My sweet and darling girl is now fully 7 months old and I can't believe how the time has flown by. She is such a joy to spend my days with and I love her more than I even thought it was possible to love someone.
At 7 months she has begun to say "da da da da" which Chris takes to mean Daddy and is thrilled! When I make "ma ma ma ma" sounds at her she only smiles and laughs and does not care to repeat my words.
She has learned to play pat-a-cake (or as we say it "patty-cake") by clapping her hands together and will even sometimes make a "take take" sound. I am convinced that while the "da da da" and the "how" sounds are like words to us, this "take" sound is the first sound that she is associating with an action. She knows that this sound goes with this action. It is very cool to watch.
She is commando crawling all over the house. She was in the living room the other day and I was washing dishes. I looked around to check on her and she was in the dining room, then for a few minutes she was in the kitchen before heading down the hall to explore her bedroom. It is funny, the two bedrooms are right across from each other, but she chooses her bedroom (which she has never slept in or even taken a nap in). It is brighter and gets more sun than our bedroom (which we keep dark so she naps better during the day). Yesterday, she crawled into her bedroom and rolled onto her back and entertained herself for a while by clapping her hands together and making cute noises (talking to herself).
She watches us eat very closely. She watches us pick up a bite, follows it to our mouths, watching us chew and swallow and follows the fork back to the plate. She is also very intensely watching us when we brush our teeth, we are not sure why this is so interesting but to her it is.
I have started to wipe her mouth with a cold wet cloth at night to "brush" her teeth too as she now has her two front bottom teeth. They are so cute and still really small. I have been unable to get a picture of them because every time I pull her chin down to open her mouth and get a look at them, she sticks out her tongue!
I started watching Eureka on SyFy and she totally loves the opening theme music. No matter what she is doing, when that music starts she stops and looks at the TV until the song is over. She actually really likes the Warehouse 13 music too, so I wonder if they are composed by the same person (people).
She still loves the ice water glass and has taken to sticking her face in the glass at the top and will even drink some of the water and eat some of the ice. We make sure that the ice is very, very small so she won't choke and/or it would melt before causing harm.
She still gets excited when her Daddy gets home. She will hear the garage door open and close, then she will look expectantly at the stairs, craning her neck in an effort to see him coming. She makes this throaty noise when she sees him that is part laugh and part excited howl and if he doesn't come directly to her and hold her, she will cry with bitter disappointment. Chris has taken to taking off his badge, sunglasses and shoes before alerting her to his presence so he can get right to the holding!
She seems to love it most when all three of us are together. When we are all able to hang out in bed, like on a weekend, she wakes giggling, turning from first one of us to the other, touching our faces and giving wet kisses! She reaches out for me when Daddy is holding her and then reaches right back for him, so we have started standing really close together, so she is, in effect, in both of our arms at the same time and she loves that!
At five months Mary is able to sit unassisted for as long as she cares to. She will sit and watch TV or play with a toy and only roll herself into her stomach (or face more often) if she wants to play with something else.
She understands now that she has to, and can, move her own body to get to where she wants to go. If she wants a toy or to touch something shinny, she has to scoot herself there. She is able to roll and scoot all around the room!
She is very vocal and will make a whole selection of sounds to “talk” to us. She cries when tired, hungry or unhappy, but she will also “talk” just like those around her.
She does not like me to be out of her sight. She will play in the Johnny Jumper or the Exer-saucer for a really long time, but only if she can see me at the same time.
She loves her daddy and wiggles her arms and legs in excitement when he comes home from work.
She loves the music that plays from this pink elephant we have on her car seat. We have a mirror in the car that also plays music, but she prefers the elephant (which requires me to put my arm into the backseat and pull it to make it play.
She still has a one little tooth that is just below the surface, but she seems to be drooling less, so maybe the growth has taken a little break.
She has decided that when it is time to nap, she wants to be in the bed, in the dark and no distractions. If the TV is on or people are around, there is too much to get excited about to sleep!!
