4 months

Lucy is 4 months old! She is such a happy, easy baby. 

Lucy weighs: 11 lbs 13 oz  (11%)
          length:  26 inches    (95%)

Lucy is really enjoying books and is starting to reach her hands out to explore the pages in front of her. She absolutely adores her big brother and sister and gives them BIG smiles whenever they are near. She has even started laughing especially with Daddy and loves to "talk" with Mommy. She is still consistent with rolling from her tummy to her back and when she is on her back she is starting to think about rolling from her back to her tummy. Lucy loves her playmat and now will grab and kick at her toys.

Lucy will now put weight on her legs and is pretty excited about it as well. She likes to be in her Baby K'tan wrap either facing in or out.

Lucy does not like being ignored when she thinks someone should be near her. She also is not a fan when Caroline "experiments" with her. Currently, Caroline is trying to figure out what are things she can and cannot do to her baby sister. Putting her finger in her eye, laying on top of her, trying to shove toys in her mouth are all things that have been attempted and much to her dismay are also things that result in her going to timeout. Otherwise, Lucy is pretty happy most of the time.

Lucy has decided that bottles are not really that bad and now will happily down a 3 oz bottle in 15 minutes or less. She usually likes to eat every 3-4 hours during the day and at night it will range from 3-5 hours. We did have a pattern developing of her going to bed a little after 8 pm. Waking to eat around 2 am and then again at 6:30 am. It was great. The last two nights however she has been wanting to eat every 2-3 hours again....it's not so great.

Naps are also starting to develop at 9 am for about an hour, sometimes less and then again in the afternoon for a longer stretch, about 2-3 hours. She will also take a short third nap in the evening.

I decided on Thursday to finally kick her out of our room. I am a light sleeper and every time she moved or made any noises I would wake up. Since moving out, she has been waking up every 2-4 hours. The transition to the crib has gone fine except for me having to get up and walk down the hall. Hopefully she will go back to her routine of only waking up once in the night soon. 

Lucy's hair is falling out so it will be interesting to see what color it will be when it comes back in. Her eyes are definitely not blue like her siblings. I think they will be brown like Evan's but it's still a guessing game at this point. I got the 3-6 month and 6 month clothes out of the attic this morning and they seem to be fitting her pretty well. 

She loves to sit in her high chair while we all eat dinner. I think because she can see us all better. She definitely loves to know what's going on around her and wants to see people's faces.

Sleep challenges

A couple months ago we decided to move Caroline from her crib into the toddler bed.

She did great and would stay in bed until we told her it was time to get up regardless of whether she was awake or not. 

A month ago I decided to break her from the habit of sucking her two middle fingers. It was becoming harmful as her bite was changing and she would get sores on her fingers where her teeth rested. We got the special nail polish that tastes acidic to remind her how yucky the habit was, she tested it once and never again did she try to put her fingers in her mouth. I must say I was impressed. I really thought she would have been more stubborn about that considering they were always in her mouth.

Now that she no longer has a soothing habit to help her fall asleep Caroline has decided to start boycotting naps. At not even 3 years old naps are beginning to happen less and less. I'm not ready for this. Liam took naps until he was 5 years old. This is going to be hard. But hilarious.

Example #1

Aunt Emily was here the other week babysitting while we were at work. Lucy was napping and she said after she put Caroline down for her nap she went to take a shower. Maybe 20 minutes later Emily emerged from the bathroom and heard a noise. The noise of a horse. She opened Caroline's door to find her riding her rocking horse with her cowgirl hat on. Caroline was shocked that she had been found out and shamefully walked back to bed.

Example #2

At the babysitters house Caroline was supposed to be taking a nap but instead was trying to wake up the other little girl in the room  by talking loudly to her. After being told numerous times to be quiet the babysitter decided to move her from the cot to the pack n play. Once she was back upstairs she was watching the video monitor and thought that the monitor was starting to short out on her due to the fact that the screen kept going black and white continuously. She then realized that Caroline was right underneath the light switch.

Example #3

Again at the babysitters house Caroline and the other little girl were supposed to be napping. The babysitter had even given them each a couple of books just in case they didn't sleep they would have something to do. From the video monitor she was able to see Caroline offering one of her books to her friend. Once she stretched out her hand to take the book Caroline would quickly take it out of her reach. This continued for several minutes.

Example #4

We have also been having problems with Caroline staying in her bed in the middle of the night. The first night there was a thunderstorm and she said she was scared. So Evan brought her into our bed. That did not work as Caroline is and has always been the kid who doesn't fall back asleep if she's next to mommy or daddy. We allowed her to sleep on the floor on a sleeping bag that night. So, since then she has been coming into our room and telling us that she wants to sleep on our floor in the sleeping bag. Even though I have told her no, sometimes when I get up in the morning I find her next to Lucy's pack n play where she has laid out her blankets and her pillow. She is resourceful.

I am remembering that Liam went through this phase as well. At about the same age too. Hopefully it will be short lived. I don't think I can handle more than one child waking me up in the middle of the night. Lucy has first dibs on that title, someone better tell Caroline.

