Merry Christmas

simplytoimpress.com / Dina Marie Photography

Time-outs are in full swing

I guess it is a little amazing to me how quickly babies really do understand what they are suppose to do and what not do. Calan is not allowed to touch several mainstays in our home - our phones, remotes, computers, Christmas tree, etc., etc. He is a smart little bugger though. It amazes me that if my phone or remote are in easy access, he beelines for them instantly knowing that he is not allowed to touch them. Human nature really is to go against authority to say the least.

Therefore, we have started time-outs. In our house that means, he is placed in his crib for a minimum of 2 minutes. He has to be sitting in his crib for timeouts to begin and has to be sitting quietly for timeouts to end after the 2 minutes are up. I thought that he would be more upset or opposed to timeouts, but really he just does his time for lack of a better way to say it. Though he seems to not have an issue doing timeouts, they do seem to stop the behavior that I am trying to correct (till the next time he does it). 

It is a little hard for me to discipline him. I know that it is best to correct his behavior now rather than try and reteach him later, but some how in our society discipline has become a taboo topic. If we want our children to act a certain way, there has to be consequences for when they don't. I am not expecting or desiring Calan to be perfect. He is a toddler, I get that, but the saying "kids will be kids" only goes so far. Kids become tweens become teens become adults. 

Is discipline still a bad word in mommy world? How and when did you start? 

Voice, feet, and hands

I always seem to be posting videos of Calan, but Maisie is starting to break out of her hermit shell and is starting to explore her little world. Her voice, hands, and feet are obviously the most interesting things ever.

Fun times at dinner

Just had to share this funny video of Calan last night at dinner. He just thinks he is hilarious.

Happy Tidings

Our happy little bug. 

Maisie is successfully gaining weight. My little bug went from 10 pounds 12 ounces 2 weeks ago to a whooping 12 pounds 8 ounces. The doctor is happy, I am thrilled, Maisie is amazing.

I am going to continue to supplement my breast feeding. While my breast milk obviously doesn't have enough calories for my little girl, it still has benefits that out way my giving up all together. She is happy getting both and I am happy giving both. Though I do have to say I did not miss bottles. Washing, preparing, and organizing is really a pain in the butt, but I got to do what I got to do.

Other than that, we are doing well here. A little stir crazy in the house, but not too bad.

Today I tried to do a craft with Calan. Totally was another fail. The kid just can't handle things sticking to his hands. Today, I tried to get him to glue cotton balls on a lamb and the second glue touched him, which was on the second cotton ball, craft time was basically over. I tried dipping and him pressing, but he was having none of that. Then I tried to make the lamb into a "Christmas" lamb by having him use red and green markers on the lamb. That worked a little bit, but not for long.

Not sure how to get him excited or willing to do crafts and learning activities. He just is not into them. I will keep trying though because they are great learning activities. One day hopefully he will catch on.

We are going to try painting cookie ornaments on Friday. Fingers crossed that goes better.

Our sad little lamb. 

Adult time: Not sure I can hang

To say I live in mommy world is an understatement. Jeans are my uniform and tennis shoes are my footwear. Feeding others at dinner and relaxing after 8 p.m. are my standard evenings. Doesn't matter what day of the week it is. Monday through Sunday it is pretty much the same.

I would love to say that Bob and I get out on a date once a week, but a date to us is watching a movie after the kids go to bed cuddled on the couch. No need for fresh makeup or high heels.

Don't get me wrong, I do get out of the house and I do go and do things with our family, but I get to stay in my regular uniform and keep the same bedtime.

December always seems to shake things up and it is filled with event after event. Tonight, Bob and I are headed to his company work party. He has been at his new job for about a year and I have yet to meet anyone. Tonight I make my first impression. I am nervous.

Tonight, I have to get dressed in a dress, put on high heels, and carry a clutch. All things that use to feel so natural to me and now make me feel like a little girl playing dress up.

I am sure tonight will be fun. I am sure that I will find things to talk about that don't include my children. I am sure that I will be able to act the part of an adult.

And tomorrow it will be back to jeans and tennis shoes.

Sleeping doesn't come easy

Do you have a good sleeper? Did it just come naturally for your child or children? Or was it, like me, a fight to the finish?

