Besides her smile, there are many remarkable things about Alana! Her vocabulary is blossoming.  Language development is always amazing to me!  She probably understands about 50 words.  One of her most common phrases is “uh-oh” after something drops on the floor.  She also says an-ma for animal, wa-wa for water, da (or something similar) for dog and duck, baa for sheep, ba for ball, buh-bye, up, and of course mama and dada.

Lately she has been showing a bit more of her sneaky side.  She will look directly at me and pick up an imaginary crumb from the floor and smile at me.  She will then place the “crumb” in her mouth and look at me with an innocent look.  Uh-oh.  We are in trouble with his little tease.

She doesn’t walk yet, but she cruises and loves walking with a walker.  She is amazingly speedy going upstairs and already knows how crawl backwards down stairs.  She enjoys interrupting Caden’s play by trying to take over whatever toys he is involved in.  He does get territorial, but is never violent toward her.  He’ll try to edge her out or will tell her, “It’s my turn.”  In general he has been very good about letting her have her turns as well.

What else?  She loves animals and books.  She usually flips quickly through books though instead of observing the pictures closely.  She’ll often flip through them and then point excitedly while grunting to the pile of books demanding another.  At times she seems to get bored when nursing and starts to search around the room pointing at things for me to name for her.  I am usually hoping she will nurse a bit longer, so I will often grab a little board book and try to balance it for her to “read” while nursing.  Kinda a tricky position.

It is funny that she seems to greet each monthly birthday with a new milestone.  At her 7 month mark, she cut her 1st tooth (or “popped a tooth” according to Caden).  Her 2nd tooth followed closely behind.  Well, next to.  At 8 months, Alana started crawling steadily.  She had been rocking on all fours for about 6 weeks before that.  Now at the prime age of 9 months, Alana started clapping and is able to stand briefly while holding onto things.

Food has been a little struggle for us.  At first Alana seemed to like all foods.  I think once she realized there were a lot of options, some sweeter than others, her sweet tooth took over.  She likes all fruits, but out of the veggies, she will only eat Sweet Potatoes or Apple Butternut Squash (if that counts as a veggie).  With the others she clamps her mouth shut tight, turns her head away and even cries if I try to push it.  I keep trying every so often, as “they” say she may change her mind someday.  Until then- our jars are a-wasting.  She gags (and throws up) the little finger foods we have tried.  Again- we keep trying, but more wasting.  We’ll let her take it slow, it is just tough.  She seems to have had a slight allergic reaction to Oat (oatmeal and “Banana Peach Oat” baby food).  Luckily wheat seems to be fine- so no gluten allergy.

Sleep is much better than it was before, but she is still waking about twice/ night to be nursed.  We may try some more sleep training soon to cut those out, but last time we tried sleep training, her cries seemed to just get worse over time, instead of disappearing.  Luckily she is able to put herself to sleep at the beginning of the night and for naps.  I still nurse her to sleep at times (I am actually enjoying this while I can).  Other times, she wakes a little when I put her down, but can find dreamland on her own.

Caden has become more loving with Alana.  He will pretend to tickle her and will kiss her goodnight some nights.  He also has learned that he needs to take some toys and walk away before she gets too close to him.  He is territorial of his toys, which is understandable.  We have learned from a few sources that it is good to let him (and Alana) have their own time with their toys and not have to “share” at such a young age.  When Caden is done with a toy, Alana can play with it and vice-versa. Caden is learning this at his preschool as well, which is another whole post soon!

We love you more than you can imagine, Alana.  Although we loved you for the 9 months you grew inside of me, our love for you has grown exponentially over these past 9 months.  <3

Some of her current abilities include:

• Rolling all the way across the room- but so far always in only one direction.
• Cooing and gurgling like a bird.
• Following her brother with her eyes and head; often twisting her whole body to keep him in sight.
• Smiling at most people who talk to her (but a few people have made her cry while trying too hard).
• It is almost guaranteed that she can make anyone smile.
• Giggling at tickles and silly faces.  (Although she is harder to force a giggle from than Caden was.)
• Grabbing and chewing on books and toys.
• Grabbing and chewing on people’s fingers.
• Grabbing and chewing on her toes.

I don’t see any visible signs of teething.  I think Alana is just a very oral baby- lotsa drool since a young age, lotsa chewing and sucking on things.)

