I think my favorite time of the day with Dylan is putting him to bed at night. He has become SO adorable. I don't think we could have bonded any closer. We start with a bath, usually with Sophia unless she is stalling to get into the tub playing with lamby and putting him night night in her training potty. Yes, her potty. I think lamby will be the only one using it. Anyway, when I am ready to get Dylan out, I have Sophia call Ethan to come and I take Dylan to my bed to massage him. This massage has turned into play. It is quite tricky just getting a diaper on him as he flips onto his belly and then does this leap frog thing getting on all fours and then flopping forward. After his diaper is on I start rubbing lotion on him as I did for Sophia at this age. He is now mostly on his tummy so he gets a back and leg massage. Then I flop beside him and he will flop himself closer to me, put an arm around me, lean in for a sloppy kiss... Tonight I was on my back and he sat up and then started lunging on top of me. He would push himself up, look at me, give be a huge open mouth smile and then dive bomb me - sometimes the face, sometime the chest. SO WONDERFUL! I then go to his room after getting him into his sleep sack and read him three stories. At the end of that I turn the lamp off and he nestles into my arms, often wrapping one of his arms around my arm and I sing Twinkle Twinkle a few times, not wanting to lose the moment, then tear myself away to put him down after giving him a hundred kisses as I lower him into his crib. Ahhhhhh.
A good Sophia night today too. She had lots of fun with daddy which I love to see. They played in the playground right after dinner and then went for a short walk. Sophia has been loving outside again, itching to go out first thing in the morning and then again after dinner. Sometimes asking to go to the mall, others the playground. Ethan has taken her to Houghton's Pond a few times after dinner and they have fun together. Good times. :)
Wednesday, April 30, 2008
Tuesday, April 29, 2008
Rain and food
Before the rains... BEACH DAY!
Glamour queen in her brother's hat. If only she liked ones that actually FIT her...
Movie stars ride bikes too, right?
Rain has been with us the past few days. I guess it is about time as we have had nice dry weather for a while. Went to the mall TWICE yesterday. The afternoon nap really puts a dent into the possibilities of what to do between 3 and 5. I like to be home by 4 so I can get dinner ready for a 5pm dinner. I would have dinner later, but a couple baby birds are ready at 5 and they either eat snacks and not dinner or we all eat together and HOPE they eat too.
Glamour queen in her brother's hat. If only she liked ones that actually FIT her...
Movie stars ride bikes too, right?
Rain has been with us the past few days. I guess it is about time as we have had nice dry weather for a while. Went to the mall TWICE yesterday. The afternoon nap really puts a dent into the possibilities of what to do between 3 and 5. I like to be home by 4 so I can get dinner ready for a 5pm dinner. I would have dinner later, but a couple baby birds are ready at 5 and they either eat snacks and not dinner or we all eat together and HOPE they eat too.So, Dylan has decided he doesn't like "starter" finger foods. He wants the same meat and potatoes the rest are eating. He is really into bread - toast, bagels, buns.... Buns are the best for him choking hazard wise, followed by toast then the raisin bagel the worst. I have given him all and sit with fear that he will start choking and I won't remember the Heimlich. Of course unlike good moms this doesn't stop me from offering. I fed him REAL oatmeal today for breakfast and put a few clumps on his tray. He appreciated this, I think. Today we went to IKEA and I brought home some Swedish meatballs, so.... onto his tray they went! I think he ate almost a WHOLE meatball. Pea sized bit by pea sized bit. He looked so cute putting them in his mouth and doing this funny "chew" motion. Still has a tongue issue where he pushes food out of his mouth while trying to put it in. I tried to take a video of this but as fate would have it the battery died. I did catch a little of it...
Sophia is in another of her "extreme mommy" phases. Frustrating for me as she climbs all over me and cries the moment I put her down even if I have been holding, hugging and kissing her the last five. Like, say, Dylan falls and I need to get him or dinner is burning and I have to rush to the kitchen. UGH! I will blame this on the weather this time.
Friday, April 25, 2008
Beginnings
So this is a new blog about my kids and our daily life together. Their growth, development and other fun kid stuff.
Oh, and mom stuff too. Like how efficient we have to be. Take yesterday for example. Before motherhood, running a couple errands in one outing was no big deal. Now a days it is a really BIG deal. Much planning and prep required. My goals yesterday were to return a couple kids swimsuits at target and then finish their summer wardrobe shopping and hopefully buy a sheet for Sophia's crib/ eventual twin bed. I also needed to get groceries. There is a stop and shop on the other end of a big box mall from Target so I thought this was doable. I had to wait until Dylan finished his morning nap (usually around 10am) so that would give me 1.5 hours, or 2 if I am lucky door to door to be home in time to have lunch. Kids aren't good at waiting, so yes, the 2 hour outside time limit is important. Knowing we would be tight on time I prepared our lunches before leaving - dished out Dylan's yogurt, added the cinnamon, put his strawberry/pear/granola baby food in the fridge. I put a pot of water on the stove ready to flick the switch and set to boil for perogies the second I stepped inside the house. Little steps, yes, but when your kids are crying and hungry, every step counts. Dylan woke up as scheduled, I nursed him and out the door. We were fortunate to have good traffic on the way there and I got to Target by 10.30. I did my returns and bought the kids summer clothes (from a list I prepared at home after cataloguing their current collection and listing the must haves). I did pretty well, except couldn't find any short sleeved onsies for Dylan to sleep in. I also didn't have luck finding a good hat for Sophia (one that cannot be easily ripped off and that fits her rather large head. She is bigger than 2T-4T hats. Can you believe it??!
