Hat Game

I didn't have my camera w/ me one day this week while we were playing (I know... shocker!)! But I did have my cell phone handy to snap a pic! This is a fav game of Mallory's...the hat game...she has a whole drawer in her dresser devoted to hats (thanks for all the pass downs!) and enjoys trying them on often before naptime or bedtime. It cracks us up!

A "Crank-o-saurus" Pays a Visit

Goofing off with brother bear!

Watching Telly Tells the Truth before dinner...notice the "Sleep Book"...never too far away!

A love pat...and then some reading....! :)

Nap Training! Nap training! Yesterday was a doo-zee! Carter had 2 great naps a la car seat and then when I tried to put him down for his 3rd nap in the crib a riot broke out! Crank-o-saurus in the hizzy! (Very hard on Momma Bear!) But today has been so much better....3 nice naps! All 3 in the car seat though...I think I need to ease up a bit and "let go"...I was talking with a friend and sometimes when you let go and then try it again in a bit...it works! The car seat works so nicely with his congestion too for naps...A naps a nap right?!?!! We are so glad to have our happy baby back today! :)

Aunt "ShoeShe"

Mallory was so excited all day about Aunt Suzy coming over for dinner...as soon as she got here Mal got tons of books and put Susan right to work! :) We enjoyed a nice dinner chatting and then Susan helped with bathtime and bedtime and watched a little Idol with Mike and me.

Below is a pic of Carter last night after his bath...I had to document it bc it was the first time he actually really enjoyed his bathtime and acted like he wanted to stay in there. I can't remember how long it took for Mallory to become a fan of bathtime, but it sure has taken Carter a long time!

1st Eats!

Carter loves his rice cereal and is disappointed when the bowl is empty! :) He has been enjoying it for dinner the last couple of days...and below is Mallory eating her first meal...We didn't have the blog back then to document such momentous :) events...Yum Yum!!! Next month it will get even more exciting with fruits and veggies! Exciting times...exciting times! :)

5 Months!

Can't believe this time next month we will be celebrating Little Man's first Half B-Day! What in the world!??!! He brings us so much joy each day! And so much has happened this month!

*He moved to the Nursery! The first week he stuck to his previous schedule, but then the 2nd wk he started waking up 2xs a night! (So we started feeding him at 11 too so he wouldn't wake up at 2am and 5am!) He still goes to bed around 8, but now gets a "Dream Feed" at 11 and then sleeps until 5-530ish to eat, then 730 or 8 wake up!

*Nap Training! Slow and Steady wins the race right?!?!? We are working hard in this dept., but the longest nap we can take is 45 mins in our crib! It's hard when you can take such FABULOUS naps in your car seat and on top of Mommy! But we are getting there! And he does still get to nap sometimes in his car seat bc of the convenience of it all! He is so in the routine of falling asleep on our way to the bus in the morning and afternoon! It's so nice and easy to just plop the car seat down with the happy baby bundle snoozin away...or to put him in the corner in his seat when we are on playdates...he is a "go-with-the-flow" type of guy! :)

*We are now on our 3rd med to try to fig out his allergies and why he has been coughing for so long...our little guinea pig is such a trooper!

*He had rice cereal for the first time a few days ago and he loves it! (Footage to follow soon!)

He is growing so fast and is doing so many new things! We love our little guy! :)

Momma's Boy????

Does he look a little like Momma? After having a daughter everyone thinks looks like Daddy it's fun to have one that might look like me! :)

Moving On Up!

Last night we had a "Date Night" courtesy of MiMi and PaPa! The kids stayed with them while we went out to dinner! It was so nice to go out and chat and the kids loved hanging out with their grandparents. We went back after getting ice cream to pick up "Our Littlest Rascal" and they were all having a ball playing together! Mallory felt so special getting to stay over and got to stay up late, sleep in "The Youth Bed" pictured below for the first time, read lots of books, played, and made ginger bread cookies! She loves going over to their house for a visit! The only person she asked for in our absence was Carter. When we got there this morning she went right over to his car seat and said, "Hi Brudder!" and gave him a big hug. :)

First Kids...

