The Abla Family Updates: August 2009

Sunday, August 30, 2009

Birthday Swing Set

Isabella's swing set that we got her for her birthday is finally finished & she is now able to play on it! Yay! It took us long enough & we're glad to have it complete. Isabella has had a blast climbing up the ladder, sliding down the slide & swinging on the swings. I've also included pic of a grasshopper she had a fun time holding. :)

Isabella's 3rd hair cut

We decided this year to go ahead & cut Isabella's hair pretty drastically. She had been having a tough time keeping it out of her way & we hear a lot of complaining from her. We asked her if she wanted her hair short & she said she did so we got Tina to cut it to her shoulders right before her 3rd birthday party. It's a cute cut & we might just try to grow it out again when she gets a little bit older. :)

Jackson is 4 months!

Where does the time go??? I am so sad to see my little baby boy not so little anymore! But on the flip side, we're having lots of fun getting Jackson to laugh and Isabella is enjoying the fact that he is starting to grab on to toys that she offers him.

Jackson is finally starting to grow back his hair... but it is slow going. Not sure what color it will be- sometimes it looks like it might be a darker brown then sometimes (if the light is right) it looks like it has a red tint to it. Who knows!

I weighed Jackson today & he is at 17lbs! Wow- he's a big boy!! He is 26" in legnth. (At 4 months & 2 weeks Isabella was 16lb 9oz & 27".)

We've started our bedtime routine with Jackson (nursing, bath, lotion, books, songs, bed) & his favorite part (besides the nursing!) is the bath. He gets his little legs kicking & his arms flapping, splashing water everywhere!

Jackson has started knawing on his fingers this month... not sure if he is teething or just discovering his hands. We shall see.

The Just Between Friends consignment sale that we love was just this past week. I love to shop early & have to volunteer in order to do so. That means Daddy has had the task of taking care of the 2 kiddos while mommy has been away on her two 3-hour shifts & 1 4.5-hour shopping trip. Jackson did well taking his bottle of breast milk (yay! something Isabella never would do!) & Daddy survived without me (& did a good job managing both of them!). And I was able to get a lot of great deals on some super cute clothes for the fall/winter season for both Jackson & Isabella.

Next up- getting Jackson to sleep in his crib instead of the swing. Wish us (or me) luck!

Monday, August 17, 2009

Me & my babies!

Jackson is 3 months!

Jackson turned 3 months on July 30th! I can hardly believe how fast the time has gone & how big he is! He is no longer my little baby! :( I weighed him on our scale at home & he is 16lbs at 3 months! He has more than doubled his birth weight!!!! So I don't really need to state that he is eating well. He eats so well that mommy's sleep suffers. ;) He has gone 3-4 hrs without nursing but often times he wants to nurse after just 2 hrs.

Jackson can hold his head up really well now & sit up when propped up against something. He loves to smile & laugh. As you can see in the pics, he has found his hands & likes to knaw on them. He lost all his hair to craddle cap but I'm hoping all the new hair I see growing will come in fast!

Sleeping isn't ideal- he sleeps pretty well but most of it is in the swing & the rest is in the bed with me! I tried to get him to sleep in the crib shortly after he turned 3 months & he slept there for 2 hours but then would not go back to sleep so he went back into his swing. One of these days we'll transition!

Isabella still loves being a big sister & always asks me to pump so she can feed him out of a bottle. But then when I finally do she gets tired of feeding him after about a minute. (And in that minute Jackson isn't getting much milk b/c she does not have very good aim with the bottle!) But she is full of smiles & kisses for him & is anxious for the day he can play with her. Won't be long...

Isabella took swimming classes this summer. A friend told us about a lady (Jennifer) who teaches swim classes out of her home pool. Isabella was a couple weeks shy of three but Jennifer let her be in her level one class (beginner class) instead of the mommy & me class. She teaches the class without floaties in the shallow end of her pool. Isabella was not tall enough to touch the ground in the pool so she stayed on the stairs when waiting for her turn to practice the swimming technique. At first I wondered if Isabella would want to come back because she was quite nervous & the teacher was pushing her to do things that I knew she wouldn't have done for us. But she did them & without tears! She was also in this class with kids up to age 5 or 6! We were so proud of what a big girl she was in the class! (Mommy was a bit sad, but happy at the same time!) When we got home the first night Isabella was very excited about the class & was anxious to go back the next day. We'll definately do these classes next summer!

Saturday, August 15, 2009

Isabella's 3rd Birthday - A Fairy Princess Party

Isabella had so much fun at her fairy princess party. A real fairy princess visited her on her special day. She played games, went on a scavenger hunt, and then painted faces. What fun! Grandma made a really special fairy princess cake that was a huge hit! Jackson slept through the whole party but made a late appearance in his "little prince" shirt. My baby girl is 3!