Monday, September 28, 2015

Killean is O-N-E!

One year old!
Well.  We've arrived at Killean's first birthday.  Some days it felt like a race to get there.  Other days seemed to drag on forever.  Though I think there was a direct correlation to the speed of the day and the amount of sleep to be had the night before.  Killean's first year was so very different than Rowan's first year.  Just a testament to how different these two boys are.

Yup.  Got a new toy for my birthday.
Killean has had a really healthy first year.  We have only had to take him to the doctor once besides his regular check ups.  No ear infections.  No hemangiomas.  No high fevers.  He's been really, really healthy which is a huge blessing.  

Killean had seven teeth as of his first birthday.  He got the 8th one a day or two after his birthday.  I think he has some molars that are trying to come through.  But I also think those molars are going to be coming through for a while.  His gums feel hard and I swear I can feel the tooth, but then the next day it's gone.  Teething gel and teething tablets are our friends.

He figured out how to walk right after the 11 month mark.  And once he started to walk, there was no turning back.  He walks everywhere.  Climbs everything.  And is trying so desperately to go down the stairs.  He hasn't quite figured it out yet-mostly because Ian and I haven't given him the opportunity.  But I'm sure going down the stairs isn't too far off in our future.  

He's not as big of a reader as Rowan is, but if there's a book with flaps or something that moves, he loves it.  He'll want to read the book over and over again because it's just so exciting!  Give him a 'boring' book and he could care less.  but if music comes on, that boy is a moving and a shaking.  

Cake for me
Killean has very few words at this point.  He clearly says 'mama' and it has meaning. But that's about it.  He is jabbering, and we're pretty sure he's talking in Killean language.  We just had no idea what that means.

He still LOVES food.  We've introduced dairy to him and he seems to do just fine.  He loves cheese and yogurt and ice cream.  But one of his favorites is watermelon.  He could eat watermelon all day if we let him.  He is a good eater most meals. 

Yet even though he LOVES to eat, he's a little guy.  He's not quite 20 pounds (10th percentile) and bout 27 inches (25th percentile).  I feel like he's getting skinnier now that he's walking around all over the place, so I guess we'll just have to keep feeding him so he can grow.  Didn't think our boys would be eating us out of house and home at this age, but I guess that's how they roll.

He's slept from 8-4ish a couple of times which is just amazing.  The last few nights though he's woken up around 2ish.  Sometimes he's willing to go back to sleep easily, other times he must nurse.  We're working on completely weaning because frankly, I'm over nursing.  But I think it will be a little while before we can more gently cut him off.  He's only nursing at night now, so that's manageable until I dry up or he gets less attached to the boob.  

Happy birthday baby boy.  You're spunky. Wild. Brave. Adventurous. And full of life.  We love you and everything you bring to our world.



Kind of messy

Rowan is T-H-R-E-E!

3 years old is a ball!
Thomas party
Oh goodness.  Rowan is now 3 years old.  It's hard for me to believe he's that old.  I mean, where did the time go?  Wasn't it just last week that I was pregnant with him? Or bringing him home from the hospital?  But now he's a walking, talking, curious T-H-R-E-E year old.  Crazy!

So what is Rowan up to now that he's three years old.  He's still on the small side of the growth charts at just over 3 feet tall and just under 30 pounds.  I'm not looking forward to winter where we have to wear pants instead of shorts. 2T fits great around the waist but is way to short in the leg.  We'll be wearing shorts as long as possible and then having cinched up waist bands I guess.  

Present overload
Rowan is OBSESSED with Thomas.  He loves the show...the books...the toys.  Everything.  He has probably about 30 different Thomas trains.  He can remember things about Thomas I didn't even know existed.  It's pretty amazing, and a little scary.  But Thomas makes him very happy hence the Thomas themed party

party food train
We can officially say Rowan is potty trained.  He still wears a diaper at night, and probably will for a while.  He will only wake up dry once every two weeks or so.  We still have accidents a couple of times a week too, which is frustrating for all of us.  But we find it's usually tied to when he's distracted doing something or we're too busy to remind him to go to the potty frequently.  Most days though, he's very good at telling us when he needs to go and we make it through the whole day with one pair of underpants.  Thomas underpants, of course.

