Imagination

Audrey's imagination is so entertaining lately. It is really intriguing to us because she went from not talking, to suddenly talking a lot, to now talking non stop and making up fun stories. It first started a couple of weeks ago with made up words. She uses them in a silly context, like she'll say "haha that's so blaley" or "are you Goshwa?" I'm like no....I'm mama. Then she laughs and says no you're Goshwa and I'm Zingo!".

The big thing though, is her "Christmas House". This is her imaginary other house, also located in "Panassas Park", although this one is "really so far away so we have to drive there". Some of the things at her Christmas house are: a leopard, a bird named Poc, and an imaginary made up animal (Name I cannot remember) that makes a sound like a Moo, but its more like "Moooeeeerrrrp". She also has a red pickup truck that she drives. We are allowed to ride in it with her.

When we see something on TV or at a store that she wants she'll say its ok if we don't get it because she already has it at her Christmas house anyways.

The night before we took her ice skating, we told her we're going on a special family adventure tomorrow. She replied, "yeah! And we're going to ride on a camel with the King!". Daddys the King and she of course, is the princess. JJ and I are the Prince and the Queen, but we don't get to ride on the camel.

There are so many times throughout each day that I wish I could just have a camera in the corner recording our conversations. I try to write them down when they occur so that I'll remember them but that doesn't always happen. In addition to her imagination, she has also become quite the negotiator. Everything is "But! BUT...!!" followed by some explanation as to why she can't do what I've told her to do/not do.

She had her first playdate a couple weekends ago with a friend from school. She's had many over the years with other friends, but they've always been with MY friends' kids, not friends that she made on her own. But this was a girl from school who came over with her mom and I really enjoyed watching them together. The other girl was shy, and I'm used to Audrey being the shy one....so it was really surprising to see her talking so much and encouraging the other girl to play games with her since it is usually the other way around. I think it also is that she's just maturing and becoming more comfortable around other people. She's always been so quiet and shy around others at first, so its nice to see her being herself and opening up around people. She has grown so much in these past few months since school, especially the last two months since Christmas. It has been like one big developmental spurt - language, intelligence, imagination - all of it has just boomed recently. I can't wait to see where the next few months take us!

Joshua's First Birthday

First I'll say this - the first year went by SO MUCH FASTER with him than it did with Audrey. Its like I looked away for a moment and he was 6 months old, then I blinked and he was a year old. Luckily I have the blog and plenty of photos and videos to refer back to when I need a reminder of what he was like at those baby stages. 

 

For his first birthday party, we decided to do a brunch and pajamas party instead of our usual cookout type, since it so cold and we didn't want to have to be outside. Good thing too, because the weather was crappy and there was slushy snow on the ground. We served a bunch of yummy brunch foods, mimosas, homemade hot chocolate, and some other treats and most of the party was spent eating and socializing. The house was so full! We definitely need a bigger house now that we have a winter birthday, because 30+ people left us all feeling squeezed. I'm going to have to get creative for his birthdays in the future because I'm not sure we can keep doing the inside-our-home thing year after year. He got lots and lots of new toys and clothes so he's really set for quite a while. Thank you everyone for being a part of his first year and for celebrating with us!

We had his one year photos done with Misty a few days after his big day. She did such a great job as always, and even got some good family shots (and our big announcement!) and some nice ones of the kids together. When he got to the cake smash, he needed a little encouragement, but not much! He mad a huge mess and went straight to the bath when we were done. Crashed for a nice long nap afterward, too! I'd like to say this was his first time eating cake/sweets as it was when Audrey turned one, but this poor second child has been getting little sneaks of treats since he was 7 months old. Parenting fail?

I had hoped he would be walking by his first birthday, but he definitely was not. In fact, he was only beginning to stand without holding on to anything by that time. I'm happy to say that now at 13 months, he's walking and looks so cute doing it. He takes these tiny baby steps with his arms out and he's very slow and careful about it. Such a different experience from Audrey, because she learned to walk and never crawled again, only ran. He got his first pair of walking shoes last week and I've been encouraging him to walk when we're out, but after a dozen steps or so, he gets tired and just wants to crawl to get there faster. I understand that since I'm pretty lazy too. He definitely likes to keep me on my toes even when he's not walking though - he is a climber. He will push furniture across the room in order to be able to climb on top of a table. I had to remove the two pink chairs that go with the coloring table because he would climb them to get on top of the table and would just sit up there and stare out the window or play with his toys. He hasn't fallen yet, but I know its coming so I went ahead and took the chairs to another room. He tries to climb out of his crib but he's still to short. I'm sure its only a matter of time before his arms are strong enough to pull his body up...or he discovers that he can pile up his stuffed animals and blankets and use them to climb up.

