Silly Kids!

Luke is talking up a storm these days. He's stringing more and more sentences together. It's really cute to here a complete sentence come out of his mouth. His favorite thing to say when he can't find something is, "Where'd it go?" He answers himself with, "I don't know!" Then, when he finds it, he says, "There it is!"

When we're driving somewhere he likes to point out and name things. When we arrive where we're going, he says "Here we are!" or "Here it is!" It's so cute!

The baby is saying a few words now, too. She says "Ma ma ma" and "Da da da", "Uh oh" and "Up". Super adorable! And she gets a huge kick out of her brother. He'll run in and out of the room, and every time he runs back to her she gets really excited and laughs and kicks and throws her arms out.

We have a lot of fun at our house!

Kids are Sick Again!

We had about 3 weeks of wellness, but now both kids are fighting off colds again. They both have runny noses, are congested and coughing. No fever, though, so that's a good thing. Just a lot of whining from Luke and fussiness from Lexie. She keeps waking up in the night, too.

I'm just praying that Marty and I stay well!

I love teaching again, and my class at Clark State is a good bunch of kids. I'm having lots of fun and enjoy the periodic break from mom-mode.

Other than that, everything is good!

Helping with the Housework

Luke has been terrified of the vacuum and would cry when I'd turn it on until he was almost 2. (I had to vacuum while he was either sleeping or out of the house.) Then he became fascinated. Mine is too large for him to push, so while I vacuum with the large one, he vacuums with the smaller broom-vac. It's great! He also likes to help empty the dishwasher, and throw wet clothes into the dryer. Lexie just stares while I vacuum; she's simply fascinated with it.

Our house is usually in a cozily cluttered disarray. We try to pick up the toys every few days so you don't break your neck, vacuum at least once every couple of weeks (or when the baby tries to eat crumbs and fuzz off the floor), and run the dishwasher when we run out of cups or spoons. And laundry... well, I'm never caught up on that, and it only seems to get worse!

Oh well, at least we're happy and healthy!

Lexie and Babyfood

Lexie has issues with babyfood. Perhaps it's too mushy. I don't know. She'll only eat baby oatmeal mixed with fruit, occasionally sweet potatoes, and that's about it. She simply clamps her mouth shut and refuses to let you put any spoonfuls of food in.

But, Lexie seems to want whatever she sees you eating.

Earlier today, Luke offered her a donut. She opened her mouth and eagerly leaned toward it. I intervened just as her mouth clamped onto it. Hmmmm... apparently she wants real food. Of course, it would help if she had some teeth!

We ate spaghetti and Italian sausage for dinner, and sure enough, Lexie ate several small bites and kept opening her mouth for more. She even ate some garlic toast! Go figure.

Lexie's 9-Month Checkup

Lexie is doing fairly well. She's only 17 lbs 6 oz, and 26.75" tall, which puts her in the 25th percentile. (Apparently our kids are destined to take after their short parents.) She has a huge head, though: 44.8 cm (75th percentile). She's going to be one smart girl!

She only recently decided she'd eat babyfood. When she was 6 and 7 months old, she wouldn't have anything to do with it. She was so disgusted with rice cereal, even mixed with fruit, that she'd clamp her mouth tightly shut and simply refuse to take another bite. I'd simply try again every few days, but it wasn't until 8 months old that she started enjoying oatmeal with fruit. The only vegetable she'll eat so far is sweet potatoes. The pediatrician said all this is okay and just let her eat at her own pace.

She's really cute holding her own bottle to eat, and prefers to sit propped up to eat; she doesn't like to be held while eating. (Little miss independent!) She's really close to crawling. She lunges forward from a sitting position onto all fours and rocks. Then she sprawls out on her belly and slowly rotates in a circle to reach what she wants. She only rolls over a little bit to get across the room. She's pretty content to simply stay in one location and play with whatever is in her reach.

I'm actually kind of glad she's hitting all her milestones a bit later than Luke. That means she gets to stay a baby longer, and I'm really enjoying this stage! She's super cuddly and loves to be held and talked to.

She's almost sleeping through the night. At least she doesn't need to eat when she wakes in the night. She still likes to eat sometimes as late as 10 pm, but then she'll sleep until 7ish. She usually wakes up 1-2 times a night crying and simply needs her binky popped in to go right back to sleep. I've tried letting her cry for awhile when she wakes in the night, but she never quite settles down or soothes herself. Oh well. I'm praying it's only a matter of time. On average, she'll sleep 8 to 6. And yes, it's pretty rough because I am absolutely not a morning person. I don't do 6:00 am very well. Thank God for coffee!

Luke is my good sleeper. At this age, he slept 8:30 to 8. It was lovely. Now, he sleeps 9 - 7:30 ish. Oh well. You take whatever sleep you can get!

At least both kids are beautiful and healthy!

A Grumpy Lexie

Last night, Lexie was up from 2:00 am until 4:30. She kept crying and nothing I tried seemed to help. Usually it's either teething pain or she's hungry. I tried teething gel, tylenol, a diaper change and a bottle. She just kept crying. She wouldn't stop rubbing her eyes, though, so it must be the dermatitis/eczema on her face acting up.

I tried rocking her and walking with her and she kept fussing. The only thing that settled her down and stopped her from rubbing her eyes was swaddling her tightly, strapping her into her bouncy seat, and popping in a Baby Einstein video. And by 4:30, she feel asleep in front of the TV. Thank God something worked!

Then, of course, both kids were up by 7. Boy, am I tired! I'm going to try very hard to get them both in for an afternoon nap at the same time. Then I plan on falling into bed!

Lexie is almost 9 months old!

She's been doing a really cute smile. (I'll try to upload a picture as soon as I get one.) She scrunches up her nose and gives this big gummy grin. It's awesome!

Here she is wearing the Santa baby dress that Aunt Chas bought her.

More pics

I had several Christmas pictures to upload, but blogger is having trouble. There are lots more to see on my Facebook page.

Santa or Jesus?

Luke has Santa confused with Jesus. We explained how Christmas was Jesus' birthday; but then when he heard us say that Santa brings presents to put under the tree for Christmas morning, he got really confused. Now, whenever he sees Santa, he says "Jesus!"

How do you explain the concept of Jesus to a 2-year-old? He knows that when we pray we ask Jesus for things, thank Jesus for blessing us, and that Jesus will bless those we love. He also knows that the big statue on the side of I-75 south down near Monroe is of Jesus.

He simply doesn't understand who this Santa guy is and how he fits into the picture. He won't go anywhere near him! It's funny.