Friday, November 25, 2011

A Thankful Heart!

Havana eating the brownie batter - she liked it. :)
On Wednesday, Jason was working and I spent the day with my children making food in preparation for the Thanksgiving lunch that we were hosting. As I spent the day cooking and cleaning with three of the most amazing people ever... my heart was overwhelmed with thankfulness. Havana in her little sense of humor had me laughing until I cried as she would exclaim, "I have an idea... let's eat the cookies!"






Jonah stirring the cookies! 

My amazing Helpers! 


On Thursday, some of my family and some of Jason's family joined us for a lunch at our house before Jason had to go to work (sadly, he worked the 3pm-12am shift). It was a fun time together. After everyone had left... my heart was feeling a little sad. Sad that my husband was working, sad that another holiday was over and life is quickly passing me by, but then I began to thank the Lord for my blessings: a husband who is amazing... he's an incredible provider, he loves me unconditionally and truly keeps no record of wrongs, he is the best dad and our kids are going to be so blessed because he was their father, etc. I have amazing children... three miracles walking around talking my ears off. Being their mother is truly a gift I cherish each day. I have friends who love and invest in me, my marriage, and my children. Great family and In-laws. I am incredibly blessed. And with that mindset I have enjoyed walking around with a Thankful heart. Today I was praising the Lord for the laundry, for the dishes, for the chores, for my neighbors, for the weather, for everything. I'm finding that being thankful, in every circumstance, truly brings me joy even if it doesn't change the circumstances. So thankful!
Selah's First Thanksgiving! So thankful for her!

A blurry shot - but the only one of all 5 of us! :)

Tuesday, November 22, 2011

A Man of Many Words

Dear Jonah,

You are so impressive with your words these days. Just this week you began saying:
  • I'm sad
  • I'm sorry
  • Shoes
  • Socks
  • shows
  • pee-pee
  • poo-poo
  • Tucker, no! 
  • outside
  • Here we go! 
  • I love you
  • Mall
  • 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10 (You can count to 10 on your own!). 


I'm so proud of you. You are so very smart and I love having conversations with you. After church on Sunday I asked if you had a good time in your nursery class and you said, "Yeah." Whenever I ask you any question, you answer. When I give you a command you can do it. I love how we're communicating!


You've been so sweet these day too! To everyone! You dance with Havana, You tend to Selah (seriously, she was crying and you found her paci and brought it to me and said, "there you go" and then today she was crying in her crib and you go and get her paci and you tried to reach through the bars to give it to her. What a kind brother you are!). You've also started  blowing and giving kisses. I love that. On Sunday as soon as we walked into the nursery to drop you off you leaned forward and gave me a huge kiss that I didn't even have to ask for! Last night Daddy was reading to Havana and you walked up and daddy thought you just wanted to read the story with them, but you kept squirming and then you finally just pushed your face up to his - you wanted to give daddy a kiss. After the kiss you walked away. So sweet. It melted my heart. Today as I put you down for your nap your blew me a kiss as I was walking out. I love your heart for your family and I pray that you don't lose that in this hardened world. I love you so much!

YOU DID IT!!!!

Dear Selah,

Today you rolled over from your back to your belly! You were laying on your back in the living room and I was in the play room with your siblings. I hear you start to fuss so I go in to get you and you were lying on your tummy! We texted daddy and work to let him know the big news! :) You have now set the record for the earliest "roller over" in our family. I'm so proud of you and love experiencing all your firsts.

Monday, November 21, 2011

4 months old!


Dear Selah, 
You are now 4 months old. You had your check up today and weighed 13 pounds, 13 ounces and you were 25.5 inches long. We talked about how you are laughing, squealing, holding your toes, rolling to the side, and your crazy hair! You are so much fun... you're so sweet and even though you cry a lot I love being your mommy! What a special girl you are! 

Love you!
Your mama.

Tuesday, November 15, 2011

Catching Up...

I think this may be the most I have blogged in a single month! This post will be a recap of cute things my kids have done or said recently... I want to write them down before I forget! I recently uploaded blogger onto my phone, so I'm hoping to update cute stories as they happen! :)

HAVANA:

