For anyone who read my post last night who was/is concerned about Jayden, he is fine. He said his ear still hurts a little, but he woke up this morning his normal cheerful self. Carmen did spend the night on his floor, so the night wasn't exactly restful, but it could have been a whole lot worse. And for once, I actually got the better end of the deal - Dakota slept until 3 am again, and then fell back asleep until 6:45. Wooo! I of course got up at 1:45 to pump, was back asleep a little after 2 and then up again at 2:45ish, but that's okay. It still is better than midnight and 3 to 6. I love being able to sleep from 3:30 or 4 until 6 or 7. I was such a better person today. It was amazing.
For her sleeping success, Dakota won "favorite child of the day" today. Plus, check out her smile and her attitude. Just too cute.
I also realized I haven't been doing any developmental updates. Dakota is pretty much right on track. She listens to everyone and clearly recognizes my voice, Jayden's voice and Carmen's voice. And she visibly reacts when she hears us talk, particularly when we're talking to her. She gets all smiley and makes adorable little noises. She also focuses really hard on objects. If there is a fan in the room, she stares at it like nobody's business. Today I was measuring our heads (for a reason - not just for fun), and I waved the tape measure in front of her face and she was mesmerized. The simplest things keep babies occupied. Her movements are supposed to be less jerky now - I suppose her movements are a little more smooth than before, but the progress is slow so it's hard to tell on a day-to-day basis. She is more intentional with her movements - in that if she sees an object she wants, she can reach for it and often grab it. In Seattle, she was laying on the floor with one of my sandals next to her and she grabbed it and picked it up.
She's supposed to be able to hold her head steady when she sits up and supposedly she may be able to do a mini push up when on her tummy. She definitely can hold her head up when she's sitting, and we're working on tummy time. She doesn't love it, but that doesn't surprise me much. :) She does make an adorable face when she's doing her push-ups, though.
Jayden's updates are a little less exciting and a lot less monumental at this point. Continuing with his "imaginary" stories, a lot of things happen in the house he lived in when he was "older." Sometimes that house is in Seattle, sometimes it's somewhere else. And sometimes his stories are ridiculous, but usually they are relevant, and I think in some way the stories help him deal with disappointment or conflict or some other emotion. He also is gaining confidence in leaps and bounds. When we went to lunch on the boat, he actually ordered his own drink! I accidentally ordered his lunch for him (out of habit) and he got mad at me. Luckily the waitress was adorable, took everyone else's order and then came back to Jayden so he could place his order. And he did a great job. I wouldn't have ever imagined him ordering his own food a month ago. Maybe not even two weeks ago! So amazing.
And here are some of the "missing" photos from the Seattle trip!
Carmen and Jayden in the pool at the first graders' party - they were being attacked by pretty much all the kids!
Finding rocks to throw in the water on the beach. The water was cold, but actually felt pretty awesome.
Rocking baby girl to sleep in the water. It took a minute, but she was tired enough that soon the water didn't bother her and she fell fast asleep.
Maya's post after her visit. Such a fun time getting to hang out with her. I'm so terrible at keeping in touch with people, which means when I finally get to see my friends I get a little desperate. Glad my friends are understanding!
I still have a ton of pictures to go through from my mom, but I was too productive today and now I'm tired!
...for me to update. I barely know where to start. All I know is that I likely won't finish, at least not tonight.
I'll start where I left off - the first plane flight. The short story is Dakota was awesome, and so was Jayden. Carmen and I are very lucky parents (or at least we felt that way until tonight . . . building the anticipation! We got up, got to the airport, got our bags checked (mine was just under 50 pounds amazingly enough - I think it was 46!), got through security and got to our gate with plenty of time. As we were in line to go through security, a TSA agent came up to Jayden and asked him if he wanted to be an officer. Jayden looked straight at him and said "no!" The TSA officer was so taken aback, he didn't know what to do. He looked at another lady in line and looked at us and said "nobody has ever told me 'no' before!" Leave it to our kid to be the first. I was actually kind of proud of him. He shouldn't say "yes" just because that's what people think he should say! (this is when I start to get on my soapbox - but there's too much to type so I'll jump right off). In any case, Jayden did accept a sticker from the TSA guy, so I think that made him feel better. We got to our gate, I gate checked the car seat and harassed the gate agents about our seats. They did get us three seats together, so that was wonderful. And then. I got a notification on my phone that our plane was delayed 30 minutes. The gate didn't say it yet, so I wasn't sure if it was true, but the Alaska app is usually pretty accurate. Soon thereafter, the gate agent announced the delay.
