January '12

We went to the Caucus as a family. All of Black Hawk county is held in one location, this time at the UNI dome. We heard Michelle Bachmann and Newt Gingrich speak.

Alice (and dolly) got to say 'hi' to Newt and Callista. This is her first time meeting someone famous.

We got our first sizable snow the middle of January. The following Monday was Martin Luther King Day, so Jameson had off work. Jameson, Alice, and I built her first snowman together that morning. 

We then had fun throwing snowballs at the tree. Alice got right up next to the tree so she could hit it too.

Later that week, we had a big snowstorm. My mom had came up for my birthday Thursday night and we got a big SNOW DAY Friday! Alice was eager to get out and play.

Grandma had just gone out to shovel a little but soon found herself making a snow angel for Alice!

Alice swinging in her snow gear!

The cold has not seemed to bother Alice at all. She loves getting her snow gear on and going outside. Several mornings she tried getting her boots on to go outside before we'd even eaten breakfast! She learned that Anna could not. 

Alice eating pudding she helped make. She loves making jello and pudding.

Anna loves feeding herself puffs.

The girls playing together in Alice's fort. Alice LOVES having Anna play along with her. She is always getting Anna toys and asking her to sit here, lay there, etc.

Alice helping me make Chex Mix.

 Anna is 6 months!!!

 Alice and I made a snow turtle.

Alice loves sorting by object and by color.

 Practicing walking through the snow.

 Throwing snowballs at the driveway and each other... one of Alice's favorite activities.

A Look at Our Daily Lives

Sometimes I think back to when Alice was a baby and wonder what 'daily life' was like with just her and I. Thus, I decided I should blog about what our daily life looks like. 

Daily Happenings:

6:30     Jameson's alarm clock starts going off

6:45     Alice comes wondering in our room, Jameson and I (reluctantly) get up.

            Jameson showers and gets ready for work. I pack his breakfast, lunch, and coffee. 

            Alice and I tell Daddy good-bye and Jameson is off to work for the day

7-7:30 Alice and I read books on the recliner. (Most likely my favorite part of the day!)

7:30    Anna wakes up and I nurse Anna. 

           Alice, Anna, and I eat breakfast, usually cheerios or raisin bran. 

           After breakfast I go through catechism for young children questions or a scripture memory verse and a hymn or song of the week. At this point, this is as much for my benefit as Alice's, but hopefully it's forming good habits. 

           Girls and I get dressed (and bathed depending on the day). 

           Hopefully all this is done by about 8:30. 

8:30-9:30 'Intentional Playtime / Learning time' with the girls. This is the time of day where I try to forget about any cooking and cleaning responsibilities I have and focus solely on the girls. I really enjoy this time although it is surprisingly hard for me as I find myself easily distracted by other tasks that pop into my mind. I try to think of fun learning activities we can do such as puzzles, make simple foods to work on stirring and pouring skills, color pictures, make cards, learn songs with actions or sounds (Old McDonald is Alice's favorite right now), etc. 

9:30         Anna goes down for her morning nap. 

9:30-10    Alice watches Sesame Street while I have devotions and check e-mail. I started trying to read through the Bible in a year (chronologically) last January and made it about 1/2 way by the time Anna was born. I've resumed my efforts and my goal is to finish by the end of August. Weekends seem to be my biggest challenge. 

10-10:30/11  Cleaning tasks of the day (vacuum, dust, sweep, mop, clean windows, bathrooms, misc.)

                Play / Misc. until Anna gets up between 11 and 11:30.

11:30-12:15   I nurse Anna and then the girls and I have lunch. Most days we have peanut butter and jelly or honey sandwich, fruit and veggie or yogurt. If there are more leftovers than Jameson can eat for lunch, then we have leftovers. Occasionally we have ham or turkey sandwich. After lunch I read from 'Training Hearts, Teaching Minds' by Starr Meade. The content is above Alice, but I find it very profitable and once again it is teaching her the habit of devotions / Bible reading after each meal. 

