6 months

Way, way past due on getting Paige's 6 month update on here. It has been a crazy month and I have had a lot of other things on my mind besides blogging. Better late than never though, right?

I only have one picture of little muffin this month. She was not cooperating the day I tried to take pics, and I never had a chance to re-take them. I decided not to worry too much about it since I also had her 6 month pics taken with Stephanie Foto earlier this month. (Which I will share in my next post!) So here she is!

Oh man, this girl is a mover. I know I say that every month, but it is the truth. She keeps us on our toes.

Paige, at 6 months::

-Weighs 14 lbs 14 oz., 25th percentile. (Weighed at her 6 month well-check.)

-Is 27 inches long, 74th percentile.

-Wearing size 6-9 month clothes.

-In size 4 diapers.

 -Sleeping....alright. Some nights better than others. Definitely not all night yet. I wish. We are going to have to do some sleep training soon I think.

-Still nursing, supplementing with a small bottle of formula most nights. (Even though it doesn't help her sleep a whole lot longer!)

-Crawling all over. Right about at her 6 month birthday she started crawling on her hands and knees instead of army crawling. She is into everything she can get to.

-Pulls herself up to anything she can. She's finally learning how to, I don't know, fall gracefully? Instead of landing on her head, she'll land on her butt or brace with her arms.

-Sitting by herself. She gets herself from crawling to sitting and vice versa.

-Making lots of different noises now. She has a signature noise, as I like to call it. I can't really explain what it is, but it's goofy. She's also been saying 'da da da' lately too. That should probably actually go on the next monthly update since she just started that in the past week. Oh well! :)

-She's altogether a very happy, easy-going little girl and we couldn't love her more!

What we've been up to

Hey there. It's been awhile. Thought I would share some pics of what we've been up to lately! :)

Paul was in our friends Lance and Amy's wedding. We spend the weekend at Maplelag Resort, where everything but the actual wedding was held. GORGEOUS place. So cool. We had a blast hanging out with all our friends that we haven't seen a lot lately since we are all so busy! Paige came with us, but Levi spent the weekend at Grandma and Grandpa's.

 Paige has been practicing sitting by herself!

Levi's favorite new way to eat black olives! 

We let Paige try an avocado. She loved it, but wow. Messy! She went straight up for a bath after this!

We also started her on baby food. She tried grandpa's sweet potatoes first. She seemed to like them, but I think she prefers to feed herself. Last night was the second night I gave it to her and she wasn't as interested as the first night. We shall see!

Last night the kiddos got to visit Santa! He came all the way to Hancock from the North Pole. Levi did pretty good. He was a little shy, but he was brave! Paige was obviously not too interested, lol. Levi asked Santa for "trackers and a wittle shed!" Aka tractors and a little shed, to keep his tractors in. Silly kid.

The best part for Levi was getting a ride on Santa's sleigh, pulled by Donner and Blitzen. He thought that was pretty cool.

Other than what I shared above, Paige is crawling all over. More of an army crawl/scoot, not on her hands and knees yet. But that doesn't stop her! She is going to be a handful. Who am I kidding, she already is! :) 

Her 6 month pictures are tomorrow (weather permitting!), so hard to believe that. Of course that means she had to scratch herself on her face in a couple different places. I swear I trim her nails every week, but those things grow fast.

Levi has been going to ECFE Tuesday evenings and loving it. He enjoys being with other kids, especially since he is home with me all day. It's a great program in our little town, and thankfully we have lots of families that take advantage of it. 

We've got another mover!

No stopping her now!

5 months!

Paige Cecelia is already 5 months old! She thinks she is older, though. She's got a brother to keep up with, right?!

This month went by fast. She's learning new tricks, and always wants to be where the action is. She doesn't stop moving until she falls asleep, literally. She's always kicking her feet or something, and she's been fighting sleep, too, little stinker.

She's already got daddy admittedly wrapped around her finger. She knows how to flirt!

So here are her estimated monthly stats and a few other notes!

Paige, at 5 months::

-Weighs 13.6 lbs. (Weighed at home as of this morning.)

-Height, guessing still around 25 inches.

-In size 3 diapers.

-Wearing size 6 month clothes.

