Esther @ 1 YEAR!

Oh, sweet Little Bit. It's such a strange thing watching you grow up. With your brothers, I had hope for more kids...I knew I WANTED more kids, and believed I would have more. With you, though....well, unless something drastically changes, you're it sweetie. The Final One. And watching you move through these stages of growing up is so bittersweet. Knowing we are leaving the baby things behind for good is so sad. And I feel like I missed so much of your first year because I was wrapped up in myself and all that we were going through. I'm sorry you're never going to know a time when your father and I were together, but you will also never know the fighting that went on between us. I believe that moving forward, once your brothers and I have time to heal, things will be much better for us. So, hang in there sweetie. The next year is another big one...but hopefully only for you!

Stats

21 lbs 3 oz (72%)

29" (49%)

We are at one of those stages where every darn day seems to bring something new. Esther is not only standing on her own, but she's started dancing! She can take a few steps on her own, but still mostly cruises. And crawling. She can go anywhere like that and uses it to her advantage when I'm not going the right way, or am distracted by her brothers. In fact, she's found the candy drawer and will make her way over to it when I'm not looking, and go digging for suckers!

Also....climbing. And getting down off things (like my bed, or the couch).

And Esther looooves to practice walking. It's so cute to hold her hand and walk around....but sometimes she wants to walk and we just can't. Like at church. Or in the middle of a busy store. Then the squirming starts. And if she doesn't get out, the screaming kicks in. She can somehow turn completely around in a seatbelt in a shopping cart. Also, it's now fun to walk in circles holding my hand...until I get dizzy and make her stop.

Oh yeah, and she's trying out her voice. She's definitely learned volume and loves to hear how she sounds in different places. If she hears an echo, all bets are off. That girl can make some noise.

Esther is also getting...sheesh, a bunch of teeth. Her 2nd on the top (both sides) finally came through but the 3rd from the middle are both right behind. The second out on the bottom have just popped through as well. Also, apparently one of her molars is coming too. These teeth, let me tell you. They move for a few days and we have really crappy nights of sleep (even giving her Tylenol only gets us until about 3). Then we get a break. And, while the break is nice recovery time, I wish they moved at a more slow-and-steady pace.

Speaking of sleep. She still naps in the car. I need to get things switched around and try to get her back in the crib. Two problems: it will involve screaming, there will be a lack of naps while this gets figured out. Both problems will definitely interfere with work and since we're coming down off a database switch....I've been super busy. So, I suppose that will be put off a bit longer.

Esther has tried so many different foods! She even sampled some sushi last night. But we seem to have hit the toddler eating stage super early. I don't even know what to feed her sometimes! Unless it's cheese, chicken nuggets, hot dogs, or yogurt drops, she's not interested. She's even been turning down grapes!!! I'm so glad Esther is still nursing because she's too young for vitamins to cover that gap in her diet.

Talking is funny. It's like Esther suddenly blurts out a bunch of new words...then doesn't use them! The most recent one is "shoe". Heard it once when we got her new shoes and haven't since. She also can say "Isaiah" perfectly! She's said Micah a few times. But, mostly they're still bruh-buh. My favorite, though is "dis", especially when I ask what she has and she holds it up and says "dis". So stinking cute, that girl. She also says "Ma" reliably. Any animal is "bark bark". Ruff is occasionally "dog".

Esther's had a cold for...about a week now. The first night was freaking awful because I had to sleep on the couch to keep her upright enough that the congestion wasn't making her feel smothered. Since then, we've been able to sleep in my bed, but she always wakes up in the middle of the night coughing. It takes a bit to get that to subside enough for me to be able to go back to sleep (because she gets really agitated by it). Thankfully, it doesn't wake her up enough to make her think it's time to get up for the day. So only one of us seems to be suffering from lack of sleep.

I'm sure there's more she's doing. I just can't seem to keep track of all of it. This will probably be my last monthly update for her, but I'm sure she will be mentioned in her brother's yearly updates coming up soon!

Comparing...

Esther	Micah	Isaiah
21 lbs 3 oz (72%)	20 lbs, 4 oz (15%)	25 lbs, 5 oz (95%)
29" (49%)	27 3/4" (3%)	31 1/2" (95%)

Conversations with Micah 03.010

Me: Okay, Micah. Today is Sunday, so that means tomorrow is Monday and you get to go to....

Micah: KANSAS!!

Me: Noooo.....

Micah: Science City?

Me: How about school?

Micah: Oh, okay. School.

