The first week back

Adam and I had no idea how this week would go, with me being back at work. We were very pleasantly surprised that it exceeded our expectations! Kale is waking up once a night, for about 3-4 minutes between 12:45 and 2 a.m. He doesn't wake up again until sometime between 5:15 and 5:45 a.m. - which is fine because I'm almost ready by then and Adam is just getting up. He picked a great week to sleep through the night! I think part of it is because he's getting so big, and the other part is that he's exhausted after his day at daycare! Jane told me that she can't believe how well he adjusted. He doesn't take long morning naps, but he's giving her at least 3 hours in the afternoon. Every day we picked him up this week he was smiling, so we figure that's a good sign! He loves to watch the other kids, and Jane tells us that they talk to him quite a bit. He sat in an excersaucer for the first time this week, and loves it. We put ours together today, and he bounces around like crazy. He is an active little guy. He also rolled over for the first time from back to tummy, which is great. It goes to show our hard work at PT and at home has paid off! Next week he has a PT and chiropractor appointment, and the week after his is head measurement and 4 month check-up.

Nolan is doing okay, but seems to be battling some type of ailment. We're not sure if it's a tummy thing or something else, but he hasn't quite been himself this week. We have an appointment for him next week, too, to check out his ears. He's still been pretty funny, though. Every Tuesday Adam has archery, so it's just me and the boys during bedtime. My routine is to get Kale fed and in bed around 6:30. During this time Nolan runs back and forth between Kale's room and the living room, whispering to his heart's content. I wasn't sure he could whisper, but with a little practice we made it happen.

I found out that I'll be traveling for work the first week in February. It will be really interesting to figure out how Adam is going to deal with the boys by himself for 4 days. I feel kind of bad, but then I think about how quiet the hotel room is going to be and I don't feel quite as bad!

And like that it was done

I'm not sure how it happened so quickly, but my time at home with Kale is done. 15 1/2 weeks went so fast! I have mixed emotions about going back to work. I know I'm ready to go back (even though I don't know what I'll be doing yet!), but I know I'm going to miss my lazy days with Kale. Some days with him were of course better than others, but overall I really, really loved my time home with him - even more so than with Nolan. I think it's because I knew what I was getting in for, and was far more prepared this time around. Kale is going to get lots of love and attention from Jane and all the kids at daycare, so I don't have any concerns about how he'll be taken care of while I'm at work. We had a good thing going, the two of us! I didn't cry when I dropped of Nolan, but I have a feeling I just might with Kale. Good thing I have an office door to close at work.

Speaking of time flying, where did the last 2 weeks go? Christmas celebrations, of course! We spent time with Adam's family on Christmas Even and Day, the Oven extended family in Rochester the day after Christmas, and with my family Wednesday - Saturday of last week. We even got to ring in the new year and celebrate my dad's 60th birthday! Okay, so I didn't get to actually ring in the new year. The sleepless nights of traveling with our children caught up with me, and Nolan was sick again - battling more teething, another ear infection and a terrible cough/cold. He woke up at about 10:45, so Adam and I rang in the New Year (and our 4th anniversary) at 11 with the east coast, and then I went to bed with Nolan. Adam stayed up with my sisters/brothers-in-law to actually ring in the new year. I know, lame. But such is the life when we travel with our children!

Adam and I are still trying to figure out where to put all the new toys the boys got for Christmas. There are a few toys of Kale's that we're not evening opening right now - we'll wait until it's a little closer to the "age appropriateness" listed on the box. It's funny - Nolan does like all the toys he got, but he really likes a lot of Kale's toys better. Hopefully he'll be good at sharing when the time comes that he needs to do that!

Kale isn't sleeping quite through the night yet, so tonight will be interesting. He's so darn gassy that he's been waking up 2-3 x's/night, which is a huge step backwards from what he was doing about 3 weeks ago. I'm preparing myself for all the coffee I'm going to have to drink to keep me going! He's still busy playing with his feet, practicing rolling from side to side in hopes to flip over from his back to tummy, and LOVES "standing". He's not one to stay in one spot for long, and he really lets you know when he's not happy! On the flip side, Kale is turning in to quite a giggler, and his laugh is so funny. One of his favorite things to do is stare at himself in the mirror.

Nolan has been really funny lately. The other day I was feeding Kale and Nolan was reading a book upside down. I told him to turn in around, and instead of turning the book around he turned himself around. That gave me quite a laugh. He got a basketball hoop for Christmas, and somewhere (and we don't know where) he learned that he should jump when he shoots a basket. He picks up on things so quick! And today when I was cleaning the kitchen I asked him to help me. I gave him a rag, and he got down on his hands and knees and started scrubbing the floor. Again, nothing we've actually taught him, but proves that he pays attention to everything we do! Another reminder that we need to watch what we say/do around him!

Ho ho ho

Kale's 3 month pictures far exceeded anything we had imagined. He was uber smiley - which is the exact opposite of how Nolan usually is at his professional pic appointments! We even managed to get a picture of both of the boys together - although Nolan refused to smile. That's ok - it's a great memory! As I look at the pictures of the 2 of them together I'm reminded of how I was with my sister Gina. Gina was always the super smiley one, and I was never real smiley, but I also didn't cry a lot, either. They always say you'll have a kid who is just like you when you were young. I think I'm going to get that with Nolan! We were going to visit the Santa at EP Center, but found out that an event that had been scheduled in Mound at the senior center for last weekend was rescheduled for yesterday, so we decided to go there instead. Adam and I had very low expectations for our visit with the boys to see Santa Claus. It went well last year, and we figured Nolan would freak out and cry - especially for how pouty he was at the mall for Kale's 3 month pictures! Nolan surprised us and wasn't scared at all. He walked right up to Santa and stared at him - and then gave him a high five. He even sat on his lap with no issues. He is always full of suprises! After visiting Santa we went in to another room where they had a few activities for the kids. Nolan did some coloring while I fed Kale. He also tried to make friends with a few other kids who were there. It's always nice when Nolan steps out of his shell to meet new kids!

Nolan is working really hard on his ABC's and counting. Jane works with the kids every day at daycare, and Nolan is actually retaining some of that info. His favorite thing to do is dance - or as he says, "ancing". His other new favorite phrases include "yummy yummy yummy" when he really likes something he's eating and "where's dada/where's mommy". The other new development is that Nolan has finally learned how to say no. Up until now he has only shook his head no while saying uh uh. We're not sure how we feel about that yet. He's using the word way more often than we like! Nolan also asks Jane quite frequently where Adam is during the day, and Nolan now knows he's "at the office". It's amazing to both of us how quickly he picks up on words now, and how much he remembers!

In the last few weeks Kale has been busy, too. He found his feet, which gives him hours of entertainment - day or night! He is also talking a lot more, and is able to sit in his bumbo. The PT told us last week to work on his neck muscle development side to side, so we practice rolling over from back to tummy quite a bit during the day. I can definitely tell the right side of his neck is still stronger, but we're working at it.

Adam and I are really looking forward to Christmas with the kids, especially Nolan. He loves to open gifts, and says "wow" every time he's excited about something. We didn't get him or Kale a lot of gifts, because we know they'll both be spoiled at our other family events. We're spending Christmas Eve and Day with Adam's family, the day after in Rochester, visiting my grandma next Wednesday and then heading up to my parent's over New Year's weekend. We are all going to be a bit out of sorts, but that's part of the holiday season!

Big boys

I had a busy day with the boys yesterday. Kale had a PT appointment in the afternoon, so I decided to combine that with a stop at the dr. for Nolan, too - we suspected he had an ear infection. Nolan really hadn't been feeling well. He was waking up at night crying, digging in his ear, has a runny nose and super raspy voice, and was clumsier than normal. Because of all that Nolan did not want to walk on his own, so not only was I pushing the stroller with Kale but also carrying Nolan. What a workout! Kale's PT appointment was good. He is getting better range of motion in his neck, but we still have some work to do. Adam met us at the clinic for Nolan's appointment. It felt good to know we weren't going crazy when the dr. confirmed it was in fact an ear infection. What blew us away the most was what our little boys weighed in at on the scale. Nolan is described by anyone who holds him as "solid". Yes he is - at 28 lbs! And Kale is keeping up with Nolan in a rather large way. He already weighs 14 lbs 5 oz! Nolan didn't weigh that until he was 4 months old, and Kale is only 3 months old. No wonder I felt like I was shoving him in his 3 month clothes!

Last weekend I was home with the boys, as Adam made a very dangerous trek to South Dakato. The plan was for he and the brothers-in-law to pheasant hunt, but the weather had other ideas. They drove all the way down there on glare ice roads, never got to hunt due to the blizzard, and ended up almost not making it home on Sunday because interstate I-90 was closed until 2:30 Sunday afternoon. Even when they opened it travel was still trecherous - it took him 5 hours to get home. The boys and I had a good weekend despite the snow. We ended up getting between 15 and 17 inches of the white stuff! Thank goodness for Greg and Ellen. They came over Saturday afternoon with dinner, and Greg snow plowed our driveway. He was even nice enough to come back on Sunday to plow us out again where the city snowplow had piled the snow at the end of the driveway. I wouldn't have made it to the annual cookie bake/exchange if he hadn't come over!

Nolan still likes Kale, but we had our first taste of not sharing this weekend. I gave Kale Nolan's Curious George stuffed animal to play with while I was getting Nolan ready for bed. Nolan did not like that fact Kale was playing with his toy. It's tough to reason with a 20 month old sometimes! Nolan also seems to think the bumbo chair is for him to sit in, and not Kale. I'm shocked he even fits in it for how big he is!

I'm feeling really good about how much we've gotten done to prepare for Christmas. It's only 10 days away! The gifts are bought and wrapped under the tree, the Christmas baking is complete, and the holiday letter and picture was sent last week. The only thing we have left to do is take the boys to see Santa, which is the plan for Saturday morning. We have Kale's 3 month pictures first, and then plan to visit dear old St. Nick. Nolan has seen lots of pictures of Santa and can say "ho ho ho", but I'm not sure how keen he'll be to sit on Santa's lap. We may end up with one of the classic "kid screaming at Santa" pics that a lot of our friends have!

Giggles

Kale giggled for the first time today, and I was able to get a small snippet of it on video. Can't wait for him to do it more!

Gettin' jiggy with it

Grandpa Greg and Grandma Ellen gave Nolan a singing Elvis teddy bear playing the piano for Christmas last year. He LOVES it! We laugh every time he pulls out his jazzy/bluesy dance moves.

The little things

As Tricia and I have both realized during the last two weeks, the amount of time and effort of having not one, but two little guys in the house under the age of 2 years is a little crazy. Tricia's maternity leave is on its last leg (1 month left) and year-end push for audit work is picking up for me as well. So I'm basically seeing Kale from 5:30 until 7:00 (maybe) each night and Nolan is about the same, except for our little half hour stint in the morning while we go through the "wake-up" routine. This morning was too funny, Nolan literally was kicking the wall (his sign to let us know he's up) at 6:40 so I open the door and I hear "DAD!" in his little under-stated way. He crawls out of his bed from in-between the safety bar, his pillow, and the wall where he finally gets is footing while rubbing his little belly. Then of course he has to play with his two little pillows that match the quilt while I pick out his outfit for the day. (A green shirt with a Jeep on it, with matching camo pants of course!) We go through the trying to potty routine, which ended with him leaping off stark naked and running to his bedroom without having "made a deposit." We get ready to go, brush his teeth while he holds onto my Sonicare and then he has to help hold my toothbrush while I do mine-he's such a help…maybe he'll be a dentist? After milling around the house we finally get his shoes on, and he helped pull the Velcro over (which he was super excited about). Then winter coat, matching hat, with a sprint to the bedroom he wakes up a sleeping Tricia to get a kiss goodbye then like a flash we're on the way to daycare…all in 15 minutes-not bad. Tomorrow morning I'm taking both boys…so hold on for that update!

Kale continues to give us lots of smiles as well, unfortunately they tend to be before he goes through the new physical therapy regiment of trying to get his head to turn to the left better. Tricia has been running that little guy back and forth between the chiropractor and now PT a lot lately. Our hope is that the flat spot developing (and actually getting worse) on the back-right portion of his skull will meld back into the position that it should be. Kale's ears have become noticeably different in relation to each other and his left eye has started to slightly change as well-both of which are signs that we're doing the right thing by trying to correct the bone movement in his head. We do have an appointment on the books with a orthodontic prostetic specialist next month about getting him into a helmet to shape his head more if needed-so more to come on that I'm sure. (Too bad the Vikings are sucking it up so bad, cause I doubt Tricia will let him wear a Steelers helmet!) Our niece, Allie, had a helmet on and I think that it's one of those things where if we can help Kale out now any future ramifications from having a flat head could be curtailed, but it's tough when you have to turn his head and he doesn't want to!

I think both Tricia and I are recovered from Thanksgiving and our lack of sleep from having two boys in the same room with us, but if anyone has any good ideas as to how to keep a 20-month old from wanting to get out of their sleeping bag and join you every 2/3 minutes I think you'd have an attentive audience! Other than that, the Christmas lights are up outside the house, the tree is lit and ready for gifts to be placed underneath, and the annual Bleck letter is going to get printed tomorrow…all sorts of holiday spirit around our place!

Update from Tricia: Nolan went potty again on Sunday! Adam was giving him a bath and Nolan decided that it was a good time to let some kiddies swim at the pool. Adam quickly grabbed him out of the tub and put him on his potty. While Adam did clean-up Nolan sat there - and when he got up he had gone potty! Adam went from being irritated to really excited in a quick hurry. We know it's going to take a very long time to potty train Nolan, but we're going to keep trying every time we have an opportunity. Nolan is talking a lot now days, and has come home this week with a new saying he picked up at daycare - "I want that". He learned it from the older kids when toy commercials come on during cartoons. Nolan has no idea what he wants, but he likes to say it! Jane called me today to let me know that Nolan loves playing the video game "Just Dance" for the Wii. She said she's impressed with how well he imitates what he sees on the screen. I do have to say he has some killer dance moves!

As Adam said, Kale is requiring quite a few trips around town these days, plus a lot of work at home. The physical therapist did a measurement of his head on Tuesday, and it measured at a 10. Below a 7 means the head is symetrical, so a helmet isn't required. Between a 7-12 rates as moderate, so that's currently where Kale falls. Insurance would cover a helmet at this point, but we can't get him in for the laser measurement of this head until January (he has to be 4 months old). In the meantime he's going to go to physical therapy every other Tuesday from now until February, and I'll continue to take him to the chiropractor for the time being. Adam and I both agree that we're willing to put in the time it takes now in hopes his head will start to correct itself. The PT also told us that his neck muscles might improve if we can get his acid reflux under control. We started him on Prilosec on Monday, and so far the results have been positive. He still spits up a little right after his bottle, but he's no longer spitting up hours after the bottle. Kale is spending as little time on his back as possible, which may help, too. He is keeping himself most busy by trying to get his thumb to stay in his mouth for an extended period of time. He can get it in there, but it falls out soon after. I'm keeping my fingers crossed he'll figure it out before I go back to work!

Tomorrow I'm taking a much needed day for myself while Kale goes to daycare with Nolan. I have a full day planned - Christmas shopping, haircut, massage and pedicure. Here's hoping the weather holds up so the roads aren't terrible! Adam is gone Saturday night at a hockey game in Mankato, so it's just me and the boys. Paulette is coming over to hang out Saturday afternoon, and I have big plans to wrap some Christmas gifts after the boys go to bed. They both go to bed at the same time (between 6:30 and 7), so it does make for a peaceful evening.

Oh - funny story. On the way to my appointments with Kale on Tuesday I saw a turkey and an eagle standing on the ice on Lake Minnetonka. Yes, you read that correctly - a turkey and an eagle. Maybe they were celebrating a late Thanksgiving meal:)