It just occurred to me that I rarely post about Rylan and the only reason for this is because all of her milestones and exciting things are being entered into her baby book. After she turns 1y, I'll post more about her on here.
But a little update about her will do :) For whatever reason, she has decided to stop sleeping through the night. This began at the beginning of May and I assumed it was just a few nights, but out of the 31 days, she probably slept through the night (8p-5a) only 5 times. Now, a disclaimer: I know I shouldn't complain at all that my 3 month old (that's how old she was during May )was only getting up once a night. Most moms are still getting up at least 2x at this stage. However, when she started sleeping through the night at 7 weeks and then all of a sudden stopped, it has been a hard transition for me! I am much more tired and less patient with the other kids because my sleep is disjointed. I'm hoping this is just a phase and she'll start sleeping through the night again soon!
In more exciting news, she finally rolled over! She's been trying to roll for the whole month, and on May 30th, she finally did it! I wasn't home to see this milestone and I was so bummed. However, Ryan was able to see it and I was happy for him; I often get to see the milestones first, so for him to see it first was special. She rolled over for me today and I was thrilled! And now she's acting like a pro-front to back, back to front. Anytime you leave her on the floor now, she's rolling all over :)
She's growing up so fast, and it's really fun to watch her achieve new things.
Up next...sleep training!
Sunday, June 1, 2014
Reagan and Kyleigh - May 2014
My notes from this month. I don't have as many as I usually do :(
Reagan:
Reagan:
- LOVES reading
- Has many books memorized so he "reads" to himself
- Bedtime is better (in general), but the kids talk to each other for 30 minutes before finally settling down and going to sleep (it's sweet, I think)
- Learning the days of the week and always wants to know what day it is (first half of month)
- Poop breakthrough! Starting going on the potty on his own without even telling me he has to poop
- Very protective of his sisters, especially Kyleigh
- Knows his days of the week (except Wed/Thurs) and calls Saturday "Saturway"
- Obsessed with water
- Wants to see everything (inside cups, or anything you hold)
- Loves to sit on our lap and read stories
- Says "no want to" and throwing tantrums
- Calls motorcycles "goodmorning cycles"
- Gallops instead of walking or running
Thursday, May 8, 2014
"Shame on You"
"Shame on you." These words continue to echo in my mind as I replay what happened earlier today. "Shame on you" the woman said, "Are you her mother or her nanny?"
I've known now for about a year that Kyleigh is a runner After she turned 1, I referred to her as a basset hound because she got her nose on a trail and off she went, no looking back. She runs away from me most opportunities she gets. There have been other close calls (like losing her at the library a few weeks ago), and I've learned to always keep my eyes on her because if I look away, she'll be off in the other direction. Despite her short legs, she is a quick little toddler!
Today alone, even while keeping my eyes on her, she ran from the park into either the open grass areas or the parking lot at least five times. I continued to chase her down (sometimes with Rylan in the carrier - that wasn't fun!) and tell her running away is not a good decision. After finishing lunch, I let both Reagan and Kyleigh play in the playground with their other friends. Already weary from chasing her multiple times, I knew I needed to be extra mindful of her whereabouts or else. Unfortunately, "or else" happened.
I took my eyes off her for 30 seconds (no joke) and when I looked back at the playground only 20 feet away, I couldn't see her. I asked Reagan, "Where is Kyleigh?" but he didn't know. I immediately got up and looked all over the playground, in the surrounding open grass area, and even in the first two rows of the parking lot. Nothing; no sign of her. I looked back at Lauren and she questioned if I found her and I shook my head no. Back in the parking lot, I am searching, scanning the lot for her. I was convinced she had to be back in the playground or open grass area because there is no way she could have gotten further away in the parking lot with as little time as my eyes were off her.
