Lenore at One Year!

One Year!!

Her stats (from the pediatrician, percentiles from BabyCenter):
Height: 30 inches [in 75th percentile]
Weight: 23 pounds, 13 ounces [ between 75th and 90th percentiles]
Head Size: 18.74 inches [between 90th and 95th percentiles]

What she's doing this month:

• She is learning to communicate her needs/wants more and more, either with a calm yelp or a loud scream. She is pretty vocal (and always has been), even if she isn't saying many words. She still says Hiiii, Bye-bye, Bubba, Dada, and maybe an occasional Mama. Hi and Bye are the biggest, along with her sweet wave. She'll wave side-to-side, and then she also waves kind of touching her mouth and waving outward, I guess like she's blowing a kiss. (Did we teach her that? I don't know.)
• She still is nursing every 3-4 hours and taking her 4 oz. at bedtime (after she nurses). She can hold the bottle herself and chugs the formula down.
• She is still an enthusiastic, non-discriminating eater. 
• She had started drinking from Lewis' Camelbak water cup, so I bought her a couple of straw cups to try out. She has figured those out, so I'll give her some water at mealtimes, which she seems to enjoy. For her birthday, I've gotten her a couple of non-straw sippy cups so that she can work on tipping the cup up to get a drink.
• She was finally sleeping consistently overnight for a little while there, and then she got a molar! That caused a couple of rough nights (up at 2:30, 3, and 4:30 one night, what what??), but we are through that now. There were some residual wake-ups after the teething nights from busting our routine, but she has been better again the past few nights. Fingers crossed that she'll stay that way. Mama hit a rough patch there for a little while.
• She is napping twice a day, unless we get out of routine, and then it's once a day. She typically goes down around 9:30 or 10am and 2:30 or 3pm, and she will sleep around an hour and a half or two hours each.
• She's walking all over the place!! Last Wednesday (October 21), she started putting around 10 steps together, and she has gotten more steady and ventured further each day. In her attempt to stay balanced, sometimes she almost gallops to get her feet quickly under her body. She's a hoot and is into absolutely everything.
• She also really loves to be carried on my hip, and she always has. Usually in the afternoon after nap, she'll be a little clingy, so I'll throw her on my hip and start dinner or clean or whatever I need to get done. I started thinking back, and I remember her falling asleep in that position when she was really tiny--I'd put her on my hip and walk around and watch her eyes quickly get heavy and close, and I guess that movement is what is comforting to her. (Maybe due to her crazy sideways antics while she was in my belly!?) Even now, she is totally content to just hang out with me while I work. My arms, on the other hand, get a little tired!
• Her hair is starting to get curly in the back where it is the longest.
• She is finally clapping and thinks it's hilarious when we clap for her/at her.
• She is getting into mostly 18 month clothing. There are still a few 12 month pieces that fit, but it won't be long.
• Current Tooth Count: 7 (2 upper middle, 4 lower middle, and 1 molar on lower left)

A few outtakes:

  Hello, old tattered friend.

Lenore at 11 Months

11 Months Old
(The best I could get because she was squirrely and the camera was acting up...)

Her stats this month (percentiles from BabyCenter):
Height: 30 inches [between 75th and 90th percentiles]
Weight: 23 pounds [between 75th and 90th percentiles]
Head Size: 19 inches [above 95th percentile]

What she's doing this month:

• She is walking (if a few steps at a time can be considered walking)! Only a few times a day and not great distances, but she is figuring it out. Her first steps were just this past Friday, September 25. 
• Lewis took a few steps December 7 and 15, which was right before/at 10 months, so he was a little ahead of her.
• She is sleeping better, overall. She takes two naps a day, usually around an hour and a half each. She is usually sleeping all night for me (around 11 hours), but there have still been a few nights with middle-of-the-night feedings.
• She nurses every 3-4 hours during the day, but I feel my supply starting to wane as she eats more solids. At bedtime, especially, she was having a hard time falling asleep after 'just' nursing, so I decided to make a 4 oz. bottle of formula a regular thing at bedtime after she nurses. There was one night she refused me, which was a pretty strange feeling (Lewis never refused me, ever), but that has only happened once. 
• Related to that, she does the sweetest thing after her bottle. Well, before her bottle, too. Once she's done nursing, she sits up and peeks over the side of the recliner to see if it's sitting down on the floor. I learned quickly that I needed to keep it out of sight because she gets so excited about it. So AFTER she's done with her bottle, I stand up and sway with her on my shoulder and burp her. She has started giving me the sweetest pats on my back as I pat her on her back. And she rubs my back in big circles like I rub hers to help her burp. She's going to be a good mommy one day. :)
• On that note, she so sweetly and quickly learned how to wave. We were sitting at the table one day, and I waved to her and said, 'Hi!' She laughed at me, and then she figured out how to say 'Hiiiiiii!' in the sweetest Southern accent, using every muscle in her little mouth, and she practically whacked herself in face, waving excitedly.
• She isn't saying much else new since last month. Just Hiiiii, Bye-bye, Bubba, and sparingly, Mama. She did notice a dog at the playground the other day and was saying something, like she was trying to say Dog, but it didn't sound like Dog just yet.
• She is still an eating machine! She has had a few meals where she's eaten more than Lewis has (granted, Lew eats like a bird at times). She still hasn't refused a food we've put in front of her, for now (I know that can/will change!). The pediatrician said (at her 9 month appointment, I forget if I've already said this...) we could try peanut butter since we don't have a family history of a peanut allergy, so she's had PB&J a few times with Lewis. She prefers to feed herself by hand, but she will accept food on a spoon, of course. I forget when they start feeding themselves by spoon, but she has shown no interest in it for now.
• She's getting into books. Kevin said she'll scream if he stops reading to her in the bath. [My sweet baby girl, scream? Never. ;)] I don't read to her yet as part of her bedtime routine, but I might start trying to see how she does. She likes the Touch and Feel books, which we have quite a few of from when Lewis was little.
• She is still a happy girl most of the time--if she's NOT happy, it's from the time she wakes up from her afternoon nap until bedtime. On those days, she will melt down unless I'm holding her on my hip, so there have been some nights when I'm making dinner one-handed. Overall, though, she is sweet.
• We haven't had any teeth for a while, so I feel like we're in for it soon!
• Current Tooth Count: still 6
• She is wearing size 12 months, but I'm noticing some things are getting snug. I think I've finally gone through and sorted all of Juniper's clothes that have been handed down. We won't need to buy anything for a few years! :)

