While Daddy's Away, the Girls Will Play!

Louie was presenting at a conference in Florida last weekend. We had originally planned on me and the girls going too but things are a little tight right now as we prepare for our move to Charlotte so we decided against it. We're going to try to get in a less expensive family trip to the Dells at the end of May if we can manage it... we'll see.
Any who, this was my first experience being completely alone with the girls for an extended period of time. It started out really well but Aubrey decided to throw me for a loop the second night Louie was gone. Almost immediately after posting her schedule in her 3 month blog update, she decided to prove me a liar and become Miss Fussbucket. She decided that getting up once a night was for the birds and that she would rather see what we were up to every 2 1/2 to 3 hours All. Night. Long. Gotta love those growth spurts. She also decided that she could no longer sleep any where but in her room in her swing. Sigh. This made things a little challenging as to getting out with Kinsley. I have to say Kinsley really was an angel during all of this. She would help me by getting a burp cloth for me or entertaining herself in the evening while I was trying to put Aubrey down for the fifth time! Double sigh. Our friend, Lesley was so sweet and offered to pick up Kinsley and take her out to Quarry Hill Park for the morning with her mom, son Caleb and her brand new little baby boy Josiah. Thanks Lesley!!
The day that Louie was traveling back, I was desperate with Aubrey and decided to give the pacifier another shot. She gave it up about a month ago, much to my chagrin, but she has decided that she now needs this thing to live. It was like magic. All of the sudden my happy baby is back and will sleep where ever while we are running around in the AM and will go back to sleep if I pop it in her mouth mid-nap. So alas, we now have another crutch. Swing. Swaddle. Heartbeat noise... and now Pacifier. As I type this, I am shaking my head. Bad, bad, Mama. I will regret this later I'm sure as I look at my toddler who just happens to have a pacifier in her mouth right now. Triple sigh.
On to the fun stuff... we did manage to have some fun while Louie was away and I tried to take some photos of the ruckus. Enjoy!

After Aubrey finally fell asleep one night, Kinsley and I built a "cave" and read books before bed time. She was in heaven.

We met some friends at the new Rochester Children's Museum. 

The activities were just right for my almost 3 year old. 

The rice table was a big hit.

This is how Miss A toured the Children's Museum... my little peanut is starting not to be so little anymore. :(

Love this picture of her... she licking the spatula after we made some chocolate chip blondie brownies. 

I stole this idea from Pinterest. Paint in a gallon size ziplock bag taped to the counter.  No mess painting is my kind of painting. 

I decided to be patriotic and try red, white and blue for bag #2.  I have to add - look how long her hair is!! I love that I can pull it back in a pony now. :)

She also got to explore how colors mix and make new colors.  Pretty cool. 

Lastly, here is a video of Aubrey at almost 4 months bouncing away. Such a happy baby!



Here is Kinsley at 5 months in the exact same outfit doing the same thing. My goodness time flies.


Have a great weekend!
Love,
Catherine

Potty Training... or not!

We've been trying all kinds of magical potty tricks in the Stryker house lately but none of them seem to get things going (both literally and figuratively) for Miss Kins.

We've got the super cool Lightening McQueen potty - pull the handle and it goes "vroom, vroom!"

We've got the cute princess potty (that makes a cute princess twinkle sound when you press the button).

We've got the appropriate reading material (the "Potty Book" is in there too!).

We've got the chart with all the family pictures so she can call one person after she has a success. As you can tell by the stars, we've only had 5 successes.

We also have the potty apron that Mom puts on anytime Kinsley is giving it a go. There are yummy treats in the pocket of that apron... she's had 5 of those.

There has been lots of positive talk and modeling (too much info?!?) but alas, my independent, stubborn little 2 1/2 year old says she would rather "go in my diaper."

I think she (and probably Mommy and Daddy too) might enjoy the "saggy diaper dance" a bit too much! See video below.


