Faith's First Book

Faith created and read her first book this week.  We are using the Logic of English Foundations A curriculum and I love it.  I have never taught anyone to read so the step by step is very helpful for me :)  Faith has learned about 2 dozen phonograms so far, knowing all their sounds and how to write the lowercase form.  For the book, I printed out sheets of paper with a 3 letter word on them.  She had to read the word, pick the corresponding picture and glue that picture to the page to make the illustration.  She did awesome and was so proud when I told her she had to sit in the middle during reading time today because she was the reader! 

Grace AnneMarie - 13 Months

Wow, I am really late with this!  In my defense, this has been a stressful month for us!  First we found out that Frank got command of a comm squadron (great) in Korea (okay) as an unaccompanied tour for a year (not cool!).  Then after a month of getting used to that idea, he was accepted to SAASS and was universally advised to take the SAASS and put in for command later.  So, now he is staying here in Alabama for another year :)  Hooray!!  Now, onto Grace...I am trying to write this for how things were on December 2nd (even though it is about 20 days later)

Sleeping - Doing great, no changes

Eating  - Still loves bread.  Using a sippy cup exclusively and doing really well with it.  She still gets milk at snack time and a bottle before bed but I am sure these both will change by next month. 

Play - Doing great at solo play.  There is no very little or no crying at all.  She still loves dolls and loves to give hugs, especially to Mama.   She enjoys hearing the modulation of her voice when we bounce her or tap on her chest; she thinks she is pretty funny :)  She really enjoys these link toys that my sister got her for her birthday from B.  Her favorite book is Sense & Sensibility

Skills - One Wednesday night about the middle of the month she took a few steps at church.  Then a few days later she took even more and by the end of the month she was done crawling.  What a big walker and she is so proud of herself!!  She is a sorting fool and she loves putting things away.  Using her hands to move her lower lip and then blowing out to make noise.  I don't know the name of this action but it sure is cutie.  She has also learned to shake her head "yes".  Both the other girls learned the action for "no" long before "yes".  So, does that mean she is going to be my super positive and optimistic daughter?  Grace has also learned the sign for "please". 

Homemade Yogurt

The next installment of Continuing Homemaker Education is homemade yogurt. 

I'd often thought about, and even pinned a few recipes for making yogurt in my crock pot but I never did anything with it.  Frank sits next to a Jordanian exchange officer at ACSC and we've made an attempt to get to know him and his family.  We went over there to drop off some Danielle bread and while we were there the sweet wife of this officer gave me some of her homemade yogurt to try.  It was awesome!  She invited me over to learn how to make it and I was floored at how easy it was and how great it tasted!  The girls and I have made it several times, most recently for our Y week, and have had great success each time.  I don't think I'll ever buy yogurt again!

Heat whole milk to a boil, whisking continuously so it doesn't burn to the bottom of the pan. 

Once boiling, remove from heat and allow to cool until just warmer than you would drink. 

 

Remove a little of the warm milk into a cup and add in 1-4 TBSP of the yogurt starter (or Greek yogurt from the store) and stir together. 

 

Add the yogurt/milk mixture back into the warm milk and stir. 

Pour milk into a plastic container and put on lid.

 

 Wrap container in a large heavy comforter (I use our down comforter) and let sit for 5 hours. 

 

After 5 hours check and if yogurt is still liquidy, replace lid and re-wrap for another 2-3 hours.  Every time I have made mine I have let it sit for about 7 hours. 

Place yogurt in fridge overnight before eating.  For sweeter yogurt, use less of the starter, for more sour yogurt, use more starter.  If you are using yogurt from the store as your starter, use the full 4 TBSP.

Cotton Pickin'

A sweet lady at our church invited several of us out to watch the cotton harvesting at her farm in Pike's Road this week.  We headed out there on Veteran's Day and had a great time.  It was so interesting to watch and then she allowed all the kids to pick their own cotton by hand.  The farm was harvesting the cotton about a month later than normal because of the cool summer that Alabama had this year!  It was plenty hot out for us while picking cotton and it certainly made me think about what a wonderful inventions the automatic pickers and cotton gin are!

