Emma: Six Months!

Size/Weight: Two weeks ago she weighed 19 pounds, and is officially in 12 month clothes

Sleep: Pretty much the exact same as last month on this one. Minus a few days of absolute sleep craziness at the beginning of the month (waking up just because, not going back to sleep, then just generally being fussily awake for a few hours), things have been relatively predictable. Still, the whole 'I better be asleep in my bed at 8 or I won't sleep until 11' rule is in effect-- I love that she's on a schedule, but it's nice to know the consequences too! Recently she has developed a hilarious habit... if she absolutely won't sleep, you can put your legs up on the ottoman when you're in the rocker, and put her face down between your knees (feet on your tum, making sure that she can breathe between your legs) and she will pass out like a crab being flipped over. It's absolutely hilarious.

Social: She's officially involved with the world! She loves smiling and touching everything, loves reaching out to people and loves all sorts of things. Stranger danger still isn't going on in full force, so that's good!

Diet: Still breast milk, but adding in rice cereal and some fun snacks this month! I am trying to do a mix of baby led weaning with her (letting her explore/chew on safe things so she gets the hang of chewing rather than just swallowing-- while her super gag reflex is still there). It's going quite well! The girl loves rice cereal a ton (will eat a half ramekin full), whole canned green beans (getting the hang of how to bite them and eat them), and anything else she can get her hands on. We have a mesh feeder that she loves to eat bananas and cantelope in; and are trying new things all the time! (trying to space things out a bit so we can keep track of reactions and things like that, of course!) It's been super fun. She makes the best faces when trying to eat everything. Lots of frustration, but lots of happy, too! Now if only all that extra food helped her drop her night waking habit... ha!

Clothes: 12 month!

Likes: Raspberries on her tum, being tickled/surprised, eating all the things, rolling on to her tum quicker than one of those bottom heavy tippy dolls (now only if she could figure out how to get back!) and anything you hang above her that she can reach (especially necklaces)

Dislikes: When I don't give her food fast enough at the dinner table. Aaaaah, explaining patience to a six month old.

Milestones: Rolling over!! Happened right after the fifth month. She is getting really good at it!! Now only if she would learn to unflip herself (as she likes tummy time... but not allllll the time... and especially not accidentally in the night yet.

Norah update?: As I watched her reenact scenes from Mulan and Frozen, I wondered where all this drama came from. Then, as 'Part of Your World' came on Pandora, I was running around the house singing epically and acting everything out.... and realizing I have created my own dramatic monster. (But also big this month, on a more share-y and not so general note-- she can officially use the bathroom pretty much by herself! WOOHOO! Big step from just using the potty, to actually being able to get ready/do the thing/flush/pull up pants/wash your hands properly. YEAH!)

Emma: Five Months!

Size/Weight: Snug in 9 month clothes, moving on in to 12 month

Sleep: Pretty dang wonderful. She goes down at 8 on the dot (if she's up at 8:04, she will happily put herself to sleep on you wherever you're at) but beware... if she does fall asleep at 8 and she's not in the crib, she will wake up when you get ready for bed, and not snooze until 10. We were trying to get her to stick to a schedule-- now she's too much the schedule queen! Napping pretty great, moving towards one big 1-2 hour nap (sometimes) and 2-3 small 30-45 minute snoozes.

Social: It's fun to catch eyes with her from across the room, to get a face full of smiles and fists in the mouth. She is so laid back, she still loves just listening and going along for the ride.

Hanging out with Papa Vic on our weekly Tuesday visits

Nana snuggles

Diet: Breast milk! (Or cream top as my mom puts it. This gal doesn't have a problem with eating!)

Clothes: 12 month clothes fit best, with a bit of wiggle room for those growing piggies

Likes: Baths, and especially eating the wet washcloth afterwards, hugging my arm when I'm changing her, batting at things dangling over her, squiggling all over the play mats, her sister, singing, dancing and general silliness!

Dislikes: When she can't get her rocking horse's tail in to her mouth. Rage.

Milestones: Is becoming a little lady a milestone? I feel like she's got so much more behind the eyes now. She seems like all of a sudden she's starting to understand the world in a big way!

