My last week of vacation?

Vacation my hiney! This was my last week to get the house clean, work on the family budget, lesson plan, scrapbook, etc. It was everything but that.

The week started out great, I got a bunch of errands ran on Monday and Tuesday i got to spend quality time just me and Kayla (we went to watch the Princess and the Frog - highly recommend). But that was about all I was able to accomplish because Mike came down with a stomach bug Monday night. Then Wednesday the family treks to the Santa Monica pier for the Oregon Pep Rally and when we get there its raining. We head home, have dinner, and go to sleep.

When I wake up in the morning Riley is covered in puke. I change his sheets, give him a bath, and change his clothes. Just an hour later he has a massive bout of diarrhea. So again I have to give him a bath and change his clothes. A couple hours later I put him down for a nap. When he wakes up he is again covered in puke. So I have to give him a bath and change his clothes. Then he has another blowout and I go through the process again. After this he goes for a good couple hours without puking or have a blowout.

So, we took the kids to Chuck E. Cheese then to my mom's to spend the night (We were off to the Rose Bowl the next day). About 11:30pm my mom calls to let me know that Riley has thrown up three times since we dropped him off. I had to call the doctor and she told me that I should only give him water and make sure he urinates within eight hours or we will have to take him to the ER. That would take us to 8am in the morning, which incidentally is the time we planned to arrive at the Rose Bowl. So I decided to go pick up Riley and monitor him overnight.

I did as the doctor told me and I gave him water plus pedialyte every 20 minutes. Finally he urinated at 2:30am. I was so relieved. Unfortunately, I was battling the same flu all night long. At 5:30am I drove him back to my mom's house. Even though I felt absolutely horrible I sucked it up and went to the Rose Bowl. I finally felt "ok" around 1pm. We enjoyed all pre-game festivities and headed into the stadium. I called home every two hours to make sure Riley was urinating. He did by 1:30pm. However, now Kayla was vomiting. By the time we left the game and drove to my parents house it was 6:30pm. We picked up the kids and headed home.

Today Kayla vomited once and has been feeling pretty pukey all day. Riley has blown out about 10 times today and they have both been pretty needy.

I hope tomorrow will be pretty mellow since it is the day before I go back to work. Please, Please, Please.

Santa came mommy and daddy!

Well, this year is the first year where Kayla REALLY understood Christmas and Santa. 7am in the morning and Kayla comes running into our room shouting, "Santa came! He left a present under my tree!" You see, Corinne gave Kayla a small pink tree that she decorated and placed on her table in her room. Then a few days before Christmas the tag off Kayla's bear tore off. We gave it to Corinne to repair and she brought it back on Christmas Eve in a bag. We placed it under her tree and she was so excited when she woke up. She opened up the bag and exclaimed, "Santa fixed bear!"

The family was busy getting up while Kayla was marveling at the presents Santa left, the cookies he ate, and the carrots the reindeer ate. Then she proceeded to open ALL of her presents shouting, "Look Mommy, he remembered," after each present she opened.

The joy in her face made me smile for hours.

We're on day 3 of Xmas and Mike and I have lost the thrill of Kayla and Riley opening presents. Riley has enough new toys that I could get rid of every single toy he had before Xmas and he would still have more. I think some will be making their way to Grandma Mitchem's house on Tuesday.

I don't want this winter break to end. I'm having too much fun.

What's Protein For?

Kayla is definitely smarter than her age.

Yesterday, I gave her the option of chicken strips and carrots for lunch and she said, "Yeah, carrots!"

I told her no she has to have protein with the carrots and she replied, "Ok, chicken strips and carrots."

Later that night, about 5 hours later we were driving home from dinner and she blurts out of nowhere:

"What's protein for?"

Mike had no idea where that came from and I could only sit there and laugh.

Mike: "Its for building muscles."

Kayla: "Oh."

Riley - 5 months old, Kayla - 4 years old

Well, Riley has reached 5 months tomorrow and is chugging along. He is starting to eat rice cereal and chewing like crazy on anything he can get his hands on. He's sleeping 10 hours every night. He loves to sit in his activity chair and bumbo. I wonder where this bumbo was when Kayla was little. He loves to sit in the bumbo and play with any toy he can grab and keep in his hands. He doesn't enjoy tummy time, but when he is on his tummy he can lift up his head and smile. He can roll from his stomach to his back. He grabs his bottle and pushes it away when he's done. (So, unlike Kayla who would eat until she puked. Can babies be bulimic?) He loves to smile and giggle especially at his big sister. She can always make him laugh in the back seat of the Lexus.

I'm working really hard to make my own baby food. I am really enjoying it. We've started Riley on brown rice cereal. Brown rice is really tricky to get to the right consistency. I've been working hard to nail down a good recipe. He loves it though. I can't wait to start introducing other veggies and fruits soon. I'm definitely taking it slow this time with Riley. I want to be sure his stomach can handle the food. I'm also looking for a good recipe book so if you have any suggestions, please let me know.

