Anna: 3 Months

August 22, 2013; Anna, you are THREE months old.

I can't believe how fast time is going in your life already! I am trying to cherish every moment with you...since without a doubt you are my last little one. On one hand I am still SO happy you have completed our family, I think I have just come to terms with the fact that I will always want more babies.....and then....you wake up, and remind me, that I am in fact insane.

I took these photos a few days before you were three months old, while your sisters and your Daddy ran around at the park. I captured your sweet smiles while listening to the laughter of your big sisters in the background. I can't wait for you to run with them...all five of you.

You still have the best baby smell. I never get old of that smell.

Your eyes are still blue.

Your hair is light brown with some red in it. Much lighter than Emily and Natalee, but maybe around the same color as Maddy and Claire.

You have beautiful skin.

You are wearing size 2 diaper.

You are wearing some Newborn clothes, but mostly 0-3, 3 months and even a few small 6 month outfits. 

You are probably about 11-12 lbs, and are really growing fast now!

This month your cousin Ally was born.

You have been to the park many times.

You love your swing.

You sleep on your belly all night long.

You are almost rolling over from your tummy to your back.

You grab your toys and bring them to your mouth to suck on.

You love sucking on your fists and fingers.

You love watching your mobile.

You are only a fan of your car seat when the car is moving.

You are drinking 4-6 ounces of Similac Sensitive or expressed breast milk every 4 hours during the day.

You are a MUCH happier baby on formula!!!

I love to dress you up and put bows in your hair, as I do with all your sisters.

Speaking of your sisters, they love to give you kisses and help me burp you.

You have extreme fussy times, but honestly the formula has made a HUGE improvement in your overall happiness!

You have one major poop each day. 

You get a bath every other night and you are now in your bath, instead of the sink.

You love the bath and would probably love it if I let you stay in longer than I do.

You have started cooing and talking to us and I just love listening to you!

You can hold your head up so well now. Such an improvement in just a few weeks!

I carry you a lot in the baby k'tan and you love it. And I love the work out it gives me!

I still think you look like Maddy and Claire, but you definitely have some of Natalee's features too. I don't think you look anything like Emily.

You are very active. You love to kick your legs and move your arms all over.

You love to watch TV, especially if the room is very dark.

This month I moved you into your crib from your pack-n-play bassinet, still in our room though.

You can scoot yourself all the way across the crib, on your belly, in your sleep sack. You are very strong! However, you do not like when you hit your head on the crib rails because you can't scoot any farther.

You smile all of the time now. I am anxiously awaiting that first laugh!

I still call you Anna, Annabelle, and Anna-Kate. I probably call you Annabelle the most. Daddy calls you peanut a lot. And of course your sisters call you "baby" and "Baby Anna".

Your schedule goes like this:

2am: Bottle 5-6 ounces

9am: Wake-up, Bottle 5-6 ounces

Play/Swing

10:30-11am: Nap

12:45pm: Bottle 5-6 ounces

1-5pm: Nap

5pm: Bottle 5-6 ounces

Play/Swing/We go for walks almost everyday after dinner.

Bath

8pm: Bottle 5-6 ounces

Bedtime

You are such a blessing to our family! We love you so much, our littlest girl!

Wordless Wednesday: Bumbo Time!

Big smiles from a big girl!

Wordless Wednesday: Escaping the Swaddle!

3 Months!

Emily, you are THREE MONTHS OLD as of Thursday, April 26, 2012.

I can't believe you have been here for three months, but yet I cannot remember what life was like before you were in our lives. I am so thankful for you.

You are size 2 Pampers Baby Dry Diapers.

You are wearing size 3 mos, 3-6 mos and some 6 mos. clothes. 3 mos stuff is almost too small. Please stop growing.

Your hair is still a reddish brown.

Your eyes are a greyish brown.

You probably weigh about 13 pounds at this point. You are a porker.

I still am obsessed with your little fists.

You get a bath almost everyday and love every minute of it.

I love to just hold you and take in your smell in my every breath. There is nothing better.

My absolute favorite thing this month has been your cooing and "talking". You are so sweet and love to chat with us.

You smile ALL of the time.  

You sat in your bumbo for the first time on 04.24.12n and loved it.

You are constantly looking around at everything.

You love to kick now, and your little legs never stop moving!!

You still are swaddled at night, but you have been escaping.

