Boys Can Cry Too

Two year olds cry. a. lot. I’ll be the first to complain about it and tell you that spending time with us, means spending time with crying. No question about it, its annoying, really annoying!!!! Some days I want to pull my hair out annoying because no matter how many times I ask him why he’s crying or if he can use his words to tell me what’s wrong, most of the time he can’t or doesn’t. Likely because he’s two and he’s 3 feet of pure uncontrolled emotion. They call it Terrible Twos for something, although I keep hearing that Three isn’t much better, god help us all, I may not survive another year of this. However, lately I’ve been amazed by the amount of people who upon coming across my crying son, actually tell him to stop crying, because. boys. don’t. cry. Seriously? I mean really you’re seriously saying that to him, first he’s only 2 and second why don’t you just say, Brecken you have a penis and therefore you should be emotionally stunted, because that’s kind of the message you’re sending him. While you’re at it, perhaps you should just marry of my 8 month old? The Washington Post just did an article on this last week, entitled Why it’s good to let boys cry. This article focuses more on slightly older children but discusses the very real and negative effects that suppressing your emotional feelings can have, including increased depression and suicide. One thing that I know I’m guilty of and I don’t believe necessarily is tied to gender is telling my son that he’s okay after a small spill or bump, mostly because we see these 500X a day, but really would it kill me to ask if he’s okay or he’s hurt, making it a question rather than telling him what he feels, NO it wouldn’t and while the results wouldn’t likely be any different and he’ll still whine and cry, I’ve at least let him know that I care and that his feelings are important. So the next time you come across a crying boy, maybe think twice before telling him to man-up.

(Brecken during one of his epic meltdowns at Easter)

Related articles

• Raising Sensitive Boys (insanityofmotherhood.com)
• Raising an Emotionally Intelligent Child (awesomelyawake.com)
• Why You Should Never Be Ashamed To Cry (clutchmagonline.com)
• The Dark: Crying (monkeytraps.wordpress.com)
• Experts Say It’s Good to Let Boys Cry

Thanks for Taking Care of my Poop Day!

There seems to be a lot of talk about whether or not Mother’s Day and Father’s Day should be celebrated. Some say they’re just another Hallmark holiday, some say why do we celebrate Mother’s day when there are so many shitty mothers out there, others argue that we don’t actually get these days off and therefore it really isn’t a celebration (there’s some truth to this one but it isn’t the point I want to argue here) and so on. With respect to the first two, I concede Hallmark makes a fair amount of money off these holidays and well there are a lot of shitty mothers out there, perhaps their children shouldn’t buy them a card, but alas I know it isn’t that simple.

However, I have a proposition, instead of Mother’s Day and Father’s Day lets have “Thanks for taking care of my Poop until I was able to do it myself Day! Because before becoming a parent and therefore earning one of the aforementioned holidays, I knew a fairly reasonable amount about kids, had done a lot of kid watching and assisting child rearing, but what I didn’t know and hadn’t had to deal with was a whole lot of SH$T, LITERALLY! My knowledge of poop has grown exponentially since I became a mother.

I have learned acceptable colors for poop, acceptable consistencies for poop, what certain foods look like in poop, which foods affect the color and consistency of poop and the frequency of which one should or should not poop, and how certain medicines affect poop. This is a whole lot of information for someone who didn’t even like to admit that she did poop. In addition to all this, I have been pooped on directly, stepped in pooped, had the shower that I was in pooped in, cleaned poop out or off of the bathtub, bedding, car seat, and floor, routinely washed poop (although admittedly I do this willingly with cloth diapers), generally spend an average of close to an hour dealing with other people’s poop on any given day and on more than one occasion have come far too close to almost eating poop.

So again lets not fight over whether a Mother’s Day or Father’s Day is necessary or deserved or whatever, because regardless of how shitty your parents are/were, no pun intended, someone dealt with your poop until you could. So again I propose:

Thanks for taking care of my Poop until I was able to do it myself Day! 

and you can thank whoever it is that you need to thank, because unless we were raised in a pack of wolves, we all have someone probably lots of people we should thank. No gifts necessary just a really nice Thank You and finding someone else to deal with your poop for a day would do.

