Pics from early June

We just got back from our Wyoming vacation and it was FANTASTIC! Course the weather in June in Wyoming is so nice with the exception of one day that was windy (40 mph sustained winds with 65 mph gusts) booo, but was a nice reminder of what the winters are like there. Before I get to those pics here are some from the 1st part of June

Potty training day 1. I can't believe it only took 1/2 a day for him to get it. 2 days to be accident free and 2 weeks to be totally accident free, including being brave enough to go use the potty on the airplane. I'm hoping the little one will be just as easy in a few years.

Jackson telling Calvin "look at mommy, say cheese!"

Covering his baby brother up with his "Bob". Yes, he shares his Bob with Calvin, talk about loving one another.

This pic is funny

Augh! He thinks he's 10 some days. He jumps not only off the side of the pool but off the spillway between the hot tub and the pool, good thing he's pretty coordinated

1st time in the Bumbo at 2 months

trying to pick brother up

Calvin is 9 weeks with our baby sitter Miss Lizzie. This was the 1st time we left him for date night and I loved that I knew the boys were in good hands. We are so blessed to have Miss Lizzie (who I stole from my friends)

Helping mommy cook

My friend Bekah's little girl, Jordan. She loves baby Calvin

Jackson sitting pool side with his lady friend, Olivia

Noises at 4:30 am

Snort.

Snuffle.

Pant.

Wheeze.

Burp.

Shriek.

Belch.

Cry.

Grunt.

Sigh.

Coo.

Babies are noisey.

Especially at 4:30 in the morning.

He might be sleeping.

But he is not quiet.

Vengance

Not that y'all are vengeful....most likely just people you know (wink, wink), but I thought that I would share with everyone that I have bossed, coped an attitude, demanded that it be done my way, thought that my idea was the best and even at times was completely un-teachable.....well if you have had a brush with that side of Crissy in the past 30 years, I'm here to tell you that alast, God's word is true!

Hebrews 10:30

We know the God who said, "I alone have the right to take revenge. I will pay back."

Well here it is...

wrapped up in a nice little blue-eyed-blonde-hair-2 yeard old-boy-package

That's him screaming at me because I didn't do something his way

I'm a bad mommy too, because sometimes his pointing-out-the-obvious bossiness is HILARIOUS!

Example:

J: mommy I have a ganola bar please? Dey are on da table, white dare.

Me: I know where they are

J: you need to open dem. How you open it?

Me: you peel the tape back off the box

J: o tay, you peel the tape back and you open dem and you det me one. o tay? oh and please. (the please brought on his charming smile which always makes them baby blues sparkle...oh he knows how to work it already!)

But because he can be sweet too...here's the way I want to leave this

My mommy parable

I found this un-finished post in my que and thought I would share....apparently I had gotten interrupted when I was writing it a few months ago....

Anyway, I thought this up one day back in May when I was trying to make a point to T-rav when he suggested that 6 week old Calvin may be hungry (I told you it was old, Calvin is 4 months now!) because he was crying a little more than usual. So here it is.....

you may get a chuckle out of it

or not,

ok, here it is.......

Not because I'm a prophet (T-rav made fun of me) but because the other day in my exhaustion I decided to come up with a way to explain the frustration stemmed from suggestions about a crying baby from on lookers.....or husbands of newborns that are trying to help but are just as exhausted as we mommies are.

Calvin is a good good baby. I think he's only been fussy about 5 times since he's been born...those are good odds. But since I lived with/survived a very colicky baby the 1st go around I know how "helpful" suggestions from onlookers can get on your nerves.

Here, let me 1st set the scene for you:

Your baby is fussy. He's been fed plenty, burped, fresh diapie....maybe even had some gas drops for your placebo effect. He's just fussy, they all get that way sometimes, some more than others.

Your in a public place, let's say Costco (since I'm there about every 3rd day) and people are passing by while the baby is wailing.

They smile a "oh, poor baby, what is your mommy doing to you or not doing for you" look. Then they ask the infamous question, which every frustrated mom has heard....

