September photo favorites

Our girls are growing and changing so much lately and my heart wants to savor all the moments. 

^ Ellie went back to my closet for a little bit and then she came out rocking these booties!

^ Always making a mess with some chocolate chips with the oatmeal balls I give her 

^ In honor of fall...Pumpkin Spice Latte!

^ So one afternoon I was out later than normal and was pushing Ellie's nap time. 

Well, she was exhausted enough to fall asleep in the car I guess. 

This has literally NEVER happened since she was under age 1.

For some reason I snapped a bunch of pictures of Paige sleeping this past month. Ha. 

But who could really blame me; she's so darn precious!! 

^ We went to the movie 'Leap', because Ellie is all about the dancing! She loved it

Ellie wanted to go down the "slide" (couch cushion on an angle) with Paige (photo above)

and look out the window with her (photo below). 

^ First canoe experience (with our good friend Amanda - and Andrew, not pictured), and as you can tell, Ellie was a little unsure at first. She did have a fun time though!

^ Morning show watching all cuddled under the blanket with daddy 

^ Another sleeping picture...I told ya! 

^ Ellie sometimes likes to come sit right by me while I nurse Paige and Paige easily gets distracted by this. She loves watching and listening to her big sister!

^ Little play date that Steven went on with another guy friend and his daughter!

^ We celebrated Steven's 30th birthday with eating out and a little party with some friends. 

Love this guy so much; there's no doubt about the fact I am glad he was born!

^ Got out fall stuff and 'It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown!' book was one of those things. Ellie was obsessed for the first several days and constantly wanted us to read it to her. 

^ Ellie spotted this princess carriage at Walmart and wanted to "test" it out. 

I couldn't get her to look at the camera because she was so in awe of the inside! 

Thankfully she didn't beg us to get it for her, whew! 

^ It's so very rare getting a snap of this one asleep. 

But she was out when it was time to wake her from nap and I had to sneak a picture. 

Plus, we changed her crib to the toddler bed and I wanted to document that some way.

four months

^ She wasn't totally feeling all the photos!

Size: 14.95 lbs (61%) and 25.2" (75.5%). Wearing size 3 diapers. There are a few 3 month pants that still fit, otherwise she's in 3-6 to some size 9.

Eating: Breastfeeding is still going really well, other than Ellie distracting her sometimes and getting sleepy fast if it's too close to when she should be napping/bedtime. And Steven gave her a bottle a few times this last month and it's still kind of hit and miss for her. She's quite picky about the milk in the bottle, how you hold her, etc. - she doesn't make it easy for Steven.

Sleep: Naps are getting more predictable - yay! She usually wakes between 5 - 7am for a diaper change and feeding, then goes back down 2 more times in crib. Then she's usually ready for a nap, 11:30am/12:30pm. We start her off in crib, but if she wakes during that afternoon nap, we usually end up holding her till she's done sleeping and that's been around 3:30/4. Then, she's ready for her bedtime routine at 6 (or earlier if she woke earlier from her last nap) and goes down between 6:30-7pm. AND she sleeps for an average of 10 hours straight. There are those rare nights though that she wakes at a random early time, due to hitting the crib with her feet and/or dirty diaper. Curious if the typical 4 month sleep regression will hit her much...wish us luck, because we've been getting some good sleep!

Milestones/Accomplishments:
- Rolling from back to tummy!!! She had been trying for less than a week, then all of a sudden one day she did it and kept doing it! Granted, the days following she kind of got less busy with that and just hangs out unless you encourage the rolling with a little nudge ; ) same with rolling from tummy to back
- Laughed a couple times one day, but she stopped doing that
...she seems to like teasing us with these big milestones!
-Showing interest in grabbing toys and kind of does sometimes

Likes:
- Crunching up when you're changing her diaper...which makes it quite difficult for us!
- Watching you eat and drink. She'll stare that utensil and cup down!
- Grabbing hair and she's got a good grip - yikes!
- Watching shows. However, we don't let her watch but for a few seconds.

