Keaton Week 15 / Christmas

So much to update on!  It's been a busy week for us with the holidays.  Keaton had two firsts this week too...one good, and one bad.  We'll start with the bad.

First Illness
Keaton's been at daycare for about 3 1/2 weeks now and has caught his first illness.  I'm not exactly sure what he has but it's some sort of bug.  On Friday when we picked him up from daycare his teacher said he had pooed a lot.  I was also thinking something was up because normally he only goes during the day or some days he doesn't go at all.  But that morning he had gone while he was sleeping and then again when I was feeding him so that was really unusual.  Then at daycare he had gone again 5 more times.  This continued into Saturday and Sunday, and finally today it's lessened up a little.  Saturday he didn't eat hardly at all and he didn't sleep very well Saturday night either so I think that was the worst of it.  He's also been fussy which isn't like him at all so we know he doesn't feel good.  He seems to be on the mend though today so hopefully it was just a quick illness.  I knew he was due for something though so I wasn't completely surprised.  It stinks he was sick for Christmas but at least we were already off of work to take care of him.


First Christmas
So on to the good.  Keaton celebrated his first Christmas!  Since he's so little and wasn't feeling the greatest he didn't really know anything different though.  Lexi opened up all of his presents and will probably be playing with them for the next few months until he's big enough to play with them.  He is starting to get more interested in toys and will even try to swing his arms to reach them, so maybe in a couple of months he'll be ready to play with his new Christmas gifts.  Even though he wasn't feeling great, he did really well at all the family gatherings.  He either slept, laid on his playmat, or just hung out. 

Interaction
He's still not doing much of anything.  He likes to lay on his activity mat but that's really the only thing he seems to like.  I tried the Bumbo and he hates it.  I tried the jumper but I think he's still a little too small.  He's head just kind of slumped to the side in it.  He likes the swing and the mobile but he either falls asleep in it or gets bored with it quickly.  He doesn't really like the bouncer too much.  Mostly he just likes to be held or to lay on the floor and have us talk to him or make silly faces.  We noticed this week that he seems to be interested in the TV.  I was feeding him a bottle the other morning and he was straining his neck to watch the TV.  I think he likes all the bright colors.  I can't remember exactly when Alexa was doing stuff but I feel like he might be slightly behind her.  That's probably typical for boys and he was also born 3 1/2 weeks before his due date so I guess it only makes sense he'd be a little behind. 

Sleeping
Keaton has been a fairly good sleeper for awhile and hasn't been taking a nighttime feeding since he was about 7 weeks old.  He would occasionally get up in the middle of the night and we would have to replace his paci.  He used to sometimes sleep in (and by sleep in I mean until 7:30am) but now he never sleeps past 7am.  Lately he's been waking up a couple times during the night and sometimes it takes awhile for him to get back to sleep.  I think part of it is that he doesn't feel the greatest so I'm hoping that he'll go back to sleeping through the night once he is better.  It definitely makes for sleepless nights.  The past few nights have gone like this:  Keaton up at 3:30am, Keaton back to bed at 3:45am, Lexi up at 4:00am because she heard Keaton crying and needs to go potty, Lexi back to bed at 4:15am, Keaton up at 5:00am (you get the point).  Oh and even though I have a few minutes between when each of the kids are waking up that I could possibly get a little sleep, I can't because I have a dog that snores louder than any human could possibly snore!  Ugh...I'm ready to get a full 8 hours of uninterrupted sleep!  I'm tempted to send the kids to Brian's parents house for the night just so I can sleep in my own bed without being woken up by one of them!

Lexi Update
This is Lexi's third Christmas and each year just gets better and better!  I feel like this year was a little more stressful though because Lexi wanted to open up her presents right away and couldn't really understand that she needed to wait her turn.  I don't think she really understands the concept of Christmas.  This morning when we woke up she thought it was time to open presents again because that's what we did yesterday morning! 

She got lots of new toys, outfits, and other goodies from her aunts and uncles, cousins, GG & Pa, Nana, and "Santa".  She has so much stuff I don't even know what to do with it all!  It should keep her occupied for a good week :-)

With us having the past few days at home together she's had lots of opportunities to say some pretty funny stuff!  Here's some of my favorite phrases and antics from the past week:

"Not me!" - The other night Keaton farted and I said, "eww...somebody farted."  At the same time, Lexi and Brian both responded "Not me!"  Then I said "somebody farted" again and Lexi said "Lexi did it."  Even though she didn't because I knew it was Keaton!
"Nothing" - Lately if I ask Alexa what she's doing she responds "Nothing."
"Just calm down" - She has been telling Oscar (and occasionally me or Brian) to "just calm down". 
"Not you!" - Sometimes she's very particular about who helps her with stuff, like going potty.  If she wants me to go with her instead of Brian and Brian tries to go with her she'll point at him and say "No, not you!"
"That's enough!" - This morning she told me she had a "boogey" so I attempted to get it.  I couldn't get it so I kept trying to wipe her nose with the Kleenex, when she shouted at me "That's enough!"  I couldn't help but laugh :-)
Taylor poopied - Tonight Lexi, Aunt Nikki, and cousin Taylor were goofing around and Lexi came up behind Taylor and pulled down her pants, underwear and all!  Then a few minutes later she sniffed Taylor's butt to see if she had poopied!  We were all dying laughing!

