Lexi – Page 9 – Peanut Smiles

Lexi 12 Months

December 6, 2013January 1, 2014 peanutsmiles

Dear Lexi,

Happy Happy Birthday! This past year has been so much fun watching you grow. You have stolen the hearts of your family and are such a mellow, genuinely happy baby and oh so fun to be around. Your serious, yet silly personality shines through more everyday and I just can’t get enough of your big hugs and wet, sloppy froggy kisses. There is no possible way to explain the love I have for you or the amount of joy you bring me everyday.

12 month stats:

22 lbs and 15 oz (75%-90%) birth weight: 7 lbs 15 oz (75-90%)

30 1/2 inches tall (90%) birth height: 22 1/2 inches (90%)

46 1/2 cm head circumference (90%) birth head circumference:13 inches (90%)

You’re a healthy and proportionate little munchkin!

Favorite moments

Sweet little peach, you love to eat! The only thing we have found you don’t like is SpeghettiOs, which, if you’re not going to like anything, that is the stuff not to like. And not only do you eat everything, you eat a lot! You’ll throw down just as much as I do; it is hard to keep you full. However, when you finally are done and we are about to remove your tray from your highchair, you have a slight panic and scramble to grab whatever is left on your tray as if you may not eat again for days.

You continue to be an inquisitive little bug and are always asking ‘What’s that’ and pointing to things. So when you heard the microwave running and staggered into the kitchen to see what was going on and asked ‘Hus at?’ I responded, ‘Thats the microwave.’ As you processed the information, you started waving at it. I didn’t think much of it until Daddy said she’s waving because it’s called the microwave. It would have never crossed my mind to connect the two words like that but your little brain in there is growing and making connections and it is so exciting to see the results.

One of my favorite moments of the entire year happened one evening this month. We were getting ready for bed in the family room and you were waddling around in your your diaper playing with your pajamas. You would put them over your face and the top of your head so you couldn’t see and then pull them down quickly and play peek-a-boo with us, while walking around the room. Surprisingly, it took you a while to run into something, but when you did, you were going full force. With pajamas over your head you ran right into the side of the couch, your head did a mini front back jerk while your body bounced backwards and over you tumbled. Of course Daddy and I began laughing right away because you literally looked like a blind sumo wrestler bouncing off of the furniture and falling over. Thankfully you got up with a little confused look in your eye and then continued to waddle around with the pajamas on your head. And too make this whole story better, Daddy miraculously was filming you. I can’t tell you how many times I have laughed re-watching this clip.

Although you took your first steps many weeks ago, over the past four weeks you have really mastered walking. You’re pretty stable and I can’t remember the last time I have seen you crawl. Thankfully, you still do have the little baby walk where you have a wide stance and your walk is more of a stomp, stomp stomp. Whenever I hear true silence, I know you’re into something or heading up the stairs because I don’t hear the sticky clamoring of your bare feet on the hardwood floor.

You’re comprehension and listening skills really took off this month. When we tell you things, you understand it and remember it. I was busy making dinner one night and you were hugging my legs begging to be picked up and I just couldn’t at that moment. So to distract you for a little bit, I suggested that we go read a book and asked for you to go get one of your favorites: Brown Bear Brown Bear. You went stumbling off to your book collection and about one minute later you returned with that specific book. Mind. Blown. There was no way I thought you would understand and be able to go and find a specific book, I was just suggesting that book because I thought there was a greater likelihood that you might go to your books and quit begging to be held.

Other notables:

You often bring books to us to be read. When you hand us the book, you turn around and plop your little tush in our laps and just wait. As we’re reading, you’ve become much more interactive with the books. You recognize items in books and will point to them when we ask you to find them such as the monkey or the fish.

You’ve started to mimic more of baby sign. You use ‘all done’, ‘more’ and ‘thank you.’

You recognize and can point to your nose, pat your belly and give ‘high-fives’ when asked.

You like to close doors (especially when you’re on the closed-in side) but don’t enjoy being stuck inside the room.

You clearly speak the words ‘hot’, ‘mama’, ‘dada’, ‘all done’, and ‘whats that’ and attempt to say ‘woof woof’ and ‘bye-bye.’

Occasionally, when I say, we need to change your diaper, you’ll squat down where you are as if you’re ready to be changed right there. (The other 75% of the time, you squirm and squeal through the entire change–which is a new thing for you. You used to be pretty good about laying still.)

Nap times have gotten much easier. You roll around and get comfortable for awhile before falling asleep, but rarely cry or make noise while doing so. When you wake up, you’ll often chat to giraffee and play by yourself for 20 minutes before standing up and crying for someone to come get you. I love love love our video baby monitor and watching you play on it. You’re slowly dwindling down from two naps a day. You still take two naps about 60% of the time, going down from 12-2 for the first and 5-6 for the second, if you have it. Night time has been pretty good too, going down around 9 and waking around 8 am the following morning. You still take a bottle before bed, half whole milk and half breast milk.

No new teeth this month, you’re still at 5 (two on top, three on bottom)

You still love music and whenever you hear it come on, you stop what you’re doing and start dancing.

