Finley at Five Months

LIKES:
 - Dramatic breathing in
 - Cheek and mouth kisses
 - Mashed banana
 - Peanut Butter
 - Silicone teethers
 - "Patty Cake" with her hands
 - Raspberries on her belly
 - Big smiles in her direction
 - Standing with help
 - Flashing lights/noises on her exersaucer
 - Diaper changes

DISLIKES:
 - Bedtime routine (mostly getting pajamas on and getting sleep sack on)
 - Drinking water
 - Loud and sudden noises
 - Loud noise while nursing
 - Car rides
 - Bottles
 - Often bath time

FIRSTS/SKILLS:
 - Taste of real food (banana, strawberry, mashed potato, peanut butter, etc.)
 - More steady with standing while holding your hands
 - Grabbing objects
 - Bringing objects to her mouth
 - Knowing how to roll from belly to back one way

RANDOM NOTES:
 - Clothes size: 0-3 and 3-6 months
 - Diaper Size: One
 - Nurses usually six times every 24 hours and a pretty regular pooper, going about twice a week.
 - We haven't officially started giving any regular purees or food or anything, just little tastes here and there.
 - Still has a bald spot on the back of her head, but the rest of her hair is coming in nicely (while mine is all falling out) and it is lighter than at birth, but maybe a little darker than Lou's?
 - Kicks her legs and slams her feet back down when she's excited and/or when she's trying to sleep.
 - Still takes about 30-40 minutes to nurse each time (except for in the middle of the night).
 - Almost always has fingers, hands, arms, etc. in her mouth and is often drooling.
 - When she has her biggest smiles (you can see them above), she crinkles her nose and we looooove it!

SCHEDULE

7:30 am - Wake up, nurse
9:10 am - Nap
11:00 am - Nurse
12:45 pm - Nap
2:30 pm - Nurse
4:20 pm - Nap
5:30 pm - Nurse
7:00 pm - Bedtime routine, nurse
7:30 pm - Bed

**Usually eats in the middle of the night sometime between 3 and 6 am.

We switched Finley over to a schedule with three naps each day and an earlier bedtime that lines up with Eloise's, and it has been so nice to have more time with just Dustan and me. I was worried that when we suddenly moved up Finley's bedtime by two hours that she would start waking up more often in the middle of the night, but it went great! It didn't eliminate her waking up in the middle of the night, but she didn't wake up any more often. Once we see how Finley's weight gain is going at her six month appointment, we will probably sleep train to get rid of that middle of the night feeding. This was about the time when I needed to start supplementing with Eloise because she wasn't gaining enough though, so I don't want to drop that feeding for Finley until I'm sure she's doing well.

Unfortunately, Finley has decided she hates bottles this month. I think she dislikes the taste of water, so when I started trying to give her sips here and there of water from a bottle, she associated the bottle with water, rather than milk. This is a bit frustrating because Finn almost exclusively took bottles the first couple months of her life, haha. We'll be working on this a lot in the next month.

Finley has learned how to roll from belly to back! She has done it loads of time since she was just a couple weeks old, but I'm sure they were all on accident. But I think she actually has learned how now, and does it regularly--though only to one side, haha. She also regularly will get on her side from her back, so perhaps rolling back to front will follow soon. And she has really started to get the hang of grabbing objects and putting them in her mouth.

Finley fits in the "Adventure Buddy" onesie we made for Lou! *heart eyes*

Finn has also gotten a little less content to just lay around this month. She needs more entertainment from us, more variety, and less laying down and kicking. She will act fussy when she's not tired, but because she is bored of whatever activity we have her doing. So she requires a little more attention these days. But she is still such a smiley little thing! I think her biggest smiles are when she sees me first thing in the morning.

Eloise has really started to get better with Finley this month. She loves to help me go get Finley from her room after naps, participate in putting her down, and will even try to entertain Finn when she's upset. I'm so proud of my girls!

