Yet another long update...

Well, once again I have gone several weeks between updates. I could list several excuses, but I won't waste my time (or yours)! I ended my last post saying that Landen had an ear infection and pink eye. None of the rest of us got it, but Landen didn't completely get over it. We finished his antibiotics around the 16th, and about a week later (the 23rd) we went back to the doctor, so Landen is on a different antibiotic. I hope this ear infection gets cleared up this time...I'm ready for Landen to be less crabby! We have also been having some battles with Landen during meals. We are having troubles getting Landen to eat healthier meals. Lately he eats crackers with peanut butter, yogurt, apple sauce and dry cereal. Occasionally I can get him to eat chicken nuggets, re fried beans, and peaches. He won't even eat the Gerber meals that he used to love. I just have to keep reminding myself that he won't let himself starve and he will eventually start eating again. Unfortunately his poor diet has caused him to be constipated. When he does go, he does what we call the 'poopy dance' where he runs frantically around the house and occasionally stops to grunt. It is hilarious to watch. Landen is continuing to show us that he loves his little sister. He loves to give her kisses and has started trying to entertain her now that she has started to respond and watch him. He doesn't do a lot, but I have seen him talking to her and trying to give her a toy or tickle her. Landen has just recently figured out how to open the gate going to the kitchen. It is a hands free gate and he has known for a long time that you have to step on the pedal to open it, but he is not heavy enough to make it work. The other night he was jumping on it and it opened, so now he knows that he can make it open if he tries hard enough. I was hoping that he wouldn't be able to figure it out for a while...oh well.

Adellyn is growing so fast. She has really found her voice and will just sit in her swing and 'talk.' She screams and squeals and has the biggest grin on her face when she is happy. She is also very ticklish and occasionally lets out a giggle. She has also started sucking her fingers or thumb to soothe herself when she starts to get hungry. This is great for me because I don't have to feed her every time she wants a snack. She has even put herself to sleep sucking her fingers. She also examines her hands and feet. She gets pretty intense...her eyes get big and she sticks her tongue out as she stares. I'm still waiting for her to reach out and grab her toes...I saw her do it on ultrasound at 23 weeks! She also loves to watch Landen run around. Sometimes when she is nursing, she will stop and listen if Landen runs through the room screaming...then she grins at me when I ask her if she hears her noisy brother. She is at that age where the slightest unusual noise gets her attention. Speaking of age, we went to the doctor for her 3 month check-up on the 12th. She weighed 13 lbs and 0.5 oz and is 23.75 in. long. She is in or near the 75th percentile for both. I looked at Landen's size at 3 months, and she is 11oz smaller and .75 in. shorter. I thought she would be bigger. Her chubby cheeks make her look bigger than she is. On the 7th, we baptized Adellyn at the Saturday night church service. We thought that having fewer people at church would make it easier for us since Landen doesn't sit very well. Turns out that Adellyn was the bigger problem. Shortly after we got to the church, I tried to feed her and somehow that made her upset...possibly because of the nursing cover. Anyway, she started crying so hard that she could not stop crying. I have never seen her cry so hard and for so long. After she started to settle down, she still had that whimper from crying so hard. My Dad was able to get her to calm down and go to sleep. She slept until it was time to start the baptism. I was worried that she would start her hysterical cry again, but she was fine...I think she even liked having the water poured over her head. I did end up having to go feed her during church and then I just stayed out in the fellowship hall the rest of the time because Connie was out there with Landen. After church, we went to my parents house to continue the celebration...if you know the Becker's...any reason to get together with friends and family! After the kids got baths, Adellyn fell asleep on her tummy on the living room floor while we were playing the Wii! She was tired! The latest thing with Adellyn is that we have been working getting her to take a bottle. Elliot and I are going to a Cattlemen supper on Saturday and the kids can't come, so Adellyn had to be able to take a bottle. We finally got her to take it without fuss on Sunday and she has taken it twice since then...so Connie and Larry should get along ok. I and very proud of myself for going over 3 months without having to offer a bottle...but I am ready for a night away.

In the last few weeks, we have been out and about some. Other than several trips to Norton for doctor appointments, we went to Grand Island on Valentines Day...yes after a snow storm, but the roads weren't too bad. We agreed that the new van was a life saver with the DVD player. Landen usually gets really crabby after a day of shopping, but when I stayed in the van to feed Adellyn, Landen stayed in and watched DVDs. This gave him a chance to relax and he didn't get near as tired. He was also pleasant in Perkins for supper. He colored, cuddled with his blankie and ate really well...I was really proud of him! We also got a new stroller...a double stroller. It came just in time for the nice weather we had. The kids loved the last two days we had and they even fell asleep on our walk on Tuesday! When we got home, we continued to play outside until it was time to go in to fix supper. I really have spring fever after the nice days this week. Sorry this got so long!

busy but not...