A few outtakes from this morning:

We had a crazier-than-usual morning because it is Picture Day at school and it's pouring down rain. Lenore is only there Thursdays, so I took her in this morning with Lewis to try to get their pictures taken together. We'll see how they turn out--neither one of them were giving up many smiles for the photographer, but maybe we'll get lucky. :)

Lenore at 10 Months

*Editor's Note: Little Miss wanted to help celebrate her 10 month birthday by waking me up at 1:30, 4:30, and 5:30 overnight last night. Kevin got up with her at 5:30 and let me sleep, but now we are all heading for Family Nap Time.

10 Months Old 

(double digits!)

Her stats (from the pediatrician's office last week, percentiles from BabyCenter):
Height: 29.3 inches (between 75th and 90th)
Weight: 21.53 pounds (between 75th and 90th)
Head Size: 18.7 inches (above 95th)

We actually just went for her 9 month check-up last week because her doctor was on vacation and had to reschedule her original appointment. She only had to get one shot in the thigh (no tears!) and will go back at one year (in just two months). The pediatrician said her ears look good, which is good to hear--she's been tugging on one, in particular, so I was afraid her ear infection(s) had returned. I'd taken her in to have her ears rechecked a few months ago right after a round of antibiotics to treat an ear infection, and it turned out to only be teething. I wasn't sure what was going on this time, but she has just gotten 2 more teeth on the bottom, so teeth, it is. I don't remember Lewis tugging on his ears quite as intensely as Lenore does, poor baby. :(

What she's up to this month:

• She is into EVERYTHING! It feels like she's into things much sooner than Lewis was. I can't put her down and walk away for a second--she's in the cabinets (LITERALLY, INSIDE OF THEM), up the stairs, getting into the printer paper, etc. (these are just a few examples from the other morning). Oh, in the fireplace and in the dishwasher, too. I guess I need to do some child-proofing. :/

• On that note, she started Parents' Day Out last week at Lewis' school (just one day, for 3 hours). She is one of only two kiddos on the day she goes, so she gets lots of love and attention from her teacher (who is Lewis' former teacher from his 2-year-old class). She has laughed in Ms. Cheryl's face as she tries to get her to nap, but maybe she'll eventually come around (if not, no big deal). All of the teachers I've talked to have said how sweet her giggles are, so I'm sure it's not exactly a conducive environment for napping when everyone was just wants to ooh and ahh with her. I love their school so very much--all of the people I've met are just wonderful, and I know that they love our kids. But anyway, I digress...
• She is saying Mama! Or Mamamamama, but still. She also has said Bubba (we think). She's reached that oh-I-just-found-my-voice phase, so she'll yell out at random when we're at the store or at a restaurant, just to hear herself.
• She is cruising, both side-to-side along a table and some front-to-back (like if she's pushing a box or Lewis is pulling her along on a box). She also has a walker she is practicing on. Our house is usually crazy-town. :)

• She is big on standing on her own. She might pull up and then let go of whatever she was holding onto. She seems to slowly be getting more steady on her feet, but she always ends in a plop on the floor. It won't be long!
• Sleep has been all over the place. She is napping twice a day, sometimes only for 45 minutes, and sometimes for 3+ hours. I'd say her naps are 'usually' 1 1/2 hours, but I can't bet on that on any given day.
• We were in a good routine overnight (going down easily at 7:30 or 7:45pm, sleeping until 5:30 or 6am), and then teething struck. (I think of my old camp friend Alycia--the one responsible for Kevin and I ever meeting--who said, 'Why can't they be born with teeth?!') Teething caused some middle-of-the-night awakenings for a few days. Now, lately, she's not been going down well at bedtime. I nurse her and leave the room, as I have from very early on. It seems like that is not enough for her now, so we have started either having me offer both sides and/or having Kevin go in with a bottle of formula after I am finished nursing. Maybe it's just from her getting bigger and having a larger appetite? I am fine with the formula if she needs more than what I provide. We've already made it way longer than I ever thought we would with breastfeeding.
• Speaking of eating, she is a beast. She nurses every 3-4 hours, and she eats a full breakfast, lunch, and dinner with Lewis and I. She loves her meat and cheese, especially, and she still hasn't really rejected anything we've put in front of her.
• She's hilarious to watch, too--she's very efficient with finger foods. She gets so excited to eat--she will put a bite of food in her mouth, and sometimes she'll change her mind on which food she wants to eat. So she'll put a piece of food in, spit it out into one hand, and then put a different food in with her other hand. She's getting better about how much food is dropped into her bib/high chair, but now she's started intentionally holding food for the dogs to eat out of her hand. She'll put it in her mouth, then change her mind and hold it out for Peter. :) Hattie waits for what is dropped, Peter takes things gently out of her hand.
• She is wearing 12 month clothes.
• Current Tooth Count: 6 (2 upper, 4 lower)

Outtakes, because there were many:

There was someone hiding behind the chair, believe it or not. ;)

Surprise!

