4 months

It is amazing how fast this little guy has grown. He had his 4 month appointment yesterday. He is 16 lbs 6 oz (78%) and 25.5 inches long (72%). He is healthy as can be and the doctor was impressed with how strong he was and how well he could stand. At the appointment Ember was very concerned when they gave him his shots. She said "I don't want them to hurt my little brother". She really loves him as jealous as she may be of the attention he gets. She is starting to want him with her more and is concerned about where he is and what he is doing. It is cute. He is starting to drool and chew a lot so it seems like teeth might show up soon. He is also turning into quite a chatterbox. He seems to want to tall nonstop. One night when he was having a rough time going to sleep, I went in a dark room and held him for awhile. He coo-ed at me for about 5 minutes very intently then he nestles down and fell asleep. I guess he just needed someone to listen for a little bit. He is starting to like toys a little more and seems to like the fabric ones more than the plastic type. His eyes are still very blue and it seems like he will keep them. He is smiling and giggling now and has the cutest dimples. We love our little boy

Projects and More

I have been keeping busy with a bunch of projects lately. I made this menu from an old mirror we had hanging on our bathroom door. I hated how the mirror made the door hard to close so I pulled it off, spray painted it with chalkboard paint and ordered vinyl lettering to add to it. I love how it turned out. I found the idea here.

 I also made this skirt for Ember. I got the pattern here. It was pretty easy and I think it looks pretty cute.

 I did a little photo shoot with this guy and actually got a few smiles. He is so much fun and seems to be pretty photogenic.

 This little girl is not quite as photogenic but every bit as cute. I have to try pretty hard to get a good picture of her. She hates to stand still to get her picture taken and wants to look at the pictures right away. The best pictures are those when she doesn't realize I have a camera out, but then she isn't looking at me. Occasionally she will actually look at the camera for a split second if I am lucky.

Speaking of this little girl, she is getting to be quite opinionated and has quite a temper. I hope it is just a phase because it isn't much fun. When I picked her up from nursery yesterday the leaders told me, "She is going to be a drama queen isn't she?" Not quite what you want to hear from someone who has been watching your child for the last two hours. I was more than a little embarrassed.
She has decided that we are no longer allowed to call her Ember and she picks a different name every so often. Recently she has been Percy, the green train from Thomas and Friends. Before that she was Otto, a robot from a book we got at the library. She has been Mickey Mouse, Mater, and a bunch of other characters. You would think we watched a ton of TV, but we accidentally threw out the cord to hook our
TV up in the move and haven't bothered to replace it yet so we don't watch any. Occasionally we will put on a movie or let her watch something on YouTube. It is so funny how quickly she internalizes the characters she sees and becomes them. We will read a book once or twice and suddenly she is that person and is telling the story about them over and over. Everyone has been telling me not to discourage it since it is part of her imagination but I am wondering if there needs to be a limit since she goes into a fit if you call her the wrong name. I guess we need to work on being more polite. Maybe we should do something like she has to be Ember when we go out of the house or something. Anyone have any better ideas? I hate to discourage her creativity but I also don't think she should be allowed to throw a fit because someone called her the wrong name either.
Update-We have been making sure she gets a nap every day and that seems to have calmed down the tantrums a bit. She has had a little cold and has needed the extra sleep. She is much more pleasant to be around since.

3 Months Old

Steele is now three months old and he couldn't be cuter. We are getting quite a few big smiles now and he seems to be happier than ever. He doesn't quite know how to grasp at things yet but he is much more interested in toys and his surroundings. He loves to stand on my lap still and is getting better and better at it.
He has been sleeping a ton lately so he must be going through a growing spurt. He gets so upset when he has to wait a few minutes for his food. It is positively hysterical. You would think it had been a week since he ate last, not 3 hours or so. Ember is getting more interested in him and this morning she came in and asked if she could give him a hug. She even rocked him for a bit when he was sitting on his chair. Admittedly, it was quite the wild ride for him, but I love that they are starting to interact more. He will stare at her very intently and that is about all so far. I am sure they will have fun together soon.

