Monday, February 23

Baby E's First Teeth

This cute girl has had a rough teething week. She's been gnawing on her teething rings like the cold numbing relief can't happen fast enough, drooling everywhere, her nose has been running like a faucet and she has a diaper rash with blisters {I promise it's not from neglect - the amount of cream and diapers we've gone through this week are astounding and yet she's still got this horrible rash!}, and all she wants is to be held and snuggled. Teething has been much harder on her than it ever seemed to be for her brother.

She is an overachiever and/or a bargainer because she went through all of this and must have decided it was only worth it to get two teeth out of the deal. Both bottom teeth broke through today!!

And she has a grin the size of Texas so it was pretty easy to catch a photo of the cute little chompers!

Monday, February 16

Upgrading to a Toddler Bed

We changed his crib to a big boy bed this morning. I don't know who said my baby boy could grow up so fast, but I don't think I'm okay with it!


He has been fighting naptime and bedtime so much recently plus he has been showing a lot more of a desire for independence lately. So we decided that maybe it would help the fights to give him the freedom of the toddler bed instead of having him feel trapped in his crib.

His Auntie Kiera found the cute dinosaur bedding for him a few months ago and he was so excited to have the bed put together as his "big boy dinosaur bed!" He was too excited to settle down for a nap today but played nicely in his room for Quiet Time instead; and crashed into his bed at bedtime. I'm hoping this transition will go as easily as it has been so far today!

Saturday, February 14

Valentine's Day

One of the things I love most about Valentines Day in our house is that we are able to celebrate all different types of love. Sure, it's a romantic holiday. But M and I also love our kids, our kids love us, and our kids share a little bit of sibling love. It's so fun to celebrate all together and enjoy Love Day with all our different love-filled relationships.

Our Valentines tradition for dinner is homemade pizzas. This year was so fun because A is old enough to help and enjoy putting together his own pizza.








Between the four of us, we exchanged gifts including way more delicious chocolate than we probably need plus my handsome boys brought home a gorgeous bouquet of roses for me.



We had a fantastic Valentines Day! I love this little family of mine so much.

Thursday, February 12

Grateful for Gamma B.

Here in our house, we really love "Gamma and Gampa and Kyle in Idaho!" It's hard living in separate states and, even though I'm a grownup, I still miss my family a lot. My mom and I decided it would be fun to meet in the middle for lunch dates every couple of months—and today was our first one!

We had a blast and I'm so grateful that my mom could clear her schedule for an entire day just snap pictures, eat sandwiches, and play at the park with us. It was perfect.













Tuesday, February 10

Baby E at 7 Months

She is definitely the cutest little girl I've ever seen!


Her current stats: 
  • Weight: 18 lbs.
  • Height: 26.5 inches
  • Diaper Size: She is wearing Size 2.
  • Clothing Size: She's wears 3-6 Months.
  • Likes: Eating, crawling around, pulling herself up on the furniture, anything A is doing.
  • Dislikes: Mom or dad leaving the room.
One of the main reasons I feel like E seems waaaayyy too grown up lately is because he's figured out crawling! What started with her army crawl/squirming across the room has turned into pushing up into a real crawling position, rocking back and forth, and eventually taking a step or two {are they still called steps when they are with knees instead of feet?!} and suddenly taking off! She is everywhere and getting into everything! She loves to explore and pull anything and everything out of containers, baskets, buckets, and whatever else she can find.

She loves to pull herself up on things and loves to hold onto any furniture so she can be standing. When there is something she really wants, she even tries to take a step or two along the furniture to reach it.

Food makes her so excited and she loves to eat everything. So far, we haven't found any foods she doesn't like. She will still eat them but she acts as if she's too big for pureed baby foods because she always just wants what the rest of us are eating - especially whatever A is eating!

She has started laughing a lot more often. It is such a cute laugh because it still sounds more like a cross between a gasp and a shriek than any sort of laugh. But we start laughing when she laughs because it's such a fun and cute sound!

She is trying to "talk" all the time lately! It's so cute hearing her sweet little girly voice as she rambles on in her baby talk. She frequently says "mom-mom-mom" and "dad-dad-dad" {and A thinks that she says his name too} but it's just the sounds and she isn't saying the words in association with the people quite yet.

Loves to play with A and seems to think she's a two-year-old as well! They are really cute together and I hope they will grow up to be great friends.

Her stranger-danger/seperation anxiety is starting to kick in. She does not like to be handed off to anyone besides mom and dad; and sometimes she will even start crying if we start to walk away from her. I feel like it's extra challenging because A is still nervous around a lot of other people and tends to be clingy, so when E gets nervous and wants to be held as well then I end up with my arms full of crying, clinging kids!

She really enjoys playing outside and seems fascinated by everything in nature.

Although she is sweet and adorable, she is also a very strong-willed, determined little girl! Sometimes I get nervous that those qualities will make her teenage years a very bumpy ride for us as her parents, but then I remember what powerful qualities those are for great women who accomplish great things. I hope we can do a good job to raise her to use her strong personality for good.

It's my own fault because I don't let my kids cry it out, but she still wakes up at least two or three times a night right now. Overall, I feel like she is a good sleeper because she sleeps through a lot of her big brother's noises and especially loves naptime.

She is becoming such a fun little girl and we are so happy to have her in our family!