Funny Faces

I know that I haven't posted in a while and I STILL need to add Lauren's 7 months info.  BUT, I just HAD to add these pics.  Guess who has learned to snort??

More Pics

The wagon was loaded down with riders on this day.

Claire is really into "snuggling" with Lauren lately.  Lauren loves it too (although you can't tell from this picture, ha!).  Everytime we put Lauren in Claire's lap, she'll smile really big and lean in to give Claire a kiss.  Melts our hearts!

Lauren started eating solid foods!  This is her first taste!

Happy girl after eating some cereal.

Daddy with his baby girl!

Celebrating Daddy's birthday.

Despite the fact that Lauren was in a Cowboys onesie, her Aunt Christine was still all smiles when holding her.  What a good sport she is.  I wonder if we'll all be able to watch a Cowboys/Redskins game in the same room this Fall?  Hmm, we shall see.

It seems as though over the last few weeks she's developed so much. 

Nana and Grandpa came to visit from Texas!  Too bad this is the only pic that I got while they were here!

Claire's hair is long enough for braids now!  When did she get so big?  It happened right before my very eyes!

Wow, I love her!

 

6 Months Old!

Lauren is 6 months old!!!!  She has truly been such a joy to have in our family.  Here are some 6 month stats:

*17 lbs 1 oz
*1 Tooth!!  It popped up yesterday on her 6 month birthday!  I saw it trying to break through on Sunday night but I finally felt it on Monday. 
*Still taking 3 naps a day most days.  Every once in a while, she'll stretch her naps and sleep longer, therefore only taking 2 naps...but for the most part she's still taking that 3rd catnap in the late afternoon.
*Sleeping approx 11-12 hours at night.  Unfortunately, since she's not rolling over a whole lot still..she's not waking up happy most mornings.  However, when she rolls over when she wakes, she is perfectly content. 
*Eats A LOT!  Nurses 4-5 times a day and eats approx 10-12 oz of solids a day (I make my own baby food so this is an estimate)!  Despite how much she's eating, she still weighs about the same that Claire did at this same age...in fact, she weighs a little less than Claire did.
*New foods are rice cereal, bananas, squash (she LOVES squash!!) and prunes.  I've known this since she was a newborn, but this girl has PROVEN to me this month that she LOVES to eat!  Ha!  As soon as she was able to get over her tongue thrust reflex, she's opened her mouth like a baby bird for food.
*Developmentally, she's still only rolling from front to back, but not back to front.  No crawling either.  But, she's sitting very well with support.  I'm still not worried though, she's proven to us that she'll move when she wants.  She absolutely looooves the bouncy seat!  She will kick and bounce over and over again.  Her legs are strong, she just doesn't feel the need to roll.

5 months Old!!

Well, I'm a few days late...but our baby is 5 months old!!  Wow.  She is really becoming a little person now!  She's now 15 lbs 11 oz.  And sometime this month I will start her on solids.  I'm a little sad for this phase as it's a sign that my baby is growing and becoming a little girl.  I just love the newborn phase (minus the sleepless nights)...but I also love this new phase too.  She will soon start to move a bit more, start babbling, and begin to become her own little person.  This month she rolled over for the first time too!  Well behind her big sister and I really struggled with not being concerned with it...so I was really relieved when she made this milestone!  But, with this milestone comes new little challenges for us too...for instance, she has begun to roll over in the middle of naps, which wake her up.  It won't be long before she "gets" how to stay asleep on both sides, but for now, she's startling herself awake each time.  :)  I love this little one so, so much.  I could just eat her up!!

4 Months Old!

Having a little snooze while big sis had a play date with friends.


Happy Girl!

