Lily and solids

I mentioned in Lily's 4 and 5 month post that we had been given the go ahead from our pediatrician to start solids, so we did shortly after that appointment and she hated it...

I tried pretty persistently for about a week and it seemed like the more I tried the more she HATED it. And I hated it too for that matter. {It's no fun trying to shove food into a screaming babies mouth ha!} So we stopped.

Then a few days ago tried again. Still didn't want anything to do with it. Wouldn't even open her mouth. I even tried banana {what baby doesn't like banana!?} So we stopped again.

Fast forward to tonight...

 I bought a sweet potato and dusted off the Cuisinart and tried to remember how to make baby food.

Surprisingly, she did accept the sweet potato better then I thought she would! And did better if the spoon was coming from dad. Still having a bit of a hard time convincing her to open her mouth, so we try to sneak it in when she smiles or talks. Once it was in the majority went down.

{But definitely likes her fingers best}

 I think we will stick the the sweet potatoes for a few more days and see if they get any easier. Then maybe try carrots or another veggie. 

If any of you have experienced a hard eater I would love to hear what you did to encourage solids. I've read little about the Baby Led Weaning approach and would love to hear more or know of some good resources out there on that approach. I am also somewhat hesitant to do that since she seems to gag a lot, but maybe that means she's not ready for solids? Would love to hear any advice!

Fun at the park with cousins!

On Wednesday Michelle and the boys came to visit. It's great that they live close and are able to just come and spend a day with us! We played at the house in the morning, and then in the afternoon, since the weather was so nice {sunny and 65!} we headed to the park!

Teeter-totter 

I swear he has no fear

 B and T ... Best buds!

 0, 1, 2, 3! {those are their ages in order!}

{a behind the scenes look at trying to get that picture}

Lily's first swing ride! Logan wasn't so sure about sharing.

She is really getting the hang of sucking on those fingers!

 Any day now he will be off and running!

Loving that the days are longer, the sun is shinning more and cousins live near by!

Lily: months 4 and 5

Wow! The last 2 months {more like the last 5!} have flown by! Lily turned 5 months {how is that possible!!} on February 24th  and since I never did a 4 month post {but I did take pictures} here are months 4 and 5... {hopefully the month 6 post will be on time :)}

4 months

Weight: at Lily's 4 month check she weighed 14lb 3oz

Hight: 25in

We spent a week in Medford and she mastered rolling from her tummy to her back but hasn't quite figured out tummy to back.

She now sleeps un-swaddled. Still in the pack n play in our room. 

Still wakes up 2-3 times a night.

Still only nursing but Dr. gave the ok to start solids! {is she really old enough for that?!}

> > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > >

big brother always wants to be in a picture and usually wants to take one too

love this smile!

5 months

Weight: I'm thinking she has to be closing in on 14 1/2 -15lbs!

She just started sharing a room with Blake! Which means instead of waking up 3+ times a night, she only wakes up about once, eats and then goes right back to sleep! It's great!

We have tried solids but she is not a fan {gaging, spiting it out, awful faces and screaming usually ensues}. So far we've only tried oatmeal and banana. We tried it for a few days and then stopped and will wait a little longer.

She loves smiling at her brother! Its so fun to see the two of them starting to interact!

She loves playing on her play-mat thing reaching for her toys and sitting in the bumbo watching what is going on.

She is kind of on a routine... 7am wake up, 8:30-9 nap for 30-45min eat at 10am, wake till 1pm eats then naps till 2:30ish eats at 3pm naps around 4ish and then bath, nurse, bed at 7pm-ish then wakes up between 2-3am to nurse then sleeps till 7am. 

Still exclusively nursing! {So different then from Blake}

She is still a pretty happy easy going baby!

We love her so much and can't believe she's already 5 months! She is growing up too fast!

Hello there

It's been a while. I feel like I'm so far behind on blogging. There's so many things I want to write and share about mostly because this is like my scrapbook of what's been going on in our lives, but for some reason it's been difficult to make the time to blog.

So here is a quick update/recap of what's been going on with us in 2013 thus far...

• Lily is healthy now! {I'm working on a post about her hospital stay, hopefully it'll be done soon}

• We've been working hard getting the house ready to be put up for sale and as of January 25th it's for sale! So far we have only had one showing but we are hopeful it will sell and thankful we aren't in any time crunch to have it sell. I'm hoping it doesn't take too long because it's a lot of work keeping a house picked up 24/7 with a 2.5 year-old that is continually making messes!

• Lily turned 4 months on the 24th {working on a post for that too}

• Blake is now {mostly} potty trained! On Saturday in early January we went to Portland and Aunt KK took him to change is diaper while we were in the Nike Employee store {the reason I mention this is because he would tell you about it... "I go potty in the Nike potty" is what he would say hahaha} and he went potty on the toilet for her there. That Monday I decide it was time to pull out the underwear and we haven't looked back since! I am shocked at how well he has done. He still has an occasional accident and wears diapers for nap and bedtime.

Those are some January highlights... here's to hoping I get better at keeping things up to date! {and a cute picture of Lil}

Christmas 2012

Well, here we are a month later and I'm just now getting around to blogging about Christmas! Ah, needless to say life with 2 kids, or life just in general is busy!

Russ had all together 11 days off from Christmas to New Years, which was probably the most time he has had off since college. It was wonderful! We headed to Medford the Saturday before Christmas and spent till Thursday there.

