Hazel's 2nd Birthday

My Hazel Nut turned two this St. Patrick's Day! She is the cutest, most rotten little thing I ever did see. She's hilarious, loud, shy, hot-tempered, stubborn, silly, smart, destructive, talkative, cuddly, and oh-so-naughty, and we all love her like crazy.

We had a Peter Rabbit themed party for her (mostly because I had the supplies left over from another project), and it was super cute. All of her grandparents got to be there to celebrate!

Here are the stats:
Height: 2' 8.25" (19th percentile)
Weight: 22 lbs 3 oz (4th percentile)

Yep, another peanut. She is so teeny!

Hazel has long, gorgeous wavy hair (it's 3 or 4 inches longer than any other girl her age I know) and - wait for it- hazel eyes. They're kind of gray and brown... very unique. She has the very best cheeks.

What she's up to:

-Talking up a storm. She speaks in full short sentences, though it can be hard to understand her. She is very polite with pleases and thank yous ;) The thing that impresses me the most is her understanding of "mine" and "yours." Maybe it's just because she's small, but she seems so young to have that kind of grasp on language.
-She loves to harass the cat, who is, blessedly, quite patient with her most of the time.
-Tearing up the house... we have to keep the bathrooms doors shut and litter box blocked off, and if she's not in the room I'll always send one of the other kids to "make sure Hazel's not getting into trouble." She's exhausting!
-She's pretty attached to Mama. She's still shy about strangers and new experiences and situations. She can really cling to me when she wants to.
-Her "lovey" is her bed pillow. She carries it around the house with her even though it's bigger than she is! She grabs onto the fabric of the pillow case and sucks her thumb (a habit we'll soon have to tackle breaking).
-Sleeping in a big-girl bed! She was doing some dangerous acrobatics in her crib, so we did some bed shuffling and moved her to a twin bed. She did great making the transition, thank goodness! Hazel is an excellent sleeper and rarely wakes up in the night. There have been a few nights when she seemed to be having nightmares and I would lay down with her until she fell asleep, but that's not the norm. She also naps once daily for 1-3 hours ish.

What she's into:

-Hazel's favorite things to watch on TV are Boss Baby and The Incredibles 2 ("Jack Jack!"). She wasn't interested in TV until she got to watch through the series, Avatar: The Last Airbender, with Nathan and the other kids. She loved it and snuggled nicely with Daddy every evening they watched it.
-She's not terribly picky, though she's not a big eater (miss 4th percentile). She likes to graze and often helps herself to snacks from the pantry, much to my chagrin. Her favorite food is probably blueberries.
-She loves to play outside.
-Hazel loves babies. Real, on tv, baby dolls, whatever. She also likes animals.
-Milk. This girl should have some strong bones.
-Mostly destroying the house and raging when she doesn't get her way. Let's be honest. :P

My almost-birthday-buddy! Happy birthday to the cutest girl I know!

Hazel: 10 months old

Pretty girl is getting awful close to a year old. I'm not sure how I feel about that. She is THE SWEETEST baby ever. I couldn't love her any more than I do.

(I'm digging up this draft about a year later, and I'm just going to publish it as-is because... cute pictures)

Hazel: 9 months

This beauty is 3/4 of a year old already! What?! I took all the kids' pictures in the leaves, but Hazel wasn't into it. Next year!

Although she eats more than anyone else in the house, it doesn't show. Here are the stats:

Height: 2'2" (5th percentile)
Weight: 14 lbs 7 oz (3rd percentile)
Head: 18.11" (95th percentile)

I swear that her head does not look in-proportionately large!! But it has been consistently huge the last three checkups, sooo...

Hazel has really taken off crawling and sitting up and pulling herself up to stand! She's really getting around!

Hazel enjoyed her first Christmas tree! She did really well not messing with it until the last week or so before Christmas, when she decided that pulling stuff off the tree was super fun. She really did better than I expected, though.

Hazel's move into Cece's room went great! Cece sleeps like a brick, so any crying Hazel does isn't a problem (amazing). Cece has even sung to Hazel and helped calm her down occasionally, which is incredibly sweet. The only problems we have are if Cece throws a fit at bedtime (Hazel will then flip out), and in the mornings the other kids are loud and wake Hazel up. But all in all, I am very pleased that Hazel is sleeping through the night and that Nathan and I have our room back! It looks huge without a pack n play in it! I took the picture of the girls' room because it will never be that clean again. See how cute?!

