Favorite-Things-Phone-Dump Friday

Happy Valentines Day!

This has been a busy week.  Nothing super new has been happening with the girls- Maya is becoming and awesome player and grabber of all the things.  Callie is still a good pooper (hooray!) and taker of all the things that Maya wants to grab.  So sibling revelry is slowly but surely going to be turning into sibling rivalry very soon, I have a feeling.

On to the pictures...



Favorite Thing #1: Maya at Boom's house

Favorite Thing #2: Valentines party at preschool (and all the Valentine goodies at home!)

Favorite Thing #3: G-ma and G-pa's house and Como Conservatory with G-ma

Favorite Thing #4: Playing and bath time

Favorite Thing #5: Valentines gifts for the girls

Favorite Thing #6: Valentine's Day at Boom's house

Favorite Thing #7: Valentine's dinner

And finally, my most favorite thing are the professional pictures we got taken last weekend.  I'll post them all tomorrow, but here is a sneak peak.

Favorite Thing #8: My Funny Valentines

I'll leave you with a Callie QOTD from tonight.

Callie: I'm so excited that tomorrow is Valentine's Day!
Me: Well, today is Valentine's Day, not tomorrow.
Callie: But we're going to love each other a lot tomorrow too, so tomorrow is Valentine's Day too!

TOTALLY.  Love all around!

TBT

Throwbacks are getting harder.  Part of the reason is because I'm finding it hard with the polar opposite seasons I'm dealing with.  It was summer time when Callie was Maya's current age.  All of our pictures are of us frolicking outside, swimming, and generally being warm. 

All the pictures we have of Maya are of her inside and trying to stay cozy.

There are not a lot of easy comparisons to do.  So I decided to just do total opposites for this week's TBT.

Sitting on furniture: Tank Top vs. Cardigan

Keeping busy: Outdoor Pool vs. Indoor Basement

Baby wearing: Walk to the park vs. Walk around the house

The Gosselin Olympics

It was WAY BACK in the summer of 2012 that we started potty training. 

In case you're trying to do the math in your head, that is WELL over a year and a half ago.

It was also right during the Summer Olympics.

And I posted this post, giving out gold medals for the potty training process.

If you have a second, go back and read it.  And then come back.  And laugh.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA.  Did you see that I thought I'd be done in 13 days?!?!? 

HAHAHAHAHAHAHA.  I was so sweet and naïve back then.  With such high hopes, dreams, and aspirations.  Little did I know at that point, that it would take until the next WINTER Olympics for potty training to be more or less accomplished.  (HOORAY!)

Since it is the Olympics again, I have another round of medals to hand out...not necessarily for potty stuff, just for life in general.

The gold medal for the AWESOMEST INDEPENDENT DRESSER goes to...

CALLIE JOY!!!!

The gold medal for the BEST MAD FACE goes to...

MAYA LEIGH!!!!

The gold medal for the BIGGEST KID WHO STILL WANTS TO SIT IN A HIGH CHAIR goes to...

CALLIE JOY!!!

The gold medal for the MOST FLEXIBLE FOOT GRABBER/EATER goes to...

MAYA LEIGH!!!!!

The gold medal for the BEST PILLOW FOR A 4-YEAR-OLD goes to...

 

It's a tie between Daddy and Kona's butt!!!!

The gold medal for the BEST CHEEKS goes to...

MAYA LEIGH!!!!

The gold medal for the MOST ADORABLE SCHOOL PICTURES goes to...

CALLIE JOY!!!!

The gold medal for the BABY MOST LIKELY TO GAG HERSELF ON HER OWN TOYS goes to...

MAYA LEIGH!!!!

The gold medal for BIGGEST SNOW BUNNY goes to...

CALLIE JOY!!!!

The gold medal for the BEST BABY SMILE goes to...

MAYA LEIGH!!!!

And, finally, the gold medal for the MOST AMAZING SISTERS EVER goes to...

CALLIE JOY and MAYA LEIGH!!!!!!

Weekend Wrap-Up: The Exciting News Edition!!

Happy Sunday everybody!
First off, we have some exciting news in the Henderson family.  Callie and Maya are going to be getting another uncle, and we're going to be getting a brother-in-law!  Craig and Auntie Yoda were in Arizona over the weekend got engaged!!!!  We love Craig and can't wait for him to officially be part of our family.  Callie immediately asked if they were going to have a kid.  So she obviously wants some cousins, but we'll give them some time for that one...ha!  Congrats you two!!!

Our weekend wasn't nearly as exciting as theirs, but we managed to have some fun moments. 

Saturday

Callie slept over at G-ma and G-pa's house Friday night and had a fun time swimming and eating gluten-free pizza...and then had a relaxing morning.

Later on in the morning we went to have family pictures taken.  I got a groupon for the j.c.penny's portrait studio, and the pictures turned out GREAT!  We get to pick them up in a week and I can't wait.  We celebrated with an ice cream trip.  We have cut down on the sugar intake a lot the past couple of weeks, so we decided to splurge a little.

Saturday night Maya, Mari and I went to visit Great-Grandma Gi-Gi!  We had fun playing and watching the Olympics.

