All About Me...

So, I get bummed out when I am all set and ready to go walk Gramma D's dog and collect my big $10 payment and when I call to tell her I'm coming, she's not home. While in reality, we have a very loose agreement as to walking days, it's like when I can go, I gotta go now, or else someone's going to poop their pants, need to eat, need a nap, etc. Yesterday I was gifted with nice long naps and rather than rushing everyone out, we skipped the walk. Today, I purposely put Keller down early so we could take a nice long walk when he woke up now that the sun is out, but alas, no Gramma D. No $10, unless it works out that we go a little later...wait and see.

Toning sneakers? Really? Do I need these? Might I as well have them if I'm going for walks anyway? Will they save me my $21 per month gym-that-I-don't-use fee? Will they make my legs look hot? Will they help me drop that last 10, yes ten, pregnancy pounds? The advertisements make me think so, which brings me to....

Money!!! I've been calculating my bank statements and dividing up expenses into groceries, gas, and yes...Target gets it's own separate calculation...okay, well, it goes into the "household expenses" category which might include a CVS/prescription type payment. I'm going to play a game with myself starting today and I'm going to avoid going to Target unnecessarily and see if I can save some money this month. There's just always Something that I can develop a need for, or that could make our house more organized, or that was such a deal, or that I should "stock up on"-- And really, I'm not that bad of a shopper in the grand scheme of things especially considering that I return almost half of everything I buy, but still, I think I can spend less. Even with groceries...I'm not a very "organized" shopper so therefore I have to "run in" more frequently to pick up a couple of things which leads to picking up other things while in there, yadda yadda...Wouldn't it be a great idea to "meal plan" and buy what I need all at once??? I've done that a couple of times, well, maybe once...

Should I switch my health insurance to the one that doesn't cover maternity expenses and save us nearly $300 per month? Sounds like a no brainer, but, what if...??? Not likely. Hmmm...

I may have made a new friend in the neighborhood with a little boy. We had our first "date", I mean playdate yesterday. Nice enough gal (and I don't say that about just anyone;) I'll have to "Friend" her...

What else. That's it for now. Oh, yes, one more thought to put in writing. I'm thinking I'm going to grow my hair long enough to then cut it (sorry Trav) to donate it to Locks of Love. Something I've wanted to do for a long time but have not done because of fear of change (short hair on me?) and fear of divorce. I'm ready for change and am fairly confident that the marriage is stable enough to weather two kids AND short hair. It grows back AND gray hairs are still donatable!! Phew!

Okay. No longer about me now. Small boy obstructing my view of keyboard and smaller boy begging to get out of his "hole" ie. exersaucer.

The Busy Toddler Turns Two!!

Cheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeese!

Look at all those teeth in there!! Keller's first two bottom teeth poked through just the week before his first birthday last year and the rest were very slow to follow...Now he's got his "eye" teeth (if that's what they're called) poking through both on top and bottom. I'll blame that for his seemingly increased stubbornness!! (and whininess??? who taught him that???) But anyway...

So two years old! He's been practicing putting up his two fingers saying "I'm two" but if you catch him off guard and ask how old he is he'll respond "I'm six"---ummm, not quite, little boy! He continues to be quite a character around here, making up songs, changing words to songs, playing the guitar to his favorite Twinkle Twinkle tune and today's song of the day seems to be the alphabet song...I'm totally impressed at how he knows almost all the letters in the song to be able to sing it! I asked Trav the other night what we can do to capitalize on his sponginess, his crazy memory of details and songs and books and whatever you tell him pretty much. Trav said we should get "surgery" books and law books to read to him before bed. That or the "My Baby Can Read" program...but I'm honestly not into the rush to teach your kid to read and I know nothing about that program. And so Trav and I decided that we'll just continue doing what we do:) It was a joking conversation, with a grain of truth to it, but the reality is that we both want Keller to do what he does best, be a kid, in a world of test scores and higher and higher academic standards. His time for all that garbage will come. For now we'll sing Twinkle Twinkle and make up songs about BoBo and trucks that "Backup" and anything else we can possibly think of to sing about.

No, we haven't cut his hair yet...love the little fly-away wings he has and the humidity curls in the back---so he's a little scruffy, but man, it took him long enough to grow his hair, why cut it now??? and still there's only just a little in the front! I do think about cutting it, but then the thought goes away...all in good time! So Mr. Hammy Ham is a constant goof around here:) He loves his toolbox that Neko gave him in the hospital. He is always fixing things from plants to trucks to BoBo to you name it! Screwdrivering, hammering, measuring, sawing...he's a jack-of-all tools! And even today when we went to the firehouse for a tour, there were the big red trucks and real live firemen that were so cool, but even more interesting apparently were the guys up on the ladder fixing the ceiling or whatever the heck they were doing. And Trucks are huge! Not just in size, but in coolness to this little boy. Digger trucks, scooper trucks, cherry-picker "blueberry" trucks, dump trucks, oil trucks!!! Wowwee Wow Wow!! Lucky for us, our neighborhood has been full of them all summer long and the neighbor next door is an oil guy who stops home with his big truck a couple of times a day to walk his doggy...Trucks and Tools are the best right now. Oh, and music, instruments, songs, singin' mans...noisy drums and stand-up bass and violin (Keller holds a couple of those big leggos under his chin and plays the violin with them:) And when I think to myself that we should get him some instruments (or ride on toys, etc.) I then think to myself how much better it is that he "invents" his own toys or puts what he has to new uses. Really though, of all the toys he has, he honestly only uses a handful of them for all kinds of purposes. I like that:)

While Keller spent the summer in the backyard playing with water, he is now into the sandbox that his cousin Samantha passed down to him. A couple bags of sand and a sifter and a bulldozer truck and a shovel or two and he's good to go! This is our afternoon routine lately (when it's not raining!) He gets up from nap, has a snack and either we go walk "Gramma D's dog" Becky, or we go play out back, which we do after walking Becky anyway...I do want to start being a little more "active" with him though as he's generally content to sit in the sandbox or just sort of putz around the yard. We brought the soccer ball outside the other day and have been running around out there a little more. Occasionally the bikes go in the driveway but he doesn't spend too much time on them when outside.

My little pooped out angel after a busy day playing with his cousin Piper and BeeBee. Is it not the cutest thing to watch his little eyes struggle to stay open in the carseat long past his naptime. So sweet to see my busy baby boy fall fast asleep within minutes of driving! Even sweeter that I can now officially transfer him into the crib when we get home!

Neko's 3 Months

Neko's bassinet is still in the kitchen! Hmmm, when will it be the right time to officially move him in with Keller (is that the plan???? I don't even know!)

Well, almost four months at this point!! But since I had only just posted his two months update, I allowed myself additional procrastination time!

To begin, we are blessed. We are blessed with two beautiful and healthy boys, busy, happy, chunky and content baby boys. They are my world. At two different places, with two differing personalities, with two sets of needs, with twice the amount of love for each. How did I get so lucky?

I think I say daily when I am looking at Neko, "You are such a sweetie" and he so very totally is in every way. Goes to sleep by around 8:30 now, often falls asleep on his own, sometimes needs the bink, sometimes spits the bink out and babbles and babbles and gurgles and talks and talks to himself or any mommy or daddy face that might pop over his bassinet for a peek. Yes, still in the bassinet! Big grins before bed. Big grins in the morning...7:30 wake-ups or 8:30 or 9? The occasional 10:00 wake-up if he falls asleep after the 7:30 feeding. Then another nap a couple of hours after waking up. Keller and I get some morning time together alone while Neko naps...

Neko LOVES his bink. It takes the edge off when things are not just right. It tells his brain that it's time to sleep. It "pacifies" him in ways that we never saw with Keller. It just does the trick, most of the time. And I worry about it even though I shouldn't. He's still on that big green Soothie one though I did read that it shouldn't be used after 3 months (thanks Becky for bringing that to my attention). I reluctantly bought a different brand but I have yet to open the package. I will. But I think I'm trying to pretend that my son doesn't "need" the bink. I have in my head that binks are "unnatural." However, in reality, if all it takes is a little silicone nipple to suck on for a few minutes here and there to make a little guy so content, then why should I deny him that? The kid loves to suck, as many kids do. And I'll deal with the break-up when and if it becomes "a problem"...stop overthinking it, Lis...it's a freakin' pacifier, there's an aisle full of them because they are a useful invention!!!

And so, happy baby. Happy in the morning when he wakes up. Happy to get his diaper changed. Happy to look at his Daddy, he loooooveeeesssss to look at his Daddy with a big gummy smile and twinkles in his eyes. So sweet:) He loves storytime at the library because we do If You're Happy and You Know It and he loves when I clap clap, stomp, stomp, and hurray his little arms. He goes with the flow, sleeps on the go, in the Bjorn, in the carseat, on our bed, in his bassinet. His oversized Chicco carseat sits in the big basket part of the grocery cart with Keller in the front seat. He stares up at his little caterpillar friend hanging on the carseat handle. He smiles and coos at him. He makes me smile and coo at him smiling and cooing!

He's a scoochie. He pushes himself around on his belly, not to travel, but because he's kicking and, well, scoochie. In the rare event that he's on my bed on his back unattended (which doesn't happen anymore...) he has been known to scootch the length of the bed as he pushes back with his feet. Yup, that was a big surprise to see. It is time to get the exersaucer down from the attic now that he's getting a little more mobile. Even the Bumbo seat is no good because like Keller, he just tenses his whole body and practically falls out of it by "straightening" himself. Oh, little babies and keeping them busy and occupied while also keeping the little toddler busy and occupied!! Next post: The Busy Toddler Turns 2!!!! Coming soon!!