Emeline at 4 Months

Time is flying by. Four months already, I have already forgotten the pregnancy and how small she was in her first days in my arms. It's too fast...but between Zackary, Bentley, and well my hubby...I am not surprised time is flying by! Emme is such a delight. She speaks to you so there is never any crying. I can tell when she's saying feed me or I am tired, or just bored. It's amazing to watch how interested she is in everything and how much she's grown.
She's pulling her head up good and holding it up, loving sitting in her lavendar bumbo, laying on her ocean mat and watching her brother play! She smiles all the time and her laugh, it's contagious. Tonight she was just smiling at me and watching me after a breastfeeding. As I was staring at her I made a funny comment about Zackary and started to laugh and she started cracking up at me...and we just continued laughing at each other for like five minutes! A moment that took my breath away.

I just pulled out a whole bunch of her clothes for 6-12 months old and she fits into most of them already. She's a chuncker! I love her folds! Ben walks around with her in the Bjorn and she enjoys it so much. Besides drinking her milk (16.6 pounds which is the 96%) she loves hanging on her daddy and watching what is going on around her. She eats about every 3 hours during the day and about once at night.
She only likes to be held for her naps. We have to have her sleep in her crib soon for her naps but we are tackling her bedtime first. Ben and I weren't getting any sleep at night so we are in the heart of having her learn how to fall asleep on her own and it's been really hard.
We love you little bella! Each moment is precious with you as you bring light to our life and warmth to our hearts! Can't wait till we can start shopping together and getting mani pedis.

Easter Time

It's so weird, carrying on traditions with my children that have been a part of my life since I was born. I enjoy it though, I get a different perspective now on each tradition because I am seeing them through different, young eyes.
Zackary and Ben had fun coloring the Easter eggs this year while Emme and I watched on the sidelines. Zackary cracks me up. He likes to eat a hard boiled egg when we are all done coloring. I think it's just the cracking of the shell that he gets excited for. Anyway, both years he put way to much yolk in his mouth...a couple chews and he gets this crazy look on his face... stops chewing and immediately I have to get up and leave (I'm thinking if he vomits I will too!). He was able to spit it out last year but this year he held it in his mouth and just stopped chewing. Oh great, I ;m thinking-but finally he was able to swallow it with a little help from Ben!!!

We hid baskets all over the house for Zackary and some eggs. He had so much fun finding them but he really didn't care what was in them. I had each one themed and filled so perfectly! But with all my hard work what excited him the most...the 6 eggs that had jellybeans in them! Oh my gosh, it was like he struck gold. He played with them tell we left for my Mom's. He just recently stopped asking for jellybeans!

Family Picture

Zackary looked so cute on Easter. I love it he's holding his purple slimy worm in one hand and his comfort burp cloth in the other.

He had a fun day with Dad. My mom gave him a great basket, all his favorites which nicely kept him occupied for awhile...tell the next door neighbors started using their loud chain saw on something, and then he was done.


Toot...toot...now that I think of it where is that flute?

Bonding, The Beginning

Are We There Yet?

While I absolutely love the newborn and baby months and want to enjoy every moment, oh my gosh I have never wanted 5 months to come faster so I can sleep train and Emme will be able to interact more with Zackary. To say the least we are exhausted in this household. Emeline is such a sweetheart but she doesn't realize we have a energetic toddler that is sensitive to her every cry and wants to fix her so he joins in her sobs and that concludes our last months festivities! She is growing fast though. At her 10 week appointment she was 14 pounds and 23 inches tall. Both in the 96 percentile! She actually slept 14 hours the other night with one feeding...and I thought we struck gold. NOPE...the next day and consecutively thereafter she's been making up for it.

She is so inquisitive of her surroundings. She checks everything out and dishes out the cutest smiles on this side of the world! In the mornings when she wakes up Zackary and I go in and say hello and watch her stretch and move around and its the sweetest thing. This morning Zackary was eating so he wasn't there and she was looking all around for him, it was precious. I could tell. She talks to us and laughs and is batting at her toys, grasping and holding her head up well. She loves the breastfeeding and is enjoying only falling asleep for naps and bedtime in our arms and staying there for her naps. Luckily at bed we are able to put her in her pack and play next to me. As it's still to early, soon in the next month maybe we will have to sleep train her like we did Zackary. It worked so well with him.

JAS came to visit us and meet Emme...and Emme took to her so well. Zackary also loves to play with JAS. She thinks outside of the box with his toys and he has fun with new stimulation. Thanks JAS for visiting my children, means so much to me.