I have mentioned many times in blogs my napping up and downs with Calan. It seems every time we get into a routine something like teeth or a growth spurt or Calan's just plan stubbornness got in our way.

I am a believer in sleep training. I do think our children naturally want to sleep, but they don't know how or when and that is where parenting comes in.

There are a lot of sleep transitions in a baby's first year. It seems like you are always preparing to drop another nap. Currently, Maisie takes four naps that with three about 90 minutes long and an evening nap about 60 minutes. Calan takes one 3-hour nap. Obviously, in the early months napping is directly linked to eating. By that I mean, how many times I feed Maisie during the day is basically how many naps she has up to 7 p.m. After that, it is night sleep and just eating and sleeping without waketime.

At our house, our days are based on an eat-play-sleep cycle. This breaks the needing to nurse to sleep that many mothers get trapped in. However, with Calan, he was never one to go down for a nap without a fight. If I put him down to early or to late, he would play in his crib for his whole nap. This literally started around 4 months when he discovered his feet and couldn't get enough of them. Maisie is actually a pretty good day sleeper naturally. She does require a few extras like a blanket in order for the nap to go smoothly, but for the most part, if she plays during her waketime, she is out like a light when it is nap time.

On the flip side, Calan was and is a pretty good sleeper at night where Maisie's night sleeping is less than desirable. But, until her weight is where it should be, I'm not working on extending her night sleep. I take it for what it is.

It took me awhile to except the fact that I just can't make my children sleep. I can do everything to make sure that they have the best opportunity to sleep (well fed, dry, comfortable, etc.), but I can't make them sleep.

Calan is a decent sleeper (minus his annoying body-rocking thing), but I wasn't a lucky mom. It was hard fought. It took time and consistency.

My advice is to hang in there for any mother who is struggling with naps. Don't let your children decide their naps. You know how important sleep is for them and they need it. Even being in their crib playing is more restful than being overstimulated with their toys, and let's be honest, you need the break too. Don't stress if there are ups and downs with naps. As long as you stay consistent and expect age-appropriate napping, things should work out.

Now I'm off to get Miss Maisie to sleep.

Which didn't take long and didn't require a blanket over her face. 

17 month / 4 month update

The holiday season is upon us and life is getting pretty busy around here. The days just seem to wiz by between meals and naps, it is getting a little harder to get out of the house. Plus, I'll be honest the rainy, cold weather hasn't helped.

Thanksgiving went really well. The kids were pretty adorable and behaved very well. Calan wasn't the biggest fan of turkey, but since I can't stand turkey, I didn't blame him.

Here's what's going on with the kids:

Sleeping

• Calan - He has successfully transitioned to one nap a day. He usually sleeps from 12:30 till 3. It is great how consistent and predictable that nap has become. However, it does limit my time to run errands in the morning, as well as lunches with Bob during the week. On the bright side, he wakes up pretty happy, rested, and content. It also gives me a full wake time with Maisie just her and I. At night, Calan is still rocking way too much. He seems wake up to a half sleep and rocks back and forth against his crib. He wakes up happy and does seem rested in the mornings, so it doesn't seem to affect him there, but I just wish he wasn't doing it all.
• Maisie - She is getting a little harder to get to sleep. She is starting to not want her blanket on her face, which I would totally be OK with if that meant she could fall asleep with out it. We are about half and half falling asleep with a blanket over her face and half without it. Hopefully by next month, she will totally not need it at all. You can tell she has developed more of an awareness to her world because it is a little harder to get her to sleep and she is very much more awake when she is awake. As for night time, she is no where close to sleeping through the night. Because of her lack of weight gain, anytime she wakes up in the middle of the night, I am feeding her even if she probably does not need to eat. It is important for me to give her as much food as I can until she starts to show gains. I usually feed her 10:30/11 p.m. before I go to bed and she is waking 1:50ish and 4ish in the morning. She then wakes in the morning between 7 and 7:30.

