HAPPY 2ND BIRTHDAY CECILIA!!!

Cecilia turned 2 years old today! It is amazing how quickly children grow. She had a fun day today. We began with letting her pick a movie to watch. She chose The Jungle Book and ate waffle while she opened her birthday card and presents. We got her a new night stand that matches her bed, 5 Dr. Seuss board books, 3 Veggietales books, 4 Wallace and Grommit books, a coloring book and a Disney Princess Tea Set. Then we took her to the Party City store where she picked out two mylar balloons - one about two feet tall that is a big Mickey Mouse head and the other a Winnie the Pooh with Happy Birthday on it. Then we went to her favorite restaurant for lunch - Red Robin. She had mozzarella sticks, mac and cheese, cantaloupe, fries, and a vanilla ice cream sundae with chocolate fudge and whipped cream. Of course she didn't eat everything of all those, but she had fun eating some of all of it. She has been playing with her tea set and balloons ever since we got back. She is napping now but even wanted to take her balloons with her to bed - so cute! I said no, they would be there when she woke up and she already takes a few stuffed animals to bed anyway.

2 Months, 2 years, 2 Beautiful girls

Well, Felicity rang in the end of her second month at 9 lbs., 10 oz., and 22 1/2 in. long. She is getting so big! She is doing very well though. She has pretty good head control and is very observant. Her nights got worse the last week as she became dependent on nursing in order to fall asleep - translation: she was waking about every hour to nurse in order to get back to sleep. I've started working with her to undo this dependency and she is making progress. Last night her first stretch went about 4 hours. I can certainly work with that. Unfortunately the rest of her night wasn't that good and I lost about 1 1/2 hours of sleep. But we'll keep up the work. The trick is my staying awake to get her back to sleep without nursing even at 3am and I am usually barely conscious.

Cecilia is doing very well with Felicity. She loves to give her kisses before bed and if Felicity is in her swing and her blanket falls off Cecilia will pick it up and put it back on her. She is concerned every single time Felicity cries, sneezes or even hiccups. She helps me change her diaper by bringing me the diaper and even helps wipe Felicity.

Cecilia seems to get bigger every day. She has taken quite a liking to praying. We have always prayed with her before bed. But now she insists we pray with her before her naps and will make us say grace as many as four times during a single meal. I think she especially likes doing the Sign of the Cross but she also likes pointing at the pictures of Jesus and St. Peter's Basilica on the wall. She has become a very big Goofy fan but also a fan of Mickey and Goofy's nemesis Peg-Leg Pete. Maybe it is just because she can say his name, but she likes Pete quite a bit. She has also mastered using a computer mouse. I have the playhouse Disney website bookmarked and all I have to do is get her too it and she uses my mouse to play games and navigate the various Disney websites. It is pretty impressive. Maybe I should look into getting her some educational video games. ... Do they make those for 2 year olds? lol. Probably.

On Tuesday Cecilia will turn 2 years old! Can anyone believe time has flown so fast? We are going to take her to her favorite restaurant for lunch - Red Robin: she gets cheese sticks, mac and cheese, cantaloupe AND a balloon - doesn't get much better, huh? - and then to the Party store where she can pick out a mylar balloon. Need I mention she loves balloons? While we will be celebrating her birthday the Saturday after with family, we will probably let her open the presents from us on her birthday. She has to have something to open on her birthday right?

Cecilia's Favorites and Newbies

Favorite Movies: Meet the Robinsons and A Goofy Movie (she is a big Goofy fan)
New Words: Stuck, Owl, Ampa (Grampa), Night, Duck, Blue, Pete (of Disney's Peg-leg Pete)
Favorite New Word: Stuck
Luvie: A stuffed sheep she found in my night stand that she simply refers to as Baaa
Favorite Books: Peek-a-Who?, The Wheels on the Bus, Mr. Brown Can Moo, Can You?, any Biscuit book, Where's Spot?, The Big Red Barn
Favorite Songs: Jingle Bells, Mousekadoer (From Mickey Mouse Clubhouse)(she dances to both those songs)
New Things Learned: How to use a computer mouse, how to move a folding chair and stand on it to reach much higher and try to get things Mommy tried to put out of reach

7 Weeks on the 7th

Felicity turned 7 weeks on the 7th of January, 2008. She measured 21 1/2 inches long and weighed in at 9 pounds 2 ounces. She is growing so fast. She got 4 vaccinations yesterday - DTaP (Diphtheria, Tetanus and Pertussis aka Whooping Cough), HIB (Meningitis), PCV (Pneumonia and Meningitis) and IPV (Polio) - two needles in each thigh. We refused the Hepititas B - because no one we know has the disease and it is transmitted primarily through sexual acts and sharing needles so we did not feel it necessary and hence not worth the risks - and Rotavirus - because it is too new for me to feel comfortable with it, it is not a life-threatening disease and Felicity's digestive system is still developing so we didn't think it wise or necessary and hence not worth the risk. Needless to say she wasn't feeling quite as well as usual. She either slept or wailed her head off. She was back to her usual smiling self today though.

Speaking of which, I must say she is most aptly named. She showers smiles all the time.

She sleeps well. She generally falls asleep between 9:30 and 10 and sleeps for 4-4 1/2 hours, nurses, sleeps for another 3-3 1/2 hours, nurses, sleeps until we get up around 6:30. So, at night, generally, she gets around 8 hours of sleep and I get about 7 hours. Her periods of sleep have been gradually expanding.

It has become common for Cecilia to give Felicity a sweet kiss on the lips before going to bed. So Sweet. She has been giving more kisses lately. She gives Grandpa one before bed and gives us ones when we read to her.

Cecilia's Sleeping Patterns

It was no surprise that over the last few weeks Cecilia's sleeping habits have been all over the place.  Right before Thanksgiving, while Katherine and I were at the hospital delivering Felicity, Cecilia had to fall asleep at night without the help of mommy or daddy.  She pretty much stayed up til 11 PM or so with Grandpa and finally was tired enough to go to bed.  Two days later, Cecilia had two grandparents and two uncles staying in our home with mommy back with a newborn.  Needless to say, the whole townhouse was kind of upside for a few days.  Then soon after Thanksgiving, Cecilia came down with a cold which turned into an ear infection.  That had her waking up crying several times a night.  Then she got another bacterial infection a couple weeks later.  

Finally, right around Christmas, she got into an interesting pattern, which we did not notice immediately;  we would try and get her to bed around 8 PM or so, but she would cry and fuss and we had to go in and calm her and then try to get her to sleep again, which she would finally do around 9 PM.   She would not wake up til between 7 AM and 7:30 AM.  So we moved her bedtime routine and start her bath around 7:50 PM now and lately, she's been ready for sleep between 8:45 and 9 PM every night now.  And of course she still cries some when we leave her in her bedroom, but she adjusts her sheets and such and soon falls asleep.  She even wakes up occasionally to adjust things in her bed and returns to sleep without making much of a fuss at all.  For the past 5 or so nights, she has slept the whole time from 9 PM or so until 7 or 7:15 AM.  

She still takes a nap during the day, for about 1 1/2 hours, usually between the hours of 1 and 3 PM.  She of course does not think she needs a nap, but once we get her into her room and tuck her in and leave, she cries for a little bit, but soon adjusts her surroundings and falls asleep.  

So she regularly gets between 12 to 13 hours of sleep a day.  I think her sleeping habits have become normal finally, and hopefully, with good health, these patterns won't be disrupted again too soon.