Learning to Play Together

"Ummm...Ky...I don't think this is a very good idea...."

"You want me to smile for the camera at a time like this?"

"I guess this load got dumped!"

We told Ky he would get stuck...he didn't believe us..

Ky VERY proud of his block tower he built ALL by himself!

Nana's favorite birthday presents

A walk to the park and for ice cream...does life get any better?

Ky, after he discovered the muddy area...

The battle over the pants....

I think Daddy won this round....

"Oh Happy Day..."

Until Kylan dumps dirt on my head...

"Say I'm the best sister ever! Say it!"

Ky--so very proud of his puzzle that he did by himself--yeah I don't know what's up with the glasses either...

Ky finding similar shapes....

Ky matching sizes....

Ky traced the words "Live Life Together" all by himself.

SIX MONTHS! I can’t believe it! The time has just flown by—and way faster with Alaina than with Kylan. I think that is because with 2 kids I am definitely twice as busy!
Well since I have started blogging with Alaina—I will go ahead and give her updates. At her six month check-up she was a dainty 19 lb 3 oz (94%) and 27” (87%). I guess has some Humpley genes (my mom’s side---lots of height over there…). She just amazes me at her growth. She sits up really well now—and is eating and enjoying more solids. She has had carrots, squash, sweet potato, rice cereal, multigrain cereal, and applesauce so far. Honestly I think she prefers nursing to solids---but at least we don’t have as many tears when she eats. She still loves to stand—in fact if you put something taller in front of her she does attempt to pull up to stand (just like big bro). Her coordination is amazing. She will grab her nuk and put it in her mouth perfectly. She also enjoys her piano and you can watch her think about which key she will hit next and then she will hit it. She shakes her head “no” (and looks like Stevie Wonder when she does it—you know—the bob thing). She mocks my coughing, she will reach for me or Rob to pick her up. She also helps push her arms through her sleeves. She still is not a fan of tummy time—so I do not see crawling in her near future. She also has become a much better sleeper. We kicked her out of the room a few weeks ago—and well there has been some drastic improvement. I only feed her once at night and if she wakes up otherwise---we just give her her nuk or put on her music box and she goes back down. Naps have also become a breeze. I just put her down now and she goes right to sleep! Yeah Alaina! Definite signs of maturity in these areas. Now my next goal is to get rid of that single night feeding….

Moving on to Ky—This boy continues to amaze me. He just learns in leaps and bounds…On Mondays I try to attend this free “preschool” class for Ky. He loves it. They have circle time, sing some songs, read stories, make a snack, do a craft, etc…There are two teachers. Last Monday, both of the two teachers came up to me independently. One of them told me that she was amazed by how well he talks. She said that he talks like a four-year-old. The other told me that she was amazed by how focused he was at his age and how quickly he picks up on things. That’s my boy!

Otherwise, Ky is loving workbooks. I have a couple of pics of him above with pages that he completed. And those 2 pages he figured out on his own (after I read him the directions)—so smart! I figure taking pics is easier than me actually keeping the pages he completes---and saves me from collecting extra papers. The last picture is the front of our church bulletin—during church—Ky traced the letters Live Life Together—and did an awesome job! I am so proud—yet don’t really want to save the bulletin—so Voila!—the computer takes care of it for me. Ky is also really into puzzles right now. 25+ piece puzzles. He will do puzzles all day. I have a pic of him above with one of his completed puzzles. The last couple of weeks I have been running to the second hand store to buy him more and more puzzles so he has new challenges.

Kylan funny quotes….

We were sitting down for dinner and starting with a salad. I told Rob that the main course was in the oven keeping warm and I would bring it out when we were done with the salad. Ky then replies is a very questioning voice “The main HORSE is in the oven?”

So Nana & G’ma Jan came to visit the kids and when Nana went to leave Ky asked Nana “Can you please take Alaina with you?” HA HA! Can you feel the brother love….

Speaking of brotherly love---yeah the dump truck pics are a set-up—but it seemed like a really great idea at the time. Ky actually took off with her at one point and then “dumped her out” on his own (you can see that pic above) She seemed to enjoy that—but then got mad when we put her back in the truck the next time….Perhaps she didn’t feel like being a “big load”.

