Baby Sullivan | Week Thirty Three

I've been trying to get this posted all week but this week has been a doozy and now it's already Saturday. These photos have been siting in this post ready to go for days...Oh well. It's not Sunday yet. I'm still within the week. 

Sullivan is growing up so quickly. This time next week, he will be 8 months old! Eight months. I can hardly wrap my mind around it. I was just pregnant, right?!? Time is flying. He's going to be celebrating his first birthday before we know it. 

Sully has been a little fussy this week and I think teeth are still to blame. Most days, he goes through life with red, little cheeks and some drool. I can see the top two teeth just hanging out under his gums, so it's only a matter of time before those pop through. Hopefully, he doesn't resort to biting while nursing again. We faced that when his bottom two teeth came in and that was painful. I know he doesn't realize he's causing me pain and gnawing on something eases his mouth pain but biting while breastfeeding is one of my least favorite things in the world, especially at 5am in the morning when I'm not quite awake yet and ready to take on the day. 

He's been eating solid food for a few weeks now and will not longer touch the jarred food. My mom was watching the kiddos on Thursday and she had quite a scare with Sullivan so we are making some baby led weaning changes. There's so many options and opinions out there about how to approach baby lead weaning. Some people cut food up in tiny pieces, some in strips, some in little circular shapes. We were doing the circular shape with some roasted sweet potatoes and Sully choked on one at dinner. My mom had to do the Heimlich  Maneuver on Sully. I know that gagging is part of the BLW weaning process, but choking, not so much. I'm very thankful my mom was there and was able to act fast. I know it shook her up pretty badly, but Grammy was there to save the day. That being said....we are cutting stuff up pretty tiny now these days while he still learns how to feed himself. It's such a process and certain parts of it really freak me out! 

I am trying to do a lot more floor time with Sully in hopes that he will get to the point of crawling at some point. Right now, he is so content just sitting up like a big dude, playing with his toys. I'm not totally prepared for him to be mobile yet and need to dig out the baby gates. He just grows up so much every single day. 

Some changes are coming in our lives, regarding my job and how it looks on any given week. At first, I was super discouraged by it but I'm slowly coming to terms with it. Depending on how it all falls into place, I might be able to leave work at work. The past few years of my life have been spent juggling working from home and the office, always being on and connected to my phone. I would like to be able to just be with my family when I am home with my family. Plain and simple. We might be looking for some childcare options one day a week though and I am not a fan of that. But, we have been super lucky and blessed so far with not having to pay for childcare. It is so, so, so, so expensive...like the equivalent of paying a second mortgage expensive. But, we are talking through these changes and I'm hoping to get some more clarity on it soon. If you know me well, you know that not having all of the answers about how all of this is supposed to look is slowly driving me crazy. 

Here's Marin at Week Thirty Three. 

Marin Turns Four!

Top photo: Marin at 3 years old. Bottom: Marin at 4 years old. 

On Sunday, February 18th, our baby girl turned four years old. It still seems like just yesterday we were anxiously awaiting her arrival and she decided to take her precious time....arriving 10 days after my due date. Marin is spunky, incredibly smart, and I am so blessed to be her mother. I look at her and cannot quite believe that she is ours and that we get to journey through life together, through every triumph and toddler tantrum. We get to be there with her along the way as she learns new things, soaking them all in like a little sponge. We get to be there along the way as she goes to school, makes friends, faces growing pains. 

She surprises me every single day with her extensive vocabulary and how she soaks in everything around her constantly. She takes it all in and doesn't let go. Sometimes, I think she gets frustrated because the rest of her world doesn't want to move through life at the same learning pace that she does. She loves Jesus and going to church. She loves preschool and I have watched her grow leaps and bounds through the classroom. 

Birthday Party Spread 

She currently is obsessed with all things involving space and can name all of the planets. She likes to talk about galaxies and moons.  She is in love with dinosaurs and My Little Pony. She loves to "read" books and dance around the living room. Bath time is one of her favorite times and she would stay in there all day, turning into a little raisin, if we let her. 

She is the most amazing big sister to Sullivan. She is always looking for an opportunity to help me by grabbing a diaper, comforting him when he's fussy, and picking up all of the toys that he constantly throws on the floor. Their relationship is a great one and I love seeing it grow.

She is the picky eater in our family and would survive on peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, chicken nuggets, cheese burgers, and yogurt if I let her. I've been trying to get her to eat different things, especially now that Sullivan is exploring the world of solid food. We are very far from having a grand and expanded palette but hopefully someday, her relationship with food will be a good one. 

Miss Marin, we love you and can't believe we get to be your parents. Thank you for making our lives a glorious adventure, one day at a time. I cannot imagine life without you and I'm blessed to be your mother. You have stretched me in ways I didn't think were possible and can't believe you are mine. 