He's understanding what it means to be kind to others.  He's not always acting that way-sharing can be hard, but more often than not we see a heart of gold in that boy. Some moments he's just so caring and tender with Killean it makes me want to cry.  Other times we're getting after him ALL DAY for being mean.  Lessons that we'll continue to learn I'm sure.

Wishing for another amazing year
He loves to read.  He loves his brother, friends, and cousins. Can't wait to go to school like his big cousin. Loves mac-noodles, chocolate milk, fruit snacks, cheese, bananas, and cauliflower.  Hates watermelon.  (huh? a child that hates watermelon? is that possible?)  He knows what he does and doesn't like as well as what he wants to do.  He's pretty good at expressing himself, when he's not panicking about someone playing with whatever his favorite train is at that moment.

We're seeing him become a bit more confident too.  He is definitely a person that likes to observe before jumping in.  But we're seeing him jump in more than we have before.  Whether it's playing games, singing songs, or telling stories he's participating more and sitting on the sidelines less.

These boys love each other
But above all else, Rowan's FAVORITE pastime is asking questions.  Lots and lots of questions.  "What's this called? What's that do? Where we going? What we doing?" over and over and over again. And no matter the answer, there's always a follow up question.  Ian and I are both glad he's an inquisitive soul, but goodness.  All the questions get old.  I don't think this phase is going away any time soon though.

Rowan lights up our life.  He makes us laugh and challenges us to be patient, kind, and gentle just like we ask of him.  







Love this cheeky little boy

Sunday, August 23, 2015

Killean-11 Months

11 Months!
Our little booger is 11 months old now!  What?!?!?  Time has flown during his first year.  I know that's super cliche, but whatever.  It's the truth for us.

Eating corn like a big boy.  Well...gnawing on it at least
This kid-nothing stops him.  He is always so very busy.  He loves music and starts to dance when it comes on.  He loves his big brother.  He laughs at just about everything Rowan does and has fun playing with him.  He tries to play with his trains and read his books too.  They're just so much fun together.

He is SOOOOOO close to walking.  He is much better at taking a few steps (like 5-6) BEFORE getting super excited and trying to dive towards whatever he was heading towards.  He is also seeming to prefer walking between tables/couches/chairs/etc when he can.  He'll go a couple of steps unassisted to get from point A to point B.  I know he'll be talking on his own very soon.

Love this face!
Sleep is maybe..kind of...sorta getting better?  We're making progress some nights (one night, he didn't wake up until 5:00!!!), and then other nights, is' up a couple of times.  We're letting him fuss a bit longer before jumping up to get him. Rowan seems to sleep through Killean's fits, and Killean doesn't seem to be getting "panicky" or really upset, so we're just letting him go until it's clear he's getting upset and/or not going to go back to sleep on his own.  Saves us one or two wakings a night most nights.  Someday, we'll sleep well again...

The best part though about this last month: I'M EATING DAIRY AGAIN!!!!!!  It's glorious and amazing!  He hasn't had any rash or digestive issue since I've reintroduced dairy, so I'm loving that!  I'm still off regular milk as a regular beverage (but I'll cook with it in things like Mac and Cheese and tomato soup), but all things dairy have been consumed.  Butter. Cheese.  Cream cheese. Ice Cream.  Cheese cake.  Yogurt.  It's so wonderful to not have to be worried about every thing I eat.

Killean has six teeth now with one or two more coming in any day I'm sure.  He's been fussy lately, and drooling like CRAZY, so I'm sure some rough nights and new teeth are in our near future.

We often joke that this boy will be the death of us-and he certainly keeps us on our toes.  But I'd be lying if I didn't say I love cuddling him and babying him a bit.  He's sweet and is wholly attached to me.  When I come home from work each day he throws a fit if I don't pick him up right away.  He loves when I hold him...and I'm kind of OK with that.  I know it won't last forever.  So I try to remember that when I'm having moments of "seriously kid? can't I just _____ without you for 2 minutes?".



Play time with brother

My boys. Sweet and sassy

Sunday, July 26, 2015

Killean 10 months

10 Month and a little firecracker!




Killean is now 10 months old!  But if you ask this kid, he's much older than that.  Seriously, nothing slows this kid down!  If he's awake, he's on the move.  He crawls everywhere and climbs on everything.  He is trying VERY hard to walk too.  He loves to push the walker toy we have and looks soooooooo proud when he does! He is also trying to take steps unassisted.  He will stand unassisted few a few seconds, look at us, and try to take a couple of steps.  He usually takes 1-2 and then falls forward.  But even if we don't catch him, he's not phased.  He just gets up and moves onto the next thing. 

