Showing posts with label Monthly Progress. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Monthly Progress. Show all posts

Tuesday, July 1, 2014

Zavier at Nine Months!

Still zooming around. He can crawl pretty fast now and really knows when he shouldn't be headed somewhere bc he speeds up! He pulls himself up on everything and has even taken a couple steps on several occasions. He pushes the lion and shopping cart around with confidence so we're sure walking is just around the corner. We can wait though! He loves opening cabinets and drawers he should be opening and gives the biggest smile when I say "Zavier! You aren't allowed in there!" I talk to him the same way I talk to Scarlett, even though he cannot understand the way she can. I just don't want her to feel like I only talk to her like that and that I'm fair between the two of them. Back to Zavier, he definitely knows his name and he's very aware of sounds, especially when he's nursing bc he gets quite distracted.

He eats well. He still nurses about every three hours day (and night) and eats three meals a day. He loves smoothies or anything with a straw. He enjoys the mesh net when we have the proper fruit to put in it. I can tell he's going to have a hollow leg though bc he would probably eat more than I give him. We're working on finger foods and he does well with puffs and yogurt bites. The other day we had small bites of meatball as well as avocado so he can practice chewing. It definitely will take more practice but he's doing well so far! He's also working on picking up the foods either with his whole hand or his pinchers. He mostly does whole hand at this point.

He takes two-three naps a day. One around 9am and one around 1pm. Sometimes random naps happen at 11am after Stroller Strides and that throws off the afternoon. If we're home for both naps they've started getting longer. Afternoon naps are definitely longer than in the past. Usually an hour, sometimes more. He puts himself to sleep at night around 7pm with some gentle rocking and then a lay down. Barely any fussing unless he's a bit overtired. He still wakes up multiple times a night for comfort. I am currently okay with this though I often struggle with the thought that he should be sleeping thru the night and how I can help him do that. It's not that much of an inconvenience that I can't handle it and I know he will grow out of it and eventually sleep thru on his own so I don't mind being his comfort right now. Teething pain definitely impacts his sleep. Even when we give him a bit of Tylenol, he still wakes frequently. Bc he doesn't take a paci, I am one of his main comforts (his thumb is the other but he doesn't suck all that hard on it) so I'm not interested in removing myself as the comfort at this time.

Now he seems to be getting this whole walking thing. He's taken multiple steps on a number of occasions which is very exciting. Practice makes perfect!

I have to note in here that Scarlett is working on her potty training and she is doing very well! After a tough start bc of a public toilet being a little too loud, she seems interested in going on the potty. Mostly at home and public places, not at other peoples houses quite yet but it's early. We will be headed to the beach soon (June 21) so we will see how that goes. Hopefully traveling with the potty will make things easier. She will hopefully get used to seeing it and then go whenever/wherever. She did not respond well to the reward tactic, so what i do is after we finish the mission, I make sure she looks at me and then I praise her. I can tell she feels proud in those moments and that I'm really making her feel good. (Obv by I, I mean we, as in me and Alex but it's easier to type I).

Back to Zavier. Since his 9 month appt he's amped up the verbal skills. Lots more talking is going on and it's very cute. His first official word is Dada and he's also said dad-dy. so that's exciting! He has become quite fond of Alex and it's so adorable watching his excitement when Alex gets home from work or really just walks up to him.

Just said Mama too.

Zavier at Eight Months!

He crawls around like a pro. He pulls up on everything within reach as well which is neat but can also be dangerous. He requires lots more supervision then before and what I mean is I can't stand in the kitchen while he pulls up on the window seat area without getting nervous and staying nearby.

He has been teething hard this month and this has affected his sleeping. I have yet to sleep train him bc of this. When he teethes, his nose runs which makes him congested which affects his sleep. He wakes up more, itches at his nose and has a hard time getting back to sleep.

Other than activity and sleep, he eats solids twice a day but hasn't graduated to anything thicker than a good purée and we're working on puffs. He does enjoy the mesh net tho and I can't wait for some nice ripe cantaloupe to have for him to suck on!

He knows what he wants. When he wants out of his chair or when he drops something that he still wanted he lets us know! He wants the iPad when Scarlett has it and really likes being near her.

He smiles a ton. He's very loving. A little sweetheart in so many ways. He cries very little which is really nice too!

Zavier at Seven Months!

Weight: 21 lbs

Zavier has started crawling backwards at the beginning of this month. He is fully crawling now at the end. He also started some separation anxiety.

4/9/14 - Zavier's first hair cut! We trimmed his bangs while he was in the highchair. It wasn't easy and he looked so much older directly afterward.

His sleeping is still pretty terrible. I'm not really sure what to do about it at this point. He goes to sleep just fine, he just likes to wake up a lot and play me like a dang fiddle. I know he doesn't need to eat at night but I feed him bc it comforts him. He's been sick on and off and when he's not sick he seems to be teething. He naps for about 30 mins three times a day. Sometimes he surprises me and sleeps for an hour or longer. This is rare.

Despite the sleep issues, he's such a fun little guy! It's easy to make him smile and laugh and he has a tickle spot on his ribs. He crawls around so confidently now and when he wants something, he goes and gets it. He wants to pull up on everything which requires lots of supervision. It's all exciting, just moving really fast! He likes to drink water from Scarlett's cups, which means he does a good job sucking from a straw.

Scarlett has started to interact with him a lot more with kisses and playing. She will help me with him at times by repeating things I say like "keep your eyes open, Zavier" and she gives him kisses. She doesn't enjoy his mobility as much tho bc now he tries to take toys she's playing with. I do think it's helping her learn to share though and also teaches her she can't just take a toy from someone.

