What fun-Jane is ONE!

I know, I know! Where did the last year go? I can hardly believe that Jane is already one. Her birthday was Sunday and being the Sunday before Thanksgiving all the talks at church were on gratitude. I just kept thinking how grateful I am for a beautiful and healthy family. Jane has brought us much joy and has been such a blessing.
She woke up on her birthday in a great mood. She was in a great mood all day until bedtime when I wasn't going to give her a bottle. I did break down and give her a bottle to help her go to sleep. She wasn't so happy today (the day after her birthday) since she hasn't had a bottle all day. She takes her sippy cup and just throws it and screams. I hope that this only lasts a couple days and then she will be fine.
We had a small party for Jane Sunday night. We had Brad's parents, his sister and her family, and Mary and her family over for tacos, cake, and presents. I think dinner turned out great. The funfetti cupcakes are always a huge hit with the kids and I attempted to make a chocolate butterfly cake for Jane. It turned out ok but slightly possessed looking. Oh-well, I tried. She did get butterfly shaped ice cream though. I couldn't mess that up with a cookie cutter! Jane LOVED her chocolate cake and spent forever eating it. She went straight into the bath after wards. Jane also really enjoyed opening up her fabulous presents. She wasn't sure about it at first but by the end was loving it. She had so much fun playing with all her new toys and her cousins too!

This is what the big 1 year old is up too:

*Stands alone
*Crawls so fast (especially if you are chasing her)
*Loves to sing and listen to music
*Laughs like crazy-mostly at her brother
*Pretends to read
*Eating more table foods--hates when I feed her baby food
*No more bottles (hopefully!)
*No weight/length check as of recently
*Takes a 2 hour nap most days
*Sleeps from 9:30-7 with one wake up for some milk or a pacifier
*Has 3 (almost 4) teeth
*Wears clothing sizes anywhere between 6months and 18months (depends on what it is.)
*Has developed some stranger anxiety
*Can get in and out of her swing and bouncy chair (both low to the ground)
*Loves her blanket at nap time and still wants to be rocked to sleep
*Overall Jane is a very happy little girl

The pumpkin patch and Halloween

I figure I should blog about Halloween and the pumpkin patch before Thanksgiving! Time is flying by. We did our annual trip out to Hawe's Farm with Mary and her family. It's always still so warm so in our pictures we are still wearing summer clothes. Dawson always has a blast and Jane enjoyed it this year too. Dawson picked out pumpkins for everyone in the family. We only carved two. Dawson carved a warewolf and we carved Jane a butterfly. Jane was a butterfly (of course!) and Dawson was a skeleton/ninja. He put together 2 old costumes we had and made up a new one so we didn't have to buy another one. I was happy about that!
The night before Halloween we had our annual chili cook off/trunk-or-treat at church. This was the first year since Brad and I have been married that we actually went. It was so much fun and although it was raining the kids loved seeing the church classrooms decorated and just walking in a large circle collecting their goodies. We also spent a couple hours at the annual school carnival. Dawson had fun as did Natalie and Cora but not any of us adults or babies. We might just take them all out to do something else next year. Too many long lines and after 2 hours and 10 pieces of candy and a cupcake it just wasn't worth it.
On Halloween night it was sprinkling and cold so Jane didn't go out. Dawson went out with Mary and her family because Brad was sick and I was taking care of Jane, their son Asher, and Brad. We didn't have as many trick or treaters as usual which we were okay with.
All in all we had a fantastic Halloween once again!

Sweet baby (11 month old!) Jane

Where did this last month go!? Jane has been keeping me busy as has Dawson. Jane had her 11 month birthday yesterday. She is changing and growing every day. I am still thankful that I have been able to be a stay at home mom to her and take care of her full time.

What's new with Sweet Baby Jane:

*Is trying to "mark it" during pat-a-cake
*Attempts dancing
*Can get around SO fast--no walking yet thankfully!
*Has cut 2 teeth-one on bottom and one on top but they aren't visible when she smiles yet.
*Sleeps through the night (except when those teeth are bugging her!)
*Takes usually one long (2 hour) and one short nap a day.
*Wants to be rocked to sleep and loves her blanket on her head when going to sleep.
*Still only drinks 4-6oz at a time every 2 hours.
*Loves cookies but no other food really. She eats graham cookies, sugar cookies, chocolate chip cookies (all things she finds on the floor from other kids) but refuses to eat vegetables-only carrots once in awhile.
*She plays very well independently on her own but doesn't like it if I'm not in the room with her....I'm getting a lot of reading done!
*She tries to talk a lot more
*Does not really like her car seat-hopefully she likes it more when it's forward facing.
*No length/weight check this month because she's a healthy, beautiful, petite baby.
*She is still very nosy and likes to see everything that is going on and wants to be in the middle of it.
*Enjoys playing with kids and gets most excited when Dawson is around and playing with her.
*Has a fond attachment to her pacifier now--will be trying to get rid of that soon!
*Her fine motor skills are really developing and she can pick up the smallest of things (which I find in her mouth daily and she gets mad when I take it out.)
*Enjoys books, and music time
*Loves wooden spoons, one of her favorite toys for the month.