You love to screech to the pitches of mice, and seriously make daddy squirm with those high-pitched sounds.

God has truly blessed us by bringing you into our lives and we couldn’t be more grateful! Happy ONE my Lexi Lou!

Love,

Mama

Birthday Parties, Lexi

Happy 1st Birthday Lexi

December 4, 2013February 2, 2014 peanutsmiles

My sweet ‘baby’ girl,

You are ONE TODAY! I can hardly believe it. Mommy and Daddy had a really fun day planned for you but we’ve been greeted with a snowstorm that has kept us home bound. I’m a little disappointed because I was really looking forward to all of the fun activities we were going to do like visiting Santa and Underwater World, but I guess we’ll save them for another day.

Over the past few weeks as this day has been getting closer and closer, I couldn’t help but remember and relive the events leading up to your arrival in my head.

I remember the excitement yet nervousness that ran through my body as I was listening to the message from the doctor telling us we needed to be at the hospital in 20 minutes and you were going to arrive the next day; 12/4/12 (and secretly was happy that your birthday was going to be all even numbers). Although I had our bags packed for weeks there was this rush of ‘Do we have everything we need?’ as if we were going to be gone for weeks and were never coming home.

I remember putting my hand on top of Daddy’s hand and weaving my fingers through his as we drove to the hospital and chatted about stopping for Chipotle as if our lives weren’t going to drastically change.

I remember playing hours of Suduko on my phone that night as I couldn’t sleep from the discomfort of the IV and the anticipation of your arrival.

I remember feeling like I had been sitting on a balloon and it pooped when the doctor broke my water.

I remember the chill I felt while laboring on the exercise ball and how good the warmth of the sun felt shinning through our window.

I remember how positive and supportive Daddy was through each contraction as he would rub my shoulders and helped me relax instead of tense up.

I remember the absolute fear I had in getting the epidural because ‘How was I possibly going to sit still through a contraction while they administered it?‘ and I remember the instant relief I felt from it.

I remember the surprise in how relaxed the actual pushing was and the laughter that filled the room in-between each contraction as your daddy made jokes.

I remember your dark ‘curly’ hair being visible for like an hour of pushing but you just never coming.

And I will never forget hearing your weak little cry for the first time and Daddy saying ‘Its a girl’ with the biggest smile on his face and the tears of joy in his eyes.

It was truly the best day of our lives and somehow you have managed to make everyday better than the previous. I can’t wait to share more about your 12th month, your first birthday party and how happy and fulfilling you have made our lives. But today I want to remember all of the emotions and subtle memories that this one year milestone marked for your mama.

I love you little bunks!

Love, Mama

Birthday Parties, Lexi

Lexi’s 1st Birthday Party

December 1, 2013December 31, 2013 peanutsmiles

Lexi Lou,

There are so many exciting things to document and remember about this exciting milestone. One whole year with you! Without question, it has been the best year of Mama and Dada’s lives and we can’t wait for what year two will bring for us!

With your birthday falling so close to Thanksgiving, we celebrated a couple days before your ‘actual day’ so some of your aunties that live out of town could come. I spent a lot of time planning and prepping for the party and was so excited for it.

So naturally, you got your first fever (with the exception of shots) and were lethargic and didn’t have energy for the entire event. I was so disappointed, but I’m glad the Tylenol helped you feel well enough that we didn’t have to cancel.

Given the fact you weren’t feeling well, you did pretty good. For the anticipated cake smash, you were really scared while everyone was singing and starring at every move you made once the cake was put in front of you. You kept reaching for me from your highchair and didn’t really even blink an eye at the cake. Once everyone put their cameras away and began talking amongst themselves, you dug in and enjoyed yourself. You had a pretty similar reaction to gifts. You didn’t really get the concept of ripping the paper off and didn’t like everyone starring at you. But boy were you spoiled with so many wonderful things!

Party details:

Inspired by your mini love affair with your giraffee, the party was themed around giraffes. Daddy did a fantastic job designing your invitations.

My very favorite detail of your party was your outfit! You wore a hand-made tutu (made by your favorite mama) and a onesie with a big 1, giraffe holding balloons and had your name embroidered on it. And we paired that with a little firework ponytail and pink bow and you were as cute as can be.

Over the summer, I took some classes on cake decorating so I could make fun cakes for you and your future siblings! It probably would have been smarter to start with a cake that was a little more simple, but I made a giraffe, which requires a whole different ‘how to post’.

It was 100% made of cake and edible, so we gave you the head to smash into and served everyone else cupcakes, which were decorated with little flags that had pictures of you throughout the year.

I also made a birthday banner and a couple of photo collages that we put up on the wall, including one that documented many of ‘your first time moments’.

For decor, we hung streamers in the family room and kitchen, put balloons around your highchair and all the way up the staircase creating a fun and grand entrance for all of your guests.

Although you weren’t feeling 100%, the party was still a lot of fun and I had so much fun planning and getting ready for it. Happy Birthday Lexi!

Love,

Mama

Alexis Monthly Posts, Lexi, Uncategorized

Lexi 11 Months!

November 4, 2013November 7, 2013 peanutsmiles

Dear Lexi,

11 months sweet girl! In 30 short days you will be one! Of course, this month you didn’t disappoint and provided many smiles, excitement and pure joy to everyone around you.

Favorite Moments

Around 10 ½ months, you added walking to your skill set. You had taken steps here and there but before bed one night you took eight steps in a row and then repeated it again and again and again. Crawling is still your preferred form of mobility, but you walk a little further and a little more every day. It is truly so sweet to see you stagger around with your arms waving in the air and your bare little feet clomping and gripping the floor. I just can’t get enough of it.

This month, you attended your first wedding and were so good. You had so much fun seeing all of your cousins and mom enjoyed dressing you up in the first of many matching cousin outfits! You were pretty tired by the time the dance started, but loved all of the music that was playing throughout evening.

You’ve been holding your own bottle for months now, but it is so darn sweet to see your little hands grip it and hold it near the top as you gulp away. Daddy also says you look for your bottle each morning when he takes you out of your crib. I always put your bottle on the ledge near the stairs so it is ready. When you wake up Daddy gets you from your crib and then gets the bottle with you. If he goes into our bedroom or is blocking your view of it, you squirm around in his arms trying to see it.

We had a few warm weekend days over the month and were able to enjoy some walks and fun at the park. While at the park, you had so much fun holding my hand, walking around and exploring the leaves and the sticks. You would pick up the sticks, wave them around and crinkle the leaves in your hands. Generally, you were just fascinated by the sounds and feelings they made.

This month, you’ve officially learned how to imitate or copy behavior. If you hear Mommy and Daddy laughing in the car, you’ll laugh, which will make us laugh again, in which you laugh. It is a silly cycle that never gets old. You will also sniffle with your nose and blow with your mouth when we do.

Your curiosity and awareness to your surroundings really is amazing. You are constantly asking ‘What’s that?’ Admittedly, the pronunciation isn’t quite there yet, but you can tell that you’re attempting to say that and you use it in the right context. You’ll hear a car go by or a helicopter and you’ll stop what you’re doing, look towards the sound, tilt your head just slightly and say ‘What’s that?’ or we’ll turn a light on and you look up at it and say ‘What’s that?’

Halloween took place last week and you dressed up as a cow. You had several visitors stop by to view your costume and had so much fun seeing all the kids come trick or treating to the house. You were just in awe of all the costumes and loved waving to all the kids.

Throughout the month, there have been fewer and fewer occasions that you fall asleep for the night while eating. As bedtime is approaching, we tell you “It is almost ni-night time Lexi.” When we finally do go up to your bed and say “It’s time to go to bed,” you put your head on my chest and just cuddle. Then we’ll lie in the rocking chair and you toss and turn, trying to get comfortable cuddling on my legs, on my chest, next to my head, sideways almost anyway your little body will let you move. Then, you hit a point and fall asleep in some strange position. I absolutely treasure those extra cuddles especially when you instantly cuddle in when we say its bedtime.

Notes:

Eating: We think you may have a corn allergy. You get a little rash to the right of your mouth and TERRIBLE diaper rash whenever you have corn as a main ingredient (raw corn, Kixs, corn chips). You’re still at 3 bottles a day, and I am officially done pumping. There is more than enough frozen milk to get you through the month! And as far as table food goes, you’re like a garbage disposal. You eat and eat and eat!

Sleep: You continue to be a champion at sleeping. You go to bed around 9 pm and wake up around 8 am. You take two naps; one at noon for about an hour and a half to two hours and another at 4:30 for about an hour. Going down for naps has been hit and miss. Initially, I thought you were getting better as you weren’t crying as often or as long, but then in the last week, you have proven that theory to be wrong and SCREAM in anger when it is nap time.

Teeth: Your bottom right tooth popped up this month, and you have been showing lots of other teething signs but nothing to show yet.

Personality: You tend to be shy when seeing new people, but usually warm up and start smiling and chatting within 20 minutes. You love to observe people and things going on around you—much more than be involved in the action. You’re timid around things that are new and a little scary, like the top of the stairs, the edge of the bed or even walking on your own. You love bath time, clapping for yourself, playing patty-cake, playing peek-a-boo, playing with puzzles, music, eating, being outside, running your fingers on the screen of the fireplace, being chased and getting tickled.

Happy 11 months Lexi-pie! Mommy is so excited for your 1^st Birthday Party!!

Love,

Mama

Alexis Monthly Posts, Lexi

Lexi 10 Months

October 4, 2013October 7, 2013 peanutsmiles

Dear Lexi,

Ten months my baby girl. You are a very active and happy little bean. You are a joy to be around and am so happy you have made me a momma, and am even more happy to be your mama. You are just so content with everything from eating to sleeping to meeting new people to trying new experiences. You’ve made the adjustment to parenthood easy and so fun!

Favorite Moments:

One night, we had just finished reading books. I continued to lay on the blue pillow and cuddle under the quilt Grandma B made while you fiddled around playing with various toys and climbing up on things. There was a random silence, which always signals mischief. I raise my head and find you laying on your tummy kissing the photo of you and Grandma B sewn onto it. Of course my camera was on the other side of the room and any movement would distract you, but it was such a sweet moment and brought tears to my eyes.