This morning while the 7 yr old who I watch was building a fort for my kids in the living room and the 10 yr old was playing on the computer I was thinking about the Obama girls who are the exact same age...What are they doing before school this morning?!?!? It's been so fun to imagine what they are up to and thinking about them in their new BIG house! This morning on the TODAY show they read a letter that the Bush girls wrote to the new first kids...it was so touching that I was bawling! It is so important to remember that our presidents are husbands and fathers too...they need so much prayer to be able to be so many things to so many people! I can't imagine family life with the "weight of the world" on my shoulders....literally! And despite how we feel about their decisions on things they are trying their best to lead our country and need our prayers! And so do the little people who call them Daddy! :)

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"Gickle Gickle!!!"

Today when I dropped Mallory off with the "Banana Bunch" at MOPS not a tear was shed and she went straight to her teacher....She really likes her teacher and her friends which I'm happy about, but a part of me crumbled a bit. :) Her reaction to my return was the best though...running and squealing across the room! (These pics are of her after we got home and in the one above she had just said, "Banana Bunch!!!!")

She is growing up and I wanted to write some of the recent Mal-isms so as not to forget!

*"I want to read to you gether" (together)...and this totally means for me to read to her
*"wogger" = water
*"I want to hold her"...when she wants me to hold her
*She likes to tickle cheeks now and say, "gickle gickle!!!!"
*"Cur-did-dus" George
*"Jah-jas" = Jesus

The Many Faces of Mally Mal

Our girly boo is learning all about her emotions...She loves copying our faces and reading books about feelings....

Happy....

Surprised...

And our personal favorite....Sad! Gotta love the pout! :)

Afternoon Entertainment!

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I love my After School Kids for so many reasons! One reason is the happiness they bring to my children!! :) Today Carter was cracking up at one of the 1st graders who was bouncing a beach ball off of her head in the video above.

The kids were so excited about seeing the Inauguration during school today and were talking all about it when they got off the bus. I'm just so grateful to live in a nation where anything is possible...it was overwhelming to see history unfolding today. I think it means so much being a teacher and always telling your students that they can be whatever they want to be if they work hard and give it their all. I know a lot of children's eyes were opened today to the American Dream. And I thought it was so awesome when Rick Warren prayed for the Obama Family before he was sworn in. They even said the Lord's Prayer!!! I liked his speech and I like the way he puts it back on us "to be the change we want to see in the world."

"For as much as government can do and must do, it is ultimately the faith and determination of the American people upon which this nation relies. It is the kindness to take in a stranger when the levees break, the selflessness of workers who would rather cut their hours than see a friend lose their job which sees us through our darkest hours. It is the firefighter's courage to storm a stairway filled with smoke, but also a parent's willingness to nurture a child, that finally decides our fate."

History in the Making!

MiMi brought over the newspaper for a photo op! :)

Carter was ready for the big day and Mallory was ready to do some puzzles...I broke out every single one we had so I could watch TV all morning! :)

Carter enjoyed watching the president elect ride to the Inauguration in style...

There was lots of reading going on and various other activities in the midst of it all! But Mallory was so good to let me be distracted all morning with the festivities and watching history in the making! :)

MiMi joined us around lunchtime....

Look at all the people who came to see this pivotal moment!

The swearing in....Mallory was too busy cooking in her kitchen in the playroom to witness it!

What an amazing day in the life of America! The kids were all decked out in their "Obama Gear" thanks to Aunt Laura! (Look how little they looked when they received it in the fall!) Thanks for the idea Katherine to document history as it was unfolding! I can't wait to show the kids these pics when they are older and tell them where they were and what they were doing on such a special day! :)

Interference

"Interference" takes on a whole new meaning when you try to watch football with your kids. :) I thought it would be fun to let Daddy watch the games on Sunday...so Carter and I ran out and got some subs for dinner...very festive I thought! While I was out Mike got to watch the game, do puzzles with Mallory, catch a little Elmo, and change a diaper! Talk about some major interference!!! :) Then when I got home he had to put up with the "family historian" snapping pics and a toddler munching on his dinner...."Daddy I want some! Daddy I want "mon" ("more"...we are gonna miss our little Jamaican girl when she learns more has an "r" not an "n" in it!) After the first game 2 of the "defenders" (more like "offenders") went upstairs so that Mallory could take a bath. Daddy and Carter had a much more peaceful time watching the 2nd game. Can't wait for the Super Bowl! :)

