"So do you guys plan on having more kids? Go for that girl maybe?"

   

    Just like any other couple with young children, we are not exempt from that question getting asked. We hear it a lot actually, almost daily and my hubby and I will each try to out talk the other, shouting "YES/NO!" I don't mind the question because if you know me at all, I'm 1) an open book and 2) love talking anything related to babies and pregnancy. But my hubby's pretty set on just having the 2 and here I am not feeling "done." I don't have a set number in my head but I just reeeeeeally love having a baby around. Like a whole heckuva lot. It's what makes me happy. Squishy, thighs, little onesies, the baby smell, giggles etc. I love it all. Year 3 and now year 4 has been hard for me with Eli. There are times when he's so flipping amazing that I want to shout it off the rooftops! And then there are the other times where I'm ready to shove him OFF said rooftop when I've said "no" for the 479,984th time and he's still asking "puh-leeeease?!?!?!" I guess I should just be grateful he's using his polite words but all I can focus on is how shrill my voice is sounding as I'm 2.4 seconds away from going bat &%it crazy. (What doesn't he understand about the word "no" or "stop"??!? Seriously though!) Then I look over at my little 13 month old salsa-ing walking toward me, arms outstretched going "hi! Hi! Hi!" in his sweet little voice and I'm mush.  I can literally feel the stress/anger leave my body. Then I want another one, naturally. Ha ha. 

   So the other day we were at the park as a family and there were 2 young brothers there playing. The younger one looked about Eli's age and I was guessing his brother was about 3 years older. Sure enough, the kid was 4 and his older brother was 7 and they were playing so well together. Back when Eli was 3 and his cousin Danny was 6, they were 2 peas in a pod that you almost didn't even notice the age difference. So then when Aaron and I talked about having a second baby, we really liked the idea of them being 3 years apart (it seemed like the sanest age gap with Eli being more independent and potty trained), hoping they'd interact just the same. After seeing the brothers today, I was excited again thinking of a time when they can play together and Eli not rely on me to constantly entertain him. I excitedly pointed this out to Aaron who said he agreed, that he feels Eli and Andrew WILL be close some day, and that that day wasn't too far off. I used this opportunity to point out how it would be perfect timing to then try and add a baby girl to the mix...

Me:See babe? The boys would be best friends and be able to play by themselves because they'll have each other, plus they'll be in school all day and then I can love on my baby girl and have my baby fix while getting me through Andrew turning 3-4 years old. 

Rational Hubby: Babe, we can't just keep having babies so you can handle the terrible threes!

Me: Um sure we can. In fact, I think that's a fantastic idea! 

Rational Hubby: The ONLY thing I like about your idea is the TRYING part!

AND IM BACK IN THE GAME! **Victory dance** Ha ha ha.

Andrew turns ONE! Part 2

He looks so grown up here!

 If you ask me, one of the best parts of raising little humans you've helped create, is watching their little personalities evolve and picking out physical and character traits that take after you or daddy that make you think, "yep, that child is definitely mine/yours/ours." One thing that Andrew does that is SO from me is I'll wave his blankie in front of his face and tease him and say "you want your blaaaaankieeee?" Then I'll toss it to him and he'll bury his face in it, or lay his head down on it for a moment and give it a big sniff and sigh. It makes me laugh every time. I totally do that with stuff that's important to me. Heck I bury my face into THEM and sniff. One thing my sis-in-law Leah had said one day when Eli, aged 1 1/2,  had offered her a sniff of his blankie was "mmm, smells like home and comfort!" and now that has become a common saying around here. Ha ha. So thanks Leah for hitting the nail on the head! No truer words have ever been spoken about the beloved blankie. Now that Andrew is out of the baby stage (insert emotional mess here), and entering the toddler stage, these mommy/daddy physical/character traits are really becoming apparent and it's so fun!

So onto our stats from our one year well visit...

Size:Just like Eli, he's turning into my string bean. I don't quite get it when they are both bottomless pits but this kid only weighs 20lbs (a pound more than Eli was) and is 28 3/4 inches long (Eli was longer though at 30 1/2 inches.) But I think that's why he looks fuller than Eli did even though it's only a pound difference, because it's a pound more on a person almost 2 inches shorter who's short to begin with so it makes a difference! Ha ha. Still on target with 12-18month clothes.

