Thomas and Tannis Manning: Family Update.

I haven't blogged in a while! It's tough when Wes goes to bed pretty late so I feel like I have hardly any time. This post will probably take me a couple days. And I have a million (that's not even that far off haha) pictures to look through and post... ;)

Wes is now 3.5 months old and is getting a little easier! Some things about him...

*LOVES to smile! I love his dimples! It is so easy to make him smile

*Spits up quite a bit. Not a ton comes out, but he will usually spit up a few times after he eats

*Nurses super quick. 10 minutes or sometimes less each feeding. He eats every 2-3 hours (depending on how long he sleeps)

*He has been sleeping pretty good the last few nights! He goes to bed around 10 and usually wakes up 1 time to eat (he has been sleeping a 6 hour stretch!) But you never know with him. Sometimes he only sleeps like 4 hours straight at a time. But things are definitely getting better!

*He sleeps in a rock and play.... in our half bathroom hahaha. It was hard having him in our room. I sleep better when he's not right there with us. So the rock and play fits in our half bath so we put him in there! It's great! I have the fan on for white noise, and when we go to sleep we keep our door open and the bathroom door open and I can hear him super easy when he wakes up.

*He isn't the most content baby... He cries lots. Sometimes nothing can calm him down it seems like. He is a lot more fussy then Jayne was as a baby. But we forgive him because he is so dang cute ;)

*Size 2 diapers (he's probably around 13 pounds maybe less) and mostly 3-6 month clothes

*LOVES to take baths! He kicks and splashes so much.

*I love how most the time when you make him smile it's like he smiles with his whole body. He moves around and can't hold still haha

Jayne is 2 and is learning so much! We love our Jayney bug... sometimes she drives us crazy like when she hits Wes.... which is too often these days.... But we love her still hahaha. Some things about our Jayney girl:

*Still in diapers (we sort of tried out the potty for a day and she peed on the floor and FREAKED out... She is seriously TRAUMATIZED from that. She didn't poop for a few days because she was so scared to push it out. Poor girl!) but you know she's barely 2 so I'm not rushing it. Diapers are easy haha.

*Saying SO many things! This girl has always loved to talk haha. She says some words so funny like dookie instead of cookie (and she says "doo" like "due"). It's hilarious. She used to say "doop" instead of spoon but she doesn't anymore which is sad because it was too funny

*Has bottoms molars in and is getting her top molars in which is NOT fun! She is so fussy and has been extra needy and mean to Wes

*Has always been a great sleeper... We are lucky with her. I think Wes will be not like this haha. She sleeps usually from 8 pm- 8 am or sometimes earlier sometimes later. Takes a nap around 1 for 2 hours or so. She only has her pacifier at nap/bed. Not sure when I'll get rid of it.... Maybe soon but I don't think it's that big of a deal because she doesn't have it all day.

*We have had a hard time coming up with punishments for her... We have tried putting her in her room but she ended up liking it... We put her in the corner but then she started putting herself in the corner and laughed about it... We tried giving her hot sauce and she wanted more... hahaha. What do we do to discipline this child?!

*Carries around her books and makes piles.. She just LOVES her books. She loves picking out the books we read to her before bed.

*Loves to eat a bunch of cereal for breakfast (usually like 3 pretty big size bowls full)

*Loves to go to grandma's house! Both grandmas. She has the best grandmas who love her and spoil her!

*Is super picky about what tv shows she watches... She will definitely tell you which one she wants. She loves Barney the most usually.

*Pretty good at helping clean up her toys... when she feels like helping

*She's a little parrot... today she said "oh my word!" after Thomas said it hahaha

*Sings tons of songs and has some books memorized and reads them to herself

I hardly ever talk about new things going on with me and Thomas. It's just so much easier talking about the kids haha. We are doing great! Still living in my in-law's guest house... and we don't plan on moving anytime soon! We love it here. We pay a great price for rent, we have family close by and the ward is so great. Thomas is cleaning pools 3 days a week (he has been doing this since just before we got married). He used to clean them every day, but he is down to 3 days a week. He will hopefully be quitting soon. It's not his favorite job, and it's not what he wants to do for a career so it's just paying the bills right now. When he's not cleaning pools he is doing video work. Things have been going GREAT with that lately! Which is the reason he will hopefully be able to quit pools soon. He met a guy named James who has really been a great contact. He does video work as well and they've kind of teamed up as of lately. James has AWESOME connections (mostly political) and so they have gotten great opportunities for video work. They got to film Carly Fiorina recently (republican candidate for president) and they've filmed some others like Jan Brewer. They just met with the lady who started charter schools in Arizona and they are going to be making multiple videos for that company so that is awesome news! Things seem to be going in a good direction which is a wonderful feeling. I want my husband to be happy and do what he loves! Videography is hard because it's all about who you know pretty much... and it's not like someone is telling you what to do like if you were going to dental school for example. It's more difficult getting work and figuring out how to get to where you want to be. I'm so proud of him for the videos he has made/helped make recently. Thomas has an eye for what looks good and he knows how to create a great video. He is so creative and passionate. I love it :)
Not much is new with me. I'm just enjoying our two kids! We are home more often than when I just had Jayne which is kind of an adjustment for me... I LOVE to get out and do things. I expected this though. It's harder going places with two kids haha. I feel dumb saying that though because it will be even harder with 3! Which won't be anytime soon haha. We have play dates occasionally, or we go to grandma's house a lot! I'm so excited that the weather is getting nicer and we can go to the park!
Thomas and I are blessed to have parents who love to watch our kids and are able to almost anytime we need them. We get a date night every weekend which I feel so lucky to have! Thomas and I feel like we really need that one-on-one time every week to connect and have fun just the two of us. It's so important for our relationship! We love to eat at usually Costa Vida or Chipotle (those are our usual go to's haha), and we like to go bowling (yay for pogo passes!), walk around the mall/Walmart/Target, etc.
It has been pretty tough for us adjusting to two kids, but we love them so much and are so grateful they are in our home!