Life, Really Blog

Annabelle was 4 months old on Monday!



She doesn’t have her 4-month well-baby checkup until August 11 so I won’t know her measurements until then. But I can say that she has adorable, chunky thighs!

Annabelle is such a good sport. She is so easygoing and happy just to take it all in.

This past month, she has gone swimming at the beach 4 times and in the pool once. I had almost returned a little swimsuit we got for her as a gift, thinking we would never use it before she’d outgrow it, but I was wrong! Annabelle has gone swimming more in her first 4 months than Emma did her first 2 years. But we are living in the Land of 10,000 Lakes now — swimming is just what you do in the summer!


Each time Annabelle went swimming at the beach, I changed her from her swimsuit back into warm, dry clothes and set her down in her carseat — and she just drifted off to sleep on her own! That should tell you what an easy baby she is. The complete opposite of Emma.

I had no intention of putting Annabelle on a schedule, but she kind of did it herself! Here’s her general schedule/routine:

6:30 — Wake up and nurse

7:00 — Back to sleep

7:45 — Wake up, hang out in the Rock n Play while Big Sis and Mommy eat breakfast

8:00 — Nurse

8:30 — Play on playmat while Mommy gets herself and Big Sis ready for the day

9:30 — Naptime, either in the swing or carseat if we’re going somewhere

11:00 — Wake up and nurse

11:30 — Hang out, Mommy and Sis eat lunch around 12/12:30

1:30 — Nurse in Emma’s room while Mommy tries to get her down for a nap

2:00 — Down for afternoon nap

5:00 — Wake up and nurse

5:30 — Play in bouncy seat or on playmat while Mommy makes dinner; Hang out in Rock n Play while family eats dinner

7:00 — Down for a short nap, sometimes just in the Baby Bjorn while we play outside

7:30 — Wake up; Play a little before getting ready for bed (which usually just consists of changing her diaper, putting on pajamas and wrapping her in the same swaddle she uses for naps)

8:00 — Nurse

8:30 — Bedtime!

This is a very general schedule, and since Annabelle is so agreeable, we push her naptimes and feedings around a little depending on what we’re doing. I often nurse her until she’s sleepy, then quickly swaddle her and put her down. She still loves the Baby Bjorn, so if we’re out and about during her naptime, I can just put her in there and she looks around for a while before falling asleep. We’re planning to buy an Ergobaby or Boba carrier soon, since the Bjorn is killing my shoulders now that Annabelle is heavier! I know we’ll get a ton of use out of it — just hesitant to spend the $150.


Besides swimming, this past month Annabelle has:

* Gone on a hike with Mommy and Daddy in Crow Wing State Park (no Emma)

* Gone garage sale-ing for her second time

* Watched Mommy and Daddy eat dinner outside on the patio at Jake’s

* Started grabbing for toys with her hands a lot more

Tags: 4 months, Annabelle, baby

Annabelle was exactly 3 months yesterday (she was 13 weeks last Friday though).

She is still such a delightful baby! Annabelle has really redeemed the whole newborn experience for us. I am able to enjoy her so much more than I enjoyed Emma at this age. That sounds horrible but I was just so far at my wit’s end with Emma that I couldn’t help but be ready for her to get older — and easier.

Miss Annabelle on the other hand is so easygoing and happy. She doesn’t cry over much — mostly just when she’s hungry, though she does get a little fussy when she’s tired. She still loves the Baby Bjorn but she has slept for several longer naps in her swing this past week, which I really appreciate! It is so much harder doing dishes, laundry and tidying up when you have a baby strapped to your chest!

Me holding Annabelle and a friend’s baby while she made lunch

I can usually swaddle Annabelle in a blanket, put her in the swing, turn it on and she’s asleep in 5-10 minutes. She also likes to be held vertical on our chests, or lying in our arms if she’s swaddled, but she seems to sleep best either in the Bjorn or swing. The other night, we went out to eat and even though Annabelle was awake when we got there, she fell asleep in her carseat and slept until it was time to go. What a champ!

At night, Annabelle usually sleeps from around 9:30 pm to 6:30 am. My new morning routine is reading the Bible on my phone while nursing Annabelle. She goes back to sleep for an hour or 2 but I stay up and exercise (or take care of Emma if she woke up early). Having some time to myself each morning makes a surprising difference in my attitude. Plus, it’s a great feeling having my workout done by 8 am!

Annabelle is still nursing well — we’ve hit our nursing stride, I guess you could say. She nurses about every 3 hours during the day. In the evening, she often nurses more frequently for comfort. She’s doesn’t like a pacifier and so far, has only taken a bottle once. We’re going to keep working on it, but maybe she’ll go straight to a sippy cup?

Despite all the ways that Annabelle is the opposite of Emma (hence her nickname “Anti-bisk” — we call Emma “Bisky” short for “Biscuit”), she has Emma’s smile and sunny disposition. Annabelle smiles often and wide when she sees us. What a cutie!

Her hair elicits comments from anyone and everyone. It is a thing to behold.

Things that Annabelle has done the past month are going to the beach twice, spending a week down in Rochester (and meeting uncle Brian), hanging out in our living room fort, having her two first major poop blowouts, getting her first tick pulled off her, finding her hands (yay!), and taking a bath with Big Sister (mommy held her). So much fun!