  

Likes: Being held, his blankie, momma, food, going down steep slides on someone's lap, climbing things, putting things in and out of buckets, his brother (I'll often times here him yelling "EEEEE-EYE...?" on the baby monitor or in the car looking for him) baths, playing in water and stealing toys from Eli.

 

Dislikes: Lying still for diaper changes, being laid down to nap if he's "not ready", having his hair fixed, getting washed up after eating, running out of food to eat, and having anything taken out of his death grip.

Feeding: Well it was a sad day here in the Scicluna household last Thursday when mommy and daddy returned home from a glorious and much needed get-a-way to Napa Valley and Andrew decided he didn't want to nurse anymore. *Ugly cries.* He showed no signs of being ready to wean before I left but had since made up his mind he was done by the time I came back. I'm not ready to be done nursing and I'm not ready for him to be done with breast milk. I LOATHE pumping and now I'm stuck doing that, as sucky as it is because i suppose in the back of my mind I'm still hoping he'll come to his senses and take it back up. Ha ha. But I doubt it since it's been over a week now. So sad. I nursed Eli for 2 years and had plans to do the same for Andrew (at least let him lead anyways. Like I said, he didn't seem ready to be done) I don't know if I have it in me to pump for another WHOLE year but I am stubborn when it comes to breast milk and its benefits for babies and toddlers so I'll have to, as depressing as that thought is. So if you're the praying kind, please pray that my "baby" comes back around. Other than that, the kid eats constantly and eats everything. I thought my grocery bill was bad with just Eli :( I feel like I need to shop ALL THE TIME and I have less time and opportunity to do it! Faves include, all finger food appropriate fruits, cheerios, toast, yogurt, oatmeal, beets, eggs, muffins and mommy's homemade veggie filled meatballs.

Sleeping: It seems I swapped one bad thing for one good thing. He doesn't nurse anymore but at least he sleeps through the night! Lately he's even been sleeping in until 8am! It's been glorious for this night owl momma. Eli will get up early and go occupy himself until I drag my butt out of bed get up but when a baby wakes up early, you're kind of forced to be a responsible parent and tend to them, ha ha. I'll occasionally hear him on the monitor talking  or stirring at about 6 or 6:30am but then he puts himself back to sleep. I mentioned last month how I planned to push his nap time back until noon when Eli was in school so I could get Handmadebylinds related business stuff done and I'm happy, no strike that, ELATED to report that it's working out as planned! **Happy dance** He now naps while Eli is in school and I've been crazy productive. My next plan is to tweak cousin Liam's nap time from 2pm down to noon as well so his nap doesn't ruin our plans to get together and out of the house after school and in general works better for MY schedule we can coordinate. :)

Milestones:He's taken a breather on teething so no new teeth to report. He hasn't officially started walking yet either but daddy texted me while I was at work the other day to say he took 2 solo steps by himself. But the nurse in me says if it wasn't documented (by video) it wasn't done. He's a helluva climber though, let me tell ya! Gotta watch him constantly. Other than that, nothing noteworthy to report here really. 

Add caption

And that's it! Here's Eli's one year update if you cared to compare. And here's my birth story if you missed it the first time around.

Alrighty, Na Night,

-Linds

Andrew turns one! Part 1

Photo cred: My super awesome cousin Julie Larame

Oh those thighs get me every time! I have to remind myself to look at the rest of the picture. Ha ha.

Julie Larame photography

   A special shout out goes to my baby daddy for donating those luscious curls to the gene pool. Muuuuuah! Now how great would this hair be on a little GIRL? Juuuuust throwin' that out there honey. If you got bored, you know, something to think about...

   So this guy! My "love bug", Aaron's "hamster", and Eli's "louie" (who knows...) just turned ONE! How did a whole year of awesomeness go by so fast?? And WHY does it go so fast?!?! Thank GOD for social media where I was able to post a gajillion pics ad-nauseum so that I can waste hours of my life reliving those precious memories. Love it! He is the most cuddly and affectionate baby, which fills my love tank to the brim every day. Actually he's pretty possessive when it comes to his competition Eli wanting to cuddle with his momma, and I have to remind my littlest guy that big brother had me first as he attempts to push Eli off my lap and crawl into my arms himself, ha ha. You wanna see a happy baby go from smiles and giggles to whiny and aggressive, watch my 4 year old crawl into my lap! Jeeze louise! It's so funny though, and thankfully Eli's a good sport about it. (I secretly enjoy being fought over though, ha! Shhhh. It'll be our little secret.)

