Star - 5 Months

Age: 5 months

Weight and height: Approximately 13 1/2 pounds and 25" long. 

Wearing: She's wearing size 2 diapers, but only because I ran out of size 1.  We're having a lot of leakage issues with the size 2s though because they're too big for her.  She's in the process of transitioning from 0-3 month clothing to 3-6 month.  Some of the 0-3 month is getting too small for her, but most of the 3-6 is still too big.

Likes: Being talked to, laughing, playing with her feet or hands, taking baths, tummy time, having her diaper changed.

Dislikes: Being bored.  She's starting to get a little fussy in her carseat sometimes.  Because it's still so cold here in Minnesota, I have a cover over her carseat and even with the little flap open, she can't see much.

Eating habits: Star eats 5-6 ounces of formula every 3 hours during the day.

Sleeping habits: Star takes 3-4 naps during the day and usually one of those naps is several hours long.  She goes to bed at 7 pm and is up between 7 and 7:30 in the morning.  In the last month, she's decided that 20 minute catnaps are a good idea, but I'm not crazy about them because it means I spend half my day laying her back down for yet another nap.  At least all I have to do to get her to sleep is swaddle and lay her down with a pacifier.
 
Milestones/Accomplishments: Teeth are coming soon!  She has a bump on her upper gum and she's been chewing and drooling a LOT lately. 
She can sit on her own for a few seconds, but she's still pretty unstable.

Miscellaneous: She LOVES standing and prefers it to sitting most of the time when I'm holding her.  She sucks on her fingers quite a bit and is still very fascinated by her hands and feet.  This month, she got her tongue clipped.  

Comparison pictures from 4 months to 5 months:

5 Months

4 Months

So intrigued with her toes!

No really, she loves wearing hairbows :)

Smiles!

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Treasure Every Moment

We've all heard this:

"Enjoy your kids now because you'll never get these days back."

"They'll never be this little again."
"Treasure each day with your child."

It seems that I always run across one of those blog posts or memes on days when I haven't had too many good mommy moments.  Days when I'm literally counting down the minutes until bedtime and simultaneously dreading the usual bedtime battle.  Days when the kids weren't the only ones yelling around our house.  Days when I wish I was done with diapers or potty training for good.

Continue reading this post at its new home on Sunshine and Spoons!

Fingerprints

I wrote this poem when Princess was 7 months old. She was obsessed with my glasses at that time and, much to Hubby's delight, was constantly touching them with her slobbery sticky little fingers.

Fingerprints
There's a fingerprint on my glasses
Just over my right eye
But I can't bring myself to wipe it away
Although it's blurring my sight
Because someday I will wish
That you were back in my arms again
Exploring the details of my face
With tiny fingers, so delicate and warm
Staring up into my eyes
With such a trusting gaze
It's especially in moments like this
I wish you would always stay
My baby girl, my tiny one
So soft, so small, so sweet
And yet, I can't wait to see you grow
Into a woman with the world at her feet
But for now, just stay with me
Let me rock you while we still have time
And when you leave fingerprints on my glasses
I pray they'll remind me that for now
You're still mine.


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Monday Randoms

When Star is crying or fussing, Little Man will go to her, rub her arm and tenderly say (in his sweet little boy voice), "You're okay, honey."  Melts my heart every time.

I love how Little Man says "Icky Mouse" instead of Mickey Mouse.  It reminds me of how Princess used to call Winnie the Pooh "Bear Poo".

Ever since I started potty training when Princess was 18 months old, I've always worried that someone would have an accident in their carseat.  It always seemed to me that it'd be terribly inconvenient and a hassle to have to dis-assemble a carseat and wash the cover which takes several hours.  On Friday, I discovered that I was right.  Thanks, Little Man!

Star figured out how to click her tongue the day after she had her tongue tie clipped.  The day after that, she figured out how to suck on her tongue which looks adorable since she purses her lips really hard to do it.

My little brother replaced the brakes, brake rotors, and windshield wipers on my minivan this weekend.  It may have cost an arm and a leg to purchase the parts, but not having to pay someone to do the repairs was a godsend.

And now, to complete this random posts, how about some random pictures?

Princess with her new violin.

Princess and her cousin rocking out at my brother and sister-in-law's open house this weekend.

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Tongue Tied

I'd mentioned before that Star was born with tongue tie or Ankyloglossia.  For those who don't know what that is, it's where the frenulum is too short and/or thick which restricts the movement of the tongue. 

