Merry Christmas!

Announcing Grace Therese

I sent this announcement out in a very timely manner, but forgot to post the picture of the announcement! Better late than never :) Here is Grace's baby announcement above.

William is NEARLY 2!

I can't believe we will be celebrating William's 2nd birthday next month. Just like last year, I knew when Halloween hit that the last few months would fly by because of the holidays. I don't want him to get any bigger! Every day he picks up something new and you see "big boy" tendencies shining through. A couple days ago I watched him take some crackers from the counter still in their packaging (not unusual at all for him), eat the two crackers from the baggie THEN - wait for it - take the empty baggie and open the trash can and throw it away. What?! No prompting whatsoever. It is also so much fun to be able to communicate with him. He follows instruction most of the time very well. "Go get your new yellow truck from the playroom." And off he goes to the playroom and comes back with the right toy. He's combining more and more words together:

• "Dada work" translation: Dad is at work
• "My blanket" translation: No you can't borrow my favorite green blanket. Give it back. 
• "Car keys" translation: May I have the keys to the car and then go sit in the car?
• "Tv Peter" translation: Please turn Peter Rabbit (my favorite show) on the tv.
• "Baby night night" translation: Is Grace sleeping?

We are working on manners now and he has the magic word "please" down pat. I hear "Peez? Peez?" about 100 times a day. Thank you is in process and I haven't heard him say sorry yet. If he is "sorry" he usually puts his head down and makes a very sad face.

Green blanket must be draped over his highchair during meals

William is always on the go. Matt and I were laughing that even when he's sitting "still" he really isn't sitting still. He will kick his foot, clap his hands, lean on the ottoman, absentmindedly pick up a toy all while he's as still as can be for William. He still tells himself to "Go! Go! Go!" when he runs around the playground or the house or anywhere else in general. We had a bounce house at the house the other day for a party and he jumped in the bounce house for a solid hour. He took a break twice for hydration and yelled for me to bring him "acuppa" which is "water". That is a word we need to fix actually. I figured out that when I would ask him "do you want a cup of water?" that he heard "a-cup-of" and associates that with water/milk/drink. When he sees water (like rain or the ocean) he will say "acuppa". We think it's really cute and ask him if he wants "a accupa?", but that should probably stop :)

On the go at the Science Center - digging for dinosaur bones

Bouncing even after friends left

A new habit is hugging. I am wondering if he picked it up at school. When we were in Virginia for Thanksgiving he would awkwardly stand next to his 2nd cousin Olivia staring at her then all a sudden grab her for a hug. He hugged two random boys at Breakfast with Santa this past weekend too! Never met them, but he hugged them.

William is still the best sleeper around. He can stay up later if need be, which is nice. No meltdown because he HAS to be asleep by 7:30p. He's flexible. Put him in his bed WITH green blanket and he will fall asleep whenever it suits him. In the morning I have to check on him because he barely makes any loud noises to let me know he's awake. He plays with his stuffed animals and talks to himself. Green blanket is still a necessity and he's now able to distinguish original green blanket from backup green blanket. He won't go to bed without the original green blanket and don't ask me how he can tell the difference because I can barely tell the difference without actually touching them (one is a tinge softer from the other because original is obviously more worn). He can tell from 5 ft. away though! Amazing. But it's still his lovey and he still sucks his thumb when he's tired or cranky.

He has been awesome with little sister Grace. He still calls her "baby" and yet again, I think it's cute and I don't try so hard in teaching him "Grace". We will start working on it though :) He's been hugging her a lot lately (we need to remind him to be gentle because he will squeeze tight!) and every single morning that first thing he asks about is "Baby? Baby go? Baby night night?" He's asking where is the baby and he will run into her room as soon as he's dressed for the day. He climbs up her crib and peeks in then usually wants me to push him in so he can play with her toys. Tonight before he went up to bed he asked me for "baby" and so I lowered her thinking he wanted to pretend hold her like usual. Instead he kissed her on the cheek, said "byeee!" and ran off with Matt. It was ADORABLE!

Good thing Grace is one tough lady! She never gets upset when he's grabbing her.

Grace and William before baby Secret Santa party

William LOVES cars, trucks, keys to cars and trucks, choo-choo (trains), balls, books and Peter Rabbit. Those are the items I hear the most about during the day. Matt has an old Chevy truck in our garage and every day we go sit in the truck with the car keys and he pretends to drive the truck. I don't know how many balls he has in the house, but none of them go to waste. Each and every one gets thrown or kicked each and every day. When we drive into Winter Park for errands he recognizes the area as the place where the Amtrak train comes through and he will yell "choo-choo! choo-choo!" I'm amazed that he recognizes locations from the backseat of the car. He's all boy, that's for sure.

