Merry and bright...

I love the month between thanksgiving and Christmas. It's so full of joy, activities, family and friends. We pack a lot into this month from decorating to baking and special events. It's so much fun!

H hosts a gingerbread  house decorating party each year. This year, we only invited folks from her preschool and ended up with 14 kids, 3 infants and 9 adults.  It was so fun! The kids did a great job on their houses and we finished the night eating pizza before they left.

Making the gingerbread dough....

Decorating the houses...

H's buddy hosted a cookie decorating party. H had so much fun filling every square inch of cookie with icing and decorations! After decorating, the girls had fun playing and running some of their sugar energy off :) 

As a special treat, we went to Disney on Ice. H loves everything Ana and Elsa! It was a no brainer to take her to see this magical show. She enjoyed dressing up as Elsa and toting her Ana/Elsa doll along. She was mesmerized by the show and loved seeing each character come out. Her buddies from school were there and they had a great time dancing and singing along to the music. 

This was a special mommy/daughter date. We left sister home with Daddy. I soaked up the time with my big girl! What a treat!

We did have to leave a bit early. My sweet girl got a bit scared. It wasn't when the big snow monster made an appearance, like you'd expect. She did great with that! Instead, it was when Hans was being mean to Ana. She was visibly shaking and began to cry. There was no amount of sweet talking or lap holding that was going to help. 

And finally, we of course went to Polar Express night. This is quickly becoming a favorite tradition of ours! We met our friends and their little boy. 

This is a great event because Santa is there! Even though it is a popular event, the line to see Santa is always short and Santa really takes his time with the kids. We were SO proud of Hannah this year! She hopped right up into Santa's lap and told him everything she wanted. She was such a brave girl. This was her first year without tears :) It was precious! 

We love this season of joy, celebration, and waiting. It certainly was merry and bright!

Halloween and the symphony

Halloween was a big event this year! In true H fashion, she picked a different costume for each event she attended. 

At school, she was Tinkerbell. We borrowed the costume and bought a new set of wings. She proudly strutted into her class and enjoyed a fun costume parade through school. I loved that her teachers were gramma Ana and gramma Elsa. Ha! 

Halloween night, we attended a fun gathering at our neighborhood clubhouse before trick or treating. We have TONS of young kids in the 'hood, the H had a blast eating pizza and collecting glow bracelets. She dressed up as Rapunzel.

And finally, H attended her first symphony concert! I was so excited to introduce her to the wonderful world of live classical music. We met our friend, Madilin. The girls had so much fun together! The phantoms of the orchestra was a big hit! 

Happy 4 mo Collins!

Happy 4 mo Miss Collins!

This month brought about some major changes for us. She had just started sleeping through our night at 3 months. Low and behold, it stuck! Collins sleeps from 7pm-6:30ish am! I wake her around 10pm for a dream feed, but that's it. She will occasionally wake in the middle of the night, but quickly puts herself back to sleep. Go, Collins! We no longer let her sleep on our chest from 7-9. It makes my heart ache a bit, but she does so well going down in her crib and we needed to break it before it became a habit. Speaking of sleep, Collins is now sleeping in her own room in her crib. We made the transition pretty early on this month and it went over well. I still have the bassinet set up in our room, but will be putting it back in the attic soon. 

In other news, Hallelujah, the colic is gone! I swear, she hit 13-14 weeks and she's a new kid. Our afternoons are much more peaceful and Collins is generally happy. It's been such a relief to have her settled. I told y'all, it's been a big month!

Stats:

Weight: 12.25 lbs (19th percentile)

Height: 24.5 in (60th percentile)

Look at this push up in tummy time!! We've come a long way!

C is a peanut and is still wearing 0-3 mo clothes and size 1 diapers. Just to put it in perspective, H weighed 16lbs. I have kids on opposite ends of the spectrum and I'm doing everything the same. The pediatrician said that was genetics coming in to play :)

Her schedule is pretty much the same as month 3, except she is fully sleeping through the night. She's still eating every 4 hours and takes 3 naps a day. 

She LOVES taking a bath and I frequently bathe both girls together now. C smiles and kicks in the water. She gets very upset when I take her out. Tummy time is still a struggle. Now that she's gotten good at rolling, it's getting even harder to keep her on her tummy. Daisy helps!

