Holland - 4 months

We've had a big month adjusting to daycare, work, and our chaotic life in general!  We celebrated Daniel's 39th birthday with a low key celebration at home.  Daniel requested German chocolate cake, so I used my maternal grandmother's recipe for the icing.  It was not as easy as store bought, but was definitely delicious.  We sure are lucky to have Daniel in our lives.  He takes care of us and so many things around the house.  He's a cleaner, a fixer, an organizer, and a roll around on the floor and have fun-er! 

Sullivan lost another tooth (Evie kicked him while playing and it made the tooth bleed, so Sullivan finally pulled it out).  He attended Okra camp in Cleveland and got to do kayaking, stand up board, canoeing, archery, rock wall climbing, and many other fun activities.  I'm so thankful for Bebe and Fred Daddy letting him come stay and participate in such a fun camp. 

The highlight of Evie's month has been Pony Camp!!!! It was only 3 half days, but that girl is hooked and she has told every person she meets about pony camp. 



Sullivan and Evie are both still crazy about Holland.

Taking care of her baby.

Helping Holland sit up

Reading baby books to Holland

 

Even Sophie the cat is crazy about her!

 We've been trying to incorporate some fun activities into our lives instead of just sitting at home all the time. We joined a pool and that has been really fun!  Sullivan is getting much  more confident with his swimming now that he gets to do it more often.  We've got to get to work on Evie now!  Holland doesn't care for the cold, big pool, but likes splashing in the baby pool. We also took Evie bowling for the first time.  It was so much fun!

 

 

Holland has been practicing sitting up in her bumbo, sucking her thumb and taking a bottle much better.  She had to have another round of antibiotics and steroids after getting croup and double ear infection again.  Building up those immunities, I suppose. Not crazy about all the drugs, but don't want my baby in pain either.


On Holland's 4 month birthday, we all went for a rooftop dinner before Daniel left on an AT hiking trip with a friend.  It was bright and hot up there, but it is a good location for kids!

He didn't believe me when I told him he had a few freckles. He wasn't happy to see the proof..

We sat on the sunny side, always on the sunny side!

My sweet Holland is still an excellent sleeper, very content, making lots of B sounds.  She laughs primarily for Sullivan, but sometimes others are able to get a giggle from her.  She, just this week, started taking bottles at daycare.  I don't know what the magic trick was, but she decided she likes the fat dr. brown's bottles, but only if given by Miss Daisy, and only in the bouncy seat.  She won't take it from anyone else or if being held.  It's a start though!  I haven't been going to feed her at daycare anymore at lunch.  Sad, but good progress for her anyway. She's started grabbing her feet for happy baby pose and enjoys rocking around on the floor....almost rolling over!

Holland - 3 months

My last few weeks of maternity leave flew by, of course.  We tried to get in visits with family and friends and soak up all our time together. We took Evie to get her first haircut! Gigi came to visit, and we went to see Julia's dance recital together.  Evie danced in the aisles to every song, so I've gotten her signed up for dance classes beginning in August. 

I celebrated my first Mother's Day with 3 kids!  Church was the ultimate "mother's" day experience.  Holland pooped, I went to change her and realized she'd blown it out all over church dress and I had no car keys to get her a change of clothes.  I bring her back in church in just a diaper, get keys, get her dressed, and as I'm heading back in to church, I see Daniel with Sullivan and Evie heading for the bathroom.  So we were all present for the Lord's Prayer and the closing hymn.  Love being completely disruptive in church multiple times...These days pass quickly though, so I'm trying to take it all in stride.

Holland started daycare on May 18th.  She was asleep when I dropped her off, so when she woke up in a new place, she was upset. :(  I went to feed her at lunch, since she still wasn't taking bottles, and she seemed happier.  The lunchtime feedings continued for the entire month as the bottle attempts at daycare continued to fail.  Alas, it only took 3 days of daycare for Holland to get her first cold and ear infection. Unfortunately, since she was a week shy of 3 months, her fever on a weekend meant an ER visit for us.  They poked and prodded her and it was terrible.  The worst part was, they said they found nothing wrong- just a virus.  When we went to see our regular pediatrician a few days later, she told us the ER results showed RSV was positive. Didn't give me a lot of faith in the ER here for babies.  Pediatrician said her ears were also infected, so we did our first round of antibiotics.

Last Day of Maternity Leave nap together

baby iv port, cuff, o2 monitor

This month also brought Sullivan's last day of 1st Grade. He had such a good year this year, and has just grown so much.  He's reading books on a 6th grade level (he's on the third Harry Potter book) and just seems really interested to learn.  He's a walking encyclopedia (and general know-it-all), but his teacher really seemed to know how to channel that in a positive way.



Holland weighs about 14 lbs and is wearing size 3-6 month clothes.  She still sleeps like a dream in the cradle in our room. She continues to want to cluster feed for a few hours before bed, but then sleeps for 8 hours, eats, and then sleeps some more!  I have to wake her up to get her dressed and fed in the mornings.  She's really started laughing and cooing and trying to talk to us.   She's discovered her hands and likes to look at them and clasp and move them around.  Still hates her bottles, but loves her big brother! Generally, just incredibly happy.