The Girls' Check-ups!

Both of the girls had their year check ups today!  I am very happy to say we have two very happy, healthy girls who are developing beautifully!  I give all the glory to God as He is the one who gives us our many blessings! 
At Keziah's 3 year check up today she weighed in at 30 lbs 6 oz. (50%) and a height of 3' 2.75" (+75%).  She had to get one shot and seemed to handle the initial poke just fine, however the entire evening today she complained and cried at random times that she was getting sharp pains.  She also fell on the cement on our walk back to the car and scraped up her knee a bit so I think that was bothering her too.  She had a bath tonight so hopefully she will wake up feeling much better!
At Adah's 1 year check up today she weighed in at 21 lbs 3 oz. (-50%) and a height of 29.5" (50%). Her head was 18 cm (-75%).  Adah had to have 3 different shots and also had to have her lead level and iron checked (which required a finger prick).  She also does pretty well with the initial poke but you can tell that she hasn't been feeling like herself all day either.  Although, nothing nearly as dramatic as her sister!  She is still pretty playful and happy!
UPDATE: (12/10/10) I got a call from the nurse today and she said Adah is slightly anemic and needs to be taking some iron drops (ferinsol).  We have to get her retested in January to make sure she is getting the amount of iron she needs.  Her lead levels came back normal!

Adah is ONE!

Adah is such a joy to have in our lives! She is an amazing and smart little girl.  I don't think I can even begin to remember all the things she can do/say but I will give it a shot (why don't I learn and just keep a log?)!

Adah signs: milk, bath, book, more, eat, drink, all done, shakes her head yes and points to things/places she wants to go.  I am a huge advocate for this because it is so handy when trying to communicate-at dinner time especially!   She says many things, mostly only Brian and I can understand because we taught them to her but some of them actually do sound like what she is saying: banana (nana), bye bye (baa baa), apple (ba um), baby (bay bay), mom/mama, dada, yum yum, moo (for cow), meow (me me), barks like a dog, blub blub (for a fish), she tries to neigh (horse) and baa (sheep) but it just comes out sounding like a cough,  puts her hands in the air and says 'ta da', plays peek a boo, tickles you and makes a tickle noise, understands the word NO and looks at you with a cheesy grin to see if she is going to get away with it anyway!

Adah got her 9th tooth (top right molar) on her birthday.  All day I was feeling in there because she wasn't acting like herself and finally at bedtime I felt it again and there it was, just barely sticking out of the gum!

 Adah is starting to learn her body parts.  She points correctly to the following (most of the time): eyes, nose, ear, hair, teeth, tongue, mouth, fingers, foot and belly.
Adah's current schedule goes something like this:

Wake at 7am, nurse at 7:30 (sometimes earlier), nap at 9ish, wake at 10:30/11, nurse at 11/11:30, lunch at noon (eats whatever we are having with water or milk in a sippy), nap at 1:30ish, wake sometime between 3 and 4, nurse by 4 (usually has a snack at this time too), supper at 5/5:30 (whatever we are having with water or milk), nurse at 7:30 with bed to follow around 7:45.  She sleeps through the night only waking when her teeth are bothering her and usually a little orajel will do the trick!

This month Adah really took off walking.  It's funny that she is already walking...she looks so little!

What a wonderful first year we have had with our Adah!  I can't wait to see what this next year brings!  Praise God, for He is the one who gives us such awesome blessings!

This was how we spent the day of Adah's first birthday:

She got to open her gifts (2 books and a Leap Frog play b-day cake-so cute), we ate her favorite lunch (mac-n-cheese) and peas along with pears, and for dessert she got another shot at a cupcake.  But she still wasn't a fan just like at her party so instead we let her have a few licks of a tootsie pop.  She LOVED that!  And since we didn't have any more cupcakes left, Kezzie got a sucker to celebrate with too!

Happy Birthday Adah!  Mommy and Daddy love you so much!

Keziah is 36 MONTHS!

