It has officially been over 4 years since I have used this site, but have decided that I should not only get back to it for my family but also document this unprecedented time!
March 18, 2020
Last week President Trump addressed the nation with the Coronavirus or COVID 19 and restricted travel overseas and talked about the severity of COVID 19. Quickly following this address, our world as we knew it changed by not the hour or minute, but by the second. March is a time of year we look forward to...it's tournament time, but this is a year we will forever remember for things other than sports! High school, college, and professional teams went from preparing for tournaments, playing in section or conference tournaments, to playing with limited fans, to not playing at all. The NBA suspended all games, the NCAA was quick to follow and canceled March Madness for men's and women's basketball and all post season hockey games. (The Fighting Hawks had a chance at another National Championship this year as they had an amazing season!!) The NCAA also canceled all spring sports. Professional baseball was quick to follow and will begin their season at a date yet to be determined. Today, we have seen closings of all dine in restaurants and bars. You can order carry out or delivery, but there is no more dining in. Hospitals, clinics, retirement communities, etc. have all restricted guests. Now for the game changer for our family...school has been canceled for the next 2 weeks, but I could see it continuing through the rest of this school year. We also postponed Megan's friend birthday party that was supposed to be on the 21st, and the girls missed the "Knight for a Princess" dance they have gone to in the past with my Dad. This dance was one thing not canceled, but because the CDC recommended not going to events with over 100 people, we decided to skip out this year. We are unsure how long the virus will last, how long we will have to stay in our homes, how long there will be community/life restrictions, but we will try to make the most of it.
Yesterday I started my "new job" of being not only a stay at home Mom, CEO of our family, director of chaos, but also a home school teacher. Ahh!! I must admit that I was terrified. I didn't think I could get the girls to actually sit down and do some school work. In the summer, I try to have them work in work books and that lasts 30 seconds, I thought they'd eat our pantry clean, I thought I would hear "I'm bored" all day long BUT it was actually OK. Their wonderful teachers sent home different packets to work on over the next couple of weeks so we worked on those. There was packets for reading, writing, language, etc. and others for math. I had them read to me, we did a science/health experiment using water, pepper, and dish soap, we had a wear green dress up day (St. Patrick's Day), we had an online story time, we drew a picture with Mo Willems thanks to YouTube and his generosity of posting lunch with Mo. The girls had some outdoor time and math in the afternoon. We found some fun math websites where they could practice math in a game.
We finally had the freak out moment to stock our pantry and fridge so I took the girls with me to walmart. We were amazed at how empty the store was! There was no milk of any kind, no toilet paper, very limited chicken and ground beef. The pasta aisle was pretty empty as well. We were able to get most things on our list, but it was pretty crazy to see the empty aisles. The Governor has also shut down restaurants and bars. You can go through drive thru's, order carry out or deliver, but there is no longer places open to go sit down to eat. Hair salons have closed along with exercise places like the YMCA. A lot is being offered online, on TV, on demand, etc for free so that helps with being at home. The health recommendations are keeping groups small... I've heard anywhere from 10-50. When meeting with groups, people should keep there distance....the recommended distance is 6ft. News stations are still running, like North Dakota Today and The Today Show, but there are no live interviews, they are done online or by phone. There are no live audiences. Nate is currently still working in his office but is expecting to work from home in the near future. The clinic is screening every one who enters the building. Jade has had a cough and runny nose and was complaining of an ear ache so I was forced to go in. We got one step into the building before being asked to put on a mask. They have rescheduled all unnecessary appointments, surgeries, and procedures. I'm sure I've forgotten to list other changes happening in our world, but here is a start.
Prayers to the safety and health for all during this crazy time!
Thursday, March 19, 2020
Wednesday, January 6, 2016
Jadealicious
I have a 4 year old!! I can't believe how fast the time has flown. I look back on baby pictures and feel like it was just yesterday. Jade has been such a joy in our lives! She is a very caring little girl who hates to hurt feelings or have feelings hurt. She is Mommy's big helper whenever I need her to be. She loves to help cooking and baking, setting the table, and with Megan. She even likes to help pick up toys. She likes things organized (just like her Mama).
Jade started preschool 2 days a week this year and has already learned a lot. She can identify most capitol letters, about half lower case letters, can count to 15 without help, knows all colors, can spell her name, knows what town/state she lives in and was born in, knows what town her Grandparents live in, knows where Dad works, knows shapes (circle, square, rectangle, diamond, oval, heart, star, crescent, triangle, etc.). She can talk very well and clear. She is able to pronounce all letters. Although she is initially still pretty shy, I think preschool has helped her socially quite a bit. Jade still needs "warm-up" time with people, but has really started to open up to people.
