Little Sprout Vs the Pancake

Five Months

Where does the time go?!  And why don't five months go by this fast when I am pregnant?!  Little Sprout has been growing like crazy, and I'm pretty sure I don't like it one bit!
So, what has the little lady been doing in her fifth month of life?  Well, she started eating "solids", much earlier than any of my other three did.  So far she has had the prerequisite rice cereal of course, carrots, bananas, pears, green beans, and peas.  She has also dabbled in whatever we are eating - pancakes, sandwiches, and mashed potatoes have been gnawed to mush by her toothless little mouth.  The kid loves to eat!
Physically, the girl is way ahead of schedule and scaring me just a little with her attempts to be mobile.  She can already get up on her hands and knees, rocking back and forth until she lurches forward.  I see crawling in the not-too-distant future.  It's crazy - she can't even sit up unassisted yet and still is practically mobile!  I love her little fat rolls - Little Sprout now weighs a solid 14.2 pounds.  Give her a couple more pounds and she will have doubled her birth weight.
Also, this past month we switched Little Sprout from 'sposies to cloth diapers.  She now sports a brightly-colored gDiaper wherever she goes, and I must say she looks awfully cute in them.  (She's got the red one on in the pictures).  We changed over to cloth for a variety of reasons, but mostly I am trying to save us some money.  The gDiapers make the transition much easier than I thought, and since I do laundry every day anyway, washing diapers is not a big deal.
Oh, and (knock on wood!) Little Sprout is finally starting to sleep for longer stretches of time at night.  In fact, the last three nights, she hasn't awakened until 4:00 am to feed - a feat that this very tired momma is so thankful for.  Let's hope it continues!
Happy Five Months, baby girl!

One Third of One Year

That's the amount of time we have been blessed to have this cutie hanging out with our family. Like her middle name, she surely does bring us a lot of joy! I am in awe some days that God found me worthy to be her mama. And then there are the days in which she screams pretty much all day, and there is no awe, no joy, no wonder at it all. Ha!

At four months old, Little Miss Sprout weighs about 13 1/2 pounds and is one chunky monkey. She is working hard on maintaining that double chin and her adorable squishy thighs by eating all the time and keeping her mama busy. I am pleased to say that I am still nursing her, which feels like a great accomplishment after failing miserably with both boys.

Her favorite activities include eating her fists and her feet, which she discovered a few weeks ago. She also loves watching her siblings play and enjoys beebopping around in her exersaucer. Daddy has discovered that our newest little is very ticklish, and we get such a kick out of hearing her little cackle. The girl never stops moving, I tell you! Even in her sleep, she scrambles all over her crib and ends up snoring on her tummy. And yes, I know it's "Back to Sleep" but what is one to do when her baby automatically flips over onto her tummy every time she is laid down?

Little Sprout definitely looks interested in the food that I serve up to the rest of the family; so perhaps in her five-month report, I'll be sharing all about her reactions to "people food." Until then, she can slow it down a little! I am in no hurry for my baby to get older!

Bed Ninja

I don't pretend to be talented at many things. My skills as a housekeeper leave a lot to be desired. I have never been able to complete a cartwheel successfully. I'm terrible at video games - my three-year-old can beat me every time. I have no balance whatsoever, and it took me a long time to be comfortable as a driver. True story.

However, I do have one skill that I have mastered quite well. I began practicing this talent way back when our first offspring made her appearance into our lives. I can confidently say I am now a master at the art of bed ninja.

Being a bed ninja definitely takes practice, a lot of finesse, and hopefully a bed that doesn't squeak too much. It is helpful to do practice bed ninja runs during the day when the moves are not as critical. At nighttime, though, being a bed ninja is absolutely crucial to getting any sort of sleep whatsoever.

You must begin using your bed ninja skills immediately after you have fed the baby. Gently burp the baby if necessary and watch for eye movement. If her eyes even flutter in the slightest, hold her close, wrapped in a warm blanket, while you plot your path back to the crib or bassinette. Carefully ease yourself off the bed and walk heel-toe to the place of baby sleeping. No tiptoeing - it always ends up in tripping or awkward squeaking. The next move is difficult to explain, but I am sure many of you are talented pros at it. You must lower the baby into the crib while simultaneously wrap her in a warm blanket. When baby is lying comfortably asleep in the crib, strategically position the pacifier on the mattress close to her head and walk quietly back to bed.

Now comes the tricky part. You must get back into your own bed, settle yourself comfortably under the sheets, and do all of this without making a sound. I know this because the slightest bed squeak or rustle will immediately awaken my precious sleeping cherub. And once awake, she will howl loud enough to raise the dead. In fact, the other night the Nerd used his decibel reader on his phone (I told you he was a nerd!) while she was screaming, and our little vocalist clocked in at 102 decibels! But I digress - I only share this information to help you realize how vital bed ninja skills are in this house.

I would guess it takes me about five minutes to silently slip under the covers, adjust my pillow and blanket, and let out the breath I've been holding for that long. It takes another five minutes while I lie still as can be, waiting to be sure I did not disturb the Princess of the Night.

Sometimes being a bed ninja requires other, more advanced movements. These may be needed when I get up to put the baby in her bed and return to find the Nerd has filled the vaccuum left by myself. It is very tricky to move a large sleeping man without making any noise and without strangling him, as I am often tempted to do in my delirious, sleep-deprived state. I also have to employ the stop-snoring-right-now technique when the Nerd decides to let the entire world know that he (not his wife!) is getting plenty of rest that night.

The one bed ninja skill I have yet to learn is dealing with small, extremely noisy children that come bursting through the bedroom door demanding water or another blanket or some other such thing. Despite flying up out of bed in an admittedly awesome kung fu move to stop them, I have never been quite fast enough to keep them from waking the baby.

Okay, I'm done bragging now. I'm sure all of you mamas out there have some great bed ninja moves of your own, whether it be pirouetting past a stray Lego on the floor or muffling the sound of a flushing toilet.

P.S. I need to teach the Nerd my bed ninja skills. He possesses none of them. The end.

Dear Fisher Price

Dear Fisher Price,

Apparently I am a difficult child to entertain these days. I have the cutest pink bouncy seat, but generally I am pretty fussy in it. Don't bother to turn on the vibrate option - that really gets on my nerves and I will let out several piercing screams to let everyone know just how much I don't like it. My parents got me a swing because swings were a "godsend" when their other children were babies. It's okay, I guess. If all my toys are lined up on the bar just right and the insanely annoying music is NOT turned on, I might enjoy my time in the swing for five or ten minutes. Then I get carsick and make sure Mom knows it's time to remove me from the swing.

My parents are not the brightest people on the planet. It takes them a while to figure out the right things for me. I don't know why because I try to let them now as loudly as possible what the wrong things are. They did finally figure out that I do like to be upright as much as possible, leading them to get me one of those Bumbo seats. It's fine and all, and I do like looking around and watching my siblings argue and throw Hot Wheel cars down the stairs. Only thing is, my neck can't support me for very long and I grow tired of the Bumbo seat quickly.

So Friday night Mom and Dad went to Toys R Us to scout out birthday present possibilities for my older brother. While there, they decided to go check out the baby section to see if possibly there was still some entertainment option left for me. Dad was talking animatedly about exersaucers. Hello?! Remember the whole my-neck-can't-support-my-head-for-very-long issue? Then they saw your Discover and Grow Kick and Play Piano Gym. I was immediately very interested in the bright colors of your product. Dad remembered some cute time in the bathtub when I was kicking my legs a lot and giggling so he thought I would like this piano gym. (I don't specifically remember this moment as I have a lot of cute moments.)

Anyway, my mom, cheapskate that she is, immediately looked at the price and said no way. (And really, Fisher Price? I mean I really wanted that piano but even I thought $55 was a bit steep.) Dad saw a sign that stated the piano gym was on sale for ten dollars off. Mom suddenly remembered that she might have a coupon for it and dug out her embarrassing coupon notebook to look. Now they were looking at a $40 piano gym. Wouldn't you know it, my parents stood there for twenty minutes debating whether or not to buy that piano gym?? If they had just taken a moment to look at this face,

they would have purchased it right away. But thankfully they finally did decide to buy it (whew!) and I got to play with it the next day.