She is still a happy baby who smiles and laughs more than anything else in a day. She loves to reach out and touch my face, pull daddy’s hair and pull the glasses off anyone’s face she may be presented with.
She loves a cold glass of water, she will rest her lips on the rim and her tongue will wiggle all around the outside of the glass as she licks up the condensation and feels the sensation of the cold on her lips.
She is the embodiment of love and joy!!
I am throwing a baby shower for my sister this weekend and I really want it to be perfect in every way. Not only did she, along with my mom and step mom, plan an amazing shower for me when I was pregnant, she was kind of jipped out of the whole shower experience when she was pregnant with my nephew. She had him about three weeks early and did not get a baby shower until after he was born. She really wants to be able to hold little outfits up to her belly and enjoy the shower without trying to take care of a newborn at the same time!
In addition to the shower on Sunday, the whole weekend is really packed with fun stuff. Saturday morning we are having breakfast with my mom and her dad (my grandpa) and then going to my nephew’s joint birthday party in the park that afternoon. That evening will be full of prep for Sunday!
Sunday morning will be Chris’s first father’s day! I have cool gifts and will make him a yummy breakfast and we will just spend the morning together as a family. Then he is going to help me load up all the shower food and supplies and he is going to visit with my dad and grandpa while mom, Flo and I are at the shower. After the shower, we will get everything cleaned up and home and gather food for the cookout at my sister’s place that evening to celebrate all the fathers in our lives!
So, yeah, it’s going to be busy and full and totally wonderful!
This was an amazing weekend! Mary rolled over from her back to her stomach for the first time on Saturday (June 12, 2010). I spent some time shopping with a friend on Friday and her son is rolling over and scooting around a bit and I told her that I felt that Mary was really close to rolling over and it would probably be very soon.
Well, I took her to a mom and baby yoga class on Saturday afternoon and she was lying next to this other baby and they were checking each other out and Mary rolled onto her side, which she has been doing for a week or so. Then she and this other baby grabbed hands and both tried to her the others hand into their respective mouths. This created something for Mary to pull on and she flipped over onto her stomach. The other few mothers, the teacher of the class and I all clapped and whooped (scaring the one poor baby boy in the class). I had my phone handy and had been snapping shots of their interaction, so I was able to catch most of the action!
Then during the class, I had her in between my spread legs while stretching and she rolled herself over again! After the class, I took her to my dad’s place where Chris and he were watching the vs. England World Cup game. I put her on a blanket on the floor and she flipped right over again!
Sunday she kept rolling over but got frustrated as she has apparently forgotten how to pull her arm out from under her body once she is on her stomach. I also think that she is either having a growth spurt, teething a bit, or both as she spent Sunday nursing, chewing on my hands and sleeping.
All in all, it was a wonderful weekend. Dad and I took Mary on a bike ride Saturday morning (us on bikes, her in a trailer…sleeping). Then we all went to breakfast and met up with my sister. We also walked around a bit downtown at the market. Then there was the yoga class and more time with family. Sunday was relaxed with just a bit of time spent cleaning out some of Mary’s things that she no longer has use for and passing it on to my sister and others. We watched the World cup games and made a run to the grocery store. Not overly exciting Sunday, but nice all the same. Again, I am so grateful for my life and all my blessings!
I am a truly lucky woman. I never thought that my life would be as great as it is now. When I look back on my life up to this point, I can see mistakes and missteps aplenty. I dated men who were not worthy of me, I worked jobs that I hated; I made mistakes with my money and was not the best daughter or granddaughter I could have been. That being said, I always tried to do the right thing. I never set out to make a mistake or do something reckless or give my love to someone who was not right for me.
I have spent the last several years working hard on myself. I got my education, I worked hard at my job, I took a greater interest in my family and I started looking at myself as the worthwhile, great person that I am. I was happy just being myself, being with myself. It was only then, when I was perfectly content with myself that everything started falling into place. I met my husband (tried to hook him up with a friend because I was so sure that I was meant to stay single and was happy about it). I found a career at a company that I love with people I consider family. I purchased a home, a car and finally was granted my ultimate wish – to become a mother.
