Long Overdue Update

I know it's been way too long since I've posted any pictures or updates when people start asking me to please put up some pictures b/c they miss the kiddos. We've had a crazy past couple of months. We've battled a couple of illnesses, including 3 weeks of a wretched stomach virus, one of us at a time (except Karis, which is really amazing!). Marc's grandmother also was very sick and in the hospital for quite a while, so he was heading out to East Texas a couple of times a week. But thankfully she is doing much better now.
My sister was also in town for about a week, and it was her first time to meet Karis! We had to take advantage of everyone being together, so we took a family photo. I don't think any of the kids are looking at the camera, but it's still a pretty good one.
Aunt Emily and Karis
Emily, Matt, and Caleb


Back in August we also got a Rose family photo - love it

Update - Karis

The last time I blogged was about 2 months ago, and I was in the process of sleep training with Karis. I am so excited to be able to report that she is sleeping great! She goes down for the night about 6:30pm, wakes up once to nurse, and sleeps until about 6:30am. She takes a good morning and afternoon nap every day. Each time I lay her down, night or nap, she either doesn't cry at all or only for a few minutes. It's made such a huge difference to me, because I actually have some time to myself or with Marc in the evenings, and sometimes even dinner with a friend. Since I last blogged, Karis started crawling, got 2 teeth, and is pulling up and standing. She's still not fond of the bottle and refuses pureed solids, whether jarred or something I made. But over the past few weeks I have discovered that she loves finger foods. So she eats puffs, banana chunks, avocado pieces, and softened apple chunks. I need to come up with some new options, but am so thankful she's finally eating some solids.

She continues to be such a happy, easy-going, sweet baby girl. She loves bath time and especially loves playing with her big brother. Karis is also babbling more and saying "mama" and "dada", although I don't think she assigns the meaning to either of us yet....but I kind of think her first words will be "mama" ;) The other day I was walking away from her to do something in the kitchen and she started crawling after me fussing and saying "mamamama".
She has the longest tongue (like me!) and is constantly sticking it out - too funny.
We have been enjoying this beautiful weather by going to the park almost every day. Karis loves being outside, though I have to constantly try to keep her from eating the grass :)

She is into everything, crawling and exploring like mad
Her 2 little teeth - though they're much bigger than this now
Attempting to climb the stairs!
Yes, these are the looks I get when trying to feed her solids
Cracks me up every time!
And these last 4 are my favorites - in her adorable outfit from Aunt Janice - thank you! She started out sitting up in the cart, but decided to get much more comfortable by the end...

Two of a Kind

Update - Caleb

Where to begin? Caleb was officially 2 1/2 a few weeks ago, and he is every bit of a two-year-old. Have you ever seen the Sour Patch Kids commercials? They're sweet one minute and sour the next. Yeah, that's a pretty good description of Caleb these days. He is such a sweetheart most of the time - hugging and kissing his sister, listening so well etc. And then as he's beginning to assert his independence, we get some of the sour. 30 minute meltdowns happen several times a week, sometimes almost daily. All it takes is for him to not get what he wanted, and he's screaming and crying and pitching the biggest toddler fit you can imagine. Those are particularly exhausting for me, and I find this stage to be very trying - very rewarding, but also very trying. The Lord is definitely using it to refine me. If I am not on my knees in the morning asking the Lord for strength and patience, well, then I am not as patient with Caleb as I want and need to be. His favorite phrase right now is "I thought I was gonna do it". It's pretty amusing most of the time, minus the times that a meltdown follows.

Caleb is also potty training - well - sort of. He likes to pee on the potty and can do it all by himself, from undressing to getting on potty, down and washing his hands. His favorite part is the 2 M&Ms that follow. But he absolutely refuses to do any other "business" on the potty. The picture above is from a night when Marc was out of town and I took the kids to a frozen yogurt place. Caleb was so incredibly excited about it and talked about it for days. I decided to use this opportunity and told him that when he goes poo on the potty for the first time we will go as a family to celebrate at the frozen yogurt place. Even that incentive hasn't worked yet. But that is Caleb's personality. There is no forcing or talking him in to doing something. He will do it when he decides that he wants to. I'm just hoping it's not too long from now :)

Caleb has also started randomly talking about things that he heard at church or from me and Marc. A few weeks ago he was playing and just started saying "The Bible says is absolutely true". I asked him where he heard that, and he said his class at church. I love that they are teaching the children at such a young age that there is absolute truth, and it is found in God's Word. Caleb has also started wanting to pray. The other day he bowed his head before eating his snack and started thanking God for his snack, Karis' sippy cup, his racecar, and everything else within sight. He also prayed that God would help him to not be scared of dinosaurs and lions and that He would give him peace and protect him. Yes, he used those words. This is what Marc and I pray aloud for him every night -by his request. We definitely learned the hard way about what Caleb watches. We let him watch The Land Before Time (such a cute movie but the t-rex is scary!) and ever since he has had trouble falling asleep on his own at night. I'm sure it won't be the last mistake we make as parents, but sometimes I could kick myself for that one!

Aunt Janice, Caleb loves his new shirt with pockets in the front - he really digs pockets of any kind.
He is all about football and baseball these days. He even got to go to the World Series last night with Gramps and Grammy (pictures to come)...lucky kid!

I love this sweet boy of mine so much and especially love watching him play and carrying on lots conversations together about all sorts of things.