Tooth #8 came out yesterday so he has 4 on the bottom and 4 on the top, it's nice that he is growing them so evenly :) I checked Kacey's baby book and she didn't get #7 until 10.5 months and #8 the day after her 11 month birthday. Interesting comparison!

Just for fun, here are some pics of David and his girlfriend!

Yesterday was the end of the semester at gym class. Everyone was invited to see the kids show off their skills. Kacey was in prime form with daddy, Nana and GG there!!! She got on and walked on the balance beam by herself, did all sorts of somersaults and donkey kicks, she did a monkey walk on the uneven bars, flips on the other bars and listened to Miss Arpee and did what she was told to do. So much fun!!! I love this class!

I have written many times before about Kacey not wanting to leave my side in class, playdates, strangers houses, etc. Class is the most frustrating for me. We are supposed to separate and a few moms watch all the kids play while the rest go in for a discussion time. If the kids don't want to separate that is ok but they need to sit on mom's lap and be quiet during discussion. It is hoped that they will get bored enough to want to go out and play. That never worked for Kacey. Week in and week out she sat on my lap. ARGH! The teacher reassured me she would eventually want to go and play and predicted most kids would change after the Winter break.

Boy was she right!!! Last week when discussion time was about to start I asked Kacey if she wanted to go play and she said yes. I let her know where I would be and she ran off to go look for Taline, I didn't see her again until the end of class. Such a night and day change!!!

An even bigger surprise was yesterday. Every Monday I go to a baby class with David. My mom would leave work early to be with Kacey but tax season is starting and she can't leave any more. Yesterday was the first day back to school after winter break and I had "hired" a babysitter "K". A lovely high school girl that came recommended. She came over a couple of weeks ago to meet Kacey and it was a bad day for Kacey. She woke up from nap in a mood and spent the next half hour ignoring "K". She wouldn't even look at her!!! I was worried about what would happen and got even more worried when Kacey decided to make yesterday a non nap day. My original plan was to leave class early and get home before Kacey woke up from nap and then just hang out with "K" still here. Plans foiled by non-napping! ARGH!

So about 10 minutes before "K" was to get her I let Kacey get up and we talked about her coming over. I told her "K" was going to paint her nails and play legos and they could go outside, etc. I also talked about how I would be leaving and going to David's class. She seemed ok with all of it. When "K" got here she immediately took to her and grabbed the nail polishes and started painting. I barely got a hug and kiss goodbye from her!

All through class I kept my phone in my pocket but "K" never called. When I got home Kacey barely acknowledged I was there. They had painted nails, played doctor with a stuffed puppy, played with legos and just had a wonderful time. Kacey did not want "K" to leave. It was all a huge success!!!! This would definitely not have gone over this well 2 months ago. It just goes to show how much they keep changing. It's constantly amazing me.

Just cuteness!!


The other day we met Jamie at work and went to lunch at the park. Jamie was eating an apple and David kept trying to grab it. Finally Jamie let him have it and this is what happened!

Had a great time... blah blah blah... saw snow, ate food, relaxed, enjoyed myself etc.

I could write about the great time we had but I can't remember much of it. It was eclipsed by one amazing, terrific experience!!!! Alex's husband Garo loves board games. He REALLY wanted to play Puerto Rico but there wasn't any time Saturday night. Alex loves her husband a ton and therefore offered to watch ALL SIX KIDS!!! on Sunday afternoon for as long as it took the rest of us to play the game with him. Without a second of hesitation I said of course!!! and so did everyone else.

It took Garo about an hour to explain it and get us started and the whole game took about 4 hours but we had a great time and really enjoyed the game (doesn't hurt that I won!) Alex kept all the kids downstairs in the rec room and not only did she keep them alive but she kept them happy. There was rarely a scream or cry and hardly ever did they come upstairs. At one point I took David to nurse him and lay him down for a nap and I know Alex had Lorelei down for a nap for a bit too but other than that she handled it all. I LOVED it!! An afternoon of just talking to adults and playing a game and not worrying about how late it was because I need to go to bed. It was wonderful!!! Thank you Alex for giving me the gift of a fantastic afternoon!!!!

and tooth# 7 came in!! Now he has 3 on top and the 4th looks like it will be in the next week. I bet he's gonna have all his teeth by 13 months like Kacey did.

