3 Months- Julia

For the only time in my children's lives they are three and three. Three years and Three Months that is!
This month was filled with firsts for Julia! Boy was it a busy month!

Here are some of the official three month pictures!

I love the thigh chub!

Umm..and the arm chub.

Weight: Around 13-14 pounds

Julia is beginning to sit by herself, smiles ALL day, (I mean ALL day) rolled over once, and is able to recognize our voices. (especially Ela's). She has been sleeping through the night since about 3 weeks, and soon enough will be moving into Big Sister's room.

I went back to work, and after a few rough days we got in our routine and things are going good.  Monday's are always hard for me. I got to have a visitor on Valentines day!

 Julia  had her first plane ride and trip to Georgia  for her baptism. We were joking that if Julia didn't like to fly, then she wasn't our child! With Tomasz being a pilot, and Big Sister and Mommy loving to travel, we should not have been surprised that she did great. Ela and Julia both had great flights and we got compliment  about how well behaved they both were. 

Big Sister comforting Julia. SO SO sweet.

Waiting to board...Dont the both look bored? ;)

She did not even sleep much the way there.

Julia's baptism was beautiful. We had a great time with our family. 

I still can believe how fast she is growing and how much Ela is growing to love her. My heart is so full with love for my little family!

Wubby is her BFF

Always smiling

The girls with their babies.

Such a cuddler

A day in my life...

I am a working Mom. Some days I don't know what is harder; staying at home with two kids or managing a million dollar property. I am a Property Manager. If you are not sure what that entails, if you have ever seen Tower Heist with Ben Stiller that's what I do. ( My company actually manages the building in the movie)

 Years from now, I will probably laugh thinking about my day...Hell, I even laugh now thinking about my day sometimes.So here goes...

6:00am Alarm goes off
Snooze (Maybe once, Maybe twice)
6:20 Ela comes in my bed asking to eat. Food usually wins for an extra 15 minutes of sleep.
6:35 Wake Up-Feed Julia while watching Good Morning New York
6:45am Shower
7:00am Out of shower and set Ela's clothes out
7:10am Make up/Dry Hair/Get Dressed while Ela dresses herself
7:20am We all head to the kitchen; lunch is made for Mommy and Ela. Tomasz feeds Ela breakfast
7:30 Ask Ela at least 4 times to get her jacket on and brush her teeth while feeding Julia again
7:45 (On a good day) Out the door to drop off Ela for school after sitter arrives for Julia or Tomasz is home for the day with Julia( He works 3 days out of the week)
7:50 Stop at Garden of Eden for my COFFEE
8:00 Kisses for Ela; drop off at Daycare
8:15 Catch Subway to work
8:40 Arrive at work;
9:00 Conduct Staff Meeting
9:30 Pump
10:00 Emails/ Pay Invoices/ Variance Reporting
12:00 I am Starving!
12:30 Pump
1:00 Sales Analysis
2:00 Meetings
3:30 Pump
4:00 Property Inspections
4:45p Crap time to go, and I did not get all my work done
4:49p Run out door catch subway
5:40p Hop off subway
6:00pm Go home to see my girls
6:15p Tomasz gives Ela a bath while I cook( daycare germs be gone) while I feed Jules
6:45p Eat dinner
7:00p Play with Legos, puzzles
7:15p Julia's turn for bath
8:00p Ela bed time
8:30pm Wash bottles, Clean up, and possibly have a glass of wine(who am I kidding HAVE a glass of wine)
9:00pm Feed Julia while watching Reality TV; Julia goes to bed
9:45pm Hit the sack!

Most days do not even go as smooth as I made it seem above, but I will tell you whether it was a smooth day or not....We are all exhausted by the end of the day.

Conversations with my Toddler- Chapter 4

Some more words of wisdom from my sweet, but sassy Ela:

After coming out of her bed for what seemed like a million times at bedtime:
Ela: Julia woke me up and now I cant sleep.
Julia was not even up...good try.

Ela:Do you mind feeding Elmo?
Me: What does he want to eat?
Ela: Your mommy's milk. I ran out of milk and I can not go to the store by myself.

