Family Fun - TX style

Matt worked a lot of overtime at the end of the year... so he got a couple extra comp days he was supposed to take in first quarter.  Here's what we did in February:

We decided to check out the botanical gardens at the park here.  Well, not that exciting in February (maybe we should wait until the 2nd quarter of the year for this one), but Reid had a blast pushing a stroller around.

(I know, you are jealous of our 2.5 year old photographer!)

 

That afternoon we  went to a movie, Reid's FIRST in a movie theater : Arthur Christmas

We even brought Weston, he did good for most of it.  I even tried nursing him (with a cover) and that helped, but by the second half, he'd had it.  So I went out in the hall, let him spread out a little, he happier, but I wasn't.  So I went back in and sat on the floor in the back.  He was happy there with a little toddler girl playing.

The next day we slept in and were lazy.  After naps, we went to Kiddie Acres.  It's a fun little "amusement" park for kids.  Mostly just a few carnival rides, and a TRAIN.  Reid was in heaven!

The little flying planes

Reid insisted mommy ride too! hahaha!

Weston was less impressed with the train.

We weren't fancy, but we sure did relax and have fun!

My Current Excuse (WARNING: pictures may disturb you)

You know, I'm not really sure where I've been. 
I have a list of posts that I need to do, like my baby growing up, my child's 3rd birthday, self-improvement ... etc.  But really, I'm not sure.  Some of it is swimming, some of it is summer fun, some of it is .. well, Diablo III.
And then there's always workout group which by the time I get the kids in the car, to the time I get them home out of the car, it's usually 2 hours, but who goes home after they sweat profusely?  NOT ME!  No no, I go to the grocery store and share that blessed smell with all.  Because, I'm a mom of TWO small children, and I am going to maximize my time out of the house!  Then we go home for lunch and nap time, while I do my house chores, then dinner is here before you know it!  And then I feel like my night is over.  Busy life of a mom.

Anyways, the other news... in case you haven't heard... I went on vacation to visit my brother and attend my family reunion.  While carrying Reid (now 3 years old) on my shoulders, I mis-stepped and took a fall.  While trying to brace myself and my child, I heard a crunch when my hand hit the pavement.  When I looked over, this is what I saw:

me at the ER... I'm in pain, don't look at my face, these are possibly the worst pictures of me EVER!

Here's the x-ray:

After surgery here's what it looks like now.

1 month later, here is what my scars look like:

I promise to update more later, but that's it for now!

Baby 2: 6 and 7 months

6 Months
- This has been all about figuring how to sit up.  That's all he does now.  He rarely chooses to fall over and explore on his belly, unless he can't quite reach that toy that he wants.
- Reid and Weston play all the time!  I love it, it reminds me why I wanted more kids!  If Reid is running, spinning, riding a truck or anything... it cracks Weston up.  Occasionally they will play on the same toy... assuming Reid doesn't just steal it.  They often laugh at the dinner table.  Reid loves to help Weston bounce when he is in his bouncy seat or jumper, and while we worry that he is being too rough, Weston cracks up.  He will more happily sit on the ground as long as Reid is running around doing his thing, just as long as he can watch Reid.
Reid likes to play chase, and if you are carrying Weston and he can see Reid, he thinks it is a GREAT game too.
My favorite was the other day he grabbed Reid when he tried to walk away... he's got a strong grip!... so as not to lose his buddy.
- He is a vegetable boy, much like Reid (I wonder if he'll hate desserts like Reid does too).  Hates bananas, doesn't care much for peaches.  Carrots were a no on the first try, but we just tried them again and they are a yes!  We're gonna try green beans again.  I just got a baby food grinder from a friend, so I'll be trying table food real soon here.
- Weston still struggles with naps.  He is moving around more and has a lot more strength, so swaddling isn't work so much anymore.  So there is some crying at the beginning, we're working on it.  So far we've had a couple times he's cried more than an hour, by that time, its time to feed him again, so I just go get him.  I'm hoping he'll eventually learn to calm himself down.
- He sleeps about 10 hours at night, then eats and sleeps another 1.5-2.5 hours.
- Can fully roll around, but usually doesn't choose... I guess I don't put his toys far enough away.

