Merry Christmas 2009!

Christmas was a fun filled day of great presents, yummy food, & lots of family time! Isabella was excited to come see what Santa brought in the morning & luckily for us she doesn't yet have the ability to purposefully wake up early so we got enough sleep. I think Jackson was awake before her!

Isabella got a train set for Christmas which was on her wish list. Jackson got a bunch of toys he can chew on! Isabella got Jackson a toy drum to beat on which plays music & lights up. Jackson got Isabella a dog chase (pictured above with the red slides & white stairs). She had been wanting a toy similar to this with penguins so she was excited to get a dog one. Lots of other fun toys were received like a princess swan castle, craft supplies, a hand-held video game, play-doh, hi-ho cherry-o, an apron & hot mits, & cute clothes for Isabella. A ball popper, a rolling ball, a walking toy, a baby swing for the swingset, animals, a soldier bowling set & cute clothes for Jackson.

I was pretty spoiled this year with a new macbook computer, an air popcorn popper, a mandolin, a gift card to the aveda spa for a massage (from Isabella & Jackson), clothes, & few other cooking gadgets. Mike had gotten his iPhone as an early Christmas present & then he got an Xbox game, boots, a sweater, & some other small things. (Can you tell who over spent their gift giving budget??)

We had a yummy breakfast of chocolate croissants, bacon, eggs, & some freshly made grapefruit juice. Yum! We skipped lunch (after our large breakfast) & then had dinner at my mom & dad's where we had yummy rolls, roasted vegetables, deviled eggs, & ham. Delish!

We purchased a fontanini kid-friendly nativity set this year and Isabella enjoyed learning about the story of the birth of Jesus and playing with the nativity. I put away the baby Jesus so that we could put him in the manger on Christmas & Isabella was very distraught when she found out he was missing & wouldn't really take my explanation as a good reason for his disapearance. So she was happy to be able to put him back on Christmas day.

Christmas Eve

Our house was full of excitement on Christmas eve. Isabella & Jackson opened their Christmas pajama gift and their two Christmas eve books- Silent Night (which played the song & a star around baby Jesus lit up) & a fun Christmas activity book with lots to do inside. We experienced our first blizzard in Oklahoma & stayed at home all day. We didn't have our Christmas eve get together as planned nor did we go over to my grandparents house for theirs. So we just had a nice relaxing day at home and stayed warm! It took Isabella a little while to go to sleep (partly because of her nap & partly because of all the excitement!) but she finally did and Santa was able to come. (Jackson didn't even realize there was anything special going on!)

A few weeks before Christmas Isabella was sitting eating when she all of a sudden said, "Uh oh Mommy!  1.......2.......3!  Only 3 stockin's!"  I had hung our stockings on the mantel even though we didn't have enough & Isabella realized that we were going to be in trouble when Santa came!  So I explained to her that mommy had found some really cute stockings that will have all our names on them & they would be arriving soon.  (And can I say that I LOVE our new stockings!  They are so cute!)

Jackson is 8 months!

It's hard to believe that in 4 short months Jackson will be one year! Where has the time gone??? This past month has been a busy one with the holidays but lots of fun. Jackson is gaining stregnth in his legs and he will bounce forward & then backwards while sitting. Still no crawling yet, but I think he is gearing up for it. He has managed to figure out how to move around on our wood floors in a sitting position. I'm not quite sure exactly how he does it yet... but I think he is doing more of his bouncing to inch around.

Eating is going really well. We're on our third week of solids & third food. After avocado we tried banana and now we're on sweet potato. I discovered after the first round of banana that he prefers his food cubed rather than mashed so we've been doing it that way ever since. He is doing really great with food & enjoys it. He has even started saying, "mmmmmm" when he sees that I have his bowl of food or when he is ready for another bite. So cute! He got a sippy cup for Christmas & has really been having fun drinking some water with dinner. He figured it out really quickly and wants to drink from it a lot.

