Milestones
Twenty One Weeks: Hooray for new weeks! We found an awesome sitter! You slept all night! We went to IKEA (again!) Mommy got smarter at work! G’ma Teresa came to visit! It snowed big time! And as hard as last week was, this week was so much better! Your most favorite times are sitting in your jumper hanging out with yourself and while being changed for bedtime. No clothes and no diaper are the best things ever! Can you sense our enthusiasm with the exclamation points? It’s true, this week is one for keepers!
Twenty Weeks: Gotta admit this was a really tough week. From a baby that wakes up many, many times a night for a pacifier or to eat, to students who are even more difficult than normal plus a sitter who can’t commit and even cancels the morning of…most things about this week aren’t really worth remembering. You were still a cute little gal and your neck began appearing out of your shoulders but my, oh my…let’s just move on to next week!
Nineteen Weeks: Raspberries galore! You have found and can use your tongue. Your face is always slobbery and it is very likely that you have a tooth coming in on the bottom. WHAT? You are still a tiny baby and tiny babies do NOT have teeth! You showed your skills at rolling over again and playing on the floor in just your diaper or just your birthday suit before bedtime prove to be the highlight of your day. The sounds you make have shifted from doing “suck wind” into more of a forceful yell. Some might even think it sounds like you are not so happy but if we look at your face, it is plain to see you are delighted!
In other news, mom and dad still cannot nail down a steady sitter for you. You are such a fun little gal and you are going with the flow each week hanging out with someone new on Tuesday or Wednesday. Mommy held you extra close a couple of nights fretting over having to leave you with someone else – BUT WHO? Thanks for being a champ about all that because it is causing some serious stress around the house.
Eighteen Weeks: Yeah! Our sweet baby has returned. You have settled back into being a rock star sleeper at night again and it really makes everyone’s life better. You are getting more and more content hanging out with yourself now that you can use those great hands and fingers to do things for you. If you want that toy, you reach for it. Want to eat this bottle? You hold it yourself. Paci fell out? No biggie. It it amazing to see you helping yourself. Other noteworthy things include rolling over again and more laughing. And daddy is still the only one around here that can get a laugh out loud from you. Way to make mommy jealous!
Seventeen Weeks: You turned 4 months old! All in all, this was a pretty rough week. Upon returning from KC you decided you did NOT want to sleep through the night and you ONLY wanted to be held at all times. Mom had to go back to work and you made her more tired than when you were a newborn by waking up crying multiple times at night. You gave daddy a run around for a few day while he needed to be working. Mommy kept saying that it seems to get a lot worse before it gets much better. Guess that was the case for this week.
Sixteen Weeks: Happy 30th Birthday, daddy! Merry Christmas! What a week! During this week you met Pops, daddy’s dad, for the first time. You also met Aunt Robin, Uncle Bill, Cousin Alicia, and Cousin Taylor, Julie and Bill, Dan and Marcia, and Nick, Keri and little Solibel. So many new faces and so many new things. Mommy was a little concerned that all the new things would make you a little crabby. You showed her by being a sweet little angel, sleeping through the night every night!!!!!!!, taking great naps, and laughing out loud for the first time. You did take a little vacation from pooping – like three whole days! (thank goodness for those molasses) but other than that you were all like, Mom…calm down…I got this thing.
Fifteen Weeks: Yeah for Christmas break! You and mommy have had lots of time together singing jingle bells, giving smiles, and practicing giggles. You are getting pretty good at all of them and its a good thing since we need to show off your skills to all the family!
You are also becoming quite the chunk – 13lb 5 oz at the weight check this week. You love hanging out and showing off your tummy time while checking out the other babies. While mom was talking to the nice coordinator, you up and rolled over. She wouldn’t have believed it but there were lots of witnesses and you definitely had been on your tummy but were now on your back. Silly baby – you aren’t supposed to grow up yet!
You also got to meet Santa for the second time. We did a Santa picture last month but we’ll just count that as practice since Santa didn’t have a real beard. This second Santa was for real though and we know for sure since you gave his beard a nice tug.
Fourteen Weeks: Gma Teresa got to come “babysit” for a few days. You had lots of fun wrapping your fingers in her pretty hair and being the cute grandbaby that you are. She took great care of you and we are so excited to share you with the rest of the fam next week when we go home for Christmas.
You gave us a couple of sincere laughs. Maybe they were more like little chuckles, especially when we make silly sounds, but we count them as giggles. Hahaha!
Thirteen Weeks: First time at a real sitter. Mommy’s back to work full time (until Christmas break, yeah!) and Daddy does have a real job so on Tuesday and Wednesday, you went to Stephanie’s house. She said you were a great baby but mommy still thinks you should nap longer than 45 minutes and eat more than 3 oz of milk. But we realize everything is so new and interesting, I mean just look at her laundry and chair and lights – who has time for sleeping and eating?
You also got to watch the Holiday Show at school. Stephanie brought you to school to see her son play Mighty Moose in the Incredible Reindeer. Mom was still “working” so she got to make eyes at you across the gym. You seriously LOVED the show and music and all the kids wanted to touch you. We gave you a bath when we got home.
PS – The Johnny Jumper is your new favorite. Except when its not.
