April 8, 2018

2 Months of Wrennox

3/29/18





Hi girls, 

You're 2 months old and time has been flying by. Life with you is a little busy. You are both growing and filling out.  When you were born, your dad kept saying "They don't have butts!" And he was right; you really didn't have any butt cheeks to speak of, but now your butts are filling out and you're both into size 1 diapers.

You are both still exclusively breastfeeding and are doing well. Lennox sometimes get frustrated before latching and I have to calm you before you can successfully start to eat. We have your 2 month appointment soon and hopefully the doctor will be happy with your weight gain.

You have gone through your first mental leap and you're starting to take in more about the world around you, but most exciting you're giving us smiles now. As I write this, you're both wide awake and looking around.  You don't try to talk too much but you both occasionally let out contented coos and they're such sweet sounds.

You two don't sleep enough. You have started sleeping for a longer period at the beginning of the night, but I think the longest I've been able to sleep since you were born has been about four and a half hours. Once! Then after that long chunk of sleep, you wake up anywhere between one and a half to three hours after your last feeding. The lack of sleep is definitely taking it's toll on my memory. I have been very forgetful. I don't wake your dad up every time you feed, but he's still not getting enough sleep either. 

You're both a little more fussy than you were as newborns, so sometimes the daily juggle of keeping you babies happy is a little more difficult. Sometimes I feel like I'm playing binky whack-a-mole as I try to put them back in your mouths as fast as you spit them out. You're still lousy binky suckers. I can now tell you apart just by your cries and fusses though. You've also been super gassy and just toot seemingly all the time. I still find it funny, and at least giggle a little to myself even when it's the middle of the night and you are just letting them rip. Your poop schedule has changed to once every 6-10 days on average (and yes we ask the doctor about it every time we go in, but she says it's normal). 

I love my one-on-one time with each of you kissing your cheeks, rubbing noses, and coaxing smiles out of you. I am glad I have been able to nurse both of you because I think it gives us mandatory one-on-one time and I am so thankful for it! We've had a lot of visitors this month coming to stay and help and meet you girls. I am still having fun and feeling confident taking care of you both even when there's nobody else around to help out. I even took you both and your sister, Hazel, to the park one morning  on our first girls' outing just the 4 of us. 

Your sister doesn't like to hold you very much, but she does like to snuggle you, touch you, and give you "mooches." She gets so excited when she's looking at you and you blink... She'll say, "She's winking at me!!!" She still can't tell you apart, but your dad rarely calls you by the wrong name anymore. Your dad is also becoming more fond of you too. Of course he has loved you from the beginning, but I think it's been harder for him to bond than it has been for me. The lack of sleep is getting to him, but the smiles make up for it at least a little bit. 

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Lennox,

You weigh 8.4lbs and can still fit in some newborn onesies and starting to fit into 0-3 month clothes.

You are still full of expressions but now you add your smile in frequently. I love your little sweet grin. You just look a little goofy and mischievous when it's on your face. Your forehead wrinkles are diminishing as your face fills out, and it breaks my heart to see them disappearing, but you'll probably be glad that you won't have adolescent wrinkle lines.

You love to stretch and kick your feet. You're still spitting up a lot, but your blowouts have calmed down quite a bit. You love to turn your head upward to see my face when I snuggle you. I could gaze at your bright blue eyes all day. You don't like tummy time very much, and when you get mad your little face turns red like a tomato. 

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Wren,

You are 10lbs. and growing out of some of the newborn clothes, fitting 0-3 month clothes well.

Every time I unwrap you, you stretch out, and I think you grow a little bit more each time. Your eyes are still a dark bluish-gray, and I'm still not sure what color they're going to end up. You are losing your hair, but you have a thick strip down the middle of your head kind of like a mohawk and it's still thick in the back except for a bald circle. You're getting great little leg and arm rolls, a double chin, and cheeks like your big sister... They make me so proud! I really think you are aptly named because when you are looking around with your head bobbing and your little mouth agape you remind me so much of an adorable baby bird. 

You like to blow spit bubbles when you're content in your bouncer. You seem to like tummy time although it's not always very productive for you because instead of using your muscles to lift your head, a lot of times you just lay down and take a nap. You are a snuggler and I love to lay with you snuggled into my chest napping. 

--

We're settling into this life of a family of 5. More sleep and fewer outside responsibilities would make it a little better, but I think this spring and summer are going to be a lot of fun. We have a lot planned, so I know time is going to pass way too quickly. I'm going to try not to blink!

Love you,
Momma































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April 2, 2018

3 years of Hazel

Dear Hazel,

Three whole years you've made us parents. In the past year you have changed immensely. It is the year you truly changed from a baby to a kid in my eyes.  

You are all of the threes right now... weighing 33 pounds and measuring 3 feet 3 inches tall.  You wear a size 3T or 4T clothing. You're tall and thin, but you still have a giant noggin so you definitely need clothes with a big enough head hole. 

I've been looking back at old videos a lot lately and one year ago you were speaking but not conversational yet. We were getting ready to move and you would say "Zona, cited!" about coming to Arizona. Now you can carry on an entire conversation about Arizona, or space and gravity, or making up your own language, or pretending to be a teacher reading us books, and telling us stories. There's no end to your energy and your talkative streaks. 

Ever since your 2nd birthday you've liked to pretend like it was someone's birthday and sing to them, but this year you refused to let an of us sing to you, silly girl. 

You go through lots of phases of what you like to play with. Some days it's building with your Legos or blocks, other days it's dancing or pretending to do all sorts of gymnastic flips. You went through a phase where you just liked to cut up pieces of paper into tiny pieces and hand them out. There was also a puzzle phase where you got good at puzzles geared toward 6+. You seem very intelligent for your age, but I am pretty biased. 

You're not the pickiest eater, but you do have some strange tastes and your tastes seem to change very frequently. You may like something one day and not like it the next and vice versa. You only like to eat the stems of your broccoli which is very, very odd, but we will happily eat the tops for you. You also love cheese just like your momma. You also love yogurt and fruit and of course your milk too. 

You now sleep in a big girl bed which is a mattress on the floor. Your room is upstairs from ours and you're very good about staying in your room at night. Just recently, you stopped wearing diapers overnight just like a true big kid. 

Your pronunciation isn't perfect yet, and I love the way you say certain words. Penguin is "poinguin" and parachute is "hadachute." You have trouble pronouncing your L's so they come out as Y's like when you say Lennox's name you say "Yennox." Also S's can be tricky. I LOVE when you say "smooch," you'll say, "I just want to give her a mooch!" and drop the S completely.  

You frequently have messy hair and your boots on the wrong feet, but you're becoming so independent, the look is very you. You are such a big sweetie and would say the most motherly things to me while I was pregnant. Things like, "It's okay, Momma. I'll take care of you." or "I'll help you." I would wish you, "Have a good day at school!" and you'd say, "Have a good day staying home!" because you knew I'd probably be on the couch all day. You would also tell me my stomach looked like a watermelon. Now that they've arrived, you are so sweet to your baby sisters. We were very worried what bringing them into our family would do to your daily life  but you have fully embraced them, and they are so lucky to have a big sister like you. 

You love learning at school and playing with your friends. You like to pretend to be your teachers, Ms. Erin and Ms. Roxy when you play at home. We love hearing about what you did at school and what you learned even though your answers are not always a reliable representation of reality. Your school spent a week themed on penguins. You told us over dinner that penguins don't have knees. I think it was from a song you learned. Your dad looked it up and found out that penguins DO in fact have knees, they are just concealed under their blubber. He showed you a picture of their skeleton, and has been trying to convince you to go back to school and challenge your teachers on it. But so far you haven't done it. Instead you sometimes challenge your dad saying, "See, poinguins waddle. They DON'T have knees!" He retaliates with, "Can you waddle? - Yes - Do you have knees?" It's really entertaining to watch you two go back and forth about it. 

We love you so much. Beyond words. But you have definitely been challenging this year. You are going through toddlerhood; figuring out the world. So you've started to get some attitude and test your boundaries which includes not listening, throwing tantrums, and even occasionally taking a swipe at me when you're feeling totally frustrated. It's been hard teaching you what is appropriate and not, and coming up with the parenting style for you. We try to implement natural consequences. Sometimes we used timeouts, and sometimes we have to take toys away as consequences for your actions. However, overall you are such a great kid..

You are precocious, funny, and you say the greatest things that keep me and your dad constantly giggling and amazed. We are so thankful for you, and love you so much, kid!


love love love,
Momma 




And now a trip through Hazel's 3rd year,,,













































































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