Kristen

So, clearly I'm not a good blogger.  I'm more of a facebook kind of girl. :-) I enjoy looking at other people's pictures, uploading my own albums, and adding an occasional status update of something fun we just did or something cute one of my kids just said.  But I have memories that I want to write down,so here are some more. :-)

Kristen recently turned 5, which more than anything else so far is starting to make me feel old.  She's just a little girl now... way past "toddler" and no longer acting like a "pre-schooler."  She knows and understands so much.  She's started reading, and I'm SO proud of her.  We've always made it a point to read to our kids, but Kristen especially- as the only child until she was almost 2 1/2, I would sit and read to her every afternoon, especially when I was way-pregnant with James and too hot and tired to do anything else.  Recently we've added chapter books, and Josh has read to her almost every night since he came home from his deployment (8 months ago!).  They have finished The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe, Prince Caspian, and they are currently on Book 9 of Little House on the Prairie.  We've read other books also, but every night before bedtime Josh will say, "Kristen, want to read a chapter?"  And she'll run and bring him whatever book they are reading.  It's one of my favorite things.

For Kristen's 4th birthday, among other things, I bought her Candy Land.  We played Candy Land 1 or 2 times daily after that for probably 4 months.  I would put James down for his nap at 12:30 and we would play until her nap time at 1.  I loved having special one on one time with her.

5 months!

(This is clearly old, but I never published it.)

Peter is 5 months old today! What a great baby. I just love him. :-)

He typically sleeps straight from 10pm-7am now! We put him to bed just after Kristen and James are in bed, then I feed him before we go to sleep, usually around 9:30, and put him right back down to sleep for the rest of the night. During the day he still sleeps between each feeding which is every three hours. (aiming for 7am, 10, 1pm, 4, 6:30, 9:30pm). His naps have been longer after the first feeding, and in the afternoon, and it's harder to get him to sleep in the early evening, but he'll usually fall asleep in the swing (where I put him so I can make dinner.)

It didn't come naturally to him to sleep through the night though! At 3 1/2 months, he was waking only once a night before we went to New Jersey. Travel to the east coast plus 5 time zones equals a mess, when it comes to babies anyway. We were there for 10 days and when we came home he was waking 2-3 times a night. Over the next ten days (before everyone came for Christmas), thankfully he got back to only once a night. Over New Year's Eve weekend, Josh had 4 days off, so we used that time to let Peter cry it out. The first night, I fed him at 10pm and put him down. Peter woke up around 2:30am and cried for an hour. Josh went in to comfort him, he settled, then started crying again. After 30 more minutes of crying, I fed him, then he went back to sleep. Night 2, he cried for an hour, Josh comforted him, he settled, then he cried a little more but went back to sleep without nursing. Night 3 he woke up and cried, but not like before, then went back to sleep. He still wakes sometimes at night and fusses, but goes back to sleep after a minute or two. He also wakes up early sometimes, like between 4-6am fussing, but goes back to sleep without nursing. He's in the pack n play in the office for now, until we think the boys won't wake each other up. The best night on record so far is sleeping from just before 9pm-7:25am. But that was only once. :-)

Peter is such a happy little guy. Chubby too. :-) If you smile at him, he will smile back. And he loves to laugh at Kristen and James. They are definitely the best at getting him to giggle. He loves to watch everything going on around. He can now roll over both ways (tummy to back by 4 months, back to tummy about a week ago). He can kind of sit up too, but it doesn't last super long. He leans way forward, then topples to the side. And when he's in his carseat, he totally tries to sit up all the time, leaning forward.

And when we were at the beach this afternoon, he decided to put sand in his face for the first time. He handled it really well though, which is good since I'm sure it won't be the last time.

Memories

Josh came home 5 months ago. Peter was born two days later. And life has been nonstop ever since!
Although, it was nonstop before that too, caring for 2 small children while super-pregnant with a deployed husband...
That's just our life. :-)

These are some things I want to remember about my kids.

