Work Balance

 I am so very lucky to work for a company who is truly so flexible and understanding of me.  I don't know of anywhere else that would give me the freedom to get my work done without someone watching the clock and constantly keeping tabs on where and what I am doing.  I work but don't have to miss out on everything with my kiddo's because of the flexibility I have. It is really a blessing and the next best thing to being able to stay home with my babies.  

All of that being said, I try to get to work on time in the mornings [8am] but I just can't seem to get it together.   I feel horrible when I am pulling into work at 8:45 on our non-school days, but that seems to be the norm.  I try getting in the shower earlier and that doesn't seem to make a difference.  Well this morning I was late as usual and rushing into Mom's with the kids...who where both still in their jammies.  I got Kenley out of her car seat and was trying to get some saline in her snotty booger nose before I rushed out the door.  I rolled her over and suddenly smelled the unpleasant smell of a messy diaper and looked down and it was all up my sleeve.  NICE.  Poopy covered shirt should linger a wonderful fragrance through the office.  Of course, I wouldn't really do that to the men I work with, so I went back home to change...which required shirt and shoe change...and then made it to work in time for a 9:15 conference call. I proceeded to accidentally close my eyes and nod off for a split second [oh and I was siting at the corner of my bosses desk] and have no idea if he saw me or not. It was just one of those mornings, but thankfully the rest of the day has been a little smoother.  Here is to hoping that one day I will be able to get to work on time!

on the home front.  Kenley is loving her solids so far.  She started carrots this week, after having bananas, apples and sweet potatoes last week.  I will try to get peas made this week to give her some greens!  She is trying to walk more and more...she can walk pushing something pretty good, although she falls a lot which results in lots of screaming as well.  She is quick as lightening on all fours.  Collier still isn't really interested in her and is not willing to share, but is really loving the baby toys that we recently pulled out.  We are working on how to play together...especially if he is playing with her toys!  Big lessons.  Collier continues to amaze me with his memory and at how funny that he is.  It is really amazing the things that they come up with at this age.  Keeps us all on our toes!

Pick'n and Giggles

Here are two of the latest pick'n session that Collier has had.  Maybe he can grow up and be a praise and worship leader.  Lets just pray that he doesn't get my voice...please try and ignore my out of tune/pitch singing...it just isn't one of my talents!






and I have to share one with Ms. Priss too.  I couldn't get the front of her so sorry you are seeing the back of her head, she was just a giggling and I am not sure what got her so tickled. A laughing baby/child is really music to my hears.

Kenley - 6months and more

This little stinker is already 6 months.  She is so busy and active. She has been pulling up and even start trying to take steps in the past week.  She has taken several steps when pushing something [Collier's step stool].  She is working hard to master climbing stairs at Mom and Dad's [YIKES].  Nothing is slowing this little monkey down.  

She has gotten brave enough to let go when standing a hand full of times just this week.  See what I mean when I say busy!  I always said my favorite stage with Collier was 7-9months because he was sitting up good and strong but not yet crawling.  I could leave him with toys and at least switch over the laundry or get dinner started with him on the kitchen floor close by.  Not so much with Kenley that sitting up stage with no crawling was only about a week long at 4 months.  Mom likes to remind me that I was fully walking by 8 months and it looks like Kenley is on the Shannon track, woopsy.  Pay back!

 Sleep is getting better.  Last week was awesome, including one ALL NIGHT sleep [Tuesday night].  But over the weekend she was up twice again.  The past two nights have been back to only being up once.  I will be honest that I just don't mind the once a night feeding.  That way I get at least one solid stretch of 4-5 hours sleeping.  Justin really has the magic touch of getting her down in the evenings..when I put her down she will just roll over and stand up reaching for me.  I wonder if this is because she can smell me, even though she isn't hungry she just thinks that she should be in my arms.  Who knows but since Daddy has the magic touch I let him put her down in the evenings.  I miss him greatly when he is out of town!

