Christmas and New Year's

Christmas was wonderful again this year. I am always just so thankful for my Savior and try to take the time to remember his birth and all he did while he was here on earth during the busy holiday season. We woke up about 7am on Christmas morning to a very excited Dawson. We thought Jane might sleep in a bit but she woke up a few minutes after we all did and got to take part of all the fun. She loved her stocking and presents.We hosted Christmas dinner at our house again. We love having everyone here. It was so much fun seeing all the kids open up their gifts and being so excited for their new things. The house seemed so quiet after everyone left.
New Year's proved to be very exciting. It started to snow on New Year's Eve and we all got to wake up to a very white first of the year. Dawson was thrilled and loved playing in the snow. Jane wasn't too sure about the snow but loved being outside. Dawson wishes it would snow here more. I am not a huge fan of the snow but a little snow every few years is manageable.
We are looking forward to this new year and all it has in store for us. 2010 was fantastic and I'm sure that 2011 will be just as great if not better.

December Happenings

December is always a busy month. Our house is all decorated inside and out as well as our Christmas trees. We have our nice tree when you walk in and a small tree for the kids to decorate with their things. Dawson loves having his own tree to be in charge of. I hope he doesn't mind sharing it as Jane gets older!
We have decorated gingerbread (graham cracker) houses with the Daw family. Jane enjoyed eating 2 crackers while the other kids worked. We also attended Cascade Christmas. Well, Jane was left with Brad's parents so we could actually enjoy the show. It was so much fun.
Jane went into the Doctor for a check up and weighs 18lbs6oz and is 29inches long. Her cousin, Lea, has been coming over twice a week for a couple hours. It's been so much fun playing with her. Jane has been off the bottle since her 1st birthday. The first couple days were tough but she has adjusted. She did get rather upset when she saw Lea with a bottle and needed some mommy time and fell asleep. We had done so well with her pacifiers. She has rotated through 4 different ones and we haven't lost any. Someone since her 1st birthday we have manged to lost ALL of them! I don't know if it's because she is more mobile and hides them well or if somehow she spits it out when we are out and about and I don't notice it. Needless to say it was frustrating trying to find the pacifiers and now she just has 1 that we are hopefully NOT going to lose....well at least for another 6 months when I attempt to take it away from her.
Dawson is doing excellent in school. He really has been enjoying learning how to play the recorder. He practices it ALL the time after school. I like hearing him play but after about the 20th time of the same song in one afternoon it does start to drive me crazy. Dawson is still an amazing big brother. He has such a loving sweet spirit. I don't know how I got so lucky! He still loves to snuggle up with me, holds my hand in public and will run up and hug me at school (most of the time) when I am there. I know it won't last much longer so I am trying to enjoy it as much as possible.
The rest of this month is going to go by so fast! We are looking forward to a wonderful holiday season spent with family and friends.

Thanksgiving

We spent Thanksgiving at my (Betsy's) parents house on the coast. It was a small gathering for us but very nice. We didn't have Dawson this year-he was with his dad which always bums us out a bit. We missed his sweet spirit. Jane somewhat enjoyed her first real Thanksgiving dinner. She LOVED the pumpkin pie and for her birthday party with my family she had a slice of that instead of cake. I figured it counted as a vegetable for the day :) Jane had so much fun playing with her cousin, Iris. It'll be fun once Jane can walk and keep up with her! She did check out her smaller cousins Josie and Isabelle but wasn't too sure about them. What we really loved about Thanksgiving is thinking about all we have to be grateful for. We are so blessed. I am most thankful that for that opportunity to be a mom to my children. It is the greatest blessing I have been given. We were also thankful that Brad got a whole week off work to hang out with us!

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.