une petite aventure

Thursday, February 16, 2017

Evie: 9 Months

9 MONTHS.

90 days away from ONE.

We fall more in love with our Evie-girl every day! Her little personality is really starting to shine and she is so FUN! She is still my go-with-the-flow-laid-back baby but also loves to be in the middle of the action. She thinks her brother hung the moon and anything he does is absolutely hilarious. They are going to have such a sweet bond and I can't wait to watch it play out.

She doesn't have time to sit still and now her favorite thing is to hold on to my fingers and walk all over the house. She wants to walk SO BAD and I can just see the wheels in her head turning as she tries to figure it out. I think she will walk earlier than Holt did (2 weeks before he turned one). Honestly, at this point, I would rather her walk than crawl. Her clothes won't get as dirty and it will be easier to get out and do things. I might eat my words once she actually does but we will see!

She's definitely a mama's girl but lights up when her daddy walks in the room. If I leave the room she is in for any reason, no matter the length of time, she starts crying (dramatic much?). And most of the time she wants to be held instead of on the floor, so I try to sit on the floor with her so she will actually play. She is slowly starting to do better about entertaining herself and Holt has started playing with her more. A couple of times this month, I have walked into the living room and watched them play with toys together all initiated on their own. Makes my mama heart absolutely melt and I can't wait to see that happen more often!

She FINALLY doesn't scream when she's in the bathtub, due in large part to big brother helping to entertain her. Praises.

She is a more serious baby than Holt was--he belly laughed all day long but we have to work pretty hard sometimes to get her to laugh. Although, I have to say the last 2-3 days she has literally just randomly started laughing and can't quit. Which is pretty gosh darn cute.

She has cut TWO teeth this month! Things are moving much faster than her brother thank goodness. It took Holt over 2 months between his first tooth and second tooth. We will see how many more she gets between now and her birthday.

She is still our little petite girl! She wears 6-9 month clothing, size 2 shoe (finally) and is still in size 2 diapers and size 3 at night.

Routine:

6:30/6:45AM wake up
7 AM bottle (usually 6 oz)
8AM breakfast (scrambled egg, muffins, puffs, etc)
9AM nap
11/11:30AM lunch (protein, veggies, sometimes pasta, a pouch, more puffs, etc)
playtime
12:45PM bottle (usually 2-3 oz)
1:00PM nap
3/3:30PM wake up and maybe have 2 oz more of a bottle
playtime
4:30/5PM dinner (same as lunch)
playtime
6:30PM bath (we usually only do baths 2-3 times a week)
6:45/7PM 6 oz bottle, do bedtime routine with Holt (brush teeth, books, pray, sing, bed)
Sound machine on, lights out, bedtime

Weight: 16 lbs. 5 oz (18th percentile)
Height: 27 inches (20th percentile)

Favorites: *mama *her brother *daddy *her food *walking with help *being held

Sleeping: She has consistently slept through the night all month! All. the. praise. hands. She takes two naps a day: a shorter morning nap (usually 45 min-1 hour) at 9 AM and a longer afternoon nap (1.5-2 hours) at 1 PM. She goes to bed between 7-7:30pm depending on what time she wakes from her nap and sleeps til 6:30-6:45 the next morning. It's been fun to have her incorporated into the bedtime routine with Holt now!

Feeding: She has significantly cut back on her formula. She only takes about 16-18 ounces a day now. Yay for formula cans lasting longer! And this girl doesn't mess around when it comes to food. So far she has loved anything and everything she tries. We are still having to watch dairy--no cheese or yogurt or milk, but I'm hoping that changes this month like it did with her brother. The good thing is she can have foods that contain dairy ingredients, like muffins or waffles. She still loves her peanut butter and now enjoys peanut butter sandwiches. I typically cut up or tear everything I give her into chunks or bite-sized pieces. It didn't take her long to figure out how to chew and she rarely gags which is nice. She also learned this month how to sign for "more please" and "all done" which is really helpful! Her favorite snacks are puffs and the Gerber fruit & veggie melts--her eyes get real big and she starts clapping her hands and saying "ooooo!" We also do pouches (I squeeze into a spoon for now although I'm trying to teach her to suck it out like a straw) and I buy the Stage 3 Gerber chicken and turkey baby foods to take out with us like to church or a friend's house. She also LOVES scrambled eggs and usually has at least one for breakfast, sometimes too. She has also tried and liked pasta (like her mama), ground turkey and beef, sweet peas, bbq chicken, carrots, green beans, and corn. She eats 3 meals a day and we split her bottles up--I tried doing 8 oz. twice a day but she usually doesn't take more than 4-6 oz at a time. She takes a bottle first thing in the morning, right after lunch, right after nap, and right before bed.

