playing ketchup again....

My lil man. Oh, my sweet lil man. He gives me a run for my money some days. He is just the busiest boy I know. Even when he is doing a relaxing activity such as making Mama color pictures he is still squirming, bouncing and talking up a storm. He sure does keep me going with his busy self.

His newest skill is learning colors in Spanish. He currently knows: azuel, rojo, verde, blanco, and amarillo. (Blue, red, green, white, and yellow) He is so proud to show how well he knows his colors in Spanish. I often wonder how long he'll keep this with him. I guess as long as we keep teaching and being repetitive he'll remember, right?

It's hard to believe he is almost 2 1/2 years old. Where does the time go? I still remember the day I gave birth to him like it was yesterday. Some nights while laying in bed (next to him as we are currently sharing a room at Grandma's house) I replay being pregnant with him and the day of his birth. One of the happiest days of my life.

I haven't been able to capture a good smiling picture of lil man in a while. I can only get a cheesy grin with his eyes closed..

or with a mouth full of food..........

or crying...........

I'm sure Adisyn will look back at these pictures wondering what the heck is wrong with her big brother. Well, sweetie - I think he is just jealous since you are the baby and he doesn't like you touching his "stuff". He does love you though. In his own way and I know once he is older he'll be very protective of you.

"Whatcha cryin' like that for, brother? Mama just wants a picture of us together."

"Oh my. Are you for real? Just smile for once silly brother"

Adisyn clearly has no problem with Caden. She LOVES her big brother. She is always watching him and wanting to play and interact with him. It's simply adorable. My favorite is in the morning when I pull her out of the play yard and she looks right at the bed looking for Caden. When she finds him a huge smile spreads across her face. It melts my heart every time.

Adisyn is still doing well on table foods. Her all time favorite is avacados, cheese, bananas and graham crackers. Two of her favorites does not help her constipation issues, so we don't do them very often. Since her transition to table foods I've had to give her some suppositories and now a daily does of Miralax. We continue to try the sippy cup and it is getting better even if I'm the one holding it. She is starting to swallow her juice/water rather than spitting it out or attempting to "chew" it.

I have a feeling within the next two months she'll be crawling. She is trying so hard to get up on those hands and knees and she can lift her upper body off the floor like it is nobody's business. For now rolling around gets her anywhere she is determined to go for the moment.

I simply adore this girl.

and so does everyone else.

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We bought our new house Memorial weekend and it's now mid September. The kids and I are comfortably living at Grandma and Papa's house. We are anxiously awaiting the move in day, which is not too far away. Maybe one more month or less. Ryan started a new job that we hoped would have given more time to work on the house (and more family time once the house is done), but it's actually done quite the opposite. Some changes have taken place at his job, so hopefully in the next few weeks his hours won't be as long. Fingers crossed.

continued success!

We have continued success with soft table foods for Miss Adi-Em! She LOVES, LOVES, LOVES table foods. Forget the purees! I can't get over how well she does either. She does amazingly well gumming the food before swallowing and it's awesome to see her eating so well.

Yesterday at the sitter's house she ate almost a whole banana, rice cakes, frozen puree cubes with BM mixed in, and a little bit of her watermelon. In the evening I gave her some cheerios and she was gobbling them up! She can't use her pincer grasp, so we have to hold the cheerio up to her mouth and she (very eagerly) grabs your hand to pull close to her mouth to get that cheerio in her mouth.

Grandma Lori's dog, Charlie, was hoping to get some cheerios too!

I found a great website that gives some great ideas on soft table foods to try for BLW (baby-led weaning). BLW just means that you are skipping purees and going straight to soft table foods. I've also heard that babies who choose the route of BLW are often less pickier as a toddler. Only time will tell if that applies to Adi-Em. I'm so excited about all this and just want to try everything, but she can only try one new food every 3-4 days.

Wholesomefoods

Here's to hoping Adisyn will sleep better once she is in a routine of eating more solids.

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As for my other light of my life, Caden ~ he's doing just awesome (not in the food category) - just in general. He continues to talk more every day and somedays he just blows my mind when he rambles off a sentence with words I didn't even know he knew. He is starting to use connector words as well.

My recent favorite is when I ask him a question.. "What do you want to do today?" and he replies with "Ummmmm" and then proceeds to tell me what he wants to do. I can ask him what he did during the day while I was at work and he'll repeat a few things like what he ate or what toys he played with. We can actually have a conversation with each other. I love it.

Caden is a little dare-devil. He fits the description of an Aries to the T. He loves playing "super-Caden", which is when his Daddy holds him out in a flying position so to speak, and zips him through the house as fast as he can go. He also likes to jump off the couch with someone catching him. He jumps off the couch with not an ounce of fear and total trust that you'll catch him. I have a feeling he is going to make my heart drop a million times throughout his life.

