9 Months!!

It's so hard to believe that Lyla is already 9 months old! She is growing so much and has learned so many new things this past month. She is trying so hard to crawl but has not mastered it yet. She can definitely get herself around a room though... she does a very interesting half roll push with feet lunge thing that is working pretty well for her. She demonstrated it to uncle Travis this morning and I think he enjoyed it!

We are pretty much done with baby food... she LOVES to feed herself and I haven't found a food she won't eat yet. Nothing really stands out as a favorite, she gets equally excited about everything I put in front of her. (and equally upset when she eats it faster than we can get on her tray. She has a very high pitched scream she likes to demonstrate in times like these.) She eats: peas, cooked carrots, green beans, corn and sweet potatoes; peaches, pears, bananas, and applesauce; shredded chicken, ground beef and ground turkey; pasta, bread and of course macaroni and cheese. All of this with only TWO TEETH!

She still really really loves the boys and especially likes to watch them outside. I love hearing her squeal every time Brodey rides by on his bike. She also is a big fan of swinging in her swing under the deck and both the boys love to push her. So nice having so much help around here!

Here she is.. on her 9 month birthday!

(Brodey tried to "trap" her with one of daddy's push-up bars, she thought it was pretty funny...)

Lyla clapping

Last week Lyla starting clapping. What a big girl! (she's not crying in the video... still has a clogged tear duct so it always looks like she's been crying.)

8 Months

Lyla is 8 months old today. She has changed so much in the last month! Last week she got her first tooth.... this was more upsetting than I thought it would be. Not so much for her... I would have never known she cut a tooth if I didn't see it while pushing her in her swing. She never drooled or fussed or anything. (I realize by saying that I've probably guaranteed a hard time for the rest of those teeth... oops) I was surprisingly sad about her tooth. It marks the beginning of no more big toothless smiles and makes her even less like a baby. I wish I could keep her a baby forever.

Up until this point she has been a pretty relaxed little girl... now she wiggles and kicks and rolls all over the place! She squirms and giggles and babbles and loves to play on the floor. She'll kick and roll herself all over the room and be perfectly happy to do that all day. She also LOVES to sleep. Not one time in 8 months has she cried when we put her down for a nap or at bedtime. She's in bed around 7:45-8pm and it's not uncommon for me to have to wake her up at 8:15am in order to get out the door in time for preschool. We have to constantly check on her when she naps because when she wakes up she doesn't make a sound... she'll just lay there and play quietly until someone comes to get her. Several times I have wondered how long she had been awake before I checked on her. Jeff thinks she's hiding and loves the quietness of her room so much that she pretends to be asleep. I think I agree.

She really really loves the boys. They play kind of rough with her, but she never complains and seems to really love it. Just this morning I caught Brodey dragging her around by her dress to "show her somefing"... she was loving it. When we play outside she laughs and squeals when the boys ride their bikes past her.

In the past month she's also been trying some new big people foods... peas, cereal bars, yogurt, bananas, cheese and rice. She likes to feed herself and we LOVE watching her chew... so funny.

Her only issue right now is a clogged tear duct... it's always been clogged and was supposed to clear up on it's own before 6 months... it hasn't so now she will see an optomologist (sp???) who will decide how to fix the problem. I don't look forward to that.

Play date

Brodey went on his first ever play date without me on Thursday. Joey's mom (Brodey's most favorite buddy from school.. the one with the "big yellow hair") first asked if Brodey could come over sometime around the kids Valentine's party. Apparently Joey talks about Brodey as much as Brodey talks about Joey. I don't know Joey's family so I wasn't thrilled about the idea. Since then I have talked to Joey's mom several times on the phone and of course had seen her at every school event. She's a very nice lady. Joey even sent Brodey a postcard from his vacation in Arizona... mail is a big hit in this house. So finally (after secretly driving by Joey's house) we agreed on a date. I dropped him off after school and she was going to drive him home after two hours.
One hour in I called to check on him.... no answer. I left a message and then waited 10 minutes. In a semi-panic I called my sister and Jeff to to see if I should yank Brock and Lyla up from their naps and go check on things (did I mention I was nervous?), but before I could do that she called me back. Everything was fine.. they were outside.
Anyhow.. he made it home fine.... had a blast. And now when we pass Joey's neighborhood Brodey yells "member when I played at Joey's house???!!! I should do that again!!"

