Life Lately: December

It’s so hard to believe that the last month of the year is coming to a close. What a year 2016 has been!

This month has been a rather challenging one, as it seems that our family has been hit with one illness after another, including allergic reactions and the stomach bug. We have arrived at the end of this month completely weary and exhausted. It seems like there has been no break in the insanity of our lives, but we are hoping and praying for a few weeks of health and a little time to settle down as a family.

Here is what we have been up to in December:

Tera was reading Kiah her story. Its so interesting to me how Tera is not even 2.5, but is “literate”. She can hold the book upright, turn the pages correctly and tell the story based on the pictures. I just love watching her develop! She is one smart cookie!

I have spent many, many hours sitting on the couch/chair/bed feeding, pumping and burping Kiah. It’s very time consuming to exclusively pump and then feed him! I often read my book, but Tera usually climbs on up and we will read some of her books, too. And just look at how exhausted I look. I almost didn’t post this picture, but hey…it’s my reality!

In an effort to spend less time watching Netflix, Theo and I have started to try to play more games together. Pass the Pigs and Backgammon by the Christmas tree!

I had my 6 week checkup with my OB, and I was cleared to exercise! I went for my first run and logged two miles in a pretty decent amount of time. I’m bummed it’s winter now and I can’t get out consistently, but I’m going to do my best to get my body stronger!

Our King Kiah is doing about the same. He’s a tiny little guy, and getting him to consume a lot of ounces of milk is a a full time job, for sure! He had his two month checkup and the pediatrician was not pleased. I just cannot get her words out of my head and for weeks I have been incredibly discouraged by her assessment that he is still not big enough/developed enough/eating enough. I’m literally doing EVERYTHING in my physical power to keep him growing and thriving, and it hasn’t been an easy journey. But then I look at him and I remind myself that he’s doing just fine. I mean…he’s pretty much the cutest little guy EVER!

We have been able to spend a little bit of time with some family during December! The cousins LOVE Kiah, and when they are over at our house, I often find Kiah in one of their arms. I just love it.

With the cold, we are turning to indoor activities to keep Tera occupied. Her absolute favorite is “washing the dishes”. How soon can she actually do the dishes for me? ha. Also…her ponytail. So stinkin’ cute.

It’s absolutely no surprise to me, but Tera is the best big sister. She doesn’t have any jealousy towards Kiah, and in fact she really doesn’t pay much attention to him at all. But when she does get to hold him or hug him she just LOVES it. LOVES IT. Here she is giggling hysterically about his nose.

Kiah got a Little People Nativity Set for Christmas and Tera obviously loved it! I have wanted to get one of these every Christmas since we had kids, and I finally used Kiah’s Christmas money from Grandparents this year to get one. Obviously, he’s too little to play with it, but by next Christmas he will be playing it with his sister!

December has finally brought some snow! Tera woke up this one morning and as soon as she saw the car, she said “the car is taking a bath!!” I was a little confused until I realized that she thought the snow was soap suds. Oh, how I love this age!

Kiah and Tera got the cutest bow/bowtie set from Little Miss’ Mama! So cute, right? I might be biased, but I have the cutest children! This shop will be featured here on the blog soon!

Hezekiah James also turned two months old this month! It has flown by!

We got our first big snow, too! It snowed all day long and it was so, so beautiful! We didn’t get outside until closer to sunset, so some of these pictures are a little bit dark…but still SO beautiful!

Our own little winter wonderland!

Kiah’s first snow experience! He didn’t even know about it…

We went for a walk and Tera LOVED walking in the snow. She kept throwing herself down into it. Such a funny girl. She didn’t get her love of snow from her Mommy, that’s for sure!

Our street with my people!

Did I mention that this month has been a little rough? Well, Theo knew how hard it has been for me and planned a little date night at home for me. He let me spend as much time as I wanted getting myself ready and got us pizza. Even though we still had both kids, it was so refreshing to be cared for and loved and intentional. Also…how do you like Theo’s new look? No more glasses! I’ll have a blog post on that next month!

My two kids just hanging out…

Oh, my heart! King Kiah is the cutest little thing EVER!

We started potty training with Tera back in July. She did pretty well, but was never able to go on her own, so I gave up about a month into the process. I decided to try again this month and it went awesome! Theo built her a stool so she could take herself to the potty and she really got it down! Unfortunately, we are now back in diapers because the nasty stomach bug hit and I don’t trust a half-trained child with no diaper and stomach issues….

So chill. So Kiah.

I love my big girl. It hasn’t been an easy month for her, either, and I’m sad to say that I haven’t always been as patient with her as I should be. I’m really trying to work on this and make sure that my stress isn’t taken out on Tera.

And that’s December! Let’s see what January has in store for us!

Stay tuned for a recap of our Christmas celebration….it was “an adventure”, that’s for sure.

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2 comments

  1. Nancy says:

    Your winter wonderland photos are gorgeous. How fun that Tera loves the snow! You’re doing great as a mom … banish the pediatrician’s words from your mind! Love casts out fear, so just love on that little boy and he will continue to thrive.

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