Lucy {Two Months} and Ella {Two Years, 9 Months}

Lucy's two month stats:
Weight 13 lbs. 5 oz. - 87th percentile
Height 23.5 inches - 80th percentile
Head circumference 15.8 inches - 91st percentile

I'll probably say this every month, but I can't believe Lucy has already been part of our family for two months!  It feels like time is going by faster with our second baby, and although I know we have a lot of fun stages to look forward to, I want her to stay my little baby for a while longer.  She has been nicknamed Lucy Lu, Lulu, and Lu.  She is the sweetest, smiley baby and so far, is proving to be very different than her sister was as a baby.  Obviously, looks-wise she looks totally different than Ella, but her personality also seems to be very different.  From day one, Ella was our strong-willed, opinionated, fiery little girl which was often challenging with her as a baby.  In true second child nature, Lucy is calm, content, and easy going.  I'm so curious if that will be her personality when she's older.  My favorite thing in the last month has been Lucy's huge smiles...anyone who makes eye contact with her and smiles is guaranteed to get a big, goofy smile back!

Lucy has made life easy for us as we've transitioned to a family of four by eating great, sleeping great, and pooping great.  What else could we ask for with a new baby?  Like any baby, she has her fussy moments, but is fairly easy to calm down. She usually fusses when she's tired, cries loudly when she's hungry, and screams/squeals when she needs to burp.  But other than that she's pretty happy.  At night, she's been giving us the gift of a 7-9 hour stretch since about 5 weeks old - one of the awesome benefits of having a big baby :).  I feed her before we head to bed around 10 or 11pm and it's usually a guarantee we can put her down and know we'll get a good chunk of sleep as she'll sleep until 5-7am.  She'll then wake up and eat and then go back to sleep for a few more hours.  With Ella, I had major anxiety around bedtime for the first few months because we never knew what we were going to get each night! We're yet to experience one of those stressful "up all night" nights with Lucy.

Another difference between the two girls, Lucy is a spit up queen.  Ella rarely ever spit up and hardly needed to burp after eating.  Lucy spits up and burps pretty much after every feeding.  We're talking soak-her-clothes (and usually my clothes, her blanket, and/or the carseat too) spit up.  At least it doesn't seem to phase her.  I'm learning to pack multiple changes of clothes for her in the diaper bag (as well as a clean shirt for me!).  I've accepted that this is the phase in life with a baby where everything just feels wet all the time and I'm doing lots of laundry. 

Lucy is also great at going along with Ella's schedule.  We usually do some sort of outing in the morning (errands, playdates, parks, storytime at the library, etc.) and Lucy takes a great morning nap in the ErgoBaby or carseat.  After lunch, I put Ella down for a nap, and can usually get Lucy to go down for a nap at the same time, so I get at least a few hours of calm and quiet in the afternoons.  Needless to say, Lucy fits right in with our family and I can't imagine our life without her!

 So far, it's looking like she'll have blue eyes!  I can't wait to see if she'll have curly hair or not...

Milk drunk...

 Clearly tummy time is exhausting and often turns into nap time...

 Love her big stretches in the morning after she's out of her swaddle...

 Love the little noises she's starting to make...

I also wanted to add a few things about what Ella has been up to lately so I don't forget this fun age she is at at 2 years, 9 months old.  We've realized that she is way more independent than we were allowing her to be pre-Lucy.  She is fully able to go potty by herself on the regular toilet as long as she has a step stool to help climb up.  There have been many times where I've been home with the girls and I've been stuck on the couch feeding Lucy while Ella has to go potty so thankfully she is able to do it all by herself.  We've also realized she can buckle herself into her carseat after she gets in the car (of course we always check it and tighten it), but it saves time and makes life easier trying to load two kiddos into the car at the same time.  She is such a helper at doing chores around the house and loves being given "jobs" like throwing a diaper away, vacuuming, or helping unload the dishwasher.

Ella is also still in full on "princess" mode.  She is a different princess every day and wears one of her princess dresses around the house 90% of the time we're at home.  We have to pry them off of her when we leave the house, when she's eating, or to go to bed.  She cracks me up when I find her in her room with a princess dress on over a frilly tutu, a crown on, and holding her wand saying, "Bibbidy, bobbody, boo!" She insists that we call her Cinderella, Princess Aurora, Ariel, etc. and often refers to me as Mommy Cinderella.  My favorite thing is that she calls her dad Prince Charming.  All. The. Time.  It is so sweet.  I'll say something about daddy coming home in the evening, and she'll automatically change what I've said to, "Oh, Prince Charming will be home soon?"  She tells me that she is going to "wedding" Prince Charming and often sits on the stairs in one of her dresses waiting for him to come home so she can dance with him. 

She has embraced her role as "big sister" and continues to be such a good helper and so sweet with Lucy.  She tells me how much she loves her sister numerous times a day and smothers her with kisses and (too-tight) hugs.  She is my wonderful helper and never complains when I ask her to go get me a diaper for Lucy or throw one away.  She loves reading to Lucy and singing to her.  Ella is the first to shove a binky in Lucy's mouth when she starts to cry and loves rocking her or bouncing her in her rocker and bouncy chair.  I can't wait to see their relationship develop!

Ella has always been pretty cautious when it comes to physical things like running, climbing, playing on playgrounds, etc.  While she's always been pretty verbal, we've always joked that she's not as coordinated as other kids her age.  But recently she's surprised us with her ability and desire to jump, run, and climb.  Maybe there is hope for her becoming an athlete someday ;).  Check out the video below.

 Loving on her sister...

 

 Little princess...

My helper!

 

Love this girl's sense of style...

Our little climber...