Crafty Lady

We haven't been to the Farmer's Market since April, which means it was pre-Syddles.  Saturday, we decided we had to go at least once more before they shut it down for the year...so we headed out pretty early and got there before the big crowd.  Some of us were still sleepy...

Not this gal though...she was excited to be out.  She loves seeing all of the dogs that people bring to the market.

Water break at the Bentonville square fountain, which technically isn't a drinking fountain.  In fact, it's kind of gross.

Afterwards, we walked over to a nearby playground.  This is Millie's new favorite way to swing.  Bonus points if there is a mud puddle under the swing for her to drag her shoes in.

Saturday afternoon, we donned our orange to cheer on the pokes!  Unfortunately, it wasn't enough to secure a win :(

Saturday evening, JKK surprised me with a romantic pottery making session!  Last Tuesday was our anniversary, and the traditional 8th wedding anniversary gifts are Bronze and Pottery.  We usually try to do some sort of play on the traditional gifts, but this was a complete surprise and a lovely way to spend an evening together.  I LOVE doing this kind of stuff, and we got a private lesson from a local artist who really knows what she is doing.  He even brought a bottle of wine from our 2010 Sonoma trip!  It was a really fun way to spend date night, and the kiddos did fantastic with the babysitter.  I see more date nights in our future...

First we made plates, which weren't that hard...then we made goblets.  See how awesome JKK's looks??  Mine is that flower pot sized monstrosity next to his.

Finished products ready to go in the kiln.  I <3 JKK.

Sunday, the artistic streak continued with Amanda at Painting with a Twist!

Before we got started, we had fun with Bob Ross...

...and Duck Dynasty guy, I think this is Si?  We don't watch that show, but who cares, I still look good in a beard.

And here is my own painting...Halloween kitty!  I thought it would be a cute Halloween decoration to bring out every year.  Today, Millie was very interested in talking about how mommy painted it...I think she was jealous.  She loves to paint.  Someday it will be fun to do stuff like this with her, but the minimum age at this place is 8 years old, so we have a while to go.

I take a pic of her every school day, and the past few times she's been making this funny face.  So silly.  Oh, and FYI...I am done with skinny jeans for little kids.  I put some on her this morning for school and before we had even left the house, her bottom was super saggy and she was pulling at the legs because they were too tight and she couldn't bend down.  So she'll be wearing stretchy leggings (like these) and non-denim pants for the rest of the school year. :)  Much better for diaper changes at school anyway...

This afternoon, I put Syd in the door frame jumper thingy for the first time.  I never used one of these with Millie, but I thought it would be good for Syd until she can touch the ground in the jumperoo.  She didn't do much except for gnaw on the side, but Millie loved it.  Not sure if you can tell, but she stuck her baby doll behind Syd and was helping them both jump.  Such a good "helper". ;) Video: Millie helps Syd jump

PSLs, Picnics, and Playground Time

It's officially Fall...I've already had two pumpkin spice lattes!

Last Saturday, we took a picnic lunch and played at a new playground in Fayetteville.  It was lovely!

We've been using the back patio much more now that the temps are more reasonable; it's so peaceful.

Sunday, Papa and Grandma Tricia stopped by on their way back from the local Bikes, Blues, and Barbecue festival.  Millie immediately put them to work in her kitchen.

Papa & Syd

She was definitely sad they couldn't stay and play with her longer...

After Syd was up most of the night, we decided it was a pajama day.  Two days before this, we had moved Syd to her crib to sleep at night (flat on her back!).  It went well the first two nights, but the third night was a doozie.  We are back on track though and she seems to be doing really well with the transition, usually only getting up once around 5am to eat and go back to sleep.

switcheroo

I posted this pic on Instagram and Facebook recently, and it got so many comments that I had to take a second look.  Obviously, I thought it was a good pic, since I posted it.  But others brought to my attention just how great it is, so I think it'll be going in a frame.  I just love everything about it.  I especially love that this is truly how Millie feels about Syd...she's not just posing for a pic.

pants hat

Syd has been loving the bumbo!  And Millie thinks it's awesome that Syd is now a part of mealtime.  We got the go ahead from Dr. Averitt to start giving Syd watered down cereal any time now, but I think we are going to wait until closer to 5 months old.  In the meantime, she's getting used to sitting in the bumbo.  We fed Millie in the bumbo until about 8 months old.

First artwork from MDO this year!

Playdates with Cayden have been so awesome lately.  We pretty much just sit back and enjoy how they entertain each other.  Amanda and I found them like this in the sunroom, all saddled up.  BFFs.

Syddles has been poking her tongue out like this a lot in the last week.  :)

She's doing great getting toys into her mouth to gnaw on...it gets messy with all of the drool.  I took some video of Syd doing this and you can hear Mills in the background saying "that's disgusting, Syd".  Nice.

Millie made some play-doh at MDO and got to bring it home; we've been having fun making snakes and shapes with it.

This morning, we had a playdate at the park with Noel.  We actually had to break out long sleeves!  Anyhoo, right when we got there, Millie was being shy and I wanted her to take a pic...I pull up the camera and this is what I see.  Poor Syd gets her paci stolen all of the time.  Millie has started sneaking some sucks on it...I think it is triggering some memories. ;)

Mills & Noel singing the itsy bitsy spider

Yesterday was our 8th wedding anniversary...8 years of wedded bliss to my hubby love!  Last year, I threw up twice during our anniversary dinner because I was cooking Syddles in my belly.  I'm happy to report that there was no vomiting at our house yesterday. :)

MDO x 2!

