Thursday, March 22, 2012
Safety
Subtitle: Safety in our house and the next stage of potty training.
We have a two story house, which means we have stairs. When we put Brendan in his "big boy" room, we decided to put the baby gate in his room. We didn't want him falling down the stairs in the middle of the night if he woke up and we keep a monitor in there. Fast forward to today... I stopped using the gate in his room once Kaylee was mobile cause we needed it at the bottom of the stairs to keep her from going up them during the day. So we had put one of those doorknob covers on his door instead.
Now that we're doing well in daytime potty training, I'm starting to try things to help with nap (haha, like he still takes those!) and bed times. So we removed his doorknob cover and started putting the baby gate in the hallway at night. He has yet to come out of his room at night. The last time I tried that, he bolted out as soon as I put him in his room at night. It's like he's had a barrier for so long he won't go past it now. I've even closed his door and yelled to get him to open it. Poor baby. So we'll probably stay in pull-ups at night for a while.
I even showed him that the bathroom light would be on and have left pull-ups on the counter in there in case he does decide to get up in the middle of the night. During the day he usually goes by himself. I think I'm just gonna have to go buy an extra set of sheets (or two) and grin and bear the accidents. He pretty much knows that he can pee in the pull-ups, so he does. At least once he decided to poop in the potty, he knows he doesn't like doing that in his pull-ups. Lol.
The other thing I'll need to do to help him out is box up some of the toys so he doesn't constantly have an obstacle course between his bed and the door. His room has been so messy recently, he frequently sleeps on the floor instead of in the bed. I guess Han Solo and the Millennium Falcon need the bed more! Note: I know, I know... time to be a mean mommy and make HIM clean up his toys. I'm getting there!
Meanwhile, we're starting to contemplate our options for when to move Kaylee into a "big girl" bed. I think we've decided taking the front off of her crib to convert it to a toddler daybed is our best option. The bed Brendan has is technically hers, but we have no idea what to do get Brendan furniture-wise for now. He is desperately in need of a bookcase (might have to go to IKEA, darn!). And there is a spare bed cause it's a bunk bed set, but that would require purchasing a bunkie board and mattress. So... cheap is best for now. We don't really have a good spot to store the crib anyway. And we haven't decided yet if we'll need it again (that opens another can of worms for another post).
And to end the post... a word of warning. When putting up those oh so wonderful baby gates that adjust so perfectly to your walls and keep your children safe... try not to pinch your finger. It hurts and leaves a nasty bruise :-(
Wednesday, February 29, 2012
Leap Day Post!
Figured I'd post today since I can't post on this day for another four years! ;-)
So we've had three appointments now with our new pediatrician (had to switch when Brent changed jobs, boo). I like our new doc. He's a nice guy. Their office is terribly absent-minded. If I had to guess, they've just changed systems. After the first appointment, we didn't get a printout with the recap of the visit or Kaylee's height and weight. Second appointment was crazy. I took both kids for a checkup (cause Brendan needed a form filled out for school). The doc mentioned fluid in Brendan's ears but didn't write a prescription or anything (could've been that it wasn't necessary, but still, odd). He also needed to write a prescription for Kaylee (if you really wanna know what for, send me an email or message, odd but common thing) and forgot. I forgot too cause of the craziness and had to go back up there to get it. Third appointment we were with a different doc but we liked her too. Could've sworn she said we'll give Kaylee steroids here to make sure she can tolerate them and I'll write a prescription for them. Then we didn't get a prescription for that, just the antibiotic and inhaler (which I realize has steroids in it). So I leave quite confused after most appointments. But overall, the wait times aren't bad, there are fish in the lobby for the kids to look at, and the staff is really nice.
Here are the results from the checkup appointment:
Kaylee
24 lbs (but she weighed 25 two weeks later, so don't think this was correct)
31.5 inches
Brendan
35 lbs
39.5 inches
135/61 blood pressure
Don't ask me why they attempted to take a 3.5 year old's blood pressure. Obviously he didn't like it! Lol. The new doc recommended we get Brendan's speech checked out by the school district. So we'll probably look into that after tax season. And that's about all, medically, to update on him.
Kaylee, on the other hand, is a mess. Has anyone noticed how no doctor just diagnoses anymore? They just say they're treating it as such now. Drives me up the wall! Anyway, so I THINK Kaylee has asthma unofficially, lol. We have an inhaler for her along with a mask and chamber thing. Let me tell ya, that's fun. But I am incredibly grateful that it keeps us from having to do a third breathing treatment. That is an awful thing for any parent to have to experience. I don't like making my children cry when they're not misbehaving. (Not that I like it then either. Ok, maybe SOMEtimes I do.) And besides, the machine that administers it is in the shape of a car (for the kids anyway) so it'd be hell trying to keep Brendan away from it. She is also on an antibiotic for an ear infection. Poor baby girl. Since that breathing treatment, she's been acting like a whole new baby. Makes me wonder just how long she was feeling bad. Or if it was just teething before she got sick.
Brendan is talking more and more and more. And repeating more. Makes for some VERY funny situations. He is the BEST cheerer during sports events. Which is hilarious since cheering used to make him cry (see posts from fall of 2009). He plays by himself a whole lot now. But, just like his mother was (and probably still is), he is very possessive of his toys. He yells at Kaylee a lot. Trying to work on that. He is a big helper too. Starting to work on picking up toys. Though most nights, I just do it cause I don't want him to stay up till 10 doing it.
