Smiley Smilerson!!!

Our little man has become quite the smiler! I mean, he just laughs, giggles, coos and smiles constantly. All I have to do is look at him and I get a big bright beautiful smile along with a big giggle. LOVE IT!!! Happy baby equals happy mommy! I really love this big smile when I'm having a week like this week. One of those when nothing seems to be going your way and you just want to call it quits and start fresh next week. That's this week for me!

Such an adorable little thing! Now if I can just get him to sleep....AAHHH!!! Yep, still no sleep. Lola really never slept much either but I feel we were getting a little more sleep at this point. Maybe not. The boy loves to eat! Last night I went to sleep around 10:30, then was up at 1:10, 3:36, 4:14, 6:16 and then got up to start the day at 7:05....late start due to lack of sleep..UGH!!! Anyway, it's been like this all week. Don't know if the holiday/travel threw him off or if it's the new daycare routine or what. I remember with Lola it seemed to only get worse before it got better so I'm hoping it will get better soon. We also HAVE to get him in his crib as he's clearly outgrown the cradle and I think that wakes him at times. I haven't moved him yet b/c 1) I'm attached to him and don't want him a few steps away in the other room...crazy I know and 2) I can't find the monitor anywhere. I'll have to go on a mad search to find it b/c we really need to get him moved asap. Maybe we'll give it a shot tonight!

Tomorrow Gainesy will be 4 months. I absolutely CAN NOT believe it! 4 months!!! How far we've come in such a short period of time. It seems it was just yesterday when he arrived oh so early and was in NICU attached to cords and monitors. I'm so glad to be past those times and now have a very happy healthy boy. We had his 4 month doctor appt this week and it went great! The doctor is blown away at how big he's become to be such a early baby. Here are his stats:

Weight: 15 lbs - 50 -75th percentile

Height: 24 7/8" - 50 - 75th percentile

Can you believe it?!?!?! This little guy started in the 10th percentile and is now exceeding in the growth charts. So happy! Now, although he is clearly growing well, he's not quite up to speed on all other fronts. He's still not real good with stomach time and holding his head up and he's not flipping over either way yet. By 4 months, Lola had her head way up in the air and was flipping both ways. I know I shouldn't compare as all babies are different but it's so hard not to. The doc said on all developmental fronts we have to think of him as a 3 month old vs. a 4 month old and it will take him until about 6-7 months to catch up there. But, even with that, he actually said he's doing good for a 4 month old and excellent for a 3 month old so no concerns there. YEA!!! Just need sleep....

Little Miss Lola had a first too...her first haircut.

I was hesitant to have this done but thought a trim may help it start growing better. She was a little skiddish about it at first and had to sit on my lap but she ended up doing real good and loves her new cut. The next morning she said "My new haircut is still here!"

While Gaines is coming into his own and is showing us so much personality, Lola is also coming into her own in a different way. It's absolutely IN-SANE how much she's changed over the past 3 months. She is now officially a little girl. No baby in her anymore...unless she's pulling one of her whining acts but we're working on those! Anyway, I don't know if it's her age, or her moving up to a new classroom at school or her becoming a big sister but she's just amazing and it's mind-blowing all she's saying and doing. I'm telling you...nothing gets by this little girl! Here are some of the developments with Lo:

She gets her feelings hurt extra easy and will say "Daddy's making my feelings hurt" or "Bella (the dog - she's very attached to her) is making my feelings hurt" over the smallest things like telling her "No, you can't have ice cream right now". Feelings are a huge deal to her right now. To me, this is a good thing as it shows she's starting to understand her emotions more.

Something else that's been a very hard adjustment for me is Lo talking about her "friends" at school. She'll come home and say "Mattie is my best friend" or one day will say "Mattie is not my best friend anymore" or "Madison told me I'm not her best friend". This has all been hard for me to take in and process. I initially didn't know how to react and still don't actually. I always tell her she shouldn't pick "best friends" and she needs to be friends with everyone and treat all her friends with respect. Pretty humorous to tell my almost 3 yr old this as it seems some adults don't even get this point...most need to go back and remember what their parents tried to teach them and treat people with respect regardless of their flaws. Anyway, that's neither here nor there but it's hard trying to figure out how to lead Lola down the right path and make sure she treats everyone with respect regardless their differences. One time in reaction to one of the so and so was "mean to me today" comments, I told Lola "Lo, That's ok. Sometimes kids are not going to be nice but you still need to treat them with respect and kill them with kindness." She looked at me, squinted her eyebrows and said "Kill them???". I immediately said "Oh no! Never mind...disregard that comment. Just treat them kindly." So funny how kids take things so literally.

