Nolan: 3 months old

Nolan turned 3 months on September 6th. He is still a happy, chunky, chill little boy. He is growing more every day and is so fun. Here's what happened this month:

Eats: He definitely went through a little growth spurt this month. He now eats 6 ounces every 4 hours and sometimes wants it even sooner... Such a piggy. If he is super tired sometimes he will not finish his bottle but that is rare. He is a good eater, he chugs down his bottle in record time. We make him stop in the middle to burp him and he does not like that. He is still bad at burping: he puts up such a fuss when being burped. And he will still only burp once or twice. He spits up some, more depending on which brand of formula we are using. I blame it on his lack of burps but it doesn't seem to bother him.

Sleeps: He is a great sleeper! He basically sleeps through the night: from about 9:30 PM to 6-6:30 AM and then, because I'm not a morning person, we both usually go back to sleep until about 9:30 AM. (I know I'm so spoiled). During the day he will doze between 12-2, napping for about an hour and a half or somewhere in there and then takes a long nap in the afternoon (for like 3 hours). Sometimes he squeezes in a cat nap before he gets his bottle and goes to bed around 9-9:30. He is really good at falling asleep on him own. Whenever he get tired I snuggle him a little bit then lay him in his crib and he will fall asleep.

Plays: This month he started batting at his toys on the play mat gym and playing with them more. He rolled over for the first time on August 29th but hasn't done it since. He rolled from his stomach to back. He is a very vocal baby: he coos and goos and "talks" quite a bit.

Likes: He really likes to listen to music toys. My grandparents gave him this little doll that sings songs and he likes to look at its face and listen. He also really enjoys his baths. He just hunkers down in his seat and likes the warm water on him. Bathtime is a good way to keep him awake and happy if he ware trying to keep him up before bedtime. He also loves getting his diaper changed. Whenever I'm changing him he grins at me... I feel like it's his way of saying thank you.

Dislikes: He is still not fond of his car seat. He also doesn't really enjoy tummy time.

Also: He met his Great Grandma & Grandpa Goulding this month for the first time. As well as some extended relatives on the Goulding side. He also went to his first baseball game. He is super smiley and he is happy the majority of time. He still has some skin issues on his cheeks that we are working to resolve. He has really big hands-- a lot of people comment on them and they have been big since he was born. In fact right after he was born a couple of the doctors commented on how big they are, so that's how I know they really are big because those doctors see so many babies. His hair is thinning out a little which makes me sad but his eyes are definitely still blue which I love!

foto friday

(taken 9.5)

naked. play lipstick all over her face and tummy. sitting on the counter. eating shredded cheese by the handful. 

YUP.

weekend review

Some really fun things happened last weekend:
#1 The Taylors came in town! We welcomed them back to Provo with open arms and wished they were back to stay. But no, they are still putting down roots in California and yes, we are already making trip plans to go see them. Nonetheless it was great to have them back for the weekend. We grabbed dinner before the football game and saw them at the game and then they came and stayed with us on Sunday. We had a fun day just hanging out. We went to church, had dinner, watched tv, played with the kids, and Whitney and I canned salsa and jam! We were busy in the kitchen. then we topped it off with some late night waffles and School of Rock. We love them and miss them already!

#2 The football game. Thursday August 30th BYU had their season opener against WSU and the team looks pretty good! Paul and I got to go to the game and sat in the vivint box for the first half then went down to the 4th row end zone for the last half. We saw friends and family, ate a cougar tail, and BYU won so it was a successful night.

#3 We went camping in our backyard. Paul has been dieing to go camping since he got our new tenet for his birthday and we were going to go up the canyon but all the spot were already reserved for labor day weekend so we decided to camp closer to home. The Turnbulls and Hancocks and Rebekah joined us and we all cooked food over the fire pit and stayed up late. We decided to keep Nolan inside since the monitor would reach and Paul was SO excited to sleep with Caitlin in the tent. Unfortunately it was a little TOO exciting for Caitlin and she wouldn't settle down at all to go to sleep. Finally Paul asked her "fine do you just want to go inside to go to bed?!" thinking of course she'd say no.. but instead she responded "yes, inside. nigh nigh"hmmm... well ok then. So both of our kids turned out to be non-campers but Paul and I and Rebekah slept in our tent. That night there was a crazy loud thunderstorm all night. It was intense. So we got little sleep but we did stick it out and the tent proved itself to be water tight and warm. In the morning we all had pancakes and swapped stories of sleeping in the storm.

