Victory

There have been two victories for us lately. One is that I can now pull into our garage. The garage was a mess when I moved in (4.5 years ago!). So you can imagine that my organized self was having an embolism whenever I walked out there. I just stopped walking out there for a while, but finally I can park in there!

The other small victory is that I can now put Mary's hair up!

There were pig tails on Christmas eve...more pics to come.

Christmas Walk

It's taken me a while to update all the things we've done over Christmas. Last week we went to the Neiderman Farm up in Liberty to do their Christmas walk. It's totally free and you get hot chocolate afterward! They have a walk through the bible that is lit up with Christmas lights. It was a really fun thing to do as a family. The kids seemed cold, as you will see below, but when I pulled Noah out of the car seat he was sweating! Daddy likes to bundle them up nice and tight. We also had a Happy Birthday Jesus party with our community group, but you'll have to see pictures of that on FB because I didn't take any. Just my friend Trish. It was a really fun night spent with really great people. Here are pics from the walk:

Shapes, colors, letters, oh my!

I thought I would share the things we're using to teach Mary these things in case any other mamas out there want to try them.

Mary knows all of her basic shapes and points them out regularly. I attribute this mostly to the baby Einstein discovering shapes DVD. They do a good job of saying the shape name a lot. And it helped when I sat down and watched it with her and said, "Say rectangle!" When I realized she was getting it I got her this shapes puzzle by Melissa and Doug which was such a great learning tool. I would take all the shapes out and "hide" them in my lap. Then I'd count to three and pull one out. She usually laughed at that...not sure why:) But then I'd say the name of the shape and have her say it. It took her a while to tell the difference between circle and oval, and rectangle and square, but now she can tell them apart.

For colors we mostly just name the colors of things around us. But this stacker is SOOOOOO good for helping her with colors. We just started talking about colors last week and already she can name most of the seven basic colors (think ROY G. BIV). This stacker has all those colors and I also think it's good for her development otherwise. She's just getting to the point where she can stack them in order and when she gets it wrong she knows. She'll take them off and put them in the right order. For this I just have her name the colors as she's putting them on the peg. We also now name random colors of things around the house.

Letters...she's not great at them. But she does know a few by sight and she can sing the ABC's. Which apparently is all you have to be able to do going into kindergarten. I feel like you should be able to do more than that by the time you're 5, but that's just me. Anyway, I really like this DVD by leap frog. It does a great job making the letter sounds, it's fun, and there's nothing in it that I wouldn't want Mary to see. We also visit starfall, have flashcards, and use this puzzle (thanks mom!). I try to work on one letter at a time, but she also sees a lot of other letters because of the video and puzzles. It's a work in progress:) She's been getting a show almost every day now because it's so cold I don't even step outside most days. This bugged me at first, but I know once it gets warm we'll be running around outside during that time instead!

As for numbers, we just count as we're doing things. Once she could count to 3 I just started working her up. She can make it to 10 now. Three is easy because we're always counting to three. Like when doing puzzles, jumping, etc. We have the chunky puzzle that is similar to the letters one above, but haven't started using it yet. I'd like her to know her letters before we conquer numbers. For now just being able to count out loud is sufficient for me. Hope this helps some of you working with your little ones!

Awakening

I've been listening to this song a lot on youtube:

It is so good. About 10.5 years ago I first heard about having a relationship with Christ. This was foreign to me because I thought God was just about rules. That I just had to be good and that's all He wanted from me. But that is so far from the truth. We had a prayer gathering last week with some people from my church and someone prayed for me. He said that God wanted to be my comfort. The next day I read this from Isaiah 43:
“Do not fear, for I have redeemed you;
I have summoned you by name; you are mine.
2 When you pass through the waters,
I will be with you;
and when you pass through the rivers,
they will not sweep over you.
When you walk through the fire,
you will not be burned;
the flames will not set you ablaze.
4 Since you are precious and honored in my sight,
and because I love you,
I will give people in exchange for you,
nations in exchange for your life.
This is how God feels about us. He wants more than rule followers. That song puts into words what I felt 10 years ago when I decided that I wanted more with God. I wanted to know him and he awakened my soul. Who doesn't want that? To really feel alive? Thank you Jesus for making that possible!

