6 months

Abby has turned into a terrible sleeper. She doesn't like to nap in her crib at all. She'd rather nap on mommy or in her swing. She doesn't like going to sleep at night until someone is sleeping next to her. So this makes it difficult for her to get good sleep and for mom to get anything done.


Abby went to Maine this month. We visited our friends in Maine for Thanksgiving. Abby loved this because she loves watching kids so she had a blast just watching the other kids play. They also have two girls; Molly is 3 and Isla is 1. All the girls had a good time hanging out together.

All the girls in Maine.

Abby has also started eating solid foods. She's not so sure about it yet and doesn't quite 'get' the swallowing part. So far as much comes back out as goes down.

Abby's a big girl. She's already wearing 12 month clothing. She mostly needs the length in her legs and her torso. The arms are usually a little too long.

Hiking around Wintergreen Lake.

Abby enjoying the view.

At the town Christmas tree lighting in Maine. It was cold!

Halloween!

This year Lily was very interested in Halloween. Initially she wanted to be Dora, then she thought maybe a butterfly, then we saw a dinosaur costume in the store and that decided it for her. She's a dinosaur fanatic right now, so this was a perfect fit. Abby wore Lily's old mouse costume since her dinosaur costume got mixed up in the mail. It finally arrived 3 days after Halloween. Oh well, she made a cute mouse too.

We actually had pretty good weather. It was in the mid-40s when we went out around 6:30 PM. After one year in New England, this feels brisk but not too cold. We haven't even broken out the jackets yet. What a difference a year makes.

All ready to go.

We went trick-or-treating with Lily's two best buddies and their families, Avery and Skylar. Unfortunately, Scott stayed home to get some work done, but the three of us had a good time. We did about two blocks or so and almost filled one plastic pumpkin, so it was a successful outing. Abby enjoyed sucking on her costume and watching the kids.

Lily the T-Rex with Skylar as Tigger and Avery the monkey.

Lily was excited and actually said "trick-or-treat" and "thank you" at most of the houses. She wasn't so crazy about the houses that had strobe lights as a part of their decor and I had to carry her to the door of a house that had a spooky tunnel leading up to it. She also wasn't so fond of kids in masks, especially the Scream mask. I don't blame her really, that kid was scary.

She had a ton of fun though and thankfully she isn't too concerned about the candy yet so one Dum-dum sucker was enough for her for the night.

Abby's 5 months old!

We're quickly approaching a half year old already. I feel like Abby has grown up a lot in the last month. She's gotten so big for one but she's also definitely a baby now and not a newborn at all. I mostly welcome this change. I love her smiles and laughs and I love her talking. I love seeing her personality start to come out.

I think she's going to be our musical child. She loves music. She especially loves when we sing to her. She prefers our singing to listening to CDs, although she does like listening to those too. Lily and I spend a lot of the day singing songs and she really likes that. She especially likes her lullaby Give Said the Little Stream and this often makes her stop crying when she's upset. Other favorites are the ABCs and Twinkle, twinkle little star. She's also a burgeoning percussionist. She likes to use toys to drum on her high chair tray and sings along with her "music".

She has a very ticklish tummy. She loves to have it tickled and it makes her laugh really hard. She also likes playing games. She's figured out that if she drops toys off her tray someone will keep picking them up for her. She also plays a game with me when she's getting her diaper changed where she's kicks me in the stomach and then I say "Ow!" She starts laughing as soon as she starts kicking me and before I even react because she knows it's coming. But Lily has the easiest time getting her to laugh. Lily plays a little roughly with her and she loves it. Abby likes to keep an eye on Lily to see what she's up to and can keep her entertained for quite a while (long enough for mommy to take a shower). This has come in pretty handy many times.

She's also decided she doesn't care too much for sleeping. We've tried to establish a more structured bedtime routine where she gets dressed in her PJs, then she gets in Lily's bed with Daddy and Lily to read bedtime stories, then she nurses, then she gets in her crib to go to sleep. So far this hasn't worked extremely well yet. She'll stay in there for a little while but she hasn't actually gone to sleep yet. Her pediatrician said we should keep up the routine and she might get it eventually. We can hope. So we end up rocking her to sleep, often hold her until we go to bed, and then sometimes she'll sleep in her own bed for a few hours, or sometimes she'll just sleep in our bed the whole night. She's given up the co-sleeper. She's pretty much as big as it is now, so I don't think it's all that comfortable for her any more. Unfortunately she's not all that crazy about napping either. She's great at falling asleep in the car but she doesn't sleep as well at home. In the past week she has napped some in her crib so it's just something we have to continue trying and hoping soon she'll figure it out and decide it's OK to sleep there.

