Keeping Up with Kallen-- 18 Months Old!

Kallen Gentry...
A year and a half  (18months on July 3rd) !? Crazy how that happens :) You are still the sweetest, cuddliest baby. I so love my time with you. You are such a Mama's Boy and I love every minute of it!

You throw EVERYTHING. When we play with you, or really, anytime we're around you we have to watch you because you'll throw whatever you have at us. A ball, a cell phone, a sippy cup, an iPad. You name it. Theres already been a handful of times you've thrown something at me when I wasn't looking and got me good. The other night you threw a big 'ol light up play toy thing that was super heavy and hit me right in the ankle and hurt like a mother! I think something like that happens weekly. So we're guessing you're either going to grow up to be some sort of athlete that involves throwing (maybe a pitcher?) Or you're going to be a professional dancer. LOL. I'm gonna guess Daddy hopes for the first of those 2. And you don't just throw it...you look at me, or whoever you're throwing to and get it right to us. You also say "Catch" but that's usually after you've already chucked it. You have great aim and an incredibly strong overhand throw.

You have tons of words. Raya didn't have this many at your age. You say all kinds of things and you also mimic people really well. I remember getting the weekly Babycenter updates with Raya when they talked about "Oh at this point your baby is probably mimicking you." Raya never really mimicked, but you do a lot. Many times we can say a word and you'll say it right back (or at least attempt to ;) You say Mama, Dada, Raya (which sounds like Yay-Ya- so cute!), Jack, Dog, Nana, Bubble, Pop, Bye, BALL!, Catch, BBall, Tree, Jump, Mike (for Mike the Knight), bottle, just to name the ones I can think of. Oh and my 2 favorite words are Mickey Mouse and Chip. Mickey Mouse sounds like Mick Mou and Chip sounds like Chipeyy. Its hilarious and SO CUTE!!! You also do the sounds for Cow, Cat, Monkey, Frog, Dog, Bird and are getting pretty good at knowing all your facial features. You're just a little sponge these days!!! Raya wasn't very "babyish" and seemed older at this age, but word-wise you say a lot more than she did. You have 3 phrases and they are "Oh, Wow" "Ah Man" and "WoooW, Cool!"

You can jump with both feet at once. In fact you jump off your chair and stick the landing every time. You're a fast little runner. A great thrower. Love to do summer-salts. Love to swim. You let me take you under water occasionally and you have no problem jumping in. You LOVE the water. You hate any kind of floatie device and try to get me to let go of you. Obviously you can't swim by yourself, lol, so we are definitely working on it!

You have all of your teeth, except your molars. You've become a better eater....kinda. I still give you baby food because its the only way you get all your nutrients. You'll eat just about any kind of potato: fries, hash browns, baked potatoes, chips. You still drink 4 bottles a day. You'd probably drink milk all day long if I let you. You LOVE your milk. You also love fruit snacks and dum-dums. Dum-dums are my bribing tool with you. You are so content when you're eating one. Best idea ever!

Your Stats: You weigh 30.5 lbs and are 34.5 inches. That's the 95percentile for weight and 75percentile for height. You're in size 24month/2T clothes. You can still fit about half of your 18mon clothes, but for the most part you went from 12mon to 24mon, so I don't have many 18mon items as it is. You're in a size 7 shoe. You're in a size 4 diaper...I could probably put you in a 5, but you get more in the size 4 box ;) You are a solid kid. A Tank!

You have quite the temper, but that's not new. You've had a temper since you were in my belly. I remember trying to sit really still, or bracing myself in the car so I wouldn't move because you'd kick/punch me so hard and I thought if I moved less I'd be less likely to make you uncomfortable. HAHA!! You just get mad really quickly. And frustrated pretty quickly. You get over it just about as fast as you get worked up, but its still quite the fit.

You're a very happy boy. Typically you're pretty calm. You're not going 24/7 like your sister. You enjoy cuddling or sitting with me and watching TV or sitting out in the back. You make me laugh all the time. You know how to be funny and the faces you do are hilarious. Right now you're really into hugging and kissing me. Its the SWEETEST!!! You love your sleep and generally fall asleep really easily. Especially in the car. Sometimes you'll be asleep before I even start the car. You're down to 2 naps a day, morning and late afternoon. And you sleep pretty solid at night, although you HATE when you wake up in the night. You almost always instantly cry or holler. But as soon as you find your pacifier you fall right back asleep.

And you are still a huge DANCER!!! You dance all the time, especially to your Daddy's mixes. Lol. Your favorite show is The Fresh Beat Band. You stop everything you're doing and run to the TV and start dancing as soon as you hear the theme song. Its pretty hilarious. I have a ton of videos of you dancing. Its my favorite!!! 

I so love being with you everyday. I'm so lucky to have such a sweet son. You are my heart and I just can't believe I have a child that loves me as much as you do. Thank you for being so perfect!!! I love you!!!
Xoxo,
Mom

21 week Bumpdate!

Had the Big Ultrasound yesterday. Everything looked great. And HE is DEFINITELY a He :) He's just under a pound and about the length of a carrot (according to my BabyCenter updates). Initially the whole family was going to the ultrasound, but neither kid took a nap before it was my appt time, and the thought of being confined to a small room with them while trying to pay attention to the ultrasound sounded like Hell....so Gentry stayed home with them and I had a nice little break. I LOVE ultrasounds!!! I could watch them all day long. He totally looks like a baby now too, so its adorable seeing him. The tech got really great profile shots of him. He had his hands up a lot. Half the time one hand was up on his forehead. I saw him open and close his mouth, put his hands up to his mouth, do a lot of kicking and squirming. Too cute!! There's something about his profile that makes me think he'll look like Raya. I feel like he has Raya's nose. I know, what can you really tell from an ultrasound picture? Not much, but there's something that reminds me of Raya...

Hand up on his face. Look at those arm muscles! 

 Feet

 Thats his thumb right by his mouth. Attempting to put it in his mouth?

DEFINITELY a BOY (arrow pointing at boy parts)

 His mouth is open in this one. Look at those little lips! I love how well you can see his mouth and chin and nose. So cute

He's measuring just a bit over his "Due Date Size" so I'm pretty sure my Doc will adjust my weeks, which is great! I've been so confused with my due date being the 10th and my weeks not matching. Anyways, I'm all on track now. So as of yesterday I'm 21 weeks~ and the Due Date is 11.10.12. I feel him move a little more now. When I sit down to take a break I'll feel a couple kicks or body rolls. When the tech was doing the ultrasound she had the wand thing way up on my belly. I had no idea he was so high up already. Every once in awhile I'd feel what felt like a kick, but I thought it was too high up to be him. I was wrong. When he stretches out he's all over.

21 Weeks!! 

Kisses <3

I was talking with my friend Stephanie yesterday who's also pregnant. She's due Aug 15th with a baby girl! I mentioned feeling so tired already. I really feel like I'm 31 weeks, not 21 weeks, and she said between the heat and being 33 weeks she's exhausted. The heat! Duh! I hadn't even factored that in. I feel a little bit better about wearing out so easily. I definitely have to factor in lots of breaks throughout the day. Its a bit frustrating because Kallen and Raya were just getting to the point where I could actually get a few big things done a day and now I'm back to square one. Whateves. Sometimes it drives me crazy having all these uncompleted projects around, but most of the time I'm like "Whatever, come in my home, there's piles everywhere, I don't care." LOL. So if you come to my house know that I have piles of papers waiting to be filed, or piles of clothes to go through and give away, etc. Deal with it ;) Steph, I can't believe the things you get done at your house! You're amazing :) And I can't believe its practically July! One more month and then its Addison's month!! Omg.

