Christmas Break = 2 sick kids, snow, presents, and more

This Christmas Break has been (so far) a very interesting time. We moved about a week before break so we have been painting (well Mike and his dad), unpacking, and just being crazy. Both girls have also had ear infections and I haven't felt so great myself. The girls both got lots and lots of gifts that they really appreciate. Brynn is a great gift watcher and Libby is finally able to open all her own gifts with very little help.


The girls got super cute suitcases with their names on them that they can use when we travel or just even when we go to Grandma's house. They had been sharing one which was starting to get difficult so this will be so much better for them to each have their own.


Libby played in the snow for the first time. She went down on a sled and made snow angels. She also just wanted to walk up and down the hill over and over and over again. Silly girl!


Mike and his dad painted 4 rooms in our house this week too. There are still about 7 more that need paint but this was a GREAT start. They painted our living room, front entryway, upstairs hallway, and a bathroom. Libby took this picture of Daddy painting the front entryway.


My Uncle Bob and Aunt Arlene sent these matching outfits for the girls. They are SUPER CUTE!

AHHH!!!

Our new house is a mess! This is what it feels like...


It's actually getting better but I'm tired of seeing boxes and tripping over stuff that Libby has pulled out. Pretty soon we'll get the playroom together and that should help some of it.

Brynn is army crawling. She can get about anywhere she wants to go. Libby is very anxious about that. Libby is constantly telling me about what Brynn is trying to touch that doesn't belong to her. Libby is starting to get better about bringing Brynn her own toys, but it's all a ploy to keep her out of Libby's stuff.

Moving Day

We moved into our new house yesterday. We LOVE it. We still have a few things we need to get out of the old house but for the most part, we're in. We owe a BIG THANK YOU to my parents, brother, aunt, cousin Chris, Lisa and Emily. We couldn't have done it so smoothly without you.

Both girls slept well in their new rooms and so did we! What a tired group we were last night. I'm a little tiny bit sad about leaving our old house because I did so much love that house but this new house is much bigger and I think will fit our family for a long time.

New House

We officially own a new (to us) house. We are moving this weekend after a very long process with the bank. Yesterday we went to close and our realtor has a little girl a few months older than Brynn. They got to play for a little bit. The fun thing is that this little girl is Libby's best friend's little sister. So, we can have awesome play dates in the future.


Brynn is the baby on the bottom of this picture.

Libby is excited and nervous about moving. She isn't quite sure how to express it but when I ask her if that's what's she's feeling, she will admit that she is nervous. Brynn is starting to get nervous too. Our house smells, sounds, and looks different than she is used to with all the stuff getting packed up and she didn't sleep well last night. We will officially be living in the new house on Sunday so wish us luck with the move.

The picture says it all!

Again, thanks to Lisa for capturing this moment on film. Brynn can use a sippy cup! We give her a little wee bit of juice from time to time and she is able to drink it on her own from a cup. I'm pretty sure in this picture she's sitting with her second favorite man - Lisa's husband Aaron. I think she has a BIG crush on him!

Speaking of crushes, evidently our little Libby is quite the heartthrob. She has a little boyfriend named Kaden (although she says he's not her boyfriend and that she's just his girlfriend - whatever that means) and another little boy has a HUGE crush on her. I asked her what being a girlfriend means and that boy just makes sure no other kids bother her - too cute! I also asked her who told her she was his girlfriend and she said Kaden did! The other little boy, Asher, is always showing off around her and trying to get her to play with him. She comes home all the time and says things like, "Asher hit me." or "Asher took my toy." He wants her attention so badly but is almost a year younger than her and she's good friends with his sister so I think her attention is elsewhere. What will we do with this girl when she's a teenager?!

No more cast!

Libby got her cast off this morning. She has to wear a brace when she's out and about but not at home. Then we go back in 6 weeks for another follow up.

