September Highlights

September has been a big month in the Coghill household. We had to get in the swing of school, church activities, and learning to function as a family of 5.

Here are some of the highlights of our month:

{Davey's first day of preschool! He was beyond excited :)}

{David and Jillian outside of preschool}

{After the first day, we went out to lunch as a family! When I took the onions and cucumbers out of my salad, I thought it looked like a face HAHAHA}

{Real life yo}

{I was so excited to find this at the grocery store I frequent! When I did finally try it, it was only ok. I may give it one more shot just to be sure I don't like it}

{Middle of the night feeding with Daddy}

{I got to have coffee with a sweet friend with just Lottie! It was nice to just keep up with one child, but it was even better to catch up with this friend <3}

{Our first neighborhood walk as a family of five!}

{David was named the Star of the Week at school! He was asked to fill out this poster. I decided to let him do it however he wanted. It wasn't colored completely, (and I may have colored the stars on top because I couldn't help it), but he did it himself :)}

The following are some cute Lottie faces as of late:

{We checked out the Halloween area at Target the other day and had some fun!}

{We also touched every single pumpkin in Target. I wish I was kidding}

{*high pitched voice* I'm your father?}

{We had an anniversary this month: One Year of Family Movie Night!}
{We started the celebration by checking out a new restauarant called Mutt's, which has fancy hot dogs. It was pretty good!}

{The we had some special movie snacks! Popcorn, caramel corn, M&M's, and gummy bears}

{Mommy also got some glow stick wands! We watched Princess Bride, but only the adults really watched ;)}

{Since grocery shopping is my alone time, I rarely have children with me. I use their car seats for things like bread and chips ;)}

{This guy made my driving time double...}

{I had a really beautiful shower put together by some special ladies at church. This was the only picture I got on my phone, but I have lots of precious mental pictures I will treasure forever :)}

{Bright-eyed and bushy tailed}

{Hanging out outside while Daddy plays a quick round of golf}

{This is what happens when you have a bubble bath with two kids HAHAHA}

{Luckily, she was laughing and not crying/screaming :)}

{New dress and new shirt from Jemma and Gee-Chaz!}

{Struggle Bun in full effect. At least the kids are still cute :)}

{When you realize your child looks prettier than you...}

{I have Snapchat, but no friends on it. So I just use the filters to entertain the children if needed. Here are some more Snapchat Gems :)}

A certain someone is finally smiling, but never for the camera. She also turned 8 weeks!

{Precious girl}

{I don't even know how he did this! My silly boy}

{Popsicles for everyone}

{Yesterday was just beautiful, so we hurried outside with the chalk}

{Those eyes, eyelashes, and little faux hawk just make me want to eat her up <3}

{Cheese!}

Hope you had a great September!

Overwhelmed

Overwhelmed.

It's a word that has more than one context, but has the same definition. One way to look at it is negatively, the other positively.

I'm sure having my 3rd baby being 7 weeks old, it's easy to assume I'm referencing the negative version of the word "overwhelmed." True, things have been on the interesting side as we adjust to the learning curve of being outnumbered by littles. However, I'm actually talking about the positive side of being overwhelmed.

You see, I was approached about a possible double baby shower at the beginning of the summer at our church. Well, the date was changed multiple times. Then, the other girl the shower would be for stopped attending our church. By this point, I just assumed most people wouldn't even really care whether or not I had a shower since it's our third baby. Also, having one child of each gender already, we don't need many gender specific items either. Honestly, I doubted anyone would even come to a shower for me.

Boy was I wrong.

This past Sunday, a sweet woman at church threw a lovely shower for us. I took Jillian and Lottie with me, and we just had a blast. I mostly asked for diapers, and we got plenty! In fact, we may not need to buy any size 2 diapers unless Lottie starts growing slower. We got other little gifts, and my friend made some really cute,(and tasty!), cupcakes. I don't have any pictures myself, but hopefully I can get some copies of what other people took pictures of.

By the end of the shower, I was so overwhelmed by the generosity of these ladies and their families.

Church family has always been important to me. Having both parents as pulpit pastors, I spent lots of time with my church family. Whether it was sitting next to them on Sunday morning, singing with them in the choir, or having a good conversation at an event, I had a special bond with my church family. In fact, a good portion of my faith is based off of interactions and conversations with various members of my church family. To know that my children will get to experience a similar level of love and support from their church family just makes my heart burst. I feel like a lucky girl :)

Lottie: {One Month}

Lottie –

You are one month old! There are days where I can't believe it's only been one month because it feels like you've been with us all along :)

According to our measurements at home, you are 9lbs, 2oz and 21-1/4 inches long. The last time you were officially measured at 2 weeks & 4 days and you were 8lbs, 6 oz, and 20-1/2 inches long. You were our biggest baby at birth, so I'm interested to see how quickly you'll grow over the years.

