Weekly Natalie - Week 30

Being a stay-at-home mom is great. Except when you're sick. You can't take a sick day and your boss still expects you to be at your best. Seven-month-old bosses are so demanding.

But thankfully, Natalie's been fairly easygoing since I've been sick. Her unswaddled nap times are still hard, but at least she's fairly pleasant the rest of the time.

Unswaddled nap time success!

These next two are for my mom, who thinks there are not many things cuter than a denim jumper. And put that denim jumper on her granddaughter, and whoa - the cuteness level goes through the roof.
See?

Operation GNTGTSFLPOTWNTBS

I think we have a success! So far, Operation GNTGTSFLPOTWNTBS has been going really well. For the past two unswaddled nights, she's only woken up once - which is how often she was getting up while swaddled. Her naps have been a little harder, but still, nothing too terribly bad. She fusses for a bit and then finally falls asleep. And again, I've set a limit of five minutes. If she cries for more than five minutes, I go get her and try to soothe her back to sleep.

And another benefit of Nat not needing to be swaddled is that she gets to wear her cute little sleepers. Footie pajamas are sweet!

Wish us luck ...

Operation Get-Natalie-To-Go-To-Sleep-For-Long-Periods-Of-Time-Without-Needing-To-Be-Swaddled (say THAT five times fast) is on!

We've swaddled Natalie at night since she was born. I'm convinced that it helped her sleep better and longer in those early days and weeks.

And we still swaddle her because she has a hard time sleeping without it. Not how like a child can't go to sleep without his/her favorite teddy bear; Natalie has a hard time sleeping without being swaddled because her spazzy arms flail about and she wakes herself up. Crying.

So we kept on swaddling her, because even though she ninjas herself out of the swaddle 9 times out of 10, she at least starts off swaddled. And just that little bit of her arms not being able to flail around is enough to get her to fall asleep.

But because Natalie is physically unable to remain still for even one nanosecond, she flips and flops around while swaddled. And it's not the best thing for a swaddled baby to flip over to her stomach because she might not be able to flip back over on her back.

We've tried not swaddling her before but it always turned out terribly (getting up 3, 4, or 5 times in the middle of the night). But I spoke with a friend who had the same problem and she recommended sticking with it for her naps and at night for at least two days. She said it was tough, but by the 3rd day, her daughter slept great unswaddled.

So today is the first day of Operation GNTGTSFLPOTWNTBS. Her morning nap was a slight flop. I put her down at 8am (around the normal time). She sang, babbled, grunted, and fussed in her crib for about 20 minutes before Lee got her. I tried to put her back down at 10:30am and she immediately started crying. I fed her a little bit more and she finally fell asleep at around 11am. She slept until 1pm, but of course that threw off her schedule for her afternoon nap (which she usually takes around 1pm).

And tonight, her arms were quite flail-y while I was feeding her, but after about 15 minutes, she started looking drowsy. I put her in her crib ... and in true Natalie form, she was on her back for a nanosecond (what's shorter than a nanosecond? A micro-nanosecond?) and immediately began squirming around and rolling over. So much for that whole 'looking drowsy' thing. I guess her new-found freedom of being unswaddled in her crib was extremely exciting.

I'm not at all a fan of letting babies cry it out. But because Natalie seems to be fussier than the average baby, I don't immediately come running when I hear her fuss in her crib. Sometimes she's not even awake when she's fussing. I have my limit though. If she fusses for more than five minutes, I go get her. It wrenches my heart out to let her cry longer than that.

Like just now, she fussed in her crib for about four minutes. And now I don't hear a peep. (Cue the Hallelujah Chorus).

Perhaps we shouldn't have started Operation GNTGTSFLPOTWNTBS while Natalie is teething, because that's been adding an extra level or two of fussiness on top of her already normal fussiness. I guess Lee and I are just gluttons for punishment.

Please work, Operation GNTGTSFLPOTWNTBS. Pretty please. With sugar on top.

She's on the Move!

I don't think this classifies as crawling yet, but she's definitely moving!

Weekly Natalie - Week 29

We had two firsts this week! We took Natalie to the beach for the first time on Sunday evening. Our church had a beach baptism and we thought it'd be fun to take Natalie. However, just because something seems fun doesn't automatically make it fun. First beach trip = FAIL. (Please don't think we tortured Natalie for an extensive amount of time - all of these pictures were taken in the span of about three minutes)

Gorgeous Pensacola Beach

Not quite sure what to make of the water and the waves
Here it comes

You can't see her face in this picture, but trust me. It's not a happy one.

Still crying ...

A cute daddy/Natty moment, except for the fact that she's crying hysterically

At least one person in the picture is having a good time

Yep, still crying.

The waterworks continue

Besides the people getting baptized, the coolest part was that the Blue Angels did a flyover right by us! We missed their recent show, so it was really great to see them. Hey Blue Angels - you're AWESOME.

