Blog | 2012
Ah, my favorite time of the year is finally here: autumn! The temperatures are cooler, the weather is beautiful, baseball is headed to the playoffs, football is getting started, hockey is just around the corner, fairs and fall fests are ramping up, Kindermusik is starting again…*bliss*! We closed out the summer with the girls by squeezing in as many trips to the pool as we could before it closed. When that wasn’t an option, we headed in doors to play. B had a great time being a nurse:
and an actress:
Now that fall is here, M’s Gator indoctrination must begin. She is an enthusiastic participant!
They are even continuing her education in school – football anyone?
When we aren’t watching or playing football, you can often find us at the playground. I took this one of B when we stopped at the playground after school (it was PJ day).
B loves to horse around on “her” duck:
M is pretty content to just hang out in the shade watching all the kids around her.
Ooooooh, camera…
I realize I don’t have as many pictures of B – you’ll have to talk to her about that. Most of the time, she resists photo time!
These last four I have included for no other reason than because I like them. Such big eyes!
One cool kid…
zzzzzzzzz…
My little side sleeper…
Mimi and Tatie Kat are visiting, so we told B to choose what she wanted to go do today. When she woke up this morning, she said “Let’s go to the art museum!” The credit (or blame) for this lies squarely with her Fancy Nancy at the Museum book…
First, we had to get decked out for the trip (ala Fancy Nancy):
We started with the “old stuff.” When she saw this sculpture, her first and only comment was “I want to be the guy in the shade.”
At this point, which was about 5 minutes after we got there, her enthusiasm waned. “It’s too quiet.” “This is not what I thought it would be.” BUT, we found quite a few things to interest her…
She loved the outdoor sculpture gardens, particularly the lily pad ponds. Here is her favorite sculpture:
And the pond:
She even consented to being a statue herself (I don’t have to smile, mommy…):
This chair is just for me!
After this, we headed to the section with the newer (and also more colorful) art. Her enthusiasm showed a marked increase. The colorful ladies:
At one point she declared this her fav (though that changed frequently):
My personal favorite was this piece of art made out of 5,184 spools of thread. B first checked it out up close:
And then used the “lens” to see it in a whole new way (see for yourself above)!
What? Isn’t this what the benches are for?
While walking to the other side, we saw these hanging from the walls – the guard told us they climb down at night. B, said “Nah, that’s silly,” and then proceeded to ask me several times over the next 30 minutes if the statues really climbed down at night. 
Before we left, we stopped to play in the fountains. Yes, she got soaked “washing the cow.”
After casually perusing the art as we walked around, M decided art makes her sleepy…
Both girls were very good. I was especially impressed with B – for her age, she did GREAT!
M is 7 months old now, and just an absolute angel. She can now sit up all by herself (though I still like to have a pillow behind her to cushion that occasional flop), and she still talks…a lot (ba, ga, ya, da, nga, etc.). Most nights we put her down by 9, do a dream feed around 11, and she sleeps until between 5-5:30 OR 7-7:30. It is very strange – if she sleeps past 5:30, it is highly unlikely she will wake up before 7. She loves grabbing things and gnawing things and generally exploring her surroundings. One of her favorite things to do is to touch and/or scratch things around her (the couch, paper, a pillow, a toy, fabric, wood, etc.). She seems to really like exploring different textures. We also recently started putting her in the stroller seat, and she loves it! She loves being able to see everything.
We have started solid food, but it has been disastrous. We started with oatmeal, and while she didn’t love it (and perhaps even didn’t like it), she ate it. Next we went to sweet potatoes. She ate hardly any, protested vehemently throughout, and 2-3 hours later, vomited everything up. Same thing happened the next time she ate sweet potatoes. So, we stopped giving her that, stopped feeding her solids for a couple of weeks, and then tried again. This time with avocados. She tried desperately to keep me from feeding her, and protested vehemently; I am not sure she even ate any. So we tried peas. Same result. And, 2-3 hours later, she vomited everything up. So, the doctor is having us switch to fruits to see if we can (1) get her interested in eating and/or (2) find something besides oatmeal that she doesn’t vomit up. We gave her applesauce today. She didn’t protest quite so badly, but she didn’t like it. I only gave her a little. As for the vomiting, we shall see how it goes (it has only been an hour).
