Kids Say

We've been so blessed to work at Pius.  Samantha knows the hallways like our house and knows where all the candy is stashed in every room.  Last year we said goodbye to Sister Ann Marie who went to a different school.  I have to say, I think I was the only one NOT bouncing off the walls excited to have Sister Maria join Pius again, simply because that meant Sister Ann Marie would not be in the classroom across from me any more.  Although I still am grieving, it's impossible not to love Sister Maria.  And she's fallen head over heels in love with Samantha.  The first words out of Sam's mouth when she comes to my room after school are,

"Can I go see Sister Maria?!"  

This may be because she has the largest candy stash in the school, but they are usually laughing so loud you can hear it clear down the hallway, so I'm guessing it's her company too.

Samantha has gotten very comfortable with Sister Maria.  The other day she said,

"My sister is a chunky monkey and I'm a skinny minnie.  

My sister is a baby.  

Why are YOU a chunky monkey?"

Luckily Sister Maria thought it was hilarious.

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She watched 15 of the 17 minutes of the speech, waiting to hear him say "I have a dream!"

Sam wanted to know why she didn't have school on the 20th and so I explained to her who Martin Luther King Jr was.  She was very intrigued.  And in Samantha fashion, she had to re-tell ME the story over and over again.  She almost has his name down, but gets lost somewhere in the "luth" part.  And she keeps talking about how he was "poked".  It took me a while to understand what she was saying.

"No, Sam, he was shot."

"Oh, he was shocked." 

"No, shot. Like with a gun."

"Like this? pew-pew!"

"Um, sort of.  But it killed him."

"And he went to heaven?"

"Yes...so, how did he die?"

"Um....he was poked."

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"Samantha (for the millionth time) stop climbing and hanging on me."

"Oh, I'm sorry *giggle* I didn't know if you were a tree or not."

Clothing

I was unsure if Sam would like this shirt when I was buying her winter clothes.  It fit the three requirements (I liked it, it was under $3 and it had something "fun" on the front that would entice her to wear it).  It was a hit.  She says the heart is her heart beating.  The other day she discovered another reason to love it.



Stand right there and show me see your shirt...

Ok, now turn around and look at the wall.

Playdate

One of Sam's besties from school came over the other day.  They are a perfect match.  They both are just as bossy and stubborn as the other.  Which is perfect!  The only time they argue is when they are hungry or one is trying to make the other one share.  And by that I mean, 

"Here, TAKE IT!" 

"No! I don't WANT IT!" 

 "BUT I'M SHARING!!"

They both have a hat obsession.  They traded on this outing and thought it was awesome.

Cousins

January 10th

January 14th

It's getting harder to take pictures with a blurr somewhere!

My lovely mother with her babies.

Sam and Kahlan 2010

Flashback!  Kahlan and Samantha 2009

Electronics

Oh, electronics, how I loathe you.  You taunt me with your promise of uninterrupted quiet time, but then your effects always turn my precious 4-year-old into a whiny and clingy beast.  I was thrilled when I read this article about regulating screen-time, especially since Uncle Andrew bought her a LeapPad2 Princess for Christmas.  She calls it her "ipad" and it basically is a tablet. She can go through a set of batteries in one morning if we aren't careful. 

So after a little discussion we now have a system of "earning" screen time.  If she asks, however long she plays independently (or with Charlotte) or reads or colors, etc she can play for that amount of time on her ipad.  We set the timer to time her and then set the buzzer when she's on the LeapPad.  She has yet to "earn" more than 20 minutes and she's usually editing pictures of herself, so we're happy with the length of screen-time. It works like a charm!

 

Earning time on her ipad.

She painted

I love these watercolors as she's able to set them up and clean up by herself!

And she colored on packaging paper I taped to the wall.

"I want to read this to Charlotte"

Knock yourself out, girl!

Tummy Time Antics

These two continue to bond.  Charlotte will only tolerate tummy-time if Sam is entertaining her.  Little does she know that she's the one entertaining Sam!

