Life lately with a feisty 2.5 year old and a 3.5 month old

Our lives have been quite busy trying to get in a routine but still allow for some fun time for Zuri.  I want to spend time outside as much as we can because once winter comes outside fun isn't quite so fun!

A few benefits of our new house is the proximity to cousins!  We have had a few pool dates and a park date.  Zuri loves playing with her cousins!

This is about the best picture I could get at least everyone is looking at me!

Ashby and Zuri sliding head first down the slide!

Zuri LOVES going to the pool! Too bad it closes Tuesday :(

It is also nice to live across the street from open space and a pond.  We take Stella for walks and Zuri loves to run around the pond.  Lately Avi has been joining us in the stroller or in a wrap.

Zuri also likes to ride on the stroller too!

We have also spent some time indoors so Avi can play on her playmat and Zuri likes to help her..

We have hit a major milestone TODAY for Avi!  She rolled over for the first time from stomach to back!!!  She has only done it once but it was a definite roll as she was sitting like this...

Then rolled over!

Zuri is loving driving her police motorcycle around the house.

The evenings are some of the more difficult times sometime handling both kids for dinner, bath and bedtime alone.  Here are a few ways that I make this easier!


Bath time is together time!

Ok, they don't usually share the baby tub, but Zuri would if I let her!  Zuri sits in the big tub while Avi takes a bath in the baby tub.  Zuri likes to help pour water on Avi.

After I get done bathing Avi I take her out and get her dressed while Zuri plays more in the tub.

Then Avi will sit in her swing while I get Zuri dressed and ready for bed.

Then Avi either sits in the room with us while I read books (sits or has a bottle) or she goes to bed and I have alone time with Zuri.

Zuri is in a phase of screaming and throwing a fit when I put her to bed and leave the room.  Because of this I have been waiting to lay Avi down until after Zuri is done with her massive screaming fits!  So Avi has been getting some extra time in her swing during this time.

Then after I put both kids to bed I have some of my first alone time of the day!

Picture comparison months 1 through 3 of Zuri and Avi

Zuri 3 Months vs. Avi 3 Months

2 Months!

1 Month!

Avi pix by month

Avi 3 Months!

I feel like she has been here forever!  We have gotten in to our groove of how to get things done without much help.  I am thankful she has been a pretty happy baby.

We spent her 3 month birthday lounging at the pool today!

This month she has practiced her belly time and has good strength.  I think rolling over will happen soon but I am usually wrong.  She likes to look at herself in a mirror or on the phone.

Laughing

Her day has been going something like this:

Wake up 8:00am
Eats and watches sister play
Nap time 9:15am-The best naps are happening in the swing and she can nap for hours this way.  In her crib the nap only lasts in increments of about 40 minutes.
Awake around 12:00 to eat
Watch sister play and hang out for a bit
Nap time 2:30ish--usually after I lay Zuri down for her nap
Wake up around 5:00pm to eat and play
Cranky around 7pm- I would lay her down but instead I give her a bath, usually with Zuri and then a bottle while Zuri finishes up her bath.

Avi sleeping on the bathroom floor while waiting for Zuri to finish her bath

 I then take Avi to Zuri's room to read books and finish the bottle.  Sometime during this point she finishes her bottle and I take her and swaddle her and lay her down.  I then go back and sing to Zuri and they are both in bed around 8:30pm.
Avi has been waking random times at night anywhere between 1 and 5.  After she eats it is usually 3 or 4 hours before she wakes again to eat.  Sometimes she is having rough/loud sleep after she eats if it is early in the morning when she eats, which makes me super tired.
Day starts all over again.

She is still sleeping in the cradle.  It has been easier to feed her and keep her happy when I am in the room with her.  I mainly keep her in our room right now because her room is really close to Zuri's and I don't want to take the chance of her waking Zuri up.

She has gone to the gym a few times and has done well there.  She takes a nap while she is there because we go in the morning.  With two naps and a sister that likes to be home to eat lunch there is a limited window for me to go to the gym right now.

Avi has also been sitting in her jumper but she is a little short for it right now, so we have a box under her feet.  Right after I took this picture Zuri decided to help Avi jump and play.  She shook the seat really hard and Avi was not happy about it!

She likes to hold blankets or the baby blankets with a rattle while laying down.  She also likes to pull them up over her face while she is napping if she hasn't been swaddled.  I give her a pacifier but I am not sure she really needs it.  Here she is holding a lady bug and pulling it up to her face while she is about to fall asleep.  Although it looks like she is being attacked by a giant lady bug!

3 month stats:
Guessing about 11 lbs?
Height: not sure
Milestones: lifting head while on belly, big smiles and laughing

Watching basketball

She likes sitting up

Zuri 2.5 Years Old!

Zuri is 2 years and 7 months old.  The "terrible two's" have definitely been terrible.  She is stubborn, loud and opinionated.  Not much different than any other time in her life, but now she likes to disagree with me with any thing that I want her to do.  She has had a lot of changes (which I mentioned before) so I know some of her issues are because of those big changes.  Literally in 4 months she moved twice, started school, got a baby sister, potty trained and moved to a big girl bed.  During that time she has traveled out of state, stayed in a hotel and been without me for a few days while I coached locally and out of state.  I don't mean to give her any excuses but I know it has been a lot for her.

She has handled the large changes very well.  Better than I expected.  It's the little things she has been doing that show that she is struggling with some of the changes.  Things like wanting to carry her blanket around, being scared by random things (and telling me that she is scared).  Her biggest issue happened at school when they had a fire drill.  She now equates school with "fire drill" said in a whiney voice and cries about going to school, but when I pick her up she is having a lot of fun there.

Zuri has been really good with Avi.  She likes to ask where baby sister is.  One of my favorite things is she will ask me "what's baby sister name?" then she will answer "AviELLLA"  She way over emphasizes the ella part.  She likes to pretend to share with Avi by giving her something and then immediately taking it away.

The big thing since we moved in to the new house has been her adjustment to a big girl bed.  I was really worried she wouldn't want a new bed.  But I kept building it up telling her that she was getting a big girl bed at the new house.  Showing her where it would go and getting her excited.  I wasn't sure how to do it, if we should let her sleep in the crib when we first moved or if I should make her sleep in the new bed.  I brought her over with the bed setup before we moved in and she was so excited for it that I decided we should just try it!

She LOVED IT!!

She has fallen out of bed twice because she is such a wild sleeper, but I have just gone in and picked her up and put her back in to bed. She has really surprised me with her like of her new bed.  I should definitely give her some credit.

Our issues have been more of a power struggle with things like she wants to read 10 books and I say we can read 3 books and so she throws a wild temper tantrum.  She definitely throws multiple tantrums a day.  Hoping this is just the "terrible two's" and not something that will continue on.  Luckily I have had a pretty easy going baby so it has balanced things out well.

Some of the things I have had a harder time dealing with because I know she has had a lot of major milestone changes and so I know some of her issues are related to that but most of them are just her trying to learn her limits.

First meal at the new house.