4, almost 3, and close to 7 months today.

Those seem like good ages to do a general kid update. 

Garrett turned four a month ago. He's doing really well with life in general. Goes to bed easy. Still sleeps about 10-11 hours at night and takes a two hour nap every afternoon. He's been in preschool for 2 months now and he loved the first three weeks. Then, on his birthday he had a really hard day. He didn't show it in the morning but when I got to his school with cupcakes and ice cream he was crying. His teacher said he'd been crying off and on all day and he missed me. And now he has good days and emotional days.  Wanting to make sure I won't forget to pick him up, telling me how much he'll miss me, asking me to sit outside his school for four hours and wait, etc. He has a couple good buddies now and that really helps. He still says he loves it and prays everyday that he can go back, but he also tells me that he's ready to be all done with school. (Haha, only about 15-20 more years bud.) 

He's already learned a lot. Before preschool he had a couple numbers he didn't recognize and he only recognized about half the letters. Now he knows all the numbers and almost all the letters and he's quickly learning the sounds the letters make. He's memorized several songs, and he's also memorized the scriptures for each month. He's awesome with scissors, and before preschool he'd had zero practice. He's talking with more detail and asks much more specific questions. He's a sensitive kid and he can be hard on himself. He sometimes tries to give up too easily if he can't figure something out right away, but with a little encouragement he keeps trying and always figures things out.  I know it'll get better and I really love the school.

He (and Addie) just finished six weeks of tumbling. He was the only boy in his class and he loved every second of it. He joins right in and tries (and usually nails) every new trick. The first week they had a quick drink break and he took one sip of water and then confidently announced, "I'mmmm back in the game!" as he ran toward the mats. We drove past the tumbling place tonight and they yelled, "There's tumbling!!"  Then I told them we finished and Garrett started to cry.  I thought he was faking it at first, but there were legitimate tears and a quivery lip.  I found out from a friend that the same course starts again in two weeks, so I guess we'll do it again!

 

He took swimming lessons this summer and really pushed himself. I could tell he was nervous about a few things he learned but he was brave and determined and did really well. 

He loves his sisters. And he's a tender-hearted, generous boy. On his worst day of preschool he earned a treasure box prize for being a good listener all week and of all the toys, treats and stickers in the box, he picked a pair of purple sunglasses for Addie. 

I love his heart. And I love watching him learn and grow. 

Addie will be three in November. She's always been my 'Live Wild Child'. She's funny, happy, sweet, sassy, and full of energy and love. She's everything that warms my heart and freaks me out all at the same time. She's the little leader of our family, and kind of sets the tone for how the day goes in a lot of ways. Most days it's awesome. She and Garrett are best friends and watching them play and talk and laugh is one of the greatest things I've ever experienced in my life. 

We are in mom and me preschool and she loves it. She's obedient, helpful, patient and sweet at school. She's a bit timid at times and needs some encouragement to participate in the interactive activities but she always has a great time. She's also learning a lot too. She learns a lot from the homework and practicing I do with Garrett and I think she'll be more than ready to start going to Garrett's preschool next year. 

She took swimming this summer and hated it. We hired a private teacher for one on one lessons and after week two she refused to do it without me or her grandma in the pool with her. If we were there, she was happy to try new things and was so proud of herself, even if she didn't quite do what the instructor was asking of her. But it's okay. She's two. And we'll try it again next year. 

She also did tumbling. She (eventually) loved it. The first five minutes or so the teacher has them hop back and forth down the mats. Walk backwards, tip-toe with hands in the air, etc. and she WOULD NOT do it the first two classes. Garrett's out there killin' it with the ladies like a ballerina and Addie's fighting back the tears. And then the trampoline, balance beams, swinging bars, and platforms come out and she's like Gabby Douglas out there livin' the dream. Whatever kid. But after two classes she was fine and did everything with over the top excitement. More than half of us in the class are friends that signed up together and it's so much fun sitting at the side laughing at our friggin cute kids. 

Addie is so good with Charlie. She's so helpful and attentive with her. She always wants to check on her. "I'm gonna tip toe and see if Charlie's awake, no yeah, k?!" And if I'm cooking and she's playing with her she comes and gives random updates. "Charlie's scooting by the chair." "Charlie's happy mom." "I put a blanket on Charlie cause Charlie's cold." "Charlie don't need a binky from she's not fussy." "We need to buy new batteries so Charlie can swing higher and higher." And Charlie loves Addie. She can be a bit in-your-face with her but Charlie doesn't seem to mind. She gets so excited when Addie's around. 

And Addie's potty trained! I have a crappy potty training method. (Or, based on my track record, maybe it's the best method ever.) I randomly decide one morning that we're doing it. No timers, no naked days, no practice sitting on the potty, no rewards. Just put on some underwear. Then after one accident, I decide it's not the day and I throw on a diaper. I do that for 5-7 days and then I fully commit. We do a day of going through 5 or so pairs of underwear and then in the next day or two, and forever more, we're good. There's an accident once in a while but it hasn't ever been a long dreadful process for us (knock on wood). My only advise would be to wait until your kid is old enough to kind of reason with. Both Garrett and Addie were about two or three months from turning three. (Addie will be three in three weeks and we're going on about two months of being potty trained.) I'll never be one of those moms who wants to potty train as soon as they're two (or younger). Way too much work. 

And lastly my little Charlie girl. She's the kind of baby that makes you want to pop out a few more. I described her a few days ago like an awesome blackjack hand. The one you should stay on because it's not likely to get any better. But you're on a roll so you want to say 'hit me!' just to see what happens. Maybe that's not the best analogy. I'll just say she's the perfect cherry on top of our gooey, nutty delicious sundae. 

She's the perfect third child. What I mean is, when you only have one child and that child is napping. You tip toe and stay so quiet and never intentionally wake them up. You feed them at home on your fluffy comfy couch. You let them lay on a blanket with no fear of getting hit in the head with a toy, or a foot. When number three comes along, you pick them up from a deep sleep and strap them in the car seat to go from one place to the next to keep up with the older two. Naps often happen in a stroller or baby carrier with a whole lot going on in the background. Feedings often get interrupted and finished after a knee is bandaged or a bum is wiped. Or sometimes (if someone else is driving) I climb in the back and lean into her car seat for a quick on-the-go feeding as we're running late for some activity. And being on a blanket on the floor? It didn't even take till the six month mark for this girl to see how unsafe that is. She's not crawling yet, but she's trying. She scoots backwards like a boss and rolls to where she wants to go. And she spins in a circle like nobody's business. I often find her half way under a chair, all the way under her swing, or against the wall pulling on a cord that's plugged in. Toddler-proof is different than baby-proof, I'm being reminded. And it's already time! And she handles all of it with very little complaints. She's never been a crier, and still isn't. It's only when she's really hungry that I get a little reminder. 

She still wakes once a night to feed but it's usually pretty quick. Unless she has a cold like all five of us had last month in which case she wakes six times a night. 

She's eating whatever we give her. It's mostly table food. Like vegis, fruit, pinto beans, potatoes, chicken. All mashed up or little bites. I did baby-led feeding with Addie and I'm doing it with Charlie too. So much less work to just feed them what we're eating! (And/or let them feed themselves!) She loves purées which the other two didn't, so I feed her those more than I thought I would. And she's liked it all, vegis and fruit. She'll eat a whole one in one meal, and the other two would make one of those last three feedings and I'd usually throw some away. I guess her faves are probably sweet potatoes, squash, apple, pear, and avocado, and any flavor of goats milk greek yogurt from our local farmers market. It's expensive, but all three kids thinks it's ice cream. 

It really is crazy how busy life is right now and how fast time goes. I feel like I'll never catch up. On anything, let alone blogging. Two nights ago as I ran into my chiropractors office one minute before he closed but desperate for an adjustment, I apologized to the receptionist for being late and said, "my kids had tumbling 'graduation' tonight and we all know what a big deal that is." And she said, "hey that is OK. You have no idea how much I wish I could be back to those days." It really is the best time and I'm trying to enjoy it all.

Addie's a year and a half! And other general kid updates.

I had Garrett with me at Addie's 18 month appointment, which I swore I'd never do a double kid appointment or take both kids when only one had an appointment by myself again, but of course I always do, and I probably always will.  But I think he was a good distraction for her.  He looked at books with her, he played on the crinkle paper with her, and at one point he even rubbed her back and said, "It's ok, Lu."  It was funny having Garrett there because 18 months is when they generally talk about introducing potty training and going to the dentist.  I just kind of smiled... Yeah ok doc, I'll get right on that...with Garrett.  Here's the thing.  I don't feel like a lazy mom, I just feel like a realistic mom who knows my kids well.  I don't want extra stress of forcing my kids to do things when I know they're not ready.  It's interesting having two so close together and having the girl be the younger one.  'They' say girls develop faster than boys and who knows how true that is, but in our case, it's mostly true.  Addie's catching up with Garrett in a lot of ways.  I love it because they do so much together now.  But it's also made me just kind of blend their ages.  They're both "about two" in my mind.  So this is how my mind works now:  I'll switch them from whole milk when she's two.  I'll schedule them both for dentist appointments when she's two.  I'll potty train them at the same time when she's two.  I'll switch them to toddler beds when she's two.  Etc.

Paul and I have been talking about potty training for a few months now, and the conversation usually ends with one of us saying, "I hate buying diapers, but I don't hate it that bad." or "If we never train them, they'll eventually just figure it out, right??" or "How big do they make diapers?" Having said that, I think we're getting close to starting Garrett. *sigh*  He goes in the potty every night before we put his pajamas on, and so far we're at a 100% success rate.  He's telling us more now that he needs to pee, but he usually already has.  And when it's #2, he says, "I go poop in the potty." But it's usually too late by the time he says that, too.    A month or so ago we put him in underwear and he did great for a day, so I was all hopeful thinking it would be so easy.  The next day? Not so much.  I asked him constantly and he always said he didn't have to go.  Then he moved from the couch and there was a big wet spot and he pointed and said, "Mom, clean up."  After that we had two trips planned so it was back to diapers.  I need to get serious about it, I'm just not super motivated yet.

We switched him to his toddler bed last night!  I swear I had days where I thought I'd be lifting my first grader out of his crib to go to school. Hah!  About a month ago he climbed out while I was in his room, like he'd done it a million times.  He was so proud of himself and he told me he wanted to show me again.  The second time he bumped his chin and he's never done it again.  He gets balanced on the top, but then calls for help because it's "too high."  I definitely have the "If it ain't broke, don't fix it" mentality with my kids.  But he's been getting his legs stuck lately and I think it'll be better converted to a toddler bed.  Last night was perfect.  He climbed in bed and fell asleep. No fights. No frustration.  And he slept 12 hours.  That's how I like milestones/transitions/growing up to go! And he's down for a nap now with no problems. I hope it stays this way.

I tried a couple months ago to get Garrett in Early Intervention for speech, but we got rejected from two places because he talks too much.  I was mostly just curious to see how much he would talk to a stranger who was trying to get him to say new things. (My brother has worked with him, but he's comfortable with him so he plays around most of the time.)  Anyway, he's doing great.  He's talking more everyday.  Like really, new words everyday.

Addie's the same.  New words everyday.  And constant babbling.  I don't remember Garrett babbling this much.  It's like she thinks she's really talking to us and that we understand it.  Every once in a while we hear a clear word.  She loves pointing things out while driving and on walks.  Car, bus, truck, boat, ball, wuff, meow, baby, we-oh-we-oh-we-oh, (that's her siren sound).

If I had to describe each kid in one sentence, Garrett's would be: He's my quiet, cautious, thoughtful sweetie, with a tender heart, and excitement for life...and a pretty funny side once he warms up to you.

Addie's would be: She's my sassy, try-anything, determined, adventurer, who loves to dance and hug and kiss...and most of the time those last couple things make her fierce side pretty enjoyable, too.

Both kids sleep great.  Garrett's still a solid sleeper.  He usually goes to be before 9:00 and sleeps until at least 9:00, usually 9:30. And then he naps for 2-3 hours.  Addie's not quite as solid and never has been.  She goes to bed at about 8:30 and usually sleeps 12 hours, but once in a while we give her a couple ounces of milk around 6:30 and she goes right back to sleep.  Her nap is always a little shorter than Garrett's, but I finally got them napping at the same time.

Whenever Paul and I are alone with just one kid, we often say, "What would it be like if we only had him/her?"  Every once in a while I have a little guilt, thinking I rushed Garrett through baby-hood.  But most of the time I feel like they'd be lost without each other.

According to the kids...

According to Garrett:
-Trains are his favorite thing in the world right now.  He lines anything and everything up and calls it a choo choo.  Yesterday I had a row of cupcake shaped post-it notes stuck to the arm of the couch and he saw it and siad, "Mom! Choo choo cake!"
-On an episode of Phineas and Ferb about a giant jukebox, he kept saying, "Woah. Big Juice box."
-We record Phineas and Ferb and he gets to watch one episode a night after Lulu goes to bed.  When the episode ends and he wants to watch more, he hands me the 'remote' and casually says, "Mom, the mope."
-He doesn't lie much when he's done something mean to his sister, and when I catch him and he admits it, in order to attempt avoiding a punishment, he grabs her and kisses her.  She's usually trying to avoid him at this point and is often crying, but he doesn't give up.  The tackle/grab/pin-her-down to kiss her, probably causes more pain to her than whet ever he did to make her cry.  But it's cute.
-He loves walking around the house with one hand in a fist, arm going up and down, saying, "March! March! March!"  And if Addie will follow him it's even better.
-He can count to (almost) 10.  1-5 is perfect, but he's struggling with the S sound, so we stumble a little over 6 and 7, but get right back on track for 8, 9, 10.
-He's doing well with colors.
-He'll repeat the alphabet with me, but gets overwhelmed at the idea of doing it himself.
-He's in a phase that I wish would last for a long time, that if he needs me and I'm busy, he'll grab my cheeks and kiss me over and over.
-He has a dramatic fake shiver if it's even slightly cold, and a long, "Buurrrrrr" that goes with it.
-Addie thinks she's two, and when I ask her and she says "Two!" Garrett corrects her saying, "No Lu, ONE! Me two."
-When he toots he laughs and proudly announces, "toot!" or he blames someone else, "P.U. mom" "P.U. Lulu".
-He's started saying parts of the prayer with us.  He'll repeat a couple words out of each sentence.  He calls Jesus, "Jeez".  A couple nights ago he said, on his own, "bless police. bless Baby Will." (his cousin William)
-He tells me who he misses almost daily, "I miss Mimi.  I miss Baby Will.  I miss T." (He calls my brother Taylor T.)
-Because we live 'very near' to where most of the California family works, it's been confusing to him why he can't go visit them when we see them through a window or door when we're outside.  He's starting to get it, but asks when we head out for a walk, "Dad at work? Anne at work? Bapa at work?"
-Whenever I work on anything, sewing, painting, etc. he'll watch for a minute, then say "cute" and walk away.

According to Addie:
-Yeah, she thinks she's two.
-She says hi to everyone.  And if strangers don't respond it turns to, "hi, Hi, HI, HIII DAD!!"
-When she's upset or tired or wants something she always says yells, "Mama!"
-When she's happy or excited, its, "DAD!!" ...whatever.
-She loves saying hi to whoever I'm on the phone with.
-When she's done eating she's starting to learn that you don't drop your plate on the floor.  She does sign language for 'done' and a couple days ago started saying 'all done' but it sounds like, "Aw none."
-She stores food in her cheek, mostly at snack time, when the kids are sharing crackers or apples, and the way I know when she is doing it, (aside from the chipmunk cheeks) is I make her say "more" instead of just accepting the sign language for it.  A little food usually sneaks out as she carefully tries to say, "Mow-aw"

February: The shortest month that always feels like the longest.

1.  Have you ever heard of or been to the Winchester mansion? (or Winchester Mystery House?)  It's near San Francisco.  I visited it years ago on a choir tour when I was in high school.  The owner of the home had never ending construction going on the house.  Up until the day she died, something was being renovated or added on.  And it wasn't normal.  Like, a staircase that would lead to nothing, a door that would open to a wall, etc.

I sometimes feel like this, but on a much smaller budget, and a little less crazy.  I never feel like our home is 'done'.  I love changing things up, moving furniture, adding or taking away decorations, spray painting old stuff, etc.  I know Paul feels like it will never end (and it might not), but regular changes, even little ones, stop me from feeling bored and sad.  Right now I'm working on Addie's room and two walls of photos.  After that, the guest room and our room.  I gave myself a $20 budget for Addie's room and so far I've spent just over $14.  Pictures coming soon.  Maybe I'll post before and after pictures so you can be as surprised as I am with how easy it is to freshen things up on a budget.  And on the photo walls, a $0 budget.  I'm only using pictures, frames and spray paint that I already have on hand.

2.  I'm dedicating this month to vegetables.  My kids need to eat more vegetables.  Spinach and zucchini are our new best friends.  They are the two least strong tasting vegetables when mixed with something else, (in my opinion).  I used to use spinach a lot, but then just stopped remembering to use it as much.  I'm determined this month to make it a habit.  This week we've had spinach smoothies and spinach scrambled eggs.  Both huge successes! (ugly but good.)  I'm thinking mashed potatoes, pasta sauce (I've added pureed or shredded carrots a lot to pasta sauce, but I'm going to start adding more greens.)  Maybe even french toast.  And I'm fully armed and ready to read 'Green Eggs and Ham' at breakfast if I can't get the egg thing to work on a regular basis.

And here's how I make a smoothie for two.  I use a magic bullet and love it.
- 6-8 frozen strawberries
- sometimes frozen peach slices or mango when it's on sale, and then a couple less strawberries
- 2-3 spoonfuls of greek honey yogurt.  (Trader Joe's sells a really yummy honey greek.)
- about 3/4 cup fresh spinach ( I use Trader Joe's organic)
- 1/2 a banana
- I thin it out so it'll blend well with a little V8 splash.  (I don't always buy this stuff, orange or apple juice work fine too. But V8 makes me feel better about myself because there's vegis in it, so they say.)

3.  We watched the Super Bowl with Paul's family and a couple of Paul's friends. Both spouses of the friends are pregnant, well one for sure, the other, maybe... but anyway, us girls talked a lot about morning sickness and baby names.  After we got home and put the kids to bed, Paul and I somehow got talking about baby names, and how we don't need to have this conversation again for a really long time (if ever).  Fast forward an hour, we have a girl first name but no middle name, and five boy names.  Five. One he likes and I don't, one I like and he doesn't, and three that we agree on.  And strangely enough, the three we both like all start with 'G', and we don't know if we want two G names in the family.  Then we reminded each other, again, that we don't need to worry about that right now, and we went to bed.  (Sidenote: Really, how do people have more than two kids?  The laundry, the space, the clutter, the lack of sleep, the expense.  Bravo all of you 3 or mores out there.)

4.  I've been on the hunt for new 'snuggle buggles' for the kids.  I don't know if I'll be able to trick them, but I can't keep sewing these things back together.  And the fur on Addie's is so matted down that if she drags it outside for even a second, it's become impossible to pick or wash the leaves and dirt out.  This is a tough one, I'm sure you care so I'll keep you posted on my progress.

Snuggle buggle laundry day is a bad day for everyone.

5.  Addie is saying new words everyday (so is Garrett), but Addie really surprises me with how well she communicates.  She's no where close to putting words together, (except for 'Hi Dad'), but she's a smart girl and a great communicator.  She always says "Yeah" when you ask her if she wants something, even if she doesn't want it.  She says "Mama" once politely, and if I don't respond it gets a little louder, then turns to stomping in rhythm, "Mama, MaMa, MAMA!"  When you ask her how old she is, she says, "two."  Then it becomes a game, "no you're one!"  "two!"  "no One!!"  "Twoooo!!"  Garrett's version of 'Chocolate Milk' would probably be spelled like this: Cha-led-a-led-a-led-a Melk.  That's pretty much the only thing he asks for specifically, aside from hot dogs and bananas, and juice, but chocolate milk is daily, several times a day.  Now Addie says it anytime she sees anything being eaten or taken out of the fridge, but she only says the "led-a-led-a-led-a" part, she thinks it means, "I'll have what you're having."  Other words I've noticed her saying are: more, done, no, toot, Bapa, bye-bye, hot, arm, baby, and a couple days ago I think she said "Manti Te'o" after I'd watched a Ronaiah Tuiasosopo interview, but I think that one may have just been in my head.

6.  Last week I walked in to get Garrett and found him half way out of his crib.  It caught me off guard and my natural reaction scared him.  The last time this happened we both scared each other enough that it bought me another year of having him sleep in his crib with no escape attempts, here's hoping for another year of not needing to convert to the toddler bed.  (I might let him upgrade when he starts kindergarten.)

Addie's new hair-do.  A little future gymnast. And lookin' cool.

The list on my phone...

I have a list on my phone of things I don't want to forget to mention at some point on my blog, mostly uninteresting stuff, but stuff I want to remember.  Instead of blogging about any of it though, the list just keeps growing.  So this may be my most random post to date, but it's everything on my list!

1.  It takes Garrett about a week to recover after being with my mom.  This last time was the worst one yet. He cries for Mimi.  He wants to call her all the time.  Putting him to bed is usually simple, but after Mimi leaves it's an emotional nightmare, and often I just have to let him cry himself to sleep.  As soon as he wakes up he asks for her.  And he tells me he's sad, just out of the blue.  His bottom lip quivers when I tell him it'll be a few weeks before we can see her again, and when he hears that, the poor little guys eyes well up and he fights back the tears.  When we do talk to her on the phone he won't say good-bye because he doesn't want it to end, so when I finally just give up and hang up he cries and cries...   "No!  Mimi, Mimi! No!  Bye, Bye! No! BYE!"  It kind of breaks my heart.  But the heartless side of me got a picture of the last hang up, ya know, for the memories.

2.  Addie loves her big brother.  If she gets up in the morning before him (which she usually does), she's grumpy and fussy until he's awake.  A few days ago she was driving me nuts.  She wouldn't eat, she wouldn't play, she was getting into everything she shouldn't, and when I stopped her she'd cry and cry.  I finally heard Garrett waking up as I was doing the dishes, so I said, "Lulu, should we see if Garrett's awake?!"  She was digging in the garbage when I asked, and she looked up with a big smile and said, "Yeah!" as she ran past me.  I didn't think she'd go to his room because all the lights were off and the further you go down the hall the darker it gets.  Especially into Garrett's room because he doesn't have windows.  But sure enough, a few seconds later I hear through the monitor, "Hi!  Hi, hi, hi!! HIIIIII!!!!"  Then quietly from Garrett, "Hi, Wu."

2a.  Now whenever Garrett isn't around she runs to his room.  We have to remember to but the security gate in the hall if he's napping because she'll go wake him up if she's bored.

2b.  When I go to get her from her crib she looks past me to see if Garrett is coming in behind me.  And on the days he is there, she gets so excited.  She jumps up and down and laughs and says Hi!  Hi-Hi-yiyiyiyi!!

2c.  I get frustrated when G doesn't share with her or he tries to push her away, but when I sit and watch them, I'd probably do the same thing sometimes...she does not leave him alone!

3.  I never revisited my depression crash from back in October.  Here's the really short version.  The meds made me happy, but it felt like fake/medicated happy.  I can't explain that, so I won't try.  I also hated the weight gain side effect.  That was making me more depressed than depression.  I quit them one day, cold turkey.  If you're on anti-depressants and thinking of stopping, wean off them under doctor supervision.  Don't just stop one day.  Wow.  The withdrawal side effects were like nothing I'd ever experienced, or could describe.  Blurred vision, dizziness, insomnia, anxiety, headaches.  And the worst one, brain tremors.  It was awful and so scary.  And looking back, I'm not sure how I parented for those 2 weeks.  It took about 3 weeks to fully get over the withdrawal, but for about two weeks I laid down a lot, kept the house kind of dark, and didn't drive.  But I'm ok now.  I never took the meds again and I'm not on anything now.  Just taking Cod Liver Oil (awesome stuff) and exercising more.  I always feel a little scared, like, what if a crash is right around the corner.  But I feel really aware of myself and my situation and I feel like I'm managing my hard times better.

4.  And speaking of anti-depressants, (you may want to skip over this one, but I want it for my records).  I nursed Addie exclusively for almost 5 months.  And pumped and froze milk like I was a lone cow responsible for feeding a small village.  I knew I wanted and needed medication, but I put it off as long as I could because nursing was important to me.  When I started the meds, I still nursed for a while, but I'd take them at night right after a feeding and then try and go as long as possible without nursing or pumping, hoping to get them out of my system or something.  My doctor said it was ok to nurse, but I was nervous.  There were too many uneasy things I'd heard her say running through my head, like, "They say if you have to take something, this one's the best while nursing." or "You should be ok to keep nursing."  or "There's not much research about nursing while on this medication, but it's probably the best one for it."  I finally had my friend call her step-mom who is a family practice doctor, just to get more of a personal opinion.  She used similar responses, but when asked if she would nurse while on it, she said, "probably not."  I quit nursing.  I beat myself up and put myself down for needing medication more than wanting my baby to have my milk.  But I know it's what I had to do at that time in my life for myself and my family.  I had enough good milk in my freezer to give Addie formula and breast milk until she was almost 11 months old.  It's a lot better than I did with Garrett, and it's all I could provide for her, and I finally feel ok about it.

5.  My nephew is just over 3 months old and he's still in the NICU.  He's getting stronger everyday, but it's been a really long and slow process.  He still has a bad day from time to time, but there's a light at the end of the tunnel.  They learned a couple of weeks ago that he had Pyloric Stenosis so he had to have a small surgery for that.  He had a pretty bad day right after, but is doing much better now.  He'll go home on oxygen, so right now feeding is the main thing keeping him there.  They started bottle feeding yesterday and he's doing awesome.  He's a little trooper and I'm so proud of him and impressed with my brother and sister in law.  This has been a long hard road for them, and will continue to be for a while.

5a.  Something cool about William's situation.  A few weeks ago they were meeting with a nurse or therapist at the hospital about his future at home plans, and it was mentioned that they typically refer babies in this situation to have some speech therapy and help with feeding at the Learning Center of St. George.  This made Taylor's day because he is THEE Speech Therapist at The Learning Center of St. George and during his schooling he specialized in feeding.  Good career choice!  He'll be able to help William so much on a daily basis, and he knows what he's doing and is really good at it!

6.  I don't think I mentioned much about my mom's trip, other than in my first 365 post.  We didn't do much, but it was great to have her here, and it went by so fast.  We went on walks, played at the park, went out to eat, and she did some sewing for me.  I'd purchased fabric for some little cushion seats for the kids that looked easy enough to make.  I'm so glad she did them for me!  I'm not there yet in my sewing skills,  The kids love them.

7.  The kids love the play kitchen I made them for Christmas.  I may do a more detailed post about how I did it, but not right now.  We spend a lot of time eating plastic eggs and tomatoes, and drinking nothing from our cups, and licking a lot of fake ice cream cones.  Garrett has a great imagination.  I often see him push his sleeves up to "wash his hands" and he always "dries" them off.  He also uses a hot pad to open the oven door.  It's so cute.  He loves to lay his apron and hand towel on the ground and iron them.  I think we'll have years of fun with this addition to our playroom.

8.  Addie thinks all animals make the monkey sound.  It's probably because monkeys are Garrett's favorite animal at the moment and that's the sound he makes the most.  It's so cute though, when there's a dog on TV, Addie bounces up and down and says, "oo, oo, ah, ah."  She does it when she picks up her bunny and even sometimes when she's playing with a doll.  It's too soon to correct her because I like it too much.  I think Addie will talk at a much younger age than Garrett.  I haven't mentioned much about his delayed speech because my brother has worked with him and no one thinks we need to worry.  Garrett has just in the past couple of weeks started to put words together, like, "Mom help please."  "Two more cars."  "Wu go nigh night."  He's still a boy of few words, but it changes everyday and Whites and Greenhalghs have often been late talkers so I'm not worried.  Addie often tries to repeat things she hears and she has a handful of pretty clear words already.  The older they get, the more I feel like they'll learn new things together...like maybe how to pee in the potty...

these kids...

I love staying home with my babies.  I sometimes wish I worked, or wonder what it would be like to work outside the home, even part time.  Sometimes I feel like I should...sometimes it sounds like a nice break...sometimes I want more adult conversations.  But when it comes down to it, I'm so thankful that we have enough that I'm able to be with my babies full-time.

And here's what we do...

 Ever since learning to crawl, both my kids have loved trying to climb in boxes, baskets, and buckets.

 I found a drawer full of 6-9 month pants.  I hate when I over-look clothes!  Fortunately, Addie is skinny enough that the drawer of pants is now a drawer of capris!  (Except these overalls were a no go, she couldn't even lift her arms and the sides wouldn't snap.)

 Capris and sunglasses!  A California girl for sure.

 Garrett is a helpful one.  He wants to be involved in everything.  So dad let him help re-pot the plants.

 More helping from Garrett.  I was working on some projects for my nephews nursery and Garrett really wanted to help.  So I thought of a quick project for him, and it worked!  I pulled out some cereal and noodles and made some lines with glue, and Garrett did the rest.  (Except for the 'A' he would NOT do the A.)

 His finishes craft for his cousin.

 Wrestling on the floor with my girl.

We took the kids to a pumpkin patch a few nights ago and we were the only ones there.  I felt bad for the kids trying to sell their pumpkins, but it was nice to let the kids play and we got a couple good pictures.

 Addie was carefully searching for the perfect pumpkin.

 Look at this face.  I love that kid!

Taking a break from the great pumpkin hunt.

 Garrett was in charge of carrying each pumpkin we picked and taking it to the front so we could pay.  He did a great job and lined them up biggest to smallest.

I think we'll hit up a couple more patches before the end of the month.

 "Help me. Help me. Help me."  He always wants to help and be involved in everything.

We went to BJ's in Huntington beach.  Right after this picture below was taken, I picked up my Diet Coke, that was actually Diet Pepsi (strike one already), and the bottom of the glass stayed on the table. A wall of soda flooded over the edge of the table into my lap.  The manager, "So the glass just split?" Me, "Yep. I just picked it up and the bottom stayed on the table." Him, "I think it's a manufacturer defect because that actually happens a lot." Me...(you can probably imagine how hard I bit my tongue because I had too many awesome things come to mind that Paul would get mad at me for saying.)  Him, "If you'd like to bring me your dry cleaning bill I'll happily reimburse you." Me...(more tongue biting as I was rockin' my 5 year old 8 dollar Target dress.)  Anyway, we got free appetizers, free dessert, and free diet coke pepsi.  And I still love BJ's because of their Margherita pizza and because a portion of every pizookie purchase goes to the CF foundation.  But seriously, find a new glass manufacturer and switch to diet coke.

 A new friend in Huntington Beach.

 Burger King, outdoor playground, and weather out of the hundreds.  Finally!

 "Mom, truck. Mom, truck!"  I looked back and he was holding up his toy truck to the window comparing it to the one outside that looked the same.

 I love these two.

 G thought dad's golf club covers were shoes.

 Game night with friends. Garrett's friend P was teaching him how to play battleship.  He was being so patient with him.  When I went to check on them, P said to me, "He kind of just wants to put all the pieces in every hole, but he's not doing that bad for a 2 year old."

 Learning how to line dance.  Garrett really got into it.

That about catches us up.  And here's a couple funny things G has said/done the past couple days.

Yesterday morning I laid on the couch and said to Garrett, "I'm too tired today.  Can I be the baby and you be the Mama?  He looked at me for a second, as if thinking about swapping, then said, "Ummmm, no."

I was going into the bathroom, and any mom of a toddler knows that if the kid knows you're going in the bathroom, you won't be alone for long.  Garrett has his own toilet in the bathroom and he often sits on it when I'm in there. (Special bonding time.)  This particular time I stopped and grabbed a tampon from the box under the sink, and heard Garrett running, "Mom! Mom! Mom!"  I said, "Ok! Ok! Come sit on your toilet."  Without missing a beat he opened the cupboard under the sink, grabbed a tampon, plopped down on his toilet  then held up the tampon and said, "Mine."  Ok, bud...you can't be exactly like me.

And in other news, Addie took her first steps yesterday.  She lets go of things and stands unassisted a lot, but twice yesterday she let go and took a couple of steps forward!  It's so fun to see babies learn new things.  But who knows, it may be within a couple days that she'll be walking around, or like Garrett's first steps, it may take 2 or 3 months to decide she's a fan of the whole walking thing.