Havana is certainly getting to that age where she is mimicking everything...
  • about a month ago she was putting her stuffed animals in Selah's baby swing and then taking my camera and she pretended to take their photos saying things like, "look here" "say cheese" "so cute" -- haha.
  • She really enjoys wearing my nursing shawl and putting Pluto under it and she informs that she is feeding Pluto.
  • The other day she started this game with Jonah where she would grab his hands and exclaim, "a baby! a baby! a baby!" - I had no idea where it came from and the next day Jason finally asked her where she learned that. She said, "Dora and Boots" - she was mimicking a scene from a show - this made me glad we limit what she can watch, but it also made me smile because it was the first time she could answer a question like that.
  • She comes home from church and plays "nursery" with her animals. Once she lined up all her stuffed animals, taught them a lesson about not lying, and then gave them all a cracker and a drink (her snack at church). 
  • One night at dinner she turned to Jason and said, "God Loves You" - while doing the signs. Jason looked at me with a big smile and said, "did mommy teach you that?" - I said, "no, I think she picked that up from the nursery" - well that became her new phrase and she continually let us all know that God loves us. So sweet.
  • Any noise (sound effect, bodily function, etc.) she will mimic and she sometimes describes something by the noises she hears. She'll ask to "do it again" and then she'll make a noise like her spray in conditioner - she is asking to comb through her hair. 
She is also saying some funny things:
  • Once she was trying to hold Jonah's hand and he was trying to pull it away. I told her that she wasn't allowed to hold his hand and she responded with, "well, I'll hold his elbow."
  • I walked into her room after nap time and found she had taken the letters of her name down off of her wall. I corrected her and told her she wasn't allowed to get them down. She looked at me very seriously and said, "The animals (she sleeps with about 50 stuffed animals) said, 'I go get them.'" - as she was saying this she took her Pluto and showed me how he went from the bed to the letters. Apparently, it was Pluto who go the letters down - not her. :) 
  • I was in Selah's room feeding her and letting the older two romp around upstairs. They were playing in my room and I hear Havana run into the nursery saying, "uh-oh, uh-oh, oh no!" I asked her what was wrong and she said, "my heartbeat! Oh no, my heartbeat!" I said, "what is wrong with your heartbeat." She very urgently said, "My heartbeat is stuck!" I busted out laughing. She was not amused. I later found out she was talking about my necklace that has a heart on it - it was stuck - she referred to it as her heartbeat. 
  • We've been memorizing Scripture. She knows Genesis 1:1, 1 Thessalonians 2:13,  Psalm 34:13, and John 14:15. Each week we learn a new verse and then I review the old ones with her. When we were going over the John verse I asked her, "do you remember what Psalm 34:13 says?" Her response was a quick, "No, and I don't want to talk about that."
  • She asked to go to the mall for several days and finally one night I told her we could go. She was so excited and began to run towards the car. She stopped dead in her tracks and said, "Wait! I have to put on my make up before I go to the mall." (no idea where she came up with that!).
  • She loves being outside, but HATES the wind messing up her hair. She'll run for cover holding her hair back anytime there is the slightest wind. While she is running for cover she'll yell, "Oh no, the wind! I don't like it." What a girl! :) 

  • She loves belting out the songs on the radio. The SUV song on the veggie tales cd and "I Just Can't Wait to Be King" from a disney cd are two  of her favorites. 
  • Her schemes to delay nap time are getting crafty - she has now started asking for drinks and snacks and anything else that might delay the process. When I ask her if she is staling she will say, "yes" without hesitation. 
  • Yesterday she was yelling, "Mama, I need help! Mama I need help" shortly after I put her to bed. This isn't normal and so I walked in and I asked her what she needed help with. She looks at me and says, "I'm awake! I go downstairs and have a show and a snack?" Sneaky girl! 
  • Two days ago I heard her talking in her bed in the morning. I went to go get her and the first thing she said to me was, "Mom and Dad, I broke the plate." (a line from a Veggie Tales movie). A different day the first thing she said to me was, "Daddy fixed the gate. Yay daddy" - it's funny to think about what her thought process is. 
  • The way she asks questions these days is simply precious. She'll say, "Daddy, you OK?" "Mama, You have seat belt?" "Mama, You putting on make up?" - she hasn't quite grasped the "are" part of the question.
  • Her frequent phrases that are cute that she says a lot are, "wait you're turn Jonah" "What's your favorite part of...?" "This way, Jonah." "It's OK Baby Selah" "I don't like that" "That's so silly" "That's so funny"
She is getting to be such a big girl:
  • We were looking at our Bible and she saw the name SAUL - she said, "S-A-U-L" and then she began to sound it out "Ssssaaauuulll" - all on her own! I screamed and told her how proud of her I was. 
  • She also watched her first (and only) movie back in September. We watched "Beauty and the Beast" - she has gotten into the Princesses since going to Disney World and we have a few of their books. I saw Beauty and the Beast on TV so I DVRed it and one day when she was feeling under the weather we watched it. That was her first show over 30 minutes in length and she loved it. She loved singing and dancing! In fact she asked to be Belle for Halloween... it was fun!
  • She "graduated" from Speech Therapy on the 19th of October! 
  • I was telling her how we were going to meet Ms. Stacey for a playdate with her daughter Cameron and Havana's eyes got all wide and she said, "I Know Her! She's from my class."
  • She also has experimented with getting out of her room at nap time. She went 5 months in her "big girl" bed without coming out and she went through a phase for about two weeks where she would come out and find me and say, "I'm awake! I no sleeping" I quickly taught her that if she did that she received a spanking and I would lock her in her room... she hasn't tried getting out since, but I still warn her everyday not to come out.
JONAH:

