Hugs all around

Despite the sibling fights that sometimes go on around here, there are moments that make my heart melt. Johnny has been really into giving hugs lately, which I'm am just LOVING! He'll say, "Mommy hug!" and give me a big hug around the legs. Or he'll go to his friend and say, "Hug Blake!" and give Blake a hug, whether Blake wanted it or not. My personal favorite is when he says, "Hug Hank!" and then this magic happens:

I dare you to tell me that the cuteness streaming out of these pictures didn't melt your face off.

Yeah, I thought so.

P.S. Hank's holding of the H was totally coincidental. These shots weren't posed at all.

Hank's food

I keep forgetting to post about Hank and his experience with solids! This is pretty old news by now, but I figured I'd share for the sake of keeping history.

So we started with homemade brown rice cereal on the day of his 6 month birthday. I probably made it thicker than I should have, but he did fine with it.

After a few days, we tried avocado:

Yeah, not a fan of avocado. But, we've found all kinds of foods he likes:
banana
mango
sweet potato
kale (I'm serious)
broccoli
pear
butternut squash
plain yogurt
steel cut oats

Sometimes he'll balk at a food we try for the first time, but after the three-day trial period he comes to like it.

I remember that I hated this stage of eating with Johnny. It was such a hassle to make his food and store it and then get it ready for him when he was ready. This time around? I've got it nailed. I try to make a batch of food every morning and then freeze it in an ice cube tray so that I always have a stash of food cubes ready when it's meal time. Now I'm actually enjoying it!

Fighting siblings

My mom used to have this newspaper clipping on the refrigerator of the "Toddler Mantra" that went something like this:

If it's mine, it's mine. 

If it's yours, it's actually mine.

If it's yours, but it looks like mine, it's mine.

If it's mine, but you want it, it's mine.

If you don't want it, it's mine.

If I don't want it, it's mine.

These boys are already at it. The sibling struggles have begun. Hank always wants whatever Johnny has and Johnny always wants whatever Hank has. The trouble is that Johnny is much more able than Hank is and always wins... whether it's his toy or not. We've been trying to work on what is Hank's Johnny can't have (unless Hank is done with it), but what is Johnny's Johnny can have. It's a tough concept for a 2 year old.

"Hey Hank! That's mine! Let go!"

"Johnny, I had that first! Give it back!"

"Mom, did you see what Johnny did?!"

Back to normal with more age appropriate toys.

We have a tooth!!!

Finally, after weeks of teething, Hank has cut his first tooth:

Just in case you can't see it... because it's kinda hard to see.

This teething experience has been yet another piece of evidence toward how different kids (even brothers) can be. I remember Johnny being a little fussy when he was cutting teeth, but then a tooth would come out and I'd say, "Oh wow, look, a tooth. I guess you've been teething for awhile, huh?" With Hank? Totally different. About four weeks ago he started screaming when he got tired (and therefore, unable to be distracted from pain) and shoving his hands in his mouth while sobbing uncontrollably. Then he started chewing on EVERYTHING. His hands, my hands, wooden spoons, plastic toys... my nipples... everything. The poor little guy was absolutely miserable. But now at least we have some progress. Only 19 more teeth to go. In the first set, of course.

And now more photos since I rarely get my camera out anymore and whenever I do it's a party!

I throw my hands up in the air sometimes...

One of my favorite Hank faces

Forever a Mama's boy... well, at least for the foreseeable future.

Hank's first word.

I know, I know, Hank's only 7 months old and certainly not old enough to talk, but I'm going to take this one and run with it because it took Johnny about a year and a half before he would say this:

Yeah, he's a Mama's boy for sure.

I'm 7 months old!

Today I turn 7 months old!

In the last month, I have learned one life-changing thing: SITTING! I can sit all by myself and it. is. awesome! Mommy especially loves it because it means I can hang out on my own for longer periods of time. She just sits me down, puts a bunch of interesting objects within reach and I'm set to go. I want to crawl really, really badly, so I've been leaning forward to practice... and always fall on my face. Literally. I can almost push up to my hands and knees though, so perhaps I'm getting there.

