Today we took our 3rd annual trip to the Anderson’s Sunflower Farm. Located less than 10 minutes from our home this has become a favorite summer tradition. We love walking through the sunflowers, taking pictures, and then bringing home some flowers and honey to enjoy. It’s the perfect summer morning treat!
The girls turned 9 months old today! We are pretty sure Sloane will be the first to talk and Maisie will be the first to crawl. Maisie has learned how to pull the tabs off her diaper and Sloane is an expert at stealing toys and pacis- even though Maisie is quick to steal them back. Sloane loves to wave and Maisie loves to be held. Both girls are doing great with all their puréed fruits and veggies and have enjoyed everything except black beans. They still have “stranger danger” but are quick to warm up to anyone who talks in a high pitched voice and makes them laugh.
Sloane weighs 16 lb, `13oz and is 27.5 in long. Maisie weighs 16b, 12.4oz and is 27.25 in long. They are both true to size in clothes except for pajamas. Most clothes are size 6-12 month or 9 month. The only exception is pajamas due to their length. They both wear 12 month pajamas.
Here is their current feeding and nap schedule which we transitioned to between 8-9 months old. (Still hold onto 3 naps which is amazing!)
We love our sweet baby girls. 9 months. Can’t believe it! ?? Happy Birthday girls!
*About a week after our girls turned 9 months we dropped the last nap of the day. They started to take a long time to fall asleep at night and weren’t as tired anymore. Once we dropped the third nap they were back to their usual selves and fell asleep almost instantly once we laid them down for the night.
For the past couple of weeks we’ve been hosting our community group at our home. We’ve made a lot of our favorite recipes but this week I decided to try something a little different. A neighbor posted a picture of a fruit pizza she made with her kids and I knew that this would be the perfect summer treat. Enjoy!
Original recipe available here.
Over the last couple of months I’ve notice a transition as Jude has stopped playing with some toys and become more attached to others. Below is a list of some of our favorite toys for ages 1-2 (and still favorites for growing 2 year old). In no particular order…
Tupperware!
OK so I realize this isn’t a toy but seriously anytime I unlock the “Tupperware cabinet” and let this little boy dive in and pull everything, and I mean EVERYTHING, out he LOVES it! It honestly captures his attention for a good solid 20-30 minutes (which is a long time in baby/toddler world!)
Kid Trax Toddler Quad
We got this on sale at Babies R Us right before Christmas. As you can see Jude LOVED his Christmas morning ride. This is a motorized ride on specifically for 18 month olds. It goes slow enough for this age group but is also an introduction to a motorized car which is a lot of fun.
Sidewalk Chalk and Play Doh
When I need some “me” time 🙂 or time to get some stuff done chalk and play doh are some all time favorites. They are perfect for toddlers because it keeps them busy and they can do it on their own. When it comes to playdoh I usually put Jude in his highchair and he will play for a good 20-30 minutes. These are great toys that don’t take up a lot of space and are a “must have” for your toddlers.
Little Tikes Lawn Mower
Jude is in the stage where he wants to mimic everything we do. He still loves any toy that lights up and makes sounds and has pieces that come off and on – but he also loves being able to do exactly what we are doing when we do it. The little tikes lawn mower is super cute with lots of little features and special additions. We liked it better than a bubble mower. And before you think this is only for little boys, we also have the “Just Like Home” vacuum cleaner as well that makes sounds like a real vacuum. Jude loves to follow me around and help me vacuum and then will take his mower outside and help his dad mow. We love these toys!
Mr Potato Head
We took Jude to the store in hopes of picking out a Woody or Buzz doll for Christmas when he was 1.5. Instead we left with Mr. Potato Head. There is something special about this little guy.. it might be the addiction Jude has had to the movie Toy Story but all of his little pieces also make him very fun to play with and provide hours of entertainment. “My Head” is played with everyday and is a must have in our home!
Little Tikes Car
And saving the best for last.. Jude actually received this for his 1st birthday. It has remained a long time favorite (and still is). There are many different colors and version but the little tikes red car is an all time favorite.