On the bright side, she OBVIOUSLY is thriving. So, I just keep telling myself that this too shall pass. At least she is happy (pretty much even while emptying her tummy). B still fascinates her. Though, truthfully, she wants me. All. The. Time. She is often fine with someone else as long as she can’t see me, which makes that handoff a little tricky. But we manage, and I have come up with some creative ways to get from point A to point B in my house so that J can get some quality time in with her!
Yesterday we decided to try putting M in the stroller without her car seat. She loved it! It was a beautiful morning, and she could see everything going on around her. What more could you want? I will need to get a couple toy straps if I don’t want to keep having to stop and pick up her toys…
B was in the stroller too, but this was the closest I was able to get to taking a picture that included both of them – B just was not interested.
A couple of close-ups:
The whole point of the stroller ride on this particular morning was to take a trip to the farmer’s market, where a local artist painted this fantastic ORANGE shark on B’s arm.
Despite M and I both getting sick, we have had a fair amount of fun the past couple of weeks. We started with J’s birthday. He had to work, but the girls and I made sure he had cupcakes for dessert after his requested pizza dinner. Mackenzie and I watched while the two had fun coloring (with a little silliness thrown in for good measure).
We even tried (at B’s request) a bath in my big tub – it is so big, we could even fit M in her little tub in there with B. I love the total concentration on each other!
Shortly after that, Tia arrived! Now, Tia has been here a couple of times since M was born, but this was the first time I think B fully realized that she might have to share her Tia with M. Hmmmmmmm… It all worked out, but it was the first real signs of jealousy I have seen.
Snuggling with her Tia:
We were sad to see Tia go, but we distracted ourselves with some cookie making fun. B rolling out the dough:
B cutting the cookie dough (while M supervises – very serious work):
As any kid would, she was mostly interested in when she could eat the dough…
We also finished up B’s swim lessons. B has done a great job and made HUGE strides in just five short lessons. Her teacher, Miss Nikki was fantastic! B was very sad to see her go, but it is time for her to return to college. At her last lesson, she had to complete 3 challenges: float on her back by herself for at least 6 seconds, swim under water to Miss Nikki for 4 counts, and go under the lane divider rope. If she completed the 3 challenges, she would get the orange swim cap I promised her after her first swim lesson. As you can see, she got it! I took this picture after she immediately yanked it on her head.
I made her take it off before she went to sleep, but the minute she woke up, she put it right back on. And she wore it the entire time at the local jump house (very hot and sweaty!).
Not to be outdone, M decided to show off her sitting abilities:
Sweet face…
Sister fun!
M started solid food (if you can call it that) last week in the form of baby oatmeal. First Reaction:
Gimme that spoon…
But she started to get the hang of it.
Even if about half never made it down her throat…
The next day, B asked to help…too cute!
We planned to start sweet potatoes by now, but some teething and/or vaccines and/or a cold has got M a little under the weather, so we are focusing on TLC.
Our Little Bit turned 6 months old last Friday!
Mackenzie now weighs 16 lbs. 12 oz, and is 25.5″ long. Her two bottom front teeth are coming in (I was finally able to see them as of Friday), and I suspect some more are on their way. She is fussy at times for no apparent reason, and gnaws on anything she can get her hands on. Getting a few pictures where she was not chewing on the giant #6 was very challenging! She is a sweetie, and LOVES her bink (and truthfully, is fairly fond of her thumb as well).
But she will let it go when she is busy chatting or being charming…
Developmental stuff includes:
*sitting up by herself (though I won’t let her do it without surrounding her with pillows or some other soft surface as she is very wobbly)
*started solid food (cereal mixed with milk)
*rolls over tummy to back almost as soon as you put her on her tummy
*rolls over back to tummy (at least twice at home, but does not do it regularly)
*likes to sleep on her left side, and often puts her thumb in her mouth when on her side
*loves to splash in the pool and bathtub
*falls asleep in the swing by 9PM, gets fed and put in crib by 11PM, generally sleeps until 4-6:30 before eating again, and generally wakes up for the day by 7-8
*will grab her morning nap whenever she needs it wherever she is (prefers the car seat, swing, or carrier)
*will take a 2-3.5 hour nap each afternoon!
*grabs everything (one handed, two handed, whatever it takes)
*is starting to try to grab things with her fingers
*makes all kinds of sounds: ahh, ooh, oh, ga, ka, da, ba (will sometimes repeat sounds back to us)
*screeches (sometimes in happiness, and sometimes in aggravation) – Jason says she sounds like a pterodactyl
*generally prefers Mommy, and gets super irritated when I walk right by wherever she is without picking her up or snuggling with her
*eats every 3 hours when awake, but will happily sleep through a feeding at times
*wakes up happy and chatty; will generally just hang out for a bit and amuse herself
*has super sharp and super strong fingernails and toenails that grow like crazy
*loves to play with her feet
*supports her own weight while standing if we are helping with balance (truthfully, always has)
*loves to bang toys
*reaches for things she can’t see that are out of reach
*blows raspberries a lot (very cute and very funny)
I put together the next collage because I just could not make up my mind which pictures to put on the blog. I LOVE all her different facial expressions in this one – it truly represents her little personality (and the fact that she chatters a lot).
Brianna may not be interested in me taking HER picture, but she doesn’t seem to mind it at all when I want to take her picture with Mackenzie. She is a fantastic big sister – she shows patience with Mackenzie that she rarely shows with anything or anyone else, and she loves to do silly things and make silly sounds just to see if she can get Mackenzie to smile. It has paid off, too – Mackenzie is endlessly fascinated by Brianna.
This cute Gator cheer-leading outfit used to be Brianna’s. It did not come with any cute little underpants, so I got some ruffled bottoms. Gotta love the ruffle but!!
We are definitely ready for football around here! Until then, we will root for the Gator Olympians – GO GATORS!
M has had a huge week! This past Tuesday and Wednesday were pretty miserable for everyone – she went on a sleep strike during the day and was generally (and uncharacteristically) fussy all day long. She would basically fuss (with brief intermittent periods of happiness) until she exhausted herself to sleep.
But, during all that awake time, spent some fun time sitting in her high chair (a huge relief for me at least for a few minutes because up until that point, she wanted me, then more me, then more me…). She spent a good 20 minutes in the high chair just playing – very happy as you can see!
AND, she rolled over from back to front all by herself at school on Wednesday! I hear she was very proud of herself. She has not yet done it for us, but she has come close (about 4/5 the way over). I hope see it and get video of it soon.
Then sometime late Thursday early Friday an explanation for all that fussiness exposed itself – her first tooth! B never fussed while teething so we really didn’t have any experience with that aspect, and M has been drooling like crazy for about 3 months. You can’t really see the tooth yet, but you sure can feel it (and it actually feels like there are two poking through).
All that fussiness derailed our goal of getting her into her crib, but we finally got our chance on Saturday. We had put it off because we were having lots of trouble getting the temperature of that room under control, especially during the day. It is still not great, but it is workable. And, as you can see here, she really is too big for the cradle anymore (this was taken her last night in the cradle).
Saturday afternoon we put her down for a nap in there. The first go around lasted only 10 minutes. But then after a little cuddling and a little reassurance (who likes being alone in a strange room anyway?), she took a GREAT nap (>2 hours). The happy baby after her lovely nap:
Then, last night we put her in there at night. Truthfully, we could have and should have done that much sooner, but the roughest part of B’s babyhood was the cradle to crib nighttime transition. We were not anxious to go through that again. I don’t know how it will go in the coming weeks, but last night went MUCH better than expected – she slept until 2ish, and then after getting her bink and a little reassurance, she stayed asleep until 7!!!! For some perspective, note that between 5 and 6:30 was her normal wake-up time for that first feeding of the day. She is now up there again taking her afternoon nap, and has been up there over 2 hours. Amazing!
Not to be outdone, B has made huge strides in the pool. She has only had two lessons with Miss Nikki, but the progress is remarkable. She will put her face in the water, float on her back (even briefly without any help), swim a bit on her tummy while someone is supporting her the length of the pool, jump in the pool with her swim ring, and push away from the wall (with no help) to be caught by Miss Nikki. Trying any of these things would have been unheard of before her lessons started. Even more amazing is that B went to Miss Nikki right away – Yay B!
Oh, and B told me today all her hair broke off, so she needed to wear her wig…
B was so excited to FINALLY get to feed M last week. She now feeds her most nights, a “chore” she just loves to do.
Pretending to sleep while M finishes up.
