Beach and Amish Country

I have been SO behind in my posting!  I have a lot to catch up on.  We have had quite a few vacations already.  Our first was just me and the kids with all of my family to Myrtle Beach.  We went over Fourth of July week.  It was fun, but it is SO exhuasting going on vacations without Justin.  Even though I have other family there, I am still the main one that has to do everything.  And there is just so much extra stuff involved that makes taking care of small children on vacation harder.  So I am not sure how many more vacations I am willing to go on alone!  Kaitlyn had blast though.  Brayden didn't really care.  He hates being hot and was a mess in the sand b/c he literally wanted to eat it nonstop!  So I wasn't a fan of being down there with him.  Kaitlyn on the other hand got over her fear of water and was swimming wonderfully!  She would jump in and swim by herself (with her floaty on of course)  Unfortuantly I can't find any pictures from my trip!  But not to worry, I have TONS from our next vacation.  In early August we went up to Amish Country Pennsylvania.  I had low expectations for the trip, but it was actually pretty entertaining.  There is so much to do up there.  It is a great place for kids.  Kaitlyn LOVED seeing all the farm animals.  I was suprised at how integrated the Amish are into normal society.  We stayed in an old farm house on a working farm.  It was really nice.  We went to a lot of farms, rode in some horse and buggies, and went and ate dinner at a real Amish family's home.  It was really good.  Although I can definitely say I have ZERO desire to be Amish.  Especially being a woman.  I feel like they were slaves.  They worked nonstop all day.  The girls were the ones cooking our dinner and serving us.  Definitely not my cup of tea! haha!  I prefer having a husband who helps out with cooking and cleaning!  The Amish women are even expected to do all of the yard work! One thing I really enjoyed from our trip was all of the HUGE Smorgasboard buffets.  They were everywhere and I mean HUGE.  One of the ones we went to was like 5x the size of a Golden Corral.  I was in Heaven!  I love me a good buffet.  We ate very well while we were up there!  Here are a few pictures from our trip.

An Amish man out working on the farm

 

Kaitlyn jumping at Cherry Crest Farms, running away when the Strausburg Train rode by

The fam sitting in an Amish Buggy.  These things sell for around $6500-9500...not including your horse!  Crazy!

 Seeing how strong we are.  Justin actually hit the tallest bell.  I was impressed!

 

Hershey's Chocolate World

 

One room Schoolhouse

 

 Covered Bridge

 

 Amish women's dresses.  They pin their dresses with straight pins!

Our House we stayed in

Riding the Strausburg Railroad

Wood Family Update (Spring)

I have been soo slack with my updates! So then they turn into this long rambling of my trying to squeeze it all in. Hopefully this post won't be as depressing as my Soxy post. Kaitlyn and Brayden have both been doing great. Kaitlyn is 2 1/2 years old and Brayden is now 6 months!

Brayden: (6 months)
Brayden is still a big boy. He is only about 3 lbs lighter than Kaitlyn! He is soon going to outgrow his infant carrier...which i guess is fine since I can barely lift it! Kaitlyn used hers until she was about 15 months old! He is still in the 75-90% for weight (almost 20lb) and only 25% for height. Up until two days ago, Brayden did not do anything but just lay around. And then on April 24th he decided that he could roll over and sit up both in one day! He rolled over 2x that day and no more since! haha!  Although he is getting better and better at his sitting up. I mentioned to our Doctor that I thought his weight was probably slowing him down and he agreed saying that torso is heavy to try and hold up! haha! I tried to take a naked picture to show all his rolls but it is hard to tell in a picture:

Brayden is still such a happy baby!  I love it.  It is so easy to make him smile.  Whenever someone makes him smile, he always pulls his hands up to his mouth like he's bashful.  So cute! 

 We also started Brayden on Solid foods a couple weeks ago.  At first he did really well.  He would gobble up anything I gave to him.  Then there were a few days where he didn't really want anything.  But thankfully now he seems to be back to normal letting me feed him again.  Kaitlyn likes to watch.  Also she likes to stick empty spoons in his mouth all the time when I am not looking and gag him!  One downside that seems to be getting better is that he has been fussier since the solids.  He got really constipated and has had a hard time pooping every since.  I try and feed either prunes or pears or something else really good for constipation every day to help out.  His system seems to slowly be adjusting to the solids now.  So far he eats most anything I give him.  He loves sweet potatoes...something that Kaitlyn hated!  The only thing he absolutely refused to eat and got really upset was peaches.  I am still pumping breast milk into bottles for him.  I pump 4x a day and he eats 5 7 oz bottles a day.  I hope to eliminate one or two once he starts getting better with the solids.  Then I can go down to 3 pumps a day.  He used to have breastfeeding snacks in between some bottles if he couldn't wait his 3 hours, but now that he has solid foods he has given up the snacks.  Which is fine I guess, but I did like the fact he would latch on if I needed him to if I forgot a bottle.  Now if I try he only wants the bottle.  Kaitlyn would never latch on.

