The Malones: Mondays with Crosby and Jane Claire

At 11:24 am, Crosby Fox turned 4 years and 1 week old!!! At 1:03 pm, Jane Claire turned 40 weeks!!! There are a lot of fours written above. I am not fond of them. The next leading number for both kiddos is five and that is nearly too much to handle. At least I have a little more time to let the fours sink in...

Christmas lights!!! A little late with these pictures, you say? Nope. Not at all. We took down the Christmas tree on Tuesday. I decided to have a little photo shoot with Baby Girl. I just loved the one

that turned out! Some of the outtakes were pretty cute too...

Why are these shiny thing wrapped all around me? Is this safe???

Oh well! It is pretty fun!!

And the very next day, it happened. Jane Claire turned NINE months old!!! 9. NINE!!! It was finally too cold (I know, it IS December!) to take pictures outside. We had to settle for pictures on our bed! She was less than impressed...

The lighting may not have been ideal...

But the subject...

Oh the subject couldn't get much cuter!!

A Matilda Jane tag may have helped!! ;-)

And Brother.

He can get the biggest grins out of this baby!

Poor baby. You may notice the bruise on her right cheek. That was a mommy fail. She looked down as I was fastening the chest strap on her car seat and apparently I pinched her cheek!?! She let out the loudest shrill, followed by the 10 second silent cry where she nearly passed out. Then I look over and Crosby is in tears. God love him. He cannot stand to see her cry. At the time, I had no idea what had even happened. Was it her finger? Her leg? I could only guess she had been pinched and I wanted to join the crowd and cry too! Then the bruise popped up on her face and gave it away. Break my heart. Precious love!!! On to perspective pictures...

Jane Claire and her bunny...

Jane Claire and her bunny in her chair...

Mug shot...

Love that face...

Big feet, Little feet...

Big hand, Little hand...

Oh my Sweet Jane Claire. Month 9 has been a great one. She is really starting to show more personality these days. I am pretty sure there is little bit of sassy coming out of my sweet baby cakes. How shall I put it? Jane Claire is quite impatient at times. When it comes to meal time, she wants to eat when she wants to eat. I am not allowed to take bites in between hers. Well, I can. But she will definitely protest!! Little mess! Speaking of eating, there is nothing she turns down, minus to much straight avocado. She loves guacamole but isn't as found of straight green stuff. I haven't been too good at working with the sippy cup. She has a had a few sips here and there but nothing consistent.

Jane Claire is constantly on the move when she is awake. She still crawls and pulls up on everything. She is getting steadier on her feet but doesn't seem to be near walking. She isn't even cruising much yet. Of course, I like it that way! ;-) I don't know what I will do when this baby girl starts walking!!!

Jane Claire is a good sleeper. If we are home. She continues to nap in the morning for 3 hours, give or take 30 minutes. We don't exactly have an afternoon nap schedule. If we are home, she takes one. When and how long vary. I guess that is the way it is when you have an older sibling! She sleeps really good at night. She usually wakes up once or twice a night but she falls back asleep on her own. Most nights, I still sneak in around 10:30 and top her off with a bottle. Gotta make sure she gets enough milk! ;-)

Jane Claire likes playing with her activity table and her new Fisher price door. So does Crosby! At least they can play together. She smiles every time she sees Minnie Mouse. That makes me happy because Mickey could do the same for Crosby. Walt knew what he was doing when he made his mice red and black. My babies sure love primary colors! It seems like Jane Claire spends most of her time playing with Crosby's toys.

Jane Claire is such a good baby. She may not love to go to other people just yet, but she sure does smile and laugh and enjoy being in her own space. She is easy to read. She is either tired or hungry if she cries. Well, unless Crosby is driving her crazy. God love his heart, he can't keep his hands off her. He just wants to love on her and she wants a little bit of space! She is very loved and we are so thankful for the 9 months we have had with her! What a blessing!

