9 Months Old

Hello,

I know this post is a week late, but I wanted to document what's been going on with our sweet pea lately.  She is 9 months old now and growing by leaps and bounds.  We went for her check-up on Friday and she is 17 pounds 6 ounces and 27 inches tall.  She still wears 9 month clothes and some 6 month sizes.  The doctor said she had excellent gross and fine motor skills.  I was a little concerned that she wasn't crawling yet, but he didn't seem worried because she is on track based on her adjusted age due to being premature.  No shots this visit, so I'm pretty sure Belle was happy about that.  Here's a glimpse of what she's been up to lately:

-Right before we moved she started rolling consistently from her back to her stomach.  Now she is all over the place.  I will put her on the floor and in a few minutes she will have rolled to the other side of the room.  She hasn't gotten up and rocked on her knees yet, but she is able to get toys out of her reach by wiggling like a worm.  This also means she is sleeping on her stomach now.  At first I was worried about her ability to breathe and would go check on her at night, but I had to let it go. 

-She is also sitting up like a pro!  We love being able to go to restaurants and put her in a high chair.  Our trips to the store are so much more fun because she can sit up in the shopping cart and look around.  I credit daycare for getting her to sit up more they don't hold her all the time like we were doing at home.  If we sit her on the playmat, she is fine as long as she has a toy to play with.  We're still working on getting her to sit up more consistently. 

-Her new favorite toy is the exersaucer!  We pulled it out of storage, and Belle loves being able to "stand up" in it and swivel to play with the toys.  It definitely keeps her entertained for awhile.  You still have to be in eyesight though or she'll whine until she can see you again.  I love that she actually plays with toys now.  However, she's not as crazy about storytime anymore because she gets antsy.  I'll try reading her a book, and before I'm done she wiggles out of my lap onto the floor.  She's definitely a busy little bee now!  The only time she wants to cuddle is when I feed her a bottle and rock her to sleep.  Guess I'll be doing that as long as possible because momma needs some snuggle time.

-Isabelle can feed herself puffs, yogurt melts, and pretty much any bite-size foods that aren't too slippery.  She loves eating crackers when we go to a restaurant, and it keeps her busy while we eat.  She still eats baby food for the most part because when I try giving her regular food she still gags a little.  I think this will change by next month because she is getting four more teeth on the top!  I didn't believe it at first when her teacher told me she was teething, but surely enough, I looked and she will have a mouthful of teeth soon.  I didn't know even know she was teething because she never drools, doesn't chew on many things, and isn't very fussy.

-Her adjustment to daycare has gone pretty smoothly.  She only cried the first day, and besides being cranky a few times from teething and a diaper rash, she is doing well.  Now when we drop her off she is happy and smiling when she goes to her teachers.  It definitely puts my mind at ease knowing that she is happy there.  I think she was ready for daycare because staying at home, even with grandma, was getting boring for her.  She loves the social interaction that comes with being around other babies.  She doesn't drink much of her bottle while there because she gets distracted pretty easily, but she eats baby food just fine for them.  I think she's becoming disinterested in formula because food tastes so much better!  She only drinks four 5 to 6 ounce bottles a day now.  She eats two snacks and two meals of baby food a day.  Isabelle got into a really good daycare, and we are so blessed she is doing well there.

-The baby got her first diaper rash in a really long time because she started soaking through her diaper at night.  She usually wears size 3 Pampers 12-hour diapers, but the diaper couldn't handle her sleeping on her tummy.  I had to wake up and change her until I found a diaper that worked, and trust me, it wasn't fun for either of us.  I found Fisher Price diapers online and they work like a charm!  They are a little on the thick side, so she only wears them at night.

-Isabelle's hair is growing fast, but only on the top.  It is now long enough that I can put a little bow barette in it.  It is a good thing too, because she pulls of the headbands as soon as I put them in.  She also loves to pull hair and necklaces, so momma cut her hair short and stopped wearing necklaces for the time being.

