The last picture dump of the year

The kids had been wanting to camp with daddy for a long time, so at the end of October they finally got their wish granted by camping outside of our land.  LB ended up coming back into the house to sleep on his bed.  When we asked the kids what their favorite part about camping was, Emma's response was:  "sleeping in the tent" and LB's response was:  "sleeping in my bed." :p

I had been wanting to refurbish our dinning table chairs for a while, but didn't want to spend too much money on them.  Lo and behold I found a huge roll of this fabric at a yard sale for $4.  I was able to refurbish all eight of our chairs, plus make the cover for one of our small side tables in our guest room.  Score!

LB likes playing with his tools, but somehow he got hold of one of daddy's tools as well, and one day while nursing Naamen, I heard him "fixing" something out in the hallway.  When I can out, I saw that he had dug a hold in the wall :'(  I just about died!

 One of Emma's school assignments one weekend this Fall was to bring Paws to the house and take care of him.  I'd say she did a great job at it.

 

I finally broke down one day at around Thanksgiving and gave Naamen a haircut that got rid of his head mullet that was always covering his eyes.  I took this picture and sent it to Byron to see.  His response:  "are you sure you've got the right kid?" :)

An early Christmas gift from Memma and Poppa -- a family outing to see the Nutcracker.   It was a hit, and both kids are already asking when we'll be going there again.

That glorious afternoon when all three of my children fell asleep in the car.

Setting up the Christmas tree.

Dunkin Doughnut treat with my kiddos to celebrate the beginning of Emma's Christmas break.

Emma loves to read to her brother, and brother loves to be read to.  I caught these two doing just that one morning over Christmas break that just melted my heart.

When we asked LB what he wanted for Christmas, one of his requests was that he wanted to go to "Green-bell" to see his cousins.  We had a wonderful day playing with them the Friday before Christmas.

This boy is just too cute.

We did a Nativity play this year on Christmas Eve at Memma and Poppa's house.  Emma was Mary, Ames was Joseph, and LB was the donkey that always tagged along side with them (he was supposed to be the innkeeper, but LB had other plans for himself).

It always startles me a bit the first time I see my babies pull up on their own.

Loving their gifts from Tia Alison.

Naamen's passport picture is just too much :)

Naamen's first foods

We gave Naamen his first foods about two weeks ago when he was 5.5 months old.  He still doesn't seem to know how to swallow, even if it is given to him in the form of a puree.  He mostly does playing and gnawing.

Naamen's first attempt with food -- a banana.

 And of course, this irresistible boy.  He is such a big boy now, but in so many other ways still very much a baby -- finger in mouth + doggie.

 

Paseando with my little girl

I got to go pasear (stroll around) with my little girl this morning.  She got a hair cut (and a balloon for a reward) and then do some errands with me.  For some reason she insisted on taking her doll around town with us.  She was (and always is!) a delight to be with. 

A few Emma milestones -- 

*  I have started teaching her some sight words while we read.  She can now read and recognize the words:  the, and, to, he, she, I, and a.  She is really taking an interest in learning to read.  I wonder how all of this will develop through time before she starts school next year.

*  She is also learning to spell a little.  She can write her name and the sight words from above (^), but that's abut the extent of anything legitimate that she can write.  She likes to just string a whole lot of letters together that never make sense.  But I feel like the beginning stages of writing are underway. 

*  I am trying to see if I can begin teaching her the concept of addition and subtraction.  She likes to take her grapes (or goldfish, or whatever), line them up, count them, and then begin eating one, two, or three, or four at a time.  Then count them again.  I am starting to use math words with her such as "plus" and "minus" (in Spanish, btw).  Hoping this basic math can develop naturally with her.

*  I've been trying to be more intentional with her at bedtime.  We are half way through reading Charlotte's Web, though now that she can "read" her sight words, the reading is much, much, much slower now.

*  Another thing that I've been trying to be more intentional with at bedtime is to debrief our day together.  We'll ask each other the favorite part of our day, and then talk about one kind thing we did that day, and one unkind thing we did that day.  My intention here is to always be vulnerable of my sin with her, letting her know that mama is far from perfect.  But also my desire is for her to begin examining her own brokeness and need of Jesus.

Ready to be potty trained?

