And then there were Two.

I would first like to welcome myself back to World Wide Web, “welcome back Dani!” it has been way to long since I have last been here and where has the time gone? Has it really been a whole year since I last blogged? The time stamp certainly does not lie so cheers, ill raise my diet dr pepper (caffeine free) to that!

 I would then like to congratulate Jonah on becoming a big brother! That’s right; Jonah is no longer senor uno in this household. Little big brother Nate came storming in on October 23^rd weighing in at a whopping ten pounds! That’s really only significant to me because Jonah was five pounds at birth and the whole point of having another child right now was for it to be a boy, which he was but cant say I planned that, I just got lucky, and to have him utilize every single thing of Jonah’s because then he is really no cost to us until he is in school. It is just diapers.

So that’s not really happening. I already purchased a new bigger infant car seat because Nate was squished into the one we already owned, the swing wasn’t so swingy because it was weighed down and battery operated so after spending about 40 dollars in batteries in his first month I broke down and bought a plug in swing that could swing the heft that is Nate. But Nate seems to really enjoy this new plush luxury swing or at least I tell him he does and for now I tell him how he feels. What does he know, huh? The clothing situation is barely hanging in there by a thread and the two will soon be wearing the same size diaper, so that will be helpful at least. Don’t need to have an assortment of sizes and brands, just one generic brand will do.

 Jonah recently chewed up every single straw cup we own so I headed to the mom- friendly –where- you- can buy -everything -and -anything -you –need- and –even-more –so- what- you- don’t- need-but still-end-up-buying known as Target. Because you can't possibly drink out of a straw that has holes in. I tried before i tossed them. I know Nate will also use these cups so I don’t feel too bad, unless he is a nasty straw chewer like Jonah. I cannot really blame them though, take a look at my coffee cup next time you see me, I’m a nasty straw chewer myself. The apples really don’t fall far from this tree. My husband questioned me when I came home with new cups and said “why cant he just drink from a regular cup or water bottle?” so I said “yes dear hubby, a cup is all fine and dandy when we are sitting at a table but have you watched Jonah whip an open water bottle across the room, water doing a neat arc in the air to then to also neatly land all over the room?”  I also sent him to school today with wet pants because he asked me for a drink of water while we were in target (because target opens at 8am so yes we are there cruising the dollar aisle at 8:03am with me dumping in the cart whatever Jonah needs to keep him busy while I am in the store. We leave a trail of dollar items spread throughout the store as we go. I’m sorry target employees. I swear I will make up for it. We also left a trail of sweet potato puffs too.) So I gave him a water bottle from my bag of which he took two sips from and upended it onto his lap. So hubby, I will stick to the Sippy cups for now. Thanks.

People often ask me “So, how’s it going with two???” with a knowing smile and smirk on their faces, I might add.  

Well, I will tell you how it’s going with two. The older child likes to wake up and eat breakfast at 4am because he hears the baby getting up and he is getting food, I mean breast milk. And yes, I am the one who hates this act more than anything else in the world and I signed up for round two. Help me. Really, help me.

So of course why should Jonah not be eating breakfast with him? In order to not promote sibling rivalry so early on in the game, Nate has his milk and Jonah has his…Jonah eats his cereal dry from a bowl and when he needs some milk to wash it down he takes a swig from his bottle. Yes his bottle. Cannot rip that away from him either just yet but the day will come when the bottles just disappear. Maybe next week. or Maybe next month.I will have a pacifier party for him though, that will be cute. Anyone interested in being the pacifier fairy? Or clown? Needless to say he drinks a whole lot of milk these days. But that’s better than soda, of which he has a fondness for, how he knows what it is and why he decided he likes diet coke is really way beyond me.

So right after his 4am breakfast it is of course time to play!! And yes, mommy really wants to play now because conveniently for Jonah, baby Nate is snuggled cozy in his little lamb swing watching his light mobile and swinging his way into dreamland. I get really jealous when I see him like that. Yea, I am jealous of a seven week old. Sleep deprived much?

So playtime for this two year old involves shoving random toys and household articles down his footsy fleecy pajamas. He likes to see how much he can shove down there until it gets uncomfortable. I usually ignore him doing that until his weak little pleas of “help me” have me take pity on him and I unzip him to take out whatever crap he has shoved down. Well ill tell you, the weirdest thing he has done so far has been to open a box of Hanukah candles and shove each candle down the neck of his pjs. Yea. I know, weird. Anyhow, I assumed I caught them all but guess what? I didn’t. so I washed them. Because moms spend a large part of the week doing the laundry in the household. Unless you have cleaning help for that, I don’t know from that yet. Hopefully one day in the near future, like sooner rather than later I will know. Then I dried them. Then I ran the dryer again because some items were not yet dry or I was just too lazy to empty the dryer so if I ran it again it was like I was still being busy doing laundry and wouldn’t have to deal with the most god-awful task of them all. That might actually rank high next to breastfeeding and that god-awful task would be folding the laundry. So that lone little candle buried in the feet of those fleecy footed pjs? Yep, melted right into the fleece and left that foot with a thick coating of wax and an oddly moldable pajama foot. Hm.

Being up at 4am with two little ones doesn’t leave me with a whole lot of time for baking in the kitchen right now, but here is a recipe that is short on time and the two year old seems to love, he would love it even more with a side of diet coke.

Maple Pecan Granola

505 grams of old fashioned oats

225 grams sliced almonds

140 grams pumpkin seeds

70 grams sunflower seeds

225 grams pecans, rough chopped

1 tsp. salt

2 tsp. cinnamon

1 tbsp. vanilla extract

½ cup vegetable oil

¾ cup pure maple syrup

Combine all ingredients in a large bowl and mix with your hands until well coated.

You can let the two year old in your life help you mix, I bet they would like that!

Spread the mixture evenly between two sheet pans lined with parchment paper and bake at 300 stirring occasionally until the granola is toasty brown and the whole house smells fragrant. This takes longer than you think so be patient. The granola should be dried out and not wet at all.

Allow the granola to cool and you can mix in any dried fruit or your choice or chocolate chunks if you like. Store in an airtight container and this last well over a month or two. Or three.

My favorite way to eat it is with honey Greek yogurt topped with sliced bananas and strawberries. Sometimes I drizzle with a little more maple syrup.