Waiting out the short delay watching airplanes take off and land. One of the best things about the Santa Ana airport is how close the terminals are to the runways - at least if you have kids who need entertaining.
Thirty minutes is really nothing, but I'm a little obsessive and I'd timed Dakota's eating schedule so that I'd be feeding her right at takeoff. So of course I start to get nervous again. But she was in the carrier on my chest, and she slept the delay away like the perfect little baby she was that day, so I had nothing to worry about.
Yep, that's our perfect little baby. :)
She nursed on takeoff, then gurgled and smiled and generally charmed me and Carmen for about an hour, then fell asleep and slept until we landed in Seattle. And Jayden and I played games for the first hour and a half at least, and then I let him watch two episodes of a show and then we were in Seattle. I had to fight a little to get the two car seats installed, but we did it, we made it to lunch and to Bainbridge in just a few short hours!
Snuggling with two grandkids = Gramma heaven.
Two tired kiddos. Jayden missed his nap and was asking about it. I was explaining we missed it, but that we'd go to bed early, etc. About 90 seconds later I look over and he's passed out. He slept until we got to Bainbridge, I think. This may also have been the beginning of the end for him. More on that later.
The plan for Seattle was to relax and not do much. I think we did a pretty good job of that. Pretty much every time we're up in Seattle in the summer we do "dinner on the boat," which is an official event where Poppa drives the boat to a restaurant that has a dock, we park the boat and we eat dinner. It's complicated, but I think you'll figure it out. In any case, with two small kids, "dinner on the boat" turns into "lunch on the boat." So that's what we did Monday.
Jayden was not excited about going on the boat. So he needed to sit up front (out of the wind), in someone's lap. It was easiest for that to be Gramma's lap for various reasons. By the time we got back, Jayden was talking all about the boat and asked if we could go on it again. Yay!
This is what happens when your phone screen is too bright and you think you've flipped the camera around to take a picture of Gramma and Jayden, but really you're just taking a picture of yourself. Best. Angle. Ever.
Sitting in the sun to get warm at lunch.
An intentional selfie. The grey bump is baby girl. It was so windy I had to wrap my sweatshirt, my scarf and the life preserver around her to protect her from the wind. Luckily she slept pretty much the whole time.
That grey thing with the white tower in the background is an active duty aircraft carrier in drydock at the Bremerton Naval Base. Navy patrols regularly policed the water just around the carrier. It was pretty interesting to see.
What I see when I wear Dakota. Such a sweet little face.
What construction looks like when you live on a cliff overlooking Puget Sound. Our construction is not at all where I want/need it to be, but I am grateful that we aren't paying to have a barge with construction equipment outside our house for this whole time. I can't imagine.
Running on the beach after we got back to the house. It could not have been more perfect weather.
Tuesday my mom hosted the incoming first graders at Island School (where Ellen and I went to elementary school and where my Mom has taught for the last 25ish years, until this year since she's now retired!!!) for a pool party. She does it every year. Jayden got to play in the pool, and he blew all of us away. He spent the whole time going off the diving board, swimming to the shallow end, getting out, walking/running back to the diving board, jumping in and swimming back to the shallow end. In the beginning Carmen was in there with him, but in the end, he was in the pool all by himself. I was never more than a few feet away from the pool and I had a whole plan in my head as to what I'd do with Dakota if I had to jump in (either toss her (gently) to Gramma or place her (gently) on the ground and just go for it - thank goodness she's not crawling) if I needed to jump in for any reason. But I had no reason to worry. He is actually a real swimmer. It's pretty crazy.
