more

this week maya learned her first sign - more! we sat on the kitchen floor with some chicken and after just a few times of me showing her the sign and then giving her more, she caught on! we did the same thing with kellen, only with veggie booty! not only is she signing it, but she says it as well...mo, mo. she was so excited the about her new skill that she woke up at 4am the first night signing and saying more! it's the cutest thing when your baby can start to communicate with you and seriously makes me burst with joy! she doesn't always use it in the right context, but she's only 11 months! i'm pretty sure that milk is up next and we're working on eat and water as well.

{in case you are wondering, my kids both signed more with one finger to the palm. i believe the main (correct) way to sign more is the two fingertips touching, although the finger to the palm is quite common. also...you may be wondering why maya always has a rash on her face. we are wondering too! actually, she has some major food intolerances (hopefully not allergies) that we are working with her doctor and naturapath to figure out. it's actually much better (although pretty bad in these pictures) and we're hopeful she'll grow out of it. it does make me sad though to see her pretty face constantly covered in a nasty rash.}

why couldn't we have gotten a sleeper?!

when kellen was a baby, aa and i were pretty sure that we had been lucky enough to get an "easy" baby. not that we didn't have our challenges, but he was pretty easy-going, rarely cried and slept relatively well (not through the night for a long time, but went to sleep on his own practically!). it didn't take long after maya was born for us to realize that what we thought about kellen being an easy baby was in fact VERY true! don't trust them when they say second babies are easy!

very few things about maya has been easy. feeding - not easy...not a bit! sleeping - THE worst! and as a parent of a toddler, sleeping throughout the day was not an option, so into our bed she came. we all seemed to get the most sleep that way and we thought it wouldn't last long. SO wrong! she is STILL in our bed...but only if i am in it does she sleep comfortably, so we've created some very bad habits. in fact, if you read any of the sleep books out there, you will find that i am breaking every rule.

an article from one of the parenting magazines i receive had an article to inform parents of the five habits that make nighttime a nightmare for parents.

sleep trap #1: feeding or rocking your baby to sleep - yep! maya searches for me at night when she is getting tired and wants nothing to do with anyone else...she just wants the goods. i don't know how to break her of this. i actually wish that she took a pacifier, but of course...no pacifier for her, I am her pacifier!

sleep trap #2: picking up the baby each time she cries - for sure! there are a couple of reasons for this - but mainly because she's in our room/bed it makes it hard to let her cry because we need our sleep and i know that if i just hold her, she'll go right back to sleep. also don't want kellen to wake up...but seriously that kid sleeps like a log, so it's probably just an excuse...i don't like to hear my baby cry! here's another thing...the girl pukes if we do let her cry. i have actually tried a few times and every time she's puked. just wasn't worth it!

sleep trap#3: extending night feedings - of course! remember, i am her pacificer and i feed her to sleep and i pick her up or snuggle her every time she cries, so of course in order to get her back to sleep, i feed her. ugh.

sleep trap#4: napping on the go - duh...she's the second baby! that is the only time she gets a nap! especially now that i'm home and we don't want to just stay home. besides, i've tried to stay home and create a nice napping routine, but the girl hates to nap...unless someone is holding her that is!

sleep trap#5: letting your baby stay up too late - well, she only sleeps with me and i'm not interested in going to bed at 8:30! but seriously, we have tried tried tried to get her to go to sleep at a decent hour, but she just doesn't like to go to sleep before 9 or 10! i so used to judge parents for not putting their baby to bed at a decent hour and now i'm that parent.

yikes! poor girl sleeps on the couch until i'm ready to go to bed and this is how i found her the other night when i came into the room! it was the first time she's done something like that...i'm just so glad she didn't fall off...cause that would have for sure woke her up! ;)

you'd think that because she is our second baby we would know better...but i'm truly convinced that it is more about the baby and what is going on inside of them, then it is about the parents doing something right! at least that is what i keep telling myself to make myself feel better.

when she was about four months, i thought that perhaps the sleep thing was coming around - she had actually slept in her own bed from 11pm - 4am. that my friends is the longest stretch she has ever slept and it happened ONCE! i'm starting to feel like she may never be out of our bed, but really that is not an option for us! i know there will come a point where i/we will have enough and we'll come up with a plan. i'm pretty sure that the first thing we need to do is really create a room or space of her own. poor baby girl doesn't actually have a bedroom. that would probably be a good start! she has a pack and play in the office, but i haven't been able to get her to sleep for even a half hour in it for about a month.

