maeve at nine months

{warning: cuteness overload!}

Maeve Caroline, you are nine months old and full of spunk.  I'm convinced that you are the sweetest thing on the planet.  You are happy 99% of the time.  THANK YOU for that.  You are turning into such a little girl and I love seeing your girly traits come out.  

You love love to sit up.  It makes you feel like a big girl.  You still have zero interest in rolling over but you are definitely trying to get on the move.  You can go from sitting up in one spot to laying on your belly a few feet away in just a few minutes.  You are getting a little frustrated with being stationary.  You want to move so bad but you just haven't figured it out yet.  You will very soon though.

My oh my how you love your brother.  You're completely smitten with him.  I know y'all will fight like cats and dogs but I have a feeling you're going to be great BFFs.  He likes to get a little rough with you and you love it.  We have to tell him "easy easy, she's little" 1,000 times a day.  You don't mind though.

Your hair is starting to look really girly.  It's got a girly shape and your bags swoop to the side.  It's growing like crazy and you'll probably need an official trim soon.  Mommy trimmed your little mullet pieces in the back a few weeks ago.

You are still extremely nosey and love to people watch {just like Mommy}.  We are going to have so much fun shopping together because we both love to just sit and watch.  We can see you soaking up the world around you in your eyes.  You're amazed with everything.

See, a little rough.  You are one tough cookie though.   You rarely cry or fuss when Brother's pestering playing with you.  If you do cry, then he's very quick to put his hand in your face and say "hey hey hey" to try and calm you down.

Grabby, grabby, grabby is all we can say.  You grab, touch, pinch, squeeze everything.  I'm not exaggerating.  You are learning the words easy and no very early on in life.

You love making silly faces and scrunching your nose.  You scrunch it and huff and puff.  You love to laugh at yourself.    

You are getting your two top teeth.  They've been trying to bust through the entire month of May.  I remember spotting them when were coming home from Memphis at the beginning of the month.  They don't seem to be bothering you at all and we are so so so very grateful.  Like I said, you are one tough cookie.  You are still pretty much a baby food girl.  You have ventured out and love puffs and yogurt melts.  I've given you itty bitty pieces of real food and you love it but since you don't have lots of teeth I'm being very careful.  You take four bottles a day.  A 7oz in the morning and at bedtime and then two 6oz throughout the day.  I've tried every type of sippy cup out there and you still could care less. Not sure if you will ever drink from one.

Clapping is your latest favorite trick.  You love to clap for yourself and anytime you see someone clapping you join in.  All we have to do is say "Yay Maeve" and you clap.  It's the cutest little thing.  You love making noises with your mouth.  Asher used to grunt but you do motor sounds and spit noises.  Silly thing.  {It's not so silly when you do those noises while eating baby food though...}

Your sleeping is still fabulous!  You love your sleep.  You are down around 7:45 every night and up around 8:30-9:00.  You had a few weeks of waking up before 8:00 but you've decided that was too early and Mommy thanks you.  I love you sleeping a little later than Brother that way he and I can have our time in the morning and get settled before you get up.  Once both of you are up it's game time!  Now that you're sleeping later you only take two naps a day.  You take your afternoon nap with Brother and Mommy loves this break.  You still have never rolled over in your crib.  You have figured out how to lay on your right side and you love that position.  You never roll to your left side though.  Most nights you sleep on your back with your limbs stretched out in every direction.  When you sleep you get really  relaxed.  You are still a thumb sucker, only when sleepy.  I absolutely love watching you pop that thumb in your mouth, turn and face the door when I lay you down.  You do the same little move every time you get in your crib and it's the sweetest.  Your crib is your happy place.

You've discovered standing and are obsessed.  You want to stand all the time and will lock your legs when we try to sit you down.  You haven't learned how to pull up on any objects yet but love standing holding our hands or holding onto a toy.  Your little chubby legs sure are getting strong.

Our daily life is a little crazy sometimes.  Brother is always running around being nutty and you watch him like a hawk.  I love this wild crazy life we have with you.  

