Already April

I can't believe it's already April 1st. In a way I can't believe it isn't summer already and another part of me can't believe Preston is already 4 months. Man it's been a rough few months. I feel like other moms who had babies around the time I did are rocking it and I just struggle every day. Post partum depression has been a nightmare. Breastfeeding was a nightmare for the first 3 months. Preston has been sick about every other week. He still doesn't nap or sleep well. I haven't had a stretch of sleep longer than 3 hours in 4 months. I started sleep training and it isn't producing much result wise. He screams for about an hour and then I'll go in and give him his soother because I can't handle the screaming anymore. Then he's up 2-4 more times through the night. And nap times were going great the first couple of days and now they are awful. More screaming and very little napping. He hates his carseat and usually cries when he's in there. Auralia has had this nasty cough for about 3 weeks. When he finally sleeps she is up hacking and gagging and sometimes throwing up. This coughing then wakes him up. And then I'm frustrated and cursing Tyron for sleeping through it all.

Honestly, there are days where I just don't want to be a mom anymore and then I stew and feel so guilty about feeling that way. And I'm constantly on Auralia for doing something. She is just stir crazy from the coldest and most miserable winter. The colder and snowiest winter in 20 years. Yay. Of course it would start after I had a baby. Winter blue + baby blues= a hellish winter.

Things aren't getting easier per say, but I'm just dealing with it. There are good days when I don't feel depressed and there are other days when I feel like I want to curl in a ball and ship my kids to my mom. There's been a lot of drama from friends and family lately that has been on my plate and it's been hard to help anyone else when I feel like I'm barely making it. And I just found out that we no longer have Medicaid coverage. They gave me a notice in the mail 2 days before it ended. I have no idea how we'll cover visits for the kids this month. So hopefully things get better soon.

Highlights of our life:

Tyron is finally in a lab that he enjoys. Hopefully he can join and start his dissertation research.

Some friends and I with kids the same age started a rotating preschool. Once a week for 1.5 hours. Auralia absolutely loves it! Today I taught the kids about ocean animals. It was fun :) Auralia LOVES Frozen. We got it through the Disney movie club my mom gifted us and I've seen it like 12 times in 2 weeks.

When Preston is happy he is so much fun and so cute. He is rolling from tummy to back. When he starts napping and sleeping better life will get 150% better. I almost want to cry in anticipation of that joyous milestone. Please let it be soon :)

3 months

4 months

Sums up our sleep around here lately: CRAZY

She loves taking pictures and posing in them and giving a cheesed smile

We went to Des Moines for Tyron's 31st birthday on March 15th. It was nice to spend it with our friends, the Andersons. They have a grandson who lives with them who is Auralia's age and they play well together.

Last highlight: my sister Aubrey got engaged! She'll be getting married to a really great guy on June 21st- Auralia's birthday. It'll be nice to visit for a couple of weeks.

Preston's newborn shoot

I still need to post my birth story! In the meantime here are pictures from Preston's newborn photo shoot taken by Brooke Romriell- she did a fantastic job and I'm so excited to have her take our family pics this spring!

 Preston's right eye was gooped and swollen shut- poor guy! But I still have some stinkin cute kids!!

Our Autumn Activities :)

Fact: I haven't blogged since the Spring. Completely skipped the Summer! Oh well. Another fact: this post is picture heavy, but should be pleasing to the eye :)

Autumn is my absolute favorite time of year. I love the weather, the leaves, the pumpkin/apple/squash foods, the start of soup & crockpot season, the decor, and Halloween. I figure I can enjoy the heck out of October and then it will be November (which I still like!) and our baby boy will be here around Thanksgiving... should fly by, right??

Here's a look at some of our activities the last several weeks:

There was a Curious George book reading at Barnes & Noble! Auralia LOVES George! The book they read was a little creepy, but she liked making the mask.

We went to the apple orchard/pumpkin patch. It was a lot of walking with a heavy bucket of apples, our stuff, and Auralia when she didn't want to walk (which was most of the time!) but it's apple picking! So of course it was worth it! We picked the 'Song of September' variety of apple b/c we heard it was the best. It has a great flavor but a soft texture that Tyron wasn't a fan of. A friend from church went to Utah and my parents sent him home with a ton of their produce to give to us! Including a bucket of apples. 3 weeks later and we are still peeling, coring, slicing, freezing, and making applesauce! Our garden finally started producing a lot of bell & jalapeno peppers and tomatoes and green beans that the darn deer didn't get!  It's been a great time to fill our deep freeze!

Some friends invited us to go to a zoo about 45 minutes away. It's a small zoo which is perfect for the kids to see everything without being there all day!

This is her elephant pose!

Our neighbor friends and us went to Bloomsbury Farm about 35 minutes away. It was a perfect Autumn play place for kids & families and the weather was great! 

She LOVES petting zoos!

A silo of corn kernels for the kiddos (and Tyron) to play in! Who knew that would be the hit!?

Our friends, the Hayes!

We have been sick a lot lately (me more than Auralia or Tyron) with colds and stomach flu. It's been a rough 3 weeks, but it did allow me to get a lot of Autumn crafts done on days when I didn't feel like doing much! Here's some of my creations :)

Happy Autumn Everyone!!