6 Month Update!

Oh wow, talk about a crazy couple of weeks!

Any free time I had I was spent writing final papers and revising them and studying for finals and then I nearly had a panic attack when my professor e-mailed me and said she was going to fail my paper because I didn't cite my sources and that was considered plagiarism. When I went in to talk to her about it, because I DID cite my sources, it turns out I placed a comma in my citations in the wrong place. Talk about an overly dramatic professor! (This was also the same professor that told me I had failed another paper earlier in the semester, turns out, she failed everyone BUT me. Crazy.) But I fixed it and aced the paper. Crisis averted! 

Ok, rants over! I'm just relieved to have a break and to finally get some stuff done around here! Catching up on blogging is one of those things, so expect a lot of posts this week! I figured I should start with Deagan's 6 month update, since I missed his 5 month and in another week and a half he will be 7 months old. Where does the time go?

^^Always in the sling. He's such a mama's boy!^^

So, lets get to it and start with his stats!

Weight: 16lbs, 3oz, 23%

Length: 26.25in 32%

Head Circumference: 43.2cm 46%

Teeny little guy, but for as small as he is, he's still got his chunky cheeks and meaty legs!

The doctor said everything looks perfect with him, and that he's still growing along his curve. I discussed his spitting up, once again, and the doctor told us that he's confident he will grow out of it. And to my surprise, he has! He still spits up occasionally, but not anywhere NEAR the amount he used too! It's so nice not having to change my clothes 3 times a day! I think starting him on solids has really made the difference.

I also talked to the doctor about him not sleeping through the night. And he told me what I knew he probably would, to just let him cry it out. That was really hard for me because we have had complaints from the renters downstairs about DJ crying, but I decided to just not worry about them and let him cry it out. The doctor told us that the first night to expect him to cry for up to 3 hours, and to wake up several times that night. I think he cried for 2, and he woke up 2-3 times, but I never went in and got him. After that, each night became easier, and now, I either nurse him to sleep, or if he's extra fussy, I lay him in his crib with a bottle, and he puts himself to sleep. He still wakes up 1-2 times a night, and most nights he cries for 5 minutes and puts himself back to sleep. But on the nights he screams, I get up and get him a bottle. I used to bring him in bed with me and nurse him, but then I had a hard time putting him back in his room without waking him up, so I now just do the bottle. Hopefully soon, he will sleep through the night completely on a regular basis, and not just once a week.

The biggest development this month is that he can now sit up, and is on his way to officially crawling. He gets up on his hands and knees, then propels himself forward. He also army crawls everywhere. I thought once he could move, he would not be as clingy, but he still always wants to be held and so most of our days are spent with him on my lap or in the sling. 

^^This photo is from Reno, and I realized that I still have not written about Thanksgiving! Look for that post soon!^^

He loves his sister more than anyone I think. She tries to wrestle with him and it makes me nervous, but he is almost always laughing and pulling her hair and giving her kisses. They are going to be best friends!

Well, that's all for now! Can you believe Christmas is less than a week away?! 

Also, Happy Birthday to my Dad! I love you!

6 Months!

I can't believe Savannah is already 6 months old! I think this was the first time that I felt a little sad that she is growing up so fast. Before, I couldn't wait until her next milestone, but now, I realize that I'm really going to miss these days. I'm still excited to see her first tooth, to see her crawling and talking and eventually walking, but it's just weird that in another 6 months, we will be celebrating her birthday!

We had her 6 month check-up Monday and once again, I have a happy healthy baby!

I can't find the paper with all her stats on it, I know It's in the kitchen somewhere but I'm too tired and lazy to get up and go look for it, so I'll put her official numbers up in my next post.

I do remember that she is in the 75th percentile for height, 50th for head circumference, and 25th for weight. She is now 15lbs 5 oz, which really surprised me because thats only a pound in the last 2 months, and I swear she chunked up a whole lot more that one pound. I mean, have you seen her legs? Her rolls have rolls, on tops of more rolls! But she's tall and skinny. The doctor said that her weight was actually more like the 40th percentile according to her stats, but by the national average, she was in the 25th. Not sure what that means, but he said it was perfectly fine for her, considering I (used to be) was tall and skinny most my life (until I got pregnant haha!)

(She loves this bouncer! She was actually getting pretty tired so she wasn't jumping as much as normal, I'll have to get a better video soon)

But as far as developmentally, she is right on track as well. She just learned to sit up, and is so happy that she can. It took her a while to figure out her balance, but now she does fairly well. She just needs to learn that she can't look too far up, or grab for something out of her reach or she topples over.

She still loves food, and has figured out that anything that goes in mamas mouth, is probably food and she wants it Right. This. Minute. In fact, Bryant and I took her with us to a restaurant recently and I was holding her on my lap, eating some bread dipped in cheese, and she started to get mad that I wasn't giving her any, so she picked up a piece, shoved it in her mouth and chewed off a chunk and swallowed it faster than Bryant or I could fish it out of there!

She still sleeps through the night, mostly between 11:30pm and 9:30am. She has decided that she only likes to sleep on her stomach though, which really worried me and I was waking up every couple of hours to go flip her over. But I talked to the doctor about it and he said that I absolutely should NOT worry about her sleeping on her stomach. He said that if she's strong enough to roll over, she can roll back if she needs too and that SIDS is virtually not a problem from here on out. He also said that honestly, once a baby can roll over in the middle of the night, there is not much you can do about it (other than get up every 10 min to roll them back over, which, as I said, isn't a hazard any more.)

 

(She sleeps with her bum in the air. I love it!)