Twelve Weeks: First time reaching and “playing” with toys. You are a curious little girl so it is great that those funny hands and arms are now working to your advantage touching and feeling things. You have also gone from looking at things to really watching things. We tried you out in front of a silly Baby Einstein video and you were completely into it – and you can even watch it for about 14 minutes before you lose interest. Mommy and Daddy find it amazing that you are really watching images and daddy loves to show you music videos on his knee.
This is also the week mommy went back to work. You had two days at home with daddy and were mostly easy to handle except fighting the naps and not eating a whole lot from the bottle. You also seem to be going on a long-sleeping strike again. Uh, oh…
Eleven Weeks: First time in the church nursery. Mom and dad were supposed to work in the nursery but they were overstaffed so we left you with the sweet workers. They said you did great but didn’t want them to sit down at all. And to that we said, “WE KNOW!”
You also went to the doctor for your two month check-up (yes, you were 11 weeks old but so what!). Mommy and daddy liked the doctor a lot and you went baby crazy kicking your legs on the dr. bed and looking around the room with fascination. You got 3 shots and cried like a baby but then were so mellow and sleepy the rest of the day. What a champ!
Ten Weeks: So far 10 weeks has been all about the sleeping. The hour long “eat, play, go to sleep” method continues to amaze and while our goal wasn’t to get you to sleep through the night, that’s just what you are doing. It started with 6 1/2 hours of sleep, then 7 1/2 and next 8 hours and 15 minutes. That’s amazing! Mommy misses you at night but she’s happy you will go down for bedtime even as early as 9pm now. You are quite the sleeper which makes us believe you really are our daughter.
Another noteworthy milestone was your first babysitter (aside from loving grandparents)! Mom and dad got to go to some friends for a get-together and left you at home – the horror! Auntie Cari and Emma hung out and played with you and put you to bed. They said you were a doll.
Nine Weeks: First night in your crib. After an exhausting evening of fussing and spitting up, EVERYONE was still awake at 3am. It was a rough night and mommy and daddy didn’t know how to help you so down you went in your crib for some heartbreaking crying. You figured it out and finally snoozed around 3:30am. You woke mommy up 3 1/2 hours later and she swooped you up for a new diaper and some nursing. This was also when mommy decided that maybe dairy wasn’t your friend and she decided to go without for a bit.
Wow! Nine weeks was quite the trip – it started with the above drama but quickly became a week of transformation. Mommy did lots of research and finally settled into the “eat, play, sleep” routine. Man oh man did you thrive off of this and began going down for naps after being awake for about an hour – And bedtime became a breeze with you going to sleep without a fuss before midnight. WIN!
Eight Weeks: Smiles! You managed to squeeze out some serious smiles for G’ma and me, especially just after you wake up for the day. You are stingy with them but if we are patient you flash that million dollar smile! Along with the happy faces, your eyes are this close to popping out some tears. We’ll take the smiles any day over sad baby faces.
Seven Weeks: First Time in the Nursery at church. Mom and dad worked in the nursery for the first time. Of course you came too and did so great – awake the whole time and hung out on Daddy’s knee checking out the other babies and toys. You were by far the most adorable and well behaved!
Yeah! G’ma came to play! We picked her up at the airport and you yawned about 12 times in a row. Could that be your way of expressing extreme excitement and love? Probably yes, and yes!
Six Weeks: First Cloth Diaper. After Daddy installed the diaper sprayer, we finally tried out the BumGenius cloth diapers. Things went well except you kept soaking them during the night and at naps since we let you sleep on your belly. No more newborn inserts – we went straight to the regular inserts and haven’t looked back!
one night you surprised us by sleeping for over 6 hours straight. Of course, you didn’t go to sleep until after 2 am and when you woke up, you had soaked through your cloth diaper, pjs, and bedding. But yeah for sleep!
Five Weeks: One night Daddy gave you bottles all night so mommy could sleep more. You both did great!
Three Weeks: Daddy gave you your first bottle while Mommy was at the movies with Nana. You took it great but then threw it all up on Daddy, twice. Turns out it was a medium flow nipple…oops.
Two weeks: You met Nana, daddy’s mom and she loved you from the minute she met you. She held you and sang and talked to you on the front porch. She said it was better than going to the beach and a little slice of Heaven.
One Week: You met your great-grandparents, (mom’s grandparents) Ma-Ma and Pa-Pa. They drove all the way from Missouri to meet you and to pick up grandmommy Teresa.
4 days old: You got a name! We debated and debated about what your name should be. We may have thought you were going to be a boy because we mostly knew what we would call you then but you surprised us by being our baby girl. We really thought your name might be Brooke but when we tried it out, it didn’t fit. At one week old, we finally decided your middle name should be Nicole, just like mommy’s. And so you became Evelyn Nicole and we love it!
Weight Checks:
- 19 weeks: (4 1/2 months) 14lb 5 oz – this time the nurse wanted to “eat up those rings” on your legs.
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- 15 weeks: 13lb 5 oz (up 17 oz in 21 days – the nurse called it “beautiful”, mommy calls it chub!)
- 12 weeks: 12lb 4oz
- 11 weeks: 11lb. 14 oz – 54% on the chart, and 22 1/2in
- 5 1/2 weeks: 9lb 5oz
- 3 1/2 Week Check: 8lb 8.6oz
- Two Week Check: 7lb 4 oz
Birthday: September 2, 2011 at 10:35am
- Birth Weight: 7lb 3.9oz
- Length: 20 1/4in
