It's go time

Ronnie and I were talking the other day about our earliest real memories.  Not pictures or home videos we have seen a million times or verbal stories that seem to be memories.  Things that we actually remember.  Things that our parents probably wouldn't remember.

Both of us started really remembering when we were four years old.

Then we realized that our "freebie" years of parenting are over.  Easton may remember a reaction, event or specific day.

From here on out, we need to have our game on.

I, for one, don't really feel like four years was enough time.

A Few of KaLee's "Mama" Hints

We all have things that work for our kids, but I know that I am always looking for good ideas.  I'll admit, most of my advice will have more application for those with multiple children, but I'll try to think back to my time with only Easton and come up with a few. :)

I'd love to hear your hints, etc. in the comments!

• I always try to have fruit snacks and stickers/a piece of paper in my diaper bag.  These two things have saved MANY a doctor office waiting room or other store waiting experience.
• The timer is your best friend.  Even kids who can't understand "time" can watch numbers go down and understand that when it rings it is their turn, etc.
• I started counting backwards from 5 when I'm serious about them obeying and need them to make a good decision quickly.  Then counting up from 1 is used for races and other things.  I think that distinction has helped.
• My kids take one nap per day in a crib/bassinet.  This is hard to do when you have those snuggly newborns and grandma/grandpa/dad/anyone is dying to hold them but really keeps the "arm sickness" as we call it around here at bay.  So far, none of my kids have gotten too used to napping while being held.
• As evidenced by the weeks that Devynee spent with socks on her hands, I try really hard to not have my kids be thumb/finger suckers.  I figure I can take away a binky or blankie, but I can't cut off a finger. 
• When nursing with multiple children I do one of the following: 1. Turn on a television show for those 20 minutes so you know where the child/ren are and they are semi-entertained. 2. Start the timer for 20 minutes so they know how long it will be before you can help them with that puzzle, etc. 3. Have them gather books and read to them while I nurse and they hold the book and turn the pages. 4. Be okay with them crying.  Every kid has to learn to share. :)
• Speaking of nursing.  It is okay to set the baby down (who will definitely cry, by the way) while you discipline/deal with the others.  I never let nursing be the "do anything you want to do and get away with it" time.  The baby survives and picks up nursing as soon as the other children are dealt with.

Without getting into sleep training and discipline (two very controversial topics) that is all I can think of for now. I'm sure as soon as I hit post I'll think of something awesome that I should have added.

Mama and Devynee

Since it seems I am the one usually behind the camera, I don't have many pictures with my kids.  I'm trying to be more aware of that fact and hand the camera to Ronnie every once in a while.

Here I am with my sweet Devynee.  As hard as it is sometimes (okay, a lot of the time), I really do love being a mother.

I attended a baby shower the other day and had to give some advice for the mama-to-be.  I had a hard time coming up with what I could put into words to help her.  I think I've been inspired to come up with my favorite tricks and tips as a mom.  I want all of you to start thinking as well.  I'd love to add to my knowledge!

Devynee - 5 months

Little Miss Devynee is 5 months old! 

• She is still the most content little gal.  In fact, most times if I don't keep track of when I last fed her, it will be 4-5 hours before she even makes a peep to indicate that something is off.
• She continues to sleep through the night (9p.m. to 7a.m.)  We are working on getting on a bit more of a schedule with her as some nights she doesn't go down for the night until 11p.m. or so just depending on how her evening nap went.
• She has stopped sucking her thumb on a regular basis.  She will occasionally still find it and suck on it for a few minutes, but it isn't her go-to comfort.
• Devynee is in size 3-6 month clothes and size 2 diapers.  I still have to buy the Pampers Swaddlers as all other diapers have too big leg holes for my babies skinny thighs. I have no idea what size shoes she is in. All of the ones I have tried have fallen off very quickly, so I've given up for a bit.
• Her hair seems to have stopped falling out and is even filling in the bald spot on the back of her head.  She doesn't have much, but it helps that it is dark so you can see it.
• For weeks, she got to this position (below) and then just couldn't quite make it over, but she rolled over (from back to front) on April 10th.  I know that she has rolled from front to back a few times, but since Easton and Kendree both like to "help" her roll back over, I'm unsure if any of these times have been on her own.

A picture of her first roll.  As I've said before, she does a grunty sounding cooing so I didn't even realize that she had rolled for several minutes.  She was making normal noises and I was frantically getting some work done. :)

We got Devynee's first real laughs on video on April 1st.  She is such a cutie.  Sorry for the bath video.

This second video (above) is of her talking on the day she rolled over.  She didn't roll again that day, but I was trying desperately to get her to do it on camera.

Hanging out on her belly:

 Photo courtesy of Easton:

Sitting in the Bumbo.  She doesn't mind it at all in there, but it makes her spit up every single time, so I have to be prepared.

 Everyone wants to be a part of the picture taking!

 Kendree especially.

 This picture looks almost depressing, but she was sucking away on that bottom lip (hence why you can't see it).

 Official five month shots on the quilt.

Cell Phones, a blessing and a curse

I really do love my phone and it has a pretty decent camera, but I never remember to get videos and pictures off in a timely manner (as evidenced by the video in the previous post from last October).

So, here is a post of random cell phone pictures (we can dub April the month of randomness on this here bloggity blog).

Coloring on the Aquadoodle (a rare moment of sibling love). (Nov. 2011)

 Wearing daddy's shoes (Dec. 2012)

 Loving that Devynee girl. (Jan. 2012)

 I'm not so sure about this... (Jan. 2012)

 One of the first smiles caught on camera (Jan. 2012)

 Sleeping in the swing. I just loved the way she was cradling that teddy. (Feb. 2012)

 Chef Kenny! (Feb. 2012)

 Showing off a new accessory (Mar. 2012)

 The best winter hat EVER. According to Easton. (Mar. 2012)

And finally, a video from our trip to Cali at Chuck E. Cheese.  The kids LOVED the dancing machine thingy.

Grandma Great and Grand Dad

When we were traveling to and from California, we were able to stay with my grandparents.  We call them Grandma Great and Grand Dad now that there are "greats" running about.

Devynee was able to meet them for the first time and loved hanging out with Grandma Great.

Grand Dad, as per usual, entertained the kids with dancing and horsey rides.  These are the perks of being the oldest child of their oldest child.  Great-Grandparents with energy! (Nevermind that Grand Dad fell off a ladder and broke his collar bone shortly after we left).

This horsey-ride video is from last fall (October) but since it hasn't been on here before, I think it is time.


And this was when we visited.  A little bit of living room dancing.

Devynee Videos

Videos of baby Devynee recently.

Be Brave

We were given this sweet sectional from someone at Ronnie's work.  The day that we set it all up, I turned to find Easton standing on the foot of the chaise section (that part he is sitting on in the picture) readying himself to jump to the part of the couch on the left and saying, "Be brave, Boy, be brave." 

One of my favorite Easton memories to date.

Eggs

Easter morning we dyed eggs.  1:00 p.m. will allow you to do such things. Both kids were in love, and didn't want any help.  This meant that all eggs were one color.  They wouldn't let mom or dad help them make stripes, or multi-colored eggs, or anything.

Easton asks me every day if we can do it again, and I tell him that he has to learn to eat hard-boiled eggs first and then we can. :)

Random Picture Catch-up

Sick girly. Hair everywhere.

 Napping on the couch (gotta have that blankie).

 Daddy's girl (big mouth).

 Silly kids, silly daddy.

 She obviously does all of our home repair.

 Self Portraits.

 King of the mountain.

 I was vacuuming the couch, so Kendree ran to get her play vacuum to help.

 Sweet sleeping baby.

 Cool boy.

 Princess Kendree.

Devynee - 4 months

Oh my!  This little doll is 4 months old!  I feel like Devynee changes her "look" every week.  More so than the other kids, but maybe it is because I am constantly comparing her to see who she looks most like (Easton vs. Kendree).

At 4 months:

• At her 4 month doctor's appointment she weighed in at 12 lbs. 13 oz (40th%) and was 25.25 inches long (75th%).  Her head was in the 50th%.
• Devynee continues to sleep through the night and her mama continues to love her for it!  She goes down around 10p.m. and sleeps until 7a.m.
• She takes about 3 naps a day.  One is super long (3 hours+) while the other two are more in the 1 to 1.5 hour range.
• Devynee "talks" a lot of the time she is awake now and it continues to sound like she is kind of upset, but she smiles through it all.  This does, however, make it hard for me to determine when she really is frustrated sometimes.  Most of the time she just has to out and out cry before I realize she isn't just doing her version of cooing.
• She is in 3-6 month clothes and size 2 diapers.
• She is going 3 hours between feedings during the day, pretty consistently.
• Devynee is infinitely patient with her siblings.  They have to really "love" her before she will get upset.
• Devynee is not a very "laugh-y" baby.  She will give you little giggles here and there, but has yet to really laugh (those darling baby belly laughs, I mean).
• She really started sucking on her thumbs big time this month, which means that mom and dad pulled out their final deterent: socks.  She lived for most of her 4th month with a pair of socks on her hands.
• Due to the taking away of the thumbs, she now sucks on her tongue/lower lip.  Another trait she takes after her mother on.  I still to this day, fold my tongue backwards when I am concentrating (no more tongue sucking for me though).
• She continues to sleep swaddled at night and free during the day.
• Devynee gives smiles like a champ and is always happy for a little attention.  From anyone.
• Devynee looks cross-eyed more than I remember with my other kids, so I asked the doctor about it at her appointment.  He was totally unconcerned.  He said her eye muscles are still developing and that she has a wide nose bridge (is that the word for it) so she looks more cross-eyed than she actually is.  Funny thing is that her mama had the exact same diagnosis when she was a baby.  And I didn't even tell the doc ahead of time to give him any ideas. :)

Miss Devynee on St. Patrick's Day.  (the closest to an official picture we got this month).

 Sleeping baby. Socks on hands, sucking on lip/tongue.

 Another view of the tongue sucking.

 Playing with the fishy toy.

 I have a picture almost exactly like this with Easton.  They both fell asleep while playing under the fish.

Procrastination, or how I decided to make Easter outfits on Friday night

In the back of my head I wanted to make Easter outfits for the kids.  It wasn't really something my family did on a regular basis growing up, but I have a TON of fabric left over from Devynee's bedding set, so I figured it would be a free project and use up some fabric.

Of course I wasn't able to pull anything together until Friday night.  I started drawing pattern pieces at 9:00 p.m. and nearly finished Kendree's dress by midnight.  The next day I finished up her dress, drew, cut out and sewed Devynee's dress and did Easton's tie.

I used this tutorial for both of the girls dresses and this one for Easton's tie.  I only had heavy interfacing (and I was NOT going to the store) so it is very stiff.  :)

Getting three kids to look at the camera, and smile is nearly impossible, but they are pretty cute nonetheless.

 Mr. Poser himself.

 Man she looks so big in this picture!

 And cute Aunt Sarah holding Miss Devynee.  Unfortunately with the late finish to this project, mama made this one a bit too small, so this will probably be the only time she will wear it!

I have great intentions for when I will be starting Easter clothes next year...