C and D

C and D

Sunday, June 24, 2012

The thumb sucker




Monday night we decided to kick the swaddle to the curb and see how carrig did. It did not go well. Repeat, not go well.
The miracle blanket was absolutely wonderful for the first three months of life but fatso got way too big for it reaaaaal quick so we had to get rid of it. I know a lot of people do the gradual one arm out thing but i thought that because c sleeps on his belly during the day that we could just put him on his belly at night and call it good. Wrong.
The first night he screamed for about an hour and a half, with Paul or i going in every two seconds to try and comfort him. Finally about 930ish he passed out and I was hoping we were
Good. 130am, he's up crying. 430am, up crying. 530am, up crying and then at 630 when he got up again I finally went in to get him.
Thankfully that was the worst night but it's been a bit of a hard
week on the little man and I think this is his newfound self soothing technique. I guess when he figured mommy wasn't gonna come, he better help himself.

He is so sweet even if he is a stubborn son of a gun.

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Saturday, June 23, 2012

Chatty Carrig

I could listen to him tell stories all day long.

YouTube Video

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Thursday, June 21, 2012

Shooooweeeee

Im annoying but he is cute.

YouTube Video

Our new favorite activity and decky has to join in.....clearly.

YouTube Video

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You're gonna miss this......

You're gonna miss this



You're gonna want this back



You're gonna wish these days



hadn't gone by so fast



These are the good times



So take a good look around



You may not know it now



But you're gonna miss this........




That song gets me every time. As hard as these days are and the boys are each in a different funky stage, oh how I'm going to miss it.
These are the simple days, I know, and I'm trying my damnedest to really treasure each for what it is. Every single day Declan comes running to me with open arms yelling "mommmmyyyyy". Every single day carrig cuddles and loves on me like you wouldn't believe. Every day the two of them smile at each other and you can tell its already a bond that neither Paul nor I will have with them. They are brothers and thats so special. Every day I witness every second of their lives and i know how lucky I am to get to stay home because soon enough they will be out in the world, too cool for mom, hangin with their friends and I'll be longing for the days that carrig laid in my lap and smiled at me for an hour straight,
or the days when Declan refuses to leave my side and willingly gives me humongous hugs and kisses.
Oh, I'll miss them. Tearing up thinking about it......

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Tuesday, June 19, 2012

Who's ready for bed???





Not this kid, I can tell ya that. This was right after his bottle, right before he was supposed to be in bed. Looks pretty tired huh......

We are transitioning out of the swaddle/having to do a little sleep training as of last night and it is pretty brutal. He is not digging the new arrangement and I think he thought if he was cute and smiley we wouldn't put him down. Wrong, young man. Love you lots but you need to sleep. Here's hoping tonight is a little better than last night.

Doubtful. Blah!

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Monday, June 18, 2012

He is so special.....




With mommys coolest socks no less.



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Saturday, June 16, 2012

My dear sweet baby C:

I have no clue what type of man you will turn into but I just want you to know, as an infant you are the sweetest, most cuddly little boy ive ever been around. And it warms your mushy mommys heart. I am a serious cuddle lover myself so to snuggle you all day everyday has been a blessing I really didn't even know I wanted or needed. You have been so amazing for our family, Carrig. You absolutely complete it.

You are my sweet kissy face cuddle bug and I love you more than I ever ever ever thought possible.



Here you are tonight after a fun filled night of flirting with daddy's players. You were your sweet smiley self and made quite an impression. These might be your best years in the girl dept so I'll try to take more pics for ya so as to document that at one point in your life, you had 5 super cute girls fighting over you :)

Love you monkey!!!!!

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Friday, June 15, 2012

I mean.........




I cannot deal with how much my heart swells when I see these boys cuddling and smiling.



Could you resist this face? I cannot.

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The glasses

Are workin'



If you can see thru the glare, his eyes are straight!!!! Yay!!!
This kid has had a time of it the past few months so I'm glad one thing is getting sorted out :) even if he does have to wear these until he's 12 yrs old.....

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A proud mom.

Declan has been going to speech therapy since early February and the improvement is sort of astronomical. He says things that I know a lot of kids have been saying for months now and I literally cry. Its amazing to hear his voice and have him really communicate with me instead of grunting...or screaming. We did a lot of screaming from 1 yr to 2 yrs :) Don't get me wrong, the kid still is who he is and he's a stubborn, extraordinarily strong willed child which makes the "terrible two's" extra special, so we still have screaming going on but its just more when he doesn't get his way. Not every two seconds because he can't tell me what he wants or needs.

So anyhow, yesterday at speech, his therapist did some testing. She's been as shocked as we have about how great he's doing and how quickly he has picked it all up so she wanted to put him thru some testing and see where he was stacking up. This was pretty cool because when we did his testing initially right at the end of January, she said he was clearly behind, definitely had a delay, but usually at this age she wouldn't recommend therapy because most kids can't concentrate long enough for it to be helpful. Not Decky though, she said she thought he'd do really well with it because he's able to sit and focus like a big kid. In any case, it is paying off because he is testing right on track with his age in terms of speech (a few things he was still a little behind but not neeeeeearly as far as before), but on the comprehension end he tested consistently and very easily into the 4-6 age group. Go ahead big buddy!!!!!

This surprises me, but it doesn't. I know every parent thinks their kid is some sort of special human being but I've coached enough of THOSE kids with THOSE parents so I do try to be as non partisan as a mom can be. I see Decky's flaws, trust me, truuuust me, but I also see the special aspects of his personality and from a very very early age I noticed how perceptive, how focused, how determined, and really how smart he is. You watch him play and you can see his mind going...its pretty cool.

