Strawberry Fields Forever

Six Months Old!

Lennon hit 6 months old on the 14th!  Wow, does time ever go fast.  She's growing and changing every day.  She is now able to sit up on her own and is getting better at balancing herself.  She can go quite a while without tipping over now.  She also "talks" a lot more.  It's very cute to hear her babbles and squeals!  She's always full of smiles too.  It's great!  Lennon is happy to spend most of her playtime on her tummy now.  She quickly flips herself over when I put her down on her back and wiggles herself around to get at various toys.  She really likes crinkly things right now.

We were at the doctor for Lennon's 6 month check up yesterday.  She's doing great!  Weighed in at 16 lb 15 oz and measured 27 inches long.  She's in the 75th percentile for length, the 50th for weight, and her head has shrunk down from the 90th to the 75th percentile!  Normally the doctor would be worried about a head size going down so much, but since Lennon's started out so big (thanks, Fred!) she wasn't concerned.  The doc was very pleased with how she's doing overall.

Banana, Sweet potato and chicken (she might be wearing more than she ate!)

We have started to try some solid foods.  She's not too sure about it yet.  We have tried chicken, sweet potato, and banana.  No strawberries yet :)  Her first taste did not go well.  She gagged and spit up!  We had the most success with mixing the sweet potato and chicken together and making it really runny (gross!) although she's still not too keen on it.  Next I think we'll try some carrots and maybe some apples.  It's a fun adventure!  I wonder what the first thing she really takes to will be?

Sleep still continues to be inconsistent.  She's goes down for bed at the same time every night really well now which is great.  However, she is up many (many!) times in the night.  I feel like she has just gotten into the habit of depending on being nursed back to sleep every time she wakes up.  We're not sure that we want to (or can!) let her cry it out in the middle of the night.  It seems cruel.  I am exhausted though so we may have to re-evaluate that in another month if things don't improve on their own!  We'll see.

Getting Better

Well, we've been doing some sleep training for just over a week now and things are getting better!  We changed Lennon's before bed routine.  I was still nursing her to pretty much asleep before.  Now our bedtime routine is: feeding, diaper change, pajamas, wash face/"brush" teeth, read a story, then into bed.  We also stopped putting her in the swaddle sack.  She's just in a regular sleep sack with her arms out.  I think fighting the swaddle may have been causing her to wake up more.  The first few nights of our new routine had some crying but she eventually went to sleep.  We did check ins after 5 minutes and then progressively longer and only had to go in once before she'd settle herself to sleep.  The last two nights she went to sleep with absolutely no crying!  Yay!  It was hard to let her cry a bit but it seems to have worked, or is working!  The night time wake ups have also started to become less frequent.  The first few nights she still got up three or four times.  We made a "rule" that if it was at least 3 hours since her last feed then I'd feed her in the night.  She pretty much followed the 3 hour rule to a tee the first few nights.  The last three or four nights she has only gotten up two to three times.  Last night was particularly good: to bed and asleep by 7:30, up at 11:00 to eat, up at 4:30 to eat, and then up for the day at 7:30.  I'm trying not to get too excited by this as we haven't had much consistency yet.  But it's promising!  Nap times are still inconsistent too.  Although she goes down for her naps at pretty much the same time every day the length of them varies greatly.  She'll nap anywhere from 40 minutes to over an hour and a half.  I do everything the same so I'm not sure what's causing the differences.  She's a happy girl the rest of the time though so she must be getting what she needs!

First Stampede! unimpressed, with George who was equally unimpressed, sleeping while Mom has some Stampede fare

Twist and Shout

It's been a while since I've posted.  Happy Canada Day!  Hmmm, what's been going on?!  

Well, Lennon is rolling over all the time now.  She rolls from her back to her tummy and will play on her tummy for a while.  The last few days she's been lasting longer on her tummy and doing some baby push ups.  After a while she gets mad and can't get herself back over to her back yet.  So I help her roll over and she'll stay on her back for a bit before rolling over again!  She's babbling a lot more now too.  She'll entertain herself with "yayaya," "dadada," and buzzing her tongue and lips.  It's all pretty cute!

More exciting news...Lennon's getting her first teeth!  At 5 and a half months.  There are two teeth starting to poke out on the bottom.  One of them is already coming through, the other can just be seen.  It hasn't seemed to be bothering her.  She's still pretty happy all the time.  She puts absolutely everything in her mouth.  But, so far, no complaining about the teeth!  Fred's dental hygienist suggested wiping her gums with xylitol to help control bacteria which cause the pain.  She swears it works.  We've been using just water up until now, so we'll try that.