Some other things....we've never really let Lo watch much TV until recently. We also would never have the TV on until she went to bed. Now, we'll let her watch certain shows but still put a limit on them. Unfortunately, I found that this was a "must" when Gaines arrived. Sometimes if I was having to feed him or breastfeed or something along those lines, I had to occupy Lola in an attempt to keep her from pitching a fit. This probably wasn't necessarily the best solution but at times you do what you can to make life just a little easier. Ever so often we'll also turn on the TV to watch an adult show when Lo is still awake. Not that we can really watch anything with two kids but at times we'll give it a shot to try to decompress a bit. The other day I said to Lo "Hey Lola....Our favorite show is coming on tonight! What do you think that is?" She hit the nail on the head and answered with great enthusiasm "America's Next Top Model!". HILARIOUS! Boy, do I have her trained. Pretty bad right!?!?!? Oh goodness gracious! If we happen to be watching a show and something comes on that's scary or someone does something mean, etc, Lola will say "I don't think I should be watching this show" and ask us to turn it off. I just think this is too funny and am glad she knows not to watch that stuff. Now if only we could do the same for our brains!!! I'm thinking The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills isn't making me any smarter and is possibly only killing brains cells...you think?!?!?!

On the same note, in the past, we've always limited Lola's sugar intake to a minimal...really almost none. It's just not reality to keep it away from her completely as she'll have sweets/cupcakes at school for holidays or birthdays, etc. So, we'll let her have "a special treat" ever so often. More often than not lately as Clay loves him some ice cream. Many times he'll pick it up on the way home from work and Lo will see him carry it in. She now knows how to open the freezer to check to see if there are any "special treats" waiting to be had. Of course, with this can come fits and I try to avoid those or anything that invokes them at all cost. However, if we happen to have ice cream or any kind of sweet in the house and she sees it, I always say "You can have some for dessert after you eat your dinner." Her reaction to this...she'll say "I want dessert for dinner and dinner for dessert". Oh yea! The first time she said this I was in shock. I was also very impressed by her negotiation efforts....so impressed that I actually let her have dessert for dinner and dinner for dessert. Of course, you do it once and they'll try to get it again. That's been the tough part. Oh, establishing those boundaries...oh so much fun!!!

The great news is Lola now loves her baby brother and loves seeing him grow. It's been a while since Lola has asked me to put Gaines back in my belly. And, when someone asks if they can take her baby brother home with them she actually says "No". For a while there, she would say "Yes...take him!" to strangers. A lot of shocked looks came out of this! Natural I guess. She's even doing well with the attention that other people are always giving Gaines. Naturally babies seem to get all the attention. People will comment by saying "Wow, he's big for his age". Lola say "He's not big...he's a baby". We tell Lo she's a "big girl" and Gaines is a "baby" so she doesn't quite get why people are calling him big.

I'll leave you with one last comment. For those of you who know Lola well, you know she's pretty much filled with personality, loves to put on a show (more on this another time as some of the "shows" she puts on for us are actually AMAZING and absolutely hilarious..especially coming from an almost 3 yr old) and is very dramatic in all ways. Some nights when I put her to bed, here's how the commentary will go:

Me: I love you baby girl!

Lola: I'm not a baby. I'm a big girl.

Me: You're right. I love you my big girl. More than anything in the whole wide world.

Lola: Thank You! I love you too!

A few minutes pass...

Lola: Hold me!

I put my arms around her and a few minutes pass...

Lola: Mommy, You're so beautiful!

Me: Thank you so much Lola! That was so nice of you to say.

Lola: You're also very cute!

Me: Lo, Thank you so much! I love you. Sleep tight and don't let the bed bugs bite.

Lola: Ok. Good night! It's been a long day but it's been great!