Saturday/Sunday

Once again, our weekend is over.  Bummed out.
Saturday we hung out most of the day...  I did some cleaning, and even got myself some new tennis shoes.  (Thank you honey!)  
Then Saturday night, we met up with some of my closest friends...  just met for dinner at Granite City, and had such a nice time.  We laughed so much, it was great.  Thanks to my friends for coming out, spending money on a sitter, and just spending a couple hours with me and Ryan.  It was great!

The gang!!

Today we've done some more hanging out.  I did our grocery run early this morning... in the ice.  Wow - at 8 am, the roads were slicker than snot!  ha.  We didn't go anywhere the rest of the day!  More hanging out...  a nap for all of us, which was great!  Cora's slept a lot today...  took some great naps for us, so I'm hoping we are starting a nice routine here!

Here are some pictures from the weekend...  I finally go the camera out.  :)

Really pushing herself up now...  loves to just look around!

Needed to be with us during our lunch...  has to be "in the action!"

Ornery face.  :)

We made a tent in his room...  finally got a cute pic of him!

TGIF

I am so, SO thrilled it's Friday.  It's been a long week.  

We've all been sick (besides Cora)...  we kept Kayson home Wednesday.  He just couldn't break that fever, and he needed a day of rest.  That's what he did - he napped in the morning AND the afternoon.  He was finally feeling better by Thursday morning...  no fever, still had the cough, but seemed better.  

I have a sinus infection.  Wednesday, I felt icky as well...  and Thursday, I literally sneezed all day long and my head felt like it was going to explode.  I went to the doctor today - confirmed: sinus infection.

Ryan has been sick as well.  He's got a terrible cough.  The fever and cold sweats are gone, but the cough is back and he says his chest hurts.  He saw the doctor today as well - confirmed: typical cough that he gets every year (sometimes twice).  Antibiotics were given. 

Cora has been good...  thank goodness.  She just has a runny nose from time to time...  I'll take that.

Between everyone being under the weather, yesterday was my birthday.  The big 35.  Yikes.  I'm over that bump of being closer to 40.  Really?  Eeek...  it makes me a little sad, I'm not close to my 20s anymore!  ha!  BUT - I wouldn't change for the world where I am and what I have.  I'm very, very lucky.

I have no new pictures to share, but I do plan on getting the camera out this weekend.  I hope we are all back to being 100% and have an enjoyable weekend.  We have something fun planned Saturday night, and I'm really looking forward to it.  It's exactly what Ryan and I need, as long as we both feel well.  

Here's to the weekend!

Oh What a Night

You name it, it happened tonight.  
Here's a timeline of how our evening went:

1. Ryan's not feeling well - fighting a fever and a terrible cough.  I, now, have a terrible sinus headache.  It's pounding, no matter how much stuff I take.
2. I picked up the kids...  I was told as I was walking to get Kayson, "Lice was found in K's pod."  Oooo ok...  yuk.  We've had this happen before, and it was handled just fine.  Daycare/staff know what to do, and they do the best they can.  But it still sucks.  I got K and all of his stuff, I mean ALL of his stuff, is in a white trash bag...  I had to dig his coat out to get that on him.  We head home.
3. In the car home... Kayson starts crying.  He misses his Dad.  (He's not traveling...), so we talk about it... I asked if he had a bad day.  He's tired.  You can see it in his eyes.  He's got a cough, he's got a cold... he's just wiped out.  Tears falling.
4. In the meantime, Cora is screaming - the.entire.way.home.  Aaaaa!  
5. We get home - Cora is finally quiet (for about 4 minutes).  Kayson wants a snack, instantly.  I realize I forgot to bring home all of Cora's bottles from daycare!!!  and I need to start WASHING EVERYTHING!
6. I strip Kayson down... everything goes in the washer - coat, hat, gloves, backpack, blankets, bear (that he took for an activity today), plus some other random things.  He's then upset that "there are bugs everywhere!" Aaaaa!  I talk to him about it, and he calms down.
7. I start dinner... Cora begins to scream.  Again.  She's at the needy stage... or is it a stage?!  I leave the room, she cries.  I pass her and don't pick her up, she cries.  She literally cried for 20 minutes.  Finally rested for 15 minutes, Ryan assisted with that...  while I tried to eat the supper I made...  Kayson didn't want ANYTHING to eat.  He was excused from the table, and bathtime was done.  
8. Ryan ate his food - probably cold.  I don't even know!
9. Cora eats.
10. Kayson plays with the water in my bathroom (he sometimes likes to do that)... well, he accidentally turned the water too hot, burning himself.  (not terribly, but enough to know that it hurt him.)  More tears.  Parents of the year right here.
11. Cora screams some more... Ryan reads to her, she calms down, then is happy.  (WHAT IS WRONG WITH HER!??!)
12. I read to Kayson - tuck him in - he's asleep by 8:00.  No fighting, no getting out of bed, asleep... and I pray it's for the entire night.  He needs his sleep.
13. Cora is still happy...  we talk for a bit, she does her raspberry thing, pulls at her feet and talks to them...  and then she starts to fuss again.  (I walked away!)  We gave her some oatmeal, and a small bottle... and she was out.  
14. Asleep kids...  and I'm still washing crap!  I'm going to bed the second I have those items folded in the dryer!
15. and I itch!!!!  Aaaaa!

