Spring and New Thing(s)

I'm terrible at blogging, I admit it. Life has been crazy - but a good crazy! Jackson hit that magical three month mark a few weeks ago and has been a happy camper ever since. We've started him on rice cereal, which he loves, and he's doing well sleeping in his crib. He still wakes up for a middle of the night feeding, but hopefully he'll get over that sometime soon. He goes right back to sleep and usually sleeps until 7:30ish, so it's not terrible. Max is still the one that's up at 5:30am everyday - go figure! We've been doing our Spring Cleaning - I've cleaned out all of the closets in our house and let's just say that Goodwill has acquired a lot of clothes from the Fawley household between Mark and myself. Max and Jackson's clothes that don't fit/winter clothes went into storage just in case I lose my mind and ever decide to have another baby....which will 98% not happen. We're gearing up for the fence to be put up in our backyard the end of this month/early next month. I can't wait to take the boys outside to play and not have to chase Max down the street - it will be much more relaxing and fun! Mark and I...er, I mean the Easter Bunny...are planning to get Max a trampoline we saw at Sam's Club for Easter. It's not a mini one, but it's a kid size one with the mesh sides - Max will love it in his newly fenced in backyard :) In other news, Jackson has learned to roll from his tummy to his back pretty good....and is working on back to tummy. He's babbling up a storm and is drooling like crazy. I'm pretty sure I'm seeing/feeling a tooth poking through on his bottom gums, too....I wouldn't be surprised, since Max got his first tooth around four months old. He's a smiling, happy baby :) Someday I will post the pictures on my camera for all to see my happy kids...but for now, I am far too busy/lazy. So, you'll just have to take my word for it! Moving on - starting next school year in the Fall, I will have a new teaching position! I have been chosen as the social studies teacher for the new South Bend New Tech High School opening this Fall! I'm super excited about this amazing opportunity! SBNTHS is not an alternative school, but it's cutting edge in the education world and focuses on using technology and collaborative learning for students in the classroom. The students will work in teams on a lot of group projects and use the computers on a daily basis as the foundation of the curriculum. I'll be going to some trainings very soon and will have more information to share then...but for right now, I'm geeked!

P.S. Mark and I are THISCLOSE to our Vegas vacay! Woohoo!

It's been awhile...

Wow, I've been so busy with work, kids and attempting to keep my house clean enough to not be condemned that I have completely neglected my blog lately. I'd love to say I'm going to be better at updating, but with the crazy life I'm living right now, I will make no such promise...but I WILL try ;) Since I never know how much time I'll have on here (ahem, sleeping baby and curious two year old), I'll just give a keep updated list of what's new in our life over here:

• Jackson is almost 11 weeks old...and is slowly but surely starting to enjoy life a little more. We had a rough go of it with this little dude...not only was he unhappy most of his waking hours (make that our second colicky baby...wah!), but we also had a small stint in the hospital where he had H1N1 and RSV at the same time. We had to stay in the hospital for two days so they could make sure he could breathe and drink okay...they also had to use their high powered suction tool to suction out all his secretions every once in awhile since babies that young aren't too good at hacking it out. Luckily, he's all better now and growing at a great pace...I don't think he's going to be the solid quarterback Max looks like, but he's still growing everyday :) We've gotten him on a pretty good schedule of eating, playing and sleeping. He likes to smile and coo now, which makes me feel a little better to know he's getting happier and more pleasant by the day. We have fully transitioned him to his crib like we swore we would since we were so bad about it with Max. It's been awesome...all we do is look for his tired cues, then put him in his crib and walk away....he puts himself to sleep! Wow...why didn't we do this with Max?! More on that topic later, grr. Anyway, we've had a few nights where Jackson slept for an extended period of time (about 7 hours, eat, then go back to sleep for awhile)...and right now we're back to the sleep 3-4 hours, eat, go back to sleep. I'm hoping that he starts sleeping for longer periods of time very shortly, but it's nice to know that after he eats, he'll go right back to sleep. At his last checkup when he was 2 months, he weighed 10 lbs 3 oz and was almost 24 in long.
• Max....oh, Max. The terrible twos are in FULL SWING at the Fawley household! Max has also decided that he does not want to sleep anymore at night as well. This is the kid that already got up at 5:30am EVERY.FREAKING.DAY. Well, Max has now decided that he wants to wake up about five times a night just to scream and cry. He wants milk. He wants cartoons. He wants up. It's pretty frustrating when you've just trained an 11 week old to sleep (for the most part) and now you're almost two and a half year old wants to be up all night yelling. I'm kind of at a frustrating loss right now for what to do....he's old enough to get out of his bed and run out of his room....so I can't barricade him in there. I also don't want all the yelling and screaming to wake Jackson up right across the hall and get his new sleeping pattern all out of whack. Any help in this department would be appreciated! :(
• I am only 5 lbs away from my prepregnancy weight and fit into about 99% of all my old clothes :) I have totally dedicated myself to losing the weight quickly (50lbs gained and lost with both boys...woohoo!). I'm up and at the gym at 4:30am everyday since that's the only time I have to go! Our family has totally revamped their eating style from my pregnancy comfort food back to the healthy and smart food we should be eating. I have to say, I'm amazed at how quickly I was able to lose the weight with Jackson, since I'd always heard losing it was harder with your second and it took me 6 months to lose the weight with Max. I attribute it to STRESS, work and pure dedication. I'm hoping to lose the last 5 lbs before our vacation next month!
• .....which brings me to my next point....VACATION! In about 4 weeks, Mark and I are going to Vegas for a much needed break! I am SO excited to spend some quality time with just Mark and I, since we barely ever get to hang out watching TV or just talking anymore with the chaos our house is with the boys! Mark has never been to Vegas, so it'll be fun to get to show him everything and get to do things on our time, not kid time :)
• Spring cleaning is in full swing over here! I've been cleaning out closets, getting rid of old clothes, putting the boys' clothes in storage that are too small, organizing, etc. We're in the process of putting up a new backsplash in our kitchen, finally fencing in our backyard (um EXPENSIVE) and just getting the house in order! I love organization and cleanliness...I can't wait until Spring has finally sprung and I'll be able to open the windows and breathe in the fresh air...ahhhh!
• Work. Going back to work has been a smooth transition....I really enjoy my job and the people I work with, so I'm glad to be back in the full swing of things!

