Louie - 7 months

Month 7 was busy and just flew by! That always seems to happen in December when it seems our calendars fill up and suddenly you aren't sure what day it is.

Louie had a very busy month. His six month check up wasn't able to happen until the 16th (11 days after turning 6 months if you want to get technical!)  He took his shots like a champ and was generally a superb baby throughout the whole visit. The one concern the doctor had was that he hadn't gained a ton of weight since his last visit. Mind you - he is plenty big - still in the 56% of weight at the time. But just the fact that in 2 months he went from the 89% for weight, down to the 56% was a little out of character on his former growth patterns. He had only gained a few ounces in 2 months.

Now. That being said, it wasn't that surpising. He had certainly grown - no doubt about it. BUT, the child doesn't stop moving. He is such a wiggly worm! And thankfully, the doctor could see that he was very much on the verge of crawling. She agreed that this early crawling habit he was developing was to blame for the lack of weight gain - but just to be safe she had us schedule a visit for 6 weeks later just to check his weight.

That was December 16. Louie took his first army crawl on Monday December 21, just 5 days later. By the time it was Christmas the kid was every which way. By the time we left Georgia on January 4, you could barely keep him to one room at my mom's house.

And in grand style, he decided on January 5 (his 7 month mark) that he would introduce proper hands and knees crawling to his moving capabilities. And he also attempted to pull up on his exersaucer for the first time (thanks to his buddy Lydia showing him how). Luckily he has not attempted the pull up maneuver again, but he is regularly getting in some hands and knees crawling.

So my son the early crawler is starting to look long and lean these days. It turns out his Dada started crawling at 6.5 months as well!

Poor little buddy has been working on his first two bottom teeth still and hopefully this month they will make their appearance. It seems that both of my kids are what I like to call "long & dramatic" teethers.

Louie is doing so great on the eating front! He is picky about his vegetables lately but loves his fruits. He has had some straight up fresh banana and fresh pears and has also started eating baby puffs, which he loves.

He plays so happily on the floor and doesn't need much entertainment. I don't ever remember Noelle just being happy to lay on the floor with her toys for 30 minutes to an hour at a time at this age. To be fair, she couldn't crawl yet, so she couldn't snag whatever shiny object caught her attention too easily like Louie can.

He LOVES older kids. Noelle is always entertaining to him and if we have a play date with other kids he is just fascinated by whatever they are doing. He loves going to the store and riding around in the grocery carts like a big kid. Most everywhere we go I get compliments on what a sweet baby he is and how cute he is. Don't worry - Noelle gets the cute comments too, so her ego isn't hurting :)

I'm excited for Louie to keep growing and changing but I have to keep reminding myself not to wish the baby days away. I think that is why I haven't even attempted sleep training with Louie. With his recent lack of weight gain and the fact that I know "this too shall pass" I kind of just feed him or snuggle him whenever I need to because it's easy and I don't plan on having any more babies. So I might as well baby my baby, right?

We just LOVE this little dude. How couldn't you?!?

Our most common view of Louie...on the move!

Teething makes me cranky.

oooo...camera!

Louie - 6 months

And just like that, we have made it halfway through the first year!

I remember feeling like Noelle's first year took forever but when I looked back it felt fast. Louie's first year is just zooming by. June 5, 2016 sounds like a long way off in theory (especially since we haven't even turned the new year) but it really feels like I will sneeze and he won't be a baby anymore.

Month 6 has brought lots of interesting fun to our house! Louie is just a rolling fool. The boy loves to wiggle and worm his way all over the place. I'll set him down on the floor and I come back and am so surprised at how far he has gotten.  I also have to be careful because that little buddy loves to put stuff in his mouth. And boy is he good at finding stuff that you had no idea was nearby.

Louie is also still trying to figure out his sleep. We toss and turn between two good naps and three mediocre naps...on a really bad day sometimes it is 4 crappy naps. I say that and I am also mindful that right now we should be hitting his 6 month growth spurt. He still needs to be swaddled to sleep which is surprising for such a big guy, but the dude cannot keep himself together when he needs to sleep if he isn't wrapped up in some way. He really and truly has fully refused the pacifier (I had such high hopes) and just hasn't figured out how to self-soothe just yet. Overall he isn't a horrible sleeper, and honestly...this being my second kid and I know that eventually they figure out how to sleep - I'm just not too concerned. It's a season, it's a phase, this too shall pass, yada yada, etc.

