7 months

This has been the busiest month ever! Lena is almost 8 months, and I haven't had a chance to sit down and blog about her at 7 months. I think as you read about all the things we've been doing, you'll understand why...

As you know, Lena started teething when she was about 3 months old. So we have anxiously been awaiting the arrival of her first tooth. During the first week of October, I noticed she was a little fussier than usual and she was chewing on the nipple when I was feeding her a bottle. She never does that, so it caught my attention. Sure enough, when I felt her bottom/front gums I felt a little tooth poking through! It was so funny because as soon as I felt it, Lena made a sweet little sound. I told Cory, that was her telling me "yes Mommy you found what's been bothering me!" It was so cute. Then about a week later, she cut another tooth right next to it. She doesn't show them off too much yet, but it is so funny to see our little baby with two teeth! She seems to be working on another - drooling like crazy, fingers always in her mouth, loves the cold teething rings. So we'll see which one comes in next.

Ever since Lena started scooting around and belly crawling, she has just been all over the place. She loves being able to explore and get to the toys (and other things she shouldn't get into) as she pleases. It has been funny to watch her attempt to get up on her knees to crawl, but she figured out quickly that she can get around much easier by scooting on her belly. Then during the third week of November, she really started to crawl up on her knees. Now she can get around so quickly and easily. They say she is all over the place at daycare. She is also pulling up to standing with little effort. Toward the end of October, she pulled up in her crib for the first time. We had already lowered the mattress in her crib when she started trying to pull up on other things just to be safe. Since then she pulls up on furniture and a new toy we got for her. It is so funny to see such a petit little baby do such big things, but she is such a strong little girl. I don't think it will be much longer before she tries to start walking. She already takes steps while holding our hands and standing in front of us. Her teachers and even other parents are impressed with all the things she is doing. Her teacher told us that one day a parent seemed shocked at how she was standing up so easily and only balancing with one hand. She makes us so proud and we don't mind letting them brag on her. They always tell us how happy, sweet, and affectionate she is. She is so playful and loves music. She has even started rocking to music and making her sounds to "sing" along. She is as cuddly and loving as ever. She gives good hugs and even gives sweet kisses. Everyone she is around loves her so much!

Now that she is pulling up in her crib, we decided to move her crib away from the window. We were worried that she may pull the curtains down and thought another place would be safer. We still have some rearranging to do, but she doesn't seem to mind the change. Also, I was a little worried with the recent Daylight Savings time change. I'd heard that some babies don't seem to have much problem at all, but some babies really have a hard time adjusting to the time change. Lena was a little sleepier than usual, but she adjusted just fine. I wasn't too surprised considering how laid back and happy she is about everything else.

During the last week of October, they started transitioning Lena out of the small infant room at day care and into the older baby room. I was a little sad at first, because we love her teachers (Ms. Marta and Ms. Lucia) so much. And Lena was so happy there. But we also knew developmentally Lena was ready for other activities and needed more room and freedom to crawl around and play. So after "transitioning" a little each day for about a week, she officially moved up into the older baby room at the end of October. On her last day, Ms. Marta cried. It was so touching! I knew she loved Lena by the way she talked to her and by the way Lena responded to her. But that really prooved what a special bond they had created in just 2 months. Lena's new teachers Ms. Alma and Ms. Esperanza are wonderful too. It took Lena a few weeks to get used to the change. She had fun, but I could tell she just wasn't quite as comfortable and happy as she was with her other teachers. But now she is loving it! And like I said before - the teachers love her and brag on her all the time.

Lena continues to be a really good eater. She now has rice cereal or oatmeal with fruit before her morning bottle (even at school), then three bottles every 3 hours throughout the day, then a meat, vegetable, and fruit for dinner (with water from her trainer sippy cup), and then a bedtime bottle. I even gave her sweet potato puffs one day to snack on, and she was so cute. She liked munching on them with her front two teeth, and was holding them so sweetly with her little fingers.

Lena is not doing much talking yet, but she loves babbbling a little and making silly sounds. Her new favorite is blowing her tongue through her lips. She also started smacking her lips together. She loves to laugh and makes the funniest gasping sound when she gets excited. Everyone (especially Pappy) gets a kick out of how she does that! She even did it for the cleaning ladies this week. What a silly girl. Her babbling and silly sounds are so sweet to me, I can't imagine how sweet it will be when she actually starts saying some words.


Now here's what we've been up to that's been keeping me from having time to blog...

On the second weekend in October, Cory went out of town for his friend Ronnie's bachelor party. So Lena and I decided to make a trip to Beaumont. We had a fun time shopping, playing, and visiting with all our family. We even took a few pre-Halloween pictures of Lena in one of her Halloween outfits. She was a very good girl but is still not the best car rider. I was a very prepared Mommy with plenty of pacis to give her, cold teething rings on hand, toys, and even her fun music and sleep music. But she just was not happy about having to ride by herself in the back, and she didn't hesitate to let me know how unhappy she was. Oh well! She's such a sweet and happy baby in general, so if that is what we struggle with we can handle it.

Then two weeks later, Cory needed to go help his family set up our new deer camp. I didn't really feel like taking Lena on the road again, and thought it would be nice to stay home. And my parents would be coming the following weekend, so I didn't want them to have to get on the road 2 weekends in a row (even though Mom assured me they didn't mind). But I decided to be brave and spend my first weekend home alone with Lena. We ended up having a lot of fun, and it was a special Mommy & daughter weekend. The weather had just started to cool down, so we enjoyed going for jogs and even stopped by the neighborhood playground closest to our house. Lena loved the swing! She smiled and laughed the whole time. We also made it out to Collin's football game, and Lena had fun seeing her cousins and all the other little kids. We found plenty of ways to stay busy, and just enjoyed being home together.

For Halloween, we dressed Lena up as a pretty little Jack-o-lantern. We took Lena to Aunt Holly and Uncle Ryan's house to celebrate with all her cousins, and Honey, Pappy, and Uncle Brady came too. We even stopped by my friend Heather's house so she could see our cute little punkin. Lena was very curious about all the kids dressed in costumes and all the Halloween decorations. I'm sure next year she will be a little more interested in all the treats.

On the first weekend in November, our friends Kelly and Ronnie got married in College Station. Cory was a groomsman, so we decided to leave Miss Lena at home with Mimi and Poppa since we would be pretty busy with all the wedding festivities. This was our first full weekend away from our sweet pea, so it was bittersweet. But she had a good time and so did we. Unfortunately though, on her first weekend at home without Mommy and Daddy, Lena also had her first stomach bug and terrible diaper rash. We assumed the diarrhea report from school on Friday was related to teething. But after several days of yucky poops and a doctor's visit a few days later , we confirmed it was a little bug she probably caught at daycare. As always, she was happy and playful even being under the weather. But her poor little bottom got the best of it. Thankfully Mimi, Aunt Beth, and Poppa took good care of our girl, and we got her well in no time.

Then the following weekend, we headed to Lafayette, LA to attend our friends Heather and Shawn's engagement party. We stopped in Beaumont on Friday night, to spend the night with my parents. Then we left Lena behind on Saturday afternoon, and headed to Laffy for the night. She got to see lots of family and had another fun overnight stay with her grandparents. And we enjoyed another weekend away with our friends.

Now this weekend, I have some time to myself to catch up on my to do list (the blog being part of it) and enjoy a little "me time". Cory headed to deer camp on Wednesday night, and then I sent Lena to meet up with her Daddy on Friday with Honey and Aunt Holly. I know she will have a fun time, and Cory is looking forward to some special Daddy & daughter deer camp time. I've missed my Lena loves, but am enjoying the time to myself too. Beth and I baked pumpkin rolls for coworkers and Lena's teachers, we relaxed and watched movies this afternoon, then went to dinner and did a little shopping this evening. Since I was here, we even had a guy come in this morning to put up crown molding in the house. It's been nice to relax and do not much of anything, but then also do some things that I've been wanting/needing to do too. I've gotten a few reports from Cory, Nancy, and Holly throughout the weekend. They said Lena was good in the car. I'm sure it helped having Chloe in the back as come company, and it was late so she ended up sleeping a lot. I know she was happy to see her Daddy, because she hadn't seen him since Wednesday morning. She's been having fun playing with her cousins, getting wagon rides from Pappy, and going shopping with the girls in Fredricksburg. I'm looking forward to going maybe during the beginning of our Christmas break, because I know it's even more special now that we have a little sweet pea down at deer camp.

