Fun Weekend and Discovering Nature!

We had a great but busy weekend! I didn't get a chance to take many photos because it was too crazy. Lila got to see her boyfriend Emmett on Saturday morning and spent the day with Uncle James and Aunt Jessica yesterday. She also went with us to a party on Saturday night (which apparently was a no-kids type of party - oops) but we still had a decent time and I don't think anyone was too upset to have a little baby there. She's pretty chill at this age and was in a good mood for most of the party, but we didn't get home til 11!

Yesterday after my brother and Jessica left, baby girl and I sat outside in the grass while Daddy pulled giant weeds out of our backyard flower bed.

I spread out the beach towel and Lila and I played for a long time outside. She seemed to like it out there since it wasn't incredibly sunny. I on the other hand had to take a Benadryl because I'm allergic to grass and had giant welts on my arms when I got inside! Ah, nature.

Here are some cute pics:

Halfway to One Year!

Lila is 6 months old. She is so much fun. I love this age! And I know I say this every month, but she has changed so much!

Here are her stats from today's appointment:

Weight 16 lb, 15 oz ~ 75th percentile
Length 26.5 inches ~ 75th percentile
Head circumference Don't remember the measurement but nurse said 50th percentile

Sizes: 6-9 months in mostly everything, some 12 month pants and sleepers. Size 3 diapers and she's worn everything from Target brand to Pampers. I like Huggies overnights for nighttime. It's getting harder to change her diaper because she is so wiggly!!

Eating: Lila usually eats around 5 times a day. She nurses in the morning right before Neil takes her to daycare, two feedings of pumped milk at daycare (4-5 oz each around 11am and 2:30pm), nurses around 5:30 when we get home and again around 8:30 or 9. Sometimes she gets a bottle in the evening before bed and does occasionally wake once to eat at night between 3-5am.

I'm still pumping away at work! I've found that pumping twice a day is usually enough for her bottles the next day. I pump anywhere from 3-6 oz a session. If I don't make enough we do supplement with formula. Lila seems to have no problems with the regular Enfamil formula. I'm glad I have no qualms with formula because Lila won't drink frozen then thawed milk. Right now I think I'm going to continue nursing and pumping. I'm so proud to have made it to my goal of 6 months!

We started solids this month. So far she's had sweet potatoes, rice cereal, pears, peaches, rice cracker things (Baby Mum-mums) and banana. She is not very interested in eating purees and really prefers feeding herself. I'm trying to keep it light and fun and never make her eat! The nurse at the pediatrician's office said we can do table foods with her and not worry with purees. I think we'll do a little of both. I may send purees with her to daycare so she can eat some there.

Sleeping: We ditched the swaddle and the bassinet this month and Lila is happily sleeping upstairs in her own room. She was totally ready! She sleeps every which way - on her side, belly and back! She is always in a different position when I peek in at her. She goes to bed between 8:30 and 9:30 and sleeps until 7:30 or 8 with the occasional night waking. She's doing much better at falling asleep on her own. I can tell that she just wants me to put her down sometimes when I'm rocking her or holding her. She loves watching her crib soother (Fisher Price Rainforest) and of course her "friend" the glow seahorse. We are trying to introduce a lovey but she doesn't seem to like to hold on to it for too long.

She is also napping much better at daycare! She was sleeping really poorly in the baby room - like 30-45 minute naps. They moved her upstairs to a darkened quiet room and now she takes two 1-3 hour naps! She is so much more rested now and I think it's helping her nighttime sleep.

Talking: She babbles non stop!! Her favorite thing to say? Da-da-da-da!! All day long! She doesn't say mama at all but says pretty much everything else. I think when she figures out this talking thing she might not stop!

Motion: She's crawling!! She can cover serious ground with her army crawl. We have to baby-proof soon, she is in to everything. The other day I laid her on the ground and then looked back a minute later and she was across the room ripping up a piece of paper. She rolls like crazy too. I'm so not ready for this!

Developmental milestones:

- Crawling (on belly)

- Can sit for as long as she wants but can't get into a seated position on her own yet

- Feeds herself

- Drinks from sippy cup (we have to help a little bit)

- Passes objects from hand to hand

- A lot of other things!

Lila loves:

- Her ball and soft book and piano

- Bath time!

- her own reflection

- peekaboo and "I'm a little teapot"

- banging and throwing things! (toys, food, cups)

- still likes her pacifier for bedtime, but spits it out after she's asleep

Lila doesn't like:

- Doesn't have much patience for books, except for her soft one with teethers!

- Getting her nose wiped! Oh my, that's been a challenge!