I can’t even begin to imagine the greeting cards that would come with this day…

Related articles

• Poop Makes The World Go Round. (lostmindfoundsoul.com)
• Poop (accordingtohoyt.com)
• Moms: Where Would We Be Without Them? (badlandsbadley.wordpress.com)
• The History of Mother’s Day (berries.com)
• Mother’s Day (thesecretlifeofmrsbundt.wordpress.com)
• Was it really a Happy Mother’s Day? (timesofmalta.com)
• Taking Mother’s Day Back (scarymommy.com)
• Of Poop and Puke (amorydomesticdiva.wordpress.com)
• Happy No Mother’s Day? (thebroadhouse.com)

The Mama Work Out

Losing baby weight is a total bummer, I mean losing it is great, but all the work you have to go through after the natural weight loss from childbirth/breastfeeding slows down is not so much fun!!! Especially after having a second child, the weight just fell off after the first, this time, not as much. So to the local YMCA I go, or at least try to. But on those days when it just doesn’t happen because of a cranky child or late nap or lack of motivation and dedication as my husband would say, I’ve rationalized that it doesn’t matter because on those days I participate in the Mama Work Out, it goes something like this.

The A.M. Workout

This can begin as early as 6:00 a.m. or as late as 7:30 a.m., it lasts until around 11:30 and starts with arm weights, lifting your yelling 29 pound 2 year old out of bed and onto the changer. You then manage to work several arm muscle groups while using one arm to wrangle kicking legs and the other to furiously wipe his bum.  Further arm lifting ensues when you try to dress him and he implements his latest attention seeking tactic and goes totally limp. This then carries over when you have to carry 29 pounds down 13 stairs, back up to get the 16 pound little sister and back down you go, now you’ve got cardio and arm lifting. Rinse, repeat, rinse, repeat…or in this case lift up, down the stairs, set down, back up, lift up, down the stairs, set down…whenever everyone needs to go upstairs for something, immediately the limp tactic comes into play and you’re working those arm muscles again. Do this at least 10 times a morning.

The Stroller/Lunch Workout

Want to meet some friends at the park for a stroll/lunch? Don’t think the workout stops here. Arm workout number 34 of the day, lift the mammoth double stroller out of the trunk, lift 16 pounds of passed out baby plus her car seat into the stroller, then grab the 29 pounder and push, add 10 minutes of cardio to that and you’ve managed to find your lunch destination. Time to pack on those calories, but first you better lift that squirming 29 pound 2 year old out of the stroller, since obviously his legs are broken and he’s going limp again yelling MILK. Finagle ordering, pushing heavy stroller to find a spot to eat and plopping 2 year old in chair. Furiously eat while trying to get 2 year old to eat and then time to load up again. Work off those lunch calories on the walk back through the park and for the grand finale of this workout, wrestle 2 year old who doesn’t want to leave into car seat and buckle him in, pack away still passed out baby in her car seat and then return mammoth heavy double stroller to trunk. Whew, done.

Afternoon/Nap Workout

10 minutes later and you’re home again and ready for the next workout, lug cranky 2 year old whose naturally limp and whining up the stairs for a diaper change, on the changer, off the changer, onto the potty, off the potty, onto the changer (please don’t assume he’s being cooperative during all of this) and clothes back on. If you’re lucky you only took one or two kicks to the face/arms during all of this or had your ear drum blown out with one of his many complaints. Now to do your cool down you pick up the 16 pound baby, change her, return her to the floor and pass out in the chair to read some nap time stories.

The Blissful Rest Period

The couple hours where the 29 pound baby sleeps and you only have to tote around your very attached 16 pound baby who wants to be held constantly.

Snack/Dinner/Bath/Bed

and we’re off again…you’ve been yelled at from the bedroom and wait what, he wants to get up himself and walk to the bathroom, sure!! False alarm, halfway there he melts down and goes limp, pick him up, potty, changer, up, down, turn around, put your right arm in and shake it all about. Lug him downstairs and fix a snack in the kitchen all while the 29 pounds of dead weight hangs onto your leg, yelling pick me up, no I don’t want that, I want this. Do this until you can find something that appeases you both, so this portion of the workout could be 5 minutes or 25 minutes. Don’t forget you should be carrying your 16 pounder while doing this, if it’s a light day she may lounge in her jumper for you. Repeat for dinner but add in some arm lifts to get everyone in their proper boosters/high chairs. Afterwards, play with the kids, run around the back yard, maybe go for a walk and get some cardio in. Then for your last set of arms for the night lug everyone upstairs for baths and bed, up, down, up, down, clothes off, into tub, out of tub, onto changer, into jammies, onto floor, next baby…Finally your 29 pound weight is in bed and you’re just left with the 16 pound baby who will go to bed with you. When you finally lie down for the night, you pass out thinking, tomorrow, yes tomorrow I will go to the gym!