Jonah is a talking machine! He'll attempt any word! He can clearly say:
  • yay
  • Selah
  • There you go
  • cow - moo
  • dog -woof
  • kitty cat - meow
  • sheep - baa
  • horse - neigh
  • airplane
  • bye bye
  • zoo
  • wal-mart 
  • outside
  • Do it again
  • dance
  • Bible
  • Daddy
  • Mommy
  • night night
  • little buddy
  • tucker 
  • sucker 
  • eat
  • more
  • all done
  • bottle
  • up
  • down
  • car/truck - vroom vroom
  • train - choo choo
  • Blue's Clues
  • Diego/Dora 
  • Sweep 
  • Broom
  • Lion - Growl
  • Bird- Tweet
  • Basketball/Football/Baseball/Soccer Ball
  • red
  •  yello
  • green
  • blue
  • pink
  • phone
  • hello
  • where are you? 
He loves to sing and his favorite songs are:
  • row, row, row your boat
  • twinkle twinkle little star
  • The B-I-B-L-E
  • You are Holy
  • Sweep that broom 
  • Go Diego Go theme song
  • Wheels on the Bus
  • Fresh Beat Band Songs
With all his new found words he is starting to answering questions. I'll ask him what show he wants to watch and he'll say, "Blue's Clues" or "Diego" or "Dora." When it was getting close to Halloween I went to the store to look for a beast costume and he saw a cow costumn on the shelf and he said, "Cow - Moo" -- so i didn't know if he was asking to be a cow or if he simply said it because he recognized it. I hope it was the latter! :)
 
The boy loves balls. He gets so excited when we are coloring if we draw any sort of sports balls - he'll laugh and do the sign for "excited" while he says the name of the ball we are drawing. Anytime he sees a ball he wants to pick it up and play with it. He has sheets that have balls on them and in the mornings he tries to pick them up off of his sheets. When we go to the store he always wants to try to make a basket with the hoops that are up on display. The funny thing is I can't recall ever "teaching" him how to play basketball. He simply has always seen a basketball goal and tried to make a basket no matter how tall the goal might be. He'll be one of those children who I will say, "He's been playing basketball since he has been born." And he doesn't just play with child-sized balls. Nope, all of Jason's sports balls from the garage have been brought inside and he loves carrying around, kicking, rolling, and throwing the big balls.



He also loves trains and airplanes. If he hears them or sees them he'll name them and watch them intently. He loves looking at the pictures and reading books about them. He's truly all boy and I love it.

He is wanting to do EVERYTHING that Havana is doing. It is fun and sad to watch all at the same time. Sad because sometimes he truly can't do it (so he becomes frustrated) but fun because they are starting to actually play together. He is romping around on the same playground equipment that Havana is - he climbs up the ladder, plays in the clubhouse, and goes down the slides all by himself. He also taught himself how to go up and down the stairs at our house. He's unstoppable. :) 

SELAH:

Not nearly as much to update for this little one! She is almost 4 months old: she can hold on to rattles, play with a few "baby" toys, and she's found her feet (she can kind of do a tuck and roll maneuver :). I experienced her first laugh in October and it was beautiful. She has these huge dimples that make my heart melt.



Her hair is crazy as seen in my previous post. She is still quite the screamer, but (for the most part) she is a great sleeper. She enjoys getting out of the house and is very similar in personality (and appearance) to Havana (and her mommy!). It is fun to watch her discover new things and even though her colic is trying at times I love, love, love being mommy to my sweet Selah.

We had the privilege of dedicating her on October 29th. It means so much to us to be able to promise the Lord that we'll raise her in godly home and teach her to love the Lord. It also means the world to us to be a part of such an amazing church that I know will invest in our children and in us! Just tonight Jason and I were talking about how excited we are to watch our children grow up in Southeast. A funny story about the dedication is that before we went onstage she was SCREAMING!! WAILING!! We were getting sympathy looks from everyone standing near us. We we clearly going to be "that family" with a balling baby on stage. However, as soon as we walked out on stage she stopped crying and looked perfectly content. We laughed so hard about it and still tease that she clearly likes being the spotlight. Guess it runs in the family. :)

In the lobby after the church service where we dedicated Selah.

