Candyland

We celebrated Edie's 4th birthday earlier this week. I still cannot believe she is already 4!!! We had a little party at our house with Uncle Todd & Aunt B, Poppy & Tu, Aunt Erin, and the Sutherlands and the DeSensi's. Edie wanted a Candyland theme, so we made a life size candyland game in the backyard with all the scrap wood from our construction. The kids had a blast! Edie got her first big girl bike, and what she was most excited about was the barbie bike on the handlebar of it so one of her dolls can ride along! She was so excited about her birthday this year- she could not wait for it to be the last day of July!

Candyland 

A very tired birthday girl (also of note - she designed her birthday outfit. She wanted to wear a tutu, and requested a matching shirt with an ice cream cone and her monogram in the ice cream!)

Clayton, Edie, and Davis

Candyland cake

 

 

 

All the kiddos - Frances, Edie,Davis, Henry, Molly , Clayton, Abigail, Lilly, and Lucy

Uncle Rob and Eeds

Edie and Molly

And we're off and running!

Molly has been walking for the past 2 weeks or so.  I wish I had gotten a video last week because she's gotten pretty good, pretty fast.  It's so sweet, she gets so proud of herself for being able to walk. I have even seen her run already!

Molly has really been fun lately.  She wakes up so happy and is just as smiley and giggly as ever.  She loves to tease and play peek-a-boo and squeal a lot.  Still has a bit of a stubborn streak.  She was eating happily the other night, and then we left and the babysitter said she threw her plate down and refused to eat.  She does not like it when I leave!  She's also started to get interested in reading books, but can't sit still for them very long. Her favorite is a "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star" book we have from the library right now.

Edie's had a bit of an exciting first week of Summer break.  We found a tick on her yesterday!  And this morning while I was finishing up breakfast with Molly, Edie took it upon herself to paint her toes and fingernails.  She's been asking me to paint her nails alternating purple and blue for a while and I just couldn't bring myself to do it. It was way too quiet upstairs and I guess she took matters into her own hands. She was so proud of herself, and especially proud she sat still for "a long time" so it would dry.

Molly - 6 (7) month update

Well, I meant to do a 6 month update for Molly, but here it is Oct 31 and she is already 7.5 months! It's been a busy fall for us as we've signed a contract on a new house, and put our current home up for sale so it's been quite hectic.

In her johnny jump up

A lot has changed since my last Molly update! At her 6 month check up she weighed in at about 15lbs and is in the 25th percentile. She's pretty much following the same growth pattern as Edie of being a little munchkin. She still spits up A LOT, but since she is gaining weight at a steady pace and is otherwise very healthy we are just waiting it out to resolve itself. Edie did that up until 9 months, so hopefully we will see the end of that soon.

Molly is "a very active baby" as classified by our pediatrician. She already desperately wants to keep up with Edie. She started crawling at 6 months, and almost immediately started pulling up in her crib to stand up on her knees. She loves for me to hold her so she can stand, and she even tries to take steps when she's standing. Yes, that's right - trying to walk at 7 months! She is going to give me a run for my money. She tries to talk, which of course just sounds like babble. She's VERY vocal, which can sometimes be a bit overwhelming, but also sometimes very cute!

Standing in the crib at 6 months!

She's fallen into a pretty good nap routine, but at night she has completely regressed which is really hard. She was sleeping 10-11 hours a night up until just about 6 months, and now she gets up 1-2 times a night. She generally will go back down fairly easily but its still somewhat exhausting. Hoping we outgrow that soon too.

We started solids at around 5 months, and so far she'll pretty much eat anything. Her favorite is Yo Baby yogurt though! She still won't take a bottle,despite many attempts. I've pretty much given up on that now. I've gotten her to take milk from a sippy cup a time or 2 so though it seems odd for a baby as small as her to be taking her milk from a sippy, we'll probably just proceed with the path of least resistance. And in typical Molly form, she prefers the big girl regular sippys (just cup w/ spout) not the non-spill ones!

with Uncle Bonner

She loves Bathtime! Though we've now graduated from the baby tub, to either just in the sink, or in the big tub with Edie.