At home we have started having naptime with the door open. This has resulted in Caroline actually staying in her bed. Note that I didn't say sleeping or even laying down. Many times I will walk by or sit in the hallway and see Caroline lining up her stuffed animals and talking to them all. She also loves to stand and do a halfway backbend holding onto the crib sides. I imagine she's waiting until she feels the blood rushing to her head.

This weekend we may transfer her to a twin sized bed so we can turn the toddler bed back into a crib for Lucy. I can't even imagine what she will attempt in her new room with Liam. I'm guessing that Liam will not be amused when Caroline tries to wake him up in the middle of the night.

Sometimes I just have to pull out the camera...

Because even ninjas need to know how to spell. 

Because they both have their tongues sticking out. And it's adorable. 

Because she couldn't be any cuter. 

3 months

Lucy is 3 months old! 

Not a lot has changed since my last post. (Since I posted her 2 month update late)

She still likes to read books. She is doing well with tummy time and I think we can now say she does in fact roll from her back to her tummy. She can scoot around while on her back as well. 

She gives the best smiles and will now coo at us. 

Lucy has started to fall asleep around 8, usually right after the big kids go to bed. She then wakes between 1 and 2 am to eat. Then starts to fuss again after 3 hours. I've been flipping her onto her tummy to see if she goes back to sleep and recently she has been holding off her next feeding until 6 or 7 am. 

Last week I went back to work and I think it was a hard transition for her. Grammie was there the first day and just felt like Lucy could tell that things were not normal. On the days where the babysitter had her it was a bit difficult as well. Lucy is so finicky with her bottle and she had never met Micah before so it was definitely different. They called me to come during my lunch hour the first day afraid that she wasn't eating enough. The second day they had her was a bit better and I feel that it's just going to take some time for everyone to get used to each other. 

Lucy will now take 2-3 ounces with each bottle and is getting quicker as well. Yesterday she drank a bottle for Grammie in 5 minutes! Impressive! 

She still adores her big siblings and loves to study their faces while they talk to her. Currently, fighting over Lucy is among the top arguments between Liam and Caroline. She's so popular. 

There's no doubt about it; this little baby is truly loved!

2 months

Lucy at 2 months old is a great baby. In fact she may be my best baby to date. She is usually very content and happy and when she gets tired she will fuss for a couple of seconds and then nod off right to sleep.

On January 24th:
She weighed: 9 lbs 9 oz.
Length: 23 inches

She likes to read colorful books with Caroline, loves bathtime and now even enjoys laying on her playmat. She prefers to sit in her bouncy seat if we have to put her down instead of laying flat on a blanket. She is fascinated with Liam and Caroline and enjoys any free moment they have to talk to her, usually smiling at them right away. 

She rolled from her tummy to her back once but I'm not sure if it's a real skill yet. 

She also may be starting to suck her thumb. 

She is still going to bed late and usually will go 5-6 hours for the first round and then 3 hours after the night feeding. Lucy prefers to be swaddled with her arms in otherwise she will jerk herself awake. She still only can handle 1-2 hours of wakeful time during the day before needing to sleep again.

She nurses every 3 hours during the day and occasionally at night every 5-6 hours.

After her stay in the hospital and finishing her antibiotics she had almost 2 weeks of being healthy and very happy. Unfortunately she is sick again with a cold which has caused her to be upright in her swing at night and in her bouncy seat during the day. Which has resulted in not as long of naps. Poor girl is very congested.

We saw the pediatrician today just to make sure it was only a cold and her weight has jumped to 10 lbs 4 oz. and her length is 24 inches. The doctor said her weight is increasing but her percentage is dropping which is the pattern for my children. He's not at all concerned.

About 2 weeks ago Evan suggested we start giving her a bottle every day to get her used to it since I will be going back to work soon. I think Lucy had heard about all of the womens marches around the country and decided she would do some protesting of her own. She had taken to a bottle at about one month old with no problem so we didn't have a routine where we included it every day. She hated the bottle when we reintroduced it and would play with the nipple not really drinking from it at all. It would take her almost an hour to drink 1 ounce. Now that I go back to work next week she has decided that it's not all so bad as long as the person feeding her doesn't sit down and doesn't stop moving. So Evan has good success walking her around while feeding her and she doesn't cry anymore and will actually drink from the bottle. 

I am trying to remember to slow down and enjoy this wonderful baby that we have been blessed with. There is always laundry, cleaning, dishes and more to get done but this is my last baby. I am soaking in the warm soft skin, the big cheesy smiles, the wonderful baby smell and her gripping onto my finger. She is the sweetest!

Being 6

This is my post about who Liam is at the age of 6. It will be long and lengthy and is more for Evan and I to document who Liam is.

Liam is 6 years old! He is 3 feet 8 inches tall and weighs 41 1/2 pounds. He wears size 6 shirts and size 5 pants. He goes to bed around 8 pm and wakes up around 7-7:30 am. He no longer naps and really enjoys staying up to play with Daddy on the weekends. 

He is in kindergarten with Mrs. Dewitt and loves it! He likes to ride the bus and when I go back to work he will again attend the before and after school program and says he really likes that as well.

