MELT DOWN MODE

For about the past year, Jake and I have dealt with melt downs and tantrums of varying degrees of severity, multiple times a day, most days of the week...

Here is a little taste of what we get to 'enjoy' daily.
He'd already been screaming for about 30 minutes by this point, so in this video he's starting to 'get tired' and quiet down some.

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He finally decided he was done crying and screaming about 10 minutes ago, and before I could even finish this blog post he has already started ANOTHER melt down about something else...
Oh the Joys :/
I'm starting to wonder if we'll ever see the end of this 'phase' and get to really enjoy the boy we know can be such a darling and little cutie...

SILLY SOUNDS AND SOLID FOODS

Tonight a friend from church was babysitting the kids for us while we went to a wedding reception. She got Kate to make these silly sounds and we caught it on camera when we got home. She's such a silly girl. We love our Kate :)

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This morning we gave Kate her first taste of cereal.
She wasn't really sure what to do with it, but as usual, she was a good sport.
I think in no time at all she'll love 'big girl food' :)

4 MONTHS OLD

Kate turned 4 months old on Monday.
Today was her check up and shots at the pediatrician.
She is still an itty bitty, petite little girl.
Her 4 month Stats are:

Weight: 11lb 14oz (5.38kg) - 10th percentile
Height: 23 inches (58.4cm) - 10th percentile
Head: 15.75 inches (40cm) - 25th percentile

She really is sooo different to Luke who was 98th percentile for weight at 4 months, weighing a whopping 17lb 7oz (7.91kg) lol
She is still a fairly content, happy little girl. She LOVES to talk, and will talk to just about anyone who will listen :)
She's started to roll onto her side a lot, but hasn't quite made it over onto her belly or vice versa just yet.
She loves to suck her fingers and her fist.. until they go bright red. lol, and she frequently sucks her thumb now too.
Despite her small size, she's got chubby little cheeks, and she is really strong. She sits upright when supported, and holds her head up well, and she LOVES to stand if you just hold her hands for support.
She is such an absolute joy in our family. She LOVES her daddy, and I think both their favourite time of day is the before bed cuddling she gets to do on her daddy's shoulder. She snuggles right up on his shoulder (she rarely does it with me. lol), and just cuddles with him until bedtime. Jake loves it just as much if not more... often I have to remind him to go put her in her crib, because I think he'd just hold her all night if he could.. he says that she's like a drug that he's addicted to. LOL
She has us both (though I think more her daddy) wrapped around those cute little fingers.

She also enjoys her big brother's company now. Luke has become quite a sweet big brother, and seems to care quite a bit for Kate sometimes. Just the other day I was in the shower, and heard Kate fussing over the monitor. A couple minutes later I heard Luke in the nursery. I went in after my shower to see what was going on, and there was Luke, hanging over the crib railing trying his best to reach her so he could put her pacifier in her mouth.. but he just couldn't quite reach. What a sweet big brother. We're so grateful that he's warmed up to her so nicely, and in no time at all, they will be playing together and be great buddies.

Such big beautiful eyes

"I love my big brother" - chatting with Luke :p

I'm slowing learning to sit supported. It's a change from always just staring up at the ceiling :)

Chubby cheeks and a cheesy little smile :)

2011 A GREAT YEAR

I've heard much mention over the last couple days of people being glad to be over with 2011, and ready to start a new year, in hopes of a better one.

What a pity it was such a rough year for so many, because looking back over the events of the year, I actually think it was a pretty good year for us.

I thought I'd blog about the highlights of our year:

January: We found out we were expecting baby #2
February: I was deathly sick from baby #2 - ok, so not really a 'highlight', and it lasted from January through April, but so totally worth it :)
March: I turned 26 - yup, I'm officially past the quarter century mark.
April: Luke successfully transitioned over to his big boy bed with absolutely no trouble at all.. what a big boy he's become :)
AND, we found out that Kate is in fact a girl...
May: Luke turned 2
Grandma & Grandpa Geddes came to visit
We had outings to the beach and the zoo.
I learned how to make strawberry jam... and it was sooo yummy :)
June: We got to spend a weekend at the beach with friends
July: Jake got that super cute video of Luke singing 'Head, shoulders, knees and toes' and we got LOTS of rain which Luke LOVED because he could splash in puddles afterwards.
August: We got the nursery ready for Kates arrival.
Hurricane Irene passed through, which although a 'disaster' turned into a blessing in disguise for us, when our insurance paid for a new roof, that we needed even before Irene caused additional damage, but couldn't afford.
September: My mom arrived for her 2 month visit - her first time in the USA
And of course the BIGGEST highlight of the year - KATE LYDIA GEDDES joined our family
October: Jake turned 32
Halloween... Luke had a blast getting free candy with his buddy Brent :)
November: Kate was blessed and we had a great Thanksgiving here at home.

