"I'm sista, Mama, I'm sista!"

 Look at that look of utter glee on Jade's face!  She is so stinkin' smart these days.  She figured out something new...we have been feeding Kiera her little snacks (puffy cheeto things, small pieces cereal, yogurt melts, etc) and we would always specify that they were sister's treats.  Well, one day she was sitting at the table while Kiera was eating her snacks and all of a sudden she turns to me and says "Mama, I'm sista, I'm sista Mama!"  And points to herself, very pleased. I guess in her mind she thought "well I am a sister too, so I can eat the cheeto things too!"  What a smart little girl! 

 So...of course I had to give her one (or a few) because technically she was right!  We have since started calling them Kiera's snacks! 

What a happy little cheeto eater!

Kiera 9 months!

 Our baby girl is 9 months old!  It seems like with this second child, time is just flying by and we are lost trying to keep up with our two kiddos.  Kiera has been growing and progressing so fast over the past month and it has been fun to see her get a personality all of her own!

Her trademark smile makes me so happy and makes all the cares in the world just melt away! She loves to laugh!

She loves to clap and clasp her hands together. She can now wave (with some prompting and help) but she will usually get her hand up there when we say bye-bye.

This is her other trademark face, she just stares, taking it all in I guess!  Or thinking, oh boy my sister is crazy! She babbles all day long and says: ma ma ma, da da da, and other consonants but hey those are the most important right!  I can almost say for certain that I have heard her say "Jade" in there too! 

She now rolls from front to back and back to front and all over the floor! I can now no longer leave her alone anywhere, she can get to anything!  Now the fun really begins, with 2 mobile children to chase! She also does this scooting thing where she will push herself up on her hands while on her belly and scoot backwards.  Has not mastered going forward yet or getting her knees up under her, but she is well on her way!

Eats most table foods now and loves her big rice crackers!  She can devour these and her teething biscuits in 30 seconds flat! No teeth yet, I am sure they are coming though because we have sleepless nights and very onry days when nothing will soothe her but biting on stuff. She loves to eat and has mastered her pincer grasp to put small food and (objects) in her mouth.  Her favorite objects are the toys Jade so kindly leaves out for her!

Still loves her bouncer.  I know this pic looks kind of weird but it illustrates our point that she observes everything!  She just stares up at our coats and bounces away. Maybe it is fun?!

 Kiera's 9 month stats:

Height: 28 1/4 inches. (70th)

Weight: 20 lbs. 7 oz (75th)

Head: 46 1/2 cm (96th)--she is going to be one smart cookie!

The doctor was a little worried about her weight and height, said my milk was probably not sufficient for her anymore. So he said to go ahead with table foods and supplement with formula if needed.  I think the real problem is that she is such a silly eater, she will latch on for about 10 seconds then quit, then repeat that cycle until we are both so frustrated!  I am sure she is not getting enough milk, but hopefully her distractedness will settle down soon so she can gain some weight!  

WE LOVE YOU KIERA BEAR!

Jade's Creative Adventures!

Anyone care to guess what happens when you combine this...

with this funny girl...

Yep, you guessed it!  We get super curly hair that is extra greasy...these curls stayed nice and tight for over a week!

We get fun new food creations and cooking goo...

We get a new form of super glue! These lids were so stuck together, it was fun to get them apart!

We also got loads of laughs (after the fact)  that our 2 year old decided to "paint" her room and most everything she could reach with an entire jar of Vaseline!  I know you are dying, so here is the story. 

I wish we would have gotten more pictures, but in the heat of the event, we were thinking of how to clean the mess up, not how cute it all was.  

So, Jade had been sick with a nasty cold and sore throat, of course her nose was very runny, and with a runny nose comes a raw red nose.  Being the good parents that we are, we put Vaseline under her nose before she went to bed one night to help ease the rawness.  Then we put her to bed, put the Vaseline back where it had been since she was born (on top of her bookshelf).  The next morning she was sleeping in extra late and I thought it was weird, she never sleeps until 9am but I had not heard one peep out of her room so I kept working around the house.  Well, about 9:15am I hear this little voice saying something from under her door, so I go in there only to be greeted by the greasiest, shiniest little girl you have ever seen!  She had her pajamas half off and had lubed up her body, hair, anywhere you could think of with Vaseline.  I began to panic and it was a good thing Ben was going in late to work that day, so he could help me.  We found the jar of Vaseline completely empty and as we began examining things in her room, she had not missed much!  Her dollies had Vaseline under their noses (you know in case they were hurting too!), her blankets were coated, the floor was greasy, and her new Cinderbrella play dresses were spotted with grease.  Not to mention most of the food and dishes in her toy kitchen were very nicely greased up.  We immediately just threw her in the bath tub, but water is no enemy to Vaseline!  Ben scrubbed and scrubbed with soap and water and finally she was as clean as we could get her.  She was very well hydrated and had baby soft skin for a few days after!  After getting Jade cleaned up we set about her room, we found that baby wipes work super well at getting Vaseline off things (probably because of the alcohol in them!).  Ben tirelessly scrubbed her clothes with rubbing alcohol and got the greasy stains out of most everything but her blankets.  Upon investigating further, Jade showed us exactly how she had gotten to the Vaseline. She just pulled climbed up her toy shelves and reached super hard to get the top of her bookshelf. How did she get so tall all of a sudden??!!

