Just for fun- the top one is Kallen and the bottom one is Lincoln.

I don't think they look all that much alike but maybe that's just because I'm the mom. :)

Cereal!

Lincoln had his first bite of cereal tonight:

I don't think he was very impressed.

That's soo 2010

Feeling like a frumpy mom lately

+

a salon in my home

(instant access to scissors and color at all times- not good)

+

a rare moment when both boys are sleeping

=

BANGS!

(or fringe as we were taught to call them in cosmo. school)

What?! That's so last year?

(or actually 2009 but Iowa always seems to be a year behind)

I know, but what can I say I needed a change!

And what does my home look like while I am cutting my hair and taking pictures of myself?
Priorities messed up? Probably so.
Just keeping it real ya'll!

Honey Creek

We decided to end our spring break with something fun (and after last week- we ALL needed out of the house!) so yesterday we headed down to the waterpark at the Honey Creek Resort. It was super cheap ($12 for our entire family!) and the perfect size for Kallen!

Last summer Kallen was still a little hesitant around water- but yesterday he just dove right in.

Shawn was pretty excited to see how much both of his boys Loved the water!

Little Lincoln passed out half way through.

My parents only live about 5 minutes away from the resort so while we were down we headed over to Grandpa Rody's house to see the cows!

And check out the tractors!

And of course- to play with Uncle Jacob!

It was an Awesome day! And the perfect end to our week!

And it made me realize that I'm pretty sure this summer is going to require a pool pass.

Lincoln Update

I never did find the time to do a Lincoln update last week:

He really does have that smile on his face all the time! Lincoln is the happiest little baby!!!

Here are his stats:

Weight: 16lbs 3 oz (77%)

Height: 25 1/2 inches (73%)

Head Circ: 16 1/2 (42%)

So... big body little head. :)

Diapers: Size 3

Kallen is in size 4

Clothes: 6-9 months, mostly 9 months

He has recently discovered his voice, and spends most of his day lying around squealing and experimenting with new sounds. (I love it!!) Remember when I told you he is a super laid-back baby?....Not so much anymore. He is beginning to act exactly like his big brother did at that age- constantly needing a change of scenery (so I just rotate him around between his swing, activity gym, bouncy seat, and the floor), never wanting to sit and always feeling the need to stand, will Never lay his head down while being held- he feels the need to look around (he might miss something you know), and he fights going to sleep with all his might.

He is definately 100% boy in that the rougher you play with him- the better! He gets alot of comments from strangers like "that boy is going to be a line backer" and "wow you could put him in a pink dress and he'd still look like a boy!".

He is waayyy to much of a momma's boy. My biggest struggle lately is that anytime I am gone, he seems to be fussy for whoever is watching him. He takes a bottle just fine for me but struggles to take them from other people. I am determined to get him over this one, because I do NOT want a baby that I cannot leave for a little bit. (this momma needs her freedom!)

Here he is practicing his favorite thing to do right now:

He has really started to watch Kallen closely and take in everything he is doing. Sometimes I can almost see the look of determination in his eyes telling himself "I think I can do that!".

If I could predict what our future holds, right now I would say Kallen= instigator Lincoln= follower that will probably take it to the next level.

And that is Lincoln in a nutshell! I just love my little butterball!!

Completely Drained

The past 4 days have been 4 of the most physically and emotionally draining days of my life.

Wednesday night around midnight Kallen woke up with a 103 fever. Shawn and I took shifts holding him (it was the only way he would calm down) and trying to keep him comfortable.

I called our pediatrician first thing on Thursday morning and they worked us right in with their "floating doctor" (our regular doctor was booked). She took one look at his ears and confirmed what I was already suspecting.....Double Ear Infection. She quickly subscribed some antibiotics (something I normally fight- but with a crazy weekend ahead I was ready for the "quick fix") and sent us on our way. After an entire night and day of Kallen crying constantly I called our chiropractor who worked us in around 3:30pm. She applied some kinesio tape (which usually works wonders on Kallen's ears!) and did her best to adjust Kallen. (At this point he was screaming and kicking and it was hard for us to hold him down) We made another appointment for the next morning and headed home. Thursday night he actually slept pretty well, but still had a fever of 101.

