G at 4 years old

I wrote most of this before G's birthday with intentions of updating a little bit and then posting...but life got crazy after her birthday (home projects, wreck, visiting family....) so here I am a little bit late on her birthday post.....

Four years old sounds super old. I have memories from being 4. I mean, they are very specific moments, without a lot of context. But my daughter will likely remember some of the things happening in her life now even when she's 28. I sure hope I am doing a good job as her mom.

She is very, very observant. And smart. She has always had a great memory and I love how her thirst for knowledge is relevant to the world around her. She makes adult like connections within her head and asks appropriate questions to fully form her thoughts about a subject.

She does have a few linguistic quirks (re; mispronunciations) still but I think they are adorable, of course. She can pronounce Justin Timberlake just fine though LOL (The other night we were driving home from my sister's house and "Not a Bad Thing" came on the radio and she asked me "Is this Justin Timberlake?" ... I busted up laughing and said "yes!" I have no idea how she knew that??? and her pronunciation was perfect, so that's fun). She can also prounounce St. Thérèse just fine (because she asks me about the book I'm reading which is about that most amazing saint). Her mistakes are usually when there's an odd combination of vowels or s or l in certain places of the word. Her vocab is off the chart, so that's fun. Thankfully, I don't think I've ever heard her say a bad word... which is saying a lot since expletives are my vice.

She is a super healthy eater and asks if things are healthy, have sugars, or have dyes. She enjoys vegetables (not beets!) and chooses healthy options. She does still like mac and cheese and hot dogs (but I choose the better versions of those childhood classics) Her favorite foods are-- strawberries, (GF) cereal, oatmeal with berries, cucumber chips, chicken nuggets (I don't usually feed them to her, but they are a favorite so I'm listing here), salad (specifically spinach, but other lettuces are acceptable, no dressing), bacon, tomatoes, grapes, graham crackers, granola bars, steak, sausage, potatoes, butter, cheese, green beans, peas, apples, almond butter, pizza (we usually make spaghetti squash crust but she loves wheat crust)
It's hard to write about food with her, because she will eat just about everything (no beets and no spicy); but many of her favorites aren't paleo and we are trying to avoid them (not completely for the kids especially right now). Suffice it to say for posterity, she eats well and makes me proud with healthy options.

She rarely takes a nap, sleeps about 10-11 hours at night, and weighs about 33 pounds (she is 3 feet and 3.5 inches tall). That means she is hovering around 29% for weight and apparently hit a growth spurt and is 46% for height! She's in between 4t and 3t clothes, and her foot is a size 9. Her eyes are gray-blue and her hair is still super white blonde.

She is working on reading. We've been slowly and occasionally working it. Her gym school sends home 5 sight words a week and then we work on them at home. The next class, she practices them with her teacher, too. She is moving right along and I bet will be reading by summer! She's been able to sound out words for a few weeks now (but if they aren't easily sounded out then she has trouble, hence sight words being a good thing).

She is fairly athletic, but not aggressive. She loves the idea of soccer, but she will need to develop some more 'fight' to be competitive at it. She likes gymnastics but I don't know if that will pan out. She is also a funny little dancer and loves music!

She loves school pages and her handwriting is pretty good, above average for her age. She has said her favorite thing to do (inside) is puzzles, but loves playing at the park when it's not cold.

She is super loving and very compassionate. She cares about other people and wants everyone to feel loved. She's also really shy though. I think she's introverted for sure, and may end up with my same personality. I'd obviously be okay with that ;-)

She recently spent time with family, away from me. I'm happy to hear that she was decisive, helpful, and kind. She was a big help with J, so that's nice.

She gets anxiety watching certain shows (like Wild Kratts when a bat flew into a plate of brownies, or Thomas the Train when an engine was going too fast and made a mess, or Veggie Tales when there was a villain). Basically if things don't match up to how she knows they should be, she gets nervous. She doesn't cry or get mad, she just says she doesn't want to watch it anymore and fidgets with her fingers. I'm glad that I'm there for her and can talk her through these situations, hopefully giving her the mental tools to cope with anxiety and uneasy situations since life will throw her more than that within a few years.

