Love this girl

Laney and I have been in a bit of a battle lately.  She must be growing because all she wants to do is eat, eat, and eat in the evening.  She breastfeeds for a long time then falls asleep.  So, since she is asleep, I have the crazy idea that she should go lay in her crib.  She is in sharp disagreement with this idea.  When I lay her down, Laney realizes that she is starving and needs to eat for another hour or two before going to bed.  At first, I was getting frustrated because I wanted her to go to bed and stay in bed.  However, since that is not working, I have decided to embrace this time together.  Right now I am just counting on my evenings being spent sitting on the couch nursing.  Some of the chores that I usually do in the evenings have been neglected but Laney will only be little for a short, short time.  I can appreciate these snuggle sessions with my little sweetie because they won't last forever.  For now, Laney, you win this battle.  I'm all yours!

Pretty girl

I'm always encouraging Laney to roll over, so her siblings try to help her out any chance they get.

Toes! They are so exciting!

Sleeping beauty.  Look at those lashes!

Ice cream? Who's feeding my baby ice cream?

Love my Laney Lu

Wacky Weather

We have had some really strange weather this winter.  A couple of weeks ago, the temperatures were in the 50s and even hit 60 or more a few days.  My daffodils are starting to peek through the ground!  Those silly flowers don't realize that we have lots of cold weather to come and they shouldn't try to bloom yet.  After the spring weather, we had a little bit of snow (Eliana's favorite) and then the past couple of days have been very cold with a bitter wind chill.  What is going on?  In preschool on Thursday, Eliana learned about Groundhog's Day.  This year Punxsutawney Phil saw his shadow which is supposed to mean 6 more weeks of winter.  For some reason though Eliana got things mixed up and thought that meant spring was coming soon. She was in tears because she said we haven't had enough snow yet.  Even though I have enjoyed the warm days outdoors, I would have to agree with her.  What a wacky winter!

50 degree day means we took a walk to the park!  I love how much these two play together better.  Eliana loves to make up games and William loves to follow her lead. (sometimes...)

Then we had a 60+ degree day so another trip to the park.  The kids spent a good 1/2  hour running around the playground but then the rest of the time they were playing in the mud around the playground.  They found some tree branches to haul around.  Then they found a puddle to throw a bunch of rocks in.  Last, they found some mud to tromp through.  We finally had to leave to go home when William got his boots stuck in the mud and fell.  He was covered in mud from head to toe - literally!  When we got to the van, I made him strip down and ride home in just his diaper.  Good thing it was warm!  Then I threw him in the tub when we got home.  That was so much fun!  I was slightly inclined at first to tell the kids not to play in the mud because it was too messy.  I'm so glad I didn't and let them just be kids.  We had a blast and I laughed so hard when I pulled my dirty mess of a son out of the mud.  This is what childhood is for!

This cutie took a little nap in my lap in the sun.

When she woke up, we tried out the swing for the first time ever.

I think she liked it!

Looking for rocks to throw in the puddle.  This was a little before the great mud fall.

 A mere five days later, we were playing in the snow in our front yard!

First snowman of the season.

Eliana was so excited and so proud! Note William playing in the dirt in the background.  Typical Will.

Snowball fight.

Hopefully we get some more snow before spring.  We love it in this household!

Hanging with her brother

Laney is probably slow on the moving and rolling action because it is often not safe to leave her on the ground.  She is so loved by her big siblings that it can literally be smothering. 

Trying out some tummy time.  She tires of this quickly and asks (loudly) to be placed on her back.

She actually really likes her play mat and will reach for her toys and try to eat time.

...or eat her fingers

Hey! William's come to play! He starts kicking the play mat

After this he likes to try to roll her up in the mat.

It is so sweet how much William and Eliana like playing with Laney.  Sometimes they don't realize that she isn't as strong as them though and it gets a little rough.  That's when I swoop in and pick Laney up.  I love those little kids!

Laney at 2, 3 and 4 months old

Since Magdalena is now over 4 months old, it seems only fair that I finally post her monthly updates.

2 Months
Laney weighed in at 12lbs 12.5 ounces (75%) and 22.75 in (50%) - she finally grew taller.  At one month, she was 29th percentile for height, so I am glad to see that she is getting a little longer.  I suspect she will be our littlest child.  By comparison, at two months, Eliana was 13lbs and 23.5 in long  while William was 13 lbs 14.5 ounces (!!) and also 23.5in long.  Laney did great at her two month check up with her shots.  She continues to have great head control.

She really started smiling socially around 7 weeks.

3 Months
At three months, we did not have a check up, so I am not quite sure on her stats.  According to the very technical process of standing on the scale and then standing on the scale with Laney and finding the difference, I weighed her at around 14lbs.  Then, according to Eliana's Doc McStuffins' growth chart, she was around 24in long.  Her big event for three months was getting baptized! At three months, Laney is sleeping a little better - usually she starts with a good six hour chunk of sleep.

Looks like I didn't get any great pictures for the three month shot.  Probably because I had too many helpers. 

