Grant Update 2017

I stopped blogging a while ago, but I wrote these notes on my phone so I wouldn't forget them. They are short hand and not fully thought out. Just wanted to keep these as memories!

Granty/Bubba/Bubba Boy/Bubby

15 months
Much sweeter boy in the morning. Still a happy boy in general but when mad...real mad! Enjoys exploring new things and playing with sisters. Every time a sister comes into the room he runs over and gives them a big hug. Still loves to be held (standing!!) and still loves to snuggle on me and do face nuzzles and kisses. His hugs are the best as they are sooo strong and tight. He will also go to anyone he knows in the family. The girls wouldn't go to anyone they hadn't seen in a while. He goes to them as long as he's cool with them and knows them but even if he hasn't seen them in a while. He's in nap limbo. I think he's ready to go down to 1 nap a day. He still sleeps 10.5-11 hrs at night and 2 naps a day. He still only has 6 teeth. Best hair ever. Everyone comments on how cool it is. He got his first trim and it looks so good. He loves doing games and apps on the iPad. He's actually really good at it which isn't necessarily a good thing. He's super smart and can say these words: mama, dada, sis sis, owl, wa wa, bubba, "cheese", ow (hurt), uh oh, animal sounds for dog, cat, elephant, monkey, snake, "I don't know" (said with tone and specific sounds/words), baba, papa, nana, bubba,

18 months - snuggliest, kisskiest, most affectionate, ball of fire!

2 yrs -34 lbs (95%) 36” (90%)
My bubba is a little firecracker Of love and cuddles. He’s a busy boy that loves a good hug and squeeze and then he’s back out again. He still loves a good nuzzle session too. He runs and hugs alllll the grandparents and is so happy to give someone a high five or dab. He’s the most likely to be friendly with new people or people he doesn’t see often. He’s the most expressive of the three and is so fun to show new things to because it’s always met with a big reaction. We just started with the defiance/screaming/tantrums and so far they don’t last too long which is nice. He understands and comprehends soooo much more than his age level. It’s easier to level with him that way. He talks and talks and talks but most of the time in his own language. He is still obsessed with his sisters and wants to be with them all the time. He runs and hugs them every time they enter a room and can’t wait for school days to be over. He’s not a huge eater all at once but prefers snacking alllll day. He’s sleeping better now (finally! This kid was the hardest to adjust to his early rising schedule). He sleeps 730-630ish and has a 1-1.5 hour nap during the day. He’s the most stubborn of all the kids. He doesn’t give up. He’s loves to dance and listen to music! He’s obsessed with the trolls movie and the soundtrack. We listen to it allll day AND in the car.

Grant is one!

I can't say enough about how complete and happy this boy makes us feel. He is a loud, strong, gorgeous, smart, sweet and at times fiery little man. He's kind of a beast. When he wants something or feels anything, he does it 150%!!! He's an all in kind of guy. When he's asleep and wakes up, he's immediately on his feet yelling for us. There's no five minute talk to yourself and play in your crib grace period his sisters gave us. Nope. He's UP and YOU HAVE TO BE TOO! LET'S GO!!!!! He runs and plays and LOVES being with his sisters. He just thinks they are amazing. When it's time to go get them at school he gets so excited and squeals with delight. He is still a full on mama's boy and will always love me the best (wink). He has always looked at me with a special sparkle and truly loves his mama soo much. I've also noticed that (besides me obviously) he's kind of a guy's guy. He loves hanging with his grandpas! Our girls always preferred the grandmas (and don't get me wrong he loves them too) but he just always seems happy to be held or played with by his grandpas. I love that! And my dad does too as he's OBSESSED with finally having a boy around. He has such joy in watching and playing with him. He loves every minute. This little bull in a china shop has truly brightened our lives and has actually brought some extra fire to our little family. He brings a certain spice that was missing before. He keeps us on our toes and always keeps us guessing. He's not too predictable.  Since I don't have all day to write this (as he NEVER naps consistently), I'm going to do a bulleted list to help me explain a little more about my little love:

