Beebop-a-Lula

Rose is a a great stage right now that she’s just about three months old. She is finally sleeping through the night a solid 7-8 hours. Her smiles are frequent and beginning to get drooly-dribbly (and I think I even got her to laugh yesterday)! Lately she’s been trying to sit up on her own, which results in her tipping over to one side. And she is doing pretty good holding up that giant head of hers, although it’s still pretty wobbly. Oh, and she belches like a frat boy after a game of Beer Pong (she must get this from her father).

These days I can put her down for a nap while she’s awake and she’ll chat to herself until she falls asleep. And when she wakes up it isn’t the needy, ear piercing wail of a newborn. Most of the time she wakes up cooing softly to herself. Or sucking madly on her fist (smack, slurp, smack!).

I love when I go to fetch her from a nap. Her reaction is hilarious. She looks at me like I’m a long lost friend that she hasn’t seen in ages and you can see the recognition register on her face. Then she gets super excited. Her eyes light up, her little arms flail and the legs start kicking wildly.

Oh...hello Mumma.

How have you been?

I'M SO HAPPY TO SEE YOU AGAIN!!!

I feel really lucky to get to look at this sweet little face every day! Being greeted by that huge, toothless smile makes me giggle. And then you know I have to scoop her up and NOM NOM NOM those fat cheekies and blow raspberries in her neck!

Maybe I’m a silly, but I really wanted to get Lulu a pair of wings. I have visions of her running around in the summertime wearing a cute dress, her little motorcycle boots and her wings, with a melting Popsicle melting down her arm and a fruit punch smile…

I know that right now she’s probably a little too young still to realize HOW COOL it is to have wings (and I don’t care), but hopefully one day when she’s older she’ll give me mad props for being a cool mom. Either that or she’ll purse her lips with disdain and tell me how weird I am…

Lulu

Lulu is almost 19 months old and getting too smart for my own good! She’s a little sponge and learns something new every day, whether it’s a new word or behavior. Lately a fun trick for her is to snatch up something she’s not supposed to have and then play “keep away from mumma.” She thinks it’s hilarious. Me, not so much.

But she is so fun and funny that it’s hard to be upset with her. As you can see from these pictures, she’s quite a little character.

crazy jelly face

taking a rest

jammie jams

troublemaker

Spooky is so patient

Front seat in the double caboose

Rose

She’s almost three months old and a very different baby these days. She’s slowed down on the frequency of eating. Instead of demanding a bottle every three hours, we’re giving her a larger bottle every 4-4 1/2 hours. She’s sleeping a lot more now, too. It would appear that she is recovering from her massive growth spurt! Her legs are so adorably chunky that I just want to chew on them and I frequently nibble on her chubby cheeks.

Rose is a very chatty baby. She loves to look right into your eyes and have very long, deep conversations often punctuated by outbursts of squeals. Thankfully I have deciphered her behavior when she’s unhappy and now find her somewhat predictable, which makes things easier on me. She only cries when she’s hungry, needs to be burped & when she’s sleepy. All other times she’s either smiling or sleeping.

out for a chilly walk

she looks confused

tummy time

cheeks!

a rare moment of peace, not being stepped on by Lulu

cutie pie

weight: 14 lbs.
height: 24 3/4 inches

Rose had a great doctor’s appointment today. She is growing like a weed! The pediatrician was impressed with her weight gain and growth in general. Little girl is quite healthy! I know I always say that I don’t want to compare her to Lulu all of the time, but she has 4 lbs. and 2″ over her sister at the same age! Looks like Lulu might end up being the “small one!”

We went over her general progressions that come with this age: smiling, “talking”, pushing her head up, trying to stand up and following objects with her eyes. Yesterday while she was lying on the floor she actually rolled onto her side. I couldn’t believe my eyes. And…the past few nights she’s been sleeping pretty much through the night, 5-7 hours! Finally!

Rose at her 2 month check-up, before the needles showed up!

Unfortunately, today she got the first of her vaccines. She was so happy and chatty while we were waiting for the nurse to come in. Once she got that needle in her leg…oh my! Rosie was not so happy or chatty. She cried so loudly and had these big fat crocodile tears rolling down her face. Poor baby! She cried for a few minutes and then sort of made these complainy whimpers.

I think my little Rose is going to be a bit of a drama queen!

Lulu : 18 months

At a year and a half, Lulu is showing signs of the typical toddler. One minute she is beaming with a smile from ear to ear, the next she is screaming/whining over the smallest things. While her vocabulary is ever growing and her comprehension of what we’re saying to her is amazing, she gets frustrated very easily when she can’t communicate what she wants to us.

apples to apples

She’s still a picky eater but we’ve noticed that she does at least have a willingness to at least try what we’re eating. She won’t eat pizza, but likes spicy pepperoni. She won’t eat a banana but likes banana bread. Picky eater or not, she is definitely growing and getting very heavy.

