Curiousity

Both Kylie and Hayden are so curious about the world and just love to learn.  Kylie has been really interested in knowing the names of thing, especially colors.  She gets really excited when she points at a color, says the name, and then points at something else that has the same color.  Starting to make connections!

This week Hayden has become terrified of the vacuum.  Kylie didn't get to this stage for at least another year, so I found it a little confusing when he started freaking out every time I turned on the vacuum.  I think I brought this fear on early, because on day I had to vacuum the couch (Kylie had smashed a cookie all over it), and Hayden was on the floor for the first time while I vacuumed.  Usually he is in a chair on the tile.

Poor Hayden has had a rough week.  It was his second week in his room, and that seems to be fine, except for the fact that he likes to immediately roll over whenever I put him in his bed, and this wakes him up most of the time.  It is so aggravating to finally get him to sleep only to  have him wake as soon as I put him down.  Plus he has had several nights this week with hourly nightly feedings.  He still enjoys trying to eat real food, but it seems like his eating sessions are pretty short - sometimes like five minutes.  I guess it's a good thing we are at the 'food is fun' stage.

The kids have been taking their bath together now.  Kylie usually butts in on Hayden's time anyway, so I usually quickly get him shampooed and then put more water in the tub for Kylie and I will hold Hayden in a sitting position so he can play and splash with Kylie still.  It seems to be working out alright so far.  One night I had just started the bath and was continually telling Kylie not to pee in the water when suddenly Hayden decides to go.  Poor little guy gets it all over himself - more specifically his face!  Ah, I felt so bad but I couldn't stop laughing.  That is not something you want a mouthful of!

One afternoon I was craving something salty, so I decided to make something we hardly ever make: popcorn!  Kylie helped me get out the popcorn popper and had fun watching the corn pop into the bowl.  She was super excited to have such a fun snack.

Kylie still loves to get into anyone and everyone's business.  She is always ready to get into the center of a group or just follow older kids around and do what they are doing.  She has no fear!  She is still helping the mail lady all the time, and the other day the fire man stopped by our neighborhood to do some maintenance.  Of course, Kylie invited herself up for a front row seat!

On Saturday we went out to buy me a new pair of sunglasses (because guess who broke my last pair?), and Kylie had so much fun trying on the glasses.  It was pretty cute.

Afterwards we went to get some ice cream and just as we were leaving Kylie falls off the table and bites her tongue.  There was so much blood!!  And screaming.  Kylie had bitten herself pretty good and the combination of the pain and sight of blood really freaked her out.  So after ten minutes of cleaning up in the bathroom and icing her tongue the blood finally stopped and we were able to see the damage.  Luckily it wasn't too deep and she didn't need to go to the hospital.  But the whole experience wiped her out and she fell asleep as soon as we got home for over two hours.

Oh!  I almost forgot to say that I was super brave and took the kids swimming by myself this week.  And it turned out just fine!  Kylie is such a good swimmer with her floatie that I don't have to worry much about her and can just chase her around with Hayden.  The only problem we had was getting Kylie out of the pool.  But in the end, I think I will be able to take them swimming several times a week this summer!  That is something we all will enjoy!

Little Helper

Kylie is turning into the best little helper ever!  She is so great at taking out diapers and emptying the dishwasher, and cleaning up her toys.  She is so cute because when she does the littlest thing she always has a huge smile on her face and exclaims "I'm helping!"  It's too cute.  Since it is getting hotter down here, we've been taking our walks earlier, and thus we have been running into the mail lady.  She is a super nice lady and lets Kylie help her all the time with putting the mail in everyone's boxes.  Mostly Kylie likes to help with locking and unlocking the boxes - she loves the keys.

Kylie still loves to dress up - usually in several layers at once.  Pants, shorts, skirts, dresses,  a few shirts - she can pile it all on.  She also loves to walk around in my heels.  It is funny to watch her click around in them.

