8 months!

First of all, let me just say that I find it hilarious (and completely appropriate) that my last post for two months was the "hey look, Kieran is crawling!" post. Clearly, I have been too busy chasing around a newly mobile baby to post. But today, I have a few moments (at least until somebody wakes up). So.

As of yesterday, Kieran was 8 months old! Yikes!

Since my last post, he has been perfecting his crawling, standing, and pulling-up technique and is now something of a pro. And yesterday, we added cruising to that list. That's right; he successfully cruised halfway around the coffee table in pursuit of Lyndon's sippy cup. I let him have it; I figured he earned it. Don't tell Lyndon.

I took him to the doctor this morning for his first ear infection, and they plopped him on the scale. And my jaw hit the floor.

20 lbs. 3 oz.

At 8 months, he has officially outgrown an infant carseat.

He is so ridiculously curious and jumps headfirst (sometimes literally) into everything. He's the opposite of his petite, cautious older brother in almost every way.

But, the two of them have started to play together anyway. Or, rather, Kieran tries to join in with Lyndon, and from the living room, I hear, "No, Kieran! No have that!"

Lyndon and I have been having long discussions on the topic of sharing. One of the benefits of having a crazy little brother.

we played in the sprinkler...

... and we got a new camera.

That's right, folks. After many months of beating around the bush, I got me an SLR! It was a gift, and I didn't think I'd use it; I didn't think I'd love it. But I do. Oh, I do.

And speaking of love... Lyndon has fallen in love with the sprinkler.

Sometimes I feel bad, even a little guilty at the (relatively) limited resources we have when it comes to entertaining our kids. Our yard is the size of a postage stamp, and most of it slopes downhill; our house doesn't have a playroom, so we don't have a lot of toys; Lyndon's tricycle was a freebie, and it's a little rusty, and so on. I envy the moonbounces, the finished basements, the pool memberships, thinking how much happier my children would be if they had access to these things.

And then I see the magic that happens when a little boy discovers a sprinkler. A basic, inexpensive gardening tool. And I realize that we have more than enough in the way of entertainment. We have a 2 year-old. We have imagination.

What's more entertaining than that?

Lyndon sings his ABCs

I had a little party when I realized he knows the entire song, then decided I had to record it. Enjoy!

hard

Having a second child is hard.

I know those of you with more than two children are shaking your heads, thinking about just how much harder it can get.

But for me, two has been hard.

It's getting easier, nearly four months in. I'm starting to be able to do some of the things I had set aside. You know, like cleaning bathrooms. Or cleaning... anything. I'm starting to get Kieran on some sort of routine, and I'm figuring out how to multitask enough to keep everyone fed, changed, dressed, and reasonably happy. Sleep deprivation is still a part of my life, but not in the mind-numbing way it once was. I'm starting to blog again. Slowly but surely, I am getting my life back.

But it's a different life.

A life of double strollers and not enough hands and nursing while walking.

I nursed Kieran in the powder room this afternoon, sitting on a little plastic stool, steadying Lyndon as he sat on his potty seat.

I know I'll be overjoyed when my little boys start playing together, when they whisper to each other from their beds at night, but right now, I'm just overwhelmed. I have an infant. And a toddler. I am a mother of two. And it's the hardest thing I've ever done.

"Spash!"

Lyndon stayed with his Nana and Pop-Pop last weekend.

The first afternoon, they walked down to the river.

They collected river rocks...

And Lyndon wore Pop-Pop's hat... backwards...

They went back the next morning. And then things really got interesting...

When I asked Lyndon what he did all weekend, he replied, "Spash!"

Why yes, dear, I believe you did.

gratuitous pics of a snuggle bug

"Lyndon, who do you love?"

"Dada."

"Anybody else?"

"Mmama."

And then there was an epic win!

My husband has redeemed himself and his erased memory card! Apparently, he snapped a few pictures with a friend's camera, including a fantastic Halloween costume shot!

It's definitely possible that he's roaring in this one. Or eating apple. Not sure. We'll go with roaring, since he did a lot of that on Monday. But he did a lot of apple eating, too.

For a not-quite-2-year-old, "bobbing for apples" is more like "reaching for apples," but he was still all about it. He was even motivated enough to stand in line and wait his turn for a while.

So there you have it! Our little guy's first real Halloween was a smashing success. A roaring good time. A . . . ok, I'll stop now. You're welcome.

We epic fail at Halloween pictures.

