9 Months and 2.5 years old

I think I've officially reached an all time low as far as blogging goes, my last post was when Fiona was 6 months old.....she's currently 9.5 months old!  I'm also pretty sure life is not going to be slowing down anytime soon.  Between kids and the business I don't see it getting any less crazy for a very long time.

FIONA - 9 MONTHS OLD:

• 16lbs and 26 3/4" long
• began crawling and standing/pulling herself up on pretty much everything all within the same week!
• is walking along the couch, drawers, pretty much anything she can grab on to
• saying da da da and ba ba ba.......she did say ma ma ma a couple times but so far it's not very frequent
• is giving kisses when asked....the open mouthed kind followed by a big smile <3
• LOVES her brother to pieces and is now on a mission to follow him everywhere and watch his every move
• still favors her Mama, never lets me out of her site and prefers to be in my lap or in my arms whenever possible
• gets up on the little trampoline and bounces on her butt with a big smile on her face because she can!
• got into her first plant just a few days ago and was eating the dirt....hands and mouth covered!
• loves the recycling bin and pulling everything out and dragging it around the kitchen.....that and getting into the "kids" cupboard and pulling all of the sippy cups out
• likes drinking water from a sippy cup
• is pretty much eating everything and anything we give her.  She is already a way better eater than her brother and usually starts finishing his plate after her food is gone
• always has a bruise in the same spot on her forehead because no matter how she falls or what she does she always manages to bump the same darn spot!
• both my kids have been prone to bloody noses this winter, Fiona has gotten a couple during the night......and a few from bumping her nose when slipping and falling!!  It's awful and I feel terrible for her, the other day she had 2 in one day both from her own doing.  She's just all over the place and still loses her balance a lot.  
• has taken a bath with her brother a few times which sometimes she likes and sometimes she gets nervous, just depends on how crazy Jack is being in the tub that night.
• we finally had to lower the crib, she just started standing up in it last week!!  I was surprised she went as long as she did!

JACK-  2.5 YEARS OLD!

• 33lbs and 37.5" tall 
• POTTY TRAINING has officially started.  We introduced the idea to him months ago but he has had absolutely zero interest until last weekend.  He was running around naked in the morning before I had a chance to put some clothes on him and he came to me and said "Mommy I want to go pee pee"  So I sat him on the potty and he went and he's been doing great ever since.  It's actually gone WAY smoother than I thought it would, he's really good about going on his own and asking for help.  So far (it's been about a week now) he hasn't gone in his diaper during the night either!!  I'm so proud of him.  In fact I was in the shower just a couple nights ago and he was still running around naked from his bath when all of a sudden the shower door opens, Jack jumps in and pees then jumps out and closes the shower door!!!!  I couldn't stop laughing and was really proud that he knew to do that.   I'm sure the fact that he gets a jellybean from his Mickey Mouse jelly bean dispenser after he goes def has something to do with it.  That kid doesn't miss a beat when it comes to jelly beans!! 
• still obsessed with Oompa Loompas and Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory......he pretends large objects, specifically this collapsible tunnel he has for inside the house, is the blueberry girl (Violet) and he walks around it and rolls it around singing the song (pretending to be an oompa loompa) then rolls it off to the juice room to get juiced (my laundry room/mud room) HAHA its hilarious, there's no lack of imagination with him that's for sure!
• got his first hair cut about a  month ago.  I was so sad to see his little curls go even though we didn't have a ton taken off, but we had to lose the tail/mullet shape that was starting to form.  Jack did great, sat on my lap and sat very still the entire time. 
• he says the darnedest things, I really  have no idea where he gets some of this stuff.  Every day it's something new and the expressions on his face is priceless!  He has learned the word beautiful (boosiful) and told me that my little belly button is really boosiful hahaha!  He was combing his hair the other night and I told him to get the back really good because that's where the birds nest is, all the snarls, and he looked very puzzled in the mirror and said "nope! I see birds no!"  very matter of factually.  
• we are definitely in the terrible twos, he's testing me on a completely different level now.  Mainly with his little temper and his very selective hearing these days.  When he doesn't get his way he lets me know and it's usually an ear piercing scream, sometimes I can literally see the anger in his face as he's shaking with rage as he's letting it out.  Sometimes I feel as though I just can't catch a break, I feel like every time I put something away or clean up a mess, he's right behind me making 5 more messes or spilling cereal or cracker crumbs all over the floor.  Or pushing his sister over and making her cry, taking toys away from her because he can, emptying my soap dispenser in the bathroom because I accidentally forgot to close the door, or going through my bag digging for chapstick which he'll lose and I'll find it covered in dust/dog hair stashed somewhere weeks later.  When he doesn't get the answer he's looking for his new thing is "I hit you mama"  my usual response is "go ahead and see what happens" which so far always results in him immediately feeling bad and asking for a hug. 
• besides this terrible twos" phase, he's still the sweetest little boy with a heart of gold, filled with nothing but love for everything and everyone around him.  He tells me a million times a day that he loves me so much, he loves Fiona, Daddy, Rusey and Knuckles so much.  
• still loves to snuggle with me every night before bed
• loves his back tickled just like I did as a kid, he says "tickle me mama" and lays on my lap so I can reach his back.  then giggles and says "that so tickles"

