Eight Months.

My beautiful, amazing baby girl.  I cannot believe that 8 months has flown by.  You are currently in your bouncer, screaming with joy.  So many things make you happy.  When I look at you, screams of joy.  If the dogs run by you, screams of joy.  Everything is just so wonderful for you; you are so full of happiness and joy.

This last month has been full of firsts for you.  First, we had your first Halloween.  You were a little pink monster, and you were pretty stinkin’ cute!

We also had many new foods this month (bananas, pears, carrots, and avocado), as well as your first Thanksgiving, which, honestly, wasn’t that exciting for you.  It was super exciting for Momma and Daddy though because we got to spend four whole days with you, something we don’t get to do or enjoy often enough.  

You do not like avocado.

Bananas are good...

...and so are carrots!

You also got to witness Daddy’s goofiness on Thanksgiving.  You were not amused.  

Your personality is starting to shine through.  You crack me and dad up every day with your antics.  You love to make us smile, and we love to make you smile.  You’ve just started to wave at people, and you’re pretty good at it.  You started with the finger movement, and not really sure of yourself when you did it, kind of like you were afraid to wave.  Now you get the whole arm going and wave at people excitedly all the time.  Hello, goodbye, it doesn’t matter, you just love to wave!  You babble a lot.  You still only say “Dada” on a regular basis, and sometimes, “nana”.  No “mama” yet, but I’m thinking you’re just holding out until Christmas!

We no longer have a mirror to walk by in our hallway since we moved.  I think this makes you a little sad, and I think you may actually miss the baby in the mirror.  We are working on it though, don’t worry.  I think you are lonely a lot, which makes me really sad.  You have other kids to play with at daycare all day, and I think you tolerate me on weeknights, but on the weekend, if you see a baby on TV, out and about, or even the baby on the diaper box, you always reach for them.  You seem so loving and caring to all babies and children, no matter their size.  You just want someone to hang out with.  Lilly’s mom and I keep talking about play dates, but we still haven’t fully moved in, and our house still smells somewhat funny, so I haven’t really pushed the idea.

Monday you start in a new classroom at daycare.  I’m sad and happy about this.  I am sad because we really like your morning teachers.  We’ve even had one come babysit for us, and she cried when she found out you were leaving her room.  They spend most of your day with you, and you always seem happy to see your morning teachers.  I am happy because we are finally getting away from your afternoon teacher.  I don’t like her because she doesn’t listen to what you need or what I want to happen for you, you only seem to tolerate her too, you never seem overly ecstatic to see her like you do your morning teachers.  Luckily, they are moving Lilly with you, so you two will be together.  You will be with many “older” babies, but I think they are all still under a year, so they are not much older—just developmentally more where you are headed.

You have stopped sleeping through the night, and there is rarely a night where you stay in your crib the entire time.  It’s getting super exhausting, but you seem to be doing better sleeping in our bed, and you don’t need the constant attention that you used to, which kept us up all night long.  It seems like every few hours you are hungry, so hopefully it’s just a growth spurt, and it won’t last forever.  It may also be that you’re lonely, although it’s no different from your room at our other house.  Maybe we need to let the dogs sleep in your room, so you don’t feel so alone.

I took you out a few weekends ago to try to get some good fall pictures of you, but I think you were mad that Daddy wasn’t there, and you weren’t very cooperative.  You ate a bunch of leaves (I think because they were crunchy) and that made you sick, which made it even more difficult for you to want to be there.  Oh well, I tried.

I am super excited for next month because it will be your very first Christmas.  We got you a few presents, so I hope you like them.  This weekend we are supposed to take you to see Santa, so I hope he doesn’t scare you too bad.

I love you so much!

Love,

Momma

Seven Months

Today you are seven months old.  Seven.  Wow.  Over half a year old.  Where is the time going?

