2 Hours

#bigbrotherproblems

I did my first grocery run with both kids this morning.

It was a success!

When you are working with newborn time you have two hours to either accomplish what you need or to be somewhere where you can feed them.  I went to the post office (our PO box was packed to the brim!) the grocery store, the vet and was back home before Logan needed to eat again.  No more dilly dallying around!

The rest of the day was spent at home with my boys!

David and I have been missing each other since I've been going to bed so early with Logan.  Since it's getting darker earlier he's home from house building and we are going to read some of the book we are reading together before I head to bed.  We just have to remember that this season is short and we'll be staying up way too late together again before we know it.  In the meantime, we'll just take what we can get.

~Sarah

Flashback!  Here's what we were up to one year ago today: "5 Helpful Toddler Terms"

And two years ago today: "Play Date"

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A Great Listener

I had some catching up to do with our hand washing this morning. 

Dish drying rack mountain building queen over here!  Haha.

Logan and I slept in again this morning.  When we got up we ate breakfast and then David went to mow while I hung out with my happy boys.

Weekend movie time!

My dad was out of town all last week so I took the kids over to see him and then David's mom brought lunch to the building site for all of us.

Our roof is finally waterproof!

Dirt mountain play.  It's been a while!

Logan had his first visit to his new house!
He slept the whole time...

Still sleeping...

Today was the first day since Logan's arrival that my boys did not nap at the same time.  That  of course means that mama did not get a nap today.  I made it without feeling too bad by the end of the night.  The good thing was that it gave me one on one time with each boy.  I know that this was the first day of many that their naps will not line up until Logan is on more of a schedule.

Logan and I spent Ayden's nap time chatting.
He's a great listener.

Progress by the end of the day.

We had a freezer meal for dinner and then David and Ayden played while I nursed Logan in peace and folded some laundry.  It was a refreshing amount of downtime for me!  We finished Logan's newborn photo shoot and are eager to see them after we do some editing because we're pretty sure we aren't totally happy with them.  We did our best, though.  It's a drawback of doing them ourselves I suppose.

Flashback!  Here's what we were up to one year ago today : "Little Nugget"

And two years ago today: "8 Months Old!"

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Photo Shoot Bust

This pretty much sums up Logan's demeanor thus far in one photo:

Mr. Mellow

I'm surrounded by these guys in this house.  Haha.

Ayden and I took Logan on his first trip to the farmer's market today!

This afternoon our Nashville friends came to meet the new guy. 

They were just as smitten as us!

We had a great visit as always and after they left we got Mr. Ayden off to bed,

Before bed snack.  Love his little toes!

And then attempted to finish Logan's newborn photos. 

Our home photography studio.

It unfortunately ended up being a bust tonight. We got him into a deep sleep but as soon as we started taking photos he decided to poop and the clean up process ended up waking him up.  We were also tired so are just going to try again tomorrow night.  We're hoping that since all of the stuff will already be set up that it will make it a little easier.  I just wanted to get them done before the two week mark so we technically have two more nights to do it!  Now I hope that I'm not a zombie tomorrow since we are getting to bed so late.  Logan gave me 3 hour stretches last night and I felt like a whole new woman today.  Here's hoping he does it again!

Sweet dreams, everyone!

~Sarah

Flashback!  Here's what we were up to one year ago today: "Horse Country"
And two years ago today: "Fall Fashion"

Thank you for stopping by Life With the Ladniers!

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Alone With Two

You know Fall really is in the air when the husky willingly spends the morning on the porch!

I would call my first day alone with our two kiddos a great success. 

Between feedings and diaper changes,

Bum Genius XS

Fuzzibunz XS

We took three walks:

The life saver award winning toddler occupier of the day was:

A new play-doh press from his busy bin!

I think the biggest challenge was when I needed to put Logan down and couldn't keep an eye on Ayden (while I ran the vacuum). Ayden has been very gentle with Logan so far but I'm not about to leave him unsupervised with him...  I ended up putting Logan in his swing upstairs and put up the gate. 

