Ben: Mommy, can we have more kids?
Me: More kids to play with?
Ben: No, more kids like that guy who bought Daddy's bucket truck. (He told us he had 7!)
Me: Oh. You want more brothers and sisters?
Ben: No, just boys.
Me: I think we're done honey. You'll just have to be happy with a brother and a sister.
Monday, December 27, 2010
Monday, December 6, 2010
Smarty Pants
Ben
I was reading Parenting magazine a couple of weeks ago - there are a lot of toy ads in it. Ben was sitting beside me and we came to an ad with a light switch on it. It said "ON" at the top and "OFF" at the bottom. Benjamin pointed to it and said "Mommy, why does this say 'on' and this says 'off'?" I have been wondering just how much he can read when he doesn't say anything.
Today I was getting his shirt ready for him to put on. It's an IZOD which the tag clearly states. He was looking at it upside down and said "Why does that say 'ZOO'?" I'm pretty darn impressed!
Jack
Yesterday Jack saw some bananas on the counter and was motioning that he wanted one. I started it for him and handed him the whole banana thinking I would most likely end up with banana mushed into the floor. I was wrong! He ate down to where the peel stopped, then he peeled it some more, ate some more, etc., until it was all gone. Then he threw the peel in the trash!
Emma
Last night, Emma slept 12 hours only waking up once. She has not done this... maybe ever. I guess between the growing and teething she just needed to eat more. We'll see if the trend continues. She is getting much better at sitting up and not falling over. I'm betting we have crawling soon after Christmas.
I was reading Parenting magazine a couple of weeks ago - there are a lot of toy ads in it. Ben was sitting beside me and we came to an ad with a light switch on it. It said "ON" at the top and "OFF" at the bottom. Benjamin pointed to it and said "Mommy, why does this say 'on' and this says 'off'?" I have been wondering just how much he can read when he doesn't say anything.
Today I was getting his shirt ready for him to put on. It's an IZOD which the tag clearly states. He was looking at it upside down and said "Why does that say 'ZOO'?" I'm pretty darn impressed!
Jack
Yesterday Jack saw some bananas on the counter and was motioning that he wanted one. I started it for him and handed him the whole banana thinking I would most likely end up with banana mushed into the floor. I was wrong! He ate down to where the peel stopped, then he peeled it some more, ate some more, etc., until it was all gone. Then he threw the peel in the trash!
Emma
Last night, Emma slept 12 hours only waking up once. She has not done this... maybe ever. I guess between the growing and teething she just needed to eat more. We'll see if the trend continues. She is getting much better at sitting up and not falling over. I'm betting we have crawling soon after Christmas.
Saturday, December 4, 2010
Post Thanksgiving Picture Post
Finally uploaded pictures of the boys during their camping trip with Daddy & Gigi & Grandpa.
Eating s'mores:
The view from their window is good...
Miss Emma is sitting up by herself now.
She also got her first tooth (lower right) on December 1st!
Ben wanted me to take a picture of his play-doh parts tower:
Rub-a-dub-dub. Daddy is more brave than Mommy. He gave all 3 kids a bath at once! To be fair though, Mommy did come and get them one at a time and got them dried off and dressed.
A fun Thanksgiving night with the Huber clan:
Down to Little Rock to visit with Mimama & G-Daddy & lots of cousins.
Lots of Grandkids (and Great-Grandkids for Memo):
Left to right - Pat Graham, Billie Galloway, Barbara Maloney, Leslie Peresta
Kaitlyn Floring, Jack, Ben, Emma, Owen Peresta
Great-Aunt Pat is the baby whisperer:
We had a great photo shoot with Aimee in November too! (Elemental Photography)
The tree is up and decorated, the stockings are hung, and Ben got a personalized video message from Santa! Next post should be after Christmas.
Happy Holidays!
Eating s'mores:
The view from their window is good...
Miss Emma is sitting up by herself now.
She also got her first tooth (lower right) on December 1st!
Ben wanted me to take a picture of his play-doh parts tower:
Rub-a-dub-dub. Daddy is more brave than Mommy. He gave all 3 kids a bath at once! To be fair though, Mommy did come and get them one at a time and got them dried off and dressed.
A fun Thanksgiving night with the Huber clan:
Down to Little Rock to visit with Mimama & G-Daddy & lots of cousins.
