THE BLAND FAMILY: Just can't keep up

Okay, well I started this entry on 11/12/12. And I started a similar one a month prior to that. I feel like a bad mom. :( The whole point of this blog was to record all of those little moments in their lives. And I feel like I'm failing at following Avery's first year properly. :( Makes me really sad that I haven't been able to keep up with it. I hope I won't forget anything big. I guess at least I've been busy playing with her.....so that has to count for something. :) Well, I'll keep this old intro since it still applies. Ha. And this is going to be a big one. :)

I just can't keep this blog up to date. Just can't keep up w/ much in general lately. :)

This is likely going to be a ridiculously long post so I can catch up, in hopes that future posts can be short and current. It probably won't happen, but we all need goals, right? ;)

This is why i NEED to keep up though, because from the time that I originally started this post, um, over a month ago, and now......well, so much has changed!

Avery Update

Sleeping: Well, the biggest factor in our lives has been Avery's sleeping habits. I'm happy to say that over the last month, we've at least moved in the right direction! My original post was going to complain, yet again, about how crappy she sleeps! She's still far from perfect, but we've at least seen improvement just in the last couple of weeks. She rarely sleeps through the night

I might as well continue with Avery's sleeping. She just has been so entirely different than Carson. We just this weekend again discussed the need for sleep training. Lately, it's been taking FOREVER to get her down for the night. Carson too, but I'll get to that. By the time we get both kids down, we're just exhausted. She goes in spurts. It was pretty awful for a few months. Then, on Lucas' birthday actually, she finally slept through the night for one of the first times. It was a lovely gift. She did pretty well there for a month or so and then it got rough again w/ colds, a double ear infection, teething, etc. The last few weeks, she's been waking in the middle of the night and just will not go back down. Seems like she either sleeps through the night or when she wakes, she's up for 2 hours. In the middle.of.the.night. Exhausting. Anyway, we've tried to let her cry a bit while going down. We probably need to decide what we're doing and stick with it. Right now, the little princess gets rocked to sleep. But we do try to put her down partially awake. It's definitely harder, I think, with the second child, because we're conscious of not disturbing him. So we do tend to go to her more quickly. I think she knows that. :) Oh, and she's learned how to open her door. :) She's discovered that she can reach the door from the corner of her crib. We normally leave it open a crack, so she grabs it and shoves it open. Then we're sure to hear the wailing. :) Smart girl. As always, we're hopeful it will get better. I know from talking to friends that it could be worse. But I would love to be able to rely on a full nights sleep, for all of us, every night.
Going through my notes, I have that she started sleeping on her side near the end of September. :) Seems like such a long time ago. If I remember correctly, it wasn't long after that that she started sleeping on her belly. And that's when the decent sleeping above started.

Where do I go from there? Thank goodness I try to jot down notes in my phone from time to time. I guess once again, this will be a jumbled mess, but I'll try to get everything in. :)

Weaning: Seems almost ridiculous to mention at this point, but I don't want to forget anything. Avery was exclusively breast-fed for the first six months. I made it about seven with Carson. I had a trip coming up in early October (my first ever away from the kids) and I figured it would be easier on all of us if I try to wean before then. We had a ton of frozen milk that I was lucky to accumulate over the months, but man, that goes fast. So, Avery had her first 1/2 bottle of formula on 9/21/12. And that was the last time she nursed. :( As sad as I was to stop, selfishly, I was glad to have my body back. I pumped for the last time on 9/25. She did great with formula. I'm proud we made it as far as we did.

Eating: Also seems ridiculous to list everything in my notes, because now, Avery eats everything. Haha. She's eating table foods with most meals. She still eats purees at school for meals, but they've begun giving her table food as well. She'd doing great with it. In fact, most meals, she gets really mad if she can't feed herself and we don't give her something she can chew. As I was with Carson, I'm overly paranoid that she's going to choke, but she's doing pretty great with it. My notes say that she had peas for the first time on 9/21/12. :) Applesauce on 9/15, green beans 9/11, pears 9/8, squash 9/3 and bananas on 9/1. And she tried a sippy cup for the first time on 9/20. She grabbed her spoon and brought it to her mouth for the first time on 9/25. Anyway, we worked through all of stage two and went on to stage 3. By her 9-mo. checkup, the doctor encouraged to move to table food, and it's been an adventure ever since. :)

