6 Month Stats

Miss E went to the pediatrician on Friday for her 6 month well child check and here are her stats:

Weight: 19 pounds 5 ounces (91%)

Length: 29 inches (99%)

Head Circumference: 17 3/4 inches (95%)

So our little girl is not so little. One more inch and she actually is the length of her car seat. Darn. One more thing we need to get. Just for comparison sake, I thought I would include my stats when I was 6 months old.

Weight: 19 pounds 3 ounces

Length: 27 inches

So as you can see, I was no small child. I was shorter than her and weighed just slightly less. Like I've said before, she didn't have a chance to be petite. :)

We survived!

So in update to my last post, Miss Elliott did AWESOME on our flight! We made it through security with our amoxicillin and liquid benadryl without any problems (I was slightly concerned about this, but they didn't even ask to see our doctor's note). I nursed her on take-off and she didn't act like it bothered her ears one bit. Nursing her made her fall into a milk coma. Did I mention I also gave her Benadryl pre-flight? Wow, really love the benadryl!

She woke up mid flight but was content to play her toys and really wanted to see what was is the seat back pocket. Probably not the cleanest place ever.

We ate at Chili's in Chicago and she was a big fan of my straw and plate. Amazing how much faster I eat while holding a child.

On landing, I just gave her her sippy cup and her ears didn't seem to give her any problems. I nursed her on take-off again for our second flight, but in retrospect, it probably wasn't necessary because the flight was so quick. On the way home, I did things very similar and she did awesome. She is in her pajamas in this picture because our flight to OKC left at 5:30am. Not fun! We set our alarm for 3:45 but Miss E actually woke up at 2. Needless to say, we were all in a complete fog and definitely ready to be home.

She did have 2 blowout diapers in the airport (once getting poop all the way up to her collar), and she had 1 blowout diaper mid flight. Thankfully the flight wasn't full so Kev changed her diaper on the empty seat behind us. Oh the fun adventures with a baby!

Hands down, worst part about flying with a baby was the layovers. I think if you had a direct flight it wouldn't be bad, but it's a lot to expect a baby to sit in a 2+ hour flight then sit in an airport for 3 & 1/2 hours then another hour flight. My whole body was exhausted from carrying her around the airport, keeping her entertained, etc. Who needs to work out when your baby weighs over 19 pounds...seriously ridiculous.

We also spent some time at the mall,

ate at 5 Guys Burgers and Fries (some really delicious unhealthy food)

played in the hotel,

walked around town,

and met a new friend.

The stare down.

Okay, I guess we can be friends.

Overall, it was a great trip but I'm so thankful to be back in sunny Oklahoma!

Of course...

Guess who has a double ear infection?

That's right, this girl.

Really?? I know she doesn't look very sick.

She's had a runny nose a long time and started coughing on Friday. My mom took her to the doctor on Tuesday more because we are going out of town on tomorrow. No fever. Sleeping through the night. But they diagnosed her with a double ear infection. Her first round of antibiotics in her life and I've been giving her benadryl.

Tomorrow she is taking her first flight. Worse.possible.time.ever. I guess we'll see how it goes.

More baby food

So I thought I would give an update on my baby food endeavor. My baby food making has slowed way down for several reasons. First, I have already made all of the "easy," seasonal food, and second, I've just been busy...or lazy (sometimes the line blurs between the two).

I thought I would share several observations. I tried green beans because I thought, "How difficult can they be?" I bought frozen organic green beans from the health food store since there aren't very many fresh green beans in the stores these days. I read on several websites and my books that they can be difficult to puree so you're supposed to plunge them in cold water as soon as there done (no idea what this does), then they said a blender works better than a food processor. I'm a rule follower so of course I followed all the instructions to a "t" and what we ended up with was a big fail. I could never get them to adequately puree even though I used our blender and our food processor. I actually broke our blender in the attempt. Sadness.

I must admit I was slightly disappointed by my first baby food making failure. I knew it was bound to come, but I didn't think it would come with green beans. I'm thinking I will attempt them again, and maybe cook them longer??? I think maybe I cooked them how I like to eat them and they weren't soft enough to puree. Maybe I'll try a smaller quantity as well (I tried 3 bags...overachiever). Any thoughts? I also decided to not attempt peas because all the books said they were difficult to puree as well and I decided I would buy some peas for her to try instead. Side note...those peas are surprisingly disgusting. I mean, who would really like those things? I mixed them with sweet potatoes and she tolerated them.

I am making carrots as we speak. I'm wondering if anyone has tried making apricots. It seems kind of crazy to make baby food out of dried fruit but that's what I read. I also figure I'll wait on making any plums, peaches, nectarines, etc until they are more in season. Any suggestions?

