Toddlerhood

Since my children are so close in age I always knew that we would never be in the clear. I always knew that they would eventually team up against us. I did not know that my youngest would surpass my oldest in devious, cunning, skillful ways of toddlering.

Sis is not far behind her big brother. Anything he can do, she can do, and she will. She is determined and skillful. We've always said my son is smart, he's very intelligent. He knows everything, you can always see the wheels turning, he is constantly learning. Sis, however, is much more laid back and chill. She isn't always willing to show off her skills and expertise. She is, however, very sassy and opinionated for a 15 month old baby. She may not be willing to show off her knowledge of colors or new words on demand, like her brother, but she is almost too quietly smart for her own good. As in, she knows things, doesn't show us that she knows things, but suddenly we see that she knows things because she has done something incredibly crafty for a young toddler.

Don't get me wrong, she isn't so crazy that we are concerned for her (or our) safety. She is just enough silly and smart for me to be concerned to leave her alone for too long. I turned the shower on in the bathroom, walked to my bedroom to get pajamas, returned to the bathroom to find my 1 year old in my tub, water running, fully clothed, shoes on, standing there looking at me like... "what?!" So now I am concerned that she is going to be too quick to the water running, learning how to flush things down the toilet, splashing around in the sink, or whatever the case may be... nothing is safe from being soaked! These concerns have never crossed my mind with my son. How can TWO children from the same parents be so incredibly different????

Memories I Don't Want to Forget...

Something ever happen and you think to yourself "I need to remember this forever" because it is either hilarious or heartwarming. Maybe it was just a touching moment that made you think there is hope for our future.

My son can be such a big brother!! Sometimes he is pushing his sister down, sometimes he is yelling at her (for Lord only knows what reason this time), sometimes he is being so loving and sweet...

Sister was asleep in the bedroom, my son, my husband, and I were all in the living room. My son had me laughing, we were goofing around, my husband watching us, just laughing at us being funny. Then Sis woke up. Let out a cry, and my son said "Uh oh, baby" and took off running to the bedroom. Both of my children have toddler beds, and Sis was just sitting on the edge of her bed and my son climbed up, gave her a hug and kiss, and got back down.

It was sweet. Very sweet, very heart warming, very beautiful and I never want to forget it. However, Sis... her smile, when her big brother came to her rescue was just as wonderful and heart-warming. Just as memorable. I hope I never forget these moments.

Especially when my toddlers start acting like toddlers again. Especially when my son doesn't want his baby sister on his (toddler-sized)
slide, playing with him. Especially when he shoves her off the slide and she gets a lovely bruise on her cheek, that will easily last for weeks, probably through to our Christmas pictures.

Crack of Dawn

This Sunday will officially be the 4th Sunday since the end of Daylight Savings Time. This Sunday will likely also be the 4th Sunday my son decides to wake up before the actual sun. I am almost begging for a growth spurt or maybe a switch to go off in him that makes him sleep more than just the 8 hours he gets at night.

People always said babies and toddlers will sleep 12 hours straight. I call BS, because my oldest has NEVER slept 12 hours straight. He's happy, he's silly, he's typically in a really good mood, he's fun, and he's adorable, but he does not sleep.

Sis on the other hand... 12 hours would be the small side of things, except it's not. My daughter can sleep anywhere. She will even let you wake her up for a little while and then fall back asleep when she feels like it. However, she can not sleep through her brother's 6AM wake up calls. No one in the house can sleep through brother.

Earlier this week he had us awake before 5:30AM. I made him some breakfast (a delicious cereal bar-- so yeah, I unwrapped the cereal bar. At 5:30AM that IS making breakfast), poured him some milk, and started his beloved Little Einsteins. Soon Sis was awake, and Daddy, so I was able to go get ready for work. I left on time and exhausted. Then, shortly after arriving at work, Ryan texts me a sweet picture of my adorable Princess. She found her infant bouncy seat, crawled in it with the dog's blanket, and took herself a little nap. Thank God I have one child that enjoys sleep. It's too bad we had to experience colic and baby icky-sickies before we ever got her to the point of being a sweet, precious, little sleeper, but I will take it!

Meet the Fitzetto's...

Welcome to the newest addition of my attempt at blog writing. A little about myself, well, about us!

My babies are 13.5 mos apart. When we announced we were expecting our 2nd bundle of joy most every reaction was "whoa, that soon!" or other remarks equally judge-y. Truth be known I was ready for a 2nd baby. We started "late" on having kids and all my life I knew I wanted to be a mother. I was ready to sign up for five children, had we not already been "old" when we got married. It was not necessarily planned to have babies back-to-back, but it wasn't necessarily a mistake or an oops or any other word you may think is the polite way to describe an unplanned pregnancy. We knew what we were doing and maybe it was sleep deprivation or the fact that my son has been the perfect child since the day he was born, who knows, but we were ready to have baby #2. We want to be a loving family with lots of giggles and craziness. However, that doesn't mean we are immune to the insanity that is toddler life.

Other than having two babies, I am a working mom. A mother who cannot afford to send her kids to daycare 5 days a week, nor afford to not work. Therefore my husband has taken the opportunity to work Thursday through Sunday. My kids get a part-time stay-at-home Dad. I don't get any husband time, nor is there many opportunities for any date nights, heck, we don't even stay up past the kids bedtimes usually!! I not only work Monday through Friday, but I work in sports, so when the team is in town I can work around 60-80 hours in a week, every day of the week, from 9AM until who knows what time in the evening. Sometimes I crawl out of bed and get ready while my babies are still snuggled in, not quite awake, as I leave for work. When I return, many nights they are fast asleep already.

My children are lucky enough to not only have their daddy home with them three days a week, but to have my parents near by for those weekends when both mommy & daddy work. My parents agreed to watch the kids when I am at games on the weekends, and my son thinks it is the best thing on Earth! My mom is exhausted after a few hours, but my children... we can't even mention "Grandma & Grandpa" around them, because my children will rush out the door, climb in the car, and eagerly wait for us to get there. In fact we are having dinner at my parent's house tomorrow, but I can't tell my son until I pick him up from school, or he won't stay at school willingly, therefore drop off will be very emotional, for all of us.

This new blog is about being a hard-working mommy with a part-time-stay-at-home-daddy husband, and our two perfect toddlers.