Turkey Blessings...

I can't believe that it's Thanksgiving already! Time flies when you're busy!   I feel like everyone wants Thanksgiving to hurry up so that they can go ahead and move onto Christmas.  I admit. This year, I am one of them. I already have my Christmas Tree and a few decorations up but we do have a lot to be thankful for and I'm especially thankful for having my wonderful family.  My husband is such a great dad and husband and is always thinking of us and what we need.  He always makes sure that whenever he is out to make sure that if we need anything before he gets home  to get it for us.  For instance, our outdoor fridge is always stocked with milk because both him and Hunter are such milk drinkers  so I never have to think twice about making sure to have any.  He is also working extra shifts every month to make sure that we make ends meet and to have a little extra so that I can stay home with the boys.  I truly am blessed.  Also, as you all know,  I am extremely thankful for my boys.  They couldn't be any more cuter and love that I have them to squeeze and kiss. I look forward to them as they grow and make memories with each other. 

 

This year Hunter and Tyler are thankful for the following things:

 

Hunter 

• His mommy and daddy and especially his baby brother =)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

• All of his grandparents who all spoil him terribly (Nana and Grandpa Jim, Paw and Maw Maw, Grandma and Grandpa Weeks and Mimi)
• His swimming pool
• His play room where he can go bananas in and pull out every truck, toy and block and make mommy beg me to help clean it up everyday before bedtime =)
• His cars and choo choo's
• His Cars and Nemo movies

 

 

• His little school
• His milk, cookies, cake and peanut butter and jellies!
• His naptime for when he thinks he can get out all of his books and whatever else he can find from his shelves and put them all around his room before he finally passes out

 

• His "bubbas" (bubbles)
• His pockets in his shorts to shove as many cars into
• Getting out all of mommy's pots and pans out and matching the lids every evening while mommy cooks

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

• His Lullaby Elmo and "Googas" at night

 

Tyler

 

•  His mommy for producing his milk for him "on demand" and all times of the day.
•  His big brother who surrounds him with his toys on a daily basis and expects him to play (so cute!) and daddy for holding me and making silly faces at me while mommy makes dinner!
•  All of his grandparents as well who spoil him terribly!
•  His pacifiers! (this is one of mommy's too!)
•  His swing (unfortunately, this is the last week for him to be in it due to him getting a flat head...lol)
• His crib (during the day..lol)

 

• His activity mats and bouncer so he can exercise and coo
• His white noise machine because without this my mommy would not get any sleep

• All of the fans and lights that mommy and daddy have in the house because I am obsessed with them!

We hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving!

  

 

 

 

 

The Moon and Googas!

Since Hunter was about 20 months old he has had this obsession for "googas" or as we know it, stars.  We have no idea where he developed this word for it and he is well aware what the real name of it is.  When we read a book and I ask him where the star is he will point to it and then say, "googa"!  If there is anything that has a "googa" on it, he wants it. This also crosses over into the marine life where he loves starfish too.  It's so funny.  I recently was cleaning out his closet and found his ladybug (which he thinks is a turtle) that displays the moon and stars on the wall when you turn out the lights:

 

He absolutely loves it and at bedtime he lays there and changes the colors of the moon and "googas" until he passes out versus banging his feet on the wall and getting up and trying to play while in the dark. This has kept us from going in there and telling him to stop.  We have also put a lot of the those glow in the dark stars on his wall but the brightness of the stars have worn out so they aren't as bright.  So in place of those glow in the dark stars the ladybug and also on his sound machine there is a slide that contains the moon and stars that he has to have on until he goes to sleep.  I'm sure that you have probably assumed that he is the number one fan of the "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" song.  We sing it to him every night while he throws a little fit about the idea of going to bed and while we sing it he realizes that he is tired and wants to get into bed and cuddle with his blanky's and the ladybug.  Also, when we are on Youtube looking at other random videos that he likes he will always make sure that he gets his fair share of some "googas" aka "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" songs too.   He is so cute about the "googas" and we wonder how long he will have this obsession and call them that.  (Please note that we when he says "googas" we always refer back to him as stars since we are working on his language development).

 

 

We have also decided on putting Hunter back in school part time.  Not just because I need a break for 5 hours 3 days a week but the fact that he does miss other kids.  Plus we know that it will help with his language development too just from interacting with them and so far it has been working really well.  I was somewhat hesitant on doing it because I didn't want him to contract all those viruses again and bring them home to his new baby brother but it hasn't been an issue (keeping my fingers crossed).  I admit its nice while its there because I can get a lot of work done around the house, work out and just spend some one-on-one time with Tyler.  So its been working really well for all of us. 