Providence would have it so that our second-born is also ready to be potty trained before the parents are ready for it.  At 20 months he is very aware of when he goes to the bathroom, BEGS to be changed often, and then the other day this is what I found --

"Maaaammmiiiii, Maaaammmmiiiiiii.  Pee pee.  Maaaammmiiii, Mammmmmiiii.  Pee pee." 

He climbed on the toilet and was pretending to go to the potty like his big sister :)

Emma's first purchase

I feel like the "cool" parenting thing to do these days is teach your children to do chores around the house from before the time they can walk.

I understand the sentiment.  You want to teach them that you expect them to pull their own weight around the house.

So I tried it all.  From folding our napkins, to sorting silverware, and I've got to make a confession -- it's exhausting.  

So I've changed directions a bit--  There is a vending machine at the Kroc Center that Emma is always wanting to get a treat from.  So I've decided that instead of teaching my child to do chores around the house just for the sake of it, I would instead focus on trying to teach her the relationship between work and money.

So every day, Emma has the chance to earn 20 cents -- a dime for letting Mommy put her clothes on quickly and without being fussy, and a second dime for helping Mommy make her bed and pick up her room quickly and without being fussy.

This normally allows her to earn and save up enough money for a vending machine treat once a week.  Two weeks ago was her first purchase.

She was so proud of herself!  

She is also a sweet big sister in that she generously shares of her hard-worked reward with her baby brother.

She writes

Last Friday, October 17, out of nowhere, Emma sat down at her table and decided she was going to write her name.  It is so fun to watch her do this.  

For example, here is her "E"--

She first wrote a big "A" for "Ames" across the page.

Then began with the "E" and "M."

She ran out of room, so she began writing counterclockwise.  

It is so fun to watch her recreate the letters.  

Nobody has taught her how to write, so she just writes them as if she were drawing them.

Little walker

Little Byron has been taking steps on his own for quite some time now.  The first time he took a step unassisted was on August 22, 2014.  Almost one and a half months later, and he is still not confident enough to take off completely (he does take a number of steps on his own regularly, but it's not his preference yet).  As fearless as he is, it has surprised us.

My lovely view on our way back to the car, after having a Costco family lunch date.

How she counts

Uno, dos, tres, cuatro, cinco,

seis, siete, ocho, nueve, diez,

once, doce, trece, catorce, quince,

diecises, dieciocho, diecinueve, dieciveinte.

She likes to jump

We have a very fearful little girl at home, but her newest *thing* these days is jumping.  Walking with her anywhere now takes twice as long since we now need to stop at every level drop we come across.  She also likes jumping over things such as small rocks or holes along the way.  

I love observing her conquer her own Goliaths in life.

She wears her daddy's pants

"Those are just a tad too big for you, Sweet Girl."

One of Emma's big things to do these days is to loop Byron's belt on him.  Byron puts on his pants, tucks his shirt in, and then little Emma Girl comes around and laces his belt around his waist.  

Love seeing that girl at work!

She is THREE!

Our Emma Girl is THREE.

So here is the post where I get to brag on my little girl.

Feel free to skip.  Won't hurt my feelings :)

*  For about two months now, we've been memorizing Scripture with her.  One verse a week.  We are following these ABC Printable Scripture Cards, and have been incredibly impressed with how well Emma has done with these.  We quote the "B verse" and "D verse" a lot these days, and love hearing Emma quote them when she finds herself doing something that is very hard for her to do (like sharing a toy with BB):  "Mommy... I being 'kind' to baby Byron."

*  She is bilingual.  She is biliiiiinguuuaallllll!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  Oh, what a job this has been.  It's been hard work.  There were days when I thought I was just wasting my time and driving myself nuts speaking to her a language only a few around us knew.  But she is bilingual, and very few things melt my heart the way hearing her speak my "mother tongue" does. 

*  She loves books.  She loves to "read" through them, or better yet... have them read to her.  It's fun to watch her "read" them out loud.  She also likes her little Bible (you know, that little one kids get for their baptisms).  She'll sit and say to leave her alone 'cause she's reading her Bible:  "and then... Jonah... Jesus... so..." will be some of the words coming out of her.

*  She is very fearful.  Is afraid of buuuuggzz, strange noises, tall grass (where snakes sleep, apparently), being left alone in a public place, etc.

