2 years / 11 month update

I am the mother of a 2 year old. Seriously, Calan is 2. I thought his first year went by quickly, but this year has flown by. Maisie is going to be 1 soon. Seriously, soon I will be the mother of 2 toddlers and not 2 babies.

This morning Bob had to go to work early, so it was just me and the kids and we sat on our large chair snuggling. I loved every second of it. I love being a mom and love watching them get so old. Though it does make me sad. Time is going by too quickly. I think every mother feels that way. So much happens so quickly those first years, I am so happy that I have been here for everything!

Eating

• Calan is still my finicky eater. I swear he regresses all the time. It is always 1 step forward and 2 steps back with him. I do get him to try everything at dinner, but man is it a battle the whole way. Not sure if it is the time of day or what I am feeding him, but it is just the worst meal. I dread it completely. His appetite is still less, which means at least meals aren't too long. (Yeah.)
  I am working on getting him to stop playing with his food. Everything is either a boat or car and then he makes the hugest mess. Again, such a pain. I just wish meals were easy. One day, right?
• Maisie is an amazing eater. She does not even question it. If it is on her tray, she eats it. Though if after a few bites, she isn't a fan, she starts to drop it on the floor. The little stinker literally smiles at me when she does this. She is eating basically everything that we are. No more purees, which is making life a lot easier. She drinks four 6 oz. bottles of formula each day. I am behind on introducing a sippy cup, so hopefully she transitions OK in a couple weeks to milk. I just have to start being consistent about it. 

Sleeping

• Calan is sleeping a hundred times better. He still rocks, but 2-hour wake ups are becoming fewer and fewer. I can only remember 2 or 3 this month versus 2 or 3 a week. He has been taking a longer and longer time to fall asleep. We have started to give him a sippy cup of water and that helped a little, but now has become another thing he stays awake with. I have started going in there not saying a word and just resetting him and that seems to have helped a little. 
• Luckily, Miss Maisie sleeps through it all. She is out quicker than I can turn off the light. She is awesome when it comes to sleeping. Down at 7:30 and up just after 7 in the morning. No peeps, no rocking, no nothing; just pure sleep. She is still taking 2 naps, an hour in the morning and 3 hours in the afternoon. They still nap separately and I probably won't change that till Maisie drops her morning nap. 
• Room sharing is still going great at night. No complaints there. 

Milestones

• Maisie got glasses this month. Little cute pink ones that will hopefully strengthen her right eye so that she doesn't go cross-eyed while focusing. She does really well with them and leaves them on her face most of the time, and to my utter shock, Calan leaves them alone too and tells me when they have fallen down. Crazy right? She will hopefully only need them for a year or 2. 
• Calan's birthday was a success. We had family and friends over for a fire truck birthday party and he loved it. The kid loves his trucks to say the least. 
• Maisie is up to 7 teeth right now and I am pretty sure all of Calan's 2-year molars are in (it is impossible to get in his mouth to check). 
• Maisie is clapping, repeating noises, and dancing (shaking her head or butt to a beat). No words yet. She is pretty quiet, so not sure when that will happen.
• Calan is fearless at all the parks we have been too. Love how active and fun he is. 
• Maisie is getting a bit more balance, but is still just walking along furniture. What is it going to be like having 2 walking kids? I'm a little scared.

Schedule

Still a bit all over the place with so much going on, but here is our base schedule:

• 7/7:30 - wake up, 6 oz. bottle for Maisie
• 8 - breakfast
• 8:30 - Pack-and-play time for Maisie and room time for Calan
• 9 - Maisie nap; Calan free play
• 10:30 - Maisie up; outdoor play or playdate usually. 
• 11 - 6 oz. bottle for Maisie
• 11:30/12 - lunch
• 12:30 - nap
• 3:00- wake up / snack; 6 oz. bottle for Maisie
• 6 - Dinner
• 6:30 - Bath and dad time
• 7:15 - stories
• 7:30 - Bedtime. (Calan usually falls asleep closer to 8 or 8:30, but Maisie is out like a light at 7:30)

Overall

Our summer is off to a great start. We are taking full advantage of the weather and where we live. We are having as much fun as possible. I am already dreading the winter months. Let summer last forever. 

The new jungle gym - our family room chair. 

First wagon ride around our neighborhood

My mini Elton John on our way to the park

The birthday boy!

Anything to do with water and my kids love it!

23 month / 10 month update

Well another month has gone by and my kids are getting closer to their birthdays. Can't believe that it was a year ago that I was pregnant taking care of a crawling Calan. My almost 2-year-old is running and climbing and playing and being every bit of the energetic toddler that he is. My almost 1-year-old who once was my fussy newborn is now the most easy going and joyful little girl.

This month was filled with fun events and trips and excitement. We were a family on the go!

Sleeping

• Calan still rocks, of course, but some days I think it is getting better, but then he has a bad night and I feel like it will never end. Luckily Maisie still does sleep through his noise-making, so only he and I are lacking sleep. However, his wakes do not seem to affect his mood. He is pretty happy for the most part. I really think that I need to stop stressing about it, but that is so much easier said than done. I just pray that God helps sooth him and he stops rocking soon. We have moved back his bedtime to 7:30 or 8:00 and that helps some with the winding down and falling asleep, but it has not seemed to help with the night wake ups. As for nap time, he is doing great, and he is still sleeping from 12:30 till at least 3. I usually do not let him sleep past 3:30 or he takes forever to fall asleep at bedtime. 
• Maisie is my sleeping goddess. We had a week there where she was waking early from naps, but I think that seemed to because of a Wonder Week. She seems back to her regular sleeping routine now. She sleeps an hour in the morning and 3 hours in the afternoon, but can skip or catnap her morning nap if we are out and about and is totally OK. I try not to make it a habit, but at least twice a week we skip the morning nap. At night she is sleeping from 7:30 till either 7/7:30. I have no complaints there. The are doing great sharing a room. Calan actually asks for her during naps, but I am not ready for them to nap together yet. Maybe soon though. 

