6 month checkup

Payton had her 6 month check up today. She is growing VERY well, she is 16 pounds, 10 oz and 26 inches long, both are in the 80th percentile. She was in the 50th at 4 months, so she's growing really well. Her head is still small, but it's growing just fine for her, the Dr just said she's going to have a small head, but again, I do too, so there's no concern there.

She only cried a little bit for her shots, I was very proud of her!

Matt surprised us and met us there, so it was nice having an extra set of hands!

We didn't have many questions for the Dr. He said she's ahead a tiny bit developmentally, but that's normal being a second child and he wasn't surprised that she's crawling already since she's been super active since birth.

She is sitting up unsupported and she has started crawling, she doesn't go far, and she isn't fast, but it's a start! She goes one or 2 "Crawls" then flops down on her belly, wiggles around a bit, then gets up and does it all again.

Her first tooth also came through!! He said we can move her up to stage 2 foods whenever we want, but no finger foods until she has more teeth, I was hoping to start her on some Cheerios or some teething biscuits or something, but he said nope, wait closer to 9 months.

We talked about her reflux, he said there just isn't much we can do about it. She'll grow out of by 12 months, and until then, we just need to keep the burp rags handy. He said trying a lactose free formula may work, but the formula he has her on is for acid reflux, so he's not sure if a soy based will help or not, but we can try if we want.

Speaking of formula, I've been having trouble finding it in the stores, I mentioned this to our nurse, she came back with 6 sample cans and said they don't use that formula often, so when I'm getting low, just call and she'll keep us stocked with samples!! She said she would check with the rep to see what stores carry it, but she said the 6 cans she gave me expire next month and they figured they were going to have to toss them. I'll be emailing them regularly!!

I asked about the Hemotoma's on her eyes and he said they should go away on their own by 2, but if not, we'll visit other options then, so he said I shouldn't worry.

We go back at 9 months!

6 months old

Trying to crawl

She was much more interested in the paper then me

Payton is 6 months old today! My sweet, baby girl is growing so fast. We are loving every minute of it.

If she's asleep and Garrett is awake, he's constantly asking if we can go get her up, he loves playing with her.

She is trying SO hard to crawl, I don't think it will be much longer, she prefers to be on the ground now where she can practice her new skills.

She is a wonderful eater, we haven't found anything she doesn't like yet :)

She still has her blue eyes, I'm very excited about this. Garrett has my brown eyes, so I thought it would be neat if she had her Daddy's blue eyes and it looks like she just might!

Thankfully, she is over her issues with riding in the car, that was a rough couple of weeks.

She sleeps about 10 hours a night, some nights she wakes up every couple hours, some nights she sleeps straight through. I cannot figure out how to get her to sleep straight through every night though. She is a great afternoon napper, and a decent morning napper, but that's more my fault, we are always on the go in the morning, so she doesn't usually get to lay in her crib and nap.

I'm almost done weaning her. 6 months was my goal and we are down to one feeding a day, she doesn't seem to care one way or the other!

She will reach for her bottle and guide it into her mouth, but she does not hold it yet.

Happy 6 month birthday, Peanut!

Grandma and Grandpa's

After much back and forth, it was decided that I would take the kids to visit my parents in Michigan, Matt would stay here, and my sister would fly with me. What a trip! I think we really wore Heather out :)

On Wednesday, Aug 4, I packed all of us in the car and drove to Dallas, we stopped once for a potty break and I fed Payton. She slept almost the entire way there, and Garrett watched a movie. When we got to Dallas, we ran into some traffic, Garrett says, "what's this momma?", "traffic, honey", "I don't like it, it's slow". Heather was not home when we got there, so I let Payton lay on the floor while G and I ran back down (3flights) to the car. When I came back, P was not where I left her, yep, baby girl had scooted backwards and was half way across the room! I thought I had a few more months before she started moving around! That night was a bit rough, Heather's cat doesn't like company much, so she cried all night long :( The flight Saturday was fairly easy, P fell asleep as we took off and only cried once. I gave her a bottle and she was fine. G played a bit and watched a movie. Thursday night at Grandma and Grandpa's was pretty relaxed, we actually ate dinner outside!!