Happy Birthday, Marin Ryan Hollen! 

Baby Sullivan | Week Thirty Two

I find it hard to believe that I am preparing for Marin's 4th birthday party this weekend. The gifts need to be wrapped, the food needs to be ordered. She's been growing up so quickly right before our very eyes and time needs to slow down a bit. As of this coming Sunday, we will have a four year old. Four years ago at this time, I was super pregnant, quickly passing by my due date, and anxiously awaiting the arrival of our little girl. Now she's in preschool, lives life as a little sponge soaking up so many things. She also has been a great big sister to little Sullivan. Their relationship is continuing to really grow into something awesome lately. She likes to be near him. She likes to help me with him. It's pretty adorable. 

Arm rolls for days....

Sully is quickly moving away from the jarred baby food it seems. Over the past week, I have been trying some new baby led weaning recipes. It is weird to me that people use the term "weaning" for what we are embarking upon though. He's not weaning himself from breastfeeding, quite the opposite. Baby led weaning is pretty much the process of letting your baby feed themselves with solid foods that are prepared in a way that is safe and easy for them to handle. Sully loves to eat to begin with and he has embraced this new form of food with vigor. 

So far with BLW, he has had avocados, bananas, oranges, broccoli, green beans, roasted sweet potato, and his mum mums. I have been watching him closely when he eats and also watching for any reactions to any of the food. It is recommended to slowly start introducing foods so you can monitor any reactions to the food. 

We still have some jarred food that I will try to get through but he's getting to the point of not wanting to be spoon fed and just wants to dive right him himself. I'm a lot more daring this time around with what I have been giving him. Marin didn't try most of these foods until a bit later but I want Sully to have an expansive palette when it comes to food and not be so picky like his adorable sister. I think we are on a good path. He will eventually just eat what we eat. Granted, Marin doesn't even really do that but that's something I really want to work on. I would LOVE to not have to cook 3 different meals during one meal time. I also really want to share dinner together AS A FAMILY soon. Our schedules are so all over the place but someway, somehow...I want to make it happen. I think it's super important. 

Funny broccoli face. Derp. 

I am also currently shopping for new carseats for Sullivan. He is pretty much at the weight limit for his carseat. He actually might be above the weight limit...Little dude isn't so little any more. Lugging him around in that car seat has not been kind to my back either. I do like the convenience of carrying him around in the car seat but those days are going to be gone very soon. The crappy part about buying new car seats is that the new ones will not click in to a base like his current one does. What that means...every car he rides in needs to have a carseat. So, we are looking at purchasing two car seats for us and the grandparents need to get one too for Sundays. Budget wise, that's not ideal, but you aren't supposed to take those car seats in and out constantly. That's not how they are built. I'm researching like crazy for something budget friendly but safe and reliable. The one's we bought Marin are great but they are a little out of our price range at the moment. 

Week Thirty Two. 

Here's Marin at Week Thirty Two. 

Baby Sullivan | Week Thirty One

We've all been passing around a cold once more in our little home. I don't think any of us have all been healthy at the same time in a while. I know a lot of other families are facing that this season as well, but dang, this flu and cold season has been a bad one. A lot of it stems from Ryan and I bringing germs home from work and Marin bringing them home from preschool. Poor Sully gets caught up in all of our germs as well. I've been trying to make sure we are washing our hands, covering our mouths when we sneeze or cough, and trying to stay out of Sully's adorable face. Hopefully this all passes again soon and we can continue on with regular programming. 

Sully rode in a shopping cart again on Monday and is just as chill as can be. I think being able to see all of those people and things is a bit overstimulating for him but I think he enjoys not being stuck in his car seat. Ryan and I haven't gone grocery shopping together with the kids in a very long time aside from Costco. But, it made me realize of my enduring love for King Soopers Clicklist. I don't have to deal with all of the people, I get exactly what is on my list, and stay within my budget. On Monday, we bought a few too many extras that I hadn't planned on and it was just stressful. The King Soopers right by our house will offer Clicklist in a few weeks and I am thrilled to say the least. It seriously has made my life so much easier with two kids! Now if we could just get a Starbucks drive-thru near by, then I will never have to leave my van again. 

Sully has been eating great and seems to be taking a liking to solid foods. I'm getting ready to start introducing more baby-led weaning foods instead of purees. It will be nice once he can start feeding himself more instead of me having to spoon feed him all of the time. I am going to start incorporating some bananas, avocados, roasted sweet potatoes, and some other steamed fruits and veggies for him. He really likes picking up and eating his Rice Mum Mums so I don't think he will have any issues with finger foods. He's all boy and loves to eat. I'm hoping he doesn't grow up being pretty picky like his sister. Her palette is always a work in progress. 

