9 Month Dr. Appointment

Just a quick update before I lose track of all my mental notes. Our poor Summy bear is getting many teeth at once. She has the bottom right, 2 top teeth and 2 top "fangs" coming in at once. She is miserable, but at least we will get all this painful stuff out of the way. She woke up 4 times last night instead of her usual 1 wake-up.

She now does the sign for milk, which is adorable. She gets very excited and signs frantically when it is feeding time.

I have also almost given up on purees and have switched her over to finger foods. She doesn't seem to have the same issue with gagging that Leo did, I am just uncertain of how much she is eating because food ends up every where.

She also had her 9 month appointment a week ago, and her stats look great:

Weight: 18 lbs., 40%
Height: 27.6 inches, 58%
Head circumference: 17.8, 83% (big noggin' = smart girl)

Leo's behavior has been awesome. His reward scoreboard has been a great motivation for him. Ww are so proud of him!!! He is often Mommy and Daddy's helper and he is the smartest, most imaginative 3 year old boy I have ever met. I thank God daily that these kids are mine!

9 Months Old!

New bangs

9 month Portrait with Joy the Owl

It has been too long since I last posted and so much has happened. Somerset is 9 months today and in the last few weeks, a number of important developments have been made: she got her 1st tooth (bottom, left, center), I gave her bangs, she clapped, she continues to say "ma ma" and "da da", she is learning to wave etc. What a girl!!! There are still no signs of crawling, but I just don't think it is a priority for her. Also, she LOVES music...more so than Leo ever seemed to. She lights up when she hears music and she is always playing with her music toys.

Leo also had had some cool things happen. He got a new twin bed and slept the whole night through his first night. We bought him a navy comforter and some Star Wars pillows. We still have a lot of work to do to get his room looking good after the change in decor, but I know we will get there.

Leo continues to build really advanced space ships out of his Legos. His creations are amazing. Also, today he put together a 24 piece Cars puzzle by himself! Amazing. It was for ages 3-7, and in typical Leo style, he is so ahead of the curve.

Leo has been so well behaved too. We have our off days, but our reward chart really seems to have had a positive affect on him. Go Leo!

The Amazing Leo!

Yummy foot!

Leo lined up all his cars!!! There were probably about 150 cars in this line up.

We are so proud of our Leo! Leo did a trial run of preschool this week and did great! I attended with him the first day, but he wanted to go alone today. The teacher said that he did awesome and I was so proud of him taking this big step. I am not surprised that my independent little guy is so excited about being a big boy and attending school all by himself.

Leo has been such a good boy recently. We seem to really be turning a corner with him. He still has his share of temper tantrums, but Joe and I try to be sympathetic and compassionate about his uncontrollable emotions.

Leo has been building some amazing things at home. I don't think it's a coincidence that there is only one letter difference between Leo's name and Lego...he is the Lego king! Within minutes at preschool, the teacher's declared that he was a builder.

As you can see, Leo's penmanship is great for a 3 year old. I was very impressed with how well he wrote his name that I snapped a pic (for the record, I didn't help at all).

Somerset has shown quite the independent streak. Like her brother, she wants to do things by herself. As a baby, Leo focused on more physical goals: crawling, walking etc. Somerset has been declaring her independence by no longer allowing me to feed her. She loves Gerber puffs and only wants finger foods now, but she has no teeth...this is a challenge. Today we gave her baby food that she can feed to herself. The packaging has a spout at the top and she just need to squeeze the pouch to get food into her mouth.

She has been getting up once a night now, which feels like Heaven to me. Yeah sleep! (knock on wood).

First Words?

"Ma Ma!" "Da Da!"

Cool Guy Leo

I was looking back at the blog and found a blog post from when Leo was 10 months old called First Words? After reading it, it is clear that Somerset's verbal abilities mirror what Leo was doing at 10 months old and she is 8 months old tomorrow. She has been sick all week and has been calling for "Ma Ma" when she needs me for comfort. Also, when she acknowledges Joe, she has been saying "Da Da." This truly amazes me because Leo was always so advanced verbally for his age. In no way do I want to make comparisons, but it is nice to have the blog as a reference.