Kayla on the other hand is a sponge. She is learning things left and right. She can write her name, and it actually looks like her name. She can spell the word of the month, TWO. She is loving her dance class, but nothing beats spending time at Grandma's house. She loves to play outside with the basketball hoop Uncle E gave her for her birthday. She still loves to play baseball with daddy. She's definitely a girl through and through, not sure where she gets that. Must be from Mike. She loves to play with the many dolls she got for her birthday. But, she's also got a little of her mom in her, her teachers tell me she's a tomboy and loves to run around with the boys. She's a little athlete. She can hit a moving ball with a bat, and can even shoot one handed on a 5 foot tall basket. Mike and I are starting to teach her responsibility and the value of a dollar. She is given "chores" to do around the house and earns a little money every week. She got used to "buying something" every time we went to the store that we knew we had to teach her about money. She is smart that one. She remembers everything and she will even reason with you. I guess its payback for how I was with my mom.

All in all, life is really good right now. Work is stressful, but everyday I can't wait to pick up the two kids and head home to play, cuddle, and give them tons of kisses.

Riley - 19 weeks old, Kayla - 4 years old

At Riley's 4 month check up he was, again, perfectly average. The nurse weighed him at 15 lbs. 10 oz., 25 inches long, with a head circumference of 17 inches. After she looked it up he is in the 50th percentile in all three categories. We were also told his head is a little flat in the back and were advised to keep him off his back as much as possible. So, I've got to make my way to Babies R Us and buy a Bumbo so he can sit up and play. He doesn't like tummy time too much so that's probably not an option to use

Riley has been taking a big interest in the food that we are eating, so I got the ok from the doctor to start giving him some rice cereal. I'm determined to make my own baby food this time, so I cooked up some brown rice and blended it really fine, added some formula and he loved it. He was totally eating it up to the point where he was opening his mouth when the spoon came near his face. He would even push away his bottle. He's growing so fast.

Kayla is doing great. She's moved into the Pre-K classroom and is starting to learn more than recognizing letters and numbers. Her class is learning the number two, what it looks like and how to spell it. I can't believe she can spell the word two. Lately, Kayla has been against going to school so we have talked to her more to find out why she doesn't want to go to school. We found out that no one at school wants to be her "best friend." I decided I needed to figure out why this is happening. I've had lots of conversations with her and discovered she more Munesato than we all thought. Although she seems very outgoing at home and around family and friends, she's really an introvert at heart. She's a lot more like me than I realized.

This time last year she told me, "Logan is not my friend anymore because he doesn't do what I say." I thought "Oh man, she's bossy." But there was more to it than that. Some days I would pick her up and ask her who she was playing with and she would say, "No one, by myself." Then I had huge insight yesterday, when we went to the mall. There is a little playground. She had a lot of fun, but was playing by herself the whole time. After I asked her "why didn't you play with the other kids?" She said, "I like playing by myself mommy." Ugh. How do I get my introverted child to socialize? I'm going to have to try a bunch of different things, I hope I can get her to break out of her shell.

Riley - 14 weeks old, Kayla - 3 years and 11 months old

Riley has been growing leaps and bounds. He is starting to grow out of his 3 month old clothes and has made the leap to size 2 diapers. He is smiling up a storm and gave us his first giggle Monday August 3rd. We're convinced his first tooth is trying to break through because he's pretty fussy and chewing on his hands and our fingers like there is no tomorrow. He sleeps through the night, most nights, and if he doesn't will only wake up once for a diaper change and a bottle. He's a laid back little boy who is perfectly content sitting in his bjorn watching people walk by.

Kayla is turing into a little girl. She has a mind of her own and is enjoying life. Two years ago we took her to Sea World and she was afraid and uninterested. We took her to Sea World on Monday and she was excited to see everything. She fed the sea lions, touched the starfish, and walked through every aquarium. She absolutely loved it! And, Sea World has a new thing where you buy a wristband for $30 and an adult can eat for free all day. It was definitely worth it.

She's starting to get pretty sassy too. You have to watch everything you say around her. Her favorite sayings are:

"That's nasty!"
"I want that for my birthday!"
"You only have two hands, right mommy!"
"Can I watch my show?"
"I want hot chocolate milk. HOT!"

Its great to see the contrast of the two. I can't wait to see what kind of personality Riley has when he is Kayla's age.

Sleeping Through the Night

Well, I think it is safe to say that Riley is sleeping through the night. I put him down around 9pm and he doesn't wake up till 5am. I am so thankful although part of this miracle is due to Riley finding his hand. I walk into his room in the morning to him sucking on his hand. Not quite his thumb, but his hand. Well, it was inevitable. Mike and I both sucked our thumbs and Kayla does. I just hope he only sucks on his hand when he is sleepy. I'm still trying to figure out when to work on Kayla's thumb-sucking. I guess its better than a pacifier.