Getting so Big...

Dear Children,

It seems like every day I want to write about all the new things you are doing and discovering.

Havana, this week you all of a sudden decided you did not want to sit in your booster seat. I don't know where this came from - but you asked me if you could sit in the open chair next to your booster for lunch. I rolled with it and said sure. From that meal on you have not sat in your booster seat and in fact we have removed it from the table. What a big girl. Then, last night, as we were getting ready to brush your teeth you said, "I do it?" -- you wanted to brush your teeth all by yourself. I handed you the toothbrush and you went at it... I was so proud of you, but I must admit it was weird seeing you so independent. Standing on your stool, brushing your teeth, spitting in the sink. I thought to myself, "who is this big girl?"

We are having so much fun these days: truly laughing at things together (okay, my laugh is more because your laugh is so beautiful), playing hide-n-go-seek, and snuggling in bed together. We have a new early morning routine. You have been waking up earlier these days... around 8am and your siblings don't usually get up until 9am and so I bring you into bed with me and you get to play with my phone and I get to close my eyes again. Daddy and I have always said we don't want children in our bed -- it is for us -- and that is certainly true at night, but in the AM when it is just us... I think it is fun and you view it as a treat. :) It's fun to snuggle you. You first started asking for it by describing it. I would walk in your room in the AM and you would say, "I sit on Mama and Daddy's night-night bed. I snuggle you. You say, "oh, havana, you are so special." -- how could I say no to something like that? Then you started saying, "mama, I snuggle you and you say, 'I close my eyes.'" Guess I can't hide the fact I'm resting from you! :)

Along with your new three year old self... you have developed a horrible fear of the dark. It seemed to happen one night out of the blue. Daddy was at work and I put you to bed just like I do every other night. I put Jonah to bed and then I was putting Selah to bed when I heard you talking. You normally talk, but this was much louder and much more anxious than your normally sound so I open your door to tell you to go to sleep and I realize your light is on. I turn your light off and you immedatly run out of your room crying hysterically saying, "no light off. I'm scared." It took me a minute to process what happened and as I tried to get you to come back into your room you became hysterical. I finally calmed you down and sat with you in your room (lights on). I brought in a little lamp from our room, but you still wanted your main light on and your door open. I tried taking you into our room, but again, nothing seemed to help. I finally laid down with you in your bed. I have never, ever wanted to lay down with my children to go to sleep - bed time is bed time. Anyway, I laid down with you and ended up falling asleep. You woke me up once to tell me Selah was crying. Finally, you fell asleep shortly after 1am! I kept the lamp on and closed your door around 3am and you woke up a few minutes later freaking out. It was a long night... followed by many other long nights.

We went to the store the next day and bought you a "special lamp" - one that goes in your room and helps you sleep. Turning it on has become a special part of your night time routine. For a few days that helped us keep the main light off, but you still very much wanted the door open. You've never slept with your door open, but we let you do so for about a week. It was during that time we started battling you all over again. Not because you were afraid of the dark, but because you realized that mommy and daddy don't go to bed right when you do. At first it was heartbreaking. Instead of singing yourself to sleep like you normally do, you would call for us, ask us if we were coming, yell at Jonah and Selah in their rooms, and finally after a while of no one answering you would say, "Mommy, it's me Havana."

Then it went from being heartbreaking to funny. Daddy would sneeze two rooms away and you would yell, "Bless you, Dada." I made a noise that for some reason you thought was popcorn popping and you yelled, "Hey. I want popcorn too. I said... I want popcorn too." When I would be picking up toys downstairs you would yell, "Hey, are you playing?" and then, "Hey, whose making that noise?" -- these comments that you would yell from your bed made me laugh, but made me realize we needed to shut your door again. So we did. It took one night of you being upset about it, but after that you're back to going to bed like a champ. We shut the door and you sing and pray yourself to sleep. Makes my heart happy. Love you, dear one. :) 

Jonah, you're so big too! You certainly are my "do it myself" little boy! When Havana started sitting without her booster - you wanted to as well. I even handed you a spoon and a yogurt and you sat in the chair (no booster) and ate it. What a big boy you are! You're obeying commands and saying 2-3 word phrases. Your newest words are color, tunnel, Christmas Tree, Christmas tree lights, and balloon. We are still having trouble with you learning to "gain self control." -- you always want to do it yourself and when you aren't able to you throw yourself up on the couch and throw a fit... leading us to say, "Jonah, you need to gain self control." -- you can obey other commands, but that one not so much! Daddy says I have a bleeding heart for you... which I do... but I'm going to try to get better about teaching you the beauty of self control. :)

