New This Week

Hannah started off her second month with some interesting/good/frustrating happenings. First of all, on her 6 month old birthday I stayed home from school to take her to get her shots. I decided to pump as usual at 4 am but then wait and let Hannah wake up on her own since I didn't have to wake her up to feed her before I left for school. She slept until 7:15! That was the first day of her skipped early am feeding. Each day since then she's worked her way up to around 8:00. Some days a little earlier, some days a little later (only after waking up and falling back asleep around 7). It's been great. She goes to bed around 8:45 and then sleeps until around 8:00. Once I stop having to pump in the early morning, I can see some sleep in my future. Please pray for us tonight though. I'm afraid of what the time change is going to bring.

Second, she stared eating fruit this past week and LOVES it. She started off with apples and can't get enough of them. Last night we tried bananas for the first time and she gobbled those up in just a few minutes. She's still eating her veggies at lunch, but prefers her fruit!

The last new development is the frustrating one. I am having to start weaning myself because my student teacher's time is almost up and I won't be able to pump as often at school, not to mention I have never produced enough to keep up with Hannah. It was time to start with the formula. Ha. Last weekend, Hannah wouldn't drink anything from a bottle. Not the formula, not the pumped milk. She only wanted the "real thing" as Justin says. Finally on Sunday night we tried a new formula and she gave in. Monday was fine. Tuesday, she wanted nothing to do with the formula (and we're only talking 1 bottle of it a day for now). The nurse said to put vanilla in it. No luck. So she had me switch to the regular milk based instead of the soy. We had some luck, but then only for two days (there is a pattern here people). Finally Nana got vanilla to work. Mimi didn't have any problems yesterday, but we'll see how today goes, as it's been two days. Please say a little prayer for Hannah though. She's doing okay right now with the milk-based formula, but it's hard to tell right now if her dairy allergy is gone. We're monitoring her closely and it seems okay now, but it's only 7 oz a day right now. Please pray that the allergy is gone and she will tolerate the formula. Whew. It's been a week.

The SC State Fair

For the first time in several years (last year just the though of the fair made me throw up, no lie) Justin and I headed off to the SC State Fair. Justin wanted his fried mushrooms and we wanted to introduce Hannah to the over stimulated State Fair. Aunt Llora and Uncle Trip met us there for some fun.



















It started off great. Hannah had a good time looking at everything. She wasn't as impressed with the exhibits, not even the ducks, her usual favorites. She was however impressed with Aunt Llora's lemonade cup. It was fascinating. She also was impressed with Ms. Hallman's prized pumpkin. She wanted to pick it up. Sorry Hannah, the pumpkin weighed 44 pounds. For those who don't know, Ms. Hallman was one of my fellow second grade teachers in Rock Hill. She grew pumpkins with her class every year. She usually enters them in the fair, and then cuts them up for homemade pies to eat at the annual Thanksgiving Feast. It made me miss Paulette and my Oakdale gals! We also stopped by and saw Stephanie Parrish's prized cake. It was awesome. I forgot to take a picture of it, but she has some on her own blog. Our evening at the fair ended with fried mushrooms, a funnel cake and a cherry covered screaming baby! The cherries were compliments of Uncle Trip's funnel cake, oops. And the screaming baby was tired, hungry and overstimulated. It was fun while it lasted though.

6 Months Old

I am so late in getting this post up that Hannah is almost 6 months and 1 week old. Oops! I can't believe that my baby is already 1/2 a year old. Here are a few highlights and pictures from this month. There have been several new developments this week with eating and sleeping, but since they weren't for her 6th month, I'll wait and post about those later.

• is almost 27 inches long (71st %)


• is 15.3 pounds (30th %) {Hmmmm, tall and skinny like Daddy?}


• head circumference is in the 34th %


• eats veggies for dinner and cereal for breakfast


• does not like green veggies by themselves but will eat them mixed with squash or sweet potatoes


• loves sweet potatoes and squash but doesn't care much for carrots


• sit up on her own


• army crawls all over the place, especially to get her toys or the dog


• does the best ab workout ever (baby crunches!)


• sleeps from 8:45 until 6ish and then goes back to sleep after eating


• loves anything with buttons


• puts everything in her mouth


• has had her first cold


• holds her own bottle most of the time


• wants to hold her own spoon (that's usually a disaster!)


• doesn't like to stay on her back to get her diaper changed


• has a temper and is stubborn


• loves to smile and giggle


• is finally wearing 6 month clothing

Yucky Green Beans

Hannah has done a great job with her veggies. She wasn't a huge fan of carrots, but likes them mixed with squash or sweet potatoes (her favorite so far). This week we are starting the green veggies. I started with green beans and she is not a fan! Despite the expression in this picture, she really doesn't like them. Right before I took the picture, she pushed all the green beans out of her mouth, hence the chin full of green. I am going to try one more day since she has had a cold (I know taste buds are different when we are sick!) and I am going to attempt to videotape her reaction to them. She scrunches up her face and then shivers go up and down her body. It's quite obvious she isn't a fan!

Sitting Pretty

Hannah has been sitting by herself for a while now (if only for a few seconds). Recently she's been able to sit for long enough for me to take pictures of her. She loves to sit and play with her toys and gets so frustrated when she can't pull herself up to sit yet. She will be doing that soon. I feel pretty sure it won't be long.

Meeting Some Winthrop Gals

This past weekend (I know, I'm late blogging this) Corrie, Julie and I threw a shower for Amy and Lydia. Yes, another girl into the mix! It was great because several of the girls had never met Hannah. Justin kept Hannah tucked away upstairs until the shower was over and then she came down and charmed everyone! Congratulations Amy. I"m glad you enjoyed your trip down to SC. Lydia got some great stuff and I know you can't wait for her arrival!

These boots were made for walking...(okay, maybe not)

Dear Mimi and Papa John,

Thank you so much for my boots from South Dakota. I like playing with them on my feet and trying to put them in my mouth. They should fit me for quite a while. I love them!

Love,
Hannah

Homemade Baby Food

I am making baby food. It's actually easy. I'm sure those of you who have known me for a long time are probably getting a HUGE laugh out of this. It's true...I have had some terrible cooking incidences, and if you would have asked me 10 years ago if I'd be making my own baby food, I would have laughed at you hysterically. Things have changed though. I make some mistakes in the kitchen, but for the most part I am very successful now. I watched Rachel Ray all summer long (it coincided nicely with Hannah's afternoon feeding at the time) and was inspired to try some new things. That, added to my friends encouragement (thanks Heather and Julie!) was enough to make me interested. Last Sunday I made butternut squash and sweet potatoes. They are both nicely frozen in little ice cubes waiting to be eaten. We started Hannah on the squash Sunday. It was pretty funny. She was expecting the rice cereal and opened up her mouth nicely, but got a huge shock. I think it was too think at first. She did some little choking motions and scared the tar out of me (Justin just kept on video taping, so we have it all documented, ha, thanks). I added some water and we kept going. She has been a trooper all week. She gets surprised each night with the first bite, but then keeps going, eating the entire ice cube worth. She's also eating her cereal in the mornings with Mr. Adam, Nana, and Daddy (and eventually Mimi, but she's in SD right now and Justin got to be Mr. Mom this Friday). She is really doing great with the eating. Tonight we will start the sweet potatoes. We'll see what that brings!

{P.S. The diapers and stink have been a totally new experience as well!}