Vacation 2010

This year's family vacation was taken in the Houston area. We decided to save money on a hotel by staying at my parents house. That would also give us the flexibility to use a kitchen to cook a few meals and clean Corina's bottles, and also give a home base with room to spread out. All in all a good set up when everyone needs naps, and early bedtimes. And that's not even to mention the extra help Mema and Grandad provide so Mommy and Daddy aren't entirely worn out at the end of the trip. Eric and I were even able to spend one night away in Kemah for an added bonus.

Thursday (10-7-10)
Activities: Eric and I went to Kemah and stayed at the Boardwalk Inn. We ate amazing food, rode the train (as seen in our picture), and enjoyed kidless company.



Friday (10-8-10)
Activities: Mommy and Daddy come back from Kemah. Go to park where Mommy gets EATEN UP by mosquitos. Eat a yummy pizza dinner at Grimaldi's Pizzeria.











Saturday (10-9-10)
Activites: We visited 7 Acre Wood farm. While there Lukas was able to ride a train, pet animals in a petting zoo, play on a playground, ride a pony, scout a pumpkin patch, and play with finger puppets. After naptime Lukas and Mema made cookies, and we relaxed.











Sunday (10-10-10)
Activites: We went to the Houston Zoo. We were able to see the very cool dinosaur exhibit as well as all the other animals. We then finished the day off with a train ride through Herman Park. The day was perfect! Exhausting, but perfect.

Lukas

Do you ever get those glimpses into your kids future that just kind of frighten you? Lukas has given us these glimpses since early on, and now they are nearly every day. The kid is brilliant. I don't say this out of parent bias (I mean, I am of course), but it's just true. He remembers EVERYTHING! If you have to repeat it to him most likely he analyzed the information upon receiving it, found it to be not currently useful or beneficial, and therefore discarded it. This doesn't happen often though. Anything he's heard or seen is a possible topic for conversation for months later. This has us constantly racking our brains trying to figure out where he's heard or seen something. And when he asks questions he wants the real answer, not some easy short answer. This of course brings on major mental gymnastics on our part to find ways to explain what he wants to know in ways he can understand (I mean he is only 3.5), and then of course also brings out even more questions that half the time end up in me saying "I don't know how to explain that". He understands concepts that I would never expect a 3 year old to grasp, and then he turns around and applies them. From a parental point of view it is amazing and scary at times. I feel a bit at a loss as to how to teach him anything because he seems to grasp everything (which of course is not true). I know all kids can do this, but his out of the blue questions make me think about things I haven't thought about in years. I'm so grateful he is able to go to preschool because there they can help keep up with his avid need for knowledge. As a mom with two kids to keep up with I can only do so much.

I pray that God continues to show us how to help him put his mind to work because without focus I know he'll be bored and unmotivated. I am amazed by him daily (even on the days I'd like to give him away). His future is something I can't imagine, but I know he'll be genius at whatever he puts his mind to. I love my little man more than I could have ever dreamed possible!

Getting Places

I tried to post a video about a month ago when she first started her semi-crawl, but the one I filmed was too long. After that I just never remembered to get another good one shot when Lukas wasn't running around interrupting her playing. I did today, and she's even closer to real crawling now. As of today (10-12-10) she is also picking up her hands independently (I think she does it in the video) while on her hands and knees. When she tries to move them forward in a crawling manner, however, she usually face plants like she has been.

Enjoy!

Picture Fun

Just a few pictures of what we've been up to lately.

Crafts



Building



Painting



Smiling



More Smiling



Playing with Aunt Ashley



He got his face painted like a Tiger at CiCi's one night.



Viewing a HUGE grasshopper.



Making banana bread with Mommy.



Showing Corina how the tools work.



"Crawling" around. As soon as she starts moving her arms, she'll have a full crawl together.



Playing with Mel Mel.



Helping Lukas play his game.

Zoo Time

Now that we have a membership to the Dallas Zoo, going is much simpler. We don't feel bad if we don't stay very long, and it's simply cheaper. Today (10-2-10) was a perfect day to visit. The majority of the time we were there the temperature was in the 70's, and the sun was shining. Like I said...perfect! Lukas had a blast (as always), and got to ride a pony, the monorail, and the carousel. He really to ride everything but the camel, and I wasn't about to pay $5 so he could. They aren't that exciting. Corina had lots of fun being outside in the beautiful weather.



































And by the end of such an awesome day, everyone was EXHAUSTED!

6 Months Old!

Corina at 6 months:
- weighs 15 lbs 10 oz.
- is 27 inches long (a tall skinny girl)
- can move around very effectively. (She is not technically crawling, but it's as close as she can get)
- can sit unassisted (not just tripod, but straight up also)
- reaches and tries to grab everything.
- loves to laugh and smile.
- is babbling, but she is usually only talkative when it's quiet around her (when Lukas is not around).
- loves her jumper. She will bounce and dance all around in it with a huge smile on her face.
- eats 5 4oz bottles a day, and 3 cereals a day (although she gets to start fruits and veggies tonight).
- is still struggling with reflux, but giving her smaller bottles (along with meds and thickener) has helped.
- is getting better at putting her own paci in her mouth.
- loves Lukas to distraction! She always wants to be where he is and doing what he's doing. So far this is the only think Lukas doesn't appreciate about her (and he's going to find out that this is only the beginning).
- loves her Mommy and Daddy more and more every day!!!

She is always on the move!

An Honest Talk About Reflux

First of all, I HATE REFLUX. Corina has been dealing with reflux probably since birth, but it really started to increase in intensity (and so got diagnosed at reflux) between 3 and 4 months of age. She is the happiest baby unless her reflux is acting up. Sadly the amount of time that her reflux is acting has become a majority of the time.

Her currently management plan is:
- Prevacid - 1/2 a pill twice a day
- nectar thickened bottles
- staying upright as much as possible (which is hard because since she knows she can "crawl" around, that's what she wants to do)
- changing her eating schedule from 4 60z bottles to 5 or 6 3-4 oz bottles (not sure how this will work since she set her own eating schedule, and I'm not sure she'll be happy with us messing with it)

If changing her eating schedule doesn't work we will most likely be going to the GI doctor.

I am exhausted! I am worn out more mentally and emotionally than physically since I do get to sleep at night. I realized how much so when in the past week or so I really can't even handle the small "I need my diaper changed" type of cries. Thankfully she does not scream all day, every day. However, she will scream and cry out of pain in the late afternoon/evening every day, and about once a week to ten days she'll have one awful day where she screams the majority of the day.

Eric and I have commented to each other how we can see sleep training issues possibly coming up in the future. She is beginning to associate being put in bed with pain because her reflux always flares in bed no matter the precautions we've done beforehand. So this also means that while she can self-sooth when she's feeling good, when she's not we rock her completely to sleep before putting her in bed. None of this is unfixable if it truly becomes an issue, but we'll just have to figure out how to deal with it.

I'm so glad school has started for Lukas because there are so many times that I just feel guilty about completely ignoring him to take care of Corina. He doesn't get it (and I don't expect him to). All he knows is Corina is crying...again. I'm so glad he loves her so much because if he didn't he could easily start to resent her due to how much of my attention she takes and how much she cries.

I am grateful that aside from the reflux, she is the happiest and most laid back baby in the world. She is adorable, smart, and utterly amazing. I cannot wait to see where her life will take her! So for now, lets just try to beat this horrible thing called reflux.