Kaylee is developing quite a personality. She loves playing games with all of us. She'll let Brendan entertain her from time to time. She can be impatient though. Goodness. Gets that from me :-( She looks like she has my hair. And her eyes don't look as blue as they were. I actually think I'd call them hazel now. They're definitely not as deep a brown as Daddy and Brendan's eyes are. She's getting a lot better at walking. She still eats lots of foods. Though she gets really mad if brother gets chicken nuggets and she doesn't. Silly girl.
Brent and I have started a new diet. You can read all about that over on Skinny Beans again. Can't believe it has been almost two years since we posted on there! Time for change :-) Have a great Leap Day!
So we've had three appointments now with our new pediatrician (had to switch when Brent changed jobs, boo). I like our new doc. He's a nice guy. Their office is terribly absent-minded. If I had to guess, they've just changed systems. After the first appointment, we didn't get a printout with the recap of the visit or Kaylee's height and weight. Second appointment was crazy. I took both kids for a checkup (cause Brendan needed a form filled out for school). The doc mentioned fluid in Brendan's ears but didn't write a prescription or anything (could've been that it wasn't necessary, but still, odd). He also needed to write a prescription for Kaylee (if you really wanna know what for, send me an email or message, odd but common thing) and forgot. I forgot too cause of the craziness and had to go back up there to get it. Third appointment we were with a different doc but we liked her too. Could've sworn she said we'll give Kaylee steroids here to make sure she can tolerate them and I'll write a prescription for them. Then we didn't get a prescription for that, just the antibiotic and inhaler (which I realize has steroids in it). So I leave quite confused after most appointments. But overall, the wait times aren't bad, there are fish in the lobby for the kids to look at, and the staff is really nice.
Here are the results from the checkup appointment:
Kaylee
24 lbs (but she weighed 25 two weeks later, so don't think this was correct)
31.5 inches
Brendan
35 lbs
39.5 inches
135/61 blood pressure
Don't ask me why they attempted to take a 3.5 year old's blood pressure. Obviously he didn't like it! Lol. The new doc recommended we get Brendan's speech checked out by the school district. So we'll probably look into that after tax season. And that's about all, medically, to update on him.
Kaylee, on the other hand, is a mess. Has anyone noticed how no doctor just diagnoses anymore? They just say they're treating it as such now. Drives me up the wall! Anyway, so I THINK Kaylee has asthma unofficially, lol. We have an inhaler for her along with a mask and chamber thing. Let me tell ya, that's fun. But I am incredibly grateful that it keeps us from having to do a third breathing treatment. That is an awful thing for any parent to have to experience. I don't like making my children cry when they're not misbehaving. (Not that I like it then either. Ok, maybe SOMEtimes I do.) And besides, the machine that administers it is in the shape of a car (for the kids anyway) so it'd be hell trying to keep Brendan away from it. She is also on an antibiotic for an ear infection. Poor baby girl. Since that breathing treatment, she's been acting like a whole new baby. Makes me wonder just how long she was feeling bad. Or if it was just teething before she got sick.
Brendan is talking more and more and more. And repeating more. Makes for some VERY funny situations. He is the BEST cheerer during sports events. Which is hilarious since cheering used to make him cry (see posts from fall of 2009). He plays by himself a whole lot now. But, just like his mother was (and probably still is), he is very possessive of his toys. He yells at Kaylee a lot. Trying to work on that. He is a big helper too. Starting to work on picking up toys. Though most nights, I just do it cause I don't want him to stay up till 10 doing it.
Kaylee is developing quite a personality. She loves playing games with all of us. She'll let Brendan entertain her from time to time. She can be impatient though. Goodness. Gets that from me :-( She looks like she has my hair. And her eyes don't look as blue as they were. I actually think I'd call them hazel now. They're definitely not as deep a brown as Daddy and Brendan's eyes are. She's getting a lot better at walking. She still eats lots of foods. Though she gets really mad if brother gets chicken nuggets and she doesn't. Silly girl.
Brent and I have started a new diet. You can read all about that over on Skinny Beans again. Can't believe it has been almost two years since we posted on there! Time for change :-) Have a great Leap Day!
Wednesday, January 4, 2012
Christmas, Resolutions, and Updates
This is just one of those posts that has to be done every year, right? Bear with me :-) These are in no particular order of priority.
1. Garage sale (maybe two)
2. Lose weight
3. Continue to organize/go through/get rid of stuff
4. Watch less TV during the day
5. Play outside more often
6. Try to do one family outing per month
7. Go to church more often
8. Get rid of Kaylee's pacifier (getting close to this I think!)
9. Get Brendan out of diapers/pull-ups, even in public (like for grocery store trips and stuff, he's been doing great at MDO!).
10. Take a vacation, maybe two.
I posted on Twitter and Facebook that in 2011 I was saying this year HAS to be better; in 2012 it will be better when I am better. I truly believe that. I have a lot of laziness/discipline issues to work on with myself. Hence the reason for numbers 2, 3, 4, 5, and 7. No excuses this year. None of those will be on the list next year, cause we WILL accomplish them. But enough with the business stuff... on to who you'd rather read about.
