Random pictures

I was looking through some pictures from the past few months and ran across a few I wanted to share. They are old but I like them.

Back in mid November we got a tricycle from our friends with kids who had grown out of it. Donovan loves it and so do we as it has a handle we can push him around with (without crouching) and also steer with. We even got him to wear his helmet with it the day of these pictures too! (He had only worn it once before, when we got the helmet, and even then he was done after 1 minute).

Rocking the helmet. Safety first.

I love this picture. Leaning back like he is going SO fast.
Looking at me and saying "Cheese" (unprompted) instead of watching where he was going. He forgot to turn.
This is one of my favorite pj's he has ever had. I love everything about them.

One night after a bath Donovan was running around the house naked while I ate a snack. He then requested to have some of my pretzels too. Then he wanted some bread. Then he wanted to make a pretzel sandwich so he put pretzels on his bread and ate it like that. I asked him to put his head near the sandwich for the picture and this was what I got.
In the early part of December when Donovan was having a rough few days we had a disagreement about something (I think it was how much juice he should be having that day and that particular moment) and he threw an epic fit right before nap time. I stayed in his room with him because I was worried if I left him alone he would go so crazy that he would have pulled the dresser over on himself since we still haven't anchored it to the wall (these are the things that keep me up at night people). Anywhos... he was so mad at me he went in his closet and tried to shut the door. He couldn't so I did it for him. He stayed in there, screaming, for 10 minutes before I finally cracked it enough to scratch his back until he fell asleep. So this is how Donovan started his nap that day. Look hard at the first picture. He is there.

Oh did I forget to mention he threw this whole fit while pantsless? Tom helped me hold him down to put his diaper on during his fit and then 4 seconds later he had already ripped it off. So I just waited til he fell asleep, then put his diaper on and put him in bed. It is tough to be 2.

She's been good

Reese just wanted me to take a few pictures of her in this onsie in case Santa was looking at the blog to see how the kids had been. She is right. She has been a very good girl. Her brother on the other hand...

Super belated 7 month post

Ok so I found a few minutes so I will try to crank this post out before Reese turns 8 months old.





Eating: Reese is still doing well with bottles and is still breastfeeding when I am here. She is so inquisitive (I restrained myself from saying nosy) so breastfeeding is increasingly becoming a challenge. She is just like her brother was. Eats for a few seconds, pops off and looks around. So annoying. I might have to start feeding her in her room when Tom is here to entertain Donovan. She is eating two solid meals a day. One stage 2 tub of food (or two baby bullets of food, usually veggies) for lunch with some cereal mixed in and one stage 2 tub of fruit with about a table spoon of cereal mixed in as well as a tablespoon plus of cereal and milk for dinner. She does pretty well and is usually a very good and quick eater. She also eats puffs and yogurt melts and is pretty good at getting those in her own mouth. I have too much going on to make all her food so we are doing a little of both, right now she is eating the majority of store bought but I will get streaky and make a bunch of food when I have time and then she will eat a lot of that. Hopefully when the holidays are over and things calm down around here I can start making more again, it was just getting to stressful to try and worry about making all of her food.

Sleep: She is only taking 2 naps most days now. Usually one of them is at least an hour and a half, sometimes 2 and a half. Every day is different. She goes longer between sleeping too, sometimes 5 hours or more. She is still swaddled and sleeps in her crib. Sometimes she has a hard time putting herself to sleep and fusses and cries for 15 min, sometimes she goes to bed wide awake and you don't hear a peep, you just never know what way it is going to be til it happens. She is also still sleeping through the night. Seems like it doesn't matter if she goes to bed at 7:45 or 10, either way she is going to be up at 6-6:30 for a feeding, which she then goes back to bed after until 8:30 or 9 usually. She is usually in bed between 8:15-9:15 at night, depending on what time she got up from her last nap.

Development: This was a big month for Reese as far as she is now sitting! She can't get to a sitting position herself and is kind of stuck there once she is placed in the sitting position so it's kinda nice as it is the only way to keep her stationary for now. When she is down she just jets off, army crawling after you. It is so funny how fast and determined she is. She gets mad if I put her down and walk away so she will chase me into whatever room I have walked too. It is so funny to see her little head peeking around the corner, looking for me. Also, her newest news (as in she started doing this about 3 days before her month bday) is that she is doing a modified pulling up. It is more like pushing up. She needs something about mid body height for her and then she crawls over to it, pushes up, then totally stands up. She loves to stand! So she is practicing standing and trying to walk while holding on to your hands. She is so proud of herself too. (See below pictures). She has yet to do any typical crawling but gets on her hands and knees fairly often. That is how I find her in her crib 90% of the time. She is just so efficient at the army crawl I think the regular crawling is a non-issue. Her newest skill has left our playing on the ground time mostly her fussing until you lay on the ground so she can crawl over to you and push up on you and stand up. So play time with Reese is a lot less of independent Reese time and more you down there with her the whole time.

I tried to get an action shot of her playing with the table but every time I did she would look up and smile like this. She is just so darn proud of herself for being able to stand like this. She is pretty steady too. You can walk away from her and she will be up like this for 10 minutes or more before she falls over. (But man is she unhappy when she falls. Oh the drama.)




All in all another fun month on the books with Reese. Sorry it took me a week plus to get this posted. Life is busy!

