Posts tagged baby

Wake up slowly, run to the kitchen, heat up bottle, run back to Ellie, feed bottle, change diaper, [try to] cuddle to get a few extra minutes of precious sleep, give up, go into Charlotte’s room and start the dance all over (but replace feed bottle with feed breakfast while listening to, “I HUNGRY!  I need a waffle, I need juice!” etc etc….).

All this in a mere 10 minutes time….and it’s not even 8am.

This, my friends, pretty much sums up being a mom to two little ones under the age of three.

Motherhood.

A strange, tumultuous, blessed, empowering, and exhausting journey.

I can’t think of anything else that brings equal amounts of joy and frustrations each day.  Except, maybe…marriage (ha!).

Sunday marked my third mother’s day.  This year was incredibly special because now I have two little girls.  Two amazingly funny, beautiful, smart little girls who God chose for us to care for each and every day here on earth.

I didn’t have any huge expectations this year for mother’s day.  I’m happy just to spend time with our family, go to church together, and smile and think about how much I have grown as a mommy in the past two and a half years.

But, actually—my mother’s day was incredible.  I felt so appreciated, so loved and the people I care about most spoiled me to pieces. (!!!)

I don’t need to go into a laundry list of details—but I wanted to say:

Thanks, family.  Thank you for making me feel like I’m doing something right in this crazy season of my life.  Thanks for spoiling me with flowers, food, homemade cards and good company and making me smile the whole day Sunday.

I love you all, and I’m so lucky to have you in my corner.  <3

All the love made the 6am wake up call that much easier on Monday….!

Mother’s Day 2013: Charlotte and Ellie—I love you so!

I can’t remember the last time I did one of these…but with this crazy week, it is perfect timing to get a few bullet points going—I have a lot on my mind!

• I don’t think I have mentioned on P2P that I am going away this weekend to Miami for a girls weekend.  My best friend, Leslie, is getting married in November—so I am heading down to soak up the sun with a few ladies to help celebrate this amazing lady!  I am SO.EXCITED.  I don’t think I have ever been this excited to go away.  I don’t need to express how much I will miss my girls, because obviously, I will—BUT—I need the break right now.  The girls are a lovely handful at the ages they are and I think a few days of reflection and girl time is just what I need to be the best mom of all time when I return (ha).

• Ellie is a maniac.  I say that in the nicest way possible…but truly..she is!  She not only crawls everywhere, she gets into EVERYTHING!  I never had to baby proof a single thing with CG.  She would just sit and play, and once she started crawling she would just crawl to her toys.  Ellie…not so much!  She loves anything she could possibly choke on, eat, not eat, hurt herself with or fall down from.  I have turned into “mommy hawk”….making sure I have 18 eyes on her every second of the day.  She is hilarious and makes me laugh so incredibly much…but she is also a handful!

• I have been on a spinning kick for the past few weeks.  I was intimidated to try our gym’s indoor cycling class because it had been about 4 years….but I finally found enough guts to walk into a class and since then I have been loving it!  There is nothing better than a great hour long work out to help center myself.  

• Have I mentioned I’m going to Miami on Friday? 

• As crazy as life is right now, I actually feel like I have it all semi-together in the mom department.  We have such a wonderful routine going each day and the girls’ personalities not only keep us on our toes, but bring us so much joy.  Andrew and I have been laughing each night recently about all the funny things CG says and all the sweet and silly things Ellie is doing at this stage.  Life is good, and we are blessed :).

Didn’t I just write one of these posts?  March FLEW by…and I think Ellie turning into an active baby has kept be busier than I realized!

The biggest milestone actually happened ON her 8 month birthday: Ellie started crawling!  She has been really trying hard to crawl for about a month now, and finally figured out how to move forward.  It is so much fun to watch her zoom around now.  She is still so little, and younger than Charlotte who crawled at 9.5 months—so she looks like a little wind up toy moving around the room!  Ellie skipped the army crawl and went straight for hands and knees.  I’m already looking up baby knee pads for those sore knees of hers!

Ellie is really starting to interact with us.  When I play music, or sing a song she will bounce and “dance” to the beat.  She also imitates clapping now and babbles all day long!  She says: “ma ma ma”, “da da da”, “ba ba ba” and “rah rah rah”. And of course, still blows raspberry bubbles and sings along to the music in the car.

