Tuesday, August 28, 2012

Caleb Asher is 10 Months


10 Months!!

Weight:  25-26 lbs to make a wild guess (Addison only weighs 30, he is about to pass her!)
Height:  Not a clue, 29 inches?
Diaper Size: 4
Clothing Size: 18-24 months; not just in girth believe it not but in height


Overall: I could kiss his big old cheeks and tickle him all day long if I could!  Every inch of his body is ticklish  and he has the most contagious gooberlicious giggle!  He has been teething and getting over a random snotty nose so his sleep was a tad wacky but overall he is doing well sleeping!

He finally learned to sit himself up this month consistently and can pop up on his hands and knees with no hesitation but just does not go anywhere. The crib will be lowered this weekend, even though I am confident this kids is not getting mobile anytime soon.

He LOVES being out and about and is really chatting /babbling with a lot more purpose now.  He can says "Hi" and "Hi Dada" in the sweetest airy whisper.  My favorite development this month is he is pointing at things; I loved it when Addison started doing that too :)

Independent play time is going very well, he is up to 15 minutes once a day.  We will keep it here until he gets mobile; we want to give him plently of pracitice and space to get his major motor skills going.  His size (like big sister) makes it difficult to get moving but we are not worried.

A friend once told me, when talking about her youngest child, that she was so glad her youngest took a little longer to meet some milestones (teeth, crawling, walking, sitting up, etc) because she loved that she was still SUCH a baby.  I did not quite understand that until now.  I LOVE that Caleb still cannot crawl or walk and needs us still.  Its sweet.  I love that he is still so "babyish" as my friend put it.



Hi (he actually says "hi" with an airy whisper) I am Caleb Asher Grant and yesterday I turned 10 months old.  

I LIKE...
... mischief.
...eating anything, especially green beans, turkey loaf and cherrios!
...to sit myself up.
...to sleep late in the morning sometimes.
...anything to do with Daddy-his name, looking at him, playing with him and even pictures of him.
...make mommy and daddy THINK I am going to learn to crawl.
...watching my big sister do everything!
...to let everyone know when I am unhappy.
...popciles.
...to put everything in my mouth, big and small; eatable and ineatable; alive and dead.
...music.
...dancing.
...cell phones, but only real ones--I know if you are tricking me with a silly fake toy phone.
...sunggle and hug every stuffed animal, baby doll and blanket I can find.
...FaceTime.
...to twirl my hands and feet when I get excited.
...my stroller, especially the double when Addy is riding next to me because I can constantly touch her :)
...to be tickled because I am ticklish---ALL OVER!
...the car!

I DO NOT LIKE...
...liquid feedings, they are so boring.
...watching everyone else move around while I am stuck just rolling around.
...not being able to do something.
...when you take anything away from me, even if it is not a toy.
...loud noises.
...being left with strangers unless it is at MY house because clearly my house is the best.
...tofu.
...trying to crawl.
...to sit still.
...to be predictable.
...to sleep without my sleep sack on.
...when I cannot sleep for a nap because I cannot lay myself down.
...waking up in the middle of the night.
...to do anything quickly; I like to relish the moment.


















Addison the Jukebox

Enjoy.

This is the song I sing only to her.  It's from a book I read growing up.






Nebraska Home Tour: Living Room

Next up...living room.  FOR ADULTS ONLY :)


Those stairs on the left lead to the bedrooms and two bathrooms.
Stairs on the right go to the front door and entryway.  The layout of the house is considered a one and a half story; I actually love the layout except for the garage door being SO loud and right above the bedrooms.  The kids dont seem to notice the noise of the garage door at night/early morning though.

Window seat is home to lots of pictures.


Monday, August 27, 2012

Nebraska Home Tour: Addison's Room

Yet another thing I am thankful for---the children have their own rooms right now.  I still love the idea of them sharing a room, so they may someday but while we are potty training, sleep training, paci dropping, liquid feed dropping, teething and everything else back to back, separate rooms will be nice.  Sometimes I think twins might have been easier ;)  by the time one is threw with a transition the other is right behind; keeps us on our toes!