Getting ready to jump. He was super cautious on the diving board at first - he had never been on one before. I think the bouncing of the board when he walked on it freaked him out. And then there was a little first grader who came up behind him while he was on the end and stomped to get it to bounce Jayden off the board - because the little kid was impatient and Jayden didn't jump immediately. I almost yelled at the kid, but Jayden held his own and I backed off. Mama Bear just about came out!
Jumping!
And since there has been a lot about Jayden, here's a cute Dakota picture to even things out:
My friend Stacy's friend made this adorable dress. I loooove it. The bloomers that go with it are a little big - they kept falling off! - but the dress is just perfect.
So I think we may have let Jayden overdo it on Tuesday, because on Wednesday Jayden woke up and just didn't want to do anything. He ate breakfast, sort of, and then laid on the couch pretty much the rest of the day. Poor little kid. He didn't have a fever, he didn't have any pain that he reported, but he didn't really want to eat and he was super lethargic. So Gramma read him some books, he napped a little, he watched a show or two. He really would not get off the couch. The one time he had to go to the bathroom was nearly a disaster. He looked like he was drunk when he was walking. Finally, around 3:30, I was going to pick up my friend Maya from the ferry boat, and he agreed to go with me.
Sleepy boy passed out on the couch.
Siblings cuddling on the couch.
He got enough energy to go in the pool, but he only jumped off the diving board once or twice and then spent the rest of the time in Gramma's arms. Finally we got him out and sat him in the sun to warm up. Maya and I got in the pool with Dakota. She hated it at first (Dakota, not Maya!), but eventually fell asleep in my arms as I rocked her back and forth in the water. I have pictures, but forgot to put them on my computer, so will update this later.
Thursday was going home day. It was an amazingly short trip. Maybe because all four of us were in one room, I didn't bring my pump or any bottles, so I did all the middle of the night feedings and I was exhausted, or maybe just because it was short. Who knows. It was fun, but it felt like we'd barely arrived when it was time to pack up and go again. But, considering Jayden's health and my lack of sleep, it was also probably good timing to be heading home again. We barely made the plane - we boarded about 15 minutes before departure, when they were doing the "final boarding" call, because security was ridiculous and it seemed like TSA was doing what they could to make it more difficult. But, we made it on with only a few feelings hurt and unfortunately with no food. Luckily I had enough snacks to hold us over, but we bought a snack pack for Jayden and a sandwich for Carmen. I wasn't feeling well so I just nibbled on what they didn't eat.
This is one great reason to fly in/out of Seattle. It was seriously a beautiful day and the mountain (Mt Rainier for you non-Seattleites) was just gorgeous.
Dakota slept through takeoff and actually slept pretty much the whole flight until we were landing, when I nursed her. She was generally a rockstar for her first airplane trip. Hopefully she continues to be one for subsequent flights, since she pretty much has no choice!
Friday Jayden went to preschool, which he was really excited about. He seemed to have a good day. They kept the kids inside because it has been insanely hot here (like 100 degrees, with humidity - so gross).
Friday night was back to school night at Jayden's preschool, so Carmen and I went to that while Katrina watched the kids. It was interesting, and somewhat useful, but not quite what I expected. Saturday was swimming, and then Katrina came back in the afternoon so Carmen and I could have a quick anniversary celebration. The official anniversary is today - SEVEN years! - but it was easier to do a quick date yesterday. We didn't do anything fancy, just went to a restaurant, had some great food (the taquitos with tomato arbol sauce were amazing!) and had some time to ourselves.
Celebrating seven years of marriage (twelve years together!)
