Having friends and family over to play

We’ve had Grace and Kate over to play a few times. Emerson also came to play while Mommy and Abbie went to a consignment sale. Gwynn loves showing everyone all of her toys and she’s surprisingly good at sharing!

Grace and Kate loved helping with Luke.

Ice Cream Sundaes for dessert!

We measured how tall the girls were using a puzzle.

Playing with instruments…I can’t even describe how loud this was.

Gwynn even shared the iPad!

Showing Emerson all the cool things in the entertainment center.

I think Gwynn is telling Emerson about the time she got her fingers stuck in the doors and telling him to just look, but don’t touch!

He wasn’t too fond of wearing Gwynn’s hat.

Best buddies.

Happy Valentine’s Day!

Fun around the dinner table

Luke has been much better about eating lately, so we’ve had some fun letting him try new foods.

Not completely sold on eating just yet.

Gwynn doesn’t want Luke to get all of the attention.

“I wanted something with chocolate syrup.”

Gwynn singing the latest Taylor Swift song into a hot dog.

“Hello Mr. President, I’m ready to go!”

Gwynn pointing out some of her body parts.

Luke’s first “real” zoo trip

Luke has made a couple of zoo trips before, but this was the first time to go to see the animals. The other trips were to Boo at the Zoo and Zoolight Safari. Gwynn enjoyed the trip even more than before since she’s more aware of what’s going on.

Gwynn was ready for action.

Luke was incredibly excited. Incredibly.

God bless ‘mericuh.

A quick attempt to potty train Gwynn.

Monkey see, monkey do.

Mommy saw this “snake” as we walked around and I had to take photographic evidence of this new species of reptile. Any ideas on what to call it? I’m thinking stickus minimus.

5 months (Luke)

5 months old already…so hard to believe!!

• We took Luke to the doctor on January 21st for his 4 month check-up.  He did great with all of his vaccinations.  He didn’t even mind the shots…he just didn’t like the nurse holding his legs down. He was 26.2 inches long (85th percentile) and weighed 17 pounds 7.5 ounces (90th percentile)…such a BIG BOY!
• He is finally sleeping in his crib at night. It was surprisingly easy to transition him from the swing.  He likes having the sleep sheep on, as well as the aquarium.  He also wants his pacifier and to hold on to something (usually his blue dog lovey). We’ll put him to sleep on his back, but he typically rolls over on his stomach to sleep.
• Speaking of rolling over, he’s rolling all over the place. We put him on a blanket on the floor and before we know it he’s across the room! He’s even gotten up on his knees a few times, so he’ll be crawling in a few months for sure.
• We usually give him a bottle around 5:30 pm and then put him in his crib around 6:30.  He’ll sleep until about 10 pm and we’ll give him another bottle. After that last bottle, he’ll typically sleep until around 4 or 4:30 am…hopefully we’ll get him sleeping until 6 am soon!
• We’ve tried introducing food (cereal, oatmeal, sweet potatoes, pears), but he is not interested.  He makes the worst face!  We’ll keep working on it though. He’s taking 5 bottles a day (6-8 oz in each bottle).
• He’s still a little wobbly when trying to sit up, but he definitely prefers sitting up to lying flat.
• Luke has 2 bottom teeth!  We can’t believe he got teeth so early.  It’s definitely been harder on him than it ever was for Gwynn.  He loves chewing on teethers and our fingers and Orajel is our best friend!   
• He started laughing a few days before he turned 5 months old.  Daddy is the best at getting him to laugh!

19 months old

• Gwynn is starting to talk more and more.  She’s even said a couple of 2 word sentences (“Hey Bubba”…“Bye Mommy”).
• Her receptive language skills are through the roof. She can point to almost anything when we read her stories at night. We even have an iPad app for receptive language where it tells her to touch different objects…she’s pretty much mastered it.
• She is still obsessed with anything Mickey Mouse.  She can point to every character when we read her Mickey books. She loves to dance to all the songs too.
• At night before she goes to bed we let her pick out books to read. She gets pretty upset if we only have time for one book…usually it’s 3 or 4. She doesn’t really have a favorite yet, but pop-up books and Eric Carle books are read frequently.
• She’s still doing great at daycare. They said she loves to eat and will eat anything they give her. Ms. Ouida said that she acts a lot older than she actually is and she’s really very laid back and easy. When Daddy picks her up from daycare she insists on walking to the car instead of being carried (she still lets Mommy carry her). 
• She eats anything and everything at home. Her favorite things to eat are raisins, cheez-its, crackers, bananas, green beans, chicken, pasta, etc. Daddy got some sour straws and she LOVES those.  She likes eating Eggo French Toast Sticks for breakfast and one funny thing she’ll do with them is take one bite out of each piece (there are 4) before eating all of them. It’s very peculiar…we hope she doesn’t have OCD.
• We say prayers before we eat and she’s really good at saying “Amen” and doing the sign of the cross. We also say prayers before bed and she’ll repeat everyone’s name as we say it (“God bless Grammy…God bless Grandma…God bless Pop…God bless Grandpa” etc…). Our list is pretty long, but she’ll say everyone name with her little hands folded.  It’s so sweet. 
• At her 18 month doctor’s visit (on January 21st), Gwynn was 32.2 inches long (60th percentile) and 25 pounds, 1 ounce (60th percentile).

Our growing boy!