Giggles

Nothing like a good case of the hiccups to get a few giggles on camera :)

Yay Makael!!

Little man is really growing up. Our bedtime routine consists of me feeding him and then laying him in his crib awake and on his belly. He typically turns his head from side to side a few times before settling in and dozing off. I fully expected to see that last night, but instead of settling in to his favorite position, he put his arms under his chest and propped himself up. Not only did he exercise perfect head control, he then proceeded to throw himself over onto his back. What?! When did he learn how to roll over? It wasn't even a struggle for him...it was like he had been doing it for weeks. I considered that it might have just been a fluke so I tried it again...and again he propped himself up and rolled onto his back. He's a pro!

We've been practicing some more today, and at one point he leaned forward, put his little butt up in the air and scooted himself forward...I'm thinking we might have an early crawler on our hands.

I think it's funny that he's so blond you can't even see his hair in the video.

Big White Dog

Woah...two posts in one day...crazy I know.

Really I just have a short story about Gemma.

Yesterday morning (Sunday) Elly and I were out for a run and found a dog. She followed us for quite a while so it was clear she was lost. We got scared she was going to get ran over when we crossed the street so we called her over. She was so sweet! Elly determined she was an Australian Shephard, and while she was wearing a collar, we didn't see any tags. We decided the best thing to do was to take her home and call the humane society..but of course it's closed on Sundays. So the sweet dog spend the rest of the day and night with us. She was incredibly smart and sweet, and I decided that if no one claimed her that I was going to keep her. How great to find a trained, sweet, and smart dog that's great with kids! Unfortunately after a trip to the humane society we found out her name was Clara, and she did in fact have an owner. How sweet of a name is Clara!? The owner called me and shortly after came to pick Clara up. I was so relieved that the ower was a super sweet lady and Clara could not have been more excited to see her. I guess the family went out of town and accidentally left the gate open. Gemma was especially nice to the lady. The second she walked through the door, Gemma began telling her about our Christmas tree and how she had just broken an ornament. I don't think I've ever seen Gemma open up to someone so quickly. Once I told her the lady was here to get the dog, she grabbed the lady's hand and said "common, I show you"....The lady was quite taken by Gemma as well. After a million "thank you's" from the owner, we watched Clara leave. Surprisingly Gemma started crying and telling the dog to come back...break my heart!! When we walked back inside, Gemma stated she wanted to get a "big dog that's white".
We retold the whole story to David when he came home from work, and at the end of it Gemma cheerfully added she wanted a small black dog. Hahaha. I guess we might just have to get her a dog soon....and it might just be a big white dog or a little black dog.

Cute!

Gemma has obviously seen me wearing a headband for my runs recently.

My favorite..."I so cute"

Wrong video

I actually meant to post this one...

Agh! Gemma is sick AGAIN. Remember how I told you we postponed her shots because she had been fighting a cold for 9 days? Well it's back. Thankfully she was healthy for the week of Thanksgiving and for her shots yesterday...maybe her shots is why she's having a relapse. I'm sick of it! I'm pretty tired of wiping snot off her nose, but mainly I just feel so bad for her. Her eyes are all watery and her nose is running enough to keep her upper lip perpetually red and chapped. I'm so used to her nasally voice I've almost forgotten what she really sounds like. She just seems miserable! Not only do I feel bad for her, but I'm constantly paranoid that Makael is going to get it too. He sounds a little congested but so far it hasn't interfered with his sleep. Speaking of which, he is a sleeping champ! He goes to bed at 8:00 p.m. and doesn't wake up for his first feeding until 5:30. I'm usually already up getting ready to go for a run. As weird as it may seem, I'm sad we don't have those midnight feeding anymore. He gets extra sweet during those late hours. He loves to burrow into my neck while I'm burping him and give out the sweetest little sighs.

I'm still worried about how little he's eating. He'll be 12 weeks on Friday and he's still only eating 2.5 ounces, with me basically forcing him. He either gets restless and fights me the whole time, or he stares at me and smiles...basically he'll do anything to avoid eating. What a weird baby! I guess I won't worry too much unless he stops growing. He's still pretty small, but growing non the less.

Makael and Gemma's bond seems to be growing every day. He gives her some of the biggest smiles I've ever seen, and she gets so distraught if he's crying and I don't tend to him immediately. It's cute!
Yesterday afternoon, Makael was getting tired so he was fussing as I walked into Gemma's room to get her up from her nap. She put out her arms and ever so sweetly said, "Come see me Makael, you be okay". I would love to be able to say that he calmed right down and all was well, but no, he continued crying while I got her a cup of milk and got her a snack. At least she tried to help :)

Sisterly love

Crazy Hair!

She managed to tape herself. I thought it was kind of funny when I found it. I think she was using the camera as a phone.

Thanksgiving

I'll start off by saying that I am unbelievably thankful for my two beautiful kids. God is good!

Makael spent his first Thanksgiving with 33 people at Nana and Papa's house. There was a lot going on all day long, and he didn't want to miss one second of it, so he refused to nap besides 10 minutes here and there. Thankfully the lack of sleep didn't seem to mess with his mood much and he gladly handed out smiles to anyone that asked for them. He's such a sweet boy! Gemma also did really well with no nap. It was definitely a fun filled day for all of us.

The best part of the day however was hearing Makael's first laugh. As I was getting him ready for the day, I happened to lean over him at just the right (or wrong) time and startled him. His eyes got huge before he let out the funniest cackle. It was so adorable! I got him to do it one other time but then he refused once David came into the room. Of course! I can't think of many things that are better than hearing your baby laugh for the first time.

The rest of our holiday weekend has been pretty lazy. I've been running a fever and David got pink eye so we've been laying low. Amazingly enough, the kiddos have been on their best behavior and so stinken cute, that we've both been able to relax and get better.

