Carlie's 4-month update!

This past Sunday, our Carlie-bug turned four months old! We celebrated by going for her well-baby visit today, complete with two immunization boosters (ADPT/IPV/Hib & Pneumococcal) & an oral vaccine (Rotavirus)! Sounds like a fun time, huh? On the plus side, Carlie was a little doll for her appointment up until the shots. She smiled and cooed, laughed and rolled over while the doctor was checking her tummy-time stance! She did mention that her head is still a little misshapen, but we're working on it - she just prefers that one side so much that it's really hard to coax it any other way.

Her stats were: 23 1/2 inches long (25th percentile), 16 1/8" head (50th percentile), & 11lb 15oz (less than 25th percentile). The doctor seemed mildly concerned about the decline in Carlie's weight percentile (she still gained about a pound and a half from her 2 month appointment, but her overall percentile went down) & suggested that we might want to start feeding her a meal of solids here and there. That was a little disappointing to me, as I was really hoping to exclusively nurse for at least six months. Either way, I think we'll wait a bit longer and see how things go. She's certainly not starving & she's otherwise healthy, so I don't want to rush into solids if I don't have to!

Carlie continues to be a good sleeper, though she's been waking earlier at night than she had during her first 3 months. She used to sleep until around 4 (or sometimes even 5), but lately she's been lucky to make it to 2:30 or 3! I'm not sure if she's just growing, or doesn't know what to do when she wakes up at night (often times, just putting the paci back in will keep her content for another half hour or more), but I'm hoping that it resolves itself on its own! She's also been screaming bloody murder at nap time when I try to put her down awake (as I had been doing consistently from the start)! We just started enacting some nap-time sleep training today, which kills Mama, but we know it's for the best!

Carlie is still wearing size 1 diapers (we are still using up size 1 diapers that we had leftover from Hadley, so hopefully we can finish those up before moving on to the size 2s!) & mostly 3-month clothing. We're starting to introduce some 3-6m clothes, especially the onesies and jammies, which tend to fit a bit snugger.

Carlie officially rolled over from belly to back on August 18th - she had been rolling quite often as a 2-week-old or so & then she stopped for a couple of months, so I'm glad to now have that skill under her belt. It makes tummy time so much less miserable when they can roll over once they've decided they've had enough!

Carlie's favorite toys this month are her activity mat (especially when she's on her back, kicking at the musical pad) and her rings, which she's just starting to grasp and hold onto (before Hadley takes them away from her, that is!). Carlie loves to play Peek-a-boo & smiles up a storm when you play Patty Cake with her. She loves when Hadley comes over to kiss her and tell her "yub you"! She also laughs when Mommy and Daddy say, "Colonel Mustard!" (don't ask - it's a 'How I Met Your Mother' reference!)

This past month's big events were our family trip to the Lehigh Valley Zoo & the closing ceremonies of the London Summer Olympics!

We have Olympic Fever!

End-of-Summer family trip to the Lehigh Valley Zoo

Hadley's 21-month blog post

 I can't believe that the next time I will write a blog post for Hadley, it will be for her SECOND birthday! Where has the time gone???  These past three months have both shocked and amazed us as we witnessed Hadley grow and change.  She talks so much now and understands so much.  She loves to learn and is so inquisitive (though we haven't quite hit the "why?" phase yet, thank goodness!).  The overriding themes of this stage in her development are definitely independence and inquiry!  I'm constantly floored when she comes up to me and names a letter or talks about something that we haven't really talked about in months - it's like, 'how does she remember this stuff?'  

Riding the Barrel Train at the Frenchville Picnic

Monkeying Around!

She has become such a great communicator, as well! Gone are the days of screaming and whining because we can't understand what she's trying to tell us (though there are still days of screaming and whining for other toddler-related reasons!).  She says so many two syllable words now, including her name, "Haddy Becca Scholl" and "Car-yee" for her sister!  She now calls us Mommy-Mama and Daddy-Dada which I think is so adorable!

Hadley's a great big sister!

Family Hay Ride!

We've got Olympic Fever!

Haddy is 31.5" tall and weighs about 23 pounds.  She is still in size 4 diapers and some 18-month clothes, but she's rapidly closing in on 24 month & 2T exclusively!  I foresee her wearing those sizes for a long time!  Even though she's really a peanut for her age still, she is becoming such a big girl!  She is a great eater now (both in feeding herself and in actual food choices).  She even feeds herself her own yogurt & cereal with milk for her breakfast every morning (though she does need some help slurping up the milk!).  She still sleeps about 10-11 hours every night and naps for 1.5-ish hours every day.

Dancing at the beach house!

Dancing some more! What a silly monkey!

Family Beach Picture 2012

She can identify most shapes (circle, square, rectangle, triangle, oval, star, heart, octagon, & sometimes diamond), many colors (though not as consistently), & over half of her upper-case letters!  And I swear we haven't been sitting down, teaching them to her outright! She just picks up on everything!

 

Hadley has also begun doing some chores around the house!  She really loves to help carry bottles/containers or silverware items to help set the table and she also puts away dirty diapers into the diaper pail & exclaims, "proud!"  One job that she does not really enjoy, however, is putting away her toys - that has run her into many-a time out...the little head-strong girl that she is!

Cruising with Daddy in the Jeep at the OCNJ Park!

