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.

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

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.  

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!

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!

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!

Killean 3 months-and something about that other kid too

Killean is three months old now!  He is getting bigger, and bigger, and bigger!  He's still fitting into 3 month clothes, but I don't think that's going to last much longer.  Sleeves are getting short on sleepers.  Buttons are getting harder to fasten on onesies.  He's just starting to get too big for that size.  Looks like we may end up needing to buy a few clothes for him anyway if he grows faster than Rowan did and we no longer have seasonally appropriate clothes in the right size.  Not sure on what his weight is now, but we'll get an update at his four month check.

Killean is turning into a very smiley boy.  He's a pretty happy baby.  Until yesterday, we had only heard good laughs out of him in his sleep.  A couple of time we were holding him and he just started to belly laugh.  The best we could get out of him when he was awake was a little chuckle or a "huh" and that's about it.  Yesterday though, he started to laugh when we finished nursing in the afternoon.  I dont' know what was so funny, but something struck him as funny so he laughed.  Then we were watching Rowan play the drums and saying "bang" and THAT was hillarious.  Laughing and laughing at our brother.  It was awesome to hear.

Trying so hard to get that thumb!

Killean really want to be a thumb sucker.  We'll find his hand in his mouth while he's sleeping sometimes, but he usually keeps his thumb tucked in his fist.  A couple of times though I've been holding him and have seen him pull the thumb out and stick it in his mouth.  I'm pretty sure he'll start sucking his thumb here in the next couple of months.  We try to trade the thumb out for a pacifier, but I realize there's only so much we can do.  Hopefully he doesn't get too attached to his thumb.  If he does, we'll deal with that down the road though.

He's currently going through a growth spurt I'm sure of it.  He's eating more frequently at night so I'm guessing he's working on growing some more.  Trying to keep up with his big brother I guess =)

Rowan...oh yeah, there's another kid in the house.

Rowan is staying ever so busy.  I have felt like I've put him on the back burner a lot more lately-which I knew would happen.  Babies just need a lot more attention and he's more self sufficient.  Generally he does fine.  Sometimes though, you can tell he really misses being an only child.  He will insit on sitting in my lap while I'm nursing Killean.  He won't want me to read bedtime stories or rub his back at night if it means Killean will be with him-he'd rather have me go be with Killean and dad read books and rub back.  He's adjusting though-as we all are.  And he definitely loves his brother.  He likes to see him and is pretty tender when Killean is sleeping.  He's a two year old though, so sometimes when Killean is sleeping it's more fun to pull on a leg or tickle him than let him sleep.

"Rowan love Thomas"

Rowan's current obsessions are: Thomas and friends, Polar Express, train tracks (catching a theme here?), and Play-Doh.  He will stay entertained by Play-Doh for an hour if we let him.  We have to watch lots and lots of Thomas everyday.  And the other night? We had to sleep with our Henry and Thomas toys.  We still also love our pirate toys and our puppies.  When we went to visit Santa, we asked him for a puppy costume (thank goodness Santa lives in the day of Amazon).  Rowan's a smart and sweet little boy who continues to amaze us with all he can do and all he is.

Christmas train window cling fun

Lesson learned:If mom goes to work on laundry while Rowan takes a bath, all bath toys will end up in the bath tub

Fascinated by a new toy that jiggles when you pull it.

The jumper is much more exciting at 2 than it ever was at 9 months or so

Merry Christmas from my littlest elf!