Today our sweet Lauren is 4 Months Old! Wow, where did those 4 months go? They seemed to fly by quicker than Claire's first 4 months did. And what a month she has had! Here are some things to note:
*She slept through the night for the first time, only to get her sleep disrupted by 2 bouts of cold/congestion. For the most part, she is sleeping from 7:30 pm until anywhere from 4 am to 6:30am...depending on the day.
*She eats 5-6 times a day.
*She weighs 14 lbs 13 oz. And surprisingly, that's 5 oz smaller than Claire at this age. (Claire had a HUGE growth spurt between months 3 and 4)
*She is still not moving around much...no scooting and no rolling over. However, she has begun the process. She now enjoys rolling up on her side.
*She has begun to T.A.L.K. and it's just precious. Her "oohs" and "aaahs" are becoming more and more frequent.
*She's entered into the "distracted baby" syndrome. I have a difficult time getting her through a full feeding if Claire is in the room. Or if I have a fan on for that matter. HA!
*She traveled for the first time...and it was to TX!!
*Like I mentioned above, she's had her first "illness". 2 colds in 4 weeks. She's a trooper though. She'll just add in an extra feeding during the day if she needs to.
*Personality-wise...she's very calm and easy going. Much like her dad and much like her sister. She's very content to people watch and will only start to "fuss" if it's time to take a nap. She will however, let me know when it's time to eat. This child doesn't want to wait for long when she's hungry!
*She has laughed outloud for the first time and what a sweet sound that is!
*She found her hands and it looks like she will be like Claire in that she will drop the pacifier on her own and choose to suck her fingers.

Lauren, we love you more and more each day and are so very thankful for you. What a precious gift you are in our lives.

3 Months Old...Already??

Our sweet baby girl is 3 months old today! Here are some things that we've noted about her this month:

~She weighs 13 lbs 14.5 oz...that's 1.5 lbs heavier than her sister at the same age!
~She eats 5 to 6 times a day
~She is sleeping so much better than last month! She has made leaps and bounds this month. She is napping much better (last month she was waking about 1 hour into EVERY nap and I was having to settle her down). Her nighttime sleep has stretched to 7-8 hours! Sometimes she'll wake earlier but I started noticing that she wasn't really eating when she woke so we started going in to settle her by putting the paci in her mouth and then she'll sleep for another 1-2 hours! What a champ!
~She's a Morning Person!!! This is SO clear to us! Not only is she happy and smiling in the mornings and afternoons, but in the evenings she's grumpy and rarely smiles. She even scowls!!HA! I'm interested to see how this plays out as she gets older...
~ She's not moving around much yet when she's awake. No rolling over and no scooting around on the floor. She'll twist her head around to watch Claire play and that's about it. However, while she's sleeping she moves ALL over the bed...turning in circles and scooting to the other end of the crib.
~She's a drooler! So much so that I've even checked for teeth a couple of times. I know, it's very rare to have a child pop out a tooth this early, but it's not unheard of! And I'm telling you, this child drools A LOT!
~Poor thing has her first cold. It was bound to happen at a young age since she was born right in the middle of the flu season. I'm just thankful that it happened AFTER she had her first round of shots. This cold has definitely disturbed her in her sleep, but we're praying that she'll be over it quickly and that it won't develop into an ear infection.

Lauren, words cannot express how deeply your dad and I love you. You are such an added blessing to our family and we are so thankful for you. We pray for you every day and are committed to bringing you up in the ways of the Lord. Love you punkin'.


Our big girl! Literally! These are 6 month clothes. :)


I can rarely capture her beautiful smile on camera. As soon as I hold up the camera she stares it down.




Even though she's making a funny face, I just had to include this picture. Notice the roll of fat around her midsection?!? I love it!

A Wilkie's World

Our lives lately:

Claire has been putting her dolls and her stuffed animals in all of Lauren's "baby" gear. Here is a doll in the headrest to Lauren's swing. The headrest is a makeshift Boppy. :)

Claire likes to put her Leapfrog Pet Pal in Lauren's car seat.

When I took the blanket off, I noticed that she'd fastened the buckle.

Bear is in the baby swing.

Bear is in the Boppy!

My little helper loaded the dryer for me today. I put all of the wet clothes in the basket and she took them out of the basket and put them in the dryer. She loves to say that she is "helping".

