Dr. Gibs

I thought Gibson looked cute today wearing his Mickey stethoscope with a "bandaid" in his mouth:). Don't mind the open shirt--clearly I got a little lazy getting him dressed this morning:). He's had a big day--he took about 10 steps!! And other times today he's done 4 or 5. Before today he's only done 1 or 2. He's super wobbly as he still doesn't stand on his own--but he's making progress!! Layla started walking at about 13 1/2 months and then started completely walking (with no more crawling) on her due date so I told Gibson that he should make his due date a goal to be walking by:) (since I think it's easier once they can walk). Recently I really didn't think he'd ever make it, but maybe he won't be too far past that (his due date was Feb 6). We'll see! In the past couple of weeks he also finally started saying "mama" and he seems to know what it means. Otherwise it was always "dada"! He now likes to crawl after me when he's grumpy whining "mamaaaa":). And he has started to say "nummy-num" when eating. It's so fun to keep watching him grow and learn! They change SO much in the first year!

And here's Layla a couple of days ago getting SO excited for Disney World. She was nearly in tears while watching the Disney World planning DVD saying that she wanted to go to Disney World. Nearly brought a tear to my eye since I love Disney so much:). I thought it was funny that she told grabbed her Minnie backpack and ran up to me saying, "I got my Dolly and my necklace! I'm ready to go!!". Those are two pretty important things to remember to take along:).

Caleb Peter

Our friends Curt and Jamie welcomed their second son, Caleb Peter, yesterday! Lucky girl had him 2 weeks early and had him after only being at the hospital for 53 minutes!! We're so happy for them and wish them the best as they adjust to being a family of four!

Haircuts and More

Gibson got his first "official" haircut last week and Layla also got a haircut that day and it reminded me how I never posted about Layla's firt haircut. "Auntie" Mandi cut her hair the end of September. Layla has very snargly hair so I had hoped that getting it cut would make it a bit healthier and therefore not so tangly, but no such luck! It still requires No More Tangles every morning and her about crying as I try to comb through it.

She was a bit aprehensive at first so we thought maybe she'd do better on my lap...

But then she said she wanted to sit on the chair by herself...

She liked it, yet looked a little nervous--she kept sticking her hand by her mouth which isn't normal...

Here is the "after", of course I forgot to take a "before"! Oops! She only got maybe an inch or so off though.

All done!

She's such a girly girl so far and loves getting her nails done, so "Auntie" Mandi was even nice enough to paint her nails for her:)...

For Gibson's first "official" (I say "official" b/c I cut his bangs maybe a month or so again but they were a bit crooked and needed some help:D) haircut last week we thought it'd work easiest to just put him in a booster seat on the floor, and as soon as we turned our backs this is what he was doing. He doesn't let anything stop him from getting what he wants:)...

Back sitting properly in his chair and ready for his hair cut!

This is the "after" picture, and again, I forgot to take a "before". Bad mommy! :) He just needed his "bangs" evened out, his ears and neckline trimmed and the back blended just a tiny bit. He didn't have much to cut off, but it was time that it be sproused up. It's just sad for me seeing those soft baby locks fall off:(.

Layla got a trim also...

And just a pic showing how much Gibs loves climbing over things. He really does not let anything stop him from getting where he wants to go. I block him off from getting to certain things and he almost always finds a way to push his way through! He's also been taking a step here and there lately! He's not quite strong enough to do it, but he definitely wants to! If you get him to stand on his own for a second he'll take a step out...and then fall down. Or sometimes if he's holding on to something he'll let go for a second and step away...and then fall down. I know that they can go more places once they start walking and it might be more of a pain wanting to get down and walk places like the mall or a grocery store, but in some ways it'll be more conveniant once he walks for instances like when Layla has to go to the bathroom while getting groceries, and currently I'd have to get Layla on the potty while holding him. Thankfully Layla has yet to have to go at the grocery store (or at least not when Gibs has been with us). Speaking of potty training, it's still going really well! It's been almost 3 months and she still hasn't had too many accidents overall, but has had 4 accidents in the past week or so which is frustrating b/c she went so long with no accidents! She had a few just b/f Christma too but otherwise hadn't had any since we first started. Her first #1 mistake was last week and the #2 is getting better, she just has never liked going, but since her mistakes last weekend she seems to not dislike it anymore. And her mistakes last week were all when she was playing at friends' houses and I was upstairs and she was downstairs, so I think she just gets too caught up playing and then waits too long to tell me and then it's too late. So since then I've talked to her about going on her own and not waiting for me to hear her yelling that she has to go and that seems to have improved. Hopefully all this rambling is making sense, I'm watching Mamma Mia as I write:).

We got a delivery from the Disney Store the other day (one of our favorite places to order things online:D) and they kids enjoyed the big box the stuff came in...

