I Heart Site to Store.....

So I love Walmart.com for their free site to store shipping option. Yesterday, I finally got around to ordering the Graco Sweatpeace Swing for Ashlyn and our double stroller.

I decided to use Walmart online because:
A. Their prices are almost always much cheaper.
B. Our local Babies R Us never had the Contours Options Double Stroller in stock, and the waiting list was crazy long.
C. If we ordered from other stores, the shipping costs would be crazy high.

The drawbacks:
A. It takes a little longer for the products to arrive than if I chose to have them shipped to my house.
B. I will have to deal with the Walmart workers when I go to pick up the items. In my experience, their employees have been less than friendly or helpful. In order to avoid this, I decided to ship to the regular Walmart and not the SuperWalmart in the city since the smaller ones tend to have nicer employees.

And because no post is ever complete without a picture....Here is what I am expecting to arrive between July 17 and July 24:

I decided to get the Graco Sweatpeace Swing because Braeden torments Ashlyn when she is in her bouncer chair or travel swing. Plus, she is a cuddler so she will love how cozy this is when we aren't able to hold her.

The double stroller was a big debate and a decision that we kept procrastinating on. Ideally, we would have had the stroller before Ashlyn was born....but we couldn't decide if we wanted one like this or a side by side one. After many stops at Babies R Us and Buy Buy Baby to "test drive" double strollers, this one came out victorious. I love the various seating options...check out all the features here.

Baby Straight Jackets

Have I mentioned how much I love swaddle blankets? They are a lifesaver....Ashlyn sleeps best when she is all cuddled up in her Halo swaddle blanket. She is a bit of a wiggle worm and manages to get her arms out of other brands...but the Halo ones are like baby straight jackets! So I give Halo my stamp of approval.....plus, they are doing great work spreading the news about Back to Sleep (from what I understand the creator lost a child to SIDS).

Today, http://www.babysteals.com/ had Halo swaddle blankets up for sale for 50% off! Of course, I snatched one up! I don't think they are sold out either if anyone is in need of a baby straight jacket/most wonderful baby product ever!

Ashlyn, sleeping like an angel in her Halo swaddle blanket:

My little Houdini isn't getting out of this contraption!

5 Weeks Old!?!?

That's right....Ashlyn is 5 weeks old. Why is the time flying by?!

We had a check-up today at the pediatrician's office. Drumroll please......

Weight.....10 lbs 8 oz

Height......21 1/2 inches

Head.........41 centimeters

My little girl is getting so big!! She gained one whole pound in two weeks. And only with her mommy's milk (I am pretty proud of myself!). Her growth curves are looking good....she is staying right on track in the 75-90% for height and weight. Her head circumference is still bigger than normal and up 1/2 centimeter, but at least her head is not getting much bigger. The shunt seems to be working very well!

Ashlyn continues to have problems with spitting up and occasionally projectile vomits. She gets fussy at times, looks uncomfortable, and arches her back. Just like Braeden, it looks like she has developed a bad case of acid reflux/GERD. Our pediatrician and I decided to start her on Zantac, an H2 blocker. If the medication doesn't work, Ashlyn might need to get a procedure done to take a look at her esophagus and digestive tract to see if something else is going on. But right now, it seems most likely that she has GERD, which the medication will help, and she will grow out of.

One other issue with Ashlyn is that over the weekend, I noticed her tongue had a white patch on it. At first, it just looked like leftover milk...but this morning, it started looking like thrush. I had our pediatrician take a look, and she agreed that Ashlyn has the early stages of thrush. So we got a second prescription for Nystatin.

All and all, her check up went well. She did get another Hep B shot, which she did very well with....just cried for 15 seconds and then was fine when I cuddled her. She is such a good baby!

Does this make me a bad mommy?

So Braeden was being a brat all day (I can call him that...he is my baby!). In attempts to entertain him, I blew up a beer decoration and let him play with it. Let me tell you....it kept him entertained for quite awhile, which in turn helped me keep my sanity this afternoon. It's not like I gave him a real Red Stripe...I know where to draw the line!

Family Football Frenzy

I know Braeden looks super cute in that picture....but the real MVP of our touch football game was ME!! Can you believe it? Who knew football was my calling in life? I scored 3 touchdowns!

