Christmas Downtown

My family was in town this past weekend and it was a fun excuse to go downtown.  We did some shopping, and then my kids were absolutely done.  McKay threw himself down on the ground and I don't blame him.  I have a shopping limit also.  As soon as we got outside, there was a drummer and McKay started rocking out.  I can't wait to watch the video my mom took, but the look on his face was pure bliss.  He stopped for a second, turned to Bryan and said, "This is a great song."  Rocking out to a drummer was so much better than walking through Nordstroms and J Crew.  Although, my dad did buy him some superman boots that he was pretty stoked about.  We had lots of fun with family in town.  I love that we live close and get visitors frequently.

9 months

Tonight McKay snuck into Jane's crib after I tucked them in, and I pretended I didn't hear them for a little while, and stood in the corner listening.  He gave her a kiss and said "its ok Janie."  Then he started singing the wheels on the bus while she was squealing and smiling.  I love that he has to have her in his room to fall asleep now.  Even if she is screaming, he will fall asleep in minutes.  If she is not in the room, he is scared and upset.  She loves him too.  When we were reading stories tonight, she crawled up and gave McKay and I slobber kisses.  These moments are refreshing after last week, which was filled with teething, re-potty training, sickness, and lots of tears from all of us.

I just love this little 9 month old of mine.  She is scrawny compared to her brother, 50s for weight and upper 60s for height.  She is happy little girl, except when she is teething and sick.  Then she will for sure let me know she is upset!  She crawls up to my feet and says "mamamama"when she wants to be held.  She has gotten clingier, where she gets upset if I leave a room even if Bryan is with her.  She has started playing peek-a-boo.  I love it when her little smiling face peeks in the kitchen doorway when I am working on dinner.  She has turned into a busy body and has already started unloading kitchen drawers and the fridge.  She has gotten pickier with her food, but avocado is one of her favs.  She also loves water, and stares and reaches at me whenever I am drinking any.

These were taken at 7.5 months.  Random that she has the same shirt on, but it brings me back to when McKay first got this chair.  Lately Janie likes to push this chair around the house, like it is a little walker/push toy.   She does not like a pacifier anymore, and gets mad when I try to give it to her.  She loves her special little blanky though.  She usually sleeps on her tummy with her knees bent in crawling position.  I love my Janie!

apple picking

Wrote this post about a month ago:

Last week I set Jane down with some toys on the other side of the room while I finished buying a tp holder on amazon.  Yes, McKay flushed our previous holder down the toilet.  A tiny hand on my leg and a huge grin gave me a reality check.  Crawling?!  It seemed it had only been a few weeks since she started sitting solidly.  It has been chaos since then.  My little munchkins like to tag team.  Soon after, I found my diaper bag open.  Jane tearing every wipe out of the container, while Mckay got to the lipstick.  McKay likes to smother her with love and Jane likes to scream.   However every once in a while they play beautifully together and I love spying on them.  McKay has turned bossy: "No Janie, don't eat that!" This has actually been a blessing on a few occasions, like when he caught her sticking a lego in her mouth yesterday at my parents house.

In the morning, McKay loves to run downstairs first thing and wake Jane up.  "Hi Janie!! How's it going Janie? Wanna get out and play Janie?" They really are buds.  She loves him and smiles so big at him, even though he likes to invade her bubble.  I have a feeling my cuddly toddler boy and not-so-cuddly baby girl may always have conflict.  

Jane has a developed a few nicknames.  We have called her "Janie girl" since birth. My mom started calling her "bird."  We also call her Janers.

We love this happy little 8 month old.

Last month we went apple picking.  These little buds loved eating these apples right off the tree.

Janie at 6 months

I am not one to chill at home; makes me stir crazy.  I like to go outside, whether it is a walk to the park or library, zoo, beach or bike ride.  McKay likes it too, and I can usually tell around 10 that it is time to go.  McKay starts obsessing over his shoes and gets rambunctious.  For this reason, I was dreading potty training.  Confined at home for 3 days sounded like a death sentence to me.  I've been putting it off forever, but this week looked ideal.  It is supposed to be a high of 59 all week long, therefore we wont be missing any awesome beach days.  The morning of potty training day one has been a success, with only one accident.  Plus I took pictures of my cute 6 month old, did laundry, and am actually blogging!  Maybe I should try this staying home thing more often.

