Does your spouse come 1st?

   So here's a question that I've been pondering since I've had kids. Does (or should) your spouse come 1st? I have a hard time wanting to put him first, and I'm sure he has a hard time putting me first. For me, my kids have come 1st. I recently read an article on Baby Center about putting your spouse 1st. One of the things that makes it hard is going out on a date (just the two of us). 1st we would have to schedule it, then find a sitter, who we trust, and then we have to pay for the night out and for the sitter. Doesn't sound hard, right? Well, it is. I have a really hard time trusting someone else to keep my kids and worry that something bad will happen while I'm away. So I think, is it worth it to go on a date and risk something bad happening just so we can enjoy our dinners without interruption or sharing food with a messy toddler? And Daniel has a hard time fronting the money for a sitter and dinner. Both of our kids go to bed around 7, why can't we talk and put each other 1st during that time? So far, we usually just zone out in front of the TV or surf the internet, and I usually finish cleaning the dishes from dinner during that time. The last thing I want to do is put someone else at the top of my priorities after I've been putting my kids 1st all day long.
    So, I'm not proud of this by any means, but here's the deal, Daniel and I have spent 2 nights out by ourselves in the last 2 or 3 years. Both of the times on our anniversary. We've passed up opportunities to go out b/c we don't have family that lives close by, and we don't use a sitter. One of those dates, we left AnnElise with Daniel's mom right after she was born. The second we left AE and Hardy with a couple from small group that lives pretty close to us. We came back and both said, we should do it more often, but I have a feeling that we won't.
   We hadn't planned either of our kids, SURPRISE, so we didn't have the fun travel stuff before. I'm OK with that. But, now I'm really starting to get to the point where I'd love to travel and leave them some with family. Most of the time, thinking about leaving them stresses me out. Will family stick to their schedules, do they know that AnnElise has absolutely no fear and will do dangerous things if left alone for even a minute, will Hardy be easy enough to leave behind? Hardy is difficult to figure out even for me. Any time that I manage to get away, I leave them with Daniel b/c he's the next best thing. And let's face it, when I want to get away, I want to focus on me for once. So, it seems that I've been putting Daniel dead last b/c its the easiest thing to do, and its what we've become comfortable with. I mean, he's old enough to take care of himself, the kids need things. They can't make their own bottles or read themselves a book. With that being said, how do we start putting each other 1st without abandoning our kids' needs and our own? (I never realized how much I appreciate being alone until I started considering a trip to the grocery store my "me" time. Seriously, I even use the bathroom with the kids (AE plays in the sink), and I put Hardy in the bouncy seat when I take showers.)

Are there actually parents out there who truly put their relationship above their kids, especially young kids?
  

Recent Playtime Fun!

   Hardy is at the age where he actually interacts with AnnElise some. Mostly he laughs and coos with her and every once in a while he screams at her when she's being too rough. Its really fun to watch them even though their interaction is limited. AnnElise enjoys cooing with him and trying to tickle him. She also requests for him to ride in her doll stroller, asking him "wanna ride Harwee?" and then asking "havin' fun?, yeah?"

     I'm convinced that one of life's greatest joys is watching your kids learn new things. We are a very grateful household! I must add that we're even more grateful of the last few nights. Hardy has been much easier and not as taxing to care for. He's finding his happy place. I've also put him down the last three nights fully awake and not heard another peep from him until he's ready to eat again. I'm still getting up with him 2 times a night, only 1 time if we're lucky.
     Over the last month, Hardy has learned to roll over, and he's a pro by now. If I walk away from him after I put him on the floor, he's never in the same spot usually a few feet away from where I left him. Most recently he's found his little feet. I love watching him try to mouth on his feet. By the end of day, he's soaked his socks!

    AnnElise has really taken to coloring with markers. It started with permanent markers, then Daniel bought some washable ones after she colored a mural on our wall, which I can't get off. Its definitely her favorite activity now. We're constantly amazed by her vocabulary and what she picks up from us and others around her. She's been good all year long, so I think Santa has something special for her this Christmas. Christmas is always so much more fun with kids.

AnnElise is 2

   Time has flown by the last two years, but its gone even quicker just the last year. Seems like only a month ago we were celebrating AnnElise's 1st year and now her 2nd year has come and gone. AnnElise has been an incredible blessing to us. If we dressed her up like a boy, everyone would think she was the stereotypical rambunctious boy. While she has a sweet nurturing side with her dolls and her little brother, she is also just as wild as any boy out there, possibly wilder than average. She is such a tom boy already:) I love it too. She can run, jump, climb, flip, and throw a ball better than any 2 year old I've met. AnnElise has such a sweet, but wild spirit about her.
     I made her the Very Hungry Caterpillar cake this year since it seems to be her go-to book. I've found her several times "reading" it to herself. She loves the part where he eats a piece of chocolate cake, ice cream cone, pickle, salami, etc. I saw some great ideas on line where others had made it out of a bundt cake, cut and decorated it into sections. I'm not great at cooking and baking and it was my 1st attempt of an actual birthday cake. Next time I will buy the cake mix instead of homemade. It was too much trouble and even with the spraying and flouring of the pan it didn't come out clean at all. It was a mess and Hardy was especially more difficult that day. Overall I was happy how it turned out, but it was a chore to get that thing done. 
    I'm happy to say that she has not hit the terrible 2s yet. I've heard most recently that it isn't the 2s that are so bad, but the 3s. Maybe she's holding out on us but hopefully she's just that cool of a kid. We rang in AnnElise's 2nd birthday with our families as we celebrated Thanksgiving also. She got some really fun challenging toys and now she can watch Elmo whenever she wants, really whenever we want.  Thanksgiving was a blast with our families. We just can't be around our families enough which is why I love this time of year getting to see them and having meals together celebrating God and his many blessings.