Jade continues to be a Mama's girl and wants me for most things, but has really started to be ok with Dad and Grandparents doing things. This sure helps me out quite a bit!! She also is starting to do more things on her own. She can come close to dressing herself on her own, but still wants help. She can put on her own shoes (we don't have lace up shoes yet), she is able to get all her snow gear on alone but needs help zipping and putting 2 mittens on. Is able to brush her teeth (I help so they get brushed good) and goes potty alone. She has been completely potty trained for almost a year including at night. She has had just 2 night accidents!!
Jade gave up napping a week or 2 before her 4th birthday. She would still go right down for a nap during the day, but we had been having a really hard time with her at night going to bed for a few months (probably close to 6 months!). She went from needing one more drink of water, going potty one more time, needing to tell us something, wondering when we were going to bed, etc. to just saying good night to both of us and going to bed. She also used to get up almost every night in the middle of the night to go potty and now she usually sleeps all night. We would have probably taken the nap away earlier, but I was scared that she would have night terrors again. She's had about 4 of these and they are really scary to me. So, she is now sleeping from about 8:30 - anywhere from 6:30-8. On days she wakes up at 6:30, I have her try to go back to bed...more for me than her. Most of the time she's up around 7, which is great especially on days she has preschool. It gives her an hour before we have to leave.
Jade is still not the best eater and that's probably my fault for not making her try new things and making her eat what's on the table. She has gotten better about trying things but so far hasn't loved anything right away. She is not a big meat eater. She will eat most pasta dishes. She eats spaghetti, grilled cheese, chicken nuggets, mac n cheese, tator tot hot dish, pancakes, waffles, breakfast sausage. Sides she likes are chips, crackers, French fries, yogurt, strawberries, grapes, watermelon, pickles, apple sauce, etc.
For her 4th birthday party, she chose a Pinkalicious theme. She loves those books and that made decorating easy for me! Everyone invited to the party had to wear pink. We had both sets of Grandparents and Great Grandma Elgin at our house for the party. We served different appetizers for food as it was a 3 o'clock party. We had fruit and vege pizza's, spinach dip with bread, and a meat and cheese trey. We had pink lemonade to drink and a pink cake from the local bakery. Jade got a tea set, clothes, books, cupcakes and cake set, Legos, games, a princess for her dollhouse, playdough set, etc. for her birthday. I wish we had a group picture, but I couldn't figure out how to work the timer on my camera. Maybe next year we will have to start inviting friends...
Jade started preschool 2 days a week this year and has already learned a lot. She can identify most capitol letters, about half lower case letters, can count to 15 without help, knows all colors, can spell her name, knows what town/state she lives in and was born in, knows what town her Grandparents live in, knows where Dad works, knows shapes (circle, square, rectangle, diamond, oval, heart, star, crescent, triangle, etc.). She can talk very well and clear. She is able to pronounce all letters. Although she is initially still pretty shy, I think preschool has helped her socially quite a bit. Jade still needs "warm-up" time with people, but has really started to open up to people.
Jade continues to be a Mama's girl and wants me for most things, but has really started to be ok with Dad and Grandparents doing things. This sure helps me out quite a bit!! She also is starting to do more things on her own. She can come close to dressing herself on her own, but still wants help. She can put on her own shoes (we don't have lace up shoes yet), she is able to get all her snow gear on alone but needs help zipping and putting 2 mittens on. Is able to brush her teeth (I help so they get brushed good) and goes potty alone. She has been completely potty trained for almost a year including at night. She has had just 2 night accidents!!
Jade gave up napping a week or 2 before her 4th birthday. She would still go right down for a nap during the day, but we had been having a really hard time with her at night going to bed for a few months (probably close to 6 months!). She went from needing one more drink of water, going potty one more time, needing to tell us something, wondering when we were going to bed, etc. to just saying good night to both of us and going to bed. She also used to get up almost every night in the middle of the night to go potty and now she usually sleeps all night. We would have probably taken the nap away earlier, but I was scared that she would have night terrors again. She's had about 4 of these and they are really scary to me. So, she is now sleeping from about 8:30 - anywhere from 6:30-8. On days she wakes up at 6:30, I have her try to go back to bed...more for me than her. Most of the time she's up around 7, which is great especially on days she has preschool. It gives her an hour before we have to leave.