There is also a picture posted of Ky and Alaina outside. Ky is holding his bulldozer and Alaina has dirt all over her head. Well I was working outside and Ky was playing with his bulldozer in the dirt. Next thing I know, I turn around just in time to see Ky dump the dirt on Alaina’s head. I did reprimand him—after I took the pic—it was just too funny….she did get back at him later---you can see the pic of them wrestling on the floor—He may be on top, but she has his hair. She is smart that way—she always goes for the hair.

So what else have we been up to.

Nana celebrated her 60th birthday and so we spent the day with her. She especially loved that the children came and she could play with them. Ky, at the end of the day, managed to find a large pile of mud and just got covered in it. We didn’t have extra clothes so he ended up running around in his underpants while Nana washed his clothes and shoes.

And I am sure you noticed the pictures I like to call “Battle Pants.” Ky has turned into a total three year old in personality. He wants to do everything himself and he wants to do it his way. This is a very frustrating time. I thank God that we have a camera and more importantly a video camera during these tantrums—otherwise I would lose my mind. When he starts his screaming and stomping—I pull out the camera and just think of how I am going to show this video to him and his wife and his children some day—then they can see how ridiculous he was…Anyway—battle pants—Ky didn’t want to put on his pants. Daddy insisted---Ky fought—Daddy said I will put them on you if you don’t put them on…Ky refused—Daddy put them on his head. We found it very amusing---Ky….not so much….ahhh…to know what was going on in his head. We at least now have a wonderful memory with these pictures….sorry Ky…but it was your choice to act this way—thanks for the laugh!

One last thing….turns out I have had pneumonia for the last 3 weeks….hmmm…I actually went back to the doc for a second opinion because the first said I was fine….Boy was she wrong—the second doc took one listen to my lungs and said “pneumonia—you need antibiotics.” The good news is that I would have been contagious like 2 weeks ago—and since Alaina didn’t get it—I was probably not really contagious at all….I am just glad she didn’t get it….

Time for my final thoughts….here is a quote I read the other day and I LOVE it….I think it really wraps up my life right now. “While we try to teach our children all about life, our children teach us what life is all about.” Yeah…I could write paragraphs about this…but I won’t….

On Friday, I subbed at an elemtary school. I was an SEA for grades 4/5--so an easy day for me. There was one boy that kept falling asleep when they had "circle time". The teacher asked me to walk him around to help wake him up. Poor kid. So we left the classroom and started down the hall. He however staggered and sat immediately on a bench next to the classroom. I asked him why he was tired. He told me he couldn't sleep last night because his little sister kept him up. I asked if she was a baby and was crying--he said "no, she is two and kept talking and pushing me." I asked him if he slept in the same bed as his sister and he said yes. Poor kid! No wonder he was tired. I was just trying to picture myself sleeping with Ky in the same bed--and it is next to impossible--he kicks and hits in his sleep. I was trying to think of a quick way to help him feel better about the situation, so I brougt up the "bear song". I asked him if he ever heard the "bear song" and he said no. So I sung it to him. "Two bears in the bed and the big one said --roll over, I'm squished, so they all rolled over and one fell out, one bear in the bed and the little one said--Now I'm all alone." I then explained to him how tonight he could use the song to push (gently) his sister out of bed. I emphasized to him that he should be nice and tell her it's a game. (YEAH--I know his mom probably hates me now.)

He then told me that he actually has two other siblings that sleep in the same bed as him. That means 4 kids in one bed! So of course we had to rework the song for him--and he really liked the idea of pushing his siblings out of his bed one at a time. But it did wake him up--and hopefully gave a little bit of a new perspective of sharing a bed with his brothers & sisters. Argh...and to think that so often I complain about Ky's tantrums or Alaina's midnight feedings. I am so grateful for all that I have--all that I have been given. I only pray that my children will never be in such a circumstance where they are forced to share a bed with siblings--and then are expected to behave well, when they are sleep deprived. I know it is just a small view into this little boys life--but you can probably infer that he is dealing with a lot of other stuff as well--hard family times. And he is the oldest--and as the oldest I know he probably feels responsible for his siblings. And he is proud of them. We walked past the gym and he proudly pointed out his little brother to me.

