CRM is an Amazing Kid!

What a change six months can have in a child's temperament and development.  CRM is turning out to be a really great little man.  I was wondering how he would turn out after all the hitting, pushing, biting, and all other 'ing words he shouldn't have been doing.  After trying out timeouts, a swat here and there, and raising my voice, I had had enough.  The solution?  It was so simple it's embarrassing, I turned the TV off for most of the day.  Now it's usually on during transition times: wake up, before nap and bedtime.  I've been using this strategy now for three weeks or so, and it is like night and day in my house.  The stress level went down, the kids are happier, there is less physical outbursts, and they get along much better.  OMM no longer shudders at the thought of his brother coming near him.  CRM still does things he shouldn't, he's only two and a half, but the TV had a tremendous impact on the way he behaved.  I never occurred to me it would since I don't have violent/angry shows on.  And, I am so thankful I didn't hit and scream my way to force the change.


So, here are the reasons CRM is such a fantastic kid:
- says I "yuv you mom: all the time, unprompted
- gives hugs with a squeeze, and sound effects
- says "nigh nigh mom"
- gives OMM hugs and kisses, especially when OMM is upset
- shares his toys (most of the time)
- trades pacifiers in the morning so OMM won't be too mad
- has helped feed his brother when I'm busy and can't get to him right away
- gives OMM water if he needs it
- listens pretty well now, and doesn't run into roads
- is just about through the temper tantrum stage, he may have two a week if that
- follows directions


I could go on and on, but you get the point.  He is a fantastic two and half year old and I'm having a blast watching and learning from him!

You're One OMM!

Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you, happy birthday dear OMM, happy birthday to you!

OMM had a fabulous bday party.  His Ahma, my mother, came up from ER, Husband's parents, and his sister with her seven children came out.  One of my good friends also came out with her husband and his four year old boy.  The play area Husband has been working on was a HUGE hit and all ages enjoyed themselves.  OMM first bday cake was a homemade carrot cake with homemade cream cheese frosting.  I could have ate the frosting by the truckload, it was amazing.  OMM seemed to enjoy it as well!  We had great weather and the mosquitoes subsided for a little so we could all enjoy being outside.

Here are the wonderful, fabulous things OMM is doing:
1 Going down the stairs.  Hopefully the days of tumbling down are behind us.
2 Running, everywhere, but mostly from his older brother!
3 His first tooth came in, three days after he turned one, and I think he's getting a second one in.
4 Likes to be read to and can turn pages.
5 "Reads" books to himself.  Pretty cute listening to his dialogue.
6 Bends and tears pages in brother's books, so only board books for the kids these days!
7 Throwing a ball.
8 Manipulating large objects around obstacles.
9 Climbing up on rocking chair and couch.

I'm sure there's plenty more but that's all that's coming to mind.  It's crazy to think that this time last year I was overwhelmed with two babies, and this year I'm enjoying them playing and laughing with each other.  Every parent should have at least two kids just to get the satisfaction of seeing their children interact.  It is so joyful!

We've Settled In

We're settled into our old routines once again.  OMM was taking advantage of all the night nursing when he had that ear infection, so the last several nights there's been some crying, but I survived.  Husband has been working a bunch the last two weeks, and I've been holding down the fort by myself.  And again, we survived.  Not much has been happening.  Husband has been crazy busy trying to get his outdoor projects off the ground for the boys.  The newest tasks at hand are building a tire swing and two single swings.  These will hang between some tress we have on the property.  The next big idea is to build another fort/play structure.  This one will look more commercial then the play house our awesome friend, Mr. Webber built for his kiddos, then subsequently gave to us when they moved.  By the end of summer we should have a pretty awesome play area for the boys.  I'll post some pics when it's a little more complete.

The most excitement we've had was driving the boys down to visit Husband at Ft. Greely when he was gone on a 96 hour work "day."  Ft. Greely is a little over 90 miles from our house, so it was a bit of drive for an afternoon trip.  The boys and I only stayed for a couple of hours, but it was great to see Husband.  There was a great park the boys played at and we all got to see Husband's home away from home.