Eating

• Calan has really started to eat less. He must not be going through any major growth spurts. He is eating more and more foods without battling me. However, we are still working on him not playing so much with his food. He is doing pretty well with a fork and spoon. Still messy, but definitely way better. 
• I have been trying to give Maisie some type of finger food at every meal. She has been doing great. She has 4 bottles a day (3-8 oz. and 1-6 oz.) and she has solids at 3 meals. Plus, she seems to only be allergic to scramble eggs so far. She has had banana bread and waffles and a few other things that contains eggs and she did not have a reaction. So that is great news. Hopefully, that means she will grow out of the allergy. This month, I will start to introduce her to a a sippy cup, so we shall see how that goes. 

Milestones 

• The kids had their first plane ride! Calan loved it. Both kids traveled pretty well. The plane ride was short, so there weren't any major meltdowns. Plus, Calan got to sit in the cockpit. He was in button heaven. The flight crew thought he was adorable. Luckily, my sister made traveling so easy by having car seats and pack-and-plays already for us once we got to Boston. Calan did not sleep that great and wanted to wake up at 5 each morning, but overall I would say the trip was a success and I would do it again. 
• Calan's vocabulary and independent thoughts have taking a whole new leap. He loves to sing everything and I amazed at how quickly he picks up a tune. Though it does take a mother's ear sometimes to figure out which song he is singing. His favorite by far right now is "Farmer and the Dell." He sounds hilarious when he says "Hi Ho the dairy oh." He loves playing with other children, but still doesn't always understand that he can't be so bossy (Is he my son or what?). The evil-toddler in him is starting to show its face. Lots of time-outs lately, but he is overall still pretty obedient. I can't say enough about how amazing it is to watch him turn into a little boy. 
• Maisie, who once was so fussy, seems to be happy all the time. She is perfectly content pulling herself up and crawling all around exploring everything. Rarely does she like to be held. She doesn't cry, but she wiggles right out of your hands. Maisie has really been developing her vocabulary this month. She has been so quiet for so long (she rarely coo-ed) that it is crazy to here her talk all the time. She has mastered da-da and ba-ba, but I still haven't heard a good ma-ma yet. 

Schedule

• Our regular schedule has been a bit all over the place with so many play dates and events and just being busy, but here is the bare bones schedule we are following:
• 7:30 a.m. - Wake up; Maisie bottle, Calan milk
• 8 a.m. - Breakfast
• 8:30 a.m.- Playing in the family room
• 9 a.m. - Maisie nap; I shower; Calan watches TV
• 10 a.m./10:30 a.m. - Maisie wakes up. 
• 11 a.m. - Maisie bottle
• 11:30 a.m. - lunch
• 12:30 p.m. - Both kids nap
• 3/3:30 p.m. - Wake up / Snack
• 6 p.m. - Dinner
• 6:30 p.m. - Bath time
• 7:30 p.m. - Bedtime

Overall

The kids have been healthy and happy. Calan is pushing limits and Maisie is exploring her boundaries. They are a handful, but such a blessing. I love having two babies. They keep life interesting and me on my toes, but I wouldn't want it any other way. 

Calan testing out the pilot's seat on our plane ride into Boston. 

Calan hanging out at his aunt and uncle's house

Maisie playing on our deck. She has to be contained because she loves to chew on sticks and leaves and rocks and anything else she can get her hands on.

Calan helping me make pizza for dinner. 

Out to lunch with dad

Loves to be standing near her brother. Where ever he is, she must be too.

Calan upset at a local truck event. He did not want to wait in line to touch and drive the trucks. 

He loved driving. It was  great event with trucks of every kind!

My little bug. 

22 month / 9 month update

Calan loves riding the train at the mall. For a dollar, it is a great treat. 

Maisie all dressed up in the outfit her cousins picked out for her when they spent the night. 

Another month has come and gone and the next is almost over. Time is flying by, but I have no complaints. Life is good. The babies are good. We are good.

What a difference a month makes? The month of March was hell. The month of April was heaven. Life is really settling into a good routine. The calm before the storm, right? Not sure when life will become topsy turvy again, but right now, I am loving the flow. 

As for the kids, I am going to try to keep things based on just 22 and 9 months because the last two weeks have been crazy busy with things, but I will share more of that during the next update. 

So here's what the kids have been up to:

Sleeping

• The kids are officially sleeping in the same room through the whole night. At the start of this month, we tried and had to abort due to colds and bad sleeping, but we tried again and haven't looked back. I was determined. It was time and I needed to get Maisie out of our room. I just can't sleep well when she is making any noises, and she would not put herself back to sleep because she knew I was there. I have been amazed at how much the kids sleep through one another. Maisie falls asleep just fine when Calan is having a "crib party" rocking and singing to himself at night, and Calan sleeps through Maisie who about once a night cries out, but will either fall right back to sleep or just needs her pacifier. For nap time, I still have Maisie upstairs, but that is my choice. I think that it works better for us right now. 
• Calan has become a little energizer bunny at night. We usually put the kids to bed around 7:30, but he can take anywhere from 15 minutes to 2 hours to fall asleep. I use to try and get him to lay down, but I have found that does not help the situation. Usually if I just leave him alone, he finally does go to sleep. Though when he gets bored singing to himself or rocking, he tends to start calling for Maisie. While I find it adorable, I do go in then and lay him back down. Nap times have become a breeze. I put him down around 12:30 and he is usually out pretty quickly and sleeps till at least 3. For how much I struggled with nap times, it is amazing to me how well he sleeps now. 
• Maisie is my sleeping champ (for the most part). With her in her crib, she is sleeping much better at night. Usually, however, she does cry out once each night. It seems to be a startled cry like a nightmare or something like it. Usually just giving her a pacifier and laying her back down does the trick. Not really sure why she does it or how to get her to break the habit, for now, luckily, there is any easy solution to comfort her. Maisie is a great napper and always has been. Maybe it is a second child thing. If we are home, she naps from 9 till about 10:30 in the morning, but is perfectly OK skipping the nap if we are out and about. She then sleeps from 12:30 till at least 3:30. If she missed her morning nap, she goes from 12 till 3:30. I never worry about her getting enough sleep or being rested. But to make sure that both kids get a good nap, I have them nap in different rooms. I don't see myself changing that anytime soon. It works for us. 

Eating

Maisie tryout sweet potato fries, an easy favorite. 

