Thankful November Milestone Month

 Woke up to a dusting of snow on November 1st. Apparently the 'locals' said this is unprecedented and Briella got all bundled up and went with Jim for a morning car tune up that day.

Always a joy shopping with this "cutie".

Taking morning pictures for Jim while he traveled. Look at Briella's goofy smile. 

 Trying to crawl is so much fun. 

 Posing for pictures before school. 

Picking up Briella from preschool.

I didn't know that my Mom was taking this picture and I love it because Gianna was smiling at Briella, like she always does, when she gets in the car from school. 

Gianna was sitting on my lap one evening when I looked down and noticed our pants matched and we were crossing our legs the same so I had to take a picture. 

  Can you guess which sister didn't want to smile for pictures?

Being such GOOD girls at Briella's 3 year check up. Give Briella book of stickers and she is entertained for an hour. It's what we do for her to keep her sitting still in church and it works like a charm. 

Fell asleep in the car on the drive home from Briella's preschool and stayed asleep in my arms while walking her up to her crib. 

Look at Gianna's adorable, petite feet. They fit in my hand. 

Briella's $13.00 winter coat from Costco and her 'earned' toy, Clarice. 

Briella sharing Clarice with Gianna.

Amazing the difference 3 months makes.

I can't get enough of her hugs and squeezes.

Sunday morning photo session.

Sunday afternoon with Nonna at her house.

Sister puzzle time.

This note home from Briella's teacher meant a lot to me.

My Great Aunt Joan had this sweater made for Briella and Gianna got to wear it too. It's so cute.

Puzzle time with Mommy

Matching shirts from Nonna

Gianna's first time ever riding 'shot gun' in the cart and...

She LOVED it! 

Briella got her haircut and Gianna got extensions. (Hahaha)

Early morning with Mommy playing puzzles...

includes devotional time. Briella is infatuated with turning the 'delicate' pages of my Bible. I want to always remember how they both sat there so well behaved listening to me read verses to them.

Thanksgiving shopping with this sugar pie. 

Swinging outside the day before Thanksgiving.

I took a picture of this amazing Thanksgiving meal that Jim made. He made it look so easy and, the best part, I was able to eat every single bit. Dad made the cranberry sauce and Mom made the mashed potatoes. 

Thanksgiving pre-Christmas photo shoot pictures:

A mild, breezy Thanksgiving day.

I'm starting to think it's impossible for us all to look at the camera at the same time, but that's okay because I usually like 'candid' photos the best anyway. 

Briella anxiously waiting for me to pour the fizzy kombucha for our 'cheers'.

The whole family together for the first time for Thanksgiving in many, many years. 

 

The day after Thanksgiving. Briella was overwhelmed with excitement when all of the Christmas singing animals were coming out of the totes. And this is her playing each and everyone of the animals at the SAME TIME over.and.over.again.

Gianna fell asleep in Jim's arms and stayed asleep in the cart during an after Thanksgiving weekend shopping trip.

This is how Gianna helps me fold laundry. 

Briella:
She sure does say the funniest things. I wish I had paper and pen always accessible to write this stuff down. Here's a recent conversation between us:
Briella: {Looking at the bandaid on my finger} What did you do, Mommy?
Me: I cut myself
Briella: Did it hurt?
Me: Yes.
Briella: Did you cry?
Me: No, I didn't. It hurt, but I'm a big girl.
Briella: No, you're not a big girl!
Me: I'm not?
Briella: No, you're a Mommy. I'm the big girl.
Later on during dinner after Jim was made aware of the conversation...
Jim: I'm a big boy.
Briella: No, you're not.
Jim: What am I then?
Briella: You're a princess.
(Telling Jim he's a princess...now THAT is funny.)

I was getting ready to leave the house to pick up Mom from the airport on a Saturday afternoon and Briella kept telling me to "Have a nice weekend!" repeatedly. I joked to Jim, "See you tomorrow night then." Jim was saying to Briella, "Stop telling her that." (clearly he didn't want to have to be alone with two little ones overnight). I love how confidently she says things like that. 

One morning as I bent down to hug her she sniffed my hair and said so sincerely and sweetly, "Mommy, your hair smells delicious!" On another occasion she was brushing my hair pretending to play hairstylist and she, once again, confidently tells me, "Mommy, I'm going to make you look like a boy." My response, "Um, no thanks. I like being a girl."

I want to remember how sweetly she prays to God when ever she is asked or wants to pray. She hears how I pray and she imitates what I say. It is sooooo special. Recently we were driving and listening to Kari Jobe and she said to me, "This is music about Jesus." She's been watching Psalty videos and no matter how many times I tell her his name is Psalty, she still calls him Jesus. 

It's no secret in our house that I'm a bit of a chore drill sergeant, but I think it's important for Briella (and soon Gianna) to learn that she is a contributor in our household and that working hard, whether paid or unpaid is the pride of life because we are working as unto God. And along with that pride, sometimes comes reward hopefully first intrinsically with that pride I just spoke of and secondly, maybe it be in the form of a paycheck for us adults or a special show or movie for a child. Our morning routine includes her eating, getting dressed, helping unload the dishwasher, and making her bed. I am really enjoying watching the pride she is taking in making her bed and when she says, "I'm taking care of my bed". Sometimes she's so proud of her work that she won't even get under the covers for her quiet time/nap time! 

What's even more funny is the way she is taking ownership of the rules and chores of the house. Since Jim is usually the last one out of bed every day, she always lets me and him know that he hasn't made the bed. "Uh oh, Daddy didn't make the bed!" "Daddy you didn't make your bed!" Or when I get up from the dinner table to get something and she lets me know, "We don't get up from the dinner table until we clean our plates, Mommy. You didn't clean your plate." She's so literal, but I do love it. 

"Puzzle master Briella" completed her puzzle all by herself.

I've recently coined her the "puzzle master" because, almost overnight, she went from asking for help assembling a 24 piece puzzle that she got for her birthday to doing it all by herself and with quickness. She is content to do that puzzle over and over and over again, sometimes for an hour at a time. Gianna LOVES sitting alongside her while she does it too. I recently gave her a piece of chocolate and she held it up and said, "Look, Mommy, it's a triangle.", which it was. I love listening to her self talk or watch her independently play with her animals. 

Happy to go to school

She's still enjoying school and gets really excited about being able to go. She's not napping hardly at all this month like she did last month. Instead of napping daily, she is taking naps about 1 day out of 7. So it looks like she is starting to phase out her naps. Thankfully, as the naps phase out, her nighttime sleep is doing much better so I can't complain. Isn't it just my luck, though, that both times that Gianna slept throughout the night from 8pm-6am that Briella woke up not once, but twice, each of those nights?! I'm not even kidding. I truly think that my penance in life for my sins is never being allowed to sleep.

She's got such a tender heart toward Gianna when she cries; especially if she thinks she is hurting. She wants to hug her, kiss her, and tell her it's okay. Funny though, when the other kids in her school room cry, she takes a few steps back, stares at them, gets nervous, and freezes.

She continues to be strong willed in nature, but is also showing signs of 'softening' to our advice, help, and opinions while realizing there are consequences to misbehavior. This month has been a month of LOTS of affection, verbal affection, and recognizing anything we do well. This is all stuff she has been doing for a while, but it's been even more accentuated. It's so endearing and very motivating to me when she gives me that hug, kiss, or word of encouragement. She's understanding the love of a family and often talks about how we are family or she will see similar animals and unite them together 'as a family'. 

A memory I always want to remember is a recent Friday night trip to Home Depot for a smoke detector and light bulbs. They had a whole display of singing and dancing Christmas animals. She squealed and laughed with so much sincere joy watching them sing and dance. It was incredibly darling and warmed my heart so much. She was even more overjoyed to have 'earned' Clarice, the reindeer, while we were there. I am very strict with buying her toys and such and it's been a long time coming with earning a new toy and the pride she felt from 'earning' it was something she talked about all.night.long. I was very happy for her to understand how important that was to do, and she did. She has such a good heart and we're so proud of her. We're also trying to teach her and remind her to be proud of herself for her accomplishments. It's slowly starting to 'click'. 

Another thing I want to remember is her pure excitement for giving gifts. I took her and Gianna to Whole Foods for grocery shopping and we bought Jim a cupcake because he likes them from there. When I told her that she was going to get to buy Daddy a special cupcake for being a good Daddy and working hard for our family, she held that cupcake close in the cart, asked the cashier if she could hold it after she scanned it, and held it in her hands the whole drive home. She could hardly wait to give him that cupcake. Most kids would've cried to eat it, but she demonstrates such self control when she can't eat foods, but shows such joy in being able to give it as a gift. 

After getting sick last month, she went on to have terrible trouble breathing through her nose, snoring while she slept, and only being able to breathe out of her mouth so I made a Doctor appointment. She (and Gianna too!) did so well at her appointment. I don't think there was a person at the office that didn't stop to adore both girls. Briella was "Miss social butterfly" waving to everyone, telling everyone hello and asking "How are you?", and countless other things. The insurance classified it as her 3 year check up, but the Doctor said her nose was completely blocked so I'm glad I took her. She said it was allergy related. We got her some compounded nasal spray and compounded Xyzal and she's improved quite a bit. 