A Case of Toddler Morning Wood

I knew having a boy would have its awkward moments. I keep telling my husband I’ll potty train him to sit and he can teach him to aim someday. Needless to say, I just wasn’t really prepared for one at 7:30 a.m. after another crappy night of sleep and before any coffee or caffeine. I also didn’t think awkward moment number 1 would start at 27 months and 5 days. At least this time it was only awkward for me, of course until he’s 14 and finds this blog post =). Brecken already knows he has a penis, I wasn’t a big fan of the idea of having some silly name for it, I’m not a medical professional but calling it by its actual name has always seemed to be the best approach. Frequently he will point or touch it during diaper changes and say “this my penis” and usually the answer is “yup that’s your penis.” Interestingly that is often followed by “where’s my other penis?” Apparently Brecken has a spare, who knew. Where he keeps it, only he knows. Anyway, I digress.

This morning when I walked in to my chirping/yelling son, he stands up in bed and points to his diaper and says “What’s this?”

In my groggy still semi-sleepatose state, I say the obvious “Ah that’s your diaper?” Then I launch him onto the changer and pull off the diaper only to be greeted by what you menfolk refer to as “morning wood”. Ok whatever, this isn’t the first occurrence, he is a baby boy, but I’m pretty sure his penis has grown since the last occurrence, no pun intended.

Sure enough, Brecken points to it and says “What’s this” for lack of a better explanation and because well that’s what they call erection seemed a little much for 27 months and 5 days as well as 7:35 a.m. before coffee or caffeine, I simply said “that’s your penis”, to which he responded “it hurts.” Hmmm crap, I don’t remember anything about this hurting, I thought, perhaps it’s just awkward feeling, unusual maybe. Egads, what if it does hurt, what does one do?  ”I’m sorry that it hurts” I say, hoping to G*D he doesn’t ask me to kiss it which is the routine follow-up when something hurts, because if he does, I don’t care what time it is, I’m busting out the ice cream. Thankfully he did not, although when I went to put his new diaper on, there was no good way to do it.  So I slapped the diaper on and off he went, with a little larger diaper this morning than most and thankfully already over our awkward conversation. Me, I may be scarred for weeks.

 Photo Credit Here

Slept like a Baby or did I?

Who the H came up with that saying? Slept like a baby? So what you got 14 hours of sleep in 2 hour increments, maybe with a long stretch of 5-6 hours, umm okay lucky you I guess. The only thing I can think of is that whoever started this saying either didn’t have kids or was so old they don’t remember having kids. Lets be clear too, the saying isn’t slept like a baby’s parents, because let’s be honest no one wants to be us. Except I keep seeing all these annoying posts on Facebook like OMG my 3 week old slept for 8 hours straight!!!! I’m torn between asking when they feed their baby and when, absolutely hating them, or going all Red Foreman and reaching though the screen to shove my foot up their a$$.  Then clarity sets in, and laughter ( possibly hysteria?) takes over and I remind myself that no baby is perfect!! Those with good sleepers can have super fussy eaters, teething monsters, crazy clingy babies, colic set in or any number of other challenges we face as parents. And trust me that great sleeper at eight weeks can be an awful sleeper at almost 8 months, example A is currently sitting in my lap. We all pay our dues so to speak. And if you claim to have the perfect baby, not going to lie, I’m going to think you’re lying, but if not, you should probably look into cloning because that kind of thing only happens once.

We went on a mini-vacation last weekend and were prepared for the worst. It normally takes our son like 3 weeks to recover from vacation and get back into his sleep routine. That’s not to mention that he doesn’t generally get any sleep on vacation. He surprised us this time. Now his sister, well that’s another story, she didn’t sleep hardly at all the first night, then as if that wasn’t enough we got an encore last night, our 2nd night home.  She’s the gift that just keeps giving, let me tell you. But as a whole, it could have been a lot worse for our first nights away from home with two kiddos instead of one, and all sleeping in the same room.  In fact, I think the two of them were better than Brecken has ever been by himself before. Here are some tips that we found that seemed to work, in case anyone else has this problem:

Bedtime Vacation Tips:

1. Stick to Routine: This is hard!!!! We didn’t do so well with naps but were very good about getting Brecken down the same time every night and as close to the same routine as possible, three books and then bedtime. It worked, at 27 months he knows this routine and is comfortable with it and I really believe it helped.