6 months and 2 years

This was written back in November and for whatever reason I never hit "post"!!  Here it is...

 

Our little girl is 6 months old and SO much has happened within the past few weeks.  I feel that the transition from month 5 to 6 was huge developmentally.....although I'm sure from here on out I'll be thinking that more and more.
FIONA is now sitting up on her own (for the most part), she still needs assistance at times.  SHE SLEPT THROUGH THE NIGHT FOR THE FIRST TIME LAST NIGHT!!!!  From 7:30pm to 5am.  Then she ate and went right back down for another hour and a  half.  I would LOVE it if that was her new schedule.  I think an even bigger achievement is that I've been letting her soothe herself to sleep.  Granted this is still very new and anything could change at the drop of a hat but I'm feeling pretty confident that the whole sleep thing will be a much easier process with her than it was with Jack.  She actually woke up twice last night but put herself right back to sleep.  Of course I was still waking up being so used to how things have been for so long. 
Fiona was baptized last Sunday.....we were much more on the ball this time around.  Last thing we wanted was another toddler waiting for church to be over and then squirming through the entire ceremony.

We started Fiona on SOLID FOODS!  I initially bought a few little jars of organic baby food and box of oat cereal but quickly realized she hates the cereal and I despise dealing with the little jars of food, not to mention having to sit and spoon feed her for what could take an hour!  Ironically I started to read about baby led weaning right around the same time and thought it sounded like something that could work for us.  Basically it means no more mush, baby food, little jars, or messy cereal that I swear could act as super glue if need be!  You give baby whatever you are eating (of course a very soft version and in pieces that they can manage).  I was very skeptical at first, I worried about choking mostly.  Since I'm still breast feeding I know that most of her nutrition will still come from me.  It all started one night when I was eating a sub and Fiona was watching me very intently so I gave her a bite and she grabbed it and held on to it and just sucked and gnawed on my sandwich.  Every time I took it away to take a bite she reached for it and just watched me until I gave it back to her.  This told me that she was ready for solids and gave me confidence that BLW could work.  After reading a lot about it we gave it a try and she LOVES it.  So far we've done avocado, bananas, sweet potato, carrots, and peaches.  She also really likes the baby mum mums and teething crackers.
 Still scooting and rolling, has her 2 bottom teeth, is becoming more and more vocal (though I remember Jack being way more vocal at this point), seems to like the exersaucer whenever her brother is not occupying it, and is just over all a snugly baby who LOVES her Mama :)

 Our six month well visit (almost a month late) went great! She's 15.1lbs and 25.25 inches long. 
She doesn't weigh as much as I thought she would but is right where she needs to be.  I was worried about her neck because she favors one side but all is good, the doctor said it will work its way out. 

JACK is as rambunctious as ever, still favors his Mommy, is getting smarter and smarter by the second!  He seriously has the biggest heart of any 2 year old I know.  I didn't think such a little person could comprehend emotion the way this kid does.  He's growing up way too fast and I catch myself wondering where he gets this stuff from. 

    

5 months of crazy!

This post is about a month late....

Seriously where has the past 5 months gone??!!  My little girl is almost half of a year old already and I'm still stuck in the mindset that I have a newborn.  Clearly that's not the case......Fiona is now rolling over and has even begun to scoot!  She  digs her head into the floor and pushes her butt up in the air arching her back while on her tip toes.  Then plops down a little closer to where she wants to be.  She loves being on her tummy (Jack always hated being on his stomach), and loves being held in a standing position even more.  I think she's going to crawl much sooner than her brother did.  She finally likes the bouncy seat that hangs in the doorway.  She wasn't quite sure of it until just a couple days ago.  She's sleeping much better, still getting up once a night but that's it and I'm OK with that!  She's started teething, I can feel a little bump coming in on the bottom even though it's still tough to see.  She gnaws on everything within reach and is drooling more than usual. 

Happy 4 Months Fiona

4 month check up and Fiona is 14.7lbs and 24.5 inches long.  Pretty much in the 55/50 percentile.  

My little girl is 4 months (and now a couple weeks) now.  There have been many changes happening in the past couple weeks especially.  She's become SO much more aware of her surroundings, she's not eating quite as frequently as she once was, we tried cereal once -she was not amused. She's  chewing on everything, has noticed that she has feet and is constantly curled up in this little turtle position playing with them,  lights up like Christmas when she see's her brother, and best of all she's giggling and smiling up a storm!!!  Her little giggle is hilarious and ridiculously cute!  Jack gets her to laugh all of the time and of course he gets a kick out of it to.  She's also cooing and making all kinds of silly sounds now which is equally as adorable as her little laugh!  She finally rolled over from tummy to back 2 days ago an today she rolled from back to tummy for the first time.  Hates the car seat with a passion!!  She is such a happy content baby most of the time except when it's time to go in that damn car seat.  Usually she just passes out of exhaustion from crying OR decides it's not going to get her anywhere and just stops to look around. 

      Still up past bedtime and neither one is the least bit tired!

During the past 3 weeks or so she has really changed up her sleeping schedule at night.  She used to sleep like a champ pretty much all night only waking once to feed and then again in the early morning.  I was happy with that and had gotten used to that schedule.  Then all of a sudden she started waking up every 2 hours on the dot and not going back down as easily.  Instead of just going right back to sleep she would wake back up again like 20-30 minutes later and want to eat again.  Would go back down for about another 2 hours.  I was/am exhausted to say the least, the bags under my eyes are a clear reminder each morning of how little sleep I actually get.  After searching the internet for answers I discovered that most babies go through a 4 month sleep digression because there is such a huge mental developmental growth spurt that happens.  Looking back in my blog I  saw that the same thing happened with Jack but he never quite got back on a good sleeping schedule after that.  So determined for Fiona to be my "sleeper" and not have 2 kids in my bed with me each morning when I wake up, I moved her into her crib (2 nights ago) and she slept for 7 hours straight!  Woke up to eat at 4am and then went back down!  I couldn't believe it.  I was just keeping her in my room because it was so much easier to get up with her so many times a night with her right next to me.  Night two (last night) went pretty well, she only got up once and then slept until morning.

                       That tongue

I've been bringing Fiona to work with me now that I'm back twice a week.  I was going down pretty much every day for something  regardless but we've recently had to do some hiring and am still in that process actually.  Since we have so many new people I feel that I need to be there as much as I can tso that nothing slips through the cracks and that they get trained properly.  So with me there twice a week and Johnny there once and my dad there on the day that we can't be there, I'm hoping everything can run smoothly.  Thankfully Fiona has been a rock star sleeper at Scripts and pretty much sleeps through our busy lunch rush.   I have a sitter for Jack and would totally leave Fiona with her as well but little miss has decided she no longer wants to take a bottle and will scream bloody murder until I come and feed her.  I left her with my mom one day so I could go to work and had to leave and go get her and bring her back to work with me because she screamed for four hours and wouldn't eat.  My mom said that she may have gotten about an ounce but by total accident, she must have choked it down while refusing the bottle.  I walked in to get her and my mom just looked at me and said "you have one stubborn little girl on your hands"!! 