Eating

• Calan - His appetite seems to have tapered off a little. He eats pretty decent meals at breakfast and lunch and then a smaller dinner meal. His dinner meal is probably smaller because I try to feed him more vegetables during that meal and he usually fights me on it. However, he is still a fruit lover and bananas are definitely his favorite. He can down a whole banana in about a minute.
• Maisie - If you are following along with the blog, you know that Maisie is not gaining weight like she should be. She has only gained 4 ounces since Sept. 27. We are now supplementing my breastfeeding with formula. She is nurses and then I give her a 2 oz. bottle after her day time feedings. I just nurse in the middle of the night. We are suppose to also be mixing a little cereal in her bottles, but she refuses to drink a bottle that has cereal in it. Since it is more important for her to take the formula, I have forgone the cereal for right now. But, my mother just offered a new way to try and get her to take the cereal today, so I will try to give her the cereal again tomorrow. Hopefully, it works. We go in for another weight check Dec. 14.

Milestones

• Calan - His vocabulary is jumping leaps and bounds. He seems to pick up a new word every day. He is really working on communicating with us and is realizing that words get him what he wants or needs much better than whining. We have also transitioned Calan to a booster chair for meals. It isn't too much different from the high chair, but it is nice to have the 3 of us around the same table and I don't have to sit sideways to feed him as well.
• Maisie - She is really becoming aware of everything around her. She is exploring touch and grabbing things pretty easily to her mouth. She takes her pacifier out and holds on to and then tries to get it back in her mouth.

Activities

• Calan - He is successfully doing blanket time for 30 minutes. He stays and plays and reads his books and I rarely if ever have to remind him to stay on the blanket. Our next step is to test blanket time out in public to see how well he listens. Calan loves to sing and dance as well as play with his golf clubs and trucks.
• Maisie - Her activities are still a bit limited. Because her feedings take a bit longer and then so she doesn't spit everything back up, she is still not on the ground as much as she should be. However, she does love to play on her floor mat and playing with the toys. She is getting pretty good at grabbing the toys with both hands.

Schedule

• 7 a.m. - Maisie wakes up and eats.
• 7:30 a.m. - Calan wakes up
• 8:00 a.m. - Calan eats breakfast has milk.
• 8:30 a.m. - Calan playtime in his pack and play. Maisie starts her nap.
• 9:30 a.m. - Calan dress, helps with some chores with me.
• 10 a.m. - Maisie eats, Calan sits and "reads" books or puzzles
• 11:30 a.m. - Maisie naps / Calan eats lunch
• 12 p.m. - Calan blanket time
• 12:30 p.m. - Calan naps;
• 1 p.m. - Maisie eats / Maisie & mom time
• 2:30 p.m. - Maisie nap
• 3 p.m. - Calan wakes up / snack
• 4 p.m. - Maisie wakes and eats
• 4:30 p.m. - free time (this could be errands, dinner prep, sibling time, anything to fill till dinner)
• 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
• 1:50 a.m. and 4:30 a.m.- Middle of the night feeding for Maisie

Overall

• Calan - I can see why toddlers are so exhausting, but it is still such a fun time. I love that he is talking more and more. I can't wait for the day when we are having conversations. He is still very much a daddy's little buddy. He loves me, but there is no one like dad for him.
• Maisie - We will continue to feed, feed, and feed some more till Maisie starts gaining weight like she should. While eating formula has made her a little more fussy, she still is easily settled by me. Just like Calan adores his dad, Maisie is quite the mommy's girl and I am loving all the cuddles and snuggles.

After a little bit of a battle, Maisie is taking a bottle from me.

Calan loves playing outside. I, however, can't stand the cold. 

Calan looking through and singing with his favorite book. 

She might be little, but she is pretty cute.

Always trying to be like daddy. 

Lazy no more!

Bob and I are officially exercising again. It is amazing how easy it is for both of us to just be LAZY.

We make excuses after excuses why we can't work out, but the truth is there really isn't a good reason. I personally was afraid of being sore after exercising and the fact that my butt is in pain right now, my fear was legitimate.

Bob and I are both the type of person who 1) can't be disciplined enough to work out solo and 2) can't workout first thing in the morning.

So, basically that meant that we both had to be on board to start working out and we had to make it a date night 3 times a week. Instead of crashing after dinner and the kids are in bed, we are popping in a DVD and working out. We are starting off slow because we are THAT OUT OF SHAPE. We are both incredibly sore after one 25-minute workout.

But, you have to start some where and now is just as good as later. Now the question is will we stay committed. My waistline sure hopes so!

(And for those wondering, I am back to the same weight before I was pregnant with Calan, but definitely not the same body.)

Love

He seriously loves being a big brother and I love watching the 2 of them. They are amazing.