Annabelle doesn’t have her next checkup until 4 months but as of right now, she is on the verge of moving on to size 3 diapers, wearing some 6-month clothes but mostly 3 month, and rocking the cloth diapers when we’re hanging at home. Yep, I’m doing cloth again. Mostly because I have them,  and why not? They’re really not that much work while she’s exclusively breastfed and it saves on disposable diapers. Not sure what I’m going to do when she starts eating solid foods but I’ll cross that bridge when I come to it.

And that’s Annabelle at 3 months!

Tags: 3 months, Annabelle, baby

I’m a little late on this post (Annabelle is actually over 9 weeks now), but Annabelle just had her 2-month well-baby checkup this past Friday. She now weighs 12 lb 9 oz  (77%) and is 22.5 inches long (53%) — meaning she gained 3 lbs and grew 2 inches in just the past month! Her head circumference is 15.6 inches (85%).

Annabelle is still such a sweet baby. She has started to smile and coo this past month.

She also really enjoys watching the blinking musical smiley face on her playmat and batting at the hanging toys. Emma likes to keep Annabelle company.

Annabelle doesn’t cry very much and when she does, it’s a pretty quiet cry. It’s actually quite cute. The only time she really gets worked up is when she’s hungry. She doesn’t take a pacifier at all, so in the evenings, I sometimes end up nursing her every 1-2 hours. But once she’s satisfied, she’s very easy to get to sleep. We just swaddle and bounce her a little, and she’s out for 5-6 hours (her longest stretch between feedings).

On the nights that I’ve had to put both Emma and Annabelle to bed by myself (thankfully just a few so far), I have nursed Annabelle, swaddled her, put her in her swing with the vibration on, and she falls asleep on her own. If she doesn’t fall asleep in her swing, she’s almost always content for 15-20 minutes to just sit there, looking around. What a difference from Emma as a baby!

Speaking of being alone, this past Thursday was my first night with both Emma and Annabelle, and no Travis (he was out of town on a work trip). I survived, though it wasn’t pretty. Emma woke up at 3:30 (I think because she’s getting another one of her 2-year molars) and I rocked her back to sleep quickly but when I went to put her down at 4, she woke up and started freaking out. I was worried about not hearing Annabelle cry (we run a fan in Emma’s room at night) so I set up the monitor in Annabelle’s room (our other one pooped out again). Emma was pretty worked up at that point so it took her over an hour to settle down — at which point Annabelle woke up to nurse. I knew Emma would freak out again if I put her in her crib so I just brought both girls to my bed and Emma played while I nursed Annabelle. Around 5:15, I put Annabelle back down and started rocking Emma back to sleep. I put her down around 6:15 and went back to bed until both girls woke up around 7:30. Whew! I was very happy that Travis got home that night. Though the unfortunate part about Emma teething is that generally speaking, she only wants Mommy during the night. If Travis tries to take a shift, Emma freaks out — like, full-blown tantrum. That’s not good for anyone. Sooooo ready for teething to be over for Emma!

During the day, Annabelle spends a decent amount of time in the Baby Bjorn. She does sleep in her swing also, but she definitely sleeps longer in the carrier. I usually put her in the carrier while we’re outside or doing things that are easy to have her strapped to me so that I can put her down for the things that it’s nice to be sans baby (things that involve a lot of moving around and/or bending down/over). Annabelle is getting to the point of being too heavy to have in the Bjorn for long, so I’m looking into buying a more ergonomic baby carrier. Any recommendations are appreciated!

In the next 3 weeks or so, we’re going to start transitioning Annabelle from sleeping in her swing to sleeping in the pack n play (Emma still uses the crib). And then we’re going to tackle transitioning Emma to a toddler bed! We’re also starting to dabble in potty training Emma, though I can already tell that it’s going to be a bigger commitment than I’m ready for — or can handle well while nursing. I’ve cleaned up enough pee off carpet with the dogs that I don’t want to deal with it at all with a toddler! So I’m hoping that there will be 4-5 consecutive days warm enough for Emma to be outside all day with no diaper or just undies. That would give us at least a jump start on potty training with no mess. 😉

When Annabelle was 7 weeks, we had her newborn pictures taken. We were also going to have family photos taken that day but Travis woke up with pink eye. So we postponed the family photos until this coming Tuesday. Here are a few sneak peeks for Annabelle’s pictures. I’ll post the others when we have them.

I love how they turned out! I’ve never really liked newborn pictures where you pose them in pots or buckets — until it was my baby. 😉

Other things that Annabelle did this past month were to journey down to Rochester to visit my parents (Travis and Emma stayed home). It was nice to have adult conversations and not be interrupted 100 times! We spent our whole visit at the hospital too (except for sleeping at night), which wouldn’t have been possible if Emma had come. It was Travis’ first time taking care of Emma overnight on his own and it went well! He really enjoyed the one-on-one time with Emma.

Annabelle also journeyed up to Namakan Lake in Voyageurs National Park (near the Boundary Waters, across the bourder from Canada) to Travis’ parents’ cabin for Memorial Day weekend. The journey involved 4 hours in the car (in middle-of-nowhere northern Minnesota) and a 45-minute boat ride (her first!) — and that’s just one way. But it went much better than we anticipated! I’ll do a separate post about that weekend…. soon (ish).

And just for fun, here’s a comparison of Emma and Annabelle after a bath around 2-3 weeks old:

I think they definitely look like sisters!

Tags: 2 months, Annabelle, baby