might still be a bit too small...
(this was about 2 weeks ago so i'll have to try again...he's growing so fast!)
Thursday, August 25, 2011
pime out
we are trying Time Outs around here as a consistent discipline strategy to see how it works for sierra. sometimes it feels like we make progress and sometimes it doesn't phase her in the least. she often will put herself there or stand there happily with no apparent sign of remorse.
this day, she decided to lay down the law herself...
...and Goo got the time out. this is the same spot that sierra goes to for time out. she put him in there saying "pime out Goo, pime out. have to yisten to mommy". not listening to mommy is the main reason she ends up there too.
maybe this means she understands?!
this day, she decided to lay down the law herself...
maybe this means she understands?!
wake up baby reid!
sierra LOVES to help me get reid when his nap is over or when he wakes up. she runs over to him, gets in his face and says (yells) "heeeey baby reid, wake up baby reid!". poor guy is always quite startled.
she loves helping unwrap his swaddle and often tries to pick him up, "puhm here baby reid, puhm here" (come here)
these pictures are a little old, but you can see how it goes...
getting down at his level to talk to him
she loves helping unwrap his swaddle and often tries to pick him up, "puhm here baby reid, puhm here" (come here)
these pictures are a little old, but you can see how it goes...
wrapping him back up
Reid's friends
such a sweet sister to give reid some friends to play with
but he's not too sure how he feels about having to share his play mat...
painting
i've been meaning to let sierra try paints for a while now, but just hadn't gotten around to it. i think the pictures speak for themselves. let me just say that i wasn't able to supervise as much as i would have preferred because reid was having trouble napping and i was in and out of the room a lot...but boy did she have a blast! you'll see...
she started out so well...this was all while i was still sitting next to her...
...dipping one color at a time, rinsing the brush in between...
...then she discovered a much faster way - skip the rinsing, use both brushes at the same time and mix colors!
what a beautiful brown! i ended up just throwing the paint away...what little was left of it! i just laughed and thought 'not how i would have done it, but oh well, she had fun'
"uh oh, uh oh"
"dirty hands, clean it, clean it"
jealousy
i am sooo thankful that since day 1 sierra has loved, and still loves her baby brother. at first she was just really clingy with me and then that went away.
we have just recently entered into a jealous phase. she has meltdowns and it is so sad because we know it's just so hard for her to understand and process all these changes in her life. it's hard to know how to handle these situations because tantrums are not ok, but she's still too young to reason with and expect to control her emotions.
Goo (her beloved bear/best friend) has become even more loved during this time. while he is not allowed to leave the house, he can be found in her arms or by her side at pretty much every moment we're home. she bounces him in the bouncer, feeds him in the highchair, changes his diaper, changes his clothes a hundred times a day, puts him on the potty, swings him in the swing, feeds him bottles, swaddles him, etc, etc. she talks to him and takes care of him and it is precious.
...until...she gets in a jealous moment. it most often happens when i am holding reid and i say out loud "i'm going to put reid in the __________". no matter where it is, she grabs Goo and runs ahead of me as fast as she can to put Goo in the spot that i said baby reid was going to. then she stands there guarding him as i approach.
i always give her a chance first to take Goo out - this doesn't work, she says "no" and doesn't do it. so then i try to explain that right now it's baby reid's turn and Goo can have a turn next. still doesn't work. i offer her other suggestions of what Goo can do instead. still doesn't work. then i give her a warning because she is not listening or obeying what mommy's asking her to do. it ends in a time out for direct disobedience. but we repeat this over and over and it isn't working. the other day i just moved Goo to the side and put reid next to him and said they could share the swing. she didn't like that so she just took Goo out and went to do something else. maybe this will keep working? (any advice here would be great)
she is also possessive of ALL of her things (and reid's) when other babies come over. she doesn't seem to mind when older kids are here, but with babies she does not want them anywhere near her stuff. i think this somehow has to do with jealousy of having a baby in the house too. or maybe she is starting to understand age hierarchy.
ok, i know we'll all get through this and we pray that she and reid grow to be best buds. i pray all the time for her little heart to know and trust how much we love her, to never doubt that. but this is a picture of some of the not so cute stuff that goes on around here these days.
we have just recently entered into a jealous phase. she has meltdowns and it is so sad because we know it's just so hard for her to understand and process all these changes in her life. it's hard to know how to handle these situations because tantrums are not ok, but she's still too young to reason with and expect to control her emotions.
