Our Family

Our Family
December 2013

Wednesday, December 12, 2012

Aubrey's First Time with Cereal

After we had Aubrey's doctor's appointment on Thursday, December 6th we discovered it was time for her to start rice cereal! Poor baby probably could have started it earlier, but she seemed happy with her bottles so...oops!

We gave her her first bowl that night for dinner.  She seemed to do pretty well with it.  Of course, her little tongue pushed most of it out but after shoving it back in her mouth, she got a lot down.  And she seemed to think it was okay.  Actually, she should be used to the taste since we've been putting it in her bottle.  I know the consistency is different though and that sort of threw her at first.  She did make a couple of funny faces with the first few bites, but then she was ready to get down to business!
Aubrey first bite of cereal
She was not impressed with the first bite!
Ugh! This stuff is horrible!!
Pushing the cereal out of her mouth
Such a big girl!
Mommy, I made a big mess!!
First time eating cereal!

I love those messes little faces! :-)

The next morning we tried giving her more.  This time, she was not liking it so much.  She had a couple "bites", but seemed more frustrated because she just wanted to eat! That and I'm thinking she doesn't feel great after getting her 3 shots at the doctor the day before.  So we gave up and just did the bottle.  She's like her mommy when it comes to eating so from here out, I'm thinking we'll do the bottle first and then the cereal so at least she has something in her belly so she won't get angry so fast! :-)


Tuesday, December 11, 2012

4 Month Comparisons

Aiden at 4 months: 18 lbs 4 oz, 27 inches long

Emma at 4 months: 16 lbs, 24 3/4 inches long
Aubrey at 4 months: 15 lbs 14 oz, 26.38 inches long



Monday, December 10, 2012

Aubrey - 4 Months Old

Technically, Aubrey was 4 months on the 1st, but I've been slacking I was waiting until her doctor's appointment so I would have her stats before I posted this.

I swear these months are flying by! Aubrey is getting bigger and bigger every day.  She is such a little chunky thing and I love chunky babies!! <3  She is still eating 5 oz every 4-5 hours, sometimes longer in between feedings. Thankfully the spitting has gotten a little less with the cereal we're adding to the bottles.  I know she's getting plenty though, because those little chubby cheeks and rolls on the arms and thighs tell me so!

She is constantly trying to sit up.  She wants to be a big girl already! She'll strain her little neck if she's in her swing or bouncer to try and sit herself up.  She does like sitting in the bumboo chair, for short periods of time.
She's still not a fan of tummy time for long, but she did finally get the hang of holding that head up!
She has become quite the chatterbox and even likes to "talk" herself to sleep most of the time.  She still thinks that Aiden is hilarious. She giggles at him often.

We went for her very first visit to see Santa. And just like we thought, at 4 months? She didn't care. :-) She just sat on his lap and mean mugged the camera.
She loves to be held, swing or hang out in her bouncer, chew on your hand/thumb, eat your cheeks, and she thinks it's funny when you tickle or snuggle into her neck.  She also really likes bathtime. At night she still likes to be swaddled and sleeps through the night, though occasionally she'll wake up around 5:45 to talk to us.  I told you she's become a chatterbox.  She's lucky she's cute! :-)

Happy 4 Months Sweet Girl!


4 Month Stats:

Weight: 15 lbs 14 oz (90th percentile)
Height:  26.38 in. (98th percentile)
Head Circumference:  16.34 in. (64th percentile)

Showing off her chub at the doctor's
And she has officially started eating rice cereal (December 6, 2012)! For her first time, she did really well! That tiny tongue pushed a lot out, but she still got a lot in that belly! I think she'll be a pro at eating from a spoon in no time! (More pics of this to follow shortly!)



