Burgess Central: February 2013

We had such a fun month with our new addition. The best part is that we spent the majority of it together. Doug had three weeks of paternity leave, so we had lots of time together as a family. We had lots of visitors to meet Miss Hailey, managed to sneak in a trip to St. Louis to see the Burgess clan, did lots of home projects, bought a new car to haul around our two pieces of precious cargo and countless snuggles with our family of four. What a wonderful month.

Jordan continues to be such a big helper and loves her new baby sister. She likes to give her a pacifier and usually says - "Don't cry Hailey". Unfortunately she usually jams it in there and doesn't take no for an answer even when Hailey isn't interested in a pacifier. We are learning about being gentle with the baby. She insists on holding Hailey multiple times a day which can be a bit nerve-wracking but they both seem to enjoy it (okay, mainly Jordan).

Hailey continues to gain weight - on her month birthday she weighed 8 lbs, 8 oz. She is a very efficient eater, which is very nice for her mom. She is still spitting up, nothing like the projectile that she was having the first week when I was overfeeding her little tummy.

Sleeping has been a bit different than her sister, but she is starting to get the hang of it. We have two feedings per night (around 1 and 4). For some reason, she has trouble getting to sleep after the 3:00/4:00 am feeding. She doesn't really cry - it's a fuss (more of a snort, really) which keeps her mom up for a while. My guess is that this is tummy related and it will get better quickly and most likely when I have the guts to move Hailey into her own room. Currently she is sleeping right by my bed where I hear every single little noise.

Hailey is awake a bit more during the day and is starting to smile. She loves to be warm - sleeping in front of the fire is her favorite place. Her neck continues to be so strong which makes tummy time really enjoyable. In fact, sometime she falls asleep on her belly which is her mom's favorite position, too.

Jordan continues to grow both in height and language. She is getting so tall - weighs right around 24 lbs and is talking more and more every single day. My mom sees her fairly often but last week noticed how much more she was talking within a span of five days. She tends to repeat herself at this stage and builds on her sentences.

Daddy fix the TV.

Daddy fix the TV in car.

Daddy fix the TV in Mommy's car.

Several months ago she learned the upper and lower case alphabet. Sometimes I still think it's so amazing that she already knows them. She even challenges herself and turns the letters around. (J upside down is a lowercase R, W and M, Z sidewise is an N). She has also mastered her colors although the word yellow is fairly unrecognizable. She can count to 17 - usually she repeats 17 a few times, ending it with a very definite "Seventeen!"

This month she starting to learn to say the ABC song - which is usually done before letter recognition for most kids. She skips a few strands of letters, but it's so much fun to hear her singing them. She is learning to share and take turns - which can be hard but she is getting so much better. Eating is still a sore spot for us (doesn't seem to bother her at all). She is still taking a late afternoon nap in her crib. Not always sleeping, we hear her upstairs talking or singing or kicking the sides of her bed.

The main thing I have learned this month is how different the two girls are as babies. I'm sure it's a good lesson to learn early - not to compare them and to get ready for how different they will continue to be. Although it seems obvious, I thought they would be more similar - both in looks and in behavior. It's going to be a fun challenge and I'm really looking forward to seeing them interact more and more. One of Jordan's favorite evening activities is laying next to Hailey on her activity mat.