Thursday, April 2, 2020

RAEGAN: Eight Months Old

RICHLAND, WASH. -- What a difference a month makes. This girl is rapidly growing up! She has two new teeth-- these ones are her front top teeth, she crawls like a champ, pulls herself up and cruises on everything and can even stand for a few seconds by herself and... this might be the death of me... but she's trying to go up the stairs. Heaven help us. She even got a new haircut... her long, stringy locks were getting pretty bad looking. So, in an effort to make her not look homeless, Isaac cut off all her shaggy hair. 

EIGHT MONTH STATS: 
  • NONE THIS MONTH
EATING: Loves eating real food, and downs baby food like nobody's business. Gets excited to have any food in her hands to pick up and devour. 


SLEEPING: Sleeps through the night, but sometimes wakes up REALLY early... you know, 4:30 or 5. Thankfully she'll go back to sleep for a few hours. 

WEARING: Nine month and twelve month


INTERESTING TIDBITS:  

Started crawling at the beginning of March. Just a few days later she started pulling herself up on things. First on me while I was sitting or laying down on the ground, and then on anything and everything she could grasp onto. 

She loves our playroom... particularly standing up and pulling everything out of the dollhouse. 

She is a busy, busy girl and puts EVERYTHING in her mouth and likes to rip up anything she can. 

Her sisters are all little mothers to her. Marin wants to carry her everywhere (ugh), Paige likes to sit down with her and pull her all around while in her lap, and Britta likes to feed her as well as tell her what she should and should not be doing. 

She got sick last week. She had a fever for two straight days and nights. One night it got up to 102.4. She was miserable. After the fever went away, she got a weird rash up her tummy, back and neck that lasted for a few days. Isaac thinks it was roseola. 








This was one of those days she wasn't feeling too hot. Poor girl. 














Wednesday, April 1, 2020

RAEGAN: Seven Months Old

RICHLAND, WASH. -- We sure love this girl! She got her first tooth-- her first two teeth, actually. Right on the bottom. Is starting to rock back and forth getting ready to crawl. Can now sit up from laying down, all by herself. 

SEVEN MONTH STATS: 
  • No stats this month
SLEEPING: Solid morning naps, solid afternoon naps. Most days. Sleeps pretty well at nighttime. Wakes up once in the middle of the night sometimes, but not every night. Is usually awake by 6 or 6:30, but will go back to sleep for another hour or two usually. 

WEARING: Some six month clothes, some nine/12 months too. 

INTERESTING TIDBITS:  Rocks back and forth on her hands and legs, wanting to crawl so badly. 


Loves looking at books-- and tearing them if they are tearable. 

She gets so excited when she sees me, it's still my favorite thing. Big huge open mouth smile, and wildly waves her arms and legs. 

Cries when I set her down to play and walk away (usually to get something done). 


EATING: Loves food and drinking juice (or water) from the water bottle. Gets really excited when she knows she's about to get some food to eat. 







Thursday, February 13, 2020

MARIN: Six Years Old

RICHLAND, WASH. --  Six is such a magical age for little girls. Marin is so passionate about life and all the little things little girls her age love... fairies, unicorns, princesses, anything sparkly, pink and frilly. She's incredibly smart, lovely, and so helpful and cute with her little sisters. We all adore her. 

Six Year Old Stats: (taken in April 2020)

  • 4' tall (82%)
  • 52.9 lbs. (78%)
Sleeping: Goes to bed at 7/7:30, but has a heck of a time falling asleep most nights, even when she's exhausted. Wakes up every morning around 7:30 or so.  

