Untitled--playing catch up.

A lot has gone on in the last 5 months. Is any of it interesting? Probably not. But life isn't always interesting in this house.

Tanner is 22 months old. (yes, I count in months until 2 because between 1 and 2 years a lot changes!) He has his favorite blankey that his Great Grandma made for him (identical to his sister's, different colors though) and his dalmatian whom he calls doggy. When he wants them he says it in three's (doggy blankey doggy OR blankey doggy blankey.) Silly. He refuses to get rid of the binkie. I've been trying with no luck.He has been a late teether so the bink brings him relief by chewing on them. Oh well. I will keep trying! :) He is not interested in the potty. Occasionally he says "potty mom!" and insists on sitting, pees and then he's done for a few weeks with that. He has an amazing vocabulary for his age (compared to his sister, anyway.) He talks A LOT. He repeats everything and is putting more and more words together each day. My favorite is when I ask him if he's a big boy, he says "NO! I'm a Tanner!" He loves robots, Mickey Mouse, Jake and the Neverland Pirates and books. He could read books for days and not get bored. He throws a football better than his 4 year old sister. He likes to roughhouse with his dad. He is not scared of anything. He loves to swim, jump in from the side and go completely under the water, but don't wash his hair, if water gets in his face in the tub the world ends. Serious.

Kenzie is 4 and a half (she won't let you forget the 1/2) and a little shit. She is the sweetest, most well-behaved child one minute and a complete and utter terror the next. Is it considered bad parenting when you can't wait for your child to go to school and have someone else deal with them?!? If so, I happily oblige to the title. She wears me out. Nothing has changed much since I last wrote, except she knows better now when she does things and is better at trying to hide her naughtiness, but I always figure it out.

"We're flying above the clouds?"

Michigan. We took a small vacation to Michigan 2 weeks ago for my cousin's wedding. It was a much needed get away from Vegas but not much of a vacay for me. I still had 2 kids to deal with in a time zone 3 hours ahead of ours. I got less sleep there than I ever have at home. We're still working out the sleeping kinks since we've only been home since Saturday night and with the effects of our plane being delayed 2 hours because of the insane Thunderstorms that decided to show up right when we were supposed to leave. I hate flying, even more so with kids. Oi.

playing on the iPad with Nana

Before the wedding

Playing softball with cousins

Playing Frisbee golf before my babe went home

Detroit Tigers vs Baltimore Orioles

eating cheese popcorn

Splash pad in Michigan...WAY nicer than Vegas ones.

Cousins: Haley Kenzie and Summer

Cooling off after the family Kickball game!

Now we are preparing for the heatwave about to hit Vegas...Hello July and 110+ degree weather! We are heading to the lake this weekend in celebration of my sister's 30th birthday and to the Bullring at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway on Wednesday for the Annual Night of Fire. Yay for Summer time! ;)

This is why I feel old.

• Hanging out at the Hookah lounge that Russ' friends own. The music is so loud I find it annoying. All the songs being played make me laugh they are so ridiculous. The kids (yes, they are KIDS) all average 18-20 years old, a good TEN YEARS younger than me and my husband and they do all these dances to these crazy ass songs. It hit midnight and we headed home to go to bed. Ugh, I feel old.

• Watching late night infomercials and the new Shark Rotator Lift-Away was on and I was intrigued. I have been wanting a new vacuum for a while now and sadly I got pretty excited about this thing. You even get a free steam mop and you only pay 4 payments instead of 5, good deal. Russ replied, "wow, you know you're old when you get excited about a vacuum deal." Ugh.

• I cannot function without coffee. Period. I need coffee or some sort of energy drink to survive my day.
• 10 year high school reunion this year. So not looking forward to that. I hated high school the most out of all my school years.  OLD.
• I've noticed all the anti-aging products in my bathroom. I'm really starting to worry about aging. 
• I set this limit waaaayyyyyy back when I was 23 and pregnant with Kenzie, that I WILL NOT under ANY circumstances be pregnant after I turn 30. I blinked and I'm almost there. Russ better decide one more or not, time's a ticking.
• I asked for a blender for Christmas. I got a Keurig for Mother's Day last year. I'm asking for a vacuum  and an iron (I actually do not own an iron, now I'm old and need one) this year for Mother's Day, hopefully I will get it before then though. Yep. I'm old.

Nothing good has come from getting old. Once you hit 21 and you can legally drink, everything is downhill. Nothing is fun anymore. You have to be serious all the time...I have a hard time with that one. I don't want to be the mean old mom who disciplines her kids....but I have to. If I could be 26 forever I'd be happy.

My Tan-Man

There are days when I am completely amazed by this tiny guy, he changes so much each and every day. His vocabulary grows by the minute and picks up a handful of new words a day.
Here are some of his favorite words right now:

• outside
• park
• pizza (lol that one was a surprise!)
• issy (sissy)
• nana
• papa
• gaga
• mommy, mom
• daddy, dad
• juice
• geeg (paige, our cat)
• pouch (fruit pouch)
• banana
• apple
• booo-eee (blueberries)
•  gocha (Mocha, auntie Kelly's dog)
• ager (water)
• he doesn't say milk, but he signs it
• up
• out
• off
• bite

Those are the ones off the top of my head. He is so smart, Kenzie didn't start talking until she turned 2, but she signed a lot more too.

I swear he is the only kid I know that would sit in a dirty diaper all day. I try and wait for him to tell me to change him but the smell is so incredibly disgusting that I break down and change him before I puke. Boys poop is WAY stinkier than girls. So gross. I am so ready for him to be potty trained, I've been hoping he will be easier than Kenzie was, she was the WORST.