Pics from this week:

Liked the Bumbo for about 1 minute

Trying out the new jumper, still a little too small

Daddy and his mini-me

Lexi's new toolset

Keaton Christmas morning

Oscar got some gifts too!

Lexi walking in her new high heels...she was actually running in them!

Keaton Week 13 & 14

I'm a little behind on this week's update but with Christmas I feel like I've been busy doing stuff every night until it's time to go to bed!

Sleeping
Keaton still sleeps through the night but every once in awhile he will wake up as early as 3:45am.  Sometimes he'll go back to sleep right after replacing his paci but sometimes I have to go in there 3 or 4 times before he finally gives in.  I haven't quite figured out if there's any pattern or trigger on the nights this happens.  For the most part though, he's a pretty good sleeper and will go from 7:30ish to 6:45 or 7am.  He seems to be a little better than Lex was at sleeping in occasionally...and when I say "sleeping in" I mean until like 7:15am :-)  We are still swaddling him but he tends to break out of it by the morning.

Interaction
He is more and more alert each day and is now entertained by toys and the playmat.  This makes life so much easier :-)  He still loves being held and loves being carried around in the Baby Bjorn but he really likes his playmat too and will lay on it for a good 30 minutes looking up and smiling at the lights.  He is such a happy baby too!  Brian and I say all the time "Thank God for Keaton" because he is just such a good baby!  He smiles at us all the time and it's contagious!

Daycare
Daycare is going pretty well for Keaton.  I really like his teachers and he seems to be adjusting.  He's taking better naps there but still not as well as he does at home.  I think part of the reason is they have a rule against swaddling.  I also noticed a sign they had up with some other rules, like they can only be in the swing for 15 minutes at a time and they have to be held every so often.  I think that's a good thing though!  They let Lexi come in and see him every once in awhile and I really like that.  She has been such a great helper in the morning carrying in his bottles for me and then giving him a kiss goodbye. 

Carseat
Lately Keaton has been hating his car seat.  Lexi also hated her car seat but her hatred of it started much earlier so I was thinking we were in the clear with Keaton.  I was wrong!  Luckily he does alright on the car ride to daycare because it's so short but anything longer than that and he freaks out.  Even on the interstate he doesn't fall asleep.  This made this past weekend traveling to family Christmas parties extremely stressful!  I can't remember how long this lasted with Lexi but I sure hope he gets over this soon!

Lexi Quotes/Antics
"Shoot man" - It's more the way she says this that makes it so funny!
"I done playing with you" - She's said this to Brian a couple of times!
"I being good" - She says this all the time now when she wants to watch a movie or open a present.
"Oscar's sad" - The other night she kept saying Oscar was sad and had the most concerned look on his face.  Then she was petting him so softly.  It was so cute!  Then about 2 minutes after that she said "Oscar's being bad".
"Be careful angel" - I have no idea where she got this from.  A few times when I said be careful to her, she would respond "be careful angel."
"I'm hiding" - This means she's pooping
"I don't want to be here" - We were at my family Christmas party yesterday and she got sad all the sudden and said "I don't want to be here" and hung her head down.  It was so sad!  I still don't know why she said that because 5 minutes later she was back to playing.
"Ewww...gross, what a mess!" - She said this on Friday night when Nikki and Stacy were watching her.  Then she said it again Saturday when I was changing her poopy underwear.  They must say this to her at daycare when they change her diaper!
"I love it!" - She said this for every present she opened up last night at my family Christmas.  It was so cute!
Jingle bells - She's been singing a lot lately but this is one of her favorites!  One morning we were hanging out in bed and she jumped up and started belting out "jingle bells, jingle bells!"
Seeing Santa - Every year at my family Christmas Santa comes to visit.  In prior years Lexi was either too young or scared of him.  This year she was soooo excited to see him!  She was completely mesmerized by him and couldn't even wait her turn to sit on his lap!  

Keaton Week 12

First week at daycare
The first day at daycare seemed to go okay.  Dropping him off in the morning was actually harder on Lexi than it was on me!  They are in rooms right across the hall from each other and Lexi came in his room with me to drop him off but she didn't want me to let the daycare teachers have him!  She put her leg on the carseat so I couldn't take him out.  And then when I told her to give her brother a kiss she kept saying "no! my brother!"  Eventually I convinced her to let him go and the teacher told her she could come and visit him a couple times throughout the day.  Cute!  His sheet said he only slept about 45 minutes in the morning and 50 minutes in the afternoon so he was super tired when he got home.  He also only ate 3 ounces of his afternoon bottle.  He didn't seem super fussy when he got home though.

Days two and three at daycare went well too.  Lexi was better about letting him go on day two.  He's still not sleeping much there but I don't think he's used to all the noise.  His room is dark and quiet at home so it's probably going to take some adjustment.  The lack of sleep doesn't seem to be affecting him at home although when I put him to bed at night he seems super happy to be in his own crib :-)

Other Updates
No significant changes in the last week other than that I've moved him to exclusively formula.  I think this must be more filling than breastmilk because he went from eating 6oz at every bottle to sometimes only being able to finish 3 or 4 oz for his afternoon and nighttime bottle.  It doesn't seem to be affecting his sleeping though so I assume he's getting enough to eat.

