Preview

No training wheels just pedal power (and daddy's pushes). Go Corbin go!

The BIG 3!

How can I be the mom of an awesome 3 year old! Crazy!

Happy 3rd Birthday Corbin Dean! We love you SO much. You are curious, generous, inquisitive, energetic, smart, fun, challenging, thoughtful, imaginative, and full of life! Life without you would be boring. I am constantly amazed by your imagination, your questions, and your constant wonder at how the world works and how you fit into it. You constantly ask WHY? Why? Why? Why? All the time. You are trying to joke around with us. You are also very into pretend play and dress up. Your dress up hooks are getting really full. They include your new main interest of Batman, capes, masks, fire helmets, fire jackets, construction hat, astronaut helmet, knight shield and helmet, chef hat, apron, tutu, frog suit, back pack, tool belts, and I am sure more.

You also love to ride your bike, go for walks, play on the swing and at the park. You also love art, playing legos, puzzles, trains, and reading books. Really I have not seen very much that you don't love to do. You try new things with caution but then throw your whole world into it once you understand how it works.

You help dad cook. You help him with the recycling/trash. You help take your plate in and pick up your toys. Sometimes you get dressed by yourself. You like to be on the sweat pants team with daddy. We are trying to help you become a little more independent.

You have a love/hate relationship with your sister. You can make her laugh like no other. She just lights up when she sees you. You also have some really good friends. Your closest friends at this point are Brody and Alden. We see them the most but have some really great friends. It's fun to see you develop friendships with other kids and actually play with them.

You are almost fully potty trained. It's been some steps forward and then some back. These days you are mostly wearing undies all day. You still have a diaper/cloth pull up at night and nap but most of the time you wake up dry. But you won't go pee in the potty in the morning. You prefer to go in your diaper. But you always ask if you have a diaper or undies on. Lately you will say you have to go and then say, no I don't. You have been having more accidents but I know we will get there soon.

You take an afternoon nap still abotu 50-75% of the time. Even if you don't nap, you have quiet time which includes either reading or playing quietly in your room for 30 min-1 hour. You still sleep with your best buddy- Blu Blu. Night time sleep is pretty good. These days you will wake up sometimes scared. Sometimes you go back to sleep easily and others not. You have slept in our bed more often. You have developed more fears lately and we have been working through them.

You are an amazing little boy, Corbin. We can't wait to see what year 3 brings!

Daddy's last day of school and annual pancake lunch for his students was on your birthday again.

When daddy got home, we opened your presents. Besides your bat, we got you some knight figurines, a dinosaur, 2 headed dragon, and a book.

You were so sweet and let Ellie help you open one of your presents.

I made you an ice cream cake, your choice. It was the easiest cake I have ever made!

We hosted another combo birthday with Alden. Lots of friends and family were here. We woke up to rain but the rain stopped at about 3 and held off for the rest of the night! It would have been quite crowded with 30+ people, kids, and babies in our house!

Aimee, Alden's mom, made some amazing yummy desserts.

Whoa, was that Batman (boy) that just went by in a new bat cape?

Thanks everyone for a great birthday!

Toddle toddle BOOM Toddle toddle BOOM!

And she is off!

May/June videos

11 months

Here you come!

11 months and ready for the world! It's been so nice out lately we have been having lots of fun outside. You love it outside. You love to swing on your swing, slide down the slide by yourself, go up and down the steps, and find all the dirt.

You can also be seen walking with us these days. You are loving to walk holding our hand. Corbin is also wanting to hold your hand and help you walk. He goes a little fast sometimes for you but you think it's so fun to walk with your big brother. But you won't take any steps on your own yet. We will see if you walk before your 1st birthday.

You can almost go from sitting to standing but not quite yet. But you do love to just stand on your own. You have also been trying to walk on your knees. You have figured out how to do this little scooch. It's pretty cute!

Today we were letting you wander around without your diaper on outside. You have a little rash, so the fresh air was good for you.

You have stopped putting everything in your mouth, including milk...ha! You now have 6 teeth. 3 on top and 3 on the bottom. Opposite sides. You are about to get one more on top. Your hair is really red, especially in the sun.

You like watching Corbin draw with Chalk on the side-walk. You and Corbin have been having lots of fun together lately. He can make you laugh like no other. It seems that bath time is one o f your favorite fun times with your brother.

You love to play with the dirt that gets stuck in the little holes in the stairs. You are really starting to enjoy books more. You just want to read more and more books. You are really starting to try to sign. I feel like one day it's just going to take off. Water, kitty, more, and all done are favorites now. So is, dog! I think you are trying to say more but you are still working on making some of the right signs.

Like I mentioned in the last blog, you have stopped nursing. You are not drinking the milk that I have pumped very much. I have tried adding some formula to it. You just don't like it anyway. Tonight I got you to drink from the bottle by saying, one sip for mommy, one sip for Ellie. Finally you drank the whole bottle. I miss our cute little snuggle time. But we will find it somewhere else.

You are still napping 2 times a day around 9 and 2. Your bed time is usually around 7pm. You wake up anywhere between 5-7 am in the morning. Now that you don't nurse in the morning, we have to get right up, instead of lie in bed and nurse and snuggle. It's been an adjustment.

You love climbing in and out of things. It's pretty funny. You have also figure out how to climb into the rocking chair and rock and then sit down on your bottom and get out too. You wan to climb on almost anything.

We love you so much Eliza! Can't wait to see what comes next.

Has anyone seen Batman lately?

I am working on uploading some videos for the next post. Keep tuned.

Warmth and transitions

Ah, June is here and we have finally had some weather that is over 60 degrees! What a gorgeous weekend it was. We played with friends at the Lynden Farm Day's parade, did some work in the garden, I got to go on a bike ride with the ladies, we swung in the hammock, read our books in the sun, and then yesterday got out the pool! I tried to fill it up with water during nap time to warm it up, but someone didn't end up taking a nap, so it was still a little chilly.

Corbin was SO excited. He has been asking about the pool for months. Every time I would say it was a nice day out, he would ask if it was nice to go swimming. 60 degrees is nice but not really swimming weather buddy.

He wanted Eliza to come swimming so badly when she got up from her nap.

Come on in Ellie, the water's great, I mean cold!

Ok, Corbin. I am coming in.

I wish it was this easy to get in the bath...

Ha, yay, this is fun! But cold!

A little too cold, I am getting out... help me mom!

Look, Ellie, do what I do. "Looka dis" is Corbin's new phrase. And then he will do a funny little dance or jump or something he thinks is funny or tricky.

Corbin has been super into being funny lately. He and Adam have come up with some funny "personal" jokes about things like "Fleas with monkey knees". Corbin will say, "hey guess what daddy... fleas with monkey knees!" We are trying to teach him to tell a story and then just throw that in and people will think it's more funny!

In other news, Eliza has stopped nursing. She will be 11 months on the 12th. Last Friday we had play group here and it was a little noisy. So when she woke up from her nap, she wouldn't nurse. Then she nursed going down for afternoon nap and that is the last time she has nursed. I tried to offer it to her at every regular feeding after that but she would just scream. It just broke my heart. At first I wondered if something was wrong but she seems fine the rest of the day. But when it comes to nursing time, I would try to offer it and she just refuses. We are on day 4 of not nursing.

I was/am feeling very conflicted about it. Both my kids have been busy active non-snugglers. This is our only true snuggle time. Although Corbin does like to snuggle these days. Eliza has been a distracted nurser from the beginning. She is also fiercely independent (except in new situations and with new people-especially males). She want to be seeing what is going on, down on the floor, doing it by herself. She knows what she wants and is not afraid to let you know. So I should not really be surprised that she is done early.

I know that you can't control your child's eating. But I had a plan and it is sad to let it go. I am also sad/feel bad because I feel very strongly about nursing for the first year. Part of why I wanted to stay home with both my kids for their first year is to be able to nurse them the whole time. Then slowly drop feedings when I go back to work and then see how we are doing in the fall. That is what I did with Corbin. I thought that would be my plan with Eliza. I know that her not nursing is not a reflection on me being a bad parent but for some reason to be completely honest I feel like I am doing something wrong. I know it's not true but that feeling is there.

The bond from nursing is so great. Just looking down at your baby and seeing them nurse and get the best nourishment they could ever have is such an amazing feeling. These last few nights have been really hard because she won't really take a bottle or a cup of the milk I have pumped. It has changed that night time routine. It has left me feeling bad about how we say good night. I know it won't always be that way and that this is just a rough transition but it still hurts. Last night I brought a sippy cup up with me and she just wouldn't take it. She hardly drank any milk at all yesterday. I kept offering her the breast and she would just refuse. So I put her down crying last night. She fussed and cried for a long time. Even though we have done "cry it out" this felt different. So I pumped and went back up and brought her fresh, warm milk in a bottle. I just sat with her and rocked her. I kept the bottle right near my breast and didn't push her to drink it but just rocked. Finally I squeezed some out of the nipple and she took the bottle. She just drank it all up. Her eyes got sleepy like when we were nursing. She drank it so fast that I felt the need to burp her. Of course she spit up all over me and the chair but she was so sleepy that she hardly noticed. She went right to sleep after that. It felt good. I came to peace with her being done. Or at least I am trying to.

I am also conflicted as to what to do between now and 12 months. I called the doctor and they really don't recommend cow's milk until a year. We could try formula but she said most breast fed babies won't take it. But they need the nutrition from either breast milk or formula. We can try goat milk, soy milk, coconut milk, or pumped breast milk. I have been trying to pump but I only have a hand pump. It's very tiring and I am already slowing down. I could borrow a pump from someone but I just don't know if I can realistically pump 2+ times a day. And then we leave for NC in a couple of weeks. So right now I am just trying to pump 2 times a day for the rest of this week and see if I can get her to take more from the bottle before I switch to to something else. In reality, after 12 months I was going to drop the other 2-3 feedings by mid-August anyways before I head back to work 2 days in the fall. So some of the feedings are only being dropped a month early.

Of course the up-side of all this is that I have a new found freedom without being attached at the breast. I got to go an a long bike ride on Sunday with my girl friends and didn't have to worry about nursing her. Adam can now put her down to sleep. I could do an over-night girls weekend this summer or go away with Adam. I don't have to time nursings and getting out the door for Corbin's activities. No more plugged ducts!

I nursed her for almost 11 months. That is the best thing I could offer her. It is what she decided she needed. I nursed Corbin for 17 months. It's just sad to say good bye. No more nursing babies for me. This is the end of that chapter. Onto the next...Oh how I love these two little beings SO MUCH! xoxoxo