I had so much fun playing too! I missed out on the memorial day game because I was "too pregnant" (I showed all the naysayers by doing a cartwheel while 38 weeks preggers!). I was looking forward to the opportunity to play and hoped that I would be healed enough to play this tiem around. Well, my c-section incision is a little sore now...but the pain was worth the fun afternoon I had with my family!

And now for some Friends quotes (Ooooo....I should add Friends quotes to my blog more often!).

Monica-"We have to pick captains."

Chandler-"And Tenniels."

Rachel-"Maybe there's some kind of league that we can join."

Phoebe-"Isn't there a national football league or something?"

Joey-"Yeah, but they only play on Mondays and Tuesdays."

Rachel-"Oh shoot, I have to work Mondays."

My Little Patriots!

Happy 4th of July

My Patriotic Babes!

The Standoff......

Braeden and Ginger Pumpkin (my parent's....well at one time MY cat) got into a pretty intense staring contest......Don't worry, the crazy cat (my hubby is convinced she has kitty cat bipolar disorder) did not gouge out B's beautiful brown eyes!

So Corny

B's first taste of corn on the cob!

Surrender to the Mamarazzi

"Don't shoot! I surrender!"

Look What B Found at the Park

Seriously...who does that?!

My Guys Love the Playground

"Hey, guys...Wait for me!"

Braeden's favorite part of the park: barkchips!
"But Mom, I don't wanna wear my shoes..."
My baby behind bars!

Apparently I was supposed to be ready to catch B...Whoops!

SWING!

My husband, the swinger (in his dreams!)

Barkchips

Such a cutie

My guys throwing barkchips at me....

I can't wait until Ashlyn is older and we can retaliate!

So excited...

That's a far as he got...

B loved this swing...but it was too big for him!

And the shoes never stay on long....

Postpartum Random Ramblings....

After one month, I finally worked up the courage and tried on my pre-preggo jeans. Miraculously, they fit perfectly! I was kind of hoping they wouldn't because I love the oh-so-comfy elastic waistpants of maternity jeans and pajama pants.

My postpartum support band (pictured above) deserves come credit I suppose!

After initial celebration that my jeans fit once again, I am now mourning the loss of my baby bump. The flab in place of where Ashlyn used reside is not nearly as cute and does not kick back. As much as I would complain towards the end, I love being pregnant....love the belly that comes along with it and all the attention that big pregnant belly brings.

The aftermath of pregnancy is not nearly as exciting. Sure my jeans fit, but my skinny jeans....now that is another story. And my belly is still tender and feels numb from the c-section. The only attention I get is random strangers wondering "hmmm...is she pregnant or just fat?"

Sure, stretch marks fade and ab muscles can get their tone back....but why must it take months to accomplish? If I am not allowed to have another baby for a long time (per my hubby and my rationale side), I want my body back dammit...and I want it back NOW!

I probably should be hitting the gym instead of sitting on my booty blogging ranting. If I get into a routine and get a chance to have a daily shower while raising my two babies, then I will consider heading back to the RAC. After all, they still debit my checking account roughly $40 each month, and I seriously have not been to the gym in at least 300 days. That is $480 that goes to waste annually......

Yeah, I think I definitely need to start making an effort. I don't even care about the skinny jeans anymore. In this economy, I am going to get my money's worth from that gym membership. Yoga....sign me up! Pilates....I could get into that! Spinning....let's do it! I can stop showering at home and use their facilities everyday. They offer cheap babysitting for babies 4 months and older...I definitely will need to hit up those services! And instead of buying my trashy gossip mags at the Wegmans check-outs, I will leisurely use an elliptical and borrow a big stack of their collection. Hell, maybe I could cancel our cable and just watch my favorite TV shows at the gym (I don't think Chris will be on board with that one!). Sounds like a plan.....

And yet here I am still online........Now, if only they replaced the TV sets on the exercise bikes with laptops. I wonder if the RAC has a suggestion box?!

Big Brother and Little Sister #2

My babies matched yet again.....

Fungi!

We have a fungus growing in our backyard...it seriously sprouted overnight and is already taking over the yard with its nastiness! I bravely ventured out into the rain to capture its photo because I thought it would look cool. Too bad I will have to de-fungi the backyard before I take Braeden out to play tomorrow....I know that if I don't, he will decide that he finally wants to try eating mushrooms.