It's hard to believe he just turned 8 months. It's hard not to think about Scarlett when she was 8 months. I do my best not to compare them but it's nice to reminisce about her milestones. Pretty soon he will be walking and then talking and time will continue to fly so I will continue to live in and enjoy the moment!

Zavier at Six Months!

Eats
Zaviers first food was oatmeal followed by sweet potatoes and prunes. He was definitely ready to start eating bc he opens his mouth so well each time! I say "ahhh" and he opens! He still nurses every three hours or so.

Sleeps
He hasn't slept well really since before he had croup. Teething seems to give him a runny nose which messes with his breathing and all goes to heck after that. Also, hi my name is Michelle and i am Zavier's human pacifier. So there's that too. I'm not tired despite how often I am awake at night so I'm not messing with it anytime soon. He goes back to sleep pretty easily after nursing (in the cases where he can breathe while nursing of course, darn runny nose!)

Activities
This month Zavier has mastered sitting up unassisted. I still put the boppy behind him in case he leans back but he does a very good job sitting.

Basically this is a fail on my part as I didn't realize I didn't write a lot for 6 months. He's an awesome little man though!

Zavier at Five Months!

Another month with stats! I'm surprising myself! (also, five months is in January 2014)

Weighs 20 lbs
Length 27 3/4"

Eats
He still eats a lot. Every three hours on average. Sometimes more than three sometimes less. I feed him whenever he wants so I don't really keep close track. Only close enough track that when the dr asks I can say the average. He's become very distracted though so our sessions can last anywhere from 5 mins to 30 mins. He's packing on the pounds that's for sure. Good thing he's long too or else he'd be a real chubb-a-lubb. He likes watching us eat so I'm sure if I introduced some cereal to him he would go for it but I really want to wait until 5 or 5.5 months. We'll see what happens.

Sleeps
This month was really wonky bc he had a stuffy nose a lot. So that interrupted his sleep a lot. Then he had croup which definitely made sleep difficult for a couple of nights. But we're over that now and one night he slept for a nice 6 hour stretch! So that was lovely. His average is 3 hour stretches at night and 20-40 min naps during the day. He takes a nap about every three hours. His average is three for everything it seems.

Activity
He loves his bouncer and has mastered rolling and all that. He's now into grabbing his legs and feet while laying down. He's so intentional with his grabs in general. He appears to know what he wants and he grabs for it. He really loves holding hands with us too. So he's really handsy. We have been practicing sitting alone and he does okay with the boppy behind him. He definitely wants to lean forward a lot so hopefully he gets the concept of keeping his hands out in front of himself. He also inch worms across the floor. I feel like between now and actual crawling so much is happening with him!

This month he's replaced the pacifier with his thumb. This is fine with us now after some initial worry about it. After our research we determined its fine for him to do and that most kids wean themselves from it by age 2. This has actually been helpful with self-soothing, especially at night.

Let's talk about croup. First, Scarlett was not sick at all as a baby. She's only recently had a cold with an accompanying cough. It was only a matter of time after all the sickness in November and December and I'm just glad she didn't have the stomach bug that was circulating. Zavier got a stuffy nose when Scarlett had one and we thought that was that. But Alex had the flu and some other people we know had the flu around the holidays. Zavier started on Friday with some super long naps. He usually falls asleep in the car but these naps extended for hours which wasn't like him at all. The same thing occurred Saturday, long naps. Sunday morning he had a fever and was coughing a little but we just thought it was draining mucus, as that's how Scarlett's cold was ending. So we treated his fever all day/night which didn't subside at all. He slept terribly that night. He was up about every hour or so and his cough was getting worse. By the morning it was definitely sounding like a bark and his breathing in between coughs didn't sound the best. So when the dr opened I called immediately and they had an appt for him an hour later. He got an oral steroid and more Tylenol. She said it would get worse before it got better. I never really thought the steroid helped. But it only got better from then on so that was a relief. We did a lot of steams in the bathroom at Scarlett's nap time and when she went to bed at night. In between that we sat in front of the humidifier. Day two he was still lethargic but his fever had broken. By day three he was feeling better, smiling more and wanting to bounce and play. He still had a cough for the next several days and definitely mucus that needed draining but just to be over the fever and coughing was a huge relief. I honestly don't know how parents with sick children deal with it all the time. It's so sad.

Speaking of sickness though, I got a nose frida thing bc the bulb syringe is basically terrible at doing anything at all. And while he hates the nose frida and the saline drops in general, they both have been working really well through all of this.

We're so lucky to have such a happy little guy. He's such a pleasure to have around.

Zavier at Four Months!

Look who has stats this month!!

Weight- 18 lbs 7 oz
Length- 27.5"

Eats
He still eats every three-ish hours. He's a hungry little boy! And I'm sure this contributes to his weight above. But luckily he's proportionate and so he's not too chubby looking quite yet. He's a pretty distracted nurser other than in the middle of the night, luckily.

Sleeps
His napping is pretty sub-par. I tried crib training him a bit but he wouldn't sleep for long which meant his nights were worse. So I went back to holding him for 15-20 mins and then putting him down. Really it all depends on Scarlett. If she's in the mood to make trouble during his nap, and I have to get up and chase her around or remove her from certain areas it affects Zavier's nap. But I'm back to trying to crib train from the beginning and I'm hoping he gets used to it! :) He naps 4 times a day and goes to bed around 8pm waking about every three hours until he awakens around 7. He takes some of his best naps in his car seat when I go places like target or lunch with my mom. Something about Mimi always puts him to sleep and he stays asleep!

