I'm a BAD BLOGGER!!

Okay, what a BAD BLOGGER am I!  I haven't posted ANYTHING since before sweet baby Alexia "Lexi" Marie made her debut on May 22, 2010!!  And, she's nearly 7-months-old!  This may have to be a nutshell summary with BEST intentions to do better in the future!!!

Jonah:
Jonah started potty training about a month (or so) ago! We were blessed that daycare offered to train him "cold-turkey" in undies only, and within 2 weeks, he stopped having accidents altogether!  So far, we can even go out in public or to activities out of the home, and he is very consistent about telling us when he needs to go potty!  What a BLESSING to have him out of diapers!!  He was fully trained at 2-years and 2-months.

Jonah is so smart, and we've come to realize he is just truly gifted!  Every time I think he will eventually "even out" with the rest of his same-aged peers, he proves us wrong!  At 18-months, he could name his colors.  Before turning 2, he knew all of his basic shapes & colors, and was counting to 10.  He can now identify many letters of the alphabet.  His vocabulary continues to astound us, and now he's learning concepts that I don't think are typical of 2-year-olds, although I may be wrong.  He understands how to correctly use the words "yet" and "too" and he understands directional concepts, like over, under, and behind.  And, he understands when something is big versus little.  His daycare director shared a hilarious story one day.  She was wearing a shirt with 3 crosses on it.  Each cross was made of a different animal print: leopard, zebra, and giraffe print.  Rather than looking at the shirt and identifying that she had crosses on her shirt, Jonah looked at the shirt and pointed to each cross, saying, "Giraffe, Zebra, BIG Giraffe!" (he thought the leopard print was "small giraffe," I guess :)

Alexia (aka: Lexi):
I went into pre-term labor with Lexi at 32-weeks.  Thankfully, they were able to stop my contractions, and she made her debut on May 22, at 4:19am.  I went into labor that Friday evening.  Since I had been induced with Jonah, I kept expecting my contractions to get much stronger, but I finally decided I'd better get to the hospital.  Since I wasn't totally convinced I was truly in labor, the hospital staff wasn't convinced either, but they believed me after hooking me up to a monitor.  Ha!

Lexi was born with a heart murmur.  Her pediatrician, Dr. Capra, explained to me that a heart murmur is very common in the first 24-hours or so, but he ordered an ekg and echocardiogram, just to be safe.  Well, the results indicated that she was born with several holes in her heart (called fenistrations).  Based on that information, we felt all the more blessed that the dr. had been able to stop my contractions when I went into pre-term labor.  As it was, the holes probably wouldn't cause much long-term concern, but if she'd been born prematurely, we would have been looking at a completely different story.  She had a cardiology check-up at 6-weeks, then 2-months later (at which time they said she was progressing exactly as expected, although she still had at least one hole in her ventricular wall (VSD) and one in her atrium), and again 4-months later.  That appointment was just on Dec 3, and we got the wonderful news that the only hole she has left is a tiny hole only 1/10", and she doesn't have to see the cardiologist again until she turns 3-years-old!

Lexi's a strong-willed little toot!  She was very colicky in the first few weeks of life, which was truly exhausting!  She was even WELL-KNOWN in the hospital as being very VOCAL!  LOL!  But, at 6-weeks, Dr. Padon put her on Prevacid for reflux, and she never once had another bout of the incessant hours-on-end crying that she had been having!!   She was also a tummy sleeper, which racked my nerves, because of the association with SIDS.  Up until about a week ago, she was still waking up 3 or 4 times per night sometimes!  We finally resorted desperately to making her "cry it out," which worked like a charm!  Now, she might still wake up twice a night, but she goes back to sleep within 10 minutes.

Because she slept on her tummy, she hit many of her gross motor milestones earlier than Jonah.  She rolled from tummy to back at 3-mos, back to tummy at 4-mos, and has been army crawling for about 3 weeks.  She's been sitting up independently since 11/18, and at her 6-month well check, she weighed 18 lbs 10 oz and was 27", placing her in the 95th & 90th percentiles, respectively (which is where she was at the 2 & 4 month checks, too!)  She's going to be a big girl! :)  She loves to babble, and she L-O-V-E-S her BROTHER!  Nobody can make her smile and giggle quite like Jonah! 

I used to think the most wonderful sound in the world was your child's laugh, but I've changed my mind.  Now, I think the most wonderful sound in the world is the sound of your children laughing at each other!






Lexi & Jonah "reading" together

 Jonah went through a short time where he was pretty jealous of Lexi, although he never acted out toward her too badly.  Now, he enjoys playing with her and looks out for her!  Some of my favorite moments, by far, are when Jonah "baby talks" to Lexi.  For instance, when I'm giving Lexi a bath, Jonah will come in the bathroom and squeak out to her, "Sista takin a BAAAATH?"  One day, I caught him teaching her all about the world :)  He'd point to various things, and tell her what they were (in that high pitched squeak that I hope I NEVER forget).  "See da fwowder? Dat's a fwowder!  Dat's pink!" and ending by pointing up at me, "See your Mama?? Dat's your Mama!"

Nap-time routine: watching a Baby Einstein video to wind down

For awhile now, Jonah has had a naptime routine, where he watches a show, while laying in the floor, in order to wind down before nap.  I was tickled one day when I lay Lexi in the floor on her boppy, and she and Jonah were both glued to their "show" on tv.

Jonah and Mama playing in the front yard for Halloween pics

Floored at how much Lexi looks like Jonah in this picture!

Lexi and Jonah are REALLY starting to favor each other.  I snapped this photo at dinner last night because Lexi's hair's getting lighter.  I was so surprised at just how MUCH she looks like Jonah in this picture!!  So CRAZY!!!