September 26 - Backtracking

So over the past month or so, we have had so much going on. I don't get much time to post because when we aren't going all over the place for appointments, we are home and the kids are requiring all of our attention. B has developed big time separation anxiety. She doesn't like to be left alone for even a minute (don't even get to go to the bathroom sometimes!). Dropping Conner off at speech school used to be my time to get a few things done (like catch up on blogging, writing thank you notes, keeping up with everything) but the baby is no longer a newborn and doesn't want to sit around. I try to get her to nap a little, but she isn't interested unless we are moving around. So the last few weeks have been a little difficult and we have had a few rough days. It's only rough for me because it's rough for the kids. I hope that some day, life isn't quite this hectic, but for now, we deal with it because we think we are doing the best thing for Conner.

A few weeks ago, Conner and I went on a trip with the mom's club that I am in. We went to Grand Rapids to the Children's Gardens at Meijer Gardens (I don't know the official name, something like this though). I highly recommend that if you haven't been there, that you check it out. We had a great time. I was so glad that things went smoothly and Conner behaved all day. (We have been having some behavior problems lately). I was a little worried about Conner staying dry (because we are still working on potty training) but he did great in the car for the 2 1/2 hours - stopping once. We had lunch when we got there and then walked around this giant sculpture park. We took a tram ride to look around at the whole place and then spent HOURS in the water feature for kids. Conner had the best time and I just let him play as long as he wanted. He was soaked...thank goodness I had a change of clothes. The place closed before we even had a chance to finish looking around. This will definitely be on our list of places to go to next summer (hopefully with the whole family next time). We went to dinner with our great friend that Conner absolutely adores and got to see her new apartment before heading back home. Conner fell sound asleep in the car and stayed asleep until the next morning.

Anyway, like I said earlier, we went on our "test run" road trip (because in a few months, we are going on a much longer trip). We drove to the Wisconsin Dells. It's about an 8 hour trip for us. We actually left on Saturday (the day after our trip to Grand Rapids) but didn't need to be there until Sunday. So we stopped outside of Chicago so we could go to the Lego Discovery Center. Total flop. Conner loves legos so we thought he would think this was so cool...but it was dark and loud and crowded and Conner hated it. Just when we think we can do something normal, we have an experience like this that tosses us back in to reality. We woke up the next morning and finished our trip to Wisconsin. Conner loved the water parks. Our hotel was humongous, with 4 indoor and 3 outdoor waterparks. Conner visited all of them and had a great time with new friends. It was so great for us to see old friends that I have known for so long. I wish we lived closer so we wouldn't have to catch up on years and years. Both the kids loved all the extra attention.

The next day, Conner started at his new school...which has to be a post all in itself.

September 8, 2011 - 6 months already

Happy 1/2 Birthday to our little B! I know I'm a bit late in writing this post but since this is where I am going to look when I try and fill in our baby book, I figure I better update what little one was doing when she turned 6 months old. It is so hard to believe how fast time is flying. She is getting so big so fast. At her 6 month check up, she weighed 18 lbs and was 27 inches (90th percentile for both). She didn't get any shots this time because she was a little under the weather and had a double ear infection...so we have to wait until she is all clear with that first. We love her so much and are so lucky to have her. I just want time to slow down for a bit.

At 6 months, Brennan is doing so much stuff already. About 2 weeks ago, she started crawling and getting herself in to sitting all by herself. She didn't ever army crawl. She started going backward and then within a few days she was going forward. It was still not very smooth, but she was doing it and getting around everywhere. The sitting up was strange because if I propped her up sitting, she would just fall over, but if she got herself in to sitting, she was fine for a minute or two. She is still pretty wobbly sitting, but she loves to get there herself! 

She has just started eating a little baby food. We tried and tried off and on for about 2 months and she never seemed to go for it, but she finally is getting interested. Her first favorite seems to be squash. She's not all that in to sweet potatoes (which I think is weird!) but Conner will happily finish whatever she doesn't eat (I know...gross!). 

Over the last month, Brennan went on her 2nd road trip. This time, we went to the Wisconsin Dells. We met up with our good friends, The Smyth's. B did great in the car and slept well while we were away. The worst part was that there wasn't much for her to do since she wasn't really sitting up well. She loved the extra attention from the Smyth's though and we loved seeing them. Conner absolutely LOVED hanging out with the older boys and kept asking about them when we weren't with them. He still talks about Will and Tommy like they are his best buddies. Conner loved the water parks too. His favorite thing might have been the wave pool...which was very surprising to me.

I have so much more to post about but wanted to get this down before I forget too much!