Conversations with Micah 03.009

Micah stumbled and put out his hand to steady himself. Unfortunately, he grabbed the trash can instead of the wall and fell a bit more. Then he burst out with this gem:

Mom! I almost fell! That scared Jesus out of me!!

Conversations with Isaiah 06.012

Isaiah was telling me about the Goosebumps movie after he saw it with Becca...

Mom! You know what the first monster was? The Vomitable Snowman!

Esther @ 11 Months!

Only one more month until Esther turns 1! I can't even believe it. We've been through so much in the past year, it seems like it's gone by so slowly but now we're celebrating Esther's birthday. "The days drag on, the years fly by" sure is applicable here.

I want to say not much has changed in the past month, but I don't think that's true. The absolute biggest thing is, Esther is starting to make her wants known. Loudly. She HATES getting changed. She HATES having things taken away from her. She HATES it when I shower. She HATES getting in the car. She LOVES the kitties. She LOVES going outside. She LOVES to swing. She LOVES her brothers. So, we've been making some small changes here and there.

One of her newly developed dislikes became sitting in her high chair. It didn't matter if she was hungry, she didn't like it. Take away the tray and put her at the table? That will do just nicely, thankyouverymuch.

I've decided to encourage the walking versus crawling for a couple reasons. One, with it cooling off, she's going to wear through pants pretty quickly. Two, she may be more likely to be knocked down but she's less likely to get accidentally (or not) stomped on. I went out and got her one of those push toys and she loved it for about 2 days...now Micah plays with it more than she does. But, in the past couple days her standing alone is really starting to improve. I think the biggest part of that is she's realized she can do it, and now doesn't sit down the second she knows what's going on. She gets so stinking proud of herself, too. It's pretty darn cute.

Isaiah and Esther still love each other. Those two, my goodness. She just looks up to him. He loves her so much...though he doesn't like it when I tell him to play with her while I shower. Apparently he "doesn't know how" to play with her. 

Micah and Esther on the other hand. They have such a love/hate relationship. Definite sibling rivalry there, usually specifically directed at my lap. Occasionally at a toy. Other times, they are so sweet together. I hope the competition wanes as Esther becomes more independent.

Esther is starting to come out of her "I only want Mommy" phase. Thank goodness! I love her so much but sometimes just being able to have someone else hold her for 10 minutes is such a relief. She's even started putting her arms out to have other people hold her. It doesn't usually last long, especially if Micah sees the opportunity and wants to be held. Baby steps.

There's more words coming out of Esther all the time. She said "thanks" when Micah gave her something in church one day. The absolute best was when I told her "I love you" and she copied me. Seriously....awwwwwww! So adorable! She's also waving (and occasionally saying) "hi" and "bye". She pointed at Isaiah and said "bruh-buh Zay" (or something along those lines) a couple mornings ago! Ruff is sometimes "Rup Rup", other times she copies his barking. I know there's a few more, but they escape me right now.

Napping. Ugh, napping is still an issue. She will take a great afternoon nap IF I leave her in the car to do it. She's fallen asleep after dropping Micah off at preschool and not woken up until we got back to school to pick the boys up. But this means I'm stuck out in the car with her. Thankfully my computer can connect to the wifi from my parking spot by the back door...so I just sit in my car and work. Even making phone calls doesn't seem to bother her.

Esther also had her first camping experience! I took the kids and we joined Isaiah's cub scout pack for the family campout. I was worried new surroundings, new routine would throw her off, but she did great. If she had been less interested in trying to eat rocks, that would have been better. Also, if she'd had an easier time falling asleep that would have been nice too...but she wanted to see what those boys were doing. Overall, we survived and so I count it as a win.

Let me just say that I'm awful glad I started planning her birthday stuff really freaking early. I mean, I'm super excited about it and want to have a good time, but 2 months seemed a little excessive. Until I started calling around for things. Like a cake, and a photographer. Several were already booked! I need to remember this for next year if I want to do pictures near her birthday. People schedule fall and holiday pictures around this time so places are booooked. I got in with a lady that had a mini-session cancellation, so I hope I can get some good pictures will all 3 that way!

I guess that's about it for now. On to the big birthday!!!

Micah @ 3.5

Oh, my sweet bug. He is such a character. What's new since his birthday? Well....

Micah definitely has a love/hate relationship with Esther. He can be so sweet and helpful and then be trying to (stealthily) push her over. I'm not sure what to do about that. He gets time out when I catch him, but I know I don't get everything! But it's just so sweet when the first thing out of his mouth most mornings is "how was your good nap?"