  I also am starting back with solids this week. I have randomly been giving her solids but nothing consistently and plan to get on schedule now that she has reached 6 months.  I really wanted to wait until 6 months to get her started and I am glad that I have. She has had bananas and oatmeal this week and is doing pretty good with it.  I am certain that more of it is on her hands and bib than in her tummy [although her diapers are starting to show otherwise] and she really does like playing, holding and biting on the spoon.   I am really excited about getting back to making baby food again, I really enjoy it and love doing it.  I know that Collier will also love helping me too.  This weekend Sweet Potatoes and Apples are on the menu to be made for our little Ms.Priss.

Her 6 month check-up was good.  Dr. Amy said that she is perfect, so how can you really complain about that.   She weighed 16lb 9oz [60th%].  She is 26.75" long [78th%].  She has 16.75" head circumference [60th%].  She also got 3 shots.  Collier went with me and he stood in the hallway while Kenley got her shots, he says he doesn't want to see her shots.  I think he doesn't want to hear her cry.
SideNote: It is really nice to have a female doctor who can relate to some of the sleepless nights and advise what she did with her own kids...and even more specifically with breastfeeding advice.  I am really glad that we have switched to Dr. Amy.

I look forward to seeing what the next months will bring.  I need to double check my baby-proofing around the house as she becomes more and more mobile.  She'll probably be driving next week, so look out!

I am thrilled about cooler fall weather being on the way.  I am praying that we'll have a nice and cool fall and winter this year!

Conversations with Collier

Let's be honest: if I don't put them on here or immediately write type them out I will forget.  I can hardly remember what I did 5 minutes ago.  Not to mention things that he says are just funny...and that could be because I am his mom and I think he is really funny in which case I am just posting so that when I read them later I will laugh again...even if I am the only one laughing! [can anyone scream run-on-sentence]

Let me give you a little background on this. Over a year ago Collier went to the doctor with my mom and in the waiting area they had tiny new testament bibles.  Collier took one and has called it his 'bibull' ever since. He likes to carry it and play with it and so we let him.  One day he took it with him for nap time and I haven't been able to find it for a few months....I looked under the bed, changed sheets,etc and couldn't find it.  Today I was getting some boxes out from under his bed and spotted it.  He was thrilled and it was one of his three book choices for bed time that night.  We read the other two and I asked if he wanted me to read out of his bibull and here is how it went down:
Me: do you want me to read you a story out of your bible
CH: no, its my bibull
Me: yeah I know but it has stories in it just like your other books but it just doesn't have pictures
CH: [opens to a page] Jesus loves me and you can't read any of it
Me: yes you are right, Jesus does love you.  you don't want me to read you a story from your bible
CH: no its mine.
Me: ok, I hear ya!
from the looks of it we need to be doing more reading and learning from Jesus....especially in the kind words and sharing lessons!  Oh in due time :)
------

Last week Collier hasn't been able to find his 'done' aka an old phone that we gave him and he used it to take pictures....I haven't seen it in weeks but he has been looking for it.  So after he and Justin looked around with no luck of finding it,  I heard him tell Justin he was going to get his 'bibull'.  I was in the kitchen giving Kenley a bath so I was not in the same room.
CH: I'm going to get my bibull
JH: ok
CH walks back in the den with the bible, opens it up 'reading': we are good boys and we can dine my done
JH: is that what it says....please go and tell you Mom what it says
CH walk into the kitchen opens his bible: My bable says dat  we can dine my doone.
Me: oh good.
JH; no tell her what it says first before we can find your phone
CH: that we are good boys and dat we can dine my done.
Me: oh boy...Jesus does know where your phone is we should ask Him to show us where to look to find it.

Nice! this is twice that he has read out of his bible and said that he and Justin are good boys.
Also reoccurring theme is that we losing things around our house...

I'll be back with some updates on Kenley and our sleep!

Photo Book

Click here to view this photo book larger

Just got around to creating a book for Kenley's arrival.  Glad to have it done and have it ordered.  

Create your own custom photo books at Shutterfly.com.

