The Little Mother- E 18 Months

Esther is such the little mother.
Oh melt my heart.

Today I see her cuddling her baby doll and rocking it and holding it and feeding it it's bottle, dancing with it even to some music in the background. I comment on that and say how I love watching her do that. Then Grant walks over and starts whacking the doll in the stomach area.

She is SO different than Grant.
Grant has always been aggressive, like totally opposite of nurturing and cuddly with the baby (which was a real baby- Esther).

We got to watch a neighbor's baby the other day and E helped me feed him. She soaked it up.
I am a total believer in gender differences. I have tried everything to help Grant be a little more of that nurturing sort of person....and Esther just does it- no prompting, no nothing- she just IS.

E 17 Months with Video

She's starting to talk more- more words. She says "Thank You" which I love...

Then there's the other side:

She screams "Mine!"

She is the feistiest little stubborn girl. She knows what she wants. She will fight for what she wants- it's usually freedom. When I'm rocking her to sleep she won't allow my arm on her or blanket touching her- she needs to be able to get down if she wants with nothing in her way- usually she's tired enough she'll drift off but when she's not tired enough, there is no making her stay there-

The best thing is having a conversation with her when she's grumpy or done with something. 

It goes like this: 

Me: "Esther, do you want to do ____". 

Esther: "Uh-uh!"

Me: "You want ___?"

Esther: "No!"

Me: "You want______?"

Esther: "Mmm-mmm!'

Until I figure it out.....

Then she'll say 'Uh." in this tone that is satisfied with the offering.

I got one of these conversations for your viewing pleasure:

"CHEESE!"

Just like her cousin!

She'll do this all the time- just find the floor and lay down and roll around. I call her my wiggle worm because she just is wiggly wiggly wiggly. She can't stop moving and feeling everything with her body. 

Precious little angel. 

Love her.

She's always putting everything on to wear- it doesn't matter what it is, as long as it's fabric, it goes on her legs or around her shoulders. 

Her shirt is her skirt today. And no, I still haven't recovered the couch! AH! I need to do that!

Did I mention I babysit? One of the little girls is 3 days older than Esther and has curly hair. It's like having twins! They have fun together.

Look! BRAIDS!!!!! I straightened her hair to see if I could braid it! I love that it's so long now!

Usually her hair looks like this though because some days she's just not in the mood for brushing her hair. Oh well, she sure is a cutie whatever her hair may be doing. 

Oh THE BEST thing ever that happened the other day when our neighbor boy was picking on Esther and Grant went up and moved him aside and told him firmly "Do not do that to Esther!" Me and the other moms had a good laugh. 

He's becoming very protective over her- only he's allowed to pick on her. Guess that's how it goes with siblings. 

Anyway Esther is certainly entertaining and keeps our house JUMPING with life and there is never ever ever a dull moment with her around. There are so many moments lately I wish I could freeze and hold in my heart forever. 

She's going to nursery now too- yah, I know a little early but we left her when we went to her cousin Asa's blessing and so we tried it out last week and she was great. So hopefully she'll like to keep going- so weird since it took Grant till he was like 3 till he finally was fine with being left and going on his own. 

What an independent, special little girl. How do I ever keep up with her? 

E Sleeps on the Floor

Progression of E's sleeping positions:

We usually hear her bump into the wall or something, then we go in a check on her and she's here.
Jay says she falls asleep praying. ha ha.

And that's how she ends up before eventually coming into our room to get a midnight snack and cuddle up for the rest of the night. 

Esther the One Year Old

Esther Joy

1 Year

Esther has many names around here:
Sparkles.
Fun.
CRAZY girl.
Dancer.
Cat.
Baby boo.
lil' giwrl. (Grant when he's being sweet to her)
Goo-goo (I call her that- I hate it- I think it's the dumbest nickname ever but for some reason it continually rolls off my tongue when I'm talking to her.)
Wiggle worm (she squirms around on the floor with her face flat on the ground- it's super weird and adorable at the same time).

Favorites?

Food: yogurt and peaches (that's pretty much it- she's kind of been picky- I think because of teething)

Activity: Books- that will always make her smile. She also is enjoying the water table we just got and the sand box. She also LOVEs playing "chase" with daddy- he holds her and runs after Grant- I think she likes to be in the middle of the action.

Word: Meow. Seriously. That is just her word for any animal- and she also meows at me when she wants to go outside. And she also has to meow right as she's nodding off to sleep. It's like her thing- she likes talking about it and she's so happy when you talk to her about any of those things that she is referring to from her meowing.

Person: Mommy. She likes dad but it's pretty much mom she wants. I know she likes being around Grant...sometimes.

Article of clothing: SHOES! She loves loves loves her shoes and socks on. And sweaters. Because that means we are going outside! She loves outside.


Least favorites?

Being strapped into her highchair

Oh- she's totally done with the crib. Won't sleep in it anymore- she likes to snuggle as she drifts off and I am not climbing into the crib to do that so we took the mattress out so we can snuggle as she falls asleep.

Strangers- she is totally not liking them. At. All.


We celebrated just us and made a watermelon cake.

 This past year has been one crazy ride but I'm grateful this girl has been here with us. She brings light into our lives and adds so much to our family. Love you Esther girl.

Here's some pictures from last month:

Did you find a book baby?

This one!

first pigtails

she loves color 

more pigtails! she's not a huge fan.

finger painting....

I popped her in the kitchen sink afterwards :)

"EESH!" she copies grant now and says cheese when I get the camera out. so cute.

Helping to wake up Grant- she climbs on him...he doesn't really like that.

That smile!

 Love her to pieces!!!!

Happy Birthday beautiful!

Esther 11 Months

 Esther Joy 

11 Months

It works this way. Esther as the 2nd child. I don't think it would have worked the other way around- personality wise.

When I would read to Grant, he would sit there contently as I made expressions and inflections and he would smile.

Esther is a whirlwind. She demands to be read to. "Uhhhh Uuuuh!!!!" is her plea. I had to move the bookshelf out of her room so she wouldn't jump off my lap and break her neck from all flinging herself in despair that we can't keep reading and take a nap.

But really- I had time with Grant- he was my first baby, I had time and attention all for him as he was just patient and content. Esther needed her personality as the 2nd because there is a toddler and if she's going to be read to it's because she makes it perfectly clear that it must be done.

She is demanding. That's the word for the month. Okay, and FUN. I can't not say that word this month as well.

She dances and sings and copies little noises.

Exhibit A:

Her first one was "Uh-oh" and she would say it all day into the night as this and that drops to the ground- on purpose of course, just for the joy of using her words! Then lately it's been wagging a finger and saying "Uh-uh" (meaning "no"). 

From her curly blonde hair, blue eyes, to her "Mater teeth". Have you seen Cars? Yes, she has Mater teeth right now. And her fat playdoe feet! I could watch her all day- oh wait I do and I love it! She is so beautiful and lively.

She is just full of LIFE.

Mater Teeth

Did you know one night I was feeling sad. I was just needing some comfort. I remember thinking how wonderful it would be if God could just send me an angel to give me a big hug. Guess who woke up not 5 seconds later?

At first, I sigh, going, "You have to be a mom even when you don't feel like it" to realizing that God was telling me he sent me an angel. And as I held her and caressed her sweet cheek with mine I felt my Heavenly Father's love.  She is one of my angels. I'm so blessed to be able to feel her little heart beat so close to mine.

She keeps me on my toes. Especially when she is tired. At church today I realized she isn't going to sleep as long as we are out somewhere and there are people.  I could persuade Grant with some nursing but Esther is a different creature. So I brought this tired tired baby to Relief Society with me (did I mention we have 1 o'clock church- right during her long big nap) and she's sitting there blowing raspberries, demanding the lady next to me she must open her bag and see what's inside- which the kind lady let her look and gave her some snacks- which of course are better than the snacks I brought her- and then dancing to the hymns.

I don't think my heart can take it. How can I have been so blessed?

I love you Esther girl and can't wait to celebrate 1 YEAR here at the end of the month!

E 10 Months

Ladies and Gentlemen....

We have some changes here.

Crawling! On Thanksgiving day- and of course it was at Nana and Papa's! (Big milestones for the kids are always reached there for some reason as we visit).

Binky throwing champion! She grabs it and flings it angrily across the room thinking that means she doesn't have to sleep. I'm not going to fumble through the dark to go get it- guess that means no binky but sleep is still part of the program missy. I'm such a mean mom sometimes.

Biting! Yikes- Grant takes a toy and watch out! Attack mode happens quickly along with a screech of anger in a split second with Grant around.

Laughing- there is always plenty of that too- they do play well together a lot of the time. And it's the cutest darn thing. It's music to my ears.

Screaming...okay so after the laughter inevitably comes the warrior cries. Now that we have a mover, I've come to terms that I do actually have to teach my children to share and play nice. Grant just has to learn now- I guess that's where I come in the picture. Wish me luck. It really is a battlefield. 

Nursing- wars are over though! She finally loves nursing- still on her time table of course- but she actually enjoys cuddles with mommy now! I'm so glad!

Favorites?
Frozen peas of course. Great for those tender gums as the teeth come through.
Baths!
Going anywhere outside and different people and places. She gets bored at home.
People- but favorite is mom at the moment.
BOOKS!!! Oh my she can't get enough of them. She'll be dead tired and scream if I close the book and have the lights off so she can sleep. But then she'll zonk out- oh man but wow- very expressive about her love of books.



How would you describe your little E?

"Whipper snapper"-Jay
"Feisty"-Grant
"Strong-willed"- Aubrey
"FUN!"- both parents
"Inquisitive"
"Special"- friends

I don't know what it is about this little girl but she does have a special spirit. There is something important on this earth that she is meant to do here and she has an effect on others. I've had a few people say that they feel they know her or have known her before. Well, it doesn't surprise me I guess that people would know her because I totally know we existed before this earth life- but that they will tell me that and know it themselves.  This girl has the personality to be strong. I can only imagine what she will need to face going into this crazy world we live in nowadays.

I kind of question sometimes if I can be a mother to one so strong. She makes me want to do better and be better and learn more about our Heavenly Father and our purpose here with our family. We are so very blessed to have her influence and light in our lives. Oh and how we love her.

She enjoys eating! All by herself. 

Pointing and "talking" She babbles about EVERYTHING!

after bathtime she has the SWEETEST blonde little curls!