For whatever reason, this month you have proved to be gassier than normal. You are constantly releasing audible farts. And about 75% of the time you fart, you’ll look to myself or daddy and smile and laugh. Of course, we have no self-control and laugh with you because how can you not laugh at a 10 month old cutie who laughs when she farts?

Whenever Daddy mows the lawn, you are mesmerized. You’ll stand at the patio door and watch as he goes back and forth. Whenever he gets near, you screech, and bang your hands on the door trying to get his attention. Once Daddy is close to finishing, we head outside to watch him and go for an occasional ride. It’s so cute to see you’re little hands on the wheel and Daddy says you sing and chat away and he just loves hearing your little noises.

Over the weeks, you’ve discovered how to open cabinets. Last night, you figured out how to open the cabinets next to the fireplace. And proceeded to crawl inside and play for a good 20 minutes. (For the most part there were only books in there so you had your own little fort and were content as a little caterpillar milling around in there.

Along the lines of opening cabinets has been opening drawers. While I was at work, you pulled your middle dresser drawer open and threw all of your clothes out, just as Daddy came to check on you. So he plopped you into the drawer and sent me this gem while I was at work. I wish I could have seen it, but I love getting little photos of you being sweet throughout the day. It brings a smile to my face.

We’ve never really had a solid bedtime routine, but started to develop one this month. Around 8:30 we head up to your bedroom, change your diaper, play with toys and then read books. We lay on the blue pillow, put the quilt over us and read: Good Night Moon and Who says quack and another random one. After books, we give Dada a hug and kiss goodnight and then nurse. Most of the time you fall asleep nursing, we put Giraffee in your arms and let you peacefully sleep until morning light. It is such a calming way to conclude each day.

Most days when I come home from work, you’re still taking your second nap of the day, which usually works well because I can get dinner started right away. However, there have been several occasions where you’ve been up and when you see me for the first time, I swear its like you’re seeing magic. You’re eyes get ginormous and sparkle, you kick your legs, wave hello and are SO excited. It is the BEST way to be greeted home and you make me feel so loved.

Other noteables:

You ‘free standing’ much more often now. I’ve even seen you standup from a squat without holding onto anything.
You love to play with magnets and carry them around the house. You’ll put them in your mouth and then crawl around like a little puppy with its bone.
You have a strong affection towards all stuffed animals. Your eyes light up and you open your arms and mouth to give hugs and kisses.
Your two top front teeth popped through this month. The second one came in about 2 weeks after the first and caused you some pain, a little blood and received lots of extra snuggles.
You pooped on the toilet for the first time. Dada saw you grunting, stripped you down and had you grunt one out on the potty. The best part of the story was how you smiled and clapped after you were done.
We went to the apple orchard and you went on your first ride with your buddy Lauren.
You love to crawl up the stairs, but haven’t figured out how to go down.
Baths have become difficult, all you want to do is standup. You also figured out this month that you can drink the water. It is hilarious to watch you lean forward like a frog and drink the water like a puppy.
You’re mostly in 12 month clothes. There are a couple of 9 month items you fit into.
You had a cold at the beginning of the month–mostly a bad running nose.
You will occasionally walk behind and push the yellow peddle car and love to walk while holding onto our hands. However, when you walk, you have this goofy little leg kick or shake with your left leg. I’ve been told Grandpa B used to do this silly leg kick when he played foosball and your little leg kick reminds people of that.
You are very aware of your surroundings especially when you are elevated. You sense the edge of things and stay away from them. You may get close, but never attempt to get down by yourself.
You’ve started to ‘brush your teeth’ (suck on the toothbrush)
You’re favorite book is still Who says quack
You sleep from about 9 pm to 8 am each day and nap from 12 to 2 and 4:30 to 5:30 each day.
You take about four 8oz bottles each day. Nursing is still going well, although you only nurse once a day (before bed on workdays). Otherwise, I pump in the morning and once during the day.

Happy 10 months my sweet Lexi Lou. I can’t wait to see what month 11 brings us. You walking perhaps??

Love,

Mama

Day to Day, Lexi, Uncategorized

Snuggles

September 29, 2013October 3, 2013 peanutsmiles

Dear Lexi,

You’ve got a great intuition and sometimes it feels like you can read Mama and Dada’s brain. Tonight was one of those nights. The day itself wasn’t overly fantastic. Nothing horrible happened, I just felt crummy. I had a headache and knew I needed to go to bed. So we began the bedtime routine: jammies, books and nursing. Usually you fall asleep while nursing making the night time routine easy. Tonight however you didn’t. Hoping for a long shot, I grabbed Giraffee from your crib, reclined the rocker, put the blanket over us and hoped you would cuddle in and fall asleep. In reality, I knew this was never going to happen. I’ve tried it before and you end up crawling all over me and the chair and gaining more energy that you should for a little girl that needs to go to sleep. But for whatever reason tonight, you knew that is just what mama needed. You didn’t fall asleep, but you tried so hard. You kept moving around trying to get comfortable moving your head from side to side, switching positions in the chair, nuzzling on my arm or shoulder or chest and for the life of you, you just couldn’t get comfy.

