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Reese’s Monthly Growth Series // 11

November 20, 2017 by lauren.anvari@gmail.com Leave a Comment

Learned to go up and down stairs, loves dancing to music, very strong-willed, has started giving kisses, likes to get into everything, always wants to be part of the action, sleeping really well for night and naps, is babbling constantly, can be quite shy, always wants to feed herself, still no teeth

This little girl is quite the personality! She’s incredibly strong-willed and not at all patient about anything she wants. Everything. Must. Happen. Right. NOW. When nursing she throws her self back and screams at me in the time it takes for me to have her switch sides. Every time. When she wants to nurse and is screaming and crying all I have to do it ask “do you want some milk?” and all the tears stop and when I lay her down to get started she gets so excited she starts to giggle.

Reese loves dancing to music. Whether it’s when Asher is singing to himself or a song on the radio, Reese will bounce, bop and sway to the tune. We’ve had to barricade the stairs because all she wants to do is go up and down them. And up and down and up and down. It’s never-ending, but since I’m convinced we don’t need baby gates, we’ve had to use the kid’s little rocking chairs at the foot of the stairs to keep her on the main level. She’s actually remarkably capable on the stairs and goes up and down perfectly and FAST, but it still makes me nervous.

Reesey Pea now both blows kisses and gives me huge wet sloppy kisses and I love them both. It’s just so fun to see her personality develop. She loves clementines, drinking water from my glass, green smoothies and basically eating anything just as long as she’s allowed to feed herself. She still doesn’t eat a ton but it’s definitely picking up.

Reese’s sleep has been AMAZING! If I was the superstitious type, I’d be almost afraid to write about it for fear of ruining it. Reese had hit yet another bump on the sleep road and had started waking up at night and not going back to sleep for two hours. Yea, it was brutal. She didn’t want to play she just wanted to be held and the second she was put down she’d start screaming. As a matter of fact, she’d often be screaming even when she was being held. She probably wanted to be nursed but I wasn’t about to undo the night weaning…is it clear yet where my kids get their stubborn streak from? Anyway, so this was going on for weeks and we had tried so many things and finally, I just had had enough so I left the room and when back in at five-minute intervals and just kept doing that until she fell asleep. I also offered her her water bottle, though she probably only took it once. But after that night, she has been a dream! I put her to bed and walk out and she’ll either just go to sleep or babble and coo to herself for a little while before falling asleep. It’s been AWESOME!

This child is still all gums without even so much as a little redness or inflammation and because of this, I think she looks quite a bit younger than she actually is and I kinda love it. She’s already growing up too fast! I can’t believe I only have one more monthly update to write!

Filed Under: Reese's Growth Series Tagged With: 11 months old, baby girl, milestones, monthly growth series, monthly update, photo, pictures

Reese’s Monthly Growth Series // 10

October 29, 2017 by lauren.anvari@gmail.com Leave a Comment

Waves bye-bye, asks to be picked up by reaching her arm towards you, still no teeth, light sleeper, light eater, wants to be held all the time, prefers mommy over anyone else, first time being put to bed at night without mommy, generally easy going, very stubborn, not very cuddly

So I’m only two and a half weeks late with this monthly update. Everything seems like so much more effort with the third. Even so, Reese is such a funny little thing and a joy to be around.

Reesey Pea, is very stubborn and quite vocal about her preferences. She’s very serious around most people just but when she’s comfortable with you she can be quite the little ray of sunshine. She still screams to get your attention, which isn’t too pleasant, but I guess when you’re a third child you have to find ways to be heard above the cacophony.

Reese waves bye-bye by holding her arm out straight and the flapping her wrist but it’s the way that she asks to be picked up that really gets me. She extends her arms towards you and flaps her wrists and looks at you with such longing with those big brown eyes of hers that it pierces your heart.

This little one still isn’t eating all that much, but I’m thinking she probably eats a normal amount for a child her age, whereas Asher and Bennett were the oddballs with their consuming massive amounts of food. I’m such the fact that she’s still all gums doesn’t help anything either. She makes do, for the most part, mashing her food with her gums, but there are some foods that just prove too challenging. I mean, she doesn’t even have a hint of a tooth, but I’m really starting to relish her toothless grin. As cute as that first tooth will be when it comes I know a part of me will be sad that she’s moving yet another step away from infancy.

Reese is so dainty and petite and I’m really cherishing the feel of her tiny body in my arms, I only wish she were a cuddly child. She has no issue voicing her displeasure when I kiss her one too many times.

We went to Texas for a friend’s wedding which meant we left the kids with Raf’s parents and my mother-in-law put Reese to bed and although she did fuss a bit they were able to do it! So that definitely opens up a whole new world of possibilities to us. It’s nice to know that even though she won’t take a bottle, she is able to go to sleep without being nursed as long as I’m not there.

This little girl is either constantly on the move and getting into everything or she wants to be held and not put down at all. She has a strong preference for me and I often have to hide when most other people are holding her because if she sees me, she’ll want to come to me. I’m trying to savor this clingy-ness because I know it won’t last and one day I won’t be her favorite person anymore. And now I’m feeling all the feels!

Filed Under: Reese's Growth Series Tagged With: 10 months old, baby girl, growth series, monthly milestones, monthly update, photo

Reese’s Monthly Growth Series // 9

September 22, 2017 by lauren.anvari@gmail.com 1 Comment

28 inches long (64th percentile), 16 pounds 11 ounces (24th percentile),17.5 inches head (50th-75th percentile), started crawling, still no teeth, loves peas, super active, getting into everything, screams loudly for attention, hair is coming in slooooowly, went on a solo trip to Colorado with mommy and daddy, very observant, likes to clap, wants to play with anything her siblings are playing with, hates being away from mommy for too long

This past month has been a busy one for this little girl. She started crawling and what started out with ridge robotic movements soon became a quick efficient crawl. She’s a girl on a mission. She crawls up to things, pulls to standing and get’s into all sorts of stuff she shouldn’t. We have to keep out guard up constantly and are trying really hard to remember not leave anything within grasp. I haven’t yet put up baby gates on the stairs, I was able to get away with it when Bennett was a baby and I’m half hoping I can do the same this time. Although the stairs we have now are much steeper and longer…so we’ll see. For now, we have been managing by keeping the doors shut.

Reese is such a petite little thing. When Bennett was 9 months old, she was the same length but was about 3 pounds heavier and Asher was the same length and weight as Reese when he was 6 months old. She definitely doesn’t eat as much as her brother and sister did at her age, but she’s growing and is a generally happy baby.

Reese has deep soulful eyes. They make her seem wise beyond her years. You often get the impression that she really sees you. She tends to observe a lot, with a very contemplative expression on her face. When she meets someone new she often tends to just look at them as though she’s summing them up. This behavior is once again in stark contrast to Asher and Bennett who were often very bubbly and warm. Reese is SUPER wriggly. She barely stops moving and doesn’t seem to be particularly cuddly much to my disappointment.

Reesey Pea still nurses on demand and sleeps fairly well through the night. Occasionally waking up but she doesn’t need to be nursed to put back to sleep, although she definitely has a harder time sleeping than the other two. I have to keep reminding Raf and myself that we shouldn’t compare her to them. Clearly, I’m not doing a great job of that.

Raf, Reese and I went to Colorado for 4 days while A and B stayed with my parents and it was so nice to be able to spend time with just her. Although we were recovering from the stomach bug that she so generously shared with the family and wrecked havoc as it made it through each and every one of us. It was just really nice to be able to spend our time as we pleased but we did miss the older two terribly. I couldn’t shake the feeling that we left something behind. While in Colorado we drove through the Rocky Mountain National park and it was spectacular! We saw lots of elk and took pictures at the summit which was 11,000+ feet. It was pretty amazing. We also met up with some friends and they took us on a bike ride through Denver that was pretty awesome.

Reese has started signing “all done” and clapping and we’re working on waving ‘hi’ and ‘bye’. It’s also becoming very clear that she understands quite a bit, which is pretty cool. This little one definitely doesn’t like being away from me for too long and is starting to display strong signs of separation and stranger danger. What can I say? She loves her Mama and I’m not complaining!

Filed Under: Reese's Growth Series Tagged With: 9 months, baby girl, milestones, monthly update, photo, picture

Reese’s Monthly Growth Series // 5

May 14, 2017 by lauren.anvari@gmail.com Leave a Comment

Rolled over (back to tummy), slowly getting over her sleep regression, has giggles a few times this month, loves to be in the center of everything, can hold things fairly well now, had some chest congestion, still drooling like a faucet, really wants to sit up, enjoys bouncing in her jolly jumper, loves to splash at bath time, flat out refuses a bottle

5 months old! How is this little girl five months old already?! Where is the time going? This past month has been one fraught with many challenges, mainly due to my knee surgery but also in large part due to Reese’s sleep regression (although, things are finally looking up on that front!!). Juggling 3 children under 5 while being immobile has been one of the greatest trials of motherhood, it has made me so thankful for all the blessings in my life. Being temporarily laid up has really put things into perspective for me. My cousin Dana (who’s a super human) and my mother-in-law both came and stayed with us this month to help out during the last 2 weeks I had to be on crutches. They were both God sends and I’m just so blessed to have such a wonderful support system. While I’m off crutches now, I’m still in a straight leg brace and have to ‘peg leg’ around, but still, this is a VAST improvement.

Reese loves to roll over now. If I put her down on her back, she’ll quickly roll over onto her tummy and then immediately start protesting the fact that she’s on her tummy. She can roll back over, but for whatever reason, she simply doesn’t and instead has decided that screaming to be rescued is the way to go. This girl has a flare for the dramatic, I can already tell.

We got her a jolly jumper this month and every time I put her in there I can barely hold back my own giggles, she looks like a teeny tiny river dancer while in it. It’s hilarious but she absolutely loves it!

This baby will not take a bottle, which is a problem because with her sleep so erratic I never know when she’s going to wake up and need to be nursed, which means I’m afraid to leave her with anyone and Raf and I are in sore need of a date night. She has been sleeping a bit better. I generally am able to nurse her and then put her down in our bed, surrounded by a pillow blockade, and she’ll drift off to sleep happily. This is fairly new though so I’m still hesitant to rock the boat and attempt to put her to sleep in her bassinet. Lately, she’s been doing a 3 hour stretch in the evening, which is way better than the waking up every hour that she was doing last month. However, even that isn’t consistent and therefore can’t really be relied on. She’s basically moved into our bed and she seems quite content to stay there.

Reese continues to smile more and more but she’s a tough crowd when it comes to laughing. I mean I’ve only been able to make her laugh heartily one time and have been able to illicit the barest of giggles a handful of time and usually only be tickling her, at which point, it really only seems like she’s doing it to make me stop. She’s my serious girl for sure.

Asher and Bennett continue to fawn all over Reese and it’s basically the sweetest thing ever. She’s a very good sport about it, even when Asher insists on picking her up, or rolling her over (to rescue her from tummy time) and inadvertently hurts her, or when Bennett sit on her for reasons only she knows. Reese is certainly a luckly little girl and we’re clearly all obessed with her.