Kaylee is a mess right now. She now has four top teeth, two bottom teeth, and four molars (two on top, two on bottom)! I'm chalking it up to that for the most part. The other part is looking like the beginning of terrible twos. Brendan didn't really start that until about 18 months. I'm scared! She acts SO jealous of Brendan all the time. And she pushes and shoves when ANYone is between her and mommy. But she is also very adorable. She's learning new words. She says lights. It's funny cause you have to be looking at her to tell that's what she's saying, but you can see her tongue touch the back of her teeth and she's usually pointing to a light when she says it. We swore we heard her yell Daddy from across the room on Christmas. She sounds like she says a lot more than I think she really is saying. And of course with the dumb pacifier in her mouth, it makes it difficult to understand. She loves giving high fives and laughs when you applaud her afterward. She's starting to get more into books. Although she's perfectly content to flip through one by herself. She had a good Christmas. Got lots of fun toys, including a baby stroller she keeps trying to climb in! Silly girl. She also got clothes which she desperately needed. She's growing fast. We have her 15 month checkup soon. Can't wait to see how big she is now. She's been really funny with food this month. We've introduced sandwiches and chicken nuggets and pizza (you know, her brother's food, lol). And now she's starting to act like she doesn't want her veggies as much. And she's still so weird with fruit. She eats mostly purees of that still. She will eat peaches and bananas though. She makes us laugh a lot. It's exciting to learn her personality. Love this age/stage!
Brendan seems to be getting better from my last post. He is doing great with potty training. Now if I can get braver about taking him out in underwear, we'll be doing even better. He's still wearing pull-ups or diapers for nap and bedtime, mostly because I don't care about training those times right now. I'm sure he'll start asking me to just wear his underwear soon. He's attached to his Star Wars underwear in particular :-) Christmas was awesome with him. I think he opened most of presents by himself. He LOVES the train set we got him and I'm really glad I went with a simple set instead of a big set with table. Because it's on the floor, I think Kaylee messes with it less. Of course she's been distracted by all the toy food and her kitchen. Brendan also got a millennium falcon playset and he is hooked on Star Wars. It's all he can talk about. He even wants to watch the movies. We have to work on the whining with him and trying new foods. We're also gonna work on him picking up the toys. He's been sweet getting stuff out for Kaylee but he ends up getting EVERYTHING out and that's not ok. His language skills are growing more and more every day. He's definitely listening to us too. He said "let's do this" the other day. He is so funny. He's loving mother's day out (I think Kaylee is too). Really hope we can continue to do that for both of them, it's pretty expensive. And our program has a mother's day out side and a preschool side. They make you pay extra for them to stay past noon if you do the preschool. Frustrates me. So he may just stay in mother's day out next year and I'll start going through the preschool workbook with him that I bought at the end of school supply season last year.
Never a dull moment at our house. But we wouldn't trade it for the world :-)
1. Garage sale (maybe two)
2. Lose weight
3. Continue to organize/go through/get rid of stuff
4. Watch less TV during the day
5. Play outside more often
6. Try to do one family outing per month
7. Go to church more often
8. Get rid of Kaylee's pacifier (getting close to this I think!)
9. Get Brendan out of diapers/pull-ups, even in public (like for grocery store trips and stuff, he's been doing great at MDO!).
10. Take a vacation, maybe two.
I posted on Twitter and Facebook that in 2011 I was saying this year HAS to be better; in 2012 it will be better when I am better. I truly believe that. I have a lot of laziness/discipline issues to work on with myself. Hence the reason for numbers 2, 3, 4, 5, and 7. No excuses this year. None of those will be on the list next year, cause we WILL accomplish them. But enough with the business stuff... on to who you'd rather read about.
Kaylee is a mess right now. She now has four top teeth, two bottom teeth, and four molars (two on top, two on bottom)! I'm chalking it up to that for the most part. The other part is looking like the beginning of terrible twos. Brendan didn't really start that until about 18 months. I'm scared! She acts SO jealous of Brendan all the time. And she pushes and shoves when ANYone is between her and mommy. But she is also very adorable. She's learning new words. She says lights. It's funny cause you have to be looking at her to tell that's what she's saying, but you can see her tongue touch the back of her teeth and she's usually pointing to a light when she says it. We swore we heard her yell Daddy from across the room on Christmas. She sounds like she says a lot more than I think she really is saying. And of course with the dumb pacifier in her mouth, it makes it difficult to understand. She loves giving high fives and laughs when you applaud her afterward. She's starting to get more into books. Although she's perfectly content to flip through one by herself. She had a good Christmas. Got lots of fun toys, including a baby stroller she keeps trying to climb in! Silly girl. She also got clothes which she desperately needed. She's growing fast. We have her 15 month checkup soon. Can't wait to see how big she is now. She's been really funny with food this month. We've introduced sandwiches and chicken nuggets and pizza (you know, her brother's food, lol). And now she's starting to act like she doesn't want her veggies as much. And she's still so weird with fruit. She eats mostly purees of that still. She will eat peaches and bananas though. She makes us laugh a lot. It's exciting to learn her personality. Love this age/stage!
Brendan seems to be getting better from my last post. He is doing great with potty training. Now if I can get braver about taking him out in underwear, we'll be doing even better. He's still wearing pull-ups or diapers for nap and bedtime, mostly because I don't care about training those times right now. I'm sure he'll start asking me to just wear his underwear soon. He's attached to his Star Wars underwear in particular :-) Christmas was awesome with him. I think he opened most of presents by himself. He LOVES the train set we got him and I'm really glad I went with a simple set instead of a big set with table. Because it's on the floor, I think Kaylee messes with it less. Of course she's been distracted by all the toy food and her kitchen. Brendan also got a millennium falcon playset and he is hooked on Star Wars. It's all he can talk about. He even wants to watch the movies. We have to work on the whining with him and trying new foods. We're also gonna work on him picking up the toys. He's been sweet getting stuff out for Kaylee but he ends up getting EVERYTHING out and that's not ok. His language skills are growing more and more every day. He's definitely listening to us too. He said "let's do this" the other day. He is so funny. He's loving mother's day out (I think Kaylee is too). Really hope we can continue to do that for both of them, it's pretty expensive. And our program has a mother's day out side and a preschool side. They make you pay extra for them to stay past noon if you do the preschool. Frustrates me. So he may just stay in mother's day out next year and I'll start going through the preschool workbook with him that I bought at the end of school supply season last year.
