Birthday Party (and stats)!

As promised, a few pictures of Mason's first birthday party.  We were in Texas visiting my family.  I had good intentions to have a themed party, and make decorations before we left and carry them on the plane to Texas.  Yeah...that didn't happen.  Too much to do, too little time.

 Thankfully, my youngest sister Lacey had made some pretty incredible decorations for her daughter's first birthday party in November and she agreed to let me use them.  Have I mentioned my sister is incredibly talented and a perfectionist?  Well, she is.  She had used a lot of oranges and yellows which I felt were appropriate for a little boy, although he did have smatterings of pink.  He didn't complain.

 Yummy birthday cupcakes.

 Singing happy birthday...

and having blowing out his candle.

We invited E to join the family picture but she refused.  No surprise there. :)

Cupcake eating.

He honestly wasn't a huge fan of the cupcake, but he did like sticking his fingers in the icing.  E demolished her cupcake on her first birthday so it was funny to see him just pick at his.

"Opening" his present.

He got help a lot with this one.

So excited to see what it might be.

Trucks!

It was a wonderful little birthday celebration and we were thankful we got to be with family.  We were also thankful to build our "boy toys" collection.

I have been thinking lately how life of a second child is so different.  He is always watching Elliott.  She is his entertainment, his instant playmate (for now), his teacher.  She always tells me what he's doing (she's a bit of a tattle tell), and she likes to join in when he's doing something he's not supposed to.  She is his voice...she tells me what (she thinks) he wants.  I was a first child, so I can't relate.  I  know it has to affect his personality as it develops, it's just fascinating to watch.  I always have loved those birth order theories so I feel like I'm getting to see it play out.  Such a nerd, I know.

We did go to the doctor yesterday for Mason's 12 month appointment and here are his stats:

Height 31 1/4 inch (86%)

Weight 23 pounds (68%)

Head 18 1/2 inches (69%)

He seems so small to me (I guess since E's so much bigger and she has always been in the 90ish percentiles) so I'm glad he's growing!

1 year old

Our precious little boy is 1 year old.  How is that even possible?  It feels like yesterday I saw his sweet little face for the first time and now he's turning 1.  Since his birthday falls on Christmas, we had a small party with my family the day after.  The dilemma of how to celebrate a Christmas birthday begins.  This year it didn't really matter since he was so little, but I could definitely see how it could pose problems.  You wake up to Christmas...and oh, happy birthday Mace.  We're going to have to work on it.  I'm thinking of celebrating in October or November, but not going to lie, that also seems a little strange.  I have pictures from his little party but they're on Kev's computer so I decided to share a couple pics from the past month for now.

He is wearing size 18 months although we still roll up the pants.  He wears size 5 diapers and they have prevented almost all blowouts.  He rarely wears shoes so I'm not sure what size he wears.  Poor child lives in socks.  I figure we will have to remedy this as he will be walking sometime soon.  Hopefully.  

He goes for his 12 month well child check on Friday and of course I'm anxious to see his stats.  He definitely feels smaller to me than E at this age, but I think our perspective of a "normal" size is skewed since she was always in the 90+ percentile in all categories.

 

His big accomplishment shortly after he turned 1 was learning to pull op on things.  He has really been pleased with himself as you can tell from these pictures.  It has caused some increased chaos in our life as he can now get in Miss E's space which has caused some pushing/tears and he has had minor injuries from hitting his head against things.  He's not really cruising yet, but I know it's only a matter of time.

He has been a pretty good sleeper lately and goes to bed around 7 and wakes up at 6:30 or 7.  He usually takes 2 naps for around 1.5-2 hours each.  He is still sleeping in a pack n play in our office.  He doesn't seem to mind it but I'm hoping he'll be able to transition to E's room soon (and to think I thought they would be sleeping in the same room by 6 months at the latest...ha).

 Food has been stressful this month.  I stopped formula at 11 & 1/2 months and tried to transition him to only sippy cups.  However, it has been hard to find a sippy cup he really likes using (so we usually resort to a straw) or any fluids he likes drinking.  I started giving him 1 bottle before bedtime with milk which he thoroughly enjoys.  He still has eczema and constipation (we give him Mirilax daily) so we decided to do a trial of no dairy/eggs/processed foods after Christmas.  I feel like our amazing eater basically went on a hunger strike.  I have had such a tough time finding food he actually enjoys and will eat.  So often, I'e had four or five choices on his tray which he won't eat but he screams like he's still hungry.  I have a whole new respect for moms who have kids that aren't good eaters.  Such a feeling of helplessness.  I've been reevaluating the past several days and considering being more aggressive with his diet when he gets a little older and is able to chew more foods.  Lately, he has been obsessed with Clementines and will easily eat an entire orange if not more and he loves mac and cheese.  He also seems to like bread/crackers (like every child) and yogurt (most of the time), but could give or take bananas, beans, chicken/beef/turkey, and any other fruits/veggies I've tried.  I have been giving him goats milk at nights and he drinks it okay, but he is not a fan of goat cheese or almond cheese (I can't say I blame him).  This whole topic certainly could have been a post in it's own.

