So Small

Walking through the parking lot with my daughter today, holding her hand, keeping her by my side as best I can. As she puts her hand in mine I have to stop and look down at it....it feels so small.

So small resting in my own hand. Her entire had fitting comfortably in the palm of mine. It felt so tiny, so fragile. I hold her hand more times in one day than I can probably count. But today, for some reason, the way her hand fit into mine just amazed me. When I look at my children they both seem so big, so grown up. Especially Makenna, being the oldest. Standing next to her little brother and seeing the differences in the two, she just seems so matures, so old, so independent. She is becoming her own little person with her own thoughts, ideas, plans, wants, fears, passions. Every day she amazes me with the things she has learned and the way she has grown. Both of my children do. And they seem to grow so fast. And before you know it they are not the tiny baby that they once were.
But although not as tiny as they once were, they are still so small.

Makenna may be 3. She may have hit a countless number of milestones and grown and changed so much in these 3 1/2 years. But she is still so young, so small, so fragile. She still needs her Mama to hold her hand tightly, keeping her safe and by her side, her delicate hand folded away completely in mine. She is still so small. And I wonder if it will ever stop feeling this way.

Binkys and Ballerinas

Two very exciting things have happened around our house in the last week. Will start with the one that is most exciting for Mama...

Kellen's binky, also known as his "Ba", is now a thing of the past. That is right...the binky is history!! I went into this so scared and worried about how it would go getting Kellen to give it up, but honestly, I don't think it could have been any easier!

Since Kellen was about 10 months old he has been used to only having his binky when he slept in his crib and occasionally on long car rides. But it has been pretty limited with it's use for awhile now. But with the impending arrival of baby #3, I felt it very important to get him off the binky completely before there was another little guy in the house sucking on one. I figured it would just be WAY too hard to take it away if he saw his little brother using one.

So last Monday, before we started our night time ritual which included giving him his "Ba", I took All of them with me into the kitchen and snipped off the very tip of them. I really didn't cut hardly anything off because I wanted this to be a gradual thing. When we gave it to him during PJ time he put it in his mouth, pulled it back out and looked at it, tried it again. You could tell he was really confused. He started showing it to me and rambling away in gibberish, obviously trying to explain to me that something was seriously wrong with his "Ba". I just said, "Uh oh, I think it's broken" and tried to just act very casual about it, though a bit sympathetic. I could tell he was having a hard time keeping it in and getting good suction, but he kept trying with all his might. It was almost pathetic and cute to watch at the same time. That night we put him in bed with his binky and he cried a bit, but fell asleep surprisingly fast. The next night the same thing happened. The next day at nap was a bit tougher, but still nothing too horrible.

Then on Thursday night I went to offer it to him before putting him in bed. I said "Here, do you want your ba?" He looked at it, turned his head away and in a very offended voice said "NO!" So I set it down, gave him a kiss, put him in bed and left. He didn't make a peep, not one tear, nothing. Sound asleep in minutes. I was in utter shock! And that is how it has been since them. He cries for 5 min or so at nap time and for awhile he was waking up at 6 am versus 7 like normal. But the last two mornings he has been back to his regular wake up time.

So I feel proud to say that Kellen is officially a binky free toddler! Woo hoo! Kellen's little brother should be very grateful that he gave it up so easy. Had this been a terrible battle I may have forbidden a binky from ever entering my home again! :)

So proud when it would actually stay in, so confused when it would keep falling out. It really was so funny to watch!

Our other exciting event was that we officially got Makenna signed up for her very first dance class. She is over the moon about it. I have been wanting to sign her up for one and have just been waiting for the right time. This class will be once a week and it is a combo Ballet, Tap and Jazz class. I am very anxious to see which she likes the most. Though she thinks Ballet will be her favorite, my money is on Tap. We'll see. Either way she is thrilled and I too am very excited. Though it would have not been my thing when I as a little girl, I am more than happy to see her so overjoyed to be taking dance. She wants to wear her "tutu" as she calls it every day. I have let her put it on a few mornings, but I am afraid she is going to ruin it before class even starts if I let her wear it as much as she would like to right now. Silly girl. Can't wait for classes to start in April. And the best part is that they will be performing in the Del Mar Fair this year! Yup! I am going to cry my eyes out! :)

Trying her very best to look very "ballerina-ish"!

