Jaida at 15 Months

Wow, I have really lost track of time and slacked on blogging lately!  I can’t imagine it will get any better this summer either as David will be traveling in May, June and July. I’m sure the girls and I will have lots of fun but we will sure miss him being home!!! 

So Jaida is now almost 16 months old and those first few exciting steps really solidified about 4-5 weeks ago.  She’s having so much fun walking and loves to hold my hand as we go.  She and Graceyn play together alot more now too…I guess being mobile really helps with that!  It’s so fun to watch them laugh together, play with their babies, and pretend to cook.  One of Jaida’s favorite activities now is to take everything out of our cabinets and then put it back.  At least she likes the clean up part too…if she doesn’t get sidetracked first! 🙂 

We had her 15 month checkup on Friday and she’s still “long and lean” according to Dr. Fridell.  Those words are oh so familiar but I quickly questioned him this time…I mean have you SEEN this girl’s belly?  She is very proud of it and will show it off to anyone who asks.  It reminds me of Winnie the Pooh!  But anyway, I guess the rest of her is small enough to make up for it. 

Jaida eats like a champ.  In some ways she’s pretty picky.  The only veggie she’ll eat is sweet potatoes… until recently when I re-discovered smoothies.  Now she and Graceyn will both drink up their spinach because it’s mixed with other yummyness.  Jaida is also fairly particular about fruit.  She’s the only kid I know who doesn’t like applesauce!  I think she’s more of a sour girl because she’ll drink plain kefir mixed with just a touch of cranberry juice and eats cottage cheese.  She could LIVE off of dairy, meat, and bread with a banana or strawberry mixed in here and there 🙂 

Our girl is still super super sweet and happy, though we can definitely see her temper coming out these days.  She has a very pitiful sad face that will melt your heart!  Her favorite NON-approved activity is throwing her food, cup, etc on the floor.  Smacking her hand used to make that bottom lip pucker out and bring in the tears in a heartbeat.  But now sometimes she’ll throw her food down, then hit her own hand and smile. Grrr…so that tactic isn’t working and I’m experimenting with alternatives.

Although we’re in the middle of some changes/uncertainty with her sleeping, she still does really well.  She sleeps about 12 hours at night and around 2 or so during the day. Most of the time she still takes 2 naps at home…but they’re often no more than an hour or hour and a half.  If we’re out and busy all morning I try to get her to do a longer one in the afternoon.  Sometimes, if she wakes up, I can get her back down.  Other times, no chance.  We’ve had some issues with her waking up at night but have finally broken that habit for the most part.  If she does, she either settles back down quickly or we go give her paci back to her and she’ll lay back down pretty easily.

Not much on the language end yet.  She “talks” up a storm but doesn’t say much that is intelligible to most of the world.  “Daddy” is “Addy” if she says it at all.  “Mommy” seems to be making a debut here and there.  But mostly it’s “Ba” as she points to what she wants.  I’ve heard her do a version of “up please” and “thank you” and of course she can tell us what a doggie says 🙂  But I think that’s about it.  She does a little signing but has somehow gotten confused and uses the sign for “more” when I think she really means “please.”  I guess because we always taught her the “more” sign and we said, “more please.”  Oh well, we’re getting the hang of it! 

Our sweetest moments with Jaida now are at prayer times when she holds our hands and does so very happily.  Then she’ll cheer when we say, “Amen.”  And then her HUGS…oh her wonderful, heart warming, eat ’em up hugs!!!  I just LOVE them and they’re the perfect way to start/end our day and any other time in between 🙂  We are so thankful for this gift from God…but she’s getting big way too fast already! 

Here she is playing dress up with her sister.

Excited about her Elmo book for Easter

 

At the beach back in March...she LOVED the sand!! And couldn't care less about the water (which was good because it was too cold anyway).

 

First Steps!!!

Of course this is a little late and Jaida has been taking 3-4 steps at a time for a couple of weeks now. But TODAY she took at least 10!!!!  I was unfortunately on the phone with a doctor so I couldn’t even cheer for her appropriately but I’m so proud of our girl 🙂  She had a HUGE grin on her face the whole time, like she was so proud of herself too.  I hope to capture it on film this weekend and will try to post again then!

