9 months!

I realized today I haven't given a nine month update on little miss...and she'll be 10 months old next week. In my defense, we were traveling back from Florida on her 9 month birthday, and we've been battling various illnesses ever since. Tis the season I guess. This month brought in fevers, pink eye, and colds for most of us, but Esmé got hit the hardest.  She just finished up a round of antibiotics this morning so hopefully she can get a break, but she was basically sick the entire month of February. On top of that, we've had teething thrown into the mix...a lot of teething.  The girl doesn't get a single tooth until she's 8.5 months old and then BAM, she gets five in five weeks.  She's had a a couple of weeks now without a new tooth coming through, but I see three working their way in.

Other than being sick, she's been her perfectly pleasant self...although I get the feeling she'll be a very opinionated toddler. Ha!  She has been my earliest baby to sit and crawl, but I don't think she'll be my earliest walker.  She cruises everywhere, and has stood unassisted multiple times, but she's much too cautious to really try and walk. Maybe she'll be my "graceful" kid.   Her favorite times of the day are when her older siblings run in to wake her up in the morning, and bath time..she LOVES bath time!  She's very observant and social, but is definitely a momma's girl.  She loves other babies, hates dogs (especially smaller dogs who like to lick her face), and is indifferent to cats.  Her favorite foods are string cheese, apples, scrambled eggs with ham, stir fried veggies, pancakes, and anything else as long as it's smothered in pesto (that's right...pesto).

Her 9 month check up was more like her 9.5 month check up (everything has been late this month), and though she was pretty sick at the time, we had a great visit.  She weighed 15 lbs 13oz, (15%) and measured 27.5 inches long (38%)...although I'm a little skeptical that length is accurate.

Her birthday is just around the corner! A sad thought for me, but it also means warmer weather is on its way...as well as cute little sun dresses that show off her cute chubby toddler arms. We are ready for spring!!

Who wouldn't want to wake up to people twice your size jumping in your bed.

I had to prop her up a couple of times to help her breath. 

Gemma not letting her in the bathroom hahaha.

She's getting to be a little sneaky.

They were all very intently watching Tangled. Makael's face cracks me up!

"I'm adorable regardless of what mismatched outfit I'm wearing!" 

Oh so helpful.

Veggies with pesto. 

She LOVES pesto!

Family "vacation"

You'll have to bear with me, this will most likely be a long post.  For various reasons, I've had a hard time getting myself to blog, and now I don't know where to even start.  A lot happens in 3 months. Since my last post Gemma turned 5, we celebrated Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years, and Esmé went from sitting to cruising around furniture...that's just listing a few. So instead of writing a book trying to recap everything, I'll make this first post of 2015 about our latest family adventure...our trip to Disney World.  I call it an adventure, because in no way could it be called a vacation. Traveling with three young children is NOT a vacation, at least not for me. This was our first time flying with kids, and I have to admit I was pretty nervous about it. I had this fear that one of them was going to throw up everywhere, or one of them would scream the whole time from ear pain. Admittedly, all possible scenarios still seemed better than driving the whole way...so we went for it. Thankfully, both the flight there and back went superbly. We did have one guy give a not so subtle eye roll when he saw our party of five in the row behind his (thanks dude), but we also got several comments on how great our kids were, and how easy we made traveling with 3 look. Considering I was a ball of nervous energy the whole time, those comments meant the world to me.

Our first day was a little short of fantastic. We originally thought we would be meeting up with Clay and his family from day 1, but they weren't able to get there until late that evening, so we were on our own. We got to Orlando pretty early in the day so we decided to hit up Magic Kingdom for at least a couple of hrs.  We were all exhausted from being up at 4:45 and traveling so it wasn't as "magical" as we had hoped, but it helped us get an idea of what we wanted to do the following day.  We went back to the hotel, had some dinner, and let Gemma go for a swim, which she had been begging to do since we had landed.  Pretty sure that heated pool was one of the trip highlights for her.  

