Samantha's 3 Month Update!

Height/Weight: At her late 2 month appointment on Tuesday, Samantha was 13lbs 6oz (98%), 22 inches long (37%) with a head circumference of 40cm (80%)! I never would've thought that our tiny 6lb 8oz baby, who had to stay in the hospital longer for being underweight, would be busting out of 3M clothing at 3 months old! I am so happy she is happy, healthy and thriving!

Daily: Our routine remains the same. Samantha and I are almost always up first, between 8 and 9 AM. I feed and dress her, then put her in the swing while I make coffee and Vincent's breakfast. She loves looking at the little bees on her mobile and cooing at them! Once Vincent is done with breakfast, Samantha spends the morning doing tummy time, hanging out in the bouncer, her new floor seat and nursing. She does fantastic laying on the mat and looking at her toys! She has really taken a liking to them and will lay there for anywhere from 10 to 20 minutes before she gets bored and we change her scenery. She still loves to interact with Vincent and watch him play. When he is throwing a tantrum, she kind of cocks her eyebrow like "Dude. What's your problem." xD 
I still haven't gotten her on a schedule, but it really doesn't seem to be necessary at this point, because she's fallen into one on her own. So I just go by what works best for her that day. We are always home between noon and about 4 PM anyway, because of lunch and Vincent's nap time, when she takes her longest nap. She takes a cat nap in the morning and usually takes a cat nap in the evening as well. Vincent goes to bed at 8 and I spend the next hour or two after that putting her in her pajamas, feeding her and snuggling on the couch until she falls asleep (generally around 9PM), then I transfer her into the pack n play. We will be taking the crib out of storage this month, since she has grown out of the napper in the pack n play, which was the main reason that we had it set up instead of the crib. She isn't getting nearly as fussy and gassy in the evenings and she seems to be growing out of the witching hour somewhat. Some nights she is a bit colicky and is very difficult to get to go to sleep and other nights, she goes down really easily.

Sleep: Oh my goodness. This girl can sleep at night!! She has slept through the night, from around 10 PM to 6 AM THREE times in the past couple of weeks!! The most recent time, she slept from 9 PM until almost 7 AM. She seems to sleep the best at night when she has had a couple of good naps during the day. It's definitely not consistent yet, but she sleeps so much better than her brother did during the night at this point! She does still have some bad nights and want to eat every two hours, but they're very seldom. Her norm seems to be waking up once or twice in the middle of the night to eat. If it's after 2 AM, I have started bringing her into the bed with me to nurse, then keep her there with me until we get up. She likes the closeness and it's much easier for me to not have to get up if she needs to eat again. And being able to sleep with my hand on her tummy gives me peace of mind as well! 

Eating: For the past several weeks, I've stopped tracking her feedings and just feeding on demand. She is doing so well with her weight, that I haven't really worried about it as much. She gives me hunger cues when she is ready to eat and I don't bother looking at the clock, but she still eats every 2-3 hours during the day. I've given her 5oz bottles of pumped milk here and there, because I like to replace older pumped milk with freshly pumped milk every so often, so that it won't expire before it's been used. I've got about 325 oz in the freezer, in case of an emergency. It makes me feel better to know that there's some there as a back-up just in case, especially after having to have an emergency D&C twice with each baby.
Samantha's latch gets better and better every month! She hardly makes the clicking sound at all anymore when she nurses and she seems much less gassy, or at least much less irritated by it. She spits up about the same as she did last month, but I'm not too concerned, as she is gaining proper weight and doesn't seem bothered by it.

Sizes: Samantha is in 3 month, 3-6 month and some 6 month clothing! She has completely grown out of all of her 3 month sleepers. :( She has gotten SO huge - it amazes me. She is wearing some onesies that Vincent didn't wear until around 5 months old! (To be fair though; they're older and have shrunk a little bit in the wash ;D)
She is in size 2 diapers, since we used all of her size 1s up and they were getting a bit tight around the waist!

Milestones and Changes:

• First giggle!
• First roll over from tummy to back:

• Slept through the night for the first time!! 

• Got a new chair! She loves sitting up, so this chair has been really awesome for her. She likes to play with the toys that are hooked onto the front as well.

• First favorite toy/lovie! This was Vincent's and Samantha claimed it for her own! She LOVES him and will snuggle him so tightly and rub him up against her face! She just will not take a binky, so this is her comfort object. She also loves snuggling with burp cloths (cloth diapers)!

Samantha's 2 Month Update!

