September - October 8, 2017

Another month has come and gone. After a long summer Fall is finally here and all that comes with it! It is most definitely my favorite time of year. Here's what has been going on for us since I last wrote.

Luke has been quite difficult lately. He is still our sweet boy but he's definitely pushing his limits and having a hard time listening to us. All totally normal for this age but still frustrating for us (and him, sure). I think a lot of the issues stem from a desire for more attention, as it has definitely been divided with having a new (ish...) baby at home. I'm trying to implement some mom and Luke time each day during Penny's first nap and I hope that will help. Another thing he's started is a weekly playgroup with a few friends around here. We switch off who hosts and it's already noticeable how he's becoming more comfortable at friends houses without me and it's also helped with his socialization a lot.

Little stinker drew all over himself. 

Hiding from brother during a tantrum...

Penny is growing up so much. She is now eight months old! She's still not crawling because every time she flips over onto her tummy she cries and cries. It makes me so sad-- and also it's not something I was expecting since Luke crawled around this time. She is sitting up on her own so well, though. She also can stand holding onto things and I think she is even trying to pull herself up to things. She has found more of her voice and babbles mamamama, dadadada, babababa but more lately she has been growling and it's pretty funny. The other day she was eating some meat and I said, "Do you like that, baby?" and she promptly growled.

I love this sweet sitting girl.

Another adventure we went on was to SeaQuest with Grandma Sandi, Aunt Shelley and cousins. This place is so neat because you can actually interact with all the animals/fish/birds there.

Play hard, crash hard, 

We have also been enjoying some family park time and frequent Lodestone Park. We pack a picnic dinner and then play until time to put the kids to bed. It's been fun!

Standing up to her toy, as mentioned above.

A big thing that happened this month was General Conference. Every six months we have the opportunity to hear inspiring messages from our church leaders. I always come away wanting to do and be better. Now that my parents live here it has really become a family event, whereas when we lived in Boise we just watched out our own. Now we spend one of the conference days with them and the other with Bryan's family.

Another fun thing I did with the kids was to take them to Gardner Village to find witches. Really it's just a fun excuse to get out and enjoy the fall festivities with some of our neighborhood friends.

Last Friday was the day before my birthday and Luke decided he wanted to take me to McDonald's for lunch. That was fine by me and a nice little treat for both of us.

That evening we went to a Harry Potter Fall Festival at cousins Ava and Sylvie's school and while it wasn't the most authentically Harry Potter event I've ever been to, we still had a lot of fun with family. In particular, Luke, who got to ride a train, a pony and jump in a bounce house!

The next day was my actual birthday. Bryan let me sleep in, made me breakfast and then later that day we went out to lunch with my parents and Lindsay and her girls. I just love having some of my family here. Later we went out to a pumpkin patch and had fun picking out pumpkins, riding tractors, eating donuts, exploring corn mazes and riding on a hayride.

Luke exploring pumpkins with his cousins

Penny loving on Ava

Penny loving on Sylvie

My adorable, goofy boy!

Whitneys at the Pumpkin Patch take 2-- with a new family member!

Other than these things we've been busy working on a project in our basement (more details when it's done after Christmas!) and I've been making all kinds of crafts.

August (and a little July) 2017

You guys, I'm serious about this monthly blog post thing. I made a reminder in my Google calendar to do it on the first Sunday of the month and here I am! Mostly this month I've been sewing and crafting-- for myself, for a charity, for friends. I like to keep busy, apparently.

Here's where we were at the end of the last blog post. Look how big Penny is there! She's even bigger now. She officially turned 6 months and we have started giving her foods. She still doesn't ingest a ton of it it but little by little she is eating more. And she tries all kinds of things. Tonight she ate some olives and seemed to like it! The banana below is the first thing I ever offered her.

At the end of July we went to my niece Sylvie's birthday party at my parents' house. I just love having family nearby! Luke got his face painted and also got to ride a horse!

Of course we had to celebrate Harry Potter's birthday on July 30. It was pretty tame for me but still we had Fish 'n Chips, Butterbeer, Chocolate Frogs and an FHE lesson that actually tied in to Harry Potter.

The two pictures below are now a common occurrence. Luke loves being a big helper so he usually likes to turn Penny's white noise on before her nap and off after. And he usually stops by to say hi to her for a little bit before I feed her. She just adores him.

We found a sweet new park with zip lines that is less than ten minutes from our house and we've had picnics there twice now. I hate summer, though. Even in the early evening it is sooo hot and I question my bright idea to go to the park. Luke loves it, though, and who am I to deny him? I hope I get out the door to go to the park a lot more frequently once fall officially arrives. Hopefully now that it is September it will start to cool down a little. Though, I was reminded yesterday that the first day of fall is not until September 20th. Summer.... why must you be so long???