  I can't help but go down memory lane at this milestone so I warn you I'm about to inundate you with some photos from the past year:

This was our hospital baby photoshoot with Bella Baby photography

Meeting the "GP's" for the first time

Being loved on from the start :)

Proud Auntie

So widdle!

I loved those handmade baby harem pants on him, ha ha.

I had this pic as my phone wallpaper for the longest time. That half smirk :)

I wanted to remember/document every little baby detail

His hair though! None of it fell out at the 3 month mark as I was expecting

Peace!

Aaaah! There's just too many that I love!

The way to a woman's heart is to love her children 

All the heart eyes!

Get some sleep daddy...

Kisses

Nom nom nom!

This accurately depicts their brotherly love perfectly.

He has loved being in a carrier from the start (the Sollywrap style in the beginning) and still continues to enjoy it now although I mainly only use my soft structured carrier since he's getting heavy. I've passed on my beloved Solly wrap to Andrew's future wife Piper who was just born this past week so she too can experience the awesomeness that is the Sollywrap.

Peek-a-boo!

and lastly my cool cat.

Well I think thats not nearly enough pictures for now. I'll post his stats tomorrow after our well visit. 

For now, na night. *sniffle*.

-Emotional momma

My baby Andrew is ELEVEN months old!

Hello big guy!

    And the count down till the first birthday starts now! Waaaah! I'm not ready! It has come so fast, I feel like someone is sitting on the remote control of my life and the fast forward button is stuck. Slow. Down!

    Pretty soon he's going to be off and running and we'll be entering the new stage of life, toddlerhood. At least when he's tucked into the nook of my arm nursing, he looks like my little baby still, with his little feet, and chunky thigh rolls. Sigh. I'll hold onto that for as long as possible.

The start of "monkey face",  a face grandma taught both my kids as babies

   Our one year well visit is next month so here's what I know:

Size: He's been in 12m-18m clothing lately. The stride rite shoes I bought last christmas for a killer deal, the ones I thought looked HUGE and would never fit him, actually DO fit him now. I get people once again telling me he looks tall for his age (I got that all the time with Eli too) but I'm pretty sure he's right on target for length. He definitely looks fuller at this age than my string bean Eli did.

Mommy's so funny

Likes:Eating! Being held, exploring his environment, his blankie, cheerios, bath time, seeing what big brother is up to and seeing how he can interrupt play along, squealing really loud, saying "oooowww, oooooww" and "ba ba ba ba" over and over again, and being worn in his carrier.

Such a happy go lucky kiddo

Dislikes: running out of food, and long car rides. Diaper changes aren't too fun at this point either.

He's a dare devil just like his brother and daddy. Shortly after this photo, the chair tipped over and he fell forward laughing

Feeding:Eating is a non issue. The kid loves to eat and he's taken to any form of container for his water. He does straws, my glass cup, Liam's sippy cups, bottles, you name it. He loves drinking water. He eats 3 big meals a day and as many snacks as I'll let him. When I'm off at work, he still gets pumped breast milk in a bottle. Nursing is going strong, but sometimes he lets me know he's just not interested in feeding at the moment. So depending on the day, we probably only nurse about 4, maybe 5 times a day at this point.

Now he can climb in and out safely. He's got this move down.

Sleeping: Sleeping is going pretty well now. He's past that phase of waking up around midnight, thank God, and now just gets up around 4-5am to eat and back to bed until about 7:30-8am. This is an improvement because he was wanting to start his day around 5:30-6:30 last month which was brutal. Its been nice with him sleeping in. As long as I'm not expected to get up earlier than 7am, I can handle it. He only does the one nap now around 11ish. I'm trying to get him to go down around noon now that Eli starts school tomorrow and I was able to switch him to the afternoon class that goes 12-2:30. This momma wants some time to herself to get stuff done!

"Look ma, I'm about to do no hands!"

Milestones: He's now walking regularly along furniture and even venturing across gaps in furniture. He'll take the brown chair pictured above and use it as a walker all along the hardwood, ha ha.He's an old pro at pulling himself into the standing position. The other day he stood solo for a few seconds before he realized what he was doing and plopped himself onto his butt. He'll sit on our  floors and with the heel of one foot, spin himself around 360 degrees. Over and over he can do this. Its hilarious! He's gained one tooth this past month for a total of 4 uppers and 2 lowers.

Playing with his puzzle.

That's all for now!
-Linds

My baby Andrew is TEN months old!

