Winter Update

This has been by far the absolute worst cold and flu season we have ever experienced. Someone in our family has literally been sick pretty much every day for the past 4-5 months. I swear we are just getting over one cold when another one starts the next day full force. I am just now recovering from a stomach virus that knocked me out this weekend, but luckily no one has seemed to have caught that. I quarantined myself to my room for 24 hours and Justin slept down on the couch for 2 days so he wouldn't catch it. We just can't seem to catch a break. I know it's bad, but I have stopped even keeping us home while we are sick b/c we are ALWAYS sick. So we could never go anywhere. So now I only keep us home for the first few days when it is at its worst. I am finding that colds spread like wildfire around here now that we have a toddler. Poor Brayden has been sick pretty much his whole life :(
In other news, Brayden is now about 4 1/2 months old and Kaitlyn is almost 2 1/2 years old! When I took Bryaden in for his 4 month check up he was already at 18 lbs 4 oz! Kaitlyn didn't even hit the 18 lb mark until she was close to 15 months old! haha! The doctor said he definitely is getting enough to eat! haha! He is still a very sweet baby, but has gotten slightly fussier over the last couple weeks. Although I can't really blame him, since he is always getting sick and I am pretty sure he is teething. He drools constantly and is always putting his fists into his mouth. Plus early teething runs in the family I guess since Kaitlyn got her first tooth at only 3 1/2 months!
He is such a personable baby. He laughs and coos all the time...something Kaitlyn very rarely did. It is so easy to make him smile...I love it! A baby's smile and laugh are the best things ever! I swear I can be in the worst mood ever, and then see my baby laugh or smile and it just melts your heart! Even with his fussiness over the last couple weeks it is NOTHING compared to how horrible Kaitlyn was as a baby. I think it is only even bad, just b/c I have been so spoiled by his complete perfection up until now! haha! He still doesn't roll over or do any milestones, such as that, but I have to admit that I never really work with him and I am terrible at enforcing tummy time. He hates it and Kaitlyn did too. But I am not concerned b/c I never did tummy time with her either and she turned out just fine walking at only 10 months so I'm sure Brayden will move around when he's ready.
Another thing I have noticed that is harder with having two kids is trying to stick to a schedule. With Kaitlyn, nap times were strictly enforced. But Brayden just catnaps throughout the day b/c otherwise I feel like we would never be able to go anywhere! Baby's take a morning nap and late afternoon nap, while Kaitlyn takes a mid-day nap. So basically we would be confined to the house the entire day! No thank you! So I still enforce Kaitlyn's and Brayden just goes along for the ride :)
Kaitlyn is currently almost 2 1/2 years old. I have noticed such a change in her in just the last month or so. She is starting to talk a lot more. Not saying that most people would understand her, but she now uses pretty complete sentences and will try and usually use her words to express what she wants instead of crying which is great! She is also becoming so smart! She currently knows her entire alphabet, both upper and lowercase, and all of her numbers 1-10. I have not been able to get her to count though. But she now comprehends the quantities of 1-3, but that's about as high as it goes. Some of her favorite things to do are go see Nana, swing, watch WordWorld, snack, puzzles, play with her babies, read books, unload the dishwasher, and go to the library for storytime.
In other news, I had my 10 year HS reunion (technically 11 years) last month. It was good to catch up with a lot of people, but it just blows my mind that it has been that long and I am now a mother to 2 children! It has been great though. I love being able to stay at home with my kids. Even though I have actually started working a decent amount for Shea Homes again. But it is a perfect arrangement that I don't have any set hours and just work when I can for them. I love it b/c it gives us a little extra money, but I still have the freedom to do what I want with my children. Plus I really do love working with House Plans, so I was sad to give it up completely. Justin has been really busy with school this semester. He is only taking 2 classes but they have been really demanding. Luckily he is able to do a lot of his schoolwork at work, otherwise I think I would go crazy. As much as I would love having a huge house, and even just enough money to buy whatever groceries we wanted without couponing, or go out to eat with out a groupon, I LOVE the fact that Justin's job is so laid back. We might not make near the amount of everyone else we are around, but I absolutely love the fact that Justin gets home at 5:30 EVERY day. Can work for home whenever he needs to and also has a pretty good vacation policy! So many other friends I've talked to, their husbands work so late. And though I know maybe that day will come eventually. I am glad it is not now. Not while our kids are young and I would go crazy! I still need my breaks too! Well this has turned into a long rambling post, but I felt the need to try and catch up since it has been a while! Pictures to come soon...