Check out Leo's new sunglasses! He looks so mature with them on. The photos above reminds me of what Leo will look like at 25. What a little hipster.

R.I.P Miette (1997-2011)

Miette has been a special friend to our family for a long time. I adopted her as a kitten from the animal shelter and I chose her because she was very friendly and purred for me as soon as we met. She was always a charmer ans made friends with everyone she met. She seemed more like a dog than a cat.

When I first got Miette, I was a single gal. She knew me through my early/mid twenties and saw me through a lot of good and bad times. She was 3 when I met my love, Joe. Joe had a cat Mookie, so those two bonded and became best buds (although not at first).

After we married, Miette and Mookie moved across country in a moving truck with Joe when Joe and I went back to PA so he could finish is degree at Pitt. Joe said she meowed in every state they traveled through. She also came back with us to Oregon, Along with Mookie.

Once back in Oregon, Miette welcomed our baby boy Leo. She was always so gentle with him and never swiped at him, even though she had a million reasons too. She somehow sensed that she needed to be patient with him.

She was also sweet with Summy. Summy loved Miette and would try to grab and at her face, and still, Miette did not swipe. In fact, when we were all cuddling in bed together, Miette loved to join us for pets, she even welcomed the kid's pets.

She really was the greatest cat imaginable. We feel a great emptiness in our home since has been gone. Luckily for us, she purred until the last day of her life. She remained content, even though she knew it was her time to go. Her final day, she went into our closest and snuggled up against my clothes. Joe and I knew that the humane thing to do was to take her into the the vest. We all said our goodbyes and then she was gone.

Miette, I hope that you are enjoying all your favorite things in kitty heaven. I hope that you have a protein bar, a chicken breast and a bottle on ranch dressing. I hope that you are Mookie are frolicking about and having a great time. We love you.

Sick!

Over the last week, the whole family has been hit hard by a horrible virus. First it hit Leo, He was out of commission for a few days with fatigue, a cough and runny nose. He seemed to get over it fairly quickly. Next to get the bug was Joe, who felt uncomfortable, but escaped without too much damage. Unfortunately, Somerset and I were hit the hardest. I can cope, but seeing my baby have her first major illness has been difficult. She hasn't dealt with the pain well at all and her temperature has spiked to 103.4. Poor pickle. She has been so miserable the last few days and got up every hour or two last night, which was also horrible for a sick mommy. Both today and yesterday, she slept much more than usual and after her bath tonight, she was shivering. I felt so badly for her because I know how that feels. Well, she's crying again. We just can't seem to get her settled for the night. Wish us all luck!

Amazing Kids

Somerset now has enough hair for pigtails! How cute is that? Her new style really suits her too and she better get use to all the fuss mommy is going to make over her hair. It's just what happens when I have a baby girl!

Leo and Somerset continue to get along fabulously. Leo is constantly making Somerset crack up, which tells me 2 things: 1) Leo will be a class clown, because it is so important to him to make her laugh. 2) Somerset thinks that Leo is the funniest person in the world.

It really doesn't take much to get her to laugh when Leo is around. Leo makes silly sounds or jumps in front of her and she giggles like crazy. Also, he LOVES to make her smile. It is so endearing. The relationship they have is magical. These moments are the ones I try to remember vividly and bottle up in my memory bank, because even in the present, I realize how special they are. I sincerely think these two will get along forever. Mark my words. I have been accurate about each of their personalities from the day they were born and this isn't much different. My children will always love each other and I am the luckiest mom in the world!

Somerset seems to love music. She plays with her piano for great stretches of time, so even at this young age, we will nurture this in her.

Leo has always shown a passion for throwing, so I think he will excel at sports such as baseball and basketball. He was just born with such a strong desire to throw things and he has amazing aim. I Leo the next Chris Paul? Stay tuned!