God please be with this family and help them to get through the hard times that they are facing. Please be with little N. as he grows into a man, show him that he is loved and the choices that he has in life matter. Direct him on the right path so that he may grow and touch those around him. Make him a blessing to his family. And most importantly Lord, please direct this little boy to you--let him search you out and let there be people in his path that point him directly to you. Amen.

Until next time...

Eat, (Pray for) Sleep, and Love

Alaina kissing her brother

Food! Alright I love food!

Ummm...What is this?

You don't really expect me to swallow this?!

NO! NOT MORE!


MOM! PLEASE! I'M NOT DRESSED!

I found this bug in my cabinet--and next to it--the guilty party...

Kylan's idea of putting away the silverware...

Yes I am sitting now--just not too long!

Bad nights of sleep..I miss good wholesome sleep. It has been one thing after another between the two kids—speaking of which, Alaina is screaming right now after napping 10 minutes…

I’m back—days later of course. As I was saying we have had some bad nights of sleep. Turns out Alaina was sick one of those nights. She started vomiting all over. This was the first time I have ever been around a vomiting infant. We called the doc at 3 AM. She didn’t seem to think it was a big deal. However—since this was the first time I had a vomiting infant, I did not feel the same way. Alaina was better by morning. We had given her some avocado for the first time the day before, so we wonder if maybe it was a reaction to that? We haven’t given her any since.

Shortly after that Alaina started running a mild fever. We thought that she was teething—but it would be early if she was. She is always chomping on something and drooling. She seems fine now though--and no teeth...I don't know. The big thing is “SLEEP.” We need some good sleep with some quiet babies who don’t wake up until morning. Alas—some day my dream will come true. To sleep the night through.

One of those many sleepless nights, I woke up to Kylan crying. I went in his room and promptly told him to go back to sleep. He then complained to me about his thumb. He said it was bleeding and needed a bandaid. I looked at it (best I could it in the dark room) and told him it was fine and to go back to sleep. Ten minutes later he was calling because he needed to go to the bathroom. I take him to the restroom when I notice the finger he was complaining about was large and swollen and filled with white stuff, so I knew it was infected. I had taught the day before so Rob had stayed home. I had to wait until morning to ask him what happened to his finger—plus try to get him into the doctor’s right away to take care of it.

That morning I talked to Rob about Ky’s finger. Rob said he thought he had hurt it when Ky “claimed” to be fighting with Alaina. I guess Ky was banging his chair into her exersaucer. Anyway, I called the doc and they wanted to see him right away. We got to the doctor's office as quick as we could and at this point I was very thankful that Alaina decided to nap in her carseat (which she still hates), so that I could concentrate on Kylan and what the doc was going to do. Turns out the doc had to pop the “blister” to drain out all the infection. And she did this with a needle. Ky was a very brave boy and did well. His thumb bled for a little while, but it looked much better. He was then put on a week’s worth of antibiotics to fight off the remaining infection and make sure it didn’t spread. On the bright side, I don’t think Ky will be “fighting” with his sister anymore.

Feb 28, Alaina rolled over from back to front for the first time. She was chasing the spooky cow toy on wheels. I call it spooky because it moos when no one touches it. (It is only supposed to make noise when you roll it.) In fact when Ky was younger we used to wake up in the middle of the night to loud “MOO’s”. No kidding—that is why we think it is spooky. (Have you ever woken up to a cow mooing?) Since then, she has rolled over back to front several more times.

We started Alaina on rice cereal and have since tried avocado (which after her vomiting episode we haven’t tried again) and carrots---which as you can see from the pics—she doesn’t like. Next will be sweet potato, hopefully that will go over better. Ky loved carrots---how bizarre that she doesn’t seem to care for them. You would think that she would be excited to eat anything different.

Random Kylan quote—the other day Ky came up to Rob and I and said, “I need a tv in my room!”—I have no idea where this came from—but yeah, he will not be getting one…

The first weekend of March we traveled to Milwaukee to watch our nephew, Jordan, play bball in a tournament. We were relying on the kids to get us up in time to easily get out the door—but surprisingly they slept in! So then getting out the door turned into a rush—and I forgot the camera! ARGH! They were many photogenic moments that I missed!

