Christmas Wrap Up

Well we have finished with all of the fun and busy Christmas festivities. We enjoyed many Christmas parties throughout December.

Our friends had a party in their back yard complete with roasting s'mores and The Grinch projected on a screen. It was chilly but we were all bundled.

We went to a Christmas party for the youth workers at church and had good food and fun hanging out with the other people there. They always have good food at youth events. We joke about that being the main reason we serve in the youth department :)  Cambry enjoyed playing with books.

We went to Candy Cane Lane, a Christmas festival for kids at our church. When a volunteer made a pipe cleaner candy cane and handed it to Cambry she said "I don't want it". Then during the Bethlehem presentation she kept saying "Back home. Go back home". She only liked the part at the end when she got a candy cane.

Greg's parents came to visit the weekend before Christmas. Cambry was so excited to see Nana and Pops. Greg and his dad assembled all of Cambry's big gifts. It is never a good sign when there is this much hardware included, ha!

Christmas Eve we went to my parent's house and went to church with them. There was a baby near us dressed as Santa. He dropped his glow stick (kids got glow sticks instead of candles) and the parents didn't notice. Cambry noticed and was very concerned. "Baby Santa dropped it! Pick it up! Oh no! I get it!" Repeat in loud voice over and over. She was not interested in sitting still or being quiet and Lainey was fussing so poor Greg sat out in the hall with them most of the service. We didn't do our Christmas Eve tradition of looking at lights because it was getting late. But we had looked at lights several times in December and Cambry really enjoyed it. She constantly talked about all the lights and inflatables.

Christmas morning Cambry got her big gifts at our house. We gave her a table and chairs, Greg's parents gave her a kitchen and my parents gave her a playhouse. So much fun! We had a good breakfast together - breakfast casserole and puff pancake, and Cambry had fun playing with her toys. 

Later that morning we went back to my parent's house where we opened more gifts and had a nice meal together.

I am so thankful for both of our families and for a wonderful Christmas. We get to hang out with the Kimmels this week and I am so excited! Now we are just missing Ashley, but will get to see her soon in January.

Lainey 2 Months

Size: At your 2 month check up you weighed 11 lbs. 3 oz. (53%), you were 24 in. long (100%), and your head was 15 in. (51%). You are wearing 3 month or 3-6 month clothes because you are so long. You wear size 1 diapers. We haven't started cloth diapers yet for you because your legs are still so skinny and they seem to leak.

Likes: You like to be held, your paci, being swaddled. and the vent on the microwave. The noise just calms you down. This has really been a lifesaver especially when we are trying to get ready to go somewhere in the morning. l put you in your bouncer by the microwave and you usually will happily stay there for a bit or fall asleep. You like baths most of the time. Car rides and stroller walks are sometimes ok, and sometimes involve crying. You seem to like being carried in the Bjorne.


Dislikes: Evenings are still your fussy time. It just seems to take a long time to get you to sleep for the night.You also don't like getting your clothes changed. And when you are upset you can get LOUD.

Working on: We have been doing less bottles just because we haven't really had a need. But when we do them you take them just fine. The doctor said you should be taking 3-4 oz. from the bottle but you usually take between 2-3 oz. I try to do tummy time with you occasionally but you don't like it. Although you do like to be held up high on our shoulders so that helps with holding up your head. 

Sleeping: This past month you haven't been doing as well at night. You were congested for several weeks and that made it hard for you to sleep. We moved you to your crib about a week before you turned 2 months old. You have been doing good in the crib for night time although we still put you in the swing for naps. You definitely have to be swaddled for naps and night, otherwise you seem to wake up more easily. It seems like your last feeding for the night has been around 8ish. Then sometimes you will wake up around 2 and 5, but other times you will wake up around midnight, then 3, then 6. That is hard on me when your first waking is around midnight because I feel like I just fell asleep. You are doing pretty good at going back to sleep quickly though.

Eating: You eat about every 2-3 hours during the day. You are still so fast. You can go 3 hours and then only nurse for 3 minutes. It is crazy. I try to get you to take more because I just don't see how that is enough but you won't take more. Sometimes you will do 7 or more minutes but it is usually just so fast. It is great since I have Cambry needing me too and also great for nursing on the go, I just hope you are getting enough little one!

Well you started smiling this month and it is so cute. You usually only give smiles right after you finish nursing and I just love it. It feels like we have had you so much longer than 2 months. You still have a lot of hair, although it has thinned a lot since birth. Your eyes are a dark grayish blue. I think they may have gotten a little bluer since birth, so maybe they will be blue after all. Who knows though. I still am so curious what color hair you will have. It definitely looks lighter at the crown of your head where new hair may be coming in. We love love love you little one!