In the last couple of weeks he's been smiling more and starting to giggle.  One thing that's almost guaranteed to get a giggle is patty cake.  He just loves playing this!  He also likes when we say "So big!"

Playing patty cake

Lexi Update
I'm sure Lexi did some funny stuff this week but since I'm back to work now I'm not doing a great job of writing it down.  Off the top of my head here's a couple phrases I can remember:

"Oh man" - She uses this in the right context too.  Like if she drops something she'll say "Oh man, oh man".

Head, shoulders, knees, and toes - On Saturday morning Lexi woke up around 6:30 and we were hanging out in our bed when she randomly stood up and starting singing "head, shoulders, knees, and toes" and then commanded me to sing it.

"I being good" - I've started putting presents under the Christmas trees, which is dangerous I know!  Lexi's been pretty good about not messing with them.  We got out the Elf on the Shelf when we put up the trees and I told her that the elf, "Fred", would be watching to see if she was being good and if she wasn't being good, she wouldn't get any presents.  Last night I had wrapped some more presents and put them under the tree and she noticed them today.  She said "Mommy, presents!"  And I told her, "yes, but you can't open them until Christmas."  Then she said "I being good."  I'm such a sucker, I almost let her open one because she was just too cute!  Later today she came up to me and said "Mommy, I need to watch a movie."  I said no movie and she said "I being good."  Ha ha!  She's already a little manipulator!

We're still working on potty training.  I just feel like it's impossible to be really dedicated to it though between daycare and having another baby to take care of.  On the weekends if it's just Brian or I by ourselves with both kids it's difficult to keep reminding her to go potty and to then take her in the bathroom.  This week at daycare we're going to try sending her in underwear and see how that goes.  I've got a stack of extra pants for them though because I'm sure she'll pee her pants several times!  I don't know how other people potty train their kids and make it seem so easy!

Last day of leave....

Today was my last day of maternity leave :-(  Where did the time go?!?  I really can't believe it's been 3 months already.  Seems like just yesterday we were headed to the hospital!  The last few weeks with Keaton have been especially enjoyable since he's been smiling and interacting.  This week I've been able to get quite a few giggles out of him by playing patty cake.  I don't know what it is about that, but he just loves it so much and gets really tickled when we play it!  I got a cute video of him giggling but I can't get videos to upload on here!

I think dropping him off tomorrow is going to be rough but I don't think it will be nearly as bad as with Alexa since I know he'll be okay.  I've really just been trying not to think about it.  I think I'm going to be super busy at work so I probably won't have time to think about it! 

We didn't really do anything too special on our last day.  We took one last weekly trip to Target.  I'm sure Keaton is not going to miss those!  The rest of the day we just hung out together.  I know we'll still have the weekends but it's going to be so hard going from spending the entire day together to only getting to see him for a couple of hours!  I will say it definitely makes you cherish the time you do have!

I'm hoping he will do well at daycare.  I'm not sure what to expect since it's a different daycare than the one Alexa went to when she was little.  The teachers are a little bit older than the ones that were at Alexa's daycare but that's not to say they won't take care of him just as well!  Hopefully he'll still eat okay and take good naps there and still sleep through the night for me!  Alexa will be in the room right across the hall from him too but I don't think they'll see each other.  That's probably a good thing because she'd probably be trying to keep people away from him all day!

I'll update at the end of the week on how everything went!

Decking the Halls

I love Christmas and I love decorating for Christmas.  Unfortunately Brian does not share this passion so it usually ends up being me decorating by myself.  I was so excited this year for Lexi to be able to decorate with me since last year she was way too young.  I think I must have been delusional though to think it would be fun decorating a Christmas tree with a 2 year old and 2 1/2 month old.

In the first couple of minutes Lexi spilled hot chocolate on herself and started screaming her head off.  I was freaking out because I knew it was really hot and it probably hurt pretty bad!  We got through it though after a few minutes of crying and moved on to decorating the tree.  Brian assembled the tree last night and I "fluffed" it so all we had to do tonight was put on the ornaments which I thought Lexi could handle.  She was into it the first 5 minutes but she wasn't really hanging the ornaments, more so setting them on the tree.  We found a better role for her though where she brought me the ornaments Brian had finished putting hooks on.  This seemed to be much more efficient.  She got bored with this role after a few minutes though and wanted to play with the camera instead.  Then she started whining about something (can't remember what) and Brian asked if they should just watch a movie downstairs.  I was getting frustrated at this point and Lexi was still whining so I said "go, get out of here" to Lexi.  As she's getting ready to walk down the stairs with Brian she says "Bye Mommy" and looked at me with her big puppy dog eyes.  Wow, I felt like the worst Mom of the year!  I gave her a hug and I just felt so bad!  I then decorated the rest of the tree by myself :-) 

I guess we got a few memories of our first year decorating the tree together!  Maybe next year will go more smoothly..with a 3 year old and 1 year old...right!

Thanksgiving

This was Keaton's first Thanksgiving and Lexi's 3rd Thanksgiving.  On Thursday we went to Brian's parents house and celebrated with his Mom's side of the family.  We had a great time seeing family but having two kids to look after is definitely exhausting!  Lexi was being particularly ornery and we realized a lot of the things we think are cute at home aren't so cute around other people!  By the end of the night we were ready to go to bed when the kids went to bed!  We attempted to get a family picture but I made the mistake of waiting until the end of the night when everyone was tired and cranky!  As you can see no one was really cooperating for the pictures.  The last picture will go down as a classic!

