Friday, February 24, 2023

8 Months

8 Months with Little Girl! She truly lights up our little world and she is everyone's favorite.
Here's what McCall is up to at 8 months:

  • She is a cruising machine. She loves her new found love of scooting around. It's pretty much a scooting army crawl and she is fast! She now explores the entire house and it has made me have to keep my floors extra clean since she finds the smallest crumb or garbage.
  • She is much more smiley and lights up when anyone walks in the room. She is starting to get a little leery of strangers but still mostly goes to anyone that will hold her.
  • She loves to eat food and try anything that you will give her. She can eat a jar of baby food in one sitting and she also loves yogurt and ice cream. She has also tried some "big people" food like mashed up avocado and beans and mashed potatoes. You can tell when she really likes something since she whines between each bite because you aren't feeding her fast enough.
  • She is still great at nursing and that is still her main source of food. 
  • She is starting to fight going to sleep a little more and the best way to get her to sleep is by nursing her. She arches her body when she is really fighting it especially for naps if she isn't quite ready.
  • She wakes up usually 2 times at night to nurse but goes right back to sleep. She usually goes to sleep between 7 and 8 and is awake around 8 with a feeding at 11 and then at 4. Some nights I get lucky and she will only do one feeding. 
  • She doesn't like to be on her back for very long and as soon as you put her down she rolls right over and loves to be able to explore the world and look around being on her belly. This has made diaper changes challenging and an adventure with one wiggly little girl. And the funny thing is if you keep holding her down she shakes her head like saying no and it is so cute.
  • She loves blowing raspberries!
  • She can sit on her own but is not good at sitting for very long since she just wants to get down and scoot around. She hasn't figured out how to transition from sitting to the ground and just falls over so we do a lot of sitting practice with me catching her over and over and sitting her back up.
  • She loves to be thrown up in the air by Nate and this is when she laughs the most.
  • She still loves to be held but is not cuddly. She wants you to walk around with her so she can see the world.
  • She loves to grab anything is sight and most of the time whatever she grabs goes right in the mouth. She did have a scary choking incident but luckily Nate was able to pound on her back and the object came out. 
  • She is pretty good at whining when she wants to be picked up and will scoot to her feet and whine until she gets picked up.
  • She still loves the water and kicks her legs like crazy in the bath. She got her first bath in Nona and Pop's kitchen sink this week and kept the tradition alive. 
Tradition of bathing in the kitchen sink at Nona and Pop's house- I'm pretty sure all of the grandkids have done this though I couldn't quite find a picture of all of them. Starting at the top left going right (Cade, Mikey, Sam, Baylor, Lily, Brett, Corgan, Peyton, Carly, Paige, Oneil, and Eliza with McCall in the middle)
McCall loved her bath! She had quite the audience and wanted to suck and chew on whatever she could get her hands on. She splashed and got everyone around her wet and kept sinking lower and lower into the sink. It was a fun family affair!
Towards the end she would rest her foot on the sink and it was the cutest thing!
Just straight up chillin'!
Got a picture of her sitting up and she was so serious for the camera. We took SO many photos just trying to get her to smile.
The head band stage is pretty much over since this is what happens as soon as you put one on. :)
I got a few gummy smiles in the morning and that sweet face just melts me and I just love, love her hair that just stands straight up all the time.
She is a scooting pro but does get up on her knees like she is going to crawl but before moving goes back down and she also does baby planks all the time too.
I could kiss that face all day and I just love my little miracle baby so much!
She decided to take a "nap" at 7 instead of going to bed and was awake for a couple hours and wanted to party to celebrate her 8 months of being in our lives and didn't go to bed until 11 but she was super happy and I got a few more smiley pajama pictures before going to bed. The crooked smile just cracks me up and is so cute! 
She is truly growing up SO fast but I'm loving every minute of it even if on a daily basis I wish that time would slow down (even though I am excited for warmer weather and all the fun we are going to have outside and at the beach!)

