Abigail is 6 months old!

I can't believe it! Abigail turned 6 months on Friday. Time is going by so fast and it's been a big month for our little angel.

Milestones:

Her first tooth broke through last week. She's handling teething very well. Loves Sophie the giraffe.

Can sit up by herself if she has a toy to keep her occupied. Otherwise she'll only sit unassisted for a few seconds.

She's now rolling over several times in order to get around.

She had her first meal! I still plan on doing BLW but I will be spoon-feeding her oatmeal because after 6 months babies need that iron. I'm very excited to give her real food!


Getting ready to eat {10.28.11}

She grabbed the spoon right away!


Loved it!

She's wearing 6-9 month clothes and I'm pretty sure she'll start wearing size 3 diapers next week (wow! Audrey was in size 3 for the longest time!!) She's still drinking five 6-oz bottles a day. I'm thinking of replacing one of her evening bottles with cereal/food though. She continues to love her baths. She sleeps well during the night but often wakes for a paci. After her night time bottle I hold her until she falls asleep. It's one of my favorite times of day. She has a hard time falling asleep on her own so we'll be Ferberizing soon...I'm just reluctant. I mostly want to do it for naps. I want to get her on a consistent schedule. That's our goal for this month!

I still can't believe half a year has gone by. This time last year I was almost done with my 1st trimester. I'm loving each and every day with my darling girls!

Sigh.

Tonight Audrey used the big girl potty. And she was really excited about it. This is the second full day without her paci. She's getting so big. I'm going to go cry now.

YAAAAY Audrey!

She slept without her paci last night! Over the past 2 years or so I've tried a few times to get rid of it. My most recent attempt was this past summer. I told her a Paci Fairy was coming to take it and that she would leave a present in its place. I talked it up so much but it failed. I was just not strong enough to let her struggle. I've depended on the paci just as much as she has! I think the main reason I've waited so long is because she still takes a consistent mid-day nap. I NEED THAT NAP. I needed it when it was just her and I really need it now that Abigail is here :)

Last night, on a total whim, I said, "You know, you're going to be 3 years old soon! That means no paci. Do you think you could try to sleep without it tonight?" I fully expected her to say, "No." But she said, "Ok!" And she did. All night. I thought for sure she'd lay awake and start fussing after an hour or so. I anxiously waited and put off going to bed just in case. She did wake up once wanting milk but she never asked for a paci. As I was leaving early for work she woke again and asked for milk but never mentioned her paci. WHOA!

I told Chris that he needed to make a BIG DEAL out of it when he got her up this morning. I'm hoping she forgoes the paci for her nap today. I really wish I could be there with her today to celebrate this achievement (if you've ever had a paci-addicted kid, you know that this is a BIG DEAL!) It could have been a total fluke, but I'm going to try it again tonight. I am so proud of her and I'm hoping she's proud of herself!

Fun-filled Fall Weekend (and Abigail has a tooth!)

I am so happy that October is flying by (usually it drags for me.) I am LOVING my class this year. They are a really great bunch of kids and even though it's a big group, I think they rock! We've had tons of things going on each weekend and we are just exhausted! Christopher started a new job this past week. Very exciting! This weekend we have the Fall Festival at my school and then I'm hoping for some low-key weekends in November.

On Friday we dressed up and stayed at Grandma's house because she was hosting a Bunko party. Abigail's rash had faded so we were very happy about that. Audrey and Isabella ran around and played all night.






On Saturday after dance class and grocery shopping we took the girls to Belvedere. Audrey enjoyed it so much more this year. She still did not want to ride on the pony, though.









Giving her the lollipop at the beginning was a bad idea. It was all she wanted!


Too bad you can't see Abigail :( The sun was all up in her face.

Her first tooth is breaking through! Bottom front left. WOOO HOOO!!


I wish I could've snapped a picture of her face...major cheesing going on!



Tractor ride!


Audrey surprised us so much! From having her face painted to riding the tractor and then the moon bounce! OMG, she's always hated moon bounces. It took a lot of persuading but once she really tried it, she loved it!

Adorable!



I think Chris has been looking forward to getting an apple pie all year. Not even joking.

"I love you, pumpkin."

It was a great weekend. I took a nap with Abigail today and drank coffee at 6:30 pm. I am just so tired! Every night Abigail wakes up multiple times for a paci. Some nights Audrey wakes wanting milk. Here it is 9:00 on Sunday night and there are 4 baskets that need to be folded and I haven't opened my school bag yet. Oh and the house didn't get cleaned. But I'm not stressing because what would be the point? I do wish time would slow down a bit. It's making me sad just how fast Abigail is growing :( And Audrey is such an amazing little girl! I can hardly remember her as a baby (thank goodness for this blog!) There are many times where I just sit and look at them and take it all in. I stop to enjoy how little and sweet and fun they are. This is probably a big reason I have loads of laundry and messy countertops...but oh well :)

Post summary: Fall is in full-swing. My house is a wreck. I am in super love with my family.

Poor Abigail!

This morning I noticed she had a rash under her chin. I thought it was from her chin rubbing against her fleece sleep sack. I checked her over when we got to Grandma's and I noticed a few red bumps on her upper thighs. I put some hydrocortisone on the red spots before I left for school.

When I came to pick her up, Grandma told me she most likely had Roseola. She explained all the symptoms and it sounded exactly right. From what I could see the rash was still there and had even spread a bit.

When we got home and I was changing her, I freaked out! Little red spots all over her legs and arms.









I was not prepared for that! So of course I turn to Dr. Internet. Since I had both girls by myself tonight I couldn't sit back in the office and search the web so I posted on FB and got TONS of great advice from people I actually know and trust.

