18 Month Stats

18 month stats for Sienna...

26 pounds, 7 ounces - 76th percentile
33.5 inches - 92nd percentile

She's definitely thinning out but not as fast as Allie. Since I love to compare the two girls, these are Allie's stats at 18 months...

25 pounds - 59th percentile
33.75 inches - 95th percentile

This was the time when we had to do all of the 'Failure to Thrive' testing on Allie so I'm sooooo glad we don't have to do that with Sienna. BUT, Sienna is following in her sister's footsteps when it comes to the soft spot on her head which STILL isn't closed. But luckily her doctor is fine with us waiting until she's two to do the testing that we had to do with Allie (blood work, x-ray and CT scan) if we need to.

Other than that she is perfectly healthy and perfectly cute!!!

Happy Half Birthday!

Last month we celebrated the half birthdays of both of our little princesses. We now officially have a three and a half year old and a one and a half year old. I continue to be marveled at what a blessing my girls are. Day in and day out, even on the rough days, I just cannot picture my life any other way. I am so content with these two little girls and just love the time and the things that we get to do together. For my memories sake (because years from now I know that I am going to wonder where time has gone!) I want to write down some specifics at this age...

ALLIE


She continues to be a total daddy's girl. Matt and Allie have this amazingly special relationship and like one of my friend's said about her daughter's relationship with her daddy...when Matt is around "I do not exist"

She LOVES golfing - definitely her favorite outdoor activity to do. I'm sure that just maybe it has a little to do with the fact that her daddy loves golf too :) but this kid really does love it and she's actually getting really good at it too!


She loves preschool and is doing really, really well in it. Her teachers just love her (and Allie loves her teachers) and say that she is a 'dream student' - music to my ears :) Her best friend at school is another really sweet girl which her teachers say is really a testiment to her character - 'good' girls ususally flock to 'good' girls. I pray this continues throughout her school years!

Every time I drop her off somewhere (preschool, church, etc) or I leave she demands I give her 'hugs and kisses' first :)

She is soooo smart. I know I'm her parent and I see her through 'mommy goggles', but really, she is so bright, loves to learn and learning is really easy for her. Some of the things that she knows and tells me just blows my mind.


She is such a sweet big sister. Everyone always told me that the older sibling makes the youger sibling tough because the older one beats up on the younger one, but that is NOT true in our house. Sienna terrorizes Allie way more! Allie is (usually) so sweet and easygoing, the girls really do not fight all that much. Allie always looks out for Sienna and is so helpful with her.

She continues to be a ridiculously picky eater. We are continually working on it and using some new strategies and tactics. She is a VERY healthy eater, she just doesn't have a large variety of foods that she eats and does NOT like to try new things. But by the time this kid turns 4 I am determined to get her to eat pizza and ice cream!!!

She's the perfect combo of girly girl and tomboy. She loves getting her nails painted, twirling in dresses and dressing up, but she also loves to play sports, dig in the backyard and use her tools.

She is an awesome swimmer. We are still doing swim lessons which have totally paid off because she can completely swim on her own. She can jump into a pool, get onto her back and backfloat for a long time, then swim forward some more, then flip back onto her back again and backfloat - all completely on her own. It's pretty awesome and she loves it.


Her nickname has become Minnie - not as in Minnie Mouse (although she does LOVE Minnie Mouse), it is because she is a 'mini' Matt. She is constantly following Matt around and wants to do everything that he does. As I said above, she is his little shadow whenever he is around. And also talking to Matt's parents, behavior-wise she acts so similar to the way that he did when he was little. Matt loves having his little Minnie around :)

She has super long gorgeous light brown hair, almost to her bottom - I just LOVE doing her hair everyday and she is really good about letting me.

Her favorite TV shows are Bubble Guppies and Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and her favorite movies are Finding Nemo and Toy Story 2.

Allie is sweet, caring and kind. She cares about other people's feelings sometimes more than her own. She loves to laugh, play and spend time with her family more than anything.



SIENNA


She continues to be a total MOMMY'S girl (Matt and I are lucky that we each have one:) She STILL cries when I leave a room, drop her off at church or drop her off at MOPS.

She is a cuddler - BIG time! I can't even count the number of times a day that she comes over to me to lay on me or lay her head on my shoulder when I'm holding her. It is the best thing in the world. I rock her every night (not to sleep, just when we are getting ready for bed) and she'll just lay on me while we sing and pray. Oh it melts my heart.