This day Sam was copying Charlotte:

Head up

And down

And up



And down.  She was giggling so hard.

Stroller

Charlotte got an umbrella stroller from Santa.  Samantha LOVED it.  Charlotte was pushed around for a good 30 minutes.  And by pushed I mean PUSHED and flying down the hallway.  She didn't seem to mind.

 



Totally unrelated.  She dressed herself. She was very proud of her selection. I had to photograph.

BIG Girl Bed

In addition to the dates, Samantha also got a "real" bed.  At 4.5 years old she was finally too big for the toddler bed. 

 

Ready to "open" her present.

She knew she was getting a bed, just didn't know about the "surprises" like the bookshelf headboard and hidden doors underneith.

She got two quits.  The top one was from a great-aunt.  The bottom was a requested "Rainbow Blanket" made specially by santa's elves (cousins in Minnesota). 

It's still her favorite thing to climb into bed and get tucked in under her new blanket.  And there's no-more night fits about the blanket not covering her feet all the way!

Gift of memories

Around Thanksgiving my sister-in-law posted a link about giving memories instead of toys.  I could have agreed more since we have a plethera of junk toys.

So, for birthdays and the holidays we now try and give gifts of time and memories.  Unfortuantely neither Jeremy nor I was good about bringing the camera along, except for Kahlan's birthday gift.  I have her a ticket for a coffee date. 

 

She didn't quite get the idea when she opened it.

It had a picture of me, Samantha and her drinking coffee.  Some students of mine are in a band and play regularly at a local coffee shop.  So one Saturday I took the girls for some hot-cocoa and they got to listen to the band.  Since they started playing at 8pm I made it a pj date (so they could go straight to bed when they got home!).  Yes, even I went in my pj's.  Sorry, no pictures of that!

 

 

But boy was it a hit when she got to go!

 

Kahlan and her "coffee"

Sam gulped hers down before the first song was over.

The birthday girl and the band

They could.not.sit.still.



If there had been room to dance, I would not have worried too much...

For Christmas we continued the "dates". 

Lucy got two- one from all of us and one from her Godmother (me).  Her first was a trip to the Animal Shelter.  She wanted Jeremy to take her.  They spent a good 45 mintues there, and Lucy played with one of the dogs for a good part of that time.  Afterwards they went to HobbyTown to pick out an animal of some sort (Lucy is obsessed with plastic or stuffed animals). 

Her spiritual gift was a holy 1/2 hour with me at the chapel at my school.  We prayed a Chaplet of Divine Mercy, talked about holy images, the difference between a cross and a crucifix, sand a few hyms and then had some quite prayer time.  Afterwards she watched Turbo in my classroom.

 

For Kahlan and Grayson I took them (and Samantha) to Ager.  The girls played hard and Grayson went back and forth between following them around and trying to master the trikes and cars on the outter ring.  A few times I found him strapped in one of the cars, waiting for me to make my round and unbuckle him.  After the first hour he finally got the courage to go in the play structure.  After another 50 minutes he finally moved beyond the ball-pits.  In the final 10 minutes he climbed all the way to the top and went down the tallest slide by himself.  He was so proud of himself.  On his second time climbing up I told him he was like Spiderman. 

 "No!" he replied, "I SUPERman!"

He even helped and encouraged Kahlan to go down the tall slide, "It's ok, Sissy! I show you!"

Samantha's gift from Jeremy was a cooking date.  He showed her how to make birds in a nest.  I bought 2 dozen eggs for her to practice, but she lost interest and didn't want to touch them after a few tries. 

 

Samantha's gift from me was a swim-date to Swimtastic.  Over the summer we went swimming at least once a week.  It was such a relief to be submerged in the water with my big belly that it was well worth the extra laundry.  She was esTATIC about going swimming with me again.  She counted down the days until the swim date.  And now, it's all she talks about.  Even post-swim date.

 

Samantha also received a "Princess for a day" and a "Nail-date" from other family members.  Needless to say, these "dates" have been a huge hit with the kids.  Sam is constantly giving me ideas for dates for her birthday or next Christmas. 

Family Tradition

This is my favorite Christmas tradition.  We give the same photo-frame to my parents every year with an updated picture of the grandkids. Although each year has an epic (and usually exhausting) story behind it, the final picture is always worth it!

2009-2012

2013

So far we are adding to the bunch every two years...I think Joel and Becca are ok with us adding the new addition in 2015.  I guess only time will tell what God has planned!

3 months!

Her deer-in-headlights eyes that crack Samantha up.

I may be behind posting about her, but I am at least keeping up with taking the pictures.  That counts, right?

Charlotte is still our chunky monkey.  I'm not sure of her exact weight, but she's officially wearing 6-9 month clothes.  I still am saving some of my favorite 3-6 months because technically they fit her when she's in a disposable diaper. 

She loathes tummy-time, just like her sister.  Currently it's tollerable if her older sister is running back and forth in front of Charlotte.  Then, and only then, will she do the mini push-ups so that she can watch.  Otherwise she just face-plants and screams.  With tears and everything. It's so sad.

Charlotte still fights sleep like a champ.  Her squirming is minimal now (thank GOD) but she still requires someone to be holding her.  If not, her naps are 30 minutes.  And then the next one will be 20, the next 10, the next...well, you get the idea. If she gets to that point she will be sobbing and screaming as she fights falling asleep.  Then I have stop, let her stand up and then start talking to her.  Although she's exhausted she's UBER giggly.  All I have to do is ask "What'chya fussin' for?" and she's cracking up.  She'll go between her woody-woodpecker stomach laugh to fussing because she remembers she still tired.  After a minute or two I cuddle and shush her again and she'll finally give in and pass out.

But when she's awake (and not fighting sleep) she coos.  Oh how her coos melt my heart.  She'll be cooing away at a wall or window or fan and when I ask her who she's talking to she'll get a big grin, her hands go up to her mouth and she bats her eyes.  Lucy appropriate calls her "Shy-lotte" (pronounced "Shy-lit) because of this move.


Check out those tired eyes.  And the binky- sure sign she's ex.haus.ted.

Other than that, all I can think of is our love-hate relationship with the binky.  We never wanted a binky baby, but then Sam came along and we would have LOVED if she would have taken a binky (to stop the incesant screaming).  Charlotte fought it at first like her sister did, but I kept trying and once she figured out that a binky meant falling asleep suckling without milk suddenly drowning her she was sold.  She has to have it to fall asleep (but don't you dare try and give it to her when she's awake).  This means we have to know where it is at all times.  And between having three floors, the carseat she sometimes sleeps in, three sizes of diaper bags and gobs of blankets everywhere, we are always on the hunt.  Buy more, you say?  Nope.  I Guarentee you they all will be misplaced when it comes time for her to fall alseep.  And then she doesn't want it 1/2 the time when she's asleep.  By this I mean in the 30 minutes of sleep she'll want it the first 10 minutes, not the following 5, but then the next 5 and be done with the final 10.  So even if you are ok with her only taking a 30 minute nap, you have to be near by for when she pops the darn thing out or decides she wants it again. 

Here, mommy, have a foot.

Come on, you know you want it!

This is getting hard, just kiss my foot already!

Haha, ok here's the smile you were looking for!

A Week to Week Guide to Sleep

How to get my child to sleep for longer than 30 minutes, week by week

Week 1- anything goes, really.  Heck, I'll even fall asleep while you're holding me unswaddled with no rocking, shushing, or anything.  Of course, YOU won't get any sleep because you'll be checking to make sure I'm breathing every 5 minutes.

Week 2-  I must be swaddled.  And pat my bottom.  But none of that soft patting that you do to check if a cookie is done.  No, you need to pat to almost spanking level.  And don't stop.  And don't even think about putting me in the carseat.  I'll scream the instant you put me in there.  Putting me down in YOUR bed, is ok, but none of this co-sleeper stuff.

Week 3- Swaddling is good but I need to be in an upright position at all times.  I also like to be swung REALLY high and fast so go buy that really expensive thing you read about on amazon.  WHAT is this plastic thing you keep shoving in my face. WHY do you keep putting me in this carseat?  You are not allowed to leave the house!!  Patting is still a must.

Week 4- this week I'll catch up on sleep and sleep all day, every day and barely wake up to nurse. This, of course, is the week that all your friends and family come over and see me sleeping and wonder why on earth you are so tired and you certainly must be joking because obviously I sleep all the time. 

Week 5- Ok, I'm powered up now from sleeping so much so if you want me to sleep now, you must swaddle me, hold me, be moving at all times and no one is allowed to make a sound.  Don't even think about swinging me.  And that plastic thing?  Just keep it handy, please.  It's kind of nice very time I start to wake up. If you'd like to wear me, I'll sleep the whole time but don't you dare sit down.

Week 6- I want food.  I must be nursing at all times.  And swaddled.  And get that darn plastic thing away from me! If you get within 5 feet of the swing I'll wake up.  For the love of all that is holy stop putting me in the carseat!!!

Week 7-  Get this straight-jacket off me!! Good, now that you've sold the swing I kind of like being rocked back and forth, so just put me in the carseat and make sure it's being rocked at all times.  That plastic thing- a binky I think you call it?- is kinda nice.  I want it while I'm falling asleep, but as soon as I'm asleep I don't want it.  But keep it handy in case I get the wiggles. 

Week 8- why do you keep taking me out of the carseat?  Obviously I only sleep while in it and the car is moving.  Stop-lights are for sissies.  I saw you looking at the swaddling blanket, don't even think about it. 

Week 9-  Hm, this rock n play isn't so bad.  Just make sure I have blankets covering my face, please.  Even when holding me, I need blankets to smother myself into.    Don't even think of trying to make an airhole.  And that binky, I must have it.  Please make sure I don't spit it out while I'm asleep.

Week 10- Why do you even bother trying to lay me down?  If you MUST, as I see you sometimes need to use the restroom and shower (although I don't mind the smell, that's why your armpit if my favorite place to nuzzle) please put me in the carseat.  But make sure it's moving. Don't you dare stop.

Week 11- Get me out of this blasted contraption!! Where on earth did you get the idea that I like being strapped into a bucket?!?  I need to be laid on my right side, with a binky, a blanket on my face, my butt patted ever so gently.  Unless daddy is helping.  Then I want my face uncovered so I can watch the lights as he walks back and forth.  ONLY when I'm asleep can you put me in the Becco, but you are not allowed to sit.  Heck, I'll sleep for two whole hours, but don't you dare stop moving.

Week 12-  I don't know what I want, just figure it out.  One thing is for sure, a blanket MUST be on my face.

Luckily she's happy when she's awake. 
Unfortunately we're too tired to really enjoy it much.

11 and 12 weeks old

Getting a little behind...

11 weeks old
Wearing the same sleeper her sister did at 9 MONTHS old

I forgot to take a 12 week shot...there was a holiday or something :)
Thanks for the shirts Julia!

Cousins

December 25th
Olivia was very intent on getting some part of Charlotte into her mouth.

December 28th

First Laughs

I don't care to post videos much because a) they can't go in the annual blogbook we print and b) they take forever to upload.  But the first laughs- and caught on camera?  Totally worth a blogpost.  A baby's first laughs are like hearing the joy of heaven spill out on your life for a few precious moments. Feel free to bookmark the page and play the video whenever you need a little pick-me-up.  And just TRY to watch without smiling!

This is why...

A) she usually refuses to sleep with a blanket

B) I've reserved the right to pick out her clothes when we go to church

Because there are just too many PJ's to choose from...and why stop at one set when you can clearly fit two or three on at the same time?