First haircut

Cheers!

She also had her first ever hair cut this month and not only did she do GREAT (and the stylist was super impressed with how still she sat), but she asked to go get another hair cut and said how much fun she had doing it. The simplest things truly make her happy and I love that about her. 
She LOVED Thanksgiving with the family this year. Her first Thanksgiving with Papa and Nonna since she was a newborn baby. She got to drink fizzy kombucha tea out of a real wine glass and loved doing "Cheers". She appreciates being able to do 'grown up' things like that. She's getting REALLY excited about Christmas and I'm excited for her. 

Gianna:
Milestones:
Gianna's had a HUGE milestone month during November. She cut two bottom teeth, she sits up, she drinks water from a cup, she eats quite a variety of foods, she's bedtime weaned, she babbles, she puts herself to sleep in her crib for naps & bedtime, she is always getting up on her hands and knees rocking and scooting forward, and she goes from a crawling position to sitting down. I'll be honest, I kind of thought that I was going to be writing up this month's report saying she was crawling, but there is absolutely no doubt in my mind that when I write up December's blog that she will be crawling. 

She smiles all of the time and has to have something in her hand to chew on at all times. If she is ever whining, which is very rare, just simply putting something in her hand will immediately calm her down. She is soooooo easily pleased. I seriously can't get enough of her sweetness. No matter how tired I am, and believe me, I am T-I-R-E-D. I see her little smiling face look at me and I can't help but melt and remember that despite the tiredness, I am incredibly blessed. 

She seems to be losing all of her hair except a strip of hair on the top. It cracks me up, but it works out well because it's just enough hair for a bow to go in her hair. She's in a size 4 diaper, 9 month (sometimes 9-12 month) clothing, weighs 15.6 pounds, and has a great appetite and palette. She LOVES pureed roasted sweet potato, pureed squash, pureed navy beans, pureed green peas, green beans, small pieces of rice noodles, lentils, pureed dates "date paste", fried zucchini, steamed white 'mushy' rice, turkey bone broth, and does not like: (nor do they agree with her) carrots & bananas and they make her vomit like an adult. She also loves apples and applesauce but we had to take a break from them because they seemed to be upsetting her tummy and causing major poopy diaper issues for some reason. While coconut, eggs, and dairy through my milk gives her a rug burn rash on her face. 

She still has moments of being a Mommy's girl, but is becoming more of an 'equal opportunist" between Jim and me; even showing signs of wanting Daddy more than Mommy sometimes. There were a few occasions that she would cry when or if Jim walked away from her this month. I want to always remember the way she hugs me tightly and how so very happy she is when she wakes up. She wraps her little arms around my neck and will actually squeeze me, and sometimes if I'm lucky, peck my face with a kiss or two. I want to remember how she smiles when I kiss her cheeks or how she reaches for me when I walk into the room. It completely melts my heart. I want to remember how she makes this excited squeal when I walk into her room to get her out of bed. I want to remember how she caresses my hair and face when I hold her. She is the epitome of true preciousness. 

She continues to L-O-V-E her bath time. I love how she may be tired and started to fade after bath time, but the moment she sees me or Jim rubbing the lotion in our hands she straightens out her little chubby, rolly legs and smiles with anticipation for her lotion massage. She's just too much cuteness. She's been reaching out to be held. She's also a pacifier baby. If she sees it, she immediately puts it into her mouth. Briella did not care for her pacifier and we used that to advantage and basically took it out of her life before she was 5 months old, but not Gianna. She loves her pacifier. This should make things interesting when we try to wean her from it by the time she's one. Oh boy. One thing at a time. I'll jump that hurdle when I have to, but for now, we're still getting through sleep training. Ay yiy yiy. 

I also want to remember how she idolizes and adores Briella. She will practically break her neck just to look at whatever Briella is doing, eating, watch her dance and listen to her talk. She sits on the floor with Briella every day watching her assemble puzzles while trying to help her. If I didn't know any better, she looks like she is trying to place the puzzle pieces into the puzzle too. 

She loves to eat. The weirdest thing she likes: sauerkraut! I had absolutely no intention of ever giving her sauerkraut. The way Jim makes it is very finely chopped so when she kept opening up her mouth to eat it while I was eating it, I thought, why not? So, I gave her a tiny bite waiting for her to make a funny face, but she didn't. I waited. No face. Instead, she opened up her mouth for more, then more, and then some more. Before I knew it, she had eaten half of my bowl and I had to stop feeding her because I didn't want her to get an upset stomach (by the way, she did not) and then she, no joke, cried when I told her no more. She went on to take a 3 hour 15 minute nap that day--her FIRST ever 3 hour nap by the way). I wish I could say she's had another great nap like that, but hey, one great 3 hour 15 minute nap is nothing to poo-poo away when she hasn't been a good sleeper. 