Enjoying his mac and cheese...(probably should have had a plastic bib on, but somehow mine keep disappearing!)

Gavin came over to play today while his mommy worked and Layla and Gavin pretty much played downstairs the whole day. Poor Gibs stood at the top of the stairs banging on the gate and throwing toys down wishing he could go with:(. Gibs and I went to go see what they were up to and how big of a mess they were making and sure enough, they had taken MANY toys out of the toy room and into the family room. They said they were feeding all the monkeys. They had monkeys and many other animals sitting all over as they were busily preparing all the food:).

Recent Randoms

Gibson was lucky enough to get two of these cute worm toys for his birthday. Him and Layla have both been enjoying them and Layla even figured out they could be skates:). She's a very cautious little girl, so she's very careful on them:). It's so funny how her little mind works, when she was using them as skates I asked her where she got that idea from (because we haven't ever gone skating) and she said that Curious George wears skates:). Often when I ask her how she learned something it's from a tv show, although I swear she isn't allowed to watch too much tv:) (although she'd watch it all day if I let her!). The other night in Younkers she noticed what she called triangles on the floor (although they were really diamands) and was singing "We at the triangles, where we going next? To the mountain! Where we going next? To the mountain!" which is something that Dora would say. Their little imaginations just crack me up sometimes. She also often wishes she could take things out of the tv or lift things off of pages of books, like if she sees a toy in a book, she would say sadly, "I want that! I can't get it out!". Or this morning Gavin was showing her his tiny Disney busses (like matchbox cars size) and she said, "Oh, no, I can't go on this bus. I'm too big!". She also likes to talk about Jesus and will say, "Jesus up there! I can't reach him! *jump* He too high up!"

I'm determined to do the 30 Day Shred DVD every day until we leave for the Bahamas (we'll see how long that lasts!). Layla loves doing it with me (we're only on day 4:D)--especially the jumping jacks. This is her work out outfit and her "weights" :).

Gibson normally only falls asleep in the car or in bed, but the other day he got so sleepy eating lunch he fell asleep! He's been adjusting to just having an afternoon nap, so sometimes it's a struggle to keep him up much past lunch.

Modeling her ear muffs...

Excited that Daddy was home:)...

Gibson's sled he got for his birthday is still inside so they have fun playing with it:) (and I didn't realize I dressed them alike until after they were both dressed:)...

Taking a little rest...

And again...

He enjoys climbing over his Mickey plane:)...

He seems to finally be feeling better and is in much better spirits, he's back to his usual self of not carry if Layla lays on him:)...

We are at Em's today and I told Gavin to go pose by Layla and this is what he did:). The kids were having lots of fun in the kitchen though making food because they were "having lots of people over"--when Gavin was over last week they were making food for a big picnic:). Oh, and you can't see Gibs' shirt here, but both my kids are wearing their Mickey/Minnie shirts in anticipation of our upcoming trip to Disney World! We're going with Grampy and Gigi (and Mike and Em and Gavin are coming too) coming up and Layla is so excited! Every day she talks about going and says "I wanna go to Disney World! No, not yet! I'm gonna see Donald and Mickey and Daisy and Nemo" (and the list goes on). Good thing she loves Disney characters:). This will be Gibs' first visit and Layla's second, but she was 10 months the first time she went so she obviously doesn't remember it. I grew up going most years and am still a big Disney fan and can't wait to see how excited Layla will get about it. I'm trying now to gear her up for things like the airplane ride and the scary rides like Pirates of the Carribbean and am hoping she likes them and does well! She says the beast (from Beauty and the Beast) is scary too, but really likes him, so I'm hoping she likes other "scary" things too! And obviously hopefully Gibson does well too!

Kipton Bradley

Our friends, Brad and Jill, welcomed Kipton into their family last Tuesday! He's absolutely adorable! Almost makes me want another one--wait, nope, it doesn't:). Newborns are precious, but they also require a lot of work that I am not ready for yet! I hope the Konings have a great time adjusting to a family of four!

Jill was able to be induced last Tuesday which worked great so that her dad could meet Kipton before starting his treatment for leukemia the next day (he needs to remain in the hospital during treatment with limited visitors). Please pray for Jill and her family as they go through this tough time. Pray too that the chemo is effective for her dad so that further treatment isn't needed.

Gibson hasn't been able to meet his new buddy yet due to being sick, but I'm sure they'll be great friends:).

Gavin Day

Gavin's mommy had the flu today, so he came to our house to play (and hopefully didn't bring the flu with him!!).

