Stuff

I was thinking about our family blog today - and the reason we started it.  This whole thought process was started because a friend of mine (Susana) forwarded an email about internet addiction and how it is affecting moms (among others).  I can definitely say that I am completely fascinated with the recent ability to connect to the outside world (even when I'm trapped in my home) via the internet (and my blogs).  My children will never know the life I grew up in - with a rotary phone, VCR and cassette player.  It didn't seem like a bad life to me - but I'm sure by comparison to cell phones, DVD's and ipods it would seem a bit scary to the "text generation."  Anyway, I digress...  

The reason we started this family blog was so that we could print it out each year and have something to pass on (and laugh about) with our kids (and their kids).  This made me think; am I really telling the whole story or just posting pictures with cute comments?

And to that point, I wanted to tell some stories.

About my K-Bear.....  she has grown up so much in the past few months.  Both Jeff and I are amazed at the concepts and ideas that come out of her mouth on a daily basis.  Of course, there is the funny stuff too.  A little dialogue from our drive home from school:

K: Mommy, can you stop so I can pick my nose?

M: No honey, I can't, we need to get home. (But I was thinking: everyone else picks their nose in moving cars - why can't you?)

K:  (in full Dora sing-song style) Mommy, you can do it, I know you can!

Some random stuff: She sleeps with her Tiger recently (not sure how long that will last), she still takes a nap most days, she loves "chewys" and asks for them hourly, she's practicing "I'm a Little Tea Pot" for her first performance with her preschool class in a couple weeks, she just started ballet, she can do a 24 piece puzzle in less than 5 minutes, her diet consists mostly of cereal, mac & cheese, sandwiches and fruit (with a few other things mixed in), she "doesn't like green stuff" and won't touch lettuce -- and heaven forbid you cook her hot dog or waffles too long and they end up with "crunchies" on them (Daddy!), she has just started dressing up and she absolutely loves her baby brother.

This is a picture of our family breakfast last weekend.  We really go "all-out" when we make breakfast at home.  Mommy made chocolate chip pancakes and Daddy made the cheesy eggs.  

I wanted to document this picture that Kylie drew for us.  Daddy challenged her to draw the picture from her puzzle box and I was amazed at how well she did.  The tactile skills and mind of a 3 year old never cease to amaze me.  It's kind of hard to see but you can click on it for a bigger view.  I think the black line on each character is their smile because they all have eyes as well.  

Another picture of Kylie and the Jakester.  You'll see a lot of pictures of them in this chair.  It's a quick and easy place to prop up Jake and let Kylie sit with him.  And, it provides a good comparison to watch them grow.  I think he's warming up to the "big-sister" thing.

And Jake - my little man.  I'm falling in love with this guy.  It took me longer to really fall in love with Kylie.  I think many moms out there know what I'm talking about.  Not because she wasn't AWESOME in every way - but because the life change for me was so daunting and overwhelming, it was hard to just enjoy the miracle that she was (and still is).  This time around, although it's very difficult with two, I find myself really loving his little face and his little smile.  He just lights up when he sees me and my heart melts.

That being said, my heart was breaking while I listened to him cry for 20 minutes last night as we let him "cry it out" before falling asleep.  He's been sleeping from about 8pm to 7am for the past week which has been awesome - BUT (there's always a but, right???) we've had to hold the passy in his mouth while standing next to his crib for 5-10 minutes to help him fall asleep.  Now that he is becoming much more aware of the world around him (and of us) we decided this passy game would only get worse.  Plus, he isn't really fond of the passy anyway (not like Kylie was).  So, he fell asleep and woke up happy at 7:15 this morning.  Tonight I put him down and he just looked at me, didn't make a peep and went right to sleep.  BUT, he woke up about 30 minutes later and cried for 20 minutes before drifting back to sleep again.  It's difficult to hear him cry, but it's definitely a protest cry and not an "I'M DYING" cry.   I know we are teaching him a valuable skill that will help him his WHOLE LIFE - falling asleep on your own.  Of course, if he takes after his Daddy, that won't be a problem anyway.  Just put him in a horizontal position and he's OUT!  :)

Enough of my rambling - here's the last picture for this post.  

Jake. In the chair. Smiling.