Nine Months Holy Cow!

 Our sweet baby girl is not much of a baby any more. She's three quarters of the way to being a toddler! Have I mentioned how fast time flies? Every day Addie is more and more fun to be around. We go to swim lessons every Monday morning where Coach Eric has taught Addie how to swim underwater for seven whole seconds! On Tuesdays or Wednesdays we go to storytime at the public library where we sing songs, read books, and play with other babies. We even ran into our former AP, Cassie there one week! Addie loves her LeapFrog Learn & Groove Musical Table because it does so many different things and she gets to feel like a big girl as she stands around it. She's not yet crawling (not that I mind!) but she still gets where she wants to go by scooting on her bottom or pseudo-crawling backward or rolling. It's fun going into her room every morning to see what crazy position she wound up in during the night. She's like her mama and prefers sleeping on her stomach whenever she gets the chance. I still put her to sleep on her back but she flips back and forth through the night. She's eating everything in sight and I'm so glad we did Baby Led Solids (or Baby Led Weaning). I'm not the typical parent; Addie has actually never had a jar of babyfood and has only eaten two pureed foods. She prefers to feed herself (stubborn like her mom) so we give her appropriate sized cooked foods that she can pick up. Her current favorite food is ground beef or roast... THAT she gets from her daddy. She also just learned how to drink from a straw so of course I ran out to Target the next day to get her a straw sippy. We'll be celebrating her birthday before we know it!

"No thanks Mom, I'd rather read." She grabbed this book off the nightstand.

Smile!

Such a happy munchkin!

::smack:: "So, are we almost done here?"

Daddy came in the room.

"I love my bunny SOOO much!!"

"And this is what I think of my bow." She started ripping her bows off at exactly nine months. Oh well, at least I got eight easy months of accessorizing her!

"No more pictures!"

Half a Year!!

Six months ago  at this time I was sitting in a hospital room with my new family of three. I was a proud mama of seven hours and was in complete bliss. Fast forward to today, and I am still in a state of bliss. I love being a mom to Addison! She's such an easy baby and every day I thank God that He gave me such a perfect tiny human to take care of.

She laughs, sits up completely on her own, babbles dadadada and HIIIIIIII, grabs and shakes her toys, sits at her high chair during meals, "drinks" water from her sippy cups, sleeps in her Rock'n Play from 8 PM-7:30 AM, laughs when she sees Goose, pets the cats and grabs their tails (gently!), and continues to put everything in her mouth.

I have to AW  myself for second: I've made it to my goal of exclusively breastfeeding for six months!! I never thought I'd be here at six months and at first thought this goal was unobtainable. I'm so proud of myself for accomplishing this goal, but I owe it to Addie for being so good at it. I hope to breastfeed for a year or until she weans herself.

She's a GIRL!!

Addie has been sick so I took her to the doctor today. While we were in the waiting room a lady came in with two of her children, a fourth grade son and a two year old daughter. The daughter immediately comes up to Addie and gently touches her foot and smiles. Her mom sees her and admonishes her about touching my baby, but seeing as she wasn't the sick one (the son was) I didn't have a problem with it at all, thus opening ourselves up to conversation. The mom says to her daughter, "Ask her what his name is," and the little girl says, "What's her name?" The mom goes, 'No, sweetie, it's a he," to which I respond with, "Actually, she's a girl." Addie was wearing a brown and tan Zodiac romber from Old Navy, so it wasn't clear that she was a girl. Since she's sick I wasn't going to dress her cute and in bows, so I knew she might get mistaken. The poor mother felt so bad and kept apologizing and every time she saw a girl-themed baby item we had she would say, "Agh, I should have seen ______, I'm so sorry!"


I thought it was funny and didn't care at all. I know Addie is a beautiful baby girl, but honestly, I don't see why people get all upset when their child gets mistaken for the opposite sex. Just a funny story I felt like sharing.

Addie is 5 Months!

How is my baby already five months old!? Time slow the frack down. Please! Addie has started sitting! She hates tummy time still so I thought she's be behind on her milestones but she surprised us this past weekend during our bluebonnet photo session. Addie is a babbler and a pterodactyl (I spelled that right the first time, woot!) and when she laughs it makes my day.

Her legwarmers are Agoo Leggings and I got them from one of those daily deal websites a few months ago. I don't remember which one, but it was 1 Fuzzibunz OS and 2 pairs of Agoo leggings for $25. I bought two sets. Love them!

Sleep Success

As I'm blogging, Addie is next to me in her Rock 'n Play putting herself to sleep. Our day was way off schedule, so I knew bedtime would be an adventure. We slept in today until 11:00 AM before heading out to brunch at Z'tejas around 11:30. She took a nap from about 2-3 PM and then again from about 6-7:15 PM. My little giraffe usually naps twice a day if we're lucky for about 30 min - 1 hour tops. After her last nursing she was still wide awake so I put her in the RnP next to me as I blogged in the dark. It took about 25 minutes, but I'm about 98% certain she's asleep. She talked to herself for most of the time, but slowly drifted off, needing her paci only once.

I must say, I missed her falling asleep while nursing. I am glad that we've transitioned her from sleeping in the swing (since day 5) to now sleeping in the RnP. It's safer and I don't have to get out of bed on the rare occasion that she should awake. If you don't have one, get one. Trust me.

