Our little princess is 7 months old.

And it doesn't seem like it was that long ago that she was born! Time is flying too fast! The weekends just zoom by and I feel like we live in our weekends and try to fast forward through our weeks to get to the weekends when we can spend time together as a family. I am so looking forward to my summer vacation - a whole week off :) And then in january - 2 weeks off!

At 7 monhts old...

*Laura pulls to a standing position with ease.

*Once she is up, she's still very wobbly.

*She eats: peas, sweet potatoes (Her favorite!), banana, apples/applesauce, cantaloupe, pears, rice cereal, oatmeal, avacado...oh, and she tried a couple bites of carrot last night. I think next we'll try broccoli.

*She said "ma-ma" today! I'm sure she doesn't know ~what~ she's saying, but she said it ...over and over and over again. Lots of times it sounded like "mom's mams" so maybe she's not talking about me at all and is instead talking about her food? ha ha ha!

*She says "ba ba ba ba" all the time... comes out sounding like "bob" quite often. We'd like to know who Bob is... Maybe it's her duck?

*She has definitely entered the "I want my mommy" phase. She'll whine if I'm in sight, but she's not in my arms. Could be playing totally content on the floor and then if I walk by - bam. Whine for mommy. Whines when I leave her at daycare too.

*She still nurses a lot :) Morning, after work, as she falls to sleep, and again two more times in the night. Of course, during the weekends she nurses during the day too.

*She's been consistently taking just about 12 ounce a day at daycare... yeah, just 12 ounces. Same she's taken for a long time! We used to send four 3 ounce bottles, but then switched that to four 4 ounce bottles and most days she was just taking the three bottles - so now I send three 4 ounce bottles and let Lynne defrost a bag of milk if she wants a 4th bottle. Of course, some days she doesn't even take the full 12 ounces.

*She gives the best hugs! She'll just lean her head on your shoulder. She doesn't wrap her amrs around and cling for the hug, but you can definitely tell she's giving hugs :)

*She just got her first pass port ... for the cruise in January.

*She fits into a few of her 6 month outfits still, but is wearing a lot of 9 and 12 month summer clothes. I think they fit well because there aren't sleeves and pant legs to be too long.

*She wears a size 1 shoe still! Yeah, she's got little feet.

*She is still in her size medium diapers... even on the smallest setting for some of them! We had to take a short break from cloth (for a few weeks) because she had some nasty rash from them, but we got that straightened out and she's back in cloth by day, sposies by night.

*Her hair is growing in... you can see the new really light blonde stuff coming in under the long whispies she's got. ... still has a big old bald spot on the back though!

*She used to like wearing hats (or at least not bother with them) but yesterday she started taking them off ... guess that means more sunscreen now.

*She still scooches backwards when on her tummy. She can turn herself around to face the direction she wants to go, but then gets MAD when she goes backwards.

*She decided she likes her pacifier again for naps and falling asleep. She had stopped using it for a few weeks, but it's back again.

*No two nights are the same as far as sleep goes. Typical night now is in bed at 6:30-7pm. sometimes I get her up to nurse her before I go to bed. that buys me a few hours of solid sleep at the start of the night. She sometimes goes 4 hours. Other times it's just 2 hours. I feed her between 2-3 times each night. Twice most nights.


...I have pictures from today, but can't post them yet. Richie reformatted our computer today and we have to reload my photo editing software on before I can do more. I did take some though :) Stay tuned...

Gettin' down in the grass

Laura has seen grass before. She's sat in the grass before (momentarily) but today she sat and played - picked the grass - inspected the leaves - scooted around - and just in general had a good time. I was surprised she didn't try to put anything in her mouth while we were out!






This one I thought was cute - she was reaching for her daddy - who was on the tractor on the hill doing just what she is - stretching arms out wide.
I love this snapshot - She was watching her daddy work. I love how you can see her little bald spot and the flip of her hair in the back :)

We went on three walks this week...

Our first walk was Monday after work - we met Laura (a girl I work with) and her son David. We went on the trail and it was HOT! Wearing jeans was not a good idea. (didn't have my camera with me...)

Thursday, Katie (a girl I work with) came over with her boy Owen and Lori (another girl I work with...see the theme here?) and her daughter Isabella came also - we went for a walk around "the block"... it's a one mile loop on the road we live on.

Owen and his women...


Today, Laura and I walked to the next road over and visited a yard sale. We didn't get anything great, but we did find a few shirts for her and a couple magazines for me. I don't get why people have yardsales on FRIDAYS and saturdays... hello...then us working people can't go! The good stuff was gone yesterday ... oh well! I'll just have to keep an eye on craigslist and plan accordingly next time.

Underage Driving

We went to visit Grandma and Grandpa this weekend - but they weren't home. While we were there Laura wanted to drive Grandpa's truck :)



(Shh...don't tell Grandpa...he may be getting a picture as a surprise to him for Father's day)

Rice cereal made with applesauce...

AKA The first meal mommy let Laura do whatever she wanted with!

I can feed myself with my "lil' dipper"






Look at the mess mommy has to clean up...


