Riley--4 Months (May 19-June 18)

Holy cuteness!  I'm kind of partial, but we do make cute babies!

"This is my serious pose."  

Wow, oh wow!  You have truly emerged this month!  You are growing and changing every day and it’s hard keeping up!  Please know that we try our best to remember these times, but y’all keep us busy!  Thank goodness I try to keep up with this blog!

Growth

• Still in Size 2 diapers, but moved up to 3 since we ran out.  I think your thighs thank us! 
• Clothing. Fun story.  You had some 3-6 month outfits that were perfectly fine one week, and the next your toes curled in them they were so tight!  So tight you busted a hole in a toe!  Ummm…oops!  Sorry about that little man!  So…now you’re in anything loose that is 3-6 month, but mostly 6 month clothing.  Thank goodness we have your brother’s clothes, as well as several friends who have let us borrow some!  You’re all set!
• Dr. Checkup—all the needed shots for 4 months—not fun!
• Weight—15 pounds 11 ounces!!!  You eat well!  Height—25 inches.  Thighs—Priceless!

Eating

• You are definitely at 5.5 ounce bottles.  Sometimes I throw in a 6 ounce one because you’re fine with it!  I think we’re on the move up to that much permanently though!
• You’re still nursing if you wake up in the middle of the night and sometimes during the day on weekends—simply because it’s convenient for mommy!  I’m glad it’s working out that you’re still breastfeeding because it makes some feedings just much more convenient in our busy lives!  I guess I didn’t realize what I was missing when it didn’t work out with your brother!
• We began rice cereal right after you turned 4 months because daycare said you were having a hard time waiting 3 hours for food.  (Turned out you were teething and just unhappy—not hungry!)  You definitely weren’t ready for rice cereal.  We had to feed it to you in a syringe and then eventually put it in your bottle.  Too much work for this slacker mom!  I gave it up for 2 weeks, started it again at about 4.5 months, and you chowed down on it this time!  You like it thicker—not the ratio stated on the box!  Hey—I wouldn’t like watery oatmeal either!

  

  Mmmm....so good I've got to hold my own bib down!

Gram...you're so silly  when you feed me!

• You are trying to hold the bottle more often now.  When you’re fidgety, it definitely is a curse because those hands have no boundaries and the bottle flips away from you more often than not!  But…you’re working on it!

Sleeping

• Same as last month.  Not so great at daycare and still waking up once or twice at night.  Sometimes we can give you the pacifier when you wake up.  Other times I have to feed you.  Gotta be honest here Ry—I’m getting exhausted!  Thank goodness summer is coming up and I have some time to work with your daytime sleep schedule and hopefully get us back to longer nights!
• Still making up for lost sleep on the weekends.   I must say…it does make errand running pretty easy!

Personality

• We’re partial to you, but you get cuter and cuter every day!
• You have now officially rolled from your tummy to your back!  If I put you down for tummy time, you roll over before I can move away most times!
• Update:  You've also now rolled from your back to your tummy.  You cannot do the full roll yet and that kind of makes you mad!
• You love to look at yourself in the mirror when I’m giving you a bath.  You’re amazed at yourself and you love looking at anyone else’s reflection too.  I try to put you on the floor in our bathroom sometimes and make you look in the mirror while I’m getting ready to practice this!  You’re getting there!
• Teeth!  You got your 1st tooth about 4 days after you turned 4 months—and then a 2nd tooth about 4 days after that!  Whoa!  Slow down!

Thank goodness for Sophie!  You love her just like Bennett loved his Sophie!

Riley--2 Months (March 19-April 19)

Oh my cuteness!

Riley, you're otherwise known as "Sweets" for some reason...but it's probably because you're just too darn sweet!  You've been smiling for a few weeks now (and it has nothing to do with gas!).  We are loving you as an addition to our family and slowly finding our groove as a family of 4!  Here's how month 2 went down:

Growth

• Weight:  12 lbs even!  Height:  hmmm....can't remember (I'm typing this a month and a half later), but I'll try to go back and look!
• Diapers:  Size 1 for most of the month and then when we ran out, they were snug, so you just moved on over to Size 2.
• Clothing:  Slowly growing out of 0-3 and the 3 month stuff really is fitting better!

Eating/Sleeping

• You had to get on a schedule because I went back to work the day before your 2 month birthday!  Here's how that went:  GREAT!!!  I started the first 2-3 days back to work feeding you around 5:30, but it was stressful waking you up, getting all 3 of us ready, pumping, etc.  You decided you liked to wake up around 6:45, so that's where our day starts now! 
• You eat around 6:45AM, 9AM, 12PM, 3PM, 5:30PM and 7:30-8:30PM (that one depends on the day, but you're usually ready for bed by 8ish)
• You're eating 4.5-5 oz bottles depending on the day.  You were officially at 5 oz bottles by the beginning of April.  You get 2 formula bottles:  one during the day and one right before bed.  I realized that Bennett slept great at this age and I think the formula has something to do with it, so I'll take it!  I still nurse you on the weekends (because I can sleep in and not pump) and any time that you wake up in the middle of the night.

Stretch!!!  Just like Daddy and Bennett!

