Hutch Marshall - 6 months

A whole half a year?! Seriously?!? I already have a hard time remembering what life was like without this sweet little guy. 

I thought Addie was the busiest baby ever. Till I met Hutch. He NEVER stops moving. There personalities are so strangely similar. He loves to talk, all the time, especially at 4 in the morning. I like to say he's defending his dissertation. He flings himself about to be sure he's seeing whatever is going on that might be interesting. On our recent beach vacation, he loved to watch the planes and helicopters fly over the ocean. He also turned toward the construction noises going on in our neighborhood. And four wheelers or tractors on the beach. I guess this stuff is born in baby boys??? 

He loves to laugh. And his belly laugh is amazing. Addie is the one who gets him laughing like no one else. He also loves to smile. And he will smile at anyone. But he is especially crazy about pretty girls. Seriously. I feel like I'm already apologizing for him ... sorry my baby is staring and grinning at you. He thinks you're cute. 

The sleeping is, sometimes, better. We thought the ear tubes would make a huge difference. They did, for his ears, but not so much for his sleep. The reflux has gotten worse and we've recently switched meds, again, and saw a GI at Children's Hospital. We are hopeful that the combo of finally getting over ear infections/off antibiotics, new reflux/colic meds and introducing solid foods is making a difference in the world of sleep. He's also (GASP!!) sleeping on his tummy, which seems to help. A good night is one in which we only have to get up with him a handful of times, plug him with the paci and he goes pretty quickly back to sleep. He's taking 3-4 naps per day, for about 30-45 minutes at a time. Still nursing seven to eight times a day.

Weight:  Somewhere between 17 and 18 pounds
Length: 25.5 inches

New things:

• Sitting up! He definitely has gained his balance. Still falls over occasionally, but is doing great. 
• Sleeping ... wait for it ... in his BED! We're trying to quit the swing, and I think we're getting close. He still sleeps on us some of the time ... well, at some point every day. When we were at the beach we, clearly, did not have a swing. We did, thankfully, have a king bed, so he slept with us some each night and in his bed some each night. Since we've been home, he's stayed in his bed each night. Hooray!
• Eating food! We were really gun shy about this since we had such a difficult time with Addie. We started her at 4 1/2 months in the hopes it would curb her reflux, but it backfired. So, we intentionally waited longer with him and skipped cereal to go straight to veggies. He's had a hard time adjusting - lots of crying. But I think after a few weeks he's finally getting the hang of it. So far, he's had green beans, peas, pears and prunes. Yummo.
• Smiling at pretty girls, as noted above. He LOVES "meeting" people.
• Sometimes resting his sweet little head on my shoulder when he's extra sleepy. My busy guy usually isn't down for cuddles, unless he's asleep.
• A pretty head! I think he's finally getting over his cradle cap as his self-inflicted wounds have been few and far between. 
• Going to the beach. He wasn't particularly impressed. Cried when I put his toes in the water. But he fell asleep nearly every time we sat near the ocean. Sounds quite a lot like his white noise machine.
• Going swimming. He cried the first time I put him in Grammie and Pawpaw's pool. But he really loved the pool at our resort, so maybe he'll like "swimming" soon.

Likes: 

• Mia and Izzy are high on his list. 
• His sister is way up there, too. He loves when she sings to him, makes goofy noises and faces, dances for him ... really, anything she does is amazing to him. He loves to laugh at her. 
• His momma. He's definitely developed a very clear preference for me. And he loves to make it known. Loudly.
• Chewing on his hands. His toes. Our hands. Our faces. 
• Giving "kisses," which is more like licking our faces. Likely in hopes of chewing on us.
• Bath time. 
• Knowing/seeing what's going on around him. All strange and/or loud noises need to be inspected immediately.
• His lovies. And his blankie.
• The library. He has started really paying attention and enjoying the class I take Addie to each week at the library. 
• Other kids and babies. I don't remember Addie being this interested this young, but perhaps because he has her to look at, he's naturally drawn to other children, too. 
• Pretty girls. I don't care whether he grows up to like girls or boys, but as of this moment, he's a ladies man for sure. 
• Being outside. 

Dislikes:

• Bottles are still usually a no-go.
• Being alone. Especially, being without momma. Particularly if he can see me and I'm not holding him. 