When Adellyn was born, I told myself that I would do a little better about posting updates on a more regular basis...she is almost 3 months old and I am not doing so well. I knew I would be busy with 2 kids...but I never imagined how busy I would actually be. Of course, much of my time during the day is spent nursing and I can't really type very well with one hand and she wiggles too much to attempt to prop the computer up behind her. I'm forced to wait until they go to bed at night to update and sometimes that is pretty late...I need my sleep more than I need to update the blog.

We haven't done a lot since my last post. We have enjoyed the occasional nice day by going for walks and even played in the snow the one day it snowed last week. I guess the most exciting news since last time is that we finally decided to trade our Stratus in for a 2008 Chrysler Town & County Touring van. It's pretty cool for a "looser cruiser" (that is what a friend of mine calls mini vans). It has power sliding doors and lift gate (that means I can open them with a remote...awesome), dual DVD players, stow and go seats, ambient lighting, heated leather seats, and a handful of other cool things. If you can't tell, I really like it. The only thing I don't like it the color, but it had everything else we wanted including a reasonable price.

Adellyn is growing like a weed. I don't know how much she weighs now, but I am sure she is over 12 lbs. She is "talking" and smiling a lot. I have even gotten her to laugh a couple of times. I can't believe how much I have forgotten since Landen was that little and it hasn't even been that long ago. She is really strong and holding her head for longer periods of time. She is even starting to like her tummy time! She doesn't really like to be held by anyone but me...which is frustrating. Fortunately, she likes to just lay on the floor and look around. One evening my parents stopped by on their way through town and she cried as soon as my Dad picked her up and stopped as soon as he put her back down. When she allows someone to hold her, she is picky about how she is held...again, she likes to look around, so she has to face away from the person holding her. We have been working on her night time routine. She has gone from going to bed anywhere from 1 to 3am to going to bed closer to 11pm. (Tonight she went to be at 8pm...wow) She is so good in the mornings. She will lay in bed quietly while I get Landen up and fed and dressed. I have left her there for an hour or more and she just drifts in and out of sleep until I get her up. She has had a few mornings where I go to change her diaper and she is completely dry! Even after feeding her she is dry. Then she cries (as if in pain) and then she finally wets her diaper. Then she is fine the rest of the day. This has happened about 3 or 4 times. I called my doctor about it, but she didn't seem concerned unless she was running a fever, which she wasn't.

Whether I am nursing or not , Landen is often trying to lead me around the house saying "cookie," "bankie" (with the emphasis on the "kie" in both words), "o-wow-o-wow-o-wow-o" which means 'I want that' or simply whining about something that I can't figure out. A funny story about 'bankie': I was washing it yesterday and Landen was looking for it and trying to get me to find it for him. I told him it was in the wash and he wasn't very happy about that, but soon got distracted and forgot about it. After a while, I was on the phone with my mom and Landen heard the washing machine and ran back there to watch it. He could see his 'bankie' through the door and he ran to get me crying "bankie, bankie, bankie," (again with the emphasis on kie). I had to take him outside and push him in the swing to get him to forget about it. Luckily Adellyn had fallen asleep on the living room floor and would be fine while I was outside. He is getting better about playing in his room without me, which is nice. I try to go play with him as often as I can. I really just enjoy watching him and seeing how his imagination is growing. He is still playing with the shape sorter about everyday. He has also been stacking rings and he really examines them as he stacks. He is so intense when he plays and I love to watch him. When I think about it, I narrate for him by saying colors or shapes as he picks things up. I have noticed on several occasions that he has excellent hand eye coordination. He can eat a meal using a fork or spoon with little mess. He also has good balance. He climbs into his highchair on his own. He also climbs on this wobbly little table by the couch to look out the window and has not fallen yet (knock on wood!). I have even seen him balance on one foot for a few seconds before falling down! He has been able to get both feet off the ground when he jumps lately.

Yesterday, Landen had some green stuff in his eye and by the afternoon, it had gotten worse, so I called the doctor. They just called a prescription for eye drops into the pharmacy so I didn't have to drive to Norton. Today, I had a dentist appointment in Norton and Landen acted like he didn't feel good (he also woke up a midnight and 6am crying), so I made a doctor appointment for him. Turns out that he has an ear infection that spread to his eye and caused pink eye. I am really hoping the rest of us don't get it. I figured out that he probably picked up the bug last week when I took him to daycare (for the first time) for an hour while I ran some errands and picked up the van to test drive. I didn't leave Adellyn there because my friend who runs the daycare only had room for one more kid that day. I'm hoping that since I am nursing (and I'm on antibiotics for a sinus infection) that she doesn't get sick. She acted a little fussy tonight, but I think it was just a gassy tummy.

