Nice try, Mom.

So I've tried many times to get a cute picture of both kids smiling and looking at the camera at the same time... and I have failed miserably.

Don't they look happy to be sitting in front of the camera together?

Joint update - 34 months and 6.5 months

Jack - 6.5 months

The little man has done a lot of new things in the last 2 weeks. On November 20, he started saying "bee", "buh", and "bah" and doing a little babbling that sounds like "buh buh buh". He already knows the sound of the letter b! He also makes the "mmmm" and "ma" sound occasionally, but mostly when he is fussing. I remember Elise doing the same thing at this age. On November 23, he started gradually "scooting" around on his belly. He pushes up with his arms and drags his body about 1/2 inch at a time :) He's mostly moving side to side with a little bit of forward, but I know it won't be long until he is everywhere. He always gets off the mat. He can push up and get his little belly button off the floor. Once he gets those knees under him, he'll be gone. Slow down, little buddy!

I'm trying to transition him from 3 naps to 2 naps. Some days it works, and some days he's so cranky at 12:30 that I have to lay him down early for nap #2 and give him another short nap right before dinner. If I can make him wait until 1:30 for the nap, then he and Elise sleep at the same time :)

We've gone to the park quite a bit lately and he LOVES to swing while watching Elise play on the playground.

(notice in the sequence of pictures that he scooted to the cup and then picked it up with his left hand)

Elise - 34 months

Several things have happened with Elise this month as well. At the beginning of November, she asked if she could use the downstairs potty (which doesn't have a potty seat on it) and since then, she will use any potty without needing the seat! This is big, people. This means that I no longer have to carry around the wet bag with the potty seat in it. Yippee! She's still scared of toilets that flush automatically, but thankfully, the places we frequent don't seem to have those.

She's still napping well for 1.5-2 hours (talked through 2 naps earlier this month, but none in the past few weeks) and still sleeps well at night. We normally have to wake her up from her nap and in the morning, but if we don't, she'll take forever to fall asleep at night. Lately, we have had to go in about 15-30 minutes after putting her to bed at night to lay her down again (or take her to the potty or give her another drink of water) but I think it's just a phase that will go away soon. It's possible that she's going to bed too late (8-8:15 pm) but we don't want it to be too early before our trip to CST in a few weeks. She normally falls asleep around 9 and wakes up by 8.

She's such a sweet and caring little girl when she isn't having a tantrum :) I get many compliments from her every day. Yesterday, Mike was getting ready to leave for school and had dressed up for a presentation that he gave. Elise complimented him on his shirt as soon as she saw him. About a minute later, she also told me that she liked my Turkey Trot t-shirt. Haha. When Mike put her to bed last night, she put both hands on his cheeks, gazed into his eyes and said "I like your tall big face, Daddy!" She also likes to tell me how proud she is when I do something, like getting dressed by myself, fixing dinner, playing with toys, etc.

She continues to do a lot of pretend play. She loves to play teacher, store, and mommy to her dolls and stuffed animals. She also loves to organize her things. All of her purses and bags are packed full of smaller toys, and she can tell you exactly what is in each one. She's also enjoying her "It's a Match!" game from Discovery Toys. She has an incredible memory and still talks about things that happened in Alabama versus things that happened in Baltimore versus things that she's done in Texas during her summer visit and last Christmas. Whenever we go to the zoo or Costco, she always remembers what the animals were doing last time we saw them and which samples were available at Costco the previous week. She's always disappointed that the pickle lady hasn't been at Costco in about 2 months :)

Here are a few funny sayings:

(while watching Mike play in a flag football game)

E: "Is it okay to take the football away from someone else?"

(when Mike went to get her in the morning after she'd been coughing)

Mike: "Do you want some water to help your cough?"

E: "No... well... I think a pumpkin muffin would help!"

(after we both went on the big potty)

Me: "Good job, big girl!"

E: "Good job, taller big girl!"

(while chasing Boss around the backyard)

E: "Boss, Miss Elise is coming to get you now. You are not cooperating. You need to have some room time behind that tree over there."

(while laying in our bed one morning... our room has a fan but hers doesn't)

E: "My room in Alabama had a ceiling fan with four lights on it."

Yay for Tiny Prints!

I LOVE Tiny Prints. They have the cutest designs for photo cards, announcements, invitations, stationary, and even photo books! I picked coordinating birth announcements for Elise and Jack from Tiny Prints and received so many compliments on them. This year, I get to participate in the Tiny Prints Holiday Campaign and I am so excited to order Christmas cards from them for the first time! If you are interested in participating, click the previous link for more information. Posts must be up by November 29.

Since having children, I've started a tradition of giving a photo calendar to parents and grandparents for Christmas. For each month of the calendar, I insert favorite pictures that were taken during the same month of the previous year and it is fun for everyone to look back at how much the kids have grown. Since I just found out that Tiny Prints also offers calendars, I will order from them this year. I'm sure that the quality of the calendars will be much better than the companies that I have used in years past. If you are looking for a meaningful gift for parents or grandparents, click here and start making your calendar!

Now it's time for the fun part. How do I decide which card to use? Flat or folded? Traditional or modern? Click here to check out their new Christmas card lineup. I love the filter on the left hand side so that I can immediately narrow down my selection to a card with 3+ pictures and a Christmas theme. These are my favorites so far...