Tongue tied!  The frenulum went all the way to the tip of her tongue and was very short.

Star was diagnosed with tongue tie while she was still in the hospital after being born.  She was unable to stick her tongue past her gums (which would put her at a distinct disadvantage should she ever have the need to stick her tongue out at someone, right?)  Because I chose not to breastfeed this time around, the tongue tie didn't cause any problems with feeding, but we still decided to get her tongue clipped (or have a "frenotomy" performed) at an early age.  I'd spoken with friends and family who had experience with it, and they all said to get it over with while she was still so little that it wasn't a big deal.  If we waited until she got older, the healing would probably take longer because she'd have teeth and her speech might already have be affected.

So yesterday, I took Star to the ENT specialist to get her tongue clipped.  My mom came along for moral support.  Star was tired when they began the procedure and so, when the nurse wrapped her up in the "papoose"  to keep her arms and legs still, she started smiling happily, thinking that she was being swaddled for a nap.  Then, instead of a pacifier, she got a cotton swab with a numbing gel pushed under her tongue and the smiles were gone.  I knew that the procedure itself was pretty painless, and that Star was screaming mostly because she was being held down, poked, and prodded, when all she wanted was a nap, but after a minute of watching her scream and fight the doctor and nurses, I was out of there with tears in my eyes.  My mom stayed in the room with her, which I really appreciated because I didn't want Star to be alone.

After a few agonizing minutes, they were done and I got to hold Star.  She really wanted her pacifier, but I had to hold a piece of gauze under her tongue for a few minutes to make sure that the bleeding stopped.

The doctor wasn't able to clip the tongue as far back as she normally goes since Star's tongue tie was so severe, but Star does have a much greater range of motion than she did before.

All in all, the whole thing wasn't really a big deal and was done quickly.  

Glad that's over with!


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Monday Randoms

This post is linked up at Not Inadequate.

I'm so glad that Little Man has learned the proper usage of "Excuse me".  Because, you know how when you're teaching kids their manners, you say, "Excuse you" to them when they burp or pass gas?  So when they're out with you in public and they burp or pass gas, they look at you and (accusingly, of course) exclaim, "Excuse you!"  And then, no matter how much you try to deny it, nobody believes you when you point to the kid and say, "It was him!"  Ummmm, awkward.

I've come to accept that I will not have privacy in the bathroom for the next few years thanks to small children.  As soon as I close the bathroom door, someone either barges in or bangs on the door repeatedly while screaming like there's a monster standing next to them with fangs bared.  Or, my personal favorite, when Princess body slams the locked bathroom door until it swings open with a bang.
But now, they've taken it to a new level.  I had no sooner closed the bathroom door the other day when I heard little footsteps running down the hallway.  I resigned myself to having company, but instead of coming in the bathroom, Little Man just opened the door and ran back to the kitchen to finish his lunch.  So apparently now, I'm not allowed to close the door.  Period.

Wanna keep a 2 year old busy for over an hour?  Hand him a pair of safety scissors and some scratch paper.  Then keep the vacuum on standby because he's going to cut that paper into such small pieces that it would take you 7 hours just to pick it all up off the floor.  Oh, and hide all important papers in your house because once a 2 year old gets scissor happy, every paper in your house will be shredded within a day and a half.

Armed and dangerous.

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Big News!

Haha, not that kind of big news.  Remember, I just had a baby 4 months ago.

Because parenting three children, babysitting two more, subbing at the local library, taking Princess to preschool and violin lessons, taking all three to ECFE and storyhour, and running my online children's boutique is just not enough to keep me busy.

HA!

Anyways, this has been a dream of mine for a while, but I finally took the plunge and figured out all the stuff I needed to know to get it off the ground.

I opened a shop to sell PDF patterns for children's clothing and accessories.  Right now, there are only two patterns for sale in my shop, but I'm working on MANY more and plan to add 1-2 new ones a month from now on.

You can find Little Owl Patterns on Etsy and Facebook.    

Want to become a pattern tester for Little Owl Patterns?  Email me at littleowlpatterns@yahoo.com with the ages/sizes of your children and a few sample pictures of your sewing.  If you have a shop of your own, include a link to it.  I just might feature you on the blog!



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The Many Faces of Little Man

Little Man is two year old and he is, simply put, "the most." 

The most happy.

The most angry.

The most energetic.

The most whiny.