She won't start Kindergarten in diapers but I'm not seeing a light at the end of this tunnel quite yet. I'll keep you posted. :)

Aubrey's Three Months!

My sweet little peanut is growing like a weed and I'm both happy and sad about that... I just love my cuddle bug and her sweet smiles and tiny little clothes and I don't want her to grow another inch! But, at the same time, I'm so excited that she's thriving and growing, especially after we had weight issues with Kinsley. It's so nice to not have that worry cloud hanging over my head this time around. I wanted to show her growth so here are her 1, 2, and 3 month close-ups as well as her most recent "watch me grow" picture with "Trout the Wonder Dog."

1 month - 8lbs 14oz (67%)

2 months - 11lbs 9oz (65%)

3 months - 13lbs (84%)

At 3 months, Aubrey:

• weighs 13lbs (84th%! Goodness!!)
• is waking 1-2 times a night to feed, but usually only once bw 2 and 4am
• is wearing size 2 diapers (but needs size 3 overnight!)
• is wearing size 3-6 month clothing
• still likes to be swaddled
• is only sleeping in her swing... I know, I know... the plan is to have her sleep through the night, then move her from her swing, then break her from the swaddle. I promise, I have a plan. We'll see if I can follow through!
• eats about 5 ounces of breast milk per feeding every 3-4 hours
• starts to coo and talk in that "I'm getting tired, but am not yet cranky stage."
• loves to suck on the back of her hands and is on the verge of understanding that she can reach for things.
• can light up the room with her smile... it's contagious!

Aubrey's Schedule(ish):
7:30am-Wake (sometimes eats and sometimes falls back asleep)
9:00am - Wake for the day and usually wakes up happy. Takes a 5 ounce bottle.
9-10:30 - Is along for the ride wherever we're off to for the day (Kinsley's music class, gymnastics, library, etc.)
10:30 - Fussy and (hopefully!!) naps
11:15ish - Eats from Mama
12pm - Short nap
2:30 - Takes 3-5 ounces from a bottle
2:30-5:30 - Takes her "long" nap (again... hopefully!)
5:30 - Eats from Mama
7:30- Takes 3-5 ounces from a bottle and goes down for the night
3am - Wakes for dream feed
Repeat! :)

Happy babe, happy pup!

Had to add this one because Kinsley was being the photographer's assistant and making the subject smile. I love the way these two look at each other! Kinsley told me tonight at bedtime that "Kinsley and Aubrey will be best friends." Melt my heart! :)

Love you Little Peanut! :)

*added 4:45am
Note to self-
Never, never, never post a baby's schedule. Especially if it's a good one. Said baby will do her very best to make up a brand new schedule immediately upon posting.
3 times up in the night so far and still counting. I'm gonna be one tired mama today.

Boo Boos and Bunnies

We've had an eventful last week. Some good... and some not so good. We'll start with the boo-boos. Last Wednesday morning, we were getting ready to meet some friends at a park. Kinsley was playing in our back yard while I sat just inside the house feeding Aubrey and watching Kinsley. The past couple of times that Kinsley was outside she had been a little careless and distracted as she went down our stairs in between the retaining wall. We had a discussion on Tuesday about being careful when walking down the stairs. She decided to test this suggestion by tumbling head first down the stairs. She started screaming for me immediately and when I picked her up, I knew we needed to head into the emergency room. I got a paper towel to hold against her face so that I could get her to the upstairs bathroom where our first aid stuff was stored. I wadded up some toilet paper, found the biggest bandaid I could find and stuck it on her forehead to try and stop the bleeding. By this point she had stopped crying but was definitely still in pain. I got the girls in the car (luckily we were already packed up) and headed to the hospital. I paged Louie on the way and he said to call him if she needed stitches and to send him a picture so he could see what we were dealing with.  I later found out that he thought it was probably not a big deal because I sounded so calm. Truly, it wasn't that big of a deal but did require stitches. Louie headed over to the ER shortly after we received the word she would need stitches.  Kinsley did great at the hospital and Louie was able to have a plastic surgeon fellow come by to stitch her up. I was so proud of Kinsley for lying so still during the procedure. The child-life specialist that came in to help distract Kinsley had an iPad so we played games on that during the whole thing. Of course, I had to document everything so here are the pictures.  Feel free to scroll past them if you aren't into the gore. By the way, she has been doing great and things are healing nicely. You can see how things look now in our Easter pictures below. With Kinsley's sense of adventure, I think we might be in for a couple more trips to the ER in our future.