His favorite activities include slamming cabinets/doors, clapping, giving high fives, playing with whatever sister is playing with, standing, trying to get in the dish washer, pushing things around while crawling on his knees, splashing in the bath tub, playing with the buttons on the DVD/surround sound, sucking on wipes, hanging upside down, and jumping on the bed with sister.

 

His least favorite things include changing his clothes/diaper, putting a coat on, getting strapped into his car seat, riding in his car seat, waiting for a meal, waiting for his bottle, being redirected. 

He has entered a phase I must admit, I'm not too fond of...the screaming/whining phase.  He definitely has become much more high maintenance which can be slightly exhausting.  It doesn't help that he has began to employ a high pitched scream that really grates on your nerves.  I know this too shall pass, but this 12 months to 20 months or so was difficult with E.

 He does love his mama and for that I'm thankful.  When I come into the room, he has eyes for only me.  When I come home from work, he holds his hands straight up in the air so I'll pick him up.  Melts my heart a little.  He also has the sweetest grin and the best little laugh.  I know all his tickle spots.

So thankful that God gave us this little man to raise although the task at times feels daunting.  He has brought and continues to bring so much joy in our lives and he adds so much to our little family.

Recovery

Recovery.  The word that comes to mind when I think through these past 10 days.  I've had so many different ideas for blog posts, but I feel like I haven't had the time or energy to sit down and do them.  

Playing a duet.

Prior to 10 days ago, we got to spend 12 days visiting our families.  It was a wonderful time with both families, but I'm always amazed how utterly exhausting it is traveling with 2 small kids.  Maybe I'm the silly one to be surprised it's exhausting.

Aunt Anja time (how can we have no pics with Lace?).

As I think back, overall, the trip was great.  However, scattered in the great were several very difficult days, and unfortunately, sometimes the difficult days are what comes to mind first.  Our first travel day was particularly exhausting.  We flew out of Chicago, which means we had to wake up at 4:30 (3:30 central time), drive to Chicago and fly to OKC (one lay-over).  We made it to OKC around 12:30 or 1, spent an hour or so with Kev's family, then drove 4 hours to Texas.  We made it to my parents' house around 6:30pm.  So our travel that started at 3:30am didn't end until 6:30pm with only a short hour nap in the afternoon for both kids.  Considering the circumstances, the kids did amazingly well.  But when we were in the car still driving at 5, they were done.  Little man was exhausted but inconsolable, Miss E was ready to get out, I was very near to losing my mind (or so it felt).  But we made it...praise the Lord.

Waiting patiently for their presents (extended cousins).

The other low point for me was our first night in OKC.  Miss E hadn't slept great the last two nights at my parents' house which made for a more emotional/ornery toddler and M had been running a fever off and on with a terribly stuffy nose.  The kids stayed up way past their normal bedtime playing with cousins and didn't go to bed until 10.  I slept in the room with M and he was up screaming, inconsolable from 10:30 until 3 (with about an hour of reprieve).  When I (again) felt like I might lose it, I went to get Kev (who was sleeping in E's room).  We switched...then E was up for about an hour and half being especially difficult.  I was so tired, I felt like I didn't have the mental or emotional reserve to deal with her.

Turns out, M had a double ear infection and was much improved when getting on antibiotics.  We even maybe had one night at the end of the week where both kids slept through the night.  Just 11 nights where at least one, if not both of them, was waking up.  Traveling is not for the faint-hearted. :)

I thought many times during the traveling period and since we've been back, we're SO thankful to have family and friends we WANT to visit.  But this is the price we pay by moving so far away.  I don't regret moving and definitely feel this is where God has us, but sometimes it's tough.  I'm just hoping it will get easier as the kids get a little older.  The benefit of traveling frequently is the kids are pros at flying.  We've got our routines so generally the flight goes pretty smoothly.

The little boys LOVED playing together and especially loved the door stops.

Her crowning achievement ("climbing" the pillar at Momo and Papa's house).

Hanging with Papa.

The girls.

Christmas morning.

I wouldn't change these sweet memories for the world.

Merry Christmas!

We had a wonderful day celebrating Christmas with our family! We feel so abundantly blessed! We are most thankful to have Jesus as our Lord and Savior...the best gift of all.

Sleep update

Apparently I've taken a major blogging break over the month of December.  I actually was pretty shocked to see that I hadn't blogged since the 1st!  Where did the time go?  December has certainly flown by but it has been such a fun month filled with Christmas shopping, Christmas light looking, lots of warm drinks, a brief but beautiful snow, and preparations to go see our families.

