Eyes in the back of my head

Apparently that is what I will need now. In just one day,

Kayden learned to sit up in her crib and play with her turtle. She is now moving very intentionally all over and exploring new "toys" (read: humidifier, end tables, cords....)


Keeley learned to stand on the pacifier box in her crib,

climb into Kayden's crib (and she does it SUPER fast),

get into Kayden's exersaucer while Kayden is in it (yes, there are 4 legs on the floor),
and open the back door. I am beginning to believe my pediatrician was correct when she told me that I'd probably lose 20 pounds just keeping up with the kids now that Kayden is mobile!

First Cereal

Kayden has been more and more interested in our food lately and she has started eating much more frequently. We figured those two things coupled with the appearance of her first two teeth and her 1/2 birthday just a week away meant it might be a good time for her to start her cereal. She LOVED it. I feel like this chunk might just get chunkier! Weighing in at 17 lb 11 oz, she has already matched her sister's weight at 7 months.

waiting in preparation for her meal

trying to help Dad hurry up already

maybe just the spoon is good too..

so happy to be eating with everyone else!

(Incidentally, Kayden wearing a bib made Keeley demand one as well - she hasn't been wearing them for weeks.)

Sick babies

Both my babies have been sick for a little while now. Keeley has been fighting a sinus infection for a month. She already had one round of antibiotics that didn't seem to help. A few days after she finished them, I still thought something was off so I called the doctor to get her on some new ones. The new medicine started working right away. Kayden is fighting a cold. Cold are annoying at anytime but are especially hard on little people that can't blow their noses and like pacifiers, bottles, and nursing - all of those things are hard to do with a stuffed up nose.

We've all grown weary of the bulb suctioning and I'm thoroughly repulsed by the streams of grossness coming out of Keeley's nose 24/7. Couple that with Kayden not sleeping well and the grumpiness that comes from two sick babies and you have a very, very tired mom.

Sick babies is hard for everyone - the babies because they don't feel good, Mom because she is worn out from caring for the babies, Dad because Mom is worn out from her day, the dogs because they get even more ignored...it's rough.

Well, I gave in to my exhaustion last night. I took two tyleonol pms and went to bed at 7:45. Kelly (my wonderfully sweet husband) took care of Kayden's first feeding so I didn't have to get up until 3 to feed her - it was bliss. Even more wonderful, both the girls slept until 6:30. That means I got two good stretches of sleep last night (well exceeding the 2 hour stretches I've been getting for the last 2 weeks). Keeley and Kayden both seem to be feeling better this morning. The grossness that has been pouring out of their noses is gone at least. We'll see how the day progresses but I am certainly hopeful. That hope is made easier since I'm not so exhausted!

Stay at home Mom

It is 1:45 and I am typing while Keeley naps and Kayden fights sleep. I tried to nap with them but Keeley has been asleep for over an hour and Kayden is too intent on sitting up and playing with her turtle to sleep. Much like her sister at this age, Kayden has amazing willpower. She woke up at 6:30 and has napped for a total of 35 minutes since then. For those of you without kids, 7 hours awake with 35 minutes of naps is unaccepatable for a 6 month old. Couple that awake time with the fact that she was awake from 9:30 -10:30 because of a stuffy nose and you have one seriously overtired kiddo that has been fighting sleep since 12:30. That's right she has been in her room, in the dark for almost 1.5 hours and is still not asleep. Good times. Keeley is likely to wake up at any moment so I have given up on trying to sleep (even though I'm beyond tired).

I digress. This is a bit of a "reality check" for all those people that think I must sit home and watch tv all day. All the people that think being a stay at home mom is an easy job. Those people are dead wrong. This is BY FAR the hardest job I can imagine. Perhaps it gets easier as the kids get older; however, since mine are still under 2 that is all I have to go by. That being said, I knew that it wasn't going to be easy, that I would be sleep deprived, etc. going into this. Fortunately, the job of staying home is a million times more rewarding than it is challenging.

For all those people that wonder what I do all day long and how I can possibly fill my time. I will recap the last 8 hours for you.

5:15 - Keeley starts moaning. I lay in bed and ignore her - but am not able to sleep. When Kelly gets up, I ask him to check on her. He gets her calmed down for a little bit. She decides 6:30 is time to wake up. That is fine except for2 things 1. she woke me up at 5:15 and 2. she takes about 30 minutes to get out of her crib once you go in there. During that 30 minutes, she wakes Kayden up.

6:30-7:45 - Feed Keeley and Kayden and grab a bite for me. Then I have to pump because Kayden isn't interested in nursing anymore but I'm not ready to put her on formula. Get all of the pump pieces clean and get the girls diapers changed.

7:45- Play with the girls for a little bit and then try to put Kayden down (she's only supposed to be awake for 1.5-2 hours at a time). I put her down and then get in the shower with Keeley. Keeley gets into the least amount of trouble in the shower with me - but it does make showering harder. She used to play on the floor but lately she has just weaved in and out of my legs the entire time. I get of the shower and realize Kayden is still awake. Get her up and move to the living room. Start laundry.

9:00 - I put Kayden down again. Grout guy shows up. Kayden still deciding she is too busy to sleep. Keeley wants outside so I get her all bundled up and then she decides it is much better to be inside - but needs to stay all bundled up. We hang out in the living room until almost 10. This is when she decides she can finally take off her coat. At this point I decide that it is time for Kayden to try to sleep again. I tell the grout guy that I'm going to be back with the girls for a while and ask if he needs anything. He has me check the grout color which is SO wrong. I tell him it is wrong and so he says he'll go get some more (that is the right color) and be back in 30minutes - an hour.

