Seven Months

Well I’m late on this post. Haha.

Lilah baby,

Seven months now. Wow. I know I say it every month, but I honestly can’t believe that seven months has come and gone.

Weight: 18 pounds 15 ounces
Diapers: Size 3
Clothes: 6-9 and 9 month and 6 month short sleeve onesies

Milestones:

Sitting up by herself. This happened during the first week or two of this month. She started by using her toys to help her and then just started doing it on her own.

On February 5th, Lilah started getting her first tooth. By February 11th, she had both of her bottom teeth coming in. She seems like she is teething again, but so far no new teeth. Since she now has teeth, we have started to give her some finger foods. She loves munching on Gerber and Plum Organics cereal puffs and yogurt melts. They are great to give her a few cereal puffs while I make up her breakfast. They definitely keep her calm since she loves her food.

She started to crawl this month! She is one mobile baby. She still loves to roll around, but crawling definitely gets her around faster. She started with doing this army crawl type of thing and then about a week later she was actually crawling.

Holidays:

Lilah had her first Valentine’s Day this month. We had a photo shoot and Daddy bought her a Valentine’s Day present. We then spent the day shopping in Columbus.

Likes: Sitting, crawling, Tinker Bell, The Aristocats, her toys, meal times, and hanging with mommy.

Dislikes: Diaper changes (just because they don’t allow to her to roll or crawl), teething, and being left alone or not with mommy.

Six Months

Lilah Grace,

Six months. A half a year has passed since you entered this world. Honestly though, it doesn’t feel like that long. It still seems like a few weeks ago you were so little and so dependent on me.

We had your six month check up this morning and you are now 17 pounds 3 ounces, 27 3/4 inches long, and a 16 3/4 inch head. You are in size 3 diapers and a mixture of 3/6 and 6 month and 6/9 and 9 month clothes.

Your doctor says you are really tall for your age, but that you are under what is average for your weight. According to my app on my phone though her weight is still in the 75%.

You babble and talk to us all the time. You love sitting in your highchair at the dining room table and talking to all of us.

You’re a rolling machine. You actually rolled into your room from the living room one night. That’s over twelve feet and around a chair and a partial wall.

You’re still trying to figure out this crawling thing. You haven’t started yet, but I can tell you really want to. I’ve caught you on your hands and knees several times now and once I caught you rocking back and forth on your hands and knees.

You love meal time. Every morning we start out with a four ounce bottle, half a jar of baby food, and a little bit of yogurt. Lunch is a vegetable or a vegetable mixed with a fruit and another four ounce bottle. The rest of the day you are given bottles of formula.

Your doctor has suggested we use a sippy cup a little more to help wean her off the bottle when the times comes to do so. Today we used it a little more than usual and you seem to be accepting it just fine.

This month you experienced two holidays, Christmas and New Years.

Christmas was so much fun with you around. On December 22nd, we went to Nana’s for our family Christmas party. Nana got you a toy that will later help you learn to walk. Right now you love hitting the buttons on the front and making it play music.

On Christmas Eve, we went to see Grandma and Grandpa (daddy’s parents). They got you some clothes, the V-Tech Activity Cube, and a musical projection toy for your crib.

We stayed home on Christmas Day. You got more toys than you know what to do with and plenty of clothes for the next few months. Your favorite of all your toys you got has to be the car you got. You love spending long periods of time in the car playing with the steering wheel, gear shift, and radio.

Our New Year’e Eve was pretty tame this year. We visited some family for a couple hours and then headed home and put you to bed. Mommy and Daddy had a drink and then we went to bed as well.

You started sitting up by yourself this month. You still have to hold onto a toy sometimes. but you can do it without holding on to anything. Sitting up by yourself has lasted for as long as ten minutes so far and then you tumble over or fall back.

You’re so independent anymore. You really hate when Daddy or I try to help you do something.

I’m so glad your sleeping habits haven’t changed much. You’re in a bath by 7:30 pm and having you bedtime bottle by 8 pm and in bed for the night by 8:30 pm. You’re up in the morning between 8:30 and 9:30 am and only take a couple naps during the day.

I love you so much baby girl. I wish you could slow down on the growing up, but I know I can’t stop you from doing that.

Mommy.