Alana loves to be held (who doesn’t?), responds to certain familiar songs, and really enjoys being outside.  She has more recently become more tolerant of car trips- often chatting to herself instead of crying when awake in the car.  She still sleeps on me at times when we are doing Caden’s activities, but that is getting more difficult as she is more interested in staying awake and being a part of the hustle and bustle.  Alana continues to be a very happy, loving baby.  We are so very thankful to have her as part of our little family.

- Social smiles. (She mainly smiles at people who converse or sing to her, but she will light up at her brother when he even glances at her.)

- Giggles… but still almost sounds more like a smile coo.

- Holds her head up high and steady while in Tummy Time. (Wow- some babies actually don’t scream during tummy time?!?!)

- Rolls over from tummy to back. (Maybe more of a topple.)

- Reaches for toys (and hair… Mom chop coming soon!)

- More curious about her surroundings, sometimes resulting in less nursing during the day, which can mean more wake-ups and nursing at night. (AKA- 4 month wakeful period, but a bit early.)

- Lotsa eye contact. (Sometimes even in the midst of nursing, Alana will catch my eyes and light up with the biggest milk grin ever. It is SO sweet and melts my heart every time, but that again distracts her from her nourishment.)

Her big brother still usually ignores her, but lately he has been interacting a little more with her. It is fun to see their “relationship” grow. Here is a little video from today… Playing Footsie

Today was Caden’s 1st day of his tumbling class. When we got there he was more excited about the walls than he was about the mats and equipment. He kept running around the edges of the room pointing up at the colored bricks and naming the colors. Once the class started, he did pretty well. He enjoyed most of the warm-up- especially the running and the front rolls. He also did pretty well on the balance beam, but was reluctant on the ladder and bridges. We signed him up for tumbling (and for soccer, which he will start in about a week) to keep him more active, but also since he is still a little behind in his gross motor skills- not jumping yet and not climbing much. We hope these classes will help him a little. He also starts back up with his music class and his toddler classes in a couple weeks. We are excited to get back into a schedule of fun and educational activities!

Caden has gotten much better with his tolerance of his little sister. He usually doesn’t cry anymore when she cries or fusses. He still often ignores her and still shows some jealousy. He has been grabbing my hand more often to guide me to what he wants, which has been really cute… except when he is trying to pull me from Alana.

Lately Caden has had some new issues with naptime. Fortunately he still let’s us put him in his crib for his nap without complaint! But he will stay in his crib and talk to himself or his stuffed animals for sometimes 1-1.5 hours! He is clearly tired before we put him down, but he doesn’t go to sleep right away. He sometimes starts to call for me or cry after that long animal chat session and then I realize by the stench when I walk in his room that there is clear reason he has not fallen asleep. Luckily if I quickly change his diaper and put him back down, he will usually take his nap after a few minutes of complaining. It makes for a very unpredictable afternoon though. No more afternoon plans for us.

In addition to talking to his stuffed animals in his crib, Caden is quite the talker in general. He repeats SO much of what we say… and he knows some entire books and songs. He has always had a strong interest and great memory of letters, numbers, colors, and shapes. Recently he added the word “trapezoid” to his vocabulary. I am always amazed at what this little boy verbalizes!

Unfortunately he also can quote a lot of Dora episodes. I often have to resort to sitting him in front of the TV while I focus on putting Alana down for her naps. I am open to other suggestions, but I am not sure how to keep him in one safe place without the TV on. He would follow me up to Alana’s room and would yell and cry if I didn’t pay attention to him while I try to get Alana down for her nap. So… needless to say- he has fallen in love with Dora. That’s what happens when you have quality time with a smart, adventurous, cute, famous girl!  Oh and a positive of watching Dora… he can count to 8 in Spanish and knows some colors as well.  I love my little bilingual boy!

Our daughter, Alana was born via scheduled c-section on May 26, 2009 at 7:51pm. She weighed 7 pounds 15 ounces and measured 20.5 inches long. The entire process was smooth and uneventful. Well- that is not true- it was extremely eventful- as we were lucky to meet our precious little girl. She is a sleepy little one- much more than I recall Caden being. But maybe my memory has faded- it is just hard to believe our active little boy was ever so sleepy. My parents stayed with Caden at the sublet that we were living in at the time for the days I was at the hospital.

