9.25.2018

Leo - THREE years old

 











Weight: 29lbs (20%) and 36” (17th%). 

Nicknames: LeeLee and Leo John

Clothes: 2T in jeans, 3T in shirts, 7 shoe, 5 diapers
Sleep:  You're a great sleeper and you're still taking naps. School has really helped in wiping you out, so we normally get 3-4 naps out of you in a week. You are still in your crib and I'm not moving you for a while. You've climbed out a handful of times in your life, but for the most part, love your crib so I don't see an enormous need to change it up yet. 

The only new thing we saw in sleep this summer was some night terrors/bad dreams. The onset came when we started/tried to potty train you. You would wake up in the middle of the night screaming bloody murder. It was heartbreaking, but you were normally easy to console back to sleep. Once we stopped potty training, they went away, and then came back out right before school started again - but haven't been a common problem. We now sleep with a night light and socks and both seem to help. 

Schedule: This is our school schedule
6:45am- Dad wakes you up and gets your clothes on
7:00am Breakfast
8-10:30am- School
10:30-12pmish- Errands, Park, Walks, Baths
12:15pm - Lunch
1:00-3pm nap
3:30pm up/play/snack
6:00pm dinner with a cup of milk
7:00pm Bed

Health: You are a healthy boy and we are beyond thankful for that.

Feeding:  You are a bit picky but overall a good eater. You still don't love meat, but I sneak it in here and there and you get lots of protein from other places so I'm not too worried. You love breakfast bars, cheese sticks, pirates booty, oatmeal, raisins, quesadillas and guacamole, bagels, french fries and ice cream.

Likes: You love school, magnatiles, arts and crafts, running, playdates, parks, being outside, and going to Barnes and Noble and the Crystal Lake Brewery.

Right now, you love Anna and Elsa from Frozen, love listening to the Disney channel on Pandora, you love playing with your "maui guys" which are little Moana figures, you love playing in the bath, having swimming lessons, and having snacks. 

You are so excitable, love life, and generally just see the beauty of the smallest things.
Not Liking: You are cautious with new experiences and sometimes show me a little anticipation anxiety. You don't like anyone doing things for you and are REALLY starting to show your 3-year old independent side.
Milestones: Well, you're like the smartest kid I know ;)  Your verbal skills are incredible and your memory legitimately freaks me out at how good it is.

You know all of your colors, can count to about 10 with a few mistakes, can spell your name, are learning to write your name, and pretty much know all of your shapes. What else is a milestone at 3? You sing tons of songs, play by yourself, have an incredible imagination, enjoy putting things together, lining things up, and creating different things.
This summer you learned how to swim with Miss BJ and we saw massive improvments from the beginning of the summer to the end. 

One milestone we did not master was potty training. We tried. And we tried hard. But it just didn't work. It was very, very emotional for you (and then, me), and it was WAY harder than it should have been, so we took it as a sign that you just weren't emotionally ready (you are physically), and so we are tabling it until you are.
Places You’ve Gone: We just returned from Colorado this past month and I would say the trip was made so much sweeter because we got to see and travel through your eyes. EVERYTHING blew your mind, the mountains, the "vacation house", the birds, the gondolas, the sun, the food, the airport, the plane, everything! 
----
Leo, we love doing life with you. 
You make us laugh, smile, run, jump, play, sing, and dance, and you make us live our lives SO much better, sweeter, and more joyfilled. You are an incredible teacher, and I can't wait to learn more from you this next year. 
 We love every little thing about you,
Mom and Dad
 


9.24.2018

Weekend Recap

It's really feeling like fall around here and I'm loving it! 

Friday our high school had their homecoming parade, so we met up with a few friends and kids to watch all of the students. 


 

The kids loved it - and then we decided to walk down to Crystal Lake Brewing for a beer.


A few families went home, but we tried two restaurants with friends downtown to grab dinner, and both had way too long of wait times, so we decided to head back to our house. We ordered pizza, let the kids play, and drank a ton of wine until the kids (me) were falling asleep on the couch. 