You gradated from your bassinet to the bassinet on the pack-n-play, but are still in our room and will be for awhile.

You sleep completely on your back. You schedule of sleep during the day is still a bit random. At night, you are going down at around 9:00PM or 10:00PM and you sleep until around 5:00AM, eat and then sleep until around 8:00AM. You have had MANY nights of sleeping through the night - as in a FULL 12 hours. Thank you, sweet girl.

During the day, you wake up at 8:00AM, eat and play, then take a little cat nap around 10:30AM, up around 11:00AM. Eat around 12:30PM and fall asleep around 1:30PM and sleep until about 5:00PM. Eat, bath, awake/playtime and then eat again and bed around 9:30PM.

You still breath very loudly.

You love your paci and Natalee tries to swipe it from you all of the time.

You are getting better at holding your head up, but you are still a little wobbly. 

You eat about every 3.5-4 hours.

This month, I stopped breastfeeding you. It just became too much to take care of your sisters and feed you. You are very demanding and bottles just became the easier option. This isn't what I wanted to do, but it is what worked for us. Please don't judge me. Not many people know what it is like to take care of three very active toddlers and a newborn by themselves. You do what you got to do, and if you have a problem with that, well then, don't read my blog, please. 

You haven't seemed to notice the difference and your spitting up has improved so much from the formula. You barely have any gas or long periods of crying like you did when you were breastfed.

You are still laid back most of the time.

You love to be held.

You love your swing and the bouncy/vibrating seat. 

You cry when your music on the swing stops. You know what you like, girlfriend and I don't blame you!

I still think you look just like me.


You eat your hands constantly and suck on your little fists.

You and I are pretty much attached still, but I have left you at home with Daddy and your sisters for a few hours.

This past weekend, you met your Aunt Megan for the first time! She loves you and your sisters so much! We went and picked her up from the airport, just you and me.

We love you so much sweet girl. You have completed our family!!

Madelynn, Claire and Natalee, You are 3 MONTHS OLD!

Okay....yes, a little late....and not very descriptive this month, it's all written down, just not on here.

How is it possible that you three beautiful ladies have been in mine and your Daddy's life for three months now? How is it possible that we lived before you? How is it possible that we actually knew what love was before you girls were born? How is it possible that we thought we knew what life was before you beauties entered our lives?

We love and adore each of you so much. Your little cheeks are filling out and I just want to kiss them a million times every day! You have a sweet baby smell that I wish I could bottle up and save forever; it's the most wonderful smell. Mommy LOVES dressing you girls up, it.is.so.much.fun!!!! I love making all your headbands with different flowers and bows. It's also so fun to shop for your cute little tushies, I'm addicted already! I love getting you matching outfits for church in the summer and all sorts of little girl things at the store. I find myself thinking to all the ballet and gymnastic stuff or basketball shoes we get to buy you girls in the future. The other day Daddy and I were talking about teaching the three of you to drive all at the same time...Oh.my.goodness! We are so excited to show you and share with you so many fun things throughout your life, and it's only just begun.

Madelynn: My Madagater...On Monday, March 21st, you weighed 8lbs 15oz, big girl! You hair is growing in and your eyes are still a beautiful blue. You love your paci now and still love to be swaddled up at night and during your naps, but you have also learned how to escape, just like Claire. You are in size 1 diapers and wearing newborn and 0-3 clothes, but 3 month clothes are still too big. You are sleeping around 10 hours at night before waking and Mommy loves you so much for it! You and Claire are waking up around 6:30 am each morning and you drink your bottle and go back to sleep for another 4 hours or so. When you wake up, you stretch and have the cutest little fists, oh it's heaven.

You have had two major "poop all the way from your belly button to the back of your neck" and it's quite nasty. It's though, it's an excuse for you and Mommy to have extra time in the middle of the night while I give you a bath, just the two of us. You absolutely LOVE your baths and don't mind it much when it's time to get out.

You love your boppy, either on your tummy or sitting in it. You love tummy time still and can pick your head up perfectly. You are so strong and love to look around at everything. You love your bumbo and love the swings. It's funny that you and your sissys prefer some of our swings over the others. You also love car rides and going out.  You love to smile and giggle, especially in the mornings.