You wouldn't believe how hard it was to get this video! If Makael sees the camera, he just gets wide eyed and stares...so I had to keep the camera hidden, make sure he was still in the shot, and play peek-a-boo all at the same time. Not easy!

Why, presents, and doctors

Gemma turned two on Monday, and sometime in the middle of the night, someone taught her the word "why". It's now her favorite word!! Thankfully I learned pretty quickly that she doesn't always understand the response to her "why", so if I answer her with something completely off topic like "you're so cute!"...she forgets she asked and moves on. She's pretty smart though, so I don't expect that tactic to work for very long.
We had a small family birthday party, which quickly became not so small. There were quite a few people there to celebrate her! Once she got used to everyone's attention, she had a really good time. All her new presents have kept her really entertained the last few days which has been nice. It's hard to believe she's two already. Time flies! Before I know it, she's going to be headed into her teenage years.

Birth


1st Birthday

2nd birthday

We had the dreaded 2 year/2 month doctor visit yesterday. Gemma is now 35 inches tall and weighs 28 lbs. That's in the 50th percentile for both, so she's a pretty average kid (in some ways). She's been battling a cold for over a week so they postponed her only shot until she's better. So lucky for me, I only had to deal with one baby getting shots.Once again she impressed everyone with her talking ability, and since she loves going to the doctor, she was quite the outgoing and charming little girl.
Makael was not so lucky...he did have to get shots. Poor little guy! He let out the initial scream with the first two pricks, but then did the whole silent cry through the 3rd shot before he was able to catch his breath and really let it out. As a mom, watching your babies get shots are not fun moments, but we survived, and Makael is healthy, growing, and perfect! He is now 21.5 inches and weighs 10 lbs 7oz. Still a little guy :) Overall, it was a very uneventful, easy trip to the doctor's office.

Getting more and more handsome by the day :)

More pictures have been posted to facebook for those of you who might want to see some more cuteness :)
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.272206649469806.73119.100000414194522&type=3&saved#!/media/set/?set=a.272206649469806.73119.100000414194522&type=3

Happy 2 months

Today is Makael's 2 month birthday. I cannot imagine life without him anymore. He's an unbelievable baby. We officially have a routine now, and he's taken to it quite well. As soon as he started sleeping over 6 hour stretches, I decided to give him a bedtime. He goes to bed at 8 (just like Gemma) and sleeps until 3:30 or 4:00, and then is back up at 7. Our days are pretty easy now too. He's growing like a week, and smiles constantly. He's starting to really talk when he's awake now, and his little voice is just the cutest. My favorite thing though, is the fact that he and Gemma have started interacting more. She baby talks to him in a high pitch voice, and he just glows. If she walks into the room and says something, he immediately starts looking for her. Thankfully, I can still say I'm his favorite person...for now anyway. Next Thursday we have a big day. Gemma has her two year check up, and Makael has his 2 month check up. I know it's easier to take them together, but I don't know how I'm going to handle both of them getting shots on the same day. There will be tears shed that's for sure....and I'm sure G and M will shed a few too.
Here's a video of little man...
He looks a little funny. The lighting and angle were just weird, but at least you can hear his cute little voice. Gemma had a friend over to play which is why she's squealing in the background.

Happy Halloween

I have always loved the month of October. The weather cools down, the leaves turn, and everything seems more cozy with the anticipation of Thanksgiving and Christmas just around the corner. The only thing that ruins it, is Halloween. I've never understood why people like to dress up as ghosts and witches and decorate their houses with monsters and graves. And to make it worse, every decent t.v. show is replaced with some sort of gory horror movie.
Last night however, I experienced Halloween as I have never experienced it before. I spent the evening going from house to house with the cutest lady bug you'll ever see. I took Gemma on her first trick-or-treat outing and can't remember the last time I had so much fun. She didn't really take to it initially. She reluctantly went up to the first door and then cried when the nice lady put candy in her bucket. I was nervous about how the rest of the night would go. Thankfully, aunt Elly came to the rescue and opened a piece of candy for her and explained that the rest of the candy was going to go into her bucket for later. I guess I should have thought of that, but I was busy taking pictures. Once she grasped the whole concept, her demeanor completely changed and she began going from door to door like she had done this whole trick-or-treat business a hundred times. Gosh it was cute!! I wish I could have video taped the whole night. I think I might have had more fun than she did.
Makael obviously stayed back this year. But I already can't wait for next year when he can join in on the fun.

I wanted to be able to post all the pictures, but that would take so long, I decided to just post a link to the album. Please let me know if it doesn't work.


http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.293871873969950.78403.100000414194522&type=3&saved

Makael at 7 weeks

Well, it's happening, the boy is chubbing up. He really doesn't eat all that much. I still have a hard time getting him to drink even two ounces from a bottle, but clearly it's enough to put some rolls on him. I guess that's what happens when you're basically drinking butter.
We went to the doctor today for Thrush. I knew he had it so I was a little annoyed that I had to make a special trip just to confirm it, but it was fun to find out how much he weighs anyway. He is now 9 lbs, 6 oz and in the 10th percentile! That doesn't seem very high, but considering he was born in the 2 percentile, he's clearly sneaking up the charts.
I'm not sure why this is, but he tends to have over night growth spurts. He will seem the same to me for a couple of weeks, but then on random days, I'll go in to get him in the morning and he's chubbier, cuter, and ready to show me he can do something new. It's kind of exciting actually. For example, a couple of days ago, I realized he was almost 6.5 weeks old and I started feeling somewhat hopeless about getting more sleep any time soon. At that age Gemma was already sleeping 7 hr stretches, and he hadn't been going more than 3. Well, I guess he read my mind because at exactly 6 weeks and 3 days, he decided to sleep six and a half hours. It was marvelous! And I didn't even wake up a gazillion times wondering if he was still breathing...which means I got six and a half hours of sleep too! AMAZING!! The next morning he was not only heavier, but also had more hair...David and I both noticed it. The best part is that the 6 hr stretches have continued ever since.
Not only is he sleeping more, but he's getting more interactive. He now waves his hands, kicks his feet, and coos when he smiles. The boy is just flat out cute!! And he now scoots when he's on his belly...I know, no 7 week old should be scooting, but I can't say I'm surprised, he's always been a wiggler.

