Friday, March 29, 2013

Baby Boy is 4 Months!

Brooks is 4 months!


Our sweet baby boy turned 4 months old on March 27th. The time is flying, and we are loving watching our little man grow! Brooks is a happy baby with the best smile. He is a pretty easy baby, and goes with the flow for the most part, as many second children are forced to do. When he is awake, he is a mover! His legs move constantly, as if he is running. I think I'm in for a little bit of trouble when he becomes mobile! He is a mama's boy, and truly lights up when he sees me! I LOVE it! :) 

Brooks loves to eat...and it's becoming obvious as he is growing into a big boy. He has rolls on his legs, dimples at his joints, and rubber band wrists! Gotta' love a chubby baby! Brooks still loves his pacifier! If his pacifier is unavailable, however, he is happy with anything as a substitute, usually his hands. Brooks loves his car seat, and will sleep for hours in that thing. He also likes to sit up and people watch when he is being held. He enjoys his bouncer and lounging in the boppy as well. I think anything that feels confining is good!

As is the case with most babies I know, Brooks does not like to be tired or hungry, but especially tired. In the evening when he is over-tired or over-stimulated, I'm still not sure which, he gets extremely angry. He screams and cries until he finally falls asleep, which can take anywhere from 5 minutes to 2 or more hours. We are still trying to figure out how to remedy this situation, so if anyone has any suggestions, we'd love to hear them! When he is hungry, he makes a kind of grumbling/growling sound. It's cute, but can escalate to crying if his demands are not quickly met. But for the most part, he is pretty easy to please!

Brooks is continuing to meet many different milestones. He is getting much better at rolling from front to back, which is fun to watch! He is still practicing holding his head up. He can pretty much hold it up for as long as he wants to when on his tummy or being held in a sitting position. Although, he does tilt it to the side when he is being lazy. In the Bumbo, he always ends up tilting it after a few minutes, but I can't blame him...He has a pretty big head! :) I think he is starting to reach for objects and toys. I didn't really think he was doing this purposefully until I was looking at my phone while I was holding him. He kept grabbing it regardless of where I held it. Apparently, technology motivates him. He can also hold onto little objects when we put them in his hands. He tries to bring them to his mouth, which further confirms my suspicions that he is going to be one of those babies that puts everything in his mouth! Hello, future-full-of-disinfecting-everything-so-Brooks-doesn't-get-sick-all-of-the-time! As I said earlier, he can also bring his hands to his mouth. He typically tries to get his entire hand in there, but sometimes it's just his thumb or thumb and pointer finger. Brooks is a good eater, and takes about 28-30 ounces each day. He is eating 5 times at 8am, 11am, 2pm, 5pm, and 8pm. He eats 5-7 ounces per feeding. He is a great night time sleeper, but a poor day time sleeper. He sleeps 10-11 hours at night from about 9/10pm to 8am. Although, he does this most nights, he still has a few nights here and there when he wakes in the early morning hours...and like I said before, he has a difficult time falling asleep at night. During the day, he consistently gets sleepy at about 9:30am, 12:00pm, 3:30pm, and 6:30pm, but doesn't sleep a consistent amount of time. Sometimes it's 30 minutes, and sometimes it's 2 hours. If it's a short nap, he gets crabby when I try to hold him off until his next eat time. I think dropping a nap would solve the short nap time problem, but it's almost impossible to keep him awake and happy when he is tired. I'm hoping that he naturally drops a nap or two as he gets a little older. Brooks is officially wearing 3-6 month clothes and shoes, and size 2 diapers. I think he weighs over 15 pounds, but we won't know for sure until his appointment next week. 

We love you, Brooksy!

Our Week in Pictures!

We had a fun week with lots of activity! We are feeling settled in our temporary home, and have been able to spend some time during the day doing some fun things. We drove up to the Cities to see the Pink Stars and Pink Star Babies! We hung out at the farm with Grandma King, as she helped me work on a quilt. We spent some time with Sari, Witt, and Helen, which is a favorite activity of ours. We also did a little shopping, and even got Kylie's hair cut for the first time! Here are some of the high lights...

3/23/13
It was so good to see these girls!
Here are the Pink Stars and Mini Pinks!
L to R: Ruth, Marissa, Molly, Kristin with Hudson, Me with Kylie and Brooks, and Katie with Emma.
We missed you, Amanda!

3/24/13
 Our little diva!

 3/25/13
 Emmit and Kylie get to play together all of the time now.
They are loving it! :)

3/26/13
 Kylie loves to play in her fort when we go to the farm!

3/27/13
 I look forward to my DC every day!

3/28/13
 Kylie's first hair cut!
She did great AND her curls are back! YAY!

