Lelu is 5 months old!

Yikes, it's been a while since I've posted something. Life has been extremely busy! Lelu is now 5 months old and at her four month check up she weighed 14.5 pounds. Tim and I think she's definitely gotten bigger given how much more chunky her legs look these days and how she's growing out of her clothes. Her new tricks involve, rolling over from both sides, spitting, and throwing her toys. She is a social butterfly and loves to smile all of the time. Sleep is still rough though since she's waking up 5-6 times a night. We're going to transition her to her own bedroom and crib next week once Tajalli is off work and will start some sleep training. Hopefully, that will go well and we'll all get more sleep!

We had a great Thanksgiving in Shreveport, LA. Lelu had a chance to meet so many of her cousins and her Great Grandma Shirley for the first time. Luka had a blast playing with all of his cousins too.

Things with Luka are getting better at school. There are no more melt downs at drop off and less behavioral issues during the day. Things are still rough at home, but we are trying lots of things to improve things for all of us. We're starting to plan his fourth birthday party which is just around the corner after the holidays. There are more lovely moments these days of seeing how Luka & Lelu interact. She just thinks he is the funniest person on earth and laughs and smiles at him constantly.

Wishing you a happy holidays! xxxooo

Halloween

Lelu just experienced her first Halloween in her super cute elephant costume. Luka was Spiderman of course, although he originally wanted to be Iron Man and changed his mind at the last minute. Luka's Preschool did their annual parade (see pics here) and it was great. If you haven't heard our horror story of what happened the night of Halloween, do call.

Lelu just started at Luka's Preschool yesterday and so far she is doing great. She is still fighting the bottle---only drinking one ounce/day, but I know it will get better. My Mom leaves to go back home tomorrow already! It is going to be hard not having her here, but we are so grateful for the time she's been able to give these last three weeks.

Adorable

Lelu is 3 months old

Lelu is now three months old. She is so interactive---constantly smiling and talking. She even recently slept 5 hours straight a couple nights. We're still working on that happening every night. :)

Mommy got to get her hair done after 6 months, thanks to Auntie Johannah watching Lelu. Both Johannah and Tim have been trying to give her the bottle and each time she is closer to latching on, but hasn't quite figured it out yet. Gogo Anna arrives this Saturday and will be taking care of her full-time until 11/1 since I go back to work on 10/15. On 11/1, Lelu will start going to Luka's Preschool full-time. I can't believe this is my last week home with Lelu. It has gone by so quickly and I'm trying to savor every last minute.

Lelu went to her first wedding this past weekend: Maggie & Taylor's. It was a beautiful celebration and Lelu was super cute in her dress.

Luka has consistently been doing well at school, especially with drop offs. He no longer is crying when we say good bye. We also just started not wearing pull ups at night time. So far he is 2 for 4. Off to a pretty good start.

Even with work starting, I'm hoping to still blog. We'll see how it goes...

Wisconsin Trip

We had such a great time visiting family & friends in Wisconsin. Lelu traveled like a champ and easily adjusted to the new time zone and sleep arrangements. Luka did great considering how long the traveling days were.

Some highlights: Having everyone meet Lelu for the first time; spending time with family & close friends; Tim going hunting for 4 days with his brother on his land; witnessing the coming of Fall; and Luka getting a personal tour of a fire station with Ma'ani and Jena. Here are some pics. I recently sent a bunch out via snapfish. I'm working on some video too.

I now just have two weeks at home with Lelu before I go back to work. It's going to be a hard adjustment, but having my Mom (Gogo Anna) come out for three weeks to care for Lelu before she starts at Luka's preschool 11/1 will be a great help.

Looks like Mommy?

Lelu seems to resemble me quite a bit when I was a baby. Check out these photos of when I was 6 weeks old!

I still see a lot of Tim in her too. So far her eyes are a beautiful blue. Luka's were blue/grey until they turned brown. Tim and I both have green eyes, so we'll see what happens.