Finley at Four Months

Finny was not particularly interested in smiling for the camera today, and I could barely keep her fingers out of her mouth haha

WEIGHT: 12 pounds 10 ounces

LIKES:
 - Happy faces and baby voices
 - Sucking/chewing on her hands
 - "Patty Cake" and "Row Your Boat" with her hands or feet
 - Nursing
 - Watching Lou jump around
 - Diaper changes (she just smiles up at you the whole time)
 - Singing
 - Small stuffed panda on her baby gym
 - Belly tickles
 - Bathtime
 - Laying on her back on the rug and just kicking around

DISLIKES:
 - The carseat when not moving
 - Extended tummy time
 - Being squished or hit (Lou is to blame, though it's never on purpose)
 - Very loud singing/voices (Lou and Dustan to blame here haha)

FIRSTS/SKILLS:
 - Tiny teaser giggle
 - Pandemic
 - Sitting in the bumbo
 - Got onto her side from her back
 - Rotate while on belly or back

RANDOM NOTES:
 - Clothes size: 0-3 months
 - Diaper Size: One
 - Got her third cold this year :( we can't escape the sickness in this house! Just hoping we don't get anything worse than nasty colds! Thankfully it didn't turn into RSV like her cold in January.
 - Not much interest in sitting or standing with help.
 - Maybe starting to reach towards things to try and grab them occasionally?
 - Still takes about 40 minutes to nurse each time. Still takes a bottle well though!
 - If Dustan is anywhere near while nursing, she stares at him the whole time haha
 - Still rolls from front to back occasionally, but doesn't seem to actually know how she does it.
 - Bedtime song is part of "Some Things Never Change" from Frozen 2 :)

          

Finley's schedule hasn't really changed at all from last months, other than she stays awake a bit longer between naps. Here are rough times at the end of the month:

7:00 am - Wake up for the day, nurse, play
8:20 am - Nap
10:15 am - Nurse then play
11:50 am - Nap
1:45 pm - Nurse then play
3:30 pm - Nap
5:00 pm - Nurse then play
6:45 pm - Cat nap
7:45 pm - Nurse, play a little, bedtime routine (bath, lotion, pajamas), eat again
9:30 pm - Bedtime (song and sleepsack)

**Usually eats once in the middle of the night for about 10 minutes between 4 and 6 am.

Finley is able to stay awake for almost two hours at once by the end of the day, but she starts off the day being extra tired. I gradually increase her wake time between naps by about 15 minutes every time. Usually her first two naps of the day are pretty good and I often have to wake her from them. The evening naps are definitely a little more hit or miss. This next month we hope to move her bedtime a bit earlier, drop that late cat nap, and hopefully get her sleeping through the night more often! She hasn't slept through since she got a cold almost two weeks ago. And lately she acts starving in the middle of the night, so maybe she is going through a growth spurt. We'll see!

We have had only a couple little teaser giggles (can't wait for more!), but she is smiling all the time. She's such a happy girl. She especially just loves when you talk or sing to her while looking straight into her eyes. Or watching Lou dance around and be her crazy self. Finn also especially loves playing around while nursing, and smiles at me so much that I have to forgive her for popping on and off again and again.

Eloise loves it when I have Finley do things that she likes me or herself to do haha. Lou was giggling so hard the other day when I pretended Finn was running around chasing her by holding her close to the ground. Eloise also loves to help/hinder nap time by being the one to turn out the lights and turn on the white noise, and singing Finn's song super loudly and off-key along with me, haha. Thankfully, Finley doesn't seem to mind one bit, and honestly probably loves it.

And finally, just a couple shots of my favorite girls. Lou desperately wanted to participate in Finn's four month shoot, but then refused to smile once I let her on the bed, haha. Oh well, they're still the most beautiful girls in the land!!

Finley at Three Months

LIKES:
 - Lip and nose tickles
 - High pitched baby talk to her
 - "Patty Cake" with her hands or feet
 - Belly and neck tickles
 - Nursing
 - Stroking my hair on her face
 - Cheek kisses
 - Bathtime
 - Singing
 - Watching Lou running around

DISLIKES:
 - The carseat when not in a moving car
 - Super extended tummy time (like more than 10 minutes)
 - Being squished (Lou is to blame, haha)

FIRSTS/SKILLS:
 - Puts herself to sleep for all naps and bedtime (and will often self soothe throughout)
 - Sleeping in her own room
 - Sleeping on a flat surface without a swaddle
 - Movie at the theater (Frozen 2)
 - Brings her fists to her mouth to suck on
 - Sleeping through the night (8-9 hour stretches without nursing)

RANDOM NOTES:
 - Clothes size: 0-3 months
 - Diaper Size: One
 - We transitioned Finley from a tight swaddle to just a sleep sack, and it went so well! Just a few days of waking herself more often with flailing arms.
 - Very grumpy and sad the day she had to get two month shots, she had about an hour long meltdown in the afternoon where she refused to nurse and finally cried herself to sleep while I was holding her.
 - People regularly comment on how much hair she has, and we just chuckle because she has so much less hair than Lou did ;) but it is coming in nicely on top while the bald spot grows in the back!
 - Loves to stare at Dustan while nursing.
 - Takes sooooo long to nurse still, about 40-50 minutes each time. Is is possible to make her more efficient at this?! And I'm still the one to cut her off at the end of each session once she has gotten two letdowns on each side.
 - Has two adorable dimples!!

Schedule:

7:00 am - Wake up for the day, eat, wake, sleep
10:15 am - Eat, wake, sleep
1:45 pm - Eat, wake, sleep
5:00 pm - Eat, wake, sleep
7:45 pm - Eat, wake, bedtime routine (bath, lotion, pajamas), eat again
9:30 pm - Bedtime

Any middle of the night feedings usually happen sometime between 4 and 6 am, though she slept all the way through a few times! It was awesome! And this schedule isn't exact, just rough times we aim for. Finley almost always gets this many feedings each day, and usually the first and last two feedings are at the same time. But the other feedings during the day are often a little more off depending on how naps go. Typically, we aim to have her first three naps be around 90 minutes each and the last nap is more of a catnap and lasts less than an hour. Finley's first awake time during the day lasts just an hour. The wake times gradually get longer throughout the day, and her last wake time before bed is usually between 90 minutes and two hours. This general schedule has been working really well the last couple weeks! I just wish she would start to nurse a bit faster, because I feel like I have no time o play with her before she is tired and wants to nap again.

Oh man, this little darling of ours just keeps getting cuter and more smiley and happy each day! If you even just make eye contact with her, Finn is usually smiling. She is so happy and content. She will lay on our rug and look around for the entire time it gets me to make and eat breakfast with Lou. She will watch us play and just smile at us. She is such a happy little thing and will just lay around kicking and grinning.

This month Dustan took his three week paternity leave and it was amazing!! Below is a picture of when we took a day trip to a lake about an hour and half south to a little lake. The girls had a blast and Finley napped the entire drive there and napped on the beach in her bassinet.

Eloise has also started to get a little more interested in Finley this month, and likes to help out with diaper changes, turning on the white noise for naps, and joining her during tummy time. Eloise will even try to comfort her when she is crying. I love seeing my girls together!!

I feel like we are finally starting to get into a good rhythm together as a family, just in time for everything in the world to go a bit crazy, haha. Thankful for all of them and healthy babies!

