Hannah's 4 month doctor appointment

Hannah went for her 4 month doctor appointment today - a bit early but since we are gone next week the doctor wanted to see her before she turned 4 months old.  She is doing great!  Her head is perfectly round, her neck muscles are strong and she loves to suck on her hands.  She weighed 13 lbs 14 oz which put her in the 70th percentile.  It is down from before where she was in the 75th percent but the doctor isn't concerned as long as she doesn't continue to go down the chart.  She is 24.5 inches tall (60th percentile) and her head is in the 20th percentile (same as her 2nd month appointment).

The doctor said it is time to get her out of her swaddle and put her in a sleep sack. That is going to be a big change for us considering she loves to suck on her hands!  Hopefully the change will go smoothly.  We can also put her in a stroller and recline it all the way back so she can look out.  I think we are going to take our time with that one - she is just so little!! We can give her a lovey, which we already have, and we will continue to give her things she can suck on.

She still has a cough but the doctor said her lungs are clear and so are her ears so that is good news.  Once she is all better the doctor said she is big enough now to sleep train and get her to sleep through the night and not do a night feed.  I can't wait for that!!!! She said it should take about three days - honestly I am scared though... I hate when she cries and we do believe in the cry it out method to an extent.  I hope Hannah does well and is ok with it when we do that.  The doctor said for us to wait to do this until she is all better/her cough goes away.  She also said that we shouldn't have her in our room when we do this because she can smell and hear us which will make it all that much harder on her.  We will figure out where to put her for those few days.  The doctor said she can move back in with us once she is trained.

In the next month or so we will also start feeding her solid foods and put her in the highchair.  What a day that will be!

So our little baby girl is growing up!  It seems like just yesterday she was in my belly and everyday she amazes me.  She is getting so big and becoming such a little person.  I want time to slow down!!

Family Photos

When we were in Los Angeles for Thanksgiving we had our wedding photographer, Michael Brannigan, take some family photos for us.  The photos really turned out great!! We took them at the park in Santa Monica.  The weather was nice and everyone was on their best behavior.

Our little girl is 3 years old!!!

It's incredible - Emma turned 3 today! I can't believe she is 3 already.  Where did the time go and where is my little baby girl, Emma?  She is so big, talkative and fun to be around (of course when she is behaving)!  She had a fabulous birthday party yesterday and she was so excited for both her party and her actual birthday.  For the past week she keeps singing Happy Birthday to herself and Hannah in anticipation of her party and birthday. This is the first year Emma really understands her birthday so it was really special for me and Jamey.

We threw Emma a great birthday party at the Noe Valley Rec Center.  There were around 50-60 people kids including 20 or so kids.  The theme of her party was Pinkalicious which she really enjoyed.  Judith got her a Pinkalicious pinata which was so cool and she had a blast hitting it and trying to get it to open.  We also had Boswick the Clown as the entertainment, courtesy of Grandma and Grandpa and he was a hit!!! Emma was beyond excited when he showed up - she was running around like a banshee saying - the clown is here the clown is here.  She was laughing hysterically at Boswick and everyone really enjoyed the show.

Emma absolutely loved opening her presents!! She kept saying, I have sooo many presents!! While she loved all of her gifts - there were a couple of standouts - the scooter we got her and the legos.  She can't get enough of either! I have to say though that the look on her face when she opened the scooter was priceless!! She was so excited and it made me and Jamey very happy.

Hannah's first illness

The poor little girl got her first illness - not surprising considering that Emma and I are both sick too.  I took her to the doctor on Dec. 10 because she had yellow stuff in coming out of her eyes and her right eye was pretty red.  She also is a bit stuffy.  Dr. Dawn wasn't sure if it was a virus or a bacteria infection but because we are all sick she gave her an antibiotic eye drop.  She's been a trooper and isn't really complaining.  Now a week later she's developed a bit of a cough and she is still stuffy.  Her eye has cleared up which is good news.  Let's just hope she is able to kick this quickly!