 

 

Grace AnneMarie - 12 Months

The baby is 1.  This week has been party central around here.  For Reformation Day, we celebrated with our new friends here in Alabama.  Just as a side note, I knew that God would be faithful in providing fellowship for us but I am continually amazed at Him and His provision of wonderful, likeminded people everywhere we go who sharpen and love us and our girls!  The next day was my birthday followed by Grace's the next day.  So, there is plenty of sugary desserts at our house :)  Here is Grace in her birthday dress....

Sleeping - Continues as before with no real changes.  2 naps a day and 12 hours at night, it is pretty hard to complain about that! 

Eating - Her appetite has diminished somewhat and she is becoming more picky about what she wants to eat (bread still being her favorite) but she knows that she has to eat what is on her tray before receiving more of anything else.  Her first taste of sugar was a great day for her when she enjoyed her carrot cake cupcake on her birthday yesterday.  She has been fully weaned to whole milk and is taking it just fine in a bottle.  Our next big task is to wean to a sippy cup. 

Skills - At the beginning of the month she was pulling herself up with the aid of a stationary object (or person) but towards the end she is standing up by herself.  She is really enjoying her walker toy and is cruising around the furniture.  Any day now she is just going to take off walking on her own.  She really likes crawling up the stairs at the playground and does really well with it.  She continues to wave at everyone (even the moon).  She has stopped crying when we drop her off at the nursery at church which is nice :)  She has learned to put things back in the box, bag, etc., so we are teaching her the clean-up song. 

Play - Grace still loves dolls, stuffed animals, and books.  She is the happiest baby; squeals with delight at random times.  Her solo play is going better also.  She usually cries for a minute or 2 at the beginning but then settles down to play for about 20 minutes and I could probably lengthen it at any time.   She really loves to empty the laundry basket and the ball pit in the back yard play set.  Between that and the toddler swing she is pretty happy outside!  Grace also loves the little play kitchen and although it is a little trying for the older girls sometimes, she enjoys doing whatever they are doing in the kitchen and craft area. 

I am not doing a year 34 update for myself but here is me in one of the 2 birthday dresses I made myself this year...

Faith August - 4.5 Years

4 1/2 years since my life was changed forever by the 7lb 11oz, 20 inch little girl.  She is now 43 inches tall and 42lbs!

 

Sleeping - Same as before.  Her rest time has is also doubling as her solo play time and that is going very well.  There are still days when she sleeps but not that often and she is always ready for her time by herself

Eating - No real changes with eating.  We are working harder on table manners, specifically chewing with your mouth closed and waiting to speak until her bite is finished.  Right now I have her raising her hand to let me know she has something she wants to say but is waiting until her mouth is empty. 

Skills - When we arrived in Alabama we met a nice family with a daughter 364 days younger than Faith.  This young girl can swim without a floaty!  Well, when Faith saw that she was determined to swim, or at least try to swim, without hers.  I was impressed by her desire.  The pool closed here on Labor Day weekend so there wasn't a lot of time to practice.  I plan on enrolling the older girls in swim lessons prior to our PCS and that should hopefully accomplish the swim without a floaty desire.

Faith has met her goal for the year of writing the alphabet.  She can write all the uppercase letters and is pretty excited about that. 

Her love of coloring continues and she is actually staying in the lines now and really enjoying it.  Now I've begun to talk to her about color choice and why the princesses look better if they don't have green skin and flaming red hair but hey, it is still up to her :)

I've enrolled her in a Pre-Ballet class which she just loves.  The calm, steady discipline of ballet is perfect for Faith and she is really enjoying it.  She and Rebekah's classes met at the same time of day  and it is pretty convenient.  Hopefully wherever we move next will have something equally perfect for our schedule.  Following Ballet classes on Monday nights we've been volunteering with Inner City Evangelism Bible studies.  Frank works with the adults and the girls and I are in the kids area teaching Bible stories.  I think the whole experience has been great for them (although Faith has picked up a bad word in the process from one of the other kids!) and it is showing them the love of Jesus in action.

Wednesday nights at church Faith is participating in Children's Choir and Girls in Action.  She had her first Children's Choir concert in September and was so cute up there.  She was a little behind on the hand movements but was trying with all her might.  Girls in Action is supposed to be for 1st-6th graders but the teachers wanted her in there anyway.  They have said nothing but good things about her participation!  She gets points for scripture memorization and has done really well with that; she has an impressive memory!