-Sleeps pretty good. Still up at least once a night, sometimes more. We went through a "four month regression" or at least that's what came up when I asked a fb group I'm in WHY IS MY CHILD NOT SLEEPING ALL OF A SUDDEN. Or something like that. For a few weeks she seriously went from doing pretty darn good, to making me question if she had gas, had an earache, etc. etc. I even took her to the doctor and she was perfectly fine. Thankfully she's doing pretty good again, most nights.

-Rolling over all over the place. It takes her a millisecond to flip over as soon as I lay her down on her back most of the time.

-On that same note, she just started scooting! Not real far distances yet, but if a toy (or her brother) is out of reach by just a little bit, she will pull herself to it. I'm sure it won't be long before she is army crawling across the room.

-We've been working on sitting up, and she does great! Still pretty wobbly, but when she wants to, she can hold herself up with her arms out. Usually doesn't last too long yet, most of the time she just dives forward so she can be on her tummy.

-Girlfriend likes to scream. Happy screams, thankfully, but wow. She's definitely got higher pitches squeals than Levi did.

-Nursing is going good for the most part, still easily distracted! She is very interested in food, like what is on our plates. We've let her taste a few things (suck on a pickle or an apple slice, etc.) and she loves it. We'll probably start her on some baby food soon, but waiting until closer to 6 months.

-Still makes you work for the giggles! But she loves to smile!

Right Now Challenge | Week 7

Here's what I have for this week's Right Now Challenge.

- Levi, climbing in Paige's crib: "Big brudder coming! Big brudder coming!" And as he gets in next her, "Big brudder heeeerrre!"

- In the car on the way to town:
  Levi: "Mommy what that sound?"
  Me: "What sound?"
  Levi: "My not like your music mommy!"
  Me: "Ok, well what music do you want to listen to then?"
  Levi: "Old MacDonald."

- Paige's favorite pastime is screaming (happily).

- I asked Levi what he wanted for lunch (He was being whiney and getting over a little tantrum). He decided on a hot dog. I said ok, and as I was getting it out of the fridge, he sat on the floor in front of our dishwasher and, still pouting, says "It gonna be great." Lol, he is one of a kind. (This might have been a 'you had to be there' one.)

- Sitting in Paige's crib, as the mobile goes around, he says "Hew-woh, whale. Nice meet-ey you. Hew-woh, wion, nice meet-ey you." He said that to every animal as it went past him. What a goof.

Halloween fun!

We had lots of fun this Halloween! Levi got to dress up FOUR times throughout the week! First, on Sunday afternoon, our friends Molly and Kent, and their daughter, Pieper, had a little Halloween party for the kiddos. She did a great job, it was super cute! She even had a little photo booth set up outside to snap pictures! I was so happy with how this one of the kiddos turned out! Can't ask for much better. :) And to top it off, the weather was perfect! So fun!

Tuesday night, Levi got dressed up again for ECFE. He has loved going to 'school', by the way. Hopefully one time I will remember to bring my camera and snap a few pics of him.

Wednesday night, we made the rounds to visit Mark and Jess's and Grandma and Grandpa's. Levi's cousins were all dressed up when we stopped there, too! Fun!

And here is my little cowboy on Halloween night before trick or treating!

Daddy took Levi out to some of the neigbors' for trick or treating, and Miss Ladybug stayed home with mommy to hand out candy to the few trick or treaters that came to our house. Levi had lots of fun and was thrilled with all the candy he got, of course!

After trick or treating, we headed up to the school for the Halloween party that the Lions Club in town always holds. They always have a great turnout for that! Levi played a few games and got some fun little prizes. They have a costume contest for the kids, too. And guess what? Levi got third place in the age 0-2 category!! Yay! He really didn't know the difference, but he got a prize of $5, and his name and picture will be in the newspaper this week.

Hope everyone had a great Halloween, too!

Right Now Challenge | Week 6

Wow! I remembered to do this post on Sunday like I had originally planned! Late, but still. :)

Just have a few things from this past week.

- Levi: "My wove my two gwanma's."

- Levi doesn't like it when anyone calls Paige a nickname/pet name other than him. He calls her Paige-y sometimes. If I call her Paige-y or Paige-a-roo or anything like that he'll say, "No! My only call her Paige-y!"