Height/Weight: Her 2 month appointment had to be pushed back to June because YAY American health insurance problems, so I don't have super accurate measurements. But according to my home scale and measuring tape, she is 11lbs 6oz (66%), 22.5 inches long (57%) with a head circumference of 33.75cm (52%)!

Daily: The morning depends on who wakes up first. If it's Samantha, I feed her in the rocking chair in our room, then bring her out into the living room and put her in her swing, so I can make coffee. If it's Vincent, I will either leave her to sleep in her napper if she is still asleep or bring her out to the swing if she is stirring, then feed her while Vince is eating breakfast. After breakfast, we do tummy time until she isn't having it anymore, then I roll her over onto her back so she can look at her toys and interact with (in other words watch) Vincent play. She has definitely started to fall into more of a routine, partially because of her noisy brother! xD It's not often that I get a chance to actively rock her to sleep in our room, because Vincent is in need of attention at the same time. Most often she will fall asleep nursing, so I can then attempt to transfer her to her napper. She has begun to follow a wake, eat, play, eat, sleep routine on her own, so I really haven't attempted to push a set schedule yet, which I likely won't for a little while. Right now it's working best to just go with the flow. :) On Wednesday mornings, I take both Vincent and Samantha to Musikgarten and she will either sleep through it in her car seat or watch the other kids. We still aren't venturing out a whole ton, because it's honestly very challenging to manage them both at the same time by myself! She sometimes naps while Vincent is after lunch, but it really just depends. She will usually catch another nap in the late afternoon/early evening before dinner. Anywhere between 6 and 9 PM is her witching period. She cries SO hard and is extremely gassy and often inconsolable. It's heartbreaking, but generally doesn't last terribly long, thank goodness. It has become very challenging to do Vincent's bedtime routine with him when she is so upset, so I'm thankful that Mike has been able to take over the first half of the bedtime routine, then hold and calm Samantha while I finish up. Once Mike and Vince are in bed, Samantha and I hang out in the living room to watch Netflix and snuggle/nurse until she falls asleep. This time can be either super stressful or super relaxing - there doesn't seem to be much in between! But this is the only time of day that I can really get my baby snuggles, which I greatly enjoy!! :)

Sleep: She has been pretty congested for the past 1.5 weeks, so her sleep was not good until I got a cool mist humidifier and put it in our bedroom. It has helped A LOT. I must say though; she sleeps a crap ton better than her brother did at this age!! She will go anywhere from 2-6 hours between feedings, with 4 as the average. She seems to sleep the longest stretch first, then sleep shorter stretches afterward. And generally, once her diaper has been changed and she has nursed, she will fall right back to sleep. She has good nights and bad nights, but she does let me sleep at least a little bit, so I won't complain! :D Naps are a bit random and depend on what's going on that day and also how Vincent is doing that day. When he is super calm, she will nap a good bit and when he is having a tantrum type of day, it's hard for her to nap and hard for me to get a chance to actively get her to sleep. But I really try to keep her awake and occupied for good chunks of time during the day (without letting her get overtired), which is why I think she sleeps better at night than Vincent did. I think his days and nights were so mixed up, because it was a lot quieter and he spend most of his day snuggled up to me and crashed out haha! She still sleeps well pretty much anywhere, whether it's the napper, swing, bouncy seat, car seat if we're out and about or in my arms. When she is having a bad night and Mike has already left for work, I'll stick her on his side of the bed about two feet away from my pillow, so the blankets aren't anywhere near her and it helps her to have me close and my hand on her belly. <3

Eating: For the most part, she will eat every two hours during the daytime and sometimes go 3, usually if she is sleeping. Starting about 5 or 6 PM, she will want to eat once every 1-1.5 hours and clusterfeed until she goes to sleep for the night, but she will then sleep a good stretch for the first part of the night. That makes the clusterfeeding so much easier to manage! :) As I've already mentioned, she will go anywhere from 2-6 hours between feedings at night with 4 as the norm. Nursing has become so much easier and more comfortable for both of us. Samantha's latch is loads better. She still makes the clicking sound and I have to burp her every few minutes during a feeding, but it's not nearly as bad as it was!! She also still spits up; I seriously can't tell you how many burp rags we go through!! But she rarely ever projectile vomits anymore. Her weight gain is great and she is getting all chubby and rosy :D <3

Sizes: Samantha is now in 3 month clothing - man was I heartbroken when I realized she had outgrown newborn! :( But at the same time happy that she is growing and thriving! :D As soon as we finished all the newborn sized diapers we bought, we switched her to size 1, which fits a lot better now! Her socks are fitting her much better now, too! I still haven't bothered with shoes though! xD Here she is in one of Vincent's old onesies, perfect for Star Wars Day:

Milestones and Changes:

• First coo!