Milestones:
Wearing 6-9 months or 12 month clothing
Wearing size 2-3 diapers
Rolling from back to tummy all the time
Puts up with being on her stomach for longer and longer stretches
Can sit up for about 30 seconds unassisted
Loves being in her high chair or Bumbo chair
Talks a lot, often loudly
Has babbled once (ya ya ya ya ya)
Sometimes sings along with mommy
Really likes her feet and pulling off socks and playing with her shoes
Loves toys and sucking on them
Is sucking on her hands less than she used to, but still often
100% breastfed, but we plan on introducing solids this month
Loves a little stuffed lamb Lily picked out for her
Likes to scratch things to feel their texture

Abby helping pick apples

The whole family in New York City

Abby watching her sister at the Peabody

Abby is 4 months

She's a big girl. She's definitely getting enough to eat. She has lots of chubby rolls on her legs and arms. She's a really good eater and a decent sleeper. We've run into a bit of a rough patch where we're trying to figure out what she needs. Some days it's difficult to get her to nap at all. We had a few days in a row where she only slept for 45 minutes throughout the whole day (WAY too little sleep!). She falls asleep well in the car but when we get somewhere she wakes up pretty quickly. She likes motion and she likes background noise. Although the day after one of these 45 minute days I laid her down in her crib and she went right to sleep on her own without any fussing. So we're going to try that more. If she's tired but not too tired it might work more often. Generally she still likes to be shushed and bounced to sleep or nursed and rocked to sleep.

I am the center of her universe. I know this won't last much longer so I'm enjoying it now. She pretty much always keeps her eyes on me. If she's leaning against my chest while we're sitting in the glider she'll tip her head all the way back so she can see my face. If I'm not holding her she'll keep my eyes on me wherever I am in the room. Sometimes it's a little suffocating but it's nice at the same time. Pretty soon she'll be refusing to give me a kiss before she goes to bed at night like someone else in our house, so I have to soak up the attention while I can.

She has an extra ticklish tummy and it's pretty easy to get her to laugh. She really likes noses rubbed in her belly. Or anything Lily does. Lily is second only to mommy. Perfection for her is when mommy is holding her and Lily is jumping around entertaining her. She also loves bouncing around and flying through the air. I think she might grow up to be more of a daredevil than her sister. She's a little bit coy and flirty. While she's nursing she'll stop, look up at me to make sure I'm watching her, smile, then go back to eating. In general she just smiles and laughs a lot and is a very happy baby.

She loves music and she loves reading. She prefers Lily and I to sing to her. If she starts crying in the car Lily and I sing her songs and it often calms her down. Reading books also surprisingly calms her down. Even if she's upset she'll listen to a book. She likes to look at the pictures a lot and will pay attention to several books in a row.

She drools a lot and always wants to have something in her mouth. It's often her hand but she also likes to chew on burp rags and toys. I don't feel any teeth close to coming in so I think she just likes it. She seems interested in food and I think she's going to like eating. We're pretty committed to waiting until she's 6 months old to give her any solid foods, though we might move that up a week so her first meal can be Thanksgiving. Thus far she hasn't had anything but breastmilk. She's definitely thriving and she's finally eaten off all mommy's baby weight.

Wears 6-9 month clothing.
Wears a size 2 diaper.
100% breastfed!
Over 15 lbs (official weigh-in 10/14).
Rolled from her back to belly (9/30/10).
Smiling & laughing constantly.
Loves her sister.
Pays attention to her grandparents on Skype.
Starting to talk & practice making different sounds.
Lots of drool.
Starting to sit up, but quickly bends forward so her head touches her toes.
Loves looking at the trees outside.

Typical Abigail: happy & laughing.

The girls at a river/lake in Connecticut.

Aunt Kellie was here for most of Abby's 4th month. I think they both had fun.

3 months

It's hard to believe Abigail is already 3 months old. Now she's starting to get into the more fun stage since she's smiling and laughing some now. Her sister gets the biggest smiles. She LOVES watching her sister. She'll keep her eyes glued on Lily wherever she goes. And if Lily smiles at her she almost always smiles back. And Lily is so funny, she loves being a little mommy and she repeats everything I say to Abigail in the same sing-song tone I use to talk to her. "Where'd your smile go Abigail? Are you talking to me Abigail?" It's pretty funny and Abigail loves it.

Abigail has the sweetest smile and laugh. She has a squeak on the end of her laugh just like she has on her cry. It's adorable.

She's still an excellent sleeper. She's slept through the night once (August 15 - 2.5 months old). But she consistently sleeps from about 10:30 PM to 6 AM. I'm pretty thrilled with that. At 6 AM she just wakes up to eat and then goes back to sleep until 8 or so. Sometimes she even eats again and sleeps even later! But 8 is about the time we're all up and heading downstairs so she usually wakes up for a little while at that time. She's still not really on a nap schedule at all. Her afternoon nap is starting to get more regular and she frequently sleeps when Lily sleeps for a couple hours (Lily is still sleeping for 3 hours every afternoon). I guess I'm too boring for her. Sometimes she'll take that nap in her crib, more often she takes it downstairs with me in her swing or bouncer, or if I'm unlucky, in my lap while I rock her (like today, when she needed to be held all day long). She still sleeps through a lot so I can usually get things done even if she's sleeping in the same general area. It's nice to be able to get things done.

