Jacob 6 Months, along with some other updates...

Ok, so I've been bad at updating this... truth is, I am a busy lady. We have 10 (well, now 9) chocolate lab puppies and my 2 little darlings keep me running. 

Jake is now 6 months (plus a little)... He is doing great! He's a tad on the small side for weight (10%) but now that he's eating solids, I think he'll catch up quick. I started him on solids I think 10 days before he turned 6 months. New recommendation is to wait til 6 months... but I only tried rice cereal a couple times before then. He did ok... He likes to lock his jaw shut and make me pry open his mouth with the spoon :) So far NOT a fan of sweet potatoes... but he does good with the rice cereal and pear sauce so far. Gave him some banana last night too and he liked that. Tried sweet potato again tonight and he was not impressed! Haha... his daddy is not a fan either :) Still nursing great. He's around 70% for his height and 93% for his head size haha! Just need to get him filled out on his weight. He's not quite crawling yet, but close. He rolls all over and kind of scoots. Close to sitting up on his own. Still loving the jumper and he's doing great grasping and handling toys. He's babbling too... Lot's of baba's and mama's :) Love this little boy so much!

Claire is also doing great. She got a new play kitchen and can spend hours just cooking away. She also just got moved into her own room and big girl bed! The transition went really well. We had her nap in the crib with the railing off a few times and then had her nap in her new room and new bed. She resisted a bit at first, but it only took a few days to get her used to it. Now she goes to bed great! She's a great little helper... she helps me unload the dishwasher. She also likes to try to scoop dog food and it often ends up all over the floor. She's eating great still and eats pretty much what we do. The other day I caught her feeding pizza to Jake. Went in my room for 15 seconds and came back and he had some pepperoni sticking out of his mouth! They sure love each other. They will lay next to each other and giggle... melts my heart :)

The garage is coming along great! I've been parking in there for about a month now, and we were able to move all of our "stuff" out of the spare room so we could turn that into Claire's room. So nice to have all of that extra space now. Ben has built the whole thing himself pretty much. He's had helpers come over a few times, but the majority of it has been all him. All he has left to do is the siding. Oh, he also mounted 5 deer this fall and is going to start on his bear soon. He's definitely staying busy this winter.

Last year I made a "resolution" to read the Bible in a year. I don't usually do resolutions, but this was a good opportunity for me to make the commitment. Finished up on Dec 31st and it felt SO good to read it cover to cover. I learned so much and wish I would have done that much sooner. God is good... so very good and loves us way more than we could ever imagine. I've realized that I need to work on always speaking with love and kindness... even if it's about something I don't agree with/feel passionate about. God loves everyone, even the worst of sinners. I need to do the same. I mean, I think I'm a pretty nice person most of the time, but I'd like to make more of an effort to intentionally be kind and loving... and engaging with everyone I interact with. Genuine. 

Ok that's a little bit of updating for now. Absolutely loving my life with my family and so grateful for everything God has blessed me with!

 Jake 6 Months

My little loves :)

Jacob- 5 Months

Our sweet little boy is now 5 months old! He's growing up so fast.

Jake is a pretty happy baby. Also a pretty fussy baby. He's happy whenever I am holding him... always. Many times when I lay him down, he starts fussing. If I put him in the swing to nap and he isn't quite tired enough to fall asleep, he will cry if he can't see me. If I sit next to him, he's usually fine... but the second I walk away, he starts screaming. Such a mamma's boy! He does pretty well when I put him in the jumper. He usually stays in there for 10-15 minutes before he wants out. I hold him a LOT. He is just as happy as can be when he is being held. Not so much while I'm sitting down on the couch... but standing :) My back has been sore lately... Trying to find other ways to keep this boy happy too!

He is growing great. He wears 6 months clothes now (and poops on them daily).  We are still exclusively nursing, but I think I am going to try rice cereal soon. We started Claire when she was about 5 months. The recommendation is now to wait as close to 6 months as possible... but just a year ago "they" said 4 months was fine. So I think we'll give it a try soon :)

Jake loves to pull my hair, and his sissy's hair when he gets the chance. He laughs like crazy when I tickle him :) He also loves when I lift him into the air, and give him lots of kisses. He has the sweetest little laugh :) Claire still gets along with him great! She is doing wonderful as well. Her new favorite things are eating dog food and taking off all of her clothes and running around butt-naked. She's talking so well now and can tell me what she wants most of the time. It's incredible how fast they learn!