Goo (her beloved bear/best friend) has become even more loved during this time. while he is not allowed to leave the house, he can be found in her arms or by her side at pretty much every moment we're home. she bounces him in the bouncer, feeds him in the highchair, changes his diaper, changes his clothes a hundred times a day, puts him on the potty, swings him in the swing, feeds him bottles, swaddles him, etc, etc. she talks to him and takes care of him and it is precious.
...until...she gets in a jealous moment. it most often happens when i am holding reid and i say out loud "i'm going to put reid in the __________". no matter where it is, she grabs Goo and runs ahead of me as fast as she can to put Goo in the spot that i said baby reid was going to. then she stands there guarding him as i approach.
i always give her a chance first to take Goo out - this doesn't work, she says "no" and doesn't do it. so then i try to explain that right now it's baby reid's turn and Goo can have a turn next. still doesn't work. i offer her other suggestions of what Goo can do instead. still doesn't work. then i give her a warning because she is not listening or obeying what mommy's asking her to do. it ends in a time out for direct disobedience. but we repeat this over and over and it isn't working. the other day i just moved Goo to the side and put reid next to him and said they could share the swing. she didn't like that so she just took Goo out and went to do something else. maybe this will keep working? (any advice here would be great)
she is also possessive of ALL of her things (and reid's) when other babies come over. she doesn't seem to mind when older kids are here, but with babies she does not want them anywhere near her stuff. i think this somehow has to do with jealousy of having a baby in the house too. or maybe she is starting to understand age hierarchy.
ok, i know we'll all get through this and we pray that she and reid grow to be best buds. i pray all the time for her little heart to know and trust how much we love her, to never doubt that. but this is a picture of some of the not so cute stuff that goes on around here these days.
the little loves his big
i've always heard how the younger siblings always look up to their big siblings and want to copy/do everything they do.
i caught the first glimpse of that earlier this week. reid has really started to watch sierra and i can already tell that he adores her! any time she gets close and especially when she gets in his face (often a little too close for my comfort) to talk to him, he just lights up!! he smiles so big and has almost started giggling. it melts this mommy's heart - what joy :)
this is often how sierra talks in her baby talk voice to reid:
"yook baby reid! sierra ______ " (fill in the blank with whatever she's doing)
"hiii baby baby baby"
"awww, baby so tute"
"hey baby reid, whatcha doin baby reid?"
"why cryin baby reid? be happy"
i pray they become best friends :)
i caught the first glimpse of that earlier this week. reid has really started to watch sierra and i can already tell that he adores her! any time she gets close and especially when she gets in his face (often a little too close for my comfort) to talk to him, he just lights up!! he smiles so big and has almost started giggling. it melts this mommy's heart - what joy :)
this is often how sierra talks in her baby talk voice to reid:
"yook baby reid! sierra ______ " (fill in the blank with whatever she's doing)
"hiii baby baby baby"
"awww, baby so tute"
"hey baby reid, whatcha doin baby reid?"
