Look at Me!

Hallie started rolling over on Sunday night. I kind of thought maybe it was a fluke and she wouldn't keep doing it, but she is! Now when I put her down on her back, she immediately flips to her stomach. She is growing up way too fast. Pretty soon she'll be running around and back talking like her big sister. But hopefully not too soon.

4 Months Old

Hallie turned 4 months old on September 21st. I'm a little behind on getting this post done, but I was waiting for her 4 month check up so I had her stats. And here they are:

Height: 25 3/4 inches 95%
Weight: 17 lbs. 7 oz. 95%
Head: 42 1/4 cm. 85%

I have such a chubby little girl! But I love all her chub, it's so cute! Mikkele is concerned that she won't grow out of it. I told her that she did, so Hallie will also. Although, I'm pretty sure Hallie is chunkier than Mikkele was. I should have kept better records of that kind of stuff. Oh well. Her little personality is continuing to grow. She always has a smile for anyone that will stop to talk to her. She has started to giggle a little bit this last month as well. She is typically a pretty quiet little girl, so you have to work hard to get her going. But once you do, it is so worth it. She is starting to roll a little bit. She can roll side to side, and has rolled over from her stomach to her back, just not consistently. She has discovered her tongue and has it sticking out all the time. She will also chew on it, and blow raspberries with it. She does not like to lay in your arms and cuddle. She wants to sit up and see what's going on. If there are other kids close playing, she gets really wiggly like she's wanting to get up and go. She just may be an early walker like her sister. She continues to like different textures in her hands. She is always grabbing at her shirt or belly if she is being changed. She plays with just about anything she can get her hands on. She also will bring it to her mouth and suck on it. Holding onto the toole of her tutu.

The basket was a new texture for her. We had a hard time getting her to look up to take these pictures, because she was trying out the new feeling of the basket weaves.

She doesn't take a binki hardly at all. Which I think is a good and a bad thing. She will suck on her hands a lot to help soothe her instead. She is getting up sometimes every 2 hours at night. We talked to the dr. about that at her check up and he said that she has enough fat stored that she should be able to go 6-8 hours without eating, so we need to start letting her cry it out and sleep train her. The only hard part about that is that she is sharing a room with us and Grant right now. So to do that, we will all have to have a sleepover downstairs so we can still get some sleep. I thought I was gonna do it this weekend, but it almost seems like less sleep to do that, than to get up with her a few times in the night. I know it will only be bad for a few days, and I just need to suck it up and do it. Maybe next weekend. :) But overall, she is such a good little baby, and just the kind of baby that I needed. She is so patient with her brother stealing most of the attention away from her. We are so happy to have her in our lives!

Sleepy Baby

I know you are all waiting patiently for Hallie's 4 month old post, but parts of it have been delayed. So while you're waiting for that to come (I know the suspense is killing you) enjoy this one.

Last night while I was feeding Grant dinner, I had Hallie in her Bumbo chair next to us on the table. I looked over at her and her head was bobbing. She was falling asleep sitting up. Lucky for me (and all of you) I had my camera right by me. Funny baby.

Sorry the video is sideways.

Unfortunately when I grabbed her to lay her down her chubby thighs got caught in the openings and made her mad and she wouldn't go back to sleep.

Catching Up

It has been brought to my attention that I have been neglectful of my blog. It may have something to do with having 3 kids and school starting. But all excuses aside...below are 3 new posts. Yes, I know that they all are only centered around Grant. Yes, I know I have 2 other kids. Look for a 4 month old post for Hallie to come soon. And we'll see if I can find something cute Mikkele is doing amidst the sassy attitude that has started to accompany her daily. Until then...It's all about Grant...

G-tube Removal

After 3 years as a part of Grant's life, he had his G-tube removed a little over a month ago. This is something that has needed to happen for quite some time now, but I have not been ready to have it out quite yet. He has only used his tube for his meds since March 2008. It has been my security blanket with him for so long, that I had a hard time taking that next step. But in all reality...he is doing SO well with his eating! He has made so many improvements and is still continuing to make more all the time. We are so proud of him and the progress he is making. The procedure was really quick, and we didn't have to stay in the hospital overnight which was a nice surprise. He did really well in the days afterward. Very few problems. He is doing well taking his meds orally, which is a big relief. I just can't wait until it is healed completely. Soon...very soon.

I have been waiting to blog about it because I wanted to do some before and after pictures once he had healed up a bit. It's still not completely healed, but it gives you somewhat of a picture of the before and after.

BEFORE: in all his scrawniness

AFTER:
No G-tube, and still healing.
He's gonna look like he has 2 belly buttons for the rest of his life.

Problem Solved

Since we got Grant's wheelchair a year and a half ago, we have had problems with him dropping his head off to the right side and whacking his head on the frame. While it sounds like it would hurt, he thinks it's funny and has turned it into a game. A game that drives Jeremy and i INSANE! We have tried to resolve the problem quite a few times, and in quite a few different ways, but this week we finally fixed it! I am so excited! We have tried this little "spot" in a different position and it didn't work. But the tech that came out this week is brilliant, and moved the spot to a different position and it did the trick. It kind of looks like a microphone. It's a little bit in the way, but whatever it takes. The only real draw back to having it there is when he's eating. If he has any food on his face and turns his head to the side then it gets on the spot. But the cover comes off and is washable, so really it's not that big of a deal. I'm just excited to have the problem solved. Now if only we could figure out the other "problems" that Grant likes to stump us with. Well...one thing at a time....

Holding onto his mic.

Talking into his mic.

Grant's Last, First Day of Preschool

I feel like I have done this post so many times already, since this is Grant's 3rd first day of preschool. This may explain why it has taken me 2 1/2 weeks to post this. Things are a little different this year. Grant is now in the "afternoon" class at school which is really a late morning early afternoon schedule. It has kinda thrown us all off a little bit, and we are still trying to figure out a good schedule that works for us, but we will figure it out eventually. Last year Jeremy put Grant on the bus most days, but since he leaves later this year I get to do it. He has cried almost every day. Some days he starts crying when he hears the bus pull up before we even leave the house. He's done a little better the last couple days, so hopefully he'll continue to do better. I think that his separation anxiety has gotten 100 times worse since I quit working and had Hallie. He has me home 24/7, which really hasn't done him (or me) any favors. But really I think he's just a little stinker, because the bus driver/bus aid say that he quits crying by the time they reach the stop sign (which is 2 houses down). And I know he has a fun time at school. He has the BEST teacher and aid's at school. So basically he's just doing it to try and make me feel bad. Too bad it's not working. :)

Blowing us kisses good bye.

Trying to decide if he's happy or sad. Or try remember that he's trying to make me feel bad that I'm sending him away.

Either way...he's one handsome boy.

3 Months Old

So I kind of already did a 3 month post for Hallie with the whole ear piercing thing, but I wanted to write down a few stats about her and what she has been doing lately. We had a check up the day before she turned 3 months and here are her stats:

Weight: 15.2 pounds 95%
Height: 24 1/2 inches 90%
Head: don't remember the #, but 75 %
So yes...as you can tell from the numbers, she is a CHUNK! She gained a little over 2 pounds this last month. Which is less than the 4 that she gained the month before. The chunkier she gets, the less I think she looks like Mikkele. I don' t know if it's just because she's chunkier, or what, there are still a ton of similarities, but I think she's coming into her own a bit more. Her hair is starting to come in a bit and get a little fuzzy. It looks like she's going to be darker than Mikkele was too. Maybe closer to Grants hair color, but with Mikkele's blue eyes. Whatever she ends up with, she's gonna be cute! I love her rollie pollie little body. The only disadvantage to her being chubby is that she thinks she needs to eat constantly at night. There are some nights that she wants to eat every 1-2 hours. Which is killing me. During the day she wants to eat every 3-4 hours, so why more at night??? I'm going to try adding some cereal to her bottle at night and see if that will help stick with her for longer. She is still sleeping quite a bit during the day, but is getting into more of a routine with her naps and awake time.
Hallie is full of smiles. She loves to smile, even if there is nobody trying to get a smile out of her. Her best smiles are first thing in the morning. She is such a happy little girl and has a cute personality starting to show. She is cooing more and more. I love to talk to her and have her talk back to me. So cute! She is becoming more aware of her surroundings and loves to look around. Sometimes it's hard to get her to focus on one thing, she is so busy taking everything in. She is loving sitting in the Bumbo chair and looking around. Although I don't know how much longer she'll be able to use the Bumbo chair. Her little legs aren't so little and get stuck a bit getting in and out of it. It's kinda funny. You go to pull her out of the chair and the chair comes with her. It's a pretty funny sight. She is starting to reach out for toys and other objects. She loves to play on the floor under the toy gym. It can keep her entertained for quite a while. She still gets her hands to her mouth quite a bit, but not as much thumb sucking as before. Who knows, maybe I jinxed it.
We love this little girl so much and we are so happy to have her in our home!

Ear Piercing

Since my baby girls are bald and look a lot like their dad, I have to make sure they are dressed in pink, have a bow on their head, and a bib that says "I'm a girl" helps too. And even then I get asked "how old old is HE." We got it so much with Mikkele that at 2 months of age we took her to get her ears pierced. Since Hallie looks a lot like Mikkele I decided I would do the same for her as well. So at 2 months we tried to get them done. Apparently they have changed the rules in the last 9 years and the babies have to be 3 months old and you have to show current immunizations. Well Hallie turned 3 months old yesterday, so what did we do??? We went and pierced her ears. She was not very happy with me the rest of the night, but we came home and gave her some Tylenol and put her to bed. She looks super cute with them if I do say so myself. And this morning she is full of smiles and has forgotten how mean her mom was to her last night. The video of her is kinda sad. Please don't call DCFS on me.

The best shot I could get of both ears.

On another note...I have not worn earrings for 2+ years. I have a slight metal allergy and if I don't wear really good quality earrings then my holes get really sore and infected. So over the last few days I have been trying to get earrings back in my ears. After quite a few hours of self inflicting torture, I was able to get one in my left side, but not my right side. I knew we were gonna do Hallie's on Friday, so I just left a small, thin, gold hoop in my right side to keep the hole open. So basically I was walking around like a pirate for 24 hours. I got a lot of jokes made at me. And every time some one said "AAARRR matey" Grant laughed. So yes people, I looked like a pirate. But I was big and brave and got my left side re-pierced before we did Hallie's. I wanted to do hers first, but I figured I probably had to be brave first, since I was inflicting pain on my 3 month old child. This video shows how brave I was. :) Or not...Thanks Adam!

First Day of 4th Grade

School started today. I think this is the first year in the 5 years Mikkele has been going to school that I am actually kinda sad she is going back already. She has been such a good help to me this summer. Nevertheless the first day of school is here and she must go. She says she's not excited, but she has had her outfit picked out and laying on her bottom bunk for a few days now. I think she just says she hates school because everyone else does...it's the cool thing to say I guess. She's getting very opinionated on what she wants to wear and how she wants her hair done and if I'll be helping her with her hair or if she's doing it all herself. My little girl is growing up and I'm not sure I'm ok with that. But whether or not I'm ok with it or not...4th grade here we come!

We walked outside this morning and it was kinda chilly, so she went and grabbed a sweater. Kinda ruins the outfit, so I made her take it off for one of the pictures so we can see how cute her dress is.

Mikkele, Rietta, and Tienna at the front of the school.

Mikkele, Rietta, Tienna, and Gunner. Gunner is in Kindergarten this year. He's even growing up too fast and he's not even my kid.

Mikkele's desk in the classroom is right next to the bearded dragon named Mt. Dew. I knew I was gonna like her teacher this year!

Mikkele and her teacher Mrs. Clements. She is a huge animal lover and has many animals in the classroom. This year they are more in the reptile family. Mikkele is really excited to help with the animals and learn more about them and how to care for them. Notice the teacher's zebra print skirt. She had on a different animal print at the "meet the teacher night". I wonder if she loves animals so much that she wears animal print every day, or just on the first couple days that we've seen her. Hummm...we'll see I guess.