Life...

I tried to get better about blogging then well....life happened. I actually had to go back and see when my last post was and it was November of 2018!?! What the heck? Well

 Happy Spring! 

There has been so much that has happened since then. Thanksgiving, Christmas, basketball, volleyball tournaments...the list goes on and on. So let's recap on what has been going on.

I can hardly believe there are only a couple months left before the school year is over. Addison is loving middle school. She is loving her classes and teachers. There has definitely been some hard times with learning how to manage school, homework, volleyball and home life. She decided to try Track this year. I am proud of her for trying something new! Volleyball is slowly coming to an end, we will see if she will do the extended season.

Austen finished up basketball and ended up liking it. We had a rough start, but proud of him for sticking it out. Soccer will be started soon and Jay will be coaching again. Austen is excited to have 2 friends he knows on the team this time. He is doing so well in school. We are proud of him. We can hardly believe he will be in 4th grade soon. Time flies so fast.

Jay is loving his job and will be traveling more come April. We are doing pretty good with him being gone during the week. I feel like we are getting used to it. 

He is getting to travel a lot which will help with him getting lots of miles for future vacations for us! :)

As for me, I am keeping busy with #lifeasapreschoolteacher, this year has had many challenges, but things are getting better. My skincare business keeps growing and I am loving my little side gig. If you are interested in trying a free mini facial sample please email me at jenbaedke@gmail.com or you can go get a free skincare consultation on my website at Free Skincare Consult

I promise to do better with updating this site! Thank you for catching up with me!

Addison and Austen

Addison and Austen seem to be growing up so fast these days. I just don't know how I can be the mother of an 8 and 5 year old. Time is going so fast, before I know it I will be registering Austen for kindergarten. :( Does NOT make me happy!

Addison is LOVING school and we are so thankful that she has the same teacher she had for 1st grade! She is learning and growing just too fast! She will be making her First Holy Communion this May and I am so proud of her! Every time I look at her I just don't understand how she could have grown as fast as she did. She is really into singing and theater which of course makes me happy since that is my background! She is a loving and outgoing girl with lots of friends. It breaks my heart sometimes when she gets her feelings hurt but friends, but for the most part she is a very strong, independent girl. I am so blessed that she is mine!

 Austen is growing so fast. How can he be starting kindergarten in the fall!?!? Luckily he is LOVING school these days! He is so cute with his best buddy Mason. He has been so good at school this year and is coming such a long way! He can even write his own name! Jay and I are beyond proud of him. When we were at his last conference with his teacher I looked through all the paperwork the teacher was going through and could still picture him as that tiny 5 lb baby boy in the hospital. Why does time have to go so fast?! Through everything we have been through with losing Jayden, I am so thankful to have Austen home with me. He is my sweet snuggle bug and tells me he loves me about 100 times a day! How lucky am I?

At the same time I can not believe that I have a baby boy in heaven?!? There are still days that I am like wait this is MY reality! I miss Jayden every single minute of the day! I pray that he knows how much I love him and miss him! If I stop to think about how he was robbed of knowing my love and when I think about all the firsts I am missing makes my heart ache! I just pray that I will see him again and it will feel like I had never left his side.

Long time

Wow it has been such a long time that I have posted. This is so not like me. I am not sure what has kept me so busy. I guess lately it has been hard for me to write. This time of year is always tough when it is winter and the kids are getting stir crazy.  Here are some pictures of what we have been up to the past couple of months!

Trip to the Field Museum 

Painting Night out with the girls

Cookie Booth

Seeing The Rainbow Fish with Austen's school

Long time

It has been awhile since I have been able to write and update with pictures. I am hoping this is the start of me being able to catch up now. Today is a big day in our household, Jay starts a new job and we are praying that it is the best fit for him. He has been out of work since March and even though we know it was a blessing in disguise, it has been tough.  I can hardly believe that this summer has flown by as fast as it has. Next week Addison turns 8 years old...not sure how that can be! She also starts second grade, man these years are just flying by way too fast! Addison is of course as excited as can be to start school. It has been nice having Jay home and getting to spend that extra time with him over the summer that we don't normally get. I know this will be a great opportunity for Jay, but we will miss him around the house.  I know he is so ready to get back though into a day to day routine.