On the other hand, he's all love for Isaiah. Except for the accidental injuries between the two, I'm not sure Micah thinks Isaiah can do any wrong. 

He's in counseling. We all are. It's been a rough year. Enough said.

The absolute biggest thing is starting preschool. He LOVES SCHOOL! Oh my goodness, he wants to go every day. And on school days he wants to eat lunch at about 9:30 because he knows he gets to go to school after lunch. I haven't had a single issue with drop off! I really thought he would love it for a day or two (new toys! new friends!) and then be done (wait...rules?!) but he is loving it! He walks in, hangs up his bag, gives me a hug and kiss, and then is off. I'm always hanging around watching for a few minutes (because it's that quick) but he's completely unconcerned.

One glitch with preschool...he's having accidents there. Sometimes a couple a day (and he's only there 3 hours). I don't know if it's because he gets into things, or because he doesn't want to open the door into the other room where the bathrooms are (he can't see through it and hasn't ever been in there except for the bathroom). But the teachers are totally understanding and so it's really a non-issue for everyone (except me...I just worry).

Due to all the changes Micah's had this year, I decided to put off getting him a "big" bed. It's just one more big thing he will have to adjust to! I know it doesn't seem like much but he's comfortable in his little bed. He actually hasn't asked for a big bed since sometime before we moved into the apartment. So, I'm holding off on that until it perks his interest again. Until then.......I'm glad he's so little!

Esther @ 10 Months!

I can't believe Esther is TEN MONTHS OLD! I seriously thought I had lost track somewhere and had to count to make sure I had it right! Good grief, she's getting so close to 1!

Esther has recently taken less of an interest in walking. She can get exactly where she wants to go crawling, and isn't interested in where Mommy wants to take her, even if it means she gets to walk. But, she's pulling up on everything and cruising so maybe she will do it without my help. Who knows. She's also started doing the Wile E Coyote thing where she stand by herself...but only until she realizes she's doing it and then she sits down.

There was one moment when I though "hey, she's do it...." she was standing by the coffee table and the bench where Echo was sleeping was juuuust out of reach. She sat there trying to grab it for a minute, thought about it, then tried to take the 1 step it would have taken....and fell. She was pretty disappointed about it too. Maybe that will give her the motivation to start trying again.

Back at the beginning of the month I brought the kids with me to a cub scout parent meeting. The boys were out playing while the parents talked in a classroom and Esther kept crawling out of the room (where she couldn't see me) to watch the boys / get in trouble. It was the first time I've really just sort of let her go out of my sight (besides at home) and was surprised she didn't get "lost" and start crying. The adventuring is about to begin.

Little stinker has also started crawling over and putting her face in the dog bowl when she's thirsty. Psh. Goofball.

Esther is "talking" quite a bit lately! By that I mean she can distinctly say things that sound close enough that I can tell she knows what she's talking about...but it's just not every time. So far she's saying Mama, Hi (Iiiiiii), Brother (bruh-buh) and dog (daw-daw).

We are having some interesting times adjusting to both the boys being away (Micah half day) at school. It's so much easier to get some work done when it's just her here and awake...but I still wish she'd take a longer nap so I could really be productive. The best naps she takes are in the car! Oh well, having to play with her for a minute between every phone call or two definitely keeps me from computer burnout.

Esther is waving at just about everyone lately. I don't think most people realize it because it's more like the Hitler salute, but we walk around the store and she does it all the time! It's so funny when someone realize she's waving at them and then she usually turns all shy and clingy. What a goose.

Clapping is another fun thing. Oh! And she's doing peek-a-boo on her own now. I love it! She just has the biggest smiles when she's playing. She's also started bopping along when I play music...that also gets a big cheesy grin out of her.

Her crib is a no go at this point. I don't know what happened, but right around 9 months she was DONE with it. Put her in there asleep or awake, doesn't matter, she's instantly up and screaming. I've given up and just let her nap in my bed. I'm toying with the idea of shuffling furniture around and putting her crib in my room...maybe when the boys get their bunk bed.

She still eats like a champ. Still nurses, but definitely less often. We did have an increase at the beginning of the month due to a cold, but that settled back down.

She's loving mirrors and likes to give "the baby" kisses. She will give us kisses sometimes too, but she seems to need to be in the mood for that. One night she just kept kissing Micah over and over and over but I got one kiss and then she was done (poor Isaiah didn't get any).

I can't think of anything else at this point. We're getting so close to her birthday!