Luckily we were able to get some solo pics with Keaton earlier in the day.  Lexi just doesn't cooperate for pictures so trying with her is hopeless!

Friday we went to my Aunt Theresa's house for round 2.  It was a smaller crowd and Lexi seemed to be more well behaved which made the night a lot less stressful!  Although she was still her usual anti-social self she at least kept busy playing in the toy room.  Keaton was good as usual so all in all it was a great night!  I'm already looking forward to next Thanksgiving when Keaton will be able to enjoy the food with us!

We really do have so much to be thankful for this year.  I try to stop and remember this even when it's not Thanksgiving! 

Keaton Week 10 & 11

I'm a little behind on my weekly updates but we've been busy!  I can't really remember why I've been busy but I just know I've been busy :-) 


Keaton
There's actually not a ton that's changed in the last two weeks with Keaton.  Although we have made great progress with naps.  He will still fuss a couple of times during his nap but for the most part he is sleeping a pretty good stretch for both 2 hour naps.  He's really been such a good boy lately and I just LOVE his smiles!  I think he's going to be a pretty laid back little boy which will be a nice compliment to Lexi :-)

I go back to work in 3 days :-(  It sure is going to be hard leaving my little man.  I feel like we're really starting to bond and things are just getting fun!  I have a feeling he's going to be a mommy's boy and I am also predicting his big sister is going to boss him around a lot but he'll still look up to her :-)

I've been getting a lot of comments lately from strangers on how big he is.  The funny thing is that for the most part when people have said this all they can see is his face.  So I just have to tell them that he's not really big, my kids just carry all their weight in their cheeks!  He's actually small in terms of height and perfectly average for weight!

Lexi
Potty training has gone fairly well.  She pretty much consistently goes first thing in the morning and right before bed.  When she's home all day with us she rarely goes in her diaper (except for poop, which we can't get her to do in the toilet, see previous post!).  She isn't really telling us she needs to go potty though.  It's more that we're taking her around the same times.  If we forget to ask her if she needs to go she will still go in her diaper.  Some days are better than others but I think we're making progress.  She gets really excited when she does go and while she's peeing she'll say "I need to go tell Daddy" if I'm in there with her or "I need to go tell Mommy" if Brian's in there with her.  Then she comes up to us and says "I did it! Give me a high five!"    

Recently Lexi has starting singing a lot.  I just think this is the cutest thing in the whole world to hear her cute little voice singing songs!  Her favorites are Twinkle Twinkle, the ABCs, the Wheels on the Bus, and the song from the movie Tangled.  The only words she knows to the song from Tangled are "wondering, wondering, wondering" so she just walks around the house singing those words over and over.

Lexi is now starting to get into dress up.  She has a few skirts that actually are regular clothes but they look kind of like dress up clothes and when she puts them on she spins around in circles saying "la la la, la la la".

She definitely has multiple sides to her though because she also loves to "fix" things.  She's so curious and whenever she sees me or Pa with tools she always wants to help out.  She knows her toys need batteries and if we say anything is broken she'll say "It needs batteries?"  I bought her a tool set for Christmas and I just know she's going to love it!

Some of Lexi's quotes and crazy antics this week: 

Before Lexi used to randomly add an "A" to the end of some words, like "drop-a".  Now she has started adding an "ed" to some of her words.  For example, anytime she tells us to "stop" it is "stop-ed it".


"I am Buzz Lightyear."  "To infinity and beyond."  "To the rescue."  - These are all from Toy Story of course!

"Stop killing me!" - I have no idea where she got this from.  I'm going to guess one of her movies but who knows!

"Get out of my room!" - Sometimes when Brian puts her down for a nap or to bed at night she tells Oscar to get out of her room.  Then she'll tell Brian to get out too.  Bossy little girl!

"Put my hood up."  - She insists on wearing her winter coat even if it's not that cold out.  And whenever she puts it on she says "put my hood up."

The other day Brian gave me a hug and Lexi did not like it!  She started yelling "Get off of her!"  We played it up of course :-)  She was wearing a backpack and she took the backpack off like she was ready to rumble.  Then she goes up to Brian and yells at him "Be nice to her!  That's my Mommy!".  She kept scolding him and yelling "Be nice to her!"  Then she would come over to me and touch my hand very gently like she was comforting me.  A few minutes later Brian hugged me again and she started punching him and doing karate kicks, like she was literally spinning and kicking.  I have no idea where she learned this from!  We told her it wasn't nice to kick but I could barely hold back my laughter!  I was also a little proud that she had such good moves :-) - UPDATE - After writing this post I realized where she got her moves from.  Kung Fu Panda!

Week 10/11 Pictures:

Oh Sh*t!

I can't believe I'm posting about this again!  I really thought the poop incidents were over with the last one being Lexi smearing it all over her room.  I was wrong....