He IS starting to hit his stride with eating though! I truly started him on some solids the week before he turned 6 months. I wanted him nice and used to it by the time we hit Christmas. So far he isn't a fan of cereal, but he is getting the hang of fruits and veggies. So far sweet potatoes are the favorite, pears are second, and apples & bananas are tied for the bottom. But that's all we've tried so far, and I have to say it's going pretty good. Noelle is desperate to feed him all the time, but after a slightly terrifying spoon gagging incident she isn't allowed to without lots of help from Mama.

Noelle still loves having Louie around as far as we can tell...she actually makes a big deal of playing with him at least a few times a day, and is always saying how much she loves him. There is still some underlying jealousy though, because she desperately wants to sit in her high chair that her little brother is now using. Josh and I have made it a dinner eating negotiating tool though. You gotta do what you gotta do as a parent #theparentalstruggleisreal.

Louie has also been a big fan of "jumping" on us for a while now. Josh had been saying we should get him a jumper because he loves it so much. Well this thanksgiving we were at Josh's Aunt's house and they had a "jumperoo" - which is like a jumper but safer I think. And it has more toys involved. Anywho, we put little Lou in that thing and he was in baby wonderland. He couldn't get enough! Josh's parents saw the infinite joy of the jumperoo and got Louie an early Christmas present - his very own jumperoo. So this week we have enjoyed an extra activity for Louie. It is hilarious and when he really gets going in it he looks like a dancer in Riverdance.

I'm excited to see him experience Christmas, especially with how much he loves toys. And I think that Noelle will lose her mind over her christmas presents and probably Louie's too. She likes to use a high pitch voice when she talks to him and he just smiles from ear to ear. I can already hear her saying, "Look at your new toys Louie!! Do you like them? Yeah they are fun!"

We also have a few names we call him...usually "Louie Boy" and "Loubacca Lou". Noelle loves to use both of these names, and I am not sure why we call him Louie Boy but we do, and then the Loubacca is b/c when he is tired he makes a gurgling chewbacca like noise (I think I wrote about it a couple months ago). Anyway, Chewbacca Louie turned into Loubacca Lou. Noelle has a little chant she made up with Josh, "Loubacca Lou, Loubacca Lou, Lou-a-bacca, Lou-a-bacca, Lou-a-bacca LO!" It's hard to explain and I probably need to get a video of it someday, but it is cute!

So a very happy half-birthday to the Lou man - we all love you and can't believe you haven't always been around!!

Louie - 5 Months

This past month has brought lots of changes for Louie boy!

We don't have a formal 5 month doctor appointment, so I don't have all the usual stats - but I do know that he is now a hearty 18 pounds.

My formerly super easy sleeper is now much more aware of the world and his surroundings. That means that he doesn't drift off quite as easily as he once did and wakes more easily as well. All to be expected, but it made for one really tricky week of sleep at one point. He's a bit back and forth at the moment, but still overall a pretty good sleeper for the night time.

Louie has also mastered rolling over both ways. He loves to wiggle around and see different things. At first he would get annoyed with staying on his tummy for too long, but that is passing and he just rolls back to the other side if he gets bored. And he is SO GREAT at playing with toys. He is truly interested and engaged with his little baby toys...I swear we could only get Noelle to play with trash. She did not care much for toys, but Louie just loves them!

He also loves watching us eat, and I am so exited to start giving him food at the end of this month. As much as I am ready to watch him chow down on the baby food, I want to wait as long as I can (but let's be honest - I'll probably only make it until Thanksgiving before I give him something!) It is hard to believe it is already time to start giving him some solids...this baby thing goes by so much faster the second time around!

Noelle and Louie are also getting more and more fun to watch together. Noelle genuinely loves Louie and is happy to have him around. And of course Louie thinks Noelle has hung the moon. He is always happy to see her and always extremely interested in what she is doing. I look forward to the days when they can truly entertain each other and play together. I know it will bring on way more sibling squabbles than I can imagine at this point, but I also think there will be plenty of fun and sweet moments in between.

