Ladybug at 4-5 months

Ladybug - you're four and a half months and I missed your 4 month update and we'll be in FL for your 5 month and finally, two children into this experiment of love, I have decided to just write to you whenever I can, regardless of schedule.

Just after your three month birthday

The difference in you from 'blob', as your daddy would say* to interacting baby has been like night and day.  You woke up one day around turning 4 months and decided to really be a part of our family and we have loved interacting with you.  The biggest change started when you figured out how to use your hands.  First it was just your shirt you were lifting up...now you will grab any toy you can and bring it to your mouth.

Little G likes to lay down with you and hold your hand.  It is by far the sweetest thing I have ever witnessed.

We headed to VT to find some snow for your brother to play in - you had a good time too - even though you slept through your first sled ride :)

From trip to visit bisbees

Your first sled ride!!  You didn't even wake up!

Your brother has noticed that you are more and more interactive as well and he hasn't exactly taken it that well.  He's ok if you're garnering attention from us for a bit, but if Grammy and Grampy are on the phone and want to talk to you, he gets very jealous.

Your 4 month birthday

Snuggling with your brother

Sometimes you seem so sensitive...just stroking your hair after a shower pisses you off to no end and Lord help us if anything ever bonks you in the head just a little bit.  Yet, you have a dare devilish side to you as well.  You are just as entranced by the 'fake dropping' game we played with Little G at this age and I thought for sure it would scare the beJesus out of you.  Instead you grin from ear to ear.

 Hanging out with your friends in mommy's 2nd time mom's class...all these babies have older siblings.

Our first real family photo

You smile so much, but my favorite smiles are when you are trying to blow raspberries.  Blowing the raspberry makes you so happy that you smile and then you can't do it anymore.

From random videos

Blowing raspberries was a new trick for a while...

 We found you like this in your crib not too long ago...(anyone who cares to comment on the blanket in the crib can just look at the last picture of you in this post ;)

 A picture of you (top) and Little G (bottom) around the same age, after bath time.

You have gifted us recently with going to bed with Little G around 7:30 at night and then waking up at 6:30 to be fed again...except now you have decided that not getting a bottle around 4:00 is bunk, so you wake up hungry and ready to start the day!  This is reaaaaallly not going to work for me, so I finally made the decision to start you on some solid foods.

Little G started solids on his 4 month birthday, but we held off with you until this past Sunday, March 18; 9 day shy of your 5 month birthday.   But now that you are up in the middle of the night again, I think you need to get calories in you in another form than the 35+ oz. of forumla you have each day.  So far you've just had some baby oatmeal, but soon we will introduce you to carrots and squash and peas and pears and applesauce.  My guess is you'll really like them.  We're generally a baby led family around here though, so we'll also toss in some frozen mini bagels and a pork chop or two by the end of next month.

We're still trying to work on a consistent nap schedule...right now, if there isn't anything else going on in our day, you nap right after we get back from taking Little G to school, which is great because it is good time for mommy to sit down at her computer and get some work done.  But your schedule after that varies a lot and I haven't figured out when to find the time to actually track it and get it more structured.  I'm not concerned.  Your brother didn't nap more than 20 minutes at a time until he was 7 months old, so to even get a consistent morning nap from you is a big plus in my book.

We try and do some tummy time with you every day, and you really just hate it and start screaming long before ever achieving flipping over to your back on your own.  But conversely, you get pretty bored on your back and immediately lift your feet up and swing them over and arch your back and try to turn over to your stomach...again, that's something your brother didn't even try until 6 months, so I'm super impressed that you are so close to rolling yourself over.

 Your first time in the stroller seat (As opposed to on the stroller but in your car seat)

 A fun picture of you and Little G - again, around the same age.

From random videos

We finally got some consistent baby giggles about a week ago!!  YAY!

So far you have kept all of your hair and it is as unruly as ever.  My hope is that once you can roll over to your stomach, than you will hopefully sleep that way and we can further combat the ginormous cowlick that makes all the hair in the back of your head stand straight up.  Even so, you are strikingly beautiful.  I know this because the old lady at the supermarket the other day crossed three lanes of checkouts to tell me so.

 We've determined these all-around-the head bow things must be for babies without hair because you look like Rambo's sister.

A gift from Aunt K that we got to wear once just to make our opinion known ;)

Even though this is our second time around, we are still forever in awe of all that you have accomplished and how very fast this time has gone.  You are already 1/3 of a year old!  I just want to hold on to every moment of this knowing that sitting up isn't far away and then pretty soon you'll be crawling and these days of carrying you around softly in our arms will be a distant memory.

We love you, Ladybug.  Always until eternity.