He definitely has my temper. So calm, collected and sweet one minute, then he turns into the Tasmanian Devil with a snap. He throws temper tantrums like a champ....if it were a good thing. He is not afraid of anything. We go to the park and he shows the kids older than him how to go down the giant slides by themselves. He really does, there have been a handful of kids that were scared to go down the slide and Tanner walks up there and goes down yelling "weeeeeeeeeee" and then the scared little kids start to follow. It's actually quite comical.

His four molars have FINALLLLYYY poked through so now we get a little bit more sleep than we were getting the past few weeks. Those suckers are evil. He does EVERYTHING his sister does. I need to get these kids a jungle gym, they climb on everything, they try to turn random things into a slide and they think all people and furniture are trampolines. It's getting out of hand.

I'm excited for the weather to warm up so we can spend more time outside, both kids got bikes for Christmas (Tanner got a strider) and they need to start learning!

Nothing Exciting.

Kenzie turned 4. I turned 28. Tanner is 16 months. Christmas was good. New Years was good.

Tanner talks A TON. He picks up new words every day. Kenzie is a bully. She is constantly making her brother cry. I can't wait until he makes her cry on a daily basis. She needs a taste of her own medicine. Mean you say? No. If only you could see the things she does. He has started hitting her in return and the best is when he pulls her hair. Priceless. They fight a lot and it's always over toys. Occasionally it's over me but that is rare.

Kenzie might as well not have ears. She doesn't listen for shit. I lost her THREE times in 2 different stores in one day. If I knew I wouldn't have been hauled off to jail I would've left her in JCPenney.  I swear the whole entire store stared at us the entire time we were there. I even got nasty looks from the cashiers. Sad. She just takes off on purpose and makes it her goal for you not to find her. We now have to strap her in a stroller or a shopping cart when we are out. I am so tempted to get a "leash" for her. Judge away. I'm scared of someone taking my child because she gets lost on purpose very easily.

Tanner is getting 4 molars in and it has been pretty bad.

Oh, I cut my hair off in November and colored it "strawberry blonde" a month later. It's a change.

I feel like I'm falling for Fall :)

Time  needs to slow down. I have spent most of the day today getting hugs and kisses from Tanner. He has been very lovey lately and I LOVE IT! He wraps his little arms around my neck, squeezes real tight and then pulls his head back and gives me lots of slobbery kisses, sound effects included! ;) He is one sweet little guy. He even loves on his sister and cuddles up with her on the couch to watch tv. When he wakes up in the morning and Kenzie isn't up yet he runs straight to her room (he literally runs) and climbs in her bed, cuddles and yells at her to wake up! She responds with "good morning Bubby!" Only Kenzie can call him Bubby, that's what she calls him and doesn't let anyone else do so. Tanner is starting to say more and more words, picking up on sign language and can communicate like a champ. He says: ball, mama, dada, bapbap (papa), nana, up, out...he signs: milk, all done and more. He can point to his belly button, mouth, teeth, nose and eyes if you ask him. He knows who everyone is, so if I say "Tanner, go give this to ____" he takes whatever I give him and gives it right to that person. He makes a barking noise for every animal still, we're working on that. :)

We took a trip to the Springs Preserve a couple of weeks ago with some friends. The kids had a lot of fun and we got to see a bird show, Tanner was impressed with the birds flying over our heads!

 

 

 

Tanner Kenzie and Lily

 Fun at the Mall

We are enjoying this amazingly cool weather lately. It is really starting to feel like fall now. We are getting ready for Halloween, Kenzie picked out a Minnie Mouse costume and Tanner is going to be a Vampire/Dracula. He is extremely difficult and won't wear a hat or anything on his head for that matter. We are painting his hair black and got him a cape to wear! :)

San Diego Zoo

We took a trip to the San Diego Zoo the end of September. It was a lot of fun, the kids really enjoyed it! :)

Kenzie being a flamingo

It was Russ' Birthday and they spelled his name Ross, lol!

Kenzie and Nana with a Gorilla

Tanner checking it all out

Kenzie wasn't cooperating with picture taking

Kenz and Tanner with Nana and Papa on the tour bus

One year and 2 weeks

 Tanner has be ONE for two weeks now. You never expect a lot of change after they turn one but Tanner is starting to pick up on A LOT of new things!

• He waves hello and goodbye
• Signs "all done" and occasionally "more"
• Says: up, go, mama, dada, nana, baba, meow(like a cat) but he kind of says it backwards, ruff(when he sees a dog)
• He knows what "light" means and looks up when you ask him
• he's getting better at listening when I say "uh-uh, no no, out" when I don't want him in something/doing something/going  somewhere
• he is starting to understand and really play with his toys
• He weighs 22.3lbs (65%) height 30.25" (67%) head 18.75" (89%) at 12 months old

We are having issues with Tanner drinking milk so this whole "weaning" off a bottle hasn't been happening. He is so stubborn and won't drink milk and/or formula out of a sippy. He drinks juice and water just fine out of one though. I am slowly mixing milk in with his bottles and not warming them in hopes that he will get used to this stuff. I am so over washing bottles! I have never liked putting them in the dishwasher like I do with sippys so I hand wash and microwave sterilize them regularly.I even have the sippy tops that go on his bottles and he just looks at me like I'm crazy when I hand it to him. I tried adding a bit of nesquik to his milk at dinner last night and he just threw it on the floor. He eats dairy with no issues, it's just plain old milk that causes him to spit up...a lot. It is not fun.

Kenzie is the same old Kenzie, always pushing things. I am wanting to start her in dance and/or gymnastics this fall to give her something to do. We'll see how that turns out.

We are all excited to be going to the San Diego Zoo at the end of the month, we are making a long weekend out of it. We want to try and see some friends of ours and go to the beach as well.