I'm a bit late this month but what else is new?! With the school semester coming to an end and the holidays I've been a busy girl. Mady turned seven months on the 12th and I cannot believe how much has changed from a month ago. She is our little mover and shaker now. She has the army crawl down. In the past couple of days she has gotten up a lot more on her knees but she can't quite crawl on them yet. It may not be too much longer now. She also loves to stand up and hold on to the coffee table and is getting better at pulling up. The other day we were in her room playing before bath time and she was playing by her bookcase with her books. I went to the closet to take some clothes out that didn't fit her anymore and when I turned around she was standing up holding on to the bookcase! Can't leave her unwatched in there anymore!
She is still a happy little girl and every time we go out it never fails she smiles at everyone and I always hear the comment "what a happy baby!" She is also very proud of herself lately for figuring out how to click her tongue and will do it over and over again with a huge smile that shows she is so proud of herself for the big accomplishment. Just today she waved back at us which is something I had been working on with her for a while and it felt so awesome to see her do it! I swear she said "hi" too which is what I say when I wave at her, haha. She can also splash in the water during bathtime when I say splash and shake her rattle when I say shake.
As for her solids she is on three meals a day and loves everything. I can't really tell what her favorite food is because she eats it all!
Christmas is just a few days away and we are so happy to be spending it with our baby girl. We are going to spend Christmas day here at home and then we'll head down to Port Arthur the next day to celebrate the holiday with our families. Wish everyone a great holiday and hope you are feeling as blessed as we are this Christmas season.
She's not Santa's biggest fan
Can we go home now? (After our visit to see Santa)
Thanksgiving has passed and we had so much to be thankful for this year. Nick had to work so my parents came up here and spent it with us and we had a great time. Now we are in my favorite time of year and I am so excited to have Mady this year to spend it with. I love everything about Christmas. The lights, decorations, spending time with friends and family, and reflecting on the whole reason for the season. This year we are so blessed to have our little girl with us. I'm a bit behind with her six month stats. She had her doctor appointment over a week ago. Better late than never:
Weight: 16 lbs (50th percentile)
Height: 24.5 inches (7th percentile, yes she is our short little girl)
Head size: 16.5 cm (20th percentile)
In the last couple of weeks she's really started to get into a great schedule. I heard it would just happen around six months and thankfully it did. She usually has two naps during the day and is down around 7:45 at night and sleeps until around 7:30 in the morning. She is doing really well with her solids now too. She eats solids twice a day and nurses four times. Once in the morning which is usually some oatmeal and fruit and then a vegetable for dinner. We'll move up to three meals soon when it looks like she's ready. She loves to eat her solids and gets so excited when she sees us coming with the bowl and starts banging her hand against the table!
She's really changed since the last six month post. She now will lunge forward on all fours and rock back and forth but not moving anywhere quite yet. She also does a type of army crawl and though she doesn't get very far she is able to get to a toy that she wants that is fairly close. She gets so frustrated when she can't get there. She also loves to stand up and hold on to our coffee table. She would be happy doing that all day and gets mad when I pull her away. She's getting better and better at pulling up on the table.
She also has started reaching for us and I have to say it melts my heart everytime she does it. She especially does it when she's getting tired. She is such a sweetheart and so much fun. She loves to be tickled (especially by her daddy) and we can get some really good laughs out of her. Another one of her favorite past times is sucking on her toes. Wait until I use this against her when she grows up, haha. Well, just a couple of more weeks and I'll be writing her seven month post. Wow....
I am finishing a wonderful 3 days away from work on an actual weekend. The best part of it all, was that we had no plans. We had 3 days at home with nothing to do. This was the first few days I have been really able to experience Mady in the stage she is in now. She's much more aware of everything, and knows what she wants and how to get what she want. Whether she wants to be held, wants this toy, or whatever....she knows what to do. I had a great 3 days "off" with the family, but I must admit that I was exhausted at times. Seeing what Alex does every day is astonishing. She is a super-mom who never complains about being tired or worrying about the list of things she has to do. Mady keeps her on her toes and she always makes sure she comes first. I had a great time with them this weekend, and came away with a greater respect for her and the job she does with Mady.