Father Christmas & Noelle

It's been a while since I've felt compelled to share a Noelle story, even though they seem to be endless, but this one I just wanted to stop in time and remember. She is so funny the way she thinks and reasons and talks to us these days. There really does seem to be something funny and interesting that comes out of her mouth all the time.

Within the last month this particular phenomenon has made me laugh so many times and really has just been a joy to experience.  Probably 3-4 weeks ago Noelle and I were chatting about something. She mentioned something she wanted but didn't have and she looked me in the eye and said, "We could ask Father Christmas for it!"

I was happily stunned. Father Christmas? How did my child turn British??!!

"Noelle, who is Father Christmas?"

"He comes down the chimney, and he leaves PRESENTS!"

"How did you hear about Father Christmas?"

"I don't know."

Me thinking...where could she have learned about him?....YOU TUBE.

"Noelle, did you learn about Father Christmas from Peppa Pig?"

"Yeah. And I want him to bring a red car and a blue train. He'll come down the chimney."

If you don't know, Peppa Pig is a super cute british cartoon of a little pig and her family. It might play on cable channels, but we don't have that, but leave it to You Tube to somehow connect my child to Peppa Pig. I am not complaining - I think it is a cute show and I love the british accents, and have secretly always wanted a child with a British accent.

Anyway - once I realized that she knew who Santa, aka Father Christmas was, I knew I had a new level of parental power. We weren't 100% sure how much we were going to push Santa in our household. We weren't against it, but it just felt like alot of effort, so we thought we might just wait it out until the kids realized who he was and what he did. So, it took 3+ years...but even better - we get Father Christmas!!! I have not corrected her because (1) how cute and (2) I LOVE IT!

Now, back to the power...it's the Christmas bargaining tool that all of our parents used on us. Either you say "you can't have that now...but you can ask Father Christmas for it!" - or of course as it gets even closer to Christmas time you use the nice list/naughty list to get good behavior. Noelle totally responds to the asking Father Christmas for stuff, and I'm pretty sure the good list/bad list gig is gonna work on her too. I completely avoided a complete meltdown in Target with her this week when I lovingly convinced her that we can just ask Father Christmas for something - we don't have to buy it now! #winning

So then today was another magical Father Christmas moment...Louie was asleep and it has been raining here, so I was trying to come up with anything fun to occupy her. She dressed up in her Halloween costume for school (Minnie Mouse) and one of her classmates dressed up as Elsa. Naturally when she came home from school she had to put on HER Elsa costume...but the problem was she didn't have a crown. Her friend had a crown.

So being the resourceful mother that I am, we made Noelle a paper Elsa crown. But that wasn't enough. Then Mama had to have an Elsa crown. And then we both had to have Elsa hair. Well, duh.

As I was finishing my Elsa hair in Noelle's bathroom, she was completely thrilled at my transformation. But then it took a turn...

"Mama, I love your Elsa crown and your Elsa hair...but you don't have an Elsa DRESS!"

"That's ok Noelle, I don't have to have an Elsa dress."

She looked at me with her big blue eyes, put both her hands on my hips very tenderly and said,

"It's ok you don't have one now. We can ask Father Christmas for one, it will be ok."

I. Love. This. Kid.

So, Happy Christmas from the Watkins clan...we hope Father Christmas brings you all sorts of good gifts this year!!!

Elsa very pleased with her paper crown

crown buddies!

Rainy day Elsa's!

Louie - 4 Months

Little man is 4 months old! A whole 1/3 of a year, and we are loving every minute of it.

At the doctors office for this visit we discovered that Louie is...
17 lbs, 4oz - 89%
27.5 inches long - 98%
44.5cm head circumference - 94%

He is just the chillest and happiest little guy. He still is enthralled with his big sister. This month he started playing in his exer-saucer and for the most part enjoys it (as long or if not longer than the average baby does). He loves being sung to and he loves to "stand" with someone holding his hands. He is getting great head control and that is quite a feat given the large size of the kid.

