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Reese’s Monthly Growth Series \\ 2

February 11, 2017 by lauren.anvari@gmail.com 1 Comment

10 pounds 6.4 ounces (28th percentile), 22.2 inches long (41st percentile), 16.3 inches head circumference, got thrush again, started smiling!!, prefers sleeping over eating, loves her pacifier, loves bath time, hates tummy time, has a bedtime schedule, falls asleep on her own, wakes up 2-4 times at night, looks most like Asher

Month 2 with my little Reese Marie has been a vast improvement on month 1. She responded almost immediately to her prescription thrush medication and all of a sudden she was happier and more comfortable than I had ever seen her. She actually looked relaxed! She started nursing better and spending periods of being awake and happy. As a result, my mood has greatly improved as well. It’s not perfect, but I think that has more to do with the cold winter weather than anything else. After my last post I received such an outpouring of love and support from people near and far, it really helped remind me that I have an amazing tribe. And it just goes to show that we should be talking about these things more, the people in our lives want to help, if only we’d let in. So thank you for reminding me of that!

I found a pacifier Reese likes, which was AMAZING! Getting her to sleep anywhere that was away from me was no longer an enormous struggle. I could put her down awake and just give her the pacifier and she’d be content, I’d replace it a couple times and she’d fall asleep. It was seriously such a game changer.

AND she smiled at me!! She smiled for the first time on my birthday and it was the sweetest present ever. She’s still not quick to smile and often can be seen sporting a furrowed brow but I’ll take it! There have been a couple times this month when she makes a noise that sounds like she’s on the verge of laughter, but I’m still waiting on that front.

Towards the end of the month she started pulling off the breast again and sleeping more and I was pretty bummed to discover her thrush had returned. This time I went straight for the prescription medication and she returned to her happier self in a day or so. With that said, she’s never been a great eater. She prefers to sleep over nearly everything else. At her 2 month appointment, we learned that she has dropped from the 48th percentile in weight to the 28th, which isn’t good. So her pediatrician wants her to come back in a month for a weight check. In the mean time, I will make it my mission to nurse this girl ALL the time. It won’t be easy, but the past couple days give me hope that it’s possible. She has pretty much nursed around the clock for a couple days. Sure it could just be her wanting some extra snuggles after her vaccines but I’m rolling with it. I also learned that she has a very sensitive gag reflex, which is to blame for all the times when she vomits from seemingly nothing. Her doctor recommended I try distracting her by blowing in her face or stroking her nose, when she gets into one of her coughing fits that leads to her vomiting. I’ve tried this a couple times in the past day and so far it seems to be working. I also think that while her pacifier has been a God send, it has contributed to her percentile drop. There are times when I try to nurse her but she flat out refuses, but will happily suck away at her pacifier, so I’m going to try to have to work on that more as well.

She did sleep a 6 hour stretch one night, which was awesome! In the mornings when she first wakes up she coos and babbles a bit at me and she gives me the most smiles during this time. She’s becoming a little more sturdy, she holds her head up more and likes to kick her legs out to support her weight for short periods. She HATES tummy time, so we need to work on that as well. All in all this month has been 2 steps forward 1 step back. Asher and Bennett are obsessed with her. They love her so much and are constantly showering her

Asher and Bennett are obsessed with her. They love her so much and are constantly showering her in hugs, kisses and sweet caresses, it’s the sweetest thing, but also makes me slightly claustrophobic to watch. They just give her no space!!

She is starting to feel familiar to me, and I’m really looking forward to watching her personality unfold!

Bennett’s Monthly Growth Series \\ 11

January 29, 2016 by lauren.anvari@gmail.com Leave a Comment

started walking (!!!), can stand herself up unassisted, first time touching snow, nearly mastered the stairs, fell down the stairs, loves removing all the books from the bookshelves, naps 30 minutes max, started giving kisses, climbs everything, first trip to Texas, strong separation anxiety, very attached to mommy

This little ray of sunshine started walking! This past month she has hit quite a few big milestones and I’m enjoying every second with her. Although she can walk she still mostly chooses to crawl and will only walk when we’re encouraging it or if it’s a very short distance. I think she still needs to gain some confidence. Where she lacks confidence in walking she makes up for in climbing. If you aren’t watching her closely, the next think you know she’s on top of the coffee table, or standing on the backrest of the couch looking out the window. If there is ever an option to go vertical she will take it. She also learned to stand up all on her own and it is the cutest thing to see because she absolutely beams with pride whenever she does it.

Bennett LOVES climbing up and down the stairs and I must say she has gotten pretty good at it, but she fall down half a flight this month. It was a mix up of communication. I assumed Raf had his eye on her and he thought I had it covered and the next thing we knew…boom,boom,boom,boom,boom,WAIL. My heart nearly stopped in my chest. But thankfully she wasn’t hurt at all, just pretty scared. I wish I got off so lucky whenever I fall down the stairs (a frequent occurrence).

We went and visited Raf’s side of the family in Texas this month and not surprisingly, Bennett was a huge hit. It became clear while in Texas that Miss B has some very strong separation anxiety when it comes to me, which I both love and find inconvenient.

