Well, I don't mean to whine, but I wanted to document our weekend from you know where.
Henry has been fussing a ton lately with nursing. He is COMPLETELY uninterested in food- no matter what it is. And then over the last few weeks he cries when I try to nurse him, fights me, then when he does finally nurse it's only for a few minutes and he seems like he's still hungry. So we talked about it for a while and eventually decided we were going to switch him to formula. We felt like we could at least know how much he was eating. I had so many issues nursing Blakely and I hated it cause she fought me all the time, so I really didn't want to drag it out if he was going to fight me like she did. It's just too exhausting.
So we started last Friday- he wouldn't nurse around lunch anyway, so I just decided to go ahead and get started. Long story short, by FORCING him, we got him to take a couple of small bottles of breast milk and formula mixed. Lots of tears and screaming though. Then the next morning he took a bottle a little sooner. We thought we were on our way up, but instead, he pretty much didn't eat anything else for the rest of the day. He was just sad- not even mad, sad. Tears, whimpering. Crying every time he would even SEE a bottle. I knew he was starving. He was also ASKING to nurse. Talk about a guilt trip. He'd cry and reach for me, and pull at my shirt. Never in my life did Blakely do that. When we switched her, she literally would not nurse. So around 6:30pm I caved. Stephen was a little perturbed when he walked into me nursing Henry on the couch...but I just couldn't take it anymore. Of course he ate his little heart out. So we went 36 hours without nursing. And I'm sure it hurt my supply, but I decided I can't quit yet. So I am waiting longer between feeding- to make sure he is really hungry, and I'm pumping after he eats to hopefully build my supply up. We are going to take him for a weight check tomorrow just to make sure he is gaining weight.
He was definitely happy he won that battle and was INSANELY cuddly with me all day. He's a little manipulator! :) he knows how to get me. We may have just put off the inevitable if he doesn't start nursing better. It would sure stink if we had to go through another day like this though. I am praying that he is just in a weird phase and that he naturally weens himself at a year (ha!).
So anyway, Stephen and I spent all of Saturday at our wits end, about to pull our hair out, and then we spent today trying to get back to normal. Blakely felt the negative effects of the weekend too. I think she was stressed that we were stressed and was not too excited about how much attention we were giving Henry, so she was pretty disobedient all weekend. She has also been mad at me, and giving me the cold shoulder- I think because I focused on Henry the whole weekend and didn't show her much attention. Hopefully she will forgive me when I take her to McDonald's play place tomorrow. :)
Tuesday, February 12, 2013
Tuesday, January 29, 2013
Toddler woes...
So I thought I'd put in a quick update on my toddler while both, YES BOTH, kids are napping. Don't feel too special that you are getting this precious time. I already drank an uninterrupted cup of CAFFEINATED coffee and read a few chapters of my book. (Living the cross centered life- HIGHLY recommend)
My kids have been doing great for the last few weeks, aside from the normal kid hiccups that come no matter what. We were in a groove. Blakey was sleeping consistently- never as much as we'd like, but we've gotten over that. Henry was starting to nap longer. Blakely was eating. Etc. Then Stephens parents came to visit this past weekend. It was a lot of fun. Out of nowhere Blakely decides she is over the whole going to bed peacefully thing. I mean, for a solid 6-7 months we did nothing but tell her it was time for bed, walk her in, sing her a few songs and we were out and so was she. And I mean OUT OF NOWHERE the demon child emerged. I'm talking standing, screaming, DEATH screaming (if you know what I mean?!) jumping, banging her head and hands on the wall and crib, throwing herself down, etc. Scary stuff. She was also getting ip early (even for her...4o'clock hour..) and flipping out when Stephen wouldn't get her up. Yesterday she got up at 4:45, Stephen told her she couldn't get up, so she screamed a bit, then sat there until 5:30. She is so stubborn. We were at a total loss of what to do. We tried spanking, ignoring, consoling, pleading, bribing, and nothing was working. Several times she fell asleep sitting up and luckily eventually fell over. It was so miserable that i am really surprised it was only like 4-5 days of it, cause it feels like it was going on for months. Anyway...yesterday I decided to reason with her. Blakely always turns out to be smarter and get a lot more than I give her credit for (and I give her a lot of credit). So I laid her down like usual, and on cue as soon as I closed the door she was up and screaming. So I went straight back in and decided I was going to talk to her like she was 15 instead of 2. So anyway I was like,
"what in the world is wrong with you?" Silence and staring. "Why are you crying and screaming? Are you hurt? Dying? Another type of emergency I am unaware of (paraphrased obv...)" blank stares. "You have GOT to quit this. You are taking a nap no matter what kind of fit you throw, so you may as well lay down and quit crying. Talk to your animals, sing, do whatever you have to do, but I know you can be a big girl and go to sleep without a fit because you've done it hundreds of times before. So I'm going to leave now and you need to get it together and chill."
