Stella - 2 Years

Weight: 32 lbs
**Steve took her to her 2 year well visit and failed to get her exact height/weight information for the blog.  He did say that she is definitely in the 98/99 % for weight and average in the height department.

Clothes: 24 months to 3T.  It's all about the fit.  Her chunky thighs can totally fit into 3T pants but the length is long.  Her tops are mostly 24 months/ 2T, but not going to lie, she could totally fit into 3T tops as well!

Shoes: Size 7

Diapers: Size 5

Eating: This child used to be quite the eater.  Don't get me wrong, she still is, but she is starting to become more picky and fickle about what she will eat from one day to the next.  One day she loves peas and the next day she is throwing them and screaming, "YUCKY".

Favorite foods: turkey dogs, pasta, peas (most days), cucumbers, pickles, grapes, strawberries, oatmeal, cheese, pretzels, corn, pineapple, green beans (most days), bananas, yogurt, MILK, water, JUICE, zucchini, goldfish, chicken nuggets, KETCHUP, sweet potatoes, brussels (only off mommy's plate), chips & queso, couscous, tilapia

Funnily enough both girls eat really well at day care every day.  They always clean their plates from what I'm told.  For instance, Lottie told me yesterday that she ate pork chop, rice, green beans, etc. for lunch.  It blew my mind!  As far as I know, she hates rice, pasta (unless it is mac and cheese), potatoes.  Lottie refuses to eat carbs unless it is bread or pizza.

Stella loves drinks!  If you leave a water bottle laying around the house, she will drink it.  She easily unscrews the lid and goes to town.  She loves milk and "special" water.  Instead of giving them juice, I buy flavored water.  They call it "special water".  It comes in these convenient kid-friendly small water bottles.  Unlike juice, it creates very little mess and it doesn't have any sugar!  A win win if you ask me.  The downside is her diaper becomes very full, very fast!  Stella never takes her time when drinking a drink.  She chugs it!

Sleep: Stella has and hopefully always will be my little rock star when it comes to sleeping at night.  In her two years of life so far, I can probably count on one hand the number of times she hasn't slept in her own bed at night.  Unlike the first time around with Lottie, we really dug our feet in and made sure we sleep trained Stella properly.  Stella brushes her teeth at night then immediately runs in her room with her arms raised ready to be picked up and put in her bed.  She begs for a pacifier and gets super excited (jumps up and down) when I get her one.  May 11th!!!!  It is officially the day we are taking the pacifier away!  Ugghhhh - pray for us this week!

Now, I know I've said how great Stella is at night.  She still hates to nap on the weekends.  Usually what I do is let her lay with me on the couch for a few minutes until she falls asleep, then I move her either on the other side of the couch or in her bed.  She sleeps great at daycare every day.  She normally has a 1.5 to 2 hour nap every day.  

Crying: I just had to throw this update in here.  I will never let Stella live down how much she cried the first 15 months of her life!  It literally was all day every day.  But boy have things changed, she is such a delightful, happy child.  There were times where I didn't think we would ever get to that point, but we did and the last 9 months have been nothing short of laughs, fun, cuddles, kisses, just pure joy!

Milestones: This kid is a little braniac!  She loves to read!  I quite often quiz her on colors, numbers, objects, etc. and she pretty much kills it every time.  She can count to 15 on a good day (after 11, it gets a little dodgy).  She can also count to 10 in Spanish if she is laser focused.  She speaks very clear and her vocabulary blows my mind.  Her teachers tell me all the time what a joy it is to have her in their class because she is the only child they can carry a full blown conversation with.  She speaks like a 3 year old.  I think there is something to be said about the second child.  They really do almost everything faster than the first.

Stella is super sweet and very polite.  She always says please and thank you and anytime she burps or toots, she says, "Excuse me" and laughs!

Stella is starting to become Miss Independent like her sister.  She has started telling me when getting dressed, "I pick it".  Ugghhhhh - I swear between the two of them dressing themselves, it looks like they are homeless every day.  But hey, pick your battles right???

Stella is a major mama's girl.  She gets very jealous when she sees Lottie and I having a cuddle or sitting with one another.  She immediately runs to me and shouts to Lottie, "My mommy!!!!"  I feel bad for Lottie at times because any time we go to lunch or dinner, Lottie never gets to sit beside me.  Stella is very territorial when it comes to her mama!  And oh my goodness, when Carter is in town and he and I have a cuddle, she really gets jealous then!