This morning I had to get Millie ready for picture day at school.  I find the pressure of figuring out a "picture outfit" to be too much.  It's hard to get something cute AND comfy for her to wear all day.  Once again, this year's outfit did not deliver the picture punch I would like.  Meh...whatever.  She's still the cutest 2 year-old I've ever seen.  

These shoes were not planned.  I had some of those adorable Sperry top-siders for kids, complete with leopard print and sequins.  Sounds crazy, but they weren't...they were adorable and completed the outfit perfectly.  However, the two times I put them on Millie, she busted out bawling and was screaming for me to "take them off!".  I'm not sure what was so painful about them because the size was right.  Clearly, she won't be the girl making sacrifices for fashion.  Sigh...

Big day for Syddles...her first time at MDO!  This is her first morning school pic in front of the door. :)  She isn't enrolled in MDO, I just took her for two hours today while I went to the dentist.  It worked out great though, and Ms. Patsy and Ms. Judy said she was a doll.  Of course she was, this is Syd we're talking about.  She did smell kind of strange when I picked her up though.  It made me think of how birds won't touch their babies if a human handles one...she didn't smell like my baby. ;)  Nice to know I have this MDO drop-off as a backup though, if I ever need it again.

Artwork

I was feeling crafty yesterday, so we whipped out some super fun artwork.  Millie loves doing the hand and footprints with paint.  Thank you Pinterest.  It amazes me how creative people can be...I certainly can't take credit for any of these since I copied them.  That doesn't make them any less cute though! :)

4 Months Old

Smiley Syddles is 4 months old!

one week old:

 one month old:

 two months old:

three months old:

four months old:

EAT:
Syddley-poo nurses 6 times a day...usually about 3.5-4 hours between feedings during the day.  I feel like we'll be on a solid 4 hour EASY schedule pretty soon.  At night, she goes between 6-8 hours without feeding.  I spoke a little too soon with the 3 month blog post...she had a couple of weeks this month where she only went 5-6 hours at night.  However, this past week has been good 7-8 hour stretches again and even a 9 hour stretch earlier this week!

The issue of her getting distracted while feeding has been getting worse.  I can't speak or really do anything while she's feeding or she'll have to stop eating and look around.  This can be a little tough with a noisy toddler in the room.  I usually end up stopping the feeding session altogether; I figure she'll let me know when she gets hungry again. ;)  She's clearly getting enough to eat with all of the new rolls...

SLEEP:
During the day, she naps on her tummy in the pack-n-play in our bedroom.  Now that the rolling isn't so new, she's quit trying to roll herself over nonstop and goes right to sleep.  With both naps and bedtime, she's usually very easy to get to sleep.  We put her down, turn on the sound machine, put in the paci, and walk out of the room.  I guess we learned a few things the second time around. :)  She naps 4-5 times a day.  If we have to go out, I just have to take along the ERGO carrier and it is guaranteed that she'll nap in that thing.

At night, she wears a sleep sack and sleeps in the rock-n-play sleeper in her room upstairs.  She's only been getting up once around 5am to eat, then she goes back down for a couple more hours.  The rocker is great because she's on her back at an incline and feels all snug.  However, it has a hard back and has been causing a bit of a flat spot on the back of her head, so we are going to have to move her to the crib this weekend.  I've tried this a couple of times before with no luck (she hates to sleep flat on her back), but this time it has to happen.  We can't have a flat-headed Syddles...her head is too perfect to be ruined by lazy mommy.

PLAY:
After eating, she's usually awake between 1 hour 30 min to 1 hour 45 min, before going down for a nap.  She's still enjoying the crib mobile, tummy time, & activity mat.  She's been rolling from tummy to back for a couple of weeks now, and she can also turn herself around (like a clock) when she's on her back.  So she often ends up turned 180 degrees from how she started on the activity mat.  I've started letting her hold some toys and rattles, since she has really noticed her hands this month.  She can maneuver the toys into her mouth pretty well...and she wants her hands in her mouth all of the time too.  No sign of teeth yet though.  She is very ticklish, and this is always a sure way to get her to laugh out loud.  Millie is also great at getting her to laugh by just being silly. :)

hands!

We already know where Syd gets her deep blue eye color, but few people realize she also gets her lighter hair color from JKK.  He was a little goldilocks until his early teen years!

Today was Syd's 4 month pediatrician appointment: weight 14lbs 8oz (70th percentile), head 16 inches (40th percentile), length 24.25 inches (50th percentile).  Clean bill of health!  She had 3 vaccination shots, which produced the most awful cries ever, but thankfully it didn't last very long at all.  She's definitely not a crier...except when Millie cries, then she often starts sticking her lip out and fussing along with her.  Empathetic at an early age. ;)  I did ask the doctor about Syd still not producing real tears, and she just smiled at me like I was being silly.  She said it is nothing to worry about.  It's hard not to compare your own kids though...Millie was crying real tears by a month old.  Syd has moved up to size 3-6 months clothes and is still wearing size 2 diapers.

Dear Sydney,

Your sweet temperament and smiley personality has really started to shine through this month.  You smile at anything and everyone and seem to be in a permanent good mood.  Your smiles are contagious because you smile with your whole body...legs moving back and forth, fists clenched, and your eyes disappear in those big cheeks of yours.  You are so content to just hang out and be a part of whatever we are doing, and big sister provides hours of entertainment.  Not a day goes by that I don't recognize how lucky and blessed we are to have you, sweet girl.  Just like Mary Poppins, you're practically perfect in every way.  Oh sweet baby of mine, you are loved more than you'll ever know.