Something clicked for her and she went to sleep. I discussed it with her again before bed and told her she could be a big girl again. She threw her fit like normal, but I got in there before she could even launch her baby across the room (which generally happens within the first 20 seconds...) and reasoned with her exactly the same as I'd done for her nap. And finally, today, she went down and I didn't even have to go in once. We are praying that her little phase is over.
She is still getting up entirely too early. (We get excited if she sleeps past 5:30) and she is really testing her limits. Some days we feel like we don't have to discipline her at all, and other days we wonder what we are doing wrong cause she spends most of the day in time out and gets multiple spankings. But I am trusting God that he is developing a heart for him in her, and that one day we won't HAVE to discipline her. She sure is strong willed.
We started doing family memory verse together last week. We decided that we only wanted positive associations with God's word so if she didn't want to do it, we would never make her. She NEVER wanted to go over it with us, so me and Stephen would just say it out loud one phrase at a time. Then one day we were saying it and she said the whole thing. She is so smart and I am so convinced that she hears EVERYTHING we say. Our verse was: "Give thanks to The Lord, for he is good. His love endures forever." Psalm 136:1. I don't want scripture to ever feel like a drudgery to her, but why not take advantage of a toddlers incredible ability to memorize things and help her hide God's word in her heart before it is filled with other things. Not to mention it keeps me accountable to memorize God's word. And if my 2 year old can memorize a verse in a week, I ought to be able to as well.
I have many more things to update about with Blakely but it will have to wait! Here are some pictures of my sweetie!
My kids have been doing great for the last few weeks, aside from the normal kid hiccups that come no matter what. We were in a groove. Blakey was sleeping consistently- never as much as we'd like, but we've gotten over that. Henry was starting to nap longer. Blakely was eating. Etc. Then Stephens parents came to visit this past weekend. It was a lot of fun. Out of nowhere Blakely decides she is over the whole going to bed peacefully thing. I mean, for a solid 6-7 months we did nothing but tell her it was time for bed, walk her in, sing her a few songs and we were out and so was she. And I mean OUT OF NOWHERE the demon child emerged. I'm talking standing, screaming, DEATH screaming (if you know what I mean?!) jumping, banging her head and hands on the wall and crib, throwing herself down, etc. Scary stuff. She was also getting ip early (even for her...4o'clock hour..) and flipping out when Stephen wouldn't get her up. Yesterday she got up at 4:45, Stephen told her she couldn't get up, so she screamed a bit, then sat there until 5:30. She is so stubborn. We were at a total loss of what to do. We tried spanking, ignoring, consoling, pleading, bribing, and nothing was working. Several times she fell asleep sitting up and luckily eventually fell over. It was so miserable that i am really surprised it was only like 4-5 days of it, cause it feels like it was going on for months. Anyway...yesterday I decided to reason with her. Blakely always turns out to be smarter and get a lot more than I give her credit for (and I give her a lot of credit). So I laid her down like usual, and on cue as soon as I closed the door she was up and screaming. So I went straight back in and decided I was going to talk to her like she was 15 instead of 2. So anyway I was like,
"what in the world is wrong with you?" Silence and staring. "Why are you crying and screaming? Are you hurt? Dying? Another type of emergency I am unaware of (paraphrased obv...)" blank stares. "You have GOT to quit this. You are taking a nap no matter what kind of fit you throw, so you may as well lay down and quit crying. Talk to your animals, sing, do whatever you have to do, but I know you can be a big girl and go to sleep without a fit because you've done it hundreds of times before. So I'm going to leave now and you need to get it together and chill."
Something clicked for her and she went to sleep. I discussed it with her again before bed and told her she could be a big girl again. She threw her fit like normal, but I got in there before she could even launch her baby across the room (which generally happens within the first 20 seconds...) and reasoned with her exactly the same as I'd done for her nap. And finally, today, she went down and I didn't even have to go in once. We are praying that her little phase is over.
She is still getting up entirely too early. (We get excited if she sleeps past 5:30) and she is really testing her limits. Some days we feel like we don't have to discipline her at all, and other days we wonder what we are doing wrong cause she spends most of the day in time out and gets multiple spankings. But I am trusting God that he is developing a heart for him in her, and that one day we won't HAVE to discipline her. She sure is strong willed.
We started doing family memory verse together last week. We decided that we only wanted positive associations with God's word so if she didn't want to do it, we would never make her. She NEVER wanted to go over it with us, so me and Stephen would just say it out loud one phrase at a time. Then one day we were saying it and she said the whole thing. She is so smart and I am so convinced that she hears EVERYTHING we say. Our verse was: "Give thanks to The Lord, for he is good. His love endures forever." Psalm 136:1. I don't want scripture to ever feel like a drudgery to her, but why not take advantage of a toddlers incredible ability to memorize things and help her hide God's word in her heart before it is filled with other things. Not to mention it keeps me accountable to memorize God's word. And if my 2 year old can memorize a verse in a week, I ought to be able to as well.