- Rice cereal

Firsts:

First time at the beach and lake
First time in sand
First cold!
First solid food.
First night in her crib, first night unswaddled.
Started sitting in high chairs at restaurants and in the front part of shopping carts

It's been a really great month!

Feeding herself

Just some shots of Lila feeding herself banana and baby mum mums (rice rusks)! She loves it!

25 things about me!

I've seen a few other bloggers participating in Everyday Mama's "25 things" blog hop and I’ve jumped on the bandwagon. My life is pretty Lila-centric these days, so it took me a while to come up 25 things about myself!

1. I've gotten my hair highlighted since I was a young teenager. Except for a brief 2 months where I went brunette, I've always been blonde

2. I was a waitress for about 6 weeks when I was 16. I was pretty bad and gave most of my tables to the other girls so they could get the tips (they had families and I was lazy!)

3. I have a weird obsession with my Starbucks water cup. I am rarely without it and probably don't wash it nearly enough! It has a Christmas straw but I don't care

4. My husband takes care of the bills, taxes and our budget and I'd be totally lost if I ever had to do it. I have my own checking account and credit card, but that's all I keep track of (and barely do that).

5. My Starbucks orders: Skinny Vanilla Latte (iced in summer/hot in winter), Iced Decaf Americano (decaf/summer), Iced Venti unsweetened Green Tea (tea/summer)

6. My favorite store is probably TJ Maxx but I love Target too! Luckily both are minutes from my house

7. One of the things I miss the most about my pre-baby life is staying up way too late watching hours of Dexter or whatever show Neil and I were hooked on and sleeping in until 10 on the weekends

8. I've done everything a few years sooner than I thought I would... master's degree at 22, married at 22, bought first house at 23, first baby at 27... hoping this means we'll retire and move to the beach earlier too?

9. We eat at Chick fil A once a week.

10. I thought I'd be way more germaphobic with my daughter. If she drops a toy or pacifier on the ground I only make a menial effort to clean it off. Maybe this is why she still has a lingering cough after 3 weeks

11. I'm not a pet person. I especially dislike cats. I used to want a dog, but I'm so glad I didn't get one. I'm also allergic to all animals except for rabbits.

12. If my life is ever interesting enough to make a movie out of, I'd want either Claire Danes or Katie Holmes to play me and Footloose-era Kevin Bacon to play Neil

13. If I could wear flip flips 365 days a year I would

14. I love to do things sitting down that many people do standing at a mirror - putting on makeup, fixing my hair, etc.. If I could straighten my hair laying down I'd do it

15. I used to HATE leopard and zebra print and thought they were the tackiest things ever. Now I love them!

16. I love fashion and shopping, but since I'm 15 lbs heaver than normal right now I can't wear much in my closet and don't really want to buy anything new either! This will probably be my least fashionable fall ever

17. Speaking of weight, in the last 5 years I've been all over the place. I was 130 lbs at my wedding in 2006 and almost 200 in February at 41 weeks pregnant! My goal is 150 but would love to be around 145. I also used to be shy about people knowing my weight, but now I really could care less! FYI I'm 5'8".

18. Being a mom has really put a lot of things in perspective. It's made me realize that I used to care too much about a lot of stupid stuff!

19. My favorite holiday is Valentine's Day and it sucked last year. It was my due date and Lila didn't come until the 23rd. Maybe V-Day 2012 will be better

20. My most embarrassing guilty pleasure is watching Degrassi on Teen Nick. I LOVE it. I'm at least 10 years too old for this show but still watch it and have for a long time. New episodes are on every night right now and I watch them in the mornings when I'm getting ready

21. I love to read! My favorite books are memoirs of people with messed up childhoods, weird disorders and hilarious lives. I loved Glass Castle, Running with Scissors, Girl Named Zippy and anything by David Sedaris.

22. One of my favorite things to do is just sit outside in the sun and read or people watch

23. I'm so lucky to have a fabulous husband. We are so compatible and just have so much fun! It's hard adjusting to being new parents, and we've gotten on each other's nerves more than normal lately, but he is an incredible husband and father and makes me laugh every single day.

24. My favorite foods are broccoli, chicken, chocolate chip cookies and peanut butter. Not in that order.

25. My favorite season used to be summer, but after so many consecutive 90+ days and over 100 degree heat index, I'm so ready for fall!

Lila is 6 months old!

6 months ago today, Lila entered the world in dramatic fashion - almost 2 weeks late and via emergency c-section!

