Raining, Raining, Raining!

6 Months 1 Week

It has been raining here in our neck of the woods for 3 days straight!  We need it for sure, so I'm not complaining but it is hard to get LL out and about in this. You can even see a tree limb down in the picture and the power was off last night for about an hour.  Soooo.... we have been busy cleaning out her drawers....goodbye 0-3 months and 3-6 months clothes.

 We divided short sleeve outfits, long sleeve outfits, onsies and pants according to size in hopes that when we go looking for them...it won't be a hassle.  Kind of sad to see them go.

We also put together LL's new umbrella stroller.  LOVE it.  So light.  I can carry her and the stroller up the stairs at one time.  It's the Conours Kolcraft in Tangelo.

We even managed to take a walk in between the rain!

"Guess what?? I love this new stroller, too"

LL's first pool time experience will be this weekend!  So excited to get her reaction.  I also ordered that Swimways Baby Float from Walmart.com.  I hope it gets her before then.  Wal-Mart is pretty darn fast with shipping so I'm anticipating it any day now.

Scooting

LL's Baptism

6 Months 1 Week

We had a great weekend celebrating LL's Baptism. The weather was perfect and the day was too! LL didn't cry when Reverend McIntyre took her from me (I didn't expect her to as she LOOVES people) and she even did her cute little scream/squeal with both arms out trying to hug people in the congregation. What a ham.

After, we all went to the Terrace Hotel for some yummy lunch.  It's such a beautiful hotel.

Here are Bryan's cousins.

Below are a few of my nieces and nephews. 

LL's cake was an Italian Wedding Cake...it was beautiful and quite tasty!

My sister and her daughter Hannah.  LL was pooped!

*******Last night was HARD. Not sure why, but LL was up every 3 hours! Each time, I tried to rock her back to sleep but she wasn't having it. She was hungry! The only thing I can think it may be is a growth spurt because she sucked down 2 full bottles and the boob on top of that!!!  I thought we had moved on from  those late night feedings and up every few hours....but it's a reminder that she's still calling the shots...still in charge of this show.  But pretty soon, momma and daddy will be calling those shots!

Out and About!

6 Months Today...5 Month Low Down

Today is LL's 6 Month Birthday --Here's Her 5 Month Low Down

Bedtime: between 7:30 and 8:00.  We moved it..for some reason she likes this time better and sleeps longer.

Wake-Up: Usually around 6:30 but lately sleeping to 7:00.  I'll take it!

Naps: LL takes 4 naps a day.  The first 2 in the am are over an hour sometimes an 1 1/2 hours.  The 2 in the afternoon are shorter...about 40 minutes...one because she's usually in the bjorn napping. Her last nap is around 3:30/4:00 and it goes about 40 minutes. 

Bottles: LL gets 2 bottles a day.  The first one at 6:30pm (4oz of Isomil) and the 2nd one around 9:30 (4oz Isomil) for her dreamfeed.  We do not mix the breast and the formula together anymore she likes it by itself now. yay.

Nursing:  LL nurses about 5 times a day.  Right when she wakes up, between 6-7...then again around 9:30am, 12ish, 3ish then again sometime in the 3am area or when she wakes up at night.  I pump around 7:00pm.  It's amazing how your body will adjust to the supply and demand of your baby.

Foods: She eats 2x a day.  The first time is after her first nap around 9:00ish.  She usually eats 1/2 container of a fruit and a 1/2 vegetable. Then she eats dinner around 5:00ish...this time she usually eats 2 full containers.  Our ped said to start incorporating lunch sometime after her 6 month birthday.

New foods this month:  Peaches and Green Beans

Night Time: The night time sleep has been soooo much better.  We put her down around 7:30 and she sleeps all the way to 2-3am!!  So nice.  She no longer wakes up about 45 minutes after putting her to sleep which is also nice. After her 2-3am feeding, she sleeps till 6:30ish.  One thing we did differently is we blacked out her windows so it is completely dark in her room.  It has also helped with longer naps.  I also think the formula before bed helps her sleep longer, too.

Developmental Milestones & Firsts: LL is ALL OVER her play area.  I am constantly getting up to move her back to her "safe area".  I'm thinking of buying a gate type area.  I am currently looking at this...

I would purchase 2 of these to make the play area larger!  Seems cruel after looking at the poor girl alone in the picture with no toys or anything....but I would make it like a mini Disney World in there.

LL is not sitting up by herself, but when I sit her up she will stay and balance for about 3 seconds.

When on the floor on her tummy she will scoot both legs under her belly and lift her body up and rock back and forth...which I think is the beginning of a crawl which scares the sh!t out of me.  She has also just started to do the army crawl or the "low crawl" as my dad calls it where she scoots across the floor using her elbows.

