8 Months and on the move!

What an exciting month this has been! It just seems to get better and better as the days and months go by. Although I miss my sweet little bitty baby and being able to hold and snuggle her all the time, these days of learning and doing new things are so fun! I wouldn't trade them! Collins has really begun to develop a personality... she's pretty much going to let you know how it is! :) I thought last month had a lot of "firsts", I guess as the months go by, there will always be "firsts." Here's what we did this month... We started off the month at the doctor having a regular check up to be sure her ears were clear, and thankfully, they were! She also had to get the second round of the flu shot that day, which is always no fun! But, she handled it pretty well this time. She weighed 17 pounds and 12 ounces. She figured out the paper on the table at the doctor office this time too... boy, did she have fun with it; tearing it to pieces! Ha!

We celebrated our friend, Clarke's birthday this month. He turned 1! He had a farm birthday party... it was fun!

We had a "big snow day" for the city of Memphis! :)

She has tried many new foods this month, including: blueberries, blueberry muffins, pineapple, some of the pouch foods (which she is not a HUGE fan of), lima beans, blackened peas, white beans, turkey, cheese, mac-n-cheese, eggs, "cheetos" (which are an approved Gerber baby food... :) mashed potatoes, spaghetti (which she LOVED) and made a pretty big mess with!

Collins is beginning to really recognize Mommy and Daddy's face, especially on FaceTime, which we use a lot when I am at work. She pulled herself up to a standing position in her crib for the first time and we lowered the mattress the next day! She found her video monitor in her crib and is constantly pulling at it and knocking it down now. Ha! She "waved" bye-bye" as I was leaving for work one day... (well, we said she "waved"). Of course, it broke my heart and made me cry. :) And is now---CRAWLING! Which, had her move up to the next class at church- the "crawlers." It was quite bittersweet for Eric and I, more so him, actually. :)

She has not been sleeping so great through the nights lately... mostly because she is beginning to get more mobile and moving around more, which wakes her up, then she can't put herself back to sleep. We began giving her her "lovey" to sleep with and it really seems to help!

Bring on 8 months!!!

Here are some pics from 7-8 months...Enjoy!

               Happy 8 months from this spunky little girl who is on the move!!!

7 Months Old!

I'm a little late, but Collins turned 7 months old on the 25th. Crazy! And, boy is she changing and growing. This month has been so fun... lots of firsts. Collins was still trying some new foods, and her faces are crazy sometimes :)She loves some strawberries, cheerios and mum-mum's! We are working more on some "big girl foods" that she can luck up with her fingers rather than being fed with the spoon. We celebrated a Valentine's Day and a Super Bowl (Broncos vs Seahawks- Seahawks won!) We had a "real" snow (that actually covered the ground-- not much though, ha!) But, we got a super cute pic of our sweet girl in the snow! We had a few play dates, dinner dates and another birthday party with our sweet friend, Cooper. He is exactly 6 months older than Collins. My good friend, Kelly, had her little baby boy, Reece and we got to all go visit and meet him! Collins started sitting up in the grocery cart and high chair more this month. She is finally sitting up on her own... she finally figured that out right at the end of this month. She is making movements like she wants to crawl- she gets on her hands and knees and rocks back and forth, but then just kind of falls on her tummy :) We know it won't be long, so we are soaking up this time now! She also sat up in her big girl stroller as we got to stroll around some with a few nice days of weather. We are eagerly awaiting spring! For more reason than one... We had a battle this past month with a nasty ear infection :( First real sickness. We were thankful that she made it this far without getting sick so far. It took us 3 doctor visits to finally diagnose the infection. We started out with high fevers, snotty nose and a bad, yucky cough. The first 2 times we went, we were told upper respiratory infection and viral infection. Poor baby had to get a finger prick and a flu swab in her nose. Luckily, those were all good... hence, the viral part. Finally, on the third visit, we had full ears. Thankfully! Not happy to have had an infection, but glad to finally get some treatment. We started her quickly on an antibiotic, which she had a reaction to and we had to start her on something new, which worked! After a couple of weeks, I was cleared and finally doing better! We are excited about this next month... it's getting more fun as time goes by. But boy, is it going fast....! :(

Collins and Greer man playing together

Collins and Clarke at the cafe eating dinner 

Happy Birthday Coop! 

 

First time sitting up in the grocery cart

First Snow! 

Super Bowl

Happy Valentine's Day! 

