Gotta Have Faith and Daniel: March 2015

Hello everyone! Happy spring...I think, I hope! I've been working on this long overdue post for what feels like weeks. I have photos to post from mid-February and it's almost April. Oops! Better late than never, I guess. We've been busy, but mostly with every day life stuff. It's so hard to even describe what a typical day is like or even how we spend the hours and minutes, but boy do they fly by! Randy and I feel like all we do is feed our children, wash dishes, fold laundry and try to keep the chaos that comes with a 3 year old to a minimum. Plus we've all been dealing with colds and runny noses.

Our biggest news to share is actually sad news. As many of you know, we had to say goodbye to our sweet cat Joey last week. He lived an amazing 13 years with us after showing up in Randy's mom's backyard as a stray. He was the best cat! People who didn't like cats LOVED our Joey. Probably because he thought he was a dog. Saying goodbye to him was the hardest thing Randy and I have had to do together. Faith definitely notices he's not here, but she doesn't fully understand what happened, which we are glad for. We all miss him very much, but we're relieved he's not sick or in pain anymore.

Now back to things that make us smile. I mostly wanted to post all of the photos before they just keep piling up. But I couldn't write a post without a few stories about both kiddos. Here is a glimpse into Faith's world these days:

She has been sleeping mostly through the night in her big girl bed without too many interruptions. The two magic potions that changed the tide for us were a new sound machine that we run every night and during every nap. And the awesome clock that we programmed to turn green when it's ok for her to get out of bed in the morning.
Unfortunately this ridiculously cold winter meant there wasn't much time spent outside. So we've been watching more movies than we usually do around here. Some of Faith's current favorites are: Annie, Pippi Longstocking (one of Aunt Andi's all time faves), and Stuart Little. She seems drawn to movies with real people rather than cartoons. She's even into movies that in theory should be too scary for her, like Jumangi.
She loves the book Corduroy. It was in our every night rotation for at least two weeks.
We are working on patience - in very very small baby steps. And someone brilliantly taught her (thank you Marla or Mrs. Olson) that when you are "practicing your patience" you should stand still with your hands together (sort of like praying). It's awesome and hilarious all at the same time.
She loves pickles. And we mean LOVES! She would eat them with (or for) every meal.
She talks ALL the time and says words and phrases that we have no idea where she's heard them. It's so much fun to see her brain just soaking up everything in her world. But we're finding some words are just not quite right in her mind. For example she says "frepeat" instead of "repeat". And "macINroni" instead of "macaroni". And don't you dare try to correct her. Three year olds know everything, didn't you know?

And as for Daniel:

He's three months old (15 weeks to be exact), but he thinks he's at least 6 months old. He's trying to sit up, holds his head up and can roll from his belly to his back.
I say this cautiously (anyone with a newborn that doesn't sleep well stop reading this now). He is sleeping through the night. Gasp! At least 7 hours, sometimes 8 or more. It's amazing. Thank goodness for muslin swaddle blankets and for the rock n play sleeper. He definitely doesn't sleep as well in the bassinet and we haven't even thought about trying the crib yet. But he's starting to outgrow the rocker so we're contemplating how to build something similar for bigger babies. I'm kidding. Sort of.
He has the best laugh and even lets out a belly laugh every now and then. And Pat-a-cake and peek a boo are sure to get you a huge smile and even a giggle.
Along those acting older than he is lines: he has been trying to hold his bottle sometimes and he is drooling and chewing on everything like he's teething. No sign of teeth yet, thank goodness.
He has this really cute habit of grabbing and pulling at his hair - especially while he's napping during the day and not swaddled. Of course it makes his out of control hair even crazier but it's so darn cute that we don't care.
And finally - we have found the one thing that will make him very mad. Wiping his nose. He HATES to have his nose wiped and screams instantly when the tissue hits his face. And we mean screams at the top of his lungs and tears streaming down his face.

Oh and Happy Easter! I took both kids to the mall this past weekend to see the Easter Bunny while Randy was at class. It was mostly successful - see the picture below. Both children are in the picture with the bunny so I call that a win! Faith refused to sit, but she did stand right next to him and hold Daniel's hand and she gave the bunny a high five before we left. This is much improved from Christmas when she wouldn't even look at Santa or unclench her arms from around our necks.

Much Love,

The Groves