7 months

i cannot believe how much babies change or develop from one month to the next! it's mind blowing and so cool!

selah is eating solids now! she is eating a handful of veggies and fruits. her currents faves right now are pears and squash. i gave up on making my own pureed food. she wasn't liking it at all, and i bought some organic baby food just to give a try and she could not get enough of it. so, that's what we are doing. she eats about two meals a day. a typical breakfast looks like some oatmeal and a fruit. dinner is usually oatmeal and a veggie. i have also been giving her some whole milk organic baby yogurt, but i am starting to wonder if it bothers her tummy. i am going to be testing that theory the rest of the week, but she tends to spit up more when she has it....she also eats some puffs and yogurt melts and loves them both!

she is army crawling all over the place. she loves to inch to the door stoppers and the fire place, which makes me super nervous. she has almost gotten up on all fours the last few days. it would not shock me if she was full on crawling by christmas. she also continues to roll. she moves with tons of determination. i think she gets frustrated because she wants to move faster. faster like everyone around her.

she continues to be the loudest baby in know. she sequels and yells at the top of her lungs at times. it can be ear piercing! don't know what to do about that one...

she sits up beautifully and for long periods of time.

she still wakes up pretty early. she is getting up some days as early as 4:30am, but will nurse and go back to bed until around 7:30am. we are trying to break her getting up so dang early, but i think she's just hungry....it just means our whole day looks weird and different each day-especially getting up at 4:30.

she is nursing about 5 times a day. she is super distracted and only seems to take about 3-5 mins on each side, depending on what time a day it is. longer in the morning and at night.

she has started to give intentional open mouth kisses!!!!!

she loves her little glow sea horse my sister gave to her. it lights up and plays music and she likes to fall asleep with it.

she does not like it when i leave the room. as each day passes we have more and more rough periods of our day when it comes to this.

she is not liking to be in one place much. she isn't liking her exsersaucer, jumper, or car seat these days. girl wants to move!

as i sit and write this i am amazed how fast seven months go by. i cannot believe it. as i sit and type this she's actually almost 8 months! =) and as i type this i am looking at the christmas tree with the ornament we were given last christmas that revealed she was a girl....she is fun, feisty, curious, determined, loving, and sweet.

brother/sister love

i wanted to write this post because it's thoughts were fresh in my mind. plus both kids are napping at the same time-something that is rare...very very rare. it may come with the price of neglecting a few chores before we have small group at our house tonight, but i think it's important to note.

owen was not the most gentle big brother when selah was born. there were times that i felt i could not even go to the bathroom without him hitting her, poking her eye, or even biting her (the biting has happened twice, but twice too many!) it was really hard emotionally i couldn't understand why he would do it. after many tears and conversations with joe and other friends i think it was all chalked up to getting attention and maybe some curiosity. he never did it out of anger or frustration, it always felt random and like i said if i happened to leave their sight for like two minutes....flash forward about 6 months months or so to the present. what a difference! he has become so much more gentle and loving toward her. he ALWAYS loved her and ALWAYS wanted to love on her, but just randomly "loved" her in a not so nice way at times. now, he almost protects her. now, he can be left in the room with her for more than two minutes and a rarely do i worry-hallelujah! now, he is bigger and maybe more confident that she isn't going to steal ALL of our attention. now, he knows if he pokes her in the eye she will cry and he doesn't do it (well, not EVER :) ) now, he is acting like the big brother i prayed and knew he would be. i never expected owen to be all sunshine and roses with his sister 100% of the time. i knew there would probably be some issues welcoming her into our family-it's normal. i think we just had to go through a period hard times with him adjusting. he is doing so much better and i am proud of my boy!

yesterday i was having a sweet spot moment as a mom while i was putting on some make up. the kids were playing, yes playing-they do that now! i would sneak peeks at them in between swiping some mascara on my lashes or putting some blush on my cheeks and they were playing peek-a-boo. like owen was hiding behind a laundry basket and selah was on the other side and he would pop out and yell "peek-a-boo" and she would laugh! selah does not laugh a lot, unless being tickled, but she was almost belly laughing! it was the sweetest most loving moment i have seen (i think-beside owen coming to the hospital and meeting her) do all moms have this much joy watching their children play? it made me get so excited and anticipate how they will be together in an other year or so....

on another note owen had his first experience of having to share with selah last week. she is scooting and rolling around everywhere. she is much more interested in the world around her. in fact i am worried. i do not know if i will be able to keep up with her when she is full on moving! anyway, she went straight to and with much determination for Lightning McQueen. if you know owen, than you know, that's a big deal. I saw it happening before it even happened. she got closer and closer and he noticed. the thing was, was he wasn't even playing with the car. but, in a split second he snatched it away from her and knew he was wrong. she could care less. but, it was our first teaching moment of having to share with his sister. his sister. she was not going home like his friends do, she's here to stay. it was a hard knock for him. it will be something we will have to continue to work on with him, for a long time probably. but, it's so good for him.

i feel like all these little stories are part of the good the bad and ugly of having two small children. it's hard work. but, at the end of the day it's the best work for me. i love it, and i love them. i feel so blessed that i get to call them mine, and they get to call me mommy.

