Saturday, November 28, 2009

Christmas Decorating in Under 30 minutes!

Well, the babies were all asleep and my husband was without any pressing preoccupation, so I got him to help me bring up the boxes of Christmas 'stuff' and our tiny little tree. Then, he made himself scarce by going outside to read, and I flashed into Holiday Decorating Mode or HDM, and cleared a spot, set the tree up and decorated it, then proceeded to set up all my little Christmas figurines and such all over the house and take down all the non-Christmas stuff and pack it away.

When I was finished I looked at the clock, saw that less than 30 min. had passed and so I treated myself to a second cup of coffee for the day. Babies were all still asleep, and I was finished. What an amazing and wonderful thing.
Isn't it pretty! Look next to it, all my Christmas presents wrapped and ready to go. I've been done with Christmas shopping since the middle of October. For some reason, I had myself convinced that my life would somehow be over after having my second child, so I hurried and did anything that I didn't feel I would get accomplished once my new bundle of joy came.
Well, that little joy is here now in the form of Kalei Nicole, and my life goes on. In fact, with the Grandma's here to help watch babies, and me not carrying an extra 20 lbs on the front of me, I might have had an easier time Christmas shopping had I waited. Oh well, it is nice to have it done.
Now, for the rest of the day my plans include drinking hot chocolate, watching the movie 'Elf' and snuggling with my girls. Well, actually, the weather here is over 60 degrees, which is much warmer than it has been, so maybe I will opt for chocolate milk instead!

Friday, November 27, 2009

Baby School



Well, my parents visit is about over and so soon I will have to learn how to function with two babies on my own again. Not that Ken isn't a help, but to have constant adult company throughout the day has been such a blessing, and Kinsey has been loving the extra attention.

Soon, reality will have to come back to the Brooks house, where momma is home a lot, alone with the two babies, and juggling their various needs throughout the day. Where she is stuck talking to an almost two year old and looking on facebook for most of her contact with the adult world. A place where the laundry piles up and she will eventually have to do it because her mother won't be here to wash a load daily. Where after a sleepless night with baby Kalei, momma will still have to function without the hope of the grandparents coming to take over.
So, with all of these realities about to hit again, I am determined to start Kalei in her first big lesson, one that has been delayed with all the company we have had. She has been held and rocked to sleep almost since birth, and has already come to demand it at bed time. She also won't take a pacifier which makes her more of a challenge to put to bed than her big sister Kinsey was as a newborn.
My plan of action - take a week with the knowledge that I will not sleep well, and work on putting Kalei to bed before she is asleep each night. Teaching self-soothing, as much as possible at this point. We did this with Kinsey and it was a big help.

The steps include, changing Kalei's diaper, wrapping her up like a burrito, rocking her in the cradle position until her eyes start to close a bit, and then put her to bed before she is totally asleep. Let her lay in her bed until she inevitably gets fussy, and then pick her up, rock her a bit more and then try again to lay her down before she is fully asleep. Repeat until she is comfortable being in her bed and able to sooth herself fully to sleep.
Extra challenge Kalei poses is the no-paci thing, which made this training a lot easier when I did it with Kinsey. It was an instant cue that it was almost time to sleep and a comfort to Kinsey as well, and we do not have such an obvious cue for miss Kalei. Hence the diaper change, tight wrap burrito and cradle hold - those are the sleeping cues I will try to use for miss Kalei - anyone of the praying sort - pray for me and Kalei this coming week. Also pray for Ken that he will be able to sleep through most of this training at night. :-)
Allowing Kalei a hand to suck on may also be a cue we will resort to, although I am greatly apposed to thumb sucking on the grounds that when we eventually want to break her of the habit there is no way to actually remove her thumb....
Baby training starts at 0800 hrs Monday, November 30th.

Friday, November 13, 2009

The New Girl in Our Lives!


Her name is Kalei Nicole Brooks, and she came to us three days earlier than expected, on October 31st, 2009! She was a whole 7lbs. and 19.5 inches long with lots of dark hair and little ears plastered to her head. Now that she has been with us almost two weeks, I have also discovered that she has a dimple, and so I am investigating which side of our family that comes from since I can't think of anyone with a dimple in our immediate family.
Besides investigating family resemblances though, she has been a treat to take care of...such a good nurser, hardly cries at all, only when she wants to come to bed with me at night, and she still sleeps most of the day. Kinsey is actually still my main occupation.

She loves her little sister, but at the same time has become somewhat 'needy' of mommy time. I, being sensitive to this, decided to plan a little outing with just me and Kinsey yesterday, but at not quite 2 years old, I think the meaning of the trip was lost to her. She slept in the car on the way there and had more fun trying to fasten her own seat belt in the cart at walmart.
I bought her some construction paper, but of course she doesn't know what that is yet, so that wasn't exciting, and then I had to come home before Kalei needed to eat again.
To say the least my love trip to walmart for Kinsey's sake was a flop and she would have probably benefited just as much if we had stayed home and played outside... oh well, next time that is what we will do.
One thing she will benefit from very soon is my mom coming to visit. She has planned enough little presents that Kinsey will get one everyday while she is here! To give you a clue she will be here almost three weeks. Wow, that is a lot of little gifts.
Today is my birthday too, so I will be getting some presents here very soon! I love it when my mom comes to visit!