March 2016

Happy Birthday Aurora! You are turning into such a sweet, funny and curious little girl. I love watching you explore and learn about your world. Even though your intensity causes some conflict sometimes I have treasured being your mama each and every day. Please never lose your fire!

Cooper also turned 6 months. Goodness the last six months have gone fast. I guess that's what sleep deprivation will do to you! We had family pictures taken by the same gal that did Connor's 6 month pictures and she got some really great shots of everyone.

 

Aurora is going to Logan! This whole school process was so much more stressful than I thought it was going to be. We applied to four schools and got into three of them -- Logan, Garland and Stanley. While I really wanted to be able to say yes to Garland because it is in our neighborhood, after meeting with our educational consultant it became clear that Logan was the only school that made sense for Aurora. Once we made the decision we wrapped a Logan t-shirt and gave it to her. She was so excited!!

 

Connor has always been very verbal, but he is starting to speak his mind a lot more. He is starting to stand up to Aurora expressing how he would like to play or what he would like to do instead of just doing whatever she says. While I am proud of him for standing up for himself, it does lead to a lot more fighting. When Aurora doesn't get her way she gets up in Connor's face and then Connor hits or kicks her to get her away from him. Oy.

 

He is also starting to memorize books. I was reading him Tacky the Penguin the other night and I realized that if I simply said the first few words of the page Connor could finish it for me. I remember when Aurora started doing this and it was just so darn cute to listen to her tell the story as she flipped though books.

Learning to spread butter at "cooking school"

Done with ski school for the year

I am feeling totally overwhelmed with life and our house right now. It seems like it would be so much easier to just move to a smaller house because that would force us, and give us a "reason" to get rid of a bunch of our stuff. It is hard to declutter when there is no reason to get rid of something even if it is excess or not really needed. Unfortunately though having lots of things means I spend so much more time cleaning and honestly its just really oppressive.

-- Cooper at 5 months --

25.5 inches (10%)

15 pounds 12 oz (30%)

We had Cooper's 6 month pediatrician appointment and he is continuing to track at 20% for weight but has now dropped to 20% for height (he was 50%). Never fear though, he has a 98% head! That's a McCord for you ;)

He is turning into such a happy, smiley guy! He loves that he can now sit up unassisted for extended periods of time. I don't see this keeping him happy for long because he has already started trying to pull himself up and often would rather stand than sit.

He just learned how to stick out his tongue and thinks it is the greatest thing ever if someone does it back to him.

He really really really wants to start eating solids! He now gets really fussy when we sit at the table. I have employed the same trick that I used with his brother and sister, giving him a spoon to play with, but that won't work for long! I haven't started him yet only because I am so darn tired and am not ready for the extra work.

I think he is teething again. No clue if teeth are imminent but he has been super grumpy the past few days and has started drooling everywhere again.

Looking terrified ;)

I don't know what is going on but we have been having a ton of diaper leaks! These are the same diapers I used with Connor (Bumgenius 4.0) and I never ever had leaks with him. I striped and bleached them but it hasn't seemed to make a difference.

We have finally transitioned him to a more solid time of day routine. Instead of just waiting 2 hours from his last nap before putting him down I have started putting him down for naps at 8, 12, and 3/3:30. He is up at 6 and asleep around 6:30. I put him in bed pretty drowsy (practically asleep) and he falls asleep on his own there.

There have been a few nights that he has only woken up twice, but those are few and far between. More often he is up every 2 hours. Sometimes we can get him to go back to sleep in the middle of the night with loud sounds that we call the "brain scrambler" that I have set on a 15 minute timer.

February 2016

We celebrated Dada's thirty third birthday this month! We did presents in the morning - Kids got him a ski helmet and I got him a beer of the month club and a new robe. Then we were planning to take him to Las Delicious because that is where he always teases we are going when we are really going to Hacienda so Aurora and I thought it would be a funny birthday spot.

Poor Wyatt isn't doing very well. Long story short, after transferring him to three different vets we discovered he is no longer producing any tears and has corneal ulcers in both eyes. This is something that will never get better but hopefully one of the myriad medications will get his tear glands producing again.

Connor getting to use the fire hose at Wash Park

Andrew and Erica Schwedel came out to Breckenridge to ski with us over the long weekend. It was wonderful to see them and finally get to meet Emily who is the same age as Connor. I can't believe that we haven't seen them since our seconds were born. Despite some of the kids not knowing each other and Aurora and Danny not remembering each other they all settled in and played remarkably nicely together. They are certainly an easy family to travel with and we hope to travel with them again in the future.

We had the last of our school visits for Aurora. She loved every single visit she went on but her favorite was clearly Logan. She came out of the classroom and told Dad, "Logan was my favorite because we got to do math!" Now we just sit and wait and hope!

 

I had another appointment with my PT and she says I am making progress. Yay! Overall I feel stronger and my gap feels both slightly narrower and slightly shallower. I just need to keep up the motivation which is hard when we still aren't sleeping very much.

Princesses are finally on their way out of our house!! Ever since Aurora and Dad went to go see The Lion King Broadway she has been less and less interested in the Disney princesses. She will still play with her magiclip dolls but she is more interested in animals. Her favorite color is no longer pink, but yellow like lions! I am so happy with this change :)

 

-- Cooper at 4 months --

25.2 inches (40%)

14 pounds 7 oz (25%)

At Cooper's 3 month pediatrician appointment they told us that he has dropped down from 50% for height and weight to 20%. They said they weren't worried but they would keep and eye on him to make sure he didn't continue to drop.

The pediatrician also noticed that Cooper was developing a bit of a flat spot on the back of his head. She said this was also was nothing to be concerned about but we decided to get him out of the rock and play anyway. His sleep is still pretty dismal anyway so we may as well move him to his crib while we are already getting up every hour or two.

