3 Months

Annabel is 3 months old today!  It seems like the time goes even faster with the second child than the first.  I remember it seeming like it took forever to reach the magical 3 month mark when babies become less fussy and more predictable with Adeline, but these 3 months have flown by!

Annabel is such a happy baby.  She really only cries if she's hungry or tired and then is usually easily and quickly calmed once the problem is taken care of.  She laughs all the time, especially at her daddy.  He just has to look at her and she grins from ear to ear.  She has started "talking" a lot, too.  I love her sweet baby goos & coos.  They just warm my heart.  

Our schedule is pretty much the same:

• 5am: meds & feeding
• 8am: up for the day, feeding
• 9am: morning nap
• 10:30: feeding
• 1pm: meds, feeding, then down for a nap
• 3:30/4: feeding
• 6:00pm: 2 ounces of pumped milk in a bottle
• 7: feeding
• 7:30: bath & meds
• 8pm: bedtime with a bit of nursing for calming, but use paci to get to sleep

She is doing a lot better with her daytime naps, but she's still not really consistent.  Sometimes she'll sleep all the way to the next feeding, but other times she'll wake up within 45 minutes or so.  Nighttime has gotten less consistent than it was a month ago.  She's been on a spree of having to be woken up at 5 for meds for several nights in a row, then out of the blue she'll start waking at 2 or 3 & want to nurse.  It goes back and forth so I never know when I'll have to get up when I go to sleep at night..hah!

She still sleeps in the Nap Nanny in the guest room, but we plan to try the crib again in the new year.  We swaddle her, have a sound machine playing white noise, and the iPod with classical lullaby music that I play every time she goes to sleep (day or night).  We usually have to go in a couple times to give the paci before she falls asleep, sometimes more than a couple, occasionally less than that.  

She is still solely breastfed.  We will try rice cereal at four months.  She wears size 2 diapers and 3 month or 3-6 months clothes.  She can't quite straighten her legs all the way out in 3 month footed outfits.  She's going to be tall like her sister, I guess.  :)

She absolutely loves her sister and gets so excited when Adeline talks to her.  I hope they stay the best of friends forever.

I think that's about all that little miss Annabel is doing these days.  She brightens our days and adds so much love and happiness to our family.  We love you, Annabel Brynn!

Exhausted

That's what I am!  Our week has not been too eventful, but nevertheless, I'm exhausted and excited for the weekend to have Jon home with us.

Monday my girls wore their matching Christmas shirts their Tiny made for them.  Adeline went to KDO and Annabel & I did some grocery shopping.  Not long after we got home I got a call from the church that Adeline was running a low-grade fever so I went to get her.

I monitored her temp the rest of the day and the next morning and it never got above 99.9.  Annabel had a snotty nose on Monday and Tuesday, but Adeline just had the temp and a bit of fussiness.  

My MIL came to visit Monday evening and stayed until Wednesday morning so that was nice.  Tuesday morning Annabel escaped from her swaddle and woke up earlier than usual.

My MIL stayed home with her while I took Adeline to gymnastics.  That night, cousin Murry and her parents came over for dinner.

Wednesday morning, my MIL left to go spend a couple nights with Shane, Juliet, and Murry, and the girls and I went to visit Shannon & Westin.

That afternoon Adeline played so well by herself in her playroom.  She turned on her Christmas music and played with her little nativity scene for the longest time.  She was putting them all in an upside down frisbee..haha.  I just wish I knew what's going on in that little head of hers.

Adeline used to nap 2-3 hours every afternoon.  Then came September and her naps shrunk to about an hour or an hour and a half.  Then came the past couple weeks and they shrank to about 45 minutes!  I'm not sure I can handle this!  So yesterday I was determined to wear her out.  She woke up with a nose that was running like a faucet, but I was still determined to keep her busy.  I had Jon blow up an air mattress the night before for her to jump on.  She jumped on that thing all morning.  Then we took a walk around the block.  But the only person it wore out was Annabel (and me, but I'm always worn out).

Adeline still only slept about 45 minutes!  I think the snot & the coughing had something to do with that, though.  When Jon got home we decorated a gingerbread house that our elf, Dee brought us.

I think we all had just as much fun as Adeline did with it.  

To add to the shortened naps, Adeline has learned how to climb in to her crib.  I'm really not ready for that because it won't be long before she can climb OUT of it.  She loves to play "mommy" and put her babies to bed.  I caught her trying to get her baby back out of her bed last night.  This picture makes me laugh every time I look at it.

The only thing keeping me sane all week was this little girl sleeping well.

But even that came to a halt last night!  She woke up at 10, 2, & 6:30!  She has slept a solid 12 hours except for her 5am meds & feeding since she was 6 weeks old, then the past couple weeks she's started waking at 2 or 3 randomly, but that was still the only time she'd wake up all night until 8am.  Then last night she woke up those THREE times!  And to top it off, she's hardly napped at all today.  I don't know what the deal is, but I'm exhausted!  If I wasn't breast-feeding I'd be on a constant caffeine diet.  

