Lee at Three Months

Lee Michael is three months old!

We finally saw some real growth in those sweet cheeks!!

There were a lot of changes this month. He weighed in at 13 lbs. and measured 24 in. this month. More than double his birth weight! His percentages look a little higher this month: 25th for weight and 40th for height.

Things that have not really changed this month: mucho, mucho spit-up...dear Lord, he is a tiny yet powerful fountain allllll day. He goes through lots of outfit changes, and so do we. Thankfully, he really doesn't have reflux issues at night and is still sleeping well on the inclined bed. He goes for about 6-7 hours at night. So asleep about 8pm-2/3am and then wakes for bottle and goes back to sleep until 6/7am.

There is so much new Lee stuff to share! For instance how amazing does he look in a tie??

Professional Baby, at your service

This month he is making coos and lots more noises. He has the most adorable laugh, and is very smiley, especially with tickles. Lee has discovered that he has hands (!!) and is starting to enjoy the caterpillar play mat, which was loved by both of his sisters before him.

Behold, sister Avery on the play mat!

These two definitely look related, don't you think?

Lee's love for bath time has only increased.  He uses the Puj tub like Maddie did, which fits perfectly into bathroom sinks. He laughs and squeals at the water and doesn't mind being washed.

He even sits in the Puj tub sometimes to chill, when mommy and daddy need a break.

Super Lee!!!!

This month he fell in love with the "mamaroo" swing, which is super high tech and supposed to swing babies like they are in the womb, or some nonsense like that. Bubba stays happy for long periods of time in this swing and even watches some Mickey Mouse Clubhouse with his sisters. His eyes are focusing well.

I am still loving the baby lap naps, and therefore STILL not getting much (anything) done. Sometimes I can deftly transfer him to the couch, where I proceed to take photos of him sweetly sleeping because I absolutely cannot resist-- which swiftly wakes him right up again. I never learn because look...

I did, however, manage to finally finish painting the stripes in his nursery this month. They look really fun. I will do a nursery tour at some point! 

He is nowhere close to sleeping in his room yet, but we have had some visits to his crib, where he is mesmerized by the hand crafter cloud and rain mobile that mommy loves too.

We all love when Nana comes over on the weekends and does lots of baby holding that gives the bubs a break. We call this the magic shoulder because he snoozes peacefully and easily, whereas he squirms relentlessly on his parents.

Caught a sleep smile!

Lee was a lot more awake in the car this month, and made sure we understood that he is not a big fan of long car rides, or being in his car seat in general. Taking him to pick up Avery from school in the afternoons is no easy feat. It is a fine balance of bottles, musical toys, Maddie distraction and/or praying he takes a nap. 

Our third month was challenging for sure, but we were getting a little better at the kid juggling, and learning more tips and tricks for little brother. If he could just work on taking naps for longer than 30 minutes at a time, that would be super helpful. And maybe start sleeping magically for 12 hours every night, that would be great too. ♥♥♥

 

TBT Swim Team '17

This year on the Sharks Swim Team, Maddie was able to swim a full lap all by herself! No coach or helper in the pool, which was a big step. 

She worked hard on her strokes and breathing, and had no problem getting from one end to the other. 

DIVING, however, still needs a lot of work :)

Baby brother and I attended almost every practice with her, and he also accompanied us to some of the meets. He loved to people watch and be outdoors in the sunshine. He also enjoyed cuddle time with lots of different swim team moms.

I spent many of the home meets volunteering as a stroke judge, which brought back a lot of memories from my own swim team days. One being the HEAT. Except I don't get to jump in the pool to cool off anymore!

Maddie truly enjoyed the meets, as I once did, including the whole sitting and having fun with your friends between events thing, which is arguably the best part.

She would actually smile while swimming her races, which tickled everybody who watched her. A happy little swimmer, for sure.

By the end of the month, Maddie improved her lap times immensely, and learned how to breathe more efficiently. By the last meet, she was competing in 3 different events: freestyle relay, individual freestyle and individual backstroke. Boy was she proud.

She had an end of season party where they received their medals. These were all of the sweet little girls in her age group. Lots of good friends!

It was a great season, and she was sad to see it end. We are already pumped about next summer, when she will have a little more advantage from being the oldest in her age group.

TBT June '17

June was less stressful than May, but life with three kids was still overwhelming.

Maddie had her official last day of school, and it was hard for all of us to say goodbye to her one -in-a-million teacher, Ms. Davis. She had an awesome school year. We did our comparison pics from the beginning and end of the year.

I don't think she gained a lot of inches, but she sure does look older to me! Kindergarten was such a precious time to us. Maddie adored going to school every day, and came home full of new facts and funny stories and an imagination you wouldn't believe. Her teacher was the perfect balance of loving and strict, and understood our sweet girl so well. Towards the end of the year, Maddie tested into the Gifted and Talented program, which became her other favorite part of school. We were so proud of how hard she worked all year, and all of the enthusiasm and good attitude she carried every day.