I'm not sure what my favorite part of my new toy is. The mirror makes me laugh, and I think the animal rattles are adorable. I could just eat them up! (and I try to, on a regular basis...) My brothers and sister love to watch me pound out a tune on the piano with my feet, no doubt wishing they had such talent. Oh, and when I accidentally roll over? My mom can just lay the mirror and toys down and I get some valuable "tummy time,"' whatever that is.

So thank you for saving my desperate parents and for giving me something that is actually fun to play with. (Yes, I know I'm not supposed to end my sentences with prepositions, but give me a break. I'm only three months old!)

Keep up the great work!

Sincerely, the Drama Princess

****no, I was not contacted by Fisher Price to endorse/do a review on this product and certainly was not compensated in any way (although, FP, if you're interested, I really want that musical dino!). We simply want other desperate parents to know there is hope out there. And it is worth every dollar.****

Tres Cute

Well, the Little Sprout officially turned three months old yesterday. Don't ask me where the time went, but our little sweetheart seemed to turn into a "not-very-newborn-anymore" overnight! I am trying to enjoy every second of this all-too-brief phase in her life.

She weighs in now at a little over twelve pounds; so she is still mostly sporting clothing in the 0-3 month range. The sweet knitted cape in the photos was made especially for her by a dear lady in our church.

We have many pet names for our newest family member, but lately I've taken to calling her "Fuss-Bucket" and "Chunk-Bucket." She can be quite the cranky one, especially at 5:00 pm and following. A few mild cries will quickly turn into wall-shaking screams if she is not attended to immediately. She really isn't happy unless she is surrounded by family that is paying attention to HER. We may have to rename her the "Drama Princess" for blogging purposes. As for "Chunk-Bucket," the poor babe spits up. A lot! She eats and is hungry an hour later because she spit up most of what she ate. We have been having to supplement with formula to help her with this. It took several brands, but apparently Similac Sensitive is doing the trick, at least for now.

As I mentioned in the last post, Little Sprout is now rolling over and doing it all the time. Many times it is to get some toy she can't quite reach. The girl loves her toys, in particular a giraffe rattle and some musical car keys. Although, she is currently shaking her fist at the giraffe and screaming, so I am not sure if that happy relationship will continue.

I love this age, even with the extra fussing and spitting. The smiles and constant baby chatter make it all worth it. happy three months, Fuss-Bucket!

Warning: Cuteness Overload

Thanks for all the prayers and kind thoughts. As a whole, we are doing much better. We are still waiting on test results, though, so until we get those, sweet Hosanna has to keep taking the bottle while I pump. So not fun.

Meanwhile, I realized that I had 172 pictures on my phone - apparently I use it a lot more than our actual camera to capture moments around the house, especially of our new addition. Here's a few (okay, more than a few!) pics of little miss Hosanna Joy to show how much she's grown over the past month:

*waiting at the hospital in January to have an ultrasound to test for hip dysplasia*

*first smile at just a month old*

*love this face*

*getting ready for church at one month old*

*playing with Daddy - of course she adores him*

*another church photo (and the lock screen on my phone, I love it so much)*

*she is definitely not a leave-her-in-the-swing-or-bouncy-seat baby - she wants to be with me. all the time. so here she is in the laundry basket...*

*found these antennae at the store on clearance and couldn't resist*

*trying on her piggy hat*

*hooray for the bumbo - she loves to be upright due to her stomach issues so the bumbo works wonders for us*

*just last night, after she screamed for an hour and I couldn't get her to calm down. We finally put her in a warm bath, and this was the instant result.*

I promise not to make every post about the baby; in fact, I'm working on some "interviews" with the other three kids, and maybe I'll worm in something about the Nerd too. Still, these pictures are just too cute to not share with the world, am I right?

Is It Two Months Already?!

Little Sprout celebrated two whole months of life in the Foster family on February 11. As an indication of her excitement, she offered up this crooked and completely adorable smile. We have been on the receiving end of a lot of these smiles lately. And our little bug started giggling this past week as well. She only does it for me, which I'm not hatin'.

At two months, Miss Sprout:

1) weighs 10 lb 13 oz.

2) measures 24 inches long!

