Chompers!

One thing that has made trying new foods a little easier is her two brand spanking new teeth! it started Thursday with a runny nose (a teething symptom) and by Friday she was full-blown teething. She was clearly uncomfortable, but it wasn't something a little Tylenol and a frozen teething toy couldn't handle.

Then overnight the two bottom, middle teeth finally popped through and Saturday morning she woke up happy as a clam. Over the weekend I tried multiple times to take a photo, but she was not having any part of it. So, here are my sad attempts and capturing this milestone.

My little foodie

Avery has become quite the foodie. Of all the foods she has tried she really only dislikes one: sweet potatoes. Recently she has tried a few new things including pancakes, broccoli and peach YoBaby yogurt. She has loved all of them, especially the yogurt.

33 weeks!

MONTH: 8
WEEK:  33
WEIGHT: 19+ lbs
LENGTH:  27+ in
HEAD: 17+ in
MILESTONES: Avery officially has teeth coming in. We can see little white bumps and all. Now we just wait for them to pop through -- please hurry!

OBLIGATORY ADORABLE PICTURE: Taken today at 33 weeks 1 day because Wednesday night she was in no mood to take a photo.
EATING: Avery has tried all kinds of new foods lately. She is digging pancakes and when all else fails with a new food, she will always eat green beans. Hopefully that means she will have better eating habits than J and I. 
SLEEPING: We officially put away the Pack N' Play. We are now bed-sharing 100% and I love it. She always ended up in our bed anyways, so why even bother? She will probably make the transition to her own room when (and if) we move -- maybe.
VISITS/OUTINGS: We haven't gone anywhere special but A got to meet a friend, M, yesterday. M is the daughter of an old friend of Justin's and is 3 months younger than her. A wanted so badly to play with M, but A is not too fond of sharing, so that didn't last long.
FAVORITE ACTIVITIES: A loves to see how close she can get to the carbon monoxide monitor that is in the hallway before we turn her away and distract her with something else. We are very careful not to let her get to it because that sucker is loud when it goes off.
MOMMY FEELS: tired. I have been really tired the last couple days, so I can't wait for Saturday. 
WHAT WE'RE LOOKING FORWARD TO: Immediately we are looking forward to sleeping in on Saturday morning but we are also looking forward to nice weather so we can go out and play with A in the sunshine. 

Let's play catch-up!

Here are some photos from our adventures the last few weeks:

Avery definitely has a tooth coming in and 

will chew on anything and everything she 

can get her hands on!

 Avery loves to look at herself in the mirror

we put in her crib, the mirrored closet doors

in her room or really any mirror she passes by.

 We tried toast the other day. She was not

too big a fan. I think it was because the 

toast is too "scratchy". Next time I'll try 

not toasting it so much.

I figure being as white as I am I have to be

at least a little bit Irish, so we got this shirt at

Babies R Us for $1. She is already puckered up!

32 Weeks!

MONTH: 8
WEEK: 32
WEIGHT: 18.5+ lBS 
LENGTH: 27+ in
HEAD: 17+ in
MILESTONES: Avery has learned to sit up from laying down all by herself! She's been sitting unassisted for almost a month, but she had to be put there. Now she can get from laying down to sitting up all by herself!
OBLIGATORY ADORABLE PICTURE: Taken today - 2 days late. Believe it or not this was the best photo of the batch. She wanted nothing to do with sitting in the chair. This was her just before she almost leapt out of the chair. Luckily it is a fairly deep chair so she did not end up on the floor!
EATING: Avery only tried one new food this week. She had toast on Tuesday and did not seem to like it. I think it might have been too "scratchy". We'll try again in a few weeks.
SLEEPING: Avery has slept in her Pack N Play almost the whole night the last three nights. While on the one hand it's nice to have space to roll over and move around, I miss having her to snuggle up with. Plus I am up every hour peeking over at her to make sure she is okay. One of the nights I checked on her and she was sleeping face down with her cute little tushy up in the air. It was adorable, but I still had to put her back on her back so I could sleep better.
VISITS/OUTINGS: Avery spent the day at Courtney's house today playing with Joe Joe and Gracie. She loves playing with them and from what I can tell they love playing with her too.
FAVORITE ACTIVITIES: Avery loves trying to get everywhere by herself. She is getting so fast so we have to really keep an eye out. Luckily we baby-proofed last weekend, so it gives me just an extra second of reaction time.
MOMMY FEELS: Cramped. We.need.more.space!
WHAT WE'RE LOOKING FORWARD TO: finding a house with more space.

