8 Months

Dear Lauren,

Oh baby, this has been a big month for you! You have MASTERED some huge developmental milestones and I swear I can see you changing right before my eyes.

  Stats: 17 lbs, 15 oz

Awesome stuff you're doing: right as you turned 7 months old, you started crawling. One month later you are EVERYWHERE! It's like the whole world is at your sweet baby fingertips and you are bound and determined to get into whatever you can. Daddy and I are learning about baby proofing, and you're learning about how to get what you want despite it. Within days of mastering crawling, you started pulling yourself up to a stand all on your own! A few weeks later and now you are letting go of things and standing all on your own for a few seconds! And believe it or not, youre even WALKING along the sides of the couch or you'll hold onto the sides of our ottoman while you go around it! You are all about discovering anything you can, my sweet adventurous girl! You have no fear! Even when something scares you or causes you to fall down and bump your head or get hurt in some way, you want loved and cuddled for a minute and then you're right back doing the same thing again. And Lauren, you started talking this month! Your first word was "Dada" and your second word was "Ma!" sometimes I want so badly to freeze time and just be in this stage forever, but it's such a joy watching you learn and discover new things I don't know if I would if I could.


Eating: you still love everything you were eating a month ago, but now we've added carrots and oatmeal with various fruits mixed in to your list of yummy treats!

Teething: SUCCESS! All those months of teething (4 to be exact) have finally paid off and you have your first tooth! This is new just in the last couple days! You're so grown up :) its your bottom middle right tooth!


Sleeping: most of the time you sleep with me and daddy. You will sleep in your crib, but you wake up at least once an hour when you do... And since daddy and I don't mind having you in our room with us, and we all sleep better when you are... That's what we do 90% of the time. Your bedtime routine is still one of my favorite parts of the day. We spend about an hour having dinner, bath, story, and finally a bottle and cuddles. You fall asleep in my arms and I just love it. Every night I hold you for a few minutes after you fall asleep and just kiss your little nose and soak in some of the sweet joy of your babyhood.

A cute story about you!: Last night you and I were sitting on the floor in Daddy's office while he did some grading on the computer. I was trying to find something nearby to entertain you with, so I grabbed Daddy's toy T-Rex. Your eyes got HUGE, and you kept looking from it, to me, then back to it again. You wouldn't even touch it (a first, since right now you are grabbing anything you can and trying to eat it). I touched it to show you it was okay, and you burst into tears and hugged me. Seriously, it was so cute/sad/sweet. You're scared of T-Rex's. I love you, little girl!

Your first box- hours of fun! 

I love my Daddy! 

Mommy kisses!  

My First Mother's Day

Thank you so much Robbie and Lauren for making my very first Mother's Day so wonderful! Robbie made me breakfast and spoiled me with roses and some fantastic presents, and Lauren gave me sweet baby kisses all day long.  

Lauren is my greatest blessing and the very best part of my life. The opportunity the be her mommy is something I cherish every day. 

Dada!

Lauren said her first word!!! Robbie is involved with a research grant with one of his professors. Part of this involved going to a (not at all nearby) national park for a few days and gathering stuff for the lab. The park is in the middle of nowhere without cell phone access or anything, and Lauren and I both missed him a ton! Lauren has never had a night without her Daddy, and one of the nights he was gone I just could not get her to fall asleep. She sleeps with us in our bed 99% if the time, so I decided to just go lay down with her in our room, hoping she would take the hint and fall asleep, lol. Instead, she started crawling around our bed and whispering, "Dada. Dada. Dada. Dada." She was looking for Robbie. It was the sweetest thing I've ever seen. My baby loves her Daddy so much! 

And then about a week ago my parents watched Lauren while Robbie and I went on a much needed date! When we got back Lauren and my mom were walking around outside, and as I got out of the car Lauren said/yelled "Ma!" Oh how that just makes my heart burst! She says both "Dada" and "Ma!" all the time now, and I smile every single time. This girl is my whole world. I love her so much! 

7 Month Update

Dear Lauren,

What is it about 7 months old that seems so grown up to me? Your father and I look at you and just can't believe how much and how quickly you change. You've always been right on track, if not ahead, but you've grown so much developmentally this past month. It makes you seem so grown up!

Awesome Stuff You're Doing: Baby girl, YOU CAN CRAWL! As of today, I am officially saying you can crawl! You've been going in circles for weeks, and have been able to crawl backwards for quite awhile too. But today you actually INTENTIONALLY crawled forward! I don't think you realize you did it which is hilarious, but I'm so proud of you! You have so many toys that you love and often can't decide what to play with, so I'll find you with a toy in your mouth and another toy in your hands. Your new favorites are anything that isn't a "toy" such as- the lids to my plastic containers, pulling your clothes out of your dresser, your hairbrush, your headbands, etc. And while you're not saying any words yet, you love to talk. So far you mostly just say "babababababababa!" and it is adorable. You love your voice and have figured out how to crescendo into an ultrasonic scream. Happy or mad, there have been days where you scream ALL day.

Eating: You've tried several different foods now and love them all! You've had bananas, sweet potatoes, avocados,  apples, rice cereal, and green beans. You LOVE green beans! And you really love playing with your food or the containers or utensils. We go through a minimum of two spoons with every meal... one for you to hold and play with, the other for me to help you eat with. If we don't use this system more food gets on you than in you; you grab the spoon before I can get it to your mouth and attempt to put it in your mouth yourself. You're successful, but in a very messy way, lol.

