Miss Laela is officially seven months old today! How did she celebrate? By giving me a massive smile after her afternoon nap, revealing a new tooth! Great work, little L! I had no idea you were even really teething! I asked her to please pop her other top front tooth one of these days so she wouldn’t look too much like a redneck 😉 Don’t worry, it was all in jest. She’s quite a beauty.

I spent the afternoon with my mom and the kids. Friends of mine just had their second baby, and we volunteered to make them supper today. So while we played with the babes and visited amongst ourselves, we made one of my favorites – baked spaghetti, as well as one of those yummy broccoli salads with all the munchies in it, and another batch of that messy and delicious cherry cheesecake square dessert. The last time I made that dessert, I made it in the wrong size of pan, and it was super messy. So this time, I did exactly what I was supposed to do, and it was even messier! What gives?! Oh well. Its yummy.

My mom made a delicious hashbrown casserole and farmer sausage for supper, so that was so comfy and yummy. When it was all over, we made our first ever trip to the city together in our van! All six of us!! There were a few really good grocery deals on, so we went in just for a couple of things simply so we didn’t have to try to get in tomorrow. It was nice and relaxed. Dekker loved having grandma and grandpa along, sitting in the backseat so close by.

He was so very sad when we dropped them off, and wailed good and proper, but was quieted before we were even out of the driveway. Tired kids. Tired kids who are not tucked in for night, and tired parents who are so ready for a bath and some House before bed.

I had a great day. I am so proud of Dekkers speech, and so thrilled about Laela’s latest tooth arriving with no fuss at all. I’m very very grateful for my family.

We had your average lazy day, which wasn’t really anything to write about, so I figured I would just put up some pictures from this evening! I have terribly cute kids, and Dekker LOVES watching himself on my phone, so while the pictures taken that way are never exceptional quality, they work for the best faces and poses.

** Side note: Never try to do ANYTHING in the world while upgrading your phone software. Because it shuts down everything. Everything. So we wait for the photos to load onto my computer from my phone so they can then be transferred to my blog.

(insert elevator music here)

Done!

Dekker’s latest activity is reading books together. Not necessarily being read to, but reading a book alongside someone else reading a book. No words were exchanged in this setting.

Laela listens and responds to “jump around!” There’s a terribly cute video of it on my Facebook. Speaking of that, do any of my readers not do Facebook? Should I post stuff like that on Instagram? Do people who do Facebook not do Instagram? I have no idea.

A brand new box of colors, and he goes for white. Lame.

Besties

Dekker has yet to master the blowfish face, but this is his solid attempt towards it anyway. He just sort of squishes his lips out.

Well, there I go, embarrassing him already, at such a young age!!! And if this is truly embarrassing for him, then jokes on him, because I certainly don’t plan to stop giving him kisses and cuddles! Love those kids.

Brady and I made the smart decision last night to stay up watching tv until 1:30am. We forced ourselves to finish our show and fell asleep immediately after. It tends to be that kind of night the Laela wakes up for her bottle earlier than usual. We were asleep for less than 45 minutes before she awoke. We could barely form our words to each other, we were so tired! And then the little miss was up before 8:00. So yes, we are tired.

It showed in todays activities. We played downstairs for a large chunk of the day, and honestly, just waited for the kids to nap. When they napped, I cuddled up and played on the computer while Brady did up his quarterly report on the couch. We relaxed for the few moments we had while the naps overlapped, but lately the littlest little likes her naps short and sweet. However, because of that, we got three out of her today 🙂 It helped.

My parents arrived around 5:30 so we could leave around 6:00 for our small group meeting. They watched and fed our kids, and put them to bed, while we feasted on delicious potluck and did a session together in the comfort of our friends’ brand new house. There were ten of us, and one teeny little baby girl. It was great to be among friends for the evening, and get out of the house a bit. But the reality is, I’ve been yawning all day. Its time to cuddle up in bed and rest these sore, sore eyes.

Sleep tight.

My family lead music at church this morning, which we haven’t done all together in what seems like forever! It was also good to be back in church. We had a big break from church a while ago, but have been attending fairly regularly again, and its nice to be back around such a fabulous group of people. Dekker doesn’t exactly feel the same way, and was pretty hands on through the service. As usual, though, he was thrilled to go to grandma and grandpas for the day.

We had steak and potatoes for lunch, which was completely delicious. After we ate and the kids went down, my mom and I made a quick run to Costco while the boys hung back and visited. I think we all enjoyed the afternoon. We had a comfy supper of just toast and fruit, and played lots of toys and relaxed. We were all pretty whooped, kids included. If only it was socially acceptable for adults to express their fatigue through loud vocalizing and running full force into furniture.

My parents, as usual, were very forgiving of us leaving a mess in the living room and unwashed dishes in the sink so we could haul our kids out as easily as possible. Dekker is finally learning how much he can handle of things, and when he is tired, he is happy to go home in his “new blat wan.” So we drove home and listened to music we all enjoy.

Halfway home, the snow started. Its rainy at my parents’ house, and winter at ours. Insane. At least we’re all tucked away and warm. We’ve recently stopped watching tv while in the tub, in an effort to talk more and not just zone out all evening. But today is definitely a tv evening. I’m sooo ready to soak in the bubble bath and watch House. Anyone else have similar plans? Because you should.

Sleep deep, all. Keep warm.

One of these days, I’ll have an interesting post for you guys to read. I promise. I can’t wait to post waaay too many pictures of my kids happily playing outside, or going on trips, or running free in diapers alone. Its going to be magnificent. But right now, its a bit gloomy outside and our house is cold. The kids are sporadically cranky and so are their parents. So we hid out.

As far as successful stories go, Dekker had a very good bath! It was the first time we ever bribed him, really, giving him a small easter chocolate before and after the bath. I’m not sure it even translated, but I was sooo thrilled to give it to him after he had so much fun and so little fussing! I’ll post a video on Facebook as soon as I finish this up. If I forget, someone let me know! Laela also had a very happy bath, which was nice and quick and a relief for all those involved.

It seems like our days have been beginning and ending hard, and this morning was no different. But Dekker was a happy happy boy at bedtime, which was refreshing. Laela is eating now, and if she finishes this bottle, she’ll have eaten a couple of ounces over her normal amount. Yay, Laela!

We are ahead of the game this evening, for some reason. The bath is fully run, we ate supper at a normal time, and we even have fresh bedding on our bed 🙂

In the few moments its taken to finish this post, Laela has finished her bottle and is being wrapped up. Knock on wood that our night is as smooth as the evening was! Gotta be all fresh and new for leading music at church tomorrow!

It will be a shorty post today. The kids and I got to sleep in a bit this morning, which was lovely. The weather, as I’m sure you all know, is crummy and cold and wet. I awoke to a layer of snow again, which I’m finding more and more difficult each and every time. But such is life, and we did our day. Dekker recently got tired of oranges so we stopped buying those little mini mandarins for him. But I bought regular oranges and I finally convinced him to eat one this morning. “Its juicy” was all I had to say, and he was sold. And sooo disappointed when it was over! However, we’ve recently learned that Dekker is likely allergic to/irritated by tomatoes, so I didn’t allow him to have any more acid, which he desperately wanted. It was sad.

He played well all afternoon and so did Laela. She had a decent enough morning nap, and was out until about 1:00pm, maybe 1:30pm. I’m not positive.

She has been up since. She would not have an afternoon nap. She would cry and cry until she could barely catch her breath. I’d go retrieve her and those big puffy red eyes from her bed, and cuddle her for a few minutes. The puff didn’t go down. She was wiped. But wouldn’t have it.

This was an extra fun dynamic to our evening with Dekker. He woke up from his nap at 6:00 and cried consistently until 7:00. Best evening ever. He was in bed fifty minutes later. It was just exhausting. Brady and I still have to eat, but that comes after we get Laela down, if its possible. Who knows.

I don’t want to just here and whine, and that is why the post will be short tonight. I know I’m not any more tired than any of you guys. The weather is a hard thing for me to overcome as well, so I’m gonna just call it a night on here 🙂 I’m looking forward to having Brady home tomorrow, so we can tag team. Yay for an indoor day all together. I think this calls for a musical!!!

Probably the best title I’ve ever come up with, if I do say so myself.

Today I took Laela in for her vaccinations today. It went really well, and the nurse was incredibly supportive and not at all judgemental, which was refreshing considering our past experiences at hat particular clinic. Every question I answered was well received, with the nurse saying “That’s perfect” or “You’ve done this before then?” It felt great to be supported. Little L is weighing in at a whopping 17 lbs 11 oz. She is beautiful and round and adorable and healthy.

The day was spent with the kidlets, and my mom was along for the ride so I could go to Dr. Mike, kid-free, buy diapers at Costco, and take Laela in for her appointment, while she entertained whichever kids were left. It was a wonderful help. We spent the evening practicing music for church on Sunday, and playing with the loud littles. Its fun to get back in the groove of doing music together. Its been a while.

However, what surrounded my day today was car cries. As usual. I’ll be honest with you guys. My car cries often start or focus around Laela’s birth. Still working on that. Today, it was about Dekker’s eye surgery. I had this completely strange moment yesterday afternoon when it was approaching his nap time. I saw him starting to fade, and I thought to myself “Oh no, I don’t want to have to put him to bed because he hates his drops so much.” What?!?! Drops have been gone for several weeks! Its been about two and a half months since his surgery, so eight weeks since drops. I’m not sure what brought me there in my head, but it broke my mommy heart today as I drove.

Here’s a photo progression of where we came from and where we’ve ended up. So far, anyway.

This picture was taken over May long in 2013. This was the weekend that his eyes started crossing for the first time. So this was probably the day before it happened. Whatever “it” was. Pre-crossed, anyway.

The new face of my boy. Glasses, and a pronounced turn. Still absolutely gorgeous, but new. This was right before surgery.

Ugh. This picture still destroys me. Surgery day. February 11, 2013. Angry, bloody, sore eyes. But straight.

Look at those peepers. Straight as an arrow. This little boy is changing sooo fast! This evening, he told Brady and I, “La cray cray.” Laela is cray cray. Like crazy, but better. He is becoming someone new. More comfortable in his own skin, more confident, braver, and even more observant than ever. So much has changed his he’s been able to see straight. I’m so thankful!!

I continue to pray for his visual health, and that Dr. Rubab wouldn’t see any decline. Feel free to do the same 🙂

Sleep well, friends. Thank you for caring about my family. We feel loved.

I suppose todays post doesn’t really have a specific destination, but I just need to spell out a few things we’re in the process of figuring out with Laela. Always learning, always learning.

Miss Laela is NOT an eater. If it were up to her, she would eat before bed and once in the night, and then maaaybe in the day. She is a very busy, distracted little girl. I don’t know if she will ever hold her own bottle, because she just couldn’t be bothered to sit still and drink it.

Since she has started her fun new thing of wildly throwing up right before bedtime, we’re having to feed her considerably less before she goes down for the night. Therefore, she is waking up in the night without fail, and then decently early for the day. Before 8:00am. I then have to ride her all day long, every three-ish hours, feeding her little bits, because when I feed her more, she barfs. Its insaaaaane!!!

I don’t want to pro and con my kids AT ALL, but at this point in his life, Dekker was eating four full 8oz bottles per day and sleeping like a rock. Laela is working on her sixth feeding of the day and won’t hit 24 oz.

** I know the number doesn’t actually matter. She is growing beautifully, with that little tummy rounding out. She is producing a lot of very wet diapers in a day. She is fine. Its just the figuring. And I want her to eat more milk in less feedings!

I’m still diligently working on solid foods, every evening, and she is still not opening her mouth for the spoon. Her little serving of rice cereal is made in one ounce of milk, so its roughly six bites. It can take up to a half hour to get those things in her mouth! Crazy town. But again, he’s just too distracted.