And we're done. :)

Lenore at 9 Months

9 Months Old

The best I could get this morning. There was another, probably better, session before this, but I didn't realize the memory card wasn't in the camera. I can't find the cable to pull the pictures from the camera memory to the computer, so this will have to do.

Her stats (percentiles from BabyCenter):
Height: 29 inches [between 75th and 90th percentiles]
Weight: 21 pounds [between 75th and 90th percentiles]
Head Size: 18.5 inches [above 95th percentile]

What she's doing this month:

• She is a wild woman, on the move! She takes off crawling with a vengeance--she puts her head down and clip-clops as fast as she can across the floor. Sometimes she crawls on one knee and with one foot (maybe it's faster?), but she's usually barreling around on all fours.
• She is also still mildly obsessed with climbing the stairs. I've been barricading them, but every once in a while, I'll catch her on the 2nd or 3rd step. (There have been a few times where I've been on the phone or distracted for 30 seconds, and I've found her up in Lewis' room. Hence the barricades now. I tried to install a gate, but the &%*# wall and banister don't line up, so I don't exactly know what to rig up at the bottom of the stairs.) 
• Once she realizes she's been caught on the stairs, she tries to scurry up even faster to get away from me. I have heard that she got red-faced and kicked and fussed at Grandma Sharon when she took her off the stairs at their house--I haven't seen that yet, myself, but I don't doubt it.
• She is starting to cruise. She will move along the coffee table a little bit and will reach out and move from couch to coffee table and vice versa. Sometimes she will let go with one hand while standing, when she's feeling extra brave.
• She eats like a beast. She's nursing every 3-4 hours, and then eating all three meals with us. Some days, she'll eat an entire container of yogurt and a piece of toast for breakfast (sometimes only half a container), some fruit and cheese for lunch, and usually a vegetable and some of what we're having for dinner (or cereal). We still spoon feed her yogurt, cottage cheese, cereal, etc., but she very much wants to feed herself the finger foods. Sometimes at dinner, she'll lay her head to the side and just shovel the food in her mouth. She is a big fan of meat--chicken is her favorite, plus turkey, ham, and hamburger, so far.
• If you are eating something that she wants (which is pretty much anytime I am eating), she will let you know it with an 'Mmmmmm!!!' sound (add grunting sound for the full effect).
• She hasn't turned away a food that I can think of (she didn't like apricots at first, but now she does). She will hopefully be a good influence on Lewis.
• Sleep is so close to being great, but not quite. She did sleep through the night a few times recently (like 8pm-7:15am), but 4:30-5am is her usual wake-up time. I go in and feed her, and she'll sleep until 7:30-8am, so I can't complain. She is having trouble falling asleep some nights (25% of the time), so that's been frustrating. I think it's probably teething-related, so I've been trying to be patient (teething is horrible, in case anyone has forgotten).
• She is napping twice a day, same as last month, really. Sometimes only for 45 minutes to an hour, sometimes much longer (around 3 hours).
• She isn't talking, of course, but she's starting to babble. I hear 'Buh' sometimes (like Bubba or Brother??) and 'Ma' (Mama??). And of course, Mmmmm!!
• She is recently interested in doors. We went to open gym the other day, and there was one of those big cubes with different activities on the top/sides. She sat and opened/closed the little doors forever. At home, she likes to close doors if they are open.
• She has also started pointing with her index finger. Not at what she needs/wants, but just in the air. Like, 'By George, I have a great idea!' I think I remember that being a developmental thing, along with picking up food and feeding herself.
• She and Lewis are playing together more and more. She's pretty happy to play with cars and trains or whatever is lying around, though she has taken to her baby doll that my mom got her, too.
• She is wearing 12 month clothes.
• Current Tooth Count: 4, and working on more.

Preschool starts back in a few weeks, and Lewis will be going 4 mornings/week. This year they are offering a Parents' Day Out, so Lenore will be going 1 morning/week, as well. 

A brief house update--we have had quite a series of unfortunate events this month. We had torrential rains and flash floods on two occasions (two nights apart), which flooded our finished side of the basement. We've had to move everything from that side to the unfinished side, in case it floods again, and we had to have the (new) carpet and pad removed so that we could dry everything out and keep it from getting in the walls and baseboards. Before we restore it back to a finished condition, we are working to resolve the bigger issues of why it floods. Through that process, we have discovered foundation issues that (we believe) were covered up by the seller, so now we are preparing to enter into mediation to try to get some of those expenses covered. Once we get through that, we can hopefully put our house back together.

There have been a few other issues, as well--chimney/fireplaces leaking, new front door warping, infested/dead ash tree that had to be taken down, driveway drainage issues (which we already planned to address), a new water stain on our bedroom ceiling (we are getting a new roof and gutters next week), etc. The joys of homeownership!

We are very much looking forward to a tropical beach vacation with lots of pina coladas and no stress!!

Lenore at 6 Months

6 Months Old

Her stats (from the pediatrician, percentiles from BabyCenter):
Height: 27.13 inches (between 75th and 90th percentile)
Weight: 18 lbs. 14 oz. (between 75th and 90th percentile)
Head Size: 44.5 cm (between 90th and 95th percentile)

Her doctor's appointment went well. The doctor said she couldn't hear the heart murmur, which I take as very good news! We still need to go see the cardiologist for a check-up in the next few weeks, so we'll get more information from them. Lenore had one oral and two injected vaccines, and she took them pretty well. The first shot, she didn't even flinch, but the second one, she let out a wail but calmed pretty quickly. We go back at 9 months!