Photo dump:

Monday, January 16, 2017

Evie: 8 Months

Happy 2017! And happy 8 months to our Evie-girl! She has seemed to blossom this month. It is amazing what all she has accomplished in only 30 days! She has:

*learned how to clap
*FINALLY SLEPT THROUGH THE NIGHT CONSISTENTLY (can I get an amen??!!)
*started pulling up in her crib and on people
*went from one meal a day to three meals a day + (3) 8 oz. bottles

*started saying "mama"
*celebrated her First Christmas

*celebrated the life of her great-grandmother Ruth (her funeral was the week after Christmas)
*she experienced her first snow

*she has started patting---especially if she wants to be picked up and you get her, she just pats away on your arm as if to say "thank you!"
*sat in a high chair at a restaurant for the first time

She is still just my chill, laid-back, very social baby girl and is so happy all the time! I still whisper "thank you God" on a regular basis when I think back to the first 3 months of her little life and how hard they were. Thankful for a healthy, happy baby!

Typical Schedule:

6:45/7 AM wake up
7/7:30AM 8 oz bottle
8/8:30AM breakfast
9AM nap
11:30AM lunch
12:30PM 8 oz bottle
1:00PM nap
4/5PM dinner
6 PM bath (if needed), pj's, 8 oz bottle
6:30/7PM bedtime

In other news, we STILL have not broken any teeth! Poor thing. I think they keep moving up and down. For the most part she is still pretty happy, but she has her moments where I know her mouth is just killing her. Let's hope she doesn't teethe like her brother and only pop one tooth at a time.

Also, she HATES baths. I'm talking hyperventilating, shaking, holding on to me for dear life, screaming-crying HATES them. We moved her to the laundry basket now that she sits up well, but even when we still used the baby bath she just doesn't like them. Which, lets be honest, 2nd baby--she doesn't get bathed every day. But it's still a huge struggle. We just try to make them as fast as possible and then calm her down afterwards.

Feeding: We have switched feeding schedules and it has worked SO WELL. I think this is what has finally helped her start sleeping all night. She now has (3) 8 oz. bottles + 3 meals every day. We do a mixture of baby foods and soft table foods, but she seems to prefer to feed herself and therefore would much rather have table food. We also do puffs and we introduced peanut butter, which she LOVES. She loves it so much she cried huge crocodile tears when I put up the container the first time she tried it. Definitely my child. This is also helping her gain some weight--I'm not sure how much because we don't go back for a check up until next month, but she feels heavier. Grow girl grow!

Milestones: I feel like this was a big month for milestones. She can pull-up on certain things. She can clap. She can say "mama" and KNOW she's talking about me. She has starting eating so much more.

Favorites: *Holt--ANYTHING her brother does is hilarious, but she especially loves for him to play peek-a-boo with her *her bottles *Mama--she is definitely a mama's girl but her daddy tells me that will change ;) *people--she just loves to be in the middle of all the action! she doesn't like to be by herself for very long. she starts crying if she's by herself too long.

Sleeping: Biggest news in this department is she in FINALLY sleeping through the night! She's only been doing that though for about a week. All through the holidays it was still rough and she was waking 2-3 times a night for a paci and wanting to eat about 5AM. But now that we have switched to our new schedule she rarely wakes up. Praises!! She is down to 2 naps a day and her morning nap is typically around 45 minutes but her afternoon nap is usually at least 1.5-2 hours. Yay!

Photo Dump:

that face <3

already loves that bling!

Christmas with the Lowery's (12.23)

the only picture of all 4 of us we got all day

Christmas with the Henderson's (12.24)

real life taking a picture with a toddler and infant

Evie got to be Baby Jesus at our Live Nativity this year

looking cute in her Christmas pj's

she loves her baby doll

Christmas with RoRo and Melly (12.31)

Happy happy girl!

First snow

First time to swing at our best friend's house--she really did enjoy it!

she cracks herself up

learning how to get around in the walker

Evie-girl,

You bring so much joy to our home! You are such a happy baby and you just go with the flow--so helpful and such a blessing. You really only get upset when you're hungry or tired, or if you want to be picked up and we walk right by you. You light up a room and want to be right in the middle of all the action. You think anything your brother does is absolutely hilarious and you are my little cuddle bug. We love you to pieces and can't imagine our family without you. Can't wait to see what the next month holds!

love, mama

Tuesday, December 13, 2016

Evie: 7 Months

I remember at the beginning of January, mentally going through all the changes this year would bring. I thought to myself, "by the end of this year I'm going to have a 2 year old and a 7 month old" and HERE WE ARE. Sometimes I can't believe it's real. Like these aren't really MY kids, I'm not old enough! But sure enough, they are. And I love them so much it hurts. Don't get me wrong---it's not always rainbows and there have been PLENTY of hard, hard, hard days (case in point the first 3 months of Evie's life). But goodness, here we are with a 7 MONTH OLD and she is absolutely beautiful and healthy. Our motto for her is "tiny yet mighty" and it's so fitting. She may be petite, but she is a STRONG girl.

