Spring Fun

March and April were fairly mellow for us, but of course was not without excitement.  After the winter months of cold and snow, we were excited for the Spring weather to arrive. Luckily, we started the season with a trip to beautiful San Diego! Everyone  thought I was a crazy person deciding to do a long road trip from Sacramento to San Diego with two kids by myself, but I of course thought nothing of it. I’ve done it a few times with Raegan and all has been well. I figured with a stop midway in Bakersfield and a “we’ll get there when we get there” attitude, we’d be fine. And we were…on the trip down! Everything went off without a hitch. We were able to reach Bakersfield in good time, spend time with the family there and have an uneventful trip overall. Once in Orange County, we met up with Hayden and visited some family there as well.

Overall, the visit with all of our family and friends couldn’t have been better. It was so fun to get to see everyone and introduce our little man. It’s just so hard and exhausting to see everyone that every time I go, I say we need to stay longer and not try to pack so much in. One day I’ll listen to myself! We enjoyed a nice family day at the beach, a family dinner at our favorite Mexican restaurant, a BBQ at our friend’s house (which as amazing because so many people came over to see us!!) and another beach visit to Ocean Beach. Our trip was packed full of fun!

Now as I said above, the road trip was smooth on the way down, but boy oh boy was it a different story on the way back home. Unfortunately, I did not time the travel time right and Greyson was not a happy camper. He didn’t sleep very much and did not appreciate being in the car as long as he was. It took us a good 6 or so hours to get to Bakersfield and he cried about 5 of those. It was tough to say the least and something I will think two or three times about before deciding to do again! Sadly, I believe this road trip has stuck in his mind and ever since he has disliked the car and screamed every time we have him in there. It’s very unfortunate.

After our trip to San Diego, my focus was on enjoying my last month of maternity leave and trying to relax and get little things done to prepare for my return to work. Luckily, this plan held true! We purchased a large trampoline for the kiddos from a friend of ours and Raegan absolutely loves it…as do we! It fits perfectly in the yard and has provided hours of fun for her so far. It has been fun watching her get more and more brave on it and actually starting to jump pretty high!

Easter was a lot of fun this year as well! Raegan was a bit more interested in the festivities of dyeing eggs, having Easter egg hunts, but most importantly getting a visit from the Easter bunny and receiving gifts. She was a bit confused and thought he was like Santa Claus and kept telling us she was going to ask for a Frozen castle when she saw him at the mall. I kept trying to inform her that he really only brings eggs and candy, but she still had to tell him. And we lucked out with a really get photo of the two kids without either freaking out or frowning! Very successful.

Greyson has wowed us with some big growth spurts and seems to be the size Raegan was when she was 6-7 months old! I’ve put him in some of her hand-me-down clothes that she wore way later in life and he is fitting in them…could be the amount this lil man eats!! He is a growing boy! He is also a little charmer, flashing his adorable smile at all times and working in a giggle here and there. We’re having lots of fun watching him grow and develop …and his big sister is enamored by him!  She is proving to be a very big help and enjoying making him play with her.

We wrapped up the month of April with swim lessons for Miss Raegan. Unfortunately, the weather didn’t cooperate too well the first week and it was a big struggle getting her to enjoy her lessons in the cold pool. She was not a happy camper. I had to really sit tight while watching her cry the entire lesson and then shiver endlessly after. I had to bribe with all things chocolate to make her keep going! Luckily, week two was much warmer and one of her little friends switched lesson times and went at the same time. This helped tremendously and she changed her tune about lessons instantly. She loved it and was getting more and more brave in the water every day. It was so fun to watch the progression! The only down side is she may be a bit too brave, but we’ll take it! Now she at least will put her head in the water and is not so afraid. It’s going to be a great summer watching her in the pool!

Unfortunately, the end of April brought the end of my maternity leave and I had to prep myself and the family for my return to work. And even worse, I had to move daycares. Raegan was super excited about her new “big girl” school, but once we went for the tour, she wasn’t too sure. She was super shy and not interacting at all. Hopefully she will be okay with the transition, but we’ll see! Greyson’s daycare tour went well and he seemed to take very well to the teachers there. Hopefully they both do great and it’s a seamless transition. We shall see. Stay tuned for updates next month!

Enjoy this month’s photos and videos!

3 Months of Happy!

Well our lil man is now 3 months old and is just a happy little guy. He is all smiles all the time and is trying so very hard to give us that first giggle! He's pushing out squeals, but no official giggle just yet. This month he found his hands and chews away all day long and he is growing so fast! In comparison to Raegan this is quite a change for us...she took forever to go through clothes sizes, but Mr. Greyson is just about in 6 month size now! Crazy! I know he eats a heck of a lot more than she did, so it's no wonder he's a big boy. 