We have 10 1-week old puppies in the house as well! They are so cute. A little stinkey, but so cute! We already have new owners for 5 of them! Loving having pups :)

Jacob 5 Months

Jacob- 4 Months

Jacob is now a happy 4 month old baby boy :) He is growing great and is pretty easy for the most part. We still aren't sleeping through the night... Usually 3-4 hours. A couple nights ago he went 5 hours, but right back to the 3-4 the next night. We have the babywise routine down perfect during the day... he just gets hungry at night. I'm thinking about adding a little rice cereal to a pumped bottle at night to see if that helps. He only takes bottles when he's away from me or when we're on the road, but he usually does pretty well with them. The doc said we could try it, even though they recommend waiting as close to 6 months as possible. I started Claire on it at about 5 months, so I think he'll be ok. Just need a little something extra to fill him up at night!

Other than not sleeping great at night yet, he's doing great. He started rolling over at 15 weeks. He first rolled front to back, and then not even an hour later, he rolled back to front! He's been a rolling machine ever since :) I think he has been capable of it for awhile, he just had to figure out how to get his arm out of the way. He can hold his head up very well now, and does baby push-ups too :) He smiles and laughs a lot... and he is very ticklish! He giggles like crazy when I tickle his sides. So sweet! He also thinks it's hilarious when I change his clothes :)

Claire has continued to do great with him. She often will say "HI BABY!" when she sees him... and she recently did it in church when we brought her up from nursery for communion. It was quiet, and most of the church heard and started laughing :) Lately, she has figured out how to take her pants off... and loves to do it. Of course, I always think back to the poopy crib incident last month which makes me want her pants right back on! We've been wearing jeans on her a lot lately, which are harder for her to get off :) She has temper tantrums once in awhile, but nothing too horrible. I can put her in her crib for a 5 minute time-out and then she's usually fine right after. She's a great little girl most of the time!

Ben is working hard on the garage! About half of the concrete has been poured. We will get 2 more loads, and then start working on the walls. I've had to help him a few times with screwing in 2x4s to giant 6x6 20' and 24' poles... and did some concrete work the other day. I guess I'm learning all about the construction process! Can't wait til it's done. It has snowed a few times already, and I can't wait to have a garage to park my car. Speaking of car, I've been looking to get a new one. Possibly a GMC Acadia. My mom has been looking on salvage auction sites where cars have been in accidents and they sell for cheap. A guy at her work fixes them up... so we're looking for one with not a lot of damage at a great deal. We could really use a vehicle with a third row! My Equinox is just getting too small, especially when we have it loaded up with stuff. Haley is due in less than a month! Pretty sure she is pregnant... She hardly ate for a couple days until I started putting canned dog food mixed in with her normal stuff. It's also looking like some milk is coming in! Can't wait for some pups!!

Jacob 4 Months

Jacob-3 Months!

Our sweet baby boy is 3 months old already! He's growing so fast. He's smiling and laughing a lot! I have to hold this boy quite a bit-he is definitely a mamma's boy right now. If he's fussy, he usually wants me. He still gets reflux once in awhile and has screaming sessions. I can usually calm him down pretty quick though :)

Jake is not sleeping thorough the night yet... Right when he turned 8 weeks, he started sleeping for 7 hours straight, but that only lasted a few nights. He went right back to the 3 hour schedule... and he's still there. Sometimes he wakes up after 2 hours... makes for a long night for me. We go by the Babywise schedule pretty well, but the nighttime thing just isn't happening yet. Thankfully he only eats for about 5 minutes and then he goes right back to sleep. I try holding the paci in his mouth, but after 10 minutes of that, I just give up and feed him. I should probably start letting him fuss it out longer.

Ben just started building our new garage! SO excited.  It will be 930 square feet, plus 930 square feet upstairs for storage. So much more room! Can't wait to move all of the stuff out of our back bedroom and move Claire in there so we can move Jake into the nursery. I know I will struggle again moving him out of my room... but he will probably start sleeping better once we do.