On Saturday I was preoccupied pumping and I left Lexi by herself to play in her playroom.  Normally she'd be fine but for some reason I didn't really think about the fact that she wasn't wearing a diaper, underwear, or any bottoms for that matter.  This was her choice by the way!  Sometimes she prefers to go commando!  So as I'm pumping in the bedroom I can hear Lexi in the hallway and it sounds like she's just messing with the gate at the top of the stairs.  Then she shouts out "Mommy, I poopied."  I figured this meant she actually peed because she says this when she pees her pants.  So I stopped pumping and headed to the hallway fully expecting that there would just be some pee I'd have to clean up from the carpet.  As I get closer to Lexi I see something brown on her lip and she's holding her hands up like she's got something on them.  And then I see it (you might want to stop reading if you're squeamish!).  A big round ball of poop sitting on the stairway ledge...oh, and there's corn pieces in it too to top it off!  Ha ha!  So I'm looking around for other traces of poop and I don't see any except for what's on the ledge and on Lexi's mouth and hands.  That leads me to only one conclusion, she pooped into her hand!  How that's possible, I don't know, but since there's no other traces of poop, I can't come up with any other theories.  Luckily this clean up was not nearly as bad as the last one!

Now every time I leave her alone or she takes a nap I'm terrified of finding poop somewhere.  On Sunday when I put her down for a nap I went in her room twice to check on her because I could hear her talking to herself in her room.  When I went in the first time she was just laying in her bed and I scared her when I opened the door because she wasn't expecting me!  The second time I went in there she was again just laying in her bed and she told me to shut the door!  Luckily she eventually went to sleep and there were no poop incidents to report.  However on Tuesday we were not so lucky.

Tuesday night I heard Oscar pacing.  Since it was the middle of the night it didn't really register right away what might be happening.  Then my brain finally clicked on but it was too late.  I sat up and smelled it.  Deja vu.  I woke up Brian and he turned the light on to find 4 large piles of poop on a brand new rug we had just purchased the day before!  I'm beginning to think Oscar is trying to send me a message.  He has never done this before Keaton was born! 

To recap, in the last 10 weeks, both Lexi and Oscar have each had two poop incidents and Keaton's had one.  I'm sure Keaton has another one coming and I'm really just hoping it ends there!  When telling my Aunt Martha about the previous poop incidents she pointed out that Brian and I are the only ones in the house that haven't had a poop incident.  Let's hope it stays that way!

Keaton Week 9/Lexi Fun

Not a ton in the way of updates for Keaton.  He's getting bigger by the day but he's still so tiny next to Lexi!  Just makes me really realize how much she's grown in the last two years.  It's hard to believe she was that little and hard to believe he'll be that big in just a couple of years!  He's finally fitting nicely into his 0-3 month clothes and I will probably be retiring all of his newborn clothes (he got a good 2 months out of them!).  I think he'll be in the 0-3 month size for at least another couple of months.  Some of them are super small and some of them are super big.  Wish the manufacturers could all get together and come to an agreement on sizes! 

Sleeping
He is still "sleeping" through the night, although I put sleeping in quotes because lately he's been fussing quite a bit through the night.  This is primarily due to me no longer swaddling him, which I started on Sunday night.  I just remember it was very difficult to break Alexa from the swaddling and I thought if I started sooner with Keaton it might not be as bad.  I was wrong!  First night not swaddled he fussed a little.  Second night was the worst!  Third night was a little better.  Fourth night I gave in and loosely swaddled him and he slept through without a peep.  I think I'm going to continue to loosely swaddle him at least for a little while.  After all, he's still a tiny little baby and just doesn't have any control over those little arms of his!

Again on naps we have made little progress.  He just does not like sleeping in his crib for naps!  I don't swaddle him so that could be part of the problem.  It's funny though because the last week Brian's parents have been watching him in the morning for a couple of hours while I go to the gym and he's been sleeping great over there!  Granted he sleeps on his tummy in a big comfy bed over there though :-)  He does seem to be sleeping a little longer stretches during his naps without waking up and crying (about 10 to 15 minutes whereas before he was crying every couple of minutes!) but we haven't had a nap yet where he slept the entire way without crying.  I have 2 1/2 weeks before I go back to work so we are going to keep at it and hopefully he'll get the hang of it!

Feeding
He seems to be getting a little faster at eating his bottles, usually taking around a half hour instead of the previous 45 minutes to an hour.  One thing he started this week with his nighttime bottle is stopping halfway through and just staring at me and smiling.  It makes every frustration I had during the day just go away when he does this!  He literally won't take a sip and will just sit there with the bottle resting in his mouth staring at me and smiling.  I think he would do this for several minutes but eventually I look away so he can finish eating his bottle!  One of those great Mommy moments!

Interaction
I can definitely tell he is becoming much more aware of his surroundings which makes it easier to entertain him when he's awake.  He still prefers to be held most of the time but he will lay on his playmat for a few minutes and look at the lights and colorful toys.  We also played in the playroom with Lexi the other night and he seemed to like looking at the toys and all the colors.  I think he is starting to distinguish between people too.  He's still happiest in the mornings and his favorite thing is when I kiss his checks and rub my nose against his!  This usually will get a little laugh out of him.  I can't wait because I know within the next month or so he'll be giggling!