Shot Success

Addie had her four month round of vaccines yesterday. She was such a trooper, just smiling and shrieking for our pediatrician. When it came time for the two shots in her thigh, her face turned bright red and she started screaming. Fortunately, it only lasted a minute this time. By the time I sat her down to nurse her, she had already stopped crying! I fed her for maybe five minutes and she was all smiles. All afternoon and into the night I kept waiting for her to go ballistic but she was so happy! Then... 8:20 at night came. Her Tylenol had just about worn off, but it wasn't time for an additional dose and she went crazy. She was screaming so hard; I had never heard screams like this. I have no idea how mamas are able to watch and listen to their baby scream like Addie did, but every day. My heart goes out to all of you. It's heartbreaking seeing your child in pain and knowing you can't make it go away.

On the topic of vaccines... of all of the research I did before Addie was born, vaccines were just something I felt were right and so I did zero, zip, zilch research on them. Looking back, I feel like that was so ignorant, and I wished I would have read up on at least SOMETHING regarding them. If you chose to not vaccinate your children, or chose to do a delayed schedule, may I ask why?

I am definitely an attachment parent type, and this has been bugging me for the past few days. I am feeling so much guilt about Addie's shots because I feel like I'm the one that caused her to go through that pain. I knew it was going to happen, I'm the one who took her to the doctor and held her down as the shot pierced her thigh. If normally, I'm so protective and try so hard to make sure she's safe and pain-free, why would I allow myself to let her experience pain? OR... am I just WAY over thinking it?

Babywearing

I just found Austin's babywearing group on Yahoo Groups! I love wearing Addie in the Ergo and as of yesterday, our Zolowear ring sling. We bought the ring sling in November from Baby Earth and Addie HATED it. Every time I would give it another chance, she would cry until I took her out. So I gave it one more try on Saturday and imagine my surprise when she was all smiles the whole time! I tried to do the kangaroo hold so she could see out, but I think it needs a little more work before I master it. I messed with it a few times at home before going out. It's so easy to pop her in the sling and much lighter and more convenient than bringing her carseat in. We took her to Schlotzsky's and Bed, Bath, and Beyond and she didn't fuss once. The gift-wrapper at BB&B thought Addie was so precious she was practically begging me to leave Addie up front while we shopped. Um, I appreciate the thought, but no thanks? Silly people.

(Please excuse the crappy iPhone picture... also, this pic was my first attempt at just having her IN the sling, so I hadn't yet fixed it to wear her correctly. I honestly didn't think she'd last more than a few seconds so I made Zac snap the pic asap!!)

Addie is 4 Months!!

Smile!!
Silly Face Time!

Achoo!!

Happy 4 Months my precious munchkin!! I love you to pieces more and more every day. I didn't know this much love for somebody was possible, but you have shown me just how much love I am capable of giving. Thank you for that!

In the past month you have started "daycare" with Grandma Jones and I know you are both having so much fun together. I get pictures and videos as evidence! You smile when you see people you know and even people you don't know. For the first time, I saw you get scared while in somebody else's arms and you looked for me for comfort. You giggle and laugh when Daddy and I make silly faces and squeal with delight when we say "HI!!" over and over at you. You learned how to pet Goose, and smile when he licks your hand.

Tummytime isn't quite the fail that it used to be. You let us put you on your tummy a few times a day as long as we're showing you a toy that you like. When you see Sophie or Tiggy you grin so wide and reach for them. They go with you everywhere and ride in the carseat with you every day. At Grandma's you have an owl toy that you adore. You can talk to the owl for 15 minutes straight! At home you like your lion pull toy and the bee that hangs over your tummy time mat because they both play nature sounds and music.

I am so amazed and thankful for your wonderful sleep habits. You still sleep through the night, but on the rare occasion you do wake up, I smile because you always wake up so happy.

You love when I grab your hands so you can pull yourself up to a sitting position. Slow down Addie!! You're only a baby for such a short time... stop growing up so fast! When you're lying down you lift your head and neck up so much trying to sit up like a big girl.

I'm so proud to be your mommy. I love you so much Addie!

Addie is Three Months Old!!

Happy 3 Months Little Miss! Mommy and Daddy love you so much and have enjoyed every minute we have spent with you. Over the last month you have learned so many things. You growl at us RAWR!, you giggle, you try to eat the bath washrag, you smile all the time, you wake up every morning smiling and babbling, you love to watch people and animals, you get excited for our daily walks (soon to be runs!), tummy time is getting better, you love to sit up like a big girl, and so much more!

Two Months!

Addie is already two months old. It's hard to believe that just two months ago, we welcomed our beautiful baby girl into the world. So much has changed in that short time. My insecurities of being a mother have slowly started to disappear as I feel more confident as each day passes. Addie is now not only smiling nonstop, but she has started to laugh, too! Most days she is still nursing wonderfully, but the past few days have been difficult.

One Month!

The first month of Addie's life has already passed! It went by incredibly fast. It's so fun to see her personality emerge, and she just started smiling this week. Addie's one month coincided with her Daddy's birthday (November 28). The entire family was here during her photo shoot. We're using this bunny as a prop to show how big she gets each month. A lot of people have wondered where we got her adorable onesies from. Guess what!? Those are just stickers found here on Etsy for about $10! Stick them on a plain onesie and this is what you get!

Wordle of Fun!

After reading a fellow Nestie's blog, I came across a website called Wordle where you can type random words into an editor and it comes up with a personalized blurb for you. I used words that were significant to describing our baby girl. It literally took five minutes, and most of that time was spent choosing the right colors for the nursery! I'm thinking about printing this off and either buying a canvas and attempting to recreate the wordle on my own, or taking it to a printing place to do for me. I'd love to have this to hang in the nursery!

P.S. Click on the pic to make it bigger!