10/31/07 Happy Halloween! Brace yourself for the update of all updates :) So we've been gone awhile.. I got alot to say :)
We spent the last week at Nana and Papa's house. The kisd tried a million new things, from S'mores from Aunt Neenee's firepit, to Costume Parades in Nana and Papa's neighborhood. They got to feed ducks up close and personal, and they even got a chance to eat out (Boston Market, let's just say we had the restaurant to ourselves by the time we were done eating). I'm going to have a really difficult time remembering all the wonderful things that were said and done since I updated last, but it suffices to say that they are older and wiser than they were before we left.
Let's see, Bella Boo... SHE'S 1 Now!!!! Bella had her first birthday on October 24th, and we celebrated in style. She got to spend the day with our friend Melissa, and got some presents too. Then on Friday when daddy came into town, Bella had her party with presents and cake! Check out the pictures! She walks exclusively now, and can run too. When we got home, she climbed the entire play structure in the backyard by herself, then went down the slide by herself (w/ supervision of course). She is starting to say some words and repeat some too, like Dada, mama, doggy, nana, papa, sissy, bubby, kitty. etc. She took a major spill the day before her birthday and tore up her face pretty bad, but she's healed and now knows better than to fall onto wooden magazine buckets. :(
Sophia has picked up some new words like Jalepeno and Guacamole. She also cheers for everyone, (ex."YEAH mommy! Nice JOB!") all the time and declares that everything is SO PRETTY! Sophia got her leg brace on Monday. I had nightmares before we got it of putting it on her and having her fall down and not be able to walk. Again, she continues to amaze me. We put the brace on her and she literally took off running. She played for hours without it even phasing her. She even climbed the slide without hesitation (mind you, she cannot point her foot past a 90 degree angle). NOTHING slows this child down. She is very proud of the brace too, so I guess it's really just MY hangup with the whole thing. It's amazing what we learn from our children. Not only does she wear it without complaint, but now she runs smoother, falls less, and walks almost completely "normally". What an amazing kid.
Lucas has really kept us on our toes recently. We had to call poison control (he climbed onto the table and tasted Purell), find Will's only set of keys for his truck (which took two days, and he only has one set because Lucas already lost the other set- Will had to carpool to work), clean up Bella after Lucas fingerpainted her face and hair with Boudreaux's Butt Paste (diaper rash cream) - which by the way, Bella stood completely still for, and fix various other scenarios in which he finds himself. He's OUT OF CONTROL! On another note, he keeps us wondering about where he gets his phrases. Recently he has told us, "I dont' see well in the dark either.", When I asked him if he was going to give me a kiss or what, he replied, "WHAT!", and yesterday at dinner, he held out his hand to Will and said, "Hi Daddy! Nice to meet you!". HMMM..... Lucas has also developed a serious fear of the dark. We've been trying to quell it with nightlights, but he is terrified to go into any room that has the lights off, and somewhere he heard about ghosts, so we have to keep reminding him that there are no such thing as ghosts. We also set him up at night with a spray bottle full of "ghost repellant", which of course everyone knows that ghosts are scared of a single spray of water with vanilla in it! :)
Overall, it's been a pretty entertaining week! I'm putting up pictures of our trip in the October folder, but look for Halloween Trick or Treating pix in the new November folder, coming soon! Have a great day and thanks for being interested in our kiddos!
10/15/07 Our words have gotten out of control! Our newest favorite words are Tapioca (a favorite for obvious reasons) and daddy got them saying Encyclopedia. I don't think they have a clue what it is, but they sure like to scream it! We've gotten fun new phrases like, "Cool Daddy-o!" and "C'mon Bella, Walk to me! Let's DANCE!" We've also mastered several new songs, including Yankee Doodle, Pick a, Pick a Pumpkin, and Where is Thumbkin. We're up to 13 now in counting (Did you know there were numbers beyond 10? The kids were shocked!). We've also been discussing lately what is inside a pumpkin. Rather than just tell them, we asked the kids to tell us what THEY think is inside. So far, we have gotten answers such as popcorn, leaves, lettuce, and booka booka (we're still not sure what this means). Won't it be a shock when we carve the pumpkin and all they see is slime and seeds?? Imaginations are a wonderful thing :)
As for miss Bella, we couldn't figure out why she's been fussy again, and one evening, as she threw her head back to wail, Will looked in her mouth and saw 2 new teeth! She now has 4 on top and 2 on the bottom! Go figure. She got all 4 top teeth in about 2 weeks! Bella's birthday is next week and we are really looking forward to seeing her devour cake and ice cream. The kids still aren't sure it's ok for her to get presents (and they don't), but I keep reminding them that theirs isn't far off. Gotta get new video of Bella walking, she's a MANIAC!
We'll be in Indianapolis next week, so I may or may not get an update done! See ya when we get back!
10/11/07 And just when I thought we were past the terrible 2's!!! In the last two days, the kids have managaed to break into my room and dump an entire bottle of nail polish remover onto the carpet (one of them had to scale the dresser to get it) and an entire bottle of sunscreen onto the computer desk (luckily, it didn't get in the keyboard). GRRR.... Time to update the child locks!
