month 6 and Easter

Half of a year...{sigh}. My precious baby-angel is becoming a big girl. I'm actually getting emotional writing this...wtf?? So far, every new month is "my favorite month". So obvi, this is my favorite month. But seriously, it's the best one. We had some big ups and some equally big downs but overall the ups outweighed the downs. 

Our biggest "down" was Jameson having the worst week of sleeping in her entire baby life! The combo of getting an ear infection and being constipated were the culprits. It was not good. Luckily, Grandma (Nova) was able to help us out a few days! The following week I decided to try sleep training. I halfheartedly attempted this once before and gave up after 2 seconds...literally, 2 seconds. The second time was easier because 1)I tried it on my own instead of forcing Will to be the "bad guy" and 2) I had no choice. Will and I were getting an average of 4 hours of sleep a night for a little over a month. Bubba just randomly decided to stop sleeping from 11pm-6am! Anywho, since that second attempt (knock on wood) she has slept through the night! I can't believe sleep training really works! 

Onto the good stuff: PICS!!!!

Someone woke up extra early for Easter...pretty sure it was still dark out. Crazy baby.

Digging through her basket...checking out Dad's Peeps.

Easter dress...I can't even...too cute!

Yes, I splurged on a monogrammed Easter basket. I seriously couldn't help myself! 

Excuse our rash! Jameson's hair is getting so long on the sides! I had to use 2 bows to keep it under control!

 Sleep:  Huzzah!! My baby is sleeping through the night...we are going on our 2nd week in a row. Yes, I had to sleep train. I consulted several mommies who all did it. I had no idea it was something a lot of moms end up doing. In my mind, I thought it was for naughty babies...but Bubba isn't naughty! Jk, she is! I love it. It took about a week to fully catch on but we went from rocking-to-sleep and putting her down (and then having to rock her back to sleep a few hours later...and repeat several time a night) to now, putting her down and letting her fuss a few minutes and then she passes out on her own. I actually tried that for the first time the other night...so far so good...I'm sure she will get better and better each night. I can't even believe how much better I feel with sleep...I work out again AND I make less ridiculous errors at work...and in life. (i.e. I haven't put milk in the cabinets instead of the fridge or closed out CAD drawings without saving and clicking no when it asks me if I'm sure I don't want to save?? Because why wouldn't I want to save 4 hours of work?? Oh because I haven't slept in days, that's why!)

Size: 14lbs and 2ozs (ish)...she shrunk since her last sick visit. I guess because she's nakey for her montly checkups when she gets weighed?? Jameson go 3 shots and I nearly cried. She was 24.25 inches long (thats the 3rd percentile). She is so petite!! 

 
Clothes: 6 month cloths! Some 6-9 month...9 month stuff is a little big but she fits into the pants alright. Jameson is wearing more shirts and less onesies...which is hilarious when they ride up over her belly. So good.

Diapers: Size 2, I think we will be in these for awhile!

Eating: 4 six ounce bottles, a 4 ounce snack bottle after lunch, and 2 meals of food. Typically we have a fruit for lunch and a veggie for dinner. I learned the hard way that too many apples or bananas will constipate a baby. That along with formula equals screaming while farting at 1am. I laugh now but I cried when she cried. We had to resort to prunes...and if you've read the blog before you know that I chastised my husband for buying prunes...only to have her LOVE them. What a weirdo. She likes apples, bananas,  carrots, peaches, pears, prunes, and sweet potatoes. She tolerates green beans and squash. She hates peas...such a Will. We sometimes eat oatmeal for breakfast on the weekends too.

Likes: Daddy, daddy, daddy. Freddie the Firefly and Sofie are our go-tos. Bearic is always a hit. She has a cell phone and a crawl-ball that she's pretty into. She's starting to notice the kitties more...reaches for them and pets them. I'm almost positive she likes going on walks in her stroller! She passes out 90% of the time...which I count as liking it. Bath time is still a fave too.

Dislikes: She still hates things near her nose! She hates her sunglasses. She definitely hates that pink-bubble gum medicine. Nap time on the weekends are a struggle too! Will spoils her with naps on his chest so that is the only way I can get her down! It's adorable and ridiculous!

Other: So she is still drooling all over the place which has given her a horrible rash (as seen in several photos above). We actually took her to urgent care one Saturday night because I was convinced she got ringworm from one of our cats. Instead, it was yeast on her face from laying in her drool all night and day. She has the yeast thing on her face and then a monster rash on her chin and neck rolls that ended up being eczema. Hopefully she grows out of it :( For now she has a steroid cream to help treat it. Poor bub.

