Betty - 2 Months

-At five weeks she was diagnosed with acid reflux and started zantac which didn't seem to help too much.  So we switched to prevacid, which seems to be helping a little.  She is a quiet and content little one, not a screamer like your typical reflux-y baby... but she coughs and chokes on spit up all the time and I can tell it's super uncomfortable for her.  Even Clara has started saying, "poor little thing," from hearing it so much from me.   

-Betty is still a sleepy little babe. She sleeps and sleeps!  At seven weeks, she is sleeping 9+ hours through the night. We are beginning to transition her to sleeping in her crib (she and Clara share a room) and it's going great.

-To be honest, not a lot changed between month one and month two for Betty.  This is where my worry and her pediatrician's worry set in... Her two month well-check was one of the worst days ever.  All of the casual questions the doctor asks when they first come in the room, about if baby is smiling a lot or sucking on their hands, actually have a purpose.  They're not just being chatty and friendly. And when you answer "no" to all of them, you leave the doctor's office with orders for a chest x-ray, a CT scan, and referrals to an opthamologist and early intervention program. (The actual concerns were that she was aspirating milk (a newborn with a cough is never a normal thing), that the plates in her skull might be fused together, that she may not have vision, and global developmental delays - thankfully everything checked out and other than a few delays she is a healthy little girl!)

-She's chunking up so well!  I think she'll definitely be in the upper half of the charts for a while.

-Betty loves to be held close and snuggled.  To calm her (although she truly is rarely fussy) or have her fall asleep in my arms I'll hold her super close at a slight incline and pat her back. She just snuggles in and loves it.

-We love Betty soooo much and feel so thankful to have her in our family.  I kind of feel like she's a well kept secret.  Clara is at such a fun and clever age that she commands most of the attention.  But people don't know that they might be missing out on one of the sweetest babies ever born.

Clara - 27 Months

This month was a big one for Clara!  She started potty training about a week ago and is doing GREAT!  She still wears a pull-up for her nap and at night, but she uses the potty during all of her waking time.  We do have accidents occasionally and are still working on some things, but overall she's doing really well.  After she goes "tinkle" in the potty she will cheer for herself and say, "yay cla-wa!" and promptly follow with, "I need a jelly bean!" She's always really proud of herself for going and just beams at the abundant praise she receives as well.

She is such a great big sister and loves to hold and touch Betty.  She always wants to check on her and make sure she's ok.  She talks to her in the cutest sing-songy voice.

One of Clara's favorite things to say right now is, "Just a minute, I'll be right back!" and then she'll run into another room.  Or she'll run out and then come back and say, "I need to get one more thing.  I'll be riiiiiiight back."

She still loves nursery and has a hard time waiting until 1:00 on Sunday's for church.  She wants to go the moment she wakes up!

She wears a pink easter hat all the time. She just loves it!

We are finally getting some warm weather again, so she is loving being outside.  Usually she wants to swing, but then says she's done after about 30 seconds.  But she loves to play in her truck and just run around the yard.

She has a hard time saying mittens, kittens, buttons, etc.  They come out, "mints, kints, bunts." I love how she talks.

 She loves to "hang out" with her "guys" in her "spacket."

She always asks me to draw her "with a coat," so she can then color in the coat.

Clara loves to sneak into our room, open daddy's nightstand drawer, pull out a pen and business card/receipts/envelope and draw on it.  She will draw meticulous little circles over and over.  This is especially a favorite activity while I'm vacuuming.

We love our little sunshine!

Usually I do more of a "photo shoot" on the day of her month birthday, but I think I missed this one because we had family in town. So here's a smattering of mostly iPhone pictures from her 27th month.

Betty's Name

Our sweet little Betty was a struggle to name.  It was even harder than naming Clara!  Even though Betty was a name we have talked about since Clara was born, we didn't finalize this baby's name until one hour before we were discharged from the hospital.

  

Besides just liking the name, Betty is the name of my paternal grandmother.  She is one of the most sweet and generous women I know, and I when I think of her, I think of so many lovely qualities that I strive for and hope my girls will too.  Grandma Betty was perhaps a little naive and certainly quite young when she married my grandpa, but I'm pretty sure she created a really wonderful life for her family.  From the stories my dad tells of growing up I know that she was a great mother.  Likely the kind of mother who had a homemade dinner on the table at the same hour every night. A mother who spent the better part of the first two years of her life as a new mom alone while her husband was at war.  A mother who, because of her husband's career on the railroad, spent a lot of time parenting on her children alone while her husband maintained an unpredictable work schedule.

Grandma Betty has more posterity than I can keep track of, but birthday cards with sweet handwritten messages arrive for children, grandchildren, grandchildren-in-law, and great-grandchildren each and every year.  And never a day late.  As she has grown older, my sweet grandma, like most elderly people, deals with a lot of pain.  But you would never know it - she doesn't complain or talk about herself or the struggles she faces unless someone else brings it up.  Grandma is always thinking of others, keeping busy with thoughtful projects for friends and family, and selflessly offering her assistance to anyone she can help.  Perhaps the greatest demonstration of her selfless service was when she cared for her husband during the last years of his life, providing for his every need with care and love.

We chose the name Florence for Betty's middle name for a few reasons. When I was pretty young, I had a really strong desire to go to Florence, Italy.  I'm sure it was a book or movie that inspired my dreaming, but it held such a strong appeal.  When I took AP Art History in tenth grade, I became more aware of the city's architectural marvels and beauty.  Finally, at age 20 I made it to Florence while studying art history with a group from BYU.  It really was a dream come true.  Florence is one of my favorite European cities, the birthplace of the Renaissance, and means flourishing, prosperous.  Plus, Florence Nightingale was the founder of modern nursing (my "if I could do my life over again" profession of choice).  Who knows, maybe the association will inspire Betty to become a nurse!