Our little girl is six months old today! Time flies when you're having fun and we have been having some fun with her. She is starting to form such a personality and it is so fun watching her grow everyday. Her six month doctor appointment isn't until next week so no stats yet.
We started solids a couple of weeks ago and it's been a slow process. We started with oatmeal for a few days and then followed that with a few days of sweet potato and avocado. She didn't seem to like any of those and would just cough and make the most awful faces. It didn't seem to be getting any better so I decided to give it a break and try again in a few days. Well today we started up again with pears and either she really loves pears or she is getting better at eating solids because she loved it and was scarfing it all down! She kept opening her mouth and trying to grab at the bowl. We'll keep on with pears for a few days and move on to something else and see how that goes.
She has been sitting on her own for a while and now prefers that over anything else. She loves sitting up and playing with her toys and watching everything around here. She also loves to pull up when you grab her hands and stand up. Whenever I grab her hands she immediately starts pulling up. She is not a big fan of laying down and every time I lay her down to practice her rolling and scooting she cries. She'll end up being one of those babies who never crawls and goes straight to walking.
Her personality is definitely showing and she already knows how to use her charm and work a room. It never fails, every time we go somewhere someone stops to see her and she smiles and babbles at them and they just eat it up. Today we were out starting some Christmas shopping and she was working the whole store. All of the employees were around her and she was smiling and talking and they were loving it. I don't know what that means for what we have in store!
And for the best part...pictures! We got a DSLR camera a week ago and the amount of pictures we've taken has definitely gone up since then. I'm loving it a lot more than I thought I would!
She loves to swing at the park
One of her favorite things to do is knock down the blocks
We had the cutest little chipmunk this Halloween. Everybody that meets Mady always comments on her big cheeks so we knew her halloween costume needed to be something that could go along with that and what would be better than a chipmunk? Thanks to my wonderful friend Mindy, we were able to make it ourselves and I think it came out great! She had a lot of fun watching all the kids coming to the house but no candy for her this year!
We had another big first around here yesterday. Mady had her first taste of solids. She won't be six months for another ten days but she started taking a big interest in watching us eat and smacking her lips. We gave her some oatmeal and as you can see from the video she didn't seem to like it very much. She did much better today and actually swallowed some. We'll give it to her again tomorrow and then I think we'll move on and try avocado. Maybe it's just the taste she doesn't quite like.
This little girl turned five months old today! One more month and we'll be half way to a year. Wow...
No doctor visit this month so I'm not sure of her stats but I'm assuming she's over 15 pounds now and I don't think she's grown too much taller from last month. She is changing every day and I always wonder what new thing she'll be doing today. She is becoming a pro at sitting on her own and guess what? As of yesterday she has now mastered rolling from back to tummy! She is a rolling machine now and I'm now going to have to keep an eye on her. I think gone are the days where I could leave her to play on her playmat while I got a few things done around the house.
She is also doing this funny thing where she gasps like she is being surprised over and over again when she gets excited. It's so funny. She is reaching out at everything, and she loves to sit in her bumbo watching the water flow in the sink while I was dishes.
I'm starting to think about solids since we'll be starting her on them sometime this month. Our pediatrician recommended waiting as close to six months as we could. Since she's been doing fine on just milk and hasn't really shown much interest I haven't thought about starting her on them quite yet but now she's five months old and considering how fast this last month flew by I need to start thinking about it. She's also starting to pay more attention to us while we eat and just yesterday she was smacking her lips a little while I ate, haha. I'm going to make all her food so we'll see how that goes!
Mady has had a lot of visitors these past couple of weeks. It's been like a family parade through our house and we loved it! First, Mady's Aunt Brittney and her cousins, Beau and Claire came for the weekend. We had a great time hanging out with them and Brittney was awesome enough to watch the three of them while Nick and I went to a concert. I love watching the three of them together and it will be so fun watching them grow up.
Mimi came by the next weekend and we headed over to Canton. I heard so many things about it but had never been. I can't believe how much stuff they have out there. I don't even know if we saw it all but Mady walked away with a few extra bows!
Next up were my parents. They watched her while I had class and Nick worked. Mady took her first trip to the pumpkin patch. She was a bit of a crank but we were still able to get some good pictures.
Even my nephew Christian came by for a night! I think Mady loved all the attention and I know we had fun seeing everyone. Not to mention the few dates we got out of it too!