A few days ago (Sunday-Monday) Abigail's cheeks were flushed. I didn't even think to take her temperature. She hasn't been overly fussy and she's been eating and sleeping well.

I got a lot of mixed answers on FB (hives, hand, foot & mouth disease, fifths.) I guess we'll see how she does overnight and call the dr in the morning. It looks very similar to what Audrey had back in December. That cleared up the very next day if I remember correctly.

Ugh. I hate when things like this pop up. Makes things interesting I suppose! Please let me know if your babies have had this! I'm anxious about tomorrow...

Operation Deswaddle

Operation Deswaddle has been very successful! We went cold turkey on Friday night. Abigail slept beautifully until 3 am when I walked in to find her wide awake and laughing. Into the co-sleeper she went, where she stayed awake until 5 am (even after many cycles of the sea horse!)...slept on and off until 6 am when Chris said to just bring her into the bed. She finally fell into a good, solid sleep until 8:00. Thankfully Chris got up with Audrey so I got to sleep in, too!

On Saturday night she slept better; only a couple of short-lived wakings that called for a paci. I think I brought her into the co-sleeper around 6 and luckily she fell back to sleep. Slept til about 8:00. Sunday night I think I only had to go in once or twice to give her the paci and she woke up at about 6 am which was perfect! Last night she slept straight through. I didn't have to go in at all!

Overall I feel like deswaddling has been an easy transition! It's more difficult to get her back to sleep when she wakes so early, but I'm hoping that will phase out shortly :)

Things I Don't Want to Forget

Jotting these down quickly before I get the babes up!

*Chris and I are now supermodels. As in, models of behavior. Last night we met at Panera for a quick dinner, then he took Abigail to Walmart and I took Audrey to Kohl's and Target. He called as we were on the way to Target and I did not have my seat belt on (the 2 stores are basically in the same shopping center.) As we're talking Audrey shouts from the back seat, "Put your seat belt on, MOM!!" And over the weekend during the God-awful Tech game she repeated everything Chris yelled at the TV. Yup, we're going to have to be very careful!

*Audrey has 2 new favorite songs. She likes 'Moves Like Jagger' and sings the chorus (um, hilarious!) and she tries to sing Pumped Up Kicks. She completely has the correct tune but absolutely none of the correct words. Again, hilarious!

*Grandma put Audrey's 24 month t-shirt on Abigail yesterday by accident. I didn't realize it until I was unpacking the diaper bag and noticed her original shirt still in there. Yeah.

Abigail is 5 months old!

Our sweet girl is already 5 months and can I just say....SLOW DOWN!!! Seriously. I'm finding that I really miss the cuddly newborn phase. Every night I swaddle Abigail and give her a bottle. Then I just hold her and cuddle her. I love this time...she's so warm and cozy and sweet.

There have been a few big changes this month. First, she's super interested in food. She watches us as we eat and you can tell she wants to eat so badly! We've actually given her tiny bits of food (bread, mashed potatoes.) She loved it and would open her mouth as we came closer. I cannot wait to start giving her food in a few weeks!

Abigail started rolling over from back to belly last Sunday. I watched her do it ALL DAY and by that afternoon she was rolling with little effort and super fast! She stays on her tummy for a short period before getting fussy (why she doesn't roll back over? I don't know!) She is SO close to sitting up by herself. I'm hoping this is the month she reaches that milestone :)

She's grabbing for everything. Especially her bottle! I love seeing her reaction to it...eyes get wide, she starts snorting and her hands get all grabby. She reaches for toys, faces, her feet, pretty much everything! She's really enjoying her exersaucer and has been spending more time in it.

She's been bearing weight on her legs. We pull her up and she stands for a few seconds (and she loves it!!!) I think we may get the doorway jumper out soon.

We went through a wakeful period a few weeks ago. I was up several times with her at night, but mostly it was to replace her paci. Luckily we didn't take down the co-sleeper! I hate walking across the house so many times so often I'll bring her, the paci, and the seahorse in and that helps. She looks absolutely huge in the co-sleeper now, lol. She still gets swaddled but more and more often I find that she gets her little hand up near her mouth. I am so, so scared to stop swaddling. But we're nearing the 6 month mark when it will be time to sleep train. I think we should break the swaddle first, see how she does, and then Ferberize if needed. Maybe we'll give it a couple more weeks!

She's still eating 6 oz, every 3-4 hours and she's now taking all formula. She's doing well, aside from spitting up more which I think is common in formula-fed babies. She has her morning bottle at 6:00 am, 2 at Grandma's (10 & 2), one as soon as we get home (5:45) and then her bedtime bottle around 8:00.

I pulled out Audrey's 6-9 month clothes. They are mostly fall and winter because Audrey was wearing them when she was 9-12 months old. Not Abigail! She's wearing 6-9 month shirts and onesies (3-6 month dresses fit her fine but it's getting chilly here!) Get this...she's still wearing 0-3 months in pants. 3-6 month pants are a bit long, but generally fit just fine. I'm pretty happy we won't have to buy a ton of clothes! Again, though, I wish she'd slow down! I would like these clothes to last until Spring!

Teeth must be coming soon. She loves to chew on her hands and they are absolutely covered in drool within minutes. She likes to chew on ours, too. She doesn't really hold and chew her teething toys, hopefully that will change soon. We've been giving her teething tablets and they seem to work well. I feel every day for a bud and I look, but don't see anything.

She smiles and laughs and is such an easy going baby.









Bottle break!





This month went by FAST! I can't wait to see what this month brings :)