1/2 a year

Selah Elizabeth is 6 months old! This past month has been a big one for her!  Our little girl is sweet, but having a rough time right now. She is getting teeth and everything is a mess in her little world. Earlier this month she broke through her bottom left front tooth, and just today I saw that the tooth right next to it is trying to break through as well. This explain so much of her needy, clingy, and no sleep behavior. She is sitting up better each day, and is becoming more mobile on her tummy. She is not on all fours, but I am seeing small signs of her maybe getting there soon. She is eating rice cereal. Okay, if I'm honest she eats cereal about every other day at dinner. She just does not love solids. She has eaten bananas, which she loves. She has eaten sweet potatoes, not a huge fan. She has eaten avocado, hates it! And last week we gave her fresh pureed pumpkin, not a huge fan either! We are going slow and are going to keep at it. Her doctor said to just do what we are doing, and she will eventually get it. They just want a 9 month old to be on an all liquid diet! =) So, that what we will so....slow and steady. She is nursing about 4 sometimes 5 times a day, for about 5 minutes on each side. Like I said earlier sleeping is hard these days. Everything from naps to bedtime. Each day looks different and some days are harder than others. But, so is life with a 6 month old who is teething.

She continues to have the biggest smiles for Owen. I am slowly seeing them "play" together more and more. He is doing so much better with her, in the sense of him not doing many random mean things to her! They have a sweet little bond and I pray pray pray it grows as they. She is a joy and we are so blessed to have "Sister" in our family. I feel especially blessed to call her my daughter. She is LOVED!

Stats:

15lbs 15oz

26 1/4 inches long

Family Vacation part 3

We took the Island's trolley all over-we drive twice the entire week!

This night we actually left our camera, our not so cheap camera, at the trolley stop! The driver found it and said it was sitting there for two of her rounds, like over an hour! We discovered it was missing at dinner and were more than sad. We connected with the driver that had picked the camera up and were very grateful!!!

Probably my most favorite picture of Owen that week! What's better than eating a PB&J in your undies on the deck after a long day at the beach! His smile is so sweet...

More pictures from our hot dog picnic

classic!

sums up how I feel about this trip..."thankful"

Family Vacation part 2

We walked.....

.....a lot! Owen and I had special mornings together at the beach. We would hunt for shells, dig, and walk together. It was good for us, and I treasured every moment.

Favorite memory hands down. We packed a hot dog dinner and ate down at the beach. We played. We watched the sun set. We laughed. It was an amazing night!

I LOVE HER!

We had just one day of storms, actually it was just in the late afternoon.

I read...A WHOLE BOOK!

It was hot and humid.

This is SO true!

Family Vacation part 1

We were so incredibly blessed to go on a fabulous family vacation in September. We found out about a ministry that blesses pastors and missionaries with a very affordable place to stay at the beach in Florida. It was about an hour south of Tampa-definitely a drive, but so worth it! We had an amazing time, I cannot even express how good it was for our family to get away and do this-just us! We pray we can do it again. Not going to write a ton about the trip, just going to tell stories through our pictures.

We got into FL around 4, and enjoyed a beautiful walk on the beach!

Little man took this shot-I think he did a great job!!!

First day in the ocean...water was perfect....just a tad cooler than lukewarm.

Owen loved the water and begged to go swimming at 8am almost everyday. We generallly made him wait til 9am! =)

One of my favorite things about Joe is how he loves to have fun! He and Owen are so fun to watch together. Owen and Selah are lucky to have this guy as their dad. And I'm just plain lucky!

My little beach bum.

We met up with our dear friends Dan, Sarah, and their daughter Parker. We met them in CO and have stayed in contact ever since. It takes no work to pick up with them, and I love that!

Owen and Parker taking a little stroll on the beach.

Preschool

I'm just shy of a month and a half late on this post. Which possibly makes me the worst blogger/milestone keeper ever!

