My Zen

It has hit, the superhero phase. I am not sure what exactly spawned Caulen in the direction but I am sure it was Spider Mans fault in a happy meal. Damnit! jk. I am sure it’s his age and the books we read and shows he watches that helps push him to want to be a hero!  A few days ago I asked him if he wanted a cape while he was running around the house being a hero and getting the bad guys. He wasn’t sure wtf I was talking about initially but when I busted out his old baby towel and a rubber band he totally got it! He wore that cape for two days straight, everywhere. When I asked him what his superhero name was he said, ” Superhero, Superhero, Superhero, Super MYSTERY hero.” I said,” So your name is Super Mystery Hero baby boy?” Caulen says, ” No Mom, it’s Superhero, Superhero, Superhero, Super MYSTERY hero!!!” I say, ” Oh okay, sorry baby boy.” I was laughing so hard, though I kept it under my breath because being laughed WITH spawns a serious temper tantrum with Caulen. As Shawndra says regarding her boy Kade, ” It’s not like we are laughing at them, they just don’t know the difference yet so they get angry because they thing we are laughing at them. ” I could not have said it better. lol So one of these days I will figure out how to make him a homemade cape so he can really get crazy and fly around. I put in a few fun photos of him in his cape.

I also managed to get Caulen when he was super happy, to take a photo with his little sister. I didn’t have much time to get a decent photo since attention spans in this house fall short, but I do think I got a few really cute ones. Even though I don’t get photos of how in love Caulen is with his baby sister, he really is. I can’t even count how many times a day he just smothers her with kisses. I have also taught him the difference between a sloppy kiss and a nice kiss, because for the first week his kisses to her were full blown puckered lips as big and slobbery as he could get them. One day we just sat with Baby G and practiced nice clean kisses on her forehead until he got it right. It was cute.

I also wanted to give a shout out to my MIL, Laurey. This woman took my repetitious words of how much I just love blankets and went and made about 10 within a few months for our house and family. She even made Shane, Caulen, Genevieve and Myself our own blankets which is awesome and then threw in some more homemade ones for the kids. They are all so soft and big and comfy. We use them everyday all day long! Thank you Laurey! You rock.

I am trying to figure out how the hell my days became so full. Yes I understand that its because of Baby G, but crap I think I just realized just HOW MUCH TIME one little person and one 4 year old take away from the time you used to have with just your independent 4 year old. If I make it down to my computer for more than 5 minutes before 5pm is a miracle. I am ALWAYS doing laundry, daily. Is it bad that I am already stoked for when she turns 4 and I get my minimal independent lazy days back? lol.  In all honesty I don’t mind being so busy with the kids all day and night. I really enjoy how much they need me and I love being the one to get the little things taken care of. I also love Shane for all the help he gives me. He doesn’t think its beneath him to help out with his kids and help with chores and making my daily life a little easier. I think he understands all the work that goes into just one kid alone, let alone two kids!!  I love that about him, makes him more of a man in my eyes and not a deuche bag I see in a lot of spouses…well mostly the bad husbands I see on TV, but they are out there!! haha

Last but not least, Caulens new horn he got at preschool today. I was at the grocery store and got a call from Miss Kinsey letting me know that Caulen took a face plant into one of the wooden slides at his preschool and has a sweet bump right in between is eyes. She said he didn’t cry and was icing it but if I wanted to come check for myself I could.  There was not even a hint of panic in her voice when I was talking to her so I wasn’t too worried. I just picked up my prescription and headed out. I was only 3 minutes from his school and when I got there he had a little ice pack to his head and eating a graham cracker with the kids for snack. I bent down and gave him a kiss. I tried to high five him for the big ass welt he had on his head but he wasn’t interested. lol. I asked him if he wanted me to take him home or did he want to stay and play with his friends for the rest of school. He said he wanted to stay and just resumed his normal happy attitude for the rest of class. What a great example of how resilient and determined kids are. It takes A LOT to hold Caulen down from playtime of any sort.  Why do all of us adults become such pussy’s when we are older?  He let me take a few pictures for a trade of candy so I could show everyone, otherwise you all would have just had to visualize what I am talking about, and that’s not as fun when there is a war wound involved. lol  How is Caulen doing? He is doing awesome, happy and hasn’t complained about it once. Shane thinks his skull is cracked open but from my years and years as a gymnast and all the falls I have taken and identical war wounds I have endured just like Caulens, I think he will pull through with no Dr’sappointment this time.  He will have a massive black and blue bruise by the time his Birthday gets here on Friday.

I forgot to post photos of the day our little G arrived in this crazy world. When I think back on it, she really came fast. I was supposed to go in for a scheduled C section on the 22nd but, just like her mommy, she likes to arrive early for EVERYTHING, including her own birthday.

I started having contractions Friday night (Feb 19) at about 11pm. Shane was sleeping alone in Caulens room since he was SUPER sick and could not stop hacking and coughing away. I just wanted to get some good sleep so Caulen slept with me. I didn’t want to wake Shane up when four hours had past and I was still having contractions. They were not getting closer together but every 40 mintues they were strong and painful as hell. Around 8am on the 20th Shane was still passed out in Caulens room and I was obviously up and moving around, doing laundry and trying to figure out whether or not my contractions were false labor or the real thing. I got tired of waiting for Shane to wake up so I went into Caulens room and said” I have been having contractions all night but I don’t think its real labor.”  Well that woke Shane up and even though I was calm and in denial that I would have to go into the hospital, Shane still got showered and certain things packed just in case. He was ready for her to be here, I could tell. lol Well my contractions did not subside when I was walking around or when I was laying or sitting down and I started to realize they were getting closer. I called my OB Tina and she told me that if I felt the need to go to the hospital it wouldn’t hurt but to try certain exercises first to see if  that helped the contractions subside. Well nothing did and from 8am until 10:30am my contractions went from 40 minutes apart to 6 minutes apart. I really was going to tough it out at home because for some stupid reason I didn’t think it was real and that they would just go away sooner than I thought. I finally broke down and told Shane that we should go and just see if its real or not. We lived close to the hospital and it was not like I would not be back in two days anyways for the real deal. So we loaded up and sure enough my contractions were real labor and three hours later she was here.

Okay I don’t know one new mother who doesn’t get crazy with the camera and her newborn. I promise I am not leaving Caulen out, but every time I try to coax him into the photos he just will not have anything to do with it. I do have some great photos of Caulen reading to Baby G. He also loves to play his PSP around her. Basically, anywhere she is, he wants to be right next to her so he can see her and give her lots of kisses.

We are all doing really well. This go around with a new baby has been just amazing. I made sure to limit the amount of daily stress that I would have after Genevieve was born so I could focus on her and Caulen before I jumped into major commitments. I am so glad I did, I am able to keep my house clean and enjoy every second with my family. I did start work again which is awesome. I love my job!!

I am REALLY looking foward to seeing my parents in a little over a week! YAHOO!!

finally! The wait for our daughter came on February 20, 2010 at  1:54pm. Genevieve Adela Herzog is so awesome. Just like with Caulen we were smitten with her and every move she has made since then. Caulen is right there with us. He gives her as many kisses and she can handle and helps bring dirty diapers to the garbage, bring dirty bottles to the sink and carry his and her dirty laundry to the laundry room. He is such a good helper and so far has not shown any jealously signs. We love both our kids so much that not giving Caulen attention too is not in our blood. Grandma Herzog came and helped us tremendously for the first 6 days baby G was here but I think she was really missing her family so she went home on Thursday. I cant blame her, 6 days is a while to be away from the people you love.

Right now we are just hanging out, finding the daily groove and enjoying every minute of our new family. I have taken a few photos along the way so far and posted them below.

My dear, dear friend Shawndra took some really amazing pregnancy photos today. It’s somthing I really wish I did when Caulen was in my belly. I wanted to share a few of my favorites she took. I feel massive, fat, huge..whatever you want to call it, so I am sure once she gets them on her photography website I will link over, but as for self confidence in posting a lot of my own pics, I cant do it. lol. I am thankful for them and to know in a few years when I look back on these I will just love every single pose and shot of our little girl! We tried to get Caulen in on a few photos but taking him away from his friends was not going to happen so the few we did get were good, just not what I know he can produce.  I will add one of my favorites from him later, but I have to pee bad and rest right now. lol

TWO WEEKS TO GO PEEPS!!!

Can you tell by the photo below I am just so in love with the boy?! lol

Still pregnant. -_-

I have not found any baby bedding that is just perfect for our little girl yet, but a few days ago I stumbled onto this gem. Isn’t is CUTE?! Now just gotta wait for payday and it’s possibly all hers! YAY! Just wanted to share the cuteness.

This challenge was to create a flower layout, only turn your stems into journaling instead of a basic graphic.

And…

my back hurts….REALLY BAD! lol

For this challenge I figured it would be fun to do a recap of the best moments of everyone’s month. We didn’t have to many crazy things going on, but it still made for a fun layout. I am hoping more people will do this one as I am so excited to see the results. So here was the description: Do a “Best Moments of January 2010″ 2 page layout. You can do this for just yourself, kids, husband, boyfriend, pets or all of them. I wanted to save this until the end of the month to do since we get a week to complete the challenges.

This is what I came up with. If you click on the image it will take you to a larger version.