Friday, January 14, 2022

Grow Baby Grow {Paige} - 5 Years

Little Miss Paige turned 5 on December 21, and we had her well-check last week with Drew. We haven't seen our pediatrician since this time last year, so nice to have had a healthy year!

Stats:
Height: 42" {42%}
Weight: 34.2 pounds {13%}
BMI: 13.63 {6.5%}
Clothes: 4T/XS
Shoe size: 10.5/11


Paige's height growth outpaced her weight growth, so she dropped a lot in her weight curve. Our pediatrician wants to watch it, but I'm not concerned - Paige is my best eater and looks very healthy! She's also bigger than Drew was at 5, ha! I'll do a 5-year comparison of all 3 later this month, I love checking in on all 3.


Paige continues to have the most infectious, joyful personality. She is a ball of sunshine that EVERYONE who meets loves. She is hilarious and just so, so happy. She has definitely learned how to assert her personality {and especially when she is told 'no'} but most of the time is sweet and loving and a lot of fun.


She is equal parts big kid and baby. She can be so independent with everyone and everything...except me! It's a constant struggle {again, for me} to get her to do things that she is fully capable of doing - she is definitely playing that 'baby of the family' card!


Paige continues to love her sackie and thumb! I think she's so adorable with both but know she's getting a little old for that thumb. I was bribed to stop sucking my thumb in kindergarten, but I'm just going to follow her lead. She lost 2 teeth last year {SO CRAZY!}, and her top 2 teeth are loose too - the dentist said it could be just being an early tooth loser {which Trent was but this is earlier than him} or her thumb sucking could be playing a part in it too. She does have an open bite/tongue thrust that we'll eventually need to tackle!


She remains our best eater! She eats a lot of fruits and vegetables and is usually willing to try new foods. She also likes sweets the most of the 3, ugh, haha. 


School remains a highlight of Paige's life! She loves going to school, loves her teachers, loves her friends at school. And she's doing SO WELL. Her guide, Ms. Liliana, has told me she is doing great. She's a little leader in the class, loves getting lessons and doing work. Ms. Liliana jokingly said she's going to run out of work to give Paige because she goes through it and loves getting/doing it. I love this!


She is doing great with simple math and is reading! We sat down and she read Green Eggs and Ham to me - I had to help her but was amazed at how well she did sounding words out and remembering words we had worked on. We got her some Phonics stuff for Christmas, and she loves working on it! I love watching her little brain grow.


Paige has been doing gymnastics since the fall and right now loves it! She struggled getting back into dance after quarantine because she freaked out not being able to see me. She is still a bit attached to me and with gymnastics she can see me through a big window the whole time. So she's happy and having a blast {and bossing everyone around} but knows where her person is at all times. Best of both worlds!


Paige LOVES to play anything and everything - babies, Barbies {but not as obsessed as last year}, Hatchimals, LOL surprise. She also loves to do crafts, paint, draw, color. She and Drew play great together - but I can tell Drew is starting to outgrow some of this, so I think the days of them being besties are numbered, sob.


We've had some updated successes with her bedtime routine. She spent about 6 months sleeping with Drew which kept her in her bed, but Drew got tired of it, so a few months ago we put Paige back in her own room. We still have to stay in her room until she falls asleep {no clue how to break this habit}, but she stays in her room consistently almost every night, yay!


She is a pretty stereotypical girl - loves pink, sparkles, dresses, princesses! She is getting a little more particular about clothes but still nowhere near as picky as Drew was/is. 


She lets me fix her hair which is so amazing - Drew refused from an early age to let me do her hair, so I'm so happy I can still braid and do fun stuff with Paige. VERY rarely do I get a bow in there, but I still try!


Paige learned to ride her bike this year without training wheels! She's not great at it yet, but she's getting there. I really think her using the balance bike {that we got Trent and basically collected dust until Paige} helped so much with the bike being easy for her to figure out.


We have had a great year with Paige, and I'm really excited to see what Year 6 {HOW?} has in store for this little firecracker. She was the perfect addition to our family, and she couldn't be loved more!


Wednesday, January 12, 2022

Christmas 2021 Rundown

It's crazy that Christmas was already over 2 weeks ago! But I can't let it pass totally without blogging about it. {grin} The kids were out of school starting December 18, and I blogged about our first weekend off already.

We are so fortunate to have everyone local and have had a very similar routine since Brent and I have been married. Last year we did switch to going to my parents' house on Christmas Eve instead of having 3 separate celebrations on Christmas Day {which made that day more stressful and less fun than it should be}.

On December 23, I took the girls to Cocoa with Santa at our neighborhood clubhouse. No matter how much I begged Trent, he wasn't budging, ha. I love doing stuff like this in the neighborhood because there is never a line, they always have a great Santa, and I can always order an adult drink. {grin}


Oh Christmas Eve we headed to my parents' in the early afternoon. We hung out with my sister's family while my parents were at church, and then did dinner/presents/drinking/more hanging out when they got back. The kids are all at really great ages where they still love the magic of Christmas but we don't need to worry about naps or rushing home for bedtime.

Annual picture of Patty and Allena eating Granny's recipe for Christmas Wreaths

The Swope Six!
Drew (8), Mayer (8), Miles (12), Trent (12), Paige (5), Blair (10)

Babs and Pops

Photo bombing brother-in-law

Trent's favorite gift was a wearable blanket from my sister!
This kid LOVES hoodies and LOVES blankets.

Side note about Trent - my parents gave Trent money as 2 different gifts but pranked him both times, and it was awesome. Trent is such a jokester, and it was great seeming him get pranked. One gift was a holder for a set of rosary beads. Trent opened it and said 'Well...this is...practical.' HA! My mom encouraged him to look inside where he found some money. The second time, she gifted him a book for a 1st grade reading level. The money was inside the book. Even I got fooled with that one haha.

OG Swopes


When we got home I still had some presents to wrap, so it was almost 2:00 AM before I got into bed. Paige and Drew came running into our room screaming 'IT'S CHRISTMAS!!!!!!!!!!!!!' and scared me half to death ha. It was almost 8:30 though so I can't complain too much. We had a low-key morning opening gifts, making breakfast, playing with gifts, and relaxing. Brent and I watched White Christmas in the afternoon, barely getting it in this year! We did make the girls take naps because they were exhausted from several late nights.


We gifted Trent a subscription to Funimation - a Manga site he has been drooling over.
He also had a bust of a present - I got him a Manga puzzle.
He said several times 'You got me a PUZZLE.' with utter scorn in his voice.
To be fair, it's 1,000 pieces and glows in the dark, it seemed neat to me!


We tried to do less toys this year, 
and one gift I got the girls was pots to paint with sunflower seeds to plant.
Our plants sprouted over our vacation so I hope we have flowers soon!


Late in the afternoon, we went over to Brent's parents' house to celebrate with his brother's family and his parents. 

5 of the 6 grandkids, Branden {the oldest} had to work

Delicious desserts!

Dinner!

Drew loves Wicked, and I can't wait to take her to see it.
I can't find any showings in Texas before 2023, so until then,
we will listen to music and enjoy some merch!

I copied the idea of trees on the island from my MIL - 
her display is incredible!

Gurley grands

And with this pic, Christmas was over!

Only 347 days until next Christmas, yay!