- Levi has an imaginary pet puppy named Zoom-zoom. (????)  According to Levi, he lives in a dog house at the farm at grandpa's. He is Buddy's friend. What can I say, he's got a good imagination!! :) Crazy kid!

Right Now Challenge | Week 5

Here is what I have written down from last week!

- Levi: "My worry my baby." (translation: I am worried about my baby.) I asked him "Why?" and he said, sadly, "She need play her toys."

- Levi: "My wike you mommy."

- Mommy: "Levi, come here so I can change your dirty diaper."
  Levi (nonchalantly (sp.?)): "No mommy, my just harves'ing."
  (He was laying on the floor playing with his combine and tractor.)

- Levi gives Paige a hug while she's laying on the floor and says, "My wove her."

That's all I have! :)

Photo update :)

Just sharing a few pics from the past couple weeks!

He is always loving on her. "My 'nuggle her." or "My wove her." or "My jus give her hugs."

 He was a teensy bit excited to be sitting by Hunter and Reese on our hayride last week. Silly kid.

 And then this little eskimo. She wasn't real impressed with being bundled up. Obviously.

 Her snowsuit was a little big for her. We had to get a pic of the girls together!

 Typical lazy morning when daddy is home.

 This little stinker is really working hard on getting up on all fours. Ack! A few more weeks and I'm afraid she'll be up and rocking back and forth. Mommy is in no way ready for two mobile little people.

 Yep, she is pretty proud of herself!

Her other favorite thing to do is chew on her feet. Or suck on her big toe as pictured below. 

 And one more pic of my two monkeys. It was kind of funny, as I went through these pics deciding which to post, there was a series of a few of them, and they both had similar expressions in each picture. Poor Levi has a bit or a rash/dry skin around his mouth and chin. I've been trying to put lotion on at night, but I'm sure a lot of it is the fact that he still has his binker for nap and night time.

Have a good weekend!

Right Now Challenge | Week 4

Wow, I am starting to wonder if I should make this a Monday post since I keep forgetting about it on Sundays. Oh well! Better late than never, right?

- Conversation with Levi:
                    Me: "Levi, come in the living room and I'll turn cartoons on for you while I feed Paige."
                    Levi: (pauses) "No! My just feed her in dog house!"
                    Me: "You want to feed her in your dog house? Where is that?"
                    Levi: "Yeah. In my room. My build it. My just build it."
                    Me: "Um, ok, you go build that while I feed Paige."
                    Levi: (runs into living room) "Bob Builder just use my tools!"
Yes, random. I would love to see how that brain of his works.

- Levi: "Big boys make babies laugh."

- Levi is standing on his stool by the counter, playing with the wick trimmer for my candles:
                    Me: "Levi, put that down please. I don't want you to break it, and I don't want you to get hurt, either."
                    Levi: (pause) "My be fiiiiine."

- I told Levi to go pick up a toy Paige dropped out of her bouncer, he responds, "We-vi, on double! We-vi, on double!" as he runs over there. (It's a phrase that one of the characters in a cartoon he watches says...Rubble, on the double! He misses nothing.)

That's all for this week! (or last week I guess.)

My favorite, super-easy, fruit dip

It might seem weird that I'm sharing a fruit dip recipe now that summer is over. But it's apple season, and apples are my favorite dipper for this yummy fruit dip. More specifically, honeycrisp apples! Of course, it's delicious with any fruit. We've been making this dip in my family for as long as I can remember. And it doesn't get much easier! Only two ingredients! It's also really good eaten with a spoon or your finger...just sayin'...

Easy 2-ingredient Fruit Dip

1-8 oz pkg cream cheese, softened (I always use the 1/3 less fat neufchatel cheese)
1-8 oz container marshmallow fluff

Combine both ingredients in a mixing bowl, and beat together until smooth. That's it!

Enjoy!

4 months

Another month that flew by. And that means Miss Paige is 4 months old! It seems like she's really learned a lot of new things this past month. She always wants to be moving! Her feet are always kicking, and she loves looking around watching what is going on. Everyone still says how much she looks like Levi, but I see more of me in her than I did of Levi. The other thing a lot of people will comment on is how she is just a little peanut...which, I didn't really think she was that small, until I went back and looked at Levi's 4 month post. Given, he was big for his age, but I didn't think there was that big of a difference! I will compare below :)

So, here is our pretty girl!

