Wilder and Felicity December 16

For the first time since I was pregnant with Wilder, I've really dropped the ball on monthly updates. The holiday season was hectic and neither of the kids slept well--lots of wakings throughout the night, early mornings, trouble with naps--it was tiring and we had a hard time getting anything done. I think we're on the flip side now on all of that (hopefully!) but I'm still trying to catch up on life. I don't want to skip the updates for December and January because both kids have been growing and developing so much. I want to remember this season in their lives, and this is how I do it. So if you'll indulge me, I'm going to take a look back at Wilder and Felicity's December! 

Felicity - 14 months (December 2016)

Felicity's personality is growing as fast as her hair. Such opinions, so many smiles. She's cruising everywhere and occasionally letting go to stand up without assistance for a few seconds. She likes to carry things around while crawling, which is difficult, but she's determined. Just this month, Felicity has figured out push toys and she gamely toddles along after Wilder as he runs a loop around the house pushing a different toy.

Felicity is our little cheez-it, she beams at family and acquaintances. I also call her my little Nugget, and after hearing me sing "nuggie nuggie nuggie" in the super Mario brothers tune, Wilder calls her "nuggie nuggie nuggie" all the time right now. She likes to pick off stickers and grab things with her strong little fingers. Daily she gets into my purse, pulls out everything and starts picking out the credit cards from the slots in my wallet. For Christmas she got a toy purse with a phone, keys, credit card, mirror and a bracelet and she's been taking things out and putting them back in, then holding it and crawling off toward the door like she's going to go somewhere. Right now she wants anything that's mine: makeup, food, phone, comb, drink... she is my little copycat!

She has two new molars this month and some swollen gums so I think more teeth are coming. She's just gotten over being sick, teething, leap 9--it's been a rough and clingy month. But I know in my heart that this little girl is not going to my cuddle bug like Wilder. When she hurts herself, she wants to be held for about 2 seconds and then she gets mad and tells me in Felicity language exactly what happened. No sympathy wanted. She is tough! So when she is clingy, it's out of the ordinary for her. It's just this stage! It's been a tough few weeks with illness and travel in our house. Last week several nights both kids were up needing us 6 times in all. 

She's baby talking up a storm. It's ALMOST words. You can actually understand what she's trying to communicate a lot of times. She says the sounds and tones of words, but not quite the actual words, for a lot of words.

Felicity takes 1-2 naps a day. Still only adding up to maybe 2 hours each day. So a lot less than Wilder. 

She eats most anything, and loves protein like meatballs, bacon, chicken--you name it!

Wilder 3 years and a month

It was neat to see Wilder take in the Christmas season as a three-year-old. We worked on our advent tree craft every morning, and our advent calendar. He played with our toy nativity set all the time. We discussed Jesus' birth. He understood presents REAL quick, as we have multiple occasions with family to open presents. He seemed to enjoy each and every gift. My favorite thing about Wilder this month was his reaction to opening gifts. When it was his turn, he had to hide because he couldn't handle the anticipation. He wanted Zach to open his gift and then he would come running to check it out. It was just too much excitement to open it himself. So so so cute.

Wilder had so much fun with family over the holidays. Christmas Eve at Jashley and Grant's, Wilder played with the myriad of second and third cousins his age. They had so much fun and it definitely has changed the atmosphere of the holidays :-). 

When we were playing a game at Zach's Aunt Jan and Uncle Tom's house, he got really into the rolling of the dice. He got to participate. When Tom rolled a particularly fancy roll, Wilder exclaimed "Good JOB Tom!" hahahaha. 

When I tell him I love him, he's started saying "Awww, so cute." I would respond with "So cute YOU are!" and now I have a little Yoda. He tells me "Aw, so cute you are!" all the time. It makes my heart happy. :-)

Anyway, here is a big load of photos of the two of them from two days in December. Hope you enjoy!

THOSE CURLS

I have  photos of me looking like this at her age!

hahahaha

he's saying "aw, so cute you are."

dainty

Wilder is 3!

3 years old

Wilder is 3 years old! I blinked my eyes and he went from a newborn to a tender hearted but tough little boy. Because of him, our lives are full of vehicles, trains planes and construction equipment. He loves playing chase around the house while he pushes any rolling apparatus (right now it's Felicity's stroller push walker or his shopping cart), reading, watching his shows and playing with his toys.

I just feel so blessed that Wilder is the son God gave us. It's such a joy to watch him grow and take in his world. I love hearing him talk about what he's doing, and it's been really neat watching him pursue his interests.

Wilder is such a sweetheart. I will never get tired of hearing him say "awww hi mama" when he sees me. He tells me "aww so cute" and I think it's how he says "I love you" right now. But he says "I love you" too. He makes my heart explode, this kid.

Earlier this week, with thanksgiving craziness, I needed to make the kids dinner, but Felicity was DONE playing on the floor. She wanted to be held. I asked Wilder to play with her - he was playing with a car toy that the Airbnb house had. He was really sweet and said "Look Felicity. This is a car ramp. And look! Here's the car. See how it goes up the ramp?" And just started explaining to her what he was doing. She stopped fussing and started listening. He's actually good at helping her calm down if she gets upset. He's learning to share with her, and it's surprising to me how kind he is to her. He laughs when she does something funny, and he seems to enjoy her crawling into his bed to play in the morning.

We had a rough couple of weeks with testing boundaries, but we seem to have worked through it for now. We'll see what the future holds!

This week we stayed in new braunfels for Thanksgiving. We stayed on a farm with a bunch of tractors, goats and a big dog. Wilder loved exploring and went on long walks down the gravel driveway every day, pushing his toy lawn mower.

Today wasWilder's birthday party and it was construction vehicle themed. He loved all the decor, and he had a great time with all the kids that came. It was so much fun watching him enjoy himself.

Here are some photos from this week on the farm!

looking at the dog!

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