Sibling Love: WOW, Stella loves her sister - obsessed would be an understatement.  They play chase, hide and go seek, share snacks and cups of milk.  Stella constantly tries to jump on Lottie and wrestle her and anything Lottie does Stella thinks she can do as well.  I have to remind Lottie all the time that she can't jump off the couch and pounce on a pillow b/c everything she does, Stella does to.
Sisters - the fighting has already started.  I swear, I must say, "Leave Her Alone" a hundred times a day!  One minute Stella is biting Lottie and another minute Lottie is pushing Stella down.  And the tattle telling has really begun.  Most days, I don't know who to believe.  Lets just say the thinking chair is in constant rotation between the two of them!  I really might need to get Steve to make another chair!

Likes: Snacking, drinking, swinging, brushing her teeth, watching Peppa Pig, sliding down backwards on the slide, reading, drawing, rough housing with her sister.

Dislikes: Being told NO, brushing her hair, putting on socks and shoes, napping

Happy 2 years to my sweet and sassy Stella!  I could never put into words how much I love you!  I am absolutely soaking in every minute of the age you are now!  It seems like just yesterday your sister was getting ready to be your big sister!

**I tried to get a few photos of Stella outside after school, but she wasn't having it.  She wanted to take her Peppa Pig balloon from her party outside but within 5 seconds, it was gone! :)

Milestone Photographs - Stella

 

Traditions............ c/o good ole JCP

Stella - 2 Weeks

 

 

Stella - 3 Months

 

 

 

Stella - 3 Months

Weight: 13lbs, 10 oz

Clothes: Anywhere from 3 to 6 months tops / 6 to 9 months pants/shorts skirts
Diapers: Size 2 - Huggies fit me best right now, but soon enough I'll be in size 3!  Mommy just has to use all of Size 2 before she'll put me in size 3!  Frugal McDougal!

Eating: This child is sooooooooooooooooo much different than Lottie.  Lottie ate like a little bird and getting her to gain weight was always such a victory when it came to weighing in.  Stella on the other hand is already eating anywhere from 25 to 27 ounces a day.  A typical day when she's going to daycare is:

6:15 a.m.: 5 oz
9:30 a.m.: 5 oz
12:30 a.m.: 5 oz
3:30 p.m.: 5 oz
5: 20 p.m.: 4 oz
7:30 p.m.: 3 oz

I don't know what it is but the kid goes on a full on feeding frenzy from the time I pick her up to the time she goes to sleep.

On another note, the kid also has MAJOR reflux.  I've mentioned it to the doctor and they've said that as long as she is a happy spitter, we are okay.  We are on our third brand of formula though.  It stinks trying to find just the right brand for her and what works for her little tummy.  Hopefully what we are doing now will work.  We went from Simulac (Sam's brand) to Good Start Probiotic (expensive) to Enfamil Gentle Ease (Sam's brand).  If the last doesn't work, we are going to go broke I guess!  :)  Oh well, at the end of the day the cost is not the most important.  Making sure she's happy and well adjusted is what matters. 

Sleep: The child has been an angel!  Knock on wood right this very second! She usually goes down around 8:00 p.m. at night.  She then sleeps until 6:15 a.m. to 7:15 a.m.  AMAZING!  As a parent, you can't complain about that.  I know once the teeth start coming in, it will all go downhill from here. 

Crying:  She is still on a crying fit from about 5:00 p.m. until 7:00 p.m. every night.  Again, the doctor said that this period is usually because she is over stimulated and just doesn't know when to give in.  I don't mind it too much because usually Steve is home between 6:00 and 6:30 so he helps out when he gets home. BUT, I will say that when Lottie starts whining, crying and throwing fits at the same time, it makes me want to pull my hair out.  If someone was standing outside my home while the two are going nuts, it would seriously prompt someone to call 911.  They would definitely think I was trying to murder them both.  Ha!  Times like these call for a glass of wine!  :)