Sadly, Jordan was sick and his team lost their game. Poor kid. He was also entered in a 3 point shoot-out competition and didn’t do so well at that either. Darn flu season!

Ky and his cousin Dominic were as cute as ever—running and playing! ARGH! The camera! I will be mad about this for many days to come. Alaina cried every time the buzzer at the game went off—she hates loud noises. In fact it was really funny during the 3 – point shoot out. The buzzer went off every 30 seconds or so---needless to say—we had to leave early—she was not a happy camper.

Time to sum up the pics….The first ones were of a very warm day outside. Alaina has not been outside very often so this was quite an experience for her. I think she was actually jealous of her brother and wanted to move around and play too…Lots of bath time pics. Alaina loves to splash in the bath and suck on her rag. She’s got so many cute rolls of chub too! It is hard to resist taking too many pics! The last one is a picture of our friend Wendy. She just loves the kids and they adore her. That’s all for now….

Boy my writings have gotten very sketchy since the arrival of Alaina--I guess it just shows how scatterbrained and sleep deprived I am right now. Sorry if you have trouble reading this---it will get better soon--the sleep that is---I can't promise anything about the writing :)

Fear of large rodents

Feed Me!

Alaina's first bite of food

Alaina getting ready to go outside--I told you she has grown!

Alaina shoveling the driveway.

Boy—I was just rereading this before posting—and you can tell that I write at different sittings. Funny how your mood changes the way you write things….On to the blog…

Ky was invited to a birthday party at Chuck E Cheese. It was his first time ever there and boy, did he have fun---that is until the mouse came out…

So cute—so they feed the kids pizza & juice and then they start a five minute count down until Chuck E comes out. The kids are out of their seats and dancing next to the stage. Ky was having a blast—and then out came that mouse and headed right towards Ky. You should have seen how quickly Ky’s happy face turned to utter terror. He let out a scream and then ran crying to me. I tell you—there is something scary about people dressed up as oversized animals. Even Ky felt it. The boy would not go near Chuck E after that—though now he talks about Chuck E like he is his best friend.

The rest of the time he spent playing games. He loved this bee like game—where he had to catch the bees in a net. He also enjoyed the rides. Yeah—he was pretty well tuckered by the time we left. ?Fortunately? The candy he won helped keep him awake until we got home. Speaking of sugar---

Ky has been on an “anti-food” kick. The only thing he wants to eat is sugar—and well since we don’t really feed him sugar, he has pretty much been going hungry. He used to be such a good eater! I am very glad to know that this is only a phase. After some advice though, we have decided to go with the “Peanut butter or eat what we are having” diet. And let’s just say Ky has been eating A LOT of peanut butter lately. Before this advice we were just letting him not eat anything, if he wasn’t having what we were having. Then we started having sleeping problems. The last straw was Saturday night when he was up pretty much until 3:30 AM crying. Oh what a night. That one will go down in the record books…It was quite miserable for all of us—especially since Rob and I knew that Alaina would have us up by 7 or possibly 8.

My angel is just growing so fast. Today I nuzzled with her and stared into her brown eyes encased by dark blue. She is changing and getting bigger. The outfit I put her in today is too short in the legs. I have already pulled out the next size up wardrobe—and have been dreading moving into it. She plays with strings on my sweater and giggles at me waiting expectantly for me to say something to her. I begin to sing and her eyes light up, the nuk moves faster and faster between her lips with excited gulps, and then beneath her pacifier a smile sneaks out of the sides. She so expertly holds that nuk in her mouth as she smiles and gurgles. Just months ago, it would have fallen out if she had tried to talk. She has so quickly learned. I know that if she wanted to she could now pull that nuk out of her mouth and put it back in.

My friend Rachel had her baby several weeks ago, and this past week I saw him for the first time—all 6 lbs 14 oz of him. He was so tiny…Here I can’t say I ever saw my little girl much less than 8 lbs. However, when we brought Ky home from the hospital he was 6 lb 7 oz—however I don’t remember him ever being that small. The time is so short and it just shows how important it is to savor every moment. *SIGH* My kids are growing up.

