Saturday, March 28, 2009

Confessions...

*It is 10:43, and I should go to bed. Instead, I am blogging.

*I need help with organizing my house. You'd think after 4+ years of marriage I'd have a system for things (like the mail), but I don't. Any advice??

*I get excited when I see my blog listed on others' blogs. It makes me feel good that other people care to read (especially when I don't even "know" these people, as in they're other blogger friends).

*I also get excited when people comment on posts (hint hint...).

*My room is a mess. I hardly ever make the bed!

*I have been groucho-mom this past week. And I hate that.

*I formulate all kinds of blogs in my mind, but never get around to writing them. Every once in a while, when I do, they don't turn out as well as they did when I dreamed them up.

Wednesday, March 25, 2009

6 months old!

On Monday Jackson turned 6 months old! I can hardly believe it! He is growing so quickly, and continues to make us laugh all the time!
He is still a big boy, and wears size 6-9 month clothes now. He eats like a champ, too! He nurses every 3-4 hours, so about 6 times a day. He interacts with his sister now a lot more. He cries when she's not with him, and will laugh and squeal at her when she walks into a room or pays attention to him.
He's started sitting up on his own more, although is still prone to flop over in any direction (which is really painful when he falls forward when there's a toy there!). He can put his paci in his mouth by himself now, which is a really helpful skill to have! He also loves his feet now, and will grab them and chew on them all the time!He is starting to sleep better now, thankfully. He still wakes up about once a night (sometimes more), but we don't pick him up (and I certainly don't feed him anymore!), and wait for him to find his paci and get back to sleep. Every once in a while we'll go in there and give him his paci if he's not settling back down. He's no longer swaddled:

...and now sleeps like this:

I love those little feet crossed! In addition to nursing, he's started on some more solid foods, and LOVES it! He was starting to get bored with the plain rice cereal, so his first food was sweet potatoes. After that he had avocado, and today we added squash. So far, he loves it all! He eats solids twice a day, at lunch and at dinner. He gets so excited for mealtime.

He is also getting more mobile, and when he's on the floor he will spin around in any direction (when on his tummy). He also gets up on his knees in his crib, but hasn't done that much on the actual floor. (Thankfully, because I'm not ready for a crawler yet!) He loves to be outside, and we're looking for warmer days when we can hang out on the blanket and crawling around in the grass even more! Everything he can get his hands on goes straight to his mouth. He loves to give great big open mouth kisses, too. He squeals and screams (happily) all of the time, and is in the constant work of discovering new sounds he can make. He still loves to laugh, and is very ticklish. We love our sweet little boy. Happy Half Birthday, Jackson!

Monday, March 16, 2009

Happy Birthday!!

Happy Birthday to the best dad and husband in the whole world!!!! We love you!!

Thursday, March 12, 2009

In the past week Kathryn has...

-correctly identified the following letters: A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, K, M, O, P, Q, R, S, U
-mopped the kitchen floor with her own kid's mop
-quoted part of a Bible verse
-eaten three bowls full of salad
-answered the phone successfully and identified the caller (Krisha)
-been intentional about calling Johnny "my daddy"
-climbed all the way up the Chick Fil A play center and gone down the slide all by herself by using the netting on the sides to climb up to the taller parts
-changed the picture on my computer's desktop all by herself (I wasn't even in the room)

And because a post is just better with a picture, here she is sporting a super-cute ponytail!

Friday, March 06, 2009

No paci!!! update

Kathryn is doing great, and I am adjusting! :) She's only been allowed to have her paci in her bed at naptime and bedtime for months now. So it hasn't been a problem at all except for when it's time for her to sleep. She cried a little bit when I put her down for her nap this afternoon, and it was a little short (but they can range anywhere from 1-3 hours, so it was just on the shorter end of "normal" for her). But tonight she went to bed with no crying at all! I am amazed at that! Hopefully she'll continue to sleep well tonight. And she hasn't shown any issues with Jackson having a paci. She even got his paci for him several times today. So, it looks like this is it! Our little girl is growing up.... It truly is a bittersweet thing. (Don't tell her, but I still have all her contraband pacis hidden in a cup in the kitchen. I haven't been able to bring myself to trash them yet...)