Keziah is so beautiful!  I can't help but stare at those big brown eyes and long eyelashes!  She is becoming so funny too.  She says some of the funniest things!  I have logged a few over the month (there are many more, but I don't always remember to write them down): Keziah has a really good sniffer.  It's hilarious, she always lets us know if something smells funny!  And she is always right about it too.  If Adah is poopy she will sniff with her nose and say, "it smells like poop in here."  Or if our stubborn dog poops in the house, she isn't in the room a second and she immediately identifies it and upon deep searching I always find it hidden in the corner or something.  She identifies many other smells too before I even notice them.  It's so funny!

On a ride in the car Adah was quite upset and Kezzie was becoming frustrated.  She looked over at Adah to apparently find her flailing her arms while crying.  I overheard Kezzie respond to Adah by saying, "Adah, stop hitting yourself and you wouldn't have so much problems."  She didn't say this calmly by any means! 

Another funny thing she said was to Austin.  Austin was getting yelled at by me and he and Kezzie were sitting at the table eating breakfast together and in an effort to make him feel better she says to him, "She yelled at me too Austin, she yelled at me too!"  (I didn't yell at her too but she pretended I did to try to make him feel better?!).

Kezzie is getting a very large variety of vocabulary.  Sometimes she knows what she is saying and sometimes she uses it in really weird places (ie: 'change your attitude' when really somebody is in a good mood-or maybe she is just trying to be bossy!).  She likes to say actually a lot!

Keziah is in love with her finger, blankie, and now her penguin she recently aquired for her birthday (daddy  got it for her).  She will panic if not all three are within arm's length at all times.  Although, she is ok if her blankie is in her bed and she knows that is where it's at.  In fact, her blankie is supposed to stay in her bed at all times (but that's not always the case)!

Kezzie's love for Jesus is growing too.  I love it when I ask her a question she always thinks the correct answer is 'Jesus'.  We have a devotional every night before bed.  They only last a minute or two but they include a bible verse (which she always tries to repeat after me) and a prayer (which I break up into pieces so she can repeat it after me).  I recently asked her what we were going to be celebrating at Christmas time and she answered me Jesus' birthday!  That really warmed my heart.  We talk about it, but I didn't know how much was really getting through!  I just love it!

She is looking forward to church more every week.  She has started doing crafts in the room she is in now.  Everything she decorates is typically colored blue (her absolute favorite color).  But what I love the most is that each craft comes with a slip of paper explaining what she learned in class that day.  I like being able to re-talk it over with her and just solidify the story she learned about!  God is so good and I pray that she will continue to live for and learn more about Him!

This is how Keziah spent her third birthday! We had such a great day! We woke up and I made homemade pancakes (per her request). Before daddy even left for work, we let her open her gift from us.  She absolutely loved it.  It's called squinkies.  A little story for ya: One time when we were at Fareway Austin got Kezzie a miniature puppy from one of the vending machines.  She has since wanted more and loves the three that she has so much that she carries them everywhere with her.  Well, the squinkies are kind of the same thing.  The squinkie home is like a gumball machine.  There are squinkie pennies that you put in (or you can use a regular dime or penny) and you turn the dial and a little squishy, rubbery, figurine comes out in a little plastic bubble.  This is just the beginning of the squinkies though because you can collect many different series.  They are adorable!  Her favorite one is a baby and it has a paci!  We have rules with these squinkies as this can be a huge problem with Adah around.  She can't get them out unless she is going to play on the dining room table or play when Adah is napping.  We haven't had too many problems!
Anyway, after a quick nap for Adah we headed over to playgroup at one of the mom's houses. We had a Thanksgiving party where we ate fun treats and made Indian hats that portrayed all the things we are thankful for. Keziah put all the normal things on hers such as: family, home, nice warm bed, food and clothes. After playgroup, I decided I would go out of the norm of eating lunch at home and instead take her to lunch at McDonald's and let her play for a bit with Adah.  I told the other moms at playgroup that they were welcome to join us and to my surprise, a couple of them did!  I really thought this would help Keziah be brave enough to go up into the big part with the big slide, but she got scared and I had to rescue her (yet again).  Daddy got to join us too, for a little bit, which of course made her day!  After getting home late and rushing into bed for nap, we somehow managed to forget to have birthday cake or sing happy birthday to her.  She didn't care though and instead spent the rest of the day enjoying all the many toys she received for her birthday!  Don't ask me what we had for supper or why we didn't think of singing to her then either!  It was a great day!  Happy Birthday my beautiful Keziah!  Mommy and Daddy adore you and love you so much!