What she's doing this month:

• She is crawling! Not in a coordinated manner, but she can get across a room in no time. She mostly uses her arms to pull the rest of her body. She will get up on all fours and rock, but she ends up on her belly and army crawls across the floor.
• She sometimes plays with Lewis' toys or her toys, or, lately, power cords. :/ However, she seems a lot more receptive to 'no' than I remember Lewis being. If I grab her away and tell her 'no,' she goes to play with something else. I seem to remember him continually going back to the wires.
• She is NOT sitting yet. Seems a little out of order to me, but every time I try to put her in a sitting position, she leans forward and takes off for something across the room.
• Nursing has become interesting--if someone talks while she's eating (usually Kevin), she'll turn her head to him to hear what he's saying (ouch! to me). Or she giggles at Lewis or blows raspberries, all while semi-eating. I can see glimpses of the two of them teaming up against me in the future. :) She has not bitten me, YET, though I'm sure it's coming.
• I did go ahead and start her on solids right before Easter. She was doing the things that the pediatrician said to look for, as far as readiness goes, and it was time. She is VERY enthusiastic about eating and VERY, VERY messy. (I don't remember Lewis being quite so messy.) Maybe because she's starting younger, and she's still developing her chewing/swallowing skills? Anyway, she's loved everything we've given her, and she often fusses if we don't get the next bite to her fast enough. She just eats once a day, with us at dinnertime.
• Changing her diaper is an adventure--she usually spends the entire time trying to flip over to her belly, so I try to calmly return her to her back (over and over again). It might be getting better.
• She is napping well (knock on wood). She will nap 2-3 times a day, depending on how long the naps are.
• Overnight, I'd say she wakes up 1-2 times a night. It feels about 50/50 right now.
• She went through a rough patch with the car seat, correlating with our house showings and/or teething--she was not happy, and, booooy, did she let me know! There were multiple times she cried from the moment we left to the moment we got home (e.g. the 30ish minutes from Kevin's parents house to home). My nerves were shot on many occasions, but thankfully she's through that now.
• She had her first hair cut this month! My aunt Peggy is in town from Florida, and she offered to trim up the wild sideburns. It is sweet that she was the first to cut her hair, since she always cut ours when we were younger.
• She is wearing size 9 month clothes, almost exclusively.
• Tooth count: TWO! (Her bottom two middles came in a few weeks ago.)

You can just imagine the sounds that accompany these pictures:

 :)

She's definitely more vocal than Lewis ever was!

House Update: Our house sold in 9 days! And we found a house a day before our unofficial deadline! (Phew--we were looking at apartments to rent, in case we didn't find a house, and I was pretty sure we wouldn't find anything in time.) We had to have an accepted offer by Tuesday in order to line things up for the old house/new house to close on the same day (our buyers had given us 30-45 days, and that Tuesday was 30 days out from our closing). Anyway, the house we're buying came on the market on Sunday, we saw it Monday, and made an offer Monday night. There was a 2nd offer, but ours won (it was very exciting!). So we're in the inspection/appraisal/repair phase now, which will soon be followed by the pack-up-the-house phase. :)

Lenore at 5 Months

5 Months Old

aka The Month When Everything Goes in Her Mouth

Her stats (percentiles from BabyCenter):
Height: 26.5 inches (75th to 90th percentile)
Weight: Unknown (because I sent the scale to the storage unit--oops!)
Head Size: 17.25 inches (90th to 95th percentile)

This month went by so quickly! It seems like we were JUST at the doctor for her 4-month check-up. We've been really busy--the house is almost on the market (pictures were taken Friday, so we're just waiting for them to be edited and for the realtor to post them--should be just a matter of days!!!). I also have been busy helping with Lewis's big school fundraiser, which was Friday night--I volunteered on the committee and helped with the silent auction, so that's taken a bit of time the past week or two.

What she's doing this month:

