Zoe Faith at 4 months

Little Zoe is doing well and continues to grow!  At her four month check up, she was 11 pounds, 5 ounces and 23.5 inches long.  She loves to be around people, and she especially enjoys it when Enoch plays with her.  At this point, she tracks toys well with her eyes and can grab them when they are within reach.  Zoe is quick to smile at people when she's engaged, and she laughs when tickled.  The big girls like to hold her in their laps and give her toys.  She's very adept at rolling both ways now, though she does still fuss sometimes if she feels like she can't get off her belly.  The only other time she usually fusses is when she is over-tired or lonely.  Also, Zoe's favorite two places to be are either: in my lap/on my hip, or in the floor with Enoch playing with her.  She just loves to laugh and squeal when he pays attention to her, and he honestly does a very good job of being gentle and fun when he engages her (which is so, so sweet for my mama heart to witness).

Eating & Sleeping:  We haven't started her on solids yet, and she is still nursing around 10 times per day (with 3 of those at night).  Her naps have settled down into a shortish morning one (45 min - 1.5 hours) and a long afternoon one that corresponds with the big girls nap (~ 2-3 hours, but sometimes she needs to nurse in the middle).  We put her to bed around 7:30 or 8:00 at night and she typically wakes up around 6:30 or 7:00 am (with a few night time nursing sessions in between).  When we put Zoe to bed, she typically nurses and then gets laid down either asleep or very groggy with a paci.  As you can see in the photo below, we also transitioned out of a swaddle blanket a few weeks ago, and now Zoe sleeps in a little sleep sack.

Hair & Skin Care:  Zoe loves taking baths, especially kicking in the water!  We are continuing to use coconut oil in her hair once per day after misting it with water and de-tangling it with a pick.  As long as I'm gentle and slow, she doesn't mind this process, and I just love seeing how her locks keep getting curlier (I always wanted a kiddo with curly hair!).  I also use the coconut oil on her skin anytime it looks dry.

Other Daily Life:  Zoe is regularly in some type of wrap.  The picture below was of her first time in the Ergo carrier, which I think she liked (she certainly took a good cat nap in there while I made lunch, anyway).  This is the only way I can make it to the grocery store or out to run errands, but she gets fussy/squirmy if I have to bend down and do something for a few minutes. (I also still use the ring sling with her quite a bit.)

Sometime during this fourth month Zoe learned how to insert her paci.  Now she technically can't always find it, but if she can get her hands on it, then she usually either chews on it or sucks it like normal.  Additionally, just this past week, Zoe definitely found her voice.  She has been babbling quietly for awhile now, but all of a sudden she has started talking louder, yelling some, and even shrieking (in excitement) sometimes.  This has been a harder transition for me than you might expect (given that we always have a loud/active house) because my mind is having to re-adjust to her new noises and discern which are happy noises (most of them) and which are "help me" cries.  It probably sounds crazy, but I really have had to take some time to get used to these new louder talks by reminding myself that she's not hurt or sad... she's just more excited these days.

Cloth diapers:  Now that we are well out of baby-bootcamp, I've also started using cloth diapers on Zoe.  I use a combination of prefolds with a snappi & cover as well as pocket diapers.  I usually use a disposable liner to catch solids, but since Zoe only poopies once every 5-7 days, I don't need them too often.  Cloth diapering does take a bit more work, but this has honestly been the easiest transition into cloth for me because the big girls are still going through a lot of underwear with their potty training. (I've been doing a load of cloth/underwear every other day.)  

Here are some more Zoe smiles:

her 4 month photos with her little lamb

(attempting to eat the blanket, ha!)

Baby girl loves her bumbo (it's a different brand technically) because she gets to be right in the action during meal times.

And a classic pic of Karis checking in on her (both big girls love to keep tabs on Zoe and tell me anytime she cries, goes to sleep, loses a toy, etc.).   :)

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Playing Baseball

The kids and I have been enjoying playing some baseball over the past week.  Enoch likes to spread out some cones in the yard as bases, and then each kid takes turns hitting the ball and running.  The girls never run all of the bases, but Enoch sure does!  This has been a really fun way to practice taking turns while getting some energy out.  :)

And this last picture is one of my favorite parts of our game... the kids all encourage each other so much.  It's hard to tell from the picture, but they're clapping and screaming, "whooo-hooo, Karis!!  Run, Run, Run!!  Good job!"  

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Karis Grace at 4 years old

Well, somehow Karis managed to sneak in another birthday this year, and she is now four years old!  Time sure does fly when you're having fun... and especially when your fun involves chasing two active little girls around!  Here is my run-down of everything Karis at this stage in her life...  

First of all, to go along with this introductory picture, Karis still loves to eat!  She enjoys fruits, most veggies (not a huge fan of broccoli or cauliflower), most meats (not a fan of roasts), and all desserts.  Karis is a fast eater, and she usually asks for more after she cleans her plate.  Because she eats fast, we also have to pay pretty close attention to her while she eats because over-stuffing is an issue that can lead to choking.  