Last night our Parents as Teacher came to the house and did a 6 month screening with Brynn. She was able to do every single thing on the check list except get up on her hands and knees in a crawling position. Then the parent educator asked me if I had any concerns or questions. I said no and she said she wouldn't have any either. Brynn's got it going on!

Happy Thanksgiving... late...

November has flown by and I've hardly updated our blog at all. Brynn is sitting up pretty well now and has been for about 2 weeks. She is the happiest little baby. Everyone loves her easy going nature which is such a contrast from Libby. Libby is anything but easy going. Brynn will occasionally "talk" very loudly though as if to remind us that she is around. Brynn's sitter, Lisa takes lots of pictures of her so I don't feel like such a horrible mom by forgetting to photograph my second child. (This picture of Brynn sitting is courtesy of Lisa.)



Libby gets her cast off next week and we couldn't be happier to get rid of it! It's such a pain at bath time and when we get her dressed.

It looks like we're probably going to be moving in the next week or so. We can't wait to get into our new house! We took Earl out to the new house today and let him run around and he was even excited. We'll have a lot of updates to make to the house but we really like it. We're going back out again tomorrow so maybe we'll take some pictures even though it will be before we do any updating.

Fast Track

Brynn's on the move. She can log roll and is sitting up pretty well by herself. It scares me a little bit to think about her walking at an early age though.

More Broken Bones and Teeth

I've been waiting to update this until I could get a picture of Libby with her sky blue cast. On Halloween I noticed Libby's wrist was swollen and she had a bruise on the under side of her wrist. She was using it and didn't seem to be in any pain so we waited until Monday to take her to the doctor. Turns out when she fell down the stairs with on October 18th she not only broke her collar bone but both the bones in her lower right arm. She no longer needs to wear the clavicle strap but now has a cast to protect her arm from further damage. She's very proud of her cast or as she calls it "my sky blue thing". Some friends have written their names on it and she has to have her sleeves up so she can see the names at all times.



Brynn has 2 teeth now and is very close to being able to sit up. In fact, last night she sat on the floor between my legs (with very little support) for about 5 minutes. She's rolling all over too. She's tried peas, sweet potatoes, bananas, and pears. She didn't really like bananas but loves everything else.

Happy Halloween

Happy Halloween! I love that Halloween was on a Saturday this year! Libby has been in costume all day long. She woke up and wore her princess dress, crown, and sparkly shoes to breakfast and the grocery store. Then we came home ate lunch, napped, and got up and got ready to trick or treat. We ended up going to a big Halloween thing put on by the University. They had lots of games and tons of candy. She really enjoyed it. I loved that it was inside so we didn't have to wear a big coat over her costume plus it was nice that Brynn didn't need to be bundled up. Brynn really enjoyed watching everyone tonight too. She was a bear if you can't tell from the picture. Libby really understood Halloween this year. She even started to appreciate other kids costumes and even thought a few were funny or cute.

Libby Update

Libby is doing much better with her broken collar bone. She has to wear her support straps until November 17th. However, she is able to move her arm with little to no complaints without it during her bath and in the morning when we get her dressed. She is supposed to wear the straps all the time. In fact, when they're not on she does ask for them so I think it feels better to her to wear them.

Girl Down, We Have A Girl Down

Libby fell down the stairs on Sunday and broke her collar bone. We rushed to the ER and they did some x-rays and confirmed what I knew to be true long before they said it. She spent all day Sunday and most of Monday on the couch. She has to wear this clavicle strap for a month. She seems fine now when we have her loaded up on both Tylenol and Motrin but when they start to wear off she's sort of a bear. Poor baby!

Tooth

I noticed last night that Brynn has her tooth coming through!! That probably explains some of her recent behaviors.

Lots to update

Brynn started solid foods last weekend. Her first food was bananas - well I guess it's also been her only food so far. She seems to like it. Today she ate a significantly larger amount than ever before. These pictures are from last week. She can also roll onto her belly and is going to be crawling soon. She can get her little knees up under her but can't go anywhere - yet. She also has a little friend she's very interested in. Libby's best friend, Piper, has a sister right about Brynn's age and they just check each other out all the time.