We celebrated my mom's birthday this past weekend and it was super fun to have so many kids around. We actually have a need for a kids table! It feels strange to be at this point in our lives but I love it. I love the chaos of it all and I love that I can sit at the grown ups table and drink my glass of wine. Win win for everyone!

Week Thirty one. 

Here's Marin at Week Thirty One. 

Portrait Six

As part of my 32 Things Before 32 List, I am attempting to take one self-portrait per month. This one is for the month of January. Yet again, just like the months before, we are already into the beginning of the next month. Oh well...at least I remembered to take my camera out of the bag and use it in the early morning hour. 

There's been a lot changing and stirring within me in the month of January. As always, the new year seems to bring a fresh start, a clean slate, another list of things that I desire to accomplish. I've been chewing on my One Little Word for this year and still need to write a post about it, but it's been stewing for a while and I'm almost ready to put it out into the world and embrace it fully. 

In many ways, I am a person that loves the new breath of fresh air that comes when seasons change and years come and go. I am the maker of lists and dreamer of dreams. Some little and minute, some lofty and time consuming. In many other ways though, I am a person that combats change with everything within me. I tend to like my comfort zone in many areas of my life and uprooting myself in certain areas of my life is not a pastime that I wish to participate in very often. 

But, change is coming. Change is already here. Change is inevitable. I need change. I need to change. I need to allow myself to open up to change and let it do its thing every once in a while. Burst the bubble. Hop out of the comfort zone. Be stretched. 

I am being stretched this year in terms of my health and my body. Honestly, I'm so very sick and tired of being so sick and tired all the time. So much of me just wishes I could cuddle up on the couch with my husband every evening after the kids are in bed and eat a bunch of food that isn't good for me in any way. But, no more. I can't do it any longer. I need change. 

I went to a natural health practitioner last week and my eyes were opened up to a lot of food intolerances that I have. Some of them I knew and blatantly ignored, others were a surprise. But, I am making the changes. I want to be able to look at the woman in the mirror and like what I see, feel confident about what I see. 

I'm tired of hiding behind the person I see in the mirror. I know underneath what I see, there's a woman that is confident and healthy, just waiting to step out into the world. I know that in many ways, I was once that woman. Confidently walking through life and then I got married and had a few kids...the effects upon my body from childbirth and exhaustion are a constant reminder of what my body went through. All of it worth it, of course, but I'm ready to focus on myself for a change. As I mentioned in my last portrait post: you can't pour from an empty cup. I'm working on filling up my cup, filling up my life with good for me, wholesome food. I'm listening to my body's cues and needs. I'm taking it one step at a time. 

I long to be able to in the mirror and know without a doubt that the woman staring back at me is confident and whole. Every day is a process. 

Portrait Six. 

Baby Sullivan | Week Thirty

Here we are at Week Thirty! Sully is will be 7 months old on Saturday. He's growing leaps and bounds and is such a little man lately. 

He finally is rolling over! It took him a while to get the gist of it but now that he knows how, that's all he wants to do. So far he only will roll over from tummy to back but not back to tummy quite yet. Now, the moment you put him on his tummy, he rolls right over and is so pleased with himself every time he does it. He's never been a huge fan of tummy time, but now that he can flip over, he definitely is totally fine with not remaining on his tummy for too long. 

He has been sleeping longer stretches at night and I am forever thankful. For a while there, he was waking up anywhere between 1:30am and 4:30am. Now he sleeps from 7pm-ish until about 4:30/5:30am. Hallelujah. So much better. I'm sure we will face another sleep regression soon but for now I'm soaking in those few hours of uninterrupted sleep while I can. 

We have been feeding him solids for three meals a day. Last Friday, we tried the chicken & sweet potatoes jarred food. He liked it a little too much because he ended up eating too much and throwing most of it up throughout the course of the afternoon. Poor little dude! I was washing a lot of bed sheets after that endeavor. I am laying off the meat jarred food for a bit longer because I don't think his little tummy is quite ready yet. 

We are in the process of figuring out Marin's school plan for next fall. She will be in Pre-K which pretty much makes my head spin just thinking about it. We have enjoyed where she is going to preschool but it's a co-op and we just don't have the ability to continue with that much involvement. It's a great school but we need a little less involvement. If I was a stay at home mom and didn't work full time, same as Ryan, we would probably stay there. But, now I am filling out new paperwork, getting immunization records, and checking out schools. It's crazy that we are already here. By the time she starts Pre-K, Sully will be 1.5 years old. I can't quite wrap my mind around it. 

Isn't Marin's little pony so cute!? She finally has started to let me attempt to do her hair. 

Week Thirty!