Spunky Monkey at 11 months

Each month its seems like there is an adjective to highlight Ansley's new found discoveries, accomplishments, milestones, etc. This last week or so she has mastered climbing well which makes her a lil monkey! Then when you factor in her little temper stubborn personality that has been rearing its head more and more, you could say she is a spunky monkey!

She has been climbing for awhile, but when I walked into see this after her nap, I knew we had reached a new level....

For a couple days, we were scared to leave her in her bed. We couldn't lower the bed anymore. I didn't know what to do besides put her in a toddler bed which would be another issue in itself! As well, we thought about those little tents that we have seen. But we then calmed down after watching her closely and realized she seemed to only do it when left awhile (Yes, she did it several more times with us waiting at the door peering through the crack). Plus, Tyler even sat in her rocker and watched her attempt it using the bumper somewhat to get leverage. Thankfully, taking the bumper out has eliminated that problem for the time being. The tent may be on order if she does it again!
UPDATE: She climbed up the bed again since writing this, I looked into the tents and they are expensive! So looks like we are going to be getting Tyler's baby bed that has spindles on all 4 sides instead of a ledge on the ends. (look at picture above closely to understand)

Other things she climbs...refrigerator, dishwasher, shelves, small tables....If she can hike her leg up on it, she can climb it! Just another reason you must watch her pretty close. Plus, you have to distract her to stop her from doing something or else the temper comes out! She gets, in the most girly way, mad when you don't let her do what she wants. At a restaurant this week, she told me "NO!" when I took a fork or something from her! I have been saying "No, No" to her so I guess she is getting the point! But when she succeeds and does or gets something she isn't supposed to, she has the biggest grin and giggles while running away! That's the spunky side! I watched some kids at church in the nursery last week and she was with me. If someone had a toy she wanted, she had no qualms about snatching it from them, even when they were twice her size. She just pushed them out of the way. Then she has started squealing, mostly when happy, but will do it when you take something away from her, too. I for see us having those mother/daughter arguments a lot sooner than I thought! We already fight over her not sitting in the highchair, getting in her car seat, changing diapers....and the list goes on!

Wouldn't sit still for me! Many takes later.....

Other areas of change:

• finally has a tooth! Popped out 3/22
• Loves eating graham crackers or any type of crackers
• Loves playing outside
• Still very squirmy when changing her diaper or clothes
• Practically running now, not just a slow toddle
• Wants to scavenge thru everything-cabinets, shelves, bags, etc.
• Does not want to sit still while eating!
• Seems to be saying "Thank you" sounds like "te to"; as well as "no"
• loves to be outside!
• her hair has a cute flip and some small curls...much longer!
• loves to play peek a boo and to be tickled
• loves to point at things while jabbering away
• has no desire to drink from a sippy cup...all 6 different types I have tried!
• has started dancing to music.....so adorable!
• enjoying her new Zebra to ride and dolls to carry

She has grown some, 18 lbs 7 oz at last appt.. Wearing some 12 mos now and still some 9 mos. clothing.
I have had to go out and find some shoes for her since she is walking so well. The regular soled shoes I had already were hard for her to walk in. Plus, she would pull them off quickly...and chew on them. The soft ballet type shoes are great though for right now. Her hair just about has to be in a bow or else its a mess in her face. She tends to leave them alone most times. Anxious to see if it lightens up this summer. Right now its a lighter brown.

Such a big girl, proud of herself!

Since I always update on sleeping and eating......
She is finally not eating at night! I have tried to keep her from eating until 6 am the last couple weeks and have been successful however she still wakes up once before that and needs to be laid back down with paci. So she sleeps from 8:30-7:30 waking once then eating at 6 or 6:30. Naps are a little random, but when at home, she sleeps around 11 for an hour then 3:30 for another hour. Some days we are out and about missing her morning nap. She seems flexible though and will just sleep earlier and longer in the afternoon. On to eating! She nurses 4 times a day still and eats 3 meals with us. I attempt to get a couple jars/tubs of food in her but she doesn't always stay still long enough to eat that. Most of her diet consists of bread, toast, crackers and cheerios here lately! She wants to self feed but without teeth its hard to find things she can eat on her own. The banana in the fresh food holder still keeps her occupied. She also has tried broccoli, green beans and ice cream here lately that she seems to like!