• She is rolling over like a fool. As soon as you put her down on her back, she automatically flips to her belly. She now will flip both directions (left and right) and from back-to-belly and belly-to-back. She sleeps on her belly, happily now (thank goodness).
• She is slowly mobilizing!!! The past few weeks, she has started getting up on her knees with the little booty in the air, and she'll make either small scoots backwards or spin around. It's not significant movement, but it's movement! When I put her in her crib in, say, the lower right corner, I'll find her in the upper left corner (that is forward movement, I guess).
• She is napping in her crib now (unless we have errands--in that case, she falls asleep in her car seat and naps through Target or Kroger). :) We have fallen into a pretty good routine--she naps 3 times a day for 45 minutes to an hour. Occasionally, she will surprise me with a 2 hour nap in the afternoon, but that's only happened a few times. I'm trying to be better with her than I was with Lewis about putting her down awake so that she can learn to fall asleep on her own (vs. nursing her to sleep). She is getting so much better each day, fussing less and sleeping better. Occasionally I'll put her down and can just tell by her cry that it's not going to happen, so I'll feed her to help calm her down. 
• Speaking of feeding, nursing continues to go well (hallelujah!). At her 4-month appointment, the doctor said I can start introducing solids. I didn't start Lewis until 6 months, so I'm in no hurry. I did try rice cereal one day a few weeks ago, but it was a logistical nightmare for me--trying to pump fresh milk to mix with the cereal, while eating lunch with Lewis, while holding Lenore, was not ideal. :) She definitely watches us as we eat, which was one of the things the doctor said to watch for (she grabs for things and watches every bite as it goes from plate-to-mouth). At this point, I kind of feel like I'll get around to it, eventually. I've got the house stuff to worry about, so I'm kind of considering it as one less thing to have to do right now. Now that the fundraiser is over, I might focus more energy towards it--we'll see!
• Since the whole rolling over thing began, sleep regressed. She goes to sleep around 7:30pm, just like Lewis (Kevin puts Lewis to bed, and I put Lenore to bed). I was waking up 2 times a night most of this month (usually like 12:30am and 3:30am and 7ish for the day). Just the last few nights now, we've gone back to 1 time a night--around 2 or 3am, and then 6:45-7am.
• Just last night, she made it 7:30pm-5:30am! (And then slept until almost 9am.) I'm sure it was a fluke, but amazing, nevertheless. 
• She has very vocal days--she will just blab on and on, right in your face, like she has something really important to say. I always agree with her, whatever it is she is saying. :) I definitely don't remember Lewis 'talking' this much.
• She's still very drooly and loves to gnaw on our fingers, but she shows no sign of teeth just yet. She's been this way for at least a month because I remember her gnawing on the doctor's thumb at her 4-month appointment. For the drool,  I finally bought some waterproof bibs to wear so that her shirts stay somewhat dry.
• She is also semi-sucking her thumb/gnawing on it and/or her fingers. She is a slobbery mess, most of the time. :)
• She seems to love being outside, which I, of course, love. With the house prep stuff, there's been some yard work that needed to be done, so I've laid out a blanket in the grass for her, and she'll stay there pretty happily for 30-45 minutes. With her being a little bit mobile, though, I did catch her trying to put grass and/or leaves in her mouth a few times. :)
• She loves her brother! They continue to have more interactive time together, and they both seem to love it. Sometimes, she'll be in the Jumperoo, and he'll figure out ways to make her cackle. Sometimes he wants to hold her, and she ends up trying to eat his face or his hands (nothing says 'I love you' more than that). :)
• She loves Kevin, too. Her face just lights up when he gets home from work. :)
• She does sometimes have some fussy times between 4pm-bedtime, depending on how her afternoon nap goes. I've seen some improvement the past few weeks, but this was definitely a thing earlier this month. There were quite a few days of me cooking dinner with her in the Ergo because she wouldn't let me put her down, otherwise. Cooking dinner, fussy Lewis, barking dogs, etc. at the end of the day makes for some stressful situations for ol' Mama. It seems to be improving, though. 
• There was a day this week when her nap attempt was interrupted by the realtor coming over (and subsequently, barking dogs), so afterwards, I put her in the Ergo, and we mowed the yard together. She totally fell asleep about 10 minutes into it, and happily slept throughout the rest of the mowing. :)
• She is wearing some 6 month clothes, if they're separates. In one-pieces/sleepers, she is mostly wearing 9 months. Her 6 month sleepers are too snug, and some of her 6 month pants (depending on the brand and style), have been retired. Some of the pants' waistbands were super tight (damn you, impractical baby clothes' designers!!).

And some more pictures from this morning, just for fun:

 My sweet babies :)

 Lenore says, 'I will eat you, doggie!'

 Both kids, watching our doggies being escorted from the room (it was an exciting morning of picture-taking, let me tell you). :)

 

 

 Why not stand for a bit?

 And not sit still for longer than 5 seconds...

:)

Lenore at 4 Months

4 Months Old

Her stats (from the doctor's office, percentiles from BabyCenter): 
Weight: 17 pounds, 1.8 ounces (between 90th and 95th percentile)
Height: 24.88 inches (between 5oth and 75th percentile)
Head Size: 17 inches (between 90th and 95th percentile)

So she's not growing in length as much, but still packing on the pounds. :) Her appointment went well--the doctor said that she thinks the heart murmur sounds softer than when she first detected it (I'm not sure how she can remember such a thing--maybe there's a scale that she uses?). We go back to the cardiologist around 6 months for another echo to see for sure, so hopefully we do see improvement then. She had one oral vaccine and two injected ones.

What she's doing this month:

• She's rolling over, both from belly to back and back to belly. She will only go one direction from back to belly (over her right side), so that's helpful for knowing where to lay her down (knowing where to give her some extra room to land). She started doing this at around 3 1/2 months. I don't have a specific date, and I don't have video (poor Lenore). :) She really gotten the hang of it this past week, I know that.
• Sleep is slowly improving. She's had a couple of nights lately where she's only woken up around 2am and 5:30am. I'll put her back down after the 5:30 feeding, and she'll sleep anywhere from 6 to 8am. I've been staying up, so it feels like she only woke up once. She's still had some 1am/4:30am wake-ups, so I won't toot my horn/her horn just yet.
• Since I wrote this a few days ago, just as we were maybe seeing improvement in sleep, she has entered the 'HELP, I've rolled over and don't know what to do!!' phase. Also, the 'OMG, my arm is stuck between the crib slats!!' phase.
• She's settled into a pretty good routine of eat-play-sleep. She's been staying awake for about 2 hours at a time, followed by a 45 minutes to an hour long nap. I think that adds up to 3-4 naps a day, depending on what time she wakes up for the day. If we're out running errands, she might fall asleep for longer in her car seat. One day last week, she slept for 3 1/2 hours (after a normal morning and shortened mid-day nap)!
• Breastfeeding is finally going well. As it should be, finally. I do still have some Raynaud's pain sometimes, but it's nothing compared to what it used to be. She's still not taking bottles 'well,' but she has taken a few. Kevin's parents watched her last weekend while we took Lewis to Chuggington Live (for his birthday gift), and Lenore didn't really drink much from the first two bottles, but she took the third one pretty well, Sharon said. She did better yesterday with a bottle for Sharon, too. She did so-so for Kevin this morning. She's very active with  her hands and pushes the bottle away a lot, so Kevin has had some luck swaddling her while feeding. Still a work in progress.
• I might be biased, but she is just such a sweet baby. She smiles and giggles and just warms my heart, most of the day. She does have her moments, especially if she's hungry, but she's generally very sweet.
• She doesn't have any teeth, but she sure likes to gnaw on things as if she is teething. Blankets, thumbs, etc. And she slobbers so much and blows raspberries. I can't imagine what it will be like when she actually is teething.
• She's wearing 6 month clothes.