     Well I officially need to get my butt in gear and start planning his first birthday party. Sheesh. These things sure sneak up on you! My super talented cousin Julie will be doing his first birthday photos at the end of this month and I have a theme planned which I hope will turn out as fun as I picture it in my head.

   This kid is so awesome. I realize I'm a broken record but I can't help it. This is my stage. I love everything about the baby stage so I'm soaking it all in. I'm totally smitten and here's why:

Look at all those new toofers! 

Hi honey :)

Thanks daddy for giving me my sweet curls!

Need I say more? Words wouldn't cover it anyways. I'll cut to the chase, here's his update:

Size:He's thinning out a bit but still feels heavy to hold. He's right on target with clothing and I finally went up to size 4 diapers. He's starting to look so grown up in his outfits, but then I throw a sleeper on him for bedtime and he's my baby again.

Likes: Food is still at the top of this kid's list. What's nice is I can plop him in his high chair with finger foods and he's happy as a lark and then I can get stuff done! He's also BIG into exploring now. He's a lean mean crawling machine so he's off checking out every nook and cranny in my house. The silver lining? I'm keeping my floor swept and clean way more now than I ever have before, and he's helping me find long lost earrings, bobby pins, hair ties, cheerios from when Eli was a baby.... He also loves water (tub/water-table/pool), crawling frantically away from me laughing when I yell "no! don't put that in your mouth!" and shoving said prohibited object and entire wrist in. Sigh. He also seems to like music. He starts swaying to the beat and then waving his arms. All that dancing in the womb to Enrique Iglesias' "Bailando" seems have gotten him off to a good start :)

Dislikes: Diaper changes, sitting still to get dressed, long car rides, and running out of food.

Feeding: He is officially eating anything and everything. Nothing seems to be off limits at this time. If I give him cut up finger foods, he'll show preference but if I blend mixtures/meals, he'll eat it all. The other day I cut up some plum which he was happily gobbling up and I decided to cut up some avocado and threw it on his tray with it. Well! That just pissed him off! He made it very clear he was upset that he now had to navigate the land minds (avocado bits) to get to his beloved plum pieces and he kept throwing the stink eye in my direction. (The nerve! I'm the lady that feeds you!) His fine tuned pincher grasp came in handy for this task. Then he stops whining about it and I look over to see him picking up the avocado pieces (yay!) only to throw them one by one to the floor. Punk. But if I mash the avocado up with some banana, he'll eat it all. And the portion sizes! Man alive! I now feed a family of 4! I have no idea where he puts all that food. He's an old pro with the sippy cup now. I remember having to buy a few different kinds until Eli took to one, so I started out with the one Eli preferred and this kid likes it as well. I'm still nursing him but he now goes much longer stretches in between feeds since he's doing 3 meals a day and snacks. Surprisingly, I haven't really noticed any decrease in my supply. Score!

Yummers

Sleeping: Nothing really new to report here. He did sleep from 7pm straight to 7am the other night randomly (scared the crap out of me, naturally) but his normal is still to get up between 4-5am for a feeding and then go back to sleep until about 6:30-7am. He's now pretty much down to one nap a day around 11am and will do a 2-3hr nap at that time.

Milestones: He's adding more teeth to his collection. He now has 3 uppers and 2 lowers. (Having the 2 front teeth in makes him look so grown up!) He waves bye bye consistently, pulls himself up and walks along furniture, and he's gone from beginner crawler to expert. He calls for his brother by saying "eeeeee--iii" (Totally adorable!)

And that's it for this month. (Signing) "Aaaalll done!"

-Linds

My baby Andrew in NINE months old!

I'm just crazy about this boy!

Flexing that sweet tender for all the ladies out there.

   Andrew, aka "Mr. Sticky fingers", "drool bird", "sir" "hamster" and "you're SO ca-UUTE!" has had a lot going on this past month. We joke that he will never learn his real name due to his many nick names. He's gonna start talking and people will ask him his name and he'll respond with "you're so cute!" Ha ha ha. At the very least he ought to make a lot of friends that way:) Anyways, lots to report this month!

   I think Eli will agree that Mr. Sticky fingers is becoming a lot of fun lately. He's very interactive, will actually "play" with him and giggles/belly laughs all the time! He likes to grab something out of your hands (or in cousin Liam's case, grab his binkie out of his mouth) and then laughs like crazy when you act surprised.  I happen to think this is a great skill to have seeing as how he has an older brother who currently likes to steal stuff out of his hands. Watch out Eli, he's getting good! You'll soon be getting a dose of your own medicine. Muuaaaah ha ha ha (<-- evil cackle.)