Sleeping: I've decided to follow your lead when it comes to sleeping. Our bedtime routine is still going strong and I'm loving every minute of it. Most nights I can lay you down in your crib and you'll sleep for at least a few hours or all night, but sometimes I get the feeling before I set you down that you're just not wanting the crib tonight, and sure enough you wake right up and won't go back to sleep until you're cuddled in my arms in the rocking chair. Those are the nights I bring you back into bed with me and Daddy, which I'm completely okay with. You're still sleeping at least 8 hours at night. Sometimes you don't get up all night, and other nights you get up a few times... I think those are the nights your teeth are hurting you.

Teething: Well Little Love, still no teeth yet. But the teething hasn't given you much of a rest. It's been 4 months now of teething and I hurt for you! I got you some teethers made out of natural materials- no plastic and no toxins- and honestly they seem to help more than anything else. Sophie, your giraffe, is made out of rubber and she's your favorite teether. (No, I didn't name your giraffe- she came with that name, lol). Your gums are super hard though, it hurts now when you chomp down on my finger (or shoulder, or hand, etc, lol), so hopefully for  your sake some of them will come in soon!

Nicknames: You've had so many nicknames since you were born based on what you were doing at the time. The one that has stuck since your birth is Little Love. Others right now may need a little explanation. They are Little Goose and Baby Turtle. You're hilarious, and I started calling you a silly goose. Somehow it got combined with Little Love, and now you're Little Goose, lol. Baby Turtle comes from this thing you do. Because you don't realize you can crawl yet, sometimes you won't do it. You'll lay on your stomach and put all of your limbs in the air and rock back and forth like you're stuck- which is just ridiculous. You are perfectly capable of sitting up from whatever position you're in. It's like a baby turtle that got flipped over onto it's shell and can't flip back over. And you let out this "Ahh! Ahh! Ahh! Ahh!" noise at the same time. So when you do it we call you Baby Turtle and remind you that you can roll back over, lol. That, or in this case take a picture of you:

Baby Turtle 

Lauren, I love you so much. You make Daddy and I so happy. As much as I'd love for time to slow down, I'm having so much fun watching you grow. I love you, Little Love! 

Lauren's First Easter!

Yes I am aware I am super late with this post. Lauren's first Easter was... well... probably not as eventful as it would have been. My boss was desperate to find someone to work so she offered me and extra $5 an hour plus the time and a half for the overtime it would put me into. I just couldn't pass that up. So I got off work in the evening and we headed to my parents house to celebrate Lauren't first Easter!

She got two Easter baskets this year! One from us... ahem... I mean the Easter Bunny, and one from my parents!

The Easter Bunny brought her some cute outfits, bunny ears, and adorable little stuffed dinosaur toys! The Easter bunny likes dinosaurs- who would've thought? ;) 

 Lauren with her Aunt Emily, whom she completely adores! 

Happy Easter, everyone!

Adventures in Solid Feeding

I don't know why I was so nervous about starting Lauren on solids. Seriously- super nervous. It's like I was closing a chapter on part of her babyhood and I was a little sad about it. Before she was born I had decided that I was going to give her only homemade foods- including only homemade baby cereals. She's never had a can of processed baby food or anything out of a box and I intend for it to stay that way. Breatfeeding may not have worked out how I wanted it to, but THIS is in my control. I am so determined, lol. I did SO much research and changed my mind a dozen times about what to feed her first and how long to wait between introducing various foods, whether or not to add formula to it, whether to use a spoon at first or let her eat off my finger, etc. Eventually, I decided to go with bananas first, waiting 4 days between introducing each new food, not to add formula to it unless it was just super thick and seriously needed thinning down, and to use my finger at first so I didn't throw too many new things at her at once. So far we've done bananas, sweet potatoes, avocados, apples, rice cereal, and green beans. And so far my sweet, super opinionated baby has loved EVERYTHING! With the first few things we tried after bananas (sweet potatoes and avocados), it took her a few days to decide what she thought, but she loves them now! And based on her reaction and sweet little hands reaching for the bowl, her favorite food....? GREEN BEANS! :) Here's a few pictures of my very happy and well fed little girl:

Very first bite! Bananas!

Loved them!

Yummy avocados! Regardless of whether she's wearing a bib or not and has the high chair tray or not, this is a messy process. So sometimes I just put her in clothes I don't care about and skip the bib. She's happier that way anyway!

And her very favorite part of any meal... when she's done I hand her the container and let her play with it. It always results in changing her clothes and mopping the floor, but look how happy it makes her! 

For anyone who's curious about my homemade baby food making process... it's super easy. With the exception of bananas and avocados, I cook the food, then puree it in a blender and freeze it in ice cube trays. Once frozen I pop the cubes out and put them in freezer ziplock baggies. Before I go to bed I decide what she's going to eat the next day and I take a few cubes out and put them in airtight containers in the fridge. Then when she's hungry it only takes about 10 seconds in the miccrowave, and voila! Homemade, healthy, yummy goodness for Lauren! Bananas and avocados don't need to be cooked obviously so I just mash them with a fork when she's ready for one! As far as rice cereal goes- I only use short grain brown rice right now. I turned it into rice powder using my kitchen mill (so easy, I adore that thing!) and store a ton of it in an airtight container in my fridge, and it's just 1/4 cup rice powder to slightly more than 1 cup boiling water. Whisk and boil for 10 minutes and you're done! I don't add formula to it, but I do add fruit to thin it down and she loves it! Making homemade baby food has almost become a hobby for me- I have so much fun doing it!

The Park

The weather this past weekend was so beautiful, we just couldn't resist the opportunity to take Lauren on her very first trip to the park! It was just the three of us, and Lauren just soaked up the sunshine and took all the sights in!



Later that day we made a second trip back to the park with Robbie's parents and brother, and Jana and her girls! Seriously it was such a fun day, and Lauren loved every minute of it!







Lauren and her cousins!



I need to start bringing my camera places. Thank goodness for iPhones huh?