I have a busy week of Addison's party on Wed and then getting ready for my brother's wedding this weekend! I can not believe it is finally here! We are all looking forward in celebrating this weekend! Well I better get going. I hope to keep up to date with this. I will leave you with this cute picture of my brother and his soon to be wife!

The Perfect Mom

This good to know!  I swear lately I feel like whatever I do it doesn't matter I still can't get it quite right. I think it has hit me more this summer with Addison being home all day. Since being in all day kindergarten she was used to being busy every min of the day. The summer starts and for the most part we have been pretty busy with vacations, seeing family and just getting together with friends. There are of course those days where what we are doing doesn't please the kids. I am happy with days that I just have at home.
I also feel like I have been getting more frustrated this summer with the kids. I feel like I am constantly saying "No", "Please just be nice", "Don't do that", "Just play nice together", "Can mom just go to the bathroom for 2 min?" I know you are thinking, well that is just part of being a mom. I get that. I just hate that I feel like I yell more than I would like. I don't remember my mom yelling when I was little, lord I hope my kids don't remember that about me. I came across a blog from another mom and parts of it definitely hit home.  The post talked about how this mom, like a lot of moms, are always in a hurry when kids are more at taking their time and just enjoying life. This mom had said that at one point she finally looked thru the eyes of her child. She said that when they would go to the store she would let her child set the pace and not rush thru like she normally would do. The mom would push thoughts of her agenda out of her head and just observe her child.  After reading this blog, I realized wow sometimes I do say "Hurry up, we are going to be late" a little too much.
It is amazing to see the world thru a child's eyes. There are times that I watch Austen and I am like what is he thinking. It is amazing. I think every parent should step back and just watch their children and see how amazing they are. I know there are times I stop and look at Addison and say "When did you get so big?". It is crazy. I still remember when she was just turning 2 and not even talking much and now she won't stop. I wouldn't have it any other way. I am very blessed to have two amazing, healthy kids.

I know at times if you see me I may seem frazzled, frustrated and feel like I have lost control, but I know I have to remind myself that I am being the best mom I can for my children. One thing is for sure they will never EVER question how much they are loved by their parents.

Where have we been??

Wow, It has been way too long since I have posted. I am sorry for that. I used to be so good at updating and posting pictures. I guess things have been a little busy. I will update on what has been going on. 
Addison is loving every minute of kindergarten. She loves her teacher, which is such an amazing feeling! We were so nervous at her starting kindergarten, but after meeting her teacher we knew we had nothing to worry about. Jay and I constantly look at her and try to figure out when she got so big?! She is writing sentences and the way she talks, wow she is not a toddler anymore. She is also in Daisy's this year and just finished her first Cookie Sale. She loved it! I am so proud of her and loving the fact she loves Girl Scouts just like I did. She also got to go bowling with Dad for a date night with Daisy's. They had a lot of fun!  
Austen is also getting bigger. I can not believe he is 3 and when I look at him I wonder where that tiny little baby went. He is saying more and most of the time he won't stop talking. He is very into dinosaurs right now and loves anything dinosaurs. In February we had a little scare with him, where he was so dehydrated that we had to take him to the hospital to get hooked up to IVs thank goodness everything was fine and we were able to leave that night.  We are very much looking forward to spring where we can go outside and go to the park. Tickets have been purchased for Florida and we are really excited for that!  The time seems to go so much faster now with Addison in school and pretty soon we will be registering her for 1st grade!?!?! Austen will be going to preschool this fall at the same preschool Addison went to. Seriously where has the time gone?!?! Well I have included some pictures of the kids as well! Hopefully I will be able to keep this updated!

Now a picture!

I thought a picture would be great after I just posted the last entry. They were both being so cute yesterday and Austen just kept wanting to hug Addy. I just kept snapping the camera!

Austen is 4 months

Austen had his 4 month appt on Friday and all was good till those stupid shots. I really believe that is one of the hardest things in the world. My poor boy just looked at me and screamed, I felt so helpless. He weighed in at 14 lbs 7 oz and was 26 inches long. Addy had to go with to this appt since my dad had to go into a meeting. She did a good job singing to him before he got his shots to make him feel better. He stopped crying to listen to her sing, it is amazing the gift she has. We also started him on bananas friday night and he loves them as well. Here are some pictures from his visit.

Big Boy

It has been awhile since we posted. We switched our internet service so we are finally all set back up. Well Austen spent his last night in his bassinet on April 18th. We made the switch to his crib that Monday and he has been sleeping so well. He really loves his crib and goes to bed so amazing! He is such a good boy.