Wearing: 6T and 7T (she's tall)
  
Interesting Tidbits: Marin is incredibly smart. She remembers everything. She knows every letter and sound and can read like a pro. Her drawing skills amaze me and she catches on to everything very quickly. At her very first Parent Teacher Conference, I was wowed by her skills, she is way above where most kindergarteners are on the scale. But I was also stumped as to what to do about a few other social skills she's lacking in...  mainly she cries VERY easily and openly when she doesn't get her way or doesn't get something she was hoping to have. This happens at home, but I thought for sure it wasn't happening at school (obviously social awareness is not super sharp in kindergarten, but still... I hadn't heard about it happening, so how was I to know?). So, we have that. She's an emotional girl and I have no idea what to do about it. Hopefully her emotions will mature and simmer down a little bit a bit as she grows up, otherwise... heaven help us. :)  


Marin is so good with her sisters (most of the time). She was definitely born first in our family for a reason. She and Paige are best buds (most of the time) and she is so sweet and helpful with Britta and Raegan (most of the time). They all adore her. Britta gets so excited when we pick up Marin from Kindergarten, and shouts, "Marin, Marin, Marin!" as soon as she sees Marin coming out the school doors. All the parents get a kick out of it.   

Marin is so good at drawing. Her creative little mind wows me with her creations. After seeing a video of Jan Brett (the author and illustrator) at the school library one day, she decided she wants to be an illustrator too.  

To celebrate Marin turning six, we threw her a Fairy Garden birthday party with a small group of friends. We even let Paige have a friend come too, so she'd be entertained. :) 
It was so magical. They created indoor fairy gardens, went on a fairy treasure hunt outside and found magical necklaces with viles of fairy dust (glitter) in them that the fairies had left behind for them, and when they returned from their treasure hunt, fairies had found their home in each of the girl's fairy gardens. Marin and fairies are serious business. I think she believes more in fairies than she does Santa Claus. The girls had a good time and Marin was in heaven. 






Marin's Fairy Garden party. It was magical. 






Saturday, February 1, 2020

RAEGAN: Six Months Old

RICHLAND, WASH. -- Six months old! Wow, did that fly! I still think of Raegan as our newborn. Yet she says "mama" and "dada" and clearly is trying to communicate with us constantly. To say she is delightful is a vast understatement. She is the BEST baby, always happy, chill and just DELIGHTFUL! 

SIX MONTH STATS: 
  • 16.25 lbs (50th percentile)
  • 27" (86th percentile)
  • 17.7" HC (97th percentile)
EATING: Has tried pears, applesauce, peaches, green beans, butternut squash, carrots, sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes, loves sucking on bread crusts, crackers, veggie straws. Protests loudly when we try to take away any finger foods from her. Has discovered that she can drink from Britta's sippy cup (Camelbak waterbottle) and goes to town with it when she can get her hands on it.  

SLEEPING: Solid morning naps, solid afternoon naps. Most days. Sleeps pretty well at nighttime. Wakes up once in the middle of the night sometimes, but not every night. Is always awake by 6 or 6:30, but will go back to sleep for another hour or two usually. Is often woken up from at least one of her naps everyday for school pickup or drop-off.   

WEARING: Six month clothes, some nine months too. 

INTERESTING TIDBITS:  She's been teething for the past few months. Slobbering a ton. Thinking a bottom tooth will pop up sometime soon. 

Loves playing on her tummy. Rolls all over the place. 

I lose hundreds of hairs on my head daily from her strong grasp. 

Likes to give slobbery kisses. 


In her new Ariel dress. 

Britta loves to feed her most of all.

Though Raegan's grip is much stronger than Britta's and Raegan will usually grab the spoon away from Britta and try to feed herself. 


Passport photo for our upcoming trip to Germany

Isaac can get Raegan laughing harder than anyone. It's my favorite sound. 






RAEGAN: Five Months Old

RICHLAND, WASH. -- Raegan celebrated her first Christmas this past month. Santa didn't bring her much, because she really just loves playing with her packages of baby wipes... something about that crunching sound babies just can't get enough of. Also, she can say, "Mama." It makes me happy. 


FIVE MONTH STATS: 
  • None taken this month.
EATING: Tried rice cereal. Was pretty indifferent and wasn't quite sure what to do with it when we put the spoon in her mouth. 

SLEEPING: Morning nap about an hour and a half after she wakes up. Sleeps for a few hours, usually, until around 1 p.m. and then has another nap after we pick up Marin from school. Has started to fall asleep much better when I just lay her down and close the door. She goes right to sleep. It's so nice. 

