9 months

I can't believe this is Ilyana's last single digit month! What happened to my snuggly little newborn? This past month Ilyana has really taken off developmentally. She has finally started doing more of a "traditional" crawl but wasn't content with that for long. She also has started pulling up to stand on everything possible, walking around with her activity walker, and even cruising holding onto furniture. It won't be long before she is walking! This month, she also had a burst of language development and can now say "mama", "dada", "hi", and "bye-bye" along with many other new sounds. It is such a joy to hear her chattering to herself throughout the day. Ilyana also experienced her first snowfall yesterday and today. She really enjoyed watching it fall and when we brought some inside for her to play with she really enjoyed eating it. This month also brought with it 2 teeth and some major separation anxiety. Separation anxiety is common at this age however Ilyana seems to be on the more extreme end of the spectrum currently. The best way to interact with Ilyana right now is to be respectful of her space bubble and talk and play with her while mommy or daddy are holding her, letting her lead the amount of interaction taking place. Although this can definitely be frustrating at times, we are very thankful that, so far, the separation anxiety hasn't had much of an effect on her sleeping habits. She is a rock star sleeper! She also is a rock star eater! This girl just loves to eat! She has said good-bye to purees and loves to feed herself. She will eat most anything we give her but especially likes meat, corn, strawberries, and blueberries. We're excited to see what she thinks of the thanksgiving turkey! We're really looking forward to celebrating the holiday season with our sweet girl!

Ilyana loves: Mommy and Daddy, bath time, drumming (this makes daddy very happy), chasing Nala, standing and walking, electronics, super why, her bunny, eating.

Ilyana doesn't like: people in her space bubble, mommy or daddy leaving, being told "no", being out of her normal routine.

8 months!

Ilyana is now 8 months old! She is getting so big so fast! She can sit, army crawl, and has even started pulling up on furniture to stand. She loves to play with her toys, explore the house (especially under the table), and eat. She's been eating most everything that we eat and loves being able to feed herself. Her personality is really starting to shine through, she's smart, silly, curious, obedient, introverted, and a home-body. She recently transitioned to only 2 naps a day, it's nice to have a little extra time in between naps to run errands and play with my sweet girl.

Ilyana loves: eating, playing, exploring the house, mommy and daddy, bath time, nala, "talking" to herself in the mirror, her bunny.

Ilyana doesn't like: being held by people other than mommy and daddy, getting out of the bath, going through a car wash, not being at home for long periods of time.

Ilyana weighs: about 15 lbs.

It's a... Boy!

Today we found out that Player4 is a boy! We are so excited to meet Mr. Ryker Paul! Originally we were scheduled to go in to the doctor for our anatomy scan next Friday, however after experiencing some cramping this week the doctor decided to have us come in a week early just to make sure everything was ok. Praise God, everything turned out to be just fine! Ryker's right kidney was slightly dilated (4.4 mm with 4.2 mm being 'normal'), however the doctor was not too concerned. We'll have another ultrasound in a month or two to check it again, however it's more than likely nothing to be worried about. We are so glad to have a happy and healthy little boy on the way! We've been having so much fun feeling Ryker kick over the past few weeks. He definitely is an active little guy! Besides the cramping this week, I've been feeling pretty good. I've struggled over the past month or two with some severe migraines, however the doctor suggested daily neck rubs and it seem to be helping quite a bit. I won't complain (about the lack of migraines or the nightly neck massages)! We are definitely looking forward to March and introducing Ryker into our little family!

7 Months

All of a sudden our sweet little baby is 7 months old! When did she get this big?? Ilyana is growing bigger and stronger every day. This past week she has been working hard on learning to sit. She has figured out how to get in and out of a sitting position, now she just needs the core strength to hold herself up. It's amazing to see how much stronger she gets every day! She has fallen in to a good 3 nap routine and has been sleeping 7 pm - 7 am most nights, which is great! She continues to love playing with other babies and with toys that she can bite or are musical. She's also become really interested in eating, if we eat in front of her we had better be prepared to share (if it's something she can have of course)! Her (and daddy's) favorite part of the day is watching outside for daddy to get home from work, as soon as she sees him get out of his car a big smile spreads across her face and she tries to leap out of my arms to get to him. It's adorable! She's entered into a bit of a clingy phase where mommy (and usually daddy) are the only people who can hold her. I'm just enjoying the love while she's in this season though!

Ilyana loves: Mommy and Daddy, other babies/kids, scratching different surfaces, putting everything in her mouth, eating, being thrown in the air, chasing Nala around.

Ilyana doesn't like: being held by other people, being told 'no', laying still for diaper changes.

Weight 13.5 lbs

1 down, 2 to go

Today I got to hear Player4's heartbeat for the first time! It was a strong 158 bpm and the doctor found it right away (maybe player4 won't be as stubborn as miss Ilyana!). Player4 was also moving around a lot while the doctor was trying to listen, I suppose they have to keep up with big sister who doesn't want to stay still! I was sad to find out that my usual OB was out of town for a family emergency and it sounds like she won't be back for a while. I'm hoping to try out a doctor that a friend recommended at my next appointment and assuming I like her, stick with her until my doctor comes back. We are now (almost) done with the first trimester! I have been feeling pretty good lately, I usually have a day once every week or two where I feel pretty nauseated, but I can't complain too much, this has been a fairly easy pregnancy. Jake and I have narrowed down names, which has been fun, but we won't share officially until we've fully decided on both of them. As for Player4's gender, we've decided this time around to go team green and let it be a surprise at birth! I'm so excited to find out in this way, I really think it will be a very special experience! We're so excited to meet you, Player4!

Ilyana's half birthday!

It's hard to remember what  life was like without Ilyana but it's also hard to believe that she is already 6 months old! Ilyana is such a sweet, funny, curious, and joyful girl. She loves to scoot around exploring everything (especially things she's not allowed to play with like power cords, daddy's belt, and her favorite: plastic bags). She is constantly chasing Nala around the house and always gives her the biggest smile when she sees her. Nala definitely has her boundaries of how close Ilyana can get, but I think she secretly enjoys the attention. The other morning she even played with Ilyana, rolling a ball back and forth. Ilyana is working hard on learning to crawl, developing fine motor skills (like putting food in her mouth), and constantly adding new sounds to her vocabulary. We're also working on teaching her some baby sign language; we're currently working on: milk, eat, and all done. She tends to think that it's really funny. We've also been having a lot of fun exploring all sorts of new foods. This girl loves to eat! So far she has loved everything we have given her to try. I think her favorite has been a combination of apples, carrots, and parsnips. I couldn't get the next spoonful in her mouth fast enough with that one! Ilyana has been doing great with sleeping lately. She generally sleeps about 12 hours at night, sometimes waking up for one feeding, and she usually takes 3 naps a day. We are so lucky to have such a sweet, smart, and happy girl!

Ilyana likes: Other babies (she's going to be such a great big sister!), Nala, musical toys, food, anything that she can chew on, plastic cups, mommy and daddy, and the animals on her mesh crib liner.

Ilyana dislikes: having to sit still, having to be patient, being tired.

Ilyana weighs: 13 lbs.

Ilyana's height: 26"

Marzen Player 4

Life has been a bit crazy keeping up with Ilyana so I haven't had a chance to write this blog post until now, but Jake and I are excited to announce that we are expecting! We had been hoping to get pregnant again rather quickly after having Ilyana. Having siblings so close in age just sounds like so much fun! Our bold prayer had been that we would be pregnant again by mid-July. By the end of June I was starting to get discouraged about becoming pregnant again, I hadn't even got my period back so we had next to nothing to work with, timing-wise. I can remember on the night of June 30th lamenting to Jake about how discouraged I was feeling and praying together that something would happen soon. The next morning I woke up feeling nauseous and tired, I didn't even think about the possibility of being pregnant and just accounted it to fighting off some sort of bug. By mid-morning I was starting to feel better and that's when it started to dawn on me that maybe I was pregnant. I decided to take a test that afternoon. I knew how unlikely it was that we had gotten pregnant before my cycle had even returned. Most of the time the first few times a woman ovulates after pregnancy she's not actually fertile. Before testing I prayed for God to protect my heart and give me peace no matter what the results were. As it turns out, the test immediately turned positive! I couldn't believe my eyes! I ran downstairs and had little happy freak out with Ilyana and immediately called a close friend, I had to tell somebody! After celebrating the good news with a friend, I used a plain white onsie of Ilyana's and painted on "Big Sis". I texted Jake and told him that Ilyana and I had made a craft and asked if he would like to see it. He said "of course" and I sent him a picture, he was ecstatic and couldn't believe that it was true! To announce to family, we used the "Big Sis" onsie as well. Everyone was so excited! It was fun to watch the realization of what it meant wash over everyone's faces. On 7/13 I had a dating ultrasound and found out that Player4's due date is March 4th 2016. We were even able to see a little heartbeat on the ultrasound. We are so excited to meet our newest little family member!
So far, this pregnancy has been a bit of a roller coaster. I had about a week of miserable, unable to function, morning sickness. Since then, most days have been pretty manageable as long as I don't think too much about food. However there are still the occasional days that I feel horribly sick again. With Ilyana I definitely felt sick more consistently but didn't feel as horrible. Some other differences this pregnancy have been having a lot more heartburn and feeling a lot more exhausted (I was even taking care of 3 kids when I was pregnant with Ilyana!). Jake has been so wonderful with helping me out. I'm excited to continue to keep everyone updated on Player4!