The other part to this is that Declan is a biggggggg watcher. He is not much of a "jump in and do it" type of kid. In some ways its a bit difficult to deal with in social settings because you want your kid to be that outgoing one who just immediately is smiley and interacting etc with other kids and parents but that just isn't Declan. He has to sit and watch EVERYTHING. He clings to me until he's scoped it all out, assessed the situation, seen what looks fun, seen what kid looks nice, seen what parent looks like they might give good hugs, and then he will gradually squirm his way in. He's a big internalizer and this process can take hours or it can take days/weeks. There are people who he's known for 6 or 7 months now that he still, every time he sees them, has to warm up again. He reminds me so much of Paul in this respect.............he trusts no one until they prove themselves.

All that said though, and it doesn't surprise me how much Declan takes in and knows. It doesn't surprise me that his mind is operating at that of a kid twice his age. He watches every single move you make. And every move his friends make. And every move their parents make. And every interaction between every single person in his life. Kind of freaks me out actually - talk about having to be on your game.

I have visions of Declan years from now. I could be totally off, but I see him as that guy with a little bit of mystery that drives the ladies crazy :) I see him as the guy that makes you chase him. I see him as the strong silent type. Silent until you prove yourself. Then he won't friggin shut up ;)

So anyhow.....I can't say enough how proud I am of Declan. Bernadette, the speech therapist, has been a wonderful resource for me because not only does she see him every single week in a school type setting, but she's been doing this for over 30 years so she has toooonnnnns of experience and can give me tons of good advice. She's been enlightening and encouraging, and for that, this has been worth it. And Declan my dear.... you're so excited to learn, you're growing leaps and bounds every single day and its just been so fun to watch. Its the little things. In some ways I'm thankful my son has had a rough time speaking because what some people take for granted, we absolutely do not :) Little words every single day are huge milestones in his life. When he puts 3 and 4 words together, something a lot of kids his age have been doing for months, we throw a party.

If we get this excited for his speech I can only imagine what's to come in the rest of his life.....Decky, we love you so much my dear and we are SO proud of you. So proud.

Thursday, June 14, 2012

Home............

Last Wednesday, the four of us drove up to Charlotte as Paul was flying out of there to Colorado and then Texas for a week. I did not, repeat, NOT, want to be by myself with these crazies so we went to stay with my parents while he was gone. And it was awesome.....I'm so so so sooooo (get the point?) glad that we went. It was my first time being in Charlotte for more than a few days probably since I was in college home on break and I really got to enjoy some downtime in my old hometown. Which, by the way, is far different than when I grew up - way cooler. We had tons of family time, a little friend time, a couple farmers market trips, a few trips to my favorite stores (trader joes and nordstrom yayyy!!), multiple trips to the park and feeding the ducks, and just overall a massive amount of snuggles, cuddles, smiles and laughter with these boys.

I've said it before, but having kids just makes your life better. It makes every activity, maybe a little more difficult and/or stressful, but SO much more fun. They are loud and wild but the love they bring......oh the love. They brought it to Charlotte and hopefully my family had as much fun as we did :) I know my mom probably doesn't miss all the extra clutter, I know my brother doesn't miss the early morning truck running and screaming "maaaaaa, the meatloaffff", I know my dad doesn't miss the public freakouts over wanting candy when its in fact time to eat dinner (real food) at a restaurant but I do hope they miss the laughter that comes with the clutter of toys, the smiles that comes with the early mornings and......not sure what comes with the public freakouts but if I come up with something i'll let ya know ;) we had an absolute blast and as always, so glad to be so much closer to FAMILY!

Some pics from the trip:

Didn't even make it to Paul's school before this kid was out...

A two year olds best friend



Pretty Llandy!

Beautiful Llewellyn/Cox ladies with my boy.........

 My 2nd mom with my 2nd baby boy

Mamaw giving Carrig a little bottle. Mamaw and Gammy did in fact fight over who would feed him...love them!


Uncle Kenan!!! (or "nanny" as decky is saying right now...)

Kenan let me eat first and I loved watching him try to juggle a hot dog and a 3 month old. It was fantastic - love you nanner naner!

This little cheese monkey's face is what I saw every time I would glance over at him. He's such a trip and he knows it. He just smiles all.the.time.


Somebody loves his Uncle Boo Boo!





Spent 30 mins at Lens Crafters trying to get Dec's glasses fit a little better to his head. 30 mins later and not one person had helped us so we resorted to a lollipop and serious spinning in the chair. We then left......


How old does he look here? It kills me...looking at him and my heart just beats out of my chest. I love him so.

......and then he does this shiz.


I was pumping and my mom came downstairs and asked where Decky was. I thought he was in the hallway playing with his trucks. He was in fact in the hallway, playing with the diaper cream, putting it all over his face like daddy does when he shaves....................my mom and I laughed for 15 minutes straight but really, it wasn't funny trying to get that crap off.


The hair was especially special.


Joyous.

And the next morning, we had a toothpaste incident. Boys. FREAKING BOYS.


I came down from taking a shower and apparently C had woken up from his nap. My brother had gone to get him and they were just hanging, watching some TV. Best buds.

His smile kills me. Yours too, Boo ;)




Visiting Gammy and Grandy!





 Trying to get a pic with my mom and the boys. More difficult than you might think.....or if you have kids, maybe its not.

Love them! Love love love

Declan's crack - popsicles.



The end. We had such a wonderful time. Thanks mom, dad, Grammy and Kenan. Love you guys so much and so glad we got to spend some really good time together last week. MISS YOU!