Jaclyn is 6 months old!!

So once again, I'm late.  Time is busy these days, but my little girl turned 6 months old on December 12th!  It absolutely blows my mind!!  I mean, this has to have been the fastest 6 months of my life!!  Josh looked at me the other night and said, "do you feel like life is going so fast right now that you have no clue what's going on??"  He got an "AMEN" from this momma!!  Our lives are so blessed with two BUSY little girls that half the time, I have no clue what day it is, but I'm so eternally grateful!! There are days, where at the end of it, I sit on the couch and watch Nick Jr. for hours, but have no clue I'm watching it.  Hopefully that makes sense to some of you moms out there!  There are days that as soon as Josh gets home, I hand him the kids and say "bye" and he asks where I'm going, I say, "I don't know yet.."   There are days, where I send my husband so many text messages of "I'm losing my mind" or "Jaycee has been a CRAZY person today" or "Jaclyn has been crying all day" or "ughhhh, please let me go back to work" that I'm sure half the time he dreads the drive home....BUT....those little moments of me losing it, is only a smidgen of the time that doesn't even compare to the joys and happiness I get with these kids!! :)  Those moms who act like motherhood is ALL rainbows and sunshines are just lying, right?!?!?!  hahahaha.

So back to 6 months!!  Goodness, she's growing so fast!!!  She went for her 6 month appointment at exactly her 6 month, 1 week date and everything checked out great!!  She got an insane amount of shots though because I made them also give her the flu shot!!  Man, I think those shots and seeing her face hurts me just as bad as it hurts her!!!  I get sick to my stomach everytime, and it never gets easier.  She did great, except for running a fever for 24 hours, but that just makes for great cuddles! 

Here's her other stats:

*She weighed in at 17lbs 10 oz (75%)

*She was 27 1/2 inches long (95%)

*Her head was in the 80% percentile

*She's wearing 9 month clothing

*She's in a size 3 diaper

*Still in a size 1 shoe

*Is starting to babble more!  She says, "babbababa" alot, and then "oooooo" like an owl.  I remember teasing Jaycee and calling her my little owl- so Jaclyn might be following along too

*Takes 4- 6oz bottles a day (well 7oz in the bedtime bottle)

*I officially stopped breastfeeding at her 6 month birthday.  So far, I've still had enough breastmilk stored that she still gets half breastmilk/half formula in all of her bottles.

*She's got both of her bottom teeth!

* She eats a level 2 veggie and half a level 2 fruit a day.  I think she's ready for more though, so we might be initiating oatmeal into her morning routine soon!

* I bought some of the Gerber puffs.  I take one and break it into even smaller pieces, and put them on her high chair to let her practice that "pincher" grasp.  She's starting to get the hang of it!!  I usually put a few pieces on her high chair just while we are eating dinner, and that keeps her pretty content while we eat! :) 

* She's sleeping from about 8pm to 7am, and most of that now is in her crib.  I occasionally have to bring her to lay on my chest around 6ish, so we can both sleep more, but as of this week, she's been staying in her bed later in the mornings! :)

*She still doesn't nap well.  A 30 minute morning nap, and she naps great in the afternoons, but it's because she still naps on me.  I'm hoping that maybe once she starts crawling and wears herself out, we can do better at napping in her crib. I'm trying to remind myself to just soak up the feeling I have when she sleeps on my chest because it's so short lived!!  Jaycee napped on our chests for about 7-8 months, and then started napping in her crib, so I know my days of that cozy, house quiet, me resting too with my precious little girl on me won't last much longer!!  To me, it's worth not doing housework during that short time to cuddle up with her! They're only babies once! :)

* SHE LOVES BATHTIME!!  By far her favorite time of the day.  I think she could sit and play in there all day!! :) 

* She loves trying to reach for stuff to pull up on, even though she's DEFINTELY not doing that yet.She gives it a shot, and rocks her butt like a lil old lady trying to stand up!  hahaha. Heck she might skip crawling, who knows.

*Speaking of that, the kid, now that she can roll, refuses to stay on her stomach.  she immediately rolls over on her back, so how she will ever learn how to crawl is beyond me.

