Rowan is 2 Months!

Rowan is now 2 months old, and she is blossoming into a beautiful baby.  Her baby acne and dry skin has cleared up, and her new hair is growing in.  It looks like she might be a blond after all.  She is starting to kick her arms and legs, and she can nearly hold her head up all by herself!  She will sleep in her bassinet at night now, which is good since she's nearly outgrown her lounger.  She is happy to hang out and check out her surroundings, and especially loves her swing too.  She looks into our eyes, and will smile back at us, and also 'talks' and coo's.  She started to regress in taking the bottle, but we are still practicing and she has been better the last couple of times we tried.  Today, I took her to the Dr. to have her 2 month check up, and she is now 11 lbs. 3 oz., and is 22 inches long.  She is growing so quickly!  She is wearing 3 month clothes already?!  And her 1-2 diapers are getting small on her too!  She continues to amaze us at how alert she is...she is such a sweet baby!!

Liam is 2 years and 1 Month

Since Rowan was born I have been home on maternity leave for the past 6 weeks.  It has been a mix bag being home all the time.  Apart of me likes being home, but apart of me is going stir crazy!  It has been nice to have more time with Liam, although he is going through his terrible 2 phase, which also is mixed with some jealousy of the new arrival.  Overall I would say he's doing pretty good considering his situation, but he's had his share of meltdowns...which basically means he's a normal 2 year old.  Since he's been stuck at home for more than he would like, we've been giving him some time to run around on the main floor, and I mean he RUNS.  Our main floor is open, and not really kid friendly, so we have to watch him like a hawk.  He gets into anything and everything that he's not supposed to.  But it's good for him to have a change of pace, and it burns off some energy.  We got him some snow pants and a winter jacket a few weeks ago.  We've tried several times to put them on him, but he just fights it.  I had to bribe him with a piece of chocolate the first time we got it on him.  But then he wouldn't put gloves on, so he was only able to go outside for a few minutes.  Every time since then he just refused it, until yesterday.  He's been watching Curious George plays in the snow DVD, and I asked him if he'd like to go outside and play in the snow.  He actually agreed, and didn't fight me at all putting the pants and jacket on.  He did a little with the gloves, but did put them on after a little convincing.  He was able to play outside for about 20 min. or so, and he had a blast!  Hopefully he will continue being good about that in the future too, he really needs that outlet.  Over the past month or so he has really improved his steadiness on the stairs.  We are there to spot him, but he can go up and down without any assistance now.  And if he's paying attention to what he's doing, he has avoided falling by sitting on his bum and going down that way.  His language continues to grow, and he's starting to better be able to communicate what he wants.  He is also very aware of the sounds around him.  If he hears a truck outside, he will run over to the window to look at it, and he will say 'truck'.  Also if he hears a plane above us, he will say 'airplane'.  He got a kitchen set for Christmas, and since it's a toy the water from the sink is pretend, but he thinks it's broken, we thought that was pretty funny!  He's pretty good about play cooking, and it's fun to watch him.  His other favorite play time activity is play-doh.  

One major milestone he had over the past month was he started to climb out of his crib, so we had to change it to a toddler bed.  This has been quite the challenge for all of us.  He doesn't like being left in his room, and he doesn't quite understand the idea of staying in bed and going to sleep.  He usually cries when we leave the room then plays with his quiet toys until he gets so tired he just flops over asleep on the floor.  We sometimes will go in after he's asleep and put him in his bed, but he just falls out onto the floor shortly after. This new development has also created a problem for nap time.  He often will take 1 -2 hours to fall asleep now, which means he's sleeping till about 5pm in the evening.  Most of the time he wakes up mad and cries for up to an hour sometimes.  And then he's not tired at bedtime, around 8pm, and it takes another 2 hours to fall asleep making it 10pm! Then he sleeps in in the morning, making him not very tired when nap time comes around at 1pm. We are not sure what to do about nap time.  We know it's important, but it messes up his bedtime.  We have been doing 'quiet time' where he is offered a chance to take a nap or play 'quietly' in his room.  This also gives me a break to either take a nap or get some much needed stuff done around the house.  Anyway, this issue will change when I return to work in six weeks because he will be getting up earlier, and might be tired by nap time again...time will tell.  I have realized being a mom over the past 2 years that when issues arise they tend to go away so quickly because the child's needs change so quickly!

Rowan is 6 Weeks!

Before Rowan was born, I thought I shouldn't compare the two kids, but I have to admit it is quite interesting at how different they are.  For example; Rowan has dark hair, Liam has blond.  Liam had a hard time breastfeeding at first, Rowan took to it right away.  Liam took to the binky and bottle quickly.  Rowan still won't have anything to do with the binky, and we are STILL working on the bottle with her.  He hated tummy time, she loves tummy time.  Anyway, those are just a few things we have noticed about the two kids.  One thing they do have in common is they both grew soo fast.  Rowan is gaining weight and changing so quickly it seems she changes right before our eyes.  Her double chin seems to be doubling, and we can tell she is getting heavier by the day.  She has already outgrown the newborn diapers, and nearly outgrown all her newborn clothes.  Sadly she started her phase of baby acne about a week ago.  Liam's only lasted about 2 weeks, so hopefully hers will clear up soon!  Although lately it has been looking less like acne and more like a rash or eczema.  We are hoping it is only acne, and nothing more serious.  Her hair is starting to thin a bit, and it also is looking like a lighter color is coming in.  It will be interesting to see what color her hair ends up being...as well as her eyes.  At first they were pretty dark, so we thought maybe she would have brown eyes, but they are looking more blue-ish these days, so she may end up with blue eyes like her big brother.  This past week she went 5-1/2 days without pooping?!  Apparently this can be normal for babies, although we were quite relieved when she finally did, and we're sure she was too!  She is also getting really strong.  She is holding her head up much better, and she is moving her arms and legs.  When we put her on her belly she can kick her legs to where she is nearly moving her body.  We think she will be early to roll over and possibly crawl!  We have noticed in the past few days that she has become more aware of her surroundings.  She looks at us in our eyes, and moving objects are catching her eyes like the ceiling fan and the TV.  She also has been smiling a lot lately...she is much more smiley than Liam was at this age  (but he was also 4 weeks early, so that could be part of it).  Thankfully, she has also been more content.  She hasn't had as many fussy hours, and she has let me put her down for a few without crying right away, which has been nice. Anyway, it just amazes us just how quickly they change in the beginning.  You really need to pay attention or it passes before you know it!