Happy Ten Months Jackson

Ten months!  Can you believe it???  Jackson is still growing.  Lets see...
1.  He HATES and I mean HATES to have his diaper changed or his clothes changed.  I mean roll around, scream, cry, turn, twist kinda hates.
2.  He LOVES to eat and don't be slow about it!
3.  He likes to play by himself and we love this quality.  He really enjoys tinkering with little toys and discovering new things.  I love watching him play and hope this independence will stick around.
4.  He loves to play hide and seek - it makes him giggle so much.
5.  He does not like getting in the car.  I mean, he actually starts crying when I just get to the door.  Once the car is moving we are ok, but he isn't happy until that happens.
6.  I love him so much. He is so sweet and perfectly fits into our family.  Elli is an amazing big sister.  She helps me in so many ways and often entertains Jackson when I am trying to fix lunch or dinner.  She knows how to make him stop crying.  I love seeing that side of her.

Jackson, meet Elmo

 

Jackson is learning to stand for a little bit on his own, if you start him off that way.  I don't think it will be too long before he is moving and grooving!

Elli's First Haircut

It had to be done...it was time.  And can you believe I actually teared up when they made the first cut? I couldn't believe it was happening.
Seriously why is she getting so grown so fast?!?!

There it goes....

 

Mrs. Sharon did a wonderful job putting up with all of Elli's moving!  Elli loved her and loved that they have the same name!!

Classic Elli

Could this be any cuter?!?!?!

Days of the Week

Love that Elli is learning this type of thing in her preschool class.  Garber is preparing her for Kindergarten and that makes me so happy!  Enjoy this lil' gem.
Do not ask me why she has to have the crown over her eyes...

Yo Gabba Gabba!!!!!!

Elli's big prize for transitioning to her big girl bed and giving up pappies was a special trip to Raleigh to see Yo Gabba Gabba.  This has been one of Elli's favorite shows since she was about 18 months old.  We love Gabba because the music is entertaining for us too.  We left Jackson with Grandma and Papa and took off to Raleigh.  We got to go out to eat and then see the show.  Elli absolutely loved it!  Her face was priceless pretty much the whole time.  Jacob and I had a blast dancing to the music too.  Jacob said that when they shot the confetti out into the audience it was "magical."  So, needless to say, it was an awesome day with our big girl!  Here is some footage from the day!

Here we are in our big girl bed! 

We made it to Daddy's favorite restaurant...The Rockford in  Raleigh. 

 We got to enjoy some "pre-show" fun with the booths set up outside the show.

Whoo-hoo!!!

Bye Bye Baby Girl Crib

We are moving forward with the "de-babyfying" of Elli's room.

1.  Get rid of pacifiers - check (except she demanded Jackson give up his too.  Well, he didn't love it anyway so this house is a pappy-free zone!)  It still takes her a while to fall asleep, but she has done better than expected with this.
2.  No more pull-ups at night - check!
3.  No more crib - check!  Thanks Dad for helping us get it painted.  Cool fact:  The bed Elli is using is the same bed my mom had as a little girl and that I used as a little girl.  She'll appreciate that some day!


I am so glad to see her progressing, growing, and learning.  But I will admit it hurts my heart a bit to see her in a big girl bed all...well...big.

I will post pictures of her big girl bedroom soon.  We still have some organizing and tidying to do.

Deep and Wide

Another preschool hit!

*Note Jackson just hanging out!  One of his most favorite things to do is crawl into Elli's crib when we go get her up after nap.  He LOVES to get in there with her.  I think it is the cutest thing ever.

Peace Out Facebook

I've always wanted to try unplugging from Facebook.  I decided that this year during Lent I would try giving it up and replacing it with productive activity.  I have many reasons for thinking that Facebook might not be the best thing for me.  I spend too much time on it, just browsing, when there are TONS of others things I could be and need to be doing.  It really didn't have too many positives for me.  At church on Wednesday night the speaker said, "We don't need to be addicted to the diet of our culture" in reference to Daniel not partaking of the King's food.  I started thinking how do I know what the "diet of our culture" is but through Facebook?  If I unplug from that, maybe I can start to feed myself with something more wholesome, healthy, and uplifting   So, hold me accountable blog world.  And if you need to get up with me, try the old fashioned email way!

Happy Valentine's Day

Hope everyone enjoyed their Valentine's Day...we sure did!  We started with a heart shaped biscuit from Bojangles and had some little prizes too.  What a great day!
We love you all!!!!

Shoes!!!

She "helped" Jackson open his as well

Bojangles!!!!

Cool Valentine socks

Let It Shine!

I love what Elli is learning in preschool!  American Idol here we come!!!

No Camera

Sorry for the lack of posts...my camera is on the fritz.  I promise pictures when I get it up and running!!

Getting Better...

Yesterday and last night went better without pappies.  Wanna know what I did? I laid 5 m&ms on her table where she could see them.  I then explained that she could have all of them when she woke up. But every time I had to come in there and tell her to go to sleep, stop crying, stop talking etc I would take one away. I only had to take one m&m before she got the idea!  Poor little thing, I know it must be hard to learn to fall asleep without something she has had for 3 years.  We are trying to be super patient and I think she is excited that it is getting easier.  She has done GREAT with the panties and hasn't had an accident yet.  She tells me that sleeping in panties is much better and she got a big kick out of me throwing the pull ups away!  I can't believe how big my baby girl is.  Seriously...what a sweet sweet child.