Check out Addison's room.  I LOVE IT!  Since these were taken we put up green curtains.  And YES, she is still in a crib, PRAISE THE LORD!!!!









Sunday, August 26, 2012

Potty Training: Method, Prep and Reward Strategy

METHOD: We opted for an aggressive approach to potty train. We basically carved out three to four days to focus completely on potty training. For the first two days, there was always someone with Addison to help with process while the other took care of Caleb. We are closing out day two as a write this.

PREP: Leading up to the big day, she picked out "undies", special potty treats (she selected M&Ms, skittles and Dora fruit snacks) and a special potty drink (she selected fruitables Elmo and cookie monster juices). Several days ahead of time we started talking about the new undies, we washed them and put them in a special spot. The day before, we put the potty treats put where she could see them, hoping to prompt a discussion. As we put her to bed the night before, we talked about wearing the undies, how exciting it would be and how/when she would be rewarded. After she was in bed, we pulled out a potty chair, put the treats and undies on display nearby and put a diaper on her favorite baby doll.

We also bought a few "bigger prizes" from the dollar bin at target. The PLAN is after several days of the consumable prizes, we would begin rewarding on a chart where after X number of successful trips she could pick a prize. Then if needed, we would start rewarding for number of days she is accident free with a trip to the library. We shall see what is needed to keep her on task :)

REWARD STRATEGY: She is rewarded to staying dry and clean (one treat from the treat jar) and for a successful trip to the potty (two treats). We do not distinguish between #2 or #1. They receive the same reward.

CHANGES: As we close out day 2, I don't have any changes so far to the above areas. There are several things I would do differently on day one and day two, but i will discuss those in subsequent posts.

Hope this helps my mommy friends out there.....and maybe this will help with potty training caleb one day......a very very long time from now.

One last thing before I go to bed----I am exhausted from potty training!!!!!! Whew!!!!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Saturday, August 25, 2012

Precious Moment: God IS So Good

We put Addison to bed as usual at 8 pm. We turned on her monitor a few minutes later to be sure she was asleep (we had a big day so we thought she may have a bit of trouble winding down) and she was. Not a peep.

At about 9:45 pm we heard a loud noise outside followed by something coming from the kids rooms. So, we turned on the monitor to double check. A few moments later over the monitor we hear the sweetest voice singing:

"God is so good,
God is so good,
God is so good,
He's so good to me.

God cares for me,
God cares for me,
God cares for me,
He's so good to me"

My little joy, you are right. He IS SO good, especially for giving us you.

I rarely tear up over happy things, but this made me tear up. I love that little honey hair colored, greened eyed, talkative, sassy, compassionate, tough, long and lean little girl!!!!!! And I am quite proud and honored to be her mommy!!!!!


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Friday, August 24, 2012

Nebraska Home Tour: Dining Room

Continuing in the series of showing our new home, we move into the dining room.  Since these photos, we have hung some additional items on the walls and finished putting our china in the cabinet.

We have never had enough space to unpack our china since we got married, which is a shame because I cook a lot (as you know) and I have people over for meals...a lot!!  I am excited to finally be able to have it out and ready to use.  These china cabinets are third hand from some friends.  I think it started with the Mills went to the Ewerths and now us.  I am never too good for a hand me down!!!




This is with your back in the living room; the doorway in the upper right is the breakfast area and kitchen.  We do not use the breakfast area.  I do not think we will ever own enough furniture to fill a place like this

Thursday, August 23, 2012

Paci Fairy Came to Visit

The paci fairy came to visit Addison a couple of weeks ago.  She has only had a paci in her crib since about 12 months.  There were bigger things to worry about other than dropping a paci in bed between 12 months and now--28 months (namely introducing a new sibling at only 18 months, starting school, a move across the country, etc.).  So once things from the move settled, we told Addison the Paci Fairy was coming to visit her.

We spent a week decorating a box to contain the pacis.  We told her that one night we would put her pacis in the box and the paci fairy would visit and take them to baby girls who do not have any pacis.  In exchange for Addison's kindness to the baby girls, the fairy would bring her a very special prize.  Addison really took to the concept of baby girls getting her old pacis.  She still requests to see them, hug them and kiss them.

