Happy 9 months!

Time please stop! How can my sweet baby be 9 mo? 

Collins has really developed and changed this month. 

What's new?

*We are fully on finger foods! I still have a few pouches left that I throw in the diaper bag for the church nursery and any other emergency situation. However, C prefers to feed herself.

*Speaking of foods, we've thrown a lot of new things her way this month including: garbanzo beans, rosemary quinoa, yogurt, tilapia, Brussels sprouts, roast beef, brown rice, blueberries, avocado, lemon chicken, and cantaloupe among many others. She really eats what we eat now, so it's been much harder to keep up with all that's new. She loves everything and is a great eater! She does not like peach cups. They are the only things she's refused.

*Before this month, C could turn from her back to her front intentionally, but never really cared to use that skill. This month, she is such a wiggle worm and flips around all over the place!

*Going from laying down to sitting is a new and favorite skill this month. The first time she sat up, she couldn't figure out how to lay back down. Lots of crying ensued from her crib. I was shocked when I clicked the monitor on to check on her. I helped her lay down and she went right to sleep. Poor girl. That's not an issue any more. She's mastered it!

*C pulled up for the first time this month! What!?! She grabbed onto a bar that was chest level and pulled to standing. I was not expecting that! It hasn't happened since, but I have a feeling more of that is right around the corner. 

*She still isn't crawling, but boy is she close. She CAN scoot herself.

*Rolling balls back and forth to me.

*Her hair is really growing this month and is definitely blonde!

*We started a music class this month with a few of her friends from the 'hood. She loves it!!

Loves:

*Hannah and Daisy. She BELLY laughs with the two of them around. It's so much fun!

*Splashing and bath time.

* The remote control

*Anything with a tag on it

* Looking in the mirror

*Stroller rides and being outside

*Jumparoo

*Pulling things out of bags and boxes, turning over said boxes and banging on them

*Putting EVERYTHING in her mouth

*Being read to

*Momma's milk

*Being held and cuddled

Not a fan of:

*Drinking water. Cannot get her to drink it! 

*Diaper changes

C had a major cold this month. Sleeping was hard, so falling asleep on momma was a comfort....I'll take it! Babies don't keep 😢

She wiggled her way over to Daisy.

C loves Sis and Sis is beginning to tolerate C.

Grand mommy came through town on her way to visit a cousin. C enjoyed seeing her!

Schedule: 

C is sleeping about 12 hrs at night and generally wakes around 6:30-7. She's taking two naps a day that range from 1.5-2 hours each. She's eating two large meals and one smaller one during the day and nursing 4xs. I'm about to drop one. I just need to get her drinking water!

We love you Collins and can't wait to see what the next month has in store!

March Madness!

I We had the pleasure of keeping my sweet niece, Megan, for almost two weeks back in March. H and M love spending time with one another. We went on so many fun adventures together! We spent a few days in GA before heading down to AL to celebrate Smooth's 70th birthday.

Our days in GA were spent in a fantasy world of princesses and all things royal!

May I introduce you to our princesses.....

Our little artists creating their works for B & S!

We did have one glitch while in GA. H came down with a raging case of Strepthroat. You haven't lived until you spend two-three hours in urgent care with 3 kids, 4 and under. I'm pretty sure we used all the medical supplies available to us to play games with. I will say, all three were really well behaved! As a side note, nobody else caught it, hooray! 

We also enjoyed the thrill of a morning snow flurry and a trip to WH, Collins' first!

Scattered, covered, and smothered...stat!

We had a wonderful weekend in AL celebrating Smooth! M and H were soaking up the attention of the big kids and enjoyed dinners with the entire Vance clan, playing at the park, watching Tinkerbell, and playing with marble runs 😃

14 folks diving in to great italian!

Our return home was long, but uneventful. The girls really enjoyed having each other to play with and talk to in the car. The dialogue between 4yos is quite funny!

The rest of our time with Megan was spent exploring and getting out and about! 