Big girl has been enjoying baths in the tub instead of in the sink (...'cause my sink is for holding dirty dishes). It makes me nervous because she is prone to slip and fall over and I don't want her to drown!! I'm always right there, of course, but it freaks me out! But Hazel absolutely loves splashing and playing in the bath.

We had a mishap this month and Hazel's foot got hurt in the car door :( It was so scary, but we had it x-rayed and she never complained about it or acted like it hurt, so I guess there was no real damage done (just a nasty bruise). Of course we felt absolutely awful and tears were shed, but, unfortunately, accidents happen. We are SO glad she is completely healed up and fine now!!

These kids all LOVE their baby sister. She has no shortage of playmates and affection, and I appreciate all my helpers! Hazel brings us so much joy.

Hazel: 8 months

I went to catch up on blogging and found this already completed post that I forgot to post. Oops. So here ya go.

How time does fly! Eight months! I would say Hazel is getting big, but, true to Lambes form, she is a peanut. Hazel weighs somewhere around 13 lbs (according to our home scale) and is still in 0-3 month clothes. Ha! Despite that, she's happy, healthy, and developmentally on track.

She's eating three meals a day and nursing 3-4 times. She eats a TON of solid food... I honestly don't know how her stomach holds it all. She was really into Baby MumMums and Puffs for a few weeks, but she seems to be over it now. I think she's figured out that they're not real food...

This girl is a-movin'! She mostly army crawls, but sometimes crawls on her hands and knees. She's into everything, and I have to constantly be on the lookout for little things on the floor that she could choke on. Dead leaves that get tracked in are particularly enticing. 

Hazel pulled herself up to standing for the first time this month! I packed up the co-sleeper right after taking this picture and pulled out the big pack and play. She seems too teeny to be standing up!

She's also sitting up really well now. I finally feel comfortable setting her on the floor without surrounding her with pillows to prevent a head bonk. She still spends most of her time on her belly.

She's very popular among her siblings. Orion and Desy have decided they like to carry her around the house, and they've been helpful keeping her out of trouble. 

Hazel still sucks her thumb when she's sleepy :) It's adorable. Hazel has been going down for naps really well for a long time (lay her down and leave- she goes to sleep on her own), but she was getting up 3 or 4 times a night to nurse until last week. I finally got up the gumption to do night time sleep training. I was ready for the worst... but it was SO easy! She cried only a little the first night, and I haven't heard a peep out of her at night since. I guess she was ready!! YAY SLEEP!!! I'm hoping to move her in with Cece soon!

Her hair is kind of a dark blonde/light brown and her eyes are undecided. Right now they're brown in the middle and dark blue on the outside. We're still rooting for hazel... for obvious reasons. But whatever... have you ever seen a child so cute?!

Hazel: 7 months old

Hazel has been keeping busy and learning new things every day!!

She has been enjoying tastes of food for a while, but this month she started eating full meals of solid food. She has made some funny faces at some tastes, but so far she hasn't turned anything down. I never made much baby food for the other kids, but I decided to give it a go this time, and I guess it must have turned out pretty ok!

She has teeth! It's amazing how quickly teeth erupt once you can see them under the gums. She was a bit extra fussy for a couple days, but was back to her fussy self once it was out. She got two teeth within a week (once right before the 7 month mark and once right after).

This month Hazel started army crawling/squirming to get where she wants to go! She can make it across an entire room if she's motivated.

She loves to stick out her tongue. As you can see.

Hazel remains a great joy in our lives! If anyone thinks four kids is too many, they clearly don't have a Hazel.

Hazel: 6 months old

Look at this happy girl! What a joy. We have so much fun talking and playing with this sweet girl. She likes to roll and scootch her way around the floor and chew on all of the things. 

Her eyes are definitely brown in the middle, but still blue on the outsides for now. Her hair has gotten lighter but is still darker than the other kids'. No teeth yet. 

We went to Whit's Frozen Custard on her half birthday. She loved it, of course. She grabbed the custard when I was taking this picture!

