Blake 8 Months

Weight:
Length: ?

Teeth: 2 lonely bottom teeth. Continues to have lots of drool, top teeth look like they might be coming.

Hair: Blond blond blond peach fuzz. I love it

Sleeping:  We are reverting. He is waking up 2-3 times per night. Not sure if it is teeth or what, but I am sleep deprived. It never fails, as soon I start to fall asleep he wakes up

Eating: We are still nursing, probably his favorite thing to do.  Eating adult size portions, he is a horse. Can't keep enough food in him. I would say he loves blueberries the best

Movement:  Army crawling, can pretty much get to where he wants to go. Getting stronger standing at music table an at couch

Milestones:  army crawling, doing the Indian call, occasional wave

Favorite Toys: Leah, remote, electrical outlets, plastic bags ( all things he is not allowed to have) Likes books

Words/sounds:  Indian call, screaming when I leave the room.

Happy Birthday Leah

Weight: 30lbs
Length: 36in

Teeth: waiting on 2 year molars

Hair:  Has never had a hair cut. Has blondish hair, part is curly and part is straight. It is so fine and hard to manage, I refuse to cut it.

Sleeping: It only takes 2 years to sleep through the night?! Goes down around 8p and sleeps until 7-8. Occasional has trouble going to bed and occasionally still wakes up. She is still in her crib and using her binkis. Napping about 3 hours in the afternoon.  

Eating: Favorite foods are avocado's, mac and cheese, cottage cheese, tuna, yogurt, and anything sweet. Has recently been interested in chewing gum.

Movement: Climbing, running, jumping, dancing, pushing the stroller

Milestones: We are working on potty training

Favorite Toys: Blake, puzzles, coloring book, bitty baby

Words/sounds: Starting to use 3 word phrases. I feel like her language gets better and better everyday.

Leah's personality is hilarious. She is silly, funny, and fun loving. She thinks Blake is the greatest thing in the world. She loves to help me empty the dishwasher, cook, do the dishes and sweep. She loves to take care of her baby the way I take care of Blake. She is strong minded and stubborn and it drives me nuts. She loves animals, especially horses and fish

 

On her birthday

Her 1st Birthday



Blake 7 Months

Weight: 
Length: ?

Teeth: 2 lonely bottom teeth. Drools like a dog, no sign of any others.

Hair:  Blond blond blond peach fuzz. I love it

Sleeping:  Pretty decent. Bedtime around 7. Will usually sleep until 4 am. Randomly wakes up. Just wants to snuggle and goes back to bed. Naps 2-3 times per day.
Eating:  We are still nursing, probably his favorite thing to do. He loves his big boy food though. Will go to town on some baby food, puffs, crackers, fruit. He has eaten some casseroles I have made. Likes drinking water from a cup. Pretty much letting him try everything because he wants to so bad.
Movement: Sitting, starting to pull himself. Rolling all over the room to get to the object he wants. Standing at music table (Im behind him) Getting strong.
Milestones:  Saying "Dada", standing holding on to object,

Favorite Toys:  Leah, jumperoo, anything to chew on, sippy cup

Words/sounds:  Saying "dada" and "baba" He has a soft voice, but can squeal with the best of 'em!

Family Update...

We are doing good over here in the Franklin household. My blogging is not so good. Literally only keeping up with Blake's monthly posts, but I'm sure you all understand. Sooo here is a recap of what is going in our life...

Mark- Busy with work! His schedule remains crazy, but his new territory which he started the week Blake was born has been a much better fit. Less driving for him which means he gets home at a decent hour at night and is able to help with bedtime activities. He has been amazing with the moving into a new house thing. He unpacked so many boxes, put things away and organized way more then I did. He carried my stress of it all with some major unconditional love! We have also started a weight loss challenge with some friends of ours and he has gotten after it. He is already down some major weight and I am so proud of him.

Leah- She is a mess as I always say. She has so much energy, loves to get dirty, play outside, eat everything, swim, swing, go down the slides, tackle Blake, use her binki. She is just fun loving with the burden of not handling her emotions (just like her mother) She is stubborn and strong willed. She tries to talk her way out of anything even though no one can understand what she is saying. She is rotten, but fun and makes me laugh. She tests my patience all the time as I'm sure I test hers. We tried taking the binki away from her but was unsuccessful, we will just save for the braces! We will be working on potty training as she is very interested.

Blake- Well you all know about him, but he is sweet, sweet sweet. He is honestly the sweetest thing I have ever known. He is a momma's boy, loves to snuggle and nurse. I just adore this 6-9 month age.