No paci!!!

I am excited and sad to report that Kathryn went all night last night without her paci!
Taking the paci really wasn't a planned thing... Yesterday after her nap, I mentioned to her (like I have many times before) that soon her paci would need to go bye bye, that it was getting yucky and not for big girls anymore. Well, she went with that, and said "Trash" and ran her paci to the trashcan, leaned over it, and dropped it in. Now, she did this a few months ago, but cried and got it right back out. But this time she waved bye to it and then went on downstairs. So, then came bedtime. I debated on what to do. I wasn't sure if we were ready to embark on this journey or not, but felt like it would just be so confusing to her to go back and forth. So, at bedtime when she asked for it, I told her she was a big girl, and it was in the trash. I had forgotten to take it out of the trashcan, so she ran and looked at it in there (00ps!), but didn't try to get it out. She cried for an hour, a heartbroken kind of cry as opposed to a mad cry. I gave her a "special bear" that I had told her she was allowed to sleep with when her paci was gone, but after holding him a while, she threw him down. I think she took out her anger on not wanting the bear. But other than that she just sat on my lap while I rocked her and cried pretty quietly. It broke my heart...I cried along with her. She was still crying when I laid her down in her crib, and she continued to cry for an hour. I finally went back up to try to comfort her. She had torn apart her crib searching for a paci, and when I reached out my hands to pick her up, she turned them over and said "Paci?". Break my heart again....! I rocked her again for abotu 15 minutes. This time she didn't cry, just had the after-cry hiccups that kids get, as she fell asleep on me. After laying her down in her crib again, she slept all night without another peep! She woke up this morning talking and happy! We were so proud of her! For a treat, we got Chick Fil A for breakfast! She was so excited, and has been very sweet this morning. Praise God for a good first night! Now, we'll have to see how naptime goes today...!

Wednesday, March 04, 2009

Mr. Sun

I didn't mention in the last post that Kathryn currently LOVES all things doing with music and motions. This isn't a particularly good video example of this, but it shows her dancing somewhat to it. The main reason I am posting it is to show her incredible twirl towards the end. (Disregard the icky singing voice...!)

Sunday, March 01, 2009

Kathryn lately...

It's been a while since I've done a post on what Kathryn's been up to, so here's an update.

We've had the classic runny noses around our household for weeks now, and Kathryn is very good to go and get a tissue whenever she needs one. However, just recently, she's gotten very particular about touching them once they've been used. Here she is demonstrating how to hold the teeniest tip of the tissue to take it to the trash can.She's been exercising with me. She's demonstrating a push-up here:
She LOVES to do dishes, which really means playing in the water in the sink. Every once in a while I can distract her by giving her a rag to wipe the table or counters with while I try to wash up the dishes by myself.
She's getting very independent, wanting to do everything herself, including putting on her shoes by herself. If you look closely in this picture, you can tell.
She's really gotten into drawing. This is a goldfish that she drew. I actually thought it amazingly looked like a fish. Do you see it too, or am I just being a proud mama?
Sportin' a dew rag...
Just being super cute!


Her language has continued to take off, and she often talks in simple sentences now. Some classics:
Mama, I want two!
I want more juice please!
Mama, snow cars, uh-oh! (When the snow was on the cars, and it was different for her!)

She is also continuing to show a tender heart. Whenever we make a sad face, she'll furrow her brow together with a concerned look on her face, say "Sad?" and come over to give us a kiss. When Jackson is sad, she'll run to find a paci for him. She's getting better and better about playing with him, and will play peek a boo with him and give him toys (which really means bury him in toys, because she piles them on top of him!). Although we are getting into a whiny and willful stage right now, she is still so much fun, and makes me laugh all the time. Having a two-year-old is such hard work, but we know that all the work we put into raising her in the Lord now will pay off as she grows. It is our prayer that we would have wisdom as we seek to nurture her in the ways of the Lord, that she might call on His name and live her life for Him.