Friday morning he woke up and seemed to be doing better! I played the piano for a wedding this weekend and had a friend lined up to watch Kallen for me during rehearsal on Friday at 3pm. I kept a close eye on him all day and was feeling pretty good about taking him to my friends house. (he was running around, didn't seem to have a fever, and had the energy to get into trouble so he must be fine!) Shawn picked him up and I got home around 5:00. As soon as I walked in the door- I knew he was Not fine. :( His fever had gone back up to 103 and Friday night was a pretty rough night. Again Shawn and I took shifts with Kallen, but I don't think either one of us really got much sleep.
Saturday was probably the worst day. Kallen just sat around the house, clinging to whoever would hold him (mostly me), and constantly crying "owie". It seemed like there was nothing we could do to ease his discomfort and he still had a fever of 102. I called our pediatrician just to make sure things were ok- and they said to give the antibiotics a good 3 days to kick in. Shawn was gone all day on Saturday, and I played for the wedding at 3. My sister and b.i.l. were sweet enough to come hang out with our boys for us and I'm sure they got more than they bargained for. Kallen just looked so miserable and it broke my heart to see him in such a bad state.

Saturday night he slept very well (which was great considering naps have been non-existent) and this morning he woke up without a fever! I got excited at first, but it didn't take long after getting him out of bed to realize that he was far from feeling good. I was on to play the piano for church this week so poor Shawn had to stay home with the boys while I got out of the house for a while. By the time I got home, Kallen's fever had returned -100 this time- and he was back to sitting around and crying. After shoving some tylenol down his throat, he did perk up enough to play with some toys this afternoon, but by 5 he was back to laying on the couch whining to be held.
I am actually leaving out quite a few symptoms and details for the sake of this post getting too long, but lets just say the past 4 days have not been pretty....at all.
Please pray for our little boy!
Pray that he will wake up in the morning and his fever will be gone! Or if it's not pray that we will have wisdom in knowing where to go from here. We are ready to have our happy little Kallen back and it is breaking my heart to see him this miserable for this long. (Dare I say, that I even kind of miss his little messes all over the house!?) And please pray that I will have the patience to keep nurturing my sick, needy child! (I totally was not cut out to have a collicky baby- God knew I could not handle constant crying!)

Potty Training???

Do you see what my child is wearing on his cute little bum?!?

On Tuesday morning Kallen told me "Potty" as he was wetting his diaper and I decided it was time to make a Walmart run! My son is obsessed with stickers right now so I let him pick out a big pack of those, then I made a big deal out of him picking out some underwear too!!

I wish I were one of those parents who researches everything and has an awesome strategy for every new phase of life. Unfortunately I am more of a fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants kind of parent. So when it comes to potty training- we are totally winging it! I am not ready to commit 100% to this potty thing yet- but I did want to have the supplies ready to go so that when Kallen decides it is time- I will be ready too!

So here is what happened on Tuesday when we got home from Walmart:

Kallen was super excited about his new underwear and wanted to put it on right away! I thought "What the heck! We aren't going anywhere tonight so why not?!"- knowing full well that I would probably be cleaning up some messes. We had a big discussion about what we do when we wear "big boy pants" and Kallen seemed to be understanding pretty well so I turned him loose- asking every 20 min. or so "Do you have to go potty?". Luckily Kallen was outside on the back deck with Shawn when accident #1 happened. Shawn had just asked him if he needed to go potty when a puddle began to form around his little feet- so we brought him inside, sat him down on his potty chair and began clean up- explaining the whole time what he should have done. - a side note: I was totally not mentally prepared for this cleaning up urine thing. GROSS! I gave him the option of putting a new pair of underwear on or a diaper and of course he chose the underwear! So we started over.

We had a friend coming over to talk to us that night, and we were all in the living room when accident #2 happened. Kallen was standing by the couch when all of a sudden he just froze, looked at me, and said "Uh Oh!". I quickly grabbed him and ran to the bathroom to clean up the urine running down his legs. This is when I remembered I had forgotten the stickers- so I explained to him that every time he goes potty in his potty chair he will get a sticker!! Again I gave him the option of putting clean underwear back on or a diaper, but this time he chose the diaper.

I am not ready to force him into anything yet - he is still pretty young- so I am going to leave it up to him whether or not he wants to wear underwear or not. But I am all for giving it a try! I do think it was a good sign that he recognized he had messed up the second time when he said "uh oh"! I had to work all day Wednesday, and yesterday was a pretty busy day, so maybe this afternoon we will try underwear again. Who knows- maybe this won't go anywhere and we'll just try again in a few months- all I know is that I saw the signs that he may be ready so I jumped on it!

4 months

This little boy turned 4 months old today! I'll post stats and more about him next week after we go to the doctor.