Addison Mae - 34 months

 

Two months till she's three. She had her official last day of Starbright ... and I might have cried. In my defense, both of her teachers did, too. She'll be on the preschool side of the children's area this summer and will start Warm World this fall. I'm so excited for all that means, but I'm pretty pitiful about it, too. She is so smart and constantly surprises me with the words she says or questions she asks. She is absolutely in love with her brother and tells me often that he's her best friend. While my mom and I had them at the doctor together recently, she about knocked my mom out to try to climb up to "save" her crying brother while he was getting his ears checked. She may look tiny but she is STRONG. And determined. Speaking of doctors, we're going on round two of ear infections since she lost one tube. I tried to interest the doctors in a two-fer tube placement session, but H's was serious enough we had to move really quickly. Otherwise, I'm SURE they would have taken me up on it. 

She LOVES to meet new people ... on an airplane, at the airport, on the beach, at the library, walking in to church. Wherever. And she has the sweetest little social skills. And the very best manners (when she wants to, mind you). Jordan and I are both fairly outgoing, but we've got nothing on this girl. She's forever telling me, "Mommy, I made a new friend!"

She was a superstar at her gymnastics recital, aka M&M party. She has learned so much and loves to show off. She also loved to boss all her friends in her class (imagine). She LOVED going to the beach with her family for a whole week. She was ecstatic to spend that much time with her daddy and pawpaw, especially, and kept reminding them that they didn't have to go to work. She squealed with delight when she saw the ocean and much preferred swimming in the ocean and playing in the sand to the pool. My brave girl loved riding the waves on a raft, too.

She may be a big girl, but she still says "Mommy, hold me" a lot, cries for me in the night when she's scared (or needs a drink, needs a blanket, needs a blanket removed, needs the fan on, needs the fan off, needs her humidifier ... etc) and needs my help for a lot of things. Thank goodness. Being a mom is hard, and my patience is often worn completely thin, or disappeared altogether ... but in my few moments of sanity, I realize how very precious it is to have two little people who depend on me so completely and love me so fully. I am so grateful to be their momma.

Weight: 29 pounds
Length: 36 inches

 New things:

• When helping give her brother a bath, asking why his parts are different than hers. I am honestly surprised it took five months for this to happen.  
• Going to the bathroom "by herself." Which means she removes her pants and underwear and leaves them approximately 12 miles from the bathroom, climbs up on the potty and then yells, "Moooommmmmmyyyyyyyyyyy."
• Practicing "school work" with her new preschool books. Homegirl is pretty awesome at number and letter recognition. She can draw both As and Hs, but in general holding and manipulating a pencil is a different story ... we're working on it. And I'm reminding myself that she's not quite 3. (Someone remind me I should never homeschool ... I do NOT have the patience for it.)
• Saying lots of funny things.
• When she says "I want to go with you" it sounds like "wish you." Makes my heart melt a little every time.
• On our beach vacation, we all started a 30 day ab challenge (perhaps to offset all the good food we were eating). She participated, of course, and calls it the "Firty Day Allange." So funny.
• Still says "I mam" instead of "I am." I hope she never gets it right.
• "That's cool"

Likes:

• Picnics. Which she doesn't realize usually happen outdoors. Ours are just on a blanket on the living room floor.
• Her (now two) inhalers. Weirdo. Just glad she's happy about them instead of fighting them.
• Coming to the finish line of two races I was running in to cheer for me. She does NOT care for the part where I won't stop and hold her ... you know, because I'm trying to finish. She has commandeered the medals from all my recent races.
• Martin Nature Park. To her, the tiny building with three specimens in it is pretty much the same as the Zoo (which she also loves). She loves feeding the giant turtles and catfish, too.
• Cooking with me. Especially if we're making chocolate chip banana bread or any type of cookie. When she helps me with onions, she always asks, "Will they make me blink, mommy?"
• Gymnastics. She loved her class, teacher, classmates. And was entirely obsessed about her "recital" at which they received M&Ms and a giant trophy. She proudly and seriously stepped right up on the podium, very first of the whole day, to receive hers. 
• Getting her face painted.
• Sidewalk chalking.
• Helping plant flowers. And watering abundantly, always including her own body.
• Giving Izzy her medicine.
• Swimming. And the beach. She keeps asking when we get to go back. 
• Balloons. 

Dislikes:

• Getting her ears checked. Or bubby getting his ears checked.
• Being away from her momma.
• Being told to do something she doesn't want to do. Or not to do something she does want to do
• Being told she needs help/can't do something on her own.