Aa taking a turn at holding her before we all retire to bed.

so...any sleep advice for me? i actually think i know it all and that really i/we just need to be ready. but there is part of me that is starting to feel like i'm failing her by not teaching her to soothe herself and wondering if she is actually getting enough good sleep. so, just in case you have some miracle solution...please let me know.

in the meantime, i'm actually just going to enjoy it as much as i can. waking up to your baby with her arm around you and being able to kiss her head before you drift off to sleep isn't the worst thing in the world. i'm not having any more babies and i know how fast this goes, so i'm just going to be thankful for it...because there will be a time when all i want to do is snuggle up with my girl and she will roll her eyes at me with disgust!

if she's not in one of our arms, we can usually get the boppy to simulate the feeling of her being held...but she'll only be tricked for so long until she wakes up and we have to soothe her back to sleep again! she sure looks sweet though!

happy birthday, aa!

happy birthday to the one we love the most!

go ducks {catch up}

september 4th was the duck season and home opener against new mexico...the score - 72-0, making it the perfect game to bring the kiddos! this was kellen's third game - he has attended one each season and maya's first game - she'll likely be attending every game that i attend this year as she is the ultimate mama's girl!

kellen has become the ultimate football and duck fan! just like last year, he really got into the game experience - taking any opportunity to give everyone high fives, loving the duck doing push ups with each score and even sitting on the lap of the guy in front of us to "discuss" and watch the game! we went out to the car at half time with the ducks up A LOT to nothing prepared to go home, but kellen refused to go home...he wanted to go back to the game!

maya was great - wore her headphones the whole time, napped a bit and sat with either aa or me taking in all their was to see at autzen!

unfortunately no pictures from the tailgater, as we got there a little late and eating/drinking were priorities over the camera! but here are a few shots from the game.

sunriver {catch up}

with two little ones, we decided that our vacation this year should probably be low-key and close to home...so we went back to a favorite of ours - Sunriver. this is the perfect time of year to go because the weather is still really nice, there are less people and it's the low-season so there are lots of deals to be had on vacation rentals. we always find a great house that offers a 4 for 2 or 6 for 3 (stay for 4/6 nights, but pay for 2/3 nights). side note...the house we rented this time was the identical floor plan as the last time, which was pretty crazy!

Here is our trip in pictures:

we took lots of walks to the village and fort rock park.

A trip out to the stables to check out the horses and ponies.



we attempted a hike and picnic at benham falls, but as we laid out our blanket to have a picnic the mosquitoes started swarming so we ended up walking and eating to run from the bugs who got the best of AA and me.



Aa and K enjoyed daily sessions of peanuts in the shell and male bonding!

good food was enjoyed by all!

lots of love and kisses from our baby girl!

kellen "i'm a puzzle guy" and daddy (in the background) working on their puzzles.

There are over 32 miles of paths and lots of tree stumps, but we managed to find the same exact spot on the path where we took a picture of k on a tree stump last time. what a difference two years makes! we'll have to remember this spot the next time we go back and make it a sunriver tradition!

of course we had to get one of miss maya as well!

our two babies!

we had hoped to go biking as a family, but injuries prevented Aa from being able to ride and i wasn't up for going alone with two babies in a trailer! i did manage to get one bike ride in for the week. so thankful for the time we had together and can't wait for our next trip back - although i will say that i'm itching for a warm weather, tropical vacation next!

