4 Months

14 lbs 9 oz (75th)
24.5 in (55th)
40 1/2 HC (45th)

Dear MJ,

What a charmer, you are! Your days are spent sucking your fingers/hands/fists/wrists, gazing at me, constantly enthralled by your brother, and soaking up the sights of the world. As with your brother before you, I long to squish you back to your scrunchy newborn self, while concurrently loving each new stage of your development. I'm far less focused on milestones, and far more focused on just enjoying you--taking an extra five minutes at the end of your nap to play with you in your crib; letting you nurse longer than necessary if you need the comfort; watching you work SO HARD to get that toy in your mouth.

Your Favorite Things: You love your new bee dangly toy, the lights above the jungle playmat, being tickled, ANYTHING where your bro is involved, splashing like crazy in the tub. But your two ultimate thrills are 1) when we take off your pants, and 2) when we do leg stretches--specifically, the spread-eagle. Yep, we're definitely going to have to find other ways to make you giggle, or we're going to be in serious trouble when you hit your teen years. (Sorry, Internets...TMI?)

Notes:

You nap. If I stick to Dr. Weissbluth's rule of putting you down by the third yawn and within two hours of last waking, you rarely fuss. We stopped swaddling you only last week, even though you've been breaking out of it for months. It just seemed to help calm you. Now that you're in the sleep-sack, I definitely think it contributes to when you wake soon after being put down. You just need to learn how to soothe yourself after you get startled awake again. Anyway....you often nap for 1.5-2 hours, but also sometimes for 45 minutes. Your night patterns, however, while not especially awful, are still completely sporadic. Sometimes you wake twice a night, sometimes once a night, a few times you've actually slept "through the night" (6 hours), and one time you slept ALL the way through the night (11 hours). It's all well and good but consistency would be just lovely. You're not terribly into your pacifier anymore. Sometimes we can use it to help calm you down, but if you've decided you're going to cry, no amount of pacifying will change your mind. (It's for this reason that we've decided to start the "excinction" (aka Crying it Out) method this week.)

You've become a champ at rolling from your tummy to back, and you protest tummy time a lot less, as a result. You love to make this "ah-ah-ah" sound that reminds me of a vocal exercise one of my roommates used to do in college. You also "hoo" just like an owl, and squeal when something is particularly hilarious.

You are easily startled by unexpected noises. It's especially amusing when I blow my nose. Your eyes get as big as saucers, your arms flail out to the side, and you wriggle your little body like jello. This also happens when someone sneezes, when the dog barks, and, um, on New Year's Eve, when the big kids were blowing their horns. Too loud!!!

I'm glad you're at a healthy weight, are a happy nurser (minus our few Vampire Baby encounters...too gross even for the Internets), and have lovely "Thunder Thighs" to squeeze. Dr. E suggested we start cereal, as you (evidently) no longer get iron from breast milk. We'll see how it goes....In the meantime, I'm glad your daily nursing schedule has decreased from 8 to 6 feedings per day--minus the week we were in Arizona, when you decided to nurse every two hours. Must be really dry there. :)

I love you, my darling daughter.
Mom

(How you prefer your hands. See also, "Thunder Thighs.")

3 Months

Dear Rosebud,

This month was all about learning to use your hands. You, like your brother before you, can now hit the monkey, although you're much more partial to the giraffe that dangles from your play mat. Just last night I saw you grab his foot and direct it into your mouth. And this morning you found your thumb for the first time--uh oh! You're enthralled by any toy someone puts before you, but not as enthralled as you are by ANYTHING your brother does. When you nurse, you use your free hand to grasp at the nearest object--my hair, my shirt, my fingers. It's almost as though you need an anchor.

We were able to capture some of your first giggles on video. Your dad and I found it hilarious that you mostly laughed without opening the back of your throat, so it sounds like you're laughing under water--complete with your Snorty McSnorterton noises that you seem to be (slowly) growing out of. In the last few weeks, though, your underwater giggles have morphed into full on belly laughs and squealing. I can't, for the life of me, capture it on video yet but I'll keep trying. You laugh when someone tickles your belly (particularly if you're undressed), and when someone says "boo," and pretty much whenever you're on your changing table (something about the butterflies on your mirror is HILARIOUS), or whenever someone takes off your pants. Let's hope that changes before you go to high school. (wink)

Bath time remains a favorite activity, especially if your brother joins you. He's great at helping to wash your hair and your feet. You also love when he reads and sings to you, and when he chooses a new toy (or perhaps ALL your toys at once!) for you.

Developmentally, you're working on strengthening your neck muscles. You prefer to sit up all the way, and are sitting in your Bumbo seat for the first time. You still loathe tummy time, but you did roll over from front to back for the first time. I'm not convinced it wasn't an accident, though. And, as I mentioned, you can easily guide your hand and fingers to your mouth.

Your eating schedule has spaced out considerably, as your naps get longer and more predictable. (For my records, your sleep cycles are usually 45-60 minutes, after which I often need to soothe you back to sleep.) You're ready to sleep two hours after you last awoke, which means you often go 3.5-5 hours between feedings during the day. Nights....are still unpredictable. You slept through the night (once), and followed that by waking every three hours the next night. I'm hoping this month will bring a more predictable nighttime schedule. Ha.

You are such a pleasant, easy-going baby. Thanks for that gift, my love.

Love,
Mom

http://gallery.me.com/hannahrae#100806 (P.S. You may have heard that the Mobile Gallery feature offered by Apple will be discontinued soon. I will be moving the photos to another host site. Stay tuned.)

The Big Brother

(Quick! Before anything changes!)