(trial run of hair for our family photoshoot)

(Our family photoshoot, I think he's 6 months 1 week here)

7 Months  (well a little past)
Mobility?  Almost....
- fully sits up and then started leaning to a side to get toys
- which then moved to kinda leaning over one leg to reach a toy
- now he fully leans over one leg, with the back leg supporting with his knee then he can kinda sit back down, swing his legs around and has actually moved 4 ft.  I'm sure he could go more, but always get what he wants by then
Eating, he's a super eater! 
- He LOVES table food, he's had roll, french fries, spaghetti, stroganoff, tunafish, rice (with various sauces), quinoa salad, grapes, and a bunch of other things.  Hasn't rejected anything.
- Still will eat bottle vegetables with a little cereal, but only squash, peas, sweet potates or something that contains those (mixed veggies or carrots&peas)
- He eats cheerios or my cereal for breakfast, then I let him snack whatever we're eating for lunch (pot pie, PB&J sandwich, grapes, crackers, etc), then for dinner he gets as much jar food and cereal as he will eat, then its all table food after that
- He also loves to drink water from his sippy cup... its hard to get it away from him at times.
Growing up
- Matt has never been a baby person, but I am realizing 6+ months is my favorite age, they aren't causing too much trouble, but still have lots of personality
- He is SOOO ticklish, even his back!
- He has the cutest belly, that I just can't resist zberting it all the time!
- He loves to have conversations with us, he'll grunt or squak or yell, and if we do it back, he'll do it again, such a fun game!
- He loves big brother!  But big brother likes his space.  (Reid is finally learning about personal space)
- He takes two naps (see below) and sleeps ~12 hours at night, sometimes with a 6am feeding to finish out his rest

(waking up from a nap!  I love how happy he is!)

(snuggling in his sleep with his monkey)

TRIALS - I am documenting these, not to complain, but because this was frustrating and I want to remember how I got through it with the next kids.
So around 5 months I was struggling with his nap schedule, and then he seemed really interest in table food, so we started solids.  That first week was awesome!  He slept so much better.  Then it slowly tapered off again.  And we continued to struggle with how many naps, sometimes 2, sometimes 4.. what?  I didn't know what to do. 
Also, he has started doing what all babies do, easy distraction from nursing.  He seriously would latch and unlatch without even sucking.  Look all around, and do that for a while, until he got fully frustrated and would start crying.  Yeah frustrating for me too, cuz then I was struggling with my let-down, which then made him have to keep trying to suck longer.... it was a downward spiral.
So around 6 months, I started wondering how much milk he was getting... I started pumping during the day and bottle feeding.  I even added in a pumping late at night before bed, and I started taking fenugreek, which is supposed to help your production.  Fenugreek helped a little, but I was still only getting 18oz at most for the day, and that just wasn't enough. 
Because I was doing all this, I was getting more and more stressed.  It felt like it was all just piling on top of each other.  So then after a couple times of being too stressed to even get let down, I lost it.... tears and all.  After a conversation with my hubby, we decided me being stressed out worse than forking out the money for formula. 
So I stopped the fenugreek and the extra pumping at night, and started supplementing Weston's meals.  He still nurses first thing in the morning (when i'm full), then for the 10am, 1-2pm feedings I add at least 2 oz of formula to the milk I pump (making sure it's at least 4 oz a feeding), plus whatever solids we feed him in between. For the 4-5pm feeding it just depends, cuz he gets dinner shortly after.  Then for bed time I nurse and then give him 4-6 oz of formula.
After doing this for a few days, he's napping peacefully at 10:30am and 2:30pm and the naps just keep getting longer!  Hallelujah!  I thought I was losing my mind!  He's been so much happier and less needy.  He does still very much have a bed time.  He wants to be drinking those bottles for bed by 8pm or he is NO fun!
We EVEN had someone watch the kids from 5pm-11pm and they said he was easy!  That was a first!  Thanks to good friends for a fun night out, and here's to figuring out that your baby really is hungry!

