I love to read! It’s a nice quiet hobby. I love sitting on the couch and getting engrossed in a book. My man doesn’t appreciate my love of reading. I tend to forget about my family, food, sleep, etc when I am in a good book. I’m really trying to be better, but it doesn’t always happen.
Baby Girl didn’t seem interested in books early on. She’d rather run, sing, play, anything but sit quietly and read. I started to wonder if I wasn’t sharing my love of reading. In the last few months, though, she’s started to love books. She loves reading them alone and having people read to her.
I knew she liked books, but I didn’t realize how much until I went to check on her Sunday evening. This is what I found:

She was sound asleep! I promise, this wasn’t staged. She really did fall asleep like this. I showed her the picture and asked her about it. She said something about the book fell on her head, but I don’t know if she even realizes what really happened.

Maybe she loves reading as much as I do!

This is the first year we’ve spent the whole Christmas season at home. Usually we’re traveling to see family. Last year we had three Christmases in three states. It was too much. We decided that this year we would be home. Anyone could join us at our house, but we weren’t traveling. It’s been nice! We knew that this was our year to start thinking about traditions. Of course, we can always change and add to our traditions, but we wanted to start some this year for our family. Here are a few that we’ve set.
We started an Advent calendar with Baby Girl on December 1st. For this year I just bought a simple chocolate calendar. We read a verse each day and then she eats a chocolate. She’s really getting the nativity story, though, which is neat to see. Next year I hope to do a Jesse tree. I found a great blog that incorporates the Jesus Storybook Bible! I just didn’t get it all put together for this Christmas.

We went in search of a Christmas tree last Sunday. We went to three tree farms, but finally found a tree that met our expectations. Baby Girl thinks it is wonderful. She keeps telling me that “Santa and everyone” is going to come see our “big, huge Christmas tree” and everybody will say, “it’s beautiful!” (So if you come over, please tell her that.)

Wednesday night we had our tree decorating family night. We set out snack-y foods– crackers, cheese, chicken nuggets, mozzarella sticks, fruit, and got to decorating. We had Christmas music playing and talked about some of the ornaments. What an enjoyable evening! This tradition came from my man’s family, and I have to say, it’s a great one!

When I was a little girl my dad and I would go down to the local radio station and drop off toys for those less fortunate. It was a special time every year. I learned to give and I got to spend time with my dad. Last year we went shopping for a special family, but I don’t know that Baby Girl understood what we were doing. This year we took her to the store to buy for some kids. We explained why we were buying toys. She quickly told us she wanted to pick out toys for “her friends”. I worried that she wouldn’t understand that the toys weren’t for her. She got it and enjoyed the process! It took a while because she couldn’t decide which were the best gifts. She wanted to buy everything! She and her dada went to drop the toys off. My man said she eagerly gave the gifts away. I know it’s a little thing, but doing the same as a child made a huge impact on me. I love that she gets to have the same experience with her Dada.

So far that’s what we’ve started. My cousin is celebrating the 12 days of Christmas by doing something different every evening. We love that idea and will tuck it away in the memory banks for next year. Maybe after Christmas I’ll add in some other traditions that we’ve started this year.

What about you? What traditions do you have?

We had family pictures taken last weekend. The photographer is a local high schooler. He does work for my man’s company. We figured he would do an okay job and we’d get at least one good picture for our Christmas card. Wow! We were wrong! He gave us many great pictures, all edited and gorgeous! I just keep looking at the pictures, admiring the quality of his work. These are some of the best pictures we’ve ever had taken. To think we were planning to go to the department store’s photo department.

I can’t share many pictures, because we still have to send out our family Christmas cards. But I have to share some of them!

The photographer took pictures of us just being a family, even when we went to the local cupcake shop.

I can’t say enough how impressed we were with our pictures. We’ll definitely be using him again!