She's still eating only breast milk. She a champion nurser and loves to eat. I think her sensitivities to dairy have mostly passed. She still has occasional spit-up but nothing terrible and she certainly doesn't spit-up every time she eats. It may have just been her immature digestive system and nothing to do with dairy. Whatever the case, I'm glad to have dairy back in my life. She's taken another bottle successfully so I'm hoping she's decided she's OK with them now. Up until now I don't think I've been away from her for more than and hour and a half. Which is fine, but it would be nice not to have to worry about her screaming from hunger while I'm away. And Aunt Kellie is going to be here next week so I might be able to convince her to babysit for a night while she's here.

She's a major hand-sucker. She likes to have that thing in her mouth all the time. And if something gets in between her hand and her mouth--like a burp rag or a bib--she'll suck on that too. She doesn't use a pacifier, so this may be a replacement for that. She also drools quite a lot. Her shirts are always soaking wet. Not just a little wet--drenched. She usually has a bib on and that will be wet and the shirt under it will be wet. I'm glad it's summer and not freezing in February.

It was a really busy month for Abigail too. Her Bauby and Papa Jim came out to meet her. So she got a lot of cuddles and presents and attention--all her favorite things. Then we went on a road trip and she got to check a bunch more states off her list (Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana and Illinois). So that puts her up to 8 states in her first 3 months of life (she'd already been to Connecticut-clearly, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and New York). We may not be world travelers but we've seen a lot of the United States. Both girls got to meet all the Chicago relatives, many for the first time--more on that to come hopefully. We all had a good time.

Lily at 3 months-by comparison

This was one of those mornings she wanted to sleep in.

First night in a hotel.

How we spent about 30 or so hours of her 3rd month.

In front of touchdown Jesus (University of Notre Dame campus).

First time swimming in a pool.

Cruising with Lily. This is how we roll.

Taking a bath with Lily. Lily liked it more than Abigail.

Smiles

2 months!

Abigail is a really good baby. Overall, she's very easy. Her most difficult trait is she prefers to be held all the time. Most of the time during the day, she likes me to hold her. Sometimes she'll lay down in her crib to take a nap or sometimes she'll sleep in her bouncer. But mostly she likes to be held, or even better, rocked. She does enjoy laying under her jungle gym/mat and listening to the music and she's just starting to reach for toys.

She's an excellent sleeper. She can go to sleep on her own. When she goes to sleep for the night, she usually has a bit of a hard time and likes to be rocked and cuddled and sung to or shushed. She's pretty good at waking up briefly and and going back to sleep on her own.

She's an absolute joy. Her little smiles are starting to peak out and it just melts your heart.

At 2 months Abigail is:
-Growing out of size 0-3 months clothing (need to get the next size out and washed).
-Wearing size 1-2 diapers.
-Is 100% breastfed.
-Has drank one bottle well and refused to drink one (we're working on this).
-Sleeps most nights from 11 PM -6 AM, eats then sleeps 2-3 more hours, eats again, then sleeps for 2-3 more hours. She usually gets up for the day at 11 AM.
-Is allergic to dairy. Her pediatrician says that this might just be a sensitivity so if I just eat/drink less dairy Abigail will probably be OK. So I've tried added a little bit of dairy and it seems to be OK for now.
-Smiling.
-Loves her big sister so much.
-Just starting to coo.
-Starting to look at toys and try to touch objects. Her arm movements are very jerky still but she's trying to control them to go to a specific place. I can see the wheels in her head spinning as she just soaks up information.
-Loves her mommy most and can be soothed just hearing mommy's voice.
-Likes to be moving. Still hates red lights. Loves bumpy car rides. Loves when Daddy bounces her.
-Doesn't cry much. Fusses when she's hungry and usually only cries when she's tired and is having a hard time falling asleep.
-Loves to be outside and looking up at the trees.
-Always warm and gets especially hot and sweaty in her car seat.
-Has fuzzy hair that sticks up in the back when she's recently had a bath.
-Likes to suck on her fist (a lot!).

Sisters

That little green bundle is Abigail. This is how they spent an hour or so many afternoons while Lily was napping & mommy was getting shower/alone time.

Abigail hanging out in her tent at the beach. She was awake and content to just hang out in the shade.

Lullabies

I often sing or hum songs when I'm rocking the girls to sleep. Obviously Abigail more than Lily now, but I still sing Lily her song if she's sad, or tired, or just needs some alone time with mommy.

Lily's song:

Daisy Bell

Daisy Daisy,
Give me your answer do!
I'm half crazy,
All for the love of you!
It won't be a stylish marriage,
I can't afford a carriage,
But you'll look sweet on the seat
Of a bicycle built for two!

I, of course, change "Daisy" to "Lily". It's not a real lullaby at all, but it's on a children's CD she has and it was the first thing that occurred to me to sing with her and it stuck. This is only the chorus, but this is the only part I sing to her. I don't think Lily knows why but it does still calm her when I sing it now.

Abigail's song:

Give said the little stream

Give, said the little stream,
Give, oh, give, give, oh, give,
Give, said the little stream,
As it hurried down the hill;
I'm small, I know, but wherever I go,
The grass grow greener still.
Singing, singing all the day,
Give away, oh, give away,
Singing, singing all the day,
Give, oh, give away.

This was as song I sang in church growing up and I noticed my mom humming it to Abigail when she was here right after she was born and now I sing it to her as well. She just stares at me when I sing it.