The next day we got to Magic Kingdom pretty early, this time armed with a stroller, a plan, an aunt and uncle, two cousins, and one grandpa (grandma stayed with a feverish Esmé back at the hotel). It was cold and rainy which doesn't seem ideal, but it kept the crowds away and we were able to cram in lots of rides, shows, and fun.  According to my dad's phone app, we logged 8 miles of walking! Both kids surprised me with how much they liked the roller coasters.  I must have been a total wimp as a kid, because they terrified me at that age! Gemma even liked Space Mountain! Makael's favorite part was the Jungle Cruise, which is basically just a boat ride and a bunch of fake animals.  He was in heaven! Gemma loved everything, but especially the big parade where she got to see all of her favorite characters. She's convinced that Anna and Elsa waved at her specifically from their float because she was wearing her special frozen shirt. Sweet girl! Makael was more entranced by the fire breathing dragon...which really was quite spectacular.

The third day we went to Hollywood. We were one man short since grandpa stayed with grandma and Esmé, but we had an extra stroller so Makael and cousin Aksel had a lot less walking to do (and we had a lot less carrying to do hahaha). We filled the day once again with rides, shows, and fun.  The Hollywood park seemed a little more low key to me. Less rides, but more shows, so we had a lot more sitting time.  That was nice! Makael got to meet Woody and Buzz, and got to play hard at the Honey I Shrunk The Kids park. That was most definitely his favorite part.  Gemma hit the jackpot not once but twice! She got hand picked to be the "princess" and go up to meet Belle and get a rose from the prince after the Beauty and the Beast show. That was nice for us too since it meant front row seats! Then later, she got picked again to welcome the crowd at the Little Mermaid show.  She got to stand in front of everyone and talk into the microphone. 

Maybe when the kids are older and we decide to do Disney again we will do more than three days. For this trip however, it was just right. Actually it was exhausting. After a full day at Hollywood, we started the four hour drive down to Miami. Not sure who's terrible idea it was to make the drive that night (ummm Clay's), but we arrived around 1:00 a.m. Thankfully the kids slept most of the way, so the only ones who were sleep deprived and cranky the next day were the adults.  Miami was basically the opposite of what we experience at Disney World.  It was warm, sunny, and relaxing...which was perfect.  Besides making sure we went to the aquarium for Makael's sake, there wasn't much on the agenda. We got to see a little of Miami, had some down time by the pool, great sushi, and lots of play time with the cousins.

It really was an awesome trip and one I would definitely do again...once I have fully recovered hahaha. The best part was just seeing the kids have fun and watching their faces light up. One for the books. 

To see pictures:
https://www.facebook.com/audrey.y.boyd/media_set?set=a.934491506574647.1073741831.100000414194522&type=1

E is 6 months old!

Here we are again, celebrating another 6 month birthday. It's always a hard one for me to write about. Six months is kind of a big deal in a baby's life.  They're half way done with their first year, learning new things, eating new foods, making all kinds of new sounds...it's a big deal.

Six months ago we were bringing Esmé home, not knowing much about her besides that she was tiny and perfect. During those first weeks (maybe even months) there's a pretty big learning curve with every baby.  Esmé was incredibly easy from day one, but I still had to figure out feedings, set a sleeping pattern, find time to eat/shower/clean, get three kids out the door, etc.  At the beginning it was so much about "figuring things out" that it didn't really sink in that she was her own little person who would eventually develop her own personality, do her own cute little things, and would one day be running around playing with Gemma and Makael. I don't think it really hit me that she was "mine", and here to stay, until she was about 3 months old. Ha!  But here we are, 6 months in, and while she's not running around just yet, she's most definitely her own little person, with her own personality, doing all sorts of cute things.  She sits on her own now, gives kisses, says "dadada" in a very high pitch voice, rolls around, tries desperately to scoot forward while managing to only push herself backwards, puts everything in her mouth, has no real interest in baby food yet, and is 13 lbs 14 oz and 24.25 inches of pure adorable

Sitting so well!

6 months today!