Lelu and I went to Monterey for the night with Auntie Johannah for a short ladies road trip. It was nice and relaxing and Lelu did great in the car and at the hotel. It will be good preparation for our big Wisconsin trip next week. We can't wait to see everyone!

The other night she slept for 5 hours straight! That was the longest evening stretch to date. Usually when she first goes down its for 3-4 hours, then 2-3, etc. She is doing pretty great sleep wise for her age.

Here is a cute picture of Luka playing outside at the Bay Area Discovery Museum.

6 weeks

Lelu brings us so much joy. She's 6 weeks old now and growing fast. She weighs just over 10 pounds according to our scale. Tomorrow is her 6 week check up, so we'll get the official weight then. She's outgrown all of her newborn clothes and wearing 0-3 month or 3 months now. She is starting to smile a lot more frequently these days and every time it happens it just melts your heart.

Luka is really sweet with his baby sister and often wants to hold her and help out whenever he can. I think his favorite ways of helping are rocking her in the car seat and pouring water over her during bath time. He just transitioned into the "Pre-K" room at his preschool this week. He is with older kids now and has a different schedule. It is another transition for him, but each day is getting better and better!

Tim goes back to work tomorrow, which means I will be taking Luka to school every morning with Lelu from now on. It will be an interesting adjustment for all of us! I just started a Mommy's group for other Mom's with babies in Alameda. It's been a great way to meet other mommas close by and for Lelu to make some friends. :)

Lelu's first tutu

This picture says it all...

3 weeks old

Lelu is now three weeks old! She is starting to smile more frequently (not just when she has gas or is pooping), which just melts your heart. Gogo Anna (Tajalli's Mother) is visiting now and spending a couple weeks with us since Tim went back to work.

Lelu has been a champ all around. She's been out for daily walks, trips to the farmers market & grocery store, and even to her first movie (Step Up Revolution--bad acting, but amazing dancing) with Mommy, Gogo Anna and Auntie Johannah.

We've been trying to give Luka as much one on one attention as possible to help with the transition. He is definitely a very spirited child and keeps us all on our toes. :) He recently had a fun play date with his friend Tommy at the park (see pic below).

Gogo Anna leaves Thursday and then Tim has an additional two weeks off of work. We are so lucky.

Sending love to you all.

Lelu's first bath

Lelu is already 11 days old. Time is flying by quickly already! Today, Tim and I gave Lelu her first bath and she seemed to enjoy it quite a bit. Here is a pic from bath time and post bath where she is slowly drifting off to sleep.

Tim has taken on some home projects in addition to taking care of me and Luka, cooking, running errands, etc. He's been a super Dad for sure! He just reorganized our garage and we are almost done painting Lelu's bookshelf. Next up: start our first vegetable garden.

Sending love, -The Horvats

In love

We are so in love with our daughter Lelu. She is such a sweetheart. Time is already flying by quickly. She has been sleeping as long as 3 1/2 hrs at a time and as short as 1 hour. She's also sleeping in her co-sleeper and crib! My recollection of Luka was that he would only sleep in bed next to me or in his bouncy chair. This has allowed me to get pretty good sleep each night so far.

When she is awake, she is very alert. She seems happy hangin out pretty much anywhere and we often are listening to music just staring at each other. :) Mommy's milk came in on day 4 and Lelu is breastfeeding well. She lost about 6 oz this week, but now that my milk is in, I am pretty confident we'll plump her right up.

She seems to only really cry when she is hungry and it doesn't last long.

Today we went for our first walk. The weather was perfect...sunny, 60s with a little wind. Lelu slept the entire time. Even though I was walking as slow as a turtle, I feel that my body is healing and starting to feel like normal. The motrin is helping too, but I'm hoping to stop taking that after week 1.