•  
  Sleeping = We're SO lucky!  You're not consistently sleeping 10 hours, but for the most part, I can put you down between 8 and 8:45ish and you'll sleep until around 6:45AM.  Don't get me wrong; we've had a few nights where you wake up once (or even twice--can we NOT do that anymore, please???), so we're grateful for what we get!  You nap decently at daycare.  Again, it depends on the day!

Bathtime has become one of your faves!

Such a peaceful sleeper---AHHHH!!!

Working on those neck muscles!

Nap time after a mani/pedi by mommy!

What's up ladies??  First time in the bumbo!

Lovin' the swing!

First day at daycare:  he seems stressed, huh?

Bennett--13 Months

B--You have flown into your 2nd year!  You are such a little boy now and we constantly laugh at the things you get into--and then wonder what the next possibility might be!

Growth

• Pretty sure it's the same or close to it as last month because every time you play on the scale, it still says around 23 pounds!
• Still in Size 4 diapers and now officially 18 month clothing since I cleaned out your closet!
• Shoes--bought you 2 new pairs at Stride Rite since we had none that fit you that were hand-me-downs--sniff, sniff.  You fit in about a 5, but you got 5.5 so you can grow into them.  AND...you definitely have your daddy's feet b/c we had to get you a wide--make that EXTRA WIDE!  Who even knew those were made for toddlers?  Not this narrow footed momma!  (oops...put picture on the 12 month blog, but that's actually when it happened...oh well!)

Sleeping

• We're working on moving bedtime from 6:45 put in bed to 7pm put in bed. Not much of a difference, but you're so tired by then, it really is a stretch some days!
• You're also moving to one nap a day during the week b/c at daycare you moved to a big boy room the day after you hit 13 months!  You napped great 4 out of 5 days.  The 2nd day you didn't nap at all, but you at least chilled on your cot!
• My time to leave for school is later since I now teach elementary and it works out best when you sleep until almost 7am b/c then I can get our stuff ready and have time for you before we're rushed out the door!

Taking a walk with mommy along the Galveston Seawall.  

Eating

• You now only get milk with your a.m. and p.m.bottle and at lunch while at daycare.
• You LOVE feeding yourself and we try to give you as much finger food as possible. 
• You like having the spoon, but have not quite figured out how to really use it.  They're working on it at daycare, and tell me you're getting better, but you don't like it when I try to make you do it!
• We've even started ordering you a few kid's meals when we're out instead of just giving you a few bites of our food because now your're eating so much more!

The Land of Bennett

• 4th bottom tooth and 2 top incisors came in the first week of your 13th month---THAT was fun!
• You got some type of rash all over your mouth and diaper area that didn't seem to be painful, but didn't look good, which of course worried me!  Turns out it was impetigo in those areas doubled up with hand/foot/mouth on your arms and legs, so you only went to daycare one day that week!  Daddy and I took turns and our fabulous neighbor Heather offered to keep you the rest of the time!  You sure did love all that attention!



This is what impetigo looks like--blistery rash that crusts later.



"Getting" to stay home with daddy b/c of your rash sure is fun!  You love the borrowed rocking horse from neighbor Hayden!

• Went to Moody Gardens Palm Beach area with a group from daddy's work.  You had a BLAST going down the kiddie water slides with daddy, liked the lazy river, and hated the splash pad and anything that caused your head to get wet!  The sand area was a fave too!
• You're getting faster and faster when you walk....watch out!

The best new game - pulling your blanket out of your bed!

• You have also started putting things into other things.  Sometimes it's toys inside each other, while other times it's putting something where we ask you to put it.  We've made a big deal out of it when you do this last one and you love clapping for yourself.  I need to get a video of it b/c it's just too darn cute!
• Dancing has become more fun and  you now start bouncing up and down when you push something that makes music!  You haven't associated radio/tv music with dancing yet though--just your toys.
• The house is now "Bennett proofed"!  Well, more like ghetto Bennett proofed, but it's working for now!  We do actually have gates on the stairs and something on the brick fireplace.  You love getting into cabinets though, so we now have blue painter's tape (the quickest daddy found one day in the house) over most of our cabinets!  Luckily the kitchen drawers are hard to open for you still, but I know the day will come soon when you can get into those too!
• You want to play outside as much as possible.  Putting acorns and rocks into your mouth is a fun game for you--but usually if you hear me say "NO!!", you pause long enough for me to run over and grab it!

Whoo hoo!  LOVE the slide!

Daycare Day!

You had your first day of daycare on the Thursday before I went back to work on Friday. You did great! Me....good on the 1st day, but not so good on the day I had to work!

Today I became an official "working mom" :(

Lovin' from daddy before we go

Lovin' from mommy (we should stop taking pics in semi-dark rooms....he's not always this shocked!)

Ready or not, here I come!

Making friends already!

Your crib

You seem to be doing well so far (you know....after a week and all!), and the ladies are getting to know your personality quite well! (When I went to get you Monday, and asked if you'd been fussy for them a lot, their response was, "Well, we definitely know when he's hungry!!" Yep--that's my child taking after me. Get hungry. Get fussy. We'll have to both work on that!)

On your daily sheet for Day #4, they wrote that you are so sweet and LOVE your sleep sheep! You're still getting used to the new schedule and all the action that comes with being in a room with other babies. I've had to figure out how to get a day's worth of fun in with you in the 3-4 hours you're awake after I pick you up. Day by day it gets better, so I know it will all work out!