5 Months!

This month's update will be short and sweet seeing as Ella will be 6 months old on Friday. It seems no matter my intentions, I still fall behind on my posts. Oh well, let's see what we have for our little lady's 5th month of life.

She is still eating about the same, usually every four hours although she will go longer sometimes. Eating is just not the biggest priority to her. I'm sure that will change. We will be starting solids this Friday when she turns six months old. I'm so excited! I bought her a few things already, squash, sweet potatoes, pears and bananas. Preston's first food was sweet potatoes so I may go with that one first. I did give her some rice cereal, only twice though. She did fine with it but it was kind of just a messy pain.

Anyway, since her four month post, her sleeping habits have changed a good bit. She now sleeps in the crib at night and for her naps. It took some adjusting at night time but it wasn't that bad. She starting flipping over on her stomach of course but she decided she likes to sleep that way. I know they are supposed to sleep on their back but what do you do? She has excellent control of her head and moves it back and forth and can completely lift her head and chest off the ground so I'm not worried about her face getting "stuck" somewhere.

For a while she was only getting up once maybe twice between the hours of 9:00 p.m. and 5:00 or 6:00 but now she usually gets up twice. Still a working progress.

Naps are going greater than I anticipated. Once she got adjusted to the crib at night I started working on daytime naps. She wasn't a big fan at first. She loved her swing and would much prefer to sleep there but I knew it was time to get her changed over. She would fuss and I would just slip in and return the paci a time or two and she would fall asleep. At first she wouldn't sleep very long but now she will take a nice long 2-3 hour nap, depending on how tired she is. She usually takes two naps a day, unless we're out and about and she gets several cat naps instead.

She started playing in her exersaucer and sitting in her highchair this month and started using the bouncy seat and swing less and less this month. She's growing up already :(

She loves Preston's toy cars. That's the first thing she goes for in the plethora of toys in my floor. Preston is learning to share. Somehow he wants the exact car that she's playing with...hmm...only the beginning.

Well I've more milestones to report but I'll put them in her six month post since technically she was over 5 months when she achieved them. Geez, I'm so behind.

Here's some fun pictures of her 5th month! A much overdue post about Preston is coming soon along with Miss Ella's 6 month post...hopefully within the next week :)

She loves her brother

Two little Auburn fans sleeping through the game lol. This is Ella and her buddy, Luke. He also happens to be her 3rd cousin :)

Trying cereal for the first time

First time playing in the exersaucer. She loves the seesaw just like her big brother did

Apparently he still does :)

Sitting straight up in her bouncy. Eyes closed but still cute

4 Months!

Geez, how I wish there were more hours in a day! The months are flying by so fast and I'm constantly trying to keep up with my posts! Oh well, I'm blessed beyond measure to have such a wonderful family to keep me busy.

Our girl is continuing to grow and change all the time. She's had a busy month learning new things!

First the stats. At her 4 month check up she weighed in at 14 lbs 8 oz and measured 24.5 in in length. Her head circumference was 15.75 inches. I forgot the percentiles that the doctor told me but research on the internet gave me 64% for weight and 45% for length. That sounds about right.

She was perfectly healthy and looked great to the doctor. She mentioned we could start cereal and even solids if we wanted too but if we could wait until 6 months for solids she might have a lesser chance of food allergies. Cereal was more of a messy pain with Preston and he didn't really care for it so I don't even know if I will try with Ella. Who knows, she may like it. I'm planning on waiting until six months for solids though.

Here is a picture of her on the scales. She was so good the whole time...until shots :( Although I will say she was a champ and calmed down pretty soon afterwards.

Eating
Ella eats about every 4 hours, sometimes sooner, sometimes later. It's still surprising to me because Preston was such a big eater and nursed all the time. She is packing on her rolls though despite her tiny frame. She's chunky and petite all at the same time :)

Sleeping
I wish I could say sleep was going great but truthfully we are still having issues. We did move Ella to her crib this month and the first night I put her in there she came right back to our room. Why, you ask? As soon as I laid her down in the crib she flipped over on her stomach and screamed until I picked her up. She hardly ever stays on her back anymore and will flip over as soon as you lay her down. She never did it in the bassinet, I guess because of it's small size, but the crib is obviously more spacious. So anyway, the next night I remembered about her sleep positioner. She did great in it and slept for about five hours the first night. Then she would wake up and wriggle her way down the positioner and then flip herself out of it. I didn't mind since she was sleeping so well but here recently she started waking after an hour or so and flipping out. Needless to say I wasn't getting very much sleep so back in our room she came. She did a little better last night but after a discussion with friends, I am thinking she might have reflux which could be causing the night issues. She has been spitting up tons and I never thought it could be reflux since it didn't bother her. My friends observed her yesterday while they were over for a football game and seem to think it still could be reflux. I'm actually calling the doctor tomorrow to discuss it and possibly try a round of meds to see if makes any difference. As for naps, she still sleeps in the swing or in the carseat while we are on the go. She might catnap on our bed but it doesn't last very long.