Jade is still not the best eater and that's probably my fault for not making her try new things and making her eat what's on the table. She has gotten better about trying things but so far hasn't loved anything right away. She is not a big meat eater. She will eat most pasta dishes. She eats spaghetti, grilled cheese, chicken nuggets, mac n cheese, tator tot hot dish, pancakes, waffles, breakfast sausage. Sides she likes are chips, crackers, French fries, yogurt, strawberries, grapes, watermelon, pickles, apple sauce, etc.
For her 4th birthday party, she chose a Pinkalicious theme. She loves those books and that made decorating easy for me! Everyone invited to the party had to wear pink. We had both sets of Grandparents and Great Grandma Elgin at our house for the party. We served different appetizers for food as it was a 3 o'clock party. We had fruit and vege pizza's, spinach dip with bread, and a meat and cheese trey. We had pink lemonade to drink and a pink cake from the local bakery. Jade got a tea set, clothes, books, cupcakes and cake set, Legos, games, a princess for her dollhouse, playdough set, etc. for her birthday. I wish we had a group picture, but I couldn't figure out how to work the timer on my camera. Maybe next year we will have to start inviting friends...
Height: 43"- 99%
Weight: 42lbs - 89%
Jade's Favorites:
Color: pink
Thing to do: paint, crafts, puzzles...she doesn't do just one thing ever. She does a good job of playing with everything
Food: Grilled Cheese
Animal: Horse...not sure why, we aren't big animal people so I never know what she'll say for this one
Song: Go Tell It On the Mountain or Joy to the World - she just learned both of these for her school Christmas program and has actions that go along with the songs.
Movie: Inside Out - We just rented this one as a family and watched it a couple times
Show: PJ Masks on Disney Jr.
Candy: Sucker
Toy: Building blocks (Lego's) Again, her favorite here could really be anything, she plays with all her stuff.
Best Friend: Megan! I love this answer so much!!
Megan is 20 months!
Time flies when you're having fun right? So it's been 8 months since the last update on Megan so lets see what all I can remember.
What She's Doing?
Megan is our busy body, always on the go. She is not destructive with her play, just busy. Most of the time she wants to do whatever her big sister is doing. She loves playing princess and singing and dancing with Jade. Her favorite show to watch is Sophia the First. In fact, we really don't get to watch anything else anymore. She just started watching full shows around 18-19 months, which does make traveling better. She just recently starting wanting to use my phone for games and movies. So far she hasn't messed anything up, but I still really would prefer her to play with other things. She continues to have a temper on her. She knows what she wants and if she doesn't get it she lets you know. She has many time outs throughout the week where she just gets alone time in her room. This used to work really well, but now she can open the door herself so comes out before she's done with her "fit." The girls love playing in the basement together. They have tents set up, they go to the movie, feed babies, go to the park, go swimming, etc. It has been really fun watching them interact. Yes, they still fight and argue about silly things, but I try to let them work it out even with the tears. Megan understands just about everything we say to her and she's getting better about figuring out a way to communicate what she wants with us. For awhile she would just scream when I couldn't figure out what she wanted, now she will take someone's hand and show them. This is very very nice! She continues to learn new words which sometimes seems daily and other times seems much slower. At 20 months she is saying, Mama, Dada, Jade, Bappa (Grandpa), nana (banana), Duke, yea, oh, uh-oh, signs more and please, thank you, bubble, blue, color, car, Rella (princess), there, hi.
Sleep:
Ugh! Gotta love all the stages right? For awhile we had her just going to bed, no tears or rocking. Then we transitioned to full out screaming, then we went back to just going to bed, and now she likes to be rocked for a while, then I lay her down and she just needs to cry or something because I can usually go in for a second time and rock her and then she will lay down for the night. She no longer wants Daddy to do bedtime. She used to go right down for him. He would even just open the door and tell her "no" and she would stop crying, lay down, and go to sleep. Now she just wants Mama! It gets old listening to her cry before naps and bed, but it seems like she just needs to. She rarely falls asleep in my arms when I rock her, she just needs the comfort I guess. She is easier to get to go down for a nap than bed, although still usually cries a little. She gets up 0-2 times a night. She usually goes back down pretty easy during the night. She typically naps from about 1:00-2/3:00. Bedtime is still around 7:30 and she's usually up about 8:00. I usually have to wake her up on Tuesdays and Thursday's because we have to take Jade to school.