She has a big scratch on her nose from me - I'm a bad mom!  Poor thing cried so hard when I scratched her with my nail.

Poor Laney.  She can't hardly get a moment to herself.

4 Months
Time for another check up.  Laney was 14lbs 12 oz (60%) and 24.5in long (48%).  She is hanging right around average.  In comparison, Eliana was 15lbs 7 oz and 26in long while William was 16lb 12 oz and 25.5in long. Can you believe how big my other kids were? Little Laney Lu is so petite in comparison.  All went well with her check up.  She rolled over for the first time this month!  Belly to back, three times in a row.  But then she hasn't done it since, silly girl.  I have yet to see her roll from her back to her belly, but she does roll on her side.  She recently discovered her tongue and really thinks it is awesome.  She like to suck on it all the time (in fact, she almost prefers that over the pacifier).  She also started to hold things in her hands and really likes to bring them to her mouth to suck on.  She has several sets of baby keys and LOVES to chew and suck on those.  She also has a big rattle that we carry around a lot.  Last Sunday at church she was holding it.  She started waving her arm around and ended up whacking herself in the face, which made her pretty mad.  I couldn't help but laugh a little because she was just so surprised that she had done that.

More photo help

I only got two pictures on the chair before my "helpers" were throwing blankets over Laney's face and laughing.  In the pictures below, I am literally sitting on William with Eliana climbing on my back, trying to get some shots with just little Miss here.  At least the craziness got some smiles out of her.

Classic Laney half smile.

See that cute dimple?

Another Laney classic - sucking on her bottom lip.

Sucking on her tongue that she loves.

 I feel like Laney's sleep has gotten a little worse lately.  We are back to a lot of crying in the evening with lots and lots of nursing.  She typically eats non stop from 8pm to 11pm or midnight.  She has very little interest in her pacifier.  Nothing seems to comfort her at that time except nursing.  If you try to hold her and rock her, she just spits out her paci and throws her head back crying.  David calls her the "Daddy Slayer" because we get so very little sleep.  She amazes me because she is so happy and smiley at times but then just cries so much at other times.  I love when I come home from work because she greats me with the biggest smile that just melts my heart.  It spreads across her whole face.  Who wouldn't want to come home to a greeting like that?  But then she just loses it and starts screaming like we are trying to murder her.  Laney is a very emotional girl and likes to express her opinions.  But just when we are on the brink of death from exhaustion, Laney will sleep 10 hours at night, totally out of the blue.  Sometimes she is our worst sleeper and sometimes she is the best.  This girl is crazy.   

Missing the snow

While we have been enjoying the unseasonably warm weather lately, I know one little girl who has been badly missing the snow.  Winter is Eliana's favorite season, and every time it rains in winter, she asks why the clouds are confused.  Don't they know it is supposed to snow in winter and not rain?  During the summer, it can take a little convincing to get Eliana to go outside.  She would much rather sit on the couch and play with her toys than go outside when it is hot (unless we are going swimming).  However, when there is snow outside, you can hardly get dressed fast enough, she wants to go out so bad.  She will stay outside for hours, saying she is not cold, playing and eating the snow.  This was the first real snowfall we had in December.  She took her brother outside and played while Magdalena and I watched from the window.

Dressed for the snow

William eating snow

We are staying warm inside

Handsome!

And my wet, rosy cheeked children have come inside for hot chocolate. 

A trip to the doctor with William

We have discovered why William has been sleeping so poorly the last few nights.  He has had a cold/cough and has woken himself up several times coughing at night, but then he started waking up just crying.  Two nights ago, Laney actually slept 8 hours in a row (midnight to 8am) but during that time, William woke up twice.  I just can't catch a break.  So after this went on for three nights, I took William in to the pediatrician.  It turns out he has strep throat.  That's a new one for us - he's had lots of ear infections, but not strep throat yet.  Currently I have us quarantined until the antibiotic has a chance to kick in.  Luckily the weather was so nice this weekend that it didn't matter so much that we couldn't go anywhere but the backyard.  Here's hoping the antibiotic gets him sleeping better too.

William has been, as our health insurance dubs it, a "high utilizer of healthcare services."  He has had eczema since he was a little baby.  He been on antibiotics several times for severe ear infections.  Then this past fall he went to see an allergist.  For a while, William was throwing up all the time, usually three or more times a week.  He wouldn't act sick or be running a fever.  He would just out of the blue throw up every bit of what was in his belly.  At first I would keep him home and thought he had gastroenteritis.  But when it kept happening over and over without other signs of illness, I figured it had to be something other than a GI bug.  David and I both suspected he had some sort of food allergy that was making him throw up (he also occasionally got a blotchy red rash after eating but we could never pinpoint what food was causing it).  I thought it was eggs and stopped giving those to him.  However, that didn't seem to help.  At his two year check up, I mentioned this constant throwing up to his pediatrician.  She noted that he appeared healthy and was not failing to thrive despite the vomiting.  She still ordered a blood test for food allergies. 

