Owen- One Month

It is very cliche, but time.is.flying. this time around!! I did not think it could possibly go any faster than it has been, but I was wrong. Our boy is one month old and we could not be more in love with his sweet self. The transition to a family four has gone so smoothly, that he truly feels like the missing piece to our family. So far, he has been an easy baby- praise the Lord and knock on wood! He is fairly predictable and has been just about since we brought him home. He is getting more on a eat/play/sleep routine but I'm not forcing any schedule yet. He's eating roughly every 2.5-3 hours and he is sleeping great at night! Right now he has a feeding around 8:30pm, asleep by 9/9:30, wakes to eat around 1 or 2am, sleeps until 5ish, then up to eat between 7-8am. I'll take it! Sadly, he is sleeping better than his big sister haha! Speaking of his sister, Caroline has been so awesome with him! She has not shown one ounce of jealousy so far and is so very sweet with him. I will say though, one big change from bringing him home was realizing just how big and independent she has become. She seems like she grew overnight since he is so tiny. I am loving this newborn stage and trying to soak in every minute, because I do know how fleeting this sweet, sleepy, tiny stage is. We are so very blessed with two healthy babies and I cannot wait for this next month and watching him grow even more!

One month Stats

Weight: 10lb 5oz  (60% hooray!)- he was starting out as a slow gainer at first, but he is up 2 lbs past birth weight. He is 1.5lbs more than Caroline was at this age.

Length: 22.5 in (86%) - one inch longer than C at this age

Eating: every 2.5-3hours.

Milestones:

• First smile at 3 weeks old! He smiles a lot in his sleep, but this was the first one that seemed legit while we were talking to him =)

What he loves:

• Being held! I thought that Caroline loved being held- but this boy takes the cake. Lucky for me and for him, it's actually somewhat easier to just carry him around or wear him all day, however we both need to get used to him chilling on his own a bit more. 
• His pacifier. Yay! This makes his fussy times much more manageable and it also helps stretch feedings a bit if necessary. 
• Bath- he was not a fan at all of the first bath, but now he calms down and just relaxes in the bath with makes for a much happier time.
• His Momma =) I don't remember Caroline being as particular (really even until now, she has just recently become a full blown daddy's girl). But he will tolerate being held by others for a little bit but then lets them know their time is up...I'm ok with that =)

What he does not love:

• His car seat. It might as well be a torture device. Fortunately for all of us that have to ride with him, he is getting better at just giving in and falling asleep in it- whew!
• Diaper changes- again, he's getting more used it. But for the first two weeks he would scream at every change.
• Tummy time. Poor kiddo just hates it.

Owen's Birth Story

Owen Gregory

8lb 5oz, 21.5in long

born at 8:02 am on Saturday, March 28.

Once again, my due date came and went with no baby. On Tuesday I went to my OB appointment to discuss induction since I would be close to 41 weeks. We settled on Thursday, and Greg and I left the office super excited that we finally saw that the end was in sight and we would get to meet our boy this week! Thursday came and my parents got into town to keep Caroline and we sat around and waited for the call from the hospital to tell us a bed was ready. I was super glad that we were able to put Caroline to bed ourselves and do our normal routine Thursday night, as that would be one less night we would be apart (this was the longest we've been away from her). Finally, around 11pm, we got the call to come in at midnight. So, Greg and I packed up and headed that way! Being induced felt very strange because things just didn't seem real. We were calm, not any huge rush, and everything just seemed so different than being in actual labor. After we got into our room and all the paperwork squared away, we finally got the medicine that would get things started, Cytotec. I was totally pumped because I just knew that after that first dose things would get moving quickly and I would be holding my sweet baby by morning. HAH. SIX doses later, taken every 4 hours, my body finally got the clue that it should get to work, and my water broke at 1:30 am on SATURDAY. From then things did go very quickly. I got an epidural around 4:30 am and boy was that a relief- seriously, my hat is off to those who can birth naturally, I am not one of those women. My incredibly awesome midwife, Judy and her super sweet intern, stayed past her shift (which she'd already been on for 24 hours) to deliver this baby. So, at around 7:30am she asked if I wanted to try pushing...30 minutes later at 8:02am Owen Gregory was laid on my chest! He is absolute perfection! After a few minutes of holding him, Greg cut the cord and then followed him over to the table to get checked out while I got stitched up. He had low blood sugar, so since they were going to take him to the nursery for a bit we went ahead and brought big sister back to meet him first and then the grandparents. Caroline was excited to meet him at first, then became slightly overwhelmed and pouted for a bit. However, once she came back in the afternoon it has been nothing but love ever since. We absolutely could not be more thrilled to finally have our son here! What an incredible blessing he is to our new family of four! 

Headed to the hospital- 40+5 weeks 

 Sweet visit from by big girl while we wait on Owen

He's here!!

Me with Judy

Proud daddy, helping get his blood sugar back up with a supplemental bottle

SO very happy he is here and healthy!

Pregnancy Round 2 and halfway through!

Well, it has been quite the hiatus from the blogging world, but it is time to make a comeback so that I have half the documentation I had with C. I'm already behind-oops. But there's no better place to start than the half way mark! This pregnancy is flllyyyying by and I know with holiday fun coming up, it will only seem to go even faster. Anyway, here's my 20 week survey for now and fingers crossed I can keep up from here on out!

How Far Along: 20 weeks (5 Months)

Size of baby: a canteloup =)

Total Weight Gain/Loss: Not as much as last time, but more than I would like

Maternity Clothes: I am in them and loving them, it stinks I'm in an opposite season than my last pregnancy- but oh well!

Gender: a sweet baby BOY!!!

Movement: I feel him every once in a while but still not a ton yet. He's more of a night time mover and shaker than in the day.

What I miss: Nothing really

Sleep: I have my lovely almost 3-year-old to keep me on a newborn routine, so I'm used to no sleep by now.

Symptoms: Not too many lately. Feeling pretty good!

Cravings: Spicy foods

Best Moment this week:  Feeling him move more regularly

What we are looking forward to: The next ultrasound next week! Love to see that everything is going smoothly and Caroline is coming to this one.

18 months old!!

What?! A year and half already?! For some reason 18-months has been harder for me to accept than a year was. We can't possibly be half way to having a TWO-year-old! Craziness! However, what a fabulous age this is! Caroline is awesome. She is sweet, loving, cheerful, bubbly, challenging, strong-willed, brilliant, and beautiful- I could not love her more. As stated in previous posts- this blog is simply for bragging purposes so that it doesn't get too obnoxious on Facebook, but the child is so smart (spoken like a true mom). She seriously blows us away on a daily basis! She is constantly entertaining us with her crazy dance moves, loud singing, and constant talking. She is a total mess and I am totally in love =)


Stats-
Weight- 21.8 lbs (40%)
Height- 33.5 in  (84%)

Randoms:

• Caroline shocks us with how quickly she picks things up. Over the past month or two she has learned the following:
• Correctly identify 8 different shapes (circle, square, triangle, rectangle, oval, star, heart and hexagon)
• Can somewhat count to 10 (She skips 1,3, and 7)
• Is working on colors but gets Blue, Yellow, Pink, and Black most consistently 
• Can correctly name and identify a few letters (A, B, E, O, S)
• Can name every body part (over 19)
• Is starting to sing some songs. Some you can understand by the tune and some she actually says the words too
•  She is fairly outgoing and LOVES being with other kids, especially her cousins and Reece
• Would spend all day outside if you let her
• Is super cuddly in the morning when she wakes up and when she gets up from her nap.
• Will put herself in time-out for things she does to her babies and stuffed animals...hmmm.
• SO FAR is fairly easy to discipline (famous last words). She can throw an awesome tantrum with the best of them, but is generally very well behaved and her typical sweet self. Some days are a doozy, but I honestly think it's probably not that bad, but because she really is so good most of the time it makes the bad times really stand out.
• She's simply the sweetest and has started randomly coming up to us to give us hugs and kisses and say "I luh loo" ...melts out hearts =)

I think that's it for now! As you can clearly see, I'm not at all biased =)


Here are a few videos over the past few months-

15 Months Old (almost 16)

Well...needless to say, it's been a while! My last post was her one year update, but I really don't want to forget anything, so I know I need to get back on the blogging train. Caroline has changed so much since her birthday and we are definitely living with a full blown toddler and loving it! She is so sweet, fun, serious, goofy, talkative, loving, and so much more! On more than one occasion in the past couple of months we've been told "she is just a magnet" or "something about her must be really sweet, because kids just gravitate towards her" and these words are so true. Every story time, music class, etc she finds a friend and I just love that! She is showing a bit more of her strong-willed personality lately and while I appreciate your determination and willpower, it can sometimes be a challenge. I have a feeling we may have our hands full in the coming months. Fortunately, for now, she is a great listener 99% of the time and really does try to follow directions and she rarely throws a fit, but man can she throw them when she does =) We are constantly blown away by how quickly she picks up on new things and how she seems to learn something new every day. We are super blessed by our sweet girl on a daily basis and are so happy to be her parents!

15-month stats:
           Weight- 20lbs (30%)
            Height- 32" _(85%)
          

Sleeping- We are currently battling a double ear infection that has been lingering for about a month (after a cold), so sleeping has been better. She is now going to bed a bit later because she was getting into a fun little habit of waking up around 4/4:30 and staying awake for the day. So  now she goes to bed around 7:30/8 and is up between 5:30/6:30. She is still taking 2 naps but some days only one, I'm sure we aren't going to hold on to the morning nap much longer.

Eating- The kid eats like a champ. I'm totally going to brag now because when she enters her picky phase, I'll look back on these healthy eating days with fondness. She will eat just about anything you put in front of her. Of course all the toddler favorites (macaroni and cheese, spaghetti, grilled cheese, pb &j, gold fish, etc), but she typically eats what we are having and some recent favorites off of the usual toddler menu have been grilled salmon, asparagus, baked eggplant, whole wheat turkey wrap with spinach and ranch, peppers, seawead, kale smoothies, black bean and quinoa burgers and more. I love that she is willing to try just about anything. The only things she still has no interest in are green beans and eggs- I can handle that. She is getting a bit less of an appetite and will sometimes skip a meal all together and may or may not make up for it at the next meal, but generally does the next day. I'm not really a fan of forcing the "clean plate club" so I figure if she is hungry she will eat and if not, then she won't starve. Another big one in this department is that she is completely weaned! We finished a few days before she turned 15-months. She really didn't care and only asked for it one day (while she was getting a cold) and I did not refuse her but she ended up not really caring about it and moving on and that was that. It was bittersweet for me, I felt like this was one last thing holding on to a true baby, but I am glad to be a bit more 'free'.

Milestones/New Tricks/Randoms-

• C's language is really starting to pick up. She has about 30-40 individual words that she uses regularly/can say when object is seen. 
• She knows a ton of body parts and really showed off during her 15-month-checkup. At this age they should know 1-3 and she knows 20!! (Head, hair, ear, eye, mouth, teeth, tongue, nose, chin, neck, back, leg, knee, tummy, belly button, hand, finger, thumb, foot, toes) ..the ped was impressed and so are we =)
• Knows the motions to about 5 different songs ("Itsy Bitsy Spider", "Glasses Song", "Happy and You Know It", "Wheels on the Bus", "Jellyfish song")   and will do them pretty much on time with the song...it's adorable.
• LOVES to play outside and cries when we have to come in.
• Can run like a mad woman
• Loves to feed the dogs and has taken this on as her new career in life lol
• Loves to run around naked before bath...although we did have a peeing incident haha
• CONSTANTLY plays with a baby and is really into feeding them and wrapping them up in blankets and singing to them...SO stinking cute! She talks in a very high sweet voice "Hi baby! HI!!!!"

A few things I hope to get on video and that I do not forget:

• She will say "Mama. Ma. MaaaaaaMaaaaa?" Me: Yes? C:"wjdsmvklse, skdfjksnefs?" (Always very serious, and she knows exactly what she is saying) Me: Really?! Thank you for telling me! C: "Otay"...seriosuly. I LOVE this.
• When she here the garage door open in the afternoon her face lights up and she gets  a huge smile and yells DAAADAAA!!!! Melts.my.heart.
• She gives the best hugs and kisses on the planet

Video and Pics-

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One Year!!!

Well, we have a ONE-year-old!! I absolutely cannot believe it! I'm almost a full week behind posting this, but it still has not sunk in that we have a toddler! Word could not possibly describe how amazing this year has been and how much joy Caroline brings to our lives on a daily basis. She is the sweetest, silliest, smartest, and most beautiful one-year-old I know...perhaps I'm a bit biased =) Caroline is growing and showing off new tricks every day! Of course, every parent thinks their child is brilliant, however, I was just slightly proud when the doctor went on and on about all of her skills =) We are over the moon in love with our girl!

Sleeping:
This month has been SOO much better! She is only getting up once, around 4-5am and then going back down until around 6:30/7a. I'll take it!! Her naps are her typical 30ish minutes...oh well, just more time to play =)

Eating:
Still loves to eat! She has also become a little bird that likes to come steal your food if you are eating something without her...even if she JUST ate. Her favorites are any kind of fruit, peas, broccoli, and yogurt. She is still nursing and I'm not sure yet when we will stop.

Stats:
Long and lean!
Weight- 18.8lbs (30%- and actually down from last month, but she was undressed this time so who knows)
Height- 30" (80%)
Head circumference- I don't remember but I do know that it's 94th percentile!!! BIG HEAD lol (She gets it honest from both parents haha)

Milestones/New tricks: aka time to totally brag, so you can skip if you want, but I want to remember this!
Caroline has really picked up in her communication skills this month! I feel like she says a new word every day. Her current words are:
   Mama, dada, uh-oh, diaper (di-purrrr lol), that (dat), all done (ah-duh), Jack, and ball
She has really started signing a lot more, recently. Her signing words are:
  All done, eat, more, please, and milk.

 She has picked up on more body parts this month, which is what the pediatrician was most impressed with and couldn't believe how many she knew. She knows and will point to:
   Head, hair, ears, eyes, mouth, teeth, tummy, foot and sometimes her knee and nose (those two are hit or miss lol)

 She has become super loving and will come and randomly give us hugs and kisses or will hug on her baby doll and stuffed animals. It is ADORABLE!

Caroline's favorite thing to do by far is read. The child will sit and read with you f.o.r.e.v.e.r! Which I am not complaining at all, I LOVE it and hope that she always has a love for reading. This month she has gotten really good at going to find specific books you ask for. She can do this for about 3-4 different books but I only got one on video because we stopped to read it, but seriously, for a one-year-old I thought this was pretty smart!

11 Months...

 What?! I feel like I JUST sat down to write up her 10-month post! I just refuse to believe we will have a one-year-old in a month. SLOW DOWN TIME! However, this month has be so awesome. We've had a few rough patches while cutting 4 (!) new teeth, two of which were molars(!!!), but other than that this has been a huge month in growth and development. Caroline is so much fun and just a complete joy to be around. This morning dropping her off at the church nursery they said "Oh, good it's Caroline! She's our easy baby!" and then picking her up another woman said "She is just so much fun and such a chill baby!" They couldn't be more right. We are so in love =)




Sleeping:
Eh. It's getting better. We had a ROUGH few weeks of getting back up 3-5 times minimum a night and that was no fun. It also made me so thankful that that isn't our norm anymore! We were planning on cutting a nap this month because she has really been fighting her morning nap, but I still think she needs that 20-30mins to get her to her afternoon nap. SO perhaps one nap only is in store for us soon. For most this is a big deal, but when your kids hardly naps in the first place, it's really no biggie lol.

Eating:
Still a great eater! She is still nursing 4 times a day and eat 3 solid meals and a snack or two thrown in the mix. She will eat most anything but really does not like green beans unless they are pureed and hates oatmeal. Her favorites are basically any fruit, peas, and avocado.

Stats:
Weight- 18lb 14oz WOOHOO!
Height- Not sure

Milestones/New Tricks:
 This has been a huge month in development for Caroline. She is walking everywhere (kinda sad), talking/babbling up a storm, and really showing a lot of cognitive skills that makes this teacher/mommy so happy =) It is so incredible to watch her learn something new and show off her new skills every day! I L.O.V.E it!!

• Walking all the time
• Can point to 4 body parts- Head, ear, tummy, and foot (The 'norm' at the 15 month check up is 1-3...so I'm pretty pumped that she does this so well-when she wants too lol- at 11 months)
• Follows directions pretty well (Can you bring that to mommy? Put it in the box, Sit down please, Can you find the..." etc. Random story with this one- last night I asked her to go find the giraffe, she walked across the room to her Noah's Ark, picked out the giraffe from all the animals and brought it to me. We cheered and went crazy. Then I asked her to go find the zebra. She walked back to the ark, picked out the zebra and brought it back...you would have thought she just solved a trig problem! We flipped out! Needless to say...we'll totally be those parents.
• She has picked up two more signs so  she now signs: All done, more, and milk. The other day she walked over to me and started signing milk. How cool that she is starting to really communicate with! 
  

 Randoms:

• Has started chasing the dogs. She loves it, they don't particularly like it, but they tolerate it haha.
• She has started telling us big stories in her own little language and apparently she's a comedian because she always laughs after she's done talking.
• She points.to.everything! "Dat?" is her favorite thing to say.
• LOVES to dance and will shake her booty to any tune!
• She's starting to show a more outgoing side, and music time she is typically right out in the center with all the big kids and just is so proud of herself that she just stands there and dances and smiles the whole time. She will also walk up to others and give a cute grin then come and find me.
• No one makes her laugh and smile like her daddy!