Dear Little Baby #2

Dear Harrison,
You are one month old! At your one month check up you weighed 10 lbs, 1 oz. (70-90%) and 22.5 in. long (90%). You are sleeping pretty well at night, waking twice (usually) to eat. You haven't yet gotten your days and nights mixed up so I am keeping my fingers crossed. You love to be swaddled, don't seem to care for your pacifier, and are usually very happy! You have been a pretty easy baby so far and we are so excited to watch your personality develop. Lorelei loves helping with you and is very sweet to you. On one of your first days home from the hospital, you were swinging in your swing and she was putting her puppy dog stickers all over you! She also gave you her pink toy telephone..just incase you needed to make a call ;)

You were born on Wednesday, January 11 at 12:07. You were 8 lbs and 19.25 inches long. You spent most of that afternoon and evening in NICU monitoring, to make sure you got some fluid out of your lungs. You daddy stayed with you and your nurse in NICU until bath time. I got to come visit and watch your first bath. Then, you got to come back with us the room because your lungs were doing just fine! We stayed in the hospital until Sunday.

We love you so much already and are so blessed that you are here and healthy!!
Love,
Mommy and Daddy

Dear Little Baby

Dear Lorelei,
You turned TWO last month! In the past few months here is what has been going on:

-At your 2 year old check up you were 35.5 inches tall and 31 lbs. You have been wearing a size 2T for a while, but I have recently started buying 3T, especially in pants because you are so tall.
-You had your first trip to the dentist shortly after your 2 year check up. I read you a book about visiting the dentist the night before our big visit. We talked all about the dentist, Dr. Tim. You did pretty well at the dentist, until Dr. Tim actually wanted to look in your mouth. But that was atleast a month ago and you have talked about Dr. Tim since!
-We got rid of your pacifier (or "bubba") for good! We started by just letting you have it at night for awhile, and then after your 2 year check up, we got rid of it completely. It was only really hard for a few nights.
-Your first cousin was born! Cameron was born on Aug. 11 and you absolutely love him. You love to help feed him and hold him. You have recently been saying his name and anytime you see a photo of a baby you think it is him.
-You LOVE going to the park, coloring on your easel, watching shows (Elmo, Blue's Clues, Bubble Guppies, Big Comfy Couch, and Curious George are your favorites), reading books (Your favorites right now are "No, David!," the Bible, "How Do Dinosaurs Say Goodnight," and "Pat the Bunny"), and playing with your Mr. Potato head set.
-You are a pretty picky eater. You love fruit (mostly grapes, banana, and apples), waffles, cookies, cheese, yogurt, pepperoni, and applesauce (or "sauce" as you call it).
-You can count to 10 (but usually get distracted).
-You love to talk about animal noises and know most of them.
-I think your favorite color must be green because whenever we ask you what color something is you excitedly say "GREEN!"
-You love to sing! Your favorite songs are The Itsy Bitsy Spider, Jesus Loves Me, Row Row Row your Boat,
-We are working on memorizing the monthly Bible verse from school. The first month's verse is "A friend loves all the time" Proverbs 17:17. You love to practice it, but the only part you say is "allllll My time!" We are still working on the rest :)
-You love school and playing with "friends"
-This summer we did lots of swimming at the neighborhood pool and beach club, and now anytime we swim you call it the beach!
-You had your first trip to the beach this summer. Surprisingly, the sand did not bother you but you were scared of being close to the ocean.
-We also went to the lake this summer and you went out on the boat. We had a scare in the water though, because you were in your tube and leaned forward to look at something and the whole tube tipped over. All that was above water were your feet. It scared us pretty bad, so now you are in swimming lessons :)
-You went to gymnastics class all summer, but we have recently stopped gymnastics and started swimming lessons. You have done very well and pretty soon you will no longer be in the "waterbabies" class where I am in the water with you, but you will be in it by yourself! You still don't jump in without holding my hand, but you can swim underwater for 8 seconds now!
-You are going to be a bumble bee for Halloween and talk about your pumpkins on the front porch all the time.
-About 3 weeks ago we got your room set up as a big girl room! We moved the crib into Harrison's room and you got a twin bed. You have done very well in it. The first few nights you seemed a little apprehensive about getting in the bed, but you have adjusted really well and still sleep a good 12 hours/night.
-We still haven't worked much on potty training, but you like to talk about the potty and sit on your little potty before bath time.
-You know who baby Harrison is and seem excited about meeting him! I am sure you will be a great big sister.
-You know your name. For a while, you told us your name was Mema! Now sometimes you say it is Harrison. But if you see a photo of yourself, you do say "Worlie!"
-You are starting to dislike getting dressed. I think you would rather run around in your diaper! However, you do know when you get new clothes and usually say "cuuuutte" and want to look at yourself in the mirror in your new clothes.
-You have been throwing fits for several months now. The other day you threw a big fit at breakfast because your cereal bar broke into 2 pieces and you were screaming "fix it!" at me.
-You are very, very busy! Constantly on the move, but I think it helps you to sleep so good at night!
-You are becoming more independent, wanting to climb into the car by yourself, buckle yourself in your seat, and then shut the door by yourself.
-You have learned that your daddy's name is Rob. When I say his name to someone, or if I call for him, you used to yell "BOB!" but now you realized it is Rob and shout "ROB!" instead.
-You have also learned who your families are. Whenever we talk to Bug, Mel, Grandpa, or Mimommy, you ask for all the others, including Addy the dog. It is the same with Mimi, Gdaddy, Brooke, and Cameron.
-You stayed at Mimi's house with she and Gdaddy last weekend and while you were there you got Princess boots that light up! You love to stomp around and make the lights go off. You also went to a fall festival with them and rode a pony, a train, and saw lots of animals. You haven't stopped talking about it since!
-Cameron, your first cousin, was born this summer and you are absolutely love him. You talk about him often and love to help feed him and hold him. You really love all babies, and take good care of your baby dolls...except you like to keep them naked ;)
-You love playing with "friends" and "the kids." "Friends" are your friends at church and "the kids" are the neighborhood kids that you just can't get enough of.

