10 months

Another month flew by (and then some) and Paige Cecelia is 10 (and a half) months old. I was pretty happy with the pictures I got of her this month. She still wouldn't sit still, but I at least got them to focus a little better! :) The headbands don't last too long anymore either, but I'm glad she let me get a few pics without ripping it off. Ha.

At 10 months, Paige:

- Wears 9-12 month clothes, depending on the brand.

- Weighs about 18 lbs.

- Is about 29 inches tall.

- Still in size 4 dipes.

- Has two teeth! She actually had these last month but I forgot to add it when I did that post. Whoops! She's working on some more, too, so hopefully they will be through SOON!

- Walking! She's really taken off in the past week or so. She can get up to standing from the floor, too.

- Eating pretty good, she has favorites, but will usually try whatever I put on her tray. She looooves grapes and strawberries, cheese is also a big hit.

- Sleeping hasn't been too great lately, for various reasons. Teething, stuffy nose, and just altogether growing. She's learning so much lately that she just wants to practice! Hoping soon that we can ALL get some good nights of sleep.

- She is starting to cheese for me when I get the camera out. I remember Levi doing this, and it is hilarious.

- Hates, HATES laying still for me to change her diaper. Good. LORD. You'd think I was using some sort of torture device on her by trying to get her to lay still for 30 seconds. I hope she grows of it soon.

- Still has her binker, mostly when she is tired. She's not quite as attached to it as Levi was. I am hoping to stop using it a little sooner with her.

- Loves making noises. Dadada, mamama, lalala, bababa, raspberries, screams and squeals, etc.!

- She can get herself on and off of the ride-on toys we have, and push herself along on them. She has actually been doing this awhile too, I think I just forgot to mention it last time!

- She's definitely got a mind of her own, and wants what she wants NOW. She's going to be a spitfire!

Visitors and finally getting outside!

My mom, sister and Aubrey came up to visit one day, and Levi and Aubrey were having some fun in a box.

We were finally able to get outside last week! It was super nice out. The depressing part is that we got a foot of snow less than a week later. Womp, womp.

Miss Paige, looking cute as always.

She loved it when I pushed her around on Levi's trike. After I took this pic, she got herself up there too.

Loved the slide too! :)

Paige also had her first 4-wheeler ride. She wasn't sure what to think.

And one of Levi. He doesn't stand still for me, so I usually have more of Paige. He's growing up so fast. 

Birthdays!

Next up is a birthday weekend! We celebrated Madison's 9th birthday on Saturday, and Levi's 3rd birthday on Sunday!

For Madison's birthday, we all went bowling! The kids loved it! So fun!

She is looking so grown up! So pretty.

And then there's this monkey!

He wanted to have a puppy birthday party. I channeled my inner cake decorator and made the cake myself. I was a bit worried at first, but it turned out cute! Thank you, Pinterest!

And here is the best one I have of our family. Out of focus, but it's the only one that we were all looking in the same direction.

So that's that! Lots of fun! Not much else to say! :)

Minnesota Children's Museum

Hi all, I know it's been awhile, but I have some pictures to share from the past month or so. I'm splitting them up into a few posts. First off is our trip to visit Paul's sister, Katie, and brother-in-law, Jon, and the MN Children's Museum. I have been wanting to get up to visit them and go to the museum all winter, but Paul kept finding excuses not to. I finally got him to commit, and we had a lot of fun! Levi had a BLAST at the museum and I hope we can go back again. I didn't get a ton of photos, but here is what I have.

This area was probably Levi's favorite. It was all about water! Pipes and slides to put balls and little boats through, and things like that. Of course, he was soaked by the time we were done here, and the first thing he does is whip his shirt off because he hates it when his clothes are wet. Thankfully, I had his sweatshirt handy and put that on right away. :)

Paige did good in the stroller as long as she was moving or being entertained! :)

This was the grocery store in the "town" area. There were various shops and things to play in, like a post office, restaurant, doctor's office, etc. He had fun here too. He loved checking all is food out at the register. Everything had to go "beep!" and then he would put it on the other side of the register.

This area was for toddlers and babies. It was a woodland/forest theme with slides and tunnels. Both kids had fun in here!

This was from the swamp area. This was another of Levi's favorites because there was a stream to play in with plastic frogs, tadpoles, and things like that.

Other than the areas I mentioned, there was tons of other things to do at the museum. Very neat! I am looking forward to going back when Paige is a little bigger too!

After our morning at the museum, Katie and Jon took us to Cossetta's for lunch. We all got pizza. YUM! So good. And of course we had to get some gelato for our walk back to the car. Delish!

All in all a very fun weekend, and we can't wait to go back up and visit! Next time we'll have a tiny addition to cuddle, too, since Katie is expecting this summer! :)

Weekly Weigh-In | 8

I know I haven't been keeping up with posting my weigh-in's lately. (Or the whole blog in general.) Next week is my final weigh-in for the Biggest Loser contest that I started earlier this year. I know that I'm not going to win, and that wasn't the point of me joining. I thought it would help me with accountability and motivate me more. To a point it did. I have lost about 10 lbs since beginning, so that is a plus. I've been doing my work-outs every night, usually after the kids are in bed. I'm eating better, as in less sugar/sweets, not as many carbs, only have a pop once in awhile. But I'm getting really frustrated right now because I'm not see much change in how my body looks. Paul says he can see a difference, but I don't. At least not where I WANT to see the changes. I just want to feel good about how I look for once in my life. Anyways, I won't whine anymore.

