Seven months have flown!

Look at our big girl! She is officially a PRO at sitting! 

Height/Weight (stats from her 6 month check up)

17.75 pounds (Gained 4.25 pounds in TWO months) = ~80^th percentile

Birth- 7 pounds 12 oz

27.75 inches (Gained 2.25 in TWO months) = 95^th percentile

Birth- 20 inches

18 inches (head circumference Gained 1 in TWO months) = over 98^th percentile (hehe)

Birth- 14 inches

Size:

Still in 9-12 and some 12 months. I have a crib full of clothes she can’t fit and the drawers are getting emptier and emptier...time to hit up some resales for 12 month and up clothing! Wah wah wah!

Favorites:

Food- BREASTMILK! 

I think people stopped asking us when we’re introducing solids after realizing that her growth has been 100% from BMilk. However, after paying attention to more and more of her cues, we think it may be time for her to start “exploring”...that doesn’t necessarily mean she will actually EAT. It’s really up to her.

This week is an exciting week. She will sit in her high chair for the first time and we’ll put avocado on her tray and let her decide what to do with it. The best part of this will be watching her figure out how 

to feed herself!

Book- “Guess who?” and “Peek a –“ books have been her favorite because they have little mirrors that she gets to look at herself in. Super cute books and I would recommend it!

"Guess Who?" Book

Song- I have to say her favorite song is the “Small potatoes” theme song! Apparently, any song her dad sings her is her favorite because he incorporates her name into every song. She just smiles in awe!

Toy- Her favorite toys have to be her magnetic ball toys. They are meant for pre-school age but she is so intrigued by them and loves connecting the magnets. Pretty astounding!

Non-toy toy- EVERYTHING!!! Grabby hands!

Time of day- If you can catch her in the morning, that’s probably the best! She sleeps so well (most of the nights) and when she wakes up, she is in the best mood! Although, she also loves when her daddy comes home too.

TV show- She loves “Small Potatoes” which comes on Disney during the commercial breaks. However, now that she is so fascinated by the plethora of toys and the fact that she is more mobile, she doesn’t take as much of an interest in the TV now.

Thing to giggle at- She loves playing peek-a-boo and will actually cover her face up with the blanket herself!

3/29/13 - 27 weeks old

Firsts/Milestones:

- words? Yeah...our baby girl is a babble queen! She has already said the following: ma, na, da, ba, la à and in various combinations. Ryan got jealous that she was saying MAMA so often so he got her to say DADA and she wouldn’t say anything else for a whole week! She’s back to calling for us both which makes me happy. She also says “Nigh Nigh” and fusses when she’s ready for a nap. Ryan and I still wonder if we just give her a ton of credit or if she’s actually doing it, and I really think she does! We have witnesses too!

- Sitting is going so well! She can sit by herself for minutes at a time and when she begins to wobble, she catches herself. So sweet!

- Estella is still teething! I got a glance of her gums and they are swollen with white bulges! Looks so painful! Our poor little baby! But she’s dealing with it so well!

- Ryan and I came down with the “Stomach flu” (yuck!) and we were crossing our fingers Estella wouldn’t get it...but she did! She had her first fever and small bouts of vomiting/watery stools. But no worries, she’s on the road to recovery and we have tons of laundry to show for it.

- Estella also had her first experience in preschool to celebrate turning 7 months here:

- And even ran a school board meeting all by herself here (haha):

We had a good weekend in Michigan (not a terrible drive either except hitting traffic on the way home) and went to see her grandma Dorough’s work place and get dibs on some awesome educational toys for her.

- Here is a video of more giggles- This is how Ryan plays with her haha....she may look terrified at some points but she was really having the time of her life. When he stopped she would yell for more!

- Oliver is getting more comfortable with her and she loves him! Although she pulls a little too hard on his fur sometimes, she really just wants to be his buddy even though he could care less right now. Here is a video of her “playing” with him:

- First experience with something other than breast milk was avocado this week- she wasn’t too impressed. Since we are doing “baby led weaning”, we’ve noticed she has not actually eaten any significant amount just yet but has become more and more interested as we have added breakfast and dinner time to her daily routine.

Our baby is 6+ months!

26 weeks old (6 months!) 3/23/13 My beautiful big girl!