Kristen and James both have active imaginations and love to play pretend. We went through a spell of 'Mary Poppins' - their favorite movie for a while. They would pretend to be Jane and Michael, so naturally Josh and I were Bert and Mary Poppins. (Marin Poppins if you asked James).
Now they love the movie 'Cars.' So we all pretend that Kristen is Lightning McQueen, "But you can just call me Lightning." James is Mater, "I'm a tow truck!" I'm Sally the sports car, and Josh is Mack. Peter, we decided is Guido. We all call him Guido now. Just because he's cute.


Something else I love about my kids... They both love to sing. Kristen always has, and now James does too. Is there anything sweeter than hearing a 2-year-old sing praise songs quietly to himself in the car?


Kristen has started reading! Mostly just short words with short-vowel sounds. We've worked through the Hooked on Phonics Learn to Read Kindergarten Level 1, which ended with a 24-page book Tim and Sam. And that has given her more confidence, I think. She has now read it to both sets of grandparents on Skype! She also knows a couple other sounds like oo and ee, and some consonant blends like "th" "ch" and "sh." When we're reading books together, Josh or I will occasionally point to a word on the page, or a chapter title, and have her sound it out. She's doing great. I'm so proud of her! Kristen is also a memorizer. She can read her own books aloud word for word.

Both Kristen and James will sit and 'read' books quietly all the time.
Kristen naps, though not every day, still quite a few days each week. On the days she doesn't, she has to rest in bed for 30 minutes, then read books quietly in her room for 30 more minutes. She may also play with her doll house or her new doll clothes quietly in her room instead.

James naps every day, for 1 1/2 hours up to 3 hours. If he takes a long nap though, he won't fall asleep that night until up to 8:30pm! His normal bedtime is 7-7:30. Kristen's bedtime is 7:30, and she's usually asleep right away. They both wake up around 6am-maybe 6:30.

Josh's Homecoming!

On August 20, 2011, Josh came home from his second deployment to Afghanistan. Here are two of the banners we made for him! There was another one that got hung at the squadron, but Josh ended up flying into HNL and we were able to go pick him up there!
Kristen and James were SO excited for Daddy to be coming home!
Since he was returning from a combat deployment, we were able to get special passes to meet him at the gate! He we are waiting for the plane to land.

There it is!

They both RAN to hug him. Kristen first, then James realized who it was and he ran too!
Here's Kristen telling Josh about the pictures she made for him that were waiting at home.

She loves her Daddy. :-)
James thinks it's pretty cool to be just like Daddy.
Family Photo. All Together again.
I will also add that it was an answered prayer that I wasn't holding our new baby in this picture! We met Peter together two days later, at one week past his 'due date.'

James's words at 26 months

James just came up to tell me about "Go-wy-wif" and his "swing."
(that would be Goliath and his sling.) I asked if James was David, and he went off to shoot him, with his toy trains of course.

Typically James speaks really clearly. And enunciates every single consonant. He can say 'Rs' really well, but not 'Ls.' (see above)

I think it's really cute to hear how he pronounces words he doesn't quite get yet. I still know what he's saying almost always. Here are some examples:
Potato/Tomato = "Pay-toh-toh"
Airplane = Er-peen
Sprinkler = Spinkwrerer.
He used to call Kristen "Tih-ten" but now he says "Kit-sen" (which I think is adorable). This past week it started sounding more like Kristen, but still not quite. It's usually Kitsen.

And he just out of the blue said "Today is Fursday. Today."

He loves to sing "Happy to you! Birthday, to you!" He and Kristen both love to wrap presents (their toys) in blankets or boxes and sing Happy Birthday. Then I get to blow out the candle open them.

Behaving?

I told the kids, "I'm turning on a show; I'm going to go take a shower. Okay, Kristen?"

"Okay, Mom. We won't fight, or scream, or do bad things to each other."

what a relief...

Kristen's thoughts

"Mommy, I have a stomach ache... um, a stomach throat."
?? "What hurts, Kristen?" She opened her mouth and pointed inside. "Oh, that's called a sore throat."

"Why did you share your sore throat with me, Mommy?"