I FINALLY got his room mostly finished. All I have left to do is order pictures for the frames.

This picture cracks me up. I think it's funny he's so in to Baby Einstein already.

Once Upon a Time

No question Gemma is an extrovert. She plays the "shy kid" on occasion, but can only keep that up for about two minutes before she drops that act and wants to be your loudest friend. I would say that David and I are both outgoing, but not at her level, so I've always wondered where she got it from. Well I found out. At our last mall outing, while we waited for David to come out from one of the stores, she began hiding in the kiosk where they set out all the calendars and games for the holidays. When someone came close, she would jump out and stand in the very middle of the walkway with her arms stretched open, trying to get the people to bump into them as they passed by. I'm honestly surprised she didn't make them give her a password or say "open sesame" (a game she plays with David) before letting them by. This provoked everyone to smile and giggle which of course just made her keep doing it. I just had to laugh as I watched my two year old stand in the middle of the walkway with arms stretched out and realize she is just like her aunt Elly. Elly did the same thing around that age, in the middle of an airport...in Mexico! You know you are outgoing when you are willing to do that for strangers who look nothing like you and speak a completely different language. Hahaha.
There are a couple of other things that I'm not sure where she picked up. She starting telling David he's her hero. Now I'll admit it's the sweetest thing in the whole wide world to hear her call her daddy her hero...but where did she even learn the word "hero"?
And she's now saying "once upon a time" every time she sits to read a book to herself. Yes, we do read her books, but I can't recall reading her one that actually starts with "once upon a time". All I know is I have to be extremely careful what I say around her. She hears something once...and she repeats it!

Here she is reading my bible. HA! Notice she starts with "once upon a time".

Reflux to snot

Well I no longer think Makael has reflux. I'm relieved! I believe all those "symptoms" I described before were due to congestion. I don't know why I didn't think of that...duh! Gemma had a pretty serious cold all last week, but unlike hers, his "congestion" wasn't flowing out of his nose like an open faucet. I know it's pretty typical for newborns to have congestion, so I didn't think anything of it, but now that he's getting better, he's acting more like the sweet low maintenance baby I quickly learned to love a few weeks back. The thought of taking care of a baby with a cold is way less stressful than a baby with reflux.

He's becoming more and more smiley by the day. I'll add (or brag) that he (just like Gemma) started smiling at three and a half weeks. It's pretty easy to get him to smile if he has just eaten...imagine that! Nothing like having a full tummy to make a boy happy. I've said it before, and I'll say it again...those smiles are the absolute best! I can't help but instantly laugh. There's no way to avoid it. He has a few different smiles... theres the smirk of contentment, the sweet squinty eyes, and my absolute favorite, the wide mouth, head turned, eyes shut smile. It's like he's wanting to laugh with me but hasn't quite figured out how to make the noise to match how he feels. On that note...he has started to make a few "cooing" noises here and there, which are enough to make anyone drop what they're doing and do whatever possible to get him to do it again. I basically act like a fool trying to get him to talk back...and it rarely works...he just gets wide eyed and stares back as if to say, "mom, please don't embarrass yourself like that".

See what I mean? Cuteness!

Garage Sales Rock!

We really like garage sales. Most of Gemma's clothes are awesome finds by Nana. Literally, I've barely had to buy her any clothes the last two years. It's amazing! Oddly enough, I don't like going to very many myself. I'm somewhat intimidated by them. I'm not sure why...it could be that I don't like going through things while the owner is watching me, or maybe it's that I'm not very good at bargaining, or perhaps I get overwhelmed trying to go through it all...definitely all of the above. However, this past weekend, I passed one on my street on my way home from a run and saw a great picnic table. I mentioned it to David when I got home and mustered up enough courage to go. I decided to take Gemma with me, thinking she might like picking something out. Boy was I right! She immediately zeroed in on a bag of bath toys...yes, regular bath toys like ducks and fish and boats. You would have thought she had just found a huge bag of candy by how excited she got. She was beyond herself! I tried to get her to look around some more, but nothing could quite capture her attention like that bag of bath toys. So we bought them, as well as the picnic table that got us there in the first place. And I'll admit it was really fun...I might just have to try it again.
Aunt Elly also has awesome success at garage sales. She bought Gemma a great kitchen set as an early birthday present. Gemma's in love! Ariya has a set just like it so when they left after bringing it over, Gemma asked if the kitchen got to stay. When I said yes, she ran over to it and gave it a hug. The rest of the day she would periodically give the kitchen hugs while she played...it was so cute!
Here are some pictures of our latest garage sale finds :)

Her picnic table

Her bath toys

Hugging her kitchen

5 weeks!

