Reed - 7 Months

 

 

(Above: Reed in his crib after sister came in to see him post-nap... she covered him in Cheerios.)

(Below: Classic Reed cry face and a moment of peace on quiet on his back.)

This sweet boy is 7 months old!  He's just as deliciously chunky and just as sleepless (maybe even more so that little stinker) than the month before, but just as it was with Lillian this is one of my favorite stages with personality and mobility really starting to take off!  He is about 20 1/2 lbs
 

- He is doing 360s with great ease.  It seems just moments away from an army crawl and he's already getting up on all fours and rock some which makes me think he may be faster to do a 'real' crawl than sister.
- He sits up very steadily and can play in the playroom now alongside sister, who I believe is his MOST favorite person in the world.

- He has started a sippy cup and is pretty good at holding that and a bottle, but not yet good at tilting his head back to get the liquid to fill the nipple.

- He has spent a lot of time in the last month with frustrated grunts and cries - frustration he can't get a toy to work as he wants, frustration he can't move like he wants, etc.

 

- In spite of what I said I would do for my second child (waiting until later than 6 months), Reed has started solids after showing great interest in what we were eating and has been a very easy starter.  So far we've tried oatmeal (banana) cereal, avocado, sweet potato, peas, apples, green beans and cantaloupe.  So far he's only rejected green beans and cantaloupe - green beans it seems from flavor and I think cantaloupe because of texture even though I pureed it.

He has mastered getting the walker to move forward but regularly gets hung up on corners of cabinets or the threshold on the floor that transitions the wood to the tile.  He loves the exersaucer and jumper and toys that play music or light up.  Everything goes to his mouth.  And speaking of that mouth, his big open mouth smile with those two little bottom teeth will melt your heart!

Reed is pretty good at falling asleep on his own but we began hitting some rough patches as we approached 7 months and mobility increased.  He still likes you to stand and sway and sing when he's ready to sleep rather than letting you sit and relax in a rocking chair... the more weight this kid gains the more I feel like I need to work on this!

 

Though Lillian still seems to be a big fave of his, he watches Huck intently and now lights up when daddy gets home from work and he still willingly goes to strangers.  With very little tears (from mom) Reed spent his first two Sundays (for class time only :)) in the church nursery, helped greatly by the fact that our friend Blair is teaching his class and the fact that half the babies in his class are children of our Bible class members!  It's going to be so fun to watch this little crew of friends grow up playing together like Lillian has with Dane and Braylon.

He went to his first movie this month (mostly bc I wanted to take sister) The Lorax and nursed and slept nearly the whole time just like I'd hoped!  He also took his first plane ride for his first out of state trip to Breckenridge, Colorado for a weekend with friends! 

Favorite age so far :)
 

Reed - 6 Months

If I had to stop and just blurt out the things that stand out the most to me about you at this age I would say ...
- Your thighs - people are always commenting on how huge and squishy your legs are and jokingly saying things like "Why don't you feed this boy?!"
- Your hair - we cut some of your crazy hairs from the sides this month, but kept your long waves in the front. People always remark on your "curly red hair" and really your hair all over your head is getting so thick. It's so different than Lillian's fine, pale blond hair!
- (Not) Sleeping - really you are a pretty good napper with two naps a day usually totaling up to 4 hrs or so AND you go down pretty easy, but you are still getting up twice a night every night.  You go to sleep around 7:30-8:30pm every night and start your day anywhere from 5:30am to 8am depending on the day.

   

You are pretty happy now and more tolerant of the car seat especially if I ride in the back and you can see me.  I still feel like I hold you a lot during the day but I'm not sure if that's just me not giving you a chance to be happy alone playing or if its necessary.  If you are in need of consoling however you want me to stand and sway; you don't even let me sit and rock you to sleep at night.

You are not quite "sitting" but I think that is largely for lack of me working with you on it as much as I should. You do great at tummy time and have even got up on your knees a handful of times but you haven't mastered the 'tripod' to sit for any extended period of time.

In addition to getting up on your knees, you had a couple other milestones this month like your first tooth breaking thru (the bottom right at about 5 1/2 months), your first haircut and your first trip to the beach.  You are such a beautiful beautiful baby boy.

(Above: Reed before haircut. Below: Reed after haircut.)

 

Lillian and Reed's First Trip to the Beach

Well, it seems that the second child gets to experience things earlier in life (I remember this from watching my little brother get to do things at a younger age than I did them) and the beach is the first of such things for our two littles who enjoyed their first trip to the beach this summer!

