14 Months Old // 1 Month Old

Changing Laney's diaper has finally become much easier. She doesn't kick, fight, or throw a tantrum on the changing table anymore. Instead, she calmly pages through one of her cardboard books and sings or talks to herself while she's being changed. I'm not sure what caused her to calm down and relax - maybe she just grew out of a phase? I'm a little relieved. It was becoming very challenging because she's a very strong little girl, and when she arches her back and kicks her legs around, it's can be difficult just attaching the clean diaper.

When she's playing or exploring, Delaney sometimes becomes very frustrated if we disrupt what she's doing. If we pull her away while she was trying crawl on top of her jumperoo, or if we pick her up to change her stinky diaper while she was in the middle of playing with her Fisher Price house, she gets very upset and has figured out one very interesting way to show it: head butting. She doesn't have another way to express her feelings yet, so if we pick her up and she gets upset, we've learned not to let her head get too close to our head/face. We've come up with a consistent response to her behavior, and we're hoping it works quickly. Right now, we're sternly saying "no head butting!" and making sure she understands that behavior is unacceptable…then we try to comfort her to let her know we understand that she's upset. She hasn't bitten me recently, but she has bitten Brad a few times in the past few weeks. We're working on that, too. She's a very strong-willed little lady!

So far, Laney has been a very sweet big sister and hasn't shown any signs of jealousy over Owen. She's interested in him, but she's more interested in her own toys and adventures. When I'm nursing him, she tries to crawl onto my lap (sometimes she tries to sit on Owen but doesn't realize she could hurt him). She snuggles with me and smiles at him, and then she tries to poke at his face. She usually tries poking his eyes or sticking her fingers in his mouth (I never let her get that close). She is enamored with him, and I wonder if she thinks he's a tiny living and moving doll. After a minute or two, her curiosity wanes and she climbs down to play with her toys again.

Trying to climb up on me as I was nursing Owen

Owen just showed us his first smile! Aunt Elizabeth, Uncle Danny, and James were visiting, and I was holding Owen in front of Aunt Elizabeth. She was smiling and making exaggerated facial expressions for him, and the corners of his mouth slowly turned upward. It was incredible! We've seen him smile in his sleep before, but this was his first, real, intentional smile. We were at the cabin the following weekend, and Brad was holding Owen as I was changing Laney's morning diaper. Owen started smiling at Brad with a huge grin and wouldn't stop! It was such an amazing moment.

Left: baby Delaney…Right: baby Owen

One of Owen's first smiles. I wasn't quick enough with my camera to get it in focus.

Ready to climb onto her exersaucer at the cabin.

Relaxing outside with Owen

 Laney had a tough time waking from her nap

Much happier!

She figured out how to unlock the iPhone & swipe through pictures. Quite proud of herself!

Papa got some big smiles from Owen!

(exhausted) Mama taking Owen for his first boat ride.

Nap time for the boys

13.5 Months Old // 2 Weeks Old

Laney has become quite the climber. She tries to climb onto absolutely everything, and she usually succeeds. We've been caught off guard to find her on top of things like this…

I used to put her into the exersaucer or jumperoo to keep her contained and occupied while I wasn't able to watch her - for example: when I take out the trash, run upstairs to grab something, etc. That doesn't work anymore, because she is fully capable of climbing into and out of everything on her own. We even witnessed her climbing into the exersaucer, getting one leg down through the leg hole and the other leg caught on top of the equipment, and she still jumped happily with just one leg. 

She has started soaking through her overnight diapers, and we're not sure what to do about it. We stopped giving her milk with dinner and we cut back on the amount of formula she gets in her bottle before bed, but she still wakes up with wet pajamas every morning. Our only solution is to double up her overnight diapers. She wears a size 4 diaper, and we strap on a size 5 diaper on top of it. She wakes up dry, so we'll keep this up until we figure something else out. Whatever works!

Laney loves making animal sounds! She knows that a monkey says "ooh ooh ah ah," a lion says "rawr," a snake says "ssssss," and a dog says "woof woof." Every morning after she wakes up, Brad sits in the living room with her and goes through her book of zoo animals. Sometimes she's so excited that she immediately says all of the animal sounds before he even opens the book. She has also been babbling a lot. Her favorite repetitive phrases are "numi-numi-numi" and "toupa-toupa-toupa." She says them over and over again, and I think she feels like she's having an actual conversation with us. 

Owen had his 2 week check-up on Aug 4th, and in a little more than a week, he has gained a pound and grown an inch! It's incredible! He weighed 8 lbs 5 oz and was 21.25 inches long. He started putting in longer stretches between nighttime feedings, which I appreciate so much. He can last 5-6 hours after his first night feeding on some nights. Whenever he sleeps longer stretches, he cluster feeds in the morning. He'll eat constantly from 7:00am until 11:00am, and then he slows down to eat every 2-3 hours.

