Addison Mae - 31 months

She's a big girl. Who's wearing big girl panties. And constantly making me laugh. And exasperating me. Her brother's babyhood has really made me realize how grown up she is. She loves to talk about when she'll be three and tell anyone who will listen what she'll get to do when she's three (which includes going to preschool, play soccer and take dance).

Weight: ~28.5 pounds
Length: ~32 inches

 New things:

• Big girl panties. And NO accidents in them at all. She's pretty amazing.
• Enrolling for preschool in the fall. I am kinda a mess. So excited that she's going to Warm World (or Warm Warm, as she calls it), which her momma is a proud grad of, but I cannot believe she is old enough to start preschool. I have also realized her first day of preschool will be her brother's first day of mother's day out ... someone please have wine and Kleenex on hand for me after drop off that day...
• Her teachers at school are amazed that they can have full, relevant conversations with her. She recently told them all about our upcoming trip to Ponca City, who was going with us, who would be there, that my mom had been to the doctor, my mom's doctor's name, etc. She also gave me a full report about her teacher's son, who's had a stomach bug. The talking is seriously insane.
• Using the word "certainly." "I certainly love you, Mommy. And I love to say certainly."
• Asking why. All the time. About everything. And driving me crazy.
• Peeing in a cup at the doctor's office. Which was highly thrilling for her. She was super disappointed that she only got to do it once.
• Holding imaginary classes at home, where of course she is the teacher. She likes to teach Gymboree and music classes, just like she has at school. It's not always required that we participate, but she lets us know if we need to. Sometimes we get to be her friends and sometimes we are other teachers. She sings the songs, in order, gives instructions, sends people to time out, brings out Gymbo the clown, gives out stamps for those who are cooperating, gets everyone ready for naptime ... it's SO hilarious.
• An OBSESSION with the Curious George book she received from her cousins. It has six or eight stories in it and we literally read it before every nap and bedtime. "Mommy, I want Curious George. I will pick out the story."
• A super fun trip to Ponca City to visit my aunt and uncle, cousin and her girls. We've been to Ponca lots of times before, but Addie totally held her own with the big girls and was entirely comfortable with everyone this time.

Likes:

• All crafts. We recently made little bird feeders out of blueberries and Cheerios. Mostly she ate the decorations, but she loved it. Loves to paint, use markers, play with chalk ...
• Cooking with me or her Grammie. Especially baking cookies.
• Parties. Especially the birthday variety.
• Cheese.
• Going with her Daddy to get take out. Or even better going out to eat with us. Saturn Grill (aka the "pizza place") is her fave
• Playing outside. Thank goodness for some nice weather recently.
• Watching basketball.
• Knowing exactly what's on her schedule for the day. And the next day. Upon waking up, she always asks, "Where we going today, Mommy?"
• Cupcakes.
• Watching movies, especially Toy Story, Shrek and Monster's Inc.
• Picking out diapers for her brother.
• Helping with her brother's tummy time.
• When her brother wears gloves.
• Her BFF Stella.
• She still loves going to the library on Tuesday mornings. Loves her class, especially when they sing songs or there is a craft involved, and she loves to pick out books. Clifford, Biscuit and Curious George are favorites right now.
• Playing kitchen.

Dislikes:

• Being told to go to time out. "But I don't want to go, Mommy."

Hutch Marshall - 3 months

This sweet baby boy is getting so big! And SO busy. He pretty much never quits moving, even in his sleep, evidenced by his constant Houdini-ing out of his swaddle. I was a little surprised at his 2 month check up (closer to 3 months) that he is now only in the 50th percentile of weight. Even our ped picked him up and said, "Wow, he is stout."


He loves bath time, his sister, his Taggie puppy and his blue octopus (if you remember, this was a  staple for his sister, too.) He is so interactive with anyone and everyone. He loves to smile and "talk." He really loves to have intent conversations with the octopus. Or that really cute baby he sees in the mirror.


Sleeping is getting better. He's just waking once per night to eat, though usually he requires several paci-replacements during the night. His crazy mom has insisted he have a bedtime and more of a schedule ... he happens to be exactly like his sister, which means he doesn't really adhere to a schedule ... so basically we're just following his napping and eating cues and calling it a schedule.
The colic/reflux is nonexistent some days ... and kinda rough others. He's still nowhere near as intense as his sister was, so we're counting our blessings there. I can definitely tell that it's worse on days when he's overtired or overstimulated.