You are becoming quite the actor (I think being dramatic runs in the genes). Havana barely touches you and you fake a fall and fake a cry. I'll go into get you in the mornings - I know you're awake because I hear you, but once I walk in you'll fall down and act asleep requiring me to "wake" you up. You're so funny. You do require quite a bit of "wake up" time - no matter how long you've been up - once we get you out of your bed you want to snuggle for 30-40 minutes. When we can, we happily give this to you. :)

You also have a soft spot for Tucker. There is a saying that goes, "every dog should have a little boy" and I certainly agree. You get sad when Daddy scolds him or when I locks him outside. You will try to open the door for him (something you love to do) and you'll notice it is locked so you'll come crying to me and point to the door and say, "Tucker."  You want to be wherever he is and I can't wait to see the special bond you two will have.

You did give us a scare the other day. You got away from us at the mall! I was feeding baby Selah and Daddy was playing with you and H in the play area. Havana got hurt and while we were both looking at her you ventured out of the play area. Daddy looked at me and said, "Can you see Jonah?" -- I could not. He could not. It took us about three seconds to spot you - you were three stores down hanging out in front of the GNC with a group of people standing around you wondering who you belonged to. It was only a few seconds of not knowing where you are, but certainly enough to scare us to death. You are our little escape artist! You're my active little boy and I love you, buddy!

Selah, oh my dear child. This past week you had two days were everything was perfect. You were content, you ate every three hours, and your sleeping habits went right back to being beautiful. Two wonderful days. Then, you resurfaced. You screamed all  day, your sleep went back to being little, and your wanted to eat all day. So, I realized I have not done a very good job sleep training you. I was a sleep training guru with your siblings, but funny how that hasn't been much on my radar since you've been home. Well, times are changing, I'm starting to make you put yourself to sleep - and in fact, last night was the first night you went to bed unswaddled. I'm allowing you to cry it out. And during the day I'm pushing you to go 2.5 hours between each feed. It's a struggle. You don't like it, but I'm giving you the gift of sleep and in the long run we'll both be thankful. I just want you to know that I love you so very much and that even on the days when you test me... I still think it is wonderful to be your mommy!  

A Thankful Heart!

Havana eating the brownie batter - she liked it. :)

On Wednesday, Jason was working and I spent the day with my children making food in preparation for the Thanksgiving lunch that we were hosting. As I spent the day cooking and cleaning with three of the most amazing people ever... my heart was overwhelmed with thankfulness. Havana in her little sense of humor had me laughing until I cried as she would exclaim, "I have an idea... let's eat the cookies!"

Jonah stirring the cookies! 

My amazing Helpers! 

On Thursday, some of my family and some of Jason's family joined us for a lunch at our house before Jason had to go to work (sadly, he worked the 3pm-12am shift). It was a fun time together. After everyone had left... my heart was feeling a little sad. Sad that my husband was working, sad that another holiday was over and life is quickly passing me by, but then I began to thank the Lord for my blessings: a husband who is amazing... he's an incredible provider, he loves me unconditionally and truly keeps no record of wrongs, he is the best dad and our kids are going to be so blessed because he was their father, etc. I have amazing children... three miracles walking around talking my ears off. Being their mother is truly a gift I cherish each day. I have friends who love and invest in me, my marriage, and my children. Great family and In-laws. I am incredibly blessed. And with that mindset I have enjoyed walking around with a Thankful heart. Today I was praising the Lord for the laundry, for the dishes, for the chores, for my neighbors, for the weather, for everything. I'm finding that being thankful, in every circumstance, truly brings me joy even if it doesn't change the circumstances. So thankful!

Selah's First Thanksgiving! So thankful for her!

A blurry shot - but the only one of all 5 of us! :)

A Man of Many Words

Dear Jonah,

You are so impressive with your words these days. Just this week you began saying:

• I'm sad
• I'm sorry
• Shoes
• Socks
• shows
• pee-pee
• poo-poo
• Tucker, no! 
• outside
• Here we go! 
• I love you
• Mall
• 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10 (You can count to 10 on your own!). 

I'm so proud of you. You are so very smart and I love having conversations with you. After church on Sunday I asked if you had a good time in your nursery class and you said, "Yeah." Whenever I ask you any question, you answer. When I give you a command you can do it. I love how we're communicating!