*  She is in underwear all day, including nap time.  She is still wearing pull-ups at night.  Depending on how much liquid she drinks right before bed, she wakes up dry about half the time.  We do think we could easily train her to stay dry through the night, but we are not quite ready to be called multiple times throughout the night to take her to the bathroom.

*  She is very good about staying in her bed from bedtime till 7:15 am when her light clock turns green.  Depending on when she woke up from her nap that afternoon, it can take her between 10 min to well over an hour to fall asleep at night.  She will normally call us into her room once or twice to tell us something or ask for water, but other than that, she can stay put in her room quite well (for which I am very grateful).  She normally wakes up around 6:45 am and will call us into her room soon after.  We'll give her some boxes or toys for her to play with until her clock turns green.

*  She does not like cake, nor frosting, nor ice cream.  She loves chocolates, candy, and juice.  She likes to drink watered-down juice (like daddy) in the mornings or in the evenings when daddy is around.

*  She can spell, count to 20, recognize colors, shapes, and numbers in both English and Spanish.  She can also recognize her name when written.  Using two sticks, she likes to form letters such as the "T", "L", and "X".

*  When found in large crowds of kids (such as MDO, church, or parties), you will often times find her on her own playing independently.  She seems to be more of a one-on-one girl.  It will be interesting to see if she continues to be like that as she grows up.

*  She is right-handed (sorry daddy :) ).

*  Her favorite cartoons are Dora, Curious George, and Frozen.  She loves to listen to the Disney Pandora station.  We call it the "princess music."

*  She loves "helping daddy."  She likes to walk him to his car every morning on his way to work and carry his lunch with her.  If daddy is every outside doing yard work, she likes to go out and pick up sticks or think she is helping in some form.  And she also likes to help him fix things.  Whenever daddy is working on something and his tools are part of the process, Emma follows closely behind with some tools herself.  Even while daddy is at work, she likes to pull tools out of his box to "fix" her cell phone or anything else around the house she thinks needs fixing.

On Byron's one-year mark

Our little man is ONE!

It's been a good year.  I am worn out by the end of every day, but life is good with this fourth little member.

A few things about Little Man--

*  He loves to suck his right index finger.  He also only sucks it when he has Doggie with him, which is normally at nap and bedtime.  I was really nervous at first when he decided he didn't like the paci and preferred the finger, but I have now grown to love his finger-sucking. 

*  As of today, he has two bottom teeth and his top left front tooth.  His top right front tooth is about to break out.

*  He is not a big eater.  We normally only offer him whatever food we are eating, but he usually just throws it on the ground.  We have just recently started disciplining him about throwing food on the floor, and it has gotten better, but still a work in progress.  The only things that he will gladly eat are chips, crackers, and cookies (which of course he doesn't get very often).  On and off, he will eat blueberries, grapes, pear slices, apple slices, pieces of bread, cheese, and apple sauce pouches.

*  He is a talker.  For about a month now, we notice he says words such as papu (Spanish for chip.... *sigh*), dacias (Spanish for thank you), bah (ball), da (for Doggie), ama (I think this one is for mama, Emma and Memma), nigh nigh, bye bye, da da (for daddy).

*  He just started signing for milk.

*  He has just recently started showing more interest in walking.  He can now hold on to one of our hands and walk a few steps before going back down to the ground.  He still cannot stand up alone without holding onto something.

* He loves balls.  He'll spot balls, or even circles, and call out: bah bah. 

*  He is only taking one nap a day.  Funny thing is that Emma will still take a longer nap than him on most days.

*  He loooooves his mobile.  Babies should outgrow mobiles by the time they are six months-old.  But our boy is a music man.  He loves going to sleep listening and watching his mobile sing and go around for him.  We will sometimes hear the mobile go off during the night (yes, he turns it on and off on his own).  Most mornings I'll know he is up, not because he is calling out for us, but because the mobile is on and we hear him "talking" happily in his crib.  

*  He is now exclusively drinking cows milk, though he hasn't successfully transferred to a sippy cup yet.  We still give most of his milk warmed up and in his bottle.  

*  He suffers from separation anxiety :(  This one is no fun for this mama.  Thankfully, he normally only cries for a few minutes when we drop him off.