He loves to climb...oh boy does he love to climb! He's going up the stairs like a pro.  He also likes to climb onto brother's train table.  And the play equipment at the park/mall/play place.  He'll climb up the stairs and the slide too.  Like I said...he thinks he's bigger than he actually is. 

He still only has four teeth.  I was convinced he was going to get a couple more the other week, but nothing yet.  He's got a cute little gap between his top two teeth too.  It's very adorable.  =)

He officially loves food now.  He eats the purees we give him, but definitely likes finger food.  We haven't followed all the food rules this time around (I've heard second time parent are much more relaxed than first time parents?).  He's had whole egg as well as some almond milk.  He loves to sneak bites of my cereal, so that's where the almond milk comes in.  He seems to like chicken pretty well too.  And beans.  And bananas.  Oh my goodness does this boy love bananas!  For a while I thought bananas plugged him up, but he seems to handle those OK now. 

We're still off dairy, but I think he's getting less sensitive.  I haven't been as strict lately, and we haven't seen any apparent digestive issues or rashes appear. So...maybe...possibly, he's working through his dairy issue!  Thank goodness!  I can't wait to have mac and cheese soon!!!!!!

Sleep is the same.  He's doing some longer stretches in the first part of the night.  He's still struggling in the week morning hours.  Last night he was up at 3:30 and 5:30 and then finally for good at 7:30.  He's napping pretty well though.  Morning nap is longer-about 1 1/2 hours.  Afternoon nap is shorter-about an hour.  But he's generally happy during the day despite the interrupted sleep.  So I can manage with some coffee and Ian manages with an afternoon nap most days too.

This little boy is so much fun.  He keeps us on our toes for sure, but we love him and all his fiesty-ness. 



Saturday, June 27, 2015

9 months

9 months!!!
Killean is now nine months old!  I suppose it's time for a short (emphasis on short) and sweet update on this little guy.

Killean now how four teeth-two on top, and two on bottom. I'm sure more are coming...and probably will be in rapid succession too!

He is 17lb 13.6oz.  So it seems he has lost a little weight since we took him in around 8 months, but only a few ounces.  Still, surprised both Ian and I.  Doctor isn't concerned about his weight or height.  They are around the 10th-15th percentile each, so he's proportionate.

He is starting to like food a little bit better.  As long as there is some fruit mixed in with whatever we're eating, he'll take it OK.  His favorites seems to be peaches/nectarines and bananas.  He does love finger food though!  We aren't doing that much finger food yet, but cut up blue berries, puffs, and then steamed veggies seems to go over pretty well for him.

His sleep is still not good.  The early morning time seems to be the worst now.  3am to 6am is filled with frequent feedings and nursing is the only thing that will get him to go back to sleep easily.  It can't last forever right?

He is quite happy though.  A mama's boy to the extreme. Stands all the time and cruises around furniture like a pro.  I would be surprised if he's not walking around his birthday.  He loves to clap and is starting to dance to music too!  Just a few minutes ago he was jamming out to "Moves like Jagger".  Proof that he is my kid =)

His eyes-so blue.  His hair-so red.  Our fiery little boy is a joy despite the lack of sleep.

Thursday, May 21, 2015

8 months!

Wowzer...Killean is 8 months.

Kid is on the move too!  He tries really hard to cruise around a table already.  He loves to climb when he can.  He thinks he can stand up already (OK...he can kind of stand up...he just isn't super stead yet).  He's still preferring to army crawl, but he has crawled a couple of times like a 'normal' baby.  He is also ends up on his feet and looks like he's going to bear crawl some times.  He's definitely figuring out how his body works and moves.  And boy, does. he. move.

Teeth: we're still at two.  I was convinced he was going to get some more...but nope. Still at two.

Sleep: meh?  Any night we only wake up twice I consider it a win.  When we're not feeling great, we can be up every. hour.  We're getting more consistent at only waking up twice.  We're also getting much better at going to sleep in our own crib happily.  He's no longer insisting on sleeping in our bed for part of the night.  Gives me hope that we're progressing to sleeping on our own for an entire night.