Sunday

We played at home a lot today.  Callie is hilarious when she does imaginative play, because she narrates what she is doing using third person (e.g. "She ran across the room and tackled Daddy!" or "She grabbed the princess and walked over to the boat.").  It is pretty funny.

Tonight we went over to G-ma and G-pa's house for dinner with them, Uncle Dan, Auntie Cat, Nana and Papa.  There was more playing and fun and Olympics watching.

Maya had an AMAZING night on Friday night.  She went down at 7pm, didn't wake up until 4:20am, ate quickly and went right back down until 6:45am.

Last night was a completely different story...but Friday night's experience gives us hope that there is a possibility of regular sleep sometime in the future. 

Hope everyone had a great weekend!  Happy Olympics!

Favorite-Things-Phone-Dump Friday

Happy Friday!  Happy Olympics!  Chris is on reserve duty, Callie is at G-ma and G-pa's house for a sleepover and Maya is asleep (for now).  I'm drinking wine and watching the Olympics coverage.  It is kind of great.  A little me time.

This week has been busy but awesome.  Sleep is still hit or miss, but we're just getting used to that.  Maya is sitting up and playing and is SO MUCH FUN.  I just adore this stage.  She giggles and interacts and says "mum mum mum mum" all the time.  SO fun.

And Callie?  I can't even describe how much better things have been...YAY FOR GLUTEN FREE!  The poop situation is pretty much resolved, and we haven't dealt with a major melt down or blow up for over a week.  She still likes to test limits and has her own agenda at times, but she is so much more pleasant and fun to be around.  So we're going to stick with the gluten-free thing for awhile.  It really hasn't been too hard, and it is totally worth it at this point.  So thanks for the idea, Dr. Stewart!

On to my favorite things...

Favorite Thing #1: Monday off- lots of laundry folded and a yummy lunch.

Favorite Thing #2: Maya at Boom's house

Favorite Thing #3: Seeing Callie at preschool- with her friend Tanner

Favorite Thing #4: Baby cheeks

 

Favorite Thing #5: These girls

Favorite Thing #6: Babies playing- Sylvie and Maya

Favorite Thing #7: A baby who didn't want to go to bed

Favorite Thing #8: Playing at Pa's

Favorite Thing #9: Getting their veggies- avocado and spinach in a smoothie
and carrots!

 

Favorite Thing #10: Boom went on a preschool field trip to Children's Theater

Favorite Thing #11: Playing at G-ma's house

Favorite Thing #12: Playing at Boom's house

Favorite Thing #13: Random stuff
Some days you just need to wear a baby to make everyone feel better

Have a great weekend!

TBT

Once again it seems that the weeks are flying by.  These throwbacks are coming fast and furious and I can barely keep up.  But I have 3 good ones this week.

Playing with the toy kitchen, that used to be MY toy kitchen.

Kuhlman friends:
Calvin and Callie- 4 weeks apart
Sylvie and Maya- 2 weeks apart

We love the flower towel!

I want to send a shout-out to Chris' cousin Devyn and his wife Jenilee on the arrival of their little girl Violet. Family gatherings are going to be even more fun! There are now 3 girls around the same age- Maya, born this summer, Piperlee, born this fall, and now Violet, born this winter! Congrats!

Nursing

I haven't really talked too much about my breast feeding experience on here, yet, but now it is time.

I have been lucky in the fact that I was able to nurse Callie for 8 months (before she weaned herself), and have been able to nurse Maya for six months (so far).

From what I remember, I never had any problems when nursing Callie.  Everything worked well and she got it quickly and then just stopped on her own because the world was too exciting to waste time eating like that.  The only problem came when my milk supply lessened because of going back to work and pumping.  We started supplementing with formula a little bit and everything was fine.  She still nursed, took a bottle, and it didn't seem to matter to her which one she got until she was 8-months-old.

It has been a slightly different story with Maya.  At first it went pretty easily (after the first few days), but it got a whole lot harder after I went back to work.  First, she refused the bottles.  Then after she figured out the bottles (and how easy they were for her compared to nursing), it has been a struggle on and off for months.  My milk supply has definitely decreased, and there are times that it takes a long time for my milk to "let down."  It never comes immediately like milk in the bottles does.  And if that is the case, she screams, then I get tense, and it kind of turns into a vicious cycle.

Lots of screaming.  Lots of frustration. 

So we are supplementing more and more with formula.  I'm still pumping at work, but I can't pump enough to cover what she eats in a day.  And I don't have the time and energy to pump nonstop at home.  I still have about 10 bags of breast milk in the freezer that I had pumped on maternity leave, but I go through about 2 bags a week in addition to what I'm pumping at work.  So I have about one more month that she'll be able to have bottles with equal amounts of breast milk and formula, and then it will be less breast milk and more formula.

I don't really have anything more to say about it besides I'm trying not to feel guilty about wanting to be done.  It isn't a "magical" experience that some people make it out to be (or that I think it should be in my mind), and that makes me feel guilty too.

I will definitely keep trying to nurse, but when it is 1:30am and she is screaming...well...I'm also going to have a bottle on hand, just in case.  And not feel too guilty about it.

Even a mom of a 6-month-old has got to get her beauty rest.  Or, as I should really call it, let's-try-to-at-least-lighten-the-dark-circles-under-her-eyes rest.