Never a dull moment at our house. But we wouldn't trade it for the world :-)
Friday, December 2, 2011
Patience is a virtue
Goodness. I'm having to repeat that phrase to our son and to myself ALL the time. He is loving pushing EVERY button right now. And it's funny because most of the time he is a perfect angel. He just goes through these phases a couple of times a day that make you just want to scream. The worst recently has been meal times again. About the only thing that he will eat quickly is PB&J. And I swear that's only because that's what he eats at school. He will tell me he wants something else and then whines when I tell him to take a bite.
The other big issue with him recently has been taking toys from Kaylee. Sometimes it's ok cause he'll give her a different toy and she's fine but most of the time she starts crying.
OH, and we had an EPIC meltdown the other day. I'm going to have to stop taking him shopping for a while. We went to Lowe's because we needed a filter for our fridge. But I wanted to look through the Christmas stuff to see if we could find something new for our yard. (Didn't find anything by the way, their selection is pitiful this year!) So we checked out and went to the parking lot and he starts bawling because we left Christmas. Well I needed to go get a prescription and a few other things from the CVS across the street. I found Christmas music on Sunny 99.1 and that seemed to calm him down a little bit. I completely forgot a previous incident in CVS and I wish I had remembered cause I NEVER would've brought him in there. He found a toy instantly that he wanted and started crying again when we didn't get it.
Now I feel bad. Brendan really is having some great moments too. It's just hard to focus on that sometimes. He is getting so much better at communicating. He still has his babbling moments though. Especially when he gets mad or excited. Be ready for an epic tale or tongue-lashing that you won't understand at all. He's getting better with feelings too! He will actually say something hurts now. He is SO excited about Christmas. Now that our decorations are up inside it's all he can talk about. He's also becoming so polite. He says sorry when he bumps into people (even his sister!). He also says please and thank you.
Potty training! We are doing SO much better. He actually prefers the big potty to his Lightning McQueen potty. And I am SO thankful. I hate that thing. He must've heard me complain about it and decided to switch, hehe. I'm still nervous about taking him shopping or sending him to school in underwear. I did take him grocery shopping recently and he did great! We'll see.
Kaylee is so much different than her brother. She keeps us on our toes for sure. But I suppose that's the way it should be. He is super cautious, she is a daredevil. Brendan would sit still on the couch at this age. Kaylee wants to climb. Brendan still plays in the driveway and never goes past the sidewalk. I had to jump up and run Kaylee down the other day cause she was headed for the street. We've never ever thought about putting Brendan on a leash. Wondering if we might have to put Kaylee on one once she gets more sure-footed. Brendan was constantly falling and hurting himself at this age. Kaylee wobbles a lot and falls sometimes but hardly ever hurts herself. And she just reminded me, she also puts stuff in her mouth ALL the time. I never had to pick stuff out of Brendan's mouth. She's trying to make me into a better housekeeper, hehe.
Kaylee is still pretty attached to her pacifier. I've been trying to keep it away from her when she is awake and only give it to her when she starts to get sleepy before naps. She's still taking two naps a day. Shocking. I'm pretty sure Brendan turned 1 and said, nope, only one nap for me! I'd need to look that up though. At least we never had to wean Kaylee from a bottle cause she never got attached to one! In fact she hated them.
Kaylee's teeth... She is a strange one in this regard. She got her two bottom teeth, then got three of her top teeth. I swore the fourth was coming in and then the progress seemed to stop. In the meantime she was still pretty cranky, drooling, chewing on everything, etc. She cut a molar! I had no idea until one day when I was tickling her and she opened her mouth wide. So that fourth tooth up top still looks like it's gonna come in soon but who knows?
Kaylee seems to be picking up words here and there. She LOVES to say uh oh and oh no. We swear we heard her say thank you a few times. She says yeah a lot, usually with a ? at the end. She claps and dances a lot. She cracks me up cause she points a lot.
With eating, we're starting to push her towards table foods more and more. She likes grilled cheese now. Not too crazy about PB&J yet. I also got her to eat eggs again, off of my plate. I think she prefers food off of my plate rather than her own. Fruits have been rather difficult to switch to table versions since she doesn't have the teeth to chew them (the harder fruits anyway like apples and cantaloupe). So I bought some of the Beechnut 4 cups and she seems to like the Apples & Blueberries one. She likes bananas but won't finish a whole one. She sometimes will eat applesauce and peaches but usually won't finish a whole container of those either. Having a toddler and preschooler makes me feel like a very wasteful person.
We're very happy with our family of four. It's funny cause we used to say we were gonna have 3 kids and adopt one cause we truly love kids. But now that we're actually raising kids (not just babysitting them), we're starting to wonder if we're done. No final decisions have been made yet but Kaylee is just 13 (almost 14) months old. We're in no hurry to make that decision. For now we're enjoying the Christmas season and loving having a kiddo who is really into it this year.
This has been a great year for us, we've accomplished a lot. Our house is getting more organized and less cluttered. We might actually be able to unpack the last box sometime next year. I know, we've been in this house for almost 4 years now. I blame the kids. The adorable, wonderful kids :-) This might be the last post for this year. I'll be pretty busy the rest of this month. So Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, and Happy New Year!
The other big issue with him recently has been taking toys from Kaylee. Sometimes it's ok cause he'll give her a different toy and she's fine but most of the time she starts crying.
