Rebekah Joy - 25 Months

At 25 months Rebekah Joy is growing up so fast!

Sleeping:
Continuing to do great sharing a room with her big sister.  She has gotten out of bed twice in the last month, both to let me know that she wanted her blanket back on her.  I am not totally convinced she was awake either time it happened so I will monitor this and see if sleepwalking is in fact what we are dealing with!
Eating:
Her 2 year molars are coming in as evidenced by her crying at the drop of a hat and loss of appetite.  Towards the end of the month, however, we are doing much better.  Meat is still the last thing eaten on her plate.  She really likes having her food cut up and will usually pretend to do it as I cut it up for real.  I think I said this last month but I need to get her started on using a regular rather than sippy cup at the table. 
Skills:
She is doing well at getting her own panties on and we are starting to work on her getting her pants on by herself.  She also wants to wipe herself after potty and her baby doll.  She has a huge vocabulary, it is really stunning and she is big into explaining everything right now which is good, it means she is listening!  Her gymnastics classes are still a big hit and she really is improving in her balance beam walking and hanging, which she continues to do on everything that looks like it might have a sufficient hand hold area.  She wants to jump on her own so badly but isn't quite there yet.
Play:
She has gotten a lot of use out of her birthday presents from last month.  She greatly enjoys walking with her caterpillar and does remarkably well on our little 1/2 mile walk around our neighborhood.  One of her favorite toys has become her snap and style baby dolls.  Those have been great in both solo play and playtime with mama.  She loves playing with our friend's doll house when it is on loan and continues to really enjoy being read to. 
Rebekah is now a middle child with the birth of a new baby sister on November 2nd.  Rebekah has been very into her new sister, looking at her and touching her (also using the hand sanitizer!), and overall is preparing to be an awesome mama.  I am going to love watching her imitate me in the coming months with Grace, it is so sweet to see little mamas in training!  It continues to challenge me to be worthy of imitation. 

Our Schedule (before baby Grace's arrival):
0730 - Book and Giggle time :)
0800 - Wake, dress, breakfast
0900 - Preschool
1030 - Outside
1200 - Lunch, chore, reading
1330 - Nap
1600 - Playtime with Mama
1630 - Snack, solo play, freeplay
1800 - Dinner, family time, bath, reading, Bible story, bedtime o/a 2001

Grace AnneMarie Theising

The Theising Academy for Young Ladies got its newest enrollee on Friday with the arrival of Grace AnneMarie Theising.  She joined us at 0751 on Friday, November 2, 2012.  She was 7lbs 1oz and 20 inches. 

I had convinced myself the entire pregnancy that we were having a boy and of course everyone told me that I looked like I was carrying a boy.  Most people had said that about the older girls as well :)  I was so convinced this was a boy though that Frank told me on the way to the hospital I needed to pick out a girls' middle name, just in case :)  Good thing we did!

I love not knowing in advance what we are going to have.  The sweetest sounds in my memory will always be Frank's voice announcing the arrival of our daughters! 
Grace's sisters came to visit her in the afternoon and adore her already.  They brought presents and their affection, the latter which I hope never fades!

 

Grace has proven to be her father's daughter in her personality already.  The nursery workers have told me she is so calm and sweet, just what a mother loves to hear!  She is a great eater so far and has the sweetest little newborn cry.  We are so thankful to God for His bountiful blessing of another healthy daughter and are continually conscious of His working in our lives.  Each of my girls have been instruments God has used to teach me more about their namesake virtues and I have no doubt Grace will be used in the same manner.  I pray that I can be worthy to be her mom.