Ellie still proves to be an awesome eater and sleeper.  She takes four formula bottles a day and eats three baby food “meals”.  The only thing she absolutely will NOT eat are bananas.  She makes the same face Charlotte used to make for pretty much every vegetable—ha!  Ellie tried yogurt this month and absolutely loves it…she gets jealous every time her sister eats yogurt.  The jealousy has already begun!

As far as sleeping goes, she has been sleeping a lot recently.  I think now that she is more active she needs more rest.  E goes to bed around 8pm and wakes between 7-8am each morning.  She takes an hour nap in the morning and recently has been napping 2-3 hours in the afternoon.  

Ellie has reached the stage of wanting anything that is not hers.  Stickers, paper, spoons, plastic bags, ALL of Charlotte’s toys etc.  Charlotte is having a hard time with this recently.  Now that E can crawl, CG can no longer take her toys to another part of the room.  I’m trying to encourage her to share or to give Ellie another toy instead of pushing and yelling “NO ELLIE!!!”.  It’s a constant battle!

Speaking of Charlotte—Ellie just loves her sister.  She doesn’t need much entertaining from me because she has free “TV” by watching her sister play and trying to join in.  I smile every time I see them interact—it is such a joy!

I love this little bundle more and more every second of the day—life is just perfect with you in our lives, Ellie Virginia!  God has truly blessed our family :)

Our second little girl is now closer to one than 0 (ha!).  I have mixed feelings about it, and although I cry on every “month-day” mourning the loss of my itty bitty newborn, I also praise God at the same time for the growth and development he has blessed her with.

This month has brought huge changes for Ellie.  The biggest change for both of us has been weaning her off of breast-milk and on to formula.  Ellie now successfully takes all of her feedings but one by bottle.  We still nurse for the first morning feed, but she takes 3-4 four/five ounce formula bottles for the rest of the day.  I found myself both struggling with this decision, and really excited at the same time.  CG never ever ever took a formula bottle, and went on “bottle strike” at 7 months for the rest of her life.  The fact that Ellie transitioned so easily was a blessing to me.  It’s nice to have a little freedom back, but I think I am holding on to our last nursing session for a little while longer so I don’t have to say goodbye to that bond quite yet.

We also discovered that Ellie has a milk protein allergy.  I wasn’t surprised, being that she did NOT do well with all types of formula and would break out in a bad rash when I ate a large amount of dairy.  I started giving her Gerber Goodstart soy, and it was the magic ticket!  Her skin has totally cleared up since starting the soy too, so I’m pretty sure it went hand in hand.

Ellie is now on the MOVE.  She rolls EVERYWHERE!  Stomach to back, back to stomach and all the way across the room super fast.  I can tell she really wants to crawl—but just can’t figure it out yet.  She can sit up unassisted for long periods of time, and can also go from sitting to her belly and prop herself up on her side.  Charlotte loves to get down on the floor and help her “learn” ha!

Toys have become a new fascination for E.  She loves playing with most of her toys, but would prefer Charlotte’s and most of all likes wrappers, plastic bags, mommy’s phone, the remote—basically anything that is not hers.  And everything goes into her mouth, or as CG likes to say, “Eddies is eating toys—eww!”  Ellie has just started banging toys together to make loud noises.  It’s so much fun to watch her explore!

Just the other day, I started hearing Ellie’s sweet voice when she started babbling.  She was singing in car and said, “bababa”, “dadada”, “mmmmm”.  It’s funny—I remember Charlotte doing this MUCH earlier than Ellie, but CG was a thumb sucker and could take it or leave it.  Ellie is a pacifier baby and ALWAYS wants to paci (or soothie as we call it) in her mouth, so she’s not babbling as much.  I need to remember to start taking it out more often!

The sweetest milestone I have been noticing recently is in the interaction between my girls.  When Ellie sees Charlotte her whole face lights up—and they are truly starting to play together.  This is the moment I have been waiting for since finding out we were going to add another baby to the family.  Watching my girls play together and hearing Charlotte  laughter as she shouts, “Eddie’s is silly mommy!” makes my heart melt.

I have a feeling these months are going to continue to fly by, and as they do I hope I can truly enjoy each age and stage.  Andrew and I are so blessed to have a little baby girl like Ellie—so sweet and easy going, cuddly and happy.  We love you sweet girl!!