Not much else to report this month other than he's sleeping a bit better, averaging 8 hours which is great. He is following in his sisters footsteps in the nap department and takes a few 20-30 minute power naps a day. Not so much fun for mom, but hey he's sleeping good at night, so I can't complain. Plus, going through it with Raegan helps a bit. He is also still rolling over from his belly as he started at day 12 of his life! We're gearing up for his daycare experience and trying to wean him off breastfeeding during the day. So far he takes to the bottle and formula pretty well, so we don't imagine any problems next month when he goes to daycare.

Surely by next month's post we'll have a giggle video to share and news about his new experiences at daycare. Stay tuned!

Greyson is 2 Months Old

Our Mr. Greyson is now 2 months old and we're just having a blast with him in our lives. It's odd to say, but we feel like he's been here forever and we're not quite sure what life was like without him...surely we had more sleep, but we are enjoying being a family of four!

This month Greyson has come a long way and is more and more a baby and less a newborn. It's so fun seeing him grow and change. This month he gave us a sweet smile and is working hard on a laugh next. It's great to get some exchange and interaction rather than blank stares! At his appointment this month he weighed in at 12 pounds and 12 ounces and 23 inches long. I'd say that's some great growth in just a few short weeks! And apparently he has a rather large head...96th percentile in head size, but 50th in the rest. Guess he'll be our lil bobble head kid. :)




Other than the smiles and the big growth, things are going pretty much the same. He is getting much better at eating and the gassy phase is getting somewhat better. We feel we're getting to know him a bit more and getting the hang of things. But from past experience, once that happens he'll change again and test us out on something completely new, so we'll see what's next!

Stay tuned for more updates!

February Fun

Well February certainly was a fun month for our family! We all enjoyed getting to know Mr. Greyson and learning all the ways to make him happy and enjoying his sweet self. Because of him this month was quite full of excitement and family, family and more family! 

Since we now live a bit further from most of the family, I decided to have a post-baby baby shower so everyone could meet Greyson instead of just "seeing" him in my belly. This idea was great and turned into a weekend full of fun and family time. It was great to see everyone and I'm sure everyone enjoyed the opportunity to meet the lil man. Luckily he got through his super fussy phase just before the festivities and was a relatively good baby - enjoying all of the love and attention he received.

This month was also a big deal for Miss Raegan as we took her to see Disney on Ice. This year was much more exciting because she was a bit older and definitely into all of the princess stuff and since the theme was all princess, we just had to take her! As with the first time we took her she was a bit overwhelmed at first, but quickly warmed up and sang along to all the songs she knew and was mesmerized by all of the theatrics. It was a great treat and we're sure she enjoyed it immensely!

Valentine's day was also a fun activity this year. It's great to have traditions and to watch Raegan enjoy them more and more each year as she gets older. This year was pretty neat because she was able to write out her own valentine cards. She practices writing a lot at school, so it's fun to see the results at home. Although, writing 13 valentine cards was a bit much for her, so I did have to help a bit! 

We also finally enjoyed some winter weather this month and had a good amount of rain, which mean PUDDLES! Hayden decided to get Raegan out in the rain and mud and get dirty. She wasn't too excited with the idea, but once he got her out there, she enjoyed every second of it. And as the pictures show, she got pretty muddy...head to toe!


And because of the awesome winter weather, we finally were able to get up to Tahoe and enjoy the snow! Better yet, Uncle Frankie came to town and we made a big trip of it. The first day however there was a big storm and we thought we weren't going to be able to make the trip. Luckily the roads cleared up and were were able to go the next day. We all didn't want to risk driving in a storm, especially rookie snow people like me and Hayden! Raegan LOVED the snow and was able to play right by the hotel. There was the perfect amount of snow for her age to sled and build snowmen. It was so great! And for me the weather was perfect - not too cold and definitely bearable. We are eager to go back again!!


These months are flying by and soon enough I'll be back at work :( I'm not looking forward to it too much and certainly enjoying my time with our new lil man. 

Enjoy this month's photos and videos!!

View photos and videos here.

Greyson is 1 Month Already!

I find myself saying this all too often, but time is flying by. Our lil man is already a month old...how did that happen! I guess when you're in pure survival mode, spending all day and night trying to learn what a newborn needs and fitting in time with a 3 year old, it can easily slip away!

Greyson has definitely kept us on our toes and proved to be a challenging little guy this first month. When he was born he had the same breastfeeding problems as Raegan - I call it small mouth syndrome! They ended up cutting his frenulum to see if that would help him get his tongue out further. It didn't seem to change things much, so I opted to use a nipple shield to protect myself and continue with the breastfeeding. He seemed to take to it well and we did good for a while. The big hiccup was we couldn't figure out why he was so gassy. The poor guy would cry all day and night. If he wasn't sleeping or eating he was screaming and so incredibly uncomfortable. We tried it all - gas drops, diet changes, etc. and nothing worked.

