Hattie is 5 Months Old!

Our baby girl is 5 months old as of June 30th. She is so much fun. She loves to kick kick kick, arch her back and smile at Mommy, Daddy & Emmett.

• Hattie can now roll over as of June 24th. She will roll from side to side on the floor and rolls over periodically.
• Her favorite place to play is on the floor, mostly on her back but she also endures playing on her tummy. She can scoot on her back quite a ways. When we leave her to play for a few minutes we sometimes come back to find her under a table or across the room. :)
• She has recently found her feet and holds onto them frequently.
• Hattie is talking more. She opens her mouth wide and makes noises moving her tongue around. She has recently started in with "Mmmms". Maybe she will say Mama soon!
• She really wishes she could sit up on her own. You can tell that it frustrates her that she cannot see everything around her. We help her sit up often with minimal help but she cannot do it all on her own just yet.
• Hattie enjoys playing much more now. She is always interested in what her brother is up to. She likes to play in her jumperoo. Her fine motor skills are improving rapidly and she can spin and grab all of her toys. She is also entertained by her mobile in her room and the ceiling fan.
• Her night time sleep is pretty good. I really shouldn't complain because once she goes to sleep she is down until 4:30am at the earliest. She usually goes down sometime around 8pm and gets up between 4:30 and 6:30 for her first feeding.. then usually goes back to sleep for a short time. The problem we are facing right now is that it takes some time for her to settle down. For the last 3 weeks when I put her down she always gets back up - sometimes up to 4 times before she is finally down for the night. Starting today we have decided to let her cry herself to sleep so she can learn to self-soothe. She has this issue at nap time as well. Today she cried for 15 minutes before finally falling asleep for her morning nap.
• Still no teeth but she has started to gnaw on her hands and wrist more so they must be coming soon.
• Hattie is eating 1 oz of cereal per day and still nurses/takes a bottle 6 times a day. We'll plan to introduce more baby food once she turns 6 months old.
• She is still in size 3 diapers and 9 month clothing although she does wear some 12 month as well.

We look forward to a better and more consistent sleep schedule without rocking her to sleep.. :) I hope this next week or so while she is learning to self-soothe goes quickly. It is hard to hear your baby cry! We'll get through it though and it will be better for her in the long run. And I hope Emmett can sleep through it too! :)

Hattie's Rolling Over!

Hattie rolled over for the first time today! Please excuse the crying fit Emmett has at the end of the video.. We're still not sure what exactly that was about.

Hattie Laughing..

Since I have only posted 1 video of our sweet girl since birth... I thought it was about time for another one! She has been laughing for a while. She still doesn't do it a lot, but we are quickly learning her ticklish spots and that she loves it when we sing to her. So, here is a video of Daddy making Hattie laugh...

Emmett's Birthday Party

The Birthday Boy!

 

And Elmo was the theme! Mommy's homemade Elmo cake and cupcakes..

 

It was fun to have so many of our friends and family join us.. and the weather was pretty great that day at Greenbelt Park in Clive.



Blowing out the candles.. He only had one bite of cake. Too busy playing!

Brynn helped Emmett open his presents (thankfully or we would still be there!).

Bye-bye kisses..

 

 

It worked out well to have his birthday party outdoors and include lots of friends and family. We had a great time and know he did too. He really enjoyed playing with Brynn and Daddy on the slide, swings, etc. He had such a great party that he fell asleep on the way home. Luckily Mommy was able to take him up to his room and pull his shoes off without disturbing him too much and he took a long afternoon nap! And little Hattie was pretty good too.. took a nap in her stroller at the party!

 

Happy 2nd Birthday Emmett!!

Emmett Turns 2

Two years ago May 16th my little man was born at 9:31pm after a long labor and after what seemed like an even longer wait for labor to begin... I remember it all like it was yesterday and hope I always will. :)

