Little Personalities

Jack-8 weeks



Keegan-8 weeks (These are some of my favorite pics of him. He only made those funny faces that one day..must have been gas!)

I Heart Blogging

Thank you all for your fabulous advice. I am for sure going to try to put him down as soon I see the first yawn...that might be my problem. When you have two, you for sure are not staring at your baby all day and this is a reminder that I need to watch his cues a little more! :) This is one of the many reasons that I heart blogging...you have an unlimited resources when you need it!

Got Advice?

Jack is doing incredibly well at night! He slept from 10:30-6:30 last night. HALLELUJAH! HOWEVER... he does not like to sleep during the day. I have him swaddled. He is well fed. BUT WIDE AWAKE! If I am lucky he will sleep a good 3 hours in a row, one time a day. At night when I put him to bed for the night, he goes right to sleep in the crib without any assistance. (probably because he is so stinkin' tired!)

So this is what I have tried...
*I have rocked him to where he is asleep and put him in his bed. (crib and bassinet) 10 min later he wakes up.
*I have put him in his bed awake, and he screams.
*I have put him in his swing, awake and asleep.
*I have used a mobile to try to lull him to sleep.

He is 8 weeks tomorrow. Is is too soon to have him cry it out? Any other ideas?
I know most of you have forgotten what you did...and really I can vaguely remember what I did with Keegs..but dig deep and try to remember for me..will ya? :)

Thanks...
Confused Mom and Lonely Keegan

Some Things Never Get Old

Two Stepping Across Texas

This past weekend we made our first road trip as a family of four up to Mansfield. I hate to admit this, but our Kia Sorento is getting a little small and the thoughts of a mini van have entered into my mind. They are of course just "thoughts" until I resign any "cool" that I had left and make the purchase. This might take a while to let my pride go. (For those of you that have one, I am sure you are still cool..it is just a personal issue with me! he he!)

The reason for the trip is that my grandfather got remarried on Saturday to his two-stepping partner, Florrine. My grandmother passed away three years ago and he has been needing someone to share life with. Florrine, is a fiery red-head with lots of spunk who will for sure keep Grandad on his toes. She lost her husband ten years ago and you would have thought she was getting married for the first time. She was so giddy and as a pair they act like smitten teenagers. For their honeymoon they are going to Disney World in April. I told him it was a must that they get Mickey and Minnie Ears with their names embroidered on it. Hopefully I can get a picture of that for the blog! There have been lots of emotions trailing on this wedding as you could probably imagine, but you know...the bottom line is, life needs to be lived until the end and that does not happen in a recliner watching tv.

The wedding was quite interesting with more gray hair in the audience that I have ever seen. It must be nice at their age to attend a wedding of a friend instead of funeral. We thought it was quite amusing that the mother of the bride was walked down the aisle. Yes, Florrine's mother is 90 something and 4'4...what a sight to see. (She likens Sophia on the Golden Girls if that gives you a mental picture.) I was asked to sing "Valenine" by Martina McBride and it was for sure a different experience singing at this wedding. They walked out to the song "Two Stepping Across Texas", into their reception for more two-stepping. Otto and Hotrod did not make it (for all you Houston First people) but a similar man in the same git-up called out the dances. It was pretty fun to watch all their Tuesday night dancin' friends docey-do.

This wedding made me ask questions, "Would I remarry?", or would Jonathan and I live out our story like "The Notebook". Hmmmm....It is the one thing you never really want to talk about. Have you ever had that conversation with your spouse? This might be interesting to hear what you have to say. For us, it still remains open ended and hoping that our story will end with us sneaking in each others room at the nursing home to sleep with each other at night.

My Dad and Grandad

Jack at his Great Jack's wedding

My brother Matt, wife Jenifer and daughter Jacey. She really started walking recently and that was fun seeing the beginnings of that! Unfortunately, weddings and toddlers do not mix, so we did not get a pic of us!