New toys!

Kezzie is enjoying all her birthday gifts so much! Here she is tending to her baby like a good little mommy! It is so much fun for her to have new toys to play with.  She loves that she can feed her baby like mommy feeds Adah and she can change her baby like mommy changes Adah.  She especially likes giving her baby a bottle because then she has to change her wet diaper.  She is getting better at this and even tries to help me when I am changing Adah!  She has even 'nursed' her baby while I am nursing Adah!

Birthday Party Fun and Uglum Thanksgiving!

What a fun and awesome day!  The party started at 10AM and lasted until about 1:30 (mom and dad stayed until about 2:30).  Emily and Ethan and Alanna were unable to come because they had the flu so that was a bummer!  Casey had to work so she and Nate and Gavin didn't come either.  Dad was in the hospital for a few days (due to an infection that developed after bunion surgery) prior to the day of the party but managed to get out the day before and made it to the party.  That was a nice surprise for us all!  Even my good friend from Cedar Rapids and her son came!  What a treat!  Keziah and Adah received many great gifts and we all got to enjoy ham balls, veggies, fruit and cheesy carrot casserole together!  What a great time to reflect on how blessed we are to have these two beautiful and healthy girls! 

Since Mat and Steph and the boys were in town we decided we would celebrate Thanksgiving that same day so a little bit after the girls woke up we headed over to Riley and Kathy's house for the evening.  It's always great to get the cousins together and have a little adult conversation!

Keziah!

I am so blessed to have her in my life!  What a beautiful and precious gift God has given us!  She definitely has a deep love for her blankie and finger! I had to snap this picture of her on our way to church in her nice white winter (garage sale bargain) coat.  She just looks so cute!

A few of my favs!

Here are three of my favorite peeps in my life!  I'm not sure what Austin is doing with his hand but aside from that this is the best picture we've had in a long time!  I love my kids so much!  Each one is an individual blessing of their own!  God is so good to me!  Aren't they just beautiful?!

Camping Itch!

Either we have been really bored lately or we really have an itch to go camping...we got this tent out and set it up in our living room and the kids had a lot of fun together! Adah especially loves rolling around in there with blankets! Kezzie likes closing the door and 'locking' herself in (or 'locking' Adah out)! It provided several hours of entertainment over the course of the few days we had it up!

Baskets and dentist apts.!

Adah and Kezzie have a new obsession...baskets.  Kezzie pretends like our big blue basket is her shell and she goes inside it.  She has started putting a blanket over it since there are holes on the sides and she doesn't want us to be able to see her.  Adah sees this as an opportunity to either a) annoy Keziah b)to have fun hiding under a blanket with Keziah.  Kezzie doesn't see it as b and as you can see in the picture tries to yell at Adah to leave her alone :(.  I guess they can't get along all the time!  Adah has a hobby of her own.  She likes to climb in and out of her small toy box.  She thinks she is pretty cool stuff!  And then just last night she found the baby cradle and gets in there.  This is way more fun then the toy box because it actually rocks back and forth.  She gets going pretty good in it too! Gotta love cheap entertainment!

Today Keziah went to the dentist.  Actually, Austin, Kezzie and I all three had dentist appointments.  Luckily mine was first thing in the morning and Kezzie was able to see how easy it was.  Her and Austin go to a peds dentist who is really good with kids so that helped too.  She was really nervous to go but after seeing me get mine cleaned she was ready to go and knew exactly what to do.  She climbed right up on the table/chair and opened wide!  Dr. said she still has quite a crossbite but that her teeth and gums look really good.  She said we should give her a paci back because she is doing way more damage with her finger then she will with a paci.  If you remember right, we've been through this before!  Summarized:  early 7/09 we took her paci away, late 08/09 she started sucking her finger, early 09/09 gave her paci back, 04/10 took her paci away again, it wasn't until Sept. or so that she started sucking her finger again.  I don't know what to do.  Dr. said her arch in her mouth is being affected and that her cross bite is getting worse.  Any suggestions? She has an oral fixation and has to have something in her mouth all the time (takes after her dad!).  She typically sucks her finger while watching tv or going to sleep but it doesn't stop there.  She also bites her fingernails already at her age and will chew on her blankie and even the collar on her shirts and sleeves.  The Dr. thought maybe if we gave her her paci back something would click and she would think, 'I don't need this, I'm a big girl'.  I don't think we are going to be that lucky!  But I don't know what else to do!

