Seven Months!

 

This girl is BUSY! Taking these pictures made me sweat. She has recently discovered how fun it is to be mobile and can’t stop exploring. Keeping her on the chair proved to be very difficult since she just couldn’t resist trying to crawl onto the ottoman.

 

 

We constantly find ourselves marveling over how beautiful she is. Grandma Steiner was here for a visit and asked if I find myself just watching her all the time. And that is exactly why it’s so hard to get anything done around here. Reese is captivating.

 

 

She is an incredibly happy baby—almost always smiling and charming. We say that she is happy 95% of the time, and that other 5% is intense!

 

 

I feel like she has a very peaceful personality. She has a contentedness that shows in her eyes. When she’s all played out, feeling sad or just needing some extra love, all you have to do is pick her up and the thumb goes in her mouth and she settles right down and relaxes into your arms.

 

 

On the opposite side of that peacefulness she is BUSY. She loves to jump and can turn anyone holding her into a jumperoo. It’s pretty funny to watch someone hold her for the first time and get surprised by the way she instantly goes from holding herself in a steady standing position to dropping to her knees only to jump back up again.

 

 

Nothing is out of her reach. She will wiggle, reach, pull, “swim”, hit at, lunge and stretch for anything she wants and not give up until she gets it or you completely relocate her. Taking a tumble off the chair (luckily I caught her and cheered her on so she didn’t realize it was scary) won’t even stop her from trying to get onto the ottoman over and over and over again while getting her picture taken.

 

 

She and Jace love each other! It’s so sweet how much they both light up when they see one another. Every morning Jace asks about where she is. I can count on him to keep her happy after loading her in her car seat. He also keeps me updated in the car, “Mommy, Reese is asleep.” “Oh hi Reese! Mom! Reese woke up!”

 

 

He loves to make her happy but isn’t so thrilled that she’s starting to get into his toys. The other day she scooted to a basket of his blocks and dumped it over, so he picked them back up and moved the basket to the entryway. A few minutes later she got to another tub of his toys, so he moved it to the entryway. Within a half hour we had quite the collection of his toys moved safely out of her reach.

 

 

When you lay her down on her back she flips over as quickly as possible. It took So.Many.Tries to get this picture. She now confidently can roll both ways, but really only flips from tummy to back in her bed, because anywhere else she just wants to be on her tummy and moving!

 

 

She isn’t actually crawling yet, but she sure can get herself around. She can scoot and maneuver herself around to get anywhere she wants to go. She pops herself up into this plank/push up position all the time. It’s hilarious to watch! The first time she did it she had this look on her face like, “whoa, what just happened?” and now does it and holds it for quite a while.

 

 

She pushes herself up on hands and knees and rocks, and her arms seem to know what needs to happen because they’ll walk forward quickly, but her little legs just aren’t sure how to follow yet.

 

 

She keeps us laughing and smiling and we are so happy she’s a part of our family!

 

 

Six Months [A little late]

***I kept forgetting to get this post written right after Reese turned six months, then I figured I’d wait until she had her check up and I could share her stats, and then she turned seven months. Oops!***

 

 

At six months this little girl sparkles all the time! She loves to smile and her eyes light up so much when she does! At her six month check up (which was actually closer to 7 months), she was 26” long, 15.4 pounds and her head 17” around. This means she’s a petite little lady with a big head!

 

 

She’s a great sleeper at night! Desperate to eat dinner by 7:30 so she can be put to bed right after. She sleeps 12 hours straight through and then wakes up DESPERATE to eat. Naps are getting pretty consistent—a morning nap that’s 45-60 minutes and an afternoon nap that’s 1-2 hours, and sometimes a late afternoon nap as well.

 

 

She loves everything we feed her—veggies, squash and fruit.

 

 

She LOVES to play with her toys—rattles being her favorite. If it shakes and makes noise, you can guarantee she’ll love it. Although these toys get tossed to the side the second she spots what her brother is holding and she starts frantically reaching for it.