Friday we met Heather Babjack and Evan at Chuck E Cheese, the kids had a blast! Friday afternoon, Dad went and got Jack from daycare and we got to have dinner with Scott and Jack, Garrett and Jack had a blast with each other too!

Saturday, us and most of Detroit, went to the Detroit zoo. There was some sort of corporate event going on and it was SO busy!! We did have some fun, but the kids were hot and whiny and it was crowded and we couldn't see the animals that well. I'm glad we went, but I may not go back for a while! Saturday night, Aunt Kay, Uncle Glenn, Grandma S, Beth and Bre came over. Garrett got Bre to play with him, he was thrilled to have someone pay attention just to him!

Sunday, we had a family picnic at Metro Beach, again, another fun filled day! We saw almost all my Dad's family. The kids all got along great, P slept most of the time, poor thing was just worn out! We splashed in the water, took a "train" ride, G flew a kite with Scott and Jack. It was a very enjoyable day.

Monday, we took P to my old Dr. She had a runny nose for 11 days and with another flight coming up, I was a bit worried. He checked her over, said she's growing great :), but no infections. He did give her a decongestant, and told me he's pretty sure her blue eyes will stay!! Love Dr. Sullivan! Monday night we went to see Grandma K and more of Dad's family. The kids did ok, but it was bedtime and they were falling apart a bit.

Tuesday, we just hung out until it was time to go. This flight didn't go quite as good. P cried off and on for most of the flight, not loud crying, more fussing, but then when we landed, she screamed, full out screamed, for about 10 minutes until I could get up and walk down the aisle, then she was fine! By the time we got to Heather's, I figure we'd been traveling for 10 hours! Sadly, none of us slept well at all, again, Kahlua doesn't much like guests sleeping over!

Wednesday, Heather had to head back to work. I felt really bad for Heather, so I cleaned her kitchen for her :) The drive home didn't go so great either, Both kids did great until Madisonville, P woke up, so I fed her, but she did not want to get back in the car seat, so she cried all the way from Madisonville, about a good 40 minutes. G, on the other hand, finally fell asleep! How he could sleep with her screaming is beyond me!! When I got home and put her in the exersaucer, all smiles. Little stinker!

While we were at Grandma and Grandpa's, P also realized she is strong enough to get up on all 4's! She is know rocking back and forth and today even threw herself forward a few times, I fear crawling is right around the corner! She is sitting up really well and has been for about a week, but I"m not sure I'm ready for crawling!!

Schedule

I think I finally did it, I got Payton on a schedule! One we can all live with. The cereal is helping things, not sure why, but it really seems to be.

She wakes up and gets a bottle at 7, (I pump and get enough for 2 bottles), then she usually takes a little 15 minute catnap on our way to the gym. At 10, she gets cereal and another bottle, and takes a nap, but not too long. I've discovered this throws her afternoon nap off. So it is usually about 30-45 minutes, but no longer then an hour. Then when we read stories to Garrett at 1, her and I go off to her room, she nurses and sleeps about 3 hours!! When she gets up she gets more cereal and her veggies dinner, with a small bottle, then plays and and gets a bath if it's bath night, then by 8, she's usually sound asleep.

Night time is a guess, some nights she's up a lot between 4 and 6:30, some nights (last night), she's up every couple hours, and some nights she sleeps straight though. She no longer nurses at night, I just pop the paci in and rub her back and she's out before I'm out the door. Why she wakes up, I have no idea, but I can NOT wait for her to figure out how to get that paci back in herself!

5 months

Oh, i can't believe I forgot to post Payton's 5 month birthday! I took pictures, but by the time you upload them onto the computer, then to Kodak, then share them, then onto facebook, I guess I forgot the blog!

Yes, my little Peanut is 5 months old! She is rolling and squirming everywhere. She can now get to a toy if she wants it. It might take her a little while, but she gets there. She turned 5 months on Friday, Saturday morning she discovered she has a voice, and boy does she like hearing herself! By the time she fell asleep Saturday night, I had a headache, that girl can talk. She is trying to sit up, she does this tripod type sit up, then usually falls on her face or rolls on her side.

