Odds, Ends, and Then-Some...

Kiera is currently 26 months old and full of life! She's quite a character and knows more than I think we'd like her to know right now. Here are some things that she's doing:

• She can recognize a "K" anywhere and calls it "My K!"


• She can recite the ABCS and has memorized her Dr. Seuss ABC book to read to Cate.


• She pretty much knows how to spell her name thanks to "BINGO"...There was a Mommy who had a girl and Kiera was her name-o, K-I-E-R-A...you get the picture :)


• She's so helpful with Cate, bringing diapers, helping wipe her, helping give her a bath, hugs, and kisses.


• Currently her favorite movies are "Shrek" and "Monster's Inc." I LOVE it when she says, "Silly Monster!"


• She loves to color...thank GOD for Color Wonder markers and paper and aqua doodles...and can draw a circle.


• She recognizes all her shapes, including hexagons?!, and all her colors.


• She LOVES to dance and it's hysterical to watch!


• She loves to eat...Goldfish still being a fan favorite...Favorite veggie is broccoli and recently enjoyed edamame. Favorite fruits are strawberries, blueberries, kiwi, and mango. Still isn't thrilled with meat unless it's in the form of a nugget. We keep trying. Loves PBJs and waffles...can eat them at any time of day!

Here's a quick, What I've Learned in Five Weeks of Having a Two Year Old and Infant...

It was a piece of CAKE having just an infant when Kiera was born! CAKE! If I ever complained, said that we were having a rough day, or was overwhelmed, it's nothing compared to now :) It's THE best thing and the most exhausting all wrapped in one! And this is with Kiera being a great little girl who listens 89% of the time. It's not that it's necessarily hard, but it's just difficult juggling everyone. I'd LOVE to get outside and play, but Cate can't be in the sun and even when there's shade it's still HOT and she is the hottest child I've ever met! We've taken them to the beach, but it's generally 10ish degrees cooler there and I have Sean to help. When I'm home I feel like I'm often trapped in the house because to bring both of them out is a challenge...to say the least.

Bringing Kiera to her Pirate Party today was such a small breath of fresh air. Did I miss Cate, yes, but did I enjoy having time with my peanut, yes! And I remember bringing her to the beach every day I had free last year so she could play. I can't do that for her this summer. So it was so nice to pick up and go with her and spend the morning on the river in a pirate ship :)

Cate is One Month Old!

We cannot believe that one month has gone by so fast! We also can't remember what our life was like before we had two beautiful girls in it!



Caitlin has been the absolute perfect addition to our McHugh Crew. She is so precious and wonderful and adorable and GOOD! She's content and kind with these big dark blue eyes that you can swim in. She began smiling this week and if we didn't want to eat her alive before, we certainly do now :) She's cooing and interacting. She loves books and bright colors. Her head is getting stronger by the day and she's holding it up more and more. She also LOVES to be held...which can be difficult with a demanding two year old in the house.

It's sometimes easy to forget that she's still a newborn considering how big she is, but it just makes it easier to maneuver her about. She's already been to a Blueclaw's Game, the Boardwalk, the beach (twice), shopping on too many occasions, BBQs and parties. She's a seasoned traveler already.

Today we celebrated not only her one month day, but an early Daddy Daughter/Granddaughter day with Papa in Connecticut. Caitlin slept away most of the day and Kiera was a total crankstar due to not napping, but it was a lovely day none-the-less. She's an excellent car baby, as is Kiera since we invested in a DVD player for her...thank Christ...but Cate slept all the way there and all the way home...phew. Grandma and Papa spoiled them both rotten as well as Daddy and fed us to the gills...we had to be rolled out of there...great time had by all :)

I'm still balancing everything on a very flimsy tray, but we're getting better. Every day is different...which for a person with slight OCD isn't always the easiest to handle...but we're doing it. So what if Kiera has watched "Monsters Inc" so many times that she's memorized every line so that I can sit with Cate and feed her or clean the house or sit and stare into the oblivion for a moment. She'll live, right? And won't remember this part of Mommy getting it all together?!

The summer has only just begun and I'm hoping to have it into an OK routine by the beginning of July...we shall see...A few goals for the summer:

• Have Kiera potty trained by September.
• Get Cate into a crib and into Kiera's room.
• Get Kiera into a bed so that Cate can have a crib :)

And that's it. Everything else will just be icing on the cake. One of my very good friends, Molly, said that her friend, a mother of four, said, "Learn to lower your standards" and "It's a great day when no one visits the ER." And I say, "I'll drink to that!" So what if my house looks like a tornado blew through and the dishes are filling the sink and there's enough dog hair in clumps to make a new dog...we'll get through it with smiles, I hope...I'm sure a few tears too some days.