At my breaking point, I stopped using the nipple shield and he seemed to be an entirely new baby! Apparently he was getting in so much air through the shield that it was causing excess gas. Thankfully, he had learned how to breastfeed effectively and I no longer needed to use the shield. I thought that was a solid cure, but the poor guy is still a gassy one, but no where near how bad it was before. It has changed things for the better overall, but we still find ourselves searching for ways to rid him of his gas. Poor lil man!

My recovery is going great and I feel amazing! The first 2 weeks were tough with Raegan around, but overall I am feeling more and more normal every day. Thankfully I can now move around more and can do more with Raegan. I think that was the hardest thing for her to understand, but we got through it. And since I was feeling so great, we did a lot more than I thought we would this month - we went out to a party at a friend's house, visited co-workers and took a trip to Folsom lake. Greyson was a trooper and did okay for the most part. It is a challenge to go out in public when you're still learning how to care for the little one, but we all survived! He'll need to get used to all the outings anyhow, so we started him early! 

We also had the opportunity in his first month to get some professional photos taken. They turned out far better than I could ever imagine and we're so excited to have captured both him and Raegan in the beautiful shots!

This month was a normal challenge when you have a newborn and I think we all adjusted well. We're still learning, but we are enjoying it all!  

View photos here

Winter Adventures

Happy New Year! We are super excited for this year with the addition of our lil man Greyson and to see what life has in store for us. This month was a whirlwind for us full of family fun, change and the new adventure as a family of four.

We started the year off celebrating the New Year with new friends Cheryl and Joe Orlando. We've really enjoyed getting to know them and watch our kids get along so well - they have a son Raegan's age and another son 2 months older than Greyson. It will be fun watching them all grow up together! 


We also took Raegan on her first trip to the snow, which turned out to be amazing! I wasn't sure how she would do since she can be super timid at times, but she did great! Of course she put up a fight at first, but once we shoved her down the hill on the inner tube, she came back up with a huge smile on her face asking to go again and again! Sometimes you just have to force them to try new things! :)

Raegan also had a big surgery this month and had tubes put in her ears. We wanted to get this out of the way before the baby arrived, so we scheduled it right away. She had about 6 ear infections over the year and it was time to take care of the problem. It was scary having your little one go off into surgery without you, but she was a champ! She seemed to enjoy the entire experience - they had a princess movie for her to watch so she was in heaven! She cried for a good 20 minutes when she came out, but recovered just fine and was back to normal that afternoon. Of course I stressed over nothing, but you only learn by going through it! So far she's been ear infection free and is a completely new girl - super happy and full of energy! Poor thing must have been in pain for months. So happy she's back to her old self. 

The big deal this month was of course welcoming Greyson into our family. We spent the first two weeks preparing and I worked as long as I could. Hayden's mom came into town to help us with Raegan as we went to the hospital. Things went smoothly and Greyson blessed us on January 13th - somehow the number 13 is now a family favorite! 

The rest of the month was full of adjustment and recovery on my part. Overall we adjusted well and are enjoying the new life and the New Year!

Enjoy this month's photos and videos...

View photos and videos here.

 

Welcome to the world Greyson John Kelly!

He is here! Our lil man joined our family on Monday, January 13th, 2014 at 1:55pm. He weighed 8 pounds and 3 ounces and was 19.5 inches long. This birth was a whole heck of a lot different than our experience with Raegan and I have to say it was a wonderful experience. Having a 3 year old to worry about and ensure she's taken care of while we're in the hospital would normally be stressful, but with a scheduled c-section it was so easy! Everything was easy actually... I was able to work just about up to my delivery date, get the house and our lives in order, and mentally prepare for everything all before his arrival. There were no surprises, which was very nice.

I will say that even with all the preparation, we certainly were still nervous about how our lives would be changed with our new addition. For the entire pregnancy and more so at the end, I realized that my time with just Raegan was coming to an end. The last few months, weeks and days were extra special and I cherished them dearly. It was so crazy to think that she had no idea just how much her life was going to change with a new little brother joining the family.

Anyhow, on to the delivery. As with the previous c-section, everything went super smoothly and he arrived happy and healthy. This time around was extra special as the doctor's let me have skin-to-skin time with him. I didn't get to do this with Raegan, so it was a nice treat. The surgery took a bit longer than expected, but overall was smooth and I was back with my lil man quickly. We spent 3 days total in the hospital, which was way better than the 6 days with Raegan! And we were reunited with our lil lady Raegan back at home.

We kept Raegan in daycare the days we were in the hospital to keep her in her routine before we rocked her world with a new little brother! So when we came home we were able to get situated and have Greyson ready for his big sister to come home and meet him. She immediately fell in love with him and was super excited to meet him. It was precious and full of priceless moments. We weren't too sure how she would react, but she definitely was a proud big sister and eager to hold him and have him play with all of her toys. Let's hope that lasts!

Overall, Greyson joined our family in a very smooth fashion and we look forward to all the adventures we'll have now as a family of four!

Enjoy the photos and videos of our new addition: Greyson John Kelly

View photos and videos here.