Sunday, June 29, 2014

Spoke Too Soon


Right after my post on Thursday, Kyle starting babbling. 
Of course.  Sweet little guy, seems to have quite a bit to say.

Right after posting his 10 month update, I also read that benzocaine can be 
dangerous for kids.  So no more ear drops either.  Oh well!

Below is a video of him blowing raspberries at us.
He does this all day.  Blows raspberries and then giggles and giggles.
So sweet!


Thursday, June 26, 2014

Kyle - 10 Months!

Baby Kyle is 10 months old today!

I think he has changed a lot this month!

He is a very, very busy baby.  Constantly on the move!
He crawls everywhere.  He can get all the way up the stairs without any help. 
He walks behind toys/benches without any problem.  
He can stand alone for very short periods of time (only when he doesn't realize it)!

He is a super silly, sweet baby.
He likes to play hide and seek.
He blows raspberries at us all day long and then just giggles and giggles.
He likes to crawl speedy-fast away from you and have you grab his feet and pull him back.
He claps his hands when he is happy.
He rocks back and forth when music is playing.

He eats well.
Likes to nurse a lot.
He mainly eats pureed foods
although can tolerate some soft foods.
He has no teeth still!

He constantly is putting things into his mouth.  Constantly.
It is a never ending process to save him from choking.

He sleeps pretty well.
He goes to bed between 7:00 and 8:00. 
I nurse him before I go to bed (10:30 or 11:00) and then
we don't get him out of bed again until 7:00.
He occasionally protests and I will get him if he is really upset.
But, most days he either waits quietly for us in his bed.
It's not unusual for him to be sleeping at 7:00 still.
This is definitely a change from the first 3, likely due to a slight 
change in parenting styles (tolerance of tears).

He unfortunately still seems to have red, fluid filled ears.
This seems to bother him some days but not always.
I have some benzocaine ear drops that help him
and often use them before putting him to bed.
He's about 6 weeks into red, fluid filled ears.
He is also behind in "talking."
He does NOT babble with consonants yet.
He does jabber and seems to be talking to us at times but not really
with consonants.  Carson was also delayed in this (had bad ears too) and he
is now my chattiest child so I'm not super concerned but will be quite
aggressive about an ENT appointment if it doesn't improve quickly.

Only other thing is that I think his eyes may turn in slightly.
I'm not sure if it just appears this way because he is 1/2 Asian or if it is a problem.
I asked my friend who is an optomotrist what she thinks and she said, based only on photos,
that it's likely just a anatomical issue related to being 1/2 Asian but she did suggest taking him in 
for an eye exam (she moved recently or she would do it herself).

 She had told me before that uncorrected "lazy eyes" can cause permanent damage - making it impossible to correct the kids vision to 20/20 no matter what strength of glasses - if they don't get treated in a timely fashion.  

She doesn't think Kyle will need glasses but since she had told me that before, unrelated to my kids, I feel some urgency to get his eyes checked.  Of course, living in a small town, the closest pediatric eye doctor is an hour away.  

I'm hoping my fuzzy wuzzy baby doesn't need glasses or an eye patch to add to his wild style. :)

We've had a pretty quiet month (although Victor has been out of town multiple times).
I'm glad to have had time at home and feel like I've been able to get to know my precious baby during the past 6 weeks (better than I was able to do during the crazy traveling and grieving this spring).

I love my sweet baby and am thankful for him.








Sunday, June 15, 2014

Happy Birthday Lainey!

Lainey is five!  


She was the 2nd youngest in her class this year and has been anxiously waiting for her birthday for at least 3-4 months!  Her birthday was on Father's Day this year, for the first time.  We celebrated Victor yesterday, so Lainey was the star all day today.

We let her open presents first thing in the morning.  Her presents were primarily a set of bitty twins (from American girl) along with a few accessories..  She loves her bitty baby and I thought the school age bitty twins would be loved as well.  So far she seems to like them.




I told the kids to make funny faces and 
this is what Erik did.  Ha!

We held Lainey's birthday party at a local art studio.  
It was a Frozen themed painting party.
Someone, much more talented than I, drew out a Frozen themed-canvas which the
kids then painted.  There were also easels set up in the adjacent room with water colors. 
All but one of the friends that were able to come were from 
Lainey's pre-k class.  She had such a wonderful class this year.



 All ready to paint!
(Except Carson and Erik)


 Carly, Lainey, Maria, Madison
 Alyse
 Alyssa
 Caroline
 Vail

Robbie (Vail's twin) and Erik
 Victor painted a picture too!
 Mural painting
 Lainey and her friend Caroline
(I love this photo)
 Below is my friend Meredith
She loves holding Kyle.
This photo cracks me up because Kyle looks quite a bit like her.
 Erik was pretty sure he didn't want to participate in a Frozen painting party.
So, he designated himself as helper.  He was a good helper, albeit a tad bossy (first born trait).
Towards the end of the party he decided to paint a picture himself.