This picture is so Penny right now. She is such a little grabber. Anything she can get her hands on. I have to be so careful what I put within her reach. She will twist all the way around in her Bumbo to get something behind her. She is so, so close to sitting up on her own but I honestly don't think crawling is going to happen for several more months. She abhors tummy time and cries every time I try-- but I do still try, because it's important. We'll just have to see. Also, I could kick myself for writing about what a great sleeper she is in the last post. Honestly it hasn't been horrible but she went through a regression and was waking up in the night for a little while. It could also be that she got her first ever cold and was working through that. The cold is gone but she still has this horrible phlegmy cough that is kind of heartbreaking to hear. Other than that, she is doing so well and growing more every day

Guess who is practically potty trained? Luke! I think he was just ready because once I really decided to just stick with the underwear and I made some rules about him going potty on his own if I wasn't around he just stuck to them. We've had very few accidents and he's been consistently going #2 in the potty. Woohoo! Today we were even brave enough to have him go to church in underwear instead of a pull up and he kept it dry for all three hours and went potty there. We still have him in a pull up at night because I'm not ready to deal with the bed wetting since he wakes up with a full pull up most mornings. We're making great progress, though!

I am just realizing it has been a year since I went through my horrible ordeal with C-Diff. Yuck, guys. Don't look that up. But I felt like maybe I was dying a little bit. Whenever I remember that whole month of what I went through I am so grateful for a healthy body.

Last but not least, yesterday we were able to attend our niece Ella's baptism. It was so nice gathering for such a special occasion and Bryan's dad was even able to come out briefly for it. I'm so grateful for the knowledge of this true gospel and for the peace it brings into my life. It makes me so happy to see Ella choosing to follow in that path. Next week it will be my niece Ava's turn but I'm sure I'll write about that next month. It also made me think about how neat it will be to go through these things with my kids. Still, I'm not ready for them to be that old yet. I hope I can savor these younger years even through the frustration it sometimes brings. They'll only be this little once. It's exciting to think about the future but sad to know I'll never have this again. Kids are the best.

Life with Two

Well, it's been about 6 months since I last posted and, as I'm sure you can surmise, a lot has gone on in that time with a new baby. With Luke I posted fairly frequently after he was born, mostly as a therapeutic way to vent frustration about the rough initiation I was having into motherhood. This time... well, I'm not going to say its been all rainbows and unicorns but an amalgamation of things has made it easier. Therefore, less venting was needed. It helps that I had been through it before and knew what to expect to a degree. It helps that breastfeeding hasn't felt like an insurmountable trial from the beginning. More than all of these things, it helps that I was able to escape the torturous grasps of postpartum depression. Many people have a very hard time adding a second child. For many it rocks their world... but for us, it's been pretty smooth. Transitioning from no kids to one kid is what what rocked our world. Or maybe when/if we add a third that will rock our world. But one to two has been, while not easy all the time, surprisingly doable.

Now, has breastfeeding this time been a walk in the park? Uh, no. We have had a lot of challenges but somehow, miraculously, I've been able to take all of these small annoyances in stride and guess what? It's working! Our little Penny Lu is quite the particular nurser. She still only likes to be fed in the cross cradle position (rather than the classic cradle position), at home in her rocking chair without noisy distractions. Luckily I've gotten her used to eating at church (though they are never the easiest feedings because, again, noisy distractions. Turns out mom can't carry on a conversation with her friends while Penny is trying to eat) and at my parent's. But try to nurse out and about? No way. Many tears are shed-- for both parties! And a nursing cover? Forget about it. At the back of my mind for these past six months I've had the thought, "When am I going to turn into one of those pro moms who can pop her baby on, cradle position, under a cover while sitting on a bench at the park while Luke plays? When am I going to become a normal breastfeeding mom?" Lately, I've had a light bulb go off in my head as I came to the realization that it doesn't matter if I'm not doing it the way I see on TV or movies, in blogs or even in the mother's lounge. I've decided I have to embrace my normal. Who cares if she insists on the cross cradle position for the whole 12 months we'll have breastfeeding together? The point is she's doing it! She's eating! And gaining weight really well, even while only eating one side per feeding in under ten minutes. That was one of those things I used to be so worried about but she just wouldn't eat more. But now, her chunky thighs reassure me that she knows what she needs and gets it-- and somehow I'm still amazed that I'm actually providing it!