Pappy Update...Not So Great

It has been tough.  Elli is having the hardest time falling asleep without her pappy.  Nap time was awful today.  It took almost an hour and a half to get her to sleep.  Bed time wasn't much better - took an hour.  I'm telling myself it will be a while before she gets used to it.  Poor little Elli.

Crowns and Hearts

Saturday I took the kids to family fun day at the Convention Center.  A good time was had by all.  The best part?  Getting Elli's face painted with a crown.  Then, the horrible mother that I am, forgot about the crown and washed it off when we were washing her face after lunch!!!  I felt AWFUL!!  So I promised we would paint her toenails to compensate the loss...I'll show pictures when it actually gets done.

Check out the awesome heart garland we got handmade by our talented friend.  Doesn't it really liven up Elli's room? I was just going to use it for Valentine's month but it matches the room colors perfectly so it will stay up all year!  You can get your own here!!

The Pappy Fairy

This has been a long time coming.  Elli loves her pappies (pacifiers) and I have been super hesitant about taking them away.  Then, when we knew a baby brother was coming, I felt it was super unfair to let him have them and not her, so I let her keep using them.  She only gets them at night and nap time, but boy does she love them!  The time is coming for Elli to get a big girl bed.  She sleeps in pull ups but never wets them so it is time to sleep in panties too.  How can she be in a big girl bed in panties and still have a pappy?  It didn't seem right so we have been talking about the Pappy Fairy coming and bringing Elli something new to sleep with.  It seemed that Elli was getting anxious wondering when this was going to happen so I decided we needed to go ahead and get it over with.  Tonight I took her to Target with me and let her show me somethings that might would help her sleep if she didn't have a pappy.  We said the fairy would come tonight.  Then, she laid her pappies out and took a bath.  We then proceeded to throw out our pull ups and put on Cinderella panties.  After bath (when we normally get our pappies) we came in the kitchen and found the Pappy Fairy had stopped by.  She brought a very strange unicorn body pillow, a princess blanket, some chocolates and Cinderella panties.

All was well...

We tucked her in and lowered a side of her crib (because her big girl bed is being painted) and she was happy.  I was feeling pretty good.  I got to the door and said good night and heard this, "Mommy...you forgot to give me my pappies!"  Haha - I guess reality hit.  We talked about it and it took several tries to get her in bed (she needed water, she needed to potty, what if she cried and didn't have a pappy etc).  Finally, I reminded her that the fairy brought m&ms that she could have in the morning if she slept like a big girl.  All is quiet now but I'll let you know how it goes during the next few days.  I think it may take some time to get used to this and I fear nap time might be rough tomorrow   But honestly, we potty trained with m&ms...eventually she learned to go potty and doesn't demand candy.  I figure this can be the same way.  Go ahead and judge me, but I bet you will learn you do what you have to do =)

I love this girl and taking away something that she loves hurts my heart.  Seeing her sad breaks me.  I hate it.  I would let her have them until college if I felt like it wouldn't mess up her teeth but I know she just can't have them.  I am sad that she is sad.  I am sad that my baby girl is too big for something.  Where did the time go?  How is my sweet Elli sleeping in panties and a big girl bed?  My sweet baby girl....I love you Ellibelle.

My First Parent/Teacher Conference

I had my first parent/teacher conference this week as the parent instead of the teacher.  Elli got good reports from her wonderful preschool teacher!  We love preschool and are so pleased with the program.  Elli may try to be a teacher herself since the only negative we received is that Elli can sometimes try to take on the role of the teacher.  (Hmm...I wonder where she gets that bossiness from?!?!)  I was proud of her report so I decided to give her a bit of ice cream with sprinkles to celebrate.

So proud of you Elli!!

9 Months Old

Jackson turned 9 months on January 25th.  He had his 9 month well check and all seemed well.  He is 21 pounds now!  He gained over 2 pounds since Christmas.  This might be due to his overwhelming appetite for "adult" food. He is weaning himself from nursing and baby food - only showing interest in waffles, pancakes, bagels, lima beans, fruit, peas, carrots, avocado, and anything else we are eating.  I'm a little sad that he didn't nurse longer, but it does make life a little easier around here so ultimately I'm ok with it.  Honesty, I feel like he just wasn't getting satisfied with the nursing and needed more.  We try to do some baby food but typically he cries until we give him finger food.  The doctor said we can't introduce soy milk until he is closer to a year so we are having to do formula in the sippy cup.  She said it was ok to go ahead and basically put him on a one year old eating schedule (3 meals and 2 snacks) so that is what we are trying.  He seems to love it.  She told me not to worry about how much formula he is getting since most of his nutrition is coming from his food now.  He is pulling up on anything and everything and slowing showing an interest in cruising.  His typical schedule now is:

7:00 Nurse (a little) and sippy cup of formula plus breakfast (oatmeal with fruit, pancake/waffle or something of the sort)
9:00-10:00 Nap
10:00 Snack (sippy cup of formula and fruit)
12:30 Lunch (sippy cup of formula, baby food veggies and fruit if he will eat it or adult veggies, fruit, bagel bread or something of the sort)
1:15-3:15 nap
3:30 Snack (sippy cup of formula and granola bar, fruit, cheerios)
6:00 Dinner (sippy cup of juice which he really doesn't drink b/c he doesn't like it with whatever finger food we are eating)
6:30 Bath
7:00 Formula bottle and bed