9 months post

I'm writing this, and Mary Tyler will be 10 months a week from today. That just shows you how CRAZY life has been this past month! I am exhausted. Here's whats up:

Food: You have so far eaten and loved: macaroni & cheese, grilled cheese, mashed potatoes, green beans, corn, rice, chicken casserole, spaghetti, yogurt, fruit purees, vienna sausages, toast, waffles, cheese puffs (the gerber kind), avocado, strawberries, blueberries, grapes, etc. You're still a great eater!

Sleep: This month you went down to one nap a day (usually from 1:30-3:30). At first I was worried, but then Dr. Butcher told me thats totally normal considering how long you sleep at night (14 hrs) roughly 7 pm to 9:00 am. We got you some black out shades in your nursery bc you werent sleeping well at nap time with light in the room. You like to have a dark room, sound machine on full blast, fan on, two blankies in the crib with you. and 4 loveys that you snuggle with, and of course, pacis.

You are now wearing size 4 diapers.

at your 9 mo check up you weighed 20 lbs 15 oz (almost 21) and were 29.5 inches tall. Dr. B said you are "off the charts" in height. Very tall girl :)

Last month I said you refused to fall asleep in my arms, but now when I rock you for nap or bedtime during your bottle you dont fight sleep as hard. I think that has a lot to do with TEETHING> dun dun dunnnnnn.

You have been HARDCORE teething this entire month. You went to Dr. B on your 9 mo bday and she said you should get both bottom teeth by 10 months. You have swollen gums, drooling, runny nose, low grade fever, and IR-RI-TA-BLE!!!!!! Fussy fussy baby. Poor thing, I know you are in pain. It's so close now that yesterday, Matt thought it had come through but its just really white where it's about to break skin. You are also running your tongue over the top teeth a lot so I think those are close, too. I hope you get one soon and get some relief.

Here are some entries from your diary this month:

Nov 18 - Lauren came and took your Christmas pictures today... I cant wait for you to experience your first Christmas. You are the best gift mommy and daddy could ever receive!

Nov 19 - You had your first ever nighttime screaming fit tonight. You woke up at 11 pm, MAD. I couldnt figure out what you wanted or what was wrong. Nothing would calm you down. I think you were having a bad dream and still half asleep!

Nov 23- Yesterday was your first Thanksgiving. You loved it. You crawled everywhere and kept pulling up on the center ottoman & everyone would clap and yell "yayy!!" You loved the attention and would smile and laugh and do it again.

Nov 28 - We went shopping for presents and decorations today. You loved the toy aisle at Target. You finally figured out how to eat, hold, squeeze, and suck "Fruities" puree packs.

Nov 30 - Still fussy. You cried all the way home from easley w/ Grandy and Grams today. Sleepy and grumpy. So am I, haha!

Dec 3 - you are still being a little grump. I think it's your teeth but I also think it's because you want to walk, so bad. You want to be put down so you can GO! Do not like to be held.

Dec 6 - you had so much fun w Mommy at breakfast this morning, learning the difference between quiet whispers and loud yells. you think its hilarious to yell loud!

8 months

every month i say "where has the time gone??" but really. where has it gone?? She was in the bath tub tonight and Matt was like "I just can't believe we're standing here and she's 8 months old. How did that happen??"

I want to keep this short and sweet, but also want to document things that've changed in the last month. I really am having to force myself to blog lately, which I hate, but life is just moving TOO fast to keep up, and honestly, blogging is at the bottom of my priority list. Well, maybe 2nd to bottom, bc there's a stack of laundry up to my eyeballs at the foot of my bed right now. Oh well.

I blog so Mary Tyler can go back and look one day at what all she was doing, but also so that when the next baby comes along, I can refer to this and see what his/her sister was doing at these milestones.

SO here goes 8 months...