- Has been walking since he was early in his 10th month (first in the fam)
- He is very "chatty" but doesn't say a ton of words in english. He says mama, dada, nom nom, "all done" with his hands and sometimes says what sounds like "done done done", Nigh nigh and he tries to say coco by saying oooooh oooooh. He also says "ooooo dat!" a lot and "oooooh duh"
- He's SUPER busy and rarely sits still.
- He loves to eat. Pizza is his favorite! He also loves fruit!
- He sleeps from 7:30 pm to around 6:30-7 am
- He naps twice a day. In the morning it's usually around 1-1.5 hours and the afternoon one is usually shorter around 40 mins. He's SO INCONSISTENT
- He's getting really good at kicking a ball around the floor like dribbling a soccer ball
- He loves climbing up on the couch and sitting like a big boy with us. He finally learned how to go down backwards
- He's had 4 bloody noses. Big time face plants and I'm guessing he's just getting started. He tends to go hard so when he falls, he falls hard
- He can throw quite the tantrum. If he's mad....he's pissed! Yesterday he stood in the middle of the room and threw himself backwards head first into the carpet
- He has curly hair! This boy has the best hair and eyelashes in the family!
- He's in a bitting phase. He mainly does it when he's hungry to get my attention. The girls are terrified to cuddle him too much because he will usually snuggle and be sweet and then bite them. He bites me all the time.
- He LOVES being outside. This is a dirty kid. He would dig in the dirt all day if I let him. He likes to try and eat the dirt and rocks too.
- He could probably use a bath twice a day. Stinky, dirty boy!
- He still loves a good mommy snuggle and gives great, wet kisses. He's my little love.

Stats/Dates to keep
24 lbs 4 oz (90%)
31 1/4" (90-95%)
19.5" (above 98%)

Sitting - April 20 (5 months)
first tooth - June 12 (almost 7 months
sleep through the night with no feedings (7.5 months)
crawling - August 2 (8.5 months)
stepping in between furniture - August 15 (almost 9 months)
walked two steps - September 21 910 months 4 days)
walking full time - October 15 (10.5 months)

Olivia Grace 6 years 4 months

My Olivia Grace. 

- The girl I can always count on. She's always there to help or lend a hand. I'm so impressed with how self sufficient she is. She's truly the best big sister and leader of her two littles. Her teacher also can count on her to be a good listener and always following the rules. 

- She's a "dream student" and her teacher can't say enough about how wonderful she is to have in class. She's advanced in her reading and is reading at an end of first grade year level. We are so impressed. Her writing skills are also advanced. She enjoys writing her own books at home. She's even a pretty good speller! 

- She's doing Ballet/tap, swimming and gymnastics right now. She loves them all but seems to enjoy gymnastics the most. She did soccer for the first time last fall and LOVED it! She was a little shy at first but once she got the hang of the rules and how to play she was a speed demon! She's fast when she wants to be! She even scored 1-3 goals every week! It was sweet because when she started the season thinking you had to "take turns" with the ball and felt like she shouldn't "steal" the ball from anyone. So once she figured out it was ok to take the ball away from the other team, she did much better and got "in the fray" a bit more!

- She's still a goof. She's got a goofy personality and LOVES to giggle and laugh. 

- She's becoming less shy out in public which is great. She's still shy, just not as much as she used to be. She will now order her own food at restaurants and with my help, she'll talk to people when we are out and about. She's also getting much better about joining in with other kids that she maybe doesn't know well and playing with them/make new friends. 

- She's still a fabulous sleeper. My rockstar sleeper. 

- She plays so well with Co. They truly are best friends. They crack me up because they will play perfectly for a while and then most of the time someone is telling on the other at some point. When they fight it gets much louder and more "attitudy". I'm scared for their teenage years. Should be interesting! They love hard and fight hard! For the most part though, they get along great, enjoy playing the same things and crack each other up. Liv also does a good job of teaching co new things and how she should act and co seems to listen and take it all in pretty well.

- She still loves her cardigans. She's worn a cardigan every day since she was three. I don't know how or why but she doesn't like having exposed arms. She likes being cozy I guess. The second she gets home from school or anywhere she runs right upstairs and changes into her "home dress" and cardigan. 