Activity
He has gotten a lot more active this month whether it's kicking his legs and scootching on the activity mat. He also rolled from his back to his belly! Now at the beginning of his fifth month, he's rolling all around. So now I can't leave him on the couch and have to strategically place him on the floor.

He's very easy to make smile and he started laughing this month. It can brighten any bad spot in a day and I just love it!

Other
I am the only one who can put him to bed at night. He allows Alex to do naps but he will cry his tiny head off at night. Sometimes he takes 10 minutes to go to sleep and sometimes it's an hour. I remember this phase with Scarlett and cannot wait until we're past it and falling asleep easier!

Zavier at Three Months!

Zavier at 3 Months

I don't know his stats!!! Look at his baby book ;)

Eats
He eats a lot. He can't last more than 3 hours during the day unless he's sleeping, which only happens if he's been riding in the car and gets nice and deep. I need to stay hydrated like nothing else to keep up with his appetite. One day of not drinking enough water and the following day feels empty. He's a growing boy! Can't wait for the sweet spot from 4-7 months when I can hopefully drop the rest of this baby weight and then some!

Sleeps
He still wakes about twice a night. Rarely it's three times but just as before he only spend about 10 minutes awake/eating/diaper change before going back to sleep. It's a smidge harder to get him back to sleep after the 4/4:30am feeding but he does go back to sleep. That's the time he joins us in bed so that I'm there to soothe him to sleep while half sleeping myself. I hope he stays immobile for a while so we can continue this safely or he can do better at sleeping from 4-7am.. Those are the only options. He does tend to fight his sleep a bit at times, mostly at night and he's very position specific. It's trying at times but I have to say I handle it better this time around than with Scarlett. I used to get pretty frustrated but now i just remind myself that, hello! he's a baby! this is what babies do.

Activities
He still talks and smiles lots. He started batting at and grabbing toys recently. He loves his hands and sucks on them lots. He loves laying on the activity mat kicking and punching around. His neck strength gets better each day, especially pulling him up by his arms, so that's good. We don't do too much tummy time but when we do he does a good job. He's been rolling over during tummy time since like 8 weeks from belly to his back. I think it's bc he would lean one way and the weight of his head would roll him over. I guess it counts if it's happened more than five times tho. Right? Right!

This little boy loves the bath. He kicks and splashes himself out of the little seat part so I have to hold him down most of the time to keep him safe. He could spend so much time splashing around and I'm sure he will have so much fun next summer with swimming and water table play! In the meantime, he'll continue loving his bath!

He loves watching Scarlett run around the room playing. She asked to hold him this month and has held his hands several times. She likes to lay on the activity mat with him and have him kick her. It's very heartwarming to watch them interact!

I thank goodness that Zavier is a nice laid back and relaxed baby. Sure he needs to be held for his naps but that won't last forever so I'm cherishing it while it does. He waits patiently for me when I need him to and he rarely cries. We love him so much!

Zavier at Two Months!

Stats
Weight: 15 lbs even
Length: 24.5"

Eats
As you can see by his weight, he's not lacking in the food department. He eats every 3 hours (ish) during the day and most nights he's up 2-3 times. He's kind of a distracted eater during the day so nursing sessions last a while sometimes or start and then delay and then finish a half hour later. But like I said, he's not lacking. His weight is in the 97th percentile for 2 months. Big boy!

Sleeps
This is a bit tricky. He's not on any sort of schedule. I was laying him down for naps as he would allow but in the last week he has basically refused to nap for more than 20 minutes unless he's being held. I usually don't have time to hold him for such a long period while also being still so he doesnt completely wake during sleep cycles but sometimes (like right now, as I write this post on my phone and Scarlett watches Sofia the First) he can take a nice snooze on my chest. Night time is better. He goes down every night around 8pm. I have definitely started and stick to the habit of not rocking or nursing him to sleep. I swaddle him and lay him in his crib if I feel like laying in bed while he inevitably unswaddles himself once or twice. He eventually settles and falls asleep. This process also sometimes happens on the couch cushion. He stays asleep sometimes until 11pm and sometimes 1am. That's the usual. He has slept a tad longer once or twice. He then does a 3-4 hour stretch and then another 2-3 hour stretch waking around 7:30-8 am each morning. He nurses, gets a diaper change and then goes back to sleep. I change his diaper in bed. Why I never did that with Scarlett I will never know. It's so much easier than getting up and walking all around. We do all of this by night light. He goes back to sleep the first time in the crib again and the second time he stays with me. It's nice having a king size bed for this reason. I cant complain about these sleep habits. He's consistent and that's all I can ask for at this point.

Activities
He talks and smiles a lot. He's a happy boy so when he's awake and not hungry or sleepy he's smiling or laying quietly. He kicks and moves his arms during his active times. We're working on tummy time and neck control and he's getting better and better. I wouldn't call him super good at holding his neck though, he still needs a lot of support. But we'll get there in time. He loves to follow us around the room with his eyes and follows my voice. He enjoys watching Scarlett when we're sitting close to her (and she stays close by). He also enjoys being outside and taking walks although he doesn't like the wind so much. He hasn't quite figured out how to breathe in it yet.

