A skill I just don't have

See the picture that I blatantly stole from the internet right there?

See how that dad is totally eating* and holding a baby at the same time?

I.

Can't.

Do.

That.

I just can't.

I thought for sure by the time I had a second child I would have it down, but my skills are no better than they were with Easton.

Ronnie can totally do it, and does it without problems or complaining on the nights when Kendree is wanting a little extra attention during dinner time.

I have to find a way to entertain her on her own so I can eat.

I'd like to think that it's because men have bigger arm, hands, etc. but I know I've seen other moms pulling it off with ease, so I fear that is not the reason.

Tell me--can you manage it?

*I could probably manage to eat a piece of toast. It's food that requires utensils that is my real issue.

Easton-2.5 years

What a big boy we have!

Easton is at such a fun age (minus the tantrum-throwing-regular-2-year-old moments).

He tells you stories, that most often are a combination of things that have happened over the course of several different days. When telling these stories, he always used the filler "and then" which sounds like "an den" and it is hilarious! I'll try to get one on video soon so you can all experience it.

He still loves all things Toy Story and Cars, but prefers to watch other Disney and Pixar films. They change daily. He even enjoys some good musicals, like Annie, The Family Band, and The Gnomemobile.

He tries to sing along with everything. That translates to him yelling out the last word of every phrase of the songs. He gets the words right 90% of the time, it's amazing how much he retains!

It's funny how this age is such a combination of boy and baby. One minute he won't accept help putting a puzzle together and the next he is begging "Mommy, hold you!" (translation: hold me!)

Easton is starting to interact with Kendree more and more. She loves watching him when he is in the mood to entertain (and not torture) her. He even gets her laughing (something that mommy has yet to do). I have video of the most recent laugh session that I'll upload soon, I promise.

We love our big boy!

A Confession

Aside from the fear of having a tornado rip through town and destroy everything, I love this time of year.

Love the thunderstorms

Love the hail (mainly because I don't have plants of my own for it to ruin)

Now, if my two and half year old didn't drive me crazy on the days we can't go out, I would be completely satisfied.

Kendree-3 months (four weeks late)

I guess this is Kendree's first official proof that the second child is slighted. :)

Kendree turned three months old almost a month ago. sigh. Where does the time go?

In my defense, these pictures were taken all around that time, with the ruffle quilt ones on the actual day she turned 3 months old.

I continue to be amazed at what an angel baby Kendree is. She is so mellow and easy-going, exactly what you need in a second child. She is starting to really test her voice and entertains us with her babbling (that sounds a little like she is upset, until you see her happy face). She rarely cries, unless she is getting her nose sucked for the 15th time that day, or if her older brother is showing her a little too much "love."

She continues to be an excellent sleeper, going down around 8:30 or 9pm. I dream feed her when I go to bed around 10:30 and then she sleeps until at least 5am. When she does wake to eat at 5, she goes right back to sleep and when she sleeps until 7am or later, I love those days even more! Easy peasy.

She continues to love being swaddled to sleep at night, but does her naps without the swaddle. We are working on getting a bit more of a schedule as far as naps go, but aren't there quite yet.

She laughed for the first time this month (see previous post with video) and is smiling. She doesn't seem to be quite as smiley as Easton was, but my mom and I were discussing that with Easton, any free time we had was spent right in his face trying to make that happen and unfortunately, our time is a bit more limited with Kendree. When we do try to make her smile though, she always obliges.

Now for the pictures:

Mom's official 3 month photo shoot:

Proof that Kendree is taking a binky now! Hip hip hooray! She would TOTALLY be a thumb sucker if I didn't force the binky instead and I'll say it a thousand times, I'd much rather have something I can take away later on. She hates the MAM brand of binky that Easton takes, but likes the Nuk ones. I have come to hate that little ring on the front, since it is so easy for her to grab it accidentally and take it out herself when she doesn't want it out. I have found some that Nuk makes without it now and they seem be going much better. She still doesn't love it as much as Easton did and continues to, but it is nice that she can self-soothe all through the night, etc.