Here is the picture that I sent Louie. The gash above her  eyebrow is what received the stitches, but her eyelid, forehead, cheek, and lip took a good hit too. 

Waiting for her wound to numb up so they could do the procedure. She watched Curious George Goes to the Doctor and got her very own pair of gloves.

After we got home from the hospital. Still very swollen but the stitches looked good.

Kinsley was ready to go to the park that evening after she took her nap and we were right back in the swing of things the next morning with our usual Thursday trip to the library for story time. I stayed on top of tylenol and advil for about 24 hours and then was good to go. What a trooper!

At story time with her friends Kaia and Ellasen the next morning.

Kinsley opened her Easter package from Mimi and Grandpa Marcus early so she had the appropriate accessory for visiting the Easter Bunny at the mall on Friday. 

This was actually at the Easter party we went to the Saturday before (sans boo boo). Kinsley really needs to work on her posed smile... yikes! :)

Showing off her egg she decorated with stickers.

Sitting with Daddy during the story about Easter. The lady did a good job explaining the meaning of Easter although Kins looks a little stunned in this picture... don't worry sweetie, He rises again!! :)

At the mall waiting to see the Easter Bunny. Thanks for our cute ears, Mimi and Grandpa Marcus!!

Kinsley was so surprised how big his ears were. She was positive he was going to have "small ears, a big pink nose, and small eyes." Aubrey was just taking it all in. 

My cutie pies.

Rochester is small enough that no matter where you go, you almost always run in to someone you know. After the bunny, we found our friends Diana, Nicole and her son Riley. The kids had fun playing while the ladies chatted. Again with the posed smile, Kinsley. Ha!

Saturday morning, Kinsley and I left Daddy and Aubrey at home so we could go to an Easter egg hunt our friend Kristen had told us about. There were soooo many eggs! Kinsley had a blast!

Showing off her finds.

We opened all our eggs there so we could recycle the eggs. Every time she opened an egg she would excitedly say "candy!!!" 

Inside they had crafts, coloring, and tattoos. What would an Easter party be without tattoos?!?

Easter bunny picture #2.

After that, Kinsley and I headed to a little shopping area called the Galleria because we heard there was an event going on from 11-1. Turned out we missed the egg hunt and all that was left was the bunny. So, Easter bunny picture #3. :)

The girls' Easter baskets.

Kinsley and Aubrey opening their Easter baskets. Kinsley is wearing her cute Easter egg pjs that Grandma Shorty made her. Too cute!

The Easter bunny came and hid eggs in our basement over night. We even left out some carrots and milk for him. He left a note saying they were delicious. :)

Some of Kinsley's eggs had coins in them so we had to add them to our piggy bank.

All dressed and ready for church. Yes, this is the same dress from last year. It still fit! She was also super excited about her matching purse this year. Thanks again, Carol! It's adorable!!

Here is Kinsley at the Easter egg hunt after the church service.

So proud of all her eggs.

Our family at church. Love my ladies and my handsome hubby! :)

Aubrey in her Easter dress... actually Kinsley's 1st Christmas dress.  Aubrey's getting so big! More to post on that soon! She's 3 months today! :)

Today really was a special day for multiple reasons. Aubrey turned 3 months today, one year ago today, I found out I was pregnant with Miss A, amazing time with my family, and the opportunity to worship with my family and remember the incredible gift of mercy and grace that we receive daily because God chose to send his Son for us. Hallelujah!
Happy Easter!!
Love,
Catherine