Thursday, September 28, 2017

Laney Turns 1!

Happy Birthday to our crazy little girl Laney! She got to celebrate her birthday twice - first early with her Uncle Michael, Aunt Melissa, and cousin Claire, then again on her actually birthday which my parents were able to visit for.  My brother had asked me if I wanted to come to Newark to celebrate Laney's birthday a little earlier in the month.  I suggested a breakfast party because breakfast is her favorite meal of the day and she is typically the happiest in the morning.  We ended up going to a delicious doughnut shop called Brick Alley Donut Company where they make the donuts in front of you - warm donuts where you choose the glaze, icing, toppings, etc.  It was a fun little shop with a kids reading area as well.  Laney had sugar all over her face - a sure sign she enjoyed her birthday treat.

Birthday girl with her cousin Claire and brother - waiting for donuts

Eating with Uncle Michael and Aunt Melissa

 After donuts, we went to Little Arrows Play cafe, just a couple of blocks away.  They had a great play area including a padded area more geared towards babies.  Laney was a bit intimidated at first and mostly clung to me.  However, she eventually crawled away to explore a little bit.  Will enjoyed the animals and Eliana enjoyed playing dress up and coloring.  We had a really fun and low key morning.  I feel like I am getting better and better at these first birthday parties, meaning ones that are fun for the actual birthday girl instead of just photo worthy.  Laney definitely had a good time and shed very few tears!




Laney's second birthday party occurred on her actual birthday.  My parents were lucky enough to be able to take the day off of work, and made a really quick trip to Columbus to join us in celebrating.  David was supposed to have the afternoon off work even though it was the middle of the week but unfortunately he ended up having to stay later than he expected.  We had carrot cake with cream cheese frosting (per David's request) to celebrate.  Laney loved the cake, but we made her quite mad when we wouldn't let her grab the lit candle. 



Mmmm, she loves it!
After cake were presents. 



Laney LOVES baby dolls.
Happy Birthday baby girl!





And I throw these on as bonus:
Look closely - see those dinosaurs showing through her birthday onesie? Haha, should I consider that a pro or a con of cloth diapering?

 David's birthday is just a few days after Laney's.  We celebrated with German chocolate cake.  It was a week filled with cake!

Goodness I love this man.  Look how sweet he is with his daughter!

Tuesday, September 26, 2017

Happy Birthday baby girl!

Our Little Laney Lu has turned one! What a busy, crazy year it has been!  She continues to be a toughest kid, and I have to admit I wasn't sure how I would make it through the year.  But here we are!  One year later from her crazy delivery (where I thought we just might not make it to the hospital) through her colic and not sleeping for 6 months, through many tears, both hers and mine, through all the adventures of our growing family.  She brings out the smiles and love with all that she meets. 

At her doctor's appointment, Laney weighed in at 20lbs 13 oz (65th percentile) and was 29.75in tall (70th percentile).  By comparison, Eliana was  21lbs 4 oz and Will was 21lbs 14oz at a year old.  She's still our "tiny" girl! Unfortunately at her one year check up, Laney also was diagnosed with Hand Foot and Mouth disease.  Poor thing!  I knew Will had it - he spiked a fever of 101 and has tons and tons of sores on his hands and feet and up his legs.  Luckily his mouth isn't too bad, which I remember being the worst when Eliana had it years ago.  However, I didn't realize that Laney also had HFM at the same time.  She was running a really low grade fever a couple of days ago (99.5 or so) but seemed fine.  Taking one look at Will though, and the pediatrician checked inside Laney's mouth and said, yep, she has it too!  She has a really mild case, and only has a couple of sores in her mouth that I had not noticed.  Surprisingly, she has handled it very well and hasn't acted sick.  That means, however, that we have to come back next week for her one year shots, when she is not fighting a virus. 

At a year, Laney is almost walking.  She cruises, stands on her own, and tries to take steps.  She is so close!  She has eight teeth, and says "mama," "dada," "moh" (more), and "shhh" (shoe).  She is still breastfeeding, and usually still gets up once in the middle of the night to nurse (driving me crazy!). She loves babies and baby dolls, music, playing peek-a-boo, playing in water or the bath, and her siblings.  She loves her dad best of all but will tolerate me as second choice.  She has the biggest grin but also the loudest screech.  If she doesn't like something, she will let you know it!  Laney is our pickiest eater.  I think unfortunately I have been too loose with letting her have sweets and treats (plus Eliana loves to give them to her).  Laney seems to think, why eat vegetables when I can have cookies? She likes cheese, fish, fruit, tofu, and carbs.  She loves eggs and cheese for breakfast and yogurt for snack.  When she doesn't like something or is done eating, she just throws the rest of her food on the floor.  She is still quite a handful!