Food: we're getting better at eating food.  We discovered tonight that he does not like carrots.  He seems to really like fruit.  Veggies...not so much.  At least he's starting to eat something other than milk.  He has been exposed to carrots, squash, sweet potato, peas, potato, broccoli, pears, peaches, banana, apple, avocado...and PUFFS!  That kid is a puff monster.  He loves them.  They are turning into a nice tool to keep him occupied while we get dinner on the table for those that eat real food :)

Growth: He's a little over 18 pounds now 27+ inches.  He had to go to the doctor because I was convinced he had an ear infection-I was wrong.  Was nice to get his stats though.

At this point though I'm seriously considering switching to formula.  I'm tired of having to watch every single thing I eat.  I'm tired of always wondering if the reason he's not sleeping great is because I ate a chocolate chip...or didn't read a label right...or didn't pick all that cheese out of my pasta I didn't realize came with cheese at the restaurant.  I'm tired of being tied to a pump or a baby every 3 hours.  I'm just...tired.  I feel as though there is so much pressure this time around to make sure I'm not only pumping regularly at work or when I'm away from Killean but also really watching what I'm eating.  It's exhausting for me.  I know breastfeeding has so many benefits for Killean.  I know it has benefits for me (can't say I've missed my period at all).  But...I just don't love it right now and I'm tired.  Bad thing: the formula we would likely need to use is stupid expensive.  My original goal was a year...my revised goal is one more day.  Every day I wake up and say, one more day.  Re-evaluation will happen at Killean's 9 month appointment.
Attempting to bear crawl

Standing!!!!!
Puff monster!

Sunday, April 26, 2015

Killean 7 months

7 Months Old
 Killean is now 7 months old!  He's more than 6 months old...we're more than half way to his first birthday.  Ho.Ly. Crap.  These 7 months have gone by so incredibly fast...and at times they feel like they've dragged on forever-though I think that's mostly due to feeling like I have no clue how to raise a baby since he's so very different than Rowan.  But more than anything, I can't imagine what life was like before we had two precious little boys in our family.

Happy Easter Baby
Killean continues to prove he is his own person and dramatically different than his brother.  After he crossed that 6 month mark, we decided to attempt 'solid' foods.  Now, solid foods for babies really isn't solid food.  It's food that gets pureed to a lovely runny consistency and we expect babies to love it.  Right?  Rowan certainly did.  We could feed him anything and he'd eat it.  He didn't even mind baby cereal.  Killean has struggled to find a food he'll eat.  We've discovered that he does much better with food when we put it in one of those mesh teething pouches and let him eat real food rather than the pureed version. But even then, we're not always winning.  He has liked bananas and blueberries...and that's it.  He seems to like avocados OK.  Squash, sweet potatoes, and carrots are a no go.  He didn't mind gumming on broccoli, but when it came to actually eating it...he wasn't impressed.  So he's still about 95% nourished by milk alone. Not sure what his official weight is, but it's certainly over 17 pounds now.  He's still fitting into 6 months clothes, but I'm starting to make the switch in his closet since some 6 month clothes are pretty tight.  There's such a big change between 6 and 9 month things though...so I guess he'll either be in tight clothes or baggy clothes until he grows just a little bit bigger.

Easter Twinsies
I'm still off dairy.  I've started to become much more strict in what I'll eat.  Up until this point, I haven't been too concerned with watching out for small bits of dairy in foods.  I ate a little bit of chocolate regularly.  I also didn't read all the labels on bread products that certainly contained a little bit of milk.  Right before he turned 7 months I decided to become much more strict in hopes of getting his sleep sorted out.  I noticed a rash develop on his neck after Easter when I ate some foods that definitely had milk in them, so figured it wouldn't hurt to become more strict.  I haven't noticed an improvement in sleep yet, but I have noticed a small lingering rash on his back/stomach has gone away.  Looks like I'm in for an ice-cream-less summer.  Here's hoping he grows out of this dairy sensitivity before his first birthday (fingers crossed!)

Teeth...we have teeth!  Had popped his two bottom teeth through on the SAME DAY.  We had a terrible night on the 13th, and then on the 14th I noticed there were two little teeth on his bottom gums. Guess that explains his terrible night?  No other teeth popping through yet, but I'm not going to be surprised if they all come in pairs since his first two came through at the exact same time.

