Riser is 8 months old

Riser is 8 months old! He won't have another well-check until 9 months but we think he is around 18 pounds. He is currently in 9-12 month clothing and size 3 diapers. He popped his first 2 teeth over the Thanksgiving holiday! It made for a fussy couple days, but he is back to his sunny disposition (his nickname at home has long been solidified as Sonny). He absolutely loves being put in 'the chair' for any sort of meal/snack time. Feeding him is a lot like the Hungry Hungry Hippos game, you can't put food in front of him fast enough. He likes drinking water from his sippy cup but has a hard time holding it.

Riser has been crawling for over a month now and can practically run/crawl he is so fast. He is now pulling up on all sorts of things - the couch, the baby gate around the wood burning stove, our legs, kitchen chairs. We have dropped his crib and have officially had to put back out the baby gate for the bottom of our stairs as he is clearly fixated on mastering them next. 

As sweet as he is, he doesn't just sit back and take things in. He is very active, likes to be vocal and a part of whatever it is we are doing. It is obviously still really early to say a whole lot about his personality but at this stage he is very social and seems to think he is just as big as everyone else. Riser still takes one shorter nap in the morning and a longer one in the afternoon. He still sleeps about 12 hours at night but has recently seemed to hit the 8 month sleep regression, waking up a couple times during the night. Thankfully he gets back to sleep easily. He has been mimicking some sounds and can very clearly say 'da-da-da-da' and sometimes 'ba-ba-ba-ba' or 'ma-ma-ma-ma'. 

Bonnie is three!

Our firstborn is now three years old! She weighs 29 pounds and is 37.5 inches tall. She still sleeps about 11-12 hours at night (7:30pm - 7:15am) and takes a quiet time in the afternoon (50/50 if she actually sleeps). She still struggles with going down for quiet times/bed time, but once she calms herself down she is a good sleeper. She says she just doesn't want the day to end, so we think it's more about fear of missing out or being lonely. We recently tried having Riser sleep in her room which she seemed very excited about, but the minute we were about to walk out the door she asked us to take him out. She likes her routines and struggles with flexibility when it comes to sleep.

Bonnie is incredibly smart and talks our ears off all day long. She can sing her ABCs and count to 20. She is learning a couple letters here and there. She loves doing things herself - get dressed (all except the shirt), go to the bathroom, wash her hands, put her shoes on, etc. "I'll do it, I'll do it" is a common phrase we hear from her, and she is eager to learn new things. She is very good at expressing herself and telling us how she feels. 

She is very sweet and complimentary, often giving us compliments unprompted, "Mommy you look so beautiful today," "I like your shirt," "Dinner is so yummy daddy." She is also so very silly and loves to goof around and make us laugh. Unfortunately this side is not seen too often outside our house. Our girl has a wall of steel when it comes to trust. It takes a lot for her to let anyone into her 'inner circle' so it's always impressive when we see it happen. A lot of people have tried hard to engage her and she either won't respond or stare blankly. 

As far as interests this girl loves to sing and dance. She will sing and dance all around the house with no music playing, sometimes making up her own songs. She loves her baby Lilly, Minnie Mouse, and anything pink and girly. She enjoys helping in the kitchen wherever she can - cooking, baking, and unloading the dishwasher. She has also started having more fun with her little brother now that he is mobile. She will start crawling around on the floor telling Riser to follow her. It is such a joy watching this girl grow - we love you so much Birdy!

Bonnie's third birthday

Well, we officially have a three year old! I'm still processing it. Bonnie was so looking forward to her birthday this year. This was the first year she really anticipated it and would talk about what she wanted for her cake (strawberry everything). It was mostly a family day on Saturday then had a little Friendsgiving/birthday party with her friends on Sunday.

Our last night with our two year old!

Bonnie is a lover of all things pink. So sure enough, she woke up to pink streamers and balloons everywhere.

We had donuts in the morning then drove to Richmond to go to the Children's Museum. 

I unfortunately had caught some sort of stomach bug this day and was feeling extremely unwell all day. I tried to play it off as best I could but was told by a friend I looked 'tired.' 

When we got home she opened presents, played for a bit, then had pizza and cake.

Later we had cake with some of our neighbor friends. Earlier Bonnie went with Eric to pick up the pizza and he let her pick out one gift. She came home with the gaudiest pink sparkly Minnie Mouse purse full of all kinds of purse-related things. She's been walking around the house like this for days.

She likes to be accessorized and she likes to be pink. 

The next day we went to Friendsgiving and had a little party for Bonnie. She absolutely loved her friends singing to her, she felt so special.

It was a wonderful weekend (aside from me not feeling well). All that mattered is that she had a good time and I think she did! 

November extras

I'm posting our November extras a little early this month, as the rest of the month will mostly be Bonnie's birthday and Thanksgiving. However it has already been a full couple weeks! We had some amazing warm weather and enjoyed a lot more time outside.

Riser has followed in his big sister's footsteps, taking quite an affinity toward Notch. 

Riser loves his big sister. And recently Bonnie has been giving him more attention which has been so sweet to see.

She tried her first Reece's cup after Halloween and loved it. She also left all but one bite on the counter and forgot about it. This is very true to Bonnie's personality. We haven't had to teach her about moderation when it comes to sweets.

We went to our church's Fall festival. 

Pillows officially don't cut it anymore to keep this little guy off the brick. We have had to put the baby gate we had for Bonnie back up. He is moving so quick these days, and very much in the stage of being a hazard to himself.

He likes to hang out under the table and under the high chair.

Her personality is shining y'all. 

We had fun making big piles of leaves by the playset and sliding into them.

Like a cat, he likes to be able to keep an eye on what everyone is doing.

My laundry buddy.

We took as many walks as possible when the weather was so nice.

Someone bought the lot across the street from our house and has started clearing land to build. It's definitely sad, but has been entertainment for Bonnie to watch. The picture below was on the first day they got started (from our front porch). The next was 2 days later. 

Bonnie came home with this one day. This girl would do everything with Ben and Rosie if she could.

 

Speaking of, we celebrated Ben and Rosie's 5th birthday!! It was such a great day. Bonnie was so thrilled to get to spend most of the day with them. They are such a gift in our lives!

Token picture of my kid sleeping.

Riser continues to enjoy anything we offer him. He would probably eat cardboard if we let him.

Playing with the bubble maker on a particularly warm day.

We went to our neighborhood's annual chili cook-off. We got to try 17 different chilis. Bonnie even won one of the raffle prizes, a VIP wristband to the go-cart place near us!

Feeling all the feels that this girl is only going to be two years old for one more day.

Sibling snuggles.

If my eyes could physically turn into hearts, that's about where we're at these days.

Rosie gifted Bonnie one of their old princess dresses, and she would never take it off if we would allow it.

The warm weather has departed and we are now in the 40s. He couldn't move his arms but still had a smile on his face. 

Bonnie wanted to push Lilly in her stroller but her legs were "too tired" to push herself. One of my neighbors was driving by as we were walking and literally stopped to get out of the car and take a picture of us because she thought this was so funny. 

Next up, our birdy turns three!