 Our first family trip with all of the kids to the park near our house.

Taking everyone to the park is kind of a lot of work...

…but it's so worth it!

Laney is the spitting image of her papa!

The big guy

This swing didn't work with Laney because of her tummy troubles, but it has worked magic with Owen! He sleeps so well!

We brought Owen to our 2nd Anniversary dinner

Our 2nd Anniversary, and we have a lot to celebrate!

Owen's first trip to the cabin. Papa and Laney loved throwing sticks in the water for Cash!

Laney loves swinging on the hammock

Proud big sister!

I love these goofballs.

13 Months Old // 0-2 Weeks Old

One night, I noticed that as I was rocking Delaney to sleep, she grabbed a burp cloth that was hanging over the side of the rocking chair, tucked it under her arm, and nuzzled it to her chin. She was snuggling with it, and it was so darling the way she seemed to be comforted by it. So at 13 months old, Laney has started napping with what we're referring to as her snuggle bunny - a small pink blanket with a bunny head on one corner. Now that she has passed the 1-year mark, we feel comfortable with her sleeping with a soft toy in her crib. I figured that as she gets older, it might help comfort her as she falls asleep and if she wakes up in the middle of the night. So far, she's loving it! Every night when we hand it to her, she smiles and lets out a little giggle. If we forget to hand it to her, she looks over at it and reaches for it. She's only allowed to have it when she's in her crib, so it has become a special part of her nap time and bedtime routine. Sometimes as she's winding down in her crib, she'll stand up, hold the snuggle bunny over the side of her crib, and let go. She looks down at it lying on the floor and starts to whine when she realizes she can't pick it back up. We decided not to go into the room to give it back to her because we're hoping to avoid the game of "drop the bunny on the floor so mama and papa will come in and give it back to me." She's been dropping it out of the crib less and less. She's a quick learner.

Laney's love affair with the country singer Luke Bryan began when she was just a few weeks old. If we were driving somewhere, she could be crying in her carseat and would immediately become silent if the song "Crash My Party" came on the radio. At first, I think we thought it was a fluke. But then as she was having another crying fit, Brad would play the song on his phone and she'd stop crying again. She would stare at Brad and excitedly kick her little feet into the air. To this day, she still loves all Luke Bryan songs. We use it to our advantage and play his songs in the car if she's having a meltdown during a long road trip. It works every time! Recently, there was a music awards show on TV and Luke Bryan was performing. Laney dropped everything she was doing, crawled over toward the TV, pulled herself up on the ottoman (it was in front of the TV to block her from playing with the cable box and cords), and stared at him. She was completely mesmerized! As soon as his performance was over, she got down on the floor and crawled back over to her toys. It was hysterical.

Laney's first molar just came in! Her gums were swollen for a long time as it pushed its way to the surface. Then one day she was playing tag with Brad, crawling around the ottoman in the living room and chasing him. She reached to pull herself up on the ottoman, slipped, and hit her mouth on the edge of it. At that moment, her molar finally broke through and her mouth filled with blood. I completely freaked out until I realized it was from her new tooth. She cried for about one minute and then forgot all about it. I'm still recovering…

Our little explorer finally stopped picking everything up off the floor and putting it into her mouth. Her Grandpa Gary taught her to hand over whatever she finds. Now she'll pick up crumbs/dog hair/etc, hold it in the air, wait for me to come over to her, and she'll gently place it in my hand. This is probably the best lesson she has learned thus far! It's so nice that I don't have to worry about her stuffing things in her mouth, AND she's helping me keep the floors really clean! (ha)

Owen has been an exceptional newborn. I've been spending the majority of the day and night in his room with him, feeding him and rocking him back to sleep. He's a very good eater and consistently eats every 2.5 - 3 hours. At this point, it's pretty easy to rock him back to sleep, with the small exception of a few nights that he wanted to stay awake around 2:00am. But aside from that, he'll sleep through all noise and doesn't wake up to bright light. Although it can be exhausting to function on such little sleep, I forgot how simple it is to take care of a newborn. 

At Owen's checkup with Dr Moriarty the day after we got home from the hospital (4 days after he was born), he was 7 lbs 6 oz and 20.5" long. It can take up to 2 weeks for a newborn to return to their birth weight, but he was already 2 oz heavier than his birth weight! He was also 1 inch longer than his birth length! The nurse said it could be because he wouldn't stretch his legs out all the way when he was born, but it could be because he grew? 