Edie loves to "dress" Molly up. Also note how she is surrounded by all of Edie's stuff animals! They love playing together, and it always makes me smile to watch how sweet Edie is with Molly, and how much Molly adores Edie. Molly is also pretty fascinated with Sadie too.

Molly - 4 month update

Well if one picture could sum up Molly at 4 months, it would be this one -

Thumbsucking is her thing. She started it the weekend of her baptism at about 3 months, and over the past couple weeks its developed into all thumb suck, all the time!

Molly had her 4 month check up last week. She is very healthy and happy, and weighed in at 14lbs which is 50% She was 50% for height too. She has changed SO MUCH in the past month! She's super alert, and really grabbing and playing with toys. She's pretty vocal - by this I mean lots of cooing and squealing! She started rolling on her side, and when we were in Florida she rolled over for the first time! She frequently rolls straight to her side now when I put her down to sleep, as that is her preferred sleep position - thumb in mouth as well of course!

I think she could be the world's happiest baby. She is such a smiley baby, and so happy most of the time. The exception is if you try and give her a bottle...we're still working on that. Most nights she'll sleep 10-11 hours, and she happily naps several times a day as well. Just this week she's found her feet and is completely fascinated with them!

Playing in her bouncy seat

Sitting in her bumbo seat!

Sitting up at Oma's

She likes to flip onto her belly!

Tummy Time

She gives all signs of teething, but no signs of teeth yet!

Happy Baby Girl

Getting some big sis love

The Traveller

Chillin with Poppy!

Spring 2011

It's been a busy spring with the arrival of little Molly. We kicked off spring with a visit from Oma & Opa. Oma stayed for 2 weeks to help out after Molly's birth! We were sure glad to have her!

Playing Princesses

Oma and Opa working on some puzzles with Edie

sweeping the porch - Edie loves to help out!

Thunder over Louisville with the Sutherlands - rainy and cold this year

Princess Edie - pretty much any time we are home, Edie dons either her princess dress, tutu, or sometimes both, and she trots around in her princess shoes.

Edie loves being a big sister! She frequently asks to hold her, and likes to help burp her. And she likes to let me know when Molly is crying, as if I don't already hear it myself :)

Edie got all princessed out to watch the royal wedding of Prince William to Kate Middleton. Her favorite part was the "little princesses" aka bridesmaids. Afterwards, she asked if she could have a wedding dress. I told her she can't have a wedding dress until she grows up and gets married. She paused for a while and then looked at me and said "Mommy, I want to get married then so I can have my dress".

Even Sadie got into the princess spirit for the royal wedding!

Rain, rain, and more rain in Louisville this spring. Lots of crazy weather and tornadoes too. Edie spent a night or 2 sleeping in the basement due to severe weather. She didn't seem to mind though since she got to sleep in her sleeping bag in her princess castle tent!

Edie & Sadie - Still best buddies

School is out for the summer and her music class is over too. I decided not to sign her up for any activities other than a 6 week "camp" at her school which is pretty much the same thing as parent's day out, just 2 mornings a week. That doesn't start until late June. We are actually enjoying having no activities and places to be. Just enjoying our backyard and neighborhood parks a lot and scheduling some playdates with friends!

In other Edie news, she apparently has developed an imaginary friend. We are not sure where this came from at all. This is what we know about him so far - "He's a girl", his name is Poke Abby, he is a friend of Abby Cadabby's (Sesame Street), he looks like Batman, and he lives across the street. She will randomly start talking to Poke - while she's playing, riding in the car, eating, etc. I have to admit I think it's a little odd, but I guess it's pretty normal for kids this age. I've sort of taken the approach to not encourage it, but not discourage it either.