And then today happened. We thought everything was fine. We were a little slow to get started, but we went out to lunch (per Jayden's request) and came home for naptime and nursing, as usual. When Jayden woke up from his nap he was crying, and couldn't really stop. He also couldn't really tell us why. Finally he said his ear hurt. He couldn't get over it, so I gave him some tylenol. He eventually perked up, but a couple hours later he started crying inconsolably again. I couldn't give him medicine yet, so we fed him some applesauce and put him to bed at about 6:00 pm. For the next two hours, he would start crying out every 20-30 minutes. When I asked him if he was crying because of the pain, he said no. He said he was crying because he was just so tired. So I don't know if he's just ridiculously exhausted, or if he has an ear infection, or both. Finally, around 8ish, we were able to give him another dose of medicine and he's been sleeping soundly since then (it's now a little after 10 pm). I called the after hours kids urgent care, and she basically said it's pain management. If we can manage it at home with ibuprofen and acetaminophen, then we should do that; otherwise it's off to the ER. So here's hoping he makes it through the night with tylenol and I can call the doctor tomorrow or at least keep him home and rest. It's so hard to tell with a three/four year old just how bad the pain is. I hope we're making the right call; I guess we'll find out in the morning.
And to raise everyone's spirits at the end of this marathon post, here are a few cute pictures of Dakota, mostly because she is currently the favorite child. In honor of our seventh anniversary (I can only assume), she slept SEVEN straight hours last night, from 8 pm to 3 am. I woke up just before 3 am, looked around and realized neither of us had woken up yet. So amazing. We clearly didn't go to bed at 8, but I was asleep by a little after 10, I think, so I got almost five straight hours of sleep. That hasn't happened since June 11th. Then, Carmen took the 3 am feeding, so I just had to pump, was back in bed by 3:15 and was able to sleep until 5:45 when Jayden woke up because he had an accident. I got that straightened out until about 6:45, when Jayden decided he was up for good. And then Dakota slept until about 7:15. Definitely Dakota's best night yet. I realize it was a fluke and it's unlikely to ever happen again - or at least not for a few more months - but it came at a good time. She already was more difficult to put down tonight, and it wasn't helped by the fact that the kids urgent care returned my call in the middle of bedtime, so I'm already expecting at least two wake-ups tonight. So, long story short, here's the cuteness:
After swim class, Jayden's swim partner and friend Maxwell often picks flowers to give to me and his mom. It's so cute, even if he is picking flowers from the swim school's flower beds. Yesterday I put the flower behind Dakota's ear - it looks pretty good, even though she's got a pretty good scowl going. :)
My little hippie chick, rocking her "peas out" onesie (a hand-me-down from her brother, courtesy of Stacy) and her headband the way Jayden likes it, with the flower in the front. And of course the goofy grin.
So I guess I did finish the update, minus the pictures from my mom and Maya. I'll get those together one of these days and get them up. Maybe tomorrow, but if it's just me, a baby and a sick three/four year old, then I may not even make it out of my pajamas!
...Dakota's first plane flight! And I'm scared to death. I mean, not really. I now know that it is 100% easier to travel with them when they can't move. I get it. But here's what's happening at about 9:30 am tomorrow: All four of us are going to line up to get on the plane (getting dirty/sympathetic/reminiscent looks) and we're going to find our seats (really hoping now that we have three seats together, because right now I have 8E, Jayden has 7F and Carmen doesn't have an assigned seat). Jayden will go in first, to the window seat, I'll go in next, wearing Dakota on my front. And Carmen will go in last. I'll stick Jayden's backpack, my backpack and my purse under the seats in front of me and Jayden. I'll get us as set up as possible, so that I have to lean over as little as possible throughout the flight. And if I can convince him, I'll put Jayden in the middle seat, but I'm not sure that's actually possible.
So I will be in the middle seat, with a 10ish pound infant on my lap, hoping against hope she doesn't have a melt down and being ready to either smash her face onto my breast or stuff a pacifier in her mouth in a nanosecond. I do NOT believe in bringing treats for the passengers who travel around us; so far my child has been relatively well-behaved, and if you can't deal with a little fussiness here and there, then you shouldn't leave your house. But I also believe in paying attention to my kid(s) on the plane and doing my best to keep them entertained and quiet. I will give in a little more, I allow pretty much unlimited screen time, I will produce pretty much any snack requested and worst case, when they're little, I'll go stand up in the back of the plane. My feeling is if the parents are doing what they can to console their child, especially when the kids are two or under, there's really not much more you can ask of them.