*  He loves Big Sister.  They are good friends.  It'll be fun watching that friendship develop through the years.  It is not perfect, of course.  It seems like most often than not Emma is yelling at him for taking her crayons, and he is scratching her face.  But all in all, they are good friends.  They keep an eye out for each other.  Emma especially makes sure he is behaving well and doing what he's supposed to.  They'll play ball together, and chase each other around the house a lot.  Lots of giggles are often involved in this :)

*  He loves the toilet.  If we are not good about putting the lid down or shutting the bathroom door, we will inevitably hear happy splashes, courtesy of our little man.  Emma is now terrified of having Byron in the bathroom with her because of it (odd, I know).  She is actually unable to go potty unless he is shut out of the bathroom, or I am holding him.

He pulls up

Two weeks ago BB began pulling up.

It's been fun watching him become so much more active since--

Always pulling up on furniture, people (people's legs), wall, etc.

He is still not cruising or standing up on his own, but we know that is just around the corner.

He is also very much a talker!

I like what Memma said--

"Emma better get her talking in now while she can"

Byron's talking (think VERY LOUD and all.the.time)--

DA-DA-DA-DA

DOUGH-DOUGH-DOUGH

MA-MA-MA-MA

TA-TA-TA-TA

BA-BA-BA-BA

PPPRRRRRR

A big sister's little brother

Wouldn't you know...

That Baby Byron's favorite toy is Emma's play lipstick.

He will go find it, carry it around, stick it in his mouth.

Oh, how he loves it!

I think it reminds him of his very special index finger, which he loves to suck on in his crib.

****

He is a big talker.  Words such as:

da-da-da-da

ta-ta-ta-ta

ma-ma-ma-ma

na-na-na-na

ba-ba-ba-ba

He will turn 10 months this week, so we've also begun weaning him.

(I never thought I'd be so excited about this, but I am!  I guess I should be sad, right?  oh well...)

On Little Man...

Our Little Man is 9 months old.  And such a gift to us.  

He began crawling for the first time last week.  Emma and I were at our Fancy Nancy birthday party when he took his first moves forward, while alone with Daddy.  

I can't get over him crawling.  He is so fun.  I set him down on the floor, and he goes off exploring.  He crawls into the living room where he finds a ball or two.  Then crawls down into the dining room table or finds Big Sister.  I know it sounds terrible to say, but it's like I have a little doggie just moving about.  He seems to be, for the most part, a pretty independent little fella. 

His two bottom teeth are completely in.  And loves showing them off!  He is quite the giggler, and put him next to Big Sister, and maaan, he will laugh and squeal the entire time.

He is getting better about eating.  I finally discovered that as long as I mix some applesauce with it, he'll eat just about anything.  This week he ate some spaghetti with meat sauce one day, and lentil soup another day (both mixed with some applesauce).  He also loves a good ripe pear.  I will cut him up some slices in the morning, and he'll gladly feed himself some.

He also likes mozzarella cheese, toast (he will not eat non-toasted bread), cheerios, and veggie straws.

We are starting to teach him to use a sippy cup, and has been pretty good at it.  We normally just put a little water in it.  He likes to imitate Big Sister.

He now takes a bottle and will drink both breast milk and formula.  We don't do this too often, but at least he does take a bottle now!

I plan on beginning to wean him next month when he turns 10 months.  I keep going back and forth with this, since I did nurse Emma for the full 12 months.  But due to a few personal reasons (mostly selfish, but it is what it is), he will more than likely be drinking fully out of a bottle or sippy cup by 10.5 months.

At his nine-month doctor's visit, here are his numbers:

Weight:  19 lbs 13 oz (50%)

Length:  28 inches (25%)

Head size:  18 inches (75%)

8 and 9-month old pictures

I finally got around to BB's 8-month old Johnny Bear pictures four days before his 9-month old birthday :(  So I am just lumping them together.

He finally got a bottom tooth pop out on Easter Sunday (we called it the "resurrection tooth"), and his second bottom tooth is making it's way through.  I tried to picture his teeth in this picture, but was not very successful at it.

Yup, this picture pretty much captures his sweet little personality.

Emma's 8-month and 9-month JB picture.

In a big-girl bed

We had Emma in a toddler bed for a couple of months to help her transition from crib to bed.  She did very well in it, and we loved it very much.

But now she is in a big girl bed!

don't I look lovely first thing in the morning?

Of course, one of my favorite things to do with her now is snuggle in bed and read.  I spent 20 minutes last night reading to her in bed.  I cannot wait until we can start reading chapter books together at night.  I also look forward to doing some pillow talk with her as she grows older.

