Kale's 12 month check up

Kale had his 12 month check up on Dane's 3rd birthday. Dane came along and got his 3 year check up as well...what an awesome birthday present! I thought is was interesting and amusing that these 2 boys have continued to be almost the exact same size at all their check ups. Kale weighed in at 23 lbs, 1 oz (a half lb heavier than Dane at 12 months) and they measured the exact same height 31.5 inches and fell into the 90th percentile for that. Kale has done better with sleeping over the course of the last week. Last Friday night, I was about to pull my hair out. He woke up 3 times between 10pm and 1am. So Cameron took over and guess what?!? He slept until 7:30am. Apparently my hubby is a baby whisperer and knew better than I how to get that baby to sleep. We have finally been pushed to the point of the ol' cry it out method. I was so opposed to this prior to having kids but we did it with Dane and it worked very quickly with him...like pretty much the first time we did it. He was 10 months old and he cried for about 5 minutes and we didn't have any issues with him after that. Of course, he was always a much better sleeper than Kale. Kale unfortunately isn't catching on to the cry it out method as quickly. Thankfully he doesn't cry for very long, it's more about frequency with Kale. I think God figures I can't take more than 10 minutes of them crying because Kale is generally quiet at about the 10 minute mark when I am peeling back the covers to run in and comfort him. Last night it was 8 minutes at 2:30am and then I heard him make a few peeps between then and 6am when he woke up for good. It is the hardest thing for me to stay out of that room when he is crying but he is a year old and needs to learn to sleep!! We definitely wait to do it until they're much older than we probably should. Maybe if we attempted it at 6 months, Kale would be a pro sleeper by now.

We started Dane with potty training yesterday. We were planning to wait until summer because I have heard it's easier, but he told us he wanted to wear underwear so we're going with it. Yesterday was pretty good (I think) with 2 of each accident. I was initiating him going about every hour to hour and a half. He wasn't fighting me on it so overall it went well. Just now, he ran to the bathroom and said "I go pee pee on the potty!" So I went in after him and he did it...even initiating it! Everyone said wait til he's ready and I think he is!

Birthday Party!

Last Saturday, February 11th, we hosted a birthday party for Dane and Kale at our favorite play place (Stay 2 Play). We had a pretty small group of friends and kiddos but everyone had a great time! Kale ate some cake but wasn't overly excited about it. It was such a low stress environment for us...no set up, no clean up - they did everything! And there was so much for the kids to play with so it worked out well. A special thank you to Mom, Jeff, Christy, Barrett, Brian, Janel, Andon and Presley for making the trip up!

Happy 3rd Birthday Dane!!

Happy 3rd birthday to our dear boy Dane!!! The little miracle boy we thought we'd never have, I cannot believe you are 3 years old. To our hilarious, independent, wild child...there are days that you frustrate me to tears and days that I cannot stop laughing at your silliness but I wouldn't change one thing about you. Dane is all boy...nothing sweet and sensitive about this kid. He is absolutely rough and tumble but he also has the biggest heart. At 3 years old, Dane has many favorite phrases (most of which are either asserting independence or tattling)..."no mommy, I do it all myself" "no Kale, don't touch dat" "Kale took dat from me" and pretty much anything ending in "right now". We seem to be heading to that terrible 3 stage but so far the worst part of it is his extreme bossiness. He seems to have forgotten his manners and is incredibly demanding. I was talking to some of the moms at his school while we were waiting to pick up the kids and they all agreed that 3 was definitely the age they disliked the most. One of them even told me that she didn't like her son at all when he was 3 and she was worried that was his personality for life...now I don't believe I will get to that point, but this is definitely the most challenging age I've seen thus far.

Happy 1st Birthday Kale!!!

A very special happy birthday to the little man who came to complete our family...and on Valentine's day nonetheless! Kale is generally very laid back...a complete opposite of our first born wild child. However, Kale has truly found his voice and whenever Dane tries to take a toy from him he lets out a blood curdling, ear splitting scream. It would be kind of comical if it wasn't such a terrible noise. He has been taking steps since mid January, getting more brave as each day passes. For about the past 2 weeks, walking has been his chosen mode of transportation. He's giving up crawling more and more. His one year checkup is on Thursday so we'll have stats to share then. Kale currently has 8 teeth and an adorable smile that lights up his face. He is a sweet, gentle soul except for when he's trying to shove his finger in every hole on your face (which he does to me every day at nap time and bed time) then his rough side shows through. You can generally find Kale just toddling around our house jabbering away. He loves to cheer on Dane when he's playing hockey...up on his knees, clapping his hands, squealing and yelling "yeeeaaahhhh". We couldn't be more excited to have him as part of our family and I cannot believe that it's already been a year since I first held him in my arms!

Skating Week 10 (?)

I think we are in week 10 of hockey (skating) lessons. Here is a little video clip of how far Dane has come...he is very confident on skates.

Soon to be 1 & 3....

I cannot believe we are staring birthdays in the face already...next Saturday is the boys birthday party and soon after that my babies will be 3 & 1!!! How did that happen so fast?? At the age of 3, Dane has found that facing off with mom is fun for him (not fun for mom). He favorite thing to do when I ask him something is to cross his arms, give me a pouty face and say something like "no, I not want to do dat right now" and he says it gritting his teeth like he's very angry I even asked. If it wasn't my child and he wasn't talking to me, I would likely think it was pretty hilarious. I have spoken with the other playgroup moms and they are going through the same thing so it is obviously the age and them trying to prove their independence. On the same token, he is actually much better behaved than I remember him being last year at this time...he's coming into his own and he is hilarious!! The things he does and says make me laugh on a daily basis. His goofy grin and giggle crack me up and no one makes Kale laugh as much as Dane does. Favorite things....Curious George, hockey, being outside, playing guitar & singing, cheese popcorn, chicken nuggets with dip, Gicka Mouse, fruit snacks, chocolate milk, the Chicago Blackhawks and bossing Kale around.

Kale...this boy has given us a run for our money in the sleep department. We were spoiled with Dane but Kale likes to wake up at least once a night most nights. Having 5 ear infections in 3 months doesn't help the situation, but we're working towards better sleeping in this house. He is a sweet, smiley babe and loves his big brother. He has been walking for a couple weeks and gets more and more brave as each day passes. Speaking of brave...he climbs in and on EVERYTHING. It is not unusual for him to be sitting in the drawer under the oven or standing in a drawer on the entertainment center. We have an arm chair directly in front of our kitchen counter and we have to watch because he tries to climb on the counter from the chair...unfortunately there is really no other way to position our furniture. He beelines for the stairway all the time and we don't have a babygate up because Dane just takes it down. If there is a door open to a bathroom he beelines for the toilet. He can say mama, dadda and I believe he can say Dane but it sounds much like dadda. He is a little pig and eats and eats and eats. We typically feed him a stage 3 jar of baby food along with table food. And he pretty much eats everything you put in front of him.

They are beginning to play together but I most often hear "no Kale, don't do dat" or "no Kale, dat's mine". Inevitable I guess but we are working on sharing. And for your viewing pleasure, I have put together a little montage of recent boy activities in our home...

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