Height/Weight

17.75 pounds (Gained 4.25 pounds in TWO months) = ~80^th percentile

Birth- 7 pounds 12 oz

27.75 inches (Gained 2.25 in TWO months) = 95^th percentile

Birth- 20 inches

18 inches (head circumference Gained 1 in TWO months) = over 98^th percentile (hehe)

Birth- 14 inches

23 weeks (3/1/13)- off to a playdate with Ellasyn and Dr. Lou 

Size:

She is mainly in 9 mos to 9-12 mos clothing and has even slipped into some 12 mos sizes. It is quite remarkable to see how much bigger she has gotten in such a short amount of time...and I am proud to say it has all been from breast milk 100%.

24 weeks 3/9/13- Going resale shopping with mommy & Grandma Dorough

Favorites:

Food- BREASTMILK! 

The time is getting closer and closer for us to introduce her first food. We’ve let her hold slices of apple or a piece of broccoli to distract her so that we can eat but she hasn’t actually eaten anything yet.

We will be following  a very strict diet with her and utilizing the technique called “Baby led weaning” which makes it an experience for all of us! It’s exciting but I am a bit nervous at the same time! I will be sure to blog about that when the time comes.

Book- She actually loves she book her daddy bought her for Valentine’s Day “Whooo loves you?!” but she loves any book where she can flip through the pages. If she’s not into a book, she’ll flip through it very quickly but if she likes staring at the pictures, she actually takes her time. I’m really not joking. It’s phenomenal.

Song- I have to say her favorite song is the “Small potatoes” theme song! It’s so sweet and cute.

Toy- We bought her a new toy- the puppy Laugh & Learn! (got an awesome deal with some coupons!) She was very scared of it at first but now she loves it!! She gets so proud of herself when she pushes the buttons and starts the music or sounds herself. What a big girl! Her grandma Dorough has brought her a couple toys that Estella is immediately drawn to...she even figured out how to attach her magnetic toys!

Non-toy toy- She grabs for anything and everything now! She loves to grab our cups! Beware! She will grab your coffee cup and spill hot coffee all over you. And No...I have not spilled hot coffee on my daughter but it’s perfectly ok that you just asked yourself that.

Time of day- She is really happiest when Ryan gets home...during the day I am lucky if I can pee without having her scream in the background. She is fine playing by herself but needs to have me within her field of vision.

TV show- Oh my..she’s obsessed with the TV! When she’s up from her nap, I turn music as background music while she plays so that she doesn't turn into a TV zombie. Lately though, even if the TV is on, she takes a lot more interest in her toys especially now that she’s a crazy roller! 

Thing to giggle at- Ryan has better luck at making her giggle but I’ve been able to sneak a couple belly laughs in here and there too! Such a sweet sound!

25 weeks (3/16/13)- About to head out to her Auntie Crystal's birthday party @ Lucky Strikes.
I love that little smile!

Firsts/Milestones:

- words? Yeah...our baby girl is a babble queen! She has already said the following: ma, na, da, ba, la à and in various combinations. She also says “mum” quite often. When I ask her to say “mama” she just gives me a big smile like she knows! Ryan has heard her say MAMA to me many times already though...I think he’s a tad jealous hehe!

Here is a video that Ryan and I think is cute (from yesterday):

- We practice “sitting” with her everyday and she’s starting to become more confident although now her new thing is to do a complete face plant because she prefers being on her tummy. She’s getting really good at it.

Getting the hang of sitting on her own slowly but surely! :) 

- She is definitely very attached to Ryan and I...no matter how often we take her out, expose her to other babies and people, etc etc, our little girl prefers us (which makes complete sense) but definitely makes it a tad more stressful since we don’t know what her mood will be like everyday. We just aim to respond to her needs and stick to our belief that there is no such thing as spoiling a baby...even when people like to make their comments!

- Estella is still teething...and probably will for a very long time! She started drooling a lot more, chewing on anything and everything, and biting down on me which is no bueno!

- Estella is FINALLY consistently rolling and back shuffling!  She’s giving us a warning to start “baby proofing” soon! It is remarkable to see but I will admit I did shed some tears seeing how much she’s growing. Look at this video:

3/8/13- First swim class with her daddy- she's so excited!

- Estella also started SWIM classes at the beginning of March!! Here she with with her daddy on her first class. Yes she went underwater and her “Swimming reflex” kicked in! She closed her eyes and held her breath! It was quite amazing to witness.

1st swim class with her daddy and she's doing great!

