15 months

Must use big camera next month. 

Here we are again, another month older. This month has been one of the harder ones due to lack of communication and her getting upset or whining out of frustration. She's defintely trying hard to talk and I don't think it will be long before she's able to. "Ugh oh" is her newest word.  She got teeth 5 and 6 this month with a few others about to pop through so that might be why she's been upset too.

She is a smart cookie though, she knows where her eyes, nose, ears, mouth, tongue, teeth, belly button, hands, fingers, toes and feet are and quite a few animal sounds. If you ask her where her belly button is, she'll lift up her shirt and show you and then try and lift your shirt up to see yours. You've been warned.  She usually follows directions and is great at cleaning up her toys. 

Signing more cause I was bribing her with blueberries 

We knew she wasn't going to be a tall girl but she's pretty petite in general. 20lbs 5oz puts her at 13% and 29.5in puts her at 23%.  Mostly wearing 12 and 12-18 month clothes and a size 3 diaper. I just bought a box of size 4 but their pretty big and saggy. Size 4 shoe but we'll be buying 5's for Spring. 

Still an awesome eater and could literally eat all day long. She's lucky and just burns off all she eats.  Pb&j sandwiches are a new favorite.  But she doesn't turn much down. 

Sleeping 11-12 hours at night (7:30-7:30)and about a 1.5-2 hour nap in the afternoon. She'd probably still take a morning nap if we let her but I prefer 1 long nap instead of 2 cat naps.

We announced big news this month, she's going to be a big sister! They'll be 21 months apart and I'm pretty sure they'll be best friends. She loves babies so I'm hoping she won't mind one moving in with us. She doesn't like me holding other kids or babies so we need to work on that. She isn't sure of strangers this month either. We've never been through this with her so it makes me sad when she won't go to other people she doesn't know very well.  I'm praying it's short lived cause I liked my social little girl. He started going back to church this month and she didn't cry the first time but has these past 2 times. Breaks my heart but they push her around in a stroller and she she eventually warms up to them. 

She loves Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, climbing on things, sweets, slides, helping us cook and watching cooking  shows and dancing. She won't drink her sippy of milk when she wakes up or before bed unless she can watch Mickey. She only watches about 10 min. before she loses interest but she gives a huge smile when it first comes on.

We love you munchkin, so so much. 

14 months

Time, please oh please slow down. I feel like I am constantly doing these darn monthly updates! 

This little girl is such a ham. She willingly sat for these pics and actually cheesed it up. Tongue smile and all. Usually if she sees me try and take a picture she quickly gets up or runs.  Unless food is involved. 

Weight- going to guess around 20 lbs. 

Height- Derek measured her at 27in. I don't think she has grown in 2 months but I don't think she's shrinking either. We'll go ahead and say daddy didn't measure you correctly. She's still wearing 12 month and 12-18 month clothes, size 3 diaper and a size 4 shoe. 

Teeth- The girl is never going to get teeth. She has 3 bottom and 1 top. Yeah, the inside of her mouth looks real nice. Her second top tooth keeps coming through and then going back and I have no idea where that fourth bottom tooth is. It's a bit concerning. 

Eating- with or without teeth, she can eat anything.  Grilled chicken and lunch meat aren't a favorite but she'll eat just about anything else. Looooves fruit. Except apples. Peas and corn are still her  favorite veggies but she's been eating green beans and cooked carrots from time to time too.  We introduced her to dip and now she has to have some if she sees it. She devoured pulled pork dipped in BBQ sauce, is a Long and loves cheese dip, loves guacamole and has had but still unsure about ranch and sour cream. She ate a good portion of a dill pickle too. Those few teeth are strong! And just like my pregnancy cravings, she is a huge fan of sweets and sugary breakfast foods. She will whine and point where we keep out sweets all day long. Not a big fan of juice and we don't push it. She did drink orange juice the other weekend though. Mommy and daddy were drinking it so of course she had to have it. Finally drinking cold milk. Basically, she would eat all day long if you let her. 

