A New Year Already?????

So I'm having trouble believing that a whole year has past and we are starting 2009. Where did the past year go? Of course when I try to answer that question I quickly realize it disappeared with all the hustle and bustle of everyday life. Not that the past year was without it's exciting moments. In fact in many ways 2008 had more going on than I give credit. Looking back I realize I went though almost my whole pregnancy with Cai, while finishing my last class to graduate undergrad. I celebrated my completion of my bachelors degree, had a baby, watched my eldest turn two... and those are all the happy parts. All and all alot happened. Now my hope is that 2009 comes and goes as smoothly. As my baby begin to sit up and eventually crawl followed by walking, I hope I can meet raising the boys with the laughter and tears it deserves. As I sit here with Ian on my lap after his nap, I am realizing that despite the fact that I'm home with the boys and thus spend my entire day with them I don't always take the time to enjoy life with them the way I envisioned I would. I'm not saying this is totally bad. I mean there is only so much time in a day and lots to attempt to accomplish. And I do in fact spend time with them. However, I feel that I often miss sitting down and enjoying the stages the boys are in because I'm so focused on getting through the day so I can get through tomorrow. While I don't want to label this a New Year's Resolution due to the sigma of that concept, I do hope that this year I can learn to slow down alittle. Rather than trying to survive till tomorrow, I need to realize that my actions of survival are me living my life. So I just need to embrace this hectic feeling of life and enjoy it. I also need to tell myself that the actions I take to take care of my kids, whether feeding, clothing or reading a book, are indeed spending quality time with them. I often feel that somehow I'm short changing my kids by not being more purposeful in my interaction with them. However, I'm not supermom. Despite my desires to be. My children will and do learn from me even when I'm across the room from them folding laundry. I just have to let myself fully believe that.

Ok, enough of my babble about me and my feelings. :) Here is the update on the kids. Ian, now almost 29mo, is such a little kid. His vocabulary is expanding everyday. I'm constantly amazed at the words he uses. Of course "that" still sounds like "fat." But mostly I'm told he is pretty easy to understand, most of the time. :) Our big accomplishment lately has been the move to his own room. Previously he was sleeping on his own mattress on the floor next to our bed. In fact the room was wall to wall bed with his bed, then our bed then the crib with the rail pulled off and pushed up to ours. It worked out great. But it was time for Ian to have his own room. So last week we moved our bed and the crib into the front room we were using as a changing room. While after several nights he is still waking up once or twice I feel he is doing really very well. One of my hopes for his room was that he could have a space to claim as his own and take responsibility for. Ian is constantly wanting to help around the house and continues to try to claim his independence. My hope was that this could be another way for him to do so. So far I feel that this is happening. He has most of his toys in his room now and is very good about cleaning up before bed. We make his bed together in the morning and I even have his clothes in drawers he can open and shut so he can pick out his own outfit. The greatest part is we got him a rug with railroad track and streets. He loves driving his trains and cars on that rug. It is very cute to watch him. :)

Cai is now almost 5 mo. Wow! He is so alert and interactive now. It's really fun to smile and talk to him as he will smile, laugh and coo in response. He is still my active baby, constantly wanting to move, play, do. Luckily because he can now grab, hold, shake, and kick he is much easier to keep entertained and thus happy. Much more than Ian, Cai enjoys shaking and chewing on rattles, dolls, and other toys. Again I stress the active part of this kids personality. It is so funny to watch him flail his legs and arms when on his stomach. He is trying so hard to move, to get somewhere. Of course when he doesn't move he will often get frustrated very fast. We just started Cai on solids a few weeks ago. We started with banana, which he seems to really enjoy. He doesn't get a solid meal everyday, but that's ok. Right now it's the experience that's important. Yesterday we tried oatmeal. That too went over well. The funny part about feeding him is he puts his thumb in his mouth after a spoonful but then has trouble getting his hands out of the way for the next bit. In addition to that he tries to grab the spoon and shove it in his mouth. Guess I'm just not quick enough. All and all he is a pretty happy baby. We still have rough times. He tends to still have an extremely fussy time right before bed in the evenings. And he won't take very long naps during the day. He does sleep though the night so I try not to complain too much :).