Six months

So I actually wrote this when Caroline was six months old. It's just been sitting in my lineup waiting for me to post. 

I waited just a little bit to write this post as Caroline's wellness visit was just last Wednesday and I wanted to get her stats down.

Weight: 13 lbs. 6 oz (6%)
Height: 25 inches

She is measuring true to a Walles child. Small just like her brother. Caroline can still wear her 3-6 month clothes but is mostly wearing her six month outfits. She continues to eat every 3-4 hours during the day and anywhere from 4-6 hours at night. We have introduced solid foods with sweet potatoes being her very first food. She now has also had acorn squash, peas and bananas. She is NOT  a fan of peas but has enjoyed everything else so far.

Caroline is still going to bed between 7 and 7:30 and waking up (for good) between 6:30 and 7:30 am.

Likes: Caroline likes books, toys and anyone who wants to talk to her as she now will "talk" back. She still loves bath time and giggles when you play peek a boo, toss her in the air and try to tickle her.

Dislikes: Peas, shots and being ignored.

Skills: Caroline has officially started rolling from her back to her tummy. She will put weight on her legs while standing and is getting really good at sitting up with little assistance. She still does great at putting herself to sleep as long as her two middle fingers are available and is still taking two naps, sometimes three, during the day. Caroline will now say "ba-ba" although she is just babbling at this point.

Caroline also had her six month check up with the orthopedic surgeon in regards to her hip dysplasia this past Monday. He still does not feel a click in her hips while doing an exam but is concerned about her xrays that were taken. He wants a second opinion from a pediatric orthopedic surgeon in Peoria. We will hopefully have an appointment set up with them soon.

We can't believe that Caroline is already six months old and are so thankful for our happy, sweet loving girl!

Hazards and Benefits

Hazards of Christmas:


1) Your almost 4 year old wants to help you decorate everything. And I mean help take it out of the box, decide where it should go, figure out how it works and see if he can play with it

2) Once he has placed your lovely, cherished decoration where he thinks it should go, he will return 5 minutes later to look at it, figure out how it works and see if he can play with it some more.

3) Placing your lovely, cherished decoration out of his reach like on the mantel or on a table doesn't really work anymore. He is either tall enough he can reach it or he will climb onto a chair and precariously lean his body over standing on one foot on the armrest of the chair until he has captured your lovely, cherished decorations.

4) You will figure out which Christmas ornaments are made out of glass and which ones are cheap plastic. Very quickly.

5) You will discover in the attic while getting your ornament boxes out that there is a clothes bin that has been "hiding" behind some other boxes. Since you don't recognize the clothes on the top you will proceed to take the box downstairs where you will find many clothes that you bought for your now 4 year old that he was supposed to wear this past summer. You will curse yourself for forgetting that these clothes were in the attic and daydream about how excited he would have been to wear shark swim trunks and pirate alligator swim trunks at the beach.


Benefits of Christmas:

1) Your almost 4 year old wants to help you decorate everything. He is so excited about Christmas this year!

2) Shouting out together in the car "Christmas Lights!" every single time you drive by a house that is decorated beautifully.

3) Your almost 4 year old will actually do a craft with you for longer than 5 minutes. We did this together and it took at least 30 minutes and he was so focused on making it look just right.

It's our countdown to Christmas Day
with little baby Jesus under the tree.

4) He will be so excited to pick out gifts for other people. The idea of giving because you love someone is making so much sense.

5) The look on his face when he sees our Christmas tree all lit up and decorated. Every single time.

Jammies and Jingles

At the Children's Museum here in town they do a lot of special events. Last night we went to Jammies and Jingles, a Christmas themed event. It was so much fun! 

Caroline and Liam with Santa

Playing one of the games

Quick selfie of the girls

The boys making a gingerbread house

Yes, this picture happened and is hilarious.
And yes, there were better pictures to share with you but I couldn't help myself. 

Since we went before eating dinner we didn't think anything was of concern when Liam told us his tummy hurt right before we left. We were very upset with him when he refused to eat his dinner and just kept crying and screaming that his tummy hurt. He got sent straight to his room and Evan was convinced that he was just trying to get out of eating what we had prepared. Unfortunately, an hour later after I had fed Caroline and put her to bed, I walked into his room to check on him where he immediately started throwing up all over his bed. I hurriedly picked him up and we made it to the threshold of the bathroom before he started vomiting again. 