my promotion

i'm officially 17 days into my new job - full time mama to my babes...check that my big boy and my baby! what a crazy last few months it's been juggling work, kids, home, life, etc. i'm so excited to be able to focus on my number one priority - my family. i'm really hoping to find some peace, calm and simplicity in just enjoying this time while our kids are still young.

while i know this is the right thing for us right now...this decision was both the easiest and the hardest decision i've had to make. hard because i loved my job at nike - it gave me/us so much, both personally and professionally. i will miss the challenging work, the awesome friends and co-workers, the amazing opportunities, the employee discounts (!), the paycheck & benefits, the feeling of professional accomplishment and growth, the ability to grab coffee, lunch, run an errand, workout or just have a moment to myself and the opportunities it afforded our kids (friends, teachers, learning, bonding, experiences at Stringer). i won't miss the ~45 minutes it took to drop off and pick up both kids, the logging on for a few hours of work a couple of nights a week, the rushing into the Stringer at 5:55pm and feeling like the worst parent on the planet, the chaos of getting a decent dinner on the table before rushing the kids off to bed and the constant feeling of being just average at home and at work (whether it was true or not!).

i'm lucky, because i have many friends who have already made this decision and i thank them for giving me the courage to do the same! i'll be approaching my new "job" similar to how i would approach any new job. i have plans to meet with all my friends to learn their "best practices" and will be scheduling regular 1:1 and team meetings...make that playdates! today i started a spreadsheet of all the free/inexpensive activities to do during the week (library and bookstore story times, music peformances, art classes, gymboree classes, etc.). i need to figure out our routine for balancing fun with errands, cleaning, cooking etc. also, with a busy busy 2.5 (almost 3!) year old and a demanding, hates to sleep and eat almost 1 year old, i need to find some extreme patience. i'm going into this expecting that this job will actually be harder then my old job...but oh so much more fulfilling!

how lucky am i to be able to spend my days with these adorable babies? watching them grow, learn and love each other...i couldn't ask for a better gig!

i'm mostly thankful to Aa - for supporting this decision and working so hard so that we can do this. i <3>

busy mama, lazy blogger!

the life of a full time work outside the home mom of 2 kids, wife to 1 husband has kept me very busy...this blog (amongst many other things!) keeps getting neglected. i have great intentions, but they just don't always happen - sleep or just catching up on other blogs seems to always win out!

we just got back from a road trip to northern california - first to attend aaron's cousin in the mount shasta area, then on to sacramento to visit our great friends, mike and mel and two of their kids, macen and shea, finally landing in san francisco for a few fun days as a family! i'm not sure i'd recommend a road trip with a 2.5 year old and an 8 month old, but we did manage to have lots of fun between the long stretches of driving that maya especially grew to detest! oh and check it out!!! i submitted our adventure on one of my favorite sites, Ohdeedoh and they featured it today! that cement slide was super fun - grab a piece of cardboard that are scattered around the bottom, climb up the stairs and you whiz down! i highly recommend.

quick update on the kids:
maya is just about 9 months and really getting personality. she babbles about, has just started to scoot (army crawl) and is FINALLY starting to eat some solids (just today she took down a half of a banana mixed in with 1/4 avocado!). oh and she also is FINALLY taking a bottle from her teachers at school...yahoo! her hair is getting thicker and longer. she is loves to be held, especially by her mama and daddy and lights up with joy at the sight and sound of her brother! kellen is the only one who can make her laugh easily! it's super cute!

kellen...my big boy! he's 2 1/2 and it's just amazing to us how we can carry on full conversations with him now. his language is just exploding and he's becoming such an independent little guy. he keeps himself entertained, whether with his sesame street guys or playing in his kitchen...and the whole time he's singing songs (which i just love!). itsy bitsy spider is probably his favorite, but he's not afraid to bust out, bringing home a baby bumblebee, slippery fish, you are my sunshine or the abc's. some of his funny sayings - "sounds like a plan", "oh my goodness!", "not quite yet". i'm sure there are more, which is why i should be better at keeping this blog up!