Eventually, I laid you in your crib, you grabbed giraffee and rolled onto your tummy and feel asleep without a peep, which is also a rarity.

Thank you for being so sweet and knowing just what mama needed was some extra Lexi snuggles. I love you!

Love,

Mama

Alexis Monthly Posts, Lexi, Uncategorized

Lexi Nine Months

September 4, 2013September 23, 2013 peanutsmiles

Dear Lexi,

I can’t even come close to remembering how many times I’ve heard people use the cliche statement, ‘It goes by so fast.’ Which it does, but at the moment I’m feeling the opposite. How is it possible you have only been with us for nine months? For me, I don’t know if it is hard to remember what life was like before you, or if I just don’t want to? And life was good. But today and and every other day for the previous nine months have been so much MORE wonderful that I never want to go back, and I pray everyday that I never well. Onto your monthly updates:

Favorite moments:

You’ve always liked music. You would become really active in my belly when music was playing, it would calm and relax you in your first months of life and recently you start smiling, bouncing, kicking your legs and waving your arms when you like a tune–especially Irish music. Scalliwag, a song by Gaelic Storm is one of your current favorites. It is our ‘go-to’ song to play whenever you are upset because you stop crying, listen and occasionally dance to it. So when Gaelic Storm was playing at Irish Fest this year and we didn’t have any plans we decided to take you to your first concert. It was SO fun to watch you react to all of the people and especially the music. As soon as they started playing you were entranced. You were singing and waving your arms and too excited to be constrained in your stroller. As we held you, I don’t think your arms or legs stopped moving for the entire hour and half they played. You had a huge smile on your face and were having so much fun. People around us kept saying, ‘Look at that baby, she’s having so much fun. She really likes the music!’ It was so fun to watch your little body express your joy and excitement.

This month you learned how to point and you do so at everything and everyone. Usually, we’ll be just going about our business in the house and all of the sudden, you will see something and react as if it was the first time you have seen it. You will stop, point, enlarge your eyes and raise your eyebrows to the sky. Sometimes you even point to a person out the window, other times it will be a toy, or even a new shadow that appears when the sun comes out from behind the clouds. It is so sweet and WISH we could capture the look on your face with your eyebrows popping out of your head, but the true expression only lasts for half a second and appears so randomly it is pretty much impossible to get it on camera, and trust me sweet little girl, we have tried and tried. We’ve even attempted to create situations that would get you to react and point, and it just isn’t the same. Here are a few pics of some of our attempts.

I think I’ve briefly written about giraffee before, but I just melt over your affection and little relationship with your stuffed Giraffee. Whenever we play in your room or read books, you probably crawl and pull yourself up to your crib at least five times. You’re always looking for him in there and if he is near the edge you work very hard to get him through the slats of the crib. When we take him out of the crib (which doesn’t happen very often) your eyes get big and you gasp and open your arms and mouth and give him a big hug and kiss. You just love him so much and he provides so much comfort to you. When I lay you down in your crib to sleep for the night or a nap, you roll onto your side and open your arms, just waiting for him to be placed there, your grasp him tight and roll onto your tummy and keep him tucked under your arm. It truly is one of the sweetest moments to watch. However, one thing that is kind of strange to Daddy and I is how you will throw Giraffee out of your crib. After you’ve woken up and had a little conversation with Giraffee, you usually stand up and throw him out of the crib. It just seems so strange to us that you would do this, especially because you get very upset afterwards when he isn’t in there. Daddy and I love watching this little scene unfold on the video monitor.

Your self-awareness has eliminated the my ability to put headbands on you. You just take them off and suck on the bows. However, your hair is just long enough to get into this tiny bean sprout ponytail. You don’t like it when I put it in, but do a great job of keeping it in and it is the cutest thing. I have yet to go to a store with you and your pony and not have three people comment on how adorable you and your ponytail are.

You feel asleep while jumping. Daddy was busy working and put you in the johnny jumper to keep you contained and occupied while he was working. You were jumping away for almost 20 minutes straight. And it became very quiet, so Daddy peeked around the corner, and you had completely passed out face down while jumping.

You are a mama’s girl, and to say that I love it would be a huge understatement. You follow me around the house like a little puppy dog and get sad when I leave the room or hand you to someone. This behavior is intensified on weekdays. I like to think you miss me while I am at work and you need some good solid Mommy-Lexi time when I come home. You are particularly clinging after 8 o’clock when your bed time is approaching, or really anytime you are close to nursing or need a bottle. You usually throw a little tantrum when you give daddy a good-night kiss and hug. You just don’t want to be with anyone besides mom. Deep down, I know this is a behavior we’re going to need to work on in the future, but for now, I love that you have such a strong affection to me. It makes me feel a little better about working knowing that we can still have a strong bond every though I’m not their all of the time.

