, I would be worried she was starving.

I think she just likes Mommy time in the evenings.

I finally got her to sleep at 12:15 the other night...she was full...and she was out cold!!

My dog and I are having war today.

She is winning.

Oh, how she drives me absolutely crazy.

To avoid locking her out in the rain, or listing her on CL, Mama needed coffee.

I love Nutella.

Nutella has dairy in it.

Bummer.

 Homemade, dairy free Nutella takes a close second to the real thing.

Linking up with Jeannett from Life.Rearranged for InstaFriday.

 

Ellary's Car Seat

Karson is the best little traveler there is.

He always has been.

I thought that is just how kids travel.

He watches a movie, then he falls asleep.

Six hours in the car-no big deal!

 He falls asleep in the car at nap time-I just bring him in the house and put him in his bed.

He keeps sleeping.

Then Ellary came along.

 She was a little more difficult in the car.

She would fuss quite a bit.

After she was about a month old, she screamed.

Every.single.time.

 Not just a little fussing.

Crying so hard she would choke, cough, and throw up.

Every.single.time.

We took a trip to Wisconsin a few weeks ago.

She screamed 90% of the way there and 90% of the way home

Three hours of constant screaming.

With Karson yelling: "Mama feed Baby Ella."

We stopped a million times to get her out.

She immediately would stop crying.

And she would immediately start screaming the second she was back in the car seat.

I sat in the back with her, trying everything short of taking her out of the car seat, to try to calm her down.

Nothing worked.

I wanted to cry right along with her.

Babies shouldn't be screaming for hours upon hours in the car.

I figured we would just stay home-and not take her anywhere.

It just wasn't fair to her to scream.

That worked...except we had a trip to the U.P. planned.

A six hour car ride again.

I couldn't stand the thought of her screaming that hard for six hours.

So, instead of canceling our vacation, we bought her a new car seat.

Instead of a new infant seat, we bought her the same convertible seat Karson has.

As it turned out diapers.com was running a sale on the newest version, and DJ got a bonus that week.

The seat is bigger than she is.

She looks tiny in it.

However...this is how she now rides in the car:

She went from screaming in her infant seat, to sleeping in her convertible seat.

Cue sounds of Angels singing.

I volley between being ecstatic she is now comfortable to feeling horrible about her infant seat.

Obviously, it was hurting her in some way.

And she spent hours screaming in that seat on the way to and from Wisconsin.

On the way to and from the U.P. last week she slept & smiled.

Happy. Happy. Happy.

Moral of the story:

Listen to your babies...they don't cry just to cry.

{I did call the company that made her infant seat & explained everything to them.  They agreed-babies don't go from screaming 100% of the time they are in their car seat to being completely content for no reason.  They are refunding us the price of our infant seat!}

The "Mac-Ti Bridge"

We are home. 

From what Karson called The "Mac-Ti Bridge."

Also known as the Mackinac Bridge.

Oh, how I love that Bridge.

InstaFriday

 1. Crabby kids? Stick 1 in the Ergo and 1 in the sling.  Good to go.

2. Clean. Clean. Clean.  Too bad it never stays that way.

3. Mommy Necklaces are awesome.

4. Feeding ducks.

 1. Sleeping Ellary.  This does not happen often.

2. Karson loves to dump all of his toys out. Not my favorite activity, but he learns by playing.  Right?

3. Fabulous at traveling.  He is awesome in the car.  His sister is another story.

4. Oh how I love her.  Her thumb sucking included.

1. Karson put a sticker on her.  Brotherly love.

2. Napping at a friend's baby shower.

3. Snuggling Mama...and refusing to sleep.

4. Choo-choo!!

1.  Karson does.not.eat. So when he asked for his "nu-nus" while in time out, we gave them to him.  He then proceeded to eat them like a dog.  We let him.  He ate 2 plate fulls. Mother of the year.
2. Good morning sweet babies.
3. Hi Mama...this will not work...I will not fall asleep.
4. Mommy wins.  Ellary sleeps & Mama gets two hands to get stuff done.  If you do not have one, buy an Ergo!

 1. Ellary HATES the car.  She screams that awful, ear piercing baby cry every time she is in the car.  We got her a convertible car seat to see if it would help.  Notice how she isn't screaming?

2.  She is sleeping.  In the car.  HUGE improvement.  She still cries at times, but she also sleeps at times which she didn't used to do in her infant seat.  Any other ideas on helping itty bitty ones in the car?