That's when I heard it. "Over here," the woman yells. "Shame on you. SHAME ON YOU! Are you her mother or her nanny? Do you realize how serious this is? I'm surprised there wasn't an accident. She could have been hit by a car or fallen into the lake." Her berating continued on for another minute as I approached her holding my daughter (Kyleigh had made it to the other side of the parking lot, about 4 or 5 rows away from where I was searching). I acknowledged I was her mother and near complete breakdown, she lightened up on me. "If you were her nanny, I was going to be even more upset. But since you're her mother... I'm a grandma and I was just concerned. Have a nice day."
I shamefully walked back to my van holding both girls in my arms and started to cry. Through tears, I told Kyleigh she cannot continue running away. It is too dangerous. The couple that was parked next to me heard everything that happened and asked if I was ok. I barely lifted my head and said "yes, thank you." I quickly walked back to my friends and told them I was going home, refusing to look any of them in the eye. I got in the car, texted Ryan what happened and concluded with "I'm not fit to be a mother."
This episode hit me hard. I seriously questioned my ability to parent. However, I feel the Lord has been so gracious to me throughout the remainder of the day. I was contacted by 3 of my friends who were there to encourage me. They had no idea what transpired in the parking lot; they only knew that Kyleigh had run away. Their phone calls and text messages were such an encouragement to me. In my response to them, I said that I am trying to remember God's faithfulness in protecting Kyleigh and keeping her safe despite the danger she faced. I feel God used this afternoon to teach me this lesson of faithfulness because when I was planning on writing this post earlier in the day, I certainly did not have that perspective. I was angry at the lady, at Kyleigh, and at myself for being such a "horrible" mother. But as the hours passed, God put on my heart that although Kyleigh faced danger, He was faithful to protect her from harm. It's not just my ability as a parent, but it's God's strength that He gives me to parent. And when I make mistakes, He is there to guide me through it. Thank you, my friends, who encouraged me today. You know who you are and you are a blessing to me!
I've known now for about a year that Kyleigh is a runner After she turned 1, I referred to her as a basset hound because she got her nose on a trail and off she went, no looking back. She runs away from me most opportunities she gets. There have been other close calls (like losing her at the library a few weeks ago), and I've learned to always keep my eyes on her because if I look away, she'll be off in the other direction. Despite her short legs, she is a quick little toddler!
Today alone, even while keeping my eyes on her, she ran from the park into either the open grass areas or the parking lot at least five times. I continued to chase her down (sometimes with Rylan in the carrier - that wasn't fun!) and tell her running away is not a good decision. After finishing lunch, I let both Reagan and Kyleigh play in the playground with their other friends. Already weary from chasing her multiple times, I knew I needed to be extra mindful of her whereabouts or else. Unfortunately, "or else" happened.
I took my eyes off her for 30 seconds (no joke) and when I looked back at the playground only 20 feet away, I couldn't see her. I asked Reagan, "Where is Kyleigh?" but he didn't know. I immediately got up and looked all over the playground, in the surrounding open grass area, and even in the first two rows of the parking lot. Nothing; no sign of her. I looked back at Lauren and she questioned if I found her and I shook my head no. Back in the parking lot, I am searching, scanning the lot for her. I was convinced she had to be back in the playground or open grass area because there is no way she could have gotten further away in the parking lot with as little time as my eyes were off her.
That's when I heard it. "Over here," the woman yells. "Shame on you. SHAME ON YOU! Are you her mother or her nanny? Do you realize how serious this is? I'm surprised there wasn't an accident. She could have been hit by a car or fallen into the lake." Her berating continued on for another minute as I approached her holding my daughter (Kyleigh had made it to the other side of the parking lot, about 4 or 5 rows away from where I was searching). I acknowledged I was her mother and near complete breakdown, she lightened up on me. "If you were her nanny, I was going to be even more upset. But since you're her mother... I'm a grandma and I was just concerned. Have a nice day."
I shamefully walked back to my van holding both girls in my arms and started to cry. Through tears, I told Kyleigh she cannot continue running away. It is too dangerous. The couple that was parked next to me heard everything that happened and asked if I was ok. I barely lifted my head and said "yes, thank you." I quickly walked back to my friends and told them I was going home, refusing to look any of them in the eye. I got in the car, texted Ryan what happened and concluded with "I'm not fit to be a mother."
This episode hit me hard. I seriously questioned my ability to parent. However, I feel the Lord has been so gracious to me throughout the remainder of the day. I was contacted by 3 of my friends who were there to encourage me. They had no idea what transpired in the parking lot; they only knew that Kyleigh had run away. Their phone calls and text messages were such an encouragement to me. In my response to them, I said that I am trying to remember God's faithfulness in protecting Kyleigh and keeping her safe despite the danger she faced. I feel God used this afternoon to teach me this lesson of faithfulness because when I was planning on writing this post earlier in the day, I certainly did not have that perspective. I was angry at the lady, at Kyleigh, and at myself for being such a "horrible" mother. But as the hours passed, God put on my heart that although Kyleigh faced danger, He was faithful to protect her from harm. It's not just my ability as a parent, but it's God's strength that He gives me to parent. And when I make mistakes, He is there to guide me through it. Thank you, my friends, who encouraged me today. You know who you are and you are a blessing to me!
Thursday, May 1, 2014
Reagan and Kyleigh - April 2014
My notes:
Reagan:
-Every night he says "let's make good decisions tonight and tomorrow"
-Backseat driver (thanks to Mickey Mouse Clubhouse Road Rally)!
-Walks into rooms and says "Ta Da!"
-Very expressive with his face when talking (especially his eyebrows)
-Always wants the music louder
-Obessed with the Toddler CD from church (The Toddler Songbook) and has every song memorized
-Learned the question "Why?" and asks multiple times a day
-Major bedtime woes for about 1/3 of the month (getting out of bed)
-Very outgoing! Will tell any random person who he is and the names of his sisters
-Says almost the entire "Lord's Prayer" on his own
-Loves to pinch Rylan's cheeks and say "tickle tickle"
Kyleigh:
-Trying to annunciate words with "Ls" like Rylan and Kyleigh
-Says "no" or "no want to" several times a day
-Runs away from me
-Counted to 6 without help
-Wears Reagan's Bob boots daily
-Likes to put my shoes on
-Getting better at saying Reagan's name correctly
-Talks for at least 30 minutes every night (or longer) before falling asleep
-Jealousy issues with Rylan and me (when I need to tend to Rylan), but also loves her by wanting to be around her and kiss her
-Throwing temper tantrums daily
-Yells "no need toodles" at Reagan when he says "ooh toodles"
-Loves to say "tickle tickle" to Rylan and pinch her cheeks
-Sometimes identifies colors correctly, but not always
Sunday, April 20, 2014
Friday, April 11, 2014
Ugly
Forewarning to my few, faithful readers: this is a humbling and difficult post to write. However, my prayer is that as I look back on my posts from time to time, I remember how I felt while writing. I pray that the content of this post will have a lasting impact on my parenting and that it will not soon be forgotten!
Ugliness is the only way to describe the last two nights of bedtime drama in this household. It started off as not pretty and quickly turned to utter ugliness. Not only in the words I said, but also in my heart.
For the past week or so, Reagan has been getting out of bed multiple times. I know this is a toddler phase and I'm sure we'll get through it like many of the other phases that have come and gone. He often doesn't ask for water or to be tucked back in or for his animals. He just comes out for a short visit and we often angrily send him back to bed with strict warnings to not come out again. Two nights ago, he must have come out 15 times (no exaggeration), received several disciplines, was spoken to harshly by both of us, and had the privilege of his movie taken away. The last visit on that night was 9:30p.
Last night was a similar story, but made a different kind of impression. Ryan was at church for a meeting, so I handled bedtime on my own (never a fun thing to do with the kids at this age). Within the first 7 minutes after I closed the door, Reagan was out of his room 5 times. With Rylan already screaming and my attempts at calming her were futile, I quickly became angry with Reagan. I yelled at him and refused to listen to his nightly statement, "In the morning, lets make good decisions. Tonight and tomorrow so I can watch a movie." Of course, since I shut the door and didn't listen to him, he walked right back out of the room, which fueled my anger even more. I walked him back to his room, yelling something, but I have no idea what. With tears streaming down his face, he said, "Mommy, I don't want you to yell at me." Ouch. I stopped in my tracks and let that sink in for a moment. That was one of the hardest sentences I have ever heard.