New Foods: Popsicle, toast, avocado, hot dog, pizza, ice cream and cheese

Stats: 28 1/2 inches long (75-90%); weight 21 lbs and 8 oz. (90%, which is a jump from 6 months when you were in the 75%)

Other Firsts or Noteworthies:

You’ve learned how to drink from a sippy cup. Previously, you would just chew on the spout, but you’ve learned that if you suck, you will get something. You’re still working on tipping it up so you actually get water and don’t just suck air.
More noises with your mouth: clicking noises with your tongue, motorboat sounds
Waving, clapping and ‘So Big’.
You’ll initiate looking at books. You will crawl over to them, pull them out, look at pages and point to the pictures.
You love peek-a-boo
You’re much less patient when getting your diaper changed and are always wanting to roll over and scoot away
Words: you say and use Dada appropriately
When we pull out the camera, you know to smile, but usually give us a ‘pretend smile’ with a super big grin and squinting eyes
You pull yourself up on EVERYTHING and will often free-stand, but sit down as soon as you realize you’re standing by yourself. You’re also scooting around on all of our furniture, along our cabinets and have even figured out how to open them up.
Climbing. You are a little monkey. You love to climb up everything you can, the couches, the back of the rocking chair, daddy’s work chair, his desk, the speakers. everything. not surprising, but you do a great job of climbing up the stairs and are SO proud of yourself for doing so. We’re still working on the down the stairs element.
Playing and sucking on our keys is one of your favorite things to do.
You do a great job with other people and have shown very little signs of separation anxiety. You are definitely a mama’s girl and want to constantly be around me and are upset when I leave a room, BUT you do great with others when I am around and will ‘go-to’ anyone that wants to hold you.
You had a yeast infection near the beginning of the month and spent a lot of time crawling around naked and taking baking soda baths.

Love,

Mama

Alexis Monthly Posts, Lexi

Lexi Eight Months

August 4, 2013September 29, 2013 peanutsmiles

Dear Lexi,

Happy eight months my smily little one-tooth grinner! You had quite the eventful month with lots of changes to adjust to. We started off your eight month of life in Colorado, quickly followed by mommy returning to work, you popped another tooth and became mobile. Mommy and Daddy and all those around you had so much fun watching you build your strength and confidence and it brought us lots of smiles, laughs and clapping to cheer you on. With all of these changes, your laid-back personality has just gone with the flow and you have appeared fairly unaffected by everything.

Favorite moments:

The push-up position. You start on all fours and extend your arms by pushing on the floor and eventually straighten your legs resulting with you in the push-up position, only to be extremely confused as what to do next. So you just lie onto your belly or sit back down.

After building lots of strength from the push-up position you learned to sit up from laying on your belly. The first couple times you did this, I went to get you from your nap and find you sitting up. So, I started watching you on the monitor once you began rustling. It was so cute to watch you roll onto your belly and start to peddle your hands backwards towards your body and slowly rise to a sitting position.

Within a week of learning to sit-up from your belly, you were crawling. The first time kind of just happened. You were on all fours and I was a few feet away and you just crawled over to me. There was no hesitation or really consideration into ‘how do I do this’ you just did it and haven’t looked back.

You LOVE LOVE LOVE to make a duck face. You push your top lip up to your nose and stick your bottom lip out, creating a little baby duck bill. And you do it all the time. You do it while you’re eating, crawling, playing with toys and riding in the stroller.

In addition to duck face, you are so expressive with your emotions. When you get really excited or something captures your attention and you want to share it with us, you raise your eyebrows and widen your big blue eyes and they sparkle like the sun reflecting on the ocean water. It is the definition of pure beauty and your eyes speaking the joy you’re experiencing. It is true bliss to watch this.

During the evenings, we play on the floor with your toys and you grab my sunglasses or my phone and I move them from one side of my body to another and this month is the first time I’ve noticed you following an item that isn’t in your sight. It is such a simple action that we take for granted every moment, but it is so darn exciting for me to watch your brain develop and make these connections.

Food

You continue to be terrific eater and have added many new items to your menu including: Cheerios, Gerber Puffs, grapes, watermelon, potatoes, cheese, frosted animal crackers and McDonald’s. I bought a McDonald’s hamburger for you and put the whole thing in front of you to see what you would do. Sure enough you picked the whole thing up and brought it to your mouth just like we do, which was hilarious because it is almost half the size of your head. On average you nurse/have bottles five times a day with each one being about six ounces, except for your morning feeding which is about eight ounces.

Sleep

You nap twice a day for about an hour and a half each time. Once around noon and the other time around 4:15. Both times you are put down awake. You usually cry and scuff around in your crib for five minutes and then fall asleep. Occasionally, you wake up between five and six am, eat and go right back to sleep, otherwise you usually wake up between 7:30 and 8:30 am. Each night, you go to bed around 9. About half the time you’ll fall asleep nursing and the other we’ll put you into your crib awake. One funny pattern we’ve noticed is you typically fall asleep in the bottom corner of your crib laying the short way (opposed to the long way). I’m not sure why, because you move around the whole crib before you ‘get comfortable’ but that is always the spot you end up.

Other notables:

You love pulling on my hair–especially now that I wear it down for work.

My necklaces have become the most fascinating toy and favorite teether for you.

You did absolutely fantastic on your first plane rides and slept most of the time on my chest, which I loved because you rarely cuddle in and sleep on us these days.