Me: How was school?
Ela: Good but I was sad because I forgot to kiss you before school

Returning late from vacation:
Me: Sorry Ela we dont have milk. I will go to the grocery store tomorrow.
Ela: I am very disappointed you don't have milk. Please get some tomorrow.

Returning from Spanish Class:
Ela: Mommy did you see how naughty my friends were?
Me: Sometimes everyone has a bad day.
Ela: Their Mommy should put them in the quiet corner.

Ela: Mommy my clothes are too big. That means I am small and I am always your baby.

In the car on the way to a play date.
Ela: I am going to be shy today Mommy because I am the only girl.
Yeah Right on this one! Ela shy???

Ela running into our bedroom after playing unsupervised on an early Saturday morning.
Ela: I made a mess and it wasn't an accident

Me: Did you eat your lunch today at school?
Ela: Yes, but not the raisins.
Me: Why you love raisins?
Ela: Raisins are just not delicious anymore.

After a family trip to Sam's club.
Ela: Mommy that grocery store is better than the one by our house. They have snacks everywhere. (samples)

Me: Ela, time for your bath.
Ela: Mom can you hold your minute?
Me: Hold on a minute?
Ela: Yes that's what I asked you to do.

Grandma Lisa: Ela what is your favorite thing to eat?
Ela: Can you ask me in a minute I am busy right now?

As I am scolding Ela for standing on the couch.(Trying to eat Breakfast)
Ela: Don't talk with your mouth full Mommy, its not nice
Convenient how you follow the rules when you are getting in trouble.

Ela: I am sick my voice went away. You cant even hear me.

On our way home from Georgia
Tomasz: Ela are you sleepy?
Ela:Are you talking to me or Julia? I am not sleepy but I bet Julia is?

2 Months Old-Julia

Life is flying by. I want to stop time and enjoy my babies but on the contrary, I love watching them grow. I do wish I could bottle the newborn baby smell, my toddler's belly laugh and snap their smiles into memory forever!

Julia is two months! 

*Holding up her head all by herself

*Follows voices and sounds

* SMILES SMILES SMILES- She seriously smiles ALL day!

* Sleeps 8:30pm-5:30am

*Swats at her toys on the play mat

*First Airplane ride 2/28/14

Stats:

22 inches

10.11 pounds

3 month clothes but not for long.

Size 1 Diapers not for long as well

Her eyes turn more blue each day

I lover her chunky legs! There are at least 5 rolls on each.

The sisterly bonding is also starting. Out of all the valentines we were making, Ela was most concerned about making one for Baby Julia before her friends!

Probably one of my favorite pictures. Besides the cutest little button noses, I melt seeing them look at each other and the genuine smile on Ela's face. 

Julia's friend Skylar

She got them memo about picture taking. 

Ruby,Skylar and Julia 

Many exciting things coming in including Julia's baptism in March. Stay Tuned!

2nd Time Mommy

On Tuesday my Maternity Leave will end. I am sad for many reasons. One, I know this will be our last child, pregnancy etc. The other reason  is that I really enjoyed my maternity leave. Its not to say I didn't the first time but I was very overwhelmed as a new mom. 

Here are the things I did differently this time around.  I highly recommend all new moms do the same. 

•  In the hospital, I let the nurses take Julia so I could get some sleep. Returning home to a toddler and a newborn, I was going to need all the defenses I could get. 
  

• I got out of the house EVERY day. Even in the 7 degree weather I made a point to get out. Most days I had the baby in tow. Don't worry she was more than bundled. It was good for the post baby body and the mind to get a walk in.
  

• I snuggled, cuddled and did not worry about "spoiling" Julia. I even picked up her up to snuggle when she was quiet.
  

• I had girl time and play dates. I was very lucky that three, yes three, of my friends were on maternity leave at the same time. We had wine lunch dates with the little ones(taking advantage of the sleeping time), coffee play dates and lots of fun. It is nice to just relax and get to hang out with someone who is going through the same thing. 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• I have not one, but two little girls. Julia spent most days in her jammies or a onsie. I was so excited with Ela ,that each day she had on a new outfit and bow. Maybe I am just too tired but it did not happen this time. We are lucky if she got a fresh outfit daily.