Bath time with brother
And sleep...or lack there of.  Killean still does not want to sleep through the night.  He seems to think he needs to get up every two hours.  Frankly, this is getting old.  I understand he's little...and I understand it's normal for babies to not sleep for a solid 8ish hours when they're this age.  But seriously kid...every two hours?  I'm hoping that in the near future we see a change in this pattern.  Last night was better?  He went for about 3 1/2 hours, then 2 hours, then another 3 1/2.  If we can just combine some of those chunks and get one wake up after about 5 hours that would be wonderful.  I think I'll feel more human if that becomes the norm rather than the exception.

Cloth diapers aren't going as well for Killean.  Turns out high efficiency washing machines work very different than the traditional washing machines we used when cloth diapering Rowan.  Since they work differently, you have to wash diapers differently...or else you get build ups which can result in amonia burns on your baby.  Ouch.  We got that issue all sorted out though, and are back to using cloth diapers about 50% of the time.

He has started to move around like crazy.  He isn't 'crawling' but he can motor around and get to where he wants.  He's doing an army crawl most of the time.  He sometimes will get up on all fours and look like he's wanting to crawl, he's just not getting it consistently.  He doesn't have a need to really either since he's pretty efficient with his army crawling.

Slightly evil smile
Killean continues to be a happy baby.  He really only gets upset when we have the audacity to try and make him sleep, or if he doesn't get fed the SECOND he decides his hungry.  Most of the time though he's great at going with the flow and happy to just be where ever we are.  His laughs and smiles come freely.  He is starting to scrunch up his face when he smiles (proof that he's my baby) and we're capturing lots of evil looking faces in pictures.





Saturday, April 4, 2015

Killean 6 months

Yes...yes...I'm late on this.  What can I say? It's harder to be punctual with these updates when you have two small children running around to take care of.  Excuse? Perhaps.  Truth? Deifnitely.

6 months old!
Killean is now SIX MONTHS OLD!!!  It's hard to believe he's halfway to his first birthday. It's even weirder to think where we were at this time last year.  We were still in Omaha, just starting the process of selling our house to move down to Lincoln and adjusting to the idea of having a second child.  Now, we're settled into our house and (dare I say it) in a routine of our lives. 

Killean continues to grow.  He is just shy of 17 pounds and about 26.5 inches.  He is still wearing 6 months clothes, though he will probably be transitioning into 9 months clothes soon.  I put him in a 3-6 month onesie the other day, and promptly took him out of it because it was way to small.  Straight 6 month clothes are still ok (unless they're Target brand)...for now. 

Carrots coming out.
No teeth have popped through the gums yet.  He's gumming toys and his hands all the time, but no sign of teeth yet.  That's probably a good thing because food has NOT being going well.  We've tried carrots and squash.  He does not like either.  If we're lucky enough to get a bit into his mouth, he promptly A) spits it out or B) gags so much he sounds like he's about ready to throw up.  Here's hoping we find something he likes better than carrots and squash.

Sleeping is...OK?  Most nights he wakes up once to eat. Sometimes twice.  He is pretty good at just going back to sleep.  Every now and then, he wakes up to just talk for a while before eating.  He goes to bed pretty easy, so all in all pretty good.  We had a couple of rough nights not too long ago.  We were pretty mean to him...ear infection, 6 month shots, introducing food, and moving him into sharing a room with his brother all in the course of 3-4 days.  So we had a rough week or so, but now we're back on track.  Next step: hoping he sleeps 7-8 hours in the near future.  I'm looking forward to that. So. Very. Much.

His disposition is happy.  He smiles and laughs a lot.  He's starting to get an 'evil' looking smile which is devilish and adorable.  He loves his brother too.  He also loves his jumper. 

We love him =)
Little Raphael

Watching big brother

Happy, smiley boy



Tuesday, March 3, 2015

Killean-5 months

Killean is now 5 months old! He is a very smiley boy!  He really enjoys playing with his brother...even when his brother gets a little rough.  Killean smiles when Rowan screams in his face or pushes on his stomach, which unfortunately encourages that behavior.  But it's definitely their relationship developing.  They love each other, and I love it. 

He also loves music, eating his foot, and his jumper.  Oh...and talking.  Oh the talking!  He usually talks over me when we are reading books.  And he loves to tell stories as often as he can. 