Kacey holding David's snack cup: "I want some mama."
Me: "Not now Kacey, we are on the way to your dentist and we just brushed your teeth."
Kacey: " I have an idea! I not eat one, I will hide it in my mouth!"

We were driving home from lunch today and Kacey almost fell asleep. I kept her awake and got us home, thinking "YAY! She will nap today!" I hurried her into her room, read her book and left with high hopes. Here it is 2 hours later and she is still WIDE awake. This is the second day in a row. Should I start panicking now? Or should I just be happy she stays in her room playing quietly during quiet time?

Here is a little video of what happened last night as a result of no nap. She and David were having a swell time in the bath. My mom tried to wash her hair, she wanted to squeeze the bottle but squeezed shampoo all over so my mom took it away and she FLIPPED OUT!!! Would not calm down, this scared David and he FLIPPED OUT. My mom and I had to laugh at the ridiculousness of it all and I had the presence of mind to grab the camera to humiliate my children when they are much older. (No children were harmed in the making of this video and David was removed from this situation as soon as I stopped recording.) I did finally get Kacey to calm down by getting her to look at me and breathe. And yes, we did get her hair washed. :)

I have had a nagging feeling over the past week or so to take a pregnancy test. I have been STARVING all the time and quite gassy which was my #1 symptom early on with Kacey and David. We aren't trying to get pregnant but we aren't really preventing either. I think we both want a third in theory but not right now. We both would be very happy with a positive test but we both had a sigh of relief last night with the negative test. Weird thing is that I was a bit disappointed, like I had failed again even though we aren't trying. I just associate negative pg tests as a big fat failure and after all this time and 2 babies I still get that feeling. Weird I tell ya, weird.

* He will be sitting and lean on his left hand. He then lifts his right side a bit and pivots. It's very purposeful to get something. We used to put him on the floor with a pillow behind him in case he fell back but that is pointless now.

* He is eating a yogurt in the morning and 2 jars of food for lunch and again for dinner. Sometimes I think he could even eat more than this. I have tried giving him food with pureed chicken in it and he gets the most disgusted face! Won't touch it!

* He is getting very grabby and will go for anything within reach now. He is starting to whine if you take something from him.

* He LOVES bathtime. Last night I had the water running, tub filling. I went and got him and walked into the bathroom. He saw the water and SQUEALED with delight and started giggling.

* He loved Arrowhead and all the attention. He can just sit and watch older kids for quite a while. He does this at Kacey's gym class. I just sit him off to the side and he sits for the entire hour watching. I don't know what I will do with him once he starts crawling though.

* Tooth #7 is struggling to get out, any day now.

* He isn't crawling yet but he will now roll all over the floor. He hasn't quite figured out how to direct his rolling to purposefully go after something but he seems pretty close.

Over the weekend we went to Lake Arrowhead (more about the weekend in a different post!) Kacey slept on a toddler mattress in our room and did very well with it. She woke up once around 3am whining that her eye hurt. She was poking it so I told her to stop and offered her some water. She drank it and I asked if she was all better and she looked at me with a bewildered look, pointed to my bed and said "Go to bed mommy." I went to bed and saw that she fell right back asleep.

Sunday night we were home and about an hour after she went to bed she woke up crying. I went in there and she wanted different jammies on (I think what she was wearing may have been too hot.) We changed her jammies, I gave her some water and asked if she was all better. Again she pointed to the door and said "Go out mommy." I watched her on the monitor, she just rolled over and went back to sleep.

So should I be annoyed that she is dismissing me like a servant or happy that she is going back to sleep so easily? I choose happy :)

is officially out! His Top Right. Chomp, chomp, chomp!

We were at the park yesterday and poor David was getting bored sitting in the stroller watching all the kids play. It finally donned on me that he could ride in the swing!!! So I put him in and he lit up! He loved it! Kacey saw and came over to push him and had a lot of fun too. She got bonked in the head a few times but she was a good sport about it.

I like this one, it looks like he has a death grip!

We haven't been to the Aquarium in ages! Our annual pass had even expired. Toward the end of the pregnancy and then during the infant time with David, I just didn't want to do something like that. Well Alex mentioned it the other day and I jumped on it. The girls are playing so well together now and David is really happy rolling around in the stroller so I thought it would be fun. And it was!!!!!