C is doing great with her head and neck support and has lost her wobble for the most part. She's grabbing objects left and right and shoving them right into her mouth. She currently loves pulling her paci out and then putting it back in.

She also loves watching everything the family is up to, especially Hannah. If she gets fussy, which is rare these days, all I have to do is send Hannah over and her face lights up. We've been including her in as many family activities as possible. The Bumbo is great for that. She sits with us at dinner, watches us cook, play games, etc. Here's one of C watching family pizza night:

C still loves sucking her thumb or fingers. I still push the paci and she loves it too, but when she can't get to it the thumb goes in.

C got her first cold after being passed around and held by so many this month. The first of many to come. It was scary since she was so congested she threw up and completely soaked herself and crib! I was thankful it wasn't RSV or enterovirus. The pediatrician was great and gave us some good tips to help her get rid of it, Tis the season, but it also made us realize how careful we need to be during this time of year with her. 

Collins kept meeting family this month. Aunt Bess and Uncle Rob came to visit for a weekend. We loved it!

Thanksgiving was really special. All of the Hubbards (extended family included) were under one roof again. It was awesome! Collins got lots of love!

I know my grandparents were smiling down on their beautiful great grands... All 9 of them!

Happy 4 mo miss C, can't wait to see what the next will bring!

Happy 3 months Collins!

A week and a half late...but here's what Collins has been up to!

This has been an exciting month full of smiles and milestones! By the end of the month, Collins had lost most of her newborn habits and is a bonafide baby now. Makes my heart ache a bit... But also love watching her grow!

What's new:

*Rolls from front to back

*Can roll from back to front, but I've only seen this twice. However, she consistently rolls onto her side and will occasionally sleep that way.

*Can intentionally grasp and hold objects, but isn't quite sure how to let them go

*Began sleeping through our night! This is huge! She will wake around 4am for her paci, but won't eat until 6am! Yay! This began right at the 12 week mark, so let's hope it continues. Currently, she's still in our room during the night so I don't have to go upstairs in the middle of the night. That will change soon, especially if she continues sleeping through our night.

*speaking of sleep, she has transitioned to sleeping in a sleep sack vs a swaddle. It wasn't a big deal for her, since she never let us swaddle her arms any way.

*Colic is getting better and crying stretches aren't as long as in weeks past. Here's hoping it disappears in month 4.

*Neck and head support are awesome and she enjoys sitting in her Bumbo seat. Successful Bumbo sitting has also allowed her to join in on our family dinners! We love having her at the table with us and she loves watching us talk about our days and eat.  

*attended her first golf tournament

Loves:

*Watching Hannah- seriously, this kid could watch her sister play all day long! 

*Riding in the stroller- if there are crying bits I can't get under control, I can put her in a stroller and walk outside and she calms down almost immediately

*Being held- we've got a cuddler!

*Baths

*Being talked to-she engages and locks her eyes on whoever is talking to her. She coos, smiles, and loves talking back

*sucking on her hands/thumb... I'm trying hard to push the paci, but she's perfectly content chomping on her hands. Lord, help us! That will be a hard habit to break!

Not a fan of:

*Still hates tummy time, but is getting longer stretches in. Watching Hannah or Daisy is a big help!

Schedule:

Collins got into a pretty predictable routine by the end of this month. Generally, she wakes around 6am for the day and we start the eat, play, sleep routine. Currently, she's eating every 3.5-4 hours during the day for a total of 5 feedings and usually 3 naps. Most days look like this give or take an hour:

6-6:30am: wake, change, feed and begin play time

8-8:30amish: goes down for nap #1. School days are tough. I usually put Collins in her car seat when she begins showing signs of being sleepy. Most of the time, this ensures she falls asleep in her seat before heading out of the door by 8:45am

10:30-11am: eat

Noon-12:30ish: goes down for nap #2. Again, school days it's usually in her car seat so we can get to school to pick up Hannah by 1:15pm

3:30ish: eat

4:30-5: goes down for a cat nap- sometimes in the stroller if she's fussy or if Hannah is itching to get outside.

7pm: PJs on, books, and prayers with Hannah. Immediately after, she eats and we usually cuddle with her until we're ready for bed (this will also change soon, since she's at the 3 mo mark) by the way, she still wiggles around on our chests until she finds our heart to lay against. It's one of my favorite things!

9-10pm: I will dream feed Collins one last time before heading to bed.