"is he hungry?" or "oh he must be hungry!"

Uh, NO!!!! I'm the mom...I would know if my baby is hungry.

I feel like saying...

Dude, trust me you're not suggesting some far off solution for this screaming meme that I hadn't already tried or taken care of...don't mean to burst your bubble here, but you didn't just come up with a "solution" for this! T

But what I really kindly replied with was...."No, he's just a little fussy" then they're looking at me like I'm a horrible mom and just walk away with no other words of wisdom of what might ACTUALLY work to calm this colicky baby down.

So my parable is this: (mind you it was directed at T-rav so I had to put into words he would understand....you know, speak his "country" language)

Let's say you put diesel in your brand new truck. You filled it up. You know you filled it up because you spent about $90....that puppy is full! So your truck is full of fuel, your driving home and suddenly it breaks down along side the road.

You get out and your under the hood, looking under the truck....you know really trying to figure out what's wrong.

Some well meaning older, wiser looking, gentleman in a car stops to help out. He walks up and the 1st question he asks you is "is it out of diesel?" You smile and kindly reply, "no, I just filled er up". He obviously knows his way around a vehicle, tells you that he even had a model like that one years past but it's older now. So after looking around a bit he comes back with "are you sure it's not out of diesel?". Since he's got nothing else to offer for suggestions he gets in his car and drives away.

So there you are, standing there, along side of the road perplexed and a little anxious about the "malfunction"

then along comes another guy.

He pulls up in a truck, not a car, so you're thinking...Oh, surely he won't make me feel like I'm retarded, he's got the same thing going on as me. NOPE, he gets out and basically repeats the same exact conversation as the guy before. Then after hinting that obviously you've done something wrong, because his truck is running fine. You know, the one size fits all..... if you do X, Y...you'll get Z for an answer, right?! WRONG!

So after they can't help you, make you feel like a horrible truck owner because it clearly is your fault the trucks not running right, they all just drive away leaving you stranded with this problem. No real advice was given, no help was offered to either take the truck for a while and give you a break or stay with you to keep you calm till you figured out what was wrong.

Nope, each person just questions the fuel situation you till you wonder...

well, did I dream it?

did I really not fill up at the gas station?

am I really qualified to have this vehicle?

what am I doing to ruin it?

somethings wrong with it!

somethings wrong with me!

So basically, the moral of the story is......don't always assume that the reason a baby is screaming in it's mommy's arms is because it's hungry and for the love of babies, don't suggest it to the mom that clearly looks frazzled...TRUST ME, she already knows!

I'm not saying, I'm just saying :-)

More conversations with Jackson:

Daddy tome play witsh me. Tome on! Chop chop!

Can I hold you?
No, mommy I'm not a baby, you tan't hold me, just sit wit me, o Tay? (funny he never wanted to be held when he actually was a baby...too independent)

Calvin is a lot like his big brother but minus the colic (the Lord is merciful!). His legs are really strong and he wants to stand up every chance he can, if he takes his 1st steps by Christmas I won't be completely shocked. He also loves holding his head up and even turning it from side to side while doing so....you can tell he's determined, but in a more quiet way....hmmmm, sounds a lot like his daddy :-)

Jackson love for babies makes me curious sometimes. He's so rough and tough, but yet has this sweet gentle love for things that are smaller and defenseless. He might find the damsel in distress intuitively attractive because he loves being the hero of the day. His favorite episode of Wonder Pets is one of the trio learn about how to take care of a baby. He asked me today "is baby Talvin doe-ing to doe 'goo goo ga ga' when he dets bigger?"....and later when Calvin was crying because he wanted his diaper change pronto, Jackson said to me "sometimes babies don't know why de are trying, mommy". Who says you can't learn from The Wonder Pets, even if they are kind of creepy. :-)

I think we are fully potty trained now. We had 2 accidents yesterday, because friends were over and he hasn't learned to stop all the fun and do his business, but he'll learn, and I'm so proud of myself for keeping my patience this last week. It was only by prayer!

