The one where Ellie is 10 months

Before I begin, let me just point out that this is my 300th post! WooHoo

Ellie is 10 months old. She's one little diva. It's funny how much of their personality you can tell even when they can't talk and have limited ways to express themselves. Taegen will literally throw a stuffed animal at her and her world falls apart. And when I say throw I mean gently toss one at her. haha 

-She doesn't like hardly any solids. She prefers to eat baby food. And even with that she's still really picky. She won't eat carrots, green beans or squash. Will mildly tolerate the mixed vegetable blends (both the orange and green ones). She actually likes peas, sweet potatoes and the corn and sweet potato mix
-Still no movement. She turns around in a circle to get what she needs, whether shes on her belly or sitting. But if she can't reach something, she's content to just let it be. She doesn't give much effort to get it if it's out of arms reach.
-She says dada, waves hi and bye, claps, gives high fives and kisses. She signs all done both when she's done eating and when she's tired. The one when shes tired looks like a combination between the all done sign and a wave. It's like she's telling me she's all done and she's ready to go bye bye. She waves when I tell her to say goodnight.
-She can slowly walk along the coffee table, if I set her there. She won't pull herself up to stand there.
-She does however pull herself up when she's in her crib. But its not officially 100% by herself yet. I have to put her on her hands and knees (since she won't get in that position by herself), then she'll sit on her bum and stand up from there.
-She's still fairly constipated (sorry if that tmi)
- I'm starting to cut back on nursing. She was still nursing breakfast, lunch, dinner, snacks in between all of those, then before bed and also in the middle of the night. I've cut out the snacks and try to give her real food instead.
-Shes getting more hair. Not much, but it's getting there. She's def going to have a mullet. haha
-She loves playing with water bottles. But they need to be half empty. If they're completely empty she loses interest fast.
-She'll self soothe to sleep for nap times, but not bedtime or in the middle of the night.
-She's still waking up once a night. I don't necesarilly think she's hungry, but nursing her is the only way I can get her to go back to sleep. For now I don't mind. But when I stop nursing at 12 mo, I just know we're going to have a rough week or so of sleep.
-She takes 2 naps a day. Still around 10 and 2 ish.
-Only 2 teeth, on the bottom.
-She sleeps in her zippy.
-Drinks out of a straw.
-She won't feed herself, unless it's a graham cracker. Thats about the only thing I've been able to get her to put in her mouth. I can put all sorts of food on her tray that she'll pick up and play with, but she won't eat it.
-She can't get to a sitting position by herself. The doc was a little concerned about this. She didn't seem to care that she wasn't crawling, but the fact that she couldn't get to sitting seemed to bother her. She mentioned doing some physical therapy with her. I'm not 100% sure how I feel about it. I'm not against it as I know it would do nothing but help her. But I also don't know if I feel like she's behind or it's just her personality.

here she is waving :)

And this guy...

man he's getting to have such a fiesty little attitude. Today I was walking up the stairs and I kneed him in the bum. His response was "mom, don't touch my bum. Thats my private parts". Then when we got to the top of the stairs he says "mom, don't do it. don't even think about it!"
Some of the other funny things he does and says are:
- When you tell him something his response is "Ya, I know".
-"coming right up", "I'm on it", or "of course" when you ask him to do something.
-"watch it tough guy". He said this to me one day. I don't remember what we were talking about, but I couldn't help but laugh. He wasn't meaning it in a negative way so it was cute.
-"fine I'll just go by myself then"
-I was clipping my fingernails one day and he says "see mom, it doesn't hurt that bad"
-He is def his fathers child. He even has the road rage Jon does. We were stopped at a red light and he says "ah, come on car, move! You're going to make us pound you"
-"watch me do". He says this when he wants you to watch him do something.
-"dic-wee-us". This is him trying to us the word ridiculous. He doesn't quite understand what it means, so he uses it out of context all the time.
-"eeefg.ord". This one comes from the PBS channel. They says "PBSKids.org". And his interpretation is EEEFG.ORD. He'll use this as a response to a question that he doesn't know the answer to.
- He dances to the theme songs of shows. In fact, he'll rewind it (over and over again) once the song ends just to hear it and dance to it again.
-Him and Jon have this little night time routine saying. Jon will say it and Taegen will repeat the last word he said.
Jon: Night night
Taegen: Night
Jon: Sleep tight
Taegs: tight
Jon: Don't let the bed bugs bite:
Taegs: b b bite (he's trying to say this one that same time as Jon and its too fast so it comes out a mumbled mess until the last word)
Jon: I won't if you won't
Taegs: Won't
Together: Deal!
The other night I told Taegs to say good night to Ellie and he went through this whole saying with her. It was so cute!!

The one with the squinty smile

Bad blurry pic, I know. But my childrens faces are just too cute not to share it! I love that Ellie's eyes get squinty when she smiles. And Taegen, well he's just hyper and crazy all the time, especially if he's trying to get Ellie to laugh.

