Gemma, 2.5 years

I thought I would list a few things about Gemma at the 2 1/2 year mark (upon seeing another friend do the same thing on her blog), just for the record. I think it's fun and interesting to look back on this stuff.

LIKES: bubbles; going to the park; DADDY; reading stories; donuts; straws; vitamins; listening to music (her 102 Children's songs and Bible Songs CD's); bunny-roni; helping mommy and daddy; playing with her bubby-brother; her ever-growing bedtime routine with daddy; flushing the toilet for anyone who uses it; using the timer to let her know when it's time to do something (get dressed, put her binky away, leave the park, etc.). It's hard to argue with a timer.

DISLIKES: eating (she's not picky, just not a huge fan of eating in general); having her hair done; her musical sea-horse. he strikes complete and utter terror in her, even though he is hidden away in a drawer in our room (as per her request). it is very bizarre.

ABILITIES: climbing, hanging, running; can't carry a tune typically, but definitely understands going up and down with her voice when singing; does pretty good feeding herself with a spoon; goes up and down stairs very well (read: no longer scares mommy to death); can go to the bathroom on the big toilet essentially by herself (no longer using her potty-chair); beginning to dress/undress herself (still with assistance); completely potty-trained (still wears a dipe at night, but hasn't wet it for at least a month); will entertain herself playing for 20-30 minute stretches; can pedal her tricycle; falls asleep by herself in her big-girl bed

COMMON PHRASES: when asked what we do for toots, "We clap them." (long story)

• "How'd you like to go to the park? WE can go to the park!!"
• "Daddy sleep with you for minute. For just a minute." (the ever-asked question at bedtime)
• "Whose yours is that?" (asking whose something is)
• "Would you like to read a stoooory?"
• "What haaaaappin???"
• "No ________, like this!" (she knows how things are done)
• around Communion time at Mass she will sweetly put her arm around your neck and say, "Is it time to go and get a donut?" Likewise, when we drive by Church she always comments, "There's Jesus!" and sometimes adds, "and a DONUT!"
• "Mommy, are you happy?" (when she's in trouble)
  

TYPICAL DAY: Up around 8AM. Naps noon-3 (give or take). Bed between 8:30-9PM.

We love you, sweet Gemma!!

Kolbe - 6 months

Kolbe is six months. Half a year!!! I just do not know where the time has gone. He is rolling all over the place and is quite the "talker". He still grunts, and does this funny grunt yell thing while holding his arms in front of him stiffly and then bringing them together when he yells. It's funny. He has two teeth (bottom center), the first one he got on 7/9 and the other on 7/17 (the day after turning six months). He is smiley, alert, sweet and "conversational". He likes to interact and play with others. He is sitting some on his own, but not well enough for me to leave his side. He likes to "buck" (which he does often while being held) and I'm afraid he'd just throw himself backward onto the floor. If he's focusing on a toy or something though he does pretty well. He still likes to be worn, and that's his main method of falling asleep, except before bed at night when he typically nurses to sleep. He sleeps well, usually three naps a day at fairly regular times (give or take). His nights are good, he sleeps in his crib some and cosleeps some. He still nurses 2-4 times during the night. It works. I have come so far in my views of sleep/good sleep, etc. I've learned a lot, and resigned myself to the fact at this point in my life, nighttime parenting is just a part of life, and that's totally cool.

His six month stats:
Weight: 16 lbs 12 oz (25 %ile)
Length: 27 inches (75 %ile)
Head circumference: 16.5 inches (10 %ile)

Yep, still a small head. But he appears to be getting a little bit of hair. Maybe...

And the obligatory pic!

Fun firsts

Kolbe rode in a stroller and sat in a highchair for the first time this week!! He seemed to enjoy the new vantage point this gave him. He's still not sitting well without assistance, so this was a fun change for him. We haven't started any solids yet, he seems content with nursing and that's fine with me.

Such a big boy!!