Great Great Grandma!

Brian's Great grandma died a very peaceful death Saturday (11-6) at the age of 99!  One of the nurses took her in to use the bathroom, brought her back out to her chair and went back to the bathroom to clean up, when she came back out, she had passed away.  Her visitation was Monday and the funeral was this morning.

I remember when Brian and I started dating she was still doing really well living on her own.  She since then moved to a nursing home here in New Hampton.  She was Brian's mom's mom's mom.  Her name was Selma Hahn and she was a very sweet lady. I am pretty sure the most recent picture anyone has of her is with my girls.  It was the day we went for a visit to the nursing home for playgroup all dressed up in our Halloween costumes.  Here she is.  I remember her asking if Kezzie could sit on her lap again!  With the camera ready to go, we said, 'sure!'

A nice visit!

We went to visit my grandma Smith today.  She is so much fun to be around.  You can definitely feel the Lord's presence in this women!  She isn't always happy but she is very loving.  The kids ADORE her and her laughter!  Austin found a boomerang there the last time we visited and so he pretty much played with that the whole time.  The neighbors' cats came to see what was going on so Kezzie had to go out and investigate!  She spent quite a bit of time outside too until she fell off the picnic table.  And it wasn't because she was looking at the cat and not paying attention.  Her and Austin were sitting on the picnic table and spitting and she leaned too far over to look at her spit and fell!  After that 'incident' they came inside and road my dad's scooter all over the kitchen (he had another surgery on his other foot to remove a bunion 11/2).  Austin was giving Adah rides and she just lounged on there!  My dad is like a little kid when it comes to taking pictures!  He's so difficult!  That's why there is two!   Gotta love him!

McDonald's Playland!

Out of sheer boredom we decided to go to McDonalds for some ice cream after supper on Saturday.  I was once again reminded of what a waste of money this is.  The ice cream is pretty tasteless and there isn't even any options really.  Kezzie got a coupon for a free cone from Halloween so we wanted to use that and her only choice was vanilla.  I don't think she even ate any of it.  It was nice to get out of the house and let the kids play though.  It was the only thing we did other than going to church on Sunday.  This of course isn't great for someone who stays home all week but Brian enjoys being home on the weekends since he goes to work all week.  It is a common battle between us!  Kezzie, once again tried going up in the play area, and once again I had to rescue her!  She and Adah had fun on the little slide though!

Happy Halloween and More!!

This last weekend we stayed with my parents all weekend because it was also the weekend of a wonderful Rise and Shine Women's Retreat at our church (guest speaker was Lysa TerKeurst, I will post more on that later).  So that's why you see Adah in her jammies!  She found the pantry and had fun 'hiding' in there.  Sunday we went to church and everybody got together at mom and dad's for lunch.  We got a nice photo of all the grandkids (except Gavin) and their Grandma and Papa!  Alanna is so cute in her bones outfit!  The boys had some kind of Halloween attire on too!  When the girls got up from their nap we headed for home.  Trick-or-treating in New Hampton was from 4-7.  We got home a little before 5 and ate supper and then headed out for about an hour and a half.  The girls had a lot of fun and got a ton of candy (not Adah).  Austin met up with some friends as soon as we got home and didn't come home until almost 7.  He somehow didn't have as much candy as Kezzie...goofing off maybe!!  He said he had fun too!  When it was all over I managed to get somewhat of a shot of the girls in a picture together with their costumes on. Today Adah found a sucker I attached to some balloons from Henry's first birthday. Mat and Steph forgot to take them home with them (thanks Steph!) and somebody needed to enjoy them so they landed at our house.  Adah wouldn't let the sucker go.  She apparently was getting some flavor even with the wrapper on and loved it!