Feed Me:
This is still a hard thing for me. She is not the best eater, but we figure it out. What she eats: pancakes and sausage, tator tot hot dish, spaghetti, macaroni and cheese, pasta sides, egg bake, chicken nuggets, french fries, blueberries, strawberries, crackers, chips, nachos (meat and cheese), yogurt, yogurt covered raisins, chex mix, sometimes cereal, string cheese, fruit pouches, watermelon, grapes, candy. She is not real adventurous and doesn't try many new things. She seems interested, but when it comes down to eating it she pushes it away. Someday my kids will eat normal right? There are nights that I cook 3 different meals. Yuck!!
Milestones:
She just finished getting all her I-teeth. She now has 16 total teeth, I think that's how man they are supposed to have now right? Next up are the 2 year molars.
15 Months Weight: 20lbs Length: 2' 5/5"
18 Months Weight: 20lbs Length: 2' 7"
20 Months Weight: 21.8lbs!!
Clothes. We are wearing all 18 month clothes. She is still just a little peanut. Still in size 3 diapers. Seems like we've been in those for a long time!!
What She's Doing?
Megan is our busy body, always on the go. She is not destructive with her play, just busy. Most of the time she wants to do whatever her big sister is doing. She loves playing princess and singing and dancing with Jade. Her favorite show to watch is Sophia the First. In fact, we really don't get to watch anything else anymore. She just started watching full shows around 18-19 months, which does make traveling better. She just recently starting wanting to use my phone for games and movies. So far she hasn't messed anything up, but I still really would prefer her to play with other things. She continues to have a temper on her. She knows what she wants and if she doesn't get it she lets you know. She has many time outs throughout the week where she just gets alone time in her room. This used to work really well, but now she can open the door herself so comes out before she's done with her "fit." The girls love playing in the basement together. They have tents set up, they go to the movie, feed babies, go to the park, go swimming, etc. It has been really fun watching them interact. Yes, they still fight and argue about silly things, but I try to let them work it out even with the tears. Megan understands just about everything we say to her and she's getting better about figuring out a way to communicate what she wants with us. For awhile she would just scream when I couldn't figure out what she wanted, now she will take someone's hand and show them. This is very very nice! She continues to learn new words which sometimes seems daily and other times seems much slower. At 20 months she is saying, Mama, Dada, Jade, Bappa (Grandpa), nana (banana), Duke, yea, oh, uh-oh, signs more and please, thank you, bubble, blue, color, car, Rella (princess), there, hi.
Sleep:
Ugh! Gotta love all the stages right? For awhile we had her just going to bed, no tears or rocking. Then we transitioned to full out screaming, then we went back to just going to bed, and now she likes to be rocked for a while, then I lay her down and she just needs to cry or something because I can usually go in for a second time and rock her and then she will lay down for the night. She no longer wants Daddy to do bedtime. She used to go right down for him. He would even just open the door and tell her "no" and she would stop crying, lay down, and go to sleep. Now she just wants Mama! It gets old listening to her cry before naps and bed, but it seems like she just needs to. She rarely falls asleep in my arms when I rock her, she just needs the comfort I guess. She is easier to get to go down for a nap than bed, although still usually cries a little. She gets up 0-2 times a night. She usually goes back down pretty easy during the night. She typically naps from about 1:00-2/3:00. Bedtime is still around 7:30 and she's usually up about 8:00. I usually have to wake her up on Tuesdays and Thursday's because we have to take Jade to school.
Feed Me:
This is still a hard thing for me. She is not the best eater, but we figure it out. What she eats: pancakes and sausage, tator tot hot dish, spaghetti, macaroni and cheese, pasta sides, egg bake, chicken nuggets, french fries, blueberries, strawberries, crackers, chips, nachos (meat and cheese), yogurt, yogurt covered raisins, chex mix, sometimes cereal, string cheese, fruit pouches, watermelon, grapes, candy. She is not real adventurous and doesn't try many new things. She seems interested, but when it comes down to eating it she pushes it away. Someday my kids will eat normal right? There are nights that I cook 3 different meals. Yuck!!
Milestones:
She just finished getting all her I-teeth. She now has 16 total teeth, I think that's how man they are supposed to have now right? Next up are the 2 year molars.
15 Months Weight: 20lbs Length: 2' 5/5"
18 Months Weight: 20lbs Length: 2' 7"
20 Months Weight: 21.8lbs!!
Clothes. We are wearing all 18 month clothes. She is still just a little peanut. Still in size 3 diapers. Seems like we've been in those for a long time!!
Wednesday, November 18, 2015
Happy 1st Birthday Megan!!