Owen started a three day a week Preschool program in September. He was super excited to go to school, just like some of his best buddies do. Although, most of those best buddies are in kindergarten or beyond, he was still excited to be going to school. He loves people. He is one little social guy. So, Joe and I knew he would love doing something like this. I love his school, love the director and love his two teachers. Now, Owen did not get placed with the lovey dovey teacher, his teacher is good at tough love =) I think they are a perfect match, and her being on top of stuff doesn't seem to bother Owen. They have already done so many fun things! He love it. He has matured and learned a lot in the month and a half of being in a class room setting. Joe and I have seen a lot of routines that are expected out of him carry over to the house, which is so fun! Things like putting his shoe's away on his own, taking his plate to the sink-again on his own. He has also picked up on and brought some habits home that we are working on. Things like potty talk and weird behaviors that I know he is imatating from others-things that are totally expected!  All and all I am so happy he is at this school, and we pray he will be a student there next year as well!

enjoying a special first day of school breakie!

Sprinkle pancakes and scrambled eggs to start his day!

My handsome. All ready to go with his big school bag and all!

No fear. Just pure happy to go to school.

Outside the doors to school *sigh* before I know he will be leaving to go to college.

5 months

Sister is 5 months old.  Oh, how time flies! These past 5 months have gone by so fast!!! She is one rolly polly olly! She will roll all over the place. She does not roll to get anything, she just likes to roll for fun. She has hit an official fussy part of her day. She seems to not like like the hours of 4:45 in the afternoon to about 6:30. It's really fun! She refuses to take a nap at that time, yet is so tired. So she fights it. She is no longer all that cuddly. She's "too busy" to cuddle. It's much more fun watching Owen bounce around and see what else is going on. She prefers her mommy over most people, and is starting to notice when I'm not around. She let's everyone know about her preference! I think she is also working on some chompers.

She is starting to sit up when we help her and will sit for a few minutes, then tumbles over.  She has started making "da-da, ba-ba mmmmm" sounds. She still continues to talk and squeel a lot and very loudly. She watches Owen with wonder and so much love. She loves hearing her daddy sing. She is nursing 4-5 times a day. She kinda sleeps through the night. Meaning she goes to bed around 7 and stays in bed until 7 or 7:30. She wakes up most early mornings (anywhere between 4am and 6am) and talks and talks and talks. She is not hungry, she just plays, and puts herself back to sleep.

She is still so sweet, and is becoming a tad bashful. She has starting going into Owen's old jumper thing, and LOVES it. She is not as crazy as Owen was in it, but I'm sure she will get there.  Things are getting more and more fun with her. She started eating rice cereal about once a night last week. She does OK with it, doesn't love it and doesn't hate it. We will work on other solids soon!

4 months of Sweet Selah

Selah turned 4 months old last week. Not much has changed since I last blogged about her turning 3 months, since that post was so late! She continues to eat really well, and is becoming more and more fun! Her personality is blooming as each day passes. She is so smiley. Joe and I just talked about how we think she is more smiley at this stage than Owen ever was. One thing she has started is, rolling from her tummy to back and then back onto tummy. The other morning I laid her on the middle of a blanket and in minutes she was rolling to all over and eventually far off the blanket! I was reminded about how babies become mobile and I am definitely not ready for that...Owen started crawling around 7 months, and well that's not too far from now!! It amazes me how babies accomplish so many big things in their first year-crazy!

She had her 4 month check up and she is 14 pounds 8 ounces and 24.5 inches long. I can't remember her head circumference, but it was perfect! =) She is in the 50th percentile all across the board. Her doctor said we can start cereal, but I think I am going to give it another month...maybe even wait til 6 months. She doesn't seem to need it or "ask" for anything more than milk right now. She is sleeping great, so I don't think she need those extra calories to help her sleep better at night, so I think we are just going to wait. I also I want to get Owen good and settled in school and focus on the food transition with Selah. Her doctor was more than fine with that, she just suggested me keeping up with her 10pm feeding until we do start on the cereal, even though Selah never wakes up for that feeding and sleeps right through it. So, that our plan!

She continues to bring all of us so much joy. She has us all wrapped around her pinky...

A pirate's life for O

Owen is way into imaginary play right now. His newest favorite thing (credit to Jake and the Neverland Pirates) is to be a Pirate. I took him "pirate shopping" a week or so ago, and now he dresses up. He hunts for treasure, which is usually him putting his cars in his Lightning Mcqueen Box tin box thing he has. He drives his boat, which is a laundry basket. He has the "Arghh" and my favorite "Ahoy, Matey!" down. He uses his his telescope to look for dry land. While driving his boat he says that the area rug in the living room is the water, and he can't fall in because there are crocodiles. And, my friend Megan hooked him up with a cool sword to fight off those crocs!