 

Other than that, we've been keeping busy and I have found some relief by keeping Hunter on a pretty strict regime here at the house.  Not that I didn't keep him on any type of schedule but I have just tuned it up more outside of his usual naptime and bedtime.  I have to thank my sister in law for this.  She is a pre-K teacher so she knows how well kids do when they have a more structured schedule.  I made notecards (nothing fancy) where I have written the word and a picture of what we will do next and made a little pocket where he puts them in when we switch activities.  Here is what I have:

 

• Whatever time he wakes to about 9:30 am (this time frame is for me because he obviously can't tell time)  - get dressed, eat breakfast, watch a little TV and playtime
• 9:30-11am - do an arts and crafts activity (this can range anywhere from painting to just simple coloring), snack and outside play
• 11 to 12:30 - lunchtime,  clean up  and naptime (my personal fave)
• whatever time he wakes - usually around 3 - snack, outside play or indoor play (I just let him pick).
• 5:30ish - dinnertime
• 6-8 pm - bath time, playtime and TV show if his choice (usually either Cars, Nemo or Barney)
• between 8-8:30 - Brush teeth, "googa"time and lights out!

I put this right at our kitchen where he sees it. 

Not that we didn't have some sort of schedule for him but having him actually put the new activity card in the pocket has really helped him have an easier time of switching activities so that there is no room for temper tantrums and there has been less Time Outs. This has taken about a week for me to see results but overall its worked pretty well.  There are times where we stretch some of the time frames or days where its raining and obviously we can't go outside so then I have to create something else for him to do.  Sometimes I even forget to have him change the card and he reminds me by running to it and having me find the card for him to put next.  So he really does pay attention to it.  That's my pat on the back when he does that. =) 

Love these boys.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tyler: 7 weeks!

Okay. Yeah I forgot to post anything about Tyler at one month...oops! So I'm posting a 7week update on him. Hey, it's been busy around here! Hunter is in this "terrible 2" stage like big time! His jealousy is starting to subside which is somewhat of a relief but things are starting to get a little better.  I did have a rough few weeks there. Okay back to Tyler... like I have said before he is 100% opposite of how Hunter was since day one.  Tyler weighs 12 pounds and is 24 inches long.  When Hunter was 7 weeks he weighed 9 pounds and was 23 inches long.  He is already growing out of some of his 3 month clothes and is also in a size 2 diaper.  I tried holding him off as long as I could with keeping him in size 1 diapers because we got a huge stock pile of size 1 diapers from friends that I hate to not use but after having blow out after blow out of poop in all of his clothes, I decided it was time when he was 5 weeks old to move up a size.  Sean causally mentioned the other day that we could just save them in case we have another baby and I quickly replied, "yeah right!, I hope you are having the next one, because I'm not!" (Especially not any time soon, I'm still working on the weight loss here).  Tyler's been super smiley lately and melts my heart every time he does it.  He even smiles a lot when Hunter gets close to him.  It's so cute.  I managed to get a photo of Hunter kissing him on his changing table which he makes sure to do every morning when we get him dressed.   

 

I took this of him at the doctor's office while waiting for the doctor.  So cute!  He loves sticking his tongue out now while smiling. 

 

One of Ty's silly faces.

 

I love how Hunter is really trying to bond with him even though he wishes that he could play with him.  He will put his cars and parts to his trucks in his crib or around his changing table and every night I have to go in Tyler's room to pick up what he left or else I step on it in the middle of the night.  LOL.  Tyler's also really used to dealing with all the noise Hunter makes with his yelling and screaming around the house so he is able to sleep just about anywhere now in case he dozes off.  I mostly have him in his room anyway because we've been working on having him sleep in his crib instead of his swing  so I just have his video monitor on me wherever Hunter and I are at the time. Tyler is also sleeping at night on average about 5-6 hours straight and then wakes to eat and goes right back down for another 3 hours.  About once a week though he will sleep for the 5-6 hours straight and then be wide awake for almost 2 hours.   He's not fussy at all but just thinks its time to play but I can't help to not be cranky about it because he just smiles and coos the whole time and he's so cute to cuddle with so I we just get up and wait for Hunter to wake up.  Those days I drag a lot but like I said it's usually just once a week.  I usually am able to take a nap when Hunter takes one at lunchtime and Tyler takes one with me so I'm not completely sleep deprived especially the days when Sean is working so much and it's just me here. 

Here's Hunter helping Ty do Tummy Time

 

We also had some visitors this past week!  My dad and his wife, Elaine - aka "Maw Maw" and "Paw".  We had a really nice time with them and glad that they were able to visit.  Hopefully, next time they will be able to stay longer because they made a short trip but Hunter had a great time and loved being with them.

 

Fun playing at the park.

 

Maw Maw enjoying the boys.

 

Pumpkin carving time! 

I can't believe that Tyler is just about 2 months old.  It seems like just yesterday that I was still pregnant wondering when he was going to be here.  We're so happy that he is here!

 

I love my boys!

 

Oh brother ...

Now that things are somewhat settled in our house with us being a family of 4, things for Hunter are starting to become a little more clearer.  He has officially become jealous.  Not that I didn't think this would happen at all, I just didn't know in which ways he would express them in and the fact that he is in that "terrible two" stage.  For instance, whenever I'm feeding Tyler this is pretty much the only time Hunter acts like he really needs something and acts out on it if he doesn't have it right away.  He points to Tyler and starts crying and saying, "Ty!".  He gets so mad because he knows that its him that is preventing him from me getting up right away.  Then he does something that he knows he is not allowed to do and always results in  a Time Out that is enforced right away as best as I can while feeding Tyler (btw, we have 2 Time Out chairs on each end of the house for this).  Lately, he already knows that he did something wrong and has already been heading for the chair before I say anything....haha!  Another example, of his "jelly" and I think a little bit of him being that "typically 2 year old pushing the limits" is  before bed we either watch Barney or Youtube videos on the computer and this is also the time that Tyler goes through a tough period trying to put himself to sleep and I need to keep going in his room to check on him (almost always just to insert his paci and re-swaddle him) but while I am doing this Hunter will either a). touch the remote to the TV and push all the buttons that either cause the volume to sky rocket or do something to the movie or b) touch mommy's computer and cause some issue with it if we are watching Youtube videos.  He knows better that these are both off limits and to not do either of them before Tyler arrived but now this is his "jelly" acting out. In my world, he so funny because Tyler is such a good baby that he pretty much sleeps and eats all day (with the awake time that Hunter participates in) so those 20 minutes that I feed him are so miniscule compared to the whole day that he gets my full attention.  Haha.  I totally feel his frustration because I did spend all of my time with him before Tyler was here so I'm just being patient and letting him get through this and he did turn 2 so he is testing us more.  The one really good thing is that he does love being involved with "Ty".  He always wants Ty to take a bath with him and always gives him kisses.  He also loves to help me give Ty his paci when he starts to get fussy and I always let him pull up the chair to Ty's changing table to let him see me change his diaper and get him dressed.  Hunter picks out his outfit every morning =).

Hunter loves participating with Tyler when he's on his play mat.  It's so cute.

Now that Hunter is 2, he has been talking a lot more.  Not like full blown sentences all day long but he is always pointing out everything to us and whenever Sean and I tell him a new word that he hasn't heard he always repeats it.   Before I took him out of day care, the director did mention to me that he may need to be evaluated by a speech therapist and I got really concerned.  I wasn't too worried because all of his teachers were bilingual and Hunter followed their directions in Spanish but he always knew what I was saying too.  So I knew that Hunter probably wasn't too sure at how to answer anyone whether if it was in English or Spanish so that is why I thought perhaps he was a bit delayed.  Plus, I knew that when I was going to be home on maternity leave that he would pick up more words because I was home with him more.  Also, he wasn't even 2 years old yet and I knew that boys are usually more delayed that girls.  When I took Hunter to his new pediatrician (which I love and is also Tyler's), I asked him about the whole language thing and he said as long as he can say approximately 50 words that he is fine and he can clearly say that many.  I asked him about being evaluated by a speech therapist and he told me that I do not need to be concerned at all if he isn't picking up new words easily and if he was nearing 3 years old and couldn't say more than about 50 words then yes, I would need to.  So that is a relief for me.   Hunter is such a sweet boy and loves to give all of us kisses and hugs.  He loves to dance and sing his ABC's.  He is starting to really show his personality and at times he tells me that he just wants to play and be by himself in his room!  LOL.  He will tell me to go and will shut the door and say "bye mommy". Then 5 minutes later I will go in and see the mess he made with all his books all over the floor and will ask me to read to him.  He still loves his cuddle time with me and always leans on me and says, "cuddle?" and wants to hold my hand.  My heart melts and hope that it lasts forever.  He is all boy and loves animals of all sorts.  He loves to go on walks and look for lizards and of course loves playing in water, especially his pool. I am looking into to putting him back into daycare part time because  I know he misses being around other kids.  He does have a little playmate who name is Hannah and she is 3 that lives in our neighborhood.  I try and have him see her about once a week and he loves her and that helps.  I love seeing him interact with her now that he is older because she talks to him like he is her little brother and he does whatever she says! He really enjoys playing with her.  LOL. 

Anyway, so far the SAHM job has been pretty good.  Yes, I have moments where I want to scream for a second but overall, I can't complain.  Naptime and Dinner/Bed time are the toughest part of my day because that is  when they both almost always need me at the same time but we get through it.  Tyler is such a great baby and he is becoming more aware so he does need more awake time which is great because he is smiling more and is starting to be used to the noise from Hunter.  He is growing like a weed and I'm going through Hunter's hand-me down clothes more faster than I did with Hunter.  Tyler goes for his next checkup in 2 weeks and I've already weighed him and he weighs 10.5 pounds at 5 weeks old so I'm thinking he will be 11 pounds at that appointment.  These boys are going to be the complete opposite!  I already see it.



Love these boys so much.