The kids had fun playing in Layla's room. I stayed down there for a bit so that Gibs could play with the "big" kids. He got sad upstairs alone, but I don't quite trust him down there by himself--there are too many things he could get into trouble with! Just the other day I caught him crawling around with a breakable decoration. Thankfully I caught it in time. Seeing how nice (well, for the most part) Layla and Gavin play alone in the basement makes excited for when Gibson can play down there with Layla. Layla right now doesn't like to go down by herself. During "rest time" she'll play in her room for awhile, but other than that she likes to stay upstairs by Gibson and me.

Can't quite see Gavin!

That's better:)...(don't mind that I quick did Layla's hair in her room so she clearly did not use her detangler:D)

Eating cereal nicely together:)...

This was how Layla came up the stairs one time today:)...pretty sure my sister wore that hat in a wedding back in the day! :)

Trying to hide from the camera....apparently she thinks she's a celebrity:)...

1 Year Old!

Gibson had his one year appointment yesterday. It worked nice that Joe had the day off for the holiday so he could stay home with Layla while I took Gibs. The appointment was at 9:05 and I woke up to a quiet house at 8:10 and had to quick get myself ready and wake up Gibson.
Poor Gibs needed 5 shots plus a finger poke which he did not enjoy! The doctor also looked at the dry patches of skin on his back and said that he does have eczema (which I knew since my friend's son also has it). Because of the eczema the doctor said that he shouldn't have peanuts, shellfish, fish or treenuts until between ages 2-3. The link with his eczema is not that eczema causes any of those allergies, but that people with eczema often tend to be people with food allergies as well, so in order to hopefully (maybe) avoid having an allergy to those foods, the thought now is that if kids avoid them until they're 2 or 3 they may be able to prevent getting those food allergies. Who knows, that info seems to change all the time based on new studies, but if that will maybe prevent him from having those allergies, then I guess that's what we'll do! He's already had peanut butter and fish and done fine with it, but his dr. said that just b/c he didn't react now to those items, doesn't mean that he wouldn't develop an allergy to it over time. I'll have to get soybutter or something instead b/c he loves pb&j's!
He also has fluid on both ears which could explain his grumpy mood lately! He has definitely been hitting a crabby time nearly every evening lately! It could be that he's just getting over an ear infection or just getting one--hopefully the former! We go back now in about 6 weeks to get his ears checked again (fluid for too long in their ears can cause speech delays and probably isn't comfortable for them). He had an ear infection in November and then when he went back 6 weeks after that appointment (after being on antibiotics) he still had fluid on his ears, so I don't know if the fluid has remained this entire time or if it's new from the cold he has now?? Who knows, but he's had lots of colds this year and just when he seems to get better he gets sick again--and always about 2 days after being in church nursery. So frustrating! I'm ready for him to start being healthy and acting like his normal happy self! But other than those things, he's doing well! Everything else checked out good! Here are his stats:

Height: 29.5" - I think 25th-50th% but the dr and nurse told me different % so I'm not quite sure:)
Weight: 21 lbs 5.5 oz - 25th% I think
Head: 46.2 cm - 25-50th% I think

Since he's one and over 20 lbs according to the old carseat rule, he could switch to forward facing, but since they now recommend keeping kids rear facing until 2 (unless your carseat says to flip them sooner), we'll keep him rear facing for awhile yet. I'm a firm believer in carseat safety especially after seeing both of my kids basically untouched after being flipped upside down in an accident where our car was totalled!

He is in clothing size mainly 6-12 or 12-18 months although some of his 6-12 month pants are getting a bit tight:). He is totally off bottles now which I enjoy! I think the best part is my clear counter space where his bottle holder used to be:). He had been not wanting to take a sippy at all but is now doing fine with a sippy. He sleeps from 7pm until somewhere around 8am and then just recently dropped his morning nap (although sometimes that's still a struggle) and normally takes about a 3 hour afternoon nap.

His personality definitely seems to be different than Layla's already so it'll be interesting to keep watching him grow to see his personality come through more and more. He is getting better at listening to instructions (like telling him to put the block in the hole or whatever), but still often chooses to not listen to "no" :). His favorite room to get into trouble in is the bathroom with his recent "fun" activities consisting of flushing the toilet and throwing a bath toy in the toilet while Layla was going:). He's so sweet though too. I think one of the funniest things I find about him is how he just will suddenly take a break from playing or crawling or whatever and just lay down. It's like he just needs a little alone time for about 10 seconds:). He loves playing with his big sis and they actually rarely fight--probably b/c she takes toys away from him and he doesn't really care yet:). We love our little guy and are excited to see him grow and develop in the next year (and of course all future years to come)!

Going for a sled ride yesterday with sissy:). As soon as Layla saw yesterday morning that we had gotten a little more snow she wanted to go sledding, Joe took her when he got home:). (don't mind Layla's jammie pants:D)

Gibson at 1 month...

He has definitely filled out a bit more at 12 months:)...ha, I just noticed that Elv's head is in both of these pics:).