Leah 18 Months Old

Weight: 24lb(70th percentile)

Height: 33in (81st percentile) 

Our little Leah is 18 months old!  I can’t believe how grown up she has gotten in the last few months, granted adding in a sibling has made her grow up pretty fast :)  Oh Leah, where do I even START to describe you?!  She is at such a fun and busy age right now, it is hard to keep up with her. 

Sleep:  She is a good sleeper for the most part.  Takes one nap during the day, usually around 11:30/12 and sleeps for a couple hours.  Then goes to bed around 7:30pm and is up for the morning around 7am-ish.  Although really every day is a little different, some days she gets up way early, then naps early, or naps twice, or goes to bed late, or will sleep in……you never really know what you are going to get.  

Eating: Oh thank goodness I have one good eater…..sorry Brie, it isn’t you.  Leah will eat just about anything.  I have noticed she isn’t much of a breakfast person though, she will drink her milk and maybe some fruit or bites of my breakfast, but isn’t interested in sitting in her chair and eating something.  She also isn’t really into carbs that much (crazy kid!!!) she would much rather have fruit, cheese, or meat before having carbs.  Which is hard for quick meals and snacks, I would love to just give her some crackers in a cup and send her on her way.  But she just ends up feeding them to Josie.  I usually have to put Josie outside or behind the gate when Leah is eating in her highchair, their relationship with food is ridiculous!  Leah loves feeding the dog, and the dog constantly begs from her.  So you are never really sure how much of her meal she ate and how much of it Josie ate.  I always say the best diet is sitting next to Leah, she will eat all your food!  Sometimes she is a bottomless pit!  We just recently stopped doing bottles in the morning and before bed time though, she just does cold milk in a sippy cup.  I have to push it on her though because she drinks way less milk now than when we did bottles.  

Pacifier:  She is OBSESSED with her pacifier still (plug, as we call it) and has a lovey (nigh-night) that she absolutely loves.  We have a little table with a drawer in the middle of our house, and that is where we keep all her plugs.  She will go to that drawer and grab one whenever she wants, and sometimes will swap out one that is in her mouth for a new one.  If you tell her to put her plugs away she will go put them away in the drawer.  Not something I am going to push getting rid of until closer to 2, and even then I think we will just make the rule it stays in the bed.  We’ll see.  Right now I kind of let her have free reign with them, but I’ll pop it out of her mouth and say “you don’t need that!” and put it away and she won’t care.  

Talking:  Just recently she is becoming more of a talker, she was a little late to game (well compared to Brie anyways).  She isn’t really to the point where she will try and say stuff you ask her to say, but she says new things all the time.  Still doing lots of “eh!” and pointing.  She does put a couple words together here and there, she will say “Hi baby”.  Some of her common words are:

• Baby “ba-beeeeee”
• More “Moe”
• Dada
• Mama
• Water “Wawa”
• Wow “Woooooow” 
• Num-num-num
• Dog “Hepff”  —> don’t ask….she used to say the sound a dog makes to say dog, but it was more like “haboof” and some how that turned to this, weird
• Nigh-night (her lovey)
• Plug “Plah” 
• Hi
• Bye

Activity: She is my active one!  Has ZERO interest in TV, won’t even sit for a minute.  She is a climber!  Climbs on the kitchen table, on the TV stand, out of her highchair…. Leah has also master climbing up our huge play-set out back, but is too nervous to go down the slide alone so she gets stuck up there!  She loves being outside, I let the girls go outside and play without me out there.  If I leave the door open to the front and back I can hear them, and I instruct Brie to stay with Leah.  They are really learning to play nice together, which is so precious for me to see! Leah does love to poke the bear though with Brie often times, she will do things she KNOWS will make Brie mad.  She does the same with me too, tries to get a rise out of me by doing something naughty and looking right at me! Little stinker! 

Play: Right now Leah’s favorite thing to play with is baby dolls.  She loves to hold them, wrap them up, and push the baby stroller.  It is so cute when she holds the baby and bounces up and down saying “shhhhh”.  She likes to look at books independently, but really has no interest in sitting and having one read to her.  She likes to talk on the pretend phones we have.  Coloring is another favorite, when I let her….which isn’t very often :) She also loves Josie, we have to remind her to pet her nice.  If she wants to get a rise out of us she will pull Josie’s fur, poor dog!  

I could go on and on describing my precious middle child, but I think that about covers the main highlights.  She is such a busy body!  We love our Lele SO much.  Alec always says “She is SO cute I could just eat her!”  

She isn't a huge smiler, so catching them on camera is rare!