3/29/13
With some help from Grandma King, I'm making a t-shirt quilt for my friend, Mel.
She clearly went to USC! 
This is the top...It looks uneven but it's just the camera angle.

Friday, March 22, 2013

Moving Madness

Well, moving day #1 has come and gone, and, boy, was it busy. I spent several days packing up the house, living without essentials, and getting things organized for moving day. I thought these steps would make moving a smooth, easy process. Overall, I think the organization helped, but the process was not exactly what I would call smooth. Problem #1: We had several locations where our stuff needed to go. We had some things going to my parents' house for our use, some things going to a storage unit, and some things going to my brother's house. Everything was labeled with the location and items. I figured we would pack up the cars and trailer, make a couple trips to Stewie, and call it a day. Problem #2: For the sake of being frugal, we ordered a trailer that was at least 4 sizes too small because it was $30 cheaper. Because of this mistake, we ended up making at least 5 trips back and forth...and with 20 minutes one way between the houses, this cost us over 3 hours in lost time and probably that $30 in gas! And problem #3: We did not hire enough muscle! We tried to do all of the moving and cleaning with just Jon's parents as our helpers. I think we owe Jon's parents about 12 hours of physical labor! Next time, we will be asking for more help...or hiring movers to do it all for us! Ha! Anyway, lessons learned!

It was hard to downsize to my parents' basement, but it will be a cool experiment in learning how much we can actually do without. And we are just extremely grateful to have somewhere to live while Jon finishes his residency program. It's pretty neat that Kylie and Brooks get so much grandparent time as well, especially since we will be in Philly for a year without any family! Anyway, my mom and dad spruced up the basement for us...It's basically a one bedroom apartment that has been completely revamped with new paint, carpet, trim, and tile! It's very nice!

Here are some pictures from our moving experience:

 Moving out of our first house...

 Saying good-bye!

 Our temporary home.
We have one bedroom, which the kids are sharing.
The big open area is set up like a studio (minus a kitchen).
 Dining area
 Bathroom
Bedroom


Gotta' Love This Crazy Life!

I think this pattern of craziness is becoming our new normal! We packed up our house and moved into my parents' house in Stewartville, all while dealing with an extremely emotional two year old. On top of that, Jon spent much of his free time preparing a presentation for a big, important Orthopedics conference, which he then left us to attend. At first, I thought Kylie was upset about moving (and I think she was a little), but soon I realized that she actually had an ear infection. So my super independent little girl, has now become overly clingy. I'm hoping it's a short-live phase because it's hard to watch your child get upset every time you leave her sight. Although, I seem whiney (and I am because I'm tired), I wouldn't change anything about this crazy life. I am thankful that we sold our house, and that we have somewhere to live temporarily. I am so thankful that I have two, sweet children, even though they aren't sleeping as well as I would like. And I'm thankful that Jon is so hard-working, and that he provides for our family! We are blessed!

3/12/13
Mmm...Our last meal in our house. 
After this, all of the dishes, pots/pans, and silverware were packed!

3/13/13
And the packing frenzy has begun!

3/14/13
These bar stools are apparently worth the big bucks.
The people who bought our house came up a few thousand dollars to our counter-offer because we were willing to include these stools in the sale!

3/15/13
I love these self-portraits of Kylie.

3/16/13
Moving Day!

3/17/13
Saying good-bye to the house!
It was bittersweet to leave our first house.
We are so happy to be moving on, but sad that this wonderful house is no longer ours.

3/18/13
Helping Brooks practice his sitting skills!

3/19/13
It may or may not be obvious, but Kylie had only slept about 2-3 hours the previous night.
At this point, I still thought she was off from the big move.
Soon, I realized that she probably had an ear infection.

3/20/13
Brooks catching up on some sleep with his arm straight up in the air.
We were all tired because in our small sleeping quarters, when one doesn't sleep, no one sleeps!
So after another semi-sleepless night for Kylie, we headed to the doctor.
Not only did she have an ear infection, but a perforated ear drum.
Supposedly, it's not as bad as it sounds...It's just nature's way of releasing the pressure.

3/21/13
Kylie started feeling better after some medicine and a full night's sleep!
She just loves this Badger hat...Too bad it didn't help them win in the NCAA Tournament! 

3/22/13
Brooks enjoying some TV time with mama during Kylie's nap!

Monday, March 11, 2013

Happy 30th Birthday, Jon!

My dear, sweet husband turned 30 years old yesterday, March 10th. Of all the things in the world to dislike, Jon dislikes getting older the most! I think he just feels like life is passing by too fast, and he wants to freeze time. But I keep telling him that life (and Jon too) is like a fine wine that gets better with time! :) Hopefully, it helps to cheer him up a little bit!