I made a Velcro picture grocery list for Faith so she has something to do in the commissary while her sisters are riding around in the cart.  There is a 3 seater cart at the Maxwell Commissary but it isn't always available and we bring her list every week because she loves using it.  She takes off the Velcro piece and puts it in her purse after we pick up an item.

Was a great helper during our move using her shopping cart to ferry stuff around the house

She loves Grace and loves being a second Mama to her.

Education - We've started using the Logic of English for our phonics lessons.  So far she is doing great.  I love LOE because it is teaching handwriting and phonics at the same time.  She's also started using Rosetta Stone Russian that Frank and I bought several years ago when we first started learning Russian.  In addition to her learning a great deal, I am remembering a bunch of stuff I've forgotten!
As part of my Homemaker Education, Faith has been helping me with Homemade Pasta Making,  Yogurt making, and figuring out what to do with the 30lbs of peaches we picked when we first came to Alabama!

Random - singing - at the top of her lungs her made up praise and worship songs!

Rebekah Joy - 36 Months

Wow!  I can't believe my little girl is 3!  Amazing how she has grown up so much and I haven't aged at all!  Ha!!

Sleeping - No changes here.  She is such an awesome napper (making up for the rough ones when she was younger).  No signs of dropping her nap and still sleeps all night, waking up around 7 each morning.

Eating - Still enjoys most every vegetable and fruit and of course bread.  She likes having smoothies for breakfast and doesn't like to eat the crusts of her sandwiches.  I suppose if it is between broccoli and bread crusts, broccoli is the better choice. 

Skills - One day she decided she could jump with both feet and that was pretty exciting!  Imitating her sister, Faith, Rebekah started pumping her legs on the swings.  Mama's tired arms are always excited to hear her say "I can get myself higher!"  She recognizes most letters of the alphabet.  A gives her some problems and she mixes up V and Y most times but other than that she know her uppercase letters.  What a smartie.  Previously, Rebekah had only been able to cut paper but this month she's improved and can cut small pieces of fabric as well. 

Play - She loves to color; it has become her standard activity during the sermon at church and she really has fun with it.  We visited the beach for the first time in her little life in Navarre, Florida with some friends this month.  Rebekah was happy as long as she was sitting in the sand and the waves were just getting her legs wet but more than that caused her some serious concern.  She still isn't too keen on getting dirty and I think she sand all over her was part of her issue with the beach.  She LOVES helping in the kitchen and I love having her assistance.  One day we made homemade cannelloni and she helped with the dough making, the filling, and the sauce.  I handed her the red pepper flakes for the sauce and told her to sprinkle some in.  A millisecond later I turned around and saw she'd taken the shaker cap off the bottle and dumped the entire jar of red pepper flakes in!  That sauce was tasty :)  I added a bunch of sugar to calm down the heat and we all had a good laugh.

Faith and Rebekah love playing Mama and Baby.  Usually Rebekah is the baby and she has a great time with it.  She holds her "mama's" hand and lets Faith pretend to feed her.  It is pretty cute.  I like it better than the infant game they played with each other when Grace was first born because that consisted of them imitating her cry and one infant crying in the house is enough! 

Rebekah started taking a Creative Movement class this month.  It is ballet for 2 1/2 & 3 year olds.  She wasn't very talkative about it at first but now I can tell she really enjoys it.  There is no viewing window for me to see what is going on in there so I have to take her word for it that she enjoys it.  She loves showing at home the cutie stuff she is learning to do. 

Education - Station time sorting, counting, pouring, matching, she is doing great with all of it.  I mentioned her uppercase recognition. 

Party - Rebekah asked for a Kanga party this year.  We invited 2 families who've been so gracious in inviting us into their circle of friends while are here for the next year.  There were 8 girls at this party and each one of them were so precious.  It really does make me wish we were staying here longer to develop deeper friendships with these families!  The girls made Kanga ears and pouches and then raced in some homemade burlap sacks!  It was great fun!

Grace AnneMarie - 11 Months

The last month of Grace as an infant is upon us!  Here is a summary of her 11th month of life :)

Sleeping - Sleep continues the same as before.  Still going to bed at 8pm and waking at 7:30 or 8 in the morning.  Her morning nap can be anywhere between 45 minutes to 2 hours and then her afternoon nap which begins at 2 and will usually last until 3:30 or 4.

