Preslie Kay at Seven Months

Preslie turned seven months old on Saturday, November 2nd.

Measurements

Weight: I'm going to guess and say she weighs anywhere between 18 and 19 pounds.

Appearance

~ She is thinning out a lot, mostly due to her being more active now. I call her my little Busybody. When I look back at pictures of her when she was younger, I chuckle because she was such a chub and now her face doesn't look nearly as chunky as it used to.

~ Her hair continues to grow. It's filling in in the back, where it was once bald from laying down.

~ Her eye color changes all the time. Some days they look hazel, other days they look blue.

~ No teeth. I give up trying to guess when they will finally break through.

Sizes

~ All 9 month clothes and pants are 9 month and 12 month.

~ She's wearing size 1 shoes. I bought her a pair of Pumas that I think are the cutest things in the world when she wears them!

~ Still in size 3 diapers.

Personality

~ We are discovering that Miss Preslie has a bit of a temper! She does not like when we take something away from her. She will throw a huge fit. In fact, we had to put her in her first "time out" the other day. Not really, but we had to remove her from the situation because she was just getting way too worked up and wouldn't calm down. So I took her in her room and put her in her crib for some alone time. The second I sat her in her crib she started giggling. Little stinker!

~ She smiles with her whole face and I love it.

~ We had a couple rough days this month. It seems like we learn something new about her all the time. This month we learned that she is not a fan of large, loud crowds.

~ If she doesn't get her bottle first thing when she wakes up in the morning, she gets maaad. I don't blame her - I'd be hungry too after 11 hours of sleep!

~ Changing her clothes and diaper changes have become nearly impossible. We usually change her clothes on the floor because it's becoming too dangerous when she's on the changing table and wiggling and rolling all over the place.

~ She grunts, yells, squeals and clicks her tongue. She's a loud little thing!

Likes

~ Loves, loves, loves food.

~ She really likes daycare and Miss Kara. That makes it so much easier to drop her off each week day.

~ Her high chair. Preslie will sit in it for at least an hour and just play with toys and bang on the tray. We'll roll it into where we are (sometimes into the living room, sometimes out in the backyard) and she enjoys being where the action is.

~ Our big girl loves to sit up and play. She does a good job of reaching from a sitting position to get to the toys she wants.

~ She is obsessed with "Peek A Boo!" That is one way to really get her to laugh.

~ Sweet P seems to suck her thumb more and more each day. Little Love Bug!

Dislikes

~ She still isn't a huge fan of tummy time. I think because she gets frustrated that she isn't physically able to get to where she wants to go on her own yet.

~ As I said before, clothes and diaper changes.

~ She doesn't like when we walk out of the room. She gets over it eventually, but is guaranteed to whine at first.

Eating

~ She takes a 7 oz bottle in the morning, two 6 oz bottles during the day and another 7 oz bottle before bedtime.

~ She gets cereal and fruit in the morning and vegetables and fruit in the evening.

~ I've started giving her some Puffs as a snack and she gets better each day with the chewing motion. I was so scared at first to give them to her because I thought she would choke, but it's like she knew exactly what to do and mooshed it up before she swallowed.

~ She loves eating from her mesh feeder.

~ She sucks her thumb between each spoonful of food! It makes feeding her quite a messy task.

~ New foods she has tried this month: artichoke bisque, potatoes, pasta sauce, apple pie, broccoli, Puffs, and RIBS!

~ Preslie's Godparents told us how they would give their twins ribs when they were Preslie's age, so I decided to try it at dinner. Oh my word, Girlfriend was in heaven with her rib bone! It sure was messy but she was so happy and content, and it was a good way for her to practice self-feeding.

~ She is a pro at drinking out of a straw.

Sleeping

~ She goes to bed at 7pm and wakes up any time between 6:15am and 7am for the day.

~ It never fails that every. single. morning she wakes up at 5am because she needs her diaper changed. I change her real quick and she goes right back down to sleep for another hour-and-a-half or so.  (I've tried every "nighttime" diaper out there and so far I've found that Size 3 Target brand diapers seem to be the only ones so far that don't soak her jammies.)

~ Her morning nap used to be her longest and her afternoon nap used to be her shortest, but they've flip-flopped. She takes about an hour or hour-and-a-half nap in the morning and then a good two-hour nap in the afternoon. Her late afternoon nap is pretty much non-existent now, unless she didn't nap well that day, then she has to take one.