She gets noisier every day and has a different sound for everything. She spits when she wants attention, she yells short, loud "Ba!" sounds when she wants something from you, and high pitched squeals when she's playing. Her new favorite thing is to tease Bryant. She will sit next to him and get a big smile on her face, then slowly reaches her hands out and grabs his shirt, then he acts surprised and turns to her yelling "what are you doing?" or "Are you getting me?!" and she squeals and laughs! Then he goes back to "ignoring" her and she does it again! 

(This is Savannah with Bryant's parents. Ed is making silly noises and she's trying to copy him!)

She still gives kisses if you ask, but she's gotten picky about dishing them out. I'm happy to say that I get the majority of them! 

She's also gotten really attached to her stuffed cow. It's one of those stuffed animals with a blanket as the body, and she hangs onto that thing all day long. When she goes down for a nap, she snuggles with it, usually with it pressed against her cheek or covering her face (don't worry, I take it out of her crib entirely when she falls asleep). I have to wash it constantly because it gets chewed on so much! It just melted my heart when she got her shots the other day and she cried and cried until I handed her her cow and she buried her face in it and calmed right down!

 

(She sleeps with her eyes slightly open, just like her mama!)

My little girl is getting too big!

6 months! Thats half a year people!

Yesterday, I hit the 24th week mark in my pregnancy.
That's six whole months!!!

I remember when I hit my 3 month mark, my Dad said to me "geeze, you still have half a year to go!"

Well, it's been half a year and I'm down to the final 3 months! (well, technically it's more like 3 1/2 months, since they count the first couple weeks before you're actually pregnant, rounding full term out to 40 weeks. I know, it's weird.)

(24 weeks! Please ignore the bags and dark circles under my eyes, they are due to the fact that I'm either getting up twice a night to use the bathroom, I toss and turn because of sore hips, or a certain wiggly girl gets up at 4:30am)

So we went to the doctors on Wednesday and it was a really short visit. We were supposed to get blood work done for a glucose test, but the nurse forgot to give me this drink thing I have to drink an hour before, and we were supposed to get another ultrasound since little Stokes was facing my spine, so they couldn't check for a cleft pallet, but the doctor left without saying anything and when I asked the nurse on our way out, she said to remind them next time.

But other than those two little things, we were able to learn that everything is going great! My blood pressure is perfect, my weight gain is perfect (but it sure feels like a lot when that scale keeps climbing and climbing) and my little girls heartbeat is exactly where it should be and she is growing right on track!

The doctor had to keep following her around my stomach with the doppler to get her heartbeat because she was movin' and a groovin' all over the place! He said he was happy to see that she was really active (Me too! But this makes me a little worried for when she's about 2 years old. I can already tells she's going to be a hand full)

So here are just a few things my baby girl can do and how's she's progressed:

--She's between 8-9 inches from head to bum

--She weighs roughly 1.7 pounds, or, the weight of an eggplant. (no body fat yet, she's literally skin and bones. Her fat will start to tack on here in a couple of weeks)

--Her blood vessles are starting to develop in her lungs, which means they are getting closer to maturity!

--Her nostrils are opening up, allowing her to practice breathing through them, even though she's just breathing amniotic fluid for now.

--Her hair color and texture is developing (she has a really good chance of being a red head!)

--She's become A LOT more active! I love feeling her move and roll and flip around, even at 4:30 in the morning, which is her favorite time to get a good stretch in...

As for me:

--I'm feeling a lot more confident that everything is going to go well with the rest of this pregnancy. I think those first few months are the hardest because I would get so worried about miscarrying or something being wrong developmentally with her, but every time I go to the doctors, they always comment on how incredibly healthy both her and I am. It makes me feel so much more relaxed.

--I have been so lucky to have such an easy pregnancy, but I can definitely tell how it's affecting my body. I wake up with charlie horses in my calves, I can't sit in a chair or on the couch for too long or my back hurts, and I've got some growing pains from my quickly expanding belly (but surprisingly, I haven't had any signs of stretch marks... yet)

-My hands have begun to swell. They are the worst first thing in the morning, I can't even get my wedding ring on. I'm thinking of making Bryant buy me a cheap fake one for the last 3 months. The last thing I need is one of the crazy old customers at work giving me a lecture about being pregnant without a ring on my finger (I'm not kidding, I get chewed out by customers for the weirdest things, I had one guy tell me I was a sinner and not a true Mormon because I had never read Jesus the Christ... And then a week later I had one lady hug me, crying, saying that she was going to pray for my soul since I was a Mormon. Crazy people I tell ya! )

--I'm still dealing with mood swings, and I hate it. And poor Bryant is usually in my line of fire when I get grumpy. Thankfully, he understands and is a good sport about it, making sure I'm doing Okay and have anything I need or want rather than getting mad back. He's way too good to me.

--Oh yeah, and I have a head cold. Lame.

As far as preparing for baby:

--We have most of the major things all set, just not set up. We have a stroller, given to us by my cousin (it's got winnie the pooh. I'm such a sucker for winnie the pooh!)

--My aunt is letting us borrow her crib, Score!

--We are planning on going to a car seat class offered by the county health and justice department. It's 25 bucks, you learn how to properly install a car seat and how to properly and safely put your baby in one, then you get a car seat for going! Score again!

--We have a diaper pail! Woo! Graciously given to us by our neighbor. (And my mom has been stocking up on diapers! Thanks mom!)

--I have bought three SF 49ers onesies... We are lacking in the clothes department, but I'm waiting until the baby shower to buy clothes or toys or anything like that.

--We are going to start taking birthing and parenting classes in January I think. I keep telling Bryant it will be good for him, but really, I think I'm the one who really needs it. Even after taking care of and babysitting many, many kids, they were never mine to completely care, protect and provide for. Plus, it's been roughly 10-11 years since I've had to make a bottle...

So, yeah. That's quite a big update, but I figured my mom, mother-in-law and grandma would at least like to know how everything's going!