The Meyer Family

We are sitting around the pool on our last day on vacation. Our flight is in 6 hours and are enjoying the sun. Bryson likes the slides at the pool and Nallia is enjoying the sun.

We made it to Hawaii safely. It took two days and 2900 miles traveled. Nailla was good on the plane and Bryson was excited to “blast off” on the plane. Right now we are by the pool enjoying the sun.

Today Nallia and Kit went on a girls trip to a Midwives conference. This is the first time the “girls” are away and the “boys” are at home to play. We are going to get our hands dirty on my furlough Friday and take the car in for service. Free popcorn was all that was needed to convince Bryson.

I have been a total slacker with posting pictures of the kids. We have been taking them, but never seem to find time to post pictures. I have posted pictures of Nallia upto 3 months.

I realized today that those of you out there that don’t see Nallia don’t know all the little things she is doing. She is growing so fast, as all kids do, so I thought I would take a moment to share a few milestones.

(This picture is from Gold Rush Days in Sacramento this past weekend)

At about 4 1/2 weeks old Nalley started to smile. It has brought out her personality and a dimple on the right side that everyone comments on. If they miss the dimple  you can bet they will ask how old she is, then say something like “Oh that’s is a lot of hair” “Was she born with that hair?” or “Was Bryson’s hair dark?”

She rolled from her belly to her back starting at about 6 weeks. Now she does it every time you put down. She has developed a small giggle when you rub under chin and has also recently started scooting backward when she is on her back.

Nallia is one of those babies you think is really a gift. She eats well, most of the time, from the breast or bottle (pumped milk), she sleeps all night and falls asleep about 8:30pm all on her own. This is a bit odd since Bryson has just started to sleep well. Over the last few weeks she has started to suck her right thumb. She more chews it more than sucks on it.

Nallia loves to be held and only cries about one time a day, she generally freaks out about 5pm but then is happy. She lights up when Bryson is around but she is alert and happy when he is not. I honestly see how much they already love each other but I know he can be a little much for her some days. She loves to sleep until about 8:30 (which is just what B did) BUT Bryson gets up about 6ish, sometimes even earlier and tends to wake her up which you can read about on my last post!

Nalley is just about 12 pounds now and her 0-3 months clothes are getting a little tight. I have really started to enjoy the choices of girl clothes and even put clips in her hair today!

Routine has always seemed like a negative word to me. If you say something is routine it seems to me to be boring. Now, as I have two little ones, I am begging for some routine to just happen. I read in a Sacramento magazine about families with six or more children, one mom profiled has a daily schedule set in 30 minutes slots. I can only imagine scheduling when to do the dishes and when to take the trash out, I would however like to know when Bryson will nap and when he won’t.

Nallia is the calmest baby you have even seen, Bryson was easy but Nallia spends the day looking around. She likes to be held and does not like a wet diaper but otherwise she is just happy. She is best when you let her sleep in the morning and nurse as she wants. This all leads to wonderful and fun days OR days where Bryson wakes her up every time she tries to sleep then he decides to not take a nap and they are both super tired and grumpy, here is where I wish we had a routine. He has never been one for doing it all the same but she is very much a baby with a schedule. She likes to wake around 8:30am, eat and then take a nap at 10:30ish, eat then nap again. This is the time of day that makes it or breaks it. At about 1pm Bryson has reached the point where he should nap or be happy to have quiet time. Most days he has quite time, about twice a week he takes a nap but on occasion he tries to nap and never falls asleep he just keeps bugging Nallia and singing and talking. These are the worst days. By about 4:30 she is over tiered and he is crazy.

Today was one of those days, not the worst of those, but I am learning to manage better. Once I recognized he is out of the routine we head out. The library saved us today with a new Signing Time DVD, 3 books and a audio book for me. We spent some time there and headed home, at home we were able to watch the Signing Time and everyone was happy.

One day down, one more lesson they have taught me that routine could be boring but sometimes boring is nice and peaceful.

Well here we are. This month I turned 29 and maybe it is hitting me a little late but Drew and I have been chatting a lot about how different our lives have become over the past few years. Bryson is now a chatty 2 year old, Nallia is now 2 months old. He is starting in the preschool classroom at his school tomorrow and he is VERY excited. He has been waiting to go to the Discovery Room for months. I remember when we took him in there last spring, the next day he thought he was going to start there and cried that he had to go back to the toddler room. We kept telling him about how he would go there after the baby came, then about a week after she was born he was asking if could go to the Discovery Room… then we had to come up something else, but now the day has come. I packed up his stuff tonight and he is ready to go.

Nallia is 2 months old ALREADY! She is very giggly and smiles a lot. Her hair is getting even longer and filling in, everyone says it will fall out but just seems to be holding on. About two weeks ago she started rolling over. I thought it was a fluke but she does it all the time now.

Another Pic by Bryson

We are also excited to be planning a trip to Hawaii. How far our life has come since our last visit there!