Schedule

I want to list her schedule for memory's sake...

7am: Wake up and bottle in bed with Papa while they watch the Baby Channel together

7:15am: Off to Miss Kara's house

8am: Baby food

8:30am: Nap time

10:30am: Bottle

12:30pm: Nap time

3pm: Bottle

4:15pm: Mama picks up Little Squirt from Miss Kara's house

4:30pm: We get home and Sweet P plays with Papa

5:30pm: Baby food

6:15 or 6:30pm: Bath time

6:45 or 7pm: Bottle and bed

New Experiences

~ She rolls all over the place. She rolls front to back; side to side; and she twists and turns on her belly. She's just started to twist and push up into a sitting position from her tummy.

~ No where near crawling yet!

~ We went to Grandma's house a lot this month.

~ We visited Grammy while Grampy was out of town to help cheer her up after Grammy’s brother passed away. :(

~ She helped celebrate Great Grandma's 90th birthday!

~ She posed for lots of photo shoots to document cute outfits she'll probably only get to wear once before she grows out of them. Ha!

~ We went to a pumpkin patch! (post to come soon)

~ She celebrated her first Halloween! (post to come soon)

~ She got to visit with Grammy and Grampy this month, too.

It's such a joy and blessing to get to witness our sweet baby girl grow into her own little person. We are so lucky to be her parents.

A Personal Flashback Friday

I've had a heavy heart the past couple of weeks.

My uncle tragically passed away almost two weeks ago. It has been a very trying time for my family and me as we come to grips with his incredibly untimely death. He lived in Texas for many years, but when I was young he was always around and a big part of our family.

Tomorrow marks one year since my Grandma Hank passed away. People always say that grief can hit you at times when you least expect it. Boy, those people are right.

At my Grandma's service, my dad (her oldest son) got up to speak about my Grandma. It was a great speech and he held it together the whole time. I on the other hand, did not. Especially, at a certain part of his speech that I want to make note of here. He said:

"As many of you know, my mom had a lot of sayings. A couple of most notable ones were 'When life gives you lemons, make lemonade.' She had a lot of lemons in her life and she always seemed to make the best out of those situations.
Another saying she had was 'A girl can never have too many shoes.' And we all know she had plenty.
A week before she passed I was visiting my mom and I told her that we would be going with my daughter to an ultrasound to find out the gender of her baby. My mom told me that 'if it's a girl,' to do her a favor and 'get the baby her first pair of shoes from Grandma Hank.'
So Kaysie and Kevin [my dad holds up a tiny little gift bag, and from the gift bag he pulls out the tiniest little pair of baby shoes] I wanted to be sure to honor Grandma Hank's request, and give you these shoes for her great-great granddaughter."

...and cue the tears.

That moment is something I'll never forget.



Preslie Kay at Six Months

Preslie turned SIX MONTHS OLD on Wednesday, October 2nd.

As of the date I'm posting this, she's now closer to one year old than a newborn. :(

More interested in eating her monthly sticker than smiling at Mama. :)

Measurements
Weight: 17lbs 13.3oz (76th percentile)
Height: 27" (86th percentile)
Head circumference: 17" (86th percentile)

She's our healthy, tall girl!

Appearance
~ Her eyes are still very light. Some days they look blue, some days they look green and there are days where I feel like they almost look lavender!

~ Her hair is growing so much! I can clip a bow into it now.

 ~ She was born with what some people call a "Stork Bite" or "Angel Kiss" on her forehead. It's an area that has some red spots on it. When she was first born it was really noticeable, but as she's getting older it's getting lighter. It will eventually go away. I don't even notice it now, but some people still do when they see her in person.

~ She has super kissable cheeks and chunky little thighs!

 

Sizes
~ She's officially in size 6-9 month and 9 month clothes. I just packed away all of her 6 month clothes. Her 9 month footie jammies fit her just right, but if the girl continues to grow I'm going to have to get her 12 month jammies soon! What in the world!?!?
~ Size 1 shoes are still a bit big on her but Size NB shoes are too small.
~ We'll be moving up to Size 3 diapers after we finish the last of her Size 2 diapers.

Personality
~ Girlfriend knows what she likes and doesn't like. She's real good at pushing something away (like her bottle) if she's done with it. Same goes with getting her nose suctioned or her face wiped.
~ She gives lots of smiles!

