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Sunday, July 25, 2010

Put Me in, Coach!

Riley's first T-ball practice was today. He was so excited...and so were we. We've never played or practiced before (except in our front yard), so this was new on many levels.

The teacher in me spotted the youngest one on the team very quickly, my son. It was so obvious! One on one with a coach, he paid attention and listened better than I expected. He listened so well that he was "deprogrammed" from throwing underhand! We have lots of work to do, but our little guy made his mommy and daddy so proud today. I'll only choose a few of the 95 photos I took to share!!


*During fielding practice, Riley proudly got his coach's attention to show him that he could snap!
*He thinks he made a homerun because he ran base-by-base to home!
*He asked when he was going to get to play "over there" (which was first base--he was ready for some more action!)

Friday, July 23, 2010

Eat, Play, Love

I'm currently reading Eat, Pray, Love and thought I'd put a little kiddie twist on the title for this post. Like the book so far and it's making me want to head back to Italy, for a very extended period of time! That won't happen, so I'll live vicariously through the author, as we do when we read. This was a fun way for me to give a little picture of where my boys are right now.
AND share this photo that I'm so incredibly proud of. I snapped it one evening while Kace was sitting in his Bumbo eating...as the meal progressed, the setting sun lit up his face and it was beautiful. Then Riley came in from the backyard and I was so lucky to capture this well-lit moment. I just LOVE this!
Riley:

Eat: He's always been a good eater, except for scallops, which do have an unfriendly texture. This week, he particulary liked the Honey Mustard Chicken I made and served with asparagus and some cheesy/veggie noodles. Funny thing about this meal is that he ate all of the veggies first, then the chicken.

He loves snacks--right now it's apples with yogurt/peanut buter dip, Nutri-Grain bars, or applesauce (with a scoop of cottage cheese), or yogurt--blueberry is his favorite flavor. He's always drank lots of milk and while I was in the hospital, he expected chocolate milk with every glass. Well, when Mommy arrived, that was no longer the case. He still does get chocolate milk--a little chocolate and a lot of milk, but I also try to make sure he alternates a cup of water between non-water drinks. He knows the pattern too, "Mommy, this was milk, so water is next."

Play: He is still loving riding his bicycle and doing beautifully without those training wheels. We love to go outside in the evenings after it's cooled off and hang out with our neighbors and their children while they ride bikes and play.

He has learned how to play a video game that Mimi bought him and has just taken an interest in it lately. I'm very thankful for the volume control and the headphones. He just doesn't understand why we don't want to hear the game he's playing. Ugh!

He's also playing a little more alone. He will get out his cars--usually the ones with lights and sirens--and zoom them around to emergency after emergency. I'll hear him pretend playing and it's fun to listen to the little adventure he's creating. He also likes his monster trucks and crashing them into each other.

Riley is also joining a baseball team and will have his first practice on Sunday. We're excited about this new adventure!

Love: Riley has been such a challenge lately. I keep wondering what I've done wrong. It seems like everything we say or do gets a "No", "Never", or "I don't want to" and it is exhausting. It drains me physically and emotionally. There have been countless conversations about good choices and bad choices, hurting feelings, listening, following directions, etc. I've even spanked his sweet little hiney. Something I thought I would never do.

When he's not angry and defiant, he's the sweetest, most loving little guy. He loves to snuggle and is generous with hugs and kisses. He loves to "help" take care of his litte buddy.

Kace:

Eat: Kace is so happy at mealtimes! I tell him what he's eating while I'm feeding him. He is eating apples, pears, acorn squash, butternut squash, sweet potatoes, bananas, peaches, rice cereal, and oatmeal cereal. Plums and peas are up next! He's significantly reduced his bottle feedings--or at least it seems that way. There for a while I felt like all I did was feed Kace, make bottles, wash bottles, and start over again. Now he's having 4 6-8 ounce bottles a day with 2 feedings of solid food.

Play: He's really grabbing things with hands right now, trying to grab anything and everything--our faces and anything that's not his toys in particular! He's continues to roll over, but has only rolled from his belly back over to his back once. He's tolerating tummy time so much better now and can lift his head and shoulders completely off the ground. He loves the rings on his car seat carrier (and will be outgrowing that carseat soon), his exer-saucer, playmat, and sitting in his Bumbo watching the action in the kitchen.
Kace has discovered that he can not only play with toes, but he can get them into his mouth! They're a new little "always with me" toy for him. He also had a splash fest in the bath tub recently. He went all out and had a great time!

Love: Kace has a smile for everyone, but I think he favors me right now. I'm anxious about going to back to work because we think separation anxiety is kicking in. It's going to be tough all over again. He loves it when his Daddy tickles his belly, under his chin, and in his armpits! He always has a great laugh with Daddy. He also loves it when Riley talks to him in nonsense words or sings silly songs.