Park fun!

Besties Day in the parks















Mama & Avery











That's so bright!

Avery and Mama both have feet.












Funny girl.











So pretty.

Thank you to my friend Christina for the amazing photos she always takes when we have play-dates with our girls.

Baby-led Weaning, Nunley-style.

Sometimes people are shocked when I tell them she does not "eat" purees. They ask how she can handle whole foods being so little and having no teeth. They ask why we risk her choking by giving her the same foods we eat. 

Well, here's the deal. This is how she eats the foods we give her. 

1. She picks up the food

2. She puts said food in her mouth

3. She gnaws on it until is is small enough to swallow or until she grows bored of it. 

I have done quite a bit of research and we decided that among all the information out there this was the best way to feed our baby. There are a few compelling points that really sealed the deal for me. (Keep in mind these are my personal opinions and are in no way meant to be objective.)

• In purees, baby learns to swallow before she learns to chew. I would be afraid when she encounters a chunk or something not as smooth as the puree she would try to swallow it without chewing it. By teaching her to chew first we are substantially reducing that risk. Plus, you should never leave your child unattended while eating anything, so if she struggles with something we are there to help.
• In jarred purees there are all kinds of preservatives. No matter how "natural" they claim to be, in order for them to be jarred and sold in mass they have to be preserved.
• Some people argue that I could make my own food, but who has time? I work full time and I want to spend some quality time with A before she goes to bed, so why would I want to take extra time away from that to make special food? 
• With spoon feeding, who knows when to stop? Not to say that we don't or won't give her food on a spoon, but they are foods that are normally eaten with a spoon. i.e. cereal, yogurt, etc. The great thing about BLWing is that she is in control and when she is not hungry any more she stops eating. She doesn't have to eat until the jar or bowl is empty.
• It's much more cost effective. By giving her what we are eating we don't have to buy special foods just for her. We may still buy her baby-oriented "snacks", but we try to limit the amount of snack-type foods she eats to help limit her dependence on snacks as a regular eating habit. 
• It's family time. It is my hope that by being included in meals it will help solidify her bond with us and make her feel a part of something special.

This is just meant to be an explanation of how we came to the conclusion to feed A this way and how we do it. It is not at all meant to be a put-down to anyone who chooses otherwise.

Babies Don't Keep - a poem.

Thank you to my friend Erin who sent me this poem when I was fighting between my need to get chores done and my want to rock my baby girl as she slept. 

I have been known to be slightly OCD in regards to keeping my house clean and tidy, but since Avery has arrived that has definitely gone by the wayside. I keep telling myself that the chores can wait because I don't want to miss the time I have with her while she is little. It won't be long until she doesn't want to be rocked to sleep, and won't want to be held like a baby,

But until then, I will soak up these precious moments and lock the memories away in my mind for the day when :::gasp::: she won't want anything to do with me at all. (I am not looking forward to years 12 through 16 for this precise reason.)

Babies Don’t Keep
by Ruth Hulburt Hamilton

Mother, O Mother, come shake out your cloth,
Empty the dustpan, poison the moth,
Hang out the washing, make up the bed,
Sew on a button and butter the bread.

Where is the mother whose house is so shocking?
She’s up in the nursery, blissfully rocking.