He continues to be a good eater and is still eating at least once, but usually twice during the night.  He's got some chunky, CHUNKY thighs and weighs about 16 pounds.  He's fitting comfortably in 3-6 or 6 month clothes, though some are getting a little tight. He doesn't have much hair and no teeth yet.  I was convinced he would be getting teeth soon, but it turns out he just likes to chew on our knuckles. We're holding off on food for a while still since he has a sensitivity to dairy.  That and he doesn't seem that interested in food yet.  He sits up with assistance pretty well, but he isn't showing an interest in our food yet.  It's just a matter of time until he gets exposed to the world of fruits and veggies!  He loves to put things in his mouth, but he doesn't seem too drawn to our food.  Right now, he's content with milk.  

He is a pro a tummy time now.  He doesn't mind laying on his stomach and looking around.  He does get tired of it after a while, but most of the time he's perfectly content to lay on his stomach.  Now...our problem comes in when he wants to get off his tummy.  He CAN NOT figure out how to roll from his stomach to his back!  He can roll from his back to his stomach all day long, but the opposite direction-no way no how!

He suffers from some very dry skin.  He has a terrible patch of dry skin under his chin.  Vaseline is doing OK at helping that, but we have to put it on often.  Unless it starts to bother him more, we'll probably check with his doctor at his next check up to see if there are other options we can do to help him out.  

I love how much he smiles.  And when he smiles, he smiles with his whole face.  He is a happy, happy baby and shares that happiness with us often which we just love.  



Wednesday, February 4, 2015

SNOW!!!!

We FINALLY got some snow out here!  Rowan has loved the idea of making a snowman.  Unfortunately, the snow we got was very light power.  Easy to shovel, not so good for snow man making.  But, it's still fun to play in.  Rowan has had a lot of fun playing in it.  Today when we were out shoveling, he laid down and said he was making a snow angel.  Neither Ian nor I know where that came from, but somehow Rowan intuitively knows that you get to make snow angels when you lay down in the snow.  So much fun to see him playing outside for an hour and just loving every minute of it.

Playing in the snow while it's snowing

Throwing snow at daddy

Lots of snow!

Making snow angels!

Tuesday, January 20, 2015

Killean 4 months!

Four Months old!
Killean is now 4 months old!  He's doing lots of growing, smiling, and playing.  He has recently discovered his tongue and has lots of fun playing with that.  He has a hard time getting laughs out.  He's definitely ticklish, but he doesn't quite know how to get laughs going.  Once he does get them going, he gets some good laughs.  He does smile all the time though.  And when he smiles, he smiles with his whole face.  Rowan makes Killean smile a lot which is pretty precious to see.  These brothers are getting to be pretty good buds already.  

Big boy!
We've figured out that Killean does has a mild sensitivity to dairy.  Over the last couple of months, I noticed that his poos were a little funky. That and he was pretty fussy at nights and had a hard time settling down.  Plus he was pretty gassy and spit up a bit.  All of these things were signs of an intolerance to dairy.  So I cut that out of my diet for a while.  This last weekend I decided to see if this dairy intolerance was all in my head of it was for real.  I had some pizza and ice cream on Saturday night.  Then Sunday I had a cheese stick with lunch.  Sunday night Killean decided going to bed was over rated.  Prior to Sunday night we were getting into a good routine of getting him to bed around 7:30.  Sunday night: going to bed was not happening unless he was being held.  Same thing Monday.  Monday he also seemed to be having a little more trouble pooping, but we didn't notice anything too off.  Tonight, he was way more fussy than normal (though he did get shots today too...would make me fussy!)  Ian managed to get him to go to sleep on his own, so here's hoping we're settling back into our routine.  Until then, I'm going to keep cheese and such out of my life until we're closer to a year and/or weaning.  But man, I'm going to go on a dairy binge when I can!  Cheese.  Ice Cream.  Milk.  It will be glorious.

Despite some of these dietary limitations, Killean is definitely growing!  He weighed in at 14lb 15oz today and about 25 inches.  I've been feeling like I'm not making enough milk to keep up with his demands.  This has been insanely frustrating for me.  With Rowan, I had enough milk to feed him, build up a freezer stash, and donate milk to a milk bank.  With Killean I'm having to do some power pumping at work to make sure he's got enough.  I don't have much in the freezer, and what I do have is filled with dairy so I'd rather not give him that unless we have to.  I can honestly say I've never been so happy to work in an office by myself.  I can pump every two hours without stressing too much about my lack of productivity or bothering coworkers.  Now if only they could install a sink in my office. That would be great!