Anyway, Jon chose what he wanted to do for his big day, and he decided on the Science Museum in St. Paul. So we headed up there in the afternoon on Saturday to meet up with his family. We spent time going through weather exhibits, biology exhibits, and dinosaur exhibits. It was fun to watch Jon trying out the different experiments. There was even a "doctor" exhibit in which you had to look at x-rays to diagnose a disease. A sign said to allow 15-30 minutes for the experiment. Of course, there were bone x-rays that Jon peeked at for about 10 seconds, and came up with the correct diagnosis immediately. But, I guess, I should expect nothing less from an orthopedic surgery resident in his final year of residency! Kylie enjoyed herself as well. She ran all over the place trying out different activities. I can't wait until she is a little older when she can start to understand the science behind all of it!

After the Science Museum, we went out to eat a Buca Di Peppo! It is a family style Italian restaurant, and it was delicious! We had bread, Caesar salad, Green Beans, Chicken Parmesan, Chicken Marsala, Manicotti, and some sort of spicy chicken penne pasta dish. For dessert, Jon picked a HUGE brownie sundae! It was AWESOME! We had a blast!

On Sunday, which was Jon's actual birthday, he didn't want to do anything...Or I should say, he wanted to do his FAVORITE activity: Sleep! He had to round in the morning, but only after he slept in a little bit. He came home around 10:30am, and spent the rest of the day lounging with us. During Kylie's nap, he slept on the couch for 2 hours, which made him very happy! It was a low key day, but I think that is how Jon likes it! :)

 Kylie and Jon did a wind tunnel experiment in which you had to build an object that would fly to the top of the tunnel.
There were not very many that made it all the way to the top.
Although it flipped upside down (which I don't think it was intended to), Jon's made it to the top on the first try! 
He's so sciencey! 

 Watching with pride as his flying machine floated gracefully to the top of the tunnel!

 Jon's birthday dessert!
Apparently Greg is the ultimate photo bomber!
I also love that Kylie is clearly telling a very intense story in the background!

And here is how Jon spent much of the day on Sunday! 
It's hard to tell by looking at him, but he is definitely in his happy place!

We hope you had a very Happy Day Day, Dada!

Fun Times!

We had a fun and busy week last week. Kylie is at a stage in which she needs to be constantly entertained or else she gets a little crabby. I think it's a combination of her age and a case of cabin fever! It's been difficult for me to keep her happy at home since I'm also trying to manage a 3 month old who spends much of the day in my arms. So we have tried to get out of the house or have friends over to avoid the meltdowns. It usually works like a charm! :) Here are some of our fun adventures...

3/4/13
 Even though this is probably one of the germiest places on the planet, Kylie loves playing at the mall!

3/5/13
 We were snowed in from a huge snow storm so Witt and Helen came over to play!
Here they are watching Jon snow blow the driveway.

3/6/13
 I think these shoes are so cute...and they look even cuter on those chubby baby feet!

3/7/13
 Witt and Helen came over again after Story Time at the library.
They got in to Sari's purse and spent a long time styling each others' hair!

3/8/13
 Here is about half of my stock pile of breast milk.
It's not quite what I had with Kylie, but I should still be able to feed Brooks for a month or so after I'm done pumping.

3/9/13
 We went up to the Science Museum in St. Paul for Jon's birthday.
Here Kyle, Espen and Grandma Kriss are checking out the dinosaurs.

3/10/13
 "B is for Brooks."
Thank you, Marissa, for the AWESOME onesie!

3/11/13
I really hope it's true that if March comes in like a lion it goes out like a lamb.
Look at all of that snow!
That's 8+ inches! 
This is our second HUGE snow storm in the past week!
I can't wait for warm outdoor running weather! 

Sunday, March 3, 2013

Pictures!

We had another great week! We have had lots of indoor fun this winter, but with the arrival of March we are anxiously awaiting the days of outdoor play! :)

2/22/13
 Kylie wanted to try on Witt's bike helmet!
She is my special girl! Ha! :)

2/23/13
 We took Rebecca (aka: Reba) out to Prescott's for her birthday!
She turned 29 again! :)

2/24/13
 Learning how to fly with "Big Ba-Pa!"

2/25/13
 I cannot get enough of these peaceful, sleeping baby pictures!

2/26/13
 Nor can I get enough of these two sweeties together!

2/27/13
 This girl loves her "princess shoes."
They are little high heels with pictures of Disney princesses on them.

2/28/13
 This is one of Kylie's gymnastics moves called a "table" pose!

3/1/13
 We took the family to an Ice Hawks game.
Kylie loved it and keeps talking about "hockey."

3/2/13
 Annnd we have a new favorite Mexican restaurant in town!
It was delicious!

3/3/13
She is such a daddy's girl! 
Love seeing these two together!