Lainey Rose: Three Months

Baby girl, you turned THREE months old over the weekend!  That means we are officially ¼ the way through your first year of life. Really not sure how that happened so fast!

We’ve had such an incredible month with you little one.  You’ve grown and changed and filled our lives with more joy than we knew was possible.   I have a feeling I’ll be saying that every month, but it doesn’t make it any less true.

Here’s what you are up to:

• ·     You are SQUEALING!  It’s the most joyful sound I’ve ever heard.  You are just so full of happiness.  You’ll lie on your back and coo and coo and then just start squealing and smiling and kicking your feet.  So precious.  I had one of those moments (the kind that will forever  be filed away in the memory banks of my heart) yesterday when we were at  your Great Grandma Mary’s house celebrating her 85^th birthday.  I was sitting on the floor with you, Blake was climbing on the couch behind me, and your daddy was sitting in a chair a few feet away.  You were just so happy and so talkative.  Blake was reading a book to himself and flashing you cheesy grins every now and then, and my heart was just overflowing. With gratitude.  With love.  With such an intense feeling of contentment.  It felt like we had arrived.  There we were, a happy, healthy family of four enjoying each other and the people we love.  I never realized just how much was missing from that picture until you arrived. You have filled in a piece of our family puzzle that was vital to the whole picture.  I can’t even tell you how loved you are.  There aren’t words.

• ·     The story of your third month of life has been thrush.  Holy cow, little one.  Very shortly after you turned 2 months old we noticed a white coating all over your tongue.  That quickly spread to the insides of your cheeks and back of your lips, and by the time daddy and I realized what it was, it was a pretty bad case of thrush.  You’ve been to the doctor a handful of times, we’ve tried every medication that’s available, and you still have it.  The anti-fungal medication we use drastically reduced it, so now there’s just a few small patches that we can’t seem to get rid of.  Daddy and I are just waiting on your immune system to figure it out at this point.

•       I’m now exclusively pumping for you and you take bottles.  You drink 6 ounces, five times a day.  The initial switch to bottle feeding came after we treated your thrush initially with something called gentian violet.  Unfortunately for you, you are in the 1-5% of all babies who are allergic to this medication…and it gave you mouth ulcers all over the inside of your cheeks, roof of your mouth, and down the back of your throat.  Broke my heart!  It was horrible.  It hurt you to breastfeed, or really to eat in general, so you refused.  We were able to coax you to drink a bottle by walking around the house bouncing and distracting you, and well….that was the beginning of the end of breastfeeding. After your ulcers healed, you did return to breastfeeding, but when the thrush wouldn’t go away I stopped again thinking that maybe you were somehow getting it from me.  Now you just prefer bottles.  And I’m just happy you’re eating and gaining weight so well, so I’m happy to do whatever works the best for you  

• You weigh 13 pounds and are still wearing size 1 diapers.  Although, we rarely put you in disposables since your cloth diapered bottom is so darn adorable!  You’re wearing mostly 6 month clothes, although I can still put you in 3 month things. 

• You love your brother, and he loves you right back!  He loves to help you when your pacifier falls out of your mouth, and he loves to mimic all the sounds that you make.  And little one, you adore him.   Every once in a while we bathe you two together at night, and every time we do you grin from ear to ear at him in the tub.  Your daddy and I think this is just precious, because on the nights you take a bath by yourself, we are hard pressed to get a smile out of you.  I love your sweet relationship with Blake and hope you always look up to him!

• You giggled at mommy for the first time this month!  I was smiling and cooing and playing peekaboo with you lying on your play mat, and you gave me the brightest most beautiful smile and let out an adorable little giggle. Melted my heart baby girl!  I called daddy right away to brag on the fact that I got your first giggle.  He was pretty jealous ;) Since then, you’ve giggled a few more times and I think it is the sweetest sound.

• I have been so proud of you this month as we’ve taken you out and about.  You do so well.  You just love to be out and about and give out smiles so easily.  Everyone loves you.  I just cannot get over what a beautiful smile you have.  It lights up your whole face and my heart just swells.  I cannot get enough of you baby girl!

• You are still my rockstar sleeper! We feed you your last bottle at 7PM, then put you in the bath and in bed.  You’re usually in bed by 7:30 and sleep straight through until 6AM.  Naps during the day are hit or miss.  You usually take your morning nap really well, from 9-11, but your afternoon nap usually involves me going into your room at least a dozen times to put your pacifier back in your mouth.  Or, on days like today, more like a hundred times.  HA!

