Some Random Stuff

These are just some random things that have been happening around here lately that I don't want to forget.

*Roly-Polies:  Luke is absolutely obsessed with them.  If he is outside, he's looking for roly polies--in the backyard, in parking lots, on our walks, when we go get the mail, everywhere is a good spot to find them in Luke's eyes.  Unfortunately for the roly polies if they are found they are placed in one of two containers for safe keeping (again that's only in Luke's eyes).

*Luke's House:  Luke still has his house.  It's moved around a bunch lately but it currently resides in KC so Luke can live with Grammy and Sarah next to the aquarium.  Luke is fond of telling us what goes on or what is allowed at his house--especially after he makes a request that isn't granted.  He also currently has at his house a car, monster truck, airplane and a very, very, very large boat.  Of course they are all green.

*No nap:  Luke is phasing out his nap :(  It's like a switch got flipped and he no longer wants/needs them. This makes me very sad for a couple of reasons.  For one it means he's growing up (which is good but it goes too fast).  And two, very selfishly, I don't have a break all day now.  Luke is currently napping about 2-3 days a week.  I'm trying for a nap on a Monday, Wednesday, Friday schedule but that hasn't worked too well this week.  There are clearly some days he just needs some down time and others where he needs to nap.  Luke has also started staying up later which combined with no nap doesn't make sense but for him it's working.  He's going to bed about 9 but he's also sleeping until close to 9.  We tried making him go to bed earlier but he's just not tired enough and let's face it I am not going to complain about him sleeping until 9 in the morning especially with Hannah's lack of sleep lately.

*Storm:  We had a major hail storm last Tuesday night.  It was the biggest hail I've ever seen; the loudest too.  We had golf ball size or a slight bit larger.  It broke our skylight and ruined some of my plants.  But the worst and best part of it was that we now get a new roof.  We really needed a new roof so it worked out well for us.

*Bowling League:  We are in a bowling league with my dad and step-mom.  Only three of us bowl each week so Frankie and I alternate watching the kids.  It's fun and a great way for us to get out.  A couple of weeks ago my dad was sick so Frankie, Troy and I bowled and we had the kids there with us.  Luke was pretty upset that he wasn't able to bowl and so that weekend is when we took him bowling for the first time.  Each week since he has asked/begged/whined about going with us because he had so much fun.

*OK drawl:  Troy and I have been noticing Luke's Oklahoma drawl when he says certain words.  He is very good at drawing out his vowels and definitely has an accent.   One of the most notable and frequently heard is "Da-aa-ad."

*Bubble blowing:  Hannah is the best bubble blower I've ever met.  She blows so many bubbles she gives herself a bubble moustache.  Luke has started saying, "Mom she's getting another moustache."  It's so funny because he laughs almost uncontrollably when he watches her blowing bubbles.

*Schedule:  It's non-existent in our house.  BIG SIGH!!! Between Luke maybe napping and Hannah's completely unpredictable nap times, we're a mess.  I have had a hard time adjusting to this lack of schedule.  I like to know how our days are going to go (as much as you can with 2 young kids anyway) and right now I haven't a clue.  I keep telling myself that this is just a phase and in a year it won't be like this.  I just really hope that Hannah figures out a consistent sleep schedule soon.  She was awake two different times last night--2:30 and 5:15.  I haven't had a full  night's sleep in probably 3 weeks or more.

*Grown up:  Luke has been talking about what he wants to be when he grows up a lot lately.  Depending on the day you could get any number of answers.  It's been a toss up between a giraffe-T-rex (I have no idea), a cowboy or a professional golfer.  He seems most excited about the golfing.

*Rolling Over:  Last Saturday, June 2, Hannah started rolling over from her back to her tummy very consistently.  She will roll over almost instantly now when she's on her back.  Most often she gets upset that she's on her tummy and she hasn't figured out how to roll back over although I did see her do it once last week.  She does like that being on her tummy allows her to chew on different things though.  She especially likes the tags on her play-mat.

*Tooth:  Hannah's first tooth came in last Friday, June 8.  It was quite a process.  She had a very, very rough start to her week.  Sunday night through Wednesday early evening she was inexplicably fussy.  I suspected it was a tooth but there was no way to know for sure.  I'm so glad my mom was here because Hannah slept terribly which means that I did too.  Having my mom here made the days much easier and allowed me to rest.  I thought I saw a tooth when I fed Hannah her cereal at lunchtime on Friday but she wouldn't let me get a good look.  I finally was able to get a good peek Friday evening and her lower right central incisor (I had to look that up) is just barely visible.  I was so glad to have an explanation for the fussiness and to have my happy girl back--at least until the next one comes in.

*Toes:  Luke has become very adept at using his toes and feet to accomplish various tasks lately.  I think this is hilarious because I am pretty good at using my toes to do things too.  Luke figured it out all on his own though.  He loves to hold things in between his toes and walk around.  He is also good at picking things up with his toes like when we are picking up toys.