Tuesday, February 21, 2023

Valentine's Day

Holidays with kids are magical and so much fun! Baylor has been so excited for Valentine's Day for weeks now. She has a countdown in her room that Paige helped her create and she has a secret hiding place behind one of the chairs in our family room that she has been hiding gifts and cards that she has made over the weeks. The day before while Paige was at school, Baylor spent the day decorating for the big day. She made cute signs to hang all over the dining room and even made a love maze out of some big paper that she taped to the ground.
Nate went to work late so he could be there for the morning fun and Baylor came into our room a little after 7 and exclaimed "Happy Valentine's Day!" She was so excited for the trail of candy that I left that led to their gifts on the table. McCall was also happy to crawl from candy to candy down the hallway examining each piece as she went. 
Then it was present time. Baylor was so excited to receive her gifts and give her gifts. It was the cutest and sweetest thing to watch. Paige got her a big giant kiss which she has done for a few years now and she says she wants to continue this tradition forever even when they are old and may be far away from each other so she will mail her one. :) Baylor made everyone homemade cards and she just re-gifted her stuffed animals to McCall and her candy to Paige. It was really sweet to watch and she how she had this great love and desire to give gifts to everyone she loved and she worked with what she had.
Paige gave us all the sweetest cards and made a sweet handmade gift for McCall. She also made a Power Point for Nate and I and her teacher that really made all of our days. It ended up being a snow day so her Valentine's party at school got postponed a day. It was fun to have my girls home for the holiday and they played well together and we played lots of games. 
McCall's first Valentine's Day! She was happy and content with everything and anything she could get her hands on.
Some of Baylor's cards she made- we all got a kick out of Nate's card! :)
I made the girls pink, heart pancakes for breakfast. This was my fourth pancake but you should have seen the first blob that looked nothing like a heart. I definitely did not inherit the amazing pancake shape making skill from my mom and grandma. 
I love my little Valentines and of course my forever Valentine who loves his girls more than anything in the world!
I made these little punch cups for Paige and Baylor as a countdown to Valentine's Day and each one had some candy in them and they loved taking turns punching a cup each day.
We had our traditional spaghetti dinner for Valentine's Day. Paige had fun setting and decorating the table. We had spaghetti, salad, some pink Jell-O, and some heart shaped cheesy bread. Paige even used her edible markers and drew hearts all over McCall's teething cracker that she enjoyed for dinner. During the day I made a chocolate sheet cake that I frosted with pink frosting and sprinkles. I used a cookie cutter and cut hearts out of the cake and I loaded up the girls and took treats to all my ministering sisters. I was able to deliver it to all of them in one day which was great and it was fun for my girls to take part in helping me do this. I also made some chocolate dipped strawberries, mostly for myself, but we took a few of our treats to our neighbor Melanie and had a good visit with her and then ended our evening taking some treats also to Nona and Pops. It was such a fun filled day filled with so much love!
One of my favorite traditions that I do (I can't remember when I started it) but each day in February leading up to Valentine's day, I put hearts of things that Nate and I love about each of our girls on their bedroom doors.

Here's what Nate and I love about Paige:
  • I love how you love to go to the outlet with me.
  • I love reading your stories and things you write.
  • I love the sparkle in your eyes.
  • I love listening to you play to violin and seeing your love for it.
  • I love how kind and caring you are.
  • I love seeing you be yourself and having fun with friends.
  • I love your help and ideas whenever I work on a project.
  • I love your jokes and silliness.
  • I love your willingness to try new things.
  • I love watching you play with Baylor and McCall.
  • I love seeing your create new art.
  • I love how you are such an amazing example and show so much love.
  • I love you!
  • Happy Valentine's Day! Love, Mom & Dad
Here's what we love about Baylor:
  • I love seeing you smile and light up!
  • I love playing hide and seek with you.
  • I love seeing you play with your sisters.
  • I love your drawings.
  • I love how funny you are.
  • I love our little games and fun things we do in the car while waiting to get Paige.
  • I love listening to you sing when wearing headphones and your little dance you do.
  • I love when you giggle.
  • I love how silly you are and the funny things you say.
  • I love when you sing your made up songs.
  • I love seeing you dance and twirl.
  • I love tickling you and hearing you laugh.
  • I love you!
  • Happy Valentine's Day! Love Mom & Dad
Here's what we love about McCall:

  • I love seeing you splash in the bath.
  • I love your wispy hair that stands straight up.
  • I love your laugh.
  • I love my little miracle baby!
  • I love your dimple.
  • I love seeing you try yummy new foods.
  • I love your smile.
  • I love how observant you are in taking in all the world.
  • I love your little duck lips.
  • I love seeing you roll and explore and get where you want to go.
  • I love our middle of the night cuddle sessions.
  • I love how you rock on your hands and knees.
  • I love how excited you get when someone comes to pick you up.
  • Happy Valentine's Day! Love, Mom & Dad
Nate and I got an extra amazing surprise this year from Paige and she surprised us the first day and she had made her own hearts and each day we got something that she loves about each of us. It was the sweetest thing and I loved seeing what she put each day and it made my day every day. I sure love that sweet and thoughtful girl of mine! 

Here's what Paige loved about her dad:

  • I love you because you comfort me.
  • I love how funny and caring you are.
  • I love to play the violin for you.
  • I love having you read things I write and sending you emails.
  • I love it when you print my things.
  • I loved it when we played soccer. Love, Baylor
  • I love how you are strong in the church.
  • I love it when you tell me childhood stories.
  • I love how patient you are.
  • I love it when I get to help you sell your "goodies".
  • I love going to the outlet with you.
  • I love it when you rub my back.
  • I love you!
  • Happy Valentine's Day! Love, Paige

Here's what Paige loves about me:

  • I love all the delicious meals you cook.
  • I love when we watch movies together.
  • I love it when you and me cook together.
  • I love how creative you are.
  • I love it when we play games together.
  • I love how you are strong in the church.
  • I love playing hid and seek with you. Love, Baylor
  • I love how you take your calling seriously and care for each young women.
  • I love you because you care for me.
  • I love playing the violin for you.
  • I love having you read the things I writ.
  • I love how you are always up for an adventure.
  • I love you!
  • Happy Valentine's Day! Love, Paige
(I mean, come one, some of those just made me melt and feel so much love!)
I'm so grateful for my sweet Valentine's!