Tuesday, September 30, 2014

Nine Months

A nine month old baby is not as small as she should be. I mean, seriously. Nine of the fastest months ever. The nine months it take to grow her were the slowest and now here we are. I knew I would regret thinking that time would fast forward juuuuusssst a little bit at the beginning when we weren't yet sleeping through the night at some point. That point is now.

Nine month old Janie
HEIGHT: 28 1/4 inches
WEIGHT: 18 pounds, 13 ounces

When I hold Janie, I think about how little she is and how squishy she is and then I take a step back and I see that she is actually not as little as I think. She takes up half of her crib when she is all laid out. I can hardly carry her in her infant car seat these days. {Can I count it as working out please??} She has started to use her sign language. She creeps around on the furniture and seems WAY too interested in walking. Thankfully, she still likes to snuggle when she's in the "sleep zone" but I am starting to see that light at the end of the tunnel that is infant hood. AND I HATE IT!!!!!!! Ugh.

But there are good things about her getting older. {Okay, I said it.} And I do very much enjoy those things as well so on to that...

Happy Janie!

Janie is a happy, energetic, curious little girl. She is more easy going than the first born (naturally) and she is way less trustworthy when left alone. She will get into anything and everything she can and is especially interested in what big sister Nora is doing. Nora loves it and hates it at the same time. But don't worry, Nora is also laying down the law by saying things like, "Be nice, Jay-Jay," and "No throwing, Jay-Jay. Mommy will keep it." And then of course she tells her "No." A lot.

But Nora also INSISTS on hugging & kissing Janie before bed every night. And she will {sometimes} bring her toys and puzzles without being prompted. And she will encourage Janie and laugh with her. Janie LOVES her big sister and is trying very hard to keep up with her.

We don't like to lay down unless we're sleeping. 

Here are her updates:

Drinks four soy bottles each day Janie is drinking four bottles a day. She still insists that it is a warm bottle and usually wants 7-8 ounces. She looks for that bottle first thing when she wakes up and will fuss at you until you give it to her! We are still avoiding all dairy products until we go to the doctor for her one year well-check. 

Eats pureed veggies & fruits Even though we have tried many, many times to give her puffs and some finger foods, she has not been ready until just maybe the last week or so. She has finally started making a chewing motion when she eats them rather than a peanut butter stuck on the roof of my mouth kind of motion. She was gagging on the puffs but we are continuing to try them every so often to see if we can get her on those finger foods sometime soon. Until then, we will continue to puree! I have still been making Janie's food and even though I thought the last month's batch would be it, I'm working on another big batch today. Hopefully this time it will be closer to the actual last batch of food and we can move on to table foods! We have been giving her grains but plan on starting with protein this month, too!


Drinks water from a sippy cup (kind of) Janie needs to better her sippy cup skills. She is a champ with her bottle but not with her cup. 

Takes two or three naps a day When at home and napping well, Janie will only take 2 naps. While at school, she gets much shorter naps and ends up getting a little nap on the way home as well so it just depends on the day. She had a little bout of separation anxiety within the last few weeks which was especially bad at nap times. She did not want to be left in her crib and would scream when you left. Without thinking, we rushed quickly to see what was the "matter" but then came to our senses. Since we've gone back and let her self soothe, while reassuring her we are still there, she has gotten much better. We haven't had a big fit from her yet this weekend.

Sucks her thumb before sleeping This was the one question we didn't ask at her nine month well check. I'm not too concerned quite yet anyways, but she is still really big on sucking her thumb, mostly before bed time.


Can crawl but chooses army crawling We've had big improvements in crawling this month. Janie can crawl very well and has picked up a bit of speed. She doesn't usually cover a lot of distance because after a few "steps" she will stop, sit, and investigate something she's found or seen along the way. Janie is definitely loving the freedom that she has with moving around the house! She has even abandoned her bottle mid-feed to investigate.

Sits up on her own Janie moves freely from crawling to sitting and back to crawling. She is stable and we have even started letting her sit with Nora in the big tub when taking baths!

Pulls herself to standing Janie loves to stand and creep along furniture. I don't always trust her with this since I worry she will fall over and bump her face on something. But that hasn't really happened so maybe I just worry too much. We've started walking with Janie (holding her arms) and she really enjoys that, too! Nora thinks she can actually walk. She tries to grab her hand and walk with her.

We were playing peek-a-boo before this!

Has two teeth Janie still has just her two bottom teeth. As far as I can tell, there are still no more teeth on the way, or at least close to coming through. 

Babbles Janie has made lots of strides in her social development this month. We think she says "mamama" and "dadada" on purpose. She definitely says "more" along with a sign. She will also sign "all done". She waves and blows kisses and claps! Her best asset is her contagious smile, which lights up whenever she reads a book, sings a song, or sees mommy.

Janie saying MAMA

Carries toys around with her Janie also throws them.

She throws blocks like a champ!

Wears size 3 diapers No change on the diaper front.

Wears 6-12 month clothing Or with clothing. Nora's 6-12 month clothing was for months March-September (roughly) so if you're familiar with Texas weather, that's... summer. Well, it hasn't necessarily cooled off much yet even though we're into October so it's not a big issue yet but we're definitely going to have to beef up Janie's winter wardrobe in a few weeks.


Nine month snapshot:

Drinks 4 bottles of soy formula
Eats pureed fruits & veggies, and grains
Is working on using a sippy cup
Takes 2 long naps or 3 short naps a day
Sucks her thumb when sleepy 
Crawls on all fours
Moves from sitting to crawling easily
Stands and creeps along furniture
Has 2 teeth
Says "mamma" & "dadada"
Signs "all done" and "more"
Claps, waves, points, and blows kisses



Janie is such a sweetheart. We love that she's independent yet super sweet. We love our baby girl!

Sunday, September 28, 2014

September Moments

September is a very busy month with the beginning of a new school year for mom and kids. I've been able to stay home the last two weekends without going in for kindergarten prep and I've really enjoyed that. After Nora's party things got slightly less busy and we've been able to relax a bit more on the weekends when Justin is in town. He has been traveling to Austin for work all this month. We are still hopeful for a local project to begin so he can be home all week, but it hasn't happened yet.

We have been having some good fun with the girls both at home and out and about. Some fun September moments have been...

GRAPEFEST

We decided to go on the free Friday night. It was a day that Nora didn't nap but 45 minutes and Janie was her usual tired self at that time of night, but we just went for it. After eating (a game changer) we were able to walk around and enjoy a few of the kid areas as well as just spend some time outside together. Nora liked the legos and the tricycles and Janie liked snuggling in the stroller with her blanket.

A lego truck!

GRANDPARENTS DAY

Mimi & Pops visited Nora at her daycare for Grandparents Day. They had milk & cookies and a story time. I am sure Nora loved the special attention from them, as she usually does.

How cute are they!

HOMECOMING PARADE

We took the girls to the Homecoming Parade & Carnival which turned out to be pretty cute! Nora thought the dragon mascot was an alligator and got a souvenir football and Janie was impressed with all the sounds & lights. We didn't much of the carnival "stuff" but Nora did look tempted to get on a trampoline. Maybe next year...

Nora watching the parade!

FOOTBALL SEASON

It is officially football season! We love it! I had to order some more burnt orange for the littles so they could be prepared. Nora has been practicing her "Eyes of Texas" song and her "hook 'em" sign. Janie has already mastered the art of looking adorable in burnt orange.

Janie and mommy. Go horns!

Not her best performance, but not too shabby for 2.

And just for fun, a picture of sweet Nora with her favorite baby Jo:


Let me just tell you how excited I am for October. I'm already planning some fun family outings - pumpkins, Oktoberfest, and corn mazes - OH MY! And can it please FEEL like fall??

Two Peas in a Pod

This month especially, we have really enjoyed watching the girls interact with one another.

These days, Janie is very mobile and wishes to be so. She wants to do everything that Nora does, and Nora does not always like that idea. In fact, sometimes she throws the 'bow out to keep Janie from touching "her" stuff. And when I ask Nora to share her kitchen toys, she will give Janie a rattle. {Not quite, Nora...}

Janie also seems to think Nora is hilarious and Nora feeds right into Janie's masterful plan of let-me-drop-this-toy-and-see-who-picks-it-up-only-to-throw-it-again. They make a good pair!

Shopping at Costco, side by side.

Janie in Nora's bed for some snuggles.

Grocery shopping, again, in the car-cart!

Sisters.

These moments melt my heart. They are going to have such fun together growing up! If only I could figure out how to slow that part down a bit...

Saturday, September 6, 2014

Happy 2nd Birthday Nora

We celebrated Nora's second birthday with a pink lemonade party!

My plan was to keep it a little more simple than her first birthday but I realize that I am just not really able to do "simple" I think. And then there's Pinterest, so...

Our friends & family came out to celebrate and we had a great time!

Mostly thanks to Krista, here are some pictures of Nora's special day...

My baby girl is TWO!

And, she can tell ya.

The drinks & desserts. YUM!

I think I will continue to reuse this birthday banner each year...

THESE WERE THE YUMMIEST CUPCAKES EVER.

AND I am still dying over these cookies.

The gifts. 

Love how our lemonade stand turned out! 
Justin helped out by building it from wooden crates 
& scrap wood from our garage.



Our big girl!

Cuties.

One of the party animal.

I just love how sweet Nora is (mostly) to Janie...

Playing with friends!

Em & Nora

Making lemonade

And... for the candles!

Blowing out TWO candles!


CAKE!

Enjoying her gifts with Harper.

Unwrapping!

Bubbles after nap in the backyard


Some of these are repeats if you read our blog regularly, but we did celebrate on her actual day, too!

The girls before school. Janie requested to fancy it up for Nora's big day.

Her birthday sign!

Candles on her cake!

And if you want to see the whole thing... here's the video:



Janie's face... that is how I am going to feel in a few short months 
when we get to celebrate her first birthday!
 I can. not. believe. it.

Friday, September 5, 2014

Two Years

Two years ago this sweet baby girl made me a mommy...

Nora Lane on her birthday: September 5th, 2012

Me and my first baby girl.

I have loved watching her grow and experience the world. Despite me feeling like I want to keep her little for so much longer, there are many great things that come with her getting older. Nora is talking much more and so we can {kind of} talk about things that she does at school or at home. She is beginning to not only remember things but to relate them to other ideas or things that happen in her day. She is beginning to scare us with how much she remembers, which is mostly a good thing.

We went to the doctor a couple of weeks ago since we didn't have to have any updates on vaccines, so we already know that she is healthy & growing! She is still on the tall side, but not measuring quite as high as she did in her first year. If she continues to grow at this pace, the doctor thinks she will be around 5'6''. The only thing we are going to work on per doctor's request is jumping. It's true - she cannot do it! HA! In time...

Sweet Nora with baby Janie on her birthday: Sept. 5, 2014
WEIGHT: 26.5 pounds
HEIGHT: 34.5 inches

Since her last update...

Strings words together Nora has begun to put some sentences together. They aren't always complete and she doesn't always do it, but we have started to notice that she will make little sentences that make sense to her. She was playing with a toy and I heard her say to herself "Look what I did!" She will also say things like "Go to mommy car," or "Nora eat yogurt with a spoon." As far as words she knows, it's incredible. And we have to really watch what we talk about around her since she picks up on everything. We've been very happy with her vocabulary and speech development and we definitely feel like we can communicate with her more and more these days.

Nora reciting "This Little Piggy"

Started imaginary play This has become one of Nora's favorite things to do. She loves to help me cook in the kitchen. She will bring in food and pots and utensils and mix, cut, or pretend to eat while I make dinner. She also loves to play with her baby doll. She has names for a few of them now (with help from her Pops) and she likes to rock them, tuck them in, buckle them in, feed them, and really have them do whatever she does. Her teachers say that she plays a lot at school in the kitchen and with the dolls, too. I refinished my childhood dollhouse for her for her birthday and she has really enjoyed playing with the little dolls and putting them on the furniture. I love to see her play this way!

Nora cooking with mommy in the kitchen.

Baby goes most places with us! We had to buckle in baby, just like Nora!

Loves reading books Nora still loves reading books. We read books before bed and naps every day and she also likes reading a few select favorites at random. I can always count on throwing a few books in the bag to keep her occupied while out, if need be. She really likes the Goldilocks & Little Red Riding Hood books we have these days as well as her old favorites, though she doesn't turn down books too often. Nora has really started to enjoy puzzles as well and has gotten lots of really great ones for her birthday. Last night she took out every single one and had them sprawled out around the play room! It was sweet.