Me: I just finished my online class for the summer. So i have  a 2 week break until fall classes start. I ended up doing really well on my final so I was happy all my studying payed off. I am excited for classes start. I will be in clinical about 2 days week and looking forward to "getting smart!" I will be done in May. A lot of work until then, but I am ready for it. I quit my St. Vincent job in the NICU. It was hard decision, but it was just too much for me and for us. Thankfully I have been able to focus on school and my kiddos. I will miss my babies and my friends, but it is just one step closer to the end goal of being an NP. Ive been enjoying staying home with the kids. It has tested me and my patience. I am not a very patient person, but working on it. Some days are great, others are not. Do I think I could be a stay at home mom...yes, but it would be hard. I do not think that is what I want. I want the best of both worlds. Hopefully I can find a part time job after graduation and work a little and play a lot with my kids.

The house is coming along. We are settled as far as unpacking, but we have to make it our home. It needs some paint and TLC. Our first priority will probably be the deck outside. It needs some major work and since we love being outside so much I think that is where we will start. We love our neighborhood, our neighbors and everything about Zionsville! We are happy here!

So there you have, a little or long update! Hope everyone is having a great summer!

Blake 6 Months

Weight:  14lbs 7oz
Length: ?

Teeth: 2 bottom teeth finally came through. Still a drooling machine

Hair:  Blond peach fuzz. Still not growing.

Sleeping:  Getting pretty good. Going to bed around 7p and most nights will sleep until 4am and then back down until 6:30-7:00. Napping 2-3 times a day, going down like a champ.
Eating: Still nursing great. Starting solids as his weigh gain wasn't great over the past couple of months. He has taken to them great. I can't keep enough food in the house! Starting to use a pincer grasp to pick up puffs.
Movement: Sitting without support. Turning in circles when laying on the ground. "jumping" in exersaucer.

Milestones:  Sitting up, starting solid foods. Teeth.

Favorite Toys:  Leah, exersaucer, his own toes, anything he can chew on. Liking books.

Words/sounds:  Has really found his voice. Screaming back and forth with Leah. He also started saying "momma" Music to my ears!

Our typical photoshoots, Leah jumping in etc..

 



Blake 5 Months

 Weight: ?
Length: ?

Teeth: none...yet. But I can feel those litlte suckers underneath there!

Hair: Blond peach fuzz. I swear it's not growing.

Sleeping:  Sleep is getting better. Only waking up 1-2 night. Napping great. Not crying to fall asleep anymore.

Eating: Still nursing great!

Movement:  Sitting with support. Likes bumbo and exersaucer. Kicking like crazy.

Milestones:  Rolling back to belly.

Favorite Toys: Still crazy about Leah. Likes bouncy seat, bumbo, his own hands, a his "sophie"

Words/sounds: Cooing, screaming, laughing.

Leah...

There are not enough words to describe my Leah. She is getting way too big, way too fast. I feel lucky to literally be able to watch her grow up before my eyes. Watching her learn and discover is amazing. She is a handful, her personality is emerging. Strong willed, stubborn, emotional, silly, happy, goofy, Blake-lover and I could go on and on.  She loves to be outside, dance, play kitchen, play with her baby dolls, swing, color, read books, torment Blake.

Helping mow the grass

4 Months (catch up)

How did I get so lucky?

 

Weight: ?
Length: ?

Teeth: none...yet. But I swear he is teething. All is he does is gnaw on his fingers and is a drooling machine.

Hair: Blonde, fuzzy, sometimes reddish tint. Starting to lose it in the back.

Sleeping:  Worked on some behavior modification this month, aka crying it out. Getting better at going down for naps, still not doing well at night. Getting up 3, 4,sometimes 5 x/night. I'm so sleepy (insert yawn here)
Eating:  Still nursing great
Movement:  Head control is great, likes bumbo, laying on mat. Kicking his feet a lot. Bringing things to his mouth.

Milestones:  Rolling from belly to back consistently, bringing toys midline. Was Baptized this month.

Favorite Toys: Still crazy about Leah. Likes bouncy seat, bumbo, his own hands, a his "sophie"

Words/sounds: Cooing, screaming, laughing.

 



A lot....to say the least...

My blog has definitely taken a back to burner to the things going on in our life. That makes me sad, because I love blogging and I love being able to check all my favorite blogs. I have been checking them occasionally, but every time I start to blog I get distracted by the 2 little humans in my life.

Blake is now 5 months...I need to catch up his 4 and 5 month posts and pictures. He is so stinking cute and loves to smile and giggle

Leah is 20 months and so full of...everything. I need a post for her as well.

