margo: seven months

It seems like over night my itty bitty baby has turned into a sitting, rolling, giggling little girl! We weighed her on the bathroom scale last night and she topped out at 17.5 pounds and she has the rolls to prove it!

Margo is now sitting independently, contemplating crawling, rolling over to sleep at night, blowing raspberries all the time, eating some solids and playing for longer stretches of time. She is starting to show more of her personality and has some cute little quirks...just like her mama and daddy. 

Starting to eat solids has proven to be more of a challenge than I thought it would, but we are trying to be patient. She usually leaves the highchair wearing more of the food than eating it but, in time she'll get the hang of it and we'll forget this season as we move on to the next one. She enjoys bananas and sweet potatoes, tolerates avocado and was not a fan of peas or carrots. We'll try them again, but in the mean time I bought a butternut squash so we'll see how that goes. 

Her daily schedule has changed a bit with the addition of solids. She still wakes up at 7am and nurses, then has solids at around 8 and then naps from 9-11am. She nurses at 11am and then plays until nap time at 1pm. She sleeps until 3pm and nurses again and we play until dinner time. I usually work on dinner while Alex feeds her another solid around 5pm and then she nurses at 7pm and goes straight to bed.  

Sleep has been better this month and I think it's because she figured out how to roll over and soothe herself back to sleep. The cry it out method is hard (on me) but ultimately I want her to learn to sleep on her own and not with my help. 

We are both loving the cooler temperatures which make being outside so much more fun! She loves watching me blow bubbles, going for walks and just hanging out outside. She has discovered Moose's tail, balloons and that I have feet too...she tries to suck on my toes, but I've drawn a line. It feels like this year is flying by and I want to remember every little detail about her right now, because she is just the sweetest. 

Big smiles after breakfast 

Riding in the cart at Target for the first time 

Hanging out with cousin Eli at Studio 50 for cousin Scout's 7th birthday

I snuck a picture at nap time...she's just so stinkin' sweet!

Playing outside before the mosquito's tried to get us

Dinner at Bread Co. with Daddy

We went to the zoo with Uncle Greg and stopped by Art Hill for the Flags of Valor memorial on 9/11

twenty seven

I have officially left mid twenties and entered my late twenties. That's crazy!! I still have to ask Alex how old I am because I forget and tell people I'm 24. I don't think anything crazy or majorly notable happened when I was 24, but it was just a good age.

As my Grandpa got older he would say that it doesn't matter how old you are, but how old you feel. He was in his late 70's or early 80's when he told me that and I remember asking him how old he felt and without blinking an eye, he said 21.

Grandpa was the liveliest, most adventurous man I knew and I hope I can be just like him. So this year, my 27th year, I hope to be as adventurous, spontaneous and as lively as my Grandpa was in his last years.

Happy Birthday to me!

margo: six months

Happy half birthday sweet Margo! I cannot believe she is 6 months old. It's like time is flying by and standing still all at the same time. In the last month Margo has developed so much. She weighs in at 17lbs on the bathroom scale, but we go to the doctor on Tuesday, so we'll get the official stats then.

**Doctor Visit Update: We went to the doctor today (Aug. 30) and our sweet girl got weighed, measured, poked and prodded. She weighed in at 16.8 pounds (60%ile), 24.5 inches (12%ile), and her head is 40cm (4%ile). She's a compact little creature. While her little noggin is still something to keep an eye on, her wonderful doctor called a neurologist for a consult and there is nothing to be overly concerned about. Her gross and fine motor skills are on track and they'll continue to monitor her growth. At her next appointment they want to measure Alex's and my head to see if it's a shared trait...we'll be the biggest patients at her pediatrician's office :)**

This month Margo started rolling over, back to front and front to back. She is also sitting up unsupported. I don't go too far from her because she still wobbles and topples over eventually. She started reaching for us to hold her yesterday, which was really sweet and now she babbles back and forth with me. We like to chat in incoherent squawks.

While she is getting much more alert during the day and staying awake for longer stretches, nighttime has been more of a struggle this month. We had to take her arms out of the swaddle since she's rolling. She started waking up one to two times a night inconsolable and the only thing that calmed her down was feeding her. Not very Baby Wise, but I did it because sleep is basically my love language. I think we're getting close to being back to normal and we're much more on board with crying it out. It seems to be working and lately she's slept 7:30pm to about 7am, so fingers crossed...

At about 5 1/2 months we started giving her cereal and she loves it. She gobbles it right up and is sad when it's all gone. After we go to the doctor next week, we'll start her on veggies.

Her routine is still mostly the same: eat, play, sleep. She wakes up at 7am and eats, then takes a nap between 8:30 and 9am and sleeps until 10ish when she'll eat again. Then she plays and doesn't usually nap much between 10am and 1pm, if she does it's just a catnap and usually in her carseat. After she eats at 1, we play and then she naps from 2-4pm when she eats again. Then at 5pm she has her cereal and eats at 7pm and goes straight to bed. It will change when we add another solid food in the coming weeks, but for now we're pretty predictable.

She loves to be outside and in her stroller. She loves to read (and be read to) and watch people, she usually has a serious look on her face, but will crack a smile if you work for it. Crinkle paper is the best thing ever and we still won't leave the house without Ron, her Wubbanub pacifier. She giggles the sweetest belly laugh when we blow raspberries on her neck and arms and whenever we do squats (she's ruthless). I'm working with her to say mama, but I'm almost certain she'll say dada first...time will tell. In the mean time we are absolutely smitten with this sweet little girl and love getting to watch her grow.

We went to lunch and I laid her down on the bench and she fell asleep

Sitting pretty and very serious. 

Riding the Harley with Atley

First bite of cereal

Watching the racers at the Criterium

mom bod

As a new mama, I'm a bit squishier than I've ever been. I'm pretty cool with it but there are days that I look in the mirror and wonder if my body will ever go back to the pre-Margo days....maybe, probably not and that's ok.

But, being a mama of a little girl, I never want to transfer my insecurities to her, because she is beautiful and will no matter what, be loved and valued beyond what she looks like or perceives herself to look like. I came across this blog post and I wanted to high five the author. Enjoy and rock that mom bod! :)