There is nothing in this world like having this amazing little life look up at me and grin with love and trust and joy. I have never known love like this, joy like this and I am grateful for every second that I experience it in my life. Mary is the light, the joy, the love that I always wanted and never thought I was worthy of, or would ever have. Everything that is good in this world is reflected in her eyes.
This morning, I woke her up to change and feed her before I left for work and she had her eyes closed and her face scrunched up, rubbing her eyes and generally waking up, when she opened her eyes and caught sight of me smiling down at her. She suddenly broke into a big grin and started waving her arms and legs in excitement. She has started doing this lately, the excitement thing – when I was finished changing her I took her back to bed. I laid her down and then opened my bra to get ready to feed her and when she caught sight of her food source, she wiggled and squealed with excitement, reaching her arms up for me and as I got us into position, she latched on with an oomph and gasp, like she just couldn’t wait any longer.
When Chris got home last night, she heard his voice as he was coming up the stairs and again, wiggled with excitement, looking around for him and grinning as soon as she saw him. This love and happiness from her in regards to us is so special to both Chris and I and we never take it for granted.
It was a year ago yesterday that we discovered that Mary was going to be coming into our lives. We were visiting family in New Mexico and I just had a feeling. I'd had this feeling since the weekend we conceived, but it was really too early to test, I was only just at 28 days and I am a 33-35 day kind of girl. I woke up at 4 in the morning with a dream about my grandmother. I realized that this was the one year anniversary of her death and I felt this really strong urge to take the test. I tried for 3 hours to talk myself out of it, and finally gave in. The strip turned pink almost instantly and I burst into tears, thanking my grandmother for her gift to me that day.
I woke Chris and showed him the test. It took him a few seconds to wake enough to take in my tears and register that I was holding something. Once he grasped what was happening, he broke into the biggest grin I have ever seen! We both lay in bed, talking, crying and holding each other. Given the miscarriage the year before, we had decided not to tell anyone, but this went out the window when we realized that we were with his family and we would not get another chance to tell them in person.
Turns out it was also Chris's mother's birthday and she said this was the best gift we could have given her. We floated on air the rest of the trip and it wasn't until about 3 weeks later the morning sickness struck!! I would do it all again in a heartbeat! The result of all that sickness was this amazing little person who smiles all the time and is loved by so many!
It was so sweet this morning, Chris's hose fell out of his CPAP mask about 4 and since I have to get up at 4:30, I was already starting to wake up a bit. Anyway, the sound woke Mary and I knew when she woke, but I kept my eyes closed. I could hear and feel her moving around a bit and then I felt her little hand reach up and touch my face. I opened my eyes and looked down at her, she had her head all tilted back and her arm stretched up and was touching my face and looking at me. When we made eye contact, her whole face lit up with this huge grin! I smiled and gathered her close to my body and held her and kissed her whole face! It was the best way to wake up!!
She is changing in small ways every day and while there is so much that I am looking forward to as she grows, I am really trying to cherish this time too. She has started to be able to get her toes up high and she grabs them with her little hands and, of course, brings them right into her mouth! It is so cute to watch. She is also starting to bite and gnaw on my finger when she can get a hold of it, so I feel like teething is in our near future.
I think all the time about the kind of person she will be. Chris likes to say what she will be like and that bothers me, I like to imagine what she can be and allow her to develop into her own personality without expectations. I think that he is just thinking his own thoughts in his way, but I hate when he says “She will be kind” or “She will play soccer” I personally want to see what she becomes without pressure from me to become what I want her to be.
I think that she is a really secure baby. She can wake up from a nap, where I have laid her in her seat or on the bed and not be scared, she knows that she is safe and I’m close at hand. She sometimes will cry out a bit when she can’t see me and then she is calm and waits for my face to appear and to hear my voice. This isn’t to say that she is never upset or never wakes crying, but it is rare.