Wednesday, February 29, 2012

Tuesday, February 28, 2012

A Slice of Bryce (#19): Ten Months!!!

Ten months. Wow! With the weather getting "nicer", (in quotes because the winter never really got bad) it seems like time flies more quickly. We spend as much time outside as we possibly can, and I love that the days are getting longer. Bring on spring!!!

Bryce's tenth month has been an exciting one! He's starting to seem less and less like a "baby" to me. He's a crawling maniac now, and he's starting to walk behind various items (stools, chairs, his music table) and use them as push toys. Today, in fact, I went back and watched this video of Macie at almost the exact same age as Bryce. I think if I would have put them both in gender neutral clothes, they could be the same baby! It's going to be so fun to see how Bryce's "look" changes as he grows...

Other than crawling, Bryce has also moved to eating primarily table foods. He'll still eat jarred baby food, of course, but we're trying as often as possible to get him to make the transition. In some ways it makes it easier, but, in others, it's more difficult, as I want him to be having nutritious meals when, how-can-I-say-this-without-sounding-like-an-awful-mother, the rest of his family might not always be. He's getting pretty skilled at picking up finger foods, but still likes to be spoon-fed, too, particularly with items that are squishy (like bananas and scrambled eggs). Seems it's a texture issue for him (he comes by that honestly).

B is also talking up a storm. His favorite word/sound is "Da-Da", but he has no idea what he's saying (though Dale would surely disagree). His current "tricks" are clapping and playing the "How Big Is Bryce?" game (thanks to hard-core training sessions when Nina and Papa were here visiting).

In other good news, Bryce is hardly ever waking up during the night any more. And, when he does, we've been able to blame it on teeth cutting through (which reminds me that I still owe you all one of my famous teeth update posts). For those rare middle-of-the-night crying sessions, Dale and I have become quite adept at turning on our sound machine, rolling over, and going back to sleep. We assume Bryce ultimately gives up and does the same.

Alright, I think that's it for this month's update. I'm including a crawling video below (since I needed to get his speedy crawl documented before he decides to take to walking, instead), along with my typical 10-month pictures. Many thanks to Dale for being my "spotter" so B wouldn't fall off the chair during the photo session...

























Monday, February 27, 2012

A Visit From Toothetina

On Christmas Eve, Ivie discovered that she had her first loose tooth. She proceeded to spend the next 2 months "making it wiggly"...

Fast-forward to Valentine's Day. Since it was a Tuesday, Ivie rode home from school with Kristie, who sent me a text that read, "Hanging by a thread! She asked me to send you a picture." Here it was.


Besides thinking it was a bit gross, I was also excited, as it was clearly time for the tooth to come out! So when Ivie ran over to me upon my arrival to pick her up, I told her that I would be happy to pull it out for her. But then I got distracted talking to Kristie, and Ivie disappeared into the garage, presumably to get a bit more playtime before we had to leave.

Imagine my surprise when she ran over to me just minutes later, saying, "Look, Mommy! I pulled my tooth out MYSELF!". And she sure had! So much for her being nervous about it hurting!

So here's my girl, minus her first baby tooth...



Ivie was so excited for her Tooth Fairy (named Toothetina, inspired by the book Silverlicious) to make her first visit to our home. Toothetina didn't disappoint, leaving a whopping $5 in the tooth pillow. And she even let us keep the tooth, since it is Ivie's first one.

Since the whole first-tooth-losing experience was a positive one for Iv, she is ultra-excited about doing it again. So it's no surprise that her finger is constantly in her mouth working on the next one (which is, in fact, starting to wiggle a bit!).

Sunday, February 26, 2012

Facebook: January, 2012

January 1 at 9:43a

Amy Schaeperkoetter Herman
Why am I just now discovering this?!?



January 4 at 6:42a

Amy Schaeperkoetter Herman
Bryce woke up 45 minutes too early this morning. Now he's back to sleep, snuggled up on Dale's chest in our bed. #momentstocherish


January 7 at 10:34a

Amy Schaeperkoetter Herman
Funny thing. When you're playing with kids, they actually WANT to have the Old Maid...


January 7 at 12:48p

Amy Schaeperkoetter Herman
3-hour nap and still going strong. Must have had a long week at school...


January 11 at 7:27p

Amy Schaeperkoetter Herman
Bryce got his first taste of Chick-fil-A nuggets tonight! #start'emearly


January 14 at 8:14a

Amy Schaeperkoetter Herman
Bryce is crawling, so I pulled out the playpen today. Wonder how long it will be before he realizes it's not much fun to be "caged up" for play time...


