Mr. and Mrs. Wedding Duo (Formerly Photography by Shayna)

After 2 reschedules, we finally did our family portraits last night with Shayna San Nicolas now known as Mr. & Mrs. Wedding Duo. (And for clarification, they do families too. Not just weddings, its that Peter does video for weddings etc...)

First, can I just say the timing was excellent. We met her at 6:30pm. Tommy had an EXCELLENT DAY FOR NAPS!  Despite coming down with a cold he slept 9-11:30am, then 2:30pm-4:30pm nap. Kids ate at 5:15. Got dressed and left. Everyone was in a good mood, fed, and well rested. Man. It was just, perfect timing. As mothers out there, you guys know what I'm talking about when EVERYONE in the family is fed, rested and happy. Makes for an ENJOYABLE TIME!!!

This special session was 20-30 minutes long. It was asked a $250 donation be made to support the widow of Pastor Charlie from Mountain View Community church. In addition to the 20/30 min with Shayna, included is 5 pictures on disc. Too bad I like more than 5 pictures, but I'm hoping the cost to get more of the pictures on disc wont be too bad.  This mini session was perfect with the kids, at the end of the 30 min they were done!

I am in love with these few pictures I've seen. The rest should be available within a week to see.

Can I just say, since this is my blog and all, our kids are cute. Our kids are CUTE!!!! :)

7 Months

Thomas turned 7 months on Sunday.  Here's what our little guy has been up to lately:

- Improving on scooting backwards
- Can sit up without fear he will topple over
- Is trying to go from sitting up to laying down (to grab objects)
- Can hold his bottle with 2 hands and suck on it but cannot hold it so the fluid trickles down to drink (so I still have to help him)
- Squeals alot more lately, usually he's pretty quiet and just observant of the world around him
- Loves the dog (alot)
- Loves to be with Bobby & Brooklyn and watches them closely at what they do
- No teeth yet (my kids usually dont start to receive teeth until 9/10 months)

Thomas' sleep was so predictable, then a few days before he turned 7 months old he began to wake up every 3 hours at night! AH! So at first I thought, ok its a cold. Gave him some tylenol. No relief. Then I thought ok, maybe its teeth like everyone in the world tells me. Nope. Not teeth. So, I blamed it on development. We have finally broke the pattern, he wakes up around 3-4am for a bottle. Bed time has been about 6pm. Our day of late has been this:

Wake up at 6am - eat breakfast.
Bottle around 8am
Nap around 9am
Wake up around 11am - eat lunch
Bottle around 12pm
Nap around 1pm
Awake around 330-4pm - eat snack
A little bottle of whole milk around 5pm and/or some dinner with the family
Bath between 530-6pm
Bottle & Bed between 6pm-630pm

Its not perfectly on that schedule but it is close (especially when the big kids are home and are loud, they wake him up earlier than I'd like grrrr!!!).  Sometimes Tommy wakes up from his afternoon nap early, so then I have to hope he gets a cat nap in between the early wake time and bed time. Sometimes he does (because we are usually out & about for Bobby & Brooklyn) sometimes he doesnt. He's settling into a somewhat predictable routine which has made planning for trips and errands much easier.

Tommy can munch on cheerios, peanut butter banana pancakes and pretty much anything that is somewhat soft I give to him, either in small pieces or the whole thing and he takes a little bite off.  I've been making my own baby food, and any kind of food I make for the family that I can mash up I'll feed him. Ive started to give him some whole milk during the day instead of all just formula; he is eating a lot of regular food now so I kind of feel like he doesnt need as much formula. I make sure his baby food has lots of good stuff - like spinach and kale mixed in - to make sure he still gets the vitamins he needs.

Overall little man is doing good, learning and changing everyday.

Happy April Fools Day friends!

More Soccer

Five

We decided last second to have a little get together for Bobby's 5th birthday. It was great, aside from the fact our jumpy house broke after an hour or 2 of play - before everyone even got there. It was fine though. We have enough loot around the house to keep everyone happy, and a little swingset in the backyard.  The jumpy we got 3 years use out of it, and it saved us from ever having to rent one. I'm tempted to purchase it again just because the kids loved it so much; maybe get a bigger one or something. Another thing that I saved money on was Bobby's cake. Ok, so there are people who specialize in making cakes. Great. These cakes are great. They look so good, you almost dont want to cut it up and eat it. $225 to feed like 20 people though!! SERIOUSLY?! ITS CAKE! I didnt even spend that on my wedding cake. So, because Bobby wanted a Ninja Turtle cake, I just bought a toy to stick on the cake that I made for $3.00. A whopping $10.00 total for the cake. Ya. That's more like it. 

I cannot believe he is 5. I seriously feel like just last week he was a baby. Someone once said to me, the days are long but the years are short. So true. 

We had just close friends and family over, I wanted to do another party with my mom's side of the family but some people didnt want to help out, so I said screw it.

Overall, I had a nice time with everyone. Thanks to everyone who came and spent time with us. I know it was a pain in the butt during the week, so it means alot.

Have a good rest of the week .... GO KU!!

Soccer

Yesterday was great.  Derek's parents came to support Bobby, which was so nice and sweet - they rescheduled some of their day to be with us, which means alot to me and I know it meant alot to Bobby.  

The team Bobby played on had kids as young as age 3 up to age 6. The league sort of groups some kids together with no experience and age accordingly.  Our coach said that his other team in the age group of strictly 5-6 year olds had someone quit so we are moving Bobby up to the older age group and Brooklyn is going to replace Bobby's spot. She was so pissed off yesterday that she wasnt playing.  Derek mentioned maybe helping the Coach out after all...

It was a great first experience for all of us.  It is bittersweet to realize my first baby is nearly 5 and doing all of these big kid things. I dont know how to describe it; for awhile I couldn't wait until he was a "big kid" and now I'm so sad. I'm happy but sad. 

Life is getting chaotic that's for sure. Our week is: Monday night tumbing, Tuesday dance and jiu jitsu, Wed NOTHING whew, Thursday jiu jitsu & soccer practice, Friday night soccer practice. TOO MUCH CRAP. I dont mind letting the kids try out stuff, but we need to scale back on something else. We will see how it shakes out.

Have a great week!!!

Growing pains

I feel like we have been going through some growing pains these past few days.  I re-read some posts of when we brought Tommy home 6 months ago, and I thought, gosh I better write down some of the latest happenings so I can remember this!  It was neat to read the struggles we were going through 6 months ago...

I dont know what the heck is going on with little Tommy but his sleep is regressing.  This kid was sleeping (like I boasted about last time) from 6pm-4am. Now the little booger is up at 12am, or 3am, or some other wacky time. Granted, we are gone every single evening except Wednesday now, so his last afternoon nap sucks/gets thrown off. But come on, still. So today I have had it. No more swaddle because even the swaddle doesnt seem to be "working". Poor kid, had to cry himself to sleep for his first morning nap which was short - expected that. Dragged the kids to Costco - powered through a major grocery shopping trip in less than an hour (yes I am a professional at it now, please feel free to hire me).  Came home, kids went swimming, and Tommy still seemed cranky. Laid him down again - sans swaddle and tears tears tears! Ohhhh the tears! I gave in and tossed him a pacifier. I'm curious to see if its still in his mouth, its quiet back there and I'm nervous to wake him up. Ughhhhh I have dreaded the sleep growing pains for so long.  Its gut wrenching to hear the cries BUT MOMMY NEEDS SLEEP. GRRRR Otherwise I'm a grizzly bear and no one wants to see that!

The other growing pain is we have outgrown my nice little Tahoe. I love my car, UNTIL I have to maneuver 3 kids in the middle row. Both big kids want a window which means Tommy is either in the middle or the very far back. Either way, its either a pain in the arse to get Tommy buckled in the middle OR take my trunk away by buckling him in the back. So, I've been on the hunt to find just the right car for the family. At first I was sprung on the idea a minivan would solve all these headaches HOWEVER, an SUV is 1) A bit safer because its sturdier and 2) So much cooler than a damn van! But I did look at the vans just for kicks and they are sweet. I mean, sweet sweet. Push a button door opens, stand in the way of the door it re-opens (never have to worry about smashed fingers again!), push another button trunk opens, push another button seat folds down for you! COME ON!!!!!!!!!! Ugh. But alas, it is not for us. We have been in a bad car accident, and if I were to ever be in one with the kids in a van, we'd be toast. So, we are searching and searching. In addition, Derek's work truck is on its last leg, which means we are going to be doubled over in car payments. Soooooooooooooo not sure what is in store for us as far as cars go. But geez, what a headache. Car dealerships do not budge, over price, over sell, and under pay. Why the heck dealerships feel like a stupid SUV needs to cost half as much as a house - SERIOUSLY - is beyond me. Yes, the leather seats are nice, but come on....get real people! It depreciates as fast as you breathe!!!

Hoping that whatever is meant to be for us will be, and hopefully that means some leg room and affordability.

And, tomorrow Bobby has his first outdoor soccer game. He had practice last night and actually, I'm not just tooting my own horn, I swear - he did GREAT! He was running EVERYWHERE!!!! Following his Coach's directions, I mean he took to it so well.

We were some proud parents last night. Cant wait to see how he does tomorrow, stay tuned....

Happy Saturday

6 months

Because of all the weird stipulations with Obama's health care changes, we do not have health insurance for another month. Pretty frustrating.

So until I can get Tommy in to the doctor without paying an absurd amount, I wont know for sure, but here are some stats I'm guessing he's at:

Weight has got to be around 21-22lbs. Yes. My. kid. is. chubby. No. I dont care what you think. In fact, I had one mom say that she thought her daughter (who is a month older than Tommy) was achieving milestones fast because she wasnt fat. RIGHT IN FRONT OF ME. Ok, how about the fact that 1- she's a girl, (girls are faster at everything IMO) 2- she's a month older and 3-every kid is different. Maybe its the best of my emotions getting to me but damn I thought that was rude.

Speaking of his food, he does a 6oz bottle every four hours, and goes from 6pm-4am with no food....

He sleeps great for me. Most nights, its 6pm til 4am. I do a feeding at 4am, then he's up for the day around 6. He's been really congested so we've been battling that, but he does great at night.

He's starting to get the hang of what to do when he's on all 4's. A little. I saw him scoot back in anger yesterday. He can situp pretty well, still a little uneasy and would rather be lazy and lay down but he's getting there.

I still swaddle him. Not sure when to stop. If I will ever stop. I dont want to listen to endless bouts of crying or "sleep train" - we do so good right now. I guess when the time is right I'll know.

Introduced a little bit of food. We do it like 1x a day. He's getting used to it.

He loves to jump in his bouncy seat. Even when I hold him to standing position he tries to bounce. Silly.

I'll post a few pictures when I snap the official "6 month" photo. Which I guess technically falls on March 2nd since there is no Feb 30? Weird.

Happy Thursday