Update on the Kiddos

Dawson @ 12 Weeks:

• Dawson is such a champ. He is such a good baby and has a wonderful personality. 
• Last night he slept 9 hours straight! AmAzInG! He has been sleeping well since he was born but last night was just icing on the cake. The first night home from the hospital he even slept 7 hours straight. Some nights he does better than others, but I have absolutely nothing to complain about. If he wakes up he falls asleep while nursing and goes straight back to bed. This momma thrives on sleep. : )
• Dawson is so strong. He has already rolled over from belly to back when he was just  3 weeks old. He loves to be held sitting up and if you put him on your shoulder he holds his head up on his own to look around.
• He is on path to be bigger than Camp. At 8 weeks Camp weighed 13 lbs 10 oz and Dawson weighed 12 lbs 4 oz at his 6 week check-up. Camp even had 2 pounds on him at his birth weight! He had gained one pound per week for the last 4 weeks!
• At his 6 week check-up Dr. Rule decided to put him Zantac for acid reflux. He doesn't have the projectile spit-up like Emma Claire and Camp did but his is the silent reflux. He would have episodes of choking and would scare us to death in the middle of the night. He would also scream out in pain often when laid flat on his back. He is doing MUCH better now and seems to be adjusting to the awful tasting medicine.
• He is eating every 3 hours during the day and occasionally at night if he wakes up. I'm not sure how much he is eating but the other day I pumped a bottle and had 5 1/2 ounces in 5 minutes. I would say he is taking in a lot!
• Dawson is very much a snuggler. Neither of my other two ever liked to be cuddled or be rocked but Dawson loves it. And..... Mommy loves it!
• He is definitely already a Momma's boy! He loves for his mommy to hold and love on him.
• Dawson is Camp's twin. He looks identical to what he did when he was small. Benjamin has some pretty strong genes in our family! ; 0
• Camp and Emma Claire absolutely loved their swing. They lived in it every day and that is where they were the happiest. Dawson on the other hand doesn't care for it. He would much rather sit in his vibrating bouncy seat. I have tried to get him accustom to it so he will be ready for the infant room at work. After he eats he will sit in it for a few minutes with the music on but the swing part off.  Baby steps right?!
• He does very well taking a bottle if I am able to pump. However, he takes it better from Emma Claire than he does anyone else. She is our official bottle holder.

Camp @ 3 Years 3 Months:

• Camp....what can I say? This boy is FULL of it. He is so full of life and energy. He goes all or none.  Not in an uncontrollable energy kind of way; but an extreme intensity kind of way.  Everything he does is...well, intense!
• Camp is our tender hearted one.  Don't get me wrong he is still very strong willed, but when he is punished it really breaks his little heart. He is much harder to punish. 
• Camp loves trains, balls, flashlights, riding his bike, watching Cars 1 & 2, playing with anything electronic, and playing with his big sister. 
• Camp adores Emma Claire. On the days she is at school he can't wait for her to get home and play. He plays very well alone but it's much more fun when she is home! Of course, they still have their brother/sister moments and that's all I'm gonna say about that!
• Camp is doing amazing with his speech! In March he was only saying a handful of words and now he is singing songs and telling stories like a pro. I'll blog more about his speech progress later.
• We never had terrible two's with Camp but I think we are having more of the terrible three's. He has begun fit throwing when he doesn't get his way and deliberately disobeying. There has been much more punishment here lately.
• One of Camp's most favorite things to do is ride his cars bike. He BEGS to go outside and ride his bike even on rainy days. 
• Camp still has a great sleep schedule. He goes to bed at 8:00pm and sleeps til 7:30ish. He also still takes about a 2 hour nap in the afternoon. Every morning when he wakes up he stumbles in our room still droggy and says 'I had a hung rest, I want breakfast now.' Adorable. We have no clue what hung rest means but he says it every morning. If I asked if he had a good rest he will say, yes, so I'm assuming that is what it means.
• Camp loves breakfast type food. In one day he ate waffles for breakfast, oatmeal for lunch, and cereal for dinner. I know, bad parenting, but I was having a bad day. He is still a very picky eater but making improvement. It seems to be more of a texture thing. He will eat certain things when we make him but sometimes they make him gag. He will do his best to chew and swallow them because Daddy says it will give him hair on his chest. : ) 
• He is still in a pull-up at night. To be honest we haven't pushed it. He doesn't have accidents during the day so I'm happy. Every now and then he will have an accident during nap time but he is doing very well over all.

 Emma Claire @ 5 Years 10 Months:

•  Emma Claire is still our princess. Most of the time you can find her wearing a dress, heels, jewelry, and carrying a purse. Of course there must always be something pink!
• She is loving kindergarten and enjoys going everyday. They are beginning to read sentences and she is thrilled with her progress. At the first of the year she had trouble with getting her vowels but once she mastered that skill she has been well on her way!
• Emma Claire still has a small petite build. She keeps asking me why her friends that are younger than her are taller than she is. ; ) She wears a size 4 pants in the waste but a size 5 in the length.
• She is such a wonderful big sister! Emma Claire loves her brothers very much and is very motherly. They still have their sibling rivalry but many times you can find her helping Camp clean his room or singing to Dawson so he will stop crying.
• Speaking of singing...and she LOVES to sing...we're thinking about singing lessons. ; )
• Her new phrases are 'by the way' and 'just so you know'. Yesterday she told me, 'I don't think you understand.'
• Emma Claire's favorite foods are pizza, spaghetti, chocolate gravy, and fish.
• She has taken off on riding her bike without training wheels! Within a week she was riding it like a pro!
• She and her daddy make regular visits to the Border (local greasy spoon) where she always orders 3 little pigs (sausage wrapped in pancakes).
• Emma Claire still loves to dance. We plan to start hip-hop classes soon per her request. I'm not sure she will like it but we shall see! 
• She's funny about crowds and attention: She isn't shy at all when she thinks people aren't paying attention.  She sings to the top of her lungs, and dances her little heart out.  But the second the crowd turns toward her, she turns beat red, ducks her head, and clams up with 5yr old giggles.  Precious! 
• Emma Claire has really taken to arts and crafts. She will sit in her room for her entire 'rest time' drawing, coloring, cutting and pasting. Actually her drawing has gotten really good. Just today she looked at a picture of a cat and drew a picture that looked just like it. She definitely got her drawing skills from her daddy! ; 0
• She has lost 1 tooth and has 3 more that are loose! I'm not ready for these big steps. It's all happening WAY to fast.