OH, and we had an EPIC meltdown the other day. I'm going to have to stop taking him shopping for a while. We went to Lowe's because we needed a filter for our fridge. But I wanted to look through the Christmas stuff to see if we could find something new for our yard. (Didn't find anything by the way, their selection is pitiful this year!) So we checked out and went to the parking lot and he starts bawling because we left Christmas. Well I needed to go get a prescription and a few other things from the CVS across the street. I found Christmas music on Sunny 99.1 and that seemed to calm him down a little bit. I completely forgot a previous incident in CVS and I wish I had remembered cause I NEVER would've brought him in there. He found a toy instantly that he wanted and started crying again when we didn't get it.
Now I feel bad. Brendan really is having some great moments too. It's just hard to focus on that sometimes. He is getting so much better at communicating. He still has his babbling moments though. Especially when he gets mad or excited. Be ready for an epic tale or tongue-lashing that you won't understand at all. He's getting better with feelings too! He will actually say something hurts now. He is SO excited about Christmas. Now that our decorations are up inside it's all he can talk about. He's also becoming so polite. He says sorry when he bumps into people (even his sister!). He also says please and thank you.
Potty training! We are doing SO much better. He actually prefers the big potty to his Lightning McQueen potty. And I am SO thankful. I hate that thing. He must've heard me complain about it and decided to switch, hehe. I'm still nervous about taking him shopping or sending him to school in underwear. I did take him grocery shopping recently and he did great! We'll see.
Kaylee is so much different than her brother. She keeps us on our toes for sure. But I suppose that's the way it should be. He is super cautious, she is a daredevil. Brendan would sit still on the couch at this age. Kaylee wants to climb. Brendan still plays in the driveway and never goes past the sidewalk. I had to jump up and run Kaylee down the other day cause she was headed for the street. We've never ever thought about putting Brendan on a leash. Wondering if we might have to put Kaylee on one once she gets more sure-footed. Brendan was constantly falling and hurting himself at this age. Kaylee wobbles a lot and falls sometimes but hardly ever hurts herself. And she just reminded me, she also puts stuff in her mouth ALL the time. I never had to pick stuff out of Brendan's mouth. She's trying to make me into a better housekeeper, hehe.
Kaylee is still pretty attached to her pacifier. I've been trying to keep it away from her when she is awake and only give it to her when she starts to get sleepy before naps. She's still taking two naps a day. Shocking. I'm pretty sure Brendan turned 1 and said, nope, only one nap for me! I'd need to look that up though. At least we never had to wean Kaylee from a bottle cause she never got attached to one! In fact she hated them.
Kaylee's teeth... She is a strange one in this regard. She got her two bottom teeth, then got three of her top teeth. I swore the fourth was coming in and then the progress seemed to stop. In the meantime she was still pretty cranky, drooling, chewing on everything, etc. She cut a molar! I had no idea until one day when I was tickling her and she opened her mouth wide. So that fourth tooth up top still looks like it's gonna come in soon but who knows?
Kaylee seems to be picking up words here and there. She LOVES to say uh oh and oh no. We swear we heard her say thank you a few times. She says yeah a lot, usually with a ? at the end. She claps and dances a lot. She cracks me up cause she points a lot.
With eating, we're starting to push her towards table foods more and more. She likes grilled cheese now. Not too crazy about PB&J yet. I also got her to eat eggs again, off of my plate. I think she prefers food off of my plate rather than her own. Fruits have been rather difficult to switch to table versions since she doesn't have the teeth to chew them (the harder fruits anyway like apples and cantaloupe). So I bought some of the Beechnut 4 cups and she seems to like the Apples & Blueberries one. She likes bananas but won't finish a whole one. She sometimes will eat applesauce and peaches but usually won't finish a whole container of those either. Having a toddler and preschooler makes me feel like a very wasteful person.
We're very happy with our family of four. It's funny cause we used to say we were gonna have 3 kids and adopt one cause we truly love kids. But now that we're actually raising kids (not just babysitting them), we're starting to wonder if we're done. No final decisions have been made yet but Kaylee is just 13 (almost 14) months old. We're in no hurry to make that decision. For now we're enjoying the Christmas season and loving having a kiddo who is really into it this year.
This has been a great year for us, we've accomplished a lot. Our house is getting more organized and less cluttered. We might actually be able to unpack the last box sometime next year. I know, we've been in this house for almost 4 years now. I blame the kids. The adorable, wonderful kids :-) This might be the last post for this year. I'll be pretty busy the rest of this month. So Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, and Happy New Year!
Sunday, September 25, 2011
Our silly children
Brendan
Oh, Brendan. My fellow mommy bloggers have hit the nail on the head with recent posts. Brendan is a perfect angel at school and then will not listen to a word you say when he gets home. Yes he is very sweet with Kaylee and I couldn't ask for a better relationship between those two. But if I hear him "I said no" one more time, I might spontaneously combust. Seriously, he's been on my last nerve for a month or so. The other point that a fellow mommy made was how it's amazing that these two precious kiddos you love so much can also make you madder than you've ever been. Brendan also has absolutely no interest in potty training and yet we keep trying. So now we're trying to make a push and be more consistent and just grin and bear the accidents. I stole an idea from a friend. I have a jar and poker chips to reward good behavior with and decided 10 was a good number to reach in order to redeem for whatever prize. He's earned one so far. I also put up a poster next to his potty and showed him the stickers he'll get if he goes peepee or poopoo IN the potty. He has zero so far. I started both of these systems today. I'll keep y'all posted.
