So starting with the kids and updates. Jake is now 8 months! He is such a big kid already! He started sitting up about 2 weeks before his 6 month birthday and loves playing like that as long as mommy is not around. He is such a momma's boy and constantly wants to be held. He definitely recognizes the word "mama" and he does say it when someone else is holding him and he's reaching for me. Not sure if I'm going to call it his first word yet, but it's pretty consistently the only time he makes those sounds, so it seems like he knows what it means. He is such a talker too! He is constantly talking to his toys and to Aurora. He still loves Aurora to pieces. She can be yelling at him and he giggles at her. He is such a little giggler. LOVE IT!
Jake has 2 teeth! And it looks like more are on the way. The left front bottom tooth (sorry - don't know technical terms) came in 12/27 and the right just a few days later on 1/3. I joked that he was so close to getting his 2 front teeth for Christmas.
Jake is rolling around like crazy. He is not crawling yet and I think it will probably be at least another month. He gets up on his hands and knees and scoots backwards, but that's it so far. He will take steps when we hold his hands, but it's only when he's trying to get to me :) It doesn't seem like he enjoys it.
Jake is actually a super happy baby now. The first 5-6 months he was pretty temperamental, but now he is all smiles. He still throws fits and I think he might be even more strong willed than Aurora, but he's mostly happy. I think a lot of that may have to do with the fact that he is FINALLY sleeping decently. But that has only happened in the last 3-4 weeks. He was hard to figure out and I can't say what one thing we did to finally get him on a schedule, but it was a lot of hard work and trying to be consistent and I think now he is a reasonable sleeper. He seems to be converting to one nap pretty quickly - probably a result of our crazy schedule. I'm not complaining though. One long nap is much easier to plan for.
He LOVES food and eats everything. Except peas. He seriously gags on peas. Everything else goes straight in the mouth and he gets very excited about food. He is eating all the baby solids. Pears seem to be his favorite along with the chicken/apples combo. But he is a pretty good eater no matter what. He eats at least 3 stage 2 foods a day, sometimes more. He loves snacking on crackers, toast, cheerios, puffs, and celery (weirdo). He just really loves food. LOVES food. He is so my kid.
Aurora on the other hand... while extremely passionate about food she has a definite preference and is extremely picky. Mealtimes are a battle and I am very done. 3 times a day fighting her to eat something healthy is exhausting. All she wants to eat is ice cream, brownies, cake pops, chips, and spongebob mac and cheese. And toast. I can at least get her to eat whole grain toast. But if its a fruit or a vegetable it's like pulling teeth. It's terrible. I really don't enjoy meal times with her. She will sit there for an hour and whine at me and not touch her food. I have to give her the fruit first and not let her have anything else until she eats it. And it takes forever. The pediatrician gave me a flier for a support group for parents of picky eaters.... Tempted to go and see if they have any ideas. I feel like I've tried everything! I hide the fruits and veggies and she still finds them in things. She won't eat it if she doesn't like the way it looks and she won't give anything a chance. She puts it in her mouth and then gags on it and throws up. I'm totally not exaggerating. It's terrible. Hopefully something she will out grow... At least she is growing and "healthy" according to the doctor. She had her 3 year check up a few weeks ago and she is now 30lbs and 37." Apparently very average so I guess that's good. She looks healthy to me and seems to have more than enough energy, so I'm not worried, its just frustrating to fight her on it every time she eats.
Aurora is so hard to get a picture of. She likes making silly faces :( And half the time the pictures are a total blur.
