Brian is 3 months old!

Truly, I can't believe that tomorrow is the last day of 2009! I can't believe that today is December 30! (I just checked the calendar to make sure!) After a lot of parties and traveling, I am happy to be home for a little while. Kayleigh, on the other hand, told me she wanted to go on another trip the day after we got home from St. Pete!
Brian is 3 months old, and I'm amazed at how much he has grown. He can pretty much hold his head up, although you can still tell his neck gets tired and it'll start to flop. He's close to sitting up by himself, but I think that'll still take a little while. He is getting to be really smiley, and has even laughed for us a couple of times. I love seeing him change and interact some more with us. He sleeps through the night most nights, so I think we'll be moving him up to his crib pretty soon. I wanted to wait until we were done traveling before we made the transition. I am still waiting for a furniture store to have a good deal on bedroom furniture, or no payments for awhile before we get him his set. If you hear of anything coming up, PLEASE let me know so I can go take a peek!

Christmas in St. Petersburg

I don't even know where to begin with my stories. Kayleigh had a BLAST with her cousins! She loves to run around and play with them. Robyn got Brian to laugh for the first time on Christmas Eve. That was awesome. It's a funny little laugh, but it was so neat to hear it. You know it just made my heart swell. I think Brian is turning into a ladies' man, smiling and cooing for them. I guess I'll break down the trip by days.
Thursday--I think I posted that we surprised Mom and Dad Wednesday night, so we were there first thing Thursday morning. Nick, Robyn and Taylor were staying there, so the girls were able to play together. That evening Jonathan and family along with Valerie and Matt came over for dinner. We had a Cuban dinner with roasted pork, black beans and rice, and fried plantains. Yum! Again, the girls were running around with each other and wore themselves out. You can see in one of the pictures that they got into Taylor's crib and tried to see how high they could jump. Mia was the definite winner in that contest! She's a good jumper!
Friday--Christmas morning. Jonathan, Chat and kids came over after they opened their family gifts. The morning wasn't as crazy as I had envisioned. It was chaotic, but fun. That afternoon, the extended family came over for dinner. I think with kids, there were 23 of us at Mom and Dad's house! Whew! Again, it was chaotic but fun.
Saturday--Erik took the kids to visit his Granny and Aunt Ola. I didn't know they were having a party over there, so I stayed home to have some sister time with Valerie while Matt was with his mom. Valerie and Matt, Nick, Robyn and Taylor all left that day. It was a quiet afternoon with naps and a walk. That evening, Jonathan, Chat and kids came over for leftovers and more play time. Chat and I snuck out of the house and did a little bit of post-Christmas shopping.
Sunday--back home for us. The traffic wasn't too bad, but we took our time getting home. We are all tired and happy to be back in our own beds.

Here is my longest slide show yet!

Poor Romeo

My 10 year old cockatiel died yesterday, and it was sadder than I thought it would be. She (yes she--surprise!) had been acting sick for at least a couple of weeks now, and yesterday was a bad day. I think my mom saw it first when Romeo lost her balance one day after Brian was born and took awhile to regain it. Then it started happening more lately. I would realize that she would fly to me and would breathe really hard, like she had flown a lot farther than she did. There were other times when she would land, but not on her feet. A couple of nights ago, I actually stayed in the living room with her on me, because I wasn't sure if she would make it through the night.
Yesterday was hard, because I just knew she wasn't going to live much longer. Kayleigh was excited to leave for our trip down to St Pete, and she was hard to deal with while I worried about the bird. I had put the bird down to take care of Brian, and when I went to check on her one time, she was no longer with us. :( That's hard to explain to a 2 year old, let me tell you! One of Kayleigh's fish died recently, and we flushed it down the toilet. I was using that as an example to talk about Romeo dying, and you should have seen the look she gave me as she asked, "We're going to flush the bird down the toilet??" Then I told her we would dig a hole. I think she thought it would be fun to bury the bird, because she couldn't wait to do it. I had to wait for Erik to get home from work to let him do that, though.
Sad times, but now we have some fun to look forward to with the fam!