• Both kids made huge strides in eating over the past month. Maisie is eating more solid foods and Calan is eating without a fight. 
• I had to resort to a little bribery and timeouts to get Calan to eat his food. He loves bread and most fruits, but was avoiding anything he didn't want and just saying "all done." I now do not have to even use bribes and usually just a threat of a timeout solves any eating issues. I am not the mother that thinks that he needs to eat everything on his plate, but he does have to at least try everything. Dinner times have been way more peaceful and he is sleeping better and rocking less at night because I think he was hungry. 
• Maisie has been doing great eating. I still have not giving her a ton of solid food basically because of laziness on my part, but what I have given, she has done fine with. She loves sweet potato fries and bananas. She has had toast and some strawberries. I did try to give her some scramble eggs, only to find out she is allergic. (Yea, that was fun.) So far she hasn't had any reactions to any other foods. When she is a year old, we will have her tested. She will most likely grow out of the allergy. 

Activities/Milestones

The kids looking through their Easter baskets. Cheerio filled eggs were a huge hit. 

• Maisie had her first Easter. Both kids liked their Easter baskets. We went to church, had brunch with Bob's mom, and then headed over to Bob's dad's for dinner. Nothing crazy, but fun nonetheless. 
• Maisie is now pulling herself up like a champ. She has just begun to transfer between items standing up like from the ottomen to the chair. She is crawling all over the place and usually crawls right to my feet and climbs up me to be held if I am in the room with her. 
• Maisie is still lacking vocal vocabulary. She is pretty quiet most of the time, but I have heard her say "i, i, i" a few times and "mmmm" and if you do a cough noise she repeats the noise. She just enjoys observing the world. 
• Calan's vocabulary keeps expanding. Funny things are starting to come out of him. Like if he is eating something he actually likes he says, "mmm, that's good." Or a couple weeks ago, I said "thanks, honey," to bob for something and Calan said "thanks, honey," most of the day. Pretty cute. 
• Calan is finally saying other colors than blue when asked, so he might not be color-blind after all. 
• My sister and her family came to visit in April and the kids really enjoyed playing with their cousins who are 9 and almost 12. And my nieces loved playing with the babies. It was great to see my kids playing with their family. The last time we saw them, I was pregnant with Maisie and Calan was almost 1. A lot has changed in a year. 

Schedule

I really revamped and worked on our schedule this month and that has been a huge help in keeping the peace in our home. If you have a toddler and not on a schedule, I highly recommend starting. Life really is a lot easier when they know what is coming next. 

7/7:30 a.m. Wake up/ Maisie bottle

8 a.m. Breakfast

8:30 a.m. Maisie pack-and-play time (independent playtime); Calan and I chores. (Calan loves to sweep and clean up.)

9 a.m. Maisie nap time. Calan room time. And I take a peaceful shower and get ready. 

9:30 a.m. Calan TV time and I get coffee time. 

10 a.m. Calan and I play (usually with his train table)

10:30 a.m. Maisie wakes up and the kids play together

11 a.m. Maisie bottle; Calan either free play or TV time depending on his mood. I get lunch ready. 

11:30 a.m. Lunch

12 p.m. Play outside or story time or free play inside

12:30 p.m. Both kids nap. 

3 p.m. Kids start to wake up. TV time fore Calan if Maisie is not up yet. 

3:30 p.m. Blanket time and snack time for both kids. 

4 p.m. Depends on the day. Sometimes learning time, sometimes errands, sometimes outside play time. 

5 p.m. Prep for dinner

6 p.m. Dinner time

6:30 p.m. Bath time

7 p.m. Daddy time or TV time

7:30 p.m. Bedtime

Overall

What a great month! We still had some lingering colds, but nothing like March. The kids are starting to act like siblings and that is pretty fun to watch most of the time as long as Calan isn't hurting his sister. Another month done and this month is almost over already. Summer is just going to fly on by. 

Calan has become increasingly interested in Maisie and wants to know where she is at all times. He probably says her name 100 times a day. Cute ... yes; Annoying ... Absolutely. 

21 months & 8 months

Seriously, how is my baby 8 months old already? Since I was so late, doing the 20 month/7 month update, it seems like I just did this, but it has been a crazy busy month filled with tons of milestones and more sickness.

This past week, the kids and I have been dealing the a cold from hell. Both kids got ear infections and pink eye. I went to the doctors so much in the past two weeks that it really became a joke. The kids were about a two-days off from what ever the other one had. Maisie had pink eye first, then Calan's ear infection, then Calan's pink eye, and then Maisie's ear infection. Seriously, this was my life the past week and a half. Now, throw in there that I also had the cold from hell and it was the week from hell. Luckily Bob has been immune up till now and as he seems to be coming down with it, we are all getting better.

So here is what the kids are up to:

Sleeping

• We started to let the kids sleep together at night and from 7 p.m. till 3 a.m. it is fine, but after that usually Maisie makes her way up stairs with us. If she fusses too much and wakes up Calan, Calan will stay awake rocking for at least an hour or more. I usually grab Maisie and put her back to sleep upstairs. However, if Calan wakes up, Maisie pretty much sleeps through it. So, we are getting there, but we are not close enough yet.
• Calan - The ear infection really threw me for a loop. Because he is known to wake up in the middle of the night rocking, it took me 3 nights of no sleep for me to realize that something more was wrong. Poor little guy! His naps have been hit or miss, but usually 2 hours. I love the days that it is 3, but it does seem to be more 2 to 2.5 hours this month. And it goes without saying that his rocking is still my archnemisis. Not sure when I will let go about it, but geez to I just pray that it will stop SOON.
• Maisie - Seems to be settling into a good 2 nap schedule. She usually takes a shorter nap in the morning and a longer one in the afternoon. She has been having a hard time going to bed and needs to be more cuddled, but she is going down. Maisie does seem to be going through her 37 Wonder Week, which is may include nightmares. Maisie seems to be affected by this. She cries out the saddest cry about an hour and a half into sleeping. I usually just lay her back down and give her a pacifier and she settles back to sleep instantly.