The girls oohed and ahhd the fish as they shared snacks...
Lorelei and David just hung out and watched. Not sure if they enjoyed the fish or Kacey and Taline more!Hugs!!
Kacey made friends with this turtle and did not want to leave him.
They got to pet stingrays! (Something about this pic of Alex that I really like. She looks so mommyish!)

And at the very end the girls left holding hands the whole way out. (Until they ran into the gift shop and started grabbing things then we had to separate them!)

Last night, Kacey got her horsey backpack and filled it with her underwear. She then told me she ran out of room and needed another backpack so I got her froggy one for her. She filled that one with underwear. She then put on the horsey backback and pulled the froggy out to the living room and told me she was leaving. She was going on a plane to see Nana Rie and Babu in Flo-wida. I guess all you really NEED for a trip to Flo-wida is the backpacks filled with underwear!

A little later she arranged her two little table chairs in a row and told us to get on board the train! It was going to Flo-wida to see Nana Rie and Babu (I guess the plane never made it?) It was very cute as she sat there saying "All aboard!!!! Come on Mama!! Come on Nana!! Come on David!!! We going to Flo-wida!!!!"

He is just sooooooo darn cute!!!


Forgive me but I dressed them alike today and Kacey was in an unusually cooperative mood. She posed with David and I even got her to hug and kiss him!!!

On Christmas night, Kacey woke up at 4am. Jamie didn't realize it was 4 so he started to turn on the tv and get her chocolate milk. He then realized the time and tried to put her back to bed. She was having none of it so he just brought her to our bed and she actually fell back asleep. I, however, did not.

I ended up being sick as a dog and having Kacey next to me, wiggling and taking up space did not help. I ran a fever later that day and whined to Jamie to please never bring her back into our bed again. That night and almost every night for the next couple of weeks she started to wake up in the middle of the night. Most of the time she would scream and cry that she wanted to be in our bed. It was awful.

Sometimes David would wake up, sometimes he wouldn't. On the worst night, between the two of them, we (mainly Jamie) got up a total of 10 or so times. Anger ensued and nighttime became a dreaded time. We never let Kacey back into our bed but she kept asking.

Thursday night Kacey woke up screaming bloody murder around 3am. Jamie tried to calm her but she was hysterical, she wanted in our bed and nothing would calm her down. Jamie was about to lose it and had to work the next day so I took over. I eventually got her back in her bed, fetched her water, rocked her in the rocking chair, fetched her chapstick, etc. After about 20 or so minutes she was in bed. I climbed in bed and 5 minutes later she was at Jamie's side again trying to get in bed. More screaming and crying and back in her bed she went. 5 minutes later, she's by my side of the bed. My turn to scream "Get back in your room!!!" She slinked away only to return a minute later and she actually climbed up on the foot of the bed. I screamed again "GET BACK IN YOUR BED NOW!!!!!!!" Hysterical screaming and she went back to her room, slammed the door and cried for 20 minutes before finally falling asleep. The entire ordeal took an hour. Miraculously David slept through it all.

On Friday morning, Jamie and I talked. We agreed that we had had it with the nighttime wakings. We were done. No more fear of her waking up David, she was going to stay in her bed no matter what and scream all night if she had to, we would deal with David if he woke.

Friday night, Kacey and I had a talk at bedtime. I told her very clearly and in a very stearn voice that she was not to get out of bed until she saw the light in the living room (it's on a timer and goes on at 6am, in addition to waking in the middle of the night she has been getting up for the day between 5:20 and 5:40.) Big girls stay in their own beds and sleep all night long. She said ok and went to bed without issue.

Sometime in the middle of the night I heard one little cry out of her and that was it. At 5:20 she woke up screaming "Mama!!! Dada!!!" I watched her in the monitor as she sat in her bed crying and screaming. She then got up and opened her door. She stood there for a minute as if trying to figure out what to do. She then started wailing again, closed the door and just stood there crying at the door. I kept panning the monitor between her and David and he kept sleeping. After a few minutes she opened the door again, cried "Mama!! Dada!!!", shut it and went to her bed. We debated getting her since it wasn't the middle of the night but agreed to wait until the living room light went on. David was still asleep so we had nothing to lose. After about 15 minutes of crying she finally laid down in her bed and pulled the covers up and quieted down. I kept checking on her and she stayed awake, she was fidgeting but she didn't cry again.

