6 Months

And another month has come and gone. Last week Colette turned half a year old. We celebrated with a fantastic trip to the Knoxville Zoo and by discovering 2 more teeth coming in!




Weight: 17lbs 8oz

Height: 28"

Sleep: Hit and miss. I blame the teeth. Most nights she goes down at 9, wiggles around at 3, wakes to eat at 6, then sleeps until 8:30-9. Tuesday night was terrible and she was up every 2 hours (possibly something to do with the shots she got that day as well), but the next night she was out like a light from 9pm-8am.

Clothes/Diapers (Sizes): 6-9 months in clothes and size 3 diapers

Diet: Mostly milk. We started giving her pureed foods once a day about 3 weeks ago... and after a week of that and her not being terribly interested, we gave her a break. We're just now starting agin and will go full force back into it on Monday. So far she's tried sweet potatoes, bananas, and squash. Squash made her cry. She no likey the squash.

Milestones/Firsts: She sits up like a pro and she's so close to crawling I can't stand it. And neither can she. If there's something just out of her reach she gets up on her hands/or knees (not both at the same time yet) and gets sooo frustrated that she can't get what she wants. We also have 2 more teeth coming down as I mentioned earlier! (Top front teeth!) I was changing her diaper  in the back of the car and just happened to look up while her mouth was open and there they were! She's also really sounding out her consonants nows. The bababa's and the dadada's flow like the river.

Likes: Chewing, drooling, chewing, chewing, drooling. She loves to laugh at the dogs when they come around. Loves being outside, going for walks, and playing on a blanket with her toys.

Dislikes: Squash. Shots.

Things I Don’t Want to Forget: The way she's starting to reach out for her mom. So sweet.

As for me: I'm doing great! We're spending a lot of time out of the house when we can on the weekends which is nice since I'm cooped up all week. AND I actually read 3 books last week. (The Divergent trilogy) Every free moment, which is usually only around bed time, I had my nose in the Kindle reading because I couldn't put it down until I got to the end.. and then there was a lot of ugly crying. A lot. I'm generally a really slow reader because I go over every detail, but I started reading Allegiant before Colette woke up Thursday morning and finished it Friday night. Probably a new record for me.

 

Our pediatrician says she looks great! (We already knew that though ;) ) And Colette actually didn't do too bad with the shots this month either. She wailed for about 30 seconds and then it was over. And it wasn't as loud as it has been in the past. Poor sweet baby.

 







 

By the end of the summer, Colette will be a well traveled little girl. In June we'll be flying solo to Michigan for my friends baby shower. (YAY! I'M SO EXCITED!) I'm a little terrified, mainly because I hate flying. I think everything else will be okay. I don't have to take my pack-n-play or carseat and I plan to check a bag, so that's good news! It's certainly a plus that Lindsay already has those things and no baby yet so we can borrow them :) I just have to be prepared to deal with the crying when/if it happens. The flight is roughly 2 hours, so hopefully it'll go smoothly.

After that we've got 2 beach trips and then our big Disney trip. Lots to prepare for!

Here's some photos from the last little while: (TN Aquarium, Knoxville Zoo, Coolidge Park)







 

[caption id="attachment_906" align="aligncenter" width="560"] A day at the aquarium make for one sleepy baby[/caption]





 

















 

[caption id="attachment_917" align="aligncenter" width="560"] Probably one of the happiest moments of my life[/caption]





 

[caption id="attachment_920" align="aligncenter" width="560"] I'm pretty sure this bird just killed another bird and stole it's feathers[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_921" align="aligncenter" width="560"] First time in a high chair at a restaurant![/caption]

5 Months Old

We're a few days late on this post! Colette is officially 5 months old now.



Sleep: Decent - could be better! We have days when she'll sleep through the night, (like last night), and then days when she'll wake up 2-3 times. Sometimes she'll put herself back to sleep, but occasionally we'll have to go in and calm her down.

Clothes/Diapers (Sizes): Generally around 6 months clothes and size 3 diapers!

Diet: Milk, milk, and more milk.

Milestones/Firsts: She's sitting up really well, not totally balanced and definitely can't pull herself up yet. But she will sit and play with things for several minutes at time without going down. I've also noticed her passing blocks and toys from hand to hand. And of course, as mentioned in my last post, TWO TEETH! They're adorable.