Eating

• Calan - His appetite has decreased by a ton. He use to be an empty pit for food that he liked, but he really has slowed down quite a bit. One issue that I am facing is that when he gets a little bored at the table or he seems to have finished only the things he likes he says "All done" and throws a bit of a tantrum till I let him down from the table. I try to ignore it and get him to eat more, but the behavior is just not getting better. It is always worse at dinner than during the day. I have found that time outs really don't help the situation. He calms down sit quietly in his crib and then when put back at the table instant tantrum. So, I have just been trying to stretch the time each day. I usually use Maisie as an excuse saying that we need to wait till she is done. Sometimes it works, sometimes not so much. Oh, how I love toddlers. He is doing really well with his spoon and fork. He still makes a pretty big mess, but he gets a lot of food in his mouth.
• Maisie - She is now eating a few more purees like peaches, peas, and green beans. I have tried giving her Cheerios and she is just not into picking up food to her mouth, which is so different from Calan. He ate food so quickly and I never had to worry about the way he chewed and at his food. He was a great eater. It has been a very slow go with Maisie. She only likes purees. I tried giving her a a banana piece and she choked a little and spitup, so that was a failed attempt. Getting her to eat finger foods is my goal for this month. Hopefully, we will get there.

Activities/Milestones

• Calan - He is still our little golfer. He has been swinging up a storm and loves to go outside and hit balls in the backyard. We also took him to the driving range for the first time. He was adorable. He wanted to hit every ball, which only allowed Bob to hit probably 6. But he listened well and stayed with Bob and loved watching the other golfers take their swings. It was a great family moment.
  I have also started to transition Calan from pack-and-play-time to room-time independent playtime.
  He is doing pretty well, and for the most part sticks to playing with his toys and reading books while I shower. Unfortunately, our bathroom is right across from his bedroom, so the second I am done showering he wants to come out of his room. So, we are working on it.



Calan playing during roomtime

• Maisie - What a busy little girl! She has learned to crawl and sit up on her own. She was so proud of herself when she finally got it. She is loving the fact that she can get to Calan's toys now. I can place her toys within reach and she crawls right over to his toys. On top of being sick, Maisie also had both top teeth cut through. So she is now up to 4. As I have transitioned Calan into room time, I have started Maisie on pack-and-play time. I don't do it every day, but when she isn't napping and Calan is having room time, she has pack-and-play time. She does just fine in there playing with toys.

Maisie playing during pack-and-play time

Schedule

There was a lot going on this past month between Bob's grandmother unexpectedly passing away and the kids being sick and daylight savings time, we have really gotten away from our schedule. But here is what it sometimes looks like:

7:30 a.m. - Kids wake up. Maisie has her bottle.

8 a.m. - Family breakfast, including Maisie's solids.

8:30 a.m. - Playing in the family room and getting Maisie dressed

9 a.m. - Maisie nap, chores for Calan and I

9:30 a.m. - Calan room time

10:00 a.m. - Structured activity like puzzles or craft or something like that, But with the kids sick the last week or so it has been more TV time

10:30 a.m. - Maisie wakes up / kids play in family room

11 a.m. - Maisie Bottle

11:30 a.m. - Lunch

12 p.m. - Both kids blanket time, but again since the kids were sick it has been more TV time instead of blanket time.

12:30 p.m. - Story time and then Maisie and Calan afternoon nap

3 p.m. - Kids wake up, Maisie bottle. Calan is slow to wake up, so he again usually watches a little TV (this month TV again was a bad habit. I blame it on the sickness through our house)

3:30 p.m. - Calan snack time

4 p.m. - Free time (this becomes anything from crafts to errands to TV to music to sibling playtime to whatever keeps everyone happy.)

6 p.m. - Dinner time

6:30 p.m. - Bath time

7 or 7:30 p.m. - Bedtime (Depends on how well their afternoon nap went. If it was more of a 2:15 p.m. wake up then bedtime is closer to 7 and if it was a 3 p.m. wake up, then it is closer to 7:30)

Overall

• Calan - Well the plague sickness, really threw us for a loop. Calan was just not his happy go lucky self this past month, but he did have his moments. He is getting a little more interested in structured activities like crafts and puzzles, but still loves physical activities most. He learned to jump as well this month and is pretty cute jumping around and dancing. He is playing so well with his sister and is really understanding that soon she will be a playmate. But doesn't always get that she isn't quite big enough yet. He has tried to pick her up and move her a few times, but then asks for my help to "get" her. They laugh and giggle with each other. It is so adorable.
• Maisie - She is loving her new found freedoms. She is so proud of herself. Even with a Wonder Week, 2 teeth coming through, pink eye, an ear infection, and a horrible cold, she was actually pretty good. I felt so horrible for her, but she just smiled through.

Ever since her top teeth have come through, she has been doing this with her tongue. It is absolutely adorable!

Calan during an Easter egg hunt. He got six eggs and then told me he was all done. 

Long overdue 7 month / 20 month update

Well, this month is almost over, and Calan will be 21 months in 9 days, but I still haven't shared everything that has been going on for my 7- and 20-month-old. So here it is:

Sleeping

• I would love to say that Calan's rocking is done, but it is still going strong. I feel like a little bit of a broken record about it, but I just wish it would stop. We have tried intervening and we have tried ignoring; nothing seems to help. Though I have found that during nap time, if we get to him right as he starts, he will stay asleep his full nap. So, that is a little victory. His naps were hit or miss this month with some only an hour and a half and others a nice 3-hour nap. But his night sleep (besides rocking) has been good.
• Maisie is still sleeping upstairs. I thought I would try letting them nap together, but I found that one of them would ultimately wake up the other one too soon, so that was short lived. Just the other week, we tried night sleeping together, but unfortunately they got sick, so that was short lived. Maisie is great about missing a nap and making it up later. Calan was never like this. Most kid activities are during her morning nap, so if we are out and about, she usually doesn't nap. However, she takes a great 2.5- to 3-hour-nap in the afternoon and if needed, she will take a catnap from 4:30 p.m. - 5:30 p.m. My girl is a great sleeper other than ending up in bed with us each night around 4 a.m. till 7 a.m.

Eating

• Again, I sound like a broken record with Calan on eating. He loves his carbs and fruit, but meat and veggies are hit or miss. I try to hide them and he just eats around them. He would eat 20 bananas a day if I let him. There really haven't been any new foods; just trying to get him to eat vegetables. He has started to eat with a fork and spoon. He makes a mess, but he will eat more veggies if they are on a fork or spoon.
• Maisie is doing a lot better at eating solids. Though she still won't eat plain cereal. I usually just mix it with whatever veggies or fruit she is having with it. She has had bananas, pears, sweet potatoes, and peas. I have tried giving her Cheerios, but she does not seem interested in self-feeding yet. She still makes a bit of a mess with the solids, but at least they are being eaten.

