Halfway through her first year!

Alethea is a half a year old already!  It is amazing how much changes in just a short 6 months.  It seems like she is learning something new every day.  I love it!  At the end of this month she weighed in at 15lbs 15 oz (50^th percentile), she is 27.25inches long (90+ percentile), and her head is 43.2cm.  The doctor said she is looking great and developing so nicely.

Sitting up so tall and rockin' her new teething necklace

face #1

Face #2

                This month was the month of the grandmas.  Alethea got to spend a week with her Grandma and a little over a week with her Mamaw.  So much fun!  While Grandma was here we went shopping for a new dress for Alethea, went to Sonic for milkshakes then to the park for nice walk/playtime, did lots of reading, went out to eat for Grandma’s birthday and played a ton at home.  While Mamaw was in town we went to church, went swimming with friends, did tons of shopping, went for a walk/played in the park, stayed home with Mamaw while mommy got to go to a Pampered Chef party, got a new giant blue ball and blocks, went for lots of walks and ate bananas for the first time.  There is lots of good spoiling to be had when family is in town, especially grandmas.  I think Alethea forgot for a bit what it was like to have to ride in the back seat alone, which isn’t always a good thing for Mommy when no one can sit back with her anymore.

Loving Grandma

Yay for swings!

How about a walk in the park

Cheering on daddy at his game

Fun in the pool with Molly while Mamaw was in town

She loves her Mamaw

Tuckered out after a walk with Mamaw

Backyard naked fun with Mamaw

More swings!

3 generations of Lenoras!

                This month marked some fun firsts.  She began creeping…it is her own version of crawling, but it definitely gets her where she wants to be.  She is also pulling up to her knees and climbing all over things, including Mommy.  When we went to the park with Daddy earlier in the month, she got in the swing for the first time, loved it, and we have been back many times to enjoy that some more.  Then when Grandma came to visit Alethea went down the slide in Mommy’s lap for the first time and she loves it!  She also took her first bath in the big tub with her little tub inside of it this month and she is still a wild woman, but at least I don’t have to worry about her jumping off the kitchen counter anymore. J She also got to sheer on her Daddy at her first ever basketball game.  So much fun!

Tired from creeping along

Apollo likes that she bathes in the tub now

trying to escape

                One big first happened when I got to go to the Pampered Chef party.  It started about an hour before she would normally nurse for the last time so there was no way I was going to be able to make it home in time to feed her.  So this was as good of time as any to test the waters with how she would go to bed without nursing.  My mom was in town so she was able to give her a bottle (of Mommy’s milk of course) and she did great then went right to sleep.  Yay!  That was such a freeing night for me.  Not only was it a big step for her, but it was a big step for me as well because up until that point I was worried that her night would be all thrown off if she took a bottle before bed.  So maybe now there will be a good chance of a Mommy-Daddy nighttime dinner date for the first time!

Another big first this month was starting solid foods.  We had waited on solid foods because of the family history of allergies on Ben’s side of the family, as well as the many other benefits I had read about concerning waiting on solid foods until 6 months of age (such as reduction in obesity as well as asthma).  So up until the day before she turned 6 months it was just Mommy’s milk for her and thankfully that was perfectly satisfying for her so I didn’t have to worry about whether I should be starting solids sooner.  We opted to do it the day before she turned 6 months because it was a Saturday, which meant Ben could be home for it, my mom was also leaving the next day, and Sunday mornings are never an easy morning to guarantee having time to start anything.  We chose to start with bananas because they are easy and yummy.  And Alethea was a fan.  She didn’t eat a ton of them, but she at least didn’t make any disgusted faces.

Yummy bananas

She loves her cup...and even drinks from it

she loves to suck on canteloupe :-)

She has become much more vocal and expressionate this month.  We are hearing lots of fun squeals and grunts and a fair amount of screaming when she gets frustrated too.  It has been so much fun to see her learn how to express her emotions this month.  Up until this month she didn’t really vocalize frustration and though it’s not always pleasant to listen to, it is so much fun to see her grow in this way.

helping Mommy with diaper laundry

                As always I could go on and on about how amazed I am at all the little things that my baby girl is already doing, but this is a little peak into what our world has been like her 6^th month of life.  It’s amazing how much love you can have for someone you have only known for 6 months, but I am so thankful for having her in our lives.  God is good!

Limited pics because some of my pics randomly turned sideways. :-(

5 Months, 5 Months, 5 Months!!!

               She is 5 months! Almost a ½ a year old!  It seems like time is just flying by.  She is growing up so fast and thankfully staying healthy along the way.  Her weight gain has slowed down quite a bit lately, but I am trying not to be concerned about it because she is eating and sleeping well so I don’t think anything is wrong.  She is up to 15lbs. 6.4oz and a little over 26.5 inches long.  So she is definitely getting longer, but her weight just isn’t keeping up with her so she is starting to looking like a skinny Minnie already. 

                This month marked a couple of fun firsts.  At the beginning of the month she went on her first plane ride.  We flew up to MI so that she could spend time with my parents, but especially at this time because my friend Kelly was flying in from CA.  She got to meet Kelly and her family, Siera and her family, another Kelly and her little girls, and Ali, plus anyone else that we ran into for her to meet.  The trip was full of lots of fun catching up and quality time.  Plus Ali was so sweet and took some 4 month photos for us too!  Then in the last week before she turned 5 months she started sitting up on her own.  She is definitely one determined little girl.  She wants to be into everything already so I wouldn’t be surprised if crawling is coming soon. J

We made it to MI!

                She is developing quite the cute personality.  Everything that you have in your hands, she wants to have it too, so now we have to be careful what we have near her.  Her reach is much better than it once was.  We have started putting her in her high chair for meals and she love it.  She doesn’t eat any real people food yet, but she loves her water cup (well chewing on it at least).  And she is very interested in Mommy’s water class too and loves to lick the perspiration off the side of it. 

She loves Mommy's cup!

She has always been a big fan of the dogs, but as she continues to grow older it has been cute to see her take even more of an interest in them.  She tracks them everywhere and loves it when they come over to say hello.  And thankfully they don’t seem to mind when she pets them (or rather, pulls their hair).  I am excited to see how she continues to interact with and enjoy them more and more over time.

While we were up in MI she was introduced to flowers for the first time.  I am not exactly good when it comes to plants and flowers so she hasn’t seen any down here in SC.  However, while we were at my parents she was so interested in all of the beauties that my parents have in their back yard.  It was super cute to see her and her Mamaw out smelling all the flowers.  She even figured out that she could pick them and of course that meant she tried to eat them too.  We also had fun putting them behind her ear and making her look like an island girl.  She didn’t seem to mind it at all and she looked super cute.

She loves flowers!

In MI she got to have her first experience with a piano too.  Since it is so expensive to move, I haven’t been able to get my childhood piano from my parents so as a result Alethea has never seen one before.  She definitely enjoyed herself and I look forward to being able to have a piano in our home so she can hear that music more often and eventually learn to play herself.

Playing the piano with Mommy

Another few other fun first were sitting up like a big girl in the shopping cart.  She loved it.  And we also took her to the park to test out the kiddie swings.  She wasn’t so sure at first, but once she got the hang of it, she was a fan.  We didn’t get any good pics because I forgot the camera, but she was definitely a cutie.  This month she also wore shoes for the first time too.  We haven’t invested in shoes, but we were given a pair from a friend and I just had to put them on her when they matched her outfit perfectly.  I am sure I could go on and on about fun things and firsts, but that’s probably enough to list. J

"This is great Mom!"

In her cute Louisville outfit with matching shoes

We love our sweet little Alethea and are enjoying every minute we are blessed to have her.  She is definitely a cutie and we couldn’t have been blessed with a sweeter little girl. 

I can’t believe my little girl is 4 months.  It seems like time keeps flying by faster and faster.  Can’t she just stay small forever?...  We are loving every minute we are blessed to have with her.  She brings so much joy into our lives and we can’t even imagine life now without her.  Yes we do have our stressful times, but all-in-all she is an amazing little girl and we love her to death!

Looking at Mommy, refusing to smile

Her best buddy Apollo joining the photo shoot

                It is amazing how much she continues to change month after month.  I keep expecting the changes to slow down as she gets older, but I am pretty sure she is still in full force changing every day.  And I love it!  We had our 4 month check-up the day before she turned 4 months and the doctor said she is doing great.  According to their stats she is 14lbs 12oz (85^th percentile, though if we went by the 15lbs. 6oz she weighed on our home scale, she would probably be a much higher percentile), 25.75 inches (95^th percentile), and her head is 42cm (75^th percentile).  The doctor even said she is ready for solid foods if we are ready to start them with her.  However, we are going to pass on this for now due to a family history of many allergies.  She is doing fine just on mommy’s milk and unless that changes the plan is to exclusively breastfeed until she is 6 months. (which is technically the new recommended age to start solids anyway)

One of her new favorite games is to play superbaby 

She is getting so big.  I feel like every so often Ben and I will look at the other who is holding her and just be in awe at how much bigger she looks in our arms.  One cute time was when Ben was feeding her a bottle for the first time in a while and he was amazed at how much bigger she was as he was feeding her; she was much different than the last time he had fed her over a month before.

Sometimes this is one of the only ways she can hang out with Daddy while he studies

                She is developing quite the little personality.  Most of the time she is such a happy baby and she is quite the entertainer when she gets going with all her crazy noises.  She has definitely discovered her voice this month!  We hear lots of growls and squeals and giggles pretty much daily.  One of her favorite things to laugh at is the puppies when they start fighting and going at each other or when one of us pesters Apollo to get him going.  She loves it and we do too because her giggles are so stinking cute!

She loves it when Apollo gets on the floor to play with her

                This month was another month full of firsts. As I said before she is giggling a lot and that really got into full force this month.  She also loves to grab at your face when you are holding her, which can sometimes mean lots of finger prints on my glasses. J  She has sat in her high-chair like a big girl while we eat dinner this month and she does great.  She gets to chew on toys for now, but before we know it she will be eating with us too!  She has begun grasping for toys a lot more and spins round and round in her jumperoo.  We also began using cloth diapers with her this month and she has done great with them and mommy loves them too! 

She has already taken quite the interest in reading books.

Jumperoo time

We love our evening walks and so does Alethea

Her very first cloth diaper, a Zinnia colored BumGenius 4.0!

Hamming it up in her high-chair

On her very first picnic at Wannamaker park

This month has marked an increase in mobility too.  She is now rolling from her tummy to her back in both directions as well as from her back to her belly in both directions.  It is quite funny to walk away for a sec and return to find that she has rolled from the middle of the floor off her blanket and gotten herself stuck right up against the bottom of the couch.  (She hasn’t quite figured out how easy it is to just roll herself away from something that’s in the way.)  Mobility has also meant crazy sleeping positions too because she no longer just stays on her belly to sleep for naps.  It is quite the entertainment for mommy so far.

Another big first is that she is now putting herself to sleep.  This is a huge step for us because getting her to go to sleep has always been quite the struggle.  Thankfully this month we have discovered that it is actually much easier to just let her do it herself.  I was really worried to try this because I was quite ready to let her cry it out yet.  However, it turns out that she cries a heck of a lot less (often times not at all) putting herself to sleep than she does when we try to get her to go to sleep with our help.  (My mom said I was the same way and just wanted to be left in the crib to talk myself to sleep.)  As a result, both mommy and Alethea are much happier for naps and bedtime.  Putting her to sleep is no longer a dread, and she does great!  Now if we could only get her to get back to her 2hr napping days.  Many days lately she is too excited to get up and only sleeps for 30-40minutes.  Thankfully she wakes up happy and squealing most of the time, but mommy still doesn’t get a whole lot done during naps anymore.

"Hi mommy, I'm ready to play!"

                Two super fun firsts happened this month with regards to water.  We definitely have a little water baby on our hands.  She has been going to the pool at our friends the Smith’s house every Thursday and she loves it. (Plus she loves hanging out with her buddies Molly, Sarah, Adley, and Eli.)  And we also took our first beach trip this month while my cousins were in town.  She absolutely loved the ocean and got quite the kick out of the waves crashing into her.

She loves the water as you can see 

and now we have a raft that she scoots around in too

She walked all over downtown Charleston with her Uncle Lee

Loving being with her buddy, cousin Emily

The beach!

She is a regular old beach bum :-)

                This month has been marked by many fun events too.  We got to go to work and see Ben get promoted to Lieutenant Junior Grade.  She did great and everyone enjoyed meeting her.  And yet another wedding occurred.  She wore her garnet dress to go see her Gaggie and Jerald get married.  We were also blessed by a visit from Mamaw and Papaw as well as Uncle Cody and Justine.  She loved handing out with them and enjoying lots of family time for a few days.

The captain held her while I put on Ben's new Lieutenant bars 

Really getting into the book with Papaw

Making faces with Mamaw in the mirror

Chilling with Aunt Justine and Uncle Cody

4 generations of Lenoras...not the best picture of the rest, but I love her face

She was a chatterbox at the pre-wedding lunch

A pre-wedding kiss from her Gaggie, the bride-to-be!

                I could probably keep going on and on, but for now that is a little peek into the fun we have had in her 4^th month of life.