There have been some nice moments between Luka and Lelu so far: story time, Luka rushing through the door asking to see his baby sister when he gets home from preschool, Luka helping change her diaper, and Luka requesting to have a birthday party for his baby sister. Otherwise drop off at preschool in the morning and bedtime in the evening have been quite challenging. Tim and I are trying to remain patient and optimistic reminding ourselves that he is going through a lot and it will all get better soon.

At home

Welcome Lelu Mae Horvat!

We are thrilled to introduce our new daughter, Lelu Mae Horvat ("Lee-loo")! She was born on July 14, 2012 at 9:44pm. She is 7lbs 14 oz and 19 inches long. Luka was the same weight, but beat her on height at 20 1/2 inches. She is perfect! She is a very sweet and alert baby and we can't wait for you to meet her. Her birthday is extra special since she shares it with Tajalli's grandfather, Gramps.

Mommy and baby are doing great after 3 1/2 hrs of intense, natural labor. Luka is very excited to be a big brother. We will becoming home from the hospital tomorrow. Feel free to check out our family blog: http://horvatfamily.blogspot.com/ for more regular updates. If you are not yet subscribed, just let me know and we'll add you.

The hospital had a resident professional photographer who took some pictures of Lelu and us when she was 1 day old. Click here to see a quick slide show (note if you are accessing via smart phone, it may not work). http://www.our365.com/NewbornPortraits/BabyDetail.aspx?birthid=b6e0f9c7-03e0-421b-b6f9-82086a8c463d&utm_source=wnshare&utm_medium=email&utm_content=wnshare_mom_babylink&utm_campaign=wnshare_button

If you want to log in, the visitors password is: 022502395676894

Thank you for all of your prayers and support.

Hi! Wanted to share her name: Lelu Mae Horvat!

Contractions are intense now. Headed back to the hospital!

Baby update

It's been an interesting day! Once we arrived at the hospital, they took us to triage and ran a bunch of tests. They did confirm that my water broke. Around 8am they said we could leave, go for a walk, get breakfast, etc. since I wasn't in active labor. At this point my contractions were 4-5 minutes a part. They suggested coming back once my contractions were more intense and frequent.

We went to breakfast, most likely Tim and I's last breakfast alone for a while. Then drove back to the hospital, parked our car and walked to College Ave. We shopped around for a while and even decided to see a movie at 12:30pm since things hadn't really progressed much. The movie was terrible, but at least we weren't in the hospital. We both tried taking a quick nap. Who would have thought we'd have a date night while in the middle of labor!

We then went back to the hospital around 2pm and luckily had a wonderful nurse, Tanya, who discussed all of our options with us. If we had been admitted, they would have wanted to give me pitocin in a couple of hours to get things going. Since we didn't want to be induced, we decided to come home.

We got home around 2:30pm and are just trying to lay low until things get more intense. Hopefully, she will come soon!

My water broke at 4am and we arrived at the hospital at 6:30am with contractions every 4-5 minutes.

Almost here

Wow, we have really ignored our family blog. My hope is to do a better job maintaining it moving forward.

As you all know we are patiently waiting for our daughter to arrive. We are now 3 days past her original due date. Luka was born 2 days after his due date, with the help of an acupuncture treatment to get things going. Today at 1pm, I'm going to get a treatment and we will see what happens. Our hope is to avoid being induced, so it can be as natural as possible. We shall see... We cannot wait to meet her!

Luka, who is almost 3 1/2 years old now, seems very excited about the arrival of his baby sister and often likes to give her "squeeze hugs" and "nose kisses." These have both become good night and good bye traditions in our family. His behavior has also been quite challenging and I'm sure its a combination of his age and also the uncertainty of what his life will be like once she arrives. He is going to be such an amazing big brother and I cannot wait to see them together.

We are so grateful for all of the support from all of our friends and family throughout this pregnancy. We couldn't be doing this without you! Here are some recent pics of the family and the baby room.

Will share more news soon. Lots of love.