Seven Months Old

Stats?
About 15 lbs (?%), ? in long (?%), and ? cm head circumference. (As always, we'll have more complete stats in months that we have a well-baby visit.)
She's in size 2 diapers and her 6 month clothes.


How is she sleeping?
She's sleeping pretty well. She's still sleeping swaddled, but we got our convertible Woombie this month and are starting to try out naps with one arm out. Hopefully we can wean her off the swaddling in the next couple of months.  We usually end up pat and paci'ing her once or twice a night (though occasionally more). She goes to bed around 7:30 now; she seemed to want to move up her bed time this month.  We have eliminated any feeds overnight, so she eats when she wakes up around 6:30 or so. She usually takes a couple of naps during the day ranging from 1-2 hours and occasionally longer. Our little schedule has been flexing around a bit this month; even as I type this, I swear she's trying to change it again.  And in fact, at time of publishing this, she's been having issues with night-waking.  We think it's due to teething, but really have no clue.  Hoping it goes away soon. 


How is she eating?
She still eats solids 3 times a day and nurses close to her regular schedule during the day. She eats about 2 ounces at breakfast and lunch and about 3 ounces at dinner and is still impatient about it. We successfully did pears and sweet potatoes. Unfortunately, she had some tummy issues (was probably a tummy virus) that reverted us back to rice cereal temporarily (mostly because I didn't want to clean up colored baby barf).  Once we're settled back down, we will again try some new foods. 


Doctor Visit?
We didn't have a regular visit, but we did go to the pediatrician for a look with the tummy issues.  We also found out from the GI doc that her Upper GI did show a sliding hiatal hernia, so we'll be following up on that.  Poor baby is probably going to have to have that test again. 


What new tricks does she do?
We hit a big milestone this month!  We've got a sitter!  I was confident that she could and just wasn't, so we did mommy's "sitting boot camp".  She got put in high chairs everywhere we went and she did lots of practice sitting on her own with the Boppy pillow for cushioning when she fell.   One Sunday evening it just clicked and she started sitting.  Woohoo!  She still stands supported or while holding on to a table.   She does roll around more to get at things she wants and once I found her about 3 or 4 feet from where I left her.  We should probably hop on that child"proofing" stuff soon.  She's much more interested in the exersaucer now, but gets bored after a bit. Still grabbing at everything (especially us), putting everything in her mouth, pressing buttons on her toys, and has gotten better at turning off the light switch.  Verbally, she's been progressing along the same lines as last month - nonsensical babbling.  The two new things she does are to pull her lips in and open/close her mouth and to pull her lips in and concentrate really hard like she's trying to get something out.  Don't know if she's working on a solid B, P or a kissy face, but it's cute and it's progress.  So much fun to watch all the time. 


General Observations?


The teething is definitely in full swing.  We've got two little teeth buds popping through the bottom, lots of drooling, and some extra fussing.  Not to mention she's chomping on everything including mommy.  We'll see how many teeth will be up front and center next month. 


It's dawning on me this month that Naomi is a tiny little girl.  She's always been small, but I'm starting to look around and see those growth chart percentiles in action.  My girl only weighs about 4 pounds more than my friend's 2 month old baby girl.  Not to mention everywhere I go, people are shocked to find out how old she is and instantly comment about how tiny she is.  I just smile and say "yep".  Mind you, I'm not complaining or concerned; it's just an observation.  She's progressed on the growth chart just fine and is very healthy, so it's all good.  Brian and I just figure she's the perfect size for a gymnast (if she's into that).  :)  Admittedly, I've already looked at classes for her (I'll actually even fess up to looking at the classes when we first got pregnant).  We may have to do some mommy and me classes once she's walking.  Who knows... she may hate it.  If so, we'll see what else she does like. 


We signed up for the Fall semester of Tiny Tots and Tunes at church.  I'm excited about that.  We went to mini-camp in June, but she was a bit on the young side to really get into it (even though she still loves doing The Noble Duke of York with me).  It'll be so much fun watching her each week this fall and seeing how much she develops.  She's already so different and I just know she'll like it more this time. 

Oh, and she loves bath time.  Sometimes I just want to bathe her randomly throughout the day just because I know she likes it.  She just splashes around and plays with her toys.  Our couple of swimming times this summer have also gone well.  She seems to enjoy it. 


It's been another fun month.

Thanks Andrew, Jenny and Lily Diederich for the cute outfit! 


Until next time...

Getting my Body Back: Team World Vision!