Sunday, November 13, 2011

Big Boy

Dear Jonah,

You're a big boy these days! Seriously, you have overcome two big battles lately and I'm so proud of you. The first comes with your shoes. You've never been a big fan of wearing shoes or socks, but the only kind of shoes you are comfortable wearing are the Robeez kind. We tried to buy you tennis shoes, but you would cry and tear them off of your feet so fast that I wasn't sure how we would ever transition you. However, you did it. We bought you special "big boy" shoes that have balls on them and light up when you walk. You enjoyed playing with them, but would not allow us to put them on your feet. One day when you were eating breakfast your daddy put them on you without you noticing and that was all it took. You never seemed to noticed and you walked flawlessly from the moment we put  you down. You now love showing off your ball shoes and I am so proud with how you just "grew up" to wearing tennis shoes.

The other battle was the bottle. Ever since you were 12 months old I have been trying to get you to give up the bottle. You wouldn't. You learned to drink water or juice out of a sippy cup, but milk HAD to come out of a bottle. If you tasted milk in a sippy cup you would grunt and throw the cup across the room. Bottles were also a necessity for bedtime. It was almost overwhelming to think of how I was going to break the addiction. Yet, you rose to the challenge.

Your daddy and I went on a date on your half birthday (November 3rd)... our goal was to have you off the bottle at 18 months and that's the day you quit. It wasn't intentional, but the babysitter forgot to give you a bottle and she told me you cried for 10 minutes before falling asleep. I was sure you sat in your crib and screamed "Ba-ba" but the point was... you did it! We went with it. From that moment on we only gave you sippy cups and you drank out of them. You didn't throw them or protest anymore. The only times it was noticeable was when you went to bed. You would cry pretty hard for a while.

For three days this went on and then you stumbled across one of Havana's dolls where you feed the doll a bottle. You were mesmerized. You fed that baby it's bottle for at least 20 minutes if not longer. Your daddy and I were joking that it was like therapy for you - well, I guess it was because after that play time you never cried for your bottle again.




You are now officially my big boy and I love you with all of my heart!

Doctor's Visit

On November 8th Havana had her three year appointment and Jonah had his 18 month visit. In preparation for this visit we read books, role played, and talked a great deal about how it was going to go. Jonah did great - he weighed 27 pounds, 12 ounces and was 33 inches long. He paraded happily around the room, didn't squirm or fight the doctor at all, and was a big boy when getting his shots - he barely cried. What a big boy.


 Havana weighed 33 pounds and was 39 inches tall. She impressed me with a lot of things - especially when standing on the scale and when the doctor was listening to her heartbeat. She sat still and took deep breaths. The doctor was asking her questions to see if she knew her colors and shapes and then she asked Havana what she likes to eat. She started with veggies and then went to fruits. Havana named "Apples and Strawberries" and then Jason said, "What fruit did you eat this morning for breakfast?" (the correct answer was a banana) and without hesitation Havana said, "a pop tart." Ha. Guess she gave away the non-fruit food we had for breakfast. :)

They had to prick her finger in order to draw blood and she didn't like that at all. It is funny, they pricked her finger with a spring loaded needle and she has held onto the sound it makes when the spring releases and she mimics that sound and says, "all done (noise)" or talks about her "boo boo from (noise)" -- she's a funny girl.

Havana, as expected, didn't do well at all with the shots. I felt so sorry for Jason who had to hold her down.  Here's a photo of her poor face after it:

But don't feel too bad for her, in the parking lot here is a video of her recounting her favorite part:
In case you missed that, she said her favorite part was getting a shot! Clearly it wasn't that traumatic. ha. After the doctors office they were rewarded with suckers and a trip to the park! :)


Tuesday, November 8, 2011

October in Photos...

Getting Booed - a neighborhood game! 
Sisters!!



Siblings!!!

Park Playing! 


Taking snuggles when I can get them!


Growing up... 

Playing together!

       
Pumpkin Picking!  




tennis lessons!



Jonah in the belly of a whale! 

Trick-or-treat at the zoo!

Havana's 3rd Birthday Party!

All Smiles!


Ha!
Selah's little friend, Will




Lots O'Babies!


H's 3rd Birthday!

Family Party!


Still in love!
Dedicating Selah at church!


Halloween with Beauty and the Beast!




Trick-or-Treat!
   
Selah's First Halloween as a cat!