#4 Labor Day: We went up to Paul's aunt and uncle's house in Ogden and got to hang out with family and god swimming and have lunch and play in their yard. Paul also talked to his uncle (who is a surgeon) about the pain he had been having in his foot and turns out: he has a stress fracture in his foot. (this, by the way, is not included in the "really fun things that happened this weekend" category) So, Paul got a boot and has to use that and crutches for 4-6 weeks. He is really sad because this means he won't be able to run the marathon with his brothers and parents. major bummer. Also just the fact that wearing around an itchy hot boot and crutches is not fun. His bright side is that he will be recovered for major hunting season.

joys of motherhood: August

-As this month marked some big events and then the end of summer, we all got busy and we had lots of fun. I finally feel like I've pretty much got my feet under me being a mom of two, although it still gets crazy sometimes. I have good days and bad days... like everyone else. I told Paul that my life is in a constant state of being either in control or completely out of control but the time it takes to go from one or the other is about 2 minutes. That's about how long it takes for me to go from feeling good and everything's going great to both kids screaming and me wondering when it's naptime/bedtime/time for Paul to come home. Luckily all things are temporary and we flow back in control eventually.
-Caitlin has been playing with neighbor kids all the time. Which she LOVES. Those kids can wear her out and get her ready for a nap way better than i can!
-There is a delicate balance of energy usage for Caitlin in order to have a successful day: if she hasn't used up enough of her energy: she's cranky and doesn't want to take a nap. If she's used up too much: she's cranky and too tired to take a nap. It's all about using the right amount for a happy Caitlin, good nap and happy mom.
-Target was a little cursed for us this month. Not good trips there, not good kids and not good looks from surrounding people. Hopefully this will resolve quickly because we all know how much i love target.
-One night we were having a litte dance party and Paul was picking Caitlin up and dancing with her. She kept saying "baby! baby!"So we would pick Nolan up and dance with him two and all four of us were dancing but this didn't seem to be what she wanted. Finally we figured out that SHE wanted to dance with Nolan so we helped her hold him and she danced around with him. It was really cute.
-Caitlin is ALWAYS taking her shoes off. She knows she has to put them on to go outside so she will but then as soon as she gets outside or in the car she takes them off. It's a wonder we haven't lost any. Even the nursery leaders at church commented on how much she liked to take them off.
-One day I was consoling Nolan in car as he was screaming in his car seat (unfortunately pretty common) so i was saying "Nolan.. you're ok, you're ok Nolan..." and such and then I stopped. Right after I stopped Caitlin started saying "Nolan... oh day... oh day Nolan" in the same tone that I was. It was s cute to hear her try to console him.
-Caitlin is still pretty impossible to discipline. The only thing that will get her attention is having her go to her room. If she's bad she has to go in there with the door shut and stay in there by herself until I go in and talk to her and she says she's sorry (she only stays in for a few minutes) but this is the only thing i have found to work most of the time and when I say "do you need to go to your room?" she says no and will stop so i don't have to actually have her go in too often. Only problem is that this doesn't work if she's acting up in public because obviously her room isn't around. hmmm 

When it all comes down to it... i think i still have the cutest kids ever.

neither here nor there

my instagram pics from August:

Caitlin: 2 years old

My little girl is 2 years old. It seems so surreal. Ever since we found out we were pregnant with Nolan we had been thinking Caitlin would be "almost 2" when he was born. Then for the last like 4 months we've been saying she's "almost 2" and now that almost is real. She's officially 2 and I'm a little bit in denial about it.

Caitlin is just a fun little girl. She IS fun and she likes to HAVE fun, all day long with no stops preferably. She has a mind and personality of her own and as soon as she decides you're OK, she will show it to you (there is usually a little 10 minute window in which you think shes being shy but really she's deciding if you are going to earn her approval or not.. you have to earn it with her. But 9 times out of 10 she warms up). She is usually a happy girl and one if my favorite things about her is how inclusive she is. If someone is doing something she wants everyone to be doing it. If she shows one person something she wants to show everyone. She likes to make sure everyone is around and having fun with her. She likes having attention but doesn't always like to perform. She can be very independent but she usually doesn't like doing things by herself. If she can have someone with her she wants that, so she still wants me to always play with her or go places with her or walk around the house with her.

She is, and really always has been, a busy body. Even watching tv is an interactive event for her: she wants to talk about everything going on and point things out and climb on you in between snuggling and have a snack and/or drink. She has more energy than I think she knows what to do with. She is an expert climber and is constantly surprising me with her abilities and new tricks.