Loves sitting at the counter like a big girl!

Trying to pick Caleb up....

Caleb 2 Months Old!

Weight: 11lb 3oz (20th percentile)

Height: 23.5in (69th percentile)

Caleb is already 2 months old!  These last 9 weeks have been an adjustment for sure, but I really feel like we are getting into a grove.  He is becoming more predictable and consistent with sleep (usually….) which helps a lot.  And I am adjusting to handling 3 little kids and all of their many needs!  

Having a more consistent sleep pattern at night has been the biggest help.  He goes down for the night anywhere from 9-11pm.  Lately I have been having a hard time getting him settled enough to go down, but once he is down he sleeps for about 5-6hrs.  Gets up and eats, and then back down for another 2-3hrs.  I am still trying to go to bed when he does in the evening, which means no kid free hours usually for me all day, but for right now this is what works best.  He is sleeping in our room, in a little bassinet that attaches to our pack n play.  One of these days I should try and have him sleep on the flat mattress of the pack n play, but I’m nervous he won’t sleep as well!  And I don’t want to rock the boat right now!

During the day Caleb eats every 2-3hrs.  His napping is really inconsistent.  Sometimes he does a long morning nap, other times a longer afternoon snooze, and sometimes no long nap at all during the day.  The days where he won’t do a long sleep stretch are very challenging, those are the days where I pack everyone up and we usually go walking somewhere because he likes being in the stroller or carrier.  

The sisters are very loving to him.  Leah loves to give him kisses and put his plug in his mouth.  I have to tell her “GENTLE” often times, but she is pretty good with him.  She loves to hold him too, which is super cute.  Brie also loves to give kisses and hold him, she mimics what we say to him a lot, really cute!  Sometimes if he is crying I have Brie go and sing him songs, she loves to do that, but if he continues to cry she says “Mom, it isn’t working!”  

He continues to take the Zantac (antacid medication) twice a day, which seems to help him.  I notice when I forget to give it.  I think I’ll give it another month and see how he does off of it.  He also has the baby acne going on!  Poor kid looks like a teenager :) 

Caleb has done great with taking a bottle and has been left with babysitters and Alec a few times now.  Big change (but not too big of a change…) coming next week I will be going back to work!  June 13 is my first shift back.  I figured I might as well go back before 12 weeks, just peel the bandaid off and get back to it!  With my new status as unit based resource, I am only required to work 8hrs in the pay period. So right now I have 2 shifts scheduled over a 2 week period.  I think we can all handle that :) I am anxious to get back, and looking forward to not being a hugely pregnant nurse!  I’ve enjoyed the time away from work, it was wonderful getting settled here at home over the last few weeks.  I’m thankful I don’t have to work very often, this will be the perfect amount to get me out of the house, using that part of my brain, and keeping up with my skill.  

He is definitely out of the newborn phase!  It is so fun to see him grow and continue to develop.  He is such a special part of our family! 

Caleb 1 Month

Caleb is now a month old!  The last few weeks have been a little bit of a blur; between visitors, getting out and enjoying the nice weather (when we get it…), a busy time at work for Alec, and just plain ol' adjusting to having 3 kids!  

Everyone asks me how it is going with 3, and I never really know how to answer that.  There are times where everyone is happy, there are times when everyone is crying/screaming, and sometimes we all just take turns during the day of who the unhappy one is.  Really, overall it is going well.  I have realized it is really challenging to leave the house with all of them; no such thing as ‘running to the grocery store quick’ anymore!  Between Leah’s nap time (which you do NOT miss or mess with!) and Caleb needing to eat often it is difficult to time up leaving when everyone is content/happy.  

If I am being honest, Caleb is not my easiest baby thus far…. (sorry buddy!).  He is just fussier than the girls were.  Nothing too crazy though; I’m just comparing him to his sisters :)  I just started him on a medication to help with reflux (Zantac) a couple days ago.  I think he was having silent reflux; he doesn’t spit up tons but seemed really uncomfortable and I could hear him swallow randomly especially when I would lay him flat.  The Zantac does seem to help and I can tell when it is wearing off and almost time for his next dose.  He has a really hard time when he is gassy too, really fussy until he toots or poops.  Hoping this fades away as his GI system continues to mature.  

He is becoming so much more alert recently, which is really fun!  He will look right at your face and track things.  He really likes to watch ceiling fans or look out the window.  He spends a lot of time on the kitchen table in his baby seat; I can angle him to look at us, out the slider, or at the ceiling fan.  I used to put him on the table because Leah couldn’t get at him…..well now she easily climbs up on the chairs and onto the table, so that has been a bit of a game changer.  Caleb has some baby acne, but not too terrible.  Depends on the lighting on how bad it looks, haha.  His favorite place to be is laying against my chest, it puts him into a trance!  No matter how fussy or upset he is, if I put him up against me he calms down.  

I’m not sure how big he is right now.  He took the full 2 weeks (and a few extra days) to get back to his birth weight. He is wearing 3mon clothes for the most part, although most are too long on him.  At his 4 day appointment he was 7lb 6oz, which is SO small to me compared to where the girls were!  He was slow to gain weight though because he was spitting up tons his first week and not nursing super great.  But we worked it all out and the spitting subsided with no interventions and he started gaining weight.  

He is eating every 2-3hrs.  At night he starts in the little bassinet attached to our pack n play; goes down anywhere from 9pm-11pm for his first stretch.  I always say a prayer that the first stretch is a good long one, and it is anywhere from 2.5-5hrs.  You never know what you are going to get!  After that first stretch of sleep I have a really hard time getting him back into his bed, so he just comes in bed with me.  This has been an adjustment, but I just keep saying it is survival.  Thankfully Alec, myself, and Caleb sleep ok with us all in bed together.  He just seems like he can’t settle into a deep sleep.  I don’t even know, I probably should push to get him back into his bed, but I’m so tired that this is working for right now.  I very rarely get a nap during the day, so whatever sleep I can get at night I’ll take! 

I am loving all the cute boy clothes!  It is so fun to be changing it up and shop for little boy outfits!  Although I have had to buy next to nothing as we have been given gifts and hand-me-downs.  Its fun to look though and buy him little dude outfits here and there :)  Alec and I love our little man so much! 

Caleb John

Caleb John DeLange

4/4/16   @3:50pm

8lb 2oz    21in

Caleb was born exactly 1 week before my due date (thank goodness!!)  Although I do think my due date that was determined by the 12wk ultrasound was wrong, I calculated I was due April 18 but was measuring big at 12wks so they moved me up a week.  So really I think he was almost 2 weeks early.  Which makes sense why he was only 8lb 2 oz!  I say only, but the nurses at the hospital kept saying that he was a good size baby.....that is TINY for us though! With Brie being 9lb 2oz and Leah 9lb 6oz, a small 8lb-er seemed miniature!  

Early Monday morning (4am) I realized I was having lots of contractions that were pretty uncomfortable and I wasn't sleeping through them.  I kept trying to get comfortable in bed and get some more sleep, but finally around 6am I got out of bed.  I was very doubtful this was the real thing, I thought I was just crampy and having random contractions (denial).  I tried to make the contractions go away; ate some cereal, drank a bunch of water, and got comfy on the couch to watch some TV.  I was kind of timing the contractions at this point, just looking at the clock.  They weren't very regular, anywhere from 3-15min apart.  Alec got up for work around 7am, checked in with me, I told him just to carry on like normal for right now and get ready for work.  The girls got up around 7:45am; at this point I was starting to realize they were all painful contractions and seemed to be getting closer together.  

Still in denial......I just told Alec he should maybe work from home for the time being and make sure this isn't the real thing.  He got the girls breakfast, and then headed downstairs to his desk to work.  I starting bustling about cleaning up, JUST in case this was the real thing.  Around 9am I got in the shower; during my shower they seemed like they were on top of each other contractions.  I told Alec to call his mom and just see if she was available for childcare today, she wasn't so I started thinking of other plans for the girls.  I called my brother and had him on standby.  My sister, who lives in Indiana, was planning to come Wednesday and stay for a few days.  She said she would just come now and if nothing happened oh well; so I felt way better knowing she was on her way and would be there in like 2.5hrs.  I decided at this point I was probably going to end up going to triage, but who knows if I would be sent home or not.  

Before calling the doctor I realized I really had not been timing contractions at all and had no idea how frequent they were.  So I sat on the exercise ball and timed contractions for 1hr (10-11am)  They were consistently 2.5-3.5min apart, and lasting anywhere from 25-45sec.  I called my doctor's office, of course had to leave a message.  They thankfully called me right back; I kind of passively told the nurse what was going on and she said "Well, you are 39wks with your 3rd baby and those contractions are really close together.....we are definitely going to send you to the hospital now!"  This kind of made me a little panicky!  Meanwhile Alec was already loading the car up and getting ready to go.  I told him to slow down because I needed to check my bag! Called my brother and he said they would be here in less than an hour.  After hanging up with him I realized an hour is a long time.....called my brother in law who lives 10min away (and just had a baby 4 days ago), asked if he could pop over and hold down the fort for a little while.  He said he would leave right away.  Sure enough he (AND Alec's sister and new baby!) arrived 15min later and we left shortly after that.  I was starting to come to grips this was the real thing, I even said to Alec "I guess I would be surprised if I got sent home"  