• You are kind of over lying on your back, but love to sit up in your bumbo, be carried on my hip, or sit up in your Combi car!  I’ll admit, seeing you in that car brings back so many memories of your big brother.  It was one of his favorites too! :)

• Your reflux is still ridiculous.  Ridiculous.  You spit up so much, so often.  Daddy and I cannot wait for you to grow out of that.  It’s just so horrible.  I keep you in bibs all the time, unless you’re in your crib.  We easily go through 10 bibs a day as you soak them.  Like I said, horrible. 

• You’ve rolled over a few more times from your tummy to your back, but still not consistently.  You seem to surprise yourself when you flip over!

• You are starting to bat at your toys on your play mat and things I hold in front of your face.  You'll also wave toys around that I put in your hands, but you usually look at me like I'm crazy when I do that.  Once in a while you'll bring a toy I've given  you to your mouth for a little exploration, so I don't think it will be long before you're into all your fun toys!  I can't wait baby girl, because you have the cutest little girl toys!!

What an incredible little girl you are, Lainey Rose.  I spend each day excited for the next moment we’ll spend together.  You have filled our lives with such joy.  I hope you never forget how cherished you are.  Before you were born I worried about how I would love another baby the same way that I loved your big brother….oh but sweet girl if I had only known.  The love was there the moment you were born.  It grew.  I can’t even remember what life was like without you, and each day my heart falls more and more hopelessly in love with the precious little girl that you are.  We are so blessed by our you, our little Lainey Rose.  I cannot wait to see how God will use his little bright light to do great things for His kingdom.  I pray for it every single day sweet girl!  

We love you endlessly.  Forever and ever.

-     ~ Your Mama 

Lainey Rose: Two Months

Dear Lainey Rose,

You officially turned two months old today!  What fun we have had this month with you!  We've celebrated my 28th birthday, Mother's Day, and your Grandpa Dal Ponte's birthday.  So many firsts for you :)

Here’s what you are up to this month:

You’ve decided that the car seat is just not your thing.  You don’t like to nap in your car seat, and you don’t like to ride it in.  Period.   In the last few days, though, you’ve thrown us a few bones and done better.  I’ve glanced back at you in the mirror and seen you looking out the window contentedly…so maybe we’re on the upswing with this one! J

Your newborn cry is all but gone.  It makes me a little bit sad that we’ve moved past that, because it just means that that first phase of your life is coming to a close.  It sure does go by fast.

You love your bouncy seat and your play gym!  Your play gym has lights and sounds that absolutely mesmerize you, and you love to talk and smile up at them during play time.

You are so smiley, little love!  Your smiles are big and bright and absolutely melt this mama’s heart.  You have a dimple on your left cheek that I cannot.stop.staring at because it is just the most precious thing ever.  I’ve never met a baby with a smile as beautiful as yours.  You literally smile with your whole face—your smiles are wide open and your eyes light up and sparkle. Did I mention that it melts my heart? J

The second month of your life has brought us an explosion of baby coos!  There is nothing I love more than when you lock eyes with me, give me the biggest, brightest smile and then start talking to me with those sweet baby coos.  You are so very expressive with your voice!  I’ll talk to you and you’ll talk back.  You make me feel like the most important person in the world, and those moments with you are some of my very favorite.  I’ll treasure them my whole life through.  I just love you more than words can say.

We’ve been out and about a bit more this month, and you truly do SO well.  You love to look out and observe everything around you, and you hardly ever fuss.  You’re content to just be held and look around.  You make it so easy. 

You’re still a bit of a peanut because of your severe reflux.   We were at the doctor a lot this month trying to get that under control.  Baby girl, you still spit up more than I even knew was possible.  We’ve switched your reflux meds a few times, cut soy and dairy out from my diet, given you probiotics, and even taken you in for an abdominal ultrasound (to make sure your tummy was formed correctly) to see if we could help you out. Nothing made a huge impact, but everything combined seems to have helped a bit. Your doctor just told us that the plan is to manage it as best we can until you grow out of it…so that’s exactly what we are doing!

Because of your reflux, weight gain has been hard for you.  You had to go in for weight checks about every third day until you were 6 weeks old.  You consistently gain about ½ an ounce a day, which is about half of what your doctor would like to see you gain.  But, because you’re consistent, you seem to have found a growth curve and have done well sticking to it!  As long as that continues, we’re happy to let you grow at your own pace.

