Lainey Rose: 7 Months

Sweet Lainey Girl,

Yesterday you turned seven months old.  Here you are….on the upward swing to your first birthday!  What an incredible ride its been with you, sweet girl.  

• This month you and Blake have REALLY started interacting and playing together, which melts my heart and gives me such incredible joy.  You’ve recently learned how to blow bubbles and make vibrating noises with your lips (which you think is hilarious, always) and you and Blake will take turns in your car seats making noises back and forth to each other.  You think Blake is SO funny and will laugh and laugh, which makes HIM laugh….which makes MY heart swell with such love for you both. 

•  When you get excited, you stick your arms straight out to the wide, wiggling your hands back and forth with a wide open mouth while wagging your face from side to side.  Baby girl, it is HILARIOUS and one of my favorite Lainey-isms to date.  You do this when you see a toy you want, when you’re sitting on my lap and I have something you want, when I don’t get the spoon into your mouth fast enough during a meal….

•  My best guess on your weight is somewhere in the mid-17 pound range.  You’re wearing size 3 diapers, or the full rise in your cloths.  I have you in mainly 9 month clothes, but you can also wear 6 month and there are even a few 3 month dresses  you wear now as shirts. 

•  You want to move SO badly!  You’ll routinely go from sitting onto your belly, and then you’ll do the turtle—arms and legs flailing wildly out to the side trying to move while you’re high-centered on your belly.  I know that you’ll figure it out soon, and once you do, girl you will be EVERYWHERE!  Where your brother was content to sit and play with what was in front of him, you are not.  You want to be wherever the action is, and you are determined to get there!

• You love food.  You now eat 3 meals a day, and take 4 bottles.  You also love puffs.  Your finger dexterity is amazing, too!  Those puffs just cannot get into your mouth fast enough.  You love-love-LOVE them.

• You are an amazing little sleeper.  You take a morning nap that usually ranges from 1 to 2 hours, and then an afternoon nap that I can count on being 2 solid hours…sometimes more.  We start bedtime routine at 7, and you’re usually asleep by 7:45 or so.  We’re still able to just lay you down in your crib and you’ll put yourself to sleep. 

•  You have the most beautiful, expressive eyes and you LOVE everyone.  I’ve never known another baby with such a sweet, laid-back personality.  We can literally take you anywhere and do anything with you.

•  You had your first visit to the coast this month!  We took you to Garabaldi to ride the Pumpkin Train before Halloween.  So I guess technically you saw the beach, but we didn’t actually go onto the sand.  Next time!  We also took you to the Tillamook Cheese Factory!  You seemed to like it…but were definitely disappointed when we wouldn’t let you have any ice cream ;)

• You can roll front to back and back to front, but you really don’t do it very often.  You just prefer to sleep on your back.

• Your little voice is so precious, and you have this hysterical guttural growl that you make when you’re excited or trying to get your hands on something.  You also love to make screeching sounds in the car and mimic the sounds I make to you.  I’ve already started working with you on ‘mama’!

• You love banging toys together, and are still loving the jumperoo and anything that can fit in your mouth.  You’re a big fan of Blake’s trains, but he’s not too crazy about you playing with them….we’ll keep working on sharing ;)

• You ADORE Toby.  Whenever he walks by, you erupt in giggles and reach for him. 

• You’ve developed a bit of an opinion about having toys taken from you, and you’ve started letting us know.  You’ve also started reaching for daddy and I when we go to hold you, and you don’t always love being held by strangers!  You definitely know your people.

Lainey Rose, you are pure sunshine.  Every morning, daddy goes in to get you from your crib while I’m in our room getting ready, and I love hearing your sweet little voice coo and giggle as your daddy talks to you.   It’s the sweetest sound, and I know that all too soon those baby sounds will ebb away as you grow and learn new ways to communicate.  I just don’t ever want to forget how sweet that sound is.  I wish I could bottle it up for all the days in the future when I won’t be able to hear it anymore.  

Life with you under our roof is so very beautiful.  I love how your eyes scrunch up into tiny little slits when you are really happy—almost like your smile is so big and so wide that there’s no room on your face for them anymore.   I love the way your little hands close around my finger when I’m holding you in my arms, and the way you’ll snuggle into my chest when I feed you a bottle.  I love your old man laugh, and how you’ll make a ridiculously cute smacking sound with your lips when I go to feed you.  I love how you dive bomb anything within reach, how you laugh and laugh when I blow raspberries on your tummy during diaper changes, and how you smack the bath water with your palms and frantically grab for anything floating by.  Do you get it yet baby girl?  I just love you.  Everything.  Every moment.  God’s love for me is so clearly reflected in the gift of you. 