Dear SIR,

You are an amazing big brother. You care more for your sister than I've ever seen you care for a person--including your best friend, Daddy. Toward her, I see your empathy and concern. I see your unabashed glee when you're responsible for making her happy. Of all our family members, she saves her biggest smiles for you. I love that you "read" to her and sing to her. I love that you enjoy helping me put her to sleep. I love that you willingly fetch diapers and pacifiers and burp cloths for her. I love that you understand some days you get to "go first," and some days she gets to "go first"--usually regarding eating. I love that you'll jump down from the lunch table with a "Mommy, I got it," to give her a paci when she's fussing. I love that you try to engage her with toys--whether she wants them or not. I love that, three months later, you still ask to hold her.

With her, you put your needs last.

Thanks for being so incredibly awesome.
Love,
Mom

First bath together

(SIR was asked to watch her for a minute while Daddy ran downstairs. This is what he found when he returned.)

Sibling love!

"You're Doing it WRONG!"

You ever get the feeling that you've been doing something wrong for a long time? That you can't QUITE figure out what's wrong with what you're doing wrong? And you certainly have no idea how to fix it?

Me too.

I have been feeling this way about a) child discipline and b) children's toys.

a:

Frequently uttered phrases, "He never LISTENS." "He never OBEYS." "He's so DIFFICULT." Enter this book: Parenting with Love and Logic

It's not a perfect approach, and I'm certainly not going to be perfect while implementing it, but it's a start toward a healthier relationship with my son and a happier life as a stay-at-home-mom.

b:
This one is trickier, because it requires other members of my house to get on board. And the holidays are coming up. BUT. Here goes: I'm struggling with the amount of STUFF we have on our home (toy and play related), how it is organized, displayed and available for play. I want a crafting/art area; I want a single "playroom" area on the main floor (but I'm unwilling to sacrifice my piano and my coat closet); I want my children to get messy and learn from doing so. Enter Play at Home Mom. This group of women are some of the bravest mothers I've ever encountered, and I currently want to BE them. How I'm going to implement their techniques is a work in progress...but my Christmas shopping list for the children is looking a lot different this year. (Want to help me brainstorm? Feel free!!!)

Stay tuned...I hope.

Halloween 2011 Wrap-Up

Hey! Guess what the most overrated Halloween activity is, according to my three year old? You guessed it...carving pumpkins. But bedazzling a pumpkin for a baby sister? Best. craft. ever. (Next year we'll explore no-carve options like these. )

This year, the boy settled on his firefighter costume by mom's deadline (Oct. 1), which gave us plenty of time to work on the baby's dalmation costume--since we prefer themed costumes whenever possible (read: for one more year, before she develops her own opinions). Thanks to etsy, I only had to make her sleeper (black felt + glue gun), and attach her ears to a headband or hat--one for inside, one for outside.

A last minute RSVP to a party meant we would need grownup costumes, too. One trip to the Halloween Express, two trips to Michaels, one trip to Target, and 15 yards of tulle later, we added a fire chief and...FIRE!....to our costumed crew.

Enjoy the photos! http://gallery.me.com/hannahrae#100798

2008/2011

2 Months

11 lbs, 4 oz (70th %ile)
22 3/4 in (70th %ile)
HC: 38 cm (50th %ile)


Dear Rosebud,

What a lovely two month old you are! A happy baby, generally speaking, who isn't stingy with smiles. You smile at me, at your dad, at your grandparents...but no one gets bigger smiles than your wonderful big brother. He's certainly the most entertaining person in your life.

I love that you sometimes stop crying simply because I walk in the room. I love that you drop your paci as soon as you fall asleep. I love your double (triple?) chins and chunky, roly-poly thighs. You're simultaneously losing your newborn hair and growing it back, but it's left you with definite "male pattern baldness" for a while.

You're quite a gassy little girl, though we're working on those issues as of today (anti-reflux meds). You continue to snort and sniffle your way through your (usually short) crying jags, especially at night, so we're hoping the meds will help there, too. You continue to eat fairly often: every 2.5-3 hours, provided you're awake.

Speaking of...your night sleep is gradually improving, but there still isn't much of a pattern to speak of. Some nights you're down for the count at 10 and sleep until 4 or 5. Other nights you don't sleep until 11 are are up again between 2 and 3. The good news is that you always (oh, I'm in so much trouble when I use that word) go back to sleep quickly, and occasionally "sleep in" in the mornings. (Not that I get to, mind you.)

I still can't get enough of you in my arms, but it's translating more into cuddle time during cat naps. When you're awake, you enjoy your bouncy chair or your play mat, and fixate on anything moving above you--talking to them like they're people. You're happy as a clam if you're in the Bjorn/Beco, since it feels like mommy holding you. But the heavier you get, the less time we spend like that.

I love you, little lady. Don't ever grow up.
Love,
Mom


http://gallery.me.com/hannahrae#100775

Newborn Photo Shoot

So, we had "professional" photos taken of Miss M. I wasn't terribly impressed, to be honest, and here's why:

In a nutshell, I pretty much think every photographer needs a wrangler. I did the best I could with the subject, but there were some sloppy things that led to lots of photos that can't be used (the dark floor is wrinkled and glare-y, the fake trim is misaligned on some, the family shots are TERRIBLY composed). In the photographer's defense, we had a few things working against us. Miss M was a week older than suggested for these kinds of photos (read: she was fussy and not sleepy); SIR had a nasty cold AND waited in the basement with Brad for a million years until it was his turn, at which point M was awake for good and just DONE.

Whatever. You get what you pay for, I guess.

We got a few good shots of our little peanut, and that's what counts. I'm pretty sure I'll be putting both kids back in their outfits soon to take their photos myself.

See them here: http://gallery.me.com/hannahrae#100759