At 6am the light went on and we expected her to come running. She must not have noticed though!! At 6:20, she got out of bed, opened her door and went running into the living room. I'm not sure what she was thinking but she then went back to her room and slammed the door shut! After a minute or so she came out again and we called out to her that she could come into our room. I turned my light on and she came in beaming. We made a big deal of telling her how proud we were that she stayed in her bed all night like a big girl and she made a big deal of telling us that she came out when the light was on. "It's morning! Time to wake up!!", she told us.

My heart was so proud it almost burst. I couldn't believe she had really paid attention to our talk and that it worked. On Saturday night, we had a shorter version of the talk and we didn't hear a peep all night, she even slept in until 6:20. BTW, she hadn't gone to bed later or anything, in fact she fell asleep earlier than she had been. She had been having trouble falling asleep and was restless in bed until 9pm most nights. On Saturday night she was sound asleep by 8pm. I do believe that with kids sleep begets more sleep.

Best part of all this, since David has basically been sleeping through the night for a couple of months now, I was able to get an amazing night of sleep. Hopefully tonight will be the same!

Oliver in the middle is 15ish months, Jared on the right is a year in 3 weeks and there sits David on the left at 7.5 months and he fits right in!

... and I relaxed......

What I need to write more? Well... Jamie went away for 3 days to go skiing in Mammoth (I encouraged him and he tried his darndest to get me to go so I can't poor me too much.) Anyways, when he was getting ready to leave I was hacking up a lung from this darn cough I can't shake. He felt really bad and said we could do anything I wanted on Weds and Thurs when he got back. I laughed and said I wanted a massage. He very seriously told me I could get one. Well before he changed his mind I emailed a couple of friends and one took the bait, unfortunately she couldn't go til the weekend so tomorrow it is!!! Well I still had Weds and Thurs available so I contacted my friend Julia and invited myself and David to her house for the night. She loved the idea and offered to take Wednesday off work. So Jamie came home and I left. David and I made the 2 hour drive, he slept while I enjoyed the solitude.

Julia lives in Lompoc which is near Solvang. We decided to meet there for lunch first and it was lovely. David sat in a high chair and Julia and I chatted and chatted and chatted! We then walked around and David got to pose in a big wooden shoe (if you are not familiar with Solvang, it is a Dutch town with all sorts of Dutch stuff such as big wooden shoes to pose your kids in so you can make fun of them in front of potential mates later in life.)


We then went back to Julia's where we chatted some more and blissfully watched tv without any 2.5 year olds interrupting. It was wonderful. I drove back home on Thursday and life went back to normal.

Jamie sent me these pics from his day with Kacey. Nothing says Los Angeles like a day in the snow! (For you locals, this is up Big Tujunga Cyn, follow the signs to Newcombs Ranch)






I did alot of thinking on the trip. I have been losing my patience with Kacey later and needed a break. I was trying to pinpoint why I needed a break so badly from a 2.5 year old and I figured it out. It's not Kacey and it's not that she is 2.5. It's just that she is there. If I were around ANYONE for 10-12 hours a day, having to converse with them the entire time (except during precious quiet time), discipline them, play with them, etc. I would need a break. So it's not my most precious girl in the world it's just life and I love it and I love her and I just need to accept that I am human and need a break every now and then. Thank goodness I have the most wonderful husband in the world that knows all that!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!! 31 weeks, wow, time flies! Other big news for David came earlier this week. He stopped sleeping through the night on Sunday and I suspected a tooth. By Tuesday you could feel the top left wanting to come through and on Wednesday actual tooth was popping out. Later that day I was feeding him and noticed white down on the sides of his bottom teeth and low and behold... two MORE teeth!!! One on each side of his already there bottom teeth. No wonder the little guy wasn't sleeping, three teeth all at once, I wouldn't sleep either.... oh that's right. I didn't.
Cute pic of daddy with David
The other day Jamie had rocked David in the rocking chair and then laid him in the crib. He then jumped in the shower. I heard a noise and checked the monitor and saw David wiggling around clearly awake. I watched him for a few minutes and he rolled over and started grabbing little toys. After a couple minutes he stopped moving and fell asleep. First time he has ever been asleep on his tummy, I just had to take a picture!!! Is there anything cuter than a sleeping baby in footie pj's?