December: Jake and I celebrated our 4th Anniversary
It was Christmas - which is a highlight every year for me :)

Some of the highlights I mentioned may seem insignificant, but it was a fun year, and one that for the most part we really enjoyed. We had a few hiccups and trials along the way, but every year comes with those. I am mostly grateful that 2011 brought our little Kate to the family. That would make any year a great year :)

Now, I get to look forward to 2012, that comes with all of it's milestones for both my babies, hopefully a trip to visit Grandma and Grandpa, and who knows what other fun and surprises we'll get. I'm ready :)

!!!HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!!!

CHRISTMAS 2011

Christmas has come and gone... geez, WHERE has 2011 gone?

Our much desired plans to fly to Utah for Christmas fell through cos we're poor, and somebody decided that it should cost as much fly to another state, as it does to fly to another country... seriously...

So, we had our own, fun little Christmas here at home.
Last year, I was sooo anxious about spending Christmas alone... meaning just us 3 Geddes's, but this year I knew it would be great even if we were alone. And it was...

Christmas eve we decorated sugar cookies with mr Luke... he was going to need to use these to bribe Santa to still leave gifts under the tree, because he'd been such a stinker all week.
After Santa (mommy..lol) ate about 6 large sugar cookies, my mood was sufficiently sweetened that I decided not to sell his toys, but in fact let him have them on Christmas morning.

I know they're not the prettiest cookies, but they were painted with great enthusiasm by a sugar addicted toddler and his equally sugar addicted parents :)

The cookie bribe worked.. Santa came :)

Christmas morning was super fun. Luke is old enough now, to know that gifts are AWESOME, and he went straight in for the kill, shredding paper and getting into everything.
He got some fun stuff (courtesy of Targets buy one get one 50% off sales...Santa knows where to shop!)

Luke got to open Kates toys too :)

Christmas? What's all the fuss about? lol..

Checking out her new toy... we bought something she'd "grow into" because really, what does a 3 month old actually play with???

Of course Christmas wouldn't be complete without a melt down :)

I bought 2 packs of flash cards from the dollar store to put in Luke's stocking.. He likes to point to bright pictures and have you tell him what they are... surprisingly the cheap stocking stuffers have been well played with already :)

After church, we just enjoyed a fun, chilled afternoon playing with new toys, eating beef stew (yes, we had beef stew for Christmas dinner... WHY?... because it's YUMMY, and the crock pot does all the work for me so that I can enjoy Christmas with my family and not in the kitchen cooking, and just because I said so... lol) and watching random shows and movies on Netflix, now viewed on our TV through Jakes new Apple TV (his Christmas present to himself...)

I'm super excited for Christmas 2012... Luke will be super psyched by then, and he'll probably be old enough to better understand all the santa stuff etc, which will make it way more fun... this year he saw the fat, hairy man in a red suit at the mall, took one look and was heading in the opposite direction.. yeah, I must say that I find the overgrown facial hair kinda creepy too... lol.

Now, on to 2012... I think it's going to be a great year... and I'm so ready for it :)

MY LITTLE SINGER

Luke seems to really enjoy music, and a lot of time I'll catch him singing... either along with the theme music on some of his Disney DVD's, or to a music DVD we have.
He's language is still a bit behind, but that doesn't stop him from trying his best to sing along.
He's so ridiculously cute sometimes, and I never tire of hearing him sing.

Yesterday I got some video of Luke singing Old Mac Donald, and Hey Frankie (A silly song on a music DVD he has)
If you watch right around 1 min 10 seconds on the video, you'll see him do an 'elephant trunk' motion as you hear them sing 'she has a trunk for her nose' in the background. LOL.. he's so silly.

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We Love our funny, sweet little man :)