~ Stella is the only one that can make her laugh consistently.
~ This month she has been a lot more fussy than usual. I think some teething had to do with that, and also the fact that she was going through the stage of "Relationships." She didn't like if we walked out of the room and she just couldn't get happy some days. But overall, she has been a happy baby.
~ She squirms all the time now. If she doesn't want to be held while she's sitting in your lap, she just tries to squirm right out!

Likes
~ Preslie is a big fan of music. She loves when I sing "If you're happy and you know it..." and I sing this little bouncy song I made up when she's in her jumper.
~ She loves her jumper! She'll spend hours at a time in that thing. I think a lot has to do with the fact that it's in the living room and she can be right there in the middle of things with us.
~ She is a huge fan of Bubble Guppies!

~ Sweet P loves to eat.
~ Sophie the Giraffe

~ Her Lullaby Glow Worm (currently her favorite toy ever right now)
~ Her thumb. She's been sucking it a lot more lately.
~ She also sucks on her toes!

Dislikes
~ Getting dressed/un-dressed
~ Getting her diaper changed
~ Having her nose suctioned
~ She is not a fan of when we take the washcloth away from her when her bath is done.

Eating
~ She takes four, six-ounce bottles a day, and gets baby food twice a day now. I had to drop her evening bottle (that she would usually get with her dinner) because she wasn't finishing her nighttime bottle. I also had to cut back a bit on the amount of baby food she was eating because she wasn't finishing her bottles during the day. It's more important to me that she drinks her bottles than eat the baby food. As the saying goes "Food before one is just for fun!"
~ Along with the vegetables she started last month, I started her on fruits (bananas, apples, peaches, pears and prunes) this month. She has loved it all!
~ I've also started to give her the mesh feeders with real food in it. I'll give her squishy food like avocado or some peaches. I think she feels like a big girl when she tries to feed herself.

~ We started using the sippy cup at dinnertime but it just makes more of a mess right now (and wastes breast milk) so we'll try again next month.

Sleeping
~ She is still sleeping through the night, but has been getting up a lot earlier than she normally does. She would usually sleep until 7am, but has been waking up anywhere between 4:30am and 6:30am. I think it has to do with some six month sleep regression and a cold she had. To fix the waking-up-too-early situation, I've started putting her to bed at night 15 minutes earlier and it has done the trick! Weird how that works.

~ Naps are kind of hit-and-miss when she's at Ms. Kara's. Sometimes she'll take two, two-hour naps; other times they may be barely 45 minutes long. We take what we can get.
~ She takes three naps a day if we're at home on the weekends.
~ She still prefers to sleep on her tummy.
~ Preslie isn't one to really cuddle. So this past month she's been so tired during her bedtime bottle that she's fallen asleep on me and I absolutely LOVED being able to rock her while she slept - like I used to do when she was a newborn.

New Experiences
~ She had her first cold this month. Luckily, it wasn't too bad and involved a lot of head congestion and a little cough. She's on the mend now.
~ Poor thing rolled onto the hardwood floor and bonked her head this month. I was in the process of walking over to her to move her away from the floor when she beat me to the punch and rolled right onto it. She was not happy.
Side note: When she does hurt herself, we try not to react at first (obviously if we can tell it's nothing serious). We don't jump right up or make a big deal out of it. She'll usually look like she wants to cry and stick her bottom lip out, but we'll say "you're okay" and smile and then she ends up being just fine.
~ She can sit up unassisted. She still falls over to the sides, but she's getting better at it every day.
~ She likes to lunge while sitting up so she can grab her toys.

~ She moves toys from one hand to the other.

~ She does this thing with her hands where she clasps them in front of her face and then rocks her clasped hands back and forth in front of her. It's so strange!
~ She has been teething a lot more this month and the drool is never-ending. Therefore, she is always wearing a bib. Luckily, Target sells terrycloth ones in all different colors so I'm able to match them to her outfits. ;)
~ We started working on baby sign language this month. So far she just looks at our hands and you can tell she's processing it all.
~ Grammy taught her how to clap her hands! When we clap our hands (and sing the "If you're happy and you know it..." song) she will take her hands and put them together and apart. It's really cute.
~ Miss P has been sporting a lot of football gear since football season has started!