I'm really trying to live in the present. There are times when I think, "Won't it be nice when she's older and..." and I stop myself right then and there because when she's older, I'm going to be missing the exact time I'm in now! The snugly, soft, sweet baby phase. Same goes for Luke who has been extremely independent and the daily power struggles are oh, so real. He asks me a million questions a day and I get so exasperated sometimes. I try to remind myself that some day he's going to be a teenager and I'm going to want him to talk to me. I need to soak in his attention and currently being one of his favorite people. I think I thought a little sister might be one of his favorite people too but up until now he hasn't shown her much attention. He helps getting her toys and diapers and pacifiers but he doesn't try to kiss her all the time the way I've seen other older siblings doing. However, as she's getting older he interacts with her more. She adores him and cracks up whenever he says goofy nonsense words to her or even just looks directly at her. Sometimes when I need to get something done and if he will, all she needs to be entertained is for him to run circles around her.

In other Luke news, we are potty training in the loosest sense of the words. I know I need to buckle down and do it better but I am unable to give him my full attention during the week when Penny needs to be fed and put down for naps. There are stretches of time where I just can't be with him and it seems like those are always the times he has to go and has accidents in underwear. So, for now, we're in pull ups. When Bryan is home we try to do underwear so either of us is always available to him. He simply won't try to go on the potty without one of us there with him. When he does go, it is only #1. He has never gone #2 (numbering them for the easily grossed out non mothers. The rest of us talk about our kids' bowel movements with shocking ease). However, I'm not stressing about it. I know it will happen. I'm not really worried about him going off to college without being potty trained.

Penny isn't a perfect baby by any means. She doesn't like to be left alone and whines/cries/screeches to get attention. She has had separation anxiety for months. She loves me and Bryan. In that order. When anyone else, even her Grandmas, try to hold her for more than a few minutes she starts to get upset. It's sweet. And exhausting. I know it's a phase that won't last. Trying to appreciate her great love for me. But in so many ways she is also the most delightful baby with a cherubic face that just fills my heart with motherly love and affection to look at. She doesn't love rolling but she will do it and has several times. She still hates tummy time. She is a wonderful night sleeper. I am one lucky duck to be getting as much sleep at night as she's been letting me get for months now. She goes to bed roughly around 8 PM and wakes up around 6:40 AM, generally. There are anomalies on both sides (she woke up at 7:20 today-- I had to go in the make sure she was alive, Owlet and all! But she also sometimes wakes up between 4:30 and 5:30 to eat and then goes back to sleep until around 8!) I'm definitely spoiled in the baby sleep department-- Luke was much the same. When she officially turns 6 months I'll be starting her on solids and it'll be interesting to see how she likes that. We follow baby led weaning where you basically just give the baby whatever food you are eating (within reason) instead of feeding them purees. It does teach them how to feed themselves sooner but really we don't do it for any sanctimonious reasons. It's just easier and cheaper, simple as that. Luke did really well with it and I'm excited to see how she does.

We've had family gatherings and fun galore in the past six months. I'll touch on those in the hoard of pictures I'm about to unleash on you. One that I'll give a more detail to, and honestly should have written about before now, is her blessing. She was blessed as Penelope Luvera Whitney on May 7, 2017 by her dad. He blessed her to know that she was a loved daughter of God and that her "native cherry attitude" would be a benefit to those around her, among many other lovely blessings. We were able to have a lot of family and friends come to it and hosted an open house at our home afterward. My mom bought her the most gorgeous detailed, lacy blessing dress that I love and we were able to get professional pictures taken later that week.

Just this morning my friend and I were talking about blogging (I was already trying to write this post-- which I wrote in entirety before accidentally pressing back and somehow deleting the whole darn thing. In a fit of rage I finished off Luke's potty reward M&Ms, woops, and then painstakingly re-wrote it) and she said she tried to just write one post a month encompassing the whole month instead of trying to blog about every specific event. I think I'm going to try to do that. By trying to do everything I end up doing nothing, at least as far as blogging goes. And here are some of our favorite pictures from the last six months:

Exhausted

Funny onseie I got at my OB/Gyn at my 6 week check up. She was actually not delivered by my doctor, Dr. Wilson, since she came on a weekend,. 

Some of her first smiles

This never happens.

Family Pictures March 2017

Easter Fun!

One of my very favorite parts of having a baby

May the 4th be with you!

Wonderful, beautiful new minivan that I <3<3<3

Baby Animal Days in Morgan

Beautiful blessing pictures

Happy Father's Day!

4th of July Bike Parade!

These two little cousins were the best of friends for about a week and were so sad to say goodbye.

This is what my days look like. But lets be honest, it's not always smiles. However, I love being able to stay home with these beautiful children!

Holding the baby is not quite the same as it used to be for Luke... He complained because she drooled on him and kept trying to touch his face. She was in heaven. She loves when her brother pays attention to her.

Luke trying on his dad's old glasses