Leah @ age 5

 

I cannot believe my sweet little baby, the one that first made me a mother, is already 5 years old. She is becoming so mature and so grown up. The things she says and knows amaze me every day! She is so easy to teach and so eager to learn. She has a zest for life and is generally cheerful all the time. She rarely rests (even if she wakes up in the middle of the night she seems wide awake) and loves to play!

 

Leah is a princess all the way! She still loves all things Princess and sometimes I wonder if she even knows the difference between which are real and which are fairy tales. Her favorite thing to do is dress up in her Princess costumes and make up stories with her baby dolls or Princess dolls. TV shows are a springboard for her made-up stories and she builds on plots she sees. She also loves butterflies, ponies, rainbows, and anything pink. So much so that she doesn’t ever want to do things if they don’t involve any of those things. She loves to pretend to “read” her books (and if she’s heard them enough she’s really good at remembering them word for word!), especially to her little brother or sister. She would love to wear a dress all the time if I let her, and she goes around flipping her hair and making sure everyone knows how pretty she is.

  

Leah loves to pretend to “read” her books out loud, to anyone who will listen—and if she’s heard it enough, she’s pretty good at remembering it word for word. She is doing well with reading in school, too, and catches on so quickly to whatever she learns. She has a knack for math, even more so than reading or writing, and already knows some basic addition facts. Just recently, she has developed a love of writing and wants to write signs or cards all the time. Most of the time I help her spell things but she insists on writing them and drawing pictures on them—she especially loves to draw people.

  

I would definitely consider Leah a people-pleaser. She hates to disappoint any adult and will get very upset if she thinks she’s in trouble. She’s so sensitive and gets sad when she hears about death or dying or even anyone getting hurt. She’s very protective of her little brother and sister and hates when they get hurt or even when she thinks they might get hurt. She’s fearful of so many things—I have to be careful how I tell her about things like earthquakes or hurricanes because she’s automatically worried that will happen to us. She also fears being left alone without an adult, and if we’re playing outside, she won’t even let me run in the house for a second without her by my side.

  

Lately she’s been asking a lot of questions about God and heaven. She has told me she believes in Jesus and wants him to live in her heart. She says daily how much she loves Jesus and even prayed that he would be in her heart. It’s not something I want to take lightly, but in the same way I don’t want to make a huge deal about it. I think she’s still too young to understand sin and how we must die for our sins but Christ was our sacrifice. Still, she definitely has a child-like faith that I hope continues to grow and grow. I pray daily that I have the wisdom to answer her questions and to be a role model as she learns what it means to be a Christian.

 

She can get completely dressed by herself (and is sure to tell us, loudly, every time she accomplishes this) and she loves to help out with cooking or setting the table or cleaning. She can almost buckle herself into her car seat and she can pretty much manage doing a lot of things on her own and even sometimes help me do things for Abigail. She is great at taking care of her baby sister and always willing to do anything for her, even give her a prized toy or entertain her when she’d rather do something else.

  

She is soo excited today about being 5. She is constantly asking me what 5-year-olds can do, and she thinks she’s automatically going to be bigger and able to do certain things the day she turns 5. She has been anxiously awaiting this day of her birthday all month and has told everyone her birthday is August 29th. She is certainly not shy and not afraid to tell how she feels!

 

Now that we’re past the terrible two’s and three’s and Leah is much less whiny and needy and I generally enjoying being with her. I am excited to see her grow into a young lady and yet I realize this means how much more she’ll be watching everything I do and say. I pray that I can show her the type of lady God wants her to be.

  

Leah’s Water Fun Birthday Party

 

Last Saturday, the 18th, Leah had a super-fun 4th birthday party with all her friends from church. I wanted low-key but still memorable, so we set up a kiddie pool, slip ‘n' slide & sprinkler in our backyard. I had planned some games, as well, but really they just enjoyed playing around in the water all afternoon. We had a total of 6 kids, mostly 4 year olds, along with Andrew & one big sister. I think they all had a blast!

 

 

This whole tub of water balloons was gone in seconds. Who needs organized games when you can just throw them at your feet?

 

Not all of them enjoyed the slip ‘n slide, but it definitely got some use!

  

We set up the food outside. I wanted somewhat of a princess theme, but not overboard. Mostly just girly. I kept the cake simple and sweet, with a princess crown and wand.

     

The candles had a hard time staying lit outside, but she loved being sung to. And they all loved the food!

  

The birthday girl had no problem being the star of the show. She talked non-stop the whole time, telling her friends what to do and telling all kinds of stories about her day. I have no doubt she enjoyed being the Princess.

Time for presents! She got fairy wings with a wand, 2 versions of the Candy Land game, a doll whose hair you can style, some puzzles, and dance leotards. Andrew even got a present! Someone brought him a dump truck—he was in heaven!

 

 

 

After it was all over, this little girl was ready to go inside and play with her new things. She said the presents were her favorite part. She and Andrew snuggled up on their new bean bag chairs from Grandma.

 

Andrew @ 2 years

 

I’m a little late, but we’ve had a busy week! Here’s a little update about my 2-year-old little boy:

* We haven’t been to the doctor yet, but when I weigh him, he’s about 26 lbs. (and has been for a few months now) and I think 32 inches tall. He wears mostly 18 or 24 month sized clothes, but unlike his sister, he’s shorter and bigger around the waist.