He had that amazing roll over occurrence at the doctor's office for his 2 month appointment in August, but for the most part he either stays on his tummy or his back. And that means that he is still swaddled - which I am a fan of. I hate the learning to sleep unswaddled phase. I know it's coming. -sigh-

He still doesn't really take a pacifier...he will enjoy it for a hot minute and then he is done. I keep trying just to see - and even though he never keeps it for long, he will get distracted by it in his mouth and that sometimes is enough to calm him down and for him to forget whatever he might have been upset about in the first place.

One of our favorite things he started doing this month is what we call Chewbacca Louie - or sometimes "Loubacca" ... when he is tired and ready for a little snooze he sometimes will let us know by making these gurgling sounds. It's quite cute and funny. He also just recently decided he loves to stick his tongue out. I have a picture of Noelle doing the same thing at four months and they both look so cute and similar! I see how they really are quite different, but then I see a comparison and then they appear to look alike again!

He loves to breastfeed and is very fast at it (thankfully) - and sometimes he will take a bottle and sometimes he won't. I'm usually around all the time so it isn't an issue. Sometimes he won't take it and just decides to wait it out for me. But luckily he doesn't cry about being hungry. He just chills and waits. I guess he has plenty stored up for his body to eat on until I become available :)

He usually only wakes once a night to eat, if at all. He really is just a rockstar baby.

Louie boy, we love you!

First Day of School, First Day of School!

If you read the title of this post and had Nemo's voice in your head, you get bonus points!

I have been waiting for this day for months! Today was Noelle's first day of preschool. She has been longing to go to school since she figured out this past spring that her own personal hero (Meaghan Mahoney) went to school.

Here's what she knew about the day: she would have a teacher, make new friends, and that Mala (my mom) would cry.

Here's what she kept asking about school for the months leading up to it: could she ride the bus and would Meaghan be there.

Now I told her over and over again that Meaghan went to the big kid school and she would be going to the little kid school, but she still kept asking. On the bus thing we told her she just needed to pretend that Mama's car was a bus and she seemed to be able to deal with that.

We had her open house last week and it went pretty well. She was shy, but she was excited about her classroom and was mildly interested in some of the other kids there.

The night before her first morning it literally felt like Christmas Eve to me. I was so excited for her, for me, just all of it!  She's a great kid, but Mama needs a break from being the constant playmate. It's a little tricky with a 3 month old in tow and the constant rotating schedule of his needs. She also just seems to thrive with structure and learning and being around other kids...it's all going to be so good for her.

Today was day one and she did great! She had fun and even though she still seemed a bit shy about it all, she immediately asked if she could go back to school as we were driving out of the parking lot. That's a win in my book!

I very much look forward to the days where she can actually tell me about what she learned in school. Right now her answers are pretty much "I don't know" to most questions. She retains lots of knowledge and picks up on stuff pretty well, so I'm not quite sure why she isn't able to tell me what she did...I'll just chalk it up to her being a threenager.

Here's some pictures from this morning of our big girl!!

I told her to show how excited she was to start school :)

Another excited face. I will show her these one day when she doesn't want to go to school, in like 5th grade.

Posing before we left! Louie wasn't so sure about all this school business.

Louie - 3 Months

On September 5 this little guy turned 3 months!

And OH what a joy this little boy is and becomes with each passing day. I officially no longer have a newborn baby boy, I now have an infant baby boy!  I remember from Noelle that babies start to get more and more fun at the 3 month stage and Louie is no exception (a whopping 3 days in, ha!)

We did a weight test at our friends the Mahoney's and Louie is weighing in at a hefty 16 pounds even. Now, at his 2 month doctor's appointment (which was a week after he turned 2 months) he was 14 lbs and 14 ounces. Just 3 weeks later...THREE WEEKS...he is now 16 lbs. Man that kid can grow.

He is thoroughly filling out his 6 month clothing and there are quite a few items that will need to be retired very soon.

He loves to just stare you down with those deep deep brown eyes and he loves to chuckle. It's not the full belly laughs we got from Noelle, but Louie is definitely laughing. He is just more of a short chuckler than a giggler. He gives tons of smiles to his big sis, but he gets most excited when we eat his ribs, chin, or feet.

I can take Louie just about anywhere and he is pretty happy. He still gets slightly cranky right at the end of the day, but overall is not much of a fussy boy.

Here's the fun photos of our little boy who is now 1/4 of a year old!