She gave me a workout to get these few pics, that is for sure! Dare I say, she might be more of a wiggle worm than Levi!? Oh man, I think we are in for it again. Good thing they're both cute! :)

Paige, at 4 months ::

Weighs 13 lbs 3 oz. (Levi was just over 16 lbs.)

Is 25 inches long. (Levi was about 27)

Wearing size 3 diapers.

In between 3 and 6 month clothes. Most 3m onesies  still fit, but 3m leggings are usually too short and look like capris. 6m sleepers fit better.

Very smiley! She just doesn't like to let mommy catch the good ones on camera. ;)

She giggles, but you really have to work for it. Unless you have balloons, then she'll giggle her butt off! Ha! (I took her with to a baby shower for a friend of mine, and the friend's house that we were hosting it at has two little girls...they were bopping a couple balloons around and Paige was just giggling like crazy! It was too cute!)

Very easily distracted. Especially while I'm trying to feed her!

Still nursing, and for the most part she does really well!

Grabbing at everything now! My favorite is when she grabs at your face. It's adorable, and she thinks she's pretty funny. Usually whatever she gets ahold of goes right for the mouth.

She's got some pretty funny noises. She squeals, coos, grunts...and I love when she sighs in her sleep.

Found her feet! She's grabbing at them constantly...then they go to the mouth!

Rolling over. All the time. As soon as I lay her down, she rolls to her tummy. She likes to look around and see what's going on.

Girlfriend wants to move, as in, forward motion. I would not be surprised if she started crawling before 6 months. She puts her face on the floor, then pushes her butt up with her feet, and I'm waiting for the day when she slides forward and it all clicks to her...

Sleeping is going backwards a little bit. Same as Levi did around this age I think. She goes down for bed around 8:30-9:00, and sleeps until 3:00-3:30, then I usually bring her to our bed and feed her there. She usually sleeps on her tummy, since she can roll onto it by herself now.

Loves to flirt with daddy.

Over all, she's pretty easy-going. We love her to the moon and back!

Right Now Challenge | Week 3

Totally forgot to post these last night! Here is my list from last week.

- Paige is laying on the floor on her tummy and Levi tells me he is going to help Paige crawl. "My be teacher," he says. Then he gives her a little push on the butt as he says, "Only teachers push her."

- Leaving the farm the other night, as we are driving down the driveway, Levi says, "My weal-wey wove Gwanma. My just miss her."

- Paige can wiggle herself in a complete circle on her tummy on the floor when she wants to.

- I went upstairs to get Levi when I heard he was awake after his nap. I sat on the edge of his bed, he looked at me and smiled, crawled over and put his head on my lap and said, "My wove you." Aw! When we went downstairs and I changed his diaper, he then tells me, "My not wove you." He thought he was funny! :)

- Paige turned 4 months old!

- Paige really discovered her feet this week...constantly grabbing them!

Back again with pictures

Harvest has begun around here, so that means we are busy with one thing or another all the time. Fall is always crazy it seems like. But I love it, so that's fine with me. It's my favorite time of the year!

Anyways, just wanted to share a few pictures from around here lately.

Levi loves holding Paige lately. Well, he always has, but he seems to ask more often the past couple weeks. He is such a good big brother. He's also growing up so fast. I catch more and more glimpses of him as a little boy instead of a toddler these days.

 Cutie. He looks tired, but I think it was mostly my camera flash. He was being a puppy here...had to have his "dog treats" in his specific bowls, then ate out of them like a puppy. Never a dull moment around here with this goofball!

 And here is my little Paige-girl! I have a harder time catching her smiles than I did Levi's at this age. She is so smiley, but as soon as I put my camera up to snap a picture, she gets the wide eyes and "what the heck is that?!" look on her face.

 Ladies man. Levi with Paige and cousin Aubrey. He was in heaven! And just as quickly he was over it and ready to play again. Lol.