I started back to grad school 2 weeks ago. I am in overload with information. It is a heavy course load for summer, but I think I will be able to manage. I am in class 9-5 on Wednesdays with a few clinical hours as well. It is a lot of information, but it feels good to be back. It feels good to be working towards it again and I really feel like the pediatric nurse practitioner is the perfect route for me.

We also decided to (stupid) put our house on the market and move. We initially thought we would do it next spring, but what the heck. And of course our house sold in 2 days...we have to be out July 1. Awesome. Luckily we did find a house...this market is crazy!

Life is crazy and only going to get busier this next month. I hope to get some pictures posted this week as I should have some time after my school work is done.

Blake 3 Months

 

Weight: ? Funny how I knew Leah's weight every week!

Length: ?

Teeth: none...yet. But I swear he is teething. All is he does is gnaw on his fingers and is a drooling machine.

Hair: Blonde, fuzzy, starting to lose it on the sides. Has a nice top mohawk-ish look to it.

Sleeping: I love sleep, Mark loves sleep and yet we have the 2 kids who despise sleep more then anything. Blake his a growth spurt and now has been eating every 1.5-2hrs...including night time. He goes right back down to sleep, but Im still up. Sleeps in crib at night fine, refuses to nap there during the day. Starting to sleep small amounts in swing, but mainly a fan of sleeping on our bed.

Eating: Nursing great, hence eating every 2 hours.

Movement: Holding head up very well. Not a huge fan of tummy time, usually rolls over. "standing up" on his legs and thinks he is hot stuff when he does. Sitting in bumbo for a few minutes. Using baby bjorn. Kicking his feet constantly.

Milestones: Smiling, cooing, belly laughing, "standing up" actually falling asleep in swing

Favorite Toys: Still crazy about Leah. Likes bouncy seat, bumbo, his own hands, a his "sophie" he got for Easter

Words/sounds: Cooing, screaming, laughing.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A few videos...

For your viewing pleasure....

 

 

 

 

 

Blake 2 Months

 

Age: Two Months

Weight: 11lbs 7oz

Length: 24.75 in

Teeth: none J

Hair:  Still pretty blonde and fuzzy. Will get greasy if I play with it a lot

Sleeping: We are still doing good at night. About 10:30-3:30-4ish and then back to sleep until 6am and then back to sleep until 9am. He doesn't sleep much during the day unless he is being held, which doesn't happen all the time with the other monster running around.  He has become increasingly fussy and needing to be held all the time during the day. He is also extremely gassy and refluxing. We are having some pooping issues as well. We are trying a new plan with the pediatrician (more to come) and hoping we can get him a bit happier then he has been. Hopefully I did not jinx myself by bragging about what an easy baby he was month 1.

Eating: Still nursing great. Take a bottle like champ while I'm away. I have eliminated  dairy from diet to see if that will help his fussiness.

Movement: Holding head up very well. Has rolled over from belly to back. Kicking legs, sucking on fingers.

Milestones: Smiling all the time, rolling over

Favorite Toys: Leah J Is liking bouncy seat and play gym mat

Words/sounds: Cooing and starting to talk a lot!

Leah feeding Blake a french fry

cheesin

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ordinary Days...

I'm so ready for spring/summer...I can't stand being cooped up in this house anymore...especially with a kiddo who has a ton of energy and a mom who is running out of outlets to get rid of that energy. Maybe I can attribute this to her new found love of hitting, pushing, and biting. Hurry up warm weather...we are dying over here! Life is crazy around here, some days I feel like I have this mom thing under control and then other days I wonder what in the heck am I doing. I guess that's normal right? Having 2 human beings completely dependent upon you 24/7 is hard...and then to add anything else in, makes life sometimes seem not doable. We have a lot going on right now.. family, personal, friends, kids...life can hit hard..and it is. .. We are plugging away at it over here, and trying to remain positive. So instead of being Debbie downer I am going to share some of the yummy recipes I have tried over the past couple weeks...
Kale Chips...

Source: honestfare.com via Nessa on Pinterest

Spinach Stuffed Chicken

Source: cuckooking.blogspot.com via Becca on Pinterest

Southwestern Dish

Source: thegraciouspantry.com via Becca on Pinterest

Spinach Burgers

Source: thevillagecook.com via Becca on Pinterest

Good for you cookies

Source: watching-what-i-eat.blogspot.com via Becca on Pinterest

Ive also been enjoying my green machine spinach smoothies...They are so good. I use almond milk, frozen fruit, banana, blueberries, yogurt, peanut butter, chia seeds, flaxseed meal and a TON of spinach...Even Leah will drink these. Tryingto get back on track...