Dillieee! (Lillie!)

Jeneva is definitely going to miss her "Dillie." They are about 6 weeks apart and they both are just about to have their worlds turned upside down becoming BIG sisters to new siblings!


They are built a little differently, but at times they could pass as twins!

TODAY, by the way, is Lillie's 2nd birthday. Happy Birthday, sweet little girl! We will miss you!

Jeneva and Her Pacifiers

After we returned from our road trip to Pennsylvania, we decided to FINALLY wean Jeneva off of her pacifier! She is our first child to even like one, so it has been a new experience for us. Once I realized that her new baby sister might take a pacifier here in a few months, I knew it was time to get rid of them so that she wouldn't end up stealing her baby sister's!

As you can see, she likes pacifiers, and she was most happy to have one in her mouth and one or two more in her hands (as added security, I guess). She really showed little preference to the type of pacifier she had, and if she were given three different kinds, she would actually probably choose the hospital newborn green one (that you see in her mouth).

So, I guess we officially got rid of the pacifier around 19 or 20 months. And it went REALLY well. We strictly only allowed them at nap and bedtime for a week, then after that, I started offering her a sippie cup of water to go to bed with instead (that is what her sisters always wanted). It seemed to work just fine! She may have only asked for a pacifier once (when she had fallen and gotten hurt), but she has done remarkably well.

Jeneva and Her Buddy

This picture is SEVERAL weeks old, but it is a special one of Jeneva with her good buddy Lillie! :)

Jeneva and Her Extra Meals

Jeneva always knows that Jane's seat at the table is always good for an extra few bites. ;)

Jeneva and Her Vocabulary

Our little 17 month old girlie is such a joy to all of us. She is growing up so fast and has a personality all her own! Lately she has begun expressing herself a lot more through language. She can understand almost any "normal or typical" instruction and can say a few words herself.

Vocabulary: Some of her favorite animal sounds to make are "kack-kack" (duck), "meow" (for cat said in a very high voice), "oo-oo" (for dog said in a really low voice), and "moooo" (for cow).

She loves to say "tickle, tickle, tickle!" while tickling one of us.

If one of us is down on the floor, she runs over to climb on our backs. Once she is holding on tight she says, "Go! Go!"

Of course, she says "Dadda," "Momma," "Dule (Jewel), "Dane" (Jane), "Danda" (Gandalf), and "Lilla" (Lillie, her friend at church).

She says "nana" for banana, "taint you" for thank you, "done" after her diaper has been changed, "gone" when she finishes her food.

She says, "no" (for yes and no) and "uh, uh" (for yes and no). You just have to look at her expression to determine what she really means!

She says, "book" and "Bible" and "bubble."

She says, "hi" and "bye."

She makes all sorts of other somewhat intelligible sounds that I am not thinking of right now. Somtimes they don't sound like the word at all, but she says them consistently for that particular thing.

She also enjoys pointing to different parts of her body when prompted: eyes, ears, nose, mouth, hair, tummy, hands, and feet.

Update: I have thought of several other words since I posted this, and since I can happen to think of a few of them at this particular moment, I thought I better jot them down (for memory's sake). One of her first words was "uh-oh" (I can't believe I forgot that one!). She also says, "nigh- nigh" (night night), "cold," and "boo!"

Playtime: In addition to her vocabulary, she is learning all sorts of other things. She loves to color alongside her sisters, play with babies, play in the bathtub, go outside, get into (and reorganize) school supplies, look at books, play with cell phones, and ultimately make lots of messes. She loves stools and chairs and has discovered they are very useful in reaching things.

But above everything, she loves her pacifier. She is our first baby to ever take a pacifier so this "weaning from a pacifier" is a new thing for us. She just loves it so much. We try to keep it in her bed and just let her have it at naps and bedtime, but she always finds a way to get it! And she is most happy and content when she has one pacifier in her mouth and a spare one in her hand. She is so silly!

Eating habits: Jeneva eats pretty well. Like Jane, she loves to "dip" her foods. She is bad about whining for more of what she likes best on her plate and not finishing her less desired food, however if we don't comply with giving her more, she will usually work on the other foods on her plate. Whenever anyone at the table gets another scoopful of something, she holds her plate up demanding an extra spoonful as well. Many times just tapping the empty serving spoon on her plate will satisfy her and will be greeted with a "taint you" (thank you). Jeneva loves to use her eating utensils. She doesn't use her hands unless she is really hungry and having a hard time getting her food on her fork or spoon.

Sleeping habits: Jeneva is finally sleeping through the night. Occasionally, she will wake in the night for a few seconds but will usually go back to sleep on her own. For a while she was waking about 5:30 or so and would not go back to sleep until we feed her breakfast, then she would happily go back to sleep once her tummy was full for another hour or two. Thankfully, she has been sleeping until 7 or 7:30 lately (which is really nice!). Some days Jeneva has one nap and other days she takes two. It just really depends. It seems like lately she is moving toward a pretty long 2+ hour nap and goes down around 11 or 12.

Jeneva and Her Christmas Treat

Here is sweet little Jeneva enjoying a candy cane after dinner! :)

Jeneva and Her Pooh Bear fix

Jeneva is usually too busy to sit still and watch anything (which is fine with us!), but she has a soft spot for her Winnie the Pooh. We have found that she really loves the two classic ones we have The Honey Tree and The Blustery Day. She hasn't really cared for the new ones we tried from the library! She is soooo cute! :)
(BTW, this was around Thanksgiving and the weather was REALLY warm, just in case you are concerned we underdress our children!) :)

Jeneva and Her Blankie

Jeneva definitely has a place in her heart for her blankie. Whenever she sees it she wants it. Many times she just buries her face in it. It is so sweet!

Jeneva and Her Big Sis

While I was doing a reading lesson with Jane, Jewel occupied Jeneva by reading a book to her. I am really appreciating Jewel's ability to entertain and help out with Jeneva (when Jeneva will let her)!

Jeneva and Her Sisters

These pictures were taken probably 2 months ago (before Jeneva began walking on her own).

Jeneva and her "Balls"

Jeneva loves her "balls" (grapes) and she loves the refrigerator!

Jeneva and Her Popcicles

Oh, how Jeneva LOVES popsicles. She can eat them so well. It is amazing! I am sure that popsicles did not even make it into the "view" of my other two until they were well over one (probably much later with Jewel), but with my third born I guess I am a bit of a softie! Afterall, they feel really good on her gums as she is cutting teeth! :)

Jeneva and Her Ritz Crackers

OK, first of all, it absolutely melts my heart to see Jeneva sitting like she is in this first picture. I LOVE seeing her little feet! :)

Jeneva found a package of Ritz crackers in my purse! :)

And proceeded to chow down on them...

What a sweetie! :)

Jeneva and Her Crayons

Jeneva likes putting things in her mouth. Jeneva likes crayons. Jeneva loves putting crayons in her mouth! :)

A Jeneva Update

I will be the first to admit that poor little Jeneva's life has been the least documented of any of our children. So here is my feeble attempt to write down and remember a little about Jeneva's growth and development in this 9th month.

First of all, Jeneva is our first child ever to crawl. This alone has made this stage very different from our other two baby experiences. Jeneva has become a little explorer. Originally, she used her ability to crawl to follow us around, but now she just heads in whatever direction she wants and explores and plays!

Like all babies, she loves to put things in her mouth. She loves to get ahold of crayons. Her first tooth broke through last week (9 months, 3 weeks).

Jeneva had her first fever last week. There were really no other symptoms, and it turned out to be a sort of fever virus that has a body rash at the end. Jewel had these types of viruses at least 2 or 3 times when she was a baby.

Jeneva began pulling up on furniture a couple weeks ago (9 months, 1 week). She is not really cruising around the furniture yet, but is close.

She loves her sisters and gets a twinkle in her eye and breaks out into a big smile when they are close to her because she knows she can reach out and pull their hair! They think it is funny (usually!).

Jeneva's absolute favorite person is her Daddy. The only reason I can even come close to competing for this title is because I take care of her 24 hours a day and nurse her! Her first word (and only word so far) was Da Da, and she knows exactly who she is talking to or about. When she and I go hunting for "Da Da," she starts waving and saying Da Da as soon as she sees him. It is so cute. So that leads me to another milestone...Jeneva can wave! (But usually only to her precious Da Da.) And, since you were wondering, no, she can't say Ma Ma yet. She may be able to say the sounds but she doesn't say them to me.

Jeneva has loved her bed from the day she was born. As long as I read her "signs" and know when she is tired, she will let me just lay her right down in her bed awake with her blanket and pacifier and she will go to sleep. She still does wake up a time or two during the night, but I hope that will soon be coming to an end.

Jeneva is our first baby to really "take" a pacifier. I try to only give it to her in her bed, when we are traveling, or at church.

Jeneva knows how to kiss. She does the pucker/ kissing/ smacking thing...so cute! However, when you get close to her face, she opens her mouth to suck on your face!

She likes spending time outside in her wagon or sitting by Daddy while he pulls weeds.

Jeneva likes putting things over her face/head and playing peak a boo. Super cute!

Well, that's all for now. Here are some cute pictures to enjoy!

Here Jeneva is enjoying some black beans.
Jeneva enjoying her mobility and learning to pull up to a standing position.

This is one of Jeneva's "silly" faces. She is such a little tease!

Me and My #3! :)

One night I happened to think that I have almost no pictures of me with Jeneva (come to think of it, I may not even have one!). So, I got Jewel to take a picture of us. Jeneva was pretty sleepy and I am sure I have no makeup on, but there is the picture! :)

Jeneva and Her Food

This little girl loves eating. She is not so much into baby food though. She prefers eating what we are eating diced into small, soft, bite-size pieces. No teeth yet, so she is gumming everything. This is the first baby we have had the bibs with the "pockets" on the front. They are great food collectors! :)

Jeneva and Her Sisters

Jeneva loves her sisters as long as they play gently with her. The hardest part about having "sickies" in the house is trying to keep the girls out of Jeneva's face. They love her so much, and it is so hard for them to stay away.


This picture is at least a month old. I think Jeneva began sitting up on her own right at 6 months. At around 6 1/2 months she stopped having occasional head dives! :)

Jeneva and Her Food!

Jeneva LOVES to eat. She especially loves to feed herself those little Puffs and these rice rusks (pictured). So far I have made the following baby food for her: pears, bananas, apples, avacodos, sweet potatoes, green beans, and peas (I think that is all so far). She has eaten rice cereal for a few weeks and is just now working through a box of baby oatmeal. So far she has enjoyed everything but the green beans.

Jeneva and Her Feet!

Jeneva loves her feet. She is going to love this warmer weather when she won't have socks or footed clothing on. Whenever we lay her on her changing table, she grabs her feet and usually puts them in her mouth. It makes changing diapers a bit of challenge when she won't let go of her foot! Thankfully Jeneva doesn't have any teeth yet. Once she "bit" her toe a little too hard and started crying. I think she learned her lesson! :)