knee kissing

I knew with Jilly that things were changing, but I was lucky enough to get her switched before the new standards had become widespread.  With Nate and Jilly they were able to turn their car seat forward facing at a year since they were both at the one year mark and 20 pounds.  I remember our pediatrician telling us at Jilly’s one year appointment that they were starting to recommend waiting until 2 years old before turning car seats forward facing.

Laurel definitely falls under the new recommendations though.  Sometimes I feel so bad as I put her in her seat because she either has to ride with bended knees or with her feet straddling the back of the seat.  A couple of weeks ago I was ready to throw in the towel and turn her around.  Without seeking out anything about it, I happened to run across this article that some random person had pinned on Pinterest.  I realized I was wrong in wanting to turn her forward facing.  She never complains about being in her car seat except as I tighten the straps.

Plus, with the way we have our van set up, Nate and Jilly are both on the back bench and the extra captain chair is folded down in stow and go.  If we turned her around forward facing, she’d be a pretty bored girl on car rides.  Nate and Jilly can do quite the entertaining when necessary from the back bench.

At 30 inches at her 15 month check up she’s our shortest of the bunch, but growth spurts can happen at any time.  Let’s hope she holds off on growing too much before her second birthday in October!

Laurel Jane – 15 months

 

officially:

• height – 31 inches (68th percentile)
• weight – 22 lb 10 oz (47th percentile)
• head circumferene – 18.5 (80th percentile)

(Jilly’s 15 month post, no 15 month post for Nate)

realistically:

• loves to chase and be chased
• can’t climb enough to lose interest (furniture, kitchen table, stairs, etc)
• says way more than the 2-3 words necessary at 15 months (most recent addition being “thank you”)
• can be quite possessive of mommy’s laurel’s iphone
• one nap a day (1-3 hours each afternoon)
• loves being on the tricycle when outside (no early discovery of how to petal yet though)
• 12-18 month clothes and size 4 diapers
• prefers to drink skim milk out of jilly’s cup than whole milk out of her own (not sure if it’s the milk she prefers or the fact that she’s once again gotten ahold of jilly’s cup)
• loves to climb all over nate and jilly when on the floor
• still cuddles with her head on my shoulder a ton
• showing some separation anxiety as we get back into normal nursery routines after Christmas break
• understand most of what we say to her (follows any command given)
• insists on saying “cheese” almost constantly when a camera is in sight (see above picture for “cheese” face
• working on getting the first of  her 2 year molars (does any child really wait until 2 to get them?))

 

comparison pics – 15 months

I’ve missed the last few months of comparison pictures and figured it might be worth taking a look at.

{Laurel @ 15 months}

{Jilly @ 15 months}

{Nate @ 15 months}

genuine joy

I still love this picture two weeks later.  It’s the reaction every parent is going for as they attempt to find the perfect gift.  I love it so much that I have it set as our desktop computer’s background picture.  One day this week as I looked at it, I had a flashback to another picture taken over 3 years earlier.  This picture totally reminds me . . .

of this tiny, chubbier Nate.  That day it was ice cream, now it’s Lego’s.  I just love to see him smile!

Go hogs!

Sometimes you have to take one for the team and dress like a boy in order to support the team. Woo pig sooie!

blog updates

With some extra time on my hands in Little Rock, I was able to think through and begin to work on a few changes the blog was needing.  There were several blogs that had ceased being updated, and I’ve now moved them to the the “They Used to Blog” button.  It always makes me sad to see blogs stop getting updated, but I definitely understand it takes time. Of course, if any of them begin to get updated again I’ll move them back over!

So, our blogroll is down a few blogs, but I was able to add a new one on.  My friend, Jenni, started a blog to chronicle their Haiti adoption process (Naika is beautiful and a few months older than Laurel) and everyday life at home.  I was thrilled when I saw she started one!  You can check out her blog here.  There are probably close to a hundred blogs I follow, but I feel strange posting links to blog of people I don’t know in real life.

I also decided it was time to update the sidebar pics of the kids.  I wish I could make them slightly larger, but I’ve made them as large as it will let me.  It was hard to come up with “hates” for Laurel as she is such an easy going kid who doesn’t protest much.  Nate was adamant about mashed potatoes being on his list. 

