Jace & the Egg

My Cheesy girl

Cheeeeeeeese!

Occasionally Brenna will ask for a picture to be taken.  You have to be ready, because it doesn't last long!  Lately she has wanted to be called by other names...one morning it was monkey but mostly it is Nemo, Dori, Doggie (not puppy), Nala and Simba.  The name changes frequently, but she helps us keep up by correcting us.  All. The. Time.  'Brenna, come here please.'  She responds with 'Nala, come here please.' and won't come until we correct ourselves.  Our conversations are three times as long now.  She does seem more compliant when we call her by her animal name, though. 

 

She loves to sing.  She's getting really good at the alphabet and counting to 11.  Why 11?  Well, in her Dr Seuss book there is a creature with 11 fingers.  So she counts to 11.  Also 7 has become 11.  So, it goes like this... 1,2,3,4,5,6,11,8,9,10 and 11!  Really cute.

 

She loves playing outside in the water...pouring into a glass and then giving it to you to drink!  Some of it ends up down her front most of the time.  She runs everywhere.  All the time.  So, she is constantly sticky and sweaty...I can't wait for this summer!

 

She also loves piggy back rides.  I'm usually good for a few laps around the house, then it's her turn to give her baby a ride. 

Making faces at herself.  Her cheeks are still really, really big and squishy.  And you can see her little 'piny tale'  which is so cute when she lets me put them in!

Movin and sharin

Jace is finding that he likes to get around.  While he still isn't crawling forward, he does manage to get to where he wants to go. 

 

He is one determined little man!  This was his first push up.  You can see the concentration and determination on that face. 

 

 

I think he may be a little climber.  Today he actually pulled himself up into a standing position from the floor.  Thankfully he is still really uncoordinated with walking... But practice makes perfect (or mobile in this case)

 He's pretty proud of himself when he gets to stand alone, which is what he wants  to do all the time.  No more snugly baby...hello tugging, scratching, pushing, pulling almost toddler.

 

Brenna is such a little hoarder!  hehe.  Doesn't matter what Jace has, she wants it.  She knows she can't just walk over and take it (if we're watching), so she sits near him, pretending to play and slowly puts her hands on it, slowly, slllloooowwwlllly pulls it away.  All with a big, fake smile.  Once she took the toy away when I wasn't looking and when Jace started fussing, she brought it back to him.  Then she told me that she gave him the toy (like it was her idea) so I would praise her...hehe  I want to tell her to just wait until he's really moving....I foresee a lot of tug of war!

 

 

Brenna Ballerina

Brenna is such a fun little girl.  Sure, she's a bit whiny at times but so many smiles and so much laughter.  She is starting to dabble in dress up and liked being a ballerina yesterday.  She likes swaying and swishing and twirling around.  I love seeing her little tu-tu butt picking stuff up and running around!

 

 

 

She loves to pair things up and have them walk together, or run.  All things must hug each other and show some love.  This goes for utensils, food slices, and anything else she can pair up.  She enjoys making her 'stickers' hug and go for walks (these are the magnet people I made her).

I catch occasionally pushing her cheeks together and she caught a glimpse of her self in the mirror this morning...I couldn't get her away.  She thought it was really funny when mommy did 'cheeks' with her :)

Jace playing peek a boo!!

Jace 7 months

Jace has his first cold.  It's an ugly one, too.  He's had a lot of trouble sleeping and eating due to his congestion, poor guy.  Lots and lots more tears than usual and Nick and I are running pretty low on sleep too.  Jace just wants to be held and snuggled but it is so difficult with a sick 2 year old around also! 

 

Jace is sitting up all by himself and is very stable.  He loves to rock back and forth and front to back, not sure if he's dancing to music or trying to take off.  He is getting taller and his legs are so long that we are in 9 month clothes.  The waist bands are a little loose, but I swear he eats a lot!  He's enjoying sitting at the table with us during meals and eating different foods.  So far the only thing he has consistently refused (but still tries a few bites) has been scrambled eggs.  We eat a lot of them, so he needs to get on board soon!  He likes to feed himself crackers but hasn't mastered using a sippy cup yet.  Although he loves to play with them.  He had  his first bite of ice cream and loved it.  Didn't even mind the cold!  Everything goes in the mouth and Bella likes to leave her toys near him thinking he'll play fetch with her.  There have been more than a handful of times that I have turned around and he's chewing on one of Bella's toys.  ugh!  He is also very determined to get the remote.  I don't know why he wants it so badly, but he is pretty relentless if he lays eyes on it. 

 

He has his two bottom teeth, but no others have started to come through yet.  He is very ticklish and loves to be bounced, rocked and kissed.  He keeps a close eye on daddy whenever he's near and is starting to make dada and mama sounds.  We'll see if he uses them before Brenna did!  Jace loves to grab your face and try to eat it!  I have so many scratches from his little nails because he loves to pinch too. 

 

He is no closer to crawling, doesn't even seem concerned with it, but loves to stand and is starting to move his legs like he's walking.  He's so heavy that there are times that I think if he walks early, it will be a blessing...but then again....hard to explain 'dangerous' to a baby! 

 

He's had a terrible drool rash on his upper chest, neck cheeks and chin that we just can't seem to kick.  We've started double bibbing him even though his drool has slowed down, even just a hint of dampness causes the rash to reappear.  I'm hoping once the cold goes away, the drool will ease up a little bit more and we can just have one bib again....  man, it's a lot of laundry!

Family photos 2014

We just got the proofs from our family photos we had taken 2 weeks ago.

 

Here are some of my favorites:

 Nick and the kids...So cute!

Brenna got to feed the ducks.  I don't know what kind this guy was, but he was real gentle and ate the bread out of Brenna's hand.  There was also a swan that came around, he was nearly as tall as Brenna and real mean.  He still made it into a few photos :)

 

 

Mama and the kids

 

I guess it was a little dead looking out (being the middle of Feb and all.  Next time we'll try for a nicer time of year)

 

I think this is so cute :)

 

And our outtake.  Yes, Brenna is honking my nose!