I know it's hard to tell but Libby is actually happy here. It's also difficult to tell but Libby and Brynn have on matching (but opposite) outfits.


Please ignore the blue icing on Libby's face. There is no "blue icing remover" photo fix like a red eye reducer. Oh well! Brynn really likes playing with Libby!

Just Rollin' Along

Brynn is growing at a very average rate. We took her in for her 4 month shots about a week and a half ago and she weighed 13 lbs. 2 ozs. which was in the 50th percentile and was 24 inches long which was in the 55th percentile. At 2 months she was in the exact same percentile ranks. She's just an average girl!

She can also roll from back to front now. She still won't roll from tummy to back regularly but is consistently rolling onto her tummy. A little backward, I know. Maybe she's just a backward kind of girl.

She's turned into a very sweet baby. Unless she's hungry or tired, she's usually just a happy little kid. She smiles a lot and laughs pretty easily.



We put Brynn to sleep with her head up by the animals. She was also wrapped up in a blanket. This is how we found her in the morning.


Lisa, Brynn's sitter, took this picture. I think she had just found her thumb or something.


Lisa took this picture too. So cute!

Funny Girl

Libby says some very cute things.

Mike: Libby you're a smart girl.
Libby: Yes. And funny.

"Lisa's cat is so much mean."

"We didn't ride on the gym bus Mommy. We just played on it."

"Brynn is my best sister."

"Grandma is not your mom, Mommy. She's just my grandma."

Mike: Are you my baby girl?
Libby: No. I'm your big girl princess.
Mike: What's Brynn?
Libby: Libby Kosher

We've been looking at some houses and thinking about moving. Libby's friend Piper's mom is a Realtor and she's been showing us some houses. Piper came along the other night to show us some and Libby thought we went to Piper's house even though there was no furniture in the house. She keeps saying that she wants to buy Piper's house.

At school they had asked the kids their favorite food, favorite color, and favorite thing to do at home. She told them her favorite food was ice cream (but it's really mac and cheese), her favorite color was purple (but it's really pink), and her favorite thing to do at home is play monkeys on the bed.

Bike Rider

On Sunday, Libby, Brynn, and I went to visit Grandma while Mike golfed with Grandpa and some uncles and cousins. When we got to Grandma's she had this bike for Libby. She rode it really well!





Libby's preschool has low enrollment right now which means that her class is really small. She is learning a ton! She knows a lot about space, weather, and plants. She also is learning to spell, draw pictures that actually look like things and count to twenty. She'll be in "real" school before we know it.

Brynn is doing just fine. She seems totally at home at her sitters. She has become a very good baby.

If it's not one thing, it's a gall bladder

This week has been one of those weeks where nothing seems to happen the way it's planned. I had 2 meetings this week that came up on me without warning. Actually, that's not true, I just didn't remember them, Brynn came along with me to both of those. Then on Tuesday I dropped my cell phone and cracked the screen AND our 25 year old water heater went out. Also, I went to the doctor and was told that my gall bladder is most likely causing a great deal of the discomfort I've been going through and if it doesn't seem to get better with diet and some minimal amount of medication, then I may need to get it looked at more thoroughly.




This after noon when I went upstairs to get Libby up from her nap I found several of her stuffed animals under her rug and this doll placed in like this on her shelf. I asked her why she did that and her answer about the doll was that she is a princess right now. She didn't have a reason for the animals under the rug though.

Brynn has really adjusted to daycare well. She seems to like being with Lisa (her sitter). She's turned into a pretty happy baby. It does take her a little time on Saturdays to get into the swing of being home with us and I'm sure it will work itself out soon.

First Football Game

Last night we went down to see the football team play where Mike works. After we had been there for about a 30 minutes, Libby says, "Hey Daddy! You work here!" because she had seen the logo on a sign. She's been "reading" logos for about a year now so we're not surprised that she put two and two together but it was a little slow of her because we had been telling her that we were going there all day.

At half-time they were shooting t-shirts and stuffed animals out into the audience and Libby really wanted one of the tigers. She didn't get one but then on our way out we ran into the Athletic Director and she promised to send one home with Mike on Monday. Lucky little girl!



Libby's been complaining about things being too loud for a long time. I'm starting to get a little worried about it. I used to think it was because she had tubes in her ears and that made things too loud. But now those have been out for about 5 months and she's still saying things are too loud. Last night at half-time the band playing made her cover her ears with her hands and she sobbed because of the noise. She also sobbed one night because she said there was a sound. I went into her room and heard nothing. Mike then noticed that her fan made a little squeak when it oscilated and that was bothering her so much that she was hiding under her blankets crying and couldn't sleep. I think I'm going to call her ENT tomorrow and see if he suggests anything. This will actually be about the 2nd or 3rd time I've talked with him about it but only the first since her tubes have been out and her ears have completely healed. He didn't seem too worried about it before but maybe now it will warrent some more attention.

On another note, I started back to school last week and haven't been so tired in my whole life (although Mike says I'm like this at the beginning of every school year). Brynn is settling into daycare nicely and her sitter seems to really like her. Libby is back at preschool full time and is still expecting to go on a field trip every week like they did over the summer. Bummer that the school year isn't quite as exciting.

Playdate

Libby had an impromptu playdate today. The couple who runs her preschool has 5 kids and the dad is pretty sick right now and hasn't been feeling up to much lately. So, I offered to take the 2 youngest children off the mom's hand this morning so she could get some things accomplished. Libby had a good time playing with them. The older sister said that Libby and her brother are in love at one point when they were playing. I asked her if they play like that all the time and she said that they do but sometimes Libby gets mad at him. That sounds about right to me! Husbands are always messing up! :) She's just learning that early. We joke around because we've said for a long time that she's going to end up marrying this little boy because they have a very "old married couple" type of relationship going already. It's really too cute.

Stitches

Libby had to get 3 stitches in her forehead yesterday. She at the pool with preschool and was running. She slipped and got all banged up. Sorry this picture didn't turn out better. She wasn't very happy about getting it taken so we didn't continue to try.



I did find one picture of Libby on the roller coaster with me at Silver Dollar City that turned out. We're in the 4th car.

Brynn's Baptism part 2

My cousin Katie took some amazing pictures at Brynn's baptism and I wanted to share some of them. Katie has a very artistic eye for photos and knows how to enhance them beautifully.

Weekend in Branson

We spent last weekend in Branson, MO with my parents and cousins. We really had a great time. We got there Friday night and met up with my cousin Mark and his family for dinner. It was my parents 39th wedding anniversary and Mike and I surprised them with a cake at dinner. Then on Saturday we went to Silver Dollar City. Libby was tall enough to ride lots of the rides and rode her first roller coaster! She LOVED it!! She also rode the white water river ride and had a blast. I really thought she'd be scared but she liked it. We didn't get too many pictures that turned out because she had to ride on the inside of many rides and was blocked from view.

She also had a fun time playing with cousins. My cousin Mark has kids that are about my age and they have kids the same age as my kids. Jack and Libby are about 10 months apart (he's older) and Justin and Stevie are 10 months and 8 months older than Brynn. Libby had fun running around with Jack and Brynn liked watching the older babies. One of my cousins has a step daughter, Taylor, who is 10 and Libby really liked playing with her too. Unfortunately, we were so in the moment that we didn't take pictures. It was just nice to have a weekend away and to see some family that we don't see very often. In fact, we only see them every few years at best. It was nice to catch up with everyone.

Brynn's Baptism

Brynn was baptized yesterday at our Church. She did a wonderful job! She didn't cry at all when they poured the water on her or put the oil on her head.


Libby liked riding around on Chris's shoulders. He's about 6'2" so you can imagine that it's fun!


The newly baptized girl with Grandma and Grandpa.




Newly baptized with Godparents and Libby.




We have a similar shot from Libby's baptism over this same font with the sun coming in like this.

Juice Drinker?

Libby has never been one to like drinking juice. She's always wanted milk or water but never juice. Well, her preschool takes pictures of the kids at various activities throughout the year and we saw this picture where she clearly has a juice box sitting in front of her.



So we asked her about this juice box without showing her the picture.

Mike: Libby, do you drink juice at school?
Libby: No
Mike: We saw a picture of you with a juice box.
Total silence for about 30 seconds
Libby: I need to see it.

She didn't deny the juice box issue again but didn't say that she drank them either. Then I asked her teacher about it and she does in fact drink juice at school and even asks for seconds of juice at snack time. I just can't believe it. It feels like she's leading a double life at school. :)

Preschool Field Trip

Libby's school went on a field trip to a dairy farm today. Libby told me when I picked her up that they got to flush a really big toilet and that when the cows mooed it was really loud. You can see that she thought it was too much in the picture below. She's on the right side of the picture covering her ears!




She's never far from her friend Piper or her favorite teacher Carlee. Carlee just loves Libby and Libby talks about her all the time.

The farm had only the mommy and baby cows. Libby asked where the daddy cows were and they told her they live at another farm. She then said, "They are at work."

Little and Big

I needed to get a picture of Libby wearing her "Big Sister" shirt and Brynn wearing the "Little Sister" shirt before Brynn outgrows hers. The one picture, Libby looks really really cute but her knees are in the way of her shirt.





Libby has learned to spell her name and we've noticed that sometimes when we spell things we don't want her to know about she then will say them! Last week I told Mike I might take Libby to the m-a-l-l (I have to spell it because she LOVES it there!) and she said, "I want to go to the mall!" WHAT!?! She's 3! We're supposed to be able to use that trick for at least another year or 2! Great, now we have to get more creative. Another night I asked him to take her u-p to p-l-a-y and she said she wanted to go upstairs to play with her toys. I just can't believe it.





Brynn's still just being a cutie. I think she's growing like crazy. She seems so much heavier to me lately. She's starting to fit into some of her bigger clothes which is good because we have a TON of summer stuff in the next size up. She's smiling a lot more and "talking" too.

Big Smiles

Brynn can hold her head up really well now so we pulled out Libby's old Bumbo seat to see how she would do in it. She was able to sit in it pretty well. Libby can't be left out of pictures so here she is "helping".


Brynn is also smiling a lot more and I was able to catch a few today! Believe it or not, but this is a HAPPY girl!

Brynn's 2 Month Check

I forgot to talk about Brynn's checkup in yesterday's post. We went to the doctor for the 2 month check and Brynn is up to 10 lbs which is the 50th percentile and 22 inches which is the 55th percentile. So, she's just an average girl. The good thing is that 12 days before when we left the hospital she weighted 9 lbs 1 oz. and the doctor said she'd like to see her at least at 9.5 lbs for the 2 month check. So she gained 15 ounces in 12 days. I couldn't believe it. She was eating like crazy but I didn't think she'd gained THAT much.

Chicago Trip

Mike had a conference in Chicago last week and the girls and I tagged along. It was nice to get out of town a little bit. We did a little bit of everything. We went to Wrigleyville and walked around Wrigley Field. The Cubs were out of town but Rascal Flatts was doing a sound check for a concert that night so we got to hear them practice while we walked around.






Sleepy little girl

We went to the Chicago Children's Museum one night and Libby got to play.





She caught a fish! (Not a live one.)

Here's Brynn after rolling over yet again. She's getting to be pretty good at it.

Also, while we were in Chicago - Cago as Libby called it - Libby started spelling her name! What a BIG girl we have!!