Speaking of preparing for the tough stuff. She recently had a discussion about heaven with me and she asked me what happens to a kid if their mommy and daddy go to heaven. "who takes care of them?" ..... so that was tough to not just pick her up and shower her with kisses and tell her that'd never happen to her...... but life is so unpredictable and I don't lie to my kid. So I just explained that there are lots of people on earth that would love that kid and take care of them and then the kid could get to heaven someday and see his or her mommy and daddy again. I also took care to remind her that heaven is a good thing and if the mommy and daddy were in heaven, we should be glad for that.

For her birthday at gym school she wanted to bring a treat that even the little girl with allergies could eat them. So we found a recipe that was free of dairy and eggs (the allergies), got it approved, and took them the class before her birthday. She was really proud to be able to share something with this little girl, and I am really proud of my sweet girl for being empathetic.

I could go on and on telling the wonderful things she does, but it'd get redundant, so here are some photos from her birthday (a separate party post to come eventually)

ps. She can throw fits and misbehave rarely, but it's usually only when provoked by her brother. I really couldn't dream of a better girl.

Nine Months Old baby J

Having a nine month old baby boy sure is fun! He's into everything, makes everyone happy, keeps me on my toes for sure.

 J is very curious. He wants to see what everyone is doing, and likes getting into the action himself. He's feeding himself, army crawling (maybe it'd be better described as crocodile crawling lol), pulling-up on almost everything (except his crib, which is weird, because that's the first place G pulled up, but his crib is taller), clapping and waving, and just being a generally awesome little man. He plays peek a boo by pulling covers up and down, he can find some hidden things when shown them first. He can put things in and take them out. He's trying to mimic some motions, so maybe signing a few things might be in his future. He likes anything with a screen, which is a sign of the times, eh.

He is super into G's fan, cords of any kind, bathrooms, doors and door stops, and shoes-especially flip flops. Sounds like a puppy to me, LOL - of course I stop him from getting those things and so that probably increases his interest in them.

He eats 3 meals a day plus nurses about 5 times a day. He sleeps from about 8:15 pm - 5:30 am, nurses, and sleeps again from 6ish until about 9 am.... give or take, usually. He takes a nap from around 1:30 pm until 4 pm. Yeah, he's a one nap baby already. And I thought G was an early 1-napper.... though I did kind of push J into one nap so that our life opened up in the morning a bit.

J eat peeled/cut grapes, bananas, peaches, carrots, cucumbers, tomatoes, shredded meat, bell peppers, squash/zucchini, puffs, yogurt bites, pumpkin, and cheerios. He's tried lots of other things, but that's what he eats fairly frequently. He loves food and feeding himself.

He kind of drinks expressed milk from a sippy, with a lot of help and a lot of it spills, but this is helpful for getting through mass. I can't nurse under a cover because he pulls it off, so nursing discretely through mass isn't an option.

He's taken several tumbles because he's really top heavy, so when he pulls up on something and then tries to creep along or transfer between objects, he falls. I can't be right next to him every second...so long story short he topples over and cries. :-( Oh well, part of being a kid, right?

Then there's G who has pulled him over on accident a few times. She has just tried to help him "walk" but it ends up being her pulling him down since he can't walk. We've had a few talks about just letting him be....

She's a super awesome big sister, seriously, I've never seen a better one. She loves on him, plays with him, helps get his food, and takes care of him as much as a 2.5 year old can. Not that I put that on her really, but she's got a maternal instinct.