You are starting to get frustrated with getting dressed.  Putting your arms through ticks you off some days.  It's hard to get you dressed quickly though because you are such a little wiggle worm.  You always always have a nasty stinky diaper every morning.  Yuck.  You wear size 4 diapers during the day and size 5 nighttime {because you pee so much at night.} 

Here's a little flashback of the past nine months!  I didn't realize how much you have changed until I was looking at your older monthly pictures.

Sister, you make our world go round!  Our family is 100% complete because of you.  It's safe to say that we are all pretty much obsessed and in love with you.  Thanks for coming into our life.  Keep being you because you are perfect.

life through iPhone pictures

Here's some recent iPhone photos.

I normally avoid taking both kiddos shopping, but sometimes you just have to do it.  They loved the double shopping cart at Garden Ridge. 

Timeout is visited most days..

Sibling love is the sweetest. 

Our little model posing in the sun.

This kid is a total monkey and would wrestle 24/7. 

Sometimes we find him peeking out of his window when he's' suppose to be sleeping..

Morning tv and kisses are the best.

Mini-Travis.

Best brother award.

Brother has become a fan of taking a shower.  Some days the only way I can get clean is if he's in there with me.  Do whatcha gotta do.

Julia turned 30 and we celebrated with margaritas!!

Chunky cheeks.  

He's showing B how to wrestle.  Poor sister… but it looks like she's winning. 

Maeve hasn't figured out how to pull up on objects just yet but she's super close.  She constantly wants to grab your hands and pull up.  She's fascinated with standing and will lock her legs when you try to sit her down.  We are thinking she might just skip crawling and go straight to walking.

hop on out

Asher recently decided it was time to hop out of his crib.  I'm pleased that he made it in there this long to begin with but we just weren't prepared for it to happen over night.  One weekend I had put him down for a nap.  A little while later I was doing stuff in the kitchen.  Travis was outside working on the pool and Maeve was also sleeping.  All of a sudden I hear one of the bedroom doors open.  My heart stopped because I thought "someone's in my house and trying to get my kids."  I literally froze.  Two seconds later I hear little bitty foot steps coming from the hall and a "Daddy? Mommy?"  

We let him sleep in his crib one or two more times and each time he hopped right out when he woke up.  We quickly ran and got a rail for his crib and took down the front.  He's done amazingly well with his new bed and new freedom.

He does sometimes crawl in and out of his bed 100 times before settling in.  A few times, he goes straight to sleep.  

Bedtime has been easy so far.  Naps can be a challenge.  The other day he didn't want to be in his bed so he sat down right outside of it.  I knew what was about to happen next.  The kid has a history of falling asleep sitting up when he's protesting sleep.

Sound asleep on the floor.  I think he napped there for over two hours.  That's a successful nap in my book!

We are going to give him a few more weeks in this bed before me get him a real big boy bed.  I am already collecting ideas and cannot wait to change his room!  How is it even possible that the words big boy room are in my current vocabulary??

ER trip

A few Wednesday's ago, Asher took his first trip to the emergency room.  He'd gone to MDO that day, came home and was acting completely normal.  He didn't nap while at school so around 4:00 I put him down for a nap.  Travis got home a little after 5:00 and we were sitting on the couch talking, enjoying the stillness while both kiddos slept.  All of a sudden we hear this weird loud cough/scream/cry noise coming from Asher's room.  I went in to go get him and he was panicking.  He was coughing {sounded like a bark} and then would scream/cry and try to breath.  It was very clear that he was having trouble breathing.  It almost seemed as if he was choking.  We quickly decided that he needed to go to the ER.  Trav grabbed his shoes, keys and Asher and sprinted out the door.  {Maeve was still asleep so I stayed behind.}  I immediately called YaYa {Susie} and I think I said, "Asher's having trouble breathing, Trav is." and she said "I'm on my way."  I then called my parents, who I knew were out to dinner about 30 minutes or more from the ER that we were going to.  Dad answered and all I did was cry.  I couldn't form any words and could hardly breath.  I'm not sure what I said but I know I told them where we were going and then we hung up.

