Strummer at 2-1/2!

***On an editing note - I started to type this post on May 26th***

Okay, yes, he officially turned 2-1/2 last month two months ago, however, wouldn't you all be in shock if I actually blogged something right when it happened?  :o)

Little Buddy is certainly growing into a Big Boy! Not a baby, not a toddler, but really, he's a boy! How sad.  Kids grow up way to quickly!

He's a big kid! He's roughly 39 inches tall (all though, I really think he's gotten taller since the last time I attempted to measure him).  So, he's wearing 3T/4T clothing.  If I buy anything now, it's been 4T for shirts and jeans.  Thank GOODNESS for the invention of adjustable waistbands! They come in handy when your child is in 3T for weight and really needs 4T for height! He's also in a size 9 shoe.  It's crazy looking at The Children's Place sizing for example.  Once he moves up one more size, he won't be in the 'baby' section any longer, he'll be in the 'boy' category! With shoes, he'll move up the 'big boy' section in 2 sizes!

He loves music!! I think his of love of music - and different styles of music grow as he becomes older.  Strummer will now tell you if he likes the song or doesn't like the song.  Sometimes if I'm listening to music on my computer and he doesn't like it, he'll just close my computer.  He's starting to become quite opinionated.  He also loves to sing random songs, play his guitar and play the piano! If he had drums, he would also be playing those.  Instead, he 'plays drums' on about anything! The couch, the table, the chair, in the car, he always likes to drum to his own beat!
One of my favorite 'music' things about him - is when he's playing 'the drums' before he starts he'll go '1, 2, 3, 4' - then goes to town! I really need to take a video of it!

Strummer loves to dance! I have yet to post videos of him watching Imagination Movers and dancing along, but it's pretty darn cute! He likes to also dance while he's playing guitar :o)

Speaking of being creative, he really enjoys coloring, painting and drawing! He also likes reading books and having books read to him. 

He is starting to talk more and more like a 'normal' person.  He often talks in complete sentences! Along with talking more - he also expressives his opinion quite a bit....good or bad, he lets us know about it!

As with all kids as they get older, Strummer is now starting to get picky.  Sometimes, he will just eat a few bites.  Even if it was something he loved just a few weeks before.  I find it funny that his sister will tend to eat more than him! He does however, always ask for yogurt.  Oh - and of course, will always eat anything chocolate or pizza.  :P

Strummer is in underwear! Potty training is going super well! :D

Strummer is ALL BOY! He loves being outside.  Loves getting dirty.  Loves playing in the sand.  LOVES-LOVES-LOVES riding his trike (so much, I'm thinking of purchasing a bike w/training wheels this summer for his birthday in October). Loves running, jumping, kicking and throwing balls, 'shooting hoops'.  He also LOVES the water, going swimming and playing with the garden hose.   The list goes on.  He can get quite upset if he can't be outside!

It seems as each month passes, his title of 'big brother' becomes more apparant.  He loves his little sister! He sometimes gets upset with her, but for the most part, he adores Edyn.  If she's asleep he'll ask 'where's sister', if he's outside and Edyn's inside he'll say 'come here sister', if they are outside and Strummer is off riding his trike down the sidewalk, he'll say 'come on sister'.  A few weeks ago there was a totally cute moment.  I found some Spiderman (one of Strummer's obsessions right now) chairs at a garage sale, 2 for $1.  Strummer set his chair up in the living room, then went and grabbed the other chair and placed it right next to his chair.  Then went and patted the empty and chair and said, 'come sit sister'!

A Pro Trike Rider

He Loves to Swing!

Drawing 

I Love The Water!

Sitting with his sister

Shooting hoops ($5 find at a garage sale!)

He Loves wearings hats!

Our son has certainly growing up!!! He amazes me everyday! We love you Strummer!

Night Owl - A FUN Business!

Night Owl is having a giveaway of a dress or hoodie.  

She is VERY creative and makes great things!  

Check out her blog and her website to see what she has!

PS - I've been tempted TWICE in buying an adorable dress from her and by the time I decided I wanted it, the dress was already spoken for (this was for 2 different dresses).

http://www.nightowlclothing.com/

Edyn's First Tooth!

I thought Strummer was late in getting teeth! Edyn has her brother beat on the lateness! Strummer was 9 months, Edyn was 13 months!