And I think I forgot to mention in any previous posts...Jamie (my youngest sister) is expecting baby #2 May 25th, 2011!  I am so excited to be an Aunt AGAIN!!!
And on that same note...my oldest sister Casey is going to be having her C-section on December 28th!  That is coming so fast!  They are having a girl and naming her Molly Maxine!  I can't wait!  I will officially be an Aunt to five AWESOME kids before the year is over!  What an amazing Holiday gift!

Adah is 11 MONTHS!

What a fun little stinker!  I could hardly get a sit still and smile kind of picture this month but after two different photo sessions, I think I managed to get some to show you!  Sometimes the best ones are of her laughing it up anyway!
Adah gained two more teeth this month.  #7 arrived sometime in the last week of September (top left-next to the front left), #8 (bottom right next to front ) came through October 3rd.  She is lookin' pretty cute with all eight in front now.  I am wondering when her next will arrive at the rate we are going!  Although, we have managed to get through the rest of this month without anymore appearances!
Adah is doing great learning all the things she is watching happen around her.  Kezzie teaches her good and bad things!  How to giggle and dance, how to get frustrated and yell and even hit!  I don't think Adah would like life very much without her big sister.  She thrives so much on everything Kezzie does!  But Adah also likes her alone time.  She doesn't get very much of it but when she is by herself (away from Kezzie) she plays very well.  It reminds me so much of what Kezzie was like when she was her age.  Adah loves to play in her farm pulling the animals in and out and can make several animal noises (cow, dog, cat and sheep).  She also likes to 'drive' things around the living room and make an engine noise.  It doesn't necessarily have to be a car, however, she knows it is a car that makes that noise!  She will also do the razz noise if she is cold (like after a bath I often catch myself doing that noise).  She can sign bath, milk, more, eat, drink, bye/hi.  She gives kisses if you ask her to and if she is in the mood (that's the key-if she feels like it!).
Adah is in an excellent routine right now.  It is as follows:
Wakes about 6:30/7:30am and nurses
Baby cereal with breast milk and culturel around 8ish.
Down for a nap around 9am
Wakes from nap around 10:30
Nurses around 11/11:30
Lunch around noon (whatever we are having-veggie, main dish, fruit and drink)
Nap at about 1:30 (no more nursing at this time!)
Wake around 3/3:30 and nurses
Ready for supper around 5 (similar meal to lunch)
She doesn't get cereal before bed anymore
Nurses around 7:30pm and goes straight to bed!
This month we got a toothbrush and have started brushing her pearly whites before nap and bed time.  She loves it and thinks she is so cool.  She has a stool in the bathroom that she gets to stand on while I brush them and she feels so privileged, you can tell!
Adah is walking more and more with assistance and will even brave a one-handed walk.  She is a pro at walking behind her baby stroller and other things that will move ahead of her (ie: up-side-down hamper, chair, etc.).  I know I lost my 10 month bet, but I am pretty sure Adah will be walking by the time she is a year old!
I don't know if I mentioned that at the beginning of October we got rid of all door handle things (on Kezzie and Adah's doors).  There was one on Adah's door to prevent Kezzie from going in her room the second Adah made a peep, but we took it off.  There are times where this is still a nuisance (ie: if Kezzie hears Adah awake in the morning and gets out of bed and goes to 'visit' her before I am ready to start Adah's day-that is sometimes a problem).  Adah will play in her crib after a nap or waking in the morning really well.  This will sometimes buy me an extra 20 minutes if needed!  So for Kezzie to go in there and let Adah know everyone else is awake makes Adah really upset!  I don't have any plans to put it back on the door handle though!  It can also be really fun for Adah!  If Adah is upset in her crib and I need a few extra minutes to finish something up I just send Kezzie up and she will play with Adah making her laugh!  Sometimes Kezzie even gets in the crib with her and they have so much fun together!
I am so glad that my girls get to go through life together and I can't forget to mention what a great big brother Austin is too and how lucky both girls are to have him.  He is always protecting them and trying to make them laugh.  He will never admit that he enjoys their company as much as they enjoy his, but he does.  I love that they all have each other to grow up with!  My three little blessings-and I can't believe my littlest is approaching ONE!

Where's Adah?