Anyway, lesson learned....we have now moved everything within Jade's reach or anything that might even be possibly close, to a safe locked place.  

And, she now uses her creative painting skills in the bathtub, with washable finger paints!  I still have nightmares that she is laying in her bed, dreaming about what mischief she can get into next, what can she try...

 

New Years 2012 Ravioli Dinner

Each year on New Year's my family gets together to make our annual italian dinner. We make homemade ravioli, sauce, bona cota and polenta all from scratch.  It takes a long time and the entire family pitches in to help. 

This was Jade's first year to help and she loved the job! It was so fun to be able to share this tradition with my children! It is something I love and look forward to every year!

Filling the ravioli...

Jade was a good helper...

Cassie and Ciara stretching the dough...

A.P. made a delicious mushroom, tomatoe, cheese concoction to put in some of the ravioli.

Kiera bear had fun just visiting with everyone.

Jade and Micah rolling out the dough!  These 2 were quite the little helpers!

The ones who started it all...Thanks for the memories and yummy family tradition!



Just some random fun at our house...

Fun with Jello! It is fun watching Jade and Kiera try new things for the first time.  I suppose it is like being a kid all over again!  Jade had way too much fun slurping her jello.

Kiera was cheering her on!  

This is how we find Jade each night after she falls asleep. How does she sleep on all of those books? She always has to go to bed with her pile and usually reads until she drops!

Don't you think she is a little young to shave, Daddy?  Kiera has lots of fun helping Daddy get ready in the morning!

Almost as tall as sister...Kiera is trying so hard to catch up with big sister! I cannot believe how fast my baby girl is growing.



Snow!!!

We had to travel up to Wyoming to play in the snow since we have not had any this year!  It has been quite an abnormal year with the weather, which is too bad because Jade has been obsessed with Frosty the Snowman and has been so excited to build one of her own snowmen.  So when we went to visit Grandma and Grandpa, Jade finally got to play in the snow (or what little they had too)!  She had so much fun stomping around in it with her new boots, she just laughed and laughed!

 She loved making snowballs with Grandma....however, Grandma would make them and Jade would look at them, promptly drop it on the ground and stomp it to bits!  Funny girl!

She liked playing on this hill of ice the best and kept trying to climb to the top.

A shot I could not resist, isn't she such a cutie  in her new panda hat?



"Papa, fix it!"

Well, we tried, we really did.  The binky has got to go, we know it is time, but convincing Jade of that is a different story. It seems lately that she is more attached to it than ever. It has always been her comfort thing, she never has had a special blanky or doll, she has always turned to her "beebee" as she calls it. 

We tried just going cold turkey and cutting it off, telling her it was broken, because she understands the concept now of broken. But, all she kept saying was, "Papa, fix it, fix it!"  After explaining to her a few times that it was broken she seemed okay and even helped us throw it in the trash.   But after a few hours of crying, we gave her another one. We were not ready to deal with the drama, we are trying to make too many changes at our house.  She just switched to sleeping in her big girl bed, we need to get Kiera sleeping through the night in the crib, not warming up her milk anymore, sharing our toys with little sister, and on and on.  So this was a battle we lost this time, but the time will come to say goodbye forever to the "beebee."

Christmas 2011 Part 2

Since Christmas this year was with the Ben's family, we stayed in Orem.  On Christmas Day we headed over to his parent's house to celebrate, open gifts and have a nice family dinner.  It was quite an eventful day and I think with all of the excitement going on, Jade was super hyper. 

Cousins!  I couldn't resist getting a picture of these 2!  

So serious!  Kiera sporting her new hat from Aunt Heidi and Uncle Michael.

See what I mean! Jade was diving off tables, falling down stairs, and just generally getting into all sorts of mischief!  I think it might have had something to do with all the candy and sugar from all the Chrismas goodies!



She was so excited because she finally got to eat her house that she made!  (or Mom and Aunt Kaeli made!!) Her first pick...yep the M&M wreath!  This is one girl that is crazy about M&M's!

 

I managed to get all the Wilson grandkids on the couch for a quick pic!  Truly a miracle!  Aren't they so cute!

They love playing together too!  The older girls are so great with the young ones.  

Jade with Aiden, these two are almost exactly one year apart in age.

Couldn't resist getting a picture of Aunt Heidi sporting her pink, zerbra striped Santa hat!

One of Jade's favorite gifts of the day, her Cinderbrella cell phone!  She spent a long time talking to Cinderbrella! Thanks Grandma!