Eating - Nursing continues as before with no issues.  She eats EVERYTHING but loves bread (who doesn't?) and we've had to start meal time training as far as she needs to eat what is put in front of her and not cry because she sees something else tastier on the table.  We don't have bread with every meal but when we do, I try to be fair and leave the bread off my plate until she is done with whatever she has to eat prior to getting that. 

Skills - One Monday afternoon about mid-month she waved at my friend while sitting at ballet class for her older sisters.  That night she waved at everyone at Tulane Garden's Inner City Evangelism (in which she participates by being strapped to my chest while I serve in the kids' room!).  It was such an awesome thing to watch her wave to total strangers and their hearts melt at the sight of it!  She has also started pulling up and is quite proud of herself for doing so!  Consistently signing "more" and "all done"!!

Play - Baby Dolls!  One day she saw one across the room and took off after it and it has been love ever since!  Her eyes just light up when she sees a doll or stuffed animal.  She hugs them, loves on them, talks to them... it so sweet.  I consider "doll" her first word which was also spoken this month.  Da is her favorite sound right now but she also tries to say something resembling "sisters" when she sees them.  She loves listening to music, both singing and playing, and claps every time she hears it.  She also likes messing around on pillows, similar to something I remember Rebekah doing at around this age, just rolling around on them and loving it!  Solo play had begun to improve until we went to Florida at the end of the month to visit the Hefners and then I stopped being consistent with it and the time degraded into solo scream time again.  However, I am hopeful that things will improve there.  She does seem to love her Mama Time!

Rebekah Joy - 35 Months

It is hard to believe that Rebekah is going to be 3 in just a few weeks! 

Sleep - No real changes here. 

Eating - Still a great eater.  Loving ice, even in her milk!  She has moved out of the highchair and into the bumbo seat at the table.  She is able to get in and out of it by herself, just not to push the chair in :)

Skills - Rebekah has started turning on and off the lights, with the aid of her step stool.  She has been climbing up the bunk bed ladder for a several months but now she is able to climb down on her own. 
This month she has become a self-dresser!  It is super exciting to watch her get dressed on her own.  She tends to put the socks on with the heel on the top of the foot and occasionally her panties are on backwards but she does her shirt and pants all by herself with very minimal issues.  Rebekah has also taught herself how to write the letter R.  One day she called me over to the craft table saying "Mama, look at my R" and I was taken aback at how awesome it was!  It looks great and she learned to do it all on her own. 

Play - Rebekah and her sister have been playing "baptizer" for a few weeks now following several baptisms at the churches we were visiting when we first arrived in Alabama.  She has always loved to read and be read to but she has really taken up with telling stories from a book based on the pictures.  It is really sweet to listen to her telling these stories to her "kids" (AKA stuffed animals).  It is still really really hot here in Alabama.  The pool was closed on Labor Day and unfortunately Fall did not arrive the next day.  Prior to the pool closing, we went everyday.  There is a splash pad next to the pool and Rebekah was never a big fan until one day I brought a couple of plastic cups .  Those gave her a new found love for having water spraying around!  We did some sock puppet snakes for our S week and Rebekah just LOVED it.  She continued to play snakes for weeks after that, just about every time she put a sock on, it ended up on her hands and she was chomping someone!

Education - I am starting to do more independent work with both girls during school.  I've been trying to work with Rebekah on her counting and letter recognition using some Montessori activities I've found on line and she is doing well with it. 

 

 

Pasta Making

The next installment of my Continuing Homemaker Education is pasta making!  My parents got me this awesome pasta maker for my birthday last year which was the day before we had our 3rd child so needless to say, it didn't see daylight for a while.  Following our long vacation and the move to Alabama I decided it was finally time to break it out and attempt some homemade pasta.  Faith helped me with the whole process and we had a great time together.  I don't know how I would have done this with only my two hands!

We had fettuccini alfredo with chicken and broccoli.  I made my own alfredo sauce (which I had to learn to make after my second worst cooking disaster ever (the first being eggplant parmesan)) so this was about as homemade as I can get right now, until I have my own chicken ranch and garden!

Grace AnneMarie - 10 Months

The day Grace turned 9 months she started crawling and got her first tooth.  I had already written her update for that month so they didn't get included.  She currently has 2 teeth on the bottom and the cutest little grin.  Her smile is pure joy when she claps her hands at my singing or Frank's playing the guitar.  I just love it.  She is completely enamored with her sisters (who wouldn't be!) and finds a great deal of fascination in the dog as well. 