Lilah Photo Dump: 2

Must Haves for Months Five and Six

Time for another must haves post. Lilah will be six months old on Tuesday and the things that she loves have definitely changed since she was four months old. Last ust haves, she still used her swing to help with bed time every night and for every nap she took. She no longer uses the swing unless we put her in it so we can do something or on occasion a nap. Her favorite pacifier is a completely different brand now.

1. Baby Food

With Lilah now being almost six months old, the food she eats is so interesting. Honestly, one of my favorite times of each day is her breakfast and lunch time. She eats a variety of brands of baby food and eats almost everything except for a couple vegetables. Luckily those vegetables that she’s not crazy about are hidden in many things she eats. She also now eats yogurt. We usually give it to her once every two or three days since it is something new for her.

We give her Ella’s Kitchen, Sprout, Happy Baby, Plum Organics, and Gerber. She loves mangos, sweet potatoes, bananas, peaches, and squash. I prefer to giver her Sprout, Happy Baby, and Ella’s Kitchen, but Gerber is definitely easier for us to find in our local stores.

2. Baby Juice

Since her four month check up, we’ve been giving Lilah juice. Recently, we started giving her yogurt juice and it’s definitely another favorite of hers. Giving her juice gives her something else during the day and lessens the amount of formula she drinks by a little bit.

3. High Chair

Since we are now feeding her twice each day, this is something that gets a lot of use. I’m very thankful that Austin’s parents bought us this. We chose the Graco DuoDiner LX highchair. One thing I love about this highchair is the fact that it lasts for a long time. This highchair actually converts to a booster seat. The highchair can be used until the child is 37 pounds and then the booster can be used until the child is 60 pounds. I know we’ll get a lot of use out of this over the next few years.

Lilah loves spending time in her highchair. Especially now that she reach the tray she loves spending time with me in the kitchen.

4. Toys from Christmas

Lilah’s first Christmas definitely brought her many new toys. She has a few favorites already and loves playing with these few specific things over anything else.

The first is the car that she got. This was her big gift from Santa and it is definitely her favorite gift from Christmas. She can spend thirty minutes playing with it and sometimes even longer.

She also loves the Clack and Slide ball from Bright Starts. We call it her weapon of choice because the first time she played with it she hit Austin in the head with it three times in a row.

5. Nighttime Soothers

We still use the Graco Sweet Slumber Sound Machine. I can’t imagine putting her down for naps or bed without it. We have three dogs who are very loud and she has become somewhat of a light sleeper at times and this sound machine drowns them out.

Another Christmas gift that she uses daily is the Gloworm from Playskool. If she happen to wake up during the middle of the night or fights sleep a little, turning this on puts her right back to sleep.

My mom also bought her a nightlight for Christmas. She got it in Sofia the First since Lilah loves the show. It helps keep a little bit of light in her room without keeping her awake.

6. MAM Pacifiers

Since the end of November, Lilah has had a new favorite pacifier. On Black Friday, I left her Nuk in the car while we were in Meijer and the only one I had in the diaper bag was a MAM. Ever since then, she won’t take anything except for a MAM. I actually love these way more than than Nuk pacifiers because Lilah can put it back in her mouth and it doesn’t matter which way she puts it in. With her Nuk, if she didn’t put it in the right way she was not happy.

Five Months

Lilah,

Five months have come and gone and I’m still in awe of how fast the time has really gone by.

At the end of the month you transitioned from size twos into size three diapers. Size twos were just getting too snug and were starting to leave indention marks in your skin. Your WIC appointment this morning showed why. You’re now 16 pounds 1 ounce and 26 1/4 inches. That means you’ve gained 11 ounces and grown a quarter of an inch in a month. You’re slowing down on the growing and I am a little happy about that. Daddy and I don’t have to worry about your next car seat for a little while.

You’re comfortably wearing 3/6 month and 6 month cloths now. A couple 3 month outfits still fit you, but I doubt they will much longer. 0/3 month and 3 month clothes are being packed up and I must admit it makes me a little sad.

You’re such a happy baby. Smiles are given to us everyday. You’ve started to make one noise that you can stop at any time. You’ve learned to whimper like one of the dogs and if I don’t feed you food fast enough, you start whimpering.