Lewis at 4 Years

Four Years Old

His measurements (percentiles from World Health Organization because he's too old for the BabyCenter one now):

Height: 44 inches (97.7th percentile)

Weight: 48.2 pounds (99.8th percentile)

We go to the doctor on Tuesday for his 4-year check-up, so I'll see if they agree with our measurements.

What he's into/what he's doing:

• Trains! Everything is trains right now! He still very much loves tractors and planes and construction trucks and the like, but he's been especially fond of trains these past few months.
• He knows his numbers, and we are still working on letters. He was doing pretty well with them, but recently he's either forgotten them, or he thinks it's 'funny' to get the letter wrong when we ask what it is. He's really good at 'reading' signs and brand names.
• We haven't begun to work on writing at all, but I think that will happen soon. He's doing better with coloring (scribbling, holding a crayon, etc.).
• He LOVES his sister. He gives her a hug and a kiss goodnight every evening, and they've started interacting more during the day. For instance, I can put her in the jumperoo, and he'll talk to her and play with the toys with her--she just giggles her head off at him, so I think it's safe to say she loves him, too. :)
• School is going really well--he loves his teachers and classmates so much. They've started Show and Tell this semester, so he's started taking in a toy one day a week to share with his class. We are trying soccer again this semester, and it seems to be going much better this time around (he bowed out last year after just the first week, I think).
• We are starting swim lessons again in April (we last took them when he was just over a year old). Hopefully now he's old enough to learn to swim on his own! I don't have to get in the water with him now, so Lenore and I will just watch from the sidelines.
• He asks great questions! For instance, in the car the other day, we were jamming out to Throwback Thursday, like we do every Thursday on the way to school. I was dancing like a fool (as usual) and said something like:
• Mama: Man, these are all the songs Mama used to dance to when I was a kid.
• Lewis: Who drove the car when you were a kid?
• I told him that it was Gramma or Papaw. Then he asked if they drove my car, to which I explained that my car wasn't around back then, but that we drove Gramma and Papaw's cars. We then went on to talk about what their cars were like, and he asked if Gramma's blue car was kind of like Dada's blue car and so on. It just kept going. It was sweet to have a whole conversation with him, with him actually thinking and inferring and contributing to it. He seemed so grown up!
• Sleep isn't the greatest at times. He hasn't napped in months (except for the occasional one in the car if we're driving a long distance). He still goes down for the night at 7:30pm (sometimes earlier if he's wild), and he's been waking up around 6am (maybe 6:30 if he's 'sleeping in'). A few weeks ago, he put himself to bed at 5:30pm and didn't wake up until 6:30 the next morning. The end-of-the-day-sleep-deficient-Lewis is quite a sight to behold, let me tell you!
• Eating is meh. He would definitely survive on bread and crackers alone if we let him. I didn't realize just how appalling his appetite was until we were in Boise and I saw how well Juniper and Otis were eating. [To be fair, we'd fallen into a particularly deep granola bar and peanut butter/cheese cracker sandwich habit between Lenore's birth and the Boise trip.] When we got back from there, we implemented a fruit-only snack policy, which helped immensely. (I've loosened a little on that, but he doesn't ask for granola bars or cheesy crackers anymore, thank goodness.) His list of foods he will eat is still fairly small, but we're working on it.
• He is wearing 5T shirts and pants right now and size 12 shoes. Some of the shirts and pants are getting a little short, so it depends on the brand--we've moved up to the XS (4/5) boys size in some pieces. His footed pajamas are size 6.
• We love him to pieces! Looking forward to 4!

Here is his 3 year post.

And his 2 year.

And his 1 year.

Lenore at 3 Months

My pretty girl at 3 months 

And showing her personality at 3 months :)

Lenore is 3 months old now and is a very sweet baby girl. No doctor's appointment this month (at least no wellness-checks...hopefully no more sick appointments, either), so I took the measurements myself:

Her stats (percentiles from BabyCenter):

Height: 25 inches (in 90th percentile)
Weight: 16 pounds (above 95th percentile)
Head Size: 16 3/4 inches (between 90th and 95th)

What she's up to this month:

• Sleep has been rough on me. With the sickness of the past few weeks, she's started waking up 2-3 times a night (at like 12:30-2-5 or 1-3:30-6:15), and I've had trouble falling back asleep some nights in between feedings. I put her down between 7 and 7:30pm, and then I've been going to bed shortly thereafter (8 or 8:30pm) to try to get enough, but it's still been rough. I try to get her to stay in bed until at least 6:30am--sometimes she won't go back down after a 5am wake-up, though. I know I'll look back on these days 'one day,' but man. What I wouldn't give for a continuous night of sleep.
• She has the sweetest giggle. That helps. A little. :)
• She is having more 'active' time...in the Jumperoo, on the floor, standing on our laps, etc. She really seems to like to stand.
• I've started trying to do her naps in her crib this week. She was napping in her rock-n-play or her swing up until now, but her naps were only lasting 30 minutes or so. I'm trying to keep her in her crib for at least an hour--it's going well in the mornings and at mid-day, but not so much in the late afternoon. (Update: we're back to napping in the rock-n-play. Still trying to avoid/wean off the swing naps if we can.)
• We've both noticed that she seems more verbal than we ever remember Lewis being at this point. She coos and makes all sorts of noises, like she's ready to talk already.
• Breastfeeding is better than it was, but still not as it should be. I no longer have the toe-curling pain at latch-on, but I do still have a lingering, burning (raw) pain after we're done feeding. She will not take a bottle when we've tried on occasion, which feels very limiting to me. I've been reading about how to get her to take them, and it seems a lot of people say to keep offering bottles-only (no boob) for a day or two, and that she will eventually give into it (and then reintroduce the breast once bottles are established). If I can get my *(&$ together, I can pump and try that, though. I'm just having trouble finding time to do much of anything besides keeping the children out of trouble right now. I also dug out a different brand of bottle we used with Lewis, and a friend might bring a third brand over for me to try out...maybe Lenore is just unsure of the particular design? I had a friend suggest that last week, too. I'm not sure, but I really hope we can get her to take one soon so that I can maybe sleep through a couple of feedings and let someone else take over.
• She is wearing 6 month clothes.