Mommy, Daddy and Little G

--

*there's more to that joke...he doesn't really think you are any other baby are a blob

Perfect Day

Long a favorite song of mine, Perfect Day evokes the sweet spirit of the day we had yesterday with Little G...if you'll forgive the poetic license, I present our perfect day:

Just A Perfect Day

went scootering In A Park

And Then Later

When It Gets Dark We Go Home

Just A Perfect Day

saw trains at the big expo

And Then Later dinner out, too

And Then Home



Oh Its Such A Perfect Day

Im Glad I Spend It With You

Oh Such A Perfect Day you Just Keep Me Hangin On

You Just Keep Me Hangin On



Just A perfect Day

no tantrums or fights to throw

Weekanders All Night Long

Its Such Fun

Just A Perfect Day

You Make Me love Myself

Believe that we're doing this right

Something Good

Oh Its Such A Perfect Day

Im Glad I Spend It With You

Oh Such A Perfect Day you Just Keep Me Hangin On

You Just Keep Me Hangin On



(the original lyrics can be found here)

Big Changes for Little G

Back in January, Little G transitioned to a new school.  The transition came quickly - we found out about the spot on a Thursday; visited on Friday and gave our deposit; he spent a week at the old school; had a cupcake party on Friday to say goodbye; and then the next Monday started at the new school.

Because it all happened so fast and because there is/was already so much transition going on in his life (big boy bedroom, new sibling, potty training[!!!!!!!]), I wanted to help him with this new transition but didn't know exactly how to go about doing it.  Thankfully, we were also working with a team of developmental specialists at the time (loooooong story that I don't feel too comfortable sharing here other than the conclusion that Little G is COMPLETELY NORMAL, if not advanced in some areas for his age) and they suggested putting together a book of pictures of the new school for Little G to read over the course of the few days we had between switching programs.

The book turned out to be a fantastic idea.  We read it at bed time and he would even request it on the potty.  When we got to his new school the next Monday, Little G walked right up the stairs and into the arms of his new teacher. 

I should point out that in my 'other life', I design and produce custom invitations and announcements and I was an avid scrapbooker for much of the late '90's so I had the resources to quickly make this book...how quickly, you ask? All in the span of one 25 minute nap his sister gifted me one afternoon ;)  The reason I am pointing this out is because he would have done just fine with a flip-book of pictures - I just took it to the next level because I had the resources to do so...not because I'm a crazy mommy.  Ok...I AM crazy...but still, I promise, this was easy.

Annnnnyway, there is a new little boy at Little G's school who started last week and who is having a tough time transitioning.  He's a lot younger than Little G, so I'm not sure if the book will help or not, but in any case I have donated the book to Little G's new school so that they can offer it to this new little boy's mama and any other new student that might come along.

Little G has been at his new school for two months now, though it feels like a lifetime ago when we were transitioning him.  He truly loves his school, his teachers and the program and I am so grateful that it all worked out so well.

Just the other day, we received notice that Little G was accepted to the pre-school that we were hoping he would attend in the Fall so I will most likely employ this tactic again when it comes closer for him to transition. This newer school will actually take him all the way through 8th grade, so there shouldn't be too much transitioning after that.

Little G's Big Boy Bedroom Reveal (take 2)

Well apparently when you schedule a post in Blogger and then access it via your iphone to have it go up earlier, the content of your post gets erased and posts a blank.  Boo for that.

In any case, my post is up on FLOR today showing how we took our guest bedroom from this:

To this!!!

I'd love for you to check it out and because I have absolutely no shame...I'd love for you to comment on it  too :)

Thanks!

--Coasting anon

Little G's Big Boy Bedroom Reveal...

...is apparently going to happen in the next post.

Two things I know for sure

There are two comments people make immediately upon seeing me and the Ladybug when they meet her that I thought I would share with you all.

1) Oh my God!  Look at all that hair!!

(no further explanation needed) ;)

2) How does Little G like being a brother?

Little G is an awesome big brother.  He clearly loves the Ladybug so much.  He talks about her and what she is doing and he is so incredibly gentle with her.  We've been so surprised by how easily he transitioned.  He loves to bring her his toys and even shares one of his beloved train cars with her (interestingly enough, it is the milk car...) and he's always quick to replace her pacifier or make sure she is covered with a blanket.

Lately, however, Little G has been showing some classic signs of jealousy and that's probably because the Ladybug is requiring more maintenance.  She was a sleepy baby for a loooooong time, so she used to pretty much hang out with us all together in the living room, but if she wasn't eating, she was sleeping near us.  Now, she's much more active and is requiring much more attention.

A couple of weeks ago, we were on Facetime with their grandparents and they wanted to see the Ladybug and wanted her to be able to see them, so since she was on the floor, we lowered the iPhone down to her level.  Little G was pretty quiet and then started to pick up toys and throw them at Ladybug on the floor!  I took him away to another room and talked to him about how he was feeling. I asked him if he felt angry that Grammy and Grampy were talking to the Ladybug and not to him and he said yes.  I explained that feeling was called being jealous and it was a perfectly natural way to feel.  I suggested that if he felt jealous again he could say, "I'm jealous" or, "I'm angry" and we could know how he was feeling without him throwing something at his sister.  I also made sure he knew that throwing toys, regardless of who is in the way of him, was not a good choice and would result in the toy being taken away.