 

He eats like a grown man. I swear every time I turn around he's signing "eat" or "milk", and he's been out-eating Audrey for months. I didn't expect to have to add him in to our food budget so early, but he can eat a whole pork chop by himself if I let him! Must have daddy's metabolism because at his 12 month appointment I think he was only 22 lbs. He's got such a personality now too. A fiery one. He is such a little snuggle bug most of the time, but when he's angry you better watch out. He throws things, hits, yells, and throws tantrums that I did not expect from a just-turned-one year old. He is also a crybaby and can turn on the tears at any moment. He's lucky his crying face is so cute (well, it is to me) because it usually means he gets picked up....which probably only encourages him to throw tantrums more but whatever.

Joshua's first year was so much fun and I can't wait to see him grow over this next year. He's currently in my very favorite stage...the young toddler months. I know he is going to change so much in the coming months and of course I'll be taking a million pictures to document it all. Hopefully I can find time to fill in here, too!

Wrapping up a very blessed 2013

We have already had a very busy start to 2014, but let me back up a bit. The end of last year was packed full with Joshua's first birthday and Christmas, and all that goes in to that. My mom came for Christmas and Josh's mom came for JJ's birthday, so our house was packed full for the month of December!

Gigi and her babies

Christmas came right on the heels of Joshua's birthday, but luckily we had gotten much of our shopping done already. This was Audrey's first year of really understanding Santa and that he brings presents and everything. She was so excited which also made it really special for us. It was fun to stay up wrapping presents and to see how excited she was when she got her Hello Kitty Helicopter that she's been asking for since September. She was nearly in tears when she opened it! They were given so so many gifts by our family and friends and for that we are very grateful. Thank you all!

 

Audrey's first Christmas preschool show was also in December. It was a short little performance of three and four year olds singing Christmas songs. Audrey was dressed as a shepherd and when she first came in I didn't recognize her. It took me a while to find her in the group and when we did find each other, she started jumping and screaming from the stage, "That's my mommy! LOOK LOOK!! MY mommy is here!" She also was telling the kids next to her that her Gigi was there and she screamed, "Where's JJ?!" since he wasn't with us. It was honestly the best feeling to see her so proud up there and singing her little heart out (I could hear her singing before I could see her!). She sure loves to sing.

We are still trying to settle back in to our routine, but it feels like we just can't get there. Josh's schedule just changed at work so we're adjusting to that, plus with all the snow days we have had it feels like we haven't had a normal week since the beginning of December. Audrey is also doing gymnastics once a week which she LOVES. It makes me so happy to see her in the gym really opening up and being confident self. It normally takes her so long to feel comfortable with new people and new environments but she took to this activity immediately. She' starting to open up more at school too. Her teacher tells me she's talking more and playing with the other kids more, whereas the first part of the school year she would just kind of do her own thing. Maybe my shy girl is finally coming out of her shell.

 

I had my 20 week ultrasound last week and everything looks perfect! No, we didn't find out the sex. Heartbeat was around 145, the baby is really active, and has all of his/her limbs, as far as we could tell. He is measuring 1-2 weeks ahead both on the ultrasound and when the doctor measured my belly, but they aren't changing the due date just yet. She also said the baby is sitting up really high in my uterus, which I already knew. I popped really early with this one so it should be interesting to see how much bigger my belly gets than with my other pregnancies.

 

 

 

Baby Falcon #3

That's right! As everyone now knows (thanks for the awesome picture below!), we are expecting another little one next June!

We found out really early again, around 4 weeks. I had a feeling I might be pregnant (nothing specific, just a hunch), but since I was breastfeeing full time, I figured there really wasn't much chance. So when the test was positive, I couldn't help but laugh!