Lots of Grandkids (and Great-Grandkids for Memo):
Left to right - Pat Graham, Billie Galloway, Barbara Maloney, Leslie Peresta
Kaitlyn Floring, Jack, Ben, Emma, Owen Peresta
Great-Aunt Pat is the baby whisperer:
We had a great photo shoot with Aimee in November too! (Elemental Photography)
The tree is up and decorated, the stockings are hung, and Ben got a personalized video message from Santa! Next post should be after Christmas.
Happy Holidays!
Friday, November 19, 2010
A Day In The Life
Emma
This morning at 2:00 am, Emma started making the B sound. Or kind of a cross between the B and F.
Jack
In the car on the way to gymnastics, Emma sneezed and Jack said "Bess Yooooou". =-) Also a minute ago, Jack said "Chee Ben Ha" which was actually "I want cheese like Ben has". I am very impressed!
Ben
Today was the deciding factor in whether or not we would continue in gymnastics since he hadn't participated the last two times. He made me proud by participating with enthusiasm!
This morning at 2:00 am, Emma started making the B sound. Or kind of a cross between the B and F.
Jack
In the car on the way to gymnastics, Emma sneezed and Jack said "Bess Yooooou". =-) Also a minute ago, Jack said "Chee Ben Ha" which was actually "I want cheese like Ben has". I am very impressed!
Ben
Today was the deciding factor in whether or not we would continue in gymnastics since he hadn't participated the last two times. He made me proud by participating with enthusiasm!
Saturday, November 13, 2010
Post-Halloween Post
What a super busy month on the run-up to the holidays!
On Halloween morning we took the kids to "spooky story time" at the Fayetteville Public Library. All the kids were in costume, they did a couple of stories and a couple of songs and then ended with a parade around the children's library. At the end of the parade the kids were all given Tootsie pops covered in a Kleenex painted with a little ghost face and tied with a piece of orange yarn (and a coupon for a couple of donuts at Rick's Bakery).
We also had a great visit from Mimama and G-Daddy who brought the boys Halloween books and musical Halloween cards which they LOVED!
Halloween night we took the kiddos to the NWA Mall for "Mall-o-ween" where they had a costume contest and trick-or-treating around the stores.
Below is Rob with Jack on stage:
Ben enjoying some of the candy while Jack is on stage:
Then we went home and lit up the jack-o-lantern on the dining table while we ate a quick dinner:
After dinner, Rob and the grandparents took the boys trick-or-treating to our usual stops: Uncle Matt & Aunt Aimee's house, Aimee's Mom's house and Aimee's Aunt's house, and new this year - Grandpa Huber's house!
So glad the boys love each other. =-)
Rob snapped some good pictures of Emma looking cute:
Ben found an old tape player in my bedside table. I found an old Huey Lewis tape and he listened to it almost constantly for 3 days. Then he turned it over to Jack:
In there somewhere we also had a fun night at Uncle Eric and Christi's house for a Halloween potluck. Last weekend Rob and the boys went camping with Gigi and Grandpa Shertzer at Devil's Den. The boys had a great time and Emma and I went down for lunch both Saturday and Sunday. Emma and I went shopping on Saturday to spend some of my birthday money and I confess, it was more fun buying a few things for her. =-)
Ben
We found out it wasn't too late to get into the "HIPPY" state sponsored home preschool program. They provide us with weekly lesson plans, school supplies and a weekly home visit to go over things and review the last week's lesson. So far I love it! Sooo much better than the pre-school curriculum I downloaded. Once per month we have an event with all the other home pre-school families in our area. This month we went to the children's library (which we had never been to). Next month is a Christmas party at the pizza place in town. Should be fun!
Ben is doing great with the lessons and gets really excited when we get to do any gluing or play with the shapes. He is doing great and gets almost everything right. Our "teacher" tested him a couple of weeks ago and even though it was his nap time and he was being shy, he did pretty well. When she asked him to name body parts the only one he didn't get was "jaw". I never thought to teach him that one. She said most kids don't get that one or "heel". Also when she was asking what color some boxes were, he called brown black and then didn't know what to call black. He knew pink though (which seemed to surprise her), and I think he got gray right. He was too shy to hop on one foot until I bribed him with Halloween candy.
Gymnastics went well for the first few times but yesterday he didn't really participate. He said he wants to go, but I told him if he doesn't participate and actually DO the gymnastics that the teacher wants them to do then we aren't going to go anymore. We'll see what happens next Friday. Maybe he was just tired or didn't feel well. One other little girl didn't want to go in at all and her mother took her home. It looks like great fun to me. Sometimes I want to join in!