WEARING: Six month clothes  

INTERESTING TIDBITS:  Sits up like a champ. Rolls over both ways and all over the place. 

Loves the bath. Loves her sisters, though is loved a little too much sometimes by Britta.

Marin wants to hold her while standing up... asks to hold her standing up all the time. ha

Starting to babble more.

Says "Mama" and "Dada."  But she definitely said, "Mama" first. That's a first for any of my kids... the others all said "Dada" first. 

In addition to her first Christmas, she also took her first epically long road trip. On Christmas day (we opened gifts on Christmas Eve this year), we drove down to St. George, Utah for a little random getaway of sorts. She did amazingly well for being in the car day after day. She was such a champ.

Loves playing with her feet and pulling off her socks. I'm not sure why I bother putting them on her most days. They always end up pulled off.

Her hair is still just as wild as ever. 

First Christmas! 
Somewhere on a pit stop near the end of our road trip
Watch out! 


In St. George, Utah, where we met up with some Reeve cousins who were also in town!








Isn't she the cutest?! Hair and all. 

We love her SO much! 

One day her hair will lay flat. One day.







Thursday, December 19, 2019

BRITTA: Two Years Old

RICHLAND, WASH. --  Our little Britta has improved leaps and bounds this past year. I suppose any two year old could have the same thing said of them, but with Britta I really  mean it...  In September (at 21 months old) she finally started walking. She hadn't even really attempted much before that, but something inside her clicked, and finally her little feet made it happen. Her physical therapist (Darlene Wagar), comes over every other week and works with her. She has been the biggest blessing in coming up with new ways to help Britta with her feet and also her hands. She made parallel bars for her a few months back and it really aided Britta in walking. She would cruise up and down those things all on her own without us even asking her to do it. She's been such a miracle to watch and we are so glad she's in our lives. 


Two Year Old Stats:

  • 34.25 inches tall (72%)
  • 19.76 HC (98%)
  • 26.3 lbs. (45%)


Sleeping: Napping is getting increasingly more difficult. And on days she does nap, she has a hard time going to bed at night. 
  
Wearing: Mostly 2T. Though her short little legs can still wear some 18 month pants. 

  
Interesting Tidbits

Starting walking at 21 months. Though she still falls a lot, she's doing pretty well all things considered. She turns her feet out in an awkward way and walks mostly on the insides of her feet. We've been trying to work on her stepping with her feet and toes flat on the ground. It hasn't quite clicked yet. Hopefully she'll understand as she gets older so her feet don't get destroyed. 

She can talk so well now. She says just about anything and is mostly understandable. She likes to repeat whatever we say. 

She loves to sing songs. She loves nursery at church for this reason. She never wants music time to end and will often say, "More, more, more" and do the "sign" for it when the music leader ends music time.

She is pretty stubborn and temperamental. She can squawk so shrilly it'll make your ears hurt when she isn't happy or wants her way and isn't getting it, or if a sister is bugging her. 

She is a total mama's girl and starting around 4 p.m. (the dreaded witching hour) you'll hear on repeat, "Mama hold you, mama hold you!" (meaning she wants me to hold her). 

Isaac likes to tease her and say, "Daddy put you to bed?" And she'll shriek, "NO! Mama put you to bed!" 

She has some kind of bedtime anxiety (or maybe fear of the dark?), though I think it's improved, where she can pretty much throw up on demand at bedtime. If she doesn't want us to put her to bed or if Isaac puts her to bed and she isn't happy about it, she will puke all over. It's the worst. 

And to end on a positive note, she loves helping me. If I'm cleaning counters or mirrors or windows, she wants to help do it. If I ask for her to do something, she'll often say, "I will. I will." 

She loves her sisters above all else and if they include her in whatever they're doing, she's in heaven. She'll often try to get them to come play with her and say, "Paigey, come on!" or "Marin, come on!" And then start walking and hope that they follow her.