So next month she will be having her first birthday party and I will probably get teary eyed. Where does time go? She was just my little ball of a baby who just rocked and rocked and rocked with me all day. Now she just makes me laugh with her squished up face smile, sloppy kisses and sweet giggles.

10 Month Old Jane

Jane is now 10 months old. She is keeping me very busy and her personality is getting bigger and bigger every day. I'm not sure if that's a good thing or not! She definitely knows what she wants and does all she can to make sure she gets it. She is one spoiled girl.

Here's what is new with Jane:

*Walks along furniture
*Can bend down and pick something up when standing while holding onto something
*Has attempted to climb the stairs a few times
*Puts EVERYTHING into her mouth
*Can clap
*LOVES music--she loves listening to her dads CD when she is upset and in the car.
*Continues to sleep from about 9:30-7:30 at night and wants to be rocked to sleep.
*Most days takes 2 hour naps--sometimes more sometimes less. Mommy loves this time!
*Loves to play with Cora, Asher, and Dawson-really any kid she loves.
*Still doesn't like to each much baby food....usually drinks 4 oz every 2-3 hours STILL.
*Loves to stand up and hang onto anything she can.
*Sits in highchairs when we go out to eat.
*Is now in a big rear facing car seat instead of her infant car seat.
*She is a very happy baby and most of the time mellow.
*Now wears size 3 diapers and mostly 9-12 month clothing.
*Her hair has some curls at the end and I LOVE it.

Dawson's having fun being 8!

Wow! Turning 8 is a HUGE deal around here. Now that Dawson is 8 he was able to join Cub Scouts as a Wolf. He was a little nervous about it but he sure loves it so far! His leaders seem fantastic. I have to say I think he looks absolutely handsome in his scout uniform too!
Dawson has also finally lost his two top front teeth. I was wondering if he was ever going to lose them. He lost his bottom teeth a year ago in July. I hope it doesn't take another 14 months to lose another tooth.
This last weekend Dawson was able to get baptized. In our church we believe the age of accountability of making right choices is 8. So all children once they are 8 are baptized. It was a very special day. We had a pretty busy Saturday leading up to his baptism. Dawson was so happy to have a big family dinner before hand. He got a couple of gifts as well. Brad and I got him his own set of scriptures, Brad's parents gave him a book and a tote for his scriptures, and my parents gave him a baptism blanket. Dawson asked for a baptism blanket from my mom over a year ago. He came up with this idea somehow. He was SO happy to finally get it. The blanket turned out super cute. My mom found the perfect material for it. His baptism meeting only lasted about 40minutes which I thought was perfect. The only real issue was we couldn't get access to a TV/DVD player in the building due to them being all locked up. I had made a slide show of pictures of Dawson from birth until his 8th birthday and had it set to different Children Hymns. We watched it later at home that night. Dawson was just beaming the whole time and took everything very seriously. I am very proud of him and the decisions he is making.

Jane's 9 month check up

Jane went to the Dr. today for her 9 month check up. She's actually 9 1/2 months but it's when I was able to get her in. She is perfectly healthy and petite. She weighs 17lbs even and is 27 1/2 inches long. She is sitting like a pro. She now pulls herself up to a standing position and is trying to let go and scoot along whatever it is she is hanging onto. She crawls everywhere. She gets mad at me when I have to leave the room and chases me crying. She is full of smiles and kisses. I love her so much!

Isn't it Great to be 8?

Dawson turned 8 yesterday. It is such a great birthday because now he gets to prepare for his baptism. He had a weekend full of parting. On Saturday we got up early and had a friend birthday party at the skating rink. Dawson has decided he LOVES roller skating. He had a great time and so did all his friends who showed up. I'm sure the kids would have loved to have skated longer if allowed too.
Saturday afternoon we went to Mary's to swim and hang out with family. My parents were in town as well as Crissy and her kids. She also brought up Lori's daughter, Iris, to spend the day with us. After swimming we had a yummy BBQ. Then lots and lots of presents. Dawson was sharing this party with his cousins, Natalie (9) and Cora (3) since their birthday's are all within 3 days of each other. After presents there was LOTS of cake. We had 3 cakes plus a pan of brownies. Every child deserves their own cake. Dawson stayed up late playing with his toys that night. He was up early Sunday playing as well. My parents got him roller skates for his birthday and he wore them ALL day-except at church although he wanted too.
Monday was Dawson's real birthday so we told him he could decide what we do all day. He decided to just lounge around in pajamas and play with his toys all morning. He got a lego table and a super fast remote control car that he was enjoying For lunch he wanted to go to Olive Garden-we were more than happy to take him. He had a great lunch. He got to order dessert and our waiter sang to him and gave him 3 mints (and a nickel) instead of 1 mint. It made his day! After lunch he wanted to go spend some of his birthday money at Target. He bought a couple more toys and came home to play with those. He then decided he wanted to go swim at Mary's. We swam for a bit and he played with Natalie and invited Natalie over for a bit. We then went to dinner to our favorite Mexican restaurant, Guadalajara, with Brad's parents and Dawson got sung to for a second time. He was glowing! After dinner we came home and he played some more, watched part of a movie, and enjoyed his birthday evening.
He had a great weekend and birthday.