More Eikeland Christmas

Yesterday afternoon, we went to Bristol to visit Erik's brother and his family. We gave gifts to the kids and had an ornament exchange with the adults. Kayleigh LOVED the gifts she got, and we had to open them and play with them while we were there. She was able to keep up with the boys, running all around John and Chaille's house. It's funny, because I forget about Kayleigh being the only girl on that side of the family. At least they aren't keeping her out of the fun!
It was fun to see Brian and Trig together again. Trig is 4 weeks older than Brian, but I think Brian is bigger. The two little guys got lots of adult love while the bigger kids played.
Kayleigh got a shopping cart from Curry and Amanda, and a bucket with NINETY pieces of food in it from Cayla and Zac. I only think that all of the food came home with us. I wanted to take Kayleigh to Target today to get her some shoes like her cousin Taylor. She wouldn't leave the house unless I said that she could take her new shopping cart. I said we would take it on a trial run, and I have to say, it worked like a charm. I think it's the most well behaved she's been in a store in a long time. After Target, we took it into Publix, and put some of our groceries in her cart. I think that might have to be a new shopping accessory!! Erik wonders about the looks that we get when we're out with stuff like that, but I don't care. I hear people saying things and see them pointing, but for the most part they think it's cute.

Cute cousins

Nick, Robyn and Taylor all drove to our house late last night. Kayleigh woke up this morning to see her cousin, aunt and uncle at our house. I know she thought it was so neat to have them here. The girls got to play all morning, and hopefully we wore Taylor out enough for her to sleep on their trip to St. Pete. Too bad Kayleigh is still awake. Ugh!!
I am going to run in the Jingle Bell 3K tonight. Erik will stay with the kids while I run, which shouldn't take more than 30 minutes. Erik and I did it last year, and since I am now training to do a 5K with Valerie in March, it's good for me to get out and run while I can. It's funny, because even though I made the conscious decision to stop running when I was pregnant with Brian, I still had dreams about running, so I knew I would get back into it after I had him.
Tomorrow we'll go to Bristol to celebrate Christmas with Erik's brother and family. It's another busy weekend, but it sure is fun!

Early Christmas

So, we decided to open Christmas gifts with Kayleigh and Brian this morning, mainly because we'll be gone on Christmas and we didn't want to haul everything down to St Pete and back again. We've done it in the past, but Kayleigh's presents are getting bigger now, and we're going to have a LOT more people at my parents' house Christmas morning, so I don't really think Kayleigh needs more stuff to open that day. This is also Erik's day off, so it's perfect, because the weekend will be busy with visitors and visiting other people.
The gift I was most excited to give Kayleigh was a electric Barbie Jeep. It was the last thing she got this morning, and I knew she would be excited about it since she loves her friend's electric car. I'm sure you can imagine my disappointment when it was raining this morning. We let Kayleigh ride in the Jeep for a few minutes before deciding that it would be terrible if the thing broke because it got too wet the first day!

Whoa!

I took Brian to the doctor's office today to have him weighed and measured. As you might remember, the doctor asked me to bring Brian in about a month from his last appointment so that they could make sure he's growing and healthy. Well, I would say that he's both! We had a third nurse measure him today, and Erik and I are convinced that they all need to go back to measuring school! When the nurse measured Brian, she got 23 inches. When we measured him again tonight, we got 24 1/2 inches, putting him in the 83rd percentile for length.
The nurse, Kayleigh and I took Brian back to the scale to get him weighed. Thankfully, the nurse let me keep his diaper on him until we got to the scale. One of the other nurses asked me to take his diaper off immediately, which is just crazy! Anyway, we know Brian's weight without any fluids in him. How?? Because after he got his diaper off, he made a pretty fountain! One nurse was close to the scale and whistled her appreciation. Anyway, after relieving himself, Brian weighed in at EIGHTEEN pounds and twelve ounces!!! Oh. My. Gosh!!!
P.S. That puts him in the 100th percentile for weight according to one website!!!

