Stages of a Kiss

How many steps are there when you give or receive a kiss in your house?

There used to be 2 steps in our house, a kiss, and then patting it in. This started because Jayce would periodically receive a kiss, and then wipe it off, giggling, knowing that this would entice us to come back and give him more kisses. We started patting them in, so that they would stick, and not be able to be wiped off. We've done this for months.

But in the past month, Jayce has added several steps. I hope I can remember them all.

1.) Kiss.

2.) Pat it in. (Not pictured.)

3.) Put some love in it. (Kiss the finger tips, then push the love in.)

4.) Zoom. (Put your palm over the kiss that has love patted in, and turn counter-clockwise, while saying "zoom".)

5.) Hammer it in. (Hammer over the kiss with your fist. Say, "Hammer hammer hammer.")

6.) Cut. (Slide the side of your hand down across the kiss, like a saw that is cutting in only one direction. Say, "Cut.")

(We don't get it either. We think at this stage that he's just mentally going through his toolbox.)

7.) Boom. (Gently tap over the kiss, as a final attempt to seal it all in.)

I couldn't make this kind of stuff up. 7 steps to a kiss, and I often get in trouble for getting them in the wrong order.

Also, yes, Valentines Day shirts. I made them 2 weeks ago and I love them. :)

Linking to Miscellaneous Monday and Life Made Lovely.

Read More

Seven Months and Sitting

Seven sweet months, my dear.

Sweetie, you still aren't sleeping.  I remember at 3 months when I was like, "You are still waking once a night for a night time feeding, we've got to get you sleeping through the night!"

Once a night!!  (Insert me laughing, deliriously.)

Since October, you are usually up 3 or more times a night.  First it was teething, then a road trip "that messed up your schedule"-or so we tell ourselves, then a sinus infection, then teething, then another trip, then another infection, then teething, then a horrid diaper rash, then a sinus infection, etc, etc.  In between these things, I know that you have forgotten how to get yourself back to sleep in the middle of the night, and have come to rely on us to help you.  We are trying to break you of it.  But  despite my typical toughness, I just can't make you cry yourself to sleep in the middle of the night.  Your brother just kind of figured it out, and I'm still really hoping you will too.

However your naps have improved.  We've stretched them to two 1 1/2 hours (or more) naps, plus a little cat nap in the early evening.  I'm so proud of you, and of me, for whatever hand in it I might have played.  Which very well might have been been no hand at all.

I also have found a little system that allows me to put you and your brother down for your afternoon naps at the same time, and that I do have a hand in.  It allows your mama to be a little more sane in the afternoon which is good for everyone.

The big news for 7 months is sitting.  You started sitting pretty well the week of Christmas, and by the end of the week you had it, no tipping at all!  You look like such a big girl sitting up, even though you have such a tiny little body.  It is adorable.

You had your first road trip to Akron and your first Christmas Eve party, which was a success.  You were pretty overwhelmed, but still the sweetest little thing, and I think eventually everyone in the room held you.

We set up a little meet and greet for you and your cousins Timmy and Tyler.  Timmy and Jayce are about 5 weeks apart in age, and you and Tyler are about 6 weeks apart.  (Right Sarah?  Roughly.)

We did our best to get you all looking in the same direction, but you babies just kept looking at each other, and periodically grabbing hands and trying to touch each other's faces.

Your dad tried to make everyone smile, but it made you cry.  Come on, dad.

But your older brothers played well together.  Including playing Angry Birds side by side.

(This picture makes me laugh.  A lot.)

You got your first tooth the day after you turned 7 months old.  This is 3 months sooner than your brother's first tooth.

You are still chewing on everything but oddly don't really drool, which is one of the only ways that you and your brother have been alike.  I pulled out Jayce's old bibs last month, including the drool bibs, and I laughed because they have mostly never been used.  I like this trait.  It doesn't matter, but I like it none the less.

You still have absolutely no interest in baby food, or formula, whatsoever.  You will eat bananas or strawberry yogurt, but everything else is pure baby torture.  I mix a little formula with each of these because I'm trying to get you used to the taste of it.  I've tried to mix rice cereal with these foods, but I have to keep the ratio of bananas to cereal just right or you will punish me.  Half bananas and half cereal (or more) in one spoonful means complete shutdown of mealtime-you won't open your mouth for anything after that point.  Stinker!!  Also, you easily drank water from your sippy cup, but ever since I put some pear juice in it that one time, and formula that other time, you have been refusing it.

I think to myself, "It's been a few weeks, I should give this another try."

And you say, "What are you thinking?  I thought I'd been pretty clear about this.  I'll have to teach you a lesson."

So we're still mostly just nursing around here, and that is okay, and it doesn't mean I'm a bad mom.  I'm just throwing that last part out there.

I remind myself that you will eventually "get it."  I don't know of any 6 year olds who are still exclusively nursing.

Really, it just bothers me because it makes me question myself, one of the hardest parts about parenting. Is it because of something I did or didn't do?  What should I have done differently/do differently now? And it is a bit wasteful.  Wasteful of (not cheap) baby food and formula.  Wasteful of clean cheeks, clothes, bibs and baby dishes.  Wasteful (sometimes) of my patience and time.  But still, it's okay.  We will get there my dear, we will get there.

In the meantime your happy disposition is one of the highlights of my day.  You have started "buh buh buh"-ing, and I love it!  Particularly when you just burst out with it, it just sounds so funny!

On most days, you wake up from your nap a bit earlier than Jayce and we have some time to play alone together, which I love.

You currently make this "cccccckkkkk" sound in the back of your throat, which obviously entices us to do the same, and it always results in huge smiles from you and lots of excited arm waving, feet kicking, and bouncing in place.  We love it.  We love you.  Happy 7 months.

 

Read More

Christmas Evening

After our leisurely morning of opening gifts, we showered and headed to John and Michelle's for dinner.

The food was delicious. Afterwards, everyone traded off playing "big game hunt" or something like that. Basically a deer hunting game for the Wii. Mom was also playing a card game with Chloe at the time, hence the Mickey ears.

Chelsea and I took an obligatory arms length shot, reviewed it, both declared, "Eww," but kept it anyway.

We got home, gave Hannah a bath and headed to bed. Why is opening presents and visiting so tiring? Oh yeah, because Jayce never took a nap that week or that day. Oh well, it's only Christmas one day (ish) a year.

Read More

Christmas Morning Catch Up

I do realize that it has been nearly a month since Christmas.  But we have had a surge of craziness around here.  Sick kids, sick husband, second Christmas, traveling out of town, traveling out of country, Chelsea coming in town, birthdays and overall busyness.  As of this week, life will settle back down for a little bit and I'll be catching up on here.

I know I say that a lot, but really, I will.

These photos are from our Christmas morning at mom's house, and don't really require a lot of narration because they pretty much speak for themselves.  We had a wonderful lazy morning of unwrapping gifts, which probably took about 2 hours since our little elf wanted to deliver and assist in unwrapping most of the gifts.  So we stopped periodically to refill our coffee, throw away paper, I stopped to feed Hannah, and we enjoyed opening gifts with no rush.  Since Chelsea had Hannah, I got to take pictures at my leisure as well.

 

Read More