Oh, I’ve grown as shiftless as Little Boy Blue,
Lullabye, rockabye, lullabye loo.

Dishes are waiting and bills are past due
Pat-a-cake, darling, and peek, peekaboo

The shopping’s not done and there’s nothing for stew
And out in the yard there’s a hullabaloo
But I’m playing Kanga and this is my Roo
Look! Aren’t his eyes the most wonderful hue?
Lullabye, rockaby lullabye loo.

The cleaning and scrubbing can wait till tomorrow
But children grow up as I’ve learned to my sorrow.
So quiet down cobwebs; Dust go to sleep!
I’m rocking my baby and babies don’t keep.

*Sorry for the dark photo, I didn't want to wake her with the flash.*

Emergency!

On Tuesday night I was giving Avery a bath in her bathtub when I noticed a "toy" floating in the water that I didn't put there. Avery had pooped in the tub! So I picked her up to finish her bath in the kitchen sink. As I was rinsing her off with the removable faucet when she reached around and knocked the hot/cold handle all the way to scalding hot and the hot water splashed her in the face and head.

In 1.290539 seconds I had turned the faucet off and grabbed her out of the sink. I felt how hot her skin was and immediately sprayed her with cold water to stop any of the burning. After I got her out and put her diaper on I called the advice nurse who spoke with the on-call pediatrician. After going through a thousand questions about how long she was sprayed, how hot it was, how she was breathing, how it looked, it was decided that it was a 1st degree burn (redness, but no blisters) and that because it was such a large area that was exposed that she needed to be seen by a doctor before the morning.

Since Justin's car was in the shop he had taken my car to bowling, so I called his sister, Stacy, to take us until Justin could meet us there. By the time she arrived Avery's head and face had gone from tomato-red to slightly pink and by the time we got to the emergency room she was back to normal. She was even laughing and playing with Stacy when we were put in the room.

After all was said and done the doctor said she would be fine. I was so relieved, but at the same time I feel so guilty. I know I should have just used a cup to rinse her or held her hands better or something. It was an honest accident, but I can't help but feel sad at the image of my little girl's bright read face.

31 Weeks!

MONTH: 8

WEEK: 31

WEIGHT: 18lbs 7oz <-- WOW! 

LENGTH: 27+ inches

HEAD: 18+ inches

MILESTONES: She is mobile! Avery has mastered army crawling on our hardwoods, but she's still working on moving on carpet. 

OBLIGATORY ADORABLE PICTURE: Taken today at 31 weeks exactly.

EATING: Avery has been very adventurous with new foods. She's had green beans and Mexican rice so far this week. 

SLEEPING: Avery has been showing her preference for not sleeping alone. Some say we are setting ourselves up for trouble letting her sleep with us, but I love having my baby next to me. Plus we have a huge European King bed so there is plenty of room for everyone.

VISITS/OUTINGS: We had our first visit to the emergency room last night. Long story short she was splashed with hot water during a bath and because she is so young the on-call pediatrician said she should be looked at right away. Everything is fine and there are no blisters -- as you can see in this picture.

FAVORITE ACTIVITIES: Avery loves showing off her new-found independence by crawling all over.

MOMMY FEELS: So guilty for letting Avery get splashed with the water. I should have held her hands down or just used a cup or something. Everyone says I shouldn't beat myself up about it and it was just an accident, but I still feel bad. 

WHAT WE'RE LOOKING FORWARD TO: Finding a new, bigger home so we have more room for Avery to grow... and so I don't have to keep tripping over her things so much.

A Mama's Life

Rain falling
Rocking chair rocking
Baby breathing
Clock tick-tocking.

These are the sounds of a mama's life. 

Adventures in Baby-led Weaning

As you know we have been practicing Baby-led Weaning. We been focusing on mostly single foods like steamed carrots, sweet potatoes, squash etc. Nothing with combined flavors or textures and certainly nothing spicy.

Until today.