* She loves banging toys on toys, or on the ground, or splashing her hands in the tub!! ;)  It's so cute!

* Jaycee and Walker still make her belly giggle better than anyone!

When peope ask me about her personality, and if it's anything like Jaycee's....my reply is TOTAL opposites!!!  Jaclyn at this point and time appears to be much more laid back.  And I LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE, did I mention, LOVE it!!!!  When I pick Jaclyn up, she takes her arms and throws them over my shoulders and around my neck!!  It's priceless and I just end up hugging her forever!!  She's starting to do that to Josh now too!!  It's so precious!! :) 

Since month 7 is almost here, I better stop!!!  As you can tell, there's getting to be more to talk about!! :)

She should be in acting.... :)

This....is....my.....child.......

Enjoy the personality......

:)

This first set is a group of pictures, that are unedited and in order.  I grabbed my phone one night, and came across these on my phone after she was in bed and I was propped up in bed.  She had apparently gotten my phone and had a little photo shoot of herself that day.....I had tears running down my face laughing so hard....

And then this set was her idea to take pictures of us in hats.  It was all her posing the way she did....I wanted to try to look all cute, and once again, she busted out the poses... :)

And last but not least....the personality thats not so funny, but oh sooo cute!!  My little beauty....

Cute and funny....oh lordy we are in trouble when she gets older... :)

Jaclyn @ 5 months!

So yes, I'm late with her 5 month post.  Along with being late at everything else in my life right now!! hahaha.  It's hard to wrap my finger around the fact that in less than a month, she will be a half a year old!!  Geez!!!  Time sure does fly!!

She's at such a cute age!!  I love it.  Her personality is really starting to shine through, along with all her new skills!! :)  So I'll just get on in to her stats:

*I have no clue how much this chunker weighs but I promise ya, the fact that her arm doubles over almost onto her hand, and the minutes I spend in the bathtub trying to seperate every roll to thouroughly clean- the girl isn't missing any meals!! :)  It cracks me up though, b/c I read that at this age, the minimum amount of breastmilk or formula they should have a day should be 24oz, and this girl BARELY eats that minimum!! 

* So she has 4 bottles a day of 5-6 oz.  And then I nurse her at like 530 in the morning, but she eats in like 5 minutes or less and she's back to sleep.  She couldn't eat an ounce or two at that feeding.
*  She is loving her "food" too!! She gets some once a day around 6pm.  Rice cereal with about a fourth of a jar of fruit mixed in with the cereal is her absolute favorite right now!!  She kicks her feet, starts squeeling and hands fly everywhere!! She also loves sweet potatoes as her vegetable of choice.  Apples (surprisingly) made her make the craziest face I've ever seen, spit it out, and then did the whole body quiver, like what I would do if someone spoon/forced fed me brussel sprouts or something!!!!!  It was a one bite and done deal with the apples.  We will reintroduce at a later date!!  So far, everything else has gone down fairly easy!! :) 

* She is rolling over BOTH WAYS!  The belly to back still happens much easier than back to belly, but she will do it all.  In the picture below is one day when she was literally on a roll.  Belly-back, back-belly, belly-back.  I didn't think she was going to stop!! hahahaha.

*She is now wearing SIZE 3 diapers!!!  Told ya, I have a chunker!! :)

* She goes to bed around 8pm, and doesn't get up to eat until around 5-5:30, eats enough to go back to sleep and then sleeps until 7 or whenever her sister wakes her up.  HOWEVER, I'm up a time or two (on a GOOD night) to put the paci back in!!

*We tried the cry it out thing- and well- I just don't think this gal is going to be going for that.  She will belt it out for as long as needed, and has no problem gagging or trying to throw up.  I google on a daily basis my options....

*She babbles NONSTOP!!  And it's all "bababababababababa" that's all it is.  Even when she's crying it's "bababababababa"  Josh and I get tickled at it actually, it's too stinkin' cute!!

*The belly giggles have gotten more often, and what's funny is that the only things that cause the belly giggle is Jaycee or Walker!!  Her face lights up when the dog comes around!!  It cracks me up!  She loves him!!

* We are working on sitting up!!  She does fairly well with the boppy wrapped around her, or me sitting behind her, but still will fall over after a while.  I struggle with getting her to even sit, because she just wants on her feet to stand!!  Oh lordy....

*Every toy is worth a shot to get to, to only put it in her mouth!!  Oh the teething!!!  Oh......the teething!!  And ohhhhhh.....the drool!! hahaha.  None are popping through yet, but you can see those bottom two moving their way on up through her gums rather quickly.  I'd say another month! 

I think that's it for month 5 (since we're almost to month 6!) hahaha. I'm head over heels in love with this little girl and her personality!!  But I know I've never said that before... ;)

 I've got some cute photos coming of miss Jaycee in the next day or two, so check back! :) 

Sisterly Love

“Sister. She is your mirror, shining back at you with a world of possibilities. She is your witness, who sees you at your worst and best, and loves you anyway. She is your partner in crime, your midnight companion, someone who knows when you are smiling, even in the dark. She is your teacher, your defense attorney, your personal press agent, even your shrink. Some days, she's the reason you wish you were an only child.”

These two. Words cannot describe the feeling of seeing these two playing, loving, and laughing with each other. I watch them together, and tears almost come to my eyes, and I DREAM about their future together.  I say dream, which means I get to think WAY down the road, unrealistically if you will, shooting for the moon even....but I SO MUCH want them to GROW UP best friends!!  I tell Jaycee ALL the time, "she's your best friend, you have a best friend for your whole life!!" 

Now, this isn't my first rodeo with sisters.  I know first hand, what sisters are like.  Especially sisters that are 2 1/2 years apart- just like my sister and I are.  My sister and I fought like it was our J.O.B!!  I mean, to the point where my mom would come marching upstairs and yell, "that's it, I've had it, go at each other one good time and be done with it!!  I'm a nurse, I'll clean up the blood!"  hahahahahaha.  That'll stop two fighting kids right in their tracks and completely question what bridge we had just made our mom jump off of!  We must have been pros!! 

HOWEVER, there's always, lying underneath, (sometimes very underneath) certainty that they'll always be there for you.  There's that unspoken "I love you" between sisters, even when you're at that fighting, "I hate you" stage! There's that, unconditional, not going anywhere bond between sisters.  And I sooooo much pray that Jaycee and Jaclyn remember daily that their sister is their next biggest fan (outside of me and their daddy!)

Jaycee has taken very well to her new role as the big sister.  The first week or two at home, was very questionable, but she now is head over heels in love with her!!  My heart melts watching her be such a loving, sweet, funny person for Jaclyn!!  She loves on her, watches over her, tells her "its ok" when she starts crying, reads her books, sings her lulabyes, wants to hold her every second of every day- and oh my gosh- every ounce of me that didn't want another child 2 years ago, could slap myself!! 

The pictures I have taken of these two together completely make my heart melt.  I am such a proud mom of these two little girls, and I only hope I can keep capturing these sweet moments as they grow up together.  Surely they can't fight every second of every day......right?!?!?! 

I just want them to count on each other, love each other, support each other, help each other.  I even want them to share secrets between the two of them (even if they don't tell me) b/c then I at least know there is a bond between them, a trust between them that is so imperitive!  I want them to grow together, as they grow into their own unique person.  I don't want them to be the same.  They don't have to play the same sports, like the same clothes, have the same friends, or any of that.

I just want them to know that they are respected, loved and valued as what they are to each other.  And if I can accomplish that, I'll be one proud, happy, heart filled- momma.  And they?  They will have an eternal, blood bonded, best friend.  Mission completed. 

Jaclyn at 4 months!!

So I'm a couple of weeks behind on this post, but at least she's still technically 4 months old!! :)  It's easier to stay on top of this when you're doing months, instead of weekly pregnancy posts! :) 

Jaclyn, you are 4 months old now.  I feel like at this point, the ball game almost totally changes.  You are out of the "newborn" stage.  I feel like we are finally learning "you" and what all of your different responses, cries, needs, etc. are, and at what time.  We have pretty much figured out your daily schedule.  We have figured out what makes you happy, what makes you mad, how much you actually prefer to be in each bottle ;), what time you are ready for bedtime, what calms you down, what you like to do in your spare time, what you DON'T like to do in your spare time...the list goes on.  I like this stage, but it can also be a more time consuming one.  See, you don't sleep as much as you used to (that sleepy newborn stage), but you cannot yet completely entertain yourself yet either- so where does that leave me- your 100% complete entertainment.  And do I mind- not at all!! :)  Do the people mind that come inside my house and see it the way it is- well if they do- they can just deal with it or not come over.  You are WAY more important right now! :) 

We went for your 4 month appointment last week, and you did SO WELL.  You got 2 shots, and the first one you didn't even cry.  It was that darn second one that got ya!!  You were fine once I scooped you up, and were a perfect angel the whole day!!  No fussiness, no fever- I was one impressed momma! :) 

Here are your stats from that appointment and the rest of month 4:

**You weighed in at a whoppin' 15lbs 9 oz!!  hahaha (80th percentile)

**You were 26 1/4 inches long!! (off the charts!!)  I even came home and remeasured you to make sure they measured right, b/c I mean, come on, what child of mine is really that tall?!!? But they were right! :)

**I don't remember exactly your head circumfrance but it was in the 80% too! 

ONE BIG BABY!!

** You are in size 2 diapers, size 1 shoe, and size 6 month clothing

** You eat 5 oz every 3 1/2-4 hours during the day, and 6 oz at bedtime

** She said we could start you on rice cereal, and so we have.  You have a little of that every night around 6, and unlike your sister- YOU LOVE IT!!  Complete mess, but you love it!

** You are still one screaming baby at night around 7pm b/c you are ready to eat and crash, so you eat around 715, and I usually have you in your crib asleep before 8.  You usually do pretty well at night, but want to eat again around 430-5, but then you're right back to sleep until 7 or whenever your sister wakes you up!  I don't really mind that early feeding b/c it doesn't take long, and at least this way, your daddy and I can finally visit at night with both of you guys down to bed at the same time.  I'm hoping we'll get to where you can make it ALL night- soon!!! :))))))

** You DROOL, DROOL, DROOL!!!  Holy moly, but I don't see any pearly whites even close to the surface yet...

** You love your teething rings, and pretty much chew on those or SOMETHING all.day.long

** You love COLORS!!  You stare at the tv, and i know it's because the colors are fascinating.

** You HAVE rolled over, both ways, however, this is not habit yet.  Not even close.  I'm starting to think you must have done those others a few times by complete accident.  I can't get you to roll over on purpose lately for ANYTHING.  I act like a rolling pin all around you, and you just look at me like, "you're nuts!" 

**You do prop up on your arms when on your belly, and you can actually stay there and hang out for as long as I leave you there.  Sometimes you're more content propped up like that, than laying on your back.  You already try to scoot those knees under you, but that just ends in frustration, and i'm NOT pushing that!

** You'd rather stand up than sit any day of the week!! If you're fussy, we stand you up in our laps, and you could stand there all day.  If you're lying down and we pull you up to sit, you immediately try to stand!! Dr. Hurlock said your leg strength is where she sees 6-7 month olds!! :)

**You're overall a pretty content baby.  You have your moments, and your screams can make sweat beads roll off the devil's forehead even- but that's usually at night when you.are.done!!!  Your personality is SO different from Jaycee's.  You're more laid back, more in a "chill" mode.  I've learned I can't even compare you guys anymore.  I used to freak and say, "jaycee was doing such and such by now...".  But- I've just learned, she was a little more eager, and you are more relaxed.  And until you get behind on a milestone, I'll be laid back with you!!  I might enjoy this quality as much as I did Jaycee's eagerness!!! Maybe a little of the best of both worlds!! :) 

You are only 4 months old, and I'm so proud of you already!! :)  Your little smile literally makes me giggle everytime I see it!!!  I fall more in love with you every.single.day!  Happy 4 months, Jaclyn!!