You’ve become a rolling machine. Ever since you learned how to roll, you haven’t stopped. It started slowly, but now it’s gotten to the point where you roll over six to eight times to get to where you want to be. I can’t leave your clothes on the floor after folding them anymore because now you roll over to them and start unfolding them.

You had your first Thanksgiving this month. We went three places and even though you got a little stressed out with everyone taking turns holding you, I think you did fairly well. You ate some cranberry sauce and sweet potatoes and loved hanging out with all of your cousins.

You met Santa for this first time. Another thing you did so well with. You even smiled while he held you!

We got your ears pieced this month. They were an early Christmas present from your Mimi and Papaw. You did amazing and didn’t start screaming until the women who did it were two or three feet away from you.

You got to experience snow for the first time. Daddy even helped you make a snow angel.

The last thing that you’ve started to do this month is pushing up on our knees. I can tell you want to start moving, but you definitely don’t know how yet. You’ll get into the right position with your lower half, but don’t push up onto your hands and then you’re start getting frustrated because nothing happens.

First Christmas Stocking Stuffers

I’m still at a complete loss as to what to really get Lilah for Christmas this year. Honestly, what do you buy for a baby who will only be five months old on Christmas day? Then there’s the stocking. I was confused on this for a little while, but I think I finally found the right things for her stocking.

Disney Baby FINDING NEMO Amazing Animals™ Rounds

This was one of the first things that we bought for Christmas. I had originally planned on wrapping them in their original box, but it was a very awkward shape and after wrapping two other awkward boxes, I really didn’t want to do  third one. These are going in the very bottom of the stocking as they are one of the “heavier” items in her stocking.

According to the site, they are suppose to help baby learn:

Curiosity & Discovery
• Each round features adorable characters from FINDING NEMO, interesting details and a unique rattle sound for Baby to discover!

Gross Motor
• Just the right size for Baby to grasp, hold, shake & roll!

Sensory
• Bright colors, rattling sounds and textures stimulate Baby’s senses of sight, sound and touch!

Carter’s Accessories 

We bought these accessories to go along with a collection of outfits we bought Lilah. I loved this new collection of clothes from Carters. We bought everything except for a few items. These are from the Light Brights collection. I love the fun mixture of navy, pink, orange, and white.

Carter’s Crinkle Book

I found this little book while shopping at a Carter’s store one day. I usually shop online since every Carter’s store is far away from us, but I’m so glad we were able to make the trip to one. This one features four pages with bright colored animals and their names. Each pages crinkles, which is a feature that Lilah loves so much.

Moccasins

I found these little moccasins at Meijer. I fell in love with them and knew I had to get them. I got them in a size bigger than what she’s in right now so that way they’ll fit her for a little longer.

My First Christmas Baby Doll and Reindeer Rattle

My mom bought these at Meijer. Lilah loves the two baby dolls she already has so I know this one will be a hit as well. I was a little concerned about the rattle at first. When it was first purchased, Lilah still wasn’t into rattles. She hated holding onto them until recently. Lately it’s been hard to get rattles out of her hands lately. She’s been wanting to go to sleep with them and even take them into her baths lately. I think it’ll go over well.

Bright Starts Snuggle & Teether – Elephant

Lilah loves these things. She has two others, the giraffe and monkey. The giraffe is a constant feature in the diaper bag and the monkey goes from hooked onto the car seat to in her hands during the day. I’ll be glad when Christmas day comes and the monkey can stay on the car seat and she can have the elephant as the one for in her to play with.

Sofia the First Soft Doll

Lilah loves watching Sofia the First. She already has the Minimus stuffed animal and my parents bought her Clover and Mia stuffed animals for Christmas presents. Even though this is supposed to be a toy for ages three and up, I honestly have no problem letting her have this now. She never plays with toys without someone in the room with her, so I really don’t think it will be a problem.

A Day in the Life: 19 Weeks

This is a pretty typical day for us. Lilah did wake up a little earlier than she usually does and she took an extra nap that she usually doesn’t take, but this is an example of our normal days.

6:00 am: I wake up. I usually wake up between 6 and 6:30 to work on homework. Today I had a few things left to do for my Excel certification class. I was able to get that assignment done and turned in, as well as complete and turn in the one due next Monday.

7:12 am: Lilah wakes up. This is a little early for her, but I’m assuming it’s because she went to sleep a little earlier than usual the night before. I change her diaper, get her dressed for the day, and feed her a bottle. She drinks four ounces of formula, burbs, and then relaxes with me for a few minutes.