She is a chatterbox... always talking about something whether we can understand her or not. Silence is usually not a good sign. I think she is talking pretty well for her age, and she has actually improved a ton even just in the last couple of weeks. She can say lots of things and is starting to combine more words together to form full ideas. She definitely learns more everyday and surprises me with things i didn't even know that she knew. Like the other day when she was playing in her room and I was next door in the baby's room and she counted from 5-10. Here i was concentrating on making sure she knew 1-5 but turns out she knows all the way to 10. She is also learning a lot of colors and as always her animal vocabulary is quite extensive. She says "hi" all the time... comes around a corner and says hi, sees a new person and says hi, wants to get your attention and says hi. My favorite is when I come in to get her in the morning or from a nap and she hos right up and says "hi!". She is super stubborn. When she gets an idea in her head of something she wants, she WILL NOT let it go, no matter how may times you tell her no or try to distract her. She will repeat that over and over. She is very determined. And she's really smart. She has to decide to do something herself before she will do it.

She loves music: she likes to sing songs and just recently has she decided to sing along. I think she's probably known the words for awhile but now she has decided she wants to sing and it is super cute.  She also likes listening to music and dancing. She is a messy messy child. If there is an opportunity to make a mess in any situation, she will. We will have no clothes to pass on from this stage because they are all stained and ruined. She is still very curious, ever since she was a baby.

She is a champion snacker, but not a great meal eater. She rather just snack all day and even when she eats a meal she will eat better if she is distracted. This gives me anxiety because I don't want her to be picky and of course I mostly want her to eat good things so she can be healthy so that's my biggest challenge. She has a major sweet tooth and LOVES any form of candy or dessert. But, she seems to be growing fine full of goldfish crackers and blueberries or whatever other snack she chooses. 

Last but definitely not least, she is a great sleeper. Unfortunately naps are getting a little shorter and a little more few and far between, but sometimes its nice not to completely have to plan around nap time. Most days she will still nap for an hour to two hours and then at night she is great: goes down at about 8:30 and doesn't wake up til between 9:30-10. I love our lazy mornings.

If it's not obvious enough: we love our little girl. Paul and I are completely obsessed with her and she is really a shining light in our house. She is a daddy's girl and has him wrapped around her finger for sure. She makes things interesting in every way possible and she is a really fun mix of both Paul and my personality. It has been a joy watching her grow up thus far and seeing her take on a new role of being a big sister, which she has been great at. We think she's pretty amazing, and that she will make a fantastic 2 year old!

 

 

 

the bday

On Caitlin's actual birthday (Monday the 27th) I wanted to have a fun day together focused on her. I thought about doing doing something big and exciting or going somewhere new but then i thought about what she would really enjoy and instead we stayed pretty close to home and did really simple things. I tried to slow down, put my agenda aside and just enjoy the day with my new little 2 year old.
Here's what we did:

-Paul and I went into her room in the morning with bubbles and balloons to get her up and sang Happy Birthday. Then we brought her out to see her big birthday gift: a bike! Caitlin is obsessed with bikes. She loves pointing one out whenever she sees one and watching all kids ride theirs so we knew it was time to get her one. We got her the "balance bike".. its basically a tiny bike with no pedals so the kid sits on it and scoots with their feet and learns balance and then you move then straight to a normal bike. We added streamers and a princess bell and she was so excited as soon as she saw it. She wanted to ride it right away and of course put on her "princess hat" (helmet). It's still a little big but she likes it and she will get the hang of it. 

-Giant pink mickey mouse pancake with chocolate chips for breakfast.

-Played outside and rode her bike more.

-Went to Cabela's to see all the animals, especially the fish. Never thought I'd be taking my little girl to Cabela's for a special birthday outing but we did, and she LOVED it. We definitely saw and talked about every single animal there.

-Came home for a little nap. After she woke up we did makeup and dress ups (some of her birthday gifts from her party). This is what she did when I told her to pucker:

-Went to pizza with Daddy, Cassie, Jenna, Melissa, Garth and Madison. Ate yummy pizza and opened up and played with a few more gifts.

-Had a treat (a sucker.. another one of her favorite things in the world).

-Played some more then went to bed.

sea 2 sea

Caitlin has been obsessed with fish and water for the past little while so for her party this year we did a "sea 2 sea" underwater/nautical theme. Everything was in the backyard and we basically just had water balloons, bubbles and sprinklers and just let the kids run around and play and get wet. We also did a little fishing booth which the kids got really into, and we had lunch: "submarine" sandwiches, goldfish crackers, blue jello, a watermelon boat, and cupcakes. We had about 15 kids there and some parents and Caitlin was in heaven. Caitlin got some darling gifts and was a little shy but loved it when everyone sang happy birthday to her. She knew just what to do to blow out the candle and then after she wanted to do it again. So we let her blow it out twice since she turned two! She loved the cupcakes and the goldfish crackers and ate way too much candy. It was a fun party for a very fun little girl.