July 2014

At the beginning of the month, we drove to Manti to visit Brian's sister.  My boys LOVED having cousin time.  Mckay loved chasing the cats saying "tat, tat, tat".  The boys all LOVED doing fireworks and going to the parade--especially all the candy.  It was great to see Brian and Heather. We had such a fun time in their beautiful, old home.  :)

My sister Rachel came for a few weeks also.  We've loved having her here, even if our lives are much slower than she's accustomed to.  My boys adore her!

Camden is getting more grown up every day.  He just looks older, and he seems to be ready to go to kindergarten in 1 month.  I think it will be a big learning experience to be away from home so much, but I think he'll do just fine.  There's a special place in Camden's heart for Mckay.  When Camden is the most sad, Mckay's hugs comfort him better than Mom's or Dad's hugs.  

Nate is my little firework lately.  But sometimes he's more like a warm sunshine, and it gives me hope.  He'll say things like, "I'm happy, so I'll share my toys," or "I'll pick up my toys, so I'm nice."  I tell him he's my special Nate, and he says, "Yep! I am!"  He can be so sweet and so reactive.  I find myself (and in truth, each member of our family) getting dragged around by his emotions.  I definitely need to keep working to be calm so that I'm influencing him to be calm, rather him influencing me.  His favorite thing lately seems to be lego blocks and  laser beams shooting out of his eyes (from "If you're a robot and you know it, shoot laser beams out of your eyes.)

Mckay is my little "Don't let mommy out of my sight" kind of kid right now.  He loves to be held, but is getting more independent, too. He only wants to be held when he wants to be held.  He's doing so much better at sleeping through the night and falling asleep on his own.  He LOVES his soft, snuggly blanket.  He also LOVES watermelon, grapes, apricots, cheerios, but NOT tomatoes.  He is generally pretty calm, loves to play with balls and trucks.  He says, mamamama (still only when sad), Dad, dog, and ball (but they all sound the same).  He is like a well-trained horse, where very very gentle correction is needed, and he generally obeys or tries to obey.    He has learned to be wary of Nate, and pushes Nate away if Nate sits on my lap when he is there first.  But, he also giggles a lot at Nate--just depends on Nate.  

 

Visiting cousins in Manti (oh, and Mater!)

 

 

A modge podge of last week

(From mid-June) A really big bummer.  Luckily we have an older phone not in use right now!

 

 

Little cutie! He walks all over now!  And is starting to climb anything he can.

But, he won't go down anything. 

 A fun day at This is the Place with cousins.  Love it!

Last day of soccer.  Camden has learned so much and developed some confidence in himself.  The first few games included many tears, "I don't want to do soccer anymore," "We have 7 more games?", being overwhelmed by 10 kids all trying to get the ball, etc.  But now, he really enjoys playing.  He likes to have certain responsibilities to do on his team (like guard the goal, or "turn your team mate to go the right way").  He loved to be a purple ninja.  Thank goodness he was purple and not pink!  He loves purple, just after blue, so we got pretty lucky there.  We definitely would have had major melt downs if he had to be pink.

Mckayster part 2

 McKay had a rough spell in April--two ear infections, wouldn't nurse or take a bottle for 4-5 days, which of course caused him to be very grumpy and very tired.  After accepting a bottle, he wouldn't drink formula.  Downright refused.   I couldn't pump enough milk, so we tried to supplement with 3 types of formula, goat's milk, which is supposed to be gentler, cow's milk, almond milk, then lactose free milk.  Unfortunately, the LF milk coincided with a bout of stomach flu, so I thought he had a very bad reaction to the LF milk.  Then, a few days of high fever.  We were all struggling with a very bad lack of sleep.  His pediatrician was upset that I let him try anything but formula and gave me a bunch of other formulas to try.  One of them didn't cause him tummy/diaper problems, so we've stuck with it.  I'm hoping to start introducing lactose free milk again because that formula is expensive!  But, it has been worth the return, or almost return, to sanity and sleep.  Now that he's drinking formula, he is a mostly happy baby!  In the first few weeks of April, he lost several pounds, but he's chunking up again.  He's still a little tyke compared to other babies his age, but so much better now!

Here are some pics of the Mckayster!

 

Not too impressed with his birthday brownie. 

 Loves to unload the dishwasher, especially when it's being loaded.

 Birthday boy!

Loves his brother :)

 Quick bath in the sink.  No brothers to bug him!

 At the children's museum for Nate's birthday

 I can do it!

 More birthday brownie....

 

Loves balloons!

And a silly picture of the boys.  The sun was so bright, so we told them to close their eyes until we said 1-2-3!  We got about 10 pictures of different anguished, "the sun is too bright" expressions.  Pretty cute kiddos!