Bennett is extremely attached to me. She likes to know where I am at all times and wants to be able to see me. Even when she’s playing, she’ll come up to me periodically to check in and get a quick snuggle before going about her business. I am savoring every tiny moment of this time because I know that my days of being her favorite person on the planet are numbered.

Her rolls are melting away as she becomes increasingly more mobile and I hate it. She did get RSV this month so I’m sure that didn’t help. Both kids had to use a nebulizer every 4 hours and Bennett HATED it and pretty much screamed the entire time. Speaking of screaming, she also got to experience snow for the first time this month and let me tell you, she was not pleased. She must take after her Mama after all. Asher on the other hand must be half abominable snow man. That kid can and does spend hours out in the snow and still has to be dragged inside. He is so lucky to have such an accommodating father.

Bennett’s naps have fallen to pieces this month. She takes two naps a day and really only sleeps 20-30 minutes both times. For the morning nap I don’t really mind because we’re usually have a lot of things going on in the morning. The afternoon nap on the other hand is when both kids are down at the same time and that’s my recharge time. She will nap longer if she’s napping next to me in a dark room only because I’m able to get her to fall back asleep after she wakes up 20 minutes in. But I’ve found that I then fall asleep and it really messes with my sleep pattern (we’ve been making huge efforts to get to bed early). I know what I need to do to get her to sleep longer but I’m not super motivated to do them. Her mood isn’t suffering and she’s content for the time being to play quietly in the same room as me. I may hold off and see if things change on their own once she drops her morning nap before making any concerted effort to extend her afternoon nap.

I can’t believe I only have one more of these monthly updates for Bennett! She’ll be 1 year old next month, a whole trip around the sun! Just thinking about it makes every fiber of my being ache. My sweet baby is just growing up before my very eyes.

Bennett’s Monthly Growth Series // 9

December 1, 2015 by lauren.anvari@gmail.com 1 Comment

19 pounds 15.7 ounces (78th percentile), 28 inches long (64th percentile), 18 1/4 inches head circumference (97th percentile), first Thanksgiving, transitioned to a convertible car seat, eats everything, started finger feeding, learned to climb stairs, crawls super fast, cruising

This girl is on the move and getting into everything. There was definitely an incident involving Bennett splashing in Asher’s pee filled potty while my mom and I sat a few feet away…yea mommy fail. She’s crawling at light speed. She has successfully learned to climb up the stairs, but has no clue how to go down, so we’re working on that.

B is forming strong opinions and she does NOT like when A rough houses with her. She is not a rough a tumble girl, or at least not yet. She loves playing with her big brother and he constantly makes her laugh however he is finding it challenging sharing with her, so that’s something we need to work on.

Her hair is coming in, little by little. I’m so tempted to put a teeny tiny bowl in the wisps of hair on the top of her head. She still has light colored eyes, that are a cream of wheat color around the pupil and then a bluish green grey. They are quite striking and I’m guessing they’ll probably settle into a hazel color, but lighter than Asher’s.

Ben Bucket has been cruising around on furniture and likes help walking around. She’s eager to walk and keep with with Asher, so much so that her poor head and face are covered in bruises. She doesn’t quite have the balance or coordination yet, but it’ll be interesting to see what happens with that this month.

She continues to be very laid back and easy – she is an absolute delight!

Bennett’s Monthly Growth Series // 4

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

14 pounds 13.5 ounces (70th percentile), 24 3/4 inches long (71st percentile), 16 5/8 inch head circumference (93rd percentile!), got her first cold, has started grabbing things with her hands, eyes are still blueish grey, no hair growth whatsoever, quick to smile, super easy going, wakes once at night, refuses the bottle, still likes her pacifier but only when sleeping, wants everything in her mouth, babbles constantly

This past month has been slow in terms of milestones. Bennett is actively grabbing now and putting anything she can manage straight into her mouth. While she was quick to role from her tummy to her back she seems to be in no rush to roll from her back to her tummy, which is likely because she HATES tummy time. She loves to babble and to carry on “conversations.”

B Girl has two modes: 1 – totally laid back and chill and 2 – banshee screaming. There is little to no build up or warning. She simply goes from being utterly content and happy to inconsolable. Luckily this only really happens if she gets over tired or over hungry and then it’s almost always my fault because I missed her subtle clues that she wanted to sleep or eat. But boy can she scream. This girl has some serious pipes and a persistence that astounds me. She won’t even nurse when she’s like that, even if the reason she’s like that is because she’s hungry. So I find myself doing all sorts of acrobatics to try to calm her down enough so she’ll eat.

Asher had a cold this month and although I tried it was near impossible to get him to refrain from kissing her on the face and/or hands so of course Bennett got it, but thankfully as far as colds go it was exceedingly mild. Bennett also ran a low fever after receiving her 4 month vaccines and was only content to be held skin to skin and I soaked all the cuddles in. Skin to skin really does work miracles.

Now that Bennett is able to grab things, Asher finds it super entertaining to give her all the toys at once. SHE MUST HAVE OPTIONS! This normally results in her being buried under a pile of toys and pacifiers but it’s so fun to watch their interactions develop.

Raf tried giving Bennett a bottle once while I was out this month and try as he may she flat out refused. He tried several different kinds but nothing worked. I too refused the bottle as a baby. This girl is so much like me that it’s kinda freaky, in the most endearing way possible of course.