• First Snapchat xDDDD

• Samantha had her first long stretch between feedings this week! She ate at 6:40PM and didn't wake up to eat 4:30AM! She may have gone longer, but I accidentally woke her up when I got up to pump a little bit to relieve my engorgement. I was so shocked! I'm hoping it wasn't a fluke :D

• First bath in the sink - she loved it!! And so did my back! xD Much easier than leaning over the tub and she seems to prefer being held as opposed to sitting in the bath seat.

• First Mother's Day <3 I tried SO hard to get a selfie with both of the kiddos, but it was not happening. So I took one of them together instead! :)

• First Star Wars Day! Vincent wanted sissy to sit in his chair with him <3

Vincent's 2 Year Update

Vincent Paul turned 2 years old on March 7th! Boy, this birthday was almost harder than his first! He has changed, grown and learned SO much in this past year and really started talking right around his birthday. Then just seeing how big he is in comparison to his tiny sister - it's so surreal! I remember coming home from the hospital with him like it was yesterday and now he is talking to me :') I am so proud of the little boy he is becoming!!

Height/Weight: Part of why I am posting this so late, is because he didn't have his 2 year well exam until a week ago and I wanted to get his accurate measurements! Vincent is 35in tall (59%), 28lbs (47%) and his head circumference is 52.07cm (98%)

Daily: Vincent wakes up every morning between 8 and 9 AM. He has breakfast either at the table (but in his highchair) or sitting in front of the sliding glass door, so he can watch the birds, planes and clouds go by. He also likes listening to vehicles pass by! We still have Musikgarten on Wednesdays at 9:45 and usually go to the park or have a play date afterward until lunch. We often run errands on other days; he likes riding in the car and also really enjoys riding in the shopping cart at the grocery store! We are nearly always at home from noon until after his nap. He thrives on his routine and tends to throw tantrums and act out when he doesn't eat his meals or nap at the times he is used to. After his nap (I get him up at 4 PM if he is still sleeping by then) we will often go out to the back alley on a walk, where he LOVES to collect rocks and put them in a pile. He just loves being outside! As a matter of fact, he will point at the back door and yell "WALK! WALK!" when he wants to go out! (Which, if it were up to him, would be all day every day.) I've been trying to limit his TV time considerably, to encourage his creativity and teach him to entertain himself without the constant background noise. Now it seems that when I do put something on, he will actually sit and pay attention to it, as opposed to it just running non stop in the background. We dug the alphabet mat back out just after bringing Samantha home from the hospital, so we could do tummy time and Vince has really been learning his letters and numbers since then! He loves listening to music and singing songs, although he doesn't sing along just yet, he will dance along :D

Changing Buddy's diaper and giving him a bottle!

Sleep: About a week and a half ago, we got Vincent his pirate ship toddler bed! :D He was super excited, I was a bit worried about trying to get him into it right now, especially since I am up and down with Samantha all night and not getting a lot of sleep as it is. But he has actually done pretty well, considering he has not been used to this kind of freedom! The first week was a bit rough, but it has gotten a lot better. It takes him a little while to go to sleep, but once he is out, he sleeps through the night. The only time he gets a binky anymore is at nap- and bedtime, but we plan on weaning him from it soon.
As I mentioned above, he wakes up between 8 and 9 AM; usually right around 8:30. He takes one nap in the afternoon, from 1:30 to around 3:30, but will often sleep until 4, in which case I wake him up. It's always a nice treat; he likes to pull the blanket back over his head and play games when I go to wake him! xD Bedtime is still 8 PM. If we have something going on or we are out, I try to shoot for him being in bed absolutely no later than 9:30, but it's very rare. The bedtime routine has changed a little, especially since Samantha arrived. We will often do a bath right before bedtime, which he really enjoys! If any of us says the word bath, he will repeat the word "BATH!!" like a broken record until I either find a way to distract him or give him a bath. xD And I've found a way to make the end of bath time go much better, sans tantrum: I give him a warning ahead of time, then have him help me clean up all his toys and let him watch the water drain. He will say "All done!" and wave bye-bye to the water. When Mike is home, he changes his diaper and puts his pajamas on him, then I sit or lie next to him in his bed and read him his stories. Lately his three favorites have been "I'm a Big Brother", "The Very Hungry Caterpillar" and "The Going to Bed Book". When we're finished, I turn off the light, sit on the edge of his bed and hold his hand, while singing a few songs to him. If we attempt to leave anything out of his routine, he will tell me!! If I leave out a book, he will say "Book! Book!" and if I start singing to him without turning off the light, he will point to it and say "Light!" xD