Hadley's favorites right now ------
Toys: Tea set, Little People, Disney figurines, kitchen set, Mr. Potato Head
Shows: Mickey Mouse Clubhouse & Sesame Street
Movie: Mary Poppins (I think I've seen this at least 5 times since we introduced it to her a few weeks ago!  It has since been hidden & will only come out on special occasions!) and "School" aka. High School Musical
Foods: yogurt, cereal, cheese, ham, crackers ("crack!" & "goldsh"), sandwiches (egg salad, grilled cheese, chicken salad)
Activities: swimming in the pool & at the beach, playing "Run-Run/Hide & Seek" with Daddy, climbing & hanging on things like a monkey!
Phrase: "Try" - like when we are eating something & she wants to try it - or if she wants us to try & put Carlie in the swing or bouncer or Bumbo!

  

Carlie's 3-month update!

 

Carlie is 3 months old already and it's unbelievable how much she has grown since last month! We don't have any official stats since there is no 3-month well-check, but when I weighed her last week on her Granddad's baby scale, it showed that she was about 11lb, 4oz which would be up almost a pound from last month!  She is wearing size 1 diapers and almost exclusively 3 month size clothes now.

This month, Carlie loves to smile - especially at Mommy and Hadley.  She loves to get baths and she still loves to sleep, though we have been having some issues at night because little Houdini likes to constantly break out of her swaddle and wake herself up!  Most days, Carlie still takes a big 3-4 hour nap in the middle of the day! Hopefully the trend continues!  Carlie's favorite toys right now are her pacis and her swing.  She also likes to listen to her crib aquarium while she falls asleep and do "bikey ride" exercises with her legs!

In Carlie's third month of life, she took a trip to the Cape May Zoo (she mostly just sat in the stroller and sweat her little buns off!), DelGrosso's Amusement Park (where she rode the train and the carousel), and the Frenchville Picnic (where she had her first hay ride and met lots of Mommy's friends from home)!  She also got to experience the big ol' 100-mile yard sale of central PA!  She wasn't overly excited by any of those, though!  Carlie also laughed for the first time this month at almost 13 weeks (July 31st), though we haven't been able to catch it on video yet!

On the carousel with Mama at DelGrosso's

On the train at DelGrosso's

Family Hay Ride at the Frenchville Picnic

Long Live Summer!

Just a quick blog post (I'll be getting to Carlie's 3-month post next week!) to let you all know about a really great contest that Shutterfly has going on right now, their Long Live Summer photo contest!  It is a multi-week summer themed photo sweepstakes with instant win prizes, weekly prizes, weekly featured photos, & a grand prize family trip to the Bahamas! All you need to do is upload your favorite photo and caption based on the theme of the week.  Get a gift from Shutterfly just for entering! You can enter at any point during the 5-week sweepstakes period.

PHOTO THEMES

•       Week 1(7/9): Americana

•       Week 2 (7/16): Great Outdoors

•       Week 3 (7/23): Water Fun

•       Week 4 (7/30): Sports & Activities

•       Week 5 (8/6): Parties & Celebrations

Leave a comment here if you decide to enter & maybe link up to a blog entry with your photo entries!

 

Carlie's 2-month update!

Carlie has officially been a member of our family for two months now - I know I've said it before, but I seriously can't remember what it was like without her! She's just such a happy little addition to the family!
As per Carlie's doctor's appointment yesterday (where she got 3 shots and an oral vaccine, which Mommy cried through just as much as the baby), Carlie is now 10lb 6oz (up 1lb 1oz from a month ago), 21-1/4" long (up exactly one inch), and has a head circumference of 15-5/8"(up 7/8")! She is in the 25th-50th, 10th, and 75th percentiles, respectively. Yes, I do know that makes her a shortie with a big head! That's ok, she'll grow into it!

Carlie has continued to be a great sleeper, averaging 7-8 hour stretches at night and taking a 3-4 hour nap in the middle of the day (have I mentioned she's her mother's daughter?). She's now wearing size 1 diapers and is mostly in 0-3 month clothing, with some being just 3 month size.

Carlie has been more wakeful this month and does pretty well at tummy time. She has rolled over a couple more times since last month, but still not consistently enough to say that she actually rolls from belly to back. She is still a very happy baby who smiles all the time (the doctor even commented on how happy she was at her check-up) - we even think we've heard the beginnings of her laugh, which sounds more like a cough, but with a huge smile on her face! She enjoys looking around: at lights, fans, balloons, faces, etc. Anything with striking contrasts grabs her attention! She also loves to snuggle and be swaddled (it's like a magic wand when Carlie is fussy - swaddle her up and she immediately stops!), and for Mommy to sing "Twinkle, Twinkle Little 'Car'"
Hadley continues to be a wonderful big sister! She loves to play peek-a-boo with Carlie while she's getting her diaper changed, or to crawl up onto the ottoman to give her a kiss. Sometimes, she'll sit down and tap her arms and say "hold" because she wants to hold Carlie, or she will spread out the tummy time mat and say "tum tum" because she wants to lay beside her while she does tummy time. It's really so sweet and so exciting to watch the bond forming between them!

Carlie had many firsts this month! She had her first visit to the beach (remember she went to the shore house last month, but we never actually made it to the beach with her), as well as her first road trip to central PA to meet Mommy's side of the family & to camp at the cabin. She also went to the Snow Shoe parade for the first time and wasn't scared at all by the bands and fire trucks...although I think next year she'll be fighting her sister for some of that candy that she collected at the parade!