We told Audrey right away. She immediately understood, which is fun because she was still too young to grasp when I was pregnant with JJ. She said right away that she wants a sister. What if it's a boy, I asked. "But I already have a brother". Haha. I told her she might get another brother and she said, "to steal my Legos?". Apparently she feels that brothers are thieves! She tried to be very gentle around me and tells me she doesn't want to hurt our baby. Such a sweet sister. She is so much more involved with her baby cousin Liam than she was when Joshua was an infant, so I'm very excited to see her when we bring our new baby home.

I'm feeling great so far, just tired! I think that's part of having two kids, though. Plus I've been tired during all of my pregnancies so this is nothing new! I'll be glad when the weather warms up and we can get outside more, because staying in the house makes me feel even more sleepy. Other than exhaustion, I have pretty much no pregnancy symptoms. I forget I'm pregnant all the time! I had some food aversions early on and basic lack of appetite but no real nausea or throwing up. I have had two appointments so far, but they didn't give me the sonogram picture unfortunately. I'm sure you can imagine what it looks like though! I have my 20 week ultrasound next month, so we will get a good look at him/her then. I've got a bump already but I kind of never really lost it after Joshua was born, so it's hard to say where the baby is in there. Here is a picture of me at 13 weeks.

Like always, We aren't finding out the sex. Either way, we already have lots of clothes and gear to get us through! All I need to buy is another full set cloth diapers since Joshua still has 2 more years in his. JJ will be 18 months when the new baby comes home, so he will still be in his crib. The baby will sleep in the cosleeper/our bed for at least 6 months and then we will reassess the bed situation. If JJ is ready for a twin at that point (he'll be 2) we will go ahead and do that and use the crib for the baby. If not, we will just buy another crib. 

 

So that about sums up everything there is to know at this point. We can't wait for another little Falcon to rouse up some chaos with the siblings!!

Bedtime Negotiations

We've been struggling with bedtime. We're back to the bedtime negotiations, which include, but are not limited to:
I need water
I don't like that book I want a different book
I have to pee
I have to poop
I want another book
I need my earrings out
I want different jammies
I need more water
I need bedtime kisses
I need three kisses not two because I'm three not two
I don't want the covers
I want the covers
Only a little covers
I'm hungry
My hair hurts
Look at my finger
I need a bandaid
I have to pee again
I don't want any covers (again)
I need to cuddle
But don't touch me
Don't touch my stuff either
Don't look at me
I want the covers (again)
I need my friends (stuffed animals)
I need more friends
I need more water
I DON'T WANT THE COVERS

Each time we leave the room, she reminds that we forgot to give her goodnight kisses for that goodnight session. We can only give her the specific number of kisses that she assigns for that incident. Too many or too few is NOT OK.

This goes on for about 25 minutes AFTER LIGHTS OUT, on a normal night. Tonight was only 10 minutes, consisting of her yelling downstairs, "What's Liam doing?", "Who is your mom" "Who is my mom" "What month are we in" and of course, "I'm not tired" and "I want the covers". I finally just told her to reach down and grab them and pull them up and go to sleep, to which she responded, "Alright Mom!" and that was it.

Good Night.

December

Moving toward the end of the year, already. How so fast? Baby JJ will be one in a few days, but he still feels like a baby to me. He is so cuddly and loves to be held, plus he isn't walking so its easy for me to hold on to this last bit of babyhood with him. I know soon he will be a Toddler and this phase will be over, so I am enjoying these moments.

 

We went and picked put our Christmas tree this weekend. Of course Audrey picked the biggest one! We had to get something a little shorter but it is plenty fat. Once it drops and settles, it will be huge. She and I went to pick up some more lights, and while we were at the store I asked her how she wanted to decorate the tree. So you wonder, what happens when you ask a three year old girl how she would like to decorate? Well, you get purple, pink, and lots of glitter of course. It's actually really cute and I am so happy she can help us with things like this now. We went shopping together this weekend, just the two of us. She is such a big girl now and instead of sitting in the cart, she wants to walk. She has finally grown out of her "running" stage so I can trust her to stay with me while we walk. She even picked up her own basket and put her ornaments in there, and yesterday she picked out a toy for JJ for his birthday. She says it is very special and he will really like it. I know he will. :)

 

