6 Months Old!

Lauren is 6 months old!!!!  She has truly been such a joy to have in our family.  Here are some 6 month stats:

*17 lbs 1 oz
*1 Tooth!!  It popped up yesterday on her 6 month birthday!  I saw it trying to break through on Sunday night but I finally felt it on Monday. 
*Still taking 3 naps a day most days.  Every once in a while, she'll stretch her naps and sleep longer, therefore only taking 2 naps...but for the most part she's still taking that 3rd catnap in the late afternoon.
*Sleeping approx 11-12 hours at night.  Unfortunately, since she's not rolling over a whole lot still..she's not waking up happy most mornings.  However, when she rolls over when she wakes, she is perfectly content. 
*Eats A LOT!  Nurses 4-5 times a day and eats approx 10-12 oz of solids a day (I make my own baby food so this is an estimate)!  Despite how much she's eating, she still weighs about the same that Claire did at this same age...in fact, she weighs a little less than Claire did.
*New foods are rice cereal, bananas, squash (she LOVES squash!!) and prunes.  I've known this since she was a newborn, but this girl has PROVEN to me this month that she LOVES to eat!  Ha!  As soon as she was able to get over her tongue thrust reflex, she's opened her mouth like a baby bird for food.
*Developmentally, she's still only rolling from front to back, but not back to front.  No crawling either.  But, she's sitting very well with support.  I'm still not worried though, she's proven to us that she'll move when she wants.  She absolutely looooves the bouncy seat!  She will kick and bounce over and over again.  Her legs are strong, she just doesn't feel the need to roll.

5 months Old!!

Well, I'm a few days late...but our baby is 5 months old!!  Wow.  She is really becoming a little person now!  She's now 15 lbs 11 oz.  And sometime this month I will start her on solids.  I'm a little sad for this phase as it's a sign that my baby is growing and becoming a little girl.  I just love the newborn phase (minus the sleepless nights)...but I also love this new phase too.  She will soon start to move a bit more, start babbling, and begin to become her own little person.  This month she rolled over for the first time too!  Well behind her big sister and I really struggled with not being concerned with it...so I was really relieved when she made this milestone!  But, with this milestone comes new little challenges for us too...for instance, she has begun to roll over in the middle of naps, which wake her up.  It won't be long before she "gets" how to stay asleep on both sides, but for now, she's startling herself awake each time.  :)  I love this little one so, so much.  I could just eat her up!!

4 Months Old!

Having a little snooze while big sis had a play date with friends.


Happy Girl!

Today our sweet Lauren is 4 Months Old! Wow, where did those 4 months go? They seemed to fly by quicker than Claire's first 4 months did. And what a month she has had! Here are some things to note:
*She slept through the night for the first time, only to get her sleep disrupted by 2 bouts of cold/congestion. For the most part, she is sleeping from 7:30 pm until anywhere from 4 am to 6:30am...depending on the day.
*She eats 5-6 times a day.
*She weighs 14 lbs 13 oz. And surprisingly, that's 5 oz smaller than Claire at this age. (Claire had a HUGE growth spurt between months 3 and 4)
*She is still not moving around much...no scooting and no rolling over. However, she has begun the process. She now enjoys rolling up on her side.
*She has begun to T.A.L.K. and it's just precious. Her "oohs" and "aaahs" are becoming more and more frequent.
*She's entered into the "distracted baby" syndrome. I have a difficult time getting her through a full feeding if Claire is in the room. Or if I have a fan on for that matter. HA!
*She traveled for the first time...and it was to TX!!
*Like I mentioned above, she's had her first "illness". 2 colds in 4 weeks. She's a trooper though. She'll just add in an extra feeding during the day if she needs to.
*Personality-wise...she's very calm and easy going. Much like her dad and much like her sister. She's very content to people watch and will only start to "fuss" if it's time to take a nap. She will however, let me know when it's time to eat. This child doesn't want to wait for long when she's hungry!
*She has laughed outloud for the first time and what a sweet sound that is!
*She found her hands and it looks like she will be like Claire in that she will drop the pacifier on her own and choose to suck her fingers.

Lauren, we love you more and more each day and are so very thankful for you. What a precious gift you are in our lives.