At the start of June when the weather was still relatively mild (for Texas) we met up with Michael's brothers' families, and Michael's parents in Galveston to kick off Summer with a little family vacation.

We stayed at Pointe West, a little group of condos slightly removed from the main part of Galveston, where each family had their own room and bathroom and shared living and kitchen so we could enjoy visiting and relaxing together after the kids went to bed - cute condo with a great little setup.

We arrived in Galveston on Friday afternoon and set out to see the beach.  Although Reed was tired and a little fussy, as you can hear on the video, Lillian marched herself into the wind toward the boardwalk that would take us over to the beach saying "I'na see the ocean! I'na go to beach!" the whole way.  An apparent product of our preparation she seemed completely underwhelmed by the vastness or noise of the ocean - better than scared I guess.   She kept pointing toward the water and walking forward and even stomped over the seaweed to get to the waters edge (this surprised me most), but then was a little unnerved by the water coming up to wash over her feet.  She did have her moments of not wanting to walk on the sand and get her feet dirty, but compared to the stories I have heard about MY first trip to the ocean where I ran screaming the other direction, I would say she handled it pretty well!

By 6:30 am every day the kids were all up and at 'em, but we fueled up on coffee and good breakfasts and had a great time watching the almost-3-year-old, 2-year old, 11 month old and 5 month old play together.  We did a beach day and a pool day and part of one day with some rainy weather and just lounging around the house.  We played on the playground in the neighborhood, did a lazy river over at one of the other pools, flew kites, fed sea gulls - all classic beach activities.  It was fun in spite of our exhaustion and I'm happy that we ended up where we did (originally we'd entertained a bigger beach endeavor like Gulf Shores) with the kids at the ages they are....

Monday night, our last night in town, me, Michael and the brother and sis-in-law that remained went out for a nice dinner while Nana and Papa watched the kids.  It was the perfect ending to our busy time there in Galveston and a very yummy meal at Rudy and Paco's.

Post-Galveston a wise woman pointed out that there is a large difference between 'vacations' and 'traveling with family' when you have children this age and though I couldn't agree with this statement more, these are the experiences that make the best memories and I look forward to "traveling with our family' again!

Reed - 1 Month

Reed, our second child and our first son, was born on 12/28/12.  To say that he is a 'true second child' is right on the money.... as he is 4 months old as I try and get this blog up.  Fortunately I took enough notes along the way!

 

Reed is one month old as of 1/28/13. His month was filled with lots of excitement starting with our first night home from the hospital, New Years Eve. We came home in the afternoon and ordered pizza for dinner from Papa Johns. The Christmas tree was still up. That night Reed 'slept' in the bassinet beside our bed and we all woke at midnight to the sound of kids doing fireworks in the alley. YaYa was up all night with her stomach bug and Michael and I strongly considered going to a hotel or going to CS to escape the germs (and vomiting with a c-section incision!!!), but we kept mom on quarantine and sanitized sanitized all she had touched. It was hardest on poor Lillian who just couldn't understand why YaYa was there but wouldn't play. Adam ("Tio") and Megan saved the day and took Lillian all day for 1/1/13 so that we could sanitize - everyone needs two friends like them, they amaze me with their love and generosity often!

 

(Below: Reed snuggles on his Ninny, my grandmother and his great)
 

(Below: Lillian playing with her buckets of toys at Ninny and Opa's house.)

Reeds first snow happened in his first month and bad mom that I am I don't think I even got a picture to prove it! It was just a dusting though. He also took his first road trip - at three weeks Michael's grandad LJ passed away and Michael went to Alabama to the funeral so I took both children to College Station.  His first road trip was my first trip alone with 2 kiddos.  I stopped once to feed Reed and once to stop him from crying on the way down. It was Ninny and Opas first time to meet him and my mom drove up from San Antonio.

Reed seems like he has the potential to be a much better sleeper than big sister, but I've basically chosen survival mode and sleep holding him (me propped up on the couch, with him laying on his tummy on my chest) for him to get the best sleep :) He is waking up and eating every two hours (occasionally 3) but because newborns love some mommy cuddle time he goes immediately back to sleep pretty easily. This is an amazing improvement over Lillian's nighttime habits - we are soooo very thankful!  I count this time on the couch as temporary and enjoyable and feel so much less guilty about poor Michael waking up every two hours and then having to go to an office and function.