Moving: Well, she was probably just barely sitting the last time I posted. She has been on the move! She started her "butt-scoot" on 9/25/12. She got so fast at it that she could scoot on her butt all the way across the room. That was her favorite means of travel for quite a while. In fact, she really only started crawling about a month ago. I think it was right around 10 months. Maybe a week or so after? She took her first crawling steps around 9 mos or so? But she was just so much faster on her butt. She didn't seem to care at all that the other babies were crawling. :) But once she moved up to her new room (Infant 2 - on 1/7), she really seemed to get it. She's been crawling FAST ever since! Right at 9 mos, she started pulling herself up to stand. She wants to stand constantly. We caught her standing in her crib, leaning over of course. So Daddy lowered the mattress that day! At 9 mos., 3 weeks, she took a couple steps while holding on to my fingers. And on 1/24/13, she took her first steps holding onto Carson's Mickey choo-choo! She's going to be walking on her own before we know it! She's trying so hard to stand unassisted. She did for the first time on 1/25. Won't be long before it's all the time.

Other firsts: Might as well start a list. :) At 6 mos., she started playing with balls. She began waving for the first time the week of 9/21. Now she waves constantly - to her paci in the morning, to everyone as she goes to bed. Adorable double-wave with that huge smile. :) She started "dancing" right around 6 mos. She said "mama" for the first time on 10/5/12. :) She said mama first, then dada. Now it's definitely more "dada", even though I think she likes me better. Haha. She got her big-girl car seat on 9/3/12. Avery clapped for the first time right at 9 mos. At 9 mos., 2 weeks, she gave a "high-five" and started waving purposely when we said "bye-bye" to her. On Christmas Eve, she had her first big girl bath (no more whale tub!). At 10 mos, she started hugging her baby doll. 10 mos. 1 day - she gave me a kiss for the first time. I love those open-mouth, sloppy kisses! She got her first "Bumps and Bruises" report from daycare on 9/21.

Teething: She's been teething for what seems like forever. The first one popped through on 11/12/12. The second one followed quickly on Thanksgiving Day - 11/22. She still only has the two. Now they're big and she has the most beautiful grin with them. :) Just love it. I think she's working on at least one up top, but nothing yet. Here's the first ones though on Thanksgiving:

11/12/12

11/22/12

Avery's just changed SO MUCH in the last few months. It really is a shame that I slacked off recording it during that period. Well, here, I mean. I have TONS of pictures of course. Looking back at them to write some of this, well, it's just pretty incredible to see the changes in her. :) She's just a beautiful little girl already. I just adore her. She's such a wonderful, joyful addition to our family. I cannot believe she's almost one. Unbelievable.

Carson Update

Potty-training: Well, the big news with Carson is that he is fully POTTY TRAINED!! I can't believe I missed out on blogging about that too! He did so well. We had a rough couple of weeks for sure! But he really did pick it up fairly quickly. We started before our family vacation in September - so shortly before his third birthday. The vacation really messed with him, of course, so we kind of started over once we got back. And he did great. On his birthday actually was the first time he used a potty in public! And the next day, for his party, he actually told us at the park that he had to go. Our big issue was POO. He did well at first and then all of a sudden, he was terrified. It was bad. We tried rewards for going. Everything we could think of. We finally had to start him on Mirolax because it got so bad. Dr. Boley literally could feel it inside him at his 3 year checkup! He finally started going regularly the week of 10/15 - what a relief! We literally would have to hold him down on the toilet with him just sobbing because he was a afraid it would hurt. It was awful. Looking back, it's almost hard to remember what a struggle it was. He's a total pro now! He started waking up in the morning with a dry diaper and waking up in the middle of the night to pee in October. So really just a month after he started! We still do a pull up at night, but it's very rare that it's not dry. We should probably try without it, but baby steps. We're just so proud of him!

Potty training also brought on interesting stories. I probably shouldn't share this but it just had us rolling. Carson liked to come in the bathroom with us while he was learning. One day, he barged in while I was going (pee) and stared at me for a second. "U put your peepee down, mom?" (We'd been working on that with him :) ). I told him no, mommies don't have peepees. He cocked his head and put his hand on his chin and said "Hmmm, well what you got down there?" I was taken aback and didn't know what to say! We had just had his checkup and dr. said to use words like "penis" and "vagina" when talking about our parts. So....I said "Mommy has a vagina." Well that really threw him and he frowned and said, "You have a 'gina in your butt mommy??" I just had to laugh out loud. He says the funniest things and has us laughing on a daily basis!