Fun in Fredricksburg

Next on our calendar is Thanksgiving! What a special Thanksgiving it will be this year with so much to be thankful for. We'll be heading to Beaumont on Wednesday and celebrating the holiday there. Lena will be 8 months old on Tuesday, so I'll be sure to blog about the holidays in my next post.

Bathtime with Poppa

Playing in Beaumont

Cute in camo

Big girl

1st Halloween

Pretty Kitty

Cheerleaders

Making riceballs

6 months

6 months old - Now she's sitting up in the chair on her own!

Lena is now 6 months old, and we are finding this is such a fun age.  As always, she still has her sweet, silly, and happy personality.  I have so much to report!
At her 6 month checkup, Dr. McDavitt was once again impressed with how she is growing and developing.  Lena was so serious and really seemed to be taking it all in.  She kept watching Dr. McDavitt and looking around the room like she was trying to figure it all out.  She weighed 15 lbs and 2 oz. and measured 25 & 1/4 inches long.  She continues to grow along with her curve and is staying within the 25-50 percentile.  Poor girl had to get 4 shots, but she handled it like a big girl.  Her next appointment will be at 9 months.

Silly girl :)

After the appointment, we had something special to look forward to.  We went to visit Mimi and Poppa at their new house in Beaumont.  We were so excited!  It was so nice to be together, and we enjoyed getting to see all of our Beaumont family too.  Aunt Beth brought Sadie, and Lena wasn't too sure about her the first night (I guess she takes after me in that way).  But after being around her and getting used to the idea, she warmed up to her for the rest of the weekend.

Playing with Aunt Beth is so fun!

Hanging out with Joanie

 

Scotty, Grandma, and Crissy came to visit.  Luke did too.

We decided to have a little photo shoot

The weekend before was a big milestone for us.  Cory and I hosted a wedding shower for our friends Ronnie and Kelly.  We decided that it would be best to let Honey and Pappy keep Lena at their house for the night.  She was such a good girl and had lots of fun with them.  It was nice for us to be able to enjoy our time with our friends knowing she was in good hands too.  We look forward to doing that more often :)

Playing with all her toys at Honey and Pappy's

Lena is really sitting up so well now.  It's wonderful because she is so playful now too, so she can play with things while sitting up, laying on her back, or laying on her tummy.  She has been rolling around for months, and started turning on her tummy a few weeks ago.  She could pretty much turn around in the opposite direction, which helped her get to toys and things within her reach.  She has also been getting up on all fours and rocking back and forth.  When we saw her doing this, we knew she was starting to figure out how to crawl.  Then the other day, while Beth was watching her she started to do some belly crawling.  We couldn't believe it when we came home and Beth said she had scooted from the coffee table all the way under a chair about 5 feet away.  This morning, she has just been scooting all around the house.  I put her in the middle of the floor to play in our room, and before I knew it she was in the bathroom.  I put her down in the living room, turned around to fix her bottle, and she had scooted under the coffee table.  I guess we are going to have to start being more careful of what we leave within her reach.  Let the fun begin!  :)

She decided to explore instead of play with her toys

Playful girl

Last weekend my mom came into town and we took Lena to have her picture taken.  I wanted a professional job done while she could sit up but before she started crawling.  Looks like we did it just in time.  We went to Picture People at the Galleria Mall.  I wanted a traditional picture with Lena in a pretty pink dress and soft white leather shoes, and then I also wanted a more cutesy and trendy picture of her in only ruffled bloomers and a big flower bow.  She was so serious at first - like she has been lately in new places.  It took a lot of effort on our part to get her to smile.  Thank goodness my mom and Beth were there to provide additional entertainment.  We ended up getting some really cute pictures - serious, sweet, and silly.   