Grandad Jack and Florrine

Two-Stepping with the dancing buddies. You can see Otto's twin in the back of the second pic with the red shirt.

Some Encouragement

I got this over e-mail today and loved the authentic message, so I thought it was blog worthy.

******
Though children are considered
To be a burden-some a tire,
God has placed within my heart
A feminine desire.

I want to be a mother,
Children hanging 'round my skirt,
With lots of clothes and runny nose,
Small faces lined with dirt.

Lots of laundry to be washed
And dishes not a few;
Do you think that I'm insane
Or that this could be true?

Small bodies to be washed
Tiny children to be dressing.
I think that children ought
To be thought again a BLESSING.

Juanita M. Vernon
(from Martha's Family Cookery Book,
by Martha Greene)

BRING IT ON MOTHERHOOD!

I loaded up the boys this morning to head to the mall for exchanges and valentines gifts. We were having a laid back time and we decide to head to the food court for some Chick Fila. My mouth was literally salivating for it all morning. I walk past this table full of moms and toddlers. They stop me to check out my stroller because they all want one. They realized that I had a 6 week old and said, "Wow, You really have it all together". I smile half way and thought, "If they could see me at home!". Those were the famous last words because I was about to lose control.

I get Keegs and I some yummy nuggets and get us all situated at our table. I put him in his high chair, start unloading the bag, and all of a sudden Keegan throws up over and over again. It is coming out so fast that I feel so helpless in this situation but at the same time it felt like it was happening in slow motion. Poor Keegan was so sad and all I wanted to do was hold him. He is completely covered from head to toe and so is the table, high chair and floor. All I have are burp rags and that does half the trick in cleaning it up. I completely strip Keegs (minus the diaper and socks) while looking around at people just staring at me. (insert vent session) I am so frustrated at them because NO ONE offered any assistance. Just some extra napkins would have helped or even offering to get the cleaning crew would have been awesome. In fact, the couple sitting by me, got up and moved!! I grabbed a mom that was passing by and asked if she would point the mess out to a cleaning crew and she was so sweet to help me!

As I was leaving I overheard these older women say, "She just has her baby in diapers?", as I officially earned the "worst mother in history on a cold day" award. Luckily Jack slept through the whole ordeal and was facing the other direction, so hopefully he did not get anything. Who knows if this is a stomach bug or just motion sickness from the stroller ride. So far it looks like it is over but I guess we will know in the next couple of days. (yikes!)

I am being ordained here as a mother of two, first the absent nipple and this???... BRING IT ON MOTHERHOOD!!! GIVE ME WHAT YOU GOT! (but be nice...will ya?)

BA-BOOL!

Let it be marked in the memory book that "Football" a.k.a "ba-bool" was one of Keegan's first words...and his favorite sport. (Sorry Jonathan for these pics...but they were just to cute not to post!)

Where's Keegan?

There he is! Always in our dirty clothes hamper!

Sweet Jack- 6 weeks!

He has been on a roll lately sleeping 5-6 hours at night! My prayers have been answered!

Book Meme Tag

So...I have been tagged by Becky Kiser for a Book Meme.

Here are the rules:
1. Pick up the nearest book (of at least 123 pages).
2. Open the book to page 123.
3. Find the fifth sentence.
4. Post the next three sentences.
5. Tag five people.

The nearest book to me right at this second is my husband's bible. I almost cheated and wanted to find another book with a good spiritual application, some helpful toddler advice, etc, but instead I get a good 'ol list of biblical names. Which by the way...I think Zurishaddai is my favorite...bless his heart. What I thought was interesting was the last sentence. After reading this long list, I think I would be playing hookie for that congregation gathering.

