Alaina 6 months

My babe is 6 months old! It has been a big month for my little sweetie! The biggest difference now is that she is more scheduled and reliable. She takes better naps and sleeps better at night.....thanks to the progress that was gained from sleep training. She generally takes 3 naps a day that are 40 minutes to 2 hours long each....usually somewhere right in the middle of that. Depending on when she woke up from her last nap, she usually goes to bed between 7:30-8:45. She generally tends to wake up for the day between 7:30-8:00. She was hitting a stride where she was waking up just once a night to eat but it has been 2 times now usually. I feel like this changed after we started solids. She has also been spitting up more since we started solids, so maybe that is just kind of making her uncomfortable. Another big thing is that she is finally healthy. Hopefully there will be no more colds for her for a while! She is currently laying on her tummy, talking to me and smiling, she is a cutie!

Pics from this past month....

 

This was Mother's Day....I pulled her to bed to feed her at 6:30 and then we both fell back to sleep until 8. Magically, the big girls slept in too....totally weird because they never usually sleep past 7.

Meeting new cousin Litianna....

 

Whenever we are all together in one spot Esie and Cora say...."we're a family!"

These sleepy sleepy sleepy moments in the middle of the night are some of the only one on one times we get...

She was having a blast in her jumperoo and then got quiet....I guess she wanted her nap a bit early.

Hanging out with big sister Cora.

I took this picture with her because I was so excited when I realized I could start holding her on my hip.

I am not sure why, but Alaina has never rolled over as far as I or anyone else has seen. When I give her supports and help her along, she can do it. This was one morning in tummy time, I suddenly found her on her back. I can't be completely certain if she rolled over or if one of the kids rolled her.

Her cousin Bella gives her lots and lots of kisses...

6 month birthday photos...

She's sitting up on her own! Not indefinitely but for short periods.

 

 

She got to meet her newest cousin, Lily, on her 6 month birthday. She was born the night before. :)

 

Now that she turned 6 months, I've started feeding her solids. I try for once a day in the afternoon but sometimes miss it. She started with sweet potatos which she loved and has also had pears which she thought were just ok. She's just not as into the solids as she was the first few times ai gave her food. She generally only eats an ounce or so.

 

 

She is still my sweet and happy little girl. She rarely fusses and just loves to give out sweet smiles. She is almost forced into an easygoing personality with all the things she deals with from the big kids. She mostly likes all of their attention and it makes her laugh. Sometimes though, they will accidentally fall on her or lay on her awkwardly which she isn't a fan of.

Like the other girls at this age, she loves to play with a variety of things that she can maneuver in her hands such as hair, strings, tags, and paper. She also loves to be outside or to be in her jumperoo. She's a pumpkin and we love her so!

 

 

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Elsie 4 years old

Elsie just turned 4 years old! I really enjoy watching her grow up and develop into this little person. One of my favorite things about this age is that we can do things together that we actually share a mutual interest in. Sometimes we will do a 100 piece puzzle together which is something I truly have to work at....it's not just me helping her. We went on a little mommy-daughter date the other day and we both enjoyed ourselves. It wasn't me taking her somewhere that just she wanted to go to OR going somewhere for myself and dragging her along, we both had fun! Another example......the other day I took her and Cora out for ice cream cones. Elsie and I both finished ours at the same time. Cora took her time, needed help finishing it, and needed me to wipe up her messes. It was just another moment where I was starting to see how Elsie is becoming my big girl.

The first things that come to mind to describe Elsie at 4 would be dramatic, singing all the time, and loving on her family. Another favorite for her right now is to get on her bike that we bought her just before her birthday, I will have to get a picture of that soon!

A month before her birthday, Elsie had her tonsils and adenoids removed. She did great during and after the surgery. She had a difficult time in the days following with not being able to eat what she wanted but that all passed quickly. We've noticed a difference in that she no longer snores and I also think it's affected her speech in a positive way.

A real conundrum we are currently facing is what to do about naps. If she takes a full nap, it's difficult for her to get to sleep at night. However, doing daycare all day, I really need a quiet break to myself or with just Lainey up. I have Elsie go to the office with books and puzzles to have quiet time but she just ends up falling asleep for a nap! Since we don't want her to sleep too long I always end up waking her up which makes for extreme crabbiness or just falling back to sleep in a new location....

Elsie really got into the gymnastics class we just had. I took both girls to the mommy and me class. Elsie was independent and really into everything so she will be going again this summer to the pre-k class by herself. She has been asking to be in dance class but we haven't jumped to that yet.

She loves preschool and always talked about it in a positive way. There were days that she said she would rather stay home and play with her daycare friends but she inevitably was always happy to go. We got reports that she is generally very quiet there. At Spring conferences, her teacher said hashtag things are hit or miss by the day...sometimes she will talk with friends while playing and other days she stays quiet. This is completely different than how she acts at daycare, she is always talking and playing and coming up with ideas on who should do what. It was fun to watch Elsie sing songs with the other kids on her last. Day of preschool. All set to go with the other kids..

Elsie's birthday....her and Cora decided to dress alike...

 

One of Elsie's favorite things was this new box of candles I bought for the occasion. We have a box and reuse the same candles each time there is a birthday (in the family or in daycare) and I think she thought it was pretty neat that I got new ones for her. She walked around with them and kept showing them off.

We had Godparents and my parents over for dinner. Jon and Sarah came down right after work and Elsie had fun hanging out with them...

 

 

 

 

 

 

She asked for pink cake with purple frosting and she got her wish!

Cora was at the cabin with grandma and grandpa for a couple days so Elsie got some more one on one time. She and I went to the Trader's Market and it was a fun little date for the two of us. She picked out a toy car to buy for $1 and the lady told her she wanted her to have it for free and to pick out a ring as well. It was cute! Elsie loved the ring she picked and said she is going to keep it forever. :)

 

Her birthday celebration was to take a friend to MOA Nadine she chose to bring Holden along. They had a blast in the rides!

 

 

 

I'm sure she is already looking ford to her next birthday!

 

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