I Have So Much to Learn…

from my 4 year old and my husband.  Contentment.  Thankfulness.  Joy.  Selflessness.  And these are just a few of them!  Yesterday was David’s birthday.  Here is how it was “supposed” to go: Our good friends were going to keep the girls overnight Thursday.  We had gift cards to eat out and would either go see a movie (also with gift cards) or come home and watch some of David’s favorite TV shows.  Friday morning, we would sleep in, I would make a yummy breakfast, send him off to work with a good lunch and eagerly anticipate his arrival home.  We’d maybe even surprise him with coffee or something fun during the day!  I was sure the house would be spotless, girls would be happy, I’d fix whatever he wanted for dinner and we’d have a great evening together 🙂 Now here’s how his birthday actually happened: Wednesday night, Jaida threw up.  Only once and then slept through the rest of the night.  Okay, we’ll be find to go out Thursday night, right?  Wrong.  Graceyn and I both woke up with it and were sick all day.  David stayed home and worked on taxes so he could help take care of Jaida.  He went off to work that afternoon since Jaida would nap, leaving Graceyn and I to just rest on the couch, in between episodes of cleaning her up 😦  While he was gone, I began to worry about dehydration for her.  We went back and forth when the dr, making an appt, canceling it, contemplating it once again, before she finally started keeping fluids down and we knew she’d be okay.  That night, instead of having a date, he ate beans and rice, helped get the girls down, and continued with his taxes while I passed out on the couch for the evening.  Friday morning…his actual birthday.  No yummy breakfast; cereal.  No good lunch for work; beans and rice.  No surprise of coffee during the day (although he DID use some change to get Starbucks for himself!)  I spent the day trying to disinfect the house.  But now, it’s late afternoon and David’s coming home at 4:30!  Woohoo!!!  We’ll celebrate tonight 🙂  I wasn’t prepared for such an early arrival but I finished up all the disinfecting, laundry, etc that I could, bathed both girls, got a shower, and we were READY.  “Let’s all go out to eat” he said.  So that’s our plan.  I had to run by the church to unlock nurseries for an event, so I did that while he got ready.  On the way home, he called.  Jaida, who was with me, was screaming.  “On that note,” he said, “why don’t we just stay home tonight.”  Immediately, I was crushed again.  “Why?” I asked.  And I got the dreaded answer…I’m feeling kinda funny.  NOOOOOOO!!!!  No, God!  He can’t be sick on his BIRTHDAY!!!  Because people NEVER get sick on their birthdays right?  And this is just terrible right?  Woe is me!  Woe is him!  Good grief I’m ridiculous!  Now, here’s where the lessons begin. Never in ANY of this has my amazing husband seemed disappointed, frustrated, angry, upset, etc.  I knew he needed to work on Thursday and yet he stayed home with us.  I know he needed to get taxes finished, and he helped with Jaida in the midst of working.  I know he wanted a yummy breakfast, and not a word about it.  I know beans and rice don’t make up a spectacular birthday lunch, and again not a word.  I know he wanted to go out last night, and he was perfectly fine with my scrambled eggs and leftover pancakes.  “His present” this year was one of Graceyn’s toddler Bibles and one of Jaida’s snuggle blankets that Graceyn insisted on putting in a box and “wrapping” for him (using a blanket)  🙂  Super cute, and yes he was very gracious!  And God was teaching me through watching the 2 of them.  Graceyn LOVES birthdays about as much as I do.  And yes she asked why he didn’t have a party and invite people.  Yes she asked about the cake.  Yes she asked why we weren’t taking him out to a restaurant for dinner.  BUT, she accepted every answer without complaint.  And she was very appreciative of the “yummy dinner” (she has eggs every morning for breakfast mind you and we’ve had pancakes several times this week so it wasn’t anything special). Her excitement over making 5 cards for daddy and wrapping his gift was contagious!  At dinner she told me that it had been a great birthday 🙂  Had we done ANYTHING special that day?  Not really.  I cleaned while she entertained herself or watched TV.  Daddy worked.  But it was okay 🙂 I love my family and I love how God uses them to teach me how silly I am.  I love my husband’s selfless contentment.  When things don’t go as planned, it’s okay.  We re-adjust.  I love my daughter’s excitement.  When things don’t go as planned, she’s finds something else to bring excitement.  One day, perhaps I’ll learn 🙂  God’s plans are better than ours. By the way, I was sure the evening, after bedtime would be just fine as long as David wasn’t sick.  He wasn’t 🙂  How did we spend our evening?  With 2 girls finally settling down an hour later than normal, working on a budget, and THEN watching Blue Bloods together 🙂  Today, we are attempting a “do-over” and my husband is sleeping in.  Will I make a yummy breakfast?  WHO KNOWS?!?! 🙂  And that’s OK 🙂

One Year Old!!!