Dislikes:
- Being put down for a diaper change/on a blanket/floor for a minute if she's really tired. But she can usually be calmed down fast if you talk to her or give her the pacifier or of course pick her back up.
- If she wakes or gets woken up before she's really ready to get up.
There's not much to put in this section. Paige is usually a pretty chill, happy girl if she has a full belly and is well rested!

Additional things I want to remember:
The way she grabs the hair tie I wear around my wrist. The way she stares and stares at Ellie and gets excited/happy when she talks to her. How she moves her whole body when she's happy/smiling.

three months

^ Her scrunched up smile gets me every time

^She was trying to roll to her tummy during these photos! 

We didn't get an actual shot of her on her side, but this one above as she was going for it.

A few days late, but not too bad! On the 3rd our babe turned 3 months! It has been such a joy having Paige apart of our family. All the time I look at our girls and think we're so lucky to have them.

Size: We are finishing up the last bit of size 1 diapers and then we'll be moving onto size 2. She's wearing a small amount of size 3 clothing, but most clothes labeled 3-6, 6, 6-9 and 6-12 fit her. The next wellness check scheduled is her 4 month, so I'll have official weight and height stats for the next update.

Eating: This last month we didn't give Paige a bottle...which we need to work on! She's therefore been exclusively breastfed. She can easily be distracted if we're around Ellie during a feeding, but all in all she's still a pretty efficient eater!

Sleep: Right after Paige turned 2 months she started consistently sleeping through the night!! She's been averaging 10 hours straight a night! Ellie was doing the same thing at this age and we know we're super lucky for this. Some random nights she'll wake at an earlier time for a diaper change and feeding, but that is rare. I have found the sweet spot for her bedtime; we'll start getting ready around 6pm and she'll going down between 6:30 and 7pm. It kind of varies when exactly she'll wake in the early morning, but she'll always go back down for another 1-3 hours. She'll nap 2-4 times a day, varying in length and time - 30min-3 hours long. Thankfully she'll take a longer nap when Ellie does, too. Granted, she'll be in our arms for that one most days, so she's kind of guaranteed a nice one at least once a day. She's still swaddled as well which does help. And I've been trying to pay better attention to the length of time she's been awake already.

Milestones/Accomplishments:
-More steady head holding on her own
-Sucking on her fist, trying to get to her fingers
-Imitates some facial expressions
-More communicative with babbling

Likes:
-Trying to suck on fingers
-Play with her tongue
-When you smother her with kisses
-When you pretend to eat her hands/fingers
-Drooling...ha
-Listening/watching Ellie is really one of her favorites

Dislikes:
-When you stop playing with her
-Still does not like the after bath procedure
-Being awake longer than she should be

Additional things I want to remember:
-How people say she looks more like me
-Her sweet sweet smiling ALL the time!

August photo favorites

Our days are never boring! Ellie is always busy doing something and/or talking! And Paige is needing love, food and sleep! We are grateful for these days even when we're exhausted! ; )

^Ellie loves laying a blanket next to Paige's and does tummy time with her. Paige loves it, too!

It's so sweet when Ellie says, "I want to hold my baby"

^ Ellie is always wearing dresses, dancing and twirling 

^Ellie wanted to take my picture with her play phone and she thought it was super funny

^She asked me take a photo of her next to Lamby. She set all that up on her own, too.

^We celebrated 9 years of marriage! 

(Every year we stand next to something with the number representing the year we're at.) 

We went to dinner and ice cream as a family of 4 and it was wonderful.

^Had to get a picture of Ellie holding this huge fake pumpkin! 

Bring on Fall-my favorite season!

Donut date, just the two of us girls!

^Paige has a pretty impressive pouty lip

^These bedtime (and nap time) cuddles are so precious! 

She's getting bigger every day and I'm savoring these moments!

^Steven helped Ellie with her accessories before our morning walk. HAHA!!