On that day we fell in love with a tiny 7 lb 15 oz brunette:

And now, 6 months later, we are trying to keep up with a 17 lb, almost-crawling, beautiful blue-eyed blonde:

Today also marks 6 months of breastfeeding Lila! I've reached my goal of 6 months and I'm so glad I kept up with it. It was a long, sometimes hard road from the beginning. A baby who didn't latch well meant supplementing, pumping and feeding with a syringe for her first few days. Then enter 3 months of annoying nipple shields and 45-minute long feeding sessions. Now I've got almost 2 months of pumping at work under my belt, and now nursing is easy peasy and takes no time at all. I'm still undecided how much longer I will nurse/pump full time, but for now I'm sticking with it, cause I'm not sure how to stop really even if I wanted to!

I'll wait to do her 6 month update until after her well checkup on Friday, but it's been a crazy, wonderful, difficult, beautiful, tiresome half a year with my baby girl!

Happy 6 months Lila! Mommy and Daddy love you so much!

Babbles, Pilates and the scooch crawl

I took these videos of Lila yesterday and thought I'd post them. Besides, I love her outfit and wanted to share her babbles (mostly Da-da!) and pre-crawling moves. She also shows some Pilates skills in the second video!

Yum! Adventures in Eating

Lila had an eventful weekend. Not only is she now sleeping unswaddled! in her crib!! she ate solids for the first time! We decided to go with sweet potatoes for her first food. I think next we'll try rice cereal and then avocado and then another fruit maybe.

Loving her garage sale high chair! $4!

"What is this spoon thing?"

"Yum?"

"I'd rather finger paint than eat!"

"Okay, I'll take some more please!"

"I'll help!"

"This stuff is pretty good!"

"Nevermind... Ewww..."

"Alright, ready for the bath!"

She did better on day two. I think she liked it all in all!

First Family Vacation!

We just got back from our first family vacation!

We went to Sandusky and stayed at Cedar Point.

Lots to see up above...

Cedar Point's newest ride Wind Seeker.

Lila enjoyed her first time at the beach and lake.

She had her first boat ride (but missed most of it)!

Neil and I rode some of these.

I had a little bit of beach time, loving the view of the water!

I enjoyed this view even more. ;)

Lila lounged at the beach.

And got some pool time (looks like she's ready to jump in!).

And some Mamaw time (Papaw was on the boardwalk).

On Sunday we took her into the park. I think she liked it (even though she's hot, sweaty and tired!):

Maybe another vacation is in our future after all!

Tuesday Randomness

- So I redesigned the blog again. It was too dark for summer and I just felt like I wanted a change! I also wanted to incorporate the light pretty colors that I'm hoping to put into my living room at some point. Ahh. Much better. And I just like playing in Photoshop!

- I cannot believe it's August! I'm so ready for fall. It's been so dang hot here that I feel like I haven't really enjoyed the outdoors at all this summer. In years past I'd have been at the pool on these 90 degree days, but not so much with a 5 month old. I usually am so sad for summer to end, but bring on the pumpkin spice lattes and boots and caramel apples, please!

- We are going to Cedar Point for a long weekend on Friday. We are staying at a hotel in the park that's right on the beach. I'm excited to ride some rollercoasters, lay by the pool and beach, and hopefully relax a little bit. Neil's parents are coming along with us so we'll have help and someone to watch Lila. It'll be her first time at the beach!

- Lila is still getting over her cold, poor girl. She has a cough now. She's still pretty happy and doesn't have a fever so I guess she's okay. She's just a bit more clingy and wakes up more at night. I can't wait for her to get better for all of our sakes.

- Okay, so I've been watching the Twilight movies. I never wanted to get into this series, but I started listening to the first book on CD in the car and then DVR'd the movies. They are so bad but for some reason I'm still watching. At first I thought I would be team Jacob, but Edward is growing on me. I'm excited for the new one to come out this fall!

- I was a big dummy and forgot my pump parts yesterday so I couldn't pump at work for 8+ hours! It sucked! I had plans to go out after work with work friends, so it was even longer than normal. It was uncomfortable, but I made it!

- My friend Karyn is getting ready to move to England with her hubby. It's super sad! I've known her since I was in college and I'm very sad to see her leave. It should be a fun adventure for her and I definitely want to visit her next year. Ooh and she just started a blog to document her new life "across the pond"!

- I'm in disbelief that my daughter will be 6 months old soon. I can't believe she is so big. She is so funny and just a lot of fun. I think she might be starting another growth spurt. The 3 month one was terrible so I hope this one is easy. We will start her on solids this month which I am really looking forward to. I guess I'm going to start with rice cereal since its the traditional choice, but I'd rather start with avocado or sweet potatoes or something. Oh well, I've got my baby spoons, high chair, bibs and organic brown rice cereal ready to go whenever we are ready!

Everyone enjoy the rest of your Tuesday!