Sunday, July 31, 2011

Isabella: Months 2-4

I cannot believe in just two days my baby will be 5 months old already.  Again...where does the time go?! 

This is just a catch-up post of all the things that have been going on with Bella over the past few months...so, please bare with me if I'm boring you.  ;-)

~  At your 4 month appointment, you were 13lbs 1oz and 25 inches....my long and skinny gal.  :-)  I don't remember exactly what your weight/height was at your last 2 appointments, so, I'm definitely going to check with the Dr. when we go back for your next weight check and write all yours stats down.  (Bad mommy!)

~  You're still in size 2 diapers.  It definitely took us a while to figure out your diaper preference, though.  We started off in Pampers Swaddlers from the hospital, and then I bought Pampers Baby Dry.  After 3 months of you blowing out of almost every. single. diaper., I decided it was time to start looking for something else.  We tried almost every Pampers diaper, Huggies diapers, went up a size, down a size, and then I finally decided to give a shot with Luvs (I'd heard they were horrible and leak all the time, so I never ever bothered to try), and what would you know!  Luvs are the diaper for you!  Hallelujah!  

~  You're finally starting to grow out of your 3 months clothes.  :(  *sniff*   You're most comfortable in everything 6 months...onesies, pants, sleepers.

~   You're still 100% on mama's milk, and you BF on demand.  Things have been progressively getting better and better in the breastfeeding department, and I couldn't be happier.  I love that special time with you, and I think you're really starting to enjoy it again, as well.  I'm SO glad I stuck through the tough times and kept it up.  I'd like to keep going for at least a year, if things go well, so we'll see how that goes.  Right now I'm shooting for 6 months, and we're almost there!  :D

~  You're still such a good sleeper, thank the Lord!  I'm so happy you take after Mama in that aspect.  You go down between 7:30-8pm every night, and Daddy usually has to wake you up around 7am when it's time to start getting you ready for daycare.  You've gotten to the point now where I don't even have to rock you to sleep anymore!  It's amazing to me, honestly, since I used to have to rock/shush you for 20-30 minutes every night until you were completely asleep.  

You're a great napper, too!  Your naps are kind of all over the place at daycare, but, at home on the weekend you usually take three naps a day...one good morning nap usually for 2-2 1/2 hours, one afternoon nap, and one early evening nap, both about 1-2 hours.

She broke out of her swaddle that morning!

We have our nighttime routine now...bathtime, change/put pj's on, story time, and then I swaddle you up (yes, you're still swaddled at almost 5 months old!  You can't sleep without it.), give you a few kisses, turn on your sound machine, and leave the room.  Most nights you'll just turn your head to the side and you're out within 5 minutes.  It's great!  And, you do the same for naps, too!  You're such a good little girl, Bella.  I don't know how we got so lucky, but we are. 

~ You still LOVE bathtime!  You could hang out in the tub allll day long if I'd let you.  It's such a fun time to watch you play and splash.  

~  Speaking of splashing...we brought you into the big pool for the first time this month!  You LOVE it!  You splash around and kick your feet like such a smart little girl.  It's adorable.

~  You giggled for the first time around 3 months or so!  It's the BEST sound.  You've done it a bunch more times since then, but, it's pretty random when you do it.  Like, the other day, I was swaddling you up to take a nap, and you started laughing like it was the funniest thing I've ever done.  My little weirdo.  ;-)
~  Your favorite toys are your jumperoo and playmat.  Hours of fun for you!
Please ignore the bored look on her face.  I swear she's having tons of fun!  :P


~  You started daycare on May 31st.  It was one of the hardest days EVER, but, you were such a trooper!  You do so well there now, and everyone loves you so much.  Your teacher even said that you're one of the best babies they've ever had there!!  I'm definitely one proud Mama, that's for sure.  :-)

~  You've really started to recognize who Mommy and Daddy are.  If it's not us there with you, waking you up, playing with you, you definitely let whoever is there know that you want Mommy!  It breaks my heart, but makes me feel so special at the same time.  ;-) 

~  You've started 'talking' and babbling so much now.  It's the cutest thing ever, of course!  And, you LOVE to stand.  You stand on your changing table, in your crib, on Mommy/Daddy, anywhere.  Of course you do this with our help, but, you're getting SO strong.  It really amazes me how much you change from day to day. 

Don't worry...Daddy was right there!  


~  You've discovered your feet, and your love them, of course!  You'll grab and play with your toes all day long.  You even try and eat them...silly girl.
 
~  My nicknames for your are Baby Girl and Baby Boo.  I have NO idea where those came from, but, for some reason they've stuck.  You're my little Boo Boo and I love you SO much!

Baby Boo...Mommy and Daddy love you SO much, and you bring so much joy to our lives.  I don't know what we'd do without you, and I thank my lucky stars every. single. day. that God has given us such a wonderful, healthy, happy baby.  We love you to the moon and back!  XOXO

Just a few more pictures to catch up with:
Love the faces this girl makes
Bathing beauty

Monday, July 18, 2011

Someone has the screamies!

Seriously, this may be the cutest thing I've ever seen/heard!  Yes, maybe I'm a little biased...but, I can't help it.  Just watch.  :-)


PS - Sorry it's sideways.  I couldn't figure out how to flip it. 

Saturday, July 16, 2011

Hello? Is anyone out there? (We're still alive!)

Wow, it's been a few days/weeks/months, huh??  I officially accept the award for 'The World's WORST Blogger.'  Sad to say.  :-(

Honestly, though...this whole "working full time while taking care of a baby every night" thing?  It's HARD.  Well, let me clarify...it's hard to blog while doing all those other things.  Seriously...how do you moms do it???  Whether you're a SAHM or working mom, WHERE do you find the time to blog?!  Please...enlighten me.  ;-)

I want to keep up with my blog!  I swear, I do.  I've honestly thought about it almost every. single. night. since my last post.  But, I just haven't had the time/motivation to do it since going back to work.  By the time I get home, I'm playing with Isabella, feeding her, giving her a bath, putting her to bed, eating dinner, maybe watching a DVR'd show with the hubs, and then going to bed.  Oh yeah, and I've been going to work between 6-7am every day, so, by the time I have a minute to myself at the end of the night, I'm so ridiculously tired, that the only thing I can even think about is my bed.

I can't lie, though.  I still go online at the end of the night to unwind, but, I just can't muster up enough energy to come up with a fun/witty/exciting/worthwhile post.  So, I don't.  And, the longer I've put off blogging, the harder it's been to come back to it.  It's kind of like sex...the longer you go without it, the harder it is to get back into doing it again.  (What?  Did I just say that?!  lol  It's so true, though.  ;-)  )

Anyways...I'm really sorry for being such a bad blogger.  I've been trying to keep up with as many of your blogs as I can, but, I'm sorry if I've been doing a craptastic job at that, as well.  I'm surprised I have any followers left, to tell you the truth.  Thank you for sticking around!!  I'm definitely going to try my best to fit in a post at least once or twice a week from now on.  I really do enjoy it.  And, I miss it.  I miss all of you ladies.  I loved hearing from you all.

So, I hope you can forgive me...and, maybe you'll still read my boring rants/raves/blabber about absolutely nothing.  ;-)  I promise I'll make up for it with tons of adorable pics of my favorite girl in the entire world.  :-D

Here are a few to make up for lost time!  I hope you all are doing well!

Isabella's first day of 'school'...aka, daycare
She sure is!  ;-)
Pretty girly!
Happy 4th of July!

I'm serious, though, Moms...how do you do it??  When do you find time to blog?  I'd love any tips/suggestions!!  :-)