For my weigh-ins, long story short, I was down last week and up again this week. So we'll see what next week brings.

9 months

Only about 3 weeks late! ACK! Both kids have changed their daytime sleep routines so we are all out of whack right now, including myself as I try to adjust to not having any kid-free time to refresh my mindset after lunch. I used to do my blog posts during nap time, but now that Levi refuses to take a nap anymore, that has been tough. Obviously! :) Things will settle again eventually, I'm sure. Hopefully sooner than later. Being able to get outside to play would be helpful, as well. (AHEM, mother nature, get the hint!!) But anyway, I will get right to the few pictures I was able to snap of Miss Never-Stops-Moving for this month! (These were actually taken at the right time of the month, just haven't gotten them posted until now.)

 Yeah, she's pretty darn cute, but she is a spitfire!

At 9 months, Paige::

- Weighs 16 lbs 11 oz. (13th percentile)

- Is 28.5 inches tall. (79th percentile)

- Wearing size 9 month and some 12 month clothes.

- In size 4 dipes.

- Speed crawler.

- She takes a few steps at a time, but still hasn't quite taken off yet. Crawling is faster! She cruises around furniture like crazy though.

- Claps her hands and does "So big", when she feels like it of course. ;)

- Loves being close her her brother. And also loves anything that he happens to be playing with at any given moment.

- Eats like a bird. She will barely drink a 6 oz. bottle at one time. Usually it's around 4 oz. every 4 hours or so. Evenings we make an 8 oz bottle and she will usually drink 6-7 oz. of it, although it takes for. ev. er. since she falls asleep while drinking it.

- Speaking of sleep. It's hit and miss. Some nights she does really good, other nights she's up a couple times. We have been letting her cry a little, and Paul goes in there instead of me, since she knows I'm more likely to give in and pick her up.

- Like I mentioned right away, her daytime sleep schedule is changing. She WILL NOT take a nap for me in the morning like she used to, around 9:30. So then she is tired around noon, and only sleeps for about an hour and a half, and then is tired again by right after supper. So we've been having early bedtimes all around lately. Hopefully it will fall into place soon. The fighting sleep stage is the worst. SLEEP IS GOOD, CHILDREN!! :) Haha.

- She loves making noises.

- She climbs on anything she is able to get her leg up to. No fear whatsoever.

Love our silly, spunky girl!

Right Now Challenge | 8

It's been awhile since I did one of these posts, and I have a bunch to share!

1/31/14
- From the other room this morning, I hear Levi tell Paige, "No Paige, you not 'posed to stand that close to tv! It hurt your eyes. It going hurt your eyes you stand too close tv." Haha, if only he would follow his own advice...

2/3/14
- Levi comes over to where Paige and I are sitting on the couch, and tells me he is a super-hero. He puts his arms up and says "GO 'WAY DANGER! GO 'WAY! My save you Mommy Paige! Go 'way danger!" He has no shortage of imagination.

- When Levi woke up from hi nap today, we had to "follow footprints" downstairs.

- "'Cause why, momm? 'Cause why?"

- Levi is very into pretending lately. So funny!"

- Paige likes to carry things around in her mouth while she crawls. Like socks, wooden puzzle pieces that have the knob on them, etc. Silly girl!"

2/4/14
- Levi always wants "a bunch" of something.

2/24/14
- While Levi was still sleeping, I had gotten out some ping pong balls and a muffin tin for Paige to play with. When he woke up he wanted to know what it was for, so I just told him it was some things for Paige to play with and teach her how to put things into something else, or something like that. A little bit later, Paige crawls over and grabs the tin, and the balls go flying. Levi exclaims, "No Paige! That not playing! That not learning!"

- On the way out to the farm one morning there were some bumps on the road from the snow and ice.
   Levi: "Paige scared of bumps mommy."
   Me: "You better protect her and tell her it will be ok then."
   Levi: talks to P and tells her this and that and it will be ok
   Levi: "Paige not scared anymore."
   Me: "Well that's good! You're such a good big brother protecting her."
   Levi: After a pause. "Yep. My not wan' lose her."
   Me: "You don't want to lose Paige?"
   Levi: "Ah-huh."
Be still my heart!!

3/11/14
- After coming downstairs when we woke up this morning, Levi tells me he cold. Then he says, "My just want be warm like sun." He is too cute.

Other things he says lately:
- "That sounds like great idea, mommy!" or "That's great idea!"

- "My outside so my can use my outside voice now? My can only scream outside! My going to scream outside!"

- "That not fair!"

Levi is full of personality and imagination! Some of the things he says just crack me up. I try and write down the good ones. If I wrote down all the funny things he said, I would basically have a running script from every single day. :)