Kids' Christmas party

Last night, Erik's company had a kids' Christmas party at a local bouncy house place. We went there last year and had so much fun, so knew we had to bring Kayleigh again. On Thursday, Kayleigh and I had gone to the mall, and while there we saw Santa Claus taking pictures. Kayleigh wanted to go see him, but I told her she would have to wait until Sunday when Daddy could go with us. She talked about it until we got to the party last night. Of course, when she was finally up close, she didn't want to have anything to do with him. They took our picture, but I'll have to wait until it's emailed to Erik to post it on the blog. We didn't know anyone in line that could take a picture with our camera.
Each kid at the party got a gift from Santa, along with a small bucket that had some candy and a $10 gift card to Walmart. Wow! They got that last year, but this year I thought about how generous it was of the company to do that, especially since it only cost us $5 each to go to the party--and that cost covered the charge to get in to the place and pizza and drinks!
Nick and Robyn, if you all feel up to it, let's take the girls on Saturday morning! That should get Taylor good and wiped out for your trip to St Pete! :)

Breakfast in Bethlehem

We went to church this morning for a children's Christmas celebration. We ate pancakes, scrambled eggs, sausage and bacon. Yum! The kids had a little craft they could do, and have their picture taken in a manger scene. One of Kayleigh's friends was there, and the two girls had fun playing dress up. I will say that it was the Children's Minister's idea to put Brian in the manger and take pictures. I think it's a lot for Brian to live up to.
Afterward, we went to see Jim and Shirley for a little while before coming home and eating lunch. Yes, we were hungry again!

First smile*

*Caught on camera

Two month pictures and Christmas

Yes, it's true. Brian is two months old. I'm not sure how to take his picture with Geoffrey. I think it'll be better once Brian can sit up. I want Geoffrey to face the camera, which means that Brian is still facing his backside. I chose the picture because Brian has his leg stretched all the way out.

We did our Christmas dinner and gift opening with Jim and Shirley last night. They were planning on going on a cruise for the next week, and then there is a lot going on before Christmas, so we decided to get together early. As always, dinner was delicious, and we made out like bandits! Kayleigh was excited about opening the presents, and helped Brian open all of his, plus helped us open a lot of ours.

Sweet sounds

Last night I took some videos of Brian, just watching him move a little bit and make sweet baby sounds. Kayleigh came into the room and told me that it was night-night time and to go to sleep, interrupting our video session. I kept trying to get some videos of Brian without interruption, but the video I decided to post on the blog has Kayleigh barging into the room. It's funny, because it's how we talk to Kayleigh at nap time and bed time. My mom was the one who first told her that she would check on Kayleigh, but we do say it sometimes, or she'll ask us to do it.

Funny stuff

Kayleigh has been saying some funny things lately. Two notable ones happened yesterday.

#1 We went to the mall yesterday, and Kayleigh wanted to ride the elevators. But, instead of asking if we were going to ride the elevator, she asked if we could go on the "alligator".

#2 You need to know that when we were with Valerie and Matt a couple of weekends ago, they told Kayleigh that they would see her at Christmas. Then, when we were with my parents last weekend, they also told Kayleigh that they would see her at Christmas. I think Kayleigh has decided that is the new way to say good bye to people. We were with friends last night, and although we will see them again this weekend, Kayleigh said as we left, "I'll see you at Christmas!"

That girl cracks me up!

St. Pete weekend

Kayleigh has been asking to go to Grandma and Abuelo's house for some time now, so we decided to take a long weekend and head down to visit the fam. We left early Friday morning and made it to see Erik's Granny and Aunt Ola after lunch. Kayleigh was so good while we were there. As always, it took her some time to warm up, but once she got going, she was making us all laugh!
After a nice visit with Granny and Aunt Ola, we went over to my parents house to get settled there. When Brian saw my mom, he gave her a big smile! Go figure I was holding him, so didn't get to see it, but everyone else did. Of course, I can't get him to smile for me (although Jenna and I saw one once before). Hopefully he'll start doing it more consistently soon. We were there for a couple of hours before getting ready to go to dinner with even more family! We went to Sam Seltzer's Steakhouse to celebrate my cousins' 10th wedding anniversary. (Congrats again, Scott and April!)
On Saturday morning, Mom and I took the kids to visit my Grandma while Erik helped Dad finish some things in the kitchen that my parents just had remodeled. Once again, Kayleigh was on her best behavior and enjoyed her time with her Nana. After nap time that day, we took Kayleigh to meet up with Jonathan, Chat, Mia and Nathan at Chuck E. Cheese's for some fun. It was very crowded with birthday parties, and I'm certain the kids could have stayed there all night, but we had a schedule to keep. We were there for about an hour and a half before leaving to meet up with Mom and Dad for dinner.
We stayed through lunch with my parents today. We missed the traffic for the Bucs' game, but did get into some rain. It wasn't too bad, and we're safe at home!
The weekends we spend in St Pete always go too quickly, but it was good for me to get my "family fix" for a few more weeks. Kayleigh can't wait until Christmas when she gets to see everyone again!