Lena has expanded her taste buds since my last posting.  She now eats rice cereal with either green beans or sweet potatoes at night.  She is a bigger fan of the sweet potatoes, but she will eat some of the green beans.  Our next vegetable that we're going to try is peas.  Hopefully she'll like them.  She has also been eating oatmeal in the mornings on the weekends for the past few weeks.  This past weekend I also gave her some apples with her oatmeal.  She liked them, but not as much as I would have expected.  We have been using sign language to teach her "milk" and "eat", and I really think she understands them.  It's so cute to see her raise her eyebrows or when she smiles when we say/sign "milk" and "eat".  Lena has still been getting a mixture of breastmilk and formula.  Lately it has been mostly formula though.  A few weeks ago, I stopped nursing her at night because I didn't think she was getting enough.  And since then it seems like I need to supplement more and more with my frozen supply or with formula.  I was a little sad at first, but I just had to remind myself to be thankful that she and I had such a pleasant experience starting from the day she was born.  So I'm not sure how much longer we'll be doing a mixture.  The good news is, she has gotten the "good stuff" for 6 months and she likes the formula just as much.  So she'll be happy regardless.

Silly girl in the morning before leaving for school

Lena is still loving daycare.  Her teachers are soooo sweet, and we can tell that they love her and she loves them.  They sing songs, play with toys in developmental ways, do art projects, and all kinds of other fun activities.  They always tell us how happy, loving, alert, and active she is.  I think she is the only baby in her class that is sitting up on her own and now she's the only one that is scooting around.  They said she was all over the place today.  It definitely helps to know she is in a wonderful environment with such caring people.

Playing at day care

Sitting up in the tub - such a big girl

All clean

Cheering for Sally at the Volleyball game

Little Ladybird with Travis

5 months

5 months old

Lena is doing all kinds of new things.  Now that I've started teaching again, finding time to blog isn't quite as easy as it was when I was a "stay at home mom".  But I want to make sure to update with all of her milestones and progress.  She's been going to daycare now for 4 weeks, and it has been wonderful.  It only took me 3 times of dropping her off to get used to the idea of leaving her.  The first day of dropping her off, I started crying as soon as I pulled in the parking lot.  The second day, I didn't start crying until I had to hand her off to her teacher.  Then the third day I didn't cry at all.  Her teachers and the directors there were so kind and understanding.  They reassured us that she was in good hands, and encouraged us to call as often as we needed to check on her.  Of course we did for the first few days, and then after knowing she was adjusting well we put our trust in them.  I think it was harder for Cory and me, because Lena didn't cry one bit.  Her teachers are so sweet and loving, and it helps so much to know she is in good hands.  She loves being around the other babies and is learning so much already.  She has brought home an art project each week - finger painting, handprints, and "dancing feet" with paint.  Each day her report shares when she ate, slept, and pooped, but it also gives us a description of her activities and her temperament.  Most days she is "happy, friendly, and curious".

Ready for her first day of daycare

Giving Daddy some loving before heading to daycare

Lena loves to jump in her jumperoo.  She really jumps hard and has so much fun with all the little toys and music.  She also likes to play in the exersaucer and has been exploring all the toys much more lately than before.  Lena has been rolling over onto her tummy since my last post.  But now she is rolling from her back to her tummy as well.  So she is just a rolly-polly now.  She scoots and rolls all over the place and has so much fun.  She has been sitting up more and more (with a little help and support from our arms or legs) the past few weeks.  But this past Monday, she sat up all on her own for several minutes.  Now she is able to sit up for extended periods of time, and she is even able to sit up and shake a rattle at the same time.  She is so little, but has great balance and strength.  We are so proud of all her new physical abilities.