Other ideas (especially for boys of this age) include duplo blocks, balls, cars, firetrucks, dump trucks, school buses, planes and trains 🙂 Seriously.. when it comes to boys you can’t go wrong with some trucks and balls to play with.
Most of my blog posts are the result of friends asking me questions about my experience. Having 3 under 3 doesn’t make me an expert but it does mean that babies and toddlers are on the top of my mind ALL THE TIME. I love our 3 and I love talking baby. Probably because its something I can get excited about and feel like I know at least a little something about. So this post is in honor of a dear friend who has a baby boy a couple months younger than our girls and was looking for some toy recommendations for babies under 1. While we try to stay minimalists in the toy area (we try- I didn’t say we are successful) we certainly have our share of toys around the house. These stick out as some of our favorites that all of our kids have used and enjoyed.
LeapFrog Learn and Groove Musical Table
This is actually a great toy around 9 months when babies are starting to try to pull up and stand. Jude didn’t start walking until he was about 13/14 months so this toy was still great in the early 1 year old days for him to stand and play and push buttons.
Vtech Walker
Another great toy for the early stages of walking as you can adjust the wheels to have more or less resistance. The girls also sit in front of this toy and can push and play with the buttons. Jude is 2 and will still grab this occasionally and push it around.
Baby Einstein Walker
We actually got this toy for Jude when he turned 1. He liked it for about a week and then quickly realized he could move around a lot more not “constrained” in this walker. He then went to pushing it around instead of riding it which kind of defeated the purpose. Our girls are now 8 months old and one of them is in this at least once a day. They love it and they can move around in it really well pushing on the floor with their feet. It is perfect for their age and will be used a lot until they start walking.
Evenflo ExerSaucer
When one baby is in the walker, the other is in the exersaucer! This has been a family favorite for all of our kids. There is lots to look at and play with. It has lights and sounds and is great for jumping as well. You can even take it apart when they get older and change the shape to make a “table” that they can stand at and still play with. While exersaucers do take up space – having one has become a necessity.
Rattles, shakers and other miscellaneous toys
I still have no idea how we accumulated all of these little random rattles and stuffed shakers.. but we did. From soft toys that make noise to harder toys that light up to balls with shakers inside and little dolls with rubber hands and feet that act as teethers- all of these random little toys seem to mysteriously appear all over our home but at this age they are actually perfect for our girls to play with. When your baby is too small to sit up or is just learning to sit up but can’t move around yet, having some small teether toys that they can learn to hold and pass from hand to hand and chew on is actually pretty important. It helps them learn and gives them something to do at this stage. So while these toys might add to the clutter they are a helpful addition for this short time frame.
It’s Monday… which means the start of another week and the need for some easy weeknight meals. A fun fact.. I used to be a vegetarian.. for about 2 years… for health reasons. It was a huge adjustment for us as we were newlyweds and I was trying to figure out how to cook yummy meals for my new husband each night. My husband who loves meat. Loves it. And so I began the quest to find yummy vegetarian meals that would satisfy us both – even the toughest meat-eating critics. Here is one of our favorites that I recreated again tonight.
Ingredients
This has been a pretty incredible week- life changing to say the least! If you’ve ever dealt with a baby (or babies) with reflux you can certainly relate!
When our girls were born they started Similac NeoSure to help get their weights up. After about 2 months we went to Similac Advance. We quickly then switched to Similac Sensitive. Why all the changes? REFLUX. It really is one of those things that makes you feel helpless, frustrated, sad and overwhelmed all at the same time. There are different types of reflux. Our girls started with the spitting up phase (which basically resulted in one or both throwing up their entire bottle immediately after finishing it) and then silent reflux where they would constantly push away their bottles and struggled to even get 2 ounces down at each of their feedings.
After trying two different medicines and switching formulas I went to one of my mommy boards (twin moms to the rescue!) and begged for help. The result.. Similac Alimentum. It’s a different formula I hadn’t heard of .. more expensive and it definitely has a different smell to it that reminds you that your baby is drinking something man made but IT WORKS. It works! After a week of mixing it with their previous formula (so we could slowly get them used to the new taste) our girls are finishing their bottles and wanting more. With over 4 months left of formula this has already become a game changer for us. (Not to mention the girls also started holding their bottles on their own this week as well!) I can’t get over the difference and in just a short time. We’ve even stopped their medicine completely. So if you’ve got a baby with reflux give Alimentum a try – it just might change your life.