Mommy pulled out the walker this month because while I do enjoy sitting, I LOVE to stand. I haven't figured out how to move around in my desired direction yet, but the buttons on the walker are entertaining enough for now.

I'm still taking naps on Mommy in the new woven wrap she got for Christmas (thanks Grandpa and Grams!), but she's been talking about working on getting me to nap in my crib soon... yeah, we'll see about that Mom!

I've been teething for the last few weeks and my teeth are FINALLY about to break through! It's been pretty painful and I'm looking forward to being done with it. Oh wait, you mean I have 18 more teeth after I get these bottom two? Hmmm. Mommy neglected to mention that to me. Bummer.

The time I had a bad idea.

As many of you are well aware, the boys aren't sleeping too well these days. Johnny's still going to bed around 9pm and getting up about 5am. Now, by adult standards, 8 hours is a lot. But by toddler and Johnny standards? Not enough. Especially considering that he would sleep for 11 - 12 hours a night in his crib.

So at the end of last week, I thought we should try the Walk In/Walk Out technique (from the Baby Whisperer) to get Johnny to fall asleep without needing one of us to rub his back for two hours. The first night? No problem. I did the bedtime routine, got Johnny into bed by 7:40 and was out of his room by 7:50. He started crying for me to rub his back, so I went in, put my hand on his back, gave him a kiss, said "good night" and walked out. He cried again, so I did the same thing. This went on for about fifteen minutes and then he conked out! Yes, the child that seemed to need Daddy to rub his back for hours on end in order to fall asleep actually fell asleep at a reasonable hour without parental intervention. VICTORY! The next night, however, didn't go so well. He kept getting out of bed, turning on his light, turning off his fan, anything but staying in bed. After quite awhile, John ended up going in there to rub Johnny's back again until they both fell asleep. *sigh*

On Saturday, I suggested we let him decide when to fall asleep. John's parents said that they never had set nap times or bed times, they just let their kids fall asleep wherever and whenever and it worked well for them. What could it hurt? Let's give it a try.

Um... wow. It certainly didn't work for us. Instead of slowing down as the hour got later, Johnny just got more and more worked up. I finally went to bed around 10:30 because I still get up with Hank every two and a half hours. So John stayed up. Until 1 in the morning. ONE AM!! The only reason Johnny fell asleep at 1am is because John finally coaxed him into bed and rubbed his back for a little while. He could well have been

So John was rather irritable the next day after getting about four hours of sleep since he still woke up at 5am. Johnny slept in until 7am, but after getting six hours of sleep, he was pretty difficult to deal with all day. At least he went to bed at 7:30 that night with minimal fuss.

The silver lining here? Now we know that Johnny isn't the kind of kid who falls asleep even though he's tired. It's good to know your kids, right?

25 months!

I'm 25 months today!

I know, I know, it's kind of hard to beat 2 years old as far as milestones go, but in an attempt to keep a record of my life, I decided to keep up my monthly posts... for now.

The picture I posted is one of my new "tricks". I'll say "eyes close!" and close my eyes like in the picture. Then I'll say "eyes op-EN!" and open my eyes. Mommy always laughs when I close my eyes, so I like to do it a lot.

I'm stringing words together into longer and longer sentences. My longest sentence thus far is, "Read Aunt Nea book 'GAIN!" I know that the word is A-gain, not, just "gain" but that extra syllable requires more time than I'm willing to devote to talking.

I'm still in love with books and my current favorites are Pajama Time from my Aunt Nea (Mommy's best friend) and Ten Tiny Babies from Uncle Glen and Aunt Margie. I have both of these books pretty well memorized since I have Mommy and Daddy read them over and over and over.

The bath has also become part of my bedtime routine again after having a bout of terror over the drain. It required Mommy to get some foam letters and numbers for the bath in order for me to agree to get in there again. Now I'm mostly content to sit in the bath for twenty minutes at a time playing with the numbers and letters and washing them while I get washed. I'm obsessed with numbers and now know my numbers from 0 to 29. I can recognize them, but I'm still not into counting. I also know the ABC song, though I add an extra little "shoop-shoo-waa" which I learned from watching Sesame Street. Yep, I impress pretty much everyone I meet with my knowledge of the alphabet and numbers, because, let's face it, I'm rather impressive.

