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Wednesday, March 31, 2010

Happy First Birthday Mylee



On the first day of spring, March 20th, our sweet little Mylee Jo turned one year old. I can't believe how the time has flown this past year and how much having Mylee in my life makes me so happy. We truly have be blessed and are so thankful for our healthy girls. Jo-jo is so sweet; I really can't get enough of her. I've loved having a baby in the house again this past year and so thoroughly have enjoyed watching her grow and develop. She has learned so much so fast, which I believe can be attributed to her watching and playing with her older sister. Maddy has been such an amazing big sister and I love the admiration the two of them have for each other and am afraid that it will be short lived. So I'll enjoy it while I can.

The month approaching her first birthday has been a lot of fun. We seemed to finally get over all the sicknesses and Mylee has been sleeping better although has her occasional nights where she needs daddy to find her a paci. Developmentally, she continues to amaze us at how quickly she understands and picks up on things. She goes up and down the stairs in the blink of an eye and knows how to turn around and go down on her tummy when she's at the top. Its super adorable because she'll turn around and lay on her belly and push herself backwards until she finds the first step. Sometimes she runs into the wall first but eventually gets it. So proud of her! She is really trying to run these days and loves to stomp when she is wearing shoes. She'll spin in a circle and lift one of her legs and stomp...so cute! She has learned to walk in the grass and down the driveway as they were new to her once we finally were able to get outside...and she LOVES to be outside...she'll throw a fit when its time to come it. She's obsessed with the water drain at the end of our driveway, which she knows she isn't supposed to go by. She'll walk down by it and shake her head no-no in anticipation of me telling her. I'm saying it now...Mylee might have been an easy-going, laid back baby, but she's going to be a handful of a toddler, possibly worse than Maddy! I guess when both of your parents are stubborn and bull-headed you have a good chance of being as well.

Mylee continues to love baby dolls, dancing, music, and playing chase. She'll participate in a few nursery rhymes with hand motions, such as "If You Are Happy and You Know It", "The Itsy Bitsy Spider", and "The Wheels on the Bus". She understands a lot of simple questions/commands, such as "where is your blankie/paci", "can you give that to mommy", "go get your shoes", etc. She is starting to help us get her dressed by pushing her arms through, but still won't sit still to get her diaper changed. She loves to feed herself with utensils and is much better with fine motor control than I remember Maddy ever being. Maddy would still eat with her fingers if we let her. She likes to put things in and out of each other, such as the bubble wand in and out of the bubbles. She waves bye-bye, blows kisses, and gives an occasional open mouth smooch as well. She loves to cuddle and pelvic thrust the floor when she's excited. It looks a bit inappropriate, but I think it's adorable.

Now if we could just get her to talk and drink milk from a sippy cup. She'll say "ah-oh" and uses it appropriately almost always and will actualy find things to do just to say it, like throw something on the floor. The only other word she uses a lot is "ba-ba", but not appropriately. She uses it a lot for Mac and Moe and I'm not sure if she picked it up from us calling Makinac, Bubbas or what but that is always what she says when she sees them.

She had her one-month well-ness visit on the 24th. She got a great report of health and development. Her stats are as follows:
Weight: 22 lb 6 oz (70th %ile)
Height: 31 inches (95th %ile)
Head circumference: I forget exactly (95th %ile)

So it's been an amazing year and I just love being Mylee's mommy!

Friday, March 12, 2010

Mylee - 11 months

11 Months - What a month!

I'm back to my smiley self...finally

Does that say 11 months??? What??? Already???

"I'm SO BIG!"

"and super cute with my pigtails!"
(First time with her hair up)

Our sweet little baby turns 1 year old next Saturday, so I thought I'd better get my act together and get this post up. The month leading up to Mylee turning 11 months was filled with a lot of doctor appointments and medications for Miss Mylee. In the first few days of February, both girls came down with respiratory infections that lasted a few weeks. Maddy had viral bronchitis and Mylee had bronchiolitis (possible RSV), therefore was put on albutorol breathing treatments. At the time Mylee also had an ear infection (so she was getting up 4-5 times a night) and was put on an antibiotic. The antibiotic worked to prevent pneumonia too, which would have probably have been the next thing. Mylee was pretty miserable for quite awhile, which sort of rubbed off on the rest of us. She hated the breathing treatments, which caused Jason and I to argue about whose turn it was to give her one.

Mylee showing her enthusiasm

Maddy showing Mylee how to do it

Developmentally she continued to perfect her gait. She figured out how to stand up without pulling up on something first...she started out by trying to go from one knee and quickly learned that starting in a pike position (not sure the exact yoga name...I think its called a downward dog) and walking her hands in closer until she could stand. She learned to squat and pick things up too. She still isn't saying much, but understands basic instructions . Her two favorite things are her blankie and MJ (a tiny baby doll that Maddy had). She loves to carry them around and actually feeds MJ with a baby bottle...so sweet and nuturing. She dances with them too. Her latest dance moves are a combination of rhymic low squats and twisting...super cute. Oh, she continues to love her paci too.