10:10 - Get a bottle ready for Kayden. Feed her and put her down. She actually goes to sleep this time around 10:15.

10:20 - Go in Keeley's room and shut the door with her so that I can pump. Normally I do this ata table but I didn't want to be exposed when the grout man came back. I sit down to pump and Keeley "helps". She likes to help. This time she helped by turning up and down the power, pushing the let down button a lot, and trying to pull the breast shields away from their intended location. Needless to say, I didn't get much milk because I was a little stressed. I finish pumping and clean the parts and Kayden wakes up. Awesome nap.

11:00-12:20 - Grout guy is finishing up so I work on entertaining the girls while keeping them away from him and all his stuff. Keeley and I also eat lunch and she tells the grout guy hi and bye no less than 50 times. Finally he leaves.

12:30 - I feed Kayden and put her down. I then rock with Keeley for a bit and put her down. Keeley falls asleep or at least is quiet right away. I just got Kayden up at 2:10 after having her fight her nap for that long. She's staring at me with a long gaze right now. Every time I pick her up though she arches her back to get back on the ground and play. So we are going on 8 hours of sleep with 35 minutes of naping right now.

Here are some pictures of how Keeley kept busy.

She laid out each changing pad very intentionally all around Kayden's room. After she used them all, she turned around and said "more". I'm not sure how many babies she thinks we will be changing at one time!!

Putting a dishrag on her dog as a "hat". Why would you not want a dishrag as a hat?

The puppy and all the dishrags abandoned.

Oh wait, I can use it as a skirt too!

Kayden just being cute.

It is now 2:45. That is a full 2 hours after I initially tried to put Kayden down. She is still awake. Maybe she'll nap now. Or maybe we'll go for a ride to lull her to sleep once Keeley wakes up.

Teeth and Eyes

Kayden got her first two teeth last Thursday! We've been feeling every day a couple times a day because she's been so drooly and fitful in her sleep. I was at the doctor (because I live there) and was rubbing my fingers on her gums when I noticed that both of them had cut through. I'm all for fast and furious with the teeth. A couple months of miserable is much better than drawing it out over several months!

She also keeps getting eye infections. We finished her eye drops on Wednesday and her pink eye was back by Saturday. It is really quite sad because the eye gets puffy and red and so gunky. When I called the doctor, she said to do the eye drops again but that we also have to go see an opthalmologist. I'm very, very sad about this. I was hoping that her occluded tear duct would resolve on its own. Having her eye probed or having surgery on it are not things that I am excited about. Her appointment is the first week of December so we'll see what happens.

Pictures

Here are some pictures of the girls we've taken recently. It is SO much fun to watch them play together. Every time I'm sad that Keeley can't do all the things her friends do because we have to take Kayden into consideration, I remember just how much she's learning about life and love by having a sister so close in age.

Keeley insisted I get in her new cottage.

Keeley in Dad's shirt. Kayden trying to keep up with everyone.such determination and focus


My fashionista giving Kelly a look that says "Why wouldn't we both want to wear burp cloths on our heads? Kayden's okay. I know she can't see but that's okay Dad. We're friends"

So happy she sat up by herself.

Telling me she is wearing a hat. Not quite but okay...I missed the picture moments later when Kayden was allowed to wear the hat.

Two steps forward, one step back

I feel like parenting is a constant battle of two steps forward and one step back. Once you come to terms with that reality, life is a little more manageable. I've been working on getting that through my head. So far it seems to be helping when I get frustrated with sleep, eating, crying....

This week however, I'm getting an entirely new taste of the give and take of parenting. Having two babies so close together is bittersweet. I get to see new milestones in both the kiddos with excitement and a touch of sadness with each step toward growing up. We've had a big week this week with both kiddos:

Kayden has started sitting up on her own and is really getting into peek-a-boo. She has been able to maintain a sitting position for a while now but last night she actually got herself into that position. She still is forever trying to play with Keeley and be where ever she is. Whatever Keeley does is funny - even if the exact same thing done by Kelly or me would make her cry. I'm watching her grow up so very, very fast. In no time at all I feel like she will too big to consider my baby. At lunch today I let her sit in her high chair and put some milk in a straw cup for her to try to drink. She was so excited and kept looking from her cup to Keeley's cup and noticing they were the same. Not entirely successful in drinking from the cup, I had to switch to a bottle for her but I was impressed to say the least.

Keeley, on the other hand is quite the dichotomy. I knew that toddlers vascillated greatly between baby and independent little person. What I was not prepared for was the way it would make me feel. She is getting much better about playing by herself (although she still has to be within 20 feet of me at all times it seems), her vocabulary is absolutely exploding, her demands are becoming more frequent and insistent, her gross and fine motor skills continue to amaze me, and she has started to "read" her books out loud and to Kayden (she looks through them and says words that we talk about on the pages). I look at her daily and am amazed at the little person she is becoming. With all that I suppose comes insecurity on her part because she has also seemed to need us more this week. Every evening and every nap she has needed to be rocked to sleep. She was truly a baby last she let us rock her (6 months old maybe...). The first time it happened, I stayed with her a long time and thought about how quickly life passes. For so long I was ready for her to be able to go to sleep by herself and not need so much help. Holding her for that nap made me realize how quickly this time will pass - and how quietly. Even in that baby state though she was clearly a toddler - wearing pants and a hooded towel with no shirt.

How sad will I be when I pause for a moment in a few years to realize that I really don't have babies anymore? That I have said good bye to that phase of my life? I love each new development and watching them develop into their own little people but it is sad to close a chapter on your life. So, while they continue to take leaps and bounds forward, I will cherish each step back the kiddos take that allows me to hold onto their babyhood just a few moments more.