Ty Updates...

Well, I missed Ty's 8 month post so here's a little bit of what's been going on with him lately (and lots of pics) since I most likely will miss his 9 month post too!

We are done with breastfeeding...it's been about 2 weeks now.  My supply really took a hit when I was sick and I was ready to wean from the pump during the day anyways.  We nursed in the morning and at night for awhile, but my supply never really came back so unfortunately it all came to an abrupt stop.  So...Ty had his first bottle from mommy and honestly had no issue with it at all!  We are still working through a pretty good freezer stash I had so that's good news!



This guy is officially everywhere! You think your house is babyproof until your baby starts crawling and trying to pull up...we've been doing some reorganizing!

He's been trying to pull up on anything and everything - he can't quite get there on his own yet though!





Ty has 6 teeth (4 on the top and 2 on the bottom).

He's been sleeping a little better...he still wakes up once or twice a night. The first time he usually puts himself back to sleep pretty quickly or we can usually just give him his paci. The second time usually takes a little rocking or bouncing. We were feeding him a bit at this second waking, but we stopped that about 4 nights ago and so far so good...hopefully he'll be sleeping straight through the night soon! Sometimes we even find him sitting up in his crib, eyes shut and crying...I don't think it will be long before he's standing up when we go in there...

These monthly pics have also gotten a lot more difficult! I was able to get one shot before he flipped over and sat up!









Ty is still clapping all the time and babbling like crazy! He was on a "mama" kick for awhile (which I loved even if it was only when he was upset), but he has now moved on to dadas and babas.





So big!





He's been loving his pureed food, but won't eat much of anything else. I've tried to give him little bites of chicken, cheese, and a few other things that we have for dinner and he spits it right out. I really just want to start liking puffs since that is so convenient when we're on the go...soon enough (I hope!). We'll just keep offering other foods and see what happens!











We sure do love this guy!

Ty {6 Months}

Well, it looks like I missed a 5 month post about you, but I won't miss this one.  I can NOT even believe that you are 6 months old today!  These last 6 months have flown by and I'm sure the next 6 will as well...





You, Mr. Ty, can be quite the handful at times...you are a serious baby, but you are lightening up a bit.  It is much, much easier to get smiles and laughs out of you these days.  You also LOVE to be held which can make life a little difficult at times, but we are figuring it out. 



You are crazy about your big brother - you just light up when he comes in your sight.  He loves to make you smile and laugh.  Your big sister can make you smile too these days, but you are still a little worried when she comes around. 



You have just about mastered sitting up on your own, which is great!  It really makes playtime more fun for you I think.  You also love to be on your belly, which is a welcome change.  You can scoot in circles on your belly and push yourself way up on those arms.  I'm just waiting for you to lift that little booty (not that I'm ready for you to crawl, by any means!).







You still enjoy your walker and your jumper too.  It cracks me up to watch you jump like crazy and scoot yourself around the house in the walker. 



(look at his legs!)




You, my baby boy, are obsessed with your mommy!  It's definitely mutual though!  You will be perfectly fine with your daddy, but as soon as I come into sight, you start whining until I come get you.  You have even started reaching out for me.  It can drive your daddy crazy at times, but I love it!  It even makes me laugh in the middle of the night when you are crying with your daddy and immediately stop when I take you from him.  You are a momma's boy for sure :)  When you are in my arms, you will go in for a snuggle and rest your head on my shoulder or chest.  It seriously melts my heart!  And you love twirling my hair (and pulling it too!). 



Your are in size 3 diapers still, and wearing mostly 9 months or 6-9 month clothes.  You are a big boy - 19 lbs.  We had to go to the doctor because you weren't feeling well last week so we got your weight.  We will get your height and percentiles when we go this week for your 6-month check up. 





So here's the thing though, you are a terrible sleeper :(  We've tried many different things, but nothing has seemed to give us a lengthy stretch of sleep.  You usually go down for the night around 7:30-8.  I feed you and lay you down and you fall asleep pretty quickly on your own.  I can pretty much count on you waking up at 11 PM.  So that's a pretty good stretch, except 11 doesn't give me a very good stretch as I have things to do before I go to bed.  I feed you at the 11 PM waking, and then you are pretty much up every 2 hours after that.  I try to just rock or walk with you, but I usually just end up nursing you.  I know that's not the right answer, but hey, we are all tired (and maybe that's why you are 19 lbs :).  In fact, you are not really every truly awake throughout the night yet you aren't fully asleep.  You are usually up for the day around 5:30-6, which is fine since we are up getting ready for work anyways.  Hopefully the sleep turns around in the next month or so...



