My baby brother Edward got married. In fact, he's been married for 2 weeks already. (I am always so behind on my posts). And it still seems so strange. I am so so happy for him though! He found a wonderful girl and they are just so happy.
We were able to go to the wedding and Abby did so good with being watched by her older cousins while we were in the temple and she even stayed awake (without crying even!) for the whole reception, though it started at her bedtime.
Abby in her pajamas at the reception. She had a blast watching everyone.
I hadn't been looking forward to this step of giving Abby food, mostly because it meant my little baby was growing up and felt a little as though she didn't need me as much anymore. I guess that will only get more and more true. But she is only six months old and definitely still needs me. It still felt a little sad though to move on to this new stage.
I chose sweet potato for her very first food. She wasn't so sure about it at first and made some very funny faces. After a while though she decided it wasn't so bad!
'Mom, I'm all messy!'
So here we go! I still need to figure the whole feeding thing out some more - how much, how often, etc. I know that breastmilk is still the main source of nutrition until a year so I'm not sure how much food I need to give on top of that... some figuring out I need to do. And I need to get this making baby food thing down. So far it hasn't been too bad and I have a freezer stash of sweet potato, pumpkin, avocado, and peas. Though we are leaving this week for a couple week Christmas vacation. Not sure how to handle that with making own baby food. Or should I just do jarred food while we are traveling? Anyone have any experience traveling and making baby food?
My baby girl is 6 months old! You have definitely left the newborn phase behind you and are now a full of energy, happy baby. Such a different baby than the one we came home with. I love each day that I spend with you, and I absolutely love the smiles that you give me all day long. Now people tell us what a good baby you are, and comment on how happy you are. Never got that a couple months ago! :)
You are such a good eater, and so quick too! You still get so distracted when you breastfeed, though. I have to try to find a quiet space or else you are just too interested in everything else. About a week ago, I got a clogged milk duct, which I haven't had since the first week we had you. In an instant, it brought me back to that week and the feelings, emotions, and stress I had. I almost felt panicky, so terrified that the same things were going to happen again. And then it was time for you to eat and you took care of it right away. It was amazing how quickly I felt the panic melt away. Things are definitely different now!
You still haven't had any solid food yet, but probably will in the next few days! I really haven't been looking forward to it. Breastfeeding is so easy now and so simple. I really like where we are right now. Adding in solids is just one more thing to worry about, and also really makes it seems like you are growing up so fast. I am looking forward to doing homemade baby food, though. I just need to decide what your first food is going to be...
You have settled into a regular nap schedule, which is great! You have two naps a day, around 9am and 1pm and sleep for about 1 - 11/2 hours. Some days you still need a third nap in the late afternoon if the earlier ones have been a little short. Overall you have been sleeping really good at night too, waking up twice at night to feed, which I was fine with. The last week though, all of a sudden you started waking up 4-5 times a night, which was not fun. I am pretty sure it was due to a 6 month growth spurt, because the last two nights have been better. Last night you only woke up twice again. The doctor says you don't need to eat at night and that we need to just let you cry it out when you wake up at night. But I actually don't mind waking up to feed you (as long as it's not more than two times!), I love that quiet time with you. I'm hoping you will transition yourself into sleeping through the night on your own.
This month you decided on your own that you didn't need your pacifier any more. I was very happy with this since I was wanting to get rid of it very soon anyways, and you just saved me the trouble! You have become a finger sucker instead. This is nice for the fact that it means you have gotten so much better at soothing yourself, especially at naps and night time.
Still no teeth yet, though the doctor said that it looks like one on your bottom front is going to come in any time now. It sure seems like you are teething though. You drool like crazy, chew on everything, and out of the blue have really fussy times.
You have grown and developed so much this last month! You have become a little more independent and are able to play on your own for a few minutes at a time. Which means I can do things like take a quick shower after our runs without waiting for your next nap. Very nice.
You can move yourself around pretty good, rolling over, scooting yourself to reach things, and turning yourself around in a circle on the floor so you can face different directions. Crawling might still be a way off, but you can push yourself up on your hands and knees. You reach for things you want and then have quite the strong grip on them. Often this means mom or dad's hair. Or mom's nose or lip when you are feeding.
You love to give kisses. Big slobbery open mouthed kisses. It is absolutely adorable. If I stand you on my lap you will reach out and grab my face and give me lots of wet kisses. Either that or put my nose in your mouth.
You also love your feet. You grab for them anytime you can, and stick those toes right into your mouth. Putting cloths on and bath time is not the easiest because of this.