- She still loves to sing and dance and put on shows for us. She's also more of my adventurous girl. She's much more likely to try new things (accept food. Coco is my "tryer" when it comes to new foods).

- She LOVES Granty and helps me keep him entertained. She is so sweet and helpful with him. 

- She's definitely finding her "voice" more and showing her opinions. She can be quite a teenager sometimes when she storms off stomping and going to her room when she's mad. 

- She lost two teeth so far (bottom middle) 

She's a dream. We couldn't love her more. 

- 

Grant Wesley Falkenborg

Born November 17, 2015

Weight: 9 lbs 11 oz

Height: 22 inches

STATS

1 month:

2 months: 15 lbs 4 oz (95-98%) 25 inches (above 98% off chart)

4 months: 19 lbs .5 oz (95-98%) 27 1/4th inches (above 98% off chart)

6 months: 21 lbs 1 oz (95-98%) 28.5 inches (98)

This beautiful boy is now 6 months old and I cannot believe it. He's literally the most amazing, sweet, gorgeous boy. We can't even find the words to explain how much we love him. He has completed our family in a way I never knew was possible. We can't love him more. 

My pregnancy definitely ended in a way that made me happy I was done having babies! He was so big and heavy I could barely walk. It was awful! I couldn't have been more excited to have a little boy of my own. He came out STARVING and ate for three days straight. I've definitely done my best at taking in all the moments I've had with him these last few months because I know it's going to fly by and he'll be 5 before I know it! I don't think I did much else besides snuggle and feed him those first couple months. We had a ton of help and I took advantage of the time to truly love on him and my girls all day long. 

He spend his first months napping and smiling! Thank GOD he never had the girls' night time fussiness. There were a handful of nights that he screamed for about a half hour but that's it! We were so thankful for that. He was a great eater and sleeper until just before his 4 month bday. He started waking up every hour during his sleep regression. We decided to do sleep training at that point and I HATED it. I was a mess the whole time. It was awful to hear him cry. Luckily he "got it" and it all worked out in the end. That never gets easier. Liv was definitely the easiest, then G and then our feisty girl Co. I'm so glad to never have to do that again! 

This boy is a great sleeper (once we finally got through sleep training which was the worst two weeks of my life). He takes three naps a day right now which are about 1-1.5 hours each. He also sleeps from 8 pm to 6:30/7 am (with one dream feed around 1 am. I need to drop these at some point but I cherish this quiet time with him and I think I'm going to miss it immensely). 

He is the sweetest, smiliest boy ever! He smiles all day. He has been smiling since he was two weeks old. I always smiled every time he slept. It was so adorable. Such a happy boy. He's so happy and content I couldn't have asked for more. As long as he's not hungry or left to play without any attention for too long, he's good. But watch out when he's mad! WOW. That boy can wail! He is loud and has strong lungs! It doesn't happen often, but when he cries, it breaks my heart. 

He was born a super spitty baby. EVERY time he ate he would spit up. He spent his first 5 months spitting up ALLLLLLLL over us and the furniture/carpet/hardwoods. He is now finally able to keep it down more other than the occasional spit. He's also been the DROOLIEST kid I've ever had! He can soak a shirt in no time! CONSTANT drool! No teeth yet!

He is definitely spoiled with all the people and attention around him all the time so when he goes more than 10 mins or so he needs someone to come play or hold him. Reminds me of Coco when she was this age. He loves his mommy. He looks at me like I'm the light of his life and I can't even begin to explain how it makes me feel. He's mine all mine!!! ;) He obviously loves his daddy and sisters too. He gets SOOOOO excited when Livi comes around. She makes him so happy. Coco took a little longer to pay more attention to him but is now playing with him more which is so sweet. Wes and Grant have a sweet bond that is a perfect daddy son bond. They love to just hang out and relax together. G loves his chill daddy time for sure! He also gets his evening bottle from daddy and you can tell he cherishes that time. They are going to have the best times in the future doing man stuff! 

He loves to kiss my face when I kiss him and he cuddles up in my neck. He has always been a snuggle bug until about two weeks ago when I could tell he was getting busier and wanted to play more and snuggle less. 