It's official!  Brian and I are signed up with The Heights Team World Vision (TWV) group to run the innaugural Dallas 13.1 Half-Marathon!  I'm nervous and I'm excited.  Although I've run two half-marathons before, this will be the first since I've had the baby.  In other words, I'm heavier and not in as good of shape as I was for my previous two half-marathons.  This ups the challenge.  I wanted to be on TWV last year, but being entirely too pregnant at the time, that didn't seem advisable.  (Actually, as it turned out, the Monday after the White Rock Marathon/Half-Marathon that TWV did last year was when I ended up in the hospital for my bedrest.) 

I'm doing this for a couple of reasons:

One is the obvious quest to get my body back.  Hopefully the training will get me in better shape and help me drop some pounds.  My goal here is to finish and it would be nice if my time was somewhere close to 3 hours (if I recall correctly, my previous finish times were just over 3 hours). 

The more important one is to raise money for World Vision.  The Heights team will specifically be raising money for an ongoing water project in Uganda.  Please visit my fundraising page here and consider contributing any amount you can.  My goal here is at least $50 per mile which is $655. 

Wish me luck!  :)

Naomi's Baby Dedication

A couple of weeks ago, we had Naomi's baby dedication at church.  For those unfamiliar with baby dedications, it is similar to infant baptism (at least in the Methodist church) except without the water sprinkling.  It is a time when family, friends, and church gather to bless/pray over the baby and commit to surround the baby with Christian love. 

It was very meaningful for us and Naomi was a trooper through the whole thing.  She played with my hair and necklace, which was cute, and was a very sweet girl while Bill held her to pray.  Afterward, we went out to brunch with our family.  All in all a good time. 

We didn't get too many pictures of the dedication, since we didn't have our camera and were standing up front with baby.  But here are a couple that Brian's mom, Emily, took. 

P.S.  Thank you Jacque Swanner for my cute dress.  Love, Naomi!

Just Some Thoughts...

I find myself constantly marveling at the unexpected turns my life has taken over the last couple years and at how much I love where I ended up.  It's truely surreal sometimes. 

When I married Brian over six years ago, we told family that we wouldn't even discuss kids until we were married for at least 5 years.  Brian and I had discussed it though (before getting married) and he knew that I was on the fence, unsure if I wanted to choose that adventure (I loved choose your own adventure books as a kid).  He had faith that we would have a wonderful life together regardless.  Although, I do think it's really beneficial to have a few years under your belt as a married couple before having kids, the 5 year thing really was just something to tell people to end the inquiries.  It just so happened that a few months before our 5 year anniversary, we decided together to choose that adventure.  And as God would have it, it was our time.  Funny how that worked out. 

Then, when I found out I was pregnant, I started preparing for my new life as a working mom.  I started looking at various childcare options.  I thought about my maternity leave, how it would work with my work schedule and job duties, and how I could make that as smooth as possible for my "work family".  We figured we would be doing a lot of pumping and bottling, etc.  Unexpected turn ahead: my company was acquired and practically my entire department was eliminated as the acquiring company absorbed our function.  I found out in my 3rd trimester (probably about a week or so before I went into the hospital on bedrest) and my official layoff date was during my maternity leave.  We ended up deciding that I would be a Stay At Home Mom.  Me, the chick who didn't even know if she wanted a kid, is now a SAHM!  What's even more shocking is how much I love it.  Honestly I sometimes miss working - I miss the adult interraction / my work friends, I miss using my degree, I miss my deadlines, etc.  But, I'm so blessed to be home with her every day watching her learn and grow. 

And here is my big realization.  A lot of people will say that they can't imagine their life without their kids.  Well, I won't say that because it's not true.  I can imagine my life without my baby girl and frankly there is a lot more freedom and a lot more discretionary income involved (and less poop, pee, and baby barf).  However, I will say that I can no longer imagine my heart without her.  At the end of the Christmas story of the Grinch, they say "...his heart grew 3 sizes that day...".  Well something like that happened when we had Naomi and began even as she was growing in my belly.  I love both Brian and Naomi so much it sometimes hurts.  I feel things so much more deeply now (example: I teared up during flashback scenes in Harry Potter of Harry as a baby).  After some initial trials, my faith is so much stronger.  My life isn't quite how I imagined it, but it's exactly how God planned it and as He would say, "It is good".  :)

Six Months Old

Stats?

14 lbs 4 oz (25%), 25.5 in long (35%), and 42.9 cm head circumference.
She's in size 2 diapers and her 6 month (or 3-6 month) clothes.