On Thursday, we finally celebrated Crosby's birthday with his friends!!! Oh my goodness. He was soooooo excited to have his Toy Story birthday at Bounce U. When we got there, the kiddos had to watch a safety video. At least the early birds did...

How sweet that Finn wore his fox shirt just for the occasion!!!

So did Jack!! Melt my heart...

It was finally time to jump and slide. And slide they did...

Jane Claire just stared at the kiddos as they flew down towards her...

She saw these happy faces over, and over, and over, and over!! Toooo cute...

Anne Claire took Malone down with Margaret, Charlotte and Mason...

Since Malone made it down without issue, I agreed to let Jane Claire have a turn. I thought it would be best if done with the professional first...

Her expression never changed! She kept the same face the entire way down. We decided to take a family trip down the slide. Margaret joined in too!

We switched rooms half way through jump time. The kiddos loved climbing this web to get to the super tall slide...

Well. He did until he got sort of tired on his second trip up. I may have had to go help him get all the way up!! Poor thing just got tired and panicked a bit...

He finally made it to the slide...

They were so glad to be safely out of the web! ;-)

It was time to set up the room for cake and singing. The Toy Story theme ended up being pretty cute. Luly made "4" cookies as party favors...

I had cowboy hats for the kiddos too!

We brought all of Crosby's Toy Story characters to use as centerpieces on each table...

Charlotte even let us borrow her Jessie doll!

"Little Buzz", Rex and RC and Woody...

Lego set, Evil Dr. Pork chop and a garbage truck that isn't really "Toy Story" but Crosby plays with it like it is from the landfill in Toy Story 3! He loves the compactor and incinerator...

"Big Buzz", Mr. and Mrs. Potato Head...

The Toy Story cake...

It turned out too cute!!! It may not have been as tasty on the outside as Mrs. Tyler's cakes, but is sure was precious. Crosby LOVED the way it looked. The cake itself was homemade funfetti with strawberry between each layer. It thought it was pretty delish!

Then it was time for the big moment. Crosby's favorite. The singing of Happy Birthday. They lit the candles...

And then they turned out the main lights and turned ON a colored disco ball light thingy...

It was a big hit!!! Then the birthday boy blew out his candles!!!

Crosby got the "4" slice. He left most of it on his plate!?!? He prefers the taste of Mrs. Tyler's cake! I guess you can't have it all...

They looked too cute in their cowboy hats, eating their cake! Mason, Lucas, Charlotte and Addy...

At the other end of the table we have Addy again, Crosby, Margaret and Jack! Precious kiddos...

We had to take pictures of all of our sweet friends! The Spencers were first...

I just love this one of ME and my little cowboy...

Crosby with Pop and Gee Gee...

Mason, Kristen and Maggie...

Blake and his crazy cowboy...

Crosby and Lucas...

Anne Claire, Charlotte, Lulu and Malone...

Lucas, Kara and Finn...

Joanna, John Christopher, Thomas and Mercer...

Melissa and Margaret...

Milly, Jenny and Addy...

I could hardly get these two still for a picture. Much less get them to LOOK at the camera...

Crosby will always smiles for hugs from LeAnne!

Lulu and Crosby...

Our little family with the new 4 year old!

What a fun day we had with all of our sweet friends. I had never been to a birthday party at Bounce U so I was a little worried about how it would flow. Worry was not needed. It was great! We had each bounce room to ourselves! It was lovely! Crosby and his little buddies had a great time. That is all that mattered to me!

On Saturday, Jane Claire and I met Lulu and headed out to Burns. It was that time again...

9 month pictures!!! How?? Little bit did pretty good this time. She was a little more stingy with her smiles this go round. Thank goodness I brought her lovie. We pulled it out and she gave us the best grin of the day! This was Lulu's first trip with us. We were never able to schedule a time we could all go to her 3 and 6 months sessions. We were so happy to have her with us. And of course Lulu made her dress!