-She is sleeping longer at night because she's tired when she gets back from daycare.  Belle usually goes to bed around 7:30 to 8:00 p.m. and wakes up from 6:30 to 7:30 a.m.  Sean sometimes has to wake her up to go to daycare, but on the weekends she knows it is her time to sleep in.  One Saturday morning, she slept until 8:30 a.m. which was a big deal for us!

-Isabelle has learned to smile for the camera now!  She started smiling so big it crinkles her cute little nose.  We also love her "fake smile" where she will smile halfway when she is unsure about something or she meets a new person.

-We've been working on teaching her how to do things lately.  We are showing her how to wave bye and to clap her hands.  Belle loves to turn the lights off when we leave a room.  Her baby babble has many more syllables now, and sometimes I think she is saying "mama" and "dada."  She has always been a vocal baby, so I have a feeling she will say her first word soon!

I'm sure there are things that I'm failing to document, but those are the big milestones thus far.  Time is flying by way too fast.  Daddy even commented that you are starting to look more like a toddler than a baby.  Sweet daughter, we love you so much and thank God for having this time with you!

Love,
Momma

I told her to "Smile" and this is what she did!

First time using the exersaucer

Belle in leg warmers

For some reason I couldn't get her to smile for her 9 month photo.

Now we know why, headbands are itchy!

Loving the sock monkey Grandma gave her.

Sitting up and actually playing by herself!

 Isabelle's loves the exersaucer and knows how to use each toy now.

 Coordinating family photo, love it!

 WPS!

Our Little Razorback

 Yay and Grandpa came to visit, they missed her so much!

Update

Hello All,

Sorry for my absence from the blog lately, we finally made the big move and we're just getting used to life in our new town!  So far we have been here about three weeks and we are settling in.  It took awhile to unpack, and I still don't have the house set up the way I want it, but it will do for now.  My mom came up the first weekend we were here, and she was a big help with the unpacking.  I was so blessed to get a job transfer, which means I am doing the exact same job, just in a different office.  It is really nice not having to learn anything new.  All of my new co-workers are very friendly and have been telling me all about what there is to do here.  I plan on taking Belle to the nearby pumpkin patch soon so we can go on a hayride and take some cute Fall photos!

Not having to commute anymore is a huge timesaver, I didn't realize how much time I was spending on the road.  I think I have an extra hour in my day now, and hopefully I can use this time to start working out again! Everything we need is really close to us.  There's a grocery store across the street from my office and and I can go there pretty quickly after work. Isabelle's daycare is at a church about 5 minutes away from work, and Sean's new office is about 10 minutes away.  We live about 10-15 minutes away from where we both work, and the traffic is pretty non-existent for most of the day.  We actually live in a small city that feels like a town.  It has all the pre-requisites I need:  Wal-Mart, Target, all the restaurant chains, and even a mall!  It also has a really cute downtown area with character.  Sean and I were talking about how this will be where Isabelle will grow up, and she won't know we lived anywhere else, crazy!

Some of my new co-workers put my mind at ease about the baby's new daycare because all of them said it was one of the best in town.  They were surprised we even got in because the waiting list was so long!Isabelle is getting used to daycare, and I can tell being around other kids is helping her develop.  I'll go into detail on another post.  Also, she is able to go to other caregivers now without crying!  We went to church the other day and the last time we went before we moved, I had to get called out of the service because she was upset.  This most recent time, she did great and was so happy to be there  Her class has 5-6 babies and same two ladies work there everyday.  They both have younger kids so they pretty good with her.  Of course, daycare isn't the same as staying with grandma, but I can't complain so far.

