Monday, October 28, 2013

Nora-8 Months Old

Highlights from the past month:

Graydon's 3rd Birthday, party at Marci's, party with Chris's family
Marci's kids came over to play one night
Making popsicles and applesauce
MOPS every other Thursday
MOPS playdate at Koetsiers Greenhouse
Graydon started gymnastics on Thursday evenings.
Pumpkin Path at Lamar Park-Nora's first "Halloween outing" where she got to dress up
Dinner at Grandpa Mike and Grandma Lyn's
Afternoon trip to Robinette's
Graydon's 3 year doctor appointment along with Nora's booster flu shot.
Went to Aquinas twice to watch our friend Brooke play volleyball
Graydon had his first overnight at a friend's house. Nora came out to eat with Chris and I to Osgood
We visited the Vintage Coopersville Pumpkin Train with Chris's family
MOPS playdate at our group leaders church nursery
Had Bob and Jeanne over for dinner.
Zumba ended
Toddler time at the library, along with borrowing several books every other week.

Nora is definitely getting bigger and seems so long! She is weighing around 16  lbs. She still fits into some 6 month size clothing but can also fit into 9 month now, especially sleepers. She doesn't wear shoes too much yet but once in a while I put this pair of pink boots on her that are size 2. Her feet are so tiny! We have mostly been using disposables the past month of so, just because it has been a lot easier for me, and we are using size 3 Kirkland brand.

Nora is still doing really great eating solids and even better than Graydon at this point as fast as chunks in the food. I make a lot of her food for her so I think she has gotten used to that! I can even mush up a banana and mix it into some cereal and she loves it. We could never do that with Graydon! She definitely still loves fruits the best. She easily eats a solid 3 meals and nurses before and after and at least once or twice in the night.  This month I started letting her have Baby Mum Mums and she absolutely loves them. I keep them on hand when we are out and about and if she starts to fuss I just give her one and it keeps her so happy! We also started giving her some puffs and some yogurt bites and she is starting to do really well picking them up with her fingers and getting them into her mouth.

Sleep this past month has not been the greatest again. She had a bit of a cold after she got her flu shot so I am not sure if that was why or what. I keep wondering if she is teething but nothing yet! She rolls over onto her side a lot so I am wondering if that wakes her up sometimes and she just likes to comfort nurse. It doesn't seem to me like she is really that hungry in especially if it has only be like two hours since she woke last.

She loves to play with and pull my hair while she is nursing.
She is pretty ticklish and we all love to make her giggle!

Nora still hates being on her stomach. Graydon was crawling at 8.5 months and she is not even close but she is doing AMAZING at sitting up all by herself! She loves to sit on the floor and play with all of her toys. She also really enjoys her jumpy or the exersaucer. Since she has been able to sit up she hasn't spent much time of her back and just cries when she falls over so she hasn't rolled over much either. She can stand up very well against things for a decent amount of time but I usually stay close by so she doesn't topple over. She is still very unsteady.

Verbally she is still saying Na Na Na Na.  Once in a while we will hear a Da Da. She really lost to blow spit out with her tongue. It is pretty funny and cute, except when she likes to do it while she is eating and spits her food out everywhere. She has quite the little personality!

She is finally fitting in her high chair well and can sit it in without toppling over. I keep a towel in there which seems to help.

Nora still lets out a yell when she is getting upset and she likes to growl at us a lot, it is pretty hilarious.

She still loves watching Gray. It is nice because sometimes he can keep her entertained for a bit if I am busy and she is getting impatient.

Like I said above, no teeth yet but I check almost every day!  Graydon had 2 at this point!

She likes to kick her left foot out a lot, and like bangs it on the floor. Seems like it would hurt but she does it all the time!

Nora still loves being held a lot. I guess that is all for this month!
 

Three Years Old. And Growing Too Fast.

I am FINALLY getting around to finishing this post about Graydon. I just have so much to write about him it is hard to even know where to start and where to end sometimes. I make a lot of mental notes in my head of things I want to remember but then always seems to forget them. I need to start jotting stuff down in my phone or something.

Graydon is so incredibly smart. Sometimes we just cannot even believe some of the things he says to us, or how well he can reason for only being 3.  His vocabulary is amazing and he can easily speak several sentences in a row.  He can answer most questions with ease but I see a bit of laziness or stubbornness in him which if he doesn't feel like answering you in the moment he will just say "I don't know."