Sweet Kolbe

Kolbe was laying on our bed after I changed his diaper this afternoon and he started smiling at me and then reaching for me. It was sooo sweet, he really hadn't done that before (the reaching that is, he smiles plenty!). I had Aaron grab the camera and snap a few pictures. He is just the sweetest little boy. It is really neat seeing his personality begin to develop.

Kolbe - 5 months

Kolbe is five months old!! He is growing and doing very well. He rolls from tummy to back and back to tummy, he likes to play with and "chew" on his toys and is becoming quite attached to this fuzzy little froggy blanket he got as a baby gift. So much so that I actually ordered a spare to keep in the diaper bag! He is quite interactive with his smiles, coos and laughs. He is still a grunter, especially when he nurses and is falling asleep, and he continues to get louder as he gets older. It's pretty amusing. He still likes to fall asleep in the mei tai snuggled up against me (not a huge fan of rocking though), but naps in his bed, some days a solid three naps, longer in the morning and afternoon and a short evening snooze; and other days (like today) it's more hit and miss. Such is life. He sleeps a pretty good first stretch (from 8 or 9ish to anywhere between 1-3am) in his bed at night, and then is usually in bed with us the rest of the night. He seems to be pretty restless from about 5am on, and is typically up for the day around 7. He's beginning to outgrow the bassinet, and since he sleeps well with us or in his big bed I think it is time to pack it away :-/ Ahhh ages and stages...ever fleeting. Here's a pic of the handsome little guy on the day he turned five months. Yep, still no hair.

Swimming

We took the kids to the gym for Kolbe's first swim yesterday evening. Both kids had a lot of fun, Gemma even learned to plug her nose and put her head "under", and by "under" I mean she would dunk it about up to her top lip. Haha. She tried ;-D I did hold her and go under with her once, and she was OK with that. Didn't take Kolbe under yet, although I think Gemma was about his age the first time I took her under. Maybe next time. It was a fun time for all of us. I decided with two parents, and two kids who needed held/supervised in the water it just wasn't worth it to bring the camera, so I snapped a few pics before we left of the kids in their suits. I got Kolbe's swim-shorts at the consignment shop I like to frequent, and Gemma's suit came from Kohl's. They are already clearing them out, and the 3T and 4T ones we had at home were BOTH on the small side. She is sooo long in the torso, this is a size 5!!! I was glad to find something relatively modest. You'd think it wouldn't be an issue with a two-year-old, but good grief!! No, I don't want my baby-girl wearing a string bikini, thank you. I don't know, I just don't think that's cute. Or appropriate. Just my opinion though.
Look at my big boy!
He was very fascinated by the bright-colored little fishies on his trunks.
As I mentioned before, we've been enjoying lots of time out in the pool on the deck. Here is Gemma before one of our morning "swims". Please ignore the horrid bed-head she's sporting. I had her stand by my plant so I could show you its progress. These were planted about two months ago, and as my friend Margaret warned me, the purple queen spike is indeed taking over. Poor begonias. It's a super-cool plant though, and I already have an idea of what I'm going to do with it next year (hopefully I can find one again).
CHEERS!

Look what I can do!

Kolbe rolled over (tummy to back) the first time on June 1. He is already quite good at it, and has done it dozens of times since!! Hasn't made it from back to tummy yet, but that will be soon enough I'm sure. I love the little onesie he has on here, besides all the little bugs it has a big bug on his bottom.
He's really taken a liking to that fuzzy froggy blanket, and often snuggles it in his sleep. So sweet.

Kolbe's 4 month stats

Kolbe James at four months is...
14 pounds 7 ounces (50th %ile)
26 inches long (90th %ile)
15.75 inch head circumference (5th %ile)

So apparently he has a very small head. He is growing and changing each and every day and we love him so much.