Add caption

First time riding in the stroller like a big gitl :) 

Visiting Baby Reece 

Trying some peaches... not a huge fan! :) 

Figured out how to sit up! 

Bows are beginning to become kind of a lost cause... 

Silly girl! Happy 7 Months! 

Happy half birthday!!!

It's hard to believe that as each month passes I say the same thing... I can't believe another month has passed! This month, I'm saying- wow, my baby is half a year old already! It's crazy to think 6 months ago that my life would change the way it has! But I do know, I wouldn't trade any of it! Collins has been the best thing to happen to us! As each month passes, I fall more and more in love with my angel child everyday. 

We have celebrated her first New Years this month. Of course her nor mommy made it to midnight (mommy had to work though). She had her first birthday party this month with her sweet friend, Maggie Scott. We celebrated with pancakes and PJ's ;) We also celebrated Eric's new position at the PD. He got promoted to detective this month and we got to be a part of his promotion ceremony. Our church had a special day of baby dedication that Collins was a part of. We had some close friends dedicate their baby the same day. It was a special time for us all. 

She's learning and doing so much these days. She's so alert at what is going on. She is trying her darnedest to get to crawling! She actually inches backward some but nothing in the forward motion except some reaching... She tries getting her knees up under her so hard! She just hasn't quite figured the whole thing out; but that's ok with this mama ;) I don't want to rush things too fast. It's already going by so quickly! She now has 2 little teeth on her bottom half of her mouth. Boy, those were a booger coming in! That happened so quick too! We weren't really expecting it so soon! We started solid foods this month! Yay, big girl! I am making her food, as best and as much as I can right now. So far she's had green peas, green beans, carrots, bananas and apples. It took a while to get her to like some of these but sometimes mixing helps! It's always fun watching her face as she tries something new. She sat up in a restaurant highchair for the first time and ate some mum-mums, which she loves! She is sleeping better these days (at night), which is a plus for mommy and daddy. ;) 

We went for her 6 month check-up on the 28th. She is doing great! Dr. N. was impressed. He weighed 17 pounds (50-60%) and was 26 inches long (50-60%). She got another round of shots, which is never fun! Including the flu shot this time. She ran some high fevers with this set which was hard on us all (99-103!) After about 2 days, she was back to her normal, happy self! At the doctor office, Collins really enjoyed flirting with Dr. N and the fact that she found herself in the mirror. It was quite entertaining! 

Here's some pics from 5-6 months! 

My New Years date! 

Her first try at some solid foods! ;) 

Eric's promotion ceremony 

Collins baby dedication 

Sitting up in the resturaunt highchair eating a mum-mum ;) 

6 month dr appt 

She doesn't look anything like her daddy, does she?! ;) 

Happy HALF birthday sweet Collins! 

6 month photo shoot with mommy! 

Santa Baby

5 months old on Christmas Day! Our little girl brings so much joy to our lives! She is constantly changing and growing that little personality of hers. We absolutely love it and are having the time of our life watching her grow! 

We have celebrated her first Thanksgiving and Christmas. What sweet memories we have. And new traditions to begin as a family of 3! Collins got some good goodies for Christmas from Santa, Mommy and Daddy, her grands and KK. She got an anywhere chair from pottery barn that she will be able to use for years to come, a red wagon, some fun toys, clothes to grow into and a few other goodies. 

This past month she has found her feet and not letting them go. She takes off her socks as quick as we put them on. And if she can grab a hold of a pant leg, you best believe it's going in her mouth! We introduced rice cereal this month (at 19 weeks old). We wanted to try and wait til 5 months but missy began waking up some in the middle of the night so we thought we would give it a go. Boy, that was so funny! She did rice for a couple weeks and then on Christmas Day we progressed to some oatmeal. She seems to be doing ok with it. So I guess next step is veggies! Ahhh! ;) It's fun though! This month we went from size 1 to size 2 diapers. (Which we should've done probably sooner than we did.) ha! 

Collins began really sitting in the bumbo seat and bouncing in her bouncy seat too. She really likes bouncing while Mommy is working in the kitchen. She also has started grabbing ahold of her bottle with both hands. Not quite to holding it alone just yet, but I'm sure that will be next. Collins still LOVES bath time and is starting to splash around some while being in the tub ;) She isn't sleeping through the nights as well as she was-- not really sure why... Growth spurt, more movement, hungry... We don't know why. Still trying to work with her. 