Had to take Ben in for a well child check up as part of the HIPPY qualification and unfortunately he was due for shots which he was not happy about (especially because there was an autistic child in one of the rooms screaming "I don't want a shot! I don't want a shot!"). The Doctor said he was doing well and we should schedule a dental visit since he hasn't had one yet. Both boys are scheduled for January 6th. Can't believe they are already booked that far out.
I asked Ben what he wanted for Christmas and he said a metronome. Funny boy. More funny Ben things:
Ben: (as Rob was leaving) We'll see you soon! Stop at the red lights and don't crash into cars.
Jack
Our littlest man seems to be growing up so fast. He has started wanting to dress himself and he is also putting more words together. They're getting clearer too. It's really helpful to know what he wants now. I've been trying to get him to stop screaming when he gets frustrated (and use words instead) and it's going pretty well. Mostly he says "No Ben!" ha ha.
Emma
Still waiting to hear "Mama" but she sure has got "Dada" down. Still waking up a few times per night. I've tried feeding more during the day, but it doesn't seem to matter. When she does wake up she won't go back to sleep until I feed her, so I guess she's just growing and needs the extra feedings. She's not as good a sleeper as Jack who slept about 10 hours at 7 months (if I recall correctly), but she's way better than Ben who woke up every 2 hours until he was like a year old. Still won't take a bottle but I'm trying! No teeth yet. The boys got their first teeth at 8 months, and she'll be 8 months the day after Thanksgiving so it shouldn't be long.
Next update... Post Thanksgiving.
On Halloween morning we took the kids to "spooky story time" at the Fayetteville Public Library. All the kids were in costume, they did a couple of stories and a couple of songs and then ended with a parade around the children's library. At the end of the parade the kids were all given Tootsie pops covered in a Kleenex painted with a little ghost face and tied with a piece of orange yarn (and a coupon for a couple of donuts at Rick's Bakery).
We also had a great visit from Mimama and G-Daddy who brought the boys Halloween books and musical Halloween cards which they LOVED!
Halloween night we took the kiddos to the NWA Mall for "Mall-o-ween" where they had a costume contest and trick-or-treating around the stores.
Below is Rob with Jack on stage:
Ben enjoying some of the candy while Jack is on stage:
Then we went home and lit up the jack-o-lantern on the dining table while we ate a quick dinner:
After dinner, Rob and the grandparents took the boys trick-or-treating to our usual stops: Uncle Matt & Aunt Aimee's house, Aimee's Mom's house and Aimee's Aunt's house, and new this year - Grandpa Huber's house!
So glad the boys love each other. =-)
Rob snapped some good pictures of Emma looking cute:
Ben found an old tape player in my bedside table. I found an old Huey Lewis tape and he listened to it almost constantly for 3 days. Then he turned it over to Jack:
In there somewhere we also had a fun night at Uncle Eric and Christi's house for a Halloween potluck. Last weekend Rob and the boys went camping with Gigi and Grandpa Shertzer at Devil's Den. The boys had a great time and Emma and I went down for lunch both Saturday and Sunday. Emma and I went shopping on Saturday to spend some of my birthday money and I confess, it was more fun buying a few things for her. =-)
Ben
We found out it wasn't too late to get into the "HIPPY" state sponsored home preschool program. They provide us with weekly lesson plans, school supplies and a weekly home visit to go over things and review the last week's lesson. So far I love it! Sooo much better than the pre-school curriculum I downloaded. Once per month we have an event with all the other home pre-school families in our area. This month we went to the children's library (which we had never been to). Next month is a Christmas party at the pizza place in town. Should be fun!
Ben is doing great with the lessons and gets really excited when we get to do any gluing or play with the shapes. He is doing great and gets almost everything right. Our "teacher" tested him a couple of weeks ago and even though it was his nap time and he was being shy, he did pretty well. When she asked him to name body parts the only one he didn't get was "jaw". I never thought to teach him that one. She said most kids don't get that one or "heel". Also when she was asking what color some boxes were, he called brown black and then didn't know what to call black. He knew pink though (which seemed to surprise her), and I think he got gray right. He was too shy to hop on one foot until I bribed him with Halloween candy.
Gymnastics went well for the first few times but yesterday he didn't really participate. He said he wants to go, but I told him if he doesn't participate and actually DO the gymnastics that the teacher wants them to do then we aren't going to go anymore. We'll see what happens next Friday. Maybe he was just tired or didn't feel well. One other little girl didn't want to go in at all and her mother took her home. It looks like great fun to me. Sometimes I want to join in!