I was so thankful for everyone's comments regarding the sleep dilemma at our house so I thought I would give you a quick update.  So after I wrote my last post about sleep here, we tried the recommendations from the book (as little social interaction as possible when bringing the kids back to bed), and when she slept through the night two or three days in a row, we thought it was successful...until she started waking up again.  More and more frequently.  We quickly realized that this technique was NOT working on our sweet little girl, and sleepless nights certainly make you feel frantic/desperate to find a solution.  We hit our low when she got up 13 times one night, so we decided to figure out a way to lock her in the room.

This was a really hard concept for me.  I had several friends who successfully used this technique, but the book said it should be used as a last resort, last case scenario.  Once I read what the "experts" recommend, I have major mom guilt to think about doing otherwise.  It makes me second-guess everything.  To make matters worse, we live in a really old house with old door knobs that are too big for the normal child proof methods.  To make a long story short, we found some contraption off amazon (have I mentioned I love amazon) that after nailing two paint stirrers to the door frame (don't ask), works great!  The first night she was sad for about 5-10 minutes, but then she went back to bed...and slept through the night.  Then she slept through the night again, and we thought, why didn't we try this sooner?  Then she started waking up...again.  However, now she wakes up maybe once (sometimes not at all), usually around 3, and starts knocking at her door, saying "mom, mom, mom."  Usually by the time I make it to her bedroom, she's turned on her lamp, she has no clothes on, and she's picked out a whole new outfit she wants to wear.  We always have a conversation about how she wants to be awake now and I try to look as tired as possible (which isn't difficult) while assuring her we are all asleep.  It would be really funny if it wasn't the middle of the night.  However, waking up once a night?  I'll take it.  I'm thankful for the sleep we're getting and feel much more refreshed these days (although I still depend on coffee for extra energy during the day).  

When we're visiting family I'm sure all the "sleep training" will be reversed and we'll be back at square one.  Sigh.  Never.ending.battle.

Advent

I'm pretty proud of my homemade little advent calendar. It turned out pretty well if I do say so myself with fairly minimal effort. I feel like the cool numbers really made it. Don't kid yourself...I did not make those. Gotta love etsy.

Each day, I will put a note with a fun activity (I'll post my list later), a special treat, or something little (from targets dollar bins). Miss E loved her special treat today. It's so fun coming up with new traditions!

Our ball of energy

Sweet E, my life would be so boring without you.  

My precious little girl has so much life and energy that sometimes I wonder if I can keep up.  Her language has grown by leaps and bounds the past several months, and it has been amazing to see her put words together.  She has been calling me "my mommy" and Kev "my daddy" which cracks us up.  "My mommy I need help please."  When we're listening to a song she doesn't know, she says, "What's this song about my mommy?" and I find myself trying to describe the theme of a song in words a 2-year old would understand.  The other day when we were driving we were stuck in some traffic and she said, "these cars go to pootball game?"  Yes, we live in a college football town. :)

 There is 2 things I love about this picture.  First, she's wearing her favorite shirt (aka "kitty cat shirt") that she got last year from my mom.  She seriously wakes up every single morning asking to put on her kitty cat shirt and is devastated if I tell her it is dirty.  Thankfully, she has one other shirt she likes (a short sleeve shirt with a puppy dog on it) that we try to alternate with.  Second, her hair is down and messy.  This girl HATES getting her hair fixed.  Hates it (unless Momo does it).  I always think, who would want hair hanging in their eyes, getting stuck in their boogers, but it never seems to bother her.  She does occasionally request a pony tail.  Otherwise, she fights getting her hair fixed like I'm trying to do something really mean.  So sometimes I don't fight it...hence the hair in this pic.

 We had a big month for Miss E.  Two days in a row she sat in the potty and actually went peepee.  Oh the things you get excited about with kids.  Unfortunately it hasn't happened again, and now I think she just wants to sit on the potty so she can wipe.

In this picture she's trying to get my camera which is basically the only way I could catch a smile.  She does not like getting her picture taken, and definitely will not smile for me.  She's an ornery little girl. 

This is the face she usually gives me.  Stinker.

She has really strong preferences: she will only wear this pink hat, she hates wearing jackets but if forced, she will wear a little thin fleece jacket she has, she is obsesses with putting her shoes on but will only wear the blue shoes because the buckle is a challenge, and the list goes on.

Things she has loved lately: reading (especially Clifford...kind of getting sick of ol' Clifford), listening to music (especially Disney songs, and she has loved listening with head phones lately), going to the mall (so we can go to the pet store and the Disney store), Chipotle, special treats, milk, peanut butter and honey sandwiches (every.single.day), eating dinner by candle light, playing on the monkey bars, swinging "high," jumping on her bed and off her bed, watching Curious George (I think she would actually would watch just about anything we let her...not necessarily a good thing), singing, being "nakey," building tents with dad.

 I love the way her nose wrinkles when she talks. 

Things she hates lately: any adult dressed in costume (the Chick Fil A cow, santa, etc), bed time and nap time (basically sleeping), being told what to do, being told she needs to wear clothes, when I leave to go to work or to go to the gym, being left in her Tiny Tots class at church or the gym nursery

 She certainly keeps us on our toes but she is such a joy!