Jane Turns Three!

How is my baby girl three already?? I looked at her the other day and thought, "Wow, she really is looking like a three year old now!" I've noticed something while watching my kids grow up, the process seems gradual for so long and then all of a sudden it seems like overnight they are so much older!

I love comparing what clothes look like on her from the first time to the last time she wore it!

She is learning so much all the time! Her vocabulary grows a ton everyday and her enunciation is improving so much lately. She can express herself really well now. We had just watched my mom drive away from our house once and Jane said, "I miss Marmee so much!" Emotions are starting to make sense to her. When she couldn't do something she wanted she told me "I'm not happy anymore." Events are starting to be remembered clearly. She told me late in the day how much fun she had at the park earlier.  She is just as excitable as ever and enjoys everything thrilling and new. She never wants to be left out of any adventure. She is a social butterfly and loves making new friends. One thing she tells me all the time when she likes her meal is "Mom! You made good flavor, I'm so proud of you!" It's so sweet.

Her favorite park friend Nathan

She is getting better and better with obeying and responds pretty well to discipline and corrections. If she tells me to "Move away!" with an angry voice then I ask her to ask my nicely and she normally comes up with a more respectful and kind voice and asks with a please. Sometimes she needs help rephrasing her request to be more kind, but she almost always changes her tone when I tell her she is not asking nicely. Learning!! She is a little bossy and likes to make sure everyone is following the rules even when she isn't doing the best at following the rules herself. ;)

Siblings and Friends :)

These two are becoming such good friends. They love playing with each other. When one of them ends up in time out the other always tries to go to their room because they already miss them. They are getting so good at playing together that I can be in the other room listening to them playing for a few minutes before I have to go and break up a fight. ;P She will still push and hit Atlas, but she is showing lots of improvement. She lets her emotions get the best of her for a moment, but once I make her slow down for a minute and calm down. She will say sorry and let Atlas play again.

Little brothers make perfect arm rests. 😅

Ok now let me get started on Jane's growth, firsts and favorites! As she grows there are less and less  distinguishable firsts and it reminds me how fast time is moving. I try to realize when she has a new first and enjoy it with her and document it in some way. She has more favorites than ever though!

Weight

Birth: 8 lbs

1 Years Old: 18 1/2 lbs

2 Years Old: 25 1/2 lbs

3 Years Old: 29 1/2 lbs

Jane has never been a heavy weight. She is just now nearing 30 lbs. She eats just enough to have the energy she needs to keep up with her high speed personality. She can't even sit long enough to have a big meal unless it's grilled hot dogs. ;) Eating gets boring pretty quickly for her unlike her brother who can eat all day long! 

Height

Birth: 21 Inches

1 Years Old: 28 1/4 inches

2 Years Old: 32 3/4 inches

3 Years Old: 36 1/2 inches

Jane recently had a growth spurt and her legs shot up! She's 3 feet tall now!! She was getting kind of on the lower end of the percentiles at her 2 1/2 year check up, nothing to worry about, but they projected her to be 5' 2" then. Close to my height! At her 3 year old check up she caught back up and is near the middle again and she is projected to be 5' 6" now. You never know! But it's fun to speculate. ;)

I've lost count of how many teeth she has now. I know that she has a great smile! She has all her baby teeth and the next teeth that will come in are her first permanent molars. Man, that makes her seems so old to me...

Firsts

Learning to ride a tricycle. May '16

First time playing in the sprinkler. July '16

Blueberry picking! June '1

First Frozen Yogurt. August '16

First Olympics! August '16

First Video Game August '16

First time at the Zoo! September '16

First home school park day! October '16

First time feeding the ducks. November '16

Helping hang Christmas Lights December '16

Jumping into a pile of leaves. January '17

Climbing Trees! February '17

Riding a pony! March '17

First Movie in a Theater! March '17

First scooter ride. April '17

First Dog! May '17

Favorites

Olive Garden is a hit with both of these kiddos!