January 14 at 11:10a

Amy Schaeperkoetter Herman
Daddy getting in on the Keva Plank fun - his saloon!


January 16 at 11:00a

Amy Schaeperkoetter Herman
A picture of my Papa (Mom's dad - front row, far right) and his siblings!


January 16 at 8:59p

Amy Schaeperkoetter Herman
Found this random drawing while cleaning up tonight. Wondering if I should be worried that this is what Iv thinks about in her spare doodling time.


January 17 at 8:29a

Amy Schaeperkoetter Herman
Today, I'm wearing my "Mommy to a sweet, cuddly, sick baby boy" hat.


January 17 at 9:30a

Amy Schaeperkoetter Herman
Ahhhhh, RSV. One of my favorite baby illnesses. NOT.


January 18 at 12:41p

January 18 at 3:39p

Amy Schaeperkoetter Herman
Let's look on the bright side. At least when all your sick baby will eat/drink is milk, the throw up isn't too disgusting or difficult to clean up.


January 19 at 7:43p

Amy Schaeperkoetter Herman
Apparently there is a (completely false) rumor going around LA (yes, California -weird, I know) that I am pregnant. Could someone please dispatch an ambulance to my husband's current location in case he's heard the news?


January 20 at 12:57a

Amy Schaeperkoetter Herman
I love you, Buggy, but while snuggling against my chest in your rocking chair has proven (on multiple occasions tonight) to be an excellent sleeping position for you, it doesn't work great for me.


January 20 at 7:46a

Amy Schaeperkoetter Herman
Movie night for the Barbies, apparently...


January 20 at 3:07p

Amy Schaeperkoetter Herman
Getting some fresh air after 4 long days of being stuck inside.


January 21 at 4:37p

Amy Schaeperkoetter Herman
A perfect day to check out how well their umbrellas work.


January 21 at 10:12p

Amy Schaeperkoetter Herman
Today, I put myself in timeout for not thinking before I said something hurtful to Ivie. #TheGoldenRule #actionsspeaklouderthanwords


January 22 at 8:56a

Amy Schaeperkoetter Herman
Look who found an open pantry door...


January 22 at 12:26p

Amy Schaeperkoetter Herman
Successfully completed grocery shopping solo, with the girls in the rocket ship and B in the baby carrier. Now I need a nap.


January 23 at 9:39a

Amy Schaeperkoetter Herman
Well, it looks like I might lose the all-time Women's Basketball scoring record at Westminster this year. Bummer! Oh well, at least KOMU gave me a little shout-out in the article they wrote about the girl who might overtake me. Or... Not... On the bright side, at least they named an actual person (my third cousin) who actually does play basketball somewhere (Wash U.).


January 25 at 8:07a

Amy Schaeperkoetter Herman
Rockin' the new "full-coverage" sunglasses.


January 26 at 5:04p

Amy Schaeperkoetter Herman
Chick-fil-A has a "Mom's Valet" program where you can drive through, order, pay, and then park the car and go inside, where they will have, in the meantime, set up all your food on a table for you. When I told Iv we were going to CFA tonight, she said, "Can we do that ballerina thing?". Valet, ballerina, same thing.


January 27 at 6:00p

Amy Schaeperkoetter Herman
The girls love our new smiley face pancake pan!


January 27 at 7:57p

January 28 at 10:33a

Amy Schaeperkoetter Herman
Girls to me as we explored their latest Kiwi Crate: "We love spearmints (kid talk for experiments), Mommy!"


January 28 at 12:55p

Amy Schaeperkoetter Herman
Ivie "Jordan" Herman on the monkey bars...


January 28 at 7:12p

Amy Schaeperkoetter Herman
Should a 9-month old have a hint of a chocolate mustache?!? #moonberriesyogurt


January 31 at 6:18p

Amy Schaeperkoetter Herman
Relaxing with his dinner bottle after a long, hard day at school.


Wednesday, February 22, 2012

Tuesday, February 21, 2012

Friends

On Wednesdays this school year, I pick up Ivie and her friend, Caroline, after school at 1p, and we spend the afternoon having frozen yogurt, making arts and crafts, playing, and going to Gymnastics class (along with their little sisters, Macie and Cameron).

While we have our fair share of rough times with 2 (and then 4) tired girls after long days at school, it's also abundantly clear at times how wonderful their friendships are. See?