But I sure am having fun!


I think I realized where the saying "gag me with a spoon" comes from!


There we go. Much better.




Ok mom...I like hats, but this is rediculous! I've had enough!



...She went right into the tub after this :)

Yesterday....

Laura pulled up from sitting to standing...twice! I missed it because I was in the shower, but she was sitting by a full laundry basket and grabbed ahold of the edge and stood up. One time she toppled to the side and the other time she folded right in half and ended up on her belly on top of the clothes - both times she ended up crying - I think she probably scared herself! (6 months 3 weeks)

And then last night she had a blast rolling from her back to her belly. This was the first time anyone has witnessed her doing that. The one and only other time I'm aware of that she rolled that direction is when I left her on her back in her room, left to do something and came back and she was on her belly...that was months ago though.

She'll be moving before we're ready... what will we be doing this weekend? Not sure, but we should be babyproofing!

How about a little black and white?

After we ate spare ribs and she ate rice cereal (that went all over her!) I sat her by the sink for a clean up and she was just loving on the mirror!

Gettin' Dirty with Daddy.

Ewe... I really should clean the screen door, huh? They were watching me grill pork spareribs for dinner. Yay! Summer is here if we have the grill out :)

(Just want to say I'm glad Laura didn't get as dirty as daddy did today... we had to have the septic pumped and buy a new pump!)

Passed Out.

A short while back, one of my readers asked for more sleeping pictures...

I got this one today and I just LOVE it! These are all the "things" she sleeps with at night (not the blankets though)... and I just love how after she fell asleep for her nap today things were scattered all over the place. She didn't fuss long before falling asleep - just 4 minutes or so of whining and then passed out.

My little cutie...

What a cutie!


Spent the weekend at Delta for Haven Camp. Laura was so off her schedule and she wasn't getting good naps, but she was pretty pleasant in between her fussy times. She has definitely started the whole separation anxiety ordeal - she didn't let Grammie hold her much without fussing... we're seeing it when I drop her off at daycare too.

Laura has had samples of the following foods to this point:
rice cereal (still not a fan)
bananas (some days she likes it, some days not so much.
peas - yuck to gerber much - yum to real peas mashed up!
cantaloupe - well, she ate it - but with a funny look on her face!
Next up: sweet potato and pears

Ugh - oh... she's going to be a shutter bug too!
Grabbing at my camera...

Does she look like her Great Grandpa?

We took "Great" Grandpa out to breakfast at IHOP on Saturday. Aunt Megan was with us too. We enjoyed a pretty yummy breakfast and Laura showed Grandpa how she eats her bananas ... well - no... really she showed him how she likes to reach for everything around her and didn't really get much in her - but she did make some great faces that got Grandpa laughing :)

We went to visit "Great" Grandma in the nursing home after breakfast. This was Laura's third time meeting her :)

I know everyone likes pics so...

Here's some more!


This was a couple weeks ago - we tried Laura with a sippy cup. She knows the spout goes in her mouth, but doesn't quite "get" what to do with it... I figure we can start letting her play with it so it gets familiar to her. The sooner we can be done with bottles, I figure...the better!


Sleep is getting better and better around here! Laura's bedtime is now 6:30 if we can accomodate it in the evenings... she is rubbing her eyes before then and definitely ready for bed that early. I don't like not getting to see her more in the evenings, but this past week since the new bedtime - she has been a new person - happy, smiley... and rarely a tear. Even at daycare she's better :)

The past few nights she hasn't even cried much overnight when she wakes up - more just a little fussing and then back to sleep (unless it's one of the times I actually get up and still feed her). Last night she ate at 6:30pm as she nursed to sleep - fussed for less than a minute before 9:30 - fussed for less than a minute at 10pm - up to eat at 12:30 - fussed for a couple minutes at 5:10am and then back to sleep until she was up for the day at 6! Wow! Best night in a long time! :)

Few Pics

Another day at the pool :) We found a nice Lifeguard named Nicole who enjoys photography and very much wanted to take Laura's pics!


Life's So Bright! Laura and I went for a walk on Sunday in the really nice weather. She sat like this the whole way - that left hand up getting the breeze running through her fingers. Her hair was just a blowing the whole way. She didn't try to remove those sunglasses once!

Progress!

Second night:
Cried for 30 minutes.
Up to eat about 4 hours later.
Up to fuss (not outright cry) about 2 hours later - lasted maybe 15 minutes.
Up to eat about 2.5 hours later.
Then to sleep for 2 more hours.

Third night:
... I just laid her down and she babbled to her dolly and stuffed piggy for about 2 minutes - then out. Not another word! Wow!

We'll see how tomorrow goes - we're going out of town for the weekend. I plan to take the same sheet that's in her crib now to put in the bottom of the pack-n-play as well as the same toys she's had each night.

Didn't want to do it...but finally did.

"Cry it out"... a curse word in many homes.

We (I) didn't want to go this route with getting Laura to sleep. I know it's important for a baby to learn to self soothe and be able to put themselves to sleep. Laura has from day 1 been a baby who needs motion for soothing - we used a lot of the "S's" in the Happiest Baby on the Block book. She needed the swaying and the shooshing... did this create a monster?