 It seems like so much has changed in the last month, but at the same time, not much has changed.  I think we can chalk that up to our super crazy month.  We were all sick off and on for a 3 ½ week period.  If one of us wasn’t sick, the other two were, and at one point we all were.  On top of me and daddy working, daddy going to school, trying to move, things going wrong at both houses putting everything on hold, and leaving us with an uncomfortable place to live, no matter which house we stayed at, the sickness was too much for everyone, and I’m pretty sure we all lost some (or all) of our marbles.  I won’t lie.

You have been difficult this month, but I attribute that to the above statements.  You have been extremely clingy, to the point where I cannot sleep a full night, because you refuse to sleep without being held very closely.  This only applies to nighttime, and you are fine at daycare and into the evenings, but once its bedtime, all bets are off.  You turn into a shrieking, crying, nightmare of a child.  The sad part is no one believes me because you are so good the rest of the time.  Like right now, for instance, you are happily playing on the floor, by yourself, while I write this, and while daddy is working at the other house to get all of our stuff packed.  Come tonight, if we even get you as far as sleeping in your swing (because there is no getting you in your crib right now) you will wake up in 2-3 hours screaming your head off until we take you out and bring you into bed with us.  You may be little, but you manage to take up 50% of the bed, leaving daddy and I hanging off the edges.

At your 6 month check up with the doctors, you weighed 15 ½ lbs.  You are getting to be so big.  It took 3 of us and about 5 minutes of you squirming on the scale to get that weight, and it’s a rough estimate.  That’s the number we all saw the most often, because you were squirming so much, and trying to communicate with everyone around you that the numbers were going crazy.  Everyone commented on how pleasant you were.  You had to get shots, which is always traumatic, but they also threw in a flu shot, which I know was a pain.  Daddy had one a few weeks earlier, and he complained for a week about how much it hurt after the shot.  Wouldn’t you know it, this was also around the time where we “lost” all your medications for a few days, and therefore couldn’t give you relief when you needed it.  You were not so pleasant then.

Your doctor says you need to be on your knees and working towards crawling more, but I haven’t really listened much to that.  You are pretty mobile at this point by army crawling or rolling around and that’s just fine with me.  You want to move your legs, not your arms, and she told me to not let you sit in your bouncy chair, and make you have more floor time.  I say, screw that!  You love your bouncy chair, you love bouncing, and turning around, and playing with all the toys.  I understand that you need to develop, but I was told to basically take away your favorite thing, and only use it in emergencies, like if I had to answer the door, or go to the bathroom, and that’s it.  I think you are developing just fine.  I am not a big fan of doctors right now, or their charts.  All I’ve read is that babies develop on their own, I’m fine with that, and I’m patient.  Hell, most things I’ve read say you should have your first tooth right now, and while you’ve acted like you’re going to have some soon… you’ve been doing it for months.  What are they going to tell me next, that I need to surgically make your teeth come out?  You just take your time, and do what you need to do, kiddo.

We started on solid foods this month.  Well, more solid than the cereal that you’ve been getting in your bottle.  The first thing we tried was some acorn squash.  I steamed it, and pureed it myself and you loved it.  You had it for a few days, and with no reaction.  Next we tried butternut squash.  The doctor said I needed to start to not puree it and mash it with a fork to get you used to chewing.  I took a potato masher, and left some chunks, and you were not thrilled with them, but ate it anyway.  I think you liked the flavor of the acorn squash better, but next time, we are moving on to another food, so let the adventuring begin!

You “talk” more now.  You say dada a lot, and daddy, of course loves it.  Sometimes you say, what sounds like “hi, dada!” and I think that is his favorite.  No momma yet, but we will get there.  We were discussing tonight how you kindly have something for each of us.  I get all the kisses, and no “momma”, and he gets all the “dada” but no kisses.  It’s nice of you to share the love for each of us individually.  Every now and then you will nibble on his nose, just like you used to, when you were hungry, and I think that melts his heart the most

You still love your puppies, and they love you.  You giggle at them whenever they do pretty much anything.  I don’t think Landon can wait until you can actually play with him; he gets so excited when you do, so I know you two will have a great friendship.  Bath time is still pretty much the best thing in your world.  I’m pretty sure that if you didn’t wrinkle up like a little raisin, we could leave you in your tub for hours, just splish-splashin’ away.  You also love to touch faces.  I think you like how each one feels different; you love to squeeze noses until they honk (some people need a little “reminder” that that’s what happens when a nose gets pinched) and squishing cheeks in your fingers.  You love to explore new things. 

