Update on the girls

Whitney and Meredith are finally healthy and loving their time together as always.  Whitney gets upset when Meredith goes down for nap and Meredith cranes her neck so hard just to get a glimpse of Whitney as soon as we come down the stairs.  So sweet!  Thought I would do an update on the girls since they change so much!

Mere is seven months old (February) and will be eight months in 17 days!  I really cannot believe how fast the past seven months have been!  Meredith is still around 20 pounds (what an "average" 18 month old child weighs.....)  It is so hard carrying her in the car seat but believe it or not that is so much easier then getting her out for drop off and pick up at preschool.   We have a nice little "coat" that goes over her car seat and keeps her nice and warm so until the weather gives us a break, she will continue to be carried in her seat.  Whew.....my back kills me by the time I get back to the car!

This little girl does NOT like sleeping. (if only she knew that one day she would be happy to get the chance for a nap in the afternoon....)  She has never been a good napper and continues to test those waters.  We get about 25-30 minutes out of her and she is done.  It doesn't matter what you try, crying, soothing her, picking her up and trying to rock her back to sleep....she will not do it!!!  So a baby needs approx. three to four hours of sleep during the day and Mere isn't anywhere near that. She will take four or FIVE -- 20 minute naps and is super fussy in between each of those short naps.

If only she knew that sleeping longer would help her.  

Have you ever tried to occupy a seven month old for roughly 10 hours??  No, you probably haven't because they shouldn't be awake that many hours!!!!  Whew, it gets me all worked up but I really do try to take it in stride...what else am I going to do?  20 minute naps don't allow much time for anything.  Whitney and I will rush to finish a game or color together but it is usually interrupted because as I said....its not a very long period of time..... anyway...you get the drift, its incredibly hard on everyone (including Meredith) with these super short naps.  I am hoping we can work our way into a nice little schedule sometime in the near future.

I do however feel very happy to report that for the past three nights Meredith has slept 11 hours!!!!!!  Seriously the best news ever right??  For over seven months of her life, I have slept right next to her because she would wake up at least 10 times a night.  But something clicked.... I couldn't believe my eyes when I looked at the clock one morning and saw 6:00!!! Never did I think I would rejoice at getting up that early but it is awesome!!  So mommy has some new found energy that only a full nights sleep can give!  That was seven LOOOOONG months of very little sleep and I hope is something of the past!

She is going to be on the moving in no time.  She gets into the crawling position and rocks back in forth with ease.  She also rolls over easily and can go from laying on her belly into a sitting position, which is hard to do!!!  Poor Whitney is in for a rude awakening when Mere can actually get every toy that she reaches for:)

Meredith is into growling.  It is the funniest thing.  She growls mostly to make noise but she will also growl when she is ready for more food or cannot reach a toy.  So so cute!!  We also taught her how to clap and she gets the biggest smile on her face when she is able to do it!  Her favorite foods are: sweet potato, corn, zucchini, peas, pears, bananas, puffs and cheerios.

Whitney is so happy.  She is such a sweet little girl that loves life.  It honestly is a blessing to be around her and Meredith.  We went through a rough patch when I was pregnant with Meredith but that is a thing of the past.  She could just sing and laugh all day long -- and of course talk talk talk! She loves to talk and ask questions.  Any chance she can get to ask you something or learn about something, she will!  She is also into spelling and adding.  So while we drive we spell words and work on math problems.... teachers dream right??

Speaking of teachers, she LOVES school this year.  She ended up missing two weeks because of sickness then snow and she was devastated!!  She greets her friends and teachers by name, does her morning jobs and kisses me goodbye without any hesitation.  Whitney also goes to church school during mass and really enjoys it too.  She is just so brave and so grown up.

We have been working on reading and writing a lot recently.  She knows about 10 sight words and can read some of the shoe box books that I used to give to my kindergarten students.  We practice reading and writing the words and she can take her note cards and write every word we learned perfectly!  Whitney also practices her numbers and loves to draw stories.  She will ask me to tell her a story and she will run to her notepad and illustrate what I just told her.  Shes just so proud of her ability to write and communicate that way that she does it all day long!

She isn't napping anymore and I thought this would really bother me because that time alone is precious but she loves taking that time to color or work on her ipad.  She got her "own" ipad because Ryan and I got a new one, which she thinks is super cool.  It has a cool pink case and only has her games and videos on it.  Currently she likes to have conversations with Siri.  If you want to have a good laugh, you should come by and just listen to her while she does it.  The other day she was fighting with Siri...hahha  made my lol!!!

Whitney is also into movies right now.  She loves having movie night with Daddy.  Her favorite movie is Big Hero 6.  I think they have watched it three times this week!!  

Love these girls and the fact that I am blessed enough to stay home with them.  Best job in the world!