We still get a lot of people saying she looks like Tyler, however some are beginning to see me in her. I think she looks more like me but has his smile. Garyn looks a lot like Tyler with my hair color, so its a fun mix anyway you slice it!
I guess that is enough about our Spunky Monkey! One last picture though, speaking of monkeys, I had to put this one in of both of them in a tree. (no fear, Nana was right behind holding on to Ansley.)

We love our little monkeys!

Reached a goal!

So I realized it is 8 days into March and I have never written March goals....

When it was already 5 days into the month and I still had somethings to catch up on from February, I decided to take March off! I love having my goals and am already missing them. But Ansley is keeping me busy these days leaving me with plenty to do. We have also been sick a lot lately it seems. I was the last week of February; all of us were the first week of March; now this week Garyn has an ear infection. That makes for a lot of cuddling and cleaning unexpectedly! Therefore, I'll attempt again in April, which will be here before I can blink!

However, one goal has been reached by a smart little boy named Garyn! We have been teaching him to count to 100. He gets a prize at preschool when he can for his teacher. After working on it for a couple months here and there along with a lot of whining, I decided it was time to get serious. So, I pulled out the bribery trick. The bribe: when he could count to 100 without help, I would take him to Game Stop to get a Wii game, that was no more than $30. That was a week and a half ago, a long week and a half for Garyn. I was quickly regretting it when he would cry every time I said he didn't count without help. But alas he did it!

Afterwards, we went and got his reward for putting in lots of practice to be able to do it. As you can tell, he had a  hard time remembering the transition to 60, 70, 80, 90. For the longest, he would count to 59 then say "What's next?" then again get to 69 and ask. This happened for months without any progress because he just didn't want to remember. Sonic gave him a reason to remember.....

We are very proud! Now, onto the next learning curve....adding! And learning how to play this new game.

I will have to get busy finishing up my goals and keep up with Ansley....

Quick Steppin' 10 month old

Well, it has already come and gone. Last Saturday, Feb. 25th, she turned 10 months old! So technically she is already 10 months and a week now. In three weeks she will be 11 months and the big 1 in about 7 weeks! Oh my, my stomach just turned. If you can't tell I want it to slooow down!

(Side note: I have had blogging difficulties and have had to find a new way to upload pictures. Very frustrating! But I think I got the hang of it now! Plus, we have been sick a lot lately. All had stomach bug this weekend and now Garyn is coughing his head off)

So yes, she is getting bigger and looking more like a little girl. Her hair, as you can see, has gotten thicker and longer. She lets the bows stay in more now. Sonja/ Nana said the other day the wind was blowing her hair and she kept touching it trying to figure out what was going on.

Other areas of growth:

•  weighing about 18 lbs
•  wearing size 9-12 mos.
• size 3 in diapers
• sill has no teeth!

She loves attention. Smiling and laughing at anyone who will talk to her! And she wants to be in the center of attention all the time! She also wants to be in the middle of everything. Grabbing at your phone while trying to talk; climbing up into your lap to blog; wanting to sit at the table instead of in her highchair, climbing into the refrigerator when you are putting groceries away.........all of which are times we have to constantly redirect her to try to keep her happy. Unless she is asleep or in the toilet water in the room next door you can't get much done around her. A new trait she has taken on since walking.

Every time I go to do something in another room, I risk coming back to find her in the toilet, in the trash, climbing on something, pulling the cat's tail or licking the cat's bowl. She gets into the cereal boxes, eats pine cones, chews on Garyn's shoes, unrolls the toilet paper or eats Garyn's art paper. It has become a full time job here lately! But I do love every minute of it and she hasn't done anything that can't be rectified!