We love you so much sweet girl!

Dear Little Baby

Dear Lorelei,
You are now 15 months old! Here are some things you have done in the past 3 months:
1. You can walk! You took your first steps in your room one night after your bath. I set you down and you stepped over to your books. I called your daddy in right away to see you walk! It was on your Mimi's birthday. But, when you really started moving was on Oct. 6. I dropped you off at Mimi and Gdaddys while I met friends for dinner. On my way to dinner I get an email video of you walking across their back porch!!
2. Throwing fits. Screaming way too loud. In the car. At home. Anywhere and everywhere.
3. Saying "go go." I wasn't aware of it, but I must say "Let's go" a lot or something because now you love to say go go go. When you wake up, when we put your shoes on you, when we are in the car...you are ready to go!
4. You went to gymnastics and did a headstand in class. Later in the afternoon you were home with Daddy and he told me that you kept trying to do headstands. I had not even told him about class so we thought it was so funny that you were trying to practice your skills! You smart girl! You love to do headstands.
5. You decided you didn't like most of the food you previously liked. Cheese? Love it. Pasta? Love it. Waffles? Love them. Anything else? Not so much. Picky, picky.
6. You love playing with balls. The apples on Mimi's kitchen counter are balls, and all the pumpkins at the store you also call balls. We bought you a little pumpkin when we went to the pumpkin patch. You like to roll it and call it a ball.
Oh little girl, you are so much fun.
7. Dancing. You dance to the tunes of your leap frog fridge magnets. It is hilarious.
8. Chasing. You like for us to chase you around!
9. Feeding the dogs. You love to give them some of your food.
10. Loving on Milo. You give him pats and try to hug him. It is adorable. I think you are learning that Maggie isn't so appreciative of your love, but Milo adores you!
11. Words: Night night, momma, dada, all done, baby, hi, bye, go go, hot, bubba (pacifier's name)
12. Signs: Milk, all done, please, thank you, more, bath
13. At your 15 month appointment you weighed 24 lbs and 3 oz. and were 32.5 inches tall.
14. You still love gymnastics class, going to see your friends at church, and going to school one day a week.

We love you hunny bunny!

Dear Little Baby

Dear Lorelei,

Today is your very 1st birthday!! We had a fun day. We had pancakes for breakfast and then you went to Mother's Day Out, where you played with friends. When we came home we played some more and I showed you all of your new toys from me and your daddy. You have a new chair and it has your name on it. I'm pretty sure it is already a favorite. You climbed in and out of it about ten times. You also love your Little Tykes garden center, which you tried climbing over the edge to get in and ended up falling in! We had pizza for dinner and they you had a little bit of ice cream. By this time you were feeling a bit cranky and ready for bed. You played in the bath and then read books with Daddy. He read you Dr. Seuss' Happy Birthday To You. I think we will read this every year on your birthday. Last weekend we celebrated your birthday with family at the lake. We had lots to eat, lots of fun presents to open, and you got to eat some delicious cake. We put you in your high chair with your birthday hat on and we all wore our party hats and stood around you. This made you very upset. Maybe you just were not in the mood to be the center of attention. But you did love opening presents. You sat in my lap and looked at each present carefully.