New class: Carson finally started the 3-yr old room on 1/7 (same day that Avery moved up). He loves it and is doing so well. He just continues to amaze me with the things he knows. I just think he's brilliant, naturally. :) He was in the bath the other night (with Avery) and he said, "Look Mommy, she's on the left and I'm on the right!" And he was correct! I then asked him which was his right hand and which was left, and he knew!! He knows his letters now (C is for Carson, M is for Mommy, L is for Daddy). Haha. We argued about that last one until he said "Mommy, I told you, L is for Daddy Lucas!" Brilliant. ;) He loves to sing lately. He knows the words to all kinds of stuff. Just in general, he's a pretty amazing little guy. So grown up! I just love the conversations we have at night before bed. Just love him so much.

Favorite things: Well, right now, Carson's passion is his "teenage turtles". All he wanted for Christmas was the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Santa got him all four and he was over the moon. (Christmas, btw, was so much fun this year, at this age. Just loved watching his excitement over Santa!). It is THE cutest thing to watch him sing and dance to the theme song when it comes on. Love it. He continues to love the color yellow. He tells us every day. LOL. Still loves Mickey Mouse, Jake and the Pirates, any Disney movie, dinosaurs! Reading! He can even read a few of his books to us! Love it. He continues to love sports. Loves watching football with Daddy. Loves playing the tee-ball that Grandma got him for his birthday. He can hit the ball both off the tee and when we pitch to him. And he's got an arm! We're counting on this kid to go pro in something. ;) Just not basketball. I hate the NBA.

Temper tantrums: Wow. Although I love and adore that little guy, just wow. Right after Christmas they started. Out of nowhere. I'm not sure if it was a switch in routine or his new class. I just don't know. But the tantrums are daily. And ugly. The last couple of days have been better, but the screaming and kicking and crying. It's just awful. We have our talks about it and I think it will get better. It's so hard to see him cry. But it's so frustrating too. Pretty much every mom I've talked to has said that 3 is the worst. So I'm just going to count my blessings that he's almost 3 1/2 and it just started. :) I'm sure it's just a phase that will pass. We have plenty of good stuff to overshadow that anyway.

Carson quotes: Some of these are so old now, but I wrote them down, so might as well list them! :)
- "Why?" - We've officially hit the "why" stage! It seems to be passing, but it was rough for a few months.
- "Nobody can save you!!" - (while "wrestling bellies" with Daddy)
- "I played with my cars in your belly mommy. That's what I was doing in there. When I was really little."
- "You go put your go Bears shirt on. You need that to watch football! - The entire family has to "suit up" every Sunday.
- "Avery talking baby talk to me. That's funny!"
- "My mommy and daddy are so proud of me!" (He heard that a lot while potty-training.)
- "No, no, little peanut. That's not your toy. I'll get you a baby toy. Here you go little peanut!" - He calls her Little Peanut and Boo-Bear like we do. It's adorable. He is the BEST big brother!
- "Captain America is on a mission to fight the mad guys!" (mad guys = bad guys) - He was Captain America for Halloween.
- "You should keep your tongue in your mouth for pictures. And you should be quiet and say "cheese"" - To Avery.
- "Avery's just chillin'"
- "Big poo!! I get a sucker for that one guys!"
- "I growing bigger mommy"
- "The dogs woke me up saying ruff ruff. They were too loud. We shouldn't be loud when people are sleeping"
- "Mommy, you say "knock, knock" and I say "trick or treat". Deal?" - Halloween :)
- "Deal, mommy?" - This one's my fault. I think I say that a lot, like "if you're good in the bath, we can read an extra book, deal?" So now EVERYTHING is a "deal". :)

- "Just trust me momma"
- "Can I bonk Avery in the head with my nun-chucks?" Um, no. "Oh ok. Because she's a baby? We don't hit babies? Just bad guys, right?" Um, sure. :)

Pictures over the last, um, FOUR months. Shameful.