Lenore at 2 Months

Two Months Old

Her stats (from the doctor's office):

Weight: 14 pounds 4 ounces [96th percentile]

Length: 23.5 inches [89th percentile]

Head Size: 40.6 cm [97th percentile]

Everything looks pretty good this month. I did ask about her head shape because I thought she was favoring turning her head to one side. Sure enough, she's starting to get a flat spot, so we're going to try to encourage her to look the other way more often. The pediatrician said that her range of motion seems fine--she just seems to prefer turning her head the same direction most of the time (when laying, sleeping, etc.). She got one oral and two inject-able vaccines this time, and she's pretty fussy now that we're home (after an almost 4 hour nap). Hopefully this evening/overnight isn't too bad--tomorrow, we're off to Boise!

At our 1 month check-up, they found a heart murmur that had previously been undetected. Our pediatrician referred us to a pediatric cardiologist the next week. They ran a few tests and found that she has a 'very mild pulmonary stenosis' which is a thickening of the valve that regulates the blood flow from the heart to the lungs. She also has an ASD (Atrial Septal Defect), which are some extra holes in between the two atriums of her heart. The cardiologist said that both issues will go away on their own and that we don't need to worry about limiting her activities (e.g. crying) at this point. We'll go back for another check in six months. That week of waiting for the appointment was pretty worrisome, so we were very relieved to get good news.

What she's doing this month:

• She is back to swaddling! Sometime just after turning a month old, she started waking up shortly after we put her down (after 10-15 minutes). Kevin mentioned that maybe she was startling herself awake, to which I thought, 'Well, duh.' That's what the sleep book said when I read it with Lewis, but I'd forgotten. So now she's happily swaddled at night and sleeps pretty well. 
• She typically goes down between 9:30 and 10pm and wakes up once, around 3:30 or 4am. There was a week where she slept until 6am, but then that turned to 5:45, 5:15, 5, etc. and now it's 3:30 or 4am. I was having to get up with her for the day when it was in the 5:45-6am range (because she wasn't going back to sleep), but now (thankfully) she is going back down after the 3:30 or 4am wake-up and sleeping until a more reasonable 7 or 8am.
• She did just sleep until 6:15am this morning. We are going to Boise on Wednesday for a week (2 hours time difference), so I'm sure everything will be up in the air during and after that trip. So it goes.
• Our daily routine cycles are usually to eat, play, sleep, but we don't always follow that. I'm following her lead a lot more than I did with Lewis, watching for her cues more than watching the clock. I told my lactation consultant that I was trying to not let her go past three hours without eating during the day, and she told me I didn't need to do that (unless she gets past 4 hours). She said that 2-4 hour stretches between feedings could be 'normal' for her at this point, and that she's clearly getting enough to eat. It seemed like once I stopped waking her up from daytime naps to make sure she was eating, she started sleeping better overall. That could have just been a coincidence, but still. On her own, she's falling into a fairly predictable routine, so I'm not messing with it. She usually has one 4 hour stretch during the day, and then feeds closer to every 2 hours in the evenings.
• She is smiling and laughing and cooing sometimes when we talk to her, which is just the sweetest sound. I don't really remember Lewis being quite as ooshy gooshy as she is (that's a technical term). :) She's just really sweet.
• She LOVES Kevin. She usually lights up when she's with him (which is quite a contrast from the first month, when their time together [evenings] was full of fussiness).
• I'm still sucking at doing tummy time, but her head control is pretty good, I think. I will do better this month.
• She loves to try to stand and bounce on our laps, and we'll probably bring up the jumperoo sometime soon.
• She is pretty close to outgrowing her 3 month clothes, though she is swimming in some of her 3-6 month ones. Separates seem to fit her better than one-pieces right now, I guess.

Now onto breastfeeding...

• Breastfeeding is still not going well. It's going, just not well. She is obviously fine and gaining weight, but she is hurting me in the process. I usually have pain at latch-on, sometimes pain during a feed, and always pain after a feed.
• Going way back to week 2, we thought it was thrush, but it's not thrush.
• A few weeks after that, they diagnosed me with Raynaud's (lack of blood flow to extremities due to cold or stress). At first they told me to just try to keep warm (during a record low cold snap). My LC was able to help me get a medication prescribed (nifedipine) by my OB's office, but unfortunately that didn't help, either.
• I was finally able to separate the pain and distinguish that the worst/lingering pain was due to a shallow latch rather than Raynaud's (they're two different pains, occurring at two different times). The Raynaud's happens when I'm cold (which is great timing, since winter has just begun). Once I was able to separate the two, I went back to my LC to try to work on latch again, sometime after Thanksgiving.
• Fast forward a few weeks, and we're still having issues. We went back last week, and my LC checked Lenore's mouth to make sure that there wasn't any tongue tie (and there isn't). She did notice that she has a very sensitive gag reflex. My LC thinks that she is pushing my nipple out of her mouth as I attempt to get it further back in there for a proper latch. That results in her nursing off the end of my breast rather than where she's *supposed* to, which causes the continual damage to my nipples (because they are hitting the hard palate instead of the soft palate). Because of that rubbing on the hard palate, my nipples keep getting damaged and have vasospasms (a constriction of blood flow) after feedings (throbbing, burning, stinging, etc.). It is the most horrible pain--it usually happens 5-15 minutes after a feeding and lasts 5 minutes or so. Sometimes it crosses my whole chest, deep in the tissue.
• My LC also mentioned that I just have large, full breasts (duh and duh), and that it will make it harder for her to get a good latch. What I'm supposed to do about that, I don't know.
• I have googled my eyes out and watched 'how to' videos and consulted my books, and it seems I'm doing everything to the best of my ability. We are just not grooving (yet).
• SO, having said all of that, I'm going to ask the pediatrician about the gag reflex tomorrow at our 2 month check-up. The LC said that it could possibly lead to issues when it comes to starting solids, but she isn't sure if that's what's causing the issues with feeding now. I don't know if the pediatrician would recommend doing any sort of therapy now to see if that would improve breastfeeding, but I am willing to try anything at this point.
• In other words, breastfeeding sucks. Ba-dum-ching! :) [Slightly jealous kudos to all of those mamas who have a natural and blissful relationship with it.] Talking to my friends, now, I'm learning that a lot of them have had a difficult go at it, and it's good to know I'm not alone. I remember having a few issues with Lewis early on, but they were resolved in one session with a LC. I would say I had a very easy time after that, but there's been nothing easy about it this time. I keep reading that maybe she'll outgrow it around 2 months (which would be any day now!), and I'm hoping that's the case. Otherwise, we'll see how long I can put up with the pain. I can't just quit, either, because that would be a hell unto itself with engorgement pain. I'd need to taper off over a few weeks and either pump or formula-feed, and it is 'easier' to just breastfeed. I have tried taking breaks for entire days by just pumping, but the time it takes to pump, plus feed, plus wash bottles and pump parts, is a lot, especially when I'm by myself and also taking care of Lewis. So I don't know what the right answer is for us right now. Certainly, to be continued.