My little helper.


More "tot school". Here she is putting different shaped blocks into the appropriate holes in the bucket.

She loves to color. She decided this morning that she wanted to sit on her "beep-beep" (aka car) and color. I have also learned to not give her but one crayon at a time. Otherwise, she likes to just play with the crayons instead of color with them. :)

I could just eat this one up. She is such a sweet, sweet girl. She is so snuggly. She gives her Mama smiles all day long. She is eager to watch her sister play. I love this precious baby so, so much!

We finally got out in the double jogger all at the same time. It was great! Although, it was a little cold for the girls. I was only able to stay outside about 20 minutes with them. Hopefully the weather will continue to get warmer and by this Spring, we'll be out every morning!

Can I get a smile, puleeze?

Thinking that the girls looked so cute in their Valentine's outfits this morning, AND we had a few minutes to spare before leaving for church, I told Bradley I wanted to get a few pictures. That, of course, is always dependant on if 2 little girls are in the mood to have their pictures taken. This morning...they were not in the mood. :) No matter how much mom and dad made silly faces, goo'd, said, "CHEESE" and acted goofy...we could not get these girls to smile. Oh well, they're beautiful anyway. :)

The closest thing to a smile I got during this experience.

"Can we go to church, please?"

"Mom, when are you going to stop?"

Lauren's looking intensely at Dad while Claire is interested in Lauren.

Fun time is over. Sorry, pumpkin!

Happy Valentine's Day from the Wilkie's!!!

Comparisons

A lot of people have asked me lately if I think that Lauren looks like Claire. I really, really think that my girls resemble each other. Although, it's difficult to tell because they DO have some differences. Lauren is MUCH bigger than Claire was at the same age and the amount and color of their hair is different (Claire's was strawberry and Lauren's is brown with some strawberry tones). Those two things alone can make it seem as though they look different. Today, I pulled out some pictures for comparisons:


Lauren's first day at church. Claire's first day at church.

*BOTH girls were just over 2 months old when they went to church for the first time. For the life of us, we could NOT get Lauren to smile. And, if I remember correctly, this picture of Claire was the first time that we got a smile on camera.


Lauren at 11 weeks. Claire at 23 weeks, wearing the SAME onesie.

*That's right! Lauren is just 2 1/2 months old and I'm already pulling out the 6 month clothes. The picture of Claire was when we took her camping for the first time. She was about 5 1/2 months old.

Our Beautiful Girls

Here are some photos of our lives lately:


One day this week, I went to get Claire up from her nap and this is what I found...sitting up, feet under the bed rail, socks off and hair in disarray. Love this girl!


Apparently my 25 pound 22 month old can sit in the Bumbo. She is so crazy!

So excited about our 'new to us' double jogger. Before I even got pregnant with Lauren, Bradley's parents spotted this at a yard sale for $20 and I told them to get it! (I just KNEW we were gonna have another kiddo someday). We finally have a reason to use it. Claire and I took it out for a test drive earlier this week.

Her hair is getting so long now and it's just gorgeous! I couldn't help taking this snapshot of her beautiful hair.

Lauren had lunch one day with Claire and I (she just sat in her Bumbo on the table while we ate), although she doesn't look too happy about it. She was ready for a nap!

Claire loves to go 'see the horses' with Granddaddy! If you walk through the woods behind our house there is a horse farm not too far from us. There is a huge pond and horses that they love to walk to if the weather permits.

Claire wants to hold Lauren as much as possible now. She will even walk up to us when I'm feeding Lauren and put her hands on her and say, "I hold you?". Sweet girl.

Several weeks ago, a sweet family from church gave us a bundle of hand-me-downs. In it was this cute little headband. Claire calls it her 'necklace' and wears it around her neck all the time. The night this photo was taken, her Daddy put it on her like this and called her Jane Fonda. We laughed and laughed and she had a great time.

My girls L.O.V.E their Daddy! And he just ADORES them. I love this picture of the 3 loves of my life.