TWO YEARS WITH EVERLY

TWO YEARS WITH EVERLY


I'm not even sure I want to be typing this out haha, I cannot wrap my brain around the fact that Everly is now two years old. She is fiercely independent and currently waiting to become a big sister. I was looking at some of her updates I wrote when she was 12 months and under and oh my heart! What a little ham she was, now she is her own person with her own schedule! We have come so far together and every day we learn something new about one another, here is a little update on Miss Everly:

Currently I think she is going through a developmental leap because a week before she turned two things went crazy real quick. All of a sudden she HATED the car, she would cry and it looked like she was scared to be in her car seat. After a lot of drives (my gas tank loved me that week..) and a few bribes we are back to a place where she can sit in her car seat and be happy again. That week was really hard because it felt like I would be stranded at home because it almost wasn't worth the effort to take her anywhere. I had never seen her act that way, and certainly not in the car. But I am glad she seems to be doing much better and she doesn't cry or squirm anymore. 

Along with the car seat also came an insane sleep regression. She has been a terrific sleeper from the getgo, and I don't think I ever really appreciated that until now lol. She always went to bed when told and slept through the night. However a week before she turned two again things went into chaos. All of a sudden she was unable to go to bed by herself, she needed one of us to lay with her until she fell asleep (and if she woke up while we were sneaking out she would lose her mind). We have made slow progress I guess, because now she seems to be fine with us just sitting in a chair beside the bed, but when she wakes up between 11/12 at night she does not go back to sleep with us sitting with her. We started having to sleep with her in her bed, but now in order to save our backs and sanity we pull her into bed with us for the rest of the night. It is not a habit I enjoy, but after talking to Kyle we think it's best to just try and work through whatever she is going through with her instead of trying to fight her on it. Unlike the car situation, sleep is still ongoing :( 

Her learning is on another level, I know it's typical for every parent to say their kid is a genius lol but I really think Everly is smarter than some kids her age. Every child develops differently and at different rates, and where Everly thrives in some areas she may lack in others. Her tacting is crazy, lately I have made more of an effort to sit and really listen to the items and things she tacts and I have no idea how she knows some of these things. She can also count to 10 and I think we are pretty close to showing signs of potty training (she always tells me she went to the bathroom after she went lol but she knows the difference). Her sentence structure has also improved, she usually talks using 3-4 word sentences and phrases. She also LOVES shapes, especially hearts, and loves identifying them whenever she can. 

We are having a lot of issues with hitting which is pretty typical for her age, but what we have started doing is giving her one warning to stop and if she continues (which is 99.9% of the time) we bring her into our room and get down to her level and ask her why she thinks she is in here. We have started explaining to her that we do not treat others that way, and that hitting is not the right way to express your feelings. We then ask her to say sorry and she will usually follow it with a hug. We have to do this multiple times a day lol but afterwards I do see a difference in her attitude, even if it is short lived. 

As far as toys and interests go she likes a little bit of everything. She loves trains, painting, colouring, and her dolls. She has also recently started playing with her kitchen more and cooking for us. She enjoys watching Elmo and Masha and Bear on t.v, and she likes watching "Super Simple Songs" on YouTube. She definitely enjoys being creative and it is fun to watch her explore that, especially since Kyle and I are both creative in different ways. We also just started a "morning box" with her this week, I plan on making a blog post about it later once we have done it for a little bit but so far she really enjoys it! 

Her schedule before this sleep regression was as follows:

6:30-7:00am:
7:30: Breakfast
9:00: Snack
11:30: Lunch
12:00pm-2:30pm: Nap 
2:45: Snack
6:00: Dinner
6:30-7:00: Bath/Bedtime rountine
7:00: Bedtime

As of right now it is kind of all over the place, if she does nap it is only for about an hour if that. So this week we are going to see how she does without napping. If she seems cranky I will bring her into our room and put a movie on for some quiet time. Part of me does feel like she is slowly weaning out her naps, I have always had a baby led schedule, she always shows me what she needs and it has always worked for us. So I am going to try it out and see how it goes, if it's a terrible idea we will just go back to naps! 