Around the House, Vol. 1

I am going to try to take pictures of all the cute or funny things I come across around the house. Most of the time I forget - like when baby Jesus was in Cambry's little toy house, or when all my nursing pads were lined up on the bathroom counter, or my grocery list note pad that I found in the trunk of Cambry's push car after looking all over for it. These things just make me smile.

1. Baby with a diaper on sitting up (Side note: She now refers to her baby as "Baby Jesus". Often times when she is carrying her baby in public, strangers will come up to her and say, "Aww, what's your baby's name?". Should I tell them Jesus? Hmm.)
2. Minnie in Lainey's cradle
3. Baby buckled in the car seat
4. What happens when Greg is watching Lainey

Cambry 24 Months

Happy Happy Day to our sweet, beautiful, smart, hilarious little girl! We love you so so much! I can't believe it has been 2 years since you were born. You have made the last 2 years such a joy to us! What in the world did we do before you??

Well we didn't do a party this year, but you still had a great "Happy Day". We took you to the jump place last week, and then today Gigi and Pa came over. They gave you lots of fun presents. And you get to open a couple more when Daddy gets home tonight.

Waiting for Gigi and Pa

Alright, here is the last of your monthly updates.

At your 2 year check up you were 30 lbs. (86%), 35.5 in. (90%), and head 19.25 in (85%). Very proportionate!

Skills:  Well you are just talking non stop as usual. You pick up on words so quickly and it is so fun to really be able to communicate with you. You talk mostly in sentences or phrases now it seems. You also like to jump. Not sure when this started but for a while you could only fake jump. You get both feet off the ground now (although just a little bit) and you like to do it over and over. You are pretty good at saying please and thank you. A lot of times you will say "Thank you much". It also amazes me your skills with technology. You are good at doing things on the iPhone and sometimes you even know the right buttons to push on the tv remote controls.

Likes: Now that it is Christmas time you have really enjoyed looking at lights and decorations. You talk about specific ones we see all the time. You like watching shows - mostly Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and Daniel Tiger. You like still love taking care of your mouse and baby all the time - putting on their diapers, rocking, burping, etc. You like to play this game where you say "I'll be back". I ask where you are going and you either say Church, Kroger, the Park, or Target. Haha. Then you turn around to leave, but then stop and say "Hug?". So you come back and give me a hug. Then you take a few steps and then turn around and say "Kiss?". You come back and give me a kiss and say "I love you". Then you leave for a minute in the other room. You come back and say "I back!".

Struggles:  One thing you DO NOT like is Lainey crying. As soon as she starts crying you start fussing "No like it! No like it!". In the car if Lainey is crying and you are cry/fussing repeating "No like it" a million times, it is then that I wish I had one of those privacy partitions like in limos that I could raise. Then each of you could just annoy the other and I could drive in peace :)

Schedule: You usually wake up around 7:00 am or sometimes later. Nap time is somewhere around 1pm and it lasts about 2 hours. Bedtime is 7:30pm as usual.

It seems like there are so many other things I should document but I can never think of all your funny things when I am writing these monthly updates. Anyway, we love the little girl that you are and you are a great big sister. You make us laugh all the time and we just love you so much!

Santa Pictures

Who doesn't love Santa?

Kids. That's who.

And it is kinda funny that when Cambry says Santa Claus it sounds like Satan Claus.

Birthday Celebrations

I had a wonderful birthday this year spent with family. The first thing Cambry said to me when she woke up was "Mommy Happy Day!". Greg had told her the night before that it was my birthday the next day, and I couldn't believe she remembered! I think she may have thought that meant we were going to a party, so maybe she was excited all night thinking about it. Poor thing. She is a sweetheart. 

Then later that morning Lainey gave me real smiles for the first time. A bunch of them! I tried to capture it on camera but didn't get a great one. 

My parents came over that day and we went to lunch at Panera. Lainey slept the whole time and Cambry did great chowing down on her mac & cheese.

The next day Greg took off work so we could spend the day together as a family. We went to Buffalo Grille for breakfast. 

Afterward we took Cambry to Monkey Bizness for her early birthday. We aren't doing a party, but wanted to take her to do something fun. She had a great time there and Lainey slept in her car seat pretty much the whole time.

That evening my Dad watched the girls while we went to Celebration, the Christmas show at our church. It was fantastic! We really enjoyed it and it was great to have a night out. My Dad was very brave watching both of them. Cambry threw a huge fit as we were leaving and Lainey was starting to cry so we said "Good luck!" and headed out the door. Haha. My Dad survived and we are so thankful for him.