I also began weaning Gianna from her bedtime nursing feeding. Instead of being fed right before being put into her crib, I feed her before her bath. I'm trying to help ease her of the attachment and possibly sleep association to eating at bedtime. I thought for sure that she would put up a fight the first night, but she didn't even act phased. Second night, same thing. And so on from thereon out. Her ability to be flexible and 'go with the flow' completely amazes me. Briella was 11 months when we stopped her bedtime bottle, but just like Gianna, she also didn't seem affected when we phased it out. The biggest reason I am doing this is two fold: sleep association with being nursed at bedtime and the spitting up and burping issues she was having after being put in her crib from a large feeding. Aside from some typical whining while falling asleep, she is sleeping *better* (not "ideal", but BETTER than the past couple months) with this change. I'm really hopeful and thinking that this month could be the game changer for her bad sleep. With all of these changes and with seeing improvement here at the end of the month, I have to believe she's on her way to a better pattern. I sure do hope. Jim said, "She's a joy to put to sleep now." since making these changes. And now that she's bedtime weaned, he is actually getting to enjoy putting her to sleep some nights. It's been a great thing all around. 

I've also had to stop eating bananas and coconut in my diet in order to help her sleep improve. She continued having a rug burn looking rash on her cheeks, but once the milk, eggs, and coconut were completely out of her system, the rash has improved tremendously. It stinks that my safe foods are her unsafe foods, but it's just another 4-5 months of nursing. I'm already past the half way point so I know I can do it for just a few more months for her benefit.

Gianna's name means, "God is gracious." and her name couldn't fit her amazing little personality any better. God has been so gracious to give us such a gift in giving her to us. She is so mellow, so laid back, so happy, so go with the flow, and always has such a beautiful sparkle in her blue-gray eyes and smile on her face. We adore her. Her only downfall: not sleeping well. Hahahaha. But, as of the last week of this month, she's showing improvement and it's been very encouraging. 

Personal Reflections:

All of a sudden, just this month, it hit me. Gianna isn't an infant anymore. I retired the breast pump and traded it in for making lots of homemade baby food. She's growing so fast, learning so much, and doing so many new and different things. She amazes me. She's hitting every single milestone right on cue; which is a bit different for us since Briella was a NICU baby and was hitting milestones a bit later than other babies her age because of her delicate beginnings. 

I want to remember what an absolutely gorgeous fall month of November it was here in Greenville. Other than the extremely unusual snowfall dusting on November 1st, the weather was amazing. Me and the girls were able to play outside almost every day, the sun was shining, and it is just refreshing and invigorating being in such a warm climate. 

I can't say enough just how PRECIOUS Gianna is and just how SWEET Briella can be. I know a child's Dad and Mom are always their biggest fan, (well, maybe the grandparent's get the award for 'biggest fan'?) and that certainly is true, but it always makes us so proud to have other people reaffirm that as well. My girls are show stoppers wherever we go, and not just because they are cute. I take them to the store and people compliment me on how beautiful they are, how polite Briella is, and what a good baby Gianna is to be around. 

I am still working on feeling better. I'm trying to be more deliberate with eating nutrient-rich foods, taking my B-12, getting outside for Vitamin D along with taking my supplement, and starting to stretch and strengthen my back after the MRI showed I have narrowed disc space, mild sclerosi/edema, and a hemangioma. AKA--I'm getting older. I'm not quite ready for all this aging business, but I have no choice do I? I very rarely feel 'great', let alone 'good' most days. This past month I got a stye in my eye that lasted almost all month. It felt like I had been punched in the eye for over two weeks and the massive headache was tough. I've had a painful nose ulcer for over 6 weeks now that doesn't seem to want to go away. My hair continues to fall out in huge amounts. My corn cheek rash constantly shows up more and more, my back pain makes it painful to be on the floor with the girls but I don't let it stop me. I have to hope and believe that I have the potential to feel much better than this, but the question is, when? I just hope very soon. 

As a Mom, I invest my heart and soul into my children. Some days I wake up planning to succeed and I completely fail while the days I wake up assuming to fail, I conquer. Life is crazy like that sometimes. I was taking advantage of the most beautiful sunshiny fall day today (also trying to get my vitamin D) and was reading my Bible. I just happened to read through Psalm 127 where it says that "Children are a reward from the Lord." The first thought I had was, What did I ever do to deserve these two girls as my reward? I truly don't know, as I don't think I am worthy, but I stopped right there to say "Thank you" to God for them. My little rewards indeed.