Brave Family Life: May 2018

Ellie | Seven Month Update

9:48 PM

Seven Months! I can't believe we are now closer to Ellie's first birthday than we are to the day she was born. Time is a thief and is stealing my baby from me. I wish time would slow down just a little so I could savory the days of Ellie being a snuggly baby a little longer.

Height: Approx. 27 inches

Weight: Approx 16.2 lbs

Sleep

Sleep continues to be a struggle this month. I don't really know how to fix it. I feel like we have had a few nights where I thought things were getting better and then the next time Ellie will have another tough night sleeping. A good night would be only waking three times. I wish I could help Ellie sleep better through the night.

Ellie continues to maybe nap twice a day but I usually can be guaranteed at least one nap when the boys are napping (this nap is taken in my arms so I'm not sure it really counts). I remember the boys taking naps on my at this age and they did eventually start napping in their cribs so I will hold out hope that it will be the same for Ellie as well!

Eat

Food has been a big change for Ellie this month. After her six month visit to the dr and getting the ok we have started solid foods. Ellie is enjoying trying new food. We have sort of been doing baby led weaning in the fact that for foods such as veggies and fruits I leave them in large piece that are soft enough for her to eat and I allow her to feed herself. But we aren't completely doing baby led weaning because I will offer her a spoon for foods such as oatmeal, cream of wheat, mashed potatoes.

This month Ellie has tried

Avocado
Broccoli
Cream of Wheat
Cantaloupe
Pear
Green beans
Zucchini
Strawberries
Raspberries
Carrots
Peanut Butter
Sweet Potato
Orange Pepper

Ellie continues to be breastfed as well. Her nursing schedule hasn't changed much, if any this month. She nurses several times through out the day, 4-5 times. And Ellie will nurse when she wakes up in the evening.

Development/Play

Ellie has had another big month when it comes to development.

Here is whats new:

Ellie said Mama
She started babbling using the /b/ sound
She pulled herself up to a kneeling position
Ellie got into a sitting position by herself
Ellie pulled herself to stand
She started crawling on her hands and knees
Ellie will come over to the side of the crib when she wakes up and say "mama"

Dear Ellie

What a month you've had! I keep telling you to slow down. I am watching my baby slip away as you become more mobile, confident and adventurous. You are becoming a little girl and aren't acting like a baby as much any more. I laugh at how big and old you act when in fact you are so tiny and small. You continue to be a happy little girl. People always comment on your sweet, easy going personality when we are out and about. And our family is truly blessed because that is your personality 90% of the time. You love your brothers and really want to keep up with them. The smile on your face when you get a goodnight hug and kiss from them makes my heart melt. When they are running around squealing and chasing each other you will squeal right along with them wanting to join in. I love watching you enjoy trying new foods and getting to eat food at meal times with us. As much as I want time to slow down so I can keep you a snuggly little baby a little longer I am loving watching you master new skills and try new things. I can't imagine what this next month has in store for you, but I can't wait to find out. I love you to the moon and back. I am blessed that I get to be your mommy

Love

Mommy

Seven Month Photo Dump

toddler update

Will and James | Two and a half Year Update

9:49 PM

William and James are now two and half. I can't believe how quickly time is going by. In my mind they are still about 15 or 16 months old and when I see them every morning I'm surprised at how big and old they are looking! They are not only growning size wise but also in their language, personalities and skills. There are moments when I know I am getting glimpses at what Will and James will look like when they are teenagers..

Will and James are best friends and mortal enemies. I spend a lot of time refereeing squabbles between them. They also play so well together. They are eager for the other one to join in when they are having fun or are having a yummy snack. If one is out of sight for too long the other will ask me where they are.

During Nap time the other day James woke up screaming "Will! Will! Mommy, where's Will?l Will!" After letting James know Will was in his bed James immediately laid back down and went to back to sleep.

The boys are really into doing things for themselves right now. "I do it myself!" They want to get their milk out of the fridge, open bags, take off their clothes, put on their clothes, open and close things, carry their plates to the table. This phase is both helpful and maybe not so helpful, things can take a lot longer, be a lot messier and if heaven forbid I do something they wanted to do for themselves there are a lot more tears. But they love doing things for themselves and I know its important for them so whenever possible I let them "do it myself!".

Language

In the past few months I feel like their language has really started to explode! I am able to understand them probably 75% of the time, I'm not sure how much people who are unfamiliar with their speech can understand them. They are now talking in sentences and long sentences at that! I am surprised at what they say sometimes, what they understand and know. You really need to be careful what you say around them because they hear everything and will repeat it!

They are counting to 10

"I see another sample over there, Mommy"

"My new Paci is in my bed"

"I'm too heaby"

Boy oh Boy are Will and James physical and active: Jumping, climbing, running, tumbling, wrestling. They are full of energy that I wish I could have a little of. They are great at riding their scooters they got for Christmas and are working on riding their balance bikes. We spend a great deal of our time of outside.

We are in the throws of the boys being "TWO" and this is a struggle sometimes: we have temper tantrums and fights over things that seem trivial to me but are life shattering to the boys. I think the fact that there are two of them can make these things amplified. You can't really reason with a two year old and when they are both screaming because they both want a certain cup or whatever it may be "even though we have two and they look exactly alike" it can be hard to calm them both down and make them both happy. So we are all learning and growing together as we navigate this new and sometimes challenging stage of life.

Sleep

My boys have been amazing sleepers since the time they were 10 months old and the week before Christmas that changed. And this change was not for the better! This one makes me want to cry sometimes! The boys are now able to climb in and out of their cribs. So when they climb out at nap time they won't get back in meaning no nap!! Which is not ok! I now have to sit in their room waiting for them to fall asleep which can take anywhere from 5 minutes to over an hour depending on the day and I usually end up sitting in their room for most of their nap. (Which really cuts into my time of getting things done, like dinner) They will usually sleep for about an hour and a half to two hours, they used to sleep for 2-3 hours.

At night they used to go to sleep at 6:30 sleep through the night waking up at 7:30-8:00am. This has also changed. They started waking up earlier and earlier so I have bumped their bedtime back to 7:30 in hopes of getting them to sleep in a little longer. They are now waking up anytime between 6:00-7:00am. They have also had a little trouble falling to sleep. Some nights they will get out of their beds 3 or 4 times.

I have no idea why their sleep has change so drastically so quickly but I really wish this was just some sort of a phase that would fix itself but I don't think it is. I know they are getting older and are requiring less sleep but I would love it if they would continue sleeping more! I also know that I should consider changing their cribs into toddler beds now that they can climb out of them but they still sleep so well at night in them I'm not really ready to give up a good nights sleeps with them possibly falling out of a bed. They still move so much. This is the first year that I think day light savings has really effected them. The sun is coming up extremely early around 5:40am right now and isn't setting until after 8:00pm and it seems to be causing some of their sleep issues. I have put up black out drapes in their room up it doesn't seem to help, some light still gets in around the edges of the curtains and their room faces east so a soon as the sun comes up light is peaking in their window. I've never had to deal with issues sleeping with the boys so this has thrown me for a loop!

Things the boys are loving now: reading, their bounce house, riding their bikes and scooters, smoothies, their baby dolls and wubbies that are no longer attached to pacis, tiny Choo choos, building their train tracks, playing with water balloons, their water table and sprinkler,

The boys love the "If you give a mouse a cookie" books and I think its really funny we have read these books so much the boys are able to finish the sentences. They also love these baby physics books my husband bought them when they were babies. We have an ABCs of physics and they can name which each letter of the alphabet stands for in the physics book, it cracks me up hearing in their little two year old broken language words like: black hole, diffraction, Einstein, fusion, Newton, optics, and string theory.

They are also loving Fancy Nancy, Berenstein Bear, Thomas the Train and Curious George books. They could spend hours reading books if I would let them.

The boys got bikes from Santa for Christmas and scooters from mommy and daddy. The past few months they have been riding them inside the house around the couch, but just in the last few weeks we have been taking them outside and riding them up and down the sidewalk outside our house. They are great at riding their scooters and are really enjoying their bikes. They haven't been able to go fast enough to actually balance on their balance bikes yet, but they are getting close! I'm so proud of them!! I also feel like they are getting big with their social interactions. We have a neighbor across the street with a little boy just a few months older than the boys and they saw him riding his bike and they wanted to take their bikes out to see him and ride with him. It makes them feel so old that they are asking to go play with the other kids in our neighborhood.

In the past few months I have started letting the boys watch a little tv in the evenings and we have rotated through a few favorite shows/movies including: "Chugginton", "Finding Dory", "Sing" and most recently "UmiZoomie".