While in Vail, we attempted to take you to the top of the mountain, but the altitude got the best of you and put you in a lot of pain. The moment we stepped off the gondola, you were crying and they were screams of pain, not hunger or annoyance.

Your second bottom tooth popped through this month and you barely showed any symptoms of pain and agony. All of the sudden it was just there.

You are a climber. You climb up my body when I’m holding you, the back of the rocking chair, the couches and all over my legs when we’re playing on the floor.

As a result of Mom having Mastitis last month, you got thrush this month, which is a yeast infection inside your mouth. There were lots of little white patches on the insides of your cheeks, but cleared up quickly with a little medicine.

I think you’re going to love amusement park rides because you love swinging and bouncing, especially while I’m carrying you on my hip. We’ll be walking through the store and I’ll bounce you up and down a couple times and you grab tight onto my shirt throw your head back and giggle and wait for it to be done again.

While crawling, you like to hold onto items like socks, nail clipper, stuffed animals etc…You have stealth vision for unraveled carpet pieces. I have no idea how you find them, but you will spot them from across the room and B-line over to it and pop it into your mouth. By the end of the month you were also following traffic patterns when crawling. When you first started you would crawl in a straight line, even if it meant going under tables and chairs. Now, you’ll crawl around the dinning room table in the same way we walk around it. Again, I love watching you react to your brain development. It is so interesting.

In addition to many of the other changes taking place with you over the month, mom went back to work. Although the layoff was a little stressful, I LOVED the extra three months I was able to spend at home with you. I am so grateful to have had that extra time with you and loved the extra cuddles, smiles, walks, bonding and laughter. It was truly a gift and thanked God for it everyday.

I love you sweet girl! You make mama so happy!

Love,

Mama

Alexis Monthly Posts, Lexi

Lexi Seven months

July 4, 2013March 17, 2014 peanutsmiles

Dear Lexi,

As I am typing out my notes for this month, it is shocking to realize how much we did and how much you changed in just 30 short days! You are growing into quite an entertaining and smily little girl and brought SO many favorite moments and memories to me this month.

Favorite moments

Throughout all of last month and this month, you’ve really strengthened your core and are very stable sitting up by yourself. On a regular basis you’ll be sitting and playing with your toys and get so excited you rock your entire body front to back, wave your arms all over the place, kick your legs (not an easy thing to do while sitting) smile to your ears and sparkle your big ocean blue eyes.You melt my heart every time.

This month you also started lifting your arms up towards me when you want to be picked up. Very rarely can I resist your snuggles and hugs. It sounds strange to say out loud, but this small gesture brings an incredible amount of self-worth and gratification. I’m not sure why this makes me feel more ‘worthy’ than other actions, but for some reason it does.

Another favorite moment of the month was the affection you’ve grown towards your stuffed giraffe. We started putting a couple of stuff animals in your crib to help lengthen your nap time and it has really worked. Upon laying you down in your crib we put giraffee into your arms as you roll over and it seems to really comfort you. We’ve tried other animals, but you have a strong preference for giraffee. Sometimes the love you have for it is too much to handle. So sweet!

This month you built up your pipes girlfriend! You’ve become the little speedster in rolling over to your tummy and are this close to crawling. You often get on all fours and rock back and forth. You’ll even move your legs, but haven’t quite figured out that you need to move your hands forward too. As you’re moving around, you often put yourself into the push-up position. Your arms are extended and you balance on your toes and will do downward dog but you never move.

As you’ve gotten older, you’ve become less and less cuddly. You’re often squirming around and rarely fall asleep in our arms, so I was pretty nervous to take you on an airplane by myself, which is a whole other story, but to my delight you were an angel and snuggled and slept on my chest for the entire trip. I tried to soak up all the snuggles and sweetness of the moment because I know there are fewer and fewer of them in the future.

Another fun thing to watch this month was your ability to play with toys. One day I sat you in front of your toys so I could get dinner ready and heard all this banging and clanging and found you had taken the top off your shape blocks and were smacking two of them together. And this development only escalated throughout the month. You would take rings off and smack the tower of your blocks over, you would grab the balls out of the bouncing hippo, push buttons on your tool box and so much more. It is so fun to watch your brain develop and your discovery of cause and effect.

You officially learned how to jump this month. We put you in the Johnny Jumper and you go crazy jumping around. Your legs are hopping before they’re even touching the ground. I love to watch how happy and proud you are that you can jump. Your little gummy grin is too priceless.

Nuts and bolts of the month:

Eating: This month was a bit interesting on the eating front. I got mastitis again and noticed a good decrease in my milk supply. My right side eventually came back to where it was, but my left side continues to produce about 2 oz less per feeding than previously. So now, I would say I’m producing just enough for you each each day. Solid food consumption has also been a little spotty. The month started out strong eating just about anything we put in front of you: bananas, applesauce, squash, sweet potatoes, green beens, pears, peaches, blueberries. But near the end of the month, you didn’t want sweet potatoes or really much of any kind of solid food.

Sleeping: Throughout the entire month, you’ve been getting up between 5:30 and 6:00 to eat, and fall right back asleep. This was pretty out of the norm for you so I started nursing you on both sides before you went to sleep and the last few nights you haven’t gotten up early so we’ll see if that does the trick.