He knows his ABCs, but isn't the greatest at identifying all of them yet. He can count to 20. Knows all of his colors and shapes.

He is VERY observant and is constantly pointing things out and asking us questions. Sometimes he is so talkative we have to ask him to be quiet for a couple of minutes!

He has a very active imagination and loves to play with his toys...saying he is climbing a mountain, jumping over logs, going up the pyramid, etc. He is such an active little boy!  He loves to play outside, especially at the park or playground, and loves to swing and go down slides. He cannot really ride a bike yet, he just does not want to peddle! He still just likes to move his feet along.  He loves to play with his trucks and car, and is really amazing at doing puzzles. He also really loves to play with Nora's toys right now with her. Along with playing with pretend food like he is cooking at the little kitchenette. He also loves to play with balloons.  He is not always the best at sharing toys, especially with children he doesn't know too well.

Graydon loves to be tickled and chased around.

He absolutely loves to have books read to him although he is currently more interested in what all the pictures are and what is happening in them. He will interject throughout the entire story either asking questions about the pictures and/or pointing things out.

He also really loves music and likes to dance around.  When he is watching TV he tries to sing along with all the songs and will jump on the couch with the music or dance along, it is so funny.  He knows what a ton of different instruments are and he also loves jazz music, probably because we listen to it a lot. He says that he wants to play the drums, and sometimes talks about playing the guitar.

His favorite shows on TV right now are Little Bear, Curious George, and Diego.

I do see a creative side to him which is great and hopefully that grows even more. He isn't huge on coloring too much yet but he LOVES to paint! And he loves to play with stickers and put them all over everything. He enjoys doing little crafts with me but also has somewhat of a short attention span. Recently we made a little red fox and I asked him what his name was. He replied Christopher Gabriel...I about died laughing!!  Obviously his Daddy is Chris, but to put that together with Gabriel...we were just cracking up!

Graydon is wearing all 3T clothing and size 8 shoes.  At his 3 year appointment they told us he was 50% for both height and weight. He is a skinny little guy...I think he will be tall and slender just like Chris!  He is currently around 38 inches tall and 32.5 lbs.  He does a pretty good job of getting himself dressed but still will need help with his socks and his shirts sometimes, also zipping things up or small buttons. He can get most of his shoes on but will need up with pulling out the tongue. Most of his shoes are slip on or velcro.

Graydon has also been potty trained fully, as in he will initiate it himself, doesn't need help (except for some wiping) and wears underwear all day, since he was about 2 years and 9 months. Right after he turned 3 he started doing really well staying dry all night as well, but for the mean time we still put a pull up on him just in case. He is doing so great and we are so proud of him! He also does a really good job and being able to hold it if we are at the store or something and it takes us a bit to get to a bathroom.

Graydon is and pretty much always has been a great big brother to Nora. He is for the most part always sweet and gentle to her. Once in a while he gets mad if she starts crying or is being "too loud" while he is trying to watch a show or is listening to something. He plays very well with her, likes to entertain her and is very helpful to me if I need him to get me something etc. He has never really acted jealous of her.

Graydon throws the occasional fit but for the most part he is a really good boy. He can be super stubborn and independent but I think his personality suits him perfectly for being the oldest, and firstborn. Lately when I ask him to do something or tell him to stop, he will say, Ok Mom! It has been great. Of course like any other toddler he still can get mad or lose it but for the most part I think we are lucky he is so well behaved.  He does not like to get time outs at all.

Graydon still takes a short nap in the afternoon, usually not more than like two hours. He gets up SO early! He could easily get up at 6 AM everyday...drives me crazy, haha. I wish he would sleep in a bit more! He could easily stay up every night until 10 pm as well but we usually get him to bed around 8:30, 9 at the latest. Depending on how active we have been during the day he will take anywhere from 10 min to an hour to fall asleep. He is really great at staying in his bed most of the time but he will also get out and play sometimes. He is really good about getting back into the bed and rarely falls asleep elsewhere. He has been afraid of the dark the past couple of months and we have to leave a light on for him. He is also scared of his fan for some reason. He is great though in the sense that he doesn't really fight us when he knows it is naptime or bedtime. He knows when it's time for sleep.

