Big Kid Beds!

Over Thanksgiving break Brady and Chloe both caught a relatively mild form of a stomach bug that was going around at the time.  It involved a lot of not eating much with the exception of Pedialyte freezer pops (bless those things!) and one middle of the night incident with Chloe.  This is exceptional because I can count on probably one hand the number of times Chloe has gotten up in the middle of the night since she started sleeping through the night at 10 weeks old.  Girl loves her sleep.

We knew something was up when we heard her stirring the night before Thanksgiving.  I went to her room and found that she had been sick in her crib.  It took both Chad and I working together to get everything cleaned up and in the washer with new sheets changed and Chloe into some clean new jammies.  We got her settled down and let her come back to our bed with us for a little while, but eventually decided it was time to return her to her crib when she showed no signs of being sick again.  I placed her in her crib like always, but she hiked one of her legs over the crib rail, and before I knew it she was up and over the side of the crib and on the ground, like a ninja!  

Needless to say, that night marked the end of Chloe's crib dwelling days.  Chad was hopeful that maybe it was an isolated incident and she would forget that she'd climbed out of the crib the night before.  That was definitely NOT the case at nap time the next day, so we knew it was time to convert the crib to a "big girl bed" with toddler rails.  Everything we read said that if you saw your little one get out of bed, go into their room, pick them up, and put them back in bed.  Do not talk to them or engage them in any way.  Do this as many times as necessary until they fell asleep on their bed.  We had to do this about 5 times per night for 2 nights with Chloe, and on the third night she just slept in her new bed with no problems for naps and night time.  We are very proud of her and thrilled at how well she transitioned!  

A picture of our big girl in her "new" bed:  

Way to go Chloe!

Once Chloe was established with her new bed situation, we considered when would be the best time to switch Brady to a "big kid bed" too.  He seemed happy and comfortable in his crib for the time being.  He usually gets up before Chloe in the morning and also at nap time, so he always came in her room with me to say hello to her when she woke up.  He saw that she was sleeping in a "new" bed and would even climb up and play with her on it every day.  By Christmas we decided it was time to say goodbye to his crib as well.  We figured it would be a good time to do it since Chad would be off for several days and he could help me during the nighttime if Brady had a difficult time adjusting.  We were concerned it may be harder to switch him over since he hadn't tried to leave his crib on his own yet, and also because he has always been not as avid a sleeper as Chloe.  He still is a great sleeper (and we thank our lucky stars we have two great sleepers!) he is just more prone to have the occasional middle of the night wake up and is always an earlier riser than she is.  

Well, we switched over his crib to a bed with toddler rails and held our breath.  That night at bed time he saw his new bed, went over to it and crawled right in.  He tossed and turned a little, but never left his bed and didn't wake up at all that night once he fell asleep.  He has been in a big kid bed ever since with no issues.  The switch for Brady was even less difficult than with Chloe!  I think it helped seeing his sister in her bed for a few weeks ahead of time.  We were relieved and happy to have successfully moved past that hurdle of babyhood!  

Mr. Brady in his "big boy" bed:

So proud of my big kids!  I cannot believe that soon we will be celebrating their 2nd birthday!  Can we just freeze time please???  

Off to the Races!

If you saw Wednesday's post then I am sure you know that Brady has started walking!  He took his first independent walking steps in the playroom on Monday afternoon April 30th, 2012.  With both babies we were very lucky they decided to start walking in the afternoon when Chad was home from work to witness it!

Here are our big boy's first steps:

The funny thing is that after those initial steps, he hasn't stopped walking.  With Chloe, walking was a more gradual process.  After the first time, she would walk off and on and gradually increase the frequency and complexity of her walking skills.  So the day after this video I assumed it would be the same way with Brady, but I was wrong!  He has been walking his little legs off ever since Monday afternoon.  He is very steady and I would say even though Chloe has three weeks of experience over him, they are walking at about the same speed and with the same dexterity.  

We are so proud and excited that we now have two walkers on our hands!  We can't wait to go to our Birdies class at The Little Gym tomorrow morning for the first time with both of our children as walkers! 

Brady, we are so happy for you and proud of you!

 

So Proud of Our Little Peanut!

I can't believe I haven't had a chance to post about this yet but our sweet little Chloe took her first steps a couple of weeks ago, I think it was on Monday evening, April 9th, 2012!  She had been squatting and going from the squatting position to standing up by herself for several days, and one evening we were sitting out on the patio enjoying the backyard, and she just stood up and took a step.  That step led to several more steps, and she just started doing laps around the concrete patio!  I actually had time to run in the house while Chad stayed outside so I could get my phone and record it.