So, here's to Miss Cate growing up way too fast already! Happy One Month our Baby Girl!! xo

Balancing Act...Without a Net?!

I feel like I'm walking a tightrope with no protection under me recently...ok, when Kiera is here with me all day...and I feel like, "I should be able to do this more easily!! Other people do this with more children then two for Pete's sake!"

I think I overestimate how much I am able to do on so little sleep due to the size of Cate and how "good" I feel already. But I'm still trying to get into a feeding routine with Caitlin, which I feel is like every hour during the day. Plus, she, like Kiera, enjoys to be held all the time. I'm trying hard to put her down when she falls asleep so that she can get used to not being in my arms and so I can spend more time playing with Kiera. Not easy right now.

Today I decided to venture out in the backyard with both girls for literally one hour. Number one, it's hot as hell out there!! Kiera was sweating like a faucet...although she didn't mind at all, but I had to find a shady and cool spot for Cate, which in our yard is next to impossible! So I decided to get our beach tent from the garage. Kiera and I bring Cate inside, put her in her swing and head to the garage to get it...which alone takes 10 minutes with a toddler who wants to wear certain sandals outside, her sunglasses, and a hat...that mind you she WASN'T wearing out in the backyard, but must wear out to the front of the house...and then she dawdles picking flowers on the lawn...cute, yes, must get back inside, YES! After we get inside I pop out to the deck for ONE minute to open the tent and I come back in to Kiera swinging Caitlin like a crazy person in the swing! Holy Heart Attack! Cate, however, seemed to be enjoying it and actually wasn't crying anymore. Mommy wasn't quite as happy.

We successfully got the tent up in the backyard, Cate inside, and Kiera playing all around it like a monkey...fun :) However, once Kiera got bored with this she began a new game, the "climbing up and down the deck stairs" game. If you've ever been in my backyard, it's pretty big as backyards go in New Jersey. I put the tent up in the flat part of the yard all the way at the bottom of our property, so Kiera running up and down stairs when I needed to be close to Cate as well was not easy. Finally, I'd had enough and said that we were going in to have lunch. I told Kiera that I was going to get Cate and we were going in. I turn around to get Caitlin out of the tent and Kiera flops down two of the deck stairs...Holy Heart Attack! Thank goodness she didn't fall farther or faster because the bottom is a slab of concrete. Note to self: get a gate for the bottom of the deck stairs.

I babysat for years and years and years!! The last families that I sat for had four and five children! Including babies in each family and toddlers...have I lost my touch completely?? I feel like I should be able to do this with ease, yet I'm having these issues three weeks in??!! And the whole summer lies ahead of me...holy moly.

Please think of me and send me positive thoughts...I'm nervous :)

Caitlin Maria McHugh

Caitlin is here!! She's a smidge over two weeks old and we're loving every second of her being here...even the sleepless nights (how easily you forget how hard those were!).

Here's the story of her arrival to our family...

I had a doctor's appointment on Wednesday, May 13th at 11:00. I was frustrated because I was three days overdue and was READY to have her with us. The doctor said that I was 2 1/2 cm dilated and knew that she would come any day. He decided to strip my membranes which hurt like HELL, but sent me into some really nice contractions about an hour later.

I called Rae Ann and told her to come over after work to be here for the night just in case I needed to go to the hospital and thank goodness I did. Sean and I decided to sleep a little from 10-12:45am when I woke up with some major pain and we decided it was time to get on the road. Our hospital was only five minutes away this time, so I felt comfortable waiting a bit before we went. They weren't busy at all, got us right in and I was hooked up to all the monitors by 2:15am, measuring at 4cm and ready to get the party started. At 3:00am I got the glorious, lifesaving, fabulous epidural (thank Christ for the person who invented those!).

I was totally relaxed and having an awesome time for about an hour when I felt some horrific pressure and we knew it was just about time to push. They measured me again and I was 8cm...it was time to call the doctor in to set up. Dr. Alexander was the doctor on call...this beautiful Heidi Klum look alike who had given birth to three children herself and you would never know. She put on a shield and boots up to her knees...would I be that messy??!! lol

At 4:34 I was ready to start pushing...now let me preface this by reminding those of you who read this how overwhelmingly tired and uncomfortable I was this entire pregnancy...we would soon know why...I pushed through two contractions and out she popped! Ten minutes flat, thank you very much :) And she was HUGE!!! 9 lbs 13 oz 21 in!! Holy moly! How I carried her around, I will never know. Not only that, but we were "expecting" a blond child and she came out with a full head of dark dark dark hair!! Wow...just gorgeous and cheeks that went on for days and days, but quite a shock!