I kept H in preschool, so I was able to have some fun time with just M and C. I took M to paint her mommy a special gift early in the week, so it would be ready for pick up by her last day with us. I let M have her pick of anything in the store and she chose a heart. It was so sweet and she really took her time painting it to make sure it was perfect! We also headed out to our local bookstore's Storytime. It was really cute! The reader picks a few books to read and then the kids get to create a craft based on one of the books. This week's was City Dog, Country Frog.

We lucked out with fairly decent weather during M's visit. We were coming off of the heels of a few weeks with ice and snow, so these girls loved being outside. A popular activity with these two is riding scooters. 

M was able to tag along during H's dentist appointment. She enjoyed watching H and entertaining C. No cavities for H!! The girls enjoyed comparing dentist notes. Ha! Afterwards, we had a play date with one of M's buddies who moved to the area last fall. 

It did rain a few of the days M was here. That didn't keep us down. While h was in school, we attended another story time, M helped me grocery shop, and after school I took the girls to An indoor bouncey place. That was a huge hit! 

Susie left a small gift for the girls to open each day of M's trip. It was such a sweet gesture and one the girls really looked forward to each day. 

One of my favorite activities was taking the girls to the museum of art. They have a "what's in the box" class for preschoolers. This particular class focused on movement and the theme was sculptures. The kids seemed to enjoy the class and learned to bend and shape their bodies like different sculptures. They also learned to look at art from all sides because each angle provides a different interpretation. These kiddos really listened. After the class was over, we walked around the museum until we found our sculpture from class. The kids promptly formed their bodies into said sculpture and also walked around and viewed it from all angles. 

My favorite conversation was overheard while looking at a painting about a shipwreck. Apparently, it looked eerily similar to a scene from Frozen..... And there you have it, everything relates back to 

Ana and Elsa!

The big girls loved dressing alike. Thankfully, we had enough of the same or similar clothes to make it work!

More princess shenanigans and dance parties to boot!

M joined us for family pizza night! It's a fun weekend tradition and we love making our pizzas from scratch! H and M helped Wes make the dough and put the pepperonis on. 

And finally, my very favorite day! It was actually unexpected how it worked out. Our last day with 

M was dreary and a 100% chance of rain. We'd planned on going to the natural history museum for amphibian day. When we got downtown, it was barely misting....spitting at best. The St. Patty's day parade had already started. We heard the bagpipes calling us and knew we had to stand outside even if just for a glimpse of the parade. We ended up standing there for quite a while and the girls LOVED it! The had fun collecting beads, candy, flowers, stickers, and even dinosaur hats. We saw everything from Celtic dancers to dogs wearing pillbox hats! 

When it started misting, we decided to head indoors. Amphibian day was quite a hit with these two! They have no fear and thought it was cool petting snakes, watching a rattle snake shake its tail, touching salamanders, knocking on turtle shells, and holding "frog eggs." They got to create a few crafts. We didn't make it through the entire museum before having to head back to the house. Megan was most excited about seeing a TRex, so that was our last stop. 

The girls hated saying goodbye! H has truly asked about her every day since she left. I love their special relationship!

Happy 8 mo!

Happy 8 mo, Collins! 

C is truly the happiest baby! Once we got over the colic hurdle in the beginning, she has truly been a happy and easy baby. She's really only upset when hungry, sleepy, or bored.

New this month:

Pincer grasp- the pincer grasp is in full force this month. It's opening up doors with food and we've started introducing more finger foods. I exposed her to  puffs and yogurt melts last month, but this month she can grasp them and eat them all by herself. I've also started cutting up soft foods and placing them on her tray. We started with the carrots, celery, and chicken from homemade chicken noodle soup and already moved to spaghetti (we put her sauce over ditali noodles), grilled chicken and soft fruits/veggies. The wet foods were harder for her to pick up, but she didn't give up! It took her a while, but she managed to get most of it in her mouth 😃 so proud! We currently give her a good balance of purees and finger foods. 

