8 Months {Caroline Joy}

[happy 8 months, miss caroline]

At EIGHT MONTHS you are wearing size 3 diapers and size 6 months and 6-9 month clothing.  

At EIGHT MONTHS you are still drinking 5 bottles a day.  The morning and nighttime bottles you take 6 oz but the other three during the day (around 11 am, 2 pm, and 5 pm) are 5 oz.  You wake up and drink your first bottle anywhere from 6:45 to 7:30ish.  All depends when you wake up.  You will drink your nighttime bottle somewhere in the 7 o'clock hour and then fall asleep shortly after.

At EIGHT MONTHS you are finally getting the hang of eating baby food and finger foods.  And YOU LIKE IT!  I think you prefer to feed yourself rather than me feeding you with a spoon.  You love to pick up Cheerios, puffs, little banana pieces, and broken pieces of crackers and put them in your own mouth.  You do pretty good at getting at least 60% of what you pick up into your mouth.  And I think you just like the taste of the real food so much better.  When you pick up food to feed yourself you use your left hand most of the time.  Your favorite baby food is bananas.  You gobble it right up!  Right now you have some kind of fruit or yogurt in the morning and a vegetable in the afternoon.  You eat about a half of a container at a time.  Some new foods you've tried are: Greek yogurt plain and mixed with fruit, smashed sweet potatoes, pumpkin, spinach....

At EIGHT MONTHS you are a CRAWLER!  You started crawling at the end of 7 months.  You went from army crawling to all of a sudden crawling on all fours.  We had to now officially get serious about baby proofing because you can crawl from room to room.  You look so happy moving all around the house!  You have the biggest grin - looking so proud and excited for what you learned!  Your favorite is following around the twins.  You love to be in the same room as them and playing with what they are playing.  And so it begins!

At EIGHT MONTHS I have found you in the sitting position all by yourself.  You don't know exactly how you got into that position but by chance move into that position.

At EIGHT MONTHS you take 3 naps a day.  You usually take your first nap around 9/9:30 and it will last 45 minutes to an hour.  In the afternoon you lay down around 2ish and can sleep from an hour or two (or longer if I am lucky...really if the twins are quiet!)  You still take a third nap around 4:30/5ish but this nap is very short.  Sometimes just 30 minutes.  I am thinking about trying to drop this nap but some days you need just a little rest to hold you over until bedtime.  Maybe it will be easier to drop once you sleep a bit longer in the afternoon.

You still love to sleep with your security sized muslin blanket.  While you fall asleep you calm yourself by rubbing the satin of the blanket on your fingers and face.  When you're sleeping we put you in your sleep sack and turn on your sound machine and nighttime music.  You don't have a night light in your room.  You seem to sleep better the darker the room.  When you sleep you are usually laying on your left side or on your tummy.

 You talk and babble a lot.  Feels like even more now that you are mobile.  I think you're just loving life as a mover!  You make babbling sounds like sound like "maa maa" and daa daa".  You also let out some loud yells or babbles.  And sometimes you just talk away that it sounds like you're having a conversation with yourself.

At EIGHT MONTHS you love: your mommy, jumping in the jumper-roo, being held, playing with the twins' toys, being around people, sleeping or riding in the car, observing what's around you, being tossed up by daddy, putting things in your mouth,

At EIGHT MONTHS you still don't have any teeth.  They are so close to coming in.  I can see the white area on the bottom two where they will be popping through very soon/any day now.  You have been drooling a lot and chewing on anything you can.  You also have been sticking out your tongue over and over feeling your lower gums.  Think you can feel those teeth that are about to come in. 

Your nicknames at EIGHT MONTHS are: Liney, Liner-bear or Liney-Bear, Liner, Liner-Biner, Captain, Freight, Freight-Liner, C, Baby C, C-Line, Lil' Sis, Sister-bear

At EIGHT MONTHS you continue to be a very good, happy baby.  You are very calm, curious, and watch the world around you.  The two big times when you get upset are when you're wanting your bottle or are getting over tired.  You don't like to be separated from me when you're in a room full of people you don't know.  Definitely a mommy's girl.  You love to play with Kate and Matthew and will play in a room just the three of you for long periods of time.  I think you already think you're one of the big kids. :) 

this big, wide mouth smile of yours brings me so much {joy}

Love you so much, Liner-Bear!  

-Happy 8 Months-

Four Year Olds

I can't believe tomorrow morning we are going to have two four year olds!  Four!  Four-years old!  [Still trying to let that sink in a bit]  I love birthdays and I'm so excited to celebrate with them tomorrow, but this birthday is hitting me harder than any of them yet.  I didn't get emotional at all when they turned 1, 2, and 3.  Those ages seemed like my little babies and toddlers.  But 4.  It's starting to get into the big kid age.  Only one more year of Pre-K next school year and then off to Kindergarten.  I know you're probably thinking I'm crazy because four is still young.  It's just that the time has gone by so fast.  I can't believe that it has been four years already since they entered our world and made us parents for the first time.  A family of four. 

I love these two goof-balls.  They do make our lives so much better! 

And they are the best big brother and big sister to Caroline!  Always so sweet and gentle with her.  Just want to protect her already.

Together they are quite the duo.  Truly {best friends} who love doing everything together.

Tonight I snuggled with Matthew and Katherine a little longer when we put them to bed.  Soaking in the last little moments as 3-year olds.  Talking with them and really listening to their sweet little voices and conversations.  They are both excited to wake up and finally be their birthday!  We've been counting down since January pretty much. ;)

This morning they celebrated their birthday at preschool.  Got to bring birthday treats and be the special helper this week.

Happy 4th Birthday Katherine Ilene and Matthew Edward!  

May your day be ever so special and wonderful as you are to all of us around you!