2. Make things Familiar: We brought all of his bedding, pillow, blanket to snuggle, puppy dog he snuggles which sounds like a lot but really wasn’t. I think this helped to make him comfortable away from home, he was on a twin aero-bed so he wasn’t much lower than his toddler bed would be and we decked it out with all of his bedding so it seemed like his bed.

3. Don’t Compete with Bedtime: Another thing hard to do but if there’s something better than bedtime (well lets be honest some nights anything is better than bedtime) it can be harder to get them down, especially somewhere unfamiliar. So try to take some time before bedtime with mellow activities, nothing that is so awesome there is no way that your little one wants to miss, so if you’re out making smores make sure he/she gets to join in the fun before having to head off to bed.

4. Don’t Rush It: In line w/ number 3, kids know if you’re trying to run off to have a good time without them, so as much as you might be dying to crack open that wine and hang with your spouse, make sure to stick to routine and don’t rush through it, read the stories, sing the songs and remember if your child is anything like mine, they look forward to this one on one time and depend on it.

On an aside, in case any of you want to know anything more about me, I’ve include my new autobiography below, except that I CAN cook, when I WANT to. I’ll let you figure out the operative word in that sentence!

Clearly everyone has something to offer in a relationship =) !!!!

(Photo Credit: someecards.com)

Lucky Won

No, I did not misspell won, that was not meant to be one. This is not a Britney Spears song. If my life starts to resemble a Britney Spears song, please put me out of my misery. It says Lucky Won, because quite simply, I was lucky  or I like to think I was and consequently I won the original oval tree swing from The Original Tree Swing’s Facebook giveaway. Lucky me!!!! This swing can bring nostalgic childhood memories to people who didn’t even have nostalgic childhoods, it’s that quintessential american childhood. We have exactly one tree that is not on our curbside, and this beautiful tree swing now hangs from its largest branch. Muchos gracias to my husband who literally climbed the tree to hang it, in his work clothes, like a freaking monkey. Apparently once an eagle scout always an eagle scout, rule number 923. If you like nostalgic, natural wooden toys or Waldorf dolls or are just looking for something unique check out http://www.theoriginaltreeswing.com, they have amazing toys, I really want one of the slingshot making kits, possibly more for myself than even my child and don’t even get me started on the Waldorf dolls, adorable.

Here are some pictures of how we do tree swings in the City….

He climbs trees like a monkey, it’s just hidden talent no. 753 I didn’t know about it…. just be careful if angered he may throw coconuts at you

and now to test it out….

WHEE!!!!!!

OH MAN THIS IS HARDER THAN IT LOOKS!!!

Disclaimer: The Original Tree Swing did not pay me to write about them, I did win the tree swing out of I believe pure luck and liking them on Facebook and commenting on a post and not because they had any idea that I would incorporate them into my word vomit, in fact had they known that they may have tried to take it back…but now they’d have to fight my two-year old for it, and trust me he fights dirty, with puppy dog eyes and alligator tears!!! P.S. does anyone know what alligator tears even means?

Spectacularly Unspectacular Mother’s Day

I hope your Mother’s Day was as absolutely spectacularly unspectacular as mine! We had a cookout at my moms, took a walk through a local nature preserve to scope it out for a future large scale family picture session, see some pictures below of Brecken, lounged around our yard and rounded the day off with Chinese takeout for dinner. It was an absolutely wonderful day in a very relaxing and no pressure sort of way. Although, I could have done without the strange card about vasectomies from my children, I’m not sure my husband will ever live that down. I think he was trying to send me a not so subliminal message perhaps? I hope all of you mothers enjoyed your days in your own special ways! Now that my weekend bridal shower/bachelorette party, mothers day festivities are over perhaps I will get back to blogging before we jet off again Thursday to meet our favorite Chicago residents for a mini vacation!