 12:15-12:45   Play / Misc then clean-up toys and Alice goes down for a nap till about 3:00.

                       Anna stays up with me until she goes down for a nap at 2:00 till about 3:30/4. 

1:00-3:00 Mondays- Fold laundry that I've been cycling through the wash and dryer all morning, plan menu for the week, make grocery list. Read or computer time if time allows.  

                Tuesdays- Tutor Rachel and Lydia

                Wednesdays- Tutor Aaron and Alan

                Thursdays- Tutor Melissa and then a little down time if the girls are still sleeping :)

                 Fridays- Go through the mail from the week, pay bills, prepare for Sunday School, misc. 

                                Read or computer time if time allows.  

3:00-4:30 When Alice gets up she and I have a snack. When Anna wakes up I nurse her. Otherwise we  play, read, work on supper, etc. until daddy gets home, usually between 4:30 and 5. 

5/5:30-6/6:30 Supper

After supper, Jameson gets some time with the girls while I clean up and do dishes.

7:30/8-8:30  Get PJs on the girls, brush Alice's teeth. I nurse Anna and put her to bed. One of us reads to Alice, say prayers with her, and she goes to sleep.

8:30-10/11 It's just Jameson and I! :) We spend time on the computer, read, watch TV, play a game, call family, work out, whatever till about 10 or 11 and then go to bed. Alice usually sleeps all night without waking up. Anna usually wakes up once (although when company is here it seems to be twice) to eat, sometime between 1 and 5. This middle of the night feeding is actually another favorite part of my day (as long as there is only one). It's the only feeding where is just Anna and me and she is so snuggly! She eats and then falls sound asleep back it my arms. It is so quiet and peaceful I just enjoy her for a few minutes before putting her back to bed. She always goes right back to sleep in bed and I usually fall back to sleep very quickly myself. 

Weekly Events: 

Grocery Store Monday afternoon (after lunch of after nap time)

Bible Study Wednesday morning 10-12

Library Fridays 9-9:45

Writing this all out makes our days sound much more rigid than they probably are, but this is our general guideline schedule. I've found by taking time for reading and intentional playtime in the morning, I can make sure it happens. Otherwise, I easily get caught up in cleaning and misc. things and before I know it I'm tucking Alice into bed an wishing I'd spent more quality time with her during the day. I'm also trying to keep cleaning at a set time each day so I so a little each day instead of getting to Friday and still needing to do all my cleaning for the week. 

Dec. '11

We put up our Christmas tree and Christmas decorations the Sunday night after Thanksgiving break, after the girls were in bed. The next morning wen Alice got up she went around the house saying 'Oh! Mommy!' or 'Oooooh!' and pointing to each decoration as she noticed them. When Jameson turned the tree on she was quite pleased and then ran to get dolly and sat her in her lap, showing her the tree. This got us all excited for the Christmas season!!!

Alice and I made a countdown to Christmas. Her glue stick skills improved immensely and by the end she was doing a great job! The star read "Each night after prayers are said, take off one ring and jump in bed. When only the star is left to shine, then you'll know it's Christmas time!"

The Waterloo-Cedar Falls Symphony sponsors 'Lollipop concerts' geared for young children to teach concert etiquette and about select instruments. We went to our first Lollipop concert Dec. 3 and the UNI flute studio perform.

Anna started baby food just after Thanksgiving. After rice cereal, she got introduced to a new vegetable every 3-4 days: peas, squash (which she didn't like the first time around but has since decided is ok), green beans, sweet potatoes, and carrots. After vegetable, she got oatmeal, prunes, pears, and peaches.

As a Christmas present for my parents, I had a photo shoot with the girls. Here are the winners.

 Here is a fun one from the day. . . Alice hard at work.

Alice love playing Peek-A-Boo with Anna at the table. It is SO cute!!!

