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| Living the American Dream...2 kids and a minvan :) |
Well, it’s
official…I’m a minivan mom now!! Brian
and I are proud owners of a 2012 Honda Odyssey! It’s funny to think about how 2 years ago I
laughed at minivan drivers, but since having 2 kids I truly realized that we
had outgrown my Accord and needed a minivan.
Brian and I considered an SUV but to be honest most of them were too big
for me to drive but not roomy enough in the 3rd row, and too high
off of the ground for the kids to get into the car easily unlike the minivan
which is roomy, seats 8, is low enough for the kids to get in and out easily,
and most of all because of those automatic doors (the primary reason that
persuaded me)! We are a small family now
but are growing by the day and a minivan is literally made for families like
ours.
I have to admit
that I had a bit of a crisis just prior to actually buying the minivan because
of what this life-changing action would mean.
I still think of myself as young since I’m only 29 years old (for the
next month and a half at least), but I do have 2 kids now and this car just
reflects more on my family-oriented lifestyle than my age. It also helps that we got a minivan with lots
of fun features – camera for when the van is in reverse (quickly becoming my
favorite features next to the automatic sliding doors), navigation system, a
hard-drive, Bluetooth to use with my phone, and a cool box. The cool features almost make the minivan “cool”
at least to me anyway. J
Brian has had a
harder time with the whole thing. Up
until a few months ago, he was completely and totally against the idea of
getting a minivan. I think after Blake
was born and once he talked to some minivan owners-friends he slowly came
around. The hardest part for him was
that he had to sell his GTI (the love of his car life) and now gets my Accord,
not the most exciting car. I went
through a similar mourning period when I traded my Mustang (the love of my car
life which I had owned since my 16th birthday – 11 years) for the
Accord when we started trying to get pregnant with Dominic 3 years ago. The 2 door cars are a lot of fun but just are
not practical when kids enter the picture…sliding doors are though. I guess this makes me officially a “Dunwoody
Housewife.” Now all I need is to put
Dominic on a soccer team and to pick up a Starbucks habit for the carpool line.
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| Check out that chipped tooth |
Now onto the
mishaps. Since I got pregnant with Dominic,
I’ve known that injuries were destined to be in my family’s future because of
how crazy boys are. This idea was
cemented in my mind between the time Dominic started to crawl and climb (and
fall) and getting pregnant with Blake (another boy). I just didn’t realize that the injuries would
happen all at once. As I mentioned in my
last entry, Dominic fell and chipped his tooth (mishap #1). We were able to go to the dentist the Monday
after it happened upon the dentist’s advice.
We took him to our dentist (a family dentistry) although we debated
taking him to the pediatric dentist. To
complicate matters, since Dominic is only 2 and isn’t recommended to go to the
dentist until he’s 3, we don’t have dental insurance for him so anything we do
for him is all out of pocket. Going to
the dentist went pretty well aside from the fact that Dominic wouldn’t open his
mouth much for the dentist. He lay on
Brian’s lap in the dental chair and watched TV.
Thank God for the TV that they have mounted on the wall in front of the
dental chair. Upon looking at the tooth,
the dentist said that it appeared okay at that point, but we should bring him
back in 6 weeks for an x-ray. By then if
the tooth is damaged, it should show up on the x-ray. That way they don’t repair the tooth now only
to have it pulled later. The tooth
doesn’t appear to be bothering Dominic anymore.
Hopefully, once the x-ray is done the dentist will bond the tooth, so it
looks like normal again.
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| Chillin' in the car seat |
Mishap #2 came
several days later when I took the boys to the playground for playgroup. As we were leaving, I loaded the boys into
the Sit n Stand stroller with Blake in the car seat carrier. Thank God he was strapped in ready for the
car because as I pushed them on some uneven grass, the carrier slid off of the
stroller and tumbled onto the ground rolling over with Blake in the seat. The whole thing happened in slow motion for
me and I felt like I was stuck in cement trying to get over to stop him but was
unable to get there fast enough. Blake
didn’t cry for several seconds but by the time I was unsnapping him he was very
upset. Upon examining him to make sure
he wasn’t injured, it looked like he was just scared – almost as scared as me
who was shaking and crying – because he never actually touched anything outside
of the car seat. One positive I took
from this terrifying experience was how safe the car seats keep these
kids.
