Pictures

Since I've been bad at writing, I'm going to make up with some pictures from the last week. Not many, but some.

Some shots of D at Kidspace in Pasadena. She had some special time with Dad.



Here she is writing her name in chalk. She's 3 1/2 years old!



The big excitement of the week....B walking!



Here are a couple great pictures from the park yesterday. My kids love the swings!





Finally got a cute picture of B doing his "happy dance." This dance is done to almost any music with a beat but he's basically on all fours here rocking back and forth. And he tends to shake his head around too. It's cuter in a video but I don't know how to do that yet.



Here's a shot of D from our walk today. ADORABLE!

Catching up....again

So another week has gone by since I've written. I had a migraine all week...or one everyday. Not sure which. Not good. If I could only stop breastfeeding and find something that would help. The problem is, I love the time I get to spend with B. He's so cuddly and very comforted by the experience. I am too. And D isn't around to intrude or try to get my attention. So it's special time for us. But on the flip side, the headaches have been lousy. The hot, hot weather and humidity probably haven't helped. There are no other meds that I can try until I stop BFing. Oh well. Here's hoping I get some relief so I can drag my feet some more. I'm not ready to stop. And B isn't ready either!

B is walking more and more everyday. He does really well while barefoot in the house. But he hasn't mastered shoes yet so we can't have him walk around outside. He kind of drags his feet so in shoes, he just falls down. I've been trying to get more video of his walking. I don't really have any of D. For some reason, I took pictures of her rather than much video. What was I thinking?

Yesterday, my folks took both kids to their house for a couple hours so that David and I could have some peace. My dad came up to get the kids in the van around 10:15 and then they came back after lunch. They had a blast! B crawled all over their back patio and his jeans were so dirty! I guess that's what I have to look forward to with having a boy. D helped my dad with some gardening and B watched. It was a good experience all around. Unfortunately, I had a headache and wanted to take a nap. Oh well. Next time we'll be productive or go out for brunch. At least we know that it's possible now.

This morning at breakfast, D turned to her dad and said "You're a genius!" Then looked at me and said "You're a genius because I love you!" The things that come out of her mouth. She's dreading school. Her teacher is coming on Thursday for a home visit. Hope it goes well. We've been reading "Llama Llama Misses Mama" and hopefully it will hit home with her when she goes back next week. David took her to Kidspace on Friday. Special time for them, and a little peace for me and B. I took him to my folks for lunch.

Almost forgot. B's 15 month appointment was on Wednesday. He's 27 lbs. 31 1/4 inches long. Unfortunately he was still getting over a cold so he couldn't get his shots. Dr. Jena thought he might have croup so we had to cancel our trip to see Tara and family. But at least he's a healthy, growing boy. At 12 months he was 25 lbs, 29 1/2 inches. Guess he's a good eater!

Walking Man

It's official. B is walking! And he's so dang cute. He's like a drunken sailor. It started this morning. He was sitting on the step in the family room. I was sitting on the floor in the center of the room near the ottoman. He got up, stood there and contemplated. I reached out to him and said "come on bud!" And just like that, he walked over to me. About 6-7 feet. It was awesome. He had been walking 4-5 steps at a time in the days leading up to today. But this was different. I am so happy that he is finally walking. I feel like this and him giving up his morning nap will open the door for me to find some sanity. It's been so hard getting out to do things with the kids because we're limited on time and he's in the stroller. So we took the kids to buy shoes. B for his first pair ever and D for a bigger pair since apparently she is in the midst of yet another growth spurt. Here is B walking for the first time in his shoes. He was still way more content crawling. In the evening, Grammie and Grandpa came over to see him walk and he put on quite the show. Fortunately Grandpa got some good video.



D's new shoes were not my first choice but she loves them so what could I do. I need to upload a picture.

Yesterday, we let the kids romp in the wading pool for the first time this summer. Not really sure why we didn't do this before but I guess there were reasons. Anyway, B loved it. He was in the water in minutes. No fear. He was crawling in the water, in the grass and on the patio. D was having fun even though she is way too big for the pool. Oh well, she loved it and since it was 100 degrees out and we needed something to do, it was the activity of the day.









The days of summer....hard life being a kid!

My little man

I finally saw B take more than a step today. He took 4. And fell into my arms. It's so funny watching a toddler walk. He stands up on his own all the time. But taking steps doesn't happen very often yet. He'll get there. They all do. It will definitely be nice to be able to get out more with him and not have him be in the stroller all the time. He was babbling more today too. I think all the reading might be paying off in a short amount of time. If D would just stop talking all the time. I really think she intimidates him. Or rather he just wants to listen to her and not talk back. I heard a "gar-gar-gar" today which was new, a couple of "la-la-las" and there was even a "dada." Hopefully he's just taking his time. The best news is that his cold is finally going away. No tylenol today and his nose is finally drying up. Here's hoping he sleeps later tomorrow morning though because 6 is too dang early!

In D's world today, she's been cracking me up with the headbands. Rather than putting them up to keep her hair back, she's been wearing them like Olivia Newton-John in the "Let's Get Physical" video. Too make it even better, she has been dancing her spastic river dance routine all over the house. B just watches and bops right along. He stands holding the little table or ottoman and bops up and down. Hilarious. Gotta get more of that on the camera.