I am attempting to write this almost a year later. I guess I totally forgot about the blog and that I wanted to try to keep track of our lives here. We had Megan's first birthday at our house with our families. Grandma and Grandpa Noland came down and Grandma Elgin and Great Grandma Elgin came. Grandpa Elgin didn't come because he was sick and didn't want to spread what he had...Thank you!
We did a basic 1st birthday party. No theme. We served a burger bar for lunch with cupcakes for dessert. I wanted to buy a smash cake for Megan from the wonderful bakery in Fergus Falls, but I didn't think she'd eat it. Glad didn't, she pretty much just stared at the cupcake. For her birthday she got a little toy car, books, clothes, an outdoor car to ride, water bottle like her big sister. She wasn't real sure what to do with the presents, but big sister sure enjoyed helping her out!
Here are a few pictures to remember the day. I guess I forgot to give the camera to Nate while we opened gifts, I don't have many pictures.
We did a basic 1st birthday party. No theme. We served a burger bar for lunch with cupcakes for dessert. I wanted to buy a smash cake for Megan from the wonderful bakery in Fergus Falls, but I didn't think she'd eat it. Glad didn't, she pretty much just stared at the cupcake. For her birthday she got a little toy car, books, clothes, an outdoor car to ride, water bottle like her big sister. She wasn't real sure what to do with the presents, but big sister sure enjoyed helping her out!
Here are a few pictures to remember the day. I guess I forgot to give the camera to Nate while we opened gifts, I don't have many pictures.
Me and my Birthday Girl!
Big Sister helping with gifts.
The grub!
Happy Birthday to You!!
Thinking this might be ok, but....
Nope, don't want anything to do with this cake stuff.
90 years difference here!!
We have a 1 Year Old!!
Megan oh Megan....where did 1 year go? You came into this world just hours after your due date and now you are a walking, "talking," smiling, temper-tantrum throwing toddler. You have brought more to our lives than we could have imagined. You can't get enough of your sister and although she likes to try and play it cool...I think she loves you just the same. You know exactly what you want and you go for it. We are so excited to see what another year will bring for you and our family!!
Sleep:
We finally have done it! You are sleeping through the night and do not have to be rocked to sleep. This is amazing for me!! February 23 we put you to sleep wide awake and let you cry it out...which only took 5-10 minutes. When you woke up during the night, we let you cry until you fell back asleep. Again, that just took a few minutes. I think you sleep better because of it and so do I!! You are now sleeping from about 7:30 - 7:00. When you wake up in the morning you just lay there and talk to yourself until I come get you. You don't whine at all. If/when you wake up in the middle of the night, you put yourself back to sleep. Although I do miss rocking you at times, it sure does make bedtime easy and I really think you sleep better! Naps are also going great. You put yourself to sleep around 12:30 and then wake up by 3:00 usually. You no longer really cry when you first go down, you just talk a little or you don't make a peep.
Feed Me:
Well, this is still a difficult and somewhat stressful thing for me. You just got over the stomach flu that the whole house got and now have been better about eating. You will finally hold your own bottle and actually drink most of it without a distraction, but now it's also time to try to get you to drink out of a sippy cup, uhg! You only eat what you want to eat and sometimes I really don't know what that is. You love fruit/vege pouches but really don't want anything to do with "baby" food. I still have you eating baby oatmeal, but I have to sneak that in with your fruit/vege pouch. You absolutely LOVE yogurt. You will sometimes have cheerios, puffs, and graham crackers. Right now, you love goldfish. You didn't even have a bit of your cupcake on your birthday you stinker!! I have tried putting food from my plait on your tray, but you just play with it a little bit and throw it on the floor. I have a feeling this will continue to be difficult, but hopefully you realize food is good!! In a normal day you have a bottle at 8, 12 and 7 for sure with a smaller bottle around 4 some days. You also have whatever you will eat with each of those bottles. I try to get fruits, veges, and yogurt in in a day, but that doesn't always happen.
Milestones:
2/23/15 - started sleeping all night
2/?/15- got another tooth on the top right
Favorites:
Jade, yogurt, Daddy, reading books...basically the same as last month
Dislikes:
Has started to be a little scared of Duke and isn't a fan of me leaving her places.
Length: 28 1/2"
Weight: 18.5lbs
Clothes: I have finally pretty much moved her into all her 12 month clothes. She still wears some 9 month stuff, but the 9-12 month stuff finally fits and I'm sick of seeing the 6-9 month stuff so I'm retiring a lot of it.