Pic Update

Another round of pictures showing our activities of late.  Enjoy!

May 22:  At the zoo with Grandma and Grandpa J.  Grandma and Hannah had fun watching Grandpa and Luke riding the carousel.

May 26:  Luke's first time bowling.  There will be more info about this in my next post.  He really had a good time.  Luke got a strike and managed to beat me in our second round.  His feet looked so cute in the bowling shoes :)

After bowling Grandma and Grandpa H took us out for dinner and ice cream.  Luke really enjoyed his dirt n' worms.

May 27:  Both children napping--unfortunately it wasn't at the same time.

May 28:  It has always been one of Luke's favorite things to mow with Dad.

May 28:  Memorial Day at Grandma and Grandpa's with Kristi and Wesley.  Luke and Wesley played in the pool for about 2 hours.  Hannah did NOT like the freezing cold water even a little bit.

 May 28:  Crashed out in the car on the way home.

May 29:  At the park with Grandma, Kristi and Wesley.  A rare pic of me with both kids :)

Let's Tee Up

Troy thought it would be fun to take Luke to the driving range for the first time while his parents were here so they could experience that with us.  This may seem a little silly but it was totally and completely awesome to watch Troy and Luke together.  I got tears in my eyese watching the two of them--it was such a sweet moment.  Troy also told me later that he got so wrapped up in the moment and the joy of sharing his love of golf with Luke.  He even recounted the first time he remembers golfing with his dad; that's why he wanted his dad to be along for Luke's first experience.

Luke really had a lot of fun.  Troy and I explained some golf etiquette and rules to him before he took his first swing.  Then Troy helped him tee up and he was swinging.  Of course he didn't hit the ball every time or even most of the time on his first swing but he did manage to hit the ball within a couple of swings.  A few of his hits were pretty good for a first attempt.  Troy did the majority of the coaching although I did help Luke with a few drives.  The one we hit together went about 15 feet or so.  Luke did let Troy help him swing a few times but he really wanted to do it all on his own.  He was very determined.

After Troy and Luke hit a half a bucket of balls we moved to the putting green.  Troy explained a few more rules before he and Luke putted around for a while.  Luke even yelled his signature, "Get it in the hole!"  He says that frequently when we're watching golf on TV.

Speaking of watching golf on TV--on the way to the driving range Luke and I had this conversation (Troy and his dad drove seperately):

L: "Mom, who's going to watch the TV?"

Me: "What?"

L: "Who is going to watch us on TV?"

Me: "We're not going to be on TV Luke."

L: "But somebody has to watch us on TV because we're going to play golf."

It dawned on me then that Luke has only experienced golf by watching it on TV so he assumed that he was going to be on TV and he wanted to know who was going to watch him since we weren't at home to watch the TV.  Grandma was chuckling pretty good throughout this conversation by the way.

Me: "Only really, really good golfers are on TV Luke.  If you want to be on TV and play golf you have to practice a whole bunch to be really good.  Then maybe if you're lucky you can play golf and be on TV."

Luke: "Okay Mom, I'll really like golf and practice a whole bunch."

Me: "Great plan Luke."

I can only imagine how thrilled and proud Troy and I would be if Luke loved golf enough to become a professional golfer.  And now on to the pictures :)

More on 5 Months

Hannah's life at 5 months old:

*Schedule: This is still not very concrete.  Of course with babies it never is anyway :)  The one consistent thing is bedtime--it's always late.  Hannah goes to bed between 10:30 and 11:30 and sometimes it's even later.  She is not consistently sleeping through the night yet either.  Some nights she does awesome (this last Thursday was 10:45-8:45) and then there are nights like last night--asleep before 10 and awake at 3:30 for an hour and up at 8.  I have to say my body has adjusted well and most days I don't need a nap.  As for the rest of the day she naps either 1 or 2 times in the morning depending on the night and with luck she'll take at least a 2 hour nap in the afternoon.  She will also take a few short cat naps between 5ish and 8ish.  The bummer is she hasn't really figured out how to put herself to sleep yet.  She likes to be held or rocked or eat herself to sleep.  I've figured out in the past 2 weeks that I can put her in the moby wrap in the afternoon and my movement will put her to sleep but it's not always an ideal situation for me plus she can't get too used to that.  I have tried letting her cry/scream herself to sleep.  On a rare occasion it will work but most often after 20 or so minutes I can't take it anymore and rescue her.

*Stats: I don't know for sure what Hannah's weight is right now.  She was 15 lb 11.5 oz at her 4 month check-up so I would say she's close to 17 pounds.  Whatever her weight is she is a big baby; she's not too chubby she's just big.  She is still wearing 6 month size tops but they are no longer too long and most pants are now 6 month size.  Pajamas are all 9 months in size because her body is so long.  She can also easily wear 9 month size dresses and some of the 6 month size ones are more like long shirts than a dress.  Her hair is also starting to get a longer; there's enough to see it spike up if you rub your hand across her head.  We still aren't sure what color it is although it's leaning toward blonde--it appears red, brown, very blonde or a mix of those depending on the light.  Her eyes are still blue.

*Food: This is the biggest change for this month.  Hannah had her first solid food on April 28.  She absolutely loved her rice cereal.  She quickly figured out how to eat off of the spoon and she loves to eat her dinner after we've had ours every night about 7ish.  Hannah had her first vegetable, carrots (just like Luke), on May 4 and she's quickly moved on from there.  She has had carrots, green beans, peas and sweet potatoes.  She doesn't spit anything out so I can only hope she continues to like her veggies.  She had her first fruit last weekend when she had apples for the first time.  I'm pretty sure the sweetness surprised her a bit but she ate them like a champ.  Hannah is still nursing between 7-10 times a day as well.

*Activities: I would say that during the day Hannah is awake more than she's asleep now.  That is slightly dependent on our activities though.  If we're out running errands and she's in the carseat or stroller she tends to sleep more.  When she is awake Hannah loves to move; LOVES to move.  This includes bouncing, jumping, scooting, rolling (only to her side still) and just hanging out on the floor playing.  She would much prefer to be in someone's arms or have someone very close by than to hang out by herself (so different than Luke).  

*Mobility: This hasn't changed much since last month.  She still likes to scoot around on her back.  So much so that her back is really dry in places.  The one new thing is hanging out in the exersaucer.  Hannah really seems to enjoy the freedom it allows her--playing, bouncing, spinning and watching tv.  Hannah continues to amaze me with her strength.  While laying on her back either on the floor or in her bouncer she'll hold her head up for very long stretches of time and sometimes she'll even pull her legs up to almost like she's doing a tummy crunch as Grandma J put it this week. 

*Favorites: I would say this has all stayed the same from last month as well.  I am still Hannah's favorite person but she has a smile for anyone that says hello or interacts with her.  Hannah still loves when Luke interacts with her and no matter what the situation she will smile instantly when she sees Luke if she hasn't seen him for a while.  Hannah loves to watch Luke play and we can tell she just can't wait to be able to play with him.  Other favorites:  the exersaucer, cloth diapers, being outside, a new taggie car seat toy, laying on her playmat and looking in the mirror with Dad.  Hannah also really enjoys bath time :)

*Events: This last month has seen several firsts for Hannah--eating solid food, playing in the exersaucer, a couple of trips to the zoo and celebrating Mother's Day with me for the first time.  Grandma and Grandpa Johnson were just here for a short visit and Grammy is coming next week while Troy is out of town for the week.

5 Months Old

Hannah is already 5 months old!!!  This is a jabbering, scooting, cereal eating, happy, sweet girl who already has a definite mind of her own.  Not to mention the cutest little thing too!!!  We love her to pieces :)

Grandma and Grandpa Johnson are here right now so I'm going to do the long informative post later this week but I wanted to recognize Hannah today.  

Catch Up

Okay so doing a WITL really drained my blogging abilities for a while.  We've been busy I just haven't had the desire to write about it.  I'm going to do a quick catch up and hopefully I'll keep up with blogging in the days to come.

4-30:  Luke and I love to watch the birds and squirrels in our backyard.

4-30:  First time playing in the exersaucer.

5-1:  We recently bought a zoo pass for the year.  We went with Ashley and the boys a while back.

5-1:  Hannah really likes to pet Maggie.

5-4:  Eating carrots for the first time.

5-8:  Eating lunch outside last week.

5-9:  Luke's class had a Mommy Party last week for Mother's Day.  The kids decorated cookies for us, sang us 3 songs and made us each a placemat with pictures and their handprint.  Each child was also asked 4 different questions:

1) I love my mom because:  ...she loves me.

2) If I could buy mommy anything, it would be:  ...crackers.

3) I love to shop with my mom at:  ...at the new grocery store.

4) My mom is really good at:  ...cleaning the kitchen and doing the dishes.

Way to go me for having a clean kitchen ;)

5-11:  Friday night picnic and a movie--we watched The Muppets.

5-12:  Saturday morning Troy took Luke to Touch a Truck (lots of different equipment to climb on and play on).  Luke isn't a huge fan of loud noises and so they only ended up staying for maybe 15 minutes because Luke was walking around like this and kept requesting to come home.  The sprayer truck was the favorite though.

Happy Mother's Day!

I'm the luckiest girl in the world to have two such beautiful children to celebrate with on this Mother's Day.  We had a great day with some typical everyday challenges but I wouldn't have changed any part of it.  God truly has blessed me and I thank Him everyday for these two miracles.  Happy Mother's Day!!!