Hayden is being as cute as ever.  He is loving his own room - He only wakes up 2 or 3 times a night now, compared with the 5 to 8 times I was dealing with before.  One annoying thing is that he can now roll over, and that can sometimes wake him up, especially if he is wearing the 'bag' style of pajama.  He is also scooting pretty fast now, and loves to scoot and play with Kylie's trike, wherever it may be parked.  

Hayden is loving the world of food and just can't get enough.  There is no way to say no to those puppy dog eyes once he sees you eating something.  Kylie likes to watch him eat and is always trying to feed him stuff now.  

You can always tell when Hayden is done eating because he starting talking a lot and banging around his food.

While Kylie likes to dress herself up, she also likes to dress Hayden up.  Though it is kinda hard to dress him up in anything, she does like to put hats on him.  She especially likes this dog hat - she will laugh hysterically and call Hayden 'Puppy' and try to get him to follow her around.

The one way that Hayden will for sure follow Kylie around is when she has food.  Of course.  

Hayden is getting really good at supported sitting.  He even prefers to play sitting up or standing.  It's hard to hold him steady because he likes to move a lot.  Now that he is at this stage, though, we can actually put him in high chairs and shopping carts.  He likes it and at the same time doesn't know what to think of it.

I love having cute kids!  They make every day an adventure.

Champion Eater

Hayden is growing up way too quick on us!!  He is barely five months and already demanding to be fed solid food at least 2 or 3 times a day.  He only gets a bit down, the gag reflex is still really strong, but he just loves chewing and sucking on food.

Since he is just starting out and doesn't have any teeth yet (I thought he sprouted one about a month ago, but I was mistaken...), I have been trying to give him food just to gnaw on, like apple slices, carrots, and celery.

He isn't too satisfied with these though.  He knows he isn't really "eating" like we are.  So I have been breaking down and giving him softer things: orange slices, mangos, bananas, toast, and even putting peanut butter on the celery.  He loves this!

Then, of course, Hayden is so cute while he eats that I break down even more and give him the good stuff: french fries, ice cream, and a pizza crust.

Before you know it he will just be downing his food and then hopefully he will take longer naps and sleep better at night!!  Which, by the way, Hayden is now sleeping in his own room at nights!  We finally got that spare room cleaned out and moved him in.  He doesn't have the crib yet (we haven't gotten Kylie a new bed yet), but he is using the pack'n'play, which is basically the same thing.  It's only been two nights, but it seems like he is sleeping better and longer at night.  I suppose he likes the extra room to spread his limbs now, and he has started sleeping on his side in it.

I think I mentioned last week how he is scooting around now.  He is such a little mover!  He likes to scoot onto the tile now and see what new things he can discover in the kitchen or dining area.  So now I have to do a really thorough cleaning after Kylie eats to make sure all the food is off the floor.

Hayden has also been trying to balance on his hands and knees.  This kid is going to be crawling before you know it!

He has also been doing this cute little head shake when he is laying down and happy.  It it sooo cute!  It cracks me up whenever he does it.

Kylie is turning into a good big sister.  She loves to come get Hayden when he wakes from naps, take out his diapers, and make him smile and laugh.  I just love when she plays with him!

She is still loving to dress herself several times a day.  I kinda made her stop that, though, because we moved the dresser into Hayden's room and got her a small little set of drawers, so most of her clothes hang in the closet now, which has a child lock on the door so she can't get in.  I let her pick out her outfit in the morning, and then that is it.  She is always tapping on the closet door wanting to change her clothes throughout the day, but I don't let her anymore.  It was getting too insane... one day she wore all of her dresses and it was a little much.

She started taking lots of selfies this week.  It was pretty funny to open my phone and find pictures like this:

She is a crazy one, she is!!  I love Kylie and her full personality.  She sure keeps us on our toes.  Constantly talking gibberish/english and singing, always wanting to help, especially with the cooking, and using Brandon and I as her personal trampoline every time we sit or lay down.  Man, she is exhausting.  But worth it!