Halloween is tomorrow, and I am so excited to dress you up for it.  It is my favorite holiday, so I hope you at least enjoy it a little bit.  You are going to be a pink monster.  I had picked out a frog costume for you last year, before we knew that you were going to be a girl, but I got a 6-9 month size, thinking it would fit you perfect, but you are still in some 0-3 month stuff, and just barely fitting into some 3-6 month stuff, so that was pretty much not going to happen.  You will be adorably cute no matter what though.   I just hope that the costume is comfortable so you can wear it most of the night, so we can show you off it in, and that it doesn’t irritate you too badly.

I love you so much!

 

Love,

Momma

Six Months

Today you turned 6 months old.  Half a year.  The time has flown by.  I can’t believe how old and big you are getting on me, and so fast too.  It makes me a little sad that you are growing up so seemingly fast, but it is all part of life.

No matter where we go people love you.  You are usually smiling.  You seem to like old men the best.  You always flirt with them, and giggle and coo, and of course, flash your gorgeous smile.  We went to Chili’s last Monday because it was their annual St. Jude’s night.  We were there for almost 3 hours.  It was crowded, and noisy, but you were so good.  Good enough for some of the staff to come over and tell us how good you were, as if we don’t know!  We were with some of daddy’s work friends, and so they all got to see you, and a few got to love on you.  Not once did you get fussy.

Most days you are an easy baby.  I think it’s only when you don’t feel too well is when you’re really fussy, and even then, it’s not too bad.  We are such lucky parents.  You are such a joy to have around.  So far, you are good-natured, happy, go to bed (for the most part) on time, and without much fight, you try not to wake us up in the middle of the night, and you are always ready for cuddles!  We really couldn’t ask for better.

At day care you have made a friend, her name is Lilly.  She is about 3 or 4 weeks younger than you are, but you would never guess it for her size.  You two like to hang out on the floor and play with toys.  Her mom told me how you guys were playing a few weeks ago, and I didn’t get to see it until this week, and I must say, it is pretty sweet how you two are to each other.  One morning, we came in, and your teacher was already there, holding her, and you reached out and gave her a big wet kiss.  It almost brought tears to my eyes; it was such a beautiful moment.  Another day she came in right about when we did, you looked at her, took a hold of her dress, as if to say, “I love your outfit,” and you smiled at her.  You are getting such a personality.  We saw pictures last Friday of you two playing together, and you both had such big smiles on your faces.  I’m glad you’re able to make friends easily.  I love the fact that you are so loving and so caring already.

One of the downsides to this month was that we thought that you had some sort of bladder / urinary tract infection.  I will say right now, I am so sorry we had to put you through that.  We still don’t know what the problem is, but the way they test is horrible.  They had to put a needle into your bladder, and of course, they have your parent (only I was there) hold you down while they do it.  It was awful.  You cried, before, during, and even after when I was holding you, I almost cried right along with you, but I tried my hardest to stay strong.  It’s been almost a week, and I still feel bad that we put you through it, although I am thankful that nothing was wrong.

