Updates

Anna update:

-She rolled from back to front last weekend and now won't stop. I wasn't thinking she'd crawl soon, but now she seems to be enjoying rolling and scooting all over the place. I think she may be mobile sooner than I had thought. 

-Eating meats in jars, prefers to eat and pick up chunks of food over the jars, likes avocados so far the best

-She loves to nurse, more than any of my other kids! She will nurse, put her paci in, nurse repeatedly till she falls asleep. She doesn't enjoy being rocked anymore and fights it most of the time.

-Takes 1-2 naps a day, usually around 11 and again around 2pm. Then, sleeps 6:30-7am, usually waking once or twice to eat. 

-Loves waving when people tell her hello and loves clapping, especially for Presley and David when they do something I'm excited about. 

David update:

-still loves cars/stuffed animals to watch him go night night and eat all meals

-loves to drink apple juice! I've been pretty lenient with his food since he needs to gain some weight. He enjoys Happy Meals and brownies at Barnes and Noble lately. He loves to go to Barnes and Noble to play the train table and begs me to turn left out of Presley's school so we head there. I usually have to bribe him to go to one store or on one errand with me first, then promise him trains.

-loves shoes, still! Every morning, he walks in my room with his slippers on. Then, he'll get dressed and put on a different pair of shoes, usually Presley's. Tonight, he tried on her tap shoes for the first time and did a dance for us. 

-loves to sing! Sings us all to sleep and wakes us up singing. Presley is really into Frozen right now and he sings all the Frozen songs with her (which usually annoys her). 

-loves to go potty and goes every time I sit him up there.  He is so proud of himself and usually tells me, "move back, pee pee coming out". Very considerate of him... 

-He is all over the bed at nighttime. You never know what position you will find him in. He also usually is still awake when Presley has been asleep for a while. They still talk a good bit before bed, but it's really sweet to listen to.

-They have been playing SO well lately! I know I'm jinxing it, but he will ask her to play cars with him and they will take it all into the living room and play so well together for hours. This just makes me happy!! I love listening to them playing so sweetly and using their imaginations together. They really are each others best friends and I'm so thankful they have each other.

-he can dress and undress himself and is so proud to show me! He gets mad if I try to help him, "Me do it" usually comes out. He also puts on his shoes all by himself. He has grown up so quickly! 

Right after rolling onto her stomach for the first time... think she surprised herself!

 Riding the ice cream truck at the mall

 My sweet big girl! Can't believe she's almost 9 months old!?!

 The Daytona 500 was on last weekend and David was mesmerized.

 Made a pallet on the floor to watch the cars go by. No surprise- his favorite car is the M and M one. That is still the only treat treat he enjoys. He still won't eat ice cream or a milkshake... he will probably be like Cameron and just not a sweet eater.

 We took all the kids to the movies last weekend to see Frozen (Presley's third time)! It actually went really well. David sat in his seat the whole time and loved the movie. Presley wore her Elsa dress with gloves and said she wouldn't take off her gloves till Elsa did in the movie. I love her sweet imagination and how into everything she gets!  Anna did decently despite being over tired and fighting sleep.

Catching Up

We have been busy the last few weeks. Cameron has been working crazy hours and the kids have been busy with all kinds of activities. Thankfully, our weather hasn't been too snowy, but it's still too cold to play outside. 

I wanted to capture this picture of David lining up his cars on the couch.  We always have to move them at night to sit on the couch.

Anna is doing really well with her eating. She uses her pinchers well to pick up chunks of food on her tray. I haven't tried too much solid food, but we're getting there. She loves banana, strawberry, grapes and green pepper so far. She prefers to eat food over her jars these days and she LOVES puffs!

During our last cold spell, I took all three kids by myself to see Frozen Sing-Along during the week. Thankfully, there was only like 5 other people in the entire theater. They did great. Presley and David watched the whole thing and Anna played and nursed, then fell asleep. It was a little crazy how easy it ended up being, but I was so thankful they were all so good! Presley is obsessed with this movie and David now knows all the songs, too!

One night at dinner, I was prodding David to eat, so here he is showing me how a TRex eats!

Then, Presley's turn! Although, she's still always a great eater!

I've been trying to do fun activities with David at least one day while Presley is at school (instead of running errands or exercising). We met some friends at this cool coffee shop downtown one week that had a fun play area for the kids. 

Opening up their Valentine's Day package from G and D.

Eating one of the treats inside!

I transitioned Anna into her bigger bathtub now that she is sitting up so well on her own. She loves it!

We took the kids to the new Bass Pro Shop last weekend to look around. They loved all the animals and the giant fish tank.