Learning to self feed

This video is almost 2 minutes long and probably only funny to me. But I LOVE it. She's so funny.

7 months!!

Baby girl is 7 months old! Not much new going on.... still no teeth, but her gums aren't puffy anymore and she's doesn't seem to be teething so we are all happy!

She has been trying some new foods... puffs, cheerios, even some black beans and rice from her Uncle Travis. So far she's not too picky!

Unfortunately she has a few favorite toys.... a blue helicopter and a ninja turtle. I have been so excited about buying girl toys and she just wants what the boys have!

She is little miss independent.... drinking from her sippy cup....

This is her "grandpa" smile... he makes this face at her a lot
She eats (plays with) cheerios...
No attempts at crawling yet... although I used to wonder how she managed to move all around her crib at night and gather all the dolls and teddy bears into one corner. We painted her crib over the weekend and had her sleep in our bed while it dried.... and we discovered her secret. It seems she has a little playtime every night from about 1am to 2am. She kicks her feet around and can move herself anywhere she wants to. In her bed she gathers toys, in our bed she pulls hair and grabs noses. Fortunately for her she is very cute and snugly and can get away with such nonsense.

Who is this kid??

This has been a big week for Brock. First the amazing potty training (and I mean amazing... we even went out all morning with no accidents... I didn't even have to ask him 500 times if he had to go potty. When we came home he went straight to the bathroom and went BY HIMSELF with out being told. I asked if I could help him and he said, "No, I do it myself." What a big boy!!) and now, out of nowhere, he eats! (Up until today his diet has consisted of peanuts, yogurt, fruit, and peanut butter sandwiches.... he has NEVER eaten any kind of meat.) Today, he sat down for lunch and ate a WHOLE CHICKEN NUGGET. (I know.. that's not much but it is a HUGE deal for him.). He also gave up sippy cups. What is next???? Cutting the grass? Doing his own laundry?? I'm starting to wonder if maybe we accidentally brought the wrong kid home from Church last Sunday.

Potty Trained??

I loathe potty training. I think it's gross. Toilets are gross. "Potty Chairs" are even grosser. Diapers don't bother me at all... I'd much rather change a diaper than go through potty training with all the accidents and such. So I like to avoid such things until absolutely necessary. I didn't even start thinking about potty training Brodey until after he had turned three... and only then because of all the peer pressure from my friends! He wasn't so bad... a few accidents, a few poopy underwears (which I threw away... no way I was cleaning that out), all together took about a week before I would take him out of the house in underwear and not worry about an accident.

Brock came to me Monday morning with a pair of Brodey's underwear wanting to wear them. I let him, only because I figured it would make me a bad parent if I discouraged potty training, but was already thinking about the puddle I would be cleaning up before 10am. Much to my surprise he went all day with only one (very small) accident! And that happened while he was washing his hands in the bathroom... warm water on the hands equals peeps in the pants. He even stayed dry during his nap!

Tuesday morning he woke up dry and used the potty all day... no accidents.

Wednesday morning: dry. No accidents.

Today: dry. No accidents so far.

Did Brock potty train himself??

I realize we will probably have a few accidents here and there (maybe??), but I think it's safe to say that Brock is officially potty trained! Yay Brock!!

6 month well check

Today was Lyla's 6 month well check.. here she is waiting patiently for the doctor...

(side note, Brock turned the lights off on me AGAIN while waiting for the doctor)

Looks like she might know what's coming...

4 months ago at her 2 month well check.
And her stats:
Weight: 16 lbs (55th %tile)
Height: 26 3/4 inches (75th %tile)

Brodey at 6 months:
Weight: 20 lbs
Height: 28 inches

Brock at 6 months:

Weight: 17 lbs 14 oz

Height: 27.5 inches

Also, she has puffy swollen teething gums AND double ear infections AND got 3 shots. Rough day for Lyla! (I want to point out that I took her in on Friday thinking she had an ear infection and was told she had a stomach virus... it was hard, but I held back my "I told you so.") She is a champ though and took her shots with hardly any crying.

