Best Morning Ever...

Isn't being a mother great...this was my morning this morning.

Wake up.  Get baby out of bed.  Hear toddler shatter "candy cane" full of M&M's all over.  Shut baby in her room.  Shut dog in my room.  Clean up shattered M&M's with toddler.  Go into baby's room to find poop all over her and her pajamas and the carpet.  Wipe baby down.  Lock dog, toddler, and baby out of baby's room and clean up poop.  In the process toddler gets her own cereal (luckily no accidents there), but baby finds a pen and draws all over herself.  Take baby into bathroom to give her a bath.  Hear toddler somehow face plant off her stool.  Go to comfort toddler (don't worry, baby is not in the bath yet).  While comforting toddler, hear baby stand up to toilet and fall and bonk her head.  Comfort her.  Get baby in bath.  Toddler wants to help.  Toddler falls in tub.  Now two kids in the bath and one mom who is done for the day!

Megan is 3!

Happy third birthday Megan!  I can't believe I have a 3 year old.  So fun!  I love pictures...so it's picture overload of Megan here today.  I picked one picture or video from each month since she turned 2.  I'm actually proud I had at least one picture from each month.  I can't believe how much she changed in a year!  Sorry it's so many, but I love watching her grow up before my eyes!  :)

 October 2012

 November

December

 

January

February

 March

 April

May

 June

July

August

September

October 2013

She went from being a homeless, barney loving 2-year old to a 3-year old princess!  Here are some facts about my girl at 3--beware, it's long.

• Megan loves pink and princess.  She is 100% girl!  She loves the pink dress pictured in July.  She would wear it everyday if we let her.  She also likes getting married.  If she puts on a pretty dress she wants to marry somebody.  This usually involves the "boy" twirling her around.  I usually get changed into a boy.
• It is imagine everything with this girl.  We are rarely mom and Megan.  We are usually Mulan and Shang or Tangled and Eugene or Timon and Pumba and etc.
• She is obsessed with Mulan at the moment!  And Daniel (she says Thaniel) Tiger's Neighborhood.
• She can count to 14 reliably and is decent to 20.
• She can say the ABC's and identify some letters, but I couldn't tell you which ones.  She will sometimes just point them out on signs.  She doesn't like to sit down and identify them with me.
• We tried potty training before Abby was born.  Fail.  She was scared of pooping on the potty.  We are going to try it again as soon as we run out of the diapers we have.  But I'm afraid it's going to be a battle.  She is perfectly potty trained on days she chooses to be.  But if I suggest she go to the bathroom or ask that she go it's a no way.  She'd rather pee her pants then follow what mommy says!
• She now sleeps in a big girl bed.  It was rough at first, but she's doing great now.  We had a few obstacles (falling off, serious increase in nightmares/monster fears, and a growth spurt that required eating in the middle of the night), but once we got past those she has done fine.  We have switched from nap time to quiet time, but it luckily ends in sleeping the majority of the time.
• She is really good with names (she can name most of the kids in her nursery and most anyone that Patrick or I talk to at church).
• She loves puzzles and I think she does really well with them for her age.
• She is a total goof and loves to be the star of the show!  She usually isn't afraid to sing or dance or tell stories for people.
• She is still tall, but not as tall.  I knew it had to slow down sometime!
• Height:  38.25 inches --> 80th percentile
• Weight:  31 lbs 6 oz --> 60th percentile

Sister Giggles

Abby and Megan can already get giggly around each other.  There are times when everything Megan does is golden for Abby.  They are such a perfect pair.  Abby thinks Megan is hilarious and Megan loves being the star of the show.  :)  I sure love this little giggle!

