Monday, September 28, 2009

From Toothless Rufus to One Tooth Ruth

In one week, we have gone from a toothless non-crawler, to a baby who is not only mobile, but also has a tooth!  Last Wednesday night we had a ROUGH night.  LL cried a lot during the night and we were in and out lots (both of us) to give her her paci.  In the morning, we found out why - her first tooth broke through some time during the night!

The day before I noticed that there was a dark red spot on her gum - it almost looked like a bruse.  Turns out, that was our sign that a tooth was going to break through!  We could never see or feel anything (other than that bruse the day before) to warn us that it was going to happen.  Her attitude was the only sign and we've been experiencing that for almost 6 weeks!  She never got a runny nose, diareaha, white spots on her gums, swollen gums, etc.

 Almost a week later, it is STILL to small to capture on film camera, though.  We can see little white dots poking through, but they are very small and she likes to cover them up with her tongue.  They are there, though!  And you most definitely can feel them!  I had a talk with LL on her 7 month birthday, and I told her that her goals were to lean to crawl and to get a tooth this month.  She has accomplished both of those things with two weeks to spare!  I think that we are already teething again, though.  She has been mega fussy yesterday and today, not eating well, refusing to sleep, and just overall irritated.  That is not my baby! 

Hopefully this next tooth will come through sooner than the last one, and hopefully I'll be able to get a picture of it soon!


Sunday, September 20, 2009

We have a CRAWLER!!!!

After weeks and weeks of practice, we now officially have a crawling baby! Thursday I left work to find a text on my phone from Matt that said, "Our baby is mobile!" That morning LL had crawled from across the living room at Grammy's house all the way to Grammy in the recliner. Of course, I tried and tried to get her to crawl that evening - but did she do it? No! I wasn't surprised, though, as evening is not her best time of day. Mornings are, though, so we tried again Friday morning and she did it! I've been trying to get it on video ever since, and I finally got a good one of her crawling about 6:30 this morning.



I'm so proud of her! She's still pretty wobbly. She'll crawl a step or two, and fall on her tummy. Then she'll get back up and go again. And when she knows that she's within reach of what she wants, she'll stop crawling and plop on her tummy and reach for whatever it is that she's after. From Friday to today she has gotten so much better! She's been crawling all day today!



I had to go to Wal-Mart today, so I went ahead and got some baby-proofing stuff that I knew that we'd need. I got some electrical socket covers and some little spring loaded latches so that she can't open cabinets on her own. Eventually we'll probably need some door knob covers, but we're no where near that yet. I'll have to do some more baby proofing that this, but I think it's pretty sufficient for now.


We're in for some pretty tiring days chasing after a mobile 7 month old - but I'm so excited about it. Here is a video of her crawling!



7 (and a half) month pictures!

Our first year photo plan was (and really still is) to get professional pictures taken of Lorelai at 1, 3, 6, 9, and 12 months old. We've kept that schedule but, for some reason or another, have ended up having professional pictures of her taken at 1, 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7 months! Gino did our 1 and 5 month pictures, Gentry took our 4 and 7 month pictures, and we've taken LL to Portrait Innovations for her 3 and 6 month pictures. I have not planned anything out other than our original photo plan, but I like that it is happening like this!

Gentry was in town this weekend and had some new backdrops that she wanted to try out on LL - fine with me! It wasn't a big photo shoot by any stretch of the imagination, but she got some good shots out of it! Here are my personal favorites:












Saturday, September 12, 2009

7 months!

Well, another month has gone by. They just seem to go by quicker and quicker! I know that, especially with the holidays coming up, time is going to start going by even faster. It's hard to believe that at this time last year, I barely had a little baby bump and Matt and I were finding out that we were having a little girl! In a year, we've gone from a tiny baby bump to a little girl who is almost crawling! Here is a look at the new developments that have occurred in the last month:

1- I think the biggest thing is, Lorelai now has a cousin! Benjamin Charles Marotta is here! LL has gone from being a only grandchild to having to share the spotlight. He is so precious and she did so well with him when we went up to see them. I think they are going to get along just great! They are almost exactly 6 months to the day apart (6 months and 5 days, to be exact). Pretty soon, that little 6 months won't make a difference at all!