So, I was sitting in my recliner this morning doing my own thing and I looked over to see that Adah was going after a ball.  I thought, 'ok, that's great, she's going to play with that ball.'  Next thing I know I go into the kitchen to do something and think again, 'I wonder where Adah is and what she is up to now.'  I came into the living room where she was last seen going after the ball and she isn't there anymore.  I noticed the stairway gate was open and started heading up the stairs.  I didn't see her on the first flight so I continued up the second flight.  Low and behold, there's Adah three steps from the top...with the ball in hand!  I sometimes let her climb up in front of me on the way to nap or something but she hasn't ever tried to get on the stairs on her own.  It's just never been a problem.  Plus, the gate is almost always closed.  I guess we are going to have to be extra careful to make sure it gets closed for sure!  She seems pretty steady on them by herself, but when I watched her get to the top she was ready for a rest and almost fell backwards off the top step.  She was way too close to the edge!  It was pretty funny though to see her going up all by herself.  When I found her I said to her, 'what are you doing, miss?' (in a playful kind of way) and she just got really excited and giggled and tried to go even faster.  So sweet!

Playgroup Halloween!

For our playgroup today we met at the New Hampton Nursing Home where Brian's grandpa and great grandma live.  Kathy came with me so she could help me with the girls on such a cold and rainy day.  Plus, she wanted to see her dad and grandma!  It was so much fun to see the joy the kids brought to the residents there.  A lot of them just wanted to reach out and touch your hand or the kids' hands and say how cute they were.  Kezzie mostly just shook their hands and told them Happy Halloween and to have a nice day!  Adah was squirmy but when we put her down she would hold our hands and walk.  We tried to get a group photo but with that many kids, it's hard to get them all looking and smiling at the same time!  The photo up in the left corner is the kids with Selma (Brian's great grandma) and down at the bottom is the kids and I with Dave (Brian's grandpa).  Kezzie had fun playing catch with Dave too!  He doesn't always remember people but since Kathy was there I think it helped him to know that the girls were Brian's kids.  I'm glad we could brighten the residents' day a bit even though it was so yucky outside!

Henry's 1st Birthday!

HAPPY FIRST BIRTHDAY SWEET BOY!
We are so blessed to have you a part of our lives.  We can't wait to see you grow and become a strong young boy!  We love you Henry Augustus!

We spent almost all day Saturday with some of Brian's family.  I say SOME because Brian and his dad had tickets to go to the Iowa Hawkeyes game in IC, so they were gone.  It was so much fun for Keziah and Brady.  They play super well together now that they are getting older. 
We wanted everybody to be there to celebrate Henry's birthday so we waited until Sunday morning to do that.  We went back over there for a big breakfast and cake and ice cream.  Brady and Kez still love playing the piano and drive us all crazy when they do!  There's a lot of pounding going on.  As you can see, they like to use their elbows to play until we tell them to play gently and then they use their fingertips!  Henry was pretty dainty about eating his cake at first but then did manage to get pretty messy!  Can you believe how much Brian and Adah look alike?  She is a spitting image of him.  I never noticed how much until I took that picture of them with their heads right next to each other.  Brady and Kez always have a blast on the bean bags.  They played a game that Kezzie was pretending to sleep on them and Brady would come and wake her up.  I love pretend play...it's so fun to have an imagination!  Adah loves to stand up to the window and look out to the back yard where Remi (their golden doodle) likes to play.  Adah gets really excited when she sees Remi and makes a noise that imitates a dog barking!  Henry was off playing with toys when Steph was opening gifts for him...Kezzie didn't seem to mind sitting right in there though! 
I pray you have many more birthdays to celebrate with us, Henry!

Austin's Football!

Austins last three games were good.  They went something like this:
Win
Tie (he kicked the field goal to tie it.  Austin got hurt on his shoulder.  The team was vicious.
Loss (game pictured).  It was rainy, and Austin was injured so all he was allowed to do was kick.

Keziah is 35 MONTHS!