Friday, December 7, 2012

Aiden - 5 1/2 years old

Dear Aiden,

Today you are officially 5 and a half years old.  Where in the world has the time gone?  I can't believe how grown up you are.  Sometimes I forget that you can do all kinds of things by yourself, don't worry, you remind me though.  I think I'll always have a hard time realizing just how big you are.
You are such a great big brother to Emma and Aubrey.  You always play with Aubrey and make her giggle. She thinks you're pretty special, and funny.  And Emma thinks the world of you too.  She asks me often while you're at school if it's time to go pick you up yet.  When we do pick you up, she loves to greet you with a big hug.  It makes me smile every time.  I love seeing how close you guys are and I hope that that never changes!
You are doing awesome in school.  We just had your first conference and you are excelling in all areas.  That makes us very, very proud.  But we always knew you were a genius  Afterall, you stayed home with Nana for a few years.  She taught you so many things.  I know that she is also so proud of how you're doing in school!  You even got Student of the Month for November! Way to go!!
You still love your blue blanket. It's very loved looking too. It's got lots of holes, but you don't care.  It has to come in the car with us most of the time and it needs to be downstairs if you are. You don't have to carry it around all the time, I just think it makes you comfortable knowing that it's close by.
There's that blanket in between the two of you
You still love Mario.  You have a little stuffed one that you like to play with now, but you still go to the little plastic figurines too.  Mario movies, Mario ds games, Mario wii games, watching Mario things on the computer and Daddy's phone...you love it.  You also like Spongebob and Phineas and Ferb.  You are a boys boy.  You like to wrestle around, chase us or have us chase you!
You are very quick with a smart answer and still try to see with what you can get away with...I have no clue who you got that from! :-) Even though that mouth gets you in trouble a lot, you can be quite a sweetheart.  Especially to the girls. <3
 
You still say you're going to live home forever and ever. Even your teacher told us that you have told her that a few different times.  You know what? I think you'll probably change your mind at some point, but if you didn't? I'd be happy.

I love you, Bubby! <3<3<3

Love,
Mommy


Thursday, December 6, 2012

Santa Visit 2012

If you have kids, you know that a trip to see Santa with a photo is crazy expensive and I'm not even talking about getting the big package.  It's crazy! So we've taken the kids to "other" Santa's throughout the years. However, I feel like when it's somebody's first Christmas, you gotta suck it up and visit the mall Santa.

Patrick had off one Sunday so we decided to go then.  Our plan was to go as soon as Santa arrived to avoid waiting in a long line.  My children, especially the oldest one, has no ability to wait for long so it was a plan.  It was a good plan, until we got to the mall and something pretty caught my eye. :-)  Eventually we made it to the line and it was kind of long, but I though not too bad. That was until some lady came up behind us and asked one of Santa's helpers how long the wait was and he replied, "About an hour." Yeah, we had the same thoughts you just did.  What could take so long?? You tell Santa a couple things, they snap the picture and you get out of there.  They were right though, we were probably there an hour.  Amazingly though, all 3 kids were great.

Aiden seemed excited. At one point I remember telling him that he better behave in line because if Santa heard him arguing with Emma he would be very sad.  He then pointed out to me that earlier in the day we had told him that he better speak up when talking to Santa (he has a tendency to talk very quiet if he's uncomfortable) because Santa's older and his ears might not work that well.  So he said that Santa probably wouldn't hear him if they were arguing for that reason.  Why does that kid never forget anything?

Emma had mixed emotions. Sometimes she was excited, or as she put it, "I be so cited", then as we started getting closer it changed to, "I scared". I tried my darnedest to convince he that Santa wasn't scary, that he was a nice man because he brought them presents every year. 

Aubrey? She didn't care. She just wanted to be held and eventually fell asleep while waiting.

When we made it into Santa's house, the kids were still okay.  Emma was even jumping around and acting like herself.  I thought it was a miracle.  We had to wake Aubrey up of course, because we needed to take her bib off, fix the hair doodie, make sure he legs were covered.  

Finally, it was their turn. And? Emma froze.  She didn't want any part of going near Santa. I convinced Aiden to go first and sit on Santa's lap and then Emma could sit next to Aiden so she didn't have to actually touch him. I had to sit her up there and tell Aiden to hold her hand so she would feel safe and it worked. She stayed and I didn't have to be in the picture!  The ladies taking the pictures tried and tried to get Em to crack a smile.  Nope.  She wanted nothing to do with that.  I finally just told them that I was really expecting her to smile, that I was just surprised she was sitting there. And even though she's not smiling, I love the picture.  Poor Aiden had that pasted on smile because they told him to just keep smiling to be ready in case the girls smiled. :-)

Love. it.  I love Aubrey's chubby cheeks. I love their blue eyes. I love how Aiden is holding onto Emma's fingers. <3 

Once the pictures were over it was time to get down to business and tell him what they wanted.  Aiden told him he wanted Super Mario Brothers 2 and a Spongebob Imaginext toy.  Emma said she wanted Minnie toys and princess undies.  Santa didn't seem to know what to say about the undies request. Hahaha!  We told him that we'd see him soon and that we'd leave him some cookies and milk.  Santa then gave them a little treat, a wooden coin for a free kids meal at Texas Roadhouse.  Yes! A reason not to cook. Emma is convinced it's a cookie.  I'm not sure why? Maybe because we were talking about cookies? Maybe because she's crazy.

Overall, I think that picture and experience was worth the $40 we spent!