As of this evening I’m starting a new venture.. I’m skipping the garage sales and giving online selling a whirl! If you’re on Instagram check out @harveyhangers. I’ll be updating it regularly with adult, toddler, and baby clothes (and other baby and kid items as well.) And no… we aren’t done having kids 🙂 I’m just trying to purge the excess a little!
Over the weekend we had a birthday party for our favorite TWO year old! I can’t believe he is two already! The days are long but the years are short.. really short! Here’s a recap of everything we did to celebrate our birthday boy!
You can’t have a birthday party without the perfect outfit. 🙂 I wanted to get something for Jude beyond the normal birthday shirt with a number on it. I found this cool shirt through VazzieTees on Etsy. It comes in a variety of color combinations. It was perfect for the big day.
2. The Invitations
We invited all of the kids from Jude’s class to his party. 8 kids and their siblings! That’s a lot of pre-schoolers 🙂 We sent an evite this year instead of paper invitations which worked perfectly for the amount of people. We decided to suggest no gifts since we have plenty of toys for our boy already and kept the party to 2 hours. It was the perfect amount of time.
3. The Decor
We aren’t big into themes so for Jude’s party we opted for Elmo and Sesame Street plates and cups and napkins but then went for general blue, red and yellow colors for the remaining decor. I also printed a picture of Jude from every month of the last year from his 1st birthday to his 2nd and made a banner for over the fireplace. The triangle banner was actually a purchase from GroopDealz about 2 years ago. We had some balloons around the house and then one Elmo balloon that sang “Happy Birthday” as well.
4. The Food
What party would be complete without a tasty spread. Our goal after last year was KEEP IT EASY. We ordered a nugget tray from Chick-fil-A, a fruit tray from Publix, we made pigs in blankets, a sausage and cheese dip for chips and a caramel toffee dip for apples. We also set out individual bags of goldfish from Costco as well as applesauce pouches. There were also several coolers setup with drinks for all ages. To finish it all off we of course went for an Elmo cake from Publix.
5. The Favors
What two year old doesn’t love chalk? I debated what to do for favors (if anything) but then found these boxes of chalk at Wal-Mart for $.97. They were a big hit with all the kids and perfect for a fun giveaway.
6. The Fun
What do you do to entertain about 10 two year olds? Get a bounce house and throw some balls in there! We were fortunate that a friend actually offered us her bounce house for a very discounted price weeks before Jude’s party. We jumped at the opportunity and purchased some additional bounce house balls on Amazon as well. We also had corn hole for the adults and a couple of little tykes cars and a tunnel as well. Between this and all the food (not to mention our playroom inside that the kids seemed to find!) there was plenty to do for everyone.
7. The Result
I think its safe to say we all had a great time- especially our sweet boy! It was the perfect day to celebrate Jude turning 2!
TWO. Happy Birthday to our sweet boy Jude William. Hard to believe you joined our family just two short years ago! Jude loves and adores his “DaDa!” He also loves hugging his sisters and helps me walk them into school every morning, hardly ever leaving their side. He loves to play with his Elmo, Little Tykes car, any type of ball, play doh, coloring and crafts and he loves loves his paci. He reads books to school every morning and at night in his bed. He loves to dance after he takes a bath and talks ALL DAY LONG. ? He is so silly and sweet and loves, loves to cuddle. You find him most often in someone’s arms. Our favorite game is chase and he is already an expert at avoiding me when I try to take his picture.
Jude can still fit into some 18-24 month clothes but we are finally phasing those out and wearing all 2T now. He wears size 4 diapers and eats everything we eat. He still loves water and milk (and juice on special occasions) and his favorite foods are probably applesauce, strawberries, taco meat and goldish!
We are so blessed by the gift of our sweet son. Happy Birthday Jude William! We love you!