She's saying funny things every day. Today in the car she asked (Frantically), "Do I look so pretty? I forgot to look in the mirror at home!". I was shocked! I never talk about my appearance and I've never caught her checking herself out in the mirror before, so I'm not really sure where this came from. Later she came up to me and said, "Look at this booger!" while holding out her hand. Um, no thanks. She is so funny. She's asserting herself and demanding independence more and more every day. She doesn't want me to pick out her clothes. This is fine with me, I don't mind if she doesn't match (well, it DOES bother me, but I let her do it anyways), but the one problem is that she only wants to wear dresses. She only has a couple of long sleeve dresses, so we either have to layer shirts underneath or sweaters on top. I'm sure her teachers are wondering why I send her to school looking like she's headed to Sunday School, but I can't help it. If she wants to dress up, so be it.

Thanksgiving was nice this year. We spent some of the day at Cheryle's with Rachel, Gabe, Lauren, and Liam. Then we headed over to Josh's cousin Jill's house where we had dinner and spent the rest of the evening. The kids had fun but man were they worn out by the end! The next day we went to my dad's house for more gathering and eating. I love the holidays. Although it can be exhausting, I enjoy spending time with all of the family, and of course all the food. :)

We are all looking forward to celebrating Joshua's first birthday next week and of course, more celebrations for Christmas and New Years. More updates to come!

Poor Baby JJ!

He's so neglected on here! Poor second child. I was scrolling through my recent posts when I realized I hadn't updated about him in months. :( 

He is, of course, doing great. He's just a month away from his first birthday (OMG) and he is busy as can be! Crawling everywhere, and he also likes to "bear crawl" on his hands and feet with his butt in the air. He is nowhere close to walking! He won't even stand up unassisted - even though I know he can. I set him down on his feet the other day and let go. He stood there for a second, turned toward Audrey, and took a step before sitting down. This was the first and only time he has stood up unassisted and I haven't been able to get him to do it again. I think he's just too lazy! haha. I try not to get into comparison mode (Audrey was walking at 10 months) and remind myself that they are so different and he will walk when he feels like it.

He "talks" a lot. He says mama, dada, doggie, uh-oh, and he can "rawr" like a lion. He nods yes and no. He eats everything we eat, with the exception of peanut butter. I haven't tried it yet, but probably will shortly after he turns one. He's still breastfeeding, but I also give him whole milk in a sippy cup throughout the day. He prefers nursing to the sippy cup, but we will be weaned by the end of the year I predict. He's not been the best nurser, and our time is just coming to a close. It makes me a little sad, but for various reasons, I'm ready to be done for now.

He was sleeping through the night for a while there after we moved him into the bedroom he now shares with Audrey. I couldn't believe when we put him in the crib in there that he slept straight through the first night! He did that for a couple of months but then around 9 months he started waking again. He currently wakes once or twice a night to eat. I predict that will stop too once we aren't nursing anymore. He naps like a champ...one to two hours in the morning and 2-3 in the afternoon. This is sooooo nice. Audrey NEVER did this (40 mins twice a day..ugh!) so I figure his willingness to let me rest during the day makes up for his night waking. I don't mind it at all!

He has six teeth. Four up top and two on the bottom. He has been a pretty easy teether, some minor crankiness but almost no drool and it didn't come with ear infections like it always did with Audrey. He knows how to use those few teeth, though! We went through a rough patch where he would bite me while nursing...not cool. That stopped, but he still bites occasionally. He doesn't do it out of malice, but because he's just getting used to having them and using them for what they're intended! In addition to the biting thing, our sweet, gentle boy has quite a temper. He's very emotional overall, actually. He YELLS at us, he throws things (then looks at us to see our reaction), he gets too rough when we're playing and he hits, and when he gets upset, he throws the saddest, most pathetic Break-Your-Heart face at us and usually ends up getting his way. He does NOT like to be told no, it immediately induces tears.

 

 

Most of the time, though, he's a happy and easy going guy. He likes to eat, he loves his smoothies, and he laughs for much of the day. He thinks Audrey is the most entertaining thing in the world! He likes to cuddle and he dances to any music he hears. He is starting to warm up to his cousin Liam, but at first he DID NOT like him. I think he realized (quickly) that Liam is a little baby and he isn't anymore.