Filed Under: Reese's Growth Series Tagged With: 5 months old, baby girl, milestones, monthly update, photo, picture

Bennett’s Monthly Growth Series \\ 12

March 3, 2016 by lauren.anvari@gmail.com Leave a Comment

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21 pounds 4 ounces (72nd percentile), 30.3 inches long (86th percentile), 18.6 inches head circumference (96th percentile) mastered the stairs, says “bye-bye”, says “Da-da” for everything else, stands her ground with her big brother, has taken off with walking, loves passing things back and forth with her mouth, 8 teeth, eyes are light hazel/grey, super affectionate, very opinionated

This little girl is ONE YEAR OLD!! One whole trip around the sun! I am feeling all the feelings. So much joy and yet so many achy aches. My baby is now a toddler. I can not do this child justice in writing. She is quite simply light upon light.

Bennett has become a champion eater. This girl puts food DOWN. She had so much fun eating her birthday cake. She took her time and savored every bite, whereas the next time we gave her a slice she shoveled it in like there was no tomorrow.

Ben Bucket has also developed quite the strong will. She no longer puts up with her brother pushing her around and will make her opinion heard. She has even started fake crying just to get him in trouble so I have to keep an eye on her to make sure I’m not blaming poor Asher for something he didn’t do.

Bennett is exceedingly affectionate and she gives me copious amounts of kisses which I absolutely adore. She has become quite steady on her feet. She has mastered the stairs and still loves to climb and is finding new ways to give me heart attacks every day. She constantly wants to be doing what her brother and the big kids are doing and will. not. be. left. behind.

This year has been one of the sweetest of my life, which is not to say that it wasn’t challenging or downright hard because it was, but the gift of having a second born child is that you learn to savor all the moments because you know all too well how fleeting they are.

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Filed Under: Bennett's Growth Series Tagged With: 1 year old, 12 months old, first birthday, milestone, monthly milestone, monthly picture, photo, picture

A Glimpse of Our Last Year in Photos

June 26, 2015 by lauren.anvari@gmail.com Leave a Comment

I finally dusted the cobwebs off of our nice camera and uploaded all the pictures onto my computer. Below are some of my favorites. This has made me realize that it’s rare for Raf and I to be in the same photo. I’m putting ‘get some nice family pictures’ on my none existent to-do list. The sofa series at the end completely slays me.

He loves his backpack!

2014-10-17 08.43.40We took a trip to NYC in October and Asher decided he HAD to caress and kiss my BARE belly in the middle of sheep’s meadow…

2014-10-18 14.12.46

2014-10-18 14.17.34Halloween 2014 – last minute DIY Jedi Knight costume. Second Halloween in a row that we had head colds the week leading up to it and thus had to scrape something together last minute.

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2014-10-31 07.06.02Proof that we really did start taking weekly belly shots but then we moved and life happened and we totally flaked…sorry Bennett!

2014-11-13 15.33.35That time Raf grew his beard out and we had to document it before he finally succumbed to my pleas for him to shave it off.

2014-11-21 07.18.17Yet another attempt at documenting my pregnancy with Bennett like we did with Asher.

2015-02-17 14.39.30ASHER’S FACE IS EVERYTHING!!! Seriously, I have never seen a sweeter expression of love or pride than this one on his face as he gazes at his brand new sister for one of the first times.

2015-02-28 12.53.21My sweet Bennett.

2015-06-10 11.05.38“The sibling relationship is the longest relationship we will have with anyone on this planet” – Grandma Carol

2015-06-21 15.53.08The aforementioned couch series. Enjoy!

2015-06-25 15.07.51

2015-06-26 09.28.54

2015-06-26 09.29.08

2015-06-26 09.30.22

2015-06-26 10.46.36

Filed Under: My life Tagged With: babies, photo, pictures, siblings, toddler

Bennett’s Monthly Growth Series // 1

March 27, 2015 by lauren.anvari@gmail.com Leave a Comment

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super cuddly – only wants to sleep touching mommy – hates bath time – got thrush – had a tongue tie clipped – went from 25th to 43rd percentile in weight – loves to eat – started to smile – looks most like mommy but has daddy’s feet

I can hardly believe it’s been one month already! Time has flown by! It is truly a delight to be this little girl’s mother, not that she does much more than sleep, eat and poop at the moment, but still. I love this tiny person so much! It’s amazing how your heart and your capacity to love just expand when you have another child.