All about Janie at 6 months

I swear there is a difference between girls and boys, even at this age.  Jane is already a screamer.  Even if it is a happy scream, she is very vocal.  She seems to talk and make noise all day long.  She is actually pretty mellow for the most part, but if something is bothering her, she will most definitely let me know!  She has gotten very grabby lately, and all of sudden she will be eating an important document of mine or shoving my phone cord in her mouth.  Her toes are in her mouth a large part of her day if there is nothing else in reach.  Somehow she currently found a plastic saw of McKay's she is chewing on, ha! She is rolling, close to sitting, but not quite.  She loves McKay.  She gets the biggest grin when he comes near usually saying, "Hi Janie!!!!" or "hi there little princess!!"  She then responds by grabbing a huge chunk of his hair.  Payback from all the teasing he does to her.  Somehow she still laughs and puts up with it.  She is much more petite that her brother.  She got her first little sickness this past week and it breaks my heart.  Her cough is the night is so sad and helpless.  We started baby food a few days ago, and she is warming up to it.  She spit out almost all of it at first, but last night she had two whole containers of pears and sweet potatoes.  I just love this little girl so much.  Its so fun that I can already see her little personality coming out.  She makes it very difficult to have a bad day with that huge contagious grin of hers.

Nursing and mom tests

The other day while I was watching my friend's kids I had a flashback to nursing school and taking the NCLEX.  For those unfamiliar, this test includes a series of questions where you have to choose which patient to see first.  An example would be: patient A has a pain level of 9/10, patient B has an oxygen saturation of 89%, patient C has a blood pressure of 200/90, and patient D just fell.  Fortunately, in the actual hospital setting there are other nurses, nursing assistants, respiratory therapists, doctors, managers, and house supervisors to assist in scenarios when all of my patients need immediate attention at the same time.  This is not the case for moms!  The other day within 2 seconds, child A started crying because she was hungry, child B started crying because he wanted to be held, child C stole a tractor from child D, who was then upset.  Moms really are amazing.  I only have two and have come to the realization that moments and thoughts to myself are a rare occurrence.  However, I honestly wouldn't trade that for anything.  Motherhood is the best job in the entire world.  My life is filled with sticky fingers, "wheels on the bus go round round round," blow outs, goodnight moon, a busy busy 2 year old,  huge googly grins, lots of kisses and cuddles, coloring pictures of trucks and tractors, and questions galore.  I really wouldn't have it any other way.  I love that I am entrusted to teach these little kids about their universe: how to love, share, obey, dance, love learning, sing, read, pray, laugh, be a good friend, work hard, and be kind.  I love that they teach me much more about love.

My little Janie is such a doll.  She is so mellow and puts up with McKay's obsession with her.  She is a pretty content little gal these days.  I better enjoy this before the teething starts!  I can't believe she is 4 1/2 months old.  At four months: 88th percentile for height, 44th for weight.  These pics were taken right around 4 months.  She loves her tummy time, and rolls from back to tummy often, but rarely the other way around.  I love this age so much.  I love the huge grins and the little laughs, and the look on her face when she recognizes me.  I feel like she is staring into my soul sometimes.  As I am writing this, I miss her little coos while she is in her bed sound asleep.  

McKay really is a cute brother.  He loves her so much and always asks to hold her.  Sometimes I use holding Jane as bribery for good behavior.  Yes I am a fan of bribes these days.  I am so in love with the little things McKay says all day.  I really wish I was better at recording them.  It is just funny when I think that he isn't listening to me and then all of a sudden he will bust out phrases I say.  Being a mom makes me a better person because i have to 100% watch what I say or my little parrot will copy!  He is a cuddly, sentimental little guy.  The other day and came up and kissed the top of my head on a day when I was feeling frustrated.  I want to hold on to moments like these.  He likes to "fix mommy's hair."  Trying to teach him back scratches!  He is a little obsessed with his sister!  I tell him to not kiss her face, just the top of her head.  As you can see, we haven't quite mastered that yet!

"She's holding my fingers!"

Her eye is not quite the top of her head, but close!

The happiest place on earth

My little ones take afternoon naps at the same time now, so I actually have a moment to myself.  Since this is such a rare occurrence, it took me a while to determine wether I should fold my huge pile of laundry in the middle of the floor, take a nap (because thats what sounds nice after just looking at this pile), read, or do a blog post.  Blogging has been pushed to the end of the list for a while, but has also been nagging at me.  Instagram has almost taken away my desire to blog.  However, I miss this place to record my thoughts and moments I don't want to forget.  

This last week has been absolutely crazy.  Way fun, but crazy.  My mom wanted to take us to Disneyland.  I was so excited to see the look on McKay's face when I took him to this wonderful place.   My childhood was filled with Mickey Mouse, princess parades, and It's a small world, so I could hardly sleep the night before introducing McKay to this world of happiness.  Unfortunately McKay could hardly sleep too!  While he loved the rides, shows, and parades, the napless afternoon didn't bring too much happiness.  He was obsessed with cars land though!  That place is heaven for a little boy.  Jane was a little angel the whole day.  I had her in the Ergo most of the day.  While we were on "It's a Small world"  she peeked her little head and watched all the little characters.  

Mickey mouse!!! or "Nickey Mouse" as he says

Mater ride was the fav.  Sadly he is two in. too short for the big cars ride.  He would have absolutely loved it!  It's one of my favs now.

Lovin his auntie Lauren

Missing Kara!

Janie loved its a small world

And its not the happiest place on earth anymore!