Sleeping - Her nighttime sleep is great and she usually wakes up around 7:30/7:45.  We ended naps in the car seat, which was painful for about 2 days and now she is fine in her bed.  They do seem to be sporadic as to whether they last longer than 45 minutes or not but that was happening in the car seat as well during the last month.  If she were my first child I would probably devote an entire spreadsheet to tracking her naps but for now, she is happy even if she wakes up early and that is enough for me!  Toward the end of the month, Grace developed a fever of over 102 and reaching 103.5 for several days.  Thankfully it was not an ear infection and after I finally got the right dosage of medication for her and administered it, the fever broke; however, she developed a rash all over her body and the symptoms show it as roseola.  The rash doesn't seem to bother her but her nighttime sleep has been affected for a few days. 

 

Eating - Wow!  Grace loves to eat.  She loves to feed herself, anything. I have yet to put anything in front of her that she didn't just go crazy over.  She loves meat, beets, veggies, fruit, cheese, everything she can feed herself.  She is not too big a fan of yogurt right now (reminiscent of Rebekah) but she does give the same horrible reaction when presented with some yogurt, she simply takes a few bites and is done.  Nursing is going well.  During my period this month my milk supply dropped and has never fully recovered, I'll probably start supplementing with formula this week. 

Skills - Crawling, everywhere.  She is a mobile baby now and loving it.  She comes pretty consistently when I call to her and responds after only a few corrections to all the "No's" that have suddenly entered her world.  Thankfully for me (but not for her) I have 2 additional helpers to alert her to all the 'No' items in our house.  She is working on pulling herself up on the coffee table.  Grace does enjoy crawling over obstacles to get to the places she wants.  I don't know if this is a skill or just a game she likes to play but if I bring my head close into hers she will bring hers in the rest of the way to head butt me and then she just laughs like its going out of style.  Grace has also discovered books!  If there is one on the floor she wants it (not during solo play though, she is content to just scream then no matter how many books are available).  She enjoys being read to and looking at books on her own. 

Peach Picking

Sweet Home Alabama.  We are only here for a year so I want to make sure we get out and do all the things that Alabama has to offer.  Our first adventure...Peach Picking.  We took an hour drive north of Montgomery to a small farm to pick our own.  We ended up with something like 30lbs of peaches.  My helpers donned their aprons and we got to work making peach butter, peach preserves, peach leather, dried peaches, and peach ice cream.  Its a good thing Grace likes peaches because she's gotten a lot of them!  The peach butter turned out awesome; it took a few tries to get the peach leather down but we finally did and that is in the pantry for a time when we are all out of peaches.  The peach ice cream is frozen sliced peaches that we will add milk and sugar to when we are ready to eat.  A guy at the peach orchard told us to make them that way, said it was the best!

Rebekah Joy - 34 Months

Rebekah is such a little cutie and I really do love this age.  It has its challenges but overall, I love how much she is learning and how sweet she is.

Sleeping:
No real changes in her sleep.  She made the transition to our new home in Alabama just fine.  Naps still start at the same time

Eating:
Rebekah has decided that she doesn't really like quesadillas for snack (just flour tortillas and butter).  She also doesn't really care for tomatoes.  We have been learning how to eat salad and I try to keep the tomatoes to a minimum although she still does have to try them.  She also has begun to enjoy ice in her water.  We have an ice maker on the front of our fridge here in Alabama and she is able to fill up her own cup with ice and water and has been loving it.

Skills:
Rebekah is showing great improvement in her jumping and is always asking "Mama look at this."  She has grown strong enough to climb up the slide on the play set in our backyard.  She has started memorizing and singing more of the songs in the car and the ones we sing in church. Watching her sing and do the motions for O Happy Day is so sweet!  Also, another sweet story is that one day we were out painting the play set and the girls were watching and providing moral support to their parents sweating in the sun; Faith had finished her water and wanted some more and was denied for the time by me but Rebekah chose to give up some of her water for her sister.  It warmed my heart to see her loving like that.

Play:
We were moving most of this month so we were in upheaval but Rebekah adjusted well to each part of the process.  Since we've been in Alabama she has been very into "driving" in their chairs, pushing their shopping cars with their kids in them.  Rebekah loves her stuffed animals and if she could she would carry around 3 or 4 with her everyday.  I usually limit her to one baby and one stuffed animal. 