Activities

• Well, TV watching is still more than I would like, but with the weather changing, I think this problem will fix itself. However, we have been doing more out of the house. We joined the Royal Oak Mom's Club and between that and other friends and outings, we have kept ourselves pretty busy. We have gone to a few indoor play centers and he really loves going down slides. He is such a social little guy. He loves to play chase with other kids. Some little 3- or 4-year-old usually matches up with him and let's him chase them around. He grins and laughs the whole time.
• Maisie is doing her thing. She is starting to move. She pushes herself around in a circle and scotches backward. She loves to be on the ground, and actually holding her is quite difficult because she twists and turns to be put down. She loves to be talked to and smiles and grins and kicks about when you just look at her. Cracks me up.

Schedule

• 7/7:30 a.m. – Maisie and Calan wake up. Maisie eats and gets dressed. Calan slowly rises and either plays with some toys or watches TV and drinks milk
• 8 a.m. – Family eats breakfast (even Maisie eats with us at the table).
• 8:30 a.m. – Bob leaves for work. I do a few chores and make some coffee and we play for a bit in our family room.
• 9 a.m.- Maisie naps and Calan plays in his pack-and-play. I either shower or do chores or just enjoy some me time.
• 10:00 a.m. – Calan and I play. I usually try to do some activity with him, but he usually does what ever he wants.
• 10:30 a.m. – Maisie wakes up.
• 11 a.m. – Maisie drinks a bottle.
• 11:30 a.m.- We have lunch (all of us).
• 12 p.m. – Calan and Maisie have blanket time. This means Maisie is usually on her play mat.
• 12:30 p.m. – Calan and Maisie naps. I do whatever needs to be done (me time, shower, blog, chores, etc.)
• 3 p.m. – Calan wakes up
• 3:30 p.m. – Maisie wakes up and has a bottle and Calan has a snack.
• 4 p.m. – We play or do some errands.
• 5 p.m. – I start cooking dinner, so either Calan continues playing well or if he is cranky, he has been playing in his pack-and-play again.
• 5:45 p.m. – Dinner for everyone.
• 6:15 p.m. – Bath time
• 6:45 p.m. – Maisie has her bottle
• 7 p.m. – Maisie and Calan bedtime
• 11 p.m. - Maisie has a small bottle
• 4 a.m. - Maisie tends to wake up and moves into bed with us (a HORRIBLE habit that we are going to try and break this weekend)

Overall

• Calan still is the happiest kid I know. Every time we are out and about, strangers comment on how smiley he is and ask if he is always that way. And besides when he is a bit cranky, he really is ALWAYS that smiley. If you just start laughing, he starts laughing. Cracks me up. He has become a great big brother and really has been amazing with Maisie, but I have noticed a little jealousy. For example if I am holding her in my lap, he tends to move on to my lap as well. He is learning to share a little. He knows the word, but says it as he takes whatever he wants or if we try to take back something, he holds tight saying, "share, share." Better than nothing I guess.
• Maisie is really on the move. She is inching her way to mobility. Not sure what I am going to do when I have 2 mobile children, but many mothers before me have done it, so I am sure I will be just fine. She isn't very vocal and hasn't started saying and sounds yet. She does giggle and coo, but no "ba, ba, ba" or "da, da, da" yet. She is really observing so many things. She has really started to study the world around her. Love her smile and her two little teeth that show when she grins. She melts my heart.
• As a mom of two little guys, I would say that since 6 months life has gotten increasingly more difficult. I feel a bit stretched. It probably hasn't helped that Bob is working a ton, so I am doing a lot by myself. However, I am starting to get use to my new routine and as the weather keeps getting better, life seems to be getting better. Can't wait for more.

Calan and Maisie at 6 months. 

P.S. This is my 200th blog!

15 month / 2 month update

Another month has passed and seriously where has the time gone? I can't believe that Maisie is 2 months. It is amazing to me how quickly time flies with children. They grow and change so quickly that every time I sit down to reflect on their growth I am amazed at how quickly everything is happening.

I decided that I needed to organize my updates a little better, so I am going to break it down into a few categories so that each month I am looking at the same things and can easily look back later and be amazed.

So here is what we have been up to and doing:

Sleeping

• Calan - He has been sleeping pretty well. He still takes 2 naps and I don't see that changing too soon. He sleeps for about an hour in the morning and 2 in the afternoon. About once a week, I would say he misses a nap and it is usually on the weekend. My guess is that because the weekend isn't normal routine and he just loves being around his dad that sleeping is not a priority for him. But one nap battle a week seems like no big deal after dealing with a month of battles. I am so glad that I stuck with it and didn't give in to him not napping. He wasn't ready and I could tell. And the fact that he is taking great naps now is just proof. At night, Calan has been waking up a little in the middle of the night. Most of the time he wakes and goes back down by himself after about 10 minutes. I think that his teeth that are coming in are the culprit of his wake ups. He goes to bed at 7 p.m. each night, but probably takes about 30 minutes to fall asleep and he wakes up in the morning at 7. He has been doing this weird crib rocking thing to fall asleep. He rocks hard against the side of the crib till he basically falls over asleep. He isn't hurting himself, and I would love to know how to stop it, but it is what it is for now.
• Maisie - Overall, Maisie is sleeping pretty well. At night, I have no complaints. She usually wakes up once at about 3:30 or 4 in the morning and then is up at 7 a.m. As for naps, she is a little hard to get to sleep, but once she is she takes great naps. The biggest problem, and it is most definitely my fault, is that she likes to nap with a blanket over her head. Yep, one of the biggest mommy no-nos. I found that Maisie is pretty light sensitive. She doesn't seem to care about noises, but light really affects her. She also likes to be super warm to nap peacefully. Because of this, she naps basically all the time in her bouncy seat by me. I am hoping that she grows out of this habit easily and I don't have to break her of it in order to get her to sleep in a crib at some point.

