Birthday (half and real!) Excitement in April

Brace yourself for a lengthy post - it's been a meaningful few weeks!

At the beginning of the month, Sophia turned six months old. An entire half of a year has passed since Soph made her speedy arrival into this world! Little miss is still trying really hard to sit up on her own with no success. Maybe if she'd chunk up a bit, she'd do a little better. Her little self is holding steady at the 3rd percentile at 12lbs 8oz. She's a solid 40th percentile for height, though. Her weight may not show it, but she really loves real food. These days her favorite thing to do is "play" tag with her brother (which looks a lot like us holding her and chasing Aiden around the house). She does the same belly laugh as when she's watching Aiden jump on the trampoline. She adores that kid.

For as much of a diva as she was the first three months of her life, she has become a pretty chill babe these last three months. There are just a few areas (read: most) where that "second kid is completely different from the first" thing has come into play. For instance, Aiden fell asleep all the time when he nursed, Soph looks up at me with eyes wide open. Aiden also fell asleep when he was tired, regardless of where he was. Sophia will stay awake for hours, so many hours, if she's not in a place intended for sleep (bed, crib, pack and play). She can be totally exhausted and have been awake for 8 hours, but she's not sleeping if it's not the place for it. She definitely prefers females, if Mom or Dad isn't holding her - she even cried at both of her grandfathers this last month. Aiden didn't care who held him. She sucks her dang thumb....couldn't get her to take the pacifier like her brother no matter how hard I tried.

She gets around by rolling and rolling and rolling some more. Then she lifts her little head up off the floor with the biggest smile...the same big smile that she wakes up with on her sweet face in the morning. I'm smiling just typing this and thinking of her sweet self and happy smile. Teeth are moving into that smile.....on Saturday I found her first tooth trying to push its way through! (Turns out it was actually both bottom teeth at the same time....and poor little miss had bloody gums for a few days. So sad and ouchy.) I'm going to miss toothless grins around this house!

Then, as if Soph turning six months wasn't enough for momma's heart for one month, Aiden decided to turn 3 YEARS OLD just a few days later. The nerve of that kid!

His birthday was actually on Good Friday so we had the day off work to celebrate him. Perfect! We started the day with the traditional birthday cupcake and opened some gifts. Auntie M, Mimi and Daddo all came in town to celebrate our little man so we spent the day playing - inside, outside, with family and friends. One funny story from the morning - Aiden blew out his candles so well that I wanted him to do it again. I lit the candles again, with the intention of him just blowing them out...he of course, thought lit candles meant we should sing all over again. And so he led us in Happy Birthday, Round 2. I thought I had the video, but I think it's on Mal's phone....phooey.

On Saturday we had all the family over for a brunch birthday celebration and a special visitor made his way by - Mickey Mouse! We prepped Aiden that morning and told him Mickey was coming to his party and that Mickey was going to be big like us, not little like him. Mickey rang the doorbell and Aiden opened the door for him....and gave Mickey a big hug! Success! I didn't know which way his reaction would go so I was happy he didn't burst into tears at the sight of Mickey. Aiden was cautiously excited about having Mickey at his party....happy for him to be there but wanted a little distance. We played games with Mickey (during which Aiden decided he was hungry and just left to get some food...typical Aiden), sang happy birthday, opened presents and drew on the easel. Fun times with Mickey!

This year we got The Birthday Blessing box and spent the days leading up to Aiden's birthday celebrating him. It was fun hearing his answer to questions like "what do you want to be when you grow up?" (We asked him 3 times and his response only got better.....a boy, a kid and a girl....at least he can definitely achieve one of those things....)

Oh my sweet baby boy! You've brought us so much joy over these last 3 years. You have such a curious personality and a growing sense of independence. You love being silly and laughing, learning new words, and "cleaning" around the house. You love your sister like crazy, even if you sometimes get a bit envious of her getting attention. Some of my favorite moments are when you crawl up in our bed in the morning and Sophia joins us and the two of you lay there just laughing and laughing.

Ah, my heart is full! Full of love and joy for these precious darlings God has entrusted to me. Now if only I could bargain with God to slow down the clock (or add hours to the day!) so that I can enjoy more time with them.

Case of the Mondays

Sophia perfectly embodied all things Monday this morning....sleepy and startled at the thought of the week ahead. 

Life with a roommate

This is one of those things I shouldn't even post because the situation will go awry as soon as I make it publicly known...but I feel like I should document this moment in life. So here I go, risking my entire family's sleep....

Soph moved into Aiden's room Saturday night. First night was so-so, with her waking up in the middle of the night and us having to get her, which woke him up so fussing ensued. Sunday night the girl wouldn't sleep for anything so we took her out of there 10-15 after they laid down and she spent the night in the pack and play. But last night....well maybe I should just show you the pictures I woke up to this morning. 