Makael is 5 weeks today!! How unbelievably crazy. Not too long ago, I wrote about how strange it was to think of us becoming a family of four, and yet here we are five weeks after his birth, and it's strange to think of life without him. He's truly something special! I absolutely love that little guy! Unfortunately he's no longer that "easy" baby I was blessed with for the first couple of weeks. I'm no medical doctor, but I'm pretty sure he's developed reflux and has become somewhat of a more "difficult" baby. If anyone who reads this has ever had a baby with reflux and has some suggestions, PLEASE send them my way. He's not spitting up a ton, but he's constantly chocking, or making a "chewing" motion while swallowing hard. He doesn't nurse or take a bottle without chocking and taking a gazillion breaks to fuss. And he seems to be eating less and less. It's hard to get him to even drink an ounce and a half from a bottle these days. Not to mention he makes the most pitiful little faces and fusses for a good 20-30 minutes after every feeding, and we are barely sleeping at night. So yes, tips and advice are very welcome.
On the bright side, he's getting ridiculously cute :) Yesterday we shared what instantly became my favorite moment to date. He watched me fold two baskets of laundry...I have never had so much fun folding laundry. He smiled almost continuously the whole time. It was so sweet!! He doesn't give out a ton of smiles yet (probably because his stomach hurts HA!), but when he does, it's just about enough to make me melt.
In other news, the boy can move! If you've held him recently, you've probably noticed he likes to wiggle non stop... but he's also incredibly mobile on the floor. He's already rolled from his stomach to his back a few times...I don't recall Gemma doing that this soon. And just a few days ago, I was taking pictures of him and his little buddy Jackson (who was born 4 days before him), and he would not hold still for a single picture. He kept rolling side to side and came ridiculously close to rolling onto his stomach...in both directions! I tried explaining to him that he's only a month old, but he won't listen to me...he's determined to go places. I can't say that I'm surprised he's so desperate to get on his stomach. I've let him sleep that way (only for supervised naps) and he loves it. I'm pretty sure if he had been born back in the day when that was considered the safe way for babies to sleep, he would be giving me much longer stretches at night. Oh well.
I'm keeping this post only about Makael. I've noticed that if I write about both kids (still not used to saying "kids"), I'm always worrying about how long the post is getting so I end up leaving out a lot. So my goal is to write one post a week about each of them. That may be a little ambitious right now, but I'm going to give it a try.

Here are the only three ways Makael will sleep:

In his swing

In his bouncy seat

On his tummy

So Makael has been really good about waking up every three hours at night to eat (sometimes sooner) which I'll admit is a little draining on me. I'm not complaining though, I love my one on one time with him, but it does means I'm pretty tired most days. Last night I was having a hard time getting him to sleep. He ate at 10:00 p.m. but didn't settle down and really fall asleep until 11:00 p.m. Right after I put him down, I looked at the clock and thought to myself, how great it would be if he slept until 2:00 a.m. Well, at 2:15 I woke up and realized he hadn't made a sound. I obviously freaked out and ran into his room to make sure he was still breathing...he was :) He was beginning to stir so I went back to bed and waited for him to start crying before I fed him. I woke up at 3:20 freaking out again. Yes, he was still breathing. This time he was starting to make noises so I went ahead and fed him. That's right...he held out almost five and a half hours!! Although I didn't really get to sleep the entire time since I kept thinking something was wrong, I'm so grateful for the longer stretch of time! I hope it becomes a new habit.

Well that's really all I have to report this time :) I know, such exciting stuff happening in the Boyd household.
At least I have several new videos to post.

Learning how to garden.

She was very excited about her new socks.

Can't wait to start capturing some smiles.

This is a little long, but I thought her voice sounded so cute.

Normalcy...somewhat

I don't know if we are finding a rhythm or if my body has just accepted that feeling sleep deprived is considered the new "normal". Regardless, I feel good, and my days seem more manageable (with a few exceptions of course). I don't think I do very well with adjustments so I was pretty desperate to find our routine. I started running again this past weekend, and although I feel like I'm in terrible shape, it felt really good to get back out there. And it doesn't hurt that the weather right now is absolutely gorgeous! I've also started cooking again...not something I particularly enjoy, but again, it means things are getting back normal.

While Gemma seems to be acting more like her usual funny self, she has recently decided she no longer wants to use the toilet. I knew it was a possibility that she would regress in the potty training department, but I was REALLY hoping it wouldn't happen. It's pretty frustrating of course, but I know we'll get through it...we've done it once before right?
The last couple of days she's been a total riot. Everyday is something new...she either has a certain toy she just HAS to have with her at all times, or she wants her hair done a certain way, or she wants to wear a certain shirt. Like today for example...I let her pick out her outfit (I don't do this very often) and she got all excited and went in and grabbed her PJ's...that's right, she changed from one set of PJ's into another. I guess she just wanted to be comfortable today :)

Nanna and Papa came over yesterday with a few presents...they brought several things, but her favorite was the stuffed Winnie the Pooh. That wasn't surprising of course since she has always loved stuffed animals, but we all got a kick out of the fact that she was calling him "Pee in the Poo" hahaha. It quickly got shortened to "Pee Poo", and today she has yet to set him down.

These are her "bug boots" which she likes to wear with every outfit.

Funny story about these bug boots...she wanted to sleep with them one night so I put them in bed with her. When David went in to check on her before we went to bed, he found her sleeping with them on. The next morning when I went in to get her, she was wearing them again. Priceless!

Watching "Fox and the Hound" with Todd and Copper of course!

Makael is growing like a weed! Someone please stop him!! He weighed 6 lbs 12 oz at his two week appointment. I realize that's still small, but it means he gained 22 ounces in two weeks!

We had a really long night with him a few days ago...he decided to stay awake from 2:30 a.m. until 7:00 a.m. That was the first time I even thought about wishing he was a little older...that thought quickly vanished the next morning when I noticed his chubbier arms and legs. It was clearly just a growth spurt :) Thankfully we haven't had a night like that since.

He's changing so much from day to day. It's amazing how fleeting the newborn phase is. I have yet to get one out of him, but Lita was lucky enough to get his first intentional smile today.

Isn't he just precious!!

Under construction

The blog will be undergoing some changes for the next few weeks. I keep sitting down to change the look, but never get done before I have to go do something else. So don't be surprised if it's a different color or format every time I post for a while.