Happy as all get out...little did she know we were headed to the doctor for her 6 month check up :( 

The Big Sister

Let's talk about my strong willed, take charge, "let's make mom pull her hair out" kid for a bit.  She's very passionate in everything she does (good and bad), and her daily emotional up and down swings are enough to leave me dizzy. But gosh I love her! The other morning I took Makael a glass of water to help calm his cough a little, knowing I would fall asleep next to him, I brought my phone in with my alarm set for 4:45.  I have it set to this really obnoxious loud horn type sound so I make sure and get up ha!  I turned it off pretty quickly when it went off, but it still woke Gemma up.  I heard her come down from the top bunk and then whisper, "Come on Makael". As soon as she realized I was in the room her voice started quivering as she said, "That scared me. I thought it was the fire alarm". Oh goodness it was so sweet! She has really become a "big sister". She doesn't just play with Makael now, she looks after him a lot.  It pulls at my heart every time I see it.  She's also amazing with Esmé. She sings her songs, reads her stories, brings her toys, and gets excited at every little milestone.  They both love her. Esmé and Makael on the other hand, still don't have much of a friendship...or any kind of relationship. Esmé usually just looks at him with an expression of bewilderment, and Makael only gives her the time of day if she's wearing her elephant or whale pjs. For the time being, Gemma is the glue holding the siblings together :)

Her 5th birthday is just a few weeks away! She's been planning her party since March...not even kidding.  I can't even count how many times the "theme" has changed. The closer it gets, the more she changes her mind.  At this point I have no clue what we are even going to do for her. As long as her friends are there and we have cake, I think she'll have a good time.  

Sisterly Love...

Poor Esmé is probably going to have to put up with us for years to come...

But they share sweet moments too...

Her love of coloring/drawing/painting and "doing homework" is as strong as ever...

Always a fashionista as well...

Just a few tears...by me

The last two weeks have been eventful, fun, and highly emotional for me.  I don't know how to handle one kid starting a second year of preschool and another having a birthday without shedding a few tears.

Gemma is back in preschool, back in dance class, and loving every second of it.  She thrives on being active and seeing her friends as much as possible. After her first day of school, she went out to the play ground, and at the top of her lungs yelled, "This is the best school ever!". She's still not much of a morning person, so getting her up and ready in the morning is definitely not the highlight of our day, but she's always happy once she's there.

First day of school! She didn't want her picture taken so she's "dodging" the camera.

Being a tiger. 

Makael turned 3 this last week...and I cried.  I guess technically he's still considered a "toddler", but sometime this year he'll make the leap from toddler to boy, and lose the sweet "littleness".  He's not a fan of being the center of attention so we kept things small and simple.  We had cake and presents with grandparents, and took a trip to the zoo.  Makael is all things animal right now and the zoo is nothing short of magical for him.  Our first trip to the zoo earlier this summer was fun, but he had never been there so there was no excitement leading up to it.  This time he knew what was coming, and his excitement was very evident.  He was in heaven the second we walked in.

Being shy at his "bird-day potty"

He loved blowing out the candles on his shark cake.

Gemma hadn't gotten into the party spirit yet. 

Magical!

Esmé also had a "birthday" this week.  She's 4 months old now and I can't seem to wrap my head around that.  Time is just flying.  She loves playing on her belly, tries really hard to scoot, gives juicy open mouth kisses, and has the cutest belly laugh. She now weighs 11 lbs 15 oz, is 23 inches long (10th percentile in both) and healthy as can be.

Has started putting everything in her mouth. 

Growing so pretty :)

Speaking of healthy...Makael  passed his weight check with FLYING colors!!! Remember back in February when he was hanging out in the 4th percentile for weight and diagnosed with "failure to thrive"?  Well...drum roll please...He weighs 30 lbs. now, landing him in the 32 percentile!!!!! That Pediasure is doing it's job, and worth every penny!  We still have a lot of work to do as far as getting him to eat, but there's a huge sense of relief now that we know he's gaining weight.  

Summer is almost over!

I can't believe I let a whole month go by since my last entry.  I can't do that when there's a baby around...there are too many little milestones to document!

Our days feel a little strange right now.  Gemma doesn't start preschool for another week and a half, but all of her friends/cousins are already in school, and the pool isn't open until 5:00.  I think Gemma and I are both ready for school and dance to start back up so she can see her friends regularly and we can get our fall schedule underway.  She's so excited about school this year...which makes me so happy! She's such a big kid now, and it's a little surreal for me sometimes.  She's not a baby, not a toddler...a BIG KID. I know I've said it before, but this parenting stuff gets harder and harder as they grow up.  I get a little (okay a lot) annoyed at all the emphasis put on breastfeeding vs. formula feeding, cloth diapers vs, disposable diapers, sleep training...the list just goes on and on and on. Let's face it, there's no way to do things perfectly, and in the broader scope, those things really don't matter all that much. Once they get to a certain age, parenting becomes more about developing their character, teaching them right from wrong, and helping them learn how to process their emotions. Truth be told it's flat out terrifying.  I wish I could go back to the days when my job was to help her transition from a bottle to a sippy cup. Even potty training is a lot less scary! There's no way around it, she's growing up, and growing up fast!