She is 100% healthy and is currently weighing in at a nice 10 lbs 1 oz. She's perfect and adorable and the perfect addition to our family. Kiera came to the hospital twice when we were there and loved her up then and is loving her up here at home. She has been such a great big sister...helping with diapers, patting her back to burp her and giving lots of hugs and kisses. The funniest thing is when she watches me pump and wants to do so herself. I'm not sure she'd really enjoy that :)

We're adjusting to being a family of four slowly but surely. Sean's mom, Mom-Mom was here for over a week and it was a godsend. She played with and entertained Kiera every day for hours while I became acclimated with my new schedule. Caitlin has been doing well recently with her nightly feedings, going about every three hours from 11pm on, so that's nice. But in the beginning she would go through spurts of every hour which was SO hard on me! Sean is GREAT and gets up to change her diaper and hand her over, but when you choose to breastfeed, it's all mommy all the time :) Thank goodness for some excellent middle of the night infomercials!

I'm looking forward to writing all about Miss Cate in the coming months...and continuing with more Kiera Khaos...the McHugh Mamas are both here and I'm ready for the journey of being a Mommy of Two!

Today is my Due Date...

and nothing is happening! Blech. I feel so overwhelmed and frustrated because I'm so tired, uncomfortable, hormonal, and done done done! I can't sit comfortably because there are feet in my ribs that make it hard to breathe. I have pains in my legs that feel like pinched nerves and my calves are now itchy with tingling?! I don't know what that might be! I can't sleep properly and have to pee every two hours. I have such a hard time picking Kiera up and when she wants to snuggle on my lap, I can't!! :( Plus, I've been having braxton hicks contractions that are doing nothing but causing complete annoyances. I feel sad and I know that I need to just relax and let "nature take it's course" but I'm just not one of those people. I thought we'd have her by now...or at least today...and I could move on with the next phase of my healing...but alas, no. I'm going to order a pepperoni pizza tonight because that's what did it for my sister Danielle. I have 10 hours left in the day...here's to hoping!

One Hell of a Week (and a half)

I find it ironic that I wrote on my first day of maternity leave when everything was "normal" and then everything went downhill from there...I took these two weeks off before the due date #1 to get everything done that hasn't been and #2 to REST. Work KILLED me near the end. My ankles were swollen, everything hurt, and I was EXHAUSTED! But alas, I haven't gotten everything done in the manner that I'd like as well as definitely not rested. Mind you, Sean, thankfully has been working for a new company, but doesn't get home until after 6...so by that time I am ready to collapse!

Last Tuesday I kept Kiera home for her JcPenney pictures...which she was COMPLETELY uncooperative for. Thank God Aunt Rae Rae came with us or I wouldn't have survived. After two hours we finally got THREE pictures out of her. Blech. But the ones we did get were cute, so que sera sera. While sitting on the couch having a nice leisurely lunch with Rae Ann, Jenn called to let me know that she would not be taking children for the next two days because her son had a stomach virus. Fabulous. Fabulous. FABULOUS! Hence, Kdog was home for Wednesday and Thursday as well. Please don't get me wrong, I WANT to spend time with the peanut alone while I still can, and I had days planned for that, but I had things to do like run around which is hard to do without lugging a two year old with me who has learned how to say, "Mommy, I want to go home!" in every store we enter.

On Friday we reluctantly sent her back to Jenn's because I know how stomach viruses can linger, and hence, Saturday night at 2:07am, Kiera awoke and threw up hot dog all over her crib. *sigh* She threw up religiously until around 5am when we all passed out in our bed and then awoke to vomit around 7:45am. Poor thing would look up at us with sad puppy dog eyes, not crying, but saying, "why is this happening?!" with her face. It broke our hearts! Needless to say she was a mess all day and we felt so sad for her.

The last time she threw up was 10:30am, then she napped for 3 hours and got up with a better outlook. However, after pedialyte at 5:30, she ran about and threw up again at 6:45...so we kept her home on Monday. She slept from 8pm-10:30am! She was so lethargic and rested on the couch most of the day...and then she and I took a three hour nap in my bed...so that was nice :) But, we decided to send her to Jenn's the following day because she seemed much better by bedtime and slept through the night successfully again.