Saying- still not a lot. She makes pretty sad attempts at animal sounds and mimics other sounds but words are slow coming. And definitely not on cue. I'll have her tell daddy night night and she waits till she can't see him to say it.  She has been saying "eye dada" (hi) so at least she can string together the few words she can say. She can identify her nose, mouth, eyes, ears, toes, feet, hands and belly button. 

Sleeping- 7:30pm-7:30am and 1-2 naps depending on our day and if we're home in the morning. She's good with or without a morning nap but mommy likes the break.

Loves- reading, the dogs, gym class, when it's warm enough to play outside, pushing us over and laying on us, playing with my make up, coloring but more like playing in the crayon box, helping with laundry and Mickey Mouse clubhouse. She is finally starting to sit still to watch tv. Mickey holds her attention the best but still not very long. We tried out My Gym this month and she loved it. The teachers were shocked at how well she could climb and all she could do. She has no fear at all. 

We love you beyond words little one. You make us very proud parents with your constant happiness and adorable little face. I could just eat you up. 

Big milestones

Now that it's been 3 weeks, I can say that Collins is completely on whole milk and is sleeping through the night. Hallefreakinlujah! 

If you don't want to hear about breastfeeding, go ahead and skip this post.  I wanted to write about this because I was clueless on how to do it and couldn't find much info on how and when to do it. I wanted her weaned by the time she was 1 so we started the week before she turned 11 months.

She weaned out of 2 of the feedings on her own around 10 months. I didn't offer and she didn't notice about her late morning session or before dinner session. I just made sure to replace them with a snack. Usually fruit in morning and crackers of some sort in afternoon.

On Oct 13 I started dropping 1 feeding a week. Morning one went first, then before nap and then before bed. The first week I mixed breastmilk and whole milk. I had enough frozen milk that I didn't have to pump, I just let my body adjust to the new schedule. I knew she wouldn't drink much milk from a sippy yet so I did 2 oz breastmilk with 1 oz whole milk. I was right, she wasn't a big fan but would drink 1-2 oz of it. We tried it warm and cold. She was still nursing twice a day and in the middle of the night so I wasn't worried. Later in the week I switched to 2 oz whole milk and 1 oz breastmilk. She still wasn't drinking much of it.

The next week, I gave her all whole milk (warm) and she drank it!!  We dropped the before nap nursing this day too and again, she drank all the whole milk. It took a little bit of crying the 2nd day for her to take a nap without nursing before. But that was the only day. I think she either didn't like breastmilk in a sippy or didn't like them mixed together. She was loving the whole milk by itself though. 

That same week, she was waking earlier and earlier in the "middle of the night" to nurse. On Wedneaday it hadn't even been 3 hours and she was crying. I said there was no way I was already going to nurse her, so we made her cry. We set the timer for 20 min. I always give in closer to 15 min but we just went in there, rubbed her back and walked back out. Took over an hour but for once, the crying it out actually worked!! 

The second night she woke up before midnight but only cried 8 min before falling back asleep! And just like that, the middle of the night nursing was done. She still sometimes wakes up but either goes right back to sleep on her own or we just give her her binky and cover her back up.  It's been glorious. 

That next Monday it was time to drop the last nursing session. Before bed one. Derek was out of town for work so I just sat in the rocker with her and she drank her milk from her sippy. I sang her a song and into her bed she went. She turned over and went right to sleep. Really?! Your not even going to care?! I'm chopped liver just like that?! 

 I was a little sad about it but mostly happy. Happy with myself for making it 11 months, happy I was able to provide her with 11 months of nutrition and ssooo happy to have some freedom. Our breastfeeding experience had a lot of ups and downs but I can pat myself on the back for sticking with it and not giving up the countless times I considered it. Now drying up was a whole other experience. OUCH it was painful!!!