You are quite the talker and squealer. It is one of my favorite things each day just to hear you babbling away. Oh and you laugh so much more now! Last week, Dec 5 or 6th, I got you to laugh the longest and hardest you ever had. Before that it was just little mini laughs, lasting just a short second. But this was the first real loud longer laugh. I loved it!
Probably the most exciting development is that you can sit up on your own now! You have been really good at sitting up with minimal support (like holding on to one of my fingers) for weeks now. But in the last week you have suddenly gone from needing me to doing it on your own! At first it was just for a few seconds. But the day before your 6 month birthday (Dec 6th), you sat up for a couple minutes, playing with your toys, before toppling over. And now, just a couple days later, you seem to be quite the pro! You get a little stuck when you lean over to reach for something since you can't quite pull yourself back to sitting up straight. But so amazing!!
I love you baby girl. I love how happy you are. We are so grateful you are here with us. You make every day a happy day. Happy 6 months pretty girl.
It's so exciting doing Christmas things with Abby around. Holidays are sure fun with kids, even when the kid is just a tiny baby!
Abby had her very first visit to Santa while we were in Arizona. Poor Santa got his beard tugged on the whole time, but he was such a nice Santa and didn't mind a bit!
This post was sitting half-way finished open on my computer for days. Figured I should finally get around to posting it!
We ventured out for our longest car ride since Abby has been born to make the trip to Phoenix to visit my sister Ruth and her family. So glad we did! Abby absolutely adored her cousins - I think the affection was definitely reciprocated. Good thing she will get to see them again the first week of December for my little brother's wedding (can't believe he is getting married so soon!)
I was dreading the car ride, not sure what degree of miserable it would end up being. Overall, though, Abby did so good. For a baby who hates her carseat, I think she was amazing. Seven hours of me singing, dancing in my seat, and making faces at her helped I guess. :)
Some highlights from our trip:
Ruth and I ran a 10K Turkey Trot Thanksgiving morning. So much fun to do that with her! And we pushed each other pretty good and got a great time for both of us. (53:26).
Abby played lots with her cousins Lizzie and Nathan.
Went to the park. Hehe, had to include this, so cute!
And did some hiking in Sedona. So beautiful!
And somewhere in there we ate some yummy turkey and Eric and I went on our first date since Abby was born. Pretty good trip, I'd say.
Just a cute little video of Abby being happy. This morning was kind of a hard morning with Abby refusing to take her nap and then crying for 40 minutes straight before finally falling asleep for just 30 minutes. I was expecting the rest of the day to be rough after all that. But she has been the happiest baby since then! And she went down easily for her afternoon nap.
This past month has been a fun one, with you becoming an increasingly happy baby and learning so much! We had so many people tell us along the way that it would get easier after one month, then 6 weeks, then 3 months. But for us, four months seemed to be the magic point where you seemed to be more happy than fussy. Finally, it feels more like we have our 'easy' baby.
When you turned four months, we started sleep training, since up to that point we were still swaddling you and having to rock you completely to sleep every time you went down for a nap or at night. It only took a couple of difficult nights listening to you cry for a little while, and then you got much better! No more swaddling for you! Naps were harder to get going. I had to half-way swaddle you for about a week, and you sure had a harder time soothing yourself at naps. Overall, your sleep has improved so much. You are taking two pretty regular naps a day now and you have bed-time around 6:30-7:00pm, waking up between 6-7am. It is much easier to put you down to sleep than it used to be (though you still throw us off sometimes and cry a lot). However, you do still wake up a few times during the night and I still feed you 2-3 times/night. I guess we will slowly be working on that. But I am very happy with your sleep schedule. Your dad and I love having that time together in the evenings.
You have also gotten much better with being strapped in the carseat. I don't have to completely dread driving you places. You sure do have your limits though. I also haven't figured out how to keep you happy in the jogging stroller long enough for me to get a decent run in. Without having you fall asleep, that is. (which I am trying to avoid).
You have become quite the vocal little girl. Especially in the last week or so. Some days it seems as though you talk nonstop, which is absolutely adorable. Your talking consists mostly of squeals and the cutest babbling noises. Last Sunday at church you were so happy and squealed loudly all through the sacrament (when everyone is supposed to be quiet!). So cute though. For most of this month, it has been quite the effort to get any laughs out of you. You just aren't a giggly baby, I guess. At least you are a very smiley one! In the past couple of weeks we have been able to get some really good laughs out of you, which has been so fun. Keep them coming little girl!
