Miller Cash, 5 months

First time falling asleep somewhere other than our bed, swing, or arms

Miller is 5 months. My goodness! He weighs 15lbs 8 ounces and I can't seem to locate the piece of paper I wrote his height on. He's 10th % for height and 40% for weight (same as Marshall was for the first 9 months or so) which makes him look chubby and cute.

5 month Well-Baby checkup

Exciting things are happening lately. Like Miller will now take naps in his crib occasionally!

He's not really into pacifiers, but will only go to sleep with a blanket up to his face to hold and suck on.

He rolls all over the place now and will scoot over to any toy that he wants to pick up and put in his mouth. He also does this hilarious back-arching thing when he wants to be picked up.

Head scratch courtesy of Marshall who "shared" his truck a little too roughly.

Miller is definitely making up for the first few months of his life when he was picky and somewhat difficult. Now he is alll smiles and giggles and coos. He'll let anyone hold him and he love love loves Marshall and starts kicking and squirming as soon as he sees him.

He is FINALLY sleeping decently at night and goes to bed without a 2 hour nursing/screaming/rocking/screaming/nursing routine. He starts getting sleepy around 6:30-7:30, I lay in bed and nurse him while watching Netflix then I attempt to sneak out of the room leaving him in our bed or sometimes putting him in the crib. If I stay in bed he'll stay asleep but if I leave he wakes up every 45 min or so until around 10. If he wakes up I just have to pat his back or give him his blanket to hold and he'll go back to sleep. At first I loved laying in bed with him because it was kind of like a vacation. "Sorry Jerad, I'd love to clean up the dinner dishes, pick up the toys and wash the diapers but THE BAY-BEE NEEDS ME."

But after a few weeks the novelty of going to bed at 7pm wore off so now I try to sneak out. I get lots of exercise running up and down the stairs between 7 and 10. It has to be me because Miller will not let Jerad comfort him (which is funny because Marshall only wanted Jerad when he was a baby... well and even now he mostly prefers Jerad). He wakes up to nurse anywhere from 1 to a million times a night but always goes right back to sleep

He also just started tolerating baths.

For the first 4.5 months he would SCREAM bloody murder the second the water touched him. We tried everything, different temperatures, sink, bathtub, tummy tub, shower. He would just act like it was full of acid. He also spit up about every 5 minutes for the first few months so baths were a necessity.

Luckily he is no longer a spit-up monster and I might even go so far as to say he's beginning to enjoy bath time. Its funny how different kids can be. Marshall LOVED baths (anything to do with the water really) and at this age liked laying on a towel in the bottom of the shower when I showered.

 

His favorite things are looking in the mirror, being tickled, playing on the floor, and sitting in the Bumbo in the kitchen while we're cooking.

We love you little Miller Cash and I can't wait to see what next month brings!

Marshall Ford, 2 Years

I've put off writing this post for a few weeks, mostly because I'm not fully ready to accept that Marshall is now TWO YEARS OLD. Also because I wanted to wait until after his 2 year check up to get his stats. He's 25.6 pounds and 33.5 inches. Both are the 30ith percentile. So he's small, but not super small:)

His birthday was Thursday, May 3rd and we had a party for him the Saturday after (I'll do a seperate post on that one). On his birthday I took off early from work, left Miller with the Nanny, and picked up Mars for some special Mommy and Me time. I thought he'd appreciate having my undivided attention, but he cried and demanded "Babyyyyyyyyyy Millaaaaaaaaaa" the entire drive from Templeton to San Luis. I guess he really loves that little baby after all!

We parked probably eight blocks from the SLO Children's Museum and I asked him if he'd like to walk or ride in the Ergo on my back. He decided to walk and held my hand the entire way stopping to chat about the cars and bikes we passed along the way.

On the one hand it seems like he was just born, and then on the other hand he already seems like such a little man! He talks SO well. It’s incredible to be able to openly communicate with such a tiny individual. He will tell us what he's feeling and if he's grumpy, happy, sad, sleepy and mad. He'll tell us what OTHER people are feeling "baby Milla's crying? He's sad. Awe it's okay. Can I hold him?"

Sometimes I take it for granted but because I'm used to it but he really is a chatterbox. Its just amazing what he knows and observes and how well he's able to articulate his wants and needs to us. He forms 7-9 word sentences and frequently links 2 or 3 together. "Mama, lets go downstairs and get a snack? I eat the blueberries? Come on!" or "Lets go outside and ride in daddy's truck? Marshall drive it? Go driving?"



His high pitched little voice is adorable. He says/asks almost everything as a question and will repeat it over and over until we say it too. He knows all of his colors including brown, pink, silver and "rainbow." He counts to 20 (always missing 16), and can recognize and say most of his ABC's (which he calls "ABD's").

 

He knows all of the animals (including things like llamas, octopus, whale, hedgehog etc) and what sound most of them make. He knows the difference (and will correct me!) between bulldozers, backhoes, excavators, and skip loaders.

For the most part he's still rocking in the sleep department. Besides still napping for about 3 hours a day (taking either one long nap or two shorter ones), he usually sleeps around 10 or 11 hours at night. He goes in his room around 7 or 7:30, we'll read a book or two, then he'll play for 15 minutes or so before getting in bed and sleeping until sometime between 5 and 6am. He now will request which book he wants to hear and its almost always one of these:

Goodnight Cowboy

llama llama red pajama

Snuggle Puppy

He loooooves reading and being read to. His other favorites right now are Little Boy, Little Blue Truck, anything with tractors or brothers.

His favorite thing to is go outside which he starts asking for the second his feet hit the floor in the morning. He likes to dig, water the plants, move rocks, play with the dogs, cats, hose, sidewalk chalk... just anything as long as its outdoors.

He loves his play kitchen (and the one at the museum which is the same only red) and talks about the oven being hot and the fridge being cold. He likes to bake things like onions and strawberries together so he might not grow up to be a chef...

He is obsessed with "friends" right now, even though he doesn't totally understand what they are. He gets really excited when I tell him we're going to see friends and sometimes asks "can we go find some friends mama?"

For months now he has been able to operate my iPhone. He can unlock it, find, open, and play the app he wants, or go into the camera roll find and play videos of himself. He can also open the DVD player, put in a movie, and play it, add soap to the washing machine (with a little help), and select the right buttons to turn it on. Same with the dishwasher.

I don't want to say that he's in the "terrible two's" because we try to not label him like that but he certainly has become more... opinionated... lately. I try to remind myself that his little toddler "tantrums" are just him learning about his feelings and emotions, actions and consequences, and what he has and doesn't have control over. 

He loves sitting in the car or truck and driving and always offers to be the one to drive when we're getting in the car to go somewhere:) After we were done at the Museum on his birthday I let him sit in the driver's seat and "drive" until he was done. 45 minutes. Crazy boy!

He's also really into pretending. He'll pretend he's driving to Grammy's house, pretend to feed the dogs, talk to pretend people on the phone, sit in a laundry basket and pretend its a boat, go sit in a chair and pretend its a tractor, or pretend like his food is dirt and his fork is a tractor.

He loves Miller SO MUCH. He talks about him the second his feet hit the floor in the morning and gives him a hundred kisses a day.He loves laying with him on the floor and handing him toys over and over. I have to really watch them because Marshall is always trying to "share" food and drinks.

Also he wants to sit on him. I say "no riding baby Miller!" probably 7 times a day.

Luckily Miller is a good sport about all the "love" that is lavished on him.

Happy birthday Marshall Ford, we love you! 

Mother's Day 2012

Sunday morning Jerad got up with the kids at 6 so I could sleep in a little. The night before had been rough, both Marshall and Miller caught the cold that Jerad had last week and took turns all night waking up crying and coughing. I can't wait until they're old enough to blow their own noses! None of us really got any sleep. By Sunday morning I was sick too so we decided to cancel all our plans, keep our germs to ourselves, and hang around the house.

At 9am Jerad brought me this delight in bed:

My all time favorite breakfast food is homemade waffles topped with syrup, strawberries, and whipped cream. Right now we're eating paleo so the waffles and syrup were a no-go. He used this recipe for a grain-free oven baked pancake, then topped it with some fresh raspberries, a touch of honey, and some cream whipped with vanilla extract (so basically non sweetened whipped cream).

It was sooooo good.

Obviously.

Staying at home didn't end up being so bad. I napped whenever the kids did (heaven), and Jerad put the finishing touches on our family room project, and built and primed the cabinet doors for the built-in.

Marshall spent some time outside playing with tractors and tempura paint:

And painting the dog (his whole side was covered in paint by the end):

Poor little sick boy:

Last year I found out I was pregnant on Mother's Day (the day after Marshall's 1st b-day party). I can't believe its already been a year! Miller already feels like such an integral part of our lives, its strange that he's only been here such a short time.

Since I didn't get out of my pajamas all day and we were all sick, I didn't get a family picture. But I did get a picture of the humidifier:

A little break

Things have been slow at work this week so I decided to go pick up Marshall from the nanny and take him to the Mommy and Me gymnastics class he loves. All I managed was a few blurry iPhone pics because he was go-go-going most of the time:

hanging from the bars

falling from the bars

running back and forth on the tumble track

chasing balls

What a super fun treat! We even saw some friends there:) I have a hard time because most parent and me classes are during working hours. Helloooo, us working parents like to take our kids to fun things too, why can't anything be on the weekends? Anyways, today is one of my "long" days at work so the break was extra nice.

Lazy

There is so much to blog about. Marshall turned 2! Exciting things are happening with Jerad's career! Fun projects planned both inside and outside our house! Committing to 21 days of a Paleo lifestyle! Hanging out with new friends and old friends! Maybe someday I'll be organized enough to sit down and do it.

In the meantime I'm feeling lazy.

Jerad has been working locally for the last 4, maybe 5 weeks . Its crazy! I think this is the longest he's been home for one stretch in the past 2 years. We've fallen into this nice rhythm and everything feels so much easier as far as cleaning the house, making all our meals at home, and taking care of the kids goes.

He has a bunch of jobs going on right now and has had to work late a few nights over the past 2 weeks. A few nights ago he called to tell me he probably wouldn't be home until 8pm or so and I found myself complaining that I was having to entertain, feed, bathe, and put the kids to sleep by myself for the third time in 2 weeks. Which is just laughable because until recently I was solo parenting for at least 5 days a week, often times more, and didn't think twice about it. I guess I'm getting lazy.

There were definitely some things that were hard about Jerad being gone so much, but overall I think I'm grateful. I know having to be alone made me so much more confident as a mother than I would have been otherwise. I was just talking to someone at the library who has a 2 year old and has never made dinner while simultaneously entertaining her child, or taken her alone to the grocery store or pediatrician (her husband was even with them at storytime). She's having her second child soon and is freaking out about how she'll handle both children for the *3 hours* she'll need to be alone with them each day and is trying to talk her mom and mother in-law into taking shifts so that she'll have help. I realize that's not the norm, but still.

I don't know why, but that conversation has been stuck in my head for the past week. Anyways, on the one hand I am glad that I'm confident enough to throw the kids in the car and take us all out to a picnic lunch at the beach, but I'm also glad that Jerad has been around so much lately that him missing a dinner or bedtime has become abnormal. Now that I've had a taste of the "easy" co-parenting life, it would be harder to go back to having him gone. Luckily it's looking like he won't have to be!