He's a good little boy and were enjoying watching him get more alert and develop new skills. He's very patient when it comes to waiting for me or Alex to complete a Scarlett task if needed. He doesn't fuss too hard when he's hungry (I'm pretty on target with his hunger cues though so he doesn't have to wait long normally anyway) or when he's sleepy. This parenting thing the second time around sure is easier. :)

A note on Scarlett
Scarlett is doing awesome now with Zavier. She has fully transitioned to having a sibling. She's not too into him yet but I'm sure once he can move and make more noise (and she gets older) she will enjoy him more. There are times where she's concerned about him and I know she thinks about him bc she's mentioned his name after a nap before. So that's cute. She especially likes when he wears fun things on his shirt that she can point at. She's learning and growing every day. She repeats words on command and loves watching sofia the first (a limited amount). She still loves being outside and I take her out as much as I can handle with both of them. She's pushing boundaries for sure but she's also still teething a lot so I think a lot of times it's for attention but for reasons non-boundary/sibling related. She's a treat though and her laugh and smile brighter our days!

Zavier at One Month

I kept up on Scarlett's monthly progress and I plan to do the same for Zavier. It serves as a great historical reference, especially for his baby book that I generally don't fill out on time. Plus it gives me a purpose for documenting a day in time with photographs.

I did buy some stickers on Etsy for these pictures but unfortunately, they haven't arrived yet. So his one month sticker won't be included unless I photoshop it on later.

Onto the stats and details!

Weight- 11 lb 5 oz .. (this was approx on the 15th)

Good Eats
Zavier has always been a good eater. He definitely caught on to breastfeeding fast and the only thing that can be challenging is that he is a snacker. This also lends itself to the fact that we're going 'pacifier free' this time around.. therefore I am his pacifier a lot of the time, well okay, all the time when he needs to be soothed. It truly is nursing on demand and he definitely demands it frequently. The upside to this is creating a very good milk supply (fingers crossed) as well as the weight-loss benefits of breastfeeding (again, fingers crossed).

Decent Sleeps
From day one he's known the difference between day and night it seems. We haven't had any middle of the night dance parties or play time of any kind. I truly appreciate this. With Scarlett still getting up for the day at 6 am, I get to keep our feedings at night short and to the point. We've even mastered the side-lying nursing position which is awesome. Scarlett couldn't handle that until she had more neck control.

He starts out each night in his crib by himself and I usually get him back into it a couple more times throughout the night, mostly the first 3 feedings get him back in his crib. Then he gets more noisy and it's always unknown whether it's just noise or if it's due to a burp bubble or a bum bubble (aka gas). It's just easier at that point to pull him into bed to sleep beside me. He does well and not once have I been nervous about him sleeping with me.

We swaddle him with his arms out currently. He's never really enjoyed his arms the whole way in and down so we started with elbows in and down and now we just do arms out. It seems to work for now. At night he usually just wears a onesie and then is swaddled by the muslin wrap. As the weather gets colder at night I've started putting socks on him as well. He gets too hot if he's wearing more than that.

He also naps pretty well. He takes a couple shorter ones during the day and one longer one. Sometimes the longer one bumps into bed time, other times it doesn't. It's pretty all over the place but that's to be expected. He sometimes can match a nap up with his sister so that I can get housework done or nap myself. He's a bit noisy during naps as well so this wakes him up during the short naps.

Play Time
We've done some tummy time and he seems to be doing well with his head so far. As well as can be expected anyway. He enjoys laying on the play mat, looking at the lights while the music plays. He also enjoys laying beside his sister while she giggles because his hands graze her face sometimes. He definitely follows Alex and myself if we're moving slowly in the room, Scarlett is a bit too speedy to follow at this point but he does look at her when she's up close.

He smiled for the first time last Thursday the 12th. A real, fully awake purposeful smile. Alex has gotten a smile since then, I myself have not quite yet but I'm sure I will soon.

Transitions
Scarlett started acting more like herself at the end of last week. She's started playing more independently again which is helpful and she's whining a little bit less. She still whines but I think it's because she knows it will get her some attention. It's easy to tell when it's more of a fake whine as opposed to a purposeful whine. I'm teaching her to tell me when she's hungry/thirsty so that she doesn't get fussy when she's hungry bc she doesn't know how to communicate it.

I've been out a couple of times alone. Mostly to my parents which is good practice to learn how to get two kids into a building. We went to Target once. We got the special cart with the seats for the bigger kids and those things are interesting to maneuver around the store, whew! But they're handy for obvious reasons. I know taking two kids out in public will take practice so i'm trying not to sweat it. I'm trying to figure out if purchasing an Ergo Carrier would be worth it. I have an infantino one that I can use when Zavier has better head control but I've heard such good things about the Ergo. I've tried the Moby Wrap too but again, until he has better head control I won't truly be hands free. Any thoughts on this are appreciated!!





It's crazy that he's already a month old. Time sure does fly even faster with two. I'm very happy that I get to hold Zavier more throughout the day than I anticipated. I guess I figured I would be super busy or that Scarlett would be more demanding but I hold him lots! We love you little buddy!

Haven't done this in a while..

Well lookie who it is!?

I haven't done this in a while because I literally do not have time to sit a computer. Evenings are spent relaxing with my darling husband and vegging out on the couch/es together watching TV while playing with our phones, or just one of those things or both at the same time.

I'm coming back for a moment to post a lot about Zavier.

As Scarlett was growing from 0-12 months, I documented a lot of what she was doing and a lot of it is right here on this blog. I actually frequent it to see what she was doing at 6 months while Zavier was around the same age. I wanted to have a place in the cloud where this information is available to me (and them??) in the future.