J is doing really well as far as CDPX1 (chondradysplasia punctata) is concerned, at least in my non-medical opinion. He seems to hear well, but we'll have his hearing checked pretty soon. He may or may not hear exactly right though, only time and monitoring will tell there. He seems to see well too, but again, we'll keep an eye on it ;-) His breathing is fine. He snores sometimes and makes odd sounds, but mostly does great. Let's all pray he stays healthy and avoids serious illness this Fall. His bones are the main thing, and we won't have x-rays again until December when he's almost 1. His torso and head seem to make up most of his body, so I think his legs are shorter than normal, which is why I think he's so top heavy....but he's only 9 months old ;-) so we'll see what happens in the future.

I'll update his height and weight tomorrow after his appointment. He's got two teeth on bottom and 4 about ready to bust through on the top.

Love you baby boy!!

Half Birthday Boy

J is six months old and is doing great. He had his well child check 3 days early, and at it he weighed 17 pounds 2.5 ounces and was 26.25 inches long. His head his staying steady ay 99%, which was 18.1" around. I think that his huge head makes him look a lot bigger than he is. People comment on how big of a baby he is, but his length and height actually hover around 50% for kids his age...which means he is very average. No teeth yet, plenty of hair (he had a hair cut by me!).



about to topple over!



My sweet boy is a rolling fool. He squirms in circles, and has gotten himself into his crib rails or the end of his bed, but doesn't crawl 'for real.' He has kind of sat up, but usually just topples over. He loves books and tries to turn the pages! He also enjoys gnawing them...typical baby.

He rattles toys, rakes things in, recognizes family members, rolls over, transfer things from hands, grabs on toes (or boy parts at diaper changes...eeeek), loves mirrors and music. He's also started some stranger fear...like when my mom showed up this week, he smiled at first, then got kind of freaked out and cried when she got up close. He got used to her and it was fine later on. I think his favorite person is G...they are too freakin' cute together. So glad they have each other.

J has had bananas, green beans, carrots, and blueberry banana puree. The bananas were the only "real food," the rest have been jarred or pouches. He loves food and eating :-)

We'll keep solids as introductory for a while, and stick to nursing for nutrients. He's so great at it :-)

Sleep wise, he has good and tough days. Last night he actually slept amazing, 8.5 hours, eat, then another 2.5 hours. That was awesome. Other nights he'll be up every 3-4 hours. He is solidly on two naps now, so it means he's following in G's footsteps of transitioning early...so I expect to see him on one nap before December. That's both a good and bad thing. Good because then we'll have all morning to do stuff again without worrying about nap times, but it's bad because I lose that time to get stuff done or play alone with G.... oh well life moves at light speed!

I cannot believe how big he is getting. He's SO sweet, cuddly, and smiley. I don't want that to ever change....maybe it won't ;-)

adorable nose, thanks cdpx1

Catch up, briefly

I know you've all been on the edge of your seats, wondering when my next blog post would go up.... but May has been BUSY!

We went on a middle of the month grandparent-visiting-graduation-celebrating trip that was certainly fun, but definitely glad it's over and we are settled back home. My husband was with us for half of it, so that was nice, and then he came home, worked, and got some to-do-list items check off his list during the evening hours.
We've also had countless play dates and many meals with friends...with more coming up. I love having a social life again....much improved from our homebound winter & fairly lonely California days.

Here's a catch-all bullet list to catch everyone up to speed. In no particular order.