Newest Member to be added to the fridge magnets

Ps- Blog friends, are you having issues with the spell check? When I'm done writing I always hit the little ABC button with the green check and it highlights all the misspelled words and lets me click on them and get the correct spelling, but it doesn't highlight anymore. Anyone else having this problem?? So once again, I apologize for the misspellings :)

Summer School

Last Tuesday was Raya's first day of Summer School! It was her first day of any kind of school. She'll start Preschool in the fall at an elementary school down by the beach and I'm so glad we got her into this summer program before hand! Its through the Huntington Beach Rec Program and the teachers are very sweet. Ms. Raya LOVES it. She's been asking for months to go to school so when the day finally came she was pumped! School is on Tuesdays and Thursdays form 9-12. From the schedule they gave me the first hour is free play, the 2nd hour is sit-down time, story/song time and snack time and the last hour is outside play.

When I picked her up the first thing out of her mouth was "Wow Mama, that was fun! Can I do it again?" When I was signing her out one of her teachers told me Raya got 2 stickers because "she really turned things around." Hmmmm. I didn't ask questions (I was in line to sign Raya out and there were lots of parents waiting to talk to her) And she also didn't feel the need to explain anymore, so I chalked it up to being an "adjusting to school" thing. Day 2 when I picked her up she was crying because she didn't get a sticker...and this time the teacher had a chat with me :) Let me start by saying Raya is doing great. She's loving every minute of her time at school and always asks to go back. She's also never done anything like this, i.e.: school, having a teacher, transitioning to new activities when the teacher tells her to, etc. Ms. Monica explained that Raya was having a tough time with "sit-down time" and when they were sitting down reading Raya was up dancing and rolling around and then when it was "dance time" Raya was off at the other end of the room doing her own thing, hence the "didn't get a sticker" part. Her teacher wasn't concerned, just wanted me to know this was why Raya was upset. And it all made complete sense to me. Raya is incredibly active and is in a room with a TON of different toys, games, craft tables, etc. I totally get why she has a hard time sitting down for story time. We are also working on listening on a daily basis (or hourly ;) Everything I've read says the whole listening thing is part of being 3years old. And my 3year old parent group on BabyCenter is loaded with posts about other parents struggling with the same thing. I don't think Raya is a bad listener at all. She's made a ton of progress since she first starting "doing her own thing" (not listening ;) Its on-going with her. Some days are AMAZING. And some days she's lucky I don't beat kids. I kid ;) But seriously, she has tough days and it makes it even tougher that I'm pregnant and can't drink. HAHAHA!  3 is wayyyyy harder than 2. LOL!!! I wasn't at all scarred by the Terrible Twos. Raya never really went through that. But 3 is another story. I remember a few other Moms mentioning 3 is so much harder than 2, and I'm officially on that team. So needless to say, her teachers have joined in on the "fun" and hopefully by the time preschool starts in the Fall we'll have made some progress.

Day 2

Day3

When I picked her up today (Day 3) she was crying again about not getting a sticker. All weekend I talked to her about listening to her teachers, sitting down for story time, doing what the other kids were doing, etc. And every time she told me "Ok." or "Right, Mama." She understood what I was saying and I really thought today would be a bit different, but it wasn't :) She did do a teeny bit better. Her teacher felt so bad that she couldn't give her a sticker, but I totally understand and really appreciate her patience. Today she told me Raya would run from her. That's annoying. I know she's testing her teacher....but its still a bit frustrating. She never runs from me, but I'm also working with her constantly and she knows better at this point. She definitely ran from me a few months ago, so it took me working with her (and taking things away, or timeout, etc) I just hope its not like this the whole summer! Its only Day 3, so I'm very hopeful. But I'm not gonna lie, I've already started brainstorming the "Thank-you"presents I'm going to give her teachers on the last day. LOL!! And even while crying and walking back to the car, without a sticker, she still asked to go back "tomorrow." That's all the matters to me :)


She also started swim lessons this week. They're every night for 2 weeks. They're with an actual instructor this year (meaning I don't have to get in!). Her instructor, James, is great. She loves being in the pool and cried when class was over. She did spend a lot of her waiting time letting go of the edge and tippy-toeing around the edge. This was not what she was suppose to be a doing, but she got a kick out of the fact that she could touch the bottom. She also likes to go underwater. She actually thinks its pretty hilarious. The lifeguard does not think its funny. At all. Lol. She was very sweet with Raya and incredibly patient. But she too worked hard for her money last night. I feel like all the teachers Raya will have this year will need a Thank You gift ;) There are only 3 kids in her class. Well actually 4, but girl #4 refused to get in the water. So its almost like private lesson. And one of the other Moms is super fun to sit with, so its a win-win! The main concern is keeping Raya holding onto the edge when James is helping another kid. Ohhhh, my sweet little 3yr old!

