Spring is finally here in Illinois! Actually, it feels more like summer. The weather changed drastically in about a two 1/2 week period from very cold (freezing) to warm, shorts-wearing, running the a/c weather. The kids are in heaven. Cameron and Carson have really enjoyed being able to play outside, although, Cameron made an announcement this morning that he is refusing to wear shorts. Rylee and Jordan were so excited to be able to start wearing shorts to school and no coat, but Cameron, sweet Cameron, is only wearing long pants and taking his coat EVERY DAY! to school. I have no idea why! Almost daily, Carson tells me, "I want to go to the park, mommy!" and then she proceeds to repeat herself about 100 times through out the day. So some days we make it to the park and some days we don't. It's just not good enough for her to tell me something once, twice or even three times. She feels that it hasn't been said enough unless I hear it at least 25 times. Did I mention that I have a 2 1/2 year old that I love dearly? Sometimes, I think she is going to send me to the nut house.
Morgan
Morgan is growing up so fast! He is such a special little spirit. I can't believe he is five months old now! He giggles and laughs and loves to interact with the kids. He lights up whenever I walk in the room. It just makes my day! He has always been observant of everything around him. I was starting to feel guilty whenever we would eat, because he would watch us with great interest. He reminds me very much of my nephew, Alex, because he was the same way as a baby. For the most part, he has been a very happy baby.
About three weeks ago, I noticed that he was eating his 8-oz bottles more often during the day, sometimes wanting one every 2 1/2 hours, so we started feeding him food. I had tried a couple of times before to feed him cereal, but he wasn't really interested. The first day, we tried the cereal again and he ate it all up. Then the next day, I started some baby food and he hasn't looked back since. He eats about 2 jars in the morning and 2 jars in the evening. I'm going to start feeding him at lunch time soon. Thus far, he has enjoyed all the different types of vegetables and fruits with one exception - he doesn't like green beans. Since introducing fruit, he isn't as keen on the cereal anymore. Other than that, he seems to love everything else. His favorites are applesauce, bananas, sweet potatoes and squash.
This is so different for me since Carson was a terrible eater. She never did like fruits, no matter how many times we gave them to her. I think she did end up liking the blueberry delight stuff towards the end but she refused to eat applesauce, bananas, peaches, pears, etc. She loved the vegetables though so we would have sweet potatoes and squash for breakfast A LOT!
Morgan is working on sitting up and rolling over. Whenever he is laid down, he pulls his shoulders up and wants to sit up so badly. He sits up well in his high chair and whenever he is in the big chair or on the floor with me, but still cannot do it unassisted. He rolled over once from his stomach to his back, while he was laying on the couch because he could use the back of the couch as leverage. He really doesn't like to be on his stomach so tummy time doesn't last long and can sometimes be very traumatic. When I do lay him on his tummy, he immediately pulls his legs under his belly and then tries to roll over but usually his arm gets in the way. It's just a matter of time.
Carson
Oh, so many stories to tell and so little space. My little 2 1/2 year old is either the light of my life or on my last nerve. She loves to say "Hi Mommy" and gives kisses freely and often. If I walk out of the room or she hasn't seen me for several hours, the greeting is always the same and so welcoming, "HI MOMMY" like I'm the neatest person in the whole world and she missed me so much! She is starting to connect and link things, like a picture of a fox might be "Swiper" from Dora and a pineapple is, of course, Spongebob's house. She is talking like crazy about everything. The other day she kept asking for a "pickle" and I don't ever remember her eating pickles so I couldn't understand what she was asking. We finally realized she wanted a "popsicle"... Then she was happy.
She loves to count! Right now as I'm typing this, she is walking around the room counting, "One, two, three, four, five six, one, two, three, four, five, six..." On her own, she can count to 12 and with assistance she can get to 20 or 25 whatever she feels like. She also has started to pretend. She will ask for a baby wipe and then she will crunch it up and ask, "Mom, is this Patrick?" "Is this Cameron?" "Is this a square?" Is this ....?" It's pretty funny. Besides counting, she loves to name all the people she knows, "Mommy, Daddy, Jordan, Rylee, Cameron, Morgan, Aunt Ashley, Dave, Haley, Addison, Parker, Anna, Becca, Sarah, etc." It's pretty funny. She is very cognizant of the fact that everyone has a name and loves to repeat them after we tell her what someone's name is.
Last week, I decided it was time to get Carson and Morgan's picture taken together. So last Tuesday, we spent all morning getting ready, doing laundry, bathing kids, picking out outfits, doing hair, getting ready to go into Springfield. I even had a talk with Carson about behaving for the pictures and that she would get to hold Morgan since the two previous times I've tried to get pictures of her, she has pretty much refused. Well, we finally arrived at Target after a long morning. It takes me at least 25 minutes just to drive into Target and that doesn't include getting the kids situated in the stroller to go into the building, and proceed to the back of the building. As soon as we arrive at the picture area, Carson starts to freak out. So we decide to take Morgan's pictures first and of course he is very cooperative, giggley, smiley, cute as always. Now we try with Carson, and the fit gets worse and the tears are flowing freely, with her face turning bright red as she is screaming at the top of her lungs, "NO, No, No" She wouldn't acquiese to any of our demands, bribes, etc. By this point, I just wanted to crawl under the table and pretend I wasn't the mother. So I finally gave up and asked if we could come back later in the day. The sweet lady who works there set us up for another appt later in the day when Bryan could come with us. Then we went straight home, no food, no treats nothing. She was NOT happy and I was SO ticked off! I couldn't believe I had basically wasted my morning just so she could throw such a fit in public. I think that was one moment I wondered what I had gotten myself into being the mother of a 2 1/2 year old and a 5 month old baby! Anyway, we went home, had a nap, ate some lunch and I prayed all afternoon that she would just cooperate for at least one picture of the two of them. We trekked back into Target in the early evening and I kept telling her that we were going to take the pictures again. Bryan was a little bit late and I was worried she wouldn't cooperate with me but she did fine. In fact, by the time he got there she started whining and didn't want to take any more pictures so we were lucky we got them in. Yes, I'll send them out to everyone once they come back. We even got one from earlier in the day with Morgan grinning from ear to ear and Carson screaming with a red and teary face. Gotta scrapbook it!
Well, I better get back to the kids... And of course, there will be lots more stories to share next time.
