Bonding Time

While being on maternity leave, I've had all these grand ideas to take Kyson to reading time at the library, the movies, the aquarium, and more trips to the park. Surprisingly, not all of those things have happened, but we did get him to one reading time at the library, a movie one time, and many trips to the park. It's so wonderful to have extra bonding time with my family. While I adore Kodi, she just stares at you or sleeps so it's not very fun to play. I will be sad to go back to the long hours at work because I won't be able to take Kyson to the park or play with him as much. That will change some day though.

Holy Shed!

For some time now, we've been trying to get a shed in a backyard. To give us some motivation we bought one in June or July, hoping that if the box was in our backyard, we'd get it put up. It took several more months to finish the project. In fact, we finished after Kodi was born. It's an 8'x10' shed and we're so happy to start de-cluttering our house and garage. I can't wait! I took some pictures to show how the project progressed, but I don't have any pictures when Kris and our friends did the concrete. I was at parent-teacher conferences.

Mommy's Little Helper

Since Kodi has arrived, Kyson has been a very helpful little boy. It's so nice when he puts his toys away without being asked, or puts his cups in the sink. He wants to help with everything so much. Today, exceeds any help I'd like from my little guy. He's been watching Mommy and Daddy do the laundry and he knows that we put clothes in the washer with detergent.

While Kris was in the restroom, Kyson decided to help out Mom and Dad with the laundry. He grabbed clothes and blankets from wherever he could find them and threw them into the washer. And to make sure they got really clean, he added detergent - lots and lots of detergent. When Kris showed me what Kyson had done, I started cleaning it and then grabbed the camera. In order to clean up the detergent, I removed 14 heaping detergent cups and numerous partial cups to get it all out. I never did get it all, but I figured it was just enough for a load. While it is a little annoying to clean up this stuff, I can't complain. You hear horror stories of kids drawing all over doors and walls - those poor parents!

Family Photo Attempt

Because we have a new addition to the family, I wanted to get a new family photo with everyone. I was going to pay a friend of mine who did our photos last year, but I thought I'd see if we could get a decent picture before I shell out money. I'm so thankful I didn't pay anyone - not because we got such a great shot without a professional, but because Kyson was such an uncooperative little boy that it would have been a waste of money.

We went up to the fishing pond near our house because it has beautiful scenery and I bought new clothes for everyone. I was so excited and had all these great visuals in my head of how great these pictures would be. Kyson destroyed all of those grandiose ideas. He was staring at the ducks, or the fish, running away, fighting us when we tried to hold him, etc. It was awful. We tried taking different pictures for about an hour and when all was done, I didn't think we had a single salvageable photo. Kris and I were very frustrated, Kodi was hungry and I didn't bring a diaper bag or a binky, and Kyson was in trouble but didn't seem to care. Fortunately, after all that, there was one photo that made it all worth it.

What a Cool Big Brother!

Kyson has finally moved on from punishing me for bringing home a baby. He's behaving very well and from the beginning has been so sweet to Kodi. He takes her empty bottles to the sink, he'll bring us diapers to change her, and he'll even share his blanket with her - we're not allowed to use his blanket. He wants to hold her, but won't sit down, so we won't let him.

The cutest thing is whenever we have Kodi lying on the floor, he wants to lie next to her. We have to watch him because he gets so close sometimes, but you can tell that he really likes his baby sister. It will be so fun to see what happens when she starts interacting with him. It's funny, it already looks like she's copying him in that last picture.

Kodi's Photo Shoot

Because the hospital no longer offers newborn professional pictures, we went to JCPenney's to get some pictures of Kodi. I decided if I liked the pictures and they were reasonably priced, I'd take Kyson and her back in to get pictures together, and then I could get some of just Kyson too. So far, I like them.

Sweet Dreams . . . Not a Chance!

Since Kodi has been home from he hospital, we've been adjusting to the sleepless nights. It's so exhausting being up all night with the baby, then fighting a toddler during the day. Both Kris and I try to catch a few z's whenever we have an opportunity. We seem to be falling asleep all over the place.

On the bright side, Kodi is improving every night. Our first night home from he hospital, I got less than 2 hours of sleep between 10:00pm and 7:00am. I could tell you the exact times that I got that sleep throughout the night. Every night since then, her sleeping has improved and I'm so thankful. Last night, she only woke up 3 times!!! Throughout the day, we've been waking her up every 2 hours and playing with her for a few minutes. I think that is making the difference.