Speaking of food, C is continuing to do great! She hasn't refused any food this month, and we've been introducing new foods and combinations left and right! In fact, I was giving her mashed Lima beans early this month when out of nowhere she just stuck her hand in the bowl and began feeding herself. I guess I was moving too slow. I laughed and decided to let her have at it. I put the bowl down in front of her and she didn't miss a beat. Yet another reason I decided the introduction of more finger foods might be good. 

We've moved from puffs to Cheerios! 

Attended her first story time at the library....finally! She loved it and we've continued to go.

She is quite the "talker" and we've had fun listening to what she's got to say. She is definitely outspoken and likes her voice to be heard. Lots of mama's and dada's, although not directed towards us yet.

She's beginning to pull her knees to her chest while on her tummy. She spins and can push herself backwards. She will go from sitting to laying on her tummy with ease. I'm completely fine with her not being mobile for a while longer. We're really working with H to control the number of small objects left around. I fear for little C crawling around 😁  I've got a video, and will try to upload.

Play dates continue to be fun and a great way for her to socialize!

Loves: cuddling, being held, talked to, eating, going on stroller rides, "texture balls," anything that crinkles, baths, paci, being outside, other babies and big kids. She also loves pulling toys out of buckets, bags, containers, etc. It's like a fun game to her!

C is beginning to have a preference for me. This is especially true if she's hungry! I've been handing her off and walking away to see if it helps. She can be distracted, but if she sees me (even a glimpse) she starts up again. 

C is still all gums! No teeth yet! But lots of drooling and gnawing. 

A typical schedule for us these days:

7am wake up and nurse

8:30am solids

9:15am nap, unless it's a school day and then it's pushed to 10

11am nurse

12:30pm solids

1:00pm nap

3:00pm nurse

5pm solids

7pm nurse and then immediately put down to bed

We've been working on transitioning to a cup. I finally found one that she'll use by herself. She definitely has preference, so it will be interesting working through this and weaning. I plan on dropping one more nursing session at 9 mo 😢. That will put us on schedule to be at just a morning and evening feeding at a year. 

C got to spend more time with her Mimi and Smooth this month. They spent a long weekend with us and c got some great cuddles and talks in with them!

We also celebrated C's first Easter! 

First Easter Egg hunt and visit with the bunny. Clearly, she was excited about the bunny...she slept right through it!

C adores H! In their Easter best before church.

Best attempt at a family photo!

Happy 7 mo

I'm late with this post. The 7th month has been a whirlwind! I've barely had time to catch my breath this month. Whew! 

New this month: 

*C's developing the pincer grasp. It's very weak and uncoordinated, but it's there!

*Solids are really taking off, she's open to trying anything I put to her mouth and hasn't refused anything (yet!) once it's made its way in! 

*We may be on our last week's with the swing. Missy miss has decided sitting up is better than leaning back. Disclaimer...she was strapped in.

*C celebrated her first Valentine's Day!

*Tummy time is still tough for C. We really have to work to keep her happy on her belly. She'd much rather sit or be on her back. This month, I read an article by an OT on using muffin tins filled with objects to keep tummy time interesting and fun. It really worked for C!  It kept her busy and happy for much longer than I can normally do. 

*C loves to pull things out of boxes and bags. A bag filled with toys will keep her busy until she pulls everything out. 

*Loves to say mamamama.... She doesn't associate it with me yet, but it sure is fun to hear her say.

*Month 7 brought a lot of snow and ice. Yikes! C didn't really know what to think about it. We kept her bundled and she enjoyed watching H and Daisy play.

*She still loves baths and loves sucking her toes! I don't keep socks or shoes on those feet very often. Most of the time, she pulls them off and they go straight in her mouth.

*We tried teething biscuits this month. C loved them and it's a great first step in self feeding.

*C loves banging and making noises

*She is also beginning to take an interest in the little people toys. Yay!

*Last, but not least, she made her first trip to The Waffle House!! I can't wait until she can actually eat the food. 

C is still toothless. She drools a lot and is chewing on everything. I have a feeling we'll see something in the next month or so.