Grandma and Grandpa Come to Town!

A couple of weeks ago Todd's parents came over from Illinois and stayed with us for a week. We don't get to see them nearly as much as we would like to. So it was so nice to have them in our home with us every day and get to spend the time with them that we had. The kids had so much fun with Grandma and Grandpa and were excited every morning that they woke up and got see them again. We had such a great time and had lots of fun memories. The kids miss them both and we are already anxious to see them again.

Here are just some of the memories from the great time we had. We love you Grandma and Grandpa!

Of course we had to have an outing to the park to feed the ducks with Grandma. Kellen finally figured out how to actually pull off small pieces and throw them to the ducks, though he still eats more of the bread himself than he is willing to party with. You would think I starve him...

Kellen really loved his Grandpa and always enjoyed bringing him his blanket or milk to sit with him and relax together.

The big boys enjoyed some yogurt mill....

Kenna soaked up all the attention and book reading she could from her two Grandmas.

More fun at the park. My daughter can't take a serious pictures these day....really....she almost always has to make some sort of goofy/silly face. But it suites her.

Kellen boy....he is a sliding fool!

We took a really fun trip to the San Diego Zoo! It was Kellen and Brooke's first trip to the Zoo. We saw a lot in the short time we were there, but it ended up getting Very cold and rainy so we ended up leaving a little early. It was a blast though.

Toddy with his parents and kiddos. Very cute picture!

Even little 8 month old Brooke seemed to truly enjoy looking at the animals. She is such a little cutie, and a total spaz like her mama. I love these girls!

See.....she really has aborted smiling. Why smile when you can stick out your tongue instead?

Another Good Reason to be Having Another Boy!

Kellen is 100% boy...there is no doubt about it. He loves cars and trucks and balls and rocks and sticks and mud in ways that his Sissy never cared for. But hey, he has a sister that he sees playing dress up All the time and heck, it looks like fun to him too. He will occasionally try and get in on the dress up action, which Makenna is always thrilled about. Whenever she does get a dress on him it only lasts for a minute at most and then he is trying to rip it off. I guess he is curios enough to try and then the testosterone kicks in and he knows to get himself away quickly :) On this particular day Kenna was getting into her favorite red dress and I could tell Kellen was interested himself. I left the room for a few minutes and Kenna had him completely undressed and was trying her best to get this little pixie dress on him. So, much to Makenna and Kellen's excitement (and much to Todd's disapproval) I helped her finish the job and quickly ran and grabbed my camera to snap a few shots before he started tearing it off. They just looked too cute together! Todd does not get this at all and tried to ban me from posting it on the blog. But he never had any sisters so I can't blame him for not understanding. I tired telling him that any man that grew up with sisters most likely had the same thing done to him at some point or another. I have wonderful blackmail pictures of my little brother dressed way worse than this! (sorry Dave!) So Todd is learning to deal with it, but we are both grateful to be having another little boy coming along. I guarantee even he will end up in Princess clothes at some point in his life, but at least is should add a little more testosterone to the scene and Kellen can have someone to crash trucks with :) Until then, it's dress up time!

Updates

I know I am being a little bit of a slacker. It just feels like there are always 5 million things to stay on top of. Parenting, housekeeping, blogging, emailing, scrapbooking, 3 kids journals....and sadly I am pretty much behind on all of them...but I keep trying and that is what matters, right???

Anyway, here are your updates....

This was taken a week ago. I can't believe I am already almost half way there. I feel like I am as big now as I was at 25 weeks with Makenna and Kellen, but I guess that is what happens when everything stretches out and you are on baby #3

I know I am being a little bit of a slacker. It just feels like there are always 5 million things to stay on top of. Parenting, housekeeping, blogging, emailing, scrapbooking, 3 kids journals....and sadly I am pretty much behind on all of them...but I keep trying and that is what matters, right???