 

Saying Good-Bye

As we prepare to leave our home of the last 4 years, we are saying our good-byes.  It isn't like I didn't know this would happen; my husband is in the military and really 4 years in one place is a lot for us and really it is the longest we'll be anywhere again (at least while still drawing a paycheck from the USAF).  If it had to be anywhere, I am glad it was here.  I have made some of the best friends here, met some truly amazing people.  We've enjoyed a wonderful church full of people who love Jesus and challenged us at every step.  Two of our three kids have been born here; this is the only home any of them has ever really known.  Coming here was literally the best thing for Frank's Air Force career.  I know my way around this place and have gotten used to the uniquely Arkansan accent (where tin is actually ten).  All this to say, I really hate saying good-bye.  For the most part though, the people we've met and love here, we will see again, perhaps not on this side of heaven but we'll see them again when we are all looking a lot better!  So, as we leave Arkansas and move on to parts further south, I am sad at what I am leaving because of the military life we lead but am grateful that we got to come here.  Without the military we never would have ventured to such a place and found the best of folks here.  Thank you to all our Arkansas friends for stuffing this place full of memories. 


We are in our new house in Alabama now, finding our way around our new city of Montgomery.  A big thanks to my parents who made this move so smooth and pleasant!  I've found the Wal-Mart and the pool, both important places :)  Most of the boxes are gone from our house, other than the 2,000lbs of our household goods that haven't made it yet.  I am drinking tea these days because the coffee pot was part of that 2,000lbs along with our patio furniture and my measuring spoons.  The moving company said they "are working it" but gave no other indicator as to when we might see the shower curtain rod for the girls' bathroom.  There is a great play set in the backyard of our new house and we have already stained it in preparation for hours and hours of play.  We are starting our church hunt tomorrow and are excited about what God will do with our willing hearts here in Montgomery.
I don't have any pictures of the house but this is the play set and Frank working hard at staining it :)

Grace AnneMarie - 9 Months

Sleeping - Still doing well at night and at naps really but those have been in her car seat and we are about to end that :(  She isn't really growing out of it but I know it needs to happen and she'll be fine after a few days of adjustment.  Nighttime is what counts and she is a great sleeper.  We've had a few days of interrupted sleep but I chalk that up to the move to Alabama.

Eating - Nursing continues as before.  She is a champion eater and has liked every new food she's been presented with.  The whole avocado is going over much better than mushed up.  I've started giving her more and more things to eat on her own as she is showing some skills with feeding herself.

Skills - I don't really know what clapping shows developmentally but she is doing it.  She claps when someone comes in the room or she hears a noise she likes or sometimes for no discernible reason at all.  She isn't really crawling but wants to SO badly.  She is skootching around with one knee under her and then landing on her tummy and getting frustrated by her lack of mobility.  It should only be another few days before she just takes off!  She has become more interested in books as something other than just a chew toy.  Grace has also become enamored with the dog, which is funny for me but not as funny for Lady.

Grace is still so happy, always smiling and laughing and cries when tired or hungry.  Of course we haven't done solo play for the last several weeks so that should bring out the waterworks when that starts as well.  She is about to move from 6-9month clothing into 9 month.  No teeth yet but they have to come in someday :)

 

Faith August - 4.25 years

Sleeping - Everything here continues on as before.  No naps but she enjoys rest time and gets a full nights sleep.

Eating - No real changes here either except that she is learning to eat salad.  Ranch is her preferred dressing and she does well with it. 

Skills - "Mama, watch this..." is a phrase I hear a lot and then she attempts some random feat like standing on one leg or jumping around in a circle.  She is learning to do more physically and that is always good.  She will be ready for a bike with pedals anytime.  I am probably going to wait to get her one at Christmas and she should hopefully make the transition easily.  She still swims with her floaty but I am hoping that we can do swim lessons sometime soon and next summer she'll be swimming on her own.  After our long cross country trip she has found a new love of coloring and is getting better at coloring in the lines.   She loves feeding her sister, Grace, and her ability to do so is improving.

Play - She likes wearing a hipster purse... she looks like such a big girl wearing it!  She has found that ziplocs bags can be fun to play with.  She likes the slide top kind and puts anything in them to keep it safe.  I looked in her pink bucket one afternoon and saw half a dozen of my quart size bags in there full of paper and her other toys.  She LOVES Grace.  Loves making Grace laugh, feeding her, sitting with her.  it is the most requested thing of the day "Mama, can I hold Grace, please."