Motherhood...the real thing

I love being a Mom and I love my children with all my heart.  It is easy some times to put on a smile and say that everything is fine and great!  I never want to seem to complain about my children because the fact of the matter is that they are a blessing.  A huge blessing and gift from God and for each of them I am oh so thankful.  That doesn't mean that parenting is all snuggles, smiles and happy bliss because it is hard!   God never promised that things would be easy and parenting is certainly not exempt from that. I am learning that not all babies are the same and that some babies are just harder than others.  Kenley qualifies for the latter.   Kenley is still doing a lot of crying and a lot less sleeping.  The doctor has recommended that we take our focus off of the day time naps [because it wasn't working and she cried more than napped] and redirect our efforts to night time routine and sleeping.  Strategy: cry it out.  aka: see how long momma can take it and not give in.  I've tried this before and she would escalate and get more upset as time went by instead of soothing and calming.  Plus my heartstrings get pulled at about 30minutes of crying.  I give in.  I want to hold her.  I want to comfort her.  I want her to know I am here for her.  I want to protect her.  I want to pour my love out with my arms wraped around her. It has been about a month since I last tried letting her CIO so this will be round two and I have back up [aka Justin who is not easy to give in] I am terrified at how this will unfold in the fear of her crying for 3 hours literally brings tears to my eyes.  I can not take that and I am praying hard that God will be the one to comfort. sooth. protect. wrap His arms around her and that she will sleep!

This will begin tonight and we will just see how it goes.  I will say that past two days have been slightly better with her going to sleep.  Yesterday she cried herself to sleep sitting up, but I left her because I knew if I went in to lay her down she would wake up.  Last night she was up twice [12:15a and 5a] and both times she was wide awake after eating.  After I was sure she was well burped and clean diaper I laid her down - wide awake - and she eventually fell asleep without a single peep.  It gives me hope that letting her cry will be ok and she will settle down.  She may be able to do it now that she is a little older.  Either way I am asking God to be the comfort for her and the patience for me!

As her Mom I want to make her feel better and not cry but sometimes there is just so much that I can do. In the midst of the screaming crying [have I mentioned how loud her cry is?] and she is pushing away from me and crawling up me and unable to relax...I just want to cry.  I am emotionally, physically and mentally tired.  I have felt that I have fallen short as a Mom for her and don't know what more to do. Sunday at the lake I had a complete melt down and I think it just helped and felt good to cry and cry hard! I love her and want her to be happy.  I've said this before, when she has had a good nap and is in a good mood she is precious.  She is crawling and standing up on anything that she can reach....this is way earlier than Collier ever thought about.  She loves for anyone to talk to her and has such a sweet smile.  She is very interested in Brinkley and will crawl all over her when she is near by.  She adores Collier and keeps her eyes on him anytime he is in sight.  She giggles at him a lot and that just makes me so happy.  She puts everything that she touches into her mouth and has started to drool quite a bit in the past week, it is probably safe to say she has teeth on the way.  She still loves to swing [and we are all ready for the cooler weather and less misquitos so that we can enjoy outside more].  All of this to say that she is precious.  She is my sweet baby girl who is just having a hard time right now.  I know that this is just a short phase and that it will be gone in a flash.  When I am up nursing her in the middle of the night I do love to hold her close and tight because in just a few short months she will not be so willing or wanting to snuggle up in my lap.

My verse of the day [via YouVersion] yesterday was Psalm 68:19
Praise the Lord; praise God our savior! For each day he carries us in his arms. And for that I am thankful.  It is He who carries me through each day and night!  And He also has Kenley wrapped in His arms safely as well! How great is He to give me this verse at such a time as this!

**I started this post this afternoon and am just now trying to finish it up....so I already have an update:
 After an hour of trying to get her to nap this afternoon, she was rubbing her eyes, long blinks and crying, she would not go to sleep.  So I bathed her and gave her to Justin while I bathed Collier and I just went in to check on her and she was sound asleep on the couch next to Justin.  Yep he just got a new job...Kenley is his every night after bath time! 
GOD.IS.GOOD!