Naps: Your naps have gotten a little better over the month and will usually nap three times a day, with at least one of them being one+ hours. We still put you down awake, and you usually cry for 5-10 min before falling asleep.

Vacations: This month we took two vacations that were back to back. Grandma and Grandpa B rented a cabin near Brainard for the week. Auntie Sheila flew home and Uncle Joe and Auntie Angie all went up there for the week. You were a show-stopper and provided lots of entertainment for everyone. And I think everyone loved to spend so much time with you too. You went on your first boat ride and saw your first campfire. The weather was pretty nice for us but the rest of the spring had been so cold, we didn’t take you swimming in the lake. You also HATED your lifejacket, so that made things a little interesting. We spent a lot of time in the cubbie of the boat so you didn’t have to wear your lifejacket and spared everyone else 8-hours of screaming.

A couple days after the cabin we headed to Colorado. Daddy drove there and you and I flew. It was your first time on an airplane so I was a little nervous how you would do, but overall you were a champ! And Kris and John just loved meeting you and watching you explore their house.

Other notes:

You developed a small heat rash on your back but it quickly disappeared with some Cortizone cream.
You love splashing around in your ‘crabby’ pool (and it beats the laundry basket “pool” I was using for awhile).
You love being outside. If you’re really upset or even just kind of fussy, I can take you outside to look at the grass, the trees and the flowers and you instantly mellow out.
Your first tooth popped through and you were so well behaved we didn’t even notice it was there.
You LOVE to crawl over our legs and will always choose that over your toys if Daddy or I are sitting playing with you.
You discovered how to make clicking noises with your mouth and did that for 3 straight days! If you were awake and not eating, you were clicking.
You love to grab my hair and eat it if it is down. And now when I remove it from your death-grip and move it to the other side, you follow it and reach and grab it on that side. Smart little girl you are! It is so fun to watch the progress your brain is making as you piece these cause and effect situations together.
The bald spot on the back of your head is starting to grow in now that you sleep on your stomach.
We celebrated Daddy’s birthday and first Father’s Day.
You’re not pulling yourself up on anything yet, but if we stand you up along the couch, you’ll stay there and bang your hands on it, and have even attempted to move from the ottoman to the couch by yourself.

Thank you for another wonderful month my little love bug. You are so happy and fun to be around and watch grow.

Love,

Mom

Alexis Monthly Posts, Lexi

Lexi six months

June 4, 2013March 23, 2014 peanutsmiles

Dear Little Lexi Lou,

I’m still trying to wrap my head around the fact that 6 months ago I was in labor with so much excitement and anticipation to meet you. I still have that same level of excitement to see you every morning and anticipation to see what you’re going to to next! It’s hard to imagine life without you and I pray everyday I will never experience that.

Favorite Moments

The month started out with two exciting milestones. The first was your baptism and the second was your ability to sit up by yourself! Rachel brought a couple of toys over for you to borrow and while you were examining them I removed my hands from your sides and you stayed up all by yourself. It wasn’t long before you tipped forward onto your hands and created a little tripod, but each day you have gotten stronger and now do a great job sitting by yourself. This new vantage point brings you so much joy and excitement to explore new toys.

This month, you’ve also started to giggle, a lot! Several times throughout the month, I would push you in your cart or stroller and then pull you towards me really quickly and make silly noises like ‘AH-BOO’ and you would just giggle and swat your arms repetitively as I continued the process. I’m sure I looked and sounded ridiculous in Target and various other stores because I’m obsessed with hearing your laugh and CAN NOT pass up an opportunity to hear it.

Another exciting milestone for was watching you recognize your name. When we call or say your name you’re eyes twinkle and you stop what you’re doing and turn to find the source of noise. It is so amazing to watch you react to your brain development and growing into your own functioning little person. It’s one of the first steps in being able to communicate with you.

Although the weather was pretty raining and chilly for most of May, your Daddy has spent a lot of time biking with you. We purchased a trailer for you to ride in and you ride about every other day. He loves towing you and looking over his shoulder to see you snooze, watch the trees go by and listen to you ‘sing’ as he rides.

Other notes:

Girl you love to eat! It was always my unspoken goal to nurse at least 6 months and you still haven’t had any formula and I hope that can continue for another 6 months! I don’t want to get ahead of myself, but my new goal is to make it the full year without any formula. You got a taste of food for the first time this month. We started off with some multi-grain cereal, and you weren’t a fan. We also introduced several different kinds of baby food and you love that. So far we’ve tried: squash, sweet potatoes and pears and by day three of baby food you were inhaling it and would whine between bites. I have a feeling you’re going to be an independent little girl. You always want to hold the spoon and help mommy put the food into your mouth.

Sleeping: Not a whole lot to report on the sleeping front. You’re officially free of the swaddle and within one week became a stomach sleeper. I’m not sure exactly how you get yourself to the back corner of the crib, but you wiggle your way there for every nap and evening of sleeping.

You love grabbing toes and putting them in your mouth, and grabbing faces (nose, eyes, checks). You’ve also learned how to give kisses, which means you lean forward and stick your tongue out.