7 months

What fun did Wyatt have during month 7?
Celebrated Charlotte's 7th birthday party with a soccer themed party at the park
Junior League meeting
Going everywhere for his big sisters - soccer practice, speech therapy, bell chime choir, Kumon Tutoring
Home Depot kids workshop
Spring Break
  - Uncle and Cousin visited
  - Spray Ground
  - Park
  - Beach
  - Legoland
  - Gaylord Opryland Hotel
Celebrated Easter with church and a few Easter Egg hunts

How is Wyatt sleeping?
2-3 naps during the day, not really on a schedule sad to say
Goes to bed around 9pm and wakes between 6-7am, eats and then snoozes some more

What is Wyatt eating?
Any and all stage 2 baby food.
HATES mashed bananas and avocados, and homemade peas -- I think it's a texture thing
Mixture of breast milk and formula

Major (and minor) milestones!
Sitting completely on his own
Beginning to rock back when he's on his hands and knees
Can army crawl clear across the room
Started a sippy cup
Loves looking at himself in the mirror

Plans for month 8?
More of the same - girls activities
Bible study
Playground
Maybe the splash park

11 months old!

What fun did Lizzie have during month 10?
Halloween party and trick or treating
Visit Mommy and Daddy's Alma Mater - Go Clemson!
Stay with Gigi and Popop in Georgia
Busch Gardens

How is Lizzie sleeping?
Same as usual, bed between 8:30 and 9, then up at 7/7:30
She has 1-2 naps a day

What is Lizzie eating?
100% formula, food pouches, ANYTHING she can get her hands on
Peanut butter (oops... thanks mimi; "She can have peanut butter right?" "um... no, not til like 2". Woops!)
Loves eggs and waffles

Major milestones!
Walking like it's her job!
5th tooth is popping through (her 3rd top front tooth)
Tries to follow her sisters by climbing up slides and she loves sliding down too (with help)

10 months (like 3 weeks ago!)

Wow, so quite a bit has been going on so poor Lizzie didn't get her 10 month update :) Which, by the way, is more for myself so I know what to put in the baby book when I get around to it.

Ok... so month 10 was September 11 - October 10

What fun did Lizzie have during month 10?
Pizza nights
Busch Gardens
Birthday parties (sister Jillian's included)
1st Tampa Bay Rays baseball game
Friends baptism

How is Lizzie sleeping?
Same as usual, bed between 8:30 and 9, then up at 7/7:30
She has 1-2 naps a day

What is Lizzie eating?
100% formula, food pouches, ANYTHING she can get her hands on

Major milestones!
4 teeth popped through; top and bottom front 2
She's cruising on the furniture and walking with the help of her toys

Look who's 9 months!

9 months... that's 3/4 of a year. THAT is ridiculous!

What fun did Lizzie have during month 9?
Not too much of note... 
Hosted a back to school pool playdate
Visit with Gigi and Pop pop in Georgia (while mommy and daddy go to Clemson FOOTBALL!)
Went to a couple birthday parties
Went swimming a LOT
Watched her first Clemson football game... on TV

How is Lizzie sleeping?
Same as usual, bed between 8:30 and 9, then up between 6:30 and 7
She has 2 naps a day

What is Lizzie eating?
75% mommy milk, 25% formula
Whatever she can get her hands on.
Still loves avocado and eats apple sauce with the stuff she "doesn't like"

What "skills" has Lizzie mastered (or working on)?
Oh boy... well, she's climbing stairs - awesome, right? No
AND when we put up a dog/cat/child gate... she climbed through the cat section. oh boy!
She is getting pretty good at floating around the pool in just a small inflatable ring (she has decided she doesn't like to be restrained in the baby float anymore)
She's cruising furniture

Plans for month 10 include...
*spoiler alert* 1st tooth!
Busch Gardens
Sissy's birthday
More Clemson football games (on TV) with friends
playdates
Pool while the weather holds

"You're gonna hear me ROAR..."

I'm going to preface this with that fact that the hubs and I do not really listen to mainstream music, we are much more into Country (well and kids CDs if I'm being really honest).

I first heard of Katy Perry's new song "Roar" a short while ago when a fellow Clemson University Alum said, "did you guys hear Katy Perry wrote a new song and it's totally for Clemson? It's awesome and it's called Roar". You see, we are the Clemson Tigers. Roar. Tigers. Ok. Clearly, I took her literally was like, "what do you mean she wrote a song for Clemson? Did she go to Clemson?". No.

