Months 7, 8 and 9 all combined

So I have to make a made dash to catch-up on the 2nd 6 months of Leah's life before she turns 1 :)

Here she is at 7 months old, during her 7th month she perfected her crawling skills and learned how to get into everything, she became a master of mobility and we had to baby proof and move a lot of things up. She began venturing a lot more with her foods and I had a lot of fun making her baby food. She would try almost anything and ate very well.


And here is 8 months. As you can see there isn't a huge difference in the pictures, I think her filling out had started slowing down since she was on the go constantly. During her 8th month she started pulling up first on her activity table then on anything she could figure out how to get to a standing position. We started introducing more and more table food and she transitioned really easily to being nearly off all baby food/purees by the time she was 9 months old. At the end of August, Leah's beloved Miss Laurie, that has been babysitting her since I went back to work, found out that her breast cancer from 3 years ago had come back. Understandably she wasn't going to be able to continue watching Leah and we were blessed by being able to quickly get her in a wonderful daycare in a matter of 3 days. She misses her Miss Laurie, but wants her to spend all her time trying to get better and kill that awful cancer!!!


Just short of being 9 months old Leah was dedicated at our Church and all her grandparents were in attendance.



And finally here she is at 9 months, getting her to nicely lay down by her doggy just isn't working any longer, she moves way too much. During her 9th month she perfected her ability to pull-up on anything and everything. She made new friends at her new school and loves her current teacher Miss Sandy. She totally transitioned to table food and got her first tooth. She really started clapping and loved to see how loud she could make her hands :) When we went to her 9 month appt she was 29 inches long (92%) and 17lbs 14 oz (30%) and I can't remember the inches for her head but it was like the 87%, so she is a tall, skinny kid with big old noggin :) The daycare germs have been getting their punches in, I think she has been sick with something from pretty much the week she started, luckily nothing has been too serious or lasted too long and we haven't had any ear infections.


On a really nice day in September we all headed to the zoo, here is Leah with her Daddy enjoying the Rhinos. I think this is the first time she went to the zoo and stayed awake long enough to see and enjoy the animals.

Month 6 ......a vacation and cancer turning our world upside down

Leah had a pretty eventful month 6, we went on our second vacation in a month and this time we drove out to Hilton Head, SC with my entire family. Leah did great and on the way back we drove straight through, that's 14 hours + for a 6 month old, thank goodness for a great little traveler. We stayed at a great townhouse condo right on the beach (well basically it was like a 100 yard walk) and had a big pool and baby pool right outside our patio. It was one of the best vacations I've had in that it was a perfect mix of relaxing and yet not getting bored. We ate some great food, we went to Savannah for a day trip, and spent a lot of time at the beach. But best of all we spent 9 days together as an entire family and everyone got along great and really enjoyed each others company.

Below was Leah's first dip in the ocean, she wasn't exactly a big fan in the beginning but got better each day.



Leah and her older cousin Camryn had a lot of fun together. Camryn liked playing pick-a-boo with Leah, and Leah thought anything Camryn did was really funny. The only thing Camryn wasn't a big fan of was Leah pulling her long locks every time she got a chance :)
Here is Leah our last night there, by that point she loved the water and thought the sand was great to run her fingers through and throw around.

While we were on our trip we noticed that my Dad just didn't quite seem himself and urged him and my mom to get to the Dr. as soon as we got back home. On June 10th, the Thursday after we got back Dad had an MRI which confirmed that he has a brain tumor in the left side of his brain. Its been quite a roller coaster since then, but I'll elaborate more on that in a separate post. To say the least that day turned our world upside down but we have been very blessed as a family for all the love and support that has been shown to us.

During our trip Leah started getting up on all fours and rocking and as soon as we got home she started doing her own version of a crawl. At first it was more of lunge, which usually led to a head first dive into whatever toy she was going after.

Getting her picture by a piece of paper that said what month it was and the date just is not even possible anymore, due to her new found mobility. This month again she was more interested in eating her stuffed puppy than laying next to it.

We didn't get to have her 6 month appointment until a little after actually turning 6 months, but her stats were 16 lbs 1.5 oz and 26 1/4 inches long.

5 months....first trip and meeting some VIPs

Gosh its going to be hard to remember all the way back to 5 months but we did a lot of fun things like going to Boston to visit Adam older brother, Chris, his wife, Kacey, and our nephew, Nolan. We saw a lot of things in the city via our own personal tour guides :) and Leah actually did really well on her first flight and time sleeping somewhere besides our home. It was great to getaway for a quick trip and get to see their life at MIT and Cambridge.


Leah also met her great-grandparents (Adam's maternal grandparents) for the first time as they came back from their time down south for the winter. Adam's grandpa battled prostate cancer while they were away but as you can see his looking great and doing really well.

During month 5 she also started to be able to sit up with using her arms as support, such a big girl!!