I have many more things to update about with Blakely but it will have to wait! Here are some pictures of my sweetie!
Tuesday, January 22, 2013
8 months
I know I skipped 7 months and am super late for this one, but rather than try to play catch-up I am just calling it a loss and moving on to month 8! I didn't even realize he was 8 months old for several days, when someone asked me how old he was and I said "almost 8 months" and I thought....I've bed saying almost 8 months for a really long time. Turns out he had been 8 months already. Oops.
Our sweet little man kicked off his 8th month with a new TOOTH! This is huge since B didn't get one until 11 months. This tooth has made (and still seems to be making) its presence known. My little happy guy is pretty grumpy as of late, has trouble getting to sleep, fusses a lot when eating and is drooling like he's our main water supply. Poor guy. And I'm not sure it will end too soon cause tooth #2 is on its way.
So right now I feel like Henry is all out of sorts. But here's the very general run down:
He gets up anywhere from 6 to 7:45. Usually it's closer to 7, but occasionally he will sleep until sometime in the 5 o'clock hour and want to eat and then he thinks the day is starting. (And it is for his sister and dad...but not for him and his mom...) He is nursing every 3-4 hours but is going through an unusually fussy phase (at least I hope it's a phase). He takes anywhere from 1-4 naps a day depending on how quality the naps are and how good I am at staying home for them. He naps in our bed cause its easier for me to keep him down here rather than run up and down the stairs. We do solids in the morning and for supper, and occasionally for lunch but he's just not that into solids. Sometimes he'll eat great for like 5 bites, but he's almost always ticked the whoooole time we feed him. What's up? Anyone have this experience? We've tried rice cereal, oatmeal, cereal, warm, cool, veggies, bananas... He's really not acting like he likes ANYTHING and he gags a lot. We have been consistent for over a month and he just doesn't like mealtime. I am starting to get concerned cause it feels like he should be eating more. Thoughts appreciated!
Anyway, he goes to bed between 6-7 and usually sleeps until close to 4am to eat.
He is starting to move. He can rotate all the way around and COULD move forward if he just realized he could do it. He sometimes accidentally gets across the room. Either by scooting or rolling or both. He is frustrated in life right now cause he has realized that there are things out of his reach. Before he was just content to just sit there...
He is still totally enamored with his sister. Unlike her at this age (and still) he couldn't care less about dogs. It's so funny to me how different they are.
He is sitting up wonderfully now. I will even leave the room and if he falls over its usually on purpose.
He is much better about being in the car. He goes to the church nursery. He will usually happily stay with sitters (even though we can't afford them!)
He loves wrestling, jumping in his jumper, playing with Blakely, kicking his legs, and chewing on things.
He wears 9-12 month clothes, size 3 diapers- but they are close to too small. He weighed 19ish lbs when we went to the doc a few weeks ago.
Although he is going through a bit of a grumpy time, he is still a pretty happy guy, especially if he is getting attention. He LOVES to play. Rolling around on the floor with him, wrestling him on the bed, just sitting and playing with him...he is very easy to entertain.
Ok get ready for picture overload of my handsome little man!,,
Our sweet little man kicked off his 8th month with a new TOOTH! This is huge since B didn't get one until 11 months. This tooth has made (and still seems to be making) its presence known. My little happy guy is pretty grumpy as of late, has trouble getting to sleep, fusses a lot when eating and is drooling like he's our main water supply. Poor guy. And I'm not sure it will end too soon cause tooth #2 is on its way.
So right now I feel like Henry is all out of sorts. But here's the very general run down:
He gets up anywhere from 6 to 7:45. Usually it's closer to 7, but occasionally he will sleep until sometime in the 5 o'clock hour and want to eat and then he thinks the day is starting. (And it is for his sister and dad...but not for him and his mom...) He is nursing every 3-4 hours but is going through an unusually fussy phase (at least I hope it's a phase). He takes anywhere from 1-4 naps a day depending on how quality the naps are and how good I am at staying home for them. He naps in our bed cause its easier for me to keep him down here rather than run up and down the stairs. We do solids in the morning and for supper, and occasionally for lunch but he's just not that into solids. Sometimes he'll eat great for like 5 bites, but he's almost always ticked the whoooole time we feed him. What's up? Anyone have this experience? We've tried rice cereal, oatmeal, cereal, warm, cool, veggies, bananas... He's really not acting like he likes ANYTHING and he gags a lot. We have been consistent for over a month and he just doesn't like mealtime. I am starting to get concerned cause it feels like he should be eating more. Thoughts appreciated!
Anyway, he goes to bed between 6-7 and usually sleeps until close to 4am to eat.