That smile and her little laugh make up for it all anyway! Except when you aren't letting her do what she wants, she is smiling constantly. She is starting to play peek a boo, do some motions to patty cake, wave better, point, dance and most recently, hug. She still only says "mama" "dada" "bye bye" and "nana" but not necessarily to ask for anyone or at the right time. However, she definitely lets you know what she wants! Garyn loves to act like she is chasing him still and she is catching on more to this game now. She will follow him some then turn around to catch him coming around from the other side. Here is a short video of her playing peek a boo with her shirt....

Eating wise, Ansley is still completely in control! Some days she will eat 3 good meals plus nurse 4-5 times. Others she might take a few bites but want to nurse longer and just as often. I think she is going to be somewhat picky and definitely finicky! She doesn't like the chunks of food in the baby food but will eat table food pretty well. She eats crackers, toast, rolls, scrambled eggs and cheerios well. Also, sometimes she will eat mashed potatoes. We just try to feed her and get more if she is eating well. And I am trying to get her to sleep through the night or at least not eat during the night but thats not what she wants and she lets us know! When I try to let her cry or just lay her back down, she yells and screams louder or wakes up every hour until I feed her. I know I have got to just push through but haven't drummed up the courage yet!

Speaking of sleep......she is doing well for nap at home sleeping for at least an hour and sometimes 2 hours twice a day. I lay her down and might go in one time to lay her back down but she crys a lot less than she used to. On the other hand, she has been fighting sleep more when elsewhere like church and Nanas. Sometimes even in the car she refuses to sleep and just gets fussier and fussier. ( BTW, she still doesn't like being in the car for long) At night, she has been consistently going to bed at about 8 and waking around 7 with a feeding around 3. We have gotten better about reading a book at night (she used to just eat and then we prayed). She enjoys the books as long as they are short and sweet. She gets too side tracked if you don't turn the page fast enough!

Her brother is one of her most favorite people. He can make her happy fast and helps us entertain her a lot! I loved seeing this the other day right after we picked him up from preschool.......

As I said, she still has no teeth and does this grandma-grin every so often. So funny!

Here is a short video of her walking better from a couple weeks ago. She is walking a lot better now, though. I just loved Garyn's encouragement in the background :)

I still thank God every day for this sweet blessing. Don't know what we would do without her!

She Walks!

               Just had to post this quick video of Ansley taking some of her firsts steps!

(Also, wanted to say I had just changed her diaper and she wouldn't stay still long enough for me to button her outfit :))

Finally!

I am so excited to finally have done this! I was forced to do it, too, because yesterday Ansley's one plastic one broke. At the rate I was going, she was going to be done with pacifiers before I got them done. I am also frustrated that I procrastinated when it only took all of 15 minutes to do! So easy, its not even funny!

Quick run down:

1. Buy lettered pins, ribbon, self adhesive Velcro and alligator clips (all from Hobby Lobby)
2. Pop open lettered pin and remove pin (unless you want to use that instead of the clip)
3. Cut ribbon to desired length and hot glue to letter
4. Hot clue alligator clip
5. Place Velcro pieces at bottom of ribbon leaving space in between
6. Cut Velcro if needed (mine were circles and bigger than the ribbon width)

And presto! you have a cute personalized pacifier holder for less than $2 each!
Now, to see how long they stay together will be the kicker!

February & early valentines

Well, it's four days into the second month of the year already! This month is consumed with hearts, red, chocolates, roses, pink and other expensive ploys to display your love to another. Don't get me wrong, I like Valentine's Day. We have holidays for just about every thing else under the sun so why not focus on showing extra attention to your loved ones. Tyler and I used to make a bigger deal out of the day, as do most new couples. Now, it's a great excuse to have a date night where we eat somewhere special and might go to a movie but most especially we have a conversation/dinner/night out with no kids! Remember, how I said Ansley is getting hard to eat out with.....

