Lilypie Kids Birthday tickers
Lilypie Kids Birthday tickers

Saturday, December 24, 2011

Vaughn is 6 Months Old

Christmas Eve happens to be one of my very favorite days of the year. This year it got a little sweeter with our little guy turning 6 months old, it seems sort of cool to have a half birthday on Christmas Eve. I remember when he was born thinking wow, he will be 6 months old at Christmas, it seemed so far away. He is an amazing little boy and I love him to pieces. He is such a happy boy and has a very laid back demeanor, well unless he wants to be held.
We had his 6 month Dr. appointment and he is a healthy kiddo! Here are his stats:

Weight: 17lbs 40th percentile
Length: 27in 75th percentile
Head: not sure the measurement, but it is in the 90th percentile
He is sitting really well, sometimes topples over, but as long as sharp or hard toys are out of his way he is pretty cool about it and maneuvers himself onto his tummy and moves around in a circle. Vaughn has really found his voice too. He makes noises to get your attention when he wants something, he loves to make the raspberry noises and he has a great scream when he is excited! He loves watching the girls run around and act silly, there is never a dull moment around here and Vaughn seems to love all the activity. When he is sitting in his highchair he always throws his toys on the floor, so his sisters now love to pick them up for him. It is pretty sweet too, because then they all start bringing all kinds of toys over to his tray and before I know it I can barely see the little guy behind the toys piled on his tray. One day they even started bringing Wrigley's toys over. He always has a HUGE smile on his face when his sisters come around and pay attention to him.

Thursday, December 22, 2011

Wednesday, December 21, 2011

Three Diffrerent Personalities

Having three girls the exact same age brings the very common question, do they all have different personalities? It seems like an obvious answer, but it really is amazing to see three little people raised in the exact same environment developing into such unique and special girls.

These cookie decorating pictures demonstrate perfectly how different Brooke, Taylor and Sydney are.

Brooke is very particular and patient. As you can see in this picture, she pays attention to every cookie making sure she sprinkles them all. She will sit with a book or a shape sorter and take her time focusing on finishing what ever she is working on. She is very detail oriented, and she loves when I get dressed up. If I come out of my room with heels and jewelry (not an everyday occurrence around here) her face lights up and she comes over and inspects my outfit! If I change the color of nail polish on my toes or fingers she notices right away, and often comments on others nails. She can be a little pig pen as well though, she likes to make a mess with her food, I think that is something she learned from her identical twin sister :) She has a squeaky little voice that sometimes sounds like whining even when she is not. Brooke is a very well behaved little girl unless she is overtired, then watch out it is meltdown city. Although she is not often put on the naughty chair when she is, she has the hardest time saying sorry. She also calls strawberries strawbabies which I think is just adorable!
I love when Brooke sits cross legged, santa hat doesn't hurt eitherMittens and hats are totally accessories which this little girl LOVES!!!Taylor is the messiest of the three and although incredibly sweet and super helpful, she has a streak of stinker all her own. She had a ball decorating cookies because she ate a ton of the sugar sprinkles and immediately poured all the sprinkles on the pan. She has the biggest smile that continues to light up the room. Of all the girls, these days, Taylor spends the most time on the naughty chair. Her little stinker streak gets the best of her and she does exactly what she knows she shouldn't and then happily goes and sits down and about 10 seconds in the tears begin. Then, when her 2 minutes are up we talk quickly about the offense at hand and she says Yes, Yes, Yes and then is off. She is the sister that is always looking out for others. She makes sure everyone has a snack or water, or their blankie and it they don't she will find it and give it to them. Taylor is also pretty demanding these days, she definitely knows what she wants and repeatedly asks for it. For example, she wants to be held a lot these days and she comes up and says "hold you" and then if you pick her up and then decide to sit down she will tell you to stand up. She is such a sweet little sensitive soul!
There is that special gorgeous smile!She is one silly little girlSydney is very particular about many things. As you can see in her decorating, she focused on one cookie and that was it. She is incredibly neat and after a meal there is rarely anything to clean up, including her face. She likes to have her hands wiped off immediately if they get dirty. She has really begun to come out of her shell. She is a little clown these days with her little snorting trick, she tends to use it as an icebreaker. On average Syd only naps about 45 minutes a day, so she has quite a bit of one on one time everyday which she LOVES. During this time she is a snuggle bug and then a non stop chatterbox. She is also still the Mommy of the group. She loves her little brother like crazy. In the morning she always says good morning to Vaughn, and when we go downstairs to Wrigley, what a little sweetie! Once in awhile during nap time I will attempt to paint my nails, Sydney has expressed quite the liking to soaking her nails. When I tried it with Brooke and Taylor they played with the water and splashed the water all around. Yet another difference in personalities!
Vaughn has quite the grip which Syd is unsure of...
But she is patient and loves her little brotherSyd doing "big girl" things like soaking her nails, it's her new favorite thing to do!Brooke, Taylor and Sydney are so completely different in so many ways, yet they get along so well and the love they have for each other is starting to show! They play so nicely together and share their toys so well. I hope and pray there is nothing that will ever "shake" the bond they have. I am also very curious how Vaughn will fit into the picture, he is such a calm little boy. One thing that I do hope changes is that the girls stop calling him baby Juan. I am chalking this one up to the difficulty in saying the V sound as their pronunciations develop. Hahaha

