Raya Recently- 21 Months!

Raya,
My sweet girl...I truly believe you are a girl full of Sugar and Spice and Everything Nice, and this month you had an extra dose of Spice :) So you kept us all on our toes!

First and foremost let me thank you for finally letting me put your shoes and socks on before we leave the house and KEEPING them ON until we reach our destination. I know you'd prefer to always be barefoot, my little monkey, but I appreciate the fact that you don't get into your carseat and immediately rip them off. If you're tired, they're coming off, but I can't stand sleeping with socks on either, so I don't blame you--But thank you for keeping them on when it matters.

Back to your Spicy side...This month the combination of you figuring out how to get what you want and also having a new kid to share some of the lime light with has made for some full days to say the least. For example, yesterday you were running up and down the hallway with your hands behind your back and yelling "Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa" and faking that you were going to crash into the wall face first. Yes, my 21 month old was doing this and fully aware of how nervous it was making me. And of course the more I told you to be careful and slow down and put your arms out so you could break your fall, the more you laughed and the more you did it. It was hilarious, I'm not going to lie, and the only reason I couldn't get my camera out to record you was because I was trying my best to protect your little face from the walls.

You are a chatty-kathy ( I have no idea where you get that from ;) You have lots of words. I LOVE when you say a new one. I never knew hearing your baby say a new word would be one of the best little surprises! I don't know what it is, but its just so exciting when I hear you say something new! The funniest thing right now is when you're hungry you say "Mmmm, Num" and rub your belly. I don't know where you got that from. Especially the rubbing your belly part. But its ridiculously cute!!!

And now to your newest role: Big Sister. You are a pro at it! You are absolutely sweet to him. There isn't an ounce of jealously...do 21month olds know how to be jealous? If I'm holding him and you want to be on my lap too, you just climb up. Its like you're thinking "I know you're holding him and all, but he can fit in one of your arms, so you better move him to one or the other cause I'm coming up on your lap right now." And then the 3 of us sit together in the rocking chair, you play with my hair, and we watch TV. Its perfection.

Sometimes when I'm holding him you'll walk by, take out your pacifier, kiss him on his head and continue on. SWEETNESS!!! You love to hold his little hands and feet.

We're working on being gentle because sometimes when your petting his feet you start to pull them...and well I'm sure that's not the best feeling for him. You pat his head and smooth out his hair and in the last week you put your hands up to hold him. You LOVE to hold him. I think I already wrote about this, but its so, so, so cute seeing you hold him.

 And one of the coolest things about your 21st month, you finally have your very own room and its completely decorated and set up! You love playing in your room. Its so nice having an area in the house that you can be in and I don't have to worry about what you're getting into because everything in there is yours! My Dad, your Grandpa, came for the week and put it all together. I'll take pictures in the next day or so and post them. Now when we're downstairs you'll stand at the bottom and point upstairs and if I don't get what you're trying to tell me you start to (fake) cry. All because you want to play in your room!

I have no idea how much you weigh, or how tall you are. I'm guessing you're around 34 or 35 inches tall and probably about 25lbs. You've always felt like such a peanut to me, but after having this little baby here you seem so big! I know, everyone told me you would, and you do. I'm amazed by how much longer your legs seem too. And you're officially in a size 7 shoe. You wear 18-24month and 2T clothes. You're still on the leaner side so you fit the 2Ts because you're tall.

Rockin the fur coat and your Lebron shoes from Santa 

I'm still not sure how I'll be as close with this little boy as I am with you (but I'm sure I will). You truly are my other half. I can't believe how much you make me laugh and I can't believe how I got such a joy of a kid for a daughter. You light up my days and you make life that much better. Thank you for being the sweetheart that you are and thank you for making Mommy the happiest girl on the block :)
I love you Sweet Girl!
Xoxo, Mom

2 Under 2

So I only have about 3 months to use the "2 Under 2" phrase...so I better jump on it :) Today was Gentry's first day back at work. Lucky for me my Dad is still in town, so I've yet to be all alone with the "2 Under 2." Haha. I make it seem like my 20month old and 2week old are monsters. They're not at all---But I'm officially out numbered! So it's a bit intimidating. I know I can do it...but I'm still anxious about it.  In the last 24 hours its become VERY clear that we need to be on a schedule. When I brought it up to Gentry he totally agreed, which means he was also thinking about it before I brought it up...which means we're on the same page and understand that to stay on top of these kiddos we need a Plan Of Action. Wow, I'm sure I'm making it a bigger deal than it probably is, but really, I'm just trying to prepare for those really hard days and by having a "POA" I'm in control right? Riiiiiight. Good luck with that, Kelsey. So we're getting on a schedule. 