Kaylee
My great eater! She loves trying new stuff. She actually tried a bite of spaghetti the other night and liked it but then wouldn't take another bite. Hopefully I will make the transition to real food better than I did with Brendan. She actually didn't give up jar food completely. She still eats all of her fruit from jars. And she likes the Beechnut 2.5 foods which have textures and mix a fruit and veggie. Great for when I'm feeling lazy and don't wanna cut up "real" veggies for her. She eats green beans, carrots, squash, mashed potatoes, broccoli, and hot dogs! I did have a temporary lapse in memory as to what she could have last month and gave her a couple of bites of eggs which she loved. Hopefully she'll still like them when she CAN eat them soon. Kaylee is walking more and more. She still prefers crawling for the moment. She is my daredevil! She has climbed up on things a bunch recently. In fact, I'm watching her debate whether to climb up on their little table right now. Kaylee is also getting very attached to me recently. To the point that when Daddy came with me to pick them up from school (for the first time this school year, cause of work) she pitched a fit when he picked her up instead of me. That's the other thing she's recently acquired is the ability to pitch fits. She is good at it too. Been watching her brother. I've even seen her slap her leg when she gets mad (like he still does). She makes the funniest faces. She is so expressive. She still HATES having her feet covered. Which includes shoes and socks. When I take her shoes off after school, she starts rolling her feet. Cracks me up every time. Kaylee is liking school but her poor class is always crying when I drop her off so she almost always cries when I leave too. I think tooth 5 and 6 are about to make their appearances. They're top teeth so she has been chewing on everything and biting. In fact she bit my big toe while I was typing this. I think the phrases I say the most to her are "don't push those buttons" (talking about the TV receiver) and "don't be mean to the kitty". Our poor cat puts up with a LOT of abuse from Kaylee and usually doesn't bite or scratch her. I'm amazed.
We got a visit from Uncle Matthew a couple of weeks ago. So awesome. He brought his girlfriend Julie and one of her daughters, Lilly. Lilly is two so both of the kids had a great time playing with her. But after watching Kaylee with her, I'm wondering who is beating up on her at school. She kept pushing Lilly! Lilly was adorable. She talks circles around Brendan (he's getting better all the time with that) and her favorite word was "Huh?", said in a very high-pitched voice. Too cute. We all went to the zoo one day which was a lot of fun. Brendan's favorite animal that day was the Komodo dragon, or lizard as he kept calling him. Lilly's favorite were the monkeys and we saw lots of those. The Houston zoo has an entire area dedicated to monkeys and then they've just opened an area called The African Forest that has more monkeys. I don't think Kaylee liked the zoo too much. She was just mad that she kept getting left in the stroller. And then when we stopped to play on the playground in the Children's zoo, she fell and cut her head. Poor baby. We also rode the train at Hermann Park next door. That was nice and relaxing. Brendan was really excited but mad that we didn't buy any trains in the gift shop that we had to enter and exit through to get to the train (so dumb!). I was rather perturbed that the price for the train is the same no matter what age you are. I had to pay $3 for each of us.
I don't know how zoo memberships work elsewhere, but at the Houston zoo, you have to have named adults on the membership. So Grandma and Nana can't take the kids (for free) unless they're one of the named adults because they check IDs. There is one level that we're looking at that we might be able to make it to where everyone can take the kiddos. But I gotta call and ask about the wording. The lower levels say "two named adults and 3 or 5 children or grandchildren", the level I'm looking at says "three named adults and up to 7 additional guests". To me, that sounds like I could put me, Grandma, and Nana as the named adults and then whichever combination of Dad, Grandma, Grandpa, aunts, uncles, and kids could also get in. And since Nana and Papaw will have four grandchildren as of the end of next month, this would be nice. Also, I love how I got the membership thinking we could go to one of the fun events like Breakfast with the Animals, only to discover that the tickets were almost as much per person (again no discount for children) as the membership cost! Ridiculous.
Now that I've rambled on forever, I'll stop. The kiddos are doing awesome and I'm loving the opportunity to spend more time with them. And even though they don't always show it, I think they love it too.
Oh, Brendan. My fellow mommy bloggers have hit the nail on the head with recent posts. Brendan is a perfect angel at school and then will not listen to a word you say when he gets home. Yes he is very sweet with Kaylee and I couldn't ask for a better relationship between those two. But if I hear him "I said no" one more time, I might spontaneously combust. Seriously, he's been on my last nerve for a month or so. The other point that a fellow mommy made was how it's amazing that these two precious kiddos you love so much can also make you madder than you've ever been. Brendan also has absolutely no interest in potty training and yet we keep trying. So now we're trying to make a push and be more consistent and just grin and bear the accidents. I stole an idea from a friend. I have a jar and poker chips to reward good behavior with and decided 10 was a good number to reach in order to redeem for whatever prize. He's earned one so far. I also put up a poster next to his potty and showed him the stickers he'll get if he goes peepee or poopoo IN the potty. He has zero so far. I started both of these systems today. I'll keep y'all posted.