Weight: 13 pounds, 7 ounces
Length: 24 inches

New things:

• Oh the talking! He loves to sit in our laps and have a full conversation with us. Or with his Taggie puppy. Or blue octopus. Or especially his sister.
• Awesome head control
• Holding himself all the way up on his forearms.
• One roll over (tummy to back). I think it was accidental. And likely mom-induced
• More intently batting at toys
• Houdini-ing out of his swaddle
• An 8 pm bedtime, which is magical for his parents. Both babies in bed by 8:30. Dreamfeed at 10 pm and usually sleeping until 4 or 5 for his next feeding. Usually going back to sleep (typically in his swing, mind you) till 8.
• More of a "routine," which usually includes 4-5 naps and 7-9 feedings per day.
• Sleeping more in his crib rather than the swing. A few nights he's gone all night in the crib, and we've been successfully attempting most naps in the crib.
• Just starting to notice his dog and cat. Who both love him, by the way.

Likes:

• His swing. He might be sleeping in it till he's 12.
• His ocean play mat.
• Tummy time. Less crying now that he can really hold himself up. His wiggly little self will be rolling over in no time.
• Bath time.
• Any books with pictures of babies or animals. He gets SO animated - talking, kicking and swinging those arms.
• Being held. Being rocked. I'm constantly reminding myself to enjoy this part because someday my 12 and 14 year old children probably won't let me do this anymore
• His sister. He looks at her like she hung the moon. And usually the feeling is mutual.
• Being naked. The nightly naked kicking routine is in full effect. Just like his sister, when he's particularly upset in the evenings, pulling off his clothes and putting him on a soft blanket usually does the trick.
• His super soft, snuggly swaddle. When he's getting sleepy during the day, I'll put him in it for a nap and he starts grinning immediately. And then passes out.
• Kicking. And flinging his arms. He is STRONG.
• Eating remains near and dear to his heart.

Dislikes:

• Being confined. This boy likes to MOVE. Though he loves being held and being swaddled, I can totally tell when he's trying to say, "put me DOWN! I need to wiggle."
• His tummy.
• Taking a bottle. A la his sister.
• His itchy head. Cradle cap is improving. After literally trying every remedy under the sun, our dr recommended a tar-based shampoo that's helping.

Hutch Marshall - 2 months

I had forgotten how much I love baby coos. The first time my sweet boy smiled and cooed up at me, I thought, "Oh. I remember now why we fight through all that crying and unhappiness. It's for this moment." If I thought he had stolen my heart before, it's an entirely different ballgame with that big grin and big dimples.


Speaking of dimples, I'd like to report that while I was certain that was the only feature on this baby that remotely looked like me, my mom found several pictures of me that look pretty identical to my baby boy. So I am in there somewhere.


I think Hutch is almost the same size as his sister. Seriously. This baby is huge. Which is wonderful and perfectly normal, just a major contrast to his sister, who is still always limping into the 10 or 15th percentile of weight at her well check appointments. He's more like 70 or 80th percentile At one month, he weighed what she did at two months. And now he's completely outgrown his 3 month clothes and moved on to 6 months. I love his little (big) belly.


Sleeping is better but still pretty questionable. I thought his sister was a rough sleeper, till I reviewed her 2-month schedule and realized she was sleeping 6 hours at night. I guess that was pretty great. Colic and reflux still suck, but I think we're making some progress there, too. This was about the time Addie improved for about a month before it came roaring back, so I'm choosing to be only slightly hopeful that perhaps we're over the worst.

Weight: Since his two month appointment isn't for a few more weeks ... I'm guessing he's close to 13 pounds. At least.
Length: Also guessing around 22 inches

New things:

• Smiling. His smiling is my favorite.
• Cooing and interacting.
• Watching our mouths and eyes very intently.
• Even better head control.
• Batting at toys, which I'm pretty sure is mostly accidental.
• Giving himself battle wounds. Thanks to a yucky case of cradle cap, he's constantly trying to scratch his head, ears and forehead, either by rubbing on us, blankets, his swing, his bed or raking his sharp fingernails across his little head. He was asleep and swaddled when I heard a big cry - he had wormed his hand out and given himself a pretty impressive scrape. So we're back to wearing mittens.
• Sleeping a little better. He prefers to wake every three to four hours at night. Sometimes he'll stretch to five. Rarely to six.
• Taking better naps during the day. In his swing, mind you.

Likes:

• His swing. Thank goodness. Especially since we've taken to putting him here around 4 a.m. to try to get some sleep ourselves.
• The mammaroo. God bless our sweet friends who let us borrow this miracle contraption. He doesn't generally sleep in it, not for long anyway, but it does often calm him down when he's fussy
• Being worn. Love that moby wrap, although this baby is quite a bit heavier in it than that other one of mine was!
• His ocean play mat.
• Eating. Eating is his favorite.
• His black and white and contrast books.
• Bath time.
• His momma. I really like that he likes me best. I love that he's really starting to respond to my voice or my face.
• His sister. He loves to hear her sing or read books to him. She gives him the sweetest little kisses and loves to hold him. He saves some of his biggest grins for her.
• His daddy. Just like with Addie, I love how he looks at his daddy. Clearly he has to like me because I'm where to food comes from, but he loves his daddy just because.
• Usually he likes tummy time. Especially if his dog participates.