David has just started painting with Presley and he is obsessed! He will wake up from his nap asking if it's time to paint. 

Here are some pictures of the trees one morning when we got a good frost! It was really pretty (and thankfully it didn't hinder the roads).

Presley and David are both so interested in my treadmill so I let them walk on it one day. She was so proud of herself and has started running laps and doing pushups while I work out. 

Littlest Valentine all dressed up for Presley's school party.

She is big enough to ride the Step 2!

Getting their valentines from mommy and daddy- Mater teeth on the end of a ring pop and some candy.

Presley loved Valentine's Day!  Cameron made them pink heart-shaped pancakes!

He continues to be my wild man (who loves shoes)!

This t-shirt was Cameron's when he was a little boy. All our kids have worn it, now it's Anna's turn!

Giving Presley kisses

Big man sporting Presley's sunglasses one morning. 

Mallie and Dallie came in town last weekend. We took them to a new park for a walk and got way more than we bargained! The parts that weren't icy or snowy were solid mud that sucked in your shoes! Needless to say, the hike took us longer than we thought, but it was a really pretty trail and David loved getting all muddy! Not sure if Mallie will ever let us take her on another hike, but we had a good time!

We went bowling with our friend, Sammy, the other day. 

Mallie and Dallie took Presley on a "shopping spree" and bought some early birthday presents and new spring clothes. She LOVES the movie Frozen and got Elsa and Anna's dresses. She is in heaven wearing both her dresses daily and also loves all her new clothes!

Singing the frozen soundtrack with Dallie

Presley as Anna

Such the model

We ate out several times while my parents were here and Anna was so good! She loves sitting up at the table and eating her big kid foods.

2014

2014 has started off to be a great year! We have enjoyed a lot of family time. It's been really nice to have Cameron home for a few long weekends and snow days.  We took the kids bowling one morning. 

He loves the air blowing on his face and hair.

 Anna is eating two meals a day. She eats lunch and dinner. She still doesn't love oatmeal or rice cereal, but she loves carrots, prunes, apples, sweet potatoes, winter squash, pears... pretty much everything except peas. I've tried to feed her a few puffs and she's very suspicious right now. She loves to drink from her cup. She also still loves textures- especially paper! She is in the grabby stage right now where she grabs anything she can while I'm holding her. 

 She loves sitting in the grocery carts now.  She sits up really well on her own, but is way too comfortable with having the boppy behind her cause she will all of a sudden throw herself backwards into it. 

 We've had some pretty cold, snowy weather lately. The kids have enjoyed some snuggle time watching movies.

 They have some great moments when they play so well together! I love these times! They truly are each others best friends these days. 

 We've played in the snow a lot!  So thankful my mom bought them snowsuits before we moved here- we have really needed them!

David and I met some friends at a bounce house last week while Presley was in school. I love taking him to do fun things while she is in school and getting to enjoy some time focusing on him (and Anna, but she usually naps once in the morning so he can have some one on one time).

 Getting ready to brave the cold!

 Helping mommy shovel. I have never shoveled a driveway before living here, but it's actually not as hard as I thought it would be.

 We've had lots of dance parties!

 David went to the dentist for the first time last week. He did pretty well.  Presley went first and that helped that he got to watch her. She loves the dentist and was so sweet telling him what was happening. I promised them if he did well, they'd get McDonalds for lunch. The whole time we were at the dentist, David kept saying "cheeburger and juice." He finished his whole Happy Meal that day!

 Snuggling watching Cars

 Presley and I met our friends Kendra and Karlee at the Sophia and Jake Disney Live show on Sunday. She wore her amulet and had a great time.  It was so cute watching them sing the theme songs and wave to all the characters.  That pink cotton candy was gone in about 5 minutes!

 I found this color sheet in her backpack after school this week. I love that she wrote David's name over the little boy... so sweet!

 David is still quite the daddy's boy!  

I forgot to mention in my last blog update of David some things I wanted to document:

-His new word is "Al-right." If I tell him something, he'll reply "Al-right mama." He draws it out and it's so funny!

-He says "Um" more than any toddler I've ever met.

-He still sings himself to sleep, but he now says the right words to Ba Ba Black Sheep, instead of his Ba Ba Black Sheep, Inee, nee, Mama, Dada, Anna, Pres, David...

-He also has to have a car, motorcycle, train, something watch him go night night or eat. He will carry them upstairs and set them on the dresser opposite his bed or set them on my lazy susan on the kitchen table to watch him. He thinks it's so funny and this has somehow become part of our bedtime ritual. 

 Future Beta- wanted a koozie on his sippy cup like Daddy had during the Super Bowl

 And sweet Anna! Love her cheeks!