5.19.2018

Gemma at Two Months!


Weight: 12 lbs 12 oz. Right between Tanner and Ashton in weight.

Height: 23.5 inches. Same as Tanner was. An inch longer than Ashton.

Clothing Size: 0-3 months still.

Daily Schedule: Gemma wakes up around 7am to eat. She stays awake for about an hour to an hour and a half and then naps again. This is a predictable schedule for the most part. She has a hard time napping in the late afternoon/evening so sometimes its two cat naps. Otherwise, she takes 3-4 naps per day. She still sleeps through the night from about 9pm to 7am. I can't recall the last time she woke up in the middle of the night. I'm soaking it in as I'm sure it will change soon enough.

Total diapers we change daily: Cloth diapers started last month! Hooray! I always feel better when I'm not throwing away tons of diapers. This is the earliest I have used cloth on a baby and I always love the cuteness of them.


Total outfits we go through daily: Gemma is not a spitter! So most days she stays in the same outfit. Hooray for less laundry.

Special Outings: Everywhere... I guess her first time at the zoo.

Firsts:Smile! She makes us work hard for a smile but when she does, it's pretty cute. She also coos a lot. Pretty social so far.
The best I can get of her smiling. They're quick ones. She wrinkles up her nose sometimes too.

Eating: Gemma is a good eater. She eats about every three hours or so. Maybe a little closer together in the evening. She doesn't really nurse to sleep much either, which is nice for me.


Heart Update: No further updates on the heart as our next appointment is early June.

Sibling love: Tanner loves to play with her toes and count them. They both continue to like to hold her and give her kisses on the head. Ashton enjoys talking to her and trying to make her smile. Otherwise, the big kids just like to play with all the baby toys.


Monthly Pictures:




Another attempt at a smile

5.09.2018

Springtime

Spring has been busy adjusting to three kids. So far, it's going pretty well. I feel guilty I can't give as much attention to each child but we'll adjust. Here's what we've been up to this spring:

The neighborhood park cut down a big tree and filled in the area with sand. The kids love playing there and bringing their sand toys.
 

Gemma, Ashton, and I headed to Houston one Saturday for the DockDogs event. We went to one in Wisconsin a few years back and I knew Ashton would love it. The dogs compete in distance jumping into a large pool. They also had the frisbee/trick dogs out doing shows and a bunch of other pet things at a large park. Ashton loved it all and Gemma slept through most of it.
Her one "purchase" at the event was getting her face painted.
This was Gemma for most of the afternoon. Perks of taking a one week old baby.
Ashton loved watching the frisbee dogs do their tricks.
She ended up taking a nap while waiting for the final round of the jumps.

Action shot of a dog landing. Ashton really wants to train River to do this. Maybe in a couple years.
Easter came and went. Ashton went with Joseph on the annual campout to Huntsville. Someone in our area organizes a large camping trip (about 200+ people) every Easter weekend. It's been going on for about 30 years. I took Ashton last year but with a new baby and cold temperatures, we knew we couldn't all go as a family. Plus Tanner is a runner and we would constantly have to keep an eye on him. Ashton had a blast and I'm already counting the days until I can take her next year again.


Trying to figure out how to jump rope.
 


On Easter, we listened to General Conference and had some friends over for dinner. I made Easter outfits for the kids that they wore the week before. Tanner was stubborn and refused to wear his. So a brown shirt and pants worked for him.
Gemma was blessed on April 8th. It was a lovely blessing and Tanner even let me sit and listen to it. He is very active during church and we don't always get the luxury of listening to sacrament meeting. And Gemma cooperated by not crying for it.

 Joseph took the kids to the park one day and some kid left behind some dinosaurs. Tanner loves dinosaurs! He was one happy boy that day.
 We took the kids swimming and by "we," I mean Joseph did. I sat out with Gemma.

Tanner has no fear of water and loves to swim. He doesn't mind going under water and loves the water slides.
 Every year, the local wildlife refuge hosts a Migration Celebration. We went last year and loved it so we made sure we could go again this year.
Spraying water at targets
Dressing up before visiting the butterflies.

She tried to get as many as she could in her hands. I think she got six at one point.
Another activity was archery. We really enjoy the wide variety of activities at the event.