Today I was at lunch with my friend Christina and her daughter Lailah at a local Mexican food restaurant. I had Avery on my lap with my plate pushed away from me so she couldn't get it, but when I reached forward she took the opportunity to snag the Mexican rice off my plate and promptly shoved it into her mouth.

I was concerned how she would take it because she had never experienced anything like it flavor-wise, but to my surprise she loved it. She kept eating and eating -- making one huge mess for the waiter, which I tipped well for, of course. Before we left I put what was left of the rice into a container for her to enjoy tomorrow.

Now I guess I have two choices:

1. Learn how to make Mexican rice
2. Buy the Mexican rice from the restaurant once a week and ration it out.

Either way I can't deprive her of her new favorite food!

30 weeks!

MONTH: 8

WEEK:  30

WEIGHT: I'm guessing around 17lbs

LENGTH:  27+ inches

HEAD: 17+ inches

MILESTONES: She's officially mobile with the cutest army crawl you've ever seen.

OBLIGATORY ADORABLE PICTURE: Taken today at 30 weeks 2 days. We've been really busy this week and by the time we got home Wednesday and Thursday she was ready for bed and in no mood for a photo shoot.

EATING: We tried raspberries this week and today we are trying steamed yellow squash. We'll see how well she takes a veggie after having two fruits in a row.

SLEEPING: Avery has decided she hates napping, so we are working on that. Right now she has been asleep for 1 1/2 hours and counting. This is unprecedented

VISITS/OUTINGS: We have not had any visits except to Grandma and Grandpa Nunley's on Tuesdays & Thursdays as usual.

FAVORITE ACTIVITIES: Avery is loving her new found mobility. She really enjoys trying to get to Lola when Lola is on her mat by the fireplace. It's pretty cute.

MOMMY FEELS: Blessed to have a wonderful daughter who is thriving.

WHAT WE'RE LOOKING FORWARD TO: Finding a new house with more room for Avery to play in.

7 Months!

Wow. I find myself saying that every day because I cannot believe how big my baby is getting. We are now over the "hump" and the latter side of her first year is just flying by. She is growing and learning so much every day it's just incredible. We are so blessed to be able to watch her blossom into a happy, healthy, intelligent, beautiful little girl.

THIS MONTH YOUR BABY MAY:

• stretch her body or try standing on tiptoes to reach a toy She is determined. If something is out of her reach she will employ all means she has to reach it. She will stretch her legs out and try to stand if she has something to hold onto, she will army crawl, scoot, or roll. It's almost scary because she is also fearless and so when she tries to reach for something she doesn't yet know she can fall and will just keep reaching if you don't watch her.  
• get upset if you take a toy away, as her memory continues to develop and she begins to understand that "no toy equals no play" She definitely knows that she likes to play with toys and will protest if you take one away. We try not to do this though. Instead we give her a selection of toys and let her choose. She can pick whatever toy she wants and play with it however she wants. We want her to use her imagination on what things can be used for rather than showing her how "play properly".
• identify what you're feeling by the tone of your voice I'm not sure about this. It's not like we're yelling at her or anything, so we pretty much talk in the same tone around her.
• eat a cracker or piece of finger food by herself She has been doing this for a while now since we are doing Baby-led Weaning. She is really developing fine motor skills though.

A FUNNY STORY:
We bedshare with Avery. This means that at least half the night she sleeps in the bed with us. I really love it for a ton of reasons including the fact that we all sleep better but most of all because I love waking up and seeing her smiling face the first thing.

Avery always likes to let us know she is awake by reaching over and pinching my face (not really one of my favorite things, but cute nonetheless). This morning I woke up to her poking my nose with her single index finger. It's something I do to her all the time and I say "boop!". I thought it was really cute that she would put her hand up to my face and move all the other fingers so just the index finger was there and then press my nose like a button. It makes me think she really understands what I am doing when I do it and is trying to mimic me.

And you know what they say, imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.

A Month in Photos - February 2011