You are still in newborn clothing, but they are getting too small. 0-3 month outfits are still a little big for you yet. You are still wearing newborn diapers for now, but will probably switch within the next 2 weeks.

You eat every 2-1/2 to 3 hours during the day, and 3 to 4 hours at night. As of right now, mama is exclusively pumping because her supply is still going! We were supplementing with formula before her milk came in. Now, you are exclusively on expressed breast milk in a bottle! Mama's goal was 30 days, so we'll see just how much longer the supply will last. You seem to have some tummy issues, but it is hard to tell if that is due to your food or your immature digestive system. We've wondered about reflux, but so far you're not having enough trouble with it that it's a cause for concern. You spit up from time to time, but you don't do it a lot. You like your milk warmed like your sister. Just like both of your siblings before you, your feeding style is “baby shark” feedings, and we have to move your hands out of the way. Luckily, you're usually happy again once the bottle is in your mouth :)

You sleep for 2-1/2 to 4 hour stretches most of the time. You're a good sleeper, and can handle lots of noise {#thirdbaby} You haven’t taken to pacifiers just yet, which can make it harder to soothe you at times. You like to be held to our chests to be calmed. You only wake up at night if you’re hungry, wet, or have gas.

You were our first baby to like sponge baths! You didn't cry at all until we moved you to your special baby tub. You cried the first time we put you in the bathtub, which is the opposite of your siblings! You are definitely showing us that you are your own person. After a few baths, you've calmed down, and only cry when you're going to the room to get dressed after the bath. Honestly, you're probably just cold.

So far, you like the swing, being held against our chest, being held 75% of the time, having your head and back rubbed, white noise, and having a full tummy! You despise being cold, getting a pacifier when you want a bottle, gas bubbles, being alone, and being tired.

You did not pass the newborn hearing screening in just your left ear at the hospital. Thankfully, we were able to be seen at Hearts for Hearing within a few days, and you did just fine with their test! Your nerves in the left ear were just a little more immature than on your right side, but it wasn't anything that concerned the audiologist. We will have one more test at 6 months just to cover our bases since your big sister has a history of unilateral hearing loss. We're not super concerned that something with pop up, but we're in good hands if it does :)

Some things I want to remember about you:

You can lift your head pretty well already. You get the hiccups about every other day. When you get mad or cry loudly, you have a build up to crying. You'll put your tongue to the roof of your mouth, get pink in the face, then start wailing. Luckily, you only cry like this when you're really hungry or having some tummy troubles. You ride in the car ok. Usually you fall asleep once the car is moving and music is on. If you are close to a feeding, you'll cry pretty loudly until we get to our destination. You went to church for the first time when you were exactly 6 days old. We have only gone to church and the doctor's office. Otherwise, you have not gone out of town yet. You won't celebrate a holiday until Halloween. You haven't smiled just yet, but you're getting really close! Big sister loves to get in your face, but you don't mind too much. Big brother either wants to pat your head or screams/cries because you are making noises*. Don't worry, he'll get over that someday :) Overall, both of them love you and are happy you're in the family!
*By noises, I mean any little grunt or squeak. If you're actually crying, he either runs to your side, or runs away crying

Lottie girl, I'm so glad you are here. Some days, I can't believe we are a party of five. You are a wonderful baby, and we can't wait to watch you grow and learn more about who you are! Love you dearly my Lottie Pop!

And some outtakes:

{Raise your hand if you just want to sleep}

{Chewing on that hand}

{Making spit bubbles}

{Big yawn for a little girl!}

{Mama, I'm tired. Are we done?}

{Big siblings in on the action}

{This is such a depiction of our life right now}
{David is being goofy/smiling, Lottie is on the verge of spitting up, and Jillian is semi-rolling her eyes}

{I tried to do a chair with a stuffed animal picture, but it didn't go super well}

{At least she's really cute! (Lottie, though the bear isn't too bad ;P)}

And a comparison:

{Left: Jillian 1/2012 Middle: David 1/2014 Right: Lottie 9/2016}

{Read Jillian's 1 Month Update Here}
{Read David's 1 Month Update Here}