Four month old boy

My sweet Kolbe turned four months yesterday. It is hard for me to believe that he's been living with us (on the outside) for a third of a year now. Goodness! He is such a sweet little guy. He loves riding in the mei tai carrier (now with his legs dangling out) and is very snuggly when he sleeps, although now he is starting to sleep more and longer stretches in his bassinet. He is so smiley and you can tell by the way he looks at Gemma that he just loves her so much. He has started to squeal and giggle and enjoys playing on the floor with his toys, often putting them in his mouth to "gum". He likes being outdoors and is very easy-going. I am so glad that God decided we were the best family for such a sweet little boy, because Kolbe is certainly the perfect baby for us.

Climbing girl and Oompa-Loompa boy

Nah, she didn't really climb there, daddy put her up. But she still thought it was pretty stinkin' cool!
And here is our dear Kolbe in his nighttime diaper. Aaron says he looks a bit like an Oompa-Loompa. TeeHee. Even though he doesn't sleep through the night, he does fine in the same diaper through the night, it just needs some thickness to it. This is a Green Mountain small doubled with a medium prefold with a Thirsties size Medium cover. Gemma was wearing these covers about 3 months ago. AGH!!
And while we're on the subject of potty...Gemma is on her third day in a row of underpants today, and the only accident she's had was in her diaper after naptime on Thursday (plus her dipe is wet in the mornings). BUT, she's going all day in her panties and even more importantly, telling me when she needs to potty. YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! SOOOOOOOO proud of her!!!!!!!!!

Teething toy

One more post...I decided today instead of doing one big post, I'd break them up by topic. Yeah, I'm an organization nerd, I admit it. Anyways, Kolbe has begun showing an interest in little toys he can hold, especially those of the teething variety. How can it be?!! I just can't believe how quickly he is growing and changing! He just gets sweeter every day!!

Bathtime

Gemma and Kolbe had their first bath together last night. Gemma typically showers with me, so we switched things up a bit and she enjoyed helping out with her "bubby".
Kolbe always smells so sweet fresh out of the bath, I just love it!
Here he is giggling at daddy. I think it's safe to say we've heard his first "meaningful" giggles, and they are pretty sweet!

The journey of sleep

Sleep, oh sleep, where do I even begin?!!! Sleep has been such a journey for me as a parent. I went into parenthood thinking that after the first 6-8 weeks you put your baby to bed, he or she slept all night, you got him up in the morning, they promptly took 2-3 naps a day on cue, and life was good. Yeah, I was blissfully unaware. Or just plain ignorant. At any rate, I've learned so much, and thought I'd share some of our journey on here, since we've recently hit another milestone in the sleep department. But more about that later.

RAMBLE ALERT, RAMBLE ALERT!!!! (okay, you've been warned)

Gemma has always been a good, or at least decent sleeper, I really can't complain, her sleep just certainly wasn't what I expected it to be. She woke up to nurse during the night 1-3 times consistently until about 17 months. And from her baby days on we (typically me) always rocked (and nursed) her to sleep before putting her in her crib at night and naps. I don't regret this a bit. While not always convenient, and at times quite frustrating, those are definitely moments I'll always treasure in my heart. We co-slept some. I was dead-set against it when she was born (again, it is really funny how your feelings change after having kids...I've ate so many words...) but by the time she hit 6 months or so I realize it had its value. But that's probably a whole other post.

Anyways, she dropped her morning nap pretty young, around 10 months, and for quite awhile napped a good 2-3 hours right around lunchtime. Again, not incredibly convenient but it worked. Initially, once we got into a regular bedtime routine, she would just nurse to sleep at bedtime and go right down. About last March she started taking a little longer to fall asleep (I think part of the problem may have been I was just putting her to bed too early) but we made do.