Resale Reality & Garage Sale Rant

Who doesn’t like to  downsize  clean house unload some items get rid of their crap! If we can get rid of crap and make a few bucks for the effort even better. What about buying other people’s crap? That can be great too, especially for parents with young children who are constantly growing, changing interest and losing interest as well as those who are on a tight budget. When I found out I was having a girl, I instantly wanted to go buy a brand new baby layette for a baby girl. That seemed a bit unnecessary because I had soooooo many cute baby BOY things at home. Alas they were just that, baby BOY things. While I have nothing against throwing my girl in some blue and toting her around, I didn’t want her to be subjected to an entire hand-me-down wardrobe of the opposite gender. It seemed a little unfair. Also let’s be honest, if you’ve ever shopped in the baby department, the baby girls side is like 3 bazillion times bigger than the baby boy side. Okay, maybe only like 3x bigger, but it is clearly fashion gender injustice I tell you.

So I came up with the fab idea of buying used baby girls clothes at “garage” or “rummage” sales and since I was due October 5, I had the entire sale season ahead of me. I could scope the nicest stuff at the best deals and it would be awesome. Or DISTURBING, which is what it mostly was and still is as this new warm summery sale season is upon us. Let me give you this Mom’s opinion on a few no-no’s for selling children’s clothes/baby things. If you don’t like what I have to say you can either tell me or hit that nice little exit button on the top left of this screen, I really have no preference.

Things to Keep in Mind/Not to do when selling Baby/Children Clothes at a Rummage/Garage Sale:

(1) I DON’T CARE that you either got suckered into buying really “expensive” baby clothes at regular prices or were somehow oblivious to the world of sale shopping-your not even particularly nice brand of baby clothes at a rummage sale shouldn’t cost more than clearance clothes at Baby Gap/Babies R Us or even Kohls.

(2) Under few circumstances should any item of baby clothes cost more than $3.00. See (1) above, other than the great benefit of upcycling/recycling, why wouldn’t I just buy new stuff that hasn’t been pooped in by some other little drooling/pooping monster. I don’t mean to say things like snow suits, winter jackets etc. can’t be priced higher, I said clothes, think pants/shorts/skirts/shirts/dresses etc.

(3) $1.00 for 1 Gerber Onesie is not a good deal, they wear these under things, you can buy $1.00 onesies at Walmart and no matter how much I hate that place, I would buy their new one before I would buy your used one.

(4) Anything with a stain should be priced for cents not dollars. The more stains, the less the price should be, the more stains, the more I ask, why the hell are you selling this.

(5) Age matters, if I’m looking at your baby clothes and wondering what decade they came from that’s a problem, if I’m looking at 0-3 month clothes and you introduce me to your 6-year-old and say that was your favorite outfit for her, that’s a problem. I get where your coming from you don’t want to get rid of it, just in case you may want to have another one eventually or your sentimentally attached to it, but damn it make a decision and if you can’t, then six years later make a donation of the nicest stuff and dispose of the rest not at a rummage sale.

(6) Car seats SHOULD NOT be resold, there is a reason most consignment stores will not carry them and why Babies R Us has a yearly trade in, there are far too many things that can go wrong if you don’t know the car seats history and believe it or not, they DO have expiration dates and safety regulations are CONSTANTLY changing.

(7) You should wash things (clothes, toys, dishes, this is not at all limited to  baby/children’s items) before you sell them. If I pick something up and it clearly hasn’t been washed in eons, I will not buy anything from you for fear that nothing has been washed. It also kinda makes me throw up in my mouth a little, which is just entirely unpleasant for all parties involved. Also you should probably have some basic level of hygiene, if you don’t look like you’ve washed for eons, I’m probably going to leave assuming you don’t wash your possession on at least a regular basis either.

(8) The purpose of a garage sale is to sell things, at least that was my basic understanding of them, if I’m missing something, please let me know. If you price things really high, people won’t want to buy your crap and if you refuse to haggle, you’re eliminating the sport for at least half the people there, I’ve seen some serious hagglers who I’m pretty sure just do it for love of the game.

(9) Play fair, open at the time you say you’re going to open and don’t pre-sell unless you say you will, there’s nothing worse than being on the total search for an obscure or specific item to find it magically listed in someones garage sale, show up 15 minutes early to patiently wait until it opens only to find that you sold it to some asshole who banged on your door at 6:30 a.m. while you were setting up. If that person wanted it bad enough to show up at 6:30 a.m., they will wait until you open.

(10) Have fun and be nice to people, no one likes to shop your sale while you fervently keep your eyes trained on all potential customers darting them around like you’re waiting for one of us to steal your Great Aunt Gertrude’s mismatched silverware.

While I did find some nice things as I shopped, I probably bought things at a total of 5 garage sales of about 50+ that I went to.  In fact I had the best luck at the local library garage sale which benefits the library and in which the clothes were actually donated from a local consignment store. It was like 50 cents an item or $1.00 per outfit across the board with greater discounts given the more you bought. It was great, I bought an insane amount of stuff for under $20.00. I’m also not against paying more for things at rummage sales to benefit charity or local school, but think people should really still follow many of the rules above. If you’re donating stuff for those sales, remember that the goal is to make the charity/school money, so wouldn’t you sleep a little better at night knowing the donation you made was a nice one and will likely actually bank your charity/school some cash as opposed to them having to deal with it afterwards when it doesn’t sell?

Does anyone have any horror stories from their garage/rummage experiences?

Classic Midwestern Garage sale (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Related articles

• Rummaging (tyrneathem.wordpress.com)
• Planning for a Garage Sale (ourhouseandhome.wordpress.com)
• 2 Things consignment, resale, & thrifts would rather not see popping up (auntiekate.wordpress.com)
• Host A Successful Garage Sale With Tips From The PennySaverUSA Guru (losangeles.cbslocal.com)
• Selling rummage (texasgaga.wordpress.com)
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Hacking up my Wedding Dress Photo Shoot

In case you haven’t read about hacking up my wedding dress for the purpose of making it into a baptismal gown for my daughter, that’s just what happened. I’ve included a picture of my wedding dress so you can see the before product. Hopefully, I will only have one daughter, otherwise they will have to share, my wedding dress wouldn’t have made two dresses. 

While there are no plans for a baby number three, I refuse to rule anything out. Just ask Pippa, if she could talk, she might tell you that she was a determined baby who came exactly when she wanted to come, on her own terms and her own timing. Anyway, I digress. To celebrate what a wonderful job Mama Jackson did on the dress (she made it, yes that woman can sew!) we decided to memorialize the occasion with a photo shoot. So here you have it, Pippa in all her baptismal gown glory and looking just a wee bit like a pilgrim baby:

The bonnet made it to exactly 1 picture =(

  Does anyone else think she is going to have red hair, because I totally do!

 If you can at all imagine it, I was holding her from underneath and tickling her thighs to get her to smile!

The Picture that Says it All

I rather suck at taking pictures, every now and then I get a really good one, but in general it’s an area that doesn’t just have room for improvement but more like fields and prairies of space for improvement. It’s on my very long to do list, but it keeps coming down to first getting a better camera, then I am going to take one of those classes where someone teaches me how to use it. Someday. I. Swear. Preferably before my kids graduate high school, even better if it’s before they start kindergarten. In the meantime I dutifully schlep my kiddos to someone else religiously to have their pictures taken at birth, three, six, nine twelve, and eighteen months and on their birthday every year thereafter.

Since moving back to my hometown we’ve been going to Endless Images Photography to the wonderful Savanna for our pictures. It never ceases to amaze me how between her and I we can transform my children into proper looking little gems and she can magically capture their humor and innocence and make them look like wonderful tiny little humans instead of the little sadists I think they are some most days. Anyway during this last session, they were not so cooperative. Brecken gave us exactly 10 minutes of charm and then was done. Have his picture taken with his sister, you couldn’t pay him. Pippa wasn’t going to smile if her life depended on it for most of the shoot. Until she got in the tutu, there is something this baby just loves about tutus. There was a lot of tickling, teasing and diving out of the camera shot at the last minute. I mean this was a serious workout, I was sweating by the time we were done. In an act of desperation toward the end to try to get them to take one good shot together, I pulled out my last card, my last trick and offered to be in the picture with them. NO MAKEUP, not dressed to be in a picture, I was even wearing white for gods sake and I’m not even sure I had washed my hair. The funniest thing though is that while not an amazing picture, it’s the most real picture of all of them, me trying to maneuver and hang on to two kiddos at the same time, with one wrestled under each arm, it is the truest representation of me and our life right now. This could have been shot multiple times on any given day if she were just to follow us around. So below are some of the “best” pictures and the one that says it all. Tomorrow look for the part of the photo shoot that captured Pippa in her baptismal gown aka my wedding dress, if you missed that story, see Hacking Up My Wedding Dress!