Here she is...my almost THREE year old!  I can't believe it!  She is starting to love the camera even more and insisted on me taking her picture in these different poses.  She is so beautiful!  She is lacking in clothes that actually fit her so in a trip to target I let her pick one shirt.  I gave her two choices and she of course picked the blue one (this has been her favorite color for a while now).  So this is the shirt she picked and I think it looks so good with her hair/eye color.
Keziah is officially fully potty trained!  It's amazing that almost a year and a half ago Kezzie was mastering staying dry during the day and now, finally, I can say even at night she is staying dry!  Ever since she was sick in early October she has been staying dry at night.  Around the same time she really started to complain about not wanting to wear a diaper at night.  She just didn't like the way they felt.  When she started feeling better she had a little hiccup and wet the bed three nights in a row.  As much as I hated changing/washing bedding I was determined to not give up!  And Kezzie was determined not to go back to diapers (I even asked her).  I decided to try a different idea...no fluids after 6:30pm and I wake her to go potty before I go to bed around 10 (sidenote: I don't want to forget something Brian said...partly because he was the one that said it but also because it is so true.  One night when I went to bed early Brian volunteered to take Kezzie to the potty.  When he came to bed after taking her potty he said something like 'she looks so peaceful when you tuck her back in, almost as if she is smiling she is so warm and cozy and happy to be back in her bed' and it's so true.  She looks so precious).  She hasn't had an accident since!  In the beginning she was waking in the morning between 5 and 6AM because she had to pee so bad and then she wouldn't go back to bed.  During this time she would run down to our room to get us up to help her go, but then we changed some things to allow her more independence.  For instance, she has to have pants on that are tight around the ankles so they won't fall off when her legs are hanging from the toilet.  If we forget this, she will wake us in her sleepiness yelling from the upstairs bathroom.  She has even woke Adah doing this-not an experience I really want to re-live! Also on the same note of how she is dressed-she literally only has her jammies on.  If she has undies on she will have the same frustration/yelling when she tries to pull them up.  She is tired and doesn't want to deal with them bunching up and getting rolled so we just eliminate them altogether.  Requirement #2...she has to have lights.  Lights are key!  When she goes potty by herself she has to have the light on.  In order for her to turn the light on there has to be a second stool in the bathroom (see requirement #3) to allow her to reach on her own.  And also she has to have the potty all set up-meaning she needs her potty seat on the toilet and a stool up next to the toilet.  It seems like a lot more work then it is.  And it is so worth it if she isn't waking me to do something she has been doing so well by herself during the day for the last year and  half!  I sometimes even hear her get up at 3AM to take herself potty and then head back to bed.  What a big girl!  I am so proud of her!
Kezzie has become a SUPER picky eater.  This makes for a very annoyed mommy and a lot of drama at the dinner table.  I mean A LOT!  Any tips in this area are encouraged!  I honestly can't tell you anything I am for sure she will eat.  Her reaction is different from time to time of making the same thing!  I think it is her age because she has also become very demanding.  ie: 'I WANT TO WATCH DORA!' (while hitting her fist on the couch), 'GET ME SOME KETCHUP' (with a very pouty face).  The list goes on!  Let's just say she is taking a lot of deep breaths, taking a lot of time outs, and giving out a lot of apologies!
One of Keziah's favorite things to do with Adah is play on beds or in Adah's crib.  Almost every day when Adah wakes from her nap Kezzie will ask, "Please open Adah's door?"  In a nutshell she is asking me if it is ok to go in Adah's room, put hundreds of toys in her crib, proceed to climb into her crib and then have tons of fun with Adah laughing and giggling and squealing!  I listen to them over the monitor and just smile at how much their relationship is growing!  I eventually go in there to break up the fun and to discover exactly how many toys/stuffed animals Kezzie has carted from her room into Adah's crib and then promptly help Kezzie put all the animals and toys back where they belong so the crib is ready for its next use!  Adah equally enjoys joining Kezzie in her bed.  There is a step stool next to Kezzie's bed that Adah has become a pro at climbing.  She will go straight for it every chance she gets.  You really have to watch her on Kezzie's bed because the only thing keeping her from falling off is a bed rail.  The two of them get pretty wild up there hiding under the covers and plopping on their backs saying 'whoa' (Adah says this with her eyes!).  They have so much fun together!  Keziah equally loves Austin's company.  She is enjoying following his lead and doing pretty much anything she is asked.  He is her favorite wrestling opponent and breakfast buddy and the one person she loves to fight with the most!  And secretly she is all those things for him too!
Keziah is doing excellent with her letters.  She can recognize almost all of them and has recently started to try writing some of the more simple ones (i and l, o, t, etc.)  And she continues to get more confident with counting.  She has even started counting backwards from 10 missing a couple until she reaches 5 and then it's smooth sailing!  Good-bye until next month...it will be here before we know it!