The Captain (according to O) taking a rest in his boat.

Looking for dry land.

We had to pretend the baseball bat was a sword, until he got one. PS don't you think it's funny Charlie insists on being in some pictures!

The boy is cute! He is full of life. Full of joy-most of the time! I love how his little imagination works and how he plays, good and hard. It makes me smile, and a lot of the times laugh to myself at the things he brings up or the things he doesn't think I hear him say while playing. I pray he always plays hard. I pray that his imagination keeps growing and that he is always full of fun and joy.

3 months

Oh, baby girl....you are almost 4 months old here I am updating on all things you are up to at 3 months. It's been a busy month, and you are growing so much!

Selah turned three months old on an airplane. We flew out to Oregon to visit with Joe's family and it just happened be that we were in the air and I told Joe..."she's three months old today!" She did so great on the flights to and from. Nursed and slept pretty much on both flights. She has become so much more animated and loves to smile and squeek and squeal. Her love for her big brother grows stronger every day it seems, and I think the feeling is mutual. She is still nursing 3.5 hours to 4 hours during the day. We finish up our last feeding around 10pm and she was sleeping sound until almost 7am! The last two weeks have been different. She still nurses at 10pm, but she has been waking around 4am and will talk and talk and talk. She never really cries, she is just LOUD and she often wakes everyone up in the house. The first few nights she started this I would go to her because it was new and I thought she may be hungry, but she wasn't ever hungry and just wanted to smile and play! So, I started just letting her work it out and she eventually goes back to sleep until 7. She is reaching out for toys that dangle down, and holds some rattles. She kick kick kicks her little legs when sitting in the bouncy seat, and has started sitting in the excersuacer. She loves looking at all the toys and being able to see the world. She is grabbing our cheeks when we get so close and you can tell she loves her mommy and daddy so much. She has become a bit demanding. Meaning she wants to be held either facing out, or sitting up in our laps. She does really want to see the world!

I am still loving our sweet times when I nurse her, especially the late night feeding when the house is quiet and it's just us. Those time I often spend praying over both of the kids. I have come to really treasure those times. I am trying to savor all these sweet times I have with Selah. Three months have flown by, and the months will continue to fly by. So, I just want to enjoy and be so very grateful for the sweet little blessings God has given me with both my kids.

she laughs....

Selah's 2 months old!

This week Selah had her two month check up. She was adored by all...the nurses and doctor just gushed over her, and Sweet girl just played the part smiling and smiling. Selah got a perfect bill of health, the doctor said everything was great and whatever we were doing at home keep it up!

Stats:

11 lbs, 11 ounces (75%) 24 inches long (75%)

 

Here's Some stuff about Selah:

• She is eating so well. I am so so so happy that she nursing so well, and that she and I are enjoying it. 
• She has great neck control, and the doctor laughed saying she looked like a 4 month old when she laid her on her belly and Selah lifted her head. 
• She is smiling all the time, and often squels or slightly giggles when being talked to. She smiles the most for her daddy and her big brother. 
• She still loves to be cuddled and held-it's her favorite. 
• She sits in her bumbo and does pretty well in it for about 5-10 minutes, then she starts to slump over. 
• She nurses for about 5-10 minutes on each side. Most days every three hours and sometimes can stretch it out til 4 hours (but not often). She will take a bottle, but drinks it super slow, we don't do bottles much. Although, I do try at least 2 times a week, just so it stays familiar. 
• She pretty much averages 5-6 hour stretches of sleep at night, usually from 10pm-3:30am. But, a few times this past week when I go to check on her when I hear her making noises at 3am she is generally still sleeping and if I give her, her paci she will stay asleep til 5-5:30am! YAY Baby!!
• She flipped from her tummy to her back twice the other day, but has not done it since.
•  She got her two month shots and cried just until I could pick her up, which I did just as soon as I could. She knows her mama, and it feels incredible knowing that God gave me the ability to soothe my kids.
• Have I mentioned she is SUPER SUPER sweet?!?! 

Showers

Owen is way into taking showers these days. Sometimes he prefers to take a shower over a bath...what?!? Who is this big kid? He will stand there forever and just let the warm water hit his head, and has been known to throw a fit a time or two when it's time to get out! Ummmm, not even a teenager and we are having to fight him out of the shower!