Howard Trio Plus One: May 2015

Sunday, May 31, 2015

Alexis Joy

In honor of Alexis, Jack, and Faith's upcoming second birthday, I have decided to write a separate blog post about each of them. I meticulously wrote in their baby books during their first year of life, but since then I haven't written in their books and all of my blog posts are about the three of them together. We are fortunate that Alexis, Jack, and Faith have been developing and meeting milestones at almost the same time (they just leapfrog with various milestones), so it is easy to write about them all together. But since our kids really are individuals, even though they were born within minutes of each other, I've decided to dedicate a blog post to each of them.

When Alexis was one week old, I wrote this in a blog post:

"Alexis: Your name means defender, and that certainly fits. You quickly earned the reputation of being a fighter in the NICU. You are very strong-willed and you have made it known that you would rather not wear the silly CPAP headgear. You have done a great job digesting all of your milk and you have quickly increased the quantity of milk you eat each feeding, and even when you pull off your CPAP mask your oxygen saturation is in the high 90's or 100%. A few days ago you got an IV in your right arm and you frequently use your IV arm board as a weapon to push our hands away when we are doing something that you don't enjoy, like taking your temperature. Everyone comments on your long, beautiful fingers. You are one tough baby and we love you so much!"

It is amazing how much we already knew about Alexis during her first week of life, even though she really should have still been growing inside my tummy, since she was born exactly two months before her due date. She continues to be very strong-willed and opinionated, and this seems to have intensified in the last couple of months as one of her most common phrases is, "no no no" (she always says "no" at least three times to get her point across). Overall Alexis enjoys eating snacks and meals, and she often asks for her "snack cup." She is also still very good at pushing us away when we are trying to do something she doesn't want, such as change her diaper or clothes, and sometimes when getting into the car seat as she doesn't want to be buckled in. Alexis is still very tough, and although she still seems to take quite a few falls when running and climbing, she rarely cries about it.

Here are some of Alexis' other traits at almost 2-years-old:

She is a Mommy's girl right now, and she pretty much always wants me over Micah (or anyone else). She was the first to say "Mama" consistently (and now "Mommy!") and I love hearing her sweet voice say that.
She loves to run, especially when she's pushing a ride-on toy, either inside or outside.
She loves to sing and she tries to sing along to many songs such the ABC's, Baa-Baa Black Sheep, and Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. She doesn't have all of the words to songs yet, but I'm sure that's not far off.
She is a bit demanding. When we are doing something she really likes, such as singing "Happy Birthday" with her name inserted or rocking her and singing "Rock a Bye Baby," she immediately says "again!" when we are finished. And if we don't respond right away she says, "again, again, again" over and over until we obey. She also says, "See, see, see" if there is something she wants to see, like a video on our phone.
Although she seemed to be really attached to her pacifier, since we got rid of them on May 10 she seems to have forgotten about it! She did ask for it occasionally in the weeks after we got rid of it, but I don't think she's said anything about it in over a week.
Lately she has started hitting Faith on the head. They do it back and forth and laugh about it, but we try to stop them since they'll soon realize it's not really fun to get hit.
She is getting close to being able to walk up the stairs without holding someone's hand.
She LOVES dirt. She rolls around in the dirt and rocks, and she throws dirt in other's hair.
She is very interested in bugs and often points them out to us by saying, "a buggy!"
She is a little timid around dogs (like her mommy), but we can tell that she really wants to not be afraid, possibly because she sees how excited and comfortable her siblings are with dogs.
She is super silly. Every time she sees Grandpa Snyder on FaceTime she waves her arms around and yells, which he does in return.
Lexi has figured out how to do a somersault, and she is successful at getting over correctly by herself about 75% of the time.
She loves to say "peak-a-boo" but she runs it all together so it comes out as "poo!"
Right now everything is "two." She seems to understand that this is a number, she says two when she is holding two objects, and she will respond with "two" when we ask how old she is, but she also randomly points at things and says "two, two, two."
She seems to watch her siblings and how they are doing something, and then she figures out her own way to do it as we can see that she wants to be her own person.
She tries to put her own pants and socks on all of the time, although she hasn't been very successful yet. She did put one sock on by herself a few days ago, so I'm guessing it will click soon and then she really won't want our help!
She is very concerned about messes and if there is a water spill or something else she sees, she will find a Norwex cloth and try to clean it up.

Here are Alexis' monthly photos from the day she was born until now:

Hours after she was born on 6/7/13

1 month

1+ month, and a little better view of her features and how tiny she was

2 months

3 months

4 months

5 months (smiling!!)

6 months

7 months

8 months

9 months

10 months

11 months

12 months

13 months

14 months

15 months

16 months

17 months

18 months

19 months

20 months

21 months

22 months

23 months

(almost) 24 months

When I look through these photos it's hard for me to pinpoint when she went from a baby to a toddler, but I guess that's because it's a gradual process. It's almost hard to believe that she is the same person as that tiny, fragile baby who lived in the hospital for the first 6 weeks and 2 days of her life. Life is an amazing journey and we are enjoying watching her become an adorable little girl. We look forward to the years to come with Alexis Joy!

Jack Micah

I am writing blog posts about each of our kids in honor of their upcoming 2nd birthday, so this post is dedicated to Jack.

When Jack was one week old, I wrote this in a blog post:

"Jack: You don't cry as much as your sisters and you are definitely a bit more relaxed than them. You are content just laying in your isolette even if you are awake. You are a good eater as, like your sister Alexis, you have quickly increased the quantity of milk you eat. Your favorite thing right now is your tiger blanket. Although you don't weigh much more than your sisters, you certainly have a bigger appearance as your fingers and toes are larger. You are strong and steady and we love you so much!"

In some ways this description of Jack is consistent with his personality now, but in other ways he has changed. Jack is generally the first awake from the afternoon nap and although I really enjoy being alone during nap time because it is my chance to work on things around the house, for the most part Jack is content entertaining himself or "helping" me with things. When his sisters are around, though, Jack is much more on edge and I think this is because there is always someone around trying to steal toys or get in his personal space. Unfortunately, when Jack gets frustrated with his sisters his first reaction seems to be to bite them. I can usually see when it's about to happen, but it's hard to stop him in the moment. I'm hoping the biting phase will end once Jack figures out he can tell his sisters "no."

Although he had the highest birth weight (by a few ounces), he is now smaller than both of his sisters by over 1/2 a pound and two inches. I'm sure this is due to him being a picky eater and it will all change once they hit their teenage years. Here are some of Jack's traits at almost 2-years-old:

Overall he is a mommy's boy, but if one of the grandmas are around he is a "grandma's boy."
These days he does seem to be a bit sensitive as he cries pretty easily and has a lot of mini tantrums, but I think this is just a phase.
He is really nice to his sisters and loves to randomly give them hugs and kisses.
He mimics everything we say.
He gets super silly and runs in circles laughing.
He loves to play with the water table.
He can spend hours looking at and sorting objects such as cards to a matching game or Micah's old "Boxcar Children" books that happen to be in his closet.
He is super curious and loves to inspect things and figure out how they work. One day he spent 20 minutes with a riding car flipped upside down and he kept spinning the wheels to figure out how they worked and looking at the axle.
He loves dogs.
He is fascinated by bikes, motorcycles, cars, trucks, buses, and other things that go.
He can be very focused and can spend a good chunk of time building towers or doing some other focused activity, as long as his sisters don't bother him.
He tends to be a very picky eater, and it's really hard to get him to try new things. Fruit is the only thing we are sure he will eat at every meal. He also seems to eat more at breakfast than lunch or dinner.
He loves his gummy vitamins and every day he walks up to the counter where we keep them and says "vitamin" or something similar to that word.
He enjoys singing and tries to sing along to the kid CD's that we play in the car. I love hearing his sweet voice "sing along" and someday he'll learn all of the words.
He loves to explore, especially when we are outdoors at climbing areas.
He is still sucking his thumb occasionally, even though we have tried to break the habit. We have been forgetting to put bandaids on his thumbs quite often at nap and bedtime, so most of the thumb sucking is our fault, but he has been great about not sucking it during the day.
He is generally the last awake in the morning and the first awake at nap time.

Here are photos of Jack from the day he was born through now:

A couple of hours after he was born on 6/7/13

A couple of weeks old