Baby 2: 5 months going on 9

Where?  Where did this last month go?  He is growing so fast, and loving life that I just can't believe we are at the end of January!

- Weston is constantly rolling from his back to his tummy.  He has rolled from tummy to back a few times, but I'm assuming those were on accident, cuz lately he'll just lay on the floor face first screaming.

- He LOVE LOVE LOVES to be hung upside down, especially if you kiss his cheek and squeeze his legs at the same time.

- He loves when mom, dad, and Reid pay attention to him. Some strangers he likes, some not so much.

- He is not a bath boy.  Reid loved baths, but Weston has decided he's ok with them, but not loving it yet.  (I wonder if this is cuz I rarely have time to sit and play with him in the bath like I did with Reid)

- He has been the happiest boy.  He got easier all of the sudden.  It seems like he is more content now that he can play with toys and maneuver things a little more.

- He has started that hard stage of dropping naps.  Sometimes he sleeps in between every feeding and sometimes he's not tired at all.  It is mostly hard cuz it makes my day less predictable.

- At the beginning of the month he got really congested, I think he might have allergies here.  Every time we went outside his eyes would water and his nose would just run.  Well, I couldn't give him anything, so we brought the stroller in his room and he slept in that for a week.  The significance of this is that he now sleeps in his car seat... in PUBLIC!  My non-social homebody is finally doing better with sleeping in public and being happier in his car seat.  Halleluhah!

- He's already starting to grow out of some of the 6months clothes.  Bring on the 9 month clothes... this younger brother is gonna be the tall one!

- He rocks himself.  No really, if you put him on your knee, he'll kick his legs forward, then throws his back towards you, then kicks his legs, and then shifts his weight.  It really is comical.  But he keeps him happy for long times, so there really are worse things, right?

- We started solids!  We were eating rolls and he grabbed my hand and put it in his mouth and kinda sucked on it.  He seemed happy, so I broke off a tiny piece and gave it to him.  Oh man, he wanted more!  Then after acting hungry a few afternoons, I broke down and finally started the cereal.  So far he's had a little roll, a few puffs (not quite ready for these, had to break them in half), and oatmeal cereal (with formula for flavor).  He is definitely interested and hasn't rejected anything yet.

- The other day I tried to show Reid how Weston can't sit up on his own by placing him on the floor... well, he proved me wrong and sat there for like 8 seconds before toppling over.   I've started doing this more, and he's getting better and better. 

- Weston very much knows my face.  He lights up when I walk into his view.  I am surprised how special it makes me feel each and every time.

- He loves to jump and bounce and rough house.  He loves to be tossed in the air, or swung by a leg and arm, or spun around... all crazy things that a baby can handle.

- Weston is grabbing and reaching for toys, and gets frustrated when they don't stay when he knocks them. 

Birthdays of 2011

So this post is quite late... but I want to document it anyways.

October 2011 - Leann's birthday happened amidst a 7 week old infant, and brother's wedding and a trip to AZ, a baby shower for much awaited little nephew, Matt's insane work hours, and a baby's blessing.  So needless to say my birthday got a bit overshadowed.  My parents were still very kind and got me a ice cream cake (my favorite), and sang to me.  I enjoyed the moment and just let it pass as I didn't have much time to focus on that.

November 2011 - Matt kept trying to find out what I wanted to do/for my birthday, albeit a little late.  I finally decided what I wanted was a dinner out.  A really nice dinner.  No work, no kids, just us, and some incredibly delicious food that I didn't prepare.  And I wanted nice.... not so nice that the portions are teeny tiny and the food is prettier than me... but nice in that it was quality food with lots of flavor.  I LOVE going out to eat and since quitting work, we don't go out very much, so this is truly a treat for me.
However, this month Matt was getting calls for work at night and on the weekends.  I did not want my evening of relaxation to be ruined by work... so I told him to wait until work wasn't so crazy, so I could enjoy it.

Naturally I put my friend G up to the task of helping me pick a restaurant.  We discussed prices and food amounts and food tastes and such.  Finally landing on a choice of Mainstreet Grill.  She even offered the perfect set up.  Come to her house, feed the baby and then leave, so as to maximize the worry free time allotment when it comes to babies you aren't certain will take a bottle.