3 Months Old...Already??

Our sweet baby girl is 3 months old today! Here are some things that we've noted about her this month:

~She weighs 13 lbs 14.5 oz...that's 1.5 lbs heavier than her sister at the same age!
~She eats 5 to 6 times a day
~She is sleeping so much better than last month! She has made leaps and bounds this month. She is napping much better (last month she was waking about 1 hour into EVERY nap and I was having to settle her down). Her nighttime sleep has stretched to 7-8 hours! Sometimes she'll wake earlier but I started noticing that she wasn't really eating when she woke so we started going in to settle her by putting the paci in her mouth and then she'll sleep for another 1-2 hours! What a champ!
~She's a Morning Person!!! This is SO clear to us! Not only is she happy and smiling in the mornings and afternoons, but in the evenings she's grumpy and rarely smiles. She even scowls!!HA! I'm interested to see how this plays out as she gets older...
~ She's not moving around much yet when she's awake. No rolling over and no scooting around on the floor. She'll twist her head around to watch Claire play and that's about it. However, while she's sleeping she moves ALL over the bed...turning in circles and scooting to the other end of the crib.
~She's a drooler! So much so that I've even checked for teeth a couple of times. I know, it's very rare to have a child pop out a tooth this early, but it's not unheard of! And I'm telling you, this child drools A LOT!
~Poor thing has her first cold. It was bound to happen at a young age since she was born right in the middle of the flu season. I'm just thankful that it happened AFTER she had her first round of shots. This cold has definitely disturbed her in her sleep, but we're praying that she'll be over it quickly and that it won't develop into an ear infection.

Lauren, words cannot express how deeply your dad and I love you. You are such an added blessing to our family and we are so thankful for you. We pray for you every day and are committed to bringing you up in the ways of the Lord. Love you punkin'.


Our big girl! Literally! These are 6 month clothes. :)


I can rarely capture her beautiful smile on camera. As soon as I hold up the camera she stares it down.




Even though she's making a funny face, I just had to include this picture. Notice the roll of fat around her midsection?!? I love it!

11 Months!!

I absolutely cannot believe that Claire is 11 months old AND that in less than one month she'll be a year old!! What a month we've had too!! Claire grew and matured leaps and bounds this month. First of all she's now walking!! And I don't mean just a step here and there...I mean, this girl is following me around the house. Here's what else she's been up to:

~She now weighs 20 lbs 8 oz. and wearing 12-18 month clothes.
~She's no longer eating any purees! (Yeah!). We're still spoon feeding her yogurt and we're feeding her some of the finger foods when she takes a long time. She's got a great pincer grasp and can easily feed herself, but she's slow and gets bored fast. I know it'll come though. :)
~Some new foods are: meatballs in spaghetti sauce, blueberries, pasta in spaghetti sauce, biscuits from Ma's Grill, bean and cheese quesadillas, chicken enchiladas, roast and potatoes, and more. One thing that she refused to eat was broccoli...I don't blame her...:).
~Her hair is long enough to put up (see TCU pic below) but it's very fine and thin so it's difficult to keep a hair tie in her hair.
~She's now saying "da-deee" when she sees or hears Bradley. She's said "mama" a few times, but she says "da-deee" every day.
~She thinks a lot of things are funny now...she's laughing all of the time. Some things that she laughs at are: the dog and the cat, her toys, mommy and daddy, being tickled, the wind on her face, the leaves blowing in the wind, other children and more.
~She's constantly waving at things too. When we go into the kitchen for breakfast she can see the dog and she'll squeal with delight and start waving at him. She loves her dog. :)
~On that same note, she is also blowing kisses. Melts her mama's heart!!
~She can be a very serious little girl at times. She's very interested in what is going on around her and is definitely an observer.
~When asked "What does a monkey say?" she says "ooh, ooh, ooh"...but keep in mind that when she sees a cow or kitty she also says the same thing...we're working on it. :)
~She's a TALKER. I know I say this every month, but she just keeps on developing in this area. When we pick her up after a nap or first thing in the morning she babbles something and I just know that she's saying "Good Morning, Mama!!" in her own little way. She talks to her food, she talks to her toys, she talks to the cat and the dog. When the babble eventually becomes words, it is going to be amazing. She is such a communicator and I look forward to the challenges and the rewards that I will encounter as her mom in this area!
~She is a relational little girl. She loves to be in the same room with somebody else. She's just great playing by herself, but she loves to know that someone else is in her company.
~I can truly see both Bradley's personality and my personality in her and I love it.




Bradley took this photo...but I can tell by looking at it that she's talking to her sippy cup and/or to Bradley as this photo was being taken.


Well, her mama was experiementing with her hair and the time spilled over into naptime which develped into a full on meltdown. It sure made for a cute picture, though! :) Sorry honey!


Her daddy sure can get a big smile out of her. She L.O.V.E.S. her daddy!!!

10 Months!!

It's really hard to believe but our baby girl is 10 months old today!! And what a month we've had!! Right at the new year she began to wake up early. At first I thought it was a fluke, so I rushed into her room, patted her back, laid her back down and she just cried and cried. The next day I thought that maybe it was a diaper thing...so I changed her and put her back down. She cried and cried. Then I thought, maybe she's cold...so we turned up the heat at night. The following day I thought maybe it was a hunger thing...so I nursed her and put her back down. She was quiet for about 15 mins (like she'd gone back to sleep) and then cried and cried. Ugh...at this point I wasn't sure WHAT was going on!! I decided at this point to stop going in to get her. She ended up just playing in her room from the time she woke up (anywhere from 5:15 to 6:00) until the time I went and got her at the normal wake up time (7:30). Finally after 3 weeks, she's settled back down and is sleeping until 7 or 7:30 (at least I think so...if she's awake, she's quiet as a mouse). SO, all that said...THAT was new to us this month! Here are some more things that we've noticed about our little munchkin this month:

~She's standing steadily on her own now. In fact, just this week she took a couple of steps.
~She's FAST at getting around the house. She follows us from the living room down the hall to our bedroom.
~I've said this before but, OH BOY, she's a TALKER!! From the moment she's awake from a nap until the moment she falls asleep again, she's talking.
~Her appetite has increased! She's now eating 8-10 oz of puree every meal. I'm also giving her finger foods at the beginning of each meal. She's now eating cheese, biscuits, pasta, rice, tortillas, crackers, toast, cheerios, peas and diced carrots for finger foods. I'm ready to be at the point where she feeds herself all food at every meal. She's getting better at it.
~She weighs about 19 1/2 pounds. HUGE weight gain this month!
~She associates certain things with different people. For example, she knows that Grandma likes it when she snorts...so when she sees Grandma, she snorts. She knows that Nana likes her to stick her tongue out and go, "ah, ah, ah" so she does that when she sees Nana. She knows that when Mommy sits in the floor with her, she can jump on me and I'll catch her...so she does that with me. It's precious to see that she is playing games but also that she knows people.
~She is a social bug. She loves to be held by people, even total strangers. She loves to watch people talk and kids play.
~She's become an imitator. If I cough, she'll cough. If someone grunts, she'll grunt. If you make any kind of sound, she'll imitate it.

Claire, we love you more than you'll ever know. You've truly been a joy in our lives and we love every day that we have with you.

9 Months!

Our happy girl on her 9 month birthday. Seriously, she's always smiling.


This is her new favorite face...wrinkling up her nose...sometimes it comes with a snort.


The favorite face again.


Riding in her new wagon.

I just cannot believe it...our baby girl is 9 months old!! Here are a few things that we took note of this month:

• This morning she weighed 18 lbs 2.5 oz. She's gained some weight this month but has considerably slowed since she was 6 mos old.
• She's still sleeping 11-12 hours at night and takes 2 naps a day (usually 2+ hours)
• She is standing and walking with support. Also, last week she started standing without support for short spurts of time.
• She is eating more food. She's still a picky eater, but we've managed to add a few things. Some new foods are prunes, pears, crackers and toast.
• She can eat a whole banana and some yogurt for breakfast...that's more than I eat for breakfast!!
• At every meal she typically eats 6 to 7 oz of pureed food in addition to nursing.
• She LOVES animals. I've said this before but this month it has magnified!! Any time she sees a pet she YELLS with excitement, smiles, laughs and snorts.
• She loves the wind in her face.
• She has learned the sign for "all done".
• She waved at someone yesterday (which is similar to the sign for "all done").
• She loves bath time.
• She is a TALKER!! She is constantly talking. Sometimes it's syllables and sometimes it's just yelling or baby talk.
• She loves to rough house. She has gotten to the point now that she'll crawl over to you if you're sitting on the floor with her and she'll stand up and jump into your arms. We really have to pay attention because she'll jump if you're ready or not!
• She loves strangers. If we are in a restaurant or out shopping, she LOVES to people watch!!
• She adores other children!

What a blessing it has been these last 9 months. Isn't it amazing that you can so easily forget the sleepless nights, the blow out diapers, the constant need for washing clothes? The joy of raising a child has completely overtaken us. Thank you, Lord, for giving us this precious child.

8 Months!!

I have several other posts that need to be added, but first I had to get to this one...our little baby girl is 8 months old now! And we have had quite a milestone month! Her weight gain has slowed considerably now. She is still only 17 1/2 pounds (weighed before her first meal of the day). This month she also had her very first sickness...a cold and a cough...which she had to have antibiotics for. She kicked it for a while, but her runny nose seems to be back now. I'm wondering if it isn't contagious and possibly just allergies? Hard to tell. Here are some other milestones that she had this month:

• Started eating more solids. She especially likes squash, yogurt and cheerios!

• She's nursing 4 times a day and eating solids 3 times a day. Just this past week she increased her solid intake to approx 5-6 oz per meal.

• She's pulling to a stand now and actually ONLY wants to be standing

• She's getting FAST at "getting" the cat...we have to save him constantly now!

• She's still sleeping her 12 hour nights and has two 2-hour naps during the day

• She's started "drinking" with a sippy cup. We're not really consistant at giving it to her, but when she gets it, she's pretty good at getting water out if she wants it. Other times she just likes to bite the mouth piece.

• Speaking of biting...the girl now has 5 teeth and one on the way!

• Still learning to feed herself. We've been practicing with Cheerios. She CAN feed herself, but I don't think she's that interested yet.

• She LOVES to dance!! The Barts let us borrow their Fisher Price piano and Claire LOVES to stand up at the piano and dance to the music. She also likes to dance when there is no music playing. :)

• She definitely knows the word "No" now and will visibly stop doing something (when she feels like it) if we tell her no...amazing they learn at such a young age!

• She LOVES to be outside and LOVES the wind to blow in her face. In fact, she laughs when the wind blows in her face.

• Speaking of laughing...she is laughing out loud more and more. It is such a sweet, sweet sound and I love to hear it!

• She LOVES animals!! As I mentioned before...she goes after Papa (the cat) any chance she gets. She also will "yell" out with excitement when she sees animals and has laughed out loud a number of times when we let her "pet" a dog. (We mostly don't trust animals around her yet since she is still at the 'grab a fistful of hair' phase...but we've trusted a few and she loves to pet them).

• She not only loves animals, but she loves children too. Just today we were at the grocery store and she saw another little girl riding in a shopping cart. Claire just started to smile at her. It is so, so sweet to see her filled with joy at seeing another person, even people that she does not know.

• She is (I'm afraid) at the beginning stages of separation anxiety. I'm still holding out hope that she will forego this dreaded stage that many children go through. However, just this last 2 weeks, if she's a little fussy and then she sees her mommy, then she will REALLY let everyone know that she's unhappy, unless Mom picks her up. We're trying not to encourage this behavior though...I will walk away sometimes when she's like this and let the other adult handle it (grandma/daddy/aunt), or I will even stay in the room while the other adult handles it. We'll see how it goes.

• She is REALLY babbling a lot now! She can sit and talk to her toys (easily) for an hour or longer. Poor Bradley...he really IS going to have 2 talkative women in his house...Ha ha ha...I don't think he minds though. He loves both of us to pieces. :)

I've said it a thousand times...it's a joy being a Mom of such a precious little girl! Bradley and I will often just sit in our living room and watch her play and talk to her toys. We love to watch her discover new things and it makes us so happy to see her light up with excitement. It's been a fast 8 months!

7 Months Old!!

Where has the time gone? I know that some of you that have older kids, even adult kids are laughing at me saying this when my child is just 7 months old...but I really do feel like it was just yesterday that Bradley and I were bringing this tiny little thing home with us...totally unaware of what was in store of us! Claire has made some huge progress in her development this month!! Here are some of her milestones:

~3 new teeth! Yes, 3...and I think 2 more are well on their way
~Crawling
~Babbling "da" mostly and every once in a while I'll hear a "ba" or a "ma"
~Pulls up to her feet (she wants to do this ALL of the time)
~Still about 17 1/2 pounds...she didn't gain much weight this month
~Eating lots of different foods...sweet potatoes and apples are her favorite...I'm trying to get her to eat other things but she makes the worst face and spits it all out...I have a picky eater on my hands!
~Understands what "no" means, although she rarely chooses to obey...most of the time she laughs at me when I get my stern voice.
~Sitting up
~She has been on her first plane ride and will go on 2 more before she is 8 months old!
~Kisses...but they are the open-mouth "baby" kind.
~Waves "bye-bye" to Daddy when he leaves for work in the morning

6 months old!!

My baby is a little girl! Today she is six months old. I can't believe it! Here are some milestones that she hit this month:

~Eating vegetables...sweet potatoes and peas
~Eating solids 3 times a day now
~Pushing up on her feet when on all 4's (she pokes her tushy up in the air)
~She's now ticklish...she wasn't for the longest time
~She lights up when she sees someone she loves (mommy, daddy, her favorite toys, etc) and even reaches out to hug around our necks when we lift her up (it melts my heart)
~She's sitting up (supported)
~She can sit in the cart at the grocery store and in a high chair at a restaurant
~We're still waiting for that first tooth!

5 months old!

I just love this sweet face! Every time I see it my heart literally melts! (By the way...I think she's starting to resemble her daddy more and more)

Claire is 5 months old tomorrow! She is really starting to explore and has become such a personable little being! Here are some of the things to note about her now:

*Roll over...but not just a simple "roll over"...a "roll over" to accomplish a task...like getting to her toy or touching the cat.

*Speaking of the cat, Claire is WAY interested in him. She stops everything that she does when he comes around and when she can, she grabs a handful of hair.

*Rocks and scoots on all 4s. Yes, she is super early in doing this and I'm afraid that I'll have a crawling baby on my hands in just a few short weeks.

*When we go outside to wave goodbye to her daddy when he leaves for work, she watches him walk to the car & watches the car as it backs out of the driveway and drives down the street. (Melts my heart everytime)

*Loves to be tossed in the air

*Loves to swing in mommy's arms

*Loves to splash in the bathtub

*Loves to hear her own voice...I think she's gonna be a talker...like her mommy. :)

*Down to 2 naps a day (for the most part...some days we still do 3) and is consistently sleeping 12 hours at night. Amazing what sleep training can do!! (Kuddos to Melissa for giving us tips)

*MAY be cutting a tooth...I'm still waiting for it, but I think it's going to pop up any day now.

*Sadly, she is losing hair. I thought she wouldn't go through this phase and it would just turn colors, but my poor baby now has a mohawk (or a comb-over as Jen so nicely put it). To make matters worse for her, the new hair coming in is blond, so even though she has hair, unless you look closely, you can't see anything except for the dark mohawk. (Don't worry, baby...it'll even itself out eventually and we promise not to use these "mohawk" pics TOO many times to embarass you when you're older...)

Claire Bear...we LOVE you so, so much and are so THANKFUL that the Lord blessed us with you. You are such a joy to us and we LOVE that we are YOUR parents.

4 months old!

I wish I'd taken a picture of Claire yesterday. She was 4 months old. My how time has flown! I'm going to steal a little idea from my friend Lesly and list out some of the fun things that Claire can now do at 4 months old:

~Roll over...both from front to back and back to front
~Laugh and giggle when played with
~Sleeping through the night (yes, she just hit the 12 hour mark last weekend!)
~Taking 3 naps a day
~Reach out for toys and other things that she wants to grab
~Is more aware of her surroundings (i.e. she gets distracted if anyone talks to me while she's eating)
~Weighs 15 lbs 4.5 oz (as of today at her doc's appt) and is in the 80th percentile for weight
~Length is 24 3/4 inches and is in the 70th percentile for length
~Is wearing 6 month onesies
~Watches the cat intensely when he walks by her...one of these days he's going to get it! :)
~Scoots around on the floor on both her back and her front

I'm sure there are many more things that I can share that I just can't think of right now. Claire has just been such a joy and a blessing in our life. I fall more and more in love with her everyday.