Norah update?: After turning three, Norah seems so much like a little lady. I can't believe how great of a big sister she is. She is always helpful, sweet to her sister (so far!), and is learning more every day it seems. Our parrot is now officially reciting nearly every book we read regularly word for word (she will correct you if you say 'theirs' instead of 'they had' type of thing) and remembers things we've done over a year ago. I'm convinced the three year old stage is just parenting practice of watching your tongue, because little minds never forget. 

And because life happens on your phone these days..

Life these days: A teeny tiny pictoral update

Just a couple snapshots from this month! 

See our tired old fence? It's not so tired anymore!! Bryan was fantastic and built us a new fence!

(Our little helper... nearly naked time.)

Norah: Three years!

Can we just talk about this?! Norah is three.

We celebrated on that Saturday, July 23rd, with a kitty princess theme (of course)

(Norah and Bella-- she loves Bella!!)

It was a fantastic day. A few friends and family came over, we had hamburgers and hot dogs. She got super spoiled; her dress up drawer now officially runneth over. I'm still having a hard time wrapping my head around the fact that our sweet Norah is THREE. And last year on her birthday we told everyone she was going to be a big sister. This is all going by way, way too fast. 

I love revisiting things down the road... so I decided to start a birthday questionnaire! So here goes: 

-             What is your name: Norah

-          How old are you? 3

        What is your favorite:

             Color: purple

        Food: macaroni

        TV show: Pokemon

        Toy: my balloons!

        Book: ABCs (Dr. Seusss ABC book)

-          What is your favorite thing to do? Play with my dollhouse and play outside!

-          What do you want to be when you grow up? A kitty

-          What is your favorite food? Tuna

-          Who do you like to spend time with? Uncle Zach

-          What do you do really well? Eat… and play with my dollhouse.   What was the best thing that happened to you this year? I went to Wiggleworks!

-          What makes you laugh? Uh… I don’t know.

-          What is the best time of day? Ever.

-          What are you afraid of? I don’t know.

-          Who is your best friend? Uncle Zach

-          What do you like to do with your family? Play outside with my balloons

-          What do you love to learn about? School

-          Where do you like to go? Nani’s House!

        What is your favorite thing about our family? Going on walks

        If you had $100, what would you buy? More balloons! 

        What do you like best about yourself? I like that I like to play!  

-          If you had one wish, what would it be? I wish for Emma! Right there playing with her toy!

Emma: Four Months!

 Size/Weight: Busting out the nine month clothes this week! 

Sleep: Other than tonight? Down happily at 8-8:30, up a few times during the night, then sleeps in till 9:30ish. Two weeks ago my mom helped out every day while I worked full time, and we went on 'pacifier/other people putting her down for naps/bottle' boot camp-- which was super helpful! Since then, Bryan has been able to put her down for naps too, and she only wakes up once per night to eat (since having the pacifier she doesn't comfort nurse as much) even if that means she's up a few times if the pacifier falls out! Another cool step this week? Sleeping in her crib full time! Woohoo! Transitioning from a rock and play to a crib is rough. But she's taken to it wonderfully. No swaddle and all! Eeeeeee!!! (Other than tonight... it's 11:14, and Bryan just put her down, after many many shifts of rocking/etc... I blame the freakin Enfamil Vitamin D supplement. She has been doing so good for so many weeks I thought she was just fine-- I've been giving her the Carson vitamin D drops-- so I thought, 'sure--let's try what the doctor told me I needed to do again'- -and NOPE. Up all night. Won't sleep. Wants to party. This is the fourth instance of me trying this, and her not sleeping this way. DON'T USE THOSE VITAMINS. Who would have thought that's a thing?!)

Social: Soaks everyone up still with her serious face, then as soon as everyone goes away she's a ball of talks. She loves when people use happy voices around her, and especially loves songs! She is a lot more talkative around one or two people, any more than that and she goes back in to 'soak it up, serious face' mode. She doesn't seem shy though, perhaps just a good listener! (With her sister running around, you need to be! Norah is all sorts of stories these days!)



Diet: Still milk! Worked on stretching her to a three hour gap between feedings, rater than feeding on demand. With that schedule, she eats more and better, and knows what her tummy wants. On a TMI note, I think I'm going to go a bit back to a more 'on demand' schedule, because with the extended periods of not nursing, and by not nursing at night, I've noticed a serious drop in my milk supply. Trying to find a good balance between being able to leave the house alone sometimes, and having good milk supply! 