I am mostly ready, which is why I'm getting a quick blog post up. I've got a few more things to throw in the suitcase tonight (which has to be over 50 pounds by now - yes, we're only going for 5ish days) and a few things to throw in tomorrow (mostly toiletries and Jayden's stuffed animals), but that's pretty much it. Since the kids and I pack in one suitcase, I came up with what I think is a pretty ingenious idea: I packed their stuff in ziploc bags. It keeps all of their stuff separate, and means that when I get to Seattle, I can take the ziplocs out and essentially have a different bag/area for each of us. Carmen was not too impressed with my idea, but then again, he never has to share a suitcase, so he has no idea what a pain it is to dig through size 5/6 t-shirts to find the pair of shorts I want to wear. For those of you who have shared a suitcase (with a kid or otherwise), hopefully you all appreciate my idea!
This week has been okay - a little up and down emotionally for me, but good. I went for a two mile walk (with food as my motivator - I walked to pick up lunch and then walked home to eat it!) and I went to a Mommy and Baby yoga class. The yoga class was a little crazy, but it was fun. Joyce and her daughters met us there; I think it was not as fun for Joyce because she felt like she was trying to balance her baby and her older daughter, but both were actually fine. It felt really good to get some stretching in, and to even use a few muscles again! I've been doing planks and a few yoga poses at home, but nothing in flow and nothing guided, so that was awesome. Other than that, it was a pretty uneventful week. Here's a few pictures to show you just how little I did!
One of those "I swear I'll never..." moments - I swore my children would NOT wear light up sandals. But Jayden has been going through shoes like nobody's business, and his tennis shoes are always covered in dirt and filled with sand at the end of the day. So I wanted to buy him sandals. I took him with me, because he's never been a fan of sandals. But it turns out he has terrible taste in sandals. At least these are Captain America, which I can respect.
My exciting moment for the week - Stacy and Kamal came to visit on Sunday afternoon. Look how cute she is holding a baby. ;)
And Stacy returned the favor - catching a cute expression on Dakota's face.
The biggest open-mouth smile you'll ever see. So adorable. It almost makes up for the fact that she's been waking up at 3 am and sort of not going back to sleep again. I'll get 45 minutes or less of sleep once or twice from 3 until 6:30 am. I need to learn to go to bed at about 8:30 pm, right after I get her down. But if I do that, when am I ever going to post to the blog for you lovely people?!???
A rather normal pick up from preschool, with Jayden partially clothed, sometimes with shoes on sometimes not! And usually with quite a bit of dirt smudged over his face. And recently with an "ouch report," which is a half piece of paper the teacher writes to explain the various band-aids on his body! Usually it's something like "Jayden was running, tripped and fell." And the treatment is always "cleaned, band-aid, TLC, rest." And he usually proudly shows it to me, tells me it hurt and then wants to show me something else. Oh, and then for the next week (or more!) tells Carmen and me to "be careful" when washing him or putting lotion on him or getting our hands anywhere near him. Not that he's dramatic or anything.
Showing off the visor he made at preschool. He told me he can wear this when he goes camping. Right. As if we go camping!
A preview of what life will be like once I go back to work, I think. Me with Dakota in the carrier, a drink in my hand, and Jayden on the kitchen counter, trying to get dinner made, at the same time cuddling Dakota and engaging Jayden about his day. It could be worse. But it definitely made me realize I'm going to need to plan waaaay ahead for dinner, pretty much every week. It's a little daunting.
Chewing on the blanket. I just think she looks kind of precious in this picture.
Dakota is working on her washboard abs. Anytime I put her in a semi-recline position, for instance propped on my legs or something, she tries to lean forward and sit up. Except her neck isn't strong enough to hold her up yet, so she ends up looking like she does in this picture.
A very typical Dakota face.
"Uh, Mom? Seriously?"
Her cute little one-dimple smile!
