Monday, March 21, 2016

Baby Update: 2 &3 Months

Since babies change so fast, I need to hurry and update on Mr. Kendrick and what he's been up to lately.


If you take the time to watch the video and ignore my annoying mommy voice the whole time, you'll notice that he is a talker. Kendrick loves to talk and coo for me, and it's the sweetest thing in the whole world. He also loves to talk to Lydia and Ammon. Brigham is always extremely jealous. However, my mom is the one that got him to laugh for the first time at Stake Conference. Talk about jealous. It was the cutest little baby laugh ever and I CANNOT get him to do it for me. Boy do I try.

Kendrick also loves blowing raspberries. When you blow them at him, he gets the biggest grin and immediately does it back. It's probably because he loves spit and drool so much. I always say he's rabid, because it looks like he's foaming at the mouth with his lips constantly covered in a layer of bubbles and drool trailing down his chin and soaking the collar of his shirt.

It's probably because he loves to stick his tongue out over and over again. And when he wants a toy or tries to grab it, he sticks out his tongue and furrows his brow in concentration.


Kendrick is just barely showing any interest in toys and still has a hard time holding onto them. He mostly prefers his hands and loves to clasp them together and then bring them to his mouth to suck on them.


Kendrick has his first official blowout. Poop up the back and out the sides. So much fun for me. Don't ever let your babies poop while in the jumpy-chair. Brigham reminded me we learned that the hard way with Ammon, and I should have known better. Whoops. It probably didn't help that I'm still stuffing him in size one diapers, trying to use up the ones we have left. 

Speaking of jumpy-chair. We finally set it up for this little guy and he is so funny in it. He always wants to be sitting up - straining in his car seat and chairs, and even on the floor, to sit up - and for some reason, he thinks the bumpo, which could help him stay sitting up, is made by the devil, so this chair keeps him happy...for a few minutes anyway.


These two videos are the first time we put him in it. He is now much better at the bouncing.


Baby boy sleeps through the night (except for the one week he had a cold) and like clockwork falls asleep at 10:30 pm and then wakes anywhere between 6:30 am - 8:30 am. He unfortunately already wakes up to noise in the mornings, so with Brigham getting ready for work and our squeaky closet doors, I'm ready to move Kendrick to his own room. Usually I wait until six months, but I'm pretty much there already. I'm just not sure it'll be any better in his room - he'll probably just wake up to the kids getting up for school.


Before you go on thinking he's some sort of sweet, innocent dream baby, let me tell you what he's like during the day.


Besides crappy napping skills, this little boy sure has a temper. He already throws fits like a two-year old. I was trying to clean the house and hold him at the same time to keep him from crying, but since he kept screaming, I decided what was the point of holding him? He can cry just as easy in his chair as in my arms, and I can clean twice as fast. And that, folks, is my life.

I was checking out at the grocery store and I realized everyone was looking at me uncomfortably, and then I realized it was because Kendrick was crying in his car seat. I knew he was crying and had already tried giving him his binkie and rocking his car seat, but I'm so used to tuning out the crying that I sort of forgot that I should probably hurry. And that not everyone else is used to it too. I laughed to myself and booked it out of there.

He starts out good in the morning, and as the day progresses he gets crankier and crankier. I'm always so relieved when Brigham gets home. I can't complain TOO much, he's not the worst ever. Just high maintenance. And the older he gets, the easier he is to distract and the longer he goes being half decent. Let's just say I get a lot of pacing done in the evenings.


Although he's quick to cry, he does calm down with work and I can handle that. He is quick to smile too and that sure helps. I think he is just an emotional baby. When music plays he can't decide whether to smile or frown, and sometimes it makes him break out into the most soul-wrenching cry. Like he has been devastated beyond belief. I think it stirs his emotions and he doesn't understand what to do with those feelings.


This video is Kendrick at two months.

And this one at three months.


It's fun to see how much he's grown.