Likes: She looooves to sit outside with us on the front porch swing. She gets really quiet and just watched everything around her. She especially likes it when we let our beagle/terrier mix Ace sit with us. She thinks the dogs are hiiilarious. We spent a lot of time outside over the weekend and she was pretty happy about that - minus all the pollen.

Dislikes: Putting her clothes back on after a bath/before bedtime. We can generally count on her to not be happy about that.

Things I Don’t Want to Forget: Her excited little laugh that comes from no where when we're riding in the car. When she passes out unexpectedly on my shoulder. Mornings when I've brought her into our bed and she rolls over and starts playing with my face/hair. The sight of her face lighting up when I walk into the room and ask her what she's doing. Ahhhh.

 

Here's a few more photos from the 5 months session and some from the weekend.

 





[caption id="attachment_862" align="aligncenter" width="533"] HOW OLD DID YOU SAY I AM?![/caption]

[caption id="attachment_866" align="aligncenter" width="534"] Girl on Safari[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_867" align="aligncenter" width="534"] Sweet little Max[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_865" align="aligncenter" width="560"] Sunny puppy Ace[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_868" align="aligncenter" width="560"] The rare mommy/baby photo[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_869" align="aligncenter" width="560"] The even rarer leash-free Ace photo[/caption]

Easter Session

So here's a couple of photos from our Easter set. I love them. Of course.. I love all photos of Colette.. but these are pretty adorable.

We needed at least a couple more bags of eggs for the bathtub full of eggs shot, but I still think they're cute.

[caption id="attachment_846" align="aligncenter" width="401"] So many eggs.[/caption]

 

[caption id="attachment_848" align="aligncenter" width="401"] So drooly.[/caption]

 

[caption id="attachment_847" align="aligncenter" width="560"] Of course she went straight for the glitter eggs.[/caption]

4 Months Old

Another month has come and gone with the quickness. I've decided to be a little more structured with this post, so here's some things I know about out sweet little baby Colette:



 

 

Weight & Height: I'll update this one after our 4 Month Well Check on Thursday. (Oh no! More Shots! :'( )

Sleep: Colette is very good at putting herself to sleep. She generally goes to sleep around 9:30, wakes up around 6-7 to eat and goes back to sleep until 9 or 10. Lately she's been waking up and wiggling around in her crib between 2-3, but puts herself right back to sleep in the matter of just a couple of minutes.

Clothes/Diapers (Sizes): Right now we're in 3-6/6month clothes and size 2 diapers. And, call me completely out of my mind, but over this last weekend I purchased a small amount of cloth diapers. I don't know what's wrong with me. I have never ever wanted to use them, but for some reason thought I should give them a try. They'll be here late this week so I'll let you know how it goes......

Diet: Still 100% breastfed. We plan on waiting until she's at least 6 months before starting anything else. Although.. you should have seen her eyeing my cheeseburger on Sunday...

Baby Gear Love: Our stroller. We have one of the big Graco RoadRunner travel systems and we love it. When we were on our little outing in Gatlinburg a few weeks ago, we heard a couple different people say how they "are so glad they don't have to use a big stroller anymore" or "can't imagine pushing that thing around" (not to us, but definitely loud enough for us to hear..). But I really love it. I can put everything I need and more in it, and it's still really easy to maneuver. I really don't like to carry things (purse, bags, jacket, drinks) so I think we really found the perfect stroller for us. And it's easy to take around our big yard too.

Milestones/Firsts: Rolling over! Not consistently, but she has rolled back to tummy twice in the last week. She's trying really hard to roll tummy to back but she just can't get over that arm yet.

Likes: Laughing, grabbing, chewing

Dislikes:...not a whole lot. She doesn't like to be put down in her crib if she isn't tired. But that's about it.

Things I Don't Want to Forget: All of it. It seems like I've already forgotten things from just a few short months ago. My favorite part of the day is when she wakes up and I bring her into our room for morning snuggles and laugh time. Sooo cute.

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I'm really excited for warmer weather to be rolling around. (Minus mosquitoes and ticks) Colette could really use some outdoors playtime. I am a bit worried about allergies though. We took her around the yard over the weekend and she was sneezy and red-eyed. Of course all of our trees and flowers are bloomed out and we live in one of the top 3 cities for terrible allergies.. so I guess I should have expected it.

I got a new camera and lens last week that I'm super excited about. (Nikon D610 and Micro-Nikkor 105mm lens) I took a couple of shots of my niece with it while she was here. Next up are spring/Easter photos. I'm so excited!

[caption id="attachment_796" align="aligncenter" width="401"] My sweet niece, Aidan[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_795" align="aligncenter" width="560"] Our peach tree blossoms. And spider web.[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_794" align="aligncenter" width="560"] Our SUPERSTAR![/caption]

 

[caption id="attachment_799" align="aligncenter" width="400"] Sweet Girl[/caption]

 

A Fantastic Weekend

I'm so glad we didn't decide to cancel our weekend getaway. We had the best time in Gatlinburg and the weather was excellent. Colette  did so well on her first vacation! She only got upset twice and both times we were in the car and she was just tired/hungry. We strolled up and down the strip, visited the aquarium, shopped, had a fancy dinner with my mom and Steve and spent some quality time lounging around in our hotel room playing with the baby.

Cory and I were both surprised at how attentive Colette was at the aquarium. She quite enjoyed watching all the fishes. I also had my first experience with nursing out in public, so that was interesting. It was semi-private as it was in a dark aquarium room, but alas, I succeeded. I don't have any issues with the idea of nursing in public, my problem lies in the awkwardness of getting everything situated. Not to mention Colette flails around like a squirrel falling from a tree. We'll get there one day I think.

[caption id="attachment_790" align="aligncenter" width="532"] Da fisssshhhes[/caption]

 

Both the aquarium and Saturday dinner at Park Grill were pretty noisy, but Colette didn't seem to mind like I thought she would. I could probably brag on her all day. We did discover she's not much of a fan of sleeping in her pack-n-play, she kicks at it like crazy. Just can't get comfortable in it.

She's officially trying to roll over now. Over the weekend is when she really started trying. And she's so close. Just needs a little more push to get over that chubby little arm. :) IT'S HAPPENING TOO FAST. I just packed away most of her 0-3/ 3 month pj's. Moving on into the 3-6 month category. I'll probably say that things are happening too fast in every blog post from now on.

[caption id="attachment_789" align="aligncenter" width="560"] Tuckered out[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_788" align="aligncenter" width="560"] Just chillin' in the hotel! Love that baby.[/caption]

I'm finding it crazy how love and joy have evolved and intensified in my life. (I know at least one of you out there is scoffing at my mushy sentiments...) In these few short months I can really see and feel the difference in how I love, not just Colette, but Cory and all of my other family and friends. The importance of family means something different now as well. So much love.

Like I told Cory while we were walking to the aquarium on Saturday, I'm just very happy.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y6Sxv-sUYtM

 

Holy 3 Months and Teething, Batman

Our little pumpkin is officially 3 months old now. My, how she's grown. She's always had personality, but it's amazing how much it shines through these days.



 

Look how fast that hair is growing! Also, we apparently taught her to curtsey this month.

She's happy and giggly (and bubble blowing) most of the time, but let me tell you, last night was probably the worst night we've had in the crying department. We tried rocking her, bouncing her, laying her down, nursing, paci.... alllll the things that normally work. After a solid 30-45 minutes of serious crocodile tears I got a cold wet wash cloth and let her bite on it and it seems to help a little. We finally got out the RazBaby pacifier and that helped even more. So I've officially diagnosed her as teething. We've suspected it for a little while now since she's been chewing on everything (her hands, her bibs, Sophie.... anything she can pick up), and she's quite the droolbox. An adorable droolbox.

In the sleeping department we've regressed a little. She's still going to bed around10:30-11, but instead of sleeping through til 7ish, she also wakes up at 4. It could definitely be worse, so I can't complain there. I think now that she's a little older we'll probably start getting her into a more solidified routine. The hard part about that is that we're not really routine people. We're more of the "fly by the seat of your pants" kind of people, so we'll see how that goes.

We got to spend this last weekend at Nana's house in Knoxville. It was a beautiful weekend with lots of park time, kite flying, family, and food. There's always food. So grood. And this weekend we're going to Gatlinburg, maybe. The trip was part of my Christmas present from Cory. But after last night we're not totally sure it's a good idea. We definitely don't want to ruin someone else's weekend with a screaming little one at night. But maybe we will. Who knows.

That's all for now folks. I leave you with these sweet baby pictures. We're so proud!