March Break Adventures

The kids and I have been super busy this week visiting with all their cousins! Faith and the kids came up over the weekend and stayed until Wednesday, Ken and Michelle were here with their kids from Wednesday to Thursday, and Ang arrived with her kids yesterday (Thursday) and is staying until Sunday.

We've been busy going to the park (the weather is finally starting to warm up!), McDonald's Play Place, swimming at the YMCA, going to Ikea (the three boys played in the play place for an hour while Mom, Ang and I shopped ... Annabelle stayed home with Bekka), and just playing playing playing.

All of this activity makes Keagan flourish and thrive. He is much easier to reign in this week, and is not as defiant. After Ikea today, Keagan went to Mom and Dad's so he could play with Emmett and Liam and eat supper there. During his bath, I asked him what he did, what he ate, etc., and he actually had a full conversation with me ... answered everything without any teeth pulling. It was a breath of fresh air!! He told me he ate fish and fries, and had peach yogurt for dessert. I am so proud of him; he is such a great kid, and I need to remind myself of days like these on our bad days.

Annabelle started walking on my birthday. She must have seen Elizabeth doing it like a pro, and decided it was her time to shine. She is practically running now! Her body is often faster than her feet, though, and she has done more than one forehead-plant on the hardwood floor. She also does little goofy walks. She has her "penguin walk" (term coined by Bekka) wherein she puts her arms behind her. She has her air-punching walk, wherein she punches the air while she walks. Then she has her hand flipping-walk, wherein she flips her hands over. Needless to say, all of her walks are pretty darn cute.

She has also started saying a few words. She says kitty cat (kee-ka), what's that (sounds a lot like kitty cat), bye (bah!), and tonight she started to mimic me saying "yeah" while nodding her head (ie: Was Annabelle a good girl today? Yeah?). I weighed her the other day, and she was a whopping 23 lbs and 30.5 inches long ... much more petite than Keagan was at her age!

We saw a dietician the other day since I'm still a bit worried about her fluid intake. She still wants to breastfeed about two times/day, but isn't drinking much else. She will drink 8 oz. additional fluid on top of that ... diluted juice, milk, and our latest addition was Yop yogurt drink diluted with homo milk. She seems to like that, so let's hope it gets her drinking more! Aside from that, she is a happy and healthy little girl ... albeit a little cranky at times, probably related to teething.

Keagan is just shy of 40 lbs, still, and since he is so active, he might be that way for a while. I was looking forward to buying him a couple booster seats ... one for each vehicle ... but I don't want to rush him into one before it's safe. So we will just have to sit tight and wait.

I am so looking forward to spring and then summer. I've enrolled the kids in one program each (Keagan is in a sports class at the Y, and Annabelle is in a music class through the city, only because the Y doesn't offer much for her age group). I can't wait to see how they do in their classes. It's hard to take them to the same ones anymore, since Keagan is so very active and pretty disruptive in drop-in programs like circle time at the OEYC and story time at the library. Annabelle loves those programs, so I may have to find a way to make it work for me to take her to them. I might just have to sit tight and wait for September, when Keagan goes to school every other day (crazy!!!!)

Bekka is living here ... has been since the beginning of February. While we've had a couple kinks to work out here and there, I think we are pretty comfortable with her around, now. It is quite a luxury, actually, and I think we'll be pretty sad to see her go in July. She helps with the kids, the cooking, and the cleaning.

Life was a bit glum for a while there ... I actually had anti-depressants prescribed for me on Monday ... but I've found I haven't needed to start taking them the past couple days. I think I will just hold off and see if my anxiety/depression is just seasonal. Plus, I can't take antidepressants while Annabelle is still breastfeeding, so it is on hold anyway.

Life has been looking up, and I'm excited for great things this spring!

I'm going to try to post every day, so I can keep up with how fast the kids are growing!

Today is Sunday, and we had an adventurous morning in Waumba Land, Keagan and I did. I swear it's going to be a full moon tonight, the kids were all hyped up! I am having such a hard time disciplining Keagan lately. He is such a strong personality, we clash so often. No amount of spanks or time-outs seem to have any effect on him.

Steve also says he has a strong personality, and that the kids seem to do what he does. I don't know if it's that, or if Keagan has a way with making other kids spazzy when he gets spazzy! He still doesn't nap, and I really think he needs it. He's taken to getting up at 7:30 now, which is a shock from our 8-8:30 am. Many parents would be jealous of our 7:30 wake-up, but man, I need to discipline myself to go to bed earlier!!

This morning, Keagan told Steve, "Daddy, I love you so much." It melts my heart to see that our words have an effect on him. I tell Keagan that I love him so much quite often. On the other hand, it's a bit scary to realize how much of a sponge he is!

I am so looking forward to Keagan going to junior kindergarten. Many parents say they will cry on their kid's first day, and maybe I will too since it will be the end of an era. But I also think it will be good for Keagan. He seems to be needing more stimulation lately, and it's hard to give that to him since Annabelle still has a super long nap every day, forcing us to be home all afternoon most days. Today in Waumba Land, I was amazed that the other teacher (Leisha) was able to reign Keagan in, have him sit down for songs, and actions to boot. Steve noticed that as soon as I sat close to Keagan, he started to get out of control.

As an aside ... Annabelle started taking a few steps two nights ago (Friday the 25th). Actually, she was walking between Bekka and I, when she decided to veer off the path and walk all the way from her room to Keagan's bed, without falling. We were amazed! I can't wait to see her little toddling body start making a habit of it!

Anyway, I need to get some much-needed sleep before a night shift tonight!