I get this feeling that I am forgetting something. I'll add more later if I remember. We are baptizing Adellyn this weekend, so I will post pictures from that.

Adellyn's Baptism

We are going to baptize Adellyn on Saturday February 7 at the 7:00pm church service. I would like to invite all friends and family to attend (Trinity Lutheran Church in Arapahoe). The baptism will be at the begining of the church service, so don't be late. We are also going to have a soup supper before church starting around 5:30 in the church fellowship hall for anyone who plans to attend. If you can't make it before church, you can stick around after church, there will be plenty of food. Please let me know if you plan to come for supper so I can have a general idea of how much I need to make.

Stories

Landen is using more words and is definitely back on track. He is starting to repeat words we ask him to say...when he feels like it anyway. He says grandma (an-ma) and grandpa (ah-pa). He has said "I love you" a few times...I really don't know how to describe how he says it, but he repeats it in the same tone when we ask, so we know that is what he says. The other day when Landen was in his highchair for lunch, I was holding Adellyn with her feet dangling near him, he reached for her foot and said "tickle tickle tickle." I just laughed because I hadn't seen him do that before. Another funny thing that Landen started doing is he spanks himself. He has done this a couple of times this past week when he gets into something that he knows he is supposed to stay out of, like the trash can. All I did was say his name in a tone that let him know that he was in trouble and he walked away with a sorrowful look on his face and he hit his butt a couple of times like he was giving himself a spanking. I couldn't resist laughing at that. A not so funny thing Landen has started is when he wakes up from his naps lately he sometimes cries and throws a huge fit. A couple of times he would throw himself down in he crib and when we would try to pick him up he would arch his back and kick and scream. We have no idea why he started doing this because he used to wake up happy and even be content to sit in his crib and talk to his stuffed animals until we went in to get him. I hope this is just a phase that will pass soon. As I am watching him right now, I am reminded of another way that he is growing. He is playing with one of his shape sorters and I am amazed at how much more patient he is with it now. Several months ago I mentioned how frustrated he would get when he couldn't get the shape in on the first try and now he is figuring out what shape goes where and even patiently turning it to make it fit. In the last couple days, he has played and played with those shape sorters.

Adellyn is also growing like a weed. I am amazed at how much she is filled out compared to our skinny little Landen. She is still not a fat baby, but she has more rolls than Landen ever did. Adellyn had her first round of shots on Monday. She weighs 11 lbs 13 oz and is 22.5 inches long. She is just a little bigger than Landen was at that age. It will be interesting to see if she continues to be bigger than him at certain ages or if she slows down. She is sleeping through the night and even slept almost 12 hours one night. Now if I could get her to go to bed before 1 or 2 a.m. I'd be really happy. (she sleeps in until around 10 when she goes to bed so late) I'd really be set if I could get both kids to nap at the same time during the day. It never fails that as soon as I get Landen down for a nap, Adellyn wakes up and stays up until just before Landen wakes up. I guess there are couple of good things about that; one is that I don't have to worry about Landen trying to drag me somewhere while I am trying to feed Adellyn and two is that she gets used to the noise of Landen playing while she sleeps. I don't want to have to be quiet just because a kid is sleeping, so I make them get used to the noise. Adellyn is also holding her head up really well now, but it does still bobble a little. She hasn't rolled over as much lately. I think her balance has improved enough that she doesn't fall to the side to get started. I still don't think she was rolling by accident before, because she had to kick her leg over after falling to her side. She is "talking" a lot more with coos and gurgles. She usually grins while she is talking. She also "sings" when she is just starting to get hungry. She makes this noise like she is starting to cry, but it turns into a coo and it sounds like she is singing. I hope I can catch it on video before she quits doing it.

Happy New Year!

click on the slide show to see larger pictures and captions

Well, I am finally getting around to updating again, sorry it is so long. We have had a crazy last few weeks. We have hardly been home, and when we were home I was trying to get the house back in order from being gone. Saturday Dec. 13th, I took the kids (that still seems strange to say) to see Santa in Beaver City. Landen didn't want to sit still for a picture, but he wasn't scared. I spent the rest of the day at my parents house and my mom and I worked making some jewelry while Landen took a nap. On Friday Dec. 19th, we went to Grand Island to get some last minute shopping done. Then Saturday we had Christmas with Elliot's parents. On Christmas Eve we went to my Aunt and Uncle's house for Becker Christmas. We spent Thursday in Norton for Nelson Christmas. Friday we drove to Pierce for Wragge Christmas which on Saturday. We drove home on Sunday and went straight to Norton again to see my Aunt and Uncle who were not able to make it on Christmas Day. (I really wanted them to get to see Adellyn since my aunt didn't get to see Landen until he was almost a year old.) Monday and Tuesday I stayed home and tried to get stuff put away from the crazy week we had. Then New Year's Eve we went to the party at Blickenstaff's house. Everyone who had kids brought them along and Landen had a blast playing with them and he was even awake to welcome the New Year! Shortly after midnight my mom helped my take the kids to the house and give them a bath before we went home. New Year's Day we went to my parents house to watch the Husker game. Friday we picked up all of the Christmas decorations inside and out and did some other cleaning around the house. Sunday we went to my parents house again to celebrate Christmas with them. Finally, the craziness of the holiday season has ended. whew!

Landen is acting like a typical toddler these days. He is happy and laughing one minute and throwing himself on the floor in a fit the next. We came the the conclusion that he had regressed after Adellyn was born, but he is starting to get back to where he was before she was born. The biggest thing we noticed was that he quit using a lot of the words that he had learned just before she was born. The only thing he has really been saying is "uhn uh" and shake his head no (I don't really know how to spell it the way he says it, but we know that he is saying no). "Uh oh," "oh no" and "oops" have also been favorites. He is really babbling more and occasionally we can pick out a recognizable word. Tonight after supper he was signing that he was done and at the same time he was saying "I duh," which meant "I done." The other morning when I was getting Landen's clothes out of the closet, Adellyn was starting to grunt and groan and Landen starting saying "Hi Addie" over and over again. It was pretty cute. He is still stingy with his kisses, but every now and then he surprises us. Lately he is obsessed with moving chairs and stools around the house to get to something he wants. When the Christmas decorations were out, it was my Willow Tree Nativity. Now he is constantly going for the phone. Most of the time he just pretends to talk on it or practices putting it on the charger. Occasionally he manages to turn it on. Landen has also turned into a picky eater and he even refuses to eat things he used to love. Elliot and I have gotten pretty frustrated with his screaming fits when he refuses everything we put in front of him. I keep telling myself that he will not starve himself and that he will eventually eat when he gets hungry enough, and he does. At his 18 month check up, our doctor reassured us of that. Speaking of that, he weighed 26 lbs and is 32 inches tall. Landen has also become much more interested in books, especially Spot books. I think he likes them for two reasons, he loves dogs and he likes to lift the flap on each page.

Adellyn also saw the doctor the same day as Landen. At that appointment just before Christmas, she weigh 10lbs 7.5oz and was 21.75inches. I'm sure she is around 11lbs by now. I have not compared how she is growing to Landen, but she is definitely more filled out than he was as a baby. She is cooing and smiling a lot now. She has beautiful blue eyes and we are sure they will stay blue. If you saw Landen as a baby, you may remember how he moved his legs constantly, Adellyn is not quite as active; thank goodness, I don't know if I could handle another kid with his energy. She is pretty good most of the time (although as I am trying to write this, she is fussing). She tends to get a little fussy at night after eating. I asked the doctor if she might has acid reflux. She didn't seem too concerned because I have been able to keep her head elevated to ease the discomfort. She is also pretty gassy, which could also be a cause for her discomfort after eating. My doctor said that it is a good thing that she is not bottle fed or her gassiness would be even worse. Two things that I have found that really helps her settle down is she likes to bounce or sit on my lap with her back against my chest and rock. Once she finally settles down and goes to sleep at night, she sleeps all night (most of the time). For about the first 6 weeks, she slept all day and wouldn't sleep at night. Then I switched her bath to night and it made all the difference. She also cluster feeds at night, which helps her sleep. Unfortunately, that is the time of day when I usually get the most done around the house because Landen is asleep. Needless to say, I have been struggling to keep up on house work and other things I do in the evening, such as update this blog. I have also been struggling to finish thank you cards for gifts that I received since Adellyn has arrived. (If you are waiting for one, be patient, I will get it to you eventually.) She is also pretty accepting of her brother. He still throws things at her and hits her occasionally. He mostly does this when he wants attention from me. For the most part, Adellyn is pretty patient and has started to soothe herself by sucking on her fist. She doesn't really take a pacifier, so I think she is also going to be a thumb sucker. (at least she was in utero) She does like to cuddle and often will stop crying when she is picked up. Adellyn is a very strong baby. She is always trying to hold her head up. She is also still rolling over. I keep wondering how many other milestones she is going to hit early. Only time will tell.

John Deere kids and a funny story

These are some pictures I took this morning. I put Landen in his John Deere shirt first and then remembered that I had a onesie that Adellyn could wear that was Landen's (I thought the pink would help make it look more girly). Then I thought it would be cute to get a picture of them together with their John Deere blankets that Grandma Becker made. I just had a little trouble getting Landen to cooperate. With one grandpa the works for John Deere and the other that uses John Deere on the farm, our kids will have many more pictures like this!

This morning I thought of another funny story to tell about Landen. For some strange reason, he likes to hang out in closets. He goes into either his closet or our closet and closes the door. (they are bi fold doors.) In our closet he plays in the drawers of a plastic storage container and pulls everything out. I bet we find some interesting things in our shoes! This morning he was just sitting on the floor, sucking his thumb and snuggling with his blanky in his closet with the door shut. The funny thing is that there is not much room in his closet because it is stuffed full of clothes, diapers, and a few things in storage. Another thing he does in the closet is knock on the door and waits for you to knock back. We have made a game out of that on about every door in the house. He gets such a kick out of it when you "find" him. Then he'll close the door and hide some more. He has actually thrown fits when I try to get him out.

Our kids are 18 months and 1 month old today!

Click here for pictures.

Adellyn surprised us last Thursday by rolling from her tummy to her back. I had her on the floor for some tummy time and she picked her head up, rolled to her side and pulled her knee up to kick over to her back all in one swift motion like she had been doing it for a while. I thought it was an accident at first, so I put her back on her tummy and she did it again. She has done it several times since. I have never heard of a three week old baby being able to roll over! We have had some long nights here lately. It seems like after 10pm, Adellyn turns into a different baby and she is fussy and not willing to sleep. She has been awake in the evenings so I would think that she would sleep better at night, but when I try to lay her down, she wakes up and starts crying. She nurses like crazy at night, too, which is another reason I would think she would sleep good. I am beginning to think that she might have acid reflux because a couple of nights ago she slept in her papasan seat from 1:30 to 6 (the best 4.5 hours of sleep I've had in a month!). We are going to the doctor on the 23rd, so I am going to ask about it then. On the plus side, Landen is getting better about sleeping through her cries at night and naptime.

Landen has me confused about how he feels about Adellyn. At times he acts like he really loves her. He pats her on the head while I nurse, gives her lots of kisses, tries to share his toys, talks to her (maybe she understand his babbles), and has started acting like he wants to pick her up. Other times he acts like he doesn't want her around anymore. He hits her when he wants my attention and throws toys or his sippy cup at her. He also rocks her in her cradle...sometimes a little too hard. I need to have Elliot figure out how to put a lock on it. He has kind of quit saying new words and even words he used to say. He jabbers on about something quite a bit, but no one can understand a word of it. He has, however, picked up a word that I let slip, so the last couple of days he has been running around saying "oh shit" (it sounds like "sit" or "jit"). I hope it is like other words and he forgets it after a few days. I don't make a big deal about it beacuse he is a typical toddler and will think my reaction to him saying that is funny and it will only encourage him to say it more. Of course Elliot just laughs, so that is encouragement that he doesn't need. When he is old enough to understand and no longer likes to eat soap, we will teach him that he shouldn't say naughty words.

Here's a funny story that happened last week. I was doing something in the kitchen and Landen was in the back room right off the kitchen. He knocked over the step stool and it made a loud noise when it fell. I turned around to see what that was and he looked at me with a worried look on his face and said, "oops, uh oh, OH NO!" (By the way, just last week he started saying "no no"...I can't believe it took him this long as often as he hears it!) He had another similar incident the other day. I had a laundry basket on the bench in front of my dresser (the one he climbs on to get to all of my lotion, make-up, body spray, etc.). He pushed it on the floor like he does when there is something on that bench, but this time the clothes spilled out and made a mess. I came in the room right after he did it and he looked like he was about to break down and start crying and he was saying "oops" and "uh oh." That was the first time he acted like he felt bad about doing something. It about made me cry to see the look on his face, so I picked him up and told him it was ok. Since then, I have gotten that look from him after he knocked over the Christmas tree and after I thump his hand for getting into something he is not supposed to touch. He also has me kiss his hand after I thump it. What a funny kid!

Well, that's all for now, Adellyn is hungry again!