Here is a video of our little girl taking her first steps:

After that day she wouldn't do any walking unless we were outside on the concrete patio.  Something about the texture of it must have made her feel more secure.  After a few days she started actually walking on the floors in the house.  Gradually she has been increasing the frequency of her walking.  She still reverts to crawling sometimes, but she is really getting great at walking.  She can walk barefoot, in shoes, on concrete, tile, wood, grass, mulch, etc.  She can even walk while holding a ball or a stuffed animal and she has also mastered turns.  I would say over the next several weeks she will continue to grow in confidence and steadiness and soon she will be solely walking!  We are so glad and proud of her!

Brady can walk while holding on to just one finger of my hand and I think that is more about feeling confident and secure than for any actual help with walking.  I have a feeling one day soon he will just take off too!

Every day the babies do something that reminds me just how big and grown up they are becoming.  It is bittersweet, but I am also so proud of how far we've come!

 

Babies' First Haircuts!

I've been debating when I should take the babies for their first haircut for some time, and after Brady's mullet seemed to take on a life of its own I decided it was time.  We've been taking a lot of after dinner walks around the neighborhood with our new wagon and it has been a great way to meet our new neighbors who are also outside.  I was joking with one of our new neighbors Natalie, who I had just met, that I needed to take poor Brady for a haircut.  She then said, "That is what I do for a living!  I have a studio in my house, let me give you my card."  What luck!  We have a habit of living near some really talented people.  First our great friend/neighbor and amazing photographer Carlea lives in the townhouse right next to our old one, and now we live on the same street as a talented hair stylist!

Since my Mom is in town I thought it would be a good opportunity to take advantage of the extra set of hands to hold or entertain babies and scheduled an appointment with Natalie at 2:30 this afternoon.  I was a little nervous because I wasn't sure how the babies would react to having their haircut and I was hoping they would be good for our new neighbor.  They were completely patient and calm the whole time!  I was pleasantly surprised to say the least!  Here are some fun Before and After pictures:

BEFORE BRADY:  This is his "Phil Mickelson" mullet as we liked to call it.  It was MAJOR.

BRADY AFTER:  He looks like such a little man now!

CHLOE BEFORE:  Her hair was less extreme, it just needed a little trim here and there.

CHLOE AFTER:  All nice and neat now!

Here is a cool picture of Natalie's neat in-house hair studio!  It was awesome!

Here is the back of both babies' heads AFTER:

Grandma was a HUGE help and held Brady the whole time during his haircut.  No one cried or even whined, I was so proud!

Have a good night everyone!

 

A Journey of a Thousand Miles Begins With...

A single step!  I would be remiss if I didn't mention that Brady took his first steps on Saturday afternoon, February 25th, 2012.  Exactly one week after his First birthday.

Saturday afternoon we were all relaxing and playing around the house after Birdies class and after going out to breakfast with Nana and Doodah at IHOP.  Brady was by my feet and I was sitting on the couch.  Chad was sitting on the floor across from us a few feet away.  Before we knew what was happening, Brady was taking a few steps towards Chad and then tumbled into his arms.  We were shocked and thrilled!  We encouraged him to go the other way from Chad back to me.  He made about 3 or 4 trips between us, each trip taking about 2 to 3 steps each.

We tried to practice again with him last night, and he did take one step or maybe two, but not to the extent of Saturday.  We are not pushing it, we'll let him decide his own pace.

I should also mention that Chloe is making some progress on the walking front as well.  She has been walking while holding on to just one of our hands pretty well and gets steadier and steadier.  She likes to make laps with us around the living room.  On Saturday morning she walked out of Birdies class while just holding one of Chad's hands.  I believe she is physically ready to walk, she is very sturdy, but she isn't quite ready to take the mental plunge yet since as soon as we try to let go of both hands she squats and sits back down on the ground and crawls.

We are so proud of both of our babies.  It is hard to believe soon they will be walking.  Yesterday we cleaned out our pantry of all of our leftover "baby food" and other baby feeding supplies to give to our friends with twin newborn boys.  Last night we grilled steak for dinner, and the babies had steak, broccoli with cheese sauce, raspberries, milk, tater tots, and applesauce as their dinner.  Of course, they mostly favored the tater tots and applesauce, but still, it amazed me that they are grown up enough to eat regular food just like us!

Happy Monday to everyone!

 

Brady and Chloe's First Birthday Party Spectacular!

Hello everyone!  We are all exhausted from today's festivities, but I wanted to share some pictures of the babies' First Birthday Party.  We had so much fun, it was such a special day and we are so glad we got to share it with so many friends and family members!  I don't have enough energy to go into a lot of details right now, but here are some pictures until I can do a proper post.  