Lexi Fun
Potty training has actually gone fairly well this week.  She's been peeing as soon as she wakes up in the morning almost every day this week and every night before she goes to bed.  We even got her to poop a tiny bit in the toilet twice!  I won't be able to work on it that much tomorrow with her because Brian's gone and it's very difficult to deal with peeing and pooping in her underwear while also taking care of a 2 month old!  We'll try our best though!

As usual Lexi continues to crack us up every night with her funny phrases and antics.  Here's the latest:

"What the heck" - I am guilty of providing her with this phrase...but hey, it could be worse!

 "Leave him alone" - She's told me a couple of times to leave Keaton alone.  Protective much!

"Do it" - If she wants your help with something she will command you to "do it".  She has also used this phrase if she wants you to do something that we've previously told her not to do.  So for example, Lexi throws food on the floor for Oscar and Brian tells her no.  She will then look to me, grab my hand and bring it towards the food and say "Do it Mommy."  Like somehow it's okay if she uses my hand to commit the crime instead of hers!

"Rapunzel, Rapunzel, Rapunzel!" - Lexi is OBSESSED with movies and in particular the movie Tangled (as well as Toy Story).  We've been letting her watch movies way too much but anyways the other night she was running around the house yelling "Rapunzel! Rapunzel! Rapunzel!" over and over again for probably a good 5 minutes!

"One little turtle" - So I mentioned above that Lexi pooped a tiny bit in the toilet and both times Brian said something about one little turd.  She thought he was saying turtle so she comes out of the bathroom saying "Mommy, one little turtle."

"I love him!" - I don't know where she learns this stuff but the other night she was scolding me for playing with Keaton and she would get right in my face and tell me "Don't do it again."  She did the same thing to Brian, only she grabbed his shirt like she was getting ready to knock him out!  Then while she was scolding me she yelled "I love him!" in my face.  It was so cute!

"Stupid head" - I seriously do not know where she picked this one up because it's definitely not anything Brian or I have ever said.  I can't remember what happened to make her say this but the other night she said it about 5 times.  We tried to tell her it was a bad thing to say as we're both dying to hold our laughter in!

"Hey cowboy" - This was a new one last night.  Something she picked up from school maybe?  It's so funny to hear her say this and the way she says it!

"You just painted?" - Last week I did some touch up paint (which included painting over the poop smeared walls in her room!) and when she got home that day she immediately put her hand on one of the walls going up the stairs.  So I said to her "Oh no, don't put your hands on the walls, I just painted."  Since then, every time we go up the stairs she says "You just painted?"

Counting - Lexi can count to 11.  It goes like this:  "1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 8, 9, 10, 11"  For some reason the 6 is always missing and she repeats 8, 9, 10, 11 after she reaches 11.

Week 9 Pics:

Keaton Week 8/Lexi Randomness

Keaton turned 2 months old this week!  Oh and what a week it has been!

Sleeping
Keaton continues to do well with sleeping at night with no feedings.  BUT we have made NO progress with daytime naps!  In fact, I think we might be going backwards :-(  He fights tooth and nail through the morning nap and sometimes the afternoon nap as well.  He usually only sleeps for a 15 minute stretch in the morning nap and spends the rest of the hour fussing/crying with me going in every 3 to 5 minutes to calm him/replace his pacifier.  Occasionally he'll sleep a 1 to 1 1/2 hour stretch for what's supposed to be a 2 hour afternoon nap, but lately he's been crying through that one as well.  I know it's not from a lack of being tired because he'd have no problem sleeping if I were holding him...he just does not want to nap in his crib!  We are not going to give up hope though!

Interaction
Keaton is finally smiling which makes all the crying worth it :-)  He's definitely happiest right after his morning bottle and he likes it if I kiss his neck or face, rub my hair across his face, or make silly sounds.  It's not a guaranteed smile and it looks like he's still trying to get the hang of smiling.  Sometimes he just opens his mouth and the sides are just slightly turned up so you know he's trying to smile.  The other night I got a laugh out of him.  It was just a soft sort of coo laugh but it was so cute!  These are the moments of being a Mom that I love!

He also seems to be doing better at night before his bedtime bottle.  The period of fussiness seems to have diminished to just between 6:30pm and 7:00pm.  He does insist on lots of attention though!  Luckily Lexi helps out with that because she likes to play with him if I set him on the floor.   


2 Month Stats
He had his 2 month check up today and doctor said everything looks healthy!  He had to get 3 shots today and he was such a trooper!  Brian came with but I actually ended up holding Keaton's hands while he got his shots.  With the first shot his face turned bright red and he started crying.  The other two shots were quick and I scooped him up as soon as those were done.  He cried for less than a minute but then he kept making a pouty face just like Alexa used to do!  I won't tell Alexa but I think Keaton has the best pouty face :-)  He sticks the bottom lip out so far and it just makes your heart melt!  I think it almost had Brian tearing up when he saw it!  All in all, Keaton did great with the shots and I think I cried more than he did!

