Kallan: 5 Months

Who's 5 months old?!

Yep, this girl! Kallan Marie, nickname "The Googies"

Here's a 5 month update. As Lyla says, "Oh Kallan, you're getting big!" It's so true, she is just growing, growing, and learning new things all the time. She just loves to chomp, chomp, chomp. Here she is with her new favorite toy from Grandma and Grandpa. 

 And straight to the mouth.

Sleep: Kallan sleeps I think 8-10 hours every night. I think. It's funny how you don't keep track of every thing your baby does at every hour of the day the second time around. She is up for the day at around 9 or 10, unless Lyla gets her up earlier, which happens often. On a good day, she takes two short naps, and one long nap, but she is the lightest sleeper ever! I tried to nap her around us and noise every day to prevent this from happening.. but apparently it doesn't make a difference. Today I rustled a bag in the kitchen, and she woke up crying in our room. I guess it could be a coincidence.. but.. likely not. So far it works pretty good to play music in the room while she falls asleep and keep it on while she sleeps. Unless it's spotify, because the commercials wake her up...

Milestones: Rolling!!! Our roll-y baby is rolling every chance she gets. As soon as she's on her back, she'll be rolling onto her tummy. Even if she is tired of being on her tummy, she'll roll over anyway. She is getting pretty fast about it. She rolled over once from tummy to back, but I think it was an accident. She just kind of flung herself over, and then was like.. "What just happened?!" She is perfecting her grabbing skills and is starting to get frustrated when a toy is dropped and out of sight. Good thing she has such a great big sister there with her to help her out!

Ups: So many ups! Kallan is just a little lovey-dovey. She loves to just sit and observe with her hands on mine. When I change her diaper, she is constantly reaching for my arm, and when she gets a hold of it she brings it to her face for a little snuggle, and it makes her laugh! I think this is my favorite thing that she does lately. Everything makes her smile and laugh, it's really great to see her so happy all the time (unless she hasn't gotten a good nap in). It has been so fun to see her roll over, too, as she is so proud of herself and gives a big grin whenever she does it! I have loved watching her observe Lyla, and she always flashes her a big smile. She sometimes laughs when Lyla is laughing, but on the flip side, she'll cry when Lyla cries sometimes, too. If I have my hands full with something and Kallan starts fussing, Lyla runs over and says, "Goo gah goo gah, Kallan!!!" And Kallan always calms down. I love the smile she gives me when I get her in the morning, and the sleepy smile she gives me before going to bed. I'm the first thing she sees when she wakes up and the last thing she sees at night, and I couldn't be luckier. Ah, I could go on and on, we just love our little googies so much!

Downs: Well, still no bottle for Miss Kallan. It is quite frustrating, and we are trying every day. I think we have 7 types of bottles now, with varying speeds of nipple flow. Pacifier is still a hit or miss, too. So I am still a nursing machine, but it's ok. The hardest thing is nap time. Kallan just really doesn't like noise, and if I talk at all while nursing, she will stop, stare up at me like, "excuse me, I'm eating here." She'll do the same thing if Erik is sitting by us and he says anything. She'll crane her neck super far to give him the stare down. It's pretty hilarious, unless I'm exhausted and hoping she'll nap. With Lyla giving up her nap, it's just not really quiet enough for Kallan to take a really long nap every day, like I know she needs. I am trying to schedule Lyla's quiet time with Kallan's nap, but every day is different so it doesn't always work out. I am missing Lyla's nap desperately!

Likes: Mommy, the boob, putting her hands on us, studying new faces intently, rolling as soon as she's put down, her jingly owls, checking out her reflection, her new square teether, seeing Daddy when he gets home, laughing at her silly sister, laughing at anything, hugging Mommy's arm, getting dressed/undressed (although it seems to be getting less fun, sadly), bath, snuggling in bed, chewing on clothy objects, music - Daddy's guitar playing in particular

And making this face:

Dislikes: Bottles, although they do seem to make her laugh a bit, when she can't see anyone, when she drops a toy, too much tummy time, getting stuck on her tummy, loud noises - especially Daddy's big sneezes, when Lyla puts things on her head, being put down for too long

I just can't believe it's been 5 months already. Our littlest baby is getting so big, and more and more of her little personality is shining through each day. She is just full of happiness and giggles, often making herself laugh, but Daddy is still the funniest. She is loving and snuggly, and she seems to really like people. I think Lyla was already giving the pouty lip at this age to anybody that looked at her besides Mommy & Daddy. By the way, she can still stick out that bottom lip pretty well!

Love you Kallan Marie

Valentine's Day

We usually don't do too much for Valentine's Day, but this year, I kind of went "all out." I know people call it a "Hallmark holiday," but I don't think there's anything wrong with having a day where you do something extra special for the people you love or just celebrate love in general. I got little gifts for the girls and made chocolate covered strawberries.

I made my own Valentine's cards this year, too. Here's baby Kallan's.

I made a heart garland for Erik with fishing line. On each heart I wrote a reason why Erik is the best husband, father and friend. We are so lucky to have him!