To kick off Summer, John took Edie camping at "Camp Connor" in Oldham County with Chip, Abigail, and Lucy. I don't think they got any pictures but if some turn up I'll post them. Edie got to sleep with the big girls in their tent and was super excited to take her sleeping bag that Big Edie gave her for Christmas last year! Sadie got to tag along and being the dog that she is, opted to sleep in the tent with John instead of outside! They fished, roasted hot dogs and marshmallows, and made S'mores. They had a blast and came home exhausted, especially Sadie! And while they camped, Nora and I took the babies for a girls night out and enjoyed dinner at the Bristol!

In other family news, my nephew Steele has undergone several very serious brain/skull/facial surgeries related to his Crouzon's syndrome. It is hard to be away from family during these times, and we wish so much that we could be there to visit Steele and help out Lindsay and Mike. Oma is filling in for all of us though and has been out in Seattle with them for several weeks. On the off chance I forget, Edie now reminds me during our bedtime prayers that we need to say a "Special prayer for Steele".

We also received the sad news this past weekend, that John's Aunt Arline passed away. We were looking forward to their visit here in a few weeks where Aunt Arline was going to be Molly's proxy Godmother for Doriot at Molly's baptism . We were deeply saddened by her passing and our thoughts and prayers are with Uncle George, Doriot, Serena, and Tanya this week.

First trip to the Dentist!

I'm a little behind, but 2 weeks ago we had Edie's first trip to the Dentist! She went to see Dr. Carroll, and as always he was great! We'd been reading lots of books about the dentist so she was pretty excited about it. She was so still and even opened up and said "AHHH" when she was supposed to! In the Berenstein Bears go to the Dentist, they compare the open mouth to a cave with a tongue - which Edie loved since she still talks about when we took her to the caves last fall. So that was a big hit and she loved it! When she was done she got to pick a prize from their drawer, which was bubbles. All afternoon she kept calling them her "dentist bubbles". We'll check that off the list as a success! Oh, and good report on the condition of her teeth too! :)

Potty Training and the Big Girl Bed

October was a big month for Edie. She conquered Potty Training at the beginning of the month, and transitioned to a big girl bed at the end of the month - all this at age 26 months. I'm so proud of her and how well she did with both! That's the short story. Most of you might not be interested in the long story and all details so you can stop reading here, but i wanted to get it down so I can remember for the next baby when we get to that point. :)

Potty Training:
Edie has been sitting on the potty before naps and bathtime for a while, and reading lots of books about it - so we decided to go for the real deal. I really don't want to have 2 in diapers, and I wanted her to be well established with it before the baby comes so hopefully she won't regress. She definitely seemed ready, so we went with the "potty training boot camp" approach. We took an entire Friday to stay home, went straight to panties, and set the timer so she could go sit on the potty every 20 minutes and get the hang of not having a diaper on. A week or so before, we went and picked out some "Big Girl Panties" - Elmo, Abby, and Zoe (sesame Street) panties were her panty of choice and she was SO excited about them!

That first morning was rough, and i was starting to doubt if she was ready. I couldn't believe how often she had to go - even though it was small each time. I think she had something like 14 accidents to 3 successful go's before lunch. I was pretty discouraged, but decided to give it the entire day before giving up and waiting a few more months - and I'm so glad we kept at it.

After lunch, I stuck more closely to the timer, and she started to say "Potty Time" on her own every time the timer went off and she would run to the potty. She had been going on the big potty with an insert (she picked out a princess/flowered one for the upstairs potty, and a sesame street one for the downstairs potty), but I decided we needed to kick it up a notch for excitement purposes so I brought out her special small potty - which she LOVED, and that definitely helped. I also made a potty chart, and her reward each time she had a successful go on the potty was a sticker. It's amazing how something that simple can really motivate them. She was so excited to get another sticker on her chart each time she'd go potty! We did smiley face for #1, and a sesame street sticker for #2. When she got to the end of the row, she got to pick out a potty treat - I hit up the Target dollar section for some plastic zoo animals, sesame street coloring books, stamps, etc. I still diapered her for naptime and bedtime though, because she would always wake up with full diapers so i just didn't think she was ready to go that far yet. By that first evening, she was really starting to get it. Chip & Nora, and Lucy & Abigail came over for dinner and the girls made a huge deal of her going on the potty. And they went on the potty in front of her so she could see the big girls doing it too. That definitely helped!