With great excitement, she placed the pacis in the box and closed the lid.  She paused and realized they were realized they were gone and instantly requested them.  The tears started.  "I changed my mind, no fairy please"  and even in her most non whinning voice "May I have my paci please?".  It broke my heart to see her sad, but as with anything the key is to stand firm.  She had her other comfort items (snuggle blanket and baby doll).  We kissed her and said we would be back in 10 minutes to check on her.  She cried.  After 10 minutes we walked in, kissed her and left.  Crying continued.  10 minutes later, we walked in, kissed her and left.  No discussions.  We repeated it one more time.  She cried 40 minutes then was asleep until 830 am the next morning.

The next morning she woke up to lip gloss and a baby doll stroller.  She has not stopped pushing that thing around since.

Nap time the next day was a doozie as I imagined it would be.  She cried for about an hour before going to sleep.  Since it was nap time we did not continue to check on her.

Over the course of three more days the crying became less and less.  By day 4, everything was back to normal.  I did not expect it to go that well honestly, but I am thankful it did.  She still talks about the fairy and she is very concerned about her dolls and Caleb having a paci, but she NEVER asks for hers.  I am so proud of her--always thinking of others.

Would I change the timing of the whole thing?  NOPE.  Not a chance.  We did what was right for HER given all the changes going on in her little short life.

We had to paint rocks too :)










Nebraska Home Tour: Playroom Wonderland

Here is the first in a series of posts showing our new home in Nebraska.  I cannot say it enough, we are blessed with this new place---we have so much more room to spread out.  We came from 1000 square feet and only two bedrooms so I hardly know what to do with all this space!

First up--Playroom Wonderland.  This is probably one of my favorite rooms in the house.  Previously, we used our living room as the primary place to play and since I do not like toys just sitting out everywhere in plain site on a regular basis, it meant we had to be creative with storage and clean up.  Although we (Addison included) clean the playroom everyday before nap and bedtime it is wonderful for the children to have a place to play together and spread out.  And the adults have their own space; I do not take these separate areas for granted!
This is sorta the guest quarters too since there is a half bath off this room.  We use the bed as a couch for reading time.  The playpen is for Caleb's daily independent play time--and to keep big sister from knocking him over when I am out of the room.

 Addison calls that her "Castle".

For the artist during art time and when we work on letters/numbers (which, sadly, has been rare lately).

 Can you tell how we spend most our time?  READING! 
My FAVORITE memory of the play room already is walking in to find Addison reading "The Lorax" to Caleb; she has most of it memorized so she told the story quite well!

Music Corner.

My mom's BEAUTIFUL stained glass.  An A and a C for the princess and prince of this playroom wonderland.

Thursday, August 2, 2012

Happy, Happy, Very Happy 9 Months Caleb!

9 months!!! Wow.  Our sweet Little Caleb, is 9 months now, it just cannot be true.




Weight. 23 lbs 8.5 oz (three weeks ago); 81 or 91% (I can't remember)
Height: 29 inches (three weeks ago); 86%
Diaper size: 4
Clothing: 18 month, busting out in length!!!!
Overall: We KNEW Caleb was a sweetheart deep down inside and now that his tummy trouble is figured out, he is just simply a sweet joy to be around.
Dairy:  We decided to have his 9 month vist about two weeks so we could have the visit before the big move to Nebraska.  To summarize, NO dairy until 15 to 18 months.  The doctor recommended when we wean to a cup At 12 months, to start with plain almond milk.
Mobility: He is going nowhere fast.  He rolls around but no crawling and THANKFULLY no walking!
Talking: He can say baby, daddy and addy
Cup: He LOVES using a cup and does FANASTIC using it
Eating:  Boy, looooves to eat!!!  He is eating lots of finger foods now and he loves it!!!

Dearest Caleb:  Your smile lights up a room and your cackle is contagious!  I am so thankful to see to see you feeling well, FINALLY.  I will always regret how long it took to discover your intense allergy/intolerance to dairy.  I hate that MY diet hurt you, but I know the benefits of avoiding formula so long was worth the pain.  Thank you for being our sweet, sensitive, cuddly little boy.  Love is not strong enough to describe how we feel about you!!!!