Everly's 19-Month Update

Everly is 19 months old and officially a big sister! She has been way better with Rosie than I thought she would be. She doesn't like when Rosie cries or when I have to feed her though. She has been acting out during these times by throwing things, not listening to us, or yelling. It's basically her cry for attention. This is totally understandable because she went from getting all of our attention to getting a whole lot less. We have been intentional about spending quality time with her while Rosie is sleeping so that she knows we still love her just as much. When Rosie isn't crying or being fed Everly is so cute with her. She always wants to kiss her, lay on her (ie/ squish her), help burp her and do tummy time with her. I seriously love watching her be a big sister.

I feel like Ev has grown up so much since Rosie has been born. She's been talking so much, helping me with Rosie and has become way more outgoing with other kids and people. It's so nice watching her grow up! She had her cousin visit this month who is just a few months older than her and it was so fun watching them play together. It makes me wish we lived closer to family so she could grow up with her cousins, but we have found some moms here with kids she can play with in the meantime!

Since Ev has been acting out, we have also started to discipline her more. We have been giving her timeouts in her room when she does something she knows she isn't supposed to or doesn't listen to us. Examples: throwing her food, throwing her toys, hitting Rosie, taking water out from under the Christmas tree. She hates it (obviously) and bangs on her door and cries. We only leave her in for a few minutes at this age, and then talk to her about what she did wrong after and give her a hug and a kiss. I think it's been working because if I ask her to do something and then tell her she'll get a timeout if she doesn't listen she does it right away (mostly). I see the terrible two's creeping up on us and praying she takes it easy on us!

Although she's been acting out more, she also wants more love from us. It's so cute, she'll always ask to hold mine and Jason's hands in the car now and she'll cuddle with Jason now. It's sweet because she was never really liked that before.

Toys & Activites

Lately she has loved playing with water. Unfortunately she's sourcing it from the bottom of our Christmas tree when we're not looking. To fix that I have been sticking her in the sink where she can play for hours with cups, spoons, and measuring cups. Still working on getting her to keep it in the sink and not all over the floor. She loves playing with other kids now and I'm trying to get her as many play dates as I can. It's so fun watching her play with other kids. My parents also got her a baby for Christmas which she loves. We hoped it would help her accept Rosie better if she had her own baby to take care of and it totally worked. She always has to sleep with her, she feeds her in the high chair, puts blankets on her and reads her books. She also loves her bunny, and carries the two of them everywhere. She still loves the library, playing with cars, her kitchen, finger painting and coloring is growing on her. She'd still rather just put the lids on and off and color on her tummy, but sometimes she'll focus for a bit with the paper! She still isn't watching tv, but I have been so tempted with Rosie around now. I'm sure I'll cave soon on the days where I just need to relax.

Food

Not much new to report here. She's eating almost everything, but especially loves pasta. She's slowed down on the snacking and really enjoys having meals now. Whenever I make a salad she always digs right into the bowl. I love that she likes eating her veggies! She also shares my green juice with me that has celery, ginger, spinach, green apple, cucumber and lemon. I also gave her some of my peanut butter cups this month and she loved it. First real "treat" she's had, and because it's made with real filling ingredients she only needs a few bites and she's done. We still are avoiding sugar with her, so it's nice that she can still have these healthier treats. She also had her first hot dog at one of Jason's hockey games. She had a few bites and wasn't really into it.

Day-to-Day

She goes to bed around 7:30pm and has been waking up sometime between 8-9am most days. It's like she knows I have a newborn and need my sleep! She naps once for around 2 hours sometime between 11:30-2:30. Lately though that nap has been leaning more towards 1.5 hours, which I'm fine with because she sleeps so long at night. Our days look a lot different now with Rosie around. We stay home a lot more, so I have had to become more creative with things she can do inside. Lots of coloring, playing with water, reading books, playing with her kitchen, playing the recorder and with her playdough. We usually stay home until her nap, and then after her nap Jason is usually home so we get out of the house. Sometimes Jason will take her swimming or to the park, or we'll go run errands or go to an indoor play center. Then we'll come home for dinner around 5, she'll have a bath, play with her toys for a bit and then head to bed.

Giggles

This girl laughs so much. Now that Rosie's here all we have to do is spend time with her and she'll laugh. She always laughs when she jumps around, when we dance with her, tickle her or run with her. She's so full of joy and I hope she always stays that way!

Grumpy

Like I said above, she gets upset when I'm feeding Rosie and when Rosie cries. She's also started getting upset if we tell her she can't have something or do something and lately if we tell her it's bedtime and she isn't tired she'll run away and not want to go.

Milestones/Firsts

This month she became a big sister, had her first sleepover with my friend Christin when I went into labor, went to an aquarium, started facing forwards in her carseat, opened her first Christmas present and held Rosie. She has also started talking so much since Rosie arrived. Some of the words she can say: happy, puppy, more, please, hockey, mama, dada, ro-ro, baby and cookies.

Events

She had my parents come and visit and her cousin Beckam, Auntie Viki and Uncle Haden. We went to the Cincinnati Zoo with both of them. She also went to the Ark Encounter in Kentucky which is a lifesize replica of Noah's Ark. She sat with Santa twice and hated it both times, but now every time she sees a picture of Santa she gets all excited. Explain that. She went to one of Jason's hockey games and watched Santa repel down the side of Macy's downtown Cincinnati.