Growing Up Too Fast

This week I actually took a million pictures.  I guess my kids were just extra cute or something...  First off Kylie is still dressing herself.  It is fun, but it is annoying because she gets attached to a dress (this week it was her grey hearts dress) and then she wants to wear that all day (and night) every day.  I literally have to put her dirty clothes out of reach and sometimes even behind a locked door to stop her from pulling them out to wear again.

On Monday she found Brandon's goggles and she wore them all day.  It was the funniest thing.  I think she liked them because they turned everything blue.

Hayden loves bath time.  He is always so excited and kicking in the tub.  When it is Kylie's turn in the tub he loves to be held on the side of the tub so he can see what she is doing and play with the tub toys.  He is going to love the day when he can sit up by himself in the tub and play with toys.

This past week Hayden turned five months old.  He is really good at spinning himself in circles and loves to play with toys all around him.

At this age Kylie was already rolling in all directions all over the floor.  While I have seen Hayden do multiple rolls in one direction, he really doesn't like to do that.  What he has figured out this week is how to scoot himself across the room.  Practically as good as crawling.  I can set him down by the couch with his toys, and in a few minutes he is across the room next to the bookshelf digging into Kylie's toys.  I love that he is more mobile now because now he will play on the floor for the longest time!  

Also Kylie is playing with Hayden a lot more.  She still takes toys away, but she is good at playing with toys with him or even rolling him around.

Kylie's hair has been bugging me lately.  It is getting longer, but it is still super thin and has a weird cow lick right in the middle of her head that pushes half her hair forward.  So it is hard to do simple things, like a pony tail.  But on Thursday I wet it down and managed to get it in a tolerable pony tail!  It was so cute!  Of course by the next hour it dried and got all fuzzy and half her hair fell out - but I got it to behave for two seconds!!

She was super cute that day so I kept taking pictures of her, and while we were out on our walk I tried to get a video of her riding her bike and she threw the cutest little fit.  She has such an attitude!

As you know, in the past month Hayden has been reaching and reaching for food.  Well I am finally breaking and letting him "eat" with us.  We are going to do the same thing we did with Kylie, which is letting him feed himself and not to force feed him.  He LOVES it.  

He isn't too keen on learning to drink water, though.  He does love to chew and play with his bottle, but I think he gets confused when water comes out.

Hayden is a good sitter with support, so I got the high chair out and cleaned it (Kylie has been sitting at the table for a few months now) and now Hayden can eat properly.

He has been eating mainly foods that he can just gum, and not really swallow, like apples, celery, and carrots.  But one morning I was opening an orange in front of him for Kylie and the look on his face was just priceless!  You could totally tell he was thinking "Where is my piece?  Am I going to get one?  Do I need to cry to get one?"  Haha, it was the cutest thing so he earned his orange slice and he had fun draining the juice from it.  Then on Saturday I gave him a banana, and it did not go as planned.  He couldn't even pick it up - he just squished it in his fist.

Friday night we went swimming for the first time at our clubhouse pool.  Hayden got to wear his little floatie for the first time.  He looked just like Kylie when she was a baby and wearing the floatie.  Head half buried and not entirely sure whether he liked it or not.

Saturday we had a fun day!  Brandon volunteered at the Ironman and had to be there at 4 in the morning!  He was home around 10 that morning, and after a short nap was nice enough to go out on the town with us.  We went to the comic book store because it was national Free Comic Book Day, so there was a lot going on there.  Mostly I just wanted to check it out and see how Kylie would react to all the cosplayers there.  She wasn't fazed at all and had a cute little conversation with Poison Ivy about red hair.  Her favorite thing was the huge Wall-E they had there.  She kept going back to it and pointing.

Then we went to Fiesta Fun and let her run around there and play in their kids area with other kids.  She is such a social creature and just loves other kids.  They had one of these mechanical car rides, and these two little boys that she was following got in the car, and without missing a beat Kylie climbed up and sat in one of the boys lap.  It was hilarious.

Whew!  It has been a big week with lots of exciting things going on!  That is the fun thing about babies.. they are learning something new all the time!