We continue to love our Kendree-girl (who gets called "Kenny" by all members of our household some of the time).

A Change

So, after the 15th day in a row of putting my hair in a pony tail, I decided I needed a change.

I had two thoughts, perm it or chop it off.

The perm won (since I know that if I hated it I could always chop it off--it's hard to glue hair back on...)

Yes, for the first time since my freshman year of college, I'm sporting a perm.

Things have changed since then though. While crunchy curls were acceptable then, they aren't so much now. I have no idea what products to use, etc.

I need your help!

What do you recommend?

I know that people like my naturally-curly-haired friend Bethany can't believe I did this by choice.

And yes, I will be sharing pictures, but first I need to perfect my style. Give me a few days :)

Easton Bustin' A Move

NoseFrida. The Snotsucker.

How's that for a title to grab your attention? or send you clicking onto the next page very quickly, your choice.

Kendree has a constant stuffy nose.

No really, constantly.

I've taken her to the doctor and as it turns out, it's just another joy of living at 7200 feet. (love it)

We used to spend hours (not consecutively) everyday sucking the poor girl's nose.

Then, a family friend recommended the NoseFrida.

Lifesaver!

Seriously, if you don't have one already, hurry, lickety-split and order one.  You'll be thanking me--I promise.

Now, a few notes:
1. You actually suck the snot right out of your own child's nose.  That's a little weird to get used to, in fact, I didn't tell Ronnie what the NoseFrida was really all about since he is the primary nose sucker in our family and I knew he would tell me not to get it.  Instead, I said things like "people in Europe have been using it for 20 years!" and "the [name omitted] family loves it!"  Worked like a charm.
2. You know how with those little bulb suckers it is a 20 minute process to get visible snot out?  You suck, the baby sucks it back in, you suck, the baby sucks it back in, repeat one million times.  Because of the constant sucking that the NoseFrida lets you do, everything is so much quicker.
3. The part that goes into the nose is much bigger, so you don't worry about impaling your child. at all. (this is also a great feature if your kids have a little bit bigger nostril openings (like mine, thanks to Ronnie's genes*))

Aren't modern conveniences** wonderful? 

*He would probably argue that the pot was calling the kettle black on that one.
**If one can call sucking your own kid's snot convenient.

I'm Ready

...ready to get my hopes up that is.

I decided to show my faith that spring/summer has really arrived and removed the BundleMe from Kendree's car seat.

Next week I may even pack away my Ugg boots and coats.

Baby steps people, baby steps.

Easton Helps

I made Ronnie blow out "2010" candles at dinner the night of gradution.  Easton was more than willing to help.

Help blow:

Help cheese:

Help eat:

And generally be cute:

Kendree's Blessing

Later in the evening after graduation, we blessed little Kendree Rae.

I'll warn you that there are about one million (or over 100) pictures of the event.  I narrowed them down, I really did, but there are still a lot.  You've been warned.

I had plans to bless Kendree in the dress I was blessed in, but when you wait to bless your daughter until she is thisclose to three months old, she goes and gets bigger than a newborn.  Imagine!  Luckily, Grandma Cali and Aunt Kari found this gorgeous dress in California and brought it out (Laramie doesn't have so many shops that specialize in this kind of thing).

The circle: Uncle Gordon, Grand Dad, Grandpa Cali, Uncle Adam, Uncle Dan, Ronnie, Grandpa Wyo, Steve, Tucker and the Bishop.

Ronnie did a fantastic job on the blessing.  Easton even allowed me to listen to the entire thing while he happily doodled on a piece of paper.  My dad was holding Kendree's head during the blessing and as they got started, she was getting a little fussy.  My dad said that he opened his eyes (because her head was slipping and he needed to make sure it wasn't going to flop) and as Ronnie started talking, she calmed right down, her eyes got really big and she just started looking from one face to the next around the circle.  It was as if she knew something special was happening.