Post from earlier this month that I forgot to actually publish…

Our baby girl is now a year old.  It doesn’t seem possible at all…we are so thankful that God chose us to be parents of this sweet little girl.  Her personality abounds more and more every day.  Jaida is sweet and sensitive, fun loving, fearless, cuddly, and starting to show her independence a little.  We are starting some discipline with her…mostly stern voices/looks but smacking her hand as well sometimes.  And honestly, she really does crumple with her daddy especially.  He always feels bad for hurting her feelings and snuggles her afterwards though so we know she is learning that we love her even in the midst of correction.

She loves to do this to show affection as well 🙂

I think Jaida’s favorite thing to do is eat 🙂  She still takes 18oz of formula every day and loves most any food I give her, especially if it looks like what everyone else is eating.  I don’t get much baby food in her these days, unless it’s something she really likes or I alternate bites of “real” food in between.  But it’s so much easier to let her feed herself most of the time so I’m thankful she likes it!  Her favorites are sweet potatoes, green beans (especially when Aunt Wendy makes them), and bread.  The only thing I can think of that she doesn’t like is eggs.  Update:  As of today (2 weeks after her birthday) she is transitioning from formula to milk and no longer drinks from a bottle!!!  Crazy!!!!

We still have a great sleeper on our hands as well…at least as long as we’re home!  She naps for about 3 hours each day but varies in how it’s split up.  Quite often she’ll still take 2 hour morning naps and then shorter ones in the afternoon.  She goes to bed at 7:30 and recently has been sleeping until 8:00…a DREAM!!!  If they continue on this sleeping schedule, mommy needs to start going to bed early and getting up to work out 🙂

Jaida’s working hard on walking but not quite ready to do it on her own yet.  If you hold her fingers though, she’ll walk you anywhere you (read SHE) wants to go!  She’s a total climber and still into anything she’s NOT supposed to have.  I did find some of Graceyn’s old toys in the attic though and they are definitely helping.  I guess I really had mostly baby stuff out still.  She likes anything that makes music or other noise and will “dance” along as well.

For her birthday, she got her very own “Abigail” much to her sister’s delight.  She does love it though and immediately gave her hugs.  When daddy handed her the bottle that goes with it, she even stuck it straight into the baby’s mouth!  I was impressed as she held it there, letting baby drink.  It always amazes me that girls have such innate nurturing tendencies.

Her other favorite thing is to be outside, near Jake, and swinging.  As I said before, she’s pretty fearless.  So she really likes to climb up the rock wall, climb over to the slide, and if we don’t move her fast enough, head down headfirst.  Disclaimer here…someone is ALWAYS holding onto her when she goes down!!!  Daddy likes to let her go down headfirst.  So when mommy makes her sit on her bottom, she usually shakes her head “no” and tries to wiggle herself free.  So mommy has to move fast and start the sliding…then she forgets that she’s mad and enjoys the ride down 🙂

For her birthday, the girls and I went to a nearby park that has a baby swing.  Ours needs to be fixed so she can’t sit it in right now.  She squealed with delight as I pushed both girls higher and higher.  She also had fun just crawling around the other equipment and hanging from the bar.  She could actually hang for a few seconds on her own!  Very strong girl!!!

Our friends Rylan and Keegan met us there for a bit, then we all met daddy to get birthday ice cream.  Her very FIRST ice cream.  And yes, she’s our girl…she LOVED IT!!!  This shop has baby cones so she got her very own; of course wanted to hold it; and devoured every last bite, cone included.  At one point, daddy tried to take it to “clean it up a little.”  No way dad!  This girl had a death grip on that cone.  Too funny 🙂  Unfortunately, we did go the sugar free route…and quickly learned that was a bad idea.  Note to unsuspecting parents…little tummies don’t like sugar-free.  And honestly, we wouldn’t have done it on a regular basis anyway.  We were just trying to keep her sugar free for as long as possible.  Next time she’ll get the real stuff for sure!!!