Clayson Family Pictures 2013

We took these a while ago...end of July before Bradley left on his mission.  Megan did not love the whole experience.  She was happy about it for about 2 minutes and then we got some pretty awesome disgusted and mad faces.  :)

My Baby is Better than Yours :) -- 4 Months

I put that as the title of my post because when I think about Abby I honestly can't imagine her being a better baby.  Seriously!  She is an angel baby.  The amount of time she has spent crying in her life is freakishly small.  A week or two ago Abby woke up at 6 a.m. and was fussy and it took me about 10 minutes to get her back to sleep.  I felt like a total idiot during that time because I had NO idea how to help her settle down and get to sleep.  That is the first time I haven't been able to just lay her in her bed wide awake and have her go right to sleep.  Literally the first.  She is just the most chill, happiest baby around.

And the chubbiest!  :)

And Megan still loves her.  She has graduated to wanting to hold her and carry her around.  A little scary.

Abby loves being on her tummy.  She would take that over her back most of the time.

Megan and Abby thought this was pretty hilarious.

Abby spent most of the past month like this.  This is her trying to roll from her back to her stomach.  She was so close and it would make her so frustrated that she couldn't just finish the job!  But, these past few days she's finally figured it out and the fun diaper changing days have begun.  She doesn't want to be on her back for more than about 2 seconds.

This picture is blurry but it pretty much describes her relationship with our dog Mo.  He always wants to lick her face!  And she is so patient with him.  Sometimes we wonder if he's trying to give her a bath since we are failures in that department...

Abby 3 Month Update

I can remember less facts about Abby at 3 months than at 2.  She seems a lot the same now as she was then.  But here's my best effort...

Abby went from sleeping like this on the couch to her bed this month for naps.  She is a wonderful napper now.  I thought I would have a cat napper forever, but she does great now.

Abby started laughing this past month.  She laughs most for dad and Megan.  Megan cracks her up at random times.  She loves watching Megan play.

Megan and her cousin Nathaniel took swimming lessons together this past month and so Abby and Jenna got to spend some quality time together watching.  Jenna is obsessed with Abby...or is it Abby's binky.

Megan still loves her sister and they do a lot of "reading" together.

Abby rolled over from tummy to back a few times this past month, but I don't know if I would say she has learned to roll over.  If she has learned, she's different from her sister.  Once Megan knew how to roll she had to do it all the time, but Abby does it occasionally.

Really Abby? 4 Months? -- 2 Month Update

Abby is four months today.  Seriously!?  Four months?  That happened entirely too fast.  I feel like with Megan by the time she was four months I thought she was so big.  But it's the opposite with Abby.  I feel like she's still a tiny baby.  I'm going to blink and she's gonna be a walking talking maniac like Megan.

So I really want to do a monthly update for the first year.  I did it with Megan and I liked looking back to see how much they grow and change every month.  But I have certainly fallen behind with Abby.  I last did it at one month.  Ha!  So I'm going to try to do a catch up.  Here's Abby at 2 months.

As you can tell from this picture Megan loves her baby sister and wants Abby to do everything with her.

She started smiling this month.  What a doll.

Abby was blessed the first Sunday in July.  She was lucky enough to have all her aunts and uncles around on her blessing day.  She wore the same dress Megan wore which is the same dress I wore.

• She is a great nighttime sleeper, but she has yet to take a nap in her own bed.  She is a cat napper.
• 2 Month Stats:
• Length:  22.64 inches (62nd percentile)
• Weight:  10 lbs 12 oz (83rd percentile)
• Head Circ.:  37.2 cm (13th percentile)
• In keeping with the Megan tradition, she has a tiny head.

Workin' Hard

 

Nothing better than mowing the lawn with dad!

Happy Graduation!

Though Patrick has been done with school and classes since December, his graduation ceremony was in May.  I am a little slow with this post because I had a baby shortly after his graduation and I have been waiting for pictures from the graduation from family since I was the worst wife ever and left the camera in the car.  But I think I'll just post it and add more pictures for myself when I get them!

Megan and I couldn't be prouder.  I don't like being mushy and lovey on the internet, but the 2.5 years Patrick was in school definitely reminded me why I married him.  You know you have a good one when he's willing to work full-time and go to school at night to improve your family's future.  The poor guy didn't see an awake Megan 3 out of the 7 days of the week for her first 2 years of her life, but he was a trooper and I am more than grateful.

Here are the few pictures we do have.