June & July....Fiona is 3 Months!

Summer is flying by and my super happy, oh-so-good, smiley baby is 3 months old today!  I'm going to do my best to recap June and July since our summer has been nothing short of CRAZY BUSY, I'm not finding the time to update the blog as much as I'd like.

Fiona got her first round of shots at her 2 month check up, of course I felt just awful for her, poor little thing cried like crazy and I absolutely melt every time she sticks that little bottom lip out and her eyes tear up....it's ridiculously adorable yet heartbreaking all at the same time!!  Johnny met me at the appointment to watch Jack who immediately started crying and shaking his head and saying no with his hand up in the air because he suddenly realized where we were and thought we were there for him.  I swear after his last visit when he had croup doctor visits may never be the same for that kid!  We calmed him down and explained that we were here for the baby and then he became very interested in everything happening to her.  Little Miss weighed 12lbs 4oz and 22 inches long.  She's in the 50th percentile for height and the 80th for weight!!!  I'm really loving her little rolls, her little legs and cheeks kill me, I could just kiss those chubby baby cheeks all day!  She is so far the exact opposite of Jack, he was always in the 50th percentile for weight and way above average for height.

 

Speaking of Jack, he had his 2 year check up, is 36 inches tall and 30lbs.  I of course had both kids at the doctor by myself this time which I thought would be a breeze until I found out that he would be getting shots.  As soon as he heard his name called in the waiting room he started to freak out and get really upset.  I was carrying him on one arm and her car seat with the other (talk about a workout).  We got through the nurse, and just as I got him distracted the doctor came in.  Had to hold him on my lap as she checked him over.  She left and it felt like an eternity waiting for the nurse to come back and do the shots.  He calmed down and was doing better, Fiona on the other hand was screaming at this point because she wanted out of the car seat and was hungry.  Finally the nurse came and I found myself holding an extremely strong 2 year old who was writhing in my arms to get free.  Shots were quick but so scary for my little baby.  I just felt so bad and there was nothing I could do other than tell him it was going to be OK and promise him ice cream.
 
Jack is still so in-love with his sister and jumps at the chance to snuggle her any chance he gets :)
Fiona finally got to meet her great grandfather, he'd been in the hospital recovering from leg surgery.  I didn't want to take her anywhere near a hospital and risk her catching anything, so we just waited for him to come home.

 
 I tried putting a headband on her but realized it was leaving a dent in her head so won't be putting this one back on.  I need to find some not-so-snug ones.
As you can see in her pictures she is becoming quite the little chunk.  She's still wearing 3 months mostly but is starting to fit into 6 months already!!  She's wearing  6 month sleepers at night now.  She is smiling up a storm and she has THE BEST smile ever.  She really pays attention to me when I look at her and talk to her.  She breaks into the biggest smile so easily, sometimes I don't even have to say anything, just look at her.  There really isn't a better feeling that when that happens!


Her eyes are still a darker shade of blue, I'm still hoping they turn green like mine OR at least stay blue.  She follows my voice and watches me walk around the room.  She's really starting to be attached to me specifically.  At night she seems to really only want to be around me.  I usually hand her over to Johnny and try to get the kitchen cleaned up or something done before bed, and she ALWAYS starts to fuss and then cry and as soon as I pick her up and bring her over by me she quiets right down.
We had my mom watch the kids at night a couple times and she's pulled the same thing with her.  She takes a bottle all night long until it's her last feeding before bed and she refuses the bottle and only wants to nurse.  So she fusses and/or cries until I come home.  in fact I'm supposed to be at a wedding right now but decided it was better to stay home seeing as it is an hour away and I wouldn't be able to race right home if need be.
  She is gnawing on her little hands a lot lately, so much that I actually checked her for teeth the other day.  I think she's just discovering her hands and using them to soothe herself.  So cute to watch though, her little mouth and tiny fingers, I could seriously stare at her all day, she amazes me at how much she develops and grows so quickly.  
 
 
 
Jack has his own camera and I caught him snapping some pics of his sister.  This looks like its a close-up!  He's such a character!