Saturday, December 21, 2013

I WANT TO ROCK!!!

Steve is a "classic rock" junkie!  The man loves rock and roll!  Which might explain while every time we are in Steve's car, Lottie yells, "I want to ROCK!"  Cracks me up. 

The kids are going to be exposed to every aspect of music.  I love it all and Steve loves to rock! 

Here is a quick glance of our little rock star rocking out!  Notice how she starts rocking when the rift/music really gets going!

Friday, December 20, 2013

Lottie's Christmas List

I asked Lottie to give me a list of 5 things she would like Santa to bring her.  This is what the list looked like:

1.  Dolls

2.  Princesses

3.  Aerial

4.  The Princess with the long hair - her mommy is mean and won't let her outside (HA!)

5.  Princesses

6.  Peppa Pig

I have been cracking up!!!!!!!!  This kid is currently obsessed with Disney princesses right now.  Well, actually only two - she loves Aerial and she loves Rapunzel (Tangled).  My sister bought Lottie The Little Mermaid and I DVR'd Tangled for her.  If you would let her, she would sit and watch them both all day long. 

She's also a bit obsessed with Peppa Pig.  We first caught it when we were over in England.  It is super popular over there and they now show it on Nick Jr here in the States.  Lottie loves it!  Grandpa and Grandma Pig remind her of her grandparents with their thick English accents. 

Lottie is going to be a hoot this year!  She is so excited for Santa to come.  Although, I don't know how many times I've had to tell her in the past month that Santa only brings toys to good girls and boys.  Every time she acts out, I tell her that Santa is watching and if she doesn't straighten up her act, he may not come.  You would have thought the world ended when I said that! 

Here are a few items Santa has on his sleigh for Lottie!







Tuesday, December 17, 2013

Stella - 7 Months

Weight: 21 lbs - CRAZY!  She is going to be as big as Lottie by the time she's a year old!

Clothes: I swear it's all 12 months.  In fact, the other day, I put her in an 18 month outfit and it fit!  Granted, it was a little big, but for the most part it fit fine. 

Diapers: Size 3 - the next box I buy are going to be size 4!  Steve accidentally put Stella in one of Lottie's old size 5 diapers and yep, fit perfect!  HA!

Eating: This child is a beast!  Her most favorite thing to do is EAT!  She is still taking in anywhere from 30 to 32 oz each day.  A typical day when she's going to daycare is:

6:15 a.m.: 6 oz
9:15 a.m.: 1 container of baby food
9:30 a.m.: 6 oz
12:15 p.m.: 1 container of baby food
12:30 a.m.: 6 oz
3:30 p.m.: 6 oz
6:00 p.m.: 6 to 8 oz

Yep, still an eater.  She says on a pretty tight schedule through the week, but Steve and I swear she goes on a full on feeding frenzy on the weekends.  She has to take in around 36 oz a day sometimes.  I've never seen anything like it.  Her favorite foods are sweet potatoes, peas, green beans, apples, bananas.  She still hates rice cereal!  She tried avocado for the first time this month and after a few gags here and there, I think she's finally coming around. 

Sleep: She hates to nap.  She usually has two naps every day.  The one mid morning usually lasts around an hour to an hour and a half.  The one in the afternoon generally only lasts 30 minutes.  While Stella still sleeps like a rock star through the night, she's had a hard time putting herself to sleep this past month.  We've had to break out the ole Ferber method and let her cry it out when we put her down.  We've been pretty adamant about putting her down between 7 and 7:30 p.m. depending on her level of sleepiness.  She's never screamed more than 25/30 minutes at a time and has gone all the way down to only 5 minutes of crying.  I generally try to keep myself really busy during that time by folding laundry, cleaning, anything to keep my mind off the "screams".  I hate it, but I think it is definitely easier with baby #2!  Lottie will sometimes say, "I can't hear anything, make Stella stop crying!" :)  Like I said, once Stella goes down, she is down, we don't hear from her again until the sun comes up.  This past Saturday, she slept until 7:30 a.m.  It was awesome!

On a side note, she is still doing her breathing treatments twice a day and I swear the sound of the nebulizer sometimes puts her out while holding her.  Can we just get on a normal schedule please?  I hate ferberizing her one day and the next day her falling asleep to the sound of the nebulizer.  Ugghhhh, oh well, hopefully the week of Christmas we can stop the breathing treatments all together.

Crying:  Stella....................................... While you seem like a happy baby most times, you are a crier!!!  To her defense, she has been put through the ringer these last few weeks.  She really only cries from the time I pick her up until the time she goes to bed - and that's through the week.  Although, this past Sunday I think she cried from 3 to 5 p.m.  WTF!  It was obvious she was sooooooooooooooo sleepy but would not give in! Lottie was napping at the time so I was hoping for a little down time.  The idea of down time ever happening again has practically become extinct! 

Milestones: This past month has been full of smiles, laughs and very loud little girly screams.  She has the sweetest, most genuine smile on her.  She loves being tickled and sitting up right.  She's still not a huge fan of tummy time.  At this point, I don't think that is going to change.  She is sitting up on her own without any support at all.  You can sit her up on the floor or couch and she supports herself 100%.  It is wonderful!  She's also grabbing, banging her toys on the floor and transferring objects very easily.  She yells and screams all day.  She loves when you sing to her and make silly faces.  She's found her tongue and sticks it out all day long.  She rocks back and forth like a psycho in her exersaucer.  She also gets more "air" in her jumper that hangs in the doorway than I've ever seen any child do.  Lottie used to pass out in her jumper but Stella has insomnia like her mother and never seems to rest nor sleep.  Ugghhh, worst trait her mommy could pass on to her!

This month also marked Stella finally being flexible enough to stick that nasty foot in her mouth.  Every time I take her pants off she tries so hard to get her foot in her mouth.  It doesn't help that she's got all those rolls on her thighs - think they really get in the way.  :)

Also - everything she touches goes immediately in her mouth.  I am waiting for the call from day care stating she's got hand/foot/mouth disease or thrush.  If I recall correctly, Lottie got hand/foot/mouth disease at 8 months old.  Good ole daycare for ya! 

Sibling Love: Stella loves her sister.  Her face lights up when Lottie enters the room or speaks to her. Her favorite is when her sister dances or bounces up and down in front of her.  She lets out the biggest belly laughs.  When she sees Lottie playing with her toys, she wants to be a part of it.  Lottie is constantly petting her head, trying to force a paci in her mouth or tugging on her hands.  The tugging of the hands and arms has gotten out of control!  I don't know how many times a day I have to tell Lottie to leave Stella's hands alone!  I rarely leave the two of them alone in the room!  That Lottie can't be trusted!  In fact the other day I walked out of the room for two seconds and I heard Stella crying.  I asked Lottie what happened and she told me she bit Stella's finger!!  I could have killed her!  She knows better than that.  She was immediately sent to time out.  Stella was fine, but like I said, I don't like leaving them alone together. 

Likes: EATING, sucking on her hands, taking a bath, putting her warm jammies on at the end of the day, seeing her daddy walk in the door from work, playing with sissy when she's not poking or prodding her, sitting up, playing with her rattles and dollies, pressing buttons/playing in her exercauser, putting any and everything in her mouth and being tickled. 

Dislikes: Being hungry, between 5:30 p.m. and 7:00 p.m., tummy time, napping and when Lottie yells (scares her).

Update: Stella is doing better.  She still has a bit of a cold so I'm not sure if it is a mix of the weather, daycare and the bronchiolitis.  We had a f/u with the ENT and the Asthma and Allergy Specialist.  The tubes still look great and her chest / breathing has gotten better.  We are still using the nebulizer twice a day and should be able to discontinue by Christmas.  Although, I got a call from daycare this past week stating that Stella's left ear was draining.  Of course I spent the remainder of the day on the phone with her pediatrician and ENT office.  In the end, the ENT called in some drops for the ears.  I never saw any draining. 

On another note, at the time of the specialist appt. Stella weighed in at 21 lbs.  Holy Cow!!!!! Uhhhhhh, Lottie is 27 lbs! 












Tuesday, December 10, 2013

Big News!!!!!!!!!!!

I'm going to be an aunt for the first time!!!!!!!!!!!!!  I couldn't be more excited!  My sister is pregnant!  PREGNANT!!!!!!!!!!  While excitement has overcome me, the fears, nervousness and the anticipation is killing me.  I obviously just want everything to be perfect for her and the baby!  Pregnancy can be scary at times.  I am just hoping and praying for a healthy pregnancy and a healthy delivery for them both.  I think this whole "mama bear" thing is taking it's toll!  While I think I'm pretty good at this whole "mom thing", I can't help but to WORRY!  I swear I used to never worry about anything, until I became a MOM!  I guess it just goes with the territory.  Thank God for Steve!  I worry enough for the both of us.  He is so mellow and calm 100% of the time!  He thinks I'm crazy, but nothing new there!  :)

Due date is 6/9/2014!!!!  Eeeekkkkkkkkk - Scooby and Otis are their two pugs - FYI





Grandma Turns 97!

Can you believe it?  My grandma turned 97 years old on Thanksgiving day.  She looks amazing!  I will never live to see 97 years old.  Let's face it, the way my sister and I see it and given our immediate family history, we wonder if we will see 50!  Hey, live life to it's fullest right?

We spent Thanksgiving showering my grandma with love and followed it up with good food, wine, friends and Trivial Pursuit at my house later that evening.  A perfect way to spend the holiday.  Then my sister and I got up at the crack of dawn to indulge in some Black Friday shopping. 

I didn't capture very many pictures unfortunately.  But at least I managed to get a couple with me and my grandma.  I love her to pieces.  She is my hero!  Her stories and the love she has for her family melts my heart! 

On another note, my brother in law in the last photo decided to give my grandma a stroke!  He decided the perfect gift for a 97 year old was a lap dance!  This guy............I swear, sometimes I wonder about him!  :)  Look for him on You Tube.  I'm almost certain there is a video floating around out there!






Monday, December 9, 2013

Santa 2013


 
Could these two be any cuter????  It's Stella's first Christmas!  YAY! 
 
Gosh, I love these girls to death!!!!
 
I am truly amazed they both ended up smiling like they did.  I swear Lottie is looking more and more like me every day.  Finally!!!!  I mean I birthed both of those babies.  Can at least one of them start looking like me????????  :)