Kendree laying on the gorgeous blanket that Grammy made for her.

Law school friends: Tucker, Laura, Ronnie, Kendree, Me, Lindsey and Steve

4 generations! Me, Grandma Great, Kendree and Grandma Wyo.

Family photo (Buzz and Woody included, of course)

Grandma and Grandpa Wyo, Ronnie, Kendree and Me.

The Wyo family: Erica, Grandm and Grandpa, Ad-man, Jord-man, Easton, Ronnie, Me, Kendree and Sassy.

The Cali Family: Grandma, Grandpa, Alex, Alisa, Kari, Easton, Ronnie, Kendree and Me.

Grandma and Grandpa Cali, Ronnie, Kendree and Me.

Grandma-Great, Kendree and Grand Dad

Uncle Dan and Little Alayna.  They didn't make it into any of the group shots 'cuz Alayna was having a rough day.  We kept her up past her normal nap time, and then woke her up early for the blessing.  Poor thing!

And lest you think all of our pictures come out so wonderful, just know that more than one of our family pictures had this quality to it!

Gotta love 2 year olds!

Some people require pictures as proof

and just in case you are one of those people, here are pictures to prove that Ronnie has, in fact, graduated (never mind that he is still waiting on grades, etc).

Kendree Laughs!

Kendree was laying in my parent's pack 'n play last night and my mom pushed the swinging bear head on the toy bar.
Kendree loved it!
Of course, I missed the first and best laughs, but we caught some of it on tape. Those darn hiccups keep getting in her way as well.

Not shown: the 8 of us all standing around silently, willing her to keep going. :)

We are excellent hosts

Ronnie's family is in town from Southern California for the graduation celebrations this weekend.
We spent several days brainstorming on how best to welcome them after their 17 hour drive.

This is what we came up with:

Are we the best, or what?

It's the end of an ERA!

(said just like Monica on that one Friends episode)

You see this guy right here?

It's his birthday today.  The big 2-9.  Happy Birthday babe!

Not only that, but as I type this, he is taking his last. final. of. law. school.

We thought this day might never come.

My mom and I were reminising about the week of law school orientation and how Ronnie came home very discouraged and told me he didn't think he could do law school.  I promptly replied "Oh yes you can!"  and look at us now. 

Three years of school?  check
Two kids? check (not that that one was actually on a "to-do" list)
A job? check
A great experience overall?  Double check

I'm so proud of you.  Proud for the work you put in. The late nights, the early mornings and everything in between.  Proud of the daddy, husband, and person that you are.  Proud to be your wife.

Now, let's shout hooray!

We did it! (that one I like to imagine in the voice that Elle Woods uses at the end of Legally Blonde).

Randomness

Easton sometimes likes to hang out in Kenny's bassinet.  He's not supposed to, but I couldn't resist a picture.  (I'm clearly still learning how to effectively discipline).  :)

And here's a few shots of Kenny herself in the bassinet (not taken at the same time as the above picture).

My kid is normal

I've mentioned before that Easton is an incredibly clean child.  He hates being dirty.  Hates anything on his hands or face or feet.

I thought that I may be able to avoid some of the "classic" kid problems because of this. 

Turns out I was dead wrong.

I should have known when he was coloring quietly for almost the entire time I was feeding Kendree.

We thought that the legs were the extent of it, until we went over to wash him off and discovered this:

No toe was left unmarked.

At least he's thorough.

Don't you just love Sundays?

Aside from the fact that your kids never nap like they normally do, or that you have to start another week the next day, or that it just means that you have to explain to your 2 year old for the next 6 days that it is not the day for church.

But if we ignore all of that, we can get precious family moments like this:

And father son moments like this (note the left over faux hawk):

and that's what makes Sundays the best.