School zone

Kellyn's toys are fast taking up space in the living room... see...



The big kids needed more space for their big kid activities. Since we plan on doing preschool and at least the first few years at home, I decided to create a "school zone" early.



The cabinet keeps art supplies and play-do out of reach on the top shelves, and other activities like hand puppets put away from sight.

The sling bookshelf is easily accessable to the little hands, and the other bookshelf is nice for placing preschool activity toys like puzzles, shapes buckets, stacking toys, and alphabet toys.

The table is just their size and great for all their activities. We still need to purchase little chairs for it, but for now they are at the right height to stand for the activiites anyway.



Today's preschool activities during Kellyn's morning nap included puzzles, coloring, naming shapes and colors, and finally playing with balloons. I always have to give them the exact same color balloons or they'll end up fighting over the same one.



After those activities I did my 22 minute pilates workout. Barry and I are wanting to take a beach vacation by ourselves this summer which means I've really got to get working on getting back into shape. It's really good motivation...

Reading Memory

I wrote a small blurb for my friend's blog about composition for his OSU students. Here's what I wrote:

I was 4 years old in my first memory of reading Dr. Suess' "The Cat in the Hat". I was sitting next to my mother on the couch in the living room of our small house in Dallas, Texas. I knew how to read all the "at" words, but had to sound ou...t others. There were other little books I read in my pre-K school. The one I remember was titled "Matt the Rat". I only remember it because my older brother Matt hated that I kept saying the name of that book over and over again. These memories make me smile, and make me anxious for the days when I can share these moments with my own children.

To read the other narratives on reading memories and Jeff's conclusions on the matter, visit his blog:Three Literacy Narratives

PottyFest

The month of January is PottyFest at our house. The photo above was taken this week while they were watching "Elmo's Potty Time". We have the 2 small potty chairs, and then we have inserts for the 3 toilets in our house that make them small enough for the kids to sit on comfortably.

Today Alyna is wearing her Minnie Mouse panties (not the first time), and has peed in the potty twice. She finished her sticker sheet this morning so she got a piece of candy.

Ryan has been blocked about actually peeing in the potty. I've been giving him a sticker if he even sits on the potty for me, and I've been telling him for the last week that if he actually pees in the potty he'll get a piece of candy. This morning, he actually did pee in the potty after sitting on the little potty for 10 minutes and then moving to the big potty for the next 10 minutes. Hopefully this means the end of his mental block. He was so happy to finally get his prize.

Kellyn of course isn't potty training, but she definitly has a working digestive system. She often has 4 wet or messy diapers in the hour after she eats, and they are not the kind you can ignore until later.



Alyna and Ryan are starting to interact with Kellyn more in a playful way. They get down and make faces at her or tickle her. Kellyn looks for them every time she wakes up, and watches everything they do.

Kellyn's 5 month stats

Kellyn is 16 lbs even, and 25 1/4 inch long ...

She's in 6-9 and 9 month clothes now. She's outgrown almost anything that just says 6 months on it. She seems to outgrow a size in about 6 weeks. I'm just glad we have lots of hand-me-downs from Alyna. We did have to buy a pack of long sleeve onsies and a couple outfits in the 9 month size because by the time Alyna reached that size it was summer weather. But we have warm and cold weather clothes for the 12 month size when Kellyn gets there this spring.

The doctor said Kellyn is quite advanced in her sitting skills. Her balance is very good and she can almost sit up on her own already with just a hold of your hand for when she starts to lean or reach for something. The doctor also said her mouth was very strong as the tongue depressor was bending in Kellyn's mouth as the doctor tried to look at her throat.

She talks, sings, laughs and plays like a happy, healthy little girl. What a blessing!

Dry Day

By George, I think she's got it... Alyna stayed dry all day today.

Alyna went potty on her own initiative several times yesterday. Once I was in the kitchen and she ran in saying, "I peed." I looked over and she didn't have any pants on, and upon inspecting the potty seat I found she had in fact gone pee in the little potty chair all on her own. Hearing "I do it myself" a hundred times a day lately has finally paid off.

She wore the same Pullup from 6 am all day today until right before bed when she finally pooped in it. That was going potty at the church building, and even coming in from outside to pee too. She had been trying to poop in the potty for several hours before bedtime because she knew she needed to, but she just couldn't do it. She'll get that eventually, but I'm just so proud of her today.

I'll probably put her panties on her tomorrow since we aren't going anywhere, and we'll see how that goes.


Ryan's really been trying, but something is blocking his progress and I'm not sure what. He sat on the potty chair for 20 minutes today without peeing, and when I left the room to take care of Kellyn he stood up and peed on the floor. At least he came and told me it was "wet". Then he sat on the potty 3 different times this afternoon and evening for at least 15 minutes each without peeing. He really wants to do it because he wants a prize for getting all his stickers... but his body just doesn't seem to cooperate. Poor guy, he was so upset that Alyna got her prize again and he didn't.