Graydon is a pretty good eater but also somewhat picky. I cannot get him to eat any sort of cereal with milk in it. He would try it dry but doesn't prefer it. For breakfast he likes greek yogurt or a gogurt and fresh fruit. He also loves pancakes and sometimes scrambled eggs. For lunch he loves sandwiches, mac and cheese, grilled cheese and tomato soup, PB & J etc. but he will also eat cold veggies with like ranch dip.  Dinner can be a battle especially if it is something new but usually once we can get him to take a few bites he will like whatever it is. Dinner can take like an hour sometimes and can be a battle. He also loves juice boxes, or any juice really, vanilla ice cream, fruit snacks, apple sauce and string cheese. Those are mostly his favorites. We cannot really get him to eat anything like a cookie or anything with chocolate. He will eat frosting as long as it is not chocolate. He also loves to eat candy like suckers, nerds, gummy bears etc.

He loves bath time especially if Nora is in there with him and they will play with their toys together.

He can be very sweet, cuddly and loveable but if he isn't in the mood to snuggle then forget it. Sometimes lately Chris will be hugging him and he will say OK Dad, that's enough. LOL

He doesn't really like getting his teeth brushed but tolerates it, and also does a pretty good job letting me do his hair for him. He doesn't really enjoy getting it cut either.

Graydon gets a lot of comments from people everywhere we go about how cute he is, his dimples, how he has the best hair etc.  He can really ham it up sometimes. For instance, we were in a store today and he was randomly talking to some lady and gave her like 3 hugs! He also wanted to give her a kiss, and she was a total stranger! He can be too friendly sometimes if he is in the mood (my personality), and then other times I see Chris come out in him and he will get super shy.  I think that he will be more extroverted like me! We will see though.

Graydon has been taking a gymnastics class which has been interesting. It takes him a couple minutes to warm up but after that he does pretty well. He could be a better listener but then I remind myself that is ONLY 3! I hope that next year we can get him into soccer and that he will like him. I would love if he played soccer and basketball!

He loves to help me do stuff like unload the dishwasher and lately his favorite thing has been helping me make applesauce. I let him have a butter knife and he quarters all of the chunks for me. He does such a great job and I can see it as a way to help him enjoying cooking from a young age. He also likes to dust, push around the swiffer or use a small vacuum that we have. Or take clothes out of the washer and dryer.

Graydon loves going to Costco with us and wants a "Berry Smoothie" every time we go. If we go to Meijer he also always requests to see the fish and the lobsters.

He can identify pretty much every single animal and currently has a fascination with sharks and bugs.

His best friend is Marci's son Gage, and he even had his first friends sleepover at there house a few weeks ago and did great. He also really loves to stay the night at Chris's parents house. He sure loves his Grandma Jeanne, Grandpa Bob and Auntie Barb! He would stay there every weekend if we let him!

Once in a while I ask him if he wants another little baby, and if he wants a brother or sister and he usually says sister! One time he has said brother.

Lately he has been sensitive with his ears and covers them if something is "too loud."  He does well at the movies though and we have gone twice now.  We have seen Turbo and Planes.

We have been trying to teach Graydon more about God and Jesus. He will request to pray a lot, usually before dinner and bedtime, it is so cute! He usually just thanks God for his blessing, food, and Grandpa Bob. Cracks us up! Sometimes he will list everyone he can think of, I love it.  He really loves to go to the nursery at church and also at my MOPS group.

Graydon loves to hug and kiss everyone ( even strangers sometimes like I said above!)

He is really good about listening and remembering when we tell him things are hot, or dangerous.

He has a great memory and sometimes bring up things he has heard, or we have told him in the past...sometimes we are like how on earth does he remember that?  He is such a smart little boy. We have such amazingly high hopes for his future!  We just love him to pieces and he has such a sweet spirit.

Monday, October 21, 2013

Graydon-3 Year Old Interview

We had a lot of fun coming up with all of these questions and doing this little survey.  We thought we would also answer Graydon's questions as we saw the answers ourselves. Some of his answers were pretty funny! It took me forever to type everything out and then also get all of Chris's answers since he is working so much, which is part of the reason why this is almost 3 weeks late even though we started it forever again! I still have another whole blog post about Graydon I am still working out. What can I say, he is a complex kid. :)