Overall, Everly has grown and changed so much just in these last few weeks alone. She has such a crazy personality, it is definitely true what they say about two year olds! She is giving us a run for our money, but we have enjoyed watching her develop and turn into this little person. 

MY TOP 5 HALLOWEEN BOOKS & MOVIES

MY TOP 5 HALLOWEEN BOOKS & MOVIES


Halloween hasn’t really been a favourite of mine; however once I had Everly I swear I get excited about every single holiday. It is so fun to pair activities with books we read and movies we watch. It just allows Everly to connect the book with something tangible and it switches things up from our daily routine.

I have a list of our favourites that we bring out and enjoy every Halloween and here they are! Some of these like I mentioned can be paired with a sensory tub or craft!

Books:

1.     It’s the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown!
2.     Spooky Pookie by Sandra Boynton
3.     The Itsy Bitsy Pumpkin by Sarah Fry
4.     Peek a Boo Ghosts
5.     Five Little Pumpkins

Movies:

1.     It’s the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown!
2.     Hocus Pocus
3.     Mickey’s Treat
4.     Casper
5.     Monster’s INC (I know this isn’t technically a Halloween movie but she thinks all the monsters are dressed up in costumes so it works lol)

We love reading books so getting seasonal books and having them around is a must! I feel like it gets us into the holiday spirit that much more! What are your go to's for Halloween?!

20 WEEK BUMPDATE

20 WEEK BUMPDATE


Well she has been a busy 3 weeks since I last updated! We went for our 19 week genetic ultra sound and the tech told us we were having a girl. So we had one tech say boy and the other say girl, so we walked out of the appointment fairly puzzled to say the least. I was pretty content with not finding out for sure until we gave birth, but my husband was really wanting to know. After explaining the situation to the tech who gave us our 3D ultrasound she told me to come back in again at no charge so we finally got real confirmation that baby is indeed a BOY! 

I couldn't help but laugh at the whole situation, something so confusing would happen to us! I know Kyle feels much more at ease knowing for sure what we are having, it really helps him bond to the baby being able to say his name when he rubs my belly. Jackson seems much more mellow than Everly did, it is hard to remember and I tried looking back at my bumpdates I did with Everly, but I don't feel him move as much. Kyle hasn't been able to feel him yet either, he is also much lower than Everly was. I'm sure in the next few weeks things should pick up in terms of movement, I know some people haven't been able to really feel movement until at least 21/22 weeks. 

I can't believe I am already halfway there! I know I have said it a few times but this pregnancy has felt so different and I'm sure there are many reasons for that, chasing a toddler around the house is the main difference I'm sure. Everly keeps me busy but it's been a great experience being able to focus on my health and be able to stay home and rest when I need it. I'm not sure if I have mentioned it yet but as of now my haemorrhage has resolved itself, but I have still been advised to take it easy. 

I have also gotten into nesting, it has come out in full force! We rearranged the whole floor of the house on the weekend (and by we, I mean Kyle ha). I also started purging a bunch of junk we seem to always accumulate. It feels good to start getting rid of things and getting ready for another body to be coming into the house in just 3 short months. 

How far along? 20 weeks

Total weight gain? I haven't weighed myself in a few weeks, I should do that tomorrow and I will update it!

Maternity clothes? Yep!

Stretch marks? Yeah, but mostly left over from my pregnancy with Everly.

Sleep? Feels like it has been non existent, Everly is going through some type of sleep regression which I will talk about when I do her 2 year old update! We are starting sleep training tonight so I'm sure sleep will get worse before it gets better.

Best moment this week? Watching my cousin get married!

Miss anything? Sleep lol

Movement? I feel little tiny kicks here and there, can't wait for them to become more prominent. 

Food cravings? I have been craving the chicken and cheese tortellini again from Theo's lol.

Anything making you feel sick or queasy? Nothing anymore so far!

Showing? Yes, my stomach is actually firm now.

Gender? It's a BOY!

Labor signs? None.

Symptoms? He sits a lot lower than Everly did at this stage so sometimes when I wake up in the morning I feel a bit of pressure, nothing uncomfortable. 

Belly button in or out? In.

Happy or moody most of the time? Moody AF haha, but I feel like the lack of sleep has done that.

Looking forward to: My sister's baby shower!