Merry Christmas!

A few weeks ago, I decided to do a home photo shoot of my girls.  I wanted to put a cute picture of them in our Christmas cards for our family and friends who do not get to see the girls all the time.  I thought this would be fairly easy...but maybe I should have recruited some help from my husband.

I ended up with a few pictures that were good of Princess Boo but not so flattering of Babycakes:

Some that were good of Cakes but not of Boo:

One that captured a cute sister moment, but neither was looking at the camera:

And a smiling Boo holding a grimacing Cakes, who seems to be clinging to the rocking chair for dear life...

So we finally ended up with this photo to send in our cards.  Notice the wet spit-up mark on Cakes' dress?  So typical.  Love my girls!!!

Merry Christmas!

2-month checkup and potty training

Babycakes had her 2-month well child visit on Wednesday.  All is well with her!  She is staying in the same percentiles for height, weight and head circumference, so we are happy about that.  She got her shots this visit.  She scared me a little bit.  They gave her the shots, she let out one yell, then she didn't inhale.  I was telling her to breathe, and the lady told me to blow in her face.  As soon as I did that, she was back to wailing.  I don't like the breath-holding with pain.  Too scary for this momma.

Babycakes is so sweet.  When she is awake during the day, this is pretty much what she looks like.  If you give her attention and talk to her, she gives out smiles freely.  So precious!

Getting some kisses from Daddy

Several people have asked if Babycakes looks like Princess Boo did when she was little.  Here is a picture for comparison.  In these, Cakes is 2 months old and Boo is 3.5 months.  You can tell that Boo fills the dress a little better than Cakes.  I'll have to take another picture at 3.5 months.  :)

The girls really do seem to enjoy each other.  Boo likes to play with Cakes' toys, and she is beginning to attempt to get some sister involvement.  This means I need to be a bit more attentive when Babycakes is awake, but it is worth the extra work to see the sister bond beginning to form.

I love this picture of Princess Boo with her daddy.

We have been working on potty training with Princess Boo.  This is her training chart.  She puts a sticker on every time she goes on the potty.  I had one square designated as her goal, and when she got there she could go out for ice cream with Daddy.  This is her chart the night she reached that goal.

 Here she is with her ice cream sundae!  (She let me and Babycakes come along.)

Definitely enjoying it.

I was so glad I brought a change of clothes for her!

We are looking forward to visits from family this week.  Both my husband's parents and my own are coming!  It will be a fun-filled few days here at the Farley Funhouse!  I am sure there will be many photos to share next time I post.  :)

Life at the Funhouse

I have some time to blog!  Babycakes surprised me with a nap, so here I am!  She is still doing well with her sleep schedule.  It varies from day to day, but she is generally taking 4-5 naps during the day and sleeping 12 hours at night, with a feeding somewhere between 3-5am most nights.  Sunday night she actually slept 12 straight hours!  That was awesome!

Babycakes is growing so fast.  She has already outgrown her 0-3 month sleepers!  Her 2-month checkup is next Wednesday.  I will be interested to see how much she weighs then.  I think she is somewhere between 12-13 pounds right now.

She continues to gain head control and strength, and she spent some time in her Bumbo seat for the first time this week.  She LOVED it!  Of course, she can only tolerate about 5 minutes at a time at this point.

Last week was our county fair.  We went on Thursday and Babycakes looked about like this the entire time.  Poor baby!  She pretty much slept the entire day Friday to recover from it.

Princess Boo had a great time looking at all the animals with Daddy.  She loved the horses again and liked the rabbits, but the rooster noises scared her. 

Boo wanted to ride the carousel, so we got her a ticket and Tim took her on.  Watch the progression via photos:

At least she rode on the bench!  Maybe next year...

We are doing Potty Training Take 2 this week with Boo.  I had it in my mind that we would be able to pick up right where we left off when Babycakes was born.  No such luck.  We are back at the beginning again and have had 3 accidents and no successes in a day and a half.  Poor Boo!  There is no turning back though.  We will conquer this thing.  J

That’s the Funhouse for now!  I hope to update again after Babycakes’ checkup next week!

6 Weeks!

6 weeks already?! Where has the time gone?

Babycakes is doing well – growing and changing every day. She continues to sleep well, going for 7-9 hour stretches most nights. She is on a cycle during the day where she is awake for 1-2 hours then sleeps for 1-4 hours. She is beginning to be a little bit more social and gives smiles freely these days. She is working hard at tummy time and has quite a bit of head control. I still cannot believe how quickly this is going. She seems so big already.

We were able to spend a week with our families before the 4th, and we really enjoyed that. Since then, we have just been working at getting back into our daily routines.

We had a 30-hour power outage here early this week, which also means no running water for us since we are on a well system. That was an interesting time. I was concerned about our freezers thawing. We have quite a bit of meat in those, and I had pre-cooked and frozen quite a few meals before Babycakes was born. Thankfully, the youth pastor from our church allowed us to borrow his generator for a few hours to keep everything frozen. We are happy to have our power back though!