You are drinking about 5-6 ounces every four hours and I wonder if you will be bigger than Claire at our next doctors appointment because you are drinking more than Claire. Your cry is the softest of your sisters. You started rolling over at the beginning of the month and also love your bumbo now to sit up and see everything. You are cooing all of the time and it is so cute. I love when you look up at me and smile your big toothless smile. You melt my heart sweet girl.

You love your Daddy so much and love laying with him, cuddling. You are almost holding toys now and love to look at anything we put in front of you. You sneeze a lot and it's so cute. You LOVE sucking on your hands and you have also started drooling, since I think your little toothies are coming in!

Claire: On Monday, March 21st you weighed 9lbs 4oz and are still our pork-chop. You are the biggest of your sissys. Your hair is growing in and it's getting so long in the back and your eyes are still a beautiful blue. Daddy and I wonder if they are going to change and your doctor said that they have a whole year to do so. We will see.

You are eating about 5 ounces every four hours during the day and you have had many nights of 8 hour stretches and Mommy promises you that you can have whatever you want if you keep it up! The longest you have gone at night is 11 hours! Grandpa gave you your first taste of real food and you LOVED it! I made peach cobbler one night and Grandpa dipped his spoon in it and you licked it all up off the spoon. You aren't going to have any problem when it comes time to eat real food, but I think that may be your only taste of food for awhile, but you were so cute. You are drooling everywhere and your little teeth are starting to bud!

You roll over and Mommy and Daddy have to watch you constantly because you will roll away. Daddy sometimes leaves you too close to the edge of the couch or the bed and Mommy goes crazy on him! Please don't jump, Claire, we tell you! You smile all of the time at us and we LOVE it. Especially in the morning, you wake up all giggles and smiles. You coo and talk in your crib until Mommy finds the energy to open an eye and get you up in the morning, you are such a good girl, Claire. Your head and neck control just blows us away. You are so strong, as always. You love the swing now and the vibrating/bouncy chairs. But your favorite places are still on your Daddy's chest and in your boppy either on your tummy or sitting in it. Mommy has also put you in the exersaucer (with lots of blankets around you) and the bumbo for short periods of time and you liked it.  The bumbo is by far your favorite place, you will sit there for an hour with us just watching the TV. You love watching basketball and baseball with Daddy. You also love your car seat and laying on the floor on the play mats. You can kick and hold the toys now and it's so cute! You have also found your hands and you LOVE sucking on them, and sometimes you get so loud sucking on them.  You sigh so cute and sneeze the cutest little sneezes.

You are in newborn, 0-3 and some 3 month clothing. You are in size 1 diapers and you have never had any "blow-outs" yet!

You scream the loudest and the longest when you get shots, but I don't blame you, shots hurt, but they are for your own good, baby girl! You are definitely the most dramatic and vocal.

Natalee: You are growing so big, everyone cannot believe their eyes, even when it's only been a week since they last saw you! On Monday, March 21st, you weighed 6lbs 12 ounces! You go girl! You are so healthy and your scar is looking so good!! You are still in newborn size diapers because we have SO many boxes left, but after the past week a few blow-outs, I think you will be in size 1 before the end of next month. You are eating a full 4 ounces every 4 hours. We also started you on some medication for reflux and you are a much, much happier baby since then. It's amazing, and Mommy is so happy she went with her gut again and saved you some pain! You have such a good way of letting Mommy know when something is wrong.

You are so incredibly sweet, Mommy and Daddy love you soooo much! You are so strong and cry so loudly for such a little peanut! You love being awake still and love looking around and taking everything in. You hardly ever sleep during the day, and even though I think this should make you sleep at night, you only can do about 5-6 hour stretches, but I am very happy for those nights.

You love your baths and still whine when it's time to get out. You would stay in there all day if I would let you, but since you're still little we don't let you stay in that long because we don't want you to get too cold.  You love the swing and love anything that vibrates. You also love to lay on your tummy, but only in your boppy. You definitely prefer to be held, and we don't mind at all. You love being in the Moby-wrap or the little kanga-pouch. Some days, that's the only way Mommy can get things done, is to carry you around with me. I think your favorite person is your Nana, you seem to be the happiest when she is here with us on Saturdays, or maybe it's just because you get held all day!? You love looking up at us and smiling! You smile so big all of the time! You loved to be swaddled up at night and of course still love your paci. You're such a Daddy's girl, and it melts my heart.

Girls, Mommy and Daddy love you so much and we are so proud of your accomplishments so far. You brighten our lives each and everyday and we thank God for you!!