Eating like a champ.

Earlier this week, I started Maya on solid foods. 

Minus the evenings she's wailing simply because its her current witching hour, she LOVES to eat, and I can't spoon it into her mouth fast enough. By day three, she finished everything I made - with little all over herself. 

It took me a few weeks to work myself up to her 'graduation'. She's my little baby girl! She can't grow up. But alas, it was about time. 

Adding to the list

Of things Maya does that Evan never did...

I put Maya in get exersaucer while I took Evan up for his nap. I wasn't gone 10 minutes, and when I came back down, I saw her like this:

Asleep. Completely out!

So sweet!

Too sweet a picture not to post.

She's just 4 months old

And already sitting up!

I fear she'll be crawling any time now. 

4 months

I just got back from Maya's 4 month dr visit. She has grown 2.5 inches and gained 2 lbs 4 oz. since her 2 month appointment. (She now she weight 13.5 lbs and is 23.5 inches long)

She's following in her brother's footsteps. 85th percentile in height 35th percentile weight. ;) 

She is starting to sleep better too! More often than not, she crashes around 8 (give or take an hour) and wakes up around 5-6 USUALLY to fall back to sleep right away... or crash again around 9 for a couple of hours. Oh, and now that she can roll over, she has decided she is a belly sleeper. 

I'm not enforcing strict napping schedules with Maya. Mostly because when she's tired, she'll just fall asleep. She usually just has 30 min cat naps. But this week so far, she's giving me at least one 2 hour nap each day. 

This is nice. 

Before I know it, this summer will be over, and I'll be back to work. 

Enjoying every moment (ok... MOST moments) I have with my kids. They're simply the best. 

Red Rover, Red Rover

Maya's rolling over!

Yesterday, Maya started rolling over. She rolls from her back on to her front almost completely - her arm gets in the way which prevents her from fully getting on to her belly and lifting her head, but she also was able to roll from her belly on to her back once or twice. 

I thought I was going to have some trouble last night, because she seemed to constantly roll onto her belly, get stuck, and then cry. I thought I'd be up all night rolling her back on to her back. 

Quite the opposite happened - I put her down at about 9:00, and it's now 7:30 and I still haven't heard from her. :) 

My little girl is growing up so quick. 

Update: she is fully rolling from her back to her front now. So proud. 

Soo Soo

When we had Evan, we didn't push the soother. We has heard about nipple confusion, and didn't know the benefit of having a baby who accepted the soother.  Unknowingly, we didn't introduce the soother to Evan for a few moths, and in the end, he wouldn't accept a soother until he was about 6 months old. At that moment, life became WAY easier. 

When we had Maya, we decided she needed to be introduced to the soother right away. 

The soother is now a life saver. 

For example, just now, Maya fell asleep in my arms. I put her in her crib, and went downstairs. 10 minutes later, she started crying. I went up, popped a soother in her mouth, and came back down. She is now back to sleep. That's all it took!

Needless to say, I thank the soother, and thank our decision to introduce the soother to Maya when she was just 1 day old. 

In the end though, I must admit that I have a feeling she's going to be a thumb sucker. There are just too many times where she will spit out her soother so she can suck her thumb or fingers. 

Soooooo. IMO... 

nipple confusion = bollox

soothers = lifesavers 

:-)

Disclaimer: Maya is a freaking good/easy baby... So though I think the soother is a lifesaver, I think we also lucked out with an incredibly easy baby. 

This picture makes me so happy...

...So I had to post it here. 

We were getting ready to go out. I had to exchange a pair or shoes I bought a few days earlier. 

I packed Maya up in her car seat and asked Evan to find his sandals and sit on the step while I ran up to get the shoes I was exchanging. 

I came downstairs to this:

He strongly felt Maya needed to bring ALL her toys with her. 

Beautiful Summer Days

I'm thankful every day for the deck that Gregg and his father built a couple years back. We spend so much time playing outside now that the space is fully usable. It doubles our living space during the nice weather. (You should have seen our sad backyard before the deck). 

Anyway, these are just a few recent pics of us enjoying the backyard. 

Look how much she's grown in just 3 weeks!

Maya is now grabbing toys intentionally. :)

Sudden Getaway.

Last week, I suddenly decided to head up to my parents trailer with the kids (and my dad). I had about an hour to pack - that's how last minute the decision was - and we spent 5 days with Bubby and Grandpa.

We had a wonderful time, despite Gregg not being with us, and we plan to make a few more getaways like this before the summer ends.