You've been so sweet these day too! To everyone! You dance with Havana, You tend to Selah (seriously, she was crying and you found her paci and brought it to me and said, "there you go" and then today she was crying in her crib and you go and get her paci and you tried to reach through the bars to give it to her. What a kind brother you are!). You've also started  blowing and giving kisses. I love that. On Sunday as soon as we walked into the nursery to drop you off you leaned forward and gave me a huge kiss that I didn't even have to ask for! Last night Daddy was reading to Havana and you walked up and daddy thought you just wanted to read the story with them, but you kept squirming and then you finally just pushed your face up to his - you wanted to give daddy a kiss. After the kiss you walked away. So sweet. It melted my heart. Today as I put you down for your nap your blew me a kiss as I was walking out. I love your heart for your family and I pray that you don't lose that in this hardened world. I love you so much!

YOU DID IT!!!!

Dear Selah,

Today you rolled over from your back to your belly! You were laying on your back in the living room and I was in the play room with your siblings. I hear you start to fuss so I go in to get you and you were lying on your tummy! We texted daddy and work to let him know the big news! :) You have now set the record for the earliest "roller over" in our family. I'm so proud of you and love experiencing all your firsts.

4 months old!

 

Dear Selah, 

You are now 4 months old. You had your check up today and weighed 13 pounds, 13 ounces and you were 25.5 inches long. We talked about how you are laughing, squealing, holding your toes, rolling to the side, and your crazy hair! You are so much fun... you're so sweet and even though you cry a lot I love being your mommy! What a special girl you are! 

Love you!

Your mama.

Catching Up...

I think this may be the most I have blogged in a single month! This post will be a recap of cute things my kids have done or said recently... I want to write them down before I forget! I recently uploaded blogger onto my phone, so I'm hoping to update cute stories as they happen! :)

HAVANA:

Havana is certainly getting to that age where she is mimicking everything...

• about a month ago she was putting her stuffed animals in Selah's baby swing and then taking my camera and she pretended to take their photos saying things like, "look here" "say cheese" "so cute" -- haha.
• She really enjoys wearing my nursing shawl and putting Pluto under it and she informs that she is feeding Pluto.
• The other day she started this game with Jonah where she would grab his hands and exclaim, "a baby! a baby! a baby!" - I had no idea where it came from and the next day Jason finally asked her where she learned that. She said, "Dora and Boots" - she was mimicking a scene from a show - this made me glad we limit what she can watch, but it also made me smile because it was the first time she could answer a question like that.
• She comes home from church and plays "nursery" with her animals. Once she lined up all her stuffed animals, taught them a lesson about not lying, and then gave them all a cracker and a drink (her snack at church). 
• One night at dinner she turned to Jason and said, "God Loves You" - while doing the signs. Jason looked at me with a big smile and said, "did mommy teach you that?" - I said, "no, I think she picked that up from the nursery" - well that became her new phrase and she continually let us all know that God loves us. So sweet.
• Any noise (sound effect, bodily function, etc.) she will mimic and she sometimes describes something by the noises she hears. She'll ask to "do it again" and then she'll make a noise like her spray in conditioner - she is asking to comb through her hair. 

She is also saying some funny things:

• Once she was trying to hold Jonah's hand and he was trying to pull it away. I told her that she wasn't allowed to hold his hand and she responded with, "well, I'll hold his elbow."
• I walked into her room after nap time and found she had taken the letters of her name down off of her wall. I corrected her and told her she wasn't allowed to get them down. She looked at me very seriously and said, "The animals (she sleeps with about 50 stuffed animals) said, 'I go get them.'" - as she was saying this she took her Pluto and showed me how he went from the bed to the letters. Apparently, it was Pluto who go the letters down - not her. :) 
• I was in Selah's room feeding her and letting the older two romp around upstairs. They were playing in my room and I hear Havana run into the nursery saying, "uh-oh, uh-oh, oh no!" I asked her what was wrong and she said, "my heartbeat! Oh no, my heartbeat!" I said, "what is wrong with your heartbeat." She very urgently said, "My heartbeat is stuck!" I busted out laughing. She was not amused. I later found out she was talking about my necklace that has a heart on it - it was stuck - she referred to it as her heartbeat. 
• We've been memorizing Scripture. She knows Genesis 1:1, 1 Thessalonians 2:13,  Psalm 34:13, and John 14:15. Each week we learn a new verse and then I review the old ones with her. When we were going over the John verse I asked her, "do you remember what Psalm 34:13 says?" Her response was a quick, "No, and I don't want to talk about that."
• She asked to go to the mall for several days and finally one night I told her we could go. She was so excited and began to run towards the car. She stopped dead in her tracks and said, "Wait! I have to put on my make up before I go to the mall." (no idea where she came up with that!).
• She loves being outside, but HATES the wind messing up her hair. She'll run for cover holding her hair back anytime there is the slightest wind. While she is running for cover she'll yell, "Oh no, the wind! I don't like it." What a girl! :) 

• She loves belting out the songs on the radio. The SUV song on the veggie tales cd and "I Just Can't Wait to Be King" from a disney cd are two  of her favorites. 
• Her schemes to delay nap time are getting crafty - she has now started asking for drinks and snacks and anything else that might delay the process. When I ask her if she is staling she will say, "yes" without hesitation. 
• Yesterday she was yelling, "Mama, I need help! Mama I need help" shortly after I put her to bed. This isn't normal and so I walked in and I asked her what she needed help with. She looks at me and says, "I'm awake! I go downstairs and have a show and a snack?" Sneaky girl! 
• Two days ago I heard her talking in her bed in the morning. I went to go get her and the first thing she said to me was, "Mom and Dad, I broke the plate." (a line from a Veggie Tales movie). A different day the first thing she said to me was, "Daddy fixed the gate. Yay daddy" - it's funny to think about what her thought process is. 
• The way she asks questions these days is simply precious. She'll say, "Daddy, you OK?" "Mama, You have seat belt?" "Mama, You putting on make up?" - she hasn't quite grasped the "are" part of the question.
• Her frequent phrases that are cute that she says a lot are, "wait you're turn Jonah" "What's your favorite part of...?" "This way, Jonah." "It's OK Baby Selah" "I don't like that" "That's so silly" "That's so funny"

She is getting to be such a big girl:

• We were looking at our Bible and she saw the name SAUL - she said, "S-A-U-L" and then she began to sound it out "Ssssaaauuulll" - all on her own! I screamed and told her how proud of her I was. 
• She also watched her first (and only) movie back in September. We watched "Beauty and the Beast" - she has gotten into the Princesses since going to Disney World and we have a few of their books. I saw Beauty and the Beast on TV so I DVRed it and one day when she was feeling under the weather we watched it. That was her first show over 30 minutes in length and she loved it. She loved singing and dancing! In fact she asked to be Belle for Halloween... it was fun!
• She "graduated" from Speech Therapy on the 19th of October! 
• I was telling her how we were going to meet Ms. Stacey for a playdate with her daughter Cameron and Havana's eyes got all wide and she said, "I Know Her! She's from my class."
• She also has experimented with getting out of her room at nap time. She went 5 months in her "big girl" bed without coming out and she went through a phase for about two weeks where she would come out and find me and say, "I'm awake! I no sleeping" I quickly taught her that if she did that she received a spanking and I would lock her in her room... she hasn't tried getting out since, but I still warn her everyday not to come out.

JONAH:

Jonah is a talking machine! He'll attempt any word! He can clearly say:

• yay
• Selah
• There you go
• cow - moo
• dog -woof
• kitty cat - meow
• sheep - baa
• horse - neigh
• airplane
• bye bye
• zoo
• wal-mart 
• outside
• Do it again
• dance
• Bible
• Daddy
• Mommy
• night night
• little buddy
• tucker 
• sucker 
• eat
• more
• all done
• bottle
• up
• down
• car/truck - vroom vroom
• train - choo choo
• Blue's Clues
• Diego/Dora 
• Sweep 
• Broom
• Lion - Growl
• Bird- Tweet
• Basketball/Football/Baseball/Soccer Ball
• red
•  yello
• green
• blue
• pink
• phone
• hello
• where are you? 

He loves to sing and his favorite songs are:

• row, row, row your boat
• twinkle twinkle little star
• The B-I-B-L-E
• You are Holy
• Sweep that broom 
• Go Diego Go theme song
• Wheels on the Bus
• Fresh Beat Band Songs

With all his new found words he is starting to answering questions. I'll ask him what show he wants to watch and he'll say, "Blue's Clues" or "Diego" or "Dora." When it was getting close to Halloween I went to the store to look for a beast costume and he saw a cow costumn on the shelf and he said, "Cow - Moo" -- so i didn't know if he was asking to be a cow or if he simply said it because he recognized it. I hope it was the latter! :)
 
The boy loves balls. He gets so excited when we are coloring if we draw any sort of sports balls - he'll laugh and do the sign for "excited" while he says the name of the ball we are drawing. Anytime he sees a ball he wants to pick it up and play with it. He has sheets that have balls on them and in the mornings he tries to pick them up off of his sheets. When we go to the store he always wants to try to make a basket with the hoops that are up on display. The funny thing is I can't recall ever "teaching" him how to play basketball. He simply has always seen a basketball goal and tried to make a basket no matter how tall the goal might be. He'll be one of those children who I will say, "He's been playing basketball since he has been born." And he doesn't just play with child-sized balls. Nope, all of Jason's sports balls from the garage have been brought inside and he loves carrying around, kicking, rolling, and throwing the big balls.