 We went with the ECFE class to the pumpkin patch this past week. I took both of them by myself. Whew. It was exhausting. We rode the bus because I thought Levi would enjoy it, which he did. But it would have been much easier to just drive ourselves. Live and learn I guess. There was no getting him to sit still for a picture obviously. This was the least blurry of the ones I took.

Hopefully be back soon with Paige's 4 month update!

Right Now Challenge | Week 2

Just a few notes from this week.

- We went to ECFE for the first time this week and met some new friends and future classmates. Levi loved going to 'school'!

- Levi pats me on the head and says "Nice meet-ey you, mom." Um, nice meeting you too kiddo.

- Levi's latest phrase/exclamation: "Oh dear! Oh dear!"

Hopefully I can get some pics up this week to share too. :)

Right Now Challenge | Week 1

I have been wanting to start this series for awhile now. I originally came across the idea on One Happy Mama, and thought it was great. With all the funny things Levi is saying and doing lately, I thought it would be a fun way to keep track of them and also to share them with you. I've been keeping a notebook for over a month now but haven't actually sat down to type them out here.

Basically, I'm just going to try to write down things that happen "right now" in our life. Anything that I feel like I want to record and remember. Some weeks I might have a whole list of things I wrote down, and other weeks maybe just a few things. I am hoping that I can get in the habit of typing these posts out on Sundays to share the past week's "right now" details.

For this first week, I thought I would actually include the past two weeks. So here is what I have:

• Levi has been calling Paige, Paige-y. So cute.

• Paige figured out how to blow bubbles/raspberries with her tongue. She doesn't do it a ton yet, but it's hilarious when she does.

• Levi's latest come-back: "No way!"

• When Grandma and Grandpa watched the kids on Friday night while Paul and I went to supper, they told us that about half an hour after we left, Levi looked around and asked, "Where my family go?"

• Paige was laying on the floor one morning, Levi comes over and lays by her and plays with her a little. Then he snuggles next to her and says to me, "My love her. My love her, my 'nuggle her."

• Levi was eating watermelon on the floor as a snack. I go into the other room, and a minute later I hear some clanking so I look out to see what he is doing. He has his dump truck propped on the side and is poking at it with his fork. He looks at me and says, "My fixing it. Wif my fork."

• Lately, on various occasions, Levi will say, "My wait Gwamma." or "My jus' waiting for Gwamma."

• We were driving the other evening, Levi had a movie on his dvd player, and the road we were on was a gravel road that had some good size hills. Paul sped up as he went over them so when we started going down it was a little bit of a drop. Levi looks up from his movie "Again!! Again!!" Then he did the same thing when Paul stepped on it after stopping at a stop sign. Oh, boys.

Behind

You'll have to excuse my absence here lately. I have been feeling behind on, well, everything. My need-to-do, want-to-do, and should-do lists get longer every day and I don't know where to start. I won't get into that because I don't want to bore you or make you think I complain about everything! :) Let's just say that someday I hope I'll feel caught up with everything in my life, and that my house will stay clean for longer than an hour at a time. I realize that having a 2 year old and 3.5 month old has a lot to do with that, so it will likely be awhile. Ha. Anyway!

I just wanted to share a few pictures from the past few weeks. These first ones I actually took the same day I did P's 3-month pics, so that tells you how long it's been since I shared any pics. Whoops!

My mom made these shirts after we found out that we were expecting a girl, so I had to get a pic of the two monkeys in them for here. I was pleasantly surprised that I got a good one with Levi smiling! Guess I clicked at the exact right moment for once!

After we took a few pics I wanted to upload them to my computer right away so I could email one to my mom, and when I looked back in the other room, I saw this:

 I know this isn't the best picture, but I just love how Paige is looking at Levi. She could be fussy as all get out, and as soon as he comes into view she lights up. He is such a good big brother.

 

Little missy is growing out of her bouncer already. Not because she doesn't fit, but because she wants to sit up. Stinker doesn't want to just lay back and relax, so she pulls her self up like this:

Needless to say I have to buckle her into everything now, no matter what. She's already starting to figure out how to inch forward when she's on the floor. I wouldn't be surprised if she was crawling in another month and a half. Time will tell. I am so not ready for two that can move. Yeesh.