I had to turn off the vacuum and listen for him every now and then but at least I knew he was safe!

Ayden also really likes holding Logan so we did that a few times too.

Silently comparing ears.  It was cute!

Logan also put himself to sleep in his pack in play twice today.

Even though the day went well, nothing beats when my partner gets home to join me!  

Love this man.

~Sarah

Flashback!  Here's what we were up to one year ago today: "New Wheels"

And two years ago today: "Here's The Skinny"

Thank you for stopping by Life With the Ladniers!

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How To Keep A Big Brother Busy

Ayden is at his best when he is deeply engaged in his environment.  The only problem is that he gets bored with his environment pretty quickly if we don't change things up regularly.  When he is bored, he misbehaves.  We can see this as becoming a possible "issue" when he gets to school.  His teachers are going to have their work cut out for them...  

Knowing that I would be spending a lot of time nursing Logan, I stocked up on things I can pull out when things get crazy:

Audio books.
I had quite the library already from teaching but our public library has a great selection as well.

His big brother gift.
Play food and "stove/oven" container.
We do not have room for an actual toy kitchen so I purchased a PDF burner printable for $2 from Etsy.
Printed it onto sticker paper, cut it out, stuck it to the lid and viola!

Getting him outside!

We've been taking 2-3 walks a day.

Keeping him involved and letting him snuggle/hold Logan as much as he wants. 

Change of scenery always helps him too!  My mom took Ayden to story time today and while they were away I took a few more newborn photos:

The best natural light in the cottage is in the bathroom.
I made it work...

Logan and I also got LOTS of snuggle time today!  It's nice to get some help with Ayden so that I can really focus on and bond with our new little man. 

They say that you don't take as many pictures with subsequent children but I don't think I'm having an issue with that quite yet...  How could I not take tons of photos of this sweetness??

Seriously the BEST!
I had forgotten just how warm and fuzzy newborn snuggles feel.

Logan is also staying awake for longer and longer stretches during the day. 

My favorite thing to do with Ayden was to prop him up on my knees with him facing me and just talk to him about anything and everything. Sometimes letting him look at high contrast books or pictures. It seems as though it's my favorite thing this time around too! The best is just letting Logan take me in while I do the same with him. 

"Oh hello there, Mommy!"

I think tomorrow will be my first full day alone with both kids and I am not feeling nervous at all. Ayden has been doing great (as long as I keep things exciting) and Logan is so easy going that, for now, I feel like I've got this whole mom of two thing!  We might even venture out and go eat lunch with David at work. I need a little change of scenary and Ayden always does great when we break up our day a bit. 

What are/were your life savers for keeping your older child busy while your little one nurses/nursed the day away?

~Sarah

Flashback!  Here's what we were up to one year ago today: "Amazing Autumn"

And two years ago today: "Fall Is Here!"

Our Day In Pictures: Newborn Land

It's been more of the same wonderfulness around here. 

Fuzzibunz XS diaper

Still Mr. Mellow

Brotherly love!

Walk with my boys.
My heart is so full!

Sucking his little fingers.

Midwife appointment!
He weighed in at 7lb 5oz.
An ounce above birthweight at 8 days!

She gave me my copies of her paperwork.
Now we can write our birth story.

Blurry but adorable.

Another walk.

More brotherly love.

I figured since it's just more of the same for us around here that I didn't really need to write too much... I will say that things are going much better than I had expected during this adjustment period.  I thought we'd be in brutal newborn + toddler survival mode for weeks but Logan has made this such an easy transition on all of us; especially Ayden which I am thrilled about for him.  Like I keep saying, we aren't sure if Logan will stay this mellow or not but we are appreciating it while it lasts, however long that may be. 

~Sarah

Flashback!  Here's what we were up to one year ago today: "Toddler Tuesday: Fall Sensory Tub"

And two years ago today: "Perfection"

Thank you for stopping by Life With the Ladniers!

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Miss seeing what Ayden is up to everyday?  Follow us on Instagram!

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