Yup, that's them, sleeping in the same room, starting out their roommate life. It's been wonderful for Aiden, because he adores having her in there so he goes to bed almost right away, without fussing and in his bed....it's been weeks, nearly a month actually, since he slept in bed. 

Will this continue? Probably not since I posted all this....but at least you got to see cute/creepy pics of my kids snoozing. 

Yup, he's mine!

We might be putting up Easter decorations, but we are still singing Christmas songs - Jingle Bells to be exact. I guess it makes sense that my kid would love Christmas songs. 

Alternative Uses For Tutus

For all of you who have long sought an alternative use for that lovely tulle tutu hanging in the back of you closet, I've discovered one. Troll hair. They make perfect troll hair. So next time you are feeling troll-ish, just pull out that tutu and put it to use. See demonstration by Sophia below...

Moving Through March

Am I about to post Sophia's 5 month picture, knowing we will take her 6 month picture in a week? You betcha. These pictures were actually taken when she turned 5 months old....I'm just three weeks behind in getting a post up. But, at least it's making it on the blog, right?

Everyone started telling me she looked grown up this month and
not like a baby anymore. (tear. actually, multiple tears.)

Yes, she still falls over. Yes, she adores her feet. And, despite what
the first picture indicates, she loves to smile and laugh, though she
has a serious face much of the time as well.

Little Miss tilted the scales at 11 lbs, 9 oz when we went for a weight check earlier this month. The on-call doctor (who made me a less-than-happy momma) said it was time to start supplementing because Soph had dropped into the 3rd percentile so we did add a little something to her diet - real food! Aiden was so not ready for food when we started it at 6 months. So not ready. He pushed everything back out, but Sophia was more than ready at 5 months. She gobbled it up like she'd been waiting for this moment all her little life. She started on plain oatmeal (blah), then had some steel cut oats, made the way mommy likes (yum!) and moved on to avocado, sweet potato and then applesauce this weekend. Applesauce is one of Aiden's favorite foods so I braced myself to buy stock in it, thinking Sophia would also fall in love with it. Not so much. Ryan has the pictures on his phone with her delightful faces....I'll try to remember to get one and post it next time. Aiden liked pretty much everything so it was hilarious to us to watch a kid not like a food. 

We figured if Soph was going to eat big kid food, she might as well enjoy a big kid seat too so we got down the exersaucer for her and she loves it! I think that girl is going to take off running the moment she figures out how to stand up. She is not the sit-contentedly-in-your-lap baby....nope, she's a squirmer, always wanting to be down and wiggling. This is perhaps why she didn't prefer the swing or little lamb chair that Aiden lived in as a baby. She just wants to move. All that moving has resulted in her covering plenty of ground with her rolls this last month. 

 

I laid her in front of those two open door, feet towards the bathroom 
tiles. This is where she wriggled herself to a few minutes later.

Aiden Bo-baiden, as he now refers to himself (as a result of the song Aiden, Aiden, bo-baiden, banana, nana, fo-faiden....Like a good mother, I sang it to him, he thought it was hilarious, and now he is confident that he is Aiden Bo-baiden. I'll say things like "hey goofy" to which he will reply "I'm not goofy, I'm Aiden Bo-baiden.") So yeah, side story that resulted in a sentence fragment. I will try again. 

Aiden Bo-baiden has left his bed for the ever-so-comfortable floor and has been hanging out there for a few weeks. He went through a bit of a "scare" thinking we were gone when we closed the door and cried a lot of tears for a good week before I figured out what was going on. During this time, he also insisted there were bugs in his bed so I thought this new fear of bugs was the culprit for the crying. We changed the sheets, inspected together for bugs, gave him "bug spray" (i.e. small squirt bottle with water), snuggled in bed together....but all to no avail. The floor it is. At bedtime he needs a little reassurance that we are still outside the door....and then he cuddles himself up a few feet from it and goes to sleep (usually after a good long bit of wandering around his room). Nap time may look a bit different too.....more like an hour+ of room time, sometimes pulling every items out of every drawer before crashing and snoozing for an hour or two. They say sleep patterns change when big developmental milestones are coming, and that's held true in the past. I'm hoping this milestone is rock-your-world awesome....because our world is currently being rocked in less preferable ways. Cheers to the toddler years!

Yup, that's his head, right in front of the door. Sometimes
makes it a tad challenging to get in, in the mornings.

Cheers to hot cocoa in a real mug for the first time!
(Real cheers this time, not the pretend kind I wrote
about a minute ago.)

 

That Moment When...

You realize your toddler turned on your electric blanket for you and it's 72 degrees outside. Ah, roasty toasty. Thanks for helping momma out sweet boy.