Conversations with Collier

Few weeks ago we went to get Collier's hair cut, as I mentioned before it was way over grown and in much need of a cut.  He cried all morning that he didn't want to get his hair cut and he loves and adores Mrs. Ginger who cuts his hair.  Not sure why he was so against going but here was our conversation on the way:

CH: I not want to go get my hair cut
Me: Why not buddy
CH: because I don't
Me: You love Mrs. Ginger
CH: she has scissors and she is going to cut my hair
Me: Yes sir
CH: I don't want her to
Me: why not
CH: I don't want her to cut ALL my hair off like Pops [referring to my dad]
Me: [laughing really heard] oh no, i'm going to tell Pops you said that
CH: [laughing at me laughing] yeah, Pops only has a little hair
Me: that is right
CH: but he has lots on his tummy
Me: [laughing hysterically]

When I told my dad he asked if he really meant his chest....yes but he just refers to all of it as his tummy.  Very funny.  And of course he did great once he saw Ginger and I had assured him that she wouldn't cut it all off like Pops!  We'll be sure not to go to the lady that cuts Pops hair ;)  He just continues to make us laugh at his though process.

My other favorite is his reference to time is so far off.  He calls yesterday tomorrow.  He refers to just a few hours away as tomorrow.
As he is going down for his nap: 'what we go'na do tomarwo?'
In talking about something he did yesterday: 'I already did that tomarwo?'
In talking about something we are going to do in the future: 'we go'na do that yest'rday'
It is really cute and I hate to correct him because I think it is so cute and funny...but I know that is part of the learning and want him to have the right time frames!

Tired Baby

So I called the doctor last week to make an appointment and the nurse asked why I needed to see her...long pause from me 'well she is crying a lot and I don't know what else to do'.  Yeppers, I took Kenley to the doctor because she cry's.  You would think I am a first time mom [I am feeling like one because everything I learned with Collier doesn't apply when it comes to Kenley] and was embarrassed to have to go to the doctor because of all of the crying.  After talking it through the her she seems to think that she isn't getting enough sleep. great, now I really feel like crazy mom. She thinks that she is up to long and not able to cope in the evenings [hence all the crying] I was given strict orders to put her back down for her first nap after an hour to hour and half and then only two hours in between naps for the rest of the day.  Well, this is much easier said then done for a few reasons:

1. She doesn't relax well to want to go to sleep which means that when we try and sooth her or lay her down at the 1 - 1.5 hour time frame she cries.
2. When she cries, it is loud and even if you try and let her cry it out she gets louder and more and more worked up.  She doesn't tire out and get herself settled down.
3. she is curious and nosy and any noise or talking she hears while trying to go to sleep will alert her and she pops her head up and looks for what is going on.  She is 5 months and doesn't want to miss a minute of action.

So, although our efforts have been good our success has not.  I can not make her sleep.  Even though I try everything...rocking, singing, swaying, feeding, shhhhing and lots of pasey in and out.  All of this is in addition to the fact that she is still getting up twice during the night to eat.  Maybe she is tired but she just doesn't know it, either way I am clueless.  I am supposed to report back to the doctor on Tuesday with an update so it will be interesting to hear what she suggests or thinks going forward.  I sort of think it may be more tummy issues than sleep issues but as notes before...CRAZY and CLUELESS and slightly sleep deprived.  

But here is the catch, when she is awake and not fussy and crying...she is the sweetest thing ever.  She loves when people talk to her and will smile so big that her mouth pops open.  she loves face to face time and is really such a sweet baby when she is happy!  She is also a mover, look out because she is basically crawling.  It is slow but she can get across the room for anything she sets her eyes on.  She doesn't like to be laid flat on her back which means that diaper changes are also a bit of a challenge.  Saturday in my failed effort to get her down for her early nap she was in her crib crying and I looked at the monitor and she had pulled herself on her knee's and was holding onto the side of the crib.  This was something new for her and I was shocked and then all of a sudden she pushed herself up to her feet. WHAT?  I ran in there and asked her what she was doing and all the tears rolled away and she grinned from ear to ear.  She thought it was funny, I was in shock.  Now that she knows she can get up that is what she tries to do if she is awake in her crib.  Oh my goodness she is so very busy and ready to be on the go and I am not quite as ready as she is.