Reading books with Pops after his hip replacement surgery.
He's feeling good and moving around pretty well!

Listens to music she likes We still like to listen to her music in the car. I've had to teach her how to say "Next please" rather than say "no" on repeat until I change the song, though. She can be quite selective in her music choices. I did just get a new CD from Primrose so maybe we will just need to switch it up a bit.

Sings songs Nora always sings a couple of songs before bed these days, after we read a book. She likes "Twinkle, Twinkle," "The Eyes of Texas," and "Rock-A-Bye Baby" the best, but she knows a few more. I heard her make up her first song the other day. It went to the tune of Frere Jacques and went like this: Mimi Pop Pop, Mimi Pop Pop, Mimi Pop, Mimi Pop! I know... it's really something. But it was cute! They must sing a song to that tune at school because I've heard her sing that tune a few times since then and I don't think I've sung it that often at home.

Counting in her number book - Nora can count to 10!

Is a great big sister I do wish Nora weren't so possessive over some of her toys (how many kitchen foods does she really need??) but other than that, Nora is a sweet girl to her little sister. She loves to make Janie laugh and when she hears her squeal across the house, Nora gets excited and sometimes even imitates her, which Janie loves. They have been taking baths together and they both love that as well. It is sometimes pretty wild with two under two in the house, but it is a lot of fun as well and those cute little moments really mean the world to me!

Likes to help around the house Nora is a great helper! She likes to put things away and help clean up around the house. She will help her daddy outside in the yard and mommy in the kitchen! She would probably help do a lot more things if we'd let her. She got a few cleaning and yard tools for her birthday so she will surely be even MORE helpful! I'm going to take it while I can because at some point, I'm sure she will not care at all to help us.

Taking care of business - brushing those teeth!
Oh, and look - a baby doll! I'm sure we brushed her teeth, too.

Eats dinner & snacks we give her Most of the tantrums we encounter begin with food choice. Sometimes she gets choices and sometimes she does not. She is usually pretty good about eating what we give her, but she is still not very independent about eating things. Well, that could be in general. Nora likes company. She wants to sit with someone to eat. She want to sit with someone to play. She wants to sit with someone to watch the TV or play on the iPad. So, I guess we may be winning the battle of her eating what we want her to eat but losing the battle on how she finishes her food. I guess there could be worse problems to have.

Tantrum over a peanut butter sandwich!!

Uses utensils Nora likes to use her utensils though sometimes prefers mommy or daddy's fork instead. Hmm. We've been working on using a regular cup though and that has been pretty successful. I mean, we don't give it to her exclusively now or anything, but it is good to know that she can drink out of a regular cup if need be.

I use a spoon by myself!
Why is that knife there? Nora insists on 
using all utensils even when she doesn't need them...

And sometimes get yogurt everywhere...

Has 16 teeth I do not believe Nora has gotten any new teeth since her canines cut in a few months ago. We should be seeing another round of molars, I believe, but the last time I got to look in there I didn't see anything. She's always been pretty average on her teeth coming in, not really ahead of the curve and maybe even a little behind, so I'm not surprised she doesn't have those 2-year molars yet. It's a waiting game!

Her two year old snapshot:

Puts small sentences together
Knows basic colors & shapes
Can count to 10
Knows a few letters
Enjoys playing with baby dolls & pretend kitchen
Loves reading books & doing puzzles
Sings songs & sometimes makes up her own
Is a great big sister
Helps in the house and the yard
Eats meals with mommy or daddy
Uses utensils
Drinks from a cup (sometimes)
Likes to brush her teeth
Has 16 teeth

One of the things that I have been most proud of is Nora's sweet personality. She has her moments - she is only two after all - but she is such a tender hearted little girl. Nora loves to give hugs and kisses and is really nurturing. She usually shows that in her caring of her baby dolls and sometimes Janie, but I was so happy to see that she treated her peers sweetly as well. We got this note home from her daycare one day and I couldn't have been happier:


I mean, she's awesome. But I'm her mommy so I guess I'm supposed to think that!! Another post to come soon with birthday celebration pics. Love my big birthday girl!!

Wearing daddy's boots. Silly girl!