At your two month check-up, you weighed in at 11.1 pounds and were just shy of 25 inches.  That puts you in the upper 90^th percentile for length and just about the 50^th for weight. You are our long and lean little princess!

Because of how long you are, you fit very nicely into 6 month clothes.  Your 3 month clothes are all too short and I’m not able to button them!  It’s funny to me that you can be so little, and still wear clothes two sizes bigger than you actually are!

Daddy and I dedicated you and Blake at our church on Mother’s Day.  That was a very special day for our family, and a very special day for daddy and I.  We stood before our church family and made a promise to do our best to raise you up into a woman who knows and loves God.  We promised to be an example for you, in words and deeds, of the great Love of the Father.  Truly, little one, there is no greater gift than daddy and I can give you in this life.  It has been, and continues to be, our greatest prayer.  That you will grow into a woman who loves the Lord with all her heart, and all her soul, and all her mind.  You were created to do great things.  We aren’t perfect people, and God has given us these roles in your life for a very specific purpose..and it is our deepest desire to be faithful to that.

Your big brother continues to be your biggest fan!  He LOVES you.  He loves to climb up on the couch, pat his knees, and proclaim “SIT! Lainey, sit!” until I put you down next to him. He is SO serious when you are sitting with him. He is so still, so aware of the fact that his baby sister is so near to him.  He is so very gentle and careful with you, and it melts my heart.  When you cry, he looks up at me with big, sorrowful  eyes and says, “Lainey sad?”  He just adores you.  The relationship the two of you are building now is so precious to me, and will be one of the most important relationships of your entire life.  Trust me on this one, baby girl.  Your Uncle Tony is one of my most treasured friends. 

I went back to work teaching kindergarten part-time this month.  You and your brother spend four hours each morning with your Grandma.  You have done SO well!   We are so blessed and so thankful that you have such a wonderful  grandma who is able and willing to watch you and your brother.  I’m always so excited to come pick you up at noon!

You are sleeping so well!  We start bedtime at about 7:30 every night, and you’re generally in bed by 8.  You still put yourself to sleep, which we know is incredible, and sleep until about 3AM.  I feed you in our room and you’re usually back in bed, sleeping, about half an hour later.

During the day, you take 2-3 naps.  Usually one from about 7-9,then again from 10:30-noon, and one last afternoon nap at the same time as your brother—around 1:30- or so.  Naps vary from day to day in how successful we are.  You always take them very well, as in you will very happily stay in your crib and entertain yourself for the full 1.5 hours, but you don’t always sleep.  On those days, you’re a bit crankier come bedtime J  But we are so very thankful that you are so easygoing and happy!

You ROLLED OVER from your tummy to your back twice this month!  How crazy is that?! It happened twice—both on the same night—when you were 6 weeks old.  You haven’t done it since, but to see you actually roll over totally floored me.  Your big brother didn’t even attempt that until he was almost 6 months!! 

 

 

Little Lainey Rose, we have loved this month with you in our lives!  You fill a void in our family that we didn’t know existed until you arrived.  Now that you’re here, we cannot imagine what life was like before you.  You are our treasure.  God has blessed our family so tremendously, and we try every day to never take that blessing for granted.  You are perfect, and so very loved. Do I tell you that enough?  When you lock eyes with me, there is incredible recognition reflected back at me from those baby blues.  You know me.  I find that so incredible.  We’re connected in such a tangible way, and that realization still takes my breath away. No one else on this earth gets to call you their daughter, and I am the blessed woman who you will one day call mama.  I can’t wait for the next moment with you, baby girl.  Here’s to a lifetime of them. 

 
Love forever and always,
Your Mama

Lainey Rose: 1 Month

Well Miss. Lainey, this is the first letter I’ve ever written to you with you in the world!  Hard to believe I’m already sitting down to write your 1 month post.  Your first four weeks have been faster than any I’ve ever known.

Lainey Rose, you are precious.  Daddy and I look at you and see everything that we love the most in this world—there is so much of your big brother in that sweet face, and yet there are so many details that are simply yours alone.  You have the sweetest dimple on your left cheek that lights up your face when you smile. I melt every time I see it. Your eyes are a murky blue that seem to search us out wherever we are.  Your perfect fingers and toes are long and lean—piano fingers—and grasp onto mine with a gentle intensity that reminds me just how connected we are.  You and me.  Your skin is the color of honey, and so smooth.  Your pouty lips pucker when you’re asleep in my arms, and that sweet little nose is so perfectly shaped to fit onto your little round face.  You are just perfect.  Loving knit together by the Creator of the Universe.  Every details literally takes my breath away.  We are in awe of you, Lainey Rose.  I cannot stop staring at my beautiful baby girl, and each day the intensity of my love for you grows.    