As for Mady and her latest accomplishments she has now started sitting on her own. She will still fall over after a minute or so but she's getting better everyday. I wasn't quite ready for that one and I can't get over how fast she's growing up. She still has only rolled from her back to her tummy once but is a pro at going from her tummy to her back. She just shows no interest in wanting to do that! Her personality is really starting to show too. She is such a happy baby and smiles all the time.
I can't get over how much love you can have for your children. Everyday we are so blessed to have her with us.
Well I keep telling myself that I'm going to blog posts besides her monthly updates but for some reason I always put it off or find something else to do. I'm going to try and change that so let's hope the next post isn't the five month post!
Well Mady turned four months old last Monday and she is growing so fast. It seems that she learns something new everyday. She went to the doctor Friday and had to get shots again :( Poor baby cried so hard but luckily she didn't have any bad reactions. She was just a little fussy and more clingy (which mommy didn't mind). Here are her stats:
She's my little chunk and I love it! She is now rolling from tummy to back everyday now but we have yet to go from back to tummy. She rolls to the side a lot but just can't go all the way to her tummy, although she hates being on her tummy so I don't know if she'll ever do it! She reaches for everything and it has to go straight to her mouth. I think she may have started teething but I probably won't see anything for a while. She's chewing on everything and drooling like crazy! I have to put a bib on her now so she doesn't soak all of her shirts.
Lately her favorite thing is Lucy. She LOVES Lucy and follows her everywhere with her eyes. Anytime Lucy comes around she reaches out to touch her and when she does she loves to pet her. Lucy has a new best friend although I'm not sure the feelings are mutual. Every time I sit Mady next to Lucy to pet her she gets up and goes to lay down two feet away. Poor Mady, but I think she may be warming up to her because she's getting attention from her now.
Mady is also starting to laugh and it is the cutest thing ever and warms my heart every time she does it. Right now we have to work hard at getting them and what worked last time doesn't necessarily work the next time but we try our best.
And for the best part. Here are some latest pictures:
I have been a really bad blogger lately. This is suppose to be her three month post (but she turned three months two weeks ago). This has just been such a busy month for us and before I knew it we are now at the end of August! At the beginning of the month Mady made her first five and a half hour car ride to Port Arthur. We were there for about a week and the time just flew by. We were busy everyday visiting with friends and family and there was never a dull moment. Even my aunt and uncle from Mexico came in town to see Mady and celebrate my mom's birthday! Mady was also baptized at our church down there and it was great being able to celebrate that with everyone.
Here are a few pictures from our time down there:
As for her recent milestones, Mady is now reaching out and playing with her toys on her playmat. She loves to grab them and move them around. I love hearing the rattles moving around when I am in the kitchen doing something. She also has really good head control so we can hold her own in the bumbo and we just started putting her in the highchair this week so she can sit up with the adults when we eat dinner. She also loves being held so that she can look out at everything. Right now we get tons of smiles from her, especially when you sing to her, but our giggles are few and far between. I can't wait until I get a big belly laugh from her because the little giggles we do get are so cute. Here are some videos of her.....
The first video was when she started grabbing things and the second one was her laughing a bit with a funny ending when she noticed the camera.
Right now we are still facing the 45 minute (or 30 minute) intruder when it comes to her naps. I have tried to get her back down but many times it doesn't work. On the rare occasions she will go down for a couple of hours. It's a work in progress and I'm hoping that eventually we work it out or she just grows out of it. She is still on prevacid for her reflux and it still is helping her a lot. While I hate that she has to take medicine twice a day everyday, it helps her so much and makes her a much happier baby and that is worth it to me.
I start teaching next Tuesday and two of my three classes didn't fill up so they were cancelled which leaves me with my one class at 8:00. It was disappointing but I have to admit I was a little relieved too because I was getting a little nervous, anxious, and sad that I was going to be leaving her for most of the day. I know, I know, it's only two days a week so I need to get over it but this will help me ease into it better.
Our baby girl is going to be four months in just a few weeks and I cannot believe it. Hopefully I get that post out sooner!