But as much as I'd love to go check in to a hotel for three days and sleep, I love being with my girls and I wouldn't trade a thousand hours of sleep for them.  Please just pray the snot stops running and the sleep comes back to our house.  :)

You better not cry....

You better not pout.  I'm tellin' you why... Santa Claus is coming to town!

Well this song didn't work for Adeline.  She is terrified of Santa.

She loved him last year...

Then on December 1 of this year, my SIL and I decided to take the kids to see Santa.  This is how much Adeline loved him this year...

This picture cracks me up!  

The plan was for Adeline to think that Santa was gone, but she figured it out before we could get the picture taken.  Juliet and I had not planned on being in the picture, but that was the only way it was going to happen.  We bought this one to give to my MIL, and to have something to laugh about in the years to come.  Last year I promised myself that I was not going to be one of those moms who scar their children for life by making them sit in Santa's lap.  However, once you make the effort to get them all dressed up and you get all the way to the mall with all your stuff and both your kids, it's hard to give up easily.  

My mom came in town this past weekend and we decided to give it another try.  We really talked it up and Adeline did much better.  I still had to hold her in my lap (they cropped me out) and she cried a little bit, but not anything like the hysterical screaming she did on the first attempt.

Every time we mention Santa, Adeline either says, "Cry" or "Toys" or "Santa gone gone."  It's like she knows she has to tolerate him in order to get toys, but she sure doesn't like him.  :)

I think pictures with Santa are so much fun.  I'm trying to come up with a way I can display them all every year.  

Exciting Lives

We lead exciting lives around here..haha.  At least it's exciting to me.  I have several pictures I wanted to document, so here goes.

This was the first time I'd seen Adeline try to color a specific thing rather than scribble on the whole page.  It made me so proud!

She got a fun sticker book for her birthday where you make faces.  We had a few eyes and mouths left over...

Monkey see, monkey do..  Feeding Ace his "nummies"

What's wrong with American kids these days...

Trying so hard to get that thumb in her mouth..

Tummy Time

I know it's early, but she loves sitting up, so we decided to go ahead & get the bumbo out.  This baby is so pretty!

Sister time on the activity mat

Adeline has recently become obsessed with "pillows" (marshmallows).  I found this fun Christmas tree activity to do.  You bite the mini marshmallows in half then stick them on the tree outline..looks like snow!

 She loved it, but I caught her eating all the ones off the paper as well.  :)

Then we played nativity scene obstacle course.  I thought it was a fun way to teach her the nativity characters.

Still trying to get that thumb...

Cheese!

Watching Charlie Brown Christmas

Cutie Patootie

I'm sure there all kinds of warnings against this.  I promise she wasn't stuck!

One of these days it's going to happen!

Sister playtime in Annabel's crib this morning.

Our lives may seem mundane to you, but I promise you I am NEVER bored and I enjoy every single minute!

Our Christmas-y Weekend

We've had quite a busy weekend and it's been so much fun!  We started off Saturday morning with a Happy Birthday, Jesus breakfast and concert with Miss Patty Cake at our church.  Adeline and I went to this while Jon and Annabel stayed home.  

These three had so much fun dancing and singing.

It looks like Adeline is pushing Cilla, but I don't think she was.  :)

They had to be right up front where all the action was.

Singing "Jesus Loves Me"

Then we headed home for a quick wardrobe change into something warmer and to pick up Daddy & Annabel before heading to the Christmas Train!

We met the Davises there.

Enjoying the view

Annabel slept through the whole thing.

Best Friends

Then last night we went to eat with Shane, Juliet, & Murry.  I snapped this picture of Annabel before we left and she fell over right as I was taking the picture.  :)  This hat fit Adeline a lot better on her first Christmas.  I guess 2 months makes a big difference!

Today we braved the elements and went to church, but it was quite a disaster.  Adeline was hysterical when we tried to drop her off in the nursery so we took her in to church with us.  I told her as we were going in that she had to be still and quiet.  The quiet part was going well, but she was NOT still.  After about 10 minutes, Jon tried taking her to the nursery again.  This time she went without any protest because Jon took her to Westin's room where Shannon & Cody also happened to be volunteering.  After the service I went to feed Annabel in the nursing room.  About halfway through I could hear Adeline crying hysterically for Mommy & Daddy from across the hall and behind a closed door.  I quickly ran across the hall to see what was wrong.  Shannon & Cody had left to go to Sunday school and the workers had tried to move Adeline to her normal room.  Needless to say, we had to just go home...no Sunday school for us.  As we were walking out she pointed to the sanctuary and said, "quiet, quiet" in between sobs.  She was telling me that she would be quiet just as long as she got to be with us.  That just broke my heart.  The rest of the day has been spent lounging around the house.  It is cold, wet, and nasty outside.

We did get a cute photo of the girls before church, though.  Aren't they precious in their coordinating outfits my MIL made?

And Jon took some cool pictures of the Christmas tree lights reflection on the floor...

And our finished tree...minus many more presents I need to buy/wrap!