Two Months

Our sweet little one is 2 months old! 

Smiles!

What a beauty. 

This past weekend we spent Easter at my sister's house. Cousin Liam couldn't wait to hold Natalie. He's pretty great with her, too. 

Saturday morning we went on an Easter hunt at a local park. While the kids waited, they colored. 

While this one slept. It was a chilly morning, so Natalie was all bundled up. 

Time to get some eggs. Luke and Liam were both really focused on a specific goal....finding the one golden egg that was hidden. 

Luke was a little bummed he didn't get the golden egg. But, then he noticed he had a golden wrapped chocolate egg inside one of the plastic eggs from his basket. He couldn't believe it. He found the golden egg! Even though it wasn't the golden egg, he didn't know the difference. He was just so excited, we didn't let him know any different. 

Love my little goofy guy. 

Easter morning, the kids were happy to see the bunny visited. 

All kids got candy, the boys got a Wii game each, and the girls got Ana and Elsa dolls.

We dyed eggs together on Easter Sunday afternoon.

My other goofy guy. 

Natalie loved her dolls! 

And her chocolate bunny (the bunny box was appropriately labeled "Little Beauty"). 

An afternoon filled with Wii games

Cousin princesses

Wide eyed with Papa Green

Liam even made an egg just "for Natalie"

Little girl ready for girls' night out with Mommy and some friends at dinner. 

Now she's tracking things with her eyes...like the birdies that go around above her swing. 

Natalie had her 2 month check up. She's a healthy girl! 

Our baby girl had to get 3 shots. She was not happy about that! 

Her stats: 

Height: 22.75 inches, 60th percentile

Weight: 11 lbs, 4 oz, 46th percentile

Head: 39.4 cm, 81st percentile 

At 2 months, Natalie is very smiley, and she coos and squeals with joy. In fact, one night she squealed so joyfully that Luke said, "She said her first word!" When I asked him what her first word was, he said, "Oh!" He was genuinely so proud of her for speaking! 

The doctor confirmed that the little red spot on the right side of Natalie's head is a hemangioma. I already figured that out (thank you, Internet!), so I wasn't worried about it being harmful to her. It's basically just a birthmark-a collection of blood vessels under the skin that gather together and grow. It appeared at 4.5 weeks and looked like a little scratch under the skin. It gradually got darker red and puffed up. The doctor said by kindergarten, you probably won't even know it was ever there. For now, it's her sweet little spot that looks like she got kissed by a strawberry. 

Overall, Natalie is sleeping better and is more settled than she was from 4-7 weeks. The first four weeks were fairly easy to get her settled and sleeping, but the second four weeks she was pretty unsettled and didn't want to be set down at all. Not in her swing, on a blanket, or in the bouncy seat. Not. at. all. She is now able to take naps in her crib (but, it's a lot of work to get her to do that!). It requires turning on her white noise machine, then swaddling her just right, rocking her back and forth and bouncing, then, setting her in her sleep positioner so she's squeezed tight, then patting her bottom while she drifts off. She makes you really work to get her to nap! I gave up dairy for a while to try to see if she seemed less gassy and more settled. Since Luke had a milk protein allergy we discovered at a year, it seems likely that she may have the same issue. This seemed to help some, but now I'm adding dairy back into my diet to see if it was just her digestive system becoming more settled with being a bit older. I'm happy to give up dairy if it helps her, but if it's not making a difference, then I want my cheese back! It's certainly a game of trial and error with this one!  

So, how do our two kids compare? Well, it's fun to see how they are so alike and so different. Natalie looks so much like Luke did when she's asleep, but while awake her eyes are so different that she looks so different from him to me. She is just about exactly the same size he was at 2 months, and she's proving to be stubborn with going to sleep, just like he was as a baby and toddler. My heart swells every time I see him doting on her, and so far the most challenging part of having two kids is getting them in the car to go anywhere. By the time we get Natalie in the car seat with her diaper bag ready, Luke declares he doesn't want to go anywhere. Then, when we tell him he doesn't have a choice, his shoes decide to disappear. I can only imagine that it will get many times more difficult when Natalie's actually on the move. So, for now, we are in NO hurry to have her rolling or crawling around. We are loving our little ones so much, as always!