Changes

Come gather 'round people
Wherever you roam
And admit that the waters
Around you have grown
And accept it that soon
You'll be drenched to the bone.
If your time to you
Is worth savin'
Then you better start swimmin'
Or you'll sink like a stone
For the times they are a-changin'...

Come mothers and fathers
Throughout the land
And don't criticize
What you can't understand
Your sons and your daughters
Are beyond your command
Your old road is
Rapidly agin'.
Please get out of the new one
If you can't lend your hand
For the times they are a-changin'.

-Dylan.

More on this later...

Hooray!!!

This is my son eating a peanut butter and jelly sandwich! WOOT! I toasted the bread (probably the key). He took at least 10 bites and ATE them after chewing. He'll often take a bite of something and then spit it out, but this went DOWN the hatch! YAY! I'm so proud of him!DELICIOUS!

Almost 16 months.

Wow- pretty soon G will be 1 1/2. Crazy! We had our 15 month appt today a little late.

Weight- 19lbs 11oz (less than 5th %)
Height- 30 inches! (15-20%!)

We are making some GREAT progress! Not much is changing in the weight department, but they had told me that would happen when he started getting taller! Since his 12 month check up he has gained almost 4 inches in height! CRAZY! He is really becoming a toddler. We are eating all sorts of things- mostly crackers and cereals- crunchy things but also as started working on french fries and blueberries! It seems he'll try something new every day. Still not much mushy textures, but that's ok. I can actually get quite a lot of healthy food in him- what 15 month old do you know that eats veggies daily? Mine! Since I can still feed him baby food, I can actually get quite a bit of nutrition in him too! We do about 6-8 oz of baby food or baby cereal 3 meals a day. He loves yogurt best of all.
Still only 6 teeth unlike Mira's 12 at this point! I can see another one coming in on the bottom which I think will help him eat more things.

He never gets punished- he's WAY too cute for it, but I'm starting to realize that it's going to be a problem if we don't set some boundaries with him soon!
We don't say much- da, uh oh, hi, dog, woof, gah, ball (gall), baba (gaga). He is trying to say somethings but those are the only really consistent ones. Dr M says we need to keep an eye on his speech- he's normal for now but lots of kids with oral aversions end up speech delayed.
He remains one of the sweetest babies out there although he has taken on some of M's more difficult aspects to compensate for her attention. He loves to be cuddled and he makes himself laugh quite a lot. He still takes 2 bottles a day although I really don't think he'd care if we took them away- he takes one at nap and one at bedtime. It's easy to get a lot of calories in him that way, so I don't worry about it much. He is all boy- he's started to try and jump on and off everything- he thinks jumping on the couch and falling down is hilarious.

He doesn't tolerate the heat well at all- I assume it's his coloring and hair- red as ever! He gets beet red and really crabby. Can't stay out too much when it's this hot!

M wanted a picture too- eating her corndogs!

mmmmm summer pies

or whatever reason I've been wanting a berry pie lately. I love pie! I got an inkling that I would make one today- the berries have been delicious at the store lately so what better time?! I chose raspberries, strawberries, blackberries, and blueberries. I also used 1/2 sugar and 1/2 splenda to make it slightly better...though not much. We'll see how that worked!
Yes, I used the roll out crust- my kids were awake and that's WAY too much work. Someday I do want to make a crust, but not today.mmmmmmmmmmDidn't she do a good job with the cut-outs?
YUM.I also become obsessed with bing cherries this time of year- they are absolutely my favorite fruit but the season is so short! They are worth EVERY penny (which is a lot of pennies, actually). I decided to make a cherry pie too though everyone I asked had no idea how a bing cherry pie would turn out. Most people use the cherry pie filling in the can or at least pie cherries. Well, since these are my fav, I wanted to use them so I cut them in half to get the pit out and used them anyway!
How could this be BAD? Doesn't it look absolutely delicious?! I don't have a pic of this finished product....I got busy.

Sweet

We had a really good time in Albany even though it really screwed up the kids for the day! M LOVES music- she knows about 75 songs start to finish including all the words (or what sounds like the words). She'll sing them at the top of her lungs. Well, she was in heaven with Grandma because Grandma played the piano for her and she got to sing the songs! She also got to play a little too. It was really sweet and M thought it was great!
G-in-the-boxNot too much else has been happening around here this week. I feel like we've been really busy but we didn't even leave the house yesterday. Monday I had to teach a last minute BLS class for most of the day because I nearly let my card expire. M has spent the night away from home 3 out of the last 4 nights. I missed her so much last night I actually slept with her blankie. I think she'll be staying home for awhile.

YAY!

G ate WHEAT THINS!!!
This is huge- these must be CHEWED and do NOT dissolve- yep, he ATE them. And he's been eating Mini Wheats! WOOHOO!

Bedtime

So bedtime around here is still awful. I have been reading my books and I recently read the chapter on Spirited kids and bedtime. We need to change our routine quite a bit. We are slowly changing things. I think we need to get away from Baby Lamb and the TV right before bed first, so we have been spending time with M in her room with a soft lamp on for awhile before bed. We have played puzzles, stickers, markers, babies, etc. It's just some one on one quiet time just with her. She loves it!


We still have a lot of other things we need to change, but the book also confirms that spirited kids to better with very slow changes, so we'll do things gradually. Some of the other changes aren't going to be easy for any of us, but are necessary. Not much else to report here today. Laundry, cleaning, gym time, etc. Just the usual!

Tomorrow we are headed to Albany!

Beans!

So after feeling sorry for myself the other day, I decided we needed an activity. I cut open three packages of raw beans, dumped them in a wash basin and let the kids have at them! They had a great time. It was a super nice evening out and I got to eat my dinner in peace! YAY!
Pizza on the face.
Yeah, he tasted a few.
It went great for about 30 minutes until G started throwing the beans all over. Pretty good I think!
I wish I could just make myself do one piddly activity with them like this each day. I think it would help so much! I'm really going to try to do it this week. I just feel like there is so much to do that I have to choose between the kids or cleaning, or laundry, or cooking, etc, etc, etc. Alright, enough complaining.

Oh the guilt is overwhelming...

Sometimes I feel like a terrible mother. I find myself relying more and more on the television to entertain my children. I am NOT a good stay-at-home mom. I resist and avoid organized activities because of the mess and annoyance that both kids can't do the same thing. I WANT to do better, but each day I find myself NOT doing better. :( I have been looking at changing my job situations for a few reasons....I can get into when my son isn't screaming his head off...but I'm starting to think that maybe it would be better to be away more and then I might appreciate the time with them I HAVE? Thoughts?

fun in the sun

Man, I LOVE summer. I love it even MORE when I feel good about myself and can wear tank tops and shorts. The kids had a great time playing out in the sprinkler and tiny pool yesterday. We haven't gotten the big pool out yet- this one is doing just fine so far!
The story of his life- she's always telling him something!
Don't they look cute running after each other?!
I have no idea what she got all over her face.
We don't have much planned this week. I hit a bump in my workouts- my ankle has been bothering me for awhile so my friend Josie finally convinced me to figure out what I was supposed to do about it- well turns out I can't run for 7-14 days. The problem is it's not just running- it's jumping and aerobics too. It's killing me not to do it but I do think it's helping. It's actually perfect timing because there's no boot camp this week. Yesterday I swam and today I did Yoga and a little walking video. You have to exercise so much LONGER to get the same effect when you can't do anything strenuous! I needed to pick up my swimming and biking though, so that's alright. I was supposed to bike tonight but it's storming :( We'll see. Back for another swim tomorrow morning! That's it for now!