The Cold Winter

It's been a pretty wet and cold winter this year. Nothing compared to my friends and family living up north but we are definitely acclimated to the warmer weather.

Ashton's big achievement in her world was mastering the monkey bars. She can officially go across them and she is very excited. She's been working on this for several months.

Tanner has been working on riding a two-wheeler. He figured it out pretty quickly and took off with little problems. We had to get him a 12 inch bike as Ashton's 14 inch one was a little too tall. I'm looking forward to some fun family bike rides in the upcoming months.

We've been working on a few house projects lately and that means lots of trips to the lawn mower store for Tanner. This boy loves riding the lawn mowers.

We're preparing for our summer vacation to the Great Smoky Mountains and step one was finding a hiking backpack/carrier. I have a soft structured carrier but knew a frame one would come in handy for our hiking trips. Found this really nice one that someone was selling locally so we scored big time. It can hold any of the kids and is pretty comfortable. We're looking forward to romping around some mountains.

As always, the kids continue to have crafts galore going on.

Our local library hosted some events for Chinese New Year. I took Ashton one Saturday to the Lion Dance and she had fun. She got to clash the cymbals too, which she loved.

We're going camping this spring and I had to double check that our tent would fit the kids and I. We had fun setting up the tent and playing around in it. The kids can't wait to go camping now.

Ashton is definitely mastering her artistic skills. Here was a page of everything she is thankful for. The family, Earth, trees, bunnies, fish, and a Christmas tree (to remember Jesus Christ's birth).

I decided to be a super cool mom and make funiculars at home. Well, it didn't last very long but the kids had fun making them. It's the process that counts, right? Not the end product... or so I tell myself.

Ashton started piano lessons in January. I'm surprised with how well she's doing. Our teacher is someone from church who has a pretty low-key commitment requirement. So we felt comfortable testing it out and seeing what Ashton thought. Well, she loves it. Two months in and she still loves to practice. Here's a video from a few weeks ago of Ashton and her teacher playing a duet together.

 I'm ready for the sun to come out and the rain to go away. I miss our 70 degree days. But before I know it, it will be 95 degrees and 10000% humidity so I should be grateful for the cooler weather.

Gemma at 11 Months

Weight: 22ish pounds
 
Height: I didn't catch her height at the doctor's the other day so probably about the same as last month.
 
Clothing Size: Still rocking the 12 month size for a while.

Daily Schedule: Gemma follows our typical schedule for almost one year olds. She wakes up by 7:30am. If she's not awake by then, Tanner not-so-nicely wakes her up. Then she naps from about 10-11:30 and again from 3-4:30. Bedtime is between 8 and 8:30pm. She may drop her morning nap earlier than the others but we shall see. I'm hopeful she makes it to the end of the school year with two naps.

Gemma is still not a huge food eater. We'll see how the next month goes for this as she weans from nursing. Her favorite foods consist of anything with cheese and anything with chicken or beef. So high protein foods.

Firsts: First tooth finally. I think she is our latest teether out of the three kids. She now has her two bottom teeth poking through. Definitely saying "Mama," "Dada," and "Dog." She can stand alone now but does not attempt to take steps. She waves at everyone and every car that passes by. She appears very friendly until you try to touch her. Gemma is still very, VERY attached to me. She screamed the whole time at the cardiologist as the nurse was desperately trying to get her pulse ox, blood pressure, and her EKG. Thankfully, she liked the cardiologist enough to sit still during the echo exam.

She is also able to climb up and down stairs quite well. Hooray for that!

Heart Update: She went earlier this week but we will have more information to share in the next week or two as decisions are being made.

Monthly Pictures:

Her normal reaction to food.

Exhausted after a playdate at a park. Fell asleep on the bike ride home.

Gemma loves to "perch" herself in certain things like this dollhouse or other bins of toys.

Typical picture of the laundry room. Gemma loves to scatter (and eat a few pieces) the dog food.

She loves balls! Always happy to hold one.