Sean is doing great, he is definitely learning how to multi-task now that he's a business owner.  He's finally done with training and his out of town trips for good!  He has been training his employees and getting all
the paperwork ready to open.  The office walls, carpet, and paint are finally finished!  We bought furniture and a television for the waiting area..  May I say, buying furniture quickly and on a budget is stressful because you have to settle instead of getting exactly what you want.  I'm glad Sean's mom has an eye for decorating, because she has been giving him some great advice.  Next, he has to have the security system, computers, and phone lines installed.  The office desks and chairs will be delivered this week.  A few weeks ago, my dad came up to visit and helped us get a fridge and microwave put in the kitchen area of the office.  Sean has always had good taste, and he is going for a vintage theme for the office.  He ordered some Norman Rockwell prints and we need to get them framed so we have something on the walls.  There is so much left to do and only two weeks left until the office opens!

Although things have been busy around here, I will say that I am much happier then I was before.  Sean being out of town for weeks at a time was hard on me.  Also, the anticipation of moving, the baby starting daycare, and starting a new job was stressful.  Now that the transition is complete we are doing much better.  The only downside is not having family or friends nearby.  I miss being able to call my friends up for lunch dates and stopping by to see family whenever I feel like it.  Once we have a little time to settle in we will definitely be making a trip home to visit everyone soon!

Bon Voyage!

I've alluded to this before on the blog, but we are moving this weekend!  Sean has a new job and will be opening his own business and I was able to get a work transfer for my job.  This opportunity is a huge blessing from God.  We are sad to move so far away from our family and friends, but it is definitely exciting to think about our future.  We are trying to visit with everyone before we move, and here are a few photos of the fun:

Mom, Belle, and Eric hanging out before he heads up to college for his Freshman year!

 Dad reading to his granddaughter

 Aunt Darlene and Uncle Steve came over to say goodbye

 Aithene and Belle

 Chanan and Aiden came over to play

Marcus and Isabelle is talking to him

Celebrating Sean finally being done with training!  No room for the "Farm" of the logo on the cake, but it was still tasty.

 Sean's mom was sweet enough to throw us a family party

 Alex, Beau, and Lillian

Cheryl, Jeff, and Belle

 Robert (Sean's dad) and Gabe

 Sean and his mom, Renee

 Me and Aunt Kathy

 Off we go!

 Gabriel is so good with Isabelle

 These are from earlier this summer, but I had to sneak these in, so cute!

 The girl cousins

A sweet smile!

8 Months Old

Hello,

This post is a few days late, but I have a good excuse, we are moving soon!  Isabelle turned eight months old on 8/12/12 and she has grown up quite a bit in the last month.  She finally rolled over from her back to her stomach for the first time.  She has been rolling from her stomach to her back for a few months now, but we could never get her to roll the other way.  My mom and brother came over to visit, and she put the baby on her back to play on the floor.  I look away for a second, and the next thing I know Isabelle is on her tummy.  We got her to do it several times that evening.

-Sean also taught the baby how to feed herself.  I had bought her some Baby Mum-Mums and he decided to give her one to see if she could hold it.  Isabelle picked it up right away and so far she has fed herself crackers, garlic bread, cereal bars, and baby cookies. 

-Isabelle can basically eat everything now as long as it is cut up into small pieces.  We fed her pasta, pudding, yogurt, mashed potatoes, chicken, and a bunch of other foods for the first time this month.  She is also getting really good at drinking water out of her sippy cup.  She isn't holding the cup by herself yet, but I'm sure that will happen soon.

-We are working really hard on getting her to sit up before she starts daycare in a few weeks once we move. I am proud to say that it finally paid off because tonight she sat up by herself for the first time at dinner!  We went to Moe's to eat and usually one of us has to hold her in our laps when we go out to eat because she is too wobbly to sit on her own in the restaurant highchair.  It can get very tiring having to hold her all the time.  Sean decided to put her in the highchair just to see if she could sit up, and she did for the entire hour we were there!  Isabelle thought she was grown up because she ate her dinner and played while we enjoyed a meal we could both eat at the same time.  Oh how times are changing!

-This sweet girl also has been teething like crazy and her bottom front teeth finally grew all the way in this month.  There were a few days when she was really fussy and there wasn't much I could do to soothe her.  I tried all the usually remedies, but we just had to wait it out.  She also has caught a few colds, likely from Kid's Day Out, and we just had to wait those out too.