Expanding waist line

Thankfully...it's not mine. ;D

I've actually had to let all of Ryan's adjustable waist pants out a couple notches on each side so he's no longer on the very smallest notches. He hasn't really gained much weight, but he doesn't seem as scrawny as before. The regular waisted pants in his length still fall down on him unless we flip the waistband over. I think it's just healthy growth up and out. His waistline hadn't grown out since he tuned 1.

We actually attribute his healthy expansion to the change in our vitamin selection for the kids. We switched to a whole food multivitamin that has no sugar or artificial color. (Not whole foods the store... but vitamins that use whole foods in their production.) We also added a Greenz vitamin to his regimen which is really what we think did it. It's a mixture of broccoli, kale, spinach, etc. that he never gets in his diet. There's also an immune boost vitamin he takes some days, and he didn't even get sick the last 2 times that Alyna and I did.

The down side of these new vitamins is that Alyna hates them, and I don't blame her. They smell pretty bad, but Ryan asks for them like they are candy.

scheduling

My day seems to never end as I care for 3 kids under the age of 3... Duh! Right now, this is a rare moment where both twins are satisfied doing their own thing and Kellyn is napping... so I'm going to blog a little.

We've reached the stage where Kellyn's schedule is quite predictable each day with long awake periods and long naps. I love it.

Sundays, Tuesdays, and every other Thursday, we have regular morning outings to go to. I try to make sure we're always home for afternoon nap. Here's our schedule on the days we stay home.

6- 7 am - twins wake up and come crawl into Mommy's bed. Alyna goes on my right side, and Ryan on my left no matter which order they come in at.

7 - Alyna usually says "I'm done with bed" so we go open the curtains in the living room and I put their yogurt on their picnic table. This 5-10 minutes is "Mommy's computer time" and then I let them watch a show or sometimes movie while I eat breakfast, clean up the kitchen, and start the laundry

8 - Kellyn wakes up anywhere from 7:45 to 8:30. She nurses, and then plays at her various toy stations (play mat, jumperoo, bouncy seat). The twins finish watching their program and then have free play time.

9 - snack time, Kellyn also gets a snack of baby food these days to help her nap better

9:30 Kellyn's morning nap (earlier if she woke up early) - Twins activity time: coloring, play-do, practicing ABC's, shapes, and numbers. We're getting a membership to Starfall.com for the year so we can enjoy the rest of the activities they have to offer. It's computer animated learning programs for ABC's, numbers, shapes, colors, basic math, phonics, and kids songs.

11 - I try to get the twins lunch ready before Kellyn wakes up from her nap and wants to eat again. If I'm having a bad day the kids will get to watch another show after lunch so that I can actually eat.

12:30 - start getting all three kids ready for afternoon nap time. The kids always sit on the potty first, so it's more than just taking them in there.

During nap time I often take a nap myself since I rarely get a full night's sleep. Other times I do some cleaning, budgeting, blogging, or something fun on the computer.

2 -3 The kids wake up from their naps at varying times and start to play.

3:30 - afternoon snack for all 3 kids, more play time

4:30 - this is the hardest part of the day when I'm alone, becuase while I'm trying to make dinner for all of the big people, Kellyn needs to eat more baby food for her dinner

5 - Kellyn takes her short evening nap while we eat dinner and clean up the kitchen

6 - Kellyn takes another bottle (yes, she eats a lot which is why she's in 9 month clothes now at not yet 5 months old). Some nights she gets a bath right after this bottle too

6:30 - Bath time for the twins on certain nights. Other nights we Skype with grandparents, play a game, or watch a movie.

7 - bedtime snack for all 3 kids. Usually cereal with milk or applesauce. Kellyn nurses again before going to sleep. This is also a hard time when Barry's not home to help.

7:30 - all 3 kids get in bed.

7:45 - Alyna ALWAYS gets up to go potty again, even if she actually peed 15 minutes before, so Ryan sometimes tags along

8 - if the kids aren't staying in their beds we shut their door with the childproof doorknob cover on the inside. We have to do that every few weeks or so for a few nights

8:30 - ahhhhhh, quiet time

Oh, and of course this didn't include all the diaper changes for Kellyn and potty trips for the twins that may or may not produce the desired results.

A couple months ago I was reading in my Bible where it says that the older women should teach the younger women to be busy at home... well... at this stage I don't have a choice in the matter.

Expressions

I feel so blessed by my three precious children through all their different expressions and phases.



Ryan, our sensitive and cuddly guy, is also the funny one in the family. He's starting to make jokes about things, and always loves for us to turn his crying into ticklish laughter. Right now his jokes are in the form of pointing to Daddy and saying, "Mommy," and then pointing to himself and saying, "Daddy". He thinks it's really funny to mix up people's names. He also likes games where he pretends he is stuck somewhere.



