Kiddos

So I'm not as good at this blogging thing as I used to be. In order of oldest to youngest, here is an update on each of the kids:

Calli

She will be four and a half at the end of this month, which will put her officially closer to five years old. Where does the time go? We'll be celebrating the fifth Christmas with her in this world on the 25th. It is so much fun having the kids grow up and know about Santa and gifts. It brings a certain level of magic to the holidays and just makes it more fun for everyone. She has already asked me "Mom, how is Santa going to get in our house if we don't have a chimney?" I told her he would use the door, but that didn't seem to be good enough for her. She finally accepted it, but it's not the "normal" thing for Santa to do. She really can't wait to meet him. Other than making her Christmas wish lists, she has been going to preschool still and making lots of friends. We went on a playdate to one of her classmate's houses and the girls had a lot of fun together. She gets a break from school for two weeks starting on the 22nd so I am going to sign her up for some art camps like she did over Thanksgiving break. She had a lot of fun and it was good for her to still be doing something in the absence of school. I am taking her to see The Nutcracker ballet on the 23rd and we are both excited. She will get to dress up in her pretty Christmas dress and shoes and see her first ballet. I hope to make it a tradition every year, eventually with both of my girls.

Calli is just a very busy little girl, but I like it that way. She is truely a social butterfly and really thrives being in these situations. On the 19th she has a Christmas party to go to at the playplace. Santa will be there as well as Hannah Montana and they'll be watching a Christmas movie and doing lots of fun holiday stuff. This Saturday we finally have her soccer tournament. It was supposed to be the Fall Shoot Out and take place the weekend before Thanksgiving, but because the soccer league in this city is so overly cautious about their fields, they closed them because of some rain the day before. So now we will be playing in the Winter Shoot Out on Saturday and what was supposed to be a fun experience has really just turned into a "let's get it over with finally!" event.

Serena

Serena, what can I say about our little princess? She has been picking up a lot of words lately and that makes me happy. "Kitty", "doggie", "uh-oh", "more", "mine" and stop are a few of her favs. Possibly the cutest thing she does now happens when you ask her what a bear says. She raises her hands and says "roarrrrr". I love it! She can be so sweet sometimes, but really needy as well. She is also very sensitive and gets her feelings hurt easily when we get upset with her or she gets in trouble. Of course this makes me feel bad so she gets lots of hugs! And her hugs are the best, she comes and wraps those little arms around your neck and holds on.

She's been growing up too quickly and trying to be Miss Independent a lot lately. She has to put on her own shoes most of the time. She doesn't like to sit in a high chair or booster anymore, she wants to just be in a normal chair like the rest of us (especially at a restaurant, we have finally figured out!). She absolutely adores all the Christmas decorations. We are planning a trip to a fun place filled with Christmas lights that you just drive through and look and I know she will have a blast.

Jameson

Our little boy is growing up!! He turned six months on the 2nd and got his first two teeth the day after Thanksgiving. Like my other kids, we heard very little fussing from him about it. He is doing very well with his helmet, we just had an appointment today and he has made progress again! His assymetry started out at 14mm (the difference in measurements between the two sides of his head, measuring in a diagnal line) and it is now down to 10mm after just a few weeks. So I am glad to see it's working because it's getting harder and harder to see him in the helmet and we have a long ways to go. I miss his head and snuggling with him without the bulky helmet in the way. I keep trying to remember that it's just a short time and is the best for him in the long run. I googled adults with plagiocephaly (I google everything!!) and have read many stories about adults with assymetrical facial features or missaligned ears, flat heads, etc. Every single one of them said they wished their parents had gotten them helmets when they were babies. I feel bad for those people, but it helps me remember why I am doing this. We were also able to get the helmet adjusted today so it doesn't hang in his eyes as much which is really nice!

Jameson isn't crawling yet, but is getting close! He gets himself up on his knees and gets really far up on his hands but he isn't quite there yet. He rolls everywhere though and his favorite thing is to be in his exersaucer, zipping around the kitchen. He has gotten good at being able to manuever around corners and turns. Our kitchen is not ideal for a walker (if given the option now I don't know that I would have put that island in! An open kitchen is so much easier when you have kids at your feet) so he has to be creative.

Jameson is sleeping SO much better than he used to. It was pretty funny because it all came together at once: he got his helmet and he stopped needing to be swaddled at night and BOOM, he slept 9-10 hours. He goes down around 7:30 and sometimes will sleep straight through to 6:30-7:30. This is such a change from what was happening just a month ago even! And on the days he wakes up, it's around 4:30-5:30 and he is back to sleep until 7:30-8. AND NO MORE ANNOYING SWADDLE BLANKETS AT NIGHT. I swear, that made the process ten times longer having to deal with that. Life is so much better when you have a baby sleeping through the night. Thank you Jameson!!

And there you have it. A brief update of all the kids. I'm sure I've missed some things, but I'll try and blog again soon ;).