He is starting to move. He can rotate all the way around and COULD move forward if he just realized he could do it. He sometimes accidentally gets across the room. Either by scooting or rolling or both. He is frustrated in life right now cause he has realized that there are things out of his reach. Before he was just content to just sit there...
He is still totally enamored with his sister. Unlike her at this age (and still) he couldn't care less about dogs. It's so funny to me how different they are.
He is sitting up wonderfully now. I will even leave the room and if he falls over its usually on purpose.
He is much better about being in the car. He goes to the church nursery. He will usually happily stay with sitters (even though we can't afford them!)
He loves wrestling, jumping in his jumper, playing with Blakely, kicking his legs, and chewing on things.
He wears 9-12 month clothes, size 3 diapers- but they are close to too small. He weighed 19ish lbs when we went to the doc a few weeks ago.
Although he is going through a bit of a grumpy time, he is still a pretty happy guy, especially if he is getting attention. He LOVES to play. Rolling around on the floor with him, wrestling him on the bed, just sitting and playing with him...he is very easy to entertain.
Ok get ready for picture overload of my handsome little man!,,
Saturday, January 12, 2013
Binky fairy
I had read a few blogs of friends that had the binky fairy come visit their daughters. All were just a few months older than Blakely, so it gave me the boost I needed to get going on it. I have literally talked about getting rid of her binky since she was 6months old. I have been convinced for quite some time that she would sleep better without it. However, I was always too afraid to bite the bullet and get rid of it.
I fully expected an all out war with Blakely on it. I just knew there would be a minimum of a few sleepless nights and many more tear filled days and especially naps. I assumed her early waking would go to even earlier for at least a little while until she settled into life without binky. I was so pleasantly surprised to be wrong!
We decided a couple of months ago that we would get through our holiday travels and then get to work on getting rid of the binky. So on our way home from okc last week we started talking about the binky fairy and how she visited big girls and took their binkies to babies that needed them and she replaced it with a fun surprise for them to sleep with instead of the binky. So two days after we got back I ran to target and bought a cabbage patch baby- that ironically came with a bottle and a binky (we disposed of the binky...) and man those dolls are expensive! Stephen and Blakely put her binky under the blanket for the binky fairy to find it and while they were brushing their teeth for bed, the binky fairy had a REALLY hard time getting that silly cabbage patch doll out of the package... After two pairs of scissors and finally a knife, the binky fairy freed the dolly and ran upstairs to replace the binky. :) Blakely was very excited and seemed to understand what was happening. Stephen put her to bed as usual, she asked where her binky was and he reminded her, and we sat on the couch staring at the monitor waiting for the wrath to be unleashed. She cried for about 30 seconds and then was asleep until 3am. Stephen went in and covered her up (she always squirms out of her blankets) and she was back asleep before he left the room and slept until 6:30. What? 6:30? That's right. 6:30. And sweet little Henry was up at 5:45. :) can't catch a break around here!!!
Back to Blakely. She asks for it each time she goes to bed, but accepts our response without a fight and then at the worst, talks to herself for 15 minutes and goes to sleep. It was as I suspected all along. She sleeps better and more soundly without it. When she wakes up for a moment she isn't groping around trying to find her binky and she is able to go back to sleep more quickly. At first I wondered if we should have gotten rid of it a long time ago, but like the potty training thing, I really think she was just ready and that's why it happened to be so easy. I also just think we got lucky.
I am still not convinced we are out of the woods. I'm not going to assume the battle is over for at least another few weeks. But until then I am going to celebrate each time she falls asleep without her binky!
I fully expected an all out war with Blakely on it. I just knew there would be a minimum of a few sleepless nights and many more tear filled days and especially naps. I assumed her early waking would go to even earlier for at least a little while until she settled into life without binky. I was so pleasantly surprised to be wrong!
We decided a couple of months ago that we would get through our holiday travels and then get to work on getting rid of the binky. So on our way home from okc last week we started talking about the binky fairy and how she visited big girls and took their binkies to babies that needed them and she replaced it with a fun surprise for them to sleep with instead of the binky. So two days after we got back I ran to target and bought a cabbage patch baby- that ironically came with a bottle and a binky (we disposed of the binky...) and man those dolls are expensive! Stephen and Blakely put her binky under the blanket for the binky fairy to find it and while they were brushing their teeth for bed, the binky fairy had a REALLY hard time getting that silly cabbage patch doll out of the package... After two pairs of scissors and finally a knife, the binky fairy freed the dolly and ran upstairs to replace the binky. :) Blakely was very excited and seemed to understand what was happening. Stephen put her to bed as usual, she asked where her binky was and he reminded her, and we sat on the couch staring at the monitor waiting for the wrath to be unleashed. She cried for about 30 seconds and then was asleep until 3am. Stephen went in and covered her up (she always squirms out of her blankets) and she was back asleep before he left the room and slept until 6:30. What? 6:30? That's right. 6:30. And sweet little Henry was up at 5:45. :) can't catch a break around here!!!