7:30 am: She starts getting fussy again and is acting like she’s hungry again, so I put her in her highchair and fix her some food. Today she’s having half a pouch of apples mangos, and orange and some oatmeal cereal.

7:45 am: Once done with her breakfast, she sits in her highchair at the table and “talks” to papaw. This has become a regular part of her mornings and it gives me a little more time to work on homework before Austin gets home.

8:50 am: Austin’s home. Lilah’s happy, but not for too long. I change her diaper and we try to get her to take a nap.

9:20 am: Lilah’s down for a nap. Austin and I eat breakfast and then go watch a couple episodes of Undercover Boss on Netflix. I pass out for an hour.

10:45 am: Lilah wakes up from her nap. I change her diaper and Austin feeds her a bottle. She takes three ounces before she starts to just play with the nipple.

11:00 am: Plays on the floor with some toys while I catch up on some school emails, which includes trying to find my voucher to take my certification test on Thursday, and Austin washes bottles.

12:00 pm: Austin watches Lilah while I take a shower. After I shower, he goes to bed.

1:00 pm: Lilah’s in her swing. She was showing all of her usual signs of being tired, but is definitely fighting it. I let her play with a toy while I work on homework for another class.

1:45 pm: Definitely didn’t take a nap. I change her diaper, find a bow to go with her outfit, and take her pictures. Now she is definitely cranky and ready for another nap.

 

2:10 pm: Feed her 3 ounces of formula and she passes out in my arms. I let her stay there for awhile because anymore she really doesn’t like to cuddle.

2:45 pm: I move her to her swing. She wakes up a little, but goes right back to sleep.

4:45 pm: Lilah wakes up from her nap. She’s in a much better mood now. I let her completely wake up before I get her out of the swing.

5:00 pm: I change her diaper and feed her. She eats the rest of a pouch that was in the fridge from the day before. She eats The Red One with rice cereal and then 3.5 ounces of formula.

5:30: I put her in her seat and let her watch an episode of Sofia the First while Austin and I eat dinner.

6:00 pm: Play time. This helps wear her out a little bit before bed.

7:00 pm: Bath time. We usually give Lilah a bath every night. On occassion, we skip a bath, but the bath signals to her that it’s bed time, so we rarely do this.

7:15 pm: Lilah gets dried off, lotion is rubbed on, and a diaper and sleeper is put on.

7:25 pm: Lilah gets a bottle. She usually drinks between 6 to 8 ounces at bedtime. Tonight she drank six ounces.

8:30 pm: She’s in her crib and asleep for the night. For me it’s back to homework and relaxing for a little while.

10:30 pm: I head to bed, but I don’t actually fall asleep until closer to midnight. It was another night of homework for me.

Homemade Baby Food

I’ve been giving Lilah baby food for a few weeks now. Usually it was once every couple days, but after being given the okay to give it to her, I’ve been giving it to her everyday.

The first time we gave her solid food it was part of a tub of Gerber bananas. Then I found coupons for Beech Nut baby food, so we tried that. Lilah hated it. She’d make the worst looking face and spit it all out. We went back to Gerber and she started eating again.

My mom then went and bought her a few pouches of Plum Organics and Ella’s Kitchen products. She loved them. She devoured the pouch of Plum Organics just mangos that first day. We’ve stuck with the organic brands since then. She’ll eat any brand. Her absolute favorites are Sprout, Plum Organics, and Ella’s Kitchen, but she also eats Happy Baby and Earth’s Best.

But recently, I’ve been thinking about making baby food.

Today I took the plunge and bought a mini blender and some produce and started making baby food. I bought a sweet potato, a butternut squash, two apples, two mangos, a container of blueberries, two avocados, a bag of carrots, and a bunch of bananas.

Her Ella’s Kitchen stage one food mixes different products, so she is already used to the mixtures of flavors. I did combine flavors for this reason alone.

I ended up making:

• banana and avocado
• avocado and squash
• carrots, squash, and banana
• carrots and banana
• banana and mango
• mango and sweet potato
• sweet potato and blueberries
• squash
• apples
• squash and apples

I believe I have enough baby food made up and froze for a few weeks, so two hours and twenty dollars is a great investment, I believe. I can’t wait to make her other things in a couple weeks.