* He’s still a pretty good sleeper, sleeping about 11 hours. He is very easy to put down, and many times will tell you he wants to go to bed. He never puts up a fight about naptime either, and will usually sleep 1 1/2 to 2 hours in the afternoon. He still likes to be rocked a minute before he goes to sleep (and read a story), and that’s when he’s still my cuddly little baby. Soon he’ll be moving to his big boy bed, though!

* He’s quite a picky eater, and most days I’m not sure how he (or his sister) is even surviving! He loves most meat—things like hamburgers, sloppy joes, tacos… He also likes strawberries & bananas, but not many vegetables. I don’t know that he has a favorite food—really he has to be coaxed into eating most anything and it takes him forever to get through mealtime. He still loves to have his food fed to him (especially if it takes the form of a big truck or an airplane) and will eat more that way. He loves to have strawberry milk every morning and afternoon when he wakes up but the rest of the day, he wants his juice.

* He also finally has just about all his teeth. He’s just now getting in the last two on the top (with the exception of maybe some molars.) He is always sucking on his fingers, but that may be because his gums hurt?

* He has quite a big vocabulary, and many times when we’re out people will ask me how old he is because they’re so surprised at how well he speaks. He’s also smart in other areas—he can sing his ABC’s, although he doesn’t yet recognize the letters, he can count 1 to 10, he knows several colors and shapes. If anything is set to music, he can remember it!

* He is very independent. There are times when we’ll do something for him (like put him in his car seat, or close a door) that he wants so badly to do himself that he will whine until we let him go back and do it again. He insists on climbing stairs “by self” and always has to try things that Leah can do by herself.

* His favorite toys are trucks to drive around, putting things in said trucks, collecting rocks, and anything outside. In that way, he is all boy. But he still doesn’t mind sitting and listening to a story, driving Leah’s baby stroller around, or even pretending to be her baby doll. The majority of the time, he and Leah make a great team—she bosses him around and he willingly does whatever she says. But then the rest of the time they hate sharing their toys!

* He is such an easygoing little boy. He really doesn’t complain about much, and rarely has tantrums. He loves to try new things and is always so willing to just go with the flow. He’s such a fun-loving little boy that also loves to be cuddled and give kisses. I love it when he comes in the room just to say “Hi, Mommy…” and then turns around and says “Gotta go, I love you…”

Andrew’s Car & Truck Birthday Party

 

I like to do birthdays big! I don’t know why I feel compelled to decorate & have presents and a special meal at every birthday, even if it’s just our little family. I just want the kids to have great memories of their special days! We had a great little party last night for Andrew’s 2nd birthday. It was our family plus Uncle BJ, and it was so much fun! I think the kids had a blast, and I was so happy with how everything turned out, especially on my very minimal budget!

I tried to get him to show me he was 2 years old, but every time he was just silly.

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Most truck/ car-themed parties I saw actual decorations for used construction trucks or monster trucks or tractors, but Andrew is really just into cars and trucks in general. So I used a combination of all of that, to make sort of a transportation theme. I made these little circles myself, with construction vehicles. My favorite thing was the stoplight, which said Happy Birthday Andrew. I used that as my color scheme. As soon as Andrew saw the decorations and we told him it was for his birthday, he walked around saying, “My birthday! My birthday!”

       

Andrew kept saying “My birthday’s up there!” He was fascinated with the balloons, and I think he thought his “birthday” was the streamers & decorations. He didn’t eat much of his cheeseburger for dinner.

We were able to get way more presents than I thought. He got a bat and ball, and insisted on holding the ball to open the next present, which was a HUGE semi-truck that can hold other matchbox cars inside of it. He loves to put things inside his trucks, so I thought, why not buy one that is made for that? I should have made him open this last, because after that, all he wanted to do was play with this truck. He woke up this morning wanting to play with his truck.

  

     

The tractor from Uncle BJ was the second big hit. It now goes wherever the big truck goes. He must have played with them for at least an hour after the party.

   

BJ got Leah a ladybug stuffed pillow, which she loves!

Nana sent a box with some clothes and other things, but by the time he got to that, he wasn’t as interested. He already had 3 great new things! Should have switched the order of the opening!

  

I was so excited with how the cake turned out. I just saw an idea on Pinterest and went with it! We have a little car play mat that came with a bunch of road signs & construction cones so those came in handy. I just printed the other little signs on the computer & glued them on cardboard & sticks. A little green food coloring & some black decorating icing & voila!

Even Andrew was so pleased with the results. Note how differently he reacted to the singing of “Happy Birthday” than his sister did when she turned two!

   

Time to dig in! This takes great concentration!

  

Maybe I should have re-thought the green? Do you think he liked it?

Apparently vying for some attention, Leah got into the winter gloves & hats in our closet and proceeded to play with her toys while wearing mittens. In the middle of July.

And BJ showed Andrew how he could ride his big truck.

Probably my favorite part of the day was just playing around after we were all cleaned up. They stayed up giggling and laughing until about 9:00. No one was grumbling or complaining. Could have been the sugar, but more likely just the fun of being around family!