April 2014

Matt was gone quite a bit this month -- one weekend for a bachelor party and another for his cousin Sami's wedding. The wedding unfortunately was not kid-friendly so I stayed home with Aurora and Connor.

Aurora had so much fun celebrating Easter this year. We dyed eggs and hid them around the yard for her. She was so excited to hunt for them :)

I started taking some sewing classes at a store here which has been so much fun. I think its good for me to get out for a while and good for Matt and the kids to have some quality alone time too.

One of Aurora's birthday gifts that she painted with Dada

I started training for a 5k with a group of Mamas at Wash Park. It is a little discouraging to realize how out of shape I am, but there is nothing like the feeling of getting a run in early in the morning.

Aurora started hip hop! I'm not sure we will continue because she is by far the youngest in the class and she hasn't enjoyed it so far but it's pretty cute to watch anyway.

We planted our garden! I have wanted to start a garden for a few years now and just never got around to it. So excited for fresh veggies!

Connor 5 Months

Connor man Connor man you are 5 months old! You are the smiliest dude and it is so easy to get to you laugh. It's pretty funny looking back that I was worried about you not smiling and now your giggle totally cracks me up :) You especially love being tossed in the air, "eaten" or bounced.

Your Nanny is also relieved that your baby blues look like they are staying. For a while there was a question as to whether you would be the first brown-eyed McCord baby. Looks like blonde hair and blue eyes!

You are starting to become fascinated with our phones. We used to be able to check email or I could work on my to do list while holding you but that is now almost impossible. You just try to swat at the phone and often send an email early or delete something I am working on ;)

You are totally sitting up on your own. You will still fall over if you reach too far or get distracted but if we put the boppy behind you you will sit and play for 10-15 minutes.

You also love to be in your jumper. For a long time you didn't know you could bounce but know you love to throw your weight around in there. You also like sitting with us at the table but I think you are starting to get jealous that everyone else is eating solid food in front of you! You are also starting to bear weight on your legs fairly regularly. I hope we have some time before you start moving...

I think you are starting to teethe. You have always chewed on things over sucking on them but recently it seems like more frantic chewing. You have started being able to bring toys to your mouth and you really like to chew on your moose lovey when you go to sleep.

Your sleep is still a complete disaster. I have tried only feeding you every three hours at night and just rocking you to sleep at the wake-ups in between, changing the inserts in your diaper etc and nothing seems to make a difference. We did stop swaddling you and also moved you out of the rock and play into the co sleeper. I figured we would need to make those changes eventually anyway so we may as well do them now when we are used to frequent wake ups. Luckily neither transition changed your sleeping at all.

On a high note you were falling asleep at bedtime totally unassisted but that now that you are teething that hasn't been happening so much.

Your naps have also gone south and but I hope they will get better as soon as these teeth pop through. The past few days you have been taking 4 30-40 minute naps instead of the 3 longer ones you used to take.

Connor 4 Months

Connor, you are 4 months old! I can't believe how quickly the time goes.

You are still aren't sleeping well at night. In fact, I think it is getting worse. You were starting to lengthen your first stretch but that has shortened to about an hour or two as well. On a typical night I would say night wakings look like this -- Bed at 7:15, up at 8, 10, 12, 1, 2, 4, 5, 6.  Yep, thats generally every hour with a couple 2 hour chunks thrown in for good measure. I am pretty sure I won't know how tired I actually am until you start sleeping and I start remembering what that feels like!

You generally take 3 naps and are up between them for about an hour and a half. Your morning nap totals about 2 hours but you still have to be put back to sleep every sleep cycle. And then your other two are usually 40 minutes.

You are sitting up! Not independently of course but you can balance unassisted for a few seconds and can sit for extended periods with very minor support. I think you will be sitting up on your own in a few weeks which is amazing to me since your sister still needed to be spotted at 6 months.

You are much more interested and able to play with toys now. Your fine motor skills are starting to kick in and you can grab onto toys instead of just bat at them.

You still hate tummy time unless you roll over onto your side, which I guess isn't tummy time anymore ;) You can roll over, but I'm not sure you know how you do it because sometimes you end up on your back and sometimes you just fuss on your belly. You can also do a pretty good mini pushup.

It amazes me that you continue to get more interactive and smiley every day. It is so easy to make you smile and your laugh makes my heart happy :) You love to watch your sister. No matter what she is doing you find her more interesting to watch than anyone else.

You absolutely love bouncing on our knees while we sing The Grand Old Duke of York. I love that you know it is coming because you will start giggling when I start singing even if I'm not bouncing you. It's also clear that you try to ask for more at the end because you will look at me with this expectant look and "talk"

You aren't big on sucking things, but you constantly have your hands in your mouth and chew on them. I don't know if this is just something you like to do or if you are starting to teethe but we haven't seen any other signs of teeth coming in.

You are still not taking a bottle! Your sister never took one but you are so much more relaxed than she was so I thought it wouldn't be a problem. The pediatrician said to keep trying different bottles and different flow nipples so we shall see.

Aurora 3rd Birthday

Happy third birthday sweet girl!

Connor 3 Months

Connor Man! You are getting so big. All of the sudden you stopped feeling like a newborn. You are so much more sturdy - I can toss you on one hip and hold you with one hand rather than having to cradle you all the time. Your have pretty much complete head control so we rarely have to worry about that.

You are sitting up! Of course you can't sit up by yourself yet but you are getting there. You can sit unaided in the bumbo and we set up your high chair which you are enjoying as well. Meal times are much easier with you at the table because you are usually content to watch your sister. Actually I have noticed you really don't like to be reclined in your baby seats anymore. When we lay you back on us or one of your seats you struggle to sit up, and lately you have succeeded a few times.

You are also becoming such a smiley little dude. I love it. We got your first real open mouthed smile just in time for Valentines Day and you are finally smiling and laughing in response to our interactions. One of your favorites is when I bounce you on my knees and sing The Grand Old Duke of York. Its awesome.

Your eye hand coordination is coming along. At the beginning of the month you would stare at your toys and sometimes hit them but mostly you were still trying to figure out how to get your hands to go where you wanted them. I think we first started giving you toys on your bumbo around 10 weeks and you definitely hadn't mastered how to make contact yet. Now you are starting to actually play with your toy bars and will sometimes hold onto a toy or rattle.

Your sleep is currently all over the place. After you wake up in the morning you are ready for nap almost exactly an hour later but besides that it is anybody's guess. I can never predict how long you will sleep. Nights have also been rough. You generally sleep for about 2 hours at a time (which can be anywhere from 1 hour to 2.5) and that makes for a lot of wake ups. Your first stretch of the night is usually longer than that, but you have also been going to bed earlier and earlier so it doesn't really help me get any more sleep. I'd say you are trending toward a 6-7pm bedtime and then sleep until about 6:30am.

You have definitely found your feet, but you can't touch them yet. You just love to sit and rub them together. I've said it before but you can't sit still!

Your hair is getting so light! It's pretty comical actually because it looks like you had your hair dyed dark and then forgot to keep dying it. It is super dark on the tips and then the roots are growing in very blonde :)

Aurora - Thirty Five Months

Goodness, it has been a long time since I have written an update! We have been super busy.

The biggest change is you are now a big sister! Your little brother was born two months ago and you have adjusted fabulously. I can't say it has been completely incident free, but overall you have done much better than either your father or I expected.

You are completely potty trained! Finally! I thought we were there over the summer but we had a major setback when we moved into our house. I think it had something to do with "the baby" having his own room making everything on that front seemed a lot more tangible. Luckily though we didn't have a repeat when Connor was actually born so in thankful we got it out of the way when we did.

Your Dada has finished your bunny room. One day in the car your dada was discussing with you what to do with your room and you decided you wanted a pink room with bunnies on the wall. Thinking you would forget your dada agreed, but you forget nothing so pink bunnies it is!!

I love when you take care of your baby doll that Connor got you as a big sister present when he was born. And I love it even more that after much deliberation you named her "Baby Mama" ;)

You are holding real conversations now! You are also paying more attention to the conversations of others and frequently interrupt with "what you say?" I know you can't quite follow what people are saying when they speak quickly but you are at least becoming aware and interested in the conversations around you. This does mean, however, we really need to start being careful what we discuss around you now!

You are still a great eater. People are always impressed with what you eat when we go out. I'd say some of your favorites are shellfish of any kind and sushi (especially salmon roe and uni). We almost never order off the kids menu - in fact I think you wouldn't be too thrilled with most of the kids menu offerings!

You have completely given up your nap but are still required to have quiet time for about an hour and a half. You handle this very well and sit with your books, read, sing etc. Bedtime is around 6:30 and you sleep until 6:30-7am. You don't always fall asleep right away but you will stay in your bed and sing to yourself until you do fall asleep.

Funny Quotes --

"Mama, if Tia and Dudu made Baby Brynn and you and Dada made me... Then Nanny & Grumpa made Jojo!"

We had a canvas made of your dada and I kiss attacking you and when you first saw it you asked, "Dada, why are you trying to sneak kisses into my hair?"