Early in the morning/Risin' to the street

Days around here? They're long. Really long. Hank has been getting up at 4am and Johnny has been refusing to go to bed until 9pm. Plus I've been up all night with Hank ever since our trip to NM... but he's also teething AND sick, so all that together = an uncomfortable and therefore, pissed, baby. Both boys are sleep deprived and way touchier than normal, plus my patience is about the length of an eyelash at this point.

To be completely honest, it's been pretty miserable around here with everyone sick and refusing to sleep. However, in an attempt to look at the bright side through my weary bloodshot eyes, we do get an awful lot of family time now. What used to be the ungodly hour of 5am has now turned into a kind of nice family get-together.

Photo evidence:

This sharing-of-the-cereal happened for the first time this morning and may not happen again considering the amount of milk that ended up on John's pants... but at least I got some pictures of it.

Airport - pants = Johnny

On our trip to Albuquerque, I was terrified of being THAT parent with two screaming babies. I think most parents don't want to be that parent, right? I knew Hank would be easy since I could just nurse him on take off and landing and he'd be set.

Johnny though... how was I going to keep his little ears from hurting?

The answer? Juice. Lots and lots of juice.

However, lots and lots of juice leads to lots and lots of pee. So much pee that one diaper can't handle it all. Which is how we ended up with a two-year-old soaked in pee when we landed in Albuquerque. We decided that John would take the diaper bag and Johnny off the plane to get him changed while Dylan and I handled the other bags, Hank and the car seat. Did I mention that Dylan is the only reason the airplane trips went so smoothly? My brother saved us quite a bit of stress, that's for sure.

Anyway. Dylan, Hank and I lug all of our stuff of the plane after everyone else has left and go to wait in front of the nearest bathroom where we assumed John and Johnny would be.

Two minutes later a half-naked Johnny runs out the door, takes one look at me, and takes off in the other direction laughing hysterically. This is were you could spot the non-parents from the parents. The parents in the traveling crowd just laughed as Johnny ran by, while the non-parents were shocked and horrified. I guess when you're not used to seeing a little boy's genitals, it could be shocking.

John runs out eventually and then goes after Johnny to try and coax him into a diaper and pants. He was only successful in wrangling Johnny into a diaper.

Pantsless in the ABQ airport

2011 Christmas Celebration

2011's Christmas was spent in Albuquerque, NM, with my dad and stepmom... coincidentally named John and Gayle, just like my in-laws... John and Gail. Random, right? I was really excited to go because it had been four years since I visited my dad's house and they had done so many new things to it, plus it was going to be cold!!! A cold Christmas! And maybe even a white one!

I wasn't disappointed. It actually snowed the morning we arrived. Or so the weather app on my iPhone said, because when we arrived it was sunny and crisp outside. Desert weather is weird for sure.

The whole four-day, five-night stay was filled with delicious food, even better wine, phenomenal fudge (I know it classifies as food, but I though it deserved it's own shout out considering I consumed about a pound of it) and delightful Christmas ambiance. Since I took so many pictures, I figured I'd just let them do the talking instead of boring you with text.

Thanks again for your hospitality, Dad and Gayle!

Johnny running around the airport without any pants. It's a good story. I'll tell it later.

Johnny and Uncle Dylan

Grandpa and Hank

Dinner on Christmas Eve

Johnny exploring the Christmas tree

Hank entranced by his new toy.

Johnny entranced by Hank's new toy

Dad carving the bird

Boy pile!!

Playing at a local park

Johnny's 2nd year

December is OVER!!!! Part of me is sad to see the Christmas decorations go and all of our family time put behind us, but another part of me is relieved to have such a busy month finished with (most) of my sanity intact.

Anyway. There are lots of pictures from Christmas and our trip, and they will be posted eventually. Promise. For now, however, my mother-in-law mentioned that my father-in-law hadn't seen the slideshow of Johnny's 2nd year that I made for his birthday party. I had meant to post it here and then completely forgot. So here it is. :)


Click here to watch on YouTube.

P.S. The song is the theme to the Cars movie.