So she started sleeping through the night fairly consistently last June, and did pretty well on and off until late October. Teething always seemed to bug her sleep, so we definitely went through bouts of that, but overall she did well. Well, early last fall we set up her big girl room in anticipation of baby Kolbe's arrival, and so we started laying with her in there (instead of the couch or rocking chair) if/when she woke up during the night. Well, after a couple months of that she started asking for "Gemma's big girl bed" when she awoke during the night. More on that here. Point being, we made the transition to the big girl bed early last November, and which point she ended up completely weaning. Wasn't looking to necessarily do either of those things at that point (we figured we'd be working on the big-girl bed transition about now, honestly), but hey, it was a lesson in letting go. Anyways, so at that point either Aaron or I (typically me) would just lay with her until she fell asleep at nights and naps. Naps were easy-peasy, 5-10 minutes and she was out. Nights have been another story. Some nights were okay, lots of nights it was taking upwards of 30 minutes, sometimes closer to an hour. It has gotten progressively worse. Kolbe's arrival in January was good, it just made me kind of "let go" of somethings that I probably could have used to let go of, oh I don't know, about 2 years and 2 months ago. Haha. I was just getting way too anal about bedtime had to be right at this time, and wake-up time was always 7:30 and naptime was from X to Y and not a minute longer. You get the picture. Well, Kolbe's arrival helped cure me of some of that for sure, and let me tell you it has been SOOOOOO freeing. It's also been good for her, I think she's realized that she is a bigger girl now, and that Kolbe is just a baby who's needs, while minimal, are very important.

Which, if you followed any of that at all, brings us up to today. In the past 2-3 weeks bedtimes and naptimes have become huge ordeals, taking close to an hour if not more to fall asleep. It became apparent that having Aaron or I in there maybe wasn't the means for falling asleep that Gemma needed any more. SOOOOO, she is learning to fall asleep all by herself like a big girl, and she really is doing pretty well with it. We will typically lay with her for 5-10 minutes to start out, and then tell her that mommy or daddy has to go work on some things (take care of Kolbe, take a shower, whatever) and that we will come check on her in a bit. So we leave her for 10-15 minutes and then peak in and check (or go sooner if she starts calling or sounding distressed). At that point we'll give her a drink of milk and tell her that we'll come back and tuck her in when she's asleep. Often it takes a few more times of reassuring if we hear or call, but it doesn't take too many times at all and she quietly drops off to sleep. All by herself. Naptimes seem to go even easier than bedtime, sometimes we don't even have to go back in and check her. I just tell her I'll come in and see her when she is awake. Wow. Never thought I'd see the day. Really, I didn't. Aaron always kidded me that he doubted we'd still have to lay with her to put her to sleep when she's in college, which I know, it's just hard to look at the big-picture sometimes.

So I feel like we've really hit another milestone now in the sleep department, and I'm super proud of little Gemma, too. We've never been fans of letting Gemma "cry-it-out". As tried and true as people claim that it is, it just never (and still doesn't) felt right. We've never felt like Gemma was trying to manipulate us or work the system (although if you ask my husband, I know I've uttered all those words to him at times when my frustration has peaked). But when looking at things with a clear and non-sleep-deprived, non-frustrated beyond seeing straight mind, she really is a good girl who just is a bit needier in the sleep department than some. But she is a sweet girl who wants to please us, I know. And I know we'll still have our moments (we are, after all, still waiting on those stinkin' two year molars to show up), but I feel like we've come a long way. And there you have it.

And now the adventure begins with Kolbe. We'll see where his journey takes us. I feel like such a different parent with him than I was when Gemma was a newborn, so who knows. I'm optimistic, not that he will be a star-sleeper who never gives us an ounce of issue...but I'm optimistic that my viewpoint is now a bit more realistic, and as I let go and realize that my call in life is to be a parent 24/7, convenient or inconvenient, through teething and night-nursings and sleeping and waking and all...I'm good. I can assure you I won't always be happy and rational. But I'll try. And really that's all I can do. But that's how we learn and grow. But for the grace of God go I.

And now, in gratitude for your sticking around for so long, here are some cute pics of Gemma sleeping.