Finley at Two Months

WEIGHT: 11 pounds 2 ounces (33rd percentile)
HEIGHT: 22.5 inches (37th percentile)

LIKES:
 - Baths
 - Drinking so much milk
 - Lip and nose tickles
 - High pitched baby talk to her
 - Happy faces

DISLIKES:
 - The carseat when not in a moving car
 - Sleeping on flat surfaces
 - The nebulizer
 - Pacifier
 - Swaddles

FIRSTS/SKILLS:
 - New Year
 - RSV/Cold :(
 - Cooing and talking
 - Sometimes puts herself to sleep in her bassinet

RANDOM NOTES:
 - Clothes size: Newborn
 - Diaper Size: One
 - Very tolerant of tummy time for fairly long periods of time and regularly rolls from tummy to back (though I don't think she has any ideas how she does it--her heavy head just tips her right over).
 - We tried fairly regularly for the first six weeks to get Finley to take a pacifier and we finally gave up this month because she has no interest at all and doesn't really try to suck on it at all.
 - Got some fuzzy hair coming in :) It looks lighter than her newborn hair!
 - Eyes are definitely looking blue!
 - Dustan is the master burper, as always!
 - Dustan gave her a wonderful baby blessing while my family was in town over Christmastime :)

        

Ah we just love this girl! Finley is always just so happy and content, even when she is hungry or tired. She is so easy to please and easy to smile.

While some of my family was in town over Christmas, Dustan gave Finley a baby blessing at church. I love that our church encourages these baby blessings, and the sweet moment they bring for our gamily, especially between Dustan and our babies. I loved that my dad was also able to participate in the blessing.

The week that Dustan went back to work, all of us came down with a cold. After a few days, I noticed that Finley's cough sounded really yucky and occasionally her breathing a little rattly in her chest, so we took her in to see her pediatrician. She confirmed my worry that poor little Finn had RSV :( Thankfully, it was a fairly mild case for a baby that was only 6 weeks old, so she didn't need to be put on oxygen or monitored by medical personnel at all. But they did send us home with this nebulizer that we used every four to six hours that helped clear up her tiny little airways and made it easier for her to breath and made her cough less.

The breastfeeding journey has continued! Read here to get up to speed first. I met with a second lactation consultant who was so helpful. She checked and confirmed that the tongue tie we got snipped hadn't grown back (is that the right word? haha) and that the exercises we did were successful. But she informed me that even though the tongue tie had been fixed when Finn was a few weeks old, it seemed she had incorrectly learned how to use her tongue when she was nursing so that it caused a lot of pain, even though she was still getting enough milk. This lactation consultant help me work on her latch, but more importantly gave me some mouth exercises to go that would help her use tongue better. These included rubbing her bottom gums on the sides and watching her tongue track to our finger, drawing "M"s on her tongue, having her suck on our finger and slowly pulling it out while pressing on the tongue, and rubbing her cheeks in "C" motion from top to bottom. I did each of these exercises four to six times a day. I noticed a difference within a week! It became less painful. A week after this appointment, I started slowing adding in nursing in sessions during the day. I continued the exercises for a couple more weeks. And before Finley was up to a full two months old, there was only a little pain after cluster feeding in the evenings and Finn was finally nursing full time! I was so grateful that everything was finally figured out and I could just nurse my baby and not worry about pumping or bottles. If the difficulties had continued much longer, then I think we would have switched over to formula soon after. Now, hopefully I can keep my supply up and nurse Finn for a full year :) (My milk supply dropped drastically with Lou around five months and we switched over to formula full time around six months.)

We have continued to have a loose schedule for Finn this month, but I noticed that when we stopped doing bottles that Finley wanted to eat more often (with bottles, she was eating more like every three-ish hours). Generally though, we had Finn wake up around 7 am, then followed an eat, wake, sleep schedule every 2.5 to 3 hours throughout the day. We continued this until about 11 pm, where we then laid Finn down to bed. She would usually wake up once around 4 am for a feeding, then continue sleeping until about 7 am. It has been working well so far! The hardest part has actually been the naps, it has been really difficult to get Finley to sleep longer than about 30 minutes on her own without being held--and I can't hold her all the time with Lou running around!

So grateful for these beautiful girls that are all mine!! This next month, we'll be trying to get a more solid schedule for Finny and myself so the days feel less hectic--right now I feel like I'm constantly running around like a chicken with it's head cut off. Once things are more established, things will calm down better.