How is she sleeping?
She's sleeping pretty well.  She's still sleeping swaddled, but we're hoping to phase that out sometime in the next few months.  We usually end up pat and paci'ing her once or twice a night.  She goes to bed around 8 and we usually have an early morning feed some time between 3:30 and 5:30 before she finishes snoozing until around 7 or 7:30.  She usually takes a couple of naps during the day ranging from 1-2 hours and occassionally longer.  We've settled into a nice loose little schedule. 

How is she eating?
The solids are going really well now; she's eating them 3 times a day and she's still nursing.  She eats about 2 ounces at breakfast and lunch and about 3 ounces at dinner.  She's very impatient with eating solids just like she is with nursing.  You have to practically machine gun it into her mouth or she gets upset because you're going too slow.  She now readily opens her mouth for bites and sometimes smacks her lips in anticipation when you sit her in her high chair and put her bib on.  We've successfully done rice cereal and oatmeal.  We tried some sweet potatoes, but I don't think she was quite ready for those, so they are waiting in the freezer for a later time.  I think we'll try pears next and then go back to the sweet potatoes.  For now, I'm making her baby food, but as I get coupons, I'm going to buy some jars too for occassional convenience. 


Doctor Visit?
It went great.  All her percentiles went up a little bit, so she's growing great!  Everything looked good.  We got the go ahead to feed her a wide variety of food and to introduce a sippy cup with a little water whenever we want.  That way she'll be ready for the sippy cup when it's time to wean off the breast.  (She takes a bottle when needed now, but she's not attached to it at this point, so we're hoping to skip any attachment).  He was very impressed with how well she passed the tongue depresser from one hand to the other and back again.  He went over other developmental milestones she should be at and she's pretty much hit all of them.  He said that she is teething, but that we're probably around 6-8 weeks away from actually seeing the tooth break through.  So far, she seems to be on track developmentally and in terms of growth which is such a blessing. 


What new tricks does she do?
6 months really is a neat time developmentally.  She sits really well supported and will sit unsupported for a very short spell but then tumps over.  She loves to stand up.  She stands supported really well especially for her age.  Based on that and the fact that she still won't spend a whole lot of time on her tummy, we are guessing she will skip crawling in favor of cruising in the future.  She has rolled from back to front a few times but doesn't do it regularly - probably partially because she hasn't quite mastered the skill and partially because she'd rather not be on her tummy and hasn't figured out that she can really go places with continuous rolling.  She will play in her exersaucer for a few minutes, but not for long stretches yet.  She has started really grabbing at our faces.  She's become much better with her toys and is starting to figure out pressing the buttons on her music turtle.  We've also been working on getting her to turn on/off the light switch.  She'll always grab at it, but it's hit or miss on actually pressing it down (with no moves to move it up yet).  Verbally, we've got some babbling, motor-boating, smacking, chirps, and a wide variety of shreaks and squeels.  Lots of changes afoot and it's so much fun to watch. 

General Observations?
Not a whole lot new to say here.  She's still a cute, happy little thing who attracts attention everywhere we go.  So far she's doing okay with various childcare workers at church, Jazzercise and the rec center.  Hopefully that continues and she doesn't get horrible separation anxiety.  We can feel some teeth trying to break through.  It seems like the top ones are going to break through first (although, from what I hear and from what the doctor said, it's usually the bottom ones).  We'll see. 


6 months is such an ever-changing and fascinating age. 

Until next time...

First Swim!

I actually started writing this almost a week ago, but picking just a handful of cute pics from the dozens we took was extremely tough - I definitely missed out on some cute ones. 

We finally took Naomi for her first swim and it was definitely a success.  She didn't cry at all.  We didn't get a whole lot of smiles either, but I think it was just because she was so curious about everything.  She preferred to be held rather than in her floaty this time.  She enjoyed sitting on the step in the pool and splashed herself a few times.  She even chewed on her swimsuit for a bit.  It was a lot of fun for us!  (Oh and I think I got some sunblock in her one little red eye - oops.)

Enjoy the pics! 

Interested in the floaty

Family Swim Photo

Swimmin' with Daddy

Hangin' Out with Mommy

Just Splashin' Around

Mmmm.... Yummy Swimsuit

Sittin' on the Step

Miscellaneous Cute Baby Pics

While cleaning off the camera's memory stick and making sure everything was uploaded to our computers, we came across some miscellaneous cute pics of Naomi. 

So here they are in absolutely no particular order!

Just playing on 7/9/11

Grandma's Lucky Charm (St Patty's Day outfit)

Laughing at Mommy...

in my Pretty Like Mommy outfit. 

Um Guys... I'm tumping over here... a little help please.

All Better and Hook 'Em (again)