OMM will be ONE YEAR OLD! in a week!!!!  I can't believe it's been a year already.  He's a tiny little fellow, a mere 18lbs 3oz and 29 inches.  He is barely in the 5th percentile.  CRM was much much bigger, and it's crazy to think they come from the same stock.  The only way to explain it is, CRM comes from Husbands side of family, OMM mine.  I'll wait till next week to give an update of OMM.  A year, impossible!

There's a Reason, I Promise

You haven't heard from me in awhile because I've been out of town. I went to MN and IA with both boys and my parents to visit their families. It was quite the adventure, which started four hours before we left for the airport, OMM was diagnosed with an ear infection. During the trip the infection re flared, I had a weird scary bruise after the long plane ride, and my dad feel out of his bed. The day after we landed it was 95 degress, and the following days it cooled to a nice 85 degrees. Somehow I managed to not sunburn the kids.

However, the trip was a great success with the great-grandmas getting to meet their youngest great grand kids. CRM had a blast running on my maternal grandmother's farm. Think six acres of grass, plus another 120 of corn. And CRM slept above and beyond all my wildest expectations.

OMM did okay. Between the ear infection, sleeping in the same room as everyone, and just being unhappy meeting dozens of new people, he was a pretty unhappy kid. I was lucky to get a couple of interrupted hours of sleep a night.

But, all in all, I'm glad I took the kids, but am happy to not have to do it again!

We Have A Walker!

OMM is walking full time now! He took his first steps three weeks ago and hardly crawls anymore. OMM is also climbing, on any thing he can get his legs up on. So far he's got onto the coffee table, into the toy box, up on a child's chair, and even managed get on top of the baby walker we have. CRM takes after Husband's side of family, OMM mine. Boy do we have our hands full with these two!

CRM continues to improve since his surgery. We notice differences almost daily. The biggest so far has to be the improvement in his night time sleep. I had NO idea toddlers should sleep through the night. Honestly, CRM was waking three to four times a night and I'd have to go downstairs to find pacifiers and tuck him back in. Since the surgery he's waking up once a night every third night or so!!! I am consistently getting a five hour stretch of sleep in each night. And of course CRM is "speaking" more. He has "conversations" and is repeating everything we're saying, something he never did. It's been great. And, he doesn't mind having to wear ear plugs, which I thought was going to be a struggle.

To Those In Iowa

CRM, OMM, and I can't wait for our visit in two weeks! Sharon, we are so excited to see you! And, if your reading this, since I don't have your email address, I am sending out a world wide web question for you: Do you, or anyone you know have a playpen that we could borrow while we're in IA for OMM?

It'll be so nice to open the front door and let the boys roam and play. CRM will have a blast exploring everything the farm has to offer, and OMM will enjoy all the space to walk. Yes, I said walk! A week before he turned 10 months old he took his first steps. Now a week later he's worked up to walking a couple feet, and is walking about 20% of the time. It'll be a lot of fun to have two boys walking this summer. Less dirt of OMM and less holding him. He's getting pretty heavy to lug around now.

Today Husband and I took the boys for their first bike ride. We bought this great bike stroller and it's perfect! To top it off it wasn't even all that expensive. CRM was laughing with delight when we first started off. It'll be great to bike the fire station to visit Husband. I'll get a work out and the boys will have a great time.

And just to leave you guys with uber cuteness!!! Because, sorry all, I really do have the cutest kids EVER!

OMM enjoying some brother free time. Music anyone?

"Trees" An abstract art demo by CRM, he finds sticks and puts them in the snow. Pretty cleaver I think.

The wagon I just bought. CRM pulls it around outside, and sometimes he's kind enough to take OMM for a ride. CRM is becoming quite the amazing little boy and big brother.