Here are the stats: 

Height: 26" (54%)

Weight: 12 lbs 12 oz (3%)

Head: 17.22" (88%)

So maybe she should eat more ice cream? Haha, par for the course. Hazel has definitely become interested in "big people food" and devours bites of whatever we give her. I made and froze a ton of baby food (butternut squash, sweet potatoes, peas, beans, carrots), but we haven't fed her much of it yet. We need to bring the high chair home. 

Hazel's favorite activities include dumping out the diaper basket all over the floor, chewing on anything she can find, getting stuck under the couch, eating, riding in the car, scratching my face, "talking," watching her siblings run around like crazy people, and sucking her thumb.

She falls asleep on her own for naps and bed time. She generally takes about three naps a day, and it's  a struggle to keep the other kids quiet. Right now she is getting up about three times a night to nurse. Thankfully, she falls right back to sleep when I lay her down, but I think overnight sleep training is in the near future. Remember when she used to sleep through the night when she was two or three months old??

Hazel isn't crawling yet, but gets up on her hands and knees and rocks back and forth. She's not sitting up on her own yet either. Both are right around the corner!! Wow!

Hazel: 5 months old

Month 5 was a very big one for this very tiny girl! She became a master roller and really started figuring out how to get where she wanted to go. We stopped swaddling her at night because of that, and she did well with the transition.

Hazel had some really rough days where she was fighting sleep HARD and was just generally cranky and tense, so I did some sleep training with her and it made a world of difference. She was physically so much more relaxed after getting good naps for a day (Really. It was striking.). It took about two days of CIO when I laid her down to sleep for naps and bedtime before she really caught on, but it is fabulous to be able to sing her a song (You Are My Sunshine), lay her down, and walk away. It's definitely a great benefit to her as well.

After about a month of using her pacifier, Hazel ditched it in favor of her thumb when we did sleep training! She's our first thumb sucker! It's suuuuper cute, though I know it'll be a challenge later on when she needs to quit! I love it for now :)

Hazel loves her daddy. And everyone. She's a very popular girl.

Hazel: 4 months old

Hazel turned four months old yesterday! She is learning a LOT right now! She learned how to grab her feet this week, which is exciting stuff!

I'm not positive, but I think her eyes are starting to change color! They look brown in the middle to me.

Hazel remains the happiest, sweetest baby. Everyone who watches her in church nursery goes on about how easy and good and sweet she is. HALLELUJAH!

The day after she turned three months old Hazel decided she likes her pacifier, which has been really nice. It was right before our trip to Michigan, so having that paci to keep her content in the car was really helpful. It has also been nice for helping her get to sleep.

Hazel isn't on a specific nap schedule, and it really varies from day to day. She tends to take short naps these days, perhaps because we have had family in town all summer and have been on the go most of the time. She's not sure she likes her swing any more, but she doesn't sleep in her bed for naps very long, so I'm going to have to figure out what works. Just when you have a baby figured out they go and change on you!

At night she usually gets up once or twice, occasionally 3 times, occasionally none. We're driving overnight to Gulf Shores soon, and I'm REALLY hoping she sleeps through the majority of the trip.

Because of our upcoming trip, I figured I should see if she'd take a bottle. I tried breast milk first, and she drank it without hesitation. A couple days later I tried formula and she guzzled that too! What a good girl :) I'm excited to be able to leave the house without her sometime!

Hazel started rolling from her belly to her back a couple weeks ago, and then yesterday she figured out how to roll from her back to her belly! Today she's been rolling across the floor like crazy! No leaving this girl unattended on the bed! She even tried to roll off the exam table at her checkup today. 😯 She got two shots today and only cried for a few seconds until I picked her up.

Here are the stats:
Weight: 12 lbs (9%)
Length: 1'11.75" (20%)
Head: 17" (98%) (*edit: I measured her myself at home and her head was only 15.5". That sounds better!*)

So her weight is down on the charts a bit- no surprise there- but she's still half a pound to a pound and a half bigger than her siblings were at her age. Her length is up one percent... and her head is apparently HUGE!! Ha! It reminds me of when Orion was little and he was 2% for weight and 75% for head size. More room for brains??

Look at these sweet legs. She looks like she's a perfect size to me!