The Ducote Family

Thursday, January 31, 2013

A month of firsts


At Joseph's month birthday I recorded some of his firsts...we are past her month birthday (closer to her second month) but here are some of her firsts.  To read Joseph's click here:  Joseph's firsts
First trip home/ride in the car:  December 24, 2012
First doctor's appointment: December 26, 2012

First real smile: December 27, 2013 (I know she was only 5 days old here but I caught it on camera and it looks pretty real to me so we are going to count it!)  
First real bath after umbilical cord fell off: January 11, 2013
She continues to LOVE the bath!
 And of course Joseph had to get in on the fun!!  He took a bath in the regular bath tub while she was in  the little one and talked about taking a bath in Ella's bath the entire time so I let him get in once she was out.  Of course there was water EVERYWHERE but he loved it.  

 And then I smartened up and moved it into the tub!
These aren't from her first bath but too cute not to include-January 16, 2013
First walk in the stroller: Crazy to say but wasn't until January 22, 2013 (she has been a ring sling baby instead of using the double stroller all of the time)
First run with mama and Joseph in the double: January 23, 2013
She wasn't crazy about it at first but settled down!
 First facial (to help with the baby acne!): January 23, 2013

Tuesday, January 29, 2013

Potty Monkey


For the past few months Joseph has shown an interest in being ready for potty training.  It started with wearing his "big boy underwear" or "big boy boxers" over his diaper, talking about poop all the time and how football players don't wear diapers and big boys (especially his friends Koko and Kason) don't wear diapers.  I had no intention of potty training though with a baby on the way and with him just turning 2-figured we had plenty of time and didn't want to tackle it at this point.  However, once Ella arrived and we were basically home all day he really showed an interest in it and would run over to the toilet every time.  We didn't push it but just went with it and soon enough he was out of diapers for the entire day (except for nap).  He only had 1 accident the entire time while we were at home and loves being on the toilet.  However, within the past week he has asked to wear a diaper during the day and is not showing as much interest in it-he seems totally content back in diapers.  Last week we were at the park and he was in big boy underwear and had to go so I had him pee next to the trees which might have been an awful idea because I am pretty sure that gave him the idea that he could go anywhere which is why I think he has peed in the house twice since.  The one time he was standing on the top of the stairs and said , "Mama, pee" and took off his underwear and peed.  I also THANKFULLY caught him standing over Ella with his penis out getting ready to pee on her as he was saying "Pee on baby Ella!"  Eeeeek!  That would have been a disaster!  So for now, we are just going with it and if he asks to be in a diaper we put that on and if he asks for big boy underwear we go that route.  We'll see what happens in the next few weeks but for now have these awesome pictures from the past month of his journey to being potty trained!
I wonder where he learned to do this!
 Sometimes he will pee like this-crazy little monkey!

And this is how he normally gets on to the toilet.  He uses the stool every once in awhile but prefers to climb on himself!

Sunday, January 27, 2013

J is for Joseph

He is growing up way too fast!! Here are some things that make us smile about this age with our little guy:
-In the morning while waiting for us to get him once he wakes up he will say, "Mommy/Daddy-where are you?"

-On the way to the Superbowl, Nani worked with him on saying "May I have ______ please?" instead of just "____ please" so now he says it all the time and it is just the cutest thing ever
-A few weeks ago Rich's boss came over for dinner and earlier that day when I was telling Joseph that he was coming we practiced saying, "Hi, It's nice to meet you, I'm Joseph."  This was hours before he came...well sure enough I was in the kitchen and Joseph and Rich answered the door and I hear, "Hi, It's nice to meet you, I'm Joseph."  I about died!!  Sweet boy.
-He loves walking on his tip toes.
-When he jumps he has been calling it "jumpy jumpy" which for some reason bothers me.  I always say to him, "just jump Joseph" and then he will look at me and say "Jumpy jumpy"