Asher loves his little sister. His voice takes on a tender, sweet tone whenever he speaks about her and he showers her in hugs and kisses, which considering that everyone and anyone else has to beg for his affection, is pretty amazing. Seeing him interact with her makes my heart want to explode. I’m still not sure how I’m going to navigate being a mother of two once the last of the grandparents leave next week, but I’m sure I’ll figure it out.This past month, we’ve had first my parents and then Raf’s parents here the whole time and I’m so thankful to them for all the help, because it’s allowed me to be on a Babymoon with my daughter. We’ve had the time to snuggle and nurse and sleep and bond uninterrupted and I feel so blessed to have had the opportunity to do so.

This girl is SO cuddly! I hoped I would get a cuddly child and that is exactly what I’ve gotten. It is nearly impossible to get her to sleep anywhere other than on me or right next to me and touching me in some way, which means that we have been bed sharing fairly often. I have been loving all the snuggles that this allows but I’m also terrified that she’ll be smothered or that Asher will come bounding into our bed and crush her. I’ve been working on getting to to sleep in her bassinet, but as often as it works, it also fails and she wakes up shortly after being separated from me. I’ve found that putting a rolled blanket next to her, swaddling, and having a space heater near by helps trick her into thinking she’s still next to me. Baby wearing works for when I need to get stuff done, but after nearly 10 months of being practically sedentary (I know, I know) I’m so weak that I find it kills my back after a while, but then again, even just standing up feels like a chore…I really need to get back to being active again. I’m hoping that she gets a bit better at sleeping apart from me before Raf’s mom leaves next week, because I certainly won’t be able to sit on the couch all day and hold her while she sleeps once I’m Asher’s sole source of entertainment again.

I’m just so excited to get to know her and to watch her personality unfold, but I’m also acutely aware that these sweet moments are fleeting so I’m cherishing and reviling in every second of it. With Asher I kept looking forward to when he’d do the next thing or reach the next milestone, but this time I know how quickly each stage passes and that some things may not last. I’m relishing every cuddle and snuggle.

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Filed Under: Bennett's Growth Series Tagged With: 1 month old, baby, baby girl, cloth diapers, girl, milestones, monthly growth series, monthly picture, photo

Asher’s Monthly Growth Series // 11

November 12, 2013 by lauren.anvari@gmail.com 1 Comment

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Eleven Months! Gaining confidence with walking – discovered a lip tie and tongue tie – extremely talkative – new hair cut – quite the climber – Insatiable appetite – looks most like daddy – constantly testing limits

Filed Under: Asher's Growth Series Tagged With: 11 months old, baby, milestones, monthly growth series, photo, picture

Gerber Photo Search 2013 Contest

November 5, 2013 by lauren.anvari@gmail.com Leave a Comment

Gerber

At the suggestion of a friend we entered Asher into the Gerber Photo Search 2013 contest.  Gosh, I know I’m biased but seriously, how cute is that face?!

If you would like to vote for him, just go HERE (or click on the photo above), which will take you to the contest’s Facebook page where you can click on the vote button and feel free to share his entry if you feel so inclined.

Thank you for the support!

Filed Under: My life Tagged With: baby, contest, Gerber Photo Search 2013, photo

Asher’s Monthly Growth Series // 9

September 12, 2013 by lauren.anvari@gmail.com Leave a Comment

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9 months!-18lbs 14oz-29 1/4 inches long-started finger feeding-cruises around-dances to music by rocking side to side-learned to suck from a straw-loves food and eats everything-has developed separation anxiety, especially with mommy-grinds his teeth.

Filed Under: Asher's Growth Series Tagged With: 9 months old, baby, infant, milestones, monthly growth series, monthly photo, photo

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