You are so aware of everything around you. You reach for everything in your grasp and promptly stick it in your mouth. I am not sure if you have started teething, but you have started to chew on things and not just want to suck. You have also finally seemed to notice us eating and are sure fascinated by our food. We are in no rush to start feeding you solids though, so you've got to wait another month to get a taste of anything!
In this last week you discovered your feet and now every time I change your diaper, you reach for those toes. I don't know if they are harder for you to reach with your big cloth diaper bum, but so far you haven't reached for them any other time. You are getting so strong too! You can push yourself really high during tummy time, with your whole chest off the ground. And, just twice, we have caught you scooting yourself, using your arms and legs, across your play mat. Hopefully just a fluke!
Just two days ago you rolled yourself completely over for the first time. You've been really good at going from tummy to back (right and left) for a while, and we have seen you go from back to tummy just a few times. But this was the first continuous roll! But unfortunately you did it so quickly and I wasn't expecting it, that you rolled yourself right off the play mat onto our hardwood floor and face-planted. That didn't make you too happy...
You love to meet new people, especially when they think you are cute. And they always think you are cute. :) There are some days where I can't seem to get a smile out of you no matter how hard I try and then we go to the store and you give the strangers there all sorts of cute smiles.
You are still quite the small, petite baby. You fit into your 0-3 month clothes in addition to the 3-6 month (and you even still can fit into a newborn sleeper! - barely though-), so we really haven't had to put many clothes away yet. You seem to be about 14 lb 4 oz, (from me stepping on our bathroom scale with you), so you are definitely growing!
Being a mom is so much fun! I love being with you and getting all your smiles and kisses. I love you!
Abigail was a ladybug for Halloween this year. Quite the adorable ladybug! I made her costume, and thank goodness it wasn't too difficult because I didn't give myself much time to make it. And I didn't realize how hard it would be to find a black onesie, so I also had to throw together a black shirt. Took two tries, but I got it. And it mostly fit her (I made it while she was sleeping so I was pretty much guessing on size using one of her shirts as a guide).
We had a Halloween party with Abby's playgroup baby friends, so we got a chance to show off our cute baby. :)
Hehe. Abby's friend Tobin makes the perfect caveman
Eric and I didn't dress up. Took enough time to think of a costume just for Abby. Too much to even try to come up with something for us.
Caught a smile! Very briefly...
This was how she looked for most of her pumpkin time.
Katie with Riley, Charlene with Sebastian, me, Eleanor with William, and Noel with Brooke
We didn't actually do anything on Halloween itself. Poor Abby just was too cranky to even try to make it to the ward trunk-or-treat (which started right before her bedtime). And Eric and I didn't feel like carving our pumpkin. We watched a horrible movie instead. The 1960 movie The Little Shop of Horrors. Would not recommend it.
We went with some friends to a pumpkin patch a few days ago. Although it wasn't exactly the kind of pumpkin patch I was hoping for (actually being able to pick your own pumpkins), it was a lot of fun. And we got to take lots of pictures of Abby, which is really why we went. The pumpkins were so expensive though and since we didn't even get the 'experience' of picking our own, we ended up getting one from a bin at Wal-Mart.
Abby's friend Tobin. Believe it or not, Abby is actually a couple weeks older than this kid.
The goat eating Abby's dress. Abby didn't like that too much.
Watch out, Abby's behind the wheel!
Our friends Erik, Stacy, and little Tobin
Eating the pumpkins. Yum!
Abby picking out her free pumpkin to take home. Good choice Abby.
Probably the most exciting development is that you can sit up on your own now! You have been really good at sitting up with minimal support (like holding on to one of my fingers) for weeks now. But in the last week you have suddenly gone from needing me to doing it on your own! At first it was just for a few seconds. But the day before your 6 month birthday (Dec 6th), you sat up for a couple minutes, playing with your toys, before toppling over. And now, just a couple days later, you seem to be quite the pro! You get a little stuck when you lean over to reach for something since you can't quite pull yourself back to sitting up straight. But so amazing!!
You have become quite the vocal little girl. Especially in the last week or so. Some days it seems as though you talk nonstop, which is absolutely adorable. Your talking consists mostly of squeals and the cutest babbling noises. Last Sunday at church you were so happy and squealed loudly all through the sacrament (when everyone is supposed to be quiet!). So cute though. For most of this month, it has been quite the effort to get any laughs out of you. You just aren't a giggly baby, I guess. At least you are a very smiley one! In the past couple of weeks we have been able to get some really good laughs out of you, which has been so fun. Keep them coming little girl!