Two kids are difficult. You can’t possibly keep your eye on them all the time—and you need to get things done around the house. And no matter how much you trust your child—they are still children and forget what you tell them. Case and point—I was downstairs putting laundry in the washing machine. Alaina was in the swing. Ky was upstairs playing with his Thomas flashcards. Suddenly, I hear Alaina scream—and it was a pain scream. All these images begin to flash in my head---the swing is by the fireplace, what if Ky knocked the swing over into the fireplace—but wait I didn’t hear any thud. I run upstairs to see Kylan with his doctor stethoscope in his ears, the tongues suppressor and then doctor scissors in both hands and leaning over Alaina in the swing. He looked like Dr. Jekyll. She was just screaming her head off. I pushed him aside and pulled her out of the swing. I couldn’t visibly see what was wrong with her—so now here comes the interrogation of the two year old. “What did you do to her?” Ky, such a sensitive soul, yet at that moment my Dr. Jekyll, began to sob uncontrollably. He knew he hurt her and felt bad. I felt bad for him, but I needed an answer. “What did you do?” More tears. I sat him on a time out. After several minutes of calming her down and getting him to calm down he then told me he stuck the tongue suppressor in her mouth—while she was swinging in the swing. I asked her if she started coughing and gagging. He said yes. My poor girl was her little brother’s unsuspecting patient. I fed her right away and she seemed to swallow fine, which was a good sign that no damage was done. But what a scary moment. I am sure I will have many more of these. Ky knows better than to touch her in the swing—yet his doctor--self was calling. Phew..at least we made it through that okay.

We have started Alaina on rice cereal. She was starting to smack her lips every time I was eating—that and trying to grab the food off our plates, so we figured it was time. So far so good. I hope to try out avocado with her later this week. Pics above of her first rice cereal experience…

Ky went to a train show with Grandpa and Dad here in Madison. He had a blast. We were a little worried about the weather—we got like 8” of snow in 24 hours, but it all worked out. Alaina and I, however, were snowed in. BLAH! Soon it will be warm again. The pics above are what Rob took of the train show.

I introduced Ky to “Stranger Danger.” It is very hard to have a conversation with a two year old on this—and I have been thinking about it for a while now. The last straw came when a scary hairy man (there is something about that scraggly-wash-me-please hair that just doesn’t seem right!) offered to rock Alaina while I picked out books at the library. She was crying because she was in her car seat (of course). I was just ignoring her—something I have to do when I take her anywhere in her car seat. Anyway—I am sure the man had good intentions, but ummm…”no” you aren’t rocking my baby. I guess Alaina was really disturbing the peace—because a librarian came over several minutes later and asked me if she could help me pick out my materials. Yeah---didn’t need that either. Hey—but I have yet to get kicked out of a library---and if it happens, I will be sure to blog about it!

Back to my story…so a few minutes later the man comes back over to me with his daughter “Cicada”—…hmmmm…So this of course does make him a little less scary—he has a child named after a bug, he can’t be too bad…but then he makes a comment that Cicada is the only daughter he knows he has—unless he has other kids that he wasn’t told about—so hairy man with bug daughter now becomes scary again. Then he starts up a conversation with Kylan—asking his name and such. Then he wants to know my name & Alaina’s—he probably had good intentions, but it just didn’t feel right. Was he trying to hit on me? Was he just trying to forget about his bad hair day? I think everyone has probably been in one of those conversations where it just didn’t feel quite right. So we then politely told the man we had to get on our way and left.

Anyway, after that encounter I decided it was imperative to have the “Stranger danger” conversation. I started out by explaining to Kylan that people we don’t know are strangers. And when he is approached by a stranger, he should not talk to them unless I say it is okay. Then, he wanted to know why. I told him that some strangers are bad people and could hurt him, but most are good. Mom just wants to make sure he is okay and that is why he shouldn’t talk to strangers. I also told him he should never go with a stranger or take anything from a stranger unless I say it is okay.

I felt the conversation with him went alright, at the same time I wonder how he is going to interpret this talk. I could just see him yelling out “stranger—you could hurt me!” next time someone he doesn’t know talks to him. I will let you know how this turns out….Until next blog!