This pretty much made my heart melt. Today on the way home from swim class and errands both kids passed out in their car seats - and they were holding hands! Dakota then woke up and moved her hand, but until then, they were both sleeping. And Jayden stayed asleep with his hand next to Dakota's head for the whole car ride home. Seriously cute. I can't wait until Dakota is older and can either push him away or follow him everywhere. It's going to be scary and awesome.
I have two cute videos from swim class today, but our internet is messing with me and not letting me link to them here. It's driving me crazy. But I need to finish packing and get to bed before our littlest one decides it's time to be awake again. So I'll upload them when I can in a separate post. I'll do my best to post from Seattle, but I'm not making any promises. I hope all of you are having a great weekend - and for those of you heading back to school soon, take your vitamin C and I wish you luck!
As many of you probably know, Target has recently announced they will be removing signs in their toy section designating "girl toys" and "boy toys." There has been a lot of backlash, with people saying Target has gone too far and is caving in to the "radical progressive BS." People are claiming they now will have a more difficult time navigating Target's stores. I'm not sure that it is going to be that much more difficult to go the aisle that says "Legos" and then pick the Lego set you're looking for - instead of before finding the aisle that said "Girl Legos." Apparently the sign that set this all off was one that said "Building Sets," and below it "Girls Building Sets." So, if Target does as they promise, you will still go to the aisle that says "Building Sets" to buy a building set. Not sure how that's more difficult than before.
In any case, I am a mama who is grateful for the change. My sensitive little boy whose favorite color is purple does not need to be told he cannot buy a purple cup because it is "for girls." And I'm speaking from experience here. This is the cup Jayden asked me to buy him today.
The motivation was the purple lid/straw. I don't know if he saw the other pictures, and if he did, he definitely didn't care.
I was going to stand my ground and tell him no, we wouldn't buy it. But part of me loves that this tough little boy loves purple and doesn't care one bit whether or not his cup has princesses on it. When we got home, Carmen noticed the cup and commented "I didn't realize it was a princess cup." Jayden was napping, and it's not like Carmen cares either (this is the guy who wears floral shoes, pink shoes, funky socks and whatever other fashion trend gets sent to him for free), but I don't want Jayden to hear the comments. I'm sure he'll get it enough as he gets older. I just hope he has as much confidence as Carmen does to deflect and stand by his choices.
So, long story short, I'm happy Target removed the "boys" and "girls" signs. I read that the toys are still segregated exactly as they were before, they just aren't labeled. And that's enough for me.
And here's proof of our tough little boy:
Besides the layer (or ten) of dirt covering his face, he got two pretty good scratches on Friday - one near his eye and one on his jawline. He also got a pretty good scrape on his elbow. His elbow came from scraping his arm on a brick wall. His face came from falling off the monkey bars. He told me he cried both times, but that he was okay. And his face scratches happened about 15 minutes before I arrived on Friday, and he was smiling and happy when I got there. So that's our tough little guy.
Jayden tells us a lot of stories about his "other house" or about things he did when he was "older." He has "friends" who do a lot of things he'd like to do (especially when we say no - for instance, I tell him he can't have two desserts, and he says "well, mom, my friends, at their house, they say I have to have two desserts because that's how they do it." It's hard for me to argue with that, since it's completely not true. He has another house. I think that house has a water slide and a bounce house. And probably a gigantic Hot Wheels track.
Speaking of bounce houses, Jayden and I were driving to pick up dinner today and we saw a bounce house on the way. He pointed it out and I told him they must be having a party. He told me all the things he would do on the bounce house and was suggesting we stop by. I explained we didn't know those people and so we couldn't go use their bounce house. He said "well, we can just ask them their names!" Which is so funny, because it's exactly what he would NOT do his first week of preschool. But now he's Mr. Social Butterfly apparently. In any case, we did not stop by the random people's house just to play in the bounce house.
Jayden had a great swim class today. At the end, he was "surfing" on the surf board. He's gotten pretty good at balancing, which is awesome.
