Sweet Little Alina at 18-Months-Old

Adorable and playful Alina at 18-months-old

Little Alina turned 18-months-old on February 12th! She is becoming such a big girl, and while we still call her our "baby", as she is the youngest member of the family, she has truly reached toddler status. Every time I use the term toddler I second guess myself because last I remember she was my tiny newborn, cradled in my arms, and sleeping like a tiny porcelain doll. Oh how quickly these cute kids grow!

Alina's 18-month growth stats:

Height: 33.5 in (90th percentile)

Weight: 24 lbs 10oz (50th percentile)
 

Happy 18-months sweet girl!

As for the headline, YES, you read that right, "Sweet little Alina at 18-months-old". She really is the sweetest little girl. She is right at the age where the pre-terrible twos usually happen, and while we keep waiting for those well expected epic tantrums (a la. big sissy Elise), she keeps her cool and rarely throws a tantrum. Her version of a tantrum is crying at a slightly higher decibel for about 2-3 minutes and as soon as we address her needs she immediately calms down. I've devised a little trick that always works with her. Whenever she gets upset or starts saying no, I immediately pretend to pout and sniffle, which is always met with a smile, hug and a kiss from her. She immediately forgets about why she was upset and wants to do everything possible to make mommy happy (especially since she knows how much I love hugs from her). This speak volumes about her personality, she is giver and a sweet little nurturer, and even at her very young age she puts the feelings of others above her own. She is so much like her daddy in this regard. 

Aside from her sweet, even-tempered demeanor, her other big personality trait is being a curious little explorer. More specifically, she is CLIMBER! She climbs everything she possibly can. I have said before that she is a mini-daredevil, and it has become quite apparent now that she is going to be our little thrill-seeker. She laughs hysterically whenever she is turned upside-down, thrown up in the air, or riding a push car while precariously balancing on top with both her hands in the air. She loves pushing her limits, and that rush of excitement that comes with achieving a daring new feat. She is never afraid to get dirty. If you put her outside on the playground for 20 minutes, she comes back filthy and smiling. She will play in the dirt, sand, grass, mud, you name it. It is such a huge contrast from Elise as she did not like getting messy at all. At 18-months Alina's little personality is really starting to shine through. She has a very keen sense of humor, and the most adorable laugh. She loves to do silly things, and get laughs from all of us. We love watching her cute little personality develop.

Silly little Alina channeling Uncle Colin in potato head glasses!

Alina talks up a storm now. She can sing her ABCs all the way through, as well as the words to countless other lullabies. Her favorites are "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star", "Itsy Bitsy Spider" and "Frere Jacques". She sounds so cute singing the words to these songs! She has also learned to count to 10. Alina has been building her vocabulary over the past few months, and can identify many different objects now. She knows most of her animals and all the sounds they make; her rendition of cat is my favorite because she does the perfect high pitched "mew". She strings together small sentences now like "I want some", "that one", etc. She is still more of a mover than a talker, but we have seen huge leaps in her speech in the past few weeks alone.

Alina has almost all her baby teeth now; 16 in total! She had eight teeth when she turned one-year-old. Her first four back molars started to crown at about 13-months-old, and her canines started to come through at 16-months-old. She did really well with teething, though the canines were the worst for her in terms of pain. She drooled and rubbed at her gums quite a bit when they came in, but as I've said before this girl is just amazing; she hardly ever cries, even through teething pain.

 

When it comes to her appetite, little Alina is a bit of a pickier eater than her big sister. She has turned her nose up to more than a few things I have offered her recently. She isn't particularly fond of tomatoes, which surprised me because Elise loves them. She still loves her broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, squash and avocado. She loves chicken, rice, pasta and other dinner foods, but is not a huge breakfast eater. She will usually only eat half her eggs, hashbrowns and toast. She loves cheese, but what kid doesn't? She often picks her cheese off the eggs, bread, etc and eats that first. I can already tell she is going to be my little snacker, as she won't eat everything on her plate right away, but will go back to the table and pick at it for the next half hour until it is gone. We are hoping to keep her appetite adventurous, and I know that when it comes to food preferences many toddlers go through phases. We have phased out bottles for sippy cups...well all except her nighttime bottle. I hate to admit that, but she loves her nighttime bottle and it has been hard to give up. Mark my words that it is on the agenda, but at the same time her night bottle is the last truly "baby-like" thing about her. I am struggling just as much as she is haha.

Cute toddler in the laundry basket

Sisters playing together - love their smiles!