Ps- my spell check was not working so sorry about the misspelled words :)

Gentry's Bday, Father's Day & 20 weeks!

It was Gentry's birthday on the 7th and Father's Day last weekend. We went to our favorite gourmet burger place: Slater's 50/50 for his birthday dinner and it was surprisingly enjoyable! Lol. All my family was out of town, so we didn't have baby sitters, which would've been choice #1 ;) but I packed good coloring books and Kallen was content with the iPad, so we actually got to eat our food! Slowly! And taste it! It was fun!!

We made cupcakes and decorated the sidewalk. 

Me attempting to get a belly shoot and also catching the birthday boy 

snacking on his cupcakes before dinner. Lol

 My FAVORITE picture of Raya right now!!

 This picture cracks me up. I told Raya to take a picture of us and this is what we got :) She held the camera up and said "OK! Say Cheese!!" She's so well trained.

 LOVE this picture. Such a good lookin family <3

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FATHER'S DAY

It was actually warm this weekend! Its been super gloomy here (June Gloom) and hasn't gotten warmer than 65-70, but it was sunny and 75-80! So we got to go swimming. I asked these 2 to watch cartoons while I got ready for the pool and came back to this. They're such cuddle bugs :)

How Father's Day ended

This was Father's Day last year, Still one of my all time favorite pictures:

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And I'm officially half way through this pregnancy. 20 weeks! Yah Baby! 

I should have my "big" ultrasound in the next week or so. I actually should've had it this week but it didn't occur to me until this afternoon and of course that was when my docs office was closed. Oppsies. At my last doc appt my Dr did an ultrasound. She's been doing a ton this time around. Just because she can :) Which I LOVE! And she lets Raya help. Its so sweet. Raya knows she gets to go with me to the baby doctor. Gentry usually gets to come home and he'll stay with Kallen and Raya and I will go. When we leave she'll say "Ok, just us are going. Kallen, you stay with Daddy. We're going to the baby doc." Anyways, this time around she wanted to check the gender and asked me if the last ultrasound tech got a good shoot of the "goods" because she couldn't at all and was wondering if it was a girl!!?? Omg. My heart seriously dropped. I try not to think about it much, because the last tech got what seemed to be the money shot  of this little boy's goods, and because I will be SO SAD if its not a boy! Isn't that crazy?! I was so set on wanting a girl. And then so sad when I found out boy, but now I'm so so so excited to be having another boy and will be so disappointed if the gender changes. Soooooo, I'd still say its 90% (or more) boy. As soon as I get my big ultrasound done I'll let y'all know. But cross your fingers we're still on team blue!

Waiting for my Doctor

HAHAHA!!! Doctor Raya

 Helping with the ultrasound! 

I'm still feeling pretty good. I get tried fast! I have enough energy for 1 "big project" a day. Lol. And usually that's a 40minute walk and an hour at the park. The stroller (with 2 kids) is 80lbs and I'm really starting to get tired pushing that bad boy. Omg. I feel him move now! I didn't really feel anything until I was 19weeks. The same day I really knew it was him I was feeling was the same day I actually felt him kick from the outside too! And Gentry could feel him :) So now at night I can lay down and feel him kick my hand a little before I go to sleep. That's my FAVORITE part of being pregnant. Uhhhh, I'm getting so excited!!!! Definitely feel huge this time around, but whatever. I'm making a baby. As long as I keep the weight gain under 40lbs I'm fine! Hehe. I can't wait until Raya starts feeling him. I'm sure she could feel him now, but when he's bigger it'll be WAY better! She always talking about how she's going to hold the baby, and pat the baby and make the baby laugh. She was made to be a big sister :) If these next 20 weeks go as fast as these last 20 went this babes gonna be here in like 5 minutes!