"why cryin baby reid? be happy"
i pray they become best friends :)
Sierra's 1st day of "school"
yesterday was sierra's first day of Mother's Day Out!
here she is right before getting in the car to head to school:
here she is right before getting in the car to head to school:
examining her new penguin backpack (which she thought was a puppy when i first gave it to her)
this is the best i could get...she wouldn't stand still and wouldn't wear her backpack for a photo
The drop off went well - the only tears were mine! i new i would be sad to drop her off but i'm so thankful that she did not cry because that would have made it even harder for me!! she was great. we walked up to the classroom and she started to open the door to go right in. i told her we had to wait for the teacher to come to the door and as soon as sierra saw her she said "mommy coming too", almost as a question because she was starting to get a little nervous. when i told her that i would be back soon to pick her up she got a little sad but the teacher gave her a hug and picked her up and she was fine - no tears! i knew she would love it, but it's hard to drop her off and walk away...she's my baby! so then i treated myself to a latte and a nap :)
the report is that she did great! she did NOT however take a nap, but did lay on her mat quietly like they asked. apparently only 4 of the 10 kids napped. the teacher assured me that she'll get used to it and was so close to falling asleep that surely she will soon. YES, PLEASE is all i have to say because the poor child was beyond exhausted and s-u-p-e-r cranky the rest of the day. i hope her little body adjusts to this change soon.
i have been praying for sierra and her teachers for a while now and i am so thankful that the first day was smooth (minus the napping). i think she is really going to enjoy this year!
Friday, August 19, 2011
I love you Mommy
Earlier this week Sierra was sitting in my lap and we were reading a book before naptime.
In the middle of reading, she tilted her head back and looked up at me with those big sweet brown eyes. I kissed her forehead and then she said it, in the sweetest way, all on her own...
" I wuv you Mommy"
Talk about melting my heart and wanting to freeze that moment forever!!!! It's the first time she's said it without any prompting or me saying it first.
Sweet sweet girl and such a special moment.
:)
In the middle of reading, she tilted her head back and looked up at me with those big sweet brown eyes. I kissed her forehead and then she said it, in the sweetest way, all on her own...
" I wuv you Mommy"
Talk about melting my heart and wanting to freeze that moment forever!!!! It's the first time she's said it without any prompting or me saying it first.
Sweet sweet girl and such a special moment.
:)
Monday, August 15, 2011
Sierra speak
i'm so behind on this one. so many cute and funny things to note...
* shaking her head while saying "i doughn yike it" is the most common phrase around here right now. sierra has discovered how to share her very strong opinions about everything - food, clothes, shoes, music in the car, songs we sing, books we read, games, pretty much anything.
* when she picks up a phone (toy or real) and pretends to talk on it, she answers it "Yo...Yo...Yo, how are you?". you have to hear it in person to appreciate it bc the "yo, yo, yo" are in this deep voice and the "how are you" changes to a sweet high pitch voice. it's hilarious
* pronouns. she is getting really good with her pronouns but still has some mixed up. probably her 2nd most common phrase is "mommy help you", meaning she wants mommy to help her. but i know why it's confusing - when she needs help, i say "can I help you?" so she repeats it "yeah, mommy help you". i'm having a hard time figuring out how to teach her this one!
* some of my favorite mispronounced words of hers right now:
enanant (elephant)
bee-nana (banana)
mow-ah (more - think strong foreign accent, but we're not sure from where!)
samich (sandwich)
auntie money (auntie meli - but in the last couple of days, it's starting to sound more like "meh-yi")
I huuungy (hungry, dramatically said)
* i'm so sad that she no longer calls herself "sessah". she has improved to "siewa", which almost sounds correct. it just shows that she's growing up :(
* at dinner if kyle and i are having a conversation with eachother, she repeats as much of what we say as she can. sometimes it's the last few words of every sentence. sometimes it's entire sentences. mostly she has no idea what she's saying, she is just repeating what she hears. it makes us laugh, which makes her laugh. she loves to be silly.