Perhaps the biggest new development is that Elise and Alina are both starting to become best little buddies and actually play together. I say actually because it really did take a while for Elise to become fully interested in her. I think this is primarily due to how close in age they are, but also because Elise is very mature for her age and not being able to communicate with Alina meant she lost interest rather quickly. We have finally reached the point where Alina can communicate, play and keep up with her big sister, and Elise just loves it. When they get home from school, they often head straight into each other rooms, just playing and laughing, while I make dinner. I can't even put into words how great this is. 1. It is wonderful to see the sisterly bond they share and hear how much they make each other laugh 2. It is SO nice that they are starting to have a little bit of independence, instead of clinging to moms legs, waist, arms, face, etc - while she tries to navigate between placating their needs and making dinner all at the same time. They certainly still have plenty of the "mine" yelling matches and toy tug-of-war sessions, but overall they are learning to play happily and share. I look forward to watching them grow up together, and I can already see they will be the very best of friends.

Elise beautifying Alina's hair, with as many clippies as possible

Look Who's Walking! - Alina at 10-Months-Old

Baby Alina is walking at 10-months-old!!!
 

Cute baby walker in her blue tutu swimsuit

Baby Alina turned 10-months-old on June 12th. She took her first unassisted steps on June 22nd, 2012! Just a short week later she began full on walking. This is the biggest milestone of our baby girl's first year and we are amazed that she has mastered it so early on. We think her strong desire to keep up with big sister Elise, pushed her to take those first steps. She only crawled for a few short months and now fully enjoys viewing the world upright and on her toes. We are such proud parents right now! Watching our baby girl walk is nothing short of amazing; and we just can't believe how fast she progressed. I'm sure running, climbing and dancing are not too far off. What a special moment for our littlest doll!



Our skilled little walker perfecting her gait

Walking and calling for "mama" - I love this combination hah

Alina has a few favorite words now; "mama, dada, baba", and her favorite non-word "gaga", which is always super cute to hear. She isn't a little chatterbox quite yet, but she knows all she needs to get by. I think that saying rings true, either you have an early talker or an early walker, she certainly falls within the latter category. Elise was the early talker, but she didn't start walking until after one-year-old. I work on introducing new words with Alina, but as of now she sticks to her favorites, and you will never hear me complaining about her saying "mama" too much, I can't get enough of that one and it seems to be her overall favorite - YAY for mama!

Baby stinker face strikes again; look at all those teeth!

 

Playful little sweetheart

At 10-months-old, Alina has a total of six teeth; four on top and two on the bottom. She got her  additional two top teeth right around eight-months-old, and hasn't had any more come through since. She is no longer nursing, I stopped right before she turned 10-months-old, as she was no longer interested. She has four 8-oz bottles of organic baby formula in additon to all her daily meals. She now eats the same things we have dinner...hooray. She especially enjoys chicken, pasta, spaghetti, turkey meatballs, eggs, avocado, steamed broccoli, squash and carrots, soybeans, and fruit of any kind. She's not a picky eater as of yet, although she has been turning up her nose to tomatoes (which she used to love).

Feed the baby - she's a big eater now
 

Spaghetti face! She has no qualms about getting messy

Helping us do the dishes, with an irrestible giggle



Alina is still a great sleeper. She usually has an hour nap in the morning, and a 1-2 hour afternoon nap. She sleeps the entire night through from 7pm - 7am. She rarely ever cries when put down for her naps or bedtime. This is a huge change from Elise, who always cried when put down to sleep (she still does even to this day). It is nice to be able to lay her down and watch her cuddle into a ball and fall asleep almost immediately. We are so grateful to have a little one who embraces her zzzz's!

One sweet little girl! She is always happy :)

Pretty in pink and showing off her beautiful eyes

Alina looks even more like mommy's little twin, as her eyes are beginning to darken. She has gorgeous hazel eyes right now and it has us wondering if they will stay that way or turn all the way brown. Right now they appear to be brown in the center surrounded by green on the outside. I think they will likely turn brown, but only time will tell. I also love that her hair has stayed a nice golden brown color. It is getting much longer now and we do not plan to cut it. We are going to let it all grow out, nice and long - no bangs for this little one.  While Alina looks like mommy, she definitely has her daddy's sweet and mellow temperment. She rarely ever cries and is not demanding whatsoever, however, she is a ball of energy and super inquisitive. She loves playing with her toys, especially the musical ones, as she is so curious about all the sounds. She is also quite active and always finding a chair to push along the floor; any way possible to get into dishwasher; looking for ways to climb up furniture and toys; and this little one puts everything in her mouth, we really have to watch her in that department. Other than that, she is so easy and always a joy to be around.