She is now supposed to be eating only table food. It's been a bit of a challenge. #1 because I'm a freak and dont know what/how much to feed her. #2 bc she LOVES baby food. #3 because she wants puffs as her only meal, every meal. Girl would eat an entire container of puffs at one sitting if we let her!!! So far she's had .... green beans, carrots, oranges, beans, cheese, vienna sausages (the Gerber chicken kind), yogurt, and soup.  She LOVES oatmeal. Everything else, I can't tell. She was obsessed with oranges the first two times she ate them, but the last two times I've given her to them she makes a god awful face and wants nothing to do with them. Haha.

Her schedule now:
9:30 - wake up
9:45 - breakfast; oatmeal and 6 oz bottle
11:00 - nap... but if she wont take it here, she takes it after lunch
12:30 - lunch - usually yogurt & fruit then a 4 oz bottle, haha
1:00 - nap if she didnt take it at 11
2-4 snacks/errands/cartoons/crawling/going outside/etc
4:30/5 - cat nap
7:00 - dinner - whatever she decides she likes on any given day
7:30 - bath
8:00 bedtime and a 6 oz bottle

She has just recently started to like to put herself to sleep. I used to feed her a bottle and rock her til she fell asleep, which I wasn't supposed to be doing anyway (spoiling her). Recently, she started trying to roll over on me the second she finished her bottle, so I just started putting her right in the crib and she rolls over and falls asleep on her own. Good girl!! Mary Tyler is (THANKFULLY) a sleeper. Just like her mama. Last Saturday, I had to go to a cheerleading competition at 8am. I called Matt at 10, 10:15, 10:45, 11:00 ... i was starting to get worried bc he wasnt answering. He calls me back at 11:15 and goes "Sorry!! just woke up... my monkey is still asleep, im about to go wake her up." Dear Jesus, thank you SO much for blessing us with a baby who sleeps til 11:15 on a Saturday!!!!" Can I get an amen?! We are seriously the luckiest parents, ever!

She is a DIVA when it comes to naps, though. She REFUSES to fall asleep in our lap/arms. And she wont fall asleep in the stroller bc she thinks she'll miss something. the ONLY way she'll go to sleep for naps is if she's in her carseat or if i lay down beside her. She will hold my hand and fall asleep, but she has to have her paci!

She is crawling, but not fast yet. She takes a few "steps" then splats and army crawls, which she is really fast at now. Any day now she is going to take off. I've got to keep the floors cleaner and start  baby proofing!

She says Mama ALL THE TIME. It's really all she says. And now she's gotten to where she'll say it back to you when you say it. So we try other words...so far she can say "bye bye" "Nana" "Goooood" "Ma ma" and "Da da" but she wont say Dada very often. She always says it when Matt's not around, he never hears it, haha. She also tries to copy us when we say "duck" but she hasn't quite gotten it yet.

She waves all the time now! She loves it. And she loves to pull the chain on the fan that turns the light on and off.

Here are a few entries from my "one line a day" journal I write in every night:

10/3 - You had a huge "learning leap" today! You made a lot of new consonant  sounds, played in the floor by yourself, tried to crawl, and pulled up twice!  You are so sweet and smart.

10/10 - You're getting closer and closer to crawling. You love to scream (happy screams).You're ready to quit baby food, always reaching for our food. You are mad you can't walk yet.

10/13- (written by my mom) Grams dropped you off w/ GiGi and Travdaddy at 12pm. We took you to Fall for Greenville. You loved the music and all the people! Stayed from 2:30-5:00. Dinnertime, bathtime, and bedtime were easy! You are SO good! Videoed you "crawling" to get puffs. You are so sweet!

10/20- (written by matt) You hung out with your dad today! You both slept until 11:15 and Mommy had to be up at 8 am, haha. You were so good all day, but still won't say "da da" Only "ma ma ma ma ma" all day long! :)


we love you so much, monkey!!!!!!!

SEVEN MONTHS

Mary Tyler is 7 months old. Where has the time gone?! She is so much fun. It's very apparent that she knows her PARENTS now, haha. im funny. But really, she knows Matt and I so well and even reaches for us to hold her now :) Sweet little Monkey! She has a little bit of stranger anxiety but it hasn't become an issue yet. It's really off and on... sometimes I'll think she's definitely going to cry in a certain scenario and she just smiles and smiles and other times it's someone she's fairly familiar with and she will poke her little lip out and cry for a minute.

At her 6 mo appointment she was right on the verge of 18 lbs... now I'm sure she's around 20. She's definitely a little chunk. We took her to her first Clemson game last week. She was sleeping on a couch in the box and someone walked up and said "Aww, how old is she? About a year old?" I said "No, 7 months" and they said "Oh my gracious! That's the longest/tallest 7 month old I've ever seen!!" Haha She definitely looks really long when she's laying down. She is BARELY fitting in 6 month onesies... those snaps are SNUG. She can't fit in 6 mo sleepers anymore, her toes almost bust through the seams. So, she's basically wearing all 9 month clothing. Still in size 3 diapers. We recently switched from Pampers to Huggies bc I had a great coupon from Costco. We were kind of hesitant bc we tried huggies when she was really tiny and we did NOT like them. As for now, we love the Huggies!! It wicks away the moisture so much better than the Pampers did and it doesnt fill so heavy and huge when it's full.

Her schedule looks a little like this:

9:00 - Wake Up, Baby food w/ oatmeal, 6 oz bottle
10:15 - Nap
11:30/12 - Lunch - fruit and 6 oz bottle
2:00 - Nap
3:30 - 6 oz bottle
5:00 - Catnap
7:00 - Dinner - meat and veggie
8:30 - Bedtime, 6 oz bottle

She also has snacks through out the day. We recently introduced her to Puffs and she LOVES them. So far she's had Strawberry-Apple, Apple Cinnamon, and Blueberry. she loves them all, haha. She also eats yogurt bites and cookies and loves to drink cold water out of her sippy cup.

Recently:
-she's started playing in the floor with toys since she can sit up on her own now. She likes anything that lights up/makes music.

-She loves to try to steal the remote from matt and me.

-She still LOVES her bath, mickey mouse clubhouse, and the dogs.

- She thinks Peek-a-boo is hilarious

- We play Patty Cake and sing The Wheels on the Bus. She loves both of those.

So far, she can say "mama" "dada" and "good." "Good" was actually her first word. She would say "guuuuh guuuuuh ooood ooooood" and now she says "guuuuu-oood" very drawn out. Haha. She obviously doesn't know what it means, she just mimics us. Almost every time she says "Mama" she says it really sweetly and quietly and when she says Dada she SCREAMS it. DAAAAAHHHH-DA! I can't wait til she actually knows what it means and calls us that :)

She is trying to crawl. She does a modified version of "the worm" where she lifts all limbs off the ground and rocks... it somehow moves her forward a little bit, its pretty funny to watch. She will push herself up into the crawling position and rock a little bit, but as soon as she tries to move forward her legs go back out to the sides and she splats. We can tell it's driving her crazy! This girl wants to move!

I am trying to teach her how to clap and wave. Today we went to a shower for my future sister-in-law, Janey, and Mary Tyler was the life of the party. She lifts her arm up and down really fast, but hasnt quite gotten the hang of waving her hand yet. At least she is trying! haha

I have a journal called "Mom's One Line a Day" that I write in every night. It has just enough space to write a little note about each day. Here are a few recent entries:

9/4: You copied Gigi and me today saying "Na na na na." You loved playing with Uncle Tyler & eating bananas and oranges for dinner. I can see outlines of your two bottom teeth!"

9/8: Sweet baby, you threw up for the first time tonight, and scared us! We were nervous you'd cuaght a bug but you havent done it again. Poor baby. I could tell it burned you. When you cry like that it breaks our hearts!

9/12: Today you went to the grocery store with me and rode in the cart for the first time. You want to grab EVERYTHING! You were good once I gave you a pack of crinkly wipes to play with.

9/13: You had your first big fall today. Daddy didnt strap you in your bouncy seat on the couch. He went in the kitchen to get something and you tried to escape and landed on the floor. He cried longer and harder than you did!

9/15: Today was your first Clemson game. I cried as I watched you watch the Tigers run down the hill. It was truly a full circle moment. I love you so much. It was fun to see you in orange!

If you're a mom, I HIGHLY recommend getting one of these. It's super easy bc its just a couple of sentences and I write in it every night before I turn my lamp off and go to bed. It' a 5 year journal. I got mine at Swoozie's. :)

We love you SO MUCH, Mary Tyler!!! I can't believe how quickly you're growing up. You are a blessing straight from God.

xoxo.

6 month photo shoot w/ Aunt Lollie!

ooooooh we're halfway there!!!

Monkey is 6 MONTHS OLD!!!!! hoooooolllllllly cow! I can't believe it. We are taking her 6 month pictures with Aunt Lollie on Monday... but for now, here's whats up!

At her 6 month check up today Mary Tyler..
- weighed 17lbs 13 oz and is in the 80 percentile for weight
- measured 27 inches long and is in the 89 percentile for height
- can't remember her exact head measurement but she has a little peanut head and is in 41 percentile for head circumference

Dr B says that all is totally normal and all healthy. Babies are usually the heaviest at 6 months bc they havent really started moving and burning calories yet, so they just sit around like blobs and love to eat :)  Also, her head will grow, haha.

Her schedule look sort of like this:

8:30/9:00 - Wake Up and Eat a 6 oz Bottle
10:00 - Nap
11:30/12:00 - Fruit and a 4 oz bottle
1:30 - Nap
3:30/4 - Fruit or Veggie and a 4 oz bottle
5:30 - Occasionally a cat nap
6:30/7:30 - Veggie mixed with Rice Cereal and her Prevacid
8:30/9:00 - Bathtime - 4 or 6 oz bottle - Bedtime

I've kind of made it a point to have her schedule very loose. Matt and I never stick to a strict schedule for anything and I didn't want to have a baby who was on such a strict schedule that we couldn't put her to bed a little later if we were out to dinner or something. She is SUCH a good baby, I can't even explain how many times a week matt and I say "what did we do to deserve this?! she is so good!" She really just goes with the flow and she sleeps 11-12 hours every night.

Speaking of sleep... about two weeks ago we were still swaddling MT in her miracle blanket (which she'd been swaddled in every night since she came home from the hospital). She LOVED being wrapped up at night but around 6 am she'd roll to her belly and start crying bc she couldn't get her arms out, so we decided to start leaving her arms out. She did awesome with it for about a week. It didnt affect how long she slept or anything, but the all of a sudden, three nights ago, we looked on the monitor and she was sleeping in a FACE PLANT.... i mean, FACE DOWN, buried in the mattress. I freaked out and ran in there and rolled her over and she woke up laughing at me. Sheeeeesh! So the rest of the night I couldnt sleep bc I kept watching the monitor and she KEPT doing it and I KEPT running in there to check on her. I called my doctor friend, Megan, and she assured me it was fine and giggled at how similar we are bc she went through the same paranoia with her son, Waker. ANYWAY, today at her 6 mo check Dr. B said "So? Let her sleep however the heck she wants to sleep. If she wants to sleep in a face plant, fine. She must think its confortable. Have you ever done child's pose in yoga, it feels amazing and its face down! She'll turn her head if she cant breathe." Now I'm totally at ease about it. In fact, she's been in bed for 3 hrs now and I havent checked the monitor screen once. We are SO BLESSED to have a sleeping baby. (Have you ever met me? Do you KNOW how much I love sleep? Do you UNDERSTAND how worried I was the whole time I was pregnant bc I literally cannot function without sleep??) Our God is an awesome God and truly knows me, bc my child SLEEPS and I need it. :)

Moving on...

She still LOVES Mickey Mouse. I got her a Minnie stuffed animal at Switcharoos and she smiles so big and acts shy every time we hold it up.

Loves bath time. I even started dumping a huge cup of water right on her head (I read that's better to do than trying to avoid letting it get in their face bc then they turn into that whiney toddler in the bathtub if water gets in their eyes) Anyway, she laughs and splashes every time i dump it on her head. She is gonna be a fish, just like her daddy.

She loves to hold hands and when she's holding she squeezes then releases over and over. Like she's practicing her grip. She also does that to my face, shoulder, Cooper, anything she can get a hold of, she grabs, SO HARD. We learned today that we have to start disciplining a painful pinch. Hope it works, bc OWWWW!

She really likes her exersaucer and has learned to bounce really high in it. She laughs and looks at me like "Whoa Mommy! Did you see that?!" Then does it again.

Just in the past two days she acts SO SHY when I take her in to see Matt after she wakes up from her morning nap. (He works from home). We usually go into his office and he says "Heyyyyy My Munks!!!!" and she smiles so big... the past few mornings we do the same thing and as soon as he says hey to her she smiles and then buries her head into my chest and wont look at him. Then she'll peek at him and hes smiling at her real big, and she'll hide again. It's like she has a crush and is embarrassed. (The same thing she does when she sees Mickey Mouse)

She will NOT stay on her back. It's so hard to change her diaper or get her dressed now, bc the SECOND i put her down she flips over. She always rolls over her left shoulder so I try to hold the right one down while im changing her (its a difficult task) and she grunts and grunts til she's finally changed and I let her roll.

She's learned to play peek-a-boo with me and she thinks is hilarious

She's said "DA" several times but not "Da-Da" the most frequent sounds she makes are "ooooooh" and "gooooo" and "Mmmm" She babbles but not with one syllable yet (like dadadada)

She can sit for anywhere from 30 sec-1 min unassisted if she's leaning slightly forward, but as soon as she tries to look behind her or lean back she falls backward. She's getting better everyday though!

She's wearing size 2 and size 3 diapers. We are finishing out the size 2 packs that we have but the size 3's are really better. She also wear a Baby Dry diaper at night bc she sleeps so long, its SO FULL in the morning and the Swaddlers were NOT holding it all. The Baby Dry are much better!

She loves going outside still. I just got her a swing at switcharoos and matt's gonna hang it this weekend.

She isn't interested in books. I try to read them to her and she just wants to grab them and throw it or chew it. She won't look at the pictures yet.

She still has bad teething days. Lots of drool and some fussiness, but today Dr. B said her teeth are no where close. Haha! Poor baby!!! It's hurting her bc they are coming up through layers of bone right now, but not near the surface yet. I only had 2 bottom teeth at my one year birthday, so she's probably on my course. :)

She wears 9 mo clothes now. The 6 mo sleepers are officially too short, her toes look like they're about to bust through. She can still fit in 6 month onesies but boy, are those snaps getting snug ;)

We love our baby girl SO MUCH! I will post 6 mo pictures after our shoot with Lauren next week!

Holy 5 Month Old!

This is crazy. Is my child really going to be half a year old in just 3 weeks?! What in the world!

She is the sweetest, silliest, stubbornest, most lovable little baby in the world.

Here's the latest:

Still no teeth. It HAS to be close. Drool has increased. I can't tell if pain has increased because she got an amazing Baltic Amber teething necklace (Thanks to Suzy and Yates!) and it has helped with her pain and fusiness tremendously! I can tell it still must be causing some pressure bc she is gnawing on her hands more than ever before and also loves when matt or I give her our knuckle to chomp down on. Ouch!

I finally feel that she knows who we are now. She doesn't reach for us yet, but she definitely gives us a huge, gummy smile when she sees us. If a stranger is holding her, she is totally content (doesnt cry or fuss, yet) but the second one of us goes back to get her from said stranger she smiles really big and acts happy to be back with a familiar face. She's also noticing Cooper and Annie now. She will watch them walk through the room and when they stop and sit down she smiles really big. She grabbed Coopers jowls the other day, really hard, I got nervous he would wimper or get mad but he just sat there and cut his eyes at me, like, "Mom.... really? This is what I get now that she finally notices me? A big ol' pinch??" Cooper has always loved her. He follows us wherever we go in the house and has to be in the same room as her. Annie has always ignored her. She acts indifferent. Now that Mary Tyler notices Annie, Annie seems to be noticing her. She will try to cuddle with her, but is usually a little too rough. I have to constantly supervise these "cuddles" so they aren't too rough with each other.


Mary Tyler is LOVING food. She mostly loves fruit, including: apples, peaches, pears, mangos, and bananas. She really likes carrots and sweet potatoes. She kind of likes squash and peas. She barely likes green beans, but we're working on it. I can't wait til I can start giving her puffs and/or cookies. She's already such a good eater. I hope she's not picky. Any advice from other moms on this food stage??

She's sleeping anywhere from 8-12 hours. It was a solid 12 hours for a LONG time, and for that I am grateful. Now, she usually goes down between 8 and 9 and wakes up anywhere from 7 to 9. I will say that everytime she's up at 7, she's escaped from her swaddle. If she sleeps til 9, she is still snuggly swaddled. Therefore, I think her busting loose is whats waking her up. We've tried everything. The miracle blanket is way too small at this point but they dont make them in a bigger size. We've pinned, taped, tucked, and just about everything in between but we have a little escape artist on our hands. The Swaddle Me size large is still too big and she gets her arms up through the neck hole and pushes it down. Any suggestions on this?!?! I'm thinking of getting her this little guy.... http://woombie.com/Leggies_Style.html. The main reason she escapes is because she holds her legs up in the air for a while and then starts kicking furiously, even in her sleep, and since the length of the blanket is actually too small, it kicks the whole freakin' thing down. So I feel like this will solve that bc even if she kicks, the arms stay swaddled (which is the main thing we need to stay secure). I  would love ANY TIPS on this subject. We've tried just a sleep sack (arms free) twice and she wakes herself up within an hour and it continues.

Likes:
- Her jumparoo, the walker her Grams (Susie) got her, her playmat
- Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. Obsessed. Has a crush on Mickey.
- Sometimes she'll watch Bubble Guppies, but she really loves MMC.
- BATHTIME. Water. Pool. etc.
- Going outside (as long as its not too hot) Whenever she gets grumpy all I have to to is walk up to the window and let her look out or walk around outside with her.
- Toys... especially new ones or ones she hasnt seen in a while. She is FASCINATED with everything. Actually, it doesnt even have to be a toy. Yesterday she started/played with at a Dasani water bottle for a good 15 minutes. She's SO curios about everything right now.
-Snuggling/Cuddling. I still take naps with her and she insists on burrowing up right beside me and wants to be holding my hand/finger.
- Her taggies blanket that Anna made her
- Baby Massage. I studied up on how to do it, and she LOVES IT!

Dislikes:
- Being hot. Hates it. Has a meltdown. It's bad.
- Green Beans
- Getting her diaper changed when she's "hyper." She doesn't like to sit still.


Finally, she went to the beach for the second time. Really it was like the first bc it was too cold the first time we went.  We went to Pawley's with Matt's family and Barry's family. It was SO MUCH FUN! Most days she stayed outside in a little tent for about 30 minutes and then Matt would go inside with her. It was really too hot for her to enjoy it. She can't sit up on her own yet so someone always had to be holding her, we were sandy, and she was hot. Luckily, my husband is AMAZING (and also afraid of the sun and sand) and stayed inside with her from about 11-4 everyday so Mommy got a real "vacation" and got to soak up some rays. I was looking pretty Vampire-esque before the beach trip. We had a fabulous first summer vacation as a family!! Here are some beach pictures:

The professional 5 month pictures that her Aunt Lollie took will be ready later this week and I will post some... Here are a few recent pictures:

We love you, Munks!!!!