3 months!

Weight: 14lb

Size Clothing: 6 month clothing!! Growing SO fast this time around! He's almost fitting it perfectly too :-( 

Milestones: A lot more smiles! He loves looking at the activity mat toys. Starting to find his hands and suck on them. No rolling yet but I've been bad about tummy time! His neck strength is getting better though. He's able to sit up in the bumbo for long periods of time. 

Schedule: He eats a 6oz bottle around 630am, naps around 9-1030, 5oz bottle at 1030, naps around 1230-2, 5oz bottle at 2, nap around 4-5pm, 5oz bottle at 5pm, may catnap somewhere between 530 and 745. 745 bathtime then 7oz bottle around 8, in bed by 820. 

Sleep: He sleeps great at night (9-10 hours) but his naps are still alittle funky. Some days are good and he has multiple good naps. Some days he can't seem to settle down and needs his paci to sleep. He is swaddle weaned though which happened about 2 weeks ago and he has been sleeping the same without it. So we just gotta work on our naps buddy!

Her favorite things: Paci and activity mat! His hand! And watching big sister! 

Selfie with mom!

Working so hard!

HI.

Bumbo time!

Watching daddy play guitar!

Sneezes just as crazy as his dad!

23 months

My sweet girl is going to be 2 next month! I still can't believe it. She's been better at communicating so alittle less whining and meltdowns. She's using mostly 2-3 word phrases and can usually point to what she wants or needs. She's learned a lot of new words that I have lost count on how many she knows! She has a great memory, maybe alittle too good. She'll remember where she left things or where we left her things. If we try to take something away from her she'll remember where it was and demand it! :-p We've learned that we can't just take something away from her anymore or hide something, we have to make her think it was her idea. So we have to convince her to drop something or that there is no more. She knows what "no more", "all done", "wait", and "one more" mean so that has been very helpful. She knows how to count (altho she usually skips 1 and goes right to 2-3-4-5). She knows parts of the alphabet and can sing along with some words. She knows the names of colors but can't quite match it up yet. She knows some shapes as well.

She absolutely loves her brother. First thing she says in the morning is baby and when she gets home from daycare she always asks for him. She helps him when hes crying and likes to pet him (altho sometimes too hard!). She tickles his feet and likes to play near him. 

Last swim of the summer! :-(

Its been fun this holiday season so far as she understands things more than last year. We've been to a pumpkin farm and a pumpkin patch this year. She loves running around those big farms. 

She's still a great sleeper consistently doing 2 hour naps around 12-2pm and sleeps at night from 730pm-7am. When she wakes early she just rolls around and plays with her blankie and elmo in bed and i am so grateful that she does as it gives me time to get myself and baby ready for the day. She's been an okay eater this month. She used to love proteins but now it seems to be about the carbs and fruit. She'll eat proteins still but not as much as before. And veggies are always hit or miss.

We've been going to the park alot since she can be cranky after daycare. So sad that its getting dark so early these days. Now we have to find new activities to keep her happy! 

We love disneyland and went last week. Not too busy and not too hot. Thats what I like!

I've always had the dream of having a little mini-me and dressing her just like me. So I was excited this year that she could get uggs to match mine! She might not be so excited about it but i am!

This is our neighborhood carnival. She dressed in her halloween costume (anna of course) and we had fun with uncle baa baa and auntie alice. baa baa won a fish that she still plays with every day. 

It seems lately shes been more attached to her blankie. I'm not sure why but it seems like she wants it more out of the house and around the house where as before she only used it for naps and in the car. Trying to nip this habit in the bud since i don't like seeing her with her blankie outside and it gets dirty! 

2 months!

Weight: 10lb 2 oz (12%) as of 9/24 7.5 weeks

Height: 1ft 9.5in (7%) as of 9/24 7.5 weeks

Head Circumference: 37.7cm (19%) as of 9/24 7.5 weeks

Size Clothing: 3 month clothing! 0-3 month clothing got too small in like a week! 3 month clothing is even getting small.. this kid is growing too fast!

First time bringing out the hanging toys. Kid is mesmerized!

Milestones: A few coos and a few smiles but otherwise he's just content looking around. He can lift his head up alittle bit (45 deg about) but only when he wants to :-p

Schedule: He eats 5oz every 3.5 hours during the day and one big 6-7oz bottle right before bedtime. His naps are alittle hit or miss. Ideally he naps from 830-1030, 12-2, 3-5, and a catnap in the evening. He goes to bed around 845-9pm. 

Hard to catch smiles except in his sleep!

Sleep: His naps are kinda sucky so only one of those naps ends up being a good nap.  The rest are catnappy. He has trouble falling asleep without a paci in his crib. He likes sleeping on the go tho so i'm trying to roll with it. I try to at least get him to sleep in the crib for 2 naps a day but he needs his paci to be able to fall asleep most of the time. He sleeps through the night tho so i can't complain. He sleeps from 9pm-630ish. Sometimes as early as 545am tho and once as late as 645. So roughly about 9 hours. 

Her favorite things: His dino paci!! His swing! Being held to nap. 

Upset during chargers first game. I feel ya

Playing with big sister

Alot more awake time these days!

Walk with crazy big sister

Loves his dino!

Cuddles with dada!

22 months

This girl is growing up too fast! I can't believe she's almost 2 years old. She is a sweet, funny, silly girl. But we're also in the heart of whining and meltdowns here. From what I've read it seems like these couple months before 2 aren't alot of fun for a lot of toddlers. Evelyn hasn't had too many tantrums, but there is definitely more whining and crying around here. She communicates pretty well in that she can verbalize for the most part what she wants. She is speaking in 2-3 word phrases and is able to point to things that she wants. The only issue is when we don't want her to have something she won't give up! So we try to distract her or give her something better. Sigh. We don't want to spoil her but at the same time whining is my kryptonite! I can only really stand about 10 minutes of it before I just want to throw all the sweets, toys, movies, videos, etc at her and let her have what she wants. So I'm trying to learn how to set boundaries, but not lose my mind. 

Sick earlier this month. Frozen time!

She's still sleeping like a champ which I am very thankful for with a newborn. Her eating preferences have changed. She used to only really eat proteins and some carbs and fruit. Now it seems like its mostly carbs and fruit and alittle protein. Veggies are also hit or miss but usually miss!! She drinks milk for meals and water the rest of the time. She loves drinking out of open cups and bottles and shes good at it, but its hard for her to walk around with it without spilling.. Shes a pro at using a fork and spoon but still prefers her hands! 

Lots of playground time this summer

Its interesting to see her personality develop these days. She's definitely a very observant girl. Shes content watching people. She can be friendly to strangers when shes in the right mood. Otherwise she clams up and just looks at them. I definitely see more of my personality in her where she isn't as comfortable around strangers but loves being around people she knows well. She is a little clingy to me lately. I'm not sure if it has to do with Micah but she's all about mommy and wants me to hold her, push her in the cart, take her out of the carseat, etc. Albert is really patient with her though and just lets it be. Hopefully she gets over the mommy phase soon so daddy can have some love!

Olaf!

She also is starting to claim things as hers. I hear "MINE" alot from her these days. I think it might be something she learned at school... She is good when we tell her something is not her's. But if she finds something she likes that isn't anybodys she'll claim it as hers. or take her brothers paci/bottle. We can usually get it from her or get her to give it to him, but I see we'll have to start teaching her how to share soon!

Helping daddy with Micah

Overall she's still our sweet girl but we've had to learn some new tricks on how to prevent meltdowns and whining. It's gotten better over the past couple weeks so hopefully by two it'll be few and far between?? Thats the dream. 

Our new fav hangout spot at the grocery store! :-)

At Micah's 1 month family party

First group selfie with the iphone 6+. Mama can't take a selfie without it being blurry tho..

Another selfie!

She loves saying cheese!

Ponytails are few and far between these days since she likes to pull them out, but she looks so cute in them!

Micah - 1 month!

Weight: 8lb 10oz ish (17th percentile) 1 lb heavier than big sis at this age!

Height: Not measured at the doctors until 2 months

Size Clothing: About to outgrow NB clothes!! So much faster than Evie girl!

Milestones: We've seen a few smiles but pretty sure they are not on purpose. Still sleeping most of the day so not too much is happening!

Schedule: He eats 3-4 oz every 3 hours during the day. At night he does about a 5-6 hour stretch, feed, then another 3 hour stretch. Then goes to bed while I get Evie ready for school!

Sleep: He sleeps most of the day still. Most naps and nighttime he goes down well. He'll usually fall asleep or just look around til he falls asleep. He's starting to be more awake these days tho and sometimes has trouble falling asleep for a nap. So I'll give him a couple min to try to fall asleep by himself, if he's still crying I'll pick him up and try again. The 12 o clock nap is the golden nap tho. He sleeps the best this nap and mama sleeps and if Evie is home she's napping too. It's the best!

Her favorite things: His dino paci!! The swing with music. His sister! (okay, he doesn't know her yet, but he will love her!)