I took the two kiddos out this morning. I had to pick up a gift, some Christmas lights, and a few other things. We did great. We went to four stores, got what we needed, got home without any meltdowns or even kids falling asleep. Success!
While we were in the third store looking for Christmas lights, which they didn’t have, I almost broke down in tears. Now some of that is due to the lack of sleep (I blame sleep deprivation for a lot of things.), but it was the thought of getting the kids back in and out of the car, into the store, out of the store, etc. It’s exhausting! I barely remember shopping before I had kids, and sometimes I’m not sure I remember shopping with one kid. I do know, though, that it went faster than it does now. I have wonderful kids, who are very well behaved. However, shopping with two is exhausting!

But when we’re out and I see Baby Girl’s excitement over Christmas decorations or her joy in picking out a gift for someone, I realize how much fun it is to shop with my kids. Exhausting? Yes! Hard? Definitely. Enjoyable? Usually. Full of memories and laughter? With Baby Girl and Buddy that’s pretty much a given! Yes, I am blessed!

Baby Girl enjoyed her first hot chocolate today. She was so excited about it. This morning before we played in the snow, she watched an episode where Curious George had hot chocolate (or “hot cocoa” as Baby Girl called it). I added a bunch of milk and then a little whipped cream and sprinkles. She was pretty excited to be a big girl with hot chocolate! I love doing fun things like this with her!

Baby Girl was feeling a little sad the other day. She started crying. Then she came to me and said, “Mama, my eyes are melting.”
“They’re melting?”
“Yes, because I was crying my eyes were melting.”

And then? My heart melted, too.
I love this girl!

I can’t believe we’re talking about a 5-month-old! What!? This is going so much faster than it did with Baby Girl. You mean it’s true? My parents were right? Life does move quicker as the years go by? Hmm…wonder if they were right about anything else. Ha! Just kidding. I know they were right about that one boyfriend…he WAS trouble!

Anyway, 5 months! Buddy is growing so quickly. He is rolling everywhere. He’s even getting up on his knees already! The other day I got video of him scooching…yes, the beginning of crawling. Again, what!? He loves to lay on the floor and laugh at his sister dancing around him. He also loves to sit in the exersaucer and watch everyone walk by (while chewing on the plush flag). He used to love the Bumbo, but I think he’s done with that. Know how I know? Well, I let him sit on the counter while I cook. (I know, the company says not to do that.) He was starting to grab everything within reach. Then one day he decided to go for something that wasn’t within reach. Thankfully my man was within reach and grabbed him as he dove out of the Bumbo. So, our Bumbo-ing days are over. Now he sits in the exersaucer while I cook.

Sleeping is going better (for me, at least). He is no longer eating during the night. He eats at 9 and then not again until 6 (sometimes 5-ish). Happiness! He is still crying, fussing, wanting to play in the middle of the night, but even that is decreasing. Hopefully soon all 4 of us will be sleeping through the night again! Can I get a “YAY”?

We’ve tried cereal a few times and he definitely didn’t like it. I tried banana the other day. He tried to spit it out, but I put it back in and he ate it. Today I tried oatmeal and he opened his mouth a few times to get more! We’re getting somewhere with this eating thing! Baby Girl ate anything and everything that was put in front of her, so I’m not quite sure I’ll know what to do if he’s picky. I want to try sweet potatoes and avacados next.

He is in 6 month clothes and size 3 diapers. I’m hoping he stays there for a little while. I bought him some cute Christmas onesies last year that are 3-6 months and 6 months. Here’s hoping they still fit! And I really don’t want to have to buy new summer clothes when he has tons of 12 month summer clothes. He’s so long, though! He’s a big boy in the weight category, but he is really big in length!
He’s still working on his first teeth. I hope they come in soon because the drool and fussiness leave me drained some days!

Buddy loves to smile and laugh at anyone who will give him attention. He has such a happy disposition! And it seems he’s just as determined and stubborn as his big sister. If he can’t reach a toy he’ll scream (like a warrior yell) and then wriggle his way to the toy. It’s funny now, but hopefully he won’t yell like that for long.