K & C Comparison

Saturday when my parents were here, Kayson wanted to look at pictures of him when he was a baby.  From birth til about now, the kids did NOT look anything alike...  but I can say, now that Cora is 5 months, they definitely have some resemblances.  Cora just has 'girly features'... but they look like brother & sister for sure!

My sweet babies.

Cora - 5 Months Old

Yesterday, Cora turned 5 months old.  It actually nearly slipped my mind until about 6pm.  That's about how our life has been the last week or so.  We've been keeping 'busy' - with Kayson having a terrible cold (with low fever Thursday, Friday and Saturday), now turning into a cough... I have a little cough as well... and even Cora has a runny nose.  Ryan woke up this morning saying he didn't feel the best.  We know the cold stuff is going around...  but Ryan and I think - actually KNOW - that we would feel better if our son would sleep. Friday and Saturday, he went to bed like a champ, cuz he wasn't feeling well...  but last night, it was a fight... and that kid was awake at 10:15 pm, 3:00 am, 3:15 am, 3:50 am and 4:20 am.  He comes into our room (flies in to our room actually -- swings open his door and sprints in).  We've had this problem for MONTHS... and it just continues.  I don't know what to do anymore.  But it's no wonder that we are all not feeling the best - we don't get good, quality sleep.  It's frustrating.

I kind of got off the subject didn't I?!?! 

Moving on to Cora.

She's 5 months old now.  The past week or so, she's shown us that she definitely wants to be in the action, more than before...  she gets mad when we aren't in the room with her, she likes me A LOT, and she's just 'needy', is what I would like to call her.  ha.

• Still feeding 6 oz. every 3-3 1/2 hours.  This is still not really 'set'...  with the spitting up, we are willing to try anything at this point.
• Sleeping well...  goes down for us pretty well too...  she's so sweet to watch sleep.
• Naps are still not set either, but she does nap pretty well, just not consistently.
• Talks and talks!!
• Giggles...  and squeals, which is pretty funny.
• Rolls like crazy...  we get her on her back, she's rollin'.  She gets mad on her tummy sometimes...  but does pretty well.
• Has found her toes! 
• Wearing Size 2 diapers 
• Wearing 3-6 Month clothing...  Carter's stuff, we are at 6 Mo.

More Random

• It's a long weekend for me...  (PFG has Martin Luther King Jr. Day off on Monday).  
• It's a good thing it's a long weekend...  we have some 'not feeling well' kiddos.  
• Kayson - low fever, snotty nose that drains down his throat and he coughs.  Poor kid.  He just doesn't feel 100%, I can tell.  He's trying, but he's just tired.  (He hasn't fought us at bedtime for two nights now - we KNOW he's tired and doesn't feel well!)
• Cora - runny nose... and pushing her bottles away.  For the last two days or so, she's just been not terribly interested in her milk.  At least one or two bottles, she doesn't finish.  Tonight - bedtime, she cried and cried for Ryan while he was trying to feed her...  I snuggled on her for a bit, then read books, and she sat up and puked everything up.  She was soaked, I was soaked and the chair, floor, burp rag was soaked.  YUK.  It's one of those things where you kind of freeze and aren't sure which to do first.  She seemed 'happy' after...  Poor thing.  I hope to God she doesn't have the stomach flu.  

• My Mom and Dad visited this afternoon.  We had a nice visit...  the kids napped well, and we just hung out.  Ryan made a great supper, and we even went out for Dairy Queen (Kayson wanted it, so we gave in!)  I don't think the rest of us minded.  :)
• The wind... holy wind tonight.  It was a beautiful day today... and tomorrow it's supposed to be high of like 13.  A HIGH!?!?  That's the wind... it's bringing that colder air.  YUK. 
•  Update on the new bottles --- we aren't seeing a huge difference.  I'm pretty bummed about it.  The first couple days I thought this was going to be it, but Cora started spitting up again shortly after...  Oh well.  We are now just hoping she'll 'grow out of it', like the doctor says.

