Boo on Ballard

Last Thursday we went to Boo on Ballard in historic downtown Wylie.  It was our first time to go.  Basically, they have food, various activities and trick or treating by the merchants.  I bet it's super fun when it's not raining.  Unfortunately the weather didn't really cooperate this year, so we didn't stay for too long.  But, of course, here are the few pics we took.  

Naomi's cow costume was a last minute decision bought secondhand.  I figured it would double up for those days when Chick Fil A gives you free food for dressing up in a cow costume.  :)  

Fall Festival

Last Wednesday, our church did their Fall Festival / Trunk or Treat.  Since I was going without Brian, I didn't put on her actual costume, but thought this turned out super cute anyway.  :)  Here are a few pics.  Mostly Naomi loved the petting zoo.  She was fearless about trying to pet and pick up all the animals.  Love that girl!

Pumpkin Pickin' Playdate

Last Monday, our MOPS group did a "Pumpkin Pickin' Playdate" at the Owens Farm.  It was a lot of fun.  Naomi ran around everywhere (with little regard to where I was).  She fed animals, climbed pumpkins, rolled down hills, and generally made me work up a sweat.  :)  I'm pretty sure she loved every minute.  Afterward we went to the mall and had lunch at ChickFilA and played in their toddler play area with some friends from my MOPS small group.  Olivia was a trooper for the whole thing.  

And now for the best part... Pictures!  (There are a lot of them and I narrowed it down quite a bit.)

Petting animals - I think she was annoyed that the fence was in her way.  

Feeding animals - she dumped the whole cup seconds after a took this pic.  

She loved re-arranging all the little pumpkins.  

Not a scary scarecrow

Climbing Pumpkins is fun!

My friend Katy had to sing "If You're Happy and You Know It" just to get them all to look near the camera at the same time.  

Clearly it didn't work for too long...

Naomi hugging her friend, Miss A.  

Thanks for sending me this pic Katy!

Me and the girls

Obviously, Naomi didn't want to sit still for long.  

Playing at the mall - climbing all over the place.  

Naomi - 21 Months

I meant to do a 15 month post.  Then, when that didn't happen, I figured that I would just do an 18 month (1 1/2 year) post.  Now that I've missed that, I figure I'll just do a post of whatever I can manage to get up here.  :)  What a crazy year it's been!

So here goes... 21 Months with no official pics, just a random snapshot we took this weekend.  

Stats?
About 25 pounds and 2 1/2 feet tall - that's practically a guess, but it's at least a ballpark figure.  :)
She's in size 4 diapers and a mix of 18 month (barely), 18-24 month and 24 month clothes.

How is she sleeping?
Sleeps from about 7:30pm or so to 7:00-7:30am.  We went down to one nap sometime in the last 3 months.  She held on to a two nap schedule until around 18 months or so; I was so spoiled.  Now she naps from about 12:30 - 2:00 with some shifting of the schedule depending on the day's activities.  Whatever you do, do not let her fall asleep in the car on the way home from something.  Otherwise, she considers that her one nap regardless of length and will refuse to take one despite obvious needs and cranky demeanor.  

How is she eating?
She eats like a toddler.  One day she'll eat something up and the next day she'll refuse it.  One day, she drinks milk non-stop and doesn't want to eat much and the next day, it's the opposite.  A few things always hold true though: Whatever is on my plate is infinitely better than whatever is on her plate even if it's the same thing.  Unless you are feeding her from your plate, she will insist on wielding her own flatware and any attempts to "help" will be met with squealing and splattering of food as she shakes the flatware from your attempted grip.  She has however, recently decided that she might be open to wearing a bib again.  So thankful for that as I can let her work on self feeding without stripping her down.  

Doctor Visit
She checked out great at her 18 month visit and passed all of her developmental tests.  We changed pediatricians to one closer to the house who I love.  Naomi got a flu shot at their first family flu clinic and was a champ. 

What new tricks does she do?
If I actually filled this in, it would be a novel since my last post was at a year and she has changed SO much.  So, I'll try to hit the high points of where we're at now.  
She can walk, sorta run, do little marches, turn in dancing circles, manage steps with assistance, and climb like a monkey.  
The big leaps have come in the form of language development - she talks up a storm.  We stopped counting her words around fifty and that was a couple months ago.  At this point, she'll repeat anything you say (which hasn't always been a good thing).  She strings 2 or 3 words together into phrases - Daddy work, pool Friday, play school, etc.  She seems to understand possessives - Mommy's coffee, Daddy's bag, etc.  She recognizes her friends and calls them by name.  
She knows her shapes and some colors, letters, and numbers (we're working on it).  
She is starting into the world of pretend play and role playing.  She plays with her baby doll and her school house a lot.  
We started swim lessons over the summer and have continued into the fall.  She loves the water and has gotten very good at kicking, floating on her back (with just a little assistance now), and does really well going underwater.  

General Observations?
She has all her teeth except for her two year molars though sometimes she seems to be working on those as she'll go through phases of chewing on stuff more again.
She has such a little personality and such an independent streak. 
She makes friends and gets attention wherever we go.  
Olivia's arrival was met with a wide variety of responses:
She peed and pooped in the potty a few times right after we got home with Olivia, but despite buckets of positive reinforcement, that behavior evaporated.  It wasn't a good time for potty training, so we sorta missed the boat on that one.  But, when we are ready, we're hopeful that she'll be successful.  
Naomi has never had separation anxiety, but ever since we had Olivia, she gets little bouts of it.  It's getting better.  
Naomi loves Olivia, sometimes a little too much.  :)  I hope she doesn't squish her to death this year. 
She gets to sleep with blankets and stuffed animals now and loves that.  
She gets to face forward in the car now and she loves that.  (I know it's safer to leave them rear facing until 2, but there's just no room in our car with the infant seat rear facing).  



Until next time... Enjoy!

iPhone Rewind - Our Girls

Here are some cute snapshots of our girls together.  Most of these come from the first month that we brought Olivia home.  

Baby!

Hugs!

Kisses!

Look Olivia!  This is how you do it.  

Head!

Nose!

Paci!  I'll take that!

Going for a walk

A side note on the last picture.  I commented when I posted this on facebook that it looked like a little baby doll next to Naomi.  The next time I walked with them up to the library, another mom actually said, "That's a baby doll in there, right?".  When I told her that in fact it was an actual baby, but I better be sure she's still breathing and then poked Olivia to make her move, I think she jumped back a little bit.  :)  Gotta love my itty bitty!

PS. For the grammar nerds (love ya'll), sorry for the poorly constructed sentence above but I'm too lazy to fix it.  Forgive me please.  

iPhone Rewind - Olivia's First few weeks

Running a little late with this post, but oh well.  

Enjoy the photo bomb.  I'll be posting lots of picture heavy posts soon.  

Olivia - 2 Months

Stats?
Weight: 8 lbs 11 oz (5-10%)
Height/Length: 21.5 in (10%)
Head: 14.5 in (5%)
Clothing Size: Newborn
Diaper Size: Size 1 (just switched when we ran out of newborn diapers this month)

How is she sleeping?
Very little change.  We usually get one 4-5 hour stretch at night, so we usually only have to get up once.  Still pleased.  Oh, the one change this month is that we transitioned her from sleeping in the bouncer in our room to the pack n play in our room.  We have sights set on the crib in her room, but we want a fairly smooth transition so we are willing to wait a little while longer.  She seems to only want to nap while being held or maybe in her swing, so we'll have to work on that...

How is she eating?
No change.  She nurses regularly, roughly every 3 hours like most babies her age.  She's on meds for reflux - no surprise there.  

Doctor Visit
This went pretty well.  She got a good report and is staying on her growth curves.  I was hoping to wait to nurse her until after her shots as a soothing method (works great), but she wasn't willing to wait, so oh well.  We'll continue with the Zantac dose as long as she doesn't have any issues, so this will in effect gradually wean her off the meds as she outgrows them.  

Naomi actually cried more this appointment than Olivia.  It started when we were called back and she had just started playing with the train set.  Hello Two Year Old Tantrum!  (She doesn't understand that she's not 2 yet and that there's no need to overachieve in this area.)  Then she cried about almost anything and everything else.  Olivia just laid there while the doctor did her exam, but Naomi cried - she's very sensitive about people doing things to her Mommy or her baby (my OB appointments were a real treat).  We read, we sang, we looked at the TV, we repeated "baby fine"... anything to help.  Olivia did wail a good bit about her shots, but that sort of thing has never bothered me.  She calmed down in the car and nodded off.  

What new tricks does she do?
She started smiling this month, which is just such a treat.  Plus, we have gotten a cooing noise a few times.  

General Observations?
Still a pretty chill baby.  She's developing a "friar" hairdo as it's starting to grow on the back and sides, but not really the top yet.  I still get told on a regular basis that she is so tiny.  What can I say?  We make tiny babies.  :)  Mmmm... guess that's about all I've got this month.  

Until next time... Enjoy!

Hi

The ceiling fan is so fascinating.  

Doing a little chair dance...

Love that smile!

Playing with her skirt

I'm ready for my close-up!