We arrived to triage at 11:55am.  They checked me and monitored me for a short period of time, and within a half hour we were heading up to labor and delivery.  I requested an epidural already in triage, these contractions were PAINFUL, I couldn't even stay on the stretcher long I was so painful.  Anesthesia arrived to place the epidural around 1pm; unfortunately my epidural wasn't all that great.  I started with having some mild pain only on the left.  But it continued to increase throughout my labor.  My doctor was actually on call until 5pm, so he instructed to have my water broken so he could hopefully deliver me.  They broke my water at 2pm; after that the pain increased greatly.  My nurse checked me at 3pm and I was 8-9cm, at this point the pain was so bad I was writhing in the bed.  An anesthesia nurse came in and gave me a bolus through my epidural which made a huge difference and I was far more comfortable; while she gave me the bolus my nurse checked me again and I was complete at 10cm (3:20pm).  She went to page my doc who had to come from the office down the street.  He arrived within about 15min, quick stopped in with his coat and everything on to see how I was doing and then ran out to change his clothes.  He was back in the room and said it was time to push (3:45pm) and Caleb was here 5min later!  There wasn't much pushing involved, at one point my doctor said "stop pushing" and I remember thinking "I'm NOT pushing!"  Right away they put him on my chest and I knew he wasn't as big as his sisters, he didn't have the big chubby cheeks.  They took him to the warmer to make sure he was breathing ok for a little bit and quick weighed him, I was pretty surprised with the 8lb 2oz!  They brought him back and we did skin to skin for about an hour, it was so amazing.  

So thankful everything went well and he came out healthy; praise the Lord!  It was so fun calling family and telling them the news.  We are just so blessed to welcome Caleb into our family!  

A few people have asked where we got the name Caleb; Alec and I had been throwing around names here and there with nothing really landing.  One day I asked him, "What do you think of Caleb" and he said "yeah, its ok"  Ok perfect, we agree on a name, that is it!  John is the middle name of Alec's dad, Alec's grandpa, my grandpa, and my brother.  We really like using family names for middle names, makes it so special :) 

In triage being monitored:

All settled in labor and delivery: 

Making sure he is still caught up at work. Alec said (and I totally agree!) "it was NOT on my radar to have a baby today!":

10cm and ready to push as soon as Dr. Leazenby comes!

Caleb is here!

I love doing the initial skin to skin, they do it for at least an hour before doing anything else with the baby:

Picture with mommy and daddy: 

Getting his furs scrubbed quick, he had a LOT of vernix on him (another sign he was closer to 2wks early): 

Sewing Projects

Because I need another hobby...... I don't have time to keep up on the hobbies I've already committed too!  But I started sewing a little :)  I really love doing it, and am slowly getting better at it.  Picking out fabric is SO fun!  My skill set isn't that broad yet.....I have made burp clothes, blankets, bibs, and pacifier clips so far.   A bit baby oriented :)

Florida for my 30th!

LAST winter when it was so horrible and freezing we decided we are going somewhere warmer for the next winter; which timed up perfectly for my 30th birthday!  So we, with my parents, all went to Naples, FL for an entire week.  We rented a house, which was amazing to have so much space, our own pool, and a full kitchen.

The weather wasn't over the top warm, we wore a lot of pants still. But it certainly was way warmer than it was in Michigan and we were able to do a lot of outdoor things.  It was such a nice change of pace than home; good to just get away and spend time together without the many distractions that are home!


This is what flying with 2 kids looks like!  The kids did pretty well during the flights for the most part.  Leah had a hard time falling asleep by me, and when she was awake it was difficult to entertain her....

Celebrating my 30th birthday!!

Taking a nap in the stroller on the beach

We had one 80 degree day, and spent the entire day between the beach and at our pool.

Oh I miss eating outside!

Matching dresses my mom made the girls :)

It was fun playing games at night when the girls went to bed!

We went to Sanibel Island for a day, it was really cool checking out the nature preserve and then a quick stop at the beach there to collect some shells.  The kids were DONE though by the time we got to the beach so it was quick.

An awesome burger/hotdog place we found (Brooks Burgers)!  It was SO good. I had a hotdog that had pulled pork on top!

It was such a fun week.  I could have stayed for a few more days!  If we do it again we would just go a little later in the year for the potential for warmer weather; but it was so special going over my birthday :)