A few weeks ago he was off playing quietly in the kitchen. It was too quiet. I knew something was going on. It was THAT quiet. I walked into the kitchen to find he had shaken his milk box ALL over the place. The floor, rug, wall, blinds and himself were covered in milk. Stinker.Of course I stopped to take a picture before cleaning up.

They both have there good days and bad days. The bad days are either due to typical 2 year old tantrums, teething or fussiness after vaccinations. Overall, they are both great children and I'm so blessed to be able to wake up with them every day and I will continue to count each day as a blessing no matter what their mood they might be in that day or how much sleep they allow me to get. They are my heart. My world. My life.

adisyn's eating struggle...

Adisyn still continues to struggle with taking a bottle from our sitter and myself. Thankfully I’m still nursing and I don’t have to give her a bottle, but I do feel bad for our sitter. I can’t imagine how fussy Adisyn can be when she will literally go 10+ hours without eating. She also continues to fight eating purees. We are able to get a few bites in her before she gets fussy and then breaks down sobbing. Poor girl. She prefers to nurse and only nurse from mama. Can you imagine the pressure that puts on me?!

At her 6 month appointment our pediatrician suggested that I stop nursing and ONLY offer the bottle. That way she learns she will ONLY get the bottle. I did not agree with this approach because knowing Adisyn she will NEVER accept the bottle from me. Then what do I do? In addition, the kids and I are still living at my mother-in-laws and we are all sharing room. With Adisyn’s multiple nighttime wake ups I do not want her crying and waking up the household while I’m off in the kitchen making a bottle.

I made an appointment with another pediatrician in the office who I like very much and she was also the on-call doctor who saw Adi after birth. She was wonderful and spent some time with me talking about Adisyn and shared some great ideas on ways to get her to eat. Since Adisyn is struggling to take in solids she feels it is even more important that I continue to breastfeed. She explained it is completely normal for Adisyn to choose who she will take a bottle from. All my sitter can do is offer the bottle or other feeding techniques to get BM and food in her. It’s Adisyn’s job to eat.

The doctor said that if Adisyn is still rejecting puree food after 3 ½ months then she will probably never eat them at this point. She suggested that we go straight to soft table foods. I went over my fear of Adisyn choking. I’ve recently read a story about a 3 year old dying from choking on a hotdog and my anxiety level is pretty high. The pediatrician really calmed my fear about choking. She told me as long as Adisyn is getting air (if she starts gagging) to let her be. Let her figure it out and intervening will only drag it on longer. She also went over what to do if she truly starts to choke and cannot breathe.

Our “homework” for the next two weeks is to offer the following foods, some in which she has had before:

~frozen puree (with BM) in mesh feeder
~watermelon or other solid fruits in mesh feeder
~shredded cheese
~soft mashed peas
~rice cakes
*water from sippy cup without valve

*With the valve she won’t learn cause and effect. Once she realizes something is coming out of it she may start drinking from it.

Yesterday had success! Adisyn had a Mum-Mum (rice cake), watermelon from the mesh feeder and some banana. I pulled some small pieces from a banana and she sucked it off my finger and was excited for more! I definitely feel this is the right approach for Adisyn and I’m very excited about it!

Here are a few pictures of her eating her rice cake. (Excuse the quality – they were taken from my phone)

NOM NOM

tidbits.....

Adisyn....

...is rolling around like crazy
...still needs support when sitting
...is not consist with eating solids
...still fights the bottle
...wakes up 3-5 times per night
...has a smile that lights up the room
...loves her big brother
...is a daddy's girl
...melts our heart every day with her cuteness

Caden....

...is talking in full sentences
...can tell you a few things he did during the day if asked
...had tubes put in his ears last Wednesday
...continues to throw 2 year old temper tantrums
...is still a picky eater
...still uses his binkie
...is polite (when he really wants something)
...loves his baby sister
...amazes his family with how smart he is

happy 7 months baby girl!

Our Little Miss Adisyn is 7 months old today! It's hard to believe because I still feel like she is so little to be 7 months already. Crazy. I am so proud to be her mommy and cannot imagine the last 7 months without her in my life. She has a smile that will light up the room. Her smile is absolutely contagious - without a doubt.

Adisyn decided a couple weeks ago to roll from back to belly and is now a pro! She still needs you to sit close by when she's sitting on her bum, but I imagine she'll be sitting without support in the next month. I can tell how badly she wants to be on the go with her big brother when she is squirming and lunging forward to get after him or the toys. Speaking of toys or any object for that matter - she WANTS them. She wants to play, play, and play. I want her to stay immobile for a while longer (only selfish on my part), but I am excited for her to start walking and becoming more interactive with Caden.

Adisyn has a mad face. She started doing it yesterday when I was not moving fast enough for her. It's hilarious. She'll even mimic you when you ask her to make her made face. Love it! I was even able to capture it on video although it's so much funnier in person.