 

(Below: My 'bed' with Reed every night.  He would get so sweaty with his hot baby body and my body heat working together but I still felt like he'd get cold and made him wear a little hat.)

At his one month checkup he weighed 12.3 pounds. We have already had to adjust his carseats straps to the second notch and he is far out of newborn diapers. He is fitting nicely into some 3 month clothes. He still has soooo much hair!

Lillian - 23 Months

Well our sweet sweet big sister is 23 months old and we are literally just around the corner to two years old. Over the course of the day I might call her my 'baby girl', 'baby doll', 'doll baby' and other young things, but when I stop and watch her what we have is a beautiful, talkative, funny little GIRL!

She hasn't bat an eye at Reed's arrival or his coming home and never leaving (although having her Ya Ya and her Nana here for weeks might have helped!).  It's very sweet that she seems to be taking this transition to family of 4 in such stride. Like I suspected she is sort of indifferent to interacting with him at this stage, but gets more excited when he wakes up and calls to me "Wake! Wake!  Reed wake!" if his eyes are open.  She also doesn't seem to care about him nursing so often.  Though she has started with some "Mommy hold you." or "Daddy hold you." the jealousy of the nursing/holding is minimal.  This might have something to do with us not telling her she is drinking milk.  Lillian has a serious LOVE for milk (like if you ask her if she wants some, she does this whimper until she's actually drinking it)

Lillian spends a large portion of her day narrating what she is doing, repeating things we say and pointing out and identifying things she sees (yelling "plane!" or "flag!" as we drive down the road).  I'm not even going to attempt to guess at what her vocabulary stands at these days, but she is learning words daily and putting them into 3+ word combos.  Her "manners" words are really taking off with "please" and "thank you" and "welcome" coming out every hour... although sometimes she says "thank you welcome" together, etc.

Another cute phrase that she's latched onto to is "Wow. I like it." which sometimes becomes "Oooh I like it too."  I think she got this from her Nana who says "I like it." but the inflection that Lillian puts into this phrase is what really cracks us up. She is obsessed with the 'Thank you mailman" since he's recently delivered gifts mailed to us for Reed, orders from Amazon, and a couple of flower arrangements (also for Reed).  She's so obsessed, he's one of the people she lists as coming to her birthday.... although one day when we actually saw him she was so shy she wouldn't even say hello!

Her  2-year molar came in the week that Reed came home from the hospital. She likes to wear . "Pretend Play" has really taken off with the fake food and baby dolls and she tries to whistle, but typically just makes this singing sort of noise with her voice rather than pursing her lips.

She's a ham. She's a cutie.  She's still the only girl.... :)

Lillian - 22 Months (12-12-12)

Lillian is 22 months as of 12/12/12 and will be a big sister in just a matter of weeks which is kinda crazy to think about as someone who will be the mom to these two little ones!!

She is ever baby-obsessed and has been talking about baby Reed more and more as we talk about Christmas and becoming a big sister shortly after - I can only hope that she will be as in love as it seems she will be! I imagine her being very interested in Reed, but disappointed at his lack of interaction, and concerned when he cries.

Lillian is all around a very happy and secure little girl. She is going to Sunshine School Monday and Thursday and goes to the nursery at church Tuesdays when I go to Ladies Bible Study.  Initially I thought it was a lot of time to be away from my little girl, but she loves this play time with her friends and I know this time will be valuable for me and Reed after he arrives.  All of her teachers continually say how sweet she is and how funny and happy and 'I just can't imagine she would ever get in trouble for anything at home.'  Ha!  I can only hope that if this wasn't true they would have just said nothing at all because I love to think that Lillian is such a doll when she is out of my sight. She still adores her teacher Ms. Aimee and frequently asks about her even on non school days.

I think she's largely secure at church because we spend so much time there, but at playgrounds or the rec center she's the perfect balance of secure and cautious for this mommy! She will look to me for approval or to 'check in' if she's off playing, but rarely requires coaxing to put herself out there and just be a kid.  Lillian knows how to have a good time :) speaking of which, she will lock on to a mention of a party like nothing else and say  'Party. Party? Paaarrty!

Below there is a link to a video of Dane (Lil's fave!) and Lillian playing on the playground at ChicFilA - not only does she laugh it up in this video but she cracks up when she watches herself in this video too :)

Lillian and Dane Playing on Playground

Lillian - 21 Months

Lillian is 21 months. I'm 8 months pregnant and this post is nearly on time! Go me! 