He must've been a thumb sucker in my tummy, because he's been doing this since Day 1:

Owen + Noni

I love this little guy.

Papa loves taking Laney to the farmer's market on Saturday mornings:

Proud papa.

Laney's favorite activity these days? Playing with her high chair buckles:

Curious big sister hears her little brother crying:

This is the hilarious facial expression Laney makes when she's having a #2:

So full!

Delaney is up to the same old antics...

So interested in her baby brother:

Our first outing as a family of 4!

At the Hospital

Brad and I stayed in the hospital for 4 days while I recovered from the c-section and we got to know our little boy. He is so sweet, and he has been a very chill, relaxed baby right from the start. He has moments where he opens his eyes and quietly looks around, taking in everything. He likes to hold his little hands against his cheeks, and he must have been a thumb sucker in my tummy because he has an easy time putting his thumb or fingers in his mouth to soothe himself.

Noni and Grandpa Winchester brought Delaney to the hospital to meet Owen the day he was born. We were all so eager to see her reaction, and I had a brand new baby doll ready to give to her as a gift from Owen. The plan was to present her with her very own baby to hold and take care of whenever I was preoccupied with Owen. She got to the room and was so excited to see Brad & me, I don't think she even noticed I was holding Owen at first. Grandpa Gary put her on my bed and she crawled up to us, looked at Owen, and then saw my IV and immediately became more interested in the IV tubing than anything else. I held Owen closer to her, thinking that maybe she didn't see him, but she looked at him for 2 seconds and then turned to play with the TV remote controller. Apparently we didn't have to worry about her feeling jealous of the new baby, because she couldn't have been less interested. We gave her the baby doll, and she was thrilled with her new toy - success! She was mesmerized with its blinking eyes and little eyelashes, and she loves dragging it around with her as she crawls.

Delaney came back a couple more times during our hospital stay and eventually started to notice that mama was holding onto a real baby. The first time she acknowledged Owen, she looked at his face with a huge smile, said "Hiiiiiii," and meant to pat him on the head but accidentally slapped him in the face instead. We'll work on that… Fortunately, Owen was too sleepy to notice. 

I've thought of Laney as my itty bitty little baby since the day she was born. Then all of the sudden Owen arrived and it reminded me how small newborns really are. He was teeny! Laney came to visit and all I could think about was how huge she looked next to him! When did my little baby girl become a little toddler?? It felt like it happened overnight and I wasn't prepared for it. She's 20 lbs, starting to talk, and about to walk, and it all happened so fast! It's such an important reminder to me that no matter how crazy it gets with two little ones, I need to treasure every single moment with both of them because time flies by way too quickly. 

Before I left the hospital, I asked my OB, Dr Fok, when it would be okay to lift Delaney on my own. I knew I'd have my hands full with little Owen but I was eager to take care of Laney again as well. His first response was, very seriously, "You can lift her in 3 months. Until then, no lifting anything heavier than the baby." I was shocked and almost burst into tears. He must have noticed the look on my face because he then said, "At the very least, 8 weeks. But we'll have to see how you're doing at that point." I wasn't prepared for this news, and it was difficult to absorb. I realized that having a second c-section one year after the first c-section would be tough on my body and recovery wouldn't be easy, but I hadn't even considered that I wouldn't be able to pick up my little girl. Not only would this be difficult for me emotionally because I'm very attached to her, but it would also be challenging logistically. Brad would be gone during the week, and I can't take care of her if I can't lift her. I can't put her in her crib or take her out…I can't lift her on or off the changing table…I can't carry her up or down the stairs. If I can't do any of those things for at least 8 weeks, I can't watch her on my own while I'm at home. What a disappointment. Fortunately, I have the most incredible in-laws in the entire world. Noni and Grandpa Winchester stepped forward and offered to take care of her whenever we needed until I'm able to take over again. How on earth did I get so lucky?? Laney absolutely loves her Noni and Grandpa and feels very comfortable with them, so it was such a relief to know that she'd spend weekdays in their loving and capable hands! Not only was it a relief to know that she would be happy and well taken care of, but it was also nice to know that I would have some time alone with Owen to bond with him.

Our first family photo

Our hospital had the BEST chocolate milkshakes. We had at least one everyday. They were so good, they deserved their own photo.

 Laney was so excited to see us!

Giving Laney her baby doll

Owen's first bath

Noni in her element

Proud papa

Showing Laney videos from when she was born

Ready to go home!

Home sweet home

Welcome, Owen Christopher Winchester!

On Sunday, July 20, 2014, we delivered our son! Owen Christopher Winchester was born at 8:57am and weighed in at 7 lbs 4 oz, 19.5 inches long.