5 Months Old

5 Months Old

You have been such a happy baby (unless we are around a crowd of people or a stranger talks to you, then you scream like your legs are being ripped off).

You have the cutest little smile and laugh.  I love making you smile, so I'm pretty sure you think I'm the biggest dork on the planet.  Lee and Daddy do it too, Lee is actually pretty good at getting you to smile.  You follow him with your eyes where ever he goes.  You took a toy away from him the other day (you've been very big on rolling to where you want to go) and I was cringing waiting for the backlash, but he just laughed at you and "petted" your head and said, "ok, I share with you Elsie".  It was really super cute and endearing.

(My sister Kelly and Elsie)

Remember before when I mentioned that you like to scream when a stranger comes near you?  Well, we were at Target and a nice elderly lady just wanted to say hi to you and you screamed your head off.  Next thing I know, Lee is crying too.  I had 2 kids, crying like crazy.  I asked Lee why he was crying and he said "I don't know, but why is Elsie crying?"  So we had a small talk about how you don't know how to react with strangers and that Lee should be a good example and not cry.  Well see how that goes.  

The other day Lee was sitting next to you playing with a toy and it fell over and hit you on the head.  You started to cry and I came over to console you.  I looked down at Lee and he had these huge tears in his eyes and then started crying because he hurt you.  I want to document 2 things right now... 1. I know for sure this will not last forever and you two will be fighting over toys soon enough.  So here's proof that your brother does love you!  2. If Lee turns out to have a soft/gentle heart ever, I owe it all to you.  You have that little boy wrapped around your fingers.  He was yelling at me this morning because we were going to a movie and he wanted to leave earlier than when we needed to, he looked at you, smiled and gave you a kiss.  I get screamed at and you get kisses.

You have started to dislike hate your bottles.  You will drink a little bit of milk and then hold out until you get baby food.  You are liking LOVING your baby food.  You will eat oatmeal and sometimes 2 jars of baby food in one sitting.  It's crazy to me how much you can eat of that stuff, but refuse your bottle.  The very first time we started feeding you with a spoon, you had it down pretty good about the 5th spoonful. 

(Your first day eating oatmeal - May 27, 2010)

(These were taken her 1st time eating with a spoon - May 27, 2010)

We went to your first movie in the movie theater today.  You didn't really care for it.  It wasn't a big deal, but I did have to stand with you for most of it.  We saw Kung Fu Panda.  Or Panda Chinese Food as Lee calls it.  Whichever.

We set up your jumper and you LOVE it!  You can be in there hours at a time!  You can jump pretty high now too!

You are a rolling fool and sitting up is starting to get better.  You rolled over to the DVD player the other day and started playing with the buttons.  Lee came over to gently help you remove you from this situation as you were about to turn off his show and picked you up and then just dropped you to the side.  He was sitting and you didn't cry, just so you know.  There was no damage done.  Although, Lee got a talking to about picking you up.

You started playing with your feet too!  It's so cute to see you stare at your hands and feet.  I love it!

You can bring home dogs from Alaska with your high, ear-piercing squeaking you do.  I'm serious when I say that it's ear-piercing.  Lee holds his hands over his ears and screams for you to stop.  I just laugh, because you're only doing it when you're at your happiest.  He pretty much hates it though and it's funny to watch him sit next to you with his hands over his ears, pleading with me to make you stop.

Did I mention your two favorite things right now are eating anything but bananas with a spoon and rolling around on the floor?

Happy 5 month birthday baby girl.  We all love you SO much!

Happy 3rd Birthday

How is it you went from this just a year ago...

to this...

Happy 3rd Birthday my sweet, sweet boy!  I am so proud of you, I don't think I could love you anymore.  I will post more about you, I just wanted to make this quick picture comparison and I still can't believe you're 3.

Ms. Elsie - 4 Months Old

The time is flying by... you can now roll over from back to front and front to back.  You are loving being on your belly though and it almost seems like you're scared to roll onto your back sometimes.  Ms. Liz watched you today and she checked on you 2 different times while you were sleeping and you were sleeping on your stomach.  You are just loving your belly.

You've also taken up a new found interest in your knees.  See the picture above.  You can't get to your feet yet, although you know they are there... you can get to your knees.  They are pretty scratched up.

This past week we started you on baby oatmeal.  With your pooping issues we've had, I skipped rice cereal all together.  You are not a big fan of oatmeal yet.  Tonight I gave up the good fight with you and just opened green beans.  You ate half the jar.  It's pretty funny how you eat... I wedge the spoon in your mouth and you kinda slurp what's on it and eat it that way.  We'll have to teach you to open your mouth all the way.

You grab everything in sight now.  You have very, very slow, but meticulous still the same.  You do not give up, that's for sure.  You'll be laying under your play mat on the floor scooting and scooting to get to the toy that rattles.  You can get from point "A" to point "B" if you need to.  