She was in a good mood for her one year photos - we got some great shots!  And I even managed to get them without her siblings photo bombing, which doesn't happen very often.  She is just so sweet!

Sunday, September 17, 2017

Laney through the months

In preparation for Laney's first birthday, I guess it is time I finally catch up on her month to month pictures.  I haven't posted one since she was 4 months old!  I have taking them, but just not doing anything with them.  Time to fix that!  This is like a little walk down memory lane to get you ready for the big birthday.

Laney - 5 months old
This must have been a rough day - Laney's not even wearing pants.  Third child - pants are not necessary.



6 months
The pictures are getting harder.  Laney likes to wiggle and chew on everything! She started eating solids this month.  She loves rice cereal and is slowly warming to other flavors.  At her 6 month appointment, she weighed 16lbs 13oz (63%) and was 25.5in tall (31%).  At this appointment, she was referred to the ophthalmologist for being cross eyed.  She saw Dr. Jordan the following month (interesting fact - this is the eye doctor that comes to our NICU to check all the babies' eyes.  It was neat seeing her outside of work!).  The ophthalmologist said that she was not actually cross eyed.  She just appeared that way (pseudostrabismus) due to her wide nasal bridge and large epicanthal folds. She should just "grow into" her nose and outgrow the cross eyed appearance.



Will needed in. 
But then this happened...
 7 months
Laney is sitting up on her own.  She likes to eat, especially when she gets to hold her own spoon.  She has 4 very sharp little teeth.






 8 months
I remember this month being the one that I felt like Laney finally started sleeping better.  She would usually only wake up once or so in the night and even occasionally slept through the night. At 8.5 months, Laney started army crawling. She also said her first word - "Dada!" A little later she started saying "Mama"




 9 months
Another bad month for taking pictures. Looks like Will decided to get in on the action again.  At 9 months old, Laney started crawling and pulling up on things.  She loves to stand while holding onto any sturdy structure.  At her check up, she weight 19lbs 7oz (71%) and was 27.25in long (34%).


10 months

At 10 months old, I felt like Laney had a sleep regression and started waking frequently in the night again.  That was rough!


Hehe, looks like Laney is waving her fist at me, as if to say "Mom, why is he in this picture?"

This is what happens when a baby gets to feed herself yogurt.
11 months
Oh no, dress repeat! I didn't realize she wore that for her 7 month pics as well. Here is a picture of Eliana wearing that dress too! Must be a favorite. Laney has 8 teeth, sleeps terribly, and climbs on everything!




 
 So that's our year in review!

Friday, September 15, 2017

Dinosaur ride at the zoo

All summer the kids have been begging to go on the dinosaur ride at the zoo.  The zoo has a little 5 minute boat ride through some wooded area that changes themes year to year.  Last year it was a Pirate Adventure.  My kids had no desire to see that and in fact were scare to go back near the kangaroos because you could hear the booming cannons from the boat ride.  This year the theme is dinosaurs so they have really wanted to check it out. Unfortunately, all passengers must be old enough to walk in order to ride.  Which means we could not go on the boat ride until either a) Laney learned how to walk or b) David was able to join us at the zoo so one parent could hold Laney while the other went with the older two kids on the ride.  Last month, on an absolutely beautiful Saturday, we were all free and decided to go to the zoo to check out that ride! Unsurprisingly, just about every other person in Columbus decided to do the same thing.  Usually going to the zoo on a Tuesday morning, I was definitely not used to the crowds of a perfect Saturday afternoon....

We beelined it for the back of the zoo where the dinosaur ride was.  When we got there, the sign said "30 minute wait" but while we were standing in line for tickets, the sign was changed to "45 minute wait."  The kids were really set on finally going on the ride, so we decided to do it anyway.  They actually have a great set up for kids while they have to wait in line because every few few there is an animatronic dinosaur to look at.  We learned about paleontologists and the different eras that the dinosaurs lived in.
Here are some dinos that we saw along the way.


It's a nest!


We were in line for a long time!  I was really impressed though because neither Eliana nor William got whiney about the long wait.  They were both so excited about finally being able to go on the ride. (I guess having to wait all summer made this wait seem shorter!)  Which is really good because the 45 minute wait turned into over an hour wait... David though we were never coming back.

But we finally made it on the boat! The wait was worth it for me just to see the kids' faces.  Will said he wasn't scared, but he held onto my hand very tightly, and every time we came upon a new dinosaur (most were meat eaters with sharp teeth), he would squeeze my hand even tighter.




Look at Ana's face! I think she might have gotten nervous a couple of times too.
 We literally only had time to ride the boat and then turn around and go home.  But the kids might just say it was one of their favorite times at the zoo!