Maddie is 8 months old

Our little Maddie is now 8 months old. It's hard to believe that we are coming up on her 1st birthday. We still don't know how much she weighs because our scale is still broken, but she is still wearing 6-9 month and 9 month clothes. I'm thinking she will be in 12 month clothes by the end of the month. All of her spring and summer clothes are 12 months, so that's what I'll be dressing her in when it really warms up. She is still in size 3 diapers. We were debating on going up to size 4 at night because she was wetting through her pajamas every night, but she hasn't been recently so we are still putting size 3 on her. 

She has three 7 ounce bottles a day (9, 2, and 8:15) and is no longer eating baby food. We gradually began giving her table food a few weeks ago, and has done extremely well with it. She is eating table food and now has the green light on every food except honey and milk from a jug. She really loves cheese! Her first table food was macaroni and cheese from Paula Dean's restaurant The Lady and Sons. I was holding her on my lap as we were paying to leave, and she reached over and grabbed what was left off my plate and shoved it in her mouth. It was so funny! So pretty much ever since, we were giving her some table food and some baby food. She then didn't want any baby food so we went to just table food. We were doing soft fruits and vegetables but now we are doing anything and everything. Last night she has lasagna for dinner and loved it.

She still sleeps great. She goes to bed around 8:30 and wakes up about 8:30ish. If she were to wake up any earlier, we leave her in her crib (as long as she's not fussing which is about 95% of the time) until 8:30 or so. We've always made it a rule at our house that the kids need to be in their crib for a total of 12 hours, whether they wake up or not. It's worked out well for both of the kids, so we are going to continue it for as long as we can. She has cut her naps down to 2 or 3 naps a day. Her first nap is usually between 9 and 10 and lasts for roughly 45 minutes. Then she takes a quick 20-30 minutes nap after we eat lunch. Her longer nap is around 2:30 and lasts for 2-3 hours. She loves her crib and rarely has any problem laying in it. If I need a quick break, I will put her in her crib for a few minutes and she rolls around and talks.

She has finally said a few words this month. Her first word was "da-da" and she says it all the time. She has started to say "ma-ma" but only when she's upset. She also has said "bye-bye" before but she doesn't say it very often. She has also said "uh-oh" on several occasions, especially when she drops her sippy cup off her high chair tray. She says "heeeeeyyyy!" when we tell her "hey!" She now says "hey da!" on occasion. She still blows raspberries a lot; we call her the llama when she does.

She is now crawling on all fours. She went from flopping like a penguin to crawling backwards and hating every minute of it. Then she decided that she wanted to do planks which lead to bear crawling. Then she decided that bear crawling was too much work, so now she has been crawling on all fours for the past few days. Her curiosity hasn't really set in so she stays in the same area that we put her down. She also can go from crawling to sitting. Sometimes she forgets she can, so she gets fussy and wants some help, but most of the time she does it on her own like a big girl. She has also pulled up in her crib a few times. We have moved her mattress down, and she is now starting to figure out how to pull up from the lower level.

Connor's 2 Year Post

I've been meaning to write this for a week, but we've been a little preoccupied recently. I'm finally able to sit down and write.

Connor had his 2 year appointment on March 19th. He weighed in at a whole 25 pounds, 11 ounces, which puts him in the 35th percentile. He's actually lost a little weight since a sick appointment in January. I think it was only half a pound, but that seems to be a lot since he doesn't seem to gain weight easily. I can't remember how tall they measured him. I do remember he was in the 18th percentile, but Dr. Butcher thinks the measurement wasn't very accurate (he was a lot squirmy). 

He's still in size 4 diapers and is no longer interested in using the potty. I was told not to push the potty training because it can lead to bed wetting, so I am going to be as patient as I can be. He is also in size 18-24 month pants and shirts and size 12 and 12-18 month shorts.

He goes through spurts where he doesn't eat much. It worries me, but Dr. Butcher wasn't too concerned. He's not dehydrated and he's working on his back molars (which are almost through), so he's just fine.

He is still sleeping the 12ish hours at night and has continued with his 4 hour nap in the afternoon. As much as I love playing with him, naptime is a blessing. When he is awake, he is always on the go. He only sits down for 10 minutes at a time, so the 4 hours is a nice little break for me.

He still loves his Mickey Mouse, but he also loves the Disney Classics. The Little Mermaid is still one of his favorites, but he also loves Cinderella. I have most of the movies so we are easing our way into them. I'm saving The Lion King for a little later on since that one can get pretty scary. He hasn't had a problem with Ursula, but I'm still trying to keep it to a minimum. He has also enjoyed watching Cars, A Bug's Life, Monsters Inc, and Monsters University.

He can count to 5, name a few shapes, knows all of his colors, and knows most animals and the sounds they make. He received some animal magnets for his birthday (Thanks Powers Family!). I pulled out a cookie sheet so he can arrange them. I put the cookie sheet on a picture display-holder-thing and he will play with it while I'm cooking dinner. He loves naming the animals (especially the horsie and seahorse... they both say "neigh" according to Connor). We are going to begin letter recognition since he's done so well with everything else.

He tries to say everything and loves to say "No!" It's weird, he knows what it means but when he says it, he doesn't always mean it. I love the fact that he is able to answer his true opinion, but he doesn't always mean no when he says it. 

He's a playful kid with the biggest heart. He is constantly kissing Cameron, Maddie, and I, and telling us "I love you!" His laugh is contagious and he rarely meets a stranger. He is very bright and can be very stubborn at times. My life has not been the same since he's been in it, and I wouldn't change it for the world.

Here are a few pictures of him this evening. We were outside enjoying the weather since it's supposed to rain tomorrow. He loves to throw the ball to Cameron.

Being serious

Then he cracks a smile

"Cheese!"