Linking up with Jeannett with Life.Rearranged for InstaFriday.

Bye-Bye Second Cup of Morning Coffee

This little girl is the most inconsistent sleeper.

Ever.

She has been sleeping well at night.

She usually only gets up once to nurse, and goes right back to sleep.

She has slept through the night 4 times.

She seems to have nights figured out.

But naps.

Three month olds should nap, right?

Right.

Ellary didn't nap.

At all.

No sleeping during the day.

At all.

She.would.not.nap.

This made for a very cranky baby come 7:00.

An over tired Ellary can't fall asleep.

She screams and screams, and fights nursing, and screams some more.

Again, three month olds should nap.

Then 1 day, she napped.  

Twice.  

Two, 2 hour naps.  

Unheard of.

So I went over what I did differently that day.

I only had 1 cup of coffee.

The next day, I enjoyed my 2nd cup of coffee.

Again, no napping.

All day long.

Darn.  

There goes my 2nd cup of coffee.

Apparently I was caffeinating the poor thing.

 

Now, let me tell you.  

I love coffee.

Not just the caffeine in the morning.

I love the taste of coffee.

Strong, black coffee-Heaven!

When I am cold, I crave a strong, hot, cup of coffee.

I used to have a half of a pot in the mornings, before I was pregnant.

I also always had a 2:00 pm half a pot cup of coffee.

Decaf coffee doesn't do it.

It just tastes bad.

Yes, I can tell the difference.

So, the list of foods I have given up grows.

No dairy. 

Very little soy.

{Read: No more Starbucks 'Ellary Proof Decaf-Iced-Soy-Mocha.'  Too much soy...sick Ella.}

No onions.

{She can handle a very little amount, which I reserve for salsa}

No broccoli.

No second cup of coffee in the mornings.

It is ok though.

She is worth it.

Anyone know of a really good decaf coffee?

Silver Lake :: 2012 ::

This was our 5th year for our annual Silver Lake Camping Trip.  

Every year it has rained.

Or was cold.

Freezing cold.

Or I was 6 weeks pregnant with Ellary, and had the stomach flu.

{we skipped that year}

It was beginning to be comical.

Not the sick part...that really stunk!

We started in 2008, but I didn't blog in 2008.

 It is such a fun trip, and for the 1st time ever, we had beautiful weather!!

It rained for all of 5 seconds.

 No sitting around the campfire in the pouring rain; with 10 layers on & umbrellas.

SL 2009

No flooding.

SL 2010

No missing out because of the stomach flu.

SL 2011

Beautiful weather.

Happy kiddos.

Great friends.

A fabulous weekend!

Playing on the beach....

When he sais "1..2..3..jump!" he will jump!

Over, and over, and over again!

 

Oh how my little boy loves the beach!

While Karson jumped of sand castles, Ella slept in the shade.

She loves the beach too!

We spent the afternoons on the beach.  My favorite activity!  

While everyone else laid in the sun, Ellary and I froze in the shade!

I absolutely love snuggling my sleeping baby.

Snuggling my sleeping baby on the beach...Heaven!

In the afternoons & evenings, we played at the campsite.

DJ begged, and begged to take Karson on a go-cart.

I agreed.

He was so excited.

So was Karson.

Until the go-cart started moving.

He freaked...and I couldn't do anything about it.

Bad Mommy moment...don't put your 2 year old on a go-cart.

Just trust me on that one.

Hanging out at the camp site....

Ellary snuggling with Aunt Katie & Karson enjoying a Coffee Cake.

Karson playing with Daddy & the big guys!

The second night, we drove up test (really really big hill in the dunes) to watch the sunset.

I held Ella's head so it didn't bounce around too much.

When we got  to the top, some guy was laughing at me, and told DJ he should have held my hand so I didn't look so scared.

I quickly informed him I had 2 babies in the truck.  

When he saw Ellary he apologized. :)

We all sat in the back of our trucks, to watch the sunset.  Karson loved watching all the dune buggies go up the hill.  His truck noises have gotten quite a bit louder since this trip.   At one point there weren't any trucks going up the hill.  "Mama, where trucks go?  More trucks!!!"

Parked at the beach, watching the dune trucks go by.

Karson was in Heaven.

So was his Daddy. :)

Cool Dude

This year was so much fun!

I love traditions, and camping, and great friends!!

I can not wait for next year!


ps...this is a record!  Ellary is sleeping again today!!  Woohoo!!