Lately - Later Rather than Sooner

We got to celebrate Grammie Deb's birthday in mid-March. Miles was very excited about this because we kept telling him that after Grammie Deb's and Uncle Joel's birthdays is his. The whole family went out to dinner at Macaroni Grill and the kids were pretty well-behaved. Paige spent some time with one of her favorite people.

Then we came back to our house for dessert and presents.

We also met Mike and Jane out for dinner. The babies were pretty equally unimpressed. But they're so cute! I'm having visions of the two of them fifteen years from now at WWS and I'm a little nervous...

Brooke is VERY into reading and writing lately. She's usually carrying a notepad around with her, or asking me what a certain sequence of letters spells. It's kind of surreal to see it start to come together for her.

She continues to have personality to spare. It's usually entertaining, for better or worse.

On this day, I was picking up the backyard after the snow melted (always a favorite springtime activity) and asked Brooke if she wanted to come outside with me rather than have rest time. She said yes, but went back inside for about 15 minutes. She came out with all of this stuff and said she wanted to "relax in the sun." The umbrella was in case she got cold.

She also made a map for me of our cul-de-sac when we took Ozzie for a walk.

And we get this face multiple times a day. I'm pretty sure we took this picture to show her how ridiculous she looks when she's throwing a fit.

We've started a little pseudo-tradition of going to the gym on Saturday mornings where we see the Bordners and then go out to lunch afterward and proceed to take back in any calories that we'd burned at the gym.

Spring has been teasing us. On one nice afternoon, we walked with the kids to Wiesbrook.

One of the kids' favorite play activities involves cooking and serving food. I just love when they're engaged and playing together.

Fridays are the only morning that Brooke doesn't have school, so I'm trying to savor having a weekday morning when we can take our time getting ready.

With spring slowly emerging, we've been breaking out some of the sporting equipment.

Brooke had a little phonics presentation at school. I hate to brag, but she was the first kid they called on and read and categorized the word "toothbrush" like a boss.

Did I mention that spring is "kind of" here? We also got accumulating snow the other week. My friend Beth and I decided to take the kids sledding. They had a blast.

These poor girls, not so much. Next year it'll be more fun!

Ozzie and Paige have been doing some bonding lately.

So have these two.

Pretty sure most of those banana pieces ended up on the floor. She's not much of a fan.

We just recently made the switch for Miles to the toddler bed, which means Paige was upgraded to a legitimate crib (she'd been in a mini-crib since we moved her to her own room). So of course the big kids wanted to join her in there. That crib has constantly held one of my babies in it for almost 6 years. Pretty sure there will be waterworks when it's time to retire it.

 

Happy April!

Visitors

We've been pretty busy these last couple weeks, partly due to some house guests. We got to spend a couple of afternoons with Bri and the kids couldn't get enough.

Group tummy time!

Amy and her kids also came up for a night. It was chaos and the house was a disaster after, but it was so fun to see/hear the kids play together and to have some (relatively) uninterrupted conversation with my cousin.

Goofballs!

A stop at Chick-fil-a on their way out of town, which I think is becoming a tradition.

My parents also made a one-night stop up here. My dad tried to teach Brooke to jump rope. For someone who is not able to jump rope, she has some strong opinions on how it's best done.

Hanging out on top of the van. Why not?

We love the visits and are always sad to see them go!

Paige is 11 Months!

This sweet little one was eleven months old a couple of weeks ago and as she quickly approaches turning one, I've realized that it might be time to stop babying her as much as I have been.

We've been buckling down on her having solo time on the floor. She continues to get around, but not yet by means of crawling. She's a little more interested in bearing weight on her legs, but it's still not a favorite. Her "stinkeye/stinkface" nickname is still appropriate. If you want her to smile, you're going to have to earn it (at least, when we're out in public - she's pretty smiley and chatty in the house).

She gets a little fussy if someone besides me is holding her, at least when I'm in sight. She's very content to watch her brother and sister and have them make her laugh. She's generally very content if I'm holding her, regardless of what I'm doing; although, she is starting to squirm and want to move or get to the floor more.

Bows, socks and shoes only last for a few minutes before she tears them off and tries to eat them.

She's sleeping from roughly 7 pm - 8 am. She wakes up happy and I'll usually let her play and talk in her crib for a little while before I go get her - especially in the morning when I'm getting myself and the other two ready. She takes a morning nap from around 10-11 and an afternoon nap from around 2-4. I no longer have any complaints about her sleeping.

She still only has the two teeth on her bottom gum. I personally adore a gummy baby smile so I'm not in any rush for the rest of them to come in. She was weaned right at 11 months. She's drinking three 8 oz. bottles of formula per day (shortly before each nap and bedtime). We're still working on her holding her bottle independently.

She's my hot-running baby. She sweats pretty easily and is more prone to fevers than the other two.

Meals are a big area where I'm pushing her. We've been trying more finger foods. She loves cheese and pasta. Frozen peas, grapes and blueberries have also gone over pretty well. She'll chew on the spout of her sippy cup, but doesn't seem to get how to drink from it yet.

She's our sweet little sidekick that we all adore and we can't wait to celebrate a year with her later this month!