After a long nap (crashing from the morning’s excitement), Rylan and Keegan (and of course their awesome mommy Aunt Gretchen) came back over to play on the swingset.  We had a fund pizza party, complete with cheese sticks for Jaida (a bad idea on top of the sugar free ice cream, sweet potatoes, and pears from earlier in the day).

When daddy got home from work, she opened her gift and had fun playing with the big kids until bedtime.  What better birthday can a 1 year old ask for?!?!

Slacking!!!

I didn’t realize I was quite so behind in blogging.  First of all, I wrote a 10 month/11 month post that somehow was never published.  So scroll down for that one.  Then I realized I never posted about Thanksgiving, or anything beyond!  Be forewarned.  This is a LONG post, maybe the longest ever for me…and it’s full of both fun and sadness.  Here we go…

We had a great time celebrating Thanksgiving early with David’s family and then went to Roanoke for the holiday weekend.  Somehow no pictures were taken and I am especially sad about that now.  The kids had a BLAST running around outside, even when it was dark and cold.  My cousin Danielle was scheduled to be induced the next day so most of the ladies sat upstairs and chatted with her while the guys watched football and took turns hanging out with the kiddos. By the way…she had a beautiful baby boy the next day…his name?  Jaiden 🙂  I love that we now have Jaida, Jaiden, Gracie and Graceyn in our family!  And he is SO CUTE!!!

When we got back, it was time to decorate!  See below for pictures of the fun 🙂  I absolutely LOVE Christmas and everything that surrounds this wonderful holiday.  I am so excited to have a daughter that shares that excitement and joy.  What fun we had this year!!!  Graceyn made an Advent chain at preschool so every day we took off another loop and she’d say, “Mommy!  That means we’re getting closer to Christmas!”  She and I made chocolate chip pumpkin bread to give as gifts, she helped me wrap presents, and we talked a ton about how all of this was to celebrate Jesus’s birthday.  We read books, watched Polar Express, and drank hot chocolate.

Tall enough to reach by himself this year!

She almost fell in! Jaida had a great time climbing on the boxes and pulling out everything she could find 🙂

Our very special manger scene. My Grandaddy made the stable and the pieces were my moms. I always loved how tiny Baby Jesus is and now Graceyn does too.

Rylan and Keegan came over and all 4 kiddos had fun making the snowmen sing.

Both sets of grandparents and Aunt Allie helped us buy the girls a new playset for Christmas.  We got a great deal on craigslist so we surprised Graceyn with it a couple of weeks before Christmas, when David had time to set it up.  Both girls LOVE it!!!  Jaida is quite the daredevil already and wants to go down the slide head first.  Mommy is not a fan but daddy thinks it’s great 🙂

On Christmas morning, we had our traditional Christmas breakfast of French toast casserole and baked fruit.  I skipped out on the sausage/egg casserole this year because we had so much going on and knew we’d be traveling.  The girls each opened their books and ornaments.  Fancy Nancy and the Splendiforous Christmas with a Winnie the Pooh ornament for Graceyn.  Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer (with sounds of course!) and an ornament with a boxer that looks like Jake for Jaida.  She also got a “Baby’s First Christmas” ornament.  Then we read the Christmas story together and got ready for church.  After church, we went to Manchester for a fun celebration there…lots of yummy food, more presents, kids playing, and Call of Duty for a few certain adults 🙂  When everyone was worn out there, we loaded back up and headed to Virginia.  It was a long long day for David and me but it was nice to travel while the kids were sleeping.  The next day we celebrated with my parents and sister…more yummy breakfast and lots of presents again!  My mom’s sister and her family came that afternoon as usual and we celebrated once again with them.  Pictures to follow as soon as we figure out what’s wrong with our desktop.