So now to picking a day.  We found one, early December...

December 2011 - We got to go on our date.  We dressed up for each other, we dropped off the kids and headed to our little getaway.  And let me tell you, it was HEAVEN!  It may have lasted only 1.5 hours, but it was perfect bliss for me!  The salad, oh the salad with bleu cheese and candied pecans, strawberries, and balsalmic vinegarette, the fried avocado for an appetizer, the steak and veggies prepared to perfection and with delicious seasonings, and then the ice cream sandwich that was seriously pure heaven, trust me this ain't no cheesy ice cream sandwich, we are talking pastries worthy of European origin on top and bottom, delicious cream ice cream rolled in candied nuts, drizzled with chocolate fudge yumminess... oh man, I'm drueling just remembering it.  I felt like my taste buds were doing that little dance from Ratatouille, where Remy is trying to explain flavors to his brother.  My mouth was singing.  I loved it!!!!  My birthday was a success.  (also need to thank my kind brother for helping pay the bill by giving us a gift card after they came to stay with us)

(G's kids love Weston while we were gone!  Can you blame them?  He was very loved that night)

Well, Matt's birthday is also December.  And he loves to celebrate on the day.  So we made plans with friends to bbq and put kids to bed and play games all night.  Matt still wanted to go out to eat... so we started searching.  Found a community magazine and checked out some restaurants in there.  Matt decided he wanted mexican food.  Sounded good to me.  So we found one, and decided to try and head out the night before his birthday.  No luck with babysitters, so we trekked the kids with us this time.  They were champs!  No complaining, just happy eating and smiles!  We enjoyed our dinners... good classic flavors for a good cheap price... I love mexican food!  I mentioned it was his birthday, so when it was time, out came the sombrero and the delicious dessert. 

The dessert was good, but the true entertainment was the hat.   This thing was so huge, the girl in the booth behind Matt, had to duck to not get hit by it.  It was awesome!

(If you look close, you can see her ducking)

 The next day Reid came down with a terrible fever.  Matt and I were still recovering from something as well.  So we cancelled our bbq, and stayed in.  I still made a cake, nothing extravagant as I don't know how to do sick kids and still do everything else, but it was a yummy cake.  (win for the recipe on the back of the Hersey's cocoa powder)  But considering all it was a good cake.  In spite of feeling terrible, Reid love singing Happy Birthday... he loved it so much, we did it again 3 days later for family home evening.... candles and all!  A little ridiculous, but when they are 2 and running fever, why not?

Happy Birthday to us!

The Sweetest 2.5 Year Old

- Reid started singing songs with us.  At first, he would just say the last word, but now he knows almost whole songs.  His favorites are: Jesus Wants Me for a Sunbeam, John the Baptist, Christian Soldiers, Country Roads, Love is Spoken Here, and the Thomas the Tank Engine theme song.  Truth be told, Country Roads is the cutest.
- Reid is starting to learn about sharing.  According to nursery leaders, he's pretty good most days at sharing.  Other than the Lightning McQueen car, black train and his ride truck, Reid is good at sharing his own toys here at home.- Reid has mostly adjusted to having a brother, but I think one thing  that helped was that her learned how to ask to have mom to himself.  "I need a mommy hug.... No, Weston down... need a mommy hug".  I try to support his need for some mommy attention, but trying not to baby him... it's a tricky balance.
- Reid is starting to learn cause/effect.  So we are trying to teach him consequences.  Reid spilled his drink the other day, so I went through the motions of helping him get a rag and clean it up, and what to do with the rag afterward.  I was pleasantly surprised when the next time he spilled and I told him to go get a rag... he did!
- Reid is starting to like his brother.  When Weston sees him, he always smiles and Reid gets excited that he can make him "happy" or "smiiiiwwing" (smiling).  He will often share a car with Weston, and we've started teaching him about asking for a toy and then trading for another toy.