Sitting up like a big girl

Enjoying her exersaucer outside

We gave her baby oatmeal for the first time last night.  She was very curious about it, but not quite sure enough to eat much of it.  I know the taste and texture alone are a lot to get used to.  So we'll keep trying a little each day.  It didn't take her too long to get used to formula, so I'm sure she'll end up liking it before we know it.

Yum... oatmeal :)

She is still teething like crazy - drooling a ton, hands in her mouth, and fussy at times.  This has been going on for a few months, but still no teeth.  She also just got over her first cold, which I'm pretty sure she caught at daycare.  She had a really runny nose, which turned into a little cough.  Never a real high fever though, and she never really seemed to feel too terribly bad.  Even when she was sick, she is still such a happy baby.

She still loves sleeping on her tummy

Such a little angel!

  

4 Months Old

Posing pretty at 4 months old!

Lena just keeps getting bigger, happier, funnier, and more beautiful than ever.  Now that she is 4 months old, there are so many new things she (and Cory & I) are getting to experience.

At Lena's 4 month check-up she weighed 13 pounds and measured 24 1/8 inches long.  Dr. McDavitt was impressed with her demeanor, abilities, and development.  She gave us the "ok" to introduce rice cereal or oatmeal as soon as we're ready.  Unfortunately Lena also had to get another round of shots, but I was so proud of her.  She didn't throw up the oral Rotavirus vaccine this time, and she only cried a few minutes after the shots were given.  She was sleepy and a little fussy that day, but she was in a good enough mood to dance and play when Aunt Beth and her friend Brittany came to visit that afternoon.
We've decided to hold off on introducing solid foods for a few more weeks, because I've just started supplementing Lena's "breastmilk only diet" with a few feedings of formula each day.  With me returning to work soon, I've been working on getting her used to bottle feeding during the day and alternating her feedings with formula and breastmilk.  I'm going to attempt to continue giving her breastmilk as long as I can, but I'll supplement a few feedings with formula to give me a little bit of a break.  It took a few days for her and her tummy to adjust to the difference, but now she drinks the formula (and gets rid of it) just as well as she does with breastmilk.  We have started sitting her in her high chair when we eat though, so she can get used to the idea.  She is very observant of what we are doing and enjoys our family mealtimes.  She sits up in it pretty well, even though the straps are still a little big for her.  Here she is with Mommy's spaghetti and meatballs (prepared specially by Daddy)!   

 

Over that past few months, we've been starting to wean Lena from being swaddled at naps and bedtimes.  She has always been a GREAT sleeper, so I hated to mess with it too much.  But I knew that eventually she would outgrow it, or she would be strong enough to kick the blanket loose.  So we slowly started to leave one arm out of the blanket (alternating the arm being left out each time).   After a few weeks of that, we left both arms out and just swaddled her legs.  Then when we found out that her daycare's policy is against swaddling babies past 18 weeks (she will be 20 weeks when she goes), we decided it was time to do without the swaddling altogether and put her in bed without a blanket.  It took some getting used to, but she seems to have adjusted now.  We can't get over how big she looks in her bed.  Now I dress her in pajamas with feet so that she doesn't get cold at night.  She is such a cutie and looks so comfy in them.  She really scoots around in her bed during the night, so I never know where she will be when I go in to check on her or go to get her in the morning.  Overall I think she actually sleeps better now, because she sleeps later than she used to and we now skip the early morning (4:00 or 5:00 am) feeding that she was getting before.  She is sleeping anywhere from 10-12 hours now!  I'm curious to see how this will play out once we start day care and our schedule changes a little, but it's good to know what I can expect from her as far as sleeping and eating.  We've also just started letting her "cry it out" during naps and bedtime.  We've just been doing it this week, and it has by no means been easy.  Some nights she is so tired, she just goes right to sleep and sleeps through the night.  Other times she cries anywhere from 10-20 minutes before falling asleep, and other times she wakes throughout the night.  We've heard it will help her as she gets older, so we're all for her being able to soothe herself and put herself back to sleep when she's able to.  Of course we comfort her and do what we can, and she hasn't held it against us yet.  So as you can see, a lot has changed with her sleeping and eating lately!    

