A Day in Our Life

120-ish Days Young

No, I'm not one of those moms who refers to her child's age in days and months until they're beginning kindergarten- not that there's anything wrong with that. I just wanted to break up the monthly blog-post-title monotony. Another month gone by and I can hardly stand how quickly my babies are growing. I'm glad for Colby taking time to hit his milestones, or as soon as I blinked I would miss them. Like his latest: discovery of the hands! I'm talking full on fist-in-mouth at almost all points of the day unless he is eating, crying, or gnawing on his monkey jingler thingermajig.

Aaaaannnnd......we pulled out the stationary activity seat, ta-da! Mostly, he just hangs out when he's in it, but I saw him nab that leaf doodad just yesterday and have at it- which is pretty funny since that's the first thing Cailyn was interested in, too. He's still taking bottles only. We tried a little oatmeal mixed with some breast milk the other day, but he had zero interest and made a disgusted face. I'm not going to push it, we'll try again in a week or two and see what he thinks then.

He withstands more and more tummy time and is beginning to roll from tummy to back when we're not looking. Seriously! We'll lay him down for tummy time and look back a minute later and there he is staring up at his toys from his back! We have yet to witness it firsthand though...

At his last doctor's appointment he was weighing in at 15.7 lbs and was 24.5 inches in length. To put it bluntly he is short and stocky. So different from Cailyn who always seemed to be in the 80th percentile and bigger than most kiddos her age. Oh well, I suppose he could just have a growth spurt further ahead of him than she did.

Speaking of Cailyn- she continues to blossom herself, inside and out. She is very much her own person- check out her favorite outfit: the previous night's jammies layered with every princess dress and tutu she owns! The other day I caught her donning a Rapunzel dress and tiara, but racing monster trucks into the wall. That would very much be our baby girl. A girly girl who isn't afraid to get a little down and dirty.

It's so exciting to be able to do more activities with her, especially cooking! Anytime I'm cooking she will run into the kitchen and say, "I wanna help!" Then, pull a chair right up to the counter and dig in, whether she's welcome to or not. I can only hope this helpful attitude continues as she ages. :)

Little woman is also super duper interested in jigsaw puzzles, and, I'd have to say, she's pretty good at them. She received one for Christmas from her Great Aunt, but the pieces were just a bit too fragile and many of them broke. We found a couple 24 piece puzzles with chunkier pieces and she puts them together at least once per day.

Our local preschool is enrolling for 3 year old preschool already, and she would qualify to attend in the Fall. It's only two mornings each week, but I think we're leaning toward keeping her out for another year and starting her when she's 4. The tricky thing with her is she one of those summer birthdays. Do we think she'd be academically ready? Absolutely, but socially and emotionally? We're not sure. We'll see, but I don't want to push her in to something just because she can do it, I want to make sure she's ready, you know?

Our babies are growing up way too fast. I can see Colby's teeth buds under his gums, getting ready to cut in the next couple months. Cailyn has more and more to say and is testing boundaries all the time. And we're just trying to stay on top of it all, trying to soak it all up. I just want to remember moments like this:

Always and forever.

Christmas and Three Months Young

I feel like I'm always ten steps behind these days! Also, I'm pretty sure I've said something to that effect in every post since birthing my dear baby boy- I'm going to milk it as long as I can- which may be until there's a third child in our lives!

Our Christmas holiday was a very busy one with much driving in a few days, but it was all worth it to see our families. My dad drilled into our heads, beginning at a very young age, that family is always there for you and they are what is most important. Friends may come and go, but family is forever. So, I am always excited and grateful for any time we are able to spend with them.

After our annual pre-Christmas outing to Jordan Creek we spent Christmas Eve and the day previous with the Brown side of our family. They live in the country in an old farm house- leave it to the weather to be below zero temps during our stay! It was a cold overnight, but we had much fun and by this point Cailyn had been opening gifts for three straight days- not gonna lie, we were a little worried about her having a "gift-opening" let down after Christmas (she was cool, though).

Uncle Tanner- he's a tough guy, but I'm pretty sure he's the only one of Jerod's brothers that I have pictures of holding his niece and nephew during infancy. What a sweetie :)

Colby has been quite the coo-er and stayed true to this in his conversations with Papa Bret.

Our little ham conquering her irrational fear of rocking horses, yet again!

At one point before Christmas Eve Mass, Cailyn was twirling around the living room softly and then would gently sit down and fold her hands, putting her head down like she was praying. My dad is sure she's going to become a nun.

Colby is the best snuggler- which is perfect for Grandma Deb, because she love to dole snuggles out on her grandbabies.

We forgot to have someone else take our family photo before leaving for Church, so we set the timer and got this baby on the first try! I noticed Colby isn't looking at the camera, but I got 3 smiles and no one was crying- I decided not to push my luck :)

After Mass we stopped at Jerod's Grandma Carole's house for soup and a short visit before hitting the road for Sioux City. Cailyn opened her Christmas Eve gift of jammies and the Monsters University movie, which came in handy on our drive to the western side of Iowa. We got in late and were able to sleep in on Christmas Day, which we agreed we will enjoy while we can- I remember being small and waking my parents up at the arse-crack of dawn to open gifts...ugh. My kids were not ready to get up even at 9:30 in the morning:

P.S. This was on my side of the king-size bed that all 4 of us slept in- Cailyn's feet were jabbing Jerod in the back all night, hee hee.

Santa brought Cailyn a Rapunzel princess dress that she had been asking for since she tried one on in the Disney Store at the Mall of America in JULY people! She would literally find the picture of herself wearing it on my phone, then show me and say, "Mommy I have pincess dess? Peez, peez?!"

Again, Colby soaking up all the cuddles he could, as if he doesn't get plenty at home. There must be something about Grandma snuggles that does a baby good!

Doing what she does best- love up on Papa, and get everything she wants in return!

My brother, Tom, was the only Wyant kid not in Sioux City for Christmas, so we took a sibling picture and penciled him in! We miss you little brother!

Our time in Sioux City ended the day after Christmas, we drove out at around bedtime so the kids could sleep on the trip. We hate to hole them up in their car seats for long periods of time when they're wide awake. It was a late night, but, again, worth the extra time with the family!

As you can tell from the title we also have a little guy who is no longer considered an infant! However, I would not have considered him an infant several weeks ago because he's such a chunker! Colby at 3 months is quite the eater taking in about 5-7 ounces in a feeding, he coos and squeals constantly (but especially after Cailyn has gone to bed- it's hard to get a word in edgewise with her awake), and loves watching college basketball on TV. Seriously, he will crane his neck around when he's eating so he can watch when it's on. And so it begins.

He hates the Bumbo chair. Hates. It. Along with that, he also is not very fond of tummy time or being put down before he has received his hourly quota of snuggles, which is at this time: unlimited, apparently.

He is becoming very fond of his big sister, and she of him. Our babysitter said she is very protective of him and tells the other kids, "No! He my brother!"

I have yet to get a picture of him smiling. He will coo and grin while I talk, but as soon as the camera comes up his face goes blank...like his dad...turd.

I forgive him though, because he's so stinkin' cute. Right?!

This is our little man. Chill. Snuggly. In no hurry to break any records for developmental milestones, no interest in rolling over or grabbing anything except Mom's hair when I put him down. And that's okay with us, all in his own time I guess. We love him no matter what!

2014 Brown Calendar

I make a personalized family calendar for us every year and usually I have one picture per month. However, since having a second child, I find it increasingly difficult to leave a child out of pictures in any given month. So, instead I went with picture collages and tried to have some kind of theme for each month. I did well on most of them- some were kind of random, but here are the results:

Winter fun and staying warm

Kisses!

Random cuteness

Random adorable-ness and family love

Mommy love (Mother's Day)

Daddy love (Father's Day)

Cailyn's birthday month

Summer fun, water play, Colby looking "totes adorbs"

We love grandmas & papas!

Colby's birthday month

Stuffing our faces and cheering for our teams (or Daddy's team)

Christmas- duh!

I hope I take so many pictures this year that this project is again very difficult for me when designing next year's calendar!

2 Months and Hefty!

Our little baby boy is not so little it seems. He is now a whole 2 months old (and another 2 weeks more since it's taken me forever to get this post up)! Since I used up all of my sick days on maternity leave, Jerod is doing the honors of taking Colby to his check-ups. I think I'm okay with this because I HATE watching my babies get shots! It doesn't make me queasy or anything, it makes me sad that they have no idea what's coming until it happens.

Anyway, at his appointment he weighed in at 13lbs 5oz! We are finishing up with a box of size 1 diapers, and barely squeezing him into them, before moving up to the next size. He's eating 5-6 ounces each feeding now, and has some very manly belches after finishing, haha! Colby smiles every-so-sweetly when you talk to him, and he'll chat right back with lots of gurgles and coos. He has one little dimple on his right cheek when he smiles really big, and his cheeks are to die for, however, he usually stops smiling as soon as I bring out the camera. That would be a trait he gets from his father.

We are going to be celebrating our first Christmas as a family of four, tomorrow (Sunday), before heading out for other family celebrations on Monday morning. This will also be our first long trip away from home as a family of four- wish us rest! Merry Christmas to you and yours!

Life as we now know it

I began this post on November 23rd. And by "began" I mean that I wrote a title for it and then neglected to add any text or photos because I was knee deep in returning to work and figuring out how life in the real world happens when you have more than one child to take care of.

Yeah, I've been a little overwhelmed since returning to work, but I think I have been trying to keep my focus in the most important places and not worry about other things- like our blog. I had a deep realization that my children's childhood only happens once, and it's happening now, and I can't just be there- I need to live it with them. I am by no means perfect at this, but I am trying very hard to leave the house a little messier, the sink a little more full of dishes, the laundry a little more piled up, and spend more of my time listening to and playing with my babies. Even picture taking is fading away! However, I think I need to get a little better about that, so we have documentation of every adorably embarrassing thing our kids do between birth and graduation.

It hasn't been easy to transition to two kids, but I my better half and I are tag-teaming it pretty well most of the time. Enjoy the pics, I have a late 2 month post to write before Christmas gets here!

I will never not love those dimples :)

One of his many wonderful faces, how can kids be so cute even when they're screaming?

I have a picture of Cailyn mean muggin' the same octopus- I have to dig it up, they are almost identical

Rare moment of sweetness toward her brother. She's not mean to him usually, just a little rough.

A nightly tradition of pulling out every dress-up item she owns, changing into them 40,000 different times, and trying to dress up mommy and daddy in the process, as well.