Four Months

Lilah baby,

Four months. Wow. Where has time gone? You’ve gotten so big and learned so much this month.

You had two check ups this month. At the first one on November 11, you weighed 14 pounds 9 ounces and were 25 inches. Then we had one again on November 22 and you weighed 15 pounds 6 ounces and were 26 inches. That’s almost a pound gained and a whole inch grown in just ten day. You’re head circumference was 15 3/4 inches, but I don’t know the difference or if their was even a difference because the doctor at the first appointment never told us what this was.

You’re in size two diapers now, but still in 0/3 and 3 month clothing, with a few 3/6 and 6 months when I don’t feel like going through the smaller things to find something that fits. We are starting to clean out the 0/3 and 3 month clothes from the closet and dresser because most are getting a little snug.

Laughter, coos, and squeals are what my ears are met with most days. Every morning I wake up to her talking to herself and giggling. It’s one of my favorite times of my days. We’re still met with smiles every day. It definitely brightens my day every time she greats me with one.

You’ve learned a lot this month. You rolled over both ways for the first time. You’ve figured out how to go from back to stomach multiple times, but you can’t seem to remember how to go from stomach to back again. You’ve started reaching for things more and more. You also love to grab everything. You’ll grab everything from your toys and blankets to clothes (yours and ours) and body parts. Nothing is a challenge for you.

You continue to amaze me with how you “move around” the house. While on your back, you’ll push off with your legs and start moving. More often than not, I’ll put you down to play while I work on homework and I’ll look down and you’re not where I left you.

You experienced your first Halloween this month. You did so well. You even fell asleep through half of it.

You love meal times. Your (new) doctor gave us the go ahead to give you fruits, cereal, and fruit juice. I was already giving you cereal and fruits now and then, but now we’re making it apart of our daily routine. She suggested to give you cereal twice a day, instead of the once a day I was giving you. You still prefer the pouches of organic foods over other brands of food that are easier to come across. They may be more expensive and harder to find, but at least you’re eating.

You went to a wedding for the first time this month. You did amazingly well. Never cried during the ceremony and only got fussy during the reception when you were hungry and then when you were really tired.

You used a sippy cup for the first time this month. You did so well with it and drank half of the formula I made up for you. Daddy and I were so proud of you.

I love you to the moon and back. Mommy.

 

Must Haves for Months Three and Four

With Lilah being almost four months old, I thought it’d be a perfect time for another post of things we couldn’t live without these past couple months. It’s so hard to know what she’ll actually like until we get to the point of needing them. We’ve bought things that Lilah won’t have anything to do with and then there’s things that I’m glad we did buy because sometimes it’s the only thing that will calm her down.

1. Graco FastAction™ Fold Classic Connect™ Travel System – Metropolis™

Even before we knew if our baby was a boy or a girl, I knew I wanted something gender neutral, so I picked out this travel system in Metropolis. My amazing aunt bought us the car seat and her son paid the difference between the price of just the car seat and the travel system so we could have the stroller as well. Having the stroller has been a complete lifesaver. Lilah almost always falls asleep in the car and if she doesn’t she’ll fall asleep while walking around a store. Most of the time, the grocery carts at our stores are in very bad condition and if she is asleep they wake her up. We started using her stroller in stores instead of the carts and she never wakes up. I love that she her car seat just clicks into the stroller and for right now, we don’t have to even take her out of the car seat.

2. Fisher-Price My Little Snugabunny™ Cradle ’n Swing

This is another lifesaver for me. She has been using this since she came home from the hospital and I honestly don’t know what we’d do if we didn’t have it. For the first three and a half months this was how we got her to go to sleep every night. We’ve just recently started the process of getting her to fall asleep in her crib instead of the swing. She still takes her naps in it every day to maximize her nap time. She will even just sit in it, with it in the upright position so she can see me better, during other times of the day and play with a toy while I fold her laundry, clean her room, or work on homework. My favorite feature of this swing is that it has a plug-in option so that we can save on batteries.