So, for most a second errand isn't a big deal. As a mother with two young kids, however, even though we were making good time (we were out of there at 11am), even a drive 300 or so feet away requires you to buckle them back into their car seats, then find another shopping cart and get them unbuckled and into the next shopping cart.
On my way over I realized I was driving on fumes. Luckily there is a Stop and Shop Gas station in that strip mall area and I get 5cents off a gallon with my store card and another 10cents per gallon off with my store coupon. Saving 15 cents a gallon is pretty big these days, so that is good. Adding a third errand into my 2 hour time frame - bad. I whipped through the grocery store, cutting a couple non-essential items off my list and was out at 11.30. Again, making good time. Got my gas and I think I fluster the cash guy with my rushing and he messed up my coupon, giving me my discount in cash rather than off my credit card (of which I almost drove off without. Luckily he ran after me, haha).
I made it home at noon on the nose, sat Sophia in front of Caillou and got lunch going. We were fed by 12.15 and kind of took a breather. I think my adrenaline rush from the morning caught onto the kids as they did not take to going down for their nap well AT ALL. yes, there was crying, horsing around on Sophia's part, but eventually, they were down for the count.
As always, my mornings seem to be super full and long, then my afternoons are gone in a flash. The kids have been down between 1 and 3 and then when they wake, Sophia usually needs some down time and then by the time she is ready for action I need to bring them inside again so I can make dinner. I feel bad that they are in bed or out of sorts during the nicest part of the day, but what can you do?
Oh, and mom stuff too. Like how efficient we have to be. Take yesterday for example. Before motherhood, running a couple errands in one outing was no big deal. Now a days it is a really BIG deal. Much planning and prep required. My goals yesterday were to return a couple kids swimsuits at target and then finish their summer wardrobe shopping and hopefully buy a sheet for Sophia's crib/ eventual twin bed. I also needed to get groceries. There is a stop and shop on the other end of a big box mall from Target so I thought this was doable. I had to wait until Dylan finished his morning nap (usually around 10am) so that would give me 1.5 hours, or 2 if I am lucky door to door to be home in time to have lunch. Kids aren't good at waiting, so yes, the 2 hour outside time limit is important. Knowing we would be tight on time I prepared our lunches before leaving - dished out Dylan's yogurt, added the cinnamon, put his strawberry/pear/granola baby food in the fridge. I put a pot of water on the stove ready to flick the switch and set to boil for perogies the second I stepped inside the house. Little steps, yes, but when your kids are crying and hungry, every step counts. Dylan woke up as scheduled, I nursed him and out the door. We were fortunate to have good traffic on the way there and I got to Target by 10.30. I did my returns and bought the kids summer clothes (from a list I prepared at home after cataloguing their current collection and listing the must haves). I did pretty well, except couldn't find any short sleeved onsies for Dylan to sleep in. I also didn't have luck finding a good hat for Sophia (one that cannot be easily ripped off and that fits her rather large head. She is bigger than 2T-4T hats. Can you believe it??!
So, for most a second errand isn't a big deal. As a mother with two young kids, however, even though we were making good time (we were out of there at 11am), even a drive 300 or so feet away requires you to buckle them back into their car seats, then find another shopping cart and get them unbuckled and into the next shopping cart.
On my way over I realized I was driving on fumes. Luckily there is a Stop and Shop Gas station in that strip mall area and I get 5cents off a gallon with my store card and another 10cents per gallon off with my store coupon. Saving 15 cents a gallon is pretty big these days, so that is good. Adding a third errand into my 2 hour time frame - bad. I whipped through the grocery store, cutting a couple non-essential items off my list and was out at 11.30. Again, making good time. Got my gas and I think I fluster the cash guy with my rushing and he messed up my coupon, giving me my discount in cash rather than off my credit card (of which I almost drove off without. Luckily he ran after me, haha).
I made it home at noon on the nose, sat Sophia in front of Caillou and got lunch going. We were fed by 12.15 and kind of took a breather. I think my adrenaline rush from the morning caught onto the kids as they did not take to going down for their nap well AT ALL. yes, there was crying, horsing around on Sophia's part, but eventually, they were down for the count.
As always, my mornings seem to be super full and long, then my afternoons are gone in a flash. The kids have been down between 1 and 3 and then when they wake, Sophia usually needs some down time and then by the time she is ready for action I need to bring them inside again so I can make dinner. I feel bad that they are in bed or out of sorts during the nicest part of the day, but what can you do?
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