He seemed to get it, but let's be real...he's two and a half...so we have definitely seen more of the jealously issues as time has progressed.  But all in all, I am still very glad to see how much Little G clearly loves his sister and considers her to be an important part of our family.

What would your two comments be were we to meet?

The Easy One

The Ladybug is my easy baby.

There.  I said it.

I didn't want to jinx it by comparing, but it is hard not to.

And being my easy baby doesn't mean I love her any more or any less than the 'hard' one that came first.  In fact, I am finding it means I love them both that much more.

Sure, a lot of it has to do with not being a first time mom - there is less of the unknown; I am not learning to be a mother at the same time my baby is learning to be human; there's less anxiety over what comes next...

But a lot of it has to do with her temperament.  In fact, several times I have caught myself thinking about the friends I have who had babies around the same time I had Little G. We all had our ups and downs, but looking back, I felt like I had to lean way more heavily on others to get through the many, many down moments.  I felt like I must be doing it wrong or not appreciating it as much as everyone else because I seemed to be struggling so much more than anyone else.  Now that I have my 'easy' baby, I think to myself that if all those other mommies had babies like Ladybug while I was struggling with Little G, it is no wonder they didn't relate to me.  Seriously.  The difference really, truly is night and day.  Now, I'm not saying Ladybug is a breeze...but she is so laid back and so calm and so...what I thought babies were supposed to be.

I am well aware that there are still many years ahead of us and I hope to continue to be mindful that the assigning of one of my children as hard and the other as easy can wreak havoc on them should we start to expect them to remain in those molds.  So I am hoping to make a concerted effort to not focus on this major difference they have.

But still.

Many times before having Ladybug, I found myself sitting in a corner - defeated yet again by a situation surrounding my spirited, intense son.  Many times I was encouraged with words describing him as my 'hard' one - that were I to have another, parenting that second child would either be easier or the same - but definitely not harder.  I never let myself believe that.  Instead, I tried to convince myself that I must be doing it wrong.

I am glad to know I've been doing it right all along.

Ladybug is my easy baby.  Little G was my first.  So I must thank them both, for teaching me to love the other even more than I thought was possible.

Three Months with the Ladybug

Seriously - I now completely forgive my mother for my second-child syndrome because there's just waaaaay too much going on with two kids in the house to remember every last detail from the past month.  Here's what few things I can remember:

Ladybug had her first cold - as did we all.  Little G got his first cold at almost 5 months, so you can feel honored that we at least did that early for you...right?  right?

Tummy time has gone from being a total drag (As evidenced in this picture) to a total workout (picture not available)

You have definitely started spitting up more and a bib is now usually a part of your daily outfit(s).

You can sit up when propped for a bit before completely slumping over.  But you really like the view it affords.

Your hair is still the very first thing anyone comments on...even if they have already met you!!

Lately you have become more and more interested in the "STAR".  Your brother really loved the star when he was your age.  He apparently still does:

You were none too pleased to be dressed up like jail bait.  But I had to do it.  You see,  your cousin W wore this outfit 7 years ago...and Gram never liked it on him...so of course Aunt K had to hand it down to your brother who wore it in style just 2.5 years ago...and now it was your turn.  In my opinion...you looked the best in it ;)

Showering has definitely become your most relaxing activity.  Sadly, getting out of the shower is then met with great anger and screaming (not to be belied by the picture of bliss below).

Ladybug - you're talking more.  You're smiling a whole lot (though being coy about it for film purposes). And you've started to find your hands and suck on them as well as bat at anything hanging in your presence.

We're still working on your sleeping schedule.  Usually you fall asleep around 6:30ish while we're all eating dinner!  We carry you up to your room and change you into your jammies and read you a book and depending on your mood you either sleep until only 1:00/2:00 or sometimes as late as 5:00.  There really doesn't seem to be a rhyme or reason to your sleep patterns so I just hope you'll sleep later on my watch :)

You are still so very laid back which is in complete contrast to your brother at this age.  I know a lot of it has to do with my being not-so-new at this, but the truth is you're going to have to learn to scream to get heard at some point...whether it be now or when you're teenagers.

Lastly, and I am so hesitant to put this down for fear of totally getting lynched by my other mommy friends - but I think it is important for future recollection.  You eat around 5-6 oz of formula every 3-4 hours and (please don't jinx this) you have been taking a two hour nap in the morning and an hour in the afternoon.  I know.  That. is. crazy.  Please keep it up forever.

Love, mommy.