Over pictures and getting ready to throw the ball

Excuse Cameron's pink glove... Connor decided that Maddie should share her glove with him

Here he is playing with his animal magnets

Chugga... Chugga...Two! Two!

We celebrated Connor's 2nd birthday on Saturday, March 7 (which is his birthday!). We were so lucky to have such wonderful weather, 63 and sunny! Because the weather was so cooperative, we were able to spend a lot of time out in the backyard. I built a train out of cardboard boxes so the kids could play in it. I found cute little wooden trains for each of the kids, so they decorated them. They also swung on the swing set and ran around. We had food inside. The food consisted of Wagon wraps (grilled chicken wraps), Station House Sandwiches (pb&j train shaped sandwiches), lumber (pretzel rods), Livestock (smokies wrapped in bacon with brown sugar), coal (cocoa puff marshmallow treats), stop lights (strawberry, pineapple, and green grape skewers), and wagon wheels and cheese (macaroni and cheese with wagon wheel pasta). We had sweet tea, strawberry lemonade, and water (diesel fuel) to drink. All in all, I think everyone had a great time celebrating our sweet little 2 year old. I know he really enjoyed playing with everyone, and we were so glad to see everyone. Below are some pictures of the party. Thank you to everyone who came. We really appreciate you spending your afternoon with us!

Sign I made for the front door

I also made this banner

Food table

The cookies I made (not sure why the picture is sideways)

"Baggage Claim" with all of the "suitcases" I put together for the kids

Inside was a hat with their name on it, bandana, train whistle, wooden train, and a cookie

The train and signs I made

The birthday boy

Doing something dangerous

Decorating their trains

Maddie had a blue bandana

Sweet girls wearing their hats and bandanas playing in the sunshine

Max and Lydia really liked the swings and slide. Connor joined in for a little bit

Ella liked to swing too

Train cars for cakes

Blowing out his candle

He looks satisfied

They both wanted the cookies

Opening presents

Sweet Ella

Elliott helped Connor out a little

Love seeing these two play together

Having so much fun

Lydia and Max really enjoyed the train table

Maddie Lou is 7 months old

My Maddie is now 7 months old. She is the happiest, and sassiest, little girl. I can't guess how much she weighs (which is A LOT!) because our scale is broken... thanks, Nonner. However, she is wearing some 6 month clothes, and mostly 9 month clothes. She can't fit into all 9 month clothes (waist and length), but she needs them for her thunder thighs ;)

She's still a great sleeper. She goes down around 7:30pm and wakes up around 8am. She had a few nights in a row where she would wake up. I had no idea why. Then, she had 2 teeth. Ouch! Luckily, I have figured out that a dose of ibuprofen (for imflammation), benadryl (stuffy/runny nose), and 2 Hyland's Teething Tablets before bed and she's good to go. Speaking of teeth, she's working on 2 more! I've also stopped swaddling her. I just decided one night that I thought she might would sleep better if I unswaddled her. Once I unswaddled her, she no longer wanted her paci in the middle of the night and slept on her belly. If she isn't on her belly, she will wake up talking and then roll over to her belly and fall asleep again. I love hearing that sweet voice babbling, but 4am is a bit early!!

She has been iffy with eating recently. She was doing 3 seven ounce bottles a day (8:30 or 9am, 2pm, and 7:15pm). Rice cereal or yogurt for breakfast, a four ounce stage 2 baby food for lunch, and a stage 2 baby food for dinner (we were still following the 48 hour rule up until she turned 7 months old). But randomly, she decided she had no interest in solid food what-so-ever. I read that this can be common with babies who are teething. Some like the crunchy food (Maddie) and some like softer food (which was Connor). Luckily she's back to eating normal now. She doesn't do 21 ounces each day anymore... it's more like 18. But, whatever gets her through the day and sleeping at night... She does 2 snacks during the day. Her favorite snacks are the Murray's butter cookies. She LOVES them. Maybe she's getting her daddy's sweet tooth (Lord, help me!). She's started to eat puffs and yogurt melts and does great jawing them. She sometimes has a hard time picking up and putting in her mouth (and she will let you know it...) but she does alright for the most part.

She has just started to babble. I was honestly expecting her to babble earlier than now. But, I think she's a little later than expected because I have someone in the house that talks ALL THE  TIME so she really doesn't have much time to talk. She's started string the sounds "bababababa" together, which is babbling and not necessarily talking, but it's at least something. She likes to yell, spit, blow raspberries, and moan/groan. But when Connor's napping, she and I have girl time and we like to sit, talk, and play.

She still isn't crawling. She pulls up to her hands and knees and rocks back and forth. When she's rocking, I can tell she's trying to figure out how to move, but she just thinks about it and flops down like a penguin. She recently has begun to reach forward just after she falls down, so maybe she will put everything together soon. I hope so because I can tell she really wants to move, but just can't. Poor thing.

She does, however, like to pull up to standing. She's still a little short and not quite strong enough to pull up on everything yet, but if you give her your arm or hold her hands, she stands right up. She can reach around for everything. I call them her "gadget arms." I will put something at least 2 feet away from her, and somehow she reaches and gets it. I have no idea how she does it, but she does.

She scooches around on her bottom in the bathtub. It is hilarious. We put her on one end of the tub and she just bounces around and ends up on the other end with a bunch of toys in her lap. She has started to show interest in pulling up on the bathtub (yikes!!). 

She has started to imitate clapping and waving bye-bye. Her "clapping" is basically her moving her arms like she's flapping her wings. It's hilarious. She's more successful with hitting her hands together in her highchair when her arms are limited to just her upper portion of her body. Bye-bye also happens more at the table than anywhere else. But, she's trying.

Here are some pictures of my little diva. I've also uploaded a video of her trying to clap and yelling at me :)

Oh the sass