 Makael isn't taking his time growing up either.  In just a few short weeks he will be 3 and officially be in his last year of "toddlerhood". I have a lot of feelings about this, but I'll save those for a post closer to his actual birthday. They say there's a special bond between boys and their mommies.  I totally believe it. I was secretly relieved when we found out Esmé was a girl, I wasn't ready for Makael to lose his role as "my little boy".  He is such a fun kid and in such a great phase.
He recently got introduced to the show Wild Kratts which has only intensified his love of animals. Elephants still remain the favorite, but he has a special appreciation for kangaroos, whales, squids, and even worms now. Pretty sure his 3rd birthday will for sure be involving animals ;)
Our biggest issue with him remains getting him to eat. Our last visit with the specialist and dietitian was a little disappointing. We didn't see any progress between the visits and had to pay $400 for a complete panel of blood work, which came back normal besides letting us know he's anemic (and we already knew that).  I'm very thankful everything came back normal, but I'm frustrated we still don't have any answers. I've decided not to go back to the specialist for a while and see if I can try and get him to eat with my own methods...and by methods I mean guesses.  Thankfully I've been a little successful. He's still not eating healthy foods but I've actually been able to get him to eat cookies, cheerios, and even potato chips on a more regular basis.  I know that sounds crazy and incredibly unhealthy, but I'm not exaggerating when I say he will NOT eat solids. This is actually a huge step for him! He'll be getting weighed at his 3 year check up in a few weeks, and I'll also be discussing all of this with his regular pediatrician, We'll see where he's at and go from there.

Another little someone will be going in for a check-up...her 4 month check up! I'm glad that's still a few weeks away. Esmé is seriously THE BEST baby.  If you are planning on having a baby soon (or sometime in the future), you should seriously pray you get one just like her.  She's so easy! It's almost unfair. She can "play" on the floor for a good hour, has set herself up with the perfect nap schedule, somehow learned how to put herself to sleep without any sleep training, and sleeps 12+ hours every night. God love her! Now that she's been with us for three months, she's aquired a few nicknames, Ezzi, Ezzi Wezzi (thanks Gemma), Mae Mae, and the most popular...Chubbers. She's just a little ball of squeezable rolls! I can't wait to see how big she's gotten.  In the last month she has learned how to roll, sit in the bumbo,  and giggle (oh my gosh the cuteness!!). Sadly, she woke up this morning with her first fever. The rest of us have been sick the last couple of days so I figured it was just a matter of time, but I still hoped it would bypass her. She wasn't so lucky, but has still been her perfectly pleasant self, just asked for a few extra cuddles today.

Some pictures of nothing in particular...

"Helping" her buckle in :)

She's mastered the fake smile. 

Reading a book on "diggers" which he liked for about 30 seconds before he went to look for his animal book.  

Her chores around the house include "dusting" the baseboards. 

We got a swing set for the backyard.  It's been a huge hit. 

Something else to climb.

A good nap spot.

Happy girl

I love her eyes, her nose, her chin, her...

This is how she puts herself to sleep in 30 seconds flat...fingers in the mouth, and massages her neck with the other hand. 

Play date

Believe it or not Gemma had never had a real hair cut. She really didn't have much hair until she was about three anyway, and after than, a simple trimming by me was enough.  She finally got one! She randomly invited my friend Leah over for a "play date" and came up with a pretty detailed schedule all on her own.  On her agenda...a hair cut, buy a hula hoop, play on the jumpy toys, and get a milk shake. We didn't quite make it to the jumpy toys, but we covered everything else. She's pretty proud of her new look.  

All first hair cuts should be this exciting. 

She's so precious!

She likes it!

We had to get a picture with her play date friend Leah :)

We got the milk shake on the way home.

The next morning...still excited about it.