Jane's most consistent favorite food is still Mac & Cheese. Grilled Hot Dogs are another big favorite. I don't think she's tried any Italian food she doesn't like. She also loves Queso and Chips and Quesadillas. One of her favorite lunches is Salami and Cheese. Broccoli is her favorite vegetable and Strawberries are her favorite fruit. She loves Cinnamon Toast Crunch too. Her favorite foods actually haven't changed much since she turned 2 but she does eat a lot more different foods than she did then. She really likes Fried Calamari! I was impressed! her favorite fast food meal is chicken nuggets from McDonalds with Chocolate milk and apples. :)

Perfect spot to read a book! ;)

It makes me so happy that she still loves to read books! Her favorites change all the time! Her recent favorites include, The Mitten, Little Mommy, Flower Power adventures with Batgirl and Wonder Woman, What is Poop?, Billy the Goat's Big Breakfast. We love to read books together. She always asks to read more at bedtime. Last night I said "Ok, one more book." and she responded with "No, two more books!" :) She also responded with I love you too for the first time when I told her I loved her right before bed. Be still my heart!!

Her favorite toys that she goes back to over and over are probably her Tricycle and her Duplo Blocks. She cycles through all of her toys a lot though. She loves some of her newest toys like her Elsa & Anna Microphone, Play-Dough sets and her Olaf Snow Cone maker. She also loves playing video games.

Watching a show with brother!

She really enjoys a wide array of TV shows. She never sticks on one for long. Her favorites this year have included, Miraculous: Tales of LadyBug and Cat Noir, Pokemon XY, Wild Kratts, Ask the Storybots, and Super Wings.

About to watch her first movie in the Theater. The Lego Batman Movie.

Her favorite movie changes often! She does seem stick on one for a while and then switches to another after a month or two. A few that have stuck for that long are, Iron Giant, Big Hero 6, Frozen, Wall-E, and The Lego Movie. She loves everything with super heroes and robots and of course the occasional princess movie. ;)

She LOVES climbing trees!

As much as she loves tv, movies and video games, she loves being active and being outside just as much! Her favorite activities are climbing trees, jumping on the trampoline, blowing bubbles, and jumping off of any elevated surface (I say "That's too high!" a lot...) Her two biggest favorites are swimming and playing at the park/playground. Going on any kind of trip is super exciting to Jane. Our favorite trip is to Austin to visit Uncle Scott, Aunt Anna and Cousin Ellis!

She can jump high and do a few tricks now!

She is a fish!

Jane continues to be a tomboy that still enjoys girlie things. ;) She's rough and tumble, active, intense, and her favorite color is blue. But she also loves to go shopping, she always wants to dress herself and match. She only wears dresses unless I tell her it's park day and she needs to wear park clothes.  She likes to accessorize but normally those things get in the way of her active lifestyle so she takes them off pretty quickly. As you can see from all of the pictures she rarely lets me touch her hair! I have started insisting on brushing her hair.  ;) Every so often I'll get a pony tail or pig tails in and they are so adorable!! She still loves music and likes to dance and sing and is getting pretty good at it. She went to her first concert in Austin recently and danced the whole time!

Cutie!!

She's getting popular with the boys. Oh my.... ;)

Parenting Jane is quite a challenge but it's a challenge I enjoy! (most days 😅) The hardest things are the best things. And that is never more true than it is when raising children. Jane's personality is amazing, but because of the way she is she can be pretty hard to handle. I always pray for wisdom to know how to guide her and teach her to choose what is right, but at the same time, make sure I'm never stifling her independent spirit. If she can learn to control her emotions and channel her intensity and energy positively I know there is nothing she can't achieve! I can't wait to see where she goes in life. We love you so much girlie. Happy 3rd Birthday!! :D

Proverbs 22:6

Train up a child in the way he should go,
And when he is old he will not depart from it.

