SNOW!!

Last weekend we had some of the most snow we've had since Jonah was born. We had a big snow the year he was born but obviously he couldn't play it that. But this was the first since then. It was a wet snow that was not good for sledding in but was good for making snow balls. Once Haley took her morning nap we headed out to play. Jonah loved playing in it and did not want to come inside when it was time to. By the late afternoon most of the snow on the ground was gone.

  

Haley is 6 Months Old!

Haley is now 6 months old! To think that half a year has passed since she came into our lives is just shocking! It feels like she has always been here and that she was just born!


I feel like we are really hitting our stride with her and watching her blossom. She is very predictable but also doing lots of new things.

Milestones:

-Cut her first teeth on the bottom in the front!
-Started sleeping in her crib at night!
-Is starting to do great at sitting up but still needs help.
-Starting on solid food.
-Wearing size 6 month clothes exclusively and size 2 diapers
-Dr. Visit Stats: 14 lbs 4 oz (15th percentile), 24 inches long (5th percentile), head circ. 44 cm. (90th percentile). Was healthy and on track developmentally. She it petite but her head is big! Haha!

Sleeping:

Still doing very good with sleep and still takes 3 naps a day. Two long ones and one short one in the evening. Haley still sleeps a good long stretch at night and takes a bottle and then goes back to sleep. She is sleeping in her crib now at night exclusively. She had been in her swing before. I worried and stressed that this transition would be hard and kept putting it off. Michael kept saying we needed to go ahead and move her. Especially when 2 different, nice swings pooped out on us. We were on our last backup swing and decided to try it one Friday night. We figured if it didn't go well at least we didn't both have to work the next day. Well we set a timer for 5 minutes and said after that we would go in and get her if she was still fussing. She did fuss for 5 minutes and I was just about to go in there but then she started to calm down so I waited. She started fussing again so we set the timer for 2 more minutes. After that was up I started to go in and she calmed down so I stood outside her door. Well she was already asleep! So what I had worried and stressed over for so long was NOTHING! Isn't that how it always goes? She still sleeps in her swing for naps some when we can't get her settle down in the crib. Overall , though we are so proud of her. Also another milestone in the sleep department is that she does not sleep swaddled anymore. We swaddled her for the first 5 months of her life but now she is making the transition to sleeping with free arms. I have to say though that those HALO sleep sacks are wonderful for swaddling and keeping babies warm in the bed!

Eating:

Haley still eats 5 oz. every 4 hours during the day and takes a bottle in the night. She has gotten to where she will sleep sometimes from 8:30 till 4:30 and then wants something to eat. That is hard because we don't feel we can give her full 5 oz. because she will not sleep long enough for her next feeding and then her schedule for the day is all off. We are hoping that once we start the foods completely that she will sleep all night long. Haley is doing much better with finishing her bottles even if we have to stop a few times for burps or readjusting. She used to would not ever take it back once she stopped. Oatmeal hasn't gone great but I think she just doesn't really like the texture of it. We are going to start on the yellow veggies this week so we'll see how it goes.

Playing:

Haley can hold things and chew on them now and she loves to sit up and see what's around her. Her hand and eye coordination is getting better and better. She loves to jump when we hold her standing up in our laps. She still loves to play on her play mat and can grasp all the objects above her head. She loves to be sung to and loves to watch her big brother run around. They are starting to interact more than ever but he still mostly ignores her. We are working on sitting up and she can hold herself up without falling forward but once she heads backwards or to one side or the other she doesn't brace herself for the fall. I think she will be sitting up by the end of this month though. She can roll from her back to her side but just won't move that one arm to let her self roll completely over. She will stay on her side for a while though.

Personality:

Still just the most smiley and content baby. Haley is content to hang out in her bouncy seats and the play mat for extended periods of time. She is content to lay in her bed and just be until she gets sleepy or hungry. She is also grunting and cooing a lot at us and we are getting better at figuring out what makes her laugh. I've said that if I knew all babies were like her I would have another one. But I do know they aren't all like that because of her brother LOL! He was not a very content baby. :)

Jonah is 3.5!

Jonah had his half birthday on January 21st! I am just now getting around to blogging about it though. :( It's kind of sad that he not a baby anymore but at the same time I am very excited for what the next months and years hold for him and us. This kid keeps us busy, on our toes and full of joy!