8 Months

 

Somebody bring my baby back!  She is officially crawling and pulling up on everything in sight. She started getting the hang of crawling on July 4th and had it mastered within the week. And with crawling came pulling up on the couches, fireplace, etc. She's only gotten 1 tiny bruise on her head so far but I'm sure she'll get many more in the next couple months. She's getting pretty confident in the standing and will let go of things and stand for a couple seconds unassisted.

 

No doctor visit till 9 months so weight and height are estimates. Derek measured her at 25in but I got 26 in last month so unless she's shrinking, one of us is wrong. Wearing 6-9 month clothes but I just pulled out 9-12 month clothes. 12 month clothes?! She can't possibly almost be a year! We also graduated to size 3 diapers this month.

She got her first tooth this month! We had no idea she was teething till I felt in her mouth one day. And just like that the sleepless nights began. I think the tooth was coming up and down through the gums and was causing her pain during the night. It's fully through now and she had  a couple good nights of sleep and now the 2nd bottom tooth is coming in and she's back to waking at night in pain. I hate seeing her in pain and I am hoping after these first 2 teeth, she won't have such a hard time with them. On a good night she goes to bed at 8pm and wakes at 7am, eating once sometime in the night. When she's teething, she wakes up 1-3 times a night and we give her more Tylenol and fight her back to sleep for a good hour. She naps around 9am and 1pm for 1-2 hours.

Still eating like a champ. She nurses every 3-4 hours during the day and eats 2 meals. She drinks so well out of a sippy cup and can drink from a straw as well. She LOVES puffs and cheerios. They are our go to at restaurants and when we need to keep her occupied in her highchair during dinner. We have to remind her to eat one at a time because she'll shovel them by the fist full into her mouth.

Her hair is starting to fill out! I got a little excited and tried putting a clip in it but it didn't stay. I think she's too busy crawling around to do much talking. She does a lot of screaming and growling (thank you daycare kids) but no words other then the occasional mama. We think we heard dada the other day but haven't heard it since. She can wave, play peek-a-boo and give kisses. All of which are the cutest thing ever. She usually waves as soon as someone walks in the door and gets the biggest smile on her face like she's so proud of herself. She gives open mouth kisses on demand too. Nothing melts my heart more then when she crawls over to me and gives me a big, snotty kiss. She is obsessed with the dogs and their toys. She has 5,000 toys but always goes for the dog toys. And if the dogs are on the floor, she's bound to crawl over to them and pull their hair. Luckily, their very friendly with her and either run away or just give her kisses. We're working on petting them nicely.

 

She is a water baby and I couldn't be happier. We were at the pool for 3 hours this past weekend and she was in the water the entire time. She'll kick her feet and splash the water with her hands, not even caring if she gets her face wet. I hope she loves it this much next summer.

Collins, you need to slow down baby girl. I'm so proud of all the things your learning but mommy isn't ready for you to grow big. This month has been full of firsts and I cherish getting to witness them all. I love you with every bit of my heart. Don't ever forget that.

These pictures are getting near impossible to take...

 

 

 

 

 

365: Days 163-177

Feels good to be caught up!

 

June 12- This is how she gets from sitting to laying down. Look so painful

 

June 13- Shorts and chubby baby legs. Doesn't get any cuter

 

 

June 14- Need to find a baby pic of me because she looks so much like me in this pic

 

June 15- Baby crashing a BBQ

 

June 16- Happy 1st father's day!

 

June 17- Appropriately dressed for the fish fry

 

June 18- Crabby baby

 

 

 June 19- How many fingers can you fit in there?

 

 

June 20- Nighty night

 

 

 

 

June 21- Take each toy out 1 by 1 (and 7 months today)

 

June 22- So glad she loves the pool

 

June 23- Swinging away

 

June 24- pic fail

 

June 25- 1st Royals game

 

June 26- Big girl lunch

 

 

 June 27- Ghetto water table but kids loved it

7 Months

 

Didn't I just do her 6 month post? This month went so freakishly fast. No doctor visits till 9 months so the height and weight are based on our doings. Which means their probably not accurate. I feel like she hasn't grown much in height and she is losing her baby fat. Sad, sad news because I love baby rolls. She wears mostly 6 month clothes but fits in 6-9 month and some 3-6 too. Still in a size 2 diaper but going to try a 3 next time we buy diapers.

