Here is a quick picture review of 2011, 1 picture a month, and it was hard to narrow it down to just one per month.

January

February

March (okay 2 for March)

April

May

June

July

August

September

October

November

December

For Christmas we got Eloise a bunch of bracelets and necklaces since she has been asking for them. However we didn’t get her anywhere to put them, so they along with the necklaces she has been making from beads keep getting stored in her sleeping bag, which isn’t the best place to store them. So when I was out shopping with a friend last week, she mentioned she wanted to get a jewelry box for her daughter (her twins and Eloise are in preschool together), and I decided that was a wonderful idea. I also picked Eloise up some more jewelry because I found some cute heart stuff in the valentine section of Target.

We looked around Target and didn’t see anything that would really work, but since we were going to stop at Michaels it wasn’t a major deal. Once we got to Michaels we looked around, the employee suggested some cute boxes, but they were a bit more then either of us were willing to spend on a 3 year old for a jewelry box. We headed over to the kid craft section and found some adorable plastic heart boxes, that were inexpensive and would work perfectly. So we each picked one up. We also found some cute wooden ones, that would have to be painted and such to be used, and decided that would end up a Mommy craft rather then a kid craft, so the plastic hearts we had found first were a much better choice.

Anyways after a great morning out, we both headed back to pick up our small people from preschool. After picking up the small ones we both headed home to our respective houses. Once we got home, Eloise noticed her dress up pink/purple dress with black lace hanging up in the kitchen and decided she wanted to wear it. Seeing no reason not to let her, she changed from her school clothes into it. I then gave her her new jewelry box and jewelry and found her other jewelry at the bottom of her sleeping bag and put it in the box as well.

I then took a few gorgeous pictures of her playing with it. So here she is all dressed up in her dress and jewelry looking through her jewelry box.

So I decided I felt like updating the blogs look. It has been ages since I last did it, like shortly after Eloise was born ages, so I felt it was time for a change. Not sure how long I’ll keep the new look, but I like it for now.

I also updated my links/blog roll, if I included you and you don’t want to be there let me know, if I didn’t include you and you want to be included let me know as well, these were the sites I could remember off the top of my head that I visit, I visit others, but let’s be honest after 3 kids if I can still remember what I am talking about at the end of this sentence I am doing good, oh look shiny!

So Desmond is learning about a lot of different things through preschool and life. And he wants to be a lot of things. So I always get asked in the car how old he has to be to be xyz. It is fun trying to figure out an age he can be to be some of these things, but here is a list of the age you have to be to do or be the following.

Drive: 16
Be an Army Man: 18
Be a Soldier (you know the ones that fight the Maccabees not a current day one): 18
Be a Maccabee (yes we have a bit of a obsession going with the Maccabees right now, it is all the rage in his preschool class): 18
Be a Knight in Shining Armor: 21
Be a Pirate: 21
Be a Ghost Buster: At least 25 since you really need a PHD to be a Ghost Buster

In other news Desmond’s birthday list includes him wanting the following costumes: A Knight, A Maccabee, A Ghost Buster, A Pirate, a Soldier, and an Army Man.

Sully has his 9 month appointment on the 13th. Yes it was a couple of weeks late, but since he turned 9 months right between Christmas and New Years, it worked. Anyways he has grown 2 1/2 inches since his 6 month appointment, and gained almost 2 pounds (1 pound 13 ounces). He is in the 75th percentile for height and the 50th percentile for weight. Which keeps him right on his normal curve, with his 6 month appointment being an outlier. He is doing great and meeting and exceeding all milestones for his age. He is a happy and healthy baby boy. I can’t believe his next doctor appointment he will be 1!

Oh and just for comparison. At 9 months Eloise was 16 pounds 12 ounces and 26 3/4 inches and Desmond was 22 pounds 3 ounces and 29 inches. So Sully’s height is staying pretty similar to Desmond’s at the same ages so far, and his weight is between Desmond’s and Eloise’s. I’m guessing he’ll be between 30 and 31 inches at 12 months and between 20 and 21 pounds. I guess we’ll find out in under 3 months.

At birth he was 9 pounds 4 ounces and 22 inches
At one month he was 11 pounds 3 ounces and 23 inches
At 2 months he was 13 pounds and 24 inches
At 4 months he was 15 pounds 2 ounces
At 5 months he was 16 pounds 3 ounces and 26 1/2 inches
At 6 months he was 17 pounds 8.5 ounces and 26 1/2 inches
At 9 months he was 19 pounds 5.5 ounces and 29 inches

In other news since Eloise was with us, we did a quick weighing and measuring of her, she is up to 24 pounds and was right around 33 1/2 inches. I am impressed she has gained almost 4 pounds this year, we’ll see how big she is at her appointment in less then 3 months as well when she turns 3. I can’t believe I am going to have a 1 year old, 3 year old and 5 year old in less then 3 months!

Sully and the sippy cup.

This is how he drinks from a sippy cup, no hands and he moves his head back as far as it can go so the water comes down to his mouth.

So the past few weeks we have been having rather fun weather, one day it will be 60, the next day we will get a snow shower. No real snow mind you, but just a sprinkling of snow.

Here are Desmond, Eloise and Sully enjoying the warm Saturday day in the high 50s.

And here they are on Monday in the snow!

I think this picture from Desmond sums up my feelings on December and January’s weather so far:

Trimming the tree