• I slept while she slept! I know this is cardinal rule of new motherhood...but I actually did it. Its very easy when you have a good sleeper on your hands!

• I did not give Julia a bath every day...Sometimes it even went 2-3 days. The winter was rough and frankly she was just not a spitting up baby! Plus babies really don't need a daily bath!

• I worked out. This has nothing to do with loosing weight. Actually, I did not weigh myself until my 6 week post pardum appt. A goal of mine is to run a 5K on Mothers Day and continue to run. I think running is one of the best ways to steal 30-40 min of "me" time.

• Finally, I let the whole having a perfectly clean house go. I think its an impossible feat with two little ones.Why spend all day cleaning for Ela to come home and mess it up? (Trust me it was not super messy but I learned to let the small things go) 

The Amazing thing about being a Mom....

Is that even though they grow too quickly, we get to watch them as they learn, explore, imitate and develop into their own. Its amazing to watch and wonder what they will be like when they are "grown".

Will we see this video in 20 years on MTV as a Inside Look on Ela  the next pop singer?

Will she be an artist or a Fashion Designer? Designs By Ela....

Or maybe a chef? The girl does love her food.

A Yoga Instructor?

A stay at home Mommy

A business woman working in an office like her Mom.

Or an Internet Marketing Director?

Whatever she decides to be, the journey watching her grow sure is fun!

Food Allergy Update- Year 3

Every year shortly after Ela's birthday we test in the hopes that she can experience the joys for Nutella or Almonds one day. Or more, so Mom does not have to attend birthday parties on high alert and lug around the EpiPen all the time.  This year we decided to switch allergists to one that was  local and part of the Mount Sinai hospital group. This medical group is known as being one of the top for allergy research in NYC. Our new doctor recommended blood testing  to get a bigger picture of her allergens. Ill spare the horrific details of getting blood drawn from a three year old but I am sure you can imagine the worst. The skin testing was not as bad thanks to the Ipad.

The first visit we tested her for  seasonal allergies,dog and a few others via a skin test and then the food allergies via a blood test. 

As you can see she reacted to a few such as dogs, and believe it or not cockroaches.( Thats a big problem living in NYC) She tested negative for seasonal allergies. 

Onto the food.

 Prior to the testing she was allergic to Sesame, Tree nuts with the exception of pistachio and hazelnut, as well as  peanuts. Take a look at the blood test results for yourself

I was literally jumping around when I read the email from our doctor! This was great news. As soon as I could, I brought Ela in for skin testing. If all was negative we would feed her the foods she has never eaten under doctor supervision. The morning of the test, I told Ela that she might eat nuts today. She responded " Mommy, I can not eat nuts remember? They make me very sick." This was one obstacle I did not think about. What a smart little (nut less) cookie!

The top right is the control allergen that helps determine the level of sensitivity. You can barely see any of the others. Looks great right? Yes and No. There are small welts for Peanut, Pecan and Walnut but everything else was NEGATIVE!! I was very happy and we were heading in the right direction. Discussing with the doctor she said that most likely she would have no reaction to these foods as they were more likely a sensitivity. If she did have a reaction they would be hives, which is much better to the alternative of anaphlatixis. Additionally Sesame on the blood test was a 2 out of 6, which mean two things. 1) she was growing out of the Sesame allergy 2) If she did accidentally ingest it would not be as severe as last time. We ended up not doing the food challenge because I had another appointment and needed to be able to devote 3 hours; We will return shortly.

All in all we are heading in the right direction. There is so much conflicting information about food allergies out there as it is relatively new. I have received at least five different answers on eating allergenic foods while breastfeeding Julia, especially with our now known history of allergies. There are two schools of thought; 1)introduce to build the immunity now or 2) avoid to reduce the chance of allergies. For other moms with children of food allergies, I personally take the first school of thought. I have been eating them in the hopes that Julia will not have allergies. I also practiced this with Ela. I would feed her foods that were labeled "May contain peanuts or Made in a factory with peanuts" with the thoughts that the smallest interaction would slowly help outgrow the allergy. I can not say that's what has helped but there is nothing else to do but hope. 

I hope that we are in the percentage of kids that outgrow the allergies. The younger the children when developing, the greater the chance of outgrowing! Until next years visit...