CRM's Surgery

CRM had his adenoids removed and tubes put in on Tuesday morning. He was a champ. We had to get up at 6am to get to the hospital on time. All through pre-OP he waited patiently and was very polite to all the nurses. CRM looked so cute in his hospital gown and being welled around in the wagon. Unfortunately I forgot the camera so no pictures. He was quite the bear after waking up, but was pretty easy to manage; he mostly sat on my lap and cried. However, all was made better when Elmo came on Sesame Street. We left the hospital four hours after arriving, and today CRM is back to his good old self.

A very very big thanks to my mom who flew up to help me with OMM. Husband is still very busy with work and it has made cooridinating all of CRM's need a lot easier. Mom's are great!

Cute Video of CRM at Ice Park

My little man is soooo cute! Ignore the coughing, he's prone to illness.

So I lied - pics from the ice park!

Corralling two boys is not easy. You can see the displeasure on both of their faces.

Fish slide.

Crawling through an ice tunnel. CRM had a blast in it. Husband and I were surprised he didn't get scared.

Weeeee!!!!

Having Issues with Blogger

Sorry to all who read this blog expecting pics of my adorable, cute, little rascals. Unfortunately, google has a javascript issue and has not fixed it and other people have the same issue. I can post blogs but cannot upload pics or video. It looks like it's an issue stemming all the way back to February for some people...so who knows how long until it gets fixed. I'll still post, but for now pics are a no go. I'm really saddened by this :(

I'm Calling It

I'm doing it, I'm calling it, spring is here! My mom will put me in the category of crazy with all the other newbie Alaskans who don't know any better, but I don't care. We have had temps in the high 20's, low 30's for a week and a half now, the snow is slowly melting, the sun is out, our days are longer...IT'S SPRING! And yes, I realize that only in Alaska do you declare spring when the temps are in the 20s! It has been wonderful. I've taken the boys outside to play and get fresh air every day; we've been to the park and CRM has played on the playground, gone down the slides, and even swung on the big boy swings! He is getting so grown up, well, for a two year old. I've been most amazed at how well he leaves the playground. Very minimal crying, but not tantrums, kicking or screaming, and running away from me. It'll be really great next year when I don't have to lug OMM around, 16lbs gets heavy, especially after an hour.

With spring here, it means the semester is almost over, which means Husband's job at the university will be on hiatus until September. This means we get much much more of him! The boys are missing him, and so am I. It's been a rough three months. Summer is going to be so awesome!

CRM is growing every day in every way. It's no wonder every parent of a two year old thinks their kid is a genius. There is such rapid development and he changes every day. He still isn't saying much we can understand, but what he understands is unbelievable. CRM picks up things so fast now.

OMM is still a movin' and a shakin'. Not much slows him down. The biggest development is how much he enjoys watching and interacting with his big brother. He lets CRM chase him around and giggling and laughing abound.

Husband and I took the kids to the Ice Park last week. CRM had a great time on the ice slides. This year they had a "train" (4-wheeler pulling carts) at the park, so we took a ride and saw all the sculptures the easy way. CRM thought it was a lot of fun. Check out the website to see more, it really is a sight to behold: www.icealaska.com I'll post pics sometime.

You all take care and enjoy the coming spring. Get outside and enjoy the fresh air!

That Explains a Lot

Remember how I said OMM was waking a bunch and crying? Turns out it's because he had an ear infection. Mom of the year award I know. It also turned out CRM had an ear infection as well, only his was in both ears. We had them both feeling well, or so I thought. CRM did really well on the antibiotics, but OMM was still pretty grouchy a couple days after finishing the antibiotics. Husband looked in his ears, and 'lo and behold the ear infection was back as bad. I was off again to the doctors office for the third time in two weeks. OMM is now on a stronger, horrible tasting antibiotic for ten days. Let's hope that although he spits some of it out it works this time.