Two weeks in and I'm still in the process of adjusting to two kids. I'm beginning to wonder if I ever will get there. I'm just perpetually busy! I feel so accomplished and think I'm finding a rhythm on days when I'm able to get the kids dressed, feed them breakfast, and get the cleaning done for the day...and then I realized I still havne't gotten myself dressed. However, I think the biggest adjustment has been getting used to the fact that it takes ten times as long to get out the door to go anywhere. No matter how early I start getting things ready, I still feel like I'm rushing to get out the door on time. It's still a little chaotic, but I'm loving every second of it.

Makael continues to be a really easy baby. We've had a few long nights, but I honestly don't care. My days are so busy taking care of him and Gemma, that I sort of enjoy being up at night and spending time with just him. I just hope I don't suddenly crash from the lack of sleep.

I still can't figure out who he looks like, all I know is that he's getting cuter by the day. He's still pretty small but he is starting to feel heavier, and his head has definitely grown :) I'm excited to find out how much he weighs at his two week check up next week!

Things with Gemma haven't been so easy unfortunately. This week has been especially hard. We've had some pretty major "battle of wills", and I feel like I can honestly say she's showing me the "terrible twos" everyone always talks about. Thankfully I have learned a few things from these battles:
1. She's very smart...but I'm still smarter.
2. As long as I win the battle (no matter how hard that might be), the rest of our day usually goes smoothly.
3. I appreciate her good behavior so much more now.
4. I know without a doubt that I love her unconditionally.
5. She's going to make me a better parent.

There's really not much more to report. I've had two glorious crazy weeks with two precious kids!

It takes serious skill to fall asleep standing up.

Loved his first bath! I don't know why I didn't think to give Gemma her first bath in the bathroom sink. It's much more size appropriate.

Hated drying off!

Clean, content, and oh so cute after his bath.

We survived!

It will be a week from tomorrow that we officially became a family a four, and I have to say, it's definitely an adjustment. It hasn't been overwhelming or stressful, just incredibly busy. We're still taking it one day at a time.

Gemma has been a little more emotional than usual, but she doesn't seem to mind that Makael is around. In fact, she constantly needs to know where he is, and go figure she is obsessed with his pacifier...never mind she has never liked them before.

Makael is an amazing baby! He REALLY likes to eat (and poop), and he loves to be held and cuddled, although he's perfectly content just sitting in his bouncy seat too. He had his days and nights a little mixed up for the first few days, so we weren't sleeping much (or at all) from the hours of 10 p.m. and 2 a.m. but I think he's figuring it out. Last night he even gave us a 4.5 hour stretch! What a good little boy...and not even a week old yet!

Although Makael slept well last night, it was still pretty eventful for David and I. Gemma started running a fever yesterday evening so we mentally prepared ourselves for a long night. Sure enough, her fever got high enough to wake her up right at midnight, and true to Gemma form, she threw up just minutes after getting a dose of Tylenol. This all coincided with Makael's feeding, so things got a little busy. I have to say though, I think we handled the whole situation quite well. Within the time frame of 1 hour and 25 minutes, we cleaned up throw up, gave Gemma a bath, washed and dried her blankie, fed Makael, changed his diaper (twice), and had them both back in bed sleeping soundly. And the best part...neither one of us ever got upset. We survived! By the time we crawled back in bed, I had the urge to yell, "go team!" ...don't worry, I refrained.

Aside from last night, we are all doing really well, and slowly adjusting to being a family of 4 :)

A few little details we know about Makael:

1. Likes his hands right by his mouth when he sleeps.

2. Doesn't really like to be swaddled.

3. He hates getting his diaper changed, yet insists on pooping after every meal (sometimes twice).

4. Loves being held.

5. Has the "Yarbrough" dimple on his left cheek (we didn't see this until he got a little fat in his cheeks)

6. He's tiny.

Umm yes, cutest thing ever!

Getting to know her little brother.

Already a mama's boy

Fascinated

Yep, that's his nose.

He's here!!!!

Makael Dawson Boyd

Born 9/9/11 at 11:55 a.m.

5 lbs 7 oz

19 inches

Well, the waiting game is over and we have a precious baby boy! It's still very surreal, and neither David or I are used to saying "he".

I will spare you on the whole labor and delivery story. I'll just say that it was the worst 5 hours of my life, and if you ask David, my mom, or my sister about it, they'll more than likely tell you I turned into a crazy person. But the second little Makael made his entrance, I was instantly smitten! Goodness, he's sweet!

Things are going really well this time...well, I won't speak for Makael since at this very moment he's off getting circumcised (poor little guy). I feel great, Makael is a pro at nursing, and overall I think David and I are much more relaxed. Although we are dying to go home to Gemma, our own bed, and our "normal" life, having time with just our little man has been pretty special. And little he is! He weighed in today at 5 lbs 2 oz, only 5 oz less than his birth weight. He's such a little champ, and such a big eater :)

I'm a little surprised at how completely in love I am with him. Obviously I knew I would love him, but I never imagined it would be so much, so fast.

I'm sure the last couple of days have been a little confusing for Gemma. I'm so thankful for everyone that has taken such good care of her (Papa, Nana, Grandpa, Lita, aunt Elly, and uncle Brett). We owe you guys big time! I've missed her so much the last couple of days, and I can't wait to get home and play, or read books, or just watch "Fox and the Hound" with her for the thousandth time. I still can't believe she's a big sister.

There will definitely be pictures posted this week, and a more gender neutral "new" blog.

Full Term!

Well, we're finally there. Baby #2 can get here at any time...really, any time now. I'm so ready!

I have to admit, I've really enjoyed the last month. Yes, I know, I've been saying the complete opposite for most of this pregnancy. Don't get me wrong, being pregnant is still not my favorite thing in the world, but there's nothing better than having the actual baby, so as D day approaches, excitement mounts, and pregnancy becomes more fun. Plus I'll definitely miss feeling him/her wiggle around.