Eating

• Calan - He eats a ton. Calan is pretty adventurous with his food. He likes flavor. I do have to hide some veggiatables in order to get him to eat them, but he does eat them. He just would not pick up a plain green bean and eat it, but add a little cheese or some seasoning, he will at least try it and 70% of the time, he will eat it. He loves breads and fruit. I have yet to find a fruit he won't eat. He devours them and since they are so easy to prepare, he eats them often. He is eating 3 meals and 1 snack each day. He has completely transitioned to eating table foods and drinking from cups. He is still eating from a high chair, and I don't think that we are going to transition him to a booster seat till he is closer to 18 months.
• Maisie - She is a nursing champ. She eats well and usually just eats every 3 hours during the day. She hasn't had a lot of bottles, but she takes a bottle without any issues at all. The medicine seems to have really helped her reflux. She still spits up a lot, but the pain seems to have disappeared. We are treating her for a mild case of thrush, a yeast infection in her month common among nursing infants. At her 2 month appointment, the doctor thought she might have it and to be on the safe side, we are treating her for it. If it was thrush, I didn't want it to get worse and affect her eating. Hopefully, it clears up quickly and we can go back to just giving her one medication.

Milestones

• Calan - Calan is really starting to communicate more with us. He is understanding simple commands and enjoys being asked to do little tasks like turning on and off the lights. Probably the cutest thing he is doing is saying please and thank you with sign language. He gets to say please when he is asking for something, but thank you is basically just done when we ask him to do it. He also getting to know his body parts and likes to show us his head and nose. We are working on the rest. He also likes singing and while he isn't exactly saying the words, he kind of says some the right tone and sounds for a few of his favorite songs. For example, R sounds for "Row, Row, Row Your Boat." He loves working on puzzles and stacking blocks. He really concentrates and focuses and cheers himself on. On the negative side, we have started tantrums too. He clearly gets upset when something he doesn't like happens.
• Maisie - I am completely amazed that She is rolling over from her stomach to her back. Because of her reflux, I have not been able to put her down on the ground for most of her life. It has only been over the last 2 weeks that I have really been putting her down for about 15 minutes a day. And a few days ago, she rolled over. I thought it was a fluke, but she has done it everyday since, so not a fluke. She is smiling a ton and cooing up a storm when she isn't pissed off about something. She is holding rattles when placed in her hand also. So, she is doing great for 2 months. And I feel like she is growing up so quickly.

Activities

• Calan - He loves to read, look at pictures, dance, hit golf balls, and chase our dog Elle. He loves to go for walks and play at the park. However, he also learned to climb the jungle gym at the park, so it has gotten a little difficult to take the 2 kids to the park by myself. Chasing after Calan is a full-time job. He has learned that there is more to the house then our family room and likes to explore when he can. He still does about 40 minutes of playtime in his pack and play each morning and I have just started blanket time again. It was a little hard to do blanket time while I was really pregnant and while I was nursing a lot, but now, I can give more attention to it and hope to have him sitting and playing on a blanket happily for about 15 minutes by the time he is 16 months and playing for 30 minutes by 17 months. We shall see if it works. Like everything, I think consistency will win out
• Maisie - I have just recently felt comfortable enough to lay her on the ground for an extended period of time, so she has just started playing on our floor mat. She seems to like it and looking at the lights blink above her. She loves being talked to and smiles and coos and focuses on me when I talk to her.

Schedule

• 7 a.m. - Everyone wakes up. Maisie eats and Calan drinks some milk.
• 7:30 a.m. - Calan eats breakfast and finishes milk
• 8:00 a.m. - Calan has independant playtime in his pack and play. Maisie starts her nap.
• 8:40 a.m. - Calan playtime/reading time
• 9:45 a.m. - Calan naps
• 10 a.m. - Maisie eats, we play together
• 11 a.m. - Maisie naps
• 11:30 a.m. - Calan wakes up
• 12 p.m. - Calan lunch
• 12:20 p.m. - learning time
• 1 p.m. - Maisie eats, Calan has some blanket time/ play time
• 1:30 p.m. - This time changes from either a walk, errands, or sibling play time depending on the day
• 2:30 p.m. - Calan and Maisie nap
• 4:00 p.m. - Maisie eats
• 4:30 p.m. - Calan wakes up / snack
• 5 p.m. - free time or errands
• 6 p.m. - dinner
• 6:20 p.m. - bath time
• 6:40 p.m. - Calan gets ready for bed; drinks milk
• 7 p.m. - Calan bedtime/Maisie eats
• 7:30 p.m. - Maise bedtime
• 10:30 p.m. - Maisie eats
• 4 a.m. - Middle of the night feeding for Maisie

Overall

• Calan - He is still an overly happy little guy, who loves learning and exploring new things. He makes us laugh and smile with pure joy. He is always up to giving you a kiss or a hug.
• Maisie - We are starting to get to know her more. I can figure out her cries better so she doesn't escalate into an uncontrollable mess. She can be a bugger, but her smile will soften any heart.

14 Month/1 Month update

I have officially made it through my first month of being a mom of 2 gosh darn cute kids. It has been a crazy month for us obviously, but we survived and really have gotten into a groove as I mentioned in previous posts.

Over the last month, I won the nap battle with my son. Calan really struggled with taking two naps. I think that it was a combination of a growing phase, getting a little sister, and all the wonderful visitors that came by. However, we have turned the corner and after a month of fighting naps, Mom has won. He is back to taking 2 wonderful naps without any struggle at all. I extended his wake time between naps from 2.5 hours to 3 and that really helped. He now goes down from 10 to 11/11:30 in the morning and from 2/2:30 to 4 in the afternoon. It is wonderful and a much needed break for me. He is exhausting.

Calan playing at our neighborhood park.
We usually stop there for a bit when we go
for a walk. He loves walking around the
jungle gym equipment and playing the
piano. 

Calan is definitely a typical 1-year-old. He is getting into everything and really testing his limits. It can be pretty frustrating as his mom and the the one who is here 90 percent of the time. I hate hearing my say the same things over and over and over again. Usually when I know my patience is running thin, we go for a walk and all becomes well and I am ready for more. He is walking everywhere. He still falls a lot, but that is basically because he totally does not look where he is going. He just walks full steam ahead without knowing what he might stumble on in the process. To say he is a toddler who is toddling along is an understatement.

I can tell that he has hit a new developmental stage. While he seems to be showing signs of selective hearing, if he wants to and is paying attention, he follows some commands like turning on and off lights, putting pieces in a puzzle, showing me his head, etc. Now if I could just get him to listen to "No touch," I would be one happy mom.