-I'm not sure how much she weighs, my guess is 16 and 1/2 pounds, but you can certainly tell she is getting bigger.  We had to switch her to the convertible car seat recently because she was too long for the infant seat.  She is much more comfortable now, but the only bad thing is that it doesn't come out of the car so we have to take her out of the seat when we go places.  Isabelle prefers this anyway because she loves to look around at everything.  She is one curious little baby!

-She is wearing 9-12 month clothes and size 3 diapers.  She drinks five or six, 6 ounce bottles of formula a day and eats 2-3 times per day.  I can tell that she prefers food over milk now because she is much more eager when she eats food.  She takes two 1-1 1/2 hour naps during the day and still sleeps through the night.  Lately, it has been harder getting her to go to sleep.  I think it is because she wants to stay up and play with us.  she also started doing what we call the happy dance by flailing her arms and kicking her legs all while smiling and laughing.

Sweet girl you are the light of our lives and we are enjoying every minute of our time with you!  We can't believe you are a few months away from being one, it seems like just yesterday that you were born.

I can't believe Belle is eight months old already.  Her hair is growing like a weed, but only on the top!  You can see her two bottom teeth in this photo, so cute!

 Hi Teddy bear, want to hold my hand?

 Our little Razorback

No more baby whale tub, moving onto a bigger Winnie the Pooh tub

A big girl does things like ride in a big car seat, sits up on her own, and feeds herself Baby Mum-Mums! 

 Me and Lyndsey took our kiddos to the Museum of Discovery while she was in town.  It was so much fun and the babies really took everything in!

 Belle and Graham relaxing together, so sweet

Time with Family and Friends

Now that we are moving soon, we are making an effort to spend extra time with family and friends.  It has been so nice to see our extended family and friends that we don't see very much anymore since having the baby.  I realized that I have tons of photos of Isabelle, just not very many of her with others.  I've tried to remedy this by making sure to take pictures of her with the people that love this sweet girl.  Enjoy!

P.S.:  I will be updating this post as I get more photos of her with everyone.

My dad and Belle's Taa ("Taa" is Cambodian for grandfather).  He was trying to get her to use a crayon and color this past Friday night.  Dad was the same way with me growing up, always teaching and I'm grateful!

 He brings Isabelle three storybooks every time he comes to visit and reads them to her.  She is going to have a massive library.

My grandmother, me, and Belle.  She is my stepdad's mother and I grew up living next door for many years in my childhood.

Isabelle checking Grandma out 

Belle with her great-grandmother

7 Months Old

Dear Belle,

I can't believe you are seven months old today!  It seems like you just turned six months old yesterday, so I'm caught a little off guard that another month has already passed.  I would say the biggest change with you this month are that you are finally teething! Earlier this week mommy felt your bottom front left tooth poke through.  You don't seem to be in any pain, but you are chewing on everything like your pacifier, Sophie the giraffe, and fingers.  Belle, you have become a pro at rolling over, and now whenever I put you on your belly you simply roll over which can make it difficult to do tummy time.  We're not sure when you will crawl because it doesn't seem to interest you at the moment.  Daddy has worked with you on sitting up this week, and you even sat up during your bath tonight with little help.  We have a feeling you will be sitting up by next month for sure.  Sweet girl you love to talk, babble, and even screech!  We love to hear your voice so keep it up.  Your newest trick is that you can now put your own pacifier in your mouth.  One day, mommy was carrying you around and you even tried to put it in my mouth!  Maybe I was talking to much and you wanted me to be quiet ;-)

Here are a few things I want to remember:

-You now wear size 3 diapers and 6 to 12 month clothes depending on the brand.  Now that you are eating baby food, mom's learned not to spend a lot of money on clothes because they get stained so easily!

-You are eating more and more food every day, but you still are kind of a picky eater.  If you don't want to eat something you let us know and fuss until we give you something you do like.  I'm going to have to try and sneak some different foods in somehow.  We tried puffs the other day, but you aren't quite ready for "solid" foods.  You did have your first taste of watermelon and strawberries the other day and loved them!

