Six Months Old

EK, you turned 6 months old Today! The picture above gives an idea of what your photo shoot this month was like...that sticker was quite beat up by the time we were finished! You decided it looked tasty!

-You are a rolling machine! I know you've been working so hard at getting the hang of rolling over but it seemed like it happened overnight! You went from rolling just once at a time to all of a sudden rolling ALL OVER the room! The first time you did it your daddy was working on a sermon in the living room while I was in the kitchen making dinner. You were on your blanket and before we knew it you were under daddy's feet! Neither one of us saw how on earth you made it over there so fast! Since then, you are all over the place.

-You. Are. Active. You have two switches: On and Off. When you are awake, you are BUSY. You never stop. You have no concept of the word, "cuddle." The only time you stop moving is when you're asleep. 

-EVERYTHING is going in your mouth these days. You are definitely teething.

-You got your first tooth!! You had two nights where you were awake a lot...not grumpy, just awake. The day in between these two nights you just weren't really yourself. I wondered if you were teething when I noticed a spot on your gums looking swollen. The next day up popped a tooth! We're waiting on tooth number 2 now...

-You are beginning to sit up by yourself! You think you are a big girl, I guess. Actually, the first time you sat very well by yourself was at your 5 month photo shoot. The photographer had you sit for a picture and you sat! Like you knew what you were doing or something! Your daddy and I were amazed. Since then you've gotten better and better. You are so strong, BabyGirl.

-You love to chew on your toes. The second your diaper comes off, the feet go straight in the mouth.

-You wear size two disposables if you wear them.

-You are mostly wearing size 6 month clothes. You can still fit in most 3 month size onesies if they're short sleeved; however, I've moved you up to 6 months or 3-6 months because I packed most of your 0-3 month stuff away and I wanted it all to stay together. 6 month clothes can still be a little big but you are outgrowing 6 month pajamas because you're so long. I still can't believe you're not bigger than you are. All my mom's babies were so big that I just KNEW you'd be a big baby! Whatever size you are, you would always be perfect sweet BabyGirl!

-We think you might have a mild case of exzema. Your 6 month appt is next week so we'll find out for sure then.

-I have slowly introduced you to solids this month. You have tried sweet potato, avocado, carrots, bananas and rice cereal. You are not a huge fan of the bananas oddly enough. You have loved everything else.

-You are constantly pushing yourself up. If you move at all, you push yourself backwards but only slightly unless you are on a linoleum floor....then you slide a little farther. You will be crawling before we know it!

-You like to touch faces. ...and mouths, which does not make mommy happy! We don't want a sick little girl! Which, by the way, you have not been sick once, yet!

-I think we might have ruined you because I tried showing you a Baby Einstein video the other day and you were NOT interested. Show you something on the Disney Junior channel; however, and you will watch....I guess because all the shows are so colorful. Mind you, you don't watch for long but it keeps you entertained off and on as you play. Hopefully you're not too overstimulated... 

-You are VERY vocal. You are constantly babbling, making your trill noise, laughing, spitting...whatever your choice of sound is it is usually LOUD.

-You had your first self-injury this month. You were having a good time in your Johnny Jump-Up watching me work in your bedroom. I heard a loud thud, then silence, then screaming. You bumped your head on the doorjamb, poor baby!

-We still have not left you in the church nursery or with a babysitter outside of family. Maybe one day...

-You got a ring seat for bathtime and you LOVE LOVE LOVE it! You splash and splash and splash and just have the best time trying to grasp the floating toys. Boy does it make bathtime so much easier, as well!

-You love your mommy! You still don't like for me to leave a room without you. As long as you are right there with me, you are happy as a clam.

-You nurse every two hours or so, sometimes going longer.

-Your morning nap is usually an hour or more...more often becoming longer than an hour. Within waking from a nap, you are ready to go back down for a nap within about two hours. Other than your morning nap your naps are usually around 30 minutes long. At naptime, I turn on your lullaby music and sound machine. I put your bink in your mouth and rock you for a few minutes. You are usually out like a light!

-You go to bed between 7-8 and wake up around 8 (usually). You wake up to eat 2-3 times between that twelve hour period.

You are the light of our lives, EK. God has blessed us immensely with your life. You are the HAPPIEST, MOST JOYFUL baby I have ever known...and I've known a lot of babies! You smile ALL THE TIME. I can't imagine anyone loving you more...it has shown us a new picture of God's love as he certainly loves you more than even we love you. We pray you have a heart for things of Him from a young age. We pray God gives us wisdom and discernment daily in raising you, BabyGirl. We love you so very much.

I Am Not, HE IS

   I am throwing myself a pity party. It's one of those days that was supposed to be SO FUN but instead turned out to be so disappointing. Since Daniel is the only pastor on staff he is NEVER home. There is always a meeting to go to, someone to visit, a ministry to take part in, office hours to get in, etc., etc., etc. There is ALWAYS something. Within the last year both our senior pastor and music minister have felt called to other churches. I don't doubt that God wasn't behind them leaving...it's just hard having your husband be the only pastor of a church that is used to three pastors. I have been really proud of how he has handled it all. Like seriously...he has amazed me.

Today, Daniel was supposed to be home at lunch. I had the sudden spur of the moment idea to head to the zoo for a fun family afternoon, as well as to celebrate EK being SIX MONTHS OLD today. As you can guess, the trip to the zoo  isn't happening. I got a text from Daniel that he was going to lunch with someone. I knew by the time he got home there would be NO time for the zoo. So now I just want to sit here and be sad that we're missing out on what could have been such a fun day. Nevermind the fact that the whole day isn't lost and we can still do something else...plenty of things...but it won't be the zoo...so I am choosing to be a grump about it.

   This time with Daniel being the only pastor on staff has been SO HARD. I feel like he is never home. I know it's just for a season but I am also choosing not to think that way right now. Instead I am choosing to be a grump about his busyness.

*Insert: I know you are loving reading this post that is so encouraging and uplifting.

   I guess it's at times like this that I need to run to the Word and refocus. God is still in control. He has neither changed nor moved. I know my purpose here on earth is to serve and glorify Him. He has called me to be Daniel's wife, a pastor's wife. If, when these hard seasons come I choose to become self-focused there is not only no glory going to God, but there is also a whole lot of discouragement headed in my husband's direction....when all he needs is the encouragement and support of me, his wife, his help-meet. As I write this post, I realize how wrong I am to be so quick to get discouraged and disappointed. Instead, I must praise God for allowing us to serve Him. I praise Him for bringing us to this town to minister. I praise Him for giving me a husband who has a passion to be obedient to Him. I praise Him for giving us a daughter who brings more joy than I ever could have imagined. I praise Him, simply because HE IS. (Exodus 3:14)

-Megan

Top 10 Baby Must-Haves

I've seen several blogs that have had posts similar to this and I thought it would be fun! There are definitely a few things that have made life with a new baby so much easier! So without further ado, here is our list of our must-haves for life with BabyGirl.

1. Swaddle - BabyGirl slept best when swaddled. During the day we swaddled her in receiving blankets. When she was tired, we would wrap her up tightly and she'd be asleep within seconds! At night we LOVED the SwaddleMe and Halo SleepSack. I actually preferred the Halo when E was a newborn because I didn't have to completely unswaddle her when changing her diaper during her nightly feeds. This was glorious as she stayed asleep through the whole thing every time!

2. Boppy - I used this seriously every single time I fed E for the first 2 months of her life. I hate to say I couldn't have lived without it, but it's more like BabyGirl couldn't have lived without it as I'm not sure how she would have been fed otherwise. This thing was GLORIOUS in learning how to nurse. Also, now that she's learning how to sit up it is great in helping support her.

3. Pacifier, or the bink/binky as we call it - BabyGirl has sucked a bink from day 1 in the hospital. I'm not even sure why we gave her one that early but we did and she loved it. She actually stopped sucking it soon after we came home from the hospital but when offered a different type she went right back to loving it! I have to insert in here that her being offered a different type was a total fluke. I always said I would never be one of those parents who try all sorts of different things to see what Baby likes best. So...when she quit taking it that was that; however, my mom gave her a different one to see if she would take it and she LOVED it. She prefers the MAM. My baby has a mind of her own. Who knew?

4. Baby Bath Sponge/Ring Seat - So technically this is two things but they go together...sort of. We have a definite water baby on our hands. So many books/websites advise to make a bath part of your baby's bedtime routine because it is soothing and calms baby right down. YEAH. RIGHT. E is in heaven during bathtime. There is absolutely NO getting sleepy in the tub for our little fish. In the beginning, it was so hard to bathe BabyGirl in a baby tub...she just wiggled and slid all over the place. Maybe it would have been better if we had a different type, I don't know, but for whatever reason it just didn't work for us so we started very early on just bathing E in the regular ole tub in about an inch of water on a baby sponge. She loved this because she could splash and kick to her heart's content. As she grew, it became harder and harder because all she wanted to do was roll all over the place. Just this weekend we went to a consignment sale and one thing on my list was a bath ring. I really didn't think we would find one but we DID! I knew E would love it and she proved me right. She has the BEST time splashing and trying her hardest to grab those darn toys that just want to float right out of her grasp. She is just the cutest thing EVER in her new bath ring.

5. Bibs/Burp cloths - Again, this is two things but they definitely go together. From about month 1 to month 4, BabyGirl needed to wear a bib at all times and a burp cloth was always nearby. BabyGirl has always taken eating very seriously. Meal time is no game for her. She has always eaten like there is no tomorrow, which in turn means...SPIT UP. Until she was about 4 months old I had to stop her in the middle of eating every few minutes in order to burp her. If I didn't then we got to experience projectile spit-up. Not fun. For us or her. Probably mostly her, but we had to clean it up so...not fun for us either.

6. Exersaucer and Light-Up Toys - Ok, so I seem to be on a roll here with including more than 1 item but they just go together too well...plus I was trying to keep it at a list of 10 things... Anyway, there are all sorts of different toys that E really enjoys but two in particular have been life savers at times. E is an ACTIVE baby. The word 'cuddle' is NOT in her vocabulary. The only time she cuddles is when she's sleeping so I'm not sure that is still considered cuddling. We started putting BabyGirl in the exersaucer when she was only 2 months old. We packed her in with blankets surrounding her and a huge book under her feet so she could touch the bottom. HA! She loved it, though! She started holding up her head very well at 5.5 weeks old and has always wanted to stand while you're holding her, so...I thought that she would probably enjoy the exersaucer. I had Daniel put it together and she loved it! The other toy E enjoyed for quite a while was this puppy light-up/musical toy...especially in the car at night. This was a LIFESAVER for us several times. At one point BabyGirl no longer enjoyed traveling at night...she would scream without ceasing. For some reason the light up toy worked...probably because it blinded her since everything else was so dark. But hey, it worked, so...

7. Sound Machine - We didn't plan on using a sound machine...just one of those things that happened. We sleep with white noise to drown out lovely neighborhood dogs. When E came home from the hospital she slept in our room, thus heard white noise every night. When we traveled during the holidays I used one while she napped to drown out other noises. I found that she sleeps well with it...I've also read that it's common for babies to enjoy some type of white noise because they're so used to the womb which was very loud. At this point I can turn on her white noise and lullaby music and she lays her head right down on my chest because she knows those two things signal nap time. So sweet. 

8. Newborn gowns - When I was pregnant I gathered these like there was no tomorrow. I knew I would want to use them during the night and maybe even during the day because one, they make it so easy to change the baby and two, I just felt like they were so much cozier for a newborn than to dress her up in uncomfortable clothes all the time. E wore gowns every night to bed (and some during the day but not as often as I thought as she was born in September and her little legs would get cold when they popped out of the gowns.) until just this last week. She's gotten a lot more mobile and the gowns just get all twisted up and let her little legs hang out getting cold during the night. But yeah...we had a drawer FULL of gowns and used every single one multiple times!

*Sidenote: I think I might be a little addicted to newborn gowns because in looking for a picture to use to post I found this one and want to BUY IT. Even though E doesn't wear them anymore.

9. Tate's Natural Miracle Conditioner - This stuff is pure amazingness in a bottle. It is AWESOME. My mom gave it to us when E was born. It's lotion made out of all natural ingredients. Like, seriously...you can read and understand every single thing on the label. Daniel and I have found that it works for his dry hands in the winter when NOTHING else has worked very well. It is an AMAZING moisturizer. I have always struggled finding a face moisturizer because everything makes my face oily or just doesn't really work. This stuff WORKS. It doesn't make my face oily and my skin feels better than it ever has. Also...on to why it is a baby necessity...E has incredibly sensitive skin. I am also extremely picky about what I put on her skin even if she didn't have such sensitive skin. I used this to bathe and moisturize her for quite a while. Now I just use it as her body lotion. She broke out in what we think is exzema and the Tate's worked WONDERS on her skin. I am serious. Everyone needs to go out and buy this stuff RIGHT. NOW.

10. Stroller Snap N Go - We have seriously used this thing A TON. Life never stops around here and this stroller has come in so handy. We really debated on whether or not to get one and we're so glad we did. We would have probably bought the actual stroller that comes with the matching car seat but we were so incredibly blessed to receive our carseat as a gift, as well as the snap n go!

I hope you enjoyed our Top 10!
-Megan

Five Months Old

BabyGirl you are 5 months old! You are growing, growing, GROWING.

-You are rolling over! You rolled from your back to your belly over your left side first. Apparently this is backwards...I guess most babies roll from their belly to their back first. You don't follow the rule book! I actually caught it on video too! You worked SO hard and you were so proud of yourself when you finally made it all the way over. A couple of weeks later you rolled from your belly to your back.
-You make your little trill sound all. the. time. It is adorable.
-You love to touch faces as people talk to you.
-You always put your hands on your thighs when getting a diaper change. So adorable.
-You have noticed your feet. You try to grab them but you usually kick them away before you can get to them.
-We stopped swaddling your arms this month. Your lower body is still swaddled.
-You sleep on your belly.
-We moved you to your OWN room this month. Mommy cried! You have slept very well in your own room, though. Right away you stopped waking every 1-2 hours. It was a small miracle!
-You don't like mommy to be too far away. If I walk out of the room, your tears are quick to follow! We are getting good at spending our days together while you are in your Ergo Carrier. You love riding around on my back.
-You started eating oatmeal cereal this month! It was only a couple of days before you turned 5 months. I just felt that you were ready...I originally wasn't going to start you on solids until you were 6 months old so I surprised myself with starting you already but you LOVE it! You ate like a champ from the first bite!
-You wear size 2 diapers when you wear disposables.
-You wear size 3-6 month clothes. You still fit in 3 month size onesies so you wear these under a lot of your outfits. You can wear size 6 months but some outfits are still too big. If it weren't for your big cloth diapers you would still be wearing mostly 3 months but those diapers give you quite the big bum!
-You went on vacation to Daytona Beach this month with Mommy and Daddy. You had a great time...even tried a tiny taste of banana from Daddy when Mom wasn't looking!
-You are the smiliest, happiest baby. You only cry when you're hungry or tired...or when mommy leaves the room.
-After each nap, you are ready to go back down for a nap within an hour-and-a-half. You are a MUCH happier baby since we figured that out. You take 5-6 thirty minute naps every day. We started a naptime/bedtime routine early this month/late last month. You are doing very well with it.
-You are still a VERY fast eater! You eat every 2 hours and are finished nursing within 5-10 minutes each time. You eat and GO.

You are such a joy BabyGirl. Your daddy and I are so blessed with your life. I love spending my days with you and I'm so thankful I'm a stay-at-home mommy...something that's sadly beginning to fade into the past. I wonder what you will be up to next month? We love you!