Happy Halloween

This year I decided to make the kids' costumes. Yes, me- the mom who works 40 hours a week and can hardly keep up with the laundry, grocery shopping and cleaning at home. Hudson's favorite movie right now is Gnomeo & Juliet, and I have always been partial to garden gnome costumes, so it seemed like the perfect idea! I figured the costumes would be pretty simple to make. So I hit up the fabric store, dusted off my sewing machine, and started cutting and stitching shapes without a pattern, hoping for the best! All in all, I am happy with the way they came out, and Hudson loves his costume so it was a success. But it was a bit more work than I expected. Next year, remind me to buy costumes.

6 months

It's hard to believe London is already 6 months old... halfway to a year old!

Here's what she's up to these days:

-wearing 9-12 month clothes

-sleeping 12 straight hours most nights 

-eating solids twice a day (about 6 oz each feeding)

-rolls over both ways

-starting to scoot

-has her two bottom teeth

-her hair is starting to grow back (poor girl lost some of that hair she was born with!)

-LOVES her brother

And just as expected...

...tooth #2 made its debut today! London now has her two bottom teeth and is back to sleeping her usual 12-13 hours at night (since Monday, when her first one broke through). We should hopefully have about 3 months before the next teeth show up.

First Tooth

Ladies and gentlemen... we have our first tooth! 

Luckily with baby #2, you have a better idea of what to expect... so over the last 3 weeks, when London was waking up anywhere from 2-5 times a night, I knew it was probably because of a tooth. Hudson went through the same thing at this age, and once his teeth popped through (within 2 days of each other) he started sleeping through the night again. London's tooth poked through yesterday, and last night she resumed her normal 13 hour sleep schedule (yay!). I'm hoping she is back on track now, but I am expecting that second tooth to come through any day.

Pumpkin Patch 2011

This was Hudson's 3rd year going to the Pumpkin Patch, and London's 1st time! The first year, Hudson just wanted to run around and look at everything.  Last year, Hudson was hesitant to go on the rides, but loved the bouncy house. This year he immediately went to the HUGE inflatable slide. We were shocked, but went with it... and after one time down the slide, I think he realized how tall that thing was and he was done.  Then he moved on to the little John Deere tractor ride... and after halfway around the track, he was also done. But then we moved on to the smaller inflatable slides, and he was in heaven. And of course, he has asked every day to go back to the Pumpkin Patch.

London was nice and comfy in the Ergo and took a little nap while her brother was busy jumping and sliding.  (Last year, she was nice and comfy in my belly, as I was 2 months pregnant!)

5 months

London is 5 months old today. She is rolling over (back to tummy), eating solids and just as cute as ever! What's not so cute? Her waking up 5 times a night... like last night. I'm not sure if she's teething or if the rolling is interfering with her sleep, but it's been pretty brutal the last few nights, last night being the worst. We have gotten used to her sleeping 7pm - 7:30am, so it's a hard adjustment. I'm hoping this is temporary so we can all sleep again soon! Until then.... coffee donations are accepted!

30

This weekend, Brandon took me out to celebrate my 30th birthday (which is this Thursday... still 29 for a few more days!). He wouldn't tell me where we were going, but he instructed me to buy a new dress and pair of heels. (Go shopping? Oh, darn.) As we walked outside to go, there was a limo out front! Then we stopped at our friends Doug & Monica's house to pick them up, popped some champagne, and we were off to Mastro's Ocean Club in Newport Beach. The food was incredible and we left with tons of leftovers... except for the butter cake, which was consumed entirely at the restaurant! After dinner we went back to Doug & Monica's for a midnight swim. Aside from moving a bit slowly yesterday, it was a great 30th birthday celebration and Brandon did a wonderful job planning and keeping it a secret!

Happy Girl : 20 weeks

London is at such a cute age, because her personality is beginning to show. For the most part, she is a very happy, easy-going girl... as long as she is fed. And the girl can eat. We've been doing solids for about 2 weeks, and she's had rice cereal, green beans, squash & carrots. She has liked everything and has eaten as much as 4 oz in one sitting, which I think is a lot? I never thought my girl would be bigger (and a bigger eater) than Hudson was, especially since she started out 2 pounds smaller!

London rolled over (back to tummy) for the first time on Friday. She has been so close for several weeks, but she finally made it over. I'm so glad she waited until a Friday so I could be home to see it for the first time! Now she needs to figure out how to go the other way.

Hudson is such a good big brother. He really is so sweet with her. He'll talk to her in a cute little voice and say things like, "London, I love you SO much!" or "London, you are so cute!" And London loves her brother as well. She always has a smile on her face when he is talking to her. I am so blessed to have 2 great kids. As chaotic as life can be at times (like Saturday night when Hudson woke up at 2am, puking for the next 6 hours), I am very lucky.

Cereal

We have ventured into the world of solid foods, starting with rice cereal.  It's been about a week and London is doing pretty well! Some of it actually stays in her mouth, contrary to what these photos show! Once she gets the hang of this, we will start with veggies.

Last weekend, London was super fussy. She was drooling like crazy, sucking on her hands (or anything she could find) and just not her usual, easy-going self. Sounds like teething to me... and this is around the time that Hudson started too. Luckily that only lasted a few days, and she was back to normal toward the middle of the week. Still no sign of teeth, but maybe they move in spurts? Anyway, she's still been sleeping through the night, and the last 2 nights I dropped the dreamfeed and she's slept over 12 hours each night!!

4 months