Bethany - 26 months (when do I stop with the "months"???)

Bethany Claire is 26 months old! People are so surprised that you just turned two because of your exploding vocabulary and your high activity level :) You keep us laughing all the time. I need to remember to write down the funny things you say more so we can tell you about them when you get older.

- When Mormor and Morfar came over you had a messy shirt on from lunch. Morfar commented that it looked like you left a snack on your shirt for later. You came over to me and Mormor and said "Do you want a snack?" while lifting out your shirt for us to see!

- Another thing when they came over was when we asked if you wanted something back... you turned around in circles looking at your back to see what we were talking about. :)

- We left cookies out for Santa and you mentioned several times on Christmas morning that the "cookies all gone?!" "Santa ate cookies... reindeer"

- You also like to mention that Jesus was born in a MANGER (that part of the story really stood out to you)

- You think Santa is pretty scary though and everytime we see someone with a beard you say you don't want to sit on Santa's lap :0 and then proceed to say "ho ho ho!"

- You are very polite and say "no thank you mommy, I don't want it" when I ask if you want peas or carrots... neither isn't an option hunny!

-Now that April is with you at Koala Bear you are allowed to visit her. You want to go and visit all the time your teachers say and you talk about April a lot. Such a sweet older sister you are!

- You always want to include everyone in what you do. "Come mommy?" when you want me to join you in playing or going upstairs etc.

- Everything deserves a band-aid. Even if it is a bump, you run into our bathroom to dig for a bandaid. We've explained it is only when something bleeds, and you were excited when you skinned your knee and got to have a band-aid for real one time!

- at a restaurant you waved to a little boy with one finger and then wanted to eat our lemons and drink Dan's Mountain Dew. You then "paid" for the meal when you handed our credit card to the waitress and said "I got it!"

- at Christmas you put hot pads from Charlie's new play kitchen down your shirt and walked around and said you looked like mommy, you also took my nursing cover and put it on and asked to feed April :)

- you took your crayons and started drawing on your eyes like mommy

You are a fun, fun little girl and we love this crazy age! You love to sit around with us drinking hot chocolate and listening to Christmas music even if the sitting only lasts for 3-5 minutes :)

More December 2011 pictures

Well, I'm still having trouble uploading pictures but I'm trying to get a few uploaded here and there. I certainly can not miss the opportunity to post pictures of my adorably chubby 3 month old! Here are a few recent ones of her in her 3-6 month clothes... I love the Christmas outfit that she barely fits into!

April 3 months old

I couldn't get the picture to come up so I converted it to video... hopefully this works!

Well, sweet girl, you are 3 months old. We know you weighed in at 14 lbs 3 oz in early December so you are likely pushing 15 lbs easily by now! You fit perfectly into your 3-6 month clothes but pretty soon we need to get your 9 month clothes out and washed.

You are SO good. Everyone comments on how easy you are and how you love to just be held and talked to. When I went back to work, the nursery workers said that you just hang out and love to interact with people. I sometimes have to put you down, but as soon as I'm back you flash that beautiful full face smile at me and it makes me feel so special! (But, I've seen you give others that smile too.. it isn't just reserved for me!)

We've been comparing pictures and videos of you and Bethany when she was your age and you look very different. She was always moving and tended to screech if she didn't get what she wanted. You definitely want to be fed and held, but your protests aren't quite as loud and you are quickly calmed.

Bedtime is still a challenge because you wake up quickly after being laid down. You can put yourself to sleep just fine, but end up waking up a lot and in order to keep the rest of the family sleeping, I usually pick you up and you give me a BIG smile. I know you just want to cuddle and somehow you sleep so much better snuggled under my arm in our bed. This is something that we will need to address soon, but I think we'll wait until 4 months. It is also a reason why you might be putting on the lbs because you eat around the clock! A lot of babies eat throughout the day and then that allows them to sleep through the night. You may be bothered by your reflux still and so since you wake up, it seems like feeding you is what you want.

You are doing so well at holding your head up and we are trying to keep practicing more tummy time. We put you in your Bumbo seat last night (snuggly) and you played with a toy. When you concentrate on things you bite your lower lip, it is so cute! Both of your bottom two teeth are now in and hopefully we won't have to go through teething for awhile ago. Not that you fuss a lot, but I can tell it does give you a bit of pain and it is certainly painful for me feeding you :)

I can't tell you how special you are to us, April Faith. This last month has had some very difficult times that I'm not ready to process on paper (or blog) yet and I may never be able to. All I know is that you are one loved little girl and we thank Jesus for you.

December 2011

I'm having trouble uploading pictures, so will have to figure that out soon since I have so many to share! In the meantime, here is one of the girls yesterday when we had our first fire in our fireplace. Merry Christmas everyone!

April 11.5 weeks