Today we signed a lease on a new (to us) house.  This one is bigger, and we won’t be living in fear that we may have to move on a whim because something went wrong.  You are getting the bigger room because we want you to have all the space you need for all the toys that you have.  Don’t worry though; I am sure your stuff will still be all over the house so that no matter where we are, you are entertained.  My biggest fear at this point is that the place has stairs, steep ones, and although you aren’t walking yet, they make me a little uneasy.  I’m going to be a nervous wreck anytime I walk on them with you.  I’m a nervous wreck walking on stairs alone.  Another concern I have is that the cat, Jack, will be in the house with us.  Since you were born, he has been living in the garage.  He likes it, the dogs can’t get him or his food, and that’s just the way it’s been.  This new house has no garage, and the storage addition to the house has no ventilation.  You are not a huge fan of Jack by any means, and I don’t think he is a huge fan of you either, so it should be interesting.  I hope that we won’t be dealing with tear-filled nights like tonight, every night.  Maybe you two can just leave each other alone.  I am super excited about finally getting to decorate your room the way it deserves to be decorated.  We have had a ton of stuff to put on the walls for your room since before you were born, but knew that where we are now, was not the place to put them.  This new place feels like home, even though we aren't living in it.  I cannot wait to personalize your living space, and show you how much we love you!

At this point in your life, we are starting to explore food.  So far, we've just experimented with cereal.  Most of it ends up your nose, so we have to work on that, but you really just want to help, and get in there.  You love to do things with your hands, period.  You love sitting in the bathtub splashing water, you love grabbing toys, you enjoy just making grabbing motions with your hands on various surfaces, and you get a little irritated when we try to help you hold your bottle, because you can do it!  I love your chubby little hands, and all that they are exploring.  You never stay in the same place for long, not even when you’re sleeping.  You are never in the same area we left you in the next morning.  

I love waking up to your face, even at 3 am, because I know that these moments where you need me, and you want me and only me, won’t last forever.  I love being your comfort.  I love the fact that you smile every morning when I come to see you, and most of the time if you are upset, and I come to get you, that makes everything better.  I love everything about you.  I am your world, and you are mine.  Occasionally I share you with dad too… but not too much.  

Love,

Momma

Sweet, or sickening?

I don't know if I just witnessed the sweetest, or the most disgusting thing ever. I had just put Quinn into her swing, and she spit up (a fair amount) all over her shoulder, and it was starting to run down her front. No burp cloth in sight, I had to go to the other room to grab one, and as I leave I hear the noise of a dog licking her. I yell at Landon to stop, come back to the room with burp cloth in hand, and dog and baby have bigger smiles than I have ever seen on either one of them... and no puke for me to clean up.

Ugh.

First Trip to the Zoo

Yesterday, we took you on your first trip to the Tulsa Zoo.  Luckily, you will never remember this trip, and you slept through most of it, because long-story short, it sucked.

You looked really cute though:

We went to the zoo with Nana Tracey, and Grandpa.  They had 4 free passes to the zoo, it’s Labor Day weekend, the zoo’s hours were going to be cut down after today, and it was supposed to be nice, so we figured, well, why not?

We get there, and literally, a quarter of the main exhibits are closed, maybe more.  We all grumble before we walk in, but we didn’t pay, so it wasn’t that tragic.  We got there about 9 am, and it was hot.  We were going to do all the outside exhibits first, and then move to inside, but most of the inside ones were the closed ones, so that didn’t work out for us, so we just started following the path.  Our first exhibit was the monkeys!  We were super excited for you to see them because all week daddy had been acting like one, and making noise, and you loved it.  While the monkeys were quite entertaining, and a little bit of show-offs, you really weren’t interested, and within 2 minutes of you being lifted onto daddy’s shoulders you had spit-up on him, his hat, his back, and his front, so he was not a happy camper.  Moved on from the monkeys. 

You slept pretty much the remainder of the day, and when you were awake showed no real interest in anything much.  Can’t say I blame you for sleeping, the main exhibits that were open most of the smaller exhibits within them were either closed for cleaning, or closed for renovation.  Lame.  It was also hot.  Really hot.  It was only 94°, but because of the humidity, it was recorded as feeling like 111°.  We all felt like we were going to die, and ended up skipping the last 1/3 of the zoo.

I can just say I’m glad you slept through most of it, and even if you hadn’t I’m glad that you will probably never remember this trip, as it probably would have ruined your zoo experiences for life.

The end.

Love,

Momma