Tidbits

I was awoken at 6:15 this am to the sound of a tiny makings of a laugh. Calvin was in his swing, smiling hugely at the fish above his head...it was so cute and so early! He can find things to giggle about 1st thing in the am. I'm a morning person and I don't even think I have that ability.

Jackson loves to read books in his room at night after we turn out the lights...it's a stall tactic really. But ever since he's discovered that he can "read" (basically he's memorized his favorite books like Go Dog, Go by heart and can go along with each page like he's reading it. He reads it daily to his baby brother before nap time....he's the best big brother I know!) so at night he will bring his Zondervan Children's Bible into his tent, turn the pages till he finds his favorite story of David and Goliath then will "read" along with the pictures the story over and over. It's the sweetest sound coming from his room at night. When he and daddy read it often they will act it out, which I love that Travis brings the stories in the Bible to life for Jackson.

Jackson hears mommy and daddy call each other "honey" a lot and since he's no dummy he's figured out how to step up the call if he needs to get our attention. When walking thru the house trying to daddy he'll first call out "daddy", but if he doesn't get a response he'll go to "honey" and then the 3rd time will be "Twavis" (he can't say his "r" yet). It's the same go around for mommy too...it's kinda cute how he says my name, "twissy". He calls Calvin, "Talvin"

Calvin will smile and watch Jackson bounce all around the room. I love how they already play together. When I'm trying to feed Calvin and Jackson comes in the room talking, Calvin already stops and tries to whip his head around to see his big brother. I know they will end up beating on each other some day soon, but for now it sure it nice to see how they love one another.

Calvin already wants to stand up and can do so for about 20 sec and has almost mastered holding up his head. It's almost like he's showing off for me when he does it....I can see determination in his eyes....oh no, could it be another determined male in the Kinley house? He is 8 weeks old today (can you believe it?!)

Jackson is getting awesome at swimming, course we keep a life jacket on him for this summer because I can't stay right with him all the time. We plan on doing swim lessons next summer so he can use the skills he learned with out a life jacket and mommy won't be so tied down with a newborn. The schedule that I'm trying/forced (I hate schedules, but both of these boys do much better when they are on one) includes getting some energy out of JT and mommy getting some exercise in, so we go for a swim in the am during one of Calvin's naps. I'm hoping Jackson will have the front stroke down before the end of summer.

Day 2 a total Success!

Day 2 of potty training was a total success. We are using the Three Day Potty Training Method that was given to me by a friend. She potty trained her daughter (her 3rd child) right at the age of 2. JT has been so ready but I've just been putting it off and finding one excuse after another to avoid it. I was re-reading the info the other night and came to the part that said children 2 1/2 and older are harder to train because they are more comfortable with their own way things should go. That right there scarred me because if you know Jackson, you know how he is a strong willed child, so I figure it would be easier now rather than later.

Yesterday we had 2 accidents in the am, but the rest of the day we were successful. The failures are what teach them and I'm glad that it only took 2 for Jackson to catch on. The most tricky part of it is that I have to stay with him all day so that I can catch him in the act. It was a little hard yesterday, but today I loosened up the strings a little because it was clear that he had caught on. We didn't have any accidents today and I'm so proud of him! The only problem that mommy is having is that he can obviously hold if for a long time because he'll stand there with the "I gotta go peepee jig" going on but won't say "mommy I need to go peepee" even after I have repeatedly said "hey, buddy remember to keep your boxers dry and tell mommy if you have to go peepee ok?". It's good to know he can hold it tho, because we are getting on a airplane in 2 weeks and I'm a little nervous to take a newly potty trained toddler on a plane. Daddy will be with us, so I guess it won't be so bad.

Thanks for all your prayers. Jackson still had to pray every time he got on the potty till this afternoon, but it warmed my heart to hear him say "pray with me mommy". I'm hoping that he'll instantly turn to the Lord when he's scared and not just have the urge to have a bowel movement each time he prays. :-). Sorry I had to say it, I'm a smartelic by nature....it's how the Good Lord knit me together in my mama's womb