There are so many things I can say about Jonah at this age. Sometimes the days are very hard and sometimes the days are so full of energy and imagination and independence. We never know which Jonah we have on our hands from day to day. He is more independent than ever and we try to cultivate that and allow him to have room to learn how to do things on his own. At the same time we have to tow the line of letting him know who is the boss around here. Many days he tries hard to make himself the boss. The imagination is so neat to see at this age and I know it's just the beginning. Seems like he learns or asks about something new everyday. The conversations around this house are just starting to get very interesting and we know he is soaking up what we say so we have to be extra careful there too. Here is a random and in no way organized list of what Jonah is all about at 3.5!


-Starting into the mischievous boy stuff. Loves to test his limits especially when he thinks we're joking. He is a big jokester too like his Daddy.

-Does great going to the potty and can do most of it by himself. This is an area we are working on. Still needs some help with pulling up underwear and pants.

-Is his Daddy's shadow and I don't see that changing any time soon. Daddy is the first thing he asks for each day and he wants to be into whatever he is doing.

-Has started to battle us on naps, baths and bedtime. He used to love taking a bath. :(

-Knows his ABC's and can count to 10 perfect and needs a little more help counting to 20.

-Recognizes uppercase and lowercase letters when he sees them.

-Can spell his name when asked but cannot write it yet. Working on it.

-Knows his address and his Nana's address

-Loves his baby sister and thinks she's great. He asks where she is anytime he doesn't see her.

-Started to make up his own songs around the house and dances.

-Loves Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. It's his favorite show and he actually watches and learns from it so I don't mind. Loves to also play all the Mickey games on Disney Junior.com

-Can use a mouse and can type out his name on the computer! This one amazes me!

-Weighs around 32 pounds now but pretty much no fat on the boy!

-Wears 3T clothes and size 8 shoes. I don't think we'll be in 4T stuff for a while.

-Needs a haircut about every 4 weeks. His hair grows so fast and sticks straight up in the back when it gets too long. He has some wild hair most days.

-Jonah is shy in most new situations and places and needs time to "warm-up" to his surroundings. But once he feels comfortable he jumps right in and you would never know he was shy. He is just like me in this aspect.

-Jonah has all but given up his afternoon naps. We shortened it down to around an hour because he was still too geared up even at 9 p.m. to go to bed on days he had long naps. Most days he just rests in the afternoon and then goes down for bed a little after 8 p.m.

-Jonah loves going to church and loves Sunday school. He can usually tell us exactly what he learned in class each time. We have also read through the entire Jesus Storybook Bible and he loved that.

-He also enjoys his Thursday Library Story hour with Nana. He has lots of friends that go there.

-Jonah is our big helper. He legitimately helps us when asked and brings me stuff when I have Haley. He is happy to help and loves to have a task.

-Oh man this child is so particular. If you move his toys he wants them back where they were. If his chair and plate aren't in the right spot he lets you know. He likes things to be the same way each time and likes a routine. He also doesn't like anything on his hands when he eats but will have the dirtiest hands when he play outside. This is one area that we struggle in but try to help him learn to adjust to changes. It's hard.

-Jonah loves getting to spend the night at his grandparents from time to time. He and Papaw are big buddies too.

-He still sleeps, eats and carries his baby puppy dog everywhere. It's like his security blanket. I think I will do a whole post on baby puppy soon so I can always remember him. He is looking rough these days.

-Jonah loves to outside working with Daddy or playing with his ride-on toys. I hate to keep him cooped up with this cold weather so any day that it's close to 50 we get him outside.

-Jonah has learned to pedal his tricycle (finally!) and can ride his scooter too. 

We just love our "buddy-man" so much and can't wait to see what all he dives into in the coming months and years. He is joy to us and we love having the responsibility of teaching him in the way he should go.

Haley is 5 Months Old!

Our sweet girl is 5 months old! Haley turned 5 months on 1.5.2014. She is a sweet ray of sunshine in our lives!

We don't go back to the Dr. until next month but I am guessing she weighs around 13 pounds. All her 3 month size clothes are tight on her but the leg and arm length is perfect. She wears some 3-6 month stuff and even some 6 month stuff. It just depends on the brand.

 Sleeping:

Haley does great at night. Some nights she doesn't even wake up to eat but most of the time she eats around 2-3 a.m. She takes 2 good long naps a day of around 2 hours and usually one shorter evening nap before going down for the night. We can't complain about how well she sleeps. She is still being swaddled to sleep and still sleeps in the swing. I think we are going to need to transition her to her crib fully at night VERY soon. I am not looking forward to this and yes I know I brought it on myself! LOL!