We have been very busy over the past several weeks. We had Bryson and Nallia’s cousins, Katie and Atti, their Aunt Jenny and Uncle Attlia and Grandpa visit a few weeks ago. Bryson lots fun running around with his cousins. Nallia was lucky to get several bags of hand-me-downs from Katie. We spent time at the blueberry farm picking berries, hiking and picnicking at Lady Bird Johnson Grove and even showed them the Sequoia Park Zoo.

The following weekend we headed east to Del Loma, where we “camped” across the Trinity River. We stayed on the deck of a friends cabin as we have for the last few years. Bryson loved the river, the small adventure walks we took him on, the fact we had to take a small motor boat to get there and most of all our hosts had a “Rhino”. This 4×4/golf cart vehicle was every boys dream. Nallia on the other hand was not a happy girl in the 102 degree temperature.

This was a great break just before I sat for the International Board Certified Lactation Consultant(IBCLC) exam the following Monday. I won’t know the results untill October 16th so I am just hoping I passed and making the best of the wait.

Last weekend we had a great visit from Drew’s step dad, Pat and his girlfriend, Connie. Since their visit happened to coincide with my birthday we went to Larupin’s  for a fun birthday dinner. While they visited we also ate at the Samoa Cookhouse and walked the Arcata Plaza. They brought great gifts for the kids, including Nike’s for Nallia and Lego’s for B.

This week it has been wonderfully sunny here in the land of clouds and rain. Nallia is now 7 weeks old and weighs over 10lbs. Bryson has also been growing like crazy, he can now reach the light switches, the truck’s door handles and so much more. He is 37 inches and 36 pounds; we had him in for a check up to get his paperwork done for school this far. If he has not already told you he is going to the “Discovery Room”, this is the younger of the two preschool classes at child care center he goes to at HSU. He is very excited and talks to everyone about how they will be able to play on the big play ground and how the room has play dough. He starts back in two weeks.

Because of the break in school B has been home with us the last two weeks and, do to furloughs and paternity leave, it seems Drew has been home a lot too. I started back at work last week and during the few shifts I have worked both kids have been home with Drew. Yesterday I rushed home only to find EVERYONE a sleep in the living room. So we are busy but at least we are getting some sleep. I am sure Drew will get Nallia’s first month’s pictures up at some point 🙂

Notice the shirt says "Happy to be a girl!"

It has been only 19 days but Nallia has grown so fast. She has a curious personality and is of course a bit feistier than Bryson. We had a pretty good week, Drew was back at work and my mom left Tuesday. Bryson had fun seeing her off at the airport. You would think since we live so close he would be over the airplane thing but it seemed all new to him. We hung out at the airport for a few minutes and watched the planes. There were two planes parked on the tarmac, Bryson explained how one was for Grammy and of course the other was “Becca’s Plane”.

In March my cousin, Rebecca, came to visit and Bryson had a blast. Since we took Rebecca to the airport and she got on a plane to fly home to Boston, every time we see a plane there is some hope she is on it. He loves to wear any of the clothes she bought him and recently I got a necklace in the mail from her, every night he tells me how I am wearing my “Becca Necklace”.

After my mom left it has been just me and the kids. What a reality check! Bryson is very high energy, at least when I was pregnant I could play with him and I was just a bit slow, now I am pinned to a chair while I feed Nallia or at best have one hand free while holding her. She doesn’t do very well laying down, she tends to burp and spit up, so we hold her most of the day or I have her in the Moby Wrap.  Nights have not been as hard as I thought they could be. It seems to be best if Drew takes her for a few hours in the evening after Bryson is in bed and I go to bed, then I take her from about 1am on. She feeds most of the night and I change her a few times a night but over all we are sleeping.

Thursday Nallia had her first doctor’s visit. She was 20 ¾ inches and 8lbs 5.5 ounces. She has a slightly stuffed up nose (thanks to B) but everything else was great.  It was just another reminder of how great our doctor is and how supportive the practice is of homebirth.

One of the really cool things about living where we live is some of the opportunities we have. We recently bought a share in a local CSA (Community Supported Agriculture). The farm is Deep Seeded Community Farm and our farmer is “Farmer Eddie”. Every Friday we visit the farm and pickup some produce. Farmer Eddie has set aside an area for the kids. The past few visits its in the strawberry fields. Bryson put on his boots in preparation for today’s visit. Grammy is in town and she went with us today. Enjoy the video of Bryson tromping through the field with his Grammy in search of the perfect strawberry!

Nallia had a great day in the world of pink. With Grammy visiting, a big box from Kits Aunt Annie, Cory stopping by with gifts, surprise pink bag of stuff from David, Marisa, Cade and Rilley, we  officially have a collection of pink for Nallia.

This whole pink thing is getting a bit overwhelming for me, but its growing on me. When I  said to Kit “We will have the best looking girl in carpenter pants.”  I finally got it and have now realized that we will need a good amount of girly stuff for our Nallia.