-You take 5 to 6 six ounce bottles of Infamil baby formula a day and eat twice the amount of baby food than you did last month.  We usually give you one container of vegetables and half a container of fruit at lunch and dinner.  Some mornings you feel like eating oatmeal or cereal, and other mornings you just prefer a bottle.

-Isabelle, you will drink from your sippy cup when you are thirsty, but if you aren't it doesn't interest you.  We still haven't gotten you to hold the cup on your own yet.

-You are still sleeping through the night.  We put you to sleep from 8:00 to 8:30 p.m. and you wake up between 5:00 and 6:00 a.m.

-You naps vary during the day, but we have a feeling you are getting plenty of rest at Grandma's!

-You are a happy baby and love attention!  We are happy to give it to you because we know this stage won't last long.  Sweet girl, you are growing up too fast.  Mommy and Daddy are trying to soak up every moment because you will be a toddler in a few short months. *Tear*

Representin' for Daddy's work.  Don't you think that this face should be on a commercial?

Belle sitting up like a big girl in the bathtub tonight.

She was trying so hard to sit up on her own during the 7 month photo!

This girl loves her pacifier.

 Teething, wonder how long it will take?


-

Before I Forget

Here's another random, before I forget post:

-Last Saturday morning we were still getting ready so we brought Belle into our room and laid her on the bed.  We always place her head on a pillow like a "big girl" in the middle of the bed, and talk to her while we get dressed.  The next thing I know, Sean says laughing, "Look at her!"  All I see is a pillow with tiny feet sticking out from underneath.  Now that she's older she decided that it would be fun to slide off the pillow, wiggle around, and end up with her entire body under the pillow.  Oh, by the way, she thought it was hilarious.  We ended up making a game of it and everytime we would lift the pillow off of her she would laugh and smile.  I'm pretty sure this was her first attempt at playing hide-and-seek! 

These photos aren't from the first time she played hide-and-seek, but it gives you an idea of her new favorite game:

-I bought her this jumper that hangs from a door thinking that she would love it because she loves to jump when we hold her and let her stand up in our laps.  She doesn't know what to do when we put her in it and whines until we take her out.  (Update:  We have tried to put her in it more and she kind of enjoys it now, just not for long.)

-Sean discovered the other day that Belle loves to bounce on the bed.  He laid her down and started making the bed bounce enough to were she would lift up in the air a bit.  She thinks it is the best thing ever, and now I'm pretty sure she is a daredevil!

-This child is addicted to being outside, even in 100+ degree heat.  So we oblige and take her on walks every evening.  It works like clockwork, we put her in the stroller and she is asleep within 15 minutes.

-We figured out that babies get tired of eating the same thing, so now I'm trying to find new things to feed her.  We can tell when she doesn't like something because she won't open her mouth and turns her head away.  Green beans, no.  Sweet peas, no  Even fruits that are a bit tart, no.  A delicious baked sweet potato, no.  If she does like something she will open her mouth wide and makes noises like she wants more.  For about a week I was feeding her oatmeal with mushed up banana for breakfast.  She loved it and couldn't get enough.  Then a few days ago I would try to feed it to her and she refused to eat it.  So I switched things up a bit and gave her rice cereal and she gobbled it up.  Apparently, this child needs variety!  The hardest thing is trying to find foods that don't have too much texture because she doesn't have any teeth yet. I tried to feed her Baby Mum-Mums, but all she did was chew on it and would not swallow.  At Kid's Day Out they said she ate puffs, but I have my doubts.  I'm going to have to brainstorm a bit because I want her to be able to eat anything we eat pretty soon. 

Sorry for the random post, but I want to jot these things down before I forget!


Here are some of my favorite photos from her six month photo shoot:

Yes, we are wearing matching dresses, and yes I love it!  For some reason, Sean refused to match us ;-)