Laura has needed to be rocked/walked to sleep almost since then. Very rarely would we lay her down and be able to let her fall asleep on her own (or with a pacifier).

Before Easter, we had a great stretch of sleep habits - she was nursing to sleep at around 8pm and getting up just once at around 2-3am to eat, then back to sleep until 6 or so. That all changed Easter weekend - she was up 4-6 times a night! Ugh... not sure if it was teeth - or hunger - or just that she was waking up and not knowing what to do if mommy and daddy weren't right there to rock her nurse her or walk her back to sleep.

I was okay with nursing her many times at night if it was hunger - but this week she has proved to me (or what I think is proving to me) that it's not hunger per se... this week she has been choosing to refuse her bottles at daycare - and partake in the all night buffet at "mom's diner"... well, sorry to say, but Lynne's bottle diner is open all day! Two days in a row Laura took just 8 ounces total at daycare. Then she was up every hour and 45 minutes to 2 hours overnight. Ugh. Momma is tired!
Here's what a typical night has looked like for the past 2+ weeks:
7:45pm nursed to sleep
8:30pm - awake fussing - mommy picked her up and comforted her
9:20pm - fussy - mommy picked her up and comforted her
11:30pm - awake to eat
1:30am - awake to eat
3:20am - awake to eat
5:30am - awake to eat and didn't really go back to sleep

I decided we needed to change something... last night we let Laura "cry it out"... not the approach I wanted to take, but my sweet baby is exhausted. Her naps have become short little 20 minute cat naps that she wakes up from in a panicky scream... so this was how last night went...

6:10pm 3 ounce bottle (she was too distracted to eat from mom's diner)
6:20pm Put into crib happy and awake with a doll, a stuffed piggy, a couple burp cloths, and a pacifier
6:23pm She had been babbling happily for 3 minutes... then...
6:45pm She had been screaming and crying for the past 22 minutes... then...
Silence... until
11:40pm! I fed her and she went right back to sleep
1:17am awake and expecting me to come to her... but I resisted...
1:40am She had been awake and crying out, but not really all out pissed off screaming
1:44am - after 4 minutes of outright screaming and crying - silence...
until...
3:40am I fed her and she was back to sleep until 6:10am

The best part... today at daycare she took all 4 of her bottles AND took 3 naps! 3 good naps! a long morning nap, a decent afternoon nap and she was taking her evening snooze when I picked her up at 4:30!

Tonight she was in bed again at 6:30 and she cried for 30 minutes... we'll see how the rest of the night goes.

I know Laura needs the good chunks of sleep as much as I do so hopefully she'll continue with good naps, eating during the day, and continue being her happy normal self :) She's been a grumpy fuss-butt during the day lately - but Lynne said she was back to normal today with getting good naps :) YAY!

What I am going to find hard now though... is not seeing my baby girl nearly at all...now that her bedtime has moved so much earlier ... out of 24 hours - I'll be seeing her at most only about 5 of those hours :( Makes me really wish I could stay home...

Up twice overnight and fussed a bit after the first time - I wisened up and realized maybe she's having a hard time breathing flat (she seems to have that same stuffy nose thing that everyone - myself included - has caught this past week)..... I dug out her bouncer chair at 1:45am (which she is getting way too big for!) and she's passed out in that... propped up she's sleeping fine :)

Anyone have suggestions for once she's really outgrown that bouncer? Maybe we just need to get some blocks and hoist the crib up on one end...

She found her voice again today... at 5:30am and was up for the day! Ugh! Sooo... tired!

After each feeding (midnightish, 3ish, 5:30ish) she didn't go back to sleep easily - laid in her crib fussing for about a half hour each time... hopefully that was from the shots yesterday.

6 month visit

Laura saw the doctor today for her well visit.

Stats:
17 pounds even...that's 90th percentile
26.6 inches long ... that's 95th percenitle

We were told she's happy and healthy and thriving and the doctor made no comments that she ~has~ to be on solids anytime soon - (unlike the NP that we had at her 4 month check up!) I did tell him she did NOT like the rice cereal and he said if it seems to be a taste aversion - we can try a veggie first, and then mix that with the cereal. But he said if it's a developmental thing - don't worry about it and she'll do better in a little while longer. I did pick up an avacado at the store for her... when that gets ripe we'll try that.

She got 2 shots today and the oral vaccine too.
Next time (9 months) she doesn't get any :)
She did really well with them - cried during them, but quieted down really well and was very happy all evening long :)

The little white dot on Laura's gum... Dr said it's not a tooth - I think he said it's a clogged saliva thingy... (not sure the real term he used!)

I still want to believe that the terrible diaper rash from the big nasty poo she had along with the terrible nights (waking 4-6 times) since Easter are related to teething - but Dr doesn't think so...
I'm happy to say Laura was only up 2 times last night though. When I woke up at 1:15 to feed her, I felt like a new woman! Ah, what a solid 4 hours of sleep will do for you!

Speaking of sleep - I'm headed there now!