Sunday, March 20, 2011

There Are No Words...

from the end of February/beginning of March:

to describe the shenanigans that have been going on in this house this last week.

Exhibit A:
I was changing out the laundry and came back upstairs to find this:

and Exhibit B:
the best part - I heard absolutely no crying or whining which means she gladly let him do this to her face.
Exhibit C:
After putting on an "Ephraim show" (cartoon) so he would stay out of trouble while I got Selah down for her morning nap. I came downstairs after laying her down to this:
2.5 pounds of flour. On my couch.
All I could do was laugh. And take pictures. And then spend 20 minutes vacuuming it up.

Thursday, March 17, 2011

3/16/11

Selah started off her birthday with a breakfast of bananas.

We then moved on to opening presents and Ephraim was very willing to step in and help.
Sorry this picture is blurry, but it is the best picture I got all day of her birthday shirt that I made.

The girl doesn't sit still long enough to read books, but I am hoping that a bunch of new Olivia books will change her mind.
I didn't make cupcakes for her birthday, but she enjoyed getting to eat a whole chocolate chip cookie for the first time.
Happy Birthday Sweet Girl!

Wednesday, March 16, 2011

Selah - 1 year

I don't know how it happened - but Selah is one. In some ways she seems so big and in other ways she is still so small. Here are some of the things she is up to.

Teeth: Still only has her bottom two. I think she might be getting her top two in (at least I hope that is why she has been so grumpy) but you can't see anything yet.

Eating: Selah enjoys eating. She loves peas and carrots, avocados, corn, potatoes, peaches and bananas. She will eat meat, but doesn't devour it. She has recently discovered graham crackers and LOVES them. She also likes fruit leathers and puffs. She has had strawberries, pancakes, waffles, and I found her licking my plate that had peanut butter on it the other day. The only food group we have been avoiding is dairy, and we will ask our pediatrician about that when we go in for her check up.
Nursing: Selah still loves to nurse and nurses 3-4 times a day. She also nurses 2-3 times at night. For a few weeks she was only nursing off of one side and I had to pump off of the other and she took the milk in a sippy cup without any complaint. I am hoping that is a good sign that she will wean sooner than Ephraim did (22 months).

Sleeping: I didn't think it was possible to have a worse sleeper than Ephraim - but I was wrong. For a few weeks last month she was up every 30-45 minutes. We worked past that and she is now up every 1-2 hours. She had been waking up when I would check on her before I went to bed, so I have stopped checking on her. She is still waking up and then will take at least an hour to fall back asleep (only then - other times she falls asleep easy.) I think the most annoying part is that when she first goes to bed it is a dream. We do the same routine every night and it takes 10 minutes or less. Why that changes in the middle of the night - I wish I knew. I also have a piece of paper from August from when I was jotting down fun memories of her and it says "You sleep through the night from 8-5 and if you wake up I just have to turn your crib toy on and give you a pacifier." I should throw that piece of paper away. It is mocking me.
Moving: This girl walks everywhere. She climbs everything. She has taught herself how to climb our chairs. She can go up and down the stairs with ease.

Talking: Last week Selah started saying "bye-bye" (buh-buh). She will sign all done. She understands when I sign more or please. She babbles all of the time and makes a bunch of different sounds (ma, da, ba, etc. ) She screeches all of the time. She is LOUD. Happy or sad - LOUD. There is no volume control with her.

Tricks: She waves, claps and gives high fives. She will move her arms in a circle when we sing the wheels on the bus. She has started shaking her head no.
Other fun things:
She loves Ephraim. On the days he takes naps and she is without him she doesn't know what to do.
She loves her daddy and gets really excited and runs to the door when she hears Wallis barking announcing that he is home. In the morning she won't let Forrest leave without giving her several hugs.
Selah is our very happy, spunky, funny girl and we love her!

Happy Birthday Sister!

Monday, March 14, 2011

Testing... Testing..

From February 23rd

Today was Ephraim's post op appointment. His hearing was re-checked and has improved by 10 decibels. He was also given a set of ear plugs that he will need to wear when he goes swimming. Green - of course.

A bath doesn't count as swimming, but we decided to give them a trial run.

He didn't like them at first, but cried when we took them out.

How To Take a Shower

  • Take a shower Thursday night, when kids are asleep and husband is at soccer game
  • Get out of shower and hear baby screaming hysterically.
  • Decide to take showers when your husband is home
  • Decide to take shower Saturday night
  • Spend evening comforting child who woke up screaming due to growing pains
  • Decide to take shower Sunday morning before church - when husband can watch both kids
  • Find out husband has to work all Sunday morning. No church, no shower
  • Decide to take shower Sunday night after kids go to bed
  • Crawl into bed at 12 after spending 3 hours convincing obnoxious youngest child to stay asleep in her own bed
  • Decide to take a shower Monday morning when husband who usually works from home on Mondays comes upstairs to eat breakfast and he can watch kids
  • Find out husband has an early meeting and is going to work
  • Decide to take a shower during youngest's nap time
  • Give up
  • Dreadlocks are cool and there is a reason they invented clinical strength deodorant

Mowing the Snow

From February 24th

The kids got a lawnmower for Christmas. It is a little loud for inside, but Ephraim loved using it to "mow the snow".

Every day he had snow he was out there mowing lines on our deck until his hands got too cold.

Sunday, March 13, 2011

Playing in Snow

From February 23rd

During "Winter Storm 2011" (don't you love the dramatic titles weathermen come up with?) we accumulated about 4-6 inches at our house over several days. Every single person in our house LOVES snow so we tried to play in it as much as possible.

Making snowballs
Not quite sure
Wallis loves snow and chasing snowballs.

A Little Thief

From February 16th

We babysat for some friends tonight and I made spaghetti. I didn't give Selah any - since she has never had it before and I didn't think she would like the tomatoes. She spent the rest of the evening stealing from poor Paris' tray.