The final
incident, Mishap #3, occurred 2 days later. I was getting ready to feed Blake
in the morning on the couch, so I sat him down next to me on the couch for just
a second. Dominic was hanging out around
us as well, and Brian was busy in his office trying to handle a server issue
before he left (late) for work. All of a
sudden, Blake flopped forward on the couch and fell onto the floor head first
before I could reach out and catch him.
Again, it took a second but he started crying worse than the previous
time and then of course Dominic started whining about something (for the life
of me I can’t remember what) at the same time.
Blake ended up calming down once I started feeding him, but once again I
was left completely terrified and shaking in fear. What a horrible week for these mishaps it
was!
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| Blake - 6 months old (and single)! |
All was not bad
though! Blake had his half
birthday. He’s now 6 months old!! I know I always say this, but honestly I feel
like he was just born and we fast-forwarded through the last 6 months. These kids just make time move at an overly rapid
rate. He continues to be the sweetest, chillest
baby. One day he didn’t even cry once
for the entire day. He’s doing an
amazing job sitting up now. I can
actually walk away and not worry that he’s going to topple over although there
are still a few accidents here and there.
Blake's back to sleeping well (on his tummy mostly and face down which
scares me to death seeing that on the video monitor). Now that he’s sleeping on his stomach though,
he’s been wetting the bed quite a few times which wakes him up earlier in the
morning (like 7:30am instead of 8:15).
Putting him in a size bigger diaper (size 4) tends to help that. Even though we have many Size 2 diapers to left, he's way too big for them, so we're on to Size 3 for the Amazon Subscribe and Save. I guess the remaining Size 2's will go into storage for the next baby. Blake is in 9 to 12 month clothes now, forcing me to buy him an almost completely new wardrobe from Dominic's at this point since his 9 - 12 month clothes are all long sleeves and pants. Luckily, I love to shop for baby clothes (although Brian would say "unluckily").
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| Happily eating his first solids (oatmeal) and making a mess! |
Blake began eating
solids a couple of weeks ago. This has dramatically helped his reflux, one of the reasons we decided to start him at 5 1/2 months old rather than wait till 6 months. I started
giving him oatmeal cereal to begin with. I know most people
start with rice cereal, but since Blake gets constipated easily and rice tends
to make that problem worse, I opted to begin with oatmeal instead. This is also what I did with Dominic for the
same reason. Unfortunately, Blake became
constipated anyway, probably just because his body is used to breast milk and
the oatmeal threw his intestines for a loop. This is very common for breastfed babies, I
read.
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| Love this face :) |
I started him at breakfast time after his milk since he's some times still hungry afterward anyway. The first feedings, which I mixed formula with the oatmeal, he didn’t eat much, spitting a lot out, but by the
3rd day of feeding when I mixed breastmilk in the oatmeal, he ate much
better. Initially I was worried about wasting my
breastmilk since I know how much they waste the first few feedings, but
apparently Blake greatly prefers breastmilk oatmeal, but then again who
wouldn’t if you have ever tasted breastmilk and formula (seriously).
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| Looks like Blake had a fight with his sweet potatoes and the sweet potatoes won! |
The next week I
gave Blake sweet potatoes as his second food.
He’s not a huge fan yet, but I think it’s just him getting used to the
consistency and taste of anything other than breastmilk. The sweet potatoes took about 3 days to
really click with Blake taste-wise, but they definitely, as hoped, got things
“moving” as far as his diapers went. We’ve
had more blowouts in the last few days then Blake has had his entire life
before that solids. Not so much fun, but
then again better than him being fussy and uncomfortably constipated.
