My growing girls

Appointment with Dr. Dave: Chloe and Avenlea had a joint appointment on Monday for their well check ups. Chloe did really good answering all the Dr's questions, following all his instructions and listening to everything he said. Avenlea was good for her shot and was very cooperative for her exam.

 My 4 year old Chloe 46 lb and 41 3/4 inches tall. 

He said she reminds him of a 6 year old with her size, was impressed with how active she is (she didn't stop jumping pretty much the whole visit) and gave her lots of safety rules to follow.

Chloe loves to wear play dresses, do lots of crafty play with paper, playdough, crayons, etc. and is such a good helper with the animals and garden. Chloe asks to help me make dinner every night and always sets the plates on the table. Chloe is becoming an expert bed maker, loves to sound out words and write them, and make birthday suprises for daddy (including cakes and presents made out of all her toys).
There is a devious side to our big girl. She sneaks mommies make-up and any sweets she can find. The other day we were outside and she asked for an apple. When we told her to go inside and get one she replied "I can't, I'm too sneaky." Because the last time we were outside she came in to "go to the bathroom" but after too long, a little investigating found her trying to clean the chocolate birthday cake evidence off her face in the bathroom. 

She is into the movie Frozen right now and sings the songs to herself throughout the day. She likes to put on shows for mommy with Blain. Chloe is the sweetest big sister, always trying to make Avenlea happy with funny faces and songs. It's not uncommon for me to come in the room to Chloe piling toys around Avenlea and singing her twinkle twinkle. 

Chloe always tells me she did all the potty steps when she goes and gets herself dressed all by herself every morning, now including socks and shoes (finally!) Chloe prefers to "be in her legs" and finds any excuse to run around as such ("there's not too many people") She likes to wear a braid to bed so she can have curly hair in the morning. And as always she is very expressive with her arm movements while talking. 

She is learning to wait to talk when adults are talking and likes to tell me which foods are healthy and which ones aren't. She is learning to negotiate and often comes up with alternatives ("how about ________, thats a good idea") when we tell her no. She is a good sleeper, usually sleeping from 8 pm to 7 am. She plays quietly while Avenlea and Blain nap and loves me to read to her, especially her library books.

We love you Chloe!!

 Avenlea 7 months 26.1 inches, 14 lb 8 oz

I think Avenlea is starting to grow out of her fussiness, thank goodness. These past 2 weeks she has been much happier than normal, laughing and smiling and gurgling to her family, even playing nice without mommy holding her. Avenlea loves her singing bear that she got from Grammy for Christmas and playing with toys in her highchair during meals.

Sweet Avenlea now has a pretty good sleeping routine, she wakes up around 7:30am, naps around 10 and 2 for 2 hours each, then goes to sleep at 7, but tries to go to sleep closer to 6 most days. It's kind of like 2 hours up, 2 asleep the whole day. I then feed her around 10:30 before I go to sleep and she sleeps until 5:30 am. She goes to sleep pretty much right away when I lay her down for naps and at night.

Avenlea still needs something soft behind her for sitting, and doesn't like her tummy time, but we're working on it so she can crawl and maybe walk this summer! Avenlea has such expressive eyes and eyebrows I can't help but give her kisses when she looks up at me. She eats her solids really well and I think her favorite is yogurt. She is a binky baby and loves to fall asleep with her binky but mostly plays with it when awake. 

Unfortunately Avenlea's eyes haven't cleared up like we were hoping. Next appointment we will talk about getting the surgery done if it doesn't clear up in the next 3 months. She is a pretty good sport about getting her eyes cleaned considering how often we have to do it. We continue to pray for her with every family prayer and will fast for her as well. We love you Avenlea!

Even without his growth stats I have to say a little something about my sweet boy. Blain melted both Nate's and my heart on sunday when he came up to us with tears in his eyes, "the baby couldn't play with the blocks" he said, showing us a book. Blain was crying because a boy in the book wasn't sharing with the baby and making the baby cry. He is very sensitive and has a definite soft side. He is very attached to his blanket, sleeping with it, taking it in the car, rubbing it on his ouchies, making it toasty warm by the vents, and even requesting a" blankie cake with blankie frost and blankie candles" for his birthday, whatever that means.

On the flip side he also appears to be 100% rough tough boy. He makes guns out of everything as well as swords and shields. He loves to pretend to be a nice dragon ("wa wa") and a puppy. He continues to try to wrestle Chloe but usually gets a little shove and a "don't do that Blain". He uses his loud tools (usually toys pretending to be tools) just like daddy's to fix things. He likes truck and train books and still likes helicopters, airplanes and submarines. The other day he turned a silver fridge magnet into a "viking ship" that floated around the whole house, then explains how tough vikings are.

Blain is particular about his pants for some reason, never wanting the pair I pick out or the ones he picks out either. He likes wearing his cowboy boots and has to have a hood on whatever sweatshirt or jacket he has on. Blain is still a great sleeper, continuing with his long naps everyday and going to bed easily at night. The messes at mealtimes are a big as ever, but no one is perfect right?
We love you Blain!

Seedlings: I transplanted about half the broccoli and cauliflower starts about a week ago and they are looking big and healthy. I potted up the other smaller ones today, with the tomatoes and peppers still in their little egg cartons, not too much growth going on with them. I am hopeful that we'll have a good harvest of broccoli and cauliflower this year, assuming I don't kill them when they get moved outside.

 Broccoli I transplanted last week

Yogurt! I took the plunge and made a half gallon of yogurt on Saturday. I used a crock pot recipe and the flavor turned out good but the consistency was pretty liquidy even after straining through cheese cloth for 6 hours.

I want to try with a different yogurt starter and use a thermometer next time to be more accurate. I ate it with my cereal this morning and I put the whey I strained out in a batch of pancakes, as well as giving some to the chickens (the few brave enough to try it loved it).

 

 Even if it didn't turn out perfect it was fun to finally try making this. We are getting Betty preg checked next week so i guess we'll find out how much longer I have to get good at dairy products. Overall a good first experience.