You are still perfectly content to be left alone on the floor by yourself.  You prefer to hang out down there actually.  You love to sit in your car seat too and watch everything going on.  You are just a very laid back baby girl.

M'Liz too this picture of you the other day.  I think she's taken more pictures of you than I have.  I'll try and get better about that.  Thank goodness we have her!  This picture just melts my heart when I see it!  Thank you so much again Liz!!!

I have a video of you rolling over ... i'll try to post it soon!

4 Months Old

I can't believe you are 4 months old already, time is sure flying by.  You are just the sweetest baby girl.  You hardly ever cry and just lay back and take things in.  You grab at everything now and when I hold you, you hang onto my shirt.  You helped me flash everyone at the mall the other day!  That was fun!

I started cloth diapering you this month.  You don't care either way.  Your little legs are getting so chubby ;)  

4 Month Dr. Update:

13lb 15.5oz (75%)

25.5 " long (95%)

41.2 head cir (average)

The Dr. said you are doing great and sleeping REALLY well.  He emphasized the "really".  He said I can start you on solids anytime now.  I just don't know if I want you to be that big yet.  I think you're really going to like it though and maybe I should give it a shot.  With your brother, I was always pushing him to the next level (although as independent as he is, it doesn't take much pushing) ... I think for you, I'm going to be holding you back because I want to keep you my baby forever.

Swaddling

Last night was the last night that you were swaddled.  You are no longer liking it as much and prefer to chew/suck on your hands and fingers while trying to fall asleep.  You are also becoming very good at self soothing and putting yourself to sleep.  Your bottom 2 teeth are just about to pop threw.  We'll see how long they take to come in.  You are just the sweetest, most content baby.  You lay on your blanket and just watch the world around you.  Very seldom do you cry.  Mostly when you are tired or poopy.  Good-ness you cry when you have pooped.  WOW!  It's ear piercing!  Ha, ha.

You also started this week rubbing your eyes when you get tired.

How to make Lee feel better...

Tonight we went over to the neighbors house for dinner to celebrate Jon's birthday.  We all had fun and when it was time to go, Lee was pretty upset.  He was having too much fun.  As he was getting his shoes on, he asked "Mommy, can you sing me a song to make me feel better?".  So I asked him what song he would like me to sing... he said "spiderman can do it, nobody can".  So I sang it and he started laughing with tears in his eyes.  That boy melts my heart!  He is just too sweet sometimes! 

Sidenote: I can't believe that "spiderman" is the song he chooses to make himself feel better...

Another reason I could give Lee a big smack-a-roo kiss on his cheek is because last night was the 2nd night in a row that he woke up at 1am to use the potty all by himself.  He is staying dry during the day and nap now 100% of the time.  Nighttime seems to be getting closer and closer everyday!  I am SO proud of him!  SO proud!

Winner vs. Loser

Have you ever played the original Super Mario Bros Cart video game?  Then you know what Luigi says when you select to be him to race in the game.

Here was a conversation between Lee and Steve!
Steve:  Lee, lets race to the fire hydrant.
Lee: Ok.
Steve: Who do you think will win?  Daddy or Lee?
Lee: (In the most perfect Luigi voice ever) I'mma gonna weeeeeein!

A-ha, ha, ha, ha!

My Dear Sweet Baby Boy - The Green Bean Story

A few afternoons ago, you decided that you no longer wanted to eat green beans.  You have loved them 1,462 time prior to this afternoon, but all of a sudden you no longer like green beans.  Here's how our afternoon went:
Lee: I'm all done.
Mommy: No Lee, please eat your green beans, then you can get down.
Lee: No, I want a treat!
Mommy: You can have a treat after you finish your green beans.
Lee: NOOOOOOO!!!!!
Me: YEESSSS!
Lee: I'm too tired to eat my green beans.
Me: Well, just eat them quickly and you can go take a nap. (this is usually his nap time after lunch).
Lee: No, I can't do it.  I'm toooooo tired.
Steve: Well, then you'll have to eat your green beans after your nap.  (This was a mistake that we will never do again).
Lee: Ok! (Gets down and goes upstairs).
Steve: Lee, remember after your nap, you have to finish your green beans before anything else to eat.
Lee: Yep, ok Dad.  Yep, Uh huh.  Ok.
Steve: (phone rings, he gets a call and leaves for work).
Lee goes down for nap.  12:30pm

3:30pm - Lee wakes up from nap.
Lee: I'm hungry.  I want a snack.
Me: (remembering what Steve said...) you have to finish your green beans before you can have anything else.
Lee: NOOOOO... I no like green beans.
Me: Lee, there's only (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6... 7) 7 green beans to eat.  Just eat them quick and you can have something else.
Lee: (sits in his chair and starts throwing them on the floor).
Me: ( buckle him in his chair realizing there's a battle up ahead)
Me: (then picks up his green beans off the floor and puts them back on his plate).
*side note: Lee licks and eats everything and I'm pretty sure at that point and time my floor was fairly clean.*
Lee: NOOOOOOOO

Fast forward to 6pm.  Steve is back from work.  Lee is .. dum-ditty-dum .. still in his chair.  He finally gets hungry enough to eat the 7 green beans and then gets a full plate of dinner, which he devours.