And that’s where our holiday fun came to an abrupt end.  As we were cleaning up the kitchen, my dad got a shocking and devastating phone call that my Uncle Rick had died suddenly that afternoon.  Apparently he had a heart attack at work.  This is the 2nd brother my dad has lost in 8 months and we’re all just a little numb from it…doesn’t seem real at all.  The rest of the week was a bit of a blur as we walked around feeling lost and just waiting for arrangements to be made.  I’m so thankful we were there for my dad and for us.  It’s amazing how much you need to be with your family in times like this.  The service was absolutely beautiful and absolutely what Uncle Rick would have wanted.  We were up on his mountain on a beautiful day with family and friends all over.  My sweet David did the service and it was just perfect.  We laughed and cried…his oldest 2 children spoke, as did my dad and Uncle Mike, and 2 other friends.  It was such a testimony to his life…a man who loved God, loved his family, loved his dogs, and loved his land.  A man who would do anything for anyone…and often did.  A father, a son, a grandfather, a brother, an uncle, a friend, a hard worker who is deeply missed.  As we drove up to the country, I was overcome with sadness.  For as long as I can remember, we have been to his house on Christmas Eve.  This year they moved it to Christmas Day but still, we were too late.  We knew we would be but didn’t realize how much we would regret it.  My dad said they had a great night together and for that I am thankful.  He was happy.  But driving there for his funeral, instead of for a fun family gathering, was so much harder than I’d imagined.  Walking into his house broke my heart.  He was supposed to come walking into the room at any moment to give us hugs and welcome us in.  Instead I found myself crying in the arms of his ex-wife, also a big part of my memories there.  After the service, we stuck around for a bonfire…a tradition in their family but the first one I had been to with them.  He would have been so happy to see us all there together.  Uncle Rick, I love you.

And that my friends was quite a post.  But that’s how life has been these days…lots of ups and some major downs thrown in the midst.  David and I spent New Year’s Eve at home on the couch while the girls were tucked in bed.  We needed some down time and that’s what we got.  We have much to be praying for as this year begins…I’m anxious to see what God has in store!

10 Months AND 11 Months

Somehow I completely overlooked doing Jaida’s 10 month post and now it’s time for number 11!!!  In less than a month, our baby will be a year old.  Mommy is not excited about how quickly she is growing up but she is such a joy and we love her more and more all the time, if that’s even possible!  Let’s start with her 10 month post…

During this month, her favorite new word was “Jake” (our new dog).  She absolutely loves this adorable animal and looks for him outside the kitchen door all the time (see pic below).  She gets huge thrills out of taking him for walks and will cry for him when we have to come in.  She also finally started saying a version of “mama” though I still don’t think she’s attaching mommy to the word.

At 10.5 months, we finally went for her 9 month appt, complete with a finger prick and 4 shots.  Jaida was super brave and didn’t cry long for any of it.  She weighed in at 19lbs 4oz (50th percentile) and was 29 inches long (90th percentile).  The doctor had us continue with formula because her iron levels weren’t quite high enough, but he wasn’t concerned.  She’s eating about 20 oz of formula each day but is starting to decrease slowly.  She still loves solid foods and it shows on those awesome little thighs and cheeks of hers!

Sometime around Thanksgiving, she started to do a “real” crawl…belly off the floor.  Not long after that, she was pulling up and climbing…now she is cruising.  So I’m thinking she may take off walking before too much longer!  She still loves to get into anything she’s not supposed to and the Christmas tree is very tempting for those little hands.

11 Months

We can tell that her language skills are starting to develop more.  She says “uh oh,” “hi,” and “yes” fairly often.  I have even heard her attempt “thank you” several times!  I’m pretty sure she has said “I did it” as well.  She nods and shakes her head, though not usually in the appropriate response 🙂  She loves to make different noises with her mouth and will now smack her tongue if she’s hungry and I ask her if she wants to eat.  She’ll also wave for “bye bye” and “night night.”

Mommy is so happy to hear her little girl calling for her “mama” now!  She is starting to get pretty attached, but still doesn’t have any problems going into the nursery at church or being handed off to others.    She’s more of a daddy’s girl anyway and rarely chooses anyone else if he’s around.  I love to watch her lean towards him, arms out, just smiling, kicking and laughing away!  What a welcome home to him after a long day at work too.  My sweet Uncle Rick is the only one she’s seemed “afraid” of until tonight…we learned that she is NOT a fan of Santa Claus!  We have no idea why she cried around Uncle Rick but I’m hoping that she’ll be over that if we get to see them at Christmas.  Santa, I can understand 🙂

We are looking forward to Christmas and more time to spend together as a family.  I am so thankful that Jaida is in my class at PMO so I can be with her on those days, even though I’m working.  It’s fun to watch her learn to play with other children.  Of course they don’t really play together yet but she is learning how to interact, be gentle, etc.  She loves to watch other people, hear/dance to the music we sing, and play with all the toys.  What a fun age this is!!!

Birthday Fun!!!