 Karis typically eats all of her meat first (she had grilled chicken on her plate at the beginning of lunch) and then takes a little break before plunging into everything else (cucumber strips & cherry tomatoes made up the other half of this particular lunch).  Karis' basic meal schedule still includes two snacks (mid-morning and post-nap) as well as 2-3 cups of milk per day (with her meals) and some water with snacks. 

She can also independently feed herself most things with either a spoon or fork.  Sometimes if the food is difficult to spear with a fork, she will scoop with her fork, so there is still some room to improve, but it's been fun to watch her fine-tune these skills... and there certainly is incentive when you have a shake from Sonic!

 Potty training is still moving forward for both girls.  After Zoe joined our family, they both reverted for a few months and wouldn't do anything on the potty, but we've officially been diaper-less since July 21st (except at night and using cloth pull-ups for naps and at therapy).  This was a huge step for me (one that I'd been putting off), and I think I'd say it's going well overall.  We have little portable potty seats that we tote all over the house (and we even bring them in the van), and on a normal day we only have 4-6 accidents total.  Also, Karis has taken the plunge into both peeing and pooping on the potty, which is such a monumental step... Now we're just working on saying "I need to go to the potty!" when it's time.  I'll have to do a separate potty training post sometime, but suffice it to say that I do a lot of laundry these days, and we spend a lot of our time sitting on the potty.  :)  

Big girl underwear

 

Singing "Twinkle, twinkle little star" while on the potty

When it comes to playing and interacting with other kids, Karis generally loves to be included in the mix.  She enjoys playing with her siblings (though there are still some squabbles), and they get along best when they're doing something together like throwing balls, playing dress up, or even cleaning up a room.  Speaking of cleaning, Karis is quite the little helper with dusting, laundry, and carrying her dishes from the table. She is also pretty good at listening to instructions, but sometimes the stubborn toddler streak gets the best of her.  Karis' strongest love language at this point seems to be physical touch.  She enjoys giving kisses and hugs to everyone, and she's always willing to say "bye" and blow kisses, even to random people (unlike my other shy children).   

 reading at the table

 pretending to be a monkey while getting dressed (a random game we play)

 dressing up with Enoch

cooking lunch

checking on Zoe during a walk

 

playing "night, night" with Enoch

 telling me about something on our walk

Developmentally, Karis has grown a lot this past year.  She's so so close to running, doing better with stepping up and down, learning to watch for obstacles in her path (like water hoses), and falling much less often.  Karis has also come a long way with playing intentionally: she loves playing with her baby dolls, "cooking" in her kitchen, reading to her animals, and working puzzles.  Shes's still not crazy about coloring, but she is doing a better job holding crayons and making her vertical lines.  :)  Over the past few months Karis has added on quite a few new sounds, but my absolute favorite one is "mmm" because now she can say "mama" and she can make the "mmm" sound when she gives kisses.  She continues to use some sign language along with her words (all done, wait, stop), and she can say each of her siblings names well enough for them to understand ("Ena" is Enoch, "Dayda" is Alaythia, and ).  Additionally, I feel like when she is speaking in context, she's pretty understandable overall.  What I mean by this is that if she is talking to me about something we are doing (eating, reading, pottying, etc.) I can generally guess what she is asking for or telling me about.  But if she comes up to me out of the blue and wants to tell me about how her therapy went (or something else out of context), I have a hard time understanding her.  Speaking of therapy, Karis is still doing OT, PT, and ST (two sessions of ST per week).  Her therapists are all great about teaching me what they are doing with her and sending me home with ideas of how to continue working on her goals.

One of our neighbors helped me by sewing this onesie for Karis  because she no longer fits into most typical onesies (2T is the biggest you can usually find in the stores).  The reason we need onesies for Karis is that if she dirties her diaper/pull up during nap, she likes to play in it as soon as she wakes up... which gets pretty gross real quick!  So we always put her to bed in a onesie with some bermuda shorts.  :)

 Karis is also still in AFO braces.  I had a hard time finding shoes this time to work with them because they really need to tie (otherwise she just slips them off any chance she gets).  Thankfully, I found some at WalMart that I made a few changes to, and they've been working well.

Daddy gave Karis some pig tails a few months ago, and I thought they were too cute!  I usually just put her hair in a regular ponytail because Karis really dislikes having her hair brushed and fixed, but every once in awhile we fix it, and then (after she endures it) she likes to get up and spin and show everyone how pretty it is.  

And to end, here are a few birthday smiles.  We sure do love our Sweet Karis!!

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Summer Walks

Yes it is summer in the South, but we've still been walking quite a bit lately.  Here are a few memories:

 Our annual walk to see the fireworks with friends

 Walking around campus and enjoying the fountains!

 

Zoe chilling in the stroller

 And sleeping in a different stroller

 And showing off her smile

And an evening walk around the block

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