Poor guy was ill every half hour for 5 hours! Evan and I took turns sleeping downstairs with him and helping him "make it to the bucket."  We tried to explain that there was a germ bug in his belly and he had to get him out. Although when he woke up a half an hour later upset that he was going to be sick again he told us, "I already threw up that bug! He's gone!" 

Liam is currently all better. He has thoroughly enjoyed his day of staying in his PJ's, watching cartoons and movies and drinking "juice" (pedialyte). 

Caroline also was ill last night. After I fed her at 12:30 am and went downstairs to be with Liam the rest of the night, she apparently had thrown up sometime between 1 am and 7 am. Evan swears he didn't hear her fuss or cry. She immediately got a bath this morning. 

Now we are just waiting for "our turn". We are both hopeful that maybe we won't get it but both of us are extremely realistic that it's only a matter of time. 

Don't worry, we won't fill you in on the details when it's our turn. Just pray that our immune systems are strong enough to battle this. It's a doozy!

+ A giant thank you to my husband who cleaned up every time Liam didn't "make it" There was some serious team work last night dealing with a sick 4 year old who does not understand what is happening to his poor little body. So happy to have you on my team babe!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Before I jump into December and Christmas let me just go back for a second and talk about Thanksgiving. We have so much to be thankful for including family, friends, our health and love. We are surrounded by love every day. 

A special trip to Iowa for Thanksgiving weekend was wonderful as always. So good to be around 60 of our nearest and dearest family. If you can't remember someone's name then you just fake it until you make it! Everyone got to meet Caroline for the first time and we got to see my Uncle Mark who is currently undergoing chemotherapy and radiation for a brain tumor. We have high hopes for his outcome as he is in great shape and was his usual extremely sarcastic self. 

Giggles with Aunt Adriane

Big smiles with Aunt Emily

Grandma Lillian with her grandchildren and great-grandchildren who are named after her.
Top: Lily, Hannah, Callie Jo
Bottom: Margaret Lillian, Caroline Lillian, Lillian Johanna, Emily Johanna

My favorite!

First time swimming in a pool

More fun with Aunt Adriane

Time flies

How is she 6 months old already?

 Crazy hair, don't care!

And then there were

TWO! Caroline's second tooth has come in today with a little less drama then the first one. Still lots of drool but at least she hasn't been biting me while eating. Thank goodness!

Two teeth and she hasn't even hit her six month birthday!

Hello

first baby tooth! At 5 1/2 months Caroline has cut her first incisor. ("P" to be exact) After several fussy days, drool and more drool it finally showed up.  I couldn't be more excited!

Fine tuning his palate

While explaining Thanksgiving to Liam and what our plans would be for the day and holiday weekend I told Liam that we would be going to Uncle Jeff's and Aunt Bonnie's house.

M:  "So we will be eating turkey, mashed potatoes, pie and lots of other really yummy foods."

L:  "I think I would like steak."

Seriously, the only time we've had steak is when we eat shish kabobs. Not sure where this fine dining taste is coming from when he actually asks for peanut butter sandwiches 95% of the time.

Making my heart smile

The Simple Things

Wondering what to get for my children this Christmas?

Liam would like an empty box. He happily played in this box for two days straight before he destroyed it. 

Caroline will be quite content with a burp rag or a washcloth. She likes to chew on them.

If you don't want the answer, don't ask the question

E: "Liam, did you finish watching 'Fantastic Mr. Fox' today? What happened at the end?"

L: "It was over."

Five months

Wow, these last five months really have flown by! Caroline is learning new things every day, especially that teething is no fun and has resulted in her usual happy mood changing into a slightly more fussy one. Granted, this is nothing compared to her colic days 3 months back but it's not a lot of fun either.

Caroline is growing! She now wears size 2 diapers, 3-6 month clothes and size 1 shoes. She can still wear a lot of her 3 month outfits but they are getting tighter and shorter every day. Caroline continues to eat every 3-4 hours during the day and most recently due to the teething and some congestion, every 4 hours at  night. (Will I ever sleep through the night again?)

Caroline goes to bed between 7 and 7:30 pm and will wake up (for good) between 6:30 and 7:30 am.

Likes: Caroline loves any of her toys and all books. She has discovered so many things in the last couple weeks: her feet and Butters are on the top of the list. She is fascinated with both. Liam may still be her favorite person. If she is acting fussy I just ask Liam to come over and talk to her and she brightens right up! Her new favorite game is peek-a-boo. Especially when Liam plays the game with her. She is also ticklish on her belly and will laugh and laugh every time you tickle or blow raspberries on it. Bathtime is also still her favorite time of day.

Dislikes: Caroline does not like teething and neither do I.

Skills: Grabbing her toys, blowing raspberries, pushing herself up on her arms while doing tummy time and rolling from tummy to back. She is close to rolling from back to tummy (getting one leg over) but has not figured out how to complete the movement. She is excellent at putting herself to sleep as long as she has her two middle fingers to put in her mouth. She is still napping between 9 and 10 for 1-2 hours and then again at 1 for 1-3 hours.

Her greatest skill so far: making every single person she meets smile!

Spooky

Happy Halloween!

Raphael, from TMNT

My sweet superheroes!

Morton's Halloween Party

Children's Museum Trick or Treating,
and yes, he is Superman with a tiger face

Evan's amazing pumpkin

Fall Photos

Last weekend we met my sister-in-law and her family to take fall photos. It was a great day with great children who smiled for the camera and a great photographer, Ellen, who was able to keep everyone smiling. I don't know how she was able to get a 4 1/2 month old baby to grin for the camera but Caroline was more than happy to cooperate. Enjoy!

BFFs

Tonight after insisting Liam use the bathroom and having to hear about how "I really, really don't need to go" we had this conversation,

L: "You're NOT my BFF!"

M: "Okay."

L: "Do you  know what that means Mommy? BFF means really good friends. So, you're not my BFF! Daddy and me are BFFs!"

M: "Sounds good"

L: "Only me and Daddy! Not you!"

I think he was irritated that I didn't care that we are BFFs.

Honestly? It's better for him to figure that out now at the age of 3, instead of at the age of 14. I am soooo not his BFF.

Porcupine legs

Many times while Liam takes his bath I will roll my pant legs up and soak my feet while we play with his toys. He loves when I "take a bath with him" and tonight was no exception.

Until we had this conversation:

L: rubbing my leg with his face "Ouch Mommy! What is that!"

M: "What is what?"

L: "All those dark, sharp things coming out of your leg!"

M: "Hair."

L: "Well, you need to fix that. That hurts!"

It hasn't been that long since I've shaved. I think....

Wedding time!

Liam got to go to his very first wedding this past weekend.  Lindsay, Liam's babysitter, was the bride and Liam was so excited to go to her wedding. As it was his first wedding we had to explain a few things to him.

1) You don't get to wear your shark shirt to a wedding. Nice clothes are a must.

2) The wedding is not at Lindsay's house.

3) You will see your friends and can say hi but there is no playing with them during the ceremony.

4) The bride will be wearing a fancy dress. Not her usual attire at daycare-yoga pants and sweats. As she was coming down the aisle I told Liam, "here she comes!" To which he said, "Where? I don't see her." "Liam, she's the one in the white dress."

5) Giving of the rings. Liam was actually paying quite a bit of attention to the ceremony so during the ring part, I pointed to my wedding ring and then to Evan's. I'm not sure if he got it but it was worth a try.

6) After the wedding it is perfectly acceptable to go around to all of your friends and lift up your sweater to show them that you are wearing your very awesome shark shirt.

7) Tell the bride she is beautiful. Always.

8) Remind your Mom that if you see any of your friends that she can't hold your hand anymore. (yes, he actually said this, and yes, I wanted to cry)

Some good rules to remember for your next wedding that you may go to. You will see your friends but can't play with them until after the wedding and go ahead and wear that favorite shirt underneath your church clothes. Just remember no one can know about it until the reception.

A special kid

Because I don't want to forget all the things that make Liam who he is at 3 1/2...

He will say ba-lue for blue. Every single time.

He loves scary stories. He loves telling them and he loves hearing them.

The stories always start with "Once upon a time, there was a haunted house...."

Lasagna is always sagna. But used in the context of "I don't like sagna!"

He always wants to play superheroes. Girls can only be Wonderwoman, never a boy superhero.

He loves the mixed CD's that Evan has made for him. His favorite songs are still Rumor Has It by Adele, The dinosaur  song, the superman song and any of the other superhero anthems as well. (batman, spiderman)

He always wears socks at bedtime regardless of how warm it is.

He is perfectly content after taking his pull-up off to pull his pajama pants or pants back up with no underwear.

He thinks Mater's Tall Tales is the best show ever!

During bedtime prayers, we have to say, Dear Jesus, Liam prays for....then he will say, EVERYONE!

The only song he wants before bedtime is 'Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star'

After I sing this song to him and start to leave the room, he will act like I left out part of the song and insist that I sing it again.

His favorite stuffed animal is bear. Bear always sleeps with Liam, sometimes other animals get to join but always Bear.

He is a great kid and an amazing big brother to Caroline!

Four months

Caroline is now four months old. She is a very happy baby with occasional crying when tired, cold or hungry. We see lots of sweet baby smiles at the Walles house now and its beautiful!

Weight: 12 lbs 3 oz.  (17%)
Height: 24 1/2 inches (48%)

She is even smaller than big brother at this age! He was 12 lbs 9 oz at 4 months.

Likes: Caroline loves all of her baby toys, with her favorite still being the crawl ball that moves on its own in different directions. She can reach her hands out and pick up a toy in front of her, enjoys looking in mirrors and really loves books. Yay! She adores her big brother and any time he talks to her, sings to her or plays with her she just beams. It is so very cute! Caroline still loves bath time and is also still quite content sitting in her bouncy seat and laying on her play mat.

Her music preferences still consist of anything relaxing but the last couple of nights before putting her to bed she has become very irritated that I have waited so long to feed her and say good night. So at 8 o'clock when I try to get her to eat one last time she is already exhausted and will not eat resulting in lots of tears and screaming. Evan will come and save the day by taking her to listen to Kenny Rogers, 'Just Dropped In', from the Big Lebowski movie. She immediately calms down and falls asleep listening to this:

So we are now trying to put her to bed between 7 and 7:30. Not that the song isn't great and all. 

Dislikes: Well, clearly being tired, hungry or cold. These are the top three culprits of any fussiness. She will also voice her opinion if she is bored looking at her toys. 

Skills: Beginning this week Caroline can now blow raspberries. When Grammie was here on Monday she started blowing them at Liam, he would laugh at her and she would keep right on doing it. She is very good at scooting herself around so that she is facing the complete opposite direction of where you laid her. Rolling over from tummy to back is still possible but she doesn't do it often. She still loves her two middle fingers and puts herself to sleep almost every time. She now takes a morning nap around 9 or 10 and sleeps for 1-2 hours. Then also taking another nap around 1:00 pm and again sleeping from 1-3 hours. 

Caroline wants to eat every 3-4 hours during the day and every 4-6 hours at night. We moved her into her own room a couple of weeks ago thinking that maybe she would sleep longer during the night but that has not been a successful experiment. 

I think she's got the Liam stare down pat!

Always munching on those fingers

Picking your battles

For awhile now, Liam has started to blow his nose until snot is dripping down his face instead of asking for a Kleenex. This is the new way that he tells us that he needs a Kleenex. Despite every single time he begins to do this, we ask him to stop and to go get a Kleenex first before he starts shooting mucous out of his nose, he continues with this disgusting habit.

This morning:

(Liam blowing snot out of his nose)

M: Liam, that's gross. Go to the bathroom and get a Kleenex from Daddy.

L: Noooooo! I don't need to!

M: (ignoring my rebelling child while I pay bills online, because it's only 7:30 am and it's way too early to start this fight)

Cue Liam who begins kicking my chair that I'm sitting in making it make a very annoying noise.

M: Liam, don't do that. That's annoying.

L: But it's not blowing my nose. See? I listened Momma.

This could be a very long day.

Three Months

In my defense, I started this blog post when Caroline was at her 3 month birthday.

Caroline is a joy to be around! Lots of smiles and lots of cooing. She is turning into a very happy baby! It's amazing what a few weeks can do when you have a colicky baby. She still has her moments of being fussy but it's a big difference from where we were one month ago.

Likes: Caroline loves her sea creatures toy that makes sound whenever you touch it. She is getting really good at understanding that she needs to stretch that hand out there in order to get her toy to entertain her. And even when she doesn't she has a great big brother who loves to show her how his old toys work. She also likes her touchy-feely books. It's exciting to see her understand that she needs to stretch her fingers out instead of keeping it in a fist to learn about the world around her. It's very cute and cool to see her brain work! She of course still loves her big brother Liam who adores her right back.

On her first day at the babysitters Evan set the carseat down on the floor and all the other kids gathered around Caroline to welcome her to the group. After a couple of minutes of the kids looking at her, Liam said, "Ok, ok that's enough! Give her some space!" A very protective brother! And while I was worried all day that Caroline would cry for hours or wouldn't take a bottle on my first day back to work, I was informed that she may be the happiest baby ever, so full of smiles!

She still likes her playmat, her swing and her bouncy seat. Caroline has also started to suck on her fingers to soothe herself to sleep. Bathtime is also still a favorite.

Dislikes: A non moving car is still #1 on this list. She is also not a fan of zerberts. (is this even a real word?) Sitting in a dirty diaper also gets some complaints.

Skills: Caroline rolls from her tummy to her back and actually started doing this at 2 months. Once she finds her two middle fingers to stick in her mouth she is very good at putting herself to sleep. She is a great talker, lots of cooing! Caroline has about 1 1/2-2 hours of wakefulness before needing another nap. Most of the time at night she will go 5 hours before wanting to eat again. On the rare occasion she has slept for 7-8 hours straight, and it was glorious!

Carving out a bit of me time

I did it! I actually went to the mall by myself and only purchased things for myself. It was really hard by the way. It was hard not to go straight to the children's section, for my children; or the mens section, for my husband. I forced myself to stay on the main level with the women's clothes.

Back before I was married or had children I'm sure I was very judgmental of mothers wearing their sweats to go shopping or going out in public without any makeup on. I often wondered why they couldn't put forth a teensy bit of effort to make themselves look good.

Ten years later I am that mother still wearing her yoga pants grocery shopping and I have not done yoga or any form of exercise all day nor do I intend to.

So that is why yesterday I felt it so important to only shop for myself.

Just don't ask what was in my bag.

75% of it was yoga pants.

I never knew

This conversation has happened twice now.....

M: Liam, don't let the dog lick your hands if you are still eating. That's gross.

L: No, Mommy it's ok. Butters has soap in her mouth.

Yep, it's happened twice...

Sheboygan

Sheboygan, Wisconsin was our family vacation spot this year and it was beautiful! Lake Michigan never disappoints me although I wish we would have had a little more beach time. That was hard to accomplish since the resort we were staying at also had an indoor waterpark on the property. Hard choices for a 6, 4 and 3 year old. We had a great time together and even Grandma Davidson got to come for a couple days and meet Caroline and Ivy.

It is sad how very few pictures I took during our 4 day stay but my other sisters did a great job of documenting our time together. Besides the beach and waterpark we also went to a Milwaukee Brewers game and the cutest little place called Bookworm Gardens. Caroline was not impressed with the baseball game and cried for most of it but she did like the peace and quiet of the gardens. Liam loved it all! Any moment he was with Violet and Eli was amazing and anytime Mom or Dad tried to butt into his time with them was not met with a happy response. It was almost a nice break for Evan and I if we did not have an infant who also needed our attention.

Thanks Mom and Dad for a great vacation and great food!

Our stylist, Violet Penelope

Best buddies!

Yep, a beach on Lake Michigan = wearing your clothes not your bathing suit

Pit stop on our way home, the Milwaukee Zoo