Kace loves his brown Lovie that Ashley and Cami gave him. It's the object he's really shown to favor. It helps calm him down and comfort himself to sleep.

And ending with a funny...because this is my blog!

Funny: This week, while we were eating breakfast, Riley said, "Mom, I don't want to get old. Do you get old when you get married?" I hesitantly asked, "Is Mommy old?" (please don't say yes, please don't say yes) "No." he (correctly) replied. We were both extremely relieved after that conversation!! :-)

Thursday, July 15, 2010

Mother's Day Out

Russ left to go out of town this morning for a good friend's bachelor party. Ever hear of a bachelor party leaving at 7 a.m. Thursday morning? Hmph! I'd been dreading this weekend for some time for many reasons: I miss him when he's gone, I'd be with the boys all weekend alone--missing my partner in crime, my relief pitcher, and it's tough managing a strong-willed 4 year old and a chunky monkey 6 month old!

Things started looking up when I scheduled a lunch date and a play date/happy hour. Then Nunny and Buzz decided they wanted to go to the ranch this morning and take Riley with them. He eagerly stayed home from school today, helped pack his bag, and off he went, blowing kisses and announced from his carseat, "Look, Mommy, I can hug you from here!" while hugging himself...and melting my heart. Mimi and G were looking forward to keeping Kace while I went to lunch.

I met Rachael at Mandola's Market. I wanted to go somewhere I'd never been and let Rachael choose the spot. It was excellent. The place was packed, it's a market/bakery/deli/restaurant. I ordered a Veggie Panini and it was delicious. I ate half for lunch and wished I had room for the other half...so I saved it for dinner!


(Thanks to the you, Mr. Complete Stranger Man, for taking these pictures of us. You did a great job and doesn't Rachael look GORGEOUS?)

After lunch, we walked over to Embellish and had a pedicure. It is a girlie little boutique and salon. Exactly what us Mommy's-of-two-boys needed!



Our pedicurists brought out these beautiful, hammer coppered pots filled with hot water for our toes. I want one.


and warm, cozy neck wraps
Rach went for a sparkly turquoise and I found the orange I've been looking for!
It was just what I needed!

Monday, July 12, 2010

Battle of the Squashes

Today Kace was introduced to Acorn Squash. I was honestly worried that he might not like this because it's the least sweet of all the foods he's tried so far. So, I snapped a picture of the butternut face and the acorn face.


Butternut Squash (introduced last Sunday)

and Today's Special: Acorn Squash



Judging by his eagerness and facial expressions, he loved them both!

Sunday, July 11, 2010

Lofty Goals

I'm typing a little list of things I'd love to accomplish around the house soon. Like I said...I'd "love" to accomplish these things and in a perfect world, with no interruptions, I might get it done. I'd be happy to finish just a few in the near future.

1. Paint my archway and island a deep red.
2. Purge, purge, purge. My stuff, everyone's stuff. Ugh!
3. Organize all of my scrapbooking stuff and start scrapping again.
4. Create some sort of mud room in our entry way. Somewhere to put all of our stuff we dump on the island.
5. Cabinets in my laundry room. And our water closet.
6. File all of our bills/papers instead of just making the stack bigger, which means more filing later.
7. Start adding photos to my frame collage in the dining room.
8. Need a family of 4 photo in this house. I'm embarassed there isn't one yet.
9. Books....keep them to decorate the shelves with or get rid of 'em.
10. The backyard...where do I begin? We've planted nothing this year and I miss being out there, but where will we find the time? Russ does a great job of keeping it mowed but there are no new plants and not much color. Really...I'd like the DIY Yard Crashers guy to kidnap us while we're at Home Depot. Now THAT would be awesome!

I'll stop for now...the minute I walk away and post this, I'll think of more things to add. You know, it's just like when I get home from the grocery store, I have to start a new list before I even finish putting all of the groceries away.

Wednesday, July 7, 2010

Apples, Bananas, and Pears...Oh My!

We are well on our way eating solid foods. Kace loves sitting in his Bumbo and now I think I've ruined him because he thinks it's mealtime every time he sits in it. It all began with rice cereal (June 21, 2010 on his 1/2 birthday). We practiced that process for about a week so we could get better at it. First day I was worried, but did see improvements with each feeding! I keep waiting for this preemie delay to appear somewhere...


Then we added apples,
pears,
(Notice he still likes to be in charge of the spoon, which makes things much more interesting! And...as you can see, he doesn't like mealtime to be over.)
and bananas.
Boy, does he love it all! Did you notice how much he still loves hanging onto that spoon AND how disappointed he is when mealtime is over? Poor guy...
Up next: butternut squash, acorn squash, and sweet potatoes. We can't wait!!