 
-We can pretty much understand most of what he says but if we have trouble he is really good about giving us clues.  For example he was saying shovel and I was having a tough time figuring it out so he says to me, "dig, dig".  Yesterday he was saying camel and I wasn't getting it so he says to me, "2 humps" from a song that we sing.  Smart boy!
-He loves and I mean LOVES books!  When Miss Maggie his babysitter recently watched him on her note to us she wrote, "We read a lot of books, but no surprise there since that's his thing!" He can seriously sit through so many books.  One of his favorites right now is Danny and the Dinosaur which is a 67 (yes, 67!) page I can read book.  Ella brought him "Homer" which was a favorite library book of his and he was so excited.  
-The night when Ella was born, when he stayed with the Knellers, they went on a wagon ride and Mr. Erik told them that they had to buckle up because "Safety first" so Joseph says that ALL the time now.  Last week after I finished a run with Carrie we were at Starbucks and Joseph got in the stroller just to go to the car so I didn't buckle him and he looks at me and says, "Safety first Mama!"  Stinker!
-Within the past month he has become scared of the dark.  One night after Rich put him down he started crying really hard so we went up and he just kept saying "scared, scared" so he now sleeps with a night light and most nights asks for the closet light on with the closet door closed.  For nap though he wants the night light off and he will remind you to turn it off if it is still on.
-When Nani was here they were all about Frosty the Snowman and whenever he was cold he would say, "Frosty the Snowman, brrr".  Rich told me I had to put an end to this because down the road he didn't want his 18 year old having a bite of ice cream saying, "Frosty the snowman brrr!"  Daddy, lighten up :)
-Often if we tell him it is time for bed or nap he'll say, "Almost, not yet, a few more minutes."  
-Everything is related to a football player..."football players do this" "football players like bananas" "football players wear this" "football players eat this" and so on!
-When he isn't talking about football players, he is probably talking about big boys.  He wants to be a big boy so bad.  Normally in the afternoon there are a bunch of big boys at our park playing football and he loves it but he wants to play with them SO bad.  He'll stand at the side with his football watching them until Rich and I persuade him to play with us (we're cool, too) and then he'll play football with us while always keeping an eye on them.  One time his football went close to one of the big boys and the boy took the time to toss it back to Joseph.  I had tears in my eyes (I am seeing a trend-lots of tears in my eyes these days-hormones!) Joseph was just so proud and talked about it for the next few days.  Here he is with his football ready to play with the big boys in the background-soon enough buddy you'll be one of those big boys which makes Mama sad.
-Last week for the first time he picked a flower by himself and came and gave it to me!  I had tears in my eyes!  And since then he does it almost every time we are outside.  

-Going on the potty is the cool thing to do again-he is back to wearing big boy boxers or big boy underwear at home and havent' had an accident since.  Wearing goggles and your backpack make it especially cool!


-He still has quite the fashion sense!  He prefers wearing pajamas (and changing them frequently) or his football jersey (which we now have 2 of!) if we are home, or going naked except for his big boy underwear or boxers.  And a few weeks ago when we went to Target he insisted on wearing his "football hat" inside.  
                                                                                    He is quite the monkey these days and Daddy encourages this by doing crazy things like this to make Mama worried!

 
 
-He loves saying, "E is for Ella, M is for Mommy, D is for Daddy and J is for Joseph"  
And he continues to be such a great big brother to Ella.  He absolutely adores her and must give her hundreds of kisses a day.  We love you little guy and just love watching you grow!




Tuesday, January 22, 2013

Ella Jane-month 1

Happy 1 month birthday sweet girl! Ella turned 1 month on January 22nd, 2013. 
One month old!
January 22, 2013
 The first month flew by and we can't believe that we are already celebrating her 1 month birthday.  What an amazing month!  She is a sweet baby but here are some pictures from the past month showing us that she definitely has a fiesty side

When she is happy she is so happy but when she is upset she makes sure that you and everyone else knows it!  One day she was asleep in the swing for no more than 15 minutes and she started crying so loud that I sprinted in because I was certain that she had fallen out of the swing, or that someone had broken into the house and was torturing her, I picked her up and she stopped immediately.  She's a little diva-when she wants something she wants it right now!  She is the same with eating-if I take her off to burp her and she isn't quite ready yet she will give out the biggest cry!  Definitely a little bit of drama, too!  On the day that she turned 1 week old we actually took her into the doctor because she had an awful diaper rash that just wasn't going away.  She was really gassy that first week and was pooping honestly 5-6 times after 1 feeding so it just tore her little coolie (bottom) apart.  Poor girl.  She is still gassy but I have given up dairy and often pump before I feed her because I think my milk just comes in too fast for her and both of those seem to help.  We've started using gripe water when she seems really bothered and that helps, too.  See, drama!!  And she's only a month!!
Just some pictures from the past month
December 27, 2012

January 15, 2013

Look at that hair!   
December 29, 2012
Rocking the mohawk of the receding hair line
 January 19, 2013

Sweet girl-December 31, 2012
January 1, 2013
January 2, 2013
She is smiling for us all the time-probably most of them are the after milk smiles but a smile is a smile so we'll take it!  
January 1, 2013

January 1, 2013                                                                     December 26, 2013
Her umbilical cord fell off on Thursday, January 10th when she was 19 days old.  She had an awful case of baby acne but thankfully that has cleared up and now she is just dealing with her receding hair line!  But she is still the cutest!!
January 8, 2013
Her stretches are just the cutest thing ever!

December 31, 2012


 January 19, 2013

Definitely a daddy's girl already!
December 30, 2012

January 6, 2013

You can already tell that she is just going to adore her brother (as he does her!)  He still calls her Baby Ella for the most part but also calls her sweet girl often.  I had tears in my eyes the first time he said it-it was in the morning and he walked up to her and said, "Good morning sweet girl!"  Melt my heart.  And his little high pitch tone that he uses with her is the cutest.  I caught him a few days doing "this little piggy" to her.  
January 15, 2013




January 22, 2013
Notice the sports stickers on her outfit-I am sure this is just the beginning of her brother messing with her.


Joseph put the soccer ball on her foot and said "Ella kick the soccer ball!"  Too funny.

We love you sweet girl!  Happy 1 month birthday!
January 22, 2013