Just a quick plank before the train

Once we got home from disneyland, we left to go camping in Santa Cruz on a trip we had planned with our friends.  I was nervous after McKay's crankiness at Disneyland.  However camping was relaxing and so fun!  Both kids slept awesome and stayed warm.  Jane and I even slept until 8:30, thanks to our awesome new camping pads!  I seriously can not remember the last time I slept till then.  It was a dream.  We went to Capitola and laid on the beach, while Bryan and McKay played in the waves.  I didn't bring my camera and my phone is currently soaking in rice, so no camping pics at the moment!

This week I had plans to sit around, not leave the house, and do absolutely nothing.  Since we were homebound, I thought this was a great chance to potty train McKay.  After he dropped my phone in the toilet, I gave up and went to his friends birthday party at the park instead.  

Jane is the sweetest.  Her huge gummy grins and coos are such sunshine to me.  She likes her tummy time and is sitting in her bumbo more now too.  Usually one time in the night I have to put her paci in.  Last night she grunted and coo'd for a while until I put it in.  Trying to ease her into soothing herself back to sleep!  She is a pretty mellow, happy little gal.  I felt like she was pretty fussy the first two months, but then right around that time she starting sleeping more, crying less, and smiling a lot.  The first two months were such a blur with late fussy nights and sleep deprivation.  I really thought she was going to be a fussy, colicky baby, but she has gotten more and more mellow and happy.  

McKay loves his little sister.  He loves to hold and kiss her.  We have to remind him to just kiss the top of her head, especially when the poor dude has been sick so much lately.  He is a busy little boy and likes to turn the water on, empty, move, and redecorate!  I love the funny little things he says.  His favorite book is "curious george goes to the zoo", and wants us to read it to him every nap and bedtime.  His favorite song is "the wheels on the bus go round and round."  He also breaks out in "Hada birthday to you" and "twinkle twinkle little star" quite often.  He is still a tender little dude and loves his kisses and snuggles.  I think he has gotten even more cuddly since Jane was born.  He still says, "I wanna hold you mama"  We are still working on grammar!  He is at such a hard, but such a fun age.  He wants to be independent at times I don't want him to be, but then dependent when I want him to be independent!  He is such a fun little buddy, and I love that he can communicate with me now.  

I will try to play catch up this week.  I still want to document Jane's blessing and her monthly pics:)

Meet Jane

Jane Ruby Clevenger was born February 1, 2013 at 0636 am.8 lb 8 oz and 21 in. (same as her big bro.)

She is almost three weeks old now.  Delivery was honestly the best experience, especially in comparison to my first.  Everything went so incredibly smooth.  I absolutely loved the hospital and would probably have 100 babies if I could have all of them at California Pacific Medical Center.  Although induction is quite convenient, I loved the experience of going into labor on my own.  

Mostly for myself:
Thursday morning I woke up feeling nauseous and did not want to leave the house.  However, I forced myself to do the stairs on Lyon street with friends because I figured that would make me feel better.   I finished the stairs and took McKay to playgroup at the park by our house.  I was getting contractions, but had been contracting consistently for the previous week, especially after exercising.  My doctor called while I was at playgroup because she wanted to schedule an induction the following week.  I really did not want to be induced, but my doctor felt like I should if I did not go into labor on my own that week.  I said a little prayer that I could go into labor on my own.  Friends started trickling out of the park because it was time for lunch and naps.  I couldn't get myself to get up.  I was hurting, but finally lugged my child from the park and headed back to our apartment.  I hurt all afternoon, and started to feel done with pregnancy.  It sounds weird, but I actually enjoyed pregnancy pretty much up to this point.  Bryan kept pushing me to get induced earlier and was really anxious for the baby to come.  Of course I wanted to meet her, but up until this point I was comfortable pregnant and knew she was growing and doing just fine for the time being.  I was also slightly terrified of taking care of two kids.  I had contractions inconsistently until about 6 pm.  Then, I did not really have any pain and had a random spurt of energy.  I danced with McKay and intensely cleaned for about an hour.  Then Bryan got home at 7 and we had dinner and put McKay to sleep.  Sometime in that time period contractions started coming on stronger.  I started timing them after McKay went to bed and they were every 5 minutes.   I did not want to wake up my neighbors at 2 am, so we decided to go in at about 1030.  I was dilated to a 4/5 and contracting every 3 minutes so they admitted me.  I squeezed Bryan's hand when the contractions came and watched Downton Abbey online in between for the first hour or two.   Then I was seriously in the shower for like an hour and a half.  It was amazing and helped my back so much.  The contractions got worse and I got an epidural.  The epidural was wonderful and worked completely on both sides, which did not happen with McKay.  We finally slept for a few hours, then the nurse checked me and I was ready to deliver.  I pushed for three contractions and Jane was born!  It was such a relief to know she was healthy.  I couldn't believe she was as big as McKay was, since everyone thought she would be a small baby.  We all love her so much and are so grateful she has joined our little family.