Flippin' Freezin' :)

There has been a lot of freezin' and flippin' going on around here the last few days! It is super cold outside so we are snugglin' up inside! Thanks for the super warm and soft blanket Aunt Laura...it's everybody's favorite! :) And it's official...Carter is a flipper...he dislikes tummy time so much that he has figured a way out of it and rolls over! :)

Rest

So God talks about REST hundreds and hundreds of times in the Bible right?!?! Must be important...He must have needed to go over it with us over and over so we would get it....and how often do we forget to rest? I mean even Jesus rested...and He had so many important things to do and teach during His time here on Earth...God rested on the 7th day...and He's God! :)

Well we are having a day of rest over here today...Mallory looks like a character from the "Garbage Pail Kids" from the 80s..."Snotty Sabrina"...so we are relaxing and I'm getting to snuggle a lot with my little girl! "Momma I want snuggle"...so great to just lay on the couch and watch some Sesame Street and snuggle with my little girl who is often too busy to rest...and I think that must be the same way God is looking down on me...I'm often way too busy to stop and rest....

I just finished a book my sister Laura lent me...the author is very candid, sassy, and "real" about her faith, doubts, and questions about life. It was a good book and gave me some new thoughts on life...here are a few quotes I liked from the book:

In the chapter about The Cruise Ship she talks about her aunties (the jiggly part of her legs she is normally ashamed of) and the walruses are the overweight people on the cruise who are having a great time and have forgotten that they should be concerned about their looks.

"I drank my cranberry and soda, and put more lotion on the aunties. They loved it out here on the deck--the sun, our favorite drink, watching the company onboard. I felt safe with the people around me now. The sense of safety suddenly made it clear to me that, looking at us, God saw not walruses, but babies: radiant and befuddled, all these hearts at TEMPORARY REST. When you rest, you catch your breath, and it fills your lungs and holds you up, like water wings, like my father in the deep end at the rec center pool."

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"In the Christian tradtion, they say the soul rejoices in what it already knows. And so you pay attention when that Dr. Seuss creature inside you sits up and strains to hear."

~Anne Lamott's Plan B Further Thoughts on Faith

I know God loves rest and wants me to and it feels so good when I actually do it. :) We are just "piddling" around today and it feels wonderful! Working on things like sharing...Mallory has gotten in lots of Time Outs as we are trying to teach this social skill to her...and today she put an "avalanche of toys" on her brother as he sat in his chair...it warmed my heart and made me feel peace...and that's what rest does...it helps us have peace...Why don't I do it more?!?!?!

Maguire, Mommy, Maguire!!!!

Come on Mommy...Haven't you seen Jerry Maguire?!?!? Don't you know the "human head weighs 8 pounds?!!?!?!" This is hard work!!! (Disclaimer: pics taken before the meltdown!...but we are getting better and stronger each time!)

4 Month Well Visit

Here is our little guy doing a stretch in the morning in his new crib...He has that "GGPa twinkle" in his eyes...We think of Daddy's Grandpa often when he smiles...We wish Carter could have met him....
We had Carter's 4 Month Visit today and all is well! I love our ped. bc he is so compassionate and loving and reminds me of "The Great Physician"....He took his time answering all of my ?s! Here are Carter's new stats:

Weight: 15 lbs 12 ozs 75%tile

Height: 90%tile

So it seemed he switched up his stats from last time...in %tile points...but he is a "biggins" and we have no doubt that he will be at 20lbs by a yr and be able to turn that car seat around! (Mallory just barely made it with her weight at a yr!!)

He gave us a prescription for a cough Carter has had since Thanksgiving...he thinks Carter might be allergic to something and it will just take time to fig it out...and since we have given it time to clear up and it hasn't we will try some medicine to see if that helps! Cross your fingers it's not the cats!