I bring all this up because of the sleeping. I’ve lovingly felt for several months now that I’m done having a baby in my room. I’ve gotten more comfortable with it, and she wakes and falls back to sleep on and off while we’re still awake. Its not a huge deal. But she is rapidly outgrowing her cradle, and is DEFINITELY not consistently sleeping through! We often get from 8:30-5:00, so its a great stretch, but not a full night. I feel like letting her cry it out in the same room as Dekker wouldn’t be very nice. I wouldn’t mind if she cried for a bit and they both fell back to sleep, but we’ve let her cry it out from time to time, and she can go for quite a while at quite a volume. I’m at a bit of a loss.

I know lots of babies are doing these things, but I’m feeling a bit scattered. We’ll go for her six months shots tomorrow (late, oops!) and maybe they’ll have some tips. Or we’ll just keep trying 🙂 I love her regardless of her sleeping patterns.

Speaking of sleeping patterns, I’m off to begin my nighttime routine of a bath, a snack, and some House.

Dekker, Laela, and I spent the day with Jerilee, or to Dekker, Aynt Jerry. We raced cars and read books and took videos and talked about how funny we all were. Dekker is so taken with his Auntie, and Laela has assumed the death stare on her, so it would appear Jerilee is still on some level of Laela probation. The kids napped beautifully and us ladies put our feet up in the cool basement and talked about life and future plans. It was wonderfully relaxing and comfortable.

I had a few spells of being a grown up today and made a few calls, booked a few appointments, and gathered some info on Dekkers glasses. His frames are showing some wear, and I needed to be refreshed on what the warranty looked like. The frames carry a one year warranty only, and he’s been in glasses for almost an entire year!!!!! Go figure! That went by fast!

Brady brought home vermicelli bowls from Summer Roll for supper, which hit the spot famously. Once the littles went to bed, the rest of us ate some of my still delicious cherry cheesecake dessert. I’m not sure what to call it, honestly. Because its not a cherry cheesecake, but it didn’t cut up all nice to its not bars either. Not even squares. Its more of a cherry cheesecake mess. But its a yummy mess so I guess it doesn’t matter what its called.

Now the house is quiet and my back is starting to bug me a little. Just a little, but I’m looking forward to the back rub I was promised a few moments ago. On that note, my shorty post ends here, so I can go get that started. We had a great day, and as usual, can’t wait for the next day with Aynt Jerry.

It officially hit +22C today!!! Dekker was practically scratching at the walls to get outside. No, its not like he usually asks but I don’t want to go, so we don’t. He hates snow, and cries when it touches him. Therefore, we are comfy cozy inside most days. But not today. We played outside on two different occasions today, and I can tell it made him feel awesome. Earlier in the day, it was still a bit too bright for the little Miss, but we made sure she got some vitamin D anyway.

The property beside us looks sooo much better than it looked last year!!!!

Brady and Dekker played some soccer, and I hung out with Laela, occasionally getting up to take pictures. Eventually, us ladies went inside while the boys played a bit longer.

It was actually Dekker who called the soccer game off and headed inside. They played for a bit longer…

but eventually both kids went down for a nap. While they napped, Brady and I visited for a bit before he went outside to do a few things, and then I watched a bit of tv and tried to plan supper. We had decided on just a solidly yummy, easy, guilty pleasure supper of noodles and jarred alfredo sauce. I came across a recipe for one of those super yummy broccoli salads with all the delicious bits in it. I ran downtown and picked up a good bunch of broccoli for $1. Sadly, they didn’t have any red onion, so it didn’t turn out as pretty as I had hoped, but it still had its yummy dressing, and bacon bits and sunflower seeds. Sooo delicious! I swear I ate half of it before supper.

So needless to say, supper was delish. Dekker is still in his stage of only wanting breakfast food for supper, and he was quite adamant about it when getting up from his nap. But when he saw the salad, he exclaimed “Grass!” and immediately ate a bite of both his “grass” and his noodles. He ate like a total champ without complaining 🙂 Of course, immediately after supper, he went over to the patio doors and somehow opened them himself. We took our cue and grabbed our shoes to head back out while it was still warm enough. It was sooo nice, and a great photo opportunity.

 

It was sad to go inside and go to sleep. But I am happy that my kids now have a little sun on their cheeks and a bit of fresh air in their lungs. And for Brady and I too, of course. It was refreshing. I wish it would stay.