The special potty, and the potty chart. Even though she doesn't get stickers anymore, she's still pretty proud of her chart, and brings it out every now and then to show off!

By Saturday(day #2), she only had 2 accidents. We even went to Davis' birthday party and she stayed dry the whole time. For the first week or so, we tried not to do too much outside of home so we could really focus on it, although day 2 was a birthday party, day 3 was church, and day 4 was the pumpkin patch! She really picked it up quickly after that first day though, I just had to remember to put her on the potty every so often. We put the little "special" potty away after a week or 2, and she's back to using a regular potty, sometimes with an insert, sometimes without. The timer only lasted for the first 2 days, and same with the stickers. After a couple days, she didn't need that for motivation anymore. I got a travel potty for outings, and that was extremely helpful especially in the first couple weeks and for events like tailgating at the UK game, the pumpkin patch, etc.

It's been about a month now, and her accidents are few and far between. On our trip to Chicago last week, she only had one accident the entire trip and thankfully it was not on the airplane! I am definitely not a fan of pull ups. She has to wear a pull up to school, and every thursday afternoon, or friday morning following school is when she will usually have an accident. I think pull ups just confuse them. So we are all panties, all the time - other than school. She's gotten so when she wakes up from naps, or in the morning she takes off her diaper herself and wants to go straight to the potty. Usually nap time diapers are dry now, so starting today we are eliminating that diaper now too. We might hang on to the nighttime diaper for a little while longer. She drinks so much water at night, and although some mornings now her diapers are dry, there are still a few mornings that she wakes up pretty wet. She's also gotten much better about telling us when she needs to go - so it's not quite perfect yet, but all in all I'd definitely say she's potty trained and our efforts were a huge success :)

Big Girl Bed:
Edie has always been a great sleeper, and has loved her bed. She would wake up and play quietly for up to an hour sometimes so i was hesitant to break that cycle. Selfishly, it was kind of nice having an extended morning or naptime, with her happily confined. I was putting away her laundry while she was playing in her crib after her nap one day though, and she tried to climb out (this after i tried to get her out when i first went in there and she wanted to stay and play). So we decided it was time for a new bed since she was climbing out. This is another thing I wanted to do anyway well before baby #2 comes so Edie didn't feel like she was kicked out of her beloved crib for the baby.

If we are still in our current house when baby #2 comes, they will share a room - so I didn't want to get a true big girl bed like a twin or my old sleigh bed which is what I'd like to use for Edie eventually. There's just not space if they are going to share a room. Rob and Sara loaned us their toddler bed. Edie, who absolutely adores Clayton & Davis, thought it was so exciting to have "Davis' bed" so that helped with the transition. We set up the bed, and that first naptime didn't go so well. She went down easily in it, but i heard her up and jumping around for the entire naptime. She was so tired from that though, she went down early at 7pm that night and slept until 8am - all night in the big girl bed!

First night in the big girl bed

From there on out it's been pretty easy, she's never even thought about her crib since then. She is back to her usual 2-3 hour nap, and will sleep all night in her bed waking up between 7-8am most days. Since the sticker chart was such a success for potty training, I did make her a new sticker chart for staying in her bed at naptime or in the morning so she doesn't come out of her room. For the most part, she's been pretty great about that. She will get up and get books or toys and take them back to bed with her if she wakes up before we come to get her. Another plus to the bed transition timing was it made our trip to Chicago easy. The hotel supplied some bedrails, and she slept in the full size bed all night with no problem- so no hauling a pack and play on the trip or having to rent a crib!