The point of all this valentines talk is to tell you about how this year we sort of exchanged valentines a little early, by mistake. I was trying to be ahead of the game and save money (sure only a few dollars, but still money) While surfing through one of my couponing blogs, I saw where you could design a free card and mail it to yourself for free, as well. So I made Tyler a valentines card, well I used one of their designs and added a picture of ourselves....

Then a couple weeks went by and I forgot about it. And of course when it came in the mail you know who was the one to get and open the mail that day. He tried to put the stack of mail on the counter and act as if I wouldn't know. I was pretty devastated that my plan didn't work out! But then I thought, "You know, it had the same affect and maybe even seemed more special since it was just an ordinary day." So I got over myself and decided it was just as well I started being a little more spontaneous with my romantic-ness.

Last week, I got my own early valentines, too. Not sure if he was trying to follow suit in reply to mine or if it was just because he got the flowers and heart shaped bowl offered to him to give to me. (Most likely the latter!) But I found this one morning while I was fixing breakfast for myself and the kids.....

I loved it and felt it set the perfect statement for this Valentines of 2012. We don't have to wait for February 14th to express our love for one another through flowers, cards, chocolates and such. Spontaneous little love notes are better anyway!

Now, onto my February goals! I really enjoyed having the list printed to see each day where I should be spending my extra time. It helped me to realistically stay on track of my goals. This is a shorter month and I don't have a lot in mind other than just staying in a cleaning/organizing routine! Which got a little old towards the end of Jan, I must say, so I hope I can stay motivated to get things done!

Week 1.5 (since the first week is already gone)
Sun & Mon-

• work on laundry
• tidy up toys and tables
• work Sunday night
• plan dinner both nights
• finish taxes

Tues & Wed-

• mop floors (didn't do them last week)
• put away Christmas cards in album
• clean out car
• work on coupons
• Go to Ga for hair cut (didn't do last month)

 Thurs & Fri-

• clean bathrooms
• work on laundry
• place items on eBay
• make pacifier holders! (didn't do again!)
• work Friday night
• plan dinner for both nights

Sat-Mon-

• straighten up tables and mail
• re pot plants
• clean up kitchen counters
• work on coupons
• Valentine's date night
• work Sunday night
• plan dinner for 2 of these nights

Week 2:
Tues & Wednesday-

• work on laundry
• work on sale items (eBay/Craigslist)
• clean up dressers
• clean floors
• put frames on mantle
• grocery store
• dinners

Thursday & Friday-

• clean up bathrooms
• small freezer cooking day
• get Tyler ready for trip to Honduras
• give dogs a bath (weather permitting)
• work on blog some more

Sat -Mon-

• tidy up toys and tables
• clean up kitchen
• work on Garyn's valentines
• work Sunday night

Week 3:
Tues & Wed-

• work on laundry
• take things to donate
• clean up magazines
• work on Ansley's album
• clean floors

Thurs & Fri-

• clean bathrooms
• go to Creative Discovery Museum
• clean up Ansley & Garyn's room
• work on Garyn's chore chart

Sat & Mon-

• pick up Tyler
• enjoy the weekend
• tidy up house
• work Sunday night

Week 4:
Tues & Wed

• work on bills
• clean floors
• plan dinners
• look at MOPS cards
• list items to sell

Thurs & Fri-

• finish any undone goals
• post March goals!

Gman is 4 and a half!

I just love that goofy boy pictured above! He is definitely a little boy now, being that he is 4 and a half.....as of January the 24th! I just wanted to shine the light on him tonight since his sister gets a lot of updates. And I have done his half year updates pretty regularly over the years. Its amazing to look back at the 3 1/2 and 2 1/2 seeing just how much he has changed. Even worse, those pictures with stories seem like just yesterday......or I should say lasterday!

But it was also funny to see some things that have stuck...mainly Wii games! He is still in love if not totally addicted to the Wii, it has definitely been a great investment......thanks Nana and Poppa! (In fact, we have had to send it off to be refurbished from it being played so much.)