2- LL's eating is definitely starting to change. She is eating three solid meals a day (6, 11:30, and 6) and now she is starting to get some snacks in between. We bought her a mesh feeder at the beginning of August and she's really starting to get the hang of it. She usually eats two snacks a day. One in between breakfast and lunch and one in between lunch and dinner. She doesn't always get two and she's fine if she doesn't get any. She usually will eat a slice of peach, some banana, a strawberry, or occasionally a pickle. As surprising as it is, she LOVES pickles! We don't give them to her often because of all of the salt, etc., but we do give it to her about once a week because she likes them so much. We've also bought the little banana puffs and the yogurt melts and she's been learning to chew some disolvable foods like that. I like them because she can practice chewing and eating solid food, but it would be very hard for her to choke because they literally melt in your mouth. She's still eating between 22 and 26 oz a day, but our feedings have gone down from 6 to 5. She has weened herself off of her after bath feeding and after her bath she goes straight to bed. We still do a dream feed with her, and I think we'll hang on to it for another couple of months because it's going very well. Here is a video of her first time eating a pickle in her mesh feeder!

3- Her hair is growing! I know that it is still pretty hard to tell from pictures, but it really is growing! It still is growing mostly in a straight line on top, so she is looking more and more like she has a Mohawk. :) I have noticed it growing a lot around the crown of her head, too. Her bald spot is starting to fill in, but it is going just as slowly as the sides of her head. I can now put just about any bow in her hair, but I can't wait until I can start putting her hair into little pigtails!
3- Sitting up. LL is now officially classified as an unsupported sitter! This means that she now can sit straight up with no leaning and with no one helping her! I like this SOOO much because it is such a help! I can put her down and put her on the floor if I need to do something, but she doesn't have to lay down. One of our favorite things to do is to put a blanket on the floor, dump her toys out of her basket, and just let her sit and play with whatever she wants. She loves it, too! This also means that we can put her in things like restaurant high chairs and grocery carts. We just bought a little cover for all of those things to keep the germs away from her. Like with everything, there is good with bad. Lorelai has also figured out how to go from laying down to sitting up. She goes from her tummy to her knees and from her knees to her hiney. We put her down for a nap the other day and we went in to check on her and she was sitting up in her crib playing with her blankets! We've already lowered her crib to the next setting and I think it is a good thing because she's also learning to pull up on stuff now! Here is a video of LL sitting contently in front of her basket and playing with her toys!


4- Mad face. When she was going through a really rough teething week, Lorelai started her "mad face" and she still does it every once in awhile. I don't really know if she's "mad" when she does it because sometimes she does it when she is content and playing. But sometimes it really fits the situation. Either way, she closes her mouth, crinkles her nose, and breathes really heavy through her nose. It is so funny and makes us laugh every time. Here is a video of her doing it!
5 - Belly laugh. She finally has gotten what I call her "belly laugh"! When she first started laughing, was just a little chuckle. Then, it turned into a giggle. Now, she'll laugh so hard that she squeals and can't breathe. I LOVE it and think that it is adorable!
6- Crawling. She isn't crawling yet, but she is SO CLOSE! I really think that it will be any day! She's trying as hard as she can. She can get on her hands and knees and she can rock back and forth. She can also go backwards. And she can even move one hand and one knee forward. But then she falls. So we're not there yet, but we are trying! This is a video of her trying to crawl, and this is another one!
7- She has learned to play Peek-A-Boo! If we throw a blanket over her head and say "Where did she go?!" Lorelai will yank the blanket off of her head. Then we say "Peek-A-Boo" or "There she is!" when she pulls it off and she starts laughing. The funny thing is, sometimes she'll laugh BEFORE she gets the blanket off of her head because she knows what will happen. It is so cute! Of course, I have a video of it!
8- We still don't have any teeth yet! We went through a really bad week of teething, and I thought FOR SURE that we would get one, but we didn't. I have no clue when we will get one, but I'm okay with her still being a toothless roofus! Maybe next month!
9- Blue eyes! They're still here! I think that they are going to stay! With her now being 7 months, and them still being SO light blue, I don't think there is any way that they are going to change! I never thought that we would end up with a blue-eyed baby, but I think that her eyes are SO gorgeous. I think other people do, too, because it is one of the most commented on things when people see her. Yay for dark hair and blue eyes!



10- Last but not least, we have our ears pierced! I took her on her 7 month birthday to get them done and they are adorable! I'm so glad that I decided to do it!

This has been a really exciting month with a lot of changes and I can't wait to see where we are next month!

Mini-Me

More like.....Mini-Matt! Just a few quick pictures to show how much I think Lorelai looks like her daddy! In my opinion, she is all her daddy with her mommy's eyes and chin thrown in!