Kaylee
My great eater! She loves trying new stuff. She actually tried a bite of spaghetti the other night and liked it but then wouldn't take another bite. Hopefully I will make the transition to real food better than I did with Brendan. She actually didn't give up jar food completely. She still eats all of her fruit from jars. And she likes the Beechnut 2.5 foods which have textures and mix a fruit and veggie. Great for when I'm feeling lazy and don't wanna cut up "real" veggies for her. She eats green beans, carrots, squash, mashed potatoes, broccoli, and hot dogs! I did have a temporary lapse in memory as to what she could have last month and gave her a couple of bites of eggs which she loved. Hopefully she'll still like them when she CAN eat them soon. Kaylee is walking more and more. She still prefers crawling for the moment. She is my daredevil! She has climbed up on things a bunch recently. In fact, I'm watching her debate whether to climb up on their little table right now. Kaylee is also getting very attached to me recently. To the point that when Daddy came with me to pick them up from school (for the first time this school year, cause of work) she pitched a fit when he picked her up instead of me. That's the other thing she's recently acquired is the ability to pitch fits. She is good at it too. Been watching her brother. I've even seen her slap her leg when she gets mad (like he still does). She makes the funniest faces. She is so expressive. She still HATES having her feet covered. Which includes shoes and socks. When I take her shoes off after school, she starts rolling her feet. Cracks me up every time. Kaylee is liking school but her poor class is always crying when I drop her off so she almost always cries when I leave too. I think tooth 5 and 6 are about to make their appearances. They're top teeth so she has been chewing on everything and biting. In fact she bit my big toe while I was typing this. I think the phrases I say the most to her are "don't push those buttons" (talking about the TV receiver) and "don't be mean to the kitty". Our poor cat puts up with a LOT of abuse from Kaylee and usually doesn't bite or scratch her. I'm amazed.
We got a visit from Uncle Matthew a couple of weeks ago. So awesome. He brought his girlfriend Julie and one of her daughters, Lilly. Lilly is two so both of the kids had a great time playing with her. But after watching Kaylee with her, I'm wondering who is beating up on her at school. She kept pushing Lilly! Lilly was adorable. She talks circles around Brendan (he's getting better all the time with that) and her favorite word was "Huh?", said in a very high-pitched voice. Too cute. We all went to the zoo one day which was a lot of fun. Brendan's favorite animal that day was the Komodo dragon, or lizard as he kept calling him. Lilly's favorite were the monkeys and we saw lots of those. The Houston zoo has an entire area dedicated to monkeys and then they've just opened an area called The African Forest that has more monkeys. I don't think Kaylee liked the zoo too much. She was just mad that she kept getting left in the stroller. And then when we stopped to play on the playground in the Children's zoo, she fell and cut her head. Poor baby. We also rode the train at Hermann Park next door. That was nice and relaxing. Brendan was really excited but mad that we didn't buy any trains in the gift shop that we had to enter and exit through to get to the train (so dumb!). I was rather perturbed that the price for the train is the same no matter what age you are. I had to pay $3 for each of us.
I don't know how zoo memberships work elsewhere, but at the Houston zoo, you have to have named adults on the membership. So Grandma and Nana can't take the kids (for free) unless they're one of the named adults because they check IDs. There is one level that we're looking at that we might be able to make it to where everyone can take the kiddos. But I gotta call and ask about the wording. The lower levels say "two named adults and 3 or 5 children or grandchildren", the level I'm looking at says "three named adults and up to 7 additional guests". To me, that sounds like I could put me, Grandma, and Nana as the named adults and then whichever combination of Dad, Grandma, Grandpa, aunts, uncles, and kids could also get in. And since Nana and Papaw will have four grandchildren as of the end of next month, this would be nice. Also, I love how I got the membership thinking we could go to one of the fun events like Breakfast with the Animals, only to discover that the tickets were almost as much per person (again no discount for children) as the membership cost! Ridiculous.
Now that I've rambled on forever, I'll stop. The kiddos are doing awesome and I'm loving the opportunity to spend more time with them. And even though they don't always show it, I think they love it too.
Wednesday, July 13, 2011
9 Month & 3 Year Old Visit
I was sooooooooo happy when they scheduled this appointment for BOTH kiddos. Makes it so much easier. Brendan was an absolute mess. He is SO sensitive about everything. He whined about taking his shoes off, he cried when the lady pulled down the measuring thing to get his height, he didn't like the blood pressure cuff, and there wasn't much of anything he liked about Dr. Binder checking him out. Poor kid. But between that and saying that I thought that the doctor would probably understand about 50% of what he says.... We've now been asked to do an assessment thing to see if he would qualify for speech therapy. So we'll see how that goes. I think he just moves too fast to think about what he's saying and is super-sensitive. He's really smart and I don't think there's anything wrong with him. It's so hard to put a number on something like someone else's understanding. He is 37.5 inches tall and weighs 33 lbs. It was kind of hectic so I do not remember percentages.
Kaylee was tired by the time the doc came in so she was pretty fussy. Dr. Binder was impressed that she's ahead of the game with pulling up to standing and cruising. He noticed her weight percentile went down and wants me to do 4 formula feedings instead of just 3 (yes, we've weaned now). She is 27 inches and 18 lbs, 2 ounces.
Kaylee was tired by the time the doc came in so she was pretty fussy. Dr. Binder was impressed that she's ahead of the game with pulling up to standing and cruising. He noticed her weight percentile went down and wants me to do 4 formula feedings instead of just 3 (yes, we've weaned now). She is 27 inches and 18 lbs, 2 ounces.
Tuesday, June 21, 2011
Our trip to Arkansas
So I was sort of dreading this trip but overall looking forward to it. Kaylee had been really fussy in the car seat just running errands around town. So the thought of an 8 hour drive was not sounding like fun. Both kids were amazing the whole trip. Brendan had one major meltdown that I can think of and the rest of the time was awesome.
Brendan rode with Grandma, Grandpa, and Aunt Shannon on the way up and the way home. So it was just me, Brent, and Kaylee in the truck. Glad we had the truck cause we had SO much stuff. Probably didn't need all of it, but it was nice to have in case we needed it. Uncle Matthew flew in from Amarillo and was already at the cabins when we got there. It was so awesome to see him. This was his first time to meet Kaylee.
