I am so excited to have a baby that enjoys sleep. With Callie, we fight bed time and we fight a "normal" time to wake up(6 am most days). As I write this, at 8:00 am, Gabriel has been asleep since his 1:30am feeding, He fell asleep at 7:30 last night, just waking up briefly at 9:30 to have a little top off feeding. I feel amazing! :)
Gabriel's been eating rice cereal for the past few days (he's a little early, but he was SO ready - last night, he grabbed my popcorn and would have eaten it if he could have figured out how to get it to his mouth!). He tries to sit up in his bouncer all the time and he does a crunch, holding his head and upper back up and his legs. It's pretty cute. Both Philip and I agree last night that he's really growing into his little personality. He's almost always a happy baby and just gets a little cranky when he's ready to take a nap and goes to sleep really easily (unlike his sister). He laughs out loud, smiles a lot, and has pretty much figured out how to work his hands to grab his toys. His favorite new trick is blowing bubble all the way down his chin to form a little soul patch like daddy's. :)
Callie's still parroting a lot of what I say, especially when she's playing with her toys. She makes all of her toys talk to each other, the animals, dolls, puzzle pieces, magnets, gourds . . . everything has conversations. Some of it, I can't really understand yet, but when I understand it, it's usually a direct quote from me. Fortunately, I have tried to "toddler proof" the language I use. Her favorite phrases lately are "Chocolate (or whatever's on tv or the counter)! I like chocolate!" - I hear that at least 50 times a day - and "Ooooohhhh thank you Mommy! Thank you much!" She's learning so much. She recognizes letters in the alphabet and can answer abstract questions or tell you about her last trip to the zoo.
Speaking of trips to the zoo, I've been trying to make a conscience effort to do at least one fun outing/special event every week. Since we live in an area where we have to travel to do all our errands, I usually spend one day every couple of weeks dragging the kids from store to store. So, I decided I should do something to reward them for putting up with that. Last week, I took Callie to the Peoria Zoo. We also got an extra special outing with Daddy, traveling to a local orchard on Saturday and playing on a playground, riding a pony, and petting goats. We were going to get some apple products as we were leaving, but the line was at least an hour and a half long and we had two played out kids . . . so we had to go back later. This week, Callie chose a family movie night complete with popcorn and Toy Story 2. We had a lot of fun!
Things that have been going on with me lately . . . not too much. Just getting ready for Gabriel to eat veggies by stocking up on foods for him. I currently have very colorful ice cubes filling up my freezer. ha! Decorating for my absolute favorite season, trying to keep up with pictures, and getting ready to be in the last half of my 20s. That's weird! I still have dreams about forgetting that I had a class in college and I haven't gone at all and it's the end of the semester . . . lol! I often wonder if people see me in a store and think I'm older or younger than I really am. I guess I'll never know!
Philip is busy at work and he's going to help with some of the farm work this weekend. He's got a stress fracture in his foot so he can't run right now. I think he feels a little left out sometimes because Gabriel's definitely going through a "mommy" stage, but he keeps himself busy with Callie playing tea party and tag. :)
We love and miss all our family and friends near and far! God bless you and yours!
Gabriel's been eating rice cereal for the past few days (he's a little early, but he was SO ready - last night, he grabbed my popcorn and would have eaten it if he could have figured out how to get it to his mouth!). He tries to sit up in his bouncer all the time and he does a crunch, holding his head and upper back up and his legs. It's pretty cute. Both Philip and I agree last night that he's really growing into his little personality. He's almost always a happy baby and just gets a little cranky when he's ready to take a nap and goes to sleep really easily (unlike his sister). He laughs out loud, smiles a lot, and has pretty much figured out how to work his hands to grab his toys. His favorite new trick is blowing bubble all the way down his chin to form a little soul patch like daddy's. :)
Callie's still parroting a lot of what I say, especially when she's playing with her toys. She makes all of her toys talk to each other, the animals, dolls, puzzle pieces, magnets, gourds . . . everything has conversations. Some of it, I can't really understand yet, but when I understand it, it's usually a direct quote from me. Fortunately, I have tried to "toddler proof" the language I use. Her favorite phrases lately are "Chocolate (or whatever's on tv or the counter)! I like chocolate!" - I hear that at least 50 times a day - and "Ooooohhhh thank you Mommy! Thank you much!" She's learning so much. She recognizes letters in the alphabet and can answer abstract questions or tell you about her last trip to the zoo.
Speaking of trips to the zoo, I've been trying to make a conscience effort to do at least one fun outing/special event every week. Since we live in an area where we have to travel to do all our errands, I usually spend one day every couple of weeks dragging the kids from store to store. So, I decided I should do something to reward them for putting up with that. Last week, I took Callie to the Peoria Zoo. We also got an extra special outing with Daddy, traveling to a local orchard on Saturday and playing on a playground, riding a pony, and petting goats. We were going to get some apple products as we were leaving, but the line was at least an hour and a half long and we had two played out kids . . . so we had to go back later. This week, Callie chose a family movie night complete with popcorn and Toy Story 2. We had a lot of fun!
Things that have been going on with me lately . . . not too much. Just getting ready for Gabriel to eat veggies by stocking up on foods for him. I currently have very colorful ice cubes filling up my freezer. ha! Decorating for my absolute favorite season, trying to keep up with pictures, and getting ready to be in the last half of my 20s. That's weird! I still have dreams about forgetting that I had a class in college and I haven't gone at all and it's the end of the semester . . . lol! I often wonder if people see me in a store and think I'm older or younger than I really am. I guess I'll never know!
Philip is busy at work and he's going to help with some of the farm work this weekend. He's got a stress fracture in his foot so he can't run right now. I think he feels a little left out sometimes because Gabriel's definitely going through a "mommy" stage, but he keeps himself busy with Callie playing tea party and tag. :)
We love and miss all our family and friends near and far! God bless you and yours!
Comments
I'm glad Gabriel is a good sleeper for you guys! We can't wait to see you all in a little over a month!