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| Our crazy 2 year old |
Meanwhile, Dominic
continues to be up and down with his behavior.
For the most part, the tantrums have decreased especially around the house. However, when we take him out in public, he
has tantrums much more easily. I’ve noticed
this is worse with the more people around there are (which makes it worse for
me as well). Other than behaviorally,
Dominic is doing wonderfully. With
school out, our activities have died down, so I’m making sure he gets outside
to burn some energy at least once a day. That helps out with
his behavior as well. Dominic loves playing
in the backyard on the play set, but we also like to go to different parks to
change things up a bit.
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| Juggling both boys in the pool, and nobody drowned |
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| Blake in the baby carrier. Interesting tan lines I'll be getting this summer. |
Now that it’s
officially summer, the pool is open, so we’re going there as much as we
can. I’ve been extremely worried about
how I would accomplish taking both boys to the pool myself, but I did it! I ordered a $15 baby carrier which I use in
the pool with Blake, leaving my arms free to help Dominic swim. If the carrier gets messed up by the water, I
can just buy another cheap one. It’s not
perfect, but it works, and it’s another fear involving handling both boys that I can check off my list.
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| Fun at the pool |
Now that I can
take the boys up to the pool, Dominic can practice his swimming with me
there. I’m so glad that I continued
working with Dominic on his swimming over the winter because he continues to be
comfortable with the water (almost too comfortable sometimes) and is improving
more and more. We were able to avoid
having to start over this summer like many kids do because they forget how to swim over the winter. Dominic jumps right in
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| Look at Dominic swim! |
My main objective is to get him to swim to the wall. He’s able to
pick his head up out of the water very well for someone his age, but to grab the wall requires a
lot of strength. I’m also trying to get
him to use his arms to pull more in the water, but he’s kicking very well and loves
going under the water, which is usually half the battle with kids learning to
swim. Dominic’s fish-like tendencies
have transferred from the pool – his favorite place right now - to home as his
favorite movie is now “Finding Nemo.” He
chants “Nemo” all of the time. I guess
Curious George is a thing of the past.
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| Dominic and Brian watching the train go by at Thrasher Park |
Dominic is saying
more and more and making me laugh more and more by the things he says. He repeats everything and makes me realize
that I say things that I didn’t even realize I say. The latest adjective he’s using is “Cool!” He also loves to ask where everyone and
everything is…”Train, where are you?” or, “Blake, where are you?” I love it!
Every noun is plural this week – dogs, cars, trains – even when there is
just 1 of them. I think he’s just exploring
the whole plural s. Dominic loves naming
the people in our family, just because like in his crib when he’s going to
sleep as I hear/see him doing on the video monitor – “Daddy, Mom-Mom (which is
what he typically calls me – another story for another day), Baby.” Then sometimes he adds, “Nonna, Papa,
(Grandpa) Jim, and dog” (Lacey my parents’ dog) to the list.
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| Playing together so well |
The other big news is now that Blake can sit up, he and Dominic have really started playing together more. Thankfully, Dominic has been very willing to share his toys with Blake. The only point of contention has been his Cozy Coupe with which there has been 2 incidents of meltdowns. Luckily, now Blake can use Dominic's "buggy" which has straps that are extremely useful anyway. Overall though, Dominic has been incredibly - and surprisingly - generous when I start giving Blake Dominic's toys to play with. Dominic seems to show Blake how to use the toys, and they both appear to enjoy the roles of teacher and student. I love watching them play together.
The first
week of summer was a lot of fun with the boys! I’m getting more efficient at the grocery store with both boys, making more successful trips there
(the faster the trip, the less likely it is that someone will have a
meltdown). The juggling is hard, but
every time I survive a task like taking both boys to the grocery store or the
pool, I feel a little more confident about my juggling/mommy skills. Having a slight tan from all of our outdoor
time and a new minivan to haul the boys around in doesn’t hurt either. J
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| Relaxing by the (inflatable) pool. Life is good! |
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