Sleep:
We finally have done it! You are sleeping through the night and do not have to be rocked to sleep. This is amazing for me!! February 23 we put you to sleep wide awake and let you cry it out...which only took 5-10 minutes. When you woke up during the night, we let you cry until you fell back asleep. Again, that just took a few minutes. I think you sleep better because of it and so do I!! You are now sleeping from about 7:30 - 7:00. When you wake up in the morning you just lay there and talk to yourself until I come get you. You don't whine at all. If/when you wake up in the middle of the night, you put yourself back to sleep. Although I do miss rocking you at times, it sure does make bedtime easy and I really think you sleep better! Naps are also going great. You put yourself to sleep around 12:30 and then wake up by 3:00 usually. You no longer really cry when you first go down, you just talk a little or you don't make a peep.
Feed Me:
Well, this is still a difficult and somewhat stressful thing for me. You just got over the stomach flu that the whole house got and now have been better about eating. You will finally hold your own bottle and actually drink most of it without a distraction, but now it's also time to try to get you to drink out of a sippy cup, uhg! You only eat what you want to eat and sometimes I really don't know what that is. You love fruit/vege pouches but really don't want anything to do with "baby" food. I still have you eating baby oatmeal, but I have to sneak that in with your fruit/vege pouch. You absolutely LOVE yogurt. You will sometimes have cheerios, puffs, and graham crackers. Right now, you love goldfish. You didn't even have a bit of your cupcake on your birthday you stinker!! I have tried putting food from my plait on your tray, but you just play with it a little bit and throw it on the floor. I have a feeling this will continue to be difficult, but hopefully you realize food is good!! In a normal day you have a bottle at 8, 12 and 7 for sure with a smaller bottle around 4 some days. You also have whatever you will eat with each of those bottles. I try to get fruits, veges, and yogurt in in a day, but that doesn't always happen.
Milestones:
2/23/15 - started sleeping all night
2/?/15- got another tooth on the top right
Favorites:
Jade, yogurt, Daddy, reading books...basically the same as last month
Dislikes:
Has started to be a little scared of Duke and isn't a fan of me leaving her places.
Length: 28 1/2"
Weight: 18.5lbs
Clothes: I have finally pretty much moved her into all her 12 month clothes. She still wears some 9 month stuff, but the 9-12 month stuff finally fits and I'm sick of seeing the 6-9 month stuff so I'm retiring a lot of it.
Friday, February 27, 2015
Knight for a Princess
A few months ago, my Dad called to ask my oldest daughter on a date! He wanted to take her to a "ball" that his put on by the Grand Forks park district called "A Knight for a Princess." Of course I said yes without hesitation! This is one date she can go on any time and I will always be ok with it!
Leading up to the big date, I was a little nervous that Jade wouldn't leave my side and go with Grandpa to the ball. Little did I know, she'd actually be waving bye to me as I buckled her into her car seat!! I had prepped Jade for a couple weeks, talking about the ball and how much fun she would have. The week of the ball she figured out that Grandpa would be taking her alone...that I would be staying at Grandma and Grandpa's house. She wasn't sure about that at first, but quickly changed her mentality and was ready to go.
I drove with the girls up to Grand Forks by myself, leaving Nate at home to sheet rock the basement. That's a whole story in itself! In a nut shell, Megan sleeps for 30-40 minutes in a car...even at nap time which is usually 2-3 hours. So, Saturday...day of the ball Jade wakes up in the morning ready to put on her pretty dress. Yay!! We are at Grams and Gramps and she's still excited to go! After her nap, I get her to let me curl her hair. We prep and get ready, she looks sooo pretty! I am one proud Mama!! My Dad equally excited as Jade is! He gets dressed up and looks very handsome himself and off they go! Our goals was to have Jade last at least a half hour, they didn't get home until after 8...it' started at 6.
Upon their return, I got to listen to my 3 year old princess tell me all about how wonderful the ball was. She got to dance with other girls, dance with Grandpa, eat chicken nuggets with ketchup and ranch, get a t-shirt, get a prize bag, have pictures taken, AND best of ALL see queens!! The park board does a great job putting this on as far as I can tell. They had the Grand Cities Queen, Twin Cities Queen, and one more there in their ball gown and tiara's. Jade absolutely ate that up!! That is the one thing she continues to talk about. She got a tiara from the queen...and the queen asked her what her name was!! This was a big deal for a 3 year old!! I wish I could have been a fly on the wall at the Alerus Center that night!! I think this was a huge hit and something my Dad gets to continue to do with Jade...and maybe Megan for years to come! Good job Dad for starting such a fun tradition!!