Happy boy sitting up so big!
He's great at sitting up with help-he's got a steady head and strong neck.  He doesn't mind being on his tummy either.  He seems to like holding his head up and looking around.  He hasn't quite figured out the rolling over thing.  He can, and occasionally does, roll over from his stomach to his back.  He also can, and occasionally does, roll from his back onto his stomach.  He's putting a lot of stuff in his mouth and chewing on his hands (and ours) non stop.  No signs of teeth yet, though for a moment I thought he might be getting one on the bottom.  We'll see when that first one pops through.

We love our boy!  He's a happy guy and brings a lot of happiness to our family-picky eater and all!





Saturday, January 10, 2015

Looking into 2015

Now that we're a bit more than a week in 2015, I feel like it's time to put into writing some hopes I have for this year.  I'm not one that's big on New Year's Resolutions.  I have the philosophy that if you feel like you need to make a change in your life, then do it.  There's no reason to wait for an arbitrary date, just do it.  However it's hard not to get caught up in the spirit of reflection the new year brings around.  Everyone's talking about what their year was like last year and what they're looking to do differently in the coming year...it's hard not to get sucked into that. 

So here I am, getting sucked into it.  What 2014 looked like and what I hope for in 2015. 

I'm not going to say 2014 was a bad year, but it certainly wasn't one of my favorites.  I feel like it was marked by so much change, and so much chaos at times, that I forgot to really enjoy any moments.  We started the year talking about our goals-me wanting to run another half marathon, paying off our 2nd car, doing some home improvements...and then BOOM, we found out we were pregnant with Killean and that changed some of our plans.  Took a moment to reset and them we were good.  And then BOOM, find out I have an actual opportunity to transfer to Lincoln instead of a possibility of a potential transfer to Lincoln.  Decide to take that chance and start moving towards that.  Spend quite a bit of time getting the house ready to sell.  BOOM, sell the house in a weekend (well...a few weeks after the back and forth with the buyer).  Scramble to find a place to live, and find one we think will be decent.  Tiny, but cheap and livable so we can save a good chunk of money and then buy a house summer of 2015.  BOOM, have a baby.  (Ok...this one really wasn't a boom...we knew it was coming.  But still, big event that drastically changes how your day to day life looks.  So...BOOM!).  Barely start adjusting to life with a second child and BOOM, apartment has mold so we have to move.  Move into a different apartment unit in the same complex, realize the apartment managers/owners are not that great (to be kind) and decide to move on the buying a house thing about 8 months earlier than expected.  BOOM, find a house and move in.  BOOM, go back to work.  BOOM, holidays.  BOOM, welcome 2015!

I know the year held more than that, but that's what I see in my memory highlights as I look back.  There's lots of good in there, but lots of BOOMS too. And no matter how good the BOOMS are, they still shake up your world a bit.  I'm truly not complaining because I'm VERY grateful to be where we are.  I love how the timing worked out wonderfully with everything that came at us this year.  I wouldn't have chosen that timing, but I think it all worked out pretty darn well considering. 

But for this next year...I would love to look back at 2015 in about 360 days and not see as many BOOMS.  I would love to look back and see memories of time spent with family-near and far.  Memories of laughter and fun. The feeling of setting a goal and accomplishing it-not being derailed before you even take your first step.  I would love for 2015 to be a calmer year, where we get to enjoy our time and those around us.  I want to take the time to be in the moment and feel ourselves settle into where we're at.  I haven't felt settled for a while...it would be nice to have that feeling.

So that's what I'm hoping for in 2015.  I'm hoping for a chance to relax and enjoy life.  I'm hoping for a chance to develop my relationship with my boys, and deepen my relationship with Ian.  I'm looking forward to the changes and challenges that will come with my desire to feel settled (not sure how that will work my personality that is always go, Go, GO!), but I'm hoping that includes a chance for me to read a book (or two)...have regular date nights with Ian...go the museum/park/zoo with my boys...save up some money for a trip with my girlfriends and maybe get an awesome Christmas present for our family next year (thinking a new refrigerator!!!!-real exciting, I know!).

Maybe by June or July this idea of settling will seem boring and torturous.  But for the forseable future, I can't imagine anything better than enjoying a glass of wine on a Saturday night and just soaking in the calm of a home where everyone has gone to bed.  That seems like pure. heaven.

Here's to a happy 2015 filled with all your wildest (or calmest) dreams!