We also started some solid foods after Christmas.  We started with rice cereal and then oatmeal.  You seemed to like it on that first day, but now you are not into solids at all.  We have introduced sweet potatoes, squash, peaches, and apples.  Apples are the only one that you actually seemed ok with.  I wouldn't say you loved them though.  This is so interesting to me because your brother and sister never had issues with solid foods.  So we are taking our time with them and eventually you will enjoy them (hopefully).  You have been doing great with a sippy cup with a little bit of water in it with your solids though.



Ty you are a sweetheart and we are so happy to have you in our family - you have made us complete :)  Love you Ty Ty!  Happy 1/2 Birthday!

18 Months(ish)

The truth is we are much closer to 19 months than 18 months right now Miss Paige.  I can't believe you are closer to 2 than 1 already.

You definitely bring a lot of smiles and joy to our house, but if we are being honest, you also bring a lot of drama and trouble :)  (Updated at 8:15 PM:  Paige just climbed out of her crib - not good!  Luke never even tried this ever!  Yikes!)

You are a girl of few words, but you know exactly how to get your point across.  The words are coming along though.  I think we can all agree that your favorite word at this point is "no".  There are some words that you say that everyone would understand and then there are a few words that only Daddy and I would know what you mean at this point.  You raise your hand when we ask you to say please (it must be a daycare thing!).  And you just smile or laugh at us when we ask you to say other words. 

You follow directions very well though.  You understand everything we ask of you and like to help.

















When I say "let's count", you start pointing with your fingers as if you are counting something.

I swear your favorite thing to do is pull food out of the pantry.  There have been many times where
you have helped yourself to some snacks!  Or squeezed Nutri-grain bars until they are nothing but crumbs.

Some of your other favorite things right now are playing babies (you are the best little momma), doing your wood puzzles (over and over again), dancing, reading books, climbing (you are my climber for sure!), and playing anything with your brother.

One thing that you are not the best at right now is sleeping.  Probably 4 nights out of the week you wake up at least once during the night.  It is usually between 3 and 4 AM and you end up in bed with us after rocking and laying on the floor with you in your room doesn't work.  You definitely are tired and fall back asleep, but as soon as we try to lay you back in your crib, you wake up.  So even though your Daddy and I are tired and wish you would sleep through the night every night, we love your cuddles - you are the best cuddler. 

And you are the best, most perfect little girl to fit into our family.  Your brother loves you so much and you two have really started to become great playmates.  You make each other giggle like crazy and there is nothing sweeter to this momma's ears than hearing you two laugh together.  It has been an exciting 18 months with you in our life and there is still so much more to come.  We love you to the moon and back a zillion times.  Happy 1 1/2!

A Good Day

Nothing too exciting about this day, but sometimes those are the best days!



The day started off with Paige's 15-month checkup.  All is well with our baby girl and she certainly has no issues in the growing department.  She weighed in at 26.2 lbs. (95th percentile) and 32.5 inches (98th percentile).  She definitely did not enjoy the doctor's visit at all.  In fact, she cried nearly the whole time.  Quite a different experience from her 12-month appointment when she smiled through her blood draw.  She got two shots and I think they really affected her this time.  She did not nap well and just wanted to cuddle and then she was limping later on that night :(  I am happy to say she was much better the next morning!



We did some grocery shopping.  This was the first time I have grabbed this kind of cart!



I would love to say that it made grocery shopping with 2 kids easier, but really the easy part only lasted about 10 minutes.  Then Luke got mad that his steering wheel's horn wasn't working (you can actually see this in his face in the pictures) and Paige's was and then they just got on each other's nerves I think.  Too close for comfort?!?! 





We went for a walk where it took a lot of encouragement to get Paige to keep this hat on!  But she finally did!





And Luke rode his tricycle which is way too small for him but he doesn't care.  We are already talking bikes for his birthday or Christmas.  If you ask him, he will tell you exactly what kind of bike he wants! 

