Beebop-a-Lula

Rosie is now eight months old. She and her sister have been sleeping in the same room for about a month now with mixed results. For the most part they’re co-existing peacefully. And although Rose has been getting up 2-3 times in the middle of the night (teething) her sister typically sleeps right through it. Naps are dicey from time to time, but I let them duke it out and most of the time they end up falling to sleep eventually.

cute and bratty

All of those sleep-interrupted nights has resulted in 2 more teeth: another bottom tooth and one of her top teeth just cut through! Poor baby…

I can say that Miss Rose makes the most adorable noises that a baby can make. Seriously, we should record her and sell CDs to sound effects companies. Such sweet noises. And then the next minute she whines or cries and it’s the most irritating noise you’ve ever heard. It can turn you into a homicidal maniac and before you know it you’re reaching for your hockey mask and clever.

crazy hair

Recently she has started to give big, juicy open mouth kisses and holds her arms up now when she wants to be picked up. Two of my favorite developments! She’s also begun to notice the cat and she tracks him like a sniper in the desert. She squeals with delight, with a big fat smile on her face. I would hedge my bet that she will be more gleefully torturous towards Spooky than her sister was.

Speaking of torturing, she’s doing really well getting up on her hands and knees and I fear that she will begin crawling any day now. And I can already see that she will get into everything she’s not supposed to!

The Brooding Toddler phase has begun. There’s lots of frustration and pouting happening because she can’t communicate as well as she’d like to even though we’ve been encouraging her to talk rather than whine. We know she can pretty much say any word she wants to, like when she says her sister is “loud” or the other night when she ran around squealing “ASS!” at the top of her lungs and giggling like a maniac.

french fries are her favorite food group

She’s being very independent these days, doesn’t want a lot of help from us. Like the other day when I was upstairs with her and Rose and she went down the stairs all by herself. When I recovered from my instant heart-attack I realized that she made it down with no problems. I was grateful that we taught her the “sit & slide” method of getting down.

lost in Gabba Gabba Land

She loves to color with her crayons, assigning me different things to draw for her: clouds, “flowies”, “meow”, moon and sun. And recently she discovered the joys of sidewalk chalk. We busted out some PlayDoh the other day, but she  doesn’t quite get it yet. The containers are more interesting than the dough itself.

umm...I got nuthin.

Swimming lessons are going great. Her father says she’s becoming quite the mermaid (he claims she’s the next Dara Torres!) and loves being in the water. I am looking forward to taking her to the beach this year.

We’re preparing for some big changes as well. Lulu is finally going to get a roommate. We’re going to put both girls in the same room in the next month or so. That should be interesting. Both sleep pretty well, but lately they’ve both been waking up in the middle of the night and chatting, singing, etc. I guess they’ll be able to keep each other company!

And since she turns two next month (!!!) we’re beginning to think about making the move from the crib to a toddler bed, but we’ll let her get used to her new roommate first. I’d like to start potty training by the fall, but we’ll see how she’s doing at that point. I’m not going to rush her into that too soon.

Wow, my baby is turning into a little girl!!!

Lulu is in full-on toddler mode these days. Interpret that however you’d like.

Every day she wakes up with a huge smile on her face. Her hair is getting longer so she always has crazy bed head!

She has been going through an all-about-Mommy-phase for the last month or so. She gets totally whiny if I leave the room and even if I’m just heading to the bathroom, I hear the patter of her little feet running after me. She’s only content with her father unless he’s flipping her around and hanging her upside down by one leg! She equates play time with him. When he comes home from work she waits with anticipation for him to come downstairs and then when he does…she runs and hides.

Easter fez

We signed her up for swim lessons about a month ago. She’s a little older than the other babies in the class, but we didn’t want her to skip the first step. The first few weeks the results were mixed but by the third week she’s starting to get how to kick her legs and blow bubbles in the water. She also just recently graduated to taking baths in the bathtub instead of the kitchen sink, so that may have contributed to success in the water.

"talking" on the iPhone

Sesame Street is big these days (especially Elmo, of course), but Yo Gabba Gabba is bigger. I love seeing the perma-grin on her face as she watches. And I’ll clarify that she only watches one episode of Sesame Street and one of YGG per day. I haven’t gotten desperate enough yet to play them all on repeat for an entire day, although I haven been tempted…

xmas in March

As far as talking goes, Lulu is still being pretty stingy. She understands a ton of things and is really smart. She’s just a quiet little thing. It’s not that she isn’t capable. Just the other night after we went out for St. Patty’s Day dinner, she dazzled Forrest and me when she said “french fry” clear as a bell. I think she just prefers being quiet, unless it’s that time of night that she’s possessed by the after dinner rush and she’s running around, half-naked with a stream of “Lulu-ese” coming out of her mouth!

bat hat's been making the rounds

She likes to draw, but prefers us to draw for her and gets frustrated if we don’t. She’s also learning how to go down the stairs using the sit-n-slide method, loves swinging on the swings and dances up a storm when her favorite songs are on.

raiding the utensil drawer

Her clothes are starting to get pretty short for her lately. I’m hoping to eek another month or two out of them so that we can raid the summer wardrobe with the warmer weather. She and Rose go in for a check-up next month. I can’t wait to see how much they’ve grown!

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!

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

The days are getting shorter, the temperature is getting much cooler and my belly is growing to massive proportions waiting the arrival of 2.0…

Summer may be gone, but we have some great pictures to show for it. Since getting a single photo of Lulu with both of her parents is as rare as a Sasquatch footprint, here’s what I’ve managed to scare up!

in the park

the photo Forrest has been dying for: his lil girl with him on his motorcycle

I know...she's my Mini-Me!

I like the candidness of this pic. It's so cute.

all three of us!

On the ferry from Boston to Salem