I can now say that Edyn is no longer toothless! On April 16th we (Edyn and I) were in Des Moines and we were going to be meeting up with Holly and Sara to go to Nicole's Baby Shower (Do these names sound familer? Check out the post of Strummer's first tooth)

Holly and Brayden happened to be in DSM at Babies R Us which is where we were heading! (I couldn't pass up a buy 1, get one free on clearance items).  Moving on, we were in the store and while I was looking at t-shirts for Strummer, Holly was entertaining the kids, then she says, Manda - I think Edyn has a tooth! I said - really? I haven't seen anything pop up yet.  Then she says, I can feel it! So, I went over to my little girl's mouth - and behold - a tooth had indeed popped up!

She was wasn't acting that extra cranky - just slightly droolly, and slightly cranky!

So, once again, THANKS to Holly for finding my child's first tooth!!! :o)

Happy Girl in a Swing

I think her odd look is b/c we were at Pizza Ranch
and she didn't have any food yet!
(If you zoom up on the pic, you can see her tooth!) 

Edyn's 1 Year Appointment

Edyn loved playing the the shape slider toy

She also loved taking the legos from the container to the  bucket

Playing and waiting for Dr. Parsons

Edyn continues on being petite.  Which perfectly fine.  She was born pretty small, so maybe she'll just stay on the smaller side.  Time will only tell.  I can tell you that she is ALMOST exactly 2 lbs and 2 inches smaller than what Strummer was at his 1-year appointment.  Of course, Strummer was also on the smaller/average side at his 1-year too! 

Here are Edyn's Stats

Her weight went from 34th percentile at birth to 6th percentile

Her height went from 58th percentile at birth to 25th percentile at 1 year

Here is how Edyn grew in the past year!

Weight

Birth: 7 lbs 1 oz (34%)

2 Months: 10 lbs 12 oz (50%)

4 Months:  13 lbs 10 oz (54%)

6 Months:  16 lbs 0 oz (53%)

9 Months:  16 lbs 9 oz (14%) 

12 Months: 17 lbs 11 oz (6%) 

Height

Birth:  19-1/2 inches (58%)

2 Months:  22-1/2 inches (67%)

4 Months:  25-1/4 inches (91%)

6 Months:  26 inches (71%)

9 Months:  27 inches (47%)

12 Months: 28 inches (25%)

What Edyn Can do at 1 YEAR OLD!

***Yes, Edyn is 14 months old today - and Yes, I am FINALLY finishing her 1-year post***
(I wrote most of this at end of March) 

Here is a rundown of all of Edyn's Accomplishments in the past year!! 

It's so true the kids grow up so fast!

What She Can Say

She's super-duper talk-a-tive! I think it helps that Edyn has a non-stop talking brother! 

*Mama

*Dada

*Bo (Brother)

*Osco (Bosco - our dog)

*Hi

*Hey

*Thank You

*Uh-Oh

*Wow
*Crack-Crack (Cracker)
*Nilk (Milk)

Words She Understands

*Edyn

*Strummer

*Brother

*Mommy

*Daddy

*Bosco

*Food

*More

*No

*Eat

*Drink

*All Done

*Hi/Bye

*Mindy

*Jim

*Mischa

Signing

I've been working on it with her.  However, I wasn't heavily using it like I did for her brother.  So, she really doesn't sign anything yet.  

FOOD!
She may be tiny and she may not have any teeth, but Edyn LOVES to eat! She tries to eat just about everything. She eats just about anything we give her.  Including onions, jalepanos, tomatos, peaches, triscuits, bread (she LOVES 100% whole wheat bread), mini wheats, cheese, the list goes on...
There are a few things she doesn't eat to often: She does not like eating bananas unless they are completely mushed up.  She refused to eat them whole. 
We're (I'm) limiting her on the sweets that she eats.  She will get chocolate or some other type of sweet on a VERY limited basis.  I also rarely give her juice.  After learning with Strummer on how much he LOVES juice (and thinking back to how much I gave it to him), I decided for Edyn that she will get juice on more of a special occasion basis. I'm hoping she won't have a juice-dependence a year from now! 

Mobility and Other Neat Things

*Crawling ~ 9 months

*Pull To Stand ~ 10 months

*Pushing objects and Walking ~ 10 months

*Climbing up the stairs - 12 month

*Standing On Own ~ 11 months

*Taking Steps ~ 12 months (1st week)

*Walking (Full Time) ~ 13 months (1st week)

*Standing up on her from sitting (w/out holding on to something) ~ 12 months 

*Waves

*High 5s

*Sticks out her tongue

*Claps 
*Does 'So Big'

Things She Uses

*Sippy Cups (only with a straw - rarely with anything else ) 

*Plates, Bowls

*Silverware - Sometimes

*Her thumb - typically when she's upset or super tired (it has been less and less as she gets older) 

Things She Loves!

*Her Family

*Bosco

*Books

*MUSIC 

~Edyn LOVES to groove and listen to music! 

~She'll also take notice of certain theme songs 

*Being outside

~All though, not a huge fan of the grass yet

*Playing piano

*'Playing' the guitar

*Taking photos (getting her pictures taken)

*Food

What She Is Wearing!
*12 month clothing - all though she can still fit into some 6-9, depending on the brand 
*Size 2 diapers - I had her in size 3 for a bit b/c that's what i had on hand and she SWAM in them :P 
*Accessories - headbands, barrettes, and hairbands for tiny pigtails and ponytails (started at 11 months) 


Other Fun Facts! 
She crawls like a crazy-girl, and will cruise about everywhere. If you hold onto a hand or if she's on a walking toy, she goes turbo-speed! She'll stand on her own for about 30 sec or so and has taken about 3 steps 4 different times. 

She LOVES to dance! If she hears music - no matter where it's from - tv, cd, phone, activity table she starts to dance! It's hilarious. There's an inner-groove in her! 


She loves to be have things organized.  She will pick up toys and will move objects from one storage basket to another.  Edyn also likes having things in a particular order! 
She hasn't started milk yet. I have her on the Enfa-Grow (stage 2) for extra nutrients. She doesn't have teeth yet, so I have gone all out on her eating EVERYTHING. All though, she does eat quite a bit. She gets upset if we're eating something and she's not. 

She likes being around people and likes getting her picture taken. I know, I have a diva-in-training. The last 2 times we have taken pics w/my friend Sarah (a professional) she turns on this 'mode'. As Sarah said, she has this 'it' factor. That she rarely see's w/all the kids she's photographed :P 


Teeth are there - somewhere, just not noticable quite yet! 


Incase you're curious, here's Strummer post of his 1-year accomplishments! 




Here are a few pics from her 1-year photo shoot by the fabulous Sarah Moore!

 

Edyn - Newborn to 1-year old Photo Comparisons

At the hospital - Ready to come home

1 year later (I bought the 12-month version on clearance!)

Edyn in her very first tutu from Divine Creations by Shawn

1 Year Later - Same tutu and headband!

A Note For the Birthday Girl!

First Time Holding My Little Girl 

This past year - well really, the past year-and-a-half has been just a whirlwind of a blur! 

We first start out August 2009.  I wasn't feeling the best for a good month, and was wondering why I couldn't shake this nauseating feeling.  I decided, to make myself feel better, I would take a pregnancy test - just incase.  Figuring, it would just be negative.  (Since I was nursing and on birth control)

Now, to make things even more fun, I was heading up to Algona that day w/Strummer because my dad's company was having a special  Celebration and I was going to help my sister, Erika out at her booth for The Chocolate Season at the Kossuth County Fair. 

As you may know, the test turned to be POSITIVE, I had an ultrasound the following week and found out I was already 8 weeks! WOW!  Between not finding out until my 3rd month, Edyn coming 2-1/2 weeks early and having random trips to the hospital for early contractions,  this has gone by so fast!

To our Itty-Bitty Princess: 

You are truly a blessing from God.  You were unexpected and we were in shock when we found out you were on your way! We couldn't ask for a better daughter, and we know God has special plan for you.  We thank Him for creating you! Your personality has just blossomed over the past few months.  You love seeing people and try to capture people's attention.  You love being around your family.  You like playing w/Bosco and he lets you do whatever you want and he doesn't care.  You have fun with your brother.  I think he realizes the older you get, the more fun you have become.  Strummer likes making you laugh and likes sharing his food.

You have such an expressive personality and your big brown eyes draw people in.  You love to laugh, smile, eat and figuring things out.  You enjoy exploring and finding new things to play with.  You Love-Love-Love Music! You break out into a dance on about any type of music you hear. Whether it's on TV with a theme song, a commercial or a song on a show.  It could be from one of your many music-making toys.  Or even on a phone! You love to groove and we look forward to how you will 'grow into' your dancing! 

You seem to be on your way of being a very detailed and ordered little girl.  You enjoy putting things away and taking an object to one basket, then to another basket, then taking it back to the original basket.

You have us wrapped around your little-bitty finger! We love how you get SO excited about everything! I love how you become full of smiles when daddy gets home from work or when I  come get you at Child Watch after I'm done working at the Y.

Daddy and Mommy love you very much! This year has gone by SO fast! We can't wait to see how you grow up, see what new things you learn and figure out and we pray you will grow in to a girl who loves her family, her friends and loves God! 

Edyn with Mommy and Daddy 

(A side note ~ I really need to start and FINISH blog posts on the same day! 2 weeks later it's done...)