Oh, and as a side note, when I got on the computer this morning this article was up:) Pretty sure my husband is amazing.

Winter

I am not a fan of winter. Flubs closes. It gets cold. It snows. Combine those things and it means I don't get my favorite ice cream, I can't go outside and neither can my rambunctious 2 year old, and we don't drive anywhere because I'm terrified of driving in the snow. However, it also means cute and cuddly kids all bundled up! I really wanted some good hats for my kids and I also don't like paying $15 a hat. A friend of mine posted pictures on her blog of some hats she crocheted for her kids and she shared the pattern with me (thanks steph!) So here are some pictures of Mary bundled up and of the hat that I made. The pattern is here if you'd like it!

5 months

Nono is 5 months old now! He's got such a great smile. I just love going in to get him when he wakes up because he smiles so brightly up at me. Like Yes! Mommy came to get me! Here he is smiling at daddy:

Thanksgiving travels

First we traveled out to Amelia to see Grandpa and Grandma Riley! We ate our French thanksgiving meal and enjoyed time with a side of the family that we don't see too often.



Then we headed to Brown County Indiana to spend the weekend with Grandma Julie and Grandpa Tommy. We had a really great time of relaxation and, of course, shopping! We stayed in this rental house that was way out in the middle of nowhere. You could hear the wild turkeys gobbling anytime you went outside. Ian and Tom actually came back pretty quickly from their walk through the woods because they could hear gunshots getting closer... Didn't want to be dinner if you know what I mean. Here are some pictures of our weekend where we mostly laid around and did nothing!




We forgot the turkey, but we had a chubby baby!

First foods

Noah had his first taste of solids! He did really well. I think I was expecting it to be awful because I remember starting solids with Mary and it was way different than I thought it would be. I envisioned such a fun new thing for us! Me making food, Mary gobbling it down. But it's not like that. Most of it ends up on the bib for a while. This time I went in expecting that. So keeping that in mind, I think he did really well for his first time!

Go doah go!

Noah can roll. That's right! Me and the kids are over at my parents house today because Ian went up to a young life weekend. Mary, my mom, and I were getting ready to go to a craft show, and we were watching Noah try so hard to roll over. We were all saying Go Noah Go! I look over and Mary is crouching next to him clapping and saying go doah go! Just like the rest of us. It was so cute. I hope she is always cheering for him in life.

Anyway as we were leaving I told my mom that I just KNEW we'd come home and Tom would say, "he rolled over!" Well it happened. And then he did it two more times and I finally caught it on the third time. It was awesome. As in actually awe inspiring for me. God is good.

Wonder Weeks

Have I posted about this before? Not sure. But Yesterday and today have been so frustrating. Noah hasn't slept well (during the day, thankful still sleeping at night!) and he hasn't been super interested in eating. I thought they went hand in hand so I've fed him a couple times right before a nap to make sure he wasn't hungry...still waking up after 30-45 min! I'm just not used to it. Noah has always been a sleeper. Mary napped for 45 minutes EVERY nap until she was 7 months old, I was used to it.

Anyway, I heard about this research on mental development done a while ago and a book they wrote on it called The Wonder Weeks. Basically they studied a ton of babies and figured out when their big mental developmental periods are, and realized they are similar for all babies. Personally I thought this was kind of weird when I first read about it. How can someone possibly know that stuff? But I went to their website today and guess what? Week 19 is a wonder week. And guess what? Noah is in his 19th week. Coincidence? Maybe. But everything that happens in the "wonder weeks" has happened with Noah and this is SO unlike him. The author talks about (on the site, I don't have the book...yet) turning these weeks that can be so stressful into weeks filled with wonder and learning for your baby. That sounds so pie in the sky, but I'm trying to get on board.

So if your baby is being CRAZY, you might want to check out their site:)

Baby Food

I just got my baby food book back from my good friend Cari and she also let me borrow the one she had. We both agree that they are a good combo to have. I thought I'd share about them here in case anyone plans to make their own baby food. Even if not, Super Baby Food is a great resource! She has advice about buying commercial baby food too and what to look for. The other book I have is the Top 100 Baby Purees. The second book is nice to have, but it's not essential. It gives good ideas, but wholesomebabyfood.com is a great (free) resource that does the same thing.