Personality and Fun Stuff
She is so noisy! She chatters, squeals in delight and just yells sometimes because she wants too. Typical  girl, lol. She smiles all the time and loves to observe her surroundings. She is very curious. She loves to be walked around. She started playing with toys this month. She was in the swing one night and I would hand her some of Preston's blocks with holes and she would wrap a finger in the hole and hold onto it. So sweet. We bought her a set of girly baby keys and she loves those. It's so precious to see her teeny little hands reach for something. One of her favorite things to play with is Preston's cars. They are perfect size for her to hold so she and Preston can already play together :) Another favorite toy is her toes. She loves to hold onto them and study them. She also loves to lay on her playmat and play with the crunchy flaps. Like I said earlier, she immediately flips to her stomach when we lay her down so we just stick a toy in front of her and she's content for a while. She can move around some on her belly, more of a making a full circle as opposed to scooting or crawling.

Here's a picture of her holding the blocks for the first time...along with her toes. She is a multi-tasker :)

And some more fun favorites of our girl from her fourth month.

3 Months!

I knew I better get a post in pretty quickly since we are fast approaching 4 months already!

Our girl is such a happy little baby. I just can't say it enough. If she is fed and has had at least a power nap, she is just as smiley and happy as can be.

Every morning when she wakes up and sees one of us, she instantly gives this huge grin. I love it. It makes my day (especially since I'm still sleep deprived and usually groggy in the early a.m.).

Her sleeping habits have been a little rough on Mommy over the last few weeks. She is waking more than she was at 2 months old (sometimes 3 or 4 times) and she doesn't want to stay in her bassinet for more than maybe an hour or two. Yes, I know, she needs to be in her crib. The reason for the delay is we just purchased her monitor and haven't set it up yet (it's a video monitor and we have to set up the camera). Anyway, the plan is to get it set up this week and move Miss Priss in there. Hopefully it will help her sleep a bit better so we shall see. Mommy is running on fumes.

It probably doesn't help that we have been painting rooms almost every night in the last week which makes me even more tired and sleep deprived. But I can't complain too much there. It looks so much better! More on that on the DIY blog soon.

Anyway, Ella is such a little squealer too. She will talk and squeal so loudly, especially riding in her stroller. You can usually hear her across the grocery store :)

She loves to watch her big brother now too. I love seeing her smile at him. Just warms my heart. We like to plop her in her bumbo on the table while we eat or race cars and she just watches us intently.

She has earned the nickname Missy or sometimes Missy Moo. Her Daddy started calling her Missy and both Preston and I have picked up on it too. It's hilarious to hear Preston call her Missy Moo. But we are sure to call her Ella a lot too so he doesn't get confused, lol.

She is still nursing well, sometimes one side only and sometimes both. I think she is definitely going to be more petite than Preston. She has such dainty hands and feet (although she has very long fingers and toes). She is plumping up and looking chubbier but she still is small to me. Although that could be me being used to our 35 pound 2 year old that still makes me carry him around.

We don't go back to the doctor until 4 months so I'm not sure what she weighs right now. Her 4 month check up is in just a few weeks though so I will post those stats soon.

Ella still loves her bath time too. She could be fussy and tired and as soon as she hits the tub she is in a great mood.

Her swing is still our naptime place during the day. I really need to work on getting her to nap in her bed but sometimes it's just so easy to stick her in there. If she's tired she goes right to sleep. And then Preston and I can play and have some one on one time. We'll get there though.

Big News! Our girl rolled over right at 3 months old, I think it was 3 months and 1 day to be exact. She had been trying her hardest the few days beforehand and she would get so mad because she couldn't quite get all the way over. But now she's a pro. Sometimes she likes hanging out on her tummy for a few minutes but then other times she flips over and gets furious because she doesn't know how to flip back to her back. It's so cute. I love watching babies accomplish a milestone. Priceless.

Ella is not a huge fan of her carseat. If she is tired she will fall asleep but sometimes she just gets mad being stuck in there. Can't blame her though. I'm sure it's no fun.

We're headed to the beach at the end of the month. It will be our first time traveling with such a tiny one. Preston was ten months old when we first took a vacation with him.

We had our first photo shoot with Ella right when she turned 3 months old. We knew there was a chance of rain but went ahead with our plans since the rain looked like it was going to hold out. And as soon as we took the first shot it started raining, boo! But we went back to the house and still got some great ones of Ella and our little family.

These were taken by Ann Wade Parrish Photography. But before I show the rest of the pictures, here is a side by side comparison of Preston at 3 months and Ella now at 3 months. We used the same bucket and blanket in both pictures. Blake's Maw Maw made this blanket so it's very special to us. I love that Preston looks so big in his - he has always be a sturdy little guy. Ella is just a teensy thing :)

Here are a few more favorites from our photo shoot!

Big Brother

Finally a post about our big boy.

But before I get going here, let me first update on Ella's follow up weight check. We went back to the doctor a week after her 2 month appointment (where she had not even gained 1 oz since her 1 month appt) and she weighed in at 12 lb 3 oz - yay for 7 ounces! We didn't even see the doctor. The nurse gave her the info and said she was just fine. Relief!!!

Okay, back to P.

Preston continually has us laughing these days. He is such a funny little boy. His vocabulary grows daily and he spouts off things I did not even realize he knew or could even say. He has a little trouble with his speech but it's getting better as well. He still says words that others may not understand but usually Blake and I can figure it out and try to help him pronounce it better. 

He is currently obsessed with the movies Cars and Toy Story. We started our collection of the small cars from Cars and I think Blake and I are just as excited about finding new ones as Preston. We have to check out the selection every time we go in Target or Wal-mart...or anywhere else that may have them. He lines his cars up on the kitchen table in a perfect straight line and names them off one by one. And he is so thankful for anything we buy him. Truly. He will tell me all day for the next day "Thank you, Mama!!!" every time he plays with it. Although here recently Daddy has been getting the credit. He bought him a Mack (the big 18 wheeler truck that hauls Lightening McQueen around) and he absolutely loves it. 

He definitely still has a two year old temper. If he's not ready to leave somewhere or if he wants something really bad and is told no, the fits ensue. He is usually quick to get over it though once he realizes we mean business. 

Honestly though, he is such a sweetheart. He loves other kids. He's never been one to hit or pinch or hurt other kids. He is very mild mannered. 

He will come up to me or Blake and hug and kiss us just because he wants too. He will also pat us on the arm or shoulder and it's so sweet. 

We decided to go ahead and change his crib over to a full-size bed. I was scared to take the plunge and change him over since he had no problem with his crib but he has done wonderful! It's been about a month and he loves his big boy bed. And he shows everyone his new bed when they come over. On the third night he fell off one side and cried and scared us half to death but we now have a toddler rail on that side and his bean bag and a foam mattress folded up on the other side. If he falls off the open side he at least won't get hurt :)

He is loving his baby sister. He has shown no signs of jealousy, at all. He loves to kiss her and give her her paci when she cries. And he's surprisingly very gentle with her...although we still have to be careful when he gets too close to her. He could easily squish her. 

Preston loves to swim this year. Last year it was touch and go but he wants to swim all the time now. He also likes sand too. He loves to play on the sanded volleyball court in our neighborhood. Hated the beach last year so I'm hoping his newfound love of water and sand will make for a happy boy at the beach this year. 

Well, the little stinker is bellowing at me from his room so naptime/break time is over. That's another good thing about the big boy bed. He will not get up until we come in there. Old habits from the crib, I guess :) At least we know he won't be sneaking down in the middle of the night.

I will leave you with a few pictures with our fun little guy :)

Mommy's birthday breakfast - excited about blowing out candles

Shopping!

4th of July

About to get a haircut with Daddy

Playing with his trains!

My precious babies

Big Bro, Lil Sis

Ella Reeves is 2 Months old!

As always, time is flying by and our girl is already two months old. We love having her in our family. What did we do without this precious little bundle?

Facts First:
We went for her 2 month check-up on Friday and I was shocked to find out that she weighed the exact same as her 1 month check-up...what? I freaked out. The doctor seems to think that she was incorrectly weighed at her 1 month appointment. Not even gaining an ounce just made no sense to either one of us, especially since she visually looks bigger and fills out her clothes more than she did at a month old. Her doctor did not seem worried but we decided to bring her in again a week later (this Friday) to weigh her again. If she hasn't gained anything or has lost weight, she will have to be re-evaluated. So needless to say I have been trying to feed her as much as possible without overfeeding her.

Typically she would only nurse on one side and then sleep for a couple of hours. But she would also spit up a good amount and I just assumed she had plenty to eat, especially since she is a very happy baby and smiling all the time. Although I don't really think she is being underfed, I've been trying to get her to nurse both sides now and she is taking it pretty well. I've been worried just because I'm a mom and hello, worry is our middle name. For her age and weight at 11 lbs 12 oz, she is still above average in the 65th percentile. However, the most important thing is that she is continuing to grow. So anyone who reads this, please pray she has gained some weight by this Friday!

She has grown in length to 23 inches and is in the 75th percentile for height.

Besides the weight glitch, she looks great to the doctor and is very healthy. She has a small hemangioma on her arm (like a strawberry birthmark) and her doctor said it should be just fine. It will probably change color as she gets towards a year old and may fade. She said she would probably always have some kind of birthmark there though. We don't have to worry unless it starts getting larger. At that point we would have to see a dermatologist.

Okay, how about some fun stuff now.

Ella is such a happy little girl. She just smiles all the time and really only fusses when she is hungry or sleepy. If she wakes up and fusses for someone to get her, she greets you with a big smile. She is watching us all the time now and loves to be talked too. She loves to coo and talk back to us too. Preston is still loving on his baby sister all the time. He adores her. It melts my heart to see him talk to her and she smile back at him. They are forming a little bond already.

She sleeps in her swing during the day. I have tried to put her in her crib some for naps but she only stays in there 10 minutes or so and she's had enough. She's starting to put herself to sleep more and more. The other night I laid her in the floor by Blake who was watching basketball. She just kicked around for a while, found her thumb and was off to la-la land. She still does well in her bassinet at night too. After I feed her she will usually drift off to sleep on her own...but with the help of her paci or thumb of course.

She is sitting in her bumbo in small increments now. She loves to sit up and look around. She doesn't like to be cradled very much, just like her big brother on that one.

I haven't ventured out by myself very much with just the two of them yet. We have gone swimming with friends a few times but I'm still afraid to handle both of them in a store. Preston is a one-person job all on his own in a store so I'm a little nervous! Plus, if I have him in the top of the buggy and Ella's carseat inside the buggy, where will my groceries go? Thankfully, my sweet Mama can meet me during the day and help out if I need a few things. I'm sure things will get a little easier when Ella is bigger though. Overall, we are adjusting very well in the Mosley household and we couldn't be happier with our sweet babies.

I will update as soon as I can about Ella's weight check this Friday.

And I will have a new post on my Preston this week too. He's such a big boy now!

1 Month Old

Our girl is already a month old. I can't believe how fast the time goes by. It's amazing to think I have a two and half year old and a one month old. Two kids! And they bring Blake and I so much joy. I'm so thankful.

I'm not gonna lie, those first few days and weeks were definitely tough. Things now are by no means easy but we seem to have adjusted to our new family size. And can I just say I have the best family and friends.  The first three weeks after we got home from the hospital I think we had to supply dinner for ourselves twice. As any new mom knows, a hot meal for your family is so appreciated when you aren't up to preparing or have the time to do it yourself.

Preston has done very well with his new little sister. He truly loves her so much. Sometimes I have to tell him to wait on something while I'm nursing Ella or changing her, etc. and he usually very patient to wait. And if he does get huffy about waiting he never blames or takes it out on her. He will walk up to her at the same time and give her a kiss on the head. He's such a sweetheart.

Ella is such a precious baby. She nursed well from the very beginning and is still doing great. The first few weeks she slept almost all the time but she is definitely more alert now and more aware of the world. I remember Preston never wanted to be put down in the bouncy seat or swing but Ella is a big fan of her swing and takes most of her daytime naps in there. She will hang around in the bouncy a few minutes too but not for a really long period of time.

The last two weeks or so she seemed to have developed some colic. It's not nearly as bad as Preston's but we have been working to see what helps her. Her doctor recommended a probiotic called BioGaia and she has been on it for 4 days. It says it takes about a week to see a difference. I was worried about my diet affecting her tummy so I have been doing my best to avoid the most common culprits to cause gassy/fussy babies. I knew dairy, especially milk, caused gas but I have been researching the last few days and it seems milk is probably the worst for causing colicky babies. I am a big milk fan. I eat cereal every morning and love milk with all sorts of stuff. So off to the grocery store I went and bought some soymilk. It's really pretty good! I didn't have any milk yesterday and Ella did very well last night. She normally gets fussy in the evenings. She fussed a little bit but not nearly as much as normal. Hopefully it will continue to improve!

Nighttime sleep is different each night. Most nights she will sleep about 3 hours at a time but for a while it was every hour she would wake and fuss. I'm hoping the dairy I am cutting out will help with it now.

As for more detailed stats, we went for her one month check up yesterday and she weighs 11 lbs 12 oz. and measured 22.25 inches. Big girl! She has the cutest fat rolls on her arms and legs. I love chubby babies :) She is in the 95th percentile for weight and 93rd for length. Preston at 4 weeks was 9 lbs 15 oz and 21.75 inches long. But he was also a full pound less than Ella at birth and was 3 weeks early. I'm curious to see how they compare as she grows.

On a more fun side of things, she just started smiling! It's so precious. I caught a picture of her smiling on her one month birthday :)

More posts to come soon...as long as I get both kids to sleep at the same time :)