Here are a couple pictures from the fun night. We have to get my Dad on the smart phone band wagon so he can take good pictures with his phone!
Leading up to the big date, I was a little nervous that Jade wouldn't leave my side and go with Grandpa to the ball. Little did I know, she'd actually be waving bye to me as I buckled her into her car seat!! I had prepped Jade for a couple weeks, talking about the ball and how much fun she would have. The week of the ball she figured out that Grandpa would be taking her alone...that I would be staying at Grandma and Grandpa's house. She wasn't sure about that at first, but quickly changed her mentality and was ready to go.
I drove with the girls up to Grand Forks by myself, leaving Nate at home to sheet rock the basement. That's a whole story in itself! In a nut shell, Megan sleeps for 30-40 minutes in a car...even at nap time which is usually 2-3 hours. So, Saturday...day of the ball Jade wakes up in the morning ready to put on her pretty dress. Yay!! We are at Grams and Gramps and she's still excited to go! After her nap, I get her to let me curl her hair. We prep and get ready, she looks sooo pretty! I am one proud Mama!! My Dad equally excited as Jade is! He gets dressed up and looks very handsome himself and off they go! Our goals was to have Jade last at least a half hour, they didn't get home until after 8...it' started at 6.
Upon their return, I got to listen to my 3 year old princess tell me all about how wonderful the ball was. She got to dance with other girls, dance with Grandpa, eat chicken nuggets with ketchup and ranch, get a t-shirt, get a prize bag, have pictures taken, AND best of ALL see queens!! The park board does a great job putting this on as far as I can tell. They had the Grand Cities Queen, Twin Cities Queen, and one more there in their ball gown and tiara's. Jade absolutely ate that up!! That is the one thing she continues to talk about. She got a tiara from the queen...and the queen asked her what her name was!! This was a big deal for a 3 year old!! I wish I could have been a fly on the wall at the Alerus Center that night!! I think this was a huge hit and something my Dad gets to continue to do with Jade...and maybe Megan for years to come! Good job Dad for starting such a fun tradition!!
Here are a couple pictures from the fun night. We have to get my Dad on the smart phone band wagon so he can take good pictures with his phone!
Megan is 11 months old!!
I can't believe that we will have a 1 year old in a month!! The first year really does fly by! Megan is a spit fire! She has a mind of her own and really does know what she wants at 11 months! She already throws back arching tantrums if she doesn't get her way. She even has to pick the books I read to her. There are a select few books she will let me read at nap/bed time! She is going to keep Nate and I on our toes a little more than Jade did/does!
Sleep:
I think we have finally turned a corner with sleeping! We still need to work on the self soothing and having her put herself to sleep BUT as of about a week ago, she no longer needs to be swaddled and isn't eating at night anymore. She still wakes up once-ish a night and I have to put her back to sleep, but that will change too right? Some nights it takes me 5 minutes to get her down, others it's like 45 minutes. We are still putting her to sleep around 7/730 and then she has been waking up around 6:30/7. She just naps one time a day around 12:30 - 3:00. This is a much needed nap, but I have a really hard time getting her to go down for 2. And 1 nap really does work better for us as a whole. Then Megan is able to keep the same routine as far as sleeping goes. I'm happy to not be doing bottles at night anymore, but am excited to get her to self soothe. We will enforce this the next time we will be home for a couple weeks so we don't ruin it during a weekend.
Feed Me:
Megan is a horrible eater. We struggle feeding her everyday! If I let her be done when she was "done" with a bottle she would only eat 3-4 ounces. I can usually get her to eat about 7 ounces with some distractions. She is a very tactile kiddo and needs something else in her hand when eating. She needs distractions! When it comes to solids, she eats really good for a day or two and then it's a struggle again for a week. It's hard to tell what she likes and doesn't like because she will gobble something down the first time but want nothing to do with it the next 2 times. I've been trying more "real" food and she just plays with it. When I try to put it in her mouth, she turns her head and pinches her lips together. This is very frustrating! She seems hungry at times, but won't eat anything. The only thing she eats every time without reservation is yogurt. I think she could eat a gallon of yogurt a day!! As for a daily routine, she gets bottles when she wakes up, at noon, 4:00, and 7:00. The 4:00 bottle is just a small bottle (4oz). The other 3 are at least 7, I've been trying more at 7:00. For solids, she gets something around 10, 11:30, and 5:00. I try to get her to eat anything so how much and what she eats is always changing. I'm debating on even buying her a smash cake since she won't put "real" food in her mouth. Maybe she would if it's sweet...who knows.