Random - After listening to "The Patience Song" from the Basic Institute for Life CD, she asked "Mama, is there something I can help you do?"  She has always been good about asking when it is time for meals or when we've trained her that now is the time to ask but she came up with this on her own and she used the exact wording from the song.

One night during prayers we were discussing why God and Jesus were the same and she asked how many people are God in heaven and we discussed the trinity using the egg analogy.  She asked if she would have eyes in heaven to see God and I said she would be able to see Him and the streets of gold, the crystal sea, and the river of life.   She got pretty excited and said "I bet we'll be able to swim in the river!"  It was really sweet.

Education - School has been a little sporadic this summer due to our extended travel but she still loves to learn and is going to be ready for a reading program soon!

 

 

 

Rebekah Joy - 33 Months

Rebekah Joy – 2 Years 9 Months

Sleeping – Nighttime sleep was interrupted this month due to our travel across 10 states, sleeping in the same bed as her sister, and in 8 different locations.  She did pretty well and there were nights of uninterrupted sleep but there were plenty of wake ups as well, usually when she and Faith were sharing a bed.  I’ve decided Rebekah sleeps in one position and gets pushed around by Faith, very much like me and their dad J  Naps have been going well, especially considering many of them happened in the car!  “I’m so so tired” has been a frequently heard phrase.  Actually, “I’m so so _____” has been her new phrase.  She is quite passionate!   Since she started sleeping with a warm blanket (that gets rotated) she has been sleeping under it but this month she has started requesting it be “just like Faithie’s” who has her warm blanket folded up and placed next to her. 

Eating – Rebekah actually tried radishes with my dad during vacation.  I was impressed that she tried them because they have been demonized by her big sister (who did not try them again!).   She has stopped using a bib of her own accord. 

Skills – She has begun “reading” to her animals in earnest.  Rebekah developed a new love for coloring after visiting with their best friends, the Langehaug children in Colorado.  She has an incredible memory.  Loves singing and is always exuberant about it.  She has started counting and being excited about that!  She has been putting her own crocks on all summer and has started doing her “running shoes” as well which have a strap.  She gets them on the correct foot over 50 % of the time!  She still loves green; that is certainly her favorite color!

Play – We brought home a stuffed kangaroo from Australia for Rebekah last year and it was the choice for her during our car trip and vacation.  Kanga has been her constant companion this month.   After the first trip to the Cedar City Aquatic Center where Rebekah was very timid and did not want to go near the water that would fall on her face, the second trip she found a great deal of courage and loved every minute of that play area.  Still not a fan of the big bucket of water but that is okay!  She has excelled at blowing raspberries at Grace to entertain her in the car.  Here is a picture of Rebekah with her Kanga...

Grace AnneMarie - 8 Months

Grace AnneMarie – 8 Months

Sleeping – Nighttime sleep continues to go well with no significant interruptions.   We are firmly on 2 naps now, the first one around 9:45-10 until noon and the second starting around 2.  I would like to say she sleeps for 2 hours for that one but usually is 45 minutes to 1 ½ hours but she stays in her room until 4 and is usually okay with that.  For most of this month we’ve been travelling so she has taken a ton of carseat naps both in and out of the car.  She is a trooper though and only after 3 days of all day driving did she really have a melt down; one good night of sleep though and she was back to her happy self again.

Eating – Nursing still 3 to 4 times a day with the DF milk given at the 7pm feeding.  New solids this month include cauliflower, apricots (the best first fruit for her yet!), blueberries, and fish.  She found a love for avocado this month when I gave it to her not mushed up. 

Skills – While not crawling she is certainly no long stationary.  She skootches around within about a 3 ft diameter circle going after things she wants or just moving for the sake of doing it.  She continues to be incredibly vocal but really only knows the Da sound, a sort of singing sound, and the cutest little cooing.  She is rolling onto her tummy consistently and then belly crawling backwards.  She has started playing peek-a-boo and loving it!  Grace also enjoys throwing herself backwards while in our arms.  There have been a few times we weren’t ready for it but no real mishaps J

Rebekah Joy - 32 Months

Rebekah is offering me some mud hearts during our pool / take apart the garden mud day!