Random

• Today is Tater's birthday - the big 2 for him!  His birthday party on Saturday night was fun... a successful party!  Lucky little boy.
• We have switched bottles on Cora.  She's been spitting up SO BADLY lately, we just didn't know what to do...  first thought was to change formula...  (seems like a lot of work actually - getting her tummy used to it!??!)  I don't know what's the 'right' thing to do here.  But we were at some friends' place Friday night and she mentioned changing bottles.  NEVER THOUGHT OF THAT.  So we did (old was Avent - ones we used with Kayson), new are Dr. Browns...  yesterday she only spit up once...  that's a GINORMOUS improvement.  And today, the teacher said she did well, spit up just a couple times, and it was minimal.  We will try this route first.
• Ryan's traveling this week... to Kansas.  It's always such a change for us when he's gone... just hoping that Kayson will be a happy little boy this week.  (mostly just want bedtime to go well!!)
• We are making a move at work in February - like a physical move.  I'll be embedded more with the Consultants, which I really like... I think I'll learn a lot more.  This will also make me clean out my desk!!  That's gonna be a chore!
• I shopped a little on Saturday afternoon...  actually, just one stop - Victoria's Secret.  I had two gift cards... and needed some undies TERRIBLY...  so got stocked up, plus some new bras!  It was a nice hour away!  :)
• Speaking of an hour away...  so Saturday I was gone for a little over and hour and then Sunday I did some errands during Kayson's nap time...  was gone for an hour and a half... and BOTH CHILDREN SLEPT DURING THAT TIME!  Even my husband.  NOT FAIR.  :)  teehee!

Sleeping Again

Cora is back to sleeping through the night...  those 6 nights though, were brutal!  ha.  But we are good to go again, for now!  She's now just in a sleep sack at bedtime.  The swaddle was just too small... she was wiggling so much that she would get her arms out of it...  so we made the switch!  She's doing well! 

She also will be moving rooms at daycare either this coming week or next week.  Not only is Kayson growing up, so is CORA!  She visited the new room a couple times this week...  seemed to go well...    I, however, am going to miss her current teachers.  They are SO GREAT!  I'll have to make a point to stop in and say hello from time to time.  (This is the part about daycare that I don't like - as parents, you get attached to some of the teachers!!!)  But we have definitely gotten to know some great girls and have made good relationships out of them, so that's nice!

Back to Cora sleeping...  We are still working on getting a routine for naps.  We can definitely say that she needs a 30 minute snooze in the evening time - around 7 pm, almost right on the dot.  As for naps during the day, they are still random - could be 45 minutes, could be an hour and a half!  I'm guessing this new room at daycare will start to get her on a better routine... if not this room, then next room for sure.  So we'll get there!

She's funny in the morning...  We have to wake her, which is terrible!  BUT the way she starts to wake up is hilarious.  She stretches, rocks her face back and forth like she's wanting to rub it, rubs her eyes a little - all the time her eyes are completely closed.  I'll pick her up and snuggle for about 2 seconds, then lay her down to get changed and dressed...  about 30 seconds later, she FINALLY opens her eyes and realizes what's going on - and shows me (us) that HUGE grin.  LOVE IT!  Then from there, she's ready to go... kicking, squirming, talking...  doing practically anything to NOT get dressed.  She's a little pistol!

Our little sugar bear is so sweet...  fun and adorable of course.  :)

Sporting a sweater dress!!!

Our Little Snow Shoveler

Kayson LOVES to shovel snow.  I mean, LOVES IT!  :)  He asks almost every day if he can go out and shovel some snow... he doesn't care if it's in the grass or not.  It's so hilarious! 

This past week I've let him go out when we get home...  it's still fairly light, and he just goes to town!

Ryan says he would probably shovel for hours if we would let him!  :)

Kayson - 4 Year Well Check

Kayson's 4 year well check was this morning...  he asked if he had to have shots like Cora did...  I told him I didn't think so... and I was right.  Thank goodness.  But he's already asking when and why he has to have them the next time (when he's 5)!!!  :)

Here are his stats:
Weight: 36.8 lbs. (50%)
Height: 41 3/4" (75%) -- he grew 4 inches in 1 year!!!  It's a no wonder that we have trouble finding pants that fit his SKINNY waist and long legs.  :)  I hope we have a tall one on our hands!

Dr. Beebe was pleased... Kayson talked her ear off the entire time.  I kept telling him to 'be quiet' and she said, "It's ok - I'd much rather have kids talking than not!"  Well he definitely TALKS.  :)  Some questions were answered and some suggestions were given, and we were out the door.  He did great.

Weekend - Over Already!