Anyway, here are your updates....

Rah Rah and baby Brooke were over to play the other day. The kiddos all have so much fun together, especially as Brooke gets older and can do more with my loud, crazy children! Makenna really just adores her and Kellen thinks babies are so great right now, so he soaks it up too!

My little hula girl. Todd and I got this for Makenna when we were on our honeymoon in Hawaii. She finally fits into it. It was a bit of a process getting it on her, she smiled for two pictures and then had a total meltdown because she felt too shy in it and wanted to rip it all off. But at least I got one really cute picture!

Kenna is in love with flashlights, so I had to get her her own little kid one to keep her from trying to climb the shelves in the closet to reach the Mag light. Silly girl!

The munchkins playing Don't Break the Ice. When you play alone with Makenna she does a really good job being careful and trying her best to win and not break it all. When she and Kellen play together it is just madness and destruction. I guess that is the energy that little boys bring!

Kenna and Kellen arguing together. I just wanted to capture it, but when I took this picture it made her Really upset with me (it was actually quite funny....do I sound evil??)

Makenna loves to pretend to ice skate on the tile wearing socks....silly girl. Here she is trying to get Kellen in on the action. He was loving it!

Kellen's 17 Month Update:

I feel like it has been a little while since I gave a good update about Kellen on here. He is still at that age where he is changing, growing, discovering and learning soooo much. It is such a fun and challenging age all at once.
Kellen has certainly reached that mischievous, toddler age. He loves getting into trouble and I believe he finds it more entertaining and funny than just about anything else. He loves to get into my junk drawer and pull everything out of it. And I try to move the stuff so he can't get it, but isn't that what a junk drawer is for? To put junk in that doesn't have anywhere else in your house to go? He loves to turn light off and pull on the window blinds. He is a climber and is always getting into trouble or hurting himself by trying to climb. He loves to take toys and hit the water dispenser on the fridge and make is spill water everywhere and I am bad at remembering to lock it all the time. He is just into one thing after another all day long. Silly boy.

He continues to be such a good talker. He says more words then I can count at this point and does a really good job communicating what he wants. He talks ALL the time. I swear there is constant noise coming out of that child. He loves to dance and really loves his dance parties with his sister. He is in love with using spoons and forks. He wants a spoon with ANYTHING that he eats. The more spoons the better for him. Even if what he is eating does not require a utensil, he wants one anyway. I shouldn't say want...he demands one! He loves to play outside and try to find as many rocks and sticks as he can. He loves to climb on Makenna's tricycle and push himself around on his feet. He is in love, and I mean IN LOVE with the Trolley! He calls the Trolley a "car-car" and looks for them everywhere we drive and yells with glee when he sees one. One of his favorite words right now is "Whoa!" and he says it all the time. It is totally cute! He is still a total Mama's boy....he certainly knows how to make me feel loved and needed, that is for sure! But he is getting better and better at not having such bad separation anxiety which is a big relief. Most of the time I can leave without him crying and having a meltdown.
Kellen still loves his blanky which he calls his "B" and is enjoying his last week with his binky or what he refers to as his "Ba". Kellen loves his Ba and only really uses it when he is sleeping. But it is time for it to go. I would have originally let him have it a bit longer, but I want him off it and to have forgotten about it long before the baby gets here. Otherwise I feel like it would be Very hard to take his away and have him watch his little brother suck on one all the time. Plus, I feel like the sooner I take it away the easier it will be for him to give it up. So on Monday we are going to start "snipping" the binky and soon enough it will be a thing of the past. Wish us luck!

I have no idea how tall Kellen is....he is way too wiggly to try and measure. He is wearing size 2t right now and fits it good. He weighs about 28lbs and really hasn't gained more than half a pound in the last 6 months. He is really getting taller and slimming out. He is no the rolly polly baby he once was. He is still a big boy, and quite heavy! But it is cute to see him getting taller and thinner. Such a big boy! We love you Kellen!

Kellen with his utensils :)

My big boy being silly and handsome! I just love those big brown eyes of his!!

Our little stud muffin, trying his best to ride that bike!