The pictures with her Dog were starting to harder at this point b/c she suddenly realized there was a stuffed animal beside her, which of course meant she needed to try and eat it!!

A whole lot of catching up

So I've been really bad and haven't blogged for almost 3 months, opps. We have a lot to share, we've had a lot of fun and some very sad things happen along the way. So I'll try to catch up as fast as I can.

Opps we need to rewind to 4 months

I'm totally a blog slacker and haven't updated since Leah turned 3 months old, opps :( The biggest development that happened from 3 months to 4 months was that Leah learned how to rollover from her back to her belly. Once she figured this out, putting her on her back was just a game for her b/c within seconds she was on her tummy. This was fun for playing and stuff but we had to make sure she didn't play on the floor too close to eating b/c otherwise we were cleaning up her and the floor! She also went for her 4 month appt (actually a few days after turning 4 months) and was 14lbs 4.5 oz and 24.5 inches long, which is basically puts her in the 60th percentile for both weight and height.

Some other things we did was go to the final four festivities downtown. The picture below is of us watching Butler practice a Lucas Oil. Adam ended up being able to go the championship game on Monday with my dad. What and amazing final game he got to see.

We then had our first Easter with Leah and she seemed to think it was a pretty great day to celebrate Christ's resurrection. She looked adorable in her little pink Easter dress and we spent the day with family, it was a nice day. For some reason Leah took like 4+ hours of naps that day and then didn't sleep hardly at all that night, it was such a fun Monday let me tell you.

And of course here she is with her dog on her 4 month birthday, and for the first time I look at this picture and I actually think she is starting to look a little like my baby pictures.

I'm a quarter of a year old!

Hi its Leah here again, Mommy and Daddy let me do this month's post because I have more time on my hands then they do. If we waited for them to do this post I might be 3 years old instead of 3 months. That's right this is my 3 month of age post and I'm gonna tell you all about what I did since I turned 2 months old. First though we have to show you the picture that Mommy takes of me every month next to my doggy.


I've decided to start posing for my pictures this month with my one hand behind my head, aren't I cute :) And mommy wanted me to tell you that I'm really filling out now, as you can probably see by the pictures. I guess this is the only time in life that it is cute to be chunky and have rolls, at least that is what I have heard. Mommy and Daddy have been weighing me lately on the Wii, I even have my own Mii, and I seem to be a little over 13 lbs. We'll get more precise measurements when we go back to the doctor next month for my 4 month appointment.

This last month I've really mastered being on my tummy and being able to support myself. Mommy and Daddy tell me I'm pretty strong and that I'm getting to be such a big girl, they say it is happening way too fast.

We finally got some nice days where the temps got up into the 50's and 60's, the first day it was pretty and sunny out Mommy and Daddy wanted to take me for a quick walk outside around our neighborhood. My first official walk outside, since I was born in the dead of winter. So they bundled me up in this snowsuit, and then laughed hysterically while they took pictures of me, I don't understand what was so funny!

I'm keeping Mommy and Daddy on their toes and learning all kinds of new tricks. One of the things I did between month 2 and 3 was learn to roll to my sides and play with my toys. It is much easier to reach what I want this way. There was an even more exciting development that happened a couple days after I was 3 months old, but that will have to wait for the next post.

My mamaw and pawpa have a grandparent's pass to the Indianapolis Zoo so on one of the Saturday's that it got up to the 60's we went there for my first trip. Here is picture of Daddy and I by the Rhino's. I slept for a lot of the trip but I liked watching the people that were there and maybe a few of the animals.

One of the biggest changes this last month was that Mommy went back to work on March 3rd. She was very happy that her work let her have a reduced schedule so that she only works 5 hours a day and is only away from me about 6 hours a day, we hope that it can continue until the end of the year when I turn 1. While Mommy is at work I go to Miss Laurie's house, she is one of Mommy's best friends, and she and her daughter Casey play with me and take care of me until Mommy picks me up. Mommy tells me we are so blessed to be able to have this schedule and have someone that loves me taking care of me during the day. Its also very fun that Mommy, Daddy and I are all home by about 3 o'clock in the afternoon and have a lot of time to play and have fun together, Daddy says we will be able have even more fun as the weather gets nicer and we can take long walk and go on bike rides. Here is picture that miss Laurie took of Casey and I, our Mommies say we will be friends just like they are :)

Well that about wraps it up for my 3 month post, I'll see if Mommy can get the 4 month post done or if I'll have to fill in for her again b/c she is too busy.

Nice try Boilers!!

I guess Leah's excitement about the Boilers making it to the sweet sixteen wasn't enough to propel them over the Blue Devils and on to the Elite Eight. It was a nice run and better than anyone would thought they could do after the horrific train wreck in the Big Ten Tourney. We'll miss you Kramer and Grant, hopefully next year will be just as fun to watch.

P.S. I realize I'm edging closer to being a month late on getting the 3 month post completed. That's next on my to-do list.

2 month Stats and Shots

So this little girl has been with us for 2 months now and I think both Adam and I can say even though we don't think we can love her more than we already do, our love for her grows everyday. She has changed a lot this month, not the least of those changes being that she has gained over 2 lbs this month. After the little turkey took forever to gain back her birthweight, that first month, she has gone from 8lbs 9oz to 10lb 11oz this last month. We went for her 2 month appointment on Tuesday and she checked out great, hitting all of her milestones and being a healthy little girl.

Her stats are:

Weight - 10lbs 11.5 oz (45th percentile)
Height - 23 inches (70th percentile)
Head Circumference - 39.5 cm (65th percentile)

Of course this appointment included shots, actually 3 of them, and an oral vaccine for Rotavirus. She, as expected, let out the horrible "I'm in pain" cry and turned 8 shades of red, but we brought a bottle of breastmilk with us and gave that to her once she settled down just a bit. That turned out to be a good idea and she soon went to sleep in her carset. Actually for the next 17 hours pretty much all she did, just waking up long enough to eat a few times. I guess we should feel blessed that the shots made her sleepy and not cranky. I'm also happy that she didn't get feverish or any of the other side effects.

One of the big things that little missy is doing is that she started sleeping in her crib at night at about 6 weeks. On most nights she goes down between 9 and 10 gets up once at sometime between 3 and 5 and then goes back down until some time between 6 and 8. We can definetly handle the only one waking and the nice stretch of sleep. She has also just recently started taking some naps in her crib, we'll have to work more on this, but daycare might help this happen more regularly :)

Here is a picture of her on her 2 month birthday with her stuffed dog, that we are taking her picture with every month to show how much she is growing.

And here is her life in pictures of many of the things she has started doing this last month.

Its hard to see but she is all about blowing bubbles and does so almost constantly, when she isn't "talking", eating, or crying!!

Here she is getting ready for the Superbowl, this was a jersey that was her cousin Camryn's but it was 3-6 months and just wouldn't quite fit yet. We ended up dressing her in a Colts onsie we had so she could use her hands :)

We got out the Bumbo just to try it out, I think it might be a little while before her head control is enough that she looks comfortable.

And the best part of the last month has been all the smiles we get (I know this is a horrible picture, but you take what you can get). She melts my heart with her sweet little smile and now she is also "talking" to us constantly in the midst of these great smiles.

And here is a video of all that talking she has been doing.

http://vimeo.com/9356402 from Amanda Phillips on Vimeo.

We have a bag of potatoes

Leah and I went to a the Breastfeeding Support group at Clarian North yesterday and I'm able to weigh her there. She is now a big bag of potatoes and weighs 10lbs 2 oz, she gained a pound in 2 weeks which is right on target according to the doctor. And this kid is long, I'm interested in what she is measuring at her 2 month appt that is coming up, because due to length she can't fit in really any newborn clothes anymore and is basically in all 0-3 clothes and some 3 month clothes. I hope for her sake she is tall and lean like her daddy.

She is also really starting to notice her surroundings, especially her toys and mirror on her activity mat. I got a video of her playing from earlier today (if I upload this right)

Feeling Blessed!

Do you ever have those days when the blessings of life are just more apparent to you than others, I think I'm having one of those days. Here are some of the things I'm grateful for:

1. A nice warm home that is comfortable and a place where we can host friends and family, and use the blessings we have been given to bless others.

2. A perfect little girl that is healthy, and getting to watch her literally change every day and learn about the world around her. This week she loves seeing herself in the mirror on her activity mat and coos and smiles. She now give tons of smiles to Daddy and I and doesn't laugh yet but gets this really excited coo when we respond to her smiles. She also just seemed to realize there are toys hanging on her activity mat and hits them and gets really excited that she figured that out, as well as, laying on her tummy and holding her head up like a champ.

3. Being married to a man that is both an amazing father and husband. I didn't realize when we had a child how much more I would love my husband by watching him embrace his role as the rock of our family. I feel like our marriage has grown more in 6 weeks then it probably had in 3 years, b/c you forget all the little things that you used to argue about and just concentrate on taking care of this little person and being a team to accomplish things. The way he takes care of Leah and I melts my heart everyday. Leah is one lucky girl to have a daddy that loves her the way he does and is so hands on with taking care of her, never turning away from changing a diaper or giving a bath, or like this weekend nearly getting pooped on!! :)

4. Friends that want to help us in whatever way they can as we transition though life. We have had meals twice a week brought to us since the week after Leah was born, until this week. It seems like a small thing, but what a blessing to not have to worry about meal planning or eating really badly those first 6 weeks, and getting to spend that time as a family enjoying one another. It also gave us an excuse to get to visit with a lot of friends we don't see as often and get to introduce Leah to them. Also those friends that call to check in just to make sure you are doing OK or that try to help you with the small things b/c you usually have one arm occupied by a little person.

