Sleep time

Just wanted to share how my kids like to sleep and how they fall asleep at this point in their lives... mainly so that we ourselves can remember down the line. 

Brooklyn loves to read a book or two or three just before laying down in her bed. She loves to have her little princess couch (which unfolds into a little bed) IN her bed so that she can sleep on both her couch AND her bed. For nighttime, she just has to be left alone to go to sleep and it usually takes her about an hour to finally fall sleep (although sometimes, it can take her over two hours). She loves having ALL of her blankets in her bed, too. But, I always have to re-tuck her in after she falls asleep as she always dumps her blankets over the side of her bed or is laying on top of them instead of under them. For naps, at least lately, I have her go to bed immediately after lunch for "quiet time" while I finish feeding Josh and puting him to bed as well. Then, I go into her room and, because she is always still awake then, I offer her my back or tummy scratching services in exchange for her laying down, closing her eyes and being very still. In just 3 minutes or less, she is always asleep. :)

Joshua hasn't had a very stable sleeping schedule until just recently (he'd been off and on sick for the past several weeks). He will normally take two naps a day and today was the first time I left him to fall asleep on his own for both naps... which he did successfully!! So proud!  We'd been putting him to bed at night before he falls sleep for the past several days, and he would fall alseep so easily on his own that I just had to try it out during the day, too. I hope he will continue to be good at falling asleep on his own. It was truly hard on me to let go of rocking him to sleep every night and 2-3 times a day. I guess I just felt like I needed to make up for time lost he spent in a hard cold hospital bed instead of in my arms, or better yet, in my belly! I guess I've made it up to him by now. :) Josh, too, likes having blankets surrounding him, and, since his room has a huge window in it, it gets pretty cold in there and those extra blankets come in handy on those super cold nights.

More Girly Every Day

Brooklyn has become more and more girly every day. She loves having tea parties with Mommy and Daddy, but absolutely goes nuts when she gets to have a tea party with one of her friends. Her friend from Church/School came over on Saturday and she immediately asked her if she wanted to have a tea party. Lily, being more girly than Brooklyn, said yes, of course, and then suggested they get dressed up... "Great idea, Lily!" says Brooklyn. So they raided Brooklyn's closet and chose their favorite Sunday dresses to wear (as Brooklyn didn't have any dress up clothes just yet) and asked for hairbows to match.

What lovely little girls!

Then, Grandpa (Papoo as Brooklyn calls him) came to visit bringing along Christmas again. And, what does Brooklyn get from Grandma and Papoo?? Dress up clothes!! Her very first dressup dress and her very first Barbiedoll. She wanted to wear her dress today and then she mentioned that she isn't a princess because she doesn't have a crown like her Barbie. So, we made a crown. :)

Joshua is moving...

I thought I would update all y'all on Joshua since his next update will be his ONE YEAR BIRTHDAY!!! That's right, my little preemie turns one next month! I absolutely cannot believe it! It really snuck up on me.

So, what is Joshy-boy up to these days? Well, he is still learning to crawl. He has developed a means of mobility I can only call "army crawling" as it is closer to that than anything I've seen. But, it is pretty fun to watch (see video).

He is officially strictly formula fed now, as I finally ran out of breastmilk from the deep freezer. He actually had his last bottle of breastmilk on New Years Eve. New year, new food, I guess. He can also eat almost anything now, inlcuding meats, and even food from the table that is healthy enough, small enough, and soft enough. He has his preferences, too. He wants what he wants and when he wants it. Sometimes I will end up opening three different tubs of food that I know he likes before I finally get it right. He loves baby food green veggies, baby food purple fruits, canned green beans, kiwi, and real bananas (not the baby food bananas). He also loves feeding himself (which he has been really good at for some time).

He last weighed in right at 17 lbs., and barely fits in his 9 month old clothes now. He mostly wears 12 month clothes because he is very broad chested (like his Daddy) and has a long body. He poops regularly now (which is a big deal as he has had some issues with that in the past). He is growing more hair on his head than Brooklyn was at this point (but that is not really saying much) and it is brown... not blonde like his sisters. He has the brightest blue eyes I've ever seen and I get lost in them all day.

He laughs, immitates sounds, plays with toys (especially cars and trucks), and adores his big sister (who also adores him just the same). He is very curious, too. He'll watch something that makes sounds or lights up and he furrows his brow as if he is trying to figure it out. He cries when he thinks he is alone in the room and is instantly cheered up by the appearance of his big sister (if me or Matt appear, he will just fuss until we pick him up). He prefers to be held most of the time, which has made Brooklyn just a little jealous, to the point that she asked me to hold and rock her to sleep like I do for Josh.

To sum up, Josh is a healthy little baby boy who has come a long way from the little 3 lb 8 oz preemie almost 11 months ago. We all love and adore his perfect little face and his big precious smile.