He does like different games now, though. Mario and most recently Sonic are his favorite characters. A couple mornings ago we had guests for breakfast....

Blue Yoshi and Mario joined our table....I just quickly had to snap a picture. His imagination is still in full swing if not just revving up. He will say "Lets just talk about....." wii games, scenes, fights, and/or memories of all things Mario, Sonic or Cars 2 and then will precede to ramble about a time he beat so & so or Mario threw the fire ball....etc. Tyler and I just nod and say "Really?"; having no clue what he is talking about most of the time.

Speaking of dreams, since Halloween, he has been talking about his dreams a lot. He will see people, be scared, fight fights, and do all sorts of things in them. But what gets me is that he remembers them and understands they were a dream.

He is also using that imagination in his drawings and building. Its fun to ask him what he drew because he always has a story for each picture. Below is what we built at the Creative Discovery Museum that he came up with on his own.

A couple weeks ago, the below pic was sent home from preschool and I just laughed.....

(make sure you read the yellow words at the top of the page)

We had went to Nashville to do all the Christmas festivities so I guess he thought that was where the North Pole was. He loves to ask about the directions to where we are going. And wants to know every detail. When we pass turns to places we have said we were going, he tries to correct us saying we went the wrong way. Of course, when I try to explain to him why we are going a different way, he typically tells me I am wrong and wants to argue about it.

That's another new and growing character trait...attitude. We are working on his demeanor and looks when asked to do tasks or stop doing certain things. I already know he is going to have a bit of a temper just based on the fact that he wants to get back at us when he gets in trouble and because of how he acts when he loses or doesn't get what he wants.

But he also seems to be a bit of a people pleaser like both of his parents. It crushes him for you to be mad at him. He will say, "Don't be mad at me anymore." or "Don't tell daddy cause he will be mad at me." followed by wailing and many "I'm sorry I did that." He still has the sweet nuturing side that show ups after the moment of temper. Just yesterday, he got in trouble at school and had to sit out of play time. (He got in trouble for spitting at a girl who was apparently growling at him) The teacher, Ms. Tammy, said he completely melted down about being in trouble and said he was sorry multiple times. She said she kept explaining that everyone gets in trouble sometimes and it was ok because he was just so worried she was mad at him. See what I mean....the temper drove him to spit then the people pleaser side made him meltdown. One day, he will balance the two out, I hope. :)

Other updates.....

He is slightly tall for his age.....47 inches I believe. In fact, at Christmas time he was told by a security guard that he couldn't play in the mall play area because he was too tall. I, without thinking, said "Really?! He is only 4." He didn't let him in and Garyn cried for awhile over it.

He also weighs a lot, although he is slim.....48 pounds! I can hardly pick him up from off the ground!

He still loves fruit and eats it multiple times a day. Hamburgers, yogurt and eggo waffles are other stables.

He is reading well and seems to be getting into math more. I am trying to work on him

counting to 100 and adding.

We play lots of games! Trouble, Memory, and his own made up games. We usually do a lot of tag, hide & seek and racing games that he comes up with.

He also likes to play on our computer or phones. He writes in the search box things he likes, then looks at whatever comes up. My search box currently has "smash bros brawl smash" in it from earlier today. We really have to watch him because you never know what might come up in the searches he does. He wants to just play smash brothers games or watch mario videos, but won't always stay on the site we first put him on. We already need parental controls, I guess!

Another favorite that he gets from his daddy is watching movies. The boy could watch a movie ten times in a row and not grow tired of it. We watched Cars 2 so many times I just had to put a stop to it when he would repeat every word they said! (we do have tv restrictions even though it sounds like we don't!)

We are working on his responsibilities to help us with small chores he can do. He does things like clean up his toys; put away his plates and cups in the sink; make his bed; and put away his shoes.  I am also patiently trying to let him dress himself and bathe himself.

Well, I think that is a good synopsis of our little Gman....... who still insists you call him that. He says he changed his name. I appreciate his individuality, though, and usually oblige!

Isn't he just the cutest!