Calan is eating really well for the most part. He becoming more selective and knows what he likes and what he doesn't. Vegetables are still a struggle to get him to eat. Sometimes he will, and sometimes he won't. Most of the time I can fake him out by feeding him it on a spoon instead of him feeding himself. But overall, I love that he is eating all table foods. He also had his first eating out experience where I just ordered him food from the restaurant. It wasn't the healthiest meal, but it is so nice to know that food for Calan is basically one thing that I don't have to think about when packing our diaper bag. I do have the option of just ordering him something when we are out and about.

One of Maisie's few smiles I have seen.
Hoping soon we will see a ton of smiles
and hear wonder coos 

As for Maisie, that first month just flew by. It really is so different the second time around. .

We had her one-month appointment on Friday and she is growing like a weed. She was 7 lbs. 15 oz. at birth and is 9 lbs. 4 oz. now. She was 20 inches long at birth and has already grown an inch and a quarter. According to the doctor, she is in the 50th percentile for weight and 75 percentile for height and head circumference. I really thought she had a peanut head, but I guess it is above average after all.

The biggest problem we face with Maisie is that she has horrible reflux. It really dictates most everything we do with her. Basically she eats every 3 hours during the day and 4 to 5 hours at night and then it takes me about an hour to make her feel better afterward so that she is ready to sleep again. We have started giving her some medication (Zantac) which will hopefully help her. The doctor said it can take up to a week to notice a difference. So until then, we will continue to do the best we can to make her comfortable.

Despite her stomach issues, Maisie has been a really good baby. Her crying is absolutely related to the reflux and when she is comfortable, she is very content and just watches everything around her. She started to smile this week and has started to focus on me when I am talking to her.

Also, despite her stomach issues, she nurses really well. She even took a bottle from Bob pretty easily after a little bit of adjusting her suction.

She hates baths, but I think that is also related to the reflux. I don't think she is comfortable in the seat we have for bath time, so on top of being cold and wet, she is having heartburn. Not fun at all.

I am really hoping that after this week, we will experience a really happy baby. She is content, but because she is in pain, she hasn't really shown signs of happiness. This has been pretty hard for me as her mother. Calan was a really happy baby and is still so happy. I just want her to feel pain free.

Maisie Michelle Wilson is HERE!

Maisie Michelle Wilson

Proud Dad

Calan meeting his new sister. He wasn't so sure about it. 

Mommy and Maisie

She is sweet.

 Well, it is official. I am a mother of two wonderful babies. Maisie Michelle arrived July 29 at 2:42 p.m. weighing 7 pounds 15 ounces and measuring 20 inches. We are obviously in love with her and are so happy to be home and enjoying our new bundle of joy.

Her birth was an amazingly crazy, surreal experience. It began Friday early morning when I started to have mild, regular contractions. I tracked them for about 2 hours and they were coming every 4 to 7 minutes, but I could talk through them and I knew that they were to mild to be active labor, but were stronger than Braxton Hicks contractions. I woke Bob up around 6:30 in the morning to let him know what was going on. We knew that we didn't have to rush to the hospital, but it was time to get everything together.

So that's what we did. Bob took care of Calan and got everything together while I worried basically just about myself and the contractions. I called Bob's mom, who would be watching Calan, to let her know what was going on. After everything was set and Bob's mom arrived, we headed to the hospital around 8:30. My contractions were still mild and still regular, but they still were not active labor.

I probably could have and should have stayed home longer, but my biggest fear this pregnancy was delivering Maisie in our car on the way to hospital. Calan's labor was a rapid delivery with some complications. It only took 5 hours from my first contraction to holding Calan in my arms. Doctors say that the second child comes more quickly, so I was concerned that if I waited for active labor, I would not make it to the hospital, which is why we left instead of staying at home, which I am glad that we did.

When we got to the hospital, I was sent to triage to be watched and of course, I was not any more dilated than I was at the doctor's office on Tuesday. After being monitored for about a half hour, they noticed that when she was sleeping, she was not reacting to my contractions they way that they would have liked, but when she was awake she was fine. The doctor who was on call from my doctor's office wanted to break my water then to send me into active labor and get her out more quickly. I, however, am not so game about having my water broken without being in active labor. I asked her if we could wait a little while to see how my body progresses. She said that she felt comfortable waiting an hour or so, but not much more.

Lucky me, the hospital and doctor got a little busy, so my one hour of waiting turned into three. Bob and I just hung out and talked and relaxed while we waited for my body to react. And at about 12:30, I went into active labor and my body went crazy with contractions. To say that I went into labor is an understatement. I went from talking to the nurse to back-to-back contractions without rest in matter of seconds. Bob rushed out of our room to grab the nurse and resident, so I could be checked and given an epidural. They checked me and i was a five; they broke my water, and in 2 seconds was a 6.

To me all hell was breaking loose. My quiet enjoyable morning and quickly taken one a new life. Residents and nurses were rushing into my room trying to get my contractions under control. Maisie started to show signs of distress because my contractions were so hard and coming so quickly that she didn't have time to recover and neither did I.

The epidural that I dreamed about was put on hold till they could get everything under control. I had to bare the full force of my contractions for 45 minutes. They gave me a drug that actually slows down labor. I went from no break between contractions to about a 30-second break. That might not seem like a lot, but it was enough to get Maisie's heart rate under control.

My room was packed with people. All working to control my crazy labor. In 45 minutes, I went from non-active labor to almost complete at 9 cm. It was so nuts. I do not want to even know what it would have been like if we had stayed at home. Our hospital is 20 minutes away from our house. My worst nightmare of not making to the hospital would have come true if we had stayed at home.

Once my epidural was in and working, my room went from craziness to surreal peacefulness. It was so weird. We went from having about 10 people in our room to just my doctor, husband, and myself. We talked for about 30 minutes about the hospital and their practice and a few other chit-chat items. You would not have known that the previous 45 minutes even happened. It was insanely weird. Then my doctor looked at me and said, "Well you ready to push her out or do you want to labor down some more. I think she can be out in 5 pushes."

So, I pushed twice, she crowned. We called in a nurse. I pushed twice more and she was out. It was that simple and that pleasant. It was so amazing.

