A Valentine Treat

For Valentine's Day, I made my girl a special treat...strawberry milk. She LOVED it. Pink milk was a huge hit around here. After a busy week, I didn't plan a lot for Valentine's Day, but making this sweet, pink milk made her day a little more special.

Super easy and minus the artificial shit... this milk is perfect for serving up some love!

All you need is water, sugar, strawberries, and milk! I use frozen strawberries that I always have in my freezer for Kay's smoothies.

First, make your strawberry simple syrup. Strain it. Let it cool. Mix with milk. Look how pretty pink it is! Special milk for your special little one.

Homemade Pink Milk
1 cup of water
1 cup of fresh or frozen strawberries (cleaned and hulled)
1/2 cup of sugar

Boil water, strawberries, and sugar over medium high heat for about 10 minutes. After it is thickened, strain the syrup in a mesh strainer over a bowl or measuring cup. You don't want the strawberry seeds in your milk! Once the syrup is cooled, mix it with a tall glass of milk. The more syrup the sweeter the milk and the prettier the pink! Enjoy on Valentine's Day or any day!

My Heart

Happy Valentine's Day All! I had a wonderful ...busy but wonderful day. I woke up to my two special girls. Those two girls are my heart. We surprised Kay with a balloon and a little treat, and she loved coming down and seeing it this morning. We had some time together as a family before I headed to work. That was a treat in itself. Usually, it is me quietly getting dressed in the dark and rushing out of the house chaotically hoping to not forget anything.

This week was emotional. We are still trying to find our new normal. I felt very fragile this week, not like my strong I can take on the world self. So, today was a breath of fresh air. A little love goes a long way.

The girls went to our babysitter today. I was a little nervous about our sweet Keira. It was her first time with anyone other than family, but I knew everything would be great. She had a great day, and she was a good, easy going girl as usual. She even made her very first art project.

I am one lucky momma. My sweet babysitter sent me this picture at work, and it most definitely made me smile. I knew at that moment all was good.

After my class supplied me with enough candy to give King Kong a sugar high, I hightailed it to get my sweet loves. We took the girls to a special Valentine dinner. Kay's first hibachi experience.

My Valentine. Her smile makes any day better. That dimple. 

She loved the chopsticks. The big flame - not so much.

My family is my heart. It is insane how much Valentine's Day (well any holiday for that matter) has changed so drastically since having kids. Dave and I get joy out of making things special for these two girls. Our shared smile at each other while watching Kay light up, our gentle hand squeeze as she laughs, or our head nod to have each other notice something cute she is doing is the only gift I need this Valentine's Day. My family is my heart, and I love them beyond words.

Hope you enjoyed your day with a little extra love. Hugs and Kisses xoxo

First Foods

This weekend, my sweet little girl started eating her first foods. I would love to just have her continue exclusively nursing and have her stay my tiny baby forever, but she was ready. She enjoyed her first few tastes of oatmeal. No tears, no fuss. Just looking at her mommy and smiling. She is still figuring out how to swallow, but she is as happy as a clam she learns.

I am feeling some guilt as she learns to eat her oatmeal with her Gigi. I wish I was there to feed her. I wish I was there to watch her open her little mouth up like a bird as she sees the spoon.


This little girl has seriously stolen my heart. She is growing too fast for me. Food now, marriage next. Where has the time gone? Geez.

She really has put a spell over me. I think of her all day long. There isn't a second that I am not thinking of her and wishing I was with her. I can't believe she is eating her oatmeal. I am excited for this new territory of food with our baby, and I am hoping and praying that she will be open to more foods than her sister.

Enjoying the Weekend

I am exhausted and emotional. After my return to work this week, I remembered how exhausting it is being a working mom. It hit me hard. By Friday, I was falling asleep at the wheel on the way home. My body and mind were both spent.

My sweet hubs decided no cooking dinner or cleaning, and we hit a local soda fountain type diner. After milkshakes and greasy food, we decided to let our sweet little girl play a few games in their arcade area. Even though she was too small for all of the games, she loved it just the same. "We" played skeeball, a race car game, and whack-a-mole, but the highlight of her night was jumping in the dirty, old moon bounce with a ball pit.

The weather was crappy here Friday night, and we were some of the only people in the place. As Kay jumped in the moon bounce, my hubby and I challenged each other to a little basketball buzzer game. I whooped up on him, and let him know it for the rest of the night. We had so many laughs. It felt good to just relax after a hard week.

