Aly is getting bigger fast – time is really flying by.  They say the first 6 weeks is the hardest, then they say the first 3 months, then 6 months, then blah blah blah.  Being this is our second kid we had a bit better idea what to expect.  Aly is different than Noah in a lot of ways.  She seems to be eating and sleeping a lot better, more content in general.  Noah was really skinny, Aly is more like other babies we’ve seen.  She is seeming to get skinner already than she had been at her 1 month checkup, but we’ll see in a few weeks how she’s tracking.  Already she looks a lot different than she did before.

She’s really started to make faces, smile, and stuff like that lately.  She’s also started wanting to stand up on her legs (supported at least).  She really enjoys it and you can feel her pushing herself to do it.  She even ended up rolling over from her belly to her back during tummy time a couple times yesterday.  It’s pretty neat to see her do that, I’m excited for every advancement because we know how much fun it’ll be once she’s moving around more and stuff.

Noah is a good big brother to her.  He’s really gentle at times, giving her kisses & hugs.  Other times he doesn’t like not getting the attention and acts out a bit.  I think it’s the worst when it’s just Kris watching the kids and she’s feeding Aly.  Noah doesn’t like not having the attention. Overall though, he’s a great big brother to her.  It’ll be fun watching them grow up together.

She really likes her baths, it’s pretty often a hectic time of night when it’s bath time, but usually I take Noah and do his bath, during that time Kris is giving Aly her bath.  Noah usually likes to help with Aly, so he’ll take a cotton ball and help wash her head or something like that.  I’m not sure how she’d get clean without him.

After her bath, she looks cute.

Here’s Mom & Noah from today, Kris wants me to tell you guys she was very tired.

She’s a little young to have this really work, but already Indy likes her quite a bit.

Tummy time again!

Aly is officially 1 month old. The month has gone by very quick. She has been a very good baby. She seems to mostly eat and sleep. She usually gets fussy in the evening before bed. But, that is pretty much it. She is growing like a weed. Her height is 22″ (80%), her weight is 10 lbs 6 oz (79%), and her head is 37.2″ (50%).

We gave Aly her 1st bath after Thanksgiving. Noah is great at helping with the bath. He uses cotton balls to help clean Aly off.

Noah is getting use to having Aly around. He still gets jealous when I am trying to feed her. Hopefully that will subside over time. I have been trying to play outside with him in the afternoons while Aly is napping. He really likes the snow (just like his dad). He went sledding for the 1st time a couple of weeks ago.

Jay has been excellent at helping out. I went out by myself for the 1st time since Aly was born last week. I had my hair cut and went shopping for Aly. It was nice to spend some time by myself. Jay is learning his way around the kitchen more. He helped cook dinner the other night and did the dishes. He had to wear Noah in the backpack to keep him occupied.

Noah is getting excited for Santa. We went to the library to see Santa this year. Noah and Aly both did excellent. It helped that Santa handed out candy. This year we will be heading to Columbus for Christmas. We will be stopping in Bourbonnais on the way down and the way back to break up the trip.

We were able to take some newborn pictures of Alyssa while we were at the cabin. She is doing well. She was up to 8 lbs 4 oz at here 1 week old appointment. She is sleeping a lot and getting use to having a noisy brother around. She doesn’t seem to mind tummy time yet and is able to hold her head up for short periods of time.

We headed up to Duluth to spend Thanksgiving with the Luikart family. We left Medford on Wednesday afternoon. We only had to make 2 stops to feed Alyssa and let Noah run. It was nice to see everyone and to have help with Noah and Alyssa.

We were able to get in several naps. Noah had fun seeing his cousin Natalie. They boys worked on a tree fort for the kids. It looks like they were able to make quite a bit of progress. However, it will take several years to complete the project. Noah and Natalie had fun making gingerbread houses and Christmas cookies.

We were sad to go but happy to have Noah back home in his own room.

Alyssa Lauren Luikart was born on November 17th at 5:33am. Around 1:00am on the 16th we decided we were ready to head to the hospital. We called a friend to come over and watch Noah. We made it to the hospital at 2:45am and were surprised to find out I was dilated to 8cm. By 5:33am we were welcoming our new baby girl into the world. She was 7 lbs 12 oz and 19.5″. We are calling her Aly for short. It was adorable the first time Noah said Aly. My labor was much quicker and easier than with Noah. I was feeling like my old self again within a few days.

Noah and Grandma Luikart came to the hospital in the early afternoon on the 17th to meet Alyssa. Noah was very proud to hold his baby sister.

Grandma stayed with us for a few days. We were very grateful to have her around to help with Noah, Alyssa, Indy, Jay, and cooking.

Jay and Noah were able to get some father son bonding in during Jay’s week of paternity leave. They hung up Christmas lights, moved firewood, and ran some errands.

We did a pregnancy photo shoot when I was just over 38 weeks pregnant. It was a little difficult to keep Noah occupied. We ended up breaking out markers and Halloween candy to keep him interested.