Sisters being sisters

Tuesday, December 20, 2011

Knitting

My great friend Melissa recently taught me how to knit. I have been searching for something to learn and given little extra time and little brain power at the close of the day, knitting seemed like the perfect activity. Although knitting is not exactly a mindless hobby, it is incredibly relaxing once you get the hang of it. That being said, I have not yet attempted anything complicated, but I feel good about completing my first project which was a hat for Vaughn. While I am writing this it am a little annoyed with myself because I have not taken any time to knit lately and it makes me feel like I have forgotten all I have learned. I must get back to it so I can improve my skills.

The hat for Vaughn was pretty easy, and Melissa constantly tells me how quickly I learned and was a great first result. I have to say I am a little proud of myself and more than that I am so happy to make something for my son. Well, it fit him for about the time it took to take the picture. It was not nearly large enough for his 90th percentile head, but that is okay, at least I got a picture.

I was a bit more than half way done when I made him model, he graciously obliged, he is so chill and seems up for whatever whenever!

The project is complete!

Tuesday, December 13, 2011

Christmas Parties and Santa

The Annual Rockwell Automation Christmas party is for kids 2 years and older, so this year we were really excited to take the girls. This year was the 85th year they throw this party for the kids and it was quite impressive. We started with greetings from reindeer, snowmen, gingerbread men and Christmas trees with presents for feet. The girls were a little apprehensive at first, but Taylor built up the courage to give hugs.
Strength in numbers for Taylor and Sydney to go up to the snowmanThe girls then went into the play room where they had a big giraffe slide, a little bounce house, little riding toys and rocking horses

Taylor, so sweetSydney's adorable smileBrooke with DaddyThey had a big show in the gym with a variety of entertainment. The show lasted just under two hours, we stayed for most of it and the girls did amazingly well. They were playing with their dolls and it is amazing how graham crackers keep kiddos entertained. We then made our way to the ice cream and cookie time. The girls loved it, of course and boy did they have a major sugar rush.

Brooke sitting looking cuteThe final stop was gift pickup, we couldn't believe how generous the company was with three really nice gifts per child!!!

Vaughn got to hang with Gramma and Grandpa for the morning, which was awesome. We really needed free hands to enable the girls to have the most fun possible.

We didn't have a chance to get pictures with Santa at the Rockwell Party because the line was really really long and not moving at all!!! We weren't really to upset about it because we knew we would see him at the Christmas party with Busia and Papa the following day.

