Playing in the Tropical Storm

We had some great plans to do some craft shopping with Grams and then lunch at Ruby Tuesdays, but Tropical Storm Nicole decided to rain on our parade...literally. So Lily got all dressed and ready to go and then decorated our couch for a little while.

While Lily was recovering from her big day by taking a nap, Mommy decided Johnny needed to play in the rain. It was a perfect day for it, not cold at all and a nice steady down pour.

This is not the first time he has played in the rain, but it took me a few minutes to convince him to jump on in. "Ewww it muddy. We go inside, you clean me up."

But once he figured it out, he played until he was soaked from head to toe!


Wish we had more mud, but really it was just water puddles in the grass.

It looks like I will be getting Ella from school some days! When I got her yesterday I felt so grown up and she was so excited to see us. It was one of those moments for me when you realize life is changing all the time, kids grow up and so do you.

She came in and we put in her special Imagination Movers CD (all of the Imagination Movers had signed it) and she sat on the couch to hold Lily. She kept telling Johnny to dance while she was sitting.

Then this OUTSTANDING big cousin pulled John Robert into the chair to read him books. She was telling him about fossils and what dinosaurs ate. She took on that big cousin/sister role very well. She is so mature and sweet always taking care of everyone else!

One of those Momments

I was cuddling with Johnny on the couch playing with his T- Rex and his dolphin. The T- Rex and dolphin where having a discussion...here is how it went:

T-Rex using Johnny's voice : Hi, I a Teransours
Dolphin using Mommy's voice : Hi, I am a dolphin
T-Rex: I happy
Dolphin: Why are you happy?
T-Rex: I not know
Dolphin: What makes you happy?
after a short minute of thought
T-Rex: My Mommy, My Daddy and My Baby.

I immediately started crying and hugging him and he immediately tried to escape me. Isn't it amazing that it isn't his toys, or snacks, or TV or the fact that he was suppose to be taking a nap and wasn't...it was his family that made him happy! This shows us the depth of his heart and soul and gives us a hint at the pure hearted man he will be.

Something else that really got me is that it isn't just Mommy and Daddy, but in three short months his baby sister is so ingrained in his life and he loves her so much that without thought or pause she was added onto what makes him happy, I wonder if he remembers before she joined us? If he is happier now?

What an OUTSTANDING little boy! Everyday he takes my breath away.

Parenting Advice at 3 Months

So I thought it was time for me to start writing down tips for parenting for my kids to look back on. I figured...mother of two = parenting expert!

From Birth to three months this is what I have learned, or believe and think important enough to pass on. I by no means am looking for debats and I hope no one feels judged, that is the last thing I want. Every parent is different and many different things are better for each family.

1.) There are no parenting experts! You know what is best for your children. By all means listen to those around you who have experience and education, but in the end the decision is yours and you are the one who knows and loves your child, each and every child is different from every other one in the world.

2.) Take as many pictures as you can and save as much as you want for keepsakes, these days will fly by faster then you can imagine. Don't be so wrapped up in feeding schedules, diapers, budgets and sleep to miss those precious baby moments. Three months feels like a life time, but it is so short, and 2.5 years will be here before you know it.

3.) Babies cry, fuss and whine, and sometimes for no reason. You can't run to every sound, relax. Sometimes you have to put the baby in a safe spot and walk out of the house for a few minutes, take a deep breath and head back to it.

4.) Not every choice is life or death and some choices are much less important then you think. Sometimes a plastic Chinese made toy is fine and sometimes bottle feeding is best.

5.) It takes at least 3 months for you and your baby to hit your stride. There will be more then a few days when you feel like the world is crashing around you and you will never be a good parent. But rest easy knowing it takes time you and your baby to figure this thing out and fit together in this new life and world.

6.) Your children come first, in every way. You make the decision to have a child, you make the decision to put your wants behind them. Though not every choice you make will have life effecting repercussions for your children, but some will.

7.) In 20 years no one will care or know who rolled over late or early. My mother always remembers the best advice my Gramma gave her was to not worry too much about when they do what you think they should and don't rush them. Children grow up too fast on their own, we don't need to make it any faster.

I plan on doing more of these as you kids grow, so you know what Mommy thought about, which was everything! And I want you to learn as much as you can from my life to make your lives easier, but I hope you can understand this and aren't confused by the contradictions.