Back to Super Baby Food. It is seriously a wealth of information on all things that will go into your child's mouth and stomach! She talks about liquids, solids, the growth of your baby, when to introduce new foods, how to cook different things, etc. I think it would generally be more of a reference book for most people, but I just love information about this stuff so I'm reading it from cover to cover. It's interesting to know which foods to definitely buy organic for baby foods and which it's OK to get the non-organic kind. Like bananas. The fungicides they spray on bananas leak through the peal because it is porous. This makes me want to buy all organic bananas all the time. I mean, for sure I'll get them for Noah, but I don't want to eat fungicides either! Another thing she mentioned was thoroughly washing the outside of all commercial baby food jars before you open them. I think this is a little bit overkill, but she just said you never know what is on the outside of those jars and you don't want to contaminate the food inside. So while that seems a little paranoid...I'll probably do it because now I'm just thinking of all the crap that could get into my baby's food! Ah well, we make most of our own anyways.

Silly kids

I LOVE that Noah has a "thing" that he does when he's tired. He sucks on his right arm or sometimes his hand and puts his other hand by his ear.

And Mary loves all of the things we have out for Noah. It's like a second time use for her 2 years later. Here she is in the seat we got from cousin Cara:

4 months old!

My baby boy is 4 months old. He's growing so fast! Literally, he has grown 5.5 inches in 4 months and has gained 8.5 pounds! At his appointment today he was 17 lbs and 26 inches. At least he's proportionately huge! I just love his chubby little self! I also learned something new today: during the first 4 months infant growth generally is more influenced by how they grew in the womb and environmental factors, after that their growth is more influenced by genetic factors. With his height our pediatrician asked how tall me and Ian are. When I told her we're both average sized people she said he probably won't stay in the 90th percentile his whole life, but you never know. Forgot to mention that most of the other men in both of our families are over 6 foot, but oh well:) We'll see how tall he is when he gets older right?

On to pictures:





Love those last three! They'll go in his book for sure:) I hope my kids like their baby books when they get older because I've spent a lot of time on them.

Sibling love, yet again.

Mary has started staring up at me and pleading, "hold you doah!" Translation: mom, I want to hold Noah. So I let her hold him a lot:) It keeps both kids occupied at once! Solo shots:


Holding doah:)

This almost made me cry. I was putting laundry away so they were both on my bed. I looked over and this is what was happening:

So glad my camera was right next to me!

Alone Time

I wanted to make a post about how we do independent play or "alone time" with Mary. I've gotten a lot of questions from different people that I usually answer by telling them about independent play. Anything from, "how do you get Mary to play so well by herself?" to "how can I get things done around the house or for myself?" I always find myself talking about independent play. It is probably one of the best things I've ever done with my kids. Basically it's just giving them time to play alone. Simple.

We started with Mary in her pack n play with some toys for about 10 minutes when she was 6 months old. We used a timer so that she would know that we came in when the timer went off, not when she started crying. Sometimes she would cry when I left at first, but I'd heard such great things about independent play, so I wanted her to get good at it. Eventually we worked up to an hour of independently play and by that time she was loving it. I'd say, "It's time for you to have some alone time!" And she would run to her PNP and wait for me to turn on the music and put her in. Now she has alone time in her room for about an hour to 1.25 hours every day depending on what I need to do and how well she's enjoying her time in there. I'm planning to start this in the next week with Noah. I think starting earlier with him will reduce the learning curve. He's not really a crier anyway:)

I think there are a lot of benefits to doing something like this so I thought I'd share it. It has taught Mary SOOOO many things it's hard to count. She plays well by herself. If she can't do something she has to wait until the end of alone time to ask for my help, which has increased her patience. It's helped her learn to stay put. Especially now that it's in her room. I say, "I'll be back when alone time is over. Stay in here. Have fun!" and I leave them room. And she stays! Sometimes I will hear her door squeak, but by the time I walk back there she's moved away from the door and is playing again. It has also given Ian and I some time together some evenings when we just needed a break. And since having Noah it allows me to get some time just with him in the mornings and also allows me to put him to sleep for naps without her yelling "BABY BABY BABY NIGHT NIGHT!" the whole time. She's used to playing in her room alone, so when I need to put Noah down I just tell her to say night night to Noah and that I'll be back for her when I'm done.