So though I couldn't document on a blog, I have been writing 'notes' on my phone each month. Sure there aren't any pictures with a sticker (we started that and it ended quickly bc i'm laazzy!) and we may not have many weights, though his baby book will, I have lots of paragraphs about what he was doing each month and how he has grown.

He's grown fast. Too fast. Way. Too. Fast.

I want to put the hashtag #slowdowntime but i'm not sure if hashtags work in blogs.

Regardless, hello again, even if for just a short time while I post up to 9 months of information about my littlest babe.

Tuesday, July 2, 2013

Let's talk about Scarlett!

Here's an update of how our girl is doing. I don't have stats because they were last taken at 15 months and she's currently 17 months. All I can tell you right now is she's over 26 lbs, her height is in the 98% and her head size is off the charts, haha!

She rarely walks, it's mostly running. She climbs. She holds our hands when she's forced to. She's an explorer to the max. She says about 40 words that we've counted and learns new ones every day. She absolutely loves fruit, especially any type of berry. She's a very good eater and hasn't turned too much down. She doesn't enjoy sweet potatoes much, but loves olives and pickles!

She still takes two naps a day and I love it. It must be all the exploring that makes her tired. If she's 'on schedule' she wakes up around 6:15, takes a nap around 9:30 (these vary in length) and then lays down again around 3:30/4 when we're home, if we're out, she's fine without a nap. She goes to bed consistently at 8pm each evening. She's a light sleeper and goes through sleep cycles often so it's not unusual to hear her make noises at night.

She gives us hugs and kisses. She doesn't generally like older people, especially if they have white hair. Sometimes it takes her 10 minutes to warm up to people she doesn't know. She plays with her princesses in their castle now and makes them hug and kiss. She pretty much makes everything hug and kiss. When she hugs her stuffed animals she says "aww!" and then I die of the cuteness. She loves reading books. Her favorite was 'Goodnight Beach' but more recently it's 'Goodnight Pennsylvania'. She thoroughly enjoys the iPad and any iPhone she can get her hands on. She really likes Sofia the First and Little Einsteins. She likes to dance so she likes the shows that sing a lot. She rarely watches anything on TV unless it's a commerical.

She has almost all of her teeth, she's missing a front lateral incisor on the bottom and all of her cuspids. She has taken a while to get her teeth so we don't expect the cuspids for a while, who knows what's going on with the incisor. Teething does bother her from time to time so we use the numbing gel (put onto her paci) and occasionally some Tylenol or Motrin but rarely a full dose.

I just thought today that I should write down some "Parent Tid-Bits" that I have, one being.. when you go to the grocery store, always park close to the cart return.. this way you can get a cart on the way in and you're close to it when you need to return it at the end of the trip. I probably thought about it more today after carrying her into multiple places while walking a semi-far distance while 34 weeks pregnant. I'll try to document more as they come up.

Overall, Scarlett is full of love. She smiles a lot and she laughs a lot. Her personality seems very fun-loving and we're thrilled that she is growing into such a little darling (who never sits still).


Monday, July 1, 2013

Pregnancy Update!

Today, I am 34 weeks and 3 days along. There are roughly 5-6 weeks remaining. This is crazy to me.

Time flies when you're already chasing after a wee one who is a non-stop mover/shaker. Let's review the past couple of trimesters, shall we?

1st Trimester
Everything went just as smoothly as it did with Scarlett. Small hiccup with an umbilical cyst but it resolved itself within a couple of weeks (probably a pretty common occurrence). No more tired or hormonal than usual and no morning sickness. Score! We told our families and friends around Christmas and New Years if not sooner. We didn't wait until we were out of the first trimester to spill the beans. Bumps grow much faster the second time around though too, so people probably knew!

2nd Trimester
Bump continued its growth spurts. I felt the first flutters and Alex felt movement soon after that. We found out we were having a baby boy! And we decided on his first name, which will remain secret until his birth. Sleeping became more difficult as time went on and I was forced to move from belly/back sleeping to side/side sleeping.

There's his little face!
3rd Trimester
I generally feel huge but I've come to terms with it. This boy does some crazy acrobatics in there that I didn't experience with Scarlett because of her position. He tends to sleep when I'm sleeping with naps throughout the day as well. He has been in numerous positions but stressed me a wee bit the past 4-5 weeks with the midwives saying he was breech. Today they said he's head down so he better stay that way. I am trying for a VBAC so wish me luck! I haven't had any braxton hicks but did have some belly button pain that went away with some rest. Also some groin pain when I over-do it, which also goes away with rest. I just have so much to do it's hard to slow down sometimes.

With 5 1/2 weeks left I have a full plan of things to clean and organize. I need to wash all of his baby clothing and organize the closet and my dresser drawer they'll be stored in. I need to move Scarlett from her crib into the other crib we have so that the baby can be in the drop side in our room. I need to pack a hospital bag at some point and maybe read about labor since I hope to go into it at some point. I need to bust out the car seat base from Scarlett and put it in my car and set up the pack and play and get out the bouncer seat from storage. The list goes on..

I haven't done anything nursery related because it's our current guest room and that will probably stay that way until he moves upstairs which will be when we're closer to being out of winter around 6 months.

That pretty much sums it up. Almost my whole pregnancy right there in a nutshell.


Wednesday, February 6, 2013

Scarlett :: 12 Months

Stats
Length: 31"
Weight: 24 lbs
Head size..over the 100th percentile, ha!