Well, the boys and I are off to lunch at the good old DQ before Mark and I's date night tonight! Hope everyone is doing well and enjoying the warmer weather coming up!

One Month Old

This lil dude is turning one month old! What a month it's been around here....honestly, I knew having two kids would be more difficult, but I seriously underestimated how frustrating it could truly be at times! I also forgot how "high maintenance" my sons are the first few months of life as well. Without going into much detail, I will remind you that Max was an EXTREMELY difficult, fussy (ahem, colic) baby up until he was about 3 months old. My naive self kept thinking, "Oh, it won't happen twice!" HA! I have to say, Jackson is somewhat better than Max was....and seems to be starting to show signs of improvement already, which is encouraging :) Jackson gets so gassy throughout the day that he sometimes acts miserable, which breaks my heart. He was also just put on medication for possible acid reflux due to his difficulty taking a bottle sometimes and wincing in pain. I hope everything is turning around for my little man...and we're slowly inching our way to that magical three month mark! I'm also waiting to get some sleep again...Jackson is still a fan of eating every 2-3 hours and I'm patiently waiting for that to space out and get him on more of a schedule.

In other news, Jackson has gained TWO whole pounds since birth....that's right, he now weighs a whopping 8lbs 14oz. He's been giving us some smiles and coos lately...I'm looking forward to a lot more of those once he starts feeling a little better. Max loves his little brother and loves to be our little helper...although sometimes he does get a little jealous, which breaks my heart as well! All in all, we are all doing well and still alive over here! I love having two little boys and can't wait until I get to watch them interact and play with each other a little more. Our family feels very blessed to have our healthy (for the most part) and personable little men :)

Other family side-notes since I haven't blogged in awhile and might now have time until next month:

• I'm only on maternity leave for 3 more weeks....I go back on Valentine's Day. I have mixed emotions about this - I'm ready to return to my students and my school and get our family back on a regular schedule....but I'm not looking forward to leaving Jackson. I'm also hoping we're on a little bit more of a schedule by then and getting a little bit more sleep.
• Mark and I booked a vacation - woohoo! We're going to Las Vegas during my Spring Break for a few days, and we can't WAIT!
• Operation "Get Back Into My Pre-Pregnancy Clothes" is in full force. Since I gain uber amounts of weight in my pregnancies (ahem, about 50 lbs), I've been dieting and working out hardcore the past 3 weeks. Yeah, yeah, yeah I haven't even been cleared by the doctor yet....but I need to fit into my work clothes, dangit! AND our Vegas vacay will be here before you know it. So far, I am down 11 lbs. from when I first weighed myself 3 weeks ago. I still have some more to go, but more and more clothes are fitting everyday and I'm loving it! I do miss my pizza though...especially on some stressful days with the boys!