ian turns 4

it's hard to believe that it's been (over) 4 years since i brought my sweet little boy into this world.  he is still sweet, but no longer so little.  gah.  4?!  well, maybe he is still little... at his 4 year check-up he weighed in at 34 lbs and is 39.5" which put him in the 25-50%.  he also had a hearing test- he failed on the right ear 4 times, so we are still waiting to see what the next step will be for that.  for his actual birthday he chose to go to super bounce at the mall and then he wanted to eat chinese for dinner while watching turbo.  not a bad day for a 4 year old!

it's really amazing to see how much he's grown over the last 4 years... i mean, i can tell how much bigger he's gotten just since isla was born.  it makes my heart ache a little bit!  he doesn't like to sit still- it's been hard to get him to focus on doing learning activities- i often wonder if i'm putting him at a disadvantage by not working on these things with him, but it's hard to get him to focus.  he does know the alphabet, and he can count to 10, and he gets a little mixed up counting to 20.  he knows his name, our names, his birthday, where he lives, colors, shapes.  i have been working with him on writing his name (it's short, so it shouldn't be that hard)!  he loves to read, but usually only wants to read in his room at bedtime.  he loves playing sports, and hopefully it will be warm enough to start playing outside soon b\c this kid is dying to have some fresh air!  he loves superheroes and ninja turtles, and cars and trains and lots of boy stuff.  he loves to sing songs, and i find it amazing that he memorizes them so quickly!  he has quite a sense of humor and a kind heart.  he is a wonderful big brother and he really loves his sister so much!  he is a people pleaser and he is very stubborn.  he hates to see you mad at him, but he really just wants to have his way.  i love this kid so much!

we decided to have a ninja turtles party for his 4th birthday.  i used my dear friend pinterest for ideas and i think we put together a pretty good party, there was pizza, and hamburger cupcakes and all sorts of ninja fun!

 party favors!

 turtle lanterns

 ooze 

 ninja turtle fruit/veggie trays (we had one for all the turtles)

 hamburger cupcakes

 the birthday boy's cupcake

 

cousins!

 

 captain america

pictures from his actual birthday

 turtle power!

 isla looks like she's wondering if ian is going to shank her

and to make me cry:

 a day old

1st birthday

2nd birthday

3rd birthday!

sigh!

isla - 7 months & 8 months

now that isla is back to a normal sleeping schedule, dave & i are sleeping again too.  everyone is happy.  this girl still refuses to nap- i don't know how an almost 9 month old can stay awake from anywhere from 7-10am all the way until 10pm, but this girl has mastered that skill.  isla turned 7 months old on january 17  and 8 months old february 17.  here's what she's been up to.

isla celebrated her first christmas- it was pretty non-eventful as she was just 6 months old.  she got plenty of books, clothes and toys- but she was more concerned about being held and loved on.  check.  we left the the warmness of atlanta once again to return to the frozen wasteland we now call our home.  for the love... it is now mid-march and we are still facing sub-freezing temperatures and snow.  we're only 10" away from the all-time snow record, and we are not going to get a repeat of the 80 degree st. patty's day from 2012.  i really just want to leave my house, but it's too cold.  while we were in atlanta, both of the kids were sick and a call to our dr. was asking us to take them to urgent care.  of course, none of the urgent care facilities around there would see isla, so we were able to find a dr to see them that afternoon.  that was an unusual experience as we left with no explanations and a bunch of prescriptions.  after seeing dr. nick, we decided to schedule an appt. to see our regular dr. a few hours after arriving home- the kids had just caught colds and we were able to toss the prescriptions.  sigh. 