Here are a few pics of our week...

Ok... a lot of pics. ;)

Growin Up.

I'm packing away Maya's 0-3 month sleepers today. Kinda sad... But I guess it's ok. I mean, she *is* going to be 3 months on Sunday.

They will not grow up being compared, but...

Some differences we've noticed between Evan and Maya:

Evan made his first cry 30 seconds after he was born
Maya cried immediately after she was born

Evan didn't nap during the day
Maya has 2-3 good naps each day

Evan slept through the night at this age
Maya is up every 3-4 hours

Evan hated the swing but loved the bouncy chair
Maya loves the swing and hates the bouncy chair

Evan never knew his mobile existed
Maya is entertained by the mobile

Evan hated the bumbo
Maya will happily sit in her bumbo for several minutes.

I could not put Evan down or leave his sight
Maya is usually easy about being put down while I go do something

Evan would fall asleep to the sound of a heartbeat
Maya falls asleep to the sound of rain

Evan never needed to be burped after eating and seldom spit up
Maya always needs to be burped after eating and spits up daily

Evan would fall asleep while nursing and keeping him awake was a real challenge
Maya seldom falls asleep while nursing

Evan didn't take a soother till he was 6+ months
Maya took a soother her first week (we worked on that one though)

It's just fun to remember Evan at this age and see the drastic differences.

2 Months!! ...?

Hang on. So 2 months (today) have passed since miss Maya came into our lives!? It's definitely a case where I feel like she's been with us forever, but at the same time feel like time has flown by.

Reflections so far.

Having 2 kids is busier, but easier. I have a 2 year old who brings out the best (and worst) in me which drives me to get dressed in the morning, go outside for fresh air, and keep active.

I know what to expect with an infant now. I don't stress as much with Maya as I did with Evan. I know the tough phases will pass, and the good phases will too.

Evan, at this age, slept thru the night and would sleep the morning away. I was usually up at 11 with him each morning. Typically, I'm up every 3 hours with maya and we are downstairs by 6:30 each morning. I'm far from a morning person, but I'll admit, I love my 6am coffee and cuddles while the rest of the house sleeps.

She's an angel. I adore her more than words can express. And I have way too much fun dressing her up. Unlike Evan who lived in sleepers, I have Maya in frilly dresses and pretty little outfits nearly every day. Thanks to the generosity of our friends, she's a typical girl with too many clothes and shoes. ;)

I think my favourite thing she does right now (other than smile and coo) is, when she is fussy and having a hard time falling asleep, I'll hold her soother in her mouth and she'll wrap her arms/hands around my wrist, hold tight, and fall asleep.

Being a mom of 2 is pretty awesome. Crazy non-stop busy, but the hugs and smiles from my 2 littles are my fuel.

A (beautiful) day in the life of Lins

Gosh, I love summer! :)

P.S. Evan's a ham.

Frenectomy

Evan was born with a tongue tie - http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ankyloglossia - incase you don't know what it is.

When he was an infant, we were in the mind frame "don't hurt my precious baby". Though he had no trouble nursing, 2.5 years later, I regret not getting it fixed. It seems to be causing what will lead to serious dental issues.

Maya was born with a tongue tie too. It wasn't as severe as Evan's and though she didn't have trouble 'latching', she had puddles of milk left under her cheek and always choked while nursing (and then some). This, topped with my regret of not getting Evan's tongue tie fixed had me convinced I needed to do something about it. I asked my midwife if we could schedule a frenectomy (to get rid of the tongue tie). She agreed.

Yesterday morning, I took Maya to the clinic. It seemed to be a quick and quite painless procedure:
No freezing
*Click*
"Waaa"
Silence
And she was back in my arms.

Since the frenectomy, she has not dribbled or choked once!

Now, to get Evan's fixed. Something tells me it won't be so easy. (I also have to convince my dr it needs to be done).

Hair Accessories

I love 'em. :-)

Smile!

Maya has been giving us a few quick little smiles the last couple of days.

Caught one on camera.

Her eyes are getting lighter and bluer.
Maybe she'll have blue eyes like her big bro...?!

Please don't make this a habit.

It's not the middle of the night feeds that I find tiresome.
It's the 2-3 hours of wake/fuss after nursing that wears me down.
It's nearly 5am. We've been up since 2.

She's so cute!

I just want to gobble her up!

Hilarious Boy

When asked to smile for the camera or say 'cheese'... This is the face we get now.