Watch Me Grow - Four Months

Eeekkkkk - and we're halfway to five months before I had a chance to write and post this.

Lauren's fourth month certainly was an interesting one! I decided that we needed to cut the cord on using the swing for her naps. As much as I LOVED having her nap for a really long time, multiple times a day, I needed her to start sleeping in her crib in her room for naps. She was starting to become more and more awake and aware of things and the magic of the swing was starting to wear off. We were able to successfully wean me her off of it within about a week. Naps in her crib have been all over the map - sometimes they are 30 minutes, sometimes they are 2 hours. I'm trying to relax about the 30 minute naps and accept them as the new normal, and then whenever they go longer I do a little happy dance. 

Speaking of sleeping being all over the map, her night sleeping as been the same. We have gone from waking up every 2-3 hours all night long, to sleeping 8+ hour clips at a time. Often within the same week. It's a bit maddening, more than the naps for sure, but I'm trying to remain positive (this too shall pass - or so they tell me!) She is now at the age when we can sleep train her, although this time around it is a bit harder since we have a toddler that sleeps right next door and LOVES and excuse to wake up and not go back to sleep. Instead of letting her cry it out, just yet, I am trying to wean her off of the night feedings one by one. Usually a quick belly pat and a pacifier will buy me another hour of sleep before she is begging to eat. Sometimes that also backfires on me but I'm giving it a try. 

In addition to all of this, we discovered that Lauren has a bit of tummy trouble that we have been trying to correct over the past month. For some reason the 4950824309584 servings of dairy that I was consuming every.single.day did a number on her sensitive tummy. Over Labor Day weekend we discovered some blood in her stool. After a consult with her Pediatrician and looking at some events surrounding the blood in her stool (green poo! spitting up a lot more than normal!) we decided that she has a dairy/soy intolerance. Now, we cant actually check for this, the only thing we can do is eliminate the dairy and soy from my diet and see if her stools and spit up improve. She may not even be intolerant to soy but it is easier to cut both of them out at the same time since so many babies are intolerant to both. It has been challenging for me, as I mentioned I was consuming copious amounts of dairy all day every day, but I am starting to find a groove with substitutes and new recipes. I was beginning to get really discouraged as it seems like her symptoms were getting worse instead of better but, low and behold, the day before her four month check up her stools returned to a normal color. Hopefully we have turned a corner and she gets better and better from here on out. If they go back or get worse our next step is to see a GI specialist.

Apart from all of the up and down sleep, green poo for days and many trips to the doctor, Lauren has remained one of the happiest and laid back babies ever. She has the biggest, most contagious smile ever. She is starting to squeak out little laughs here and there and they melt my heart. She LOVES, loves her big sister (even though Kaitlin nearly steps on/falls over/dances on top of her 94538905284 times  a day). She is talking up a storm and loves to have little conversations with you. She only really cries when she is hungry or overtired. She loves baths and doesn't even mind getting her clothes or diaper changed. She pulls herself up to standing when she holds onto your hands, loves to sit up with someones help, thinks the bumbo is hilarious and even started to twist around and pretend like she wants to learn how to roll over right on her four month birthday (she totally has no interest in actually rolling over. Homegirl is so happy just to lay there and stare at the ceiling fan).

Little Lauren, you are such a blessing. I can't wait to see what next month brings!

Kaitlin's First Birthday

I've decided to do one MEGA post about Kaitlin's first birthday rather than break it up into three parts. Call me crazy. Grab a cup of coffee (or glass of wine if you are reading this tonight) and stay a while.

Kaitlin's first birthday. I've been anticipating it for the last several months. I knew it would come, obviously we all grow older, but it is still shocking that the time is already here. What is it that they say? The days are long but the years are short. Something like that. I've always liked that quote and I am finding it quite fitting at the moment. 

I'm not sure if Kaitlin enjoyed her first birthday or not. I don't think she actually knew what was going on, but she did know that there were a lot of people staying at her house and playing with her 24/7. She knew that she had to keep putting on fancy dresses even though the temperature soared near 90* for a whole weekend. She knew that she was getting A LOT of extra attention - and she loved it!

Both sets of her grandparents came down to visit and help us celebrate. The day before her birthday we held a very, very small party at our local park. We had our family and a few friends gather at the park with bagels and cupcakes and we let the kids run around and play. It was a hot and humid day - Kaitlin's dress managed to stay on for an hour and then we stripped her down to her diaper because of the heat. Her dress was cute but not very cooling! Little Miss was so excited to have Grammie and Pop-pop and Grandma and Grandpa in town that she didn't take her morning nap, which made for a very cranky birthday girl. Add in the uncomfortable weather and she wasn't in the best of moods. She held out for most of the party but there were a few crying spells here and there. (Not to mention a choking episode or two. Suddenly after five months of amazing chewing skills she decides to shove ALL of her food in her mouth at once and try and swallow. I had her bent over my knee slapping her back to get it out. Just about damn near gave me a heart attack. Oh yeah, and she decided to do that four times in one day. Lord help me.) But overall a good time was had by all and we might have even lost a pound or two sweating in the heat!

  

Sunday marked the big day - her FIRST birthday! We had been waiting to get her baptized until our parents were in town and it just so happened that it fell on her birthday. So off we went to the church to get Kaitlin baptized. My parents and I went ahead to attend the service (the baptism was to take place afterwards) while Brian and his parents got her all dressed up. We met them after the service and found out that they didn't even have us on the list for that days baptism!! They quickly changed a few things around and squeezed us in, thankfully. There were four baptisms that day and Kaitlin was by far the oldest baby there. We all had to stand at the front facing the crowd while the minister baptized each one of them. We were second in line but that was far too long for Kaitlin to be held. Now that she is a walking/running machine she doen't like being held unless she wants to be held (which is pretty much never). We were definitely that family trying desperately to hold onto their toddler as she tried to jump out of my arms. Many cries and tears followed. The minister didn't even try to hold her to present her to the congregation, he let me take care of that. We let her walk around a little bit in front of us during the last two baptisms and we only had to chase her around a little. Thankfully the whole process only took about twenty minutes and as soon as it was over we bolted. Of course, it doesn't help that this all took place during Kaitlin's normal lunch and nap time. Are you starting to get an idea of how critical naps are to our little one's temperament??

After Kaitlin's nap we let her open presents! She took a very long nap and woke up in a little bit of a mood. She had been sweating during her nap too so she woke up looking a little crazy. She did very well during presents and loved playing with her new toys, looking at new books and admiring her new clothes. After all of the presents were opened we took her for a spin in her new wagon!

I wanted to do a Cake Smash session with her on her actual birthday, but with everything that we had been through earlier that day I knew it probably wouldn't go well. We had a couple of cupcakes left over from the party so we gave her those to try after she finished her dinner. 

Let's just say she is NOT a cake person.

(Want to see more pictures of Kaitlin HATING cake? Check out our not-so-perfect cake smash session)

Overall Kaitlin's first birthday was really, really nice. Sure, there was a bit more crying and more tears than I had anticipated, but it was so special to have our families there to help us celebrate. Kaitlin is turning into more and more of a toddler, and less of a baby, every single day. While it is so exciting to watch her grow and transform into a little person it is also super sad. While I don't wish to have the newborn days back, it would be nice to be able to hold onto these "baby" days for a little bit longer.