Cherishing the Moments: January 2011

Where did the time go... I feel like I was just blogging about Addison turning 6 months.. and here we are at 7 months already!! She is already over half a year old!! My mom said the other day "Watch out.. you will blink and She will be all grown up, that's how fast it goes!!" I believe she is right! 7 months ago.. I was holding our little infant, who couldn't talk, sit up, roll around, play with her toys, do anything! and NOW.. she is turning more and more into a child rather than an infant! Wishing I could soo badly keep her little, wanting and needing me.. but then excited with all of her milestones!! Stephen comments all the time on how much Addison always wants "Mommy" but I constantly remind him, maybe now... but there will be a day, when our little girl, will be a 100% Daddy's girl and "MOMMY" wont be soo important... lol! What is it about daddy's and their daughters!? But being a daughter myself and definitely being a DADDY'S Girl!! I hold onto the fact that my daughter even though she will LOVE her Daddy will always need me, bc I know I ALWAYS NEED my MOM!! ....I always need my Dad too!)

Our little girl... is soo vibrant and full of life, she has brought such joy to our lives! When she laughs, I swear my heart could burst with all the love I feel! She is growing in leaps and bounds.. such a curious little girl, yet shy at the same time! IT cracks me up!! One minute she is just jabbering away and the next minute, someone tries to talk to her and she is burying her head in our shoulders.. That is definitely NOT from me!! I dont think I was ever a SHY child!!

She has recently discovered how to clap!!! Super cute! She doesn't clap on command, so I doubt she knows she is clapping, but when she gets excited she will start clapping and its super cute to watch. She has also recently discovered GA!! She LOVES GA!!! She will sit and just stare at her and laugh hysterically! GA has really no clue what to do with her! Stephen and I do think GA understands she is a baby, bc GA is super gentle with her and will just walk by and give her a kiss on the head! They are quite a pair! I have no doubt that given time they will be Best Friends!!

Not sure what is going on, but I was unable to attach the video, so just click on the link...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZcMFSOcpwP4

Addison has also recently decided that sleeping on her side is a lot more comfortable!! Im not surprised by this, as my mom and I are both side sleepers, however its super cute to see. Addison will start off on her back, roll to her side and then come morning she will roll to her stomach and talk until you come and get her. It kind of freaked me out at first, as I worried about blankets and should I still give her one, but my pediatrician, said as long as it wasn't a big heavy one, at this point in the game, Addison would be fine!! Funny how my 7 month old still likes to be SWADDLED!! Its what calms her down and helps her relax for bed! I asked my Pediatrician if this was something I should stop, but she said if its what Addison preferred there was no reason to stop!! sooo still swaddling at 7 months!! Another crazy thing that Addison has started to do is "TALK in her SLEEP"!!! She does this all night long! At first I would check on her a million times, thinking she was up, but every time I went in there she was sound a sleep, I have gotten used to it and NOW when she doesn't talk in her sleep, I tend to wake up wondering if she is OK!! LOL!! She has also finally figured out how to put her paci back in her mouth the right way.. without fumbling around with it. Its cute to watch her pick it up and put it back in (Such a Big Girl)!

Peek-a-boo has become the new favorite game.. playing it over and over, anything she can put over her face she will.. I will look over and she has her bib a book, blankets, clothes anything she can find, will be over her face and she will be laughing and kicking her legs until I come over and say Peek-A-BOO !! she loves it and we play it over and over!!

We have also discovered how to roll on our changing table!! NOT MY FAVORITE THING!! Getting dressed now or changing her diaper is a major challenge, she forever wants to roll over, so trying to keep her still, so that I can just pull up her pants or close the diaper... I also have a shelf with pegs on it that hangs above her changing table, well I would always hang her Pjs on the 1 peg closest to the changing table... someone now likes to try to grab the Pjs off the peg!! sooo I spend the whole time, trying to keep her from rolling over or pulling off the Pjs or whatever is hanging there just to get dressed or changed!! LOL!! WE are just soo curious!!