We stayed in the hospital a day and left Saturday evening for home. We are all safe a sound and our journey of two little ones has begun.

Life update!

I know, I know .... I am so sorry it has taken me so long to get a new blog up. Life has been moving along and I just have not made time to sit down and write everything out. So here is hopefully a quick version of everything that is going on this summer.

I am still pregnant. My estimated due date is this Saturday, July 23rd. Can you believe it is already here? I know I can't. Though I am ready to meet our little girl, I am definitely having worries about being a mom of two young children. Calan was born 7 days past my due date, so the doctors do not think that I will go early this time either. Since I am now 2 days away, I too have finally except that I will be pregnant for a little while longer.

All and all the pregnancy is still going well. I have very little to complain about even with this extreme heat wave that is hitting our country right now. I am only waking up once in the middle of the night. I am pretty mobile still; however, picking up Calan's toys is getting a little more difficult. I have just a little bit of swelling that has increased just a little this past week or so with the hot temperatures, but I still have ankle bones and veins, which last time, I didn't have any as of 36 weeks.

I am hoping she comes soon, but I know that she will come when she is ready. We are ready for her arrival. There isn't really anything left to do before she gets here.

Calan is doing great. He is almost 13 months and doing great on a lot of our pre-toddler goals. He started walking this past week. He takes about 5 or 6 steps in a row before losing balance and deciding that crawling might be a little faster, but he is getting there. I had really hoped he would be walking by a year, but 13 months isn't too bad either.

He says dog, dad, mom. Dog was his first word, so you know where Bob and I stand in his priorities. He basically only says mom when he wants food, so you know where I stand in his life. He babbles all the time. I swear once he really does learn how to talk, he isn't going to stop.

Sleeping is going pretty well. We have our good days and our bad days. "Crib parties" have snuck back into nap times. Some days he goes right down, while others he can be there for an hour or longer just babbling and walking around his crib. I think walking has him too excited to sleep. I have heard that sometimes when babies are working on a new skill or developmental stage, sleeping can go awry and I would say that is exactly what is happening.

He is eating everything. I swear most meals he eats more than I do. He is basically on all table foods and hand-feeding himself everything. I would say bananas are still his favorite food. But he really does eat basically everything. He is eating his vegetables better now as well. He doesn't like things plain. There definitely needs to be some flavor, but I wouldn't like plain broccoli either, so I really can't blame him.

Calan moved really quickly and easily to whole milk. However, we are still working on using his sippy cups. I have gotten rid of his morning bottles and he gets milk and water in sippy cups instead. Not quite ready to rid of the afternoon bottles yet. I just want to make sure that he is still getting enough milk from the sippy cups before I drop those bottles. He is getting close though, but I think that now that we are so close to Maisie's arrival, we will wait to drop the last two once she is here.

Playing with and loving his water table.

This summer Calan has loved playing in the water. From swimming to his water table, he loves being wet. Before the weather got insanely hot, Calan and I were also enjoying walks and visits to the zoo, but we will have to wait for it to cool down a little before we can do some more.

Not sure if Calan is ready for Maisie's arrival. I really can't explain to a 13-month-old what is going on, but hopefully the transition goes pretty smoothly. I am starting to have some sad feelings that soon it just won't be Calan and I anymore. I am sure that I would be having these emotions no matter how close they were  in age. I just don't know what it will be like and I hope that he is OK. He loves being around people and playing, so I think that he really will adapt well. But you never know.

Hopefully, my next post will come sooner rather than later and include a birth announcement. I can't wait for this journey to begin. I am sure that I will have lots of things to blog about once she is here and how we handle everything, so stay tuned.

11 months, how can that be?

Our family at the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure in
Detroit. Last year, I was 36 weeks pregnant with Calan. 

Well here is Calan's 11 month update. I swear I do not know how a whole month can pass so quickly. Just two days ago someone asked me how old Calan was and as I was saying 10 months, I realized that he was just two days away from bing 11 months.

Calan seems to have had some kind of growth spurt this month. He has gotten so tall. He really is starting to look less like my little  baby, but he is still my little guy. When we are out and about, he just seems so big sitting in the stroller or shopping cart. It amazes me.

He continues to be a very social little guy. It cracks me up every time someone tells me that they made him smile or that they got a smile out of him. It is probably the easiest thing to do. He is pretty good with other people and really does not fuss when passed around to different people. He definitely is not shy.

Calan's first year as a Wilson's Boobies. 

Calan officially is a "real" crawler now. He finally lifted himself up out of his army crawl about 2 weeks ago. Not sure how it finally clicked, but he is on all fours and moving quickly. He is moving around furniture pretty well and will transfer from on piece of furniture to another close by. A few times he has let go and stood for a second, but he is no where close to free walking soon. I am pretty sure that it will be toward the end of next month or beginning of the next. I just hope that he is pretty stable walking by the time his sister gets here.

This past month, we kind of took a step back on food. Calan was having a hard time eating green vegetables in bite-size pieces, so we are still mashing those up. However, he is eating a lot of the same foods Bob and I eat. I rarely am preparing his food in advance, it is to the point that I just pick something out of the fridge and serve it up. So we are getting closer to table food from baby food.

We are still working on getting use to a sippy cup. I am not great at offering it often, so this month we will be working on that so by the time he is one, I can start transitioning off on his bottles and on to cups.

This past month, Calan's first molars started to come in. They are coming in very slowly and his gums are pretty swollen most of the time. We have been dealing with off and on running nose and off and on drooling. i am praying that they come through soon. It is such a slow process. It seems so different from his front teeth.

Calan has been sleeping pretty decently except that he is playing in his crib more and more. It is hard to get him to settle down for a nap. He loves standing up and then diving head first into his crib. He just giggles and plays for what seems like forever. There have been times that it has taken him an hour of playing to finally fall asleep. As his mom, this annoys me, but I keep reminding myself that I can't make him sleep. I do all that I can and he has to take it from there. He hasn't been crabby or anything, so I am not worrying about it too much. I have just extended his wake time from 2 hours to more like 2.5 hours and that has helped a bit.

So that is where he is at. A pretty happy guy with a full world to explore. He just can't get enough of life and that is so exciting to see as his mother. Can't believe that next month will be his 1-year summary!