Currently...

Feeling...
Incredibly happy about life. Two wonderful, cute, healthy kids, a loving husband, an area and a house that's becoming more and more a home each day, month and year that passes. Every day I'm grateful for what I have, yet I often worry whether I'm falling short with how much I'm expressing my gratitude in my thoughts and actions towards others. Life seems too good to be true right now and I just hope that I can be thoughtful enough to never take it for granted and just soak it up and enjoy this time.

Watching...
New Girl, The Mindy Project, Downton Abbey and Sherlock. Super excited that Sherlock Season 3 is back on PBS and can't wait to sit down with Sebastian one night this week and watch it. Also, we are in the middle of watching Ender's Game. We both read the book and are interested to see how they created the science-fiction world from the novel.

Listening...
To the Frozen soundtrack. Aliyah loves it. I love it. She and I belt out the songs in her room and in the car all the time. And every so often I hear Sebastian singing it to Aliyah without any inhibition as well. (He would do anything for that girl.)

Reading...
My mother-in-law recommended the Outlander Series to me a few months ago. So far I'm well into book one and it is proving to be quite the read. A lot of European history and a female protagonist are just a couple of things that will motivate me to finish this massive read.

Missing...
My family. My brother and his wife just added to their family of four by adopting a sweet little boy from China. I would love to be there to welcome him and hold him. And then there's my parents, but I'm always missing them. They will be here in the beginning of February, so I don't have much longer until I get to see them again!

Wondering...
Why won't my 6 month old sleep through the night?! The early morning hours are the worst since it seems he's gotten into the habit of thinking that it's playtime from around 3 or 4 in the morning. He is usually contently babbling in his crib (while I am burying my head in my pillow repeating my mantra of, "Please just go back to sleep Isaac. Please go back to sleep.") I normally wouldn't mind this, after all he's not crying and he's totally cool hanging out by himself, but he and Aliyah share a room and his squeals of delight can get pretty loud at times and I'm always worried that she'll wake up. (Though, she has proven me wrong numerous times. It's amazing what kids can sleep through.)

Working...
On getting a new design portfolio site created. It's been pretty frustrating so far since I need everything to be just right and that mentality is a huge road block in just getting it completed. But I think I made some major headway recently which has given me some extra motivation to keep working on it.

Proud...
That this weekend I washed, and folded and put away all of the laundry in the house. I also made Isaac's first batch of baby food. Pears, sweet potatoes and carrots. It's so much fun and a lot easier this time around than with Aliyah.

Wanting...
A full night of uninterrupted sleep. In the grand scheme of things, if that's all I'm wanting, then life's not that bad. Especially considering the reason I'm not getting my optimal amount is because of a really, cute, chunky, lovable son of mine. I recently read an article about how some of the most influential leaders in the world sleep anywhere from 3-5 hours a day. So basically, I just need to get over it. :)

Wishing...
I could figure out this blogging thing. I struggle between wondering how much of myself (and as a result, my family) I should put out on the world wide web. There are many times when I think about how cool it would be to be a blog with useful and fun content with how-to's and things I did during trips and motherhood, etc. But then I think to myself, well who am I to think I can be an expert on something? Will people think I'm credible? It's a constant struggle of self-doubt and desire. Ha. I'm working on just letting my blog be something that I do for pure fun. If that means stories of kids, or if it means writing a how-to post that no one ends up reading, I need to learn to accept that and just enjoy the process. Whatever this little online journal ends up being is up to the universe, I guess.

Eating...
Kale, brussel sprouts, green beans and quinoa. Oh, but don't be fooled. I'm also eating cookies and chocolate truffles from Sprouts.

Drinking...
Water with lemon, coffee, San Peligrino, and wine. (Not all at once! Just lately.)

Loving...
The incredible weather and gorgeous green grass in Arizona right now. It's near perfect. Aliyah and Isaac and I took a one hour walk/tricycle ride and it was amazing. I just want to be able to enjoy this weather as much as possible, because I know come June through August it will be ridiculously hot here, and I'm not looking forward to that type of weather.

Happy Monday y'all!

Princess Aliyah of Carden House

Anyone watch Game of Thrones? The hubs and I are obsessed. (And looking forward to Season 4 this spring!) It's pretty much the only reason I thought of the title for this post (and not because we would even dare think to let Aliyah see any part of that show. Adults only for that one...ha.)

But back to the real cutie. Aliyah. This past year, Aliyah has just started to show her "girly" side. It doesn't come out very often, but when it does it sure is cute. Most days she'd rather be playing with her horse toys (obsessed with horses right now), or with her trains or tractors or out riding bike or kicking the soccer ball. This is completely different from what I used to do when I was younger. I could have played house and with my dolls all day, every day. Had it not been for my older brother who loved sports, I'm not sure I would have ever known I could be athletic.

So when Aliyah put on her crown and asked me to clip on her blanket as a dress, I was all in. She is at the perfect age right now when her imagination is completely free and uninhibited. She's not yet embarrassed to go in full make-believe mode, and the sky is the limit for what she decides to be. This day it was a princess. Yesterday is was a super hero who found missing things around the house.

Yep...the year three is full of some hard days (think: tantrums, whining...all that good stuff), but it's also filled to the brim with some pretty sweet things as well, like imagination, witty conversations and lots of hugs and kisses. Can't say it enough. Love this little girl with all my heart and soul.

Isaac | 5 Months

This little guy isn't so little anymore. I think he is teetering on about 20-21 pounds, and is somewhat long too. (We're not quite sure where he gets this from, since clearly Sebastian and I aren't exceptionally tall.)