I could go on and on about William. He's the sweetest boy. I always get hugs and kisses from him. He loves to hold my hand and really isn't comfortable leaving our side even inside our own house. He will get distracted by a ball and will run off chasing it without one of us though. His mantra is "Dada, mama, baby. Dada, mama, baby." I like to think it's because those are his three favorite things :) Don't keep growing up on me though. Stay little forever :)

3 Months for Grace

3 months

Grace is 3 months old! She's growing so quickly and already moving onto big milestones such as rolling over! She rolled over for the first time last week and then didn't do it again for a few days, but yesterday afternoon she started up and wouldn't stop. Any time I put her down now she will roll over onto her tummy from her back. She's loving the view from her tummy!

Working on tummy time in Virginia

Post rolling over

Grace is the most smiley little lady and still loves when people stare at her and talk. She talks back and forth and can get very loud in her conversation. She uses her whole face to smile. She squeezes her eyes and bunches her whole face up. It's the sweetest thing!

Smiling is my favorite!

Still mellow as ever. She sits in her bouncy chair or swing taking in the world. She laughs at William all the time. He has accidentally poked her in the eye and she kept laughing. Grace will definitely be one resilient girl. Nothing upsets her except when she's hungry or can't fall asleep. Nothing else phases her.

William you're crushing me

She's eating 5-6 times a day and has gone up to 6 oz. She had a 3 month growth spurt when we were in Virginia… up every two hours wanting to eat. She's been able to sleep 12 hours since around 8-9 weeks, and so I haven't been feeding her in the middle of the night for some time. She still occasionally gets up, but it's her needing help to get back to sleep. I walk into her room, pop a paci in her mouth and walk out two seconds later. Then she's out again. The funny thing is she doesn't ever take a paci that easily during the day. I have to hold a paci in her mouth during the day to get her to calm down when upset - kind of the same way I did with William. Not sure why at nighttime it's easy for her to take.

She's taking a bottle really well when given and has tasted formula, which at first she wasn't a huge fan of. Just something different I guess. Feeding in general is different than it was with William. William would eat at any time. If she's not hungry, she's not hungry and she's not interested.

Sleep during the day is still in and out. I see the morning sleep comes much more easily and she's still sleeping in the swing downstairs… I know, I know… it's a crutch and I need to bring her upstairs. I think I will try this week using the swaddle in her bed upstairs. Actually, I take that back. I did put her right back to bed in the swaddle the past two days in her bed. She slept from 7a till 9:30/10a. It's a start!

Passed out on the play mat

A favorite toy is her peacock that makes crunchy noises and has a mirror on it. I put it on her farmyard mat and she smiles and smiles at it. She loves to bat this one stuffed toy that makes laughing noises too.

Grace still looks very long and big. She's in all 3-6 month clothing. We definitely have a brown eyed girl too! There isn't a bit of blue in them. Her hair is growing quickly too.

Lots of fun watching her grow and we will go see the doctor next month for her 4 month wellness visit.   We sure do love our pretty girl!!

Santa!

We went to see Santa last week and it was Grace's first meet and greet with the jolly old man! William was a little hesitant and we knew he wasn't going to be a huge fan, but the elves did a really good job of distracting him for a good picture. Grace of course smiled and smiled! Once we tried a sibling picture with Santa it wasn't going to work because Grace got hungry. She tried to nurse on Santa's beard! So funny! I love their pictures and love celebrating the season with the two kiddies!

William is going to have so much fun with presents this year. He's been great about leaving the Christmas tree alone and a couple times I've seen him gently take ornaments off then put them back on the tree (clapping for himself immediately following a good ornament placement ha!)

Decorating the tree

Happy with his decorating!

We hosted Breakfast Club Secret Santa this year and loved getting all the kiddies together. The babies are getting so big and in a year's time the group has grown exponentially! Some of the girls are having 3rd babies now! Here is the group right before we opened gifts. William was picked by Coleson and got a new yellow CAT truck that he adores. It makes a lot of noises and shakes. And Grace was picked by Madison and got a big board book Pat the Zoo. William loves the book too because there are lots of animals to touch and feel! 

Breakfast Club Secret Santa

William opening Coleson's gift

Grace and her first Christmas present

Then William's school had a Breakfast with Santa this past weekend. William was mostly excited about his chocolate donut and did not want anything to do with that particular Santa. We got a picture with Santa, but not before Santa pretended to go away and then secretly popped into the background to join in the picture :) 

William sitting by his class Christmas tree decorated with angels

Lots of holiday fun so far! 