Decorations/Party Set Up...

Cakes...

Outfits...

Some of our guests...

First tastes of birthday cake!  (There are more pictures of Brady with the cake than Chloe because he was just hilariously obsessed with it and we couldn't help ourselves!)  For the record, Chloe also greatly enjoyed her cake, it was just a LOT less messy!

I hope you enjoyed these!  It was an amazing day that we will never forget.  Must say bye for now though, and get some much needed sleep!

 

Baby Blair Witch Project: AKA Chloe iPhone Attack!

Over the last several days I have been trying to get Chloe to say "Mama".  Not just randomly, but when I ask her to.  She can do it, when the mood strikes her.  Often I will ask her when it is just us and my phone/camera is nowhere to be found, and she will look at me so deliberately and say loud and clear, "Mama".  If I try to recreate this situation when I have my phone handy to take a video, that is a different story.

Here are some funny videos of my attempts to get Chloe to say "Mama".  As you can see, she is a lot more interested in attacking the phone.   However, I am finally rewarded on the last video, even though it is faint, you can hear her say "Mama" on two different occasions.  Well, more like "mamamamamama", but you get the idea.

Annnnnd....drumroll please....Eureka!

Have a great day everyone!

 

Wednesday Wows

A funny thing happened after my blog post the other day, the babies woke up from their nap and just a few minutes later, Brady stood on his own for the first time!  He probably stood for about 20 seconds while watching Sesame Street.  He has done it several times since then, but never for that long.  It is definitely progress and it made me go "Wow!"  to see my little baby standing for the first time!  I was able to snap a quick picture with my phone to capture the moment:

I thought I would share a cute video of Miss Chloe today too.  Grandma (my Mom) and Grandpa (Daddy D) bought the babies a Fisher Price Laugh & Learn Puppy for Christmas that sings and dances.  At first it was a little hard for them to play with because it has to be standing upright to work, and they weren't sure how to make it sing.  I showed Chloe one time that if she presses her hand on the puppy's foot, it makes music.  Ever since then she can happily push the button herself to make it sing and dance!  She is such a little smartypants!  You can see in this video once it stops singing she will push the button again.

I am very proud of our babies, I can't believe how grown up they are getting!

 

Something New Every Day!

Today was a pretty normal day, just our regular routine of eating, playing, and naps.  The funny thing is, even on a regular day exciting new things can happen! 

On the food front, for our two breakfast meals we had blueberry yogurt with whole grains, scrambled egg yolks with cheese, and avocado mixed with banana in addition to two servings of formula.  At lunchtime we had some whole grain pasta pick ups, baked sweet potato puree with cinnamon and real butter, and formula.  Around late afternoon we had formula and apple blueberry puree.  At our last feeding of the day we had formula and vanilla banana custard.  I would say it was a great day of eating quite a variety of foods.  Making some of the food for the babies is messier and takes a bit longer, but I think there will be several benefits for the babies including helping them to ease into the transition of eating more table foods. 

While holding Brady upside down and tickling him I discovered that he has another two top teeth coming in on either side of the front middle ones!  So once they break through he will have six teeth!  For some reason he has a habit of always getting two teeth at a time.  Sheesh! 

The babies have also recently graduated from using their inflatable ducky tub to taking a bath without an infant tub like big kids!  They had the best time splashing around tonight!

Well, that is all for today.  I will leave you with a few pictures:

Brady's attempt to get Sabrina!



Splish Splash! 

Goodnight everyone!

 

I Made My First Pie and Chloe Clapped!

Ha ha, well, I did make my first pie and Chloe did clap today, but sadly she wasn't applauding my new-found pie-making skills (yet, at least).  I think my pie turned out pretty well, it LOOKS good, but I'll have to wait until Chad and his coworkers try it at their Thanksgiving pot luck tomorrow to determine whether or not it tastes good.  All parts of it were homemade with the exception of the crust.  By the way, making meringue is not easy!  I have been reassured by several excellent bakers and friends of mine on Facebook that it will keep just fine in the refrigerator until tomorrow.

My First Ever Pie!  Chocolate Meringue



The only thing is that I wish the meringue would have turned out a little fluffier/higher, but I'll take it! 

As I said yesterday, Chloe started clapping for the first time while we had some friends over last night, and that I would try to get a video of her doing this today.  I was able to get a quick video of her clapping, so here it is:

Chloe Clapping!

That is all for today, I will hopefully report back tomorrow about whether or not the pie was any good!