Taya's Tude

It's funny how babies have personalities.
Taya has always been the sweetest smiliest little thing, but lately she's been showin some sass too.

It all started when she learned to crawl, stand, and got two teeth, all in the same week. 
I was so proud of Taya, but you could tell Taya was so proud of Taya too.
She has decided that she is big now, and that she is the boss.
She completely stopped eating baby food. 
She won't let me help her eat.
I load up forks full of food, and she feeds them to herself.

She is 8 months and Milo is 2 1/2.  Milo still doesn't like to get his hands dirty so I am constantly hearing, "Mom, please feed me." I look over and Taya has eaten everything and moved on to licking her tray.

Tay has also decided that she knows how to play. Milo got Woody from Toy Story.
Only problem is, Tay has decided that she loves him.
She puts his hat on and off, cuddles him, and completely beems when he talks.  Every time Milo puts him down, she snatches him up.
Tay is very eager to be independent. If she doesn't like what is going on in the family room, she just crawls off into Milo's room or her room and does her own thing. She'll even push open doors. It's kind of creepy to be sitting in a room and have the door fling open and tthen she comes crawling in like she owns the place (which she does).

Milo never crawled, and he really never was into making a mess.  He never put anything in his mouth.  Tay is a new breed of child for us.  The other day she ate a whole piece of paper in like 20 seconds when i wasn't looking.  It is busy, but I absolutely love it.  It is so fun to watch her explore and try to keep up with her big brother.

Staycation

We decided to try a staycation in Layton as a test to see if we are ready to venture out.

We went to the Airforce Museum, which Milo loved. I thought he might get bored, but he was totally into it.

He's been really into space and rockets lately (not to my delight, I think it's kind of a scam), but it did make the visit more fun.

He kept calling himself a pilot, and wanted to be the driver of every plane that we saw.

He thought the hotel was awesome.

We let him eat his kid's meal in the hot tub, and Tay loved sitting by the pool with her french fries

8 o'clock - Taya went to bed in the closet.
8:30 - Milo fell asleep in the middle of the king size bed.
Chris and I ate our Cafe Rio, and watched a movie.
11:30 - Milo woke up.
11:30-2:30 - He tossed and turned and kicked and twisted.
3:00 - Chris and Milo drove home to try to get a couple hours of sleep.
. . .
It was a super fun test run, but I must say I was glad that we were only ten minutes from home!

The Evlolution of "Mom"

Apparently I'm getting boring.
Milo is no longer referring to me as mom.
He constantly makes up something more exciting and calls me by that name.
It started with him calling me, "Milo's mom", then it moved to "Bob's mom" (after Bob the Builder), then "Aliyah's mom", and then progressed to train driver, kitty, panda, Jessie (from Toy Story), fox, and my personal favorite, donkey.  No joke i'll wipe his snotty nose and he'll say, "Oh thanks tractor man".  Where has mom gone????  I would like a little credit for the menial tasks. 

It's also how he'll minipulate me.  He knows that if he asks mom to come play downstairs, I will often have to say, "No, mom's helping Tay, or Mom's cooking"...So he'll just follow up with, "Kitty come.  Come play with Milo."  How am I supposed to explain that "kitty," is pretend and that I am actually not kitty I am mom, and that mom really does need to get some laundry done.  I am exhausted just thinking about how you logic that out to a 2 year old. 

But in some respects it's nice.  He may fight mom on going down for a nap, but if caterpillar asks him to go to sleep he's all smiles.  Gotta love that goofball.

Kind of a BIG Deal

My baby girl is on the move!

I am constantly so proud of my kids... It's kind of ridiculous how proud of them I am. Especially as tiny babies, they do so little, that you kind of have to milk the smallest accomplishment. I remember thinking, "I'm so proud of Taya for pooping without having to use prune juice." and, "She smiled when I sang the alphabet... I bet she's going to be really smart!" Well this post may seem like another one of those silly things, but at our house it is BIG news. Milo never crawled... even at 2 it was painful to watch him try to drag himself across the floor. I held his hand all day long so he could walk around... But obviously that wasn't an option with Tay, so she's showing us how this whole developement thing is "supposed" to work.   She has been so frustrated because you can tell she is just ready to run around with the big kids.  She thinks her brother is the greatest thing in the world and is constantly try to get close to him.  She's been rolling and flopping to try to get the job done, but she's been mad. Finally on January 31st.  At exactly 8 months old, she has figured it out. She did one of her first really good "runs" during the superbowl. We were all cheering her on; not even watching the game. It was the coolest thing in the world.  I seriously had butterflies just watching her. Atta girl Tay.  We love you little peanut.  Way to get it done!

Can't Blame the Kid

In trying to teach Milo independence, I have started letting him pick his own clothes.
....
He may have become a bit too independent.

All he wants to wear are, "Sylvester pants (snowman), Orange pants (as pictured), and dog pants".   He was sick for so long that I didn't try to get him out of P.J.'s for a while. 
The first morning I tried to put jeans on him he just ran away and said, "no, no thanks".

I always put him in a normal shirt thinking that somehow I'll get regular pants on him... but instead he just ends up horribly mismatching all day.
On the flip side,
For Christmas I got some new ugly Walmart sweats. I asked for them.  When my Aunt gave them to me, she said, "I just shuddered buying these for you".  In my mind I thought, "Why? What else would I wear around the house".  Then I thought of my son... Learning from example.

Sick Kids and the Countdown to Summer

Happy to report that Milo is fever free and has FINALLY started eating again. . . Which means, if he can stay healthy for the next couple of weeks, he'll be out of the "concerning" category. Now I've just got to fatten him up.

Chris always talks about how much he hates winter.
Well, me too!
Sick kids have made me hate the winter cold.
So instead of continuing to complain, we are just going to start our countdown to summer.

126-days until the pool opens!
90-work days till we can try out camping with two kids
18-weeks until Milo can mow the fields with papa Mike.
10-pounds I'm holdin on to so I can run them off outside (that's the only reason I'm hanging on to them).
4- Months until we live on our front porch and eat popsicles.
3-white butts (Tay is pretty tan), that can't wait for more sunshine!
2-Motorized toys that will be so much fun to drive on our lawn.
1-Winter that had better be over right on schedule!

January 9, 2013

Oh, what a day we have had today.
You have been sick, so so sick. Again!
I know that it is serious when you don't even want to play excavators with daddy.
I took you to the doctor for what feels like the millionth time in the last three months. 
I heard my hearts greatest fears, fears that I have been thinking over and over for the last three months, but thought if I kept them silent they would disappear.
The Dr. said that somthing just doesn't add up. 
Four days.  They are giving you four days to get over your fever and be 100% healthy or they are going to start searching.
They want to test you for Leukemia and other immune deficiencies.  I know it's just a test and that nothing is for sure... But wow mom has never been so scared of anything.  My mind races ahead to what our life would be like if it comes back positive.  I try to stop it, but it pushes on and I think, what if we lost you. You are the sweetest little boy, and my heart breaks at the thought. 
Calm down I tell myself.  It's only a test.  Then I think of your smile.  The way that you say, "snickywoodle" (snickerdoodle). Your tractor dance.  You are my heart and soul little guy.
I want you to know I am trying.  I am trying so hard to get you healthy.  You cry when I try to get you to eat, and I hate doing it, but I have got to try.  I even made your favorite muffins. 
We are all praying sweetheart.  Praying that we don't need a miracle and that we have just had really bad luck.  That this is just the worst cold and flu season ever and that nothing is really wrong.  I'm clinging to that right now.  With all of my heart I'm clinging.