 - Reid has really starting understanding and responding to our requests.  He understands that we want something, or when we explain why he can't have what he wants. His comprehension has expounded.
- We have constantly worked on colors, but had no luck, until he started asking for me to draw Thomas (with a blue crayon), or James (with a red crayon), or Percy (with a green crayon).  Success!  Our child is not colorblind!  So, we worked on it for just a bit, and then BAM! he knew all of his colors all of the sudden.  Pink and purple still need a little help (but well, we don't use them much, they are girl colors), and orange and yellow are a little confusing, but he's getting better.
- One of my favorites is that like every 2 year old, Reid whines.  But we have talked about being happy and saying things in a happy and nice voice.  He gets this cheesy closed mouth smile and tries to show mommy that he can be happy, so he can get what he wants.  I love the face... I can't help by smile myself.
- Ever since about a week after Christmas (when Reid got really sick), he takes Lightning McQueen to bed with him.  This was such a surprise, cuz Reid does not like stuffed animals, so I thought he would never want a toy in bed with him.  Well, Lightning McQueen has won the cherished place of bedtime with Reid.
- Reid goes through phases of bringing his blankets out of bed.  We started with him leaving his bed blankets on mommy's bed, and slowly moved it to his bed.  But occasionally he still likes to bring them to mommy's bed.  But it is comical now, because with the colder weather we have added a full twin size blanket on his bed and watching him drag it to our room makes me smile.  But then I ask him to put them back on his bed and he does it right away.

Reid shows his love unconditionally for mommy and daddy.  He is my friend and buddy right now.  He is behaving so well and rarely gets in trouble.  If he does, its to the corner and before his 2 minutes are up, he's in the corner apologizing or saying what he should have done differently.  I know this won't last forever, so I am enjoying every moment I can.  We made it through the months of adjusting to moving and then adjusting to a baby brother, and now we are just enjoying being us... at home.... and he's the sweetest boy.  I want to never forget these precious moments.

(Reid helping Daddy play "robots"

a.k.a. Daddy doing his robotics hobby by tearing 

apart our broken DVD player for parts) 

Play Trains / Christmas

We had a great Christmas!  My Christmas started a little early around 5am when Weston woke up to eat, but like the champ that he is, he went straight back to sleep.  Then just before 7am a little toddler came in.  Matt and I did our best to be excited to get up.  Reid still didn't quite get what Christmas morning was all about. Well, it didn't take long, he was so sweet to wait his turn while Mom and Dad took turns opening presents.  He was happy to play with the toys he had already gotten in between each new present.
 
Our extended family was so generous with our gifts... we even spoiled ourselves a bit with a new Blu-Ray player and the entire Harry Potter collection on Blu-Ray.  But the main event was the train set!  Santa (with the help of my sister) gave Reid a basic figure 8 train track set.  Little did we know Grandma was also in cahoots with Santa and she gave Reid a Thomas and a James train!  He was so happy.  He played with the trains ALL day on Christmas.  We even tried to watch the new Cars movie and Reid lost interest in about 10 minutes and went back to the trains!  He's a boy in every aspect.  The most common phrase in our house that week was "Play Trains?"

 

Weston woke up when we were close to ending, and we opened up his presents as well.  Then we took some time to enjoy our breakfast casserole that I made the night before and then headed upstairs to get ready for church.  There was some protesting when it was time to get ready for church and to leave for church... but he got through it.  Church was great and it was fun to see all our friends dressed up so spiffy for the Christmas day.

When we got home he played a little and then it was nap time for all.  Except Weston didn't get that memo and didn't let mommy get her Christmas afternoon nap.  But alas, all is still well.

Then we had a yummy dinner of pork roast, cheesy potatoes, salad, and strawberry jello.  Shortly after we finished dinner, our friends came over to wish us a good Christmas and leave us some "brownies from a jar".

Such a fun holiday.  We did miss seeing our families, I did call my parents and talk to my brother and sister, and Matt's family skyped with us the night before.  However, staying home and taking it easy allowed us to rest and reflect on Christ and why we celebrate Christmas. 

(our small hand-me-down tree with all the presents)

 (Matt gave a beautiful the Christmas story lesson on Christmas Eve)

 (the after math)

It was a wonderful day!