One last side note: It has become clear that Donovan thinks Reese's name is "Reesie Poo". That is the only thing he calls her. Even when he is mad at her. He'll yell at her "Don't eat my blanket Reesie Poo!!!!!" or say "Mommy, put Reesie Poo down on the ground". I guess maybe we were using that nickname too often. Poor girl is going to be picked up for a date in highschool and Donovan is going to yell "Have a nice time Reesie Poo!".

More pics

Ok so Thurs and Fri came and went and I still didn't do the post on Reese and I got news for you, I may actually be busier now than I was then so it ain't happening tonight either. But here are some cute pictures of Reese from the other day when I thought we were going to go see Santa but then Donovan had a monster melt down.
The fit thrower taking a pause to get in the way of the camera. (Reese is directly behind him)
Showing off her underoos.
"No more pictures!!!!!!"
"Ok fine, one more"

Happy 7 months Reesie!

Dang you are adorable. Even when you are just eating puffs with no shirt on. I don't have time to write about what she is up to tonight so that will have to wait for Thursday or Friday. This will have to hold you over until then. (In that third picture she is dropping a puff over the edge to Petey. Man kids learn fast!)

Two peas in a pod

Or monkeys on the bed would be more appropriate. Donovan and his best friend Ian. (Although the other day I asked Donovan who his best friend was and instead of saying Ian like I had expected him to he said "Daddy" Awwwww. Tear.)


My favorite one of these two.


They are at such a great age. They play really well together now. Watching them interact is so funny. It is also nice because they entertain each other so well that us adults get to (GASP!) actually talk and enjoy each other. It's been a long time in the making for that.

Two things I forgot

Two more little sayings/stories from Dono I want to document:

-Donovan:(Sliding down the stairs, backwards, on his belly, laughing) "How funny is that?"

-And a story that kinda breaks my heart: A couple weeks ago Donovan was playing with this helium balloon we got from my parents before Halloween. It was losing air slowly so it was low enough he could grab it. He brought it over to me and asked me to help him tie it around his waist. As I was doing it he kept saying, "Help me get up. Help me get up, mommy." So I was like, "Ok" even though I had no idea what he was talking about. When I finished tying it around his waist he straightened up, looked up in the air so proud and excited and said "Help me get up in the sky" and it was suddenly clear he was expecting that balloon to lift him into the air like the balloons did in the movie "Up" which we had seen the week prior. It broke my heart it was so sweet. I told Tom, I couldn't stand the fact that he was so happy and so excited that he was going to get to float around and it wasn't going to happen. For a few minutes I was really thinking about getting on google and seeing how fast I could get mass quantities of large balloons and helium tanks because if that is what my baby wants, that is what he gets. But really, it is kind of heart breaking to realize there are things that your child will want to do that you can't make happen for them. But instead of focusing on that, I am trying to focus on the adorableness of child innocence. God bless that kid for thinking that half dead helium balloon was going to lift him up into the sky. So sweet.

Conversation with Dono from today

Donovan: "I want to hold hands with Reese"
Me: "Ok"
Donovan offers his had to Reese, she reaches out and grabs it and they lay on their tummies facing in each other on the ground, holding hands.
Donovan: (turns to me and smiles real big) "This is adorable!"

.....

Me: "Donovan, do you want to make a fort?"
Donovan: "Ok"
1 minute later
Donovan: "This is gonna be so much fun!"

.....

Dono:(setting his crackers and water cup on the ottoman instead of throwing them on the ground) "Mommy, this is a good idea."

Can you tell we are having a much better day today? Thank the Lord for new days with 2 year olds.

.....

Other things Donovan says that crack me up:
-"I don't want to put my neighborhood on" (he was referring to his hood on his jacket)
-"I love you too mommy!" when he is the first one to say it. I guess he doesn't realize "too" means you are saying something back to someone.
-"I have-a be right back" - Instead of "I'm gonna be right back"
-"Reese is a fish. Reese is a pumpkin. Reese is a grammie Q." -naming random things and saying that is what Reese is
-"I have-a say sorry" When he does something naughty, purposeful or otherwise he runs away immediately when we scold him, then he says he wants to say sorry on his own accord, and then sweetly does so. As in "I'm sorry for peeing on your pack-pack (back pack) daddy"
-"This is the biggest hammer ever seen!" There are a lot of ordinary things that are the "best" or "biggest" thing Donovan's ever seen.

One last story. The other day Donovan and I were in his bed looking at the pictures on my cell phone. One picture was of the Sydney Opera house and he pointed at the different size scallops of the opera house and was telling me all about their sizes. Donovan: "This one is sooooooo huge, and this one is sooooooo little, and this one is soooooo tiny, and this one is sooooooo medium." Man I love that kid.

Big girl bath

Tonight Reese had her first bath in the big girl blow up tub. Since she can sit and all now. She really liked it until she did a face plant into the water right at the same time I was turning back around from reaching for her towel so she learned inhaling water is not so fun. Donovan was trying to be a helper but really he just got in my way and stressed me way out by throwing every toy in with Reese and just being a pest in general. He is VERY 2 right now. Some moment's he is sweet, and then there's the rest of the day. But that's for another post. Oh well. Hopefully it's just a phase. Thank the lord for angel, almost 7 month old babies though.