Here are his 2 month stats (he's a shorty!):

Weight:  11lbs 9oz (50%)
Height:  22.25 inches (28%)
Head:  15.7cm (50%)

Happy Halloween!
Monday was Halloween so we took Lexi trick or treating.  This was Lexi's 3rd Halloween and 2nd time trick or treating.  She went as Cinderella this year.  She was less than thrilled about wearing her costume and kept saying "It's too big", which is what she says when she doesn't want to wear something.  I attempted to get pictures of her but she kept running from me so I couldn't get one! Keaton didn't wear a costume since he was just hanging out in the carseat.  We stopped at GG and Pa's first which ended up being not the greatest idea since Lexi lost interest in getting candy from other houses!  Next year we'll hit their house up last!  We only made it around the block for trick or treating and then headed home because Keaton started fussing and Lexi was over it!  Maybe next year will be better!  Here's some pics from the day:

Sesame Street Live
On Wednesday I took Lexi to see Sesame Street Live in Bloomington.  It was fun spending some quality Mommy/Daughter time together!  I think she liked the show but it was silly because they had a 15 minute intermission and the whole show was only about an hour and 15 minutes long!  Part way through the show Lexi said "Mommy, I'm done with Elmo."  and wanted to leave.  We got some popcorn at intermission though and that refueled her for the rest of the show!  Here's some pics from the show:

 
Potty Update
It's pretty much going to be impossible to potty train her with her going to daycare but she's making good progress.  She went potty in the toilet for me twice this week, once in the morning before school and once after school.  We bribe her with candy though so I doubt she'll go potty at daycare since they probably won't give her candy!  We'll see how this weekend goes.  Hopefully no more poopy underwear!


Poop Art
Speaking of poop, on Wednesday after Sesame Street Live I attempted to put both the kids down for a nap.  Lexi didn't put up a fight and Keaton didn't either so I thought I was golden!  About 10 minutes later though Keaton started fussing and I heard Lexi talking in her room.  That's not totally unusual for her and most of the time she'll just talk to herself for a little bit and then fall asleep.  So I didn't pay much attention to her and focused my efforts on trying to get Keaton to sleep.  For some reason he didn't want to sleep though and fussed on and off for the next hour or so.  About an hour and a half after I put Lexi down for her nap she came out of her room.  I met her in the hallway and noticed she had something brown on her face.  My first thought was "hmm...did she get into some candy?"  Then I noticed her hands had something brown on them too.  It still didn't really register until I walked into her room and smelled the poo!  But even then it didn't fully set in because when I walked in her room all I saw was the stuffing from one of her stuffed animals sprinkled all over the floor.  Then as I was picking that up that's when I noticed the poop smeared all over her white bed, her sheets, comforter, and the wall above her bed!  I was completely in shock.  I just kept asking her why did you do that and she responded "I poop in my pants."  She had indeed!  I guess it had kinda started to come out over the top of her diaper so I assume she put her hand in it and didn't know where else to wipe it except on her bed and walls.  What I don't understand is why she stayed in her room for so long before coming to get me!  Regardless, it was a giant disaster!  I attempted to clean it up as Keaton was screaming his head off in the next room!  Funny thing is that for the 10 minutes that I thought they were both going to nap without a fight I actually was thinking I could keep Lexi home from daycare for the rest of my maternity leave.  As soon as this happened though I realized never again!!


Fun Quotes
As mad as I was about the poop smeared everywhere, it's hard to stay mad at her when she says such cute stuff like the things below:

She's seen me pumping and she'll ask what I'm doing so I said I was making milk.  Now if she sees me pumping she'll ask "You making milk?"  One day she told Brian "I making milk."

This was a conversation Lexi had while on her play phone: "Hello,hi, nice to meet you. Yeah, he hit Ted Bear. Mmmhmm, yeah. He's in my room. I need to call Mommy. Ok, bye."

When Brian and I are trying to have a conversation Lexi will say:  "Hey! I talkin to Robin!"  Then Brian will say: "Ok, talk to her."  And Lexi will pretend she's having a conversation with me and say "ummm, chicken."

Lexi is obsessed with movies and I have to admit we have not been the best about limiting her time watching them.  It's very easy to become dependent on them but the other day I did tell her no.  This is how the conversation went.  Lexi: "I wanna watch a movie." Me: "No movie." Lexi: "I wanna ask Daddy."

Some of her other favorite phrases currently are:  "I pick one."  "I wanna do it."

Potty Progress

During the week we didnt make much progress with potty training since Lexi's in daycare and I don't expect them to be changing her underpants every time she pees in them. We did continue to set her on the potty when she'd wake up and before bed but she'd never go. Yesterday morning we put her in underwear and like last weekend she peed her pants. She would tell us that she peed her pants as she was going but by that time it's too late to make it to the bathroom. Brian would try and would pick her up and run her into the bathroom with pee trickling down her leg and onto the floor the whole way! Yesterday also brought a new adventure in potty training...poop in the underwear! Lexi told us she needed to go potty, so Brian took her in the bathroom but when he pulled down her pants she had already pooped! That was fun to clean-up :-) So another day went by without successfully peeing or pooping in the potty once. Today we tried again and she peed and pooped her pants again this morning. This time I just threw the underwear away! Then after her nap I had her sit on the potty and low and behold she peed within just a couple minutes. I was so excited I started cheering which caused Oscar to bark which scared Lexi! But I think she realized I was so happy she peed in the potty! She got this really shy smile on her face. To reward her I gave her a ring pop and a special toy she only gets to play with right after she goes potty. After dinner tonight she said she wanted candy and I told her she only gets candy she goes potty so she said she wanted to go potty. Within less than a minute of sitting on the potty she peed! I couldn't believe it! She got her ring pop and toy again and I think she's figured out that going potty in the toilet is a good thing! Hopefully being at daycare this week won't set us back on the progress we've made! I plan on keeping her home the week of thanksgiving so maybe she'll be fully trained by the end of that week! I can't wait to not have to buy her diapers! It starts to really add up buying diapers for two kids. Let's hope our progress continues this week!