Here’s what you’ve been up to this month:

·       Your big brother loves you!  The first thing he asks for when he gets up in the morning is his “La-ne? La-ne?”  He loves to go into your room and peek at you in your crib.  He’s a big helper when I change your diaper, he retrieves your binky and (shoves) it in your mouth (..and then takes it back out and puts it in HIS mouth) and he LOVES to pat your back and say “shhh” when you’re angry about something.  He also loves holding you.  The first time he held you, his eyes got so big and he was so very gentle with you in his arms.  As soon as I picked you up, his little eyebrows furrowed and he furiously patted his legs, exclaiming “SIT DOWN! SIT DOWN!”  I think that was his way of saying he wasn’t done cuddling you yet ;) The relationship I already see you two development is absolutely precious to this mama, and I hope that you always share that special bond that can only exist between a brother and a sister. 

·       You are a great sleeper!  Since your very first day in the world, you’ve slept 4-5 hour stretches at night.  As of right now, your longest stretch is 6 hours and we wake you up to eat!  In your second month of life, we’ll start letting you sleep as long as you want.  Big brother slept through the night at 6 weeks…we’ll see what you’re planning!

·       You are a very content little girl.  In the early weeks of your life, you would show your unhappiness with a fussy little newborn cry that was so sorrowful that it broke mama’s heart.  But that didn’t last long, and these days we really don’t hear you cry much at all!  After I feed you, you love to be awake and looking around at everything around you.  I can set you on your play mat and you’ll lie there for 20 minutes or so—just kicking your little feet and waving your arms.  Blake usually gets down on the floor with you and talks to you.  It’s precious.  I need to go over to grandma and grandpa’s house to get a few more of our itty bitty baby toys out of their attic for you to play with. I think you’re almost ready!  You ALSO love to watch our ceiling fan in the living room go around and around. 

·       Today, you smiled for the very first time!  You had been sick with your very first cold, and after a long night daddy and I had you out in the living room for your morning nursing session. I had just finished feeding you and daddy was holding you—just talking to you and snuggling, and you were cooing back at him contentedly…when all of a sudden, you locked eyes with him, and gave him the SWEETEST grin complete with that precious little dimple. Daddy was so excited!!  I caught the whole thing from across the room and rushed over to see if you had a smile in there for mama too…but no such luck J  Already a daddy’s girl!

·       Along with your first smile, your first month also brought about the beginning of those sweet little baby coos.  You started cooing on your play mat a few days ago, and I caught a sweet video of it that I just love.  I was on the phone with daddy when you started, which was so special, because I was able to hold the phone down and let daddy hear you talk!  He loved it, and so did I!

·       In terms of your stats, you weigh 9 lbs 13 ounces, or just shy of 10 pounds, and were 21 inches long at your 2 week check up.  I’m not sure if you’ve grown more since then.  You’re wearing size 1 diapers (although we are using cloth diapers on that adorable little baby booty!) and 3 month clothes. I only had a chance to put you in newborn clothes for about a week!  Then we moved on to 0-3 month, but most of those have since been put away as well.  I’ve rotated in all your 3 month and some of your 3-6 month clothes.  You’re growing well, but it still amazes me that you are a full half pound less than your brother weighed at BIRTH.  I call you my peanut, but everyone is quick to remind me that you’re not a peanut…only when compared to your big brother J

·       You’ve met some very important people in your life this month, including all your grandparents, aunt and uncles, and sweet friends that are like family. Everyone adores you. 

·       Little lady, you’ve been to the doctor a lot this month!  We had to take you in several times in the first few weeks of your life to get your reflux under control.  Baby girl, your fountains of spit up were no joke.  I was just sure you couldn’t possibly be growing with everything that came back up after we were done nursing.  We started you on medication early, and just yesterday took you in to have your meds changed to hopefully see more of an improvement.  You’ve now had two doses of your new reflux meds, and we’ve been a HUGE improvement!!  We’re hopeful this will do the trick for you!  Even with the reflux issues, you’ve gained 8 ounces in 10 days, which keeps you solidly on your growth curve.  I’m just excited to see those fat rolls grow now that we’ve hopefully figured out how to keep more of that milk in your tummy!