We started baby food on Monday night. We finally got her high chair down from the attic and she looks so tiny sitting in it, but she loves it! She had sweet potatoes the last 2 nights and those are a big hit. Now that I'm feeding her in the high chair and not the Bumbo seat, she isn't making as much of a mess.

Monday, I decided it was time to firm up her nap schedule a bit more, but she had her own ideas! The research I did said to keep her up for 3 hours (I was going for closer to 2), well, at 2 hours she fell asleep on me at Target! She took a 30 minute nap and then about 2 hours later another 30 minutes, but her next nap was 3 hours long! I was feeling quite proud of myself. Today, she napped for 1.5 hours at church....and that was almost it for the day! She slept maybe 10 minutes on the way home from church and that just messed everything up. At 4, she finally passed out, but only slept for 30 minutes, so she was in bed a little after 7! Baby girl was beat.

Her hair is coming in blonder, so we are about to say good bye to the red, I think. Her eyes are still blue. I wish I had noted when Garrett's changed, so I could compare, but I"m still holding out some hope she'll get her Daddy's blue eyes. I need to weigh her, but her and the car seat are 26 pounds! No wonder it's so heavy to carry around. If I can, I just carry her and leave the car seat in the car.

I am officially back to my pre pregnancy weight :) I am now working on losing the last 10 I never lost after I had Garrett. I figure I'm going to keep working out as hard as I can until I finally do go back to work, i figure it will become much harder at that point.

I did decide to start weaning her. I have cut out one feeding, the mid morning one, and it's made life a LOT easier. I don't have to worry so much about when we can go to the gym, or about taking her to the nursery for bible study, or running errands. Maybe it's a selfish decision, but I still pump first thing in the morning and get enough for 2 feedings, so she's still 100% getting breastmilk.

To wean or not to wean?!?!

Payton is 5 months today (pictures coming soon), and I am seriously considering starting to wean her. I originally wanted to nurse her until she was 6 months, but we have a trip coming up and the idea of traveling in the car, on the airplane and just all the fun stuff we have planned and breastfeeding sounds a bit overwhelming to me. So, I think it might be time. The cost of forumla always scares me, but at our last Dr's appt, I asked for some samples and they gave me 6 cans!! I figure if I ask again at her 6 month appt, hopefully, I can get a few more, and maybe we won't have to buy any for a little while.

I get sad, since she's my last baby, but then I think of the freedom, and I get a bit excited, is that wrong?!?!

Rolling, rolling, rolling

I need to get back on track with adding comments about the kids!

Payton is now a rolling machine. You lay her on her back and she immediately flips onto her stomach, and then proceeds to complain because she can't see you.

About a week ago, I decided to go ahead and start her on cereal, she didn't do too well at first, but then i thickened it a bit and now she loves it. She gets it everywhere, she follows the spoon with her fist, then grabs her toes, so it is quite a messy meal, but she opens her mouth and gets very excited about it.

Same with a bottle, i've been pumping a bit more to make sure she is good with the bottle and now she will reach for it and help you hold it, if you try to take it away and burp her, she grabs it and shoves it back in!

She loves the bath now, lots of kicking and splashing going on!

Garrett is still her favorite, she just lights up when he looks at her. She's laughing so much more now, it is the cutest sound ever!

As for Garrett, he's doing great! No more pooping issues, everything makes it into the potty now, except for the occasional naptime poop (in a diaper), but he's even woken up dry from his nap a few times :)

We took him to see Toy Story 3, he loved it. He was scared a couple of times, but as soon as we walked out of the theater, he was asking if we could see it again.

The other night he was trying to watch Scooby Doo, and it was kind of scaring him, he came to me and said he was being "smart" and watching Scooby Doo, it took me a minute to realize he meant brave.

Payton is getting very good at putting herself to sleep. Tonight, she was crying when I was rocking her, so I laid her down, she turned on her side and went right to sleep! Kind of bittersweet for Momma!