10 weeks already!?

It's been way too long since my last post. I've thought about posting and what I'd share and what I'd title my potential entries. Such as: Newborn Narcolepsy, What Was I Thinking?, or Best Summer Ever!
I'm sure I'll miss a lot of what I'd like to share, but I'll start off with this: I love my babies!
Lake is amazing. He's such an easy baby. I'm sure it mostly has to do with the fact that this is not my first rodeo and I'm following the same schedule I used on Kaydriana, but he really is pretty mild. He never really cries (except for when I go booger sucking), he does kind of a whimper thing. He turned 2 months on 7/24 and that was the first day he officially smiled and coo'd at me. It was awesome!! He had his 8 week check up last week (at 9 wks) and he weighed 11 lbs and 10 oz and was 23 inches (If I remember right).
He is not sleeping through the night yet (which is 6.5-8 hr stretches), like his sister was at this age. I'm not sure why, but I'm not too worried yet. I figured he was two weeks early and takes a bit longer to hit milestones than his sister.
I find myself calling Lake, "Lakey" or, "Boogers". He's got wide open nostrils and I swear that kid always has boogs in his nose! We've never nickname Kaydriana because we wanted her to learn her name and allow her friends to nickname her. However, she has done the honors herself. She refers to herself as Ana. We're working on that one...
I just went through a roller coaster of emotions. I was told that I don't have to return to work until November 1st. That was AMAZING!! But I thought it was too good to be true and so I stopped by my HR department to verify and confirmed it was true. I was over the moon and knew I wouldn't even have to begin thinking about work or daycare for a while. However, today I was reviewing our finances and decided to ask if I get my full 100% of my pay during the FMLA and disability period. Turns out, once my 13 weeks of maternity ends on 8/22, I no longer get any pay! I seriously felt like my heart dropped into my stomach. I'll start using my vacation and sick pay so I can stay out until 10/1, but thats a month earlier than I planned. I know 4 months is still a nice long time to be home with my babies, but 5 months was waaaayyyy better. So I think that means I'll have to cancel some plans and really start saving and searching for daycare options. Ugh :(
Kaydriana is... well, not her sweet, loving self all the time. She is obviously getting older and learning a lot and wanting to be stimulated. She is also testing boundaries and trying to exert independence. Add new brother attention sharing and she has moments that I really have to restrain myself! She will out-rightly defy me. I'll ask her not to touch his binky or blanket and she'll get this snotty look on her face, look at me in the eye and take off with whatever it is I told her not to touch. This goes for playing with his swing when he's in there sleeping. She's the most difficult when I'm feeding him. She is very needy and whiny most of the times I am feeding him, where I can't do much for her. I try to prepare to make sure she has a snack and her water and can be entertained during the 30 minutes or so, but she'll still need or demand something. It's getting a little better now that the newness is wearing off, but there are still tough moments/days. And at the same time, while I really enjoyed my time with just Lake while she remained in daycare (the month of June), overall I love my days with both my babies and the special memories we are making.
Kaydriana calls Lake, "Cek". Not quite, "Cake", but close. She likes to help me when I change his diapers and wants to help burp him and put his paci back in his mouth. She's quite obsessed with his binky and will often times hide with it and put it in her mouth. She also loves to give us both hugs and kisses. I'm glad her sweetness still exists :)
I've let Kaydriana watch cartoons far more than I wanted to, but find it is necessary. I can tell when its gotten to be too much when she gets frustrated when commercials come on. She looks at me and says, "More!". Trying to explain commercials to a 2 year old is a bit pathetic, so thats usually my queue to turn off the boob tube and try to get her to do something else, usually grab a book.
She has also become much like her mom in that she is accident proned. In a two week time frame she fell while running and used her face to break the fall. That was a nice, bloody mess that may leave a scar for life. She lost her big toe nail when she shut the door right over it. She also had her first dripping down the face bloody nose. I think that was caused by her digging in it. We now have an army supply of band-aids!
Her vocabulary is really expanding! There is no way i can include everything she says, but some of my favorite phrases are, "Look at me!" I say that to her when I'm trying to get her to understand something and now she is using it against me :). She also tells Tim and I to, "Sit down" and pats the seat where she wants us to sit.  I also love it when she says, "Oh Nice! Awesome!". She learned that one from her daddy. She is getting better at her ABCs and when she sees words, she pretends to read by saying her ABCs. She also sings like crazy! Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, and Row, Row, Row your Boat, Skitter Mirinki Dinki Doo, and Shoo Fly are her favorites. Oh and I can't forget her new found passion for counting.
We've been having a fun summer! Having my sister and her family here has been great! Kaydriana and Reid LOVE to play together. They chase each other around, tickle each other, dance, sit and watch cartoons together and it is just so adorable to witness. They also love the same foods: fishys, Wheat Thins, granola bars, watermelon, and peanut butter (no jelly) sandwiches.
My sister was the first to watch Lake (she was also the first to watch Kaydriana :) ) and we've been trading off favors. I watched Reid for two days when she flew to ID for work and Tim and I have a date night at the Seahawks on the 11th that she'll be helping us out with.
The kids, sister, and I run errands together, play at the park, and check out touristy Seattle stuff together. We're planning a trip to Forks and La Push and tomorrow my mom is watching the three kids so we can just hang out together. We're going to see a movie and get pedicures and take a few hours off of being mommies :)
As for me, I'm constantly tired. With Lake's current schedule of waking to feed at 10pm and anywhere between 2-4am and then Kaydriana's wake time of between 6-7am, I really look forward to nap time. It doesn't always work out if I can't coordinate the kids schedules. Last night Lake decided he was hungry at 1am and Kaydriana decided 545 was a good wake up time. So I'm trying to keep Lake awake until I can put Kaydriana down for a nap. I need some rest! I typically drink 3 cups of coffee now.
I've lost 29 lbs so far and just a few weeks ago could start wearing normal pants (much larger size of course) that fit and doesn't hurt my incision. I still have 20lbs to loose and hope to loose at least 5 more pounds by the end of August when my sister will do our family photos. Ive begun to work out and have gone to the gym once. It feels so good to feel that burn. As I'm pushing myself, I feel like my strong lean self again. Sadly, looking in the mirror, brings me back to reality. I know I'll lose the weight just like I did with Kaydriana, but I'm being impatient :/
Okay, I think I've shared enough for now.
PS, I just had a 1.5 hr nap with the kids. Success!!