I'd forgotten how hard the first couple of months after having a baby are. So many hormones, so much change, so many adjustments. I'm still learning how it is to be so tied down again. With Lydia and Ammon older and independent, I've had a more difficult adjustment than I thought I would. I keep finding myself in the mind frame that this is just temporary and I'll be able to have my life back tomorrow. Hahaha, then I remember, nope. Life change. Good life change, and exactly what I wanted, but my freedom is drastically limited all the same. I also forgot how I don't really enjoy the first couple months of babies. I know that makes me sound terrible. But I don't. I really love it around two months when they start to get personalities, and schedules, and wake up to the world. So this last month has been good as things start looking up a bit more. Not to mention the gray Washington winter weather and rain doesn't help with the feeling trapped.

Kendrick still loves his food, always wanting to eat earlier than is time. He spits up, but not too badly. He has a fantastic receding hairline and I'm really interested to see what color his hair grows back in as. Will it stay dark, or turn blonde like Ammon's? He's doing much better in his car seat, though it's still not his fav. His favorite way to be distracted is to undress him. He loves his feet and legs being massaged, and when he's fussing out in public, I'll often take his socks off or one leg out of his sleeper and rub them to keep him quiet. He has the longest, most perfect lashes that curl in just the perfect way. People say he looks just like a Gerber baby and I say I just love him. Our whole family is smitten.


If you can't tell. 

Friday, March 11, 2016

Lucky Number Seven

I don't know what it is about Lydia - maybe because she's my first child and the first to hit all the milestones - but her birthdays are always a little painful for me. I just can't believe how old she suddenly is.


This year Lydia turned seven. Seven! I never saw myself with a seven year old, and I just don't know how this happened. I still want her to be my little toddler girl. Next year she'll be old enough to be baptized!

Although I'm shocked that she's already seven, I sure love the seven-year-old self that she is. Loving school, friends, family, learning, fun, and all things girly, she's a joy to have...even with the eye-rolling, learning how to hide things from your parents, bossiness, and ignoring the rules that come with growing up. 

This year her birthday was on a Sunday which she was excited about, since that's her favorite day of the week. It was supposed to be on Stake Conference, but then Stake Conference was moved and Lydia was strangely disappointed about that. I guess she liked feeling extra special that her birthday was on a special Sunday.


Lydia woke up to a new dress to wear and for her presents she was spoiled with Shopkins, Beanie Boos, clothes, shoes, scarves, purses, pencils, notepad, Cheetos, her own electric pencil sharpener (the drama involving sharpened pencils for homework around our house is insane!), and more. I'd say she was one lucky girl. 


She picked a cookie cake, of course - her standard request. And I found a chocolate peanut butter lover's recipe since Lydia loves Reeses. It was the best cookie cake yet. So good! She was a little afraid of the fire on the candles, so blowing them out took a little while with some convincing to get a little closer. For her birthday dinner she requested macaroni and cheese, green apple slices, jello, and canned green beans. Sounds like a seven year old picked that meal :)


She's our strong, sensitive, silly, smart girl. I give her the same advice I heard her all-knowingly tell Ammon in the shower the other night, "Be happy to be you, because you're the only one of yourself." 

And oh how I love who you are.

Lydia's Six Year Birthday Interview

1. What's your favorite song? Let it Go
2. What's your favorite thing to do with Mom? Baking with her
3. What's your favorite thing to do with Dad? Help him do the dishes
4. What's your favorite day of the week? Sunday because I can go to church and learn about Jesus
5. How old are you? seven
6. Who is your best friend? Emery and Quincy
7. What's your favorite thing to do?  Spend time with my family
8. What's your favorite color? Teal
9. What's your favorite food? macaroni and cheese
10. What do you like to do with your family? Play games
11. What's your favorite toy? My Littlest Pet Shop
12. What do you want to be when you grow up? A vet
13. What makes you happy? My family
14. What makes you sad? When someone in my family gets really sick
15. What's your favorite show to watch? Spongebob
16. What's your favorite book? Put Me in the Zoo
17. What do you like to learn about? Australia
18. Where do you like to go? Utah
19. What's the best part of your birthday? Spending time with my family
20. What's your favorite treat? Cheetos and Hershey bars
21. If you could meet someone famous who would it be? Katy Perry
22. What's your favorite movie? Minions
23. What's your favorite game to play? Chutes and Ladders
24. What sports do you like? Hockey, swimming, dancing, basketball
25. What do you like to wear? Dresses
26. Who's your favorite princess? Ana