Clothes: Bringing out the nine month clothes! The pajamas are the biggest issue. Her feet are too big! Stop growing already!!

Likes: 'If you're happy and you know it,' reading with her sister (she will start giggling like mad if you read her in a funny voice when she's snuggling her sister!), dancing, eating all the things (especially a blanket or cloth wrapped around her hand, which she loves chewing on! Beware though, if she can't get it in her mouth like she's trying to, she's apt to get frustrated!) eating, and being snuggled!

Dislikes: having her legs covered up (in a sleepy sack, under a blanket, etc.), not getting things in to her mouth, not being chatted to when she's feeling chatty.

Milestones: Full on upward dogging in tummy time, intentionally using her hands to spin toys, catching eyes with you and giggling all about from across the room, and growing a pretty sweet mohawk. Is that a thing??

Norah update?: Full of stories and energy! If you ask you to tell you a story, she will tell you in depth about how you 'need to go see the matchmaker, but you mustn't go down the tubes unless you have longs pants, and brown tea--not the purple tea-- to pour on your legs so you stay warm. But you musn't go down the tubes.' Cracks me up. She's such a goofball! We have been on a full on break from most all TV and movies (after becoming one too many characters in a not so good way), but this has sparked so much imagination and pretending in our house. It's been really great. We've been making up new things to play, and having  a blast. 

 Every once in awhile, we see a slight bit of jealousy of the time we spend with Emma when she needs it, but she is handling it really well. She has been able to chat things through lately, which is such a huge help. It doesn't mean every day is a perfect day, but good lord it's nice being able to help her work through problems. 





Furry sibling update?: Each fourth of July we are reminded of how much we love our pup (after him running away a few years ago), and how much sedating your pup is so much nicer for them!! Thank goodness for sedatives!! Side note? Seeing your dog trip out in front of the fan and random baby toys is freakin hilarious. 

Emma: Three Months!

Size/Weight: Starting to get snug in her 6 month clothes! (I weighed her today, which by the time of posting she's more like 14 weeks, but she was 16.2 pounds!)

Sleep: Down by about 9:30-10 (with or without me having to nurse her to sleep laying down... which if you've ever done, puts you right to sleep too...), then up at 3 for a quick snack. Every once in awhile she will wake up at 6 or 7 for a quick snack too, then back to sleep until about 9... She's a decent napper through the day; averages a half hour in her crib, or four hours on my chest. Ha! (Apparently, I'm much more comfortable than a crib. Good to know!)

Social: She's a funny gal-- most all the time, she has her super serious face on-- she likes to look at all sorts of things and people with her concerned face-- but as soon as you start engaging her, she's a ball of 'fist in my mouth' happy smiles. She prefers to tell me about her day at night, although she is quite chatty at diaper change and song time too!





Diet: Still breastfeeding! Working on the bottle. It wasn't going well at all at first; we've been practicing more, and she's getting used to it... If I pretend it's me first... ha!

Clothes: Officially brought down the six month clothes from the attic! Only shed a tear or two. Although she's already getting snug in some things... what the heck?!

Likes: Songs (if you're happy and you know it, the wheels on the bus, whatever is on the radio, and whatever song I make up about the girls going about their days), gripping all the things and licking them profusely, watching sister play, baths, tickles-- especially from sister!, Sister in general, EATING, staying up past her bedtime because she likes to party. 

Dislikes: When she can't figure out how to get something in her mouth (oh. She gets pissed. Don't tell her she can't do it.), when you try to sit her down when she'd rather be seeing the world in your arms, and tummy time-- has to be just the right time for tummy time! If not, she will sing you her adorable song of rage (tummy time is where a lot of the 'musical upset noises' come from... been trying to get them on video with no luck yet! They're sadly adorable.)

Milestones: Grabbing/putting in the mouth! It was cool seeing her not be able to reach for something one day... then the next day it just clicked. She can lift her head up decently high now from her tummy and turn it, and she's got lots of happy giggly sounds going on! Loving it!! Three months is so much fun. It's the transition from little baby bean to a tiny person... I won't talk about how sad it is that I will never again have a 'newborn...' both these gals have made the first three months of their lives incredibly snugly and adorable, and I have a thousand memories and photos to prove it!!