Emmett,
You have changed so much from that little 8 lb 11 oz baby. You have grown and are now 26 lbs 6 oz (29%) and 35 1/2 (79%) inches tall. You are wearing size 2t clothing with adjustable waist pants that we have to tighten. Your shoe size is 7T. :) You love being at daycare although most mornings you hang onto our legs until we leave and you always run to greet us at the end of the day with your arms up yelling "Mommy Daddy, Mommy Daddy!" :) Your best friend is Jack who is only two weeks older than you.. and you guys say the same things all day long and he also calls me Mommy when I come to pick you up! :) Your favorite activities are going outside ("side"), taking walks in your little red car, bath nights, and watching George, Elmo or more recently Mickey Mouse. You are also starting to enjoy coloring and you are enjoying learning about your new tricycle. You love most foods and will try anything. When I ask you what you want for a snack you respond by saying "Um... cheese. And crackers. Yeah!" You are also obsessed with Goldfish and would eat then for every meal and snack if I allowed it. "Noodles" are a favorite as well and that includes macaroni, spaghetti, lasagna, rice, lo mein, etc. You also still prefer vegetables to fruit but we have found that you will eat canned fruit as well as grapes and bananas.. sometimes blueberries. You currently go to bed around 7:30/8, wake up around 6:30 and take a 2 hour nap from 1-3 every day. You typically will nap 3 hours on the weekends but you have started to try to fight napping all together at times. There have only been a handful of days where you went without a nap and you ended up in bed very early those evenings. You sing and talk all the time! Favorite songs to sing include Happy Birthday, twinkle twinkle, BINGO, Ring around the Rosy (Ring Around), Clean up song, Bear Bear Bear Bear (how do you do) - which we had never heard! and many more. You repeat EVERYTHING. You sometimes yell for daddy up the stairs saying "Rustin!" Some of the other things you have been saying lately include "I don't know where it is", "I'm the man!", "Ouchie!" (which we then have to kiss for you), "It's ok Hattie" and "I did it!!".
When Daddy left to go watch the races tonight he told you "Bye Bud." You responded by saying "Bye Daddy, I'll miss you! I love you, mmmuah!" He then gave Mommy a hug good-bye and you ran and hugged his leg and said "Me too! Me too!" The other day we asked you - "Do you love Mommy?" "Um hmm.. " "Do you love Daddy?" "Yep!".. Then silence until you said "And Love Hattie too!" So sweet.
Tonight when putting you to bed I told you "I love you Emmett." You responded with "I know, I know I know!". That is the best response I could have ever asked for.. because I am so glad that you know! :)
You normally do not get into too much trouble.. but there have been times recently where you have done some things you shouldn't have where we needed to let you know that it wasn't ok.. Such as the few times you have hit your sister. We try to watch to keep you separated when she is on the floor or we just have to put her somewhere out of your reach but occassionally you get to her before we can. To our surprise you were already pretty familiar with time out. Thankfully Dragon Tots also uses time outs when dealing with children misbehaving. You easily sat for your two minutes and then told Hattie sorry. You are a little fascinated by time outs lately and will put your Curious George or Elmo in one occassionally. You can count to 10 correctly and go past 10 skipping a few numbers here and there to eventually get to 20. You know almost all of your colors but occassionally get them mixed up.. We are starting to work on your letters and so far you know the letter "A". :) It's a good start for a 2 year old! You do know some shapes as well. You are just starting to be shy but after you warm up you are a big talker/singer. At times when you are being shy you make a face where you bring your lips in tight.. it is sweet. I can tell you think the world of your Daddy and are constantly saying "Play Daddy, play!" But when something scares you or you get hurt you yell for Mommy.

I hope you always know how much we love you little Emmett Robert. Both Daddy and I will always promise to accept you for who you are.. no matter what. Right now you are 2.. you are sweet as can be.. and you will go through so many changes in life. We are here to love and support you always. We will protect you from dangers in life to the best of our ability and guide you on a path towards independence offering you guidance so that you can eventually make your own decisions. We know that you will be great and are excited for the rest of what life holds for you. But, we are truly enjoying the moments with you now because they are sweet and they are fleeting.. I hope we remember all of this.. every day..  because we are going to miss this time with you when you are older! I have always wanted to be a Mommy someday and you (and your sister) have made that job as wonderful as I always wanted it to be.

All of our love,
Mommy & Daddy

Hattie is 4 months old!

 

Sweet Hattie Jeanne turned 4 months old on May 30th. Just look at those chunky little legs.. she is really growing!