1. What is your name? Graydon

2. How old are you? 2......3! (pronounced free, haha!)

3. Do you know your Birth date? I don't know (It's October 2, 2010)

4. What is your favorite color? Orange
Me- I would say it's either orange or blue.
Chris-Orange

5. What is your favorite breakfast?  Fruit snacks, Me- mandarin oranges and/or Gogurts. He would eat gogurts every day if we let him! Chris- fruit and yogurt
     Lunch?  Applesauce  Me- Mac and Cheese  Chris- PB&J
     Dinner?  Potatoes   Me- Mac and Cheese again, LOL.  Chris- Mac and cheese
     Snack?  Raisins   Me- applesauce or string cheese  Chris-applesauce
     Drink?  Apple Juice  Me-Same  Chris- Juice Box
     Fruit?   Oranges   Me-Same  Chris-apples
     Vegetable?  Carrots   Me- Same, or peas  Chris-carrots

6. What is your favorite toy?   Basketball     Me-   Chris- Kitchen Set

7. What is your favorite thing to do?  Jump like a frog.   Me- Play Outside Chris- Get thrown around ;)

8. What is your favorite television show?  Little Bear  Me- Little Bear   Chris- Little Bear
     Second favorite?  Diego and Curious George
     Movie?  Tangled  Me- Tangled Chris- same

9. What is your favorite shirt?  Minnie Mouse, Mickey Mouse shirt I mean... (ummm ok lol)
     Hoodie?  Black and white and blue and orange
     Shoes? Toy story tennis shoes that light up.

10. What is your favorite book?  Pirates book  Me- Search and Finds!  Chris- Hungry Hungry Sharks
       Song? Twinkle Twinkle Little Star

11. What is your favorite farm animal? Cow   Me- Cow 
      Wild animal? Cheetah  Chris- Tapir
      Insect/Bug?  Ladybug  Me- Slug  Chris- Spiders

 12. Who is your favorite/best friend?  Gage

13. Where is your favorite place to go?  To the park  Me- same, or Costco  Chris- Horton Bay

14. What is your favorite thing to do outside?  Play with Playdoh.  Me- Swing, Chris -Jump off things
       At the park?  Swing and go down the slide.
 
15. What is your favorite holiday?  Christmas, he likes to get presents.

16. What is your favorite animal that you sleep with?  MSU Build a Bear
      Are you afraid of the dark?   Uh huh, yes I am afraid of the dark in my big room. I don't like to go to sleep in the dark in my bedroom. I like to keep the lights on Mom.
      Favorite thing to do before bed? Watch Little Bear.

17. What do you want to be when you grow up?  A fireman!
      Where do you want to live? At Grandpa Bob's house.

18.  What does Daddy do? Work

19.  What does Mommy do?  Work

20.  What makes you happy?  Laughing

21.  What makes you sad?  Yelling

22.  Do you want more brothers and/or sisters? Brothers

23. Favorite thing to do with Mommy?  Swing
      Daddy?  Kick Daddy's butt....when I'm on the swing Mommy. (LOL)
      Nora?  Laugh

24. Favorite thing to say?  Whirl whirl....like a bug!!  Me: Where did you hear that from? G: I don't know. (hahaha)    Anne: "I don't know."  Even though he usually does too know!   Chris:  Maybe I do this...or maybe I can do that...  -Chris got this one right for sure.

25. Favorite Letter?  B
     Number?  I don't know

Tuesday, October 8, 2013

Happy 3rd Birthday, Graydon!

I have several posts that I am still in process of working on, but for the time being, I will start out with this:






Love you SO much buddy! You will always be our baby boy. <3>

Favorite Pics from the last month (Sept. 2013)



































Monday, October 7, 2013

Nora-7 Months Old

Highlights from the past month:

Playdates at Marci's house on Wednesdays
Labor Day weekend trip to Birch Run-stayed with Emileigh and Nate and kids before their move to Florida for 5 days
Met Arik and Andrers, my friend Kendyl's new twin baby boys
Nora's 6 Month Professional photo & family shoot
Nora transitioned down to her crib
Nora had her first day in the church nursery, which went GREAT!
Cherry Street picnic at Lamar Park
Graydon and Amelia's 3rd Birthday Party-Dora and Diego theme; also a Thanksgiving get together with the family to say farewell to Nate and Em
Met Jessica's baby girl, Elizabeth Susanne; toured ArtPrize with them
Bob and Jeanne came over for ArtPrize and we had a family dinner at our house.
Gage's Birthday Party at Marci's house
Zumba on Wednesday nights
ACT Team cookout for Cherry Street
Weekend trip to Horton Bay with Nancy
Nora had a Doc appointment regarding her lip tie and they recommended that we do not do anything.
Started MOPS at Calvary Church every other Thursday and LOVE it! The kids are doing great too.
Toddler time at the library, along with borrowing several books every other week.

Nora had her 6 month doctor appointment a little late, on Sept. 12th. She weighed in at 14 lbs. 1 oz.- 15%.  Her height was 26.5 in- 75% (she does seem long considering how petite her body shape is!) and her head circumfrence was 16.75 in.-50%.
When I weighed her a couple days ago at 7 months she was around 15.5 lbs. She is definitely getting so much bigger and almost growing out of her 6 month clothing. She is almost fitting into 9 month clothes now. When I pick her up she is feeling more "solid" to me! Her feet are still tiny little things though and she can still fit into size one shoes! When I try to put size 2 on her, they are just way too big. Graydon always had fat little feet, so this is new to me! :)

We are still using cloth diapers when we can but when we use disposables she wears a size 2, except in the Kirkland brand she is wearing a size 3.

As far as food, Nora is doing tremendously well with solids. I am honestly surprised how well it went from the get go. She has tried pretty much everything now and has not had any issues that we are aware of as far as her tummy is concerned. She eats 3 meals a day and typically two of those include some rice cereal mixed with breastmilk along with 1-2 containers of baby food. It amazes me how much food she can put down sometimes! She still nurses 1-2 times during the night, along with before every meal and before all her naps, and after her naps as well, depending. So she is still nursing a lot which is fine with me as well. I am just a lot happier now because she sleeping a bit more at night, which means I am sleeping better as well!

Her favorite foods are definitely fruits. Anything with bananas in it...the mixed berries with banana. She doesn't mind pears and apples etc. She is not a huge fan of veggies, sweet potatoes we are still on the fence sometimes and she HATES anything with meat in it, it seems. I usually have to mix fruit in it to get her to eat it. 

When we transitioned Nora down to her crib she pretty much did great from the get go. She loves to sleep on her side...it is so cute! If she wakes up once it is usually around 2 am, and if twice then usually around 11:30 and then 2:30-3 am or so. She usually goes down around 8-8:30ish and up around 6:30 am for the day. Sometimes if Graydon is still sleeping then I can get her back down until like 7:30-8 am but that is RARE. :)  She typically takes two naps, one in the morning and one in the afternoon. She sleeps well in the car or in her swing but hates napping in her crib which I do not understand because she does so well at nighttime!

Nora hates being on the floor these days. I have been trying to work with her and she is ALMOST sitting up by herself but still topples over so I have to sit right there with her.  She hates being on her stomach still and won't stay on her back for too long. She loves being in her jumpy of the exersaucer, and loves playing with all her little rattles and teething toys. I am so mad at myself because when we were shopping with lost both her Sophie and her little mushroom toy made by the same company, that Chris called the Nipple Head (haha).  Nora still trying to do pilates and "sit up", it is hilarious. She even does it in the middle of the night when she wakes up and tries to see if we are coming for her.

The 3 things are stick out to us right now as far as her being verbal are the following: She says Na Na Na Na a lot, geee geee geee and clicks her tongue, which she will mimic you on all of these! It is so cute.

If her feet are out, she will stick them in her mouth. Or her sock too. It's pretty funny. No teeth coming through yet but I think maybe soon as she seems to be fussy lately.

We have been calling her Little Miss Grabby Hands lately because she wants to grab and reach for everything! She has knocked stuff off the table, off our plates, etc.

We typically sit her in her bumbo when we feed her because the high chair still seems to swallow her whole. I cannot WAIT until she fits in it a little better.

I love giving Nora big hugs and she seems to "hug back." It is so cute! We definitely tend to kiss her all over so I'm sure she will be a "kisser" just like Graydon is. :)

She does this high pitched sort of "yell" when she is unhappy and wants our attention.

She LOVES playing with Graydon. The best part of my day is watching then smile and laugh and feed of of each other. If he gets close to her she just wants to touch her face, hair, clothes etc. He can keep her quite entertained!

She really likes to watch TV and can be quite relaxed just sitting on your lap for a while. Graydon was never like that, he was SO active! Nora would be content being held, all day long. :)

Well, that is all for now. Until next month!

Nora-7 Month Pics

Her faces crack me up!!








Nora's 6 Month Professional and Family Pics

Here are just a few of my favs! Graydon and Nora did a great job, as far as what can be expected from an almost 3 year old and 6 month old! :)