Jayden, as always, has been cute with his sister. Sometimes he is overly affectionate or playful. For instance, today he reached over and hit her on the head with his fist. Because that's what he'd do to me or Carmen. I knew he didn't do it on purpose, but I had to rather sternly explain that it was not okay for him to do that. I have to do it in a way that doesn't make him feel too badly, though, because he's prone to shutting down if I do that. If I explain the limitations calmly, and explain why, he reacts much more favorably.
Hanging out on the play mat this morning. Dakota just stares and stares at her big brother.
Jayden always seems to think he needs to get within inches of her face to talk to her. I've had to almost pull him off of her, so that he's not essentially breathing in her face - especially because he's been coughing a bit recently. Life is hard.
One other challenge with two younger kids, maybe one of the biggest, is bedtime. We're trying to get bedtimes to be close together. It gives Carmen and me some time either together or, if nothing else, to get things done that we can't get done during the day. BUT, it's nearly impossible to get them down at the same time. And I nurse Dakota for her last feeding before bedtime, so my bedtime routine with the kids takes somewhere between two and three hours. I have no idea how I'm going to handle that when I go back to work. Basically we go upstairs between 6:45 and 7, and I get back downstairs sometime between 8:30 and 9:30. Thank goodness I can be on my phone or iPad or whatever while putting Dakota to bed. It will at least allow me to respond to work emails or handle other little things during that time.
And then there are those nights where Dakota decides it's actually not bedtime. When that happens, this is what I see:
I know it's a dark picture - it's basically Dakota's face by the light of the iPad. Wide-eyed and cooing. She says "hi" in her own little way - "ayyyyy!" It's so hard not to engage her. But responding at 8:45 pm gets you nowhere, except to bed a whole lot later than you want!
I'm trying to prepare myself to just be tired for the next however many years, but I know myself and I know how much I treasure sleep, so I'm going to have to figure something out. There's got to be a way for me to be two places at once - upstairs putting Dakota to bed and downstairs getting her bottles ready for the next day, or upstairs reading to Jayden and downstairs reviewing a document for work. It's just not possible. At least not yet. I know I will definitely be making my lunch a whole lot less, or eating a whole lot more canned soup or frozen meals. I just have to take deep breaths, make sure the kids are taken care of and ready, and then put myself in survival mode. I can do it. Right? Tell me I can do it...
Today was/is not a great day. It's not over yet, but it's pretty close. And it doesn't look like it's getting any better. I'm exhausted, I'm really frustrated with the construction, and Dakota has slept terribly all day, with the exception of one decent nap in the middle of the day.
BUT. Yesterday Dakota was two months old. I cannot believe how fast the time has gone. Today we had her two month appointment. She is definitely petite compared to her brother. At two months, Jayden was 25 inches long and weighed 13 pounds, 3 ounces. Today Dakota was 23 inches long and weighed 9 pounds 14-1/2 ounces. So she's about two inches shorter and three pounds lighter (doesn't sound like much, but when 3 pounds is 1/3 of your weight, that's huge!). Funny enough, her head is only 2 cm smaller than Jayden's head was at two months. She smiles and coos a lot more (or at least it feels that way), but it's weird that she's so small! We had a babysitter on Sunday and when we came back, she commented that she never expected her to be so small considering how giant the rest of the family is! Our babysitter is the best.
Giggles after lunch with friends.
Smiling about being two months old!
A quick glimpse into how excited Dakota gets when I talk about her big brother:
To be fair, she said a whole lot more before and after this video - she just doesn't like to perform when the phone is on, even if I put it off to the side. But you can see her staring at my face, waiting for me to do something so that she can respond.
I've had a busy week, which means Dakota has had a busy week. It was pretty much all fun, luckily.
Lunch with friends and lots and lots o' babies. The three of us were definitely a spectacle, and that was before Stella and Dakota decided to get fussy. People kept commenting about "babies everywhere!"