We have had such a nice weekend...  productive, not too much attitude from our son, some relaxation and lots of giggles.  

We had nothing planned.  Nothing on the calendar.  

Friday afternoon, Ryan and I left work early to meet with an insurance agent to talk about Life Insurance and some other things for our future.  I am glad we got some things set up...  have a few more things to do, but we should be set.  We picked up the kids --- Ryan took Kayson with him to get his haircut, and Cora and I went home and hung out...  The rest of the night we just played and relaxed. 

Saturday morning Ryan went into work... the kids and I did a Target run.  Then back home to play some more.  We did a lot of organizing in the basement...  moved things around, packed some things away, and brought more toys downstairs.  (Hoping to push Kayson to spend more time down there!)  The Christmas tree and other decorations came down and packed away too.  It was SUCH a productive day... I was thrilled!

Saturday evening we went and visited with Colleen, Mike and the girls... had a nice time just hanging out and them cooing over Cora.  :)  Kayson did pretty good with the girls...  he just wants so badly for adults (or ME) to play with him.  He has trouble playing alone, even though the girls were there and wanted to play.  I hope that changes this year... that should be something we really work on.  ha.

Today was more hanging out...  a lot of nothing going on here besides some laundry and I threw away old socks, underware and bras!!  I tell you what, we are organized now!  ha.  It was another nice day at home.  I was kind of hoping it would have been a little warmer out, I could have taken K outside, but just too cold.  

So with that, the weekend is over already... can't believe it.  Even when we don't have anything going on, it STILL goes fast!

Here are a few pictures of the kiddos.

Thursday Thoughts

Outside my window... it's cold, but sunny! Which is nice!
Today I feel... sleepy...  yes, still sleepy, always sleepy.  :)
I am thinking... about how life is too short. 
I am thankful... for my warm house.
Tomorrow I am going... to a meeting with Ryan and some Northwestern Mutual guy (Life Insurance stuff) - fun huh!?!
I wish... I was prettier.
This weekend... we have nothing planned...  except more organizing of toys and stuff! 
I am reading... um nothing besides the books I read to Kayson every night.
I am working on... lots of little projects here at work... which is nice.
Yesterday I... learned some sad news.
I am hoping... for an evening with no whining and talking back from my son!
I am hearing... random conversations - mostly about retirement plans.  ha.
One of my favorite things... is leaving work and driving to get my kids.

Miss Cora

Oh Miss Cora May.  

She's changing so much...  changing the way she looks, changing the way she reaches and grabs for everything now, changing how she rolls and rolls, changing how she gets PISSED off when she's hungry and doesn't want to burp, and changing how she doesn't sleep through the night now.  BOOHOO.  The last one - I seem to think that's the most important to talk about right now.  :)

That little stinker.  Last Thursday (so 5 days ago), she woke in the middle of the night.  (She has not done this since her being 5 weeks old and a couple days at 2 months old due to a cold.)  I passed the time with her pacifier... and we were good...  for a couple hours.  She woke again and was hungry.  WHAT??!?  So I fed her.  Of course.  :)  

Every night since then, she's been getting up...  almost like she's restless.  She's been getting out of her swaddle (and I make that thing TIGHT!)  So we are feeding her.  I don't know if it's the right thing to do???  She's probably growing, right?!  But 5 nights later, she's STILL doing it...  bums me out.  Ryan has been a great help, but still, we are tired!!  Last night (New Year's Eve), she went down around 8:30...  woke a little after midnight (hungry), and then woke again at 5 am!!!  I'm just in shock!  

So...  tonight I'm hoping writing this all out jinxes it!!! and she'll sleep her 9 hours!!  

Moving on...  tonight we did her first oatmeal feeding.  (Maybe this will help the sleeping problem!?) Anyway, it went really well.  I thought she did great.  She seemed interested!  We'll do this again once a night for a couple months, I think, and go from there.  

2013 is here!!!

It's weird to think we are in the year 2013.  Doesn't it?  I think back to when I was graduating high school (in 1996) and thought - 'the year 2000 seemed forever away and weird to say "2000"'...  but that's here and gone... and now it's 2013.  

We invited some people over Monday evening...  had a big list of invites, but only a few could make it, but we still had a very nice time...  Neighbors made it - Nielsen's and Carpenter's.  Avery and Kayson played - like brother and sister... tattling and playing nice too.  Oh those two.  :)  I think the adults had a nice time too...  I didn't want a 'wild and crazy' evening!!!  I just wanted to hang out... and we did.  It was great.  Thanks for coming gang.

Here are some pictures of our evening!

Cora was ready!!!

Thanks for bringing the hats Nick!

Nikki & the babies!

This cracks me up!

Us girlies...  :)