Six months already?

One week old

Smiley girl

Always wanting to what brother is doing

Say what?

Kylie is six months old already! I can not believe how fast the time has gone. I'm convinced that time goes by so much faster with the second baby and I'm a little sadden by that...OK A LOT!

The first six weeks of Kylie's life were miserable. Not only were we trying to get used to having two kids, we were also dealing with a very crabby baby who cried ALL THE TIME. We found out at exactly six weeks that she had silent reflux and it was bad enough to put her on medicine. She totally changed once we started her on her medicine. She started smiling at everyone, was happy (as long as there's people around to entertain her), and she started sleeping through the night. Her true personality started to come out. She loves to play peek-a-boo and smiles at everyone she sees. Her favorite person is William and her face lights up whenever he walks into the room. She is sitting up by herself and rolls all over the place although she would rather be walking (which she'll do if you hold her hands while she's standing up). She hates being by herself and would rather sit and watch me cook dinner than play in her bouncy seat in the other room. If she's unhappy, she will let you know and she can go from smiling to screeching at you in seconds. In fact, she flat out yelled at me when she was two weeks old. I hope that she always tells people how she feels and stands up for herself (I may regret that when she's 15).

I have enjoyed the last six months watching Kylie grow and I'm excited for all the changes that are coming in the next six months.

2011 update

I'm going to steal my mom's blog idea and write a post on our not so fun year so here it goes.

This year started off with Kyle starting is new job as a Marine Corps Recruiter. We knew that it was going to be a big change for him and for our family with longer hours and more pressure but we just didn't know how hard it was going to be. It's one of those situations that you hear from other people how hard it is but you don't understand until you're in it. Like everything he does, he's very good at his job but it is VERY stressful and it's hard to see him doing something he doesn't enjoy. The thing I keep telling myself and him is that he could be deployed. At least he gets to come home every night (well almost every night). I try to look at the positives but it's hard sometimes. I don't think things have gotten easier with his job but we've slowly adjusted.

In April I found out my little sister (who is 19 and a senior in high school) was pregnant with twins and she has chosen to live in a house for unwed, homeless mothers instead of with my mom. This pregnancy has brought up a lot of "why God" prayers in my life which I realize is not how it should be but it is. I won't get into specifics but I will say that a lot of changes need to be made on her part for these babies. After six months of being sad, angry, worried, and indifferent, I think I've finally turned the whole situation over to God. I am not in control of her life or her decisions, God is. The only thing I can do is pray and that's what I intend to do. It is still a very difficult situation for my whole family and there are a lot more question marks than I am comfortable with. It's been a struggle for me mostly because instead of my sister and I getting closer and sharing pregnancy stories, this has pulled us farther apart. I really don't know if our relationship will ever be repaired and that is something else I'm not in control of (sorry if none of that made sense). There is only so much one person can do and a relationship is two-sided.

On top of that, my little brother went to live in a rehabilitation boys school in Kentucky about two months ago. This was not something that any of us wanted to happen but it was very much needed. He was very angry at everyone and was starting to get violent with my mom. I can honestly say she tried everything before she made this decision and it was not made in hast. He will be there for at least a year. I really don't think I've dealt with the fact that he isn't around and won't be for a while. I haven't let the thoughts of missing him and him missing out on family events into my mind. I refuse to think about them or deal with them. I look at the situation very logically and I don't let my emotions in at all. That's the only way I know how to handle this right now. I haven't cried, I haven't gotten angry, I haven't gotten sad. I refuse to let myself go there. Maybe I'm avoiding my feelings because I feel like I need to be the strong, logical one right now. I don't know. I know someday I will let those feelings in and I will have a breakdown but for right now I'm OK with burying those feelings.

There have been some good things to come out of this year. The first (and most important) is Kylie's birth. She is already six months old (I'm going to write and update later)! I can't believe time has gone by so fast. She has brought so much joy and happiness to our family when we really needed it. The other thing that is awesome is being so close to our family that we get to see them a couple times a month. Its been really nice getting to spend so much time with my family. William loves spending time with his cousins, his aunts and uncles, and his grandparents/great grandparents. The only thing that would make it better is to have Kyle's family here too!

Things I've learned from my two year old

This year has been a very trying time not just as a family, but with William. A couple weeks before Kylie was born, the dreaded terrible twos joined our family. Now compared to some kids I've heard about, William is not that bad. He doesn't throw screaming, kicking, tantrums and he listens fairly well, but man that boy is stubborn. If he doesn't want to do something, he completely ignores anything you have to say and would rather be punished than do whatever it is your asking him to do (or not do). He is also very independent and it's a constant battle over what he can do and what he's allowed to do. It's a power struggle between him and I daily. He is also the most loving little boy and he is constantly teaching me new things. Here are a few things I've learned from him.

1) A smile is the best way to greet someone. William has a way of making everyone he meets feel good about themselves. He greets everyone like they are his favorite person in the world. Even people he has just met get an enthusiastic "Hi" with a 1000 wat smile. I realized that I need to start doing that to everyone I come in contact with especially my husband. A lot of times when Kyle comes home I'm in the middle of some project or chore and instead of stopping for a moment to greet him, I give him a quick hello. I'm sure that makes him feel like whatever I'm doing is more important than him

2) Everyone is equal. A toddler doesn't care how much money you have, what you look like, what kind of clothes you wear, what kind of car you drive, your social status, etc. Their judgement of people is how a person treats them. I am a judgemental person to a fault and it's something I am constantly working on. I love watching William interact with people because he could care less about who they are as long as they are nice to him. I want to be more like that. I want to quit judging people by what they have or what they look like or what they wear and start paying attention to their character.

3)He asks for help. This is something I'm awful at. I try to do it all and I'll wear myself down before I ask for help even from Kyle. I am learning how to ask for help when I need it but it's hard.

4) He has a servant's heart. One of the things that has surprised me the most about William since Kylie was born was how helpful he is. If we ask him to get something, especially for Kylie, he rushes to get it. He is always helping me "clean" and when I ask him to help pick up he does. I am not very good at this especially in my walk with God. Sometimes I hear the call of God to do something or help someone and I ignore it because I have my own stuff to do. This is something I really need to work on.

These are a few things I've learned from William this last year. I never imagined my baby boy could teach me so much.