He has his 6 month appointment later this month, but I have been meaning to capture some photos of him before he starts crawling. Seems like that could be any week now since he's mastered rolling over and is constantly switching from back to tummy to get where he wants to go.



Still super relaxed, still a perfect baby (no mom bias there, ha!) Barely cries, smiles at everyone and the best part for me is that as long as he has his blankie or crib (or both) he will sleep anywhere, and most often doesn't need to be rocked or nursed to sleep.



The only thing that could be a bit better is his nighttime wakings. Some nights he'll be only wake up twice, other nights he will be up 4 or 5 times. I thought that starting him on rice cereal might help him sleep through the night, especially if he nursed right afterwards (double the food equals a full belly, right?), but that hasn't really been the case. If that's all I have to complain about, I'll take it. This little guy has officially won the hearts of our entire family. (Big sis included, you should see those two "talk" to one another. It makes my heart happy.)

It's That Time Again...

The weather is bliss right now in Arizona. Cooler nights, which create a cozy feeling. Perfect 75 degree temps during the day, which allow us to be outdoors. With the beautiful weather, we're able to engage in one of our favorite family activities...hiking! Aliyah has been asking to go hiking for quite some time now, so we decided to take the whole family to Papago Park.























Sebastian gathered all the materials needed for a picnic lunch. I packed up our running stroller and we took the drive down to South Scottsdale and spent a few hours enjoying nature right in the middle of the city. I love Papago Park. The views are incredible and it always amazes me how such incredible hiking is right in the middle of the city. One of my favorite things about the Phoenix/Scottsdale area is that you don't need to travel far to hike up a mountain and get some great views.

This was Isaac's first hike, and he was pretty much the same, calm, relaxed baby that he always is. This kid has such a happy, content personality. Aliyah was an incredibly easy baby, but Isaac is even more so. Sebastian and I often kid that his two's and three's will be abnormally terrible, because it seems too good to be true right now. Let's hope we're wrong on that prediction.

All in all, it was a great family hike. We're looking forward to spending lots more weekends out exploring nature until the heat comes back in May.

Life with Two

I thought I would post this. I was writing another post, but saw that I had this one in a draft mode and never published it. Kind of fun to look back and read what I was thinking a few months ago.

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One of the most common topics of conversation I had while pregnant was how going from one to two kids would be one of the biggest challenges in my life.  I won't lie, transitioning from a three to four person household does change things up quite a bit--it takes longer to get everyone in the car, sleep is once again measured in three to four hour periods, I'm on call around the clock as a personal feeding machine and so on. Even so, the change doesn't seem quite as abrupt as I envisioned while pregnant. Perhaps, I was envisioning the worst possible scenarios, but so far I've been pretty blessed in many areas. Isaac sleeps well, Sebastian was able to stay home for two weeks on paternity leave, we've had a great support from family and friends near and far, and Aliyah has adjusted to the big sister role fairly well. She still has her 3 year old moments, but for the most part, we've been pleasantly surprised at how she's taking the fact that the attention isn't all on her.

Three weeks into being a mother of two and this here are some random things I've observed.

1. He looks like his big sister did as a newborn. Sebastian didn't see the resemblance until I pulled out a newborn photo of Aliyah. It will be interesting to see if they end up looking similar to one another as they get older. 
2. He eats...constantly! Especially in the first two weeks, I felt like I was nursing non-stop. 
3. Nursing was not any easier the second time around. Two weeks of intense, searing pain. But I think because I knew what to expect this time, I was able to get through it and know that it would get better, and it has. 
4. With Aliyah, I was able to nurse for 5 months, which was much less than I thought I would do so, but going back to work put a damper on my supply. This time around, my hope is to nurse longer than the 5 month mark, but I will also not stress out about it if it doesn't happen again. 
5. Boys (or maybe just Isaac) poop and pee a lot. I seriously do not remember Aliyah going through as many diapers as he did. More than once, I've used two or three diapers at a time because he will pee all over a diaper while I'm putting  a new one on. 
6. He loves to be held. I'm pretty sure this is a common thing for most newborns since I remember Aliyah loved to be held and would sleep best during the day in my arms. Isaac is the same. 
7. Swaddling is once again the magical sleep potion. There are times when Isaac will get done eating, Sebastian will swaddle him (because he is the master swaddler in this house. I can do it, but Sebastian does it better) and Isaac falls asleep in mid-swaddle. 
8. He's a big boy. One person told me he looked like a three month old already, another told me he's looks huge when I'm holding him and I keep thinking he's already lost his newborn looks. But he is so incredibly cute. 
9. Balancing my time between two young kids is my biggest challenge so far. Especially in these early weeks when Isaac needs so much attention, I find myself with the common worry of whether I'm giving Aliyah enough attention. We decided that we would keep her in daycare part-time while I'm on maternity leave, so she still goes three days a week. I love my days with two kids, but I often feel bad when I'm holding Isaac trying to get him down for a nap, or nursing him because it definitely limits the activities I can do with Aliyah. Also, engaging a three year old all day is quite the challenge when the Arizona heat limits outdoor time, so I am constantly on the look-out for educational things to do with her. So far, online printables, workbooks from Targets dollar aisle, trips to the library and Brain Quest have been my go-to activities. 
10. Aliyah is taking on her big sister role with flying colors. If Isaac cries and I'm not in the room, she'll talk to him sweetly. She loves to hold his hand and give him kisses.