3/15/13- second swim class in her yellow polka dot bikini courtesy of her Auntie Maria!

-We finally got a good amount of snow that brought my husband home two days in a row early (yay!) and we got to take Estella out to “play”! She didn’t mind it at all!

Perfect little snow flakes for our snow angle! First time experiencing snow 3/5/13

-I spent the first longer period of time away from her because I had a seminar. It was actually harder for me than her although she didn’t take the bottle so she was a hungry beast by the time I got home. But here she is as a little demo baby for my pediatrics seminar. She did a great job!

3/9/13- She came in to be the baby demo for my pediatrics seminar! She did great!

- My friend, Melissa had her baby the day before us in the same hospital...well we both decided to throw the girls a HALF BIRTHDAY party! Celebrating every 6 months is going to be a tradition for us because they change so much and it gives us a reason to have cake haha

Pooped after her 6 month HALF Birthday Party with Lauren & Ellasyn (3/23/13)

- I joined a local moms group and joined them for Storytime @ Barnes & Noble where she met Clifford (she’s giving him the eye haha) and where she got to participate in her first Easter Egg Hunt (doesn’t she look like she’s having the time of her life?!). This is a huge thing for me since I am going out of my comfort zone a lot...many people think I’m an extrovert but it has just been a learned skill. “Being extrovert”. But whatever I need to do to give my daughter the most fulfilled life experiences, I’ll do it. Heck..nothing could be as hard as pushing her out drug free! (haha....which I still remember by the way!! Eek!)

Meeting Clifford for story time at Barnes-3/22/13- She's giving him the evil eye haha!

-We originally planned to spend Easter with my family but had to cancel since some of my family members were ill...thank goodness we didn’t go because more people got sick over the weekend too! We were so blessed to spend it with our church here that we’ve fallen in love with...everyone has been so welcoming and loving to us. It feels very nice to feel “right” with a church. We’re both thinking about different ways we can get more plugged in which is a big step for us.

Easter Service with mommy & daddy (27 weeks) 3/31/13

5 month update with some mommy truths

22 weeks old! Look at our little fashionista! 

Height/Weight- our next doctor’s appointment is when she’s 6 months old so here are the OLD stats from her 4-month visit. We are positive she’s definitely gained some from this point!

4 month-HEIGHT AND WEIGHT

25.5 inches (Gained 1.25 in ONE month) = 90^th percentile

Birth- 20 inches

17 inches (head circumference Gained 0.5 in ONE month) = 98^th percentile

Birth- 14 inches

13.5 pounds (Gained 2.5 pounds in ONE month) = ~50^th percentile

Birth- 7 pounds 12 oz

Size:

Well...it was pretty hard for me to think she was in 6 month clothing, and now at 5 months, her toes are curled in her 6 months pajamas, her pants are turning into capris, and 6-9 month is even getting too “short”. She’s in between wearing 6-9/9 month clothing right now.

           

Favorites:

Food- BREASTMILK!  We haven’t introduced any solids yet but she’s showing a lot of signs that she is definitely intrigued by us eating and grabs for our cups/food EVERY time. We let her hold a slice of  an apple here and there and she gets excited but just holds it. It’s great practice for her. However, we don’t plan to actually start solids with her until at least 7-8 months...all she needs right now is BREASTMILK.

18 weeks :)

Book- Her grandma Dorough got her a book with colors and babies faces...she loves it. Looking at all the pictures and babies’ faces is fun for her! She also started turning the pages on her own during storytime which is so precious.

Song- She loves when I sing to her! It makes my heart smile. She has definitely taken more interest in music in the past month. Her daddy sings the “Small potatoes” theme song to her and she instantly calms down, stares in awe, and smiles!

19 weeks

Toy- It’s amazing she loves toys now! Her favorite is her Elephant Toy. I named him “L.E”! She loves her caterpillar toy that her cousin Xander let her use too. Sophie the giraffe is her best friend that she likes to suck on since she’s been showing signs of teething! Eek!

Non-toy toy- She grabs for anything and everything now! She loves to grab our cups!

Time of day- she is happiest when her daddy gets home at 7p! She’s alert and ready to hang out with him. Worse time of the day is around 8:30pm, which is her bedtime! She has been fighting sleep and gets super crabby.

20 weeks

TV show- Oh my..she’s obsessed with the TV! When she’s up from her nap, I turn music as background music while she plays so that she doesn't turn into a TV zombie.