Now, this story is not over yet.  Fast forward some more with me to last night grocery shopping.  We are in the vegetable isle.  Lee is in the grocery cart.  I am pushing the cart.  Elsie is asleep in her car seat.  I have my list.  I'm not paying much attention to Lee, just focusing on the things I need, and trying to get out of the store.  We happen to pass the "green bean" section of canned items.

Lee: Mommy, look, my favorite beans!
Me: (staring at him in complete and udder shock)
Lee: can we buy some green beans?
Me: No, you wouldn't eat them last time.
Lee: No, I love green beans.
Me: (still staring at this human form of a boy that resembles my son, not really knowing what to say)
Lee: (SCREECHING as loudly as he can) I WANT MY GREEN BEANS, please Mommy!
I bought him 2 cans.  Then ran home so I could reassemble my jaw correctly.  It seems the bottom portion fell off.

Last note: I was never planning on giving Lee green beans ever again, to avoid the above scenario from happening, ever again.

Naughty Boy!

Apparently it was fun today for Lee to run away from me through the parking lot while I chased after him screaming... that was fun!  Thank goodness I was with my friend Amy and she stayed by Elsie while this happened, because otherwise, she would have been left alone on the sidewalk.  I was just telling someone how he's so good about not going in the street... guess I spoke too soon.  Ouy.  Parenting Lee might kill me............

A New Game!

Today you played a new game... you started repeating everything I said.  We laughed and laughed so hard!  You also are loving baseball.  You're getting pretty good at hitting and throwing too!  We had such a fun evening tonight!  Love you ;)

I forgot something..

Lee ate GRAPES for the first time yesterday!  I give Steve all the credit!!  He's the man!  He made it happen!  Lee TRIED them and he LIKED them!  Although today I couldn't get him to eat them again... but hey, he tried them yesterday and that's all that matters!!

Whooo-wee!

 

 I am so proud of you going on the toilet.  You are completely trained during the day... nighttime will take a few years I'm afraid.  You are just such a sound sleeper.  When Daddy or I go in to have you go potty, you stay almost completely asleep.  Although last night you attacked me and started kicking.  I think this is why you've been such a challenge lately... you are not sleeping nearly as much as you should.  You wake up from nap when you have to go potty.  It's been about a week now since you've had an accident during nap time.  But you're 3 hour nap has become 2 hours.  Then at night, I wake you up around 11pm when I go to bed, then Daddy wakes you up at 4:30am when he goes to work.  So that's two times during the night that you're being disturbed.  So, hopefully you'll start getting used to less sleep and not so crabby during the day ;D  PLEASE...

We have gone everywhere though, 2 hour car trips, grocery shopping, to the park and you have told me every time that you have to go potty.  You really are such a good sport about it!  I'm so proud of you!

The picture above was taken at a local park where you played hard for about 4 hours.  You can see the proof all over your face, how much fun you were having.  You were loving the dirt, water, sand and grime!

Blog Change

I decided that I just want to maintain one blog... so I included everything from Elsie's blog altogether, because she only had 11 posts... and from Lee's blog, I added in all from 2010. So... please just visit this blog to see ALL Schweig news :)

Thanks!!

Sara

Laughing...

Elsie Started laughing today!  She has the cutest most adorable laugh ever!!

Here are the things that make her laugh...
- peek-a-boo
- pretend sneezing
- scaring her (BOO)
- Lee laughing
- Steve making her dance
- Liz and Spencer talking to her
- Shaking your head saying "no,no,no"

El's you are just way, WAY, way too cute!

We're almost there... potty training!

I hope I'm not shooting myself in the foot, but Lee is almost potty trained! He is a really deep sleeper, so he probably won't be trained at night for a while, but during the day he's 100% trained. I'm SO proud of him!

We started this task a year ago, because he was really interested right before his 2nd birthday. He wore underwear and loved it for about a month with hardly any accidents. Then independence set in and he wasn't interested anymore. So we gave up. Then over the last year about 7 times we would have "spells" where he would play around with the idea of going potty and underwear and then it would fade away... back to diapers.

I was telling my friend Stephanie B. about it and she printed this book for me about "throwing out all diapers" not having that option and then to teach Lee to recognize his body signs. He was pretty much trained after the first day. He definitely knew what he was doing.

He cried when we threw the diapers away... and he asked one time for them saying "mommy I want my diapers back". After I told him that they were all gone and that he was a big boy, he got a huge smile and said "oh yay". I'm just so proud of him!