·       You also had to go to the doctor this month for your very first cold.  This scared your mama more than I can say, to have my itty bitty 4 week old snotty and congested and struggling to breathe.  Just heartbreaking L  Daddy and I had been holding our breath for weeks, because daddy got sick the week you came home from the hospital and then Blake came down with a cold last week.  I even got a stuffy nose, which meant that 3 out of 4 of us had succumbed to the virus!  It was only a matter of time for you.  Luckily, you were the last to get sick, which gave you extra time to get that immune system working!  This is day two of your cold, and after giving us quite a few scares yesterday, today you are much happier and seem to be on the upswing!  Yahoo!

·       You take some great naps during the day.  You’ll generally cat nap in the car between 7-8 as we take daddy to work, and then you go down for your first real nap of the day between 10 and 10:15.  You’ll sleep for about two hours.  Then, after lunch you AND Blake will nap from about 1-3.  We pick up daddy from work at 4, and sometimes you’ll snooze in the car, and then it’s dinner and you go down for the night at 7.  Right now, we’re getting you up at 8:15 for a bath and then a final feeding before your bedtime at 8:30.  We’re thinking of switching that up a bit and moving your bath time up to around 7:30 so we can have you in bed by 8.  We’ll see!  So far, you seem to be very agreeable and very flexible as we tweak things in your schedule. 

Baby girl, I could go on and on about life with you, but really all you need to know is that you are loved every moment of every day.   You have been prayed for since long before you ever entered my womb, and we have loved the promise of you since God put that desire in our hearts many years ago.  Becoming your mama has been a journey I’ve been on my whole life, and it will take my whole life to complete it.  I pray every day that God will continue to mold me into the woman He intended me to be to raise you up into the woman He intended you to be.  You’re our bright light, Lainey girl, and more than that….you’re HIS bright light.  It’s the literal translation of your name, and it’s our most heartfelt prayer for your life.  Shine, sweet girl.  May nothing in this world ever put out the blazing light you were born with—the light that comes from being a daughter of the KING.  

We love you, Lainey Rose.  Our lives have been immeasurably blessed by the gift of you.  Here’s to your second month in the world!

Love always and forever,

Your Mama

Lainey Rose Breitenstein

Lainey has arrived!  Our precious baby girl was born on Friday, March 22nd at 4:48PM after nine hours of labor.  She weighed 8 pounds, 15 ounces and was 19 inches long.  Lainey looks exactly like her big brother did when he was born, and she has been the perfect addition to our family.  We already love her more than words can express!

Here is a slideshow I put together of her birth:

http://web.photodex.com/view/ap9m278

We are all doing well and adjusting to our new life as a family of four.  Big brother Blake has been so good with his little 'sisser' and my heart melts all over the floor when he points to her and say "Lanee!"

Precious moments.  Thank you Lord, for EVERY good thing!!

Lainey Love

My sweet Lainey-love,

This is my first official letter to you, although we’ve been getting to know each other quite intimately for the past nine months while you’ve been busy growing inside my tummy.   Now we’re only two days away from meeting face to face, and I cannot wait to see and touch the little baby whose every stretch, every hiccup, I’ve felt and experienced for the past nine months.  Do you have any idea how loved you are?

Your daddy, big brother and I have all been working hard to get ready to have you join our family.  Your brother Blake has been practicing saying your name, and he loves to sit in your bouncy seat and rock your swing back and forth.  He gives you hugs every night before bed and sometimes you give him a little kick just to say hello :)  He’s even been sleeping with your pink seahorse a few nights to get it ready for you! 

I was sitting in your room earlier today hanging up the last of your clothes, and as I fingered the soft lace on your Easter dress and adjusted the flower headbands waiting for your on your dresser, it hit me all at once that I’m about to have a baby girl.  There is something so very special about that bond between a mama and her daughter, and my sweet girl, I pray that there will never be a day in your life when you don’t feel that love.  I was created to be your mama, and you were created to be my baby girl.  I promise to never forget how special that is.  We were literally hand chosen for one another by the Creator of the Universe.  That’s an incredible love, and an even more incredible gift.

There are so many things I want you to know and so many pieces of wisdom I hope to impart to you throughout your life, but right now I just want to focus on the one that is most important.