He just figured out how to do raspberries and does this new shrieking sound when I walk away to try and get me to turn back around and come back to him.  He LOVES attention. He's "talking" more and more but isn't doing a ton of word sounds yet. 

He started rolling around 3 months 3 weeks old. It's funny because he rolled a good amount that first week or two and then was kind of over it. He's been sitting really well on his own since about 5 months so he prefers that. I'm thinking he'll go straight to crawling and skip the whole rolling around the room thing. He prefers his back and actually still sleeps only on his back! 

He's a big boy and everyone is always SO impressed by his chubby body and giant squishy thighs. They are the best! He's always been in much bigger sizes than his age. He came out wearing 3 month clothes. By 4/5 months he was in 12-18 month clothes. 

He started eating baby food about a month ago. So far he's doing well. He just started actually opening his mouth really wide and taking more violent bites! He's hungry! He still prefers the boob though I have to say. 

He's REALLY ticklish. 

We call him bubba, bubba boy, G, G man, boo boos and boo boo boy

He's BUSY. About a week or so ago we noticed a shift in his activity. We can no longer sit him on our lap at the table while we eat. He's here there and everywhere. Grabbing this, throwing that. It's a little chaotic. We are started to see the difference in girls and boys as my girls would sit contently for much longer. Should be interesting when he's actually mobile! 

Colette Marie is Two!

- Coco Loco
- full of energy
- busy girl always on the go
- loves princesses and animals. Plays with princess dolls and any animal.
- grabs liv's hand and pulls her where she wants to go
- not a ton of words but constantly "talking". when she starts to talk I have a feeling she won't stop
- cuddle bug. Loves snuggles and being held.
- best hugs
- somewhat shy but will smile and say hi and bye to anyone
- good girl. good listener.
- such a sweetie
- spark plug! Goofy and fun
- so smart. doesn't miss a thing. Understands everything and you can't trick her
- napping from 1:30-3:30. Sleeps 8-7:30/8
- our curious eater! Loves to try new things!
- loves playing with all her grandparents!
- loves books
- super smiley and just a burst of sunshine in my day
- feisty when she needs to be. Doesn't mess around when she's serious about something.
- big girl. didn't eat baby food for long. Was out of her highchair by 16 months. Was out of the booster by 18 months. using utensils all alone since she turned one.
- has big reactions to things! Very enthusiastic about doing fun things or opening a present.
- has become very close with her sister. they are best friends and play together all the time!
- did little gym this year and loved hanging on the bars.
- has a cry/scream that will break your eardrum

Liv 3.5

- I see breakables
- may i please
- loves princess (preefess)
- LOVES mickey mouse
- very good at independent play
- big imagination and makes anything people
- loves cooking and helping in the kitchen. plays in her kitchen with apron and princess shoes
- takes a nap three days a week. quiet time. sleeps 8/9 to 8
- loves school.
- still pretty shy with outsiders but seems to warm up quicker than she use to.
- loves to sing her songs from school and performs her "talent show" dance. Usually singing.
- daddys girl
- loves her sister and is very gentle. jealous at times and pushes or is a little too rough.
- sweetest girl ever. So polite. So careful. So kind.
- gets over things quickly. Reasonable and negotiates well.
- loves being around all her grandparents
- loves anything to do with dressing up dolls/magnets. Making outfits with my/wes clothes laid out on floor.
- Kaia still best friend. Loves seeing her. big hugs and laughs.
- LOVES cereal and sometimes eats it twice a day. Favs include quesadillas, grilled cheese with ham, berries, pizza
- sits nicely when out to eat.
- Confirmed allergic to peanuts, walnuts, hazelnuts, pecans. Macedamia, almonds fine.
- very helpful
-

Colette 15 Months

STATS
Weight: 23.2 lbs (50-75%)
Height: 32 1/4 inches (95%)
Head: 19 and 1/3 (95%+)

Olivia's first School Recital

Liv had her first school recital! I'm not gonna lie, I was really excited to see her with her class up on stage singing songs. I KNEW she would probably be too shy to sing them up on a stage, but I knew 

NOTE: This is from months ago (May 2013), but I have to post.