Birthday weekend

We spent my birthday weekend in St. Augustine. The weather was perfect, and it was so much fun getting to spend my birthday with my womb-mate! :) Thanks again to Jim and Shirley for providing the lodging and lots of food. Since Valerie and I had the same weekend experience, I'm going to let her tell you about it in her own words. Otherwise, I'm pretty much just repeating her, and that's a lot of typing to do for the same news. :) I will provide pictures, though. It's a long slide show, so get ready for it!

One month appointment

It's funny because this is really a 6 week appointment for Brian, not a one month visit. He had a good visit with the doctor. What I was most surprised to hear this morning was that Brian weighs 14 1/2 pounds!!! Whew! I knew he was chunky, but I had NO idea he would be that big! I forget what his head circumference is, and they said that he's 21 inches long, but I want to check that again. I think he's a little longer than that. If you remember from the last appointment, the nurses aren't so good at measuring babies.
Since Brian is really in between his one month and two month visit, the doctor said that we could go ahead and give him his shots today and then skip the two month visit. I thought it would be better to do it today and not have to go back in a couple of weeks. Plus, I wasn't worried about it all morning, so it was easier on me! Brian did really well, and I think Kayleigh might have cried more than he did. I talked to her about Brian getting the shots, and she was okay with it until the nurse came in with the needles. Then she started saying, "I don't want him to get a shot!"
The doctor does want me to bring Brian to the office in 4 weeks or so to check his length and weight. Since it'll be so long between visits, he wants to do this quick check to make sure he's growing properly. Really, I think I'll just be able to pop in, have him checked and then leave, no big deal.
Tomorrow we leave for a weekend in St. Augustine for Valerie's and my first 30th birthday vacation. Jim and Shirley got us a condo at the World Golf Village for the weekend. They are also coming along as babysitters. Just kidding--sort of! They said that they would watch the kids while we have a birthday dinner Saturday night. They also have friends that are staying with them, so I don't think they want to be on baby patrol the whole weekend. The guys are going to play golf on Saturday, and Valerie and I are going to look for birthday outfits for our dinner. I'd like to go around St. Augustine for a little while if we can work it into our plans. I really like the city and with the weather being as nice as it is, it'll be fun to be outside.

Meet Geoffrey

We would like to welcome Geoffrey the Giraffe into our ever growing family. Erik and Kayleigh got him tonight at Toys R Us. I've been wanting to get Brian a giraffe for his monthly pictures, and found him on Toys R Us' website today, so I sent Erik and Kayleigh to the store for him. We think that he and Mumble will get along well, and we envision them in many pictures together. As soon as Brian wakes up, they'll get their first picture taken.

Speaking of pictures--I got my new SLR digital camera today!! Erik and I ordered it from Amazon.com this weekend, and I was so excited when I saw the UPS truck on our street today. I had been checking the tracking and knew it was on the delivery truck at 6:30 this morning. When I saw the UPS truck, I couldn't wait for it to come to the house. The driver stopped at the house next door and delivered a package across the street (I want to know what it is, Jenna!), and then the man got in the car and started down the road. My heart sank to my feet when the truck didn't stop in front of my house! I was so relieved when I saw the reverse lights and the man climbing into the back of the truck to get my box. Whew! I don't know how those men keep up with where they need to stop, but I'm glad I wasn't forgotten today!

You should see the other guy!

Poor, poor Kayleigh! I was on the phone last night and called out to Erik to bring me a pen. Kayleigh, being a good helper, jumped up to help. She is pretty klutzy on her feet, and constantly has scratches on her legs from falling down. Last night was no different, except that instead of hurting a leg, she hurt her face! I hung up last night and ran to see what happened. Erik got her some ice, and with some TLC and ice cream, she was better. She doesn't seem to feel any pain today, even though it looks bad. When I asked her this morning how she was doing, she said she needed more ice cream. She must be all right!