Our favorite phrase around here is "Watch me mommy!" Both Lucas aned Sophia demand to be watched for every little thing they do, and when mommy is busy, it's not uncommon to hear, "Watch me Lucas, Watch me Bella, Watch me Sophia, Watch me Sadie!" When Daddy is home, he gets the pleasure of watching every bite at dinner, every dance move, every jump, etc. too. They LOVE to put on shows for us, showcasing all of their talents :)
Bella boo is walking almost exclusively now. She got so steady on her feet SO fast. She balances really well and catches herself before she falls most times now. She's started talking some too. She says Bye bye, YES, uh oh, mama, dada, and nana.
A note about Sophia: We have been noticing that Sophia's left ankle has been getting tighter/ stiffer lately. When we pointed it out to the Physical Therapist, he told us that it's common for this to happen during growth spurts when kids have been through what Phia has. For those of you who don't know or don't remember, Sophia has a stroke when she was 3 weeks old and we were told then that she may never crawl/walk or be able to use her left side. She has been pretty amazing at overcoming this, but still has always had some weakness in her left leg. We had Sophia fitted for a leg brace this week and she will wear it for a while to make sure she maintains flexibility while she strengthens her muscles in her left leg. I was feeling pretty sad about this (i know i know, it's not group therapy here) but Sophia is so positive and I had to laugh when she got to pick out her the specifics of the brace. The orthotist gave us a whole book of colors and patterns to pick from and what did my little girl pick? Pastel hearts, pink velcro and purple foam. I swear we tried so hard to get them gender neutral toys and treat them the same, but somehow, she turned into a girly girl when I wasn't looking. Oh well, at least she knows what she likes! Which speaking of, the other day we were picking out what clothes to wear and Sohpia (who now thinks she should exclusively pick out her own clothes) says to me, " Mama, I want to wear these jeans. They match my flower shirt." WHAT? They MATCH???? Boy do we have our hands full :)
10/4/07 All about Sophia...... Well, the other day, we were outside playing and Sophia was busy demanding things/trying to get me to do things. Ater a barrage of "mommy, i want to swing, mommy hold my babydoll, mommy push me, mommy help me....etc." She decided she was thirsty. She then said, "Mommy, go get my sippycup." I told her that we would get it when we went back inside. She continued asking over and over, which I ignored sinceI had already given her my answer. The insisting escalated, and she eventually shouted, " Mommy, go get my sippy cup RIGHT NOW! " Needless to say, I was a little shocked at this brash demand. She caught on to my reaction, and continued to demand until I told her that I would not listen to her bossing me around and that she didn't get to demand things like that. She replied, "Mommy, go get my sippy cup right now... please." :)
Sophia's newest favorite phrase is "Watch MY!" Meaning Watch me. I've tried telling her it's ME and not MY, but she doesn't care. All I hear all day long from her is, "Mommy, Watch MY swing, Watch MY jump, Watch my run, (typically followed by, ooh! i run SO FAST!)etc.So the new phrase on the street..... WATCH MY!
She is also really into telling me how pretty everything is. At dinner alone the other day, she told me that my limeade was SOOO PRETTY and that her egg noodle was so pretty too. She finished up with, "ooh! Mommy is SO pretty!" which I of course didn't mind. :)
ok, the other two kids? Lucas sings songs all day. He's memorized yankee doodle, oh my darlin', shoo fly, skip to my lou, and several others. he loves to dance and sing. THe other day, he walked up to me and said, Mama, I love you too." Completely out of the blue. Love the sentiment, need to work on the delivery/concept :)
Bella is walking so much and is talking too. She calls Will Daddy and me mama. She answers questions with "YES" and when she wants to say no, she says BA. Confused? So are we. They are all getting cuter everyday, but i guess I'm a little biased. :)
10/1/07 First of all, check out our new videos! We've got a bunch of new ones up, and it shows everything from walking, singing, dancing, and much, much more! Entertainment for the whole family (or of the whole family, or something like that...)
The kids are getting so big~! They are are getting really excited about Halloween and are really starting to grasp the concept of Trick or Treat (well, they know they get candy, that seems to be enough for them to get excited).
We've been working on a special present for Nana's birthday this week, which got us talking about birthdays. I was telling the kids about the upcoming birthdays (Bella's, then mine, theirs, and daddy's). I told Lucas and Soph, "Mama's gonna be 29! Is mama old?" I know, loaded question. Lucas looks at me and says, "No mama, not old. Mama is NEW." AWWWWW, ok, so he was my favorite that day :)
Sophia has started imitating EVERYTHING I say to Bella. She repeats it to her baby dolls. Yesterday, we heard her in the backseat of the car saying, "Walk to me poppypee, walk to me." Good job poppypee!" Hmmm. exact words from me to Bella.. She also tells everyone "Good job!" for instance, today, she threw a ball and said, "I threw the ball! Wow! Good job me!" She definitely keep us laughing with all the funny things she says.
Bella actually prefers to walk now! she's walking probably at least 50% of the time, and really enjoys it. She is starting to talk too! We were in the store today and she waved at a man walking by and said, "bye bye!" Of course she wouldn't repeat it (words or wave) to the cashier when we left, but whatever. So she doesn't want to perform on command....
Overall, we're having a great time, and getting a lot done! I finally got Sophia's (and hopefully Bella's soon) room painted. It's light pinkish peach. Now I have to do the faux finish and the turrets for the complete princess room (hey, it's what Sophia requested). Hope y'all are having a GREAT start to October!