Monday, September 7, 2009

A day at the park

Since Matt and I both had the day off for Labor Day, we decided that we wanted to wake up and take Lorelai to the park! We have talked about taking her to the park a TON, but we've never actually done it. The closest we've gotten is playing on the swing set in my Dad's yard. Of course, LL was off her schedule and napping at crazy times (she had been hard-core teething) and I wasn't feeling so great (I was extremely nauseous the night before and had taken a some medicine, so I was still very very sleepy), but we decided to go anyway. LL was pretty tired and ready for a nap by the time we got there, but she did great anyway!


We got there about 9:45 so there were not a lot of people there at all. We went to McKey park right next to VMS. There were only about 3 other kids when we got there, so we pretty much had the place to ourselves.
I really like for LL to spend time outside. I think it is VERY important for kids to be outside as much as possible. Unfortunately, she doesn't get to do it very often because it is so stinkin' hot here and we don't have any shade trees in our yard. She loved being at the park! She just looked around and studied everything!

Here's a video of her going down the slide with daddy: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AXIlSN9Jf9c

We rode down slides (I put my feet down this time!) and played in the swing. She really loved the swing! She wasn't really smiling a lot because she was so tired and there was so much to look at, but we could really tell that she enjoyed it. Around 10:30 it started to get really crowded, so we took a break at a picnic and gave LL some water to drink and fed her a snack (some banana puffs and some strawberry yogurt melts). She just drank her water, ate her snack, and watched other kids play. It was so sweet! Here is a video of her swinging: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iLcfe77WJ_8










I had seen some pictures that Emily had posted of Kye at the park in their neighborhood that looked just like this, so we decided to try it. They didn't turn out nearly as good as the ones of Kye doing the same thing, but at least we tried!






Here's a video of her going down the slide with mommy: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ALJGA4M0Gik





After we played at the park, we walked over to the little bridge and took some pictures there, and then we headed home. She had a good time and I can't wait to take her back when she's a little more awake and ready to play!





Earrings, Pickles, and Play Time

On Lorelai's 7 month birthday, I decided that it would be great to celebrate it by getting her ears pierced! I didn't get my ears pierced until I was 8 or so and I had a HORRIBLE time with it. I thought it hurt so bad I was dying, I took them out early and they grew over, they were crooked, etc. I think I had to get them pierced 2 or 3 times. Ever since we found out we were having a girl, I've been debating on when I would (or IF I would) get her ears pierced or if I would wait and let her make that decision on her own later. I even talked to her pedi about it at her 3 month appointment, and she suggested waiting, but that LL had all of the shots that we needed if we did decide to do it.

After much talking about it to Matt, thinking about it, and talking to people I know who pierced their little girls' ears, I decided that I wanted to go through with it. I also waited for this weekend because it was Labor Day weekend and I knew that I would be home an extra day to stay with her if she was having a hard time with them.


Waiting in the store!
Matt had already made plans to go dove hunting with his brother, so I asked my mom to come along with me. Mom had told me a long time ago that if I did decide to get LL's ears pierced, that she wanted to go and she wanted to pay for it. She was excited, too! The closer we got, the more nervous I got. I just kept feeling like I was CHOOSING to do something that would hurt my daughter and that was HARD for me. I finally had to just think that she would probably get this done anyway, and at least I could do it now when she wouldn't remember it and when I could take care of all of the cleaning stuff for her. And she couldn't mess with them and take them out like I did.

We picked just some little white gold balls to go in. I didn't want anything gaudy or anything and I felt like this was just a good choice. Cute, but not inappropriate for a baby. I also didn't want anything with any sharp edges that could scratch her face. They have to stay in for 6 weeks (I don't even want to THINK about changing them) and she has to wear posts for 6 months - uh - duh, would I put hoops on my baby?!


Overall she did really great. She did cry while the lady was doing it, but I really think that it was mostly because I had to hold one arm over her arms to keep them down, and one arm over her head to hold her head still. She did NOT like that and she even cried before the girl got started. As soon as the girl was done, I picked LL up and walked out of the store and left mom to handle everything. Once we were out of the store, she calmed down, quit crying, and she hasn't even noticed them since!

After we finished at the mall, mom and I picked up Firehouse and headed back to her house because it was nap time for LL. She ate her lunch (cereal and peas!) and then chomped on a pickle while we ate our subs. You can really see her earrings in some of these pictures!



All of that purple around her ear is not bruising, it is the marker from where the girl put dots for LL's earrings. It has all since washed off!


After she woke up from her nap, I tried to take some pictures of her earrings after she ate, and I got some really funny pictures!






Overall, I feel like I made a really good decision in getting her ears pierced this early, and I think she'll be happy about it later!