She also rolls and rolls and rolls and rolls all around.

Favorite Toys: We bought LL this Baby Einstein Mozart DVD when she was 4 months old but she did not become interested in it until recently.  She LOVES it! 

Momma's Mental State: I'm feeling really good lately.  I'm taking LL out and about everyday!  I just put her in the Bjorn and off we go.  We usually wait until after her first 2 naps.  When she gets tired, I turn her around in the Bjorn facing me, put a blanket over her head, give her her pacifier and say "night-night" and she goes right to sleep.  Love it!  I should have done this from about 4 months on...but I was so scared to leave the house.  With my next babes, I know I'll be in a better state of mind plus not so freakin scared all the time.

I finally feel recovered "down there"!  I can walk 20 feet now without feeling like I need to tee-tee all over myself.  Sorry if TMI but recovering down there was NOT fun.  I really thought it would be like that forever.

****On a side note....went to my first consignment sale called Sweet Repeats last night and bought LL some fun new toys! I'll post on those next week.

Almost Pool Time!

5 Months 4 Weeks

I take LL down to our pool everyday just so she can see it and become familiar with it.  But yesterday, me, daddy and LL went down and had a little fun in the pool.

The leaves and pollen are EVERYWHERE as you can see in the photos.  But the new leaves on the tress are beautiful.  SOOO happy Spring is here.

"Next time, Momma, please put me in my new bathing suit"

It is still just a bit too cold for swimming, but she squealed and laughed the entire time.  She is definitely going to be a fan of swim-swim time!

"I'm ready, Momma!"

Here's a picture of the cute suit we bought her...

And here's the one MeMe bought her...

I'm looking into buying this for her pool time...

You can't tell from the picture, but you put the baby in the middle where the yellow part is and their legs float in the water with their upper half above the water.

I love to do laps in the pool with a kick board...but it looks like LL in this contraption will be my new kick board. Yay summer!

March is Flying By!

5 Months 4 Weeks

Our little family has been gone every weekend in March...which makes time just fly by.  Bryan went turkey hunting this past weekend with Uncle Ronnie and Uncle Kevin so LL and I packed up and went to visit MeMe and PawPaw again....and Auntie Anne came to visit, too. Here we all are at MeMe's work.

After that, Me, LL and Auntie Anne went out shopping for LL's Baptism dress.  I didn't think I would have a problem finding  a dress for LL because it is Easter season but I couldn't find one I thought "fit" LL. Most were too frilly and that is NOT LL's style or personality.  BUT, then I found the perfect one from the Gap.

Fits her to a T!  Now on to find some type of shoes.

MeMe and PawPaw got LL the Brights Starts Cute Critter Activity Jumper to keep at the house when she comes to visit and she LOVES it!

We started giving LL Isomil before her bedtime and also for her dream feed.  We tried all the formulas, but the soy is the one that didn't hurt LL's stomach.  The others gave her horrible gas, poor baby.  We give her the ready to feed kind with no mixing and she really has taken to it.  This makes me feel better knowing that there will be no problem when weaning her.

Let's see...what else.....OHHHHH!!!!  Aunt Flow, which I haven't seen since before LL was conceived, came to visit us this weekend as well.  And boy, did she show up.  Umm....who invited you??   Nice of you to visit, Aunt Flow but it's time for you to leave now.

Weekend at MeMe and PawPaws

5 Month 3 Weeks

We had such a good time at MeMe and PawPaw's house this weekend.  We also got to visit with Great Granny Polly.  She loves to sing "You Are My Sunshine" to LL and LL just laughs and laughs during the song.

We went to the church I grew up in and also where LL will be baptized in a few weeks. We wanted her to see the inside and get familiar with it so we have no freak-outs the morning of.  The cuteness beside us is my fab niece Ansley-Sarah.

Out of all the fun toys that MeMe has to play with, LL wanted to play with this homemade one the most...it's a Gladware with 4 wine corks in it.

I bet if we painted the corks a bight color she would be even more excited with it.

We also pulled out LL's Beaba 3-Stage Training Cup that was gifted to us from Bryan's Cousin J.  She's also the one that gifted us the Beaba BabyCook maker.  She loves this cup.  We put a little water in it and she sits there during dinnertime happy as a lamb.

"One handed, Momma"

"I'm a big girl now, Momma"

We also tried peas for the first time.....it was NOT a hit.  LL put up with it for about 4 bites and eventually kind of turned her head when the spoon came towards her mouth. haha

"Ummm...no."

And we took lots of walks around the nearest lake which LL loves to do.  Anything in the stroller is considered "Happy Hour" to her.

"Nothing better than outside in the stroller"