Milestones:
2/3/15 - gave up a night bottle and being swaddled
2/7/15 - prefers walking over crawling
2/13/15 - started getting another tooth on the top. She doesn't handle teething well at all. She's a lot more whiny and needs a lot more attention. We do give her tylenol which she responds well to. She gets diarrhea, has a decreased appetite to her already limited appetite.
2/??/15 Started signing "more." I thought this was a lost cause, but I guess she was paying attention.
Favorites:
Jade!!! Jade gets the most hugs, kisses, laughs, etc. She truly does LOVE her big sister. If only Jade knew just how much. She loves yogurt, Mickey Mouse, walking, "cleaning" out the pantry, bath time, Megan is a Daddy's girl! When he gets home she rushes to the door to see him and doesn't leave his side for very long once he's home. Megan loves being naked. I wish it was summer so I could just let her run around in her diaper all day. She screams when I get her dressed! I think she would pull her clothes off if she knew how to!
Dislikes:
Being dressed, having her diaper changed, having toys or something she wants taken away from her.
Weight:18.6lbs
Height:???
Clothes: We are still mostly in 9 month clothes, but they are finally starting to get short. I have been getting more 12 month outfits out.
Sleep:
I think we have finally turned a corner with sleeping! We still need to work on the self soothing and having her put herself to sleep BUT as of about a week ago, she no longer needs to be swaddled and isn't eating at night anymore. She still wakes up once-ish a night and I have to put her back to sleep, but that will change too right? Some nights it takes me 5 minutes to get her down, others it's like 45 minutes. We are still putting her to sleep around 7/730 and then she has been waking up around 6:30/7. She just naps one time a day around 12:30 - 3:00. This is a much needed nap, but I have a really hard time getting her to go down for 2. And 1 nap really does work better for us as a whole. Then Megan is able to keep the same routine as far as sleeping goes. I'm happy to not be doing bottles at night anymore, but am excited to get her to self soothe. We will enforce this the next time we will be home for a couple weeks so we don't ruin it during a weekend.
Feed Me:
Megan is a horrible eater. We struggle feeding her everyday! If I let her be done when she was "done" with a bottle she would only eat 3-4 ounces. I can usually get her to eat about 7 ounces with some distractions. She is a very tactile kiddo and needs something else in her hand when eating. She needs distractions! When it comes to solids, she eats really good for a day or two and then it's a struggle again for a week. It's hard to tell what she likes and doesn't like because she will gobble something down the first time but want nothing to do with it the next 2 times. I've been trying more "real" food and she just plays with it. When I try to put it in her mouth, she turns her head and pinches her lips together. This is very frustrating! She seems hungry at times, but won't eat anything. The only thing she eats every time without reservation is yogurt. I think she could eat a gallon of yogurt a day!! As for a daily routine, she gets bottles when she wakes up, at noon, 4:00, and 7:00. The 4:00 bottle is just a small bottle (4oz). The other 3 are at least 7, I've been trying more at 7:00. For solids, she gets something around 10, 11:30, and 5:00. I try to get her to eat anything so how much and what she eats is always changing. I'm debating on even buying her a smash cake since she won't put "real" food in her mouth. Maybe she would if it's sweet...who knows.
Milestones:
2/3/15 - gave up a night bottle and being swaddled
2/7/15 - prefers walking over crawling
2/13/15 - started getting another tooth on the top. She doesn't handle teething well at all. She's a lot more whiny and needs a lot more attention. We do give her tylenol which she responds well to. She gets diarrhea, has a decreased appetite to her already limited appetite.
2/??/15 Started signing "more." I thought this was a lost cause, but I guess she was paying attention.
Favorites:
Jade!!! Jade gets the most hugs, kisses, laughs, etc. She truly does LOVE her big sister. If only Jade knew just how much. She loves yogurt, Mickey Mouse, walking, "cleaning" out the pantry, bath time, Megan is a Daddy's girl! When he gets home she rushes to the door to see him and doesn't leave his side for very long once he's home. Megan loves being naked. I wish it was summer so I could just let her run around in her diaper all day. She screams when I get her dressed! I think she would pull her clothes off if she knew how to!
Dislikes:
Being dressed, having her diaper changed, having toys or something she wants taken away from her.
Weight:18.6lbs
Height:???
Clothes: We are still mostly in 9 month clothes, but they are finally starting to get short. I have been getting more 12 month outfits out.
Cheese!!
Play dough is a good distraction!
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