What have we been up to lately? A lot and a little at the same time. Our days seem very busy, but most of our days are filled with the normal mundane routine. So if you are up for a long read…continue, otherwise you might want to skip this post!!
A couple weeks ago, we introduced pears to Abi. A couple days of eating pears led to a night where she was up almost ever 20 minutes. Not fun at all. Exhaustion is an understatement when you have a two year old who doesn’t stop for a second. We know we aren’t dealing with an allergy now, but Abi was definitely uncomfortable. We just aren’t sure why. So we took a couple weeks off again. We just started her on baby food again. I’m only giving her 1-2 tablespoons a day, and I’m mixing her food with prune juice. I’m also rotating and mixing foods. The doctors have no clue what is going on with her, so we are just trying to be creative and continue with trial and error. Despite having similar issues with Eli, the road is definitely different this time around with Abi. There are days I break down in tears of frustration, but overall, Matt and I are trying to not let the stress get under our skin and to continue taking everything a day at a time.
A couple weekends ago, Matt, Eli and Poppy (Matt’s Dad) headed up into the mountains for a weekend of camping. Despite bringing the camera, Matt didn’t take any pictures! This was Eli’s first camping trip. From what I hear, Eli had a great time throwing rocks in the creek, riding a chair lift in Breckenridge, eating and playing in Poppy’s camera, and getting really dirty! He typically has a hard time sleeping in new places, so we weren’t sure how nap time and night time would go. It also didn’t help that it was rainy and cold. Eli got some sleep the first night, but didn’t nap so well the next day. The three decided to pack up and come home Saturday evening. Overall, I would say that Eli’s first camping trip experience was positive. But Matt isn’t ready to do it again for quite a while!! Haha!
During her two week break from baby food and while the guys were camping, I decided to start putting Abi through “boot camp.” She is now 7 months old and is often up multiple times during the night for multiple reasons. She no longer has a pacifier and has learned to fall asleep without one. So we are no longer up during the night to give her a pacifier (yea!!). She is no longer swaddled, so we are no longer up during the night re-swaddling her (yea!!). She is now on a bit of a schedule during the day, making our days a little more predictable. She typically naps around 9 a.m. and 1 p.m. On good days, her naps are 1.5-2 hours. She sometimes take a catnap in the evening. Her bedtime is between 7-8 p.m. She is also learning to cry herself back to sleep without needing to be fed. She is stubborn and determined, making it much harder than we imagined to teach her better sleep habits. But, I think we are on the right track. Though we definitely have a little ways to go, still. And to my delight, she has slept through the night once so far! I just hope that will become more the norm!!
Eli is doing amazing with his speech therapy! We started out having weekly visits, which decreased to every other week, and no we are down to monthly visits. His speech therapy recently re-assessed him, and Eli’s receptive speech is at a 34 month level and his expressive speech is at a 35 month level. (Eli is just under 30 months). Thus, he is slightly ahead! He is speaking in 5-6+word sentences, saying 3-syllable words and so much more! We are enjoying having a little boy who uses words so well!
Matt and I celebrated 4 years of marriage on August 20. Its crazy how much has changed in four years. We bought a house just after we were married (I won’t go into all the word we’ve put into the house!). We were pregnant on our first anniversary, had a 5-month old (Eli) on our second anniversary, pregnant on our third anniversary, and had a 7-month old (Abi) and a 2 year old (Eli) on our fourth anniversary! We had a babysitter come over to watch the kids and headed out on a date. Just after we had ordered our dinner, we received a call from the babysitter saying Abi wouldn’t calm down. So we got our dinner to go and came home. Abi calmed right down as soon as I picked her up.
Separation anxiety has begun with our little girl. I was frustrated and having a pity party for a few days. Eli’s separation anxiety just about did me in. And it lasted f-o-r-e-v-e-r. So I was thinking how we wouldn’t get to sit in church together or go out on date nights or go to a Bible study or have a MOPS morning without kids and on and on. I totally expected to get called out of church on Sunday morning. But to my suprise, the nursery worker said Abi had her best morning yet with them. So I’m not having a pity party anymore. I won’t be shocked if she continues to have some problems. But the fact that Abi lasted a full hour in the nursery renewed my hope a little bit 
Abi has been on the move for over a month now. She has gotten herself into the sitting position a couple times on her own. She usually can only sit for a few moments before tumbling over. She is also getting up on her hands and knees and rocking…crawling is not far away at all.
Sibling time is getting more and more interesting. Eli thinks all toys are his. Abi is curious and can get to anything on the floor now. So I hear a lot of “Abi don’t touch this!” and “Abi no play with this.” Let the lessons in sharing begin (or continue, I should say) for the two-year old in this house! I’m also having to teach Eli to put his milk sippy cup up high when he is done so Abi doesn’t suck on it (especially because she does have a milk allergy)! Life is definitely more interesting these days. There are blissful moments and tear-filled moments, sometimes back to back!
For some strange reason, Eli developed a fear of playing in the backyard last week. Getting his shoes on and getting out the door involved multiple full-fledged temper tantrums. With lots of love and firmness, he seems to be doing much better. He especially loves to ride his tricycle around the shed with Abi following behind in her car.