When Sean left for work on Tuesday I felt like CRAP. I hadn't eaten right the day before due to Kiera not eating properly, so I thought it was that, but alas, NO...I dropped Kiera off at Jenn's late and she ended up having diarrhea within the first hour and a half. Again, *sigh*... I had just gotten home and thrown up...oy vey. I couldn't get off the couch to even go and get her...I was so dizzy and seeing things in my peripheral vision, so Sean had to come home and get her. I felt awful! Enough's enough!! Within 12 hours I was feeling a bit better, but now I'm even more tired and run down then ever.

THEN...because honestly, we didn't have enough, Jenn was sick today, so Kiera was home again!! And we think she's going to be home tomorrow too because she still has some remnants of the diarrhea and she REALLY needs to get better before Cate arrives!!

I went to the doctor's today and nothing has changed, still one cm...which I'm actually grateful about. I cannot have this poor little baby and bring her into this tomb. I feel like taking Clorox and dousing the entire house with it! I cleaned the downstairs toilet every single time I even looked at it yesterday and sprayed everything I could with Lysol every chance I got...but it still feels unclean! Plus, I don't want anyone coming into our house to help us with Kiera if I were to go into labor because chances are, they'll get sick too!! So now I really need a day or two to clean and disinfect the whole house before Caitlin's entrance to the world...I'm a touch overwhelmed.

Right now the excitement and anticipation has turned into anxiety and trepidation. What I'm hoping is that Cate stays in until Monday...her due date...that would be 7 days after Kiera originally had the bug and hopefully I can get the house spic and span by then!! Cross fingers for the McHughs...especially my wonderful Sean who needs to remain at full healthy capacity for us to survive!!

OH...and PS...the downstairs toilet just overflowed...Oh joyous day.

First Official Day of Maternity Leave!

We're getting all prepped and ready for Miss Caitlin's arrival...as
ready as I think we'll ever be! There actually wasn't too much to do...knowing that she is (hopefully) a girl has been very helpful :)

We did all the laundry over Spring Break and Sean had put in a new closet organizer in January. They both have more clothes than any small person should. We also washed all the bouncy seat covers, boppies, play mats and blankets...SO...we shall see if I forgot anything when she arrives :)

We have the bassinet ready, but haven't put it up yet. The first time we did, Kiera 100% believed that it was hers...uh oh! So we've had it folded away until Cate gets here and hopefully once Kiera sees her in there she'll get it. My friend Maureen had borrowed one of our bouncy seats and returned it recently...Kiera climbed in it and fell out on her face...she didn't like that ONE bit and hasn't climbed in it since. Therefore, we're hoping the bouncy seat issue won't be too much of an issue at all.

I've written this before, but I really wish we had another bedroom upstairs so that Cate could be in her own room like Kiera was from night ONE...but that's not to be the case. Eventually, they will share a room, but for a while Caitlin will be in our room *sigh*. I don't love it, we don't love it, but that's the way it has to be, so that's the way it will be. Aunt Rae Rae has asked 1000 times where the bassinet is so she can set it up when Cate arrives...

It reminds me so much of the night Sean and I went into the hospital with Kiera. I was in the living room setting up the pack-n-play when my dad called frantic saying that he was driving Camille crazy with his pacing, so he was just coming down until we had the baby. He said he would be more comfortable being here instead of there...it made me feel SO good...but I told him to stay put so he wouldn't be pacing here :) Those of you who know my dad know that he's the kind of man who can make coffee nervous...so we all (including him) decided to keep him up there...until the next morning when Kiera arrived. haha. I think he will be a little calmer this time, he's a pro now.

So other than a few last minute purchases with the help of many gift cards from so many generous friends and kids, we will be (sort of) ready! YEA!

I have a doctor's appointment today...we'll see if anything's changed. Then Kiera and I have an appointment for our bangs to be cut. Tomorrow Aunt Rae Rae and I are taking Kiera to JcPenney for her 2 year old pictures...please remind yourselves of her 1 year post last year where I swore I wouldn't do this again (except maybe her birthday, soooo...). Tomorrow should be exhausting :) But otherwise, she's going to Jen's most days so I can finish up here and rest! She'll be home for over two weeks in May due to Jen's vacation and Mom Mom being here for over a week from Wisconsin, so for me to get a little feet up time between now and then should be helpful.

Off I go...