Sleep has taken a step in the right direction. Right around when we started food, I came up with a plan to eliminate his night time feedings. I gradually pushed back the 2 nursing times by 15 mintues every night until we eliminated one & we are nearly ready to eliminate the other. Mike also swapped out the rocking chair in his room with the chair that converts into a bed from Isabella's. So now I have a place to sleep when I'm in his room at night. Some times he will wake up & go back to sleep several times in one hour so the bed is nice to sleep in so I don't have to go very far inbetween soothing him back to sleep (or popping in his pacifier). Some nights I sleep in there more than others... but my time in there is definately decreasing so that is a good thing (although I kinda think that room is set up for better sleep... it's darker, it has a nice noise eliminating fan, & soft lullaby music- so sometimes I have to motivate myself to get back to my bed!). The other night he slept from 730p til 615am! That was a nice night!! I'm looking forward to when that becomes more common. He has started rolling in his swaddle blanket which I think could be a dangerous thing if he gets stuck on his belly without having his arms out... so we'll be working on getting rid of his swaddle blanket soon. Not looking forward to that challenge, but I'll be glad when he can sleep without it!

Jackson finally managed to kick his ear infections after a 2nd round of a different antibiotic. I was glad that he was finally able to breath again and I'm sure he was glad to be feeling better. We went back in to see the PA yesterday & she said his ears were no longer infected but did still have some fluid. So hopefully he doesn't get another cold anytime soon or else we might have another ear infection. He weighed in at 19lbs+ so he is a big boy!

Jackson loves to watch Simon play fetch with his squeaky ball & is very interested in petting the puppies when they come near. He has been licked in the mouth a time or two by Bailey & will open his mouth whenever one of the dogs come near his face. We keep getting on to Bailey but so far she hasn't stopped. I seem to remember having the same issue when Isabella was an infant. I guess she lived through it. He also likes to chew on anything & everything as well as grab at anything within reach. I've had many spilled drinks from him grabbing them when I turn the other way.

We're looking forward to seeing what changes Jackson goes through in the new year!

Christmas Eve Dance

The other thing Isabella loves is dancing! She dances every night before bed and has come up with some good moves! You'll see her doing her "I got the booey booey" dance in this video which is totally her creation. One day she called Jackson a booey booey (hoping that is a good thing!) & since then it has stuck & she uses the word in all sorts of ways & it now has a dance to go with it. Ahhh... life with a 3 year old is always so exciting!

Isabella singing Jingle Bells

Isabella loves to sing & she loves to make up her own songs. So this holiday season, she once again loves Jingle Bells but now has combined her own lyrics to the song with some from the original...

video of starting solids

And the videos...

First Food- Avocado @ 7.5 months

(click on collage to see pics bigger)

When Jackson got over his cold, we decided he was ready to start solids. He has all the readiness signs the La Leche League suggests (sitting up, pincher grasp, loss of tongue thrust reflex, etc) so we went for it. Again, as we did with Isabella, we started with Avocado. The La Leche League suggests starting with banana, sweet potato, or avocado as those are the foods that are most similar to breast milk and offer the most nutrition in a single food. So no bland, nutrient-lacking rice cereal over here. :) I'm also finding that since we waited til 7.5 months I don't have to mix in breast milk with the food to make it liquidy... I just smash a bit w/ the spoon & it's good to go.

He was very interested in trying it... and then he made the usual "what the heck is that?" face and then the "what are you doing to me?" face. I'm sure in time he'll grow to love it just as his big sister has. Next up- bananas.

Thanksgiving card

Didn't upload this for tday... but emailed it to everyone.  So here is our thanksgiving card a little late. :)

Isabella's 3.25 yr update

Isabella turned 3 1/4 year old on Nov 6th (again, slow to update our blog!). We had her in for her 3 year well check up at the doctor mid October. She weighed in at 41 lbs and was 40". She is in the 95% for both her height & weight... so a big girl. :)

Many days Isabella amazes us with her intelligence... it is so hard to remember all the great things she comes up with! But she tries out new words all the time- the other day she came to me and said, "Mommy, I'm sorry I frustrated you." Awwww!

She asks questions all the time & many are hard to answer! How do you explain to a three year old what happens to you when you die? These are the questions I get when we're driving down the road! And explaining things just brings about more hard to answer questions.

