Just typing that title to the blog post felt strange! I was pregnant with Tanner the month before Mother's Day, so I didn't count that one. Two years and two babies. WOW! It has been such a blessing though. I love being a mother, but the stress at my age is challenging. I wish I had not waited so late in life, but then again, I wouldn't have these two particular precious babies!!
Tanner is getting ornerier and ornerier! He is silly cute most of the time, and generally a very good boy, but he has his moments. He has discovered the word "no" and seems to like it. He knows a ton of words, but doesn't use a lot of them. You can tell if you are around him very long that he understands what you are saying, but just doesn't verbalize a lot of it. Naturally, I know what he wants or needs without much language. We'll continue to work on that. He is almost two years old and almost three foot tall. He doesn't watch a whole lot of television or cartoons. He'd rather be outside which is fine by us!! He does like to watch Choo Choo Soul on the Internet, as we don't have the Disney Channel. He will sit in my com
puter seat and say, "More Choo Choo" and "All aboard!" He also dances and jumps to the songs!! I wish they had birthday party stuff, but I couldn't find it online.
Tanner has been affected by the pollen in this part of the country like everyone else I know. He has started Zyrtec and Singulair before bed. He also started waking up in the night and crying a lot. We weren't sure if it was that this is the age that nightmares become more vivid, separation anxiety, or acid reflux. Due to it happening mostly when horizontal, the doctor prescribed a med to take every 12 hours. We'll try it for a little while.
Miss Kinsey has been growing by leaps and bounds here lately! It seems like every two weeks I have to go through her drawers and take out the stuff she recently grew out of! She is nine months old today and she wears mostly 12-18 month clothing. She has the cute baby fat and a little baby belly. She has seven teeth now and one more that just broke the surface yesterday. She crawls behind us from room to room and loves to play with her brother. She smiles at everything he does. He tends to get a little rowdy with her, so he has to be monitored. "Gentle" is not in his vocabulary yet, no matter how many times he has heard it.
Kinsey is a great eater and enjoys all foods so far. She snacks on Cheerios, Biter Biscuits, and Gerber Puffs, but almost choked on a Baby Mum Mum recently. Scared Tobin and I to death!! She is eating #3 foods and recently started formula. She was on solid breast milk for eight months. Pumping twice at school got be a hindrance, my supply went down for a while, and we ran out of frozen supply, so we were faced with the 50/50 bottles of formula
and breast milk. Sometimes her last two bottles of the day are complete formula. Then, all evening long and on the weekends, she is breastfed. I have not yet decided when that will end.
My sister and my nephews visited recently and the kids had their first interactions as a group of four! They all played and enjoyed each other quite nicely. Kinsey was afflicted with allergies at the time, but smiled her way through most of the family gatherings. My brother-in-law is being deployed this month, and consequently, Mel and the boys will be moving home for around one year. I am very excited to be able to see her a lot and allow the kids to build some bonds and get to know each other for the time they are here. Upon his return from Afghanistan, they will all move to Fort Riley, Kansas. That will still be much closer than the 12 hour drive currently made four times per year!!
We are in the process of trying to sell our house. That has not helped our everyday normal stress level much, but we are simply out of room. We "de-cluttered" and rented a storage building. It was packed out in no time. Every morning, prior to leaving at 6:30 a.m., we have to make sure the house is completely picked up and ready to be seen by prospective buyers. Our goals are to increase square footage while getting a home with a basement. Actually, we have found the one we think will fit our needs, but cannot act on it until our house sells. No double mortgage payments for us! We'll keep on praying that God directs us to the house He wants us to be safe within and meet our needs as a family.
School ends for me in a little more than two weeks. Then, our dynamics will change somewhat and the kids will be home with me all summer. I do not plan to teach summer school. I'm sure there is more to say, but I am short on time now! Take care my readers!
Kinsey's 9 mo well baby appointment was today. Can you believe it??? 9 months!! She is up to date on shots, so it was just the general Q&A and a check over. She didn't cry once and was a very good girl, fully cooperating with the nurse and doctor for the entire 30 minute visit! I was happy when the doctor said she had an adorable smile!
Like her brother, and just to entertain, she made a funny, toothy-grin and inhaled and exhaled through her nose really fast making silly faces. It was super cute! Since she is primarily breastfed, other than the 2-3 bottles of formula she gets at daycare with Amy, she was finger-pricked and found to be just slightly anemic. The doctor asked me go ahead and give her the Poly-Vi-Sol vitamins with iron, but in her food instead of a formula bottle. We just have to give it when we are sure she will eat the whole serving with the vitamins in it. She rarely eats a whole jar at home in the evening though!
Like her brother, and just to entertain, she made a funny, toothy-grin and inhaled and exhaled through her nose really fast making silly faces. It was super cute! Since she is primarily breastfed, other than the 2-3 bottles of formula she gets at daycare with Amy, she was finger-pricked and found to be just slightly anemic. The doctor asked me go ahead and give her the Poly-Vi-Sol vitamins with iron, but in her food instead of a formula bottle. We just have to give it when we are sure she will eat the whole serving with the vitamins in it. She rarely eats a whole jar at home in the evening though!
