Mother's Day Out

This guy started Mother's Day Out today. For the past week I have reminded him what his teacher's name is, that we need to share and be nice to others, and when it's time for a nap we have to lay down. I ordered the cutest nap mat  with a shark on it! It came yesterday so we practiced laying down on it. Napping on the floor is completely foreign to him, so he proceeded to lay on the mat and hide under the blanket. Great.

On the way to the church I went over the same things he needed to remember. When I got the part about the nap, he said "Hide." I thought well, at least if he's hiding maybe he will be quiet? My expectations were pretty low. I was probably more worried about his behavior than anything. I kept my fingers crossed that there would be a really horribly behaving child in there. At least one that was worse than mine. Terrible right?

We walked in, put his pack-pack in the cubby, and entered the room. He walked around the room checking things out, while another kid cried and screamed. (Yes!) Cayden sat down at a table, I asked him to give me a high five and he said no, then I asked for "knucks" and he obliged. Then I left. No crying from me or him. 

I was pretty excited to go and get him at 2pm, just to see if he had fun. The teacher said he cried once or twice for just a few minutes, but that he had a good day. I asked about his nap. He actually took one for a little bit which was way more than expected. 

In Cayden's words this is how his day went:

What did you do today?  Pay (play) Share
Did you take a nap?    Dark -Ssshhh


I'm hopeful that he will get a spot in the two day program soon. I think it will be easier for him to get used to. I love it, but I really think he likes it too!

Beckham is 2 Months

Beckham turned two months old on Saturday! No matter how much you use the ole' cliche, Time Really Does Fly, it never is not true. My life now is not hectic, sometimes you could even say it gets a little mundane with routine, but its crazy to think that Beck has been here for two months. We love this little big guy so much!

Do you think he has gotten bigger? He's no longer a little newborn. We had his two month appointment yesterday. We learned quite a bit about Mr. Beck. He is 23 3/4 long. 13.10 pounds. No, that's not a typo. This guy can eat! Both stats put him in the 90-95%. Really, I'm not surprised. Cayden was 13.4 at this point too. We also finally got his allergy test results...Milk, Peanuts, and Soy. Yikes. We knew that it had to be something more than dairy because I haven't had any dairy in over a month, and right now he is covered in full body rash. Poor Guy. Anyway, after that appointment we have a game plan. For the next two weeks, I'm going to cut out Soy. If that doesn't work, we will put him on formula. Honestly, if that happens, for a brief time I will feel like a failure. I know I'm not, and it's completely irrational. But I will. We will cross that bridge when we get there. 

Other than all of that, he is doing well. Getting bigger, starting to coo and smile a lot. Sleeping is going pretty well. Still in the swing...And not that I haven't tried getting him to sleep in the pack n play. I have! He will only sleep for about 2-3 hours at a time, and then insist on eating when we wakes. Every. Time. In the swing he will go for as long as 6.5 hours. There is a big difference between those two. Especially if you are also only getting a few hours at a time. 

When Cayden was first born, he was subjected to numerous "photo shoots." If you don't count his weekly/monthly photo, Beckham really hasn't had a one on one with me. Let's face it, trying to get a picture of one kid, while the other one is running around trying to be in the photo too is daunting and chaotic. While Cayden was "taking a nap" (because he doesn't sleep) I decided to get a few shots of Beck. 

People always comment how Beckham and Cayden look a lot alike. And they do. Sort of. As Beckham gets bigger, he is definitely starting to look more like Beckham and a little less like Cayden. 

 Heath hates having his picture taken, but you can't really not have your picture taken with your kid.

Cayden is always willing to sit next to Beckham for a picture. What he does in that chair is completely random and you never really know what's going to happen. 

Like this.

Or this. 

Even better.

Beckham - 
While I'm not quite sure what your personality is yet, you definitely are starting to smile and coo a whole bunch. I'm hoping that you will be a little more laid back than your brother. My favorite time with you is in the morning when you are in bed with me and we are sleeping. You are warm and snuggly. I know the time is going to go by quickly, so I try to soak you up as much as I can! 

We love you!
Mom and Dad

Picnic in the Park

Once I saw the forecast for the rest of this week, I had the grand idea to have a picnic. And who better to have a picnic with than Mills and Syd - and of course their momma. 

Cayden has a new love of Subway, it just happens to be right next to Chickfila. For our picnic today samiches were just the ticket. We met Mills at a nearby park. It was beautiful outside and my vision of sitting on a blanket eating our food would have worked out except that this particular park has a water draining problem, so the grass and much of the play area was wet and muddy. 

This did not stop these two. They both were magnets to standing water, whether it be on a stair, a slide, or underneath a swing. They had a great time, and it really was a good idea. I think we'll have to do it again. ** Thanks to Kristin for sharing her pictures. 

I almost forgot - Cayden suffered a small bloody nose at this expedition. He tripped and face planted in the grass. I didn't really think anything of it (great mom, I know). I told him he was fine. A few minutes later we look over and he has blood running out of his nose. No worries! I wiped it up and he was fine. 

Rainy Days

"and Mondays always get me down." Who doesn't love The Carpenters? Honestly, I really love rainy days. Especially in the fall. There is something about the rain and it being a little darker in the house that I find comforting. Mondays - I used to loathe them, but since becoming a SAHM (stay at home mom) I guess there really isn't much of a difference between Monday and Thursday. 

Beckham turned 7 weeks on yesterday, and Cayden will be 25 months tomorrow. Crazy. 

Updates: Cayden - He is still up to his usual antics. He has recently stopped napping. Not every day, but a few times a week he will not go to sleep. I leave him in there for up to an hour and a half. (Right now, he is in there saying, "Me Me Me") I figure that at least he is getting some "quiet" time, and I get some down time as well. Cayden doesn't realize it, but in just a little less that two weeks he will be going to Mother's Day Out two times a week. Woo hoo! I know this will be good for me, but I really think that he will love it. I'm a little worried about his behavior considering he's never really done anything like this before, but I'm sure after a few visits he will be fine! He continues to do well with Beckham. We haven't really had any incidents of too much squeezing or anything.

Beckham: We are still trying to decipher this allergy thing. We went for a two week check on Friday, and there was still blood in his diaper despite my cutthroat efforts of eliminating any and all dairy. We are starting to think he may actually be allergic to something else completely. His Dr. had us go to the hospital to draw some blood so that they can screen for several different allergies. I hope to find out something soon. Let me just say that taking a 2 year old and a 6 week old to get lab work done was terrible. I spent more time trying to keep Cayden out of the hazardous material box and trying to keep him from pilfering lab supplies than anything. Poor Beckham had to be stuck twice in order to get a sufficient amount of blood. 

At a little over 6 weeks, Beckham weighed in at 12.6 pounds. Yowzer! The doctor isn't super concerned yet about this allergy because he is gaining weight so well. Let me say that I have never been more aware of what I am putting into my body. It is not fun. I really, really, REALLY want some chocolate chip cookies and milk. And maybe a malt shake from Sonic. And some Raisinets. I really like dairy products. 

In the last couple of weeks, we have been able to meet up with Mills a lot. 

Mills and Cayden started holding hands. It really is cute. Mills definitely wears the pants in this friendship. She wants to hold his hand, and feed him goldfish. In the two years that they have been together, this is the first time that they really are playing with one another. At Little Gym they scream for each other. Today the hand holding at the gym was met with lots of oohs and aahs. I guess they are pretty cute. 

 Chasing each other is fun too. When you aren't holding hands.

 Beckham is starting to smile quite a bit. I can't say that he is on any sort of schedule now, but he has given us a few nights of 6+ hours of sleep. I'll take it!

 Beckham at the park. He mostly sleeps. And then he wakes and wails because he's hungry. He's always hungry. Always.

 Cayden likes the opportunity to have his picture taken with Beckham. 

 It was all going well...

Someone decided to crowd the other. I think we know who this was. 

Update on the Big Move: We are set to move at the very beginning of January. We are just in the initial stages of figuring stuff out. Everything is still just beyond the point of having to actually do something. Everyone has their passports, and we will soon be applying for Visas. We have to areas that we are looking at living in, but I'm hoping that Heath has the chance to go down and scope it out beforehand. We are excited to get to spend the holidays with our families this year. Next year we may not get to, or at the very least, it will just be really different. I'm sure I'll have more news in the next couple of months. It's weird to think that while this blog will still be about us, it will be about us in a different country, hemisphere, etc.