I put him back in bed and walked out of the room. It was 7:45p. I finally calmed Rylan down and dozed on the couch until Ryan came home. I wish I could say the bedtime drama ended there, but it didn't. At 8:15p, Reagan made another appearance. By God's grace, I handled the situation much better than I did 30 minutes prior. However, Reagan continued to make visits; I believe his last visit was around 9p.
I didn't mention anything to Ryan about the heart wrenching statement until we went to bed an hour later. As our conversation evolved, I am grateful for a husband who lovingly corrected me for my behavior. Although I was upset with myself for yelling, I expected to get sympathy from Ryan for going through this alone. That was not at all what I received. At first, I was a little peeved at him for his gentle criticism of how I handled the situation. I wanted to shoot back and say "You've made mistakes, too. I don't point them out to you, especially when you're already disappointed by your choices." However, Ryan was loving me by challenging me to think through the words I said (yelled) and how I would have felt if I was on the receiving end. Let me tell you, it was humbling. Having this conversation with Ryan was incredibly difficult, but I thank God for the man that Ryan is. He didn't just let this episode fade into the past, knowing it would probably resurface again. He challenged me to think hard about how often I yell and my tone of voice with the kids (not directly, but as a result of some of the questions he asked me).
I am not proud of how I behaved last night. However, God's grace is sufficient. I can bow humbly before the Cross, seek forgiveness, and know that I am forgiven for these choices. I also know that the love of a toddler is bigger than one ugly night. I can scoop him up this morning (PTL, he's still asleep at 6:45a!) and apologize for treating him the way I did and I'm confident he'll forgive me and we'll move on. Many people have said that I'm truly in the trenches of motherhood right now and I feel that every day. I just pray that as the harder days in the trenches occur, I choose to learn from the mistakes I made. I don't want to be a yelling mom and I don't want my children to look back on their childhood and remember how mad Mom got and how much she yelled. I know I can overcome this weakness in my life by relying on the strength Jesus gives. He is perfect and even though I daily fall short of perfection, I am striving to be more like Him!
Ugliness is the only way to describe the last two nights of bedtime drama in this household. It started off as not pretty and quickly turned to utter ugliness. Not only in the words I said, but also in my heart.
For the past week or so, Reagan has been getting out of bed multiple times. I know this is a toddler phase and I'm sure we'll get through it like many of the other phases that have come and gone. He often doesn't ask for water or to be tucked back in or for his animals. He just comes out for a short visit and we often angrily send him back to bed with strict warnings to not come out again. Two nights ago, he must have come out 15 times (no exaggeration), received several disciplines, was spoken to harshly by both of us, and had the privilege of his movie taken away. The last visit on that night was 9:30p.
Last night was a similar story, but made a different kind of impression. Ryan was at church for a meeting, so I handled bedtime on my own (never a fun thing to do with the kids at this age). Within the first 7 minutes after I closed the door, Reagan was out of his room 5 times. With Rylan already screaming and my attempts at calming her were futile, I quickly became angry with Reagan. I yelled at him and refused to listen to his nightly statement, "In the morning, lets make good decisions. Tonight and tomorrow so I can watch a movie." Of course, since I shut the door and didn't listen to him, he walked right back out of the room, which fueled my anger even more. I walked him back to his room, yelling something, but I have no idea what. With tears streaming down his face, he said, "Mommy, I don't want you to yell at me." Ouch. I stopped in my tracks and let that sink in for a moment. That was one of the hardest sentences I have ever heard.
I put him back in bed and walked out of the room. It was 7:45p. I finally calmed Rylan down and dozed on the couch until Ryan came home. I wish I could say the bedtime drama ended there, but it didn't. At 8:15p, Reagan made another appearance. By God's grace, I handled the situation much better than I did 30 minutes prior. However, Reagan continued to make visits; I believe his last visit was around 9p.