Sleeping - Her naps have been starting at 2 and she is sleeping all the way to 4.  No more diapers at naps or nighttime.  We told her if she went a week with no accidents then she could wear panties for both and she did! 

Eating - I ended up having to buy skim milk at one point this month and she hated it.  She told me she didn't like the taste I could empathize because I remember not liking it when my parents switched to skim as well.  Because it worked once, she has used that same rational several more times for why she hasn't been finishing her milk.  Unfortunately for her, the commissary has been well stocked of 2% milk since then :)

Play - LOVES her Octopus, Kangaroo, and her bears.  I still rotate her stuffed animals along with other toys.  Still loves puzzles!  She really has started enjoying "cooking" in her kitchen more and is very intent on making sure there is Orange Juice for her husband as well as giving me some for mine.  It is darling.

Skills - Rebekah knows all her colors and green has always liked the color green but it is becoming much more obsessive these days."I love geen because I love geen"  Also, I am hearing a lot of "I would like two because I am two." Two of everything. That started just following Faith's birthday so I am sure Faith turning 4 had something to do with it. We'll see how long our green and two obsessions last :)
This month she started really cutting.  I bought her some self-opening scissors several months ago to get some practice and while she liked them, they don't really cut anything.  This month I gave her a real pair of scissors and she LOVES them.  She asks to cut fabric constantly.

Random Thoughts - Reminding Faith that "honeycombs are like a honeycomb" following some correction Faith recieved.  That was her take on Proverbs 16:24, pleasant words are like a honeycomb, sweet to the soul and health to the bones.  Also reminding Faith after we lost power in the middle of the night during some rough weather that "God is always with us".  She believed it and was unaffected by the loss of power or the thunderstorms that rolled through all night.

"What after?"  Rebekah constantly wants to know what is going to happen next.  I usually have to lay the whole day out at breakfast and even then still get the question of "what after bed?"

Grace AnneMarie - 7 Months

Grace continues to be a happy, well adjusted baby who loves life and constantly has a smile on her face.

 

Sleeping - Still doing well on a 4 hour schedule.  I've been able to push nap times back a little bit so they are starting around 9:45 and 1:45 now.  I've experimented with the carseat, swing (not on), and bed and she does better in her carseat for most naps so that is where she stays and will sleep for 2 hours at each nap.  In the afternoon if she wakes up and makes a diaper for me then there is no going back to sleep but she is usually happy after I change her.  She dropped her 3rd nap about midway through May and it was a pretty cold turkey drop.  One night she just screamed her whole nap and for the next 4 successive nights I tried putting her down for it with the same results, so that was it, now we're at 2 naps!  I introduced a lovey blanket this month and by the end of the month she was really excited to see it at each nap and bedtime so she is starting to associate it with sleep.  Nighttime sleep is still going well with interruptions around 5am but she usually goes back to sleep after a few minutes of talking/singing :)

 

Eating - Starting on her 6 month anniversary life got sweeter for her in that she was introduced to fruit.  She has yet to really take to avocado which was the first one I tried.  Bananas have been a good one but pears were a very hard sell and only toward the end of the month was she beginning to enjoy them.  Applesauce is always a good one :)  Nursing continues as before with no real changes.

 

Skills - Everyday she sits up better and better and rarely has a fall.  She is talking and singing much more now.  Not yet imitating us when we speak but it is coming.  If she wants something she brings it right to her mouth.  There have been a few occasions this month when my "no" alone stopped her from touching a forbidden object (but on the other times, the had press was used).  She loves her little crinkle books and teething rings.  Solo play is not going that great.  She is totally fine playing by herself when she is out in the living room or something even if no one else is around but the moment I close the door to her room while she is in their playing the waterworks begin.  I know from experience that this will end but I won't allow it to go on as long as I did with her older sister and more drastic measures will be taken earlier if needed but I am hoping she figures it out on her own.  There have been a few successful days this month so I am hopeful. 

 

Her Schedule -

0800 - Wake up, nurse, 2oz fruit & cereal

0900 - Outside

0945 - Nap until noon

1200 - Wake up, nurse, 2oz veggie

1300 - Solo play, Mama time

1345 - Nap until 4

1600 - Nurse

1800 - 2 oz veggie, 2oz fruit

1930 - Nurse or bottle + bottle of expressed milk from former DF time

2000 - Bedtime!