We also had our first "ice storm" of the year/season. The weathermen really hyped it up! But just to be safe we were prepared! ;) 

We are excited about the new coming year... It's going to be fun with little priss by our side! Can't believe she will be half a year old next month! 

Happy 4 Months from our Little Turkey

4 months, really?! Oh goodness!! When they say time really flies by with little ones-- they are so right!! I can't believe it's November and we now have a 4 month old! It was this time/season last year that we had done our infertility procedure, IUI, to try and become pregnant. Little did we know, the first try would work! It was November 28 that we found out we were pregnant. That day happened to be Thanksgiving this year. Coincidence? I think not-- just a huge blessing from God is how we see it! 

Collins turned 4 months on 11/25. The same day we went for her 4mo check-up and shots. :( Always a sad day. She didn't do as well this time as she did with her 2mo shots. Initially, it wasn't too bad. But for about the 2 days following, she ran fever and was so fussy. Mommy and Daddy felt helpless at times. She eventually got over it and was back to her normal, happy little self! She weighed in at 15lbs 2oz. (75th%) and was 25" long. (75th%) head circumference was 40". (50th%). Dr. N said Collins is growing perfect! He said we could begin to introduce some rice cereal and solid foods if we wanted. Mommy thinks we are going to wait another month, til about 5 months. What a fun and perfect time-- Christmas Day! ;) hehe 

Collins is still sleeping mostly about 8 hours a night. Sometimes she will surprise us and do a little longer, which always makes us happy! She is still loving bath time too! Always loves being naked! ;) 

Collins has made a few milestones this month. I guess the biggest would be her rolling over from her back to her tummy at 15 weeks old. And boy, does she have it down pat! Anytime you place her on her back, instantly she's rolled over to her tummy! It's kind of funny! Collins is drooling more and more as the days go on and continuously has something in her mouth. She's really noticing figures and people more, smiling all the time! Boy, does that smile get me! We celebrated her first Halloween this month. We went to the scare on the square and to our church's fall festival too. Of course, we had the cutest little pumpkin ever! ;) 

Next month, Collins will be 5 months old and it will be Christmas! We can't wait to begin some new traditions as a family with our little sweet pea! 

Enjoy a few pics! (These are a few from 3-4months) 

Happy Halloween from the cutest pumpkin in the patch! 

LOVE bath time!! 

Daddy's little turkey

Daddy's biggest fan! 

Doctor visit for 4 month check up/shots 

Thanksgiving was a few days after Collins turning 4 months but with the title of this post I had to post this one! 

Happy 4 months little girl!!! 

Quarter of a year old

Well, 3 months has come so quickly! Friday, when Collins woke up for her morning feeding, around 5:30, I sat there looking into her precious face, thinking how am I so lucky to be her Mommy?! And thinking about what we were doing 3 months ago at that time... Waiting on the doctor to arrive, so I could start pushing! Crazy, how time flies! 

Collins is truly the biggest joy I have ever experienced in life! She makes my heart smile bigger than I could've ever imagined. She is now talking so much more... She's very vocal and happy right after eating. She's smiling more and more these days, which makes Mommy and Daddy smile! She is now drooling, really chewing on her fingers and hands. (She tries to fit her entire fist in her mouth sometimes) Ha! She likes to suck her thumb, once she finds it. But Mommy always tries to replace it with something else. She began sucking and playing with Sophie the Giraffe and really seems to like her. She still enjoys laying on her play mat and kicking away, while looking up at the mobile animals. She still loves her swing and just began really figuring out the TV. (Definitely her Daddy's girl!) ;) She's been watching a lot of baseball, considering our Cardinal team has made it to the World Series! She's going to know all about it! She's now sleeping about 8 hours a night (she really started getting the hang of it around 10-11 weeks old). Sometimes she will go longer, sometimes she won't make it but about 6 hours. It just depends. Collins LOVES bath time and being naked! She loves laying on her changing table. It brings a smile to her face just about every time she is on it. She has gone on 2 short road trips this past month. We went to Nashville for a mini weekend getaway with her boyfriend Cooper and his parents. We also made a day trip up to MO to visit with Eric's parents for the day one Saturday.  Mommy went back to work right before she turned 3 months old (the week before). Boy, was that hard! Luckily, Ive gone back PRN and we are working hard to make a flexible schedule where she is home with us most of the time. It's starting to get a little easier, but I'm sure it will never be easy saying goodbye to my baby. Ready to see what month 3 holds! ;)