santa babies

december has been busy so far (no surprise, i know) but i'm trying to post and keep up with all of the fun things we are doing and how quickly the kids are growing.  i'm going to have to combine the posts on the kids because with working full-time, keeping up with our new larger house, and caring for our two little ones, writing two posts a month seems to have become more of a chore than a joy.  so, here goes....

sweet sammy has continued to grow and change and become more of her own little person.  she continues to give out smiles generously and has begun giggling more and more.  she now laughs at things noah does, lexi does, and when you tickle her tummy.  just this week she began mimicking our speech when we talk to her.  we typically get big grins from her while changing her diaper -- she *loves* to lay on her changing table for any reason -- and we usually have a conversation with her that simply involves saying "hiiiiiii, sammy" or "heyyy, sweet girl!"  now when i lay her on the table, she grins and makes an "AAaaaaaaaaayyyy" sound.  while it's hard to convey in text, it's the sweetest thing to hear and the grins that go with it are absolutely adorable.
she's still doing a pretty good job sleeping through the night, and still typically wakes between 7 - 8 am for her first feeding of the day.  she will wake earlier if she feels she didn't get enough to eat the evening before, though.  despite her healthy appetite and frequent nursing schedule, her last pediatrician appointment revealed that she had actually gained very little weight.  our little girl had grown two inches in length and increased her head circumference, maintaining her growth curve in both, but failed to gain very much weight.  instead of doubling her birth weight -- as is expected -- samantha is weighing in at just under 12 lbs (she was 7 lbs and 1 oz at birth).  while this is a little concerning, our pediatrician was not worried because sammy is growing taller and is doing very well developmentally (on par with a 5.5 - 6 month old).  she did recommend that we encourage her to start on solids, however, so today we tried rice cereal for the very first time.  sammy did better than i expected, but it will still take some getting used to.  guess it's time for me to start making baby food again...oh joy.
the other new thing sammy is doing is flipping herself, regularly, from stomach to back.  she had already done this several times but the frequency is increasing.  now, if she is on her tummy for any length of time i can expect that she will end up on her back.  she's also started scooting around on her stomach and it's not uncommon for me to find that she's completely changed her orientation in her crib. i'll lay her down facing one direction and i'll find when she wakes that she's turned 180 degrees in the crib and facing the opposite direction. i guess we're getting closer and closer to having two kids to chase every day.

noah continues to keep us on our toes, growing up more and more every day.  he recently decided he was done with the high chair -- or at least helped *us* decide he was done with the high chair -- when he continually chose to stand up in his chair after each meal or attempt to sit on the arm rest.  i decided that if he was going to be getting out of his chair on his own, it was probably safer for him to be doing that from the height of a standard chair.  noah has been great with the transition, although sometimes he abuses the new freedom when we are out of the room for some reason (putting something away, laying sammy down for a nap, etc.).  i am so proud of him for being so independent, but at the same time i have to wonder where my baby boy has gone?  a big boy bed, big kid clothes, eating at the table... he's so grown up!  i love the person he is becoming, though, because despite his strong will and occasional stubbornness, he is always so willing to share his smiles, his toys, his hugs, and anything he discovers as new.  he has become an excellent big brother to sammy, reassuring her when she cries and attempting to comfort her, "ok, sammy, ok, sammy!"  (it's okay, sammy) or letting us know when we need to let her sleep by telling us "shhhh."  he insists on giving her kisses before bedtime every night, and will usually attempt to tuck her in by turning on her sound machine, kissing her head (we lift him up so he can reach her in her crib), and then closing the door and telling us to "shhh."  i don't think he realizes that we feed her again before her actual bedtime :)  he also gets toys for her new while she is playing on the floor, and will even put them away for her when (he decides) she is done with them.  such a good boy :)
noah has also gotten better about identifying letters, numbers, and colors in the last few weeks.  during my maternity leave i made some alphabet flashcards for him so we could practice letters.  we only practiced a few times during the remaining weeks, but noah must have really enjoyed it because he has started bringing the cards to us and asking us to "play cards." we were reciting the letters in order and noah would repeat them back to us, but now if we ask him what comes next he can occasionally tell us the next letter!  he is very good at A, B, and C, but also typically knows that J comes after I and does well with the O, P, Q, R part of the alphabet, too.  when counting, everything still tends to be "2" but he has gotten better at understanding that 1 comes first.
the most fun thing noah has learned to do, though, is fill in the blanks while reading.  when we read books now i can read the sentence, then point to the appropriate picture and noah will complete the sentence for me.  i love how interactive story time is now!
i think that's all the fun things to share right now -- at least all the ones i can remember!  there's much more to look forward to this month though, more posts to follow!

december 2012

i hope you are enjoying the holiday season and celebrating the reason for the season!