Dislikes:

• His tummy.
• Sleeping.
• Taking medicine. Already a pro at spitting it out at me.
• Being swaddled. Man this kid is strong and he fights and fights the swaddle, till he finally gives in and realize he actually likes it.
• Getting his boogers sucked out. Which also seriously distresses his sister.

Addison Mae - 30 months

30 months. That's 2 1/2. I can hardly believe it. And a recent growth spurt means she looks even more like a big girl and less like my baby. It's bittersweet when these babies grow. I'm thankful that she still wants me to hold and snuggle her, but I'm realizing it's not quite as often as it used to be. I'm trying my best to soak up all these moments with her, but also reminding myself that each new stage is even more fun (and usually exasperating!!) than the last. While I sometimes feel nostalgic for when she was smaller, I'm always thankful for the present.

Weight: 28.5 pounds
Length: ~32 inches

 New things:

• I'm going to go ahead and call her potty trained. We haven't tried out her actual panties yet (more because momma's scared) but she rarely has an accident. And she LOVES to use the potty at public places. Fun.
• Starting conversations with people by asking, "Do you have a puppy?" If they say no, she asks, "Do you have a kitty?" If both answers are no, she's typically done with the person.

• The funniest new phrases/convos ...
• Telling people they are stinky.
• An obsession with talking about bodily functions
• Telling us about new friends at school or church ... "Do you remember [name]?" If we say no, "I will show her to you next time at church."
• Learning the meaning of the word "startle" and using it correctly in convos
• If Jordan and I or my mom and I are having a conversation, "Talk to me instead, mommy." Usually combined with moving my head to look at her.
• Jordan was telling her about the Olympics and all the various sports. When he said "bobsledding," she said, "Like my Pawpaw?" (His name is Bob. She's going to be really disappointed when he's not on TV)
• A fear of Grammie's bobblehead of Uncle Si from Duck Dynasty. He talks. And Addie doesn't care for it.

Likes:

• Gloves. Hers, mine, Grammie's, anyone. She was thrilled when we had to put gloves on her bubby to keep him from scratching himself.
• Baths in mommy's tub or showers in mommy's shower. It's the little things.
• Helping give brother a bath.
• Playing in cardboard boxes. And asking Pawpaw over and over and over again to cut windows in them.
• Playing with snow, inside.
• Going to Sonic to get a juice box.
• Parties. Which is really any social gathering. Although she can't understand why all social gatherings don't require singing the birthday song, candles and cupcakes.
• Watching the Olympics.
• Car dancing. Girl after my own heart.
• Her brother. Most of the time.
• Doc McStuffins. And playing doctor. "It's gonna hurt really bad, Mommy." She recently gave me a check up and declared that I needed surgery, a shot in the finger, a bandaid and to hold her Ernie doll. She's nothing if not thorough.

Dislikes:

• Not getting her own way. Being told no. She recently told me her teachers at school never tell her no. I'm not buying.
• Time out.
• When her brother gets his nose sucked out. Makes her cry, too.
• Even discussing having to eventually share her toys with her brother.

Addison Mae - 29 months

This crazy girl of mine is officially smarter than me. Brilliant. The things she says on a daily basis are equal parts incredible and exasperating.




She is a fabulous big sister, and while I knew she'd be great, I had no idea she'd be so into her role so quickly. She doesn't love for anyone else to touch her "Bubby" and she's quick to tell me when he's crying ("You need to pick him up, Mommy") or when someone else needs to give him back to me ("He needs his mommy - give him back). She's fairly intrigued with how he eats, and we have since had lots of conversations about nipples at our house. And he already adores her - I was shocked when his first smile was for me, not for her. He calms at the sound of her voice and always responds when she sings to him. Be still my heart.


Addie loved Christmas and was ecstatic to receive a violin (an electric one that plays songs, sometimes, when you run the bow across the strings) and M&Ms. The only desires of her heart. Of course she received way more than just that, including a giant bounce house from her doting Pawpaw. She loved singing Christmas songs (Away in a Manger was the favorite) and lighting (and blowing out) the advent candles. Her understanding of the reason for Christmas blew my mind.


While she totally and constantly wears me out and makes me want to pull my hair out, I am equally (OK, more) so amazed that she's mine and I have the privilege of being her mama.



Weight: 27 pounds
Length: ~32  inches



New things:

• Being a big sister! She loves to help by picking out diapers, bringing him toys, singing to him, helping pick out his clothes, etc. She really loved being the "model" in his crib while we set up his video monitor.
• I am hesitant to say she's potty trained, but we're close. She's wearing pull ups, other than at night, and rarely has an accident. This requires lots of reminders to use to potty, bribes, Grammie's constant help and encouragement, and her teachers' constant praise.
• The funniest new phrases/convos ...
• Rather than "I am" she says "I mam." Makes me laugh every time.
• You're my best friend in the whole live world
• You're my favorite
• I was writing a check for her school and she asked what I was doing. I explained that we pay for her to go to school. About 10 minutes later, she came to me with her Minnie Mouse money and said she would take it to her teachers. I explained that she could keep her money - that mommy would take care of paying her teachers!
• We were playing with Legos and what we were building kept falling down. I told her we needed to start over to make it more stable. She said, "Bullet the horse lives in a stable in Stillwater. So does Jesus." I explained that stable has two meanings. She said, "Two? I am two."
• I asked if she took at nap at school and she said, "Mommy, you forgot my blankets for my nap. I wanted my blankets. I was sad. I had to cover up with Ms. Melissa's scarf." Already knows how to cause major mom guilt.
• "I got my money in my pocket." Which actually meant she had crammed her change purse into her pull up. Along with her play phone.
• Singing "I got $20 in my pocket. This is awesome."
• Asking everyone how old they are.
• A glove fetish. Seriously, she loves gloves and notices them always. On Santa, Minnie Mouse, her teachers at church/school when they change diapers ... and she loves to wear her gloves. She is also obsessed with a play oven mitt for her kitchen and wears it all the time. She always asks, "Can I pat Bubby with my gloves on?" And asks my mom to pick her up with her gloves on. Weirdo.

Likes:

• Gloves.
• Coloring and painting. Especially on her new easel.
• Play Dough
• Her teachers at school. I think she loves them almost as much as she loves me.
• Her Bubby. And a renewed interest in taking care of her Stella doll. I can tell that she's totally modeling what she sees. And thankfully she takes really good care of her.
• Dancing. Music comes on and that girl starts dancing.
• Bath time. Especially if we put food coloring, in the color of her choice, in the water. Girlfriend got lots of new bath toys for Christmas, which makes it extra exciting.
• Her bounce house. "Mommy, can we bounce?"

Dislikes:

• Sometimes she's not a big fan of me feeding her brother and cries for me to hold her instead. Breaks my heart a little.
• When her brother cries.
• Being away from her brother or her mommy.

Hutch Marshall - 1 month

Y'all, we have successfully been a family of four for a whole month. Christmas was magical with a snuggly newborn and a crazy, brilliant, lovable toddler.








Sometimes I look at this precious dark-haired bundle and can't believe he's really mine. (However, he looks so exactly like his daddy that it's pretty clear he belongs to us!) This sweet, chunky baby boy is pretty amazing. Speaking of chunky, his favorite thing in the whole world is eat (gained three pounds in three weeks), and I have been very thankful that nursing has been so successful. He was born ready to eat.








He doesn't really love to sleep (a la his sister) and at about three weeks we were pretty certain he was also following in his sister's footsteps with a colic and reflux diagnosis ... Jordan asked if we could get jobs just diagnosing colic and reflux. We're pretty good at it. And though we've been there before, it's been pretty difficult and draining on all of us. Not so fun.








What is fun is watching his sweet sister dote on him. She is completely in love. And she calls him "Bubby." While there have been some difficult moments, for the most part Addie has been amazing. She doesn't want to be away from him for a second. And she doesn't really want anyone other than Jordan and me to touch him ("Don't take my baby.") She especially loves to pick out diapers for him. And inform me when he's crying.








Weight: 10 pounds 7 ounces
Length: 20.5 inches





New things:

• Well, everything is new.
• Holding head up during tummy time and sometimes when being held
• Tracking objects

Likes:

• His sister. He almost always calms down when he sees her or hears her voice
• Ocean play mat
• Black and white books
• Being held. All. the. time.
• Eating. A lot.
• Bath time
• The nap nanny. Even if it is pink.
• Naked kicking time. Made popular by his colicky sister - one of the only things that would calm her was being stripped to her diaper and lying on a soft blanket. Baby boy thinks it's pretty great, too.

Dislikes:

• His tummy.
• Sleeping.
• His swing. (I know... what is that about??)

Addison Mae - 28 months

I kinda like this every-other-month thing. We have had a wonderful last two months as a family of three. Addie absolutely loved everything about Halloween, including picking out pumpkins, Howloweenie at Pawpaw's work, visiting Pumpkinville at the Myriad Gardens, going to Storybook Forest at Lake Arcadia (thank goodness that was a hit since we waited for over an hour to get in!), the Fall Festival at our church and, of course, trick-or-treating Halloween night. She was the cutest little kitty you ever have seen (complete with a black and pink glittery tutu ... remind me never to make a glittery tutu again). Her favorite part was having her nose and whiskers drawn on her face each time. She didn't so much care about eating any of the candy (unless it was a lollipop), just collecting a lot of it. Which was fine with her pregnant momma.

While this girl of ours has gone to a few OSU tailgates in her little life, she's never been inside the stadium. Until this fall. She LOVED the game, especially watching and cheering for Bullet. She's still quite suspicious of Pete (I no like him. He has a big head. He scares me a little bit.) And she did not love sitting right next to the cannon. But she cried and cried when we left at halftime. Love that she's totally already a Cowgirl! And she even loves watching her Pokes on TV, although it's seriously a bummer that they never show Bullet during home games (thankfully Grammie remedies that by sending videos from the stadium.)

We finished up her gymnastics class in October, where she seriously made some awesome progress. I can't wait to enroll her again when our lives calm down a little bit.

She loved all the prep for Thanksgiving, but didn't so much care for any of the food. We did make some super cute turkey cupcakes that she quite enjoyed.

And she is ecstatic about Christmas. She loves all the  lights and decorations.We had a fabulous time on my birthday going to eat pizza and taking her to see the Chesapeake lights and an awesome house with lights set to music. She was awestruck when Santa sent her her very own elf (who she immediately named Coco) and has been doing a great job teaching him about Jesus and being kind to others (our take on the elf, rather than the naughty/nice list).

The funniest and most exasperating part about the last two months have been Addie's turning into The Negotiator. Which really doesn't mean she is negotiating - it means she tells us exactly what's going to happen, rather than using her "listening ears." She also like to tell me, "Mommy, use your nice voice." To which I typically respond, "If you'd use those listening ears, I would be better able to use my nice voice."

Tomorrow she officially becomes a big sister. We are anxious and excited, and of course very concerned about how our sweet girl is going to react once this baby boy gets here. We covet prayers that the transition goes (mostly) smoothly! We can't wait to share this Christmas with TWO sweet babies!

Weight: 26 pounds
Length: ~32  inches

New things:

• LOTS of using the potty. Which in no way shape or form means she's potty-trained. She does go several times a day, be typically we have to initiate it. She has been having more dry diapers, which is encouraging. She has also used the potty at school, which is awesome. But she also likes to stand right next to me and declare that she's peeing or pooping in her diaper. So we're not really there yet.
• Doing a great job sleeping in her big girl bed and big girl room. No more rolling out of the bed in the middle of the night. But occasional requests to sleep in mommy's bed if she does wake in the night.
• Special phrases coined by The Negotiator. "I just do this for a little bit first" in response to being told it's time for nap/bed/leaving. "I do this a lot a lot a lot of times" when being told to do something one more time before nap/bed/leaving. This one comes with a waving hand motion right in the face of whoever she's talking to.
• Calling her daddy "my sweet Daddy"
• Saying "You my favorite/I love you best in the whole live world."
• An imaginary friend named Coco. And calling just about everyone and everything Coco. Including her new elf from Santa.
• Continuing to use her amazing imagination and play by herself even more.
• Recognizing letters of the alphabet, especially A is for Addie, D is for Daddy and M is for Mommy. Quite impressive.

Likes:

• Going to Hobby Lobby to see the Christmas trees.
• Playing train. Her Daddy recently got his old Brio train set out of the attic and she has literally playing with it every day since.
• Playing with her Little People nativity. And adding her nativity characters to my nativity.
• Helping with the advent candles. My favorite is that when we light the candles, she immediately wants to sing Happy Birthday to Jesus and then blow it out.
• Blowing out candles in general. And singing Happy Birthday.
• Checking out the moon at night if it's not too cold. Or looking for it in the morning.
• Christmas lights viewing. Even if it's just the lights on our own house.
• Watching Christmas movies.
• Watching the snow. Playing in the snow.
• Playing chase. Playing hide and seek.
• Going to the library.
• Helping me cook or bake. Or even better, helping Grammie cook or bake.
• Helping Grammie garden.
• Watching her Cowboys or her "Thunders" on TV.
• Coloring. Painting.

Dislikes:

• Being told what to do.
• Not being in control.