Now I know...

How some Mom's get older and get to a point where they have no friends, no hobbies or interests of their own. I think it's hard for women, especially Mom's, to get so wrapped up in taking care of your kids that you forget who you are. Now this is not about doing stuff for yourself and all that. I believe our kids need to come first as much as possible, especially when they are young, but every now and then letting someone else take the reins and getting out of the house and doing something you enjoy. This has been tough for me lately. I feel like I have friends, but they all have kids, and the chances of us both being able to get out on the same day is slim to none. Then I feel guilty, then there's the nursing that gets in the way...It's just hard sometimes. I have truly loved nursing both my kids, but I must say part of me is looking forward to being done with it so I can leave Henry for more than a couple hours and not have to pump, and also do what was one of my more favorite things before I had him, and that is running. It is a huge stress reliever for me and something that doesn't take a lot of time. I just really enjoy it, so I can't wait to get back into it, run some races, find friends here to run with, and just have something that I enjoy doing for me. I'm a Mom first, but I'm also still me, and I don't want to lose that.

Need to blog - an 8-month update on Henry

Before I let another day pass, I need to do an update on our sweet second-born, Henry! He was 8 months on the 6th, and is long overdue for an update. Here is what's going on with our little monkey...

He just started crawling about two weeks ago. He is so fast already, and is into everything! Computer cords are a favorite, light sockets, the fireplace, dog food - you know, anything he's not supposed to have. He could be completely surrounded by toys, but he wants something off limits.

He is also pulling up on everything, including his crib and the couch. And he's trying to climb up the stairs already too, but I haven't really allowed him to go very far with that.

He has two bottom teeth, and I'm pretty sure more will be coming soon.

He yells and babbles and tries to talk all the time - babababa, dadadada, etc. Of course no mamamama!

He drinks my milk 4-5 times a day, and has two solid food meals a day. He's tried puffs recently, and loves them, but no other table food yet.

He takes two naps a day usually, and goes to bed between 6:30 and 7. He wakes up once a night to eat, then wakes up for the day around 5:30. Yes, it's early!

He is such a wonderful addition to our family - it's so fun to watch him grow and change. The last few months have just flown by and his 1st birthday will be here before we know it! Crazy!

Oh what a year it's been! So much has happened since January 2011, and so much was unknown to us at that time. We have both gotten new jobs, had a sweet little baby boy, and moved - not in that order, but almost! It's been a whirlwind, with moving literally one week after Henry's birth. We could not have done it without our family, there is no doubt, but all the glory goes to God, who has been so faithful to us, to provide every need and even desire of our hearts this year! I remember thinking how on earth is everything going to fall into place? But it has, it truly has, and I am so thankful.

So looking ahead to 2012 - Henry will be celebrating his first birthday in May, and Abbie will be turning four! Wes and I will celebrate 12 years of marriage, and then Abbie will start pre-K in the fall....and I'm sure we'll go on some vacations here and there, the first one being a trip for me and the kids to Florida. We will try to sell our house (again) in NC, and probably renew our rental contract on the house here in Atlanta.

It's been a great year for our family, and I hope it's been for yours as well. Happy 2012 everyone!

Checking In

Now before we go any further, this post is not going to be me "checking in" with you all, my readers, all 2 of them ( : Nope, it's about Facebook, and "Checking in". You know, the posts you see from someone's smart phone that says "So and So checked in at So and So with So and So". It's taken me a while to get used to these posts from my Facebook friends. I have to admit there have been times when I've seen them and been a little upset, jealous, whatever you want to call it, like wait a minute, she's where with who? And why wasn't I invited? I mean, if I had this function on my phone and used it, I think I might be a little cautious sometimes to check in certain places because I wouldn't want someone to feel left out - you know what I mean? But really, what I wanted to say, was HOLY MOLY, I have this friend on Facebook that I'm considering de-friending, one because to be honest, when he sent me a friend request I had no idea who he was, and had to look at our mutual friends to even somewhat remember him, and two, well he's getting a little out of hand with this whole checking in thing. Yesterday, I guess he was on a trip from Chattanooga to Atlanta. How did I know this? Well, he checked in at every possible place he could, from the BP station to scenic overlooks!! I mean really? There were like 10 places in a period of about two hours. I like knowing where people are sometimes - like I said, I've gotten used to it, but that is ridiculous! I really don't want to be unkind, but why would someone check in at every stop? Ok, I just had to vent a minute about this. I know some days I feel like I'm addicted to Facebook, and maybe I do have a slight problem - I like it, what can I say. But please tell me if I'm an annoying Facebook friend -like I tell you how many times I go to the bathroom a day, or when I'm grocery shopping at Publix, and what aisle I'm on. Ahhh, modern technology. Sometimes it can provide a little too much information into our private lives, wouldn't you agree??

I need to tell you this humorous story before I forget. I think I blogged last time about how the pediatrician told me the reason Henry was waking up (most likely, because we can't really know for sure) was not because he was hungry but because I was feeding him when he did wake up. So about a week or so ago, I got brave and decided to try not to feed him when he woke. Well, he woke up a little earlier than usual, around 11pm, so I really knew there was no way he could be hungry, but anyways, that's besides the point. I went up to his room, and resisting the urge to pick him up, patted him on the back a few times and said "It's ok, Henry, Mommy's here." Well he didn't stop crying. So I walked away for a minute or so and tried again. Still crying. About a minute later, I hear Wes coming up the stairs. He comes in and asks me what I'm doing (not in bad way). I explained to him that I was just trying to see if Henry would go back to sleep without me feeding him. Henry is still crying at this point, and getting more and more mad. Then Wes says maybe he should just pick him up and rock him a little bit. I knew that was the end of my experiment right there....Wes rocked him, he continued to cry, I went downstairs, came back up, and Wes said he couldn't handle it, that he wanted me to just feed him...so I did. And that is our version of "sleep training". The end.

It's Sunday, which means normally we'd be at church about now, but because our lives have been in serious overdrive lately, we decided to take a day off. Well, let's be honest, sometimes we take a lot of days off from church. But I'm happy we've found one at least! We really do like Vinings Lake here in Smyrna, so I'm thankful. Now if we could just meet some people...

Why have things been so crazy, you ask? Well maybe it's because we have TWO kids, I know, I know, it's really not that many, but I can tell you it's probably going to be enough for us! And then we both work outside of the house, and then there's Wes' travelling on top of it, and then there's just everyday life. Some days I'm really not sure how I get out of the house with all my clothes on, seriously. It's like my friend Kelly said recently, her brain feels like swiss cheese! Me too Kell, me too!! Take for example the fact that I booked my Gram a flight recently from Pensacola instead of Panama City Beach, and it never even crossed my mind until she called from Panama City airport and said they didn't even have AirTran there. Bless her heart - I felt terrible! So we proceeded to drive and meet halfway the next day instead. She hates to fly anyways....

So Henry is well into his sixth month, and what a sweet boy he is! He still isn't sleeping the greatest, which I was basically told by my pediatrician that it was because I was feeding him when he woke up (duh!) so if I wanted him to sleep through the night, which he totally can according to her, I would need to sort of let him cry. I'm working on getting myself ready to do that....we'll see when or if it actually happens. But anyways, he's sitting up now, and reaching forward to try to get on all fours, and if there's something in front of him he acts like he wants to pull up on it. But I think we have about another month before he actually crawls...And at his 6 month appointment he weighed in at 18 lbs even.

Let's start and end on a positive note with Abbie. She is doing great with Henry. Just great. She really doesn't seem to be jealous at all of him still - if she is she certainly doesn't take it out on him. But we've had a lot of behavior issues with her lately. Just whining and crying and sometimes even throwing an all out fit if she doesn't get her way. It's been rough, there's been some spanking (well actually lots) but I am going to be trying some new ways to discipline, because for me I feel like I get angrier when I spank her, which is not good...On a positive note, she is learning so much in school and it amazes me what she can do. She is so good at art - she loves to paint and color and draw - and she really can be sweet a lot of the time too. We just have to stick to it with her and continue to love her and give her forgiveness for being (and acting!) like a three year old!! That was one thing I read recently from Dr. James Dobson- that we must offer our kids lots of love and forgiveness. I loved that!

I must go, Henry is waking up from his morning nap, but I hope everyone out there has a very happy Thanksgiving!!

A and H

They are different - yet in some small ways, the same.

The first difference that comes to mind is size - Henry, just shy of 5 months now, is fully into 6 month clothes, and is already wearing 9 month sizes. I'm pretty sure that Abbie at this age was still wearing 0-3 months - and even now, when 3T is "her size" supposedly, she still has pants that just fall off of her. Point is I've always been able to get a lot of wear out of Abbie's clothes - but not so much with Henry!

Another difference - Comfort when upset. If Abbie were ever upset when she was a baby, nursing would always help - she would latch on and immediately calm down. Not so much with Henry, and he has been like this since he was just a few weeks old. If he's not hungry, he really is not interested in eating. If he's screaming his head off, like he was tonight, he's not going to latch on and be comforted. I can't decide if this is a good or bad thing yet, just different.

Difference #3 - Sleeping. Abbie used to stay up until about 8 or 9 at Henry's age, and wake up once a night to eat. If she woke up before, we had to go in and rock her or give her the paci. Henry is done for the day by about 7, and sometimes if he wakes up in the middle of the night, if he's not hungry, he'll just put himself back to sleep. AND he does not really take a paci (#4). Sometimes he will just to go off to sleep for a nap, but he spits it out pretty quick and doesn't ever need it again. And at night, he doesn't take it at all. I think for now this is a good thing - I like that I am not constantly running around looking for paci's and going in there and giving it to him....

About the only similarity (that I can think of right this second)is that neither one want to sit still. Henry will not sit still for nothing, and I remember Abbie being very similar. He always wants to be rolling around or entertained somehow.

I love, love, love both these kids and love watching them change and grow and develop their own unique personalities! It's truly a miracle, the way God made us all!