So now that we're at 37 weeks, I'm fully expecting all those symptoms I wrote about in a previous post to start (discomfort, anxiety, loss of sleep, etc.) However, I haven't started the whole "waiting" game just yet. I purposefully held off doing certain things so I would have plenty to do to keep me pre-occupied. My plan for this week is to deep clean the whole house. I've written out a day-to-day schedule so it's all done by the end of this week. We'll see if it actually gets done... if not, I guess I'll have plenty to do next week too. I still have a few things to do in the nursery as well, but mainly just organizing things.

I started packing hospital bags yesterday. Such a surreal feeling. I think it is a little more fun packing this time because I fully understand what it means. It's close! And life is about to change in a dramatic way. Obviously I knew that when I was pregnant with Gemma, but having experienced it once already makes it so much more clear.

As excited as I am, I do have moments when I feel like my time with Gemma is coming to an end, and it's just depressing. Obviously, our time isn't really coming to an end, but it is about to change so I'm trying to get as much "us" time as I possibly can. I was looking through old videos yesterday, and I was trying my hardest to not get teary eyed. You should go back to the very first video and see if you can keep the tears back...okay, you probably can...still cute though. She's a completely different little girl now than she was just 5 months ago. Her unsteady walk has turned into a steady run, her hair has grown about 3 inches, and her voice has changed. I'm not usually the sentimental or emotional type, but I can't help it. I wish I could blame it all on pregnancy hormones, but I can't. Watching your kid grow up is both happy and sad...it's emotional.
Anyway, after watching old videos, I realized I needed to post some more current ones. She's a lot of fun! I also have a few pictures that I'll upload later this week :)

Tea time

Some new facts about Gemma:
- She weighs 26.4 lbs
- She's 2 ft 8 cm tall.
-Her current favorite movie is "Fox and the Hound", or as she calls it "Fok in the Town".
-She wants to wear pig tails every day now.
-Necklaces are her latest obsession. She wears them non stop, won't leave the house without them, and if I didn't take them away for naps and bed time (choking hazard), she would wear them to sleep too.
-She can now say her name perfectly.
-She's basically potty trained!
-"hold you" has turned into "hold you me" (I'm a little sad about this one)

We've been playing outside much more with how great the weather has been and David decided to teach Gemma how to play hopscotch. I think David had more fun than Gemma though. After a few tries, she decided to go back to just drawing with the chalk, David kept playing hahahaha.

Here's daddy giving the illustration-

Gemma's turn...

She doesn't really know how to "hop" yet, but it was cute watching her skip.

She has really starting using her imagination when she plays. The other day I found her playing with her little rubber duck. I guess he (I'm assuming it's a "he") was sick because she took his temperature and then said, "no fever, you feel better". That wasn't even the cutest part...she also laid out her blue necklace and was pretending it was the duck's pond. I thought that was pretty clever.

This is one of my favorite pictures. There's nothing cuter than seeing a little girl play "tea time" with her daddy. I took several of course, I just don't have the patience to upload all of them.

She caught a virus this past week. It all started last Sunday (a week and a half ago) when she spiked a 103 fever. Thankfully that only lasted a day and a half. Then she got all hoarse and had a nasty cough for the rest of the week. Finally she broke out in hives. I think the hives scared me the most, but the doctor didn't seem too concerned and said it was probably due to the fact that her immune system had been low from the virus. They look pretty nasty, but they don't seem to bother her much. Benadryl seems to be doing the trick :)

Drum roll please!

Well, I think we've succeeded. I wouldn't say Gemma is 100% potty trained, but here are some things worth noting that would lead me to believe we are at a point of no return.
1. She successfully told me and used the bathroom while we were at Target.
2. She has been able to go a full two days with no accidents.
3. She has gone at other people's houses without any problem.
4. I can leave her in the basement with nothing on, and trust her to sit down on her little seat even when I'm not there to remind her. Wooohoo!!

Obviously, we'll get to the point when it's no longer such a big deal, and it will probably even annoy me that she's potty trained because she'll be asking me to take her at the most inconvenient times...until then, I'm SOOOOO proud of her!



Showing Elmo how it's done.







We've recently reached another significant milestone...ladies and gentlemen...Gemma can now wear pigtails!!!! They still resemble little horns more than pigtails, but man o man is it ever adorable!







How cute is that face?!





Baby #2 is almost here, believe it or not. I had my 34 week appointment this past Tuesday, and everything is looking great. I go back at 36 weeks and then begin going in weekly. I can't even believe that.

The nesting phase is here in full force. I have all sorts of things I want to get done, but haven't been able to because I've been busy doing a ton of other things I didn't know I wanted done. Ha! I know I'll get to it all eventually.

This is my favorite time during pregnancy. When time starts to speed up, you suddenly become super productive, it hits just how soon this baby will be here, and you start having a hard time sleeping because you're both scared out of your mind and stupid excited . Unfortunately, this is followed by one of the worst times... when you hit the "full term" mark. Exhaustion sets in once again, time slows down to a crawl because all of those things you wanted to get done, are done. And so, the waiting game begins. You have nothing to do but think about all the things you are feeling and wonder if they are signs of labor. Those sleepless nights due to nervous excitement turn into sleepless nights from having to get up and pee every time you even think about rolling over. And your evening ritual includes praying this baby doesn't decide to stay past it's due date.

I'm pretty sure God designed it this way on purpose. If it was all fun and dandy until the very end, our world would come crashing down on us the second that baby was home. If you've had kids, you know that's when the real work begins. So for now, I'm going to enjoy my "nesting phase" and deep clean as much as I want!

Potty Training...again

Yes, here we are again. I must admit, I have been dreading this ever since our last attempt. However, I've been reminding myself that it really isn't a big deal if she doesn't get it. Most kids aren't potty trained until after 2, I've even heard that it's best to not even try before then. The only reason I'm going against that advice is because the possibility of having Gemma out of diapers before the baby arrives, is much too appealing.