Milestones: Definitely mastered rolling over. She talks more than before...the baby noises before bedtime are hilarious. She is MUCH better with a spoon this month! Less spitting out food she doesn't like. Jameson learned how to show us she doesn't want something by practically spitting at us. She closes her mouth and makes a motorboat noise and spews food/medicine everywhere. It's way too cute to get mad at. We wasted a lot of medicine but it was worth it.

Me: I dumped that pump y'all!!!! Best thing ever, seriously. My original goal was to pump/breastfeed until Jameson was 6 months. I quit pumping just shy of the 6 month mark but have enough frozen milk to last another month...so I count that as a win! Quitting pumping was an experience...had to take a vacation day at work but other that it wouldn't have been so bad if I didn't try to work out during that time. Uncomfortable...to say the least. I'm just glad it's over. I'm happy I was able to do it for so long and probably could have gone much longer but, for my sanity, I'm happy I quit when I did.  Also, I did not lose my last few pounds as I hoped after quitting the pump. Still working on those...I'm close.

Mommy Fail(s): I feel like there were so many this time but now I can't remember. I know I inadvertently constipated my own baby by sending her to school with all bottles of new formula. It wasn't her "gentelease" kind so I think it was packed with iron and then I fed her bananas/apples/rice cereal (which apparently is a recipe for disaster).  

jameson visits the zoo

Field trip! Little Bubba took a trip to Columbia to see the zoo. It was the first 80 degree day we have had in a while! I can't say she loved it but she was so good! She seemed to notice the elephants and flamingos but other than that she was just along for the ride. I'll take it! Anyway, the pictures are all mostly the back of Will and Jameson's heads as they stare at animals! Enjoy!

Flamingos! Shockingly, the smelliest animals at the zoo!

Galapagos turtles! I think she actually liked those! 

The main event! In all my years visiting the zoo this is the closest one has ever gotten to us...
they were showing off.

Relaxin' all cool...

Koalas never do anything fun.

Family time. Jameson was too cool to be awake for a fam-photo

month 5

Little chubba-bubba! Our baby is growing up!! This was quite an adventurous month for us. So many new things! We celebrated St. Patrick's day this month, had a visit from all the grands, a visit from Uncle Les and Sarah and even met her great Grandpa-O! Like I said, so many new things! We have also had some setbacks...tummy bugs, allergies, and sleep regression. Sleep regression is by far, the worst! This is definitely my favorite month so far. Not that the others weren't ah-mazing but she's such a little person now!!! Anyway, we have tons of pictures from this month so I will let them tell the story!

St. Pat's festival in Uptown Charlotte! Perfect weather and perfect angels. (Top: Baby Bethany 9mos).

We also had some family photos taken by our friend, Holly. It was a really nice day and we only suffered a few minor setbacks (spit ups/shoe kicking-off/drool drenched sweaters/greasy hair...the usual). Soooo, Jameson overload, commence!!!!!!!!!!!!!

one of my faves

this face! so many chins!

I can't get over her eyes! How did this happen??

Hoarding massive amounts of slobber to unleash on mom or dad...

I'm a sucker for this face.

and this one...

"Don't put my boobs on Facebook, Mom!"

Bubba meets her great grandpa! The best!

Okay, I lied! THIS is my fave!

Sleep:  We had a good run... We had a few weeks of sleeping 7-11pm and then 11-5:30am. Then, our baby decided she hated us. Jk, I think she got sick and it all went downhill from there. One week she woke up 3-4 times before 10:30pm and then woke up for 1.5 hours stretches in the middle of the night to play. It was seriously the worst week ever at work. The worst part is that she was sooooooo cute at 3am! I wanted to play too! We have slowly been able to get her back on track but she's still not there. She has been very stuffy at night so we are running the humidifier, using Vick's plugins, and suctioning like crazy. Cross your fingers she decides to sleep through the night just in time for her to start teething! 

Size: 13lbs and 5ozs......I think....I can't remember what they said when we were there last. She is probably more than that by now. They didn't measure her though...so I'm guessing the same size as last time. She went in for the sickies at 4 months which turned out to be allergies (apparently).

 
Clothes: Some 3-6 months but mostly 6 months. I've said this before...but baby clothes are the dumbest. I feel like some of her short sleeved onesies are snug...how is that possible with my little peanut??? Anyway, my new favorite thing is (are??) bubbles. They are exactly what they sound like once you see them on. So cute, so cute. Also, there is something wrong with me but I want to hoard every piece of clothing she has! I'm so reluctant to pack anything up even though I know it's out of season or way too small. I hooooooope she will have a sister someday to wear them all over! 

Diapers: Size 2! Side note to myself: stop trying to use up the random size 2 Huggies we have laying around!!!! YOU WILL BE DISAPPOINTED....and pooped on. We had one of our worst blow outs to date...Will had to change shirts. It was not pretty. Totally the dipes fault...generally it's "user error" but this was all dipe. Damn dirty dipes! 

Eating: 6 ounce bottles (4-5.5 a day) and....wait for it...2 meals of solids a day. Little Bubba is such a big girl. So far, we have tried rice cereal, oatmeal, sweet potatoes, bananas, applesauce, and peas. Will bought prunes and peaches but I'm hesitant to try those for some reason (probably because I would never EVER eat prunes in my entire life)...maybe carrots next?? She doesn't have a set amount she eats, we just feed her until she doesn't want anymore. Jameson eats a partial to whole container at lunch and then either rice cereal or the rest of her lunch before bed. We are still figuring this out so this will more than likely change the day after I post this....(Shhhhhh! I don't know what I'm doing!).

Update: Jameson is having 3 bottles at school and one meal....then comes home for a "meal" and a bottle. She also gets a few ounces at 11pm for her dream feed....so far so good.

Likes: Baths are always a hit. She likes her rice cereal. She LOVES Freddy the Firefly and Sophie. (And, obvi, Bearic....they are buds). She likes to try and help feed herself but she just gets everything everywhere instead. She will laugh, not giggle, but laugh at her dad doing anything silly. I've gotten some good giggles from peek-a-boo and "Peanut Butter Jelly Time"....yes that dumb internet/Family Guy song...but I'm no daddy. Oh and she does this awful and terrifying noise that sounds like she is gasping for breath. She has scared the shit out of daycare and mom and dad multiple times with it. She is totally messing with us though...she likes her new sounds. She is also soooo much better in the car (to and from daycare is waaaaaaaaaaay less stressful.

Dislikes: Sleeping through the night. Jk, but maybe?? She hates anything going up, in, and around her nose. She fights me when I try to wipe her mouth and hands after meals. She also fights naps on the weekends...so hilarious but not really.

Other: Still drooling all over everything. She puts ANYthing in her mouth. I have jokingly offered her some tea from my to-go cup and she knows exactly what to do. She will clamp those slobbery lips right on the straw but then doesn't know how to suck. Bubba finally learned how to roll over! She has done tummy to back in front of us and then did a magic trick of back to tummy in her crib (haven't seen it since). I didn't witness it but she woke herself up at night after rolling onto her back and by the time I made it upstairs to check on her she was back on her tummy. Weirdo. She also can put her paci in her mouth by herself. I saw her do it in the car this weekend! She was holding out on us! She only does it when she wants and then wakes up at 3:45am so mom and dad can do it.

Milestones: Dang it! I typed half of my milestones up there. I will summarize:

-rolled tummy to back

-rolled back to tummy (only in secret though)

-can put her paci in her mouth on her own

-swallow solids without spitting it everywhere

Me: I quit. I have 6lbs left to lose to get back to pre-pregnancy weight but honestly, it will probably be there until Bubba decides to give us some rest at night. I went home at lunch to workout a few times which was actually nice but takes too long. By the time I'm home for the night I'm dead. Sometimes I fall asleep on her floor after putting her down for the night...true story! Anyway, I play soccer at least once a week but I can't wait until she finally sleeps through the night! I fully intend to go to bed at 9pm...no exceptions. I need sleep.

Mommy Fail(s): One night I fed Bubba too much sweet potatoes and she projectile vomited them. It went down my shirt and pants. I had to undress in the middle of the room while holding her and run upstairs. I had no idea what to do. I just froze after it happened. Should I move?!?!?! By the time Will got home I was rocking the baby to sleep sans pants. 
Also I didn't clean (I rinsed out the part that hold water but neglected the other piece it attaches to) Bubba's humidifier for 2-3 months and then finally opened it and saw the most disgusting thing ever....must have been 3 types of mold going on in there. I poisoned my child. We threw it out immediately and bought her a new one that looks like an elephant...and I googled how to clean it this time. Apparently white vinegar prevents mold...who knew? (Probably everyone but me).