Update on CRM not talking very much:

CRM has never talked very much. The pediatrician had us referred to an early intervention group who kept recommending we take him to an Ear, Nose, and Throat doctor (ENT). We resisted until I got really worried because I realized how far behind his peers he was. The ENT took some X-rays and his adenoids are HUGE, and he is basically impacted with gunk everywhere. CRM is now on a super strong antibiotic to try and get the crap to clear up. We may be looking at tubes. We'll know more after the 28th when we take him for a recheck. Husband and I both think there's already an improvement in his speech after just seven days on the antibiotic. I hope it helps, it would great to understand him. CRM is trying so hard to communicate and tell us stories. It's really sad and frustrating for us all. CRM getting ahold of a pen. At least it wasn't on the walls!

My poor boys!

My Big Fat Mouth

So, as soon as I tell you all that OMM is sleeping well at night, he starts waking up and fussing/crying for two hours. We've been doing this for the past week, and I am so tired, and tired of it. My parents didn't explain to me just how hard parenthood was going to be. Pretty sure that OMM is suffering from a mild cold, separation anxiety, and just plain stubbornness. The good thing is CRM can sleep through OMM crying, so at least one of my children is getting the sleep he needs.

Husband has been off working 96 hours straight, he'll finally be home on Sunday. I'll be SO thankful for the company. It is lonely out here with only my two non-verbal boys. Husband will be back to work for a 24 hour shift on Monday, Wednesday, and then works from Friday until Tuesday, another 96 work "day." I'm taking lunch off on Tuesday for a much needed break. I'm going to have lunch with old coworkers, and I may even get my hair cut!

The Sickness Has It's Grip

I have been sick going on two weeks now. It's an awful sick too, really sore throat, swollen tonsil (that's right, just one), stiff achy neck, bad cough. To top it off Husband has been away quite a bit so it's been up to me raise the kids while sick. Now Gumba (herein referred to as CRM) has it. Last night I gave up my bed and slept on the couch so that he (really we) would get some sleep. Today wasn't too bad. Only bad part is he gets so worked up over coughing that he cries, and then throws up. I can't wait for this phase to pass. This boy throws up a lot.

Gumba-ba (herein referred to as OMM) is doing well. We finally have him sleeping well at night, now I'm trying to get him to take naps during the day. He's not too happy that I put him in a crib in his own room. Pretty sure that OMM is teething, not sure how long it's going to last. He's been really fussy lately and wants to nurse all the time. Luckily he is still a happy baby that likes to smile.

Tonight was a lot of fun. CRM was entertaining OMM and both were laughing and playing a lot. It would be nice to get it on film, but, as we all know if the camera comes out the fun and games end and all attention is diverted to said camera. So, you'll have to remember when you had kids and how much fun it was to watch them play together. If you don't have kids, think of something lovely.

Oh, and I should mention how amazing my Husband is. This week we gave me a pass for the evening and I went to a hotel for the night. It worked out well because it gave me some much needed sleep from being sick and miserable. So, thank you wonderful Husband who is working a ton and supporting our family, you're the best!

Being a Homemaker is HARD

I had this vision that once I quit my job to stay home full time I would magically have all the time in the world to do all the wifely, motherly, homemaker stuff that I felt was neglected when I worked. One word, WRONG. Staying home is mega hard work, maybe if my kids, or one on them was in school, it would be easier. The first three weeks I barely stayed afloat. My only accomplishments were getting the laundry done (not always put away wrinkle free) and keeping the dishwasher running enough that you could sometimes see the sink and counters. I spent a lot of time worrying that I wasn't stimulating Gumba enough, what do you do with a two year old? And how do you balance the needs of one needy child with the other needy child? The weeks were also spent sleep training Gumba-ba. After three weeks of hair pulling, crying (me and baby), and frustration, I found a saint who has given me sound advice (at least I think) and the support to get him sleeping. I'll say that it worked fairly quickly. Within a week he had gone from waking every hour with an hour and a half wake period in the middle of night, to waking up twice to nurse and putting himself to sleep quickly if he woke. Hurray! Well, there are set backs always. Both boys have ear infections, so, now I'm back to listening to Gumba-ba cry several times a night while I re-train him to sleep. The hope is of course that it won't take as long this time. I myself am getting over a cold that knocked me on my butt. I've officially been home for a month now and finally feel like I'm gaining ground. A friend gave me a great website for daycare people/stay at home mom's so I feel better about the "educating" part.