I didn't mention anything to Ryan about the heart wrenching statement until we went to bed an hour later. As our conversation evolved, I am grateful for a husband who lovingly corrected me for my behavior. Although I was upset with myself for yelling, I expected to get sympathy from Ryan for going through this alone. That was not at all what I received. At first, I was a little peeved at him for his gentle criticism of how I handled the situation. I wanted to shoot back and say "You've made mistakes, too. I don't point them out to you, especially when you're already disappointed by your choices." However, Ryan was loving me by challenging me to think through the words I said (yelled) and how I would have felt if I was on the receiving end. Let me tell you, it was humbling. Having this conversation with Ryan was incredibly difficult, but I thank God for the man that Ryan is. He didn't just let this episode fade into the past, knowing it would probably resurface again. He challenged me to think hard about how often I yell and my tone of voice with the kids (not directly, but as a result of some of the questions he asked me).
I am not proud of how I behaved last night. However, God's grace is sufficient. I can bow humbly before the Cross, seek forgiveness, and know that I am forgiven for these choices. I also know that the love of a toddler is bigger than one ugly night. I can scoop him up this morning (PTL, he's still asleep at 6:45a!) and apologize for treating him the way I did and I'm confident he'll forgive me and we'll move on. Many people have said that I'm truly in the trenches of motherhood right now and I feel that every day. I just pray that as the harder days in the trenches occur, I choose to learn from the mistakes I made. I don't want to be a yelling mom and I don't want my children to look back on their childhood and remember how mad Mom got and how much she yelled. I know I can overcome this weakness in my life by relying on the strength Jesus gives. He is perfect and even though I daily fall short of perfection, I am striving to be more like Him!
Tuesday, April 1, 2014
Reagan and Kyleigh - March 2014
My notes:
Reagan:
-Loves to feed the cats their dry food every night
-Feels it is necessary to tell us everything Kyleigh is doing, even if we are in the same room (and especially if it is bad behavior)
-Can now unbuckle his high chair
-Likes to get as close to "the line" as possible (standing at the edge of the breezeway, but won't go in, touching things around the specific thing I've asked him not to touch)
-Has really great behavior days and really bad behavior days
-New obsession with sewers and manholes
-Started calling me Kristin
-Every night, he says "Goodnight, Rylan (or Kyleigh). I'll see you in the morning." and then gives a hug and a kiss (melts my heart)
-Loving Curious George books
-"Reads" books to himself if I'm busy (ie, I've read them so many times, he has the pages memorized)
-Favorite question is "What kind?" If I tell him friends are coming over, "What kind of friends?" Or dinner is almost ready, "what kind of dinner?"
-Learned how to spell his and Kyleigh's names
-Helping by setting the table
Kyleigh:
-Throwing her food on the ground again(first two weeks or so)
-Disobedient (standing on tables, etc) yet obedient (stays in timeout until we get her)
-Enjoys feeding the cats
-Unzips her jams multiple times a day (oh so frustrating!)
-Still eating cat food and sometimes drinking water from the cat bowl
-On a food strike, eating very few things (first two weeks)
-Stubborn!
-Began pulling her hair out
-Demanding! "Get down, NOW!" (We're working on an attitude change with this one!)
-Said her first prayer at the dinner table "Thank you, Jesus. Amen."
-Obsessed with getting into Reagan's highchair and buckling herself in (but then can't get out)
-Refuses to let us put her in the her highchair, wants to do it herself.
-Learning independence..."do it" or "Kyleigh do it" is a popular phrase these days
-Calls her piggy bank "pinka pink"
-Tries to charm her way out of trouble after getting caught by smiling and laughing
-Obsessed with buckling things: Reagan's highchair, Rylan's car seat, her car seat, the stroller
-Imitates me by trying to burp Rylan; she walks up to Rylan and starts patting her back
-Jumping ALL the time. Randomly as she's walking along, she'll just start jumping
-Kinda helping by setting the table
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)