Thursday, November 14, 2013

Just Because....

I had to post these pictures...JUST BECAUSE,
they are the cutest!




FOOD!

Sister Sue loves to Eat! Seriously, the first time we gave her actual baby food she ate the whole container of carrots!

We were told at our four month appointment awhile back that we could start rice cereal out of a bowl anytime or wait until 6 months. I decided to wait. I wasn't ready and between her not having the best head control yet and the fact that we had just started supplementing breast feeding with one formula bottle a day, I didn't feel like she was ready either.

About a week before her 6 month appointment I noticed she was taking an interest in eating. She watched us very intently whenever we were eating.

We started with doing rice cereal 1-2 per day for a week. Then this past weekend we added carrots. She is now eating rice cereal in the mid morning and then a veggie in the evenings at dinner. We are adding different veggies one at a time, three days at a time (to make sure there is no food allergies). First we will try 3 different orange veggies and then do different green veggies. We want to introduce lots of veggies  before fruit so that she doesn't develop a sweet tooth and not like the veggies (like her momma!)

Eventually she will be eating yogurt or rice cereal in the morning, a fruit and veggie at lunch and a veggie and meat at dinner. YIKES, she is growing up!

I plan on making all her baby food but right now as we are "taste testing" I am buying organic jars of food. I don't want to make a whole batch of something and discover she either doesn't like or is allergic to it.

This has been such a fun milestone!

Ready...

First time!

I got this mom, I can do it myself! 

Carrots at Nana's for Sunday dinner.

Shirts are over rated when feeding a baby :)

Yum!


She is getting so big, so fast! 

Her Ears Are Pierced!

From the moment we found out we were having a girl I had told Noah that we were going to get her ears peirced when she is a baby. Orginally  I was going to get them done after her four month appointment but timing just didn't work out. However, this past month I had a friday off of school so my mom,cousin, and her kiddos headed to the mall to get some earrings!

She did really, really well! Only cried for a few moments, but they were a pitiful few moments! She has done great since, they haven't bothered her and they haven't gotten infected because she doesn't have the fine motor skills to touch them!

The Before....
Hard Core Mommy Guilt setting in...
"What have you done to me?"
Aren't they pretty?? 

6 Months...That's HALF A YEAR Y'ALL!

6 Months Old! How can it be? I know, I know...I wonder the same thing every month, but seriously the time is flying!


We had her six month appointment so we have official stats! She had to get 3 shots so Daddy Noah went with us. It was his first experience with shots and he would be lying if he said there weren't tears in his eyes :) It was precious.

Weight: 13 lb 7 oz (8th Percentile)
Most babies double their birth weight between 4-6 months. At 6 months we are still 1 lb and 8 oz from doubling birth weight. Hopefully we will have doubled by our 9 month appointment. I think she is just going to be a bitty one :)

Height: (49th Percentile)
This was an area of growth for Miss Blakely. At her four month appointment she was only in the 35th percentile!

Head Circumfrence (73rd Percentile)
Little Miss is finally starting to grow into her massive head! When she was born her head was in the 99th percentile and then at 4 months it was in the 93rd and now its only in the 73rd. HOORAY! This is probably why she can hold her up head  better!

I had a lot of anxiety going into this appointment. At the last appointment we talked a lot about her flat spot on the back of her head and the possiblity of wearing a helmet, her neck muscles being tight on her left side, making it so her head doesn't turn as easily that way and also how she doesn't tolerate tummy time well.

Over the past two months we have began receiving infant toddler services and we have been working really hard! We have been doing our best to keep her off her back to eliminate the flat spot, introduce stimulus (people, toys, noises) to the left so she will have turn her head and strengthen those muscles and provide her with lots of opportunities to be in tummy time to build up her toleration.

I am happy to report that all the interventions are working and we are seeing huge imporovements. She is turning her head perfectly to the left and right, her muscles in her neck are now strong enough to keep her head in midline (not tilting to either side) when she is sitting up and her flat spot is decreasing, NO HELMET NEEDED.

I feel like I can finally breath a sigh of relief. Now we are working really hard to sit up independently and bear weight on her arms in tummy time in preparation for crawling.

Family Time at the Dr. Office 
Before Shots....

After Shots...Sweet Baby! 


SIZES
She is a little one, our Blakely. 3 month shirts, onesies, jeans, and dresses fit really well. 3 month
leggings are getting a little short. She can wear 3-6 month clothing but they are still a little big.

SOCIAL
Good Lord is this child social. She loves to be talked to and loves to talk. Usually in the car while I am driving she will just jabber away in the backseat. And boy can she giggle! Watch this video of her play with her Sissy (by bestfriend from highschool, Jillian). She likes to be held facing outward so she can see everything and everyone.

ON THE MOVE
She is quite roller and now when she is sitting in her bouncy seat she will try to lunge forward and sit up on her own to reach the toys. She is able to sit up independently for a few seconds. When she is in tummy time she pulls her knees up under her like she is going to crawl. However, we need to keep building her arm strength before she can crawl!


SLEEP
Well, she has always been a great sleeper! Up until the past few weeks she has even been sleeping through the night for 10-12 hours. However, this whole teething thing has thrown quite the kink in our sleep schedule. She has been waking up 2-4 times a night just screaming in pain! I have been giving her tylenol to ease her pain during the night and that has seemed to help. We do have two teeth to show for the lack of sleep!

FOOD
Up until her 6 month appointment she had still only had breastmilk and her one formula bottle a day. However, after her appointment we began feeding her rice cereal and now she has even had carrots! We are going to try sweet potatoes next! She loves, loves, loves to eat! She likes to bite down on the spoon as you go to pull it out of her mouth.

LIKES
EATING!
Talking to others
Laughing and Smiling
Pulling Mommy's hair and Daddy's beard
Watching Veggie Tales (during tummy time)
Playing with Sawyer and Olivia at daycare
Sophie the Giraffe

DISLIKES
Tummy Time (not sure she will ever really "like" it)
Not sure what else she doesn't like right now, she is such a happy baby these days!

We love you Miss Blakely and can't imagine life without you!
Life Group Buddies. We like hanging out with our buddy Effie.

The shirt...tru dat.

Blakely's thoughts on waking up most mornings.

Rock Chalk in honor of the start of basketball season.

Chillin' with her homies at her crib (get it??)
Happy, Happy, Happy Girl at Nana and Papa's

Lights+Lights+Lights=Baby Heaven.

Ummmm.....the cutest, ever! 

just hanging out on a sunny day.

First MNU football game with Uncle Ryan and Aunt Karissa and The Millers

Church Besties


Wednesday, November 13, 2013

Baby's First Halloween!

We had a great first Halloween with our sweet flower! We borrowed a cute costume from some friends. We had lots of visitors including Aunt Karissa and Uncle Ryan who ate supper and hung out with us, Nana and Papa drove all the way from Shawnee to smell the sweet flower and about 150 trick or treaters!




Blakely's outfit to Momma's Halloween Party.
(Thanks Mrs. Chrystal!)
A pirate came to visit!