The first night in his crib was pretty terrible so we elevated one end and put a rolled up towel under his sheet to make a cozier spot that was more like the rock and play that he was used to. He accepted that set up pretty easily and we simply lowered it a little bit every few nights until it was level and then took out the towel.

We also did some work on getting him to fall asleep on his own in the crib. I don't want to be fighting to lower him into the crib without waking him (especially when we have to lower it). It only took one nap time of standing by the crib and patting or rubbing his back for him to accept it. And even then he only fussed or cried off and on for an hour. He was definitely not in complete distress because he would fuss, play around and then fuss again. Since then we have successfully been able to transfer him to the crib pretty drowsy and he rolls over and goes to sleep.

January 2016

We have started going to an outdoor school! I am was so excited to find this because I checked when Aurora was starting school and it didn't exist then. We all go on Wednesdays and then I just take the boys on Thursdays. It's been cold but I haven't gotten any complaints :)

Outdoor School

We also started taking a early childhood Suzuki music class for the boys with Aurora's violin teacher Miss Vari. Both boys really enjoy the singing and getting to play different instruments. They light up when we go.

 

Mimi, Papa and Uncle Matt all came to visit us for a late Christmas. It was a relaxing visit -- we didn't really do much but they were a big help by taking care of Aurora and Connor some during the day.

 

We have had a bunch of school visits for Aurora. I can't believe she will be in Kindergarten next year! How did that happen? We sent in applications to four of the private schools in our area and are now going through the admissions process. The worst part of the whole things is that we won't know anything until March, which seems so far away.

I have been feeling the need to make some changes lately I started by cutting off most of my hair and have also been really trying to declutter the house. I am spending way too much time taking care of our house and all the things in it rather than spending time with those that I really care about. I want to be taking care of my people not all our stuff!

Tattoos from the Aquarium

-- Cooper at 3 months --

Cooper is really engaging with us and laughing at us or the kids. He also really likes watching Aurora and Connor play which helps keep him entertained during the day, however, he is now aware of all the distractions so hasn't been eating all that well.

He is still trying to eat his hands off. I don't know when this stopped for Connor, but I am ready for him to stop drooling so much!

Cooper has super silly hair. He is basically bald on the top of his head with only hair around the sides and back. The hair right over his ears is actually crazy long and flies out too look almost like wings. Other than that he looks a ton like his brother. We actually have pictures of Connor and Cooper around the same age wearing the same hat and people can't tell the difference between them. 

He is really trying to sit up and can do so with very little assistance. He mostly just needs us for balance as he always topples over to one side.

He is still sleeping in the rock and play next to our bed. He still doesn't have much of a nap schedule besides usually getting three 40 minute naps a day. I think though he would like four if we weren't on the go so much.

His bedtime has now lined up with Aurora and Connor's at 6:30ish. His actually night sleep, however, is bad bad bad. He  no longer giving us a semi-long chunk at the beginning and is up every 40-60 minutes. Unfortunately I think he is making up for the fact that he isn't eating well during the day by eating a ton at night.

December 2015

I've been having a lot of trouble lately keeping up on my to do list. I'm sure that having a 3 month old baby has a lot to do with it but I hate not being able to clear things! I have also started physical therapy for my diastasis recti so hopefully I can get that healed and I am also hoping that I will start to generally feel better as my core gets stronger

Silly kids after a shower

 

Aurora started ski school and it is going so well! She hasn't complained once about going to her lessons and seems to really enjoy them. She has matured so much since last year! It's crazy how fast they grow up. She is also all of the sudden acting all embarrassed about wearing her jammies in public. I don't know where that came from but I put the kids in jimmies after we ate at Hacienda one night on our way up to Breckenridge and she told Connor "come on let's run so no one sees us in our jammies. That would be sooo embarrassing!"

Aurora's first ballet recital

The boys had pediatrician appointments this month. Connor is finally gaining some weight! He was in the ??? percentile which is a huge jump from his sub 5% days. Cooper is holding steady on the 50% curve for height and weight.

 

Christmas was delightfully relaxed with just the five of us. It was so nice to have Matt home for four days before we traveled. Connor got a big kid bed and Aurora got her bed lofted. The kids also both got chore charts so that I can hopefully start giving them some responsibilities. Connor has been working on getting dressed in the morning and putting on his own coat which he routinely puts on "upside backwards" by accident ;)

 

After Christmas we headed to Scottsdale to see Nanny and Grumpa. We went to the train museum and Butterfly Wonderland. It was a really quick trip but given the craziness we bring to their condo I'm sure Nanny and Grumpa thought it was just about perfect :)

 

-- Cooper at 2 months --

Cooper is starting to fall into a rough routine during the day -- 7/7:30 bedtime and 40 minute naps every hour 45 or 2 hours. I've also started putting him down for his naps upstairs because he can't fall asleep anywhere anymore like he could when he was a newborn.

He is starting to interact with us! I can tell that he recognizes Matt and I and he is also starting to be interested in what his brother and sister are doing.

He is still spitting up quite a bit but looks like it might be lessening.

Cooper can't sit up by himself yet but  he is happier in a sitting position and can hold his head up really well. If he is laying down on someone's legs he very clearly tries to pull himself up to sitting.

We finally have him in Bumgenius diapers. I still haven't found a newborn cloth diaper I like so I am thrilled that he is big enough for our BG's to fit well. No more leaks!

Our night sleep is pretty poor. Cooper goes down about at 7 and sleeps until around midnight. Then he is up every hour or two for the rest of the night. It is a struggle to get him to sleep until 6 - he really would like to be up around 5 or so. Thankfully though he is no longer having party time in the middle of the night.