Here she is when we got home... such a trouper!

(Megan... thanks for this outfit too!!)

Happy 1/2 Birthday Lyla!!

Lyla is 6 months old today! It feels like I just did a post about her being 5 months! I hope the next 6 months don't pass as fast as these first 6.

Next week she has her 6 month well check and 6 month pictures... I will have much more to update then.

Thanks again Megan for the so cute tutu!!

New tricks

Brodey... such the encourager!

Valentines Day and 5 month old Lyla

Better late and never!

Lyla turned 5 months old on the 5th of February and is doing all kinds of new things. She's trying to sit up on her own, she can do it for a few seconds at a time now. No rolling over yet, but she doesn't really spend a lot of time playing on the floor (for two reasons... Brock is scary and mommy likes holding her). :) She sits in a bumbo seat on the table with us when we eat dinner and we noticed her looking a little jealous and pretending to chew while we ate. I felt bad so we started her back up on cereal, she has now had rice and oatmeal and really likes it. Instead of eating several times a day she now has breakfast, lunch and dinner with the rest of us and then just eats one more time before bed. Still sleeping like a champ at night and taking 2 long and 1 short nap during the day.

She really has a very sweet spirit. She's not very active and will hold one toy for a very long time and pass it back and forth between her hands. She watches and studies people... several times a day I'll catch her watching one of us and smiling to herself. If you look at her and smile she'll cover her face and giggle.

Brock has given her several nicknames: "sista beans", "baby why-ya beans", "sista baby", and "prin-chess" are my favorites.

We love her so much and she is never in need of attention around here!

This is Brock's hand print he made us for Valentines day. It says:
Let me hold your heart in my hand

This is where your heart needs to be

My love for you will always be true

Your heart will be safe here with me.

I gave Brodey and Brock more Geo Tracks for Valentines Day (the best toy ever.. even Jeff and I love to play trains with them!)
And Jeff gave Lyla this little baby doll. She loves it. :)

My three little Valentines!

Brocky and Lyla

Rice Cereal

Lyla is 4.5 months old so we thought we would try giving her rice cereal last week. I'm not sure about her, but I didn't like it. For one, I'm not ready for her to be old enough to eat rice cereal. And two, I don't know how I will find time to feed it to her! Getting three kids out the door in time to get Brodey to preschool is enough of a struggle as it is. She is growing fine and sleeping great.. so I think I will put off the rice cereal and enjoy her baby-ness for a bit longer!

Already 4 months old

Brock and I dropped Brodey off at school then headed to the pediatrician for Lyla's 4 month well check today. Kind of an eventful morning at the doctor's office, starting with the waiting room:

there was a little boy with a cold running around and was really fascinated with Lyla who was sitting in her car seat. I played defence for her for a while since this little boy's mom was apparently very busy with some paper work. Then I turned to help Brock get in his chair and the little boy grabbed Lyla's passy (with the hand he was wiping his nose with) and tried to shove it in her mouth. His mom got to him first and tried to grab the passy from him and ended up stabbing poor Lyla in the face with her pen! And THEN the mom stuck the dirty passy in Lyla's mouth! Thankfully the nurse called us back right after all that.

Back in the exam room after Lyla had been weighed and such I had her laying on the table and Brock was sitting on a chair looking at some books. So I thought I would wash the passy quick to get ready for the upcoming shots. Lyla is not rolling over yet, but you just never know, so I put my foot up on the table in case she did move and then stretched over to the sink on the other side of the room. There I am standing on one foot, stretched all the way out, hands wet in the sink, and the lights go off. Completely dark... no window. I couldn't even see my hands. I just stood there for a second. "Brock??" He starts giggling so I know he's the reason the lights are off. "Brock! Turn the light back on!" More giggling. "BROCK. TURN. THE. LIGHT. ON." (that's me being stern.) nothing. "BROCKY!!" (that's me yelling) Still nothing. I'm still on one foot. Still with the wet hands. Ended up having to grope around for Lyla, pick her up and then grope around for the light switch.. which was not anywhere near the door so it took longer than you would think. Of course I have the one 2.5 year old that isn't afraid of the dark so I found him with a giant smile on his face when the lights came back on.