Thing to giggle at- Her daddy can make her “giggle” like no other person! We finally got the REAL giggle!

Look at the video here:

Firsts/Milestones:

- Like a proud mama, I would like to announce that our baby is SITTING! Ok ok...we prop to sit her up but she is starting to prefer it to play with her toys! She’s getting more confident and trying everyday to sit up more straight. She absolutely amazes us.

- We still aim to give her lots of tummy time since we want her to learn to crawl before standing/walking so we do little exercises with her to help her learn to move her legs while she’s reaching her arms out.

-Look at this video of her in a jumperoo:

This is actually her cousin Xander’s toy that we bought for him when he was her age so it’s funny because we’re getting it right back! Hehe But she LOVES loves LOVES it. We give her limited time in there...she has tons of fun in it.

On Valentine's Day- She's a pro now! :)

- The separation anxiety has officially set in! She knows who she knows and definitely knows whom she doesn’t! As long as she sees our face, she usually is ok but sometimes that’s not enough! It’s been a bit stressful when we have visitors over that just want to play with her or hold her and she just screams...sometimes I wonder if there is anything we are doing wrong...but I realize that her personality is just that. She needs to be eased into unknown situations, loud noises or abrupt movements really shake her up, and she just feels more comfortable with her mom and dad. I hope this eases up as she gets older but for right now, we just try to respond to what she needs and hopes she will start to feel “safe” with our friends and family.

- And unfortunately or fortunately...she has started TEETHING. Drooling, rosy cheeks, grinding on her gums which makes her normal babbling sound pretty interesting and cute, irritating stools, diaper rash (ehh!), and screaming! Oh and let’s not forget to mention- she is super clingy and a very very very bad sleeper now (at night). Mama is EXHAUSTED.

-We had a Bradley Birth Class reunion (see picture). Ryan and I met a couple (The Dixons) that we still keep in touch with after our classes and it’s been great to have support from them! This was only a third of the class that had time to get together. It was fun meeting all the new babies!

4 months old! Time sure does fly!

Our little pretty girl in her big girl 6 month PJs! 

Height/Weight

25.5 inches (Gained 1.25 in ONE month) = 90^th percentile

Birth- 20 inches

17 inches (head circumference Gained 0.5 in ONE month) = 98^th percentile

Birth- 14 inches

13.5 pounds (Gained 2.5 pounds in ONE month) = ~50^th percentile

Birth- 7 pounds 12 oz

Size:

I am so sad to announce that she is officially in 6 month clothes and even fits some 6-9 month clothing!

haha this is before I went to buy her new pajamsas. The shirt here is 3-6 months and pants are 6-9 months...too small and too big haha!

Favorites:

Food- BREASTMILK! J

Book- “Animals!”

1/21/13- Bedtime Routine with her daddy

Song- She loves when I sing to her! It makes my heart smile. When I sing opera (for fun), she just “giggles”.

Toy- It’s amazing she loves toys now! Her favorite is her Elephant Toy. I named him “L.E”!

Non-toy toy- She grabs for anything and everything now!

Time of day- she is happiest when her daddy gets home at 7p! She’s alert and ready to hang out with him.

TV show- Oh my..she’s obsessed. We have to shield her mat with pillows since we hang out in our living room.

Thing to giggle at- Her daddy can make her “giggle” like no other person!

Our beautiful baby 1/12/13

Firsts/Milestones:

- She went from swatting at things to now reaching and grabbing with intention! We love it. It’s so cute.

- She is still rolling from side to side and tummy to back more consistently.

- Her giggles are forming and we love it. She just squeals, screams, babbles...

- Her “giggles” are beginning to become more apparent...they are little squeals now!

Here is a good video of her on New Years Day with her dad- I caught it too late but it can give you an idea!

- The separation anxiety has officially set in! She knows who she knows and definitely knows whom she doesn’t! As long as she sees our face, she usually is ok but sometimes that’s not enough!

- And unfortunately or fortunately...she has started TEETHING. Drooling, rosy cheeks, grinding on her gums which makes her normal babbling sound pretty interesting and cute, irritating stools, diaper rash (ehh!), and screaming! Oh and let’s not forget to mention- she is super clingy and a very very very bad sleeper now (at night). Mama is EXHAUSTED.

my review of 2012

I’m so bad at my blogs now. Any free moment I have, I’m either taking a long hot shower or laying on the couch and closing my eyes! Haha Definitely the life of a stay at home mom. The past month I put in over 80 hours with my part time job (at home that I am SO grateful for) but that plus being a SAHM was very difficult. I am slowing down a bit this month...thank God! Anyhow this blog will be my review of 2012...which has been the BEST year of my life thus far and I know will only get better now that Estella is a part of our lives.

