Thursday, February 26, 2009

Six Months OId


I can't believe Charlotte is six months old, I can't believe it's been half a year already. She's grown so much, I can barely stand it, she's HUGE!! And it's crazy how much she has learned and the tricks she picks up...she's so aware of everything around her now, I love watching her and trying to figure out what's going on in that little head of hers! Anyway, I took her to the doctor a couple weeks ago and she was 17 pounds 5 ounces and 27.25 inches long. The doc said she is in the top percentile for height and closer to the middle for weight. She's still a few inches shorter than Timothy was at 6 months and people always seem to think she's younger than she is...a lady at dinner tonight thought she was only 4 months old!! But anyway, here's what she's been up to lately:

I love to be on the floor, I love to roll around and scoot and play and I've started to crawl...backwards!

I love to "talk" to my big brother in the car, he makes me laugh and he sings songs to me.

I learned how to blow bubbles and I stick out my tongue and laugh every time!

I went on the airplane to see Grammy and Grumpy and I screamed for three straight hours...mommy was not too happy!

I love to grab anything that I can reach, one time I grabbed mommy's drink and dropped it on her foot!

Mommy says that I am the easiest baby ever to put to sleep, just lay me down and turn on my music and I roll over and go to sleep, just like that!

I can almost sit up on my own but sometimes I fall over, but then I get to lay on my tummy and scoot so I don't mind that much.

I love to talk and sometimes I squeal really loudly.
I started eating solid foods and so far I love sweet potatoes, prunes, and bananas, and I HATE peas, peaches, and squash.

See you all next month!!
































Thursday, February 12, 2009

More Pictures


Ready for church last night in their valentine's day outfits



Timothy drew these all by himself...he told me they were his Tylers...I was just impressed he drew them, not bad for a not even three year old!!




Timothy and Easton on the horse at Easton's birthday party


Timothy riding on Easton's bike, I think he got the hang of it pretty well...good thing since he's getting one for his birthday!



Timothy and Easton "driving" the car



Charlotte being silly in her jumper...she hasn't quite figured out how to jump in it yet, but she loves to play in it.



Charlotte and daddy at the zoo, she was not a happy camper that day, but she survived!



Timothy on the other hand, loved the zoo (or the suitcases, as he says) and asks to go back almost every day...good thing we bought a membership!



I was so glad we brought the stroller...haha, he had a good time riding on daddy's shoulders!

Wednesday, February 04, 2009

Updates

So I feel bad that I've been posting pictures without really giving any update as to what has been going on in our house for the last month. We have been so busy and dealing with colds and doctors and medicine and potty training attempts and sleepless nights so when I do sit at the computer I just haven't felt up to typing much and I don't really feel like it today so consider yourselves lucky :)

I'll start with Charlotte - she got hit pretty bad with the whole weather-changing allergy deal going on here and then that turned into an ear infection so we had some major runny nose days and coughing and congestion which meant crying every time I wiped her nose, filling up the aspirator every day, running the humidifier every night and a trip to our new urgent care center. By the way, I don't know if I've mentioned this, but I got one of those battery-operated aspirators for her and it's the BEST thing ever. No more yucky rubber bulb syringe and no screaming baby, it's great. It even plays music and I think it's much more effective at cleaning noses. Plus you can take it apart and wash it out real good so I know it's clean! Now that she's on medicine, she's back to her normal smiley self, just still not sleeping well. She usually goes down around 7 or 8 and then sometimes wakes up around 11, goes back down and sleeps till 3 or 4 and then is up pretty much every hour or two after that. She still naps ok which is nice, but I'm exhausted!! She started eating rice cereal a few weeks ago and did pretty well with it, we've added sweet potatoes this week and so far she seems to like them! She hates her medicine though. She's sitting up better on her own now, she still has to prop herself up on her arms, but it's getting there. She can push up on her arms all the way now but no crawling yet (thank goodness). She is grabbing at EVERYTHING now though and I have to watch what I carry in my hands with her. The other day she picked up my cup at a restaurant and dropped it on the floor (on my legs)...nice. She goes to the doctor next week for her 6 month check up. They weighed her at urgent care, but they didn't have a baby scale so they weighed me holding her and then me by myself...really what I wanted to do that night...but she had a wet diaper on and she was wrapped in a blanket cause it was chilly and she had a cold so they said she weighed 18 pounds, but I really doubt it. I'm thinking more around 16.5. She has such a sweet smile though, I just love it.

Timothy - cracks me up every day. He loves the Mama Mia soundtrack that I got for Christmas so now when we're in the car he asks to listen to either Honey Honey or Mama Mia and asks me to "turn it so loud please". He listens to everything that goes on around him, and it's hilarious to hear how he translates things. We took him to the zoo on Saturday and he kept saying we were going to the "suitcases". He loves to eat "belly jelly samiches" (pb&j sandwiches), and now when he plays Star Wars one of us gets to be Darth Baber, he's Starwalker, we play with our light sabers and he has to say"oh, you are my fader (father)" every time he "wins". I tell ya, I laugh every day at this kid! We tried potty training, but it hasn't been successful so far, he's just really not into it. It's hard to find the time to do it too with Charlotte, cause I have to feed her and change her diaper and he's just not understanding the whole "tell mommy when you have to go potty" part of this. Oh well, we'll try again later. I was hoping to have him done by his birthday, but it's just not looking like that will happen. Hopefully that won't be a problem when it comes to daycare. He's real big into copying what other people do...we have to sit like a daddy and dance like a Grumpy and he wraps his blanket around him and tells me he's like a Brittany and he cries like a Charlotte...it's funny to see what he associates other people with and what he remembers. That's his other new thing...every sentence starts with "member when I..." it can be like two seconds after he does something and I'll hear, "mommy, member when I crashed my cars on the table?". It's cute. He's also very aware now when I'm not paying attention to him and if I don't look when and where he asks me to he's sure to point it out and make sure I'm looking "this way". He's so sweet though, he likes to get his blankie at night and curl up next to me on the couch and cuddle, I soak up every single minute of it.

Brandon - not much to update there :) He does like his new job and loves his new truck. He still has every other Friday off of work so we enjoy having him home on those days. We're heading over to his parent's house this weekend for Easton's birthday so we're excited to see family and he's excited that we only have to drive there!

Me - not much else going on :) Busy as ever with these two little ones. I am supposed to go back to work in March so I'm really not looking forward to that, I've been home for six months, I don't want to go back now! It's only temporary though so that's nice to know. I'm very excited to go to the eye doctor tonight and get new glasses and contacts though, my old contacts hurt soooo bad I have the worst headache from them. The kids and I are leaving on the 16th to fly up to WA for a week so I'm really excited for that.

So that's life in our house these days. I have a really funny video of Timothy that I've been trying to post, but it hasn't been working so I'll just keep trying.

Sunday, February 01, 2009

Pictures

Someone (who shall remain nameless) implied that I should post some more pictures...so here you go!!

Friday, January 23, 2009

Five Months Old

Charlotte turned five months old last Saturday, sorry it's taken me a while to get her pictures up, it's been a busy week! So here is what our little angel has been up to this past month!
I have two pretty, little, teeth on the bottom of my mouth and sometimes I like to bite mommy and let her know how much I love my new teeth!

I started waking up two or three times at night because my teeth hurt and I was in a new room, but I'm getting better now.

I started eating rice cereal and I LOVE it! I like to attack my spoon and eat as much as I can. Mommy can't give me a whole lot in one day though because it hurts my tummy.

I love to watch my big brother dance and play and I laugh out loud when he dances around the room for me!

I can push up all the way on my arms and roll over both ways. I can sit up by myself sometimes too!

I move around a lot when I'm on my tummy, I like to put my head down and push off with my legs to "scoot".

I can grab my toys now and I can grab other things too, like mommy's drink or daddy's straw or the plates on the table.

I can put myself to sleep, all mommy has to do is lay me down and I will go to sleep, mommy likes that a lot!

Everyone says I'm such a happy little girl and when I smile my whole body smiles! Mommy and daddy say that they are so blessed to have such a sweet little girl!

Monday, January 19, 2009

Explanation

So I was in a rush when I was posting about Christmas and didn't explain the pictures that well...sorry. Christmas is a HUGE deal in our family, for some families it's birthdays or Easter or whatever, for us, it's Christmas. There are so many traditions it's a little ridiculous, but I wouldn't change it for anything. Basically, it goes like this...the tree goes up the day after Thanksgiving. The lights go up outside the house and the inside is fully decorated. Every year my mom says the next year won't be as big, but then every year it looks like the entire living room is taken over with presents. We hang up all the stockings for all the kids (and spouses now) and all the grandkids. I had to show a close up of Charlotte and Channing's stockings because they're just so cute.
On Christmas Eve, we all make cookes and decorate them and each kid picks one out to leave on the plate for Santa with his glass of milk. This year my mom had made reindeer food so Timothy and Tyler sprinkled that out on the lawn. We watch a movie, this year it was the Polar Express and the the kiddos go to bed. Timothy and Tyler had to share a room this year, Timothy was so excited! In the morning we all get up and wake up mom and dad. They have to go downstairs first to check and make sure Santa came, turn on the fire place, and turn on the Christmas music. Then we all run downstairs and watch the kids go crazy checking out their Santa gifts. Santa does not wrap presents in our house and each kid has a spot in the room for their gifts and stockings. We open stockings first and then my dad wears the Santa hat and passes out the gifts one at a time. We take turns opening them, youngest to oldest. We always eat orange rolls for breakfast and when we were younger, Brittany and I would always go up and try on our new clothes and have a "fashion show".

It is such a meaningful day for all of us. Check out Heather's blog for a video of the morning. Kevin had set up his camera and taped the entire morning and has it on there in fast forward speed and it's hilarious to watch the mound of presents get smaller and smaller. I just love the family traditions and how we all just do them without complaining or even thinking because it's what we've done as long as I can remember and it's just not Christmas without these crazy little traditions!

We did have a great Christmas this year, the best part for me was all the snow on the ground! I missed the white Christmas last year because we spent last year at Brandon's parents' house and I remember the last year that my brother was home for Christmas before he got married it snowed on Christmas Eve and we were all excited and then when we woke up in the morning all the snow was gone. We almost always had a white Christmas growing up in Michigan and it was just so picture perfect.

In other news...life in Texas is ok so far. We are all unpacked and getting settled. We found a church that we like and Brandon is enjoying his job now that he has a computer and can actually get some work done! My mom left last Thursday and I came home and booked tickets for the kids and I to go back up there and visit next month. Then my mom and sister are coming down late February to visit us here. I love having visitors - hint hint! We decided that I have to go back to work in March so I'm trying to enjoy these last couple of months home with my kids. We also decided to go ahead and try to potty train Timothy while I'm home with him. Today went pretty well for the first day, we only went through four pairs of underwear so not too bad I guess!

Here are some more pictures from the last month, I'll post about Charlotte's fun fifth month later...not my favorite month so far, but I still love her!





Saturday, January 17, 2009

Christmas Recap


This will probably be more pictures than anything else, but I imagine that's all anyone cares about anyway. We had a great Christmas. We actually stayed at my parents' house the weekend before Christmas because they were planning to have a "going away" party for us, but the snow and weather was so bad that only one family made it out there and we ended up having to stay at their house until Monday morning. So we got back to our house Monday and did some MAJOR packing and then Wednesday morning we went back to mom and dad's for Christmas eve. We spent Christmas eve making cookies and enjoying family. We watched the Polar Express and left cookies and milk for Santa and sprinkled "reindeer food" in the front yard. It was a lot of fun.
Christmas morning was great, Timothy was SO into it this year! Santa was very generous and left him a train table with lots of tracks and trains and a tool bench and lots of other little goodies. Brittany got him a car steering wheel game thing and I think he played with that all morning. Grammy and Grumpy got him a new tractor to ride on in his new big back yard. He's a little scared of it, but he's getting the hang of how to steer and change gears. Charlotte got lots of pretty clothes and baby dolls and toys.

Anyway, so here are the pictures...enjoy!