Every things been going good. Nursing is finally back on track and going smoothly. Kallen is sleeping great-still sleeps most of the day. The times he is awake he just looks around and seems pretty content. He likes to sit up so he can see the room. He definitely has more of a temper than Raya did. When he doesn't like something I'm doing he CLEARLY lets me know. And that kid has some lungs on him!!! He makes me put a little pep in my step when I'm changing him or getting ready to feed him. He does not like to wait. 

Raya is my little Tasmanian. I don't like to add the devil part to that because there's nothing devilish about her...but there's plenty of Tasmanian about her ;) She just keeps going and going and going. She's such a good big sister. It's probably my favorite thing so far. She holds her hands up and says "BeBe," which means she wants to hold him- but only as long as he's quiet or asleep. Once he wakes up and makes nosies she wants to give him back. Smart girl. She loves to kiss on him and she loves to hold his hands and feet. She's a sweet girl. 

Since my Dad's been in town he's helped make our house so much more homey. I love it. Raya's room is amazing!!! It's my dream room :) If I was 5 or younger. It's just so dang cute! I will post pictures as soon as I put all her clothes away and unpack everything. I'm so glad he could come for the week. I really don't know what I would've done if I didn't have all my parents to help with Raya and getting situated and unpacked. I'm a lucky girl!!! 

Well, bed time. 

Name Game

So deciding on a Boy name was so much harder than finding a Girl name. Before we even knew what we were having we had 2 or 3 girls names that we really liked and only one boy name that I liked and Gentry was just whatever about. So when we found out we were having a boy I was a little freaked out that we wouldn't find a name we would love as much as we love Raya's name. Initially I was sure we were going to name him Tyce. I loved how the name looked and it was short and easy. As time went on I started to like it less, well I just didn't love it like I loved it when I first heard it. And Gentry didn't really like it at all, but we had no other options. About 3 years ago I heard the name Kallen and loved it. It was the name of a surfer. I totally forgot about the name until my Aunt Kim randomly text me one day, "Do you like the name Kalen?" So I looked it up and loved all the meanings I found.
The Irish/Celtic meaning is: Mighty Warrior.
The Hebrew meaning is: Calm and Affectionate.
The American meaning is: Loving, and
The Greek meaning is: Handsome.

How perfect! I loved how it looked when it was wrote out, and since the middle name was for sure going to be Gentry, it was one of the few names that sounded good with Gentry as the middle. I love love love Raya's name, and her name has great meanings, so I wanted a name with good meanings for him too.
Raya's name means...
The Israeli meaning is: Friend
The Old Greek meaning is: Adaptable and Easy Going
The Slavonic meaning is: Happy
In Latin it means: Queen

Then came the decision on the spelling. I liked it with one "L": Kalen. Gentry liked it with two "L"s, Kallen. Well actually I don't think he really cared either way, he just assumed it would be with two. I asked a bunch of different people how they'd say the name depending on how many Ls there were. Easily 90% of the people I asked said if I spelled it with one L, it would be pronounced Kay-Len. And I did not want that! So after the 40+ responses I got telling me to go with two Ls if I wanted it pronounced Kal-len (like Allen with a K) I decided that 2 Ls it was. What's funny is I goggled the question "How would you spell Kallen?" And I found 2 different forums where people had asked the same question and people who's name was Kallen commented on the topic. They all said the same thing. If it was with one L everyone called them Kay-len, so if you were using the name, for a boy especially, spell it with two Ls. So by the time I was about 30 weeks pregnant we were pretty sure it was going to be Kallen Gentry. And I LOVE it! I think it suits him perfectly. I love the meanings and I love how it looks :) Cut to his first doctor appt....and they come to the waiting room to call him in and say "Kay-len Robertson" UH!!! Every single doctor and nurse says Kaylen. ANNOYING. Lol. So it looks like I will forever be correcting people. Sorry buddy, I tired :( Just about everyone does this with Raya's name too. They call her Rie-ya. Like Maya, but with a R. So I guess I better get use to correcting both of my child's names. Awesome ;) But I love both of their names!!!