Mila ~ 4 months old

How is she already 4 months old?? This past month has flown by the fastest so far!

Mila weighs 13.9 lbs (50%) and is 23 1/2" long (10%)!! She's wearing size 6 months clothes already! I can't believe it!! And I have no idea how she is wearing that size and is in the 10th percentile?! She's still in size 2 diapers.

On Christmas Eve she rolled from her back to her tummy!

Her nicknames this month include LaLa (Ukrainian word for dolly) and sweetie girl.

She eats about 4.5-5 ounces every 2-3 hours.

She's sleeping through the night!! Hallelujah! She's a rock star sleeping from 9pm til about 7am! She's also grown out of her swaddle and is content sleeping in her sleep sack.

She "holds" her bottle when she eats. Both her hands are always on it!

She talks a lot! We love it!

Mila has been crying less! Now she only fusses when she's tired, and we've figured out how to settle her pretty quickly.

Mila watches us like a hawk when we walk around the house.

Mila found her piggies and will spend 20 minutes just laying there and grabbing on to them!

She still doesn't nap much during the day. She takes a few kitty snoozes throughout the day. I've been starting to have her nap in her crib so she'll get more used to it, and to try to keep it quiet for her!

She likes to stand.

Mila tries to pull and push herself around on the blanket during tummy time!

She opens her mouth really wide to give kisses!

She gurgles and is starting to giggle!

Mila has a really strong grip. I have to keep an eye on her when the puppies lay next to her!

She's gotten really good at holding her head up and keeping it steady!

She may be starting to teethe soon. She's been starting to drool and eat her hands more. She likes chewing on her teethers.

She continues to be very ticklish!

We are so completely in love with our Mila!  Every night we remind ourselves how lucky we are to have Mila and Caleb in our lives!

Must be Santa!

 

We've kept a good streak--no tears with Santa!

St. Nicholas Day

We woke up to find our shoes all lined up by the front door with goodies inside!

Erik and I have been exchanging ornaments on St. Nick's Day for the past few years, and have decided to get one for each child that makes us think of something from that year. Caleb got a cow ornament (because of his Halloween costume) and Mila got a Baby's 1st Christmas ornament. We also thought it would be fun to start a tradition of St. Nick bringing them new Christmas PJ's! Caleb also got some new Jake and the Neverland Pirate shoes. And just like when I was a little girl, St. Nicholas wrote us all letters telling us how proud he was of us for what we'd accomplished that year!

Elf on the Shelf

We got an Elf this year.  I didn't know that there are boy and girl elves!  I realized I got a girl one when I took her out of the box and saw she had earrings!  We had a special breakfast the morning she arrived.  Caleb noticed her right away and asked, "What is that?"  I said we should read the book to find out.  About 3/4 through the story he asked if we could eat breakfast!  I said well we need to name your elf so she can get her magic. 

 

"I don't want to give her a name."

 

What am I supposed to do when my kid doesn't think the cool elf is cool?!  Erik and I started throwing out names and Caleb decided he liked Snowflake. 

 

As I put her on the curtain rod the night before I thought to myself that she might fall if he pulls the curtain, but would just make sure that didn't happen.  He isn't allowed to touch her or else she will lose her magic powers to be able to fly to Santa each night and tell him about Caleb's behavior!

 

What's the first thing he points out to me?!  "If we move that curtain she'll fall down."  I told him we just better not do that then!



some more hiding spots

He has gotten a little more into it as the days have gone by.  Every morning he comes downstairs and searches for her, and gets excited to see where she's perched!

From the Mouth of my Babe

When Caleb is trying to avoid doing something (like take a nap) he'll say, "Mommy, wait I have something important to tell you."

We saw a Christmas tree with a bulb shaped ornament, and he asked me, "Is that a different kind of booger sucker?"

While driving together the other day, he asked me what makes the cars go.  I answered the engine, gasoline, and the people driving the cars.  He said, "No Mommy, you're wrong.  It's the wheels!  And gasoline is what you put on little kids and babies' butts!"  I realized he meant vaseline!  What a smarty pants!

He saw a Dean's dairy truck and exclaimed, "Cottage cheese and milk??  That's ridiculous!!"

1st trip to the circus!

We had a special date with Caleb and took him to the circus!  When we walked in, I tried to walk past the lady with the program.  Erik stopped and took out his wallet!  When I told him we didn't need that, he told me we are doing this circus stuff right!  

Caleb got a light up sword

Snow Cone!

Popcorn!

His favorite part!

I guess it was a good thing we got him a program!  He looked at it every night before bed for two weeks!

Thanksgiving

Just realized I never wrote anything about Thansgiving!! At least I am making sure to do Mila's monthly updates and to write down the funniest things Caleb says or does!!

 

Oma and Mila

Caleb and Sophie playing together

Caleb's turkey from school

cute pie

our family

yee haw!

Mila loving on Auntie Lisa

Mila's spot during dinner

Dad and Mom

my turkey butt

Erik and Nick

1st Thanksgiving :)

sibling smiles

Mila & Caleb @ 3 months old

20 questions with Caleb ~ 2 1/2 years old

What is your favorite color:  blue

What is your favorite toy: giraffe

What is your favorite fruit: punch ( he doesn't drink fruit punch, so I have no idea where this came from)

What is your favorite tv show: umizoomi

What is your favorite lunch: pb and j

What is your favorite shirt: lightening mcqueen

What is your favorite game: flash cards

What is your favorite snack: goldfish

What is your favorite animal: giraffe

What is your favorite song: old mcdonald

What is your favorite book: Bunny Loves to Read

Who is your favorite friend: Tinkerbell

What is your favorite cereal: cheerios

What is your favorite thing to do outside: play

What is your favorite drink: milk and chocolate milk

What is your favorite holiday: winter

What do you need to sleep at night: Mickey Mouse

What is your favorite breakfast: pancakes and chocolate milk

What is your favorite dinner on your birthday: cupcakes

What do you want to be when you grow up: a cow (this was done around the time of Halloween...then I asked him, Well when you are a Daddy and go to work what to you want to do: play)

Mila ~ 3 months old

Mila weighs about 12.5 lbs!
Mila loves to be cuddled and have her bottom patted when she is sleepy.

She's getting a little better with sleeping through the night! Yah :)

Mila has the biggest, cutest smile! From the moment she awakes and I look into her bassinet, she has a big smile on her face!

She's really starting to "talk" more! And she's on the verge of laughing!

 Mila can roll from her tummy to her back!

She really loves eating her hands.

She loves playing on her activity mat, and swats and grabs on to the toys!

Mila is eating about 4-5 oz at each feeding, and eats every 2-3 hours.

She doesn't like to nap during the day! Some days she'll take about 4 twenty minute cat naps! That's it! Then other days she may sleep for at most 2 hours!

Her new nicknames are Lala (dolly in Ukrainian) and Beauty Queen!

She's wearing size 2 diapers and 3 month clothes.

She has a really tight grip!

Her hair is coming in a little more on top, but she still has a bald spot in the back!

Mila loves to stretch and kick her legs, especially when she gets excited!

When we’re in the car, she likes to be moving. She cries at every stop light unless she’s sleeping!

Mila still needs to be swaddled at night to sleep well.

 

What a difference a year makes :)

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Caleb is our Big Boy

Just a little thing to mention...Caleb is learning how to dress himself!  He's really taking off on getting into a solid routine everyday.  After he wakes up he comes into our room and we all snuggle for a few minutes before he runs off to his room to get dressed for the day!  He's been picking out his own clothes and today got dressed all by himself!  I'm so proud of him!

From the Mouth of my Babe

Caleb John is hilarious!  Plain and simple!  These are his latest liners!

He grabbed and ran off with some cleaner and sprayed it on the bathroom mirror.  Erik told him to stop and he exclaimed, "I'm a cleaner like Ursula!! (our cleaning lady who comes twice a month)  Haha!

He brought up a deflated exercise ball from the basement and was trying to take it out of the box to set it up.  I told him we don't have the right tools to do it.  "I have tools!  I'll get them!"  (from his plastic tool bench)  "Uh-oh!  Where are my tools!" (some are missing)  I told him that he must have left them out and The Messy Fairy must have cleaned them up.  I told him she must have taken them.  He popped his fingers up to his eyes (forming goggles) and said, "Oh I'll use my spy goggles to find my tools!"  I was laughing so hard I seriously couldn't breathe!!

12 weeks already?!

We all know what that means...back to work for this Mama!  I have mixed feelings about going back tomorrow.  I'm looking forward to it because it's only 3 days a week, and I truly enjoy what I do!  Unfortunately, there are more cons!  Mila gave us one amazing week of sleeping through the night, but is back to waking up once a night.  Also, it's a lot of work to get out of the house by 7am with needing to nurse Mila, pump, get myself ready, and deal with Caleb waking up and not knowing which mood he'll be in!  I'll be setting the alarm for 5:45am, and it only takes me about 20 minutes to get myself ready!  If anyone questions why I never wear my hair down, they're getting an eye roll! 

Then I'm also sad because I feel like I don't get to spend enough time with Mila as it is!  It's hard sharing my time among both of them!  I know she's only this small for a short while, and I want to spend as much time with her and Caleb as I can! 

Also, there are times when she's crying that only I can calm her down.  That's what's going to be the hardest for me!  I know my parents will be able to calm her down, and hopefully quickly!

Lastly, I have a whole slew of responsibilities to keep our household running smoothly, and I have no idea how I'm going to get everything done!  Hopefully when Mila starts sleeping through the night I'll be able to stay up a little later knowing that I'll be sleeping all through the night!  Otherwise I have no idea when I'll take care of Christmas plans, baptism plans, Caleb's third birthday plans, dog care, scrapbooking, groceries, attempting to workout, among many other things!  Whew!!  Please say some prayers for me!!

Rock Star Status!

Miss Mila has attained rock star status, and I hope it's not just a fluke!!  She has slept 10 straight hours the past three nights!!  AMAZING!  She eats at about 8:00pm, then drifts off till about 6:00am!  We've also been trying to get Caleb into a better night time routine :) 

From the Mouth of my Babe

Caleb's latest one liners!

We met up with Auntie Lisa to do some shopping.  She had just finished eating a sandwich, which Caleb saw her take her last bites.  Well while we shopped I had given him his gold fish to snack on.  Lisa asked if she could have one, and he replied, "No, you just ate!"  Our mouths dropped open!  What a stinker!!

When he's doing something that he knows he shouldn't be doing, he says, "This is called a game!"  As if banging on the table, kicking his toys around, jumping on the couch, etc will be acceptable if it's a game!

Pumpkin Farm Fun

Barn Yard Babies

sweet little ducky

"I want to be a cow!"