This blog started off as an attempt to not let 2012 look like 2011 which was such a tough year for many reasons we could not control but also a year that took control of our emotions in a negative way.

We both had difficult things that we were dealing with (not each other don’t worry!). So I promised to myself, to Ryan, and to this blog that I was not going to get swallowed in the negativity but bring myself back to the reality that my life is DEFINITELY beautiful despite the ugly parts.

It turned out that this blog transformed into an experience I didn’t expect and I am forever thankful for the support...love....and acknowledgement that I’ve received. Thank you!

Well here goes-

3 month update, Christmas, & my last blog of the year!

My beautiful baby!! 

Height/Weight

24.25 inches (Birth- 20 inches) = 80^th percentile

16.5 inches (head circumference; Birth- 14 inches) = 75^th percentile

11 pounds (Birth- 7 pounds 12 oz) = 25^th percentile

Size:

Since she’s a bit taller, the 3-month clothes are being put away slowly and she is going into 3-6 months exclusively!

   

Love those lips!   

Favorites:

Food- BREASTMILK! No dairy or gluten!

Book- “Animals!”

12 weeks old :) We like to keep her fashionable!

Song- The POTATO song by Disney Junior! Potato Rock is actually her favorite! Watch this at your own risk! It’ll be stuck in your head FOREVER.

Toy- My boobs.

Non-toy toy- My boobs.

Time of day- she is happiest when her daddy gets home at 7p! She’s alert and ready to hang out with him.

TV show- Oh my..she’s obsessed. We have to shield her mat with pillows since we hang out in our living room.

Thing to giggle at- Ryan recently discovered that she loves when he blows air through his lips...I can’t really put it in words so here is the video:

Firsts/Milestones:

- She started noticing her hands a little over 8 weeks and every day since then, she becomes more and more comfortable with them...now she’s starting to suck on her hands! Eh!
-She can even hold her rattle and shake it a little!

She's pretty indifferent about tummy time actually. Now that she grabs and reaches for things, she really rather be playing with her toys!

- She started rolling from side to side at 10 weeks then rolled from her tummy to her back at 10.5 weeks!! What a little over achiever!

- Her “giggles” are beginning to become more apparent...they are little squeals now!

- She’s already starting at a young age but she is yelling at me! She is more than comfortable with being very vocal! We love it.

- I started speaking Lao to her in the morning in a very ambitious attempt to make her bilingual and she smiles every time. Maybe she knows my Lao is THAT bad haha

- We experienced the beautiful city of Chicago for the first time as a family....and we realized VERY quickly (with traffic especially) why we won’t be going there again any time soon! Haha But it was fun nonetheless!

- The separation anxiety has officially set in! She knows who she knows and definitely knows whom she doesn’t! As long as she sees our face, she usually is ok but sometimes that’s not enough!

- She is getting over her 2^nd time being sick. It makes us sad seeing her unhappy but she’s still nursing very often and clingy so we are taking advantage of it.

our life...

I realize that I have been MIA on this blog for quite some time now. Between working 15-25 hours a week from home, breastfeeding every 2-3 hours, mid-day naps (hehe), and witnessing all the little new things Estella discovers about herself and the world around her...my blog has unfortunately been kicked to the side a bit (all for good reason of course).

Ryan and I still look at each other in awe that we created this beautiful being that has now flipped our life upside down in a million ways. Yes things that we once thought were easy are now a task. For example, something as simple as eating dinner at the same time. Now it’s...”Who wants to eat first?”

We would both agree that our life together as a family of three is at its PEAK!

Do I miss some things of my previous life?.....hm maybe. Ok fine I’ll admit it...Yes I do miss some things. I miss being able to meet my friends in Chicago on a whim to hang out at all the random get togethers, I miss seeing my family as easily as I wanted to before, I miss being included in invites even though I prefer to spend time at home with Ryan and Estella, and I miss being able to be on time even though everyone in the world knows I won’t. (haha)

Are all those things worth it for me? No..not at all.