Adah is standing unassisted!

She's been doing this about a week now and thinks she is pretty hot stuff! I, of course, do too!!

Adah's first REAL meal!

Over the past couple of days Adah has started to eat a little more people food (see previous post), but today she really had a full meal: cut up chicken, peas and mandarine oranges.  She loved it all and ate almost every last bit!  You can tell when she has a full belly because she starts pushing all her food off the edge of her tray!  She also enjoys a sippy cup of water at this time!  My baby is growing up!

Silly Girls!

Lunch time around here has changed a bit for us...Adah has decided she is liking people food now so we all sit together and enjoy the same food!  It's pretty nice!  We are blessed to get to spend this time together goofing off.  Here are the girls just being silly.  The definitely feed off each others silliness! 

Pumpkin Carving Time!

We had so much fun carving pumpkins. I think this is the first year Keziah has been a part of it.  Last year we pretty much didn't even celebrate Halloween because we were out of town visiting our newest nephew, Henry!  Kezzie thought the goo was really gross!  But she loved the pumpkin seeds once we got them washed and baked!  Delicious!  Kezzie wanted her little one to be carved like a sun so Austin took liberty of doing that!  The big one (mine and Austin's) was carved into a wolf.  We sat together and poked the holes and then took turns carving it.  It didn't turn out the best but it was ok.  And that wasn't because of Austin either!  But to be fair, he did leave the hardest parts for me to do!  Better luck next year!

Scrunched Noses!

Adah has quite the look going with her nose!  This is pretty much what she looks like most of the time!  She will add in the 'snort' sort of noise to go with it!  It's pretty cute! 

And of course Kezzie had to show off her ability to do it as well!

Playgroup Pumpkin Party!

Today we had our playgroup again.  We met at one of the mom's houses and had a fun little pumpkin party.  She did a great job planning some fun pumpkin activities!  When we got there we enjoyed decorating our pumpkin (we only took the little one) with happy face stickers.  Keziah really liked doing this and Adah really enjoyed the finished product!  We also sat around the table and decorated pumpkin shaped sugar cookies with green and orange frosting (and of course we ate them too).  We enjoyed really yummy pumpkin bars and hot apple cider.  And when we were all done inside we went outside for a pumpkin search.  The mom hid little plastic pumpkins filled with candies all over the back yard and the kids went looking for them. I think the girls' favorite part would have to be the kittens that were there.  They both couldn't get enough of them.  In fact, all the kids really enjoyed the kittens!  Who wouldn't?  They are so precious!

Fall time Pt.2!

 
Later in the afternoon Brian was even feeling good enough to get outside for a while.  It was such a gorgeous day and the perfect opportunity to get some fresh air after having the flu!  The kids had so much fun!  Kezzie's hair was standing on end at the top of the slide.  She would climb up it from the bottom and as she approached the top her hair would stand up more and more...it was so weird!  Adah was on pins and needles every time I set her near a pile of leaves but really enjoyed sitting in the grass!  Me, Keziah and Austin all played some good kick-ball too, as well as shooting some hoops and playing catch.  While the girls napped I helped Austin practice his kicking!  Even though we didn't want to expose my family by going to CF (and everybody else at church) it turned out to be a wonderful day!  And I am praising God that we are all feeling so much better!

Fall time!

Well, Austin is home and feeling much better.  He feels too weak to play in his football game today so we decided to play outside instead.  He got the rake out and he and Kezzie jumped in leaves together!  Keziah had such a great time!  Her and Austin have been having so much fun together lately and playing so well (Austin actually begs me to let her do certain things with him)!  I brought Adah out to see what was going on and she enjoyed watching them but the second I tried to put her down for a picture, she got scared.  She was deathly afraid of the leaves and how noisy they were.   I guess we won't be getting any good fall pictures of the kids this year!!  See part 2 of our day in a later post!