Christmas this year just seemed a little off. Lily had been fighting an awful cough for a few weeks prior and on Christmas evening we ended up in the ER with her {I will post on that one of these days}. I didn't really enjoy Christmas day because I was so worried about her all day, I knew something wasn't right with her.

We did have some fun though so here are some of the highlights....

My Grandpa turned 80! The Sunday before Christmas my mom and her brothers threw my Grandpa a birthday party. It was great to celebrate my Grandpa's 80 years!

 My Grandpa with all but 3 of his grandkids. {my Aunt and her family who live on the east coast couldn't make it and Logan was at home sick}

Ian, Michelle, Tristan, Me, Lily, Blake, Grandpa Lowell, Nicki and Mitchell

My Mom with her 2 brothers and their Dad {just missing my Aunt Peggy}

Todd, Mom, Grandpa Lowell and Tim

Christmas Eve we spent the day with Russell's family. Russell's sister Kacie from Portland came down and Grandparents from Arizona and California came up, we spent a nice relaxing day just visiting, hanging out, opening a few presents, {that would be Blake} playing, eating yummy food and ended with going to church. 

Lily meeting Grandma Z for the first time!

Blake practicing his present opening.

Having fun with new toys!

The 4 of us before Christmas Eve Service

Christmas morning was a bit of a blur for me. Lily had been up a lot the night before, and I from being worried and worked up about her being sick began to feel sick. We started the morning out at my parents house and exchanged gifts with my family and then we went over to Russell's parents and did gifts there.

 Christmas morning at the Messenger's

 Cousins!

Christmas morning at the Bartlett's

 Bartlett Family

Nana Pam and Papa Don with Blake and Lily

We went to my Aunt and Uncle's for Christmas dinner. We barely ate dinner and then took Lily to the ER {that's why there is a lack of "Christmas dinner photos"}. 

I really would have liked a Christmas re-do. It was not fun having a sick baby on Christmas. I guess we'll always remember Lily's first Christmas!

Pass Christmases: 2009, 2010, 2011

Lily: 3.5 Months

With the business and chaos of Christmas this year and Lily getting sick (more on that to come) Lily turning 3 months kind of came and went. 

Lily turned 3 months on Christmas Eve. 

So here is a 3.5 month post.

3 1/2 months! 

Okay, I know the flower is a little much but I couldn't help it! And I thought the red was fitting for the time of year. 

Big brother had to get in a picture and then...

wanted to take a picture! Not too bad of a photo for a 2.5 year old!

Lily's 3rd Month:

Weight: With being sick pretty much since her 2 month appointment Lily hadn't done much weight gaining till about last week when she gained almost half a pound in one week! She now weighs 12lbs. 14.5 oz

Wears: Size 2 diapers but can wear size 3 and is just now in 6 month size clothes!

She was sleeping great while she was sick but since she's been better she's up 2-3 times a night. I've started to let her cry it out a little and sometimes she can put herself back to sleep and sometimes she needs help. I had been feeding her every time she would wake up so I think that explains the weight gain... trying to catch up from being sick! 

She's not really on a schedule yet, but does the wake, eat, sleep routine.

The blue eyes have definitely stuck around!

She can roll from her tummy to her back and is getting really close to rolling from her back to her tummy.

We have been blessed with a happy, easy going baby!

Blake: 2.5 years

On December 7th Blake turned 2.5 (I know I'm a little late on the post, but better late then never right?)! 

I can't believe he is 2.5 (I think I say that every time). He has grown up so fast and still seems to change and learn something new every day. He is now talking non-stop and asks why after everything multiple times, even after the why question has been answered. It's more like a punctuation for him. 

He is full of life and energy! 

And is quite a challenge to get a good picture of. Sitting and smiling has become a game of "smile for 2 seconds then right when mom goes to take the picture, turn or run or do something to mess it up"!

He loves his little sister!

2.5 year-old stats:

Weight: 28.8 lbs

Hight: 34 3/4in

Favorite foods: Hot dogs, mac n cheese and pizza (what kid doesn't love those three foods?!), yogurt, and still any fruit.

He loves to "help" with Lily and doing the dishes (hope the dishes thing sticks but I have a feeling it won't).

His vocabulary has taken off and he now says all sorts of things and usually talks non-stop which is fun and exhausting at the same time :) 

Here are a few of my favorite Blake phrases: 

"Funny __________" (usually mama, dada or Bake go there)

"Bake happy"

"Lily eat lot" (it must seem to him that all mommy does is feed Lily)

"More again"

"Daddy work money" (one day he asked for daddy, I said daddy was at work, and then of course he asked why, so I said daddy has to go to work to make money so we can live in our house, and since then it's been "daddy work money" hahaha)

"What'd dat?" (this is almost as common as why)

He had so much fun going to a few football games this fall and often out of the blue yells "GO BEABERS!" (mostly when we are in a grocery store... thank goodness we live in beaver country :)

He is learning numbers and colors. If you'd ask him his favorite color he would say "beaver orange" and most the time if you ask him the color of anything he'll say "beaver orange" haha. 

Bedtime seems to be about 8pm these days and he is awake around 6:30am.

He is still napping about 2-3 hours a day in the afternoon and is now in a "big boy" bed! 

I still can't believe how fast he is growing up.

We love you so much, Blakers!