We will go to the doctor next week to find out how big you are. But you recently moved up to 18 month clothes and are very tall!

You sleep around 12 hours a night still and nap times are still very inconsistent. But hey, not sleeping through the night until 7 months old pretty much tells us just how stubborn you are :)

You started Mother's Day Out one day a week and you go to the same church nursery another day during the week when I go to Bible study. I really think you are beginning to like it! We also joined a church mom's group and have weekly playdates with those friends. And gymnastics is just as fun as ever.

You are finally getting teeth!!!! Your two bottom teeth are just poking through.

You babble "mamamama" all the time and I think you are trying to say baby. Ms Leslie gave you a baby doll for your birthday and you have loved playing with it.

You do the signs for "eat", "milk", and "more" although you changed the more sign to clapping instead of what it really is. You clap all the time and move your arms all around when you get excited.

Your g-daddy took pictures of you with a smash cake. Oh girl, it was TOO much fun! You got the first taste of icing and licked your fingers clean. You loved the cake and got it all over your little self. Mimi put you in the bath right after and you went crazy splashing and screaming! The sugar hit you fast!!

You love to feed yourself finger foods and don't really like for me to spoon feed you. You want to be in charge. You take three bottles a day and have started drinking water out of a sippy cup.

You are not yet walking, but stand on your own for a few seconds before sitting down. But you are really becoming a climber. You are climbing on and off your chair, and on and off your bouncing zebra.

It is hard to believe it has been a year since we welcomed you in to this world. We remember the day so clearly and we have never felt more blessed that you are our daughter. We thank God that he has brought you into our lives and given us the opportunity to be your parents. We pray that you will love God with all your heart and soul, be strong and courageous, humble and compassionate. The name Lorelei means alluring. You have already lived up to your name. No one can miss your bright eyes, smile, and happy squeals. We pray that you will be filled with joy and a light of the world.

We love you.
Momma and Daddy

Dear Little Baby

Dear Lorelei,
You are 11 months old! Which is pretty much a year old..which is pretty much TOO old!! You are getting big so fast! You are very long and I have already started dressing you in 18 month clothes. Last time I checked, you were 23 pounds!

You still do not have any teeth! Everyone asks about this. "Any teeth yet?" Nope. Granmommy said we are going to have to get Uncle Wayne to make you some dentures! HA!

You are crawling and cruising on furniture, but not yet walking. Sometimes you will stand for a few seconds but once you realize you are standing, you sit down.

You take 4 bottles a day and eat three meals a day. You finally decided you liked pasta with cheese. Daddy is the one who lets you try the good stuff. He gave you a little sip of his frozen Starbucks drink and a french fry (which you didn't seem to care less about). But the REAL good stuff is coming when you get BIRTHDAY CAKE in just a few short weeks! If you are anything like me, you will LOVE cake.

You wake up around 7:30 each morning and play for a little while in your crib before I come to get you. You take a few naps a day, but you think you are in charge of when you take those and how long you sleep. But, I have pretty much dealt with this since you were born. You like to make your own schedule. So somedays you take long naps, and somedays short naps. I guess as long as you take naps, I am okay with it.

You still love going to gymnastics once a week and I always look forward to taking you. You smile and squeal most the time you are there!

You love to clap and now you are waving too! Somehow the sign for "more" has changed and now instead of signing it, you clap instead. I think you just plain like to make noise :) You also made the sign for milk this month! You had just woken up and I was changing you. I guess you were really hungry and knew it was time to eat.

We love you so much little girl!

Dear Little Baby

Dear Lorelei,
You are 10 months old!

In the past month...

You have started eating all kinds of table foods. You get really excited about waffles. Other than that, we don't get much feedback from you other than weird, "what did I just put in my mouth" and "what do I do with this" looks. And you don't even like macaroni and cheese!! Girl, you don't know what you are missing. You tried to sign "more" for the first time this month. I almost cried, I was so excited! It was the cutest thing the way you put your hands together and tried to move them to make the sign.

You also pull up on everything and crawl...fast.

Your Daddy had his first Father's Day, but he had to work. So we went to bring him lunch to his work. You went to the lake for your first 4th of July and you saw your Granmommy, Grandpa, Bug, and Great Poppa. The next upcoming holiday is your BIRTHDAY!

You love to give kisses. Very slobbery, but I still love them.

In the next few days, you will be going to spend time with Granmommy at the lake and then time at Mimi's house. This will be the longest we have ever been apart from you. We know you will have tons of fun with both Granmommy and Mimi.

You are a precious gift from God and we thank Him for you everyday. We love you, Lorelei Hope!