 Waiting for cake

It was a fun day for my precious daughter!
May she always know how much she is loved.


Monday, June 9, 2014

Happy Birthday Lainey - Celebration #1

Lainey's birthday is right after school gets out.  We brought in a project and brownies to celebrate today.   The movie, "Frozen" is most definitely the biggest hit amongst the 5-9 year old crowd so we made "Olaf in a Snowstorm" snow globes for her to bring in. 

They were pretty easy to make and all the kids seemed to like them.    Birthday treats are discouraged, which I think is great.  For some reason though, I felt like a big smuck bringing in a project without treats, so I made brownies for her class this morning.


It's always fun to spend time in the kids classrooms.  We went in the last 20 minutes of her day so the boys came with me.  Carson loves being able to play with her friends.

 Olaf in a Snowstorm snow globes
There is a deconstructed snow man in each bottle.
Glitter glue (blue and silver) plus water were added to make it a snow globe.

 Carson, Madison, Lainey, and Mia

 Lainey was reading a book to Vail
So sweet!
 Baby Kyle with Mrs. Santos (Concepcion)

Lainey can hardly wait to be 5 and was very excited to 
be celebrated at school today!

She has a great group of kids in her class this year!
Mrs. Santos and Hall have taught both Erik and Lainey.
I'll miss them next year.

Saturday, June 7, 2014

Notable Quotes: Children!

1)  Last night, Erik and Lainey were goofing around after we put them to bed. They share a room and although they almost always go to bed nicely every once they dink around. We let whoever is being less disruptive stay up until the noisy one is sleeping. So after listening to them goof around last night I went in and told Erik he could come out and read books until Lainey fell asleep. Lainey immediately burst into tears and cried, "But Mom, Erik was playing dodge ball too!" Hahaha! Dodge ball with their stuffed animals instead of sleeping. I gave them a second chance and both were asleep within 5 minutes.

2) Me to Lainey: "Lainey, is there anything better in this world than tiny babies?" (She's my baby loving girl.)
Lainey: "Yes!"
Me: (Sounding shocked) WHAT is better than a baby?!
Lainey: Big Sisters! 


Hahaha!  Smart little bugger!  I agree, big sisters are pretty awesome!

3) Carson stumbled downstairs for breakfast.   He told Victor, "Daddy, I'm hungry."  (pause) "Mommy, made me black toast."  

I had burnt his toast about 3 days prior to that conversation and apparently he was worried his Daddy might do the same.  

4) On our way home from soccer today, we passed a car that had two kayaks tied on top.   I asked Erik and Lainey if they wanted to go kayaking someday.  Erik, who kayaked last year at camp, ethusiastically replied, "Yes!  I love kayaking!"   

Lainey, whined and groaned.  "No way.  I hate kayaking.  I do not want to go kayaking."  

I said, " Well, okay then.  If we go kayaking someday we can leave you home with the babysitter and little boys."  

A few minutes later she says, " Mom, what is kayaking?!"  


Oh my dear Lainey.  The teenage years are going to be fun!  

 

Tuesday, June 3, 2014

Sweet and Sassy

Lainey can be my sweetest kid or my sassiest kid.    Here's an example of both...

1) Yesterday morning, just before Erik and Lainey headed out for the bus I had put Kyle in his crib for a nap.  He was screaming and howling but I was trying to get the kitchen cleaned up.  I asked Lainey if she would go upstairs and read him a book.  She happily ran upstairs to help him.  After a few minutes I heard her come back downstairs.  I couldn't hear him shrieking anymore so I asked her if she'd given him his "plug."   She said, "Yes, he has his plug.  But, Mom!  I was singing to him and he fell asleep."    Oh she is a sweet, sweet sister.

2) But she has a bit of sass to her too.  This morning she got dressed for school.  She was wearing brown pants and a brown sweater (that's how she matches things).  Well, this would be fine except that it was going to be 85+ degrees out today.  So, I told her she needed to go back upstairs and put on summer clothes.  She wasn't happy about this but did go back upstairs.  Not without a glare and defiant comment, " Well, then I'm going to take a really long time."   Okay, honey!    About 10 minutes later she comes back downstairs, dressed in the exact same outfit she wore yesterday and a expression that clearly said, " I'll show you Mom."   Ha!  I wonder if her teachers noticed that she had the same thing on today.