Hopefully you enjoy the changes.  I don’t get around to updating this kinda stuff much so, I’m thrilled with it all.

choo-choo

This is my last Little Rock post.  We had 3 more days of fun following this, but it was apparently too much fun to take an pictures.

Mom had seen that Laman Library had a train exhibit going on for the last 2 weeks of 2011, and she thought that the kids would enjoy getting to see it.  Dad woke up sick that morning so we did our best to get the kids ready and out of the house for a few hours so he could get some rest.  Although it took a couple of minutes for the biggers to warm up to the noise level in the room, they loved the trains.  Even more they loved that there were certain buttons they could push to do different things in different places.

By the time we finished up there, it was lunchtime.  We skipped the trolley ride we were going to do (guess we’ll save that for next trip down) and headed over to the All Aboard restaurant.  This was seriously the best idea for a restaurant.  The kids LOVED it.  What could be better than having your food lowered to your table after being driven to you by train (the website has a video of how it works)?!?!?  Does Omaha have something like this that I’m just not aware of???

Our trip to Little Rock was definitely one of my favorites.  The kids are already asking when we get to go back and are disappointed when I tell them it will be a long time.  I owe a big thanks to my parents for putting up with us for nearly 2 weeks.  I am also so grateful for my siblings and their kids for hosting us at their houses and traveling over to Mom and Dad’s a ton so we could enjoy so much family time.  We are definitely excited to be back as soon as possible!

We’ve been back home for a couple of days now, and the house is still out of sorts.  I’m anxious to tear down the Christmas tree but am waiting a few more days.  We also have been rather sickly gang (lots of various coughs – wet, dry, croupy; stuffy noses; tummy issues) and are doing our best to get better quickly.  Brad headed back to work today, and school starts back up for Nate tomorrow.  It’s back to the normal routine of things.  Yay for routine, boo for earlier mornings!

a sibling getaway

Before heading to Little Rock my mom offered that she and Dad would watch all 7 grand kids one night we were in town so that the 4 of us Koss siblings and our spouses could go out kid-free for dinner together.  There was only one night that was possibly going to work for all of us, but luckily we took advantage of it.  So, while Mom, Dad, and the munchkins ate pancakes, wore pajamas, and watched Rio, the eight of us headed off to The Flying Fish for dinner.

Although we were deemed old and boring by Everett due to conversations regarding kids, vacuums, and sicknesses, it was a good time.  I would definitely love to be able to get to do this type of thing more often.  It sure does make me miss being closer to family!

We even got a sibling picture for Mom.

a koss kinda christmas

Koss family Christmas took place post-nap on Christmas day.  My kids were happy enough just to have all the cousins come over, but of course loved the chance to open more presents also.  With so many little hands wanting to help pass out presents, chaos took over, and the room was soon trashed.  (Plans are already underway for how to make it more organized next time.)  Somehow, even with a floor covered in discarded wrapping paper, not a single gift accidentally landed in the trash.

{Nate hard at work opening another gift.  So far Christmas has landed him 5 new Lego sets – all of which he’s already put together.}

{A certain Strawberry Shortcake loving girl was very happy with one of her gifts from Grammy and Grandpa.}

{If there was only video to go along with the pictures that were taken while the kids were sitting here.  It was quite comical as we all sang LJ’s favorite song (Itsy Bitsy Spider) to entertain them as they kept popping off the couch.}

{Kid dinner!}

{Happy Birthday Jesus!}

Christmas 2011

Christmas morning at my parent’s house was perfect.  The biggers stayed in bed until 7:30 just like normal, and Laurel actually slept until a little after 8.  We opened stockings and then chowed through a quick breakfast.  Then it was back to the tree to open gifts from Santa and us.  I think all three kids left the tree very happy and thrilled with what they got.

Here are my 3 favorite pictures from that morning:

{This Lego set was Nate’s much asked for favorite.  He was so super excited!  He even put it all together himself except for adding the stickers.}

{Love the look on her face here.  It’s so funny to watch her walk around the house in her skates.  She doesn’t quite get the sliding her feet concept.}

{We were down to one full size Magna Doodle after our original bit the dust (with a little help from Jilly), we needed another as all three kids are obsessed with them.  It was as if Laurel knew what it was without having to fully open it, because this is what she does with our other at home to stake her claim to it.}