She's still a total paci addict. We are really trying to stick with the rule that she only gets her paci in bed or in the car but this kid always manages to sneak one downstairs or find one hidden somewhere - I'll look over in the middle of the day and she's got one in her mouth! It's going to be a tough habit to break but I'm sooooo glad we've had it for this long because I think I would have died if she didn't take one!


She continues to be a spirited (aka, feisty) little girl. She's been getting a lot better and easier lately, I think she's turning the corner with some of her behaviors which is nice and she's definitely happy the majority of the time (which wasn't the case months ago). She's so sweet and happy but if something doesn't go her way - WATCH OUT!

She has SO many words! (And I'm not talking about just repeating words - because she will repeat anything we say. These are words that she totally knows) Everyone always told me that the second child usually talks much later than the first, but I'm not sure if that's the case with my girls. The difference is that Allie's words were incredibly clear from the beginning, you always knew exactly what she was saying. Sienna is a little bit more difficult to understand. I think this has helped a lot with her spirited-ness because now we can communicate much better with each other. My very favorite is when I put her to bed I say "I love you" and she says in her sweet little voice "wuv woo" :) Also, instead of saying the word 'yes', she always just says 'uh huh', it is pretty funny.


She loves books and loves to be read to. She constantly brings me books and then backs up to sit in my lap - it's so cute :)

She's a decent eater, not as picky as Allie but still not the greatest. Guess I'm just never going to have one of those kids who will 'eat anything'. Oh well, you win some, you lose some :)

She LOVES her big sister and is in the total copying phase. Almost anything that Allie is doing, Sienna wants to do too. It's so cute to see Sienna mimic Allie.


She has 12 teeth - the 4 middle top ones, 4 middle bottom ones and 4 molars.

She is a pooping machine - this kids poops 3-4 times a day. I suppose it's better than the alternative!

Her hair is NOT growing!!! I swear it looks the same as it did when she was 6 months old. It's gotten thicker and she has these little curls in the back that are pretty long but for the most part is not longer than an inch (this is so hard for me since at the point Allie's hair was so long already!) It's probably a blessing in disguise that I don't have to do 2 girls' hair every morning (but I'm still praying for it to grow...fast! ha)

Sienna is sweet and spunky all in one. She is very independent but also very attached to the ones she loves and feels comfortable with. Her sweet smile is contagious and she has the best facial expressions that just crack us up.


Aside from my wonderful hubby, these girls are the loves of my life! I just can't believe how big they are getting but I am loving every minute!

15 Months Old!

Really? How can this be possible? Is my little tiny baby really 15 months old? Well, I guess she was never really that little or tiny, but still! I have to say sooooo much has changed since my last Sienna post. It was 3 months ago so I guess that's not too surprising. But going from posting every single month in the first year to delaying now for a few months is a little strange. But since this is my pseudo-baby book, I have to document how big my baby girl is getting!

Her vocabulary has taken off in the past three months - she says...mama, dada, Allie, ball, go, up, more, dog, help, no, all done, hi, bye-bye

She got sick for the first time (first time at 14 months old - not bad!) We had to take her to urgent care while we were on vacation in California and it ended up that she had a double ear infection :(

She is walking! It took about two weeks from the time she took her first steps to her walking about 90% of the time. I love the 'new walk' that babies do, it's adorable to see her waddle around :)

She's doing pretty good with eating. Definitely not as picky as her sister (thank you Jesus) but she's not a 'she'll eat anything' kinda girl. We're still working on it and I pray it gets better but I am happy with where she's at right now. Her favorites are grapes, peaches, pears, corn, pizza, quesadillas and smoothies.

This girl loves her milk, she drinks about 4 sippy cups of milk each day. My girls are gunna have some strong bones with all the calcium they get!

She still loves her paci. Pacis are one of those things that are both a blessing and a curse. I know it's going to come to a point where we are going to have to take it away and it might not be easy but she's definitely one of those kids who is soothed so easily by sucking it's been totally worth it for us. We'll start to phase it out here soon (sorry Sienna!)

She loves her 'b' (blanket) and won't sleep without it. It's one of those Aden and Anais blankets that Allie has too, both girls are addicted to them (they are the best:)

Her teeth are completely wacky (as you could see from a couple posts below). She didn't get her first tooth until she was 10 months old which is abnormal, and it has continued that way. She has her middle two bottom teeth, then just one more on one side. THEN, instead of getting her middle two top teeth, she has her two fangs! It's pretty funny, and there's no sign of the middle four coming through yet. ALSO she has two of her molars! Weird I know, one on the bottom left, and one on the top right. Wacky right?!

She continues to be our feisty little girl - she's definitely going to be strong-willed (or I suppose the politically correct term is SPIRITED!) This girl goes from 0 to 60 in .2 seconds...most of the time over something as small as her sippy cup falling over. She definitely is making me learn a lot of parenting skills that I never had to learn with Allie!

She's still sleeping AMAZINGLY! She goes to bed around 7:00pm and most mornings I have to wake her up at 8:00am (I've always gotten her up by 8 so her nap schedule isn't too crazy) She takes an hour and a half morning nap and 2-3 hour afternoon nap. Can I tell you how blessed I am to have TWO incredible sleepers? (Yes, you can be jealous:)

She is so sweet, smiley, completely attached to me and totally in love with her big sister. I love this little girl to pieces!

One Year Old!

 

I think the person that came up with the phrase, 'time flies', MUST have had children. Seriously, I feel like Sienna was born just last week and here we are celebrating her first birthday. But on that same note, I can barely remember life without her sweet face. This little girl has brought me so much joy. I really can't wait for the years to come to see the kind of girl she is going to develop into. I really think that she's going to be our strong-willed child...take something away from her and watch out! But she is so sweet and cuddly at the same time. I think she's a perfect balance of independence and knowing when she needs someone. She is always so smiley (except in front of a camera:) and loves to laugh (especially at her big sister). I look at her every day and my heart melts.
Happy first birthday to my sweet Sienna Faith. I love you more than I can explain and I am so blessed to be your mom!

Three Years Old!!!

Three years ago right now I was sitting in a hospital bed staring at the most amazing gift a person could be given. I had just become a parent for the first time and although I'm sure I had some nerves about bringing this gift home, I sat in awe and felt...complete, at peace, full of joy and IN LOVE. The feelings that I had on that day and every day since then are unexplainable. I never knew I could love this much, I never knew I could feel this much happiness. My first born little girl just turned three and I can't help but get on my knees and thank God for the gift that HE has given me. I can't believe that God chose me to be this little girl's mommy, I am sooo blessed! Happy birthday to my little princess who made my dream of becoming a mom come true!

11 Months Old!

Sienna Faith,
My baby girl you almost aren't my baby anymore! I cannot believe that you are going to be ONE in just a month. This year has gone by way too fast. Although I am so excited to celebrate that milestone with you, part of me wants to go back in time and spend so many moments with you again. But I am LOVING the little girl that you are becoming.

You have had SO many firsts this past month! The first one that happened was that you finally got your first tooth! Well, actually teeth. Your bottom two teeth literally popped through on the same day. You definitely have had many fussy, teething days so I knew they were coming. You look so cute with your two little 'teef' (as your sister calls them:)

You also started crawling! You are totally sporting the army crawl, just like your sister did at first, but man you are fast! You can get anywhere you want to go and have literally made it to every corner of our house. You haven't quite pulled yourself up to standing yet but you make it to your knees on many occasions.

A couple of your firsts involved water, one you loved and one you hated. We took you to a splash pad for the first time at Scottsdale Quarter and this is what happened...

Not sure why you hated it so much, I'm thinking maybe the water was too cold since both of my girls (including me) like warm water. I have to say though that you did have a wonderful time, as long as I didn't sit you down in the water. :)
You also had your first swim lesson and this one you loved. You did great and had so much fun.

You are still sleeping great (actually even longer than the past few months). You are no where near giving up your morning nap and for that I am so thankful! haha I love going in to get you and you are sitting up smiling in your crib. Most of the time you have a paci in your mouth and one in each hand, it's really cute.

As for your eating habits, eh. You still love your baby food and have no problems there but as for table food you are still not a fan. We did have a breakthrough a couple nights ago where you actually ate many small pieces of pizza and mushrooms, but the next day you were back to throwing everything on the ground. It's hard to get you to even try things but I know you will sometime (hopefully when you go to preschool I won't be packing your lunch with baby food jars!) So we will continue to try, try, try!

You learned your second word...no. And now you say it all the time. It's so hard because it's definitely not a word that I want you to say all the time but you are so darn cute when you say it, it's hard not to smile and laugh.

I have already started planning your birthday party and am having so much fun. I can't wait for our friends and family to get together and celebrate what a wonderful gift you are! I love you baby girl!