Alana has been such a mellow little girl in general! She is almost 7 weeks old now and I am impressed at how adaptable she has been to this world. She sleeps fairly well- waking off and on throughout the night to nurse, but falling back asleep easily. I have been co-sleeping with her so far, so as soon as she begins to squirm and fuss in the middle of the night I am able to nurse her back to sleep quickly. So fortunately I have actually been able to get quite a bit of sleep too.

Now it is July 22 and I am determined to finish this one blog post! At the moment Alana is asleep in her crib! We have been transitioning her to her crib for the past 5 days. Since she is so used to being close to me, the transition has been a slow one. She still ends up co-sleeping with me or us part of the night, but we have her in her crib for some of the night for now. I don’t feel a big rush to get her into her crib. We know she will be our last baby, so I am cherishing all the moments… and I have really enjoyed co-sleeping with her. I do miss Dave though too… he has opted for the couch or futon when we co-sleep, so we can all catch more zzzz-s!

Alana started social smiling at about 6.5 weeks of age, and she has recently been smiling more and more. Her eyes are still blue, although I think they will change to a hazel at some point. There are some blue eyes on my side of the family, but since Dave has brown and I have hazel, I would guess that Alana’s will change.

My mom has continued to come over about twice a week to help out. She has mainly been focused on Caden while I have to focus on Alana, since she is still so Mommy-dependent. Over the past week, my mom has been in Minnesota, so I have called on friends to come over to “see the new house” or “enjoy little Alana”… but they really know they are helping keep me sane by helping out with the juggling of two kids.

I have gotten more confident and able to juggle them both while getting some things done, like taking both kiddos to the store in the afternoon. Alana sleeps as we walk to the store in the double stroller, but she almost always wakes up when we are in line. I wish that would help us move up quicker in the line, but unfortunately it doesn’t. Luckily she calms right back down when we get outside and are on the move to get home. It is amazing how just walking to the grocery store becomes such a feat when you have two little ones!

Last week we had a scare. Alana had a temperature of 101.7. I called the Advice nurse thinking she would have me give Alana some Infant Tylenol and keep track of her temp at home. She instead set up a Doctor’s appointment for that same afternoon. I took Alana in, not thinking it would be a big deal. After measuring her temp a couple times, the MD told me that we would have to admit Alana to the hospital and she would have to stay 1-2 nights! I was shocked. They took a urine sample (poor baby had to have a catheter for a moment so they could collect the urine.) She had to have blood tests and a spinal tap. After 11 hours at the hospital, they released us because Alana’s temp was down and all the tests that came back were fine. I am leaving out many details, but it was an awful experience.

Although Caden has gotten better with his interactions with Alana, he hasn’t shown too much interest, though I am sure that will change when she becomes more interactive. So far he usually ignores her, unless she is squeaking (or crying, but even a squeak will set him off). Luckily she doesn’t cry or fuss too often, but when she does Caden will demand, “Mama hold the baby, Mama hold the baby…” sometimes while practically crying himself. Often, he will be more upset and louder than Alana. It could seem like he is empathetic, but really I think he just doesn’t like to hear her. He has also become much more of a Daddy’s boy as opposed to the very obvious Mama’s boy that he used to be. He sometimes seems mad at me- not saying goodnight and barely looking at me. It does make me a little sad during those moments, but I do know that it is a phase. The closest he has ever gotten to Alana was when we asked him to hold her hand (like the photo). Besides that the only other “interactions” have been “petting” her hair and giving her a few toys. I look forward to seeing their relationship grow.

I think that is it for now. I apologize that this update is SO long. It would be much better to do many small updates, but I just have a hard time doing that. I hope to update more often, now that I am getting into a little groove here. AND since Alana is getting used to her crib. Until then…

Caden has grown leaps and bounds in the past few months.  He has also gone through one major life transition and has a few more huge ones coming up, so we hopes he handles them with ease.  After selling our beloved first home, we have moved into a temporary sublet home.  We were fortunate to fine a wonderful new house, but will not be able to move in until soon after Caden’s baby sister is born in a few weeks.  It is tough living out of boxes, but we have tried to ease Caden into the transition, and it seems like so far, so good.  Sleep was one of our major concerns, as Caden has never been the best sleeper, but he has been doing okay at our sublet.  Some early wake-ups (5:30-6am) and some short naps (1 hour or less), but not too bad considering.

