Two Months

Today, we took Aliyah to her 2-month doctor's appointment. She weighed in at 11 pounds and measured 23 inches long, placing her in the 50th percentile for weight and the 80th percentile for height. 

Aliyah has increased the amount of formula she takes during each feeding from 3 to 4 ounces. She eats about every 3 hours and stays on track with her eating schedule throughout the day.

Around the 6-week mark, she started sleeping through the night. She goes to bed around 9:00 usually and will sleep until at least 5:00, sometimes longer.  After the early morning feeding, she will usually go back to sleep for a few more hours.  Her napping pattern still varies. She seems to take quite a few short naps throughout the day with the longest one lasting about 1-1/2 hours.

Aliyah's favorites still include car rides. Even if she is a little fussy before we are leaving to go somewhere, once she is strapped in her car seat and we take off with the radio on, she settles down and falls right to sleep.  Bath time is now a more enjoyable time for her.  She can spend more time content in her bouncer seat now.  She loves to be held and likes both her swing and the baby carrier, which will almost always put her to sleep along with her pacifier. 

Size 1 diapers still fit Aliyah pretty well with room yet to grow, along with 0 to 3-month clothes, which I think might even last her most of the winter season.

The two biggest milestones this month have been smiling and cooing as Aliyah has discovered her voice.  Her smiles are usually hard to come by and you really have to work for it but it is such a reward in the end when she responds back with her grin:)

Christmas 2015 Recap

Here is a look at our Christmas festivities for this year 

with one more celebration yet to go on Sunday.

Ready for the book gift exchange

Aliyah, Eli, Finn, Liam, Shea, Josie, Betty

...and then Eli wanted to be next to the babies

AJ stopped by on Christmas Eve to visit his godchild (and Eli)

Christmas morning

Proudly displaying his handcrafted gifts he made for us in preschool

Both babies napping together

These shirts just crack me up!

Emma received a personalized sleeper with her name on it
that was turned into a teddy bear since she grew out of it

Santa found us again this year!

Finn Turns 2!

Last night, we celebrated Finn's second birthday with a fun transportation-themed party.  There were many, many kids in attendance as usual, which always makes for an entertaining time for Eli as well with all the other kids.  Aliyah slept away most of the party even with all the commotion:)  We enjoyed a delicious supper featuring shepherd's pie, a perfect wintertime casserole while the kids were able to choose from 3 kid-friendly options for their very own sack lunch, such a neat idea!  

Finn is really interested in all things that go and was so excited with each of his car and truck-related birthday gifts.  He has really reached the 2-year milestone fast!  

On our way home from Dubuque after the party, we drove through the Reflections in the Park to check out all the neat light displays.  This might be a yearly tradition now for us after Finn's party.

Meeting the Greats

This past weekend, we introduced Aliyah to Great Grandma and Grandpa Sabers.  Eli loves to visit them too and quickly finds his favorite toys to play with once he gets there.  There have been lots of new babies visiting my grandparents lately as quite a few of my cousins have also had babies recently. 

Since we had planned to visit my grandparents on Sunday, I thought I would share pictures with Eli and explain to him now that he is a little older about his other great-grandparents who have passed away.  Once we started engaging in this conversation about how some of his great-grandparents have already died, it quickly became apparent to me I should have invested some time in researching just how to have this type of conversation about death and dying with a 4-year-old.  He had some very intriguing questions that I attempted to answer in a simple and honest way, although I found it a bit of a challenge to try to explain things such as a "soul" when I told him how our souls can go to heaven and that those in heaven can watch over us and we can remember them by visiting the cemetery.

On our way to my grandparents' house that day, we first stopped by our local cemetery in town where Ian's paternal grandparents are buried.  I thought I remembered where to go from when we went to his grandma's graveside service, but we searched and searched and could not locate their gravestone, so we might have to go back when Ian is with us to help navigate.  His maternal grandparents are in a cemetery a little further away.  When we arrived in Earlville, we stopped by the cemetery there to visit my Grandma and Grandpa Winter. 

When we went back to my mom and dad's house afterwards, Joe and the girls also came out to visit Aliyah.  Eli enjoyed Paige's company; he always loves a playmate.  Speaking of more visitors, a friend of mine from college, Randi, stopped by as well to see the newest member of our family.  We enjoyed this past weekend visiting the "greats," along with the other visitors. 

Breakfast with Santa

This morning, Santa came to visit our local YMCA.  I'm pretty sure this was not a local guy dressed up in a Santa suit; he was a professional.  It was evident he took his role seriously and truly looked and acted like the real guy!  This year, Eli replaced his fear of Santa with a new-found curiosity and interest, showing no trepidation at all as he had in previous years.  He informed Santa of an item he wished for this year and with some prompting, asked him the question he asked us on the way there.  No sooner had I started saying, "Where are the..." in an attempt to get Eli to finish his question he had earlier, Santa quickly replied, "Reindeer?"  (He must get that a lot).  He explained to Eli he flew here today on a jet and that the reindeer were back home at the North Pole. 

As for this pose, it was all Santa's idea.  He said he wanted us to start a new family tradition with Aliyah beginning this year.  He knew of a mother-daughter duo who did the same thing, where they both took a picture with Santa every year from the time of the daughter's first Christmas until she was 18 years old!!  (I'm not so sure I am going to be keeping up this tradition.) 

Our local Y also offered doughnuts and juice for the kids, along with a free Christmas book - such a neat idea!  Books are always my favorite gifts for the kids.  Eli was even able to meet up with one of his preschool classmates who was also there and sat at the same table.  Lastly, there was a make and take gingerbread man craft kit.  It was a fun morning!