Baby girl, from the beginning of time and from the moment you take your first breath, you were crowned a daughter of the King.  It is your birthright, and the most important title you will ever have.  I pray that you will wear that crown proudly, and that you will let it define you in all you do and say.  I pray that God will raise you up as a light in a world that all too often walks in darkness.  Your name, Lainey, literally means a bright light.  We know that this was the name God intended for you; His beautiful, precious little light. 

Daddy and I claimed John 10:10 for you as a life verse that we pray over you each and every day, even now.  “I have come so that you may have life; and have it more abundantly.”  That’s our deepest prayer for you, now and always.  We pray that you may always know abundant, full life in and through the Father of life.  I pray that you will learn to turn to Him when this life lets you down.  I pray that you will grow into a woman of Godly character, understanding that true beauty comes from a pure heart and not from worldly standards.   

Lainey love, I am already so proud to be your mama.  God has answered the cry of our hearts in delivering you into our family, and I know that His plan for your life is great.  I promise to love you with every piece of my heart.  I promise to work each day to be the mama that God intended me to be….for you, and for your big brother.  And I promise that my arms will always be there—to hold you when you’re sad, to squeeze you tight in a warm hug, and to applaud all of your many, many successes.  I promise to be there for it all, and to be the biggest cheerleader of your life.  

I love you sweet girl, and I cannot wait to meet you face to face.

Forever and Always,

Your Mama

Blake Louis: 19 Months

Well little man, you are officially 19 months old, and about to become a big brother!  Your little sister Lainey will be arriving in just three short days, which means your days as an only child are extremely numbered :)

Originally, I was only going to do yearly updates once you hit 12 months, but in the past seven months you have changed so much that I just have to catalog some of the memories.  I’m afraid if I wait until you’re two, the little boy standing in front of me will have already vanished and these special moments will be lost.

So, here’s my little snapshot of you at 19 months:

·    You have the most adorable scrunchy nosed smile, and use it to your full advantage.  If you get in trouble, you’ll just scrunch that nose up and grin at me…knowing full well how cute you are.  You also use that smile when we’re out and about and you’re flirting with people you meet.  You are just so adorable.  Everyone loves you, and everyone comments on how handsome you are.

·    Over the past few months you’ve really gotten into imaginative play!  You’ll sit with your cars on the floor and drive them all over—making sounds for them, having them interact with each other, the whole nine yards.  Your little voice when you’re playing pretend is just so precious to me. 

·    You love to read.  You pull books off your shelves and sit with the giant teddy bear Uncle Tony gave you while you read the books to yourself. You are so expressive with your voice and hand gestures as you read!  Your words are just gibberish, but it’s the most precious thing I have ever heard.  I was so excited to get a video of it a few months ago!

·    You are absolutely in love with Toby and Emma.  You climb all over them and get so excited when I tell you we’re going home to see them.  Emma is more tolerant of you than Toby, but that just seems to encourage you to chase/harass poor Toby even more. 

·    Little man, you have your daddy’s dance moves.  Your shake and wiggle those hips like there’s no tomorrow, and you have this funny little skip-walk/head bob you do when you’re especially happy or in a good mood.  So precious.  I also taught you how to raise the roof in the car, which you love, and I think is pretty hysterical.

·    You are very clean.  You hate to be dirty.  If you’re eating something messy, and it gets on your hands….well, hold the phone.  Your little world stops until you can get a napkin to clean yourself.   You love to help mommy dust, and have a broom at Grandma and Grandpa’s house that you push all around the house.  You’re also very very fond of the vacuum.  You’ll hold the cord for me and follow me around the house as I go.

·    When you do something exciting, or you’re proud of yourself, you clench your fists into tight little balls and wave them by your side while saying “whoa!”  

·    I used gel in your hair for the first time today, and when we got the bottle out I told you I was going to give you a faux-hawk.  Later that day, after you woke up from your nap, you came running to me with the bottle of hair gel asking for a “hock” over and over…but you replaced the ‘h’ with a ‘c’ and it was pretty funny.