Lennon will be six months old in a couple of weeks so we're starting to think about introducing some solid (pureed) foods.  We're looking forward to that and to see what she thinks of it and how she reacts.  More on that when we get there.

We took a last minute trip to Penticton for the long weekend.  Fred had Monday off instead of today so we thought we'd take advantage.  The weather was ok.  In the low 20s and a bit cloudy.  Of course Monday, when we had to leave, was absolutely beautiful and hot.  We had a great time though.  Did lots of walking and got in a couple of swims in the pool too.  It was a bit cool for the beach and the lake is pretty chilly still.  It should be better when we're back at the end of the month.

Sleep is still an issue.  Lennon is waking up four, sometimes five or six, times a night.  I think she's made it a habit to use me to get back to sleep when she wakes up because she's definitely not eating every time.  We all need more sleep.  Waking up a couple of times to eat would be fine.  It's all the extra wake ups.  We're going to try some sleep training.  Hopefully that will help!  I'll keep you posted!

Rock Star, excited by Jolly Jumping, Cutie in the exersaucer, Tummy time smiles

In Penticton, she's quite indifferent about being in the pool!

Teeth!  One coming through another starting beside it

Real Love

Fred had his first Father's Day on Sunday.  He slept in a bit and then I made waffles for breakfast.  Yum!  After breakfast he wrote a practice GMAT test (wrote the actual test this afternoon to apply to an MBA program - he did awesome, of course).  We had lunch at Five Guys, chilled a bit in the afternoon and then had his dad, Todd and Ashton over for steak dinner.  Fred cooked dinner, it was delicious!  Good thing he enjoys cooking and didn't mind doing so on Father's day!  

Fred is a great dad to Lennon.  She is always full of smiles for him.  It's awesome to watch her face light up when he gets home from work every day.  He's been busy lately studying for the GMAT but always makes time to spend with Lennon and help out.  He absolutely adores her.  She will probably have him wrapped around her little finger in no time, if she doesn't already!  It really is the best to watch him with her.  Such love!  I feel so lucky!

Lennon is 5 months old now!  Wow, that went fast.  She is now rolling from her back to her tummy (see video) and is completely obsessed with her feet/toes.  Every time I lay her down to change her, her feet spring up and she grabs her toes and brings them to her mouth.  She absolutely loves her Jolly Jumper now.  After a day in the Jolly Jumper she got the hang of it. There's a perma-smile on her face when she's jumping.  It's great!  We've also started to seat her with us when we're having dinner now.  We're starting to think about adding solid foods to her diet when she turns 6 months old.  She really enjoys watching us eat and will stare at our mouths as we chew.  I think she'll be ready to try!

5 months old!

Babies from our pre-natal class: all around a few weeks old then around 5 months old

A Day in the Life

A day in the life of Lennon; June 9, 2014.  Almost 5 months old!  I'm going to start at midnight since all of her night time wake ups are definitely a part of our day!  She normally goes to bed between 8:00 and 8:30.  Last night it was closer to 8:45 when she finally settled into sleep.  We still have her in the bassinet beside our bed.  She does take her naps (if we're home) in her crib though.

12:15 am:  wake up, eat
12:35 am:  back to sleep
3:30 am:  wake up, eat
4:00 am:  back to sleep
5:00 am:  wake up, bring into bed and nurse lying down
                This is the only way I can get a bit more sleep and feel half way normal in the morning!
5:45 am:  sleeping, I wake up and return her to bassinet

Foot to mouth

6:30 am:  wake up, bring into bed and nurse lying down
7:45 am:  wide awake!  diaper change
8:00 am:  quick visit with Dad before he goes to work
8:15 am:  eat, diaper change (in one end, out the other!)
8:45 am:  play on play mat
                She loves to grab for the toys hanging in front of her and pull
                them to her mouth.  Her newest thing in the last few days is to
                grab her feet and try to get her toes to her mouth.
9:15 am:  play in exersaucer

Loving the Exersaucer

                She's starting to jump a bit more in
                exersaucer.  Still most of the
                activity is trying to pull different
                parts to her mouth.
9:30 am:  getting cranky, time to start to settle
                                                            down for a nap
                                                            This involves some rocking and
                                                            white noise.  It can take 5 minutes to
                                                            20 minutes!
9:40 am:  sleeping!
                During her nap I shower, get dressed, throw in some laundry,
                load the dishwasher, tidy up etc.  I do as much as I can - she naps
                anywhere from 30 minutes to occasionally over an hour,
                usually around 45 minutes.
10:30 am:  wake up from nap
                  diaper change, get dressed (can't stay in jammies all day!)
                  sit in floor seat, play
11:00 am:  eat, diaper change
11:30 am:  play mat, tummy time
                  She has still only rolled over a few times.  She gets frustrated pretty quickly on her tummy
                  but isn't consistently pushing herself up to roll over yet.
12:00 pm:  Jolly Jumper - video is from a couple of days ago, she loves it!