Well Mady had her two month appointment last Monday (she was a couple of weeks past two months) and here are her stats:
Weight: 12lbs 2 oz (60th percentile)
Height: 23 inches (50th percentile)
Head Size: 15 inches (25th percentile)
She has a tiny little peanut head! She got three shots when she was there and it was one of the saddest things I have ever seen. The minute the nurse stabbed her (yes, stabbed her!) with the needle, her eyes opened wide, she dropped her paci, and then started screaming! It was a cry I have never heard before and it just broke my heart. I wanted to tell the nurse to just forget the other two and that we were leaving but of course I couldn't and I had to watch her get two more. Poor thing was still sniffling when we got home. She got extra spoiled that day and was in her mommy's arms a lot.
As for her reflux, it wasn't getting much better with the maalox or the prescription medicine so at her appointment we decided to put her on prevacid and see how that worked. Since then, she has been a different baby. She is much more content and I am so happy to see that it is working. Putting her down for naps and bedtime is a lot easier. It would take her forever to settle down and after a lot of crying she would finally go down. We are still dealing with the 45 minute intruder as far as her daytime naps go. 45 minutes comes and she is up and while it wouldn't bother me if she was really awake and rested, she is still tired and cranky but won't go back down. It is definitely getting better and we are getting more longer naps than we use to so maybe we are turning that corner as well. We'll see...
The past couple of days she has discovered her voice and now all she does is talk. She loves when you talk and sing to her and she will just talk right back to you. It is the cutest thing! She also talks to her butterflies on her gym, and the mobile on her swing, and all of the ceiling fans. I think she might be a talker when she grows up! While she has learned she has a voice, she has forgotten how to roll over! She did it for a few days like a pro. Everytime that I put her on her tummy she would just roll back over on her back but now she just can't do it. She gets so frustrated too because she wants to get on her back and she tries so hard but she just can't do it anymore! It'll come back to her eventually, lol.
I can't believe that we'll have a three month old in just a couple of weeks! Below are some of her latest pictures.
Yesterday, Mady rolled over for the first time, while on tummy time watching Ellen. She gave me no indication she was about to do it, and she hasn't really been trying to before yesterday. I couldn't catch it on camera, and the other bad thing, Nick was at work. This morning, Nick got to see it and she did it a third time on camera. Please excuse my singing and me and her Aunt Dee's excitement.
Well Mady is now two months old and I don't know where the time is going. She is now smiling so much and I swear, those smiles are worth everything and make up for all the times when she is crying and you have no idea what to do. Mady had to go to the doctor yesterday, not for her two month appointment, but because the last few days we noticed she has been really fussy, and having a real hard time going down for bed. We had a feeling it had something to do with gas or reflux because she had a lot of burps which would relieve her for a while and then the crying would start again, and she would constantly arch her back. It was so hard when she would cry and cry and there was nothing I could do to stop it. She sounded so uncomfortable and I knew it wasn't normal so we went in to the doctor. It looks like she does have a case of reflux and they told me to cut dairy from my diet and try giving her some maalox to see how that goes. If that doesn't work then we have to start her on a reflux medicine :( So far it seems like she is feeling better but it's only been one day.
Besides that, she is learning new things everyday. She is discovering that she has these marvelous things called hands and wants sooooo badly to put that thumb in her mouth but she can't quite do it yet. She is exploring everything with her eyes and loves looking around at everything. She talks to these decorations that hang from the ceiling in her room everyday. I wonder what they tell her because it sure does seem funny! She also loves her bath time, and is just all smiles and splashing around every night.
Here is a video of bath time fun!
Other big news in our house (besides Mady discovering her hands) is that I now have a new full-time job which is called stay at home mom. It was a hard decision considering I had a great job at Brinker where I worked with some really great people but we thought about it a lot and it just felt like the right thing to do. I feel very fortunate to have this option and I know if I don't stay home I will come to regret it later. They're only small for so long and I want to spend this time with her. Ironically, I have been asked by the college I taught a class at last fall, to come back this fall and teach a few classes. I decided to do it because it is only on Tuesday's and Thursday's and not even for the whole day. It's a good chance for me to get out and do something I enjoy but still be able to be home with my girl. I feel very lucky that everything has fallen into place like this and I am getting use to my new boss - Mady.
Mady will go for her two month appointment on the 25th so we'll see what her stats are but we did find out yesterday that she weighs 11 and a half pounds! And for what you really care about, here are some pics....