Isabella is a very opinionated little girl and will tell you all about it. We hear almost daily, "I'm not going to..." or "if you don't let me do this, I'll..." One thing she says is that she is going to run away. (thanks Lil Critter & the Runaway Bunny!) One night, she says this while getting ready for bed. Mike walks her to the front door, opens it & says, "see ya!" Now it's a pretty chilly night & she had yet to get her socks on. Mike goes to close the door & she asks, "but when will I see you again?" We tell her when she is ready to come inside, she can knock on the door. Well after shutting the door it takes about 2 seconds before she is knocking. So I guess she really didn't want to run away after all. A couple weeks after this she tells me she wants to run away but will come back to eat. ;) We have our challenges with Isabella but there is a lot of comic relief!

In the picture above where Isabella has flowers on her forehead is another good example of how opinionated she is. We went to a local food picnic (which was very cold!) & Isabella wanted flowers painted on her face. She came up with this all on her own & didn't want what all the other kids were getting. The lady asked her what her favorite color was & she said blue (really??). So the lady painted blue flowers on her face then showed them to her in the mirror. I could see she wasn't happy & Isabella started to complain as I got her down from the chair & we said our thank yous. As soon as we were out the door, tears started flowing & Isabella was saying how she didn't like her flowers. She had wanted a large flower all over her face- not a bunch of little ones on her forehead. :( Poor girl.

Isabella loves to play games like candy land and enjoys imaginative play.  She said the other day she wished she could go inside the snow globe with the snowman. :)  She has fun entertaining her brother... for a few minutes at a time, and he enjoys being entertained by her.  She is a girl that is always on the go and always wants to go somewhere.  Nearly every morning she asks, "where are we going today?"  And if we're not going anywhere, she isn't too happy about it!

We are looking forward to Christmas... Isabella is excited about all our Christmas time traditions and so are we!

Jackson is 7 months!

I'm a couple weeks late on this... but Jackson turned 7 months on the 30th of November. He is now out of the baby tub and in his bath seat in the big tub. Some nights he takes a bath on his own but other nights Isabella enjoys taking a bath with him. We have to remind her not to take all his toys but they both have a lot of fun splashing around.

Jackson is sitting up really well and doesn't fall too much. He's been sitting on the floor a lot more and he can lunge really far out to reach a toy (see picture in the bottom right corner as example) and does this a lot. He's pretty strong & pulls himself right back up. Although we've learned not to leave him sitting on the sofa alone... he did his lunging & tumbled right off the sofa onto the hard floor. He was upset & I felt really bad!

A couple times at granny & grandpa's, Jackson lunged far forward & onto his knees... but so far, his knees are not quite strong enough to support his lower half- so no crawling yet. I'm sure he needs more tummy time for practicing but it's hard to get him down there a lot because he's not too crazy about it. And with our hard floors, he probably needs to not have pants or socks on so he can gain traction & the winter is a bit cold for that.

Jackson got his first cold and has had a yucky snotty nose for what seems like forever. And boy does he hate the nose suction! I hate doing it too... but sometimes I have just felt so bad for him not being able to breath, I've had to break it out!

We're still at 2 teeth & thankfully we haven't had teething pain along with the cold! Sleep is still a struggle at night... maybe when he is feeling better he'll sleep better. We can only hope!

Granny & Grandpa Abla's - Thanksgiving 2009

We took the road trip over to visit granny & grandpa Abla for the Thanksgiving holiday. It is about a 7 hour drive with our stops. Jackson is a trooper & does much better in the car than Isabella ever did... he doesn't cry the whole time he is awake! But he doesn't sleep much either. I think he must have only taken a 45 min nap the whole way there (after taking his morning nap before we left the house) which is not near enough sleep for him! So by the time we're nearing the end of our journey, the crying starts & doesn't stop until we get out of the car. On the way there it was about 30 min & on the way back it was about 1 hr 15 min (yikes!) before he passed out & slept for 15 min before we got home. So overall, really good car trip. We had a fun time visiting Granny & Grandpa... eating lots of yummy food, playing, & visiting. Jackson & I both had yucky colds but still had a fun time.