Buddy boy, I can’t believe you’ve been with us for 5 months. You are such a joy! We love you so much and enjoy watching you grow! Happy first Thanksgiving! We are thankful for you!

This morning Baby Girl came running out of her room and gave me a hug. Then she said, “I slept in my bed all by myself!” Every night we have to tell her that she can sleep all by herself, but she tells us she can’t.
So she was pretty proud of herself for sleeping all night by herself. She does it every night, but somehow this morning she was really proud! Know what she said next?

“I get one trick-or-treat (candy) because I slept all by myself in my bed.” Nice try, kiddo!

I told her she needed to have breakfast and then we could discuss a “prize” for her “accomplishment”. She decided to get herself some Cheerios (a new “I can do it myself” thing). She comes in with the little candies from her candy necklace that Grandma sent in the mail for her. She says to me, “These are Cheerios!” Well, same shape my dear, but not the same nutritional benefits.

What a kid!

For a while now I’ve wanted to do more crafts and learning times with Baby Girl. It hadn’t happened (thank you, infant in the house). But I’ve been able to do a few things in the last few weeks. (This site has really helped!) Here are a few things we have done lately.

We made sugar cookies last week. Baby Girl got to choose her cookie cutters, so we had flags, stars, trees, people, pumpkins, etc. Fun!

She made an autumn tree with finger paints and mini-marshmallows.

Helping Dada empty, design, and carve the pumpkin.

She has a big container of Christmas buttons. We started sorting them by color and counting them. Maybe we’ll work on sorting by shape or size next.

She loves coloring and she loves stickers! Nani bought her some alphabet stickers. When we use them we just try to talk about which letter she has and what words start with that letter.

I know it isn’t much and it’s mostly simple stuff, but she’s learning, even in the simple things like coloring. And I’ve found that it’s pretty fun for me, too!

Seriously? People always say that life goes faster the older you get. I didn’t believe them. Baby Girl has grown up fast, but Buddy is growing up way faster! He was four months a week ago. I can’t believe it!
The guy is in 6 month clothes now. Baby Girl was always exactly true to size. She wore 3-6 month until the day she turned 6 months and then she was too big for those and fit into 6 month clothes. She’s always been like that (until her recent problem with shirts being too short). I wasn’t expecting Buddy to be growing out of his clothes before he got to that age.
And while we’re discussing clothes, I’d like to insert these pictures:

Cute outfit, right? I know it’s hard to read the tag, but it says 9 months. I knew that was a little off, but when I put it on my 4-month-old it was clearly too small. The tag says 9 months, 12-18 pounds. Umm? Are most 9-month-olds 18 pounds? Because my Buddy is that big at 4 months! Gerber runs small; I know that, but still….  Anyway, back to my big boy!

Buddy weighs 17 pounds, which is the 79th percentile. He is 27 inches long, which is the 98th percentile. He is light for his height. If you know my man and I personally you may be asking, “umm…how did they get a tall child?”  Maybe our kids are just going to be tall until a point and they’ll stop growing while all the other kids are just starting to grow. Buddy’s head circumference is really high on the charts. I birthed him; I know how big his head is.

Buddy giggles all the time. He loves his sister. He has been teething for about a month now and has nothing to show for it. Poor boy. He decided that hanging with Dada in the middle of the night was giving Mama too much of a break, so he won’t take a bottle any more. The doctor suggested trying a sippy cup, which we will do soon. He tends to eat in about 3 seconds flat, so the doctor thinks that maybe the fast-flow nipple is still too slow for him. Gulper. Here’s hoping the sippy cup works because I need to know that I can be away for more than 3 hours if I want to…not like the opportunity comes up often, but I like to dream!
We tried rice cereal and he wasn’t so sure about it. We’ll try again in another week or so.
He’s going on his first plane ride next week…with Baby Girl and Mama. Let’s hope he’s good, for Mama’s sake.

My baby is growing so quickly! I’m having so much fun watching him grow but sometimes I just want to tell him to stop! At least give me a minute to snap a picture of you!
Happy 4 months, Buddy! We love you tons!