On the plus side, Brian is still doing well and is growing like a weed. I'll take him to the doctor on Thursday for his one month check up.

One month pictures

Here are some pictures of Brian and Mumble. I'd like to do growth pictures with him and an animal or something like we did with Kayleigh, and since he doesn't have a big stuffed animal like Mumble, I think we'll just take pictures of the two of them. I put the picture of Kayleigh and Mumble when she was a month old. It seems to me that Brian is much bigger--more like Kayleigh when she was two months old.

I might seem unbelievable, but I promise Brian is going to be holding his head up on his own soon. He can hold it up and keep it still for a little bit at a time. I'll have to get another video when I'm holding him so you can see what I mean. His chin doesn't immediately flop to his chest, nor does his head fall backward right away.

Yes, this month has gone by quickly. Has it been easier than with Kayleigh? I can't tell. I am able to put him down more, and don't feel like I can't do anything when he's awake. I remember with Kayleigh I was nervous to even give myself time in the bathroom because I feared she would start crying. While Brian doesn't like to be in his chair or even the swing for long periods of time, at least I'll let him stay there until I have free hands to pick him up again. I am surprised that I am able to keep up with Kayleigh and a newborn. Thankfully, they are both taking afternoon naps at the same time. I've had to adjust Kayleigh's nap time to allow for this, but I need it for my sanity as well.

Kayleigh made me laugh for a couple of reasons. 1.) She saw Mumble on the blanket on the floor and wrapped him up like her baby. 2.) She heard Erik say that he left his food at work today. Later, while she was playing with Mumble, she started saying that she left her food at school today! I'm not kidding when I say you need to watch what you say around this girl. She hears EVERYTHING, and will repeat it!

This isn't a super exciting video, but it's for those of you who want to see more than just pictures of Brian.

A month has passed

Can you believe Brian is a month old today? Where has the time gone? Kayleigh and I didn't help him celebrate this morning. Instead, we left him at Jim and Shirley's house and went to Kayleigh's day care to see her friends. (We're so lucky that they are willing to help!) She has been asking to see her friends for well over a week now, so we finally made the trip out there. She had a good time with all of her friends, but I think she was a little bummed out that she didn't get to sing her favorite Good Morning song. She talked about it this morning before we went to school and on the way home. But, little did we know, they were having their Fall Festival. We got right in there and joined in on the fun. Kayleigh's favorite part was the bouncing castle that she jumped around in.
Everything about Brian is going well. He's eating well and sleeping well, and is an all around easy baby. Kayleigh was the same way. I'm glad they're similar in that aspect.
I know these aren't great pictures of Brian, but I'll try to do better later on when he's awake. I didn't want to let the day get away from me without saying anything or taking pictures of Brian's one month birthday.

The Pumpkin Patch and more

First, we were brought dinner last night from a couple in our Sunday School class. (Random side note: the church now calls it Sunday Morning Bible Study, but I don't think I can bring myself to say that! It's Sunday School, people!) Anyway, the wife made an awesome cake for Brian. Too bad he slept through the visit and the eating of it...Kayleigh kept calling it birthday cake, and I promise you said, "Daddy's looking for candles in the kitchen!" Since she was so adamant about it, I put a candle in the cake and we sang Happy Birthday to Brian. Then, the three of us enjoyed his cake. It was delicious, although the fondant was a little too sweet for me. I must be getting old, because I never used to say things like that!

I finally found a double stroller on Craigslist that wasn't too expensive. I didn't want to buy a new one, because usually used is just as good, and I don't know how much we'll use it. The man that I bought it from actually delivered it to the house last night! He was going to come this morning, but I'm fairly certain he knew how dirty the stroller was and didn't want to clean it, so came when the light wasn't so good. Erik and I took it apart last night and washed everything we could. It smelled like gasoline--yuck! I wiped down the frame, and I think once it's all put back together it'll be as good as new.