3. Summer Infant 3-Stage SuperSeat®

I knew I wanted to get her something to sit in and keep her busy for a little while so I could get a little more done during the day. We were originally going to go with a Bumbo, but when we say this, we knew this was what we were going to go with. We bought it a week or two after she was three months old and put her in it a few times, but she didn’t seem to really like it. She’s really come to like it in the past few day though. She’s got more control over her head and body and can handle sitting in it for awhile now. The main reason why we chose this over the Bumbo was because of the price and the fact that it came with toys for her to play with. If we had gotten the Bumbo and the tray for it, we would have paid over fifty dollars for it. I believe we only paid forty for the Summer Infant seat. The tray with toys is great because it gives her something to play with that won’t go anywhere. If we had gotten the Bumbo, she would have dropped her toys that I had given her to play with.With the Summer Infant seat, I just have to place the tray around her and she has plenty of things to keep her entertained. Another feature I liked about this seat is that it becomes a booster seat once she’s ready for it. I’m sure that once she’s ready for it, it will have a permanent place in our car for her to use in restaurants instead of their booster seats.

4. Bright Starts Lots of Links

I don’t know what we’d do without these. They provide Lilah with tons of entertainment and she loves to teethe on them as well. We bought eight or nine different teething products and she won’t have anything to do with them. I bought these for her stocking for Christmas and after seeing if everything would fit and these wouldn’t I pulled them out, linked a few together, and gave them to her. She immediately put them in her mouth and started chewing on them. A set now stays on the handle of her car seat and it keeps her entertained if she happens to be awake in the car.

5. Bright Starts Snuggle and Teethe

I picked up the giraffe style of this at a Kmart one day and I’m so glad I did. She loves this toy. It crinkles and gives her something to chew on as well. I believe it’s made out of a terry cloth material and then it has a couple of teethers as the feet. She loves chewing on the head though. I think the rough material helps soothe her sore gums. I picked up the elephant for her for Christmas and I’m trying to find at least one more as well. This is a must have for when we leave the house. She’s so entertained by it.

6. Munchkin bowls and spoons

When we started Lilah on solids we needed something to feed her out of. We started her a little early at three and a half months with some rice cereal mixed with formula. We then added some fruits and she has definitely loved them. I chose these spoons for her because they were the smallest ones. The other brands for four month olds looked so big. A bowl is a bowl so I really didn’t care which ones we got. These ones were just the cheapest price for the most bowls.

7. Nuk pacifiers

These are literally the only pacifiers she will take. She’ll even still take the ones she used when she was first born. I don’t know why she likes this brand of pacifiers, but I really don’t question it. We’ve other brands now that she’s older and she’ll take them, but once she realizes it isn’t her Nuk, she spits it right out.

8. Munchkin formula dispenser

Now that Lilah is on formula, we had to have something to put it in instead of carrying along a can of formula. If we’re going to be gone for the whole day, I’ll bring a small can of formula, but we usually buy the bigger cans of formula and they don’t fit in the diaper bag. We bought this a few weeks after her being completely on formula when we saw what a pain it was to have to carry around a whole can. This serves it’s purpose well. It has three compartments and each holds nine ounces of formula. I usually fill one compartment with eight ounces or four scoops, one with six ounces or three scoops, and one with four ounces or two scoops. That’s more than enough for us to go out for the day and I know I have enough to feed my baby.

9. Bottles

We have several different types of bottles. Lilah isn’t too picky about what she drinks out of as long as she gets to eat. She has one Nuby bottle that she drink out of that will eventually convert to a bottle with handles and then to a sippy cup. She still mainly drinks out of her Avent natural and classic bottles. These are the ones we usually give her. She also has a few bottles from the Parent’s Choice brand. They’re nice, but they definitely aren’t her favorite.

10. Her Nursery

I know that some would say this was something that could have waited a little while, but I’m so glad we got it done before Lilah was born. Lilah only slept in our room in her pack n play for a few weeks before she was over it. After the first night that she slept in her room and in her crib for a five hour stretch, we knew we were going to continue to let her sleep there. We’d try to have her sleep in our room in the pack n play and as soon as we would put her down, she’d wake up. For our sanity, she sleeps in her room.

11. Graco Sweet Slumber Sound Machine

Now that it has gotten colder, Lilah’s air conditioner has been taken out. The air conditioner was providing the white noise needed to conceal some of the other noise around the house. My parents purchased this for her room and it never gets shut off. I use the heartbeat sound and Lilah never wakes up during the night.