G is now talking well enough to almost everyone can understand almost everything she says. What a blessing/curse that is...haha.
My favorite, but least favorite, thing she says now is, "No! Don't like that!" Cracks me up, but frustrates me too. She says it in reference to activities, food, etc..
J has very briefly sat up independently, but he can't always do it and it's never for very long...but it's progressing!
G's potty training is great...ish. She doesn't have pee accidents, and lately has had more poop successes than accidents, so that's good. Her issue is getting her to sit on the potty and relax long enough to get the poop out... TMI, sorry. She's wet the bed a few times this past week, but had been on a perfect streak for a while..last night was a dry bed night, so here's to hoping we move forward again.
On our trip, she did awesome with potting. It's kind of funny, though, that she wouldn't use her little potty in the back of the car--but if I took it into the gas station bathroom, she'd go right away. She is very aware of social cues. Cracks me up. She didn't have any accidents the whole time, pee wise, but had several poop ones. Bummer.
I don't want to re-hash the driving with two small kids shenanigans, but at some point, you just have to block out the screaming and whining and drive (so long as you know there's nothing you can do for them regarding eating/diaper/potty/etc...). There were times when it was nice--and they both slept ;-)--but then there were others where J was crying and G thought it'd be funny to whine too....seriously, I think it was just funny to her. I ate a lot of pretzels. Like a whole bag. Ha.
We've been doing a lot of house projects lately. Painting trim, minor improvements like a new fan & a new shower head, painting the powder room (separate post to come soon), landscaping projects... Fun times being a homeowner :-)
I've been doing great with running and am 90% sure I'm running the KC half marathon in October. My training plan starts this week.
G took May off of gymnastics because we've been so busy, but she got to go to open gym this week & did great. Her beam walk is pretty awesome. She also always asks to flip over the bar. Somersault is 90% there sometimes, other times its a flop-over.
Park dates have been super fun, and it's a great poop-training motivator, and the weather has been great, so we've been outside a lot....especially doing side-walk chalk. She loves that...and I kinda do too, Can't wait until J is big enough to join in the fun,
Speaking of big...he's growing so much! He was 16 pounds, 5.5 ounces as of last Thursday when we got 2 shots. He turns the big six months in about 3 weeks....crazy how time flies!
G & J continue to get along awesome. She is such a sweet heart, and the other day she brought her Elmo over to J and laid it by him. She said, "Chare, Emmo!" (Share Elmo) She shows him books, gives him hugs and kisses, and brings him toys. He is trying SO hard to keep up with her....wants to crawl SO bad. He's semi-mobile, in that he has rolled around and around to get somewhere a few times, and can crawl in a circle, or inch worm a TINY bit (mostly in his crib...how he ends up in the rails EVERY NIGHT, I have no idea).
He's sleeping pretty shotty.... like every 2-4 hours at night, and short naps, 2-3 times a day.... he just does not want to miss anything. ugh. If this is my plight, I'll bare it...willingly, because in the big scheme of things, it's not that bad.
My husband and I got an awesome date night this weekend, thanks to our normal babysitter's best friend. We went to a winery/restaurant and splurged a little, seeing as how we hadn't been out like that in...oh....ages. We each got a flight of wine (equal to about glasses), and we got two awesome entrees to split. It was delicious and so fun. On the way home, by husband asked if I had "that song we danced to at our wedding..." Uh, duh. I popped the CD in and we had a sing along on the way home. It was so fun. You definitely need nights like those to keep your marriage strong through these kid-years. I'm thankful I have a true partner in him & appreciate all he does for us.
Speaking of how awesome my husband is...for Mother's Day, I got a spa/salon gift card. So far I've gotten a glorious pedicure. There's enough for a hair cut and manicure left.... Yes, I am a lucky lady.

J at 4 months

Just a quick little update about the cutest nosed member of our family,

J is 4 months old now, and very very alert. He's super into watching his big sister, or any kid for that matter. He has rolled both front to back (3/17) and back to front (4/8). He does mini-push ups. He grabs for toys. He loves gnawing on things, so much so that we wonder if he's teething.
J does not like to nap, or at least he's great a faking like he hates it. He sleeps pretty good at night--usually a 7-8 hour stretch, eat, sleep for another 2 hours or if I'm lucky, longer.

He's gone for several chariot rides, and as long as he's fed, changed, and cozy...drifts right to sleep. Same for the car.

He's had a few play dates, now that we're out of flu season...though they've really just been for big sister, G.

He still nurses like a champ, and I'd say he does that about 5 times during the day, 2-3 times at night.

J had his 4 month well child check yesterday and weighed in at 14 pounds, 13 ounces. He was 25.5 inches tall, and his head is 17.5" inches around. That puts him around 39% for weight, 60% for height, and 99% for head. These are incredible stats for someone with CDPX1. We are so blessed that he's growing and hitting milestones. We haven't heard back on his bloodwork that's supposed to identify where exactly his genetic mutation/deletion is...I'm getting a bit antsy on that. I plan to call by the end of the week, though I know our counselor will call as soon as she hears something...

