The First Ten Minutes

Someone asked me recently if I felt like I had the “mother-of-two” thing down now that we’re nearing Kaylynn’s first birthday.  And the answer is yes… and no.  Most of the time I feel in control and I know I can handle whatever comes.  Other days my limits are pushed.  I’m thankful for the days where I’ve had enough rest so even though the kids are pushing it, I’m calm.

Take this morning for instance: I ask Desmond if he wants eggs for breakfast or something else.  He opts for something else so I make enough eggs for Davin and me.  As soon as Desmond sees Daddy going out the door with his eggs he decides he wants some now.  I check.  I double check.  Yep, he wants eggs, so I fire up the stove again and crack the last two eggs.  Just as the eggs are going in the pan Desmond starts to cry because he doesn’t want eggs.  He proceeds to scream, and so he has to sit on his chair in the laundry room until he calms down.  I finish cooking the eggs, clean up Kaylynn from her breakfast and sit her in the play room with a huge tub of toys.  Back to Desmond.  I calmly talk to him and we discuss ways he could have talked to me differently.  I’ve been in there for maybe one minute when I hear a bump, thump, bump, bang and Kaylynn starts wailing.  Ack!  I rush to the playroom expecting to see the toy bins on top of her, but no, she has left the playroom, climbed who knows how far up the stairs and fallen.  It doesn’t take long to calm her down, and I can tell she was more scared than hurt.  Deep breath!  I finish my conversation with Desmond, sit him down to eat his eggs, put up the gate, give Kaylynn a bottle of milk and look at the clock.  Davin’s only been gone about ten minutes – ten minutes down, 540 to go.  It’s okay.  Today God is giving me peace and I know today can get better.

March Birthdays

On March tenth we hosted March birthdays.  We met at Big Al’s just down the road and had fun bowling.  It’s been quite awhile since most of us have bowled so the playing field was mostly even.  Daniel has the most stylized throw and looks like a professional.  Desmond even got in on the action.  I forgot how loud bowling alleys are so that was the only drawback.  Kaylynn didn’t like it and I tried bowing with her in the Ergo but it didn’t work.  Oh well!  We enjoyed several hours of socializing, food, and gifts at our place afterwards.  This year I realize that I am exactly half of Dad’s age.  He was 32 when I was born.  Hmm.  I don’t feel old enough to be that “grown up,” but the years they just keep on a comin’. 

There, now I feel caught up.  Sorry for all the posts all at once.

Northwest March Weather

March first came with snow!  Of course Desmond and I got out in it as soon as Kaylynn was down for her nap.  I built the biggest snowman I could, and he stuck around for a couple days.


Not long after we had some beautiful spring weather and the kids and I had a picnic lunch.  I even let Desmond get out his favorite outdoor toy, the water rocket from Grandma Linda.  The fun lasted until Kaylynn got sprayed in the face.

Two days ago we had another few inches of snow.  Crazy!  Now that it’s spring the snow decided to show up, yet yesterday and today were fairly warm and sunny.  Next year will be more fun with the snow when Kaylynn is into it.
 

February 29th

I realized that I am way behind in sharing about some fun activities from the past month.  On Wednesday, February 29th I surprised Davin with a recreation of our proposal night eight years ago.  I set up the tent in our yard and made clam chowder and BLTs.  We had the addition of two kids this time and didn’t have Pacific City beach, so even though it wasn’t nearly as romantic, it was still fun.  I even found the old engagement CD that Davin made for our dinner music that night, and he picked up blizzards on his way home from youth group.  Hard to believe it was eight years ago already!

Ten Months Update

Kaylynn is now well into her tenth month.  She loves to pull herself up and cruise around the furniture and especially Desmond’s train table where she promptly starts “deconstruction.”  She can crawl on all fours now and even get herself up the stairs (with supervision). 

She’s still quite vocal and you never have to wonder how she’s feeling.  She has started to talk and her most popular word is “ba-ba” which she uses for banana, bye-bye, and baby.  She also says “hi” when we come into her room to get her up from a nap.  She can say “ma-ma” and “da-da” sometimes, but not consistently enough to call it.

Kaylynn is still a bit finicky with food and I feel I’m constantly trying to offer her different things to get her to eat.  Just because she pushes something away doesn’t mean her tummy is full.  She still has strong preferences when it comes to eating and it’s not always easy to discern what will work.

She has a few more teeth coming in soon though who knows how long it will take for them to break through.  She also had a stomach bug last Sunday, but thankfully it was basically a one day thing.

She’s sleeping through the night more consistently now.  (Oh, thank goodness!)  And the norm is two 1- to 2-hour naps during the day.

Kaylynn likes to play with Desmond’s cars and sometimes it even sounds like she’s making car noises.  She consistently reaches for the pink hummer whenever it’s in the pile.  A preference for pink already?  That’s amazing how early it can develop.

I just can’t get over how cute she is, and I’m having fun thinking about her first birthday in about six weeks. 

Beast of a Bush

In my bits of spare time when it’s not raining and Kaylynn’s sleeping, I’ve been happily digging out our nine huge bushes that line the length of our fifty foot driveway.  I like getting my bare hands in the dirt.  Davin was home today and I’ve developed a faster technique as I’ve moved along, so today I was able to rip out three of those suckers.  It’s so satisfying to hear the last crack of the roots as I pull out the stump.

They are beasts!  At maturity I’ve heard these bushes can be up to fifteen feet tall.  They’re only about three years old, but they’re nearly six feet tall and the roots snake out well into the lawn and under the driveway.  It’s time to dig ‘em out now before they’re any bigger! 

I’m excited to open up the approach to our house, and I’m dreaming of beautiful landscaping.  For now Desmond’s enjoying a branch fort and the pile of debris is growing.  Yeah, this definitely won’t fit in our yard debris bin!  I don’t know if I could even squeeze one bush in there.

My Big Baby Boy

One of the things that I enjoy most of all is reading bedtime stories to Desmond and singing to him while we rock. I’ve done this since he was a little baby. My favorite part was when he would fall asleep while I was singing to him. He’s just so peaceful and cute while he’s sleeping. Occasionally, I think back to when he was really little and I have to realize that he is growing up and that he is changing and some things just won’t happen again. It’s sad to realize that he is growing up and he won’t always be little.

The other night while I was rocking him and singing to him he grabbed his little “Cars” pillow and snuggled up while I sang. It wasn’t long before I could hear his breathing slow and sure enough he had fallen asleep. I sat up there with him for a while and just rocked him and enjoyed that moment because it might not happen again. Eventually, I thumped on the floor and Melissa came up and snapped a couple pictures.