I met Travis and Asher at the ER in the hospital that is less than 10 minutes from our house.  I could hear Asher when I walked through the doors.  It was such a relief to hear him crying because I knew if he was crying then he could breath.  The first few hours that we were there, they gave him a steroid shot {in the booty}, two breathing treatments, took several x-rays, took blood and put in a needle for a possible IV.  They told us very quickly that they thought it was something like a spasmodic croup attack.  They said he was making the strider noise, which is a high pitch whistling sound when you cough.  Every time they came in to do something to him he would get upset and start coughing.  It took myself, Travis, GJ and Papaw to hold him down.  He's such a strong little guy.  He never really had a chance to just chill, relax to just calm down.  We are so very grateful that they were doing everything they needed to do to figure out what was wrong with him.  But he needed just a moment to settle down.

   

Asher finally calmed down and his coughing stopped a little.  He wanted no one but his Mommy.  I was secretly happy that I was the one he wanted.  In those moments I needed to be the one he wanted.

He looks so old to me here.  You can tell by his eyes that he was so tired.

Our doctor at the ER, who was great, told us that he had talked to the doctor at Children's Hospital and they wanted to see Asher.  The croup can get very serious and they didn't feel comfortable sending him home within evaluating him.  It was protocol that we were transported to CH by ambulance.  So around 10:00pm Asher man and I loaded up.  My first time in an ambulance, ever.  Thanks Son for being my first.  ha.

  

Travis took this picture of him.  It breaks my heart.  He looks so big and so brave.  He didn't mind one bit riding in the ambulance.  While we were waiting to get loaded they turned on the lights so he could see them.  He said "oohh wow!!"

We made it to CH and GJ and Papaw brought him lots of cars for him to play with.  We were so glad that GJ and Papaw came with us.  When I'm sick, I need my Momma.  So naturally when my baby is sick, I need my Momma and my Daddy.  By this time it was getting late, sometime around midnight..  I finally convinced Trav that we were ok and that he needed to go home to sleep.  He did not like leaving his little boy.

See his IV wrap on his arm?  

Sharing his Popsicle with Geej.

After a second round of x-rays and talking with the doctor at CH, they decided that Asher was ok to go home.  He hadn't coughed much since we arrived.  Around 1:00am he had a boost of energy and was running up and down the halls of the hospital laughing.  The doctor was pleased with his energy and lack of coughing.  Before we left, Asher was given another round of steroids.  We finally made it home around 3:30am.  GJ and Papaw were with us the whole time.  We sure do love them.

The next day we took it easy and laid around the house.  We were given information on what to do if this happens again.  Asher's had the croup several times but never an attack like this.  It's something I pray he never has again.  I don't ever want him to be that scared again.  Those were the scariest moments of my life.  I think I can say that Travis would agree.

Feeling much better the next day and chilling out on the couch.

Asher, someone told me that this would be my first of many trips to the ER with you.  Please son, don't send me back there again.  Thanks, Mommy

mother's day 2014

I celebrated my third Mother's Day this weekend.  Third??  How have I been a mother for three years?  I feel like I just turned 18 and walked across the stage to graduate high school.  I know I still act like that sometimes, too.  

Thankful for these two little humans who made me a Momma!

My first Mother's Day with my most favorite girl.

Now, this is reality.  Maeve is the grabbiest little thing.  She grabs everything!!!  She's broken two of my cross necklaces.  Crazy thing.

The Siscos came down after church to eat lunch with us.  Asher is always really excited to see his Poppy.

This girl loves her Nana.

Mamaw Sisco, Maeve, Nana and Me

Trav loves these Sisco women.

Waving "bye-bye" to Nana and Poppy.

After lunch and naps, we headed out to GJ and Papaw's for dinner.

Love love this man. 

Our normal family photo.  

{Check out Asher's dirty eyebrow!  He was digging in GJ's plants right before the picture.}

Making 1,000 laps around the yard.

Isn't she a good Momma?

Maeve and Uncle John John

And then this happened….

My favorite Momma.

This was my best Mother's Day so far!