Leaving Virginia Beach

Brad was traded to another hockey team, and unfortunately, he had to pack right up and leave to join the Oklahoma City Barons. It didn't seem to make sense for me to stay with the kids in Virginia Beach, so we decided we would pack up and move back home to Madison. Brad left on Monday, March 9th, and Kristi and Gary were flying out on Wednesday to help me pack and help with the kids. Our incredible babysitter, Courtney, was helping me fly back to Madison with the kids on Saturday, March 14th, and Kristi and Gary were driving the Jeep back with Cash. What an operation!

Brad got the news on a Friday, and he was fortunate enough to be able to spend the weekend with us before flying to Oklahoma. The Barons were on a road trip, and Brad wasn't playing yet because of his injury, so we enjoyed our last few days in beautiful Virginia Beach.  

Taking papa to the airport

Laney entertained Owen for me while papa checked his bags

Noni and Grandpa arrived Wednesday evening, and Thursday and Friday were spent packing up rooms and entertaining the kids between naps. We took them to the aquarium one afternoon, and Laney almost ended up in the sting ray tank. Noni had a tight grip on her ankles and let her lean over to touch the surface of the water - maybe even pet a sting ray - and Laney suddenly lunged forward to try to go for a swim. Good thing Noni was holding on so tightly! Laney didn't go in, but she got pretty soaked.

The next day, we took a stroll on the boardwalk, played at the beach playground, and stopped for an Orange Crush cocktail at Waterman's. 

Laney led Noni straight to the park

Stopping at Waterman's for a quick cocktail

Laney loves a good happy hour

It didn't matter that it was cold on the beach. She insisted on drinking her ice water outside on the bench.

We really lucked out when we found our babysitter, Courtney. She's the first babysitter we've ever had, and she's absolutely phenomenal with the kids (and she's originally from Wisconsin - woohoo!). When she said she could help me fly home with Laney and Owen, I was so relieved! She met us at the airport Saturday morning, helped me check in, and successfully got the kids through security and to our gate. 

Buddies. Courtney is the best!

Ready to fly! But not ready to give Courtney her water bottle back.

After a quick bottle, Owen was all smiles

Laney was just being a goofball. Entertaining herself by playing peek-a-boo with her dress and high-pitch screaming at the top of her lungs. 

Watching them play together and entertain each other is one of my favorite things

Laney just discovered the joy of escalators! Courtney was such a good sport and spent most of our layover taking Laney up...then down...then up...then down...

Laney rode escalators, and Owen just hung out with mama

Courtney kept Owen company while I changed Laney's diaper at the airport. What would I have done without her??

20.5 Months Old // 7.5 Months Old

Laney has turned into a dancing machine. This little girl has developed dance moves that rival Elaine from Seinfeld. She'll bend an elbow, shrug one shoulder, cock her head, and bounce up and down. She lets the music take over her body, and sometimes her moves seem so intricate that I seriously question whether she choreographed a routine in her free time. She's really good! It has become a routine to have a dance party with papa in the morning before he leaves for practice and each night after dinner. His moves are equally impressive and I have no doubt that he inspires most of her dancing.

Laney has come up with a new fun game where she brings a toy over to Owen, offers it to him, and as soon as he's able to grab it, she rips it out of his hands and looks at me. She just stares at me with a little smirk on her face, knowing she isn't supposed to be doing that to Owen and waiting for me to react. After attempting to prevent her from taking the toy back, I realized that giving her attention was fueling the fire. Now all I do is ignore the behavior, avoid direct eye contact with her, and try my hardest not to burst out laughing. Sometimes I have to cover my face because I can't help but crack up. I feel badly for Owen, but ignoring her behavior is helping. She's playing this game less and less. Owen doesn't seem to mind at all (for now), so hopefully she'll stop doing it before he gets to the point where it bothers him.

Owen's top teeth came in on March 6th - both on the same day! Getting two teeth at once seems to be a trend for him. He doesn't seem to get too fussy while he's teething, but he definitely notices the new teeth that have come in. He's constantly grinding his top two teeth and bottom two teeth together, which makes me cringe.

He is also starting to sleep much better! I don't want to jinx it, but Owen slept 12 hours through the night - two nights in a row! Laney didn't start sleeping through the night until right before she turned one, so this was an unexpected surprise for me. He wakes up happy and talking, with a very wet diaper and a big appetite. I hope he keeps this up...

He has started to show signs of separation anxiety, and he gets a little whiny if I'm not holding him. At one point, I was standing at the sink, washing his bottles, when he started crawling towards me from across the room. He whined the entire way over to me - a loud, high pitched, frowning, very unhappy whine. He wedged himself right between my feet, rolled onto his back, grabbed my leg, and just looked up at me, smiling. He stayed right there. As long as he was holding my leg and looking at my face, he was happy. My heart melted a little bit. We'll have to do something about his attachment to mommy, but in the meantime, I'm secretly loving every bit of it.

Feeding her baby milk...

...and trying very hard to prevent Owen from touching her doll.

 High-waisted air guitar?

I'm a sucker for those pigtails  

Watching The Bachelor finale with mama

 My handsome little guy

20 Months Old // 7 Months Old

We have a crawler! On the day he turned 7 months old, Owen started army crawling forward! It looked like he was putting a lot of energy into pulling himself forward with his forearms, and he was a little awkward at first. He would pull himself with his left arm, tuck his right arm underneath himself, and roll over his right shoulder. After a few days, he figured out how to pull himself forward with both arms more efficiently, and now he's cruising like a crawling pro!

7 Months Old!

The little man in action, rolling over his right shoulder. I'm exhausted just watching him.

So proud of himself for crawling over to one of Cash's toys

Owen has developed a more predictable sleep schedule and is napping 2-3 times per day. Each nap is a couple hours long. It just so happens that these naps rarely coincide with Laney's afternoon nap, so I'm usually getting Owen to bed...he wakes up right as Laney's going to bed...then Laney wakes up right as Owen needs to go back to bed. This makes it a little tricky for me to leave the house between 9am-4pm. Ha. His bedtime is also much more predictable! He falls asleep between 7-8pm and usually wakes up for a bottle at some point in the middle of the night. 

Laney has just started learning about sharing. She knows the sign for it and she can say the word, but we're really working hard on figuring out what it means. So far, it's pretty one-sided. She thinks everyone else needs to share with her. She'll walk up to Owen, take a toy out of his hand and say "share." She'll give Cash one of his dog toys and then take right out of his mouth and tell him "share." She'll see papa or me eating some food and expect us to share a bite with her. We're trying to teach her that she needs to share with others. It's a work in progress. Might take awhile.

I can finally say that having two children so close together is just now starting to get easier. Owen's sleeping habits are more predictable. Laney's schedule is predictable. Both kids love each other and are starting to play together. Owen is able to move around and entertain himself with his toys. It's still exhausting taking care of two little ones, but Brad and I are having so much fun with this stage! At the end of each day, we love sharing stories about each of the kids and all of the cute and funny things they did that day. 

Fresh blowout

Lane sees me feeding Owen in the high chair, then wants to feed her baby

Tired of me taking so many pictures. But those pigtails! I can't help myself.

Mama + daughter snuggles

This is just the beginning of Laney putting girl clothes on Owen

Spring weather calls for pigtails and bare legs

Playing outside while Owen naps. Laney is better at playing fetch than Cash. 

19.5 Months Old // 6.5 Months Old

All of a sudden, Laney has been eating much more food. I'm not sure if her appetite has increased or if she just became more interested in food, but she's eating a wider variety of things (including meat), and she's finishing what we put on her tray. As her mama, it feels so gratifying to me when she has finished a big meal. I've been so worried that she wasn't eating enough, and now I feel reassured that she's getting the nutrition she needs. She still loves her fruits and vegetables, and she can't get enough string cheese. She has also gotten a lot better at using a spoon and a fork. It's still a messy meal if she feeds herself, but she has so much fun and feels like a big girl with her utensils. Worth noting: she insists on feeding herself yogurt and throws a full blown tantrum if I take her spoon and yogurt away before she's finished.

She is such a little daredevil. I was feeding Owen lunch in the high chair, and Laney climbed onto a chair to sit at the dining room table and pretend she was eating a meal like an adult. I ran to get my phone to take a picture of her, and when I came back, she was on top of the dining room table! She never ceases to surprise me. I told her to stay there and walked towards her to show her how to carefully get down, when she suddenly got down on her tummy, scooted to the edge of the table, and dropped down onto the floor. I think she thought she'd drop onto the chair seat first, so it surprised her that it was a longer fall. But she was totally fine and ran away, smiling.

She loves being thrown high into the air. Lucky for her, papa can toss her up really high!

She also loves horseback riding (sorry, Cash)

Owen is very good about going down for a nap as long as his tummy is full. I give him a 6- or 7-oz bottle before each nap, and he usually either falls right asleep or talks to himself until he falls asleep. Sometimes he cries as I leave the room, but it usually only lasts a minute or two. He'll wake up from a nap and eat some oatmeal or pureed fruits and veggies, then play for 2 hours until he's ready for another bottle and nap. At bedtime (around 7:30), he needs to be rocked to sleep. He hasn't done very well if we leave him awake in his crib at night. He isn't ready for bedtime sleep training yet, but we'll try that soon.

He's becoming much more talkative and animated. He's good about playing on his stomach for long periods of time. He's spitting up a lot less when he's on his tummy, which is great. He's also becoming more mobile. Now, not only does he roll, but he also spins around 360 degrees on his stomach and rolls in any direction he wants. If he sees a toy that he wants to play with, he has figured out how to get to it. He especially loves rolling off of his blanket onto the hardwood floor. He smacks the floor with his hands or bangs a toy on it to make a loud sound. Just banging things on the floor can keep him entertained for a long time.

I still have no idea how he ends up in places like this.

Mommy + daughter lunch date at Panera (she's signing "apple")… 

...and trip to the aquarium!

On chilly days, Laney gets a professional blowout after her bath 

(this is as professional as mama gets)

Static attack!

Bath time for the big guy after he tinkled all over himself