Two Months Plus

So Steele turned 2 months old last week. He is now 13 lbs 7 oz (87th percentile) and 23 inches tall (54th percentile). He is growing like a weed. He still wants to eat all the time and wakes up twice at night but he seems to be getting into a routine and things are settling down a little. He has been a pretty easy baby so far although he does like to be held a lot. He is getting to the point where we can just put him in his crib when he is tired and he will fall asleep-which is wonderful. He loves to have something soft on his cheek when he is going to sleep and will rub his face against his blanket to feel it. If he doesn't have a soft blanket he has a hard time sleeping. He has started smiling some and does a tiny bit of very soft babbling. His most recent discovery is his hands. You would think they were made of sugar by the way he sucks on them. They are de-lish. I love that he found them because often when he starts crying and I can't get there right away, he will find them and settle himself down. Hallelujah! We do love our little guy.

Emberisms

It is time for another installment of Emberisms. There are some really fun ones this time so here goes.
For about a week every time she walked away she would turn around and remind me, "Don't forget to buckle your seat belt." 

Lately she has been telling me about Dumbo, who is apparently a big bully. He steals her purse and knocks her off her bike. She will sometimes say that Dumbo won't get us.

She will often grab her purse and go to the store. Then she will run into her room. Sometimes she will say I am going to the candle and run in her room. She apparently has a giant candle in her room that she will blow out. 

Ember insists on saying every prayer. It is almost always the same one (I didn't teach it to her, she must have picked it up on her own). For awhile we would ask who should say the prayer and she would reply "Me, this girl, Ember." then proceed to say the prayer without any further comment.

"Pee pee and poop play in the potty." (toilet paper does too on occasion).

Josh and I were talking in the kitchen and she came in and said, "Behold, Mommy and Daddy."  We about fell over laughing.

Ember: Ah we an ooh me a ne
Me: What are you singing?
Ember: A love song. 

"I  am going to grow up and be 3 like mommy is 3."

Me: What comes after twelve?
Ember: Three-teen.

"I am upset. I need to go lay down."
 
"Mommy is a good woman." (Thanks Ember, I appreciate it, I just wonder where you got that little tidbit of knowledge from)

She has started to speak in storybook voice. I hope that doesn't mean we read too much. She will often speak for her toys as you would read from a book. For example: "Look a bath, the bear cried. It leaped in the bath."

When we were visiting my Mom, she came inside and announced, "The outside made me angry."

I was talking with a friend of mine and Ember came up by us. My friend asked her "How are you, honey?" She looked offended and said, "I'm not honey." Then later she came up and started calling my friend "Honey"
 
Occasionally Ember will put herself down for a nap if she is tired. One day she said she was going to bed and went into her room. We heard her say her prayers and crawl in. It was pretty cute. She also sometimes puts her toys to bed and says prayers for them.

I was eating something and Ember came into the room and asked "Can I have a bite?" I gave her one then she came back and asked, "Can I have another bite?" immediately after she asked, "Can I have all the bites?"

After a big fall - we were waiting for the crying to start and she stood up and in a matter-of-fact voice said, "I guess there isn't no oww-y." 

She ran into our bedroom and in a very excited voice said, "I have hands!"

One day she asked Josh in a very sad voice, "Why do I matter to you?"I felt so bad. Josh reassured her that he loves her and that she really does matter to him.

She is turning into a very good big sister. Today Steele was crying and Ember said, "Steele is sad, we should go sing to him."

Yesterday we went to Walmart and bought groceries then we picked out some new pajamas for Ember and looked at swimsuits for Steele. Then we went to get some storage boxes for Josh. When we were finished, Ember turned to me and asked, "What are we going to buy for you, Mommy?" It was awfully sweet of her to think of me. I might have teared up a little bit. She has such a good heart. I do love my little girl.