This trifold card would be great for including many pictures to fully tell our story from this past year.

This one is so colorful and fun... and it would be easier to display on the refrigerator!

I will probably spend too much time deciding which card to use, but I know I will be thrilled with the final result. Thanks, Tiny Prints!

Cutest little guy ever!

Jack had his 6 month appointment earlier this week and weighed in at a whopping 15 lbs, 12 oz (between 10th and 25th percentiles) and measured 26.25 inches (between 25th and 50th percentiles). I don't remember the exact head measurement, but it was in the 75th percentile. The doctor says he looks great and was impressed at how interactive he is with people (smiling, laughing, making eye contact, and "talking").

Happy Friday!

6 month update

(Since I haven't started his baby book yet, I need to record this here!)

Well, Jack completely surprised us with a tooth today! Aside from drooling for months, he never gave any indication that a tooth was on the way. He doesn't even chew on toys very much. This explains why he was uncharacteristically fussy yesterday afternoon. If one fussy afternoon is all it takes to pop a tooth, I'll take it!

Jack - 6 months

Stats: Jack is definitely our little buddy! He is 15.5 lbs and 26 inches long (by comparison, Elise was 18 lbs 10 oz and 27.5 inches at this age!). His 6 month appointment is next week, so maybe he'll encounter a major growth spurt this weekend :) We love our happy little man.

Sleeping: Jack is still a really good sleeper. He goes to bed around 7:15 and wakes around 7:15 or 7:30 (take that, daylight savings time!). He takes two 1.5-2 hour naps and one 45-60 minute nap. He goes down very easily unless he is overtired, and then he might fuss or cry for a minute or two before falling asleep. Sometimes he rolls onto his tummy to sleep and other times he sleeps on his side. I try very hard to be home when it is time for him to sleep. If we're running late and he falls asleep in the car then he will transfer to the crib just fine. When I put him in the crib, he immediately puts his thumb in his mouth and rolls on his side.

Eating: We are still nursing well 5 times a day. Jack learned how to drink from a straw cup this month, so bye bye bottles! He is still way more efficient at nursing and won't take a full feeding from anything else, but he definitely does better with a straw than he ever did with a bottle. He gets to practice this skill a few times a week. We started cereal last weekend and he LOVED it the first few days but hasn't been as excited since then. The first night, we actually had to make him a second "bowl" because he was so anxious for more. I would say that he's eating the equivalent of an ounce of milk mixed with 2 tsp of cereal, even though I fix more than that. It is possible that he's eating the solid meal too close to his 5:00 feeding, but since his primary source of nutrition should still be milk, I definitely don't want to try to drop to 4 feedings a day just so that he will eat more solids. That will come in time. I'm pretty sure Elise was just dropping from 5 to 4 around her first birthday.

Schedule (notice a lot of -ishs... this is what happens when you have 2 children!):

7:30ish - wake up, eat

8:30ish - nap

10:30ish - wake up, eat

12:30ish - nap

2:00ish - wake up, eat

4:15ish - nap

5:00ish - wake up, eat

6:15ish - solids

7:00 - eat

7:15 - bed

Playing: He's getting better and better with the tripod sit and thinks it is really funny when he falls over. He is still not rolling across the room, which is totally fine with me. If he pushes with both arms, he can get his whole chest off the ground when he's on his tummy. He is totally content playing on his mat, on a blanket, or in the exersaucer, but he ADORES the jumperoo. He laughs and coos and talks like crazy and he's already working on his vertical. The kid just loves to jump. Maybe he'll be really athletic like his daddy :) Jack also likes to stand holding onto our fingers or the toy box. He even squats down and tries to jump. He also loves his Haba rattles and Sophie the giraffe, but more for shaking than chewing.

Personality: Jack is the sweetest, happiest little boy we've ever seen and he brings our family so much joy. He smiles and laughs all the time (unless of course we're running late for a meal or a nap). Happy 1/2, little buddy!

Fall

This is my first time to experience the fall season. The colors are just beautiful and the weather has been marvelous. Mike's mom, Cindy, was visiting this week and we took the kids out to take some pictures at a college campus that is right behind our neighborhood. Jack wasn't very cooperative this time because it was as little cold but I was able to bribe Elise with some Teddy Grahams that she got for Halloween. The child HATES having her picture taken. She thinks she has to tilt her head to smile for a picture.

Taking a quick break to suck her thumb...

This isn't the best picture but I wanted to recommend this North Face Oso Hoodie. It is the perfect everyday winter jacket. My favorite part is that the hood actually stays on her head when she runs and plays. I got this one (discontinued color) for 1/2 price and we're very happy with it.

Beautiful fall scenery

Jack - onesie by Rachel at Twenty 9 Freckles... isn't it adorable?!

Kiddos were ready to walk home (notice the hood)

I tried several times to get a good picture of Cindy and the kids and this is probably the best I have...

Here they are with the dolphin that Elise got during their Elise/Gram date to the Aquarium this week. She LOVED it and has been talking about it all week.

Playing with Aunt Jennifer last week

Elise playing in the backyard

I got up early this morning to send Mike and Cindy off to the airport and now it's 8:00 and my kids are still sleeping... Yay for successfully conquering daylight savings time! It only took a week :)