Luckily I have nothing scheduled for next week. I'm sure I'll see Joyce and come up with a few other things to do, but nothing officially on the calendar. We are traveling to Seattle soon, and then to Delaware a month later, so I have some preparation to do for those two trips, especially since this whole flying as a family of four thing is freaking me out. Two carseats, baby carrier(s?), toddler bed, diapers galore, clothes, pump, toys, blankets, stuffed animals, DVDs, books - and that's just for the kids. Apologies in advance, but due to lack of space I will likely be wearing the same two outfits over and over again on any trip I take for the next two years. AND I need to get Dakota's birth certificate in order to fly with her on my lap. Although I don't think anyone will question that she's under two years old! But yes, we are flying with her as a lap infant. So it will be my giant husband, me with a baby and our three-almost-four-year-old in a row of three seats. Ack!
Jayden is still loving preschool, and they are still doing awesome things.
Watering the stream. If you look closely you can see how sandy his legs and shoes are. This is how I pick him up every. single. day. It's awesome. Although not awesome for the amount of sand in my car or our house. A small price to pay.
Here's a sample day from this week (which was camping week - s'mores all week, lucky kids!):
Art- We colored and glued items on visors, which were given to us by a friend’s parent. Some friend’s visors will take longer to dry due to the amount of glue and paint placed on them. Some friends used chalk to draw on the mounted classroom chalkboard.
Science- We roasted marshmallows over a grill with Teacher Dane. We watched as the coals created our fire and noticed how the marshmallows turned from white to brown when they got toasty.
Math- We used pretend money to charge for items that friends pretended to purchase. Some friends used and recognized the numbers on a calculator. Some friends counted how many cheerios they served themselves in one scoop.
Language- We friends asked to have a play day in the classroom. We talked about our choices and having areas available as long as we help take care of our classroom. Some friends used phones to make calls to grandma. Others talked about playing video games at home.
Flannel- We did “Five Little Ladybugs”.
Dramatic play – We pretended to have a picnic. We laid out a sheet and placed food, plates, and drinks like at a picnic.
Music – We sang “Bubble Bubble Pop” and also learned new movements for that song.
Outside – Some friends looked for treasures in the sandbox. We also blew bubbles while others popped them. Some friends explored the hill and tried to ride a “snow sled”(cardboard box). We also filled up containers with water and used it to water the plants. We made mud pies in the sandbox and walked along the river. We also played pretend house and dress up.
Jayden still thinks Grayson is his best friend. Grayson only goes three days a week, though, so today he told me he made a new friend. But he doesn't know the friend's name yet. Baby steps with this one.
This morning on the way to preschool Jayden was talking about playing sports (we saw the high school football team practicing - they practice really early to avoid the ridiculous heat (95-100 degrees) that we've been having). He talked about when he was on a team, and asked me if Dakota and I would come to the locker room with him. I tried to explain that he (and his coach and teammates) might not really want us in there. But I finally figured out that he was mostly worried about if he got hurt, and he had to be taken to the locker room, if we would come to the locker room because he wouldn't want to be alone. I reassured him that I would be at the locker room before he even got there if he got hurt. I can't even imagine watching my child get that badly hurt that he has to be taken to the locker room. That's my child - planning for my nightmare!!!
But then he's so cute:
Showing me his muscles. Check 'em out, he's so strong!
I went solo to soccer class last Sunday because Carmen had to stay home with the TimeWarner people. It wasn't as challenging as I was expecting, because (1) only one other kid (Ryan) was there besides Jayden and (2) Dakota's timing worked out that I didn't have to nurse her there thank goodness.
Jayden and Ryan in their "ready" poses.
Jayden trying to score on Ryan. Ryan did a great job. But look at how Jayden approaches it - it's too cute.
This is kind of hilarious. Ryan sees Jayden as this kid to emulate - mostly because his dad pushes him in that direction. Both kids are young, but are big for their age. Ryan is about four months younger than Jayden. He has a hard time participating in the class when it's a big group, but having a two person class was awesome for Ryan. He not only participated the entire time, but he actually performed so much better too! Jayden is faster and a lot more aggressive, but Ryan held his own in drills where he usually does not. It was good for both of them, and since it was just the two of them, it also wore them out!
I am struggling with creativity tonight, so all I can do is report the facts. Maybe that's a good thing!