Hopefully she starts packing on the pounds again because she is becoming quite the eater. She still nurses every 3 hours during the day but she only nurses for about 5-10 minutes. Weaning her has crossed my mind more then once but I might hold out till we can just switch her to whole milk. Still on the fence on this one. She is eating baby food twice a day and I usually mix in oatmeal with her fruit in the mornings. She gets a vegetable or a vegetable with meat mixture for dinner. She had table food for the first time the other night and devoured some baked potato. Since then, she has decided she likes her sweet potato puffs too. We are loving this because they keep her occupied while we eat dinner. She has no problems picking up little pieces of food and getting them to her mouth. I've looked into the baby led weaning  but it makes me nervous. I tried giving her a big chunk of banana and she just held it in her hand and kept looking at it. She nibbled a little bit on it but she prefers chunks of food as opposed to the whole thing. She can just some from her sippy too.

 

 Sleeping has been much better this month. She goes to bed around 8pm and wakes around 7am, still waking once in the middle of the night. This past week she's been making it till around 5am so almost making it through the night. She did this a few months ago though and then went back to 2am so I'm not holding my breath on the sleeping through the night yet. Naps are so much better too. She takes an hour nap at 9am, 1.5 hour nap at 1pm and then usually a cat nap at 5pm. We usually have to wake her after 30 min. when she does an evening nap.

 

She isn't crawling but she gets on all 4's and rocks. She can kind of scoot with her feet but she prefers just to barrel roll to get where she wants to go. It looks so painful but she can go from sitting to laying. She sits with her feet together in front of her and lifts up her butt and goes over her feet to get to her belly. Kind of hard to explain but it doesn't look like it's good for her legs. She almost went from laying to sitting when I was taking these pics. And she pulled herself to a stand from a sitting position today! We took 2 legs off her activity table so it slants down and she used that to pull herself up. Wasn't expecting that one!

 

No teeth yet but she has been pretty cranky this week and really goes to town on her fingers and binky. I'm thinking they'll pop through any day now. We've been giving her Tylenol for the pain since I've heard bad things about the hyland teething tablets we were using. Anyone know if orajel is safe? I just hate drugging her all the time.

 

She's been a big mama's girl recently. I don't know if it's the teething or some separation anxiety but she mostly wants me in the evenings and cries if I leave the room. Melts my heart and annoys me all at the same time. She cries for me and then lounges for me when I get close to her. I better enjoy it while I can because it won't be long before she hates my stinkin guts (Little Rascals for ya).

She has been so much fun this month and we are loving watching her little personality develop. She shakes her head yes and no (without any meaning), claps her hands, plays peek a boo if you put something over her face, swimming and loves pulling out all her toys from the basket. She wakes up in the best moods and could lay in her bed and play forever if we let her. We crack up when we watch her on the monitor and she'll be laying on her stomach in her crib and keep peeking out her crib railings to see if we've come in the room yet. She'll even pull the bumper down to check. She gets the biggest smile on her face when we walk into her room. I just want to freeze time and keep her this age forever. She is our entire world  and we are so lucky that she's such a great baby. We're screwed on the next kid.

Her sisters always have to be by her on the floor

A few firsts

Well I'm slacking on posting these things so I'm just going to throw them all into one post.

 

First time rolling over (stomach to back). I just so happened so have my phone ready and could get pics. I don't have pictures of the first time she did back to stomach. I actually didn't even witness it. I run upstairs for 10 sec. and she did it for Derek. Go figure.

First time sitting up

 

First food (besides cereal)-squash

 

 

 

2nd food- sweet potatoes. And yes, I might just post a picture of every new food she tries. It's my blog and I'll do what I want.

 

 

 

3rd food-pears. I started making her food and it was pretty fun! I didn't do the squash but I plan on making everything from now on. She has loved everything so far!

 

 

First trip to the zoo. We went to the Wichita zoo with Derek's mom, sister and 2 of our nieces. Collins slept through most of it but it was perfect weather and we all had a good time.

 

 

 

 

Many more firsts to come!

 

5 Months

 

Time, please slow down! My baby is doing big girl things and it's making me very sad. Rolling  both ways, starting to sit up on her own, eating solids. She'll be moving out before we know it.

 

She loves playing in her jumperoo and exersaucer. She can't quite touch the floor when she's in the jumperoo so we put the boppy pillow under her so she can put her feet on that. She is going to love that thing when she learns how to jump in it. She wants to sit up ssooo bad. You lay her down and she lifts her head like she wants up. She can sit a really long time with the help of her boppy and can sit for about 15 sec. all on her own. She's like her mama and is very ticklish. I just love tickling her and listening to her laugh. She went to the zoo for the first time and although she slept through most of it, she was content and happy in her stroller when she was awake.

 

She loves touching the dogs and letting them lick her (gross, I know), looking at herself in the mirror, sitting like a big girl in her stroller, being outside, giving open mouth kisses, touching people's faces, pulling hair and chewing on things.

 

We started sleep training her at the end of March and she is doing great. If we can get her to skip her evening nap, she'll normally sleep through the night. But when she sleeps through the night, she is up for the day about 6:30am (as opposed to 7-8 when she wakes once) and then it's hard to not do that 3rd nap. She usually has a bottle for her last feeding and she'll drink 4-5oz around 7:30pm and then goes to bed. Our biggest issue right now is her waking 3+ times a night for her binky. I've tried putting them all around her but she doesn't even try looking for one when she wakes up. She just cries and rubs her eyes. It's a shame taping them to their face is frowned upon. Luckily she falls right back to sleep after we give it to her. I'd rather not have to walk to her room every hour though. Hopefully soon she'll learn to keep the thing in her mouth or she'll realize it's right beside her and put it back in her mouth herself. Which she can do during the day.

 

We started rice cereal right before she turned 4 months and she liked it for a couple days and then was over it. I got the ok from our doctor at her 4 month appt to start solids so she's been eating squash for the past week. We've done it once a day, almost every day. She'll eat about half a container of it before she starts gagging because she's full. I'm on a mission this weekend for a food processor so I can start making her baby food. Can't wait to try more fruits and veggies!

 

 

She is mostly wearing 3-6 month clothes but has a couple 0-3 month things she can fit into. Mostly dresses that she wears as shirts now. No 5 month visit so her weight and height are guesses. I tried weighing myself without her and then holding her but our scale isn't very accurate so her weight might be totally wrong.

 

She is starting to be unsure of strangers. As long as she can see Derek or I she will smile at anybody and everybody but if she can't see us, she has started to get upset. Twice now someone else has been holding her and she is puckered her bottom lip and started crying when she couldn't see mommy or daddy. As soon as she sees us she is fine and doesn't care if someone else is holding her. I assumed this was going to happen since she is home with me everyday, all day. She can start going to the gym daycare at 6 months so I think that will be good for her to get used to other people. I love that she's a mommy's girl but I want her to be ok with other people too.

 

 We still have a week left but I think we might have made it a whole month without going to the doctor. Between well visits and the whole dairy allergy thing, we have been at least once a month since she's been born. I'm pretty certain she has allergies but I don't think they'll treat her for it so I haven't called or taken her in. Her eyes get red and watery and she gets a runny nose and dry cough. According to things I have googled, those are all allergy signs. And since me and Derek both have allergies, it wouldn't surprise me. I can't pinpoint what she's allergic to. She doesn't have these symptoms everyday so I don't think it's the dogs. I hope not cause I don't want to choose between Collins and the dogs. Kidding!!

 

We are so in love with this little girl. Her smile is contagious and her cheeks are scrumptious. I may be a little biased but I think she's the best baby in the world. Now if I could just figure out how to freeze time and keep her just like this forever, we'd be set. Happy 5 months Collins Cate!