Better late than never, here it is…a summary of our February minus birthday celebrations and the McWane Center visit:
Typical response when I try to take their picture…haha. I think this was before we left for music class one Tuesday morning :)
Coloring was a pretty much a daily activity during the month of February…
I thought this was so sweet! Savannah randomly put her arm around Brooklyn during story time. Whenever she is brave enough to sit on the rug with the other kids, she always sits right next to her big sis.
We had a COLD playdate at the playground in Athens with Jessica, Baker, and Everett on February 2nd. There were so many warm days in February, so it was unfortunate that this particular day happened to be cold and windy. The kids huddled under this covered area for lunch because it was warmer than being out in the open.
Super Bowl Sunday calls for eating pizza in the living room in your PJs. We have done this a few times since Brooklyn was born, and they think it’s a fun treat to pull their chairs in front of the TV to eat supper :)
Where’s Daddy??? Travis has been working long hours for the last several months, and this particular night he decided to rest for a few minutes after supper. It’s always dangerous to lie down on the floor though…you might just get buried!
A stare-off between cat and kid! :)
Savannah surprised me one night when she took her shirt off all by herself! It was a pretty loose one, so it wasn’t too hard I guess :)
Sleepy girl – she almost always sleeps in this corner of her crib.
More story time fun! Savannah rarely pays attention to the stories, but she will at least sit on the rug sometimes :) She usually loves the songs!
The week before Brooklyn’s birthday (and her birthday dinner with the Grant fam), Savannah started getting sick. Other than running a fever and not eating a whole lot, she didn’t really have any other symptoms. She definitely didn’t feel too good for a couple of days though.
I decided to take her to the doctor that Friday just to make sure she didn’t have something contagious that could be treated with antibiotics. Her fever had gotten up to 103+ a couple of times. Before Dr. Dudley could even look at her ears, they had to irrigate them to get out a bunch of wax. Poor girl! She didn’t like that very much…but it worked! You can’t really tell how big that piece was, but it was definitely big for the size of her little ears :( It ended up being just some sort of virus (as usual), and she was feeling better by that evening. Thankfully, we were able to go ahead with Brooklyn’s birthday dinner plans and no one else got sick!
Around Brooklyn’s birthday, we started using her Melissa and Doug responsibility chart that she’d gotten from Cici for Christmas. Every day she gets a magnet if she did a good job doing a particular task. At the end of the week, on Saturday night, she gets her allowance—a certain amount of money per task. She has been very excited about this and always wants to know if she’s done well enough to get her magnets for the day. Typically, she does pretty good except for the “stop whining” one ;) This was her chart at the end of the first week of using it.
When she gets her allowance money, we then let her put it into her piggy bank. I bought her a special one that’s divided into 3 separate parts: spend, save, and share. We let her decide which coins to put in each section. We told her that “spend” money is what she can use to buy candy or treats at the grocery store. “Save” money is for saving up to buy a big toy or something special at the toy store. And “share” money is for giving to God on Sundays or buying gifts for others. She doesn’t understand at this age how much each coin is worth, but she always makes sure to put several coins in each section. The first week she put every single coin in the collection plate at church—her choice!
Excited about being able to put her own money in the plate at church :)
We spent a lot of time in February riding bikes in the driveway! It took Brooklyn a day or two to get the hang of it (she kept accidentally pedaling backwards or stopping herself), but once she got it, she was off to the races. She can zoom around these days no problem and asks to ride her bike just about every day.
It is so fascinating to watch Brooklyn’s artwork progress. She can now draw sunshines and people with arms and legs. I think that was even supposed to be a swingset in the top right corner.
“Where’s your button, Savannah?”
Since we spent so much time in the driveway riding bikes during the month of February, we didn’t get out and play in the backyard quite as much as usual. But, they still love their swingset! I’m secretly hoping that whoever buys our house won’t want to keep it so that we can just take it with us :)
Digging in the mulch is always fun!
Picnic lunch on the patio—I’m sure we will do more of this in the coming months too!
Savannah actually appears to be paying attention to the story in this picture ;) Who knows how long it lasted though! I’m glad they enjoy going to the library so much.