·    For a long time you weren’t very verbal, but in the last month your vocabulary has really exploded! Here’s a list of what you can say (I’m sure I’ll leave something out!)

o    Mama/mommy

o    Dada/daddy

o    Lainey

o    baby

o    Grandma (sounds like ‘mama’)

o    Grandpa (sounds like ‘papa’)

o    Tony (sounds like TAW-nee or NAW-nee)

o    Uncle (sometimes)

o     No (this one gets its own bullet point below)

o    Yes (but you only nod your head for yes, you don’t say it)

o    Dog

o    Chip (you call chips ‘chippies” and it is the cutest thing)

o    Up

o    Down

o    Help

o    Hi

o    Bye bye

o    Cookie

o    Uh oh! (you always tell me this when your toys get stuck or something breaks)

o    Whoa!

o    Stuck

o    Seahorse (sounds like saORse when you say it…and if you don’t have him in the car you call for him over and over and over)

o    Water

o    Milk (you call it milk milk)

o    Sit down!  (This one cracks me up, because you must hear me say it to you a million times a day….when you’re climbing on the couch, or the train table, or a multitude of other places.  You will often tell Toby or Emma to sit down while you wag your little index finger at them.)

o    Ouch

o    Church

o    Oh well!

o    On

o    Off

o    Yucky (you love to find ‘yucky’ things on the ground to point out to us)

o    Bubble

o    Banana

·    By far, your favorite word right now is “no”.  Today, daddy called and I asked if you wanted to talk to him.  You looked at me, looked at the phone, and said “no!”  And when you say no, it’s in the sweetest little voice.  It sounds like no-OO with a smile and a sweet shake of the head.  So sweet.   Then later on the way home in the car, daddy asked if you were ready to meet your baby sister.  Your response?  “Uh, no!”  We laughed and laughed, and you thought you were pretty hilarious.  Lately you’ve been saying ‘oh no’ and ‘uh, no!’ (with some attitude) more often that just ‘no’.

·    Your ‘no’ isn’t always so sweet, because if Toby or Emma decide to go after your food or they’re doing something you think they shouldn’t, you’ll run after them wagging your finger saying “NO NO NO NO NO!”  You also like to tell mommy that when I ask you to do something (like lie down for a diaper change) that you definitely do not want to do. 

·    Your happy place is outside.  You love to be outside.  You follow daddy around the backyard, love to watch him work in the yard, and love going for walks and wagon rides.  I’m so excited that summer is coming, because that means we’ll get to spend a lot of time outdoors.  I know you’re excited!

·    You know most of your animal sounds and most of your body parts.  You love to honk mommy and daddy’s noses and have lately become fascinated with nails (mommy painted hers the other day and you thought it was the most interesting thing you’d ever seen)

·    After daddy gets home from work, the two of you will wrestle and play on the floor for hours.  Daddy tickles you and you just laugh and laugh.  I can’t wait to watch you two together every night.  It makes me so happy.

·     You have the most ridiculous fake laugh.  It’s deep and throaty and makes you sound like an old man.  You only do it when you think you’ve been pretty funny and want everyone to know it. 

·    You’ve gotten a little bit better with food, although you are still very picky.  You have learned what it means when I say “take a bite” and will eat bites of your dinner if I bribe you with something better to come.  Hey, I’ll take it!

·    We started time out with you, and in general you’ve gotten pretty good at minding us when we tell you to go there.  You just have to sit until you’re calm, and then come give hugs and say you’re sorry. 

·    In general, you are very well mannered and follow directions very well.  We always get compliments on how well behaved you are when we’re out and about…especially at restaurants!

·    You give the BEST hugs!  They melt my heart.

 

·    You do NOT like bedtime.  As soon as we start the bath water, you run from the room yelling “no no no no no!”  It goes downhill from there.  You refuse to read your bedtime stories because you know what’s coming next….and once we turn out the light, you cling to us like there’s no tomorrow.  It’s not the best part of our day, but we’re just keeping the routine the same and trying to stay consistent…hopefully you’ll move past this phase soon!

·     The carseat is also not your favorite place.  You whine and whine and whine everywhere we go.  You just cannot be confined right now.  I call you my tornado or ‘turbo’ because you are always moving.  I clean up one mess and you’ve already recreated it by the time I turn back around.  Busy, busy, busy!

I’m sure I’m forgetting so many little things, but my love, you are just the sweetest thing daddy and I have ever laid eyes on.  You’re so loving and sweet, and such a big helper!  We love you more than I could ever say.  I can’t wait for you to meet your sister and watch you in your new role as big brother.   I know God created you to be a big brother for this very little girl, and that just blows me away.  God has such big plans for you, little one.  I can't wait to watch them unfold from the front row. 

You and your sister are our greatest blessings.  Never forget that, and never forget that you are loved every moment of every single day. 

All my love, forever and always,

Your Mama