Archive for the 'Milestones' Category
October 25th, 2009 by Alicia
Avonlea, Miss Avonlea. What an interesting month it has been. When we left off one month ago, you were the picture perfect baby who was sleeping eight hours straight at night and never uttered so much as a whimper. Um, that’s changed slightly. You’ve come out of your shell and aren’t quite as timid, which means you don’t hesitate to voice your opinion once in awhile. (That’s putting it nicely – what I really mean is that sometimes you scream at me. Loudly. And sometimes it makes mama crazy. But I still love you. Plus, it’s good birth control.)
This has been the month of whacked out sleep patterns. That whole drifting softly off to sleep on your own thing? Yeah, not so much. You’re not real fond of being laid down awake any more. And we’ve had several nights where you decided to scream at the top of your lungs for no logical reason. For a real long time. And, if I’m being truthful, a couple nights where Daddy slept on the living room floor next to your swing because the swinging was the only thing that kept you asleep for more than 30 minutes. And that’s all I’ll say about sleep, because the jinxing? Do not want.
All things considered though, you’re still an easy baby – easy to soothe, easy to entertain, easy to travel with. Oh yes. You’re extremely portable and it is FAB-YOU-LOUSSSS. I remember having to meticulously plan even the simplest trips with your brother because after an hour he was spent and wasn’t afraid to let everyone in a 2-mile radius know about it. Your motto? Have Boobs, Will Travel.
You’re still a tiny little thing in my eyes, holding steady at around 12 and a half pounds. You seem huge next to your brand new 8-pound cousin, but you’re not even close to touching the 18 pounds your brother boasted at three months old. Yeah, you’re teeny. And I’m enjoying it. So is my back.
Milestones? Eh. You tolerate tummy time. You don’t really roll. Which is fine with me because the thought of teaching your brothers what baby-proofing means? Yeah, terrifying. Stay immobile for as long as you want. You are feeling much more solid and love to do these cute little ab crunches when you’re laying on your back, which we’ve taken to mean SIT ME UP NOW PLEASE THANKS. You can easily pull up to standing while holding onto our hands and that’s pretty much the coolest thing ever in my world right now.
The Battle of the Flat Spot looks to slowly be leaning in our favor. It’s still definitely there, camping out on the right side of your head, but I think it’s getting more round and less noticeable. Which is awesome because I’m totally not down with having to strap a helmet onto your head for three months. We’ve been trying to keep you upright and off the flatness by letting you hop around in a Jumperoo, which you freakin’ LOVE. Seriously best money ever spent with all three kids. We heart Fisher Price around these parts.
You’re still a smiling machine, of course. And the dimple. The DIMPLE. It’s still melting me into a puddle of rainbows and sparklies. LOVE that perfect little dimple and those amazing blue eyes. Gorgeous. Yeah, so I’m biased. But you are.
In summary, you’re continuing to be pretty stinkin’ awesome, babygirl. I think we’ll keep you.
Love,
Mama
September 19th, 2009 by Alicia
Dear Avonlea,
You are two months old today. TWO MONTHS! Hard to believe it’s already been that long, and yet, it seems like you’ve always been a part of our family. You fit into the final slot like the last puzzle piece, absolutely perfectly.
Your smile is totally infectious and you flash it every chance you get. You’re such a happy baby when you wake up in the morning, and it continues throughout the rest of the day. You must have known mama would need a boost while chasing after all three of you, and it works – it’s hard for me to be grumpy with your gummy grin looking back at me all day.
See? Try not to smile when you look at that face. I dare you.
Your brothers are completely enamored with you. Their favorite time is when we go somewhere in the car, and when they get out, they always must first lean over the seat to see you and say “Hi, Avie Girl!” You had a short crying fit a couple days ago and I thought Sawyer might start crying himself with how concerned he was for you. They hate to hear you cry (even though it isn’t often) and always ask me if you’re going to be okay. I eat up their sweetness now because I know it won’t be long before they’re locking the bedroom doors behind them as you try to keep up.
No big milestones to report, unless you count kind of starting to lift your head during tummy time. You aren’t close to doing any baby push-ups yet, but at least you’ve stopped dragging your face along the carpet and whining to be flipped back over. Other than that, you’re pretty happy with wherever we put you.
You don’t nurse NEAR as much as your brother did, which is both good and bad. Good because I don’t feel like a human dairy case, but bad because it means I’m still hanging on to about 25 pounds of baby weight. Yeah, apparently the more you nurse, the more calories you burn. So it looks like I’ll have to do some real exercise for a change. You’re also more petite than he was – official weigh-in today was 11 lbs. 7 oz. Everyone else keeps saying you’re big, and it makes me defensive because you’re my smallest baby by far!
Bedtime with you is such a breeze that it’s almost scary. Daddy and I give you a bath after your brothers are in bed, and then you nurse for a final time around 9:30. I tuck you into bed groggy but awake, and you drift off peacefully. Wake to fill your belly around 4:30am, and then back to sleep again until 8 or 9. Have I told you how much I love you, little girl? Mama appreciates the sleep.
You have us all completely smitten and all it takes is a hint of the Pouty Lip to turn us to mush.
Yeah, keep perfecting that one and you’ll have Daddy’s credit cards in your pocket by the time you’re five. What can I say? You’re learning from the best.
Keep being completely awesome, baby girl.
Love,
Mama
August 19th, 2009 by Alicia
And just like that, a month has passed.
June 14th, 2009 by Alicia
Well, he left with my mom and sister today a little before noon and they are officially in Wisconsin, about 2 hours from home. I’ve been texting with my sister and she says he’s doing great, no accidents in the car (this is his first long car trip since being potty trained). He called me earlier and said he was having fun in Grandma’s car. 
They’re going to get on the webcam when they get there so I can see him and tell him goodnight. I’m so glad he’s doing well so far and I haven’t cried yet, so that’s good, haha.
Beckett has asked about him a couple times but seems to be enjoying having Daddy and me to himself. The house is SO quiet though, it’s weird. Usually we hear two screeching and bickering and bellowing boys from sunrise til bedtime. I forgot how easy it is with just one.
I’m hoping for an easy bedtime for him tonight with no crying to come home, because that would break my heart. I’m betting he’ll do fine though and this whole trip will be much harder for me than it is for him. That’s how it always is, right?
My baby boy’s first time away from home. SOB. How is he growing up so fast?
May 3rd, 2009 by Alicia
I just have to brag on Sawyer real quick.
After a long, long, loooooooong road of resistance and messes and tears and triumphs, he is FULLY POTTY TRAINED.
I can hardly believe it myself – this has definitely been the biggest parenting challenge to date. He was not an easy kid to train. All of you who just slap some underwear on your 18-month-old and have them mastering the toilet in a weekend can kiss my pregnant white butt. Because I’m here to tell ya, it’s not always like that. Oh man, is it not.
We started the process back when he was two and a half, so about a year ago. Yes, a YEAR. We went through lots of resistance in which case we would stop for a few weeks and then start again. He’d go back and forth between no accidents and pooping on his floor and painting the walls with it when he was supposed to be sleeping. NOT. FUN.
Finally, one day something clicked and he stopped having accidents and being obsessed with his own droppings. He’s been mostly accident-free at home for a few months now. Which left us to work on outings and bedtime. He was highly resistant to using any toilet but the one in our house so out in public was a challenge. But a few days ago, he did a 180 and started agreeing to go pee while we were out and about. He’s successfully gone on four or five outings now with no accidents so I’m calling that mastered!
As for nights – he has always been a heavy night-wetter. Would wake up soaked most of the time. We’ve been cutting back his liquids in the evening though and he was waking up dryer. Couple that with him thinking he was being slick by taking a crap in his diaper as soon as we put him to bed just so he could come back downstairs, and I was DONE with diapers. Last night was the final straw and I put him in some underwear and told him no more diapers, ever. I expected to be woken in the middle of the night to clean soaked sheets, but surprisingly, he went the whole night dry!! I was so proud.
So tonight is his second night in underwear. I made him some special fleece ones so in case he does wet the bed, it’ll be contained a little better. He’s already come down twice to potty though and peed both times, so I’m thinking he’s probably good for the night.
If you’re thinking of asking me for tips – don’t! I don’t know any. As if that isn’t obvious by the year it took to train my kid, haha. But seriously, I feel like I’m still clueless, and we get to start this whole process again with Beckett soon. But hey – at least now I won’t have three in diapers!