Life around here lately

As usual, there are a million things I’ve wanted to post about, but I just can’t keep up.  Part of the problem is that I take so many pictures and I struggle to get them edited quickly so I can use them in posts.  I know I don’t need to edit all of them, but I do…

So I thought I’d give a quick update on stuff going on around here and I’ll catch up later (or never).

Jenson

His big news is that he’s potty training and doing really well.  He’s been using his potty for several weeks when we’d have him sit on it.  He could make it happen whenever he needed, but he never really initiated needing to use it.  He was starting to be more willing to sit and use it more often, so I was talking to my sister about how she was going to potty train Max, and I just decided to go for it.  She sent me a “potty train in 3 days” ebook to use and I’m using it as a loose guideline.  We started last Friday and things went SO well – no accidents, no pants, etc.  He even made it to a quick trip out to eat, so we celebrated by picking up an ice cream cake from Whit’s.  Saturday didn’t go as well, and we ended up being gone for most of the day to a birthday party, soccer game for the boys, and girls’ night for the girls, so we kind of just halted things.  We went back to it a little bit on Sunday while Lo’s mom was visiting, but mostly just had him use it regularly, but wearing a diaper in the meantime.  He had some accidents when he did have underpants on though.  Monday I decided to start over again and he did great with no pants on.  Today he wore underpants for most of the day and even peed in the potty at the library, but then 20 minutes later he had an accident of both numbers, if you know what I mean (thank goodness for the cloth diaper cover I put on over top of his underpants).

His biggest thing these days is “Who give it to me?”.  Anything that he wears or plays with, he wants to know who gave it to him.  His favorite is when they are hand-me-downs from Jaxon, Riley, or “Facebook” (buy/sell groups).  He’s also super-into his tools lately.  He wants to “play tools” every day.

Otherwise, we’ve been going to story times, he’s been a fantastic big brother, and he’s still the sweetest boy ever who will give me kisses almost every time I ask for them….20 or so times a day.  He learned his lowercase letters recently thanks to the librarian Miss Sofia who created a matching game for him.  And he continues to master puzzles like its his job and he’s getting paid.

Marlowe

Things have been a little rough with Marlowe still.  She’s either incredibly happy, or upset. There’s not a lot of in between.  She’s been struggling with nursing at times, not wanting to nurse on the left side, or only in certain holds.  We feel like she doesn’t want to turn her head in the one direction as often either.  She and I went to our lactation consultant to see what she could figure out.  She also seems to only eat just enough so she’s not hungry and if you try to feed her when she’s not hungry, she’s MAD.  Per the lactation consultant, she isn’t gaining the recommended amount of weight due to these issues.  She had a few recommendations, but mostly suggested we take her to a chiropractor.  I have pretty mixed feelings about chiropractic care from some past experiences I’ve had, but I do recognize there can be some benefits.  So though I’m uncomfortable about it, we are going because I think she’s really uncomfortable in some way.  The way she screams/cries sometimes is just not normal, and it doesn’t seem to be reflux.  She’s also a little attached to me and Lo, and really doesn’t want anyone else to hold her.  Luckily she warms up if people are willing to hold her through a little crying…

But her happy is so happy…and she has the best smiles and belly laughs.  She rolled front the back the other day while we were at a friends house- it was so quick after I set her down that I don’t think she even realized what happened.  She’s trying to go back to front too, but only gets to her side so far.

Me

I feel like I’m in a pretty good place right now – like I can get out of the house with both kids and get things done on occasion.  I’m trying to do play dates with a few friends more often because its so good for Jenson, and it’s great for me to have someone to chat with for a bit.  Volleyball is going better…I can now jump and actually block, so that’s nice to be able to do again.  In other news, my hair is falling out.  It’s just the normal postpartum hair loss, but it’s everywhere!

Lo

He’s been hard at work in the yard…trying to turn our not-grass into real grass.  He’s been at his job for 2 years now and just got an EXCELLENT review.  It’s the other reason we celebrated with the ice cream cake.  He’s been doing a 1/2 marathon training program and is almost done with it (no plans to run a race, just wanted to do the training).

Boof

She’s a crackhead for treats lately.  I don’t know what’s going on with her, but sometimes she’ll just bark at the fridge (treats are on top) or the counter if there is leftover food or something.  She also manages to find a way to get into something when we leave her at home lately.  Luckily the box of raisins was almost empty when she got to it.