He also loves trains and airplanes. If he hears them or sees them he'll name them and watch them intently. He loves looking at the pictures and reading books about them. He's truly all boy and I love it.

He is wanting to do EVERYTHING that Havana is doing. It is fun and sad to watch all at the same time. Sad because sometimes he truly can't do it (so he becomes frustrated) but fun because they are starting to actually play together. He is romping around on the same playground equipment that Havana is - he climbs up the ladder, plays in the clubhouse, and goes down the slides all by himself. He also taught himself how to go up and down the stairs at our house. He's unstoppable. :) 

SELAH:

Not nearly as much to update for this little one! She is almost 4 months old: she can hold on to rattles, play with a few "baby" toys, and she's found her feet (she can kind of do a tuck and roll maneuver :). I experienced her first laugh in October and it was beautiful. She has these huge dimples that make my heart melt.

Her hair is crazy as seen in my previous post. She is still quite the screamer, but (for the most part) she is a great sleeper. She enjoys getting out of the house and is very similar in personality (and appearance) to Havana (and her mommy!). It is fun to watch her discover new things and even though her colic is trying at times I love, love, love being mommy to my sweet Selah.

We had the privilege of dedicating her on October 29th. It means so much to us to be able to promise the Lord that we'll raise her in godly home and teach her to love the Lord. It also means the world to us to be a part of such an amazing church that I know will invest in our children and in us! Just tonight Jason and I were talking about how excited we are to watch our children grow up in Southeast. A funny story about the dedication is that before we went onstage she was SCREAMING!! WAILING!! We were getting sympathy looks from everyone standing near us. We we clearly going to be "that family" with a balling baby on stage. However, as soon as we walked out on stage she stopped crying and looked perfectly content. We laughed so hard about it and still tease that she clearly likes being the spotlight. Guess it runs in the family. :)

In the lobby after the church service where we dedicated Selah.

Big Boy

Dear Jonah,

You're a big boy these days! Seriously, you have overcome two big battles lately and I'm so proud of you. The first comes with your shoes. You've never been a big fan of wearing shoes or socks, but the only kind of shoes you are comfortable wearing are the Robeez kind. We tried to buy you tennis shoes, but you would cry and tear them off of your feet so fast that I wasn't sure how we would ever transition you. However, you did it. We bought you special "big boy" shoes that have balls on them and light up when you walk. You enjoyed playing with them, but would not allow us to put them on your feet. One day when you were eating breakfast your daddy put them on you without you noticing and that was all it took. You never seemed to noticed and you walked flawlessly from the moment we put  you down. You now love showing off your ball shoes and I am so proud with how you just "grew up" to wearing tennis shoes.

The other battle was the bottle. Ever since you were 12 months old I have been trying to get you to give up the bottle. You wouldn't. You learned to drink water or juice out of a sippy cup, but milk HAD to come out of a bottle. If you tasted milk in a sippy cup you would grunt and throw the cup across the room. Bottles were also a necessity for bedtime. It was almost overwhelming to think of how I was going to break the addiction. Yet, you rose to the challenge.

Your daddy and I went on a date on your half birthday (November 3rd)... our goal was to have you off the bottle at 18 months and that's the day you quit. It wasn't intentional, but the babysitter forgot to give you a bottle and she told me you cried for 10 minutes before falling asleep. I was sure you sat in your crib and screamed "Ba-ba" but the point was... you did it! We went with it. From that moment on we only gave you sippy cups and you drank out of them. You didn't throw them or protest anymore. The only times it was noticeable was when you went to bed. You would cry pretty hard for a while.

For three days this went on and then you stumbled across one of Havana's dolls where you feed the doll a bottle. You were mesmerized. You fed that baby it's bottle for at least 20 minutes if not longer. Your daddy and I were joking that it was like therapy for you - well, I guess it was because after that play time you never cried for your bottle again.

You are now officially my big boy and I love you with all of my heart!