6 Months

Where is the time going? I know I say this literally every month, but wow, does time fly when you have a baby! She is getting so big so fast, and it's so exciting and yet sad and frightening at the same time. Does that make any sense? Probably not, just humor me.

Here are her 6 month stats:

• Wearing all 6-9 month clothes, and I have started buying 12 month clothes for the spring. Speaking of spring, has anyone seen Target's spring clothes? Total cuteness and who can pass up clothes that are $15 or less? Amazing how fast "cute" clothes add up though. I did have to pack away all her 3-6 month clothes...you were with us so short, clothes.
• She still fits in size 3 diapers but I was given a box of size 4s which I have recently been putting her in for laughs and giggles to see if it affects the frequency of our blowouts. Jury is still out.
• She is still eating 5 times a day (I think I'm having a harder time of decreasing her number of feedings than she is) and takes at least 6 ounces from a bottle when I'm working. Can you say healthy eater?
• She started solids this month with one meal a day and has so far tried avocado, butternut squash, sweet potatoes, peas, rice cereal, and oat cereal. She was not really a fan of avocado and peas but tolerated everything else. I think her favorite things about eating are her cool bib and her spoon.
• She is also loving her sippy cup these days, but mainly just chews on it until we tip it up for her. She does love drinking a sip out of our glass. Just water, still haven't tried any juice.

• Still taking a nap in between every feeding with a short nap at night. I usually lay her down for a nap at 7 or 7:30 then wake her up at 8:30 to feed her then right back to bed.
• Sleeps great at night from 8:45 or so until 7. She is one happy baby in the morning and even if she wakes up earlier than 7 she just coos and talks to herself.
• She is staying awake anywhere between 1 &1/2 -2 hours when she wakes up. It's so nice she's able to stay awake a little longer, especially when I need to run errands.
• She LOVES to sit up these days and is more and more steady every day.
• She is definitely in the stage of putting EVERYTHING in her mouth...and she wants to get her hands on everything we have. It always makes me laugh because when I'm nursing her she always tries to grab my iPhone (which she sees out of the corner of her eye).
• She also loves to throw things on the ground. I always try to remind myself she's just discovering the wonder of gravity, instead of getting frustrated at having to pick the same toy up over and over...and over.
• She is so ticklish, and she loves to laugh!
• She loves to hear Daddy play the guitar and sing. We usually have family singing time at night.

You might notice the snot running down her face. She has had a perpetual runny nose for what feels like forever. One of her least favorite things is getting her nose wiped...torture in her books.

• She is really loving Truman these days. She smiles every time she sees him, and one of her new favorite games is when we "chase" him around. It's really a win win situation because Truman LOVES to be chased.
• She still loves to read books. Her favorite book is this ABC Orchestra book that I think is so boring. What are the chances?
• She rolls over some from her stomach to her back but hasn't rolled from her back to her stomach. Who knows when she'll ever crawl.
• She is such a chill, laid back baby. She really studies people and has started giving other people more smiles...especially guys...with facial hair. Hmmm...kind of an odd trend.
• She went to the church nursery several times this month and survived and didn't come home super sick. Win.
• Still no teeth...lots of drool and chewing on things.

Her 6 month doctor's appointment is not for several more weeks, so I'll do another post with her length and weight. We love our precious baby girl and feel so blessed to have her!

And it continues...

The snow that is. It just keeps snowing and snowing, and we are loving it! You can barely see the snow in this picture but it's there and it is beautiful.

Kev is going on his 4th snow day, and it has been AMAZING! I did have to go into work yesterday but was completely bored out of my mind because everyone cancelled their appointments. That's what I love about living in Oklahoma...life stops when it's snowing. People cancel their appointments (obviously they weren't feeling that bad), stores close, schools shut down, people completely buy out the grocery stores "just in case"...life as we know it ceases to be.

Our little snow "mountain" right outside our front door.

Kev says he loves snow days because it's carefree time off, so when you go back to work, you're not behind because everyone else was off too. I don't think this principle applies to teachers who have to make up snow days. I think that would make them feel bitter sweet. I love snow days because it is forced time inside together. No running errands, no trying to be productive...I feel totally okay with watching movies, taking the occasional nap, reading, making cookies and eating cookie dough, just hanging out. What more could you ask for?

We have spent lots and lots of time in our P.J.s.

Played with this girl and this guy a lot.

And just totally relaxed. Hmmm...she looks a little bored in this picture.

This is totally unrelated to snow days but I wanted to post this cute family pic from several weeks ago. Love it!

How do you spend your snow days? Do you get stir crazy? Do you try to be productive or just relax?