Happy Birthday...

Trenton Michael

Born: Tuesday, October 27, 2015

At: 11:00am

Weight: 7lbs 15oz

Length: 22.5 inches

Status: Our adorable little man is finally here, eight days after his due date! Mama was in pre-labor for five LONG days before his arrival. He is a precious boy with adorable little dimples and loved immensely by his parents and two adoring sisters. He spent three days in the NICU after birth due to breathing issues, but is doing well now and came home today, October 30th, 2015. We are all so in love, our family is complete.

Happy 4th Birthday Elise!

Sweet Elise at 4-years-old
Photo by: Memories By Michelle
 

 

Today, we celebrate our first born baby girl's fourth birthday. It's hard to believe that four years have passed since we first welcomed you into our world. From the day I found out I was pregnant, you changed the person I was. At that moment, my life became enveloped with dreams of making your little life amazing, and nothing less. Looking back on these first four years, I can see that so many of our dreams for you have already come true. The most important being your happiness and childhood development, which is right on track...if not clearly above the standard :) We couldn't be more grateful for all the moments of pure joy and love we have had the pleasure of sharing with you. Elise, you are our first born and will pave the way for our family in future generations. It is a big title to carry, but you little lady, are doing it well!

 

You are quite excited to be four, and have set big goals like learning to read and write sentences. You also wants to ride your bike with no training wheels, swim underwater, and "climb a mountain" (your words exactly heheh). We are so proud of the little lady you are becoming. You are incredibly smart and extremely driven to succeed. You continually finds new ways to challenge yourself, and refuse to give up on a task until you master it. One of your biggest joys is having mommy and daddy read to you before bed. You love books, and laugh and giggle uncontrollably through every fun story. You are so eager to learn to read, and already recognize and point out many words in your books.

 

As for your interests, right now you are the ultimate girly girl. You love princesses, dolls, and playing dress up. In fact, you have declared that you will only wear dresses or skirts (the fancier the better). You love to have your nails painted, wear lip gloss and flowers or bows in your hair, (which you intend to grow out to Rapunzel-like length). You can pull together a highly styled outfit in less than a couple minutes, and are great at coordinating and accessorizing. 

 

At four-years-old, you are full of childhood dreams and wonder. You tell me on a weekly basis the things you want to go see, do and achieve. As you grow remember these dreams and know that you can accomplish anything. Our goal as parents is to encourage you to pursue your dreams and help you reach your goals. We are your biggest supporters and dreaming those same big dreams right along with you. We love you so much, and are as proud as ever to be your parents. Happy 4th Birthday Elise!!

 

 

The playful birthday girl, all smiles and having fun
Photos by: Memories By Michelle
 

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

Alina's 12-Month Update

Our active little Leo at 12-months-old

 

Little Alina turned one-year-old on August 12, 2012. She has accomplished so much in her first year; from learning to walk at a mere 10-months-old; to climbing and scaling every piece of furniture in our house; to baby talking and repeating back words; to expressing her first few feisty toddler moments (she hardly ever does, but when it happens the girl can squeal loud enough to stop traffic). It is truly difficult to believe that she has completed her very first rotation around the sun ;) in what feels like record time. Where did our baby go!?!? While we will miss her being so little, the excitement of watching her grow supersedes any feelings of baby nostalgia. She has been an absolute joy to raise this first year.

 

 

Eating breakfast...completely unphased by the wild bedhead

 



She is getting so tall, 93rd % baby!



 

Alina's 12-month growth stats:

 

Height: 31.5 in (93rd percentile)

Weight: 20 3.5 oz (52nd percentile)

 

At our most recent checkup, we discovered that Alina's weight has now shot up into the 52nd percentile! This was good news to hear, as I was somewhat concerned at how underweight she was at all her prior checkups. I transitioned her from formula to whole milk early, at 11-months-old, to help bulk her up a bit. In addition to her whole milk bottles, she eats like crazy. Her favorite foods are: chicken, pasta, rice, eggs, cheese, bananas, broccoli, cauliflower and squash. She eats most everything we put on her plate; but believe it or not, Elise is our most adventurous eater, she will try anything. Alina just started turning her nose up to tomatoes and a few other foods. I know the routine with kids appetites, they are cyclical and you'd better be prepared to give them second and third helpings during growth spurts. Alina had her most recent growth spurt right around 11.5 to 12 months. We are so happy to see her weight in the 50th percentile, and it looks as if we may have another tall girl on our hands because Alina is in the 93rd percentile for her height.

 

 

Big smile and look at all her teeth!

Laughing fit - she's happy and loved

 

In teething related news, at 12-months-old little Alina had a total of eight teeth, four on top and four on the bottom. She got her first molars in, top and bottom, at 12-months and three weeks old. In all honestly, I had no idea they were coming through until they had started to crown, she was that good. In fact, we barely heard a peep out of her due to teething. She was slightly fussier than normal, but nothing bad. Elise was extra cranky for a month straight when she got her molars in.

Dancing with her shoes...yeah it's a baby thing!

 

Alina had added a couple more words to her baby repertoire. She learned to say "baby" right around 12-months-old, and this is her favorite word. She loves pointing to photos, of her and Elise, on the fridge and saying "baby" to each one. She can almost say "sissy", but it comes out more like "sissa". She is also in the early stages of working on her ABCs, so far she can say "aaaa, bbbb"...we're still working on the rest, but it is super cute hearing her shout "aaaa, bbbb" for 10 minutes at a time. Overall, Alina is still a baby of few words, she is more interested in singing and music; I think she may be able to sing an entire song even before she learns how to string a sentence together :) Although she can't say all the words yet, she can perfectly hum the tunes to, "Twinkle, twinkle little star" and "Frere Jacques". It is so cute to hear her hum along when we sing these lullabies to her before bed. She also loves to dance! Any time there is music on, she slowly starts nodding and bobbing her head and then she puts one hand out and waves it back and forth to the beat. One thing is for sure, she is taking after mommy and becoming a little music lover. 

At 12-months-old little Alina is virtually fearless. As I said before, she loves to climb and stand on everything she possibly can, no matter how precarious. She has since progressed to riding Elise's push cars and mini battery powered quad runner. She also gets a big thrill from attempting to ride her sister's bicycle. Alina is such a mini daredevil, and when she falls she rarely cries, she just picks herself up and climbs again. She is one tough toddler!



Already trying to ride big sissy's bike

 

Alina is such a loving little girl. She has always been incredibly sweet, but at 12-months-old we are really starting to see the depth of her affection toward all of us. She gives the best full body hugs! She will come up to us, throw out her arms, lay her head down on our chest, and proceed to cuddle for over a minute at a time. It is the sweetest thing ever, and I fully enjoy every moment of it. Alina also loves to give kisses to all of us before bed each night. She is always in a good mood, and it has been the biggest joy to care for her over this first year. We look forward to countless more cuddly moments with her!





Love her :)

 

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!

 

Happy 6-Months to our littlest Valentine

Happy 6-months sweet baby Valentine!

Baby Alina turned 6-months-old yesterday! It's both exciting and bittersweet. I already miss my tiny and cuddly baby girl, yet also feel immeasurable excitement in knowing that we get to continually discover her little personality and interests as she grows into her toddler years. Also, it is really fun to see just how much she wants to keep up with her big sister. Alina is in complete awe of Elise, and she immediately lights up the minute she walks into the room. I think the most exciting part of her impending toddler stage, is that she and Elise will become little play buddies and keep each other entertained. Watching the two of them smile and laugh together is the greatest reward, and with each new week they interact and play more frequently. Despite all this talk about Alina growing up, she is still the baby, and we plan to fully enjoy the next 6-months with her, before the final curtain call on babyhood and that giant leap into toddlerdom.

Diaper changes + feet time = very happy baby

Alina really is an adorable baby girl. She resembles a little doll with her chubby cherubic cheeks, button nose and big blue doe eyes. Whenever I take her out, people stop to comment on how cute and doll-like she is. She has a very sweet temperament too. One of the things I find so cute is that she LOVES diaper changes. It's during diaper time, that we often get the most laughs and smiles from her. She is very cooperative and not at all squirmy during all her changes (quite the opposite of big sis Elise). She also loves to grab her toes and either chew on them or see-saw to her little heart's content. Mommy used to do this as a baby too. Alina really is my little chubby-cheeked doll baby twin, in both looks and habits. See the photos below for a comparison. I think we look pretty similar!

Not quite crawling, but rolling and creeping all over

Mommy as a baby - see the resemblance?

Although she is not fully crawling yet, she is very mobile. She will roll and creep across the floor to get where she wants to go. She just started pushing up on her knees in the crawl position, but has yet to take those first synchronized steps to propel herself forward. She is a pro at rolling over, so she usually just twists, turns and flips to get across the floor to where she wants to be. She will now sit up for brief periods of time, with a little help from mom and dad. She has yet to pull herself up or stand, which is fine by me as I have a bad case of, "second baby syndrome" - the obvious antithesis of first baby syndrome, in which you push your child to hit all their milestones as early as possible. With second baby syndrome, we're certainly not in a rush for her to grow up and know that she will hit all those milestones when she's good and ready.

Feet time again, she loves see-sawing around :)

 

 

Her adorable smile, which she flashes all the time now

Alina makes all sorts of consonant sounds now; "ba, da, ma, ga", and it is like music to our ears. She also communicates her mood by her monotone "ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh" (when she is content/competing for dominance over Elise), squeals (when she's really happy) and what I affectionately refer to as "her baby bird noises" little chirps, peeps and squeaks (these are usually sounds of contentment, but sometimes get very shrill if she's upset). Some of her noises are just so incredibly amusing or cute that they often stop me in my tracks. We plan to start teaching her baby signs very soon.

She is also a great sleeper. She has a 2 hour morning nap, 1-2 hours in the afternoon and she sleeps from 7pm - 7am, rarely ever waking up at night. As a baby, Elise was a sound sleeper too; all-in-all we've been pretty lucky in that department. She does cry when we put her down for nap and bedtime, but is usually calmed fairly easily by lullabies, rocking and her light up musical seahorse (aka - her chubby-cheeked twin heheh). I can't express enough how grateful I am to have sound sleepers, because so many babies do not sleep through the night.

Enjoying feeding time after taking control of the spoon "airplane"

We just recently started Alina on rice cereal and solids. Her first solid food was pureed peas! It was so funny watching her take that first bite. Her facial expression was priceless; it was a mix of confusion, disgust, and curiosity (in that order) haha. After that initial bite, she quickly got the hang of things and ate up an entire half jar. Mmmm, baby mush. Her favorite part of eating is watching momma turn an ordinary old spoon into a super-duper, high flying airplane. She giggles and laughs every time, although her laughs soon turn to frustration if she isn't able to capture the plane and fly it herself. I had almost forgotten how unfussy babies are when it comes to food, then again it's not like they have much choice when we keep shoveling spoonfuls into their mouth. Oh how I wish the old zig-zag airplane spoon tricks worked to get our toddler to eat her vegetables.

Baby girl all bundled up after bath time

Alina's 6-month growth stats:

Height: 26.5 in (77th percentile)

Weight: 13 lbs 14 oz (18th percentile)

Alina's pediatrician said she looked very alert and healthy, and that she appears to be surpassing all the typical six-month milestones. I was concerned to hear that her weight was so low relative to the average, however, her pediatrician didn't seem worried and just said to start more solid feedings. I have her on the same feeding schedule and amounts as I did with Elise, but she is much littler. I'm not too worried, as she has been eating well, maintains a good temperament, and stays active. She should be gaining more once we increase solid food feedings and begin to supplement with an additional daily formula feeding. Downside: The diapers are going to start stinking here real soon. I still nurse her three times a day. My goal is to continue until she is at least nine-months-old.  

Happy Valentine's Day!

Valentine's in progress

Elise got a special Valentine for her teacher

Pretty flowers

A very sweet Valentine's card for mom

The girls did well :)

 Cutest Baby Valentine!

Adorable Alina at Two-Weeks-Old

She's already grown an inch!

Posing for photos

We love those chubby cheeks!

Alina and momma

Alina is such a great baby! I think she's cried all of about five minutes since the two weeks she's been home. She is content, easy to please, and sleeps most of the time - this probably describes the majority of newborns, but I'd like to think we just got super lucky.

Her cry sounds like a little kitten. It is a pretty mellow cry in comparison with Elise, whose cry was more like a high-pitched squeal or yell. To my surprise, she has already slept five hours a few nights this week! Right now (..and I do stress those words - because I know what to expect in the upcoming weeks) she is just so easy, and I love it!

Cute pie girl, wide awake

I've already been back to work for a week and half, and must say that so far it has been fairly easy to get back into the swing of my routine. Elise is in daycare, newborn Alina sleeps most of the day, and the fact that I work from home makes things very accomodating work-wise. The older Alina gets, the more difficult it will be, but I am determined to keep her home until she is at least six-months-old.

We've all enjoyed our time bonding as a new family of four. Elise has continued to explore the novel experience of having a baby sister. She is constantly patting her head, fetching her pacifier, laughing and giggling at Alina's funny faces and noises, notifing mommy of when nature calls with phrases like, "uh-oh, she spit", "I smell a dirty diaper", "baby sissy is crying", etc. I can always count on her to bring me a burp cloth, blanket, change of outfit, or toy. She is such a great little helper!

Alina had her first newborn checkup this week and she's doing great. She has already regained a few ounces over her birth weight and grown an entire inch! Her pediatrician commented that she looks, "healthy as can be".

Weight: 8 lbs 6 1/2 oz

Length: 21 inches

How adorable are these three?!?

Big sister Elise is so happy

Holding little Alina; I love these moments