I even made her a birthday shirt and turned the 2 into a Turkey since it was Thanksgiving. If you look closely you can see the blood on her shirt where she busted her lip on a book that her cousin, Miles, was playing with!

 
 

DIY Drawers

    Daniel bought a dresser for our room that I just finished repainting, so I decided our old drawers needed to be moved to Hardy's room for more storage. All the furniture makeovers I've done have been subtle cream colors, so I was really excited/nervous to repaint a fun color to match Hardy's decor. I was nervous b/c its so dramatic looking, but it turned out really good.
   Because it was a cheaper wood chest, I skipped right over the sanding and went straight to an oil based primer that could be painted over in Latex. I hate messing with oil and trying to clean up the mess. So I painted 1 coat of primer, 2 coats of Latex, and 2 coats of polycrylic finish. I've been using polycrylic so it doesn't change the color of my paint job. Just about every polyurethane finish out there leaves a slightly yellow tint and polycrylic dries clear, no tint to it. Its perfect if you're wanting a stark white color. AND, it can be washed out with soap and water, easy cleanup:) Just give it a quick, fine sanding in between coats. I also really hate brush strokes, so I used a foam roller brush where I could and touched up with a matching spray paint from the Valspar line:) Let me know what you think! I really like how AnnElise's dresser turned out, but I really like Hardy's b/c its such a fun pop of extra color to his room. I used the same original hardware. I felt like it was aged perfectly and looked great with the blue.
   Overall it really didn't take much time, I don't have much time to put into things with two kiddos so I managed to do it over 3 days, but no more than 2 hours each day. I had to wait for paint to dry overnight before recoating and such.

2 mont check up stats

  Hardy had his 2 month check last week, here are his stats.

Weight: 11 lbs 8 oz, 40%
Height: 24 inches, 90%

   He's already wearing some 6 month clothes b/c of his length. I have to say that I'm surprised he's not a fatty as much as he eats. He's loosing his hair on top and a little on the sides which makes him look like a little old man, a cute one at that:) His hair looks to have some red in it when its in natural sunlight. Its interesting to see how much he changes just from birth already. He's really smiling and coo-ing a ton. He mostly gives AnnElise angry looks and seems to remember that she's a little too much for his liking. It may be a while before he enjoys her as much as she enjoys him.

What we've been up to the last month!

AnnElise went Trick or Treating for the 1st time! We took this picture afterward at my brother's place. She was pretty tired, but wound up on sweets:) 

This is her with her cousins! We went around their neighborhood in Brentwood. I think we enjoyed just as much as she did.

This picture cracks me up. The very next pic that was taken had her finger in her mouth... ew! AnnElise had a lot of fun at the Pumpkin Patch in Smyrna.

AnnElise and Baylor bonding over mud at a Lake House in Alabama. She had a lot of fun with Baylor who is only 10 days younger than she is. Actually Baylor was due before AnnElise, but Christy went nearly two weeks overdue and I had AnnElise at 38 weeks.

This is our reunion crew at a Lake House in Alabama. We didn't get nearly enough time, but it was much needed. Everyone had moved away doing different things and such. I'm thinking we'll do this every year the Harrisons are back from Africa.

One of my new adventures... as if I needed something else to occupy my time.  Daniel picked this up for me off of Craigslist. We've needed a dresser for our bedroom so I'm making it over. I forgot to get a before picture. 

Milestone of surviving his sister dropping him on his head. She was trying to pick him up off the floor when she heard him crying then dropped him when she realized it was not something she should be doing. 

The very next day after being dropped, I tickled him and he had his 1st laugh. 

A bit behind...

  Yes, I know, I'm behind on my blogging. Mostly b/c I haven't had much time to download pics and such. The pictures will have to come another time. We've been busy, busy! Daniel has been working a ton lately which leaves me exhausted having two or three days in a row with 2 kids by myself. Its still overwhelming, but its getting better and easier as time goes by.
  We've been to Paris for a few days visiting family while Daniel went to Florida for a race, enjoyed a long weekend with some great friends at a lake house in Alabama, took the kids to a pumpkin patch, been to the doctor more times than anyone should ever go, and recently I've found my creative side again thanks to pinterest.com.
   AnnElise and Hardy are growing so fast! I've got to find time to go shopping for them. They're growing out of everything they have. In exactly 1 month I'll have a 2 year old and a 3 month old! I'm trying to plan something small with both of our families to celebrate AnnElise's birthday, but I haven't had much motivation to do anything more than a cake:)
  Thanks to pinterest for helping me find my creative/DIY love of upcycling. We bought an old dresser off of Craigslist last night and I plan on starting the makeover on it this week. I've also done more to Hardy's room to make it more boyish instead of just neutral, but its still a work in progress.
   I'm hoping Hardy will start sleeping more on a schedule so that I can have my hands free more. He started off being easier than AE, but not so much anymore. At night, he's great, but during the day he only wants to nap in my arms. I've tried putting him down when he's in a deep sleep, but it never last more than 30 minutes. He's much more demanding at this stage than AE. I'll give him another month before I try other sleep methods.
   Since Hardy is awake from his ultra short nap, I'll save the pictures from the last few weeks for another post.