 

 

She can sit up all by herself now and is so proud of the skill. She skipped tri-pod sitting and went straight to balancing upright.

 

 

This child can make some noise! She loves to happily scream and yell, but will only laugh for her brother, and even then he has to work hard for it.

 

 

Her doctor described her as a chubby skinny baby—she has some adorable rolls although she’s definitely a lightweight.

 

 

Her thumb is her best friend and we’re pretty thankful for it!

We love this little lady!

Five Months!

I’m a little late in getting this posted, but we did take these pictures on the day she turned 5 months!

I’m not quite sure how this little lady has become five months so quickly! While it feels like she’s been in our family longer than that, I don’t feel like she should be any older or larger than a one month old yet. She’s is growing and changing so quickly these days!

She LOVES her feet! It was almost impossible to get a picture of her on her back without those little chubby hands grabbing for those little chubby feet. She also loves to flip over onto her tummy. She’s very capable of rolling back over, but would rather get mad and have us flip her over.

She is still an incredible sleeper—waking 12 hours after we put her to bed. She has settled into the routine of an 8 pm bedtime and if I dare hesitate a few minutes past that to start our routine she lets us know that she is not happy! She’s pretty good at naps too—we’ve just settled into a nap routine of a 30-40 minute nap about an hour after she gets up in the morning, a 1-2 hour nap in the afternoon, and an evening catnap if the afternoon nap is early or short.

She has plenty of rolls on her thighs and those arms are gaining chub daily. I just love it! She started on reflux meds on February 14 and they have made such a difference by reducing her spit up and making her more comfortable while she eats. I still can’t have any dairy in my diet, but I have been able to add chocolate and coffee back in which makes me happy! We started solids when she turned 5 months and she LOVES it! So far she’s had rice cereal, veggie mix, green beans and squash and loved them all. She hums while eating.

This little lady sparkles. She loves to get your attention and then smile so big. She’s still pretty reserved with the giggles, but very willing to squeal in delight. Her brother gets the most laughs from her.

She LOVES her exersaucer and treats it like a jumperoo. She’ll stand straight legged in it and then quickly tuck her legs to make herself drop and bounce in it and set everything rocking and does it over and over again like she’s jumping.

In the past week she’s become so curious—rolling toward and reaching for everything that catches her eye, quickly and easily bored if there isn’t enough around to entertain her, and wiggling non stop.

She definitely lives up to her name, which means “enthusiasm.”

Oh how quickly she’s growing up!

And for fun—a little side by side of Jace and Reese at 5 months.

Maturing…

This little boy has aged a little bit too much for me lately. Aside from being what his pediatrician describes as a “big boy,” his vocabulary, reasoning skills, physical accomplishments and over all love of learning speak to a maturing Jace. That is, as “mature” as you can call a freshly turned three year old.

He’s not only potty trained to the point of telling us when he needs to go and only had one accident since training, but he goes all by himself. Assistance is only needed with getting the bottom half of his clothing back on (and it’s pretty adorable how he comes running to me with only a shirt on, carrying his pants and underwear shouting, “I went potty!”). He loves to wash his hands “all by myself” and loves having a stool just for him in both bathrooms. The upstairs stool is also used to say, “Good morning Reese!” and watch her get her diaper changed every morning and after nap time. He thought he should be able to give her vitamins the other morning, too. Good thing I caught him before he tried to squirt them all over her face.

He graduated to a big boy chair at the dining room table. He still loved his high chair and proudly climbed in and out of the thing after we’d pull the it away from the table. But after several meals where I was in the middle of nursing Reese and he desperately needed to go potty, it was time to say farewell to the confinement. It was like he grew three inches and gained the ability to make a *little* less of a mess while eating. And he’s so proud of himself.