Today is Erik's day off, so we made plans to go to the pumpkin patch that one of the churches close by hosts every year. The money from sales goes toward their missions fund, so we figure it's a great place to spend money. Kayleigh has a cute fall dress that I thought would be perfect for the pumpkin patch, and my friend, Jenna, bought a Halloween outfit for Brian. Once again, Brian slept through the excitement, but Kayleigh was nice enough to stay awake and let us take some pictures of her. I think she was annoyed with me because I kept telling her to look at the camera instead of away from me! (If I had an SLR camera, I'm sure I could have gotten better shots! Hint! Hint!) We have to work on getting her to give a nice smile and look at the camera at the same time. Maybe next year...Either way, it was fun to get out there. We bought two pumpkins for Erik to carve this year. Hopefully they won't rot in the garage like the one did last year. I'll post pictures when he's done. He bought a book this year of patterns that have a front and back, so you'll see the front of the pumpkin like you normally would, and then the back is carved out, too, so it'll cast a shadow on the wall. Cross your fingers that it'll work!

Thank you Magic Eraser!

I'm sure most of you have had someone tell you what a wonderful thing the Magic Erasers are. I know I have used one once before, but I can't remember what I cleaned up with it. I used my second one tonight. I was talking to my Mom on the phone, and as soon as I hung up Kayleigh says, "Mommy!" "What?" "I'm drawing on the chair!" Ugh! I had been writing thank you notes, and Kayleigh was using one side to draw pictures. I had literally been away for about 5 minutes, and in that time she decided that drawing on paper wasn't so much fun anymore. The chair is leather, and she got 5 good drawings on there before admitting what she did. The Magic Eraser got it all cleaned up. Erik said I should have taken a picture of the chair, but I didn't know if he would find it amusing enough to keep a record of it.
So, if you have ever wondered how to clean something up, go and get some Magic Erasers to keep on hand. I heard about their magical powers from my sister-in-law, Chat, and am now bestowing my knowledge on to you! :)

Dora jammies

Kayleigh's favorite show right now is Dora the Explorer. Last night, we had to go to Walmart to get a few things, and Erik found these cute Dora pajamas. He asked Kayleigh if she would like them, and of course she said yes. I washed them last night so that she would have them tonight to sleep in. After dinner I called her into my bedroom and we quietly put them on so she could surprise Erik. I'm pretty sure he could hear us talking, because Kayleigh doesn't always have a good quiet voice, but he acted surprised to see her. She was so excited to wear them, and I know they will be nice to have on these cold nights.

We did it!

Yesterday was my first day home alone with our two kids. I was definitely nervous about what the day would be like, but it went by quickly, and without many problems. think the hardest part is trying to feed Brian and give him what he needs as well as pay attention to Kayleigh and meet her needs at the same time. Luckily, she is so easy going, so we managed just fine. We even tried to go on a little walk yesterday, but it started to rain on us, so we had to come back to the house. We'll try again today if the weather will hold up for us. Sometimes I feel bad that Kayleigh is stuck at the house all the time, but I'm not ready to take the two of them out by myself just yet.


Little Mommy feeding her baby using the Boppy and Udder Cover!

Thursday

Am I the only one who can't believe that it's Thursday already?? Where has the week gone? I figured I should post some more pictures so people can see how much Brian is changing. Really, how much can a baby change in a week??? Not much, in my humble opinion. Today is also his due date, so what better day to post?
Erik and I took Brian to the doctor yesterday to be checked out by his pediatrician. He just did a once over, weighed him and took his length and head circumference. Actually, the nurse that I don't like (the only one at the doctor's office) did the weighing, and other measurements. Brian weighed 9 lbs, 1 oz. I finally got my 9 pound baby!! The nurse also tried to tell us that Brian is 21 7/8 inches long. Erik and I both noticed that she started her measurement at the 1 inch mark, rather than the beginning of the tape measure. After she left the room, Erik re-measured, and not surprisingly, it came out to 20 7/8 inches! We go back sometime in November for his 1 month check up.
Overall, I'm feeling really good. My stomach hardly hurts at all, and I've stopped taking my pain medicine. I know I'm doing better with this recovery than with Kayleigh's since I won't have to refill my medicine like I did with her.