He wears underwear to nap and nighttime. Naptime he's usually pretty good. He has very little accidents. Nighttime is going to be awhile. but I wake him up before I go to bed around 10-11ish. Steve them wakes him up to go at 4:30am. So he'll learn eventually.

One down... one to go in a few years :)

3 Months Old

My sweet baby girl. You are just so, so sweet. I love going to get you in the morning because you are all smiles. You smile all day long. You are quiet and watch everything to take in. You love your big brother. I can already see you following right behind him in all his mischief ;)

You're starting to teeth. I can feel your two bottom teeth right below your gums. They are RIGHT THERE. It's made you pretty crabby though. Not crabby all the time, but just more crabby when you get tired. Tylenol cures that pretty good though.

You are sleeping 12-13 hours every night now, straight through. You do amazing! Every 4th night you wake up in the middle of the night for a catch up feeding. You still have 3 naps a day, but your wake time is just about 2 hours now. You are also eating about 6 oz at every feeding too. Sometimes though you like to do 3 oz and confuse us, but mostly you're doing 5-6 oz every feed.

I'm still swaddling you and I'm wondering when you're going to give that up. You really do love it though... so probably not anytime soon.


I love you my little Elles Bells. Please don't grow up too fast. Ok? Thanks!

Something I don't want to forget...

Yesterday, the family (Me, Steve, Lee and El) all went to Morris to walk by the river. Something Steve had seen and wanted to show us. Plus, what 2 year old doesn't like throwing rocks into water? Or mud? Anyways, Steve thought that this particular area had a park. Lee perspective of a "park" is swings, slides and something to hang on.

So, we're all in the car and Lee has asked 34 times how much longer. Steve announced proudly that he did remember where the park was and that we were there. Lee then announces "sorry Daddy, there's no park here!" What 2 year old that had his hopes up for 30+ minutes just matter-of-factly explains that Steve was wrong? No crying, no fit. Just along for the ride.

To that Steve said... "yes, but there's rocks and tunnels that we can go and see". So the adventure began.

A few days ago I wanted to take a few pictures of Lee, because I don't have enough, and I asked if he would take a few. He said "no". So I said "how about if your playing something and you don't know I'm taking your picture". Lee said "How about a bath". Ugh, Ok, but that's more work for me though. Humph. At least he's clean, and I did get pictures of him. This was picture number 7 that I took. As you can see, when Lee agrees to pictures, that means 7.He's still pretty cute though ;)

2 Months Old

I can't believe you are 2 months old already. You are growing by leaps and bounds but I'm thankful that you're not growing as fast as your brother. You went to the Dr. on Monday and you weighed in at 11lb 8oz. You were 23" tall. You are the sweetest baby I have ever met. You love to be cuddled for a bit and then you love to lay down and look around. You also sleep and nap amazingly! You're still a bit fussy in the evenings, but nothing that's too bad. During the day you are all smiles and completely content.

Here's a few things that went on this month:
- Eating 4-5oz at almost every feeding.
- Sleeping 11 hours straight through the night.
- You still love to be swaddled.
- You love watching TV
- Mommy took you and Lee out by herself for the first time this month.

Lee loves you so much and is always looking out for you. He always runs in your room in the morning when you wake up. He will walk by and give you a kiss on the head. You and Lee were watching Snow White and Lee came over and told you "it's ok baby sister, it's not scary" when the evil witch was casting her spell. When you cry he will find you a bink and give it to you. He has tried jumping over you, but was stopped by Papa just in time. He still isn't really into holding you but at this moment, that's ok with Mommy.

Your schedule now (and it's been this way for over a month now) is:
8am - Wake up, drink bottle
9:30-10:30am - Nap
Noon - Wake up, bottle
1:30pm - Nap
4pm - Wake up, bottle
5:30pm - Nap
6:30pm - Wake up, bottle
8pm - bottle
9pm - Bedtime
*You fall asleep almost 1.5hours on the dot from when you woke up from nap.

Look what Lee can do!

Tonight Steve and I were talking about how Lee doesn't have an attention span. It's about 15 seconds. I was telling Steve that I bet Lee could sing his ABC's if he could focus long enough. If I sing the ABC's and stop at any point, Lee would tell me what letter came next. After that, Steve asked Lee to sing the ABC's and Lee did the whole thing from beginning to end. I then bribed him with 2 vitamins if he would do it again so we could tape it. So here's a good example of that 15 second attention span, as well as most of his ABC's. They are in bits and pieces but they are mostly there.

A Smile is Worth...

Everything!! You started smiling yesterday! I went to get you out of your crib and you gave Mommy this HUGE smile. I fed you your bottle and another smile. Than last night as I was getting you ready for bed... like 10 more smiles ;) I love it! My heart just melts everytime.