 Here is my big boy finally sitting up!  Yay!  He only lasts for about a minute or so right now and falls quickly so I can't leave him alone yet.  Kaitlyn was already catching herself at this point, but I don't think he's anywhere close to being able to do that.

 Kaitlyn (2 1/2 years):
Kaitlyn gets better and better with age.  It's no secret that we thought she was a horrible baby, but she is getting to be a much better toddler.  She really is a very sweet girl.  She is never mean to any other kids and is a big "rule follower."  She transitioned out of her crib about a year ago and still NEVER comes out of her room unless one of us goes to get her.  Sometimes I wish she would, but it makes naps so much easier when she think she has to stay in her room.  Also we FINALLY got rid of her pacifier!  Completely!  At 12 months we took it away except for naps and bedtime, but she was quite attached to it.  I actually tried taking it away for about a week around 2 years and her naps became nonexistent.  She would eventually fall asleep at night, but it took a long time.  I gave in and returned it.  then I read about this idea to take them to Build-A-Bear.  We took her paci and placed it inside a Kitty and then it got sewn up.  She knows that the Kitty "Ate" her paci and she can feel it inside the Kitty's leg.  She didn't even cry for it!  I was shocked.  She whined the first couple days but still went to sleep.  Naps and All!  I was so happy!  It was funny too, this picture of her and her Kitty is recent (we did this about a month or so ago) and for a couple weeks she did not like the Kitty.  It wasn't allowed in her bed and had to sit in a corner of her room! haha! 

As for her development, Kaitlyn has grown tremendously in the past few months even.  Her talking has gotten so much better and she can now count to 10 and sometimes 20...though rare.  She still knows all her alphabet and can call out the letters, but cannot sing the song in order yet.  She has also turned into a big "helper."  She loves to pull chairs all around the kitchen watching me cook or do dishes or feed Brayden.   Kaitlyn also went to Disney World with my mom for a few days in March.  She had a blast and did really well away from me.  They stopped at Justin's parents house for 2 days and then drove on down to Disney for 2 days.  She loved all the rides.  So we bought Carowinds season passes and I was very upset to find out they have a 36" height requirement for most of the kiddie rides!  She can't even go on the little swings!  I was pretty mad.  Here's Nana and Kaitlyn at Animal Kingdom!

Kaitlyn has also gotten so much better about playing with other kids.  She actually enjoys being around them now.  Not to say she doesn't still like me there, but she is getting better at playing with others.  I really wonder how she would do in Nursery without me, but since I am the leader I guess that is not going to happen anytime soon.  I really think she would do OK though.  The only thing I would maybe be concerned about is her going potty.  She may be too shy to tell someone else when she needs to go yet.  Today Monkey Joes was offering free admission if you donating a roll of wrapping paper.  Below are a couple pictures from our visit!  She eventually loved it, but it took some warming up to the slides.  She can be a big scaredy cat on slides.  It takes a long time of coaxing to get her to come down. 

Soxy

I have been an emotional wreck this last week or so.  I don't think I ever mentioned on this blog before, but about 4 months ago or so we gave our cat Layla away to a nice young girl who was looking for a companion.  Layla had been peeing outside the litter box and I don't think was very happy in our home anyway.  She was a timid cat and hated Kaitlyn and never even really came around me.  I figured she would be better off with someone without kids.  So that left us with my sweet Soxy.  I have had Soxy for almost 5 years and in that time she had never had an accident.  Then all of the sudden in the last few weeks she has been consistently going on our furniture.  It started out as only poop.  Which was of course annoying, but easy enough to clean up.  I talked to our friend who is a vet and he told me it definitely sounded behavioral and gave a me a few suggestions to try.  He said she was mad about something and cats often do this to express themselves.  Well, then one day she decided to pee on the couch.  As most of you may know, cat pee is something not easily cleaned.  They say the odor is equivalent to a skunk and almost nothing can remove the smell.  We have doused it with cleaners and chemicals and nothing is working.  Justin who is not a cat person was very annoyed and did not want to put up with this.  So I gave in and put an ad on Craigslist for a good home being honest about why we were giving her up.  A lady contacted me and I met her with Soxy and said goodbye.  I cried the entire rest of the day and all night long.  I became a crazy person and called the lady saying I made a huge mistake and wanted her back :)  So they returned her and I tried working with her a little more.  She was fine for about a week being out during the day and then I would lock her up at night so she didn't get into any trouble.  Unfortunately she still had another accident on the carpet.  I was so upset but still wanted to give her another chance.  Then this past Sunday was the last straw.  I was sitting on the floor playing with Kaitlyn and she squatted right in front of me and peed on the furniture again!  Later I went upstairs and came back down and she had pooped on our different couch!  And then later on she peed again right in front of Justin!  I was devastated.  Not only was I annoyed that she is ruining all my furniture, but I knew I could not keep her like this.  She has been so mad at us and is showing herself.  I don't know if it was losing Layla or if she is mad about Brayden.  B/c one of the accidents was right outside his room.  Anyway, I reposted an ad and finally ended up giving her to two gay guys.  They seemed nice enough and they had two other cats they rescued.  I thought maybe she would actually enjoy life with another cat again.  Then I became crazy person again today.  Emailing them 3 different times saying I am not sure if I made the right decision and I might need to find her another home.  I have stalked them on Facebook trying to find out more about them.  So there you have it.  I am a crazy, stalking, emotional wreck.  I am so sad I had to give away my sweet Soxy.  I really loved that cat, but unfortunately cat pee is something Justin most definitely was not going to deal with.  And I can't say that I blame him.  As I sit here on our couch typing this I can still smell it seeping into my nose.  Guess we are going to be couch shopping come Memorial day.  We are now a catless family.  We are definitely not dog people and I am too afraid to get another cat.  Plus I gave everything away with Soxy.  I just can't bear the thought of getting attached to another one and something horrible happening.  So I guess I just have to hope she will adjust well to her new home and that they will treat her well.  Here is one last picture Justin took of Kaitlyn and Soxy before she left us :(