Lunch faves

Lunch is my favorite meal. Mainly because I am able to make things that I know Paul wouldn't like. I love to try out new recipes. Paul? Not so much. He likes his same 'ol favorites most of the time. He has widened his horizons quite a bit since we got married, so I can't complain much. Once in a while I find something to add to the regular rotation. :)

I usually try to make my lunches somewhat healthy, and if it's quick, even better. I'll admit, most of the lunch ideas I get come from Pinterest. Obviously, right? :) So with that in mind, I thought I'd share a few of my favorites that are quick and healthy. These are all things that I have made more than once, and will make again.


Turkey Avocado Hummus Wrap

This is one of my favorites. It's a combination I never would have thought of on my own, but I love it. Iowa Girl Eats has so many great recipes, I highly recommend checking out her site. Lots of fresh ingredients, and best of all, they are easy recipes too.


Avocado Egg Salad

Egg salad in general is one of my main go-to lunches. I especially love this avocado egg salad, since I am slightly obsessed with avocados lately!

Bruschetta Chicken Pesto Wraps

These wraps are a little bit more work, but not much, and totally worth it! I find a lot of recipes on Our Best Bites. Yum!

Avocado Tomato Pita

I just tried this one for the first time a few weeks ago, and made it again the next day. Super easy, and a great way to use tomatoes from the garden!

BLT Lettuce Wraps

Ok, this one I have only made once, but I plan on making it again. Great if you are watching carbs. It's another one from Skinny Taste, lots of healthy lunch ideas over there, too.

I have lots more lunch ideas that I want to try pinned on Pinterest. If you want to check them out, go to my Lunch ideas/Sandwiches board, or my Skinny meals board. I'm also linking this post up with Skinny Meg. Check her out!

Happy lunching! :)

Three months

Miss Paige was three months old on Wednesday! She's growing so much and it's so fun watching her get stronger and learn new things. Levi is getting more attached to her, too. He calls her 'my baby' a  lot when he refers to her. So cute.

Little turkey didn't want to sit still during our photo shoot, she kept trying to face dive onto the couch. Plus there was turkey #1 trying to inconspicuously (sp?) set random toys next to her, and then get mad when I would move them away out of the picture. So I didn't have a plethora of pics to choose from like I did last month! Most of them were out of focus or blurry. Oh well, as long as I get a couple good ones I'm happy! :)

At 3 months old, Paige::

Weighs about 12 pounds. (Weighed at home.)

Is about 24 inches long. (At home measurement.)

In size 2 dipes.

Wearing size 3 month clothes. Moving into 6 month sleepers soon.

Smiles all the time! Her whole face lights up when she smiles, just like Levi's.

We have gotten one or two little laughs out of her, but not much yet. Hopefully soon she'll be giggling away!

Loves to coo and talk. I love watching her little mouth work while she's making all her noises. She just looks like she's so proud of herself!

Rolls over. BOTH WAYS. Yep. Just a week ago she started rolling over from her back to tummy. We thought it was an accident the first time she did it, but the next day she was doing it every time I laid her down on the floor practically. Only one direction though, to her left.

In relation to this rolling over business, I had to stop swaddling her at night for safety reasons. Which took her a few nights to get used to. She was doing amazing while she was swaddled, sleeping 8-9 hours at night. The first night out of the swaddle she was up after about 5 hours, which isn't bad. And slowly, night after night, she's getting better and better.

Celebrated her 3 month birthday with a 3 hour nap yesterday... Hoping this little nap schedule will stick. Up until now she has just been catnapping all day. 

Loves to suck/chew on her hands!

Grasps soft objects now, like her clothes, blankets, and burp clothes.

Not really interested in toys yet, she would rather watch her brother or whatever else is going on.

Likes to sit UP. She's not happy laying down in your arms anymore, she wants to be facing OUT, so she can see what's going on! We brought the exersaucer up this weekend and cleaned it off to try out for her. She loves it! Obviously she doesn't care about the toys yet, but she loves sitting up in it. Stuffed with blankets and a pillow to stabilize her, of course.

Levi's #1 fan. :)

Love you to the moon and back, sweet girl!!

Her adorable headband is from pLum accessories on Etsy!