Eats: Still drinking the formula. We did test milk but went back to formula .. Looking back we should've just stayed with milk or a mix. She drinks about 6-8 oz about 5 times a day. On New Year's Day we visited urgent care and she was 25 lbs, height unknown! She eats 3 meals a day with snacks in between if she's still hungry, it's usually not necessary unless we're out somewhere. Overall she's a good eater and there's nothing she hasn't liked, even Ethiopian!

Sleeps: 2 naps a day, goes to bed around 7 and wakes around 6. Naps range from 45 min to 2 hours. She's a light sleeper and I'm wondering if that will be constant in her life.

Activities: well she's still walking and sometimes faster than we like. She babbles constantly but only says a couple words including yum and mama. She can clap and point and stack things, she can put things into holes so they fit and she loves music. Her favorite song and music video is gangham style, the remix one that the girl sings.

Other:
She was fish kissing her lips together, one time. It was cute but didn't happen again. She has four teeth and sometimes it seems like she's teething but then is over it after a couple days with nothing to show for it.

She can definitely understand us and decides whether to listen or not. She's generally good though and knows what she's not supposed to get into. She loves other children, especially her cousin Makayla. Instant laughs when she sees her. Overall, her mood is almost always pleasant and she smiles and laughs and is just filled with love. Sometimes you can see it oozing out of her, it's awesome!

She's been into cuddling more, hugging and kissing. Before naps we sit for a little bit and cuddle. She cuddles her panda bear and monkey and she likes to lay her head down on different blankets when she's sleepy. It's cute and also fun to see her little personality.

She's the best!

Someone turned 1!

She didn't really open many gifts herself. But enjoy them nonetheless!

She loved this quilt right away!

Just wanted to add in one picture of decor.. it was kind of falling down at the end when I took this :)

Scarlett :: 11 Months

No Stats and No actual sticker shirt pictures.. :)

Eats:
She drinks about 5-6 bottles a day, varying in volume. We do about 75% formula and 25% cow's milk. She eats 3 meals a day with snacks in between if she's hungry. This past month she's tried lots of new things including having thanksgiving turkey dinners twice. Thus far she is not too picky, she eats whatever we feed her which is nice.

Sleeps:
She has been sleeping through the night since mid-November. She does still wake up sometimes and whimper but goes right back to sleep afterward. We eventually just had to let her self soothe through one night and then she kind of caught on. She doesn't cry when we put her to bed anymore, she just cuddles up to her monkey and either chats herself to sleep or drifts right off. Her bedtime is a consistent 7-7:30pm. Her naps are pretty consistent now too, and longer than before. One day she gave me 2.5 hours. I didn't know what to do with myself! She usually lays down from 9-10am and then from 2-3pm and the naps last anywhere from 1-2.5 hours. Morning naps are generally longer.

Activities:
She's been full time walking for a while now. She also added climbing to her repertoire. She can climb up on top of our hearth and stand up. Problem is, she doesn't know how to properly get down... we had it blocked off pretty well for a while but with an upcoming fireplace insert being installed, we aren't sure yet how we're going to prevent that. She babbles like a brook a lot of the time and loves to sit and laugh at her books still. She has said mama, baby and yum consistently now for a month. She likes to grab blocks that have been stacked and carry them around, trying to keep them stacked. She kicks her soccer ball and volleyball around the room a lot too.

Other:
Let's see, this past month she had her first Thanksgiving and she sat on Santa's lap which went really well. She found a snuggle buddy with her monkey which is the first time we've seen her actually cuddle something intentionally. We moved her nursery to the other bedroom upstairs for noise purposes and it's been working out so far. She loves to smile and laugh. It's so easy to make her laugh by saying "pee-yew" or tickling her. She's just so pleasant.

We love her so much!

We got our Christmas Tree!

Here is the lucky tree.. we always choose really tall and then cut part of the way up!

Christmas Morning!

Gotta sit in a tire at the Farm Show!

Scarlett : 10 Months


Stats
Weight: ??
Length: ??

Eats
We added chicken to the mix this month, hoping she might sleep a little longer at night if she had some more protein in her belly to process.. nope! It worked the first night but none following that. She's been eating the same and I asked the doctor about starting whole milk in the evening.

Sleeps
So far, same as usual. Consistently up at 6am. Daylight savings has not been nice to us so far.

Activities
She's definitely walking more and more. She squats down to pick something up and stands back up again. Sometimes she gets ahead of herself and tries to run, which makes her fall down. She probably walks/crawls 70/30. We chase her all over the house.

Other
She's working on her top teeth right now. Teething is not a fun process. I look forward to the end of that but seeing teeth in her mouth is such a sight when you're used to seeing so much of her gums.

Wow, this is the shortest monthly update yet. This is due to my lack of free time and hence, the little blog hiatus I was on. But i'm back! ;)

Sunday, November 4, 2012

Scarlett :: 9 Months

Already I'm behind on these because Scarlett is 9 and a half months. The thing is, her doctor's appointment is this week, so I'll know her official weight and length. She is getting so big, I can barely take it.


Stats (approx)
Weight- 23 lbs
Height- 29"

Eats
Not much has changed since last month, still eating solids 3 times a day, still nursing a decent amount. We have let her self feed a couple of times with small chunks of stuff like avocado. This creates a mess so we don't do it too often but she's got the hang of it which is good.

Sleeps
Still the same.. she still wakes up twice. Honestly, i'd rather just feed her for five minutes than miss out on more sleep trying to train her. That may be selfish, but it's also what she wants. So it's kind of a win win. She does wake up pretty early though some mornings, so I grab her and pull her into my bed and we just roll around in bed for a while until I'm ready to get up. Going to bed is the same as well, sometimes she fights it and cries, sometimes she doesn't. At least she's consistent with being inconsistent?