• At her 4 month appointment Hattie weighed in at 17 lbs 10oz (>97%) and was 27.5 inches long (>97%). Her head circumference was 42cm (82%). Overall she is staying in or near the same percentiles that she has been in since birth so that is great.. She is a very big girl all around which is not a bad thing - someone has to be at the top!
• She recently began to sleep through the night consistently, YAY! Since her birth, I have said that at 4 months we would try "sleep training" (which is when most sources say it is safe to start). She slept through the night on her own 3 times in the first week of May. Since then she has mostly gotten up once per night. However, about a week ago I decided I was not going to feed her at night anymore. If she wakes up before 5am we would soothe her back to sleep but not offer to nurse. Well, two nights of rocking her back to sleep and she has decided it wasn't worth getting up if no one was going to feed her! She has slept until after 5am every night since. Smart girl. :)
• Hattie goes to bed somewhere around 8:30pm every night. I typically put her to bed a little after we get Emmett to sleep. She nurses for quite a while before bed and then lays down quietly only to wake up a few minutes after crying. However, I have discovered that if I let her cry a few minutes she settles back down and goes to sleep on her own. She still takes about 3 naps per day and is tired about 2 hours or so after waking up from her last nap.
• She typically nurses 6 times a day. At daycare she takes 3 4oz bottles but I am going to change things up on Monday and send 2 6oz bottles instead. We'll see how that goes. She is drinking out of level 3 nipples now and still loves her Dr. Brown's bottles. Daddy gave her one today that he reported she sucked right down! She was actually still hungry only 1.5 hours later which is why I think she may want to take more than 4oz per feeding.
• Hattie has moved up to size 3 diapers and is wearing 9 month clothing. She is just so long!
• She is getting close to rolling over. She kicks her legs all over the place and is actually happiest laying on the floor on her back. We are getting better at tummy time too though. :) She needs some more practice. She gets over onto her side from both her tummy and her back but has not gotten completely rolled over either way, to our knowledge.
• She now really enjoys sitting in her bumbo chair. Give her a few toys and she is happy there for at least 15 minutes. She also uses her exersaucer at times as well which we tried for the first time on May 4th.
• She is also exploring making more new sounds lately. Yesterday while giving Emmett breakfast Hattie was making noises in her exersaucer and Emmett reported - "Hattie talking!" That's right buddy.:)  I'm sure she'll be saying Dada soon.. Although I would love to hear Mama too!
• One of her favorite toys is her O-ball. It is so easy to grab. She likes to bring it to her mouth and stick her tongue through it. She'll grab just about anything though. It is fun to see her starting to enjoy some toys. She's also getting more interested in reading books with us.
• Hattie loves to hear Mommy Daddy and Emmett sing. It is actually the only thing (so far) that makes her laugh. She has laughed a handful of times now.. and each time it has been when one of us was singing. The first time was last week when Daddy sang "Brass Monkey" to her. :) He was lovingly referring to her chunkiness while singing that song. Ha. She thought it was hilarious. Today she got a kick out of Emmett and Mommy singing "Old Mcdonald". E-I-E-I-O!
• We are taking a different approach with food this time and offered Hattie her first serving of rice cereal yesterday, May 31st. It went pretty well. She really didn't push it out of her mouth too much with her tongue and she didn't make a face at all.. so we'll try it again soon, possibly once a day going forward if we are able to squeeze it in to our schedule! :)

Hattie always has a smile for Mommy and Daddy. She is a sweet and patient little girl (almost always). She is very content. Hattie doesn't like to be handled too much but would rather just do her own thing in her swing, bouncy seat or just hanging out on the floor. When she is tired she needs a little help getting to sleep and would prefer to be rocked by her Momma... but we are trying to get away from that a little so she is not so dependent on being rocked. So far she has still been pretty good at napping on the go as well. She will snooze in her carseat quite easily. Her morning nap is her best and it is usually a solid 2 hours. However, she did take a pretty good afternoon nap today as well of about 2 hours and then just a short snooze around 5. She has enjoyed having a lot of one on one time with Mommy since birth. We still have a lovely time being together on our Wednesdays and Fridays since Mom is still working part-time. There always seem to be 1 or 2 errands to run but that's ok. Our time together will be coming to an end shortly as Mommy goes back to work full time as of June 17th. I think Hattie and I will both be ready to focus more on our day jobs at that point. She does really well at Dragon Tots and will be learning so much - just like her big brother! We love our big girl and are really enjoying this stage. She's a sweetie and we are very lucky that she is ours!

Hattie's Baptism

Hattie was baptized on April 14th 2013.

 

We are blessed to have my cousin Michaela and her husband Nate as her Godparents.

She was a very good girl all throughout the baptism.

Afterward we had a pasta lunch at our house, along with cake and ice cream. The cake wasn't what I had envisioned, but it tasted good. :) Hattie slept for several hours in her carseat when we got back to the house. Tired girl! Here she had fallen asleep again!

 

Grandma and Grandpa Nelson with Hattie.

 

Daddy's little sweeties.

 

Emmett did not get a nap in that day. He was a bit of a mess at this point. Ha. Fell asleep at 5:30 that evening and slept until 7am the next day. Very tired to say the least!

Papa Frank and Grandma Pat with Emmett & Hattie.

 

Mommy's Girl!

 

 

My grandpa was able to come down with my aunt Michelle for the event as well and met Hattie for the first time. It was also the first time he had seen our home. It was great to have them both here. He was a little surprised by how heavy our big girl is! :)

 

 

We had a wonderful day and it was great celebrating Hattie's baptism with such wonderful friends and family.