Happy FIFTH Monthday

What he can do:

JJ can poop more powerfully than a volcano.  It's the very rare poop that stays in his diaper.  I feel like all I do sometimes is scrub poop out of clothes.  And unlike most nursed babies, his poop stinks!!! (TMI, I know)

He has two bottom teeth.  He was in his cradle in the kitchen talking to daddy and I looked down and exclaimed, "He's got two teeth!" Daddy said, "No he doesn't!"  Sure enough, we looked and saw two little white toofers.  They came in with nary a fuss from him and only in hindsight did we remember the extra drool!

He is able to grab things if you hold them out to him.  He is interested in anything you want to give him.

He is able to sit up (with considerable assistance) and seems to like the view that way.  He can't do it on his own and will plop backwards pretty quickly if you tried!

He will SLEEP WHILE TRAVELING (a minor Stokes child miracle).  His favorite place to sleep is in his rocking cradle and he will sleep there fairly well no matter where we go!

Thanks to Mimi's help and decorative eye, his room is all ready.  Unfortunately, he isn't! Pretty much the only place he likes to sleep is in the aforementioned rocking cradle.  So he still sleeps in mommy and daddy's room and he hasn't figured out his naps yet.  Occasionally he'll sleep for an hour or two but he's still stuck on mostly shorter naps throughout the day. 

His favorite things: Anna, Lily, crinkly things, and water bottles.  He is fascinated by moving water and loves to grab and smash anything crinkly, like plastic bags. 

Did you notice those thighs in the pictures above?  Delicious!

Happy 6th Birthday, Anna!

So Anna wanted a slumber party for her 6th birthday.  It was a great idea... in theory.  In reality, I had a 4 month old (which I must have forgotten) and a two year old who had no interest in settling down when it was time to!  I finally had to be "mean mommy" at ten o'clock and stand in the door way glaring.  Luckily, it worked!

Luckily. she ended up with the most amazingly amazing cake ever thanks to her wonderful Mimi!

Her guests:

Molly, Ben. Sophie, Mya, Amanda.  

Dear Lily

We have just gotten past a bit of a tough time.

You love your brother, but changing from the baby to the middle kid wasn't something you thought was a good idea.
About two or three months after he was born, you started on some...... interesting behaviors.  (Not all that different from what Anna went through when YOU were born.)
Suddenly the words, "No", "wait", "just a minute", "Now now" etc were all completely unacceptable to you.  In addition, you stopped being potty trained. (How cliche is that?)  Shortly after that, you dropped your nap and became more and more bonkers!  Your dad and I were so frustrated and knew you were beyond exhausted but had no idea how to help you.
Also, because JJ was just a baby, he needing parenting all day and all night so we didn't have the brain power to find creative solutions.

You and I both did more yelling at each other than either of us wanted! The only time you fell asleep peacefully was by accident in the car, then you'd stay up until ten at night!

FINALLY, finally I just realized what Granny kept saying, "She's only Twoooo!"  Finally I got it! Two year olds need so much love and attention, and you were suddenly getting so little!  I made a "Choice Chart" to reward all your good choices (as some of your recent ones had been irrational and outright defiant).  You want to know the best part?  It also let me realize how many GOOD choices you DID make!  The naughty ones got my attention but I didn't always focus on the good ones!

Within three days, your behavior was much, much better.  I think you were just so relieved to be getting extra attention.

Now, that didn't solve the sleep situation.  Just two days ago, after much thought (most of which was done during times of frustration and helplessness) it dawned on me that we could try to get you that extra hour or so of sleep by putting you to bed waaaay before Anna.
Problem was----share room,. playing, etc.
Extra special bedtime....

Here's an updated photo from when you are three and making other choices, like picking out your own lunch.... all by yourself!

Butter and pickles!!!

Happy Fourth MONTHday!!!

What he can do:

-Roll from his stomach to his back

-Roll over from back to stomach (One complete time on 9/29/2013) Only attempts since.

-He can now stand and play in an excersaucer.  Initially, he would just reach out and swipe at the toys but now he's pretty darn good at grabbing and manipulating them.  

-He is pretty content to be in his Ergo baby carrier and sleeps best in his rock n play.  In fact, we tried to get him to sleep in a pack and play and Granny's house and he only made it an hour and a half.  We stuck him in his rocker and he slept 4 hours!

-He loves to be tickled, kissed, and nibbled and he has the cutest laugh when he really gets going.  

-His favorite thing in the world is fabric.  He will grab and "mouth" anything made of fabric.  A little pig with his initials on it (thanks Auntie Em) and his homemade taggie toy are his favorites!

-The cutest thing his does is to play his version of "peekaboo".  When someone is cooing at him, he will smile a giant smile then buy his head in something or look up and away.  He will always then look right back, still with a giant smile on his face!

Anna's Math Skills

Friday night, 8:30 p.m.:

Anna comes out of her room with an excited look.

Anna: Guess what you get when you do 2 plus 1 plus 2 four times?

Maria: What do you get?

Anna: 20!

Maria: How did you figure that out? 

Anna: Well, I read it in a book, and now I just know it. See, what you do is add 2 and 1 and 2, then you do that four times, and you get 20.

That's right, folks! Our 5 year old kindergartener just read about multiplication in a book, taught herself, and now she gets it. Pretty sure there's something about order of operations in there, too; it's still sinking in...

Crazy Mom Moment

I can speak to my phone as opposed to typing the text.  For a busy mom, this is a great feature.  However, it can get a little too real.

As I was entering a schedule event for Anna's soccer practice next week, here is the title of the event:

Event Title: "Anna wear jersey LILY IF I SEE YOU DO THAT AGAIN I WILL TAKE IT AWAY!!!"



Thank you very much

Happy Third MONTHday!!!

What he can do:

He can mostly control his hands (as you can see from the pics) and has taken to sucking on two fingers.  (It makes the cutest sound!)  He is working on purposeful grabbing but can mostly only grab things by accident at this point.

He can coo, blow raspberries, and generally make all sorts of delightful sounds.

He can laugh (a cute infant laugh, not all all-out belly laugh) when tickled or when someone is playing with him.

He can nearly roll over but his big, beefy shoulders get in his way.

He is rarely upset.  He basically only cries when tired and is very easy to soothe.  He loves his sisters and his favorite toy is a homemade tag blanket by our friend, Paula Ball.  He can get a good grip on that and he loves chewing on the blanket.

He can make anyone's day brighter!