Thanksgiving 2016

I think this will be my final 2016 recap post! I'm going to be mostly caught up after this. Woohoo! (splitting my original post in two, so this ends up being my second to last post of 2016😉) We always enjoy the holiday season. Even though the temperature outside is chilly the atmosphere is warm. Everyone is acting how they should all year with smiles and acts of kindness. It's a special time, especially with little ones. I try to soak it up as much as possible before they grow up on me.

Don't hate me because I put my Christmas tree up before Thanksgiving! ;)

Let's start with Thanksgiving day at my parents house. It was a small Thanksgiving this past year. I think everybody had other commitments scheduled for 2016 because almost the whole Kearley side of the family was together for Thanksgiving 2015. It was just my parents, my mom's parents and my little family of 4 this time. My mom didn't take any short cuts! Our Thanksgiving meal was delicious and we had tons of leftovers! Sam and I love Thanksgiving leftovers!

I had to get a few pictures of Atlas for his first Thanksgiving. :) He's such a serious little guy, but he can get silly sometimes too. It's a little harder to catch on camera though.

Happy 1st Thanksgiving little guy!

Even though it was a small Thanksgiving this past year it was definitely still a good one. Yummy food and sweet family time. Some how I was able to get Jane and Atlas both looking at the camera for a picture! It doesn't happen very often. ;)

All dressed up

Atlas, Jane, Pappaw and I went on a little walk on the ditch after Thanksgiving dinner. My mom was cleaning up. I think I inherited her quirk, because I don't want anyone else cleaning up my kitchen but me and she's the same way.

Walking some calories off with 20 pounds of adorable
baby on my hip

Pappaw took Jane down to the water. She loves going on adventures with Pappaw! She is very daring and loves everything thrilling and dramatic.

Jane and I have our own adventures too. I feel like I'll have a roller coaster buddy when she gets a little older. :)

Gotta have that goldfish. ;)

The next day we headed to the Daugherty Grandparent's for second Thanksgiving. Yay for more good food and family time! I love Thanksgiving.

Aunt Lisa's phone has fun games!!

Atlas and Jane got to play with their second cousins! They had a good time together. Colin and Jane had such a fun time they didn't want to leave each other. Jane wanted to spend the night at Mama and Papa's. ;)

Thanksgiving dinner for Atlas

Atlas still wasn't eating much more than purees at this point. Next year he'll be in heaven getting to eat all the amazing Thanksgiving food! He LOVES food!! He definitely gets hangry. ;)

Chillin after Thanksgiving dinner.

Had to snap a quick selfie with my boys! I just love how Atlas and Sam have similar expressions in addition to looking so much a like.

Family walk after dinner.

A walk after Thanksgiving dinner is always a good idea! Jane loved pulling Atlas in the wagon. She didn't want to stop!

We convinced Jane she should take a ride too. She conceded after a while and enjoyed the ride.

Second cousin pictures in their Great Great Grandmother's chairs. :) If I'm remembering correctly, Colin and Jane are 2 1/2 and 6 months and Dylan and Atlas are 16 months and 9 months in these pictures. They always have a good time when they're together. Colin taught Jane to fight bad guys and that is still one of her favorite things to pretend. :)

Little girl 2nd cousins

When I talk to my cousin Stephanie I get the impression that Jane and Dylan's personalities are very similar. These girls love dresses and everything pretty, but they are super tough and very daring. It's hard to get pictures of these ones playing together. They all come out blurry! Always on the move these kiddos! They are tons of fun. Jane always keeps me busy and I wouldn't have it any other way!

December 1st! I was ready for Christmas!! :D

That wraps up our Thanksgiving! I was going to cover Christmas in this post too, but this is already long enough. I guess I have one more 2016 post to go after all! ;) I'll catch up one of these days! Sam and I have been busy watching Naruto recently, so I've been distracted. 703 episodes down, only 17 to go! 😲 Oh and we got a puppy. So she's keeping me pretty busy too.

Puppy dog eyes!!

Romans 5:1-5

 Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. And not only that, but we also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance; and perseverance, character; and character, hope. Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us.