Although Caden’s vocabulary has been expanding like crazy, we are sure he doesn’t understand what all these changes are about.  And he has no idea how his life will be turned upside down on May 26th (the date of my scheduled c-section).  I wish there was a way we could prepare him more.  We have a couple books about becoming a big brother and my mom bought a doll for Caden… to try to teach him just a little about “babies”.  Unfortunately the last two times (recently) I have held a tiny baby in front of Caden, he became so upset- crying almost instantly and saying “no baby” or “all done baby”.  Needless to say I am very worried about his acceptance of his sister.  Caden is such a Mama’s boy right now and is not a very independent player.  I hear after a couple months toddlers don’t even remember what life was like before the new sibling, but we are prepared (sorta) for some rough times.  I know I will miss being able to give so much individual attention to Caden.  He is such a sweetheart and so much fun to play with, but I know won’t be able to focus solely on him very soon.  I am trying to take advantage of our alone time now, but also trying to encourage him to play more independently and with other people.  It is a tough balance.

Regarding Caden’s development- his vocabulary has just taken off so much in the past few months.  He can count to twenty, recite the alphabet, sing some songs, and knows many colors and shapes.  He repeats so much that we say (we need to be careful now) and he formulates some of his own full sentences.  Just in the past two weeks he has begun greeting some other kids by name unprompted.  He even went running off toward his friend, Joaquin at the park last week after I started running and encouraged him with, “Let’s go get Joaquin!”  They ended up running past each other, but it was still adorable.

Since the weather has been nice (off and on) Caden has become so obsessed with going outside.  He loves to explore nature and just loves to be out in the fresh air.  The past few days have been rainy which has lead to a few tantrums when we try to redirect him after his insistent “go outside, go outside…”  Because we are in a sublet we don’t have all of his toys easily available, so being inside is causing us to be a bit stir-crazy.  Often playdough and (unfortunately) videos are two things that can help re-direct him and keep him happy while cooped up inside.  He also enjoys his blue tunnel, which we currently have inside as a “toy.”

At the rate that we update this blog, I am guessing the next post will have quite a bit of new news about our addition and the changes in our lives.  I just hope I can find a moment to type something up in a month or two….  I am not even there yet, but I am already in awe of all moms of 2 or more.  I am not sure how I will juggle it all.  Hope I have a chance to blog again soon. 

Wow- how did that happen? 18 months. A year and a half. 47,304,000 seconds old. (Well, even more now, since it is past his 7:51pm birth time).

Caden has been going through some transitions lately that have been exciting (for the most part). He finally transitioned from two naps per day to one nap per day about a month ago. Unfortunately his one nap was at times very short during our recent holiday travel, but overall- it is great to have a consistent schedule where we have a nice chunk of time in the morning to get out for some fun!

Yesterday Caden played independently in an unfamiliar place for an extended time. This was a first! He tends to be such a Mama’s boy and clings to me or wants me to join in his play, but yesterday he was happy playing on his own at a new local “play cafe”. I was able to actually converse with other Moms as we watched our toddlers play on the other side of a glass wall. We have been to similar places before, and Caden always wanted me nearby. I am so happy he is becoming more independent. When his little brother or sister comes along in a few months, he will need to be able to play on his own at times. Who am I kidding?!? He will need to play on his own quite a bit. It is so nice that this independence appeared naturally… I don’t want to force too many changes.

Caden’s vocabulary has taken off. Over our holiday travel to Fresno and Santa Barbara, his favorite saying was “all done”. And although he has said “all done” for quite awhile- he was using it for many many different things. “All done” with his nap. “All done” with the magazine Mommy… put that down. “All done” with anything he is finished playing with. “All done” when songs are over. It has been very cute when he says it, so we all laugh, which obviously encourages him. Soon we will be “all done” with this saying I am sure. And most likely on to “on” and “off” as he is already saying those words for many things now.

Another cute, new development is Caden’s interest in make believe. He will pretend things are hats, airplanes, or phones. He feeds his stuffed animals and gives them kisses (usually after prompting, but sometimes on his own accord). It is fun to see his imagination develop!

Caden can correctly identify and point to many people in his life, including himself. He will kiss himself in the mirror at times. He can also identify many body parts, foods, colors, letters, animals, and many other objects.

One of the not so adorable traits that Caden has taken on is testing us more. He will stare directly at us as he starts to move a crayon towards his lips. It seems like he is starting to realize that he gets one or two warnings before something gets taken away. Luckily removing things from his grasp hasn’t led to any tantrums yet.