Emme and I have a lot of girl chats...about makeup and cooking and dolls and her wedding and going shopping. We laugh at the boys-like when Zackary's running around naked and then starts to pee...or how he helps with her diaper changes. Tonight in her bath she was kicking her legs like crazy, it was hysterical. I just wish she would nap longer and in her crib. AH. We should have started our soothing techniques at birth...but we didn't we liked rocking her to sleep. And while the moments are precious we set her up to need that to fall asleep.

Zackary develops, grows and melts are hearts each and every day. He listens to everyone's hearts and makes the beating noise-cute right! He is talking more and more, eating great, still loving watering, throwing balls over our backyard into the neighbors, going to the park, playing peek a boo, mickey and "elmo, abby" as he says, and singing with his microphone to "mommy daddy musica". He says "musica..." it's so cute. He says "Emeline" so well and then right after will say "baby emme"...he knows she has two names. He is also having some regression problems right now. The adjustment of a new baby entering his life has become overwhelming for him especially when she cries (therefore hard for us too). We are handling it with help one day at a time, keeping it simple, and trying to realize that it's just a moment in time. But his hugs, love and laughter keep me going...and are keeping me strong.

My Favorite Thing To Do Is....

...play with the water in the sink. He takes all his bath toys out fills them up with the sink water and presto, he is occupied for a long time. We now set the timer and when it goes off he's done. He then proceeds to scream because he doesn't want to be done. Thankfully the timer has really helped decrease the number of times he screams though. Can't wait for summer when he'll spend hours helping Ben water the yard and doing while being naked so we can potty train him!

He weighs 36 pounds now and is 38.5 inches tall!
My tentative plans:
May-say goodbye to the pacifier
June-move out of highchair so Emme can use it
July-start to potty train
September-start preschool
Whenever he is ready-crib to big boy bed

I'll have to hit up all my fellow mommies for the tricks on potty training!

Emeline at 5 weeks

My Dad just left after helping me with the kiddos for a week! He had an incredible calming effect over Emme. She would just sleep with him for hours. It was great. And every morning from around 9-11 he would take Zackary down to the beach and they would explore which is his favorite thing to do. Today they walked back and forth to the waters edge and collected shells and then sorted them out on the wall by the parking lot. He loved his time with Jedo (Grandpa). Thanks for your help Dad.

Emeline is a very easy going baby. Between 7-9 PM she gets a little fussy but usually it's gas related and once it's out she is so much happier. She eats around every 2.5-3 hours now. She's a good eater and I can tell is gaining weight not to mention her belly is big! She loves her bouncer chair (sleeps there at night) and her swing we have in Zackary's room. My Dad also figured out that she loves sleeping on the couch on her back, and obviously her Dad's chest! And she has such a strong suck reflex that the pacifier has become her best friend when she's not nursing. She takes a lot of naps during the day and at night has one last feeding between 8-9 and then sleeps until anywhere between 1-4am...then she nurses again around 6am. So we are getting some decent sleep at night which is sweet!!! She has the baby acne on her face-she's trying to be like her mom in her teenage years! We are having so much fun spending time with her. Her disposition is so sweet and funny...she smiles a lot at us, tracks us and loves her brother. She grunts a lot and talks while sleeping and eating! We love you little"apricot" as Zackary calls you!

The Evil Kiwi

About a week after we brought our new little daughter home, as we were all eating quesadillas and guacamole for dinner, Zackary started to develop hives on his face, right were some avocado was. Within minutes they had traveled all over his body in clusters of 20-30. After Benadryl and a bath they were better but it took about 2 weeks for the last hive to go away. At that point I was not convinced that it was a try avocado allergy. I thought that the rough adjustment he was having to Emeline was the cause-anxiety. But one week ago as he was eating a Kiwi he started itching his ears and eyes...and sure enough his lip was swelling. Of course I freaked, ran got the Benadryl, which in that amount of time he had hives all over his face, and called the doctor. After a bath again, and a nap he was fine. No troubles breathing at all. Yesterday was the trip to the pediatric allergist which I didn't care for much and probably will look for a second opinion...but he prescribed a epi-pen. Great...I never thought I would have to use an epi-pen...and hope I don't ever have to. Needless to say I'm freaked about it and hope that some allergy testing helps determine in that food group if he's allergic to mango, papaya, avocado and hazelnut. That is all the allergist will test him for...which is confusing to me. Update to come...