Had to take Ben in for a well child check up as part of the HIPPY qualification and unfortunately he was due for shots which he was not happy about (especially because there was an autistic child in one of the rooms screaming "I don't want a shot! I don't want a shot!"). The Doctor said he was doing well and we should schedule a dental visit since he hasn't had one yet. Both boys are scheduled for January 6th. Can't believe they are already booked that far out.
I asked Ben what he wanted for Christmas and he said a metronome. Funny boy. More funny Ben things:
Ben: (as Rob was leaving) We'll see you soon! Stop at the red lights and don't crash into cars.
Ben: "Skeglekood."
Me: (blinking) "...what?"
Ben: "Skeglekood. It means 'Could you get me more juice please?'"
Me: "Ah! Okay."
Ben: The Doctor said "Do you want your arm to hurt?"
Me: Uh... I don't think he said that.
Ben: Yes he did a little bit in my imagination.
Jack
Our littlest man seems to be growing up so fast. He has started wanting to dress himself and he is also putting more words together. They're getting clearer too. It's really helpful to know what he wants now. I've been trying to get him to stop screaming when he gets frustrated (and use words instead) and it's going pretty well. Mostly he says "No Ben!" ha ha.
Emma
Still waiting to hear "Mama" but she sure has got "Dada" down. Still waking up a few times per night. I've tried feeding more during the day, but it doesn't seem to matter. When she does wake up she won't go back to sleep until I feed her, so I guess she's just growing and needs the extra feedings. She's not as good a sleeper as Jack who slept about 10 hours at 7 months (if I recall correctly), but she's way better than Ben who woke up every 2 hours until he was like a year old. Still won't take a bottle but I'm trying! No teeth yet. The boys got their first teeth at 8 months, and she'll be 8 months the day after Thanksgiving so it shouldn't be long.
Next update... Post Thanksgiving.
Monday, October 25, 2010
Picture Post and Halloween Fun
Lots of fun activities this month for fall and Halloween - and it's finally cool enough to get out and enjoy it all.
We took the kids to a pumpkin patch recently. The boys had a great time with one of the little red wagons they provided to pick pumpkins with.
Ben in the pumpkins with scarecrows in the background.
Emma likes the straw.
Had to get a picture of all 3 in a wagon.
Ben really wanted to take this wagon home with us.
Cousin Havyn's 4th birthday is this month and she invited us to Chuck E. Cheeses to celebrate with her.
Uncle Matt and Ben.
Mom and the kids all went to the Botanical Gardens of the Ozarks for a pumpkin hunt.
The boys sporting their mini-pumpkins (after we got home 'cause Mom forgot the camera).
Then we had our Northwest Arkansas Mom's Playgroup Halloween costume party last Friday night.
Our super-cute scarecrows!
Are they excited enough?
We even dressed Miss Emma up (cheerleader costume courtesy of Mimama). Go Team Daddy!
All the kids looked so cute! They are all lined up to hit the pinata.
Ben didn't look too sure that he was really supposed to hit it even though Mom and Dad were yelling "Hit it hard! Smash it!!" =-)
Whew! That's a lot of stuff and it isn't even Halloween yet!
New things the past month:
Ben - Has amped up his question asking. Last night he got out of bed to ask Rob how a light bulb works. He also wanted to know how food turns into poop. =-) I took him to a free gymnastics class last week and after about the first 10 minutes, he joined in finally and seemed to love it. We signed him up and he will go on Fridays for an hour. Hopefully, as long as he enjoys it, we'll keep him in it until kindergarten starts next fall.
Jack - Has been trying to do things to help and then says "There ya go Mama!" Usually he will look at my tea and say "hot? hot?" then he will blow on it and say "There ya go Mama. There ya go." He's also been asking "That?" a lot. He seems to want to know what everything is specifically called. Last week he got a pretty ugly injury. Apparently Ben was trying to give him a hug while he was on his knees in a chair and the chair flipped over and Jack hit his chin really hard. Nasty, nasty bruise. To make matters worse, he then tripped over his own shoes the next day and fell down on his chin again! Poor little guy!
Emma - She can now roll onto her front and back, but seems to prefer her back. She can hold herself up pretty well but just doesn't seem to want to. I'm in no hurry for her to start crawling because I will worry not only about the floor being clean, but also her brothers tripping over her or landing on her, and then there is the matter of the fireplace. We may have to stick with the central heat alone this winter.
We took the kids to a pumpkin patch recently. The boys had a great time with one of the little red wagons they provided to pick pumpkins with.
Ben in the pumpkins with scarecrows in the background.
Emma likes the straw.
Had to get a picture of all 3 in a wagon.
Ben really wanted to take this wagon home with us.
Cousin Havyn's 4th birthday is this month and she invited us to Chuck E. Cheeses to celebrate with her.
Uncle Matt and Ben.
Mom and the kids all went to the Botanical Gardens of the Ozarks for a pumpkin hunt.
The boys sporting their mini-pumpkins (after we got home 'cause Mom forgot the camera).
Then we had our Northwest Arkansas Mom's Playgroup Halloween costume party last Friday night.
Our super-cute scarecrows!
Are they excited enough?
We even dressed Miss Emma up (cheerleader costume courtesy of Mimama). Go Team Daddy!
All the kids looked so cute! They are all lined up to hit the pinata.
Ben didn't look too sure that he was really supposed to hit it even though Mom and Dad were yelling "Hit it hard! Smash it!!" =-)
Whew! That's a lot of stuff and it isn't even Halloween yet!
New things the past month:
Ben - Has amped up his question asking. Last night he got out of bed to ask Rob how a light bulb works. He also wanted to know how food turns into poop. =-) I took him to a free gymnastics class last week and after about the first 10 minutes, he joined in finally and seemed to love it. We signed him up and he will go on Fridays for an hour. Hopefully, as long as he enjoys it, we'll keep him in it until kindergarten starts next fall.
Jack - Has been trying to do things to help and then says "There ya go Mama!" Usually he will look at my tea and say "hot? hot?" then he will blow on it and say "There ya go Mama. There ya go." He's also been asking "That?" a lot. He seems to want to know what everything is specifically called. Last week he got a pretty ugly injury. Apparently Ben was trying to give him a hug while he was on his knees in a chair and the chair flipped over and Jack hit his chin really hard. Nasty, nasty bruise. To make matters worse, he then tripped over his own shoes the next day and fell down on his chin again! Poor little guy!
Emma - She can now roll onto her front and back, but seems to prefer her back. She can hold herself up pretty well but just doesn't seem to want to. I'm in no hurry for her to start crawling because I will worry not only about the floor being clean, but also her brothers tripping over her or landing on her, and then there is the matter of the fireplace. We may have to stick with the central heat alone this winter.
Friday, October 1, 2010
Oops... Where did September go?
Hello Fall! Hello cooler weather, and playing outside! And are we ready for Halloween? Oh yeah!
Emma
Miss Emma turned 6 months old last Sunday. She now weighs about 16 pounds and is 26" tall. She is in the 50th - 70th percentile for height and weight. Due to a snaffu in her health insurance, we had to make a visit to the Health Department last month to get her 2nd round of immunizations. 3rd round is on the 18th of this month and she'll be all caught up.
She is now eating oatmeal and baby food 2 to 3 times per day and is still nursing. Similac had a recall of some of their formula because it might contain beetles (!!!!). And what do you know, but the one container we had opened is on the recall list. Good thing we couldn't get her to take a bottle huh?
Emma's sleep patterns were great up until about a month ago when she started waking up every 2 or 3 hours all night again. She was doing 8 to 10 hour stretches before that. Two nights ago she did a 9 hour stretch finally, so I'm hoping it was just teething and she'll get back to good rests soon. She still goes down at nap times and bed time without crying or fussing (hooray!) and goes back to sleep in the night after I feed her, so that makes it a lot easier!
She is playing in her walker a lot now and can get it to go where she wants it to eventually. She seems to get frustrated when she wants to go a certain way and it won't move that way, but most of the time she's really good at maneuvering. I had put the pack-n-play up in the living room so she could play while lying down, but she doesn't seem to like it anymore. The swing has been put away as well. Before long she'll be crawling around I guess. As of now she is not rolling over completely but can roll onto both sides. Hard to believe that in 6 short months she will probably be walking!
Right now her vocalizing is mostly "Da-da-da-da-da" (sometimes just mouthed or whispered) and "na-na-na-na-na". Also growls and giggles and shouts. Whenever I ask "can you say 'ma-ma-ma'?" she shakes her head no and laughs. =-) Oh yeah, and she is shaking her head left and right. Hasn't gotten to the up and down yet.
I went to a local children's consignment event (actually 2) recently and got all the kid's their winter wardrobes. Lots of cute stuff including the Halloween shirts in the picture above.
Emma sporting a new Fall outfit, complete with leopard print hair bow.
We took a trip to Little Rock in September so that Emma could meet her Great-Grandmother (Billie Galloway - aka "Memo")
Jack
Mr. Cutie Pie is picking up new words every day and is getting better at expressing himself. Last month we heard lots of "mine" and "go away". Lately it's "donno" and "turn" and lots and lots of "Hi Emma!". He is also quite the singer. You can't really pick out many words, but he definitely can carry a tune (although he does have the words to Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star down pretty well). Currently it's the ABC song which we are trying to learn in our home pre-school.
He likes to help with everything and gets frustrated if you don't understand or don't let him. He always wants to turn the lid of his sippy cup after I refill his juice, always wants to have his hand on the bag of trash as I take it outside, and always wants to help in the kitchen no matter what I'm doing.
Somebody looooves his baby sister!
This past week he has been throwing a tantrum at nap-time to the degree that I have to go in repeatedly for up to an hour and keep putting him back in bed. My solution since then is to let him stay up until noonish instead of 10:30 or 11, and then he is tired enough that he doesn't get out of bed as much. I have also moved his bedtime to 6 or 6:30 from 7:30. He still wakes up between 5:30 and 6:00 am no matter what anyway, and is in a better mood in the morning with more sleep.
Jack got his 2 bottom 2nd molars in last month which made him a bit crankier than usual. I'm on the lookout for those top molars and then hopefully he will stop waking up at night. Rob is getting worn out with the up and down routine.
Chillaxin' with Daddy
Ben
Benjamin is getting better at playing with Jack since I explained to him that he can talk to him and Jack will understand (as opposed to screaming at him or pushing/hitting him to get some kind of reaction).
His vocabulary and annunciation are getting better every day. Currently I am working with him on "S" and "th" - thing instead of sing, anyTHing instead of anySing, Thank you instead of Sank you.
Recently I downloaded pre-school curriculums for he and Jack and we started on Monday. This week we are learning to count to 20, trace and write the letter A, reading consonant/vowel combinations, talking about emotions, and learning safety rules (stop, drop and roll for one). We do pre-school for 1/2 hour to an hour 3 times per week and both boys seem to really enjoy it. We also have a craft once per week (Rob bought construction paper, glitter, glue and safety scissors) and they love that too.
Ben still says a million cute things every month. The other morning he was following me around and when I asked him what he was doing he said "I just want to come in here and look at you. Because you're pretty. And nice." =-)
This morning when we were discussing what to do if a stranger tried to take him away, he said "But if a stranger took me, you and Emma to Mimama's house, then that would be a GOOD safety rule" (complete with finger wagging to punctuate "good").
Last weekend we went to a pizza place in Fort Smith to celebrate Aunt Leslie's birthday and the boys really enjoyed the arcade.
Ben is SUPER ready for Halloween and loves playing with my feathery witch hat (which he sometimes likes to pretend is a "speaker").
Sometimes Rob finds both boys in one bed or the other early in the morning.
Guess who else loooves his baby sister?
All in all the kids are great and we love spending time with them and trying to just enjoy every moment.
Coming soon... Halloween!!!
Emma
Miss Emma turned 6 months old last Sunday. She now weighs about 16 pounds and is 26" tall. She is in the 50th - 70th percentile for height and weight. Due to a snaffu in her health insurance, we had to make a visit to the Health Department last month to get her 2nd round of immunizations. 3rd round is on the 18th of this month and she'll be all caught up.
She is now eating oatmeal and baby food 2 to 3 times per day and is still nursing. Similac had a recall of some of their formula because it might contain beetles (!!!!). And what do you know, but the one container we had opened is on the recall list. Good thing we couldn't get her to take a bottle huh?
Emma's sleep patterns were great up until about a month ago when she started waking up every 2 or 3 hours all night again. She was doing 8 to 10 hour stretches before that. Two nights ago she did a 9 hour stretch finally, so I'm hoping it was just teething and she'll get back to good rests soon. She still goes down at nap times and bed time without crying or fussing (hooray!) and goes back to sleep in the night after I feed her, so that makes it a lot easier!
She is playing in her walker a lot now and can get it to go where she wants it to eventually. She seems to get frustrated when she wants to go a certain way and it won't move that way, but most of the time she's really good at maneuvering. I had put the pack-n-play up in the living room so she could play while lying down, but she doesn't seem to like it anymore. The swing has been put away as well. Before long she'll be crawling around I guess. As of now she is not rolling over completely but can roll onto both sides. Hard to believe that in 6 short months she will probably be walking!
Right now her vocalizing is mostly "Da-da-da-da-da" (sometimes just mouthed or whispered) and "na-na-na-na-na". Also growls and giggles and shouts. Whenever I ask "can you say 'ma-ma-ma'?" she shakes her head no and laughs. =-) Oh yeah, and she is shaking her head left and right. Hasn't gotten to the up and down yet.
I went to a local children's consignment event (actually 2) recently and got all the kid's their winter wardrobes. Lots of cute stuff including the Halloween shirts in the picture above.
Emma sporting a new Fall outfit, complete with leopard print hair bow.
We took a trip to Little Rock in September so that Emma could meet her Great-Grandmother (Billie Galloway - aka "Memo")
Jack
Mr. Cutie Pie is picking up new words every day and is getting better at expressing himself. Last month we heard lots of "mine" and "go away". Lately it's "donno" and "turn" and lots and lots of "Hi Emma!". He is also quite the singer. You can't really pick out many words, but he definitely can carry a tune (although he does have the words to Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star down pretty well). Currently it's the ABC song which we are trying to learn in our home pre-school.
He likes to help with everything and gets frustrated if you don't understand or don't let him. He always wants to turn the lid of his sippy cup after I refill his juice, always wants to have his hand on the bag of trash as I take it outside, and always wants to help in the kitchen no matter what I'm doing.
Somebody looooves his baby sister!
This past week he has been throwing a tantrum at nap-time to the degree that I have to go in repeatedly for up to an hour and keep putting him back in bed. My solution since then is to let him stay up until noonish instead of 10:30 or 11, and then he is tired enough that he doesn't get out of bed as much. I have also moved his bedtime to 6 or 6:30 from 7:30. He still wakes up between 5:30 and 6:00 am no matter what anyway, and is in a better mood in the morning with more sleep.
Jack got his 2 bottom 2nd molars in last month which made him a bit crankier than usual. I'm on the lookout for those top molars and then hopefully he will stop waking up at night. Rob is getting worn out with the up and down routine.
Chillaxin' with Daddy
Ben
Benjamin is getting better at playing with Jack since I explained to him that he can talk to him and Jack will understand (as opposed to screaming at him or pushing/hitting him to get some kind of reaction).
His vocabulary and annunciation are getting better every day. Currently I am working with him on "S" and "th" - thing instead of sing, anyTHing instead of anySing, Thank you instead of Sank you.
Recently I downloaded pre-school curriculums for he and Jack and we started on Monday. This week we are learning to count to 20, trace and write the letter A, reading consonant/vowel combinations, talking about emotions, and learning safety rules (stop, drop and roll for one). We do pre-school for 1/2 hour to an hour 3 times per week and both boys seem to really enjoy it. We also have a craft once per week (Rob bought construction paper, glitter, glue and safety scissors) and they love that too.
Ben still says a million cute things every month. The other morning he was following me around and when I asked him what he was doing he said "I just want to come in here and look at you. Because you're pretty. And nice." =-)
This morning when we were discussing what to do if a stranger tried to take him away, he said "But if a stranger took me, you and Emma to Mimama's house, then that would be a GOOD safety rule" (complete with finger wagging to punctuate "good").
Last weekend we went to a pizza place in Fort Smith to celebrate Aunt Leslie's birthday and the boys really enjoyed the arcade.
Ben is SUPER ready for Halloween and loves playing with my feathery witch hat (which he sometimes likes to pretend is a "speaker").
Sometimes Rob finds both boys in one bed or the other early in the morning.
Guess who else loooves his baby sister?
All in all the kids are great and we love spending time with them and trying to just enjoy every moment.
Coming soon... Halloween!!!
Friday, August 20, 2010
The Fun Never Stops!
We're coming up on the end of August, and still no cooler weather in sight. Ah well, plenty of birthday parties to cheer us up. Uncle Matt will be celebrating on the 24th, Gigi had a birthday on Monday, and Jack's party was last Saturday. Fun for all!
Jack
We hosted Jack's birthday party at our house (inside since it was sooo hot) and it was a lot of fun. Jack seemed a little irritated with us as we sang Happy Birthday to him, but he did a great job of opening and playing with his new presents. He enjoyed all the company too!
I think he was saying "open!"
new sidewalk chalk (3-D!)
gotta stick that tongue out to open the presents!
He wants to be a big boy like his brother and keeps trying to get dressed by himself. When I got to him today after changing Emma and helping Ben get dressed, he had his shirt on his legs and was trying to put his shorts on over it. I caught him after he got into the Pull-ups stash today:
Ben
He is growing up so fast. I think he's grown an inch since a few weeks ago when Rob put up our new height measuring thing in the living room. A year from now he'll be getting ready to start kindergarten!
Ben has been working in a pre-school workbook, tracing shapes and lines and getting ready to start writing. We've been reading a lot of books and he is starting to show signs that he can read a few words. As always, I suspect he knows a lot more than he says because I will catch him reading a word I didn't know he knew, or talking about something I had no idea he understood.
Although he doesn't seem to care for crayons, it may be that coloring books are just too plain and confining for him. This week he did lots of art with Jack's sidewalk chalk on our black side door ... and himself, and Jack:
Emma
Our littlest sweetheart is getting cuter every day. She has better control of her arms and hands now and if you hold a toy out in front of her, she can bring her hands up and grab it (and then it goes straight into her mouth of course).
She will be 5 months old next week and is already in 9 month clothes! She has another Doctor's appointment next Friday, so we'll see how much she weighs and how tall she's gotten then.
She's still enjoying her walker a lot and can entertain herself for longer periods of time.
We no longer swaddle her to sleep, and since she didn't seem all that interested in her paci (and uses her fingers now anyway) we put those away. She is sleeping 7-9 hour stretches at night and all we have to do is lay her in her crib and she goes to sleep all by herself.
She's only eating one meal with solids per day, so we'll see what the Pediatrician says about her growth and if he thinks she needs more. She usually has oatmeal mixed with something. So far we've done sweet potatoes, squash, pears, and today we did green beans and she seemed to like them just fine.
We can't decide what color her eyes are going to be yet. Right now they are kind of a silvery-gray. By this time, Jack's eyes were very clearly blue, so we're guessing she'll have either green, hazel, or brown eyes. Her hair is also growing in much lighter - maybe blonde.
Today after her bath, I was brushing her hair away from the new hair growing in on top and ended up making it into a Mohawk:
Jack
We hosted Jack's birthday party at our house (inside since it was sooo hot) and it was a lot of fun. Jack seemed a little irritated with us as we sang Happy Birthday to him, but he did a great job of opening and playing with his new presents. He enjoyed all the company too!
I think he was saying "open!"
new sidewalk chalk (3-D!)
gotta stick that tongue out to open the presents!
It was either the singing or he wanted a different cupcake.
Jack has been good about sharing his new toys with Ben. His favorite words right now are "okay!" and caboose. He will hold up his train car from his Thomas the Train he got from Mimama and say what I know is caboose, but sounds like "guh-foose"!He wants to be a big boy like his brother and keeps trying to get dressed by himself. When I got to him today after changing Emma and helping Ben get dressed, he had his shirt on his legs and was trying to put his shorts on over it. I caught him after he got into the Pull-ups stash today:
Ben
He is growing up so fast. I think he's grown an inch since a few weeks ago when Rob put up our new height measuring thing in the living room. A year from now he'll be getting ready to start kindergarten!
Ben has been working in a pre-school workbook, tracing shapes and lines and getting ready to start writing. We've been reading a lot of books and he is starting to show signs that he can read a few words. As always, I suspect he knows a lot more than he says because I will catch him reading a word I didn't know he knew, or talking about something I had no idea he understood.
Although he doesn't seem to care for crayons, it may be that coloring books are just too plain and confining for him. This week he did lots of art with Jack's sidewalk chalk on our black side door ... and himself, and Jack:
Emma
Our littlest sweetheart is getting cuter every day. She has better control of her arms and hands now and if you hold a toy out in front of her, she can bring her hands up and grab it (and then it goes straight into her mouth of course).
She will be 5 months old next week and is already in 9 month clothes! She has another Doctor's appointment next Friday, so we'll see how much she weighs and how tall she's gotten then.
She's still enjoying her walker a lot and can entertain herself for longer periods of time.
We no longer swaddle her to sleep, and since she didn't seem all that interested in her paci (and uses her fingers now anyway) we put those away. She is sleeping 7-9 hour stretches at night and all we have to do is lay her in her crib and she goes to sleep all by herself.
She's only eating one meal with solids per day, so we'll see what the Pediatrician says about her growth and if he thinks she needs more. She usually has oatmeal mixed with something. So far we've done sweet potatoes, squash, pears, and today we did green beans and she seemed to like them just fine.
We can't decide what color her eyes are going to be yet. Right now they are kind of a silvery-gray. By this time, Jack's eyes were very clearly blue, so we're guessing she'll have either green, hazel, or brown eyes. Her hair is also growing in much lighter - maybe blonde.
Today after her bath, I was brushing her hair away from the new hair growing in on top and ended up making it into a Mohawk:
She definitely still has the hearts of her big brothers too!
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