Sarah-15 Months

Our Little Baby is no longer a baby anymore! She's a crazy, walking, talking, screaming, laughing, dancing "little" toddler!

Each my of kids is sooooo different from one another..it's surprising they all came from the same parents! I have my sensitive, mature, art-sy, free spirit (Brooke-most like me although I am not art-sy!). My serious, by-the-book, boy's boy (Will, most like Scott in almost every way possible). And then there's Sarah Marie who is a social butterfly, SUPER smiley, loves, LOVES attention, must-be-in-the-center-of-it-all, kind of kid.I have no idea where this kid came from!! :)

At any rate, she keeps this whole family on our toes and she's such a blessing...no matter how crazy she gets at times!!! She's a typical "toddler"...age 12 months to 3 years and for me, this is the most difficult age. Still in diapers, unable to truly communicate and always on the move!! The good news is, I've been there, done that, so none of this is really surprising.

Here are some milestones/highlights of age 15 Months:

1) She's the little teapot, short and stout: weighs in at 26 1/2 lbs (95th percentile) and 2 feet, 7 inches (only 75th percentile). She's got a giant belly and thunder thighs to boot. She's a big girl :)

2) She loves to eat (obviously). Some faves include Mac and Cheese (ABSOLUTE fave!), peas, bananas, any pasta, taco casserole/beans, Clif Bars and cheese.

3) She's still "allergic" to regular milk so she's on 100% Lactose-Free. She's fine with other dairy, just not milk on it's own.We'll try again in a few months.

4) She's allergic to blueberries.

5) She's most definitely behind the other 2 kids in terms of speech. Both Brooke and Will had many more words under their belt at 15 months. However, she's completely bypassed the "mama" "dada", juvenile baby words and her first words were: Nana (banana), Flower, Fruit and iPad. So although the kid may not say 1,000 words, I'm not worried about her one bit!!

9 Months Old!

Yes, yes I'm late posting. But here's the latest and greatest about 9-10 months!!

I love this age!!! Here are the highlights:

1) She's my happiest baby! The other two were not nearly as smiley and happy at this age. She'll smile and anyone, especially men!

2) She definitely demands attention. If all eyes are on her, she's happy as a clam. When you don't pay attention to her, she'll somehow get your attention!! It's a great skill for a 3rd child.

3) After a rough patch with sleeping, she's now back on track. Her schedule is weird but right now it works for us...bedtime at 5:30 and wake up at 5:00-5:30. It works great for school days but she hasn't figured out the meaning of "weekend" yet :) She's a great napper and goes with the flow during the day regarding naps.

4)  She completely bypassed the baby food stage. I was so looking forward to making baby food again but she won't have anything to do with a spoon in her mouth. She MUST feed herself. The kid eats EVERYTHING. Some foods include: chicken curry, hummus. taco meat, sharp cheddar cheese, Clif Bars, In and Out burgers, french fries, waffles and her sister's homework. I haven't found a food (or non food) she won't eat yet. I'm sure that'll change in a year or two!!

5) At her 9 month appointment she was 21.2 lbs (75th-90th percentile) and 29 inches long (90-95th percentile). I make giant kids--i don't understand it!!

6) She loves: sticking out her tongue, smiling, riding in her Little Tykes car, eating paper, climbing stairs, cruising.

8 Months!!!

She's growing up too fast!!! What a joy little Sarah Marie has been to us. She is getting more active--crawling like a champ, pulling herself up on to everything and taking "steps" while we hold her arms. Brooke and Will were just crawling at 8 months and didn't walk until 12-13 months. I would guess that Sarah will be walking (well) by Easter. We'll see--but I know this girl isn't going to wait around and let her siblings pass her by!!

She is a great baby and rarely cries HOWEVER is a complete princess and attention seeker. If she's being coddled and people and are paying attention to her (like at a party or restaurant or church), she will smile and you won't hear a peep from her. However don't let her drop from the center of attention-she'll let you know she doesn't approve!! It's so funny--third child survival skills at work!!

At 6 months, I was also eager to start making baby food for her. She wouldn't have ANYTHING to do with it! I tried and tried. This month, I just started giving her Cheerios and bits of whatever we were eating. The kid will eat anything she can pick up as long as I am not feeding her. Miss Independent. Or as Brooke and Will call her "the goat."

At any rate, this month as been a blast with Sarah Marie!

6 Months Old!

I've been a bit behind on posts but it's been crazy since school started! But I had to keep up on my milestone posts for Miss Sarah!

She is growing up before our eyes!! She is literally DAYS away from crawling and getting some teeth. Needless to say, all of these changes have disrupted her sleep in the past month. She was perfectly sleeping through the night at 12 weeks but for the past month, she's been waking up cranky around 4:30 again. Luckily she usually falls back to sleep most nights and doesn't need to be fed, but it's a bit on an adjustment since I was used to getting my sleep :) Ah, well. I'm sure it will pass after we get past this 6 month wackiness. She still takes (and needs) 3 naps a day including a 3 hour one, so I guess I can't complain too much.