Sweet kiddos

One of these days I've a feeling he is going to be bigger than she is. At his 2month check he was 12 lbs (50th %ile) and 24 inches (90th %ile). He's been wearing 3-6 month clothes for quite some time now, and even some of those are starting to get a bit small on him. HEAVENS!!

He smiles!

Kolbe had been doing a bit of "pre-smiling" this week...well, yesterday he busted out some real live happy smiles, directed right at mommy and big sis (daddy was at work :-( boohoo). Anyways, the sweetness of it practically melted my heart...and I was tickled pink to capture a few of his first sweet grins on camera.
And my personal favorite.
And here - just for kicks - are a few of Gemma's first grins at around the same age.

Baptized in Christ

Kolbe was Baptized on Saturday 1/23. I was so happy to have him Baptized just a week after his birth. It was beautiful to witness.

The Baptism.
Getting dried off a bit.
Anointing with Holy Chrism as priest, prophet and king.
Admiring my beautiful Baptized son.
Our Catholic family.

Kolbe James

Sweet baby Kolbe James joined our family on Saturday, January 16 at 3:06 PM. He weighed 8lbs 1oz and was 20 3/4 inches long. He was born at the Birthcare Center, just 45 short minutes after our arrival. Didn't necessarily plan on cutting it that close, but it was wonderful none-the-less. I was able to labor at home for the most part, and once we arrived at the birthing center things (obviously) progressed very quickly. Didn't even have time to fill out the necessary admin paperwork before his big arrival!! It was an amazing experience and I feel so blessed! We are now a happy family of four!
Gemma was QUITE taken with her little brother.
My big guy, snuggled up in his ducky jammies and ready to head home!!
My parents arrived at our house with Gemma soon after we got home. She walked up to the door with my dad, held out her hands and said, "I hold baby Kolbe." I told her it would be a very good idea for her to sit down to hold him... so she marched back to the baby room, climbed up in the rocking chair, held her hands out and started singing "Rock-a-bye Baby". And she didn't want to give him up anytime soon!
I am already so proud of her, and while I know it will definitely be a transition for all of us (wow, when was the last time I was up at this hour?!) I know it will be wonderful.

Thank you for your continued prayers!

Gemma's first haircut

Well, we decided that the present was as good a time as any to get Gemma's hair cut for the first time. I really would have liked to wait longer, but she still has this fine, thin "baby" hair (for lack of a better way to describe it), and it was just getting quite high-maintenance. It really bugged her when it was down, falling in her eyes and what-not (plus, it just didn't look all that good), and between the time it takes to put up twice a day (in the AM and after nap), and the fact that I figured those little rubber bands I was using all the time couldn't be terribly healthy for it (and the fact that leaving clips, barrettes or headbands in was an uphill battle at best)...it was just. time. God bless my sister the cosmetologist who took care of this first time haircut on my mom's living room floor!! It was fantastic, and Gemma did SO WELL!!! And, I couldn't be happier with the results. So let the photo montage commence..

Wearing the cape. My super-sis took her time and was so sweet and patient, showing her the little fishies and animals on the cape and getting her excited about it before just trying to put it on.
Hey, this is pretty cool!
The first snip. And yes, I saved the first little locks for a special place in her baby book.
She held soooo still!!
This is pretty fun!
Starting to get concerned about where exactly her fingers went.
So off went the cape. No biggie!! So close to being finished.
Mommy admiring her beautiful big girl!! We were both quite pleased with the results as you can see.
Some close-ups.
And look...she still has her curls!!
I'll post some better pics soon that showcase the hair with a, errr, more clothed-ish little girl. We had professionals done today, and I don't have a CD, but I'll have my dad (HEY DAD, do you mind?) scan in the two photos we purchased and I'll try to put them up here soon. She did a great job with pictures, for which I was very thankful.

I am so grateful for so much to be falling into place before the baby comes. God is good.