Thursday, September 19, 2013

A morning picture for me to look at throughout the day. There are days when I really miss the kiddos.

Simon had a bit of a better day today in that he showed his generosity to his classmates. He brought about 10 wooden cars and trains of his own to school. He wasn’t playing with these at home so was willing to bring them to let other children play. Little guy has a good heart.

His appetite was back today in full force since he finished his lunch and snack: corn and tomato pizza (from Cheese Board), grapes, cucumbers, cheese, dried cranberries, fruit snacks, dried apples, and flatbread crackers.

Today Ron took and picked up Simon from school so I had a little break with driving. When he eats and able to nap usually means he had a better day. Love his “cheese”!

Iris apparently had a very “awake” day. No naps all afternoon. She seemed cheerful though and not fussy.

She has recently been more deliberate with her hand movements and is grabbing onto things with both hands. Sometime she gets what she is aiming for and sometimes she misses but will continue to try.

“Mommy, what are you doing? Taking more pictures of me? Okay, I guess I’ll smile for you.”

She was fast asleep by 7:30pm as I held her in my arms to feed her. It comforts me sometimes when I feel like she is waiting for me before she wants to go to sleep.

After changing her to PJs and putting her in bed, she woke up slightly and comforted herself back to sleep with her thumb. I also had the musical mobile playing but without the light.

Early bedtime for me too.

Wednesday, September 18, 2013

Iris’ outfit of the day, along with a little smile.

Apparently she was quite funny today and was tired but didn’t want to nap yet so tried to stay awake as long as possible. Here she is out in the backyard for a little stroll.

Awake:

Sudden big yawn:

I guess we do this even when we become adults. We deny ourselves sleep because we feel like we are going to miss out on something or really have to stay awake to get something done. I wonder what Iris is thinking that she needs to do?

So Simon had a rough drop off this morning. He cried, screamed, and tried to run away again. He was fine until we got stuck at the last stoplight before his school then he started panicking a little which spilled over until we got to the classroom. But he did manage to eat half his lunch and take a nap so that’s a little better than usual.

Lunch of bagel dog, apple pear, strawberries, cheese, animal crackers, ritz, and fruit snacks.

Every evening he is so glad to be home.

Iris is very good at sucking her thumb these days. I found her contently sucking as I finished making dinner.

She comforted herself to sleep tonight by sucking her thumb. I had put her in her bed with the mobile on and she cried quietly for a few minutes then found her thumb and dozed off to sleep. She hasn’t been sleeping more than 4 hours straight the last few nights so not sure why that’s happening (maybe a growth spurt?) but it makes for one tired mommy. I do what Iris did today, in the morning I wake up and make myself stay awake even though I’m tired. Looking forward to the weekend to just be able to sleep a little longer and enjoy quality time with our little family.

Tuesday, September 17, 2013

Simon had a better drop off at school today. I had him promise that he wouldn’t scream and wouldn’t try to run away when it was time to drop him off. I explained to him it made me anxious and worried about him. So this morning he just cried a little loudly but didn’t scream nor run away. He even took a nap today and ate most of his lunch: dinosaur chicken nuggets, waffle fries, vegetables, honeydew melon, white nectarine, string cheese, low sodium crackers with fruit snacks.

Today they did a craft which I think are birds (that’s what Simon said).

Traffic was terrible in the morning and the evening today and poor guy had to sit in the car for 40 minutes in the morning and 45 minutes in the evening. Not to mention I had an additional 45 minutes in the morning from his school to work and 40 minutes from my work to school. He gets bored in the car and traffic can put me in a poor mood.

Iris definitely makes me smile. I only have time to take pictures of her when I get home before she goes to bed. She is warm and cozy in her monkey footed PJs.

After playing and nursing, she is fast asleep. She nodded off during breastfeeding so didn’t have a chance to let her try falling asleep on her own in her bed.

Each day school seems to get a little better for Simon. Tomorrow I asked him to try not to cry so loudly. It’s okay to be sad and miss mommy and daddy but no need to cry so loudly. So we will see how it goes. But he’s definitely happy to be home and will even smile for photos when I ask him to. Big change from just a few months ago when he refused to take pictures. He still refuses sometimes but at least not every single time.

Monday, September 16, 2013

This is what happens when Simon doesn’t take his nap at school. Too tired to eat dinner after falling asleep on the ride home.

He probably was anxious all day and just wanted to go home. When I dropped him off the morning, he didn’t want to get out of the car so I had to carry him. Then when we got inside, he wanted to leave so he kept on running toward the door. In the classroom, he was holding onto me, not wanting me to leave until the teacher took him in her arms and I left and closed the classroom door behind me. So tough to leave him like that but there was no way that I could calm him down before I left.

He didn’t eat much of his lunch. Chicken quesadillas, carrots, cucumbers, apples, strawberries, animal crackers, babybel cheese, and fruit snacks. Plus a snack of dried cranberries, apple chips, and crackers. He only ate one triangle of the quesadilla, the cheese, the animal crackers and fruit snacks, and one piece of apple.

Iris had a better day than Simon. A peaceful slumber.

A happy smile for me when we got home.

A little Bumbo time while the rest of us ate dinner.

She drank like a champ today. Mostly 4 ounces at a time when she usually just drinks 2-3 ounces here and there at more frequent intervals. She even drank 8 ounces in an hour time frame. So about 16 ounces while I was at work. So far I’m still keeping up with her demand and storing some every few days. It’s only been the first few weeks back to work but I hope I can keep this up.

She also successfully put herself to sleep. After bath time, a feeding, and some cuddling, I put her in her bed while she was getting drowsy and turned on her musical mobile. She watched it turning for a little while, then started sucking her thumb, and made some fussy noises but near the end of the song, she was asleep. I think it runs for about 10- 15 minutes but I’ve never timed it. I’m proud of her but also a bit sad that she doesn’t need me to hold her to help her fall asleep. Well it’s only the second night she’s fallen asleep peacefully by herself so we will see how that goes tomorrow.