It was a collaborative effort. Lyla painted some of the hearts. I was hoping she would do more, but she got bored pretty fast.

media naranja, my soul mate!

Lyla Bee

Oh Lyla, where should I begin? Lyla is beautiful, smart, funny, curious, caring, sweet, studious, snuggly, imaginative and a million other great things. On the other hand, she is defiant, stubborn, bossy and can throw a temper tantrum to boot. I have a love/hate relationship with this age. Most things I love, but there are definitely aspects I could do without. I learned the true meaning of a tantrum this past month... whatever I was calling tantrums before are a breeze compared to the temper tantrums we deal with now.

Lyla loves to make us laugh, and she does so very easily. She makes funny faces, talks in a funny accent and says hilarious things. But she is also very caring and intuitive and can be very serious. One day, I was on the verge of a breakdown because I was just emotionally wiped from the day. Lyla came up to me and said, "What's wrong, Mommy? I just want you to stay happy... do you want a hug?" It was the sweetest thing and made me feel a lot better. I love to watch her take care of her animals. She nurses them, rocks them, sings to them, and gets them band aids for their ouchies. Watching her be so caring makes me feel like I gotta be doing something right!

Lyla's sentences are unbelievably long these days. She talks so much, and the stuff she says just cracks me up. "Mommy, will you come see my show? It is really important!" "Hey Daddy, don't forget to call me!" "And then she can go back home in Mommy's belly!" We have a book called The Quotable Kid where we can fill in quotes... and it is filling up pretty fast! Lyla always says exactly what she's thinking... "Mommy, I don't like that little boy, he isn't nice" is something I often hear while we are out and about. She uses her words to try and negotiate TV time.... "I want to watch a lot. Two isn't a lot." "Just one more." And she is getting the hang of "You" vs "I" and "Yours" vs. "mine." Sometimes she still flips them around, so it's hard to say who she is talking about sometimes. Before bed, I give her a hug and say, "I love you so much!" And she flings her arms around me and says, "I love YOU so much!" And sings me a lullaby. She is so sweet!

I love watching her pretend. She pretends her room is the cottage home, a park, a barn.. all sorts of things. The other day, she pretended that Santa brought Kallan and I rocking horses, just like the one he brought hers, only different colors. So I pretended to rock with her while Kallan laid in her boppy. Lyla still pretended Kallan was on a rocking horse, too, and suddenly she hopped off hers, went over to Kallan and said, "Kallan, you need to scoot a little bit, you're too close to the edge! Careful!" She often acts out episodes of Dora or Diego. She makes bridges to help the ants. She catches falling animals in her room. She follows her map to get to certain places. Her imagination is endless, and I love seeing what she comes up with. 

Lyla is great about going on her potty and even goes on big potties sometimes while we are out and about. And much to my dismay, she has dropped her nap. So instead of a 3 hour nap, Lyla hangs out in her room for an hour of quiet time each day. Not really the same, and I am seriously missing the emotional reboot in the middle of the day. Things will be much easier in the summer when we have more to do during the day!

And she is a great big sister to baby Kallan. She talks to Kallan when she's fussy and says things like, "It's okay, Kallan, Lyla's here!" She doesn't hit anymore and she is very gentle and sweet. She always includes Kallan when she is pretending. Whenever Kallan isn't in the room, Lyla looks for her and asks where she is! Having two is definitely tough, though. I thought it was super easy at first because Kallan slept so much, and even Lyla would sleep 3 hours during the day. But now Lyla doesn't nap, and she is so noisy that Kallan has a hard time napping, too. Sometimes when Lyla is throwing a fit, Kallan will cry, too, and it's just a big headache waiting to happen. On the flipside, Kallan will sometimes laugh when Lyla is laughing... and that is like music to my ears!

25

Yesterday I turned 25 years old.

I've been doing a lot of reflecting this much. January is the month I found out I was pregnant with Lyla (And Kallan actually). And I would say that would be the definite turning point in my life. On top of that, I turned 25. Mid-twenties, here I am!

If you had asked me going into my senior year of college what I'd be doing at 25, my answer would not have been anywhere close to "married, mom of two, stay at home mom." So here I am at 25, reflecting on how fast things change, on how our goals and priorities change. How I am not currently doing any of the things I thought I'd be doing.

I don't ever look at the past years of my life in regret or sadness. Yes, days are hard, being a mom is hard and sometimes, I feel like I simply can't do it anymore. But for every bad day, there are ten amazing days. The most amazing days of my life making up for what feels like the most exhausting ones. That's what being a mom is. I never thought I'd choose to stay home, but once Lyla was born, it was clear pretty early on that I couldn't choose anything else. These early years go fast.. and once they are in school, you don't get those early days back.  I'll have the rest of my life to work!

I was always looking for the "next big adventure." But parenting is easily the biggest adventure of them all. I never look back at my old plans and wish I was there instead of where I am now. My life is filled with things that make me truly happy, and I am so grateful for that.

Here's to a great year of being 25!!