The one with the cape and french fries

She was cold :)

 I made this cape for Taegs. I let him decide what super heros he wanted and of course he chose Iron man and captain america. He doesn't like that it lays up against his neck so I have to pin it in the back to help it not "choke" him. But it still does a little bit, so he doesn't like to wear it that often :( All that work for almost nothing. But thats ok. He has worn it out a couple times and he gets a lot of compliments/smiles about it.

 We joined a summer reading program at the public library and after I read them 15 books they got a free book and kids meal from Chick-fil-A. So after we handed it in and got the prizes, we headed over to Chick-fil-A. Here's Taegs and his crazy normal self.

 Ellie had her first french fry...

 she looks like she doesn't like them much, but she did. Which is amazing since this girl doesn't like each very many different "real foods". All she wants to eat is baby food. 

The one with the birthday party

Our neighbor's son had his 6th birthday party at a jump house place. Taegen had so much fun and didn't want to leave. This was his first birthday party that wasn't family, so I was a little worried how he'd do with the presents but they didn't open them so I guess we'll save that worry for another day. He just followed Axel (the birthday boy) around every where. I'm sure he got a little annoyed by his permanent shadow, but he did really good putting up with him :)

 Daddy kept E entertained on his shoulders

 and boy does she love her daddy! I just LOVE this picture!

 I know this pic is focused on the pole, but I had to stay on the sidelines and couldn't get a better pic with my small camera. He is to the left of the pole. This was long strips of trampoline

 and here he is running up the side. (on the yellow stripe in the blue shirt)

 and of course there was an arcade.

 he had to sit on Jon's lap so he could steer and Jon could push the pedals

 This was her opinion of the whole thing....pretty boring

The one with the pool

A few weeks ago we drove up to Randolph AFB and went to their aquatic center. Ft Sam has an aquatic center but it's older, they don't allow floaties, and they charge for babies. The one on Randolph doesn't charge for babies, is actually really nice and allows air filled floaties in the kid pool. That doesn't do Taegen any good since he prefers to be in the big pool. But they do have life vests for kids to wear.

Taegs waiting to get in the water. Our friends Alaina, Easton, Larina and her baby Eva behind Alaina. 

 running over to the diving board. He did go down that slide too. But I had to be at the bottom to catch him so I couldn't get any pictures of it. 

 waiting his turn. My baby is getting so big!!

 Thumbs up :)

He saw another kid do a spin off the board so from then on thats what he had to do too. 

He's fearless.

The one with the heros

We don't live on base, but we do go there almost every day for one reason or another. Ft Sam is a huge medical base. Hence the reason the schooling is done here. BAMC (Brooks Army Medical Center) is where the injured soldiers get sent upon returning to the states. Because of this we see a lot of injured soldiers. In fact, the other day I saw a group of bikers riding down the road and one of them had a double leg amputee. He was riding an arm controlled bike. I was immediately humbled to see this man, who had no legs, still continue with his regular life. It did not look like an easy task to ride that bike, but he looked like he was doing it with ease; talking with his friends and a smile on his face.

Taegen hasn't asked about any of the injured soldiers he's seen, which I think is awesome. He is seeing them for who they are, not the injuries they have. He constantly points out all the soldiers he sees, but never has he asked "why does that soldier not have any/only 1 leg(s)" or "why that soldier has multiple scars on his body (from burns)". And believe me he has has plenty of opportunities. We go to the gym and there is a group of soldiers who have had a leg(s) amputated, that play basketball in wheel chairs. We see people out walking doing therapy. We see them shopping at the PX/commissary. They live out their normal lives on base, so Taegen sees this in a part of his regular life as well.

I consider this just one of the blessings we are receiving from being here. We would not have the opportunity to see this many injured people back in UT. I'm hoping that this will also teach him not to stare or treat people with disabilities any different. They are normal people. Plain and simple.

Since we haven't had to talk to Taegen about any deployment that Jon will eventually go on, he hasn't connected that these types of injuries could happen to his own dad. And one day I'm sure we'll have to talk to him about it. But for now, I'm just thankful that my son is able to see these remarkable men and woman continue to live their lives. Yes life may be different, but all the ones I've seen still have a smile on their face. They honestly look happy, despite the hardships they've endured. That is a true hero to me.

The one with the guessing game

I really don't like the guessing game you have to play as a parent to a baby. Not so much the, is my baby hungry, tired or need a diaper change, Type guessing. I mean the, why are you hysterically crying right now, for what seems to be absolutely no reason at all?! Or how about the, why aren't you sleeping, game. (Def my favorite when my baby decides to do this one in the middle of the night). Or better yet, "why are you so ornery"?

Tonight Ellie and I played both the "ornery" and "why aren't you sleeping" games! Needless to say I'm pretty frustrated. 

I was trying to put her to sleep and once I stood up from nursing her she'd start acting fussy and arching her back. I randomly decided to switch arms and move her head over onto my left arm, and she calmed right down. This is particularly strange b/c I never hold her this way when putting her to bed. I don't know why she wanted to be the other way, and thankfully I thought to do it. But it's these exact moments that can drive me crazy! It's like playing guesstures with someone who just stands there with a blank look on their face and expects you to read their mind. 

Kuddos from me to anyone who handles these situations with grace and doesn't get flustered or upset, because heaven knows I can't do it!

The one where Ellie is 9 mo

 My not so little girl is 9 months old! I just love her rolls. 

-She got her 2nd tooth, her bottom right front tooth.

- She eats about 1 jar of food each feeding.

- She can kind of give kisses. She does it, but sometimes I wonder if it's an accident. But I'm counting it :)

- If I lay her on her stomach she slowly scoots herself backwards. This isn't on purpose though. She's lifting her torso off the ground by putting her hands close to her belly then lifting up. Then she eventually plops back down and repeats. Therefore scooting backwards. She gets mad because she'll move herself away from all her toys. 

- Other than the backwards scooting, she doesn't move. She can roll over, but just doesn't. She's not even close to crawling. I put her on her hands and knees and she'll get mad and let her knees flop down. She doesn't like it at all.

- She LOVES to stand. I wonder if she'll skip crawling all together. If I could sit with her all day and help her, she'd stand all day. She's still really wobbly so she can't do it without someones help.

- She sleeps in a zipadee zip. Like a star shaped sleep sack. She really likes it. Its made it so I don't have to swaddle her anymore. She threw up all over it once so she had to sleep for a few hours one night without it, but other than that I haven't tried to put her down without it. She does so well with it that I don't dare.

- She takes 2 naps a day. A morning and afternoon. The time is not set it stone.

- She wakes up between 6-7 every morning. Goes to bed by 8 every night. Some nights she'll fight me and it'll take me a long time to put her down. But lately (knock on wood) She's asleep by 8:30. 

- She wakes up once a night still. Every night is different, she's slept through the night a couple times. But most times she'll wake up to eat some time through-out the night.

- She's a stomach or side sleeper. For a while, she'd roll over on to her stomach to sleep, but after a while she'd wake up and get mad that she was on her stomach. Like I said, she CAN roll over, but just chooses not to. This is the time it gets particularly annoying. She's gotten a lot better at not getting upset though. Now she'll roll onto her stomach and sleep a lot longer that way without waking up and getting mad.

- I still have to put Kid-e-Reg in her food to help her not be so constipated. 

- She said "dada" for the first time on Father's Day. She doesn't quite associate it with Jon just yet, but that's officially her first word. Jon really likes to rub that in my face. :)

- She gets really loud when she's tired. She'll babble and spit. She now sticks her tongue out when she spits, so she makes a pretty big slobbery mess.

- When I walk up the stairs to our apt, she likes to hold on to the railing.

- I think her eyes are going from hazel to more brown. Don't know for sure, but that's what it's looking like to me. 

She really is such a happy baby, and we love her to pieces!

The one with the 4th of July 2013

Jon had a 4 day weekend for the 4th and boy were we ready to have some time to relax and have some fun. On the 3rd me and the kids met a friend of mine and her adorable little boy at the splash pad.

 It was there that we decided to go to the lake the next day. We had so much fun. Ellie has a knew little boyfriend :) Its great to, I new Alaina from the gym, but the hubbys had never met. I was little worried how they would get along, since Jon can be fairly reserved with people he doesn't know. But they got along great. Plus, she took all these amazing pictures (the ones from the splash pad as well as the lake).

 This kid really is a fish. He wanted to be in the water the whole time. After the first few hours I made him put a shirt on so he wouldn't get burned. Luckily I did because me and Jon got burnt pretty good. 

 He loves mud!

There were a whole bunch of fruit stands on the way out to the lake, so on the way home we stopped at got this watermelon. I wanted to get a pic of it next to Ellie, so how big it was. It really was MASSIVE. But of course I forgot and this is the only pic I ended up getting. That's Jon for ya.

 Heres a pic of day 2 of Jon's sunburn. He only had the shirt on for the first hour or so.(we were there for about 5).

We didn't end up going to see any fireworks :( I really wanted to, but Jon and the kids were too tired. We probably could have seen them from our apt if we would have went outside. But after I got the kids to bed me and Jon sat down to watch a movie and we both ended up falling asleep by 9. I guess 5 hours at the lake will do that to ya. haha.

As a side note, there were no fireworks allowed in the city limits. Therefore, you literally could not find them anywhere! You have to go to the outskirts of the city limits and find the stands. The first time I saw any was on our way to the lake. There were none sold at WalMart, Target or any grocery store, which was totally weird to me.

HAPPY 4TH OF JULY!