John Robert 2 and a half years!

For Exactly 30 months Johnny has been running our lives, and it has been wonderful!

We know how lucky we are, John Robert is one of those great kids, who is smart and sweet, adorable and mostly well behaved, but still very ruff and tumble. He learns everything quickly, animal sounds and names, concepts like up, down, under, in and over and most dinosaur names and what they eat. In fact when he plays with the different size dinosaurs he organizes them by species and into little families, with Mommies and babies. He loves imaginative play, making his dinosaurs and other "friends" talk to each other and play games. He has recently discovered hide and seek! and plays it all the time, even when no one else is, he will hide and then count (up to four, though some times skipping 2) and then runs out laughing.

He loves to dance and sing with just about anything. Singing usually includes yelling out random words when they come up in the song. He loves taking walks with Papa in the mornings and gathering his collection of leaves, acorns, feathers and his favorite, rocks! His favorite shows include Dinosaur Train and Go Diego Go with sides of Dora the Explorer and Sesame Street. He also loves to pretend to eat your nose and when you pretend to eat his.

Johnny is already showing us how protective he will be over his sister! He will get her anything she needs, and does not like it when he can't see her..."MY WIWWY." "I need see my Wiwwy." Whenever she is doing belly time he does it with her and likes to put her binky back in her mouth.

When it comes to eating he still eats just about anything, but his appetite goes up and down often, eating a lot for a few days, then just nibbling for a next few days. His favorite foods are currently chewies, oranges, grilled cheese and mac and cheese.

When it comes to discipline we still use timeout exclusively and mostly that works, unless he thinks we aren't paying attention and climbs out. Last week Shawn sent him to his room when he was really being bad and you would have thought we had slapped him flat. He screamed and cried big tears and immediately started to behave himself. We have to keep that for worst case behaviors, it really effects him and made us feel really bad! He is full of energy and can be a hand full, but mostly he listens well and is a good boy. He always astonishes people with how polite he is, saying "pese" "tank you" and "welcome." without being prompted!

Johnny is just such an amazing kid who loves to be held and cuddle (when he is watching TV,) give hugs and kisses and is always saying "I wuv you" "I wuv my Mommy, my Daddy, my Wiwwy, my Papa, my Grams" and he loves everyone else just ask him!

Lily's First Rice Cereal

Yesterday Lily had a doctor's appointment becuase even though she was on the Zantac and special rice cereal added formula she was still spitting up. But it is just spit up! She gained two pounds in the past 5 weeks and is now up to 13 pounds 9 ounces at around 80th percentile (30th in height.) The doctor said if the Zantac and formula where not dealing with the spit up there was no point in having her on it. And if she was still gaining weight then "she is just a spitter." We are going back to the organic formula and no Zantac (unless her spit up gets back while off of it.) And now we get to start rice cereal! But nothing else until six months, right around Christmas she can have her first fruits and veggies. She should also grow out of "being a spitter" around 6 or 7 months.

Mommy made her bib for her first meal.

She was so excited!



She did so great! Here is her first bite.


She wasn't sure what to do with it at first, but it didn't take long and then she stared at the spoon in between bites, and got down the rice cereal no problem!

Zantac

If you have been reading my blog for a while you may have noticed a pattern in Johnny, he throws up, pretty often. Every time he has done it we have been able to credit it to something else, like a flu or dairy, but in the last week he has thrown up twice without any warning and has been perfectly fine right after, no fever no nausea, just vomit. At first I wasn't concerned, kids throw up, but when I started searching the internet I freaked myself out. The most common reason kids randomly vomit in the middle of the night is brain tumor! YIKES!!! The doctor's office shared my concern and we rushed to an appointment. Thankfully becuase he has been vomiting since he was about 9 months old and not always in the middle of the night the doctor ruled out brain tumor (along with a physical exam that turned up nothing else strange and the lack of migraines.) Instead we settled on a reason that makes a lot of sense to me, reflux. With Lily's issues and my mom's it makes sense Johnny would have it too, it doesn't have to start at birth. What is most likely happening is the reflux is hitting his pyloric valve causing him to vomit. So now Johnny is on Zantac, just like Lily and Grams. Hopefully this will keep him from vomiting randomly and keep any reflux he may have from getting worse. In 2 months we will go back and discuss if it is working.