Let's jump ahead to this weekend when I'm in the family room and hubs calls me all excitedly to come over and watch the new Katy Perry video. As I am walking over (still not having heard it) I'm saying, "yeah yeah, I heard about it, it's called Roar. Someone at the Clemson club was all excited".

So we watch the video (and I'm still in the "Clemson" mindset)

To be honest, I thought the video was a little cheesy. But the hubs was ECSTATIC! No joke. He quickly rounded up the girls and watched it again... immediately.

Then I realized why he liked it so much, especially for our girls. It's totally a girl power song.
Start off a quiet girl/woman who was walked all over
I used to bite my tongue and hold my breath
Scared to rock the boat and make a mess
So I sat quietly, agreed politely
I guess that I forgot I had a choice
I let you push me past the breaking point
I stood for nothing, so I fell for everything

Then, after her guy gets taken by a tiger in the video, she starts to gain self confidence and strength
You held me down, but I got up
Already brushing off the dust
You hear my voice, your hear that sound
Like thunder, gonna shake your ground
You held me down, but I got up
Get ready 'cause I've had enough
I see it all, I see it now

THEN... she roars, gets the "eye of the tiger" and is a strong powerful woman
I got the eye of the tiger, a fighter,
dancing through the fire
Cause I am a champion and
You're gonna hear me ROAR
Louder, louder than a lion
Cause I am a champion and
You're gonna hear me ROAR
Oh oh oh oh oh oh
You're gonna hear me roar
.
.
.Katy Perry - Roar Lyrics | MetroLyrics You see my 4 year old started soccer this past spring (hubs and I were her coach). At the beginning of the season she was, well, a shy, sensitive girl who would cry when someone bumped into her or knocked her down. Not really the strong, courageous, outgoing type who would succeed at soccer.

At one of the first practices we played this game "Sleeping Giant"; the kids would dribble the ball around a "sleeping" coach and then when the kids got close the coach would "wake up" roaring/yelling and chase them and the kids would have to dribble away quickly. Hindsight this may not have been the best idea because this turned into EVERYONE running around yelling. Well, poor Charlotte had one of the older boys run up and yell directly in her face. And she got scared and started crying.

Sleeping Giant eventually got reversed so the kids were the "sleeping giants"
Here we have the kids getting up and "roaring" at coach

So we tell her that if someone gets all in her face roaring, she can just roar back. So we practiced. In the next few weeks (and still now) we would be places, like the Chik-fil-A indoor play area and I would hear a "Roar" from somewhere up in the slide because a boy wasn't letting her down the slide, or maybe at the playground, pretty much anywhere she may have felt threatened, she would roar.

Knocked down, but got right back up... and no tears!

By the end of the season, this little girl who was shying away from kids was fighting for the ball, getting knocked down, and getting right back up again. Of course, I attribute this to skills and self-confidence she learned through playing a sport, but we also gave her a tool to use when she was in a situation that scared her where she needed to stand up for herself. She would roar.

Running and fighting for the ball with the big boys

So thank you, Katy Perry, for this awesome empowerment song for girls. This song, with the empowering lyrics, along with the fun video (yes, the video is totally no longer cheesy in my opinion) is exactly what I want my 3 young daughters to be listening to.

8 months!

What fun did Lizzie have during month 8?
Hosted a pool party
Hosted a "Welcome back"/housewarming Luau
Went to the aquarium
Went to a Children's Museum
AND went on a 10 day, 2,591 mile road trip up to see my 96 year old Grandma, step-Grandma...

and swinging by my brother's house and crashing a Choo-choo train birthday party. (ok we didn't REALLY crash, we were invited to stay)

While on our trip we also visited this INCREDIBLE playground called Smother's park up in Owensboro, KY. That picture doesn't even do it justice! It. Was. HUGE. Each blue roof thing was it's own slide/playground/climbing thing.

source

How is Lizzie sleeping?
Bed around 9 (or later if I accidentally let her take too long of a nap), up around 6:45 to eat, then back to sleep for an hour until breakfast with the family
2... ish naps a day

What is Lizzie eating?
Mainly mommy milk, but some formula when I run out of my stock and we have a date or some fun kidless event
Is EXTREMELY curious as to what we are eating;  I made angel food cake the other day and we we were all sitting around on the couch eating it she was crawling from one person to the next with her eyes intently on the cake and trying to get some.

Loves avocado, apple sauce, bananas, most fruit.
Homemade veggie puree
I haven't had egg again... maybe I should fix that.
Actually enjoys the spaghetti with meat sauce baby food.
LOVES the pouches, and I love how easy they are

What "skills" has Lizzie mastered (or working on)?
All. Over. The. Place!
So Lizzie started to "worm" her way forward on July 4th (a week before she hit 8 months) - well by the time her 8 month-iversary came around, she was full-fledged crawling.
NOW she is pulling up on EVERYTHING and trying to get into every single drawer we have.
Our upstairs play area is a lowered area (down 2 steps), and I'm not sure that's going to hold her very long.

Plans for month 9 include...
More mommy/Lizzie time with sissy's going to school
Back to school pool playdate
Visit with Gigi and Pop pop in Georgia (while mommy and daddy go to Clemson FOOTBALL!)
Hopefully a Busch Gardens, Kids museum, aquarium trip
More pool and playground time

Happy 8 months Lizzie!

On the road again...

The girls and I head out this morning for our whirlwind road trip from Florida up to my parents house in Georgia for half a day to pick up my mom (and sleep), then on to Illinois to see my 95 year old Grandma on the farm for a few days, then we hit Kentucky for a day to see my "Grandma Martha", then back to Georgia to drop mom back off and rest for a day... and then we will make it back home to Florida a short week before school starts.

Where DID the summer go? Sheesh. I'm not ready for Charlotte to be going to school 5 days a week for VPK.

Here are the girls showing daddy where we are going on the first leg of the trip.

We stopped by the AAA office the other day to get a USA, Southeastern states, and Northeastern states map so we could track our progress. The girls are really excited about the maps.

On the way to the grocery yesterday, Charlotte had out the Southeastern states map and said, "Is the grocery on this map? I want to track us". I told her, no, the map was a little too big to see our neighborhood so I had to get on google and print out a few maps to show her our planned route for the day. She got a kick out of it.

I could be totally wrong here... but I highly doubt many kids have any clue how to read a map. I like that Charlotte is so interested! I used to love to follow along on the map during my own childhood road trips to Illinois and Kentucky.

Wish us luck on our LOOOOOONG road trip with the 3 girls!

A half a year old! :D

"Happy Half birthday to you, Happy Half birthday to...."

Ok just kidding :D We don't celebrate half birthdays in the Moore Household... yet. What age does that start? I would have to say soon for my oldest daughter. We'll see....

Like I say every month, "I can't believe Lizzie is {insert month} months old!! ". But seriously, 6 months? I should start planning her 1st birthday (again kidding... I have like 2 months before I start, lol).

What fun did Lizzie have during month 6?
- Gigi and Pop pop visited
- Went to the Spray park
- Lots of time in the pool
- Celebrated Mother's Day
- Went to her 1st ballet recital
- Became a soccer fan (sissy's practices and games)
- Went to a birthday party
- Survived her 1st tropical storm (Andrea :D )

How is Lizzie sleeping?
- Goes to bed between 8 and 9 and wakes up once around 5-6 (sometimes earlier, bleh), eats, and sleeps a little longer until maybe 8 or 9

What is Lizzie eating?
- Mommy milk
- Homemade - peas, mixed vegetables, squash, green beans, peaches
- store bought - handy dandy mixed fruit pouches for the go, prunes, carrots

What "skills" has Lizzie mastered (or working on)?
- Sits for a short while on her own
- still LOVES the jumperoo and exersaucer
- has started rocking back to her knees (crawling soon?! not yet!!)
- rolling ALL. OVER. THE. PLACE.
- She is very good at getting where she wants, she will turn herself in a 360* circle, and then roll to where she wants to go
- babbling, ""mmm ba" and "mmm blah"... is what have so far :D.

Plans for month 7 include...
Busch Gardens
Georgia for the 4th of July
Go on her first boat!
More pool, splash park fun
Beach visit

Happy 6 months Lizzie!

Reward chart and treasure box!

Charlotte's preschool class started using a reward system for getting the children to behave in class. She was only in twice a week, so they started the week with 2 gold doubloons - they gained or lost doubloons depending on how they acted. If they ended up with 6 at the end of the week they got to choose a small price from treasure box (like the party favor packs at the dollar store like magnifying glasses, bubbles, colored hair braid clips, etc). Charlotte loved it and her teacher told me she was so polite and well-behaved.

Moving over to the Moore Babies house... I was getting to the point where I was PO'd frustrated every evening at the mess in the girls rooms and the shoes and clothes strewn about the house.

We had moved from a one story small house to a 2 story much larger house. So picking up shoes and toys after 4 (yes, husband is included in this, no offense hubby) kids is a lot more time consuming in the new house.

I finally decided to start our very own "Treasure box", but instead of gold doubloons, I found (and tweaked) a sticker chart. I actually just googled "free toddler chore chart" and found one that I liked and then added a column in photoshop. (I like the Modern Toddler Chore Chart from dandee)

The girls have to:
1. make up their beds (Jillie gets help)
2. Put their clothes in the hamper or if we are downstairs, into the washing machine
3. Bring their breakfast, lunch, and dinner plates over to the sink
4. Pick up their room (the play room is a different story)
5. Put their shoes in the closet in the hang-up rack (I found mine at bed bath and beyond)

At the end of each day, we go through each item, and they get stickers for the chores they have completed. If they don't do a chore, they get an "X"... 3 "X"'s means NO treasure box.

 

On Saturday evening, they get TREASURE BOX! I filled my treasure box with stuff from the target dollar section, dollar store, etc. (ok so some of the items are more than a dollar, but they were SOOOO cute!) I flip a coin to see who gets to pick first (although I may just alternate!).

And then it was Jillie's turn...

We have been doing this a month or so now and it's going pretty well. This past week Charlotte had some attitude and got 2 "X"s. But after reminding her what was at stake, she changed her tune and has been making up her bed first thing in the morning ever since! (score 1 for mommy)

5 months... slow down please!

What activities did Lizzie do during month 5?Day trip to SeaWorld with friends
Watching sissy's 1st soccer games
Went in the pool
Went to Busch Gardens
Went to the Spray Park

How is Lizzie sleeping?
- Goes to bed between 8 and 9 and wakes up once around 4/5, eats, and sleeps a little longer until maybe 8 or 9

What is Lizzie eating?
- Mommy milk
- Started oatmeal... not so much a fan.
- Tried banana... BIG fan!

What "skills" has Lizzie mastered?- Trying to sit up
- LOVES the jumperoo and exersaucer
- Kind of over the Bumbo seat, but will tolerate it in small doses
- loves to be pulled up to a standing position
- blows raspberries/bubbles

Plans for month 6 include...
Lots of pool time
Busch Gardens
Memorial Weekend fun


Happy 5 months Lizzie!

Inch by inch and row by row...

I mentioned in my Mother's day Post last week that we put in a garden...

Well I am excited to announce that my green beans have started to sprout. Hurray!

 

Also, the tomato plants that we transplanted have managed to come back.

 

We planted zucchini squash, a few different types of tomatoes, green beans, some herbs, and marigolds around the outside (which, as I'm told, will help keep the bugs away!)

Now, I am admitting it now, I do NOT have a green thumb, so send your well wishes my way that I can keep this small garden going!

Happy {be-lated} Mother's Day!

I hope all you moms out there had a wonderful Mother's Day! I had a great weekend.

Saturday we had Charlotte's soccer game (which hubby and I are the coaches for), usually my mother-in-law joins us for games and practices so she can watch the younger two, but she said she would watch the kids at home on Saturday since with picture day it would be long. Liar :) We got home to see 4 cars in the driveway and my mother-in-law and helpers setting up storage racks and organizing my garage! Awesome!

To make it even BETTER... she and her helpers managed to bring our HUGE non-rolling, rusted, grill from the old house to our backyard. Oh. Happy. Day! I have been without a grill for WAY too long.

Saturday night we grilled out as a family, got slightly rained out on the back porch, then played in the puddles out front, and ended the night watching baseball with a neighbor while the kids played upstairs.

Sunday, we got all dressed for church and I got some shots of the girls and I.

 

Had lunch at home, then we went to the park. The girls actually let me lay down in the shade with the car seat while they entertained themselves (score!)

Then we came back to the house and the girls played in the silly sprinkler thing...

and then we went in the pool...

we planted a garden with the help of my mother-in-law...

 

and ended the day grilling out and having dinner on the back patio as the sunset.

I am a lucky mom!