We have known that Alyna is a little bit of a drama queen since she was 2 weeks old. We have so many wonderful pictures of her full face expressions of her as a baby. Last night she was sitting on the potty mad at me about something, and I was sitting on the edge of the bathtub talking to her about it. I looked over at Barry standing in the doorway and he just started laughing. He said we had the exact same furrowed brow expressions on our faces, and this must be exactly what I looked and acted like at that age. Alyna also makes lots of the same pouty faces her Aunt Krista is infamous for. She and Krista actually had face making sessions with each other in Boston, and it was really funny to watch. Of course, Alyna's big laugh and smile are full enough to make up for the other, not so nice, expressions.



Kellyn is quite the talker and singer these days. Often we'll think she's fussing on her play mat, but when we get over there she's all smiles and just kind of yelling at her toys. It will be interesting as she grows this year to see how her play style fits in with the twins. Kellyn also will sing back at you when you make sing-song coos with your voice. She also likes to be startled slightly, and chuckles when we play peek-a-boo. At church on Wednesday evening she refused to sleep through the devotional even though she was really tired. She wanted to be standing up in a lap so she could look around at everyone making those funny faces while they sing. She was making big mouthed faces back at them.

Learning

Alyna and Ryan are both learning at such a fast pace these days. Now that Kellyn's schedule is a more predictable during the day, it's easier to plan my activities with them. On the days we're home I use Kellyn's morning nap (1 1/2 -2 hours) to do more preschool type activities now.

Yesterday we did coloring, playing with play-do, and the alphabet zoo on Fisher Price's website. Coloring and play-do activities always involve Mommy drawing/making letters for them. The alphabet zoo is set up so that they can press the letters on the keyboard themselves and it says/shows the animal with that sound.

Today I added in a singing time with them and Kellyn while I fed Kellyn her morning baby food. We've started her on just a little bit of fruit in the mornings and evenings because she's just always so hungry during the day. It has really helped her nap longer. We sang, "God made the big round sun", "Jesus Loves Me", "My God is so big", and "Oh be careful little eyes". Alyna was doing amazingly well following along with the motions to the songs. Ryan just giggled and played on the nearby rocking toy.

During Kellyn's nap we spent a while on Starfall.com going over the letters U through Z. Then we used the website's little program to discover the process of planting, watering, and then watching a flower grow. I printed some color sheets for them from the site. Then we took the baby monitor outside with us for play time. It is a gorgeous day and Ryan didn't even need to wear his jacket.

Alyna can count items from 1 - 10, and Ryan is trying hard to catch up on that. He really wants to be able to do it too. He knows all his uppercase letters now. Alyna is really working on the sounds of the letters.

Here's what she says for some of the letters every time she sees them: instead of "for" she says "a"... we'll work on that some day:
A for "me" (meaning Alyna)
R for Ryan
D for Daddy
M for Mommy
K for "baby" - she still refuses to say Kellyn's name but she knows the K is for her
H for Henrey (our dog)
T for Tessa (my sister's dog)
P for Papa
G for Grandma
N for Mommy... oops I have to correct her and say N is for Nana

And her first sight word is G-O that's "GO". She can also tell you all the letters in her name. Yesterday when she saw a lowercase "n" she said "n for me" because it's in her name. I'm just a little proud, can you tell?

Ryan is ever the sweat-heart. He still loves to give kisses to his baby sister and put blankets on her. It's no wonder the girls at church dote on him so much.

We're really working on the potty training now. Each of them has a chart up with spaces for stickers. When Alyna pees in the potty she gets a sticker. When Ryan even sits on the potty he gets a sticker because he's been fighting me so much on it. When they fill in all the sticker spots they get a special piece of candy. Each of them got 3 stickers this morning, and Alyna was dry that whole time. As soon as Ryan is more consistent with sitting on the potty I'll only give him stickers when he actually pees too. It took a over a week to fill in Alyna's first chart and get her prize, now she's half-way through it on the third day. It's almost time to challenge her to the next level.

Family time

Grandpa and Grandma Lee from Tennessee came to visit the week of Christmas. We had lots of fun with them. Barry and I went on a date, and the gorgeous Christmas day weather we went to the park.

Christmas at our house

Ryan and Alyna were lots of "help" in decorating for Christmas this year.





For 2 year olds they actually did really well not taking things off the tree or getting into the presents after being told not to a couple times. It was nice to have everything out this year.



A few of the presents included a 2nd doctor's kit (we will keep both), Tinkerbell and Cars blankets made by Nana, tricycles, saucer chairs (so they'll stop sitting in Kellyn's bouncy seat), and musical toys for "Kellyn". Lots of other neat stuff too of course...







Nana Love made very special blankets for all the kids. Alyna loves her Tinkerbell blanket, and Ryan can't go to sleep without his Cars blanket. They are on their beds to sleep with. They got blankets at their birthday too with these characters which are now designated to the living room for movie times.



Kellyn received a beautiful, soft blanket and matching stuffed animal (yes, Nana made the lamb too). She's a very talented lady.



...isn't she just precious. At 4 months old, Kellyn's first Christmas was very special. She got several knew board books all her own that haven't been chewed on by her siblings. She loves looking at the pictures and now is starting to reach to turn the pages. She's really starting to play a lot more too. It won't be long before she's turning over.