Owen at 2.5 years

Age: 2.5 Years

Stats: 37.5" tall (90th%) and 30.2 lbs (50-75th %)

Clothes: 2T ... His dinosaur shirt and Superman shirt are definitely his faves.

Favorite foods: YOGURT. Scrambled eggs. Oatmeal. Cheese crackers. Smoothies. Cupcakes of course. He would still begs me to feed him EVERY.SINGLE.BITE. I don't, but that's definitely his preference. Flashbacks to him as a baby refusing to feed himself until 14/15 months. This kid.

Words: He talks all.the.time. He and Graham give each other a run for their money in this area. He wants to have some of the same conversations every day about some of his favorite things... "Big black train, museum, FUN!" and "Gymnastics, foam pit, got stuck, can't get out." (I don't think this actually happened- at least not to him ;) And some of his favorite phrases are
"let's get cozyyyyyyyy!" (when we snuggle under blankets and read books)
"I caaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaan't!!!! Mommy do it!!!!" (because my boys never went through the "I do it myself" stage and want help with everythinggggggg)
"Jingle bells jingle bells HEY!"
"NO Grahammers!!!!"
"Audrey is so tinyyyyyyyyyy."

He can quote some books and sing some songs, which is so, so fun.

Activities: Mops. Gymnastics (open gym). Children's Museum. Grocery shopping. Playdates at nature center, libraries, etc.

Favorite Friends: Elodie & Lewis, Chet & Beau, Liam & Lynnlee, Cori & Lexi, Chapman & Bennett, Jonathan & Charlotte. 

Favorite Things:
Balls. Obsessed. 
Trains. Big trains at the museum. Little trains at home. Any trains. All trains.
Racing on cars with Graham. Around and around the circle of our downstairs layout. Every day.
Chasing with anyone.
Gymnastics (mostly bouncing on the trampolines).
Swings.
Books- He's grown a lot in reading longer books that Graham likes too, instead of more "baby" books. His faves are probably  "How do dinosaurs...?" series, Knuffle Bunny series, Thomas the Train, Piggie & Elephant series.
Songs- "Train song," Let It Go (thanks Charlotte ;) , Food Food Champion

 

Selfies with Nonnie ;)

Siblings: He and Graham are absolute "frenemies," with equal times being sweet and happy with each other, and equal times screaming and fighting over a  prized toy. At times he seems to follow in Graham's footsteps, picking up on things like playing guitar & singing, and at times he sets the pace for the brothers, so I'm interested to see how their relationship plays out over the years. He is a big teddy bear with Audrey-- incredibly gentle and loving and sweet.

Mom's Proudest Moment: How sweet he is with Audrey. He is loud and aggressive and keeps me on my toes... But with her, he is gentle, loving, and kind. Makes my heart melt every time. So, so precious. Also, PEEING ON THE POTTY for the first time!!!!

Dad's Proudest Moment: Peeing in the potty! "Ummmm.... he's just such a cute little kid!!!!" Being sweet to Audrey.

 

Audrey at 10 months

Weight: She was 17.6 lbs (40th %) at her 9 month appointment, so a little over that now.

Height: She was 27.75" (50-75th %) at her 9 months appointment.
 

Clothing size: Packed up almost all her 9 months stuff yesterday, as she is solidly in 12 months stuff- except some 9 month leggings, which are still going strong. I gotta say- I am LOVING her 12 month clothes!!!!! ;) I mean, look at these outfits!!!! (Thanks family Christmas presents. ;) I want to have a photo shoot with her every day.

Diaper size: Cloth 4 life.

Feeding: Basically the same as last time, besides the dream feed...
Nursing around 6:30am, 10.00am, 12.30pm, 3.30pm, 6.00pm, 8.45pm.
I had been waiting for the dream feed to kinda drop itself, but finally remembered that for Owen, I gradually pushed it back closer to his bedtime feeding until it disappeared, which worked really well. So now I'm working on that with Audrey, and I've got it back to about 8.45pm now, instead of 10pm, so we're making progress. Should be totally gone in a week or two. Fingers crossed.

She's a great eater so far, but cheese is a definite fave.

The boys think it's HILARIOUS to feed her.

Loving her solids, and eating them 3 times/ day. A typical day would be...
Breakfast: a mushed up banana and blueberries, plus bits of scrambled eggs or plain oatmeal if we're having it
Lunch: foods she can grab and feed herself- cheese bits, puffs, peas, scrambled eggs, small pieces of soft fruit (pineapple, plums, etc.) 
Dinner: pureed veggies, plus random bites from my plate too

Sleeping: Same with naps- two short ones/ day. Morning nap around 30 minutes, and afternoon nap around 1 hour. Although I noticed than when we stayed at home for a week for potty training, she napped 2 HOURS every afternoon! What?!!!! So I'm thinking that when we go out for our typical morning activities, I am not getting her worn out by just staying in the Ergo. Noted. Now trying to let her play and move on our morning outings to see if that will help her nap longer!!! Sleeping 6pm ish - 7am ish, with a dream feed in there too.

Lots of train play this month, thanks to potty training.

Milestones: She's finally interested in standing! She'll hold onto the ottoman or music table or whatever and stand up pretty well now. She's also definitely found her voice this month, and has become super LOUD! Haha. Never have to wonder if she's trying to get your attention. She's also markedly more squirmy this month, just all the time. She's still army crawling, but mainly just to get a toy she wants, and then she's done- not much exploring.

Likes: Chewing on anything she can get her hands on. Sitting and playing (likes this way better than crawling or standing). Mirrors. Solid foods! Attention, tickles, voices, kisses-- never short on any of this!

#youresovain ;)

Her fave activity- sitting , chewing on toys, and throwing them out of the bucket.

Dislikes: Naps. :(

He still calls her "babydoll."

"I KNEW there was a sister in Mommy's belly!!! I didn't have one, and God gave me one!!" - G

Adventures: Nonnie visits. First time in shopping cart. Surviving big brother O's potty training, stuck at home for a week.

Selfies with Nonnie

Belated Christmas presents.

First time in the cart... only bc I forgot the Ergo. But she did great!

Bathtime with big brothers is always an adventure. And those baby blues!!!!

What we couldn't live without: Lately the high chair has been a life-saver. She will cram cheese bits, puffs, peas, blueberries, etc. happily into her mouth for dayssssss, which buys me time for things like potty-training, etc. Ha.
 

Best part of parenting this age: She really just is the sweetest baby. I stinkin love her so, so much.

 

Hardest part of parenting this age: It's seemed more physically exhausting lately for some reason. I've just been DONE every naptime and nighttime, without the energy to do anything extra from my to-do list, than just get through the normal day. Between refereeing the boys, potty-training, pureeing baby food, and constantly putting on and taking off winter accessories, I'm spent. I'm learning my capacity for afternoon/ night activities is just pretty small right now, too. I cram too much in, and then I'm impatient with the people I love most, so I'm trying really hard to not do that next month.