Grace is 2 Months!

2 months Grace

On Halloween Grace turned 2 months old! The month has flown by and just like last month she is doing great! She is smiling a ton and a very content newborn.

Grace loves her reflection. She loves to stare at herself in the mirror above her head in the swing and the mirror on her farmyard mat. She smiles and gurgles and you can tell she gets a kick out of the image. Her favorite thing to do is stare at a face. She smiles and scrunches up her nose. It's adorable. She's beginning to really enjoy the farmyard mat. The bright colors and noises are entertaining.

Staring at herself in the mirror and laughing

Grace, throw the ball to me!

She's eating around 6 times a day and is fast as ever. Sometimes it only takes her 8 minutes. So long as she's fed and rested she is a happy little girl. Her sleepy days are dissipating somewhat. She's now alert for around 30 minutes then needs a little coaxing to sleep. A little swaying and shushing then she will pass out.

Her favorite place to sleep during the day is the swing. It really does look pretty cozy, so I can't blame her. I'd love to get her up in the crib though. I've been kind of bad about practicing that because it's so easy for her to fall asleep and I'm usually downstairs trying to clean up after Mr. William.

At night she has the same routine as William. Bath, feed in the dark then straight to the crib. She's doing great at falling asleep immediately. The past week must have been a growth spurt because she was getting up earlier than her usual 9 hours and needing help to get back to sleep. Matt and I would alternate turns rocking her. The past few nights she's gone back to sleeping the norm without waking herself up. In celebration of the 2 month milestone she slept from 8:30p-7:30a - nearly 12 hours :)

She also loves the swaddle! I don't know much about the swaddle since William was a Houdini in the swaddle... how will we "break" her from the swaddle? How long do babies want to be swaddled for? No worries for right now though. She's still in newborn phase. And in true Grace fashion she always wakes up with a smile on her face!

Good morning Grace!

We went on a stroll for the first time with both kiddies. I got a new stroller so they can be side by side on walks. Grace is a great sport of following William around. We go to the park and she usually sits in her car seat or stroller while we play.

Side by side they ride

William likes to tug on her feet as we walk

Enjoying the breeze while William attacks the playground

William on the GO GO GO

 

 

A few people have asked how Maggie is doing with a second child on the loose. We never even thought about it until people asked! As expected Maggie is happy to sit at the bottom of the totem pole. She's gotten very good with William - he loves to tease her and get her riled up so she runs in circles very fast. He laughs hysterically when she gets going. Then William uses her as a stepping stone onto different furniture if she's conveniently in the way - she didn't budge - lets him walk on top of her. So long story short, Grace probably looks like a piece of cake to Maggie. She doesn't move yet! Wahoo! The only bad part about Maggie is her barking when someone rings the doorbell or knocks loudly at the door. If you haven't been over then let me share with you my sweet handwritten note in RED next to the door that says DO NOT RING DOORBELL KNOCK LIGHTLY BABY SLEEPING UPS/FEDEX I WILL SEE THE PACKAGE EVENTUALLY haha!  

 

Maggie laid her head next to Grace for the longest time. So sweet!

Then we had Grace's 2 month wellness visit on November 1. Here are the stats!

Weight: 12 lbs 14.5 oz - 84th %
Height: 24.5" - 99th %

She got her first full round of shots and was very sad about it. Nice to have that out of the way though and now I won't feel so bad bringing her to more germy places like the gym or grocery store.

Ready for my check-up!

 Next check-up is 4 months!

Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween!

 

Trick or Treat! from William the Train Engineer and Grace the Cupcake

 

William and Grace

William is doing really well with Grace. He doesn't hover (which I really appreciate because I don't have to worry too much about him smothering her!), but he is now comfortable with her. When we tell him to say goodnight to Mama/Dada and baby Grace, he runs over to wherever she is and kisses her goodnight. He loves to bring her baby things to me throughout the day, such as he will grab a baby blanket and bring it to me saying "Baby. Baby. Baby..." After his nap he usually wants to run into her room to look for her only after repeating "Baby. Baby. Baby..." several times as I change his diaper. Or in the morning if she's already downstairs he will run over to the bouncer or swing to check on her - always saying, "Baby. Baby. Baby..." William enjoys holding her too. I'll ask him if he wants to hold the baby and he runs to the couch to sit down. I lay her in his lap and he sits there very still for a couple minutes then he's ready to get down. So cute! Already a great big brother!

 

 

Newborn Photos

The newborn photos came back and they are gorgeous as expected! Here are a few of our favorites.