Activities
She is practicing her walking more and more. She's probably a 35% of the time walker and 65% of the time crawler. She's getting better every day though and hopefully she'll be 50/50 soon. She has started to 'read' books to herself outloud and laugh at them. It is extremely adorable and if I can find the time to figure out how to upload a video of it, I will bc I take plenty of them! This month we went to a pumpkin patch with her best buddies, Harper and Tayden. They had a great time!

Other
Scarlett pushed another tooth through this month, so she now has her bottom two. She's right on track with how I teethed when I was a baby.

Christmas is coming up and i'm struggling with what to get her or what to suggest others get her (if we're asked). I keep looking at Toys R Us to see the toys and things appropriate for her age but we have so many toys already that were handed down and there's plenty more where that came from. I keep thinking about one big one but can't decide what that should be either. Not to mention her birthday is the following month. Would it be weird to just ask for money to put in her savings account? Christmas is going to be tight this year with me still working part time. We love giving gifts so cutting back on that is going to be hard.

I feel like I should have a lot more to write but my mind can't seem to think right now, so i'll just leave you with some pictures! :) And to say that Scarlett is amazing and we love her tons and tons!






Tuesday, October 16, 2012

Scarlett :: 8 Months

Since Scarlett is 5 days away from 9 months..... I figured I should finally put the images in here and post it before it's too late and I get way behind. :)

Stats (approx)
Weight- 22 lbs
Height- 29"

Eats
This girl loves her food. She eats solids three times a day, sometimes with an extra snack somewhere in between. She still nurses about every three hours or so as well. We've been broadening her horizons when it comes to the solids by adding Quinoa, Yogurt, and Colby Jack Cheese to the mix. We still do puree's for breakfast and dinner (sometimes breakfast has fruit chunks) and finger food for lunch. She does very well with her fine motor skills to pinch and pick up the finger foods, as long as they aren't too slippery!

Sleep
Needless to say, I am still trying to do night weaning to get her to stop eating at night. We might just have to go cold turkey pretty soon. It's tough letting her cry in the middle of the night. She usually takes a decently long nap mid morning around 10/10:30 and a shorter afternoon nap. Sometimes she takes an evening cat nap, but she's been going to bed around 7 consistently as well, so usually she doesn't need the cat nap. I found her with her pacifier in the other morning so now I know she knows how to put that sucker back in (pun intended).

Activities
She's been practicing standing up, squatting, cruising furniture and balancing without touching anything. Spoiler alert: She took her first steps at 8 months and 1 day. She has done it once since then and it may have been a fluke but we're counting it! She basically doesn't sit still for very long. Always crawling all over the living room, into the kitchen, pulls herself up on everything she can. Loves to play with her diaper box. Climbs on top of it! Whew, it's going to be crazy when she starts to walk!

Other
She hasn't popped any teeth through yet but she is super close. Month 8 is going to be the month of the tooth, for sure! She went to a wedding this month and had a fun time. She doesn't much enjoy clapping but I think she's getting used to it. I tried to take some formal pictures of her and they turned out okay, not sure if i'm going to spring for professional ones or not, baby portraiture is tough. She sat on her first lawn mower this month, it belongs to our awesome neighbors, the Kahns. I'm sure she'll enjoy the mower more when she gets to take rides on it!

We love you, little one. You are the light of our lives, your smile fills us with happiness and our hearts are filled with love for you.









Wednesday, August 29, 2012

Scarlett :: 7 months

Stats (approx)
Weight- 20-21 lbs
Height- 28.5"

Eats
She eats two meals a day, for breakfast she has cereal and a fruit and for dinner she has a veggie and a fruit. The cereal is organic and from Target, Earths Best?. They have 3 different kinds that we switch between. Her fruits and veggies have been a mix of Plum Organic squeezies and homemade baby food. I plan to freeze a lot over the next couple of weeks to get some of summers best all frozen for her for the fall. This includes Spaghetti Squash, Broccoli, Spinach, Peaches, Pears and Apples. Usually I pick a couple and mix them together like Plum does with the squeezies, then she gets lots of flavors all together!

She also nurses about every 3 hours and drinks bottles while I'm at work about every 3-4 depending on activities happening around her.

Sleeps
She has been teething hardcore the last couple weeks so sleeping has been difficult for her. We got her an amber teething necklace and put it on the other day and this has definitely improved her mood and sleep. She wakes twice a night to eat generally now, around midnight and around 3am and then 6 am where sometimes I can get her back to sleep and sometimes I can't. I am okay with this schedule and I'm in no rush to sleep train, despite what I may have said a couple weeks ago (not on the blog). We did move her to her own room a couple weeks ago and she has been doing well! Alex and I have been sleeping upstairs in the other bedroom so that we're close by but my sleep has definitely improved now that i'm not checking her every second (exaggeration).

Activities
She crawls like a pro now and pulls herself up on furniture. She is very brave and lets go of the furniture a lot to try to balance. Her balance is not the best but it's getting better little by little. It is bittersweet that she is so mobile. I know it's awesome and all but she's growing up way too fast. She still loves swimming in pools, though she prefers private homes vs public pools. She has been very vocal the last couple weeks and has resorted to happy yelling a lot. Sometimes we hear a "Ba.." or a "Da.." or even a "Ma..". I know these sounds barely mean anything at this point but we hear a lot more sounds unrelated to the ba, ma, da which is great!