Milestones: This past month she is smiling and cooing like crazy!  She is also doing great at holding her head up whether it be in the Bumbo or her bouncy swing that hangs in the doorway.  This past month also marked her being at daycare full time and her first non-well visit to the doctor.  Daycare is going well.  They call her Princess Stella.  They all keep telling me that they think she will one day fall in love and marry Prince George!  Ha.  No really, they have told me what a chilled out baby she is and what a pleasure it is to have her.  On a side note, they all also tell me that when Steve drops them off every morning, they all talk in an English accent after he leaves.  They just can't help themselves!  Hysterical.  On a not so funny note, poor little Stella developed a raspy chest infection.  I took her to the doctor after a couple of days of congestion in her chest.  She never had a fever, but you could tell she didn't feel well.  I wanted to nip whatever it was she had in the bud before my biggest fear struck (ear infection).  Lord knows, we went through multiple ear infections with Lottie and it was awful!  They swabbed her nose and called me the next day.  Thankfully it wasn't croup (which is going around town) or RSV.  They prescribed antibiotics and it did the trick.  She is back to herself again.  There is absolutely nothing worse than having a sick child.  I get so upset to the point of tears and guilt like it is my fault.  Ever since becoming a parent, I feel such responsibility and if my kids aren't right, then I'm not right.  My heart just aches anytime they aren't feeling themselves. 

Stella still HATES tummy time.  What is it with tummy time???  Lottie was the same.  They both hate it.  Stella is pretty lazy about it.  I feel like Lottie started rolling from back to front around this age but Stella is showing no signs of doing that anytime soon!  She somehow manages to get from one side of the crib to the other at night (scooting, I'm guessing) but again, no signs of rolling over yet.  I'm good with it though because the first time you see them on their belly in the morning is when panic sets in a bit.  Are they breathing is the first thing that comes to mind. 

Sibling Love: The jealousy has set in again.  OMG, one minute Lottie is loving on Stella and the next minute she's telling me to put Stella down.  Stella is pretty easy going (minus the feeding frenzy between 5:00 p.m. and 6:30 p.m.) so I think Lottie not being able to do puzzles with me or read after daycare like we used to is really getting to her.  I try so hard to show Lottie that once Stella eats and we get her a bath and down for the night, her and I can play, do crafts or whatever her little heart desires.  I just don't think she's able to comprehend all of that quite yet.  Toddlers are all about "right now" and not later.  So instead of "understanding" so to speak, she whines, cries and gives me major attitude which in turn throws us all off.  I feel for Lottie but I also feel for Stella.  I can't tell you what a game changer it is going from one child to two!  The needs between an infant and a toddler differ so much. 

But, enough of that, Lottie is still sweet natured and constantly kissing and aggravating Stella like a big sister should.  She's constantly in Stella's face going, "do do do do do".  Any sort of baby talk I give to Stella, Lottie copies!  Another really funny thing is when Stella stretches out or kicks her arms and legs around and happens to hit Lottie.  Lottie immediately comes running like a little tattle tale toddler telling me that Stella kicked/hit her.  It makes me laugh so hard.  I've witnessed these encounters several times and it is the most ridiculous thing. 

Likes: Being held, EATING, riding in the car, going on walks with mommy, taking a bath, putting her warm jammies on at the end of the day, swinging, Bumbo time and playing with sissy when she's not poking or prodding her.  She is also starting to love her paci, mobile and the new chandelier hanging in the living room. 

Dislikes: Being hungry, Lottie poking her in the face and pulling on her, sleeping or laying flat on her back, tummy time and when Lottie whines, cries or fusses in front of her.  It sets her off. 

 

BARF!  Outfit change!

9 Month Photos

These are Lottie's milestone photographs we had done at JC Penney.  Lottie was in a bit of a funky mood that day and it took all I could do to get her to smile.  I was picking her up, spinning her around and quickly putting her back down on the ground in hopes of getting a couple of smile shots. 

The things we do.............  :)

Enjoy!  How much do you love that hat????  So cute!  Both hat and matching sweater dress is from The Children's Place.

Lottie's FIRST Words

Can you guess????????

MAMA MAMA MAMA MAMA MAMA

It's true!  Oh how my little heart melted!  This past Saturday I was running around the house cleaning and trying to pack Lottie's diaper bag as Steve and I had a birthday party to attend.  Unfortunately, Lottie missed her afternoon nap and was refusing to take one.  I don't know why kids fight it so much knowing good and well they are sleepy.  The eye rubbing, the whining........ I'd kill for a nap every day now!  :)

While fighting the nap and crawling every which way to get to me so I'd pick her up, she looked right at me and said mama mama mama - several times in a row.  Steve and I just looked at each other in AWE!  Of course, I ran over to her, scooped her up and sqeezed and hugged so tight.  It was the best feeling hearing her say those four or five mamamamamamamamama!

Since Saturday, she has started saying dada dada dada - Steve has been eating it up! 

Yesterday when I picked Lottie up from day care she was sitting on the floor playing with her teacher.  I opened the door and as soon as she saw me, she started rocking back and forth, smiling and clapping.  She then started crawling towards me saying mama mama mama mama.  OMG - it was so cute! 

Of course I tried to capture her on video yesterday saying MAMA and all she would say is DADA!  Little bugger!!  Hopefully we'll have better luck this weekend!!  :)

Video to come soon!

Milestones - 8.5 Months Old

November 1, 2011 marked a milestone for Lottie.  She crawled for the FIRST time!!!

Before then, she was scooting around on her bum, laying down on her back and rolling to where she wanted to get to - BUT no more.  The girl is MOBILE!!!  She has not stopped crawling since she started last week.  The days of leaving her in one place and expecting her to be in the vicinity of the place I left her is LONG gone!  I shot video last week of Lottie scooting around and crawling a little.  This was shot the morning after she crawled for the first time.  It is a little long winded so feel free to stop at anytime! 

You will see from the video that Lottie is dying to stand up.  Every day, she sticks her bum up in the air and when she feels like she is balanced will slowly try and lift her hands off the floor.  Of course, she immediately collapses on her bum.  Sometimes, I will hold my hand behind her bum and she'll think that she is half standing on her own.  She generally starts clapping and is obviously very proud of herself.  It is so cute!

Another worthy thing to mention....... This past weekend I put Lottie into her big girl bath for the first time.  Let's just say that she had a full on MELT DOWN!  She absolutely hated it!  Pure torture I tell you.  I don't think I've ever bathed her so quick.  I don't know if it was the fact that she wasn't used to it or if the quacking duck was scaring her.....  No clue.......  What I do know is that I haven't put her back in it yet.  One is for the obvious reason and Two is MY KNEES HURT SO BAD BENDING OVER THE TUB! 

Insanity is doing a number on my body and my knees.  I've got bruises all over my knees from those darn level 1 drills!!!  Anyways, due to that and old sports injuries from playing volleyball and softball in school, I am going to have to get knee pads in order to give Lottie a bath in the bathtub!  How sad and OLD does that make me sound?  Poor Lottie! 

Poor Baby!!!  :(

I think we must have felt bad for her because when we were out on Saturday, Steve bought her a walker/car to walk, scoot around in.  She loves it especially when we push her around saying, "Beep, Beep"

Ha, I love this picture - she actually looks a little chubby and that face screams, "Leave me Alone!"

Wild Hair Sunday!!!

Looking forward to my three day weekend with the little one!!!  We are closed on Friday!  Call me crazy but I think her and I are going up to Northlake Mall on Friday to see Santa!!!  That's right!  SANTA!  Girls day out!  Then on Saturday, we are having her 9 month photos taken.  I can't get enough of her, that smile, those laughs, her personality.....  she's already my BFF!

8 Months Old / Milestones

Lottie is 8 months old today!!!  Happy 8 Months Baby!!!!

Milestones, Milestones, Milestones.............  Over the last week, Lottie has desperately been trying to crawl.  She positions herself on her belly and tries to reach and grab at anything in front of her.  When she grabs it, she scoots her little bum backwards back into a sitting position.  She will play with her toy until she spies something else that looks more entertaining.  She then starts the process all over - belly, reach, back to sitting.  This goes on for what seems like ages.  Sometimes though instead of sitting back into the sitting position, she starts scooting backwards either on her bum or belly.  When she is on the hardwood floor, she can scoot backwards for miles it seems!

I imagine that any day now our lives are going to change once again.  For now, we can walk out of the room and know that when we walk back into the room, she is going to be in the same area.  Speaking of which, I am in serious need of baby proofing the house.  I've stuck the plastic outlet covers in the living room outlets, but need to finish the rest of the house.  I also need to put the cabinet safety hinges on our bottom cabinets in the kitchen.  I don't know why, but I've been putting this off for weeks!

Once again, this past weekend was very relaxing!  We had dinner with the newlyweds on Friday night.  On Saturday, we ran errands in the morning, stopped and had lunch and a beer, took a nap in the afternoon and decorated my front porch for fall.  We finished the night off catching up with episodes of The Millionaire Matchmaker (sshhhhhh, Steve will kill me if I told anyone he watches with me.)  Sunday was spent skyping with Steve's parents and watching football all day!!!  It was so nice for the grandparents to see Lottie and how much she has changed.  She is constantly laughing and saying "huh".  She is such a little ham.  I have a feeling she is going to be very comedic like! 

Here are a few pictures to wrap up our weekend!

Checking out what is in her box........ 

That's right, I'm about to tip this box over and have toys all over!

Bouncing up and down up and down

Night Night Giggles

Fall decorations

Milestones

What a week! 

Lottie cut her first bottom tooth.  I guess that explains the fussiness, fever and drooling.  Poor baby!  I've done everything imaginable to try and ease the pain.  I've stocked up on baby Tylenol, baby Ibuprofen, teething rings and teething gel.  Thankfully a little of this and a little of that seemed to help.  She was smiling and cracking up at me last night so that made me feel so much better.  Plus we haven't had any uninterrupted sleep since Sunday night.  YAY!

On Tuesday evening I reached into Lottie's mouth to see if I could feel anything and sure enough I felt the start of a tooth cutting through her bottom gums.  I desperately tried to make her laugh so I could actually see the tooth.  Thankfully after a few minutes, she gave me a laugh and I was able to see a tiny spec of white. 

On Wednesday afternoon around 2:15 p.m. I received a call from day care saying Lottie had a fever of 101.3 and that someone needed to pick her up.  This was my first call from day care saying something was wrong.  I immediately got emotional and almost cried!  (No clue - I think my hormones are still playing up!) Then again on the way to pick up Lottie I got even more emotional wishing my Mom and Dad were here to talk to. I would give anything to be able to pick up the phone to get their advice, opinions and guidance on parenthood.  So far, I think Steve and I have done a great job with Lottie but it would be really great to have that cushion of support there when needed.

Sorry for that...........  On a happy note, by Wednesday night, Lottie's fever had gone down.  After I got her home and medicated, we ran to Target.  I bought a $40 thermometer that was supposed to read temps in 1 to 5 seconds (a big purchase for "frugal" by the way).  I had a different thermometer at home, but it took FOREVER (2 or 3 minutes) to read her temperature.  It was so hard trying to take her temp under her arm with her moving and punching her arms all over the place.  She just wouldn't stay still (I think she knew she was supposed to be still but did the complete opposite). 

Anyways, I got home and got the mac daddy of all thermometers out of the packaging to use.  The first reading said 98.5 (WRONG!!!)  (It just said 100.7 with the other thermometer I used) I took it again 30 seconds later and it said 97.8 (WRONG!!!)  I took it once more and it said 95.6 (WRONG!!!)  By this time - I am ANGRY!!!  You mean to tell me that I just bought a $40 thermometer that is BROKEN???  Steve finally got home from work and I asked him to take a look at it.  That was about pointless (MEN!!)  He put it under his armpit and after a reading of 95/96 said that it was fine, nothing wrong with it - he got a normal reading.......... Errrrrrrrrrr           I'll just leave it at that.

We are headed to the beach to see my sister and her hubby for the weekend.  I can't wait to have my toes in the sand w/ my little beach bum Lottie by my side in the a.m.!  I hope everyone has a safe and happy Labor Day Weekend.  I can't believe we are in September! 

Milestones

This past week, Lottie hit a few milestones.  She "found" her feet and won't let go!  I've been pulling her hands to her feet for the last couple of weeks to show her that she can do it and low and behold when I went to change her diaper she grabbed hold of them and was smiling from ear to ear.  I had to get a picture to capture this moment.  I turn to mush after every new thing she does and learns. 

This past weekend I put Lottie into her swivel musical gym and for the first time she was so alert and was playing like a maniac.  Before, she would sort of touch a few things but didn't really look like she knew what she touching.  Now - she knows exactly what will happen when she hits this button and that button.  She was so cute - she loves playing in her gym at the minute!

On Saturday, Lottie and I visited my grandmother.  My grandma's face lights up when Lottie is around.  She is 94 years old, soon to be 95 in November.  She hasn't been in the best health this past year, but thankfully my aunt Brenda has been there looking after her and helping her every step of the way.  They are both a hoot - love spending time with them!

On Sunday, we relaxed.  She had her first taste of rice cereal.  We broke out the video recorder for that one.  She did well - definitely seemed interested.  Lottie is definitely going to be a water baby!  She loves taking baths.  She smiles so big and splashes her little legs around.  So cute!  Jeanette came over to visit.  We played with Lottie and finished the night off with a couple of glasses of vino and dinner. 

Happy Hump Day!!!  So ready for the weekend!!!