Eating:

We have been cleared to start solids but we have chose not to yet. No real reason other than I am not ready for it. Ha! Haley is doing really well right now with taking her bottle and we are still fixing 5 ounce bottles. Most of the time she takes 4.5 - 5 oz at each feeding. She still goes every 4 hours (her own schedule) between feedings. We will probably start some oatmeal here soon and see how she does. We just got a bumbo seat so I think that will help with trying it. I am in no rush to start all the food but I really want to talk to her Dr. at her 6 month visit about it all again.

Playing:

Haley is very close to rolling over from her back and her belly. She did roll from belly to back a couple of times last week but I think it was fluke because I had just laid her on her belly when she did it both times. She can get herself onto her side when she on her back she just can't get her arms out of her way to roll on over. It will be soon! This is another reason why we need to start transitioning her out of the swing. She is reaching out and grabbing anything close to her too! She will grab at my hair, mouth and nose when I hold her. It's adorable to see her explore. She tries to reach out and grab Jonah too but he usually doesn't stay still long enough for her to accomplish that feat. Haha! She is a giggly and smiling baby most of the time until she gets tired and then she rubs those eyes so much! It's precious! She also has started getting stronger in her legs to stand up on our laps. She will try to jump in these little tiny jumps when you first stand her up. I call it her river dance...lol! Haley still loves to chew on her fingers and doesn't have any interest in a pacifier either.

Personality:

Haley seems to be a very content baby as long as all her feeding and sleeping needs are being met. She likes her schedule and so does her Mommy! Ha! She loves to be looking around and watching everything going on when she is awake. She loves colors. She will watch TV really well especially when Mickey is on. She loves him as much as Jonah does and recognizes his voice. I am not sure that's a good thing or not. We let Jonah watch some Mickey for about 1 hour in the evenings but not every night. That is all we really let him watch though or that he cares to watch so it could be worse. She seems to just be a very easy to please baby and I am so thankful for that!!

2013 Christmas Day Wrap-Up

It is so hard to believe that Christmas has come and gone already! It really did fly by this year for some reason. We had a wonderful holiday and our celebrations stretched over the whole week of Christmas. We had Christmas with Michael's side the Saturday before and Christmas with my side just yesterday. This worked out well for Jonah because he got to open gifts a bunch of different times. He really enjoyed the presents part of Christmas this year and man did he rack up. We are good on toys for a while. I had gotten rid of several toys he never plays with before Christmas but now I think we will have to get rid of even more!

We are truly blessed here in our earthly life!

These two pictures of Haley weren't from Christmas morning but I just had to get them on the blog. We had a little photo shoot one morning and I got some cute ones of her. Baby's 1st Christmas!!

Here's what Santa Claus left for Jonah. He got a Plasma Car, soccer ball, Mickey house shoes, vehicles for his train table, two big puzzles, Melissa & Doug magnetic Joey, Mighty Machines videos, MMCH DVD and the Planes movie! From us he got some clothes and a LeapFrog Reader with some books to go with it.

Santa didn't forget Haley either. She got some baby toys and some play clothes in 6 month size. We also got her more clothes, shoes and socks for the coming months. 

Haley just hung out and watched all the unwrapping. :)

Jonah checking out his goods.

Santa also brought our whole family the Hungry Hippos game. It was a hit!

Santa didn't forget Mommy this year either! I got my 10 year old dream and got my first American Girl doll (Kit). I read all the AG books growing up (there were only 4 of them at the time) and always wanted an AG doll. It was on my Christmas list for a couple of years. I never got one but now I have one!! It was a total surprise. Santa (cough, cough...Michael) did very good!

My brother and his wife stopped by Christmas Day and gave the kids their gifts since they wouldn't be able to be at our family gathering later in the week. Jonah got a pop up blind and shot-gun (not real, of course but makes the real sounding noise of one). He loved those!

I hope all your Christmas dreams came true too! I will share more from our family gatherings later.

From Our Home To Yours

Just popping in to share our Christmas card. Blessings!

Santa....I Can Explain!

Our wonderful and amazing local photographer is good friends with Santa Claus so she invited some of her clients to come see him at her studio and get some pictures taken. We jumped at the chance to not have to wait in a long line at the mall with two little ones. She had an adorable backdrop for Santa and Jonah and Haley did great! Christy posted some of the outtakes on her Facebook page this past week and I just had to share the one from our session.

Jonah was pointing at Haley but I'm not sure what he was saying about her. I love Santa's expression here to. Jonah didn't want to sit in Santa's lap but at least he didn't cry so I consider it a success.

Funny story is this Santa is actually the father of one of my childhood friends and he is the biggest jokester around. My childhod friend is also my hair stylist and she dyed his beard and eyebrows white so he could be Santa. It turned out great!