Husband has been gone more then any of us really like. He is working three jobs: Lieutenant at the fire department, preceptor with the paramedic program at the hospital, and he just recently started working for a military medivac company. I'm making sure he's enjoying himself, and have on more then one occasion let him know that my sanity is worth more then the extra shift he can pick up. He is averaging seven days off a month. I know that's pretty typical, but of the 25 days or so that he is working, 15 of those days are 24 hour shifts. Plus, he works at the hospital at nights. It has been typical for us not to see him for four days at a time. Let's just say I'm here a lot by myself with the kids, and getting Gumba-ba to sleep better has been a necessity.

So, my hats off to those women (and men) out there that have choosen the more difficult path to be fully involved in your kids all day lives. Keep up the good work. And, if I've learned anything, it's rest when you can, and make sure you get out of the house when you can for a little "me" time.

Gumba and the Laundry

I now have a laundry buddy. It all started many months ago, him wanting to hold a hanger while we folded laundry. Now, he can't get enough of helping to load and unload the washer and dryer. The other day I heard him getting really frustrated and came down stairs to see him trying to put clothes from the washer into the dryer. I helped him out a bit and we got the clothes dry. A little later I hear him frustrated again, I come down stairs and he's putting the clean dry clothes into the washer. I calmly explain that clean clothes go into the basket. Next he finds the dirty laundry and starts to load the washer! This morning he is happily practicing taking clothes from the laundry basket to the washer. I think he's done this twenty or so times so far. I'll take all the help with housework I can get!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

Another year is done, and another beginning. This was a pretty hectic year for the McGilvary's, especially with the addition of a new baby with a toddler in the house. Somehow we've all found a way to survive, and hopefully thrive.

Gumba is doing well. He is starting to speak a little now. At last count he has about 15 words that we can understand. We're going to put in him in speech therapy for a little bit to see if someone else can encourage him to say more. I think it may help cut down on the temper tantrums...or, at least I can hope! Gumba is still adjusting to having this other life take up the time I used to dedicate solely to him. He's good most the time, but has his moments. Gumba is pretty good at giving his brother a binky, or toy if he wants one. He is still a busy, busy bee, running around the house, moving from one activity to another. Luckily he like to read, and he choice in books is expanding so I'm not as bored!

Gumba-ba is doing really well. He is crawling all over the place, pulling up on things, and even beginning to let go and reach for other stuff. I have no idea when he'll start walking, but it seems it'll be sooner then Gumba did. At six months he amazes his father and I. We're started the cry-it-out sleep training, or as I prefer to call it, the scream-it-out. "Ba" was waking every hour at night, and I just couldn't deal with it after two months of zero sleep. It's going okay, way better then with Gumba, and that's a blessing. We had a rough night last night with the fire works, so onto a new night. I still have nursing him twice a night, my goal is to get him to sleep better, not starve him!

Our biggest news though is that I am leaving my job January 14th to stay home!!!!! I am so excited for this new chapter to begin. I keep dreaming about not dropping babies off at daycare, not going to work, running home, making dinner, putting kids in bed, then trying to crash myself. I see myself getting to take a nap when both boys take their afternoon naps. It's going to be amazing. This is all thanks to my wonderful husband who has picked up another job so that I can stay home. He's found a job that will require him to work three more days a month, and it's one he'll like, so a win-win all around. I can't wait!

Everyone take care and keep commenting! It's great to know there are those out there who read the words I write and it's not a waste of time.