7 Month Stats:

Size 3 diaper

16.3 lbs., 25 inches long

Sleeps 12 hours through the night, takes 2 naps a day

Size 6-9m clothing and size 0 shoe

So, now that my teeny tiny baby is 6 months old (tear….), I think I finally have gotten to know her inside and out!  We have bonded so much especially over the past few months, and she is really starting to develop a personality.

She has also started to develop some definite likes and dislikes.  I thought it would be fun to share a few of them—she really is so different from Charlotte already!  Here a few things Ellie can’t live without:

1. Little Giraffe blankie:  CG never had a security blanket at night, or—ever.  I was one of those weird moms who always wanted my kids to have one.  I think it’s so cute!  So for both girls, I basically threw a little blankie into their cribs from day 1.  CG’s ended up on the floor or forgotten, so I gave up.  But Ellie can’t sleep without hers.  It is so sweet!  This one is awesome, because it doubles as a stuffed animal.  I love watching her play with the ears and rub it up to her face when she’s sleepy.  The cutest.  Oh, and this one is SO SOFT.  I want one.

2.  Gum drop soothie:  Yep, my 2nd little girl is a paci girl.  I’m ok with it, but I did love the thumb sucking with CG.  Ellie has always had a pacifier, and at first it was AWFUL because she couldn’t seem to keep it in—but once we switched to this brand she has been able to not only keep it in but put it back in herself!  I do have to occasionally get up in the middle of the night to help her find it….but better than screaming all night and not being able to soothe, I guess?

3.  Aveeno baby lotion.  Ellie has super dry, sensitive skin.  If i don’t lather her up with lotion every night, she sometimes wakes up with a rash :(.  This lotion is the best—it just makes her skin super soft.  I feel awful that her skin is so sensitive but it doesn’t seem to bother her too much.

4.  Tommee Tippee starter cup:  This was a hand me down from big sis—but big sis hated it!  Ellie not only LOVES this cup, she actually figured out how to drink out of it!  I think being a pacifier girl helped her with that.  She loves drinking water, and has even tried drinking breastmilk out of it too.  She is an awesome eater so far! (more on that in the 6 month post…)

5.  Bathtub foam letters: This is super random, but Ellie LOVES to gnaw on these.  They are actually Charlotte’s (shhh…), but Ellie has quickly taken over a few of them.  Most babies love the Sophie Giraffe teether—which Ellie has—and she likes it, but not as much as these letters.  She goes to town on them!  They are easy for her to grasp and super soft.  I usually give her a few when I take a shower to keep her occupied for more than 5 minutes.  It works ;).

So just a few favorites for my 6 month old baby girl.  She really is proving to become her own little person—I’m so lucky to be her mommy and to watch her grow.  But really?  I just want her to stay just like this forever.  I could live with that ;)

**I was not compensated for these reviews what-so-ever.  All opinions are my own based on my 6 month old’s growth and development**

Last week Andrew and I saw Les Miserables the movie.  I have seen the stage musical probably 10 or more times (and will be seeing it AGAIN when my good friend Natalie’s tour is here at the end of the month.)  The movie was great, and it was Andrew’s first time seeing the musical.

Ever since, I have had all the songs stuck in my head.  Especially one of the openers: “At the end of the day”.  Especially at night when I am picking up all of the toys and crushed goldfish.  Cleaning up the smeared yogurt on our kitchen table, and vacuuming the living room.

Last night while I was doing my daily “toddler and baby night clean”, I thought about all the fun we have been having lately.

Sometimes—during the day when I am in the middle of CHAOS, it is hard to really appreciate the messes.  

The mess of Charlotte taking all of her toy animals and making a huge circle with them so she can play “school”.  

The mess of Ellie’s rice cereal bowl and splattered food everywhere.

The clothes thrown around their rooms and the bathroom from before bath time.

I spend a large amount of our days picking things up off the floor…and it is tiring.

But, “at the end of the day”, I realize that these messes are proof that we are making memories.  The messes mean we are having fun, and I’m teaching my girls through play.

Sometimes, I wonder, “what am I doing in my own life?”.   Shouldn’t I be out creating something fabulous or building a career and making a name for myself?

But last night I realized that right now—THIS—is my calling.  God has chosen me to be a full time mom to two beautiful children, and every mess, temper tantrum and sweep of the vacuum is worth it to do God’s work for my family.  Right now, my name is “mommy”—and I’m pretty sure it’s the greatest role I  have ever played.

Blessed.