Imitating mama's stressed face..

First time doing tummy time! Not a fan..

"Hope my muscles are as big as my dads someday.."

"Love you dino... you're my best friend"

"Eessh"

First selfie w mama!

Dad's the best!

Tummy time sucks :-p

Micah Tyler

Micah Tyler was born August 3, 2014 at 4:21am 6lb 6oz 19inches!

On August 1, I had a weekly appointment and bi-weekly non stress test. During the appointment I asked the nurse practitioner to check my dilation, more just out of curiosity since I started at 4cm with Evelyn after my water broke, and this time around I had a bunch of short cervix issues. So I wanted to see if that meant I was dilated any more. The nurse practitioner was surprised that I was already at 4-5cm and I wasn't having any contractions. However, it didn't mean much by itself so I was encouraged but not anticipating labor without the contractions. The nurse practitioner did say that if I felt any labor signs or symptoms to go straight to the hospital since this was my second labor and I was already dilated so much.

On August 2, we went out to dinner with my family to celebrate my dad's birthday. My sister, brother in law, and brother were in town to celebrate. I knew that my ideal plan was for my sister and brother in law to watch Evelyn while we were at the hospital, but they live an hour away so I wasn't sure how it would pan out. But fortunately, they were here that weekend! During the dinner, I started feeling some contractions. They were very mild and I only felt 3 within a 2 hour period. I told Albert on the way home from the restaurant and we decided to wait until I started feeling 5-6 an hour to go to the hospital. After dinner we decided to play some board games with my sister/brother in law. I was starting to feel contractions about every 10 min but only 30s long and still very mild. After that game I decided to tell everyone about the contractions. We were still contemplating whether we should go to the hospital so we decided to play one more board game while deciding. Since the contractions didn't let up, we decided to just go and get checked, hoping this was the real deal. My sister/brother in law stayed with Evelyn as she was sleeping anyway so we are very thankful they were here! My parents were our backup plan and they didn't even have their cell phones with them that night!

At around 11PM, we got to the hospital and they monitored the baby and found I was having contractions 2-3 min apart but they were still very mild.  They checked my dilation and I was at 5cm, 90% maybe about 70% effaced. They couldn't do anything to progress my labor (like break my water or induce me) since I was only 38 weeks. So I had to progress by myself for any intervention. So they said I could be admitted temporarily and have IV's put in place and then try to have me walk around the halls to either dilate more or get my contractions going, or I could leave and walk around the hospital before getting admitted. If I didn't progress on my own or if contractions stopped I'd have to go home. We decided getting admitted was probably best and decide in a couple hours if things were rolling.

Albert while I was 7cm dilated and in PAIN waiting for the epi. Problem is that I'm really quiet during the contractions so no one knows when I'm having them and I just close my eyes. :-p

So after we did all the paperwork and got the IV put in place, I got checked one more time. Around 1230am I was at 6cm, 90% effaced. So it seemed like things were moving. We walked around the halls for 40 min. By the end of the 40 min the contractions were definitely starting to hurt more, but bearable. At 120am, the contractions were started to hurt alot more. I was at 6-7cm at this point. This is when I asked for an epidural although I could still manage through the pain and the nurses said I could probably handle doing this naturally based on my demeanor, i didn't want to feel the ring of fire!! So they started my IV. At 215am I got my epidural, sweet relief! I was still 6-7cm at this point. At 315am and 7cm, they decided to break my water. That seemed to get labor rolling! From then, it was 45 min before I was fully dilated and the babys head was in my vagina. They said I would probably only need to push a couple times since the baby was almost out. Turns out I needed to only push for 15 min (compared to 2 hours with Evelyn) and the baby was out!

The baby took a couple seconds (felt like minutes!) to cry, but he was okay and Albert finally got to find out what gender he was! There were a couple potential problems during the delivery that the midwife told me about after. Micah's cord was wrapped around his head. It was wrapped very loosely so it wasn't an issue. Another problem was that my placenta started to detach during labor and came out with the baby so I bled out more than normal after the delivery. She said this could've been life threatening to the baby if the baby didn't come out so fast as this was the babies source of oxygen. But thankfully, the baby came out fast at the end and it wasn't an issue.

So Micah's birth was about 3 hours from the time I felt intense contractions to the end, 5 hours from the time we were admitted to the hospital as compared to Evelyns which was 10 hours from the time my water broke to the end. Love how each story is unique. We are all doing great though and life is pretty much the same right now, just one more diaper to change and mouth to feed :-) We are loving it though!