Back to Blakely. She asks for it each time she goes to bed, but accepts our response without a fight and then at the worst, talks to herself for 15 minutes and goes to sleep. It was as I suspected all along. She sleeps better and more soundly without it. When she wakes up for a moment she isn't groping around trying to find her binky and she is able to go back to sleep more quickly. At first I wondered if we should have gotten rid of it a long time ago, but like the potty training thing, I really think she was just ready and that's why it happened to be so easy. I also just think we got lucky.
I am still not convinced we are out of the woods. I'm not going to assume the battle is over for at least another few weeks. But until then I am going to celebrate each time she falls asleep without her binky!
Wednesday, January 9, 2013
Catch up.
I blame my lack of blogging on all our devices. I know it sounds ridiculous, but I don't want to post without pictures and I have pictures on my phone, Stephens phone, our iPad and computer. It's silly, really. I hate the blogger app, but it will just have to do since it is too much trouble to get pictures onto the computer.
A LOT has happened in the last month. some of the highlights:
Someone in our family was sick for at least three weeks. Seriously. I think each of us got a different virus and then we all swapped them. It was pretty miserable. But I think we are all officially completely well.
We quit the bottle for Blakely- I can't remember if I said that in my last post, but she gave it up without a hitch. It took her a while to start drinking milk, and she is pretty partial to chocolate milk (who wouldn't be?)
We celebrated Christmas at our house- it was a lot of fun. We should have spaced Blakely's gifts out cause it was stressful for her to open one and then before really playing with it be asked to open another- I know, what a rough life... :) Henry basically slept through Christmas which was fine cause that was when he was his sickest.
Henry moved to his own room- he sleeps (most of the time) in there. I am still nursing him at night and sometimes I am just too out of it to take him back upstairs.
Blakely is basically potty trained. It was/is a miracle cause it was so easy. She was just ready. We didn't really have to fight her on it, we just sorta did it and she is doing great. She still wears diapers for naps and bedtime. I'll do a more detailed post on this...one day.
We went to okc for our winter conference and Blakely stayed the whole time at my parents house. She did awesome. I took Henry with me to the conference and definitely should have lowered my expectations on how much I was actually going to be a part of. He still naps three times a day and nurses every three hours so that doesn't leave much time for the conference. Oh well, we had a lot of fun anyway!
The binky fairy came to visit us last night. I'll obviously do a more detailed post on this as well...one day. But I am in shock at how well Blakely is doing. She didn't cry for more than a minute or two last night, and Stephen only had to go in once around 3am just to cover her up. I thought for sure we were in for it for her nap today. But she didn't cry at all, she just talked to herself for about 15 minutes before falling asleep. And she went to sleep right away tonight too. She has asked a few times where her binky is, and we just remind her that the binky fairy took it. I'm not getting ahead of myself- I know it could blow up at any second, but SO FAR she is doing incredible!
I guess Blakely was just ready to be a big girl, cause I know I had little to nothing to do with all of it! I don't know if I'm quite ready for her to be a big girl though. :( Next on our list is transitioning her to her big bed. We are going to wait until the binky thing is for sure and hopefully have her in her big bed by February.
In other news, Henry turned into a BOY the last couple of weeks. Obviously he has always been a boy, but its like he turned a corner and all of a sudden is NOT attached to me anymore and is interested in the world. Nursing is no longer a sweet time for us- its meal time and he wants to get in and get out. Its quite hilarious. He is grabbing like crazy, and he is a bit rough- he attacks me and wants to wrestle. It's pretty weird how quickly he's changed and how different he is from Blakely! He is snugly when he's sleepy but now he pretty much just wants to wrestle and play. Stephen is loving it. I love it too, but part of me is a little sad. :)
We are readjusting to normal life with Stephen working all day and trying to keep ourselves busy.
I think it's time to alert the blog world of our future plans. This summer we will go to Kaleo and then will move back to Fayetteville in July/August. Stephen is going to be the campus director at the U of A. Though we will miss KU soooooo much, we are really excited to be back at our alma mater and the place we still sorta feel like is home!
A LOT has happened in the last month. some of the highlights:
Someone in our family was sick for at least three weeks. Seriously. I think each of us got a different virus and then we all swapped them. It was pretty miserable. But I think we are all officially completely well.
We quit the bottle for Blakely- I can't remember if I said that in my last post, but she gave it up without a hitch. It took her a while to start drinking milk, and she is pretty partial to chocolate milk (who wouldn't be?)
We celebrated Christmas at our house- it was a lot of fun. We should have spaced Blakely's gifts out cause it was stressful for her to open one and then before really playing with it be asked to open another- I know, what a rough life... :) Henry basically slept through Christmas which was fine cause that was when he was his sickest.
Henry moved to his own room- he sleeps (most of the time) in there. I am still nursing him at night and sometimes I am just too out of it to take him back upstairs.
Blakely is basically potty trained. It was/is a miracle cause it was so easy. She was just ready. We didn't really have to fight her on it, we just sorta did it and she is doing great. She still wears diapers for naps and bedtime. I'll do a more detailed post on this...one day.
We went to okc for our winter conference and Blakely stayed the whole time at my parents house. She did awesome. I took Henry with me to the conference and definitely should have lowered my expectations on how much I was actually going to be a part of. He still naps three times a day and nurses every three hours so that doesn't leave much time for the conference. Oh well, we had a lot of fun anyway!
The binky fairy came to visit us last night. I'll obviously do a more detailed post on this as well...one day. But I am in shock at how well Blakely is doing. She didn't cry for more than a minute or two last night, and Stephen only had to go in once around 3am just to cover her up. I thought for sure we were in for it for her nap today. But she didn't cry at all, she just talked to herself for about 15 minutes before falling asleep. And she went to sleep right away tonight too. She has asked a few times where her binky is, and we just remind her that the binky fairy took it. I'm not getting ahead of myself- I know it could blow up at any second, but SO FAR she is doing incredible!
I guess Blakely was just ready to be a big girl, cause I know I had little to nothing to do with all of it! I don't know if I'm quite ready for her to be a big girl though. :( Next on our list is transitioning her to her big bed. We are going to wait until the binky thing is for sure and hopefully have her in her big bed by February.
In other news, Henry turned into a BOY the last couple of weeks. Obviously he has always been a boy, but its like he turned a corner and all of a sudden is NOT attached to me anymore and is interested in the world. Nursing is no longer a sweet time for us- its meal time and he wants to get in and get out. Its quite hilarious. He is grabbing like crazy, and he is a bit rough- he attacks me and wants to wrestle. It's pretty weird how quickly he's changed and how different he is from Blakely! He is snugly when he's sleepy but now he pretty much just wants to wrestle and play. Stephen is loving it. I love it too, but part of me is a little sad. :)
We are readjusting to normal life with Stephen working all day and trying to keep ourselves busy.
I think it's time to alert the blog world of our future plans. This summer we will go to Kaleo and then will move back to Fayetteville in July/August. Stephen is going to be the campus director at the U of A. Though we will miss KU soooooo much, we are really excited to be back at our alma mater and the place we still sorta feel like is home!
Friday, December 14, 2012
My two year old.
She officially turned two on Saturday, and we had a party! Our whole fam was sick last year on her birthday with the puke bug, so we had to cancel her party, and I guess we just can't catch a break cause she was sick with a cold this year! But the show went on! Nothing was going to stop me from having a party this year.
We invited all our family, and the neighbor kids, and it was so fun. Let me just say though, I had no idea how expensive parties can be, and I think we went pretty darn cheap! That stuff just adds up quick!
I decorated with pink things, and white tissue paper balls, and had it all set up for her when she got up the morning of her birthday. My parents drove up the night before, and had some errands to run the morning of her party and of course they had to take her with them. She was almost late for her own party... :)
I made kid friendly food- pigs in a blanket, turkey and cheese plate, fruit plate, goldfish, a popcorn bar, and cake balls. The popcorn bar wasn't as big of a hit as I hoped, but it was a fun idea. :)
She had so much fun with all of her favorite people there. She got so excited each time the doorbell rang. She didn't quite understand the gifts- but she loved it nonetheless. Among the favorites were a princess tent (which permanantly resides in our living room), a Minnie Mouse cell phone, and a Mrs. Potato head.
*Official update:
She weighed 24lbs exactly- putting her at 16% which is DOUBLE what she was at 18mo! Way to go Blakely! Can't remember exact height but I think it was in the 40something %.
She goes to bed around 7:30, and gets up at 5:30 pretty consistently. We've tried just about everything to change this- and nothing works. Any suggestions???
She takes a nap around noon- lasting anywhere from an hour to two and a half hours (VERRRRY occasionally 3...)
She sleeps with a blanket, but the times we've tried a pillow it seems to disturb her more than anything. Still using a pacifier, less and less attached to her "buddies" (stuffed animals)- though she randomly requests them to sleep with.
We are officially off the bottle! PHEW. We went out of town and stayed in a hotel Monday-Wednesday and got to hang out with kids and play a TON, so we took that opportunity to ditch the bottle since she was out of her routine. She asks for it in the mornings, and was pretty ticked the first day, but now she asks, we say no, then she gets over it quickly. She has even drank quite a bit of milk out of a cup the last few days! Miracle! Now if we could just get rid of the binky and move her to a real bed.... (both of those things are on our short list. hopefully both will be in play by the end of January!)
She has adjusted REALLY well to traveling. She will sleep pretty much anywhere without a fight- nighttime and naps. She even has slept WITH us a few times! It's pretty fun snuggling with her in bed, but she is sortof a bed hog.
She is talking all the time and SOOOO well. It's crazy to me how well she communicates. She says 5+ word sentences. She can sing the ABCs, Jesus loves me, and the Veggie Tales theme song. She has quite the imagination too. She loves to play pretend with her babies.
She is making some pretty significant progress with the potty. She goes in her little potty daily, but is still in diapers most of the time. This is pretty much just me not wanting to go ALL OUT and just do it. She wears "underwear" occasionally and still hasn't quite gotten the peepee thing, so she usually starts in her pants, then finishes on the potty. :) She can go #2 on the potty, but still kinda prefers the diaper- we are working on this. :)
She is eating better- more and more of a variety. The only green veggie she will really eat is still broccoli.
I thought she had a very bold personality, but after being around several other kids this past week- her age and a little older- I realized she is a little more reserved than I thought. She is not very loud compared to other kids, and she is a go with the flow kinda girl. She is up for whatever they are playing- but she is also fine to play by herself. I think Hankie has really helped in the sharing department, and I am thankful for that.
She wears 2t clothes mainly for length, and I put her in some 3t tops just cause. She wears size 6 shoes, but they are snug thanks to a recent growth spurt, and has a pair of 7s, and I think she will probably be in an 8 by the spring. I cannot for the life of me find pants that will stay up (besides leggings) and she doesn't have a prayer when she is out of diapers- since that's the only thing keeping most of her britches up.
She still LOVES LOVES LOVES Henry, and I just couldn't be prouder of what a good big sister she is. On her own initiative, she gives him his binky when he's fussy, plays with him, offers him toys, talks to him and makes him laugh. I can't wait for him to be mobile so they can really be buds.
Can't believe my baby girl is 2. It goes too fast.
Tuesday, December 4, 2012
6 months and Thanksgiving
A couple weeks ago Henry turned 6 months old. It was hard to believe it when Blakely turned 6 months old...but at the same time, I remember time draaaaagging by most days. With Henry, it truly has FLOWN by, and it is just crazy that he is 6 months old. So many things that Blakely was doing at 6 months seem crazy for Henry to be doing.
Like eating- Blakely had started eating solid foods, and we have experimented a little with Henry, but he is just not ready. Blakely was sitting up at 6mo, and Henry is getting close, but he isn't totally there yet. Some days I think he's sitting up, then other days he can't stay up for 2 seconds. Blakely started sleeping all night around 6months, and Henry doesn't seem to be close to that either. Granted- I tried MUCH harder with Blakely. He sleeps with me (which isn't helping his middle of the night snacks...) and I just never try to hold him off. It was pure torcher to get up and feed Blakely at night, and for some reason it just doesn't bother me with Henry. In principle, I know I should be trying to get him to go all night without eating, but I just really don't care, and I enjoy it anyway.
He is still spitting up quite a bit, and seems to have tummy/reflux issues, so we took him to the doc for a quick weight check to make sure he was still gaining since he hadn't been eating well for a couple of weeks. He weighed 17lbs 5oz. It is like 45% or something around there. I can't remember how long he is but it's around the same percentile. :) He's gone down in percentile, which shocks me cause he just feels huge to me! He is healthy though, and he is starting to move a lot, so that's what I'm attributing his slow down to.
He is grabbing things, talking LOTS- saying "bababa", and "blahblah" which is kinda funny. :) He is starting to sit up. Some days he does awesome and can sit up like a pro, and some days he can't do it to save his life and just topples over. He started rolling over from back to tummy today, and oddly enough, seems to have forgotten how to roll over from tummy to back. It's very inconvenient since he keeps rolling to his tummy, but then hates being on his tummy and can't roll back. Silly goof.
He had a pretty bad set-back on naps last week at Stephen's parents. He wasn't a great napper to begin with, and he was TERRIBLE there. So this week my goal is to get closer to a predictable schedule. Stephen keeps saying we need to do cry-it-out, but I am just not interested yet. I know it is probably necessary, but I just can't yet. Blakely doesn't exactly help naptimes with her screaming, banging, and impromptu bursts into his room. :) For the record, he takes 3-4 naps a day ranging from 20 minutes to an hour (more if I lay down with him.) I put him in the swing some still, but I am trying to phase that out.
He is wearing 9-12mo clothes, and even wears 12-18mo sweatpants. Even though he isn't high in percentile he is F-A-T. :) I LOVE it though. He's so soft and squishy and has the biggest/cutest booty you've ever seen.
He is still the happiest baby ever. He smiles and laughs ALL the time. He's also a momma's boy. Which I love. Although he is super happy, he is slow to warm up to others. He gets upset if I am not around. He has what his grandaddy refers to as a "slow-burn." So even when he does get upset, you've got a pretty good while before he totally loses it. With a few exceptions.... loud noises, particularly screaming. Which is inconvenient considering his big sister is a bit of a screamer. He also got screamed at a few times over thanksgiving by cousin Lucy- and he just burst into tears. He's gonna have to man up a bit before the next time we see Lulu. And on that note, we have a couple of bossy, opinionated, screamers between the two girls in the family (Blakely and Lucy...).