Other
She enjoyed the beach a couple weeks ago, ate some sand, yes and was scared of the waves when her feet were on the ground and the were splashing on her.

She is very loving. I put my head to her head and she just smiles so wide. It's also pretty easy to make her laugh, I kiss attack her like you can see below and she just laughs her face off. It's awesome! She loves hair. She pulls and tugs at my hair all day long and likes to tug at other people's hair too if they're holding her. I'm not sure what her obsession with it is but her hair is growing faster now so soon she'll have her own to pull.

Enjoy some pictures below :) 

 
 
 

Sunday, July 29, 2012

Scarlett :: 6 months!

I can't believe my bitty baby is half a year old. She gets more awesome each day!

Stats
Weight- 19 lbs 11 oz (90%)
Length- 28" (97%)

Eats
Scarlett mastered eating cereal during her 5th month. She eats cereal twice a day and in the morning usually has a fruit and in the evening has a veggie (if we have one ready to steam). She doesn't seem to dislike any foods so far which is good but we haven't given her that much variety yet. Her favorite so far would be cantaloupe in the mesh net thingy.

She still nurses a lot as well. When i'm present she eats about every 2 hours.. still. If you asked me why, i'd say it's for comfort. When i'm not around, I would guess it's more like every 3 hours or so. Breastfeeding has really started to drop the pounds for me, which is nice. I'm trying to ride that out as much as I can, while I can..

Sleeps
At the beginning of month 5, she was only waking up about once a night. We went on vacation and it messed everything up. She was getting better then I went to my parents and that messed everything up again. I think this has to do with her teething. She wakes up crying a lot. She could barely go to bed last night bc they must've been hurting her so much. The good news though is that she's napping for longer. We think this is because she's crawling and burning more energy.

Activities
Yep, she crawls now. She just started in her last week of month 5. She's been scooting/inch-worming a lot and now she full on crawls. We really have to supervise her now because if we leave the room, she'll be somewhere completely different. Luckily we don't have stairs in the vicinity but she is already trying to climb up on us, next is probably furniture. Slow down! She also sits really well now and can transition from crawling to sitting back to crawling with ease. She just cannot sit still!

Other
She loves swimming, maybe we'll sign up for the Y's baby swim class soon because this girl would crawl to water if she saw it. She's been doing great in the car recently, she learned to adapt while we were in TN and car riding was the thing to do. She gives hugs and kisses. She tried to climb up our bodies while hugging us. It's so neat to see her understand when we say come here and she crawls over. She laughs hysterically at her cousin, Makayla and smiles a lot in general. She's such a happy girl! She's just moving into 6-9 month clothing now (for the most part).. it's time to retire some onesies!

Parenthood is truly amazing. I loved the tiny infant stage because they were so cuddly, but this stage she's in right now is so fun. Especially since she can kind of understand things we say/do. I know things are only going to get even better and while we cannot wait for that, we also want time to slow down. We definitely enjoy and try to savor every moment we can!







Wednesday, June 20, 2012

Scarlett :: 5 months!

Stats (approx)
Weight: 18 lbs (7 lb 7 oz at birth)
Length:  " (20.5" at birth)

Details
Eating: We started solids this month. Maybe I should rephrase.. we are trying to start solids. We're pretty inconsistent but so far she's tried sweet potatoes, avocado, steel cut oatmeal, asparagus, rice cereal and bananas. She's getting better and better at opening her mouth and letting us put the food in. She still nurses (or eats a bottle on days I work) about every 2-3 hours. Bottles seem to last her longer, i'm sure there are many reasons for that. Just this past weekend into this week she has been hungrier than usual, so she may be going through a growth spurt.

Sleeping: She consistently wakes up only once a night now. Rarely, she'll wake up twice. Sometimes she rutches around and I just put her pacifier back in and she goes back to sleep. I'm going to start experimenting with this at the 3/4am hour when she wakes up to see if that will help. She is still a cat napper but throws a curve ball and sleeps for an hour or more sometimes. Last week she gave me a 2 hour nap! I did NOT know what to do with myself.. so I watched the Bachelorette and now of course I have to continue to keep up with it.

Activity/Skills:She is rolling around like crazy. If we put her favorite toys out of her reach she will make her way there by rolling/scooting until she gets to it. Mover and a shaker, this girl! She is starting to push up on her hands and knees in the 'ready to crawl' position, this just happened in the last couple of days. She also has just started to sit up unassisted (with supervision) for longer periods of time. I guess 5 month's is a good age to check off a bunch of milestones?

Other: Scarlett went swimming for the first time in Richmond, VA at the neighborhood pool. She loved it! My timing was a little off because after about 10 minutes in the water she was sleepy so she took a nap, then we did a little more swimming then she was hungry, then we did a little more swimming! She sure loves splashing around! Not to mention her swim suits are the cutest! She's enjoyed swimming pools a couple more times this past month and I swear it's like a giant bath tub to her, she loves it!

We do wish she would grow some hair but it's coming in slowly. She also has a party going on in the back (aka a mullet of sorts).

This month she has started laughing at different things. She loves to watch her cousin, Makayla, dance and sing and play peek-a-boo. Animals (cats/dogs) also crack her up. She has a couple tickle spots on her tummy that I get at in the morning and she still loves being outside and taking baths. She doesn't have too many dislikes at this point, at least not off the top of my head.

It's hard to believe she's already 5 months old. Seems like only yesterday.....