Eating: Eating is really hit and miss - sometimes he will eat just about anything and other times he refuses even the things he seems to like the most. He has gone through a LOT of phases in the past year; the past 6 months in particular. We still do oatmeal every morning (peaches and cream is his favorite!) and some sort of fruit; usually a banana or one or two tangerines. For lunch, he has a cheese sandwich and a yogurt, as well as some grapes, an apple or one of the two fruits he didn't have for breakfast. He really loves fruit! For dinner, he often eats what we eat and if we're running late with our dinner, I will make him some noodles or a grilled cheese. We haven't completely gotten to the point where if he doesn't eat what's on his tray, he "goes hungry", but if he won't eat what's on his tray and he is still hungry, I offer him a fruit or a veggie. His absolute favorite thing is pizza (go figure haha), which he always goes to town on. For snacks, we do goldfish crackers and raisins, pretzels, teddy grahams and "cookies" (honey comb) or cheerios. Meat is a HUGE battle to get him to eat and he has become pretty picky about vegetables as well. He was okay with holiday ham around thanksgiving, but anything else has been a no-go. He is baaarely starting to like hot dogs and chicken again and has recently taken a little bit of an interest in hamburger meat again, but I'm not getting my hopes up! It seems like he started rejecting meat around the same time I got pregnant and had morning sickness with a huge meat aversion...part of me wonders if it's because of that, but I'm feeling more like it's just a phase. When he has done really well with eating, we reward him with a little packet of sixlets! He loves them and they've helped him learn his colors. But if he doesn't eat his dinner, he knows he gets no sixlets and we put our foot down with that rule.
He STILL dislikes regular milk, unless it's in his oatmeal or daddy makes him a cup of chocolate milk, so we still do soy. Other than that, he LOVES water. As a matter of fact, he will not go to sleep without his sippy cup of water in his bed, which is likely going make potty training difficult, but we will cross that bridge when we get there.

Sizes: Vincent is mostly in 2T clothing, but we recently got him 3T two piece pajamas, since I've noticed they run a tad smaller. They fit him great! He wears a size 5 shoe (will be in 6 soon) and is in size 5 diapers. A lot of the time, I think some of the clothes we bought a size bigger in advance are going to be too big on him, then I put them on him and they fit just right! :( And folding his clothes and Samantha's at the same time nearly puts me in tears! It amazes me how big he has gotten!!

Milestones and Changes:

• Vincent's vocabulary grows more and more every week! He went from saying only a handful of words to about 30 within two weeks and since then, I've lost count of how many he says. So many people warned me that it would happen overnight and boy were they right!! He is now slowly building sentences and learning about posession: Mommy's drink, Daddy's nanas (he still calls food nanas haha!), Oma's shoes etc. If he wants attention and we are all busy running around, he will point at the couch cushion and order us to "Sit!!" xD He is also getting really good at naming his letters and numbers and is getting better and better at counting to 10!
• First time at Chuck E Cheese's for his 2nd Birthday :)

• Vincent became a big brother! And what an amazing big brother he is; he ADORES his baby sister. He is so gentle and sweet with her and I am so happy that there really hasn't been much of a jealousy issue; I make sure to include him in every single thing I do with her, whether it's feeding her, changing her diaper or doing tummy time! I will go as far as to "accidentally" let the wipes and diaper fall on the floor, so he can be a bit helper and fetch them for me. He loves to give her kisses, hold her hand and he will come up to me with his arms outstretched when I'm holding her and say "Hand? Hand?", so I have him sit next to me on the couch and help him hold her for a minute. When she cries, he says "Oh no! Fussy..." xD 

•  First taste of black coffee with Great Grandma Mary

• Second trip to Fiddlesticks Farms

• Second Halloween :)

• Meeting Santa for the second time! We weren't too sure how we felt about him xD

• Tooth update: Vincent has his four front teeth, four incisors, top canines and his first top and bottom molars

• I'm proud to announce that we are still rear-facing! Vincent won't grow out of his seat until he reaches 40lbs and we plan on keeping him that way until then if we are able!

• First drum set and first trike!!

• Second time meeting the Easter Bunny!