we celebrated ian's 4th birthday in january- and isla enjoyed that because it was more time for her to be held and cuddled.  i took both of the kids (with dave's help) to the pediatrician and isla had her 6 month check up.  the ped told us that she sounded like she had maybe had a touch of rsv at some point, but was sounding really good.  she was weighing in at 12 lbs 7 oz, and i am unsure of the length.  weight is less than 2% and height was less than 5%.  she also had her shots and caught up on some others.  i've decided that while i'll probably keep her up to date on them- that i will not do that many shots again.  my doctor is willing to let me space them out how i choose.  there is no telling what caused the craziness the last 2 months- but a lot of it started shortly after...  we decided to start solids shortly after this and that was met with zero success.  after the first 10-15 attempts, i was beginning to think she wasn't going to be interested in eating.  she was nursing well though, so i wasn't as worried.  we had tried oatmeal, avocados and sweet potatoes with no luck!   sometime in february, i took her to see the pediatrician again because she kept coughing and throwing up- and although her check up came back as "perfect", it was her weight that had me a little nervous- she weighed in at 12 lbs 10 oz- only 3 oz gained in 3 weeks.  the ped told me that i should try a fruit with her, and they would re-check her weight at her 9 month appointment.  we decided to try applesauce for her- and she loves it.  i have learned that what they say about 2nd children and so on is true.  with ian, we tried all the fruits and veggies to schedule and i had made all of them.  with isla- we're still eating applesauce- if i remember to feed it to her... oh, boy.

on february 1, isla went from daily yoga to movement!  she had been pushing up on her arms, and then her hands and knees since late december... and finally she crawled!  it really doesn't take long to really get moving- now she is so fast, you can't turn your back for a minute!  later that week she started sitting unassisted as well.  the doctor at her sick visit said she though she would be walking by 10 months- we'll see!  time has just flown too fast!

 plank!

 celebrating christmas in georgia

 giving me the stink eye

 opening christmas presents!

 christmas planking!

 4 generations 

 my heart = bursting

 nap time with gg

 ooh, new toys!

 with gg & pop

 playing nice!

 sunday best!

 brother's birthday

 hanging with dad

 all smiles!

  valentine's day!

isla - 6 months

isla turned 6 months old on december 17th.  how has it seriously been half a year since my life changed again!?  i can't believe i have a baby who is old enough to start trying food, sitting on her own and learning to crawl... not that she's doing any of these things, but still... what?!

isla celebrated her first thanksgiving.  this year we decided to have thanksgiving with my family in georgia since we have not been there on thanksgiving since right after dave & i got married.  i really dreaded how isla was going to do on the trip, so we decided that it would be best to leave in the evening after her last feeding and then just see how it went from there.  we had dinner at our house with dave's mom, fed isla, then we got the kids in their pjs and hit the road.  she actually slept pretty well until we hit some road construction in indiana where we of course couldn't pull off.  she cried all through that and then went right back to sleep.  she slept pretty much from then until her normal wake time and we stopped for breakfast and fed her and then were back on our way.  we had a great week(end) and isla just loved being spoiled by everyone!  she woke up in time to see georgia beat tech and managed to stay calm while everyone lost their mind when auburn beat bama.  oh, college football.

that's about all i can think of for this month, but the pictures are the important part anyway.

hanging out with her buddy sophie.  isla loves sophie way more than ian ever did.

sitting with pop on thanksgiving morning

chatting with gigi

 giving adam and heather a little baby practice (!!)

 

6 months old!

this is about how pictures go these days...

isla - 5 months

i am not sure what i've been doing for the last month, but it hasn't been blogging.  we moved into a new house just over a month ago and we love it.  we are almost completely finished unpacking- and if we ever finish peeling the wallpaper border down from the master bedroom- we might actually paint in there and move our furniture in instead of sleeping on the floor on our mattress. i might write a post about our house one day- so stay tuned!

isla turned 5 months old on november 17th.  this was a rough month for us.  i don't know if it was the move, a wonder week, or what, but she was crazy.  things have settled (esp with her) and now she is just the happiest baby ever- but this past month her sleep schedule was all jacked up, she was fussy and just plain crazy.  no doctor's appointments this month, so i am guessing that her weight is probably around 12 lbs.  she finally mastered rolling over from her back to her belly- but the first time she did it was in her pack n play at 1 am in a fit of rage.  she's let us see her roll over since and now, just like ian, she prefers to sleep on her belly.  she is still nursing well- but is starting to show an interest in what we are eating.  she doesn't really sleep much during the day, despite my efforts, but she does sleep at night for maybe 10 hours?  we almost have her room ready- so i think she'll be moving in there pretty soon, but we've got to figure out how to get it warmer in there.  it's an icebox! 

i can't believe it's been 5 months already.  it seems crazy that it's been that long, yet it seems like it's been forever.

 someone did not like trying out the chair for the first time...

 almost 2 feet tall!

 halloween cheerleader

 post-trick or treating exhaustion

 cute little georgia fans during the auburn game!

5 months old and full of smiles!