Monday, January 25, 2016

Ella 7 Month Update

I've been terrible with updating my blog but I am determined to make more of an effort. Why? Because it's so much fun looking back on all of their pictures and reading my posts and what madness was going on in the past. This past 11th Ella turned 7 months old. With each month that passes, I get more and more sad. It means my baby is growing too fast and I get closer to having to return to work. I love working but if I could have it my way, I would stay home until they went to school and then return to work. BUT since I do not have a magic wand, I'm trying to already prepare my return to the world of adults and adult conversations. Where I need to get out of my pyjamas (thank goodness) and do my hair and makeup. Fraser laughs at me when we go to the grocery store and I do my makeup and hair. He says to me "you know where we are going right?". And my response is always "yes I do, but I'm not going to pass up on an opportunity to make myself look presentable!". 
Ella has a pretty funny personality already. She is definitely showing more of my personality than her fathers. Which means she is a bit of a fire cracker. She has zero patience and has tantrums if I don't pick her up right away or if I'm busy tending to Harper and not giving her attention. She does this grunt/growling noise to get my attention, which makes me laugh every time. She's also got the "resting bitch face" down to a T. Just like her mother. Every where we go, people are always like "Oh look at the stern face" or "my goodness you are a serious baby"..while I'm always thinking in my head "nope, my precious baby has inherited my resting bitch face". Yes, I said it. But my goodness is it not only adorable but freaking hilarious.
Harper and Ella are already best friends which is possibly the cutest thing ever. They both have a smile ear to ear when the other comes into the room. Harper's constantly giving Ella kisses and Ella is constantly grabbing handfuls of Harper's hair! 
Weight: I would guess about 16 and a half pounds. She was 15 lbs at 6 months. 

Breastfeeding: Still no changes, she does great. She can be a really distracted nurser which means I sometimes have to go somewhere quiet for her to nurse properly. 

Solid Foods: Her favourites have been butternut squash, pears, tomato sauce and apples (all of which I make homemade). She's also already enjoying chunkier baby foods like baby pasta. 

Sleep: Ugh, where do I start? To keep things short and sweet, she pretty much went from the BEST sleeper ever from birth until about 5 months old - to kind of the crappiest. It all started going down hill when she turned around 4 months old and the 4 month sleep regression kicked in. I managed to get over that hurdle and got her sleeping better until it was time to kick the bassinet and swaddle to the curb - why oh why can't they just sleep swaddled until their 12?! She then went from sleeping 7-10 hour stretches, to 3-5 hour stretches and then waking every 2 hours after that 3-5 hour stretch. I'm still doing the gentle method, the no-cry sleep solution. But man oh man are some days and nights hard. She also went from the nap champion to almost no naps at all during the day. How or why does this freaking happen I will never know. All I know is that I cannot wait until she is sleeping better. The one good thing is that in the middle of the night, after I've nursed her, I can almost always put her down awake and she drifts off to sleep on her own. So no super quiet ninja moves to get her down in her crib without waking her - only when I first put her to bed, that's when she seems to be a bit more fidgety. 

Crappy sleeper and all, she is seriously so stinking cute. She loves her momma and is the sweetest little sister ever. She is full of personality already and I cannot wait to see what she's like when shes Harper's age. 

Sunday, January 3, 2016

Sisterly Love

I have been obsessed with taking pictures of both the girls together. I love seeing how big they are getting and I want them to have these pictures to look back on when their older. It is very tricky to get both girls to cooperate but usually after I've taken about 30 pictures I get one or two decent ones. 

Here's my pictures of them together thus far, starting from when Ella was a brand new babe! 


These girls are the cutest ever! They honestly love each other so much. Harper cannot wait to see Ella first thing in the morning when we get her from her room. They both sit together on the floor and play with toys which is truly amazing to watch. I'm so excited that they will always have each other. Love my babies so much. 

Harper Turned Two

This little beauty turned two November 18th and I honestly cannot tell you where those two years went. It feels like just yesterday I had this chunky 6 month old curled up against me co-sleeping in my bed. Now she's this little lady with a whole lot of personality. 
I was a little emotional leading up to her birthday, just reliving her delivery and how scared and excited I was to finally meet her. I still remember the second I saw her for the first time and thinking "holy crap she looks just like me!". She was so chunky already, even though she weighed only 8lbs 4oz. I couldn't believe I was a mother, her mother. It was like I was dreaming! 

Her birthday party was Bubble Guppy themed since she's obsessed with that show. 

I could literally talk for hours about how smart, sweet and loving our Harper baby is. The things she says and does each and every day, continues to blow our minds. She knows her colours, numbers 1-10 and has the memory of a geniuse. You can tell her something once and she will remember the next day. 

She has a huge heart and loves snuggles with her favourite people. 

She's the best big sister to Ella and it warms my heart how much she loved her. Always by her side, bringing her a toy if she's crying or giving her kisses. 

I could not imagine a world without Harper in it. Fraser and I love watching her grow and learning new things every day. 

Here's some gorgeous pictures of Harper from Ella's 6 month/family photoshoot: