Happy Fall Y'all

I would add "my first PSL of the season" but that ship has sailed for 2015...

Preparing for Fall

Because Fall isn't all pumpkin spice latte and Hocus Pocus..the weather is going to get a bit more chilly and it's my first being a Mama.  I think we have Halloween checked off for now so I'm looking towards colder temps, getting baby girl on steady solids and the beginning of the holidays! These are some goodies on our list to prepare for the weeks ahead.

1. Beaufort Bonnet in Nantucket Navy, the perfect bonnet to go with her hot pink jacket this Winter.  It's been back ordered for ages but I have finally tracked one down locally. It's a splurge for sure but I can count on TBBC to have the cutest of the cute in babywear!

2.  I'm torn on mittens.  Baby girl always has cold hands and I'm not sure how long she will keep them on but these were well reviewed on Lucie's List as being slip proof.

3.  Fleece Zutano Booties, she will be getting a pair of these in the next two weeks, they are perfect for every day and they will keep her toes toasty at daycare.

4.  We have an Ergo gifted to us by my sister in law, but it is really uncomfortable to wear with  my short torso. I have heard great things about the Tula and I can't wait to make one mine.  This will be perfect for being outdoors and snuggling close to keep the baby warm. #wearthebabies

5.  I was going to order this dress for Thanksgiving Day, but my mother in law gave Ava a pretty corduroy dress that might be perfect for the occasion.  With just the right bow of course.  I also need to pick up some tights and bloomers for Fall/Winter now that baby girl wears a size 2.

6. The baby has been eating solids in the evenings and soon we will have to pack food for outings. I'll need to prepare the diaper bag with some essentials.  This spoon has been on the wish list for a while and I think it will be great to toss in the bag with a jar if I need to feed on the go.

7.  Because every holiday needs a special book.  We have purchased a few fall/halloween theme books but not one for Thanksgiving yet.  Over the weekend we picked up Max the Brave and Llama Llama Trick or Treat.

8. Ai, again with the feeding.  We learned the hard way that cloth wasn't the way to go (but it was all we had)!  So we bought some easy to wipe bibs and they have been awesome for purees.  I think when we start getting to food with consistency these bibs are the way to go.  I've heard nothing but raves about this brand but I know there are similar bibs on the market for a less hefty price tag.

9.  Finally sweet girl is teething and I've had my eye on a mint and coral necklace from Minted Lane's etsy shop.  I may try a baltic amber necklace if she is really struggling, some of the moms at daycare swear by it, but for now I think I'd just like to have something she can chew on that isn't going to be dropped on the floor.

Fall is our favorite time of year and we can't wait to get started on our bucket list for Ava's first.  Comment below if you have any feeding favorites because we are learning this through trial and error.

Sweet Dreams ...

This is an update to share that we are sleep training our baby.  Ha, or more like she is training us. Our nugget slept so well at 3 and 4 months, then she changed and was waking up every 30/45min at night.  She also wakes up screaming if she is alone in her bassinet so every night to keep our sanity she went in the bed with us.  Our default was to nurse to sleep and that had to change, because I had reached zombie status at work.  

I read many, many, MANY articles on sleep training methods - cry it out, no cry, minimal cry, comfort, etc.  Cry it out is not for us, absolutely not, however I don't think it is possible to avoid crying all together. We can't control her naps or schedule during the day at daycare so we try and keep things as consistent as possible in the afternoon. 

Our "process"-

1. Playtime, floor time, practice scooting, standing, and sitting
2. Dinner time (starting solids mini post coming soon!)
3. Bath time otherwise known as "daddy time", I'm not sure if R loves it but I think it's his thing
4. Bedtime story and quiet time
5. Either she gets a bottle or we nurse and then it's off to sleep

That's the easy part.  She has learned to take some comfort from dad in the form of rocking and bouncing.  Now when she wakes up we let her cry for about 3-5 minutes and very occasionally she will put herself back to sleep.  Then we go in and make a "shhh" sound while rubbing her tummy and chest for comfort.  After another 3-5 min if she is still upset or if she gets uncontrollable (with the screaming) then we start all over again with some rocking, bouncing, or nursing.  She still wakes up twice at night to feed which is fine with me.  Once we get her back to sleep we try and put her back in the bassinet.  So far we do this process several times a night and she is sleeping for longer periods on her own! 

Things that we find helpful:

• using a humidifer, it prevent stuffiness so she doesn't wake up unable to breathe
• warming her bed and blanket with a heating pad and removing it before we lay her down
• A Miracle blanket, it's a swaddle that she can't break out of.  We don't use it on her legs in favor of footed pjs.
• Prayer

I'm not sure if this is part of a developmental milestone, teething, or the beginnings of separation anxiety but I'm hoping we can help her through this hurdle. For now, some nights are better than others but we are surviving.

Grandparents Day 2015

This month we celebrated our first ever Grandparent's Day and it was a success!  Grandma, Grammy, and Pappy met us for church and a yummy Mexican lunch.  Ava Rose was pumped to have an entourage!  And of course she doled out snuggles like it was her job.

I love doing little art projects with her and we enjoyed making cards for each grandparent that contained a sweet photo of her.  She was such a wiggle worm and her attention span is zilch, it was an absolute miracle that I was able to get her to sit still enough to do this.

 My little Picasso!

This is the picture we decided to include in their cards, I tried not to share it hoping to keep it a secret until Grandparents Day but of course the photographer thought it was cute enough to feature on her social media so it wasn't a complete surprise.  I was flattered that she chose it though.

 And I snapped a shot of her giving her card to Grandma before church.  

And just as an aside, my baby girl is no fair weather fan, she will support her pirates through the good weeks and the bad ones.  Aarrgghhh!

Ava Rose at 5 Months...

5 months, Hip Hip Hooray!

Five month facts:

• Everything goes into that mouth, literally nothing is safe.  Hands, hair, toys, blankets, fingers, toes, et cetera
• We can roll over belly to back
• Still happiest in the morning, sleeping at least four hours at a time at night but can sleep 6-8 hours if mommy is very lucky
• Loves electronic books - she has two, a Vtech and a Fisher Price one.
• She can grab toys, play, sit assisted, and reach for toys during tummy time.
• She is fascinated by her feet.
• Absolutely loves her Daddy and wants his attention as soon as he gets home, she relies on him for lots of cuddles.  
• Prefers mommy for comfort and to fill her belly.  We play a lot on the floor and sing, I don't think I've ever sung so much in my life.
• She drools all day, every day and has to wear a bib 24/7.

Nicknames:  Nugget, Nuggie, Nugs, Bunny, Bunny Bear, Bunny Rose, and Fuss Bucket.  Occasionally Sugar Bear (pronounced Suhgar - thats important people!)

Weight:  4 month visit we were 11 pounds, 11 ounces.  We won't go back to the doctor until 6 months.

Length:  Just under 25 inches.  She is such a long baby considering her weight.

Eyes:  Hazel, there is quite a bit of green in them.

Clothes:  We still wear a lot of our 0-3 month "summer" clothes, onesies, and rompers.  We have graduated to 3-6 month for length though and that's probably the size we will be in for the majority of the next couple of months.  It really won't be chilly here for a while so I was able to buy her some transition clothes for the season.  We wear a size 1 shoe.

Diapers:  Size 1.  Costco carries a size 1-2 that we were given at our shower so we are going to use them up and then we will start buying size 2. 

Sleeping: At least 4 hours stretches.  We've even had some 5, 6, 7, and 8 hour nights thrown in there.  We still usually have at least one night feeding, sometimes two.  I thought that we might be teething for a while there because we had a week where we were waking up every 1.5 hours but thankfully  it was just a few nights.

Likes:  Her hands, her frog lovey, the bath, Lamaze toys, sitting up and being carried - she likes to see everything we do.  She also loves the morning news, she is so attentive to the am weather girl.

Dislikes: Homegirl falls apart after about 8pm...she needs to be bathed and ready for bed or else "Angry Nugget" comes out.  She hates getting her nails clipped, and her carseat. 

Feeding:  Breast milk, we nurse in the mornings, evenings and any night feeds that she wakes up for.  She gets three bottles during the day at daycare.  If she doesn't wake at night then I get up to pump.  We are prepared to start some solids next month.

Ava's Favorites:  Freddy Firefly, Halo SwaddleSack, Manhattan Winkle Sensory Rattle, live music

Milestones: Found her feet, rolled over the first time, she can "speak" b and g sounds, she can pass objects between her hands, and slept through the night.

Postpartum: Still losing about a half pound per week and a pound of hair a day.  That might be an exaggeration (or not because I find my hair everywhere).  It's been falling out at a slower rate it seems but I can also see it growing back in the form of baby hairs all over my head.  It's noticeable at my hairline. Cooler temperatures will hopefully motivate me to get back to running.  The past two months since I've returned to work have been so challenging balancing work and home - I want to give her my full attention when we are together; when I'm at the office I have to manage my time well so I can pick her up from daycare, play, nurse her and do a full bedtime routine, in just a few precious evening hours.  R and I have started a daily cleaning schedule so we can get a little extra mileage out of those hours, having a clean house is pretty low on the priority list when you have a tiny nugget but eventually the dog needs a bath, cat hair needs to be vacuumed from the carpet, the dishes need to be washed and the clothes need to be dried.  My breastfeeding game is still strong, I'm so thankful that 5 months in we are still able to do it.  Pumping is such a pain and it's challenging to get enough milk in a day while pumping. When I'm stressed I don't produce well and that makes collecting milk at work difficult. R has been a huge help - he gets my bottles and pump parts clean and ready and at the end of the day he measures the milk and fills the collection bags to freeze.  I pack and unpack my bag every day and of course I stop everything about every three hours to either pump or nurse if I'm with her - it's definitely a team effort.

I have a tiny nugget for one more month before she is officially an "older infant" as her teachers call it...she thinks she is big and is trying desperately to become more mobile and independent.  We had a nice long chat today about staying little as long as possible for my sake. 

Currently...

We are having a date night, a for real date night with a planned dinner and a move that we have had on the DVR for months.

I have been loving my Covered Goods nursing cover for breastfeeding in public, it's perfect and thin enough so I don't sweat buckets.

Nugget starts her new school on Monday, we are so, so excited.  Unfortunately we had a blip with our last daycare and we are a little more guarded this time around.  We had open house tonight though and met several other parents and her teachers.

We are Aldi shoppers, we have loved them for a long long time but now we don't have to drive as far to shop there :-)

Our baby didn't have many 3-6 month outfits, so far we haven't had to buy her clothes because we were gifted so many at our shower.  The past couple of weeks I've been able to shop for her and it is so much fun!  I love Carters, goodness that stuff is cute.

I can jam out to the Pandora Lullaby station, in fact I'm humming it pretty much all the time.  Yes, I sing Baa Baa Black Sheep  when I'm getting my makeup on.

We ordered our high chair this week, my mother in law gifted us an OXO Tot Sprout chair, I hope it lives up to the hype.

We are not so patiently waiting for Fall.

Ava Rose's 3 Month Professional Shots...

So I contacted our photographer, the same one who did our maternity shoot and Ava's newborn pictures, so we could get 3 month photos...I was upset to learn that she has taken a leave from photography for personal reasons.  She referred a friend who is a photographer and offers a similar "first year" package.  Unfortunately, Jasmeen Calhoun couldn't book us until her fourth month because she had a full schedule.  I've already set dates for 6 month and 9 month pics so we can plan in advance.  

Using a new photographer is stressful, I adored her though.  She was so easy to work with. All of the pictures were either taken in her beautiful yard or in her studio space and she was so patient with our sweet girl.  We loved all the prints and I couldn't wait to show off our 3 month 4 month infant pictures.

I've already started planning our 6 month shoot, it's going to be so much fun!