Still a great sleeper, loving Sesame Street (Elmo especially) & Blues Clues, taunts Spooky daily yelling “ME-OW!” as she chases him, loves watching videos on YouTube on the big computer with Mom, despite the cold weather enjoys being outdoors, loves Peek-a-Boo & Patty Cake and still enjoys her little sister. Occasionally a total menace, particularly when it comes to getting ready for bed (she’d rather run around nekkid then to put on a diaper and pajamas!).

Rose: 8 weeks old

Rosie is changing all the time these days! She is the chubby baby that Lulu never was, with meaty little legs and full, pinch-able cheeks! She’s a hefty little package to hold and will definitely wear your arm out if you hold her for a while. Her eyelashes are nice & long and she has a pale, pinkish complexion with dark hair.

chubby!

Lots of big smiles for mom & dad, coos and gurgles and even some occasional squeals. At night she’s still fluctuating between 3-6 hours of sleep at a time.

devilish gleam in her eye

We have been making the best of being stuck in the house for the winter, but we did manage to get some fresh air last week when it warmed up a little. Rose is slightly more demanding then Lulu ever was, but those big eyes and sweet smiles make up for it!

weight: 12.3 lbs
height: 23 1/2″

Rose’s appointment revealed that she is in the 97th percentile for height and weight! The doctor was impressed by the growth spurt she had. She is a BIG, healthy girl!

While she still isn’t quite sleeping through the night she is getting there, going for 4-5 hour stretches at a time. I think one reason Lulu turned out to be such a great sleeper from the start is because she’s a summer baby and we had her out and about all of the time in the fresh air and sunshine, where poor Rose is housebound since it’s cold and snowy outside right now.

While she’s awake, she is a bit of a curmudgeon. She rarely seems content and is often fussy. A lot of it I contribute to tummy troubles, she is always doubling over with gas problems and may even be a touch colicky. Gas drops are our friend!  The doctor did say that this will get better as she gets older. She’s so sweet. We hate to see her so uncomfortable.

And in the past week or so she has started to lose her hair, although not as severe as when Lulu lost hers! I predict Rosie is going to have dark hair, like her mother. It’ll be fun to find out!

Rosie is a month old today!

She is getting very plump and has the cutest, chubby pink cheeks! She has been an eating machine for the past 2 weeks (she’s a growing girl, after all) but has finally slowed down this week. She’s drinking 4 ounces every 3-4 hours and is very demanding when it’s time to eat, giving very little warning before she starts screaming for her bottle.

lil cutie

She’s starting to focus on things and smiles at us when she’s awake. When she lays on her belly she pushes her head up pretty high, before it plops down again. It’s great to see her get stronger by the day.

We all think she’s the most adorable thing and the sweetest little package to hold. We can’t get enough of her!

Lulu still gets giddy around Rose. All she wants to do is kiss and hug her when she’s awake. We try to encourage her to spend time with the baby so that she doesn’t harbor any kind of resentment (although I’m sure that will change someday).

As good as she is around the baby, we do have to keep an eye on Lulu. She tends to peek in (and when I say “peek in” I really mean “shake vigorously”) the crib when Rose is sleeping and likes to leave things in tribute. The other day I found the cardboard tube from a roll of paper towels hanging out at Rose’s feet. Needless to say, I knew how it got there!

The girls definitely have been keeping us busy. It’s been kind of a whirlwind, especially trying to prepare for Christmas (on top of a lack of sleep). While my ambitions were much higher than I can deliver this year, I’ll just be happy spending the time with friends and family and to introduce them to Rosebud.

blankie made by Chrissy!

Rose is such a sweet lil thing. Lucky for me she’s a pretty good sleeper during the day, since Lulu requires more of my attention. She does stay awake for a few hours here and there and when she is awake, most of my time is shielding her from her big sister, who just wants to smother her with kisses!

She has a VERY healthy appetite! She is eating 5 ounce bottles every four hours, without fail, day and night. Her cheeks are getting so chubby!

Forrest went back to work the day before yesterday, so I’ve been doing the night shifts this week. Every four hours isn’t so bad and I have a system down now. Sad to say that I’m getting used to the sleep deprivation!

There’s definitely a huge difference in having a summer baby vs. a winter baby. When Lulu was this little we took her out everywhere we went. But now that the temp has dropped like a stone, I don’t want to take Rosie out for fear that she’ll get too cold. Plus, with cold & flu season I don’t want to expose her to the germs. As a result, we’ve only taken her out to our usual Saturday morning breakfast hangout.

Since strawberry birthmarks seem to run in the Frazier side of the family, we’ve been lookingt for them and I do believe that Miss Rose has something on the base of her head. It’s not a round mark like her sister had, but more like a few little stripes. It’s hard to see because her hair is so dark.

We’re getting used to the structured chaos around here, as well as trying to get ready for the holidays. But I’m happy to report that we’re all adapting and my littlest one is thriving nicely!

weight: 21.13 lbs
height: 33″

Lulu’s stats haven’t changed much since her weight check back in early October. She gained a pound. That’s it. But the good thing about checking her progression is now the doctor realizes that her skinniness is genetic, not because she’s not eating enough. Luckily Forrest was with us this time around and explained to the doctor that he had a similar physique when he was a kid. So, basically that means no more weight checks.

peek

-a-

boo