Mylee with her favorite blankie

Mylee and MJ

Feeding MJ

She was not a great eater that particular month, probably due to not feeling well although she didn't give up an ounce of any of her 3 bottles. She mostly just sat in her chair and threw everything on the floor. It's a pretty annoying phase, one I won't miss once she's through it. The other annoying thing that I won't miss is changing her diaper. She just will not lay still and this kids poops a lot so she requires a lot of diaper changes. Ugh! Oh, one more thing...she won't leave my trees alone.

Oops...
(this pic was taken when she was younger but proves my point)

The girls continue to do well together, although Mylee gets frustrated with Maddy always picking her up. She will definitely fight her way away from Maddy and if she can't get away she'll throw a fit until she gets our attention as if to tattle on her sister. Otherwise, Mylee likes to watch Maddy and do what she can to mimic her big sister.

This was a tough month for our sweet Mylee. We were worried that our easy-going, sweet baby may have been changing to a high-maintenance, crabby baby but towards the end of this month she started feeling better and we saw glimpses of the OUR Mylee coming back.

Tuesday, March 02, 2010

Christmas Break Up North

We left for up north Christmas Day afternoon. The weather was still miserable as it was the night before so we didn't force it. We made it to the bridge and then got a hotel for the night. So we spent our Christmas night at a hotel, but it wasn't worth risking another 4 hours or more on the icy roads. We finished the rest of our trip in the morning and the weather was perfect so it was a good stop. We spent the next week up north having a blast with the family. The first few days were rainy and warm...perfect weather for making a luge, but that meant entertaining the kids in the house. Thank goodness for the Wii and for all of the presents from grandma and grandpa. The rest of the week consisted of a lot of sledding down the luge, snowmobiling, skiing, going to the "Princess and the Frog", and more Wii. I'll let the pictures show the details, although we forgot to take the camera out and many occasions...just too busy with all the kids.

The grandkids opening their presents (9 of the 11)

Mylee acknowledging Jordyn's help

Maddy and Lexi enjoying the new pony and barbies

Santa's chubby reindeer

Mylee talking to a toy car

Maddy and Brooke speeding down the luge
(this picture was taken seconds before this happened...)

...Maddy's head hit the ice going around the corner
(we avoided an ER visit with a butterfly strip,
but it took days for the swelling to go down)
Maddy now has a nice pink scar on her eyebrow to always remember Papa Jack's famous luge

Mylee went sleeding a few times too, just not down the luge

Maddy's second time skiing

She did awesome...by the end of the day she was skiing down the hill by herself just needed Jason to help her stop (So proud of her!)

Good job Maddy!

Izzy went skiing too

Aunz and John V, too

The rest of the pictures are ones that I liked of my nieces and nephews
Jordyn (the oldest) and such a big help with the kids

Brooke doing a puzzle (a rare moment away from the Wii)

Izzy and Lexi looking adorable

Analise is getting so big and so much fun

One of the nights with Jaelyn and Addisyn,
who we were bummed we didn't get to see more often but they have lots of family to visit

Jack playing with a PINK camera

Monday, March 01, 2010

Santa Visits

Santa found Maddy and Mylee's names on his "Good" List, and so stopped by and left some presents for the girls. We had went and visited Santa the week before and Maddy told him that she wanted a kitchen for her play room and that she would stop sucking her thumb so that he would bring it. Unfortunately she has not yet stopped sucking her thumb. She does fine as long as we have tape on her fingers but as soon as the tape is not on she'll start sucking her thumb again. Ugh...so frustrating. Maddy had half a good year, while the other half was quite challenging. Right around the time she turned 3, she became difficult (throwing major fits, scared of everything, whiny, sassy, and defient). On the other hand she has been a great big sister. She absolutely loves Mylee and is very helpful in Mylee's care at times. Mylee was an absolute charmer these first 9 months of her life and so Santa didn't have to think twice for her. The fact that Santa brought gifts for the girls to share worked out in Maddy's favor I think (just kidding). It was a fun-filled morning watching the girls see all their gifts from Santa and then open their gifts from us. I just love seeing Christmas through my children's eye. It was special this year too because Maddy actually knew why we were celebrating Christmas ("it was baby Jesus's birthday"). She was obsessed with all the nativities around our house (she played with Mary, Joseph, and baby Jesus the most) and looked forward to putting her next person/animal up in the nativity scene from her advent calendar each day. It was a great Christmas!

Christmas morning
(Santa visited and mom and dad left presents under the tree)

Stockings first (Maddy was happy to have some new movies)

Mylee's stocking stuffers had to make noise

Maddy opening presents

Mylee got the hang of it too

Maddy helps Mylee with one of her presents

Mylee watches Maddy open another one

Maddy was excited about all the barbie princesses

Mylee surprisingly was too