Thanksgiving was so fun. We flew to Memphis- and somehow got lucky enough to each have an empty seat next to us. They don't let you have two lap babies in the same row, so we had to sit in different rows, so having a seat next to us made it SO nice, and nice for whoever would have had to sit next to us. I gotta give my kids credit though, they did AWESOME. I can't even believe how good they did. No fits, no crying at all. People even commented on how well both of them were doing on the plane. I held my breath knowing that at any minute it could change- and luckily, there and back, it didn't!
On to the pictures...sorry for picture overload. My father in law is pretty handy with a camera and he only took about 500 pictues (literally) over the week.
Like eating- Blakely had started eating solid foods, and we have experimented a little with Henry, but he is just not ready. Blakely was sitting up at 6mo, and Henry is getting close, but he isn't totally there yet. Some days I think he's sitting up, then other days he can't stay up for 2 seconds. Blakely started sleeping all night around 6months, and Henry doesn't seem to be close to that either. Granted- I tried MUCH harder with Blakely. He sleeps with me (which isn't helping his middle of the night snacks...) and I just never try to hold him off. It was pure torcher to get up and feed Blakely at night, and for some reason it just doesn't bother me with Henry. In principle, I know I should be trying to get him to go all night without eating, but I just really don't care, and I enjoy it anyway.
He is still spitting up quite a bit, and seems to have tummy/reflux issues, so we took him to the doc for a quick weight check to make sure he was still gaining since he hadn't been eating well for a couple of weeks. He weighed 17lbs 5oz. It is like 45% or something around there. I can't remember how long he is but it's around the same percentile. :) He's gone down in percentile, which shocks me cause he just feels huge to me! He is healthy though, and he is starting to move a lot, so that's what I'm attributing his slow down to.
He is grabbing things, talking LOTS- saying "bababa", and "blahblah" which is kinda funny. :) He is starting to sit up. Some days he does awesome and can sit up like a pro, and some days he can't do it to save his life and just topples over. He started rolling over from back to tummy today, and oddly enough, seems to have forgotten how to roll over from tummy to back. It's very inconvenient since he keeps rolling to his tummy, but then hates being on his tummy and can't roll back. Silly goof.
He had a pretty bad set-back on naps last week at Stephen's parents. He wasn't a great napper to begin with, and he was TERRIBLE there. So this week my goal is to get closer to a predictable schedule. Stephen keeps saying we need to do cry-it-out, but I am just not interested yet. I know it is probably necessary, but I just can't yet. Blakely doesn't exactly help naptimes with her screaming, banging, and impromptu bursts into his room. :) For the record, he takes 3-4 naps a day ranging from 20 minutes to an hour (more if I lay down with him.) I put him in the swing some still, but I am trying to phase that out.
He is wearing 9-12mo clothes, and even wears 12-18mo sweatpants. Even though he isn't high in percentile he is F-A-T. :) I LOVE it though. He's so soft and squishy and has the biggest/cutest booty you've ever seen.
He is still the happiest baby ever. He smiles and laughs ALL the time. He's also a momma's boy. Which I love. Although he is super happy, he is slow to warm up to others. He gets upset if I am not around. He has what his grandaddy refers to as a "slow-burn." So even when he does get upset, you've got a pretty good while before he totally loses it. With a few exceptions.... loud noises, particularly screaming. Which is inconvenient considering his big sister is a bit of a screamer. He also got screamed at a few times over thanksgiving by cousin Lucy- and he just burst into tears. He's gonna have to man up a bit before the next time we see Lulu. And on that note, we have a couple of bossy, opinionated, screamers between the two girls in the family (Blakely and Lucy...).
Thanksgiving was so fun. We flew to Memphis- and somehow got lucky enough to each have an empty seat next to us. They don't let you have two lap babies in the same row, so we had to sit in different rows, so having a seat next to us made it SO nice, and nice for whoever would have had to sit next to us. I gotta give my kids credit though, they did AWESOME. I can't even believe how good they did. No fits, no crying at all. People even commented on how well both of them were doing on the plane. I held my breath knowing that at any minute it could change- and luckily, there and back, it didn't!
On to the pictures...sorry for picture overload. My father in law is pretty handy with a camera and he only took about 500 pictues (literally) over the week.
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| twinkies with D-dad! |
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| sweet Henry. |
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| attempt at grandkid christmas pic...probably the best shot... |
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| best sib pic. |
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| DIVA |
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| this is my child |
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| taking a bath with cousin Lucy was BY FAR the funnest thing B did all week! She even helped "wash" Lucy's hair! |
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| pure joy |
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