two things i’ve learned and feel the need to share

1. AT Loft for tops
   when you’re moming you don’t have time for dry cleaning or laying things to dry flat, you need clothes that can go right into the washer and dryer with spitup or peanut butter on them. i’ve found that AT Loft has really cute tops that look fancy (read: are polyester) but are WASHER AND DRYER FRIENDLY. this is priceless. especially when you get them for an additional 40% off from the clearance rack.
2. American Apparel for colored undershirts
   maybe this doesn’t apply to little girl wardrobes but i had the hardest time finding colored undershirts to go beneath Roger’s tops (i don’t mean t-shirts, i mean those snugger fitting undershirts). you can find the white carters/gerber ones in any store but finding colors was near impossible. then i discovered the kid section at American Apparel and voila! Roger had a complete wardrobe. i love these and make sure to buy the AA groupon/living social every time they’re available now, not because i need a gold lame unitard but because i can stock up on these shirts.

because i had a few glorious hours of being on the road running errands i had the privilege of seeing everyone else on the road and realizing that i have a MAJOR pet peeve —- PUT YOUR INFANT CAR SEAT HANDLES DOWN PEOPLE!

this drives me insane! seriously, why would you risk your child’s safety because you’re too lazy to put the handle down when you put them in the car and then back up when you take them out?

maybe it’s because some people don’t know (ie. don’t read their manuals) that the infant car seat is designed to flip up to protect your child so if you leave the handle up you’re not only decreasing the safety of the seat but you’re ADDING another point of impact. WHY?!

so, please people, whether it’s because you were being lazy or because you didn’t know better PLEASE START PUTTING YOUR CARSEAT HANDLES DOWN!

Oh you didn’t spill an entire bottle of freshly pumped breastmilk on your phone and then cry and now your phone is kinda stickyish? Cool.

the more i hang out with other people with kids, or even just other people around my kids, the more i realize i’m just not good with kids.

i’m not talking about the spirit of “i don’t like anyone’s kids but my own” because while that certainly applies to me i think this goes beyond that. i love my children more than my own life but i don’t necessarily think i’m “good” with them.

i watch other adults and i kind of envy their ability to just click with any kid they come in contact with. i watch them run, play make-believe, and come up with all sorts of cool ideas for things to do (around my own house) that never even crossed my mind.

i try to be a good mom, i try to be a fun mom, and i always think i’m nailing it until i watch one of those “good with kids” people in action. i think it’s fairly obvious by Roger’s response of “YAY! Target!!” whenever i say “do you want to go out today?” that the kind of things we do when we leave the house are limited.

i know it sounds crazy since i have 2 of my own but i’m just not good with kids. i can’t believe i’m the only one, am i?

it’s amazing how different baby #2 can be even only 24 months after baby #1 arrived

• she has no eyelashes
  her brother’s curl up and touch his eyebrows
• she screeches like a pterodactyl and growls like a starving zombie
  he chirped like a sweet little birdie
• she eats as much in one day at 3wks old as he did at 2mos.
• she likes to sleep during the day, not so much between 3 and 5am
  he slept <5 straight hours a night by this age
• she is impervious to the magical powers of the swing
  he loved that thing from the moment it arrived
• she also hates the paci, as in she pulls it out of her mouth and tosses it aside as if to say “get that shit outta here!”
  with him we called it “The Closer” because, without fail, once you popped that into his tired little mouth he passed out like it was chloroform
• we have no idea what we’re doing. i swear we know NOTHING about babies this time around. last time we read everything there was to read and we were so prepared, we knew about baby sleep patters, eating habits, etc. but this time around we knew we didn’t need all of that information because we’ve been through it all before and as a result we have no clue what’s going on with her at any given moment. i don’t recommend this method.