In the morning, we woke up to a freshly fallen snow. We got a tiny bit of the snow from the huge storm that hit New England, but it was enough for my sweet Baby Kay to enjoy for her very first time.

The last time I was outside at 9:00 am to play in the snow, I was probably 6 years old. Good thing this little cutie got a sled for Christmas. She liked being pulled on it, but she LOVED pulling it herself.

After being away from her all week, I was so happy to have a little bit of snow to go play in outside in the morning. It gave us something special to bond over on what would have been an ordinary, lazy morning. It made it feel extra special, and it was just what I needed.

We had big plans that night to help Angela celebrate her 40th birthday party! So after coming in from the snow, I had to catch up on some work during nap time. It has been a hard adjustment for me, but everyday seems to get easier.

We enjoyed our weekend as a family, and I really needed it. I am so proud of my family this week. I am proud of myself for getting back into the swing of things at work, for pumping 2 or 3x a day at work, and for trying to keep the household managed. I am so proud of my husband for stepping up to the plate in a big way since I have gone back to work. Not only does he take care of business, he has been my biggest supporter. I am so proud of my girls for adapting to the change so easily and smoothly.

Most of all, I am grateful to our mommas for giving up their days to be there for us and help make our transition easier. I don't know what I would do without the support and help we have.

Now, I am going to go prepare to do it all over again this week.

Rolling Machine

Hey everyone! Look what I learned how to do...



I am now a rolling machine! No more tummy time for me!

Mommy Confessions

Happy Tuesday Confessions!

I confess...I put this post together in a haste to get to lesson plans and the mountain of work I have ahead of me. If it sucks, I apologize. At least there is a cute baby involved.

I confess ... I am forcing this lovey on my 4 month old like a maniac. I want her to have one like her big sissy. I am borderline obsessing over it. To show the full range of my craziness, I have yet to name it because the name has to be perfect.

I confess...I managed to get a full rag of soapy water in this kid's eyes, nose, and mouth. It might go down as the worst bath ever given to a child by an adult. I admit my overenthusiastic dog trying to chew every single bath toy and splashing water everywhere distracted me.

I confess... I forgot to put my daughter's coat on her this day. We park in our garage and I was in a rush, and when we got out of the car in the freezing snow, I realized my child did not have a coat on. Nice.

I confess...this is the only place I want to be. EVER. 

Back to the Grind

My maternity leave is officially over. That means, I am going to hit publish on this here little post, and I will be logging in to look at lesson plans and emails. It is back to the grind I go. I will miss these little girls with all heart.

I am so lucky because my very supportive momma is coming to stay at my house for a few days to watch the kids and make life easier for us while we get into our new routine. It will be so much easier not having to take the kids out of the house this week while I am trying to figure out how I am going to get myself ready, feed my sweet baby Keira, and pump in the morning. Mornings are NOT my strong suit and that is putting it lightly.

As I enjoy my last few hours of maternity leave, I am reflecting on my time spent at home...making the Big Sis feel special and needed, adjusting to (and LOVING) this new world of breastfeeding, caring for these two girls, and caring for myself. With all of the memories we shared over the past four and a half months, I still question myself. Did I do enough? Did I make the most out of every second? Time has run out, and I worry that I left pages of our book unturned.

Then, I look at this face and the face of her sweet sister and I know deep down in my heart, I have given all of the love and nurturing I have to give. It doesn't matter if our days were not blog worthy, it doesn't matter if we stayed in our pajamas all day, but what matters is the amount of pure love that was passed between us each and every day.

I am going to miss everything about this experience. I am going to miss those special, lazy mornings waking up next to a sweet smelling newborn and seeing her smile. I am going to miss sitting on the floor with Kay while we played with Gaga and watched our main squeeze Michael Strahan. I am going to miss pretending to eat five million bowls of peas that Kay offered me all morning long. I am going to miss watching Gaga get stronger and stronger during her tummy time (I hope I don't miss her first roll because I worked so hard with her).

All smiles when she sees her mommy even during tummy time!

I am going to miss turning the corner to the quiet playroom and finding Kay engaged and happy playing with her toys.

I am going to miss our nursing sessions during the day. I am going to miss the feeling of the world stopping when Keira and I would sit together and snuggle while Kailyn napped. I am going to miss feeding my girls for every meal. I am going to miss being home with my girls. But, I am so blessed and thankful to have had this time at home.

I am ready to face this new world as a mom to two young children. I am eager and excited to continue my journey to bettering myself in a career that I find rewarding and challenging. Look out world, Here I come!