Blankie pics are now taken on HIS terms, ha ha

   We had our well visit this month so I have updates on his height and weight. Before he was actually weighed, my prediction was that he'd be around 19lbs, so lets see what he really does weigh.

Size: I've cleared out his drawers of 6-9m clothing and stocked it with 9-18m stuff. He's mainly in 12m clothes for the most part but he is too long for rompers in that size so I have him in 18m ones for that. He weighed in at 18lbs 12oz (so close!) and 27 1/2 inches long. His current diapers are getting small so I'll need to go up a size (still haven't done that yet, and we've been paying for it with recent poopsplosions, doh!)

Likes:Food! Eating! Eating food! I'm not sure I can even emphasize this enough. He gets those arms a flappin' when he sees me coming with food and I'm glad he's strapped in because I'm waiting for him to take off! He also loves taking baths/playing with water, especially now that he's graduated to the big tub and gets to splash around with his big bro, which is my next thing to mention that he loves: his brother! I have a hard time keeping his attention if Eli is in the room because he'll contort his body in order to watch Eli's every move. He still loves being rocked (but not by me), being held, swinging in a swing, and remotes.

Sitting with his big brother who turns FOUR tomorrow!

Graduated to the big tub

Dislikes: he's just now starting to turn away from me when I change his diaper, (ugh that's the worst!) running out of food, and being in his carseat around nap time (unlike Eli who to this day will pass out in a car ride if he's tired, this kid fights it tooth and nail and lets all passengers know he's not happy about it.)

Feeding:Breast milk is still his primary food source but I've been way better about giving him big boy foods. He could and does eat his weight in cut up blueberries and I decided to let him try my hard boiled egg (yolk) the other day and he devoured it! He squawks the entire time it takes me to break off a piece and stick it in his mouth until the entire thing is gone. He loves steamed broccoli, and apples. Now I'll throw whatever I've made the rest of the family for dinner into his baby bullet and pulse it a few times and he eats what we eat. I haven't seen any signs of food allergies so I continue to give him what I think is baby friendly foods, (oatmeal, fruits, veggies, pasta etc) I just introduced a sippy cup with some water in it and he seems to like it. 

Drinking his water by himself

Sleeping: Although he's very much like Eli in a lot of ways, sleeping is not one of them. Eli was sleeping consistently 12hrs through the night by this age. On a good night, Andrew will go down at 7pm and wake up for a feeding at around 4am and then go back to sleep for a few more ours. But lately he's been getting up around 12-1am for a feeding and again for his 4am one. Steph had mentioned reading somewhere that babies tend to not sleep so well during milestone achievements, so I can't tell if it's that or if he's truly hungry at those times. The other major difference between the two is that he typically does a big (3hr) morning nap and then won't nap the rest of the day. And the really big exciting news,  drum roll please.....he's now sleeping in the same room as Eli in the crib there, and he's out of our room! Happy dance! No more tip toeing around the room at night and in the morning, afraid we'll wake him. We'd held off on making the transition for so long because he wasn't sleeping solidly through the night and we didn't want him to wake Eli up too. Well that's a laugh because that kind is a SOUND sleeper! We could put Andrew crying hysterically IN the bed next to Eli and he would't even notice! I'm not even kidding. When he's out, he. is. out. I'm happy to report it's going well. Phew!

He seems to like his new sleeping arrangements

Milestones: Well we have gone from one bottom tooth last month to another bottom tooth AND an upper tooth this month! And out of nowhere he's fully mobile. He's crawling and scooting everywhere! One day he was rocking back and forth on all fours and then sat himself upright and seemed to be pleased with that accomplishment so he does it all the time now. Sometimes I think he gets in the crawling position just so he can sit himself back up, ha ha. Ever since he's been mobile he's been super chill too I've noticed. He contentedly explores and plays with toys on his own or tries to follow his brother around. Whereas before this newfound mobility, if I set him down on the floor to play and walked out of view for any reason, he'd throw a bird. He's also starting to stand holding onto stuff unattended and pulling himself up into a standing position. It's all happening so fast! One day he's just a bump on a log, then the next moment he's nowhere near where you last left him! Sigh.

My view, aaaaalll day, erryday now of a runaway baby! 

Here he is showing off by standing on his own

Happy 9 months on the outside bud!

And that's all she wrote,

-Linds