On another note, here are a couple funny things Lexi said/did this week:
When she woke up on Friday morning she told Brian that Syd, her monkey, bit Ted bear. She then said Syd was in timeout and left him in her bedroom and shut the door behind her!
She's been saying "mmm, that's good" when she eats or drinks something.
When she wakes up she says "I sleep all good." Then she asks me, "mommy, he sleep all good?" meaning did Keaton sleep good!
She wanted to hold Keaton and so I laid him on her lap but he started crying and she said "no, he's crying" and made a motion to take him away!

Keaton Week 7

Sleeping/Feeding
I know I'm jinxing myself by talking about his sleeping but I want to make sure to document all his milestones! For the past two nights he has slept 11 hours! I think the primary reason is because he's now eating at least 6oz at every feeding so he's getting enough to eat during the day. He's been doing great adjusting to eating more ounces but he seriously has to be the slowest eater in the world sometimes taking 45 minutes or more! I can't complain though if the end result is him sleeping longer!

We haven't made much progress with daytime naps.  He fights the morning nap with everything he has!  He is fine with sleeping in the morning as long as it is snuggled up next to me!  As soon as I lay him down in his crib though he is screaming bloody murder!  We're still trying though and hopefully he'll get the hang of it soon.  He does great with the afternoon nap and doesn't typically put up a fight.  

Fussiness
So last post it seemed like Keaton's period of fussiness between 5pm and 7pm each night had subsided. Unfortunately it has returned :-( I don't know what causes this but we try everything to calm him and nothing works! Sometimes we can get him calmed down for a minute or two by using the techniques in The Happiest Baby on the Block book but it doesn't last and he starts crying within a few minutes. The only explanation I can come up with is that he's tired but is fighting it until he goes to bed for the night. We are hoping this doesn't last much longer. It sure makes for some stressful evenings and I feel bad that Lexi has to endure it too!

Sisterly Love
As much as Keaton cries when Lexi does get to see him she still loves him so much!  She sees him in the morning now too before she goes to school since they are on the same wake-up/bedtime schedule.  She gives him a kiss on the head before she leaves and always does one other thing to help comfort him like giving him a blanket, getting his paci, or turning on the music on his bouncy chair for him.  When he's not fussing at night she'll hold him for a little bit and she loves to play with his fingers and toes.  He seems to like her too and will even calm down sometimes if she holds him! 

7 Week Picture:

Lexi Randomness

Howl-Zoo-Ween
Last weekend Lexi and I had a mommy/daughter night at Howl-Zoo-Ween.  Nana, Aunt Nikki, Aunt Stacy, and cousin Taylor came along with us too.  It was a lot of fun!  Lexi went dressed as Cinderella and Taylor was dressed as the skeleton bride.  Lexi liked getting the candy but unfortunately wanted me to carry her the whole time.  My back was exhausted by the time we got through the trick or treat trail!  We still have most of the candy left and are using it as part of potty training tactics.

"The Potty's Coming!"
Speaking of potty training, we officially started on Saturday.  We've had potties in the house for awhile now but Lexi didn't really seem too interested.  She would sit on them and pretend to pee but only actually went maybe once or twice.  She hadn't really been telling us when she'd go in her diaper so I figured she wasn't ready for training yet.  But I decided this weekend we needed to start the training since she's over 2 now.  I had bought her some big girl undies so I put some on her Saturday afternoon.  I told her to tell me when she had to go potty and then I set the timer to go off every 15 minutes to remind me to set her on the potty.  I set her on the potty three or four times and she never went.  Brian's parents stopped by and I was distracted so I didn't remember to set her on the potty.  She was playing on the couch and all the sudden she jumps off and goes running into the bathroom yelling "The potty's coming!  The potty's coming".  Well we found out that "The potty's coming" really means she already went but at least she's aware that she's going now!  We haven't actually made it to the potty yet and have gone through about 5 pairs of underwear in the last two days, but I think we're making progress.  Today before her nap I changed her into a pull-up and right after I got it on her she said "Mommy, the potty's coming."  We went into the bathroom to sit on the potty but of course she had already gone in the pull-up!  But again, awareness is progress!  She sat on the potty this afternoon for probably a good 20 minutes and I think I saw a tiny dribble come out so maybe it's just stage fright!  We're going to keep trying and hopefully by the time she's 3 we'll have her trained :-) 

Quotes of the Week
"Get to bed right now"
"What the heck"
"It's kinda spicy" - She says this one quite a bit when she's eating, even if it's not spicy!
"Wooh, it's hot in here.  I need to put on my sunglasses" - This one goes with a picture (see below):

Lexi: "Brother's scared." Me: "What's he scared of?"  Lexi:  "Umm, the tiger."  Me: "Oh, why is he scared of the tiger?"  Lexi: "Umm, no, the giraffe."  - The mind of a 2 year old!  Here's a pic of her while we had that conversation: