Caroline 9 months

Weight:  18 pounds, 3 ounces (50th percentile)

Height:  29 1/8 inches (95th percentile)
Head:  17 inches (25-50th percentile)

At nine months Caroline is at the perfect snuggle bug age and I wish she would stay like this forever.  She loves to be skin to skin and will often go from being busy busy to all of a sudden being very still and will press the side of her cheek on yours and put the palm of her hand on your other cheek.  It is kind of hard to explain but it is like her way of giving a hug and it just melts my heart.

Other things about Caroline at nine months:

• She power crawls fast, putting her head down like a battle ram when she's really serious about getting some place quickly. 
• She can pull up to standing and cruise along the furniture easily.  She is getting more confient and strong while standing and doesn't lean as much on whatever she is holding on to.  She is experimenting with letting go and transition to other places while standing.  She can balance while standing for a few brief seconds before falling down. 
• She gives the sweetest and wettest open mouth kisses.  It feels like she is trying to eat the side of your face and you definitely need to towel afterwards to dry off but it is her little way of saying 'i love you.'

• Still sleeping great at night which is something I definitely don't take for granted!!
• When George or I get home from being out, she squeals with delight and power crawls over to us for a tight squeeze.  I love this!
• Caroline continues to make mostly 'mamama' sounds but also makes 'b' and 'p' sounds.  She likes to make clicking noises with her tongue and has learned to make the kissing sound.  On of my favorite noises she makes is when she blows air through her closes lips and makes them vibrate - it sounds like a little bird chirping.  Often when we are in the car by ourselves we take turns chirping at each other back and forth.  It is such a sweet little game.

• Kicks her legs and rolls her feet around in circles when she's happy.
• Eating more and more finger foods and having less - but still some - gagging and throwing up episodes.  She still nurses about 6 times a day but at times it feels like a wrestling match keeping her still and latched on.
• Started clapping this month and loves to drum and pat on things to hear the different sounds it makes.
• I'm afraid that her crib bumper might be becoming a lovey/comfort item for her. She smashes it down on several sides and used it as a pillow - sometimes even a full body pillow - when she sleeps.  We went out of town this month for a long weekend and we even took the bumper with us and crammed it in the pack and play to make it feel more similar to her.  It did the trick and she slept much better than other trips, which is great... but makes me nervous about the prospect of her becoming permanently attached to something so large!

• Sadly she gets so upset when the big kids get out of the car in the morning at carpool.  She crys every time, I think because she feels like she is alone.  Poor girl.
• Has started having some anxiety when I'm not with her.  Thankfully she still goes easily to our regular sitter but she has cried to the point of making herself sick with new people which breaks my heart.  She is starting to get sad if I am out of sight or leave the room even if there isn't anyone else around who would take her.  I know that this is normal at this age but our other two never really had this problem, so it is a new challenge for us.  I love that she is a mommy's girl but I hate seeing her upset.
• Overall she is playful, happy, and easy going but she is also starting to show more of the timid side of her personality.  Loud noises, often just the big kids yelling, scares her and toys like this ball popper that were the big kid's favorite when they were this age just make her cry and crawl away.

As Caroline gets older, I am starting to see more and more how the baby of the family stays the baby forever.  I find myself being more sentimental about her getting older in a way that I don't particularly remember with the older two.  All her moments and phases seem so fleeting and I find myself lingering and cherishing each one in a more significant way.  One of my favorite things is getting to snuggle her in the mornings after dropping the big kids off at school.  She is always very tired and tuckered out by the time we get home and I love the way her warm, sleepy, little body feels when I pull her out of the carseat. She always seems to wrap her arm around my shoulder and hug me in a way that she doesn't do at other times during the day and I just love it.  It is such a treat getting to be in my quiet house and have a few quiet moments to nurse and rock her before her morning nap and I just adore these times with her.

Hallway Cuties

The other afternoon I was trying to take advantage of the good light in our hallway by getting some crawling pictures of Caroline.

But when the big kids got out of the bath, they came thumping up the stairs and around the corner and wanted in on the action too.  Of course Caroline was the happiest when they were with her.

But after a few moments, they stomped and yelled and ran off to other things leaving Caroline and I back in relative silence.  She tried her hardest to keep up and follow... "Hey, where did y'all go?"

  

Ainsley at Five!

Weight:  40.5 pounds (50th to 75th percentile)
Height:  45 inches (90th percentile)

My big girl is a whole hand and I can hardly believe it!  I love this five year old to pieces and it is such a weird mix of emotions watching her get older.

Not surprisingly Ainsley is still our social little butterfly with the gift of being outgoing, kind, and friendly.  I think at times I take her social confidence for granted because she is so easy especially when it comes to signing her up for camps and activities where she doesn't know anyone.  She is always excited about making new friends and is hardly ever shy or clingy.  I will say that contradictory to this part of her personality, when she does develop friendships, she tends to be drawn to more dominate peers and then can be kind of a follower.  We have seen this get her into some trouble already so we are hopeful that as she matures she develops a strong voice of what's right and wrong along with her friendly spirit.

Ainsley absolutely adores school and works hard to follow the rules and please her teacher.  She thrives on praise and encouragement and is devastated by the rare punishment.  She has the classic first-born personality and we always receive positive comments that she she is kind and helpful from teachers.  They say she is a joy and we agree!

Ainsley is sweetly nurturing and loving of Bailey and Caroline.  She takes her job as the big sister seriously, almost to the point of smothering at times.  She is the first to scream and yell if Caroline has something in her mouth and the first to notify us if Bailey is doing something her shouldn't.  Like all of us, she needs her space from Bailey at times, but most often she is patient and helpful when he needs help doing something.  Right now, Bailey loves all the attention from Ainsley, even if it is a bit overbearing at times, ie. speaking for him and/or giving him precise/bossy instruction.  Regardless, their play together has developed into extended times of cooperation, imagination, and fun.  Ainsley often prays and thanks God for Bailey's body and making him her boy.  Notice the prized roly-poly on her arm in this picture.

And as much as she loves Bailey, he is often her biggest source of sadness.  If he does something that hurts her feelings she often runs screaming and crying from the room saying something like she never wants to play with him again.  Sometimes this reaction is from something as simple as a misunderstanding between the two of them.  Bailey will think they are talking about one thing and Ainsley another and it can take quite a while sometimes for me to decipher what is really going on.  I try to let them work things out on their own, but often find myself resolving conflict.  I guess this is just part of it and I know some of what I say is sinking in because when George and I are having an argument, Ainsley will sometimes chime in with the same conflict resolution phrases trying to help George and I.  Ha!

Ainsley's life these days starts at 7am.  She has school every morning from 9-1:30.  She typically has rest/quiet time after school until 3pm.  She very rarely naps during this time but she still needs the quiet alone time to 'recharge' for the afternoon.  She is tired by the end of the day and goes quickly and easily to bed at 7:30/45. 

Almost every day during rest/quiet time she works hard on coloring pictures and making cards for us and her friends.  She comes bounding down the stairs with stacks of artwork which she proudly distributes to each family member or asks me to mail to her buddies.  She takes it all very seriously and gets her feels hurt if Bailey crumples something up or doesn't act appreciative enough.  Her room is covered with piles and piles of artwork, color books, and printed coloring pages.  I love this but I'll admit the quantity of artwork in our house can be overwhelming.  I take pictures of her favorite works of art and keep several things but although I feel badly about it, I am constantly having to toss stuff when she's not paying attention.  When art isn't occupying her independent playtime she is often playing with the dolls in her doll house or the large stuffed puppies and dolls on her bed.  The picture below is the Anna doll and rainbow dress she bought with her birthday money and the money that she had saved up from doing chores.  She was SO excited!!

Funny things she says:

• "I'm soaking hungry/tired/excited!"  She got this from us saying 'soaking wet' and now she thinks that you can put 'soaking' in front of any adjective to add emphasis.  Silly girl.  We think it is pretty cute and haven't had the heart to correct her.
• "Is this gluda-free?"  At one of her camps this summer the teacher made a point that the cookies were gluten-free.  Well, it stuck and Ainsley often asks if what she is eating is 'gluda' free.
• Says a concerned "oh my" in a solemn tone if she hears bad news.
• George told her something that was incorrect and then said sorry to which she responded, "oh no apology necessary daddy"
• She came home from school the other day and asked, "Do you speak chimpanzee?  Wait, is it chimpanzee or trampoline?"  What she was trying to ask was if we spoke Japanese like one of her new friends.  Haha!

Ainsley is five and just like that she is so much older to me. Only a few days ago (literally... Right? It had to have been incredibly recently, right?) she was running into the bathroom full of excitement to look in the mirror to see how blue her mouth had turned after eating a lollipop.  Now she gets embarrassed and moody about having chocolate smudges on her cheeks in public. Just like that she has lost some of her precious childhood innocence, trading it for self consciousness and awareness of what people think of her. It breaks my heart a little bit.  There are so many things I love about five and her getting older and becoming more of who she is, but this isn't one of them.  :(  George says that one of the biggest changes he notices is how much physically bigger and stronger she is.  When they wrestle and play, she does the same things Bailey does but when she throws an elbow or jabs his belly, George says it hurts!  I tell her that I wish I could put her in a bubble so that she wouldn't grow up but instead stay my little girl forever.  She always laughs at this but then tells me in her mature way that she has to grow up but that even when she is big, she will be my best friend and love me forever.  Ok, Ainsley, I'm holding you to it!

First Day of School

This is the first year that both of the kiddos are at schools at the same place!  Ainsley started Kindergarten or Pre-Kindergarten at Casner where she has been for the past two years and this year Bailey started the 3s class at Casner too.  There were both excited and so cute and LOVE being at the same school.  They went to a few camps there this summer and they both loved getting to see each other at school!

Ainsley is such a school lover and has been excited about starting for weeks now.  When she woke up I heard her saying to herself, "Yay!  Now I'm a kindergartener!"  She colored her teacher two pictures and made a card with a flower taped to it.  She wanted to bring it to her because it was the teacher's first day of school too.  She can be such a thoughtful girl!  But surprisingly when I dropped her off at her class, she was a bit more apprehensive than normal and gave me a few extra hugs.  Even though we went to meet the teacher the day before and saw some of the kids in her class, there weren't as many familiar faces as she was expecting because several of her best buddies moved on to other schools.  :(  But by the time I left her, she was holding her teacher's hand and talking her ear off, so I knew that she would be fine.

When Bailey woke up, I asked him if he knew what today was and he got a big smile on his face and said, "Me first," meaning 'my first day'.  As typical of him some mornings though, he was grumpy and kind of hard to get out the door but as soon as we stepped into school he lit up. He is so excited to be at Ainsley's big kid school and I can tell he feels so big!  When I dropped him off at his room he was eager to play and not very interested in putting up his lunch, snack, and drink.  After I encouraged him to help me put his stuff away, he went right over to the book shelf and grabbed a book and set down to read in the corner.  When I came over to give him hugs and kisses, he obliged but was quick to shoo me away so that he could keep playing.  No nerves there!

Ainsley and Bailey were all smiles when I picked them up.  When Ainsley got in the car the first thing she said was, "You don't get to play very much in kindergarten!  It is a lot of work."  I had to bite my lip not to laugh.  Then she chatted on and on about how they sang the calendar song, that she made friends with the new girl, and that she was the last one to get to hold the class unicorn, and on and on.  It was hard to get much out of Bailey but I could tell that he had a great day just by his demeanor.  He was all smiles!  He did say that he colored a picture, made one friend which he then changed to saying he made "a lot, a lot" of friends, and that he didn't eat all his lunch ("that ok, mommy?"). I'm so thankful everyone had such a great start!!

Bonnet Baby

Caroline 8 months

Eight months has been a big month for Caroline and for us.  She started the month doing an army crawl scooting on her belly... to being up entirely on her hands and knees doing a traditional cross crawl... to pulling herself up to her knees... to now being able to pull all the way up to standing.  She is now completely mobile, into EVERYTHING, and so proud!  This has made life around here interesting as the whole family (kids included) is scrambling to keep up with her milestones.  We have had to change a lot of rules like no more snacks in the living room, put away, ie. trash, a lot of small toys, ie. choking hazards, and start being on high alert for things like making sure the bathroom door is closed and there aren't crumbs under the table. And still with all that Caroline is constantly munching on something unknown.  Ahhh... life with three!

Sidenote, in her photo session this month I could not get a picture with the 8 month sticker showing.  She kept grabbing it and putting it in her mouth before I could snap a pic.  So is life in the phase, I guess.

Other highlights from this month:

• Sleeping through the night!!!  This might be my favorite milestone this month!  She goes down at 7pm, wakes up at 6:30/7am and dreamfeeds between 10-11pm.  At times, she still cries out at night briefly but except for rare occasions (or being out of town), she puts herself back to sleep after a few minutes.  In fact, she gets more disturbed if we go in and try to calm her.  I remember this happening with Ainsley at night too where she gets more thrown off if she sees us.  Which works out great for me!  ;)
• First tooth poked through July 28 and the second poked one about 2 weeks later.  Now she has two crooked little teeth on the bottom.

• This month she started eating finger foods like puffs with marginal success.  Half the time she can maneuver them around her mouth successfully and the other half of the time she gags if they are sitting on her tongue the wrong way.  We have noticed that in general she has a really sensitive gag reflex and even if her baby food is a little chunkier than normal, she will gag on it and make herself throw up.  I know this isn't horribly uncommon but it is awful to watch and disgusting to clean up!  I hope she outgrows this soon!
• In the middle of the month we lowered her crib to the middle setting to keep her safe when she learned to transition from laying down to sitting up.  By the end of the month we had to lower her crib to the lowest setting because she could now pull up to standing.
• Caroline continues to make bababa noises but now mostly makes mamama sounds.  And she has definitely found her voice!  I'm sure this trend will continue but before when the other kids were being loud, she would just sit and watch them, sometimes their loud noises would even scare her and make her cry.  Now she just joins right in with very loud baba and mama yells.  When all three of them get going, I feel like I'm going to lose my mind!

• She makes humming and mmmm noises when she nurses.
• When we are out in pubic, strangers often stop me to comment on her blue eyes, her long hair, and how beautiful she is.  It surprises me every time it happens because of course I think she is beautiful but that's because she's my daughter.  Either way, its sweet.
• Loves her paci much more this month!  She wants to have it more during the day now so we are going to have to start reinforcing the rule that they only stay in her crib... maybe.  :)

• The bumper in her crib is completely smashed down flat on almost all sides.  When she sleeps, she buries her face in it and uses it like a pillow.  For a while I would fluff it back up before putting her down but she would just smash it flat again, so now I just leave it.  Baby girl just likes a pillow.
• Anytime I am standing still for more than a minute relatively close to her, she power crawls over to me and pulls up on me, using my legs as a brace.  It's so cute to have those chubby little hands patting my thighs as she smiles up at me.
• Loves the bath and the water!!  Splashes, squeals and plays.  Even loves to float on her back in the tub.

We love you baby girl!  But I wish you would stop growing up so fast!!!

Ainsley's Arty Party

Let's get Arty for Ainsley's 5th Birthday Party!

This year for Ainsley's 5th birthday we had a fun rainbow art party at a ceramics painting studio.  She really wanted to have a Frozen birthday party but we have been to SO many of those this spring that I was concerned that she might not feel like it was special if it was the exact same party that all her friends had... so I convinced her to have a Frozen themed party with just our family and then for her big party with her friends do an art party.  She spends SO much time doing art and crafts and loves everything rainbows, so I knew that she would have a blast.  And she did!

Here's the scene below...

Rainbow fruit plate, rainbow goldfish, and pizza for dinner...

Rainbow cupcake cake...

Coloring sheets for the kids to color as they arrived with fun rainbow crayons...

All the ceramic critters that the kids could choose from to paint.  Not surprisingly, the most popular was the princess.

Party favors were watercolor paint sets and lollipops...

Ainsley in her rainbow dress in the party room waiting for her party to begin!  She was so excited!

The party set-up went so quickly that we all had some time to spare and so took a few pics with our sweet birthday girl on her special day.  See my rainbow necklace... Ainsley let me borrow it for her special day.  ;)

Then her buddies arrived and we all got down to business!  While of course Ainsley had a good time, she was a little bummed that a few of her best little friends couldn't come.  It is hard having a summer birthday because so many people are out of town.  Ainsley kept asking me why this or that person couldn't come and I had to do a little damage control so that she didn't have her feelings hurt.  It is a lot for her to understand and I had to keep telling her that it wasn't because her friends didn't want to come but because her friend's families were out of town.  Still, I was reminded that she is getting bigger and I think she has reached the age where it is more important for her to have a small party with her favorite friends than a big gang of people.  I'll definitely remember for next year and might even schedule her party way in advance or wait until after school starts to make sure people can come.  All that said, it just made Ainsley and I that much more appreciative of those who could come!

Below are Ainsley and her sweet school buddy Sophia working together.  There were in the 3s and 4s classes together and I'm sad that she is going to another school for kindergarten this year.  

Bailey chose to paint a crab and as you can see, he worked really hard on it.  I think he felt like a big boy being included in the party.

Everyone's finished masterpieces... they all turned out pretty cute and the kids were so proud of them!

After everyone finished painting it was time to sing Happy Birthday to Ainsley.  I still can't believe that she is FIVE!!

Here's a family shot from after the party (Caroline was at home with the sitter because the party fell partially during her naptime).  Such a fun afternoon!

We love you birthday girl!!!