Liam is working hard at reading and is doing well at sounding out his words. Sometimes he gets frustrated which can lead to tantrums but he is improving. Every school night he has homework of reading a book and then writing a sentence or two about it in his journal. He has very neat handwriting. Liam counts to 100 by 1's, 2's, 5's and 10's. He also is doing well with simple addition and subtraction.

Liam goes to AWANA every Wednesday night in the Sparks program. He is very good at learning his verses that he needs to say, usually completing two sections each week. He says he enjoys game time the most. He is almost done with his book and will start reviewing it for more patches for his vest.

Liam still loves playing baseball. This past summer he played T-Ball again despite him telling me that he didn't need to since he and Dad play pitch baseball in the yard. This next summer due to his age he will be able to play pitch baseball and I know he will be pumped about it. We tried out a beginner soccer class this past fall but Liam wasn't really into it and said soccer was too hard because you can't touch the ball with your hands. (I also think the instructor was not that great so we may try soccer again someday)

This school year he has discovered that he likes to play basketball during recess. He plays with some other boys in his class and I hope to sign him up either for a beginner class or a league once I go back to work.

Liam is a great and typical big brother. He is very loving and sweet with Lucy all of the time. He is loving and sweet with Caroline a small percentage of the time. He loves to torture Caroline by getting in her face, taking away her toys and wrestling her. The other day he was sitting on her and it looked like he was going to spit on her. (sigh) He also likes to get her really mad; mad enough to scream at the top of her lungs and then watch her get into trouble. 

He still loves to swim and can hold his breath underwater without fear. I'm sure we will start swimming lessons again in the spring.

Liam enjoys reading Captain Underpants books, any superhero or Scooby-Doo books from the library but right now his favorite books are the Harry Potter series. Evan began reading these books before bedtime this past fall and they are now starting book 3. He really enjoys the story and Evan and I very much enjoy reading them to him. (a bit better story plot than Scooby-Doo) He wanted a Harry Potter birthday party this year but since I just had Lucy I decided a big themed party wasn't something I wanted to tackle. 

Liam still loves to play games and he is still a sore loser when anyone beats him. He likes to play Star Wars Operation, Battleship, Memory, Trouble and he has a new game called Shark Mania. That one is a lot of fun but is also a bit stressful for him so a lot of times he likes to set it all up and then just watch the shark destroy everything.

Liam is turning into the class clown. He usually never gets into trouble or any points taken away during the school day but when he does it is always because he is trying to get someone to laugh at him. One of the parents at Liam's birthday party told me that every night during dinner he hears a "Liam story" and how his son thinks that Liam is very funny. In fact the only child that we had to continually tell to calm down at the birthday party was Liam. "Hamming it up" is something that he is very good at. 

He still loves Legos and (free) building with Dad. He also still likes to build with me on occasion. (building with the instructions) His favorite legos by far are his Batman legos. He also still likes to play with his cars and will always tell me to "watch this!" and then the cars crash together. 

Liam is a very kind, thoughtful and loving boy. He loves to help around the house with cleaning, emptying the dishwasher and most recently ripping down wallpaper and painting. We are very proud of the boy that he is turning into, it's so much fun to watch him in action!

Caroline

Caroline is a surprisingly funny girl. She is not funny like her big brother who is turning into the class clown and will literally do or say anything to get a laugh. Caroline is funny in her own way. Usually just by making observations, but the way that she says them can make you chuckle. It's probably why I don't write as much about her because some of the stories about Liam when he was her age were so unusual that I couldn't forget them. Remember when Liam started undressing in the library? Or the infamous pooping on the lawn at my grandmother's house? Unforgettable.

But I have managed to remember a few funnies to share about Caroline.

The other day I took Butters outside to brush her and Caroline wanted to come with me. Many have been annoyed by just touching Butters and having a handful of hair in a matter of seconds so it's not very shocking when we brush her it usually looks like a rabbit got ran over by a lawn mower when we are finished. So, anyway during this brushing Caroline was fairly close and the dog hair kept flying onto her pants. Her response, "Seriously????"

Caroline also loves to talk. She also does not like to fall asleep at night. This results in conversations about anything that she remembers throughout the day or sees in her room. Mostly run on sentences and most of what she says makes no sense but her goal is met. Keeping you in her room and keeping herself awake.

Caroline loves to ask you if she can do something and when you tell her no, she will just ask again. And again. And again. With almost an exact imitation of Lil' John the musician. "What????" "Huh???" "Say it louder!" Possibly hoping that our answer will change but unfortunately for her it never does.

We were playing with her little dollhouse today and I was pretending to be the Mama Bear and Caroline was the baby bunny.
M: "Come eat your eggs. I made eggs for dinner."
C:  "I don't like eggs......I like cookie dough."

After lunch:
M: "Caroline, would you like dessert? You could have a cookie."
C: "No, I can't. Daddy ate them all!"
(a very real observation that is almost always true)

M:"Caroline, please help me pick up your toys."
C: "I'm too busy"

Today during lunch:
C: "I sucked my fingers at nap. yesterday. These two."
This is a habit we are having been trying to break for the last week. She has been so good at keeping them out of her mouth but the way she said this statement it was almost like she was in confession. She looked so guilty.