Alright, enough being mushy. Here's what has been going on with our girl this month:

*talk about crawling! she knows where she wants to go and she will do whatever it takes to get there. She is one determined little lady! And she is DESPERATELY trying to stand--I'll see her crawling on the floor one minute and the next she is in the downward dog (yoga) position with her feet flat on the floor and getting frustrated because she can't stand up. I'm thinking she's gonna be an early walker.

*she still can't sit up on her own--I'm trying to work on it with her, but as soon as I start trying she immediately goes to crawl or to stand up. She is too busy to sit! oh well, it will happen eventually.

*still in size 2 diapers and size 3 pampers baby dry at night

*wears 3-6 month and 6 month clothes and she is barely starting to wear 0-6 month Livie & Luca shoes and baby moccasins

*we tried food this month, and she wanted nothing to do with it! I thought for sure she would love it like Holt, but nope. she looked at it super skeptically and then just burst into tears! LOL
we started with sweet potato, then tried avocado, then we tried baby food sweet peas. NADA. So, I waited a couple weeks and tried again with the sweet peas. lo and behold, she sort of liked it! And then I found the Plum Organics Little Yums teething biscuits and she LOVED those. We will see how she continues over the next month.

*she has been teething HARD CORE. bless her little heart. she has had terrible poops that have given her blistering diaper rashes and you can just tell she hurts so bad. I even took her to the doctor thinking she had an ear infection because she was waking up multiple times at night and she was just grumpy all the time which is NOT like my daughter. no ear infection, just teething. we are hoping those teeth pop soon so she can start feeling better.

*we celebrated her first Thanksgiving! it was such a great day! we went to my family's cabin, Sno-lic, and she was such a trooper. she was truly in her element--she loves to be around people and they all wanted to be around her! Holt was in his element too--exploring outside and helping all the men cook the meat. come to find out he loves deep fried pheasant and deer too (little mountain man LOL). It was chilly but we managed to get a couple of pictures.

*we went to the park a couple of times when the weather was nice and both kids had a blast!

*we drove the kids around to look at Christmas lights. I LOVE the holidays and seeing it through the eyes of your kids is THAT much better! It's fun to start discovering what traditions we want to do as a family and this will definitely be one we continue to do!

Weight: 14 lbs 1 oz (10th percentile)
Height: 26 inches (40th percentile)

Milestones: *crawling *talking more and more *paying attention to little details (zippers, specks on the floor, necklaces, etc) *thinks her brother is HILARIOUS *teething *first Thanksgiving *she has started reaching for people---particularly daddy

Favorites: *her daddy---if he walks by her and doesn't stop to say hi and/or pick her up she starts crying *she loves to chew on her little plastic spoons *the jumper *bouncing

Sleep: Sometimes it's hard to NOT compare her sleeping habits to Holt's when he was her age. I have to remember she's a completely different baby but sometimes that is really hard! especially when I remember he was already sleeping through the night at this age...and she isn't. When everything is going good, she will sleep from 6:30PM-5:00AM before needing to eat and generally wakes up at least once in there for a paci. Then she eats 4 oz. at 5:00AM and then we put her back to sleep (because I don't want to get up then) and she'll sleep until 6:30-7AM. When that happens, I feel pretty rested (even though she has only slept the ENTIRE night without waking up only twice since she was born). However, lately things haven't been going good (thanks a lot teething) and she has been waking multiple times a night hurting or pooping or having bad gas. Last night for instance, starting at midnight she was up every 2 hours just hurting, having bad gas pains, and having diarrhea (gross I know). I am really hoping that amping up solids this next month and HOPEFULLY having her teeth pop through will remedy the situation and she will start sleeping 12 hours. Fingers crossed. It's starting to really take a toll on me. As far as naps go, she typically takes 2 naps a day. Every now and then, if she takes a super short nap in the morning, then I can bank on a pretty short nap in late afternoon to make up for it. But when things are going well, she takes (2) 1.5ish hour naps a day.

Feeding: She eats 4 bottles during the day, all 6 oz., and then one 4 oz. bottle during the night. I'm hoping this month to completely get rid of the nighttime bottle--especially with her eating more solids, she really won't need it anymore. I have tried to give her a 7oz. bottle before bed in hopes it would help tide her over all night, but she always only eats the 6 oz. She finally warmed up to solids a little bit last week and has now had sweet pea puree, squash puree, banana, and teething biscuits. I'm hoping this next month we can introduce more veggies and fruits, possibly puffs, and maybe eggs and peanut butter. She seems to be a pretty slow mover in the food department though, so I'm not expecting too much.

Typical Schedule:

7AMish up for the day
8AM 6 oz bottle
playtime
9AM nap
11:30AM 6 oz bottle
playtime
12:30/1:00PM nap
3:00 PM 6 oz bottle
playtime (usually somewhere in here we give her solids)
6:00 PM bedtime routine
6:30PM 6 oz bottle and bed
5AM (usually) 4 oz bottle

Photo Dump: