Jaron - 4 Months

Jaron just keeps on growing.  I can't believe I already have a 4 month old.  This time last year I was just finding out I was pregnant and now look at him.

We've had a good month with Jaron.  His biggest change this month is that we finally cut his hair.  He had a really bad comb over but I didn't want to cut it until we had family pictures taken so it looked like he had hair.  I knew when we cut it, it would be lighter underneath so I didn't want him to look bald for pictures. Here is a before and after shot.  He looks older and his face looks more round a full to me.

Look how cute he is with his haircut.  His hair is light brown but in the sunlight looks almost blonde.  And look at all the hair we cut off!

Jaron rolled over last week and now when he's on his tummy he gets so bugged if he can't roll over (he does it about 50% of the time) because he knows he can and has before.

His naps have gotten better.  We have more good days then bad but he still wakes up at least once for almost every nap.  90% of the time just putting his binky back in will get him back to sleep for the rest of his nap but we still have some work to do.  Night times are about the same but he does tend to wake up more often in the early mornings then he used to.  Same thing though, if I put a binky in it will put him back to sleep.  If he wakes up again then I go feed him so I don't get up a million times putting his binky back in.  He is sleeping from 9pm-7am.

He is just a happy boy.  If he cries it is usually because he's tired or hungry.  Rarely does he cry for no reason.

We put him in his exersaucer this month and he likes that.  I think he likes to just look around more right now then he does play with his toys but that will come.

Jaron loves to smack his lips and he'll do it over and over again for about 10 minutes.  It's the funniest thing to listen to.  Oh and the other thing he does from time to time is moan when he's tired and trying to fall asleep.  Which is good fun in church...I have to take him out, get him to sleep and then I can go back in.

His sisters still adore him, they love to do tummy time with him and their latest thing is when I stand him up to practice putting pressure on his legs, they love to come up and measure how tall he is compared to them. They've finally grown out of the I want to feed him stage...yay...and just let me feed him and mostly leave me alone while I'm feeding him.

His 4 month check up isn't for another 1 1/2 weeks so I'll have to post about that later.

My 2 - 2 year olds

I was going to title this post, 2 things about my 2 - 2 year olds.  But then I thought of a lot more then 2 things so...just a little update my my 2 - 2 year olds.

Siena:

• Is obsessed with bottles.  I moved Jaron to the larger bottles so she 'inherited' all his little bottles.  We have bottles, lids and the slow nipples everywhere.  And she is constantly asking for more bottles.  She takes the lids off and on, puts her snacks in them, lines them up, carries them around.  The one thing she does not do is try to suck on them...yay.  Shane wants the bottle fairy to come one night and take them all away but I can't do it cuz it seriously entertains her right now for a very long time.
• Her 2 favorite sayings right now are 'one more time'  I must hear this 100 times a day at least.  Everything we do we have to do 'one more time'  Read a book, slide down the slide, run around, watch a video, etc.  I've tried to teach her 'last time' but it hasn't caught on with her yet...darn the darn.  The other saying is 2 of something.  If there is more than 1, there are 2 of whatever it is.  '2 bottles, 2 monkeys, 2 Mickey's, 2 pretzels'

Aria:

• Loves to jump.  She jumps all day long.  She'll just randomly be standing there and start jumping.  She loves to jump off of her stool, small chairs, fireplace hearth, etc.  She'll jump like a frog, like a bunny or just jump in circles.  She's pretty good at it too.
• She is in love again with her little bumbo chair.  She loved it as in infant and spent a lot of time in it since she liked it and Siena really didn't.  Well I just got it out for Jaron and she'll sit in it and play for about 10 minutes.  It's pretty funny.  Here's a picture now and then.

Together:

• They are obsessed with money.  It sounds really greedy.  They have no idea what money does, all they know is they LOVE to put money in their piggy banks.  Anytime they see money laying around the house they get so excited.  So we take a lot of trips upstairs to put money in their piggy banks.  Siena always has to have '2 monies'
• They have started changing things around on me.  When I get 2 shirts out for them to wear, Aria always chooses the one Iused to have Siena wearing and vice versa.  They've switched bibs as well, so Aria now wears the pink one and Siena the red one.  They've switched chairs (which were never assigned but they gravitated to one), and often when I put their sippy cups down they do a trade.  They think they're pretty funny about it and always look to see what reaction they're going to get.  Too bad for them they aren't identical or they would be pulling switcheroo's on people for sure.
• They try to see the moon every night.  As soon as it even starts getting dark, they start asking where the moon is.  Usually Aria is the one that asks about it.  They get quite upset if it isn't out before they go to bed.  And they get really excited if they happen to see it in the morning or sometimes when you can see it during the day.
• They are sooo busy.  We got them little stools because I was so sick of them pushing my kitchen chairs around everywhere.  They love their stools and can now get into a lot more that they couldn't before.  It's driving me a little bit crazy but it's pretty funny to see how excited and determined they are in reaching things they couldn't before.  
• They're getting so much better in church and we rarely if ever have to leave and take them out.  (quick knock on wood!) They still have their moments but overall it's gotten a lot easier...just in time for Jaron to give us a run for our money.

We love our 2 - 2 year olds.  They keep me on my toes 13 hours a day straight but also keep me laughing throughout the day.  I wouldn't trade this for anything.

Pumpkin Patch

We made our annual trip to the Pumpkin patch this year.  This year turned out a lot better then last time when the girls were throwing fits at having to sit in a hay filled wheel barrow.  We had a good time sitting on the tractors and going through the little corn maze.  Aria really took charge in the corn maze leading the way and choosing which way to go.  She was pretty determined to figure out where this thing was leading us to. Jaron was hating life.  I forget how little babies have a hard time breathing when it's windy or when you blow in their face. It was a little breezy that night and and I kept hearing him grunting and acting all bugged. Then I realized that the wind was bothering him and taking his breath away.  We were sad they couldn't find the keys to the truck pulling the hay ride wagon so we missed out on that but still had a good time.

Witchfest at Gardner Village

We made 2 trips to Witchfest at Gardner Village this year.  We went on a Saturday with just our family...big mistake to go on a Saturday...what were we thinking.  It took us over 30 minutes just to get out of the parking lot when we left.  So we didn't stay long but did walk around and look at a few witches.

Then the next week I met up with Whitney, Max and Owen to take the girls on a little pony ride.  It was fun because they walk them through part of Gardner Village.  At first neither the girls or Max wanted to get on.   But after I forced Siena on and told her she will ride and she will have fun....she did!  :) Then Aria had her turn and had a great time after seeing that Siena survived.  Max eventually got on as well and had a good time too but sadly we didn't get a picture of them all together on the horses.

 This was the best shot we got of all 3...

Halloween 2013

We had such a fun Halloween this year.  Even though the girls don't really know what's coming or anticipate things yet, they totally get what is going on.

We started our Halloween on Monday night by going through a practice run of trick or treating.  We got fruit snacks and Shane went into a bedroom.  We knocked on the door and practiced saying Trick or Treat and then Thank you, walked away and repeated.  I wish I had pictures of this because seriously it was so funny. Siena screamed laughed every time we would knock on the door and Shane would answer it.  They thought this was the funniest game ever invented.  So we felt pretty confident that they were going to enjoy Trick or Treating.

Wednesday we carved pumpkins...well I carved pumpkins.  And like last year, Siena tried to take a bite of the pumpkin.  I gave her an eye I had cut out and she totally licked it and took a small bite...yuck!

Halloween morning we invited Holland, Max and Owen to come over and play.  They all wore their costumes and had a fun morning.  We did a little pumpkin craft, watched a Halloween Micky Mouse club episode and had lunch.  It was so fun and it was fun watching them all play and interact with each other.

That night we got all ready for Trick or Treating.  We had planned to only go to 5 or 6 houses but in the end the girls were having so much fun that we ended going to about 15 or so.  In between houses they kept taking candy out of their bucket and handing it to me asking me to open it.  And of course they looked so cute that they were a hit at every house we went to.  Even Jaron was as cute as can be.  Afterwards we came home and passed out candy and the girls had a fun time handing out candy as well, in between eating some of theirs.  I re-passed out some of their candy just to get rid of it since I knew some of it they wouldn't eat.  Holidays with these girls sure are getting so much more fun.

Fall Activity - The Zoo

I've been wanting to take the girls back to the zoo for while now.  This last week I decided I better do it before it gets too cold.  We invited Brigitte and Holland to join us and we had a great time.  When I first pulled up there was only one other car in the parking lot.  I wasn't even sure they were open.  Needless to say we pretty much had the zoo to ourselves.  It was so fun.  The girls could just run around and you weren't worried they would get lost in the crowd.  All the animals were awake and walking around and it was fun to get right up to the windows and not have kids pushing you out of the way like the last time we were there.  I didn't get any good pictures of the Monkey's or 'Muh-hees' as the girls call them.  They're kind of obsessed with Muh-hees right now so they were pretty excited to see them in real life.

Here are all the pictures from our day.

 This picture of the 3 of them crack me up.  Holland is posing, Aria is about to laugh at her and
Siena is like whatever, can we go now?

Siena's first big goose egg

With the weather being so nice and mild this month, we've spent a lot of time outdoors.  I've been trying to get the girls used to going outside in the backyard and playing without me for a while.  Although I usually am standing right there inside watching them play because it's so fun.

The other day they were going stir crazy, as was I, so I told them to go outside and play while I got their lunch ready.  Shoes on, they were out the door.  Siena turned around to say good-bye and blow me kisses.  As she did, she was walking backwards, which I didn't really notice she was until it was too late...down the stairs she went.  Luckily she fell onto her side first and just rolled down them but it was so scary to watch and of course I couldn't catch her in time.

She had a huge goose egg.  You could see the cement indentions on her forehead.  It's been so bruised and just tonight I was looking at it and it's still yellow and bruised and it's been 10 days since it happened.  Poor little girl.  Luckily she doesn't mention it or really remember it so we're all good.

Jaron - 3 Months

Jaron turned 3 months this last week.  I am in love with this age.  I feel like a rockstar everytime I look at Jaron because he always gives me the biggest smile.  He really is such a happy baby but this age when all they do is smile when you look at them is so fun.

A few things about Jaron this month:
We got his first laugh right after he turned 2 months.  He's only done it a few other times but just tonight gave me a good big laugh.
He's started saying ah-goo cooing sounds and he loves to make this raspberry sound in the back of his throat.  It's pretty funny to hear and he does it a lot.
Jaron has discovered his hands this month.  He LOVES to suck on them.  He tries to get his whole fist into his mouth and many times a day gags himself when he sticks his fingers in too far.  He's been staring at his hands a lot just this last week.

He's now taking 5 oz bottles and one 6 oz right before bed.
He's sleeping from about 9-30/10ish to 6:30-7:30 most nights.  I have an occasional early morning feeding but it's maybe once a week.  I love what a good sleeper he is at night.
His naps have maybe gotten a touch better just this last week.  Instead of sleeping for only 30 mins.  He's now sleeping 45-60 minutes straight before I have to go in there and get him back to sleep.  My goal this month is to really concentrate on getting his naps longer and more consistent.  The good news is he goes right to sleep and doesn't have issues putting himself to sleep, just staying asleep.  I've tried putting him down earlier, later, etc. and nothing makes a difference.
He's been losing a lot of hair and I think the hair now coming in is going to be a lot lighter...we'll see.
The girls have tried feeding him fish crackers and their sippy cups of water this month.  They gave him tummy time when I was in the other room and he was on the couch..luckily he didn't fall off when they turned him over.  Baby Jaron is usually one of the first things out of their mouth when they wake up in the morning and for their naps...they obviously still love him a lot!