8 months...2/3rds of the way to 1 year!

Alethea is 2/3 of a year old!  Wow how time flies when you are so blessed to have such a sweet little girl!  We have had so much fun watching her grow over the past month.  She is getting more and more of a personality each day.  And with that comes a lot of mischief. J  Her curiosity and determination to investigate things and do what she wants can make for one tired Mommy, but I love it.  She is into exploring everything!  Her stats (based on at home measurements) at the end of this month are 18lbs 3.2oz (50^th percentile) and 29 inches (97^th+ percentile).  I can’t believe how tall she keeps getting! She only grew a ½ inch over the past month, but it feels like she got so much taller.  Maybe that is because she is up on her feet so much (or often even the very tips of her toes) to reach what she wants.

Love this pic but for whatever reason it is one of the images 

that decided to upload sideways, but I wanted it  in the post anyway. :-)

                There is nothing stop Alethea from getting to what she wants for the most part now.  She can pull up on basically anything and she crawls like speedy gonzalez.  I turn around for a second and it seems like she magically appears on the other side of the room!  She pulls up and walks along things like a pro, transferring from one thing to the other, and even letting go for a few seconds at a time to just chill out and stand.  I have a feeling we are in for an early walker.  She even started using her walking toy today to walk around the living room.  I know I think she keeps me on my toes now, but I can only imagine what it will be like over the next few months as she starts walking. J

Boxes make great toys

and so does the fridge :-)

standing up at her learn and groove

the balancing act

so proud of herself

Got herself in quite the predicament going after Mommy's purse

She loves playing at the dishwasher

We let her explore the pots and pans. So fun!

Her favorite mischief...dog bowls

"helping" with laundry

"folding" Daddy's socks

                 She is doing awesome with her eating.  She loves her solid foods (most of the time) and thankfully still loves to nurse so she is getting all the nutrition she needs.  Foods she has tried this month are: carrots, mangos, nectarines (loves these!), peaches, peas, yellow squash, zucchini, chicken, and cheerios and kiwi chunks.  I am so thankful that I make my own baby food because I have been able to get her to eat everything I make.  Sometimes that means mixing fruits and veggies, but at least she is getting the nutrients and different tastes.  Some of her favorite combos are 3 cubes of sweet potatoes with a cube of peaches and 3 cubes of green beans/peas with a cube of banana and a bit of rice/oatmeal.  They may sound like weird combos but they are actually quite good. (I have tried them all)  At the end of the month we gave rice cereal another go and she didn’t break out in a rash so I am thankful to report that it looks like she either had no previous allergy or just outgrew it.  She has also taken to finger foods quite a lot over the past couple of days so I am thinking purees may be getting less and less.

Enjoying cheerios, again sideways due to the uploading issues

Apples make great teethers :-)

                Some fun things about this past month are that she got to finger paint and color with crayons for the first time.  She is quite the pro with the paint and loves to slap the paper.  We have made cards for family and decorations for the house.  So fun!  The crayons will take a while I am sure, but she enjoys playing with them (occasionally trying to eat them) and she is able to make a few strokes on her own here and there.  I am looking forward to introducing more art projects over the next month.  It’s never too early to have fun with art!

finger painting action

her first work of art

crayon fun!

                She also has a toy corner now that she is a huge fan of.  She will just sit there for a good while playing by herself (though she does love company too).  We set up all her toys to climb up on as well as a few buckets full of her toys to play with.  So exciting to see her enjoy it so much!  Toward the end of the month she got to go to her first race, her daddy’s mud run.  She loved it!  She is such an outdoors baby and she loved seeing all of what was going on while chilling in her stroller. (and while playing in the dirt, even if she was a hot mess afterward)

Enjoying herself in her toy corner

so excited!

Chillin' out at Daddy's race

                Some of my favorite things over the past month have been playing games of peek-a-boo and tickles. She is quite the giggler and it is so cute to see her anticipate the games now.  We have also had some dance parties, rockin’ out to some music from Glee.  Yes I am raising her to love Glee! J  And my all time favorite thing is to watch her reaction when her daddy gets home from work.  Her face lights up when she sees him and she has even started crawling to the door to greet him when she hears his key in the lock.  So precious!  I love it!

She loves her Daddy

                I thought I would include a day in the life of Alethea schedule this month since I made one up for Ben so he could know what goes on every day with Alethea/what to expect next when he gets home from work (since it varies so much).  Here it is:

6:30/7:30ish        Wake-up, diaper change, nurse

8:30/9ish              Eat Solid Breakfast (fruit with oatmeal)

10/10:30ish         Nap 1

10:30/11ish         Nurse

12:30/1ish           Eat Solid Lunch (veggie and fruit with oatmeal)

2/2:30ish              Nap 2

3/3:30ish              Nurse

5:00/5:30ish        Eat Solid Dinner (veggie and fruit with oatmeal)

7ish                        Bath (every other day)

7:30/7:45ish        Nurse/Bedtime (usually asleep by 8/8:15ish)

This works great for us and she seems to be such a happy baby, even though she usually doesn’t take much more than an hour of naps total most days.  She just loves to be up and playing.  all the times that are unaccounted for are full of playtime and outings with Mommy.  It’s so much fun to see how much her schedule has changed from basically eating and sleeping all the time when she was first born. J

                So yet another month has gone by and we love her even more than the last (if that is even possible).  It has been so much fun to be a family of three and we look forward to many more adventures as we watch our sweet little girl grow.

loves books

and running with Mommy (even if it doesn't look like it here)

Mun Run Fun!

This past weekend Alethea and I attended our first mud run.  We went to watch Ben and some of his buddies from work run in a mud run.  I definitely confirmed I have no desire to ever do a mud run...too messy!  However, I definitely got the itch to do another race sometime soon.  (maybe over Thanksgiving with the bro)

I had a bit of anxiety leading up to the race because I knew it was going to be 2 almost 2hr car drives in one day plus a day full of activities so I wasn't sure how Alethea would do.  She did great!  She slept for part of both trips and took the rest of the car trips like a champ.  I was definitely surprised by that! Alethea also did amazing at the race.  She loved looking at everything going on and really loved it when I let her play in the dirt while we waited to see her daddy finish the race.  We had fun hanging out with the wives, Sheri, Maria, and Valerie too!

I can't believe how much Alethea is growing up. We are into a whole new world of things we are able to do and still have a happy girl.  I have a feeling we have many more fun times to come! (maybe even in the mud)

Hillbillys...mullets and all...before.

The other group from their work dressed up as Hooter's girls...too funny!

Alethea with her daddy after the race

Only one mullet survived the 5+ mile run in the mud

Life lately....as a Mommy

          I love being a Mommy, but sometimes I can't help but wonder where my life has gone.  Taking care of our sweet little girl is basically a full time job.  I feel like I am finally at the point where I can take care of her and the household and not feel overwhelmed....most of the time.  I have even found the time to socialize with friends again, even if it is a totally different type of socializing since most of us have kiddos of our own now.

          When Alethea was first born, I felt like I hybernated for several months because I couldn't really do a whole lot of things beyond caring for her without getting stressed out, largely due to the fact that she didn't like the car.  As each month goes by I feel like I am finally getting out of that stage more and more.  I feel like I am gradually getting back in touch with more and more people that I had lost touch with for the first few months of her life.

          This past Tuesday was a fun step toward that end.  I had gotten a Living Social deal for Whole Foods so Alethea and I headed down to Mt. Pleasant to shop for some yummy food.  On my way I decided that since she did so well in the car we were going to make a day of it.  First we headed over to Trader Joes since we were already so close and I got to see my student teaching supervisor and friend Louise in her new working environment.  It was great to catch up a little bit.  Then, since we were so close, we headed over to College of Charleston to visit some old co-workers, professors, and friends.  It was so much fun being able to show off my little cutie and she had a blast hamming it up.  I am so glad she enjoys people so much because it makes for fun outings lately. :-)  I am hoping to incorporate more fun days like this and be able to have some fun running around days like I used to before Alethea arrived, even if they do wear me out a lot more than they used to.

          One struggle I have been having lately is figuring out how to manage my time right with Alethea.  She is getting so much more interactive and aware now, but she also can entertain herself very easily.  So many times it is very easy to let her entertain herself and get things done around the house (especially since she only sleeps about 1.5hrs all day long).  Lately I have been researching things that I can do with her that will be more stimulating and facilitating of learning.  So, maybe this is just the former childcare worker in me, but I am going to try and incorporate more of these activities and lessen the time that I spend on the house.  This might mean that I have a bit more of a messy house (not that it was super clean anyway), but I am hoping it is going to be for the best for her.

            Sometimes being a mommy seems like it can be a drag and stress me out, but thankfully I have such a sweet little girl that makes figuring out how to make things best for both of us all worth it. That was a bunch of ramblings, I know, but that's what has been on my mind lately so I had to write it down.

A Whopping 7 Months Already!

            Alethea is getting closer and closer to completing her first year here with us and she is changing so much every day.  She is getting so big!  Her most recent in home measurements are 17lbs 3.2oz (50^th percentile) and 28.5in (97^th+ percentile).  I can’t believe how long she is getting; she gets too long for clothes before she even has a chance to fill them out.

Blogger won't put her 7 month photo the right way so this cute picture will have to do :-)

Our little girl is quite the go getter.  She is definitely not in the blob stage anymore, actually quite the opposite.  She has been creeping for over a month now and she is definitely a pro at that.  She has officially explored almost every inch of the first floor of our house.  You look away for a second and she is already off to the races to get into something fun (usually something she isn’t supposed to).  The day before she turned 7 months she finally discovered real crawling, so now she combines crawling and creeping depending on what she feels like doing.

Gotta love my mobile cutie!

This month she has learned to sit up from a crawling position.  I thought that was exciting enough, but she decided that wasn’t enough for her.  For the last almost 2 weeks she has been pulling up to a standing position all on her own.  This girl is so stinkin’ strong and wants to be in to everything!  She is even beginning to walk a bit along things and fairly easily (though slowly) makes transfers from object to object.  Love it! 

"Helping" with laundry

"Look Ma, I got the diapers"

All of this mobility is definitely exciting, even if it does take a bit more work to keep up with her these days.  However, it does come with the injuries of her daredevilness.  For the most part we have just seen minor bumps and bruises.  Unfortunately, this past week Alethea got her first real injury from a fall.  She loves to stand up…sit down…stand up….sit down on the bottom of our tall kitchen chairs.  And in the transition she lost her balance and ended up hitting the bar with the side of her head/eye.  She screamed her head off for a bit, bled some and cuddled lots and then she was right back at it again.  Such fun, but I think these accidents are going to get more frequent. J

She got in a fight with the base of the chair

But she had no problem getting right back up again :-)

Alethea has continued to get into solid foods.  We have been working with her schedule to figure out when is best to feed her and I think we finally figured it out this past week and she has been loving her solid foods.  She is up to 3 meals a day and eating like a champ for the past week.  This month she has tried butternut squash, sweet potato, rice cereal, oatmeal, avocado, apples, pears, green beans, prunes, and plums.  We probably would have been able to introduce more, but we have struggled with the food allergy issues.  She breaks out with a rash from rice cereal and we are waiting for the rash to clear up to confirm whether or not butternut squash is an allergen or not. Thankfully she enjoys most all of her solids, however green beans and oatmeal have to be mixed with her fruits in order for her to be interested.

Messy face!

She loves her cup too!

A few other new things this month are that she is definitely aware with Mommy is gone and she makes sure that everyone is aware she is not happy about it.  We are working on that issue and she has actually improved over the past week or so.  It is quite entertaining to see how her cries are morphing to try to communicate how she feels.  She has also discovered that she can crawl behind the couch just like the pups.  Thankfully after getting stuck back there the first time, she has realized she can crawl all the way around and out the other side. 

"Help Mommy, I don't know how to get out from behind here!"

We hit a big milestone this month with her night time feeding as well.  Up until this month, she had not eating her final feeding anywhere but home so we were pretty much limited to having to be home by 7:30 every night.  In order to be able to attend the Darby’s birthday party and a home group get together, we had to change this and thankfully she did great.  She took her bottle like a pro and then came home and went to sleep great just as always.  We even got home at 9 one night and she went to bed without any issues.  This new freedom has definitely come in handy for Mommy and Daddy.

Still enjoying pool time with her buddies!

She loves to play in the fridge :-)

She has also become more intentional with her vocalizations and it almost seems at times that she is trying to tell us something.  Her vocalizations have shifted from mostly cries to now she says “bah bah bah bah” and “mmmmah mah mah mah”.  So cute and I love seeing just how expressionate she has become with her “words” and facial expressions.

                So much fun watching her change this past month.  So many exciting things to share.  We are looking forward to seeing what the next month brings and we are falling in love with this little girl more and more each day.  (Hard to believe that is even possible!)

Visiting her daddy at work and he let her "drive"

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. :-(