Always and forever, sweet girl. 

Love,

Mama     

Blake Louis: 2 Years Old

Well buddy, we now have a two year old living under our roof.  How did that happen?!  It seems like I blinked, and my little baby has turned into a little boy.  What an incredible ride it’s been.  The last two years with you have been the exclamation point on this sweet life that God has given us.  You are pure joy, my love.    

• After not even saying ‘mama’ until right around the time Lainey was born (19 months), your language at age 2 has EXPLODED!  You parrot everything we say, and daddy and I just die laughing with some of the crazy phrases you come up with.  Some of my favorites have been:

o   Looking up at the sky one day, you asked if you could ‘hold the moon’. 

o   We were at Costco one day in late October, and you saw the nativity set up with Christmas decoration, and promptly asked to “see baby God?”  Daddy and I were pretty impressed that you went with baby GOD rather than baby Jesus.  I half expected you to run off in search of the Holy Spirit…!

o   When we were first teaching you to say ‘thank you’, you would get confused when we’d respond with ‘you’re welcome’….so you just started saying  ‘thankyouwelcome’ to everyone.  Covered all your bases with that one ;)

o   One of my all-time favorites is when you run around the house, skipping and happily exclaiming “Blake HAPPY!”

o   Whenever we pull into Grandma and Grandpa’s house, you get excited and tell us how “excited” Grandma and Grandpa will be to “see Blake!” 

o   Instead of yes, you say ‘okay’

o   I love the way you say ‘something’.  It sounds like ‘sumfing’ and whenever you drop something, or something falls, you’ll say “Uh oh!  Sumfing happen!!”

o   When you don’t want something, you stubbornly proclaim “Blake no like that” and then dig in your heels and absolutely refuse to do/try whatever it is you ‘don’t like’.  And it’s usually something like ice cream.  Or macaroni and cheese. 

o   You are still in love with your blue seahorse, and you call it your ‘seahorsey’.  I think this is so sweet!

o    The other day you heard Grandma call Lainey her Lainey-Lou-Lou, and you came home that night and started  trying to call her that.  Except, you can’t quite pronounce all the ‘l’ sounds in a row, so it comes out more like “Lanie-woo-loo” 

o   You are obsessed with Toby, but his name comes out more like “SH-oby”.  I love this!

o   I was telling you about how I am a teacher at school, and you proudly proclaimed, “Blake teacher too!  Blake teacher like mommy!”  Melted my heart.

o   We had a trial run with potty training a few months back (….didn’t stick, still in diapers buddy boy) and the reward we used for getting you to sit on the potty was a popsicle.  But you, my stubborn son, learned early on to weigh your options.  One day I had you sitting on the potty and you didn’t want to be there, so you looked me straight in the eye, gave a quick shrug and said “no potty, no popsicle!” and jumped down and ran away.  Apparently I need a more compelling reward!

o   As Lainey has gotten more independent, and more interested in your toys, you’ve taken it upon yourself to set limits for her.  “No Lainey no!” has become one of our most heard phrases around here.

o   Every night, you go through a laundry list of people you want to thank God for during bedtime prayers.  Usually, this list includes mommy, daddy, Lainey, grandparents, Uncle Tony, Uncle Eric and Aunt Caitlin, some of your friends….and sometimes you’ll throw in Thomas Train or books ;) 

o   If we ask you where Jesus lives, you’ll respond “In Blake heart!”  So precious baby boy.

o   You always tell us that a jail is where “big people go timeout!”  SO funny

o   After play dates, or fun little adventures we take you on, you’ll happily exclaim: “Blake have so much fun!”  You are also very polite, and will often follow it up with, “Thank you mommy and daddy!”

• You LOVE reading the Bible.  We’ve been working through Jesus Calling for Kids each night before bed, and you know SO many Bible stories and have a memory that literally blows my mind.  You know Adam and Eve, the story of Noah’s Ark (you even tell me about the rainbow being God’s promise), Cain and Abel, Abraham (you call him God’s friend), Isaac, Jacob and Esau (you LOVE this page in your Bible), the Tower of Babel, and Moses (you always tell me : ‘Let my people go!’ Moses said that!”