3) wears mostly 0-3 month clothing, including the wicked cute jeggings with buttons you see here. :)

4) has mostly blonde hair on top and mostly dark hair in the back. very mulletish...

5) adores her new swing that her mother bought off Craigslist in a moment of desperation when the old swing died. (baby swings are not optional with colicky babies!)

6) hates clean shirts on Daddy, apparently, and makes all haste to adorn them with slobber and spit-up.

7) seems especially fond of he big brother the Beast. He gets the biggest smiles and coos anyway.

8) likes to "talk". a lot.

onward to one quarter of a year!

One Month

Well, I forgot how much a newborn changes the routine and schedule of a family. I forgot how many times I have to stop whatever activity I'm engaged in to feed her and change her. Homeschooling and housework and kid time have to fit in around her schedule. So suddenly, computer time is not so much a priority. Still, I have to find time to make sure all the important moments are recorded. So, a week late, I present to you our one-month-old:

Like her big brother Spud, she is very much a morning person and quite cranky in the evenings. She is already developing her own personality, amusing and delighting us with the cutest facial expressions. Little Sprout weighs a little over ten pounds at one month old and is filling out 0-3 month clothing well. Sadly all the newborn outfits have been already tucked away.

I am trying my best to relish every moment of the "littleness" as I know it will fast be replaced by toddler chubbiness. :)

Hosanna Joy's Birth Story

Okay, so it took me a while to get this posted - a month after the sweet baby girl was born, in fact. But here it is - the story of the arrival of baby number four to our family.

When my estimated due date came and went, I posted this picture on Facebook. I was so ready to have that baby! The nights were miserable with painful Braxton Hicks contractions, and the days were endless. I had not been able to make any firm commitments to attend any of the various Christmas functions we had been invited to since we had no idea when Little Sprout finally would make her appearance. The day after my due date, I attended a Ladies' Christmas Ornament Exchange Party for my church and stopped counting how many people asked, "Oh so you haven't had that baby yet?"

On Friday evening (December 9), after doing several laps at the mall and Target and only ending up with swollen ankles and an aching back, I saw online that there was going to be a lunar eclipse in the early morning. Not only that, but a full moon was scheduled for that Saturday night. I'm by no means superstitious, but both of my boys had been born during a full moon - so I was hopeful. Unfortunately, it was entirely too foggy in our area to view the lunar eclipse that morning. I had even set my alarm for 4:00 am to see it! That morning, I could barely move because I was experiencing some intense lower back pain. I had had this pain off and on during the pregnancy. I was bummed because I wanted the pain to at least be productive contractions! We decided to go out with the kids for a little while, but I was exhausted and hurting. The back spasms kept coming and I just wanted to go home and sleep. Our Sunday School class had a Christmas party scheduled for that evening. We had not planned on going because we thought Little Sprout would have arrived by then. I didn't really feel like going but thought it might be distracting and help keep my mind off the whole "when is this baby going to come?"

While dropping the kids off at childcare before heading to the party, the back spasms started getting much more intense. I could barely breathe when they came, nearly doubling me over with pain. A friend suggested that I might be in labor, but since I had never experienced back labor with my other babies, I was reluctant to think this might be true. I was also really tired of false labor! At the party, everyone was merrily eating and talking. I could barely take a bite before I would feel that "stabbed in the back" pain, and I would have to sit there and force myself to breathe through it. The Nerd convinced me to start timing the back spasms, in case it really was labor. They started becoming very regular, about ten minutes apart and lasting forty seconds to a minute. I still insisted on staying at the party for the gift exchange :) At this point, I was having trouble focusing on anyone or anything. We left the party and went to pick up the kids. Although I was against it, the Nerd called the hospital to let them know I was in labor. By this time, the contractions were 8 minutes apart, but I was sure the nurse was just going to tell me to wait it out until they got closer together before coming in to the hospital. However, she told us to come in right away.

