Hank 4 Month Update

Stats
Weight - 16 pounds 5 ounces (68%)
Height - 26.5 inches (95%)

This little guy is seriously a dream. He is so happy, he sleeps a ton, he eats great, he rarely cries... What a difference a couple months can make! I'm not sure what exactly has made him so great, but I think it's a combination of things:

1. He just is that way - after going through two extremely different newborn phases but parenting the exact same, I'm realizing that there are a lot of things out of your control as a parent. A lot of times the kid is who he/she is.

2. I'm a second time momma - I seriously have loved being a mom the second time around, and honestly it makes me excited to have a third kid some day (if we are so lucky) because by that time I think I'll really be a pro. I'm just not the type of person who likes new experiences, I hate the unknown. This time around stuff just doesn't stress me out as much, I'm much more accepting of the fact that everything really is just a phase and everything will pass!

3. I'm very strict about nap times! I know this may sounds silly, but I really think a well rested baby is a happy baby. And I totally notice a difference in Hank when we have a busy day out and he isn't able to nap as well.

This past month Hank was taking three 1.5-3 hour naps (usually they are around 2 hours) every day. He is a great sleeper, putting himself to sleep and staying asleep almost every time (still sleeping on his belly, sucking his thumb). If he wakes early from a nap it is almost always because he has a poop, which unfortunately seems to happen a lot! This past month I'm pretty sure Hank went through 3 sicknesses and a growth spurt, which all meant lots of poop (sometimes very green poop) and lots of changes in the schedule, but here is what a "typical" day looked like...

7:30/8am Wake and Eat
9-11am Nap
11am Wake and Eat, Playtime
12:30-2:30(ish) Nap
2:30-4pm Wake and Eat, Playtime
4-5:30(ish) Nap
5:30-7pm Wake and Eat, Playtime
7pm Bedtime (I try to sneak in an extra feeding here. I had been doing a dream feed at 9:30pm, but it didn't seem to help Hank sleep longer, so I stopped doing it, but it felt weird to have Hank's last feeding at 5:30, so the last two feedings are close together).
3 or 4am Night feeding

Hank has been doing 8-9 hour stretches at night, which felt AMAZING to me, but the doctor said given his size he could definitely do 12 hour stretches so I should push him to go a little longer at night. We'll probably work on this over the next couple weeks. His last nap is definitely starting to get shorter, and he is starting to be able to go longer between naps, but it still definitely feels like he is sleeping most of the day!

When he's not sleeping, Hank's little personality is starting to show. As I mentioned, he is super low key and extremely happy (as long as he has napped well!) He smiles and coos a ton, and I've been able to get him to laugh more and more. He loves squealing/screaming, grabbing on to anything in his reach (this is unfortunate when my hair happens to be near his hand) and blowing raspberries. I've also noticed a new found love for his sister. Hank now loves to watch whatever Lucy is doing and she often makes him smile.

He rolls over, belly to back a lot (typically in his crib when he is not wanting to go to sleep) but we have not seen him roll back to belly yet. He squirms around a lot, and can definitely turn in a full circle and move forward a bit while wiggling. He also has gotten pretty good at sitting upright although he definitely can't do it on his own, but he's getting close!

On the go - Hank still doesn't love to sleep in his car seat. If he is in it long enough he will eventually fall asleep, but he protests a lot and won't sleep that long. If we are out (which does not happen a lot) I usually try to carry Hank in the moby wrap still - he usually will sleep pretty well in that, although he is starting to get more and more picky about where he will fall asleep.


The crib shots were a little hard to get - Hank has a tendency to lean forward when he is sitting up right, as you can tell from the next series of photos...





woops! maybe I should have put my camera down and grabbed my son...

And teddy didn't stand a chance...


Anything in this boys reach goes right in his mouth


Unless of course his thumb makes it there first...


I've taken way too many photos so I think I'll end here without a comparison shot of Lucy, but let's just say they are still twinsies.

Thankful on Mondays

I have not been good at doing this. Not good at all. But I need to do this - I have been having a lot of irritating, "why me?" moments lately so I really need this space to count my blessings and remember all I have to be thankful for. Not all that I am frustrated about!

So even though I haven't done this every Monday, I'm still going to try to do it as often as possible!

Lucy's thankful for:
1. Hanky
2. JJ
3. Jordyn

This girl loves her cousins (and brother of course!) She asks to pray for them every night, which is a good reminder for me to. I'm so glad we live near them and get to see them a lot - now we just need to get Addy Jo and Hastle (Lucy's cousins on Ben's side) to move home!

I'm thankful for:
1. Family and friends that celebrated Lucy's birthday with us and showered Lucy with love.
2. A fun weekend with friends - dinner and the IU game on Friday,


(Hank and Lucy getting psyched for the game)

shopping with girlfriends Saturday morning, a mall play date Saturday afternoon,

(Lucy and Ben riding the mall train)

a wedding on Saturday night and dinner with our Bible study on Sunday night. Busy, but all fun things with people we love.
3. A daughter who finally pooped 4 times today! (I know that's odd to be thankful for but she had gone 5 days without pooping and I had been praying for this... ugh more to come on that in a later post!)

Random Brother And Sister Moments

These pictures are a little old, but wanted to still get them up on the blog. These are just some random pictures of Lucy and Hank from over the past month...

Breakfast with my babies...


Lucy never sits in the high chair but today she decided to!





Snack time at the kid table - Lucy wanted Hank to sit with her...





One morning I was changing Hank in the other room and when I walked back into the kitchen where Lucy was eatting breakfast, she exclaime: "Look Momma - a mouse!" Here is her creation...


I couldn't help but crack up laughing and at the same time be in awe - it was adorable! Lucy had created a mouse out of her cheerios and banana... I love this new imagination phase we are entering.


Once again I had turned my back on these kiddos (what was I thinking) and when I turned around Lucy was "changing Hank"...

Reading With Dad

A lot has changed over the past year, but one thing that hasn't - how much this girl loves her daddy and how much he loves her.


(Lucy reading with daddy at 10 months)


(Lucy reading with daddy at 23 months)

I love me some comparison photos :) Looking at these two pictures makes me also realize how much our family room has changed over the past year. I'm so glad we don't have those hand-me-down couches anymore!

Train Ride

A few weeks ago I decided we would have a fun outing at the mall. I felt like such an awesome mom - I packed up both the kids, we played at the play park, ate chick-fil-a and Lucy even got to ride the train. Things went pretty well, except Lucy refused to go to the potty while we were there and I was so exhausted and ready to leave that I didn't force it and she ended up having an accident on the way home. Shoot.

We got a few pics on the train. I obviously didn't shower or get ready that day... ok, who I am kidding, I usually don't shower or get ready most days.



We definitely had fun, but for right now, in this season of life, I'm learning that staying at home isn't such a bad thing. Hank sleeps well in his crib, not so much on the go. Lucy goes to the bathroom really well at home, she's more hit and miss on the go. I don't have to pack a million different things. I don't have to stress about schedules. I don't have to stress about running after Lucy while holding Hank. Being home is nice - I never thought I would enjoy not leaving the house so much!

Lucy's 2nd Birthday

Wow - I can't believe my baby girl is 2! Her birthday landed on Saturday this year so we had a fun day celebrating with family and friends - Elmo style. Here are a few highlights from the party... (I uploaded the rest of the pictures to facebook so I figured I didn't need to do it in two places!)

Lucy loves Elmo - while she still doesn't watch much TV, the one show she is allowed to watch is Sesame Street. Whenever it is coming on she always shouts out - "ELMO!!". She loves that furry little guy.


I had some Elmo cupcakes made. I'm so glad I did! Despite only having our immediate families over and a few close friends, I was still stressed about getting everything together and exhausted after it was all over.


2nd birthdays are funny. In my mind I pictured having a bunch of kids over, but the more I thought about who Lucy is close with and who she loves spending time with the more I didn't think it was such a good idea to have other little people over. She is still learning to play nicely with other kids, and the little kids she is closest with were out of town, so for this party I decided we'd continue to let her be the center of attention and just invited over her favorite adults.


She got lots of great presents...

This little girl has no idea how many people adore her!

Blowing out her candles...


And the best gift I got from Lucy - no accidents! Lucy has been getting better and better at staying dry all day, but the times when she does end up having accidents are when people are over and she is distracted, so I was especially stressed about her using the potty at the party but she did great! She even practiced going in the front lawn...


Love this girl so much...




And baby brother had fun celebrating to... of course he slept most the time, but I think the grandparents appreciated that there were two grand-babies to pass around and love on.

Hank 3 Month Video

There's nothing really special about these videos, but I like being able to look back at videos as well as pictures on the blog, so here is some footage of Hank at 3months. In the first one, you can see him kind of rocking back and forth - I'm guessing how he gets rolled over in his crib, although I've never actually seen him doing it. The second one shows off a bit of Hank talking.

Hank was sitting on my bed the other day and the way he was sitting reminded me of one of my favorite shots of Lucy so I took a couple of him to compare..




And here's baby girl...


This boy is loving his thumb lately... I was trying to get some pictures, but he had something else in mind!

Irresistable #2

Shoot... I've done it again. This little guy has been stealing my heart and I've taken way too many pictures! Here's a few of my favorites from over the past couple weeks.

Looking fancy in my first polo outfit from mimi...


I like the below picture because it shows Hank's furrowed brow... he gives me this look several times a day...


Loving him in a hat - we had just gotten back from a windy cold walk and I just couldn't resist those rosy cheeks!






This one is my favorite...






And just a few more that I couldn't resist... I just love those eyes!




Starring down the octopus...


And I just wanted to include this last one because this is how I've found Hank several times at the end of his nap. I put him down on his belly and I've come in to find him starring up at me... somebody's been doing some moving around in his crib.