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.

:)

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!

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!!!

my loves

just a few recent pictures of my loves...

 dont worry, it was a kiss not a bite ...although Reid did look a little worried!

 "cheeeeese" - yes, this is her new cheesy camera smile - everyone needs to have one, right?!

so sweet  :)  - what the picture doesnt tell is how upset Reid was before Daddy took him outside to "chill"

my loves

just a few pictures of my loves

Sierra loves Baby Reid

Sierra has loved babies for a long time. "baby" was one of her first words. Despite this, I still had my concerns for how she would feel about a baby who was around all the time and never left...

We are so thankful for that answered prayer - Sierra loves Baby Reid!

Here are some of the sweet things she says and does:
*first words out of her mouth when she wakes up or comes home from being out with Lala are "Baby Reid?! Baby Reid?!" over and over until she finds him. (it used to be me that she asked and looked for...I've been replaced)

*she loves to help burp him and will insruct me "buwp baby Reid" "awm, awm"(patting my shoulder). Then after burping she says "see his face" because she likes to get really close and look at him while he's over my shoulder. "hiii! Baby Reid eyes open. Awake!" Kyle and I get burped regularly now too.

*she will sometimes sit next to me on the couch while I'm nursing and put the boppy around her waist and play with her computer toy.

*she gets her STOL out of the bathroom and puts it at the changing table so she can watch me change his diaper. "baby Reid poo poo. Peeyew baby Reid!".and she always reminds me to put on "yotion"(diaper crem) "weawy wed" (really red)

*when he is crying, "baby Reid is sad. Baby Reid is reset sad. Aww" I love that she repeats everything she hears. "why you cryin baby Reid?" "baby Reid eat mowe"

*when she wants to hold him she sits down, holds out her arms and says "hoedjue" (hold you)

*"look baby Reid, look baby Reid!" always wanting to show him what she's playing with. Or reading!

We have our fair share of challenges and meltdowns too but mostly about being too rough, loud or touchy. When Reid takes a long time to nurse she gets impatient and wants her mommy time - "baby all done. Uppy mommy, uppy!"

I am often worn out by the end of the day but it is so worth it :)
*

Counting

Several months ago my mom was watching Sierra while I went to my OBGYN appt and shopping for a lamp. She calls me while I'm out and says "Did you know your little girl can count to twelve?!"

I said "no way, I've never heard heresy more than 1, 2, 3 and that's just when playing certain games with daddy where he counts 1,2,3 at the beginning.

Apparently mom and Siera were sitting on the porch swing and mom said 1, Sierra said 2, mom said 3, Sierra said 4 and on until 12! I tried many times to get her to do it again and while I didnt hear it all at the same time, she did say almost all of them.

The only thing I could attribute this to (sadly) is Elmo. She watches the last 20 min of Sesame Street after breakfast and Elmo always dies counting.

Since then I ask her all the time and as of 2 weeks ago, this is how she counts, all by herself "One, twooo, tee, siix, seven, eight, nine, TEN, weven, tewve" (she draws out each one and uses a lot of inflection, it's pretty cute)

Idon't think she understands the counting concept quite yet but. At least she's familiar with the numbers!