Another not-so-cute trait that Caden has (but isn’t new) is that he often will wake up from his afternoon nap extremely cranky. He will sometimes cry inconsolably when he wakes up. It is so frustrating. We think that he is not taking a long enough afternoon nap, so he is waking up still tired. I wish it was easy to teach him how wonderful sleep is. I am sure

later in life he will wish he could nap more. He is sometimes cranky in the morning, but that seems to be getting a bit better. He has a harder time calming down when Dave gets him up in the morning. We are trying to get him used to different people getting up with him, since Mommy definitely won’t be able to console him after every waking when the baby arrives in May.

So, I think that is it for now. Although I don’t post often, I will try to be thorough when I do post here. To the left is another photo from the evening of his 18 month “birthday”. Such a ham at times… and clearly not as cranky as when he wakes up!

Anyway… Caden is 17 months old now!!  He is at such a fun age!  Some of his favorite things are:

• silly peek-a-boo games with stuffed animals
• still loves books (gets addicted to a few at a time, then moves on)
• enjoys learning the letters of the alphabet (he knows and can say F, M, S, O perfectly and others somewhat)
• loves coloring with crayons
• laughs hysterically when playing tickle and airplane
• loves Dora the Explorer; Go, Diego, Go; and Sesame Street (especially Elmo).  Loves TV and videos- to the point of throwing a tantrum when TV time is over.  (Another reason we are trying to limit his TV time… But to be honest- because I have been so exhausted during this current pregnancy, sometimes a TV break is the only way to save my sanity.)

Some of his newly found skills include:

• can put shapes in the correct holes in his Shape Sorters
• can clearly say about 20 words
• can identify many animals, foods, letters, toys
• can follow simple directions (“put the blocks in the bag”, “put the sticker on your hand”, “put the stuffed animal away”, “turn off the light”, “pet the kitty cat”…)

Other notes of interest are:

• Caden is a great eater!  We lucked out that he isn’t very picky.  He still does enjoy throwing food on the floor, even when he is still hungry.  We need to work on that!
• He is starting to test more limits.  A few examples include: moving things to get to the wires behind the T.V. throwing tantrums after we are done with an activity he loves, climbing up onto boxes or things that he cannot get down from on his own.

On a weekly basis we go to Music Together classes.  We started the class about 10 weeks ago, but Caden often is still clingy during class… wanting to be held while dancing around rather that joining in with the dance.  He sits calmly in my lap and is very observant during class.  I hear this happens with some kids and then eventually many will come out of their shells… or just take what is learned and perform at home.  In general- Caden is pretty attached to me and takes a bit to warm up in new settings. By the end of the class each week, he seems happier, but then we need to leave.

Besides music class, my mom comes over about twice a week to enjoy time with her grandson and to help me out.  She has been such an amazing help over the past 17 months, and I don’t know how I could’ve gotten through some very rough days without her.  I know she thoroughly enjoys watching Caden’s growth and milestones.  And he sure looooves his grandma.

On other days we often have get-togethers with other mommies and babies, or we run errands, or try to make plans.  I get Caden out of the house pretty much every day.  Luckily the weather has been good this winter, so we have been able to have park playdates and walks more often than last year.

In addition to not being a very good blogger, I also haven’t been great about taking photos since Caden turned one. But… here is a recent cute one showing that Caden is already contemplating future career possibilities.

Hmmmm… Chef or Plumber??

For the past couple weeks, Caden has been repeating, “baff,” when we tell him it’s bathtime. Taking a bath is part of his usual going to bed routine, and he likes it. But tonight, we didn’t give Caden a bath — it was a long day, he was exhausted, and we’re doing a little training to make sure things go smoothly when grandma and grandpa have to put him to bed next weekend.

As I was reading books to him tonight, several times he looked me in the eye and said, “Baff.” I don’t think he has the vocal control to turn a word into a question by using intonation, but it sure seemed like he was asking me a question.

My first reaction was of course, that it’s completely adorable for my son to ask me whether he’ll be having a bath tonight. In thinking about it later though, it’s pretty amazing what’s going on in that brain to bring together the predictability of past events with this new ability to name activities (not just things) and to ask Daddy, “what’s going on?”

It’s not as if this is completely unexpected and new, these abilities with language and pattern recognition have been building up steadily. But still, it’s little moments of realization like this that are really special.