Little Man's "angry" face

The most loud.

 The most quiet.

The most hungry.

The most full.

Little Man's "happy" face

The most excited.

The most afraid.

 The most brave.

The most talkative.

Little Man's "surprised" face

The most clingy.

The most independent.

 The most sleepy.

The most awake.

Little Man's "sad" face

You see, Little Man is two and he doesn't do anything halfway.  When he does something, he puts every fiber of his being into it.  There is no middle ground.  Sometimes, it makes parenting him extremely difficult and other times, it makes parenting him the most exciting, rewarding, entertaining thing ever.  See, he's rubbing off on me.
 

Little Man's "scared" face

I love this little guy to pieces and wouldn't change a single thing about him.  He is the most precious little boy on the earth to me.


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Potty Training-I Got It Right This Time!

Thanks to pressure and not-so-subtle hints from family members, I started potty training Princess when she was 18 months old.  The potty training went on for 18 long, agonizing months which were a total nightmare.  Finally at one month before her third birthday, she essentially potty trained herself.

I can tell you where I went wrong.

1. I listened to what other people were telling me to do with my child.  
2. I pushed Princess into starting the process before she was fully ready.  
3. I turned it into a battle which gave her an opportunity to dig in her feet.

When Little Man was born, I made a vow that I would not be repeating that first awful potty training experience.

Sleeping with "Brown Bear" from the Eric Carle book

So when Little Man was a year old, and I heard the whole "my kids were potty trained by the time they were 12 months old" spiel again, I smiled and let it go in one ear and out the other.  When he was 18 months old, and Hubby was concerned that I hadn't started potty training yet, I smiled and offered to let him take over the entire process.  When Little Man was almost 2, and someone pointed out how much money I could save on diapers by potty training him, I smiled and happily added diapers to the shopping list.  

When Little Man was 2 years and 3 months old, I decided to give it a try, mostly to prove to everyone else that he simply wasn't ready.  I was right, so I put the training underwear away again for a while.

Playing the guitar with Grandma

Then, I had a baby in September and the idea of potty training a toddler while taking care of a newborn really didn't appeal to me so I put it off even longer.  However, in late December, at the ripe old age of 2 years and 7 months, Little Man took the lead.  Every time, someone in the house went to the bathroom, Little Man tagged along to sit on the potty chair and within a short time, he was able to go every time he sat.  So, I unpacked the training underwear again and let him try them out.  I kept pull-ups on hand for leaving the house, naps, and bedtime (something most potty training experts say is a big no-no) and let him wear "big boy" underwear while we were at home.  It was rough for a few days with lots of accidents, but on day 4, it clicked and he started to take himself to the bathroom when he felt the urge.  By 3 weeks, with very little effort on my part, he was potty trained, night and day.  Pretty much painless and SOOOO much less stressful than potty training Princess.

I still put Little Man in pull-ups when we go out sometimes, but mostly because he had a setback when we were gone over the weekend last week and when he caught the flu.  For all intents and purposes, Little Man is potty trained.

*Insert big sigh of relief here.*   

  
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Star's First Road Trip

This weekend, we drove 6 hours, one way, to visit Hubby's sister's family and celebrate a nephew's birthday.  I was a little worried about traveling with a four month old especially since, when the older two were that age, they ended up screaming for at least part of the trip.

Sorry for the blurriness-phone picture taken in a moving car.

Star did awesome.  There was no more than a few minutes of fussing on the way there and less than 20 minutes of total crying on the way home.  She was the happiest when I took her socks off so she could play with her feet.

Little Man is just like his mama.  He's a homebody.  I remember when he was 4 months old and we were gone for a weekend.  One of the worst weekends I've ever experienced, by the way.  He screamed most of the time we were there and most of the 6 hour car ride to and from the relatives' house.  When we got home, I took him out of the carseat and laid him on the living room floor.  He may have been a small baby, but you could see the relief at being home all over his face.  For the first time in several days, he finally relaxed and was happy.

This weekend, I was getting Princess and Little Man ready for bed for our first night there.  When I tried to put Little Man in bed, he protested and declared that he wanted to sleep in his own bed.  I convinced him to go to bed that night, but the next day, he came up to me throughout the day to ask me when we were going home.  The second night was a replay of the first.   However, despite wanting to go home, he did have a good time playing with his cousins.

All in all, it was a good weekend except that I forgot my camera so I missed some good photo ops.  


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