He is getting a little big for this bouncy seat...
Nighttime sleep – For the last week, Nolan has slept from 7:30pm – 6:30 or 7am almost every night! I’m hoping it is not a fluke, because I love getting a full nights rest.
Naps – Nolan takes 3 naps (one about 8:30 or 9:00am, one at 12:00 or 12:30, and one at 3:30 or 4). He is taking longer naps too!! He still has a 30 minute one every now and again, but most are over an hour now. He has also been so good to go to sleep without crying for the past few weeks. A few times he has fussed (or cried for babysitters…mama’s boy), but for the most part, I rock him for a minute or two, give him his pacifier, and put him in bed and he rolls over and falls asleep. This is a big reliever on my stress level.
December 15th update: I have learned to never ever proclaim that your baby is sleeping through the night, taking good naps, and not fussing before napping. The last two days, Nolan has woken up at night, taken short naps, and cried before almost every nap…and one nap he just wouldn’t take at all.I guess the joke’s on me!
Temperament – Nolan is a mama’s boy! He loves to be with me, and if I set him down or give him to someone else, most of the time he fusses until he is back in my arms. It is cute to have a little cuddler for me, but it would be nice if he could be in Zac’s arms or my parents arms and not always be searching for me.
Milestones – He is sitting! He started sitting up alone on Thanksgiving Day, and now likes to sit and play with toys (as long as I am in eyesight). And by “play with”, I mean chew on. He is also starting to roll over both ways when I set him on his tummy, so that he can see me and Addie, wherever we are. He is grabbing at EVERYTHING. If I pick up something, he wants to hold it. If I get a drink of water, he reaches for it until I let him have a sip. And he is playing with the toy on his high chair now. Finally, toys are starting to keep his attention! I love to watch his little eyes focus on something and imagine what he is thinking.
Sitting next to the Christmas tree
Nursing – He nurses 4 or 5 times per day, for about 10-15 minutes. Although he gets distracted SO easily, that sometimes it takes longer since he is looking around the room trying to see what is going on. It got so bad over Thanksgiving that I decided I was done nursing, and I was going to pump and bottle-feed from now on. That lasted 2 days. First, because it took SO much time to pump, feed from bottle, wash pump, wash bottles, feed solids, etc. I felt like I was feeding and washing bottles all day. And I don’t produce a ton of milk either, so I had to pump EVERY time he ate, and supplement a few ounces of formula if I didn’t get enough milk for him. Also, after the second day of bottles-only, he rebelled. He just wouldn’t drink from them anymore. He just cried and cried if I tried to feed him a bottle. So I gave in and went back to nursing. He is much happier now:)
Solid Foods- He is a champion eater. Nolan LOVES to eat. Everything I set before him, he will eat (except avocados, we tried them again this week and he was NOT convinced). He eats twice a day, at lunch and dinner time. He has started grabbing at the spoon, wanted to feed himself. But of course he has zero dexterity, so it ends up getting all over him. I am probably going to start him on plain cheerios or puffs soon, since he is so interested in feeding himself. I’m not sure if he’ll be able to get it to his mouth, but it will be fun to see him try.
Likes and Dislikes – Now that Nolan is sitting, it seems like there is so much more for him to play with. He still LOVES to chew on teething rings, baby keys, books, etc. Everything becomes food in his hands. He likes jumping and playing in his exersaucer. He likes the bath, I think. He spends most of his time in the bath kicking his legs furiously, with the most serious expression on his face. It is pretty hilarious actually. He also likes giving hugs, which unfortunately includes yanking on my hair and smashing his face into mine. He likes being read to, although again he tries to grab and eat the book. He DISLIKES being away from mommy, not getting fed soon enough, and sleeping at church (he is now incapable of falling asleep in our arms although Zac can sometimes swing him to sleep in his car seat:)
So Andrea and I have been talking about taking photos of the kids for a long time but haven’t ever gotten around to it. Today I didn’t have very many church meetings so I set up the backdrop and started taking some photos. I did a little Lightroom editing but really only to make the background fade to a dark black and do some little retouching to scrapes and stuff. Here’s what we came up with and maybe you’ll agree that we need to make more time to do this in the future because we have really cute kids (IMHO).
Nighttime Sleep – Nolan goes to sleep at 7:30ish and wakes up around 4 to eat, then sleeps until about 7:30am. Occasionally he will sleep all night, and wake up around 7:00am.
Naps – He takes 3 or 4 naps per day STILL. He is a catnapper, and I’ve decided there is nothing I can do to change it. His average nap is about 45 minutes. Some are 30 minutes, and some are an hour and a half. We’ll see if he ever consolidates his sleep during the day:)
Temperament – Nolan has been a little grumpier lately. I’m not sure if it is teething (I can’t find any buds yet), separation anxiety (he is a major Momma’s boy right now), or sleep deprivation, but he is starting to make his preferences known. He would like to be held by Mom all day long, please.
Playing in the exersaucer
Likes and Dislikes – He LIKES playing in his exersaucer, chewing on teething rings, sticking his tongue out, drooling, sleeping on his tummy, having us blow raspberries on his tummy, laughing at Addie being silly, and eating solid food, and standing up. His laugh is awesome. It sounds like a car screeching to a halt. I’ll post a video. He DISLIKES being away from Mom, drinking from a bottle, sitting, and being left to play with toys all by himself.
Milestones – Sleeping through the night is happening more often (4 days in a row after his 6 month bday), yay! He is not yet rolling both ways or sitting up, but he is standing with help ALL the time. I think he may walk before he rolls over:)
Watching a movie together
Eating – This kid LOVES to eat. He nurses about 5 times a day (every 3.5 hours or so), and eats solids twice a day. He has loved everything he has tried (except avocados). He eats sweet potatoes, peaches, applesauce, rice cereal, and bananas.
Addie turned 3 last week, and I thought I would do a quick update on what she is into these days. I can’t believe I have a 3 year old, but she continues to get more fun at each stage, so I am excited for what 3 will bring.
INTERESTS
Her favorite games to play are “Tag you’re it”, Hide and seek, and pretending. She constantly asks me if I want to play tag you’re it. I try to play with her as often as I can…but sometimes I wish Nolan were a little older so he could play this with her too:) She got a dollhouse from grandma for her birthday, and she has been playing “house” with it non-stop. She uses the little people that came with it, but she also uses some princesses (Cinderella, Belle and Aurora), some Toy Story figures, and some barbie dolls as guests. There is also a pet kitty that they love to share. She asks Zac and I to play with her sometimes, but sometimes she will just want to play alone. It is so funny to listen to her play alone, because Disney movie lines or song lyrics will come out pretty often. For example “This is the Best…Day…Ever!” (Tangled). She also likes to have tea parties and “order food” from any structure that has a window.
She loves to play with Nolan, and he laughs hysterically at her when she makes funny faces and noises at him. It is the best thing about having two kids so far. I absolutely love to see them laugh together. She blows raspberries on his tummy, hugs him ALL the time, lays with him on the floor as he plays in his play mat, comforts him when he cries (“its okay Nolan, Mommy will get you your milk,” then to me she says “Mommy, Nolan needs his milk”), and introduces him to everyone we meet (“This is my baby brother. His name is Nolan”) whether they have asked or not:)
ACTIVITIES
She is going to preschool one day a week, and is loving it! We are doing a co-op, so I get to teach every 5 weeks, which is fun. She is also taking a dance class that she loves as well. She loves to dance and sing at home, and always tells me the songs she danced to after each class (although she rarely shows me what dance steps she learned). She just got her pretty dance costume last week, and is excited to wear it for her recital!
SLEEP
She still takes a nap most days for about an hour and a half. Occasionally she will not take one, but I just have her “read” in her bed if she refuses to sleep. She does okay if she skips a nap, but if she goes two days without a nap, she is cranky! She goes to bed at night at 7:30 and usually sleeps until about 6:45 or 7am. She gets a little cuddle time in the mornings with us before we are ready to get out of bed. I love this time of day, the only time of day when she is calm and will snuggle.
TEMPERAMENT
Speaking of calm, Addie is not. She is still a high-energy, fiery little girl. Her attitude catches me off guard sometimes (“Mommy, I am NOT going to sleep tonight” accompanied by the angry face). Usually if I ignore it she will back down, but if I fight her, she gets STUBBORN. The 2 year old tantrums are declining, but her stubbornness is not.I wonder if this means she will be a difficult teenager:) On the other hand, she is also a sweet, nurturing and empathetic little girl. She notices when I am upset, and tries to comfort me. When saying her prayers, she always prays for others, and has recently been praying for Nolan to not be sad (he has been a bit grumpy lately). After receiving her birthday gifts, she was very good to hug and thank each of her friends for their gifts. And she has thanked grandma many, many times over for the playhouse.
Oh, and she is bossy. She tells everyone what to do, including me. She tells me how I should play with her, tells me to go to time-out, tells me not to say potty words (like “Uh oh, Nolan has a stinky diaper”), tells me “its okay mom, its gonna be fine, its okay” when she thinks I’m going to get her in trouble. I’m pretty sure this is normal for an oldest girl (based on talking to other moms), but it is pretty funny.
FEARS
She has recently developed some random fears, like fear of bugs, fear of thunder (but I have convinced her that “when we are inside the house, we are safe”), sometimes a fear of the dark, fear of bad guys in movies (why do children’s movies have such scary bad guys?) Sometimes I think she says she is afraid to get attention, but I have decided that is not such a bad thing. I’m sure they will pass.
POTTY TRAINING
Addie potty trained herself in July, and has been fairly accident free since then. She went through a little period of time where she had more accidents, but we sat down and had a talk about whether she needed to go back to diapers or continue to use her princess panties. She chose princess panties, and she has had only one accident since then (at night). She even wipes herself and usually remembers to flush and wash her hands:)
Just for reference, she is 38” tall and 33 lbs. She is a good eater, and is not too picky for a 3 year old. She loves PB&J sandwiches, crackers and cheese, applesauce, yogurt, strawberries, apples, pears, broccoli, deli meat (but not other types of meat), grated cheese, sliced cheese, blocks of cheese (do you get the picture?), fruit snacks, and milk. She eats other things too, but these are the things I can think of that she LOVES and asks for repeatedly.