I apologize for not following through on my promise of a "coherent thoughts on Halloween and pics of my adorable son in costume" post. It's a long story, involving a borrowed SLR and an accidentally erased memory card. Hopefully, we haven't lost all pics of this year's Halloween forever; although, as my instructional technologist husband hasn't managed to recover them in 3 days of trying, it's not looking good.

So I have decided to post the "coherent thoughts on Halloween" portion anyway, which I wrote on Tuesday, and follow it with "pics of my adorable son in (part of his) costume". And if we ever manage to get our pics back, you will be the first ones I share them with. Promise.

--Post Title: "Our Halloween"--

First off, a little error correction. The article cited yesterday is by Justin Holcomb, not Mark Driscoll. Mark simply posted it on his Facebook status.

Anyway, in his article, Justin says:

 "It seems that Christians can easily receive (with wisdom) some cultural aspects of the holiday, and there is some potential for the pagan cultural practices to be redeemed—but care must be taken. There is a big difference between kids dressing up in cute costumes for candy and Mardi-Gras-like Halloween parties, offensive costumes, and uninhibited excess . . . for those Christians whose conscience permits we should view it as an opportunity to engage wisely with our culture."

And since our household is generally not tempted towards "uninhibited excess," and invitations to "Mardi-Gras-like parties" are few and far between, we feel it fairly safe, as a family, to participate in some aspects of Halloween. We are attempting to "redeem" the holiday, to use Justin's word.

For example, Lyndon and I went to three events last week that were basically an excuse for kids to wear costumes, play games and see their friends. One was hosted by our church and was a fantastic time for our church family to make some memories together. One was a MOMS Club annual event, at which I made new mom friends and Lyndon tackled the playground with some of his. And one was our local, downtown Trick or Treat night, a great chance to support local businesses and do something unusual as a family.

Oh, and then we went Trick or Treating with friends last night, and Lyndon still giggles with excitement when we talk about it. Holiday effectively redeemed. :-)

Yes, this is technically his entire costume (except shoes), but I think the misery on his face counts against it. This was the first time I tried putting him in it, and he hated it. Hated it so much, in fact, that I gave up and took most of it off . . .

 

See? Much happier. But much less cute. In theory, he was Alex the Lion from "Madagascar". At this particular party, he just carried his stuffed lion around and wore his t-shirt. I did manage to make the whole costume more comfortable for him by cutting the hood and tail off of the original fuzzy vest and attaching them to his sweatsuit. By the end of Halloween night, he didn't want to take it off. Unfortunately, that's the part of the camera card we lost. *sigh* At least you get the idea.

with a son like this, who needs a daughter?

Just kidding. I would totally welcome a little girl into our family if God decided to give us one. Totally.

However, this week, Lyndon has begun to show an interest in some. . . homemaker type tasks of mine. You know, the ones I hope to teach my daughter how to master someday.

He saw me using my mixer and begged to help make some apple crisp . . .

Then I cleaned the windows, and he wanted to get in on that too, so I let him wipe down the dishwasher with his very own (water-filled) squirt bottle . . .

He took his job very seriously, and has probably used his bottle and rag three or four times since then, completely unprompted. He also discovered the dustpan, after seeing me sweep the floor, and has had a great time using it as a Lyndon-sized broom.

I guess I kept thinking of him as a little baby, too young to help with things and not just make a huge mess, or as a tough little boy, not interested in things like baking and sweeping. But he's proving me wrong, and I love it.

pictures taken with a swanky, swanky camera

First of all, a word about the camera that took these (for all you camera nerds out there who know what I'm talking about and/or care): these were taken with a Nikon D5100, which is a way nicer camera than I will probably ever own, even if I do end up with an SLR for Christmas one of these years. They were all taken in RAW with just the kit lens, and I played around with them a little in Adobe Bridge before putting them on my computer. They aren't amazingly good, but I think they're much better than what I usually take with my Canon PowerShot G5. Let me know what you think!

giggling together before a  hayride

lookin' snazzy on said hayride

Now, before you start griping (because I know you're like that) ;-) about how dark this one is, keep in mind that I wouldn't have even bothered trying with my Canon. Taking pictures in my living room without a flash or lots of blur requires an ISO of at least 1000. And even then, we had to do quite a bit of lightening work in Bridge.

climbing a gangplank

You can't imagine how excited I am to get decent pictures in my living room!

Well hello there my bold, brash toddler. Ready to take on the world, are we?

Oh, Nikon. Never, ever leave me.

cloth diapering 2.0

When Lyndon was about 3 months old, we jumped on the cloth diapering bandwagon. I knew, though, even before he was born, that he would be in cloth; I actually put it on my gift registry! After talking with friends, researching, and trying out a few brands, we decided to use BumGenius one size all-in-ones. They have worked perfectly . . . up until a few weeks ago. (For those of you who have never investigated the wonderful world of cloth diapers, you totally should! They're not your mother's cloth diapers anymore. Nope, these things can fit like disposables, complete with velcro tabs. They're a bit more labor intensive to wash than a normal load of laundry, but not by much. And when you consider, among other things, that each disposable diaper takes 250-500 years to decompose [source], it really all becomes worth it.)

Anyway, so we were plugging away nicely with our little stash of BumGenius, when I noticed that the velcro closures were dying. I tried picking the lint out of them and sticking them in the dryer (per the manufacturer's recommendations). No difference. After talking with a few friends whose BumGenius are lasting well into baby #2, I had to conclude that the problem is my washing machine. We inherited it from my in-laws, and, while it is old and not particularly gentle on clothes, it was free, and it still works perfectly. I am a use-it-til-it-wears-out kind of girl, so we are not getting a new washing machine until this one dies. Which means that, for our family, velcro diapers are not a viable option. Le sigh.

So, I started researching alllll over again. And I found this:

These diapers (yes, they're called Fuzzibunz) use snaps instead of velcro, which last longer, but don't give as tight of a fit and are known for causing leaks. The catch with this brand is that they're way more adjustable than your average diaper. It's all in the elastic-- see?

They adjust the same way adjustable-waist pants do: with a row of buttonholes on the elastic and a button on the fabric. I bought two just to try them out, and I am in LOVE. They're so trim and fit so well that I think Lyndon can actually move more easily in them, and I don't have to readjust the sizing every time I wash them. Snapping and unsnapping those BumGenius before and after every wash was getting to be kind of a pain, but the instructions say to make sure they're on the largest size before washing. With Fuzzibunz, that's not a problem. Oh, and did I mention they come with an extra set of elastic? Just in case.

So, I bought a set. And I put them in a bag in the nursery closet to await the arrival of Baby #2. New baby, new diapers, new beginnings, all of that. Then, last night, I reached the end of my rope with my poor, dying BumGenius. I put one on Lyndon after his bath, and there was just no way the velcro was staying on. With not a single disposable in the house, Adrian and I did the only thing we could think of: we duct taped that puppy. Yes, last night my child slept peacefully in a duct taped diaper. And his pjs were nice and dry this morning, thankyouverymuch.

So, last night after he went to bed, I pulled out the brand new Fuzzibunz and adjusted and washed them. Lyndon is in snaps today. And I am way too excited about it.

I joined the double stroller club . . .

Sometime in May, I decided I wanted to put our growing family in this stroller. Sometime in August, I found it on Craigslist! As you can see, the thing retails for nearly $400 new. The stroller I bought was barely used, about a year old, and in perfect condition. It came with a car seat attachment and (purple!) seat covers (retailing another $50), and I paid $250. I did have to drive to PA to pick it up and got horribly lost on the way, but it was all worth it for this:

Clearly, Lyndon already loves it. (See him on the seat back there?) He actually begs to take it for walks instead of our single Graco. And, honestly, I think it handles better than the Graco anyway.

Showing off the sit-n-stand option:

The space right behind Lyndon's head is where the car seat fits in; this was one of only two strollers I found that put the infant seat in the space closest to the adult. I love the idea of having the baby closest to me. And when the baby is ready to move up to the front seat, Lyndon will (hopefully) be mature enough to handle riding on the sit-n-stand section. It's a perfect solution for us; I'm just anxious to be able to put it to good use. Three more months to go!

pumpkins and pouty faces

Last week, we took a trip to the apple orchard. It was perfect: the first day of crisp, cool, fall weather. We went for a hayride and picked some apples. And then I tried to get a picture of Lyndon.

And I realized we have entered the "grumpy for the camera" phase. He was perfectly content until the camera came out, I promise. But once he saw it, I could not get a happy face out of him, no matter what I did (and I did some pretty ridiculous things).

But, I think the pictures are cute anyway. So here we go!

Concentrating very hard to walk along a narrow bench . . .

. . . then deciding it was more fun to sit.

Playing with a pumpkin . . . still no smiles.

A picture with mommy . . . sort of halfway happy.

 Aaaand the closest thing I got to a real smile all day (of course the one where I cut his head off).

Despite the apparent grumpiness, it really was a great time. Hooray for fall!

climbing

Lyndon has recently learned how to climb . . . which, of course, means that he now tries to climb everything. Sometimes this is super helpful, like when he can get onto or off of the couch by himself; sometimes, it just gives me a mini heart attack, like when he ended up standing on top of a wobbly two-foot tall stool right next to the bathtub. (I swear I only turned my back for a second.)

But, most of the time, it's just good fun. Like this . . .

tiptoes

Lyndon has recently discovered how to stand on tiptoe, which I think is super cute, especially when it involves Crocs with socks.

I have to remember to put more things away, though, because he can reach the top of almost every surface now. Nothing is safe anymore. In fact, in the picture above, he's reaching for the tv remote.

And in this one, he's reaching for the laptop...

He's so determined to touch what's just out of reach... yet another reminder that I have a kid on my hands now, not a baby anymore.

rockin' out

 

This is how we prepped for Lyndon's hearing test.

I had to get him used to earbuds somehow.

So I let him listen to my iPod.

To say he loved it is an understatement.

It's a...

Well, it looks like we will be continuing our church's tradition of having lots and lots of... boys. Maybe it's something in the water around here...

Anyway, all of Tadpole's measurements checked out just fine, and the technician managed to get a shot that guarantees it's a boy. I thought I would be just a little disappointed, but I wasn't. All I could think about was how cute his little nose is and how much trouble he and Lyndon will get into together. I'm so glad my two little boys will be able to play together and be friends. Yes, I hope a girl is in our future eventually, but for now, I'm excited at the idea of two little rascals running around here together.

What's for dinner? salmon and black bean "burgers"

So, I'm posting my second dinner recipe, and hopefully, I won't end up in the ER like last time. (I did wait until I had actually served dinner this time to post; maybe that will help.)

Anyway, here we go. My recipe is based on this one from allrecipes.com. I've made it as written a few times now, but the other day I had some fun tweaking it, since I needed to feed a few more people and wasn't about to add more salmon.

12 oz. canned salmon (that's 2 cans if you get it from Costco)
1/3 cup finely chopped onion (I've made it with both fresh and about 1 T. of dried-- good either way)
1 egg
5 saltines, crushed
1/2 t. Worcestershire sauce
1/4 t. salt
1/8 t. pepper
15 oz. can black beans ( I used about 3/4 of the can, but my husband is a beanophobe. You could probably use the whole thing if you wanted.)
1/4-1 cup water
1/4 cup flour


1. In a bowl, combine first 7 ingredients. Mix well.
2. Mash beans with a fork and add to salmon mixture.
3. Add water 1 T. at a time until mixture will hold together. Form into 8 patties.
4. Coat patties lightly in flour.

You can either pan fry these or bake them in the oven. I've done both. Obviously, the oven option is healthier (and more hands-off for those of you chasing little ones around), while pan frying gives a better, browner crust.

To pan fry: Heat 3-4 t. oil in skillet over medium heat. Fry 4-5 mins. on each side or until lightly browned and heated through.

To bake: Preheat oven to 375. Arrange patties in single layer on greased baking sheet. Spray patties lightly with cooking spray. Bake 10-12 mins. or until lightly browned and heated through, turning once.

We love to dip these in cocktail sauce, ketchup, or chili-garlic sauce (from the Asian section of the grocery store), depending on how much spice we're feeling that night.

Enjoy, and let me know if you try these!

friends

Lyndon has started making friends and will play with and around kids his own age pretty comfortably now. He can identify four of his little friends by their Christmas card pictures on the fridge. I'm so excited to see these relationships develop in the next few years!

sharing toys with a nice little girl . . .

splashing with the boys . . .

hangin' by the pool . . .

He even cried the other day when one of his friends had to go home. Looks like his social skills are starting to blossom, after all.

Lyndon is 18 months old!

Yikes! When did this happen?

For some reason, I've always thought of 18 months as the age where babies become children. I guess it's because they're pretty much all walking, talking and expressing their *ahem* opinions by then. It's also the last stage at which you can easily find onesies. I love onesies, but they are definitely "baby" attire, conjuring up images of itty-bitty toes and little knit hats. *swoons*

Ok, enough of that. Back to Lyndon. 18 month-old Lyndon is very physical and loves tackles, tickles, snuggles and full-body hugs. He expresses affection not only through hugs and kisses, but also through high fives, head bonks and handshakes. He says 10 words and can point to 14 body parts and 7 animals. He loves books and has quite a few memorized, including Guess How Much I Love You and The Poky Little Puppy. He also loves fingerplays and will play along with Itsy Bitsy Spider, Wheels on the Bus, Wise Man/Foolish Man, and Where is Thumbkin. He love love LOVES music, especially if he can dance to it.

Adrian says this is his favorite age so far because it's so much fun! I tend to agree. Happy 18 months, little man.