As you can see, Lena likes sleeping on her side.  So to our surprise, this morning when we went in to see why she was crying she had completely rolled to her tummy!  She has rolled from her tummy to her back twice during tummy time, but does not consistently do it on her own.  She was a little frustrated because her feet had found their way through the slats of her crib.  (At the recommendation of my pediatrician, I removed her bumper once she started scooting around so much).  So eventually after letting her try to turn over on her own, I moved her legs from the slats and then finally turned her over myself.  30 minutes later, I peeked in to check on her and she was on her tummy again!  I guess that is a comfortable position for her (she must have my sleeping style).  Then I checked on her later, and she was back on her tummy.  So now I guess we need to work harder on getting her to turn over from her tummy to her back consistently.  She's done it already, so it's more a matter of letting her get frustrated enough to keep trying until she does it.  I also don't like the idea of her legs/feet getting stuck in the slats.  We think she could get them out if she wanted to, but I'm not sure.  I just saw that they make thin breathable bumper pads for cribs, so I may consider getting one for her.

Speaking of rolling over... During tummy time with Cory and me, Lena rolled over for the first time from her back to her tummy on July 25.  Cory and I were both there to see it, so we were pretty excited.  Then on August 2, I was able to catch her on video rolling from her tummy to her back again.  Like I said before, she isn't doing it consistently and gets pretty frustrated trying.  But now that we know she can do it, we need to keep at it!

I wrote previously about how much Lena disliked riding in her car seat.  So much that she had thrown up on herself a few times.  We ended up buying a Baby Einstein Mirror that plays music and lights up a little to try.  Lena enjoys looking at herself in the mirror, the music is soothing and entertaining, and the lights keep her from getting too bored.  I'm not sure if it's the mirror or if she's growing out of that phase, but it has improved tremendously.  She still cries sometimes, but not to the extent of throwing up (so far, so good).  

Before our trip to Florida, Lena discovered her feet!  She loves grabbing her toes and pulling them up to her chest.  She still enjoys playing in her exersaucer and jumperoo.  She is really jumping big in the jumperoo now, and it is so funny to watch.  We added the lap bar to her swing, so now she likes moving the rings and playing with the little lamb that's attached to it.  She really enjoys her swing after eating.  I think it's a nice way for her to relax and let her milk settle.  She is really grabbing at the objects and is so pleased with herself when she does something to make music or sounds play.  She is better at grasping objects like a rattle, rings, and her taggy ducky.  Of course she immediately tries to put everything in her mouth too.  She is still drooling and putting her fingers in her mouth like crazy, but no teeth yet.  She is loving bright colors and really gets excited and fixated on them.  Lena loves music and dancing.  We have dance parties every day, and she really has some cute moves!
One of the biggest changes that's ahead will be me returning to work and her starting daycare.  Next Wednesday will be her first day.  I have a doctor's appointment and will probably go work in my classroom, but I will be available as needed that day.  Then the next day I have a half day of staff development, and the following day I have a full day of staff development.  Then the next week I start back to school with kids returning the following Monday.  The other day Lena and I went to her daycare to drop off her supplies and to get her (and me) used to the idea of her being there.  She was all smiles and was very curious about all the new people, sights, and sounds.  She even got down on the mat and played and talked with the other babies.  She was just a little social butterfly, and I was so happy and proud to see her that way.  I know it is going to be so hard when I actually have to leave her, but knowing that she had such a positive initial reaction makes me feel so much better.  I know she is going to learn so much by being there, and we've heard wonderful things about the nurturing and loving teachers. 

So as you can see, this has been a month of much development and changes.  I have a feeling it will be this way from now on.  I hope now that I'll be returning to work that I'll be able to keep updating my posts.  I guess my goal will be to continue my monthly updates along with any special events that are taking place too.

Helping Daddy open his presents on his birthday

Singing "Happy Birthday" to Daddy

Bright-eyed in her jumperoo