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...

Potty Training 101

Justin took the whole last week of the year off from work...hoping for a relaxing week. That didn't turn out as planned for him. I decided to potty train Kaitlyn that week since Justin would be home to help out. Boy am I glad he was! The first 3-4 days were MISERABLE! She was terrified of the potty. I am pretty sure I barely even saw Brayden for about 4 days b/c I was constantly tending to Kaitlyn. She freaked out. She went into some sort of depression almost. I decided to potty train cold-turkey. No more diapers. She understood that she couldn't go in her underwear, she just wouldn't go at all! The first day she held it for hours...like 7-8 hours! She was so scared to release her pee on the potty and the only times she would pee were when she absolutely couldn't hold it anymore. She would just scream and all she wanted to do was cuddle and watch tv...which is VERY unlike her. She went through stages of hating the potty, to then never wanting to even get off of it! She would just sit there trying to go for like an hour. She actually fell asleep on the potty multiple times b/c she refused to leave it! But after about 5 days I am glad to say that she is now 100% potty trained with no more adverse side effects! She even wakes up in the middle of the night to potty and rarely will wet the bed! Even though those first couple days were HORRIBLE, I am so suprised at how well she did and how quickly she trained herself! She literally only had 2 accidents and that was the first day! So happy to be finished with that stage of life with her!

Here is a clip of Kaitlyn asleep on her potty:

Christmas Break 2011

My family LOVES Christmas, Justin may say a little too much. Since this year we were going to be down in Shallotte with his family for Christmas, we had several different Christmas's here with my family. The first started on the 22nd where we went over to my mom's house for Christmas with her and my brother. Then on the 23rd we had a family get-together at my house with my grandparents and aunt and uncle's family. And finally Santa came to our house the morning of Christmas Eve before we left for Shallotte. Justin was Christmased out before we even left. Not to mention we had another Christmas with my Dad when we got back! haha! Anyway, Kaitlyn loved it this year. She was really into ripping open presents, but still doesn't quite comprehend what Santa Claus is all about. On Black Friday, my brother and I went to Wal-mart and I scored an awesome 14' trampoline with enclosure for an early present. Plus she got a play kitchen and a bunch of baby doll stuff from my mom. I finally got an i-touch...yes I know I am way behind the times. Justin and I can't afford the data plans that come along with smart phones, so I wanted something I could carry around with me to access the internet, etc. Overall it was a great Christmas.

My fat little Reindeer

Our annual Christmas photo with Santa

Brayden-2 months

Brayden is growing like a weed. We had his 2 month check up back on the 16th and he was already up to 13 lbs! He was in the 80-90%. The doctor joked that he might break the scale. haha. So different from Kaitlyn who was either too small to even make the charts, or usually hovered around the 3% mark. He is still a wonderful baby and I couldn't ask for a better baby. He rarely cries and he can be consoled pretty easily. He is still not sleeping through the night and I don't forsee it starting any time soon b/c this boy likes to eat too much! Currently he eats about 4.5-5 oz every 3 hours. We put him to bed around 11:00ish and he wakes once around 3:30ish to eat and then goes back to sleep until 7:30-8:00. So not too bad. We are in the process of trying to push the bedtime earlier though b/c we are pretty worn out. I just don't want him waking up too early in the morning.

It has also been sweet to see how Kaitlyn interacts with him. She really does love him so much. Every morning if he is not up yet she asks where "baby boy" is. The other day we went on a walk to the park and Kaitlyn was fighting me to put her coat back on before we walked back home. Brayden's stroller started rolling away. VERY slowly...I wasn't worried, but I told Kaitlyn "Hurry Brayden is rolling away!" She screamed and ran after him crying and grabbed onto the handle and wouldn't let go! It was so sweet to see her trying to save him. She gives him kisses all the time and loves to help out with him.

We also had Brayden's Baby Blessing at church this past Sunday. All of Justin's family came into town for it, so that was nice. On Justin's side of the family there are now 3 babies all within 2 months of each other. Isaiah is two months older than Brayden and Ellie who are only 2 days apart. They will have so much fun playing together when they are older!

My Beautiful Baby Boy!

Blessing Day

All the new babies (Brayden, Ellie, Isaiah)