The stats are that she is 18lbs, 10 oz and 28 inches long putting her in the 90th percentile for both weight and height. She's a big girl :) She just started eating solid food--her faves are sweet potatoes and pears. She really showed NO interest in solid food until last week.

We're about to (finally!!) invest in a fancy camera (not sure why it took THREE KIDS for me to decide we needed one!), so I'm sure I'll be posting lots of pics after that!!! I can't wait to start learning to take pictures with a **real** camera!!! The third kid might get the short end of the stick on a lot of stuff, but Sarah will have the best pictures of herself :) Plus, she doesn't protest when I put the camera in her face like the other 2!

Happy Half-Year, Sarah Marie!!!!

4 Months!

I'm a little behind...Miss Sarah turned 4 months almost a month ago! But here are the highlights and lowlights from the month:

- She's in the 90-95th percentile for height. Crazy! But I did notice that she always out grows the LENGTH of her sleepers before the body part. She's 75th or so for weight. She's a chunk, but nothing like Brooke.

- She went through a short phase (about a week, seemed like a month) where she stopped sleeping through the night. A few nights I had to feed her. I forgot how much I enjoy my sleep. :) Luckily, it was over fairly soon!

- We tried rice cereal and applesauce with her a little after she turned 4 months, just for fun. As the pictures show, she wasn't a fan. I didn't start Will until 6 months, so I'm in no rush. Every once in awhile I will try, just to get her used to it.

- She's still a happy, smiley baby except when she's tired (every 2-2 1/2 hours) or when she's hungry. She's rolling a lot, grabbing at everything, "talking" and belly laughing at her brother and sister's antics! She's a happy princess.

He LOVES his Little Sister! I will bring her in to wake him up from his nap and his face will immediately light up. Without her, he is super grumpy after waking up!

12 Weeks!

Ahhhh....12 weeks old! Almost 3 months. Depending on who you talk to, they'll tell you different things about when babies start to "settle" into the world and things get easier. A lot of people say this time is around 12 weeks and boy, has this been true for Sarah! We went through some rough patches with her reflux, growth spurts and just general fussiness for a couple of weeks (of course, it SEEMED like a couple of MONTHS!). But now, it seems to be smooooth sailing (until teething or the next growth spurt happens!!)

She's evolving into an amazing napper. 4 good naps a day and 9-10 hours without eating at night. Bedtime is 7pm and she sleeps until I wake her up at 7am. Although we do wake her and feed her/change her diaper around 10pm before we go to bed and put her right back down. This "feeding" worked SO well with Will and really helped cut out the multiple night feedings.

Now that I have the routine down it's about to all change when Brookey starts school. It's sometimes crazy having all 3 kids at home at the same time, but I AM NOT looking forward to school starting. I really like having my own schedule and not being dictated by bell schedules, homework, spelling tests, school projects and early bedtimes!! She starts in exactly one month, so I'll be enjoying it to the fullest!!

Some fun facts about Miss Sarah at 12 weeks:

1) She talks, A LOT. I swear I don't remember the other 2 "talking/cooing" as much. I feel like I can actually have a conversation with her!

2) She smiles, A LOT. I get many of those heart-melting smiles pretty much every time I look at her!

3) She loves sleeping on her belly. 

4) She pretty much only cries when she's hungry or if she's been awake more than 1.5 hours. Thank the Lord that I read Babywise and Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child otherwise I never would have figured out the 1.5 hour thing!!! Learned that one with Will :)

I have big eyes--i don't miss much!!!

Mommy having some fun dressing me up

Sleep, Baby, Sleep

I tried not to have toooooo many expectations of Sarah when she first arrived. I knew as a 3rd child, she'd have her own unique personality and I couldn't compare that to the other two. However, I did have two "expectations" which were: 1) Sleeping through the night by 12 weeks and 2) Being able to put herself to sleep without having to carry her around for hours on end or have her only be able to sleep in her swing or something like that.These are two things I learned with Will that are vital to keeping a happy home :)

Of course Scott told me NOT to set ANY of these expectations because "you never know what kind of baby you'll get." Very true. Once 11 weeks rolled around I began to feel disappointed that Sarah was still waking at night, and not really seeming to move forward with sleeping more hours at night. In fact, she was regressing.

She turned 12 weeks last Saturday, so of course that little stinker decided to start sleeping through the night the Friday night before her 12 week birthday! She slept about 8 hours that night and it's been 3 nights and she hasn't turned back. Last night she slept almost 10 hours. Yep, she's the princess--making me wait until the very last moment!!! Love her!