Wednesday, December 5, 2012

Aiden's First Christmas Concert

Monday night, Aiden had his very first school concert. A Christmas concert. Yay! I love Christmas songs!! Just ask my kids, we've been listening to them for weeks! :-)

He brought home a list of the songs that Kindergarten was singing a few weeks ago with a note telling us to practice those songs.  Aiden is not a singer. Nope. I can't recall one time, other than when he was little, like 2 or 3, singing songs.  So our "practicing" consisted of me or Patrick belting it out and Aiden just staring at us like we needed some serious help! If we stopped at different points, he'd tell us what the next words were, but he would not sing them. He'd say it like it was a sentence. That boy!

He is definitely a kid that does not want people to look at him so I figured he wasn't going to like this whole concert thing one bit.  He'd be too worried that everyone was watching him. Yes, he gets it honestly! I was right, after the concert he told me that he didn't like it because of that very reason.  Our shy little guy. <3

He didn't seem too nervous or anxious before we left, in fact he looked quite handsome, if I say so myself!
 His sisters were pretty excited about going to watch him sing! :-)
 
When we got there he had to sit on the bleachers with his classmates to wait for the show to start.  You can see just how pumped he was...
However, the crowd was ready to hear our stars!
I did manage to catch a little smile when he noticed I was snapping pictures of him.  He should know that with me, the camera is always around!
It was finally time for the show to start! Here he is telling us that he sees us.
Each grade sang 3 songs.  Kindergarten sang Jolly Old St. Nicholas, 5 Little Snowmen, and We Wish you a Merry Christmas.  I think We Wish you a Merry Christmas was their favorite. It was the loudest anyway. And I even think Aiden sang some of the words.  :-)
 

 
 
 
 The kids did a fabulous job and I'd be lying if I said that I didn't get a little teary-eyed when they were all done.  He's getting so big, so fast!!
Kindergarten Christmas Concert 2012






Saturday, November 24, 2012

Emma's Poopy Party

Emma has been working on potty training for some time. We tried while I was pregnant with Aubrey and she really had no interest in actually going. She'd sit there, but nothing would happen.  Then after Aubrey was born, one day she just went on her own and she's been doing great ever since.  Well peeing in the potty, anyway...

We have to remind her to go pee pee still because she just gets busy doing toddler things and those things are more important than making it to the potty before it's too late.  And sure, there's been accidents, but that just happens.  She is in underwear most of the time when home, and I think that's really helped her.  She'll wear a pull-up if we're out of the house, just in case, unless it's a short trip out and she's gone pee just before we leave.  Diapers are only still used at night because she still tends to go more at night.   But she has been doing a wonderful job with peeing in the potty.

Pooping? Yeah, that's another story.  Back when she first started this potty training thing she pooped on the potty twice, one time all by herself and the other with me there with her.  I thought we were golden! Nope, that was it, from then on she refused to poop in the potty.  I understand it can be scary, but she had already done it before and saw it wasn't scary, in fact, it was great because the nasty stuff wasn't sitting in her pull up! Still, nothing.  She didn't care, she wasn't going.  I remember when Aiden was potty training and he was peeing in the potty a good 6 months, at least before he started going #2.  So I knew that it might take some time.  This girl still nothing...we offer things to try and bribe her, promise her the moon, and occasionally threaten her.  She doesn't care.  Oh, she'll tell you she'll do it and then you'll find her hiding somewhere, like behind the dining room table going.  Sigh...

Monday afternoon, I tried getting her to go pee after she woke up from a nap and she couldn't go.  I told her that I would help her get her pants back on after I cut Aiden's nails.  I came back in and she's sitting on the toilet and yells, "I pooped, I pooped".  Is it wrong that I didn't believe her? Sometimes she gets them mixed up.  I went over and looked and sure enough! She pooped in the potty, all by herself! Such a big girl!

I had to do the poopy dance and tell her how excited I was and that I was so, so proud of her.  She was pretty proud of herself too, as she should be!  So what do you do when she finally poops on her own after months of trying to get her go?  You have a poopy party of course!!
Seeing her present and balloon for her poopy party
 
 
Aiden thought clothes were optional for the party
You can see Aubrey was thrilled about the party
Poopy party time!  
Arguing over who's getting what piece of cake.  No they did not get a whole giant piece to themselves. :)
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
She insisted she have a candle in her cake. And we had to sing.  In case you're wondering what you sing at a poopy party, it goes a little something like this:
Happy poopy party to you, happy poopy party to you, happy poopy party dear Emma, you better poop in the potty everyday from now on 
Think she's gone since then? No.  Brat.  But I'm still holding out hope and a spare piece of cake in the fridge just in case! :-)