Anyhow, here are her stats:

Weight: 14 lbs 4 oz (75th %tile)

Height: 25.5 in (90th %tile)

Brodey at 4 months:

Weight : 16 lbs 6 oz (85th %tile)

Height: 25.5 in (60th %tile)

Brock at 4 months:

Weight: 15 lbs 12 oz

Height: 26 in

In the last month she has started to do the BEST belly laugh.. love it. She smiles all the time, loves when the boys play with her and still has me wrapped around her finger. I am known as the baby hog and even her daddy has to fight me for a turn to hold her. After a few sleepless nights with a cold, she is back to being an awesome sleeper. In bed between 8 and 8:30 and sleeps until 7:30/8ish. She is so much fun and we all love every second with her.

(and thanks Kali for the SO CUTE outfit! Love it!)

3 Months!!

Lyla woke up with the boys nasty cold this morning. Of course, because it's 3 month picture day! I should have rescheduled but we put our party dress on and went for it anyway.

Our normally smiley smiley baby was a hard sell for a smile today. But she did pretty well regardless. I think she's the cutest thing I've ever seen even with tired droopy eyes!

I think she looks just like Brodey in these.

These past three months have been FANTASTIC. What more could I possibly ask for?

Next up... pediatrician. Brock will be so excited.

4 Year Well check

Keep forgetting to get this on here!

Brodey went in for his 4 year well check at the doctor. He did very well... answered all the pediatricians questions, stood on the scale like a big boy, got three shots, a finger prick and even successfully peed in a cup! He did all the developmental things he needed to do: drew a picture of daddy (with a very large head... he told the doc "my daddy has a big head." I didn't know he felt that way!), counted, pointed out all the colors, knew that he and Brock are boys and mommy and Lyla are girls, and that he eats when he's hungry and sleeps when he's tired. Not even the shots were bad.. he laughed when he got his finger pricked (???) and was only upset that the shots had to go in his leg and not in his arm like he wanted.

Here are his stats:
Weight: 38 lbs (75th %tile)
Height: 41.5 inches (75th %tile)
Blood Pressure: 90/52

2 Months!

Lyla had her two month well check today. She is doing all kinds of fun things now, staring at her hands, reaching for things, smiling at everyone, SLEEPING. She had her first round of immunizations... three shots and one oral. She was a trooper... fast asleep before the nurse even had all her sparkly band-aids on.

Here she is when we got home... back to smiling!

Here are her stats:

Weight: 12 lbs (90th %tile)

Height: 23 1/4 inches (90th %tile)

Brodey at 2 months:

Weight: 14 lbs 1 oz (95th %tile)

Height: 23 1/2 in (75th %tile)

Brock at 2 months:

Weight: 13 lbs 12 oz (92 %tile)

Height: 24 in (90 %tile)

Moving out

Lyla moved out of our closet and into her pink room at the other side of the house last night. She took it better than I did. It felt like she was moving out of the house! It's weird to go in the closet and not have a baby in there.

Sleeping Baby!

Lyla is 8 weeks old today and has SLEPT THROUGH THE NIGHT the past two nights in a ROW! Yay Lyla!! Last night she went to bed at 8pm and I had to WAKE HER UP at 8:15 this morning so she could be fed and changed in time to take Brodey to school. It feels strange to be so well rested.

At the doctor

She's growing!

Weight: 10 lbs 12 oz (90th percentile)

Height: 21 1/4 inches (50th percentile)

And for fun:

Brodey at one month:

Weight: 11 lbs 4 oz

Height: 21 1/2 inches

Brock at one month:

Weight: 11 lbs

(He wasn't measured at one month because he was in for reflux, not a well check)

Also, she has baby acne. Apparently it will come and go until she is 6 months old.. probably every time we go to have her picture taken!