Collier's First Day

Today began our first day of 3Yr. Pre-K.  Collier will be going three days this year and we are very excited about his class and teachers.  He did great when I dropped him off, he was a little shy going in but was big and brave and perfectly fine once Mrs. Jennifer grabbed his hand for him to pick out his activity for the morning.  He did really good and had a fun day.  His teacher said that he did very good, so we are officially off to a good start!  He told me he ate all of his lunch and that he sat next to Efan (Ethan) during lunch, they read a book about a dinosaur and he colored a picture [but we left it in his cubby on accident].  Such a sweet little man.  

Rewind
When we went to meet his teacher on Monday, he told us all morning that he didn't want to go to school.  once we got there he got comfortable and explored around to see what all was in the class.  He stopped at the kitchen area and played with all of the food and equipment.  He was very busy making his 'dinner' when i told him it was time to go.  he didnt want to go at all.  and since then that is all that he has talked about... 'you didnt let me finish my dinner at my teacher' and so i told him he would have lots of time to cook in the next several months!!

Here was our conversation this morning about the kitchen:

Me: You'll get to play in the kitchen at school today

CH: no no no, at my teacher

Me: well your teacher is the lady who teaches you, did you know you have two teachers Mrs. Jennifer and Mrs. Audry

CH: My kitchen is at my teacher

Me: well it is in your class room which is at your school

CH; Oh yeah

Me: You'll be able to make your dinner and eat it today

CH: you don't call me today, you need to go to work

Me: huh

CH: when you called me and William was there  [he is now referring back to Monday, his friend William was in the kitchen when I was telling Collier it was time to go and he didn't want to leave because he was in the middle of making himself dinner] and you didn't let me finish

Me: oh yeah, you'll be able to finish today, I'm going to work and I'll be back to pick you up later

CH: yeah you need to go to work.

Me: thank you buddy.

all of that to say that he did tell me that he got to play in the kitchen today and that the couldn't find the mit that goes with the kitchen.  Maybe he'll be able to find it on Friday.  I am just glad to for great first day.  

Cereal, Sleeping and a Hair Cut

Tuesday I started Kenley on rice cereal.  I really wanted to wait until 6 months but with all of the sleepless nights this was my final attempt and last resort to try anything to help this little priss pot sleep through the night.  She really liked the cereal and every bite was followed by a little finger sucking. She already keeps her fingers in the mouth, so a little finger licking with each bite of cereal seemed to work good for her. She wanted more when it was all gone! 

She had cereal Tuesday and Wednesday evenings and was up 2 and 3 times.  Thursday she had a very bad day with Nammy and did a lot of crying and not as much sleeping.  She was better when we got home but still didn't sleep.  I didn't give her any cereal [mostly because I didn't have time with cooking our dinner] and guess what....she finally slept all night!  I was in shock at 4am and she had not cried through the night.  I must have been from the lack of sleep and all the crying  during the day [Nammy's poor ear's.....have I mentioned the girl cries/screams loud!] because last night she was up twice again...midnight and 4am.   I have just come to terms with the fact that she is not the sleeper that Collier was and that in her right time she will get it.  I've tried letting her cry it out and honestly I cant't stand to let her cry longer than 20 minutes and by 20 minutes she is screaming so hard and so loud that the entire house is awake.  I just continue to pray that God show me what to do and to be the mommy that Kenley needs me to be.  It can be a struggle because I want to compare her with Collier and even other 5 month olds but I am resting in the fact that God created her and there may be some good reason that He wants me up with her - holding and feeding her.  It is a blessing and I know it will pass before I know it. 

Thursday also marked 5 months for Kenley.  She is so close to crawling that it is scary.  She gets up on her knee's and rocks and then pushes up to her feet and then back down to her tummy.  She also has been pushing herself up to the sitting position but she still isn't strong enough to sit up all by herself.  She can for a few seconds before she falls over.  She is so strong though and is rolling and army crawling to get around enough to satisfy her.  She is still loving her jumpy and jumping like a crazy girl. 

Friday Collier got his hair cut....it was way long over due.  He was a bit of a shaggy mess!  But he is all cleaned up and handsome now!

BEFORE....

AND AFTER!