Monday morning I decided to try it again. I really had no set plans to try that day, but when I found her diaper almost dry when she woke up, I asked her if she wanted to go potty on the toilet...she said yes... and it was a success. I can't even explain how proud I was of her. She did have two accidents throughout the day, but she managed to tell me 90% of the time, and even took herself without any prompting while watching Diego (I brought her little seat downstairs).

Tuesday, we tried with undies on instead of letting her run around with nothing. She didn't do as well with those, mainly because I think it gave her a sense that she was wearing a diaper, but she still did amazing.

Today hasn't been as great, but I expected to have a few hard days. Overall I think she's getting it. I don't want to get too excited yet though.

On a completely different note...David and I celebrated our 5th year anniversary this past Friday. We took a two day trip to Kansas City and had a blast. David had a whole folder of things we wanted to do and i think we managed to complete "maybe" 25% of it. Ha! We got to sleep in every morning, go shopping, eat really good food, and just relax. We also went to a soccer game...I thought I was going to die of heat stroke for the first 20 minutes we were there, but it eventually cooled down a bit and I survived. For future reference, soccer games+ 100 degree weather+ 8 months pregnant= not a great idea.

It was a little strange to think about it being our last trip before baby #2 gets here. I think it's funny how it seems strange to us that we are going to have another baby soon, yet in just a couple of months it will seem weird to not have #2 with us. I remember life before Gemma, but life without her now seems strange. On our last day in KC, David and I both mentioned how much we missed her. I'll also confess, that after all the shopping we did, the purchase I was most excited about was the little tea set we got her.

I get sad when i think of sharing my love with another baby. Sad for both of us really. I'm sad the relationship we have now will change. I feel guilty she'll have to see me love another baby as much as I love her, and I also sometimes get jealous that she'll share special moments with her brother or sister that I won't be able to partake in. These are normal feelings right? It's not just me? I'm sad to see things change, but I'm also very excited to experience everything as a family of four. WOW!

I've been working on the nursery and buying the essentials for a newborn again. Having a second makes you realize, at a new level, what a blessing baby showers are. It's expensive even when you have all the big things (crib, car seat, changing table, etc.) But I'm loving getting things ready. There is so much anticipation as the due date approaches! A couple of times throughout this pregnancy I have wished I knew the gender, but the closer it gets, the happier I am we didn't find out. I can't wait to meet the little guy or little gal!

Pictures

Giving Makinley a hug before heading out to swim.


Climbing into everything these days.


Believe it or not, she already likes to play dress up


I was actually taking a picture of our new car...the hug between father and daughter is just a bonus.


Playing with daddy's key chain collection with Zoey.


Yep, still cute as ever in hats. Most of my favorite pictures of her include hats.


She does this for pictures a lot now...she says "freeze!!" and throws her arms up.

Camera trouble

If you know me, you know I'm not the best at figuring things out on the computer. So I still haven't been able to figure out why my pictures stopped uploading properly. I have asked David to figure it out tonight...I've got a few cute ones I'll put up tomorrow if he can figure it out (which he probably will in about 2 minutes). So this is officially my first post without a picture or a video :(
Gemma seems to be hitting those terrible twos a little early, so the last couple of weeks have had their challenges. I've had to step up and actually be a parent...geez! It's funny though, there are days when I hope our next baby is different in some ways, (i.e. knows how to use an inside voice, has less of a stuborn streak), but other days I hope for another Gemma. She does the cutest things! She recently started saying "Hi mommy, I missed you" when I walk in to get her up in the morning. Doesn't get much cuter than that!
Last night was a little rough for me. I got maybe 3 hours of sleep. I was having a hard time falling asleep to begin with, but on top of that, David was jolting awake every 5 minutes...yes I timed it, and yes he does this quite often (mainly when he's stressed out). That went on until about 1:30 a.m. and then Gemma woke up for some reason. So I went and laid down with her, thinking I would get more sleep with her than with David...ha! At 3:30 I finally gave up and gave her a cup of milk. She was either hungry or thirsty, because she downed that glass and quickly fell asleep. The upside to all of that, is that I had lots of time to think...I'm fairly certain I know what I'm going to do in the nursery now hahaha. I have it all decorated in my head. In addition to that, we've also narrowed down our name list from about 20, down to about 5...Progress!!
I'll post pictures tomorrow...

Summer fun

Even with the terribly hot weather, the summer is flying by. It hit me the other day that if baby #2 gets here when Gemma did, than he or she will be here in under 8 weeks...woah!!! I'm not ready yet! I haven't even started on the nursery, and we definitely don't have any names picked out yet. At least there's not as much to do this time around.

Gemma is loving summer! There is nothing more fun to her than going to the pool. We will definitely be getting a pool membership next summer. Thankfully, even without a membership this summer, we've still been able to swim a LOT, and she gets more and more brave every time we go. She is no longer content to just sit and play in the shallow water...she wants to swim...or jump off the side...or float on her back...or practice kicking. Really, she's happy as long as she doing something that doesn't involve letting her parents relax. Ha! It's fun though, I was the exact same way as a kid. I HATED it when my dad wanted to lay out in the sun, I wanted him to be throwing me in the air, or racing me from one end of the pool to the other.

We were in Branson on vacation last weekend, and I only took about three pictures! I took the nice camera, so of course I didn't want to be taking it to the pool. I'll have to take a bunch of pictures in the next couple of months to make up for it :) Gemma had a total blast, was a total rock star the whole time, and got completely spoiled. The girl loves to shop!! She got several little things that kept her entertained during the trip. I think the most "interesting" thing she picked out was a spoon with a penguin attached to it, which she refers to as "Walka". It's hard to explain how she does it, but she tends to pick weird names for her favorite toys. She currently has "Walka" and "Okie". Thanks to uncle Jeff, she also learned a new word/phrase on vacation....."Oh Snap!"
Here's Gemma in her bed. I've tried and tried to get a picture of her sleeping but they just don't turn out well, and always wake her up. I guess this is the best I can do. It's also the only picture that uploaded from the ones of I've taken this month. I'll post the rest when I figure out what went wrong.

Big Girl Room

For those of you who don't have facebook, and haven't seen pictures of Gemma's new room...here they are. I've changed a couple of things since taking these pictures, but not much. She absolutely loves her room! The first couple of days, she ASKED to take a nap. I bought her a little ottoman with a lid, that serves as a night stand, and also stores all her stuffed animals. I think that, and her pink chair in the corner are her two favorite items. We put up rails on either side of the bed for naps and bedtime. We had one hand-me-down rail initially, but it wasn't working properly, so after two nights of her falling out of bed, we got another new one. So far so good!
She takes a bath almost every night these days because she gets so sweaty during the day. So our routine after her bath is drying her off in the bathroom, and then she runs naked to her room. She thinks this is sooo funny. The first couple of days after switching her room, she ran to her old room, and was confused as to why her door was shut. So I explained she needed to go to her new room. A week later, she is still doing the same thing, but now it's just a game to her.

So far this has been one of the easiest "transitions". I thought I would be sad to see her in a big girl bed, but I think it was just as exciting for me as it was for her. I loved decorating it, and then seeing her get so excited about it. She definitely looks so small in her bed when I go in to check on her and kiss her good night, but it's not sad.

I tried taking pictures of her actually in it, but I just managed to wake her up

Well, in case you don't know...we are taking a month break from potty training. I think I'm happier about this than she is. She's been showing more and more signs that she wants to do it, so I think it will be much easier when we try again (fingers crossed).

David has been in Guatemala this past week. It has actually gone by super fast because I've kept myself busy painting and setting up her new room. I'll post pictures as soon as it's fully finished. I've also made sure to plan lots of play dates for her, so we haven't been in the house much. It's been a fun week overall, but I'm usually exhausted by the time she's tucked in bed. We're excited for daddy to get home.

Baby #2 is doing great! I had an appointment yesterday and everything seemed to be going great. I'm beyond excited we've hit the 28 week mark. My appointments are now every two weeks instead of monthly, so expect more and more updates. I have a feeling the third trimester is going to go by quickly with everything we still have planned for the summer. Now that we are doing room switches, and making lists of things we need to get for the baby, I'm getting more and more excited. I'm even enjoying being pregnant...imagine that! We are still far from having a name, but I'm starting to feel the pressure of picking one. With how different this pregnancy seemed at the beginning, I was sure we were having a boy. Now I'm not so sure. Most people have "guessed" that I'm having a boy, but there have been a few to say girl too. I don't really have a preference. It would be great to have two girls close in age, especially since I already have season appropriate clothes, but I would LOVE to have a boy too. I don't think I'll be disappointed either way.

Potty training

I think the two hardest things I've had to deal with as a mother thus far are, 1. the beginning stages of nursing, and 2. potty training. We're on round two of trying to potty train, and I have to say, it's exhausting. I've heard that trying before two years old is too soon, but I wanted to give it a good go at it before the baby gets here. Plus, my niece Ariya is proof that it can be done. I'm pretty sure Gemma is perfectly capable of learning, I just don't know if I know what I'm doing well enough to teach her. Last Saturday was our first day, and it was pretty miserable. We both broke down in tears after Gemma peed on the floor and preceded to slip in it. We were a little more successful after her nap, which is what convinced me to even try it a second day. Day 2 and 3 seemed to go better, and then we hit day 4, which was basically a repeat of day 1. So frustrating! I decided to hold out and complete a whole week, and if I didn't see an improvement, I would just wait a few more months. Well, she got sick on day 5. Woke up running a fever and didn't want to do anything but be held or watch Dora. I still tried taking her to the potty when she woke up, and she went, but then refused her M&Ms for going. I decided to just give the poor girl a break and not worry about potty training for that day. Amazingly enough, she did fantastic. Even with her diaper on, she still told me when she had to go. Granted, she would tell me and then sit there watching Dora for 20 minutes, but she didn't have a single accident all day. The following day was just as great. Today (Friday) has been a little more challenging since she's feeling better and has lots of other things to distract her. All in all I think she's getting it. I'm not sure where she should be by now since I've never done this before, but I'm happy with the improvement. I'm so proud of her! We still haven't mastered going at home, so taking her to the bathroom when we are in public places is still not much of an option. Honestly I have no idea how to even begin doing that, but we'll continue to take it one day at a time. As long as she continues to improve, we're sticking with it. Keep us in your prayers :)

Doesn't she look like such a big girl?

Answers

From the last post, here is what she's actually trying to say:
beeza= zebra
diya= nana
biya= Dora
banna= banana
beja= Gemma
chewchews= fruit snacks
wing= swing
agua= water
bedgie= blankie
taytue= thank you...which has recently turned into sankyou

Of course she did it perfectly three times in a row and then decided she was distracted when the camera came out. I know for a fact she can count to ten in English and Spanish.

I think it's still too early to tell, but she's showing signs of being a lefty like her grandpa and auntie.

Showing off all her "tricks"

What is she saying?

So Gemma talks non stop all the time. Thankfully I usually understand 90% of it, unless of course she's just playing and talking to herself, then it's just babbling. But I got to thinking...If I wasn't actually with her to see what she was pointing at or what she was holding, would I actually know what she was saying. I've come to the conclusion that I would have no idea. So here is a test for you guys. A couple of these will be super easy for some of you ;)
Can you guess what she's actually saying?
beeza:
diya:
biya:
banna:
beja:
chewchews:
wing:
agua:
bedgie:
taytue:
She actually does better with sentences than she does with sigle words, which I find pretty funny. Her first 5 letter sentences has been "I know where it is". She's so grown up :(

Hahaha...first attempt at pigtails!