Growth

I've been posting a lot just about Baby Bear. I am working on some posts dedicated to my crazy sweet prince boys too.

Baby Bear's 12-month well visit at the doctor didn't go as planned. Since she still had a runny nose and isn't sleeping well because of a cold this week, they had to check her ears to make sure they weren't infected. If they are, she can't have her immunizations as scheduled. Um, she didn't have her immunizations. She has horrible ear infections that even grossed out the doctor. So she's on an antibiotic, with two more appointments scheduled. I feel so horrible for her! Except for not sleeping well, she hasn't shown signs of suffering in that way. All our kids have been that way, sneakily hiding the disgustingness festering in their ears.

She is also still a little-bit. She is 29 1/8 inches long (52nd percentile) and weighs 17 lbs 6 oz (10th percentile). That's actually up from <10% last time, so they were pleased. And since she had a nice little pot belly showing, they think she'll be just fine. Especially now that she'll be taking whole milk.

I've been weaning her fairly quickly for the last two weeks. She only nurses first thing in the morning, which will end after tomorrow. Brandon and I are hoping to go away for two days tomorrow night, so she'll be on her own from here on out. I'm pretty sad about it, but have no doubts that it's time. I'm just a mess picturing that last time tomorrow, and when she's done she's done. Sigh.

Still no signs of walking. She does now take some steps when you hold her hands out and walk behind her, so she's figuring out that she's capable of that movement. Until now, it's been funny watching her practically ignore her legs like they were dead weight. She also just recently started crawling "normally", and is doing a little less of her famous army crawl.

Here's our weather panda that we started using this week. First thing in the morning, we open the front door and check the weather. Then we head to our calendar and update it, followed by dressing our weather panda. It's good fun. Not a lot of variety in his wardrobe lately - it's just been cold and sunny for the most part - but fun, just the same.

Sweetest Birthday

Today is the day our little princess angel baby doll girlie girl turned one whole year old. It has been a difficult, limit-testing, cuddly, pink year. We are so thankful for our sweet girl and our two awesome little boys.

We had the most fun at her Valentine's Day birthday party. It was one of my favoritest-est parties ever. All the kids had a blast and played so well together (yeah, all 8 kids under 8), the food was dee-lish (we managed to make this Pioneer Woman basic drip beef recipe, and it was amazing), and we got to enjoy most of our favorite people (yeah, all 14 adults, not including us). Baby Bear had a great time - once she got used to all the craziness - and got some awesome toys and adorable outfits.

God is way too good to us, and we are humbled by the bountiful blessings He doesn't stop pouring out on us at all times. We love all you peeps we are blessed to know and be known by.

Aunt Brianna did an awesome job as photographer for most of the event. Thank you! It was very difficult to narrow down all the photos to post here, but I've pulled it off. You're welcome. :)

Decorations - The boys helped me make this garland, and I love it so much that I am considering leaving it up all year.

After we ate lots of yummy food, it was time to open presents! The boys helped with a lot of them.

Hugging her new cuddly unicorn that cousin Laura Anne picked out just for her.

You know she knows which camera is mommy's!

The best party entertainment ever (for kids and adults alike!). They went to town with all the wrapping and tissue paper - for over half an hour, I'd say. It was so awesome.

Adorable birthday girl having a blast.

The bottle... yeah, we weaned her just shy of her birthday. I just love it when she'll hold her bottle for me. It's the cutest thing ever, especially to me since her brothers never once held their bottles. Never!

The boogers... yeah, we couldn't keep up with them as fast as the pictures were snapping.

And then it was cake time! She didn't take to it right away, but slowly worked her way through quite a bit of icing.

Popo helped us assemble her cool new toys while she napped. When she woke up, she was pleasantly surprised. She loves all her new things and is having tons of fun figuring them out.

My Heart is Breaking

Bubby is sharing with me these pleasantries this morning:

"I don't love you."

"I don't like you."

"I'm still sad."

(He went to bed crying last night because of an atrocity involving bedtime book choice. Apparently it's still rocking his world.)

That's bad enough, but my tears began because of his brother. After I explained to him that even though he's making me very sad by saying that, I'll still be sweet to him because I love him no matter what. Then I left the room. I just heard Popo asking him why he doesn't like Mommy and why is he making her sad? Bubby repeated himself and Popo responded: "But she loves you."

Oh, it hurts so much.

Funny, because yesterday I spent some time explaining Valentine's Day to them - about how you spend that day showing the people you love that you love them by being sweet to them and giving them nice things. Mostly all that's stuck is that they'll get candy on Baby Bear's birthday, since that's also a Valentine's Day party at our house. Sigh.

Brandon and I are totally feeling deja vu (or what's that term for war veterans who have flashbacks of horrible scenes?) with the extreme moodiness on the preschooler front this week. It's exactly like just about one year ago. We are now solid believers in the theory that most kids will have behavior/mood issues at their half-year birthdays. They are unreasonable wailing time bombs at times. And you see it coming, similar to last year.

We will get through this phase. Again.