Saturday morning we woke up early to celebrate Leo's birthday! We decided in lieu of a birthday party this year we would head into the city and go to the Shedd Aquariam. 

We left our house early, and after a quick drive, did end up having to sit waiting for the parking lot for a while. Luckily no one broke down and we were in the Shedd exploring pretty quickly thereafter. 


 


My sister Hannah met us (my mom is in Europe, my other sister Nell was at a wedding in KY, and my dad was good skipping out), and we spent two hours following Leo from exhibit to exhibit. He was in hog heaven.

 

 


I was really glad we got there early in the morning, because it was a Saturday, it was jam packed by noon. 

So, we all loaded into our car and drove for lunch at our favorite taco spot in the city - Big Star. 

 

We had a few margaritas, Leo chowed three quesadillas and all of the guac he could consume, opened some presents from Aunt Hannah, and then headed back home.


We were home pretty early, but decided to skip naps for everyone so that we could put them to bed a little earlier. 

We did baths, got them into bed, and then Joel and I both sadly watched our teams (Vols and Hawkeyes) lose some pretty important football games.


Sunday morning Joel let me sleep in which was glorious - and then after breakfast we went out for a 4 mile run, followed by a 4 mile bike ride (Joel ran both). It was the PERFECT weather, so we really enjoyed spending the morning outside. 


After naps, we wrapped birthday presents, mowed the lawn, ordered groceries, typed this blog, and got ready for a birthday dinner with Leo's grandparents.



 








It was the perfect weekend - and I'm so excited to be starting fall with a THREE YEAR OLD!!!


Tomorrow we will bring treats into school, play at the library, and then have a park party with some friends and brownies before coming home for dinner and presents! A pretty fun weekend for a pretty special little dude. 

the days are long, but the years are short - This is my favorite quote of all time by Gretchen Rubin in The Happiness Project.

9.21.2018

Drew - Month 9

 Image may contain: 1 person, sitting


 1 month ::: 2 months ::: 3 months ::: 4 months::: 5 months::: 6 months ::: 7 months ::: 8 month :::

Weight: 16lbs 2oz (16th%) 27.5” (42%) head was 25% 

Clothes: Steadily in 6 month, 6-9 or 6-12mth depending on the brand. A few of your dresses are 9mth, shoes are a size 1 and diapers a size 3
 
Nicknames: Drewbie, Drewbs, and Drewbo.
Sleep:  You've been a great sleeper all of your life. You're sleeping 7-7, naps are still sporadic, but you're flexible which is really nice.

Schedule: Now that Leo is in school MWF, we are trying to keep a tighter weekday schedule. Sadly, because I have to wake you for your morning nap in order to pick up Leo on time, you're a little off, but we'll get there 
6:55am - We wake you up most mornings with an 8oz bottle
7:30am - breakfast
  9:00am- nap
10:15am- Have to wake you
11am- Bottle #2
10:30-1:00pm - play & lunch while we are out and about
  1:00pm - 3:00pm - Nap
3:15/3:30pm - Bottle #2.5 (trying to phase this out) but you're getting a half bottle for the time being
3:30-5pm - play/bath
5:30pm- Dinner -  I try to feed you while Leo is watching a show, and then when we all sit down at dinner, you will sit with us and chew on a MumMum or some yogurt/veggie melts
6:30pm-Bottle #3
7pm - Bed
Health:  You had your first sickness this month. You threw up, and then it turned into a cold. You were pretty tough and got through it in about 5ish days. 

You are also cutting your top tooth so we've had a few days of some low grade fevers here and there/broken sleep, but overall it hasn't been too bad. We can see one root of the tooth, so hopefully it'll break soon!

Also - we are so excited because you have been handling rice perfectly! It's opened up your diet to a lot more which is awesome and you've been loving rice cakes and MumMums as snacks!
 
 Crying:  It remains true - you are the easiest, sweetest, happiest baby I've ever been around. Honestly.
Feeding: Brown and White rice were big ones this month. I was nervous to try both (there is really never a good time to experiment when it could make your baby sick), but we did it, and you passed both perfectly! It has opened up a lot of diet options and you're favorites have been MumMums. You love holding your own food and chomping away!