12:30 pm:  ready for nap, read a story
12:45 pm:  sleeping!
                  Again, I try to do as much as I can around the house.  Sometimes I do just sit and do
                  nothing though!
1:15 pm:  awake...already, diaper change
1:30 pm:  back in the exersaucer
1:45 pm:  eating, rather sleepily this time - why not nap longer?!
2:10 pm:  half asleep, taking a rest from eating
2:25 pm:  back to eating
2:45 pm:  load up and go to grocery store
                Lennon was very good at the store.  Happily chewed on her Sophie.
3:40 pm:  return from groceries, fell asleep in the car, napping
4:25 pm:  wake up
4:30 pm:  playing
4:40 pm:  eating, diaper change
5:15 pm:  playing on play mat so I can try to start dinner
5:40 pm:  Dad gets home, takes over entertaining Lennon so I can finish dinner
6:05 pm:  into the Jolly Jumper so we can eat dinner.  She really loves the Jolly Jumper!
6:30 pm:  gear up and go for a walk
7:20 pm:  return from walk, fell asleep during the walk - have to wake up to get ready for bed!
7:30 pm:  bath, pajamas
7:40 pm:  eating
8:05 pm:  fast asleep :)

And then it all starts over!

Hold Me Tight

My two loves!

Well, our house is slowly filling up with and being taken over by baby things!  Lennon now has a new floor seat and a Jolly Jumper to play in.  We had to get a Jolly Jumper that's on a stand so it takes up a bit of space!  She does enjoy playing on her floor mat, in the Exersaucer (still mostly just chewing the toys), in her floor seat, and now in the Jolly Jumper.  Although in the jumper she just kind of hung there and chewed on the straps.  Lots of things to do!

Exersaucer, Floor seat, Jolly Jumper - so much to do!

We set up her crib this past weekend too.  She's had a few successful naps in there.  Soon we'll try her in there at night.  I'm just not quite ready to give up having her right next to our bed.  It's not because I'll miss having her in there (well, maybe a bit) but I'll miss the ease of just grabbing her for quick feeds in the night.  And early in the morning I take her in the bed and lay down to feed her when I'm still super tired.  With her in the crib I'll have to get up and go down the hall - she's still getting up a few times a night.  Ok, we'll try a few days of crib naps and then maybe a night!

Checking out the crib, Nap time!

We've had some good weather lately and have been able to get outside.  I put Lennon in the seat of her stroller (rather than putting the car seat on the stroller) for the first time.  She liked it and promptly fell asleep during our walk around the neighbourhood.  

Singing!, In her stroller, Hanging out on the deck

All I've Got to Do

Lennon rolled over from tummy to back again this morning!  I flipped her back over and tried to video her but of course that one flip tired her out and she just laid there and complained.  She also made it from her back to her tummy once the other day!  I'm sure soon enough she'll be rolling non-stop.

Sleep, ah sleep...  Yesterday I decided I really need to give up on using the swing for her naps.  When I nap her in the swing she'll sleep for an hour or two.  When I nap her in her bassinet she only sleeps for 30 - 40 minutes.  So, I've been reluctant to give up on the swing since it gave me time.  But I also don't want her to be relying on being rocked to sleep for every nap.  She had two (short) naps in the bassinet yesterday and one in the car while we were out and about.  The morning nap took a while to get her to settle down but she finally did.  In the afternoon she went down and I let her complain a bit and turned on some white noise and within a few minutes she was asleep!  Not bad!  This morning was the same thing.  It would be nice if she would sleep just a little longer but maybe that's all she needs.  After a couple of long nights - Sunday night she was up every hour from midnight to 7 am and Monday up 3 times - last night she slept 8 hours straight!  Is it the new napping regime?  Who knows!  We'll see what happens tonight.  Now I just need to keep up with not using the swing!  We'll get the crib set up this weekend and then start putting her in there for naps.

Today we're off to the doctor for her check up.  How much will she weigh?!

Quick update:

Lennon's doctor appointment went really well.  She's doing great!  She weighs 15lb 5oz.  In the 50th percentile for weight and height.  Perfectly average!  Her head is still on the big size :) but nothing to worry about.