Monday, March 7, 2016

Tappana Times: Smiling the Winter Blues Away

Despite the winter-y month of February with all the grays and rain, we've done our best to keep the seasonal blues away.

We went and saw my sister as a gnome in a play. Ammon, sans-nap of course, crashed where he was while waiting for the show to start.


Just keeping up the trend of falling asleep anywhere and everywhere. I'm going to do a blog one day just showing all the different pictures of Ammon sleeping in crazy places. It might be a long post...

Kendrick, Ammon, and I have gone to continuing-ed religion classes to get more spiritual. (Not to mention my mom is the teacher and she's fabulous). However, Kendrick was being too cute I just ended up snapping a million pictures of his face.


What's new.

Brigham's car died. :( :( However, we knew it was coming since it's had a lose piston for YEARS and we've been blessed it lasted this long. Although I was sad, I didn't feel too stressed. I felt like we would be taken care of and that it would all work out. We were blessed to find a great deal on a great car within the first half hour of looking.

Driving up to Puyallup to buy the car, we stopped at one of our favorite places that we always used to eat at in Provo when we would go for football games or to visit Kyle and Katrina: Pita Pit.


Mmmm, mmmmm. Of course we stopped. I've only ever seen Pita Pit in two places in Utah, and this random city in Washington. Think Subway, but in a pita with lots of sauce choices. I snapped a picture and sent it to Katrina to reminesce about old times.








And now we have a 2006 Toyota Corolla with only 70,000 miles on it. That is a serious miracle for us. May it live long and prosper. Please, please, please, please, please, please.


Please.

All the winter rain = plenty of mud for the puppies to cause trouble with.



And their baths have increased in number dramatically.

Winter also brought the cold and flu season, and unfortunately we were not spared. Not even the baby. With him being about the same age Ammon was when he contracted rsv and was hospitalized with Lydia for a week, I had WAY too many flashbacks with our mucus, long nights of pacing, and coughing, and crying. And by the end of the very long, horrible, no good week, Kendrick and I were both feeling this way.


What baby just sits there with a perpetual glare on his face? This boy. And it's another reason why I just love him.

Despite all the fears and long nights and crying (sick babies are the saddest, worstest!) I was blessed with the know-how of how to administer a good suction (due to our past horrific rsv experience, seriously the doctor made me practice in front of him at the office) and I was blessed with a helpful husband that took him so I could get a break in the evenings.


.If that's not attractive, I don't know what is.

Basically, we survived and came out with only a lingering cough for me.

Once we passed through our ills, we went to the free bingo night at the school.



The older kids enjoyed a night out and I even splurged and bought them each a fifty-cent popcorn. Whew! They take a lot to impress. Kendrick was jealous, but remained half-decent...for the first hour, and then we had to bust out of there before he lost his marbles. No big bingo prizes for us, but the night out together as a family was all we needed.

A few sunny days appeared in February and we made good on them with plenty of walks. When I felt stressed that Kendrick spent too much time in his car seat, we pulled out the back pack.

And if you want to know a good way to convince a five-year old to go on long walks with you, play this little game I created: pick a random number and every time they find that number while walking they get a jelly bean. Suddenly, Ammon turned from dreading our long walks to asking to go and running down streets looking for number seven on mailboxes and houses so he could have candy. I might have to switch to blueberries or something due to the large amount of sugar consumption....but I'm proud of him keeping up with me on three mile walks.

All in all, winter hasn't been too terrible.


But with that smile and those dimples chasing the blues away, how can it be that bad?