* she says "so tute" and "so piddy" all the time now. she'll lean her head to the side, smile and say with a sweet high pitch voice "baby ried so tute" or "that so piddy". one day i took a shower and changed clothes while she was napping. when i pulled her out of her crib she noticed i was wearing a different shirt. she pointed to my shirt and said "that so piddy". it's sometimes followed by "i like it". she mostly does it about clothes, shoes and babies. she is such a little girl, i love it :)
* we are definitely in a whiny stage right now. she makes whiny noises and she asks for things in a whiny voice. ugh. not pleasant. she is starting to understand now when we say "ask for it nicely, no whining". she repeats her request and rather than a whiny voice she asks in a deep, monotone robot-like voice. it's soooo funny! i have to try so hard not to laugh!! i praise her for not whining, but it's hilarious. it's as if she doesn't know how to use her normal sweet voice without whining so she uses this robotic computer-like voice. what a hoot
this is our spirited little girl! we love her so!
* shaking her head while saying "i doughn yike it" is the most common phrase around here right now. sierra has discovered how to share her very strong opinions about everything - food, clothes, shoes, music in the car, songs we sing, books we read, games, pretty much anything.
* when she picks up a phone (toy or real) and pretends to talk on it, she answers it "Yo...Yo...Yo, how are you?". you have to hear it in person to appreciate it bc the "yo, yo, yo" are in this deep voice and the "how are you" changes to a sweet high pitch voice. it's hilarious
* pronouns. she is getting really good with her pronouns but still has some mixed up. probably her 2nd most common phrase is "mommy help you", meaning she wants mommy to help her. but i know why it's confusing - when she needs help, i say "can I help you?" so she repeats it "yeah, mommy help you". i'm having a hard time figuring out how to teach her this one!
* some of my favorite mispronounced words of hers right now:
enanant (elephant)
bee-nana (banana)
mow-ah (more - think strong foreign accent, but we're not sure from where!)
samich (sandwich)
auntie money (auntie meli - but in the last couple of days, it's starting to sound more like "meh-yi")
I huuungy (hungry, dramatically said)
* i'm so sad that she no longer calls herself "sessah". she has improved to "siewa", which almost sounds correct. it just shows that she's growing up :(
* at dinner if kyle and i are having a conversation with eachother, she repeats as much of what we say as she can. sometimes it's the last few words of every sentence. sometimes it's entire sentences. mostly she has no idea what she's saying, she is just repeating what she hears. it makes us laugh, which makes her laugh. she loves to be silly.
* she says "so tute" and "so piddy" all the time now. she'll lean her head to the side, smile and say with a sweet high pitch voice "baby ried so tute" or "that so piddy". one day i took a shower and changed clothes while she was napping. when i pulled her out of her crib she noticed i was wearing a different shirt. she pointed to my shirt and said "that so piddy". it's sometimes followed by "i like it". she mostly does it about clothes, shoes and babies. she is such a little girl, i love it :)
* we are definitely in a whiny stage right now. she makes whiny noises and she asks for things in a whiny voice. ugh. not pleasant. she is starting to understand now when we say "ask for it nicely, no whining". she repeats her request and rather than a whiny voice she asks in a deep, monotone robot-like voice. it's soooo funny! i have to try so hard not to laugh!! i praise her for not whining, but it's hilarious. it's as if she doesn't know how to use her normal sweet voice without whining so she uses this robotic computer-like voice. what a hoot
this is our spirited little girl! we love her so!
Sunday, August 7, 2011
Reid is 2 months!
Wow, these 2 months have seemed to fly by. Everyone says it, but I have to agree that it goes much faster with the 2nd child - having an almost 2 year old at the same time keeps us so busy we don't even have time to count the days and weeks as they pass by! When Sierra was a newborn, I felt like I was counting the minutes and stressing about everything but this time around I'm just focusing on making sure that everyone gets through the day alive and well! haha, what a change :)
***if you're not interested in the details, scroll to the bottom for more pictures***
Here's a little bit about Reid at 2 months:
* started smiling at 6 weeks and loves to smile during and after his feedings. it melts our hearts
* he is a sleeper! we are still in awe over this because Sierra was such a non-sleeper. he naps after every feeding and I usually have to wake him up to eat again or he might just sleep all day! AND, at 6 weeks he started sleeping through the night, from 8:30/9pm until anywhere from 6-7:30am! he has had a few nights where he's woken up once in the 3 or 4 o'clock hour, but is still holding steady with long nights. it is AH-MAZING! and let me stress, that we certainly did not have it this good with our firstborn (who will remain nameless so as not to call her out) - she didn't sleep all the way through the night until 7 months!
* he is a SLOW eater - the lactation consultant called him lazy! the whole feeding process including burping and diaper changing takes about an hour. once that's over, he's usually only awake another 15-20 minutes before he's ready for a nap again. so his days are pretty much eat and sleep...oh and poop - he's good at that one too.
* he does NOT like dirty diapers. as soon as his diaper is dirty, he wants out of it. i certainly can't blame him! he won't eat anything if his diaper is dirty - a little high maintenance, yes. this too is different for us - Sierra didn't mind so much.
* he is doing a lot more cooing these days and has these funny little cat noises
* he has a natural mohawk - it's awesome
* everyone says he looks like his Daddy
* he rarely cries hard - only when he's really hungry and i'm taking too long to get to him (much harder with a demanding toddler around!). otherwise, he's not a big crier.
* we have resorted to the luxury of the swing for his naps. when he is getting tired, we swaddle him up and put him in the swing and it's like magic...he falls asleep and naps great there! i know we are spoiling him but it has really worked for us - this will definitely have to change sometime soon but we're too afraid to mess with what is working! a sleep prop - it's exactly what they tell you not to do! but at night we swaddle him and put him in the bassinet and he falls asleep on his own...and sleeps until morning...so all in all, i think he's doing alright!
* he is not a fan of the pacifier. i still try every now and then if he's awake and fussy but he makes this disgusted look and pushes it out over and over again. if you try too many times, it makes him mad. this was a shocker to me at first because of how much Sierra loved her paci (and still does! it is her comfort at nap/bedtime). i am very glad that Reid doesn't want a paci to fall asleep because that created all sorts of problems for us before, but i have to admit that i wish he would take it when he's awake and fussy - just to help comfort him and make him drowsy if we're out and about. all in all, it's probably a lot less trouble this way.
* Reid is taking one bottle a day, his last feeding. he does not really love it. it takes a while to get him going and he often struggles his way through it.
* after weeks of frustrating feedings with lots of crying, meeting with a lactation consultant and talking to the Pedi, we concluded that Reid was struggling with Reflux. around 4 weeks, we started him on the baby Zantac and after a full week of the meds we noticed a HUGE improvement. poor little guy had to have been so uncomfortable. it seems to be flaring up a little in the evenings again so i'm testing some of my food intake to see if certain things i'm eating makes his reflux worse (citrus/tomato and caffeine - including chocolate...yes, this is extremely hard for me!!!)
* he has a fussy period most days anywhere from about 5-7pm and wants to eat more often during the late afternoon/evening. i guess he's storing up for the long night!
* his typical day looks something like this - no, we are not on a schedule yet, but he has been pretty consistent with the following:
6-7:30am wake-up, feed #1
awake for 15 more minutes, then nap for 1.5-2 hrs.
10ish am- wake-up, feed #2
awake for 15 more minutes, then nap for 1.5-2 hrs.
1ish pm- wake-up, feed #3
awake for 15 more minutes, then nap for 1.5-2 hrs.
4ish pm- wake-up, feed #4
fussy time of day begins, cat nap of 30-40 min. (sometimes takes a long nap but not often anymore)
6ish pm- feed #5 - usually 2 hours after the last feeding
8-8:30pm- feed #6 - usually 2 hours after the last feeding
9pm - asleep for the night
ok, that was more than a little bit of info, but we want to remember the details about our little man!
he is a JOY!!!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)