2 Months Old

We are a big 2 month old now!! Our newest trick is that we SMILE!!

Golden Birthday Girl!!

We officially have a 4 year old in the house now!! Can you believe it? It was a weekend of parties and a birthday that would never end. Friday, Tayah had her first sleepover and had her friend Ella over for the night. We got a Bounce House for the girls to jump. They loved that and burned alot of energy doing so. Sunday we had some family over for a little birthday party. She got many great gifts. She is a very lucky girl!! Monday, was Tayah's actual birthday so we celebrated by going out to dinner. Tayah chose to eat at Space Aliens. Levi, Steph, James and Cole joined us for dinner. It was a great Golden Birthday!!

What I learned in School

So I am in the livingroom reading a book to the kids. Tayah's in the bathroom and yells down the hall to me.

Tayah: "Mom, Know what starts with the letter P."

Me: "What"....why I asked I could see this coming a mile away.

Tayah: "Pee, pee starts with the letter P."

Thanks Tayah. Thanks for that bit of info.

The Latest with Collin

Collin was baptized over the weekend at St. Francis church in Buffalo. We elected Jason and Katie as his godparents. When Tayah was born Justin and Holly were already a couple with probable future plans of getting married (which they now are) so we had chosen them as Tayah's godparents. We didn't want to play favorites so we promised Jason that he could be the godparent for our next child if he finds a girl who can join him in that role. So, now Jason too found a girl and is married and are happy to be the godparents for Collin. Here are a few pictures from the day.


He did so good! He didn't even cry when Father poured the water on his head. This was about his reaction the whole time.
Jason and Katie also helped us out a couple weeks ago while Ben and I had our first evening out to attend a friend's party. It looks like Jason was alot of help.


Here are a couple more of the latest with Collin:
This is my view of Collin for part of the day. Collin will have a fussy time during the day where he just wants to be held so I put him in his front pack attached to me and he can be glued to me while I go about my day. He doesn't seem to mind.

It's tough being cute.
I have to say we have started a bad habit. Please don't call social services because I assure you we are careful and check on him often. But Collin sleeps incredibly well in our bed, like to the point where if I let him sleep there all night I think he would sleep through the night. We doze off in bed together during feedings but I eventually put him back in his crib next to our bed. We have started a habit where in the morning I wake up about 4:30 to feed him, and then I get up to shower and get ready. Collin goes back to bed with Ben and Tyke. He looks comfy, right?

In Memory of a Special Great Great Grandma

My Great Grandma Lenora passed away this week at the age of 98. She was a very special lady whom my Tayah Lenora is named after. I am so happy that she got to know both of my kids, whom made her a great great grandma. We will miss her greatly.

Preschool

Tayah had her first day of preschool this week and it went GREAT!! She is going twice a week from 12:30-3:00. It's a class of 3-4 year olds. Although Tayah will not be going off to kindergarten next year, since she has an October 4th birthday and misses the September 1st cutoff date; I thought this would be a good opportunity to get her out of the house to interact with someone other than mom. The best part is that she gets to go with her best friend, Ella. Ella comes to my house for daycare and Tayah and Ella have been good friends for a couple of years now. Sending Tayah and Ella off together made things MUCH easier for Tayah and for mom and dad. A little bus comes to pick up them up and drop them off. This week it is "All about Me" week at school so Tayah had an assignment for the first day to go home and find 5 things that would describe her to fit in a small paper bag. Tayah brought a few photos of her pets, a photo from her trip to Disney, a picture that she colored since she likes to draw, and a Barbie. We practiced what to say for each item as she will have to describe the things she brought to the class. So, today is day 2 of preschool and hopefully her project goes well. Here is a few photos from the first day.

One Month Old!!

I can hardly believe it has been one month already since Collin joined our family. I have to say he is really a good baby. Much more easy going and laid back than Tayah was. No offense to Tayah cause we love Tayah's character and she sure knows how to make us laugh. I compare him to Tayah, which I know I'm not supposed to do, but personality wise he is just so much different. Tayah was very much more high maintenance from the beginning. I hate to admit it but probably a girl thing! You could tell weeks after she was born that she was going to be very independent and never wanted much assistance from us parents. She wanted to do things on her own from the beginning and would easily get frustrated if she couldn't. This holds very true today. Tayah is very smart and picks up on things quickly and an incredible artist. She draws and colors better than most kids twice her age. So, I think the independence thing has obviously worked for her.
Collin is much more of a mama's boy. He likes to lay chest to chest with me. He rarely cries much and is very laid back and goes with the flow. He is a pretty easy kid to travel with and is easy to soothe when he is upset. He is a good sleeper and is just starting to have longer periods of being awake during the day. At night he tends to go to bed between 9 and 10 and wakes maybe twice, usually around 1:00 and 4:00. Getting up during the night is never easy and I miss my sleep but I really am trying to enjoy this last stage of infancy because they really do grow up so fast.
Collin eats well and is really starting to want to eat more and more!! I am detecting a growing spurt.
I started back to work this week and it is going well for the most part. My biggest challenge is juggling Collin's feeding schedule with time to meet all of the kids needs. Sticking to a schedule helps but becomes a challenge when Collin's schedule overlaps with the rest of the kids schedule. But I manage and sometimes it is just that...juggling and lots and lots of patience.
Tayah starts preschool next week. A bus will be coming to pick her up and drop her off twice a week. I'm a little nervous about this transition and I am sure I am much more nervous than she is. I will update the blog with that next week.