As usual, we had multiple birthday celebrations for our girl 🙂  Here is the jist of it…

We started on the Saturday before her birthday with a party at the park...lots of friends were there and she was SO excited!

We had pumpkin cupcakes with chocolate frosting...

And had lots of fun on the playground and by the river.

On the morning of her birthday, she received a special phone call from Gram and Grandaddy as soon as she woke up 🙂 Note the "I'm oh so grown up" body posture!

We had camp at church that day so I was able to grab this pretty picture...LOVE that she was climbing trees in her dress! 🙂

Aunt Gretchen treated us to a birthday treat downtown after camp was over...yum!!!

Good to the very last drop...that's my girl.

Our birthday girl was definitely wiped out after all that fun! She grabbed a quick nap in the car, snuggled with mommy for a few minutes, and waited for daddy to get home. I didn't get a picture of dinner but we went to Cracker Barrel at her request...pancakes and eggs of course! She got a bathrobe and slippers from her future husband, Rylan...books and a movie from her future brother-in-law, Keegan...and a doctor's kit from mommy and daddy.

On Sunday, we had a great time celebrating in Manchester! She had MORE cake, presents, playing in the leaves, and a yummy dinner with our family there.

And to top it all off, she got a new Abigail (this makes #3) from Gram and Grandaddy. For those of you who don't know Abigail, this has been her favorite baby since she got her for Christmas when she was a year old. Number one has a broken arm and number two is lost. Gram and Grandaddy searched EVERYWHERE for this one...twice actually because the first time around they were looking for the wrong doll. Mommy looked online and in Chattanooga. Apparently they are being discontinued at Walmart but not at Target. A friend of Gram's was about to drive to Bedford to look when Gram and mommy both found her at the same time...one at Target in Roanoke and the other at Target in Chattanooga. The look on her face made it all TOTALLY worth it and hopefully THIS Abigail will stick around!

As you can tell, our girl has lots of people who love her and we had lots of fun celebrating her this year!

4 Years

Wow…our Graceyn is 4 years old!!!  I’m not even sure where to begin because she has grown and changed SO much in the past year.  Just the other day we were talking about some of the vocabulary she uses/understands.  Words like conversation, menacing, etc.  And it’s not uncommon for her to use words like realize, actually, and other similar words when she talks.  Sometimes it’s hard for us to remember that she’s only 3 years old (well, now 4) because in some ways she seems much older.  But we NEED to remember that because she DOES act her age many times and we don’t want to be too hard on her when her behavior IS age-appropriate!

Graceyn is really enjoying her Wednesday pre-school this year.  She loves learning so much and gets really excited about the new things she can do!  Her class at PMO this year is also more academically oriented so she’s learning how to write her letters, what sounds the letters make, etc.  She’s doing great with tracing, cutting, AND writing!  Last week she learned how to write the letter “P” and was so thrilled that, when I picked her up from Sunday School a few days later, she had written “P” all over her paper 🙂

She’s also taking dance once a week and does Pioneer Club at church on Wednesday nights.  She loves dance and is really picking up the different positions well.  She’ll even name them…passe, plie, arabesque.  They do ballet, jazz, and tap all rolled into one class so the girls get a taste of each style.  At Pioneer Club they are encouraging memory work with Bible verses, so I’m excited to work with her on that!  She and I have started using naptime most afternoons as a time to read her Bible together and then either have our own quiet time on the bed together or nap (depending on how tired mommy is!).  I really enjoy that time but it’s also been really hard to give up that “productive” time when I feel pulled to do work or household chores.  For now though, at least on some days, the laundry and dishes pile up, the floors go unswept, and I have that time with my girl 🙂

Yesterday was her actual birthday.  Of course, she wasn’t born until just after 7pm so all day she asked, “Am I 4 now?” And I would tell her, “in just a few more hours you will be!”  So when I told her, “Guess what Graceyn…you’re officially 4 now” her eyes got big and she said with amazement, “I am?  I’m 4 now?  Wow!  Let me go see how big I am!!!”  She ran into the bathroom, stood on the stool in front of the mirror, got down and moved it aside, then looked again exclaiming, “WOW!  I AM 4 now!!!”  Soooo cute 🙂

We had a great day celebrating our girl.  She woke up super early and had a phone call from Gram and Grandaddy to start the day.  At camp she got to make her own pizza for lunch.  Then we went to get ice cream with our friends Gretchen, Rylan and Keegan.  After a short nap (because she fell asleep in the car) we read books together.  And for dinner she chose Cracker Barrel for pancakes and eggs 🙂  No surprise there!  And today she woke up asking, “Mommy, am I still 4?”  “Yes, sweetheart…you’ll be 4 all year!”  And of course she replied, “And then I’ll be FIVE!!!”  She also told her daddy today, “I’m almost bigger than you are daddy because I’m 4 now!”  How we love our girl!!!

Decorating her pumpkin cupcakes before the party

YUM!!!

She loved handing out treat bags to all her friends! She even did that BEFORE opening her own presents 🙂

The Party Crew!

9 Months

Our girl is growing FAST!!!  So fast in fact that she looks like a totally different baby from just a couple of months ago!  Sometimes I really think she goes through major changes in the matter of just a few days.  The biggest milestone she has accomplished this month is that she is now mobile!!!  She still does the army crawl, which her daddy thinks is just great 🙂  She’s getting pretty fast at it and of course wants anything she’s NOT supposed to get into.  But she does at least stop and look at me briefly when I tell her no so I guess that’s good for now.  She tries very hard to keep her tummy off the ground and will rock back and forth a few times but she always collapses back down to the floor before she moves.  She is also trying to pull up now but I think we’ve got a little while before she masters it.

In the pictures below, Jaida is wearing the same dress Graceyn wore on her 1st birthday!!!  Our youngest girl is no longer skinny…I think solid food has been good for her.  It will be so interesting to find out her height and weight when we go for her next checkup.  That’s not until later this month though so I’ll have to post those stats another time.

She has started eating 3 “meals” a day most days…I think her favorites are acorn squash and pretty much any fruit.  She also eats oatmeal, avocado, plain yogurt, carrots, and peas.  I’ve also given her a pureed form of Shepherd’s Pie when we had leftovers from dinner.  We’ve discovered that her little tummy can’t handle bananas any more than once a week.  And she’s eating 22 oz of formula per day.

Jaida already loves reading books and playing games together.  She especially loves peek-a-boo and sitting/standing on daddy’s hand.  For those of you fortunate enough to have NOT witnessed this event, I’m sure I’ll get pictures of it eventually.  Daddy is very excited to see glimpses of daredevil in our girl.  She has a great “skydiver” pose as he says…usually because she wants someone to pick her up.  She also likes it when we sing songs and clap her hands for her.

Her daily routine is fairly similar to last month’s except that we’re into a pretty full schedule in the mornings now (Bible study on Mondays and PMO Tues/Thurs) so many of her morning naps are only an hour now.  I try to help her make up that time in the afternoons but it doesn’t always work.  It’s so hard for me to compromise the amount of rest she gets during the day but she’s still getting a total of about 14 hours. And if she’s fussy in the evening we just put her down early.  She’s gotten into the habit of waking up during the night…sometimes fussy and sometimes playing…but I can usually just leave her to fall asleep again on her own.  I think she’s probably trying to get more teeth.

Her Daddy loves it when she scrunches up her nose!

Quotable

Once again I started a post and never actually published it.  So this is from back in September.

This summer, David and I took Graceyn to see her first theater movie…Winnie the Pooh.  When my dad asked her what we were going to see she said, “Pinnie the…Pinnie the Wooh??” like she knew she had it wrong but couldn’t quite get the words out 🙂

While we were on a walk together one day she told me that she wanted to be a police officer when she grows up.  A few days later we were running by the river and she saw someone fishing.  She said she’d really like to go fishing one day so I told her that I was sure daddy and Josh would take her when she got older. “But mommy, I want to be a police officer when I get older!”  She was very surprised and excited to hear that she could do BOTH 🙂

David just got back from NY where he was helping with relief efforts from the flood.  Before he left, we were talking with Graceyn and preparing her for daddy leaving again (he’d just gotten back from Japan a week before he was heading back out).  She wanted to make sure he was going to be safe and asked lots of “good” questions but our favorite was, “Daddy do they have grocery stores in New York?”  And when she found out that they do indeed have grocery stores there she asked, “Can you bring me suckers?”  Daddy had started a trend I guess because, on his first trip to Japan back in April, remembering our girl’s love for suckers, he brought her back some special suckers from Japan…and now the tradition has stuck!

This morning she saw me fixing breakfast and informed me that she’d “rather not eat breakfast” because her tummy was hurting.