10 Months Old!

Sienna Faith,
Today we celebrate your 10 month 'birthday'. These past 10 months have gone by so fast, I swear you were born just yesterday. You continue to be such a joy in my life, your daddy's life and in our family's lives. I am so blessed to have you as my baby girl!

You are not crawling yet but I still say you are sooo close (I know I said that last month too but really, you are CLOSE!) You can definitely get to wherever you want to go by rolling, scooting and pushing. Most of the time you are totally content with doing this but then sometimes you get so frustrated when you are on your belly that you flail your arms and legs like you are swimming. I know that you'll be one of those babies who aren't crawling one second, and then the next you are all over the place. Selfishly I like the fact that you can't get all over the house yet so you take your time girl! :)

I'm so thankful that you continue to be a fantastic sleeper. The first few days after we got back from our trip to Ohio you were up pretty early (like 6:30) but you quickly went back to normal. I LOVE that you are such a good sleeper - it's amazing! And now you are mostly always sleeping on your tummy.

We have started to introduce finger foods to you at each meal (besides puff's and o's - cheerios). So far you've had small pieces of banana, avocado, cheese, peas, yogurt melts and a ritz cracker. And so far you've refused and spit out banana, avocado, cheese, peas and yogurt melts - everything BUT the ritz cracker - you gobbled that thing up! (My girls sure do love their carbs!) So, we'll keep trying but we're taking it really slow, it seems you aren't quite ready for finger foods yet but luckily you continue to love your purees.

You went on your first real trip last month all the way to Ohio. You were so wonderful on the plane rides - you slept in your Moby wrap, played and smiled at just about everyone. You had so much fun with your extended family and they all (of course) just loved you.

You also went in the pool for the first time with daddy. I'm sad I missed it and didn't get any pictures but I'm so glad that you got to experience a first with just your dad. He had so much fun and said you did too. I know you are going to be a water baby just like your sister.

YOu continue to have the sweetest personality. You are still very attached to me but when you are with your grandparents or dad, you do great. When we are out and about everyone always comments about how happy you are - you LOVE to smile when someone smiles at you. And the person you smile at the MOST is your big sister - it's the cutest thing ever.

Sienna bug, I love you so much and enjoy every second that I get to spend with you. Just looking at your face reminds me of how very blessed I am!

9 Months Old!!!

Sienna Faith,

You are nine months old today! I can't believe that you have exceeded the amount of time that you were in my belly. Those were nine great months (aside from the morning sickness, puking, fatigue, reflux, discomfort, contractions, etc, etc, etc. haha) But these past nine months have been even better!

You are totally mobile now. Not with crawling, but with rolling. It is your new favorite thing. You roll all over the place and also, rotate all over the place. You are definitely trying really hard to crawl. If a toy is out of your reach you stretch so hard to get to it, try to roll to it, and then get REALLY frustrated if you can't get it. But I have a feeling it's going to happen soon. You still love to sit up and play with toys, you are losing interest in your excersaucer but you'll tolerate it for a while and you LOVE going on walks and swinging.

You are sleeping and napping great. 12-13 hours a night, a two hour nap in the morning and 2-3 hour nap in the afternoon. You went through a phase for several nights were waking up in the middle of the night crying (which I blame on teething) but luckily you are back to normal. You continue to wake up so happy, talking and playing in your crib until I come and get you, I just love the smiles I get when I walk into your room :) Your paci also buys me some time too, especially since some mornings you will find it, put it in your mouth and fall back asleep! You also started sleeping on your tummy now. I'm surprised it took you this long but you are still a bigger fan of sleeping on your back.

Again, still no teeth. Your sister was almost 10 months old when she got your first tooth so if you take after her then this will be the month. I know things are moving around in there because you have had many, many 'teething' moments so I am just waiting for them to pop through.

You continue to eat great. You get fruit and oatmeal for breakfast, fruit and/or veggie for lunch and a meat meal for dinner. You aren't a fan of the meats (maybe because I'm not making those meals. I love that you love my cooking/pureeing:) but you tolerate them. And boy are you loving your PUFFS! They are by far your favorite part of mealtime and you've mastered getting them into your mouth. You've also had several mum mums which you devour as well.

You've learned to play peek-a-boo and love it. It's so cute to see you hold a burp cloth or blanket up over your face. You will also put your hands above your head when we say 'sooooo big' (well, that happens about 60% of the time!) You love being interacted with (you are not a fan of being alone!)


I love you my sweet baby, you bring so much joy to my life!