New Pictures

I haven't posted in a little bit. Times sure have been crazier lately. I recently got a little promotion at work that hasn't totally happened yet. I am the new Childcare Evening Leader at my job. I will be working 4 nights a week and every other Saturday. Although since we are short with the morning staff, my manager is needing to hire someone to take my shift before I can move over. Let's hope they find someone soon. I have been able to work Tuesdays and Thursdays doing the leader position in the morning since the Day Leader doesn't work those days and will start my Saturdays this weekend. I am just really anxious to start my new position and learn from this great opportunity!

Also I knew this second pregnancy would be different from my first, but I am definitely getting tired more quickly lately. I have realized that doing simple things like just walking up the stairs is a lot harder than it used to be, by the time I get to the top I am so exhausted. Believe me I am forever blessed being pregnant and I can't wait to meet our new little addition in January. We still have a lot to do to get ready for baby #2 and with the holidays coming up I know the time will just fly by. I can hardly believe that in 10 weeks we will be meeting our new baby! I have added some new pictures of Addison. We go to church every Sunday and she loves going and thanks to my mom I have picked up some pretty cute dresses for her so she always looks cute! Enjoy the pictures!

Pregnant with Baby #2

Life is sure different this time around being pregnant. I am of course loving every minute of it, feeling the baby move is one of the most magical things about being pregnant. I feel like Addison is at a great age for Baby #2 to come around, she is already talking to the baby and says she is ready to be my big helper. This time around though I am more tired and trying to keep up with everything around the house sure is tough. If I could hire a cleaning lady I so would. I just feel like I am doing the best I can with being pregnant and having a 3 year old. I will try to update this more on a regular basis.

Almost Two

How can this precious little girl of ours be so close to turning two? It feels like just yesterday we were getting ready to go to the hospital. She has changed so much and now that she is saying Mama it is like music to my ears. It is the best sound that I could ever hear. We can't wait to celebrate her 2nd birthday!!!

Thirty, Flirty and Thriving

So I am now 30 whether I like it or not. I had a wonderful and very busy day. I went to breakfast with my parents and my grandparents. Then my mom and I did some shopping on my way to get my facial. I didn't know how I was going to relax for this, but it was an amazing facial and totally relaxed me. I wish I could get a facial more often.
Tonight we went to my favorite restaurant On the Border with my parents, Addy, Jay and my sister Emily. We enjoyed some yummy margaritas and good food. I was fortunate and received some very nice gifts from everyone. Our dinner was very nice and my mom and sister helped feed Addy so I could relax and eat my dinner without having to worry about anyone but myself.

The day went by very fast and before I knew it we were putting Addy to bed. Lucky for me my celebration isn't over yet. Tomorrow Jay and I are heading up to the Grand Geneva Hotel for a night away. I am very much looking forward to it and Addy will love being at Nonna and Grandpa's. I still can not believe it is possible that I am 30. I can still remember my carefree highschool days and how the biggest worry was if I was going to get a part in the spring musical or not. How life changes!

I will post pics after the weekend of all the birthday fun!

Weekend

This weekend is going a lot better than our week was. Addy is much better and that just makes us both so happy. We had a great Valentine's night. Jay brought home flowers for his girls and Addy loved them. He also gave her two cute little board books one was a Disney baby book (for those of you who don't know she loves all mickey characters) and a cute Love bug color one. She really likes the little books. We also order Lou Malnatis famous Heart Shaped Pizza along with some great bruschetta for our dinner. Addy was feeling so good she wanted some of the pizza. Who could blame her? We are just so happy that she is feeling better and I know she is glad that she doesn't have that nasty cold anymore.
Now if only this cold weather would just stop. Is it springtime yet???

Happy Valentine's Day

It has been awhile since I have posted, but our little Addison has been under the weather all week and is now finally getting better. It was so hard to see her like that. Jay and I are just so happy that she is feeling better! We also wanted to announce that our friends Alison and Matt are expecting their first child on August 19, 2008!!! We are so excited for them! They are also not finding out the sex of the baby so it will be a surprise! Who knows could be born on Addy's birthday! I swear this is the year for babies! We know so many people having babies this year. We also wanted to wish everyone a Happy Valentine's Day!