Carter's neck muscles are getting better, but still need some work...So Mommy needs to show some "Tough Love" and put little guy on his tummy even more...He isn't a huge fan, but we will be doing it each time I put him on a blanket from now on! Mallory loves to comfort "Brother Bear" during his workouts as seen below. :) We love our little guy so much!

Give to Gain

Today marks 1 wk of the kiddos being in their new beds...it has been a smooth transition so far (knock on wood!!!) except for earlier wake ups for Mallory the last few days...We have been so spoiled with how she sleeps (12-13 hrs a night) that I was afraid the new bed and being able to get out would change that (so far she calls for us and stays in bed...let's hope that continues!)...tonight we won't turn on the night light (she didn't have one in the Nursery) and see if that helps...today she woke at 6 and called for us for 15 mins....so we are up and watching Elmo! :)

I was talking to one of my friends at MOPS on Thurs. about the transition and she made a good point...you have to "give to gain"...We had to give up holding her and singing to her before putting her in the crib...now she just climbs into bed before prayers...but now we get to read with her in bed at night and in the morning we get to climb in for a snuggle!

I took this pic this morning as soon as I opened to door...I wish I had gotten a pic of her in the Nursery before she moved out...I loved going in and seeing her sitting up with her legs hanging through the rungs and saying, "Hi Momma! Daddy not home...Daddy working!!!!" (Same thing each morning!) But now it is so fun to fling the door open and see my little girl...bedhead and all and hear her say, "Momma roud (proud) of you! Daddy roud of you!!!" and jump in for my morning snuggles! :)

Just Call Him....

......"The Nibbler!!!!!"... bc that is all he wants to do lately! Thanks for the lizard K, N, A, & E!!! Carter loves him as you can see! :)

Travelin' Thru...

Exhibit A and B....Do you see something out of place in these 2 pics? Notice the "shelf" where sippy cups and snack bowls have found a home...

So it has become more and more apparent that our little girl is watching our every move...the good and the bad. Mommy has a bad habit of using the back of the sofa as a storage shelf (drives Mike crazy!) and yesterday Mallory followed suit...uh oh! It is humbling and scary to be parents isn't it!??! Children are such mirrors.

When we were preg with each kid we made a mix CD for them that we listened to through their time in utero and beyond...well a song on Mal's called She was Watching by Mark Schultz is such a tear jerker and a prayer for us as parents...(we found the song after we had made her original CD...check it out on itunes!) I was listening to it today along with another one we found after her birth that follows directly after it on her CD. Travelin' Thru preformed by Jason Castro on American Idol. I love the lyrics and hope our kids see their parents as broken people just "Traveling Thru"...

...I'm out here on my journey
Trying to make the most of it
I'm a puzzle I must figure out
Where all my pieces fit....

Like a poor wayfairing stranger
That they speak about in song
I'm just a weary pilgrim
Trying to find what feels like home...

Questions I have many
Answers but a few
We're here to learn the spirit burns
To learn the greater truth...

...God made me for a reason
And nothing is in vain
Redemption comes in many shapes
With many kinds of pain

Oh, sweet Jesus if you're listening
Keep me ever close to you
As I'm stumbling tumbling
As I'm traveling through....

....Oh give me some direction Lord
Let me lean on you
As I'm travelin' travelin' through....

Meeting Jenn

Carter and Mallory enjoyed meeting Daddy's, Uncle Matt, and Aunt Sandy's college friend from CA last weekend! Mallory took a "RipVanWinkle style" nap through most of the visit...despite the Wii-a-thon occuring below her room so she missed out on a lot of the fun...but she loves her bed! So good to see you Jenn and hope you visit again soon! :)

A List, for the List, for the List!

Carter enjoys watching family activities (Like "Beauty Salon") from his new perch...(aka the excersaucer) We just recently brought it back down from the attic and he looooooooooooves it! Notice the bib...somebody has been a "Drooly McDroolerton" lately...Could this really be the beginning of teething already?!?!?!

I've always been a "spaz," but since Carter arrived I feel even more "squirrel-y"! (What would I do w/o my super organized husband?!?!!?) This morning I went out in the driving rain with 2 little ones (crazy!) bc I needed stamps...so I made a list last night of a few other things we needed...stuck it to the mirror in the bathroom, forgot it when I left, wrote another one at the bus stop as we waited, then got inside the store and realized I left that list stuck to the dash...It's almost comical right?!?! So I was doing it by memory in the store (you'd think I'd have it down writing it that much) and I remembered everything on the list...except...guess what??? Stamps! :) Hence the need for this blog...I don't want to forget these days with my little ones, so I need to write it down! :)

My friend Ginny took the above pic of Mallory and her "best cat friend" (as Cousin Abby used to say)...I love the pic bc it really sums up their relationship...they are such buddies! Mallory's favorite new game to play is "Beauty Salon"...She was doing my hair the other day and in the midst of her banter she looked at Maggie and said, "Mags I brush Momma!"

Mr. Chuckles the Catnapper!

Carter has done a great job for the first 2 nights in the Nursery! It is so weird not to have him in our room anymore! The first night he slept and woke like normal, but "talked" a lot more and wiggled....I would go up and check on him when he did so, but he was still asleep...the crib probably felt so big to him! He didn't "talk" as much last night so I think he is settling in! It's been so nice to have so much help around these past 2 wks as we try to transition him into the crib for naps. I love snuggling with my babies for naps when they are little, but now that he is 4 months he needs to learn how to nap on his own. I've been reading all of my "sleep" books and have yet to come across a chapter on how to "gently" teach your 2nd child to nap when you have a toddler who wants to "help" as well! It's going to be interesting trying this once Mike goes back to work! :)

Eye on the Prize...

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So on Day 2 of the "Big Girl Room Saga" we put the pack-n-play in Mal's room for Carter's morning nap...and he took a snoozer in there...then when it was time for Mallory's nap she decided she wanted to sleep in the pack-n-play...So at least we were moving in the right direction! She definitely cried for a good 10 mins though (and usually never cries to go to sleep)...but we let her and she about won an Oscar for her performance! :) When she woke up we really played up how awesome it was that she had napped in her new room! Then she wanted to show us where Carter's bed was and she went in the Nursery! Yay! Progress! Well...last night Mom, Dad, Susan and her boyfriend had offered to sit for us so we could go out for my B-Day...so nice! Even nicer that they would sit even though it was a time of transition for our family! Everyone did great once they fell asleep in their new rooms....and today when it was time for nap the pack-n-play "mysteriously" disappeared so Mallory is IN HER BIG GIRL BED! And she only cried for 1 min after we closed the door! We can't wait to go in there and celebrate with her when she wakes up!!! (There is nothing better than going in to get your child once a nap is over or in the morning...they are so happy and the above video of Mallory at about 61/2 months is helping me to keep "my eye on the prize" during this transition! :) )

First Attempt...

Reading books as we prepare for naptime...we finally found her side table/cubby...so excited!!! :)

So it's January right? Well that was my goal for starting to attempt the "Big Girl Bed"....poor Mike has had to listen to me for months! I'm so anxious about it! And apparently I have been reading too many books with Mallory about beds and the consequences of jumping on them, bc she is scared to sleep in it! We read books yesterday and then she cried and said she wanted "crib"...so we were all about to go to the nursery and then she started climbing into the bed. We were so excited and got all her "friends" to climb in with her...we sang a song to her and then she said "Prayers?" and poor Mommy about lost it...my voice started cracking while I was praying! I'm such a "Drama Queen" and was thinking about the above pic and a chapter in our life closing with our little girl...well...I held it together and we left the room...then the screaming began and after about 5 mins we went in and asked her where she wanted to sleep and she asked for the crib...(I was a little happy I will admit!)...but I think we are on the road...it just might take a while for both of us to get on board...Pray for us! I'm going to do better about playing up how cool it is and not stressing the "boo boo" parts of books where monkeys fall and bump their heads, etc...so that she will want to transition into her new bed bc this poor little guy below is getting too big for the cradle...MiMi is bringing the pack-n-play over and that will be his new bed until Sissy is ready to move out of the Nursery for good...Wonder how he will like sleeping in the "Big Girl Room" until then...we will find out soon! :)