I'm looking forward to the added benefits this will have with 2 children. Some other moms have sung the praises of independent play with 2 or more kids. This is outlined in more detail in Toddlerwise I think. Maybe Babywise II? It's been a while. Anyway, I highly recommend this practice!

Halloween

One of the top 5 things I love about my husband is how goofy he is. Not kidding, top 5. He is so fun and always makes me laugh. When I found a bunny costume for Mary there was no doubt in my mind that Ian would put his on too so that they could trick or treat together:)

Bambi and Thumper, and a really big thumper:

He's thinking, 'mommy I don't feel good, but I'll be a trooper anyway'

'or I'll just go to sleep'

Love her...

She kept dragging her bag on the ground so we tried to hold it for her, but she was not having that! She said trick or treat so sweetly at every house and then said thank you as well. It was so cute.

The 5 O'Clock Club

I did it. I joined the 5 O'Clock club through the girl talk blog. I was just browsing their site and found the club. I generally get up around 6, but often find that I need more time in the morning before the kiddos wake up, so this was a great challenge for me. You may be wondering exactly what the club is? You can read more about it here. I committed to getting up at 5:30...

The other day I read this verse: "The LORD your God will change your heart and the hearts of your descendants forever, so that you will love him with all your heart and soul and so you may live." ~ Deuteronomy 30:6

I want to live! I want to love God with all my heart and soul. Now combine that with something a good friend shared with me the other day: scripture says if we seek God we will find him, so I'm going to keep seeking God and trust in His promise that I will find him. Put 'em together and what have you got? If I want to live, that means I need God to change my heart so that I can love him. I want to seek Him until he changes my heart and continue to seek him until I see him in person. For me, getting up early has always been a way to ensure that I will seek him...

So will you join me? Anyone out there reading this...want to get up early and seek God? I used to think that 7 AM was my time. That anything earlier than that was just plain torture. Once I had Mary that time moved to 6 because I made myself do it. Now 6 doesn't seem that early. I want more though, and I think this is a step to getting there.

Random pictures

Here are some random moments from the past few weeks. Mary still likes to climb up in Noah's crib with her toys. Then she likes it when Noah comes and sits with her. The first picture is when she shared her car with Noah. She likes to give him things:)




And here are a couple from when we got dressed up in our spirit gear to go to the last soccer game:


And this is what happens when you give a child with a runny nose a black crayon:

Nono

Ian's nickname for Noah is nono. At first I didn't like it, but now Mary says it too and I find myself saying it! I was thinking today how unfortunate it is for him to be born second. How unfortunate it is for any child really. I don't give him as much attention as I gave Mary as a baby. Nor do I put as much thought into what he's doing or isn't doing as far as milestones and developmental achievements. But the amount of time I spend worrying about development has no relation at all to the love I have for my kids. I worried about and fussed over Mary all the time. I only do that a little bit with Noah. But I love them equally.

Then I was thinking God didn't mess up by giving him to me. And that includes the fact that he planned Noah to be our second kid. That's a very encouraging fact. There's a reason Noah was born second and it will surely be a factor in shaping who he becomes. He benefits from the fact that I am much more knowledgeable and experienced as a mom now. He also benefits from all the loving he gets from his sister. So I guess I'm OK with it after all!

Last weekend

I think I'm fully recovered from last weekend! It was a great weekend overall, but it involved a lot of driving and not a lot of sleep. Noah and I went with Grandma Julie and Grandpa Tommy to Georgia for my cousin's wedding. It was a beautiful little island they got married on and the place we stayed had bikes. So I got two opportunities to ride around the island and I took them! One was at sunrise so that was amazing. Worth missing sleep for sure:) Here are some pictures of me and baby boy:


And here are two from the wedding. It was my second shot at being a wedding photographer and I have to say I think they turned out well. I'm not done editing yet, but I think Val will really like them. This is just a taste:) I'll let Val reveal the rest to the world if she'd like!