Lillian and I joined Dane and Brenna, Claire Fitz and Dana Palacios for our (both mine and Lillian's) very first trip to the State Fair.  I neglected to get pictures of Lillian with Big Tex at the fair even though she loved him and kept waving to the giant man saying "Hi!" "Hellooo!" and then we found out just a few days later he burned down.  That's what I get for thinking to myself "Maybe next year."  Halloween also came and went this last month but I think I'll do a separate post for that one.

Here are Dane and Lillian chilling in their strollers ready to start our day at the fair, below.

We tried 'the best' corn dogs there at the fair, below, with mustard and later tasted the fried oreos.  Interestingly enough, she seemed to like the corn dog better. Truth be known it was pretty stinkin good!  And as you can tell from her sweaty hair, the day was also pretty stinkin hot!

Here are the other things that Michael and I thought really 'mark' this age for Lillian....
VERBAL
- She finally says her own name "Yee-yan".  I hadn't thought about it before, but her name is actually a challenging one for a small child to say.
-  The use of  two word combos like "more cornbread" or "mommy down."
- "Milk" still sounds like "No" for some reason but she'll sign "milk" so you know what she means
- Started 'singing' along with songs picking out specific words and saying them over and over (e.g. for "Jesus Loves Me" she'll sing "Yeeesss" again and again because of the "Yes, Jesus loves me. Yes, Jesus...."  She loves the Taylor Swift song that says "Weeee are never ever ever getting back together..." because it says "Weeeee"
- When we explain anything to Lillian she repeats odd words here and there throughout the explanation as if to show she understands
- Another FINALLY is that she finally said something that sounds like "I love you" ("Lubee") which she has never previously said to anyone except for Uncle 'Bobby' (Michael's brother David) to whom she said "Love You" twice months ago!

ACTION
- Climbing, running and jumping with both feet off the ground (though not high)
- A confident independent player most of the time - on play grounds, at church, at home - though she has also started saying "PLAY!" and pointing at the ground where she sits as her way of asking you to come and be near her while she plays
- The baby obsession continues - feeding them, rocking them, taking them with us in the car, covering them with blankets, and more recently, wanting them to wear her diapers
- Loves when I start up the vacuum and runs around like a crazy lady squealing and loves books (we spend a large part of our waking time stacking books, putting books in her 'trucks' to move them around, etc.)
- Intolerant of the stroller or the shopping cart a lot of the time - we're having to work on keeping her in for some things because she would prefer that I carry her rather than walk in a lot of places like the grocery store and it makes somes tasks really challenging to do on top of being pregnant
- Loves to take baths or showers and really doesn't like it if someone else is taking one and she's not in on the action - if you want to relax in the bath, Lillian needs to be asleep!
- Tickles Michael's armpits unprovoked - it's pretty funny - when he's dressing her or just sitting around. Doesn't tickle mommy.... I think it's one of 'their' games
- Still loves phones (or using remotes, IPhones, makeup compacts etc.) to "call" people and she most frequently calls - who else?! - but cousin "Jasson" (Jackson)

OTHER THINGS
- Loves to sit on the potty but afraid to GO on the potty - she'll sit there until the urge arrives and then hurry around saying "diaper!"
- Still a very good eater though she now has preferences and will ask for things she considers 'more tasty' like 'toast' (toast is an obsession for this girl!!!) so we frequently negotiate things like "eat another bite of soup and you can have another piece of toast" etc.
- Still a tummy sleeper (from around 8 or 8:30pm to anywhere from 7am to 8:30am) with her little bottom up in the air she sleeps with a lovey and a pillow and multiple blankets.  She MUST be covered up with a blanket to go to sleep, but other than that she goes down very easy at night.
- Naps are still around 1 hour with 1 hour 15 mins being the 'norm'
- She is great about going to school Mon. and Thurs. and LOVES her teacher Ms. Aimee.  She waves happily as I walk out the door and this has been the biggest blessing as a mom who has a hard time leaving a sad little girl!
- Lillian weighs around 28lbs (I know because she steps on the scale EVERY time we go to the OB since it's like a little platform and she likes to get up there and dance! ha) She's probably around 33 or 34 inches tall and wearing 24 month clothes.

This girl is a little ham!