5. An OB/GYN and Pediatrician that are wonderful doctors but that care for the people they see and not just medicine. My OB is close to my age and has two small kids so her opinions are nice to hear and she is helpful and encouraging in being a new mom. She is also very good about making sure that both myself and Adam are taking care of ourselves so we can adequately take care of Leah. Our pediatrician was totally picked by a couple of referrals of friends and he has turned out to be nothing but great. He is awesome with Leah, supportive of me and breastfeeding and willing to allow me try different things to stick with it, and also makes sure Adam and I are doing well so we can be good parents to Miss Leah.

6. Our families. You never know how much you love your parents until you are one yourself. Although I was already really close to my Mom I feel even closer to her now, understanding what it is like to be a Mom. She has been supportive, encouraging, and there whenever I needed her while letting us have our space as needed.

So those are some things going through my mind today and just wanted to get it down to have it to read when I may not being having one of those "I feel so blessed" days :)

One month post ( a little late)

On January 9th, Leah turned 1 month old. I'm going to try and take a picture each month with this same stuffed dog to see how she is growing. Her first month was a great and totally busy month with Christmas and all the other things going on during that time. We finally had some success in the weight gaining department and by the time she was 4 weeks old she was several ounces over her birth weight, it was a lot of work for all involved to get that pound of weight on that little girl. We have enjoyed getting to know our little one and can't wait to see what the future months have in store and how much she is growing and changing.

And this picture if from this weekend at about 6 1/2 weeks, hasn't she changed so much, and Leah just wanted to say "Go Horse"!!!!

Catching up

We've been a little behind on blogging these days so this will be a catch up entry. On Christmas morning we woke up for our first Christmas as a family of 3 and really the only ones with gifts under the tree were Leah and Abbi. Adam and I didn't really worry about getting presents for each other this year since we had so many other things going on with having a baby.




Leah was sporting her Christmas wardrobe and looked a bit like a candy cane, a cute candy cane, of course.




On Christmas Eve Leah got to meet her Uncle Ryan, my brother, since he hadn't been home from St. Louis since she was born. It was weird that my little brother wanted to hold this tiny newborn right away, but I guess having a child of your own gets most guys over the I'm going to break the baby thing. On the Saturday after Christmas she met her Uncle Chris, Aunt Kacey, and only boy cousin, Nolan. We hadn't seen Nolan since this summer, because he and his parents are now living in Boston, and boy has he changed from a 1 year old to an almost 18 month old. He is a very active little boy and is starting to try and talk more, although his words are a little cryptic right now he can get his point across :)

We were a bit busy over the Christmas weekend and just needed some recoup time after that weekend. Adam said next time we need to have better timing and not have a newborn right at Christmas, as if we have that much control :) The last week of the year we just spent a lot of time together since it was the last week before Adam went back to work.

We didn't really do much for NYE since we didn't know if we would be awake, asleep, or feeding a child, we slept through the ball dropping and I think said "Happy New Years" to one another about 2:00 am when Leah woke up to eat.

Below was Leah's first time wearing her Boiler gear for the game against West Virginia on New Year's day. We think she might be the cutest little Boiler fan out there!



In my previous posts I mentioned some issues we have had with Leah's weight gain. After her 2 week appt where she hadn't really gained any weight and was below her birth weight still we tried a different approach to feeding and she lost another 3 oz, at this point the pediatrician was a bit more concerned and so for the next week I exclusively pumped and fed her all the breast milk I could pump and then supplemented with formula until she was full, which seemed to top off at about 3 oz. She did great with the bottle and it was actually a little bit nice that Adam could help me feed her. In that week she gained 13 oz and went from a sleepy, kind of apathetic, eater to a really hungry demanding eater. She was finally back up to her birth weight plus a little more. The pediatrician then said that I could just pump and feed every other feeding and go back to nursing the other feedings. We visited the office again this week for a last weight check and she is still gaining weight, finally this kid is heading in positive territory. We are still doing the combo of pumped milk and nursing but I hardly have to supplement anymore so its working for now and our baby is gaining weight so we are happy.

Although I definitely want her to have the benefits of breast milk, I'm glad I have been pretty open and flexible to how we are feeding her so that we can do what works for us as a family and not get so wrapped up in success or failure on the breastfeeding front. A mindset I would recommend for any new mommy, everything is new and not easy so feeling like you are a failure at something is just a stress that you as a new mom and your family doesn't need!

And here is just a cute picture of our little peanut and as you might be able to tell she is filling out more, you can see it in those chubby little cheeks!! She was done with me taking pictures of her but I think she is so cute when she gets fussy, at least when its during the day and only last a minute or two :)