Woosh!

Happier!

Sea oats are so pretty

The other first for Natalie was a trip to the zoo. We met up with some good friends and wandered around the zoo for an hour or so. It was late in the day, so it wasn't too terribly hot. Nat did great! I had her in the sling the whole time and she hardly made a peep. Zoo trip = SUCCESS.

Big fat pig

This picture is one of my favorites!

Silly monkey

One of my favorites. I love these guys.

Yeah. I'm getting mooned by the little one. Not cool, baby orangutan. Not cool.

The gorilla-less gorilla playground.

I think Nat looks like John Lennon in those sunglasses

This guy looks like he's about to attack me

Pile o' gators

Really grumpy leopard

The picture didn't turn out great, but those three blobs are a family of monkeys

Hello, lovely.

For some other random Nat shots

She's been doing this with her tongue a lot

And she's been doing this with her mouth a lot

Chillin' on Daddy

Cake Wrecks

How on EARTH am I supposed to do laundry and dishes when there's a website like http://www.cakewrecks.com/ out there?!

Oh my gosh ... I'm worried my incessant giggling is going to wake up Natalie from her much-needed nap.

(Hey Rae - have you seen any of these at weddings you've been to??)

Weekly Natalie - Week 28

Nataroo's been super fussy this week, but we think she's teething - which would explain her not sleeping well and not eating well. I wish this first tooth would hurry up and pop through!

showing support for Uncle Mike's team

this onesie makes us laugh

Food #2

Avocado = winner!

I think the texture weirded her out a bit since it's thicker than the squash, but she ate almost half of the avocado.

In the baby food book I have (thanks, Jess!), it mentions someone saying that people might be able to live on avocado alone. Interesting ...

I'm also giving her some water in between bites of food and she seems to like that. Her pediatrician recommended that I give her water in a non-spillproof sippy cup (as opposed to a bottle). I didn't think it'd be that hard to find a non-spillproof sippy cup, but apparently they don't exist. Even the cheapo ones at Big Lots were spillproof. So I bought the cheapest spillproof one I could find - and it sort of does the trick. But it's not great. Grr ...

Babyproofing

I fear that we are within mere days of a certain chubby-cheeked munchkin being mobile. If she could just figure out how to move her arms at the same time she moves her legs, she'd be off. You can tell she got places to go and people to see.

But have we babyproofed our house?

Not a single bit.

Whoops.

Weekly Natalie - Week 27

(she's sporting a mohawk in all of these pictures ... when the majority of your hair is in the middle of your head, and when you have silly parents, a mohawk is just inevitable ...)

Right before her first experience with squash

Ha!
Diggin' (or at least tolerating) the squash
Checking out what she's dropped on her bib
Happy squash eater
I think this was a cough/yawn.
This baby has a seriously large mouth. Post bathtime smile
Sweet little mohawked angel-face

Squash = Winner!

Natalie had her first 'real' food today - butternut squash. Survey says ... we have a winner! The first bite weirded her out a little bit, but she seemed to dig it after that. (I post the pictures tomorrow)

I'm attempting to make all (or at least most) of Nat's food. I think I'd feel better if I knew exactly what she was eating, and by making it myself, I know that there won't be any extra chemicals or preservatives.

The butternut squash was a cinch to do. I halved it, scooped out the icky squash guts, baked it flesh-side-down for an hour, then beat the heck out of it with my hand mixer. I was able to fill one and a half ice trays with one squash. I think that's about a week and a half's worth of veggies. Pretty economical.

I think I'm going to try sweet potato next. Though I'm not sure how hard it'll be to get it smooth with all the fibers it has.

Latest Stats

We just got back from Natalie's six-month checkup and here are her stats:

Weight: 17lbs, 2oz (75th percentile!!)
Height: 26.75" (90th percentile) (it's crazy to think that she's grown over half a foot since she's been born)
Head circumference: I don't remember what it was - but it's the 95th percentile! That's just one more trait that Nat inheirited from Lee. Haha!

At her four-month checkup, she was in the 40th percentile for weight. And now she's in the 75th! Hooray for leg chubs!

Weekly Natalie - Week 26

in her highchair/booster seat for the first time

more interested in the light than the camera
Daddy/Nattie playtime

trying to sit up by herself

right before she face-planted into my leg

June 2009 - Recap

Oh, sweet June. How we loved you. You brought back our sweet, smiley, good sleeping baby.

There are so many high points from this month (that's the good thing about having a bad month like May - any small good thing, such as not crying for five whole minutes - is a huge improvement). Always remember that, Nataroo - the good thing about bad days is that they eventually end. Your dad is great at remembering that; I, on the other hand, have a very hard time remembering that. We balance each other out like that.