We said bye-bye to binkie on February 11. Nolan and I spent a lot of time talking up how he’d have to say goodbye to it soon, and while he got excited about the concept, execution was a little more difficult. So, finally, we went to Target, he threw binkie in the trash can there, and we went in and bought a toy. And there were only a few tears at nap time, and then life moved on. I think I grieved over the loss of binkie more. When he didn’t hesitate and just chucked that nasty thing in the trash, I almost got teary. Goodbye to the last piece of his babyhood. This child is officially getting older.

The way he imagines while playing, the stories he tells us and the conversations we have keep us on our toes. While he can entertain himself for hours, his favorite times of play are when Nolan and I get involved. The other day he was standing on one of the ramp pieces of his train tracks and I said, “Jace, don’t stand on your trains. They might break.” He responded, “I’m not standing on trains Mommy.” “Train tracks. Jace, don’t stand on your train tracks, they might break. [Stepping off and giggling] “Mommy you said the wrong word.”

But with all these moments that make my heart smile while wishing time would just slow down, I love the sweet affection that comes with his growing ability to articulate what he feels. I can’t count the number of times he’s smoothed my hair and said, “I yove your haircut Mommy.” And then, yesterday, I was playing with him in the entry way and as he walked by me I asked for loves. He wrapped his arms around my neck and said sweetly, “I yove you Mommy.”

(For the first times since before he learned to walk, this boy fell asleep on the couch. Helped sooth my nerves after watching him sob over getting a shot that afternoon.)

So when I’m in the middle of our latest battle over who is really in charge, helping him get dressed again after the fifth post-bedtime trip to the bathroom, or coaching in him using his words to express his feelings rather than screaming, I’ll just keep reminding myself not to wish he’d grow up any faster. He’s already doing it quickly enough on his own.

4 Months Old!

I absolutely adore this little girl! She has become such a content, happy, easy going baby. It’s rare for her to fuss for any reason other than being hungry or very sleepy.

This past month she has been very sick and very well! She got a nasty bug from Jace early in January that lead to an x-ray for pneumonia and testing for whooping cough. She finally recovered and then needed to be sleep trained again. It was hard for me to readjust to waking up during the night again. But we’re back to sleeping through the night and even better than before—she’s ready to go to sleep by 10:30 and sleeps until 9 or 10 am. 

We’ve established a good nap routine as well—cat naps downstairs in the morning and a 2-3 hour nap in the afternoon while Jace naps!

(Thinking her toes are pretty fun to look at)

She eats every 3-4 hours and sucks her thumb in between. She loves that thumb! Playing on the floor is her favorite thing to do, whether it’s on her ladybug or just a blanket she wiggles and squirms all over the place. We’ve finally gotten her spit up problems reduced by me completely cutting dairy from my diet. She is still spitting up quite a bit by the time evening hits, so I’m thinking we have some reflux issues as well.

Even though she giggled for the first time in December, she’s only giggled two or three times since then. But her smiles are readily given!

On February 3 she finally rolled over from back to front and has been practicing ever since.

She goes happily to the nursery at church on Sunday mornings and again in the evening when we go to FPU.

We’re so glad she’s a part of our family!

Side by side of Jace and Reese at 4 months

Our growing girl!

Jace is 3!!!

Somehow, this little boy has grown up. And too quickly for this momma. I can’t believe he’s three.

He is serious. Contemplative. Analytical. Literal. A problem solver. He uses words like, “Actually…” and phrases like, “I think…”

He’s affectionate. Loving. Compassionate. Adores his sister. When she fusses I hear him say, “Don’t worry Reese…” or “It’s ok Reese…” He always needs to know where she is. Wants to get in her face and say hi. Showers her with kisses and loves to “pet” her.

He LOVES rescue vehicles—fire trucks, ambulances and police cars. He actually thinks any vehicle with a light on it is a police car, and any vehicle with a ladder on it is a fire truck. When we go visit Daddy at work we pass the downtown fire station, and Jace loves to look and see if the bay doors are open and he can see the trucks inside.

