Never wake a sleeping baby

Well, I never followed that rule. I did Babywise (a modified version) with all of my kids. They all took three great naps during the day and starting sleeping through the night (up to 12 hours) pretty early. I never had a problem, a big one, anyway. Until this past Christmas. I don't know what happened but Colton now refuses to nap at a scheduled time and refuses to go to bed at night alone. If we were able to get him asleep in his room, he always woke up screaming in the middle of the night. Nothing like a piercing scream to jolt you from a dead sleep. It makes for very long days and exhausting nights. So, needless to say, the new rule in my house is "Never wake a sleeping TODDLER". Just leave him wherever he drops.

Fingers and Toes

Dontcha just wanna gobble 'em up? I love snacking on baby feet, toes, and fingers. I do have to make sure Colton's are clean before I munch on 'em. Especially with his new "finger in the nose" obsession. I have this thing about eating boogers. Didn't like it as a kid. Don't like it now.

Anyone need a bouncy seat?

Because apparently, my daughter is done with hers. Carly just hates to sit in her bouncy seat for any reason. It takes just a few minutes and a couple squiggles to get her butt out of the seat and almost onto the floor. I guess it'll be just one less thing cluttering up my house. I love how Keira's just sitting there like "I don't know what her problem is, I'm pretty comfy sittin' here, Mom."

Meet Miss Kaitlyn

Introducing Miss Kaitlyn Heagerty. She is the aftermath of my first maternity shoot a couple weeks ago. I got to see her for a few minutes before work today. She's so tiny, so pretty, and smells so darn good. It makes your uterus twitch, at least it does mine. I'm hoping Lorie will be able to come over some time this week so I can practice some newborn shots. Isn't she gorgeous? It makes me almost ready for #4.

How did that happen?

Don't ask me how because I don't know, but I managed to capture both Colton and Keira looking directly at me. Carly was still napping so she's not in the picture.

Shortly after capturing my two oldest kids playing so well together, I find Colton with his legs wrapped around Keira's neck. She's got the most pitiful "Mommy, help me" look on her face. Great mom that I am, I grab the camera instead of her. LOL One day, she'll be big enough to whomp on him and we're gonna let her. Payback's a bitch.

Roly-poly babies and the tug-o-war

While trying to get a picture of both of my girls, I gave them my white balance cap to occupy them. It became an instant tug-o-war. Both girls wanted to chew on the cap. First, Carly had it. Then Keira proceeded to take it away. Carly tried again, but failed. As you can see by the "sticking her tongue out" picture. She's such a sore loser. LOL

The victor!

A fresh cut, a new face

Where in the world did my baby boy go? All it took was a buzz cut to make this toddler look like a little man. He's quite intrigued by his new look, keeps looking at himself in the mirror. He wants to brush his hair. Too cute. Already stuck on himself. :)

Daddy and Keira

Usually all the kids are up from their naps by the time he comes home from work. Today, he came home from work early and Keira was the only one up. She got some alone time with Daddy and loved having all of his attention.

I love his eyelashes

Speaking of obsessions...

Keira is obsessed with the glow of this roley-poley toy and Carly, blue seal on her exersaucer. She watches the ball toy with such amazement, hits it a few times, and squeals. Carly challenges the seal every day. She gnaws on it for what seems like hours and leaves me a pool of drool. She usually wins, unless of course, she pulls on it too hard and then it whomps her when it flings back.


BTW, Am I the only one who can't see the actual floor of their living room? :)

Edited to add: My husband had to point out that I have mixed up the girls. I originally said it was Carly in the first picture. As you can read, it is Keira. It took me 8 months before I mixed them up, I say that's pretty darn good for identicals. Hehee.

Watercoloring

At first, he just wasn't quite sure why I kept giving him Q-tips. He wanted to use his fingers. Once he got the hang of it, he went to town. Even on the table. It's a good thing it's only watercolor paint and it's a black table. :) Then, I don't know why, but he began lining up the Q-tips. He could only use one for a line or two, then he had to get another one. And he couldn't mix the colors. I swear this child has a touch of OCD.

How to occupy 2 eight month olds and a 2 year old

Grab a big ol' honkin' Mr. Potato Head and throw all the parts on the floor. Circle the children around and voila! Instant quiet. Now granted, the babies will definitely put the toys in their mouths. And eventually, the toddler will start screaming because sissy has the exact part he wanted. But it usually takes a few minutes. Those moments of peace are heaven.

According to an email Stacey sent me....

the most common thing for people to do when they're in the car alone is pick their nose. Well, Colton never got the memo. And, of course, he doesn't drive. So, he picks his nose when he's on the computer, when he's playing with his cars, when he's watching TV, when he's bored, etc. Basically, all the time. I used to say I wish he'd pick his nose because my fingers can't get the boogers. Plus, I wanted a really cute 'finger in the nose' picture. Sweetie, I got the picture. You can stop picking your nose now.

Time-saving trick....we think

Now that the girls are sitting up well without assistance, we've decided to plunge into co-bathing to save some time before night-night. The girls do well playing with each other, but add Colton into the mix and you've got a recipe for water-logged parents. Their favorite bath toy is the blue bowl we got at the hospital when Colton was born. He always put it on his head. Since his head has grown, it no longer fits. So where to put it? Well, on sissy's head, of course! They don't mind, in fact, they fight over it.

Morning sleepy head

Keira slept in this morning. It's probably due to the fact that she was projectile vomiting at 11pm last night. We had 2 clothing/bedding changes. I stayed up with her, rocking her until I was positive that she wasn't going to puke again. I woke her up about 8:30am and she was a bit stunned by that. Usually, she wakes us up. Unfortunately, you can still see the "sick baby" look: watery eyes, runny nose, and a tinge of pink in her cheeks. I'm sure Carly is next on the sick baby list.

Blast from the past

My mom sent me these pictures last night and I just had to share them. Talk about whoa! Yes, that adorable little baby is me. And for those who know me, you can see that I had a big mouth even then. :)

Recycling toys

Colton's favorite part of the exersaucer when he was a baby was the circus tent. Now that the girls are using them, he is still drawn to the circus tent. He spins it around and babbles. I'm sure he's telling me what animals are on there, but I can only understand elephant and tiger. He's talking a bit more, saying big words. I can't wait until he's really talking, although I've heard that at that point I'll wonder when he'll ever shut up. :)

One little monkey jumping on the bed

Thankfully, no one fell off and bumped his head. I know this is technically a terrible picture, but man look at the air he got! LOL He was quite confused when I was telling him to jump up and down because normally I would say "hey...get off the bed!" :) It was hard work and he wore himself out. And had fun doing it.

Bed head

No matter what I do, Colton always has bed head. He gets it from me. The curly, unmanageable hair. I don't know if it's a blessing or a curse. I guess it's a good thing that bed head is (or was) stylish.

Just a play day

They are officially sitting up without assistance for long periods of time. They're great at catching themselves, reaching for things, even looking over their shoulder while sitting up. We've only had a few topples and most have resulted in no serious injuries. So here we are, playing around the house....taking a moment to eat, and the last one. Well, let's just say that one wasn't a friendly grab. Keira was doing her best to steal Carly's pacifier. She wasn't having any of it. :)

I can do it myself

And so it begins. The beginning of the end. The era of independence. The time where, little by little, your baby starts to do things by themselves. It may not be perfect and it's almost always messy, but they did it. This morning, Carly decided she could feed herself. No more of the spoonfed-by-Mommy nonsense. She grabbed the spoon and went to town. It makes a parent proud and sad. My babies are growing so fast.