{Caroline Joy} 7 Months

Well, better late than never.  It's already the end of February and I'm just now getting to writing Caroline's 7th Month blog post.  Which she turned 7 months back on February 7th.  So I guess I'll write this post with all the things she currently is doing in her 7th month...drawing close to 8 months.  Wowza!

Caroline Joy

7 Months

At SEVEN MONTHS you weigh approx. 17 pounds.  This past month you moved to size 3 diapers both day and night.  You are wearing size 6 month and 6-9 month clothing.  

You are still eating 5 times a day usually every 3-4 hours.  In the morning when you wake up around 6:50-7:30 you have your first bottle with either 5 or 6 oz.  You have three more 5 oz bottles during the day around 10/11:00, 1/2:00 and 4/5:00.  You drink your last bottle at bedtime which as been anywhere in the 7:00 o'clock hour.  We can tell you start getting sleepy and a little fussy around that time.  Time to lay you down for bed.  This last bottle you have been drinking 6 oz.

At SEVEN MONTHS you have tried a variety of baby foods.  You still remain indifferent to eating it.  You don't get overly excited when you see the spoon coming towards your mouth or are waiting for the next bite.  Usually the food ends up all over your mouth instead of being swallowed, but you have gotten better at figure out the texture in your mouth.  I think you're more interested in wanting to play with the spoon and put it up to your own mouth.

The past two weeks I started giving you the different fruit kinds of baby food in hopes of sparking your interest.  So far you seem to like bananas the best.  You actually seem to eat it!  You also started eating baby puffs.  I break them into smaller pieces so you can try feeding yourself.  You seem to like that as well.  Most of them end up in your lap, but I think your hand/eye coordination for 7 months seems pretty darn good!  We'll keep working on practicing eating.  I can already tell you're doing so much better than when we first started!

You sleep schedule is starting to finally come around.  We have been putting you to bed at night sleepy, but still awake.  Sometimes you go down without much fight, and some nights we have to let you cry it out more.  But you soon give up and crash.  You've been waking up a few times at night - usually around 2:00 and 5:00.  Sometimes it can be hard to get you to go back down to sleep without too much fuss or fight from you.  I think you've been waking up from either your on-going cold or teething.  You don't have any teeth yet, but I think your two bottom teeth are close to coming through.  You then wake up in the morning anywhere between 6:30-7:30.  Lately it has been on the earlier side.  Not a fan of the 6 o'clock hour, Caroline.  Not a fan. ;)

Your napping schedule can be a bit all over the place.  Depends a lot on what we have going on that day.  You usually take your first nap around 9/9:30 and that can last anywhere from 45 mins to an hour.  Then you'll take a longer afternoon nap around 1/2:00 for an hour or two.  (Maybe longer if the twins don't wake you with their loud playing).  You then you still take a quick pre-bedtime nap around 4:30/5ish.  Just a quick 25-30 minute nap to hold you over until bedtime around 7:00ish.  

When you sleep you must have your muslin security blanket.  You love to rub the satin trim on your fingers and on your face as you fall asleep.  You also love to sleep in the car or car seat.  When I take you shopping you'll fall right asleep either in the car or while I push you around a store.

You're silly face as you buzz with your lips.

You are talking/babbling so much!  You definitely like to make noises and like hearing how loud your voice goes.  The best is when you get excited and start kicking your legs up and down and babble away as you play or 'talk' to your toys.

At SEVEN MONTHS you have started to become mobile.  At the beginning of the month you were log rolling and scooting backwards around the room.  But just now within this past week you've starting army crawling!  You use your arms and belly to scoot yourself towards a toy or anything you want.  You are up on all fours trying to lift your arms and legs, so I know any day you're going to take off crawling!  

At SEVEN MONTHS you can sit up on your own, with some support, but don't choose to do that.  Your favorite is to play on your back and tummy - so you can work on trying to crawl.  Sometimes you get very frustrated that you aren't moving anywhere while up on all fours.  You try so hard!

At SEVEN MONTHS we introduced you to the jumperoo.  YOU LOVE IT!!!  Bouncing is your favorite!  You love to have us stand you up so you can bounce while we hold onto you as well.  The first time you jumped in the jumperoo you went so excited and jumped non-stop.  You love having us watch you while you jump.  The kids and I will stand in front of you and say, "Jump Caroline, Jump!" and you will start start going with more excitement and power the more we cheer you on.

At SEVEN MONTHS you love: playing peek-a-boo, watching everybody around you - especially Kate and Matthew, getting into your brother and sister's toys, your mommy, snuggling, investigating anything you can get to, being held, talking a bath - you get those legs a kicking to splash the water everywhere, and being around people.

The best way to get you to start giggling is playing peek-a-boo!  That is your favorite game!  You will take your blanket and put it over your face and wait for us to take it off and say, "Peek!"  Then you giggle and put the blanket right back over your face.  

Your nicknames are: Caroliners, Liney, Liner, Liney-bears, Freight-Liner, Freight, The Captain, and Liney-biney.  You seem to know your name and turn we when start talking to you.  Once you know you have someone's attention you give the biggest smile!

At SEVEN MONTHS you continue to be such a happy, smiley baby, who observes everything.  I guess there is a lot to watch around our house with a big sister and big brother running around.  Kate really loves talking to you (sometime really into your personal space) and Matthew loves to be a big helper for you.  

Caroline's 6 Month Photos

These are some of my favorites from Caroline's 6 month photo shoot.  Bobbe Corpstein Photography did an amazing job.  [thank you!]  There were so many I loved! It was hard to narrow it down to just these ones. :)  Thankfully Caroline was in a very, very happy mood during the pictures! I drove around an hour before the photo shot so I could make sure Caroline got in a good nap.  And Caroline loved her little doggie.  She was sure to smile anytime she saw her. 

 

{love}