My in-laws came and got the kids, and we headed in to the hospital. While walking to the labor and delivery floor, I had to stop every couple of minutes and work through a contraction. I remember thinking that I had never experienced such painful contractions in either of my previous deliveries. I looked out the window while we were checking in and noticed the full moon. It wasn't long before the nurses had me settled in a room and hooked up to the monitors and IV. The Nerd started setting up his cot and letting people know I was in labor. We knew from previous babies that my labors were long, so there was no need to rush things. The midwife came in to check my cervix and announced, to my great shock, that I was 8 cm dilated and would be delivering the baby within the next couple of hours! Everything started happening so quickly at that point. I asked if I could still get an epidural to help with the back pain. The anesthesiologist told me that he could give me an epidural but that it wouldn't be able to take full effect since I was so close to delivering. It took him two tries (ouch!) but he finally got it in. At that point, any relief from the back pain was welcome! Apparently Little Sprout was positioned right up against my tailbone and the pressure was causing the back spasms. At midnight, I was ready to push, and after 45 tiring minutes of pushing, this adorable little girl came into our lives and stole our hearts instantly:

I wasn't able to hold her right away. Her lungs had a lot of fluid in them; so she had to lay flat in the warm bassinet for a while in order for her muscles not to work so hard to breathe. But oh! When they finally placed little Hosanna Joy in my arms, my heart swelled with happiness as I looked at my brand-new daughter.

She looked just like a girly version of our Spud. Her head of dark hair amazed and delighted us.

The Nerd was instantly smitten - another Daddy's girl has joined our family!

When the siblings were able to come visit later that morning, the Beast would not leave her side. The others got distracted by flashing buttons and curtains and nurses that gave them ice cream. The Beast held his little sister with great pride and showered her with kisses.

The Spud was pretty excited too! Look at that face!

We had an amazing stay at the hospital - our nurses were wonderful and everything went so well. But we were more than ready to take our newest addition home that Tuesday morning. She fits into our family like a glove - now just a month later and none of us can imagine our family without her.

Welcome, Hosanna Joy! Our family was not complete until you arrived, and now our lives are even more full of joy. :)

Newborn Sweetness

Sometime between one sleepy feeding and another stealthy diaper change last night, I looked down at our sweet Anna and realized that the newborn look was starting to fade away. At that moment, I groggily determined that I would find some time the next day to capture that "new baby" look before it disappeared. (Now if only there was some way to capture that new baby scent!) After a long morning nap, Hosanna was in a good mood; and I quickly pulled out the camera for a photo session:

I honestly can't get enough of her! She has been kissed and cuddled endlessly by all the members of our family, although I am pretty sure Daddy would win the prize for person-most-infatuated-by-the-new-baby. I am so glad I was able to catch some of those cute little newborn expressions on camera!

Best. Christmas. Ever.

This Christmas was definitely a little chaotic. But I consider it our best Christmas ever. (so far, of course.)

Because the kids took such care in making and selecting their cookies for Santa. And because I got to watch them anticipate the magic of Christmas in a way that only a child can.

Because they posed in their new Christmas jammies. (And because this year I think we got the cutest ones yet!)

Because we were blessed with an abundance of loot. :) And because it helped wile away the last days of pregnancy by choosing the best wrapping paper and eagerly anticipating the kids' reactions to all the gifts we chose just for them.

Because we could take time to sit down and remind ourselves of the real reason behind Christmas. And because it's such a powerful story - I can read it to the kids all year long and remind them that although Santa's a lot of fun, Jesus changed the world that night!

Because we got new matching Christmas stockings for the kids this year. (see Hosanna's peeking out behind the Spud?) And because I got to see the simple joy on my kids' faces as they pulled out Christmasy chapsticks and "grown-up" electric toothbrushes.

Because, this year, the Spud really "got it." He ripped into each present with great excitement, screeching what it was at the top of his lungs. Because he was the first to check to be sure that Santa had eaten his cookies and drunk his Pepsi.

Because my sweet girl showed genuine appreciation for each gift. ( and took this cute little fellow to bed with her that night!)

Because my kids spent the entire day experimenting with their new toys, taking baths so they could try out their new bath sets, and cheerfully playing together. Those are picture-worthy moments!

But, most of all, because we received the best Christmas present of all this year - the present of a new family member, who just so happens to be cute as a button. We are all thrilled with this gift and thank God that He saw fit to bless us with such a wonderful bundle of joy.

Christmas 2011 was a blessed day for us! I hope your Christmas was equally full of joyful memories!