~ She took a fun trip with Mama and Papa to a friend's lake house and she was so so good! She chose not to sleep that night however, which made for a very exhausting next day. We choose our battles. ;) She was a big fan of being the only child there and getting a lot of attention.

~ Mama spent her first night and weekend away from Preslie to attend a wedding with Papa. Sweet P got to spend an entire weekend with Grammy!
~ Squirt also sat in the shopping cart for the first time! This makes shopping with Mama soooo much easier!

This little one is the absolute joy of our lives!

Post-Partem Must Haves

Here's a list of things I found helpful for after Baby arrives.


I posted about some things I found really helpful during my pregnancy here.

One thing I did not take into account when it comes to becoming a mom was making sure I had everything I needed for ME after I had Baby. You're so fixated on making sure you have everything you need for the baby but it's important to not forget about yourself. If you can't keep yourself healthy you're not going to be able to adequately keep Baby healthy too.

1. Breast Pads
Whether or not you're going to breastfeed, these are a must. I used the Medela brand breast pads because I got a big box as a shower gift, but I think next time I might try a different brand. Make sure you have enough so you don't have to run to the store that first week; so get a big box!

2. Lanolin Cream (aka Nipple Cream)

If you plan on breastfeeding and/or pumping, you'll need this stuff. Your nipples just aren't going to be used to all that friction and they will get raw. I really liked the Lansinoh Brand Lanolin Cream, personally. And you won't have to use this forever. Eventually your nipples will get used to it and build up some toughness (sorry for the TMI - haha!). I think someone gave me a travel size of these and it was super helpful to have while in the hospital.

3. Pads

Yes, you're going to need them. I heard you'll need them even if you have a c-section too. Again, make sure you have more than enough!

4. Cooling Pads / Gel Pads

These are so nice to have on hand. I really like the Lansinoh TheraPearl Gel Pads. They give you some nice relief.

I also really like Medela's Hydrogel pads. These were soooo soothing and you can wear them in your bra out in public without it being noticeable. They're very discreet.

5. Nursing Sports Bra

As I've said before, I hate wearing bras so sports bras are my BFF's. Zulily was having a maternity sale one day and I spied a nursing sports bra from La Leche League for like $14! So I definitely snatched that up. I didn't even know nursing sports bras existed. They do. And it was nice to sleep in something comfortable yet supportive at night and be able to easily nurse Preslie without it being cumbersome.

6. Tylenol

You're going to have pain after having a baby. For me, it was a lot of pain for a lot of months. For other women the pain goes away after a week or so. It's different for everyone. Just make sure you have pain relievers on hand (and make sure they're compatible with nursing if you're going that route). Also, make sure you take them on time once you get home from the hospital. It's easy to remember to take them when the nurses have you on a schedule while you're in recovery at the hospital, but once you're home it's even easier to forget about taking them on time - especially when you're trying to keep up with feeding a baby.

7. Snacks
If it weren't for my mom and Kevin making sure I continually ate, I probably wouldn't have survived. You're so focused on making sure the baby is getting enough to eat and gaining enough weight that you completely forget to feed yourself. At least that's what it was like for me. So our next go-round I'm going to make sure to have lots of {healthy} snacks on hand so I can quickly grab them and not starve.

8. Freezer Meals
I think I'll do a separate post on this. The came in so very handy!

9. Comfy, stretchy PJ's
I wanted nothing to do with jeans or anything tight on my lower half after I gave birth. Stretchy PJ's and sweat pants were the best things for me. I also got myself some cute PJ's to wear in the hospital. It felt so good to put those on and get out of the hospital gown after giving birth and recovering.

10. GRACE!
Make sure to give yourself and your baby some grace. The first week was tough for me. I wanted everything to be perfect - and that just wasn't realistic. I finally had to have a little pep-talk with myself and give myself some grace. I'm not perfect and I will never be a perfect mom. Each day I learn something new; what works and what doesn't for my baby and our family. I also had to give Preslie some grace. She is a good sleeper and she has been pretty much since we brought her home from the hospital. Pretty sure we just got lucky. But we still had nights where she'd wake up a lot and I'd get frustrated and I had to tell myself "Give the kid a break, Kaysie. She's a newborn. This is what they're supposed to do. Relax." I still have to tell myself that almost daily. You do the best you know how, and what you don't know now you'll eventually learn. Baby will adore you no matter what.

The End.