Princess Boo is calling my name, so that’s all for now! Here are some pictures in no particular order. 

Life as 4: Week 3

I am not sure how much time I have to write this post, as Baby Cakes was lulled to sleep by the sound of the dishwasher about 2 hours ago.  She could wake at any moment!

Baby Cakes is growing like a weed.  She had her 2-week checkup on Monday and weighed in at 9 pounds 6 ounces, so she has more than gained back the goal of her birthweight!  We had a 2-day stretch this week where all she wanted to do was nurse...around the clock...  Thankfully that ended last night and we all enjoyed our sleep.  She has moved out of newborn clothes and into 0-3 months now.

This past week was full of more “firsts” for Baby Cakes and our family of 4.  Saturday we enjoyed a visit from my brother and his family.  Baby Cakes was spoiled by being held all day, and the princess was overjoyed to get a new Cars toy.  (It’s the simple things.)  We enjoyed seeing my brother and his wife, Cousin B, and my sister-in-law's growing belly!  We are excited to welcome another nephew to the family in August! 

Sunday was of course Father’s Day.  The girls wore matching dresses to church and even coordinated with Daddy’s outfit.  Too bad one kept gouging at her eye and the other had a difficult time keeping her finger away from her nose and mouth.  This is the best picture we got! 

Of course they looked great in the pictures without Daddy:

After church, the princess and Daddy enjoyed looking through Daddy's Mixbook. 

We all took naps in the afternoon and then decided to venture out to Pizza Hut in the evening for Daddy’s Father’s Day meal.  We figured we would go somewhere a little more “safe” for little kids, just in case of fits and crying.  The girls did great!  The princess was highly entertained by crayons, and Baby Cakes slept the entire time. 

Other firsts:  I tried my BumGenius 1-size diapers on Baby Cakes, and they fit!  She is now a cloth diaper girl along with Princess Boo.  And I now do laundry quite frequently.  J

The girls continue to get along well, and Princess Boo loves to play with Baby Cakes and entertain her.
 

 I asked Boo to pick out one toy for Baby Cakes, and this is what we ended up with:

That pretty much sums up our week!  I continue to try to get out of the house daily with the girls.  I have found that it works better if we stick around town where Baby Cakes can be worn in a ring sling.  She is not a fan of her carseat, mostly because she spits up a lot, but she loves being worn in a sling!  Most stores are about 30 minutes away from our house, and venturing out usually requires at least one stop to nurse along the way.  I am impressed with Princess Boo's patience at those times.  She just plays with toys and waits cooperatively.  What a great sister she is!



Mixbook: Product Review + 20% Discount Code

I love scrapbooking.  But sometimes I just do not have the time or energy to pull out all of my supplies, come up with ideas, choose and print the photos I want to use, and then actually do the scrapbooking! 

One solution to this issue that I LOVE is the concept of a digital scrapbook.  I was very excited to make a digital scrapbook at Mixbook.com for a product review.  The issue I had was coming up with a theme.  I finally decided to make a Father's Day gift for my husband, from my daughter's perspective.  I had so much fun going through pictures of the two of them and choosing themes for each page.

The next issue I had was selecting a book theme.  Mixbook has over 70 themes already designed, and you have the option of simply adding your photos and text to these themes.   I wanted something "fun" that would symbolize Father's Day but could be read on any occasion.  For this reason, I decided not to use a pre-designed theme.  I was able to select different layouts for each page of my scrapbook based on the number of photos I was including, and I chose backgrounds that looked "fun" and "kid-ish".

A helpful tutorial pops up as you first begin to assemble your book and is accessible via the "help" button for reference later.  There is also the option of a "live chat" with a Mixbook representative if you have questions during your scrapbook assembly.  I also really liked the idea that you can make your scrapbook available to friends and family in order to work on a project together.  What a great idea for families like mine who are spread out quite a bit!

Of course, this review would not be complete without photos of my completed Mixbook.  Here it is, my 20-page 6x8 inch softcover mixbook in letter format:  "Dear Daddy"...

Front Cover

Back Cover

I was very pleased with my creation, and I was so excited to present it as a Father's Day gift.  Mixbook's prices are very reasonable, and their shipping time was excellent.  I was very pleased with my experience working with them.

Are you interested in making a digital scrapbook of your own?  Check out the Mixbook website, or find them on Twitter or Facebook.  I am pleased to be able to offer a 20% discount on a purchase from their website, via the code:  TOMOSON20.  This code has no expiration date, but it can only be used once per customer.  Share it with your family and friends, and enjoy being creative!

I received one or more of the products mentioned above for free using Tomoson.com created by WebBizIdeas.com. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commissions 16 CFR, Part 255 Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising. Tomoson Product review & giveaway Disclosure.