Ben is working in Clare right now, so we have been able to go stay down in Harrison with him during the week. It has been great! Lots of packing and unpacking for me each week, but it's worth it.

Oh... we bred Haley too! Should be getting a litter of puppies at the end of November!!!

Jacob 3 Months

Claire- 18 Months!

Our sweet little girl is 18 months! She is growing up so fast. Life has definitely been busier with 2 little ones in the house!

Claire is such a blessing and a wonderful big sister! She is so nice to Jake (95% of the time) and loves to give him kisses. She always gives me his paci whenever she finds it :) She has only acted jealous a few times when I went to nurse him... but most of the time she just goes off and plays with her millions of toys. She's a great eater... has been trying to use forks lately. Also just started using plates, which she does very well with! She loves to wipe whatever is in her hands into her hair... makes for some fun hair-styles :) She loves wearing my shoes around the house (Ben's occasionally too)... so fun to watch... Especially when she wears my high-heels! We have been transitioning into using a sippy-cup, which results in melt-downs once in awhile. I still give her a ba-ba in the morning.

She's learning new words constantly. It's funny how I will know what she is saying but anyone else would have no clue. Like Gum-Gum= Grandma. Boo-Boo=Blueberry. Ca-Ca=Cracker. She's getting good pronouncing Thank You (Take-You) and Please (Pease)... and of course Mama and Dada. Whenever she sees a cat, she yells, CAT!!! Cracks me up. When she sees a dog, she goes Ruff-Ruff! It's incredible how fast they learn. She's also a great little dancer when music comes on :) She loves to tackle Dada and laughs so hard when it's tickle time :) She can point to most body parts when you ask her to. She's a great sleeper and asks to go Nu-Night. Whenever she asks for something, she says Pease? and then gives me a kiss.... makes it impossible to say no! Thankfully so far she only asks for baba's, cups, and ca-ca's. She really enjoys tearing apart all of her books... and I was going to share a diaper story here, but I'll leave that for when she's older :)

It's impossible to explain how much love I have for my sweet girl. Sure, sometimes she will throw a screaming fit while the baby is also screaming and definitely test my patience.... but thankfully those instances are rare. She is so full of love and happiness, and I feel so lucky to be her Mama :)

Claire and Jake

Jake, Claire and Dada with his 275 lb bear!

Jacob: 2 Months

Our sweet little boy is already 2 months old! He is a great baby. 11 lbs 7 oz and 24.5" at his checkup :) 90% for his head as well, of course. He gets acid reflux once in awhile, but he is pretty consolable most of the time. He also has pretty bad cradle cap, but we are working on it! He loves laying on his little jungle gym and grabbing at the toys. He also loves napping on momma... especially at 5am :) That's ok with me though, because I now know how fast they grow! He was sleeping 7 hrs straight for 3 days in a row right when he hit the 8 week mark, but he's back to about every 3.5 hrs now. Hopefully we can get back to the longer stretches at night soon! He smiles a lot and squeels with happiness, it is the sweetest!!

Jacob- 1 Month!

Our sweet boy is one month old already! Seems like yesterday we were coming home from the hospital. He is a great baby. He is usually content and very consolable when he cries. We are usually up every 3 hours at night to feed, but last night he went 4 hours and was only up twice :) Let's hope that continues! He weighed 9 lbs 6 oz and was 21.5" long... 40cm head circumference which is in the 90%! Go figure :)

Claire is also doing great! She is adjusting well... give baby kisses all the time! She has only tried to smack him a couple of times... so far. She is still very busy and always is getting into something. 2 nights ago I had my first minor crisis... Ben is back to work so I'm on my own. Jake was pretty fussy (which is rare) so I gave him a little gripe water and was nursing him. He started to calm down... just as Claire pinched her finger in the pantry. I jumped up and put him down real quick (started screaming immediately) and went and grabbed her. Her diaper was leaking... so I went and changed her real fast since Jake was screaming pretty hard. I just put her diaper on and left the onesie off. I grabbed him and resumed nursing. All was well.... until I turned around and Claire was standing there butt-naked waving her diaper in the air while dancing to whatever commercial was on TV. Good times!!!

Jacob 1 Month

My little loves :)