 

 



Reading her musical sound book; she loves it





 

 

Alina's growth stats at her 9-month checkup:

Height: 28 in (50th percentile)

Weight: 15 lbs 14 oz (5th percentile)

Alina had her most recent checkup at 9-months. At that point, she was average height, but still super tiny weight wise. Since then, she is no longer nursing and now on formula and three full meals a day. I can tell she has gained considerable weight, although she is still a naturally petite little girl. I'm looking forward to finding out her growth stats at her 12-month checkup. I plan to start her on whole milk in another month or so. I have a feeling we are in store for a huge growth spurt. She may be our tiny little doll now, but not for long; I plan to enjoy it while it lasts!

 

Realities of a One-Month-Old

Our little baby doll Alina turned one-month-old on 9/12/11. One thing we have really taken notice to is how incredibly strong she is. Alina has been holding her head up since birth. After I feed her, I always place her over my shoulder and pat her back to burp her. She will usually either burp or spit up, but afterwards if she is still hungry she lifts her head, slightly opens her mouth and starts bobbing on my shoulder, she will then push with her legs and arms and crawl back down to nurse! I guess I shouldn't be amazed by this, but Elise never held her head up or did this until much later, so it is a bit surprising to see her doing this so early. When Elise was hungry, she just smacked her mouth like crazy and flailed about. Alina doesn't waste time, she just bobs her head a few times and then decides to move herself to where she wants to be. It is so interesting to see all the differences between them, especially even in these early few weeks.

I'm cute, but beware - I spit-up...A LOT!

Another, not so glamorous reality of having a one-month-old is the non-stop baby puke. My arms, chest, stomach, neck, legs, clothes and even my hair have all become prime targets. Alina spits up like it's going out of style. She's projectiled on daddy and I more times than we can count. Elise is wise enough to know not to hold her after she eats because, as she so eloquently puts it, "she spits" - isn't that the truth! I know in the next few weeks it will start getting better, but right now she's our little puke machine. Nothing can prepare you for the massive amount of laundry you will be doing in the first month; it really is neverending and spit-up clothes have to be washed fairly quickly. I look forward to getting past all the spit-up accidents, but other than that Alina really is the easiest and sweetest little baby doll around.

Daddy got a chance to feed her the first bottle

Admittedly, feeding her has been more tiring this week. Alina tends to have on/off days. On days - she's more alert and nurses regularly while off days - she just wants to sleep and little will wake her, even at feeding times. While she's perfectly content with this, it is not exactly ideal nor comfortable for mom. Fortuntately, breastfeeding IS easier the second time around. I think I've only declared that I wanted to give up one time in the past month. The first time around, I said it more times than I can remember. Even through bouts of mastitis and thrush (which were both equally painful and discouraging) I've pushed through and am finally arriving at an easy/second nature attitude towards her feedings. I must say, that it is an incredibly rewarding feeling to know that your baby is content and feeding well. It makes the path there, and any struggles along the way, all worth it in the end.

Happy, sleepy girl

While I love spending each and every special moment with Baby Alina, the stickler in me is having a difficult time accepting that certain things just have to be put off. It drives me crazy to look at my floors right now, they are in desperate need of cleaning. The sofa has been transformed into a laundromat and Elise's toys are overtaking the most random parts of the house. Burps clothes are strewn across our bed and the dishes are calling my name. Also, work is piling up in my office inbox. Plus, I have a ton of pictures I want to post and photo albums I want to complete, but unfortunately working on photos is my last priority right now. Ultimately, I've come to a point of acceptance that this is the way things will be until I get Alina on a regular daily schedule. After all, taking care of her is my main focus and as exhausting as it may often be, I wouldn't have it any other way. Love you baby girl!

This little doll keeps me going strong!

...and this one reminds me to cherish each
moment because the baby stage goes by so fast!

Half Moon Bay State Beach - Labor Day 2011 Family Road Trip



Half Moon Bay State Beach

Enjoying the nice uncrowded beach

Family time and Baby Alina's first beach trip!

Lovely views and steep cliffs

This Labor Day, we all took a family road trip to beautiful Half Moon Bay State Beach. Elise suggested the idea for us to take a trip to the beach well over a month ago, and has been talking about it non-stop ever since. We enjoyed the trip, though getting out of the house took over two hours. Getting two kids ready takes an entirely new amount of preparation. I had to bring double the items, plus lots of changes of clothes and burp cloths for baby Alina, who is an absolute puke machine at the moment. Then there was getting together all the food, the pump and bottles, movies to entertain Elise on the drive down, plus beach towels, loungers, chairs and other items, the baby carrier, diapers, Elise's toys, wipes...wipes...and more wipes, and yes the list goes on!