7 month pic

This picture was taken about a week after he turned 7 months.  

As always, better late than never.

Emma's 7 month picture

Even now, a little over a week before turning 8 months-old, he still has not teeth.  They are coming in!  I can see them!  And poor Little Man, I can tell they itch like crazy.  He gnaws on just about anything he can get his hands on.

He has finally started to eat a little more (this whole exclusively breastfeeding an almost 8 month-old is no fun).  I got some rice cereal at church last week that somebody was giving away.  I don't know if he finally "got it" or what, but he has started eating it.  Halleluiah!  He'll eat a little banana or pear chunks as well.

He is sleeping better.  I only feed him once during the night, but still wakes up crying about one additional time.  We just let him cry.  Right now I think it is mostly because he is flipping to his stomach, but he hates being on his stomach, so a lot of times I'll just go in and flip him over.  Just like with Emma, at 9 months old is when we are going to "pull the plug" and be done with night feedings.  And just like with Emma, still plan on breastfeeding him until he turns one.

on Emma...

Thought we would post a little update on Emma.

 She is a little over 2.5 years old.

Her language of choice is still English, but can pretty much translate just about anything if you ask her to.  She is also starting to say a few Spanish sentences.  Her English sentences can be about 4-5 words long, her Spanish ones are about 2 words long.

She likes to run around naked.

"poquito nuda, mami?"

 She loves her blankets!  She calls them sasas (for "sabana" in Spanish).  Every morning, she walks out the door with her sasa and Bunny.

She loves to wear her pajamas all day.  Her laundry is 80% PJs, 20% everything else.  At first it annoyed me and frustrated me.  Now I've decided it's not a battle worth fighting.  As it gets hotter and hotter, she will want to be in shorts and short-sleeve blouses more.

I am not sure how to go about writing this last one.  Part of me wants to completely ignore it and make it go unnoticed, but another part of me tells me I need to record this.  What am I talking about?  Glad you asked :)

A little boy at church and MOPS has developed a little crush on her.  He just turned three a few weeks ago, so he is just about 6 months older than her.  Of course they are good friends, but he truly has a crush on her (or really likes her... whatever the difference is at this age).

A few weeks ago when we picked the kids up at the nursery, the workers said they had been playing together the entire time and holding hands.  Today when we picked them up, the workers said they had spotted them kissing on the mouth!  ACK!

Erin and I giggled and smiled at each other, torn by both the cuteness, but also seriousness of the situation.  It may be cute right now, but no longer cute when they are, say, 10 years-old.  So this needs to be addressed now!

We got in the car and I turned to Emma--

"Emma, we don't kiss boys in the mouth.  You may kiss Mommy, Daddy and Baby Byron in the mouth [not quite sure on this last one, but that's what I said], but you cannot kiss anybody else there.  You may kiss them on the cheek if you want to [like the good Mexican that she is :)]"

Then proceeded to say--

"You may kiss a boy once he gives you a ring, but he first has to get Daddy's permission."

We figured it was never too early to begin teaching our kids about our expectations in regards to dating.  Again, it's a little humorous right now, and partly just want to disregard it, but then also I want to make sure that we always take these opportunities to teach and train our children at every chance not matter how young they are.

Sit-up

As of last week, our little man can now sit-up on his own.  This milestone has allowed life to become slightly easier, since I can now set him up wherever without him becoming aggravated at me (the way he did when I would lie him down on the floor).

I love how they both have the same facial expression.

And a general update on Baby Byron:

-  He is 7 months old today, and hates to eat anything other than his mama's milk *sigh*  I have tried all sorts of things, the most recent one breaking down and buying some (expensive!) baby wafers and cereal (I never bought these for Emma, but a desperate, and sleepless mama will do anything at this point).  

-  He has been an incredible sleeper since he was 6 weeks old.  For months and months he would sleep 8-10 hour long stretches.  But recently, he has regressed to waking 2-3 times at night.  He wakes up screaming (also very unusual).  We put him on some antibiotics (related to an ear infecting), and things have improved, but still not where I wish they were.  I also think that him still being exclusively breastfed is affecting his sleep (or lack there of).

-  Little Byron can also now stand up on both feet on his own if we hold his hands.

-  Still no teeth.