A couple days after the blood work, a nurse called me with the results.  She was quite worked up and said that William's test showed that he had multiple food allergies including milk, wheat, corn, soy, walnuts, peanuts, eggs, and several others that I can't remember.  I was overwhelmed!  He was allergic to everything he liked to eat - what in the world was I going to feed him? I asked the nurse what I should do and she advised me to stop feeding him everything that came back positive on the test.  I said, "Well, what's left?  What can he eat??"  She replied that he was not allergic to shellfish ... Great.  So I guess we will start eating shrimp for every meal.  The nurse also said the doctor had put in a prescription for an epi pen for William along with a referral to an allergist.  I had David pick up the epi pen (at quite a hefty price) but I did not stop feeding Will.  He was allergic to too many things.  We decided that since he had not had a bad reaction to any food such as hives or swelling, we would just wait for the allergist to advise us.  I spent the next month reading food labels and thinking of all the things William wouldn't be able to eat.  The ingredient I was most surprised about was corn.  I didn't think that would be in many food, but you wouldn't believe how many things have corn syrup in them.  I felt a lot of compassion and empathy for parents of kids with severe food allergies.  What a stressful way to live!! How could you send your child to school or to a birthday party?  How could you ever eat out of the house?  It was an eye opening experience.

When we saw the allergist, they did a skin prick test for 30 of the most common allergies, including the 10 foods William has already been tested for.  Poor guy was so mad at me.  I hated holding him while the nurse stuck his back several times.  Five minutes into the test, here is what his back looked like. 

Do you see all the raised red dots?  I thought, oh geez, he's allergic to everything!  But when the doctor looked a him, he pointed out the three largest dots and said those were the only ones that were big enough to count as "true" allergies.  So William is allergic to grass, mold, and peanuts.  The peanut allergy is fairly mild and since William has tolerated eating peanut butter, the doctor said we should continue to give him peanuts.  In fact, it would be best for him to be exposed to peanuts often to help him outgrow the allergy.  Otherwise, William has multiple food "sensitivities" but no other true allergies.  I felt so relieve.  The allergist was also happy that I had not cut any food out of his diet because sometimes it can be harder to reintroduce things once they have been removed. 

So why the throwing up?  The allergist said he could have a specific esinophilic esophogitis that would require GI to scope him to diagnose, but it seemed unnecessary.  While the throwing up is annoying and messy, as my ped had pointed out, he is growing fine.  Most likely it is something he will outgrow.  Which by this point he basically has.  William still has a very high gag reflex.  If he eats too much, coughs hard, or chokes just a little on something, he will throw up and usually throws up a lot!  But the number of instances of vomiting has greatly diminished.  I feel bad now that we put him through so many tests for something that he outgrew within the year.  Hindsight is 20/20.

Our crazy little Will - he always keeps us on his toes. 

The current state of sleep at our house

Here is an example of a slightly worse than usual but not that uncommon of a night of sleep in this house:

Last night we managed to have all three kids in bed by 7:30pm.  I knew it was too good to last, so I snuck in a quick nap on the couch.  At 8, Laney woke up.  Amazingly, after nursing, she went back to sleep pretty quickly.  Bed before 9pm is a very early night for her.  Once she was down again, I cleaned up the kitchen and got ready for bed.  David and I were in bed by 9:30pm, which is a really early night for us.  At 11, Laney woke up.  David went in to rock her to sleep.  At midnight, William (who has a cold right now) woke himself up by coughing.  I went in there and took a few minutes to comfort him and get him to go back to sleep.  He woke up again at 2:30am.  This time he was really upset for some reason, and it probably took me 20 minutes to get him to settle down and finally fall asleep.  At 4:30, Laney woke up again to nurse.  After nursing, she fell asleep and I put her to bed. She immediately woke up and started crying.  So we played this game on and off for the next thirty minutes.  At 5:20, David's alarm goes off and he gets up to get ready for work.  I'm still with Laney.  At 5:40, Eliana comes in Laney's room and tells me she's ready to get up and have breakfast.  I tell her that despite the fact that her father is showering, it is not morning time, it is the middle of the night, and she needs to go back to bed.  Eliana heads back to her room but 5 minutes later she is up, insisting that she can't sleep and that she is ready for breakfast.  So I pass the girls off to David and head back to bed myself.  At 6, David brings Laney back to me to nurse.  Then she finally falls asleep.  At 6:15, David goes to work.  I tell Eliana she can stay up, but she has to sit on the couch reading books until it is morning time.  I sleep like the dead from 6:15 until 7am, when William comes in my room to let me know he is ready for breakfast.  Looks like it's time for the day to start.

I realize this probably isn't that unusual for any mom of three kids 5 and under, but I really struggle with it sometimes.  It's like those kids conspire against me at the beginning of the night.  They make a plan of each waking up at different hours to ensure I never get too many hours of sleep in a row.  I just remind myself that this is just a stage and that eventually I will get to sleep again...

She's so stinkin' cute!  Good thing or I would almost not want to keep you...