We are still eating our solids and LOVING THEM!! Who would have known my child would love solids this much!! Taking a bottle is such a challenge, it has been wonderful to feed her solids and know that she wants them and practically screams (not mad) just yells, when Im not feeding her fast enough!! We have now tried, Oatmeal, Rice, Bananas, Applesauce, Pears, Peaches, Peas, Green beans and squash! She LOVES her RICE and hates her Oatmeal!! She did not enjoy Green beans and it was quite funny to watch! She did better after a couple of days, but the first day or 2 was pretty funny! however, she LOVED her peas!! We are currently in the process of switching Formula and for New Moms, I don't advise this!! I did 1 week of 2 to 1 ratio and then this week we went to 2 to 1 ratio the other way and well, it didn't go to hot! Poor thing, it made her feel miserable, (I think it gave her a lot of gas) and for 2 days she didn't sleep during the day at all!! I would pick her up from daycare and she looked like she got run over.. eyes puffy and red! I felt horrible for her! Luckily she feel asleep early and slept really good at night! I think she is finally adjusting, as she is now back on track with naps and seems a lot happier!! This will be the one and only time I change formula, but for the sack of money, we needed to switch!!

All in all she is doing great! and we couldn't have asked for a better baby! She still sleeps about 4 hrs a day.....a nap from 9-10am, another nap from 11:30/12 until 12:30/1pm, (sometimes deciding to move her longer nap to then and will then sleep until 2:30ish).. And her final nap from 2:30-5pm. She has always been a great night sleeper (knock on wood) going down around 7:50/8pm and sleeping until 6:45am, with the occasional wake up in the middle of the night!

Crazy to think that our little girl is 6 months old.... Celebrating on Christmas Eve! Where has the time gone....?? I was recently just looking back over her new born pictures. That moment that they laid her in my arms, will forever be ingrained in my heart! I mentioned to a friend recently, "You could take a million pictures of your child.... but those first pictures.. when your baby is laid in your arms, those moments... is the most precious gift given.. those are the best pictures! What an Awesome God we have!" There are no words to describe it!

This last month flew by for us... probably due to Christmas. However, each week it was like Addison was accomplishing something new! Very exciting, yet... sad that our baby is growing up!!

Addison had her 6 month apt today! She weighed in at 14 pounds 12 oz (30th percentile) and 27 in. long (85th percentile) We are thinking she might be tall! She had 3 shots at her apt... and surprisingly they went better than expected! She has officially transitioned into 3-6 month clothing.. no longer fitting in to any of her 0-3 month clothing and has also moved into Stage 2 diapers..... I Cant believe how BIG she is getting!!!

So to recap this past month...Addison has:

1. Learned to say DaDa...lol! She repeats it over and over and over... I now tell Stephen on Sat mornings, that she is calling for him.. I don't think he finds it very funny!! (23 wks)
2. Learned to roll completely over from front to back and back to front.... lol.. for a while there she could only roll to the left.. however, she has a couple times rolled now to the right.. so Im thinking she is figuring it out, she just prefers to roll to the left. (24 wks)
3. Reaches for you! Such a sweet thing.... It started off as, just stretching her arms out and you knew she was saying pick me up!! But now, if someone is holding her and she wants to go to someone else, she will reach for you! (25 wks)
4. She is learning to sit up with out support. Now... she will still topple over eventually and she cant get to a sitting position on her own.. however, you can put her down sitting up and she can support herself for quite a while!! She just looks like such a little grown up, sitting there!! (26-27 wks)
5. In Celebration of marking 6 months we started solids!! We had our First Rice Cereal with Apple Juice the day after Christmas!! All I can say is... it was wonderful to feed her the solids and have her love it!! She was a natural at it!! Feeding her a bottle is a serious war! Addison, I would say, does NOT enjoy her bottle!! OH!! She acts like she wants it, but after 2 oz.. she doesn't want anymore and its a pure out fight to get her to eat!! "I have a snacker" and let me just say... I dont believe in SNACKING!!!! Since then we have tried, bananas and Oatmeal...lol.. she definitely likes her Rice over the Oatmeal.. however, she does eat it!! (26 wks)

All in all Addison fills our house with such delight... telling us lots of stories!! She definitely is a talker! Even today at the Pediatricians office the receptionist when I was checking out said..."does your baby always talk this much??" I definitely had to laugh.

We had a wonderful Christmas with my parents and family! such a special time as we Celebrated with Addison for her First Christmas! ( I think she will appreciate it more next year... this year ... she thought all the gifts were to be chewed on..lol) She received an activity Jumperoo from my brother for Christmas.. and loves it!! I feel guilty taking her out of it....Such a delight to see your child squealing with laughter!