He is a master of the iPad. He comes into my room in the mornings, gets the iPad from me, sits on his Hippo chair and plays with it until I’m ready to get up. He goes back and forth between playing games and watching shows on Netflix. If he had his way, we’d have shows playing on Netflix all day long. The favorite shows these days are Mighty Machines, Dora, Team Umizumi, Max and Ruby, and Bubble Guppies.

He loves to sing, especially The Wheels on the Bus and the ABC’s. He’ll randomly make requests in song, and start singing his numbers in scales.

He keeps us laughing. The phrases he comes up with, the way he pronounces words, and the dramatic flare with which he approaches life makes us smile all the time. My favorite is the way he says oven—nuggens. 

This boy LOVES trains. He builds his tracks and takes the trains around them. He sets up the railroad crossing piece and says, “dingadingadingadingading” while raising and lowering the crossing guard. While he had a Police Car birthday party, his actual birthday was all about trains. We surprised him with a train trip to Salem and back.

He was nervous when we got to the train station—he’s never been so close to real life tracks!

But his excitement grew as we waited in the station. He pointed out an old-fashioned passenger car that was sitting in the train yard and thought we’d be riding it (calling it a people car). I said, “No, Jace, that’s an old people car. We’re going to ride a new people car.” To which he responded, “Oh, that car’s just for old people.” Guess I needed to phrase it better!

He loves to be affectionate. Sometimes his affection is very awkward. At this moment, he was holding Nolan’s face and kept just holding them nose to nose until Nolan got uncomfortable, at which point Jace held their faces even closer.

He is always aware of where we’re going and what we’re doing. Just about every morning he asks me, “Where are we going today, Mommy?” and “Who’s coming over today, Mommy?”

Everything is labeled by it’s description—the mail store (Postal Connections), the coffee store (Dutch Bros), the donut store (Cork’s Donuts), the sandwich store (Big Town Hero), the grilled cheese store (Hasty Freeze) the ice cream store (Dairy Queen).

We started and mastered potty training in a week right before his birthday! He caught on faster and easier than I had even dared hope for. He still wears a diaper for nap and bed time, but I sure am loving not changing diapers all day long!

Bed time is taken care of by Daddy and they have a special routine—brushing his teeth while Daddy sings Kids Just Love to Brush! followed by singing Veggie Tales, Jace’s Song, Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, The Wheels on the Bus and We Love You Lord. They also read a Bible story and pray. Our little guy is very routine oriented so we don’t dare have me try and put him to bed or else I’ll mess up the routine and it’ll be the end of the world.

He loves to go to church and see his buddies. The classes are named by his favorite toy in each room—he used to go to the bus class before he turned two. Then the past year was in the kitchen class. And now he’s moved up to the fire truck class. He can tell us which buddies were in class with him—Sam, Asher, Brock, Zack, Josie, Eden, Elli… Nolan has enjoyed being in his class and witnessing Jace actually carry on conversations with his peers. Birthdays tend to be the favorite topic.

He can make me giggle one minute and drive me absolutely crazy the next. Our greatest conflicts come when he’s made up his mind already about how something should happen and I differ from the plan. I find with just about anything it’s best to prepare him for it—start talking about it in advance, tell him in detail what to expect, and coach how he should react. He’s typically not very friendly in social settings. But if I tell him ahead of time that he needs to be nice to people and say hi when they say hi to him, he’ll actually smile and wave at people. A lot better than when he used to yell “He’s hurting me!” when someone would say hi.

He knows his ABCs, colors, shapes, numbers and logos of all his favorite stores. 75% of the time he has his right and left figured out. He towers above his peers. And his physical abilities are starting to catch up with his mental skills. He can now jump and is actually starting to climb on things. Nolan thinks his muscle strength has finally caught up with his size.

We love this boy and are so happy he is a part of our life. I find myself praying that he will know, love and serve the Lord as he grows older. That Nolan and I will have wisdom in knowing how to develop leadership skills from his bossiness and help teach him flexibility and how to be a compassionate and feeling person without being controlled by the intensity of his emotions. I’m so excited to see what being three means for Jace!