I came up with several Christmas treats that Alice could help me make... Rice Crispie treat ornaments and Pretzel M&M's wreaths. She was a good helper and we had fun.

Several ladies from our church host a Christmas party every year, We eat finger foods, sing Christmas songs, and hear talents from whoever wants to share. This year Beth, who hosts the party at her house, and I played a piano duet. It was fun to perform with someone after not playing in any ensemble since college.

Anna rolled from her back to her tummy for the first time Dec. 13 for Jameson and Alice. I was out Christmas shopping. She continued practicing her new skill several times each day following and by Saturday she rolled over when she woke up half way through her nap. After crying for awhile she fell back to sleep on her tummy. She hasn't rolled over again to sleep since, so I guess she decided she prefers sleeping on her back. y. 

Anna is quite the cutie these days! She is so much fun to play with and make smile and laugh!

 First bath together in the tub. This required daddy's help, since Anna can't sit up reliably on her own yet.

 Alice and Anna watching the snow (the only light dusting that we've got in Dec.)

I made snowman ornaments for our family out of can lids, felt, and ribbon. 

Alice's helped paint the can lids white. :)

 Alice excited to open presents at our home family Christmas.

 Anna tasting her first present.

 Dolly got a present too... a new dress!

We went to my parents for an extended Christmas weekend (Friday late morning through Monday night). As always, it went fast but was a lot of fun!

Alice helping grandma decorate Christmas cookies.

 We opened presents at my parents on Saturday (the day before Christmas). My mom made matching aprons for me and my girls. She will have one too but it's not finished yet.

 My brother got Jameson a new grill grate from Amazon... yes it came in this box!

 Dolly got a soccer uniform from grandma. Alice laughed like crazy while daddy made dolly play soccer.

 Alice and dolly got matching pajamas!

 As usual, time at my parents included multiple rounds of cards (up and down the river) during naptime and after the girls went to sleep for the night. My brother also taught my dad and I a new game, Settlers of Catan, while I really enjoyed.

 Alice and her dollies on Christmas morning. We opened stocking soon after.

I was sick, very sick, Christmas Day so that's where the pictures end. The girls and I spent the afternoon/evening at my parents while Jameson, my parents, and brother went to my Grandma's. Thankfully it was just a 24 hr bug. We spent Monday at my parents and then came home and spent the rest of the week at home as a family. We worked on projects and Alice gave up her pacifier. She was only used to having it when she went to sleep (nap and bedtime) but had been waking up during the night and crying until she got it back. I was not willing to keep waking up in the night for her, so we decided it was time to go. It was week long project as each nap and bedtime was a little more difficult, but she 'learned' she's not a baby anymore so she doesn't 'need' it anymore. 

 Jameson made this mirror for above our sofa table. I consider it a 5 year anniversary present and it's something I'll treasure for years. (The table was a wedding present from my Uncle Paul). He worked on it at my Uncle Paul's while we were at my parents for Christmas and then stained and finished it during his week off from work.

During Jameson's week off he also added to more lights in the garage to make it much brighter AND redid our half bath. This included paint, new lights, sink, mirror, and shelves. I made a new valance. 

BEFORE (What the bathroom looked like when we bought the house 3 years ago. We had taken down the curtains but that's about it until now.) 

AFTER

Jameson's family came up here New Years weekend to celebrate Christmas and Anniversaries.
Anniversary supper... Our 5th, Mom and Dad's 35th, and Jordan and Joys 9th. We had two kinds of lasagna and salad.

As something special we took the kids to the Inflatable Park. The LOVED it!

'Christmas night' supper... pizza and punch. The men were commenting on their plaid shirts :)

Family Photos 

It was fun to watch Alice and Lydia have fun together!

All in all it was a great Christmas, although I am looking forward to getting back to our regular schedule.

Alice & Anna 5 month comparison:

Alice at 5 months

Anna at 5 months