High points:

• You met your Aunt Lisa, Uncle Rich, and cousins Draigen and Taylor this month. They moved to California when I was pregnant with you, so they never got the chance to see you in person before they left. They love you so much, and it was so wonderful to spend a week with them.
• You got dedicated at church this month. It was such a special day. Gramma Lu and Granddaddy came. Auntie Karen drove in from Panama City. Uncle Rich, Aunt Lisa, and Taylor were there. Nana came. Uncle Rich's parents (Paw-Paw-In-Law and Grandma-in-Law!) came. And three of my best friends came. So many people love you, little one. It does Daddy's and my heart so good to know that you're surrounded by loving and thoughtful friends and family. And you didn't throw up on Pastor John - that ALSO does our hearts good!
• You've been very giggly this month. It's awesome. Aunt Lisa got some pretty good laughs out of you while she was here. And Daddy and I did, too - finally!! Our cheeks hurt from smiling and laughing so long. You are the cutest thing ever when you smile (you're the cutest thing ever ANYway, but when you smile - wow. The level of cuteness is quite astounding)
• You've set yourself a pretty wonderful nap schedule. You wake up anywhere between 6am and 7am and take a long nap about 2 hours after you get up. Sometimes I take a nap, sometimes I do laundry, sometimes I watch the goofy TV shows that I DVR'd that Daddy doesn't want to watch with me. Your afternoon nap varies a little more. You take that one anywhere between 1pm and 4pm. Sometimes it lasts for an hour, sometimes it's 2 hours.
• And speaking of sleeping ... you've been sleeping at night like a CHAMP. On a number of occasions, you've slept straight through the night. We put you to bed between 8:30pm and 9pm and you've slept until 6:30 or 7am. Woo hoo! There were several nights you got up in the middle of the night to eat, but that's not bad either. I feed you for only 10 minutes, then put you straight back to bed.
• You're getting good at sitting up! You still need to hold on to our fingers in order for you to sit straight up, but you're able to support yourself for a few seconds without us. It's really amazing to watch - it's like we can see your thought process on how to support yourself.
• You got in a swimming pool for the first time this month. You seem to be really annoyed by bathtime, so we were expecting the worst when we put you in the pool. And you didn't disappoint! You screamed like you had been stuck with a hot poker. Daddy held you the entire time and slowwwwwwly put your feet back in the water. He waited for a minute or so, then went a bit deeper until your knees were in the water. He waited a bit more and then went until the water was around your waist. All the while, you had this look like "Um, excuse me? What are you doing? This is WATER. Remember that I HATE water?" You didn't look thrilled. But at least you weren't crying anymore. And surprisingly, it only took a few more minutes before you smiled! Maybe this water thing isn't so bad,
  huh?
• Father's Day Craft Project. So I guess I should have followed the directions on the back of the box that said "Wait until child is asleep to put his/her hand or foot into the plaster to make a mold". Because I didn't. And the mangled mess of hardened plaster (that bore only a vague resemblance of a foot) that I gave Daddy for Father's Day is proof. But Daddy, being the wonderful man he is, said that he loved it. And he's got it sitting on his bedside table.

Low points:

• The heat. Oh. My. Gosh. I'm so sorry, baby girl. You were born to two sweaty parents. So you had no choice but to be a sweaty baby. And thanks to this blistering heat, we've gotten to see just how sweaty the entire city is. I would love to take you outside more - we have a swing in the backyard ready for you, but it's so incredibly miserable outside that all I want to do is go from one air-conditioned building to another. So that's what we've been doing. Instead of taking walks around the neighborhood or going to the park, we go to the mall. And TJMaxx. And Kohl's. And pretty much any other place that has air conditioning.
• My lactation consultant told me about something that perfectly describes you: A Fire-Alarm Personality. A fire alarm goes off whether there's burned toast in the toaster or if the entire house is engulfed in flames. Similarly, you cry hysterically whether you're a tiny bit hungry or if a tiger just bit off your leg (obviously that hasn't happened, but I assume that's how you would sound). Daddy and I have a hard time figuring out what's wrong when you cry like that.
• Poop. I won't go into too much detail with this one, but I will say this: now that you're older, you don't have a lot of, um, waste. And now that we've added in rice cereal, it means that what waste you DO have is easily backed up. So yeah. You don't go very often. Which is great in terms of cleaning off cloth diapers, but it means that we have to endure days and days of you grunting. But your pediatrician said not to worry unless it's been over a week. Yikes.

Little love, this has been such a fun month. You've been so playful and so gloriously smiley. It's like you're a little person now! (Not that you weren't a person for your first six months, but this age is SO much more fun). I love watching you interact with people. You smile at strangers (you've cried at some, too, but we won't go into that).

You and Daddy have your own games you play and own songs you sing. You won't understand this until you've experienced it yourself, but watching you and Daddy play makes me fall in love with him all over again. He is the best daddy in the world. You are his Babydoll.

(And you're my Boo Boo)

Hugs and smooches,
Mommy & Daddy