• You LOVE going to Grandma and Grandpa Dal Ponte’s house, and just about everytime we get in the car to go anywhere, you’ll ask “Blake go Grandma’s house??”

• You weigh 31 pounds and 34 inches long.  Wearing a size 5 diaper, although we’d really like to get you potty trained sometime soon!

• We celebrated your second birthday at our house with a construction-themed birthday party!  You LOVED it and did so well with all your guests

•  You are obsessed with trains.  You LOVE Thomas the Train and can name all of the engines on the show…no matter how obscure.  Your favorite toys are definitely your trains.  You love the little wooden ones that go on your train track, because you can attach them together (via the magnets on each end) and drive them around the floor. 

• We moved you into a toddler bed at 26 months (tonight actually!)  You were SO excited about your new bed….until I turned off the lights and said goodnight.  Then you pretty much thought it was the end of the world ;)

•  You are my little dancer boy!  You will shake that booty all the way to the ground.  I think you must get those crazy moves from your daddy J  You can also do the robot (I taught you!), raise the roof, and (you try) to do the sprinkler.  I LOVE your joy, and how carefree you are as you dance around the house. 

•  You are the most well behaved little boy.  Everywhere we go, people always comment on what an amazing little person you are.  You sit quietly at restaurants and I can literally take you anywhere.  You listen so well and understand when I tell you something isn’t safe.  I never have to tell you twice.  I am SO proud of my little man!

• You are the silliest, and I love watching your little sense of humor develop.  You LOVE it when we laugh at you, and you have the most ridiculous fake laugh that just kills me.  And if WE do something that you think is silly, you’ll erupt into a fit of giggles and proclaim “silly mommy/daddy!” 

•  When I ask you to smile for a picture, you scrunch up your nose, squeeze your eyes shut and tilt your chin upward.  You look absolutely goofy, but I never want to forget.

•   We took you the dentist for the first time at 18 months, and last month we took you to the doctor to get your flu shot!  This isn’t technically your first flu shot, but your first as a toddler….and I’m cataloguing it because you did AMAZING!  You thought it was awesome.  You didn’t make a peep when the nurse gave you the shot, and when it was over….you wanted to do it again!  You were so excited to see the bandaid on your thigh and told everyone about the “fu shot” you got at the doctor.  My brave boy!

• We learned you are allergic to cashews.  Oy.  We went to dinner for Great Grandpa’s birthday and I fed you HALF of one cashew.  You immediately started scratching at your tongue and telling me it was “spicy”.  By the time we got you home, you were covered in hives and were all congested and wheezy.  We called the doctor and the nurse advised us to take you to the ER!  They fixed you right up, but you now have an epi pen and a special allergy bracelet….no nuts!

• You are  a PICKY eater.  You refuse to try anything.  We’ve had some epic food battles with you, but you sure do come by that stubborn streak and picky food habits honestly…..

• You are just the best big brother ever.  You LOVE to give Lainey toys to play with, and when I put Lainey on her tummy and she tries to crawl you’ll get down on all fours and try to show her how!  The most precious moments in the world are when you play peek-a-boo with Lainey in the car.  The two of you giggled and laughing at each other in the backseat absolutely melts my heart.  I hope you always stay close.  The relationship you have with your sister will be one of the most important in your life.

• You can count to 10 on demand, and lately have gone all the way to 20 a handful of times!  You know what a letter is, and you know that “B is for Blake!”….but you think every letter is a B.  You also love to sing the ABCs, but skip a bunch ;)

• You love to color and draw, and your easel is one of your very favorite toys in your room!  If I let you paint all day everyday, you certainly would.

• You are very much into pretend play, and I LOVE this stage with you.  You make pretend phone calls, cook pretend food, and play in your playhouse in our backyard all the time.  You’ll make up stories with your trains and drive them all over the house. 

Oh buddy, there’s just so much wonderful with you that I can’t even think of it all to write down.  You fill our lives with such joy.  Daddy and I love you more than I could ever hope to put into words, and this stage with you has been so very very fun.  I love watching you learn new things, I love watching your joy as you encounter new experiences, and I love being able to tell you I love you and hear that sweet little voice say “love you too”.  You have brought an incredible sense of meaning into our lives, and each day with you is one that I treasure.  I hope that you always feel that. 

We love you so much Blake Louis.  Here’s to another incredible year with you in our lives….

Love,

Mommy