Audrey: 5 months (December)

As of her last appointment, Audrey weighs in at 15 pounds and is 70% percentile for height, head size and weight. She is my little chunky monkey (note her forearm "rolls" ;) and we just love her!

She finally rolled over a few weeks ago and sometimes I find her sleeping on her belly. She looks so pleased with herself when she gets up on her forearms and looks around.

I didn't think I could give birth to a more mellow kid than Devon, but it would appear that I have! Audrey is still a great sleeper and will happily go along to a morning play date or errand and sleep in her car seat or pouch while Devon plays. There have been many occasions when it's 8:00 am and the house is still quite. I tip toe upstairs to check on Audrey and she is just laying in her crib, awake and waiting for me to get her. I scoop her up and check in on Devon and he is sitting in his crib reading a book. I don't know how I got so lucky to have these little babies, but I am so grateful.

Audrey loves to stand up, play with toys, chew on things, sit in her swing and watch TV with Devon. She is transfixed. She loves to be talked to and will reward you for paying attention to her with constant cooing, kicking and laughing.

The older she gets the more girly she dresses (with the occasional skull and crossbones black and grey leggings ;) I have dressed her in a few things that I NEVER thought I would, but she just looks too damn cute I can't help myself. Case in point ... THIS headband. It's not even the biggest one she has. Love it!

Audrey seems to have some sort of sensor in her brain that tells her when I have gone out of "acceptable range".

Sometimes I will wait until the kids go to bed and I will run errands and go to the store. I put them both down, wait until they are totally asleep and then I slip out. The last two times I've done this, the MOMENT I pull out of the driveway Audrey wakes up and screams the entire time I'm gone. I get home, take her from Joe and she instantly falls asleep. Poor Daddy.

I call this one "knuckle sammich". You talkin' ta me?

Audrey is such a good baby and I can't give that kid enough kisses. She gets so much love and attention from her aunts, uncles, cousins and grandparents who clamor to hold her. She is super ticklish on her ribs, belly and neck and lets out giggles and grunts. She is a happy little girl and we love watching her grow.

It's not always about the kids

So ... yeah, Jasmine died. She was one of the first animals (aside from Sampson, who is still alive) that I raised so it is a tough loss for me. She was one of my first babies. I miss her. I stayed up all night with her on Friday night petting her and trying to soothe her the best I could. I kept telling her that I loved her, that I was sorry I couldn't save her. I laid next to her on the floor and she slept with her head on my hand and purred. I thought she would pass on Friday, but by Saturday morning even though she was still alive she was in bad shape. I could tell that she "wasn't there anymore". Her mind had checked out. I placed her on a towel in my room in the closet so she wouldn't be disturbed. I know that kids don't really understand death until the age of 5 and even then some kids think that the person who died will come back. We explained it to Devon as simply as we could and it's sad to me that he probably won't remember her. Joe took Devon in to see her when she was still alive and Devon said,"Bye Jasim. Good kitty. Miss you lot."

The day wore on and we had to get ready to go to my Mom's house for Thanksgiving. I put Devon in the car and came back into the house to say a final goodbye to her. I wanted to have a moment with her. I wanted it to be peaceful for her as much as possible. Joe sat next to me and she passed right then. It doesn't seem right that she is gone and buried in the backyard. So close and yet so far away.

In other, less depressing, news ....

I am 95% done with my Xmas shopping. Everything is wrapped and labeled and I am just waiting on a few gifts to arrive from my boyfriends, Amazon and Ebay, and I will be all set ;) I have one gift for one person that I am not totally sure about, but other than that I am done. I tried to get everything bought by December so I don't have to deal with any last minute shopping and I can just enjoy the rest of the month.

Since I stopped working with my trainer I have lost about 8 pounds. I have 5 more to go and I will be back to my pre-pregnancy weight. I would like to loose 7 more and be a tiny bit smaller. I haven't been working out much at all so I have just been watching what I eat. I have cut out snacking almost completely. What a difference that makes! It feels so good to be so close to my normal size after being out of shape for over a year being pregnant and carrying 30 pregnancy pounds. I hope to reach my goal by the new year. Woot!

Devon: November

Devon is so smart! He can sing the whole alphabet and can recognize most of the letters by sight. My favorite part is "L, M, N, O, P" because he basically says "Elmo, P" , but it's close enough ;) He is learning what words start with what letters and will randomly say,"T-shirt ... T!!! Truck ... T!" It's adorable. Devon loves to sing in general and knows all the words to many of his favorite songs (twinkle, twinkle). Joe and I hover over the baby monitor at night to hear Devon singing himself to sleep.

I am still working with him on his counting and numbers, but he seems more like an alphabet guy for the moment.

Devon loves to drink juice out of my "fancy" (plastic) cup. One handed no less.

Devon loves to run fast, play cars, dance, collect rocks, jump, go outside, play on the slide, watch cartoons, feed Audrey milk and "drive" Daddy's truck. Joe will put him in the driver seat and he pushes every button he can reach. Devon loves to watch sports and bands play on the computer. He still likes calculators, but above all else he loves to play cars. He wakes up in the morning and wants to play cars before a diaper change, milk or breakfast. He never gets tired of it. He plays with all his Hot Wheels and all his random trucks at the same time. He also loves to drink milk, eat lemons and popcorn.

First "official" hair cut. He got to sit in a Jeep chair and pretend to drive, he got a sucker and they turned on Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. I don't know what else they could possibly do to distract him from his hair cut other than sit a puppy in his lap, but it all worked and he sat there like a champ. (It's Sports Buzz $13. Kinda pricey for a kids cut, but it was so easy I think it's worth it).

Devon has started to get a bit more "tantrumy", but I try to get him to calm down by getting him to show me how big of a deep breath he can take. This usually works ... usually. I never intend for Devon to appear like the "perfect" child, but he is very well behaved. Of course he has tantrums and doesn't listen from time to time like any other child, but honestly, he is a pretty laid back, go-along kid.

Devon is starting to enjoy our play dates more and more and will talk about his friends when they are not around. Mackenzie seems to be his current favorite and he even gave her her first kiss. Oh la la! It was so cute. She leaned in, he backed away. He leaned in, she backed away. The both leaned in and kissed. Sweet! Now they hug and kiss on the cheek ... it's very sweet to see them play together so well.

I am so excited for Xmas this year to see Devon enjoy it and have an understanding of what's happening as well as having Audrey with us for the first time. Joe and I don't usually go gifts for each other, but we are slowly starting to implement family traditions without making it stressful. We hope to make the holidays about doing fun things as a family and not all about gifts. I carefully picked out a few toys that I think he will like without spoiling him with too much and I can't wait for him to open them. We have been talking to him about picking out a tree and decorating it and he loves for me to tuck him in at night and sing Jingle Bells. It's a nice break from "babies" (The wheels on the bus: "The babies on the bus go wah wah wah" is his favorite part).

I gave Devon a pony just like Audrey because his hair kept getting in his face. Isn't he so pretty? ;)

It's funny to be able to have full conversations with Devon and hear the random things that come out of his mouth like,"Here, Audrey. Hold this." as he hands her a toy. Too funny. Some of his popular phrases right now are: "Devon do it self" (Devon did it by myself) "Mama sit down there (and points exactly where he would like me to sit ;)"See? Better" (See? Isn't that better). "Love you lot. Miss you lot." "No like that." I love to hear him talk.

Joe and I are really enjoying Devon right now. We can easily communicate with him and have conversations about his day. His favorite color is blue ;) He requires a TON of seemingly endless energy, but he is so much fun to play with.