Faces of J

Today baby J was extra fun; so I took these photos
But then he got his synagis shot...
His weight was 13 pounds, 14 ounces (38%) and his height was 24.25" (41%)
So that's pretty decent.

J at two months + baptism

A brief post, since I am a week late... J is actually 10 weeks old today!!

2 months, 1 day old, on the way out of his baptism

Can.NOT.Believe that it has been "so" long since he was born. He's a sweet boy who loves to smile and coo and is starting to make even more fun sounds. He is rather fussy sometimes, and I think it's related to his belly being upset or being over tired, so I believe his nature is actually quite pleasant over all. He is pretty alert, and it's my "expert" opinion that he's mentally advanced, but physically behind. I'd imagine that has to do with that pesky CDPX1. His breathing is stable, and generally noisy. He has had some stuffy nose stuff lately, but not too bad, even though his sister has a cold. Thanks breastfeeding!
He has a 100% head size, and is about 50% for weight and height, though most of his weight is his head and most of his height is his torso...so we'll see how all that potentially short stature stuff works out from the cdpx1.

weight - 12 lb, 5 oz
height - 22.75"
head - 16.9"

He hasn't accomplished many physical milestones, but he has done many social ones. He recognizes our faces/voices and favorite toys. He has started trying to suck on his hands. He squirms a good deal on his back, and gets his legs up under him on his belly. He has not rolled over, and doesn't really lift his head.

I'm proud to say that last night he slept from about 8:30 to 4:15 am and then again from 5 to 6 and 6:15 to 8:30. Holla!!! We'll see if that keeps up. He has consistently been sleeping a long chunk of about 6 hours then a few more hours after eating.

His third synagis shot will be this week, and he got the DTAP and HIB shots last week. He will have blood drawn (real style, not the heel prick) for his genetic test and xrays for his spine soon...this crazy snow weather is dampering my plans to get out for those!

His favorite things are being diaperless/naked. I think he'd be that way 24/7 if it wasn't too cold, and I didn't mind getting peed on! He loves nursing and also enjoys a warm bath.

In just a short time longer, he'll be three months old!!

J behaved perfectly at his baptism (not so for G at hers). He slept most of it and was happily alert for pictures :-)

Happy Second Birthday G!

G turned two this past week, and we've had a grand time celebrating. The weekend before was her small birthday party. My parents and sister came into town, but there weren't any friends because we were trying to limit the germs brought into the house, for J's sake. But then he was baptized the next day...so it didn't even matter because she caught a cold anyways. Life goes on.

Her party was Caillou themed, though I would have preferred a Daniel Tiger theme, they aren't selling anything DT themed until 2014, so maybe next year. Caillou is a big name around our house, even though he can be a bit whiny for my taste. The cake turned out pretty good, despite me running out of no taste red dye. It was chocolate with raspberry filling and buttercream icing.

 

She got a special Caillou Mylar balloon, with three yellow balloons. We got her a special backpack with Caillou people (some that I used to decorate her cake), Caillou stickers and alphabet book, and a Caillou shirt from Etsy. My sister got her some awesome toys from the devil's store (you know, TRU)--foam abc mats, building blocks (The old school wood kind), and foam pieces for the bath (and money!). My parents got her adorable clothes and fun books.

My husband's cousin and wife got her a Caillou Jack in the Box! Some of our friends got her an adorable outfit with fun tutu style skirt that I plan to use for her two year photos; and my bff got her a St. Patrick book (pretty much our family patron saint).

My in-laws got her a fun bubble blowing lawn mower and sand/water table...noisy and messy....grandparent style ;-)

Thank you to everyone!

On her real birthday, there was about a foot of snow on the ground! My husband worked from home, so she was able to play out in it some--including building Bob the snowman and making her first snow angel. She got to drink her first hot cocoa--complete with marshmallows--which she loved.

 

I sang her happy birthday songs all day, including right when I got her up. She loved that :-) I made her chocolate chip (half whole wheat) pancakes with raspberries, and she helped of course. She got some left over ice cream cake (From J's baptism), and pretty much anything she wanted within reason. She did have a time out on her birthday, which was sad, but discipline must be consistent. Oh, and bonus, she went #2 on the potty! Woot!

Here are a few facts about G as a two year old:

Weight - 25.3 pounds

Height - 34.5 inches

Teeth - all but the back molars

Sleep - bed time around 8:30 pm, awake around 7:30 am, nap around 1:30 for about 1.5 hours

Favorite foods - Golden Grahams, any type of berry, juice box, quality mac & cheese or spaghetti, deli ham, chicken nuggets, peas

Favorite games - anything 'gymnastics' related (she'll get a mommy & me style class in May or June), like doing rolls, assisted hand stands, yoga moves, flips on dad, etc... She also likes building towers, playing school, playing babies, or cooking. She loves chase and pushing her stroller.

 

G is VERY assertive, like her momma, so I can't be mad about it, though it is very frustrating at times. She's generally a good big sister, and is loving when she wants to be. She's typically helpful and knows where everything's place is at. She uses the potty a few times a week, and sits on it daily (but often with no success). I know she'd be potty trained if I didn't have J to look after too.

She's developmentally advanced in all areas aside from speaking. I do not plan to put her in therapy; she's getting there at her own pace. She's known her colors since 18 months, followed multi-step directions since about 13 months, has been a great colorer since 15 months, and has self-fed for over a year. She knows A, B, C, D, E/F (confusion), G, I/J/T/L (confusion), M, O, P, S. We work on the alphabet daily. She can tell a few lower case letters correctly too. She knows 1 and 2...which is super fun, and we try to work on more but it's not happening yet. She knows the big shapes, and on her M&D puzzle, she knows trapezoid, diamond, pentagon; but I doubt that she'd know them away from that context. I've also tried to do shades of colors, but I think that's pretty advanced, and it generally gets lumped together under "red," "blue," etc... Her fine motor skills are unbelievable and she's got some great gross motor skills too....her doctor comminted on her ab strength and thinks she'd really benefit from gymnastics... as long as she doesn't get too tall, I'm all for that but my husband has his reservations since it's dangerous :-)

We do fun projects and try to limit TV exposure but that's tough some days. She watches DT every day, and knows he's on at 10 o clock, it's hilarious to watch her jump up and down and run around when she discovers it's 10 o clock. Hopefully the weather gets warmer ASAP because we've loved the few days we can get out for walks.

A few little quirks about her-- she has to wear her slippers inside, but lately we've had some success with just socks (it's been a battle, though, if her slippers get wet from accidents and they have to sit our drying, just tempting her that she can't wear them). G pretty much likes two - three drinks at meal time. I know that's something I could break, but I don't mind...so whatev. She's fine with one, but enjoys choices :-) I think that's good for her. She gets freaked out if you tell her something is hot...which is good, safety wise, but sad that she wouldn't blow out her candles on her cake! My husband told her that her cake was HOT, so she wouldn't try to grab the candles...and then she got all depressed/sad about it...It was pitiful and slightly embarassing- haha.

She still loves paying at the store, helping carry bags and put away groceries, loading/unloading packages, opening/getting the mail, and all big kid type things--including helping with chores still. She hasn't really gotten any new ones, still just helping with the dishwasher, dusting, swiffering, helping with the trash, putting out recycling that's safe, etc...

Clearly you can tell she's adorable, and I'm obviously very proud of her. I hope that she can tell how much we love her, and I know she's got such a bright future ahead of her. Can't wait to see what the next year brings, because this past one was developmentally HUGE and we all experienced so much together! Love you bitty girl!!

My sister made this instagram; 1 month/2 years