The Scifres Family: February 2015

Tuesday, February 3, 2015

Growing up too fast….5 months old.

I am trying so hard to just enjoy every moment this time around. I feel like I was so anxious for the next stage or the next milestone with Ava. With Harper I am just trying to enjoy it, the good, the bad, and the tired. This month has been an exhausting one. The 4 month regression is a beast, an evil beast, that takes away your sleep and leaves you with a crabby baby (and mommy) who does not sleep! The phrases I kept repeating to myself this past month were, " This to shall pass."I will sleep again." "This is only a phase."

5 month stats:
- 15.3 pounds!!
- Finally nursing about every 3 hours during the day and only one night wake up to nurse usually around 3 or 4 am. The fact that I get to sleep until 3 am is amazing compared to where we were a week ago.
- Talking up a storm! She babbles, coos, screeches (sounds like a dinosaur), and loves to giggle.
- Follows her sister wherever she goes. It. is. adorable. Ava is the only one that can make Harper giggle like crazy.
- Trying so hard to roll from back to tummy. She can get everything over except her shoulders.
- Getting better at sitting up. She can do it unassisted for a few seconds before she falls to the side or forward.
- Loves her activity mat, jumparoo, toys, and spinning in circles on the floor.
- Strongly dislikes the car. It has been this way since day 1, but I thought she would grow out of it. No such luck. She can be completely happy and content and as soon as we put her in the car she starts screaming. Still trying to figure out how to solve this problem, but in the meantime we aren't taking very long car rides.

Here are some pictures from this past month and Ava updates!! She is becoming such a big girl these days and continues to be such a wonderful big sister to Harper.

Ava started preschool at the beginning of January. She LOVES it!! She has a very sweet class. She goes on Tuesday and Thursday afternoons. I was very worried about how she would do skipping her nap on those days, but so far so good.

This is how we survived the 4 month regression. Lots of baby wearing…….

And cuddles…. I embraced it instead of fight it. She did a lot of sleeping on me this month and to be honest, although I was exhausted, I LOVED it!

These two just melt my heart.

Swinging with her sis

First time on the swings….she didn't hate it, but didn't love it. We will try again in a few weeks when she is more sturdy

Happy Birthday to this beautiful, spunky, kind, loving, little girl. We had a wonderful weekend celebrating her birthday. And in true kid birthday fashion it ended with a fever.

Just had to throw this in there because it's adorable.

We didn't do a party this year. Instead she had her buddy Asher over the night before her birthday.

I bought the fixings for pizza and these two made their own little pizzas. It was so much fun!

Cookie cake for the birthday girl

Yum yum!!

Ava requested to go to the Aquarium on her actual birthday so that is exactly what we did.

She still loves the pretend penguins more than the real ones.

She will always be the one who made me a mommy. And I will forever get emotional and nostalgic on her birthday.

Stories with daddy. Their favorite part of bedtime.

Steve and I FINALLY had a date night this month. First one since Harper was born.

This is what she sleeps in now. It is called the "Baby Merlin Magic Sleep Suit"

Finally I can take both girls to the park. Harper loves laying on her blanket and watching her sister play.

5 month photo shoot

Love that adorable face

The smiles melts my heart.

Ava got her first hair cut this month too! We weren't going to do it since we have decided we are going to grow it out until we can donate at least 7 inches to locks of love, but it was getting unmanageable so we stopped in for a quick trim so it would be a little bit easier to take care of while we grow it out.

She did so well! The hairdresser was very impressed with her stillness and patience. It had a lot to do with the fact that they had Mickey Mouse on the TV right in front of her.

All done and happy to have that crazy hair out of her face.

Anna came to visit us. We celebrate a belated birthday for Ava and an early birthday for Anna.

Ran my first 10K on Superbowl Sunday. 6.2 miles in 51 minutes, not too bad!! Running with the double stroller has helped make me faster when I get to run alone. My friend ran the race with her jogging stroller, but I opted to do it alone.

Ava at My Gym. She is now in the advanced class where I stay in the waiting area. Harper and I have fun watching her from the sidelines. I am amazed at how good of a listener she is!

Hanging with her buddy Ben.

4 months old…..way behind in blogging

4 months came and went, just like that! Maybe it was the craziness of the holidays, the fact that we had multiple illnesses move through our family, or the lack of sleep, or all of the above, but the 4th month by far was the quickest yet!

Here is a quick recap of Harper's 4th month (and a little about the rest of us too):

- 14.1 pounds. She is maintaining about a 1 pound weight gain each month. 24 1/4 in length. 50th percentile for both.
- Rolled tummy to back (She did it a ton for about a week and now goes nuts when we try to place her on her tummy)
- Firsts this month: Christmas, airplane ride, trip to Chicago, illness, and meeting her Great Grandparents, great aunts, and great uncles.

Ava got sick about a week before Christmas and it lingered for about 10 days, which put a damper on our before Christmas plans. Although we were bummed to miss Christmas parties, trips to see Santa, and seeing friends, we were happy to stay indoors and shower Ava with lots of love and fluids. She had a bronchial virus that wouldn't budge and ended up being pretty tough on her little lungs. Our new pediatrician is amazing and monitored her very closely and gave us the right meds to help her feel better. We had a wonderful Christmas with Aunt Sandy, Uncle Jake, Grandma, and Grandpa Scifres. Even though she was under the weather, she still enjoyed all the magic of Christmas. Luckily, we were still able to head out to Chicago the day after Christmas. We spent a wonderful 10 days visiting Mimi and Papa. Harper and I both got sick while we were there. Harper was back to normal in a couple of days (thanks to the liquid gold she drinks) and I was happy to have extra help with the little ones while I was under the weather. Sorry to the family members who caught the plague that we brought over (Mimi, Auntie Beth, and G-Pa). We normally are really good about NOT spreading our germs, but didn't contain it as well this time around.

Here are a few pictures from December.

Christmas Eve morning did not start off as well as we had hoped. Poor thing was so uncomfortable. Mornings were the worst for her. Breathing was very labored in the morning, but once we got a breathing treatment done she would start to turn a corner. Too bad each treatment was a huge battle! We finally agreed on her animals getting treatments first and then she would do one.

Christmas Eve dinner!!

Christmas morning. When she woke up she didn't even want to see if Santa came. :(
After the treatment it was all smiles!

Opening presents with her sister.

Harper was more into watching her sister than her presents.

New Bath toys were a big hit.

Nap with my girls on Christmas Day at the Scifres household

Harper and Auntie Sandy. Harper can't wait for her cousin to be here in June!!

We won the lotto with this one. Loves to travel and does so well with it!

Anna's sister let us borrow a bouncy seat for Harper. This seat was a lifesaver the entire trip. Most nights this is all she slept in (for the 2 hours a night she would sleep).

Stories with Papa

Harper meeting her Great-Grandma Joyce. We are so happy that Grandma is home and doing very well since her hip surgery before Christmas.

Cookie decorating with Papa

We spent a day in the city visiting my friends. It was wonderful and made me miss them sooo much!! Meeting baby Ethan who is absolutely adorable!!

Dinner at our favorite sushi spot with Kearston and Ryan.

Harper was a bit challenging while we were in Chicago. Between being sick and being in a new place she didn't sleep all that well. Papa had the magic touch and knew how to get her to fall asleep.