Numbers 1: 5-18
These are the names of the men who are to assist you: from Reuben, Elizur son of Shedeur; from Simeon, Shelumiel son of Zurishaddai; from Judah, Nahshon son of Amminadab;from Issachar, Nethanel son of Zuar; from Zebulun, Eliab son of Helon; from the sons of Joseph:from Ephraim, Elishama son of Ammihud; from Manasseh, Gamaliel son of Pedahzur; from Benjamin, Abidan son of Gideoni;from Dan, Ahiezer son of Ammishaddai; from Asher, Pagiel son of Ocran;from Gad, Eliasaph son of Deuel; from Naphtali, Ahira son of Enan. These were chosen from the congregation, leaders of their fathers' tribes, heads of the divisions in Israel. Then Moses and Aaron took these men who and been mentioned by name, and they assembled all the congregation together on the first day of the second month; and they recited their ancestry by families by their father's houses, according to the number of names, from twenty years old and above, each one individually.

Cari, Mariana, Matt, Sunni, and Andrea...you have been tagged!

The Absent Nipple

Today was do or die day. Jack had his one month appointment and it was the first day for me to take the boys by myself. The day started out smooth and I made it to the appointment on time. I had to leave 45 minutes early to get there which reminded me I really need to find a doctor in my area. Everything went so well up to the point where Jack started getting hungry. We were still waiting for the doctor 30 minutes later and I started to prepare the bottle. I mix it and find that there was no nipple! I look everywhere in the diaper bag and came up with nothing! (Insert slight panic attack) He starts screaming right about the time Dr. Razak comes in. I ask him if they have a bottle and they didn't. He goes on to tell me that he was going to give him one of his vaccinations today (for reasons that went over my head) and takes 10 minutes to explain. All of which I missed because Dr. Razak gave Keegan a dum dum and I could not stop watching him to make sure he did not choke on it.

Keegan is dropping the dum dum on the ground, picking it back up, putting it in his mouth, germs are for sure attaching themselves to the dum dum...and the cycle continues for the 10 minutes. At the same time, the bubble gum flavored candy is staining his white shirt pink and the drool from his mouth is making every square inch of the room sticky. Oh yes, and we have this gigantic stroller in there with us. During the 10 minutes, Keegan keeps unlocking the brakes and ramming it into Dr. Razak.

So back to STARVING Jack and the absent nipple. He gets his shot and guess what...STARVING baby and SHOTS do not mix. I gather up all of our gear and I start smelling something very rank. Keegan starts saying "Stinky" and I thought..YOU GOT TO BE KIDDING! I strip him down, change his gosh awful diaper and Jack is still squealing at the top of his lungs. We finally make a b-line for the car and cross the road to Target. STARVING Jack is beside himself and every person on every aisle was glaring at me like, "You are ruining my precious Target experience". All the while, my face is getting flush and Keegan is bouncing up and down in the front seat yelling, "BALL". We get to the check out line and get behind this woman that had one item. I thought, surely she will see my dilemma and let me go ahead of her. I am fumbling with the bottle, opening up the nipples in line, and she ignores the situation but chooses to glare at STARVING Jack. She takes here sweet time and then pays with cash, counting out every last penny. It was my turn to get my item scanned and the cashier thought it was the perfect time to catch up with the neighbor cashier. I am telling you, at this point I am about to burst, scream, cry... all the above. Luckily, I held it together and this cannon did not fire off. We rolled over to Target's exquisite dining area and I enjoyed a nice fizzy coke, Keegan enjoyed his milk, and finally ...drum roll please... Jack enjoyed his formula. We made it. (phew!)

What I learned from the absent nipple...
*You can not feed a baby without it.
*It taught me that things like this will happen ineveitably to even the most organized parents.
*Next time I go somewhere alone with the boys will be SUPER easy. (comparatively)
*Target is heaven sent.

And one more thing...Jonathan wants you to know that HE packed the diaper bag this morning.

Boo-Hoo

Football is just a game...but man, poor Patriots. I am sure that these grown men will cry tonight. I was really hoping they would win. :( The only thing good about the game were the commercials and Jordin Sparks. She was amazing.

First Smiles