And now some more pictures, to end on a happy note:

 She's got cheeks for days. :)

 Yea, my brother loves me.

 I think she's got the look-of-love for her brother, too.

My babies. :)

Lenore at 1 Month

Lenore is a month old! She and I celebrated with a wide-eyed party in her room from 1:30-3am this morning...I had to wake up Kevin to take over at 3, and she went right to sleep for him (of course!).

One Month Old

Her stats (from the doctor's office):
Weight: 12 pounds 8.5 ounces (98th percentile)
Length: 22 inches (81st percentile)
Head Size: 15 inches (99th percentile)

What she is doing this month:

• She does NOT like to be swaddled. From the start, I could tell that she didn't like having her feet confined (she would kick and kick until they were free), so we would leave her feet out and just wrap her arms. About a week ago, she started getting angry when we'd even do that, so I tried to just put her down in her pajamas one night, and voila. She slept just as well (or maybe better), so no swaddling for her. [Lewis was the opposite and loved it and stayed swaddled until he started rolling over.]
• She and I have had a rough go at nursing so far. We've been to the lactation consultant at our hospital for an appointment and have talked to her on the phone numerous times (she is wonderful), and we are still working on a few issues. She is gaining weight just fine, but it is terribly painful for me, still. I could write a whole post about it, and I just might.
• She nurses only on one side at each feeding, which is different from Lewis. The LC had me feed that way when I met with her, so I've stuck with it. She was eating every 2-3 hours at first, but now she's usually closer to the 3 hour mark. If she is really hungry, she will let me know it by turning beet red and crying hysterically, so we try not to get to that point. It has only happened a handful of times, but it is scary.
• She is a pretty sleepy baby. She has a few times during the day when she's more awake/alert, but she sleeps most of the day. Nights have been pretty good, considering, too. She goes down between 9:30 and 10pm and has been waking up around 3am and 6:30 or 7am (on a typical night). She has had a couple of nights with another awakening in there and a couple of nights with a nice 6 or 7 hour stretch, too. I try to go to bed by 10 or 10:30pm because I'm still afraid of how the night will go.
• She's usually pretty fussy in the evenings, from the time Kevin gets home, usually, until bedtime (so like 6:30 or 7 until 9:30ish). She cluster feeds during that time, too, usually, because that's the only thing that will appease her.
• She gets mad, usually, after I buckle her in her car seat, so we have to swing her around a little bit which quiets her right down. She's good with riding in the car, as long as we are moving. If she is awake, she doesn't like to sit still, at times (like in the drive-thru lane).
• She is strong! We probably haven't done tummy time as much yet as we did with Lewis, but she will lift and hold up her head well when we hold her on our chests. She also kicks a lot and tries to put weight on her legs.
• We went to my old Mom group once and are going again this coming week. One of my friends I met there when Lewis was a baby now has another one, and she has been going regularly and invited me back. It was a little strange being there as a second-timer, but good to be with other moms and babies. I'm going back this week because it is my friend's last week before returning to work, and I'm looking forward to it.
• She smiles a lot as she nurses, sleeps, and/or has awake time, and it is beautiful. I look forward to when she knowingly and regularly does it.
• She loves bath time, especially having warm water poured on her head.
• We thought she had a growth spurt last week, but I think she started one yesterday into today (she is suddenly eating every two hours). She is wearing 3 month clothes now, but it seems even some of those are suddenly a bit snug. Our growing girl!

Overall, she is a very sweet baby. She doesn't ask for much so far, just to be fed. :) Lewis is a very good big brother--he sometimes needs to be reminded to not be too loud around her when she is napping, but he is very sweet and loving towards her. He says, 'I love you, girls' or 'I love you, Lenore' and gives her hugs and kisses.

One last note...
I would not have made it through the past few weeks without Kevin. He is the best husband and dad. He has helped me get Lewis ready for school, fed bottles while I pumped, listened and been supportive as I cried (again and again) about breastfeeding and other things through the hormonal tidal surge, let me nap/sleep in at times, taken Lewis for some one-on-one time, etc. I go could on, but I just want to make sure to acknowledge how great he has been and how much he is appreciated.

And some close-ups of Lenore, in parting: