David, Molly, Annika, Benson: March

Benson's 9 month Dr visit. He was all caught up on immunizations. Thus, the happy face :)
height: 27.75 inches
weight: 17.5 pounds
head circumference: 18.75 inches

My dad gave me this old calendar holder when I got him a new one for Christmas. My mom bought it and we all loved how it looked. But, it never held the calendars very well. I decided to use chalkboard paint on it and turned it into a menu board. This menu board has changed my life! I love writing down a weekly menu. It means I don't look at the clock and realize it's 4 pm and I don't know what we're having for dinner. It only took me 5 years of marriage to discover the value of a weekly menu.

A series of selfies by Annika

This is a daily scene: Annika packing up her shopping cart and going to "work" or Rose's house, or Papi's school. I love it because she will pack and unpack her cart, change her shoes 5 times, talk to her baby, and tell me goodbye several times. But, she never actually goes anywhere or even tries to go out the door. It's really perfect. She is so good at independent play. She will play this "going somewhere" game for 30 minutes at a time.

My pretty girl. I got her dressed and told her to put her black boots on. I was intending for her wear her church boots but she put on her other black rain boots. And then she carried her chair to the front door, unlocked the dead bolt, opened the front door and went outside to wait for us by the van. We were still 20 minutes from being ready to leave so I took a picture and laughed at our cute and smart girl before I gathered her back inside. I bought a toddler proof door knob cover for the front door the next day. :)

This seems to be a common trend in our "Sunday pictures." Benson is usually ready for a nap and wants to be held.

My happy boy! He loves being outside. When we go to parks, I put him in the middle of the platform above the slide and he is happy to watch Annika come up the stairs and go down the slide.

In the fish tunnel. We have a similar picture of Annika in this tunnel. She was a few months younger than he is.

The Dentist! I finally scheduled an appt with Dr. Sorenson for Annika and me. I haven't been in 5 years. We talked about it during the weeks leading up to the appt and Annika was very excited. Our incredible Dena friend came with us to help with the kids. Both of the kiddos love her.

She did awesome! She opened her mouth wide (she's been practicing that wide mouth smile for over a year now:). She let Dr. S. and the hygienist look in her mouth. The hygienist didn't brush her teeth before she went to get the Dr. When she left, Annika asked "brush my teeth?" We had talked about that and she wanted to make sure she got her money's worth! She got a cute princess tooth brush and she picked a pink plastic fish from the treasure chest. It was a successful first visit to the dentist. For several days after, she would tell me her teeth hurt and she needed to go back to the dentist. We'll see how she does next time when they try to get x-rays. (I didn't have such a fun visit. They found 7 cavities- my first ever. I had to go back for 2 separate appts to get those taken care of. Expensive and not fun! Thank goodness for great dental coverage. The bill was over $2000 and we only paid $59 out of pocket.)

Benson loves Papi! When we see Papi, Benson gets really excited and lunges away from me to get Papi to hold him.

This little monkey fell asleep on the way home from the dentist in Moses Lake at 11:15. I selfishly tried to wake her up so she would nap later and I could get a nap when both kids slept. I tickled her feet, told her she could have candy, let Benson touch her and yell in her face. She was OUT. She slept for 2 hours right there on the couch. That afternoon, we went outside while Benson napped. I laid down on a blanket on the grass while she played. I ended up falling asleep. She came over and woke me up a few times. My favorite was when she was throwing her chalking against the cement to break it. Each time she threw one she said "sorry, Mom!" Funny girl. We sure love our Annie girl!

I'm so glad her BYU hat fits this winter too!

her sweet Papi painted her nails

Papi's glasses. one of my favorite pictures. I love that look!

she pooped in the toilet while I was changing Benson's diaper! About once a day, she randomly says "have go bathroom!" She strips down, sits up on the toilet, and, on a good day, only puts one square of TP in before she closes the lid. She has never peed. But she has pooped on the toilet twice. Once was in August when I happened to put her on the toilet at the right time. This was the second time. I should be more motivated by the price of diapers to potty train, but I'm not. I think she could be ready. Maybe in another month we'll try.

My sweet Pam-A-Thon babies!

He didn't actually make it to church with the bow tie. But, he sure looks handsome for the picture :)

She put her bear to sleep on my side and then brought her baby to sleep with her on daddy's side :)

I left these letters like this for a few weeks after Annika rearranged them :)

Her daddy's girl. They both love sitting over the vent with a blanket when the heater is on!

my pretty girl blowing bubbles. She blows successfully about 25% of the time.

she loves the tire swing at Papi's house

wearing Gram Pam's necklace and lipstick :) applied by herself

Unfortunately for me, Annika doesn't take naps every day anymore. A few weeks in to March, she started skipping naps about half of the week. I still put her down every day. But, some days she will just talk for a half hour. She usually gets pretty loud after that and starts yelling "awake, mom, awake!" I leave her for a half hour to and hour depending on when she starts yelling. If Benson was sleeping through the night and I didn't feel like I needed to nap, I really wouldn't mind having her up all day. She plays independently really well. But, I still need naps! The picture above was after a no nap day. She is pretty exhausted by 7 on those days.

mom and Bensie selfie :)

This was the fourth day of a no nap strike. I was so happy that she napped that day!

Annika's favorite pass time- standing on her chair to wash her hands in the bathroom. She spends a solid combined 20 minutes every day washing her hands.

presentation is everything. She LOVES the play food Papi got her for Christmas. She plays with it every day and we love when she makes food for us! Her food combos are interesting.

Our Benson boy is 10 months old! We love his content and energetic nature. Even though he isn't crawling yet, he is rarely still. He ends up on his tummy often when he is reaching for toys. He scoots around backwards, especially on the kitchen tile. But, he hasn't figured out how to move forward yet. It's quite frustrating for him when he ends up backed into a wall, or with his legs stuck under the couch. I predict he will be crawling by the end up April. He rocks back and forth in the crawling position.
Benson loves being outside. He is no longer content to watch Annika play outside through the window. If she goes out, he starts squawking to join her. He likes to be on the grass or in the baby swing. He doesn't love going for long walks. But, I'm hoping he will get used to them soon because Annika and I love them!
He is still a great eater. He learned to use his fingers to feed himself a few weeks ago and it's so nice! It makes dinner time much more enjoyable. If he has already eaten baby food, we give him cheerios, goldfish, cheese, bread, or peas and he is pretty content to feed himself.
Unfortunately, putting food in his mouth has not translated to putting his binky in by himself. He was eating twice a night for awhile and waking up way too often for his binky. Many nights, he was waking every hour from about 9 to 1 when I would feed him. I started putting him to sleep at 6:45 instead of 7:30 and it has actually helped considerably. He still has bad nights. But, overall, he is sleeping more soundly before he wakes to eat. He usually eats around 3 and then sleeps until 7. From my memory, it seems like Annika was more consistent at this age. But, every kid is different. I know he will eventually sleep through the night. He is almost always a great napper though!
We love our loud and active boy! I'm excited for him to learn to crawl. It will be so fun to watch him follow Annika around. There might be more sibling quarreling in our near future. It's pretty easy for her to keep toys away from him now. I love these new stages of development.