This month we will start introducing quite a bit more finger foods. You have incredibly dextirity and pincer grip the tiniest of particles, so I know you will take to this next step of feeding really well. 

New foods that I can think of this month besides rice (which we started with blending brown rice and adding it to baby food) include: cottage cheese, beets, rice cakes, yogurt melts, and a tiny bit of ice cream on vacation :)

Likes: Standing up on anything you get your hands on, music, being around people, and any of your brothers toys.
Dislikes: Oatmeal and diaper changes lately.
Milestones:  You started classic crawling 8mth1week and haven't stopped since. You are fast girl! 

You also started crawling up stairs while we were on vacation, and now you're latest trick is pulling to stand on everything and the beginning stages of cruising furniture.

You said your first word last week - "Hi!" - and it's paired with a wave! It's BEYOND precious and you're favorite person to wave to is yourself in the mirror.


Places You’ve Gone: We took your second trip this month to Steamboat, Colorado. You were an awesome traveler and loved all of the outside time.
Postpartum: I'm getting closer to my pre-pregnancy weight but it's slllloooowww going. I'm currently 5 pounds away.
Leo: You two actually play together and it's adorable. Leo loves to hold you, squeeze you, tell you how cute you are, and be around you. The joy the two of you bring to each other stops us in our tracks.


9.17.2018

Weekend Recap

On Friday - I dropped my kids off at my parents for a sleepover, so that I could clean the house and get everything prepped for book club (and make a quick stop for a pedicure and new pair of shoes)....


Open toe booties to be exact - which I found on major cleareance, and I have a feeling will become my going out shoes for the rest of fall. 


The house looked so bare and clean without all of the kids stuff! 

 


This book group is mainly women from our neighborhood and it has been so much fun to have an excuse to read, talk about the good and bad part of the books, anddddd drink a lot of wine with new friends. 


They're were about 17 of us on Friday - which was the perfect sized group - and I think the last person left close to midnight. After cleaning things up (thank you Joel!!), I crashed into bed at 1, and then was up right at 6....so that kind of hurt (but was worth it).  

Joel grabbed the kids from my parents early - and before I knew it we were en route to our friends house in Lake Forest for a double birthday party for her two boys. 

 

It was one of the best birthday parties we've ever been too - so many fun things for the kids (including a train ride), portillos and drinks for the parents, a beautiful day, and big backyard was the recipe for success! 

 

 

 

   

 

 

We got home, everyone took great naps (including me), and then ordered pizza and just chilled on the couch watching college football. 

 

Sunday morning, Joel played tennis with some friends and then when he got home, I snuck in a short but fast (for me) run, and then we headed straight to celebrate Joel's mom's birthday.


She is from Tennesse, and recently got the kids some Vols gear, so of course we had to show up in their finest ;) 
 

 

 

After naps, we walked down to my parents to say hi and then came home to grill up some dinner.



Drewbie was running a little fever, I think because her top right tooth is popping out, so we stuck everyone in bed early in preparation for another busy week ahead!  

and I took this screenshot of a favorite friend on instagram and wanted to share because it's is just so good. 



9.13.2018

How we Fall

I missed this link-up, but decided I would share the few fall touches that I added to the house. 

I always struggle with putting out too many pumpkins/Halloween-y decorations, so this is about half of my haul and then come October 1st, I'll set out all of the Halloween decorations as well. 

So come on in! 

 

I didn't add too many new fall decorations (mainly just the banner on the fireplace from Hobby Lobby) - as you can see from these previous recaps here,and here, but I try to mix it up a tiny bit every year. 

 

 

and strangely - but luckily - I feel like orange works pretty well in our house.

 

 

We just added this little shelf to our powder room on the first floor which I think will be perfect for super subtle holiday decorating - and a place to light a candle while we have guests because the vanity is tiny. 

 

 

 

 

The kids playroom will get much more gussied it up once Halloween gets closer but for now, a fun copy-cat pintrest board will do the trick.


And I'm waiting for two more prints and then all four frames will go up. 

 And that's that for now!