The cabins we stayed in were on the outskirts of Hot Springs on Lake Hamilton. We had gorgeous views on our part of the lake. There were some amazing houses on the cliffs across the lake from our dock. We were able to play in the water a few days while we were there. Brendan had lots of fun. Kaylee had this hilarious expression on her face every time we got in the water. It wasn't a smile and it wasn't a frown but somewhere right in the middle. She mostly enjoyed chewing on her float.
We visited with my Great Aunt Ruby a couple of times. We got to see my Uncle Mitch and his new wife Connie (they got married Friday before we got there, lol). We also got to see my cousin Melissa and her new grandbaby Ty. I was sad we didn't get to see Ty's mommy Amber. Kaylee was absolutely fascinated by Ty. We did have to save him from her a couple of times when she tried to grab him. He's only a few months old. Brendan was a ham for everybody, it was great.
One day we went to the Alligator Farm in the morning and the Midamerica Museum in the afternoon. Both were so much fun. The neat thing about the Alligator Farm is that we now have 3 generations who have visited as kids: my mom, me and my siblings, and our kiddos! We had also visited the Midamerica Museum when we were younger. Not sure if all of the same stuff was there from when we visited. There were TONS of interactive exhibits, so it was really fun for Brendan. Their special exhibit was a Tesla Coil. (I think it was supposed to be one of the biggest? Don't remember.) It was really neat and even though it was loud, Brendan really enjoyed it. The meltdown happened in the gift shop there. Oops. Probably shouldn't have taken him in there. It was sad cause Matthew bought Brendan a dinosaur toy and he started crying when he didn't get him both of the ones they had been playing with. Silly toddler.
Another day we visited a famous BBQ joint in Hot Springs called McClard's. The sauce and spices were really good so we bought a bottle of each. Afterward we went to the Grand Promenade to have a scenic route to bath house row. We went through one of the bath houses. After that we were all so miserably hot, it was time to go back.
The kids went to bed really well each night. Poor Brendan fell off the bed twice. He has NEVER done that at home. And these cabins had wooden floors so it was a loud thud both times and he bruised his elbow. It woke Kaylee up one time. I felt so bad for him.
I think that pretty much covers it. Kaylee didn't nurse very well on the trip but then again, she's been acting like she's ready to wean for a few weeks. So we've started giving her formula at the night-time feeding. She isn't drinking it very well at all (at least not for me, and most nights, I'm her only option). She's actually never finished a bottle of breastmilk or formula. Brendan and Kaylee are SO different. Almost complete opposites. And I still cannot explain why she's so much chubbier than Brendan was. Maybe I'm eating slightly healthier.
Brendan rode with Grandma, Grandpa, and Aunt Shannon on the way up and the way home. So it was just me, Brent, and Kaylee in the truck. Glad we had the truck cause we had SO much stuff. Probably didn't need all of it, but it was nice to have in case we needed it. Uncle Matthew flew in from Amarillo and was already at the cabins when we got there. It was so awesome to see him. This was his first time to meet Kaylee.
The cabins we stayed in were on the outskirts of Hot Springs on Lake Hamilton. We had gorgeous views on our part of the lake. There were some amazing houses on the cliffs across the lake from our dock. We were able to play in the water a few days while we were there. Brendan had lots of fun. Kaylee had this hilarious expression on her face every time we got in the water. It wasn't a smile and it wasn't a frown but somewhere right in the middle. She mostly enjoyed chewing on her float.
We visited with my Great Aunt Ruby a couple of times. We got to see my Uncle Mitch and his new wife Connie (they got married Friday before we got there, lol). We also got to see my cousin Melissa and her new grandbaby Ty. I was sad we didn't get to see Ty's mommy Amber. Kaylee was absolutely fascinated by Ty. We did have to save him from her a couple of times when she tried to grab him. He's only a few months old. Brendan was a ham for everybody, it was great.
One day we went to the Alligator Farm in the morning and the Midamerica Museum in the afternoon. Both were so much fun. The neat thing about the Alligator Farm is that we now have 3 generations who have visited as kids: my mom, me and my siblings, and our kiddos! We had also visited the Midamerica Museum when we were younger. Not sure if all of the same stuff was there from when we visited. There were TONS of interactive exhibits, so it was really fun for Brendan. Their special exhibit was a Tesla Coil. (I think it was supposed to be one of the biggest? Don't remember.) It was really neat and even though it was loud, Brendan really enjoyed it. The meltdown happened in the gift shop there. Oops. Probably shouldn't have taken him in there. It was sad cause Matthew bought Brendan a dinosaur toy and he started crying when he didn't get him both of the ones they had been playing with. Silly toddler.
Another day we visited a famous BBQ joint in Hot Springs called McClard's. The sauce and spices were really good so we bought a bottle of each. Afterward we went to the Grand Promenade to have a scenic route to bath house row. We went through one of the bath houses. After that we were all so miserably hot, it was time to go back.
The kids went to bed really well each night. Poor Brendan fell off the bed twice. He has NEVER done that at home. And these cabins had wooden floors so it was a loud thud both times and he bruised his elbow. It woke Kaylee up one time. I felt so bad for him.
I think that pretty much covers it. Kaylee didn't nurse very well on the trip but then again, she's been acting like she's ready to wean for a few weeks. So we've started giving her formula at the night-time feeding. She isn't drinking it very well at all (at least not for me, and most nights, I'm her only option). She's actually never finished a bottle of breastmilk or formula. Brendan and Kaylee are SO different. Almost complete opposites. And I still cannot explain why she's so much chubbier than Brendan was. Maybe I'm eating slightly healthier.
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