The Hoosier Homestead Family: (the first part of) March in Our Home

Meghan loves her My First Little House books - on this day, she was sitting on the couch with her pile of them, looking through all of the pages, and enthusiastically shouting "JACK!" every time a picture of their bulldog showed up. She then sat and read the stories in the books - I was impressed with how much of the stories she was able to retell to herself - proves she's really paying attention to what I'm reading to her.

We had little smokies for dinner....she gladly allowed the BBQ suace to stick around on her lips as she would not have allowed for several months ago!

She is starting to really enjoy her playtime in her room. She is engaging in play with her dollhouse while in her room and it's cute to see the things that she does with them and to listen to the conversations they have (or the songs that they sing as is more often the case).

When the clear colored blocks came back out in her toy rotation she quickly remembered how to look through them and change the color of the world she was looking at - she came running out to me like this and proclaimed "Hi, Green Mommy!!"

She's been enjoying spending time with her alphabet puzzle. She works on it a little bit at a time and it makes me so happy to hear her naming the letters and saying their sounds to herself!

She was walking around with Margo (the monkey) around her neck singing "we're going on a bear hunt" one evening...it was so cute! They were off on a grand adventure!!

I was cleaning the wall behind the trash cans where there were some splatters. Within about five minutes of me finishing cleaning, little miss followed behind and cleaned the wall and fridge, too.

Uncle Zachary and Aunt Gabrielle came and spent a day with us and Meghan had a whole lot of fun playing outside with them. Especially enjoyable was anything having to do with balls!!

While I was preparing her lunch, she prepared lunch for Margo. It was so cute to watch her enjoying a meal with her friend.

She has mastered getting up in the rocking chair in her room - she can often be found there reading or rocking friends during roomtime recently.

Meghan has been growing even more in her imaginative play - it's so fun to watch her play with her farm and to listen to her talk while playing. This day it was very important to her that everyone was "patting" the horse.

This girl loves to help Mommy in the kitchen. She knows the ingredients as I add them and truly loves to help me mix them. This day she was proudly proclaiming "Meghan makin' neenah bed!!"

We introduced her to her My First Orchard Game in which she has to take turns with Mommy and Daddy, roll a dice and follow directions, and work toward a victory with the other players. She does pretty well with it and thinks it's pretty fun to play a game with her parents - hopefully she keeps thinking that for a long time.

Meghan has Sensory Processing Disorder which makes it hard for her to manage the sensory input she receives and means that she often needs more input than others. I had started recognizing some "behaviors" that looked like they might be her seeking more sensory input to her body rather than trying to be "naughty." I had been thinking and talking about purchasing a trampoline for her for her sensory system and so we decided to go ahead and order it to see if it would help. It's made an amazing difference and she absolutely loves jumping on it - what a win!!

She was teaching her "friends" to hold onto the bar while jumping with her:

On Sunday, March 13th I ended up in the hospital with contractions that were painful, close together, and continued several hours. I was placed on "take it very easy" bedrest when we finally stopped them with medication and then on Tuesday the 14th I was placed on "all-but-full" bedrest - meaning I could come down the stairs in the morning, go up at night, and walk to the bathroom. Nothing more. At the time I was 33 weeks and 5 days and the goal was to try to keep Katie in for a few more weeks.

It's was (quite understandably) a hard transition for Meghan as she and Mommy usually do everything together - but she's figured out how to make it work! She pulled up a chair and ate her lunch on the end table next to Mommy's spot on the couch....we were able to talk and eat our lunch together!

Daddy stayed home the rest of the week and Grandma Cindy came to stay for a few days - Meghan enjoyed extra reading time!

She also enjoyed trying out the tv trays that Daddy and Grandma ate dinner on.

More jumping - she LOVES this thing! This day it was fun to jump on some grocery ads...a new feeling on her feet and a fun crinkly sound.

More barn play! This day the horse went galloping and neighing all over the first floor before she brought it home to sleep with the other animals.

Meghan tried cereal with milk...and then proceeded to eat several bites - she decided that was REALLY GOOD stuff!!

Mimsie, Papa, and Uncles Caleb and Jordan came up on Saturday - Mimsie had made cookies. Daddy and Mommy were kind of shocked when Meghan said she wanted one. Then, jokingly, a few minutes later Papa held out the container of cookies and asked if she wanted another - she jumped on that opportunity and took another - and ate them both!! Meghan generally doesn't eat very much food nor does she respond so enthusiastically to offers of "more".

Later, after nap, she asked Papa for a cookie and excitedly picked one out of the container and ate it. Again, Mommy and Daddy were shocked! She's always been difficult to convince she wants to eat....even for desserts. But maybe, just maybe, she has discovered that cookies are a good thing!!

Mimsie and Papa brought birthday presents with them when they came to visit. Meghan loved building with her new blocks! She made lots of towers. She also thoroughly enjoyed the bunny, chicken, GIRL person, and flowers!