Busia and Papa are members at the Daniel Boone Conservation League (Gun Club) and every year they have a Christmas party for the kids. The girls had a blast! Bubbles, the clown made balloon animals for each child, there was great snacks and then Santa came and we did the best we could with the picture. It was a ton of fun and the girls ran around playing with their balloons, eating cookies and being silly.
Brooke with her balloonTaylor and Sydney with Santa, Brooke was a little scaredThe whole crew with SantaLittle Santa BoyPapa, Syd, Busia and Vaughn

Wednesday, November 30, 2011

Vaughn's First Tooth


Yesterday afternoon and I was running my "Wednesday" errands. I can home and Gramma and Grandpa were over and she asked me if I had felt Vaughn's gums lately. I had not, but I did then and wouldn't you know, one of his little front bottom teeth popped through!!! Oh my goodness, this little guy is growing up so darn fast already!!! The average age of first teeth is 7 months, so he is about 2 months ahead of that curve and I think that was why I was not expecting them so soon!

Besides the normal drooling like crazy, he hasn't been overly fussy, although none of the girls had any trouble with teething. Well, last night was a rough one. Vaughn must have been up 7 times. He was really uncomfortable even with Tylenol and gum numbing gel. I think he just needed hugs and cuddles. He is an extremely cuddly little guy which, of course, I love!!! He was also a little stuffy so that was hard too. Apparently a lot of kiddos get all stuffed up when they are teething.

I will get pictures posted when I am able to get a good look.

Saturday, November 26, 2011

Thanksgiving 2011

Once again, we had a very special and enjoyable Thanksgiving. We hosted the party at our house, but I did very little of the actual cooking. I am so thankful for both my and Chris's parents and all of their help with making the meal delicious. Auntie Beth and Justo were in from New York and the girls had a blast with them. Chris's Uncle Bob came in from the St. Louis area. He had never met the girls and Vaughn and it was my first time meeting him as well, so I was really thankful he was able to spend the holiday with us. My Aunt Sissy was in from PA and the girls loved sitting with her and playing with her watch the glowed. The girls talk so much now and it is a ton of fun for the family to see how much has changed since the last visit. What a wonderful weekend of family and fun!

Everyone took a lot of pictures, so here are a bunch of them:

Chris's sideMy sideLots of laughs with Auntie BethUncle Bob and the kiddosAunt Sissy and the girls coloringAuntie Beth and JustoBrooke making Mommy proud! My boys...they are so handsome!!!Auntie Beth working sleep magic

Sunday, November 13, 2011

Vaughn Eats Cereal and More

Ever since Vaughn's 4 month appointment he has been eating cereal. I can't believe that I have waited this long to blog about it, but typically I would write about which foods he likes best. Unfortunately, he is not tolerating any of the typical veggies just yet. It is recommended that you start with the veggies and then move onto the the sweeter fruits so we haven't even tried those yet. Thus far all he can keep down is the rice cereal mixed with avocado. The poor little guy spits up like crazy with any of the veggies. I called the doctor about this and they said maybe his tummy is not ready, so to keep trying it periodically and he will eventually. I have to think he is pretty bored at this point, but this little guy LOVES to eat and was pretty much awesome at it from day 1!

Since the video of his first actual bites of food is too long to upload I included one of his second round of food. It appears he knows what is coming and likes it!!!

This is a clip of Vaughn's first belly laugh. You have to listed really closely at the beginning to hear the big time belly laugh. He is often entertained by his crazy big sister!


Vaughn loves his exersaucer and has rolled over, but does not yet roll over and over. He is still super smiley and super sweet!!!Busia and Vaughn have a sweet little bond. He laughs every time he sees her, it probably had something to do with all the silly noises she makes to entertain him, and he remembers. I love this sweet snoozing picture!

Friday, November 11, 2011

Leaves

Grandma and Grandpa have huge trees in their backyard and this time of year they have tons of leaves. They gathered all the leaves along the back fence and invited the girls over to play in them! All three girls loved crunching around and throwing them in the air. Vaughn kept warm in the house with Cassandra. It was pretty chilly that day but no one seemed to mind at all, it was nothing but fun!

Brooke, Syd, Taylor
Grandma and Taylor

Brooke
Syd looking rather tall
Taylor loved the sun and would walk over and talk to it!

Thursday, November 10, 2011

Bounce House Excitement

The bounce house is an obvious hit in this house! They girls get really excited while it blows up!
Watch this:



They started this sitting on the bottom stair waiting all on their own!