15 Months

Paige Lauren, our little golden girl, you are 15 months old.  We can't believe it!  Here are some things about you and things you are doing right now that we love (and some that we don't so much love).

(Because the monthly photo shoot where she just sits there and smiles doesn't exist anymore (and hasn't for about 4+ months) here are some pics from the last month or so.)

You are smiley, so smiley!  People are always commenting about how much you smile and what a great smile you have.



You are sweet and cuddly and give us lots of love!  You crawl right up into our laps and just hang out.  You like to be close, except when you don't of course - ha!  When we ask you for hugs or kisses you usually oblige.  Your kisses are still open mouth and especially slobbery lately (we are getting those last 2 eye teeth).  And once you start, you just keep kissing - I love it.  The sound effect of "muah" comes along with your kiss.  Oh and you must kiss on the lips lately too.  Cheeks are not good enough for you.  You always kiss your brother good night. 



You love the song "Twinkle, Twinkle".  You request it many times a day.  This is usually done by pointing at us (or snapping), grunting, and putting your hands in the air with your twinkle fingers going.



You still rock with me for a bit before bedtime.  And you make me sing to you.  I have been singing "You are my Sunshine" to you since you were born, but as mentioned above "Twinkle Twinkle" is your song of choice right now.  I will start singing the other song and you shake your head no and request "Twinkle".  Once I start singing, you lay your head on my chest and we rock away (at least until you get squirmy and then I lay you in your crib).



You snap and whistle.  Seriously.  It is hilarious.  Sometimes I feel like a dog because you are snapping at me to do things for you or with you.  You also snap when you dance.  And the whistling is hit or miss, but you can do it!



You and Luke take turns giving Nala a treat in the morning before we leave.  After you give it to her, you give her the sweetest little wave goodbye - everytime.  So cute.



You wave at everyone.  In fact, at the grocery store yesterday you were waving at the man in line behind us.  He wasn't paying attention so you started grunting at him to get his attention.  He waved at you and then you buried your head in me - silly girl!



Let's talk about this grunting...sigh!  Paigey, you have some words, but mostly a lot of sounds.  You say Mama, Dada, Nala, uh-oh, and all done (all duh).  You mostly point, snap, and make sounds and we know exactly what you are saying.  When we try to get you to say the word for whatever you are requesting (ie. drink), you smile and basically laugh at us.  You are something!  I know the words will come, but for heaven's sake, the grunting can stop :)  You do know some animal sounds though such as dog and duck, but most everything else is the same for now.



While you don't have many words, the communication among all of us is certainly not lacking.  We understand you and you follow our directions perfectly (bring me a diaper, get your shoes, go upstairs, close the door, etc).  However, if our direction is for you to stop doing something you shouldn't be doing, that's another story.  The drama.



Ah, the drama.  Girlfriend, you are definitely dramatic.  You hear no and you collapse to the ground.  You have been known to throw yourself backwards without a care about what is around you (for example, a wall).  You then proceed to lay on the ground like it is the end of the world.  You are dramatic and spunky! 



You love to dance and have recently started twirling around, which then makes you dizzy and fall, which then leads to crazy laughter and doing it all over again!



You love Mickey Mouse Clubhouse!



You will not keep a bow or barrette or headband in your hair for anything.  So we just don't even bother anymore.  Your hair is getting pretty long and mullet-like yet sometimes it is Donald Trump-like - ha!  And everyday I still can't believe that your hair is so light!



You are not into stacking things.  This is just very interesting to me because when Luke was your age, he was super into stacking everything.  I tried to stack blocks with you the other week and you looked me right in the eye and knocked it all over.  Seriously spunky!  And wired differently than your brother for sure!
 
 
You are still a fabulous mommy to your babies.  You give them baths, take them for walks, and give them bottles.



You are becoming a daddy's girl. You and I were attached at the hip for about 14 1/2 months of your life and while you still, of course, love your momma, you are so so so excited when Daddy gets home and just want him to hold you!



I really could just go on and on about all of the great and funny things you do everyday, but I will just summarize everything by saying that you, Miss Paige, make life even more fun and crazy and amazing.  We love you SO much!  Happy 15 months Baby Girl!