I’m not sure who decided that putting a white sink in the kitchen would be a good idea, but whew. Worst idea ever. It has gotten scratched up on the bottom even though we keep a mat in it. And it always looks super gross because it stains so easily! One day back in February I worked and worked on it to try to get it white again. This was the best I could do! Hopefully we can keep it clean enough during showings that it won’t be too noticeable :)
Messy girl!
On February 24th, we got our kitchen repainted to a neutral color. No more green! The new color is a shade or two lighter than the dining room, so it flows better I guess from room to room. It looks good, although a bit boring in my opinion. Oh well—as long as it helps sell the house!
That same day, Brooklyn had her 4 year checkup with Dr. Dudley. It worked out well because we played outside for a few minutes while the painters were inside working and then went straight to the appointment. So we were out of the house most of the morning—out of the way and not breathing paint fumes. The bad part was that I had to take both the girls to the appointment by myself while Travis stayed at the house…
I’d heard rumors that the 4 year old checkup was the worst, and I can see why they say that. SHE HAD TO GET THREE SHOTS and a finger prick! It’s a totally different ball game than when they are babies/toddlers. I made the mistake of telling Brooklyn about a week before the appointment that she’d be going to see Dr. Dudley “next week”. And immediately she asked me if she’d have to get any shots. Well…I wasn’t going to lie to her, so I told her I thought she probably would have to get a shot or two. Unfortunately, she had about a week to build it up in her mind, so she definitely was not excited about going. She got the shots last, and the rest of the appointment went fine. She passed her hearing test and vision test. She could do everything she was supposed to be able to do by age 4 except draw a cross. I had no idea that was a milestone, so we never practiced that or tried to teach her how. Oh well! :) As for the shots, what can I say? She cried hard for a good 5 minutes at least. I can’t blame her! The look in her eyes was like…”Mom, how can you hold me down on this table and let them do that to me??” Ugh! I am not a crier by any means, and but I was definitely wiping away my own tears too. But we survived! And when it was all said and done, we went to Chick-fil-a for lunch, ice cream, and fun on the playground. I’m just happy she doesn’t have to get any more shots until she turns 11!!
Ice cream cones make everything better!
Savannah didn’t mind eating a little ice cream too :)
Sunday lunch was at our house on February 26th. I captured a sweet moment where Brooklyn and Carter were sitting next to each other watching a movie before we ate. They don’t always get along super well, so these moments are extra special :)
And, I’ve already posted our news, but February 27th was my first OB appointment! We got to see the new baby on the ultrasound and take some pictures home. Brooklyn enjoyed that and has talked about the baby almost every day since :)
Somehow, the girls figured out a way to both get on the sit-n-spin at the same time. So silly!
Brooklyn Says and Other Notes:
- Savannah took her shirt off by herself for the first time (2/6/17)
- Savannah is saying “EHH-WAAA!” for ‘Hello’!
- Savannah is loving books now! She will almost always sit through an entire book and frequently brings books to me to read together. She’s come a long way from not really being interested in books several months ago.
- She has started calling Travis “Ga-ga” sometimes…haha. Still cannot say “da” sound. As long as she doesn’t start calling him “Lady Gaga”, I think he’ll be okay with it!
- 2/15/17 – Brooklyn was cleaning up her blocks and asked, “Who gave me these (foam) blocks? Aunt Gale? Why doesn’t she eat chocolate? It gives her headaches.” She will frequently ask questions that she already knows the answer to and then answer the questions herself. But she seriously amazed me with this one! I don’t know how she remembers random facts so well, especially things we haven’t discussed in months or sometimes over a year.
- 2/25/17 – “Where did we get these catch bibs? Did Savannah get them at her birthday party?” (Another example of remembering something that happened almost a year ago.)
- 2/24/17 – “Ooh ooh ooh!” – Savannah was trying to say “ho ho ho” like Brooklyn.
- 2/27/17 – “Ro Ro RO!” – “Read your Bible, pray every day, and you’ll grow, grow, grow!” Savannah likes to sing that song before bedtime.
- 2/28/17 – It sounded like Savannah said “ra-ro!” for Oreo. She is definitely trying to speak a lot more than she was even just a couple of months ago.
Well, that’s it for February! Now, onto the month of March :)