It was full on chaos getting out that door for our first trip, but once we were on the road the day unfolded relatively smooth. Elise was well behaved, plenty entertained, and had enough snack options to keep her satisfied the entire road trip. Alina slept the entire drive! She was awake only long enough to down each bottle I gave her, and then on a sleepy milk high to dreamland right afterwards. It was amazing that both the girls did so well on the road trip.

Elise had so much fun at the beach, despite the fact that it was very cold weather. She built sand castles and enjoyed the company of mom, dad, baby sister, grandma, Uncle Colin, and Aunt Darcy. Our little three-week-old Alina was bundled up like a baby burrito and slept the entire time. She did so well on her first travel adventure!

More views of beautiful Half Moon Bay State Beach

Spending time with Uncle Colin

Enjoying the day with family

Playing in the sand with daddy

Proud of her Tinkerbell sand castle

Elise, out and about at eight weeks

Elise in Candyland - CA State Fair 8/27/09

This week, we took Elise on her first big excursion to the California State Fair. We had a fabulous time, just the three of us! We packed a couple bottles and were able to stay for about five hours. It was so much fun, mainly because it was our first big family outing together. We saw The Fab Four (a great Beatles tribute band) and took Elise to see the exhibits and animals (though she didn’t pay much attention). It was more fun for mom and dad to get to spend some quality time with baby girl. She was great the entire time and didn't fuss once. The best part is that we got some great photos. There was an entire exhibit devoted to candy. It was decorated with a fun candyland theme and made the perfect backdrop for Elise’s photos.

While it is a great thing that Elise loves to go on outings with us, she absolutely HATES her car seat and car rides. She screams and cries almost every time we are in the car. Everybody has always told me car rides are great for getting babies to sleep...well not for her. She detests being strapped down and squirms, kicks and yells. As soon as we get out of the car and unstrap her she is fine again. I’m sure this is just a passing phase and I would much prefer that she cry on the way somewhere rather than once we arrive.

Daddy has also been making sure to hog all the baby time to himself lately! Anytime we take Elise out, he insists on leaving the stroller in the car so he can hold her everywhere we go. He has gotten so much attention from women ogling over Elise. I think he likes parading the “daddy factor” as I affectionately refer to it. Most women become trapped under the spell haha. But seriously, he just loves holding her close. Whenever I ask to hold her he replies, “She’s my baby”, and pulls her close! I find it so cute and sweet.

Elise as "Mona Lisa"

Jellybean Marilyn Portrait!

Week four - The First Smile

Her precious smile at four weeks!

This week, we had a breakthrough; baby Elise gave mom and dad her first real smile! It has been the highlight of our week, and we were fortunate enough to capture a few great photos of her smiling. She has the cutest little toothless grin, and now mom and dad have gone into overdrive trying to encourage more! As of right now her smiles are very fast and she doesn’t give them every time. But when she does, it makes our efforts more than worth it. I had imagined this moment all the time when I was pregnant. No matter how much I pictured it, nothing can compare to the actual experience. I was overcome with joy when I saw her huge smile! It was the most perfectly gratifying moment; just baby girl and mommy sharing smiles.

We also finally gave in and introduced Elise to the pacifier this week. I held off for the first few weeks, as I did not want to interfere with her feeding routine, cause confusion, etc. On one of her fussier evenings, we finally broke down and tried out the “passy” (I've detest the word “binky) for the first time. It worked like a charm and had us wondering why we hadn’t broke it out sooner! When I first put it in her mouth, she looked up at me and frowned. A few minutes later, she was sucking away without a care in the world. Mom and dad slept great that night and have since used the pacifier as a sleep aid. We will sometimes give it to her to calm fussiness, but for the most part I want her to associate it with sleep.

Daddy also fed Elise her first bottle. I pumped and made her a small bottle just to test out how she would do. It was exciting, as it was the first time he got to feed her. She did well, drinking the entire bottle in no time flat.

We have taken Elise out on quite a few weekend excursions now. We have even taken her to a few restaurants and she does great. We bring the pacifier, just in case she gets fussy, but usually she doesn’t even need it. It has been wonderful to be able to go out to dinner and bring her along without the worry of her crying the entire time. It’s nice to know that we can still enjoy little luxuries; even with a newborn in tow!

Happy girl!