Hannah's 3 months old and Emma is a great big sis

 
Hannah is doing really well.  She has discovered her hands and sucks on them all the time.  She is also cooing a lot and it is fun to carry on a conversation on with her. She is also squealing/swaking like a crow - we sometimes think there is a bird in our house.  Her sounds are really wonderful though.

Jamey weighed her this morning and she was a little over 13 lbs.  We have her 4-month doctors appointment in a few weeks so it will be fun to see how big she is. I put all her 0-3 month clothes away a couple weeks before she was officially 3 months old - she got so big so fast and outgrew them!

She's been sleeping pretty well overall.  Last week she slept through the night three times. She goes to bed around 7:30 and then woke up at 5:15.  We can't complain.  She doesn't do that all the time but the last few days she is doing 9 to 9.5 hour stretches.  Naps can sometimes be challenging but nothing like Emma.  She usually will take one long nap - anywhere from 2-3 hours and then her other naps are about an hour or so. Sometimes she will only sleep 30 minutes on the dot but the reality is she still is a better napper than Emma. 

Hannah is laughing now and it is really cute to hear her little laugh. Her mouth gets so big and she is just so happy.  Today for the first time she rolled onto her side when she was laying on her playmat.  It was very cool to see her do that.  She also has been playing with some toys now - grasping them and holding them for a while. 

Emma is continuing to amaze me.  She got really sick with a bad cold or sinus infection and after 14 days of not getting better she was put on antibiotic.  She didn't like it at all and it was quite difficult to get her to take it.  She needed to take 7 ml twice a day and it was a miracle to get her to take it at all.  We resorted to bribing her - tried to put it in apple juice, ice cream, apple sauce, peanut butter and nothing worked. She was too smart for it and new we were trying to hide it in those things.  Sometimes she would take it other times she wouldn't.  We had to force it down her which usually didn't work and it was really sad when we had to do that.  Then one day she decided that it was OK to take it like a shot - literally we put it in a shot glass and she drank it.  We gave her ice cream after each time she did but she did take it.  What was hilarious was that when we were trying to give her medicine she would say no thank you, no thank you.  It was really funny to hear her be so polite in this situation.  Of course she never won this fight but at least we've raised a polite little girl.

She is being a bit difficult again with drinking her milk - we didn't give it to her when she was sick but we started to give it to her again.  We have to put some chocolate in it to get her to drink it but that is OK.  We only give her milk in the morning in hopes of her waking up dry one of these mornings.  That still hasn't happened but one day it will - hopefully sooner than later.

What is awesome is that things finally clicked with her bunny clock.  She will wait to call us in the morning until her bunny is walking which is amazing.  She will stay in her bed if she wakes up when her bunny is still sleeping and that is helping us out a ton.  It was weird because just one day she finally got it.  We've been moving the time back in 5 minute increments and now her bunny starts walking at 6:20.

Another great thing is that she is finally wanting me to be around her more.  She is asking for me to come get her in the morning, go to the park with her in the afternoon and just wanting to be with me.  I am so happy about this I can't tell you!!

Emma also loves to crack jokes, sing and make up songs.  It is so wonderful to hear her sing songs and it is funny when she tries to make us laugh or herself laugh. Her vocabulary is continuing to explode - she used the word except the other day which is very advanced.  She's only said it once but still.  There is one phrase she is saying and we are ignoring it since it isn't good - she is saying damn it - thanks to Jamey.  I kept telling him that he can't say that around her and then out of the blue she started to say it. She isn't using it in the right context and we are ignoring it hoping she will stop using it.

Emma is also getting much better with Hannah.  Overall she is being nice to her and has accepted her as part of the family.  I think she finally gets that Hannah is here to stay. This new attitude makes it a lot easier on us. Don't get me wrong though, she can still be very possessive and won't let Judith or Jamey hold her at times.  Baby steps...