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.