Kids say the darndest...and don't

D has always been a talker. From 10 months on. She has said some really cute and funny things over the years. Fortunately, I remembered on many of them to write them down in her baby book. And then I started this blog because there were too many. There have been a few in the last few days. I don't always remember to write them down and of course, they get forgotten. Today's winner was when talking about her prize for staying in bed, she told me, "you need to stay in bed for 4 nights to get a prize." What I would give to stay in bed for 4 nights! She also told us that she needed her privacy in the bathroom. That's what we get for reading a Book of Big Words to a 3 year old!

Then there is little man, B. He hasn't started talking yet. He's 15 months. Awhile back, he was saying "dada" and said "dah" for dog. But that has stopped. He used to say "lalalalala" but that has stopped too. We're getting a little worried. I wonder if it's because D never stops talking and B just takes it all in. He does get louder when she's not around. It's definitely not a hearing issue. He loves to dance and be-bop to music, to D's singing and whatever else he hears. He does his "happy dance" as I call it to the dancing flowerpot. He is able to communicate through some pointing and he signs the word "more." So I don't think he's autistic or anything. Maybe he's just taking his sweet time. We go for his 15 month well visit next week so if there's any question, I will request an evaluation with a speech therapist. I worry about my little boy.

B has a cold. I hate it when the kids are sick. I feel like I can't take their pain away. I would love for him to sleep on my chest and just wake up healthy again. Instead, I put him to bed with snot dripping from his nose, humidifier running and just hoping that he sleeps through. I hope D doesn't get sick. But if she does, I hope it happens soon so that we don't go for weeks and weeks with illness around the house. I wish I did a better job with not worrying about them being sick. I wish I could just roll with the punches. I will go try and take a deep breath and not think about it too much. Yea right.

A long itchy week

It's been a really long week. On Sunday night I had to go to the ER for hives. My body finally freaked out. I was put on steroids, antihistimines and more. Blood work showed nothing. I was so itchy. For days. Not good with two little kids. Two little kids who just wanted their mommy. And I was so grumpy. My poor kids. Today I'm off the steroids and I had some caffeine. I was in a much better mood! The most interesting part of all of this is that the headaches have been much better. I've taken one imitrex in almost 2 weeks.

While going crazy from itchiness, we were truly blessed with Lacresha being here and David's work schedule. She was fabulous with both kids. Didn't miss a beat while 25 weeks pregnant. And David, after busting his butt working, watched the kids while I needed to rest.

Aside from my craziness, the kids are adorable as always. D got her hair cut today for the very first time. She did great. And is so beautiful! B is taking a step here and there but still content motoring on all fours. His hair is so curly! I do think that nursing is coming to an end. With all the medications I have been on, I've kind of dried up. And B just doesn't seem interested. I think our days are numbered. And I also think I'm actually ok with it. We'll see.

Toots are funny!

So we're saying goodnight to D and doing the Twinkle Twinkle drill. I'm in the middle of singing, Dad is doing his dance and D says, "Mom, do you smell my toot?" Nothing like bring brought to your knees during quiet time! :)

Already August

Time is flying. And so is my memory. I keep forgetting to blog. Actually, I keep choosing to forget I think. My headaches have been overpowering lately. Seems I'm having similar issues to that of 2 years ago when I was nearing the end of D's nursing days. Well, staring at a computer for long periods of time hasn't helped so blogging has fallen by the way side. And it's a darn shame too because I find myself forgetting so many cute things. One I had Dad write down the other day. We had been to Grammie and Grandpa's to go in the jacuzzi. When he asked D if she had fun in their little pool, she said "No you mean the Skoogie!" Kids really do say the darndest things!

We've done a lot of swimming by comparisons to other summers. Our neighbors invited us to their parents up the street for Tuesday swim playdates and we've been twice. Fortunately Lacresha has been able to go with us. There's no way I could take both kids on my own. We've gone a few times to my parents "skoogie" as well. I love swimming with the kids but all the sunscreen and changing and baths...it gets really tedious. We've had a very mild summer and I shouldn't complain but I am looking forward to jeans weather again!

B took his first step today. He was standing in the family room right next to me and I slid back just a little and held out my hands and he took a step and fell right into me. It's the beginning!

Sharing is getting worse, not better. D keeps taking things from B and my patience is just gone. So she goes straight into a time out. There is probably a different way but I don't know what else to do. As much as she does well with rewards, she also does well with consequences so we'll see if she learns.

With all the headaches and her being home from school, I feel like she's getting a raw deal. I always feel guilty. Someday we'll all look back and laugh, right?

One more cute thing from D. She took her first shower ever with me last week. It was a huge step. She doesn't like getting water in her face. But she looked up and saw my pubic hair and said "I don't have hair there." I told her she would someday. I said "it's fuzzy, huh?" She giggled and said she would like to have fuzzy hair someday. I don't want to even think about her having fuzzy hair! She's only 3.5 years old! I want to bottle up my kids and not let them grow up. They're so cute! D's been putting the pop beads around her waist and I call it her tutu. She does the hula with them around her waist. That won't be as cute on a 12 year old!!!