I picked her up on the last day of school so that she could stay and say a special goodbye to Ms. Davis. Maddie clung to her and we all three cried like babies. We felt so lucky to catch her in the year before her retirement, but saying goodbye was the worst. Like I said before, between this and saying goodbye to Avery's teachers, I was a complete and utter wreck. 

When we got home from that last day, Maddie immediately broke out her 1st grade workbook. She cracks me up.

The main theme of this month was swimming and swim team! We had our first big family trip to the pool and everyone enjoyed themselves. We even took our first family of 5 selfie!

Avery enjoyed relaxing and still managed to look elegant

Lee had some chill time

I found way more swim team photos that I expected, so that's going to have to be a separate post. Suffice to say that Maddie practiced hard, swam well and had lots of fun. Go Sharks!

When we looked back at June photos, it was a month full of Lee and Maddie snuggles. They have a sweet, special bond.

And speaking of snuggles, the hubs got a very nice one to kick off Father's Day this year. 

There's not much better than new baby snuggle hugs. 

And last but not least, June was the month that Avery started at her brand new school. It was a giant transition for all of us and she did well considering how hard change is for her. I don't have any first day pics (bad mom) but I honestly think I was too stressed and nervous to even think about it. We felt like this new school could serve Avery better in a lot of areas, the most important being -- more consistency, allowing her outside therapists to come in, better educated staff, detail oriented goals, better task tracking, WILDLY better calendar (not an entire summer off, not a holiday every 2 weeks), a choice to work with male teachers (because the girl is a flirt) and best of all, better communication with office staff, aka the people setting the tone!

Avery settled in quite nicely while I tried my v. best to let go of some helicopter mom tendencies that lingered with my firstborn. And still working on that...

She was also previewing a new communication device that we were all excited about. It was essentially an iPAD like device with special communication software. Avery needed a little help supporting her wrist, but was forceful and deliberate at pointing to the things she wanted.

Excitement turned to happy tears when Avery kept pointing to the word "mom" over and over again. It was the first time she had ever deliberately "called" me. It was one of the most wonderful moments in my life. We were all thrilled to see what else we could learn from Avery with this device. We decided to go ahead and order an official trial for the device and go from there. Avery is finally getting a voice!

Lee at Two Months

Lee Michael is two months old!

He had his doctor check up right on his two month birthday. Still growing like crazy! Up to 10lb, 1.6oz and 22.5in. I was a little surprised to hear that this was only the 6th percentile of weight! His height was 26th percentile. I didn't realize he was such a tiny fellow.  

Once again, he thoroughly enjoyed the exam table crinkly paper. He was not a fan of the shots, obvs, but got over it fast. He had a great checkup and I am thankful for his good health after all that business in the n.i.c.u.

He is consistently sleeping about 6 hours at night. Around 8/9pm-2/3am, and then will wake up anywhere from 5-7ish. Sometimes he co-sleeps in our bed in a "dock-a-tot" and sometimes he sleeps in a little inclined bed next to my side. Lately it's a lot more on the incline to help with his reflux. He still does not like to be swaddled but will sleep in a sleeveless sleep sack. If not in the sleep sack, he kicks all blankets off pretty quickly. We still rock him to sleep in our arms before putting him down.

We are starting to see lots of smiles and cooing. He seems to be focusing more too. He's very social, wiggly, and expressive.

He still loves to nap on us and I am still soaking it all up. He's so snuggly I can't even stand it.

Sometimes I will transfer him to sleep on the boppy pillow because I really have to get something done, and he likes that ok... but not as much as mommy or daddy :).

Likes this month include MILK (mommy or formula, he doesn't mind which), baths, tickles, standing up, ceiling fans, bright lights and going outside.

Dislikes this month are not being fed constantly (leads to hangry fussing), getting out of the bath, being changed, and reflux spit-up. And gas. This baby is muy GASSY.

Other things we know for sure: 

Boy looks good in an Aggie suit

And loves him some sister snuggles

The above photo reminds me that there has been one thing I didn't expect... this bub WILL NOT take a pacy. His sisters loved them. Mommy and Daddy thanked God for them. Lee Michael says no way, Jose. We even got him some cute wubbanub pacies like the above dinosaur. Nope. Spits them out immediately and makes a face like we must be nuts to put this thing in his mouth. Sigh. No worries, mommy will keep trying.

Happy New Year 2018

I'm taking a little break from the blog post catch-up to wish everyone a very Happy New Year! I haven't even gotten half way through reviewing our 2017, but I